School Starting

So, I keep putting off posting because I'm a slacker on getting pictures off of my camera; that is my goal for tomorrow.

One of the greatest blessings for us this month is school starting. The kids were so ready to go, and I was ready to send them too. Is that bad for a mom to be excited for school to start, just for her own sanity?

Andrew got a young, fun teacher that he just loves, and Sara got Andrew's kindergarten teacher. I have to tell you though, sending Sara to Kindergarten was hard on me. Even though I wanted her to go, and she was excited to go, I was sad to let her go. When I dropped her off there was a little boy next to her crying, and then his mom started crying- I had to get our of there fast before Sara saw me tearing up. I cried off and on while she was gone. Isn't motherhood is emotionally draining? The first day of school is just a bitter-sweet experience.

Now that we got the first day of school past us, I'm loving it :)

Here are our school-time blessings:

1. The kids love school, and keep busy doing something of worth.

2. They have great teachers- I've said before how grateful I am for teachers and the education system.

3. They are more tired at night.

4. And best of all for me..... drum roll...... I get time off!!!! If I get Mac asleep I get 1 1/2- 2 hrs of peace!! I can't tell you how exciting that is-- Ahhh, it's wonderful

Although we enjoyed our summer, we are happy school is back in!

Toilet Trouble

The other day I was complaining to my sister on the phone about my day and the subject of my blog came up. She, who has never read my blog, said, "You should blog about today," and I said, "Oh no- I blog about my blessings... only positive things." Then she said, "Then what will you blog about?"..... and that got me thinking... and thinking... there has to be something... and even on a bad day, I could find many blessings or some way that I could see the hand of the Lord in my life.

So, going back to the day of the phone call (3 days ago)... we had some toilet trouble. Sara went in to use the downstairs bathroom and she said, "I'm not going in there, Dad left it a big mess" (she gave Dad the blame on this one :) She said the toilet was yucky... and I told her to flush it. She did, and came out again and said, "I think something's stuck- it won't go down" So- I finally go in to look and there is yucky, stinky, ( I won't say more) water up to the brim. I get the plunger and say, "Don't flush this again!" As I'm starting to plunge, the plunger breaks, yes breaks, and at the same time a little body (Mac) sneaks in by me and flushes the toilet... the green, yucky, stinky, water flowing over onto the floor all over, while Mac is saying (and signing) "all done, all done"

I called Tavish and asked him to buy a new plunger on the way home. All the while I'm worrying

that Mac may have thrown something in there (he LOVES to throw things in water). I shut the bathroom door and try to ignore our problem.

Tavish came home with a new plunger... and... nothing, it doesn't work. So- he runs to the hardware store to find a "snake" (I didn't know what that was, but we now own one if you want to borrow it ever). But... the store had closed, one minute too late. So, we all hopped in to the car to Wal Mart, and lucky for us they had one. We came home, Tavish worked on it... couldn't get anything out, but whatever it was went down the hole. Then my good husband cleaned up the worst part of the mess and I cleaned up the rest... disinfecting.

So, here are my blessing from all of this:

1- We are blessed to have more than one toilet to use when something like this makes one unusable.

2. I have a good sister who listens to my complaining and still accepts me

3. My hero Tavish saved the day AND cleaned up! How many times has he saved my day? Answer: lots and lots. I think I was smart to marry him :)

Now, I just hope that whatever went down the tube, doesn't come back to haunt us in the future!

This is what our new Plunger looks like. Sara was fascinated by it.

Grandmas and Grandpas

Ok- I know... it's been a long time since I've posted... I can think of many ways that I've been blessed over the few weeks, so what to write about? We planted a garden, I've had tendinitis and had God bless and comfort me when I thought I was dying, we've been to Bear Lake camping, Bear Lake at the condo, Richfield area camping, registered for school, had Andrew's and Mac's birthdays... and the usual stuff in between (like church, laundry, cleaning, and packing). One thing that most of those have in common is good family- especially good Grandmas and Grandpas, so that's what I'll write about today.

Tavish's mom and dad are always good to take the kids out to eat and out to buy a present for their birthdays. The kids love it and look forward to it every year. They are also good to plan good family activities and spend quality time with the grandkids. We spent 5 days in Richfield with them; it made me tired just watching Grandma Bobby play and care for all the grandkids.

My mom came up from St. George for both of the kids' birthdays. Both my mom and dad are also good to spend time with my kids at Bear Lake and wherever. I have to tell you what my mom did; it shows how much she cares about her grandkids.

We went to a surprise birthday party for my brother. There was a fairly deep pool there and the kids (Andrew and Sara) and many adults (but not me) were swimming in the pool. My kids had life jackets on and many people watching them, so I wasn't overly worried about them; I was mostly concerned about keeping Mac from jumping in the pool. Anyway, Sara had gotten out of the pool for a while and had taken her life jacket off. Well, she apparently had forgotten she had her life jacket off and just jumped into the pool (she can't swim, but thinks she can). The next thing I knew I saw my mom jump into the pool with all of her nice clothes on. (I wish we would have gotten that on video). She saved my little Sara. My brother said, "Mom all you had to do was tell me to turn around and grab Sara," and she said, "I didn't think about that, I just saw Sara jump without her life jacket and had to save her. I love my little Sara." I feel bad that I wasn't watching better, but grateful for a good mom who watches over us.

Both sets of grandparents would do anything for my kids. I know my kids don't really realize how blessed they are to have super grandparents on both sides of the family, but someday they will.

Grandpa helped the kids make sand castles.

Andrew and his Grandma Bobby- with their rocks they collected at Big Rock Candy Mt.

Mac loves his grandma.

Family

How I've seen the hand of God in my life this past week: My family saved my sanity.

This past month we haven't seen the family much (as in my parents, siblings, in-laws). My inlaws have been in Europe, my family lives in St. George, and my sister (who lives a little over 1 hr away) was out in Michigan for a few weeks. So, that means that we've been pretty much just with our little family for a few weeks (I know lots of people don't see their family much, but I'm not used to it; I take having family around for granted sometimes).

I've got to tell you- I was on the verge of going crazy alone with the kids all day, everyday. Last week my sister and her husband came back from Mich. and my mom and other sister came up for a few days. My sanity was saved! I really think God know how much we can handle, or can't handle. I was getting to the point of not handling it anymore. We spent several days together going fishing, hiking, and just being together. I feel so much better now. Thanks family for helping me out. I love you!

Plants, trees, flowers

That's what I've had in my brain lately... plants, trees, flowers. We've been doing some things in the yard and have been deciding which plants, trees, and flowers to plant. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about gardening/landscaping, and I'm very indecisive. After researching plants on the internet, I decided to take the kids to a nursery a couple of weeks ago to get something. It was nearly impossible to look at what I wanted, let alone carry the trees/shrubs I might want with 3 kids (Mac in particular). So, this morning, my sweet husband said, "Why don't you come up and go to lunch with me and then we can go look at trees?" Yes- thank you. He took us to a place with big fattening hamburgers, and then we went and picked out a couple of trees (we even got one of them free). Yay! I love getting good deals. It was soooo much easier with his help.

So- how have I seen the hand of God in my life today? He's blessed me with the best husband who really helps me out a lot.

I'll post some pics when I get everything planted, even if it doesn't look that great :)

Summer Activities

When Andrew got out of school for the summer, I knew that I would have to make some summer plans to keep the kids busy doing something besides watching movies and playing the wii. So, we had a family night reviewing our family mission statement and making plans for the summer. This is our summer-to-do-list (if you care to know):

Family Fun Time:Mac’s Birthday, Lagoon, Bike Rides, Badminton, Watch some movies, Andrew’s Birthday, 4-wheelers, Hikes, Rock climbing, Swimming, Playing Outside, Zoo, Bear Lake, Camping, planting

Education and Gospel: Swimming Lessons, Possible Piano Lessons, Reading Every Day, Hand Writing Practice, Scripture Reading, Journal Writing, Drawing and Painting, Science Experiments, Go to Church

Service: Make Dinners for Neighbors, Help Around the House, Clean Great Grandma’s House, Humanitarian Work on Tuesdays

House of Order: Daily Chores:Go Potty, Brush Teeth, Make Bed, Clean Room, Set Table (All three meals), Clear Table (All three meals), Feed Cat, Weeding, Clean Loft, Clean Downstairs, Take Out Garbage, Put Away what you play with, 10 Minute Clean Up

Although everyone agreed (with excitement I might add) to do these things, the "chores" and "service" part of the list has been a struggle. It seems we have a battle about every day when it comes to work. I keep telling myself that I need to be consistent... and my children need to learn the value of work- which is true. But I have also found myself telling my kids "no" when they ask me if they can do other things on the list, such as painting, science experiments... other fun stuff, because I think of all the mess they will make and the work it will make for me.

I got an email from my sister-in-law with an article about saying yes to the kids. I refuse to always say yes to my kids, but I decided that I could probably say yes a little more often and let my kids explore and have some fun. After all, we're only kids once- right? So today, we made cookies and I let them paint and play (inside because it's raining)- even though it's made a mess.

I didn't plan on letting Mac paint, but he sneaked away from me (while I was writing this blog actually- serves me right).

So what I'm grateful for today, is for the chance I have to be with my kids, even if they take work. How lucky I am to be able to have such wonderful little people in my family and that I can stay home with them.

For the Posterity

My dad has always wanted a cabin in the area where he grew up- Hatch UT. Most people don't know where that is, because if you blink as you drive past you miss it. It's about 30 min from Bryce Canyon. Anyway, the cabin dream is finally being fulfilled. My dad said he wanted to leave something for his posterity- which is the cabin and the land it's on. So, that's what I'm grateful for this week- my sweet dad who wants to give his children and grandchildren a place to vacation and be together.

This weekend we went down to work on the cabin. Everyone helped out... of course I did the hardest job and watched the kids :) They wore me out. I realized that my city kids really need this time in the country away from tv, computers... and just spend time outdoors. (not that Santaquin is a big city, but compared to Hatch almost anywhere is a city) We cant wait for the cabin to be finished. We love it down there!

Here's how the cabin looks so far:

Loft

This is where the kitchen will be.

Working hard- we're glad that our brother-in-law Ryan knows how to lay tile... and all of that handy-man stuff.

Hanging Sheet rock

The dirt kept Mac occupied for much of the time.

We love 4 wheeling on the many trails around town.