Monday February 29

The big girls and I were up at 5:30 this morning.

Cassi and I have been working out together at 6 for the last month.

well, Madi asked if she could join us......but we would have to do it at 5:30!

We were happy to let her join in :)

It has been a fun time for Cassi and I and I think it will be great to add Madi in.

I hope getting up early will get them to go to bed at a better time!!!!!!!

*****

Dad got some studying in today.

The test is on Friday......and he's not very excited about taking it :(

I got some stuff done around the house and some YW stuff done.

I need to plan the combined lesson for this Sunday......

I have all the stuff in my head that I want to do, but have yet to put it all into a lesson.

I should get going on that!!!!!

I did get a short run in.

The workouts we do in the morning are pretty simple 30 minute workout....which are great.

But I am also trying to get running back into my life.

We are ALL much happier people when I get to run!

After my run and shower it was time to go and get Madi to take her to PT.

She was hurting over the weekend because she didn't do her exercises and she forgot to pack her anti-inflammatory medicine.

So she was not feeling good.

But she got a good workout today and hopefully it won't take too long to start feeling good again.

I dropped her off at home then went and got the little kids.

They all got homework and chores done.

While I cooked dinner Elsie cried on the floor about not wanting to do her homework.

Once she shaped up and did it, it only took her 2 minutes!

Stinker....20 minutes of throwing a fit over 2 minutes of homework!!!!

That girl!!!!!

BUT...she did more scripture reading tonight!

Yay!!!!

For FHE we talked about our family challenge......and how we are really starting it now.

I had their tracking sheets printed off, and weekly family goals made....it's for real this time!

I think it is gonna be fun for everyone :)

Sunday February 28

It was a super quick trip, but I'm so glad we did it.

We are home safe now.

It is always so good to be home :)

This morning we got up and went to church with Grandpa.

Nancy, Russ and their girls came too.

And when church was over, Kay, Johnny and Monica were there getting some lunch sandwiches ready for us to have a little lunch get together.

The girls.....Madi, Cassi, Heather, Lauren and Monica had a blast together!

They were laughing so much.

It was nice to have a little visit with everyone.

Gramps was in and out.....teasing and joking one minute, then looking dazed the next.

This is hard for him,.

He wants to be around family, but then it reminds him that Grandma is missing.....not that he ever forgets.....but it just makes it even harder.

I am glad we took the time to be with him this weekend.

It was good for all of us.

We left a little after 3.

We made a stop at the cemetery to visit Grandma real quick.

And on the way out we checked out the Buffalo.

The ride wasn't too bad, and we made it home.

 Madi, walking with Gramps before church

Cassi, walking with Gramps after church

I tried to crop Cassi's goofy face photo bomb in the back!

Silly girl!

Saturday February 27

It was a very nice day today.

We got up and spent some time with Gramps.

Dad, Port and he went up to the store to help him out with some stuff.

Then they flew Dussy Boy's drone with him.

His new one with a camera on it.

These boys sure love it!

Then we got ready and drove to Utah and met at my parents church for a little lunch get together with most of the Utahan people.

It was fun to have a chance to talk together for a bit.

Madi was missing Morgie......she was pretty melancholy without her :(

But Cass still got to hold the babies, so she was happy!

And Elsie had her Emmy, so she was better than happy.

And Port had a handful of kiddos to run around with.

We got the place cleaned up and headed to the Provo City Center temple with Emmy, and the Miramontes family.

We had tickets....but there was still quite a bit of a wait.

But still not too bad.

Man it was such a beautiful building.

With quite the story....and I love buildings with stories :)

The colors they used, the textures....it was just so beautiful.

I can't wait to go back again!

We said our goodbyes, and headed back to Evanston.

Little Elsie Bug wasn't so happy about leaving her Emmy so soon :(

But we will be back before we know it!

So we got back home and had some dinner with Gramps.

He was kinda quiet tonight.

We couldn't get him to come with us to the temple, and I think he had a kind of rough day :(

He breaks my heart.

We also made visits to see Dussy Boy, Sandra and Doug and also Dave and Cindy.

It's nice to have that time to visit with them all.

Tomorrow we will get to have lunch with Kay and Nancy's family before we head back home.

So that will be great too :)

Friday February 26

We made the trip to Evanston safe and sound.

It has been great to visit with Gramps this evening.

Dad even tried to give him an iPad lesson :)

Haha....we will see how far that goes!

Thursday February 25

So it wasn't supposed to be a crazy day, but somehow it still turned out that way.

We are heading to Wyoming/Utah tomorrow......and have nothing ready!

Well, I did do laundry....we just need to pack it all up tomorrow......

I did get a little downtime when i went to lunch for my friend Alyson's birthday.

Man oh man.....kind of getting sick of eating out!

But it is fun to celebrate with friends :)

Lets see.....

Then I had to do some running around to get Cassi's immunization records to the school for registration, only to find out it isn't due until Monday!

Oh well, at least that is checked off the list now :)

I did get a run in.

I had a goal to run every day this week, and so far I have done it!

Yay!

I should say weekdays...I don't feel like running in the snow in Wyoming.......

Anyway....then the day was over before we knew it.

The kids got to bed at a decent time, but I think I will let them sleep until 8 or so before I make them get up and do their Saturday chores before we head out :)

I am so mean, right???

Wednesday February 24

It was such a crazy day today!!!!

One thing after another!

First I worked in the school office.

Then I was able to get a run in before my VTs came over.

After that I met Jenni for lunch, because today is her birthday!

It was fun to be with her again.

And I got to see some other fun faces that I haven't seen in awhile.

Then I went home in time to get a load of laundry in before I had to go get Cassi to take her to piano.

Madi did have a PT appointment, but when I figured out it was at the same time I had to run Cassi, I resched.

I dropped Cassi off at piano, then got the little ones from school.

I brought them home and then left again to go pick Cassi back up.

Once we came home, I made a visit to a new Beehive, Halle, who's birthday is today too.

At 5, I was supposed to take Elsie to activity days, but they were braiding hair and painting nails.

Elsie only lets me braid her hair, and does not like panted nails.....so she didn't go.

So I started dinner.

We made pizza

Maegan came over t hang with Madi again, and they helped me out with the pizza.

We always have pizza when Maegan is here.

It's a rule ;)

Then after dinner, Madi and Maegan walked to the church for YW and the Beehives came here to my house.

It was so crazy!

Those Beehives are sure wild.....and so was Port and Elsie :(

But we survived and they made a cute mirror that says 'brightness of hope' on it.

Cassi invited her friend Mak.

She has also invited her to go to girls camp.

It sure would be neat if she could come :)

Cassi's turned out cool.

She put the vinyl on while it was still a little wet.

First she painted the frame yellow, then changed her mind to blue.

Well, when she pulled the vinyl off, some blue paint came too.

It looked cool, so I told her to use some tape and pull more off....I love it!

Tuesday February 23

I shouldn't post the hutch thing until it is finished.......

But I am just so excited about it!!!!!

Dad got the windows/doors hung in there today.

I can;t wait to finish it up.

But I am gonna have to wait until Thursday, because tomorrow is a CRAZY day!

I went to lunch with Stacia and a bunch of friends for Stacia's birthday.

It was a lot of fun.

After that I went to the school for Port's art smart.

He painted the coolest jungle picture.....I was so very proud!

After school, the kiddos played outside.

Port has been practicing football with dad.

He starts his flag football practice in March, and I am not sure which boy is more excited :)

And after dinner I went grocery shopping......and I hope it lasts for a month!

I told them I wasn't gonna go unless we needed milk :)

So they better ration what we got!

Monday February 22

I finally have a toilet back in my bathroom!!!!!

Yay!!!!

Tile done and toilet working.

I am very happy with how it all turned out.

We actually switched the direction of the toilet.

We put it the way it was originally planned, and I think it will work better.

We did it the other way to begin with because we thought it would give more room that way, but it didn't.

Anyway.....it is how it should be now :)

I helped at the school office again this morning.

Then while dad ran to get some stuff at Lowes, I went for a run!

I am so excited to start running again!!!!

Running makes me sane!

We worked on the bathroom when I got home.

Well, Dad did.....I did some cleaning and then some shopping :)

Ha ha.....nice help I am, right???

Once Madi got home, I took her to PT.

Things are moving along nicely and she is doing some really good exercises that are really helping to strengthen her back.

We had FHE tonight.

we talked more about the Stripling Warriors, and how we need to be more like warriors and fight the real fight that is Satan!

For family scriptures we finally got Elsie to READ OUT LOUD!!!!!!

Big moment!!!!

Yay!

I hope we can continue to get her to read!

Sunday February 21

It was an early morning with Cassi needing to be at the church at 8, to practice with the choir to sing in church today.

We did a special fast today too.

A fast for Cole.

His little body has a virus, a pretty rough one.

And in order for him to fight the virus, they have had to let up on the medication that helps his body not reject the liver......so he can fight the virus.

It is a very delicate balance right now.

We prayed and fasted that his little body will be rid of the virus.

That he will continue to accept and do well with the liver and that he will be able to go home soon.

It was interesting talking with the little ones this morning about fasting.....

They don't ever fast!

But we didn't want to make them do it.

We talked about the sacrifice we are making to show the Lord we really do want this blessing we are asking for.

I asked them to think about poor little Cole, how he only gets to eat with a feeding tube.

And how uncomfortable he is with that huge breathing mask on his face because the virus is attacking his lungs.

I asked if they could give up one hour of food.

Which, to them, is a big sacrifice.

They agreed.

And you know what, when I gave them a bag of cereal, they both said they didn't need to eat it yet.

I think it was a great little lesson for them.

It didn't take long before they dug into the cereal at church, but they gave their hour.

And that was a sacrifice for them.

I'm proud of them.

Church went well....

Madi is still waiting to receive her Honor Bee....... ;)

After church, we continued our fast.

We worked on some personal progress, colored pictures, took a couple naps (it was a couple late nights in a row around here!!!), and I tried to do some family history.

I still have no idea how to really do it.

I have someone coming to help me next week, and I am so excited!

But today I was just trying to add Brent's line to mine, and it kept giving me an error :(

But I still tried.......

I am getting more excited about it.

In sacrament meeting they talked about Patriarchal blessings.

One of my favorite parts in my blessing tells me to follow in the steps of the woman in my family.

Since I got it, that always meant to look to my Grandma.

She was kinda a big hero to me, still is.

She was so strong, smart, kind, honest, hard working, thrifty.

What I always wanted to be.

But today, as I thought about that paragraph.....and then thought about family history, those words became even more meaningful to me.

And I am excited to learn more about the woman who preceded me.

And what I can learn from them.

It's pretty exciting!

After dinner, Port got out his army guys and spread them all out on the counter.

I took pictures cause I thought it was cute. but then after family prayer and scriptures we had a mini discussion (that we will add more on tomorrow) about the Army of Helaman.

And it just goes perfect with Port's little Army guys....

Dad pointed out how we need to pray like a warrior in this day.

There are so many trials, and Satan has experience getting people to follow him.

We need to not only be as strong as we can, but also ASK for more strength.

We had some major meltdowns tonight.......again, we are very over tired......

And our discussion tonight helped everyone put things into perspective.

We are not each others enemy.

We are on the same team.

We are part of the same Army.

And we can win this battle!!!!

 This is Chex.

The stray cat we caught a while ago, but she kept getting away.

Turns out she likes us.

She is still pretty skittish, but sits outside out kitchen window all the time.

She's a cute one.

We need to go get her fixed, but I worry if we do that, she will run off and not come back :(

Saturday February 20

Late night partying with Stacia tonight :)

Ha ha.....the Morgans had a little party.....and now it is late and we got early morning church.....

So, today consisted of:

Cleaning the church

Kids doing their Saturday chores

Mom and Dad (really just dad) fixing the roof

Boys over to play

I got some fruit trees trimmed

We finished grouting the bathroom tile

Girls walked to the school and played basketball, and played for a really long time

Boys built a hut in the goat pen with all the fallen branches from the wind a few nights ago

Avery came over to hang with Cassi

Maegan came over to hang with Madi

Mom and dad got ready for the party at Morgans

Dad drove Madi and friends to the state girls basketball game

Cassi and Avery babysat all the little ones

We went to the Morgans for good food and talk

All home safe and sound

What a day!!!!!

Friday February 19

Cassi got to babysit tonight.

And Madi had Maegan over again.

Maegs is a fun one :)

So I got pizza for them all and then later on we went and got some frostys.

It was a chill night just watching Brave with the little ones.

I didn't get as much accomplished today as I would have liked.

I did get a YW presidency meeting in.

And I did get some shopping done for our YW activity this week.

But that's pretty much it.

But that took up quite a bit of time.......

Oh and I did do some grocery shopping.

Well, I shopped for the growing list we keep on the fridge, not the full shopping for the weekly meals......

I do need to get to that.

It just takes so long to think of meals, then write down what is needed for the meals and then I like to write the list in the order I go in the store.......is that weird of me????

I should start keeping my lists and rotate them when I go.

That would be the smart thing for me to do........

Thursday February 18

It was a crazy one outside in the early morning hours this morning.

Wind like crazy and rain.

Things were blowing all around outside.

We tend to get some pretty brutal winds up on this hill......

I woke up to Brent looking out the window because he heard something big fall.

He went to check things out.....

Then Cassi called me up to tell me Elsie was awake.

So I went up and calmed Elsie......and got her back to bed.

But I stayed up there for a while.

It was so noisy up there from all the winds!

The trees and branches.

And then I kept hearing a thud, thud, thud.....big loud sounds.

I don't know how anyone stayed asleep through it!

Well, after more thuds, I heard a big sliding sound down the roof, and I knew we were losing shingles.

It was a crazy strong wind, and it was kinda scary.

I kept hearing thuds and slides......and the wind was not letting up.

Then the rain came....or maybe it was hail, cause it was really loud too!

Maybe I was over tired......and worried about the damage getting done....and scared.....

But I decided to say a prayer.

I have been really thinking and listening to a lot of talks, and accomplishing personal progress goals, etc about Faith.

I knew if those winds were gonna stop, there is only one way.

To ask.

So I did.

I knew it could be done.

I said my prayer.

I went to check to make sure Elsie went back to sleep, and then came back out into the family room.

I kid you not, the rain had all but stopped.

The wind was dying down.

There were no more thuds or slides down the roof.

You know, there really is something so amazing, and humbling, and special about a prayer being answered right away.

My prayer.....my measly little kinda silly prayer.....was answered.

I went back to bed, and dad had fallen back to sleep.

I laid there and I was still so amazed.

I thought to myself....He did that for me.

I had faith that the winds would stop.

And it did.

I thought to myself, I have to write this down!

But then I thought maybe it would be silly to write in the blog.....

So I was thinking I would get myself a journal to write in for these kinds of things.

But as I sat down to blog tonight, I knew I needed to write it here.

Cause it's not silly.

I want my future generations to read this and to know that I knew that my Heavenly Father was there for me, even with a silly request to stop the winds.

Anyway....in the morning, after taking the kids to school, I looked around to assess the damage.

There was one large spot that we lost a lot of shingles.

I counted 15 that were on the ground and lots more still just hanging out on the roof.

But it looks like the paper underneath was all intact.

Brent is at work, of course.

It was a 90% chance of rain today.

Guess how much we got up here on the hill?

None.

There was some wind that rolled in a little later in the afternoon, but it just blew some already lose shingles down.

I am not sure what tonight will bring.....but I do know we are being watched over :)

Wednesday February 17

I went and worked in the office at school this morning at school.

I didn't feel too bad, and it was too late to find someone to cover me......

And it is only signing late kids in and putting mail in boxes, etc.

While I did that, Dad went and got some more mortar for the bathroom floor.

We had to pull a bunch of them up because they had been moved around so much and the mortar got too dry, etc, so they were kind of loose.

It was a headache having to scrape all the old mortar off the tiles and floor.......

But luckily Drew called and wanted to come and help!

He is a way better helper with that kind of stuff than I am.

I could hand them the tiles that they needed, but they definitely did better without me in there helping :)

I had to leave around 1:30 to go get Madi and take her to PT.

Brent and Drew were working on hanging the doors on the side of the cabinet.

It is going to look so awesome once we get the kitchen all done :)

After Madi's PT I brought her home, then went to pick Cassi up.

I have to pick her up at school on Wednesdays to take her to piano so she will get there on time.

It is much faster than waiting for the bus to come!

So I took her to piano and then went and picked the little kids up from school.

Took them home and then went and got Cassi again.

She is loving piano and I am excited about her loving it :)

Well, then we got some homework done and had dinner before Madi, Cassi and I had to leave for YW.

Tonight we had a combined activity at the Idaho food bank.

We just love this activity!

We went with the Beehives first, then took the combined YW, and then tonight we had the YM with us.

We had a total of 75 youth and leaders!

Guess what we did tonight?

They had us in two separate zones, but all together our group put together over 12,300 meals for Idaho families!

Isn't that awesome!

In about an hour and half!

The kids have so much fun doing it too!

It is work.....but doing it all together, it is so great.

I was in the group where we packaged 2 lbs of tater tots into bags and then put 10 if those in a box, then filled pallet after pallet with those boxes.

So you have people filling the bags, a runner to take the bags to weigh them, then someone who uses a cool taper thing to tape the bag shut, then someone puts a sticker with the ingredients on the bag, and it gets boxed up.

Then there are people getting boxes taped up so they can be filled.

Once they are filled, they get taped back up and a runner puts that on a pallet.

To fill the bags, you are digging into giant boxes, about 4x4x4 ft in size.

They are on lifts so you can tilt as you go.

I am not sure what the other group did.....but it was an assembly line like we did last time.

Filling food boxes for the elderly, I believe.

Anyway.....such a great activity!!!!

Tuesday February 16

It was kind of a lousy day today.

Madi's ride slept in, so I ran Madi to school.

While I was gone, Cassi was so great to help Port with his homework, but she lost track of time and so she missed the bus.

But Dad was able to take her to school.

He poor foot was hurting bad, but she didn't want to miss school.

I was feeling really yucky this morning......so I got the kids ready and Dad took them to school.

We watched some TV and I fell in and out of sleep.

I got up and called to make an appointment with the doc.

It wasn't until 4:45, so Brent and I got to work on the bathroom floor.

Which turned into a huge headache.....

The biggest problem being........we mapped out the cut pieces, but figured we didn't need to do that for the full squares, cause they would all fit the same,

Wrong.

With each different package of tile we got, they are all a bit off in size.

So things weren't fitting perfectly together, and it was just frustrating!

Meanwhile I called about Cassi's tetnis (sp?) shot, and found out she was due, and while we are at it, why not do 3 other shots :)

She would need them before 7th grade anyway....

So I ditched Dad, and picked Cassi up and took her for her shots.

I didn't have enough time to take her home before I had to leave for my appointment, so she went with me,

I should have not even gone.....I don't feel like it did any good.

I thought I had strep for sure......but he didn't even do a strep test.

He said usually people with no tonsils don't get strep....so it wasn't worth testing.

But he still thought it was some sort of bacterial infection so wrote me for some antibiotics anyway.

I think I will give it a couple more days to see if ti goes away on it's own and then do the antibiotics.

Anyway.....Cass and I picked up dinner at Walmart when we went to fill the prescription.

After dinner, we did homework and also FHE.

We had to make up for missing it last night :)

And they are all off to bed.

I hope tomorrow is a bit more fun!

Monday February 15

Today was a fun filled friend day :)

And I do mean lots of friends!!!!

The morning started off slow.....

I took Madi to PT about 10:40.

Then when she got home, Elsie's friend Brooke came over.

She is just the sweetest and is a great friend to Elsie.

Then Brent went to see about some kind of water leak at the Morgans house......

He was going to also bring Avery and Cannon over, but he stayed too long, the kids just walked here to our place.

He ended up staying there for quite a few hours.

He and Paul had to dig up their old water hydrant and replace it from about 5-6 feet underground!

I am so proud when he is able to go help out our friends.

So Thankful for a guy who knows how to do stuff, and if he doesn't know how, he figures it out.

Somewhere along the lines, Madi's friends Maegan and Carley came over.

They were back and forth from the school and the Morgans house and back to our house.

Cassi also had Halle over, along with Avery.

They ended up at an old shack where I guess Cassi stepped on a nail.

It hurt her pretty bad...but I think she is feeling better this evening.

Around 3, Heather came and picked me up and we went to the temple to take Hallie's baptism pictures.

I think they will be so cute.

It was such a nice day outside!

After that, she dropped me back off at home.

I got some laundry done and some cleaning in the kitchen done.

Stacia came over a little bit later.

She drove the little car home because Paul brought Brent home, all muddy, in the back of his truck :)

We talked for a bit while he got cleaned up.

They told us they were taking us out for taking Brent day up.

They didn't need to do that, but it was nice to go out and hang with our friends at dinner :)

All the friends had gone home by now, except Maegan.

I got some pizza for them and they watched a movie, and Cassi watched the little ones downstairs while we went out.

It was fun to sit and talk :)

It was a little big late when we got home, but the kids had such a fun filled day, they were all very ready for bed!