Salmon Tolman Fam

Family Life

2012-01-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

I taught a lesson today in Sunday School about family relationships and family responsibilities. I really enjoyed preparing this lesson, and part of my research led me to read this from an Ensign article written in 2004:

"...In 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World' it says: "successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and whole some recreational activities."

President David O. McKay taught: "The home is the first and most effective place for children to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self-control; the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home". Parents are the master teachers. They do their most effective teaching by example.

Parents teach and families learn by doing things together. PRAY together, to offer thanks for blessings and prayers for common concerns. WORSHIP together, participating in church services and family devotionals. STUDY & LEARN together, including group reading and discussion of the scriptures, as well as discussing other valuable subjects, such as the practical knowledge necessary to funciton in a modern world. WORK together, as mentioned in the next paragraph. PLAY together, so that happy recreational experiences are associated with the activities of the family. COUNSEL together, treating all matters of concern to the family and its members. EAT together, mealtime is a natural time for the family to assemble and communicate.

Families unite when they do meaningful things together. Children should work together under the leadership of parents. Common employment, even on a part-time basis, is valuable. So is a family garden. Common projects to help others are also desirable. Families can organize family reunions. They can educate family members in the basic skills of living, including managing finances, maintaining property, and broadening their general education. The teachers of these subjects can be parents or grandparents or other members of the extended family..."

During the Sunday School lesson today, we talked about valuable lessons our parents taught us, and we discussed important principles that need to be taught to the youth of today. I enjoyed listening to the input that the class members gave, and I reflected on what my parents taught me. My dad taught me to value the scriptures and the words of our prophets. He taught me to be accountable and responsible and respectful. My mom taught me to love and serve others. She taught me to be forgiving and kind and prayerful. I am grateful for the way that my parents raised me, and I know they did the best they could.
Being a good parent is no easy task. Even though Josh and I do a lot of those things together as a family like it mentioned (pray, worship, learn, work, play, eat), a lot of the time, I still feel like I am failing as a mother.

I love watching the TV show "Malcolm in the Middle" because I feel like I can relate to so much of it. The show is about a family with 4 boys; four crazy, wild, physical boys. And from raising the boys, the mom has become a control-freak, and the dad is so laid-back and goofy. The boys get into so much mischief, so the mom is always angry, and the dad is always trying to calm her down or hide from her.

Raising 4 boys of my own is...well, crazy at times. I feel like an angry control-freak too and so when I watch that show, I laugh at the way that Lois (the mom) reacts to all the stupid things her boys do! Watching the show also makes me feel better about being a parent, and the way that I choose to discipline my boys. Lois does her best to teach her boys what's right, so she disciplines them (a LOT) and she yells at them a lot, but she makes them be accountable for their choices. I feel like I am the same--I discipline a LOT, and I use my loud voice a lot, and I give punishments that are natural consequences for the choices they make. Even though I may feel like I am failing as a parent because they still choose to do and say things over and over that aren't right, I recognize from watching this show that boys are boys and they do dumb things and it's still my responsibility to teach them (even if it is the same principles over and over and over). Heavenly Father entrusted these boys in my care, and I'm doing the best I know how to teach them and raise them to someday be outstanding men.

In with the New for 2012

2012-01-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

My Goals for 2012 are all centered around the word "New". I'm excited for the NEW year ahead, and all the possibilities of NEW changes it will bring!

1. Learn to play a NEW instrument.

2. Learn and apply a NEW exercise technique.

3. Go to at least one NEW temple that I've never been to before.

4. Go out with Josh to at least one NEW place.

5. Make one NEW food recipe a month.

6. Do one NEW and different entry every day in my happy journal.

7. Do a NEW service for others every day (never the same one twice in a week) and record it.

Those last two goals are an extension of something I began last January. In addition to last year's goals, I also did a "Live and Love Life 365" daily journal on my blog. It came as an inspiration from a friend who wanted to try something similar on her blog. My desire was to find something that impacted me in a positive way on a daily basis and record it, so that I could focus on the good things that were happening in my life and love living all 365 days in the year! I am happy to admit that it worked! I wrote something every day; sometimes I sat for 10 minutes thinking and pondering and searching my mind trying to find one positive thing that happened, but I always found one. I loved doing it, and I've enjoyed looking back over the past year and reading what happened every day, and it puts a smile on my face and a happy feeling in my heart! But since I want to do all NEW things this year, I'm going to do the daily journaling differently this year.

I bought little notebooks for everyone in my family, and starting at the beginning of January, every day at dinner we all talk about a service we did for someone that day, and I record them all in everyone's notebooks. The rule is that there can be no two services the same in one week. I hope that we can continue this for the entire year of 2012.

My other journal is a {Things that make me} Happy Journal. It is located on the sidebar of my blog, and my goal is to record just one new thing every day that makes me happy, and at the end of the year, there will be 365 completely different things listed. When I was at college, I borrowed a paperback book from a friend that was titled "14,000 Things to be Happy About". The book was just a list of items, but I read it all and loved the feel-good attitude it ignited within me as I read it. I hope that by doing this Happy Journal, it will have the same effect on me this year by reading my own happy items as it did in 1997 when I read someone else's happy items.

Pass or Fail: Goals of 2011

2012-01-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

1. Go to the temple 6 times...PASS!
--I went to the Manti, Utah temple (with Josh), the Spokane, Washington temple, the Logan, Utah temple, and the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple (twice with Josh & once with Savanna).

2. Finish reading the Book of Mormon...FAIL
--I did read it on several occasions, but I'm still in the book of Alma.

3. Do service for others once a week...PASS
--Some of my favorites included: making dinner for the missionaries, washing a friend's dishes, babysitting children, driving out of town with a friend so they didn't have to drive alone, taking cookies to neighbors, inviting guests for dinner, going to the care center, and spending time with others who were lonely.

4. Go out on a real date with Josh at least once a month...PASS!
--I made this a goal because Josh and I's dates had become the weekly trips to the grocery store. Although it was nice to be alone with him, I wanted to go on "real" dates together! I documented them, and we went out every single month--and sometimes multiple times in one month! Some of the things we did on our dates were: went dancing, went out for dinner, sang karaoke, golfed, attended concerts, soaked in the hot springs, watched movies, went to receptions, rode horses, took long walks, went to the temple, and took a drive down river. I loved completing this goal!!

5. Go out with friends at least once a month...PASS!
--I made this a goal because I'd become a sort of hermit, and I wanted to push myself to get out more often. Throughout the year, I went out with different friends and had a great time! Together, we: sang karaoke, watched movies, danced, watched TV, ate at restaurants, soaked in hot springs, went on drives, played games, laughed & talked, floated the river, and took walks. I had a lot of quality time together with my friends.

6. Invite friends over to my home once a month...PASS!
--One of the reasons I fell in love with this house when I walked through it for the first time was the open layout. I knew it would be perfect for entertaining guests. I had never had a home big enough to entertain, and I wanted to take advantage of the space and invite people to our home. We had parties and get-togethers and invited friends and family over every single month. The biggest ones were the New Year's Day party, Malachi's missionary homecoming, the Sunday School class barbecue, and Thanksgiving dinner. We also hosted game nights multiple times and had people over for dinner several times. I enjoyed so much having people in my home throughout the year!

7. Save up at least $500 for my future trip to Italy...PASS
--I've been dreaming for the past 2 years about taking a trip to Italy in 2012. I knew it would never happen unless I started saving money. I had over $1000 saved for it, but this summer, I decided we needed a deck more than I needed a trip to Italy, so I took my savings and combined it with Josh's savings to purchase that instead. Although I was sad to see my savings account emptied, I haven't regretted my decision. We love the deck! We've always wanted one, and it's been a wonderful addition to our home.

8. Finish the England vacation scrapbook...FAIL
--This has been on my list of goals for 3 years now. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even work on it once this year, in fact, I'm sad to admit that I didn't even work on scrapbooking AT ALL this year.

9. Exercise 5 times a week (in an effort to lose 36 pounds)...FAIL
--This was a terrible goal, because the first week that I didn't exercise 5 times, I knew that I had failed the goal and so I quit exercising altogether. And that was in February. I did exercise a lot with Amanda in August and September, and it felt good to be moving again, but I only lost 7 pounds--which I've gained back over the Christmas holiday.

10. Get a new job!...PASS!
--I cleaned the Credit Union for 4 1/2 years, and I was so tired of it and desperately wanted a new job. I'd been on the job search in 2010, but never was hired. However, in January of this year, I got a part-time job as a bookkeeper at the golf course, and in February I was hired by the school district mid-year to teach music at the elementary school. I quit my cleaning job at the credit union in February, and I was so excited to be in a new career that brought me self-esteem and motivation again!

Live & Love Life 365 (December)

2011-12-31T23:31:00.003-07:00

Day 335: Cousin Mikey came over to play with the boys this evening, and they were so glad! Kanyon has been praying every day for a few weeks that "his friend Mikey could come play"! I rented movies for us to watch tonight (one for the boys and one for Josh & I), and I enjoyed laying in bed with Josh watching our movie.

Day 336: Saw the high school play tonight with John, and we went for a bite to eat afterwards and sang karaoke with Amanda and Dustin. I had a wonderful evening out of the house. I loved seeing a theatrical production, eating some soup, and singing on stage!!!

Day 337: I stayed home all day and got projects done around the house, and it felt so good! Tonight I went over to John's and he fed me yummy dinner and I put up his Christmas tree. It was a delicious trade-off!

Day 338: I really enjoyed the Relief Society lesson today about miracles, and my lesson in Sunday School was about service and I loved giving it, too!

Day 339: Made peanut butter cookies tonight to have for dessert at Family Home Evening. I haven't baked cookies in a really long time, and they were good!

Day 340: My first class of the day was surprisingly wonderful--they're usually the opposite, and it started my work day off in a good way!

Day 341: Wednesdays are usually a very long and hard day for me at work. My last two classes were so well-behaved today, and it ended my work day in a good way!

Day 342: Josh and I went to my work Christmas party tonight and there was a lot of good food! It was delicious!

Day 343: Soaked in the hot springs tonight with Amanda, John, and Josh after we came home from Ammon's basketball game. It was hot, and we've never gone when it was so cold out! Walking out of the hot springs and dripping water on the cement caused it to form ice! We were alone there, and it was so relaxing for me!

Day 344: I got a lot accomplished today with projects, and it felt good! The boys helped Josh load wood and shoot pumpkins this morning, so I had the house to myself in order to accomplish more! Tonight, Josh took me out for dinner and karaoke and Amanda and John joined us, too. We had a good time together! I love dancing with Josh; it makes me so happy.

Day 345: Josh spoke in church today, and I enjoyed listening to him speak about keeping Jesus the center of our Christmas celebrations. As a family tonight, we watched the Amazing Race finale together. I sure love that show, and it's fun that the boys all like to watch it with us, too!

Day 346: I had a rough day at school, and I was so happy to come home and see that Josh made dinner and he gave me a big hug.

Day 347: Ammon's band concert was tonight, and he did a great job! I was so proud of him! His band group sounded awesome! I played the piano for the show choir at the concert, too. I was so nervous--that was the first time I've played piano at a performance for an audience since I was in high school! I messed up during two measures, but I was so grateful that I didn't screw it all up!!

Day 348: Today and tonight were crazy-busy. I had lunch with Josh and Kanyon, and it was nice to have some time {nearly} alone with my husband!

Day 349: The Kindergarten Christmas program was this morning, and it went so well! I was so proud of my students! Tonight was the ward party, and we sat by the Hobbs', Linger's, and Amanda and John and we had a good time visiting. After the party, John and Amanda and I hung out, and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Day 350: Ammon played his last basketball game of the season tonight, and he did awesome! He scored 20 points and it was so fun to watch him play! After the game, we took the boys out for ice cream treats! When the boys went to bed, we went to Amanda's to watch a movie, and John came too. I just love being with my friends and family! I had an incredible night!

Day 351: I worked on the neighbor Christmas gifts this afternoon, and we took them around to our friends and family in Salmon tonight.

Day 352: We had game night tonight with Amanda and John and the Pace's and Malachi. It was so much fun! We snacked, and drank John's eggnog concoction, and played "Things" and "Music Scene-It". We laughed and had such a wonderful time together! I loved tonight!

Day 353: I was so grateful that I didn't have to go to work today. We are out on Christmas break for 18 days, and I got so much done at home! I completed my Christmas shopping, wrapped gifts, did errands for the golf course, went grocery shopping with Josh, and finished handing out our neighbor Christmas treats. It felt great to relax and not stress about work!

Day 354: I went to a birthday party for our friend Kevin tonight at John's house. We sang karaoke and snacked and talked and laughed, and I had a wonderful time!

Day 355: We drove to Utah today, and the boys were so good in the car ride. We visited Grandma Kathy in the hospital on the way. Tonight, we saw some really neat Christmas lights at a Tremonton home that were coordinated to Christmas music. Afterwards, I spent some quality time with my mom in her kitchen!

Day 356: We went ice skating this afternoon with Mick's family. Josh and I hadn't been ice skating in 15 years, and we've never gone together!! It was the first time the boys and I have ever skated in an indoor ice arena, and it was awesome! For two hours, we skated with Jen and her girls, and we had such a great time! I'm a terrible skater, but the boys steadily improved as we were on the ice. It was Kanyon's first time in skates and by the end, he could skate 20 feet unattended! I had so much fun!! This afternoon, I went to the temple and it was peaceful and quiet. And tonight we had a family Christmas party at Tawna's huge home. It was a delicious dinner, and we had a good time exchanging white elephant gifts and watching the kids do a nativity puppet show. It was a wonderful day today!

Day 357: This morning my mom helped the boys decorate gingerbread sleighs. After lunch, Josh and I took the boys to SLC. We went to IKEA first, where I bought the red leather loveseat that I've wanted to buy for years! I was so happy! Then we drove to Temple Square, and walked around for a couple of hours seeing the Visitors Centers and the Conference Center and the lights. We watched half of the "Testaments" movie, too. We went to eat at Costa Vida afterwards, and the boys had never eaten there before but they liked it as much as Josh and I do! Then we dropped the couch off at John's parents' house in Ogden so that he can deliver it to Salmon in his truck. Our last stop was driving through the 'Fantasy at the Bay' lights at Willard Bay. The line was extraordinarily long, and it took us over an hour to get through, but it was a good show! When we got back to Tremonton, the boys watched "The Christmas Story" in the living room and slept. It was a long, but full and happy, day!

Day 358: The boys opened a few of the gifts from Grandma this morning, and then we packed up and drove back to Salmon. The boys were good in the car for most of the drive, which was nice and unexpected, so I napped a lot as Josh drove. It was a peaceful Christmas Eve tonight. The boys watched a movie, then we read Christmas books, wrote letters to Santa, and acted out the nativity scene with figurines as I read from the Bible.

Day 359: Today was Christmas. We started out the morning at 7:30 with the boys looking at their stockings and Santa gifts. Then they took turns opening gifts, and had half of them opened when we stopped to eat breakfast, get dressed for church, and go to Sacrament Meeting. Church was so nice; I liked going for just the hour and fifteen minutes today! After church, Josh and I made dinner and his parents and Malachi joined us for the meal. Then we all took turns opening the remainder of the gifts, and we didn't finish until around 2:00. I loved having Christmas in my home today! It was a wonderful day!

Day 360: I put away all the Christmas decorations today. It took all day, but it felt nice to reclaim our home again. Josh burned the tree and wrapping paper in a bonfire and the twins loved watching it burn so fast! I also moved around furniture and changed pictures on some of the walls to change things up.

Day 361: I rearranged furniture and deep cleaned, and it feels so good to be in a new space! John brought over the red couch I bought at Ikea, and we put it in the family room and changed couches and chairs all around. It looks great!

Day 362: Tonight I went over to Denise's to create some vinyl lettering for the family room wall. I spent a few hours at her house and I enjoyed chatting with her. I felt sad today for no reason, so it was nice to get out of the house and create something with my dear friend!

Day 363: I put the vinyl lettering on the family room wall this morning. I love the look of it! I also cleaned off the desk in my room and made a few scrapbook pages, and I feel so decluttered and creative now!!! It rained last night, and it was so warm today. All the snow melted and the sun was shining. When Kanyon woke up, he put on his beach shirt and swimming shorts and couldn't wait to go play in the warm weather outside! He was so excited for dad to come home from work so he could jump on the tramp with him. Kimi came over this afternoon and I loved being with her! We talked, made food, ate dinner (Mikey came, too), played games, and watched youtube. I've misssed her!

Day 364: I deep-cleaned some more in my bedroom today, and it feels and looks so wonderful! Tonight I went to Kerry's house and we watched two movies and ate snacks, and I enjoyed watching chick flicks I haven't seen before!

Day 365: Josh drove us to the top of the mountain pass, and we went sledding on the ridge road where there was snow. Gid & Lys and Malachi came with us in the truck, and we spent two hours there. We packed down a trail on the road so that we could sled, and everyone took turns sledding and snowboarding and penguin sliding! It was so much fun! On the way home, Ammon and Malachi were pulled on their sleds behind the truck, and they rode for over 5 miles that way. I loved watching them! Tonight, we had the New Years Eve radio contest at Josh's parents house, and we won! We got all the songs and artists in the medley right! We did a few sparklers and fireworks, and worked on a 1000 pc. puzzle, and ate snack food, and played games. It was an awesome day!

12th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-30T10:50:00.001-07:00

Before I began the 12 Days of Christmas Memories, I pondered in my mind the memories of which Christmases to share on my blog. Although I knew I probably couldn't remember things about 25 Christmases in my life (like I originally thought I would blog about), it was hard to choose just 12.

There were a few Christmases that I didn't blog about, like the Christmas when I was in 4th grade--the first Christmas we lived in Tremonton. A neighborhood Santa came to our home and surprised us for a visit on Christmas Eve. Afterwards, my dad told us that he had seen Santa on his rooftop when he was a kid. I questioned him over and over if that was true, and he stuck by his story. After we went to bed that night, I stay glued to my window to see if Santa really was real and if I could see him flying outside. After a few hours with seeing nothing, the anxiety got to me, and I threw up.

There were so many Christmases since we got married that I didn't share, so many good gifts that Josh has surprised me with over the years, and so many fun memories we have with our family...like the Christmas of 2009 when we had to put the Christmas tree in our kitchen because there was no other room for it in the house. And we went sledding on Christmas Eve in Logan with my sisters and my brother Mick's family, and we had so much fun together! And the boys finally got a wii from Santa, and they played it all morning at my mom's house.

But I just decided that for this final blog post in this 12 Days of Christmas series, I would share with you our Christmas of 2011.

Now that I work full-time at the elementary school, my life revolves around the school schedule. December was a crazy-busy month. Our last day of school was December 15, and everything was crammed into those first two weeks of December. We were gone to multiple places every single night. The stress was getting to me, and I didn't think I would make it to Christmas Break as a sane person. The last day of school began with the big kindergarten Christmas music program in the morning, and I had so much to do for it. I'd had nightmares and couldn't sleep well for a week before it because of the anxiety it brought me. Thankfully, the program went wonderful and smooth and I was so glad! But around 11:00 that day, I realized that I'd forgotten to plug in the crock-pot that morning of soup I'd made and refrigerated the night before for the twins' class party at 11:30. I couldn't hold in the stress of the last two weeks' nightmarish and stressful schedule any longer, and I burst into tears in front of the 4th grade class I was teaching. I finally fell apart, and only 5 hours short of the arrival of Christmas Break. Thankfully, my mother-in-law Kathy and my friend and fellow employee Kit came to my rescue, and it all worked out. So when school got out that day, I've never felt happier about beginning the long 18-day Christmas Break. Because the first 2 weeks of December were so over-the-top stressful for me, I've made it a point to just relax over Christmas Break. And that aspect alone has been the biggest influence on me enjoying this Christmas holiday.

Josh's work schedule is very slow in the winter. The golf course officially closed on November 1, and through the winter he works on equipment and trimming trees and winterizing the course and buildings. He's able to determine what hours he works, so he's been helping me a lot more with Kanyon. He babysits Kanyon in the mornings, then feeds him lunch, then takes him to school before he goes to work all afternoon. Because he's spent so many hours at home in November and December, he had time to do all the Christmas shopping. He spent a lot of time on ebay and other online stores purchasing gifts. I didn't feel any stress over shopping this Christmas because, for the first time in our marriage, he did it all. I never asked him to do it, he wilfully chose to. And since he likes shopping, it worked out well for both of us!

Also, for the first time in our marriage, he put all the lights on the Christmas tree. I usually do it, because I'm sort of anal about how I want it done. But I simply didn't have the time or energy to do it this year, and after the tree was in our house for a few days without any lights on it, the kids were begging to put the decorations on it. So one morning when he was home, he put up the lights on it. And he did a great job! When we came home from school that day, we were all so happy to see the lights on the tree, and the boys went right to work decorating it. Jonah, Micah, and Kanyon completely did it by themselves, which was also a first. Usually the boys only decorate their own little trees that they put in their rooms and I decorate the big tree, but they wanted to do the big one this year, too, and I let them. And they did a fabulous job! They brought chairs over from the kitchen so that the ornaments would be spread all around the tree: on all sides, and on the high and the low branches! I was so impressed with the job they did! The lighting and decorating of the tree was truly a gift to me from my husband and sons, and I loved admiring their work!

We went to Utah over Christmas Break the week before Christmas. On our way there, we stopped in Pocatello to visit Josh's mom who was recovering from surgery in the hospital. The boys did so well in the car, and it was nice to visit his parents and sister and take a rest from driving. We were in Utah for 3 nights, and we came home the day of Christmas Eve. Besides Katrina, we were the only ones at my parents house, and the house felt very calm: I talked with my mom and my dad alone, the boys decorated gingerbread sleighs, we watched movies, and we looked at lights together. There is one home in Tremonton that has a light show on their house that is coordinated to six songs. We loved it so much, we went there twice!

We went to Logan on the 22nd. We went ice skating in the indoor arena with Mick's family. Josh and I haven't gone ice skating in 15 years, and we've never gone together. It was the first time me and the boys had ever ice skated on indoor ice, and it was the first time Kanyon had ever worn ice skates. Josh was amazing! He got on the ice and whizzed away. He could do little tricks, too, which was fun to watch! Ammon did really well, too--he looked just like his dad on the ice. The twins looked like comedians on the ice--they were always falling in dramatic fashion and bouncing right back up. It was so funny watching them! And Kanyon was slow and steady--he started out with a walker, but by the end of our 2 hours skating, he could skate 10 feet without needing help or falling. I was so proud of him! I will admit that I was the worst one--I used a kid walker for the first hour, and I looked like a caterpillar without it, just inching slowly along the ice. I'm a terrible skater, but I had so much fun skating with my family. Jen was a pro, like Josh, and she looked so graceful on the ice. Aspen and Libby were good little skaters, too, and we were so happy to spend the day with them! We had lunch together at Mick's house when skate time was over, and the kids played with their cousins while I went to the temple and Josh went to finish the Christmas shopping. I was glad to be able to attend the temple, to complete my temple goal for the year. It was peaceful and I had quiet reflections and I read the book of mormon while waiting for my appointment.

That night, we had dinner at Tawna's huge rental home in Logan. My siblings all came, and after the filling dinner, the adults and kids had separate white elephant gift exchanges. Then we watched the kids' puppet Nativity show. It was fun to have a pre-Christmas party with my family since we weren't going to be there on Christmas day when everyone else was getting together again.

On the 23rd, we went to Salt Lake. We went to Ikea, and picked up the little red leather loveseat that I've been eyeing for years. It was my Christmas gift to the family, and I was so excited to finally be getting the piece of furniture that I've been dreaming about for so long! Then we drove to Temple Square, and we walked around for several hours. We toured the conference center, and we went in both Visitor's Centers. We watched part of "The Testaments" movie, and we saw the lights as they were just coming on. The boys loved the lights, and especially the reflection pool. I wanted to go in the Joseph Smith building too, but by that time, the boys were tired of walking and they were all hungry. So we left and went to eat dinner at Costa Vida. It's one of Josh and I's favorite restaurants, but we've never taken the boys there. Ammon loved it just as much as Josh and I! Then we drove to Ogden to drop off the couch at John's parents' house, because he was going to bring the loveseat home to Salmon since he has a truck. I finally got to meet John's family, and they were so nice! On our way home to Tremonton, we stopped to see the light display at Willard Bay. There was a huge line of cars, and it took us an hour to drive through it, but they'd added some new items to the display and Josh drove slowly so we could enjoy every bit of it before heading back to Tremonton. It was a full, but good, day.

We came home on Christmas Eve day. When we got home, we put everything away and went to the store to get a few things to make Christmas dinner the following day. As I was doing all the food prep work, the boys watched a Christmas movie. Then we re-enacted the Nativity with figures, read Christmas stories, wrote letters to Santa, and then the boys went to bed. I was glad to be home for Christmas.

On Christmas morning, everyone was up at 7:30. They played with their Santa gifts and then they started taking turns opening wrapped gifts. We stopped at 9:00 so we could eat breakfast and get ready for church at 10:00. It was Sacrament meeting only that day, and it was so lovely to not have to take a ton of bags and manuals and kid activities with us since it was for just one hour. The services were so beautiful, and I loved listening to all the Christmas music that was shared. After church, we came home and Josh and I made dinner. Josh made the ham, and I made the potatoes and rolls and salad. His parents and brother Malachi joined us for the meal. It was the first time we've ever had Christmas dinner at our own house, and I loved it! After dinner, we finished opening gifts with his parents and Mal, and we were done around 2:00. I loved that the Christmas Day festivities took all morning and most of the afternoon. I was glad that we had family come and share it with us in our home. I loved being together, and feeling the magic of the Christmas spirit in my home!

Christmas 2011 was a beautiful one for me. Pictures to come eventually...

11th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

Christmas of 2008 was a pleasant and meaningful one for me. It was centered around the reason for the season, and I enjoyed all the festivities.

At that time, I was in charge of ward parties, and the theme I chose for the Christmas ward party that year was "In a Manger". The dinner, decorations, and program all centered around that theme. I had members bring their nativity scenes early and set them out on tables at the entrance of the church, so as people came to the party that night, they could walk through and see a variety of nativity scenes. As centerpieces on the tables, I set out gift boxes with the nativity scene printed on them. Inside the boxes were candy and trinkets for the children to take home as their Christmas gift from the ward. I wrote the program that was performed after dinner. A bunch of older boys in the primary came onstage all dressed as ancient prophets, and they told of their revelations of a Christ child that would be born. Then a bunch of older girls in the primary were the angel choir, and they sang a song. Then a narrator read the Luke 2 story, and it was acted out. I created a donkey, and had 2 primary kids dress up as Joseph and Mary and he pulled her through the gym on a donkey to the stage. Once they arrived at the stage (Bethlehem), there was a Stable all set up, and I'd painted a whole bunch of pictures for the younger kids to hold up. I absolutely loved that program, and several people told me that was the best Christmas program they'd ever seen at a ward party.

December 2008 was the first time (and only time) I'd ever made home-made Christmas cards. I made 48 of them and it was a huge time endeavor. It took me 7 hours just to craft all the cards, which doesn't include the time it took me to come up with the unique letter that the card revolved around. It was truly a labor of love. I loved those cards! One of my friends told me that receiving that card was like receiving a gift, which made my heart happy.

We delivered goodie plates to our neighbors and friends. I had only started the tradition of doing that just the previous year. I like to have a common theme for my neighbor treats each year. That year, the theme was cookies with candies. I made sugar cookies with M&Ms in them, and peanut butter cookies with Reese's Pieces in them. It is always so fun to deliver the goodie plates to people who've been influential in our lives throughout the year.

We got our Christmas tree later that December instead of right after Thanksgiving. We had to get a scrawny tree to fit into our living room, and we found the perfect one! It had a flat side to push up against the wall, and it was round on the side that was visible.

The boys requests to Santa that year were very simple. It made my heart so happy to hear that they wanted such simple things, and it made shopping for them SO easy! When we visited Santa at the library pajama party, and when Santa came to the primary party, and when they wrote their letters to Santa, each of the 3 older boys requested the same thing every time:

(If it's hard to see the words in their Santa letters in this photo, Jonah said he wanted a toy tape measure, Micah said he wanted a snow shovel, and Ammon said he wanted lots of presents--at Santa's discretion.)

Christmas morning was awesome! The boys were all happy with their Santa gifts. Santa delivered: sleds to the 3 older boys, bikes to the twins, a battery-operated 4-wheeler and Tonka Truck to Kanyon, the Guitar Hero DS game to Ammon, and a snow shovel for Micah and a tape measure for Jonah.

After they played with their Santa gifts for a while, and revealed everything in their stockings, we opened gifts at our house. It was the first time we'd ever opened Christmas gifts at our own house--we'd always taken the wrapped gifts and opened them at either grandparents' house (we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays with the Tolman and Perkins families). We took turns opening gifts, but since Kanyon wasn't interested in unwrapping and Josh and I didn't have many presents, it didn't take long before all the gifts were unwrapped. It was a very quiet, peaceful, calm Christmas morning at home. The boys played in the living room, and Josh and I just sat and watched them. We went down to Josh's parents' house for lunch and opened their gifts from us there. Then it started to snow, which was perfect, since the boys had received sleds from Santa! They went sledding on the hill next to our driveway for a couple of hours and loved it!

Josh was really nice to me that Christmas, too. I had purchased myself a laptop on Black Friday, but I didn't open and use it until Christmas time because it was my Christmas present to myself. I told Josh that since I bought that, I wouldn't have any money to buy him a gift that year. I thought that he would understand, and not get me anything, either. But he surprised me with a new camera and new house phones and a new router. I felt unbelievably undeserving, and incredibly in love with him for being so thoughtful!

Christmas 2008 made my Top 12 memories because of the happiness I remembered feeling for a majority of the season. Focusing on the Savior at the ward party really set the tone for the holiday. Working on the cards to give to family and friends felt worthwhile. Delivering cookies to neighbors was rewarding. Hearing my children's simple requests filled me with love. Being home on Christmas morning was peaceful. Seeing the snow and watching them sled in it with family on Christmas afternoon brought joy to my soul.

10th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-28T09:51:00.001-07:00

Christmas of 2000 is remembered for its sadness.

In July of 2000, Josh and I moved from Tremonton, Utah to Chubbuck, Idaho for work. Mowin' Ranger was expanding and had purchased a business in Pocatello; we moved in order to manage that extension. We were the only ones who worked out at the Idaho business--Josh did all the fertilizing, I did all the office work, and we worked together on tree trimming. We rented out our home in Tremonton, and we began renting an apartment in Chubbuck. Ammon was born in January, and he was just 6 months old when we moved. I took him to work with me during the day, and it worked well for us to run the business that way.

We both got second jobs that fall, since fertilizing lawns stops in the wintertime when snow covers the grass. Josh worked a night job at a gas station, and I worked in the evenings as a typist at the Idaho State Journal. When I worked at ISJ, Josh would stay home with Ammon, and then I'd come home from work and he'd leave for Forde Johnson while I stayed with Ammon. I didn't like our life schedule, but I felt like we did what had to be done. It was hard for Josh, too, and he felt financially stressed. In October, there was a job opening in Salmon for a golf course superintendent. His Uncle John works as a sales rep for products in the turf industry, and he discovered the job opening and told Josh about it. Josh didn't know the first thing about golf--but he did have experience with growing and maintaining grass and working on equipment. We decided to apply for the job. In November he had an interview in Salmon for the job. Because he was raised in Salmon, he knew several of the people on the golf board and he felt like he had a good interview with them. In December, Josh and I had a huge fight over money (or the lack of it) and we didn't get along for weeks. The argument put such a damper on the Christmas season.

During that same month, his grandparents came down to Blackfoot to visit his Uncle John and Aunt Linette and to stay for a few days with them. His Grandpa Rex had had cancer many years earlier, and he'd had chemotherapy and radiation to rid the cancer. Over time, though, his body developed some terrible side effects from the treatments, and when he and Grandma Beth came to Blackfoot, he was very sick and in a lot of pain.

Josh and I decided we would take Ammon to Salmon to spend Christmas. It was our first Christmas as parents, and we were excited to celebrate the holiday with our son for the first time!

We left two days before the holiday, and on our way to Salmon, we stopped in Blackfoot to visit his grandparents and Aunt & Uncle. We arrived as they were making preparations to take Grandpa to the hospital. Josh helped his Uncle John carry Grandpa to their van--he was so weak from all the pain in his body that he was having difficulty standing up. Josh said he was barely squeezing his grandpa in order to carry him, and his Grandpa was wincing and saying "not so tight". Josh felt so terrible that his Grandpa was in such pain. I was helping Grandma inside get dressed and ready because she couldn't concentrate on what was happening. John and Linette drove them to the hospital, and Josh and I continued on our way to Salmon. Little did we know that was the last time we would ever see Grandpa Rex alive.

It was strange for me to be in Salmon over Christmas...it was the first time that I hadn't spent Christmas with my own family. On Christmas Eve, after Ammon and Josh's brothers went to bed, I worked on setting up a car track for him, and assembling a child's toy. I remember Edward was setting up something, too. Josh and I, and Edward and Kathy were the only ones in the living room. I was talking and laughing, trying to keep the spirits up in the house, because everyone seemed so depressed.

The next morning, after all the presents were opened, Edward and Kathy broke the news to Josh and his younger brothers that Grandpa Rex had died the night before. They had decided to wait to tell the children so that their (our) Christmas morning wouldn't feel marked with sadness. It was then that I understood why the house felt so sad the night before as I was laying out my son's gifts.

Josh loved his Grandfather so much, and it was difficult to know that he was gone. Josh kept reliving the image of carrying his sick Grandpa to the van, and seeing him wince in pain. It broke his heart over and over again, seeing him that way. I was so grateful that we had stopped in Blackfoot, grateful that we had seen his grandparents, grrateful that we told Grandpa that we loved him. Grandpa James Rex Tolman's funeral was on December 28. It was one of only a handful of times I've ever seen Josh cry. It was sad to lay his body to rest in the cold, hard, bleak and frozen ground.

We spent New Year's with my family in Tremonton, which also felt strange; that was one of the few times we've ever done that in our married life because we usually celebrate it with the Tolman's in Salmon. In January, we were notified that Josh did, indeed, get the golf course superintendent job in Salmon. Although we were excited for our future, we also felt sad that we wouldn't be living by his Grandpa now. One of the reasons Josh wanted to move back to Salmon was so that he could help out on the family ranch, and so that he could be closer to his aging grandparents. We also felt sorrow that Ammon would never get to know his great-grandfather, who is the namesake of his middle name "Rex". At the end of January, we moved from Chubbuck, Idaho to Salmon--which is where we remain today!

9th day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-27T13:44:00.001-07:00

"On the 9th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."

Christmas of 1998 was the first Christmas that Josh and I spent together as a married couple. We were married in April, and we lived in a small home that we had purchased in Tremonton. We didn't have a lot of money as newlyweds, so on our small budget, we needed to buy an affordable Christmas tree. Josh always grew up with a real tree, so he wanted us to get one for our first Christmas. We went down to King's because they were selling some live ones in their parking lot. But, after looking at the trees, we didn't think we could afford the $40-$60 that they cost. When he was growing up, his family always took a trip to the mountains to cut down a tree, so we had no idea that trees sold at lots cost so much money. So, we went inside King's and looked at other tree options. He didn't want to get an artificial one, because we didn't want to store it all year and he didn't think we would use it in future years. We settled on the only tree we felt like we could afford: a little 3-foot artificial tree. I convinced Josh that it would be fine to use as our Christmas tree the first year, and it would store easily and we could use it as a decoration in future years. Because it was small, it was easy and cheap to decorate, too! We used ornaments that Josh and I were given when we were children from our parents and grandparents, and I used one strand of lights to illuminate it. I set it on a box in the corner of the living room, and I fell in love with it! We still have that tree--the boys each have a 3-foot artificial tree to decorate with their own ornaments and display in their own rooms.

To save money, I made our own stockings out of felt that year. My mom had a lot of felt, and some patterns, so I cut and glued colored felt and ribbon to create the angel and cowboy stockings for Josh and I. We discovered on Christmas Eve, however, that the stockings are too narrow to fit a lot into. So, now they are just used as decorations and I've made 4 more individualized stockings for each of the boys. And we've since purchased bigger stockings to use on Christmas Eve instead.

A few weeks before Christmas, I went with my friend Kimberly to go see "The Forgotten Carols" by Michael McLean in Logan. It was my first experience seeing the production, and it changed me. I loved the music and the beautiful message that the story told. I could just feel the Christmas spirit that night--it felt like magic was in the air. My favorite part of the night was at the very end, when Michael sang "Hold on, the light will come" and then he began singing "we will be together forever someday" and he had the audience join with him in singing that a couple of times. It wan amazing experience and I remember thinking that it felt like heaven to me. It's hard to explain in words exactly what I felt--the spirit was so strong in that room. When we were leaving that night, I purchased the CD of the Forgotten Carols music, and I listen to it every Christmas season now--it always puts me in a good mood!

The anticipation of Christmas that year was exciting for me. I'm terrible at surprises--I'm like that girl in the skits on Saturday Night Live who can't keep a secret and always ruins the surprise! Josh had gotten me something big a week or two before Christmas, and I knew that because he put whatever it was in the shed--and then he bought a lock and put it on the shed's door so that I wouldn't find out what was inside! Unlike me, Josh really likes surprises. The anticipation of what was inside that shed just killed me! I quizzed him about the surprise every day, trying to see if his facial expressions would give away whatever it was that he was hiding from me! And he was like an iron soldier--never revealing anything. He is SO good at keeping secrets!

Christmas morning was a little different that year because my dad flew out of Salt Lake to go to the World Jamboree in Chile, and he'd asked Josh to give him a ride to the airport. When I found out, I was mad because that was our first Christmas together and I wanted to be with Josh at our home together! It snowed on Christmas morning, and that made me even more worried for him to be driving to Salt Lake and back. But he was only gone for about 2 hours, and everything was fine, so it wasn't so bad. We opened presents, and he revealed his big gift to me: a set of skis and boots and poles. I was SO excited and happy!! Nobody had ever gotten me something so big, and I felt so loved.

Christmas 1998 was wonderful--Josh had given me awesome gifts, we were living in our new home together, and we got to spend time with both families over Christmas and New Years. I felt so blessed!

8th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-26T10:56:00.001-07:00

The best memories I have of Christmas 1997 actually happened the week following the holiday.

In June of 1997, I graduated from high school. The spring during my senior year, I began working at my friend Angela's parents' company Mowin' Ranger. I continued to work there all summer until I left for college at SUU in Cedar City in August. Tremonton is on the northern tip of Utah, and Cedar City is on the southern end. I was excited to attend the college that I'd grown to love, and I couldn't wait to move to a city that was HOURS away from my home town!

Josh returned home to Salmon in May after his mission to England, and in June he moved to Tremonton to work for his cousins that owned Mowin' Ranger. My first encounter with him was one he still doesn't recall. I was leaving work one day, as he was arriving. I walked out the door as he walked in, and my whole inside became filled with butterflies. I instantly liked him! In August, we began dating each other--which was just 3 weeks before I left for college.

After I moved to Cedar City, we talked or emailed almost every day, and we visited each other occasionally on the weekends. Our love for each other grew rather rapidly, and we soon became tired of our long-distance relationship. I didn't know what to do about it--I had 2 full scholarships: one academic, and one theatric, and I didn't want to leave SUU where my schooling was completely paid for. Josh wasn't planning on moving to Cedar City; he liked his job in Tremonton, and he didn't want to leave Mowin' Ranger. We discussed marriage quite often, but what was the point of getting married if our living conditions would remain the same. The stress of being apart soon brought a lot of arguments and discord between us, and I began to doubt our relationship a lot. I wasn't sure if marriage between the two of us would be right. I prayed about it frequently, but I never received any answers...which was hard on our relationship, too.

In December of 1997, I came home to Tremonton for Christmas Break. Josh and I decided that after Christmas, he would take me to Salmon to stay with his family for New Year's. Christmas morning I spent at home with my family, minus Cody who was gone on his mission. My favorite gift I received that Christmas was the dozen red roses that Josh gave me. They were a wonderful surprise! I had never received a dozen red roses before, and they, along with a beautiful hand-written card from him, made me so happy!

Sometime during the week between Christmas and New Year's, he picked me up and took me to Salmon with him, where we stayed for four days. We spent the majority of our time during the days playing games: a lot of Rummikub, and a lot of Nintendo 64 with his younger brothers.

His older sister's in-laws also came, so there were a lot of extra people in the house. I remember sitting on the couch with him as the family opened late Christmas gifts, and I remember feeling like I belonged with his family. I remember sitting alone with him on New Year's, and seeing and hearing complete chaos all around us, but feeling peace inside.

After spending so many days in a row with him, and not being interrupted with schooling or curfews or work, I knew that I wanted to spend the remainder of my days on earth with him. New Year's 1997 was when I finally knew that I wanted to marry Josh. There wasn't a defining moment, but rather, a feeling inside of me that grew over the days we spent together between Christmas and New Years. And Josh had felt the exact same way.

I will never forget the Christmas Break of 1997, and I reflect periodically back to that time spent with Josh that made our relationship grow and flourish. It was the first Christmas season of many that I shared with the love of my life.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:49:00.006-07:00

I'm taking a one-day hiatus from the 12 Days of Christmas Memories. Today, I'm sharing with you the newsletter we sent/will be sending with Christmas cards this year:

In with the NEW, Out with the OLD…

Let the Tolman 2011 Tales be Told!

Josh has the same OLD job—he just completed his 11th season working as Superintendent for the Salmon Valley Golf Course, and he still loves it!! He was called as a NEW 1st counselor in the ward Elders Quorum Presidency, after the OLD presidency (where he also served as 1st counselor) was released due to the NEW ward boundary changes. He completed his 3rd year of serving on the School board, and all the meetings he goes to gets OLD for all of us! He purchased a NEW car in January (which looks like a Silver Box), and we’re all quite fond of it!

Kala began a NEW full-time job in February as the Elementary School Music Teacher. It has been frustrating and also fulfilling! She also began a NEW part-time job at the end of January as the bookkeeper for the Golf Course. Having two jobs sometimes feels overwhelming, but she was able to purchase a NEW deck for the house with her income. She teaches the adult Sunday School Gospel Principles class and likes it when NEW people come to her class! She finally began passing off some of her bucket list items this year, and it makes her feel OLD that she didn’t start doing them earlier in life!

Ammon is 11, and was one of the OLDest primary children in his final Primary Presentation in Sacrament Meeting in October. He is still a lover of sports, and this year he competed in: bowling, golfing, football, and basketball. He excels in whatever sport he participates in, for which we are so proud! He started 6th grade in August, and was so excited for his NEW schedule of 7 periods a day. He plays the trumpet in the Jr. High band and is involved in the Gifted & Talented program. He mowed lawns this summer to earn money for his future endeavors.

Jonah turned 8 in September, and was baptized a NEW member of the LDS church. He is in 2nd grade and loves going to school! He is friendly and always has a NEW best friend every few weeks! He played soccer this spring and had swimming lessons this summer. He likes to run and read and be silly and be a big helper. He is so good at doing his same OLD chores every week, and he always feeds the cat without being asked!

Micah is 8, and is the NEWest member of the LDS church in our family. He is in 2nd grade and is a fast reader. He tires of going to school day after day, but he likes playing at recess and P.E. He played soccer again this spring and liked it. He also had swimming lessons this summer, but didn’t like practicing the same OLD swim strokes every day. He climbed Mt. Borah with his dad and grandpa this summer, and he helped haul pumpkins at the pumpkin patch this fall.

Kanyon is slowly leaving behind toddlerhood. He is 4, but will soon be 5. Hearing him say daily prayers at dinner never gets OLD. He is sweet and kind and remembers others. He has really grown up in the past year, and is like a whole NEW kid this fall. He loves pre-school and makes friends and doesn’t bang his head as much and is sleeping better at night. He loves playing on the computer and the wii and jumping on the trampoline and being a big boy.

2011 was a wonderful year for our family. This spring: Josh and Kala went on a mini couple’s vacation to Moab, and Kala visited her Grandpa P. in Spokane. This summer: Josh’s Grandma T. passed away, Kala took the boys on a 10-day sight-seeing trip to Utah, we visited Kala’s Grandma R., we went to both the Perkins family and Tolman family reunions, and we went camping a handful of times around Salmon. This fall: we dedicated three weekends to pumpkin patch sales, and we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Throughout the past year, we spent a lot of time enjoying our NEW home and having get-togethers with friends and family young and OLD.

We wish you a very merry Christmas,

a holiday season full of love,

& a happy new year!

7th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-24T07:07:00.003-07:00

The Christmas of 1994 was definitely one worth remembering for both good and bad reasons.

That was the first Christmas that our whole family wasn't together because my oldest brother Mick was on his mission. But we had extra company that Christmas, too. On December 21st, my older half-sister Lisa and her husband Mack, flew out from Virginia to spend a week with us. It was the only Christmas I've ever had with Mack, and the first time I'd seen him since their wedding three and a half years earlier.

The day after they arrived, Lisa and Mack went skiing in Logan Canyon. The next day they went skiing again, but this time they took me and Tawna with them. I was so excited that my parents would let me sluff school to go skiing! Although I wasn't very good at skiing, I loved participating in the sport. I had taken lessons when I went skiing with the junior high school, and I also usually went skiing once a year at the ward Night-Ski, so I felt pretty competent in my skills. Lisa and Mack took turns alternating between Tawna and I to ride the ski lift with, and it was fun to get to know them better! Mack was amazing at the sport, especially since he'd never gone until just the day before! His abilities definitely surpassed mine, but he was gracious and Lisa was kind. The 4 of us had so much fun together that day!

On Christmas Eve day, the whole family took a trip to Logan to go to the Hardware Ranch, a wildlife management area where herds of wild Rocky Mountain Elk live. It is up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, and once we arrived there, we rode a horse-drawn wagon on the property amidst the animals. I remember being in awe at the sight of hundreds of elk. I had never seen so many before!

After we left the Elk Ranch, we went to dinner at the Mongolian BBQ restaurant. I always loved eating there, and watching them grill my food I'd picked. As we were driving home, I remember our vehicle crossing over railroad tracks, and my dad wincing and complaining that going over the tracks made his stomache hurt.

When we arrived home that evening, we did our usual Christmas Eve traditions of reading the Luke 2 story, reading the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and leaving cookies & milk out for Santa before going to bed.

In the middle of the night, my dad went to the e.r. with abdominal pains, where the Dr. diagnosed him with appendicitis, and he had his appendix removed that night.

The next morning, Christmas day, was Sunday. We awoke to receive the news from Mom that Dad was in the hospital. It was weird that he wasn't at home on Christmas morning. Mom and I decided to still go to church (only Sacrament meeting that day), and Lisa and Mack came with us. Lisa and Mack belong to a different faith, and I remember the speakers that day were our neighbors the Greer's. Brother Greer spoke about Samuel the Lamanite's prophesies of Jesus, and I remember thinking that Lisa and Mack must feel completely lost about what he was saying over the pulpit.

After church, we opened gifts and went to visit Dad in the hospital that afternoon. Christmas really didn't feel like Christmas that year. {And apparently the family photo book feels like that, too. There's a big void in 1994's photo album. There were absolutely NO Christmas photos taken that year! Not a single photo was taken the entire week that Lisa and Mack spent with us!}

On Monday evening (the following day), Dad was released from the hospital. On Tuesday, we all went down to Salt Lake City together (except for Cody who was gone to a camp reunion). We had a short visit with my Great-Grandpa Perkins. Then we watched the movie "Legacy" in the Joseph Smith building at Temple Square.Then we went to eat at the restaurant "Dela Fontana" which is where my parents had their wedding breakfast. It was such a formal restaurant, and we had a 7-course meal, and I remember there was so much silverware that I had no idea what to do with! After dinner, we found a hotel room for Mack and Lisa to stay that night, since their flight back to Virginia was leaving early the next morning. Then we drove back to Temple Square, and walked around looking at all the lights. I remember listening to the conversation between Lisa, Mack, and my dad. They were discussing the design of the temple, and the significance of the sun, moon, and stars that are entricately carved into the temple's granite exterior. After we were all done walking around Temple Square, we said our good-byes in the parking lot; they drove to their hotel, and we drove home to Tremonton. I felt sad when they left. I'd really enjoyed having them in our home that Christmas season.

There were so many different unrelated circumstances that occurred during that one-week time period, but when combined all together, they complete my memories of the singular event of Christmas 1994.

6th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-23T07:31:00.004-07:00

In the winter of 1993, I was a freshman in high school. Christmas of 1993 was memorable for me because of the gifts that I gave that year.

At the beginning of December, my friend Heather and I participated with our Young Women's group in a "12 Days of Christmas" activity to spread some holiday cheer to two families in our ward. Heather and I lived across the street and one house down from each other, and both of the receiving families were within 3 blocks of our houses. For 12 days that month, we gave fairly inexpensive items to the two families by ding-dong-ditching them and leaving the gifts on their doorsteps. Heather and I were in charge of two of the days; we gave apples one day and a loaf of bread the other day. We had so much fun ringing the people's doorbells and then running and hiding. One of the families always picked up the gift and went inside immediately. The other family tried to discover who it was that was doing the activity. I remember being with Heather and trying to stifle my laughter until they (the 2nd family) finally stopped looking for us and went inside. Then we were free to come out from the bush we were hiding behind, and we laughed out loud together as we walked home. Heather and I shared some really great moments together throughout the years of our youth!

Beginning in my Junior High years, giving gifts to friends became a popular thing to do. By my Freshman year of high school, I had a list of 20 or so friends to give gifts to. It was tricky to come up with a large quantity of gifts that would be affordable, too. I remember giving candy one year and small matted pictures of Jesus one year. But the Christmas of 1993 was the biggest and best year for ideas I'd had yet for friend gift-giving. Remember how I said my Grandpa Rose was excellent at woodworking? Well, he'd created a whole bunch of small wooden rocking horses and had given them as gifts to his children and grandchildren, but there were several extras left over in his shop. After they sat on a shelf in his shop for a few years, I asked him what he planned to do with them and he said I could have them. There were 7 of them, and I was thrilled that he would give them to me. I decided that for Christmas that year, I would decorate them and give them to my sisters and my bestest friends. I purchased doll hair and ribbon and craft flowers, and for weeks I worked on finishing the decorative rocking horses. I combed and cut and glued hair onto the horses for the mane and the tail. I tied bows and cut ribbon and glued it to the fronts of the horses. I arranged the artificial flowers and added them onto the fronts of the horses, too. I was so proud of those horses when they were completed because I'd invested a lot of my time and money in them. I had worked on them in the evenings after school every day, perfecting their appearances, and I grew to love those horses so much! I kept one of the horses for myself, gave two to my younger sisters, and gave four to friends. I was excited to give them away to my loved ones because I felt like it was a true gift of love, but at the same time, I was also sad to depart with them after spending so much time with them!

The best part about giving gifts out of love is that it makes the heart grow, and the gift itself becomes more meaningful. I remember not caring so much about what others gave me that year because I was so focused on what I was giving instead. And I loved that feeling! The Christmas of 1993 is so memorable for me because it was when I first experienced the joy of giving gifts out of genuine love.

5th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-22T09:13:00.002-07:00

The next Christmas in my memory bank is the Christmas of 1989.

In the summer of 1988, we moved from Ogden to Tremonton, Utah. I attended 4th and 5th grade at the elementary school 2 blocks from our home. I liked living in Tremonton, because within 2 blocks of my house, there were 3 girls my age that I got to play with and go to school and church with.

In December of 1989 (my 5th grade year), the Chicken Pox was going around. I caught it during the last week of school before Christmas Break. I was so mad because I had to miss the 5th grade Christmas Program since I had to stay home taking baking soda baths to help relieve the itching that the Chicken Pox caused. I was the first member of my family to have the dreadful disease. By Christmas Eve, the last of the red marks disappeared from my body and I was able to celebrate the holiday itch-free.

On Christmas morning, we saw what Santa brought us, and we opened gifts. My favorite gift that year was from my Grandma and Grandpa Rose. Grandpa and Grandma are both so good at working with their hands; Grandpa was excellent at his hobby of carpentry and woodworking, and Grandma was amazing at crocheting and dollmaking. That particular year, Grandpa gave us little benches that he'd made and painted, and Grandma gave us beautiful hand-made crocheted dolls. My bench was white and my doll was blue (my favorite color). I still have both to this day: the doll is on display in my room, and the bench is currently used in Kanyon's room. After all the gifts were opened, I layed out all the presents I'd received around my bench, and I had my picture taken with the display. That began an annual tradition of taking my picture sitting on Grandpa's bench with all my Christmas gifts surrounding me.

Right after Christmas, my Chicken Pox spread like wildfire, and during the remainder of Christmas Break, all the rest of my siblings got it! My brother Cody had like 50 spots in one armpit alone. Everyone was miserable, and I felt validated: even though I missed my class Christmas Program at school, at least I could enjoy Christmas vacation without having the miserable pox!!!

4th Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-21T08:58:00.006-07:00

The funny thing about memories is that they are only as true as the perceptions we have at the time. The Christmas of 1987 was a completely different one for me than the Christmas of 1987 my mother remembers.

In the summer of 1987, we left Spokane, Washington for Ogden, Utah. We moved into a 3-story townhouse in a neighborhood chock-full of them. My dad was going to school at Weber State University to obtain teaching endorsements on his Master's Degree. We only lived in Ogden for one year, but I absolutely loved it. I loved my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Hanebut. I loved our next-door neighbors, the Eskelsons. And I loved my best friend Katie Roghaar who lived in our same ward. Here's what I don't remember about living in Ogden that my mom does: we were very poor. At that time of my life, I always thought we were rich! And that one aspect is the big difference between her memories versus mine.

Here's my memories from that Christmas season:
I remember Aunt Candi came and stayed with us overnight at the beginning of December so she could do some Christmas shopping in Salt Lake. I asked her why she couldn't just shop in Boise where she lived, and she said there were so many more stores in Utah. I couldn't comprehend that at the time because Boise felt huge to me whenever we visited, but I didn't tell her that. She brought me back a purple-heart-bead necklace from her shopping spree before she went back home, and I loved that necklace dearly.

I remember going Christmas-tree shopping at a Tree Lot, but not buying a single one.I remember sitting in our Volkswagen Bus driving down Riverdale Road with the whole family, and coming home empty-handed from the excursion.

On Christmas Eve, I remember someone leaving a box on our doorstep labeled "from Secret Santa" with gifts inside for us. My gift inside the box was a large, plush My Little Pony with turquoise hair and a bright pink mane & tail. I loved playing with that doll and I kept it for years. That same day, I remember a man bringing a Christmas tree to us, and we were delighted! I remember having so much fun decorating it because I thought we weren't going to have a Christmas tree at all!

I remember waking up on Christmas morning to find that Santa had brought me a Space Barbie and a Cabbage Patch doll. I was so excited!! When I was 8, there were no toys in the world I loved more than Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. I played barbies daily with my sisters and my neighbors, and I was so happy to have a new barbie to add to the collection. Space Barbie had a maroon and silver shiny body suit, and it was such a perfect barbie for me because when I was in the 3rd grade, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I loved Space Barbie! And my new Cabbage Patch doll was gorgeous. She had red-brown hair, and a light-blue dress with mini pale-pink flowers all over it. That particular Cabbage Patch was perfect, too, because when I saw what her name was, I couldn't believe it. The name on her birth certificate was "Michaela Imelda". My first name is also Michaela, and it was spelled the exact same way. I had never met anyone yet with the exact same name as me, and I loved how it made me feel to have a doll with the exact same spelling as my name! I loved Christmas morning because I was so ecstatic with what Santa had brought me.

Here's my mom's memories of that Christmas season:

In early December, our dryer broke. Money was very tight: dad was going to college, and the only income we had was his army retirement. Dad purchased a new dryer with cash, but then there wasn't enough money left to afford Christmas.

My mother recounts, "I decided we would wait until a couple days before Christmas to buy our tree as they are usually really cheap then. We went to buy the tree in the evening, but there was no attendant there. So we went back the next morning, Christmas Eve day, and the trees had already been loaded on a truck to be hauled away. The man told us that if we had come earlier he would have just given us a tree free, but he couldn't unload the truck. So we went home and I felt awful.

"The Bishop dropped by to see us. He noticed we didn't have a tree. I explained to him what I had done. He went straight to a store and got us a tree. He claims it was free. So we had fun decorating it on Christmas Eve.

"With money being so tight, I had to be careful what we got for Christmas. I had been watching the Cabbage Patch dolls dwindle in the store as I was agonizing over whether I should buy you three girls the dolls or not. They were quite expensive for us in our situation, but I couldn't imagine a Christmas without a doll. Every time I went to the store I had to walk by a display of some darling dolls that talked--they cost nearly $100, and lots of people were buying them. My heart sank every time I had to walk by them.

"I debated about the dolls so long that when I finally decided to go ahead and get the dolls, I had to sort through the display to find dolls with long hair--and to my amazement, there were exactly three dolls left! All the others were baby dolls with not much hair, and they weren't very cute.

"I took the three dolls home and on Christmas Eve I decided which doll should go to which girl. I finished the stacks and sat back to admire my work. Only then did I read the names of the dolls. And the doll for you was named Michaela Imelda. I couldn't believe it!! She was really meant to be your doll. It brought me much happiness that Christmas Eve."

My mom added, "I hope you will always remember that the amount of gifts you give or receive is not important--but the feelings of love behind them. I am so glad you felt we were rich then. We tried to spend more time with you children, and in that way we were rich. But truthfully is was our poorest time. A little girl up the street got one of those talking dolls and brought it to show you girls. Her parents were always working and she was left to fend for herself. I felt we were richer than them because we had each other and love".

Christmas of 1987 was purely magical for me, and it was the Spirit of Christmas that made it such a memorable one. Because of my mother's love, and the generosity of our Bishop, it was a Christmas that will always be remembered.

3rd Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T09:35:00.001-07:00

The Christmas holiday of 1986 was an eventful one for me.

On Christmas Eve, my older half-sister Lisa came to spend the week with us. It was the first Christmas I ever spent with her; she lived in Virginia and I hadn't seen her since we moved away from North Carolina when I was 2. In 1986, she was 19, and I was 7, and I pretty much idolized her from the moment she walked in the door after my dad picked her up from the airport. I liked having an older sister around! Up until then, I was raised as the oldest girl in our family, with two older brothers, and two younger sisters, and so it was a welcome change having Lisa there!

I remember Lisa painted my fingernails while she was with us. It was such a momentous occasion for me because it was the first time I'd ever had that done! I remember wanting her to do my hair while she was there, too. I asked Lisa yesterday what she remembered from that Christmas of 1986, and she said she remembered me banging on her door very early every morning! Which I'm sure that I did--because I do remember wanting to spend every waking minute with her!

On December 30th, Lisa left to return home. I was very sad to see her leave, but I was so grateful for the time she spent with us that Christmas.

Two days later, on New Year's Day, I was in an accident. Dad took me and my older brothers sledding with our friends the Spear's at Mission Park in Spokane that afternoon. Mission Park has a wide hill that's perfect for sledding. The area is visible from the freeway and is close to the waterslide park. On one of the runs down the hill, I decided to ride a plastic sled along with my friend Jessica. She sat in the front, and I sat behind her. Having two people on the sled made us go twice as fast, and we zoomed down the hill. As we approached the bottom, we could see her older brother Ryan. He had just finished his run, stood up, turned around, and was standing there watching us. We were headed straight for him, and he just stood there frozen in place, not knowing what to do. At the last second, Jessica jumped off the sled to avoid hitting her brother, and I just sat there and screamed. Ryan held up his metal runner sled to cover his face, and when my sled hit his feet, he fell towards me and the metal runner on his sled gouged my chin. It was a pretty deep wound, and I remember seeing blood. My dad ran over and picked me up and carried me as he was running to the Volkswagen Bus. He laid me on the backseat and drove me to the hospital, remaining calm and talking to me the whole way. He'd given me a scarf or something to cover my chin, and I held it there the whole time on the car ride. I felt like I was in a dream as we drove, and I was seemingly calm, too. After we arrived at the hospital, they gave me 6 stitches to sew up my chin, where the scar remains today. The Dr. told me that I was very lucky that the wound wasn't an inch lower, or it would've cut through my airway, and that would've been life-threatening.

The Spear's felt terrible, and I remember that night, they came and visited us at our home. They brought goodies and they made Ryan apologize to me. The hardest part about having my chin wound that winter was that I couldn't play outside in the snow until the stitches were removed. So, for over a week, I remember that whenever my siblings went out to play, I just sat at the window and watched them, feeling upset that I was stuck inside!

Sometimes it's the events surrounding Christmas that make it a more memorable one, and in 1986, that definitely was the case! I don't remember much at all about Christmas day itself that year...except for the fact that I got a barbie from Santa. But having Lisa in our home and having my chin cut upon both upstaged the Christmas morning events in my memory!

2nd Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T09:16:00.001-07:00

The second Christmas I remember was the Christmas of 1985, when I was 6 years old. I only have a few vivid memories of it, and it's the only Christmas I ever had at my Grandma Perkins' house.

In August of 1985, our family moved from Lakewood, Colorado to Spokane, Washington. I loved living in Spokane! We lived there for 2 years, and I attended the first and second grades in an elementary school down the street from our home. I had several good friends that lived close by, and I played with them often. Another nice thing about living in Spokane was that we lived closer to my Grandma Perkins. Grandma and Grandpa had a home on Lake Couer d'Alene, which was only about an hour's drive from our house in Spokane.

My dad's sister Candi and her family lived in Boise, and the Christmas of 1985 they came to stay and celebrate it at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake. Because we lived so close, we joined them for the Christmas festivities, too. I only got to see my Aunt Candi and my Crouch cousins once or twice a year, and it was always a treat to be with their family because they were so fun! I remember all of us kids being downstairs in Grandpa's Den that Christmas, and I remember there was something on the big, old T.V. I remember feeling giddy and happy and laughing with my cousins. I could just feel the excitement of Christmas in the air!

I have no idea what gifts I received, or what we ate for dinner, or what was said...but I have never forgotten the joy that I felt that Christmas morning at Grandma's house celebrating with siblings, cousins, parents, and grandparents. Being with extended family on Christmas felt special to me, and that is what I remember the most about that particular Christmas.

1st Day of Christmas Memories

2011-12-18T14:53:00.002-07:00

The first Christmas I have memories of was Christmas of 1983, when I was 4 years old. At that time, we lived in Lakewood Colorado; Lakewood is on the southern outskirts of Denver. We lived there for 4 years, and I remember loving the wintertime there because of the snow. Two of the winters we lived there, the snow was multiple feet deep, and I loved building snow tunnels in the yard with my brothers! I also loved looking out my window at bedtime in the winter, because there was a streetlamp across the street and when it snowed, the falling snowflakes appearing under that light looked like dancers on a stage under the spotlight. It was always a beautiful and mesmerizing sight to behold!

Several days before Christmas that year, my little sister Tawna became very ill. She was only 22 months old. Whenever she breathed, her chest caved in. My parents took her to the hospital, and she was diagnosed with Croupe with Strider and was hospitalized at the Fitzsimmons Medical Center which was located on the army base in Aurora (on the northern outskirts of Denver). My littlest sister Tabbi was only 3 months old at that time, and my mom was nursing her, so my mom stayed home with the baby, me, and my two older brothers each day. Once a day, her and my dad went to visit Tawna in the evening for just a short time in the hospital, so she could return home to feed Tabbi. It was a very cold winter, and the temperatures were below zero every single day, so they didn't want to take the baby out in the cold with them to the hospital. We only had one vehicle, an orange Volkswagen bus, and it was having difficulties starting due to the extreme cold, so it became necessary to borrow a neighbor's car to make the daily trip to the hospital.

On Christmas Eve, we all went together as a family to go visit Tawna in the hospital. I remember walking in the hospital, and going to visit her in her room. She was sitting on a hospital crib inside a giant plastic tent, holding a blankie. She looked so weird to me being inside that plastic tent. I didn't know how to act, or what to say, or what to do. I didn't like being in the hospital, and I wanted to go home. I don't remember how long we visited, but it wasn't longer than an hour or two.

On Christmas morning, Santa came to our home and we got to play with the gifts that he brought. I got a play cook-stove from him that year, and I loved playing with it. But we were forbidden to open any of the other presents under the tree until Tawna came home from the hospital. My dad explained to all of us in a family meeting on Christmas Eve that we would wait for Tawna to be released from the hospital to celebrate Christmas, so that she could be a part of it, too. I remember crying because I had to wait to see what awaited me inside the wrapped gifts! Thankfully, two days after Christmas, Tawna was released from the hospital, and we got to all be together to open the remaining gifts.

That Christmas felt different; instead of being full of happiness, I felt a lot of sadness. As a 4-year-old, it was difficult to comprehend everything that was happening. I was sad that my sister was sick, I was sad that she had to be alone in a plastic tent, I was sad that I had to wait to open presents, and I was sad that we couldn't all be together on Christmas Day.

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

In the last two years, every December I've done "25 Days of Christmas" blog posts. Each day I highlighted a different person in my life and shared with my readers the positive aspects and characteristics of that individual and happy memories I've had with them. If you are interested in reading about the 50 people I've highlighted, click on "25 Days of Christmas" under "labels" in the right-hand column of my blog.

Well, back in October, I began thinking about what I would do this year for my "25 Days of Christmas", and I decided it was time for a change--mostly because I knew I didn't have the time to invest in doing blog posts each day like I used to now that I'm working full-time. So, I came up with an idea of posting one memory of a Christmas in my life for each of the 25 days leading up to Christmas. But once I started thinking about the 32 Christmases I've celebrated in my life, I didn't think that I could remember specific things about 25 of them! So, when I was thinking about it in November, I decided to revise that plan, and cut it back to just 12 Days of Christmas memories. I wanted to begin blogging about it on December 13, so that it would be all done on Christmas Eve. But this last week of my life has been hellacious to say the least, and I didn't have the time to start doing it...until now.

Even though my plans have changed several times, and it's not what I originally intended it to be, I'm still going to move forward with my 12 Days of Christmas memories posts, beginning tomorrow. Each day, for 12 days, I'm going to talk about a memory I have of a Christmas in my life, and why I remember it so well. It's a little bit like the Christmas Carol story--I'm excited to share with you the memories I currently have, so that perhaps in the Spirit of Christmases to Come, I will be able to better remember and reflect on the Spirit of Christmas' Past!

A home-stay Thanksgiving day

2011-12-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

In our 13 years of marriage, we've never hosted Thanksgiving dinner...until this year. When we first moved into this home 18 months ago, I really envisioned us hosting dinner parties and entertaining guests in it; it has the perfect floor plan for it, and we've never been able to do that in our previous houses. I've been trying to take advantage of my home by doing just that, so I offered to host Thanksgiving this year, and my invitation was gladly accepted by Josh's family.

We all divided the food responsibilities. Josh and I were in charge of making the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pies. Josh's mom brought ham, salad, rolls, and drinks. Scott made fruit pies, Gideon made salad and yams, and Barb brought salad, ice cream, and lil smokies.

The day before Thanksgiving, we were out of school, so we cleaned the house, got extra chairs, and did last-minute food preparations. We thawed the turkey, and Josh decided he would be in charge of cooking it. He also wanted to cook the red potatoes from our garden (he makes a mean batch of mashed potatoes). I was in charge of making pumpkin pies, pumpkin cheesecake, turkey gravy, and stuffing. It was nice having Josh do so much to help in the kitchen. On Thanksgiving morning, he woke up early and got the turkey in the oven and we worked together on peeling and cutting the potatoes. Everything went smoothly, and the food was cooked by the time we planned on dinner. We ate about 1:00. We had 24 people in our home, and the dinner was superb!

After dinner, we watched home videos and played wii games all afternoon and evening. It was very fun!

The next morning, we put on our winter clothes and headed out in the fresh snow to go get a Christmas tree in the mountains a couple of miles from our home. The boys had been out sledding around our house, so they decided to bring along their sleds on our excursion, too. Although the sledding wasn't the greatest idea on the steep slope covered in trees, the tree-hunting was successful, and in just an hour, we had picked out and cut the biggest/fullest Christmas tree we've ever had! Getting our tree has become one of my favorite annual winter family traditions!

That afternoon, we had game time and crafts at our home. I love playing group games! We laughed and had such a great time together! We played Apples to Apples, Scruples, and the dice/100 game.

After the adults were done playing games, Alyssa brought out an edible turkey craft for the kids to make and eat. They were so cute!

On Friday night, we went and saw the Parade of Lights on Main Street. It was freezing, but the parade was the best I've seen yet in Salmon. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but there was candy thrown, and it kept the kids active, and we all went home happy.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Cheerleader's Bazaar. I haven't been to it for 4 years, and it's really grown since then! We bought some fudge and cheese and wandered around visiting with people who were shopping there, too. Afterwards, Tiffany's family and Gideon's family left to return to their homes.

Saturday afternoon, Ammon went with Malachi to the Forsgren's house in Stanley to spend the night, and Josh and the boys headed there the next morning to see cousin Erick at his mission farewell at the Stanley church.

It was a very full weekend, but one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever. It was nice to have all of Josh's immedate family there, and I loved being able to host it in my own home!

{snow} what a beautiful morning!

2011-12-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, we woke up to discover snow! It was the first major snowfall we've received this fall. The boys were so excited! When Kanyon looked out the window, he announced that Christmas had arrived!

Usually, Friday mornings around our house are noisy and unhappy because during the school year, Friday is our chore day. On chore day, each of the boys has to clean their room, and the three older boys have a room in the house that they have to clean, too. The three of them rotate between cleaning the Family Room, the Living Room, and their Bathroom. So, on Fridays, the boys are whining about having to do chores or arguing over who's supposed to clean what room or fighting over who gets to play the wii first after chores are done. The entire morning is usually spent this way.

But on this particular Friday morning, they saw the snow. And it was magical--instead of their usual fighting and complaining, they ate breakfast, hurry and did their chores, and got all their outdoor clothes on to go out and play in the snow. They were like different boys that morning! They played outside in the magical white stuff for hours, only coming in to take food and hot cocoa breaks. It was so pleasant for me to not have to listen to all the chaotic noise in the house all morning and afternoon!

When Josh came home after work that afternoon, he helped the boys build a snowman until dinner time, using shovels and a garbage can. It was the perfect kind of snow for building one, and they were all so proud of the man they created together out of the snow!

When I think about that magical day, the words to a song come to my mind.."Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day..." Thank you, snow! Thank you for the peace you brought to my home, and for the fun you brought to my boys!

Happy Birthday, Darling

2011-12-09T09:36:00.001-07:00

After my fun birthday river rafting trip this summer, we wanted to up the anty and do something extraordinary for Josh's birthday in November, too. So, back in August, John, Amanda, and I began planning a trip to Boise to see a BSU game for his birthday. The only game that was going to work for us to go to was the game against TCU, and the cheapest tickets we could find were in the end zone, and they were $100 each. Josh did NOT want us to spend that much money on tickets. So, I decided to wait until a website opened up their site for selling tickets at a cheaper rate in September. By the time I got to that website on the date that the tickets opened up, they were completely sold out. So, we decided that we would still go to Boise, but we'd just go watch the game in a sports bar, and we could do other fun things while there, too. When November actually arrived, however, our schedules got all complicated, and it became apparent that the four of us (Josh, Amanda, John, and I) wouldn't be able to all go to Boise together. So, the week before Josh's birthday, we changed plans.

Josh's birthday was on a Monday, and the night of his birthday, he had meetings all night. We didn't celebrate at all on his actual birth date, except for singing to him that morning and telling him what we loved about him at the dinner table that evening. We didn't begin celebrating until Thursday. The boys gave him their gifts that evening: a yard gnome, pumpkin reese's, cologne, and summer sauge. Then I gave him my first gift: a steak dinner at a local restaurant.

On Friday, I got a babysitter, and I took him to Idaho Falls for an overnight retreat. We went to dinner at Chili's, and then got hour-long massages for two. I had never had an hour-long, full-body massage before but it was divine! Josh and I were in the same room, and it was so relaxing and peaceful! Then I took him to a themed Bed and Breakfast suite. We stayed in the Hawaii room, which was complete with a TV Projector and a giant screen, a jacuzzi tub, and a cascading ceiling shower. It was very nice!

On Saturday, we went to the Idaho Falls temple together. It was very peaceful and calming. We ate lunch at Costa Vida afterwards, and we did some shopping, too, where I bought him his last birthday gift from me: shoe racks for his closet!

On Sunday, it was his final day of birthday celebrations: I made him a pumpkin cheesecake, and he opened gifts from his parents. And even though his birthday wasn't what we had originally planned, we both had a great time! Working full-time afforded me the opportunity to do something great for him this year, which is the first time I've ever gone all-out for his birthday. I was glad for a chance to escape regular life overnight! And I think he enjoyed being treated like a king for a few days, too!

Crops and Canning

2011-12-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

We've had a big harvest year for our crops, and I think I've done more canning and preserving this year than I ever have! These are the products of our 2011 garden:

It all started in July, with the rhubarb. We have three plants that didn't grow very well, but I got a TON from my neighbor, and started making rhubarb everything! My favorite was this...I cooked rhubarb in some water and sugar, and it created a delicious dip that I loved putting on wheat thins covered in cream cheese!

And I tried canning some rhubarb jam, too. I don't love it as much as other jams (or as other rhubarb recipes either), but I'm proud of myself for trying something new!

In August, it was fruit-picking time for cherries, apricots, and apples. Our cherry tree was ripe at the end of July, and at the beginning of August I picked several bowls of cherries to make some cherry pie filling. Halfway through the first batch, I noticed some little white worms inside the cherries, so I quit making it altogether. I was really sad about it because cherry pie filling is so easy to make and I'd already used up all of last year's filling I made. But...that same afternoon, I found a wild apricot tree growing down the lane. So Josh and I picked every apricot off that tree to fill a gallon bucket, and I brought them home and made my first-ever Apricot Preserves. And I LOVE it!!! It was so redeeming to make it and I quickly got over the wormy cherries! I can't wait for my two apricot trees that Josh gave me for Mother's Day to grow fruit so I can make more of this in years to come!

Our translucent apple tree only grows fruit every other year, and this was one of those years! There were tons of apples on it, and they were beautiful! I made 35 quarts and 25 pints of applesauce with them! I worked on doing it for 3 days, and was so happy to see my 60 jars of completed sauce!

Some of the apples were bigger than any we've ever grown before! In fact, we had a lot of giant crops this year... This is the largest translucent apple with an average-sized Yukon Gold Potato we grew.

And here's that same large apple with one of the biggest Yukon Gold Potatoes we grew:

In August, September, and October, we picked potatoes. We planted two long rows of three different varieties: Yukon Gold, Red, and Russet. We've never had such a big and beautiful crop of them! We picked and ate, picked and ate, picked and ate! And at the end of October, we still had 4 burlap bags full of them! The boys loved digging them up, it was like finding buried treasure!

In October, it was time to pick and preserve corn, carrots, onions, pears, and red apples. We planted two very long rows of corn, and had a great crop! We ate corn on the cob in September for about three weeks, and then we picked all the rest for freezing. Half of it we gave away to a friend, and we still had 30 quarts of it!

Our Indian corn grew as tall as ever! Josh is 6'1", and the corn stalk was over 2 feet taller than him! We got lots of variety of color off the decorative corn this year. It was always fun to reveal what was under the husk! We sold most of it at the Pumpkin Patch, and then we used the rest as decorations in our home.

We had a lot of carrots grow, but they grew wide instead of long. We used them in several recipes, then I chopped and froze the rest.

We started picking onions in September, and picked them in 3 rounds. I picked them, laid them outside on a table to dry for a few weeks, then brought them inside, and cleaned them up to prepare them for cooking. Then repeated the process all over again.

Our pear tree had a great yield, and our red apple tree had the best crop ever! I made 6 jars of Spiced Apple/Pear freezer jam, and then I ran out of jars. Unfortunately, the remainder of my pears rotted before I could do anything else with them, and half the remaining apples rotted, too. I've been making Apple Crisp every week now trying to use up the rest of the red apples.

In October, November, and December, I worked on processing pumpkin. I made 21 freezer bags of it, but I've already used 8 of those bags making pies and cheesecakes with it!

For 5 months, I've been working on canning our crops! And I am so glad to finally announce that I am DONE!!! Until next year...

Costumes and Carvings

2011-12-03T10:32:00.001-07:00

Halloween felt sort of uneventful this year compared to other Halloweens in the past. We only got dressed up twice: once for the ward Halloween party, and once for the actual holiday itself. We didn't dress up as a family to go along with a common theme this year like we've done before. Instead, the day before and the day of the party, we all just picked random costumes to wear that we already had. So, I guess that also made it the cheapest Halloween we've had yet!

Micah wanted to be either a vampire or Elvis this year. He ended up being dracula:

Kanyon wanted to be Spiderman. Wish granted! The twins wore this same costume 2 years ago:

Jonah wanted to be a zombie. Thankfully, we had a costume to fit his wants; this was a costume Ammon wore 3 years ago:

Ammon said he wasn't going to even dress up this year, and he said he didn't want to go trick-or-treating either. But, the day of the ward party, I finally convinced him to dress up. He chose to be a ghost. Then I painted his face white, added a white feather boa around his head, and picked out some white gloves. He went as "Einstein's Ghost". Pretty clever, I'd say!

I had worn black all day to school the same day we'd had the ward party because it was "Black out Drugs" day for Red Ribbon Week. So I threw on a pirate's hat, and some silver accessories, and went to the ward party as a "Pirate's Wife".

Josh wasn't going to dress up either, but minutes before we left to go to the party, he decided he didn't want to be the only member of our family to NOT dress up, so he came up with this Golfer's outfit last minute, and I thought he did a pretty good job of it!!

The night before Halloween, we carved all our pumpkins. Josh picked the 111 lb. one to carve, and all the boys picked 40+ lb. ones out of the patch to carve, too. Mine was a green, regular-size one, but compared to the others, it looked tiny!

Josh carved a fleur d'lis sign on his because his favorite team is the New Orleans Saints and that's their symbol. I carved a music note into my pumpkin. For the boys' pumpkins, I had some examples of jack-o-lantern faces on a Halloween decoration, and I had the boys each look at the faces, and tell me which one they liked and would want carved on their pumpkin. They all picked different faces, and I carved them all using one kitchen knife. We've never bought a pumpkin carving kit or carving tools, and I'm proud to say that I can still do it the old-fashioned way! I thought they all turned out great!

On Halloween, I wore a different costume all day to school. I painted my face green, wore a witch's hat, a music shirt, a black skirt, and black heels. I was a "witchy musical teacher". During my first period class, a boy walked in, took one look at my costume, and said "that costume is fitting for you". I laughed so hard! It was exactly the reason why I picked it!!

Halloween itself felt like a marathon. Jonah and Micah had their costume parade and class party in the afternoon, then I took the 3 younger boys to the Merchant's trick-or-treating on Main Street for an hour after school and their buckets got filled with candy, then we all went to the Halloween Carnival at the school. Ammon and I volunteered in booths almost the entire time (2 1/2 hours), and the boys went around doing all the activities and getting prizes and candy at it. Then Josh took the 3 younger boys trick-or-treating at some of our friends' homes and around the neighborhood, while Ammon and I stayed at the Carnival to work until it was over. Then we all came home, had Family Home Evening, and for dessert we ate the cupcakes and cake the boys won at the cake walk before heading to bed!

I just LOVE Halloween! It's in my favorite season, and I love the harvest smells and sights, and the cooler weather. I love Halloween decorations, and I love any chance to dress up! The boys like it because they get loads of candy (that they're STILL eating even now). And it's fun for all us doing pumpkin growing, selling, and carving!

Fall 2011 Top Ten

2011-12-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

Fall is over! It's my favorite season of the year, and it went by in a flash this year. Working full-time really makes time pass so quickly, and I feel like I don't have enough time to enjoy all the small things in life as much anymore. But, I'm grateful for my Top 10 Lists, because they MAKE me take notice and enjoy some of the little things that happen in each season of the year! Here's my Fall 2011 Top Ten List--9 out of 10 items got accomplished!

1. Watch Ammon's football games.

This was his second year of playing the sport. He is a fabulous player, and we all had so much fun attending his games!

2. Celebrate Jonah and Micah's birthdays.

We celebrated their special day for about a week, and they were so happy!

3. Attend Jonah and Micah's baptism and family get-together.

Their baptism was such a wonderful occasion, and we felt blessed and spiritually uplifted!

4. Harvest the garden.

We had the best yield on our crops this year than we've ever had!

5. Sell pumpkins in the patch.

We were open for 3 weekends, and only had 20 pumpkins left at the end of the 500 we started with!

6. Go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

This is the first year that Ammon didn't go, but I took the 3 younger boys, and they got a lot of candy! We went trick-door-treating at the ward party and we went to the Merchant's Trick-or-Treating on Main Street in Salmon on Halloween.

7. Party for Josh's birthday.

Although the celebrations weren't what we originally planned, Josh still got treated like a king for his birthday!

8. Play in the leaves.

The leaves stayed on the trees until November. They fell rather quickly, and then it snowed...so we only had two days of playing in the leaves this year.

9. Go 4-wheeling in the mountains.
I envisioned riding ATV's as a family in the mountains on trails we've never been on and looking at the beautiful changing colors of the leaves on the trees. I really wanted to do this, but unfortunately, it didn't happen...

10. Host Thanskgiving dinner.

This was the first year since Josh and I were married that we hosted Thanksgiving in our house. And I loved it--it was one my favorite Thanksgivings of my adult life!

Live & Love Life 365 (November)

2011-11-30T23:23:00.001-07:00

Day 305: Josh made dinner tonight, then he helped the twins with their school magnet projects, and then he went to Ammon's Parent Teacher Conference all just to free up time for me to get my own projects done that I'm behind on. I love him so much and I'm so grateful for his kindness!

Day 306: Josh, Kerry, and I went to Idaho Falls this afternoon to participate in the "Scratch for Schools" lottery. We won $165 for the elementary school, and we had fun, too!!!

Day 307: I watched old TV episodes of "Top Chef" and a chick flick in bed this evening. I was somewhat depressed after school, and after dinner, I put myself to bed. I'm so grateful for DVR, because the shows kept my mind off more stressful things, and I felt better after several hours.

Day 308: I worked most of the day at home for my golf course job, and it felt good to get things accomplished for it that I've been needing to do for a month! John took me out for a late lunch this afternoon for a break, and we had good conversation! After dinner, I took the boys to Family Fun Night at the Sacajawea Center put on as a fundraiser for the Alt School. The boys had a great time, and I was glad we went. Then tonight, Amanda and John and I went to see the movie "Moneyball" in the theater and sang karaoke after. The movie was inspirational and good, and we sang new songs at karaoke and had a good time together!

Day 309: Josh and Ammon went to Pocatello for the Salmon football playoff game, and I stayed home with the three younger boys. I played Super Mario Brothers on the wii with them for a while, and we had fun doing it! Then tonight, I took down all the Halloween decorations and put out the Thanksgiving decorations. I love decorating my home for holidays! It makes me happy!

Day 310: Because of Daylight Savings ending today, I got to sleep in a whole extra hour! I was so overjoyed!!! Tonight we watched Amazing Race together as a family; I just love watching that show! I made home-made seasoned popcorn for us as we watched, and it was yummy!

Day 311: Today was Josh's birthday, and even though we were unable to celebrate today due to work all day and meetings all night, the boys and I serenaded him while he was still in bed this morning! And then at the dinner table this evening, we all talked about things we love about him. I sure love that man!!!

Day 312: I found a remote that goes to my CD player at school, and it has really helped me be a teacher. It's amazing how a simple remote can make such a difference in my day. I've been wishing I had one ever since I took this job last year, and I found it over this past weekend in a bag stuffed in a drawer with all the manuals. I'm SO thankful I found it!!!

Day 313: I love watching Top Chef, and I'm so grateful a new season is airing on TV again. I watched the new episode tonight, then watched old reruns of music from GLEE episodes. DVR is definitely my friend!

Day 314: We finally started celebrating Josh's birthday tonight. The boys and I wrapped his gifts, gave them to him after he came home from work, and then I took Josh out for a birthday dinner at Bertrams. He had steak and mashed potatoes, and I ordered some pumpkin cheesecake for him, too. I had a bad day at school today, but I loved celebrating his birthday with him and my family tonight!

Day 315: Josh and I went to Idaho Falls this afternoon for an overnight stay that I gifted him for his birthday. We each got hour-long massages simultaneously at the massage school, and it was my first hour-long one ever! They were so relaxing! We ate dinner at Chili's and then we spent the night at the Destinations Inn in the Hawaii room!

Day 316: Josh and I went to the Idaho Falls temple today and did a session. Then we did some shopping and had lunch at Costa Vida. I LOVE eating there!! After we got home this evening, we went out with Amanda and John and karaoke and danced. It was a peaceful day and I had a spectacular night dancing with Josh!

Day 317: We ate the pumpkin cheesecake I made for Josh's birthday dessert after dinner today. It was the last of our week-long celebrations for his birthday. It was so yummy! The kids have been dying all week to have some! On Thursday, Kanyon even included in his dinner prayer to "bless daddy to like his cheesecake"!

Day 318: I had an awesome class today at school--my last class of the day with 2nd graders. They were the most perfect class that I've ever had. They listened when I talked, they obeyed when I gave them directions, they were kind and polite and nobody ever had to be scolded or reminded to do something. It was like a dream for a teacher! It's never happened before and it made me so happy!

Day 319: I was able to use my digital projector and new laptop this morning for the first time at work! I used it for the 5th graders' lesson and I loved it!

Day 320: I worked all evening making soup and pumpkin cheesecake for teacher's birthday treats to take to work tomorrow. I was glad that I was able to be home all night so that I could get everything done that I needed to!

Day 321: I went with Amanda to the midnight premier of "Twilight: Breaking Dawn" tonight at the theater in Salmon. It was my favorite Twilight movie yet! We had such a great time! Before the movie, we went over to John's house, and he fed us Tomato Bell Pepper soup and it was SO delicious!

Day 322: Today was the most pleasant Friday I've had in a long time. It snowed 2 inches during the night, so when the boys woke up, they were SO excited to see snow! They played outside in it all morning, and they got along, too!!! They made a snowman with Josh this evening in the backyard, too!

Day 323: We went to Amanda's tonight and Josh and I got our {much needed} haircuts. We sat around with John and Amanda's brother Billy and his wife. We giggled and chatted and ate, and then we decided to have Amanda wax us. I got my feet done, Xandi got her eyebrows done, and Josh and John got their upper arms done. It was so enjoyable to be together and try something new!

Day 324: Josh was called to be in the new Elder's Quorum Presidency today. He is 1st counselor again. As he got set apart after church, I felt so peaceful and surreal. I enjoyed feeling the spirit.

Day 325: I loved showing Thanksgiving youtube videos to my classes at school today. We had so much fun in music!

Day 326: Today was the end of my 2-day work week, and I am so glad...I need a break from school!

Day 327: We cleaned the house all day getting it ready for Thanksgiving here tomorrow. Josh was a great help and we got so much accomplished! It feels so awesome to be inside a clean house!

Day 328: We hosted our first Thanksgiving ever today! Josh made the turkey and mashed potatoes, I made the stuffing and gravy and pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Kathy brought ham, rolls, salad, and drinks, Scott brought cherry and apple pies, Gid brought yams and salad, and Barb brought ice cream, salad, and little weenie wraps. Dinner was SO delicious!!! The turkey was cooked perfectly, the mashed potatoes were made with the red potatoes from our garden, and the gravy turned out so good! It was the most peaceful and relaxing Thanksgiving we've had in many years. After dinner, we all sat around watching home-movies and then played the wii together. It was just an amazing day!

Day 329: We got our Christmas tree this morning. We went with members of Josh's family to cut it down. It's a gorgeous and full tree! Josh picked it out and he did great! This afternoon, we played games with Josh's siblings and we had such a fun time! We played Scruples and Apples to Apples and the Dice #100 game. This evening, we saw the Parade of Lights on Salmon's Main Street, and it was the best one I've seen yet. I just loved today!

Day 330: Josh's siblings left today to go home, and the house seemed so quiet. We had the missionaries over for dinner, and they played Uno with us while we waited for dessert. Then tonight, Amanda and John came over for cheesecake and we played Scruples. Being with Josh, Amanda, and John always feels like home to me. I love my friends!

Day 331: I went for a day trip to Boise today with John and Amanda. We sang the entire car ride down and most of the way home! I love singing and harmonizing with them!

Day 332: Josh was home for Family Home Evening tonight, which is rare because he usually is gone to meetings. I'm so happy when we can all play and be together at FHE!

Day 333: Josh put the lights on the Christmas tree today while I was at school, and I'm so glad! I am the one who usually puts the lights on it, and it was so nice of him to do it for me this year!

Day 334: I do not like Wednesdays at school. The things that made me happy today all happened tonight after I got home from my long day...Josh had made dinner, I played wii with Kanyon, I got some laundry done, and I made some more pumpkin puree.

Do you know the Pumpkin Man?

2011-11-23T21:35:00.015-07:00

I am married to a miracle grower. Josh has a green thumb, and is so good at growing plants! He's the reason why our grass is green and our bushes are perfectly shaped, and why our garden and pumpkin patch are so bounteous. He amazes me with his ability to make things grow...because I am so bad at it!

This is the third year that we've grown a pumpkin patch. This year, we started working in it in May. Josh rototilled the area:

And the boys picked rocks out of the soil:

And then we planted our pumpkin seeds, and the vegetable garden around the perimeter of the pumpkin patch:

This spring, Josh built new sprinkler stands out of recycled mower blades so that as the pumpkin leaves grew, the sprinklers would be taller and be more effective in watering the pumpkin patch more evenly than in years' past.

The watering system worked great! By July, this is what the pumpkin patch looked like:

We worked together weeding it every week, and Josh did all the watering throughout the summer. By August, it looked like this:

Because of the warm weather we had so late into the early fall, by September some of our pumpkins were already turning orange. We began picking the ripe ones off the vines and putting them in storage in sheds. We grew 5 varieties of pumpkins, and I loved how colorful they looked together in the shed!

We opened for business the last 3 weekends in October. We were open Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 5pm. We were blessed with really beautiful weather every day we were open! The pumpkin patch is a family project that we all work on together, and it's a good way to teach the boys how to work. Ammon mows lawns for people in the summer to earn money for his mission/college savings, so Jonah and Micah currently earn all the profits from the pumpkin patch for their mission/college savings. That's why I decided to call it the "Lil' Munchkins' Patch of Pumpkins" because it's all for our sons.

We grew about 500 pumpkins in the 1/4 acre patch. The weekend before we opened, we picked all the rest of the pumpkins off the vines and put them in piles in the patch and covered them before the first hard frost. Due to weather conditions, however, we had to throw about 100 away because they became rotten. It was unexpected, and we were saddened that we had to do that; we'd never had so many rotten pumpkins before. Because it stayed so warm so long this fall, we had to keep watering the vegetable garden along the perimeter of the patch, and since the pumpkin's leaves were so giant this year, the soil in a section of the patch was very damp, and the pumpkins sat too long in it, and they began having rot spots which spread through the pumpkin.

The friday morning of our opening weekend, we took the pumpkins out of the piles and spread them all over the patch. It was such a beautiful site to see all the pumpkins laying in the field!

Each year we are open, I like to add something new to the patch. Last year, we added the haybale maze. Edward (my father-in-law) built a new maze for us again this year! It's fun for the kids to run around in play in!

This year, there were a few additions to the patch. At the check-out area, we sold pumpkin pies that I'd made with pumpkins from the patch, and customers played a guessing game to win candy prizes for correctly guessing the weight of the largest 3 pumpkins we grew.

The largest pumpkin was 111 pounds! That's our biggest pumpkin we've grown yet! This is a photo of the biggest and tiniest pumpkin together!

And here's a photo of the boys hanging around the ginormous pumpkin!

Another new addition to the patch was the cinderella pumpkin carriage backdrop that I created. After stressing over the project for weeks, I was happy with the final product!

And we still had the guessing game where if you can guess the weight of your own pumpkin with 1 pound, you get 50 cents off. People were so excited when they guessed right! And we still had a seating area for families to take photos in. This year, we made it out of straw bales instead of regular benches:

We had really great sales this year. We piled the pumpkins into piles in the field each Saturday night until the following Friday, when we'd spread them all out in the field again.

By the final weekend we were open, we'd sold a majority of the pumpkins and the field starting looking more empty rather than mostly full:

And by the last weekend, sales had slowed down, so the boys and I spent a lot of alone time in the patch. To fill the the time, they played different activities. Jonah and Micah played in the wagons and wheelbarrows that they used to help carry pumpkins to customers' cars.

Ammon liked to hit some of the rotten ones with a golf club:

And Kanyon liked playing the nintendo by himself at the house when the rest of us were in the patch! Once in a while, he came down to visit and during one slow time when all four boys were around, I coerced them letting me take their picture!

When closing time came on the last day we were open, we only had 20 pumpkins left of the 400 that we could sell. We were so happy with sales this year! It was enjoyable for all of us! All of my favorite pumpkins in the patch got sold. I love funky pumpkins!

We only had one tall pumpkin this, which are Josh's favorite. Here's the Pumpkin grower with the tallest one we grew:

I love butt-crack pumpkins, and this year we had two:

This one was so adorable, it was all flat and bent over, and it looked to me like a kid pouting in time out!

This white one was in the shape of an apple! It was so unique!

We are already looking forward to next year's patch, and we're already talking about new ideas to include! We love doing the pumpkin patch! It's a great family project and it is so much fun!

We Three Sing

2011-11-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

I love to sing.

And I love to be with my friends John and Amanda.

About once a month (sometimes more, sometimes less), I get to combine both loves, when my friends and I go sing karaoke together!!! Half the time, Josh comes too (he doesn't sing, but he sure can dance!!!), and when he joins us, the night feels perfectly complete!

The three of us love to harmonize with each other, and there's songs that we've found that match our different voices well as duets, so there's some songs Amanda and I sing, some that John and Amanda sing together, and other songs that John and I sing. There's also certain songs that we can ALL sing together, and we sing them quite often because we've learned 3-part harmonies for them, like: Landslide, Suds in the Bucket, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Rolling in the Deep, and I Think We're Alone Now.

John is the High School music teacher and every year in the fall, he puts together the Salmon Idol competition as a fundraiser for the music department. He needed a special musical number for the Junior Show this year to fill time while the judges were tabulating scores, so he convinced Amanda and I to join him in singing one. I wanted us to sing a song that would be very easy for us to learn because I was already pretty busy and didn't think I could memorize a new song, so I requested that we sing Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now". Thankfully, Amanda and John agreed with my suggestion, so we began practicing.

We edited and shortened the song, then we decided who was going to sing which solo parts, then we practiced all our 3-part harmonies individually and collectively. After we had the singing down, we began choreographing dance moves ourselves. This took us several hours and a few practices to get, because we changed our movements multiple times. After the singing and dancing were all decided, then we discussed our costumes. We decided to go with an early 90's theme: John dressed in a turquoise and hot pink track suit, Amanda donned the rainbow-striped sweater, and I wore faded denim and a KISS t-shirt.

In the middle of October, the day finally came for the Salmon Idol performance. Amanda and I got our hair done at the salon she works at, then she did both of our make-up and touched up our hair, and then we got ourselves in costume. We looked ridiculous!!! We couldn't stop laughing--we were so giddy!

I can't remember the last time I had my hair ratted so big, or the last time I wore blue eyeshadow, or had red blush on my cheeks...perhaps not since the 90's?!!!

The Salmon Idol show is now divided between a Jr. Show and a Sr. Show. The Jr. Show is for ages 14 and under, and the Sr. Show is for ages 15 and up. We performed at the half-way point of the Jr. Show, so by 5:30, our performance was done and we could enjoy the remainder of the shows.

I was so proud of the three of us! We all remembered our choreography, and we had such a fun time performing! I've competed in the Idol show for 3 years, but this time I loved everything about being on the stage, because I didn't have to stress about being judged!

Double Baptism

2011-11-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

Jonah and Micah's baptism day was the first Saturday in October. As a family, we'd been preparing for and looking forward to the special day for weeks! Jonah and Micah were so excited to finally be baptized! And we were so proud of them for making the choice to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The baptism service was so wonderful! Josh's sister Tiffany played the piano, and my sister Trina led the music. My dad gave the talk on Baptism, and Josh's dad gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. And my mom and Josh's mom gave prayers. Amanda and I sang a duet, John played the flute, and Josh played the piano for the song "I am a Child of God". Josh baptized and confirmed both boys.

Jonah was baptized first...

and Micah was confirmed first.

After the baptismal service was over, we hosted a dinner at our home for family and friends. Even though there wasn't a lot of people in attendance, we sure enjoyed the company of our family and friends who did come. It was a special day, not just for Jonah and Micah, but for all of us!

Little Savage Pride

2011-11-05T12:46:00.000-06:00

Ammon played football this fall for the 2nd year. He plays in the Little Savage football league, which includes 5th and 6th grade boys. There were two teams again this year, and he was assigned to the orange team. Last year he was on the black team, and there was only one other boy who was on his team this year that was also on his team last year. So this year, he was basically competing against his previous teammates! He liked his team, and he liked his coaches, too. He was just so happy to be able to play football again!!! He loves this sport!

He started out the season as a Receiver and a Defensive End. The season was 7 weeks long. Practices were every day for 1 and a half hours, except for the days that they had games. During their season, they played 8 games: 6 against each other, and 2 against a team from Anaconda, Montana. A few weeks into the season, the coach changed Ammon's positions to Linebacker and Fullback. Ammon loved playing the Linebacker position because he liked tackling players and sacking the quarterback, and he was great at it, too!!!

His team only won one game this year, but they were great ball players, and it was so fun to sit in the bleachers and watch them play their hearts out! I was so proud of him for all of his great sportsmanship and for the way he handled the ball and tackled the players!

The only two times that I didn't enjoy watching them play was when we played against the Anaconda teams. They play unfairly, their coach is rude, their players are disrespectful, and they took the fun right out of the game. I was so disgusted; I even got into a heated argument with one of the players and his mothers at one of the games...

During Ammon's football games, the younger boys would run around and play with their friends, Josh would usually help on the sidelines, and I would sit in the stands and cheer for the players and chat with the other moms. They were happy nights for all of us!!!

The second to the last game against the Salmon black team, our orange team finally won! It was so exciting for all of us! Josh even took our family out afterwards to celebrate the momentous occasion!

The last home game of the season was played under the lights, with an announcer calling the plays over the loudspeaker, and the scoreboard was all lit up. It was homecoming week, too, and the little savages were all pumped up!!! Unfortunately, that was one very long and cold and rainy night! We all came home frozen!!!

Ammon's last football game of this season was played against the poor-sport Anaconda team. The other team played dirty, but our boys stayed strong and scored two touchdowns. Despite the other teams rude antics and giant sizes and higher score, our boys came out the true winners of the game with smiles on their faces!

Congratulations Ammon on an awesome season! We are so proud of you and your team! We look forward to next year's team when all the 7th graders will be playing together instead of against each other!

Live & Love Life 365 (October)

2011-11-02T23:33:00.002-06:00

Day 274: Today was the twins' baptism. It was so peaceful and wonderful and nice! The program was perfect, the food was yummy, and the company was pleasant! I was so happy with how it turned out! Tonight I saw "The Help" in the theater with Amanda and John, we ate cheesecake afterwards, and Josh joined us for dancing and karaoke! I truly enjoyed the whole day!

Day 275: I enjoyed listening to General Conference today. I felt inspired and some of the talks really touched my spirit. I'm grateful for the opportunity to see and hear the General Authorities speak! This afternoon, I finished canning freezer corn. I now have 30 quarts of it made from 150 ears of corn. And that wasn't even half our crop! I love the harvest season, and it feels especially bounteous this year, for which I am so thankful!

Day 276: I had a great work day at school. I got to walk with Amanda tonight around the track while the boys played together outside. And FHE was pleasant tonight.

Day 277: The last song on Glee tonight was just brilliant! I DVR'd the show and watched it after the boys went to bed, and I rewound it and watched the ending song 5 times--I loved it that much!

Day 278: I usually do not like Wednesdays at school; they are my hardest day. But I managed to stay composed the whole day and I was very proud of myself! After school, I did errands for an hour until Jonah and Micah were done with their first scout meeting. They were so excited to go! I was so happy that they were so happily anticipating it! Tonight was Ammon's last football game against the black team. They played at a later time, under the stadium lights and the scoreboard was lit up and an announcer called the plays over the PA. It was raining the whole time, and we were all wet and freezing, but Ammon had a great game and I was so proud of him for all his tackles and ball carries. After the boys went to bed tonight, I watched "Steel Magnolias" and cried, and it felt good to let out the tears. And when Josh came home late tonight after being gone for 3 days, I was so glad!

Day 279: Today began a 4-day weekend, and I was glad to not have to school. I have so much I have to accomplish this weekend, and I had a large agenda for today. But three things that weren't on my list of things to do, that I did, actually made the happiest: I ate a hamburger lunch at the high school, I put out my halloween decorations this afternoon, and I watched TV with John tonight.

Day 280: We went to the Homecoming parade today and watched Ammon go by with the Little Savage football team. It was a great parade! The kids got a lot of candy, it was short, and we had fun! This afternoon, the boys helped me pick all the rest of the apples and all the pears off the trees in our yard, and I made 4 batches of spiced apple/pear freezer jam. I can't wait to eat it! Tonight, we went to the Homecoming football game, and it was packed! The game was awesome, the half-time show was great, and we had a good time sitting behind the Tarkalsons and Kauffmans. Oh, and of course our HS team won again!

Day 281: Ammon's last football game was today against Anaconda in Salmon. Although his team lost, they played their hearts out and scored two touchdowns and I was so proud of him and their team! We had a weanie roast over a bonfire today with Josh's family and Malachi's friends and it was a fun lunch! This evening, our neighbor Frank helped me with a project I'm working on for the pumpkin patch. He did some welding and cut a piece of wood with a jigsaw, and I was so grateful! His kindness really made my day!

Day 282: I was grateful to give my Sunday School lesson today about the Sacrament, and it really helped my current perspective about taking on the Savior's name. This evening, Amanda came over with her brother Lance and his wife Amber and we played board games and laughed and laughed! We had a great time!

Day 283: All my classes were good today, and I didn't have to yell once! I was so glad--especially because I just got sick with a sinus infection. Tonight, Amanda and John and I practiced our special musical number for Salmon Idol, and we got a lot accomplished in an hour!

Day 284: When I got home from school, I noticed that Josh had added wheels to my cinderella carriage project I've been working on the last 3 days. I was so glad! Then when I walked through the door, I realized he'd made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner for us. I was so relieved! I was in the mood for soup because it was a cool day, and I was ecstatic that Josh had made what I felt like!

Day 285: Kanyon and I ate lunch in the elementary cafeteria today. The students around us were so nice, and I liked my lunch date with him!

Day 286: I came home during my prep hour today to clean the kitchen and do the food prep to feed the missionaries this evening. I listened to a Tori Amos CD super loudly as I cleaned, and I truly enjoyed being alone for an hour and I got the kitchen all clean while singing and jamming out with Tori!

Day 287: We opened the pumpkin patch for the first time this season today. We had several customers, and business was steady for most of the day. The weather was so beautiful, and it was so peaceful for me to sit in the patch and converse with people and watch families having fun!

Day 288: We were so busy at the patch today, and I enjoyed being around the customers and seeing all the fun they were having! The weather was good, and I was so happy today!

Day 289: I tried to teach by the spirit today during my Sunday School lesson on sacrifice. I'm thankful for how this church calling expands my learning and spiritual growth. This afternoon, we had a marathon of watching "Amazing Race" and I enjoyed just sitting around with my family in the warmth of my home while it rained outside.

Day 290: We had a nice Family Home Evening tonight! Josh wasn't gone to a school board meeting, and he was home for it too, which is rare! We talked about reading the book of mormon, and we watched the end of our "Amazing Race" marathon to catch up, and we played games and ate ice cream!

Day 291: I performed in the Salmon Idol Jr. Show tonight. John, Amanda, and I were a trio singing "I Think We're Alone Now". We all dressed in 80's apparel, and Amanda and I had big hair and bold makeup! We choreographed it and I loved singing and dancing and performing with them on stage!! I was on a natural high all night!

Day 292: It was a long day, and Wednesdays have become my least favorite day of the week. I had a meeting after school, and when I got home, I noticed that Josh had made dinner and had left a plate for me, too. I was so grateful!

Day 293: Twice a week I play piano for the show choir during their class time as part of my teaching schedule, and today in show choir, they played group games for an hour. I played with them and had such a ball!!!

Day 294: I was alone in the pumpkin patch all day today with Jonah and Micah, and although the weather was blustery, we had several customers who came and had a great time in the patch and they lifted my spirits!

Day 295: The sunshine today was awesome and dispelled the cold, cloudy, rainy morning. And I was so glad! Because of it, we had a LOT of customers today at the pumpkin patch! We sold out of white pumpkins, mini pumpkins, pumpkin pie, and apple cider! We all had a great day in the patch!

Day 296: The Forsgrens came up from Stanley today to Stake Conference, and the boys played with them for a couple of hours in the beautiful weather outside. They were all so happy! I enjoyed the sunlight, and took our family photo for the year in its rays this afternoon.

Day 297: Our dessert for Family Home Evening was oreos and milk. It was simply delicious!

Day 298: Josh made a yummy dinner of grilled pork chops and mashed red potatoes! And cousin Mikey made a surprise visit right before dinner was done, so he joined us at the table! And then he played with the boys for an hour after and it was so wonderful!

Day 299: I played the wii with the boys after dinner tonight--it was fun! Amanda came over tonight and we looked at photos and videos and reminisced.

Day 300: Tonight was the ward party, and we had a great time! We all dressed up, and played games, and the boys were so happy to go trick-door-treating! It's been a while since we had a ward party and we all came home happy!

Day 301: The weather was beautiful for the pumpkin patch today, and we had several customers come out. We are down to slim pickings now, which has never occurred during previous years, and we are happy with the amount of pumpkins we've sold.

Day 302: It was another beautiful day, and it was so peaceful for me to sit in the pumpkin patch and observe the fall colors and be among the calming surroundings. I was so grateful that today was our last day the pumpkin patch was open! It's been a lot of work, and I'm ready for my weekends to be freed up again!

Day 303: We carved Halloween pumpkins today, and they looked great!

Day 304: I dressed up today as a "witch dressed up as a music teacher" for Halloween. When my first students of the day came in, one of the boys looked at me and said "that looks just like you--it's very fitting for you". I laughed so hard! I helped the twins with their class Halloween party this afternoon, then I picked the boys up from school and took them trick or treating on main street, and we all went to the carnival. I ended up volunteering to work at the carnival for an hour and a half, and I had a great time. It was a crazy busy day, but I had a fun time all day long!!!

I can see clearly now...

2011-10-23T08:52:00.000-06:00

Last spring, I started hearing Ammon complain about the fact that he couldn't see the writing on the board from where he sat at the back of the classroom. I told him to move to a desk in front that would be closer to the board, but he wouldn't because he thought it wasn't a big deal.

It made me think back to a time when I was in 4th grade, and I couldn't see the writing on the board anymore, and even after I moved to a desk closer to the front of the room, the writing on the board still appeared fuzzy. It was in the 4th grade that I got my first pair of glasses.

This summer, as we were driving home from vacation at the end of July, I asked Ammon to tell me when he could see the words on freeway signs and exits. He couldn't see the words until they were right in front of us. It was then that I realized his eyesight was worse than he had let on.

After we got home, I made an appointment with the Eye Dr. in August. He wasn't looking forward to the appointment at all because he didn't want to have to wear glasses. The Eye Dr. was his best friend's dad, and he is very good at working with kids (and adults). It was determined from the appointment that Ammon did, indeed, need glasses.

We walked around picking out different glasses, and he tried them on. This was one of our favorites:

Ultimately, he picked a smaller, lighter pair. The office ordered the glasses and said it would be 2-3 weeks before they would arrive. On the drive home from the Dr.'s office, Ammon told me that he would only wear his glasses at school during times when the teacher wrote on the board. He said that other than that, he would just take them off and carry them around in a glasses case. I told him the only times he'd really have to take them off was during sports and sleep, but he insisted that he would have them off more than he'd be wearing them. I think he was concerned with how others would perceive him if he wore glasses.

When his glasses arrived at the end of August, he was pleasantly surprised at just HOW MUCH he could see with them on!!! He no longer considered it a "nerdy" thing to wear them because he was just glad that he could see! So, just as I predicted, the only times he takes them off is to play sports and sleep!

Even though he's only had them for 2 months, he looks so different now when he's not wearing them. They look so good on him and fit him perfectly! And best of all, he doesn't complain about not seeing anymore!

Turning 8 is twice as great!

2011-10-22T19:04:00.002-06:00

Jonah and Micah turned 8 years old in September! They got to celebrate their special day in several different ways...

They each chose special treats to share with their class at school on their actual birthdate. Jonah took frosted sugar cookies and Micah brought powdered sugar donettes.

On the evening of their birthday, we ate Jonah's favorite meal for dinner: pancakes and sausage links.

The next day, we ate Micah's favorite meal for dinner: Shepherd's Pie. Grandpa and Grandma T. joined us for the evening, too.

After dinner, the boys opened all their presents:

They received lots of great things from Grandma & Grandpa P., Grandma & Grandpa T., and from Mom & Dad:

After all their gifts were opened, they each took a turn blowing out candles on their cake:

They chose their birthday cake together (a chocolate cake with chocolate chip ice cream in the middle), but they chose different ice cream flavors to eat with it. Micah chose Birthday Cake ice cream:

Jonah picked Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream:

Jonah and Micah were happy to break out and wear two of their new birthday shirts::

Each year, the boys get to alternate between friend and family birthday parties. This year, it was Jonah and Micah's turn for a family birthday party, and they got to choose what we did. They wanted to go overnight to Missoula, so we went there a week after their birthday. Jonah's birthday request was to spend the night at the Wingate--the hotel with the waterslide. And we did! They slid and swam, and I soaked in the hot tub. It was fun for them and very relaxing for me!

Micah's birthday request was to go miniature golfing. So we did! We found an 18-hole miniature golf course at a campground in Missoula, and we were the only ones there. We had a great time there!

Kanyon scored a hole-in-one on the first hole and was so excited!

After that, we went to the Missoula Carousel. I'd heard about it before, but had never gone. It was so cheap, and the boys rode it 3 times (except Kanyon who didn't like the noise).

Then we ate lunch at restaurants of Jonah and Micah's choosing (Taco Time and Dairy Queen), and we headed back to Salmon. Except for the 3-hour car ride both ways in which the boys argued and whined, the weekend was a very enjoyable one for all of us!

Jonah and Micah's birthday celebrations lasted for four days, and they were so happy! I was glad they felt that way, because after all, turning 8 really IS great!!!

Seeing Red

2011-10-11T19:15:00.000-06:00

I just LOVE fall.

That's all, folks.

for the First and Last time

2011-10-08T09:38:00.000-06:00

The annual Children's Primary Program at church was on a Sunday in mid-September. It was the FIRST and LAST time that all my boys would be in it together...Kanyon was in the sunbeam class for the first time this year and Ammon turns 12 in January and will be in the Young Men's group next year.

I was looking forward to seeing all the boys on the stand during Sacrament Meeting, and I envisioned a lovely, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity sitting next to my husband in the audience without kids in between us, and us smiling and being so proud of our children on the stand.

With the boys all dressed in their handsome church clothes, we headed off to church.

In our ward this year, Sacrament Meeting is first. After the Sacrament services were finished, the children were asked to come up from the congregation and sit on the stand. I told the older boys to leave their church bags with us, and as they were exiting our row to walk up front, they insisted that Kanyon leave his bag with us, too. And that began Kanyon's meltdown. I told the boys that Kanyon could take his bag with him, but it was too late. Kanyon no longer wanted to go sit up front. He wanted to keep his bag with him, and he wanted to sit by us. I really felt like it was important for him to go with his class, so I carried him up to the front of the room, and I sat with him for a minute, explaining to him that he could see me and dad from where his seat was. I whispered to him until he seemed calm, and then I set him on his chair on the stand, and I walked down in the congregation. Then he immediately got out of his chair, threw himself on the ground and started banging his head. So, I walked back up, sat down, and set him on my lap. I knew his class would be first to say their parts in the microphone, so I was determined to help him through that part. I told him if he said his part in the microphone, then he could come sit back by me and dad. When his class got up to share their speaking parts, I carried him, and waited our turn in the line. When it was his turn, I lifted him up, whispered to him his one-sentence part, and of course he refused to say it. So, after a few moments, I said it for him, carried him out of the room, and took him outside. For 10 minutes, he screamed and cried outside because he "dont wanna do it". I was so upset! Finally, after he calmed down, I carried him back in the room, and we sat by dad for the rest of the meeting. It was THE longest Children's Sacrament Meeting I have ever seen. The kids had only practiced it once the week before in primary, and it was very disorganized, and the kids didn't know all the songs or their speaking parts, and we ran over time-wise about 15 minutes, and they even had to cut out two songs! Even if it hadn't been so long, I couldn't enjoy it because I was fuming inside the whole time from the scene that Kanyon had created. My visions of the perfect first-and-last primary program were gone.

But, on the upside: I thought the other boys did a great job speaking into the microphone and sharing their parts. Jonah and Micah used to have stage-fright and wouldn't speak or sing, and they did fabulous! And it was sweet to see Ammon up there for the last time in the Primary! And hopefully, next year, Kanyon will be able to sit up front without help from his mommy!

Bugs

2011-10-07T08:42:00.000-06:00

When Ammon was in 2nd grade, he had an insect collection project that was due in the fall. I remember us looking for bugs and insects and collecting them for weeks, trying to get the minimum number that was required to complete the project.

Well, this summer, it occurred to me that Jonah and Micah would be in 2nd grade this year and that meant that the bug project was coming up. Because I remember having a difficult time finding bugs with Ammon's project, I knew that with TWO boys it would even be harder, because that meant there were TWICE as many bugs we would have to find. So, we started collecting bugs in July! Every time they found a bug or a spider, they'd get a container out of the cupboard, put the insect or spider in it, shut the lid, and put it in the freezer. After the bug was frozen, they'd take the container out of the freezer and put the dead bug in a separate jar. By mid-September, I was so sick of the whole process and tired of all the containers they were using that had to be washed over and over!!! And after two MONTHS of collecting bugs, I was so glad when we finally put all of the bugs together on display boards and the boys could stop collecting them! We took all the bugs out of the various containers that were taking up space on a shelf and a counter, and laid them out on the boards. I was amazed at how many the boys had collected!

The only problem was that since both boys had helped in collecting the bugs, they couldn't remember which bugs belonged to whom. They remembered individually catching specifically some of them, but when we started pinning them on the boards, I just made executive decisions for them so that the boards would look about equal regarding the number and size of the bugs.

Jonah's board had a butterfly, silk moth, cabbage white butterfuly, various moths, a chrysalis, an imported fire ant, a lady bug, gnats, a bee, a wasp, a damselfly, flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, spiders, a beetle, a centipede, a cricket, and an unidentified bug.

Micah's board had a butterfly, a large silk moth, a cabbage white butterfly, various moths, a chrysalis, a crane fly, gnats, a wasp, a bee, flies, a box elder bug, a long horned beetle, a black beetle, a centipede, a hobo spider, grasshoppers, and one very large winged unidentified insect.

The boys wrote their names on the display boards, typed up and cut out and taped on all the insect labels, and they wrote a report about their insect findings. Then they took their boards to school and had to present their collection to the class. They were and still are so proud of their bug projects! And rightfully so!

Agency on Labor Day

2011-10-06T20:09:00.000-06:00

We went camping the 3rd and final time this summer on the last day of summer--Labor Day.

We went to Agency Creek, which is about a half hour's drive from our home. The last time we were there was 9 years ago when we went for a picnic to that campground. It had been too long! Thankfully, there were only 2 other groups in the campground with us, and they were very quiet, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

When we finally got the camp trailer parked (after Josh and I had some miscommunication and argued about the exact location of the trailer), the boys began playing around the campsite. The creek was right next to our spot, and they played in the water, and climbed the hunting pole that was situated next to the creek (where hunters hang their animals to dry). Micah and Ammon reached all the way to the top!

I made hamburger stew for dinner with carrots, onions, and potatoes from our garden. It was delicious!

After supper, the boys rode their bikes around and played in the dirt until the sun went down.

Amanda and her two kids came up and joined us at the campground around that time. Brady and Raegan played with the boys until the last rays of the sun were gone. Then we made a campfire and sat around it. I had forgotten to bring any campfire treats (marshmallows or starbursts), but I knew I had a microwave popcorn packet in the trailer. I decided to experiement with it and see if it the popcorn inside the bag would still pop over the heat of the fire. I set the popcorn packet in a cast-iron pan and set it on the grill over the fire, and after several minutes the popcorn actually DID start to pop! I was SO excited!! I got my camera and started taking pictures, but on this last photo, the fire got too close to the bag and the bag itself caught on fire! You can sort of see the top right part of the bag is smoking...

Unfortunately, the whole bag of popcorn ended up in the fire pit. I was so sad! But, Josh's parents and brother surprised us as we were gathered around the campfire, and they saved the day and brought some root beer floats! They were so yummy! It was nice to sit around the fire with everyone and chat. At bedtime, Edward and Kathy and Malachi left. And Amanda and her kids decided to stay the night with us. The boys were so excited to have a friend sleepover at camping!!!

It was a little bit of a rough night, and the kids woke up early the next morning. We ate breakfast around the campfire, and the kids played and played. Then we packed up lunch, got into the truck (all the boys got in the back), and we headed out for a drive on the Lemhi Pass dirt road that heads over into Montana.

At the summit of Lemhi Pass, we stopped at a Sacajawea Memorial area. We walked around, read the signs, and ate our lunch.

We weren't the only ones who were hungry...

There was some chopped wood left there from forest service crews cleaning out dead trees, and Jonah said "Mom! Look! It's my new pair of pants!". Funny boy...

After our stop for lunch, we headed down another long dirt road that lead us (eventually) to the Sharkey Hot Springs. We stopped again for a lovely soak. It's the first time in YEARS that we've gone there as a family during the daytime. Usually, Josh and I go after dark to soak. It was a nice break from driving and the kids enjoyed it!

After that, we drove back to the campground, packed up our trailer, and headed home. It was a short camping trip, but I'm glad that we went.

We usually go camping at least 6 times a year, and I'm disappointed that we only made it 3 times this summer. But, I'm also relieved that we're not going again until next year. I used to love camping and found it so relaxing, but camping this summer was anything BUT relaxing! The first time ended short so we could take Ammon to the hospital. The second time the kids were "bored" the whole time and they wouldn't stop whining and arguing. And this last time, I was so tired and didn't get enough sleep and I was just ornery!

Live & Love Life 365 (September)

2011-10-02T10:44:00.001-06:00

Day 244: I overheard a student in one of my morning classes tell his friend that I am "SUCH a cool teacher!" and it just made my day!

Day 245: We had a BBQ tonight, and invited John and Amanda because they've never had one of Josh's homemade burgers! It was my mother-in-law's birthday, so we invited Josh's parents and brother Malachi, too. The food was so good! Josh's burgers were delicious, and we picked fresh corn from the garden and had corn on the cob, and John brought chips and dip, and Amanda brought a yummy salad and beans. And then for dessert, I made applesauce cake with my home-grown, homemade applesauce and it turned out pretty good! We chatted over dinner, and John and Amanda stayed longer and we watched the 2nd half of a college football game on TV and we talked and laughed. I felt like my insides were so full: between eating good food and being with my family and friends!

Day 246: Worked in the house and yard, and it felt good to get projects done. We went to the Farmer's Market today for the first time and I enjoyed looking at the different and unique items that the vendors were selling.

Day 247: We went camping tonight, and Amanda brought up her family and joined us for the night. Edward and Kathy and Malachi even surprised us with a short visit and they brought root beer floats and we ate them while we sat around the campfire.

Day 248: We took a drive up the Lemhi Pass today and went as a family to the Sharkey Hot Springs. It was so wonderful!

Day 249: Took the younger three boys to a playdate tonight to a new family's house in Salmon, and they all had a great time! It was fun!

Day 250: Went to Ammon's football game this evening. It was just perfect: Ammon played the sport he loves, Josh helped out on the field with the men, the boys played ball and climbed with friends, and I got to hang out with the ladies. After I got home, I went on a walk with Amanda. I just loved tonight!

Day 251: I was exhausted tonight! I went to bed early and just crashed!

Day 252: We had a yummy dinner of fresh corn-on-the-cob from our garden, and fresh mashed yukon gold potatoes from our garden! I invited Edward and Kathy up to join us, too. After dinner, we went to the H.S. football game, and we won again! It's fun to go to football games on Friday nights in the fall!

Day 253: I love the way my husband loves on me. After he came home from work, he hugged me for several minutes, and I loved the feeling!

Day 254: Sacrament meeting was so spiritual today and I felt the spirit so strongly when Amanda and her family spoke on faith and personal experiences

Day 255: Josh made dinner for us tonight, and it was a welcome break for me! Amanda and I walked around the track tonight instead of down our road, and I'm happy to be exercising more.

Day 256: Josh visited me at school mid-day today, and it was such a nice surprise to see his face!

Day 257: I had a terrible day at school, which ended in a mental breakdown at the end of the day. The bright spot of the day was when John came to visit me during first hour, and he brought me chocolates and coke, and told my class they were lucky to have me as a teacher. It meant so much to me!

Day 258: Josh made corn on the cob and pork steak for dinner, and it was ready by the time we got home from school. I'd been craving corn on the cob all day, and he'd had no idea! It was so perfect and super delicious! I sure love that man! Then this evening after dropping Ammon off at football, I went to see the movie "17 Miracles" playing at the Stake Center. It was such a great movie and I cried and cried! And while waiting for Ammon to get out of Hunter's Ed Class tonight, I went with John for a quick bite at Bertram's. Even though I had another not-so-good day at school, my evening was absolutely terrific!

Day 259: John taught me how to do grades on the new computer program at school today, and then we sang songs for a little bit and listened to music, and it was so fun! Tonight, I sat by Amanda and Josh at the football game, and they made me so warm on a cool evening! And the Savages won again, too!

Day 260: Josh, John, Amanda, and I went out for dinner and karaoke tonight. It's been too long since we last did it, and I remember how much I used to love it! I came to life, and started letting loose, and it felt so good until I became purely exhausted!

Day 261: I did my laundry today for the first time in 3 weeks. I was SOOO happy to have clean jeans again to wear!

Day 262: We read stories and played games at Family Home Evening tonight, and for dessert we ate the delicious cookies that Josh made last night! Yum, they were so good!

Day 263: I went for a walk tonight with Amanda and John, and we had a great time exercising and laughing and talking and dancing--and somehow all simultaneously! Then John and I watched the premier of Glee! I'm so happy to have new regular TV programs back!

Day 264: We watched Ammon's football game tonight, and he played so well! His team has really improved and it was fun seeing them play!

Day 265: I got to take birthday treats to Jonah and Micah's class today for their birthday, and Josh cooked Jonah's birthday meal for dinner: pancakes and sausage links! I had a difficult afternoon at school, and came home in tears, but blogging about my birthday and then watching W&G with John and eating ice cream made everything all better!

Day 266: We ate Micah's birthday dinner tonight with Josh's parents: shepherd's pie. The twins played all afternoon with some radios that my mom sent them, and they were so happy! After dinner tonight, they opened gifts, and we had cake and ice cream. It was such a quiet birthday, but they were happy, and they played all night with their new legos! I love birthdays!

Day 267: I canned corn all day. I already got 16 freezer bags full, and I only picked 1/4 of our corn!!! Tonight, Josh and I went for a soak in the hot springs with Amanda and John. We had one of the pools all to ourselves, and it felt good. Josh and I were both feeling sore, and we felt so much better after!

Day 268: I got to sleep in with my husband this morning, and I loved it! It's so rare when it happens! After church, we had a picnic with Josh's parents at the Guard Station. We ate burgers and chips and watermelon, and it was so delicious! I love this warm weather that we've been having! Tonight, I was feeling sad, and I went over to John's house. He fed me yummy soup and we watched a movie, and I felt so much better.

Day 269: I enjoyed listening to my students share their reasons for "HFM" (Hooray for Monday). Tonight at Family Home Evening, we had a special edition all about "Baptism" for Jonah and Micah's upcoming baptismal date this week! I'm so excited!

Day 270: Tonight I: cleaned out my school office, walked with Amanda, and watched Glee. All 3 made me feel good.

Day 271: Watched Ammon's football game tonight, and they won!!! I had so much fun sitting by Kitt and laughing and watching Ammon make great plays!

Day 272: We went to Missoula to celebrate the twins' birthday as a family {a week late}. I sat in the hot tub for an hour at the hotel, as the boys went down the waterslides and played in the pool, and the hot water felt so good on my feet!

Day 273: We went miniature golfing and riding the carousel in Missoula before heading home, and both activities were so much fun for me and the kids!

Mini-Me Kimi

2011-09-26T22:14:00.000-06:00

Today is my young friend Kimi's birthday.

I sure love that girl. She reminds me of myself so much when I was her age!

She moved out and left for college a few weeks ago.

Last year, I helped her paint her bathroom and paint a mural of a castle on her bedroom wall, and then for Christmas I made her a wall hanging to complete the castle/princess theme look in her room. The day before she left for college, I went over to her house to say goodbye, and I took a few photos to commemorate our time together.

I sure miss that girl already!

Happy Birthday, Kimi!

back to school

2011-09-25T08:57:00.001-06:00

I began teaching elementary music in February, because the previous teacher quit mid-year. I was very stressed this past spring. Three weeks after I started my job, the classes began their spring programs and plays and it was constant anxiety and stress until the end of of the school year in May. I vowed that I would be prepared at the start of this school year, and I told myself that I would go in to work once a week during the summer just so that I would feel prepared and not stressed this coming school year. But guess what happened? I enjoyed my summer and the lack of stress so much, that I never went in to school to prepare.

School began on Tuesday, August 30. On Monday the 29th, every grade at school had orientation at different times. I went to each child's orientation, and worked all day in between. I helped Mr. Anderson (my music superior) at the H.S. for several hours, and got my classroom physically ready, and made lesson plans for the week. It was a difficult and very long day, and I came home exhausted, overwhelmed, and full of anxiety and stress. I regretted not going in over the summer and I hated that I felt so unprepared for the following day!

I got home after bedtime, and all the boys were already asleep. I felt bad that I didn't get to say goodnight to them on such an important night--the eve of the beginning of a new school year! I began to cry and cry, and I asked Josh to please give me a blessing. He was very kind, and he fulfilled my request. Afterwards, he was talking to me. He said "What are you so nervous about? You did this last year, you know what to expect, and you're good at what you do, so why are you feeling so upset?" I responded, "Because now I can't just SIT anymore! Now our lives will be governed by constant schedules and never-ending things to do!" I laughed after saying it out loud, because it did sound rather silly, but I felt so much better finally just admitting it, too. I associated teaching school with the constant stress that I felt last spring, and I just knew that once school started, I would be full of stress and anxiety again. Summer never felt so good to me, and going back to school never seemed so difficult!!!

Unlike me, the boys were all excited to begin school the next morning. They woke up early and ate breakfast and changed their clothes, and they had gotten all their school supplies packed into their backpacks, all on their own! Then they all waited for me to finish getting ready (I think I was still dragging my feet)!!!

This was the loot that Jonah and Micah had to take:

Ammon is now a 6th grader. This is the first year that he doesn't have a homeroom teacher. He has 7 periods of classes. At orientation the evening before, we walked to all the classes and met all the teachers. He was so excited for school to begin and couldn't wait to go!!! He bought this particular shirt with his own money, and chose to wear it on the first day of school (he's a big Boise State football fan):

Micah had been crying every night for a week before school started, because he (like me) also didn't want summer to end and he didn't want to go back! But after going to the 2nd grade orientation the day before and meeting his new teacher Ms. Schauss, he decided that he did, in fact, want to go back to school after all! He was looking forward to seeing friends and playing at recess again! The twins chose to wear their new monkey shirts on the first day:

I put Jonah and Micah in the same class again this year. Ms. Schauss taught Ammon in 4th grade, and she was his favorite teacher ever. She moved positions to the 2nd grade this year, and she's been a great teacher! Jonah was so happy to be going back to school! He'd been looking forward to it, and he's so happy to be a big 2nd grader! Jonah's backpack broke last year, so he got to pick a new one this year, and he chose a cool Phineas and Ferb one!

Kanyon is attending the Pioneer/CDC preschool again this year. He goes everyday in the afternoons, which changed from the schedule of every other morning he had last year. He was ecstatic to go again, and he couldn't wait to wear his new shoes and his new mario clothes! He was so excited when we bought him both things because he felt grown-up like the other boys! He has loved preschool this year, and is a totally different boy than last spring! He looks forward to school every day, and is happy, and his teachers are just loving him and his great attitude and learning capabilities this year!

And as for me...well, after the first day of school, I came home and said to Josh "I'm not sure why I was freaking out. School was awesome today!". In the past month, I've only come home crying twice, and I feel like I'm finally starting to get in the groove of it!

fun fair this year!

2011-09-23T19:34:00.000-06:00

We did not take an animal project to the fair this year. After Ammon's pigs were behaviorally naughty and had problems growing last year, we decided to take a year off from 4-H. So, fair this year was pleasant and fun and not stressful in the slightest!! The boys each entered a pumpkin in the open exhibits and they were all happy when we discovered that they all got a blue ribbon for them! And they were even more excited when they received the $3 premium they got for earning a blue ribbon, too!

The fair in Lemhi County is always the last full week of August. On Wednesday night of fair week, they have "Family Fun Night". I took the three younger boys to it while Ammon was at football practice. The boys played on all the free inflatable toys. Jonah and Micah loved the bungee basketball one:

Kanyon's favorite one was the obstacle course. He went on that thing at least a dozen times!

The National Guard came and brought a rock-climbing wall, and Jonah and Micah climbed it each five times, trying to get to the top. Jonah reached the top on his last attempt, and Micah got so close!!!

There was also a cute petting zoo on Wednesday night, and the boys enjoyed having their hands on all the little farm animals!

To me, fair means food! I love the large scones and the giant ice cream cones and the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches at the Lemhi County Fair. After we went on all the inflatables, and saw all the animals, and watched a dog show, and walked through all the booths, I took the boys to get some Hospice ice cream cones before we left. They were SOOOO yummy!!!

On Thursday night, Josh took the boys back to the fair. They ate scones, and went on a few carnival rides, and the boys spent their $3 on carnival booths. Micah came home with an elvis mask he won, and Jonah and Kanyon came home with a little stuffed animal consolation prize from playing carnival games.

I loved fair this year! I loved the simplicity of the events, and I loved being on the sidelines observing things and participating in fun things rather than be constantly stressed with judging, washing, feeding, and cleaning swine!!!

32 reasons why...

2011-09-22T21:42:00.003-06:00

...my 32nd birthday was my funnest birthday yet of my adult life...

Reason #1: I came home from camping with my family on my birthday (Sunday, August 14) to find my favorite birthday meal cooking in my home! Amanda had made ham, potatoes au gratin, corn on the cob, and rolls! For dessert, she made me my favorite pie: strawberry rhubarb! And she brought chocolate cake for everyone else to eat, too! It was such an awesome surprise!!

#2: I got to eat my delicious birthday dinner with some of my favorite people in the world: my husband, my sons, Amanda, and John!

#3: I was given some wonderful gifts: a pedicure, haircut, and haircolor from Amanda, a digital photo frame from John, a new flowering plum tree for our backyard from Josh, hand soaps from my mother in law, a homemade apron from my mom, and chocolates from my boys! I loved all of my gifts!

#4: I gifted myself a trip for four on a half-day float down the Salmon River the day after my birthday, on Monday August 15. It was on my bucket list, and I decided it was finally time to do it!!! It was one of the highlights of my summer!

#5: I booked the float trip with a local company "Rawhide Outfitters", and they were great to work with!

#6: If I were trapped on a deserted island with three people, I would choose Josh, John, and Amanda. And those were the same people I got to spend all day with on my birthday float trip!!!

Reason #7: We all looked ridiculous together in our yellow lifejackets!

#8: Well...I thought we ALL looked ridiculous at the time. But now that I can see a photo of all of us together from that day, I realize that I was the only one who looked ridiculous wearing it!!! The life jackets actually seem to fit everyone BUT me! However, I did get a good laugh out of the way it fit me!

#9: John came back from being gone all summer on my birthday! I was so happy to have him back home! Just like me, he had also never floated that section of the Salmon River! We were so excited!!!

#10: Amanda and I laughed so much that day! By the end of the day, our faces hurt from smiling so much!!!

#11: Josh and I had gotten into an argument the night before the float, and I was sort of mad at him all morning. But he still treated me like a queen when we were floating, and I appreciated it so much!

#12: John decided to ride alone in a ducky (inflatable kayak) for most of the float. He did a fabulous job rowing it! I was so proud of him and I enjoyed seeing him doing it so well!

Reason #13: Before we came upon the first major rapids, he said "the worst thing that's happened so far is getting sunscreen in my eyes". Amanda and I laughed so hard when he said that!!!

#14: I sat across from Amanda and Josh--I loved my view!!!

#15: The weather was beautiful, our guide was so much fun, and the other riders on the boat were friendly(2 from Texas: Bitsy and Rollins, and 3 from California: Ginger, Lorenzo, and Olga).

#16: Our guide wanted me to 'ride the bull' first--which means sitting at the very front of the boat and holding on to just a rope as we go over some white-water. I walked up to the front of the boat, sat down, and when I held onto the rope, I accidentally flopped over backwards inside the boat! Josh and Lorenzo helped me back up and we all got a good laugh out of it!

#17: After I went, the others in the boat took turns "riding the bull". We kept trying to convince Bitsy, the oldest of us, to do it! Finally, I blurted out: "It's really wet and so much fun! Just like spring break"! Everyone bust a gut laughing at that! Olga told me I should write for Hallmark or Playboy or something with my genius comments!!! That made me laugh even harder! (Bitsy did finally end up going, too!)

#18: Bitsy said the funniest comment after she "rode the bull": she said one time she went waterskiing with her gynecologist, and he told her...well, never mind, I'm not putting what he told her on here, but we couldn't stop giggling about it the whole rest of the day!

Reason #19: After everyone else (who wanted to) took their turn "riding the bull", and all of them doing it effortlessly, I decided to take one more turn doing it to prove that I could do it without flopping over. I got up, sat down, and then my foot got twisted in the rope, and I fell backwards AGAIN! Except this time I couldn't get back up, so I flopped around with my awkward life jacket and all my weight hanging upside down, and everyone got a good look of my chest hanging out. Ginger said "thanks for the show"! I felt so dumb! But once again, everyone got a good laugh out of it!

#20: I was so excited when we hit our first major rapids at Pine Creek!!! And this photo proves just how excited we all were! We all look SO happy!! (Although, now that I think of it...Steve (our guide) did tell us there was a photographer, so maybe everyone was just smiling for the photo!!!)

#21: I couldn't stop screaming on the rapids!!! And nobody ever even told me to shut up! (p.s. i love this photo. see how josh is working so hard rowing in front and i'm doing nothing but screaming? that's how we react under pressure, too: i freak out and he works through it.)

#22: John tipped over only twice during the float, and the first time was on the Pine Creek Rapids. We watched it happen, and he sort of got hung up on a rock after he tipped. The rock took a little chunk of out his leg (which meant the sunscreen in his eyes was no longer the worst thing to happen), but he was a trooper and got back on the ducky all by himself without needing assistance.We were all amazed at his abilities! I was cheering for him and so proud of him! (This photo was taken right before the first tip-over.)

#23: Right before a section of smaller rapids, half of us in the boat decided to jump out and go for a swim. Our guide told us to lay back with our feet up to avoid hitting rocks as we floated over the whitewater section. I tried and tried and tried, but my feet just kept getting dragged down. Amanda was floating next to me, and she kept trying to swim towards me so that we could hold hands over the rapids, but I felt like I was barely floating and so I kept kicking her away. I learned later that my lifejacket wasn't on tight enough, which is why I felt like I was drowning. Anyways, after we made it over the rapids, we had to get back in the boat...so the guys in the boat pulled us out of the water one by one. I screamed and freaked out as Josh lifted on my jacket to pull me out of the water, and the jacket went over my head and I couldn't see a thing as I was pulled into the boat! Amanda's jacket also wasn't tight enough, and as the guide tried to pull her in over and over, it was over her head as well, and the straps kept digging into her arms and she couldn't get out of the water. Josh came over and lifted her legs in. John, in the ducky, saw what a silly sight it was and couldn't stop laughing! It wasn't very funny at the time, but it's one of our most talked-about memories from the day that we laugh about now!

#24: Because I was the first person of the 3 groups to request a float trip that day, I got to choose in advance the food we all ate for lunch. I chose our main entree and dessert. When we stopped for lunch, we had barbecued chicken and salad and fruit and crackers with dip and all of it was super tasty!!!

Reason #25: Everyone sang "happy birthday" to me at lunch time, and I was the only one to have a second piece of the most delicious strawberry pie I've ever had. Rawhide even gave me a gift: a mug with their logo on it! How thoughtful of them!!!

#26: We convinced John to ride out the rest of the float trip in the raft with us after lunch, and I was so glad that we were all together for the end!

#27: I took this photo, which is my favorite one from that day. Every time I look at it, even now, it makes me smile! I love these 3 people so much!!!

#28: I wanted to have a good photo of the four of us together, but trying to get that 'perfect shot' turned out to be quite the task. Fortunately, Olga (who took these photos) is a professional photographer, and she wasn't upset that I kept wanting more photos taken. Unfortunately, however, I don't think any of these are the 'perfect shot'.

This one is a good photo of everyone except me...it looks like my lifejacket is choking me!

This one looks like we're all having a hilarious time, but due to some water on the lens, it appears like my white skin and John's bald head are reflecting abnormally large amounts of sunshine

I think this is the best overall of the 3...what do you think?

#29: On the last stretch of the river float, Josh and I were the only ones to jump in for one final swim. It was very romantic, and non-traumatic like the first swim of the day had been!

#30: After we arrived back in Salmon late that afternoon, the four of us decided that we were enjoying each other's company too much to depart just yet, so we went out for dinner at Dave's Pizza. It was so yummy, and as we ate, we reminisced about the awesome day we'd had and all the fun we'd enjoyed together and we laughed about everything all over again!

Reason #31: Even though it was John who paid the dinner bill, he let Josh and I take the pizza leftovers home, and the boys ate it all up for dinner! I was glad to not have to come up with something to make them for dinner after being gone all day!

#32: Josh gave me one final birthday gift that night, and it was the perfect way to end the funnest birthday of my life! (I was in need of some new shower gel, and he got it for me! What did you think I was talking about?!! ;))

Bayhorse

2011-09-20T18:11:00.001-06:00

Every summer, I like to go camping at least once to a new place we've never been to before. There are so many places to go camping at around Salmon, and I want to explore our options!!! I've been wanting to go to Bayhorse for a couple of years now. Bayhorse is a state park with an old mining ghost town, and there are lakes, 4-wheeler trails, and camping spots, too. It is southwest of Challis and is about a 2-hour drive to the campground from Salmon.

We went to Bayhorse in the middle of August and spent two nights at the lower lake campground. It wasn't very busy, so it was mostly quiet. The first day we arrived, we set up camp and ate dinner and the boys walked down to the lake to fish:

They didn't catch a bite although they could see fish all over in the lake. They were determined to try again the next morning. So, the next morning, we woke up, ate, and the boys walked down to the lake to fish again:

After a while of not catching a bite, they took another break from it. We walked around the lake and back to the campground, ate lunch, and headed down the road to see the Old Town of Bayhorse, which was 10 miles away.

I loved looking at all the old buildings and reading about the history of the area!

Then the boys played in the creek by the ghost town for a bit before we drove back:

On the drive back to our campground, we decided to see what the upper lake area looked like, so we stopped and walked around the larger lake. It took a lot longer than we expected, but we had a great time doing so!

There was an old brick pile in the middle of the field next to the lake where they used to make bricks during the time that the mining town was busy. I was fascinated by it!

When we almost made it all the way around the lake, the boys played in a shallow area of water for a bit. I loved sitting and watching them! It was so relaxing and peaceful and enjoyable!

When we made it all the way around the lake, we got back in the truck and drove a mile and half to our campground. We ate dinner, sat around the campfire long after dark, and finally went to sleep. The next morning, we decided to hike back over to the upper lake and try our hand at fishing in that lake since we had no luck fishing in the lake by our campground! It was only about a half-mile hike, and so beautiful, too!

We tried fishing on two different sides of the lake, but unfortunately, we still didn't catch a thing!

Well, I guess that's not completely accurate....we DID catch a frog!!!

Eventually, we hiked back to the campground, ate lunch, packed everything up, and headed home! Despite the fact that we didn't catch any fish, we all had a great time camping! And Bayhorse was absolutely gorgeous! I loved being so far up in the mountains, and seeing all the colorful wildflowers and green trees and the blue lakes! It was a great place to go camping!

(P.S. I just looked at all the photos I put on here, and apparently I was obsessed with taking photos of people's backs!!!)

a fairytale salon story

2011-09-18T13:54:00.002-06:00

Once upon a time there was a girl. She didn't like the way she looked and she wanted to feel beautiful on her birthday.

A fairy beautician appeared to the girl and she offered to help her.

She told the girl that she was allowed three wishes, and that once the girl made her wishes, the fairy beautician would make those wishes come true.

The girl's first wish was to have her hair colored.

"You'll look good with some lowlights" said the fairy beautician as she put her special stuff in the girl's hair and covered it with some shiny foil to do the trick. The girl liked the silvery look in her hair, and she felt so rich inside.

The girl's second wish was to have a pedicure.

So the fairy beautician worked some magic on the girl's feet, rubbing them and massaging them...

and then covering the toes with glittery blue.

The girl felt just like Cinderella (with feet of just a slightly larger size, of course).

The girl's third wish was to have a haircut.

"This will complete your new look" said the fairy beautician. She waved her magic scissors around and VOILA! the girl felt just like new!

Since the girl wasn't wearing any lavish clothes to wear to a fancy feast, the fairy beautician brought the feast to her! Everything the girl desired to eat right then was magically brought by a carriage: there were cheesy breadsticks, chicken pasta, a hearty salad, and caffeinated beverages. The girl ate to her heart's delight.

The fairy had fulfilled all of the girl's desires to feel beautiful. The girl truly felt like her cup had been filled: her heart was happy, her tummy was full, her hair was beautiful, and her toes were pretty. But above all, the fairy beautician had given the girl the best birthday present ever: her friendship.

The End.

Jumping for Joy and Sleepover in Salmon

2011-09-17T08:24:00.000-06:00

When my dad came up to hike Mt. Borah, him and my mom brought two of their grandkids with them to Salmon: Quinn and Aspen. We've NEVER had any cousins from the Perkins side ever stay over night with us in Salmon, so the boys were SOOOO excited to have their cousins come and stay with us!

They stayed two nights at our house, and on the second night, the kids insisted on putting up a tent to sleep in. It kept raining off and on during the day, and I thought they would be too cold, so I kept resisting their pleas. Finally, after they begged and pleaded, I told them if they wanted to sleep in a freezing tent that badly, they could put it up themselves. And they did!!!

As soon as it was up, they immediately brought out sleeping bags and pillows and blankets and filled the tent up! I had concerns about how 6 kids were gonna sleep in that small of a tent, but they were determined, so I didn't mention it!

Whenever it was good enough weather outside for those 2 days, the kids played outdoors. They spent a lot of time jumping on the tramp. Quinn doesn't have a trampoline, so he especially enjoyed jumping on it!

On Monday night, their last night here, we had Family Home Evening. We read a story and played some games and had a skittles guessing contest for dessert. I love the game "Pictureka" because a lot of people can play it at one time, and it keeps everyone's attention, too.

They ended up not sleeping in the tent that they put up because a big storm came in and it rained and thundered that evening and night. So, the kids all brought their pillows and sleeping bags and blankets inside, and they had a sleepover in the living room instead. They watched "Despicable Me" as they fell asleep.

Early the next morning, my mom and dad got the kids up and they took Quinn and Aspen and left. I had such a great time with members of my family here! It was such a delight for me to have my boys playing with their cousins at our house! I can't explain just how much I enjoyed it! And I know the boys did, too! They were bored after their cousins left--life just didn't seem as fun the rest of the day with them gone!

Borah, Borah

2011-09-16T10:32:00.001-06:00

Mt. Borah is the highest peak in Idaho. In August of 2008, Josh climbed it for the first time with a group of young men and their leaders. The only photos we have of that excursion were taken with his cell phone at the top of the mountain:

On that trip that he went on, he hiked alongside our friend Jason, who'd also never hiked Mt. Borah before. As they climbed up, when they got to one fork in the trail, they took the wrong one, which ended up taking them over a perilous part of Chicken-Out Ridge. It was very scary for both of them, but thankfully they both made it to the top and back down safely! Josh has wanted to go back ever since that first trip, because he wanted to take the right trail over Chicken-Out Ridge now that he knew which trail it was! Well, he finally got his opportunity!

My dad has been talking to us about climbing Mt. Borah the past few years--he said he's wanted to do it for 50 years! We finally set a date when my dad and Josh could both do it, on a Monday in early August. Josh got a few more people involved: his brother Malachi, the Forsgren cousins, and he convinced two of our boys to go, too.

My dad and mom came to Salmon the night before, and at 4:30 the next morning, the boys got up and left. Josh drove dad, Malachi, Ammon, and Micah, and they met up with the Forsgren's in Challis, which is halfway there. It's a 2-hour drive from Salmon to Mt. Borah, and they arrived just as the first rays of sun were lighting up the sky.

Ammon climbed up with Mikey, Weaton, Malachi, and the Forsgren's female friend.

Josh climbed up with Micah and my dad for a while. After my dad began going at a much slower pace, Josh and Micah climbed up together and my dad climbed alone.

The larger group was way ahead of the rest, and they climbed all the way to the top!

There was still some snow towards the top!

Weaton took a photo of them scaling Chicken-Out Ridge:

At the top!!! It was such a beautiful day!

Josh could see Ammon and Malachi and the Forsgren boys after they got to the top from where he was on the hike. This is a photo of his view--you can see a few little specks at the top of them!

Josh and Micah and my dad didn't make it to the top, although Josh and Micah were close. This photo is the farthest point that Josh and Micah got to. The snow was pretty deep, and they had to go around a steep ridge, and Micah became terrified and didn't want to go any further:

As Micah and Josh headed back down the mountain, they met up with my dad, who'd made it to the Ridge.

Everyone met up at the bottom of the trail that afternoon:

They had a great time! And even though everyone's feet and muscles hurt when they got home, they were all glad that they went!

sleeping separately

2011-09-11T16:28:00.001-06:00

Ever since we brought Jonah and Micah home from the hospital, they've slept in the same bed together.

They shared one crib as babies...

(This is the first day they came home from the hospital, when they were 2 months old)

(They were 9 months old in this photo)

After they kept escaping from their crib, they shared one toddler bed--which was actually the crib mattress on the floor in the crib surrounded by boards and walls so they couldn't get out...

(These photos were taken during naptime when they were almost 2 years old)

After they kept escaping from their toddler bed set-up, we moved them to a twin bed that was the bottom bunk and Ammon slept on the top bunk...

(This photo was when the twins still slept on the floor in the crib, and Ammon slept on the bottom bunk in another room, but they liked to climb to the top bunk to play)

(This photo was in 2008 when all 4 boys shared one bedroom: Kanyon in the toddler bed, Ammon in the top bunk, and the twins in the bottom bunk. It was a tight fit in their room at that time!)

When they got too big to sleep on the same twin bed together, we got a new bunk bed that had a double mattress on the bottom and a twin on the top, and they continued to sleep together on the bottom and Ammon slept on the top...

(This photo was taken in 2009 when they were 5 1/2 and they shared a room with just Ammon)

When we moved into our new home, and changed sleeping arrangements again, they slept together in just a double bed in their room alone. We put the older twin-size bunk beds in Kanyon's room and he slept in the bottom bunk, and Ammon got a new bunk bed in his room and he sleeps on the bottom bunk, too...

(Some of the boys' cousins and friends were playing in Jonah and Micah's room the day I took this photo)

But this past spring, Kanyon began having problems sleeping in his bed. He was always rolling off onto the floor, and he would sleep the rest of the night on the couch. And then this summer, he wasn't even sleeping in his bed anymore, he was just sleeping on the couch. I knew we needed to change things.

Jonah and Micah are turning 8 this month, and we figured that now that we have the space, they really are old enough to be sleeping apart. So, we took the twin bunkbeds out of Kanyon's room and converted them into two side-by-side beds and put them in Jonah and Micah's room. Then we took the double bed out of the twins' room and put into Kanyon's room.

(Kanyon's room before)

(Kanyon's room now)

Now Kanyon is sleeping MUCH better in his new double bed, and Jonah and Micah are sleeping separately for the first time since they were in the hospital! It's been a month since we made the switch, and there's only been two or three nights when the twins have still ended up sleeping in the same bed together; for the most part they like their new separate beds, too!

(Jonah and Micah asleep in their new separate beds at age 7)

Camp Unlucky

2011-09-10T09:09:00.002-06:00

The first camping trip as a family we had this summer was on the first day of August. We went to Williams Lake, which is a mere 10 miles from our house. We left on Monday afternoon, and we planned on returning Tuesday late afternoon. We thought since it was a weekday nobody would be there and we'd have the campground to ourselves. When we arrived, it appeared that we did have it to ourselves, and we were glad! But, after we set up camp in our favorite spot, we realized we weren't alone: there was a Young Women's camp on the other end of the campground. Since our camp spot was the closest one to the bathroom, we constantly saw all the young women and their leaders walking past to go to use the facilities!

I was so happy to finally be camping! I'd craved it all summer long! I'd brought along a book to start, and so did Josh. We both like sitting and reading and doing a whole lot of nothing when we go camping! I began reading "The Kite Runner" and he started "Lonesome Dove". The boys brought their bikes, and they rode around the campground on them, and they hiked all over the surrounding rocks, too.

I was banking on it being a very relaxing camping trip, but it ended up not turning out the way I had planned. Last August when we went camping there at the exact same place, Ammon had just cut his fingers in the lawnmower the day before, and while we were there, the boys smashed Kanyon's finger and his entire fingernail fell off. There were lots of tears last year...

Well, within minutes of setting up camp this year, and Josh and I sitting down to read a book, Kanyon crashed on his bike. He'd scabbed his face the previous day in a scooter accident, and when he crashed his bike, his face hit the ground, and his wounds bled all over again.

We cleaned up the bloody wounds, and he sat by Josh for a while (in a safe place) as the other boys continued riding their bikes.

I made Tin Foil dinners with carrots, potatoes, and onions from our garden and added some hamburger. Josh cooked them over the coals, and they were SOOO delicious!

Then the boys experimented with combining hiking in the rocks with riding their bikes: they took their bikes up on the rocks, and tried driving them down the hillside!

It didn't work out as well as they expected, and they stopped doing it--because dragging those heavy bikes up the hillside just wasn't worth the result! So, the boys all decided to act silly instead! I just love these funny photos:

It started cooling down, so Josh made us a fire while the boys rode around some more on their bikes. And that's when accident number 2 happened: Micah fell while riding his bike and hurt his knee.

We sat around the warm campfire, and gave the bikes a rest for a while. Then Josh's parents and brother Malachi drove up to visit. They brought us cupcakes, and the boys played night games with Malachi until it was time for bed.

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast, and we were planning on going to the lake mid-morning. But, unfortunately, we never made it. Accident #3 happened not too long after breakfast. Ammon crashed on his bike, and part of his skin ripped open, and it was wide enough that we knew he needed to see a doctor. So, we packed up camp in a jiffy, drove down off the mountain, and as soon as we made it to cell service, I called and made an appointment for him. His wound was glued shut a couple hours later.

We didn't even make it a full 24 hours on our first camping trip! I was disappointed about that. But I was still glad that we'd made the time to go camping together, regardless of what the outcome was! Next time we go camping there, we will be prepared with a team of doctors!!! ;)

Adios, Summer of 2011!

2011-09-09T08:02:00.001-06:00

Now that Labor Day has happened, summer of 2011 is officially over. I'm rather sad about summer ending this year. Now that I work for the school, I wanted to treasure every summer moment, and I wanted it to last forever! But, alas, the kids are back to school now and so am I, and my favorite season is upon us: fall!!! So before I can fully welcome the fall, I want to bid farewell to this past summer with my Top Ten list:

1. Vacation for a week with the Perkins' in Utah.
It turned out to be a 10-day vacation instead, and it was our big trip of the summer! We saw lots of family, and visited lots of attractions, and we were happy to go, and worn out by the time we got home!

2. Celebrate July 4th with the Tolman's in Salmon.
We did all the things we like to do over the 4th with family: go to the parade, watch fireworks, eat BBQ dinners outside, play in the yard with cousins, and go to the demolition derby.

3. Attend the Tolman Reunion in Raft River.
We had such a grand time at this 1-day reunion on the waterslides, and with the candy cannon, and eating dinner, and spending time with extended family!

4. Watch Jonah, Micah, and Kanyon participate in swimming lessons.
The boys each did so well during their swimming lessons this year. Even though none of them passed off all the goals in the levels they were learning, I was so proud of them for trying their best!

5. Take Ammon to compete in Jr. Golf tournaments.
In June and July, Ammon competed in 4 tournaments at different golf courses in Idaho. At the first tournament, he tied for 4th with a score of 54. At the last tournament, he tied for 2nd with a score of 49!! He really improved his game! Great job, Ammon!

6. Float the Salmon River.
This was on my bucket list, and I gifted it to myself for my birthday in August. I reserved spots for Josh and I, and friends Amanda and John to go on a day-rafting trip down the Salmon. It was one of the highlights of my summer! I absolutely loved it and now I want to go again and again!

7. Go camping at least 3 times.
We managed to complete this task by going camping twice in August and once over Labor Day. I'm glad we squeezed it all in! We love going camping! Especially since we live in such beautiful country that we don't have to go far to do it!

8. Host a barbecue with friends.
After the deck was built in July, we had two barbecues: one for my Sunday School class and their families and over 30 people were there and one for Kathy's birthday on September 2 and we had just over a dozen people present. Both barbecues were nice, and I enjoyed having people over at my house spending time in the outdoors!

9. Play in the ditch.
Throughout the summer, the boys played in the ditch in our backyard with their friends and cousins. This is one of their favorite activities in the summer! Sadly, though, I only took ONE photo of it this year!

10. Relax outside and enjoy the sunshine!
This is usually one of my favorite parts about summer, and I spend a lot of time just laying on the grass in the sun. But for some reason, I didn't do a lot of it this year. I only really remember doing it 3 or 4 times. The first time was my favorite--when we were visiting Redfish Lake in Stanley in June and I layed in the sun for over an hour while the kids played in the water and sand!

Live & Love Life 365 (August)

2011-09-03T14:22:00.001-06:00

Day 213: We went camping today for the first time this summer! We went to Williams Lake, and I loved relaxing and reading while the boys climbed rocks and rode bikes.

Day 214: I finished reading the book "The Kite Runner". It was a difficult story to read, and I didn't like it the first half, but I couldn't put it down during the second half. This afternoon, I rearranged the twins' room and Kanyon's room. Jonah and Micah were great and helped me a lot. For the first time since we brought them home from the hospital, Jonah and Micah are now sleeping in separate beds! And Kanyon is sleeping in the double bed now since he hasn't slept in the bunkbeds for months because he didn't like it. I just love the look of rearranged rooms! It's like being in new spaces and it feels so clean!

Day 215: Josh and I went for a walk tonight down to the river and back, and on the way we found an apricot tree growing in the wild. We came home and got a bucket and filled it up with apricots! I was so excited! I tried to make cherry pie filling today, but the cherries growing on our trees are filled with teeny tiny white worms, so I couldn't do anything with the cherries and I felt so disappointed. But discovering the apricots and picking them felt so redeeming and I'm excited to make something new with them!

Day 216: Made a batch of apricot preserves! I've never attempted preserving apricots before, and it was a long process. The apricots were so small, and I had to pit and peel them all. It took me over 2 and a half hours and my fingers turned orange, but the end process smells and looks delicious and I can't wait to eat it! Tonight I went to Amanda's and we watched "Soul Surfer" and ate spinach pizza. I had such a good time! I really enjoyed the movie, the food was delicious, and the conversation was just what I needed!

Day 217: Went golfing with Josh to couples league tonight. It was the worst we've golfed together all year, but I still had a good time! Afterwards, we rented "the Adjustment Bureau". It was a great movie, and so thought-provoking!

Day 218: Got so much work done in the yard today, and it felt great to be outdoors working! We weeded the pumpkin patch, took a load of schtuff to the dump, picked rock in the area next to the deck, unloaded the rocks in front of John's house, and put new stepping stones by the driveway leading to the back door. We went swimming this afternoon as a family, too, which was super fun, but unfortunately after a half hour, we had to get out due to lightning. But we are looking forward to going again once more before summer ends!

Day 219: Worked on cleaning the house all afternoon, and it feels great to be clean! My parents came for a visit this evening, and they brought my neice Aspen and my nephew Quinn with them. The kids played together so well all evening, and I enjoyed watching them interact with each other!

Day 220: It was so wonderful to have the boys' cousins here to play today! They jumped on the trampoline, played with remote control trucks, rode bikes, played nintendos, and set up a tent together on their own! They wanted to sleep in it, too, but the weather didn't work out and they slept on the floor together in the living room watching a movie instead. I loved having Quinn and Aspen here for the boys to play together with!

Day 221: I took the younger 3 boys swimming this afternoon while Ammon golfed 9 holes. I love swimming, and we had such a fun time with each other! The water was warm, the weather was perfect, and I absolutely loved it!

Day 222: All the boys had dental appointments in Idaho Falls today, and I took them by myself. I was so proud of myself for my time management skills in getting all 4 appointments done, at 3 different places within 2 hours, as well as shopping at 4 stores for school and home supplies, getting gas and food, and still making it back home by 5:30 in order to make it to the golf course meeting at 6:00!!!

Day 223: Amanda colored and cut my hair tonight, and then she gave me a pedicure. It felt wonderful to have my feet massaged! And I haven't had it colored in a long time--it looks great! I enjoyed the 3-hour time alone with her while she worked her wonders! And she did it all as a birthday gift to me! It was such a wonderful treat, and I appreciated it immensely! I'm so lucky that she's my friend!

Day 224: We went camping tonight to Bayhorse Lake. We've never been here before...but I really like the remoteness and the quiet and peacefulness!

Day 225: We took a little excursion to the old town of Bayhorse, and I really liked reading about all the old buildings and imagining what life would've been like there over 100 years ago.

Day 226: We took a hike this morning from our campground to the little Bayhorse Lake and did some fishing. It was nice to exercise, and it was lovely to be practically the only ones on the lake. It was beautiful and calming! Today was my birthday, and after we got home from camping, Amanda surprised me with my favorite meal! It was a true delight, and I'm so grateful for her! She made ham, potatoes au gratin, corn on the cob, rolls, and strawberry rhubarb pie! We had John over for dinner too, and everyone gave me a gift after dinner. It was such a lovely birthday dinner party tonight!

Day 227: I booked a float for today for a birthday gift to myself. Josh, John, and Amanda came, too. It was the first time I'd rafted and I absolutely loved it! I had such an enjoyable time on the water, and we laughed so hard! I loved today, just loved it!

Day 228: Kissing Josh this afternoon was the highlight of my day! And tonight, he planted his birthday gift for me: a flowering plum tree. We cut down the Box Elder tree that was beginning to bend towards the house, and we planted the new tree in its place. It was a lovely gift, and it makes me happy to see the new colorful tree in the yard that doesn't block the view from the deck like the old tree did.

Day 229: I took the boys swimming this afternoon while Ammon and Josh golfed. I was having a bad day--everything was annoying me, and I felt better after relaxing in the water for a couple of hours!

Day 230: I finished working on an outdoor beautification project on the north side of the house, and I love the way it looks! We've picked rocks, Josh planted bushes, I put a rock border around it, the twins helped me fill it with bark, and then tonight I got gravel and filled the space between the flower bed and the driveway. It was satisfying to work on it and it felt good to create the beautiful outdoor space!

Day 231: Went golfing with Josh tonight--the last night of couple's league this year. We played horribly, but I had a nice time with him. My dad came while we were golfing, and when we got home, he ordered pizza and we ate it together before the boys went to bed. It was a nice night!

Day 232: Went to Idaho Falls today with Josh to the temple with his siblings. It was so peaceful to be in the temple with him and his siblings, and we got some shopping done, too. It was awesome to spend the day alone with my husband and I was so grateful that my friend Ashley watched my boys so that we could go!

Day 233: Taught about the "final judgment" in Sunday School today and I was able to make it through all of the lesson, so I was quite pleased about it. We went on a picnic to Cougar Point after church, and I relaxed while the boys all hiked with dad, grandpa, and Uncle Tim. I canned applesauce all by myself for the first time ever this evening. It started out rough, but I got the hang of it by the 3rd batch, and I was so proud of myself! I love looking at the newly canned bottles; I think they're so gratifyingly beautiful! Tonight, John and I went to Amanda's house to greet her after her weekend trip to Boise, and we ate ice cream and laughed together for a couple of hours; it was so therapeutic!

Day 234: I hosted a BBQ tonight for everyone in my Sunday School Class and their families this evening. I anticipated about 40 people attending, and we had 33 come! It was the biggest BBQ I've ever hosted. I prepared all day for it, and by the time all my preparations were done, I still had 15 minutes to spare before it began, so I was very relaxed and happy during the BBQ. It turned out very nice, and I had a good time chatting and eating good food on our new deck!

Day 235: Amanda came over tonight. We sat on the bridge for a while with our feet in the water, watching the boys play in the ditch. Then we moved to the deck, and ate some Pumpkin Bars I'd made from last year's pumpkin patch. It was a relaxing evening and I enjoyed it so much!

Day 236: I went over to Amanda's tonight to get a coupon, and ended up staying for hours. We laughed and talked and laughed some more. I love laughing with Amanda!

Day 237: We drove to Idaho Falls today for Kanyon's and Micah's dental appointments. They both did well, and then we went to the Museum of Idaho's "Bodies" exhibit this afternoon. It was so fascinating, and I loved learning more about the human body! I was so glad that Josh could come with me today, and he was so sweet to me! On the drive home, I had to make a pit stop and he was more than accommodating. I just love that man!

Day 238: I canned applesauce all afternoon, and felt productive. Tonight, Josh and I went with Amanda to the hot springs. We were the only ones there, and it was so peaceful and relaxing soaking for an hour.

Day 239: I canned applesauce all afternoon and night, and it feels like I'm finally getting somewhere!

Day 240: I taught about the Post-Mortal Spirit World in Sunday School today, and I enjoyed the discussions we had as a class about the spirit world. Amanda came over after church, and we ate dinner together. She made yummy roast beef and homemade gravy, and I made home-grown mashed potatoes and biscuits. It was a yummy meal! Then I canned applesauce again all afternoon, and finally finished! I did a total of 60 jars of it this week, and I am so proud of myself!

Day 241: Between school orientations and working at the school all day in between, it was a very long day! But the best part was tonight, when Josh gave me a blessing and loved on me because I am SO nervous and anxious about starting to teach school again tomorrow!

Day 242: I enjoyed all my classes today, and we had fun in each one! It was a relief to have the first day of school go so well! And I came home exhausted! Josh made dinner and took Ammon to football, so I took a mini nap, and felt so rejuvenated! I sure love my husband!

Day 243: Josh and I both went to Ammon's football practice tonight and we took all the boys with us. Josh and I sat/layed on the grass, and the boys played with friends, and it was very relaxing!

swim & splash, sand & sun

2011-09-02T11:38:00.000-06:00

Day 10 was the final day of our vacation to Utah, and most of the day was actually spent in Idaho. In the morning, we packed everything of ours out of Grandma's house and into our car. Then we drove to Logan to meet up with Mick's family before heading over the hill to Bear Lake. We starting going to Bear Lake with Mick's family several years ago, and it's like a summer tradition now! We drove to North Beach on the Idaho side, and arrived there about lunch time. We ate a picnic on the beach provided by Mick and Jen. There wasn't a lot of beach area because the lake was so high this year, but the water sure was beautiful! And as soon as lunch was over, everyone headed for a swim in it.

It was a gorgeous and hot day. The water was the perfect temperature! After a while swimming in it, the kids started taking breaks to sun-dry on the beach...

...and play in the hot sand.

I love watching the boys play with their cousins! It doesn't happen often enough, but it makes me happy to see them play so well together!

After an hour, Aunt Tawna had to leave. And after about two hours, Mick and Jen and the girl cousins had to leave, too.

And after the Perkins' all left, there were no sand/beach toys or cousins left to play with. My boys just layed there saying how "bored" they were!

So I made up an imagination game for all of us to play in the water, and we swam for almost two more hours before leaving about dinner time. I asked the boys how they rated Bear Lake, and this is what they did:

Then we dried off, changed our clothes, and headed for home. We stopped in Montpelier for food and gas, and it was the longest pit stop ever. I took the boys through the drive-thru at Taco Time and ordered burritos and drinks for everyone. Then I drove down the block to get gas. Ammon said he was sick and had to go to the bathroom, and as he was getting out of the car, his large pop got stepped on and spilled all over the car. So, I cleaned it all up, got gas, took the boys individually to the bathroom, and Ammon was STILL in the bathroom. We had already been at the gas station for over 20 minutes! I thought he was puking or pooping, but he said nothing was happening and that his tummy still really hurt. I had no choice but to force him back to the car; I wanted to get home already!!! After he came to the car, he ate his burrito as I was driving and then he said he started to feel better. Apparently they were just HUNGER PAINS!!! Aaarrggghhh.

The drive home lasted forever, the boys fought in the backseat, I was irritated, and I was so tired of travelling. Unfortunately, the kids didn't even fall asleep until about 10:00, and didn't get home until after 11:00. I was exhausted! I carried the kids to bed, got all our wet things out of the car and started a load of laundry, put all the food away, and went to bed around midnight. I was so happy that vacation was over and that I got to sleep in my own bed again!

9 pins and 12 sons

2011-09-01T22:11:00.000-06:00

Day 9 of our vacation to Utah was the only day that didn't go according to my "master plan". We were going to pack up all our stuff that morning at my mom's house, and drive over to Logan to stay at my brother's house for the last night of our vacation. But then there was a sickness in their house, so we ended up staying one more night at my mom's house. And that left the day completely open for us regarding things to do.

My sister Trina and I went for breakfast at the Pie Dump. I haven't been there in 15 years! I had rolls and potatoes w/gravy, and she had donut holes. It was super delicious!

My mom took us bowling that afternoon in Tremonton. My boys were so happy to go! I don't remember ever bowling with my mom, and I was surprised when she bowled with us!

It was in the middle of a weekday afternoon, so we had the bowling alley to ourselves! It was nice and quiet! I shared a lane with Mom, Trina, and Ammon. Jonah, Micah, and Kanyon shared a lane with the gutters up.

Ammon got the highest score of all of us with 96. Jonah got 2nd with 95. Mom and Micah tied for 3rd with 86. I played lousy. And I couldn't believe my mom AND all my sons beat me!!! We all had a great time, though! It was enjoyable for me to watch my sons interacting with their grandma while we all played the sport!

Later that afternoon, I drove over to Garden City where I met up with my friend John. I was so glad to see him; I hadn't seen him all summer! He'd gotten a new truck, and he took me for a ride in it around the southern end of Bear Lake. I'd never been on the road past Garden City, and we had a pleasant drive!

I had reserved and purchased two tickets to eat dinner and watch a play at the Pickleville Playhouse. I've wanted to watch a play there for so many years! I'd looked forward to it all summer long! And I couldn't believe the night had finally come!

Dinner was good, and the show was excellent. John and I watched "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". That was the 3rd time I've seen that play this year. The first time was in March; John and I went to see it in Blackfoot at a community theater. Then in April, Salmon High School performed it and they did a phenomenal job! The 3rd time was different than the others because the cast was so much smaller, since the Pickleville Playhouse stage is smaller. The brothers in the PP show were amazing!! They were my favorite brothers in any of the "Joseph" productions I've seen this year. They were well rehearsed and the blocking, choreography, and especially the harmonizing were awesome to see and hear! The cast modernized some of the props and dialogue, too, which changed it up, and I liked that as well. But the SHS production is still my overall favorite this year! "Joseph" has addicting music, and I found myself singing "Jacob...Jacob and sons" for weeks after each time I saw the show throughout the year!!! Even though I saw three different productions of it this year, I've fallen more in love with the play each time!

After the play, John and I went to LaBeau's for a late-night snack. I got the raspberry shake (of course), and it was delectable! When my shake was all gone, it was time to say goodbye to John and drive back to Tremonton. I made it before midnight, and found that my boys had been well taken care of by my mom and dad in my absence!