Thursday March 10

I actually did some yard work today.

I have been taking a little bit of time when I can to start trimming the fruit trees.

They are in bad shape since we totally skipped over trimming last year.

Anyway, I spent a good chunk of time out there today instead of running.

I really wanted to run, but it was so windy, and I HATE running in the wind!!!!!

So I got an arm workout instead :)

Dad got working on the drawers and stuff for the kitchen built-in.

I hope to get that painted and all done soon.

Hope to......

I had to leave just after lunch to go pick Madi up and take her to the back dr.

We waited forever for about a 5 minute visit with the dr.

Grrrr......

Anyway.

People seem to really like him, but I have not been impressed.

He wants to wait another two months.

He wants her to continue with the exercises she got from the PT for a month and still take the anti-inflammatory.

Then after that stop the medicine and just do the exercises.

IF after that she is still in pain, then he would recommend an MRI.

I just so bad that she can't stand or sit for very long.

I feel like with PT her back has definitely gotten stronger, but she still has that pain.

Anyway....guess we will check back in a couple months.

I took her home and then I went and got Elsie for her PT.

Elsie was a hard worker.

We left a little early so we could get home in time to have family dinner before Port left for his football practice.

Dad said he did so well :)

And they had so much fun!

Max got to join his team, so that is exciting!

When the boys were at the football practice, the girls and I went to Jenni's house because she was having a Lularue open house.

They sell fun leggings and dresses and stuff.

Madi found a cute outfit, but that's it.

But it was fun for us girls to get out :)

Wednesday March 9

I helped in the office again at school.

Dad went and helped Drew out with cutting some grass out where they are going to be pouring cement.

When I got back from school I went for a run.

And Dad called me and asked if I wanted to go to lunch....and I wanted to :)

So I got back from my run and got showered and then we went out.

I had to go back to the school to help out with Art Smart for Elsie's class.

I really wish i would have taken a picture of her flower she made.

I just loved it.

They learned about Georgia O'Keefe and she painted a giant red flower.

It was beautiful :)

While I was there, dad picked Cassi up and took her to Piano lessons.

After school, I drove and picked her up.

Then we had a bit of a break.....because Elsie skipped activity days :(

I wish I could get her to go regularly!

But they were making pizzas at a persons house she doesn't know......so she didn't want to do it.

We had dinner then as we were cleaning up we got a visit from Justin and Sherrie Hall.

I had to leave, but they came in and chatted with the fam for a bit.

I had to go to a YW meeting.

After the meeting I came back to get the kids and took them back to YW.

Tonight, the Beehives made scripture chase cookies.

Each ingredient had a scripture to go with it and we had to figure out what the ingredient was by reading the scripture :)

I think it was a fun night.

Tuesday March 8 (pictures)

I just got back from such a great Woman's conference for my stake.

The theme was Look Up and it was so great!

But it made for a very late night and the little ones wouldn't go to bed for the big ones.....so I am sure we will all be grumpy tomorrow.

But it was worth it :)

I took lots of notes and I'm sure by tomorrow I will be a better person!

Ha ha ha......

But really, it was such a great night.

Today I actually got some stuff done.

After dropping the kids off at school, I voted.

Then I made a stop at the store to buy a locket for Elsie.

I am hoping things might go better for her during the days if she has a picture of Grandma right with her all the time.

Then I actually went running.

Yay.

My headache hasn't been as bad today.

I took some allergy pills, and I can't tell but I think it made it a little better.

So maybe it is all allergies.....

Then I did some grocery shopping.

When Madi got home I took her to PT again.

We go see the back dr on Thursday, and the PT thinks we need more imaging.

She has been doing great with the exercises and on an anti-inflammatory.

But the PT wanted her to stop the meds to see how much the PT is working.

And she has been in a lot of pain, almost as bad as it was to start with :(

So we will see what the Dr says.

Vern brought the little ones home from school for me.

When I got back, Joanne came over for Elsie's speech.

She did good, but had a meltdown in the last 5 minutes :(

She just needed a hug cause she misses grandma.....

The big girls stole my camera and I have yet to go through the pictures, but I am sure I have some winners.

I will be sure to go through and add some later....when I am not super tired and have a headache.....

Anyway, I made dinner then went and picked up Stacia for the Woman's conference.

Which, like I said before, was amazing :)

Monday March 7

I helped at the school this morning for a little bit.

When I got home my head was hurting so bad, again.....

So I decided to sit down and rest.

Then I ended up taking a 3 hour nap!

Talk about a waist of the day!

I did clean up the mess we had in the kitchen from making cookies yesterday.

But that is pretty much it.

Before I knew it the big girls got home, and I needed to go get the little ones.

I gt Port to do some homework and Elsie too.

Then Kyra, Cannon and Avery came over.

Stacia brought them over, and we sat and talked for a little while.

So that was nice.

After they left, I got dinner ready.

Cassi helped me with dinner while she practiced her choir songs.

She has a solo part and is trying out for another one and really wants it.

I love when she sings and I wish she would do it more!!!!!

Elsie bug had another hard day.....

I got a call from the school saying she was having a hard afternoon and all their tricks weren't working.

 And they asked if I had any ideas.

She wouldn't even talk so they had no idea what was wrong.

I told them that she had been sad about grandma.

I told them to maybe just ask if she was missing grandma.

Once they did that, and they hugged her, she was able to go on with her day.

I think it is really hitting her.

When we went up last weekend and she really realized that Grandma was really not there.....

I just think it is hitting her hard.

I decided I am going to go get her a little locket tomorrow so she can have a picture of Grandma with her all the time.

Pictures really seem to help her.

Sunday March 6

Madi finally got her honor bee today in sacrament meeting.

So proud of her and the hard work she put into it.

And she is already getting started on going through her Personal Progress another time.

I think my lesson went well today.

Besides the fact that I had a bad headache and I was feeling nauseous :(

The lesson was about Hope.

I really did like preparing the lesson.

Well, not the preparing part.....but the listening and reading talks for it :)

The two I used most from were 'The Infinite Power of Hope'

and

'Brightness of Hope'

Such great talks!!!

Elsie had a rough time at church and I couldn't figure out why.

But then she said that she missed Grandma.

Broke my heart :(

I told her that after she went to class with dad, we could go home and print off a picture of Grandma for her to put in her scripture bag, so she could have it at church,

After church, she made sure we did it right away.

Then she spent a lot of time with Grandmas scrapbook.

Elsie gets this book out every-single-day!

I went to an amazing conference yesterday that my friend Ashlee Birk puts together.

One thing I learned there is that, and I don't know the statistics, but that children who know the stories of their ancestors (and how they had trials too) are better equipped to make it through their own hard times.

So without meaning to, Grandma has given Elsie a pretty great tool ♡♡

Those two have a special connection.

Later tonight, Cassi wanted to make some cookies.

She did a great job and made some super yummy cookies :)

Cassi has also been working on her personal progress.

And I am happy to say that I finished mine!!!!!

(The leader portion)

My goal was to finish it by my birthday, and i finished it the day before!

Yay!!!

Saturday March 5

Today was a good day.

I left about 8:30 this morning to go to my friend, Ashlee Birk's, conference, A Reason to Stand.

It was a really nice day.

The overall theme was forgiveness and we went to different 'classes' where we heard from people and their different types of problems and how they dealt with forgiveness.

It was very interesting.

I didn't stay the whole time because Hallie was getting baptized today, and I needed to get home to get ready for that!

But I did go to lunch with Jenni, which was fun.

She was also at the conference.

I really liked it and I plan to go when she does it again next year!

So I got home and the kids had gotten all the chores done.

But they needed to get ready for the baptism.

So we rushed to get everyone showered and ready and we were off.

Sweet little Hallie got baptized and it was so great to be there for it.

Then we went to the Young's house afterwards for a dinner.

And we got to talk and the kids got to play and everyone had a nice time.

So nice that I didn't even take any pictures!!!!!!

But luckily I have pictures of Hallie from when we did pictures in her dress :)

Isn't she the sweetest!?!

Friday March 4 (add pictures)

We had a fun day today.

Except the day started with dad having to leave to take the captain's test.

He has not been excited about this....but it's just what we gotta do.

Two years ago he took the test.

He made the list which is good for two years.

He is the next person on the list.

The list is good until May.

The next person to retire, retires two weeks (or so) after the list is retired.

It really kind of stinks.

So they start testing for the new list in March, today.

He has been studying, still in hopes that something will work out, but really no choice but to take it again anyway.

It just stinks.

So that is where he went this morning.

The little kids had school off today.

And I took Madi to PT and let her stay home for the day :)

She had an easy day at school with not much going on.

And we made plans to go to Wahooz for miniature golfing for a birthday party/test over party.

Dad got home around noon.

I went for a run and we all had lunch and we were to Wahooz at about 1.

We played a round of miniature golf which was super fun :)

Then dad took port and the big girls on the go carts and Elsie and I played some games, but then she spent most of her time on the play gym place.

She worked herself into a sweat and had so much fun!

We got home and Cassi, Elsie and port played outside some more.

I ran to the store for milk and some girl scout cookies.

Tonight was our 'man-food' night for our ward.

It usually consists of a lot of meat and bacon wrapped stuff :)

We went with Girl scout cookies this time.....

It was a fun time though.

Madi went, and is still at, the high school for the Mav Factor.

It's the high school talent show of sorts, but they win scholarships and stuff.

It is always a fun time, I will go one of these years.......

And Cassi was out babysitter tonight while we were all out.

But she was really wishing she could go to the Mav Factor.

Maybe next year......

Thursday March 3 (add pictures)

Well, happy birthday to me!

It was a great day.

Dad got home just after Madi left for school.

So we waited until after school to open presents.

But Dad did want me to open one.

And it was an amazing 1928 replica of a three picture locket.

I LOVE IT!

It is super cool.....and he hit the nail right on the head with it :)

The rest of the morning, he made the lunches for the kiddos and got them all ready and off to school and I was told to just chill on the couch.

Once Dad got home from taking them to school, we decided to take a nap.

He had a long night at work, and I had a pounding headache.

So that was nice to rest for a bit.

When we woke up, we got all ready and he took me to the Boise Fry Company for lunch.

Sweet potato fries....yummmmmm!

We came home and I made him study (since his test is tomorrow!!!!!) while I worked on my Sunday lesson, which I still do not have done.

Or really even started.

I just read more talks that I wanted to use.

Which is great to have material to work from.....but I need to take a class on how to prepare a lesson!!!!!!

I just get myself so much information and then don't know how to fit it all together to make sense.

It's a real problem :(

Anyway.

After school we had a Marty Lane party.

Vern, Billy, Bob (Billy's dad) Max , Graham, Bubbles, Eldon all came down with all kinds of treats.

We didn't get to celebrate with them on Brent's birthday, so they brought a cake for him and me to blow some candles out.

And they brought some yummy pineapple boat things and stuffed strawberries!

Mmmm.....mmmm!

We visited for a bit and then they headed out because we had to leave for Port's first football practice.

He has been so excited!

We all went and Dad had fun being an unofficial assistant couch :)

The coach liked having his help because this age is not exactly easy to work with........especially if it is their first time playing flag football.

After practice, we went to Red Robin for dinner.

It was a late dinner.

And we had to wait, so while we waited we made a run to Krispy Kreme because they had the hot and ready sign on.......

Then we had our dinner :)

Hey, it's my birthday, I can party however I want!!!!!

Port made sure they sang to me, he made a big deal of it and I think the waiter must have thought it was his birthday......so she made him stand while they sang :)

It was cute though.

We got home and had another visitor.

Elsie's aide, Ms, Chris came by with an amazing chocolate cake for me :)

So sweet of her!

She stayed and visited for a while.

Then we got everyone to bed late, and all with sugar highs!

Tomorrow is no school for the little ones.....after dads test we plan to go miniature golfing, as an extended birthday party/test-is-over celebration!

I have fun pictures that I need to get off my phone!

But I will do that later...... ;)

It was a great birthday though!

Wednesday March 2

Today wasn't as crazy as I expected it to be....but it was still crazy.

This morning I had a lady in my ward come over to teach me some Family Search tricks.

I am so excited about it :)

It was so much fun to find names....but also clean up ALLLLLLL the duplicate names!

I also figured out that I cannot attach Brent's line to my line because there are different record numbers that were created....and you can't merge duplicates while they are still living.

So that kind of stinks!

But I can still just log in as him to look down his lines :)

Anyway.....so it was a successful Family Search lesson!

I still have a ton to learn, but came away with lots of names to take to the temple for work.

I went for a long run today after that.

We did not get up early today.

We decided mid week is a good day to rest.

So those are the days I will make long run days, if I can.

After my run I tried to work on my lesson for Sunday, but ended up going to Family Search for a little bit before I HAD to jump in the shower and go pick up Cassi to take her to piano and then get the little ones from school.

Then pick Cassi back up from piano.

Came home and made dinner with Elsie as my side kick while the big girls did homework and Port played soccer with the boys.

After dinner cleanup we headed to the church for YW.

All of us....littles included.

But turns out that I was not needed, they were doing camp certification, so they sent me home with the kiddos.

Which worked out nice cause I got them to bed at a good time and then did more Family Search ;)

I MUST get my lesson planned for Sunday though!!!!

I have everything I want for it, except a lesson outline!

And I need that.

I just need quiet time to sit down and really think about it..........

Tuesday March 1

Today was a fun day :)

First, I helped in Port's class for a little while.

Then I came home and got some stuff done around the house.

Not everything I wanted to get done...but some stuff :)

Then I made a trip to Target and a couple other spots to try and find some clothes.

I find it so funny that every time I go to get something for myself, I always end up looking for stuff for my kids!

Oh well.....

But I did find myself a little dainty heart necklace at a thrift store.....so that made me pretty happy!

Then I got to meet up with a handful of my friends to celebrate my upcoming birthday :)

We met at Red Robin and it was a fun time to sit and talk.

I am lucky to have such neat ladies in my life.

After lunch I headed home in hopes of getting other stuff done.

But instead I took a 15 minute nap before I had to go get the little ones.

Madi said I could :)

After school, Elsie had speech.

She worked really hard even though she had a kind of rough time at school, and I was worried if she would cooperate for Joanne!

But Joanne brought a new game, so that helped keep her going.

And port played with the boys.

I just love all these boys together......Max, Graham, Cannon and Port.

I do have nightmares about what is to come with all of them....but it makes me so happy they all have each other.

They spent their time placing army guys all around the deck and then 'fighting' them with some spinning toy that Port got from Grandma Ene the last time we were with her.

He loves that toy :)

And loves to knock down the army guys with it!

I just had to take pictures cause they make me so happy.

And they mostly get along with each other.

Sometimes there is a fight to be the 'leader' of the boys between Max and Port, and it is kinda funny.....

Port also spent quite a lot of the evening reading to me.

He is really doing so well.

He is reading Magic tree house books.

And I made the same deal with him that I did with Elsie.

When he finishes one book, we will order the next one from Amazon.

They are only about $2-$3 a book, and it works out perfectly.

We are currently waiting for book #2 to arrive, so he has been reading book #9, which we already have.

So fun to watch my baby learn and grow :)

Kinda sad too......