Wednesday, September 18, 2013

One year ago...

As I take my little yellow baby aspirin tonight I think about the events of one year ago and I'm thankful.

That I'm still here.
That I still have the opportunity to mother my children...
That I still have time to build my marriage...
That I have no complications or lingering effects...
That I don't have to take Coumadin anymore...
That I see the value and purpose of my life more clearly...

Life is precious. Don't waste it and your time on things of little worth. When your time seems limited I can promise you that  nothing matters more than your relationships.

With your children...
With your parents and siblings...
With your spouse...
With Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ...

I find that I'm still easily distracted by the world. I have to work hard to refocus. Often!
But I think I treasure more than ever before the people I love and the Gospel of my Savior. That was the blessed lesson that came from the craziest 10 days of my life.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Tattoo Artist in Training....or is it nail tech?

Today I was listening to a conference talk. Apparently this was the perfect time for a 2 year old to practice his tattoo technique as well as his toenail painting.

Good Things:
It was a dry-erase marker
It was not on any furniture or walls
Someday he'll grow up and not feel the need to color on himself!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Sixteen, going on seventeen....

We celebrated Cambria's 17th birthday with little fanfare this year. She wanted to take a cake to Seminary to share with her class so we made Cinnamon Swirl Cake for her to take. When she got home  from school I asked her if she wanted another cake for candles and family, but since a friend had made her a cake she said that was plenty of cake. She also did NOT want to be sung to anymore. Said she'd heard it enough at school that day. So we cut the cake her friend, Zoe, made her and had it with a little ice cream. We did get her a mint chevron infinity scarf that she really liked, and she got some cash from both grandparents. And that was pretty much it. 
We sure are thankful to have this girl in our family. She is a great help to me, especially in her care and attention to her little brothers. We are thankful for her efforts to become the person that God created her to be. She has many talents and gifts and much to offer. We love you, Cambria!!!! Happy Birthday!
beautiful girl opening her one gift...
modeling her scarf for us. Nice pouty lips there...

Zoe made a "lava" cake for Cambria. She has fun friends!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Tsunami in Provo?

We went to Utah Valley on Saturday for Taylor's mission farewell. We weren't able to leave til Sat morning because of XC and football and cheer/drill on Friday. We had plans to leave early on Saturday. Haha! We all overslept and still had to pack once we woke up. So we left a couple of hours later than we had wanted to. Then we got just past the airport and Cambria realized she had forgotten the guitar and banjo. She wanted to try to trade them for a better guitar. So we turned around and went back for them, also changing drivers. This time we got almost to the Rodeway Inn before I realized that the contact in my left eye was really irritating my eyelid. I noticed a small tear in it that morning and thought it would be okay, after all it was only a week old. But the thought of driving 4+ hours with it hurting didn't make me happy, so we turned around yet again so I could go exchange it for a new one. (when I pulled it out I could see that the tear was nearly to the center of the contact. No wonder it hurt.)

So third time was the charm and we were actually able to get past Peter's Hill this time. We noticed in Spanish Fork Canyon that there had been some flooding, with dried mud on the road. All the hillsides between Skyview and Billy's Mt. had deep crevices on them where the water had run off them, with piles of sand, rock and debris at the base of the hills. We could also see that we were driving into a storm. We even saw a bolt of lightening hit. When we were going up the east side of Billy's Mt. I was looking up at the switchbacks from when they had made the cut there in 83-84 to reopen the road through the canyon, and  I saw smoke and a tree on fire. Yup, found where the lightening had struck!

When we got into the valley, we had a few stops to make: Costco, Sam's Club, IFA, and Bill Harris Music. We had done the food shopping and Cambria and Curtis had gone in to the music store to trade guitars. Those of us sitting in the car were looking to the south and watching the clouds roiling above us. I got out to get a better look at them. Hannah said, 'Hey, that one looks like a tsunami!" I took some pictures as the clouds continued to move and change. They had very interesting shapes and colors. Almost looked like tornado weather,  that lovely greenish cast to the sky.

Then we went to IFA for chicken feed and while Curtis was in there, the storm hit with full fury. No working up to it, it was gangbusters from the get go. He got a bit wet walking from the door to the car. We tried to make our way to the Lefebvre's but with the storm and the traffic for the BYU football game, it took us about 30 minutes, with a few detours. We saw trees down, signs blown over, rivers running down streets, cars trying to be boats......It was crazy and it was as close as I ever want to come to experiencing a hurricane.

Good Things: 
The farewell was great, it was nice to see all the family and friends...
watching people turn out to help each other (many in the Lefebvre's neighborhood had their basements flooded.) 
Nice to see Ford again and meet his girlfriend. 
Great weekend!
I liked the greenish tint between the banks of clouds in this one.
Interesting formations-moving fast
The really dark bottomed cloud is the one Hannah thought looked like a tsunami wave...
Here it is moving closer to us....
It really does look like it's just going to roll over us...
Heading east on 3rd S. Wipers could hardly keep up.
3rd S and University. Looks like fog, but it's just heavy rain.
Turning up the road to the Lefebvre's. The water pouring down the street was muddy and had rocks in it and was flowing out and over 8th N in Orem. See how deep it is on the wheels of the car in front of us...
See it running down both sides of the street. (darn orange paper.)
That little car across the street is Allyson's. It was actually lifted up by the debris caught under it. See the 'water fountain" directly below it in the picture. That was caused by the fast moving water hitting the slope of the sidewalk/driveway. You can also see the diverted water running across the graveled parking and sidewalk of the neighbor's house. Compare it to the picture below.
After the rain stopped, the kids all went out and started helping clean up. Here Hannah (in black) and Isabell are clearing rocks from the road.
They had quite a bit of work to keep them busy.









Monday, September 09, 2013

My own little Tom and Huck...



I have no idea how my little guys walk everywhere without shoes, but they do. I love that they obviously play outside enough to have tough feet. I love that we live where there are dirt and rocks to walk on and not just concrete or asphalt.

Harvest 2013

Just recording what we've been able to harvest off our garden this year:
Spinach-several quart bags frozen for smoothies, some raw for juicing and some fed to chickens.
Lettuce-mesclun-salads, sandwiches and chickens. Grows great here in our cooler climate!
Peas-just enough for eating raw. Can't convince the little boys to leave them on the vine til they're big.
Chard-a bit for juicing, mostly for feeding greens to the chickens.
Bell peppers-so far we've picked 6 and they taste GOOD! Lots of little ones still on the plants. *edited*-I harvested the last of the peppers the day before it snowed, thank goodness! I got 46 peppers. Bumper crop for us!
Green beans-I planted bush beans thus year and they've done well. So far I've picked enough to cook for two meals for our family size. Still lots of little beans growing.
Onions-pulled up a few that were supposed to be green onions but were about the size of pickling onions. We've decided to just leave them all to grow bigger. 
Strawberries-they're really producing right now. Good sized berries that are juicy and yummy. Hoping the plants spread well and we have lots more next year!
Pumpkin-not harvested yet but there are two little pumpkins growing away on the vine. Hopefully they'll be big enough for us to use at Halloween.

Thursday, September 05, 2013

Soren flips for tumbling

Soren doing straddle-rolls. (With Mindy-his teacher)
Need to work on flexibility it looks like!
Tuesday was also Soren's first day in a tumbling class. Hannah and Sadie have been taking it for a year but with Hannah now being in cheer/drill, she really didn't have time and it was decided that Soren needed to try it out.
I thought he would be excited, but when we got there he refused to get out of the car!
'I want to play soccer!'
'You already tried that. It's time to try something new.'
'Well, how about football?'
'They don't have football for 2nd grade.'
'Yes, they do!'
'Nope. Only for 3/4, and 5/6.'
'Well, I'd rather do wrestling!'
'It isn't wrestling season, and I can't afford to put you in rowdy boys wrestling. You'll have to wait for Jr. High for wrestling.'
'Humph!!'
I finally told him he only had to try it for a month and he decided he could do that and went into the gym.
When I picked him up afterward he was full of energy and excitement. 
'Thanks mom! For signing me up for tumbling! Next week we're going to have an obstacle course....................'
Whew! Crisis passed.

Good Things:
Fresh produce from the garden...
Citation Index app for scripture study...
An evening with everyone home...

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Oh, boy! I've Got Joy! I Do, I Do!

Today was Charlie's first day of preschool at Mrs. E's Joy School.
He's been talking about it and asking about it since we went to the open house last week. 
This morning he was asking if it was time to go at 9 a.m. School didn't start until 12:30!
He was a bit nervous when we got there because there were kids he didn't know. I left him sitting there anyway, knowing that he would eventually join in and enjoy himself.
When I picked him up he had a smile on his face and lots to tell me about Joy School. It's hard for me to believe he is old enough to go to school already but I think he's going to have a 'joy'ful year!

Age: 4 1/2
Height: 3 ft, 6 1/2 in
Favorite food: PB & J sandwich
Favorite show: Avatar, the Last Airbender
Best buddies: Ethan, Canyon, Ryan

Good things: 
Only a 4 day school week!
Seeing Grandpa & Grandma W this coming weekend...
Finding THM.....