Tuesday, January 31, 2012

2011 Sum Up

Last night for Family Home Evening we reminisced about 2011. We all agreed it was one of the best years ever.

We camped in Snow Canyon (St. George) under the stars in the sand.
We went to Oregon and Washington with a RV trailer and had a blast. We drove across every bridge possible several times. We hiked in the forests and along the beach. We fed seals, explored northwest neighborhoods, went to the maritime museum, played in the sand, flew kites, and just had a wonderful time.

We went back to St. George for Jaremy, Jessica, Benjamin, and Moroni's first half-marathon.
We went to Moab.

We backpacked into Dry Canyon and White Pine. I was five months pregnant for the White Pine adventure. I took the kids up with most of the gear all the way up the 4.5 miles to the lake. Jaremy was supposed to meet us up there later that evening. He had to work late and came up in the middle of the night. He never found us in the dark. We had a memorable night of attempting to sleep on the cold hard ground, praying for Jaremy's safety, and trying to keep a tiny fire going with twigs. We ate Power Bars to try to stay awake while we waited for Jaremy. It was amazing to find out we are tougher than we thought. I slept a bit in the dirt next to a dying fire under the stars while I was five months pregnant thinking the whole time my husband was out in the mountains somewhere with a twisted ankle being eaten by a mountain lion. Oh, did I mention one of the kids had trail diarrhea in their pants and we had no extra clothes. That was an awesome adventure!!!

We discovered Green Canyon and fell in love with it. We hiked Jardine Juniper several times or at least part of it. Jaremy and the oldest kids took up mountain biking. This was the year we started running. We enjoyed sundae runs, trail runs, early morning runs, vacation runs, etc. We pretty much lived in the mountains during the spring, summer, and fall.

We volunteered at the American West Heritage Center and played pioneers and train driver.

We gardened with the Nielsens at their farm in Paradise.

We spoke in Church in our new ward. Natalie was baptized. Jessica started high school and began flirting with boys. Well, if you can consider spilling apple cider while you are talking to boys as flirting. Benjamin camped like crazy and was an amazing member of his deacon's quorum. The boys started their snow removal business. Jaremy traveled a lot for work. Hyrum learned to read. Ella and Tank became cuter and cuter. Adelynn was joyously welcomed into our family. Dad got a laptop. Mom got a tablet.

We had an amazing year! The best ever! They just keep getting better! Heavenly Father has blessed us beyond description!!!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Grandmas

Jaremy and I both have a grandmother still living. On Sunday we went to visit them. Grandma Martena Butler is in a nursing home in Brigham City. Grandma Zola Keller still lives at home in Honeyville. They both mean a lot to us. They have given us their love unconditionally since we were born. They have made our lives richer by their kindness, food, smiles, hugs, compliments, encouragement, perspective, cookies, and conversations. It seems we could do no wrong in their eyes. And because of this we didn't want to do anything to disappoint them. Both Grandmas are old now. Both wonder why they are still living. Both still try to be positive, but the golden years are laced with lead.

Neither grandma has ever been, shall we say, driven. As far as I can tell they loved and served their families, but kind of let life take them along. Now they are old and both say ready to die. I have seen other people age differently. They seem gun-hoe right up to the end. They are excited about life, serving others, and improving upon themselves until they kick the bucket. It seems they enjoy life, even with the trials age brings.

I have planned my life until I'm 113 years old. I need at least that much time to make a dent in all the things I want to do. I have an extensive bucket list. Of course, I understand when you don't feel well, or hear or see or touch or smell or taste well it is hard to feel enthusiastic about anything. But I want to push myself and make a difference until I slip on the banana peel into the grave. Of course, I might realize aging is way harder than I thought and find our grandmas did better than I will. But I hope to be healthier and more active at their age, because I'm a lot healthier and more active than they were at my age. But life is unpredictable, but I love it!!! And once again I'm so grateful for the love and kindness these two dear women have showered on us. That is much more important than having goals for yourself until you are 113. I hope my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren feel as loved by me as I do them.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Jessica's Home

Jessica is staying home today.  She is awesome! On her birthday she can get her driver's permit. I can't believe it! She has spent the day making orange rolls, doing the little girl's hair, studying driving laws, and helping Ella read.  She lives her life to bless others.  She is so Christ-like; she is a great example to me.


Monday, January 9, 2012

New Year's Resolutions

We have spent a lot of time as a family setting new year's resolutions for our family and as individuals. Then we've spent significant time determining how we are going to meet these goals. I hope we can teach our children how to stretch themselves and meet challenges. Of course, a huge part of teaching is inspiring by example. That means the bar is high for Jaremy and I. We must keep ourselves determined, enthusiastic, hopeful, and successful. It's so exciting and invigorating to have goals and to advance those goals. We've also tried to set goals that are important and accomplish more than just doing something hard. We've tried to align them with our divine purposes here on earth. I know Heavenly Father will help us bring to pass much righteousness and help inspire us to increase our self-discipline and resolve in moving forth honorable purposes. For this I'm most grateful and turn to Him for that assistance.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Month's Shopping

I am grateful to the Lord that we have enough money to feed and cloth our family.  Today we went shopping for the month.  That's a lot of stuff for a family of ten.  Everyone helped.  It's a huge job, but it helps us stick to the budget ($900) and save time and money on trips throughout the month.  We've only meet the budget one other month and have never meet or goal of only one shopping day a month.  But we have the ambition to try again this year.  It's a very challenging goal, but we will accomplish it!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Unschooling

I love structure, lists, and measurable results.  But a lot of learning also takes place when I let the kids do their own thing.  Hyrum drew helicopters and got excited about online subtraction speed drills this morning.  He raced the clock a lot longer than I would have scheduled him to practice.  He totally enjoyed it and improved by cutting his time in half.  Then he found a pretzel recipe in the Friend magazine.  Now he is reading and following the recipe.  We will see how it goes.  Maybe I should try this more often.  Of course, facilitating these activities takes a lot of work and patience too.  I'm grateful Heavenly Father lets me try new things and choose so much of what and how I learn.  I should extend that blessing to my children more often.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Politics

I am so grateful for fellow patriots, particularly those who have made great sacrafices to run for the GOP presidential nomination this year.  I was rooting for Michele Bachmann, but she left the race today.  She was a smart constitional conservative.  We really could benefit from this amazing woman's convictions, experience, and wisdom.  I am so grateful to live in this beautiful, free nation under God.  I pray we can live worthy of his blessings.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Returning Home

It's great to be home! We had a challenging drive home; however. Tank's stomach flu came back and we had throw-up and diarrhea everywhere. It's a trick to clean it up in the van. Not so fun. But still it is so much easier than the pioneers had it when they were sick. We were warm. We had Clorox wipes, baby wipes, tons of hand sanitizer, paper towels, garbage bags, extra clothes, and great kids that helped Jaremy and I take care of messes and Adelynn while we tried to clean up. We had practice in not freaking out. I just reminded myself when I faced a carseat full of diarrhea, Tank and Adelynn crying, and Ella insisting she needed to go "number two" right now that things would be better in 20 minutes. And sure enough. After 20 minutes the disgusting mess was cleaned up, Adelynn was nursing, Ella was in a rest stop, and Tank's tummy was feeling better. I lost my cool for a moment a couple of times, but Heavenly Father helped me feel love and compassion instead of panic. He helped me keep things in perspective. He helped remind me this less than ideal situation could turn into a positive one where my kids felt my love and concern. He also helped remind me it wasn't that big of a deal. So what if we spent an hour or two of the five-day trip dealing with unpleasantries. I was grateful I wasn't sick too, because it is extremely hard to take care of the sick when you are sick yourself. We had an amazing vacation. We were blessed with supplies to handle the situation. We have great kids who are blessed with overall health and strength. I'm grateful we had the stomach flu. It gives us the opportunity to show love and compassion. It gives us the opportunity to focus on all the wonderful blessings we have. It helps us remember how nice it is to be healthy and not take it for granted.




Monday, January 2, 2012

Moab is Marvelous

We have had great family bonding time for the last five days in Moab.  So many times Jaremy and I have exchanged smiles that mean we have the cutest kids and the best family in the world.  Our kids keep us laughing. We love sharing this amazing place with them.  There are so many people that your Arches alone or with just one other person.  We have a party we take around with us.  We have tons more fun than anyone else in the Park.  Being with my family is heaven on earth.  Yes, we've had our moments of complaining, stomach flu, and crying, but even then I just love being in the van with my family.  And hiking with my family is one of my most favorite things to do in life.  I've been very emotional several times when I contemplate how blessed I am as well as my family.