Once There Was a Snowman, Snowman, Snowman...

We had a little storm last week, I guess it was big enough to get Brad out of work (if the wind blows enough, they shut everything down here). Appearently, a mini tropical storm-type thing will do the trick. The pleasures that come with a small storm are imense; work shuts down early, we get rain storms (my friend even got her slip and slide out because it works even better in the rain!), a bit of lightening (don"t worry, it was far away from the slip and slide!), and snow!

We decided to make the journey up our mountain after church on Sunday. To get ready for church was quite an accomplishment! We left the house with church bags and books, lunch bags, changes of clothes, about 10 pairs of jammies per child (the only warm clothing they own besides jeans, which were in the bag too), socks and lots of baggies and rubberbands (this was for my mitten invention-socks on hands with baggies on top with a rubberband holding it all together. Baggies shoved in your pants too...worked great!), along with 3 boogie boards. Neadless to say, we had a full carload.

When we got pretty close to the top, we pulled over for a minute and Kaili was so excited, she left her shoes behind, in the toasty car! She is definitely a warm blooded child!

Work at it!

I loved some of the quotes by Elder Oaks in this week’s lesson! He talks about helping a marriage last and avoiding long lasting arguments. His advice is great for any couple at any point in their relationship!

He said: “Don’t treasure up wrongs, reprocessing them again and again. In a marriage relationship, festering is destructive; forgiving is divine. Please for the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord to forgive wrongs, to overcome faults, and to strengthen relationships.”

He also said, “The best way to avoid divorce from an unfaithful, abusive, or unsupportive spouse is to avoid marriage to such a person.”

Most would say, “Uh, duh! But obviously, 50% of the population didn’t take this advice!

This quote was also a great one! ”We should realize that a good marriage does not require a perfect man or a perfect woman. It only requires a man and a woman committed to strive together toward perfection.”

I am so pleased to know that I should not be expected to be perfect. This is good, because there is about 4 loads of laundry in my bedroom that has been there for the last week. I know a perfect person would have had it folded before bringing into the room, but since I don't need to be that perfect person, racing scooters with the kids again this afternoon is A-okay with me!

One pie, Two pies, Three pies, Four...

Ah ha! I found it! Without a link to My Blog page...I still found it! I'm so pleased with myself :-)

I am Internet-less, at the moment. When you move, you are supposed to switch over your Internet, which takes about 5 minutes. But if the cable connection is turned off, you have to start over from the beginning. This process takes about 3 months. Actually, I'm not even sure about that time frame, because when I called to make the appointment for Roadrunner to come back out and hook it up again, they didn't even give me a date, they said, "We'll look at our schedule, and when something opens up, we'll call you." Can you believe that! I might be moved out by the time I get my Internet line hooked up again.

Needless to say, we don't have the Internet. "How," might you ask, "Am I able to do my INTERNET class?" Well, not very easily...right now, I am borrowing Joanna's computer, and between this and my iPad, which is wonderful, but oh so limited, I have gotten through, kind of. I think about half of my assignments over the past few weeks have not been turned in. Can we blame that on the holidays, or kids, or computers, or just life in general...I think those are all really good excuses!

Well, our Thanksgiving was great! I made about 10 pies (the question is NOT, "what did you make?" The question is,"What did I NOT make!") I did not make a peach pie. :-)

I also make rolls. My Grandma's recipe-yum! I ended up making 5 batches, so we still have bread coming out of our ears, but it's so good! As I was kneading, I noticed I got some dough in my ring (the ring was actually Grandma's wedding ring, I asked for it when she passed away). I thought about all the times Grandma must have made bread, nearly every day when she was younger. I thought she must have gotten dough stuck in her ring when she wore it too. It was nice to remember her. She always made the most delicious Thanksgiving dinners!

Kaili also stepped on another bee last week, apparently, she is not allergic, which is nice. Auntie Amy put some baking soda on the sting and it made it all better, literally! Kaili was riding the scooter about 2 minutes after she was stung. It must be like peeing on a jellyfish sting...the chemical reaction does the trick! I will have to put that in the back of my brain for future emergencies.

This week for school, we had to interview 2 people about the stages of life they were currently in. I asked my mom and my Grandma Donna. I asked them what was hard about now, what was great about now and what was their favorite part of life? I wanted to post what my mom said, because it made me a little teary and I think it's worth remembering. She said:

"I loved all the stages. I know you'll think that is trite. But it's true. I loved nursing in the night and holding the little tiny baby fingers and touching their face that was so soft. I loved tickling little girls and having Christmas ready on Christmas morning. I loved seeing the first steps and seeing the first drawings and hearing the first words. I loved singing with you in the kitchen when you were about 4 years old and singing 'The Lord Needs Valiant Servants' and dancing as we sang. I loved going skiing as a family at Lake Tahoe and riding bikes at Sun River and going to Rockaway and doing an Easter egg hunt at the beach. I love all my girls right now. I love sitting in the kitchen and talking our heads off with Dad in the other room going crazy with all that girl noise! I love going shopping like to Black Friday this week. I love talking on the phone and hearing all about your family and you and the things you love, like reading. I love exercising with Janelle and getting hugs. I love picking up my grand kids and getting big sloppy kisses. I love taking German with Janae and getting to try out our latest phrases. I love getting some 'sons' finally as you guys get married. I just love being a mom. I really do.

Love, Mom"

Awww, Mom, Love you too!

P.S. My pants are getting too tight, I need to stop eating pie for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and dessert, and midnight snack...Hmmm, but really, there couldn't be a worse time to try to diet, or at least eat resonably... I guess I'll wait for the new years resolutions to take place, just like the rest of the world :-)

Many Exciting Things, well, you know...

Aah-ha! We had our Halloween! It was fun. Brad and I dressed up as Jack and Jill. The picture is not that great, but at least you can see the shirts, black eyes, broken crown and general cute-ness of the ensemble.

The kids costumes turned out awesome! Tyler was a regular old Darth Vedar (which, by the way, he absolutely loved and wouldn't have traded for any other costume in the world, except that his light saber was big, bulky, heavy and slightly in the way, and he couldn't see a thing through his mask in the dark...but he LOVED the idea of being a Star Wars character. He also liked the improved and elongated cape I made him :-)

Although, I am the first to admit my adverse feelings for Disney Character costumes, clothing or other paraphernalia, I truly feel my kids were the cutest little Belle and Cinderella out there. The pictures do not do them justice (I'm actually going to clean up their costumes and take some more pictures later; we were rushed to get the candy and the girls didn't think taking time for a picture was entirely necessary). And yes, that is a slug Kaili found on the ground. It rained (the one night out of the year that we had to be outside) and all the slugs came out. It was her little pet and she carried it all the way to Auntie Toni's house, where is was misplaced, forgotten, and probably squashed!
We also carved pumpkins and Brad was a good sport to dig guts out while sniffling with his head cold...poor guy, but, somebody's gotta do the dirty work, and I was busy :-)
I thought our reading for this week was interesting. I liked learning about the different ways to argue and the most affective things to do and say to make a change (begin softly!). I told Brad this and we worked on the conflict resolution paper together. I explained the steps to him and we both agreed it sounded like a good way to argue :-) We'll see if we can remember the steps the next time one of us begins to turn different shades of red!

Halloween Week

Well, nothing much exciting has happened in the last week.

We are getting ready for Halloween, which means the house is a mess, fabric strands are attached to everything, laundry is backed up, patterns are flying, and dresses are half made, ready to be finished at about 3 AM tonight!

I must admit, the dresses, so far, are to die for! Cinderella is stunning and Belle is beautiful! Although, the zippers have yet to be added, let's hope all goes well for the finishing touches :-) (Darth Vedar's cape is also in the works)

I have envied a few facebook posts with cute pictures of pumpkin patches and Fall outfits. We got our pumpkins yesterday...at Safeway. The nice thing about it was the kids were as excited as anything (I should have brought my camera), and we didn't have to wear jackets (even though the air conditioning was on a bit strong) :-)

This week in my marriage class, we talked about being married, and having a good relationship with your spouse and family.

There were a few lists of things you should do to keep both relationships strong. I took from both lists and made my own; things we should be doing to maintain our family relationships:

1) Go on a weekly date
2) Give at least one compliment a day to each person
3) Spend at least an hour of undivided time each week with each child
4) Have at least a 30-45 minute family meeting each week (FHE)
5) Read the scriptures daily
6) Pray in the morning and night as a family
7) Have family meals together as a family, daily

The scriptures and prayer are things I added myself, because they are things I want to be doing in my family. I think this makes a pretty good list. If I can start doing this...I think we will be pretty well off.

I can't wait!

Ahhhh!

We did it! We finished our house. I can't actually remember what I wrote last (I forgot to read before I started writing), so this may be a repeat. We actually finished last week. Last Thursday, we stayed up all night (I slept about a half and hour) and the owners came in about 2:00 on Friday. After we moved everything out of the house (all the brooms and cardboard boxes and toys), I got to come home and....CLEAN MY HOUSE (it only took two more days!). Ugg, glad that's over with now!

Dad (Bryson) got to come last week too! I feel so bad, though. He was here for about a week and I didn't have time once, to take out my camera and get a picture of him with the kids (waaaa!) Besides the fact that he stayed up till 1:00 am (Idaho time), worked like a dog all day long, starved between the rare meals that made it to the kitchen, we spent all his money and he has to sleep in the airport to get home...I think he had a good trip :-) We loved having him hear and the kids were so happy to see him!

Since Brad gave away all of my furniture (namely our TV, TV stand, and art work), my house is kind of bare. But I take it as a blessing. Now when we move, we won't have anything TO move. :-)

So my lesson this week was interesting. We talked about cohabiting (living together before marriage), marriage and divorce. The most interesting thing to me was the fact that people who choose to cohabit have a 75% chance of divorce! Can you believe that? So, given that the divorce rate is about 50%, cohabitors are making up a good chunk of that percent. Lesson learned: Get married, then move in together!

I like to see pictures on this, but I don't have one that relates, so I'll post our little lizard. Until next time...

Catch Up

Well, It's only 10:00 in the morning and I already feel like my day has been used up and I didn't get anything done! I have piles of school work to do, a house to clean, kids to keep busy, Halloween decorations to get out, and numberless other things on my list of "stuff to get done at some point in my life", but....Brad is calling and needs help.

What is the backbone of the family to do? (That would be me, for any of you out there that might be unsure of the person who fills that position).

Drop everything and go sweep the job site.

Yesterday we were able to watch conference. Melissa gave Tyler a super cute Conference BINGO chart that helped him actually sit and listen during a few talks! This is a first, so a bit exciting...not to mention, this made it more possible for me to actually sit and listen as well! It's amazing what a difference taking one child out of the equation makes (going from 3 to 2), there is so much LESS bickering!

I really loved President Monson's talk and theme! He basically was helping us realize the power of positive thinking! I loved the comment he said about how much we have to be grateful about. There ARE plenty of happy marriages, and there ARE parents who love their children, we DO have friends. There ARE things to be happy about! I wish I had the exact quote...Oh, here it is!

"He declared that this is a wonderful time to be on Earth." "While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it. Parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways."

I think I might get some vinyls cut of this one...it's a keeper!

I know this is late for last week, but I'll submit it anyway, and hope I can squeeze a few points out for it :-) As I watched conference, I thought about our book. Even though the material is very generally stated, and it gives information from all sides (happy families/struggling families/anywhere inbetween), it still feels negative to me. Maybe I am just latching onto the sad things, like the divorce rate, or the disengaged family, but I feel like there are more hard things to deal with in a family, in general, than easy or happy things. I was so thankful for this quote by President Monson. I know my family is happy, but it's nice to hear him state that MANY families are this way. Makes me feel like things might not be so bad.

Everyone just needs to take a break and SMILE :-)

FUN IN THE SUN

What a fun weekend! We went with the Wiburgs down to Hapuna Prince Hotel (for Eze's birthday). We spent our weekend eating at buffets (Let's go Crabbing! and the breakfast buffet...YUM!), swimming in the pool and the ocean, watching TV and enjoying each others company!
I swear, I probably gained 5 lbs! But it was well worth it :-)

In between our relaxation, we also experienced stair racing, a bee sting (by Kaili), chicken in the pool, staying up late, and a few pillow fights. All in all, it was a great "vacation"!

I thought this weeks reading assignment was really interesting. I am surprised that we can put a large amount of the population into a simple diagram, and that everyone can find a spot on it (of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, it works). I was wondering if a person, or a family, can consider themselves in multiple spots on the family map? Sometimes I feel like I am completely chaotic (messy, unorganized, I don't know where things are or sometimes I loose my husband...), and sometimes I feel really on top of things (my house is in complete order, I am early...). So would I consider how I am doing in a particular week, or would I average it out and put myself in the area I am like most of the time?

I really LOVED the assignment this week about our Family Analogy. I loved reading about how other people viewed their families. Great fun :-)

It's Working

I feel so proud of myself...maybe it's the idea of making my list and physically writing something down, but we have started reading and praying in the morning! My kids actually look forward to this (they haven't discovered the joys of sleeping in, as of yet...maybe when they are closer to the teenage years!). They love holding their own Book of Mormon and they love finding the one that has their name on it before we begin. Tyler loves reading his paragraph :-)

I told Brad, "Look, if we read one page a day (which is just about all my kids can handle), we will be done in about 2 years!" Oh well, at least we're doing what we have been counseled, and we're spending a few minutes together before the day starts. I think it's a great thing!

Now we just have to fit a family night (FHE) in our week somewhere :-)

As for school...I really enjoyed the reading this week. I didn't know what to expect from this class, but I found myself reading parts of the statistics to my husband because I thought they were so interesting! I thought the most interesting fact was that people have a higher chance of staying married if they do NOT live together first! Surprising! Everyone (it seems like) lives together before they are married. Along with that, I thought it was interesting that the average age of getting married has moved from about 20-21 to 26-27...because of all those people living together. :-) A lot of interesting stuff...wonder what else we will read?

A New School Year

Well, school has started, but not only for the kids...I started this week as well. I get to keep a journal for my Family 160 class and I figure this is as good a spot as any...

So, here is my first official journal entry - for class...but also just for my own self (I must admit, I'm pretty excited to use this blog, because as you can see, I made it about a year ago and have written in it all of 2 times. Making myself have to write things down will be good for me...then I won't have to remember how to add a new entry every time I log onto this thing!).

As far as questions for class go, I don't really have any yet. I actually don't even really know what this class is about. Family, obviously, but it's like, researching the family. Having a family, I kind of thought I knew all about what a family is (or at least how mine works), but, I guess there's much to learn. I'm so glad I was able to add this class (thanks for making it bigger!)

My main goal for my family at this point is kind of for me. I want to make prayer, scripture study and family night a regular occurrence for us, which, as of this moment, it is not. Being the mom...I suppose it is my duty to make the time for this stuff...If only we had 40 hour days, instead of 24 hour days! Anyway, these goals are just things I need to put at the beginning of my day, instead of trying to jam it in to the end, and missing out...I'll let you know my progress this next week. I WILL START TODAY (it is Monday!) Let it begin!

My Sister-in-law gave me a cute idea for reading the scriptures. She told me to get a Book of Mormon for each person, so they can all "read along" (makes it more interesting/fun). Then, when we finish reading the entire Book of Mormon, we can write on the inside cover the date we completed it. I thought it was a cute idea. There were a couple other things she said...I will have to email her again...ahhh, my memory...I must take after my mother!

Excited for this class...excited to get cracking on the things I need/should/must/have to be doing! This will be all for now.

Back, with a vengance

Okay, it's been a while. But, rather than play