Cold Stone

We love Cold Stone! Is there anything else to say?

Hansen Planetarium

For the 3rd grade field trip we got to go to the Hansen Planetarium! The best thing about not working is being able to volunteer for things like this!

Happy Easter!

I love all holidays, and Easter is one of the best! In our family we have 12 categories we call 'pillars' that are our basic themes for each month and April is Testimony. Easter is connected to so many symbols that represent our Savior and all He has done for us! This year we colored eggs and it was actually more fun than stressful (a bonus of our youngest child being 7!). And we found the coolest idea for a family home evening about testimony: you plant a fast growing seed (we did mini pumpkins) and explain that your testimony grows just like this seed, if you attend church, your seed gets to stay in the soil for the week. If you say your personal prayers, your plant gets to stay in the sunny window and not in the dark cupboard for that day. If you read your scriptures you get to give your plant one tablespoon of water for that day.
After 9 days Alan's seeds are sprouting (I hope the rest of us just planted our seeds a little deeper or I may have some explaining to do). Having 'pillars' has really been great for our family, it makes choosing family night lessons a little more structured and fun and it's been so fun to look back and talk about what we did and what we'll repeat and what we won't! The most fun, though, was to choose them with George! It's amazing how different we are and how our differences can be so complementary!

Our Grandpa is Great!

We visited my mom's parents during Spring Break and my Grandpa (also known as Gramps) helped the boys put together a model airplane! He has quite a few model planes (some that even FLY!) so it was so fun of him to take the time to help Alan and Benson with this one! Also, it allowed me to have some time to visit with my Grandma (also known as Gram).

There's a Wildcat in the House!

As of today (no April Fool's) I am a Weber Wildcat! Yes I have registered for my first of four remaining nursing prerequisites. I will do two more this fall and then Chemistry next spring, then I'll be able to apply for the program. Their online nursing program will allow me to do all my bookwork online and the clinicals in Payson or Orem. It's better late than never, right?

It Got Better...The House I Mean

So, Saturday there was a window salesman coming to our house. So I spent all day cleaning up. (For the window salesman.?!*.) And have been the clutter natzi ever since. We're going on 6 days of 'I can open the door for anyone'. Wish me (and those thwarters...I mean people...I live with) luck!

If You Have an Immaculate Clean House, Do Not Read This...

So I like to have my floors cleaned and my bathroom hosed down and my kitchen surfaces bleached once a week. But clutter just really doesn't get to me, until... Well, until it's so out of control that I want to have a panic attack. On Sunday I had a migraine (to be specific I had a stress headache with migraine-like symptoms) and these kind of headaches have been fewer and further between during the last two years than ever before, which has been awesome. But when I get one I'm pretty much out of commission for 2-3 days. So, nothing got done on Monday (which is the day that I usually do laundry and the three previously mentioned 'big' jobs) and I was still not at a functioning level on Tuesday (which is when I do the general pick up of clutter whether I'm bugged by it or not) and then Wednesday I volunteer in Benson's class and I had someone come to give us a bid on insulating our attic (embarrassing when I had only straitened the living room and he wanted to measure the whole house) and it was so sunny that I went on a walk until it was time to pick up the boys from school after which we went through all our photos looking for pictures to put in Alan's Autobiography, then it was time for scouts and after that we headed to my grandma's for dinner. So now it's Thursday and I just don't even want to start! Our house really is a disaster and I had to pull out the summer clothes so the boys would have clean shorts to wear! I keep telling myself that if I just pretend it's Monday I'll be able to do it all--but the truth is it's Thursday the day that I usually do something fun! I also want to kick myself for getting into such a habit of doing all these things so independently that no one else can really pick up and help me as they have not been trained to know what exactly to do!