The Temple Trip

Last week we took the kids down to Twin Falls, Idaho to go through the newly-constructed temple there. Andrew had to be in Southern Idaho for work, so it worked out perfectly for us to join him and take advantage of the opportunity to take our children through the temple. Ally and Nicholas went through the Columbia River Temple when they were younger, but neither can remember. This time they were SO excited. In fact, about three weeks before our trip we put a picture of the Twin Falls Temple on our refrigerator. The kids then made a countdown chart to go below it. They were thrilled when we finally got down to "0 days"!

The temple was gorgeous. But, more importantly, the way our family felt inside the temple, all together, was beyond description. It was well worth all the gas money, potty breaks, and fights I had to referee to make the drive. :-)

Also, during our trip we visited the Boise Zoo, the Discovery Center, a fun park, a cute home decor store, a candy factory owned by the relatives of a family in our ward, and Shoshone Falls, located just outside Twin Falls. Did you know Shoshone Falls are 50 feet higher than Niagara Falls??? They were amazing.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to take this trip with my family and for the blessing of eternal families. I hope to be blessed again in the future to be in the temple with my wonderful husband AND our four children.

Here's some more pictures of our trip:

The Reunion

Last week I went back home for my high school reunion.

At first Andrew had planned on coming with me, but after talking to a couple friends and discovering they weren't bringing their husbands Andrew had a quick change of heart (I attended his reunion a couple summers ago and I'm fully aware the spouse can sometimes get a little, tiny bit bored at these things!) Anyway, as soon as I arrived in town I headed over to my BFF's house - I recently was reading through my high school yearbook and, yes, we used that term back then!

Candy and I met in middle school (she had just moved to the Tri-cities) and instantly became friends. We were friends all through middle school, high school, and even went away to college together.

My favorite high school memories with her are cruisin' the main street, blaring Def Leppard and Aerosmith (I promise we weren't rocker chicks), skiing and attending sporting events. Her boyfriend played baseball and mine played basketball, so we'd go to the games together to keep each other company.

We live across the state from each other now, but it's great to have a hometown in the middle where we can meet.

By the way, the reunion went great. It was so fun to see old friends and see how much they've changed. I'm looking forward to the next one!

The Boat Experience by Ally

On June 21 my family went boating with the Hainsworths. We were on the boat when we hit this tree growing from the bottom of the lake. The lake had a small island in the middle that was hard to see. The tree branch made a large hole in the bottom of the boat. Water started coming into the boat. Soon the back of the boat was full of water. We were all rushing into the front, well except Adam. He was just sitting in the back of the boat not knowing what was happening happy as can be. Finally, he went to the front. My mom led us in a prayer. I felt a warm feeling inside that we were going to be O.K. Brother Hainsworth raced us back to the dock and he was able to pull the boat out before it sank. We all made it safely out and then my family and I said a thank you prayer. I am so thankful that I can pray to Heavenly Father whenever I need help.

Here's a picture of the inside of the boat after most of the water drained out.

School on Wheels

Here's a recent idea I had.

Are any of you like me and spending A LOT of time in your car? Even using Dallin H. Oaks' "Good, Better, Best" guide, I still spend a lot of time running around doing the things our family has deemed "Best" activities (school, cub scouts, activity days, piano lessons). At $125 a week (that's my weekly gas bill now!), I felt prompted to start spending that car time a lot more wisely. Thus, I came up with "school on wheels." I purchased several different levels of flashcards (to accommodate the different math skills of my 4 children), I checked out from the library Spanish CDs, and printed off spelling words. All these things fit nicely inside the center console next to the driver's seat. Now, whenever we head out I can just grab one of our little tasks and not feel so guilty about all that time, and money, we're spending on the road.

The Recap Post

I was taking pictures yesterday of the kids and noticed I seriously needed to download some pictures to free up some memory on my camera. So, here's some downloads AND a recap of what our family has been up to:

Nicholas turned 9 years old! Happy late birthday my sweet oldest son.

He had his party at Laser Quest. Here's a picture of Nick with his buddies.

For Memorial Day, we put on matching flag shirts and headed out to our church's Memorial Day Breakfast and Flag Ceremony. It was a great activity and a great way to remember the reason for the holiday. We then headed to the lake. Sorry, I forgot my camera but it was very fun (and a little chilly!)

I made these cute "Be Boards." One for the boys' room and one for the girls' room (I'm so thankful for the invention of vinyl lettering!!!)

Lastly, we got free tickets to a new indoor waterpark in our area. It was a blast! But, we missed Andrew, who was out of town for work (oh, I think I forgot to post that Andrew started a new job!) and Ally, who refused to miss school (she's striving for the Perfect Attendance Award - did I seriously raise this child?!?) Thanks Rebecca and Devon!!!

Hotel Sacred Heart

I haven't had time to blog lately and I REALLY need to do a recap blog. But, for tonight, I want to blog about a scary experience that made me realize how fragile, and yet how strong, our children's little bodies can be.

On Monday morning, I was volunteering at my children's school. I started in Natalie's room and then went to Nicholas' room. While in Nicholas' room, the school secretary came in, obviously upset, and asked me to come to the office right away. I immediately followed her and found Natalie in the middle of an asthma attack (the school nurse later told me it was the worse she'd ever scene). I had Natalie's inhaler with me so I gave her a couple puffs and then took her home for a nebulizer treatment (a device used to administer medication in the form of a liquid mist to the airways). Natalie seemed better and we went about our day. Then, about 5:00pm, she had another asthma attack. I gave her another nebulizer treatment but it didn't help. So I gave her another one. Again, it didn't help. At this point she was so short of breath she couldn't even talk. Andrew and I said a quick prayer and I raced her to the emergency room.

In route, Natalie feel asleep in her car seat. At the time, however, I couldn't tell if she was asleep or unconscious. This nearly put me in hysteric while driving down the freeway. Luckily, she was just sleeping.

When we arrived at the emergency room they took one look at her and took us immediately to a room. (Thank goodness! I envisioned spending an hour filling out paper work and then another 3 hours waiting in the waiting room.)

They worked on Natalie for about 4 hours and still couldn't get her breathing normally. Also, by this time her heart rate was sky high from the steroids they were giving her. Natalie was so brave. She only cried when they put in the IV.

At this point the ER doctor and Natalie's asthma specialist, who they had on the phone, decided she needed to be admitted. BUT, the hospital we were at did not have a pediatric unit, so Natalie had to be taken by ambulance to another hospital. She kept asking what the hospital would be like. I told her it would be like a hotel with cable TV and room service. This seemed to cheer her up.

We then spent the next 3 days at the hospital. The hospital staff were wonderful in addition to her asthma specialist and our wonderful pediatrician who both made multiple visits to check on her. Her lung capacity is still only at 70%, but we're hoping she'll continue to improve each day. I'm so thankful Heavenly Father sent me Natalie. I can't imagine my life without her.

Wheat Wheat Wheat

Growing up, my family's idea of food storage was a basement closet filled floor to ceiling with 10 lb plastic containers of wheat. I have no memory of any other food in our food storage nor do I have any memory of EVER opening one of those tubs and actually eating any of the wheat. And, I have no idea what ever happened to that wheat.

Now fast forward to 1999, I'm now married and have 2 young children. I begin to seriously start working on our food storage (I have to be honest here and admit Y2K played a huge factor in all this). Can you guess what I started canning like crazy? You guessed it, wheat! We survived Y2K and my food storage momentum started to die out. Then 4 years later, my friend Sarah gave me a book about natural disasters and I panicked. Again, I canned more wheat. I then had a pretty okay wheat storage, but I never had any intention of ever using it UNLESS there was a major catastrophic event. My panic subsided and I did very little for another 4 years. Then, last week I went to the cannery and (you know where this is going) I canned more wheat. I still have NEVER opened one of those cans. I guess I was carrying on the family tradition!

That all changed this morning. I woke up and thought to myself, "let's get crazy and open a can of wheat!" My kids thought it was a good idea, so together we grabbed some wheat and the grinder and made ourselves some flour! We then used the flour to make pancakes for breakfast and I'm going to use the rest for pizza dough tonight. And, ya know, it wasn't too bad. The grinding part was extremely simple and the pancakes tasted really good. Of course, a little syrup and powdered sugar makes everything taste good! The best part though is I "broke the cycle" and used some wheat from our food storage and even inspired my children to try something new.

Oh, I should also mention I broke another cycle several years ago and started adding other foods to my food storage!

Easter Weekend

I love traditions! I love the predictability of doing the same thing year after year. Sometimes, however, it's fun to do things a little differently. That's what we did this Easter. We decided this year to go to the Tri-cities for Easter. Our change in plans was mainly due to my sister-in-law's annual Tea Party being scheduled on the same weekend as Easter. My sister-in-law is an AMAZING woman, who loves to host a party each year just for the mothers and daughters. She literally spends days cooking for it and makes everyone dress up for the big event. After our delicious treats, we are always entertained by my fabulously talented nieces who play the piano and violin like they should be in the symphony!

It's such a fun day for everyone and I truly appreciate all the hard work my sister-in-law puts into this yearly event.

Natalie with her "tea" (i.e., hot cocoa)

My wonderful in-laws

Cousins

Cousins

The weather was wonderful in the Tri-cities. On Saturday it was 60 degrees! So while we were at the Tea Party, the boys took full advantage of the nice weather and played lots of baseball and tennis. They even walked to the park near my grandparents' home. (NOTE: There was snow on the ground when we left Spokane on Friday!)

On Easter morning, we had an Easter Egg Hunt and then off to church. At my grandparents' ward, the Primary sang "He Sent His Son." When they asked the Primary children to come up, Natalie marched right up to the stand. She stood in the front row and sang her little heart out. My grandparents were beaming. While we did things a little differently this Easter, it was still a wonderful weekend.

Hunting for eggs on Easter morning

Easter Morning

Easter Morning

Easter Morning

Joy

It's always exciting around our house when these cheerful spring Crocuses start popping up around our yard. It's so wonderful watching my children run from flower bed to flower bed, trying to find tiny flowers budding. I attended Time Out for Women this weekend and feel transformed. I have such a blessed life and I want to show my appreciation to my Heavenly Father for these blessings by making each day count. So, this afternoon the dishes sat in the sink, the bedding I piled up to wash today sat in the laundry room, and the e-mails waiting for me just had to wait a little longer. I spent the afternoon with my children.

Little Ones

We've had a lot of excitement around our house lately! Natalie and Adam's birthdays are only a week apart (well, technically a week AND 2 years.) I always refer to them as my "little two," which makes Ally and Nicholas my "big two." Ally and Nicholas are 20 months apart then we waited 3 years to have Natalie and then just 2 years later Adam came along. So they are kind of grouped in pairs. Now that Natalie is 6 and Adam is 4, the term "little two" is suddenly not so appealing to them. I will be working hard to stop using that phrase, but until then, here are some pictures of my BIG "little two."

p.s. I'm taking up a new hobby . . . photography. I just purchased my first SLR camera (I've relied on my point and shoot for MANY years). These are some of my first pictures. As you can see, I've got a lot to learn. I'll keep posting my progress.

Thank You Andrew

For the wonderful weekend get away!

While my family and my faith are tops on my list, close behind are friends and snow skiing! This weekend Andrew watched the kids so I could enjoy both. Thank you honey. And, thank you to the person who made it possible - Kariann. Your cabin is so cozy and comfortable. It was the perfect setting for a great get away.

Faith Rewarded

Year round, gymnasts spend hours working on their routines and learning to master the skills and dance moves that are incorporated into every event. They wait anxiously for meet season when they can finally put all their hard work to the test and, hopefully, be rewarded for their efforts. In Ally's case, this has been a tough season because all of her meets have been on Sunday. She has shed many tears about not competing, but has never once asked if she could. I'm so thankful for great Primary teachers who encouraged her a long time ago to choose what she would and would not do on the Sabbath, so when faced with a choice, she already had her answer. She has been so faithful and this last Saturday she was finally rewarded.

Ally's coaches were able to make a last-minute scheduling change that would allow her to compete with other teams on Saturday while her team competed on Sunday. We quickly rearranged our schedule for Saturday and headed out to Moscow, Idaho to the Palouse Invitational. We had such a blast and Ally did great. She remembered all her rountines and scored highest on Vault and Floor. Overall, she placed 5th. The significance of this meet is that if she can just get one more chance to compete on Saturday, and she scores high enough, she can make regionals (you have to have at least 2 meet scores to make regionals). We're crossing our fingers for just one more Saturday meet.




Sorry the quality of the pictures isn't that good. My little "point and shoot" doesn't do so well with indoor photos taken without a flash.

Beloved

One of my very favorite words is "beloved." Every time I read or hear that word I get a warm feeling inside. This is the word I would use to describe our prophet.

He was an amazing man, who possessed a combination of strong leadership coupled with a loving, gentle manner. I've only see him personally three times (the Spokane Temple dedication, the Spokane Arena, and general conference), but each time I recognized an undeniable light about him that strengthened my testimony that he was a prophet of God. Somehow, knowing he was upon the earth always brought me peace and comfort. I know in a few days another prophet will be called who will bring me that same peace and comfort. But, for now, I just want to reflect on President Hinckley and the words that touched my life. Here, for example, is the quote that is taped to my computer monitor, "Be happy in that which you do. Cultivate a spirit of gladness in your homes. Subdue and overcome all elements of anger, impatience, and unbecoming talk one to another." And here are the words on my whiteboard in my kitchen, "Be Your Best."

Thank you President Hinckley.

A Fun Day on the Mountain

It's a blizzard!

Adam trying his new Spiderman snow shoes

Natalie on the chair lift

Natalie ready to go

Ally ready to go

Nicholas taking a jump

Saturday Mornings

I was organizing our storage room today and came upon a trunk of college mementos. I pulled out the old photo albums and took a trip down memory lane. It appeared I was out doing something fun every Friday night, which got me thinking - What did I do on Saturday mornings? Oh yes, I remember SLEEP IN. Now, fast forward to 2008 and here's a typical Saturday morning:


3:00 a.m. - Why am I so cold? Oh, it's Natalie, sleeping in between Andrew and I and she took all the covers. I steal back a corner of the quilt (I'm too tired to carry her back to her room) and try to go back to sleep


5:30 a.m. - It's Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader having the most intense lightsaber battle right outside my bedroom door. Somehow my husband sleeps right through it. I get up and try to encourage the warriors to play Play Doh quietly in the basement.


6:00 a.m. - I hear voices, LOUD voices. Someone is looking for the charger to their Ninetendo DS (on Saturdays my kids can use their electronics - so my 2 oldest like to get an early start!) The words, "I know you took it" and "No, I didn't" go back and forth; back and forth. I put my pillow over my head and tell myself I'm a good parent for staying in bed and letting them learn to solve their own dispute.


6:30 a.m. - I swear I hear little mice in my kitchen. There's the sound of the pantry door opening and closing, the rustling of a cereal bag, and then the sound of liquid pouring. Wait a minute - there's a LOT of liquid pouring. Next I hear, "get a towel quick, she'll never know."


At this point, I can't stay in bed anymore. I tiptoe downstairs to find my 4 lil' angels making their own breakfast. The kitchen's a bit of a mess, but I'm so overcome with love at their new independence. Maybe I can't spend a relaxing Saturday morning sleeping in anymore, but I have 4 beautiful children who make every sleepless morning worth it.


Count your many blessings, name them one by one . . . .

Those Healthy Mormons

When we got home from church today Natalie spotted some nuts I left sitting on the counter. She picked up the container and said, "Mom, did you know Mormons are very healthy for you?" "Ummm, I guess Mormons are healthy for you, Natalie." I said. Then Ally walked in the room and said, "Mom, she means Almonds not Mormons." Oh!!!!

Fading Fast Too

I read my friend's blog a couple weeks ago about fading fast with blogging and I could really relate - but it makes me so sad. I truly love reading what everyone is up to and their thoughts on various topics. I've shed many tears while reading posts and, on MANY occasions, felt that confirmation that I'm not as weird as I thought because someone else is going through the exact same thing as me. I've also had moments of feeling motivated to do better, be better, act better, THINK better. So, the reading part of blogging is easy for me; it's the posting that doesn't come natural. I'm reserved by nature and have to fight to come out of my shell. I'm so much more content to be the listener in a friendship. It's comfortable for me. But, I recognize listeners are boring. So, to force me out of my shell, I've made a goal to not only blog more but actually blog about feelings and thoughts more.

Blog #1 - I'm terrified for when Andrew goes back to work. I've grown to rely on him SO much over the last 9 months (Yes - it's been 9 months!) I've been the beneficiary of more "me time" than at any other time in my life since Ally was born. I hope it'll be an easy transition when I lose my "mother's helper."

I'm sure my next post will be - "I can't wait for Andrew to go back to work!" :-)

Thoughts on Joy

In the Book of Mormon it says, "Men are, that they might have joy." 2 Nephi 2:25. I've pondered this scripture with fullness of heart that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he wants us to have joy. But, I look around and see so many people without joy in their lives and it breaks my heart, especially during this holiday season. I've often wondered what the key to joy is. Then, the other morning, I was reading in the Book of Mormon the account of when Ammon ran into his best friend, Alma the Younger, and the other sons of Mosiah in the wilderness. The men had all been serving righteous missions and were so excited to be reunited. Ammon records that he was filled with "exceeding joy" the kind that "none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness." Alma 27:18. I suddenly had one of those ah ha moments . . . to have joy you have to seek it. To me , seeking happiness is living a Christ-centered life, which entails loving others, serving others, and humility.

With this in mind, here are a few things that bring me joy:

Santa's annual visit to our house, which strangely occurs each year while Andrew is gone. hmmm.

Christmas morning

Strong daddy-daughter relationships

Happy husband-wife relationships

Family ski trips

Friends

Friends

Friends

Friends

Piano Teachers

Piano Recitals

Joy.