My Journal

 Today I got to sleep in as Michael took Alden early to his robotics competition. As soon as I was up and ready to go I went to Lowes to buy dirt and some things for the drip system I am going to be putting in. I got back just before 9am. The Astons came over just a little after that. Benson and Evan had made the sheet pancake for us all to eat for breakfast so we ate that then set outside to work. The boys moved 7 loads of mulch...we're starting to put a dent in it. I unloaded the van of the dirt I bought and emptied it where we needed it and then worked on cleaning up the duck enclosure. I then got a message from Sister Taber, I had gotten the times mixed up, I called her and we figured out a new time. As soon as the Aston's got picked up we hurried over to Sister Taber's house where we did a very fun project, painting octopus'.  Benson wanted to get some fish so we ran by Petsmart for him to buy some goldfish for the little pond him and Evan build the other day. Once...

 I got to sleep in, go for a run, get ready all while Michael made me an amazing omelet with mushrooms, onions, peppers. It was great and felt so nice to have as much time to get ready as I wanted. I then went to school where all of my sewing classes went well. The second class was a little bit crazy... when it is a little crazy it just means that a lot of people need my help so they have to wait in turns until I can get to them. The last class was a little more open so Roslyn and one other in the class were able to start a new project of a crayon or colored pencil roll up. After Friday school I hurried over to Chick-fil-a to pick up a platter to throw a retirement party for Pam who has worked for us for a number of years now. She has been a God send, she came right when things were so difficult for us and we felt like we were drowning and having so many problems with staff. We have felt so blessed to have her. The staff is all so good now and we feel so blessed to have each one of...

It was a good day in seminary but I really didn't feel like I was present as I took roll then Amanda called to go over some things that had changed with the day. Also I left early as I was up with Roslyn throughout the night, she had thrown up about 3-4 times. I left early to go home and check on her before going to school and to leave Calvin home with her to watch her throughout the day. School was a nice low key day we did a worksheet on verbs and then a little activity with it. It made me see the advantage to worksheet work even though I don't think it is the best on a regular basis, it is good to mix things up. I always love Thursday evenings as I am done with all lessons, seminary and my regular teaching. I also know that I will get to sleep in in the morning. I really do love seminary but I also do miss my sleep especially by Thursday. (Thursday morning is always the hardest for me to get up.)

 I taught both classes in seminary about Lot and his family and then the other class had a nice breakfast ready. This was our first Wednesday since the trip that we didn't have to go anywhere. I did invite anyone from the ward with littles to come over if they wanted to. One sister and her daughter came over. The girls loved playing with her. She had some questions about Providence Hill so we went over and I gave her a tour. I then taught Kara her lesson and Salem. I then had all of the afternoon to get things done. It is such nice weather. It was nice to be able to work in the yard some. The kids were outside almost all day. In the afternoon they took me up to the forest where they had planted a garden and made a little pond as well. It looked like quite the project.

 Seminary in the morning then school. Today we learned the Tango dance. Some kids loved this others complained like crazy, the honest truth I was glad when we were done doing the tango because some make such a big deal of it. (They think they will be made to dance with someone or they are too scared to dance in front of others or they are really excited...just lots of emotions.) After school I taught the Spencer's lesson and then got dinner ready. I feel like I am having more energy after school. When every I start something new it takes a lot out of me so I feel warn out after but I am getting where it is becoming part of the routine. 

 Today was a full day like every Monday. Seminary in the morning then Evan, Roslyn and Alden's lessons...but I didn't get to Alden's lesson...I'm thinking his will be every other week. Lauren and her family came to their lessons from 9:00-10:00 and then I have a lesson from 2:00-2:30 get ready for choir and orchestra and then have choir and both orchestras, eat dinner and get lunches made and the kids to bed. I finally realized that I really only have four hours in the middle to teach all of my kids their lessons and check all of their homework, feed them lunch and make them dinner so that is why it is always such a full day.  Today was a great day though, I was able to get through everything that I felt that I needed to and even a few spare minutes. I had dinner ready before choir so we were able to eat right after which made the night run more smoothly. It was a wonderful day!

 It was a nice relaxing morning then Michael got to pick up a Spanish recent convert for Stake Conference and I got to pick up Frances. It is always fun seeing so many people at stake Conference. After the conference I went over to Robyn's house to visit when I got home Michael and Alden had made a nice dinner and magic cookie bars. It was delicious. I talked to my parents and then there was a farwell party for a couple in the ward leaving for their mission. I picked up Frances and went. I was feeling a little concerned being out late as seminary in the morning and trying to get the girls to bed on time, clean up the kitchen, etc. It was a mess when I left and I just figured it'd be the same when I returned but I came home to two sweet little girls already for bed and tucked in and a clean kitchen. All I had to do was get myself ready for bed. It was a miracle.

 Today has been a beautiful day! We all worked outside in the morning. The girls and I planted some things in the garden beds, Calvin helped Michael trim the bushes, Benson and Evan cleaned out the van. The kids and I then went to Sister Taber's to do art. We first worked on our chalk art and then we started on acrylic paints. We painted rocks with daisy's on them and then used an acorn as a little ladybug on the rock/ flower. It was a fun little project. Miracle of the day: As soon as I got home Jeanine called asking if I had the link for Sonja's funeral. I had completely forgotten about her funeral and Jeanine couldn't have called at a more perfect time. She really found it while we were on the phone and I was able to watch a good amount of the funeral. There were some powerful messages taught just as there often are at funerals. Sheila talked about the difficulty of Sonja's life and how she was able to press forward with faithfulness in the Savior.  After I liste...

 School went well. I had lots of people in sewing but because everyone is working on projects of their pick and really I am just there if they need help. Many are able to do everything on their own, there are a number that still need my help but I am able to get around to everyone nicely. I even had a good amount of time to help my children throughout the time. I feel like my kids are learning as they work on these different sewing projects.  After Friday school I went to Michael's work where we interviewed someone for his work. I am not sure how well it will all work out but we have felt good about her and she was the only one that we called or interviewed which was another miracle. Often the interview process takes us weeks as we have a number of people we call and interview.  Michael and I then went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was yummy and nice to be together. In the evening we watched a couple Psyche episodes.  It was a nice day. Also when we walked in and...

 I had a hard time waking up in the morning for seminary. This often happens by Thursday but it is always comforting to know that tomorrow I will get to sleep in. One day I might have it down where I am used to waking up early each day. After seminary I went to Providence Hill to teach. Today we did soccer because we are studying about Argentina where they are very passionate about soccer.  When I came home I was a little lazy and just excited to have made it through the week. I put in a simple potato casserole that was in the freezer. It was a nice evening being home and not needing to go anywhere. The picture below is of Roslyn playing soccer in my class.

 Today was the other full service day that I was concerned about on Sunday but of course it went really well. I taught seminary that went better than last week. It wasn't perfect but it went well. Right after we were to leave with the Aston's to the temple but there was some miscommunication so it took a minute longer to get on our way and I needed to stop to pick up Frances. (I was excited to take her but sometimes the extra coordinating and the extra worry sometimes gets to me even though it shouldn't. It is just one of those growth, growing pains.) We then had to stop by the Aston's to pick up Abby,  needless to say we were leaving much later then we normally would. At the church at 7:30 when I was waiting for Calvin's class to get out it said the commute was about 2 hours so we were barely going to make it leaving straight. And although I had a little wiggle room I didn't have very much as I needed to be back for lessons. (I guess these are where these worri...

 These days are full days just normally as I read scriptures, exercise, get dressed, go to seminary, hurry to get to school. Today I felt a little bad because Amanda called just as we were getting started with seminary, she had tried calling last night but I wasn't able to answer and wasn't able to call her back so I felt like I should answer. Once I got off the call I came back and was in the lesson for about 5-10 minutes and then had to leave. The morning was also a little hard getting there on time as I was pulling Roslyn out of bed so I could do a simple thing in her hair and left with Maebryn still asleep. School went well, the kids went to the Chambers to play while I did my piano lesson with Molly. I had started soaking beans last night and had planned to put them in the crockpot in the morning but of course with the morning rush that didn't happen but I was able to get them cooking when we got home and they were done by dinner time. It was a good full day.

 No seminary because of President's day. I was amazed at how much time this gave me. I slept in, exercised, read scriptures and everyone had a nice breakfast together and I got well into Roslyn's lesson all during the time we usually have seminary. Our morning lessons canceled which gave me even more time. Got Evan's lesson done and a few other things before the Aston's came around 9am. I had felt overwhelmed a little because of having them a second week in a row since I didn't get to any of the kids things last week when they were here nor was I able to get dinner ready. God blessed me with the lesson canceling so I could get a number of those things done and I was more prepared so I had dinner ready right when orchestra ended. Overall it was a wonderful day. I got to go outside for at least a few minutes and plant a couple of plants that I hadn't been able to get to on Saturday. The weather has been beautiful lately. Below is a picture of the girls tea party. ...

 Slept in which felt nice. The morning ended up going by super quickly because of it. I lost track of time and realized at 11:00 that the boys needed to leave because they had a meeting with the bishop at church. We quickly grabbed everything...thank you for Brother Spaulding for teaching seminary all last week, Valentine for Pat that we planned on visiting before church, all of the things for our lesson and bread for the sacrament....but the one thing that I forgot was my bread for the sacrament. I felt quite bad about it because the other people in the ward didn't have it again...it's been a few weeks for them. I promised that next time I would have it. Sometimes when I am gathering so many things I just can't seem to remember everything. I also forgot some music that I was suppose to bring to practice with Sister Dolleman...but granted I hadn't worked on transposing the music so I had more steps then just forgetting the music. Church went well, we came home and had a...

 Today was Valentines day but since we celebrated yesterday I didn't really realize that it was. Alden and Michael left early to go to the robotics competition. Benson and Evan made the sheet pancake when they did wake up and right after we had that we hurried outside to do some yard work. We only got about 30 minutes of work in before it started raining and in about an hour it was pouring down so we went back inside. We did get a few more things planted so that was good. Inside I got a lot of little things done...like laundry, basic cleaning I hadn't gotten to, putting things away from our trip that hadn't quite gotten put away yet. It was a nice and good day. In the early afternoon I went to the grocery store and then in the afternoon we went and did art and then to lowes where we picked up a number of bags of dirt. It was a low key day, I even took a nap in the middle, it was a day that I felt like I needed. It was  nice day after a full week. I remembered to get a pictu...

 I forgot to really get pictures today but we decided to celebrate Valentines today because Alden and Michael will be gone at a robotics competition all day on Saturday.  Last night after we got the kids to bed I got everyone's buckets ready and on the table. So in the morning all I needed to do was make breakfast. I made pancakes and stuck a little heart toothpick in them. For Michael I gave him one of the huge cards I got from cleaning out the school over the summer and some banana bread a family gave me for Valentines. When I woke up I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Michael and bought and put together for me. I will try to remember to get a picture tomorrow. We had a nice breakfast and then headed out to Friday School which went well.  Friday school was good I had Calvin, Evan, Roslyn and Maebryn in my class almost the whole time. After the first three classes I left and went to get lunch for Michael's work. Lunch went well, I stayed and cleaned up just a bi...

 Valentines Day for Providence Hill. Seminary went well, I left a little early to go get things ready at school. I feel like I finally have a good plan and set up for the high school there. I will go sit back where I can see more of their computers and go over goals with them. In my class we finished learning about Dominican Republic, we talked about how they are a very close knit society and will often live with many generations in one house. I had them write a Valentine to a family member or really to anyone they wanted in Spanish. It was a good class. After school I was tired, lots of late nights and early mornings this week. We had a low key evening and watched our Spanish show of Curious George. It felt nice knowing that we made it through the week of getting back. Friday is a much more laid back kind of day.

 Seminary ended up being a little crazy. I had gathered things last night to do a seminary assessment doing the winter olympics. I left with everything but then got to seminary and couldn't find the papers that told how we were to do everything and how everything went together. Michael tried to print them off there at church but couldn't so he drove home to get them. In the end they were in the van, I had brought them but just didn't grab them with everything as I was getting out. We made everything work but it was a bit crazy.  Anyways after seminary I came home and had about an hour until we all went to the play "The Wizard of Oz" at Casa Manana. We got home just a few minutes before my lessons came at one. I ended up talking to them until almost 3:30, she is going through a tough time right now. We ate lunch right after they left and I did a few simple things outside that I have been needing to do. Then I got things ready for the missionaries who came for dinne...

 Seminary went well in the morning, left to get to school on time. It was strange coming back after such a big break. It felt good to get back into our regular routine. School went well, in my class we started learning about the Dominican Republic. After school we had our regular lessons and I put in a lasagna. It was a nice day. In the evening I started putting things together for my seminary lesson tomorrow morning. Full but good day.  

 We're back to everything. I made it an easier week for the kids. Short poem, short scripture and I didn't have them do any math today. Seminary went well, we talked about overcoming the world. Being in the world but not of the world. After seminary I brought all of the Astons home with us but stopped by the post office first. It was good to have our lessons again, the ones at 9am then later in the afternoon at 2pm. Choir and orchestra went well. It will be good to get back into the rhythm of things. Joy of the day: Not feeling stressed over choir or orchestra just enjoyed the moment and got a lot of things done right up until the time it started. Also it was a beautiful day outside as well on all I did around the house inside. We kept the house in good order.

 We woke up early and went to breakfast then went back finished grabbing our bags and left the ship. It was fairly smooth getting to our van and getting on our way. We ended up getting to Jon and Meghan's by 10:00 am. We visited with them and their family until 2:00 where we left for church and got to listen to Olivia's talk on the Book of Mormon and how her testimony was strengthened by her mission. It was also neat afterwards, Jon had everyone that had served a mission stand up. There was a handful of people stand up but then he had all youth 18 or younger stand up and it was a huge amount. It was just neat to feel the strength of the rising generation and how much good they have the potential to do. We left right after sacrament meeting to make the four and a half hour drive home. We were all very excited to come home and excited to find everything alive and well!

 We went back to our routine of getting up and going to go exercise. I had enjoyed using the gym and strengthening some of the muscles I don't work on as much. It has also been fun to take Alden and show him how to use the equipment.  After exercising we went and showered because we decided that today we would go to the nice breakfast. We made it just in time. It was good but we decided that we like the buffet more. They had the same things you just had to order it and wait to be served and then not get the same variety that we get at the buffet. It was still good to go and try it out though.  After breakfast the kids and I went and did a little craft and then they went swimming while I went to a class on how to take care of your face where they had you try some different products. I then joined the kids swimming.  We then went to a diving show, I made roses with the younger kids, and generally had a very low key day.  We went to do a family scavenger hunt but l...