He's Alive!

It's so weird to not hear from your son for 6 days! Nothing, no email, no letter, nada.

I had to go with the 'No news is good news' theory on this one. I figured if he was not doing well, they would certainly let us know.

Today, a lovely little white envelope showed up in our mailbox. It was short and sweet, though.
He says he's doing quite well, learning a lot, (quickly and efficiently were his words) and that he likes his companion who is anxious to serve.

After years of seeing his face every day or at least being able to call him or email or text him when he was out of town, this has been really difficult. There are so many things I keep wanting to ask him.

Like: "How in the world do I unlock the screen on your(now my) Ipod so I can use the blasted thing?"

"What do you want me to do with all the clothes you left hanging in the laundry room and in your hamper?"

"HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?"

I miss him. . . . . .

I am officially a Missionary Mom!

Well, we did it! Finally got all his stuff put together to take, all his other stuff boxed up to store, fed him well, and put him in the MTC. I have been through that experience once before, when Curtis and I went with his brother, Nathan, when he left for his mission to Chile. Let me tell you, it's a lot more emotional when you're there as the mom rather than just a Sister-In-Law. I really didn't want to cry, I didn't even take any Kleenex. But, I did. I guess I wasn't ashamed to let my tears roll down my face for all to see. I'm going to miss him a lot, but I'm so happy that now he's moving on, with a purpose to his life. He's been in such a limboland, playing the waiting game for months now. I'm excited for all the experiences he will have and the spiritual growth he will have. He was quiet and pensive, but he said he wasn't really scared or nervous. He said it wasn't nearly as bad as it would be if he were leaving the country. He didn't cry much, that I could see, (which wasn't much cause I was crying) He's going to be a GREAT MISSIONARY!

Swiss Family Robinson Day~

We finished up our reading of Swiss Family Robinson a couple of weeks ago. We spent a few days planning and preparing for our Swiss Family Robinson Day. The girls were really excited about this and worked hard to make it happen.

(Tree Climbing Contest)

Did you know that in the book the Robinson Family has four boys??

Disney always has to change things.

(making candles)

Did you know that they are never attacked by pirates?

(picnic lunch of bread, fruit and cheese)

This is an action filled book with tons of animals, boys would love it!

(cracking open our coconut)

No one but Mom was brave enough to try the coconut milk, but the fresh coconut was delicious!

(Here is "Fritz", with his eagle, Pounce, on his shoulder)
(Here is "Franz" with his flamingo, baboon and dog)
(Here is "Jack" with his pet, Master Knips, the monkey)
(Archery contest underway)

It was not as easy to make that arrow go where it should as we thought it would be.

(slingshot contest)

We were a little more accurate with the slingshot. At least we could hit the barrel!

Update

Argh! End of year stuff drives me nuts! 

  ~Last Friday we were able to go to the temple with Jordan in preparation for his mission.

SWEET experience.

I've thought for years about how it would be to go with my child and it exceeded my thoughts. It has finally hit me that he is really leaving for 2 years. I didn't think I'd get all choked up about it, but I'm sure I'll be a blubberer when we drop him off next Wed. 

  ~Got to attend Lauren's wedding on Sat. Another fantastic experience, since my son was able to go with us and see what a temple wedding is like. It's always fun to have family in town and of course we had to get together to talk and eat way too much, as usual.

~Our newest niece, Emma, was born on Tues morning, just after her grandparents flew home. This is beginning to be a pattern, as that's what happened when I had my youngest. They had been here for two weeks at Christmas and I had my baby the day after they left. Oh, well. We're happy that our new niece is here safely, mom and baby are doing well.

~Got the Mother's Day song for Sacrament meeting over with. I spaced it off and we only had two weeks to practice. It was a mix of two different songs so it was a bit for the kids to learn, but they did great. We were even in our new chapel and we had a different pianist and it still came off. Whew! I had a nice Mother's Day. There were lots of leftovers from the wedding luncheon the day before so we ate those for lunch on Sunday and I got a nice nap. What more could a girl ask for than to not have to cook and to get a nap in? Cambria got me a darling little figurine of a mother and daughter that says 'Forever My Mother, Forever My Friend'. That really touched me because she and I have our days!

~It finally feels like spring here and we have loved being outside more this week. Yesterday I took the girls to Bicentennial Park and we had a great time looking at the wildlife: ducks, butterflies, dragonflies, birds and we walked on the boardwalk through the wetlands and learned about why wetlands are important and what purpose they serve. I think we will go back often until the mosquitoes come out in full force. The girls have worked really hard this week and have added lots of corn to the corn jar. It will be full soon and we will then have a new trampoline in our backyard! 

~Tonight is the 8th grade's production of 'Much Ado About Nothing'. They have been performing 1 act all week during school and tonight they will do the entire play for the public. I'm looking forward to watching the play, but we will all be glad to have it done. Only one more week of school!

Finally!

Need a surefire way to get some volunteer hours in at the school your children attend?
Volunteer to help sew Shakespeare costumes! After all, you can do them at home!
No matter that you don't have the correct instructions or that the fabric is really fabric intended for furniture, you'll be able to get those hours in, remember????
After finally tracking down the correct instructions and spending a few hours sewing, unpicking, sewing, unpicking and sewing and then sewing some more (by hand), these dresses(?) are FINALLY done! I am not a dunce when it comes to sewing, (except putting in zippers, huh, Mom?) but honestly, it is really helpful to have the right set of instructions. I could not figure out the ones I was given, seemed some pages were missing. I even went to the school and looked at the original and it was still just as confusing. I got a thought, not my own I'm sure, to go to WalMart and look in another pattern to see if we had a page missing. Lo and behold, we just had a misprinted instruction sheet that had one side of instructions for a completely different pattern than the one we were trying to sew. Didn't notice the discrepancy in the pattern numbers until I compared the two sheets at WalMart.
What to do? Didn't want to buy another pattern just for that sheet. Another idea!! Get my digital camera from the car and take a quick picture of the correct instructions. Whew! Problem solved.

Really, things went much better after I got the proper instruction sheet! Really!!

Well, except for the unpicking and resewing! But hey, that's the way I sew....

100th POST!

I was actually surprised to see that this would be my 100th post when I signed in to Blogger.

I have nothing very profound to say in honor of it being my 100th post, nor do I have a give-away. That's okay, though, cause I'd have to pick myself, as I'm the only reader of this blog...hehe!

I started this blog as a way to record the happenings in the lives of my kids and myself. I thought of it as a journal of sorts, never imagining that anyone else would possibly be interested in reading it. However, as I've spent the last year and a half in 'blogdom' I have come to realize that much can be shared, ideas, experiences and testimony, in this very unique way of communicating to diverse people. I personally have learned so much from other bloggers and I am so thankful for their willingness to share of themselves. I have hopes that someday, something I say may be of use to someone who may happen to read this blog. So I'll keep writing and trying to share things I've learned, experiences that have changed me for the better and also all the funny, dorky things that happen when you live in a house full of kids. ;-D!

Change is Good, Right????

Yesterday at church a letter was read requesting all adult members attend a meeting at the stake center at 7. Very mysterious! Actually, our stake has been needing to be split for quite some time as it has 14 units(wards & branches). So we figured that was what the meeting was for.

Wrong. Sort of.

The two stakes to the north of us have been declining in numbers and ours was huge, so the stake boundaries for all three stakes were realigned. What does that mean? They moved the boundary south and we are now part of the Bonneville Stake, rather than the Provo Stake. Four entire wards from the Provo Stake are now in the Bonneville Stake. The only real change we will see will be a new building to meet in, and I mean NEW! We're hoping the A/C and heat work better than the ones in the building we've been meeting in. We will also now be known as the Bonneville 12th Ward, instead of the Slate Canyon 2nd Ward. I'm actually a bit excited about this. Looking forward to meeting more people and expanding my horizons a little.

In other news, the girls closet in their new room is now usable and we have moved all their stuff out of the old room. Now I can move all of the two year old's clothes and toys out of our room and into the room just vacated. WaHoo! It's really starting to come together. Now we just need to put doors on the new rooms and closets. Once we get the trim up, I'll post a pic. Yeah, I know, I always say that!

Where, oh where did April Go? and other random thoughts!

It literally blew past me I think, like the wind that's been blowing all the dirt from southern Utah northward! Guess that's what happens when you take a week of for spring break. Not much time left when you get back.

We had to make a trip to SE Utah to visit the dentist. The kids had a whole boatload of fillings to be done and I had a tooth that needed some attention as well. That's not a particularly FUN way to spend spring break, but we threw a few other things in there as well.

We were able to be at Natural Bridges National Monument on April 16 which happened to be the 100th anniversary of the Monument. It was a nice sunny day, although a bit breezy, and we attended the little ceremony they had at the visitor's center and had a picnic and the kids hiked to one of the Bridges with Grandma. Grandpa can't hike, (bum knee), so he, the 2yr old and I occupied our time hanging out in the car. My great grandfather, Ezekiel Johnson, was the first custodian of the Natural Bridges and worked there for nearly 20 years. There were lots of his descendants at the Bridges that day to honor his work.

The kids got to play around in the hot tub and with the mules. We also rode four-wheelers and hiked again on Saturday down the 'causeway' in Butler Wash. It was used by pioneers for several years and is another example of a road hung on the side of a canyon. Not quite as high or steep or scary as the one they built at the Hole-in-the-Rock, but it was a nice hike. The cacti were just getting ready to bloom and the other wildflowers were out in profusion. Did I have my camera? No!

Since we've been home, we've had Science Fair projects to finish up, Sonnets to write, Activity Days, Mutual and I am sewing some more Shakespeare costumes. I tried working on them tonight and bent my only sewing machine needle. Typical!

I have attached myself to a healthy eating/exercise challenge over at Angie's. I actually got on my treadmill today! That's a first. Just need to get up earlier and go longer and faster. That and stop eating all the in-between snacks. Wish me luck!

Core Thoughts....

Thoughts on Core phase, that is. If you aren't familiar with the term, read A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Demille. The core phase is the most basic phase all people need to have in their learning. It is best done in the earliest years at home with parents. This is the time when basic core values and morals are taught; "right/wrong, good/bad, true/false, relationships, family values especially spiritual culture, family identity including family history and mission, family routines and responsibilities, accountability, value and love of work and play" taken from Leadership Education, the Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel Demille.



In our efforts to implement this type of education in our home and family, my girls and I have basically been working on our Core Phase this year. There are a few bright days but lots of others where it's obvious we need to continue to work on it. And that's just it! It's a phase we never leave. We work on it all the days of our lives.



One of the things we do daily is to have a devotional in which we sing a hymn, pray, recite a scripture we are memorizing that coordinates with our monthly theme, say the pledge of allegiance, and write in our journals. We take turns picking the hymn to be sung and often we discuss, after singing it, how it can tie into our monthly theme or pick vocabulary words from it to look up.



Last month, our theme for March was virtue, specifically moral goodness. My daughter, C, chose to sing #307 In Our Lovely Deseret. As we looked at it and began to talk about it I was struck that the entire song is a list of things to be learned in our Core Phase. We quickly got out a piece of paper and began listing all of those things. My daughter then asked if she could make all of us a poster of those things to hang in our rooms to remind us of the things we need to be working on each and every day. This is one time when Inspiration spoke to all of us, and we heard it!

Holy, Moly!

So much for the promised pictures. Curtis moved my washer and dryer before I could take 'before' pictures and the 'new' laundry room is still such a mess, drywall torn up to move ductwork and such that I don't want to take any 'after' pictures yet. But I promise, when this is done, I'll post a boatload.
Today they went and got the siding for the addition part. That is all we are siding right now, just need to have a 'finished' addition to satisfy the lenders. Eventually we will do the whole house. We are using Hardie board plank siding. Here's the color we want. It will be 7 in. planks with 5.5 inch trim around the edges and windows/doors. At the gable ends we have a 12 in. 'belly band' and above it will be board and batten. They got the trim up on the addition today and it's going to be AWESOME. I will have the coolest looking house on our street.
The trim will be all white, the cedar plank siding will be 'heathered moss' and we will have black accents, (lights, shutters, doors, etc.)
C got all the sheetrock hung, but he is having trouble with his right wrist and arm so we may be hiring a friend of ours to do the actual taping part, if he's willing. I didn't know til last night that C has been hurting for over a week. No wonder it's been a slow process to get all the sheetrock up, he was having trouble gripping the sheetrock and the sheetrock screwgun.
We also picked out our flooring. We decided to go with unfinished solid wood hickory. I LOVE hickory, I love the contrast in color and grain. Love the warm tones it brings in and I love that it's harder than oak, so I'm hoping it will wear well. We decided to go with painted/distressed black/brown cabinets on all our base cabinets and the uppers will be painted oatmeal with a dark brown glaze rubbed on. We may even throw in a red or green cabinet here or there. Love the mismatched look. I thought we would go with IKEA cabinets, but they are all so modern looking and I'm just a country hick at heart. I need a farmhouse, rustic look to feel comfortable.

Happy Easter!

May we all remember the real reason for Easter.

Today's progress. . .

Fridays are the big day around here for getting a lot done on this addition. Our good friend and neighbor, D, is a building inspector for Provo, but he used to own his own business and that man loves to work with his hands and build things. So, since he doesn't work for the city on Fridays he comes to work here instead. He is the one who helped us with our design and the technical schtuff when we planned this addition. He has been a great mentor for C, teaching him much about framing, plumbing and anything else C asks about.
Today they removed the old back door that separated the new part of the house from the old. This is a precursor to finally getting to remove the wall that separates the kitchen from the new dining area. D spent the afternoon working on a new step for the area where the door jamb used to be. That door was one step down from the kitchen floor, with a landing at the top of the stairs that go down. So he had to build the new floor out into the area where the jamb used to be to meet that landing properly. I keep looking over there and thinking that I need to go shut the door. It will take some getting used to.
We also got all the plumbing in place to move the washer and dryer to their new location. C still needs to pour a little concrete around the new drain and put up some drywall behind where they will be, but they will be in their new home by tomorrow and I can finally be through with my laundry dungeon. Seriously, for the last 11 years my laundry area has been a tiny, windowless corner that I had to squeeze past the water softener to get to(a tight squeeze when I was pregnant!). I'll post a picture of the before and after tomorrow.

On my end of things, I finally got the three costumes made for the Shakespeare play. I needed a few more volunteer hours so I offered to sew costumes. I will take them to the school on Monday and record my hours. I sewed a vest for last year's play and it was a bugger. The material was so thick and hard to work with. This year's pattern was much simpler and the fabric much easier to work with. Hallelujah! I guess I ought to be thankful that my mom was a Home Ec. teacher and taught me to sew. I don't do it very often, but it's a handy skill to have when it's needed.

YUM!!

Baked Potato Soup
4 baking potatoes
2/3 C all purpose flour
6 C 2% milk
1 C cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c sour cream
3/4 C chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled.

Bake potatoes, in oven or micro, til tender. Cool, peel and coarsely mash. Discard skins.Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, level off. Place in a large pan, gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over med heat til thick and bubbly (about 8 min)Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 C cheese, salt and pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.Stir in sour cream and 1/2 C onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or til thoroughly heated(do not boil). Ladle about 1 1/2 C soup onto each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 tsp cheese, 1 1/2 tsp onions and about 1 Tbsp bacon.
Yield: 8 servings

Made this for dinner tonight and it's so yummy. I thought you might like to try it. It's way easy. You can make it more diet friendly but using low fat or no fat cheese and sour cream.

Moving Along

Well, as the deadline to finish our addition draws closer, its easier to see progress. Today we had the sheetrock hanging/texturing guy over to give us a bid and the electrician was here working all day. He will be back to finish up tomorrow. As soon as he finishes and we get our framing inspection we can put up the insulation and we'll be ready when the "Muddy Boys" show up to sheetrock next Monday.

Can I just tell you how exciting this is to me? The end of this overly long, four year project is almost in sight. This has been a good experience for us even though it's been a pain more often than not. I do not believe we will ever put ourselves through the headache of building anything again.

Certainly not a whole house.

I think we'll just keep looking til we find one that is already built that meets our needs/wants.

Or, we'll simply stay put!

p.s. I'll post a picture after the sheetrock is done!

Here We Go Again. . . .

We received news yesterday morning that my DH's grandfather had passed away. He was 98.
So we will be attending yet another funeral this week. Thankfully, his passing was quick and relatively painless. It would seem he had a massive stroke as he was getting ready to have a bath, and he never regained conciousness. We are so happy for him to be free of the infirmities of a body that has been around for nearly a century, but sorrowful for Grandma who will now be alone. She's also 98. The burden of caring for and checking on her daily will hopefully be shared now by her children and grandchildren who live near her. She's in good health, but I wonder if she will stay around now that her main reason for getting up each day is no longer here.

I don't think I've ever contemplated death as much as I have in the last five weeks. Since President Hinckley passed away and then my grandpa and now DH's grandpa. I ponder on why I feel the need to cry for them, when in each case it has been such a blessing. Guess I've always been a blubberer. Sometimes I'm afraid of death, the process is such an unknown thing and I don't like not knowing how to do things that I have to do. Mostly I'm afraid I won't have done all that I should have or could have or needed to before that day will come. That's the scariest part to me. So I'm really trying harder each day to live better, to love more and to serve more. I am really trying to find out what Heavenly Father expects of me and needs me to do each day and giving my will to him. He's made a much better person out of me than I was doing. Hopefully I still have many years here to prove myself worthy.

I first met DH's grandparents when we were dating and we lived near them when we were first married. Then we moved away and I thought we would likely never really see them again before they would be gone. But after nearly 8 years we moved back to Ut Valley and they were still here. So we decided that we would go to their home once a month for Family Home Evening to give our children the opportunity to get to know them and learn from them. After all, they couldn't be here much longer, they were old. Now it's been nearly 11 years since we moved back and that's a lot of FHE's. I'm so thankful that we have had so many years to share time with them. It has blessed our family and I know they have appreciated the consistent visits.

Grandpa, we'll miss you and your growling at the kids, trying to poke/hook them with your cane, a rousing rendition of I Had a Mule Named Willie, "Where's my left ear?", "Ohh, I can't follow your conversation, so I'll just be quiet."

We LOVE you!

A Book to D.I. For!

A few weeks ago I posted a quote by Emma McKay that I had found. A couple of people asked me where I had gotten that quote.

It is taken from a talk given by Sis. McKay at BYU on April 12, 1952. I checked on Ebay and you can buy a copy of the pamplet of that speech for about $50. Gulp!

Or, you can do what I did and head to your nearest D.I. (Deseret Industries=Goodwill type thrift store) and pick up a copy of the book titled Motherhood - A Partnership with God.

A few years back I was going through a particularly hard time and wondering why God was picking on me. I was reading and praying alot to understand my role as a wife and mother and while at D.I. one day this book caught my eye so I picked it up. It is a compilation of quotes, articles and speeches from prophets and others notable Church leaders. It was published in 1956, by Harold Lundstrom and Bookcraft Publishers. I skimmed through it and read through the table of contents and it looked interesting so I shelled out my $2 and brought it home. I did not read all of it at that time, just some parts that seemed to pertain to what I felt was my problem. In the past few months I've picked it up again and am going through it and I'm LOVING it. I know, it's old and those people(men) don't understand about being a woman and life is so different now. . . . What I'm finding is that the things in it are speaking to my heart and it is answering with such peaceful feelings about the path I've chosen.

I've learned for myself that the words of the prophets have no expiration date on them and are just as applicable now as they were when they were spoken. I have found much peace in my life as I have tried to align my life with those teachings and counsel. This book has helped me and encouraged me.

The envelope, please!!!

It finally came! J sent in his mission papers on the 2nd of Feb and we've been waiting anxiously for a certain white envelope to be delivered to our door.

It didn't come in the expected way, however.

On the morning of the 14th we got a phone call from our neighbor and home teacher asking us if J had gotten his mission call yet. I told him that we had put the papers in and were just waiting. He said that he had a large white envelope addressed to Elder Welch at his home and was wondering if we would like to come get it. I woke J up and sent him over for it. (we often get our mail mixed up, as their house number is 1156 and ours is 1165.

All the members of the family had picked where they thought J would be going and H had chosen Boise, ID, since she has recently watched The Singles Ward. When J opened the envelope, he started laughing and laughing. We asked him if he was going to Boise, and he said that it was pretty close.

His call is to the Montana, Billings Mission. It covers the entire state of Montana and about half of Wyoming as well. This is quite exciting since most of his family on his father's side is from that part of Wyoming, so it will be like going back to his roots. I admit to wishing that he was going someplace exotic that he will probably never have any other reason to go to, but we're excited about the connections he will have/find in the mission he is called to. He enters the MTC on May 21.

I Miss You Already!

My paternal grandfather died today at 4:30 p.m. It was truly a blessing for him, but as always I'm crying.

My grandmother died nearly 9 years ago and he had missed her so much, so I'm crying as I imagine their reunion.

I'm crying imagining the reunion with his parents and grandparents. What joy!

I'm crying because I remember so many good times we spent together. The times he took me for horse rides, took me to the ranch when he did chores, took me with him on his milk truck runs down to the Navajo Reservation. I thought he was the smartest man because he could speak Navajo. The time he came to see me when I was in college and took my cousin and me out to dinner. Letting me play in the saddle shed and the barn and help with haying. (if I could stop sneezing long enough)

I'm crying because he is no longer trapped in a body that wasn't working with a mind that has been 'gone' for years. What must that be like, to be free of the frailties of a mortal body?

I'm crying mostly because, as sad as I am, and as much as I miss him, I know I'll see him again.

Goodbye, Grandpa! I love you!!!

Progress!

Yesterday we finally got a big enough break in the weather to get the trusses up that will form the roof of our new carport. This house has had a single car, flat-roofed, tacked on carport and it is SOOOOOO ugly. Plus it has started to leak in the last year, so we decided that part of finishing up the addition would be to put up a new carport that would just extend the house's roofline over the driveway and have it look like it is actually part of the house design and not an afterthought. The new carport will be higher, wider and longer and we will also extend the shed roof part at the front of it west to make a new porch roof as well. It will allow us to have a bigger porch and possibly even a fun bench or chairs on it. Next week we will get to strip off all five layers of old shingles and redo the entire roof. A prayer for nice sunny days would be appreciated.

C and I also took time today to step into what will become the girls new room and pin down the location of the closet. I wanted to give them a big walk in closet with plenty of space for their clothing and stuff, so that we won't need dressers and any other type of flat surface in their room to collect junk. Now C can put the can lights in and we can frame the wall between the storage room and the girls room as well as their closet. Each day we get a bit closer to having this space be usable. I'm not sure I'll know what to do when that becomes our reality. On the other hand, I'm sure I'll have no trouble adjusting to having that much more space....

From the Sidelines.....

The basketball season for the boys started 3 weeks ago. This is the first time that AHS has had a basketball team. They belong to a league for charter and private schools. We have had games in both Utah and SL counties, as far north as North Salt Lake.
The school has two teams, A-9th grade and B-7th and 8th grade. However, we didn't have enough 9th graders try out so essentially we have the same boys playing on both teams, with the exception of about 2 players. There are games scheduled on Wed and Fri and each team plays on those days. What that amounts to is that both of my boys are playing 4 games a week. Neither one of them has played much before (except for a stint or two in Jr. Jazz), so this is quite a new thing for them. It has been really good for them! They are doing well and improving with each game.

Ford is often the point guard. He has a pretty good outside shot, sank a 3 pointer tonight.

Montana is a defense specialist. He has quick hands and can read where the ball is going and gets steals quite often. He is good at assisting others by passing off when he could take a shot. He also made a 3 pointer tonight, much to his surprise and that of everyone else.

The teams are struggling to win, I think because they are young teams made up of boys who have never really played before. But they have heart and they work hard for every point they get. I'm sure as the season progresses they will continue to improve and hopefully, some of these same kids will be here next year so the improvement can continue.

GO AHS EAGLES!