A Bit Humbled and Quite Thankful for the Words of a 1st Grader

The past year has been an interesting challenge. Because of a loss of income we have cut back and worked on sticking to a budget. We have always had a budget, but there has been enough wiggle room that we really didn’t go without things we wanted, and we totally took for granted that our basic needs would just be met. I told Tom the other day that I felt like we needed this experience to help us say, “do we need the things we are buying, or do we want them”. That being said we have weathered the storm quite well, and I am proud of my family for the adjustments we have made.
This past week Riley came home one afternoon talking about the canned food drive at school, and how she really needs to take can foods to help kids that don’t have any food. I kind of gave her the “that is nice dear” speech and moved on, thinking to myself that we would probably skip that this year. The next day she came home with the same concern that she take canned foods. She finally got my attention when she took me to the pantry, opened it up and said, “mom, look at ALL of this food. Some people don’t have any cans, and we have this many”. I helped her select 10 cans to take to school.
I realized that my “cutting back” is still so much more than many people have, and even though I have felt pressures this year my family has not gone without even for a day.
Thank you to my 1st grader for reminding me to be thankful.

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Happiest boy on the planet!



New Room



Halloween

A Bit Behind

What are the kiddies up too you ask????

Since my last post we have one in college...wow that sounds old. She is LOVING it, and I am happy to report has not yet changed her major, although she isn't loving every class she is still committed to working with kids with speech disorders.

Our little first grader is having a great year. Kindergarten was not her favorite year, so it has been a pleasant change to have her be so happy to go to school. Her reading has really taken off. She loved the cheer clinic she participated in, and wants to get into a tumbling class so she can be a better cheerleader. We'll see. We also had a room overhaul to go with a birthday. The polka dots are a huge hit.

There is one at Miss Debbie's and he is as happy as can be. He is learning so many things, and is so happy to go every day. He has been asking for a four-wheeler for Christmas (sorry bud). He had the chance to go on a REAL four-wheeler, and he loved it. He has also adopted a pet fly that he named Rawr. He is really struggling not having any pets since his sister and I are allergic. Apparently he is making do.

Halloween was fun this year. We stuck with a theme that seemed to be fairly popular in the neighborhood, although we did have a few houses that denied us candy because of our costumes. You know who you are!!

I would love to finish this post with a few corresponding pics, but blogger won't upload them.

I will try to do a picture dump later this week.

Colorado Vacation by the Numbers

We just got back from a fabulous vacation/family reunion with Tom’s family. We rented a cabin in Breckenridge, Colorado where we had 32 people staying. We took at few extra days to get there because we went through south eastern Utah so Grandpa Jones could point out some places of interest where he grew up. We also stopped in Durango to ride the train to Silverton. All in all it was a fabulous trip. Here are a few highlights...by the numbers.

Number of times grandchildren rolled their eyes at one of Grandpas special places-10.
Number of awesome crashes while ice skating-9.
Number of times DAILY the kids asked to get in the hot tub-8.
Number of broken glow sticks strewn throughout the cabin-7.
Number of pink eyes-6.
Number of times Grandma rode the Alpine Slide-5.
Number of inches of rain-4
Number of hours on the train- 3.5.
Number of miles we hiked-3.
Number of black eyes-2.
Number of balls from the pool table that went through the fireplace glass-It only took ONE.

Pictures to follow

Eighteen Years in the Making

Wow, I can't believe that Sydney will be 18 this week. How in the world did we get from this little girl all the way to this old one in such a short amount of time?

Some fun things about Syd:
She was her Nana's girl. They were the best of friends, and loved to explore Salt Lake City together. I was amazed every time I took her downtown, and she would tell me all of the different places they had been.

When she was little and would get hurt, I would ask her how it felt, and she would always say, "not berry good".

She loves her Grandpa Bob, when he lived with us the two of them had a great time. He used to love taking her to the farm with him even as a tiny girl.

She loves my cousin Mike, they have a very special connection. She wrote to him while he was on his mission. One day he and my Uncle came to my house. Syd came running out of the house and headed straight for them only to pass right by my uncle and jump into Mike's arms. My uncle never lets for forget this. Another day the same uncle and my dad were in my uncle's office working on taxes, they needed some information from my mom so they called the house and Syd answered, but she wouldn't give Nana the phone. My mom must have chased her around the house for 10 minutes trying to get the phone. My dad and uncle had the phone on speaker and were laughing so hard they could hardly speak.

She is a great friend. I will miss her when she goes to school not just because she is a great help to me, but also because she is one of my best friends.

She is the most awesome big sister ever. I don't think there are too many eighteen year olds who will still color with their brother and sister, and love to play games with kids of all ages.

Syd is also a great example to all around her.

I hope she has a great birthday, even though we will have to listen to her complain about being in the car all day on her birthday.

Small town Idaho Fourth of July

We had the chance to spend the fourth in Soda Springs, Idaho with my dad and step-mom. My aunt and uncle also live there so I saw quite a few cousins that I had not seen for quite a while. We had some great small town activities. The most interesting had to be the foam. The fire department set up a truck, and for an hour they sprayed an area of the park with foam. I seriously think the firemen must spend all year picking out which kids are the most annoying during the field trips, and they totally mow those kids over during the foam bath on the fourth. The firemen looked like they were having as much fun as the kids.

The kids also enjoyed the kids games and activities, which were all FREE, love that. We waited for 30 minutes for the train, but Brady LOVED it. No pictures of the parade, but do you really need to see pictures of 10 trucks full of cowboys throwing candy???? The lady next to us was quite shocked we didn't bring a sack for candy. She acted like it was child abuse that we were going to limit our children to what we could put in our pockets. Finally she just went to her car and got a grocery sack for us. Additionally sad is the fact that we needed it. Although, I have to say, someone is bound to get hurt when you start throwing frozen otter pops.

Who can resist a photo op with Mater. We did get laughed at by the locals "...stupid Utahans", but oh well.

Unfortunately, our day did not end with fireworks, but marble size hail will put a damper on that activity. All in all it was a great holiday, and very relaxing.

The Last Graduation

With only three kids I never imagined a year where I would attend six graduations and have a child in each of them, but this was the year. I am happy to report, that they all made it.