Thursday February 28

I got to go to breakfast with Jenni this morning.

Our birthdays are a week apart, so we enjoy having birthday breakfast together sometime between the birthdays :)

It was nice sending time with her and catching up.

We don't get to see each other nearly enough!!!!

After that, I went and did some shopping.

Dad was at home, trying to get some rest.

He had a rough night.

Like left the station on a call at 11 and got back around 5 a.m.

It was a pretty rough call, so he needed some quiet time.

He did run over to help Bubble for a minute, putting in an electrical box....but then got home and back into bed.

Hopefully he can get some good sleep tonight!!!!!

I made a yummy chicken taco soup for dinner that everyone seemed to like and best of all, it was healthy :)

I am trying to do better and it seems to be getting a little easier to remember to prepare dinner for my family!

Finally....after how many years?!?!?!?!

Tonight the big girls went to the state basketball game and the little kids watched a little 'Unfortunate Events' with Dad and I.

I get to go on a fun birthday date tomorrow....I don't know what I am doing yet, but I am excited to spend some time with my Love ❤

Wednesday February 27 (add photos)

We had a really fun mutual tonight, I did an art class for the Beehives here in our basement.

I think they had fun and it went well :)

I had a YW board meeting afterwards, that is why it is so late and why I need to add pictures and blog later.....

This morning I went and babysat my friends little boys while she had an appointment.

I came home, worked out, showered and then got stuff ready for this evening's watercolor lesson.

Tried to get the kitchen clean and do a thousand other things before I had to leave at 3 to go to Porter's speech meeting at the school.

Right after that, once Elsie and Porter were home, we left again.

I dropped Porter off at Sherries house so he could go to Scouts with Koy.

Then I drove Elsie out to Eagle for her last basketball game.

It was a fun time, but then we had to drive home in rush hour :(

We picked Cassi up from Rugby on the way home.

We got home about 6:20, and I quick made a salad for dinner before it was time for YW.

That was the day.....I feel exhausted :)

Excited to have Dad come home tomorrow....and tomorrow is pretty wide open and I am ready for that kind of day!

Tuesday February 26

Bubble and Eldon pulled down the plastic wall divider this morning, so I ran over to check it out!

It looks so great!!!!

Cabinets go in tomorrow, I think!

So exciting!!!

Then I got all ready and went to brunch with a bunch of friends for Stacia's birthday.

We went to Moe Jo's, and it was so yummy!!!!!

I have never been there and now I am excited to take Brent there!

I had to run to Hobby Lobby after to get some watercolor paper for the Beehives art class tomorrow.

Then I came home and painted some flowers to teach the girls.

I think it will be fun and I am excited :)

Cassi had Rugby out in the snow and the little ones had piano, while Madi was at work.

I made some spaghetti squash for dinner and that was a hit with the kiddos.

Then I went to RS while the kids did homework at home and got ready for bed :)

The snow has been falling like crazy again today...….but it is supposed to warm up over night and I think mostly rain tomorrow.

Hopefully Dad doesn't have a crazy busy night at the station because of the snow!!!!!

Monday February 25

I ran 5 miles today!!!!!

It has been a long time since I got a good run!

It felt so good....but also I am a little sore right now.....

Dad went to the gym while I was running on the treadmill.

Once we were all showered, we got a call that the cows were out!

So we went and wrangled them.

Dad and Eldon put up some panels to hopefully prevent them from doing it again.

I headed to the grocery store to get my shopping done.

I got done right in time to pick Elsie up from school for her speech therapy.

I stopped by home to drop my groceries off first.

Then Elsie and I went to therapy.

While I was grocery shopping, Dad cleaned the fridge out and cleaned up the house.

He also got my beautiful laundry door hung and got the framing put on the fireplace.

It will have a ship lap look on it and I am so excited with how it is all looking!

Tonight Dad made a yummy dinner, Pork tenderloins :)

Madi's friend, Courtney ate with us, and then she and Madi got to work on their senior project.

We did our Come Follow Me and also had FHE.

This week we are keeping track of where we spend our time.

We read the scripture Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also".

So we are going to pay attention to what we give our focus to and whether or not we want to devote so much time to stuff that is not important.

Sunday February 24

We had planned to stay in McCall until about 2 today before we headed home.....

But we woke up to lots of snow and LOTS of it coming down.

We were unsure of what the road situation might be, so we decided to head home after breakfast and cleaning up.

It was a little after 10 when we headed home.

The roads weren't terrible, but we went SLOW down the mountain.

So we got home safe and sound at about 1:00.

We got all the stuff unloaded.

Madi had to go to a few meetings.....

She went to Harkers house to prepare to be the MC for the fireside we had later tonight.

Then she had to go to the mission prep meeting.

We ate before she got home because we had to hurry and leave again to the fireside.

Madi got home with enough time to eat before we left.

The fireside was fun, it was kind of a newlywed type game with the bishopric and their wives.

It is fun for the youth to get to see the bishopric in a fun and carefree setting :)

Saturday February 23 (add pictures)

We woke up and Dad did not sleep well.

The car was acting bad, and he needed to get into the Napa shop and buy a new battery and alternator.

The car barely started and as he was pulling into Napa, the lights started flickering and locks wouldn't open.

He literally had 1 volt left when they tested the battery!!!!!!

Miracles :)

So he bought the stuff and stood in the paring lot and changed the battery and alternator as he froze in the snow!!!!

But he saved us!

That would have been so bad if we had died on the road to McCall!!!!!!!

But it all worked out :)

We hung out in the cabin, watched movies, played games, did puzzles, we got bundled up and went sledding.

It was a beautiful day!

Of course Elsie, Mom and Dad made the yearly snow buffalo :)

It was a fun time.

Back at the cabin, Dad made burgers on the Traeger there at the cabin.

After dinner Dad and the kids, except Elsie and I, went out to the sauna.....

Elsie does not like that kind of thing, and I can not breathe in there!!!!

We ended the night with another movie and then cozied up to bed :)

Friday February 22

In McCall!!!

Blogging from my phone because we don't have any service.

And I'm blogging from the end of the driveway outside so my phone will have data 😂😂😂

It's beautiful here, gonna have a great time!
*****
We had so much fun.
We met up with the Edwards for dinner at the Pancake House.
They are here for a medical conference.
There was so much snow up there, and so beautiful!!!!

Thursday February 21

I woke up several times in the night wondering if it would be a snow day today because of ice....

But nope, it was school.

But only half day.

I worked out and then showered and by then Madi was back home and I took her to her appt to check how her teeth, or lack of teeth, are doing.

She's doing good.

Cassi went to her friends house for lunch after school.
But she was in time to get Elsie from the bus so she could help her walk home in the snow.

Madi and I got home and she got to work on homework.

I went downstairs and painted more on the doors.

All 4 doors are painted, there just needs to be another coat on one, and touch-ups on the rest.

They make me happy.

It looks really good down there and I am excited to get it finished!

I drove Cassi's carpool to rugby, all the way at Centennial High!

I did more painting when I got back from that.
Madi went to work and Porter hung at Cannon's for a bit, then they came over to our house.

And then Stacia invited us over there for dinner, which was perfect, because I was just making some eggs :)

We had a fun time there hanging for a bit before heading home.

I still need to get laundry done and packed for McCall tomorrow.....

Sounds like there will be a lot of snow!

Which is both fun, but a little scary too!

Wednesday February 20

We left the house at 9, with what we thought was plenty of time to get to downtown Boise for Dr Ally's funeral at 10.

It was 9:50 before we even hit the freeway!!!!

There was so much snow and SO MUCH TRAFFIC!

Luckily the freeway wasn't as bad, we went slow, but at least it felt like we were moving.

I dropped the kids off at St Johns Cathedral at about 10:15, then I had to go find parking.

I found a parking garage about 4 blocks away.....then I RAN in the snow :)

I got there about 10:30.

The service was a nice service.

Definitely different from the ones I have been to.
Lots of singing and prayers, lots of stuff that was hard to understand.

But such a beautiful building and windows to look at during the process.

They asked for families to bring pictures of their kids to put on the remembrance wall.

The best part was when Dr Ally's Mom and Dad got up and spoke.

Mom seemed very quiet, but her Dad was just like Dr Ally.

He told stories of her life and he was fun to listen to.

After that, there were more prayers/singing.

There was a sacrament of sorts for the members there.
Then they took her casket out into the snow.

Man she really was an incredible human.

We were blessed in so many ways because of her.

Dad reminded me of the time she visited Porter and us when Port had to go back because he was so jaundice.

Dad had been watching Porter under the lights and noticed she was stopping his breathing.

The nurses didn't see it and told Dad not to worry.

But Dr Ally came, took it seriously and had it checked out more.

I really do believe that if it wasn't for catching his weird breathing thing, my baby boy would have been a SIDS baby.

So thanks to Dr Ally wanting to give the best care and saving my sons life by listening to our concerns.
We just love Dr Ally.

Afterwards, Cassi, Port and I ran to get the car and we picked up Elsie and Madi.

We stopped at Chick-fil-a for some lunch.

Got the kids back to school, except Madi.

She had a movie she had to watch for a class, so she skipped and watched that.

I went downstairs and painted a couple doors in the basement.

Just a couple more things to do and it will be ready for classes :)

After the kids got home, it was time to leave for Elsie's basketball game.

Luci rode the bus home with her so she could come to the game with us.

The game was fun.

I was super impressed with Sawtooth's boys basketball team  and how inclusive and helpful they were to the kids on their Unified basketball team.

It make my heart melt to see these teenager boys be so kind to their fellow classmates instead of acting like they are superior.....

The superior thing happens all too often.

Came home and had spaghetti dinner before heading out AGAIN for YW.

We were combined with the YM and we played human foosball.

The boys are always so aggressive!!!!

They used beachballs this time instead of soccer balls.....that is what gave Cassi a bloody nose last time we played!

But still....the girls are definitely sick of playing human foosball!!!!

Tuesday February 19

This morning, the Morgan's didn't have any water.

Brent went and checked the pump and they couldn't get it figured out.

Stacia called for a company to come out, but when Brent came home he started researching and figured out the problem.

He went back over and got it fixed before the repair guy got out there :)

Dad and Porter had fun making their cake for the Father/son cake contest.

Porter wanted to make a steak cake with a side of 'caked' potatoes :)

They did a pretty amazing job with it!

They won the "Most manly" award.

We went to the Blue and Gold banquet tonight where they had a magician perform.

That was a fun show :)

Not much else happened today.

I had a sharp pain in my neck this morning (again) that turned into a kinked neck :(

So I was kind of lazy until I had to go to a YW pres meeting.

Dad helped at Eldon's and Bubbles for a little bit again.

Monday February 18

There was no school today.

Everyone kind of slept in, but not too late.

I worked out and got showered just in time to take Elsie to PT and speech.

Usually she does speech first and then PT, but we wanted earlier times, so the open times had us switch.

She was SO WORN out for speech!

We will need to remember that for next time we need to switch.

But she worked hard in PT and she did good in speech too.

Back at home I worked on laundry and putting mine and Dads clothes away.

Dad has been back at the Leavitt's all day wiring lights, etc.

Cassi went bowling with her friends and Porter had Cannon, Max and Graham over most of the day.

Madi was feeling good.

She got up, showered and ready and took Mater and the boys to Mary Mac to run around for a bit.

Mater loved getting out!

Elsie gave Emmy a call on the phone today.

That might not seem big.....but she NEVER talks on the phone.

She will only talk speaker phone to gramps.

So I was surprised when I saw her talking!

They chatted for almost 30 minutes :)

She felt like a pretty big girl!

Dad and Porter have to make a cake for the Blue and Gold banquet tomorrow.

They decided to make a Steak cake :)

I will post it tomorrow when it is finished!

But we talked as a family while they worked on the cake and had our FHE that way.

We talked more about what the goal this week was for the Come Follow Me...…

Turn the other cheek.

Don't worry about the mote in the others eye until you have taken care of your beam!

The Bubble and Eldon invited us and the Edwards over for a soup dinner.

It was a fun time.

We sure love our neighbor family!

Sunday February 17

We had stake conference today.

Madi stayed home.

She had a bit of a rough night.

But I still think the healing process is going well.

Stake conference was enjoyable.

My favorite is listening to Pres Fujimoto speak!!!!

I told Brent that I wish he would be asked to speak in general conference......so everyone could see just how cute he is and what strong spirit he has!!!!!

When we got home, we ate and then we had some personal quiet time.

Kind of quiet.....Port still has a hard time with that!
He did make me the sweetest little necklace using a brad, copper wire, a key ring, paperclip and some hot glue.
It say's LOVE on it and I think it is pretty great.

He actually got in trouble at one point though, so I sent him in his room.

I went up there with him to talk and then he got his quiet time while I took a quick *nap* :)

About 3:00, we all gathered together to work on our Come Follow Me lesson.

We actually do it a bit different than the book....we start the lesson on Sunday instead of Monday.

It just seems to work best for our family that way.

We made a goal this week to work on the contention in our home.

To worry about what you are doing instead of everyone else.

Don't worry about the mote in your neighbors eye until you take care of your beam!

We could stand to be more kind in this household, so I look forward to see what happens this week :)

Dad had made a yummy beef stroganoff for dinner.

We invited Eldon and Bubble but they were shopping.

They stopped by later and we heated it up for them.

Then they stayed and we played a round of  'Cover your Assets'.

Madi won, big time!

The kids don't have school tomorrow, but since we had such a LATE night last night...….we got the little ones in bed at a good time and now hopefully these big ones will get into bed too!!!

Saturday February 16

Madi has been doing quite well today.

We spent the day getting chores done and the house clean.

Except Madi....she sat on the couch and watched TV the whole time :)

Cassi threw a surprise birthday party for her friend Kendyl this evening.

It was a fun time....well, still fun.

They are all still here.

Dad was at the Leavitt's again today.

Porter went and helped him out.

They got a lot done over there.

I think their cabinets come in next week......that is exciting!!!!

Friday February 15

We started the morning with some very sad news.

Our sweet Dr Ally passed away.

She has been our pediatrician since Elsie was 4 months old.

I found her and switched because the person we were going to kept telling me that Elsie was just delayed.

He wouldn't listen to me, so I set out to find a new dr.

Dr Ally from the very start was on our side.

She was a friend, she cared for our family.

When Porter was born, she came to visit me at the hospital.

Then when he had to be readmitted, she was there again.

She was kind, genuine, thoughtful, smart, curious, and just the best.

A few years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She went into remission, but it recently came back and came back aggressively.

We are heart broken here.

We could never even begin to find someone like her.

I am so grateful she entered our lives.

She was an angel here on earth and now she is an angel in heaven.

We love Dr Ally and she will never be forgotten!

The rest of our day had to go on....

Madi got her wisdom teeth out this morning.

Dad was able to come home for a couple hours to help out.

Things went well, and she is still doing really well.

We will see how the night goes for her.

She spent the day relaxing and watching TV.

There doesn't seem to be much swelling, so that is good.

We got some pretty funny videos of her right after the surgery :)

She has been a good patient so far.

Thursday February 14

My Valentine had to leave for work this morning.....but at least I got to see him today!

Then I got the kiddos off to school.

I had to lay down for a quick nap.....man I just don't feel like I am ever getting enough sleep!

Then when I woke up, I worked out.

Stacia and I went to the Family History center again today.

I, again, didn't accomplish much because I found a crazy mess.

A guy with 9 wives named Elizabeth connected to him and 18 different children thrown throughout all those marriages.

Well, obviously, that is incorrect!!!!

So I am trying to figure out who is who and what is what.

I do think he was Married to an Elizabeth, and then she died and he remarried another Elizabeth...but she was the same age as one of his daughters.

I know that because on a census it has them listed as wife and then daughter, both 32.

So, I need to figure out what kids belong to what wives.

And the funny thing is, he has his sealing to spouse done....but he is sealed to an Elizth…...I am guessing that is supposed to be Elizabeth.

Anyway.

When we left there, I ran to Pap Murphy's to pick up a heart pizza for dinner.

Then ran to Walmart to get some soft ice packs for Madi tomorrow.

She gets her wisdom teeth out tomorrow!!!!

I also picked up my film from there.

I am sad to say that my camera must have an advancing problem......because many of the pictures were double exposed or completely black.

SO SAD!!!!!!

But I am determined to get it figured out.

There were a couple that turned out pretty cool though!

Kind of artsy :)

I picked up the rugby carpool and then made dinner.

Madi had a dinner date with Jason and Cassi went out for ice cream with friends.

So I got to hang with the little ones.

We got them to bed at a good time.

And now I am going to bed.

I am actually starting to feel not so good....

Throat dry and body feeling weak.

Hopefully I can drink a lot of water and keep myself from getting sick!!!!!

Wednesday February 13

Everyone thought we would get a ton of snow....but it turned out to be rain.

So no snow day for the kiddos!

I helped in the office this morning.

Then when I came home, I finished getting my class thing ready for YW this evening.

Dad was over at the Leavitts working on the wiring.

Then we went out for our Valentines day lunch, since he goes to work tomorrow.

After lunch, we went shopping at Walmart for a few things I needed for YW and some other Valentines stuff.

Back at home, Dad went back to Leavitts.

When Porter got home, he practiced the piano and then he got the idea to write his own song.

I told him, like I have told Cassi before, they feel very deep feelings.

And I have said that is what makes a good song writer!

So he wrote a song and came up with some pretty powerful stuff!!!!

I am impressed.

He started typing it up before heading to scouts.

I am excited to see him continue to work on this kind of stuff.....

well, then I got dinner ready.

Cassi had rugby, Madi went to work.

Porter had scouts and Elsie played piano and practiced her basketball.

Dad had to go to the doc to get his hand x-rayed again to clear him for duty tomorrow.

All is looking good.

I left early for set up for YW.

We had three classes we rotated through.

We had a dermatologist come and talk about skin care - Learning to feel comfortable in my own skin.

My advisor is a make-up artist  and she did a class that we named - Learning to highlight my Natural beauty.

And the class I did, I played a podcast for them (I was gonna teach it, but she does it so much better!) 

We named that class - Learning to love myself.

This was the podcast......http://traffic.libsyn.com/boldnewmom/bnm-bonus-GirlsCamp.mp3

Give it a listen!

I think it went well and the girls enjoyed it :)

Tuesday February 12

Dad and I had a big long date today :)

We started out at the gym.

Then we headed to the temple.

We finally got the initiatory work done for James Bruce.

It was a very nice and lovely time in the temple.

On the way home, we stopped to see our friend Bonnie.

She is doing really well.

She had another friend there, Joyce Roundy.

We all sat and chatted for a while and had quite a nice time.

By the time we got home, the big girls were heading home.

Dad ran over to help at Bubbles and Eldon's for a while.

I ran Cassi and her friends to Rugby.

Then I left to go take pictures for a girl in our ward leaving for her mission next month.

We took some at the Meridian temple and then headed to Pat and Steve's for some fun pictures there.

Dad was in charge of getting the kids to and from Piano lessons.

It was all kind of a crazy-run-around kind of evening...but we all got to where we needed to be.

We were invited this evening to go watch Sydney open her mission call.

She was called to the McAllen Texas mission.

Spanish speaking, and she will go to the Mexico MTC and leaves May 28!

Pretty exciting!!!!!

Monday February 11

Dad and I cleaned out our closet today.

Yay!

We got rid of a bunch of stuff, so that was good.

The big new of today...it was Elsie's first basketball game this evening.

She has been so excited for this day!

Man it was fun to watch.

She had quite the cheering group....and we had a bunch who came to watch her, but didn't make it in time.

We didn't know what to expect, but it ended up being two 4 minute halves, so some people didn't make it in time :(

But there were tons of her school friends there to watch and cheer!

She was so brave to get up in front of all those people!

She even got hit in the face with a basketball and she kept on going!

I was so proud!

I am so grateful for programs like this that allow kids with all abilities to participate in all the fun stuff kids do!

Love that girl!!!!

Then after dinner, we had FHE.

We had a game night.

We played the Catan game.

We had a couple big girls who still needed to get homework done, so we were a little on edge trying to fit the game in during a reasonable amount of time.

But it was fun :)