How to stay busy

I think I got a little excited about all the "free time" I would enjoy once my kids started public school :). I'm working with a local animal shelter, and helping in the schools 2 times a week, and trying to catch up on housework and crafts that I put off much longer than I meant to. But, in my vast amount of free time, I've also been tackling the huge stack of non-fiction books that I would like to read.

John Adams, by David McCullough, has been at the top of that list for about 2 years, and I finally finished it Friday night. I find myself incredibly amazed and humbled by reading about this man. He was flawed, yes; and yet he managed to accomplish so very much, and was aware of his faults and constantly trying to overcome them. But my favorite part of the book came after he'd finished his term as the 2nd President of the United States. He retired to a farm that he and Abigail had bought and she had primarily run during his long years of service to his country. They both retained a sharp interest in politics, but he never again served in a public office. And his last years are a witness that he really did practice what he preached: that a man be not dependent on public service for his income. When he died, he left a sizeable estate to his children and grandchildren. While he was acting as Vice President to George Washington, he wrote to his son Thomas,

"Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not. A young man should weigh well his plans. Integrity should be preserved in all events, as essential to his happiness, through every stage of his existence. His first maxim then should be to place his honor out of reach of all men. In order to do this he must make it a rule never to become dependent on public employments for subsistence. Let him have a trade, a profession, a farm, a shop, something where he can honestly live, and then he may engage in public affairs, if invited, upon independent principles. My advice to my children is to maintain an independent character."

I wish that more of our "public servants" had this as a personal goal. I think that the longer a person serves in Washington, the more out-of-touch and corrupted he/she becomes. I can honestly say that, while I appreciate those men and women who serve well, I am becoming convinced that term limits should be applied to each and every person who serves in any way in my government. I need them to be more accountable to me as a voter, and I need them NOT to become career politicians. I don't believe the government will solve all my problems. I believe it is a necessary evil, and should be kept as small and weak as possible. I've decided that I cannot continue to be a Democrat [and I won't become a Republican either], because while they talk a good talk, they do not follow through on their promises. I'll be closely examining each candidate and voting for the ones that show integrity in their personal lives, regardless of which party they are affiliated with.

Okay, that's enough of the political stuff :). 2 weeks ago my kids had a 2-day break from school, and we all [Jared took time off] made a quick trip to Denver, Colorado to tour the US Mint. Here's a picture of us after the tour, since they don't allow pictures inside the building itself:

We went to the Denver Children's Museum, and let the kids run around and explore for a few hours. Morgen spent some time dancing in the theater, and quite a bit of time in the veterinarian room playing vet with the stuffed animals, but most of her time was spent in the art room, painting:

Hyrum played all over, but spent the most time shooting baskets in the basketball court. There was a button that he pushed to make the big blaring sound to end each quarter, just like in real basketball games. He liked playing "horse" and "pig" on the courts:

I wasn't sure that Walker could find anything he would enjoy doing, but he proved me wrong. He and Jared spent over an hour building an extensive, looping railroad track that bridged several of the tables in that room. Here's a picture of the beginning stages of the track:

Here are my two engineers, discussing where to put the next piece of track:

While I was in the vet room with Morgen, a lady said my name. I looked at her, and realized I knew her [Kristen Weed]- totally a surprise, since I had no idea she lived in Denver! She's a few years younger than I am, and her parents lived down the street from my parents while they were in Nevada. She actually knows my husband as well :). We chatted for a little bit, then she headed back home. But wow- random and fun to see her!

We drove through Laramie, and toured the Governor's Mansion there. Did you know that Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote? And, it was the first state to elect a woman as governor: Nellie Tayloe Ross. She went on to become the director of the US Mint, serving in that position from 1933-1953. [Texans elected a woman governor the same year, but Nellie was inaugurated first :)]

We cannot go on any family outing without including some sort of outdoor activity. This is the Ames Monument, built to honor 2 brothers who helped bring the railroad to this part of the country.

Of course, we couldn't just walk around it. Some of us saw this as a challenge, and decided to climb it!

Jared took off today after church, and he'll be in Reno through the end of the week. I'm hoping he makes it back in time for trick-or-treating :)

Gratitude List:
* Freedom of Speech. I am so grateful that I have the right to openly state my opinions and know that I cannot be arrested for thinking differently than my government officials do.
* Jared got to stay for church, and help me with our sunday school class, as they put on a little program for the rest of the kids.
* Beautiful fall leaves, and cool fall weather.
* We have the money to replace the sliding glass door panel that was shattered when the person who was weed-whacking the lawn shot a rock into it by accident.
* Nobody was hurt by the shattered glass :) because the plastic film kept the pieces together. Oh, and we got a good lesson in how glass fractures :) It's incredibly cool to watch and hear the glass cracking. Expensive, but cool!
* I have 3 healthy kids.
* I have good family, and good friends.
* homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Mmmmm!
* Good music.
* time [even if it's only 10 minutes] to read books.
* My husband has a good job, and we are financially stable.
* God is mindful of me, and blesses me according to my needs.

Money-saving tips

So, last Saturday, Jared got an elk! He bought a tag for a spike [young male] elk, and was drawn out for a cow elk as well.

**don't worry- elk have their babies in the spring, and by fall the calves are weaned and ready to be on their own. if the cow elk he shot did have a baby, it is plenty old enough to feed itself.**

Anyway, he gutted it where he shot it, then brought the carcass home, and skinned it in the garage. He packed the inside of the animal with ice, rolled it up in a tarp, and stored it in the garage until he got a chance to butcher it and wrap up the meat. Tonight was spent grinding up the tougher cuts of meat to make elk burger and elk sausage. And, since elk is a very lean meat [and if you try to fry ground elk, you will end up with charcoal], he ground up some bacon to mix into the elk so we could fry it and eat the results. We now have a freezer full of arm and rump roasts, steaks, ground elk burger, and elk sausage. If you don't factor in the rifle, ammunition, and frustration from previous unsuccessful hunts [ha ha ha], we ended up with 150 pounds of meat for $35- the price of the tag.

On a completely unrelated topic, Morgen and Hyrum are enjoying their soccer games. M's team has not won any games, but they are getting much better at defense :). H's team has won every game but one, and H is improving- he will mostly watch the ball now, instead of playing with the net or laying on the grass and counting bugs. Walker has grown again- his head is level with my eyes. I taught another art class today at his school [it's once a month, all day long], and took him out for lunch. We were walking down the hall, and I looked over at him, and suddenly felt very short. When did this happen?! He was just a little squirt a few days ago...

Gratitude List:
* Good books- too many, actually- that are sitting on my dresser waiting for me to read them.
* A steady income, and a husband who enjoys his job.
* We are debt-free!!! [I know I already shared this, but every day I get excited about it all over again ;)]
* Jared is back home! [except for when he's out hunting elk]
* Podcasts of my church's semiannual general conference, so I can listen to uplifting messages wherever I am.
* My faith in God, and His Son, Jesus Christ.
* A freezer filled completely full of meat.
* 3 healthy kids I get to raise.
* Jared knows how to fix leaky washer hoses. Even when the leaks are because somebody poked them with a thumb tack.
* Wonderful friends who are loving and supportive.
* My new neighborhood is a beautiful place, even with the snow we've gotten over the last week.
* My family
* Jared

Mourning

This video described almost exactly my personal feelings about my own grief, and also gave a great description of what another person can do to comfort someone when they mourn.
Mourning

Wow, 2 posts in a row!

But this post is a very short one, just to celebrate the payment of our very last debt.


WE ARE COMPLETELY DEBT-FREE!!!!! [picture me shouting and dancing around our living room]

** Paid the credit cards off, after Jared finished college and got a "real job". [2005]

** Paid off our Durango loan [2006]

** Paid off our Ford loan [2008]

** Sold our house in Kearns, for a profit, and paid off our mortgage. And we are currently renting, so we have no mortgage right now! [2009]

** Paid off our student loan IN FULL [12:47 pm on 15 September 2009]

Oh I want to throw a party!

hmmm, maybe I will...

tagged

My friend Kristina tagged me LOL, and since I haven't posted in almost a month [oops!] I thought this would be a good kick-start for me.

The rules are that I must post 7 things about myself. Completely random things. Here goes:

1. I'm reading all our Louis L'Amour books again. Because I can, and because I found them when I unpacked one of the five [now four] boxes we had left in the basement.

2. I can finally say I don't bite my nails. I've been trying to break that habit for about 25 years now :)

3. I enjoy teaching the art class I volunteered for at Walker's junior high. Not that I'm an artist by any means- I'm more of a planned project presenter. But it's still a lot of fun!

4. I recently discovered that jump-roping is a great exercise. And a great excuse to act like a kid again!

5. I still miss my Myles. I don't think that will ever stop.

6. Our Kachina dog has chewed pretty close to every single thing she can get her teeth into. I'm beginning to think she has an obsessive-compulsive thing going on, with all the chewing and digging.

7. I like the cool evenings we enjoy up here in the Heber Valley. The kind where you need a warm flannel shirt and a fire to keep you comfortable outside. And if you also get to enjoy some s'mores, well, you're extra lucky ;)

Kids are back in school, and we all think this is a good thing. Walker's playing trumpet [thanks to my sister Joy and my parents who let us borrow Joy's trumpet]. He has been pretty good about practicing, and I think he's actually enjoying himself. Thank goodness for that!

Morgen's teacher has 4 pets in his classroom: a tarantula, a gecko, a snake, and a fish. Morgen thinks she's died and gone to heaven. She got to hold the gecko last week and that was the highlight of her day!

Hyrum loves his teacher and his classroom friends. He's quite social and has made a bunch of friends, but he's having a bit of trouble with the whole 'do what the teacher asks you to, and not whatever you would like to do' thing. Luckily, he is a sweet kid, and is trying his best.

Today we bought soccer cleats for M and H because they're signed up to play soccer this fall. 8 games, 2 per week, so we'll only be running around for 4 weeks, but both M and H are looking forward to their first game on Tuesday.

Jared's still in Pennsylvania. This trip has been hard- 4 weeks total that he'll be away- but with the kids in public school, and the projects we've been working on, I think we're handling it okay. It is hard, though, because we all miss him terribly.

Gratitude List:
* I love our neighborhood, and the friends I am making here.
* Email and the internet to keep me connected with my old friends :)
* Texts from Jared, whenever he's bored in class.
* The mountains. The trees on them are beginning to change colors, and it's a breath-taking sight.
* Time to volunteer at the schools my kids attend.
* We have shelter, food, and clothing.
* We are SO close to being completely debt-free!!
* Ice cream :)
* My family and Jared's.
* God
* This beautiful world I live in.

An unexpected experience

Heber has been really good for reuniting us with old [as in we knew them when we were young and less wrinkly] friends. In June, I was shopping in the grocery store, and saw my best friend [from high school] Aleeca's mom in the store. No, she doesn't live in Heber, but she happened to be at that store on that day, and I was able to get Aleeca's phone number and re-establish contact with her.

About 2 weeks ago, Jared and I were on a date [shocking, I know], and noticed a man who looked a lot like the guy Jared used to go fishing with when we lived in Provo [about 10 years ago, now]. Sure enough, when he turned around, it was Jeff! We exchanged phone numbers, and arranged to go boating with him and his family last Saturday. :)Although the water was pretty cold [we are, after all, in the mountains], riding the tube was awesome. My kids were pretty excited about it, and pretty good sports about being flipped- Jeff doesn't believe in letting you relax on that tube.

Jared:

M and Jeff's boy riding tandem:

I had an unfortunate picture uploading experience, and lost about 50 pics. Now, most of those were either too blurry or too far away to tell who was in the picture, but there were a few I really wanted! Anyway, we stayed 'till dark, then I took all the kids back to our car and we listened to a book on CD while the other 3 grown-ups got the boat out of the water and hitched up to their vehicle. We were all pretty tired and sore come Sunday, but oh, we had a great time!

Okay, time to change subjects. W loves to get the mail, and today he got a letter addressed to him. M and H got letters, too. They were from the Utah State Fair, and each one contained a one-day pass to the fair, a coupon for a drink, another one for a carnival ride, plus a sparkly blue ribbon to congratulate them on being "a Read and Win Winner." They each had to read 10 books, and have a parent or teacher sign the form confirming that they read their books. W and M breezed through their 10 books in a week. H worked on his, and he read each one out loud to me :) Great job, buddy! They've been waiting and waiting and WAITING [not very patiently, some days] for these prizes to come.

Today, we bought new sheets for M's new bed. It's only her bed until we get visitors, then it becomes the guest bed :), but she's thrilled with it. Jared picked up the mattress and box springs on Saturday, but we had no full-sized sheets, so the bed sat in its plastic cover 'till today. That was about all the disorder I could stand :), so I set up the bed, knowing I'd have to find sheets to cover it before tonight. One more thing to check off my to-do list!

We took the kids out to the North Fields again tonight, and I cooked tinfoil dinners [hamburger patty, onion for flavor, sliced carrots and potatoes, all with butter] on the coals while Jared and the kids either read [W], or caught bugs [M], or whacked thistles with a willow wand "sword" [H]. I sat and knit, and enjoyed the cool evening silence. M came back from the river with some flowers she picked just for me, and a song she made up to accompany the gift. She can be such a sweetheart :) which absolutely makes up for when she isn't. We also had s'mores, except without graham crackers, since I forgot them. But who needs graham crackers when you can have chocolate and marshmallows?!?

One more thing: This year, to celebrate Myles' birthday, we're taking a donation of new clothing to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Center. While we don't expect participation from anybody, if you are interested, we would be honored.
*if you click on the above link, you'll go to the home page of LDS Humanitarian Services. the sidebar on the right of the page has several topics; click on "current needs" under "resources" to see what they have enough of as well as what they need more of. there are also patterns for the humanitarian kits available under "resources," most in .pdf format.

Gratitude List:
* NO NEW FIRES!!!!!
* Another chance to spend time outdoors with my family.
* Allergy shots that seem to be working :)
* Finding old friends.
* Jared's sense of humor to remind me that most things aren't as serious as I may believe.
* 3 beautiful, healthy children that I can see every day.
* 1 beautiful angel boy that I will see again someday.
* Music.
* Fresh, steamed squash from our garden [and my FIL's garden], served with butter and a bit of salt. YUMMY.
* School starts next Tuesday. :) and there was much rejoicing.
* Meditation time in the morning.
* I am so grateful that death is not the end; that I will see all the people I love again.
* There are some trees on the mountain outside my living room window that are changing colors. Beautiful.

And yes, I am still planning to post pics of my new haircut. Really. I'm just waiting for a copy of the family pics we took 2 weeks ago. Promise.

Some pics from last Monday's photo shoot

Our photographer [whose link is HERE], posted a few of the multitude of photos she took. Hyrum is up- here's his pic:

If you go to the site, you'll see pictures of [in order from top to bottom]:
Hyrum
Saxon & Bridger w/their mom's legs ;)
Saxon
Zachary
Kaylyn [Zach's big sister]
and Cal & Carson w/their parents' legs

Saxon, Zach, and Carson are 3 of the 4 boys that were born the same year as Myles. I love to watch them playing, exploring and poking into everything.

What to do

With Jared gone till Thursday night, I've been looking for things for my kids to do. Things that involve little to no arguing or fighting, specifically. I'm thinking I need to drop them off on the mountain and pick them up at the bottom, maybe. Give them a chance to get out a bunch of their wiggles and destructive energy.

Seriously, though, we are all ready for a change. Monday we went into Park City to pick up some school things- backpacks, lunch boxes, some shoes and clothing, and paper and pencils. I like having them try their clothes on, simply because they grow so quickly that I have a hard time keeping up with their sizes. But it made for a pretty long day. We were all a bit grumpy by dinnertime.

We have a visitor coming today [hi Mom!], and tomorrow we're going for a hike with Morgen's youth group. I'm still working on that darn quilt. I got it almost finished, but with the kids still home, I find too many other things that need to be done. Still, if I can get it tied by Friday, maybe I'll have the time to bind it next week. I keep telling myself "baby steps!"

School starts September 1st. I am excited to meet their teachers, and see where they'll be spending most of their time during the school year. I'm also thinking I will miss them a lot, and that I can get so much done while they're at school LOL.

Gratitude List:
* My family. I love getting random phone calls from a sister, just to talk ;)
* Jared's commitment to serving our country. I am so proud of you, babe!
* My kids got all their chores done by 11am today.
* Internet access :)
* Meditation time
* Exercise is good for my soul
* We have enough [too much, actually] to eat, a home to shelter us, cars that run and are paid for [YES!], lots of clothes to wear; we are truly blessed.
* God is mindful of me and my challenges.
* my ipod, and instant access to music :)

Catching up again

Seems that I'm always blogging about stuff we did last week, instead of getting it up the day after. Summer is so busy, though. Our last two weeks have been filled with family activities, resulting in tired and grumpy kids, which eventually resulted in grumpy parents LOL.

Tuesday last week we celebrated my nephew Bridger's birthday. Saxon [Bridger's big brother] and Hyrum convinced Jared to dogpile Walker and tickle him, while they were waiting for cake. I don't get the whole rough-and-tumble playing, but I could tell from the giggles and shouts of laughter that all the guys [big and little] were having a great time!

Morgen wanted to play with Bridger the whole time- peek-a-boo while he was eating, and pulling him around the pool in a raft later on.

This past week, we had a lot of excitement at home. Last Saturday, we were headed over to Midway for a family reunion w/my grandpa's family. On our way out the door, we discovered that an unidentified child [I think I know who it was, but since there were no witnesses, I cannot be certain...] had taken a birthday candle and some matches, and had melted the wires going into the downstairs light switch. This one light switch works all the downstairs lights, so we were without light for a few days. I was pretty upset- electrical fires are scary! Jared actually got angry enough to threaten them with a spanking [and Jared NEVER loses his temper]. So, we had power, but not to any of the lights. Lucky for the kids that we had to leave, and so they got a stern lecture but no grounding or extra chores.

Sunday was Church, and hanging with family time. Monday we got together with all Jared's siblings, their families, and his parents, and had pictures taken at a beautiful park near the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Park City. There was an awesome willow tree- I'm guessing 60 or so years old from its size- that the kids were swarming like monkeys, when they weren't needed for photos. I'll post a picture as soon as I get one :)

Tuesday we hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. It's a steep 1 1/2 mile hike up, then about an hour tour through the cave itself, and another 1 1/2 mile hike back down to the base of the mountain. Not too bad, if you have the time to rest, because the altitude change makes it hard to breathe easily. Jared was at work, but the kids and I made it up to the top. Caves never fail to amaze me- the stalactites and stalagmites, the helictites that look like curly spaghetti noodles- and they take hundreds of years to form! Wow.

Friday, Morgen and I met Melinda and Colleen for a pedicure date. We had a wonderful pampering session. Mom ended up with gel nails on her toes [I had no idea they did fake toe-nails!], and got some sparkly powder layered over the top of the polish. Melinda's polish was also sparkly, and so was Morgen's. Mine wasn't sparkly, but I still liked it :) Here's a pic of our feet- Morgen's got the tanned toes with sparkly turquoise polish :) She inherited her dad's olive-toned, gorgeous skin.

Friday night we went out to dinner to celebrate my BIL Nate's birthday, and Saxon's birthday at the end of the month. Hyrum and Saxon were two wild boys! Walker blew on Bridger's tummy, and got some great big giggles from him.

Morgen went with her Grandpa on Saturday morning, to help him clean out the fridge of the condo they stayed in while they were visiting last week. While she was gone, we discovered the remains of another fire in the basement. Again, I have no eyewitnesses, but I am pretty sure which boy was responsible. Sadly, when Jared got back from mowing weeds, the boys experienced "the wrath of dad." I am hoping that my fire-happy son will abandon his hot little experiments. Otherwise, I'm tempted to make him a fire-resistant, concrete cell in the backyard. *sigh* Why is parenting so hard?!?

Saturday night we drove over to Rockport and met up with some friends of ours. We had a nice dutch-oven dinner, then the kids went fishing for crawdads. It got pretty chilly- 50 degrees or so- but when we camp in the mountains, we expect cooler temps at night. I think we're already headed into fall, because this morning I found frost on the grass in our backyard. :) All I ask is a few good, ripe tomatoes before the plants die.

Gratitude List:
* Our house did not burn down, despite my child's attempts to start an electrical fire in the basement.
* The wires were relatively easy to fix [thank you honey!]
* Lots and lots of good family time.
* Pedicures :)
* Wonderful cool weather.
* Plenty of rain this week.
* Yummy food to eat, and playing some pretty funny games with Jared's siblings.
* Playing with my nieces and nephews. I wish, so much, that Myles could jump in and play with his cousins. But, it eases my heart a little to see his 4 cousins who were born the same year he was. They are running, climbing, playing, and fighting with each other. And my kids spent a lot of time playing with these boys.
* I am glad that my family still talks about Myles. I don't want him to ever be forgotten.
* God. Everything I am, everything I have is because of His love and blessings in my life.

Our recent life

We've been to an awful lot of family gatherings lately- reunions, birthdays, etc. And, while I have a lot of pictures to prove we were there, I also have a few more family gatherings to attend, which prevents me from uploading all those pics right now. But, because I really need to do this before I forget, I'm posting a link to the most wonderfully fabulous pasta dish that I found through a friend of a friend.

The recipe is here- scroll down to the "quick yet yummy pasta" posted 9 July 2009: Follow Your Bliss
And if you have time, try out the other recipes listed. I have yet to read one that does NOT sound absolutely delicious. :)

More family togetherness photos coming soon!

Gratitude List:
* family, and the time to spend with them.
* God
* good food
* meditation time
* Jared and our kids