Reflections

Looks like the year is coming to a close. I can't believe 2010 will be here in a few hours. It's a very low key New Years Eve for us. Hope and Tymber are staying at Grandma Zoeys. Rich has a bad cold/sinus infection so I doubt he will make it to midnight. Autumn has a friend over and they are just playing games watching movies and playing on the Wii.
Our Christmas was super good. Thank you Sondra for spoiling the girls. They loved everything they got and all the clothes are super cute and fit great.
I must say I don't think I am sad to see 2009 out the door. Financially the past 2 years have sucked pretty bad. I really hope this year is a turning point in the economy and we are able to get back on our feet. Rich does have steady work right now and of course we are always grateful for that, especially in the winter time.
The best part of the year was going to the Temple and we look forward to the new year, being able to go back often and having our testimony grow and watching our kids. Rich got called into 1st counselor in the Sunday School presidency. It was a calling that was a shock and totally out of his zone but I know he will do amazing in it. The Bishop tells me my time is coming, I told him to be gentle ;0)
Happy New Years friends and Family. We love you and hope the New Years brings you all love, peace, happiness, health and many more good things to come.

bead + ear = ER visit

Tymber went to bed last night and rolled over and some how managed to get a bead stuck in her ear. If she would have come to me in the first place I think we could have easily got it removed, but no she had to try to get it herself and lodged it in good. It was about 10:30 so I had to take her to the Emergency room. She was so scared and shaking so hard, I really felt sorry for her. I wasn't overly impressed with the Dr. he basically accused her of sticking the bead in her ear on purpose. Telling her there is no way it could get in there its self. Whatever, He decided because there was some blood and it was up against the ear drum he didn't want to take it out and wanted us to see and ENT today. So we came home and she went to bed. It really didn't hurt her was just a little tender and she couldn't hear out of that ear. It was a big bead.
So I made an appt with the ENT and we went to Pocotello this morning. Her appt was at 2:00 so Rich and I left the girls with Zoey and we Christmas shopped a little. Then we were off to the Dr. He was very nice and had her lay down so he could look thru a magnifying microscope in her ear. It was funny he couldn't find the end of the bead to grab it so he had to turn the bead as soon as he turned it she could hear again, then he removed the bead with a little pain but she did great. Then he took a little vacuum and cleaned out her ear. We told her he was going to suck her brains out. ;o) Finally all was well and we were on our way. We were glad her ear drum wasn't pierced. Fun way to spend my Birthday in the ER.

Pictures

Happy 15th Birthday Autumn

My sweet daughter is 15 today. It is so hard to believe how fast time goes. She is spiritual. amazing, funny, a strong soul, great friend, wonderful big sister and all that any parent could ask for and so much more.
We love you Autumn and are so blessed to be your parents!

Forever Family

What an amazing whirl wind of a week. Tuesday November 24Th we took out our Endowments at the 6:00 pm session in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was wonderful, confusing, amazing, very spiritual and we were so blessed to have our wonderful friends and Family with us. Rory and Lorie were our escorts and they were so good to help us with everything.
Saturday November 28Th we took the girls to the Idaho Falls Temple to be sealed for all time and eternity. Once again we had so many loved ones with us and also many of our church friends that mean so very much to us.We felt the Spirit with us and felt many of our loved ones that have passed on. Autumn wore my Grandma Kimball's dress and I wore her sash, I know she was close to us that day as was Rich's dad. We did not know we were going to be "married" again. It was great to kneel across from my husband of 20 years and have the sealer pronounce us man and wife for all time and eternity and to kiss the Bride (giggle). Then they brought our sweet sweet girls in to us. Rich and I kneeled on each end of the Alter and each of the girls brought their hands on top of ours. I really don't think there was a dry eye anywhere and if there was I know they at least had tears in their eyes.
We got to go out and have our pictures taken in our Temple clothes and then we changed into street clothes. I will post some pictures another day.
On a funny side note Hope was so worried when she found out we were going to be sealed she thought they were going to put us in a box and never let us out. Well we of course explained to her no this wasn't what would happen, but the poor girl walked into the sealing room and what does she see but the alter that in her mind looks like a box. She could not hardly see over it when she had to kneel down and had to stretch way high to put her arm up on ours. It was over quickly and lots of people congratulated us and hugged us. She didn't say much the rest of the day and that night on the way home from Grandmas she was asking some questions about the alter, it really didn't occur to me what she was asking and she kept saying but what was in that thing, I told her nothing was in it, finally it occurred to me the poor girl walks into a sealing room with 50 or so people all around is asked to kneel down to this "box" after we assured her there would be no getting sealed in a box and what does her little 5 year old mind see a huge "box." Of course it would scare her. After the sealing I held her up to the mirrors I am sure she thought we would throw her in the box.
The girls are so sweet and were so excited. All the way down to the Temple Hope kept saying I just can't wait to see how beautiful the Temple is then she would start singing I am a Child of God. I love my family and husband so much.

Melchezdik

Rich got the Melchezdik Priesthood today. What an amazing Blessing this will be in our home. We are all very excited. Rory came down and ordained him. It was a wonderful feeling and prayer.
This will be a busy and fun week. Hard to believe 2 days and we will go thru the Temple. We are also so excited to see everyone at Thanksgiving.-

Clothes

I was able to get the rest of our Temple clothes today. Lorie and I went and got everything that we need. I am very greatful to her and Rory as they bought it as a gift for us. We are so excited. Sunday Rich gets the Melchezdik. Really looking forward to it. Next week will be here soon then we get to go to the Temple!!!

Patriarchal blessing

Rich and i had our Patriarchal Blessings done Sunday. They were amazing! I loved both of our blessings and the spirit of Brother Van Orden as he is giving the blessing. He has had the calling for 20 years. It is a life calling unless health gets in the way. I am very excited to get them and re read them again. We both have a lot of work to do and if we do as the Lord asks will have many blessing.
We also completed the lessons for the Melchizedek and our Temple recommend classes. Friday night we went to meet with the Bishop and we both got our Temple recommends. Whoo Hoo didn't see that one coming. So exciting. Tuesday night Autumn and Tymber meet with Bishop to get their live ordnance limited recommend and Thursday night Rich and I meet with the stake president to hopefully get him to sign our recommend and then we will also have the time he is to get the Melchizedek on the 22nd.
We also went and got some of our temple clothes. I already have my dress so we got his pants,slippers,belt and socks. They were all 50% off so that was a huge savings for us. When we get our recommends I can go get our garments and when Lorie gets back she is going to go help me to get the rest of the things we need.
I am ready for the end of November to get here.

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to my parents house and had dinner then we took the kids trick or treating at Rick and Caralyns... Well really Rick and Darren took the kids. Rich and I went and visited with Caralyn and Brandi and then went over to Lorie and Rorys.

Autumn dressed up like a cat, she did her own make up and it looked cool. Hope was the pink care bear rainbow bear and Tymber was a mime, she loves to mime and is soooo good at it. We took Ryan and his brother Zach with us.

While we were at Rory and Lorie's she was showing me her temple clothes and she had a temple dress she bought and had never worn, it didn't fit her and she said she will never wear it so I tried it on and she gave it to me. it is so beautiful. I am so blessed and so happy. I will have my visiting teacher hem it for me as it is a little long but it is perfect.

It looks like I wont be getting Sundays off after all. Pretty disappointing but not much I can do about it.

Schedule

We did shift bids again at work. I was not thrilled. I HATE shift bids. We had just done it 3 months ago so I was shocked they did it again, especially in the middle of NFL Sunday. They had some weird shifts to bid on. I was worried but my number was pretty high. Out of 733 agents I was number 47. This is really really good. The lower your number the better chance you have at the shift you want. They had 1 shift for sat/sun off that was mornings the rest were afternoon/evening. Then I bid on Sun/Thur off. I had to bid on 61 schedules and all but 10 were afternoon/evening. It was really important for me to get Sundays off so I can be in church with my family. At best I was hoping Sun/Thurs and I didn't want to think about the worst. Convergys is a large corporation and the work at home project is just a year old so it goes thru A LOT of changes. basically if it isn't broke they like to fix it. I love being home and I like my job so its all good and I have learned to roll with it, do the best I can do and be so thankful I have a job and am still able to be home.

Well, I got my new schedule yesterday. Imagine my SHOCK when I got Sun/Sat OFF. Hurray!!! I could not believe it. I have been there almost 2 years in January and have never gotten a bid I truly wanted and never received my first choice of bids. My schedule ROCKS!I work Mon-Fri from 6-11 am. How sweet is that? I can still pick Hope up from preschool on Tues and Thurs and my neighbor will take her for me. I will probably need to pick up a few additional hours as I usually work 30 hours a week not 25 but they are always looking for overtime hours so it won't be an issue.



We were told by our Bishop if we paid tithing for 2 months he promised we would see great blessings, also if we go to Church, read our scriptures, and of course we are still preparing for the Temple! Money is tight but Rich has been able to find work with Lyle, we see daily that we are being blessed and we know without a doubt we are doing what our Father in Heaven wants us to do and that he is aware of us and loves us. life is GOOD! no life is GREAT!

Laundry Soap

A friend of mine let me use some of her home made laundry soap, I do A LOT of laundry and I really liked it. Clothes seemed cleaner and whites brighter without the use of bleach. I bought the ingredients today spent about 8.00 probably 10.00 with a 5 gallon bucket if you don't have one. probably took me 20 min total to make and I think will last 5 months or so.

Ingredients
4 C hot tap Water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
5 C Washing Soda
1/2 C Borax
5 gallon bucket with lid

-Grate Bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium heat until soap is dissolved and melted
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water, stir cover and let sit over night to thicken.
- Stir and fill a used, clean laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water, shake before each use (will gel)
-optional can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil. Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons

Top load Marching- 5/8 C per load (aprox 180 loads)
Front load machines 1/4 C per load (aprox 640 loads)

I used about 1/2 cup or less per load on mine.

Fabric Softener for Dryer

1 sponge cut into 1/4 's
1 C Downy or other liquid fabric softener
4 C water

Cut sponge into 4 sections. Mix Downy with water. Store sponge in mixture, drain one sponge for each load of laundry. put sponge in dryer with clothes. When load is done put sponge back into the mixture to use again.

Pictures

Here are a few of the picts I took on Sat in Idaho Falls.

Socks

Hope woke up Saturday morning and had to tell Autumn and me about this dream she had. A pink sock was tickling her and would not leave her alone. She was trying to fight it and bite it but it just kept tickling her over and over again. It sounds really funny but I think it was more of a nightmare for her. She slept in our room last night. I could not get her to sleep in hers, she kept telling me she was afraid of the sock coming after her. Poor girl.

On another note we were down by the river taking some pictures and walked onto the temple grounds. I was holding her hand and telling her this is where we will be sealed in a few weeks. She looks up at me and said, mommy when they put us in the box to seal us will they let us out again. She knows we will be sealed and she knows it is very important but she still doesn't grasp what it means. I explained to her we would not be put in a box and what it meant. I think actually seeing the temple she was afraid we were going in there and would never get to come out again. My dear sweet 5 year old.

Autumn also had her Patriarchal blessing last night. It was AMAZING. Rich and I get ours next week and I am so excited. All I will say about hers is this generation of children are so strong, they have to be with everything that is going on in the world today and all that is still to come.

Whirlwind

I feel like we are in a whirlwind. So many exciting things going on. We went to General Conference in Salt Lake. Richard Autumn Katie Zoey and I went to the 2:00 pm session on Saturday. It was amazing. The spirt that was in the building and the speakers were wonderful. I loved the experience.
We are also getting ready to go to the Temple. Rich got the Priesthood last Wed. The Bishopric came into our home along with a few friends Rich invited. We are going to Church every week and paying a full tithe as well. Rich is getting lessons from Brian so he is able to get the Melchizedek Priesthood in November. We also started temple prep classes last night. Brother Hillam is teaching it with his wife. They had us to their home and the spirit was strong. He is a great teacher and we learned a lot. He feels like 2 more lessons and we will have it. This is our schedule for the next month or 6 weeks
October 18th Autumn gets her patriarchal blessing and we also have a temple prep class that night. October 25th Rich and I get our patriarchal blessing and we will have another temple prep class that should be our final. November 22nd Rich will receive the Melchizedek priesthood. November 24th Rich and I take out our endowments. Rory and Lorie have agreed to be our escorts. Very very excited for it. Thanksgiving is November 26th and then we are scheduled to be sealed on Saturday November 28th at 10:30 am.
We still need to fit Rich's other 2 lessons for the Priesthood in there and also need to decide what we are doing for Temple clothes if we will rent or buy. I know the girls' I will rent. All so exciting and scary at the same time. It's a whirlwind but AMAZING!!!!!

Bishop Adams

4 weeks ago we got a new Bishop. If anyone has ever changed our life this is the man. I can't being to express my love and gratitude for the Bishop. Rich and I have been married for 20 years. I have always wanted to go to the Temple but wasn't sure we would get there. Then our amazing daughter Autumn started to pray for us all a little over a year ago. She has such incredible faith and really wanted us all to be sealed more then anything. 3 weeks ago we were called into the Bishops office after Autumn gave her first talk in Sacrament. Our conversation was something like this "do you love each other" "yes Bishop" "do you love your children" "yes Bishop" "then why aren't you sealed to them in the Temple" Rich and
I both hit the floor with our mouths. Not what we were expecting from a new Bishop. Guns blazing... so we talked for a long time and had a few assignments and orders to report back in 2 weeks... Find out what the Atonement is.... Read 1 Chapter of the book of Mormon each night and talk about it for 5 min before bed. Say a prayer together every night, Rich on the odd days me on the even... he wanted us to do this together as a couple and then of course scripture study with the kids. He read the questions they ask in a Temple recommend to us, there were 2 we could not answer... do you pay Tithing and is Rich a Melchizedek priesthood holder. He then challenged us to come to Church each week and also pay tithe, this is hard as we are so broke right now, but we are doing it! We have been to Church the past 3 weeks I have only been to 1 hour as I have to come home to work but my loving husband has stayed all 3 hours with the girls.
To say we have a peace in our hearts and home we have never felt is an understatement. As stressed out as we are with no work for him we are still at peace knowing we are doing what has been asked of us and the Lord will help us get thru this. Our whole way of thinking has changed and a huge dose of humble pie has been slapped in our face. It has literally brought us to our knees in prayer and gratitude for the blessings, people and sweet sweet daughters we have.
Our dear neighbors Brian and Michelle were over for 4 hours tonight. Brian has been given the huge task of getting Rich ready for the Melchizedek. This Wed. he will be ordained a Priest and hopefully in November our family will have the blessing of having him hold the Melchizedek.
We are going to take Autumn and Zoey and Katie to General Conference next week in Salt Lake. Tymber and Hope will stay home with my parents. We are so excited to go.
Last I will say we are going to the Temple. I sometimes feel like I am in a dream we are going to the Temple, we will be sealed as an eternal family!!!!! Our goal is Thanksgiving weekend when most of Rich's family will be here from Boise so they don't have to come back in December. We have not gotten final word yet but I think this is do-able. If not then, I know we will go a few weeks later!

Shadow

Our dog Shadow died today. It is very sad. He was around 17 yeas old. Rich and I got him when he was 6 weeks old. We have been expecting it for a while now. His health just was not good and he was having a really hard time with his hips. We told the girls last spring we did not think he would last another winter. Some days he would run around like he had tons of energy and other days he would walk and fall down. Rich and I had been talking about putting him down for a while but we didn't want to end his life to soon but also did not want him to live in pain. We just were not ready to make the decision yet.
Tymber came home and found him. She thought he was asleep and walked up to him and he was gone. She came in the house crying and unfortunately I was on a call for work and unable to asked her what was wrong so she had to write it for me. I then had her go tell her dad, he was downstairs. He went outside and Hope followed him out he told her to go back in but she refused to believe Shadow was gone and thought he was asleep. I then heard her run into her room screaming and crying and slamming the door. When I was able to get off work I went and got her and hugged her she told me he wasn't dead that he hit his head and was just sleeping. I explained he was in Heaven now and very happy.
Rich went out and buried him. I just wish one of us had found him and not my sweet Tymber.

Fair

The Blackfoot fair was in town so we went. Autumn was hanging out with her friends and Tymber got invited to go with a few of her friends. I was just going to drop them off but I had to go help Tymber find her friends so Rich and I decided to go also. We ended up getting Hope a wristband. I really didn't want to but it was worth is. That child is fearless. She had so much fun and her smile was huge and priceless. She wanted to go on the huge Ferris wheel so I had Autumn Katie and Ryan take her. She told me it scared her when she got to the top and stopped... did it frighten her enough to stop going on the bigger rides? Nope. She also went on the big roller coaster Autumn and Ryan rode in front and Hope and Katie rode in back. Katie said Hope had a death grip on her hand. She also wanted to ride the mechanical bull. Rich and I both told her no, then Rich went home and I stayed with her, I had to go find Tymber and ended up running into Rory, Lorie and their family. Trey and JJ were on the bull. I told Lorie Hope was wanting to ride and left Hope with them for a min while I tracked Tym down. Lorie paid for Hope to ride and I got back in time to see her get on. I hurried and called Autumn and they ran over to watch. Hope stayed on the whole time with her arm in the air. She loved it so much. She wanted to go again but I said no. So we ended up taking her on more rides and Autumn Katie and Ryan took her to the fun house and a few others. We had a great time. Most of the picts I have are just from my cell phone and of course with the other 2 off doing their own thing they are all of Hope and not great quality but you get the idea. In 2 days she will be 5 and I will blog on her birthday then.

School begins

School started for Autumn and Tymber Aug 26th. On a Wednesday. They always start school on Wed. Tymber is in 5th grade. She was very excited and also very nervous. This is a big year for her with a huge State project to do. She wasn't sure about her teacher but she likes her a lot and is loving school. Of course with tater she is always there for the socialization but she has matured a lot over the summer and I think she will have an amazing year. We are off to a good start. They had to fill out a paper about themselves, likes and dislikes one of the questions what do you like to do in your spare time... Tymbers response "Like I ever have free time to myself" I just had to laugh, the hectic schedule of a 11 year old I guess. She acts like she has a full time job or something.

Autumn started her Freshman year as a Blackfoot Bronco. They had all the freshmen start a day early and I think it was great to let them have a day to get around and learn the classes and meet the teachers before the upper class came in. The school is pretty big with classes all over. Her first hour is intro to agriculture and she just loves it. The teacher is great and she thinks she might join the ag club. She then has science and is not crazy about the teacher, then she goes to math. Then they have 40 min for lunch and 4th hour is English. So far she's not crazy about it either. She said the teachers eye brows bug her. What a goof. Then its Spanish as the last class. 5 classes 70 minutes each. They do trimesters so there will be 3 trimesters. Next tri is all electives its crazy.

She was telling us about the assembly they had with the whole school. We never did any fun things like they did. She said the freshmen got booed over and over but it was a load of fun. The first football game is Friday and a back to school dance. Not sure if she will go or not but I think she is going to have a blast the next 4 years.

Hope is going to preschool. Today was her first day. She goes Tued and Thurs. 9-11:30. Tracy Folsom is her teacher. This is her first year teaching but she is going to be really good. I think there are 5 girls and 3 boys. Hope was so very excited she got to go to school also. I told her I can't believe she is going to school Her reply to me was "look at all the free time you get to yourself mom" ahhh so grown up. Preschool doesn't bother me its kindy that will kill me.

My work schedule is pretty messed up. I was really worried it would interfere with preschool and it has. But one of Tymbers friends, her mom Nikki takes her daughter to preschool also and she told me it will be no problem to bring Hope home for me. They just live down the road a little. I am so thankful Hope will have this opportunity for preschool. I didn't think she would be able to go.

Found

I am happy to report that Buster has been returned from the Tooth Fairy. Ha ha. Hope found him in the spare bedroom right where she had left him. Imagine that. Now he is back with her, that is until one of them is lost again and she will have some great exuse as to what or how. I love her imagination.

Tragedy

I am sad to report tragedy has struck our house. Autumn and I were in the computer room this morning and Hope ran out and informed us the Tooth Fairy snuck in here last night and took Buster. Can you believe she would do such a thing? Who is Buster you ask. Buster is Hopes blue stuffed bunny. We assured her the Tooth Fairy did not take Buster but she is convinced.
Buster jumped in the canal last week when he walked out the door by himself and jumped, oh no wait that was Mackie the penguin. I found Mackie under the bed in her room. Something tells me Buster will be found as well.

Time for school?

What? Time for school? How in the heck did that happen. I'm pretty sure I'm not ready. Sure the school supplies are bought and they have enough clothes but I just am not ready. The summer has flown by. It has been such weird weather I feel like summer has just arrived. I like having my kids home, yes they fight but it is so nice for Hope while I am working to have the girls be with her. Mostly Tymber because Autumn has been gone so much.

I really am not excited for High School. Okay that's not true in a lot of ways I am and I know Autumn is beyond excited. The new adventures and fun of High school. The battle with homework not so much. The drivers training not so much, but in the same sense it will be nice next summer that she will be able to drive. Then the thought that she is almost 15. Wow where has time gone.

Then there is my tater bug she is in the 5th grade. What 5th grade? This is her last year at Groveland. I think this is going to be a challenging year for her. She is such a social butterfly and will need to control her talking and learn to get organized before going to 6th grade next year.

Now my little Hope will be 5 in a few weeks, It breaks my heart. She is growing so fast and I didn't want her to. I want her to stay the little 4 pound baby I brought home from the hospital.
I think we are going to put her in pre school. We were not because of my work schedule but that has changed. I am now on a flex schedule and a flex time. It really really sucks. So far I work 12-6 on week days and 9-3 on weekends. With my days off changing each week. Trying to be positive about it and the good thing is Hope can now go to school and also with me starting later and her being here when I work she is only "alone" until 3 when Tymber gets home even though she is not "alone" as I am here just working. I am going to be heartbroken when she starts kindergarten next year.
So August 26th we will begin the 2009-2010 school year.

Robots

Hope has an obsession with robots lately, she is so funny. Whenever you ask her to do something or get you something she tells us she wishes her robot would hurry up and get here so she wouldn't have to do all the work herself. Poor girl is so picked on.
My mom came to stay a few days while my dad was in Alaska. She told Hope we would go to Wal Mart so Hope brought her a piece of paper for a list. The conversation went something like this, most of it from Hope.. "grandma we need a list write down a toy, we need a toy grandma, (grandma writes toy and tells Hope we will see) "grandma we need a robot write down robot" Grandma to Hope I don't think they have made robots yet that we can afford. "But Grandma I need something to do my chores I am so tired of having to do everything around here: ( I am sitting on the couch not trying to lose it, I am cracking up). " I think a hamburger would be good grandma, ketchup only no pickles and a toy from McDonald's" Grandma writes hamburger. now they discuss the robot some more " Grandma I need fries and a rootbeer write that down by hamburger with ketchup only" grandma writes it down... Grandma I need a dog. A real dog not a stuffed one, a real one that breaths. Grandma tells Hope good luck with that one, she doesn't think Rich will go for it. Oh how wise Grandma is. "Grandma I need a chocolate donut, they are the best I loooove chocolate donuts"
The next day we go to Wal mart and manage to not get a toy but Grandma did spoil each of the girls with some clothes. Tymber got a new dress Hope got a purple short outfit and Autumn got a much loved Blackfoot Broncos hoodie. Of course we got a hamburger ketchup only for Hope and Tymber.
The robot conversation still comes up daily. She can not wait for her robot to get here that way she just doesn't have to do everything. Poor child we may need to check into the Child labor laws she is so over worked and under paid.

AFY Video

Brady and Autumn made a AFY video.

11 years and 20 years

Yesterday July 7th was Richard and my 20th anniversary. It is so hard to believe we have been married 20 years. It just doesn't seem like it has been that long. Iam so thankful for him. he is so amazing and I am so blessed to have him as my husband and the wonderful father to my 3 beautiful daughters. I look back at being 18 when I got married. I was so young but it was the right thing for me and I do not regret it for a single second. If I had the choice to wait a few years to have married him or do it again at 18 Iwould not hesitate for single second. It does freak me out to think in 4 short years Autumn will be 18 and could be in the same position.

My dear sweet Tymber is 11 today. My tater bug. She is so much fun. She is really becoming artistic and it is a blast to watch her develop this side of her. She is going to be very talented. She loves to make things out of clay and is funny to watch mime. We were going to go swim today at Ross park but the wind was blowing and it just wasn't that warm. Istead she is having a sleep over with KassaDee and Brittany. Tomorrow when I get off work Iwill take them to swim. What a blessing this sweet funny energetic outgoing friendly child is. She is so incredibly beautiful inside and out and is always concerned about others. What a blessed mother and wife I am.

Autumn got home from AFY they had so much fun she will blog about it. She is off to girls camp this week then the rest of the summer may be boring for her.

Summer is flying by

It is already July 1st tomorrow. It doesn't even feel like summer with as much rain as we have received. The kids have not been able to play outside much and that makes for some unhappy fighting girls. Hopefully the weather will be nice from here on out. We want to set up our pool and play.

We have still been super busy. The girls have been going to 4-H classes and then went to 4-H camp for 3 days. They said it was a blast and the weather was nice. Then over the weekend we went and got Brady from the airport and yesterday took them up to AFY at BYUI. Autumn Katie and Brady went. They were so excited and it was a fun car ride up. We laughed the whole way. It was frustrating to get them checked in as Katie and Autumn were in 1 dorm and Brady in another cross campus. The campus is a lot bigger then I thought and there was some construction going on. I had to just drop Autumn and Katie off in front of their dorm but a counselor was outside to help them. Brady and I were late getting to his dorm and the office was closed with a note saying we couldn't check in. It freaked me out. We knew his room number so we went upstairs all of these signs were posted NO WOMEN ALLOWED but I went up anyways. We found a counsellor and I told him I was Brady's mom in case they were mad I was up there but it was no problem, we found Brady's room and then he took Brady to meet his group and helped me get his stuff from the car. Then I had to go try to track Autumn down as Katie forgot her shoes and a bag in the rush to throw them out on the side of the road. Found Katie and gave her stuff to her but didn't see Autumn. I really wanted to see their dorm and take a picture but it didn't happen. Autumn sent me a pict last night and I must say it looks nicer then Brady's. I feel bad for him but I don't think they are in there much except to sleep. They pretty much are on the go from 7:00 am to after 10:00 pm. Autumn texted me last night about 10:30 and told me they were having the time of their lives. We really enjoyed having Brady with us over the weekend. I am worried about them white water rafting on Thursday because the water is so high and swift but I am sure everything will be fine.

The younger 2 girls are at mom and dads for a few days. I feel guilty I have the day off work and am just being lazy. But it is so nice and quiet and I just don't know the last time I have had time just to myself. I think I might feel guilty for not feeling as guilty as I should feel. Ha that doesn't make sense.

Tymber will be 11 on July 8th and my 20 year anniversary is July 7th. Wish we were on some exotic vacation but yeah right. Oh well.

Appliances

Things just are not made any more like they used to be. I bought a new washer last May. One year and one month latter the stupid thing was not working. It was making the worst sound ever. Think nails on chalk board plus 100 times worse. Rich was able to fix it some what but all of the sound was not gone. I remember when I bought my washer I paid the $ 50.00 for the extended protection plan as I had so many problems with my last washer and the repair man told me they make everything to last no more then 3-4 years now. Nice huh. So I called the protection plan and they came out on Friday. The guy told Autumn ( I was working so I was unable to talk to him even though I was home) that we put to big of loads in and that the left panel was installed upside down. He ran it and it sounded fine so off he went. Umm yeah he ran it without any clothes in it just water. So when I got off work I started a load I was way behind on laundry plus Hope had a tummy bug and really needed clothes to be washed. It sounded worse then when we started. Not happy. Called them and of course it was 4 pm on Friday are they going to get anyone out nope. Rich fixed it again for me but the guy made it worse so he was only able to do so much, I did a few loads we were desperate here, then another guy came out Mon afternoon. Got it fixed. Turns out something bent and a bolt was scraping against the drum, he pounded the bolt back out and presto all was great. So glad I had the protection plan. Most times I will not get it as I feel like it is a waste but I am rethinking that as things are not made like they used to be. The day of having an appliance for 20 plus years is over.

texting

Messing around at the store

The much awaited for phone

So we decided it was time for Autumn to have a phone. She is just so crazy busy and it is only $10.00 more a month to put her on my plan. We are on a shared minute family plan so she has to be really careful about how much she talks on the phone as those minutes are more for her dad and his work. But we have unlimited texting and boy does she know how to use it. We got the phone Mon afternoon and today is Wed. she has sent and received 1650 yes that is right 1650 texts in less then 48 hours. It that just beyond crazy or what? Getting the phone was an ordeal in itself. First they got Rich's and her phone mixed up as they are the same color, so she had programed all her numbers into his phone. Luckily we were still in town so we took it back & they just transferred her numbers to her phone. Then we found out they gave us the wrong phone number. They told us her number was 403-xxxx but really it was 406-xxxx we found that out by me texting her and this guy texting back wrong number then my dad called the 406 instead of 403 and sure enough that was the #. I felt really bad for this guy so I called him to apologize. Explained they gave us the wrong # and what happened. Thank goodness he has unlimited texting also. He was really super nice about it and I assured him we wouldn't bug him again. Totally not our fault but still felt stupid.



We are just crazy busy right now.School got out last Thurs June 4th. Tymber went to play at a friends Autumn went to see Night at the Museum 2. She really loved it, said it was better then the first one. Friday she went to a Youth dance at the high school for Youth conference. Sat. she did a service project then they had a speaker and lunch and games at the high school. She said the speaker was the best she has ever heard. he was from the Quarm of the 70. Monday she had 4-H cake decorating and then off to get her phone and to shop for swim suits. That was fun.... NOT. Tues Tymber had 4-H and Autumn got her hair trimmed then we cleaned house. Then she had young Women's that night. Wed. (today) she had a 4-H camp counselor retreat all day and tomorrow she teaches a 4-H class. Friday & Sat she is off to spend the night with Kylee and I think the younger 2 are off to Grandpa and Grandmas for a night or 2. So with all the crazy busy stuff that is why she got a phone. Of course there will be some hard rules especially when school starts about taking the phone to school and the grades will need to stay good. As I told her the Mom givith and the mom taketh away.



Tymber ended the year with all A's and B's. Just super proud of her. She worked so hard this year. She is really starting to mature and turn into an amazing Young woman. She is so bright and funny and really showing talent with her artistic side. We bought her some molding clay and she makes really fun and cute things. Autumn's report card was pretty good as well. 1 grade I wasn't happy with but everything else was great. Grounding her for 9 weeks did work. Katie's mom told me Katie made the honor roll this term also... See I grounded them both.... It was really hard on them but I hope it was a lesson well learned for Autumn. Oh yeah and Friday she starts online classes. She wanted to take a photography class on line it counts for an elective, I told her she could but she had to retake pre Algebra seems how her grade was so bad. She was not happy about it but it was non negotiable. It also will count as an elective for her. it is 9 weeks and each week the teacher gives them their assignment and then they have a week to complete it and turn it in at their pace. Should be interesting.

June is here

Well it looks like we are heading into June. Still need to get a little of my garden in. We are growing really really good morning glory, Argh I hate that crap, Rich needs to spray again before I can plant. Probably this weekend as he worked all last weekend and it has been raining off and on. Something is eating my green beans as the pop up. Stupid bugs leave my food alone.
The girls are out of school Thursday June 4th then we are off to a busy month of June and first week of July. it is going to fly by I think. They have been cutting hours at work. It is pretty slow right now, but they cut everyones hours so nobody got layed off. I am cut about 5-6 hours a week. I know I should mind but I really don't right now. The money would be nice (isn't it always) but I like having the time off an it will be nice with the girls home. They think by July we will be back to our regular hours.
Last night... well really early this morning at 3 am I was still awake and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, Rich and everyone else was sound asleep. I kept hearing this dog whine and yelp. I really didn't think much of, it then the more I listened the more it sounded like Shadow, it had just started to rain really hard and I thought maybe he wanted in the garage, I went and turned the outside light on in back, couldn't see him but could hear him, then went into the garage and turned the side light on, again couldn't see him but still heard him... on a side note Blackberry came running into the garage with a big fat mouse....ewww... then I decided it was coming from out front so I turned the front porch light and garage light on still could hear him, it was really raining now so I went and found a flashlight got my shoes on and started to look for him I started to walk towards the road and he was crying I was scared to death he had been hit by a car or shot. I walked towards the neighbors driveway as that is where the sound was coming from, now I am wet and their sprinkler hits me also, my poor poor dog fell in the ditch and couldn't get out. Plus the ditch was full of water. So there he was soaking wet getting rained on, I knew I couldn't get him out myself as he is big and weighs over 70 pounds so I had to wake Rich up. He got dressed and was able to get him out. We opened the garage and he walked in there and got on his blanket. He is pretty stiff and sore this morning. I just know we are going to have to let him go pretty soon. he still gets around pretty good but he is deaf almost and going blind. I know he won't make it until winter. He is 17 so he is old. It is pretty sad. We have told the older 2 we won't have him much longer and Hope has watched Marley and Me so I think she understands about the dog getting older and the vet having to put it to sleep. I am just extremely grateful I was up so late and was able to hear him crying and went to look for him. I knew something was wrong because he just doesn't whine like that. Rich thinks he had been there for a while the ditch bank was pretty torn up and he doesn't think he would have lived thru the night. My girls catch the bus right there so I am very very grateful they did not find him this morning...

Good weekend

It was a good weekend. I took Sat off work and we were outside most of the day. Perfect weather. The girls jumped right in and really helped get the yard picked up. We did a lot of work in the flower beds. Rich got the weeds sprayed and we moved strawberry plants got the tomatoes planted the beans and carrots also. Tymber got to drive the lawn mower for the first time. We let her pull the cart around that we dump all the weeds & stuff into. She did really good but it will be a while before I feel good enough to let her cut the grass with the blades down and going. Plus she got in trouble for not asking permission and using it without a adult outside so she is grounded from it.
Sunday the girls went to church while I worked. Then we made lasagna for dinner and were pretty lazy. The girls played outside most of the afternoon. Hope played with Landon our neighbor. They are the same age so have a blast. In the middle of the night Autumn came up to get some water and ended up getting sick. We figured she had to much sun and was dehydrated. I was in the bathroom with her and she stood up to go into the living room ran smack into the door and passed out cold. Pretty much scared the crap out of me. I yelled at Rich and he came running into the bathroom. By then she had come to. It was really hot in the bathroom and I felt dizzy also, I am sure because she scared me so bad, so he brought a fan in and left us on the floor for a few minutes. We were talking about it and her reply was 'well did I at least fall gracefully" I told her she had a graceful fall. Silly girl is so vain and has so much MURRAY in her. We tell her all the time about grandpa Grant and his mirror mirror on the wall who's the handsomest of all.... why me. Plus Rich could never walk by a mirror when he was younger without checking himself out. She is still pretty sick today. Dizzy and upset tummy. She laid on my bed all day while I worked I am thinking it may be a bug and not dehydration. I am going to be ticked off if we get sick again. Of course I called the nurse just to make sure she didn't need to be seen and she assured me she just got dizzy and passed out. She was only out maybe 5-10 seconds but when you are watching your child lay there it is a life time.
Yep when I checked this morning a few more grey hairs....

Garden time

We are all finally better. Yeah. Now if the weather would be nice (yeah right). We had a party for my parents the day before Mothers Day for their 50th anniversary. I know it was in Feb. but we wanted to wait to have it when everyone was home. We were supposed to do family pictures but that just didn't work. Kade was off to prom & Heather had to leave for work. We were pretty sneaky. Caralyn told them we were having a welcome home party for Brandi and Darren. We invited Deb and Terry and Rock & Linda and Dan & Angela and we had dinner at Caralyns. We brought salads and ordered a sheet cake with their picture on it. All of the kids and grand kids were there. It was a really nice day so we set up tables outside and the kids were able to play and have a great time. Caralyn has a little park right next to her house with a play set so they all went over there and we easily could see them. Aunt Perk and Pat were there and Lynn and Alan also. Mom and dad were the first to arrive then Deb showed up. They were shocked. It was great. They also got a lap top. My dad really wanted one to take to Arizona so now we get to teach them how to use it. They know very little about computers.
Rich got the garden tilled up so my dad is coming today to make rows for us and bringing tomato plants. Rich and I have been trying to decide what to do with our yard. We have too many flower beds and way to many weeds. I think we are going to kill the big berm out front and get rid of all the weeds and grass in it. We are slowly going to get river rock to put in it and the other berm by the ditch and not worry about flowers and plants in it. The berm by the front of the house we will keep flowers in. This year I think my tomatoes are going there to help protect from the wind. Then we will just have the berms out back for flowers. Hopefully it will be much easier to keep up on. We will see I guess.

in a minute but not today

We have all had the flu or something going on. I am about ready to beat my head against the wall. I CAN NOT get my family healthy. Just got T healthy Autumn brings crap home. T gets sick again then Rich then Hope and now me. It is nasty crap. Sore throat, body ache, fever, head pounding like no other, stuffed up or runny nose. So everyone is feeling better but me. I ended up calling in Sun & Mon to work and that really sucked because Rich was sick for 1 week out of work & of course no work = no money. My parents wanted to help but I don't want them here to expose them. Especially my mom with her Diabetes when she gets sick it takes her forever to get over it and it is twice as bad. All I could do was lay in bed so I decided to send Hope to them for a few days. I felt really guilty not being able to care for her & the older 2 were in school & can care for themselves. Rich took her Mon afternoon as he had a Chiro appt. Why yes his back went out along with all this going on also.
I figured they would keep her Mon & Tues & Wed I could go get her. I spoke with her this morning asking if she was ready to come home telling her I missed her like crazy her response was "I miss you to, I will be home in a minute but not today, I am staying another night" hmmm ok then. I think she ran away from home. She absolutely loves her grandparents and my dad will play with her endlessly. He hooked the tire swing up to the big tree and they had been out swinging away. She informed me she had to go because she had a fudge cycle waiting for her. looks like we are another day without her. I know she is in great hands and having a ball. They will bring her up when I get off work Thurs. I am feeling better. Still not great but better.
Brandi is home for good now and I am sure Kaycee went over to play today plus my parents are anxious to meet Mckinlee as we all are.
I went to sign the older 2 up for summer 4-H classes they each take 3 classes plus Autumn teaches a class with Katie. The 4-H leaders really want Autumn to be a camp counselor. They go for 2 days to Alpine. I think I am going to let her do it and let Tymber go up to the camp. I was really hesitant because I didn't know much about it and didn't feel good sending them with people I don't know but after speaking with the 4-H office it is just Bingham county that goes and the leaders are all people that work in the office and I know. So I am good letting them go. It will be fun for them. In case anyone is wondeing yes Autumn is still grounded.:-)

Spring? Who knows

I am scared to say spring is here because you just never know with this season. But the weather is nice. Tymber has a bad cold AGAIN. UGH I wish that child could stay healthy. Any little bug and she is down. Autumn came down with a cold last week so of course it is going thru us again. Hope has it, Autumn is still coughing a little & Rich & I don't feel that great but oh well.
Autumn is grounded again from Katie but I won't go into details because she hates when I tell everyone everything. Lets just say the grades really really suck and leave it at that. Katie seems to be the only thing I can ground her from that really matters but I am not sure at this point she really cares. Teens are so much fun.
I sprung the kids from the house it is just to nice for them to be inside even though they don't feel well the fresh air will do them good I hope. And of course as I write this Tymber just got stung by a bee....
Our Easter was good. we went to Zoey's Sat for dinner & as always it was great. Sun we went to my parents' and everyone was there but Ryan (hunting) and Brandi's family. But she is coming home the end of the month for good. We are very excited to have them home and Darren safely out of the Army. The kids hunted eggs and the day was beautiful even though the next day it snowed.... then we ate and visited. Everyone is happy my parents are home from Arizona. When Hope woke up the next day and seen the snow she asked if we could hook up our camp trailer to to daddies truck and head to Arizona " I hear it is nice in Arizona" she says to funny. Then she wanted to know if Grandma & Grandpa we going back when I told her no she let the matter drop. I think she was just worried they were going to leave again. April is flying by and soon May will be here. Then 1 month of school and it will be out for the summer Yikes.

Highschool

Rich and I took Autumn to a High school orientation on Wed. It is the first year the school has done something like this for the incoming Freshmen. They had different tables set up in the gym with the elective teachers so you could ask questions about the elective classes. They also had a program in the auditorium where they introduced the whole staff/teachers. It is a HUGE school. From what I understand there are 4 levels. They have added on several times so it has a new gym an old gym and we only saw the top floor where all the Freshman lockers are. We didn't see the cafeteria or even much of the school. It looks very nice with it's own wing for the drama & choir & I think band. It also offers the outside buildings with all the shop classes etc. This next year they are bringing in all the freshmen 1 day early to get them used to the classes and teachers before the rest of the mob gets there. I think this is a great idea. I think it is going to be very overwhelming as Blackfoot only has 1 high school and I am not sure how big the student body is but I know there are quite a few. I am pretty impressed with all the school has to offer. It is not like when we were in High school some of the classes blew me away "intro to Law" and as you advance you have the chance of taking classes that also offer College credit. Love it. This year the requirements of education change & they need 4 more credits to graduate. They have to have an addtl 2 in Math & 2 in Science I think. Plus they have to do a Senior project that has to be presented and have taken college entrance exams in their Jr year. Beside the core classes Autumn signed up for intro to Agriculture. They have to have this to take the Greenhouse class. Then a landscape design class. They have a greenhouse that they grow things in. Very cool. She will try to get Ag 1st or 2nd trimester and then Greenhouse last Tri as it is not offered in the 2nd due to the weather. It will be so good for her to learn this. Plus she wants to join the Ag. club. Like the teacher said it is not about becoming a farmer. They have a "huge" scholarship opportunity. They give out something like 2.5 mil each year in scholarships. The teacher said a while back 1.5 mil was not claimed because there was not enough kids that applied. So if she does well she has a good chance for a scholarship with this group. Next year she will be able to take some foods and child development classes. They are not offered for 9th grade. Plus she can take a class that the students teach preschool to the local children. Lesson plan and that type of thing and actually teach the class I think 3 day a week. She is thinking of becoming a teacher so this will be invaluable for her. Then there are a ton of business classes you can take and be able to work during the school hours at a local business earn $ and earn credit at the same time. Not to mention the Health occupation you could take and I guess once you are done with this class and pass it you are a certified nurse assistant and guaranteed a job. So cool. She will be taking Spanish it is recommended a foreign language at least 2 years it looks good on the college Apps. They also offer German & I think that would be fun but in the area we are in Spanish is defiantly more useful. When she takes P.E . next year (no credit this year for it) she can sign up for different classes. Not the boring PE we had in school that everyone hated. The school is right next door to the indoor Swimming pool so she could take a swimming PE. or she can take one that offers Flag Football, a few other things and Bowling. Once again school is in walking distance to a Bowling alley and tennis courts and soccer field. What a great opportunity. She will take Drivers Ed this year also. She is eligible to take it first Tri. but we told her no. She has to prove to us to pull a B average so we can afford the insurance for her. She is not thrilled to take it 2nd Tri because it is winter but both Rich & I feel like she will be a better driver because it will be winter. Lets face it driving in the snow/ice sucks but it is a reality and if she learns to drive in it all the better. So we are really excited for her to start her High school years. We want her to become involved and love school and get the best learning experience she can get. Both Rich and I hated High school and neither of us did well in it. Looking back now both of us wish we had done better in it. We want all 3 of our girls to walk away with a great opportunity not only to learn but to look back and see that it was a great time and memories before they have to enter the "real world" with real responsibilities. Bills, work, blah, blah,blah. She will also take Seminary of course.

This is really long but I also have to say Autumn read Fablehaven. She actually told me she thought it was better then Twilight. Gasp,shock. WOW did she really say that. in fact she stayed up so late reading it Wed night she didn't get her butt out of bed to go to school Thurs. Bad Autumn. But hey I guess we all need a day like that once in a while. I can't wait to read it. She got the 2nd book from the library & I am sure will have her nose in it all weekend. We will probably need to get to the bookstore or Library this weekend for book 3.