TO HAVE JOY

Catch up

2011-10-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

Well, a lot has happened since I turned 34. I went and spent 3 weeks visiting family in Texas from the end of July to the middle of August. It felt like it was too little time, and too quick. I got back in time to get the boys ready for school, I had 1 week before their school started. Then I finished up my Associates program through University of Phoenix and I'm now officially a college graduate! I also started my Bachelor program through the University of Phoenix. Time is flying by. And in the mean time I'm working on schooling, the kids are in school, and I started working part-time. As I have been trying to keep up, I've been a little crazy. Bill and I are still Sunbeam teachers at church, and are about to get another calling on top everything else. My head spins sometimes, but that's good, because it hasn't killed me yet! :) The boys are busy busy busy with their scouting advancements and schedules. That right now between their school and scouting, I just don't have the time to add any other extra-curricular activities to our family schedule.

I know it sounds a little crazy to be so busy, but we work really hard to have time with the family, even with our crazy schedules.

I am so grateful for everything that the Lord has blessed me with! We are so blessed to be busy, have jobs, and to support our selves. I am grateful for the ability to juggle many things, and stay sane. I don't get many breaks, but today I had one. I watch two little boys one day a week. They were supposed to come today, but their dad is home today until their mom gets home from work, so I didn't watch them today. This freed me up to write on my family blog a little. Also, I have some great recipes on my cooking blog if you'd like to check them out.

Bill and I are getting ready to start a juice fast. Juicing fruits and veggies to help repair our bodies. We have both gained excessive weight and are trying to take it off, and get healthy in the process. We will probably start the juice fast within the next few weeks. What got us to do this juice fast is watching the netflix documentary called "fat, sick and nearly dead" it's an eye opener. check it out.

Well, until next time. Enjoy your day and may God Bless you!

Good Deed Ideas

2011-07-14T18:29:00.000-04:00

As I just celebrated my 34th birthday I am wanting to encourage my children to do random acts of kindness and good deeds for each other daily. I have added this as a requirement as a chore to hopefully get them in the habit of doing this. I am however hitting a brick wall as to what they can do for each other or another family member. Since this will need to be something that is FREE I have decided that I want to create slips of paper in a jar with ideas on it, they can pull a paper out of the jar with a good deed on it, and they can decide who to do it for. I am looking for ideas from my friends and family a far of what kinds of things I can add to this. I have posted my list so far on the bottom. Please comment so I can add to the list. Thanks so much for your help. :)

Ideas for good deeds jar:

make someone's bed
pick up their toys on their bedroom floor
write a thank-you note
write a why I love you note
read a story to someone
play a game of their choice
let a sibling tag along with your friends and make them feel welcome
volunteer to help with their chores
pull weeds in the flower bed
sweep the kitchen floor
clean the back door windows
mow the lawn
make mom & dad's bed
Take out the trash
start a load of laundry for someone
process the laundry
clean out the kitty litter

This is the list I have so far. If you have any ideas that could be added to this list please let me know. I really want them to think outside of themselves and encourage helping each other. Thank you so much for your help :)

Spring Break

2011-04-14T14:02:00.000-04:00

Here we are chilling in California! Trying to figure out what we're gonna do in Los Angeles, as we have spent two days in LegoLand. Now that we're almost all sunburned, we'd like to spend a day not in too much sun. We are talking about going to the Los Angeles Temple and seeing the new visitors center. It's a way cool temple. I also would like to see the San Diego Temple, it's my favorite one! I have been making dinner in the crock pot every day, breakfast of cereal, english muffins, pancakes with bacon and eggs, cinnamon raisin bread and lunches are sandwiches with carrots and chips. Not a bad trip. We are having a blast spending time with Bill's parents, and the kids. I'll be adding pictures to my photo gallery on .mac soon. So, keep an eye out for the link.

It's SPRING BREAK!

2011-04-11T22:43:00.000-04:00

We are here on Spring Break and enjoying time with family. Mikey was also baptized this last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Clark came out to be apart of it! It was so great to have a little family share in that special ordinance. We are in Oceanside, CA for spring break. Lego Land for several days, a day at the beach and a day in Los Angeles, then back home. It will be so much fun, It is so beautiful here, and sunny. It's a nice change from all the snow we've had the last several days. Unfortunately, I still get to do school work while we are out having fun, but at least I have the flexibility to do both at the same time. I have one assignment in early, and I'm going to try to finish those up. Here's hoping for a nice, fun, safe spring break here in California with the In-laws. Wishing we could spend time with more family. Looking forward to our summer vacation, seeing more and more family and friends.

My baby's growing up so FAST!

2011-03-31T19:39:00.000-04:00

As I'm writing this I can hardly believe that I now have no children under the age of 8. Yes, that's right 8 years old. I can still remember all three of my boys in diapers, and running around crazy, I kept thinking I was going to pull my hair out and they were never going to grow up! Now, I sit here almost in tears thinking those days are so far behind me. Before I know it, they will be off on missions, going to college and getting married... I think of the things that have happened since my first child was born. He is now 11 and 1/2 and doesn't let me forget it that he's a BIG boy and wants to be treated like a MAN, except when it comes to chores and being told what to do... Then there is my middle baby who is no baby. He's only 1/2 and inch shorter than his elder brother. Some of you may say that may not be that big of a deal. Well, my oldest "baby" is 5 ft 7 inches tall. My middle "baby" is 5 ft 6 1/2 inches tall, and my youngest "baby" is 4 ft 10 inches tall... and he's the one that just turned 8! He will be getting baptized, starting cub scouts and growing up even faster. He is so GROWN up. He is the most responsible of all three of my children. I watch him and think of the blessing he has been to our family. I love my boys so much! My goodness, why do they have to grow up! Can't they stay small a little longer. I've been saying that for years! they have outgrown their little bodies so fast, by the time i was getting used to their size compared to their age, they sprouted again and the vicious cycle continues. I have been told that they will slow down their growth many times. Still waiting for that as I replace "high-water" pants every couple of months, no holes, no tears, just either too short or their waist is finally growing a few inches and needs them a little wider. I have one who is in 12 slims, (my 8 year old) and they are "high-waters" on him, but if I buy 14 slims, they will not fit his waist. He's too stinking skinny. He has to wear a belt with his 12's as it is. I noticed the other day how long Braeden's neck is getting. He used to be so chunky and squishy and loving... now he's TALL ... SUPER TALL... and everything is getting longer, his hands, his feet, his neck... his torso... even his legs. The only thing is that his stomach area that used to be rolls and rolls of flub... is now a 6 pack and staying so skinny. He's almost wiry. with this huge bobble of a head on top. So cute!!! I have some amazing boys and they are growing so fast, I feel if I blink too long they will be gone. I enjoy them as they are now. Watching them play with their nerf guns, fanoodle light sabers, and running around the house with endless energy. Their faces full of smiles and learning along the way. I hear stories of how they are turning into wonderful young men. I hope that it continues that way.

A neighbor who was picking his daughter up from Mikey's 8th birthday party this week. Stopped Bill and said how impressed with the our boys he is. Bill was a little taken aback. He asked in what way. Braeden (my sweet boy) was looking for some friends to play with, and could find none available to play. As he was walking around the neighborhood (unbeknownst to me or his father) noticed a gentleman in our neighborhood digging in his yard. Braeden asked what he was doing and the gentleman said digging footers and a slab for a soon to be pored concrete surface. Braeden asked if he could help... He said sure if you want to, Braeden then picked up a shovel and started helping to dig. (can you say impressive). I was so impressed when Bill relayed that story to me! My child who I can't get to pick up his clothes in his room, or pick his toys up, is so thoughtful and genuine that he helped a neighbor dig in his yard (performed unasked for service!) I then realize that it isn't about the clothes on the floor, or the toys they refuse to pick up or the messy house... It's about teaching them how to serve their fellow man! I stand a few inches taller, realizing that I'm not that much of a failure. I think sometimes I get so bogged down with the cluttered, messy house, the dirty dishes, and dirty clothes. That I forget to notice the boys are turning into men by watching and doing the important things of serving others and being kind to one another. I have been so blessed to have been given such wonderful children, from a wonderfully loving heavenly father!

I struggle some days with being a mother and worried about how they will turn out, and if I've done all I can to help them be honorable, productive, sweet, kind, generous, strong men when they get older. When with stories like the one above grace my ears I think in that moment that I'm doing an o.k. job. Then, the house stays a little messier, the boys are a little messier, but we are focusing on more important things such as building a strong character in a young man, than building a shrine to live in. One tear is shed as they grow more and more each passing day. it goes too fast. With your little ones, don't get too caught up in the house cleaning and the dirty clothes, there will always be time for that later. But our children will only be little for a little while. From a mother missing those precious, tender years and days of their "little" childhood. Take TONS of pictures, record memories of things they said, teach them love, compassion by example. Speaking doesn't work, it's action. I can't always tell them I love them, I have to show them by giving of my time, energy and love. I ask all the time "Do you know I love you?" "REALLY love you?" They in turn answer "YES" As long as they know that I love them, no matter how mad or frustrated I get, or whether or not the house is clean, or dinner on the table on time, or even a shower/bath it has been a GREAT day!

I have a cousin who had a little baby boy recently and seeing his cute precious face and how little he is. I can't help remember when my boys were littler (they weren't even as small as he was born). At how time flies and how I seem to be moving at a slow pace, and they are flying by. I look at pictures from a year ago, or even a few months and they have grown so much. Their faces are different, their demeanor is different. They are growing up. Enjoy the small stuff and climb those mountains together. one day at a time. and sometimes, one second, one minute or one hour at a time, cherishing every moment because before you know it,...

they are all grown up!

What's new?

2011-03-21T14:00:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy with school, house, kids and my cooking blog that I haven't taken the time to write much here. Since it's been a month since the boys started their new school we've been able to create a more structured chore list, which has helped greatly. I still end up doing most things around here, but every little bit of help is helpful. The boys really like their new school. They are learning spanish and Bryen even volunteered to join the liberty bowl, which is a group of kids that study history after school one day a week. The boys have longer school days then before, and I get to volunteer more often. That has been a lot of fun. I help mostly in the library. Tomorrow is my first day subbing at the kids school. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I haven't done subbing in a library in at least a year.

I'm in my second to last term before I get my associates degree. It is hard to believe that I'm almost half way done... Well, as done as I'll be for a while. Bill and I are working on getting out of debt. We are following Dave Ramsey's Get out of Debt plan. It is not an easy thing, but it will be so worth it in the end. That is why I'm waiting before I finish my bachelor program. I want to be able to pay for it outright without taking out student loans. Bill and I make too much to qualify for grants, so this is the best way. Plus it would be nice to get out of the debt my associates degree put us in. We have a 5 year plan that includes, getting out of debt, saving enough money for the rest of my education, and saving enough money to purchase a house outright. Bill doesn't want a mortgage ever again. And I don't blame him. Me either. It's been tough having to go through a foreclosure, that isn't even selling. Our name is still on the property but we don't own it any more. It's a mess, and so is our credit. If we purchase a house outright then we don't need to worry about credit anymore. We just get what we need, when we need it. There is so much we'd like to do but being in debt has trapped us. So we're breaking free. Everyday is one day closer to our dream.

I'm going to continue to be a stay-at-home mom after I finish my degree, the plan is to keep subbing at the boys school so I can be available when they are home, and flexible enough to be able to not work if the kids are sick and not feel too bad for missing work. The boys are so excited about me "working" at the school.

I can barely believe that my youngest is going to be 8 in less than two weeks, one week from tomorrow he will be 8 years old. Many of you know how big that it in our family. My baby will be baptized and get to start going to cub scouts. He will always be my baby, but now, so grown up. Not only is that momentous but my oldest in October gets the Priesthood! WHOlly COW!... I hope I can not cry every sunday. Thinking about it makes me tear up. He is growing into such a wonderful young man! He is doing so much better than I thought he'd be doing after what happened in August. Time is going by so very fast, I just wish it would slow down soon, a little at least. I remember when they were all watching veggie tales and getting into everything and driving me nuts! Now, they are so respectful and kind. I am told almost everywhere we go, how respectful and polite they are. Some days I don't know what I would do with out my boys. They are the light of my life and I am so grateful to be their mom!

Bill is battling with fatigue and tooth decay at an alarming rate for me. He blames it on his medication. But I don't know. I am glad that we are in a state where they are doing revolutionary things in the field of heart surgery. He is looking forward to the time when his valve needs replacing again to have it done laproscopically so he doesn't have to go through as much pain as he did before. I don't know if that is possible, but one can only hope. He also wants them to grow a new valve from his stem cells so he doesn't have to take anymore medication for his heart, but I don't know if that will be ready by then. I'm not looking forward to that surgery, so I'm just trying to enjoy him every day I get to spend with him. He still loves where he works and what he does. His parents will be coming out to visit for Mikey's Baptism in April. Then we will be headed down to San Diego for a trip to Lego Land and Hollywood with the family for spring break. So fun, looking forward to some sunny weather.

It has been snowy and cold,... However, this week it will be in the 50's and rainy except for Wednesday. So I want to get outside on wednesday and soak up some needed sun. Also, I will be trying to get my square foot gardening started. I need to build my boxes, and get the soil mix. Also, i need to come up with what veggies I want to grow. I am going to try to stagger my planting so I can enjoy fresh crops throughout the summer, instead of all in at once. I'm reading a book about square foot gardening. So I hope I can act upon what i'm reading. Last year I had a few tomatoes and a handful of green beans, a few bell peppers and that was it. This year I want lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, squash, pumpkins, watermellon, and many other things. I just hope I have the space and boxes to grow them all. And the time to do them right.

Bill and I are serving in the primary teaching sunbeams, 3-4 year olds. They are so adorable and sweet! It makes Bill and I ready for more kids. We just can't afford it right now. So that's another part of our 5-year plan. To have more kids, after we get out of debt. I know crazy huh... going back to diapers and sleepless nights. It will be an adjustment that's for sure. I would much rather adopt but Bill I know is concerned about adoption. It's still up for discussion. I know I would love to adopt sisters and enjoy the blessing of having more girls in the house. I've been cautioned by some to never get girls as they are much harder than boys. But at the same time, I've been told, I need girls. I know that we have two girls somewhere, either in heaven or to adopt. Time will tell where they will come from, but they will surely be a blessing in our family.

Time to go work on dinner for tonight, I am going to brine my chicken before i stick it in the slow cooker. So, check out my cooking blog, lovingcookingfromscratch.blogspot.com.

Another catchup

2011-02-28T17:15:00.002-05:00

Boy have we been busy!!! The boys have started going to the charter school near our house. A charter school is a public school, that has a lottery to have students enroll. Also, a charter school has smaller class sizes, uniforms, and a more individual approach to each child's education. Bill and I are so excited about the charter school. The boys love it there, even though they miss their friends at the school by our house. We feel that this is the best move for our children. They will be able to attend all the way through junior high/middle school. That way they will have consistency even if or when we move. Another bonus is that they highly encourage parental involvement. We are required to volunteer 4 hours a month. Not so hard. But they encourage more. So of course... I volunteer way more... I love helping in the library and in the kids classrooms. I also am trying to get everything I need to help substitute at the school. The librarian really could use a reliable substitute and since when I was in Davis County at Columbia Elementary and was trained on the library software there. It is the same system they have at this school. So, I'm someone she can call and doesn't need to worry about them being trained on the system. I just need to complete fingerprinting and then I'm ready to substitute. Another bonus for substituting is that they pay more for subs at the charter school then they do at the district.

I have been still going to school. I have one more term left to finish after the one I'm currently in before I graduate with my Associates Degree. I'm so excited! I'm really enjoying it.

Bill has been working hard and doing well at work. The boys are thriving and enjoying all the snow and sunshine we've been having here. We seem to have lots of days with sunshine even if the weather had been snowy one or two days. We really enjoy it. We haven't been skiing or sledding or tubing but we enjoy throwing snow balls and building forts out of the snow. :)

Coming up, James will be turning 8 and getting baptized. Bill's parents will be coming out for a visit, Spring break, and I'm even thinking of having Bryen join a city soccer team. Other than that I'm cooking up a storm. Staying busy and enjoying being a stay-at-home mom.

I have a new BLOG!

2010-10-04T17:19:00.002-04:00

My new blog is all about cooking and my fun adventures in the kitchen. Cooking from scratch and all that goes with it. :) Join and follow. Enjoy!

Here is the website:) Add to your bookmarks and favorites for new up to date recipes, new recipes daily. :)

http://lovingcookingfromscratch.blogspot.com/

Recent Accomplishments

2010-10-04T14:11:00.003-04:00

Well, As I sit here in the house as it rains outside... I am thinking about what we as a family have accomplished so far this school year. It might not be much, but it is something. Especially on days when I feel like we haven't done anything. So, here goes:

Braeden has completed his Bear achievement in Cub Scouts and has advanced into Webelos. That is a big accomplishment.

Mikey has lost 3 teeth, I at one point thought he'd have all of his baby teeth forever... as none were falling out. But now, it's like a flood of teeth falling out.

Bryen has almost completed his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. Both HUGE accomplishments. And he will be an 11 year old scout. Boy time sure does fly. He only needs a few more items on his citizenship pin and his understanding of what it means to be a BOY SCOUT :)

Bill has earned his RHCE (Redhat Certified Engineer) certification. This is something he has struggled with in the past, and has accomplished it at last! Way to go Babe!

I have completed two more classes I got a B- in my Cultural and Diversity class, and an A in my Healthcare Administration class. :) Yeah me, and I've started two more classes Algebra 116 and Research writing English 102. I'm a little nervous but I'm hopeful I'll do ok.

I have realized that I currently do not qualify to apply for a nursing program, so I'm adjusting and thinking that Respiratory Therapy is a good second choice. That will mean quitting online and going to an actual campus for the remainder of my college. I'm nervous about that. But still debating. I may take a few more general ed classes online, before i transfer. To limit the number of semesters I need to be away from home.

I have been getting more into cooking dinners and things at home. I feel that is an accomplishment all by it's self. As I struggle at times to even feel motivated to cook anything. It has helped writing a menu at the first of the week, to help me be motivated to cook. Now these aren't all those quick dinners that are practically premade. These are things like homemade hoagie rolls for meatball subs (and yes the meatballs were homemade too). Home made bread. Crockpot meals, and yes of course some of the premade dinners, such as pizza and hamburger helper. I am still proud of my self for even attempting to make hoagie rolls. They turned out pretty good. :)

I am thinking of starting a cooking blog, about my cooking adventures. Not sure I'll have any followers but still, a way to post my menu's, my recipes and my experiences of what we are doing here at home to help cut costs and be more frugal. My food storage has been coming quite in handy. As my freezer is slowly depleting and my pantry is getting more bare, I am grateful for the food storage I have and trying to incorporate it into our diet. It is a good feeling.

I have been grateful for the blessings that have come from these accomplishments. The knowledge gained and the feeling of the Lords hand in my life. Prayers have been answered, and spirits have been lifted.

Another whirlwind of a summer

2010-08-25T18:30:00.003-04:00

I can hardly believe that summer is over and school has officially started in my house. It has been full of excitement and turmoil, summer that is. I am working towards a couple of my goals, finishing school, and not going crazy... Not sure how either is going at this point. but taking one day at a time.

Summer started off pretty good. The kids were making friends in our new neighborhood, and we had a couple of fun vacations scheduled. Our first vacation was scheduled for the second week in June with Bill's parents and his brother Matt. We were going to the Grand Canyon. It was a 10 visit by his parents and his brother. We stayed 4 days in AZ and saw The Grand Canyon and went down to Sedona, AZ. What a beautiful country we live in! It was a pleasant trip. Then the boys had a Father and Son campout with our ward. They had a lot of fun, and I went a little crazy cause I didn't know what to do with myself while they were out having fun. Then three days later we headed off to Texas. For a three week trip. The boys and I drove from Utah to Texas. We went to help my youngest sister with her wedding. It was a crazy trip to texas, I had wanted to visit and see so many of my cousins, but didn't see hardly any of them. Which was a bummer, I did however, get to see my grandma and several of my aunts and uncles. My sister was beautiful. While at her reception, my son Braeden passed out from heat exhaustion. Luckily, Shane was there and was able to bring him around, before the paramedics came. We are so blessed to have so many talented and qualified family members. We went home exhausted and grateful for family. A week after we got home from our trip to Texas, I started school again. I'm still passing my classes, but it's a very challenging semester.

About 2 weeks ago, My oldest was struggling, and started to self mutilating during church. We took him home and tried to help him through his issues, which he wouldn't talk about. He seemed to get better, so we hoped it was a one time thing. Then on monday, the routine was back in and chores needed done so they could go play and enjoy their summer, back at home. Bryen lost his privilege to play his PSP. He quietly put it down and then went into the kitchen and then upstairs. On his way upstairs I felt impressed to ask him what he did in the kitchen, He was only in the kitchen a very short time. I asked him what he got in the kitchen. First thinking it was food, and he needed to eat it in the kitchen not upstairs. Then quickly realized it was far worse than food. He had taken one of my sharp kitchen knives and was going upstairs with it. I asked him what it was for. and very calmly he said, "to kill myself." OMG!!! WHAT!? YEah, that's what he said. I asked him to bring me the knife, and had him sit next to me on the couch, I called my insurance to find out what coverage we had for his mental issues, and then they said to take him to the ER. He didn't hurt himself, but was so ready to. We were at the hospital for 9 hours, and then he was transferred to a psychiatric in-patient facility for children. He was there for 7 days, they changed up some of his medicine, he's Bi-Polar, and was on ADHD meds, He is now on an antipsychotic medication and no longer on his ADHD medicine. My mother-in-law came out to "help" us with the situation with Bryen. I don't know if that was the right course for her to come out. But, she was here for 2 weeks. She went home today. Today was also the boys first day of school. So, needless to say, i'm still trying to recover from a hectic and crazy summer. Bryen is doing better, we are keeping a close eye on him. Not sure if normalcy is possible anymore, so we are taking one day at a time. Trying to create a new norm, hopefully one that is good for all of us. My schooling is going ok. Not as good as before, but trying to keep up on it. Some assignments are late, but My brain has been kind of fried. Well, that's been a brief summary of our summer. hopefully, this school year will bring better days, and better things. i hope you guys are having a GREAT summer and beginning of school year.

Fill'r Up

2010-05-12T10:32:00.006-04:00

It has been a very long time since I wrote last. A lot of things have happened in my life since then. It's been very crazy around here. Let's see where to start... After we all got well, we started making a few changes in our schedules and life. I started college again, this time to finish it! I am in my second term finals week currently, I am attending University of Phoenix (Axia College - Online). I'm going to school to get my degree in Medical Administration. I'm excited to have direction. After I started school, during the first part of my second term, I found out that where we were renting they wanted to sell the house. So we had to move, Mid-term, Mid-school year for the kids. They were so sad... actually, we all were. We searched high and low in Kaysville, UT so the kids could stay near their friends, and they could stay in the same school, but no such luck :(. We were able to find something in Saratoga Springs, UT. So we moved in April to Saratoga Springs. It's been crazy since we moved in, too. The weekend after we moved in my In-laws came to visit for Easter, which was really nice. Then we had Spring Break, and we went to Lego Land with the boys (so much fun!). They started a new school, and I've been working on picking up my grades from the move. My school work didn't get done for a week, so I've been struggling to make up the work and my grades. I've since been back to California one other time for a trip with Bill and the kids, he couldn't come with us to Lego Land cause he had to work. So we took another trip with him a couple of weeks later. My sister Katy came to visit me the weekend we moved and she was such a GREAT help! It was so good to see her and her two girls. I miss my family, being so far away from anyone. I have a few cousins that live in Provo, but I never get to see them. They are really busy with school and stuff too. i am grateful for the challenges in my life, they help me see the hand of the Lord. I didn't think I could move and go to school and everything that has happened in the last several months... but he has blessed me and I'm grateful for his hand in my life. Bill loves his new job. He works for Overstock.com now. He loves it! I am grateful he has a job that he loves. Since moving to Saratoga Springs I've had a hard time getting to know people. I'm hoping that I can meet more people soon. It's kind of lonely here, I've made one friend and it's good to have a good friend :). We are excited to have my in-laws come visit again in June :) If feels like we see them more now that we're so far away than when we lived 20 min away. :) We have plenty of room for guests if any of my friends who read this want to come visit :). My little sister Jenniy will be getting married in July. I'm her maid-of-honor :) I'm excited for her. I'll be taking a trip to Texas leaving the end of June. Lots to plan and pull together before her BIG DAY! She is getting married July 9. So we are having a family bridal shower July 1 in San Antonio. Another Bridal shower July 3 in Temple for those up in that direction. Her Bachelorette party July 7th - can you say belly dancing!! :) We are gonna have so much fun this summer. I'm driving down to Texas with the boys, Bill will fly down on July 8th, then we will drive home together. I get to spend some Quality time with my best friend since 3rd grade Hulda and her family. I plan on seeing my friends in San Antonio too. And of course FAMILY!!! I'm so excited to have a positive reason to go to texas. It's been a while since we've had that. The last positive thing was Jenniy's graduation from High School! which was 3 or 4 years ago I think... If I remember correctly. I didn't get to see much family when we were there. So I'm excited to see more this trip. Well, I'd better go and clean up. School for my kids gets out May 28th. Then we have the summer to PLAY! So excited. I also need to start my final papers today. Ugh.. but so excited to be getting my schooling done. :)

A New Dawn, A New Day, A New Year

2010-01-25T15:45:00.003-05:00

Well, we survived the trip home, finally got everyone well. I started college through University of Phoenix (Axia College) for Medical Administration. I'm doing ok. I have all A's right now. Yeah me... but mind you I've only been going for three weeks. :) I'm excited for the grades. :)

Bill got hired at Overstock.com. He started Jan. 18. We're really excited. He loves what he's doing there and he thinks it's a great group of guys to work with. I'm so happy for him. He has about a 35-45 min commute, which is a far cry from the 2 hr commute average he had from WV. So we're not complaining at all about his drive.

I've decided to give up looking for work and become a dedicated stay-at-home mom. Anyone who knows about stay at home moms is that they really don't stay home very often from all the errands, volunteering and stuff they do all day. But I'm grateful that I don't HAVE to work right now. I can enjoy and help my children. However, the house is the same as when I was working. We're just getting more hot meals since I'm definitely using my slow cooker more. I'm trying my first slow cooker lasagna tonight. I hope it turns out. I added a bag of mixed veggies to the meat mixture so we get in some green veggies. I am loving crockpot365.blogspot.com! I love that site. She has great ideas and recipes. Also, I'm tempted very tempted to start buying from Alison's pantry, I don't know just yet if I will. I noticed a lot of the stuff she sells I can get at Sams Club or Costco. But she does have some stuff that is different. Only thing is that it's once a month thru her, and I would place an order by Feb. 2 and wouldn't get it until March. So that's another thing to consider.

I have been volunteering a lot at the boy's school. It keeps me pretty busy. I'm also still working with the CubScouts as a Wolf Den Leader. I am still trying to get my head around everything that involves, but it's coming very slowly. I enjoy it just not all the paperwork and meetings associated with it. It's a highly involved calling.

I've lost 20 lbs. since moving to UT. I'm still trying to keep that off and not pack on more. It's hard in the winter as I'm not nearly as active as I am in the spring, summer and fall as I'd like to be. I am hoping I can get more motivated and get working out. Well, I'd better get off this computer and start the mountain of laundry hanging over my head. Thanks for reading :)

Christmas Catch-up

2010-01-06T22:09:00.002-05:00

Well, we're finally home from our Christmas vacation. It feels like we were away for an eternity. It was a very long time to be away from our home. We were very grateful for my in-laws hospitality. But it is very unlikely for us to be making another one of those trips for a very, very long time. It was a good christmas. The kids had a lot of fun spending time with their Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles. We ended up having 4 christmases, and it was just Bill's family. All at his parents house, We had Christmas eve dinner celebration, Christmas morning present opening, Christmas evening opening presants and dinner, and then Day-after christmas opening presants again. sheesh... was it enough? I'm ready for more arn't you... Actually, I was done after christmas morning. We spent several days making food, TONS of cookies. I'm still eating Christmas cookies... do they freeze well enough so I don't need to make any for next christmas? yes we had that many cookies. I was able to take the boys down to Washington DC to some of the smithsonians. We went to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. The kids loved it. They got to sit in an airplane, and a space shuttle.. check out cool dinosaur fossels and bones. It was a good day in DC. By the time we went to the American history museum they were closed :( I wanted to see that one first, but with a group of boys... the other stuff won over. Santa was good to the kids this year. They got some books from mom and dad and some ear muffs, Santa brought them one HUGE gift... Bryen got the newest Lego Mindstorm (He has been asking for that for at least 3 years) and Braeden and Mikey got the best most economical gaming system out there... (the iPod Touch) with a $10 iTunes gift card. Let's just say they were exstatic and we even got tons of peace and quiet after that. They have so many games they play together or alone. I know, I know. pretty extravagent you might say. But we looked into all of the hand held gaming systems the psp, the DSi and the iPod Touch. The touch is by far the best most economical device. They share all of their games they have.. They cost anywhere from FREE to 9.99 a game. But divide that game price by 4 because Bill and I can also put those games on our phones. No cartridges to loose, scratch or destroy. Parental controls to keep them from surfing the web on sites that are inappropriate. and No UTube for little boys to get into trouble with. Yea, I know it's kindof pricey but the DSi and the PSP are around 300 a piece, especially if you buy one new game to go with it. We spent less than $250 for the iPod touch, $10 gift card and a case for each iPod. The joy on their faces was priceless. We saved them for the last of christmas morning. It was awesome. They didn't even care about the two other christmases. They were content. The food was amazing, as always. I got some good gifts too. I got a couple of smaller crockpots for my new obsession. as well as a couple cast iron skillets, and a cast iron enamel dutch oven baker. Along with the Julia Childs Cookbook. :)) Oh yea baby, just what I wanted. Billy spent way too much on me he got me a Coach purse. i love it! I also got a pink iPod shuffle (for my workouts). I had been complaining about how bulky my iPhone is when I work out. So he was thinking on this gift. I was touched. (A side note is that I've gone from 325 lbs. to 287 lbs.) That is a good think and I'm still working on loosing more. I'm down to a size 22. I know still too big, but a little at a time makes it life changing. Any who... i digress... okay. So back to christmas. We had gotten 20+ inches of snow the sunday before christmas, so no christmas programs at church before christmas.. actually no church period. So, We were able to go the last sunday we were in town and they had their christmas program, it was very nice. It was good to see a few people while we were in town. Not as many as we would have liked. I missed catching up with my friend Erin.. I was sad for that. :( Bill also had gotten pretty sick after christmas too. He ended up with a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) yucky. So, he was out of commission for a little while. Then Braeden got a cold/chest infection on the day we left for home. So it post-poned us leaving out of town a few hours. with the Urgent care visit and picking up meds on the way out of town. I started getting a little cough too so I was seen at the same time as Braeden. They said it was just a cold. So I got a little cough med and one the way I went. We made it to Indianapolis right before New Years! well an hr to spare. We were able to ring in the new year with our dear friends the Velasquez family. I was feeling was miserable. But it was nice being there. We stayed there one more night to rest up a little. Then off we were to our next destination Lincoln, NE. Which by the time we got there I was a royal mess. I couldn't swallow with out wanting to die, it hurt to breathe. It didn't feel like any cold I had ever had before, it actually felt more like strep throat. But I had a cough that was awful too. Which usually doesn't happen with strep. I tried to be a trooper and be tough, but my senses were slowly diminishing. We all went to bed and were trying to make the best of the hotel. Billy had taken the boys to the pool to get out some energy. I tried to rest in bed. It didn't help. By 3am I hadn't slept at all... I'd kept Bill up all night from whining, tossing and turning, and hacking all the time. So, I told him I was going to the ER. I couldn't take it any more. I decided to drive myself. So he could try to rest for our trip that day. I just wanted to go home. But he was in no shape to drive, and I was in no shape to sit in the car for 13 hrs. Then Braeden got up and vomitted. He said his tummy hurt. OH BOY... does it get good. So, He goes back to bed. I head to the front desk to get directions to the hospital, Bill tries to go back to sleep. It doesn't happen. He calls me on my cell as I'm about to get in the car. and he tells me he's going to take me. The boys are all alseep in the hotel. Bryen is old enough to watch them. So, Bill drives me to the Hospital. While there, I get an X-Ray of my throat to make sure it's not swelling where they can't see. I'm in excruciating pain. Still having a hard time breathing and my throat is on fire. They give me morphine to help with pain management. (I'd never had morphine before) my arm started itching... and I starting scratching.. It felt like an allergic reaction... and it didn't even touch my pain. It felt useless. But what they hey, they said it should've worked. I had a strep test.. Negative. Still just a cold. ugh... So, off we are sent with more pain meds and a steroid to try to help with things. That was Sunday early morning. We stay in Lincoln one more day. To try to rest up. So, we left Lincoln on Monday. Bright and squirley early. We went home... Still miserable, but heading home. Mikey had gotten sick on Sunday with vommitting too. so we were a sight in our car... Sick as anything. We make it home on monday night to an angry cat. Who was not happy about us leaving him home alone for 3 weeks. Three weeks of garbage, and junk of a messy house awaiting us behind the front door. No food for the kids lunches the next day, not sure who would actually make it to school, with them all being sick, And Mikey ended up screaming and crying in the car on the way home with a sore throat. We got home in time for urgent care to still be open, so Bill rushes him to the urgent care to get him taken care of. Well, he tells the doctor he's fine. GRRRrrrr. ok. So he ends up with some cough syrup and off to school. so hundreds of dollars later. we're finally home and all supposed to be getting on the mend and back to life as we know it. Come tuesday morning. Getting the boys ready for school as best I can being horribly sick. Braeden decides he has a tummy ache and vommits. sigh... ok so, he's home... anyone else...? so, I get the other two ready for school. Rush to the store to get them something for their lunches. get them to school on time. run a few errands... like pay rent. and get Bill set for his interviews... Then home to try to rest. With a HUGE pile of mail Demanding to be addressed. So I sit in bed going through the mail. Making piles of bills, junk mail, christmas cards, misc... then Bill takes a nap as I'm going through the mail. I then start setting up the bills to be paid in my acct. He is still sleeping. I'm covered in paperwork. exhausted. As soon as i'm about done he wakes up and askes what all this crap is all over our bed. joy... so I explain what I was doing, through a very raspy, horse voice as best I could. Then he opens a few pieces of mail that were for him. Then gets angry cause the house is a mess, telling me how big of PIGs we are... and on and on... then does nothing....I can't even get him to make dinner... so we end up ordering out pizza... and leave the mess another day. Today, I was able to get the boys ready for school... all made it today.. YEAH! I'm a little better. YEAH! I did a workshop for school today, got the kitchen picked up a little. Got a grocery list together. Got the VW registered and tagged. But got a rejected inspection.. Need a new tire. Then went grocery shopping on a limited budget. Made up the kids portions for their lunches. Premade sandwiches, veggie baggies, snack baggies and such. Cleaned up that mess. Then put the groceries away. Kids came home and I got Braeden to unload the dishwasher. Bill to load the dishwasher. It has been productive. But still aways to go. Tons of homework for the boys to wade through. but we're slowly but surely getting back to normal. Me included. I hope you have had a wonderful christmas season with less adventure than mine. I hope all have been very well. I feel blessed to have made it through the tough times. I'm stronger for it. I am grateful for my husband and all that he does do. He was also hit this christmas with having to take a Voluntary Severance Package, as they were moving his job to India. He took it so he is no longer working for AOL. He is unemployed too. Sigh.. things get better and better don't they. He ended up with 3 months severance and his bonus. which will be helpful. He has a job interview with Overstock.com tomorrow. I pray he gets the job and it's what he wants to do. We are blessed through these trials and I know that the Lord is mindful of us. We will have all that we need to sustain us, I have faith. We have been blessed and guided to move here to Utah. And we are still following his lead through prayer, fasting and faith. School for me starts monday, but working on workshops for school this week. Excited as anything. :) see blessings :) there is always a silver lining and sparkles as it rains :) Be blessed and see the blessings!

Recent Developments

2009-12-05T16:21:00.003-05:00

Well, here's the latest on the Clark Clan. I'm still looking for work... nothing even promising on the hunt. I'm going to be starting school in January online. Yeah me! I should be finished with my associates by May of 2011. I'm going to school for an associates as a Medical Administrator. It's a start.

Bill is getting his resume ready. We are trying to be prepared, if he is laid off next year. His department said they need to get rid of 50% of their workforce in the US so we're trying to be hopeful he'll keep his job, but not sure. We'll be sending it out this week to lots of places... So if you know anyone looking for an amazing Senior Unix System Administrator. Let us know. We're entertaining all options right now. Not that he wants to quit. He loves his job. He loves working for Aol. but there is only so long you can avoid getting laid off. He's been there for 10 years +, and has been thru several (like 20) layoffs. He's riding his bike a lot these days and loves it. He's itching to go play paintball with the boys. Maybe when we go to WV they'll get to play.

Bryen, Braeden and Mikey are doing very well in school. They love it here. Mikey has to wear a patch over his left eye to help the right eye get stronger. It may take 6 months + to help it but we'll check it in 3 months to be sure it's working. Or he'll need to get surgery. Other than that they are all healthy and doing well. :) What a blessing.

We are loving living in Utah. We're enjoying our church callings and loving our ward family here. Last night we made chocolate covered pretzel sticks with caramel and chocolate with sprinkles on some. They are yummy. We're enjoying the snow we've been getting periodically. Today we're getting a good one. The grass is completely covered and so is the road and sidewalks.

We're hoping for good weather on our journey back to WV for Christmas Break. We'd like to make it 3 days, but not sure with the weather outlook. It may take us longer since the midwest is looking at lots of snow over the next several days. I just hope I can leave the house clean and laundry done. That will be a feat in and of it's self.

Well that's the update on all of us here. May you all have a wonderful Christmas. Remember the reason for the Season. Our Lord and Savior's Birth :) Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T21:25:00.003-05:00

During this time of year we typically list and acknowledge more things for which we are thankful. I see this as an opportunity to "kick it up a notch" instead of only limiting my thankfulness during this time of year. I try to post lots of things for which I am thankful for. I usually list them as blessings. I am thankful for my family, my children and my husband. I'm thankful for my Savior and the knowledge I have of who I am, where I'm from, my purpose here on the earth, and where I'm going. I am thankful for the ability to be a stay at home mom. I'm thankful for our home. I'm thankful for a great school that my children have to attend. I'm thankful for missionaries who share the gospel to others. I'm thankful for a prophet who leads and guides us on the earth today. I'm thankful for christmas music. I'm thankful for uplifting movies. I'm thankful for the internet and it's wealth of knowledge it shares with me when I ask a question. I'm thankful for food. I'm thankful for snow. I'm thankful for pies and yummy goodness that I am able to taste. I'm thankful for good health. I'm thankful for a working oven and utilities. I'm thankful for wonderful FRIENDS! I'm thankful for so much, I am thankful for YOU!

Today I have been baking up a storm! I've made 4 pumpkin pies (I tried two different recipes to see which one I like best). I made 2 macadamia nut pies (I used macadamia nuts instead of pecan since Bill's allergic). Two different kinds of Rice Krispie treats. and now ChexMix is baking in the oven. I'm going to crock pot my ham tomorrow, so I can use the oven to make rolls and green bean casserole. We'll also have homemade mashed potatoes. Shrimp cocktail and sparking grape juice. I'm so thankful for the bounty for which we have.

I am going to miss my extended family in Texas, New Mexico, Michigan, New Jersey, Boston, California, and West Virginia. I hope they have a wonderful holiday and know that we will be thinking about them. This is the first Thanksgiving we have not spent with family in a very, very long time. If ever. It feels strange. It feels very foreign. No family to visit with. No friends even to share the holiday with. If any of my cousins in Provo aren't going out of town for the holiday, you should come by. We have a feast, and have plenty to share. It's a blessing and a curse being the oldest girl of seven kids. I cook for an army.

I'm not sure if I'll be watching the Macy's day parade tomorrow. I'll be enjoying cooking :)

To one and all have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings Daily

2009-11-15T15:15:00.002-05:00

We have been so blessed this week even among some of our trials. I am so grateful for the Lords watchful care over us. We have had an opportunity to see if we were prepared in all things this week. We realized that we weren't, which has given us a bigger drive to become more prepared. We almost ended up being blacklisted from our bank and any other bank for up to 5 yrs. Due to our inability to manage our money properly. Scary. We had been trying for a couple of weeks to start a plan to help with that problem. We started the process two weeks ago. after we noticed our problem...We had a plan, we started on our plan, but it was a little too late. We had been notified that our bank account would be closed after 10 days, my debit card had already been canceled. I was told before that it was canceled due to it being reported lost. I was totally confused. So I went to the bank manager at the branch near my house. He looked at my account, spoke to a bank investigator about my account, and said I could open up a new account. While I was doing that. They told me that I needed to open up a new joint account with Bill. So I picked him up when I was done with my account and we went back to the bank. sigh... Ok, well here we are in the bank talking to the guy who opens new accounts. And he tells us that we are unable to open a joint account. Due to us being blacklisted! WHAT!!! and that all the accounts I just opened will also be closed. Not to mention that the next day Bill's paycheck was to be deposited into the account we were informed was being canceled in 10 days. We were told we couldn't get any money from that account and that it would be sent back to his company. (more heart-attack), Well, were trying to get definitive answers on the situation that is exploding in our face. We understand we have a problem and were trying to fix it. But this was way too much for us to comprehend. deep breath. Ok so we get the branch manager back out to see if he could give us a straight answer about our account and what to expect. We were in a heap of trouble. Bill's that needed to be paid and the thought of not being able to get our money to pay them was a scary thing. The thought of being homeless was too much to think about. We stayed calm and said many a silent prayer that we would be able to resolve these issues quickly and that we would be able to still take care of our family. The bank manager was able to figure out what had happened, we were able to get things resolved. We had to close one of our accounts, but would still be able to get our money out of it and still be able to keep the plan we were working on to eliminate our issues. With the help of prayer and faith, and the diligence and kindness of others were are no longer blacklisted. We were able to resolve our issues at the bank and were able to open up the accounts we had needed . Tragedy averted. We are even more determined then before to be better stewards over the money the Lord has blessed us with. We are so blessed

The boys are over their illnesses. They are doing well in school. We had parent teacher conferences this week, and they all did well. Their teachers said that they are all so very respectful. They wish all of their students were as respectful. That brought a tear to my eye. That is something that I am so grateful of that they are so good in their classes. They all have a few areas they could be working on, but that area is not one of them and I'm so grateful for their respect for their teachers and other classmates. It is truly a blessing.

We had a great day at church today. It was stake conference. The talks were so wonderful, the choir was heavenly. I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple. We are more determined to make it a regular part of our lives. We are grateful for a loving, inspired Stake presidency and bishopric. I am grateful for the friends we've been making here in Utah. We have been so very blessed to be here. I hope you all will see the blessings of the Lord in your life and praise him daily.

November Update

2009-11-09T14:18:00.004-05:00

i have been really enjoying my cub scouts calling at church. We made clown hats from paper bags for our activity last week. It was so much fun :) Our theme this month is Under the Big Top :) So we're going to be clowns and we'll even have a strong man, one of our cubs :) I'm excited for our circus on Nov. 19th. We are going to make cars from boxes for our skit next week. :)

The boys got their report cards on Friday, I'm pleased with the results. Braeden and Mikey did very well. Only a few areas to work on. Bryen is still struggling, but not as bad as I thought he would. Today I have an appointment with his teacher to talk to her and to hear from Bryen about his first term. they don't do grades here, If they get a 3 then it means that they are at or above grade level, if they have a 2 then they have areas where they need help to get up to grade level, and a 1 is needing extreme help, and no where near grade level. Bryen had several 2.5's and 2.75 and a couple of 2's, a couple of 3's, not a single 1 so I'm ok with that, We'll continue to work with him on his areas of needs. But he has a great support network at school and at home, I know he can do it. I'm proud of all of my boys and their efforts towards their education. Bryen was suggested by his last school to be held back. But I think he's doing very well.

I just got a "new to me" couch set. I'm very excited because I now have plenty of seating in my living room. No more need to use folding chairs. :) took us long enough to get extra seating. Now to get a new table/chairs for the kitchen :) maybe next paycheck, The table and chairs I want to get are at Ikea... I can hardly wait to get those :)

I've been using my crockpot a lot lately. I made a brisket in it for dinner last night, it was sooo yummy. and then I tried again to make a hashbrown casserole but it was a flop. :( I'll keep trying, I just have to figure out what I'm doing wrong to get it to work. I am thinking of making cream cheese chicken later this week in it.

Bill is doing well still at his job. We are still blessed to have a job. I'm still looking for work. But we are making it on Bill's income so I'm not complaining. I have really enjoyed being home with the kids. I've been helping in the Library and in their classes :)

I may be able to spend Thanksgiving with my sister Katy in New Mexico, She is still waiting to find out what days she has off of work so we can plan accordingly. I haven't spent thanksgiving with her in over 11 years. Pretty sad if you ask me. I love my sister very much. We talk almost every day. Who would have thought with the way we were when we were kids. We got along ok, but not the best of relationships. I'm glad that we talk more now.

I have been so very blessed, I am grateful for the blessings that we have been given. My wonderful husband, and amazing children. The ability we have for me to be able to stay home with the kids, and for Bill to be able to work from home. For the knowing that we are Loved and our relationship with family and friends. We are also so very grateful for the Saviors sacrifice for us and our personal relationship with him. I'm so very grateful for our trials that bring us closer to the Savior and each other. We are so very blessed. All we are and have is from Heaven. Praises be unto him. :)

She's gone :(

2009-10-31T12:52:00.002-04:00

Joi is officially at the breeders now. :( They said she's doing well and made the trip well. She has been well behaved around the kids, for which I'm grateful. The breeder is going to try to fix Joi's ear, and try to bulk her up, as she's too skinny. She will work on training her and then finding a new home for her. :( I hope she knows how much we love her and wish her well. Joi is better off where she is now. I need to keep reminding my self this. As much of a headache she was for us. We still loved her very much. It will be an adjustment getting used to her not being here. But, I know it's better this way for her. Now to try to move on. We need to clean up the yard, all the poo and trash from Joi. Sell the kennels and other dog stuff we have.

We are down to one pet... and will stay that way. Happy Halloween :)

More winds of change

2009-10-30T18:57:00.002-04:00

Well, here we are we made it almost a full year with a dog... what a feat in and of it's self. However, Joi is now on her way to Indianapolis IN. She is going back to the breader we originally got her from. It is expensive to fly a dog... can I just say... wow. crazy! We were having such a hard time getting the boys to follow the training instructions with her. Everytime we'd tell them... don't yell at her, talk normally to her, don't all tell her a command at the same time... one at a time. on and on and on it went... they didn't listen. She kept jumping on everyone. She wouldn't stop pulling on the leash. WE tried everything. Nothing worked. We had to get the prong collar and even then she tested it alot, then she would just jump on us. She would eat her leash and everything. What an adventure. She is about to have a wonderful experience being trained by a professional... and one who loves her so much. WE are so grateful for the breaders (our friends) who trusted us with her and are willing to accept her back and know that we love them and her. So now what is in store for us.. well, we'll just be a one pet family for a long time. Socks the cat is perfectly fine being an only animal. He I think prefers being the only one around.. pet wise that is... :) He's a good cat.

The boys had "Storybook Day" at school aka Halloween celebrations... They dressed up and had fun. The catch with the Storybook day was that they were allowed to dress up only if they had a book they were associated with... Let's just say... The boys had a blast... Bryen was a Zombie... his book Zombie Zone from A to Z Mysteries. Braeden was a Pirate... his book was Pirates from Magic Tree House the companion book to Pirates at High Noon. Mikey was BumbleBee from Transformers... Can you guess his book? His book was Transformers Animated... What fun. I volunteered in the Library and was from the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs... An egg on a Tree :) I know cute right :) I would go to class rooms and ask them What book am I from... and they all said Green Eggs and Ham... :) but only thing was I wasn't green :) Those are our costumes for Halloween. Bill will be Bacon. yea I know... cute. Together we are Bacon and Eggs :)

Now to sell off the Dog stuff we still have, and start saving for christmas. I'm hoping to visit Katy in New Mexico for Thanksgiving but still waiting to hear about her work schedule. I'm gonna start on my book. Continue to look for work and volunteer at the school. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween :)

Swine Flu?! Oh yea that... We got it too

2009-10-25T17:31:00.003-04:00

Well, Here I thought we'd be able to miss this whole Swine flu thing. Well, not so much. Mikey shows up with Swine Flu, Friday night, Yea I know.... I sent him to school with a cough... that's it.. no fever, nothing, just a little cough. Well, he comes home from school and just sits on the couch. Not talking, not moving, looking miserable. I go check on him and he is burning up. I check his temp... 101.4 I send him with Bill to the Dr.'s office right away. I'm thinking we'll still get a date. It's just a cold. No biggie right... NOT so Much. I get a call from Bill. Poor thing has H1N1... So they get his cough medicine and are sent home. And I'm told that he can't return to school for a week. R U kidding me... Well, okay. No date night. No enjoying the beautiful fall weather on Saturday... And no going to church on Sunday to find out who the new Bishop is. I'm still home with Mikey, who by the way as of Sunday... has no fever at all. barely a cough... I would love to send him to school on Monday... He seems fine. But Bill informs me that the CDC says that he has to stay out of school a full week. Ugh.... So this week, No volunteering at the school. No Cubs... I'm hoping I can go Visiting teaching... I'll leave Mikey at home. This stinks... I'm praying and hoping the other two don't come down with it. As the coming saturday is Halloween... and it would totally stink if they had the H1N1 on Halloween. I'm becoming a little psychotic about washing their hands... but it's the best defense against it. oh well, Do I go shopping for costumes yet? or wait. I guess that is the question. Do I also buy candy for Halloween? I'd hate to get stuck with all that stuff... Hmmmm What to do......

plugging along

2009-10-14T16:23:00.004-04:00

Well, we are plugging along, we went to the Zoo last week, it was very nice, but cold outside, I feel like I live in the Dr.'s office these days, Bryen has had a skin infection on his eye... celulitus of the eye.. (sp?) He had to get an IV for heavy duty medication, and we had to go back three times for doses. Braeden hurt his arm on the playground and needed X-Rays. (he's fine nothing broken just bruised). And then today, Bryen got hurt playing wall ball at school with his friends. He's fine, just a little bruising on his arm... He'll go back to school tomorrow. Mikey is the only one so far that hasn't needed any medical attention in the last two weeks. (Cross my fingers it stays that way) I hope they stop getting sick and hurting themselves. I'm running out of Flexben. i need it to last til the end of the year, with Bill and Bryen's meds. We are in the process of selling our house in WV. It's getting appraised this week, and then it will be listed. We have decided to short sell our house. The current renters are looking into purchasing the house. :) I hope they can. It would be awesome. Bill is doing well, He and I both need to exercise more... we're working on it. Joi is going to be going back to the breader within the next two weeks. We have tried to train her and she just isn't doing well. We have decided to not have another dog for a while. We need a break. We still have our cat. He's doing well. I finally got a calling at church on sunday... I'm now a Cub Scout Den Leader - Wolf's :) yeah. I'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time. this is a great Cub Scout Program. I hope I can do it justice. We will only have 2 boys in my den for most of next year and the rest of this year. But hopefully it will grow after that. We are going to be traveling back to WV for Christmas, We are looking at driving ( I Know crazy huh:?) Well, it's too expensive to fly. I hope the weather cooperates with our drive... I don't want to get stuck in Wyoming or Colorado. Depending on which way we travel. i'm hoping i can visit with some family for thanksgiving. Either my cousins if they arn't going home from BYU, or visit with my sister in NM. I haven't spent a thanksgiving with my family in 11 years. I think its time. We had a great Conference weekend. We drove around and listened to Conference on the Radio. it was really nice. WE stopped in Park City and walked around in between sessions. On our way home we found an AWESOME authentic NY Pizza joint in Sugar Hill. It's awesome Este's is the BEST... outside of NY that is. Great atmosphere too. I've been canning somemore too ... I helped can about 14 dozen jars of applesauce. I got to take home 5 dozen :) The boys like all the canning and stuff I've been doing here. It's been really nice to learn new things and have the time to learn them. I am still missing my friends in WV, Helen, Jovan, Carolyn Hall, Erin Whitcome, Janea Barnes.... just to name a few. I'm trying to make friends, but everyone here seems really busy and already have friends or family close by so I'm kindof not fitting in very well. When we went to the Zoo, we ran into one of our friends we made in Indiana... The Blanchards (Doug and Debbie)... They are awesome people, unfortunately they live down in Spanish Fork, about 1.5 hrs away. :( I hope we can visit with them soon. I'm still looking for work, and collecting unemployement... but i'm not in too big a hurry to actually get another job. I am trying to enjoy being home and available for my family. And since I don't have a degree yet... I'm pretty sure it will be a long while coming finding a job. Even though I have a TON of experience. I don't have a degree so I've been told that due to the lack of education, I'm no longer a candidate. oh well, that has to wait too. :) Bill is loving working from home and we are enjoying him being home. :) i hope he keeps his job. He just got his 10 year award from work. :) It's hard to believe he's been with AOL that long. thru all their ups and downs. :) I hope we can continue to work with them. We love them and think they are an awesome company to work for. I really enjoyed working there too. :) Well that's what's going on here. plugging along and staying strong :)

Catching up

2009-09-19T16:10:00.007-04:00

Boy, I guess it's been awhile since I last posted. Things have been good, crazy and fun. We've had good times and bad. It's been a whirlwind for sure. Let's see where do I start. Bill has been really enjoying working from home. The kids started school on August 25, 2009. They really love their teachers. Bryen is in 4th Grade and has Ms. Bagley, Braeden is in 3rd Grade and has Ms. Turnbow, and Mikey is in 1st Grade and has Ms. Lindsey. They are doing very well. I still have not found work, which is ok. I'm enjoying being home. I've been doing a TON of canning. I've made several kinds of jellies, and canned peaches and pears. I'm working on Salsa and green chili's. My father passed away Aug. 11, 2009 in Temple Tx. So we had to make a trip there. Bill's grandmother just passed away, he is currently in WV/VA. He returns Monday, Sept. 21. Joi is doing well, she is getting so big... Still a puppy, but you wouldn't know it looking at her. She is getting so big. I've made a few friends, which is nice. Still no one like in WV... But I'm hopeful. I've been active in the Ward Choir. I have a solo part in an upcoming performance at church. it's a small part ... with the choir. But I'm trying to be brave. It's Love at Home... I love that song so I should do ok. We sing in Church on Sunday... Master the Tempest is Raging. It's a hard arrangement. I just pray the angels are singing with us. We still mess up on a few parts. When I was canning some peaches two weeks ago with a couple of sisters in the ward... WE canned 216 jars of peaches in one day... crazy huh? yea I know we're nuts. But my friends peach tree runneth over and she didn't want them to go to waste. Braeden just loves them. He eats peaches almost every day. I ended up with 3 dozen quart jars full of peaches from that day. and about 5 other dozen from my other canning days. :) I learned you can make jelly out of the peach pits. It's called peachstone jelly. It's yummy and has a beautiful color. I am thinking I didn't cook it long enough to thicken the way it should have, so I ended up mostly with peachstone syrup. :) which is still yummy. I need to find a use for it besides on pancakes.. I'm thinking of mixing it with peaches in a peach cobbler. I will have to try it and let you know how it goes. I love being out here with all of the case lot sales. Lots of great deals on cases of food. I've been able to build up some of my food storage easier here than before. They even sale things at walmart in the Food Storage section in Bulk.. like Big 50lb buckets of cocoa, flour, sugar, wheat... etc... #10 can's of dried fruit, freezedried meats and veggies. It's awesome. The people in our ward are awesome. The scouting program here is awesome, Bryen got is Bear this last week and Braeden got his wolf. We are so happy for such an active and involved ward/scouting program. The school is a Gold Medal School. Columbia Elementary is so good, we couldn't have asked for a better school. We still miss our family and friends in WV... But we are grateful for the blessings it has brought our family living here in Kaysville UT. I hope to visit with my cousins now that they are back at school in Provo. Hopefully we can get together for sunday dinner soon. We have even taken a few trips, one to Antelope Island, and to YellowStone National Park. It was so cool. Bill's parents came to visit us. We drove thru the Teton's as well. It's been so much fun this summer. We are thinking of trying snowboarding and skiing this winter since we're here in Utah, with the best snow on earth. :) That's the download of what is currently going on. I'll try to stay in touch better.

So Far

2009-06-25T13:09:00.002-04:00

Well, lately it's been interesting trying to get into a schedule with the kids. We started chore lists this week. Some days are successful others a flop. The boys had Cub Day camp on Tuesday which they absolutely loved.. We found a theatre that has dollar movies on Wednesdays in the AM for charity. The boys have started making new friends, and are enjoying the multiple parks around our house. It has started getting hot here. So staying hydrated and covered with sunscreen are our priorities. For Fathers Day Bill wanted to go to Antelope Island and explore, so we drove there after lunch and church. It was a nice day. We saw Bison and antelope, and put our feet into the Salt Lake, It was yucky... But we did it anyways. It was really low when we went. Bugs were everywhere. and the brine shrimp were smelly... Other than that it was nice. We posted a few pictures to our facebook accounts. We are in a great ward. We are starting to get to know a few people. but it's hard breaking into a new area. So far so good.

A new day

2009-06-14T22:29:00.003-04:00

So here we are... Our first Sunday in our new ward. It was very nice. We met alot of people. I can't remember everyone but luckily we have a map as to where every one lives. Our ward consists of 3 streets. Crazy huh?! It is kind of neat. Some one handed Bill another ward list and then people preceded to point out which house was theirs. So we have a name, a house and a map. I still can't remember who everyone was that came up to us. I'll get it over time I'm sure. I'm grateful to be so close to so many members. I remember back to my days when I lived in Provo and our apartment complex had three wards during the school year and two during the summer terms. It was great being so close to everyone. I hope it will be as fun as it was then. Just with less transition. We have I think like 1 part-member family in the entire ward... and maybe even one non member family. It's definitely different. It is a great opportunity to be surrounded by so many members. We are looking forward to also being so close to the temples. We can go at least once or twice a week. (that's my plan anyways). Bill needs to still apply to Weber State for the fall semester, before it's too late. We need to register the kids in school here, and figure out what summer programs there are here so the kids have stuff to do during the day while Bill is working from home. Our ward has primary/Relief Society/Priesthood first, then Sunday school, and finally Sacrament meeting. I like it better that way so that we have no excuse to miss the sacrament. The kids really had fun in Primary too. It is going to be a great ward. WE are so excited to be here and for these experiences. We have been so blessed. It's amazing how far we've come in a year. This time last year we were gearing up for Bill surgery and I was worried about our future. I'm grateful for the blessings the Lord has showered upon us. All in his due time.

What a rollercoaster... is it time to get off yet?

2009-06-11T17:25:00.002-04:00

ok, ok, i know it's been a while since I've posted last. Possibly over a month... so lets see what I can fill you guys in on what's been going on here. Lets see...

About a month ago my friend Jovan Hernandez had a baby girl... She is perfect. I was able to be there at the delivery and help her thru it... it was an amazing experience. Her name is Ava-Miley. She weighed 6 lbs. and 1 oz... a week later they moved into our home as we were getting ready to move out. They moved in May 20th... We didn't leave the house until June 4th and WV until June 6th... Busy busy house. We worked together as best we could and I don't think it was too bad. We all survived. We stayed the last two days with my in-laws at their house so they could spend more time with the boys before we left.

The boys finished school and are doing well. Bryen has now been diagnosed with ADHD and Bi-Polar. What fun!!! more meds and doctor visits for that. But is seeming to do much better off the Anti-depression meds he had been on since Dec. He's now on a ADHD med and Bi-polar med that are making it easier to handle him. We'll see how long that lasts. I need to still schedule him with a Therapist and Psychiatrist here in Kaysville or close by. Braeden is doing well and got a principle's award. Mikey graduated from Kindergarten.... All are looking forward to their new school year and their new school.

Bill's job allowed him to work from home full-time. Yeah!!! He was able to order new equipment and have it shipped out here to UT. He has off until June 15th then starts working here at home full-time. YEAH... I just now need to get him a nice desk and chair since he'll be doing alot of time in the basement. He is enjoying the time away from work, even though it was a tough move in 3 days here to Utah.

Oh the move... you want to hear about our move... ok, let's see. We packed the truck on June 4th with some help from the missionaries and brother Hall for about an hour... Then Vinney Hernandez and Us finished loading the truck... oh yea did I mention... IN THE RAIN?! yes it was rainy when we loaded the truck... what fun that was. Then we left it in the drive way while we went over to my in-laws and slept there. While there we tried to rest on June 5th but had alot to finish and do before we could leave. My brakes needed checked out (since we were going a long distance and over mountains). WE had to make sure we had everything from the house. Get Joi groomed(so she didn't stink on the trip). Drop off our bed to my brother who bought it from us... He was sleeping with his new wife on a twin bed... they needed it really bad. tried to see some friends before I left(didn't really work out :(, ) Then when we got home from running around like a chicken with it's head cut off... Bill's parents wanted to go to a movie with everyone before we left. So we saw UP... It is such a cute movie... I want to own that one. We get home around 9:30 10:00pm... then have to make sandwiches for the trip since we were limited on funds... and pull together all of the stuff the boys had pulled out of the suitcases and run laundry... we didn't go to bed until 1:30am.. We were to leave by 8:00am... didn't happen... We needed to say goodbye to Bill's parents... then my mom called and came over we didn't leave my in-laws until 10:30ish... then Bill remembered we didn't have the hand truck for the appliances.. that we rented so we had to pick that up from Jovan and Vinney's house. By the time we got there... Sock's the cat pooped in his kennel and it needed cleaned out (it's only a 15 min ride there). So we cleaned the kennel, Got the hand truck and thought we were ready to go... Bill left the cat out in the cab of the truck... not 5 min on the road... the cat climbed on Bill's lap and pee'd on him. LOL... right... it's just funny... Bill was upset... but it was funny.... :) so we pull over on the side of the road, get Sock's in his kennel, and Bill changes his clothes in the back of the moving truck, all the while, people stopping to see if I need help... One guy stopped by and asked if we had any cigarettes. We said no and he went on... funny right... So finally we get back on the road. We are heading out of town.... we have to pull over several times to either let the boys go pee or the dog go pee.... The truck went only like 35 mph up the mountains in WV.. so it took us 16 hrs to go from Martinsburg WV to Decatur IL... That was our day 1... we got in VERY LATE... luckily we crossed over in to the Central Time Zone so it was like 2am instead of 3am... again we wanted to get a early start on the day... didn't happen...we get in... I can't keep my eyes open.. Luckily my mom called at the right time and talked to me until I got to the hotel. It was sooo hard. I am so grateful for my mom and her inspiration.... All the while my youngest sister is in the hospital having a baby in TX... So my mom was on the phone with her and me on and off during the trip. So in the morning we're up by 8am... so we can get going... we get down to breakfast so we can eat before we go... that takes about an hr with the boys. Then Bill want's to print out the directions for the next leg of the trip.. .we clean out the car, feed the animals and have them go potty... We don't leave again until around 11amCST. sigh... deep breath... nothing I can do about it. We arn't on the road more than 4 min when the boys and the dog are having to go to the bathroom. We pull over and let them go... the dog pee's a little then wants to play... the boys piddle a little and want to play... I'm exhausted... So Bill and I get in a little tiff about not stopping every time someone says they have to go potty or the dog whines (which is her way of saying she has to go). And we need to get on the road.. Mind you I'm following Bill's Yellow Penskie Moving truck... Going soooo ssssllloooowww... I'm even more tired I just want to get it over with... So While I'm waiting for him to take his time getting ready to go... I leave and get on the road... I get a call and he tells me that I'm not being a team player and how dare I leave without hime... I am so at the end of my rope... So I pull over and wait for him.. another 5min or so... then pull in right behind him. We finally pull off and I drink some 5 hr energy drink... yucky stuff... but it worked. I was able to stay awake... much better. We finally pull into North Platte, Nebraska from Decatur, Illinois... It was another long long long trip... Nebraska is never ending... trying to out run tornadoes and thunder storms... the kids were freaking out with all the tornadoe warnings and watches on the radio... what fun... we out run luckily the tornado stuff and things start clearing up... we get in LATE... like at 1 or 2 am again... they ask if we want a later check out I told them no that we had to get back on the road and make it to UT... We missed breakfast... but we got out of there by 1030am.. then stopped at sonic for breakfast... then got back on the road to finish driving thru Nebraska and Wyoming....and finally Utah. We got in here after a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG drive in the dark on whindy, construction thin roads from 80 to 84 to 89 in Utah... We went about 35 up mountains... Hit snow in Wyoming at 8945 feet elevation. Rain and threats of hail... what a trip. We got in around 3am Mountain Time. FINALLY EXHAUSTED... we made it... We fell asleep and that's all we could do... We got up around 7am to try to unload the truck... we went and got breakfast at McDonalds and then came back and started unpacking the truck... We got about half way done when neighbors started showing up around 12ish, 1230.. They helped and finished it getting unpacked in like 30 min...no more than an hr... Amazing... We met several people from our new ward, which by the way is like 5 blocks.. Our church building is 7 blocks from our house... All of our neighbors are members except for a few that are inactive or non-members. I can't wait to meet them. The boys had Cub scouts 5 houses down... Choir practice on Sundays is a few doors down the street... I'm still amazed. They are full bore in to scouting here. They meet on tuesday mornings during the summer and have lots of fun things planned for the boys. Bryen's Class in the Bears has 10 boys in it... Braeden has several boys in his too... They've already made friends. YEAH!!! We are 2 blocks from a cool park and 7 blocks from a botanicals garden with fishing. (it's across from the ward building). We've started unpacking and I'm at a standstill until I can pick up some more furniture.(As we got rid of everything except a couch and the boys beds. I was able to find the Deseret Industries (DI) Thrift store and got a kitchen table with a leaf for $12. and a Baker's rack or $8. Still need chairs and other things. but it's a start. We are finding our way around pretty good. We have received about 7 ward lists from people coming by to visit. If it will stop raining I can actually walk the neighborhood and walking path right by my house with Joi. We have a great yard and awesome view.. I'll post pictures soon. That was our "fun" trip (term used lightly). We have been blessed with safety and peace. We'll keep you posted on our life here in Kaysville, UT... if your ever in the area... look us up and stop by for a visit. Miss everyone in Martinsburg and VA. All our best.

clarity in chaos

2009-05-26T15:17:00.002-04:00

Here i am living my last two weeks with my good friends the Hernandez family. We have an extra 7 people in our home. We've moved out of our room and are all sharing one room, my kids and my husband and I. We are grateful for the opportunity to share this time with our friends. So here in this chaos we are still calm and certain in our decision to move to Utah. We are so grateful for the Lords blessings in this decision. We are excited about the new opportunities that await us there in Utah. It almost seems as if it can't come soon enough... we love our friends but are so excited we can barely stand it. We will miss all of our friends in WV and VA, If your ever in UT please come and visit us. We love visitors.

busy busy bee

2009-05-17T23:28:00.003-04:00

I've been so busy,... trying to pack for our big move. Helping my friend with here three kids while she's in the hospital having #4. And trying to be there for her since she wanted me there at the hospital for her for moral support. Bill has been amazing thru all of this. He has been helping a ton with the kids and with meals and all that.... I couldn't have accomplished all that has been done with out him.!!! THANKS BABE! I LOVE YA!

My friend had her baby on May 13 at 2:31 am. 6 lbs. and 9 oz. the most perfect little angel. She is such a good baby. I never hear her cry. Her name is Ava-Miley Cecilia Hernandez... she is the sweetest. Now that the baby is born... I've been hard core packing. all laundry has been washed... except for the blankets and I've started on those. The kitchen, living room, and front room are completed, boys beds taken down and moved to garage, toys boxed, clothes starting to get boxed up, couch in the garage. Its starting to look like we're really moving.

While I've been a crazy packing machine. Bill took the kids to the beach to spend some time with their grandparents. They left on Thursday this week and got back tonight around 830-

9ish... come to see my husbands HORRIFIC sunburn... blistered, purple looking... aweful!!! I'm certain he needs to go to a burn unit... he insists that he's fine. Hey people can die of skin cancer can they not?! but I can't carry him kicking and screaming to the dr's office. He's too heavy. So I try to put some aloe on it... screaming occurs... so I try to see if a friend has any antibacterial burn ointment.... to no avail.... so now we're still home no meds, miserable. trying to see if he'll let me drive him to the urgent care tomorrow morning... Well, that was my fun crazy week. I hope you had fun. :)

2009-04-28T14:52:00.002-04:00

In an amongst our getting ready to move, we are inundated with baseball. You may say yea right... but let me tell you... we are literally booked solid... not a free saturday until the day we move, and several games and practices every evening til we move. The only packing will be done during the day while everyone is at work. it's crazy I feel so alone. it's hard. i feel so uninspired to even clean the house. It might be partly feeling overwhelmed and a slight lack of desire. I know i'm pathetic... But it's frustrating knowing that it's all on my plate if this happens or doesn't. Bill keeps saying... Are we moving or not... Like it's all my choice. I just look at him and then leave the room. I'm tired. I'm more motivated if someone is here to help. or just for moral support. They don't have to do anything just their mer presence helps motivate me. Well, The boys get home from school in an hr and I need to clean the kitchen and get dinner started, this is the last night they have scouts as baseball games are every tuesday thru the end of the month and even into June. As well as Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays... heck all week long. The only day there is no Baseball is Sunday. I'm not complaining. But I do know the lord will help me to get motivated so we can finish. Here is to 5 more weeks til the move.

Catching up

2009-04-18T22:14:00.004-04:00

ok,... I've had a hard time writing since getting laid off... I'm not on the computer much anymore. But so much has happened since I've been laid off. We have had so many blessings and challenges... But we know that the Lord is by our side thru all of it. But in the end even the challenges are blessings, for they help us to learn and grow. So.. Where do I start?

Well, Lets see here... A few weeks ago decided that with my severance money that we would take a good vacation. Which we desperately needed. Bill had this HUGE pull to take the boys and I out to Salt Lake City, which is where he went on his mission. He hadn't been back since he went on his mission over 10 yrs ago. So we made the decision to go... We called some family and friends and set up to visit with them on the way out and then make our way to Utah. We had all of these really great plans. We even were contacted by another friend that was coming out to visit other people here in VA and we would have a house guest here to watch our house, since we were going to be gone over a week. It was all working out wonderfully. We were feeling very good and blessed. We even had the money to fix up our vehicle so we would not have any worries about how it would perform on the long journey. So, fast forward to the day before we are scheduled to leave on our trip... I pick up our friend who is supposed to stay at our house while we're gone. I pick her up at the airport, then drive over to the Carmax to pick up our travel vehicle that was having some minor repairs done before our trip. Then we were supposed to drive in a caravan back to West Virginia, She had told us she knew how to drive a standard vehicle... we trusted her. Come to find out... she didn't... She put the car in 3rd gear and gassed the car and took her foot off the clutch and killed the car... several times. eventually the car stopped moving with a large black puff of smoke and nasty smell coming from the engine. We were dead in the water... and the clutch wouldn't work. I had gotten separated from her briefly.. so I didn't see everything... but I had to get gas. I knew she wasn't behind me but I was pulling over soon to get fuel in my car and try to wave her down. I get a call just as I'm done putting fuel in my car... from her saying that she was stuck where I last saw her.. and that there was a cop there... (and he was cute.. her words) ... but that I needed to come back and get her. So I went back to see what happened. Yea we were dead. we had a tow truck called and moved the vehicle to a Wegmans grocery store parking lot that was near by, so we could at least try to think thru what our next step was. ... She still felt we could still go to Utah even though the vehicle my husband uses for his commuting and her to use while she is at our house was dead.. she felt we could still go.. We felt otherwise. I needed to get home to try to think this through with my husband.. who was insisting that we could no longer take our trip. since we now needed to fix our vehicle. She wanted to go see a guy! I wanted to think and talk to my hubby... but I drove her to visit this guy.. (mind you she didn't even tell him she was coming) it was a surprise... So we went. I stay in the car after we get to his apartment complex. I talked to Bill who was FUMMING MAD!!! to say the least. She was visiting with him about an hr. then she came back to the car, in tears... emotionally upset. So she had a unwelcoming visit with this guy.. So we drive back to my house. Still trying to figure out what to do... She wants us to still go on our trip. We still feel there is too much going on to just drop it and leave. So we don't go, we cancel our trip. So we can try to think thru everything we need to do. We call our local mechanic.. (Bruce's Auto, in Charles Town WV) Talk to him to see if he knows a decent towing company who could get our vehicle from Northern VA and bring it out here. He puts us in contact with them, and we ask if we can't pay the bill for the repairs if we could pay over time and leave the vehicle there til we can pay in full. He said yes. So we took that step. The tow truck was going to pick up our car, and bring it to the mechanics, They were going to look at the car but then we still were waiting for the verdict on the vehicle... how much are the repairs. and what do we do with this house guest, who ruined our vacation... that is going thru our minds. and she is so bright and chipper and almost clueless that it's a problem that we are down one car and our vacation ruined. so deep breath.. we try to talk to her about her plans and what she plans on doing now. She then informs us about her driving record. limited piece of paper in ID where she left the paper that says that she can even drive, no drivers license on her. just an ID card. She is unable to rent a vehicle in her name... she wants to go all these places. and doesn't want her plans interrupted. She even asks if a female friend of hers that is 16 can sleep over at our house that night. ... WHAT!!! ok... calm down... we told her NO that it wasn't a wise decision. So she didn't. Bill and I needed some time to think and clear our heads so we could think more clearely... We were able to rent a vehicle to get her out of our hair for a little bit. so we could think and process... The next day we decided that it was not a wise choice for her to stay with us, and she suggested it. as well as we decided that we should return the rental vehicle which was not a wise decision either. So we spent the next day taking her to a friends house and returning a rental vehicle. While driving home from dropping her off and the rental vehicle... We started talking about our trip and how we can possibly still do something fun maybe just not all of what we had planned. We get home and keep talking. We decide to still go to Utah... with what little money we have left in our account.. after the rental and the towing and all that... so we decided to leave the next day... Almost immediately we feel hope and joy... It was exhilerating! We decided to drive 2 - 15 hr days to get to Utah... We didn't know how we were getting home but we knew we were going to get there... and we were going to have fun. So we packed the car and then slept so we could leave by 6am in the morning. OK

The next day... 6AM we are ready to go... car is packed, Kids set, prayer said... when low and behold... the travel vehicle won't start... yes I know.. funny right... well, I thought so, and opportunity for humor... We call a wonderful friend and neighbor and they come and help us jump the car... luckily it was just the battery. We finally got the car started, and went to Walmart to buy a new battery, replaced it in the Walmart parking lot and headed out... realizing the blessing of this hickup... blessing you say... well yes. a blessing, we were to be driving the northern route to UT thru Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. Lots of cold mornings and snow. If we had gone to our vehicle the next morning and found a dead car, we would have had a harder time being in the middle of no where land to get help then at home where we had friends and resources we knew if it was a bigger problem. So... off we head, now 730am... a little behind schedule but still on the road... another prayer for thanks and watchfulness and alertnes and we're off...

We make it to DeMoine Iowa... our mid point in our journey to UT... snowed thru illinois and iowa... and being at night.. treacherous... but we were safe. We made it safely there. Sleep decently enough and have breakfast uneventful at the hotel. On the road again by 8am... Drive the rest of the way to Utah. We get lost trying to find our friends house in Fruit Heights UT

WE finally make it to Fruit heights UT... our friends were up.. .but it was almost 11 or so at night. my kids had been fabulous on the trip out... very few fights if any... the spirit was there. and we made decent time to our destination with very limited potty breaks.. such a blessing. We arrive exhausted, but I stay up visiting with my friend and Bill heads off to bed. the boys play with their friends and I go to bed around 2am MST. and put the boys to bed when I go to bed. They are sleeping in the room beneath ours... I hear them playing and talking loudly til 3AM when I make them move to different rooms and sleep. They are up early! like 7am... Yes I know my kids are strange. Bill and I are up at around I think 10 being a little lazy... and still kindof tired. But our friends let us sleep. We spend several wonderful days there.

While there we are feeling more and more like we should really look into the community near our friends. as well as possibly ... dare I say it... moving.!! AHHH... WHAT!!! why... we're perfectly happy with our home in WV, We have great friends here, Bill has a great job... oh yea but the situation with the boys school is AWFUL!!! and some of the kids they are making friends with are not a good influence.... We're fine. Bill works from home 3 days a week. I'm a stay at home mom looking for work. Isn't it ideal? So I don't bring it up... I ignore it since I have constant wonderlust... as Bill calls it...

He mentions to me that he really loves it hear.. I agree that it is nice here. But we have a great place back home... in West Virginia... He says he feels impressed that we should move here. WHAT!!! your kidding right... No... he's not. We had scheduled to go to the Salt Lake temple and do a session there. so we decided to pray and fast about it as we went to the temple. We went with a purpose. To find out if we really should be there and if so... later in the year or before the summer. you might have guessed... Before summer was in full swing. So,

We decide that yes we'll move to Utah... but, don't know anything really about the area... I mention to our friend that we're going to be moving to UT, and she put us in contact with some friends of hers that could help us find stuff that would work for us in the Kayesville area. Where the schools are wonderful for the kids. And possibly even central enough for Bill or I to go to school.We look into rentals there, and see a few houses in a few neighborhoods before we leave. Nothing situated... nothing settled. Just that we need to move to Utah soon... really soon. Not sure why, but sometimes with the Lord we don't always know the full reason why, just as we go thru the process of following his will. We call my sister who lives 9 hrs away from where we are and see if she can visit with us on our way home.. briefly but at least a visit.

She says yes.. so we now know how we are to go home. The original way we were going to head out to UT but instead in reverse. crazy huh? ... well, we leave, unevenful.. I even visit with a long time friend in Murray before we leave Ut. It was so nice visiting with Kathy Johnson and seeing her little family. So off we are to Farmington NM where my sister lives. We call our friends that we were going to visit with and arrange to stay at their houses. Still all the while wondering how we're going to make this move happen in such a short period of time.

We take 4 days to get home.. stopping the first night in Albequeque NM. by way of Moab and Farmington NM then the second night in Neosho MO, the third night in Indianapolis IN and then driving home the 4th day. All of our wonderful friends we would have loved to visit on the way out and spending more time with. The boys only missed 2 days of school for our vacation. We rode horses in Neosho, visited with family and friends. What a wonderful trip... you can view pictures of it thru my Photo Gallery as well as on my Facebook photos. What a trip... K now we're home. still feeling like we need to move to UT. but what do we do with our house. What do we do with his job. how can we afford to do this or when can we afford to do this. it takes time and money to move.

Again the lord is blessing us. peace comes with his help... direction if close to the spirit. It's amazing.

We have a renter for our house... We found a truck we can afford that will be able to tow our second vehicle. We have someone who we might be able to rent their house in Kayesville UT where the schools are excellent for the kids and close enough for Bill and I to go back to College and finish our degrees. I've even been able to budget out enough money to pull this off... crazy huh... We are truely feeling the lords hand in our lives. The boys started Baseball as well... All three of them. But I feel as if they won't be able to finish the season before we need to move. OK so here goes... WE are moving to Utah, Leaving West Virginia June 6th. Crazy huh, A month and a half, almost two months to pack, save, and prepare our house here for renters, and put a deposit and stuff and get things started in Utah... Deep breath... We feel so positive about this, we are seeing the lords hand in this every where we look. After we had our answer from the Lord about us moving here, I even was impressed upon as to who we should have rent our house, which would lower our burdens. The Lord is ever mindful of us and our needs, if we would just do as he asks, Lay our burdens upon him for his burden is light. for he will truely make our burden light. We feel so blessed, we only have two obsticles in our way... One is Bill's conversation with his Boss about working from home perminately... cross your fingers and pray that they will let him. and the second one is him talking to his parents who he is nerveous about telling. I am praying that they will know that it is from the Lord and will no lay a guilt trip on Bill for leaving them and taking their only grandkids away... It is going to be hard on Bill to have to tell his parents this. But I have faith. So that's what we're up to, Three boys now in baseball, practice and/or games everynight/day except sundays. so I'm a crazy mom. Need to dejunk, throw away and clean. I have two months or less to accomplish my task. I know with the lords help and friends help I can do this. I will truely miss my family and friends here in VA and WV... :( but the lord has other things for us at this time. Til we meet again. :) be happy and God Bless! I'll try as I can to keep this updated.

Time well spent

2009-03-26T14:28:00.002-04:00

I know it's been a while since I made a post. But I've been busy. It's been really nice being with my kids and hanging out with friends I didn't use to see when I was working all the time. I've been able to catch up on a lot of things around the house that went unattended.

I have ben able to help my kids with their homework, almost every day now. Their grades are improving. Bryen finally got a 102 on his spelling test. YEA! It's been a long time coming. I have to catch him right as he comes in off the bus... or it takes forever to do homework. We've had more successes this way than any other. Our house has been more peaceful. it's been nice.

I'm happy to have been able to spend time with my family and my friends. We have been very blessed. I'm looking for work now... I need to to qualify for Unemployment.

The Winds of Change

2009-03-05T15:36:00.002-05:00

Well, you might not have heard... I've been a "lucky" (term used lightly) recipient of a Layoff. Yep in these hard economic times. It's hard to see the situation as lucky. I have been very blessed with this. I know you might say,... how are you blessed. Let me explain. We were told the end of Jan or the first part of Feb. (I can't remember which) that AOL would need to lay off 10% of their global workforce... If it was broken down by department then HR (the group I worked in) would need to lay off 16 people. We had a quick call with our EVP (Executive Vice President) and he said only 10 or so globally for HR would be cut... and that it would be a hard cut as everyone is a high performer and vital to HR success. These numbers came from our parent company TimeWarner. Bill and I started then really looking at our budget and stocking up on food storage items. As both of us work for AOL it would be extremely bad if we were both cut. We looked at the budget if he was cut... We looked at it if I was cut... and if neither of us were cut... where could we save and cut costs and all that... We were really trying to be as prepared as we could for what ever may come. He luckily has been there at AOL for almost 11yrs... thru aprox. 20 layoffs unscaithed. Me I've only been there 18 months or so...Temping on and off for 10 yrs... but that doesn't count when layoffs are happening. I'm new to my department and have a huge learning curve to over come... My job is important, but can be shared thruout my small group. It would just mean way more work for them. My group was only 5, We had one employee in India, one in Florida, and then me, and one other guy and my manager. So we were a small group. It would really hurt if we were downsized... However, at our last all hands all of my team members were acknowledged for their contributions this quarter and last. I was not. I had a feeling I was just not up to par with the rest of my team. I had extenuating curcumstances... Bill's heart surgery, Bryen's issues, and my health issues.... but still nothing Exceptional to pull off... I knew they wouldn't get laid off... I would be the one let go if we were hit. I prepared my self. Mentally and emotionally... As best I could. I was hoping for a one month severance... But not hoping too much as I'm an hourly employee. I didn't know what would be the case. Well, the inevitable thing happened... I was notified yesturday that Monday or Tuesday next week would be my last day of work. I needed to transition as best I could my duties to the other members of my team by then. Well, ok. I can do this... I'll be a stay-at-home mom for my boys and go to school full time... i can do this... I've done it before I can do it again. As long as I can keep to our tight budget. All can work out. I was notified that I would get two months severance. YEA! I can pay off some debt. which will help us with our budget. We can get a fence, which is needed with the new dog, we can get her spade, we can pay off hopefully 3 pieced of debt and then we'll be in a much better financial situation. We lower our fuel... Bill only works in the office 2 days a week. Lower our Toll Road... It will be such a blessing. I can look for better deals, I can focus on my schooling and the kids better... It is just such a better thing for us. I'm excited about this new change... I'm sure there will be a transition period here at home. getting used to everything, but it will be so nice. We can really follow the council of the prophet and work on having a one income family where the father provides for the needs of his family. We are so blessed even in this time to have the blessings of a good paying job and the resources to take care of our needs. The winds of change are upon us, and we are able to weather the storm.... at least on paper... here comes the fun part... actually weathering the storm! :) pray for us... Thanks for all of your support :) Oh and yes I would work for AOL again if they had a possition for me again. But I'm just not actively looking right now. :)

Interview

2009-02-18T14:37:00.002-05:00

1. In what place do you find peace and happiness, and why? Several places, i'll try to pick a couple... one is the Temple... Why? because I am closer to my Heavenly Father and he touches my heart and eases my troubles easier because I am more in tune and listening to his voice. My home... because i try to make it a place of peace and safety and of course I love my family.

2. What goals did you have when you graduated high school, and did you acheive them?
Goals... one was to move around and get out of Texas... yea I accomplished that one, partially, I wanted to go to Europe too... still haven't accomplished that one, Another was to get married in the Temple, Yep I accomplished that one, another was to be able to be somewhat self supportive so that I knew I would be able to support my family if anything happened to my husband and I needed to work. Still working on that goal. I will be finishing college in just over 2 yrs. I make a good wage and I love what I am doing. But I still don't make as much as my husband... But we could survive off of my income just on a lower level of living. Which is still living. I'm proud of the things I've been able to accomplish.

3.. Who do you respect the most and why? My husband, his honesty and just who he is, I respect most people, I think I'm genuinely a good person and try to show respect to everyone. Especially people who have overcome adversity positively and have helped others overcome adversity as well. That is just something that is amazing.

4. What is your favorite activity? hard to say right now. sometimes it's just hangin' out with my girlfriends (Not alot of time for that these days) or just spending quality time with my hubby continuing to build that eternal relationship. :)

5. What is one place you'd like to visit (money is no option), and why? All of Europe... does that count? I would love to take tours and visit historical places. I love history and experiencing new things. I'd also love to visit Hawaii... Beaches, sun... beautiful scenery.. need I say more? :)

And don't forget the rules to post on your blog:
If you would like to play along here are the directions:
1. Leave me a comment & your e-mail address saying, "Interview me." If you dare.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

The first five 'askers' get the interview!

Valentines Weekend....

2009-02-17T10:38:00.004-05:00

Well, it has been a productive weekend as well as partly relaxing. I have done alot this weekend. But I think it all went pretty smoothly. I started my valentines day weekend on Friday, I babysat for one of my friends so she and her hubby could go and celebrate their Valentines day alone. We watched their kids overnight. The kids had a blast! they watched movies, and played. Saturday we all went and registered my three boys into little league baseball, then come to find out that they will have practice 3 nights a week and a game during the week and one game on saturdays. Luckily it won't start until April. I also signed up to go back to college. I start March 23rd. I can hardly wait. I will be finished in 10 months with my Associates in Business Administration and then 13 months later my Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources. It will be non stop, but worth the sacrifice. Then it will be Bill's turn for him to finish. Leading by example. Saturday afternoon, my friends took the boys and Bill and I left for out date for Valentines Day. We went to a nice Italian restaurant called Cesca in Bethesda MD. It was a nice meal. my favorite dish was their ravioli's with potato and leeks with a mascapone cheese sauce. MMMM tasty... I crave that now! We had a nice leasurely meal. 4 courses to be exact. Then at the end of dinner Bill gives me my gift. a 5 diamond journey necklace. It's beautiful. I have noticed a theme with his jewelry he gives me. There seem to always be 5 diamonds. My anniversary band has 5 diamonds, the wrap on my wedding ring has 5 diamonds and my new necklace has 5 diamonds. He said it represents our family of 5... how sweet. AWWWW. He is such a sweety. Then he and I went to go pick up some flower, a pot of tulips from Sams Club so I can plant them around the front tree. They are beautiful. And we picked up a few movies to watch at home. Nights of Rodanthe, and The Secret Life of Bees. They are both goood movies. We snuggled on the couch and then fell asleep. It was so nice and relaxing to have some quality quiet time with him. We were well rested for church. We went to church on Sunday, I did NO house work on Sunday except made a nice dinner with marinated steaks and a wild rice with artichoke and roasted red peppers. I knew I would clean up on Monday so I wasn't worried. Yesturday I busted my behind... Luckily I had the help of a neighbor's daughter for most of it as I spent most of the day sorting, throwing away and washing laundry. But the house is much more organized and cleared out. What a relief to have it finished. I'm finishing up the laundry. But other than that... I'm done. I couldn't have finished with out the help of Jillian and Bill and the kids. When they came home from building their pinewood derby cars, helped finish the downstairs. I am so blessed to have the friends and family I have. I am so grateful for them all. What a filled weekend. It was wonderful!

What's next

2009-02-10T08:49:00.002-05:00

Well, It seems every year at the beginning of the year, my husband and I try to figure out if we are going to do any major vacations and try to plan for them. We look into hotels, locations, times, things we want to do or teach the kids about. Huge discussions happen around these topics. Then we decide what we're going to do. and pray we'll have the money. time and energy to complete our plans. Oh and barring any outside forces of stopping us. We've been talking about taking a trip to Utah for years now. Every year we say we're going to go, we plan it out, we put in time to take off of work. and Bam! something happens and we can't go. last year, Bill's heart surgery, the year before, Bill was told he could take the time, but then they took it back, and said he was needed in Germany that time and then the day before we were originally scheduled to go after we reallocated the funds. Was told they needed him to go to Germany after when we had originally scheduled to go. So we still couldn't go, no more planning. I am getting a little tired of planning a trip we can't seem to go on. Why is it so important to go to Utah, you might ask. Well, Bill served his mission in Salt Lake City, over 10 yrs ago, and hasn't been back since. While he was on his mission he had open heart surgery right before he came home. He want's to go back and show us some of his favorite places and some of the people he knew there that he still keeps in contact with, after all these years. I love Utah, it holds a special place in my heart. I lived there before I met Bill. I lived in Provo UT, I worked at the Brick Oven and went to Beauty School there at Von Curtis Academy of Hair Design. We also have several friends who have moved to Utah. Plus church history and the temples. So needlessly to say, we were again planning a trip to Utah for this year. We were planning on driving out, so we could see different parts of the country on the way out and see my sister Kat on the way back in NM. Stop in at the Grand Canyon and all that. Well, we were going to go over the kids spring break in April. I was going to have the money, but we owe some taxes this year, and will have to pay that instead of our trip to Utah. Bill also wants to do other trips this year. He has good intentions, but I think our on the spot quick weekend trips seem to be the best. No planning really except the day we want to go. We check the budget and then pic a direction. In a usual 3 day weekend we've been know to do things like, take a trip to Boston, Go to Palmyra NY and Niaghra falls Canada. Or trip to Ocean City, MD, or Indianapolis IN. We like to drive and the kids are pretty good. too bad Utah is a 3 day drive one way. Well, eventually we'll get back there. It just might not be this year. I'm also trying to plan my family reunion in Texas. That should be fun. If I can pull it off. Here's hoping. Where should we go? What should our next big trip be or little 3 day weekend trip. We have one coming up next week with Valentines day/President'sday. hmmm will we go any where? We'll just have to wait and see. :) Do you have any ideas of where we should go?>

Family Reunion Planning - Dickson Clan

2009-02-04T09:54:00.002-05:00

Ok, Here it goes, I'm going to kick off the newest Dickson Family reunion to be held in 2009. Hopefully from now on we can make this a yearly thing. When I was a kid my we'd all meet at Blanco State Park in Blanco TX. It would be great if we could all converge on that place again this year. I asked my mom how they did it before. She said that her and my dad would just let the family know when they were going to be there, and invited the rest of the family to join. Each family is invited. If your a decendant or addition to the Dickson line... From Joyce Dickson/Frazer. Your invited to attend. If you'd like feed back as to which month this summer we do this please feel free to let me know. We I think are planning on being down there in June. If that doesn't work for the majority of you all. Let me know and we can pick a different month. WE hope all can make it. Bring your tents, your lean-too's, your RV's and trailers. It's time to get the Dickson family reunion re-invented. if you'd like to converge at a different location. please let me know. Our home is always open for the fam. We are 90 min from DC. We love visitors. If you want a cheap vacation, stay with us! :) So for now. I'll get my calender and pick a weekend in June and I'll schedule us to be there. I hope you all can join us!

Disappointed Bitter-sweet

2009-02-02T20:27:00.003-05:00

I was so excited my team the Pittsburg Steelers made it to the Super Bowl!!! I was so dissappointed at their poor sportsmanship! They had some really great plays and very methodical with their running game. It was such a close game. I could just not believe they would be so grossly horrible with their on field behavior toward the Cardinals. They were doing some personal fouls, but last I checked two wrongs doesn't make it right. I am a still a fan, just a dissappointed fan. I know they could have been better behaved toward the Cardinals. I wish they would have behaved better. I watched the SuperBowl with a house full of Cardinal fans... Lets just say I was royally imbarrassed to see the behavior of my team. All were appauld at their behavior. Yes they won... but at what cost. It was a win that due to their poor sportsmanship should not have gotten the win. But they did win. A bitter-sweet win. Go Steelers, but I will have a heavy heart.

It's cold outside

2009-01-28T13:25:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are on our second snow day. My house shows it. Mess everywhere. Yesturday it wasn't too bad during the day since the boys were out alot of the day in the snow. Today, however, everywhere I look is a mess. I'm trying to work but I really need to be drill sergent on the kids for their rooms. You can't even walk on their floor. Getting hungry, need to make lunch. It doesn't help that I'm watching the food network while I'm working. It's icy and cold outside. I want to just send the boys outside. But i'm not going to... It's too bad out there. We have a really nice neighbor come over and they cleared our driveway and our cars. How sweet of them! We are so greatful for great friends. It's cold outside, but warm in the house.

Surviving craziness

2009-01-25T20:31:00.002-05:00

Hello, I survived... I've made it thru a whirlwind weekend. It wasn't bad actually. I think my husbands tensing made it seem worse. I declined the trivit making class with my mother-in-law. Since I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to pull away from all the crafts they were working on that day. I spent the morning working on the house, I had a spent friday night trying to get a jumpstart on the day. I cleaned the kitchen, dishes done, countertops cleared and cleaned, swept and mopped, It looked great! Unfortunately, when i woke up, the kids had messed up the beautiful kitchen and living room. that were clean. I was so upset. I started laundry and made them clean up the mess they made, then I added a few chores to their list as punishment to their distruction. We cleaned what we could before the Baptism. We made it to the baptism of Chuck and Tommy, It was so special and spiritual. What a great experience. We headed home, finished cleaning up, got into some cleaning clothes and then headed to the church to help clean the building. We were there from 4-6pm. rushed home to finish dinner. Luckily earlier I had set a roast with potatoes and carrots in the crock-pot. So I made some Mac n Cheese and hotdogs for the boys, we were glad to have the missionaries over for dinner. My friends were supposed to come, but their daughter fell asleep and didn't make it to dinner. So we ate then went there for the discussions. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was a wonderful conversation and spirit. The missionaries challenged them to set a date for baptism. My friend Vinney committed to Feb. 7th. His wife (also my friend) Jovan needs a little more time. So she set a date of Feb. 21. It will be such a blessing in their life and their children for this choice they are making. We are excited. We will be having more lessons with the missionaries and Jovan and Vinney two this week and then two the following week. Leading up to Vinney's baptism. I've seen the change the gospel has had in his life. It is so sweet. He has become so happy and joyful. It is so wonderful to see the change of heart in someone who is looking for answers and is lost. I am grateful to be a witness to this change in someone. It was a remarkable experience. Also, to day at church it was awesome. So spiritual. I feel so renewed. Vinney, Jovan and family attended. Our lessons were on Missionary work, and Temple Marriages. What great messages and testimoneys were shared. Jovan and I stayed for Choir practice. It was nice. The boys took the kids home. When I got home Bill was making lunch. It was so nice to come home to lunch almost being done. Chicken tenders and french fries. deep fried. not too bad. The boys and I hung out most of the day, I made some really yummy cube steak, with white rice and corn. so yummy. (THANKS JOVAN for the recipe). We're sharing recipes I shared my meatloaf and she shared her spanish cube steak. mmmmm yummy. I even had her come down and sample the recipe I made to make sure it was right. She said I passed. Yea me! I like getting new yummy easy recipes. Well, Bill is home from his Priesthood meeting he had tonight. I'm going to spend a little time with him. Have a good evening :).

crazy days

2009-01-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

well, it's been a crazy week. Monday was such a lazy day, I don't think i left the couch all day... i really needed a day of nothingness, Tuesday was a crazy day, everything i wanted to get done didn't get finished...I worked from home and watched the Inauguration on TV. I thought it was amazing. Then tried to finish working but just could't focus very well. I thought for sure Wednesday would be better, it was the worst day... I got up at 6am (my normal time to get up for work) Things went pretty well that morning, I even got out of the door on time, and traffic wasn't too bad... Then i get about an hr away from the house close to work, and I realize as i'm going thru the things in the day i need to get done in my head, that I think i left my laptop, my badge and important documents needed that day at home, i call Bill, they're at the house, So I have to turn around, drive back an hr to the house, get my laptop, badge and lunch. (Still haven't had breakfast and it's 915 the second time i'm leaving my house. I get to work just after 10am... Finally there, rush around trying to pull together the documents i need for a training class i'm supposed to give at 2pm. I am finished editing and printing my documents just a little past the time i needed to be there to set up for the training class, I set up, Meet my boss there who is supposed to give a 15 min overview of our team and what we're training on that day, and then i was supposed to give the training and answer questions. Well, My boss gets carried away easily, she is very passionate about what we're doing, she talks most of the time, eventually letting me speak about 10 out of the whole time, I become her "Vanna White" in the training class, Realizing that it's getting way out of hand, and hadn't even finished training 1.5 hrs later, when everyone needed to leave. I thank everyone for attending, hoping it was ok.... I go back to my desk by 330 realizing i have to be in Court at 5 for the traffic citation i got for the accident on 31 Dec. I try to find out how to get out of going as i won't make it in time, due to the paperwork left from the training class I have to finish. I write a letter to the judge, requesting a new time due to my work schedule and fax it in. I hope it was ok. I finally leave at 5. Head home for crazy night. Bill working late and needing to make dinner, the car finally was finished at the body shop, so we needed to return the rental and pick up the car, it just went on and on... finally went to bed. Then started late out on Thursday, Bill and I both work in the office on Thursdays so we have to put the boys on the bus and then go in. Got lots of responses from the training class, and lots of 1:1 training time for some of the people in the training class. Lots of requests for another training session (without my boss) a couple of people were offended by some of the opinions of my boss. Tried to give constructive criticism.... i now feel i'm on shaky ground with my boss for sharing. But it needed said. All in all quite productive. Got to go home ontime and see my boys. watch Ugly Betty and Greys Anatomy, Love those shows, then went to bed. It is crazy sometimes at my house, not much house work gets done and i feel like a failure since my house is such as mess all the time. I have a neighbor who comes over and likes to point out that my floor isn't moped , or the table has food stuck on it. Sometimes it is just hard to wash it's all i can do some days to load the dishwasher so we have clean dishes to eat off of. I know i'm a horrible mom for not keeping a clean house and everything in it's place. I try. I feel like i get no help from my husband or the kids, they help they do... but i get in a rut and that is how i feel. I know we are all trying to keep it all together. I'll work on Laundry, kitchen and living room tomorrow with all of my other responsibilities, making trivots with my mother in law, baptism attendance with neighbors investigating the church, cleaning the church, and feeding the missionaries dinner and the investigators with a discussion. Hope it get it all done, and somehow keep the spirit with me. I need prayers. Thanks, :) Shae

My Husband Rocks

2009-01-14T20:25:00.002-05:00

My husband Rocks

1) Where did you meet? In our Single's Ward Family Home Evening Group
2) How long did you date before you were married? 3 months
3)What does he do that surprises you? When he brings me flowers :) for no reason.
4)What is your favorite quality? humor
5)WHat is your favorite feature of his?His comforting arms. That hold me when he shows me he loves me and holds me when I need him to care for me.
6) Does he have a nickname for you? I'm his Shae Shae (kindof like the Tom Tom)
7) What is his favorit food? lots, he loves food
8) What is his favorite sport?Participating - PaintBall and Mountain Biking Watching....Football
9)When and where was your first kiss? On our 2nd date, outside of my Aunt Jeanne's house when we said goodbye... let's just say i still remember the fireworks :)
10) What do you like to do together? Camp, travel, watch tv, everything
11)Do you have children? yes
12)Does he have a hidden talent? He remembers little known facts and pulls them out at the most amazing moments... it surprises me how scary smart he is sometimes :)
13) Who said "I love you" first? He did... He tried once but I made him pray about it... I had heard it too many times from the wrong type of guys, so I wanted to know it was really real. After he prayed about it, he told me he loved me... I was literally speachless and couldn't breathe. It was very memorable.
14) What is his favorite type of music? Pink Floyd! Classic Rock
15) What is your favorite thing about him? All of him.
16) Do you think he will read this?Probably not. But I hope so :)

Pictures of Christmas in Indiana 20008

2008-12-29T09:44:00.007-05:00

We spent Christmas with some friends in Indiana. We had a lot of fun. We were so busy with 15 baby puppies, and 7 kids. Lots of fun, but busy, Enjoy the pictures. We had a blast! To see more pictures of our fun, check out my photo's on my Facebook page. :)

Christmas in Indiana

2008-12-22T11:12:00.002-05:00

We are spending Christmas in Indiana with some really close friends. They breed rotweillers, and one of their dogs had a litter of puppies, 10 puppies... too cute. One of their puppies is having issues, so i'm helping to take care of this sweet little baby. I'm getting so attached it's sad. I hope it pulls thru. I'll try to upload some pics of the puppies. They are so stinkin cute! We are having such a great time with our friends, The kids are having so much fun hangin out with their kids. It's a house full but fun filled. Have a great Christmas!

To see my friends business check out her website... www.guardianrotweilers.com

My husband ROCKS!

2008-12-15T16:26:00.004-05:00

My husband rocked this weekend. We had a lot of fun things to do, and he helped with the kids. We had a busy Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a primary activity, bowling from 1-3 and then we had the missionaries over for dinner, we ordered pizza and invited some neighbors over for dinner with the missionaries. We stayed chatting with them until around 8 and then watched a movie with our neighbors while their kids played with ours until late... then helped clean up the dinner mess. (usually he's not very social). He was also had a good spirit about our busy day. then sunday, he was tired, I let him sleep in a little, He then helped get the kids ready for church, while I was taking a shower, then we went to church and then after church, we met up with our neighbors from the night before and the missionaries for a trip to the Washington DC Temple Festival of Lights - Concert of the Mormon Choir of Washington. It was fabulous, We could only get tickets to the concert for 9pm. We got there at 7pm. We walked around and visited with our neighbors, watched the live nativity and looked at lights. By 8pm, my neighbors had enough and went home. We stayed for the 9pm with the missionaries, as they wanted to see the concert. Stayed in a good mood and walked the kids around while I waited in line for the show. He was in good spirits the whole time. It was amazing to see, even though there were huge crowds and lots of things going on. We got home late last night but it was a very fun weekend. I will post pictures later. Thanks Bill for all you do... YOU ROCK!!!

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-09T14:41:00.003-05:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper and Gift bags - depends on who it's for and how much time I have.
2. Real tree or Artificial? we own an artificial tree... but i like both, it's just easier with the kids to have an artificial tree. plus it's more cost effective
3. When do you put up the tree? just after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? after the New Year - I heard that brings good luck..
5. Do you like eggnog? oh yea, I love eggnog mmmnnum yummy
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hard to say I got a lot of gifts I loved. I think it would have been my fake cabbage patch doll. My grandma Lancaster made it for me.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband, he gives me his list of electronics he wants and usually will buy them himself, and doesn't let me get him what I want or he'll make me tell him what I'm getting him. It's really hard to keep a secret from him. I have to do better. I say that every year!
8. Easiest person to buy for? my boys typically. They are boys... pretty easy, nerf guns, bionicles or legos, and Cars for my youngest.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Oh yes, I love them so much I collect them, I think I have about 5 or 6 so far, and every year I see another one I want to add to my collection.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?I buy cards, and some years i've even written the name and address on them, even signed them just never get around to mailing them off. I was good the first part of my marriage, but after three kids, i've been really bad, I'm planning on sending out cards this year. WE'll see how well that goes.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?I think it was last year or the year before, my husband bless his soul... he tried to get me a gift he thought i would love and needed. He got me a franklin planner purse. It was not what I wanted or needed. He has learned not to do that again. I love him for his efforts and trying to help me make my life easier. I applaud him for his effort. but yea worst gift I ever got.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, White Christmas, The Nativity, Its a Wonderful Life
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I try right after christmas on all the after christmas sales, but those usually get used for birthday gifts throughout the year. So usually after Halloween.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? heck yeah. Those are the best gifts to give to someone else;)
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate, Ham, Bill's Grandmother's christmas cookies, Homemade yeast rolls, everything basically.
16. What story do you read on christmas Eve? We read the night before christmas as well as the story of Christ's birth.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night, and What child is this?
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually we stay close to home, we are home the first part of the day then we usually go to Bill's parents house. This year we are traveling to Indiana, unless my dad passes and then we'll be going to Texas. That's the plan so far.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Of course. Who can't... I don't know anyone, do you?
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? nothing at the moment, but usually an angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? one on Christmas Eve the rest on Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? materialism, crazy people in the stores
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? kids, my kids decorate the tree with things they've made, to me that is so special. Usually red, green, white, yellow
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Time spent with my family and friends, Love and peace

My Husband Rocks Bunches this weekend

2008-12-07T23:24:00.004-05:00

It was a very busy weekend! We didn't have alot scheduled, but alot was put in. We ended up with two appointments at 9am but we just didn't have too much of a hard time deciding what we should be doing, first appointment at 9 was a Daddy and Me at work, and then the second one was a last minute call for people needed to help with food orders at the church. We saw that as a great opportunity to teach the boys about selfless-service for those in harder cercumstances than we are in. It is a great program thru our church. So we went to serve. We were there til 2pm or so. While I was there a friend called and said she was moving and wanted to know if I still wanted her couch, she couldn't keep. She was able to deliver it if I helped her put it on her truck. So, Bill took Bryen and Mikey home to pickup for the new couch while Braeden and I drove the hr or so to get the couch and load it up on her truck. Bill had worked so hard on the food orders, he over did it. He might have pulled something in his chest. So I didn't want him to help with the couch. Even though he wanted to. So, My friend and I loaded the truck with the help of two of her neighbors and we drove it to my house and with the help of two of my neighbors we were able to get the sofa safely in my house and in place. Yea me, new to us couch!, lots of work, but we had a deadline. My friend had to head back to Richmond VA. I had a ward christmas party to get the family prepared for. Bill was still in a little pain and uncomfortable. I got the boys dressed. It was a night in Bethlahem. We were to dress in period dress. We had sheets as dress, and then pillowcases on their heads. It was a lot of fun. Bill even dressed up and went. It was I think the best most spiritual christmas programs we've been too. We had to walk thru Bethlahem to the cultural hall of the church where we were in the middle of Bethlahem and had a few items we could participate in, story telling by an elderly person, we could make stars of David, play dradel, make a bracelet, and hangin out. While the Roman Soldiers roamed around and pestered people. Each family was given a bag of golden shekles to "pay" for the things to do. Then they closed the activities, and we were to sit in our family groups and have one of the family members go to get their famlies food, period food, grapes, pita bread with a yogurt sauce, honey cake, and bread with olive oil. While we were eating our finger food and enjoying each other's company on the floor on our blankets, Mary and Joseph walked around looking for a place to stay, knocking on doors and being turned away. There was a narrator and music... and Mary and Joseph ended up in the Stable and had a baby. It showed the kids it really ment. Bill was in good spirits for the whole thing. It was a lot of fun and spiritual. Bill when he was around the boys put on a good face and was energetic. I appreciate all he does for our family and his desire to help our family feel the spirit and to teach us about what is truely important. Thanks Bill for your willingness to enthusiastic even if you were feeling bad. You Rock! Thanks for helping to make it a great day, busy, but great!

My husband Rocks!

2008-12-04T22:56:00.002-05:00

My cousin started putting a post about her husband once a week on how he rocks! I want to let you know that my husband Rocks too! Yesturday was so nice. I had to go into the office yesturday for work (I work from home a few days a week). When I got home from work a little late, he had dinner almost done, the trash was taken out and homework done for all boys! While working himself. How amazing. It was so nice to come home to dinner and things started. I am so grateful for his efforts when he helps around the house. It makes the whole house seem easier to feel the spirit when all are pitching in. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband who helps around the house and can make dinner. His spagetti was awesome along with his cresant rolls. Here's to you Bill... You ROCK! Love ya and Thanks

Talk on Obedience given by Shae Clark

2008-11-30T19:06:00.003-05:00

Hello all,

I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago. Here is my talk. Enjoy. :)

First, as a mother with three boys, there is always in one form or another lessons on obedience. For example, when I ask my son's to clean up their room. A simple task expecting obedience, returns with great opposition and disobedience. I get complaints "Why do I have to?" or "It's not messy? or "I don't want to" the list can go on and on. I have been praying and thinking of how I can get my boys to obey, to do the right thing. To have them WANT to do the right thing without being compelled. Even in smaller tasks they stray, from obedience, such as when they are asked to put their shoes away, or to throw away the wrapper from the string cheese they were eating. The request rarely gets fulfilled. A messy clutter-filled house results and the spirit leaves with the arrival of the mess. I am reminded of the small things we are asked to do to follow the Lord. Such things as reading our scriptures, write in a journal, say our prayers, listen for promptings and acting upon them. be nice to each other, be grateful for what we've been given. Just to name a few. how often do I say, I'm too tired, or I just read my scriptures yesterday, I don't need to read them today. I just don't have time to write in my journal, or I'll do it later when I have more time, or I don't need to call so and so... I'm sure their fine. But time never comes. I get sidetracked. I don't call the person that needed a call from me. I know I have good intentions at time I'll even remember. I'll even have my scriptures in hand, or sitting at the table/computer ready to follow thru and low and behold... the kids start fighting and I have to break them up, or the phone rings - it's important, or I just don't know what to write. So it doesn't get finished or even started. Sidetracked again. Just as easily my children get sidetracked on the way to the trash with the wrapper from their string cheese, by a passing sibling, or a flashy cool commercial on the t.v., or just plain forgetting what they were doing in the first place. As we become distracted or as we re-prioritize our list of the rising demands on our time. How easy like our children, are we being disobedient to the commandments and covenants from the Lord without meaning to. And how many times do we create opposition for the spirit tot dwell within us? Thru our own disobedience to the things the Lord has asked us to do. In the October 2008 Ensign is a great little story of how those little distractions and detours can affect the whole outcome. "Lines, Levels and Living the Gospel" by: Sandi Matlock Fairbanks. (It can be found on Lds.org, search articles).

After my husband and I finished some remodeling on our house, we decided to paint our daughter’s bedroom. She requested that we paint the top half pink and the bottom half purple. I never imagined that such a simple task would teach me so much about the gospel.

On the day I wanted to start painting, I couldn’t find a tape measure to mark the dividing line. I used painters’ masking tape instead and decided to eyeball the line. After all, how hard is it to tape a straight line across a wall? After I had one wall taped, it looked so good that I thought I’d find a level and check my work. Initially, the line started out even, but to my surprise, it moved fractionally downward. By the time I got to the opposite corner, the difference was about half an inch (1 cm). Although the difference may seem insignificant, if I’d continued on all four walls, the ending line would have been at least two inches (5 cm) below the beginning line!

After discovering my mistake, I found a yardstick and measured from the ceiling to the desired height on the wall, marked the measurement in several places, and then connected the marks by drawing a straight line with the yardstick and a pencil. I repeated the process on all four walls.

As I worked, it occurred to me that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is similar to painting a room. Sometimes we use our “tools” to keep us on the strait and narrow, while at other times we go through our days “eyeballing” our spirituality. We have the tools we need to stay on a straight course—scriptures, church, daily prayer, family home evening, counsel from Church leaders—but we don’t always use them. We often think that we are faster and better off doing the task on our own.

Painting my daughter’s room, however, showed me that I wasted time by not using the proper tools in the first place. Instead of making an even line on my first attempt and finishing the job faster, I had to fix the mistake and then finish the other three walls correctly.

We can also be the tools to help others. As home and visiting teachers, we have the responsibility to help both those who are struggling and those who seem to be fine. As teachers, we can prepare our lessons prayerfully and in advance, allowing the Lord to work through us. We can serve our families and others by being an example of one who strives to live the gospel.

As a Latter-day Saint in these troubling times, I have learned that I can’t get by with just eyeballing my spirituality. I need to use all the resources and tools I’ve been given to constantly check my bearings and remain on, or return to, the straight path that leads back to Heavenly Father.

Just as "eyeballing: and not using the proper tools in her painting, she ended up off course, just as my little child with his string cheese, and we to with the little things of forgetfulness, can easily get off course and further from our goal of returning to live with our Heavenly Father.

What are some things we can do to help us remember to be obedient to the things the Lord would have us do? For instance, if your reading your scriptures and he phone rings, don't answer it. It can wait 5 min or so until you've finished reading. If your sitting down and going to write in your journal, start with a prayer and ask the Lord what you should write and the Lord will place in your mind the things to write, just by starting simply. If your writing in your journal and your kids are around, have them write in their journals with you. It helps teach them the importance of Journal writing as well as time well spent. Even in they can't write they can draw pictures. To help us remember to keep the spirit with us we can place signs in our house to help us remember the savior, or play calming music. I have tried recently to not yell at my kids when I'm trying to get them to obey. Which helps keep the spirit in our home and still helps them accomplish the task they were asked to do. Does the Lord yell at us when we are being disobedient? No. He still quietly and lovingly tries to reach us.

Recently, I had an experience with my mother that I'd like to share. She recently sprained her ankle. She calls and needs a ride home from the emergency room. She assures me she is okay. When I arrive I have her recovery plan already planned out for her. She will stay at my house where I can take care of her needs. Mind you this is without asking her first what she needs or wants. I try to be persuasive. I try to tell her it is what is in her best interest. Then it dawns on me... Duh?! Did she even ask me for this? Is this what she really needs or wants? How many times when we are given a situation from the Lord that would normally require us to receive counsel from the Lord on what he would have us do, do we try to take over? Think we know best? and not go to him for what the situation is in need of.? When we finally do... do we try to persuade the Lord into doing what we want to do, not obeying what he asked us to do? In the end, I obeyed the wishes of my mother and let her take care of herself. And I had to submit to the will of my mother, juts as we need to submit to the will of the Lord. He knows what needs done. If we would only listen and obey what he has to say. How much easier would our life be?

In the 3rd article of Faith it states: We believe that through the atonement of Christ, All mankind may be saved, by OBEDIENCE to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Those laws and ordinances of the gospel grow as your understanding of the gospel grows thru the first four basic principles of the gospel found in the 4th article of Faith: We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; Second, Repentance, Third: Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Fourth: Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. By following those things and the things we know we should be doing such as reading our scriptures, saying our prayers and waiting for the answer from the Lord, acting upon those answers, following the counsel of our church leaders, writing in our journals, not getting sidetracked into the worldly things. We can draw closer to our Heavenly Father and be ready willing and able to obey. We will truly be blessed.

I know this church is true. I know that by being obedient to the teachings of the savior and by obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel we will truly be free and blessed. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN.

Christmas - Getting to know you

2008-11-24T11:08:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE! 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping and gift bags 2. Real tree or Artificial? we put up a fake one.
3. When do you put up the tree? the weekend of thanksgiving. usually friday.
4. When do you take the tree down? usually after the new year 5. Do you like eggnog? OH, Yea!!!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? a basketball 7. Hardest person to buy for? my husband, and giving my husband an idea of what I want. 8. Easiest person to buy for? the boys!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yep several, i collect them. I just love them! my favorite one right now is the Willow tree nativity set. 10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I try to mail cristmas cards, but i usually get so busy i don't get them out.. I know i'm bad. maybe this year the boys can help me. :) I have several boxes from the other years. So luckily I don't have to buy any. :) 11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? a franklin planner/purse from my hubby.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas and the Nativity
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? last minute due to lack of fundage... but this year i'm already ahead. The boys are mostly done. Just afew odds and ends.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yea. Those are the best!!!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham, mashed potatoes, Bill's grandmother's cookies, pecan pie, christmas cookies, orange rolls, the whole shibang!!! 16. Lights on the tree? oh yea... we have a fake tree with it's lights already on it. Pre-lit. I know lazy but effective.red, white and green! 17. Favorite Christmas song? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... every where you go! ..... 18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Doesn't matter as long as I'm with family!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? dasher, dancer, prancer and vixen, comet and cupid, donner and blitzen..... and of course Rudolf 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star... but some years it's an angel. both significant
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We give the kids one gift on christmas eve, usually christmas pj's.... then the rest on Christmas
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? my husband's bah humbag attitude...
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? my favorite ornament.... hmmm... would have to be a heart. Bill got a glass heart right after his first heart surgery. to me it represents the love of christmas and the blessings that we have.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? all of my favorite foods.... mmmmm yummy
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? don't know. to see my side of the family, a little girl, a horse, a farm. things I can't have yet. oh well, it's good to dream!
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? don't know, those in the christmas spirit!
27. Who is least likely to respond to this? those who are bah humbags... scrooges!

Employee's first article

2008-11-21T16:27:00.003-05:00

I moved internally at AOL this year. I was asked to answer the following questions about my time at AOL... It was what they call Employee's First Article. It is posted on the Internal AOL web page. I thought I'd share my experience. It also was posted with a picture of me. Here is the picture they used. Enjoy.

After working as a contractor at AOL for nine years in several positions, last year Shae Clark became a full-time employee in Human Resources. She then transitioned into a role as data analyst for the Global Workforce Analytics team responsible for ad-hoc reporting, data integrity auditing and project management. In the Q&A below, find out what brought Shae to AOL in the first place and how she turned a temporary position into a full-time career.

When did you begin working at AOL?
It's an interesting story. I had been a contract worker on and off for nine years in various groups such as Broadband, Marketing Operations, System Operations, Network Operations and others. The temporary nature of the role gave me flexibility -- I have three small children -- and working for several groups allowed me to learn a lot about the company. As time went by, I wanted a more stable situation. My last contract position in 2007 working for Michaela Oliver led to a permanent position as an administrative assistant in Human Resources.

What attracted you to AOL?
My husband has worked at AOL for 10 years and has always enjoyed it -- that influenced me. Also, it made sense for us to work at the same place since we only had one vehicle. Once I began temping I enjoyed those roles and the people I worked with, so even after we owned two cars, I wanted to continue to work here.

What were you looking for in your next role?
A challenge. I did administrative work for nearly 13 years and wanted to use my knowledge of the company to expand my horizons. Through networking with my colleagues in HR, I was intrigued with the newly forming Analytics team and was given an opportunity to cross train and devote some of my time to that team. It was a wonderful learning experience and ultimately I was offered the chance to work on the team full time. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I'm excited about the position.

Why did you decide to look internally versus looking for positions outside of AOL?
I just love AOL -- some might call me a "lifer." It's a great company to work for and I have so much history here, it would be hard for me to leave.

What did you perceive to be your biggest roadblock when considering a job change?
My own insecurities about breaking out of the admin role. I needed to find a group that recognized I could do more and that was willing to give me an opportunity.

What steps did you take to prepare yourself?
Networking was a huge part of it. Through discussions with my manager and other HR colleagues, I identified opportunities.

What steps worked best for you in your search for a new role?
Communication and action -- I tried to be proactive and speak with people about my interest in changing roles. I was willing to step out of my comfort zone and take on new projects that were exciting and challenging at the same time. Talking to my manager about my goals and what I wanted helped me to get those new projects and ultimately a new position.

Which skills were most transferrable from your previous job to your current position?Relationship building, knowledge of the company, understanding the environment at AOL, networking, organizational skills, communication skills, time management and the ability to multi-task. Having energy and excitement about the future also helped me transition and to continue to perform well.

How did your manager support your career development?
My previous manager was very supportive of my career development. She gave me opportunities and allowed me to take on more responsibility. She encouraged me to try new things, and I appreciate her efforts to help me succeed.

Any advice for those looking for other positions internally?
Don't be afraid to discuss what you want with your manager. Be open and honest about your current job, but share that you would be interested in a change if something came up. Be willing to take on new responsibilities and keep the lines of communication open with your manager on how those new responsibilities are working out. Be honest if it isn't a good fit -- the only way your manager will know is if you communicate that.

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

2008-11-19T19:02:00.003-05:00

As a mother, I try to be objective. I got up this morning on time, a little tired but not too bad, got ready for work, went to work thinking today is going to be a good day. Optimisim.... I'm trying.... Well, I'm not at work (mind you I have a 1 hr and 15 min commute.) more than 30 min... and my kids school calls.... no they aren't sick.... my oldest (9 yrs old) is suspended from school for 10 days!!! he brought a pocket knife on the bus/school. He lied to the bus driver, and then proceeded to lie to the assistant principal. Deep breath.... okay, so I'm notified that an expulsion hearing will be held where we need to get an attorney. Also, the police were called and he could be removed from my home, if deemed a threat to others. Yea so much for my good day. I proceeded to finish the conversation with the assistant principle, told my boss I needed to leave work and go home to try to handle the situation, call my husband, breakdown in my bosses' office. Pull it together, head home and try to figure out what I should do next.

So, I do a lot of thinking, praying, and trying to be calm on the drive home. My husband picked him up from school, as it was his day to work from home. We still don't know what he was thinking except he wanted to trade the knife for something else from another student.

I continue to pray for guidance on how to reach him. I would like to get some advice from those few readers that read my blog. I'm struggling with the right course of action. We have grounded him, he now has to do all of the house work since he will be home for the next couple of weeks. There will be no thanksgiving celebration with extended family. We are just so furious. I have not spanked him... even though I've felt like it a few times, when he gets smug with me. I'm trying to be level headed. Tough love and discipline. It is not tolerated in our home. but this is his second offense at the school that he's been suspended for this year. AHHHHH Luckily we have his therapy appointment tomorrow. WE will be discussing his latest infraction and behavior issues with her. Please pray for us and feel free to comment.. I would love some outside perspective. Thanks,

Testimoney

2008-11-17T08:47:00.002-05:00

Yesturday was a great day. We went to church and felt the spirit, sang in choir practice, had a great lesson on Knowledge and how important it is to have Truth! We then went home and had dinner and then the missionaries came over to share with us a Preach my gospel activity. It was so good. The boys drew pictures of things like their interpretation of heaven, our family (all with smiling faces and no bodies, thanks Mikey) and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The boys did those things while Bill and I shared our testimoneys and prayed over some of our friends names with the missionaries on who would be open and ready to hear the gospel in their lives. I felt very blessed to have 5 names on my list come to my mind after the prayer. I am so grateful for the gospel and the love of my Savior. I know that the Lord in a healer and will bless the lives of those who allow him to enter their hearts. It has happened to me in my life. I am so grateful for my Savior and all that he does for me. For all of his blessings he showers upon me daily. He is my deliverer when I am down and out! I am grateful for the prophets who lead and guide the church and for their example. I am grateful for a wonderful Family immediate and extended. I am grateful for their example to me! I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true! I know that Jesus is my savior and died for me on the cross. I know that we have living prophets that lead and guide our church today. I am grateful for Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel in this Dispensation. I know that the Savior can heal all wounds and make us whole again. I know that Miracles still happen. I am grateful for the knowledge that I can talk to my Heavenly Father. And that he knows me by name, and loves me. I am truely grateful for the lessons i've learned.

Halloween Pictures

2008-11-06T14:22:00.006-05:00

Here are our family Halloween Pictures, Bryen was Dr. KillJoy, Braeden was a Clone Trooper, Mikey was our little Iron Man. Bill was a Woopy Cushion and I was a sleepy kid. We went out and collected lots of candy and we went door to door with some friends from the neighborhood. Their little boy is in our family picture. I can't remember which one. It was fun.

Our Family Pictures

2008-11-05T10:37:00.002-05:00

We had our family pictures taken on Saturday, Nov. 1. They are so amazing. Please click the link and enter the code to view. They are amazing. The big family picture is of my husbands side of the family. I would love to try to get one of the Dickson side of the family too. But for now here is the Clarks. The Photographer is from my In-law's ward in Charles Town, WV.

I would like to invite you to view your pictures at Postma Videography and Photography. Go to our website at http://ordering.postmavideo.com.

Click the Access Gallery link and enter in the access code below:

Access code: billandnancy

After you do that, you will be able to view these pictures.

Barack Obama Our new President

2008-11-05T10:30:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are, the day after, the most historic election in US history. What an amazing night. I stayed up to watch the speaches from McCain and Barack. They both did a fabulous job. I think McCain would have been more the way he was lastnight then he might have won. His demeanor and his words never sounded so true. You could tell they were words from his heart and I was touched by them. Barack also made a fabulous speech about how it is our Duty to work hard to make the changes we need. I completely agree. We've all taken a huge step and we need to now follow thru. It's amazing to see how exciting it was for those in DC lastnight. They had to close down streets because of the spontaneous celebration from Barack's victory last night. There were celebrations on U St. and 14th street in downtown DC. and in front of the White House as well. When I went to bed at 1pm they were still going strong. I feel very blessed to be able to have seen and taken part in this historic event. Even my children are touched and affected by this event. What an amazing thing. Here's to a bright hopeful future!

This Historic Election on Tuesday

2008-11-03T08:13:00.002-05:00

I have been debating in my mind about who is the right choice in this election. I have made it a matter of prayer and study. While doing so I've been wrestling with my own assumptions on what it means to be a good Latter-day Saint. I felt that if I vote for a Democrate then I can't be a good mormon because of some of the things such as abortion and gay marriages they support. Even though the rest of what I believe is in line with that party currently. My wonderful husband has helped me with debating both sides with me. Helping me see different perspectives on each candidate. I had felt that the only reason I would vote for McCain is due to the aforementioned reasons. And it bothered me. When I went in prayer those didn't feel as important as the rest of the reasons to choose a president. My husband recently mentioned that we in our church support the right to choose that we do in fact allow and accept free agency. whether or not we agree with their choices. That really hit home to me. It made me realize that thru the Gay marriage and Abortion we were allowing them to still make the choice whether or not I agreeded with that choice or not. Because I want the right to still be able to choose what I may. I then felt much better about my decision to vote. Then on Saturday my mother-in-law sent me this article http://ldslivingonline.com/article.php?articleId=79643. It just put it in persepective even more. And how important it is to truely have diversity and choice in our life. I will be going to the voting booth on Tuesday to make my voice heard and make my choice. I will be voting for Barack Obama. I feel that he is the best choice for the position as we need in our current world and crisis that we have been going thru as a country. We need a fresh approach and a new set of eyes and ears on the pulse of society. I know when writing a paper. We go to someone who has never seen it before to make changes and fix what could be broken. Not because they are necessarily an expert but because they help you see what needs to be fixed and can help you move forward and continue to progress. I am not typically an outspoken advocate in these political arena's but I know for myself that I will be supporting Barack Obama for president. It is good to have new ideas, new choices, new perspective in any situation. I feel Barack Obama is the person to help us as a nation to accomplish what we need to. Thanks for letting me spill my soap box and share what is going on here. Here's to choice! what a wonderful thing. I am so glad that I have the freedom to choose and to know that that right is not just given by the United States of America but a God given right!

Happy Birthday Bryen! It's hard to believe your 9!!!

2008-10-28T18:20:00.002-04:00

Here I am just after my oldest turns 9 yrs old. It is so hard to believe that they are going up so fast. When did he get to be so old? His birthday was interesting. I was hoping it would be a happy day. It started out that day. My youngest was "Pioneer of the Week" and had lunch with daddy. We were hoping to stop by his class at school and surprise him with some fun things for his class. Unfortunately... we were called to the school not 10 min after school started. He had brought a cap gun to school and it was noticed on his bus. We don't buy guns of any kind toy or real. He had gotten it from someone at the bus stop. He was suspended from school for that day. I had a dental appointment to go over the results of my biopsy. He came with while Daddy went to the lunch with Mikey (our youngest). We tried talking to him about why he did what he did. And who gave him the toy gun. But friendship is more important to him than telling on his friend so he lied to us!!! several times. as his parents we caught him in his lies... it was very disheartening. Here we wanted to celebrate his birthday but we couldn't. How could we! He was grounded and now we have to pat him down before he leaves the house and watch him closely before he gets on the bus. I hate feeling like I can't trust my kids. He got one birthday present for his birthday on his birthday. No party, no friends, no fun. Bill's parents came to the house last night for Family Home Evening and to give him his presents. They also didn't give more than 2 so that he wasn't rewarded for bad behavior. We as parents are trying to do what is right and it is so hard. I am grateful that it wasn't a real gun. I am grateful that we were home when we got the call to go to school. I am grateful that we can try to work thru these issues now before they snowball into bigger issues when he gets older.

Saturday was a much better day than Friday. We had a race cleaning the house. It made the job so much funner. We split the house by floor. Bill, Braeden and Mikey had the downstairs - living room, front room and kitchen. (not the messiest.) and Bryen and I tackled the upstairs (4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. (the messiest)... can you guess who won?..... Bryen and I. We worked together well and stayed focus on the task. We decided to work on each room as a team and when one room was done then we would move to the next room. My husband's team took a different approach. He decided he would do the kitchen and the other two boys were to do the other two rooms. The boys had a hard time staying on task and staying focused without constant supervision and encouragement. Bill felt like he was working alone and worked much slower alone than with another person. He was frustrated and flustered where as Bryen and I were happy and encouraging and enthusiastic. We were so excited to see we won the race. Bryen got some Cotton Candy from Walmart as a special treat for helping our team to win. All the boys got a candy bracelet for their efforts. It was interesting to see how important it is sometimes when things are so tough or overwhelming to work as a team or with someone and not alone. I can see many parallels between this situation and the other obsticals in our life. I makes things easier to get thru when we have someone help us thru it instead of trying to do it on our own. I am grateful for that situation. Not only because I got a clean house but because of the wonderful lesson I learned.

Sunday was a family day... we played hooky from church... we have been so busy with our callings and work, both of us pulling a ton of OT that we needed a family day. We went to the Catoctin Animal Refuge Zoo near Thurmont MD. It's expensive... but for a great cause. The boys did a scavenger hunt thru the Zoo for a prize at the end. It helped them really enjoy and learn about the animals there. They have snakes, bears, deer, buffolo, camels, bangel tigers, jaguars, peakocks, kangaroo, turtles, makaws, lemers, black swans and much more. It was so cool to see the animals. Some of them we could pet and feed. The kids liked getting all messy while feeding the animals. The tigers were so close, they are such majestic animals. Bill wanted to stay there all day and just watch the tigers play with one another. But the kids wouldn't have it. :( :) It was a good day. Now we are back to work, and working hard.

I hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for reading :)

Health History

2008-10-01T13:27:00.002-04:00

Well, Here I am 31 yrs old and diagnosed with Hypertension. Did I ever think I was going to have extremely high blood pressure? No, definately not. Thru finding out that I have hypertension, trips to the hospital(ER) and Urgent Care visits, I've called my mom to see if this is hereditary. And was informed that it was. My grandpa Dickson had Hypertension and was on medication and diet to help him keep it under control. My grandma Lancaster (on my dads side) died of a heart attack, possibly related to Hypertension or high blood pressure. She didn't discuss much of her health with us. I find it amazing the things in our family history that affect us. My father is tall, I have a grandmother on my mom's side who was tall. I am also tall. I often wonder how the behaviors of our ancestors affect our lifes as well. What were they like? What issues health wise did they have? Were they generally healthy or did they have any other things such as food allergies, or cancer in their family? I am however, greatful that we live in a day and age where hypertension doesn't have to be life threatening. It can be treated with medication and diet. I know that our geneology is important in more ways then one. I am grateful for what I do know about their lives. It helps me get thru the shock, and realizing that I'm not alone. That joining together gives me strength.

Braeden's Birthday and upcoming Baptism

2008-09-29T15:50:00.002-04:00

Well, it's amazing how time flies. I now have two 8 yr olds. One will be 9 in roughly 25 days and the other just turned 8. Yes, they are 11 months and 1 day apart. I don't think I ever realized that they would one day grow up. They were such a handful, and half the time I thought I was loosing my mind. Well, time has passed and they've gotten older and more independant and I've come close to loosing my mind. But here we are about to have two boys baptised. It's amazing. Braeden will be baptised on October 11 at 11am. He will be getting baptised with a new member convert who is 9 yrs old. I think that is awesome. Braeden wants to get baptised as soon as possible. He can't wait to be baptised. He is so excited. I have noticed how he loves the gospel. He loves to read his new scriptures he got for his birthday. I hope that it stays that way. Well, we had a good birthday party - even though Bill and I were both under the weather. Saturday we had about 25 people over at our house, we had 5 other kids besides our 3 and the rest were adults - Bill's parents, his brother Chris and his girlfriend Liz, Bill's Sister Jenny and her boyfriend DJ, Our neighbor Carrie and Scott with Carrie's daughter Jillian and her boyfriend, the mom of three of the other kids, John and Sandra Chadwell. I think that's it. oh and bill and I. So that's alot of people. but it was fun. We had Hotdogs and hamburgers, and a huge spread of sides. Almost everyone brought some food. The kids played the Wii and boardgames, and ran all thru the house while the adults visited. It was scheduled to rain but luckily no rain. So we were spread outside and inside. Which didn't make it too uncomfortable to have that many people. We hope everyone had a good time. We enjoyed the time but were grateful when everyone left so we could die on the couch. It's hard putting on a good face when we're sick. Bill did well not to show it and complain and I think I hid mine pretty well too. Braeden had a blast. So here's to another party in less than a month. Kindof hard when on Bryen's birthday is the Ward Trunk-r-Treat. But maybe we'll make that his party. Just without the presents... Hmmm do you think that will work... Nah me either. well, so much for trying. Thanks for reading. That was our weekend. How was yours?

Labor day trip to Boston

2008-09-02T09:55:00.002-04:00

Well we had a whirlwind weekend. Lots of driving. We took the boys to Boston for the labor day holiday. We started the drive up on Friday evening... Slept somewhere in Pennsylvania, continued the drive to Boston on Saturday... we got into Boston around 6pm on Saturday night. Found a hotel in Boston (mind you we didn't book a hotel before we left) very last minute. Most everything we was full. We went on a guided tour of the Freedom Trail up thru Paul Revere's house... then finished the Freedom trail on our own. It was a 4 mile walk. Lots of fun. Lots of interesting facts about what really happened. We went and saw 'old Ironside" USS Constitution. The oldest US Commissioned war ship. Then we went back to the Boston Commons and headed to Maine for a little side trip. We went all the way to Scarborough, Maine on Route 1. It was getting late and we didn't have a hotel so we decided to turn aroun and head back home. We made it as far back as somewhere in Connecticute that night before we found a hotel on the side of the road and went to sleep around midnight. then we got up and out by about 10am, got breakfast at a truckstop and headed home at about 1130, we finally got home last night at around 730 pm. What a fun weekend it was. On the way home we stopped at OCC Orange County Choppers in NY. Went and took pictures of the bikes they had on display and got a few suveniers. (sp?) and finished our drive home. We did a lot of walking and learning history. i can't think of a better way to spend a holiday. We discussed going back up for thanksgiving. and doing some more exploring. Finding things that had to do with the first Thanksgiving in the US. We'll see. We may not. But it sure sounds fun. Well, I hope you all had a safe and fun Labor day holiday. I know we did. I took a ton of pictures. I will put them up as soon as I can get them off my camera. :) Now we are back to work, and school. Lots of fun stories to tell. :)

First Day of School

2008-08-27T14:20:00.005-04:00

Well, I survived, the kids survived.... The first day of school. I made it thru the day with out too many tears. All three of my boys are now in school, officially. Mikey is in all day kindergarten, Braeden is in Second, and Bryen is in Third. It is hard to believe they are all in school. I look forward to the days of volunteering at their school. PTA here I come. Well, I have a few pics to share as well. i hope you enjoy. I know I am. :)

Is it that time already?

2008-08-12T10:21:00.003-04:00

Here we are almost time for the kids to start school. I will have all of my boys in school. It is hard to believe that I and they have made it to this point. Bill is almost back to his old self again. He's back to work and has a busness trip to NY next week, the week after the boys start school. Bryen starts 3rd grade, Braeden starts 2nd and Mikey is going to Kindergarten which is all day... They will all ride the same bus. It is strange for me as a mother to have them all be out of the house. Luckily for me I work from home 2 days a week and Bill works from home typically the other three days a week from home. So we will be able to be here when they get on the bus and when they get off the bus and can participate in their school things this year. It will be so wonderful. We are so excited. Things are looking up and we are moving forward... good things are coming... It's nice to be here. They are all growing up... YEA... as much as I enjoyed them when they were littler... I am excited about seeing them grow and become more independant.

Feelings

2008-07-25T10:10:00.002-04:00

Well, I've been feeling a little anxious... my brother Curtis has called me a couple of times and I don't know how i feel about him calling me. My mom wants us to have Family Home Evening with her and him... YIKES... what./... NO....! I've forgiven but does that mean that I need to include him in my life? I'm so unsure of the right thing except my gut says don't do it. I wish the best for my brother but I don't want him near my kids. Is that wrong? He has hurt them once, and I don't want him to hurt them or anyone else again. He says he's changed... But I don't want to find out. Bryen my oldest wants to see him.. and say he's sorry for letting Curtis do bad things to him... my heart breaks... It might be healing for Bryen to do that but I don't want him to have to feel bad for that. It wasn't his fault. Deep breath... Therapy maybe that will help him realize that it isn't his fault... that he doesn't need to appologize to him... I don't know. WE are going to counseling and working thru things but I still feel apprehensive. I'm trying to protect my children and at the same time trying to be christlike. I will work thru this and get over it... I just want to be able to do what is best for my children. I love them and want to protect them from anyone who could hurt them. at least away from people I know have hurt them in the past. Since I can't keep them locked in a closet for the rest of their lives. Well, thanks for letting me vent. I'll try to have more possitive posts later. Have agood day and thanks for reading.

News Update July 21, 2008

2008-07-21T11:19:00.002-04:00

Breaking news...

My little brother Curtis is getting released today from Juvie... I'm a little nerveous as my mother wants us to welcome him home with open arms. He has been in for just over 2 yrs. I don't think Bryen knows that he is getting out so soon. I am concerned that he will revert back to destructive behavior once he finds out he is out of Jail and is near by. I want him to keep feeling safe and I feel my hands are tied. I pray for strength every day and courage to do the right thing.

Braeden lost a tooth this weekend. He is very excited.

Shae and Bill celebrated their 10 yr wedding anniversary on Friday.

Mikey worked on overcoming his fear of the ocean on Saturday... It took him 2.5 hrs to put his feet in the surf but by small steps... we can overcome our fears.

Bill's doing well with his recovery. He had a little bleeding from his insision area but have been reasured it is normal and doing well. He still gets tired easy but is in good spirits. He went to the beach this weekend and felt rejuvinated by it. It was nice to see him enjoying himself.

My sister Katy is closing on her first house this week. I'm happy for her.

My mom will have my brother Curtis living with her again. She is very excited to have him home. She has missed him greatly.

My sister Jennifer is still living at my dad's house working two jobs last I checked. She says she is doing well.

Kenneth and JP I haven't talked with in a long time. I hope they are doing well.

That is the update on our family. I'll try to post hightlights often as I know them. Thanks for your prayers.

10 yr Anniversary - Bill and Shae

2008-07-21T11:09:00.003-04:00

This weekend was my 10 yr wedding anniversary. actually friday July 18. We decided to take a trip to the Beach with the kids (we couldn't find a sitter). So we drove to Seaford DE. stayed at a hotel there and then drove on Saturday to Assateaque Island MD to the beach and spent time there. We played in the cold ocean. Mikey didn't get brave enough to get in the water until after 2.5 hrs there. It took a good hr to get him to just sit close to the water. The noise scares him and he is worried about being pulled in the water. He has been several times before but one of the last times he was in the water... he was drilled by a wave and he didn't like it so it made him very leary about going back in the water. We were there about 4 hrs. Lots of sun... too much sun. I got sunburned on my legs (only one side). The rest did well. we got them covered with enough sunscreen. Bryen and Braeden had a fabulous time. Braeden lost a tooth at the beach. I was checking it to see how loose it was and it fell out. He was very proud to have another chance for the tooth fairy to come and visit. We went back to the hotel by way of Red Lobster--- yummy. Then went back to the hotel. I stayed in the room and nursed my poor legs with aloe vera, while Bill took the boys down stairs to the indoor pool at the hotel. They had fun there and then came back to the room for showers and bed time. we had a fun filled day. Sunday, we went to the Ocean City Boardwalk and walked around a few hrs and then came home. We go too much sun on the boardwalk (we forgot to add sunscreen) so I got more sunburn on my neck and arms. Bill got sunburned on his neck and the back of his arms and the boys were fine. (no sunburns). No gifts, no major romantic interludes... just good times with the family. I am grateful to have my little family and the time we get to spend together having fun.

Another year older... maybe not that much wiser...Who knows

2008-07-14T21:36:00.002-04:00

Well, it's hear and gone my birthday. I got a pair of PJ's from my mom, flowers, dinner, chocolate covered strawberries, and $60.00 for clothes from Bill and the boys. I got a $50.00 gift card to Lane Bryant from my mother-in-law. A couple cards and well wishes. I was sung Happy birthday about 10 times between my sisters calling, neighbors with their kids and my kids... It was nice. I was able to go shopping today on my way home from work and got several pairs of shorts and shirts (much needed). YEA... NEW CLOTHES. All in all it wasn't too bad. I've been a little emotional lately with feelings of being overwhelmed. I'm glad I got a little break.

Not much wiser because....I haven't learned to appreciate that I'm getting older... Growing up is hard even though I don't want to be a youngen... I don't even wish to be in my early twenties... Things are getting harder and I'm glad I have the experiences that I have however, Deep breath.... I am tired. I know there is more learning and growing as we get older... I'm just tired right now and would like to take a summer break sotoo speak. That was one thing I loved about school... Summer break, No school, No getting up early for school/responsibilites. I could play with my brothers/sisters and not have to worry about homework or anything it was nice. Of course there were draw backs to that as awell... I didn't get to see my friends everyday... I had more chores to do since we were all home all day long. I got into trouble more since we were goofing off alot. I loved just lying under a giant tree on the soft green freshly cut grass... looking up at the sky at the huge white puffy clouds rolling by... make believing or seeing things in the clouds like Gigantic icecream cones, or Pirate ships sailing by, or things like a cat or dog jumping over something. Eating watermellon in the back yard and spitting seeds at my brothers and getting all sticky and rinsing off in the hose for an impromptu water fight. Helping my dad by washing cars he would work on for a little extra money and then going to the store across the highway for candy and sodas. Ah,... the good old days when things were simple.

Back to reality... Work 8 hrs a day. Full time mom, fulltime wife, daughter, friend, church callings, scripture study, temple attendance. the list goes on and on. Nothing is as simple anymore. but maybe just maybe thinking of the simple times helps us gain a better perspective of who we are, where we've been and where we are going. To realize things don't always have to be crazy out of control and things can be simple if we were willing to accept simple and be fullfilled with that. I guess that too is part of growing old that we are not content with the simple. We feel some need to be crazy out of control or we are not fully fulfilled. Oh well, enough of my ramblings.

Well, this weekend will be my 10 year anniversary being married to Bill. Some days it is hard to believe that we've been together that long after such a short courtship. I know we both try and that is the most important thing that we haven't given up on each other just yet. Luckily for me... He's not fed up with me. (just yet) ;) we can still laugh at eachother and with eachother. WE can still work thru our issues. Nothing has been more than we can work thru with the Savior as our guide. I'm grateful for that. Happy Anniversary Bill. I STILL love you!

A happy 4th of July

2008-07-05T11:25:00.002-04:00

We had such a nice 4th of July this year. We didn't go anywhere. We stayed home and had some neighbors over here. We had hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, nacho cheese/chips, beans, chips, dip, veggie tray, peach cobbler, brownie bites. and much more. It rained the first part of the evening but we cooked the hamburgers and hotdogs inside. We played SkipBo and watched TV... Bill and the boys played Guitar Hero. and we just hung out. Then around 830ish... the neighborhood went started exploding with fireworks. we went our side and the kids played with sparklers and Bill set off some little fountains and we watched the show from our driveway of the huge fireworks in the sky. It was so nice since the rain had quit and it wasn't muggy. Lots of fireworks... we didn't come back inside til after 10 then we cleaned up a little and the neighbors went home and we went to bed. It was such a nice day to stay home and spend time with friends and family. Low stress and lots of fun. i hope you had a great safe 4th of July. We did :)

We're home

2008-06-24T13:03:00.003-04:00

Well, we are home from the hospital. We came home on Sunday, June 22, 2008. Bills surgery was a success. He did extremely well and was recovering well so they sent him home. It hasn't been easy but we are pushing along. We are blessed by the power of the priesthood. It has been a wonderful blessing to us. Bill, myself, and our three boys along with his parents all received blessings before he went into the hospital. We have been given the strength to endure the hardships that have come our way. I've been able to be strong and collected thru it all so far. Our faith has grown and our love for each other has expanded. I am grateful for the blessings of our family and friends as they have supported us and helped us thru this time. We are grateful for the prayers and well wishes from everyone. We have been able to keep a positive mind frame which has helped us thru these times. Bill is still recovering and is still in some pain. But he is home and doing well. Thanks for all of your prayers. :) I'm grateful for the savior and his watchful hand over our family. He carries me thru these times of trial and helping me to learn and grow and rely on his strength.

2008-06-17T08:49:00.002-04:00

Remember when we were all young and close? It is strange to believe that we're all grown up and have children of our own. I remember the family reunions and times we would spend at the Kirks house, and Blanco State Park and Grandma and Grandpa's house. I remember looking forward to our get togethers everytime. Those were some happy times. Look at how young we all were. Good times... good times. Well I just wanted to share with everyone part of my family. Now it is grown and would love to have another Dickson/Frazer/Lancaster/Kirk/Beaver/Moffett/Neathery/Jankus family reunion with all the cousins and their kids and spouses. Wouldn't it be fun... Maybe next year..? Any takers?

Down to the Wire and Happy Father's Day

2008-06-16T09:08:00.003-04:00

Well, we are down to the wire almost time for Bill's surgery and I'm getting a little more stressed everyday. My house which once was cleaned is now a royal mess again, so I'm not feeling very organized and prepared for this. Yesturday was father's day and I had a wonderful day with my husband and my Father-in-law. We gave my father-in-law a heirloom Book of Mormon and a book about the Power of a Virtuous Man. We wanted him to know that we support him as the head of the family and as a priesthood holder, and that we look to him for guidance and inspirations sometimes. The boys and I gave Bill a grill and a 5lb. bag of hotdogs. He loves hotdogs. So he cooked hotdogs and we roasted marshmellows on the new grill last night. It was a nice evening. Bill is getting nerveous. He is starting to stress about the proceedure and the pain of everything. I am trying to keep his spirits up. But it isn't easy as I am getting nerveous too. I trust the lord and his power. I am just lacking in other areas. I know that the lords will will be done. We are still taking a day at a time.

Blessings of the Temple

2008-06-09T16:27:00.002-04:00

I was blessed, this Saturday, to be able to attend the temple with my husband. It was such a wonderful experience. I was able to feel the love of my savior and his gentle arms around me. I was able to feel the comfort of prayer that can bring peace to the soul. I know that everything is in the Lord's hands and that he has made my burdans light and that he will grant my righteous prayers. I feel so blessed to have had that experience. It has brought such peace to my soul. I just wanted to share.

My thread of Joy

2008-06-03T15:11:00.003-04:00

I am grateful for the example of my cousins. They are wonderful examples of finding the silver lining in crazy clouds when we are weary. My cousin mentioned in her blog how she was weary and yet still trying to find her thread of Joy weaved thru her life within one week. I decided that is what I needed to do as well even if on a more general level. My life right now especially, I am very weary and feel sometimes that there is no Joy only sorrow. I know the Savior has said that we must pass thru sorrow to truely be able to feel Joy. As I am going thru sorrow. I am trying to stay focused on the Joy he speaks of. It is helping me feel not so weary and overwhelmed.

1) Having a husband who loves me and that I can trust.. Peace and Joy I find in that thought.

2) Mikey (age 5) getting up on Sunday and bearing his testimony - Not scared at all - Finding strength in Truth - Such a Joy

3) Expressing my testimony on Sunday - Sharing the truth I have in my life and praising my Savior. For he carries me thru these trial that feel to much. What a Joy to have him at my side always.

4) Spending time with my boys and watching them interact nicely one with another. Realizing they are truely trying to be honorable young men. - Such a joy!

5) Finding and purchasing new Makeup that looks good on - I feel better and more like a Daughter of God. - Joy in Beauty.

6) Having a job that challenges my mind - Being able to learn new things a expand my knowledge. A joy in knowledge.

7) Having the flexibility to work from home 2 days a week. A Joy to be able to spend more time with my children and my husband. Family first/Family forever.

8) Being able to attend the temple - Joy in things of a Higher sphere. Thinking beyond self.

9) Having a priesthood holder in my home and being able to call upon the power of the priesthood when needed. This is such a JOY! Having a worthy priesthood holder as my husband is such a joy and a blessing.

10) Knowing I love my husband more every day. Joy in love!

I know some of this is broad. But sometimes our Joy can be. Anything to help brighten our lifes and see the good is a Joy. I'm greatful for the love and strength of my family. I am so happy that my Aunt Beth decided to be baptised. It is such a joy! I know it was a personal decision. But I share in her joy!

I know the Lord loves me and my family. And that as long as we put our trust in him we shall not fail. Keeping our faith and trusting in his goodness.

We have a date

2008-05-15T08:20:00.002-04:00

We finally have a date for Bill's Surgery. He will have a cardiac Cath on June 18 and will then be admitted to Fairfax hospital for his surgery on June 19. Please keep us in your prayers. If all goes well he will mostlikely have a month of recovery, possibly a little longer. I will be home with him for all of it except that part of the time home with him I will be working from home so I can keep my job. (unless I get layed off which I should find out about within the next couple of weeks) so pray that I don't get layed off. well. Have a good day. God smiles on us daily. :)

Still waiting

2008-05-08T16:36:00.002-04:00

We are still waiting for his surgery date. We talked to the surgen and he has another test to have done a TEE test. It is an outpatient test. He will be going tomorrow May 9th for that. Hopefully after that we will have a surgery date. We are still trying to get him to calm down and not stress so much about work and other things. One day at a time... and lots of deep breathing. I know that everything will be ok... The Lord's will be done. I am comforted that what will happen is suppose to happen and that we all have a purpose to fulfill and will not be cut short until our work here on earth is done. I know that I have enormous support in my family, friends and coworkers. I take comfort in that as well as my faith that the Lord loves me and my family and that his is our greatest source of comfort in our times of trial, need, sorrow, and struggles. He is also our biggest cheerleader in our accomplishments. He helped us to achieve. I am not stressing as much on my house as I know that it is too small in the grand sceme of things. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff.

In lighter news, my mother-in-law just retired. Which is really cool. She will be able to help us with the kids while Bill is having surgery and when we need a little help with childcare. I am so greatful for the blessings of my in-laws in my life.

The boys are getting big and growing up fast.

Getting Ready

2008-05-02T12:25:00.002-04:00

Well, here I am working from home, looking at my messy house. Thinking of all the things I need to get done to have my house in order before Bill goes in for surgery. It is so overwhelming. I think about the messy kitchen, mt. Everest's pile of laundry in my room to wash and the other mt. olympus pile of laudry to fold and put away in a different room. The boys room is as if a tornado hit it along with an earthquake... especially since everything is in total disarray and broken dresser drawers and all... Dirty bathrooms that need cleaned. A lawn that is like a jungle that needs mowed. I'm not very focused on my work for work. My mind is preoccupied with other things. There are times that I think I'm not serving my family as I should because I am working and so many things go undone... as I am the one that has to motivate, encourage and lead to get anything done. I get so tired, I really need to spring clean,,, clean out and get rid of excess. Become a minimalist. But, unfortunatly... no time/energy/resources to do so. I'm just venting... I am working on building my faith that all will be fine. Nothing major is going to happen and we will get thru this hard time stronger and able to see the truely important things in life and lay hold upon those things. I am struggling to know how to comfort my children during this time as they are visibly shaken in this situation... I know being strong is part of the job description of being a parent and mother.

Well, I need to get back to work... I'll keep plugging along.
Thanks for stopping by :)

A little scared

2008-04-28T08:28:00.003-04:00

Well, It's been awhile since I've written. I've got alot going on here. We just found out Friday evening (April 25, 2008). That my husband Bill will have to have another open heart surgery. His aortic root is twice the size it should be and could burst.. at which point instant death... yea scary. Well, he is been told to lower stress, no heavy lifting and to take it easy until the surgery.. which we don't quite have a date for as of yet. WE see his surgen on May 9th and then he will set the surgery date. Bill has had an open heart surgery before I met him when he was coming off of his mission. He had the ROSS proceedure done. His heart at the time was the size of a dinner plate. He almost died then as well. He was blessed by his mission president and the surgen Dr. Doty (sp?) at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City Utah. They thought the proceedure would be good for at least 20 yrs or so... but unfortunatly as we have found out. That only 12 or 13 years later... Time for another surgery. He isn't as terrified as I am... He has been thru this once before. But, I haven't and I have three boys to think about. I'm trying to work and stay focused on the things I need to do... but it is hard. I am lucky to have a support network here. My mom is here, my husbands family is here(they've been thru this once before) and my ward and friends. I feel at this point still kind of in shock and numb. I'm going thru the motions. I don't want him mowing the lawn but he said that the doctor said he could. I just don't want to take any chances. Not only is his Aortic root twice the size but he has a leak on one of his valves from his previous surgery. So, his blood pressure is fine. but he really isn't doing well. He is tired alot. and I feel somewhat helpless as I'm not sure how to help him. I'm trying to be strong. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks for letting me share. :)

Days with the boys

2008-04-09T14:10:00.004-04:00

I've been able to spend a few days with my boys this week, as I've had the pleasure of working from home. On Monday I got a call from the school nurse she mentioned that Bryen (my oldest) had a strange rash on his face. I didn't know why he would've gotten a rash, he didn't have one that morning when I dropped him off at the sitters. Their sitter said he didn't have one when she dropped him off at school either. So we were in a quandry as to why he had a rash. He made it thru school and then when I got home I noticed it... His brother Braeden had some on his cheeks too... really strange. We put some Hydrocortizone cream on it and gave him some benedryl for the itching. I took them to the doctors yesturday and he said it was a form of rotovirus or rodovirus... something like that. He said it was a quick moving virus and was here quickly and gone quickly. Nothing really to do for it but wait it out. He mentioned that what I was already doing for it was good. but not to exceed 5 days with the cortisone cream or it would stain their skin. That i'd never heard before. But luckily... this morning, neither had a rash on their face and were back at school. So just as soon as it came it was gone. So I stayed home yesturday and today they are so fun to have around. I hope that I can make it a perminate thing working from home at least a few days a week. I like having daylight with the boys and doing homework with them. It is hard with my 2 hr commute to spend much time with the boys.

I got a haircut this weekend and It's too short. It's really short. I seem to get haircuts too short. It hasn't been this short in years. Bill doesn't like it he said luckily it will grow out. He is hoping it grows fast. That is one way I know it's a bad haircut.

I enjoy reading my cousin Mimi's blog. I get uplifted from reading her blog. I am encouraged to know that relationships where husbands are truely equals with their spouses do exist. I am working on that in mine, but it is really hard. My husband isn't as supportive of the things that I need to do as I would like. I have a hard time getting him to even make dinner when I'm so swamped. It would be nice if he helped out around the house more. Maybe I wouldn't be so swamped all the time. I keep feeling like I can't breathe... my house is so messy all the time now. I can't even think sometimes to make dinner. I am grateful for those truely blessed in my family who have wonderful spouses who help them. It is such a blessing. I am grateful for the things that my husband does do. He works really hard to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. I am grateful for his priesthood and the blessings that it has brought to our home. I'm grateful for the blessing of him completing an honorable mission. I am grateful that he is still here. I have been really worried about him as of late. He had open heart surgery on his mission to repair a bicuspid aortic valve. He had a heart valve transplant. This last week he started having severe heart palpetations. He went to the emergency room on Thursday night and they told him he had had too much caffiene and too much stress (probably from work) and so he took off work on Friday. Back to work this week. But I worry about him. He has a cardiology appointment on Friday this week. I'm hoping everything really is ok. It is hard with him... but it would be even harder without him. Please keep him in your prayers. He had his surgery over 9 years ago, with no issues, no problems. Here's to hoping for several more.

I don't mean to vent.... i just needed to share. Don't get me wrong I love my husband and he does alot for our family. I just know that if he wanted he could do so much more. Thanks for reading. :)

Flower Pictures I've taken

2008-03-31T22:35:00.003-04:00

Pictures

2008-03-31T22:18:00.002-04:00

The first two are at Arlington National Cemetary

These two are outside of my car driving in California

Spring Break

2008-03-31T21:29:00.003-04:00

This last week was spring break for my kids. It was a fun week. I had off on Monday and Tuesday, then I was off to California for a training class on PeopleSoft. My husband Bill had all week off with the boys. They had a lot of fun and traveled. Monday and Tuesday were nice sleeping in and letting the boys wreck havoc on the house. Well Monday at least and half of Tuesday. We just wanted to let down our hair and relax. We didn't really go anywhere. We had had a very long weekend prior to then. The friday before Spring Break was my Grandpa Dickson's Burial at the Arlington National Cemetary. It was an amazing experience. I got to visit with some of my cousins that I haven't seen in many years. My Aunts and Uncles that I haven't seen in years as well. It was good to see them all, even if it was under such curcumstances. I got to see Kotrina and Darius from the Jankus Family, Robbie and Stephanie from the Beavers and David from the Neatherly clan. Kotrina, her husband and their two boys (I unfortunately can't remember her last name or her husbands name.) They are so cute! Her little family. I remember those days all too well. She is doing so good with them. I really was so glad to see them. I brought my boys with Bill and I to the Burial. We felt it would be a good experience for them to see the patriotism of the Burial as well as the Honors of the Military. They loved the horses and they thought it was neat. It was amazing. Mikey, my youngest, started crying when they removed the casket from the hurst and put it on the back of the horse drawn wagon led by four white majestic horses. The casket was covered by the flag. The Honor Guard did a fabulous job with their movements in sync. It was very majestic. Once the casket was loaded on the back of the wagon he stopped crying. I asked him why he was crying, he said he didn't know. I think he could feel the spirit of the moment and understood even in his little 4 yr old soul, what was going on and what it all ment. It touched me to see his genuine expression of feeling at that time that I started tearing up when I thought about what it all ment. We were then invited to follow the persession of the military down to the burial location from the top of the hill where we were standing. Some drove and others walked. As we walked those visiting other graves that we passed, Stopped and saluted and stood in attention as we passed. It was so touching to see their Honor for Grandpa, whom they didn't know but knew was a fellow soldier. The commrodery was so heartfelt. After the wonderful service with the twenty one gun salute, Taps and a prayer. They folded the flag and handed it to Nancy. They said several words of praise for Grandpa and condoliences for the family. Then it was over. No one seemed to want to leave. We hung outside by the cars talking for quite a while after we were dismissed. Hugs and consoling each other. Drinking in the events of the day thus far. We eventually departed ways and several of us met at a restaurant called the Green Olive in Alexandria, VA. It was a chinese buffet. It was good. Afterwords, Bill, and I with the boys went over to Jeanne's house to let the boys run off some steam. They had a lot of fun playing in her back yard. They got very dirty... Their nice church clothes were definately worn in. luckily no rips or tears. For that I was greatful and the rest was washed out. After we hung out there for a while we all met back with the family at Aunt Jeanne's church building for a wake service of sorts. Where we could all visit and talk and relax. My kids played with Kotrina's oldest son, until he got hurt. My boys can get alittle rough. But I think they all had fun. It was nice visiting with family and catching up on what they are all doing these days. We drove home and got home around 10:30pm it was a long day. Then Saturday was running errands and getting ready for Church on Sunday. Sunday was church. Monday was the first day to rest and relax. We didn't run anywhere or do anything but stay home and try to be calm. Which was a nice day. Tuesday we slept in and then worked on the house, cleaning up and doing laundry. Braeden started getting sick and was weezing so we had to take him to the doctors as he has resperatory issues easily. He was put on an inhaler for weezing with his cold. I left for California on Wednesday. I had an early flight out of Dulles. VA at 9am which is rush hour as well as having to be there at least 2 hr early for airport security. So I was there by 7am. I got up at 4am to finish getting ready to go. Bill and the boys drove me to the airport. It was very nice of them to do. It's a long drive early in the morning. I had an uneventful time at security, and on the flight out to California. I arrived 6 hrs later in California around 12pmPST/3pmEST. The only person I know in that part of California is my husband's cousin Jessica who lives outside of San Francisco. I was going to a training class on PeopleSoft, in Pleasanton CA which is 45 min outside of San Francisco. I drove my rental car to the Hotel, but didn't stay there long. I wanted to explore this area a little bit before the sun went down. I drove around and found a Target, Walmart, Food places and other little shops. I got acclamated to the streets and found the training facility I was to attend the next day. So I would know how long it took for me in the morning to get there. While I was exploring, I called Bill to let him know that I had arrived safely. He informed me that he was on his way to North Carolina with the boys and that they were going to the Beach. I was sad. I wanted to go to the beach with the boys and see them play in the water and have fun with them. But I was doing something for work and was unable to go :( Well Bill took pictures for me so I wouldn't feel so left out. Of which I am greatful. I was still sad. I was also happy that he was taking this time to be with the boys and have fun with them. It was a long drive to the Beach (9hrs one way) with three boys in the back seat. With no help. What a brave man! I didn't do much but sleep, go to training and walk around a little in Pleasanton. It is a quaint little town with cute little shops and the best bakery for crassaunts I've ever had in my entire life. It is called Bibito, it was YUMMY! I finished my class on Friday, flew home on Saturday and got sick. I was sick Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and even today. I'm just I hope getting over it. I got Braeden's cold. Saturday the flight home wasn't too bad except for coming in to DC. My ears get too pressurized and they hurt really bad. It also took a while for me to hear anyone for the first 3 hrs I was home. Not a fun experience. It was also Mikey's 5th Birthday. I didn't like not spending it with him. I did get to have dinner with him at Red Robin. He enjoyed it. So now here we are back to work on Monday. Still a little sick, looking forward to this weekend, to be able to spend more time with the boys. Here's hoping you have a good, fun, safe Spring Break.

My Sorrow, life regret

2008-01-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

My sorrow is that two people that I respect and admire for different reasons have now passed beyond the veil. My prophet Gordon B. Hinkley Died on Sunday night and my Grandfather Donald Dickson Died on Monday Night. My regret is not getting to know either of them better.

I thought I was ok on Monday when I heard the news about Gordon B. Hinkley... I could go to work and think about the wonderful things that he accomplished in the church and the love that he had for his fellow brothers and sisters. I thought about when I went and watched conference at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, UT. I was single, and living in Provo, UT at the time. My room-mates and I slept out overnight on Temple Square to get (free) tickets to Conference. We met others who were waiting out to get tickets.. Sang songs and drank hot cocoa.... It was a wonderful night,... then we got tickets at like 8am and then ran to the car to get dressed... It was cold that night so we were bundled up. The car was parked at the Stadium down the street from the square. I remember waiting to get in to the tabernacle and singing songs like we "We thank the O God for a Prophet" and the "Spirit of God" I remember the spirit being so strong that day... Just to sit there and watch the twelve apostles walk in and then the prophet walk in I was standing and singing and then It was as if I was standing right next to him. I was in the very back of the Tabernacle on the second floor. sqooshed with no legroom and I was right there. I had the confirmation that I saw a man, who walks, talks and is close to God. I could feel my saviors love for me. I KNEW with out a shadow of a doubt that he was a man called from God and that The Church was TRUE! It was a revelation I had known was true... But I think it wasn't as confirmed as it was on that day. I will always remember him and the Joy that he brought to those around him. Those who were able to feel of his sweet spirit and his love of the savior and for all man kind. I will miss him until we meet again.

Next my Grandpa Dickson. It wasn't your typical relationship between Grandfather and Grandchild I don't think... I didn't see him very much. I met him when I was young girl in San Antonio TX. And then he was absent out of my life until I moved to Virginia after I had graduated High School. I was a nanny in DC and my Aunt Cindy had come out to visit. She had mentioned Grandpa Dickson and I visited with him after she left or just before. We met in Downtown Oldtown Alexandria... We went to one of his favorite Thai restaurants. He spoke their native tongue and ordered for me... I had never had Thai food before. It was very interesting I like the Peanut chicken the best. Mild of course. But he thought it was funny. I asked lots of questions about him. We talked about my mother and my family in TX. It was a wonderful visit. And then he was absent again for a while until after I was married. He helped my husband and I when we were in a pickle once. I was very grateful for his generosity and his loving spirit towards us. Even though we weren't "Close" as one might say. But we were closer than others. I tried to keep in contact with him and his wife Nancy throughout the years. Nancy gave me some House selling advice once or twice. I enjoyed my conversations with Nancy. It was nice to get to know her what little I had. I don't remember actually meeting her in person. I'm sure I will at the funeral. (How unfortunate it had to be under such cercumstances.) I am sorry for her loss, my loss, my families loss and my regret is that I didn't know more about him. I didn't spend more time with him and Nancy. To actually KNOW my grandfather. I am grateful for the opportunities that I did have. He will be missed and I will always treasure him as my grandfather. I miss you.

I have learned in my life how fragil, how special life is and how family is so very important... It gets you thru the good times and the bad times. I have lost in the last 6 months two grandfathers. I miss them terribly... I wasn't able to go to my Grandpa Frazer's funeral. I was so sad that he passed away. He was the one I remember mostly. as well as my Grandpa Lancaster. Who passed away I think 18 months ago or so. It is strange that in two years I have lost all of my grandfathers. But I guess that is the way that life is. I just don't want to miss time with those that are here now. I find that family history is important as well. It helps us get a feel for where we came from and our heritage. A further sense of belonging. I am grateful for the wonderful men in my life who have helped me to grow and who have been an example for me in my life of husbands/fathers and how a man should treat a women. Thank you.

May we no longer have life regrets of what time we should have spent with family... We should just do it. May our sorrows be turned to joy as we remember the men in our lives. Thanks for everything.

Timing is everything

2008-01-28T16:34:00.000-05:00

Timing is everything. So i've come to realize. As I have spent this last week just running into forehead slapping moment after moment. My husband and I are at our wits ends lately with all that we have going on in our crazy life. 2 hr commute each way to work to work a 9 hr schedule, Drop our kids off at the sitters way too early in the morning and then pick them up way too late in the evening. Trying to work from home one day a week so we can participate in things like scouts and Karate for at least one of our children. Never having time to do what needs to be done with the kids or for the family. So, needlessly to say, my husband and I finally sat down this weekend (saturday). and Decided that we need to prioritize our lives better. WE have got to do more of the Important things not necessarily the Urgent things but the Important Non Urgent items in our life which will help our family so much more. Things like alowing sleepovers for the kids on the weekends instead of saying we're too tired. ( some of this just to preface) is due to the fact that we realized that our children have no friends that they play with in our neighborhood or outside of. They are very isolated by our schedules. How sad, right!. Well, we decided that we need to start putting them first and helping them to blossom and when they are grown and gone then we'll try to slowdown. ( actually sleep in on a Saturday). Well, We talked thru alot of issues that we've been having with the kids, with each other and our never ending crazy life. So, We had a wonderfully inlightening discussion. With out hurt feelings and without yelling and screaming. there were tears but on both parts. We I guess finally woke up and slightly grew up all at the same time. Well here is the fun Timing issue. WE went to church on Sunday (late) but we were there. We made it for Sunday school and Relief Society/Priesthood. Sunday School was awesome and uplifting, discussing things in the Book of Mormon. Well, Then we went to our separate classes and (we had the same discussion) on Prioritizing from the Conference talks. I think it was Dallen H. Oaks talk, If i'm remembering correctly. Where he talks about several of the things that we've noticed in our family and discussed not just the day before. How awesome is that. Reinforcement for our thoughts, our hearts and our life. Timing in this discussion was everything, or we may not have been so receptive to the spirit of this talk. I'm so greatful for a loving father in heaven who helps us to come to the correct conclusion. And then reinforces our own thoughts as a confirmation to the truth of it. I am going to see about working from home more. We are going to plan more activities with the kids and other kids in church/neighborhood so they feel a sense of belonging. Eat dinners at home at night at our kitchen table even if it is late (after 8pm). Definately read our scriptures more, say our prayers more, and have our family home evenings more. The excuse that we're too tired isn't an excuse anymore. How blessed am I! To have found a truth in my weekend. :)

What a beautiful picture

2008-01-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

A New Year

2007-12-31T08:08:00.001-05:00

It's a new year full of wonder and adventure. What will this year hold? What will it bring? What resolutions are we going to try and succeed, or try and fail? I know that a lot can happen in a year. Looking back on this year alot has happened.

At the beginning of this year I was a stay at home mom. Now I work full-time. My children all moved up in age and sizes (quite a few). I went from having two cars to one. I went from not seeing my husband that much due to a demanding job and long commute to sharing in the commute and seeing him more often and less of the kids :(. We have had members of my family graduate from high school, have babies, move, divorce, change jobs, change hair style and color, change weight and height, some are far away and some are closer. Oh, what adventures a year can bring.

We have been on several trips this year. We've been to Palmyra, NY and the Hill Camorah. We have visited Canada, seen Niagrah Falls Canada and NY. We have been to Texas to visit family and see Jennifer graduate high school. We have been to NY city to see Bill's sister Jenny graduate college. We have been to Outer Banks, NC for our Memorial Day vacation. Bill has visited California for a work conference and Germany for work. We have been on many weekend travels exploring our beautiful country. We've been to skyline Drive to see snow and hike. We've driven to Chambersburg PA just for fun and to see where some of our favorite food are made, like the Martins brand chips, and an old candy shop that has been around since the 1800's. Fresh organic Milk from a creamery..mmmm so yummy. We have had lots of wonderful adventures in our little VW Golf. It's amazing how much it can hold and how much we've done and seen in one year. Next year we may even have more adventures.

We have family moving closer to us (within a 9 hr drive) just a weekend trip away. We have promotions and raises this year. We have our 10 year anniversary coming up this year. WOW has it really been that long! yep i guess so. We have kids changing grades and growing faster than we'd like. We have trips to plan and take. Time to spend with family and friends. More friends to make and keep. May this new year bring all the best for you and yours. I know we will try to make this the best year ever. Full of family and friends and lots of laughter. Happy New Year and Happy Adventures :)

Once Again it's Christmas

2007-12-27T11:28:00.000-05:00

Once again it's Christmas and loads of gifts with Family and Friends. I've learned that it isn't the amount of gifts we've recieved but the love given behind the gift that is important. My wonderful husband Bill and by Three awesome boys Bryen, Braeden and Mikey, gave me a wonderfully thoughtful gift that wasn't expensive but full of love. I received a picture of my three boys in a frame that was taken Mother's Day. It is a wonderful picture of the kids, smiling and happy. As well as, a Willow Tree Keepsake box called A loving embrace. My husband knows I love the Willow Tree line of figures. He felt so bad that it wasn't more. But my cup runneth over! The most important and precious thing to me is my family. The love of my husband and the love of my children. This christmas was so special! We didn't have to run first thing in the morning. We got to relax and enjoy each other's company. The kids could enjoy their gifts from Santa and mom and dad. (Yes! They still believe in Santa!). Wide eyes with a few gifts under the tree. Special one's the kids really wanted/needed. A 4-wheeler power wheels for Mikey, A computer for Bryen and Braeden(second hand but they don't care). and a nano for the older two. Not much else.... The nano's were pricy... as well as the 4 wheeler. but the rest was cheep and important for their growth and learning. We wanted the spirit of christmas to be in our home. My mother came over around lunch time and spent a few hours with the kids. They love it when she comes over. They run to her and hug her. She is such a blessing in our life to have her around them. She has wisdom and insight to things that I don't and I appreciate her calming affect on my home.

This Christmas was even more special because our Oldest Son, Bryen, was baptised 3 days earlier. It was a very special day, We invited our non-member neighbor/friends to the baptism (and they came!). We had in-active family attend. My Father-in-law spoke on the Holy Ghost and My husband was able to baptise Bryen and Gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a blessing it is to me and a wonderful gift that my son has decided to follow the Savior. I have noticed a change in him. I am grateful for the blessings of my Savior. We also spent Christmas Eve with the missionaries and my mother. We watched a movie called the fourth wise man. And the gifts that are important to give others for the savior. What a blessing it is to have such wonderful missionaries in our area, and to share with them the holidays in my home.

My cup runneth over for the sweet service of others and the sweet joy the savior give to us.