Our Ally Cat

Last week Ally turned 11. Is it really possible that I've actually been a mother for 11 years? Is it really possible that I only have 7 more years with this amazing girl in our home?

Heavenly Father has blessed Ally with talents that will allow her to either change the world or marry someone who will! She's smart, driven, and desires to serve. She spends 4 days a week for 3 1/2 hours a day at the gym, striving to be the best gymnast she can be. She gets up early to be a crossing guard at school because, as she tells me, she wants to make sure her friends make it safely to school. Ally has served on the ASB at her school for the last 2 years. And, she recently told me she can't wait to turn 12 so she can be "Beehive President." Holy Cow - I don't think I even knew what a beehive was when I was 11, let alone that there was a president.

Ally is also very maternal. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up she always says, "a mother and a teacher." Ally is blessed with many future homemaking talents. She loves to cook, sew, and scrapbook. She's not so hot on cleaning, but we're working on that! :-) Ally also loves music, playing both the piano and viola this year.

But, my very favorite characteristic of Ally is that she is forgiving. Being the oldest, she's had to endure many of my parenting mistakes and yet she loves me anyway. A matter of fact, she recently wrote me a letter just to let me know when she's a teenager she will still allow me to hug her in public. You can bet I'll be keeping that letter for future use!

Thank you Ally for being the wonderful girl you are and I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be your mom.

It's Finally Adam's Turn

After waiting for a whole month, watching his brother and sisters put on their backpacks and head out the door, Adam finally got his turn to be the one "going back to school." This is Adam's last year of preschool. And, my last year of having a preschooler. I say this with a sad tone. Older mothers always warned me it would go by too fast . . . I guess I never believed them, but I believe them now.


Anyway, Adam marched right in to his favorite thing in the WHOLE room - the fish tank. He loves watching those fish.

Here's a picture of Adam with his buddy Alec in their, unplanned, matching-green shirts on the first day of school. Adam is so blessed to have several great friends who live nearby. I'm so thankful Adam will have such great boys to grow up with!

BTS

Back to School! I'm a little late on this post, but our 3 oldest went back to school on September 2. I'm so exited for this year. I love their school and all of their teachers. Not to mention the fact that I've passed the baton this year to a new PTG president, so this year I can relax a little more and just enjoy being a parent. Here are some pictures of the big day:

And what will I do with my time now that the 3 oldest are gone all day???? Spend the day with this cute little guy, of course. :-)

The Cabin

Some of you may have caught my subtle comment in my last post that we probably wouldn't be making our annual trip to Priest Lake anymore. Well, the reason for this change is that we'll now be staying in our OWN cabin (which is on a different lake). YIPPEE!!! We've been looking for a lake place for almost 3 years now. And, finally we've found the perfect cabin for our family. I've waited to blog about it though until we closed - I didn't want to jinx it. :-) But, we closed last Friday and we just got back from our first vacation at the cabin. Here's some pictures of our new "family spot."

A Fun, But Cold Week at the Lake

Last week we made our annual trip up to Priest Lake. As always it was breathtaking! It seems every one of our prayers last week included the phrase, "thank you for the beauty around us." The whole week was perfect, except for the weather. Each year our family spends the last week of July in Priest Lake and we've never so much as needed a sweatshirt. This year we could have used our winter coats! One morning we woke up to 55 degrees and raining. Nevertheless, we made the most of it and discovered the Priest Lake Museum, the Priest Lake Library, and Priest Lake Elementary (where we played on the playground toys). We also did other warm activities like hiking and picking huckleberries.

We were able, however, to spend one day out on the boat we rented. I've discovered a new passion - water skiing. I really, REALLY stink but am obsessed with getting better. Here's a picture of me with, yes, a wet suit on in July! Luckily Andrew, Natalie and Adam are also excited about water skiing so a sport that interests 4 out of 6 isn't bad! (But, just give me time I'll have those other 2 on board soon!)

Speaking of sports, we also went golfing in Priest Lake. Seeing my kids carrying their little, tiny golf clubs was so adorable.

I'll conclude with some miscellaneous pictures of our week. I will note though that this week was a little bitter sweet because our family loves this lake so much, but it will probably be the last time we stay at Priest Lake. More details to follow . . . .

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