This picture was taken after most of the snow had melted. The kids made a snow man with the neighbor kids over at their house.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Early snow
October 11th we woke up to a blanket of snow covering the ground. It was beautiful,and I didn't get a picture. (Go to Amy's blog for proof of how much snow we really got.)
This picture was taken after most of the snow had melted. The kids made a snow man with the neighbor kids over at their house.
This picture was taken after most of the snow had melted. The kids made a snow man with the neighbor kids over at their house.
Open House/ Art Fair/ Cross Country Banquet
The school had an open house/art fair. Of course it was the week Ken was out of town so I was on my own. I felt like I was off schedule all night but we made it to everything and had a fun night.
Alexys with her teacher, Mrs. Stevens.
Alexys made hair accessories for her art project. She made ribbon pony tail holders, flowers on pony tails, and some ribbon barrettes.
Shaelynne made some folders out of place mats. She uses them to take her quiet activities to church in. (Somehow I missed getting a picture of her teacher.)
Justyn grew giant sunflowers this summer in our garden. He also made an Airwolfe helicopter out of legos and a poster to represent his latest obsession.
Justyn with his teacher Mrs. B
Zach made a poster of his running.
After the open house, we hurried over to the Cross Country banquet, totally missed the dinner and all the awards, but got there just in time for Zach's award. He received the "Zach Attack" award because even though he struggled with asthma, his coach was impressed that he never mentioned it to anyone. He just kept working through each practice and race, and never getting discouraged with his results. He actually was a little emotional when he told the group that Zach had ran the last race without stopping once. He was proud of Zach's perseverance and determination. We were surprised because we didn't know the coach even knew about Zach's asthma. We didn't even know about it until this year when he started to run so it was all new to us also. I'm thankful they let him run with Robert Stuart this year. It was a good experience.
Zach with Coach Harper.
Alexys with her teacher, Mrs. Stevens.
Alexys made hair accessories for her art project. She made ribbon pony tail holders, flowers on pony tails, and some ribbon barrettes.
Shaelynne made some folders out of place mats. She uses them to take her quiet activities to church in. (Somehow I missed getting a picture of her teacher.)
Justyn grew giant sunflowers this summer in our garden. He also made an Airwolfe helicopter out of legos and a poster to represent his latest obsession.
Justyn with his teacher Mrs. B
Zach made a poster of his running.
After the open house, we hurried over to the Cross Country banquet, totally missed the dinner and all the awards, but got there just in time for Zach's award. He received the "Zach Attack" award because even though he struggled with asthma, his coach was impressed that he never mentioned it to anyone. He just kept working through each practice and race, and never getting discouraged with his results. He actually was a little emotional when he told the group that Zach had ran the last race without stopping once. He was proud of Zach's perseverance and determination. We were surprised because we didn't know the coach even knew about Zach's asthma. We didn't even know about it until this year when he started to run so it was all new to us also. I'm thankful they let him run with Robert Stuart this year. It was a good experience.
Zach with Coach Harper.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tag!
Jenna tagged me because she thinks I have too much spare time on my hands. Since I'm avoiding Saturday housework, homework, and my grumpy fighting kids, I would love to sit at my computer and talk all about myself.
1. I don't get sore throats. I just loose my voice. (Why is this on my mind? Because I lost my voice for all of last week.) I used to get sick all the time so my mom had the doctor take my tonsils out when I was in 8th grade. Now I never get sick.
2. I always know when my body is really stressed because I get a cold sore. The first one I got was after I delivered Zach. The last one I had was last week while I was unable to talk. That's the other way that I know I'm sick.
No voice + Cold Sore = SICK!
3. I bite my fingernails. Okay, I used to bite my fingernails, and I hated it. I couldn't stop though so when I got my tonsils out I was excited because it hurt too much to bite. Then my fingernails grew a little bit, I painted them and that sort of helped. I'm like a recovering nail biter. I have to consciously make the decision to not bite my nails everyday. If the nail is snagged or uneven, I have to be really careful because I bite to fix it and before I know what happened, there's nothing left.
Warning:Next one is personal and possibly uncomfortable for some. Feel free to skip.
4. I hate my periods! I used to be totally regular. Then I spent 13 years having babies, nursing, birth control, and whatever else. 18 months ago I had my tubes tied after Henry was born and now my body is out of control. I cramp hard and have a constant migraine for a week before, then gush massive amounts of blood for a week, sweat like crazy in my sleep, loose 2-3 pounds, sleep alot, completely stop bleeding for a couple days, think I'm done, get a really bad migraine, finish bleeding over the next few days, have one week where I feel normal and then it's time to start the process all over again. I guess I'm still regular, just in an irregular way.
5. I struggle with spending my money on food. While I'm grocery shopping or cooking, I always think of all the money that will just be "flushed down the drain." :)
6. I am not a huge fan of going to the medical doctor. I feel like I pay too much money just to waste my time sitting in a germ filled office, listen to him to tell me what I already knew and give me a prescription which he knows I won't fill anyways. Basically I feel like it's a waste of both of our time and he wins and I loose because I give him my money and he builds a really nice house on the canyon with it.
7. Someday I will learn to Swim! Dance! Play a stringed instrument, and travel farther than Idaho, Utah, and Oregon! I will also get my college degree and learn to run. One step at a time!
I don't know who to tag so I'm tagging everyone related to me!
P.S. I just reread this post and it seemed a little negative. In my defense, Ken has been gone all week, came home last night and went hunting all day to day, it snowed last night so my kids are stuck in the house, I'm having my psycho period right now, I woke up with a headache, a stuffy nose, and a scratchy voice (I just got over this last week) and I'm FREEZING! After I clean my house, do my homework, and spend some "happy time" with my kids, I'm planning to hybernate away what's left of the day !
P.S.S. That last entry wasn't any happier so I'm going to quit now but here's a cute picture that should have been my Wordless Wednesday post this last week.
My life is really, really good! And I have great kids!
I am blessed!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
For Mom and Deb
Since I spent so many hours on the phone with my mom and my sister Deb trying to remember details and write this paper, I promised them that I would post it so they could read the final paper. The assignment was to analyze a tradition. A BIG thank you to my own personal editor, Ken.
One lazy summer afternoon, my husband and I were traveling with our children up a winding mountain road. After a difficult week we were on our way to a nearby mountain lake to enjoy an afternoon full of relaxation, and to also take advantage of having a small family picnic. As we headed to our destination, I pointed to several familiar sites along the way. During the course of our adventure to our mountain lake, my husband asked me how I knew about all of these places. I smiled at his question as my mind filled with memories from my childhood. I relished those thoughts as my mind rediscovered the joy of those past memories. Suddenly, I discovered that my love for family drives stemmed from a much deeper meaning than that of my passion for nature and the suspense of what was hidden beyond my view. Family drives had become a tradition that increased my love of nature and family, bridged the years between generations, and provided a way in which I could find joy in the simple things of life.
I grew up in a large family. My parents owned a small dairy, and a small acreage of farm land. The cows had to be milked and fed twice daily, and the land had to be watered and farmed. With a small dairy farm, and a large family there wasn’t a lot of money to go around. The option of hiring help wasn’t even thinkable, and therefore the daily tasks associated with a small farm were left to my parents. With a mother and father that were committed to the farm, we weren’t able to travel very much, and when we did our trips were never far from home. I always listened to my friends talk about their vacations, and dreamed of seeing the Grand Canyon or going to Disneyland. While the farming could occasionally be delayed for a few hours, my parents always had to complete the chore of the twice daily milking. I grew up knowing this was the price our family paid because of my parent’s choice of occupation, and knew that exotic vacations would simply never happen.
My parent made sure they always enlisted our help when it came to taking care of the family and completing the daily chores. We soon became experienced hands with regard to moving hand lines for irrigation, picking the rocks from the fields, hoeing the weeds from the crops, and feeding the animals. I remember grumbling a lot about these responsibilities. As a reward for completing our chores, my parents would occasionally take us on a picnic between chore times. This was a huge sacrifice for my parents as it meant they had to rise earlier than usual to get the milking done. They also had to get the car ready for the drive, and fix a lunch. Upon returning home from our drive, the car had to be cleaned out, the food put away, the younger kids bathed, and another milking still had to be completed before retiring for the evening. With the burdensome workload that my mother and father carried, we learned that these family outings were an event to be cherished.
On the morning of our big day, we would excitedly rush around doing such things as loading the big blue cooler with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made with my mom’s homemade whole wheat bread. We packed ice water, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. As soon as my parents got in from morning chores and changed their clothing, we quickly loaded the car with our picnic, and headed for a new adventure. My parents owned a blue and white van that seated 12 passengers. Due to the size of our family, every seat was filled. The problem with our big van was that it had a small motor, which resulted in not having a lot of power. More often than not, and without warning, the van would start to smoke. It didn’t matter which direction we headed on our picnic for the van to start acting up. Whether we went on a desert outing, or to the mountains, the van always overheated. When the van acted up, Dad pulled over to the side of the road, and we would scramble out. While we waited for Dad to fix the car, Mom looked around for someplace where we could enjoy our picnic lunch.
We were always disappointed that we didn’t make it to our planned destination, but we enjoyed finding activities to pass the time. Through our exploring, we made several discoveries. Just off of a well traveled road, hidden from our view, we found a world full of life. My parents were supportive by letting us explore so long as we didn’t wander too far away. We chased butterflies, played in the creek, climbed big rocks, and forged our own trails. We also enjoyed collecting treasures like colored rocks, wildflowers, and Indian arrowheads. As our family bonded with each other on these outings my love for them increased. I realized that this time together with family also instilled a great love for the outdoors.
When the car had cooled to where we could drive again, we were tired from our activities, and chore time was quickly approaching. The drive home was usually quiet since we would fall asleep. When we arrived home we reluctantly helped Mom unload the car, and clean up. As we cleaned we listened to my mother express her frustration at the day’s events. Our outings were reminiscent of her time as a child when her father would take them on family outings. Her trips also ended in similar fashion as their vehicle would often overheat and land them on the side of the road. My mother told us that they would do similar things that we had done earlier as they would pass the time waiting for their car to cool down. As she told us about her childhood, and the experiences that she had been a part of, the years between us seemed to disappear.
From these experiences I quickly discovered that luxurious vacations where not required to have memorable experience, nor were they necessary to forge deep family bonds. As we took the time to simply eat our peanut butter sandwiches, while driving an unreliable family car; I learned about life. I learned that the values of parenting were more than just rewarding my children for doing their chores. The true lesson was finding joy in the simple things around me.
A long time has passed since my childhood days on the small dairy farm. Money is just as hard to come by now as it was then. I better understand the stress my parents went through as I try to raise my own children. It’s in those difficult moments when the stress builds in my own family that I fill my blue cooler with homemade sandwiches, water bottles, and chocolate chip cookies. Once loaded, we set out to see where the road will take us that day. I still travel many of the same roads that I once traveled as a child with my parents. As I look out the car window, I can’t help but wonder what lies beyond where I can see. Though our car does not overheat, we still manage to find a quiet place to eat our picnic lunch, and enjoy our time together. I love to be surrounded by the beauty and sounds of nature.
Occasionally, we stumble upon a place that is familiar to me. In these moments I remember a childhood trip ending here. I smell the memory of an overheated car and reminisce. It’s in these moments that I know our real adventure for the day has just begun as I hear my own children’s squeals of delight. I watch them explore their new surroundings, and wonder if this tradition will continue for another generation. Through a tradition as simple as a family drive, I share my love of nature with my children and strengthen my own family bonds with them. As I share stories from my childhood, and from my mother’s childhood, the generations seem bridged, and my life feels complete.
Just a Family Drive
One lazy summer afternoon, my husband and I were traveling with our children up a winding mountain road. After a difficult week we were on our way to a nearby mountain lake to enjoy an afternoon full of relaxation, and to also take advantage of having a small family picnic. As we headed to our destination, I pointed to several familiar sites along the way. During the course of our adventure to our mountain lake, my husband asked me how I knew about all of these places. I smiled at his question as my mind filled with memories from my childhood. I relished those thoughts as my mind rediscovered the joy of those past memories. Suddenly, I discovered that my love for family drives stemmed from a much deeper meaning than that of my passion for nature and the suspense of what was hidden beyond my view. Family drives had become a tradition that increased my love of nature and family, bridged the years between generations, and provided a way in which I could find joy in the simple things of life.
I grew up in a large family. My parents owned a small dairy, and a small acreage of farm land. The cows had to be milked and fed twice daily, and the land had to be watered and farmed. With a small dairy farm, and a large family there wasn’t a lot of money to go around. The option of hiring help wasn’t even thinkable, and therefore the daily tasks associated with a small farm were left to my parents. With a mother and father that were committed to the farm, we weren’t able to travel very much, and when we did our trips were never far from home. I always listened to my friends talk about their vacations, and dreamed of seeing the Grand Canyon or going to Disneyland. While the farming could occasionally be delayed for a few hours, my parents always had to complete the chore of the twice daily milking. I grew up knowing this was the price our family paid because of my parent’s choice of occupation, and knew that exotic vacations would simply never happen.
My parent made sure they always enlisted our help when it came to taking care of the family and completing the daily chores. We soon became experienced hands with regard to moving hand lines for irrigation, picking the rocks from the fields, hoeing the weeds from the crops, and feeding the animals. I remember grumbling a lot about these responsibilities. As a reward for completing our chores, my parents would occasionally take us on a picnic between chore times. This was a huge sacrifice for my parents as it meant they had to rise earlier than usual to get the milking done. They also had to get the car ready for the drive, and fix a lunch. Upon returning home from our drive, the car had to be cleaned out, the food put away, the younger kids bathed, and another milking still had to be completed before retiring for the evening. With the burdensome workload that my mother and father carried, we learned that these family outings were an event to be cherished.
On the morning of our big day, we would excitedly rush around doing such things as loading the big blue cooler with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made with my mom’s homemade whole wheat bread. We packed ice water, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. As soon as my parents got in from morning chores and changed their clothing, we quickly loaded the car with our picnic, and headed for a new adventure. My parents owned a blue and white van that seated 12 passengers. Due to the size of our family, every seat was filled. The problem with our big van was that it had a small motor, which resulted in not having a lot of power. More often than not, and without warning, the van would start to smoke. It didn’t matter which direction we headed on our picnic for the van to start acting up. Whether we went on a desert outing, or to the mountains, the van always overheated. When the van acted up, Dad pulled over to the side of the road, and we would scramble out. While we waited for Dad to fix the car, Mom looked around for someplace where we could enjoy our picnic lunch.
We were always disappointed that we didn’t make it to our planned destination, but we enjoyed finding activities to pass the time. Through our exploring, we made several discoveries. Just off of a well traveled road, hidden from our view, we found a world full of life. My parents were supportive by letting us explore so long as we didn’t wander too far away. We chased butterflies, played in the creek, climbed big rocks, and forged our own trails. We also enjoyed collecting treasures like colored rocks, wildflowers, and Indian arrowheads. As our family bonded with each other on these outings my love for them increased. I realized that this time together with family also instilled a great love for the outdoors.
When the car had cooled to where we could drive again, we were tired from our activities, and chore time was quickly approaching. The drive home was usually quiet since we would fall asleep. When we arrived home we reluctantly helped Mom unload the car, and clean up. As we cleaned we listened to my mother express her frustration at the day’s events. Our outings were reminiscent of her time as a child when her father would take them on family outings. Her trips also ended in similar fashion as their vehicle would often overheat and land them on the side of the road. My mother told us that they would do similar things that we had done earlier as they would pass the time waiting for their car to cool down. As she told us about her childhood, and the experiences that she had been a part of, the years between us seemed to disappear.
From these experiences I quickly discovered that luxurious vacations where not required to have memorable experience, nor were they necessary to forge deep family bonds. As we took the time to simply eat our peanut butter sandwiches, while driving an unreliable family car; I learned about life. I learned that the values of parenting were more than just rewarding my children for doing their chores. The true lesson was finding joy in the simple things around me.
A long time has passed since my childhood days on the small dairy farm. Money is just as hard to come by now as it was then. I better understand the stress my parents went through as I try to raise my own children. It’s in those difficult moments when the stress builds in my own family that I fill my blue cooler with homemade sandwiches, water bottles, and chocolate chip cookies. Once loaded, we set out to see where the road will take us that day. I still travel many of the same roads that I once traveled as a child with my parents. As I look out the car window, I can’t help but wonder what lies beyond where I can see. Though our car does not overheat, we still manage to find a quiet place to eat our picnic lunch, and enjoy our time together. I love to be surrounded by the beauty and sounds of nature.
Occasionally, we stumble upon a place that is familiar to me. In these moments I remember a childhood trip ending here. I smell the memory of an overheated car and reminisce. It’s in these moments that I know our real adventure for the day has just begun as I hear my own children’s squeals of delight. I watch them explore their new surroundings, and wonder if this tradition will continue for another generation. Through a tradition as simple as a family drive, I share my love of nature with my children and strengthen my own family bonds with them. As I share stories from my childhood, and from my mother’s childhood, the generations seem bridged, and my life feels complete.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Funny Girls!
Shaelynne: When my friend saw these pictures on this wall she was jealous because we have been all over the world.
Me: Those are pictures taken in Idaho, Oregon, and Utah.
Alexys: We've been more places than just that. We've been to BYU!
Me: Yes we have. BYU is in Utah.
Shaelynne: We've also been to Salt Lake City!
Me: You're right. Salt Lake City is also in Utah.
Kate: And we've been to WinCo* lots of times!
(lots of giggling from Shaelynne and Alexys)
*WinCo is our local grocery store.
Me: Those are pictures taken in Idaho, Oregon, and Utah.
Alexys: We've been more places than just that. We've been to BYU!
Me: Yes we have. BYU is in Utah.
Shaelynne: We've also been to Salt Lake City!
Me: You're right. Salt Lake City is also in Utah.
Kate: And we've been to WinCo* lots of times!
(lots of giggling from Shaelynne and Alexys)
*WinCo is our local grocery store.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Friends
Justyn came in a few minutes ago. He had been playing with the twin 9 year old boys down the street. He said to me, "How do you know when it's time to come home from your friends house?" My answer was "Did you three get into another fight?" He answered, "No, it's time to go home when your friend pees on your toy soldiers."
????
????
Answered Prayers
Last Friday, I picked Ken up from work on his lunch break and we flew to Burley to buy temple clothes since we now have a temple here in Twin but they don't have a clothes rental place in it. We got our new clothes and wanted to buy a couple other items that we needed to show our recommends for. Ken dug in his wallet and then said to me, "Oh yeah, you have the recommends." I looked in my purse and said, "No, you have our recommends." Ken says, "Oh, right, they are in my scriptures." This is a great place for them to be because Ken LOST his scriptures TWO WEEKS AGO! Now we are both stressed. This is the second set of scriptures he has lost in the last year. The first was the scriptures he used on his mission so they were well marked up. The second set he got for Christmas last year to replace the first set. I searched everywhere in the house and my mom searched her house. They were no where. Ken decided that they could be in one of three churches; the church building we just moved from, the church building we just moved to, or the new stake house across town that we met in when they divided our stake. On Sunday after church, he headed out to search the churches as a last resort before we canceled our recommends and went in for new interviews. Knowing this was a wild goose chase, I stayed home to take my traditional Sunday nap. The old building and the new building turned up nothing. The stake house across town was a long shot but he decided to check there anyways. He looked all over the building and finally saw a Bishop walk out of his office. Ken stopped him and asked if by any chance a set of scriptures had been turned into the Lost and Found. The bishop stuck out his hand that just happened to be holding a set of scriptures that looked exactly like Ken's and asked, "Do they look like these?" Ken quickly grabbed them and looked inside. Sure enough. his name was engraved on the cover. He opened the pocket of the case and there were both of our recommends. Ken said "Yes!" The bishop laughed and said that his wife has just handed them to him a few minutes before and that he was on his way to figure out what to do with them. So, with our recommends safely back in our possession, all I have left to do is hem our new clothing and we will finally get to attend our very first temple session in our brand new temple. And Ken is relieved to not be getting new scriptures for Christmas again this year!