A Foster Experience

Yesterday while the kids and I were driving back to Washington from Idaho we had an experience I'd like to share with you.  Normally whenever we go on long distance trips Tony does the driving, but with Tony working his new job in Idaho that wasn't the case this time.  There is a high mountain pass in Oregon refereed to as the Blues.  This stretch of highway often gets snow in the winter months and the roads can get pretty yucky quickly.  As I was driving through this mountain pass a snow storm had gone through earlier that day to make the roads a bit slippery.  All the truckers were chaining up and the traffic was a bit congested.  With all of these factors we weren't going faster than 35 mph.  I had the kids turn off their movie so I could concentrate.  Of course with us going so slow it was taking us a little longer to get to our next stop.  Charlie starting having a stomach ache which meant he needed to use the bathroom.  I was trying so hard to pay attention to the road and the traffic around me.  The poor little guy had to go poop.  He was crying in agony.  I was trying to drive and tell him I was going as fast as I could safely go.  Then all of the sudden the truck started to fishtail and the next thing I knew we were in the median stuck in deep snow.  Alaina is scared and crying.  Charlie is in pain and crying.  Lincoln didn't really know what the heck was going on and Carson was actually pretty chill through the whole thing.  I put the truck in 4 wheel drive but to no avail.  We were stuck!  I was now shaking and crying.  A snow plow stopped to see if we were ok and told us the State Trooper was on their way and that a tow truck was also on their way to pull us out.  I called Tony who got a hold of our insurance and was able to calm us down and help me to think clearly through everything.  Charlie ended up having to go poop in a bucket.  Which was super stinky and gross but what else do you do in that situation?  We managed to stay warm and surprisingly the tow truck was there in about 20 minutes.  He pulled us out in probably 10 minutes and we were on our way.  The State Trooper never showed which is fine with me.  As a look back on what happened I distinctly remember a few high points.  I had the impression to put the truck in 4 wheel drive a few minutes before the accident happened.  I don't have a good reason for why I didn't do it, I just didn't.  Even though there was a lot of traffic on the road when I started to fish tail and slide all over, there was no one around me.  The only damage to the truck was a little dent on the front bumper where we hit a road marker as we slid off the road.  The tow truck had the right equipment and experience to get us out of the snow quickly.  Our insurance includes roadside assistance which means the tow truck was covered.  And when all was said and done Carson made sure we prayed to thank Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and helping us through it.  I'm so thankful and feel very blessed!  I've looked back on that moment a dozen times thinking what I should've done differently to avoid the accident but in the end the kids I learned some pretty important lessons.  Follow the promptings from the spirit immediately and Heavenly Father watches over us and answers our prayers.  We've always made it a habit to pray before we go on long trips and now we all know why.

Our little dent above the licence plate

          

House Shopping

So this last weekend the kids and I made a trip down to Idaho so Tony and I could do some more house shopping.  Tony had been weeding out the too small, too beat up, too weird and too disgusting houses during the week.  (You'll have to ask him about the details of some of the "gems" he found)  On Saturday Tony and I went to go look at a house in Nampa that we both really liked but decided that it just wasn't right for us or our budget.  Throughout this whole process we had toyed with the idea of building a home.  But that meant waiting 6 months for our home to be built which would put us in an inconvenient living arrangement until then.  I was really hoping that the right house for us would just magically appear and with the right price tag.  But that rarely happens and Tony and I felt like with every house we looked at we were having to talk ourselves into it and into the price.  After our visit with a local builder, a lot of discussion, and prayer we've decided to build a home in Middleton, Idaho.  Middleton is a small town outside of Nampa.  We've lived in smaller communities for the last 7 years so this will be nothing new to us.  We've picked out a lot in the Kestrel neighborhood and I love the country feel!  Tony's parents have graciously offered to let us live with them until our house is ready.  It's never easy to live with family and have to share space but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to help each other throughout the whole process.  Tony, the kids, and I are super excited about our new house and I hope that it'll be done before we know it.  Here is a link to the builder's website with the floor plan we've picked.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can look at homes that are already built to give you an idea of what it'll look like.

  https://cbhhomes.com/FloorPlans/columbia-2530

The Great Foster Migration

 So as many of you know by now we are moving!  It came out of the blue and it's been a bit of a whirlwind!  Tony had been struggling with his employer here in Moses Lake.  The last 18 months have been pretty difficult.  He had started to look for other job opportunities.  Then our summer was super crazy so we decided that we would give his employer one more chance to do what they've been promising him.  We said we'd wait until April 2018 and make a decision then about what to do.  Once we decided to stay I said to Tony, "Now you just wait.  Now that we've decided to stay in Moses Lake something will happen."  My famous last words!  In October Tony was contacted by a previous employer in Rexburg, Idaho.  The next day he was contacted by a previous manager in Nampa, Idaho.  Both were unsolicited and both offered him a position in their companies with similar salary and benefits.  We were surprised to say the least.  I had always heard of this sort of stuff happening to people, but never to us!  It was pretty obvious to us that the Lord was providing a way for us to move back to Idaho.  After a couple weeks of prayers, pondering, and a lot of discussion Tony accepted a mechanical engineering position with a company in Nampa, Idaho called House of Design.  The next week we showed the house to a coworker of Tony's.  The next day we had an offer and a few days later we had the house under contract.  As long as everything goes well we'll close on or before January 5th.  Over Thanksgiving weekend we drove down to Nampa to spend the holiday weekend with our family.  Tony stayed there to start his new job.  The kids and I came back to Moses Lake to get the house packed and let the kids finish up the couple weeks of school before Christmas Break.  We are still trying to find the right home for us in Nampa, but thankfully we have a lot of family down there willing to help us out until we're able to get into our own home again.  I have to admit that my emotions have been all over the place during the last few weeks.  I'm happy, sad, stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, excited, etc..  I see that the Lord's hand is truly in this whole process and I have to remind myself to put my trust in him and everything will work out and be ok.  So here is to the end of another chapter in our lives and the beginning of another one. 

I was feeling a little sad that we won't be able to decorate for Christmas this year and our holiday celebrations will be a little different.  So I got a little tree with some lights and ornaments so we could still have a little bit of Christmas while we prepare to move. 

Teenager!

Well Carson is now 13!  We have a teenager and it certainly comes with some difficulties.  But all in all Carson is a pretty great kid!  I'm so thankful for his affection forgiving nature.  He wanted a transformer cake this year.  And I have to admit that I find myself wanting to put less and less effort into each birthday cake I do.  So I did it free hand this year and was surprised at how well it turned out.

 Carson is very musical.  He plays the drums, trumpet, piano, and now is learning the Ukulele.  He sings too!  He'll be doing a solo in the upcoming children's choir Christmas Concert (say that 5 times fast).  Happy Birthday Bud!  We Love you! 

Halloween

Halloween this year was busy like always.  We had our ward Trunk or Treat the Saturday before.  Sunday night we carved our pumpkins.  Carson and Alaina are old enough to do their own which is nice.  Tony "helped" carve Charlie and Lincolns.  While I spent the entire time carving my warty Frankenstein pumpkin.  I will never carve a warty pumpkin again!  Monday we celebrated Carson's birthday and Tony took the kids trick or treating.  Tony said that Lincoln was adorable!  He's at the age now that he knows you get candy by saying "Trick or Treat" at each door.  He even said "Thank you" each time.  We are just now finishing up the candy from Halloween!

 Carson dressed up in his dad's leathers to be a biker.  Alaina was a cat (which she's been planning for months).  Charlie was Darth Vader, and Lincoln dressed up as a Ninja Turtle.  During the Trunk or Treat he absolutely refused to put on a costume.  So I put a sign on his back that read, "I refused to dress up!"  Everything thought it was cute and he got just as much candy as the rest of the kids.

Soccer Picture

Alaina chose to do soccer again this fall which make for a busy couple of months.  But she loves it and we love her, so we support her in it.  I did the team pictures again this season.  I was able to get off the hook from doing a cake for her team party this year.  Which is fine with me!

Summer 2017

Oh what a whirlwind of a summer we had!  It was wonderful and I was glad to spend the time with my family!  So that we don't end up having super long post I'll give you the reader's digest version with some pictures.

Tony, Carson, and I participated in our first Trek.  It was the hardest thing I've ever done and we learned a lot.  We really loved our "Foster" kids and created lifetime memories.

 We took the kids to Silverwood Theme Park again to use the tickets they earn through reading.  It was awesome this year because Lincoln is 2 and free so we only had to pay for Tony and I.  The weather was great.  The lines were short and I even helped with the magic show.  It was pretty cool!

 I did a wedding cake for my neighbor's daughter.  It had been a while since I'd done an all real cake, but I was really happy with the way it turned out.

 The kids and I watched the Eclipse.  We were not in the path of totality but it was still pretty cool.

 Charlie celebrated his sixth birthday!

Charlie's cake with strawberries and Lego toys he picked out.

 We visited the cabin as part of a family reunion for Tony's family.  It had been over 6 years since we had been there and so Charlie and Lincoln had never been.  It was so nice and I hope it won't take that long for us to go up again.

 For Labor Day Tony and I took the kids up to Leavenworth for the day.  It was super smoky from all the wildfires but it was still pretty cool.  We spent the morning going through the shops and the afternoon swimming in the river.

When we moved from Rexburg 3 years ago we left our barbecue with the intention on buying a new one.  Well we never did and I have missed it.  A ward member gave us their "broken" barbecue.  After some major cleaning up it was as good as new and enjoyed some of Tony's super delicious ribs.    

Alaina turned 10! 

And Carson kissed the sidewalk!

In the midst of all this there was also scout camp for Tony and Carson.  A trip to Utah for the funeral of a close family friend.  A couple trips to Boise for a baby blessing and a family reunion.  We did some camping in there too, but not as much as we would have liked.  The kids and I visited the pool at least once a month and Alaina overcame her fear of the water slide and loved it.  As it always does summer seems to go by way too fast and I'm already missing the warm sunshine.  But I do have something to get me through the upcoming cold months as Tony and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for our 15th Wedding Anniversary!  To say I'm excited is an understatement. 

Cutting out the Crap: Update

So it's been 5 months since I made the decision to scale back on my social media use.  What I've noticed is that I get a whole lot more done than I used to.  You know those projects that have been sitting there staring you in the face for who knows how long that never get done because you just don't have the "time".  Well more of those are getting done.  I feel less frazzled all the time and like I actually have a purpose and direction each of my days.  I do have to admit that it's been hard for me to break the habit of each time I sit down to rest to open Facebook.  I didn't realize what an addiction, and yes I meant to say addiction, social media can be.  I won't tell you how many times I've deleted and then reinstalled the Facebook app on my IPad.  The thing is that I don't really miss it.  It really is just a waste of time to see articles I don't care about and people I don't even know!  But what I do miss is that I really don't take pictures or videos of my family anymore.  How sad is it that because I'm not bragging about my kids all the time on Facebook I don't brag about them at all.  So I'm revising my social media use.  I'm still not going to have the Facebook app on my IPad because it's just too much of a temptation to waste my precious time.  But I am going to start taking pictures and videos of my family again, and I will post a few of them.

As far as my healthier eating and being more active, my approach has seemed to work pretty well.  I've lost almost 20 lbs and feel great!  I'm down a size in my cloths and have so much more energy and confidence.  Although I haven't managed to loose any more weight in about a month, I haven't gained any back either.  I blame that on the fact that we've made 3 road trips in the last 2 months, and it's the end of the school year which is always crazy busy!  I'm hoping the I'll be able to get into a routine again soon.

So just for your enjoyment here is a picture of Charlie from our latest road trip, which I'll talk about in a later post.  I think it adequately shows how we all felt by the end of it. 😃

       

Soccer Mom

Alaina just finished her 5th season of soccer.  She even got two goals this season, which is hard when some of the girls you're playing against are a full head and shoulders taller than you.  Last Saturday was the end of season Jamboree and party.  Alaina loves to play and I am always glad when the season is over...just in time for t-ball to start for Charlie.    

I did the team pictures this season and they turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

The cake I did for the end of season party.

Defeat

Update on the recent weaning of Lincoln from his binkies.  The day after I took away said binkies I discovered that Lincoln was cutting his eye teeth.  The next day he got sick.  After 6 days and nights of him not sleeping more than 30 minutes without me holding him I could take it no longer.  It was worse than having a newborn!  He and I were both exhausted and miserable.  I finally admitted defeat and bought some more binkies.  He is finally sleeping through the night again and we'll try to take his beloved binkies away as soon as school gets out.      

Lincoln Turns 2!

We celebrated Lincoln's second birthday yesterday.  I'm sure many mothers have a hard time when their youngest reaches each milestone.  It feels like you're loosing your baby was too soon.  I made Lincoln a nice chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with some cute mickey and goofy cars on it.  We had a lovely dinner of Papa Johns Pizza.  I had spent the entire day at a Primary Activity and frankly didn't feel like cooking!  Not that anyone objected to pizza for dinner.  Lincoln blew out his candle with some help from dad and then enjoyed his cake.  After cake Lincoln opened his presents.  Tony and I got him a stuffed animal that talks and plays songs.  It's pretty cool because we can connect it to an app where we can customize what the toy says and even put in Lincoln"s name.  He loves it!  We also got him a Captain American action figure.  He had picked it out at the store and wouldn't put it down.  Grandma and Grandpa Elton got him a fun Thomas the Train book with a "cell phone" that has noised that go along with the book.  He was pretty excited about all of it.  Here is a cute little video of Lincoln.  

Lincoln continues to be a pretty happy kid most of the time.  He has started throwing fits but mostly just when he's hangry.  He loves cars, trains, planes, bikes, basically anything that goes.  He also loves books.  His vocabulary is growing all the time and it's so fun to hear him say new words.  Something else he loves are his binkies.  But since he is now 2 that means no more binkies.  This evening I cut all the tips off his binkies so he could see that they're broken and so that in my moment of weakness (which will probably come about 2:00 a.m.) I can't give in and let him have them any longer.  Poor mommy loves them just as much as he does and it's going to be a hard adjustment for both of us.  

We sure love our little guy and are so blessed that he joined our family 2 years ago!

Cutting out the Crap

Some of you may have noticed a couple weeks ago I posted on Facebook and Instagram that in order to meet some personal goals I would be spending much less time on social media.  Last summer I was called to serve as the Primary President in our ward.  I find this calling very rewarding but can be a bit stressful at times.  I was finding that I was having a hard time keeping up with my responsibilities and projects at home while fulfilling my calling.  I got to thinking about how I was spending my time.  I came to the conclusion that a lot of it was wasted on my IPad.  Checking Facebook which most of the time was just a bunch of political, social, religious, or just stupid stuff that I really don't need or want in my life!  Checking Instagram was most of the time just a "keeping up with the Jones' " mentality with people who I could not even carry a regular conversation with if we were to run into each other on the street.  Playing time wasting games and so on.  It seemed like every time I sat down it gave me the excuse to spend the hour on my IPad doing nothing of importance!  Frankly I was ashamed with how much time I was wasting.  I promised myself that no longer was I going to give my precious time away so easily.  I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my IPad along with a few other time sucking apps.  I usually will check Facebook once or twice a day on our PC and leave it at that.  I remind myself that I'm not really missing anything of importance and everyday when I do check Facebook I'm reminded of that fact.  I keep myself busy by actually doing all the things I never felt like I had time to do before.  A perfect example is I'm finishing up painting the ceilings white.  Tony and I started this project a year ago.  I have also been much more particular about the type of shows I watch.  I'm easily sucked into movies and shows and end up thinking about the characters and plot lines days after watching it.  This being said I can not just look past that one bad seen or that one bad word very easily.  So I stopped watching some of my "favorite" series.  When I watch a movie I'm very careful about the content.  Of course there are still times where I finish a show or movie wishing I hadn't watched it.  My time is precious and I don't want to waste it on anything that doesn't add to my life.  Something else I've been working on is the way I take care of my body.  I've been struggling with my weight for the past few years.  My weight has always sort of yo-yoed back and forth, but I really started packing on the pounds the last couple years Tony was in school.  I wasn't happy about my situation but I wasn't willing to make the changes I needed to get healthy again. I knew I had a problem with self control when it came to food, particularly baked goods like bread, cookies, brownies, cake, etc.  But again I wasn't willing to give those things up.  I liked them too much.  But I came to realize that often times when I was eating I really wasn't even enjoying my food.  I was just eating to eat.  Or I was eating because I was upset.  I can own up to the fact that I am a stress eater.  So I decided to make some small changes in this area of my life as well.  I knew that I couldn't do some fad diet that I'd end up giving up on when it got too hard.  So I decided to just start making better choices when it came to my food.  Firstly I was going to cut down on how much food I ate.  I am going to eat pancakes and waffles for breakfast with my kids.  But that doesn't mean I needed to eat...ahem...four of them.  I also decided that I would start tracking the food I eat so I can make better choices.  When we go out to each I'll still order a burger and fries.  But I'll get the smaller size with a water to drink instead of soda.  Another thing I decided I would do was to be more active.  I knew that I would not be able to start working out hard core for a hour everyday.  But I could do a simple cardio or yoga workout for 20-30 minutes everyday.  I've been doing these things for a little over a week now and have already lost 4 pounds!  I feel better and most of the time I'm not hungry.  Which is a huge win for me!  I don't want to say that it was my New Year's Resolution to cut the crap out of my life because I want these changes I'm making in my life to stick.  I don't want it to be a fad that only lasts a few weeks and then I decide it's just too hard to keep up with it all.  I want to be better inside and out.  When I say my prayers each night I thank my Heavenly Father for his help with maintaining these goals I've made and I ask for his continued help for the next day.  I feel so much better already and I've only just begun!      

Christmas 2016

We stayed home again for Christmas this year.  We've discovered that as our kids get older we'd rather stay put for the Holiday Festivities.  My parents did travel to spend Christmas with us which was wonderful!  They came a day earlier than planned but also left a day earlier than planned so they could beat the snow storms.  As per the norm I was busy "making Christmas" to there aren't a whole lot of pictures to document our activities.  Christmas Eve started with our traditional breakfast for dinner.  I made cinnamon rolls and Tony cooked made to order omelets.  Then we all opened our new pajamas.  Grandpa read the story of our saviors birth then Grandma played Christmas Carols while we all sang along.  We tried to forgo our usual movie of Polar Express for Muppet Christmas Carol but apparently everyone on VidAngel had the same idea.  So we watched a Christmas Show by Vocal Point and then watched a Disney Christmas Special.  After the kids were settled Tony and I got to work playing the part of Santa.  Lincoln got some "That's Not My..." books which he loves and we read multiple times a day.  He got a ride on toy that he also loves, a Thomas the Train toy, a pillow case and Legos.  He loved all of it!  Charlie got a set of Rescue Bots Transformers, Marvel Lego Video Game, Rock-um Sock-um Robots, a Chase stuffed Animal and pillow case.  He was so excited about all of it!  Alaina got a new scooter, a Monster High video game, my grandmother's sewing machine that she was ecstatic about.  I wasn't sure how she would take to getting a vintage sewing machine.  But she is just so thrilled to have her own machine and the fact that it was her great grandmothers was even cooler!  She also got a pillow case and some cloths for her dolls.  Carson is getting to that age where Christmas is a bit more tricky.  We had the discussion about Santa this year.  I think he's known for awhile but didn't want to lead on.  When his suspicions were confirmed his first question was "Can I help then?".  Umm that would be a no.  Funny kid!  Anyway Carson got some of his own camping gear for scouts, the Avengers Lego video game, a Mortal Combat video game, the Avengers Civil War movie, a transformer, and a pillow case.  He was very excited about the video games...typical 12 year old boy response.  Tony got me a pressure canner and I got him his own Ukulele, although he didn't get it until the week after Christmas because it was back ordered.  We also got some organization racks and The Doctrine & Covenants for Families!  After presents we went to Sacrament Meeting where Alaina got to wear her new dress and the boys wore their new ties.  I was planning to get a picture but everyone was changed before I could.  My mom and I got started on the big Turkey Dinner and it all turned out delicious!  The rest of the day was playing with toys, games and eating pie.  This year in addition to the usual pumpkin and chocolate cream pies I made a pecan pie that was delicious but whereas I was the only one to eat it I probably won't be making one again.  Maybe next year I'll try my hand at Strawberry Rhubarb.  I have to admit that by the end of the day I was utterly exhausted but it was a good day for my family so it was a good day for me.     

 This year the kids and I started a new tradition.  We did advent tree that focused on our Savior.  Each day in December we'd read a passage of scripture about Christ and make ornaments for the tree.  I have to admit that there were many times that we missed days and had to play catch up and some other days where my hear just wasn't in it.  But I'm glad we did it and my kids were able to be reminded about the true meaning of Christmas.

 Alaina was pretty protective of her candy!

 Tony with his new Ukulele 

 It's been a pretty crazy winter all around.  We've had 3 snow days since Christmas Break ended and a few late starts due to snow, freezing rain, snow drifts, and frigid temperatures.  Admittedly we've spend most of our time in doors staying warm, but we did take the kids sledding last week.  This was the day before our "big" storm so we have a lot more snow than what you see in this picture.  As you can tell by Tony's face, it was cold and we didn't stay out very long.  The kids were still thrilled to go.

I keep waiting for life to settle back into a routine, but with the wacky weather we really haven't yet.  But it's also nice to be forced to take it easy for awhile.  Love to all of our family and friends.  We pray that you all had a safe and enjoyable Holiday.