Wow, has it really been that long???

That's what happens when you leave town for a week. There is so much to catch up on when you get back that simply doing the laundry becomes the most important thing in your day!

We did have a super-fun time at my parent's home(s) for Thanksgiving. The pictures at the top are of my parent's new 'vacation' home. It was built in the 1880's by my Great-great Grandfather, Jens Nielson. He was from Denmark and joined the Church there. He and his wife and son were in the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company which was stranded in an early blizzard in Wyoming in 1856. Their 6 year old son, Jens, died at Rock Creek, as did many other people. Jens's feet froze and his little wife, Elsie, put him in the handcart and pulled him until they got help. He had difficulty walking after that and used canes the rest of his life. In 1879, he was living in the Iron County area with his 3 wives and children and was called to be part of the group that settled in South-eastern Utah. They left in Oct 1879 for what they thought was going to be a six-week trip, but it ended up being a 6 month trip, arriving in the place where the little town of Bluff, UT now stands in April 1880. This wasn't quite the destination they had been aiming for, but they were worn out and decided to make their settlement there. He was called to be the bishop of Bluff that year and served in that calling for 26 years, being released in 1906 just before he passed away. I am descended through Jens' third wife, Ane Katrine, who never came to Bluff, but stayed in Cedar City. She had ill health and couldn't make the trip. Following her death, her three children were brought to Bluff and Jens' first wife Elsie raised them.

This home was the home he built for his 2nd wife, Kirsten. It has been added onto and modified over the years. It has been a home, a restaurant and a bed & breakfast. We feel so incredibly blessed that it has now come into our family. A very interesting series of events has led to it, but it has been a blessing and we can see the Lord's hand in it. My parents are involved with the Hole-In-The-Rock Foundation, which is a restoration group, seeking to restore the old Bluff Fort and some of the homes and keep the incredible story of these pioneers alive. Their having a home in Bluff, kitty-corner to the old Fort, is so convenient for them. They often have guests to show around and they can use this home as a 'home base'. Mom has also taken it upon herself to make sure the windows in the Old Meetinghouse stay clean!

It was such a peaceful feeling to be in this home for the Thanksgiving holiday, to think of the history of the little valley and the amazing people who settled there, who we have the privilege of being related to. I was even more thankful than ever for them this year.

I was also really thankful to have even gotten there at all. I think all of our cars have curses on them at the present time. Two of them are down for the count right now, and we are borrowing C's grandparent's truck. I headed off early because the kids had dental appointments. It's a 250 mile drive and 7 miles outside of Monticello, in the middle of Peter's hill, I had a blowout. It was dark and cold and a very busy highway. I was able to call my brother-in-law and he came to help me out. While we were waiting (30 min) not one single person stopped to see if we needed help. I'm thankful that the blowout didn't make us go off the road and down to the bottom of the hill, to have been that close to home, for a cell phone that only let me call that one number (no other calls would go through and I couldn't answer any), and for a kind brother-in-law and dad who came to our rescue.

This was truly a year to be thankful.

Friday....whew!

Made it through another week. It's amazing to me how quickly they go by anymore. Must be a sign of my advanced age. haha!

The PALMS discussion last night was really good. I enjoyed it very much and was happy to note that the things the leader brought up to talk about were things I had made note of in my copy of the articles/essays. I guess my fear yesterday of not being able to read deeply or thoroughly was not confirmed. I love the reading I've been doing and the feeling of my mind and understanding expanding. It's something I've felt I needed for a long time but was not sure what to do about it. I knew I did not have the time or ability to attend a traditional college, but felt like I needed to be furthering my education. This is a good middle of the road approach for me. It's getting me to think and I'm even thinking of writing my thoughts(scary, I know) without costing me anything but time and there's no testing involved at this point.

Working on finishing up the laundry so that the kids and I have clean clothes to pack for our trip tomorrow. We are headed to Monticello and Bluff for Thanksgiving with my family. I believe that Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. I think it started because I love the food, but lately I love the fact that it gets skipped over by the marketing/retail world. I love that it's still a simple, faith and family-centered holiday. I pray they never figure out a way to commercialize it. I'm looking forward to spending the time with my parents and sisters and enjoying just being together. I have more gratitude this year for the understanding and light Heavenly Father has allowed me to have.

I feel so blessed.

I am.

What we've been up to....

Yesterday we attended our monthly Princess Academy group. My girls really like it, even though they don't say much yet. It is run by Donna, who I contacted during the summer when I was trying to decide how I was going to go about this homeschooling adventure. She was very kind and met with me to give some of the benefit of her wisdom. I have appreciated being able to learn from her and participate in the Princess Academy with my girls.

There are several things we do while there, one of which is a book discussion. This month the book to be discussed was Anne of Green Gables. I have never read it myself, so although we have the movie version, we also undertook to read it. A problem surfaced, however, when I got a sinus infection and couldn't read because I a) sounded like a toad and b)coughed up my toenails whenever I used my voice too much. Enter NetLibrary. I was so happy to see that I could download the audiobook version and we could stretch out on my bed and draw and listen to someone else read to us. I imagine we will make use of this again. It frees up my hands to be able to work on things as I listen as well.

We loved the book and tried to identify our favorite parts. C couldn't pick, she loved it all. H liked the part where Anne is floating in the barge to Camelot and it sinks with her in it, leaving her stranded on the piling of the bridge. S couldn't pick either, but I think she has had a harder time comprehending what she's hearing. She's still pretty young.

We gathered at Donna's home and we began making hats on our hat looms for charity while Donna's daughter spoke to us about Rising Star Out Reach and the woman who started it. She shares with us each month about a woman of virtue. I find her 'vignettes' very inspiring and when I asked the girls if she inspired them as well, they all said yes! I am currently reading The Small Woman, about Gladys Aylward. This is the woman Julia spoke about at our first meeting in Sept. If you're curious about her, see if you can find the movie, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which is about her. It stars Ingrid Bergman.

After the vignette, we eat lunch, which is a potluck. It's fun to see what everyone brings, we try to make it tie into the story we have read. I asked C what we should take and she thought we should have raspberry cordial, I laughed and said maybe we should add liniment cake and plum pudding with 'mouse' sauce. We ended up googling 'Anne of Green Gables recipes' and we found a website with lots of recipes mentioned in the books. We made Mrs. Lynde's Lemon Biscuits, which turned out to be sugar cookies. Since I didn't want to take only dessert we stopped at Costco and picked up a case of Clementines to take along. While we ate, we talked about what we thought of and learned from the book. I sometimes think I do not know how to think deeply. They mention things I never saw until they point them out to me. I think I must still just read for entertainment, rather than seeking for wisdom and truth. After eating, the girls all went back to the living room and continued working on their hats, while we cleaned off the tables and prepared to leave. It's such a good time, and I'm glad my girls like going and that they are losing a bit of their initial shyness and starting to interact with the other girls. H told me yesterday that M(Donna's 9yo daughter) is one of her new best friends. I had to smile, cause she finds best friends wherever she goes.

Today we started a small unit study on Thanksgiving. We will probably be working on it for the next few days at least, if it keeps their interest that long.

Next month's book is Little Red Buckets. I need to see if I can get it at the Library.

Tonight I will be attending PALMS (Provo Area Leadership Mentoring Society). I hope I have anything worth saying. I tend to just sit and absorb what I'm hearing. It's really so great to be able to meet with others who are striving to improve their own education as well as their families and share. I'm thankful to have a group close by that makes it convenient for me to attend.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZYYYYYY!

Sometimes I wonder where these children came from.

They can't possibly be related to me!







This is what they've come up with for fun the last couple of days.






Imagine trying to have 'school' with them in their goofy-eye glasses or wearing all their clothes and hair backwards! I didn't know today was backwards day, did you??

I guess that says something for my 'teaching', that they feel the need to liven it up!

Sweet Fall!

What is your favorite season?

I will usually answer spring if asked this question, but today I would have to say fall. It has been an absolutely gorgeous fall here, with perfect blue skies, sunshiny days, and just the right amount of chill in the air at night. I wish it could just go on and on.

Today I'm ignoring the fact that winter (winter = snow) is just around the corner and I'm just enjoying this much too short season with my family.


p.s. Did you vote?

SMART... again.

Doing fairly well on most of my habits, prayer is about 80%, study time 50% and school start time about 75%. Still need to work on them, but they are starting to become more habitual.

As I sit here thinking about what habit I'd like to add to my list, I keep going back to the ones I was trying to establish earlier in the year. The one that keeps coming to mind is not one that I had much success with, but I think it is very important so I'm going to make another attempt at it. I have been much too lazy about recording transactions in my checkbook. I just keep stashing those receipts in my purse til they start to take it over, then I shove them in the top drawer of my dresser. And when I finally make myself sit down and record them, it takes FOREVER!!

If I can take a couple of minutes each day to record the transactions of the last 24 hours, there won't be any more marathon sessions.

My habits:

Daily a.m. prayer ~ Still needs work, doing better though

Study Time ~ Make an appt for it and put it on the calendar, tell family I have appt.

Consistent start for school ~ remind girls of our routine and set example myself.

Daily checkbook recording ~ get checkbook up to date and keep it there.

For more about SHS, check Lara out over at The Lazy Organizer.

Give me CANDY!!

Just wanted to post some pics of the kids from Halloween. Our cheepy, dollar store costumes turned out great. Everyone was happy with their costumes and the lovely weather for trick-or-treating and their stash of candy at the end of the night.

We allow our kids to just consume it at will. What do you do in your family?

We used to try to ration it out, but we just got tired of listening to requests for candy all the time, so now it's eat it fast, have a good tummyache, and be done with the whole thing.

Hope you had a good one!