I'm here

I would really like to be more consistent about writing. So, maybe if I do a short one I won't feel so overwhelmed about writing more.

I've spent the last week working everyday. I am so not used to working so much. My house is a mess, the laundry piled high...you get the picture. I guess tomorrow will be spent trying to dig out of this hole!

On top of that after school has been booked solid. Monday I was able to get in a 5 mile walk but was called on my cell phone by Jared telling me I was supposed to be home because he needed stuff for his choir concert which was held that night. (A little notice would have been nice!). I had to run to the store, take Christine home (she walked with me) and then make it to the concert just in time.

Tuesday I went straight from school to a dentist appointment for Me, Tyler and Parker, dropped the kids off and went to a Craft Bash for Relief Society Enrichment from 5-8pm. Around 6 pm I got a call from Tyler. He was crying saying Jared was causing problems. So, I didn't get to work on my projects. I grabbed them and came home to survey the damage. FUN!!! I was a little relieved to have to come home so I could rest a little after being gone all day.

Wednesday was spent getting ready for our Young Women's activity. I shopped, made copies, printed pictures, etc. That was completed about 5 minutes to 7 pm, just enough time to come home, change into a costume (I went as a frazzled mom!!!) and run to the party!!!

Today I thought I would get a break and be able to come home. Not so. We had a 4 pm haircut appointment. We got 6 haircuts for $40! Nothing like doing it all at once!!!! The girl that cuts our hair is a friend who has a salon in her home. She does a great job and you can't beat the price. When we were done there we had to take a trip to the after-hours doctor because Tyler stayed home from school and Zach got sick at school (I had to have Eric check him out and bring him home while I taught class!) Turns out they both have strep. (I hope the rest of us don't get it but the doctor assured us he would call in prescriptions for any of us if we just called him. Love him!!!) I then brought the kids home and high-tailed it over to Sam's to get the RXs filled. I walked in the door after 7 pm. Luckily Eric came home around 6:30 and I was able to have him cook some rice, make gravy, warm up roast that was cooked in the crock pot yesterday and warm up some peas. Dinner was ready! We ate and cleaned up a bit so Eric and the kids could carve pumpkins while I was able to sit down and take a breather.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be more relaxing since there is no school. We do have a couple things planned but not nearly as crazy. Of course, it's Halloween!!!! I love to stay home to greet the cute trick or treaters while Eric takes our kids out.

I was really trying to be brief but here's a long one again. I can't win!!!

Zachary

Since Zachary had his birthday, it's time to tell about him. Zachary is a happy child. He has always had the most beautiful smile. He loves life; he really enjoys himself! He loves to help. Whenever I need something he is my "go to guy". When Eric is going to help someone move or the like, he is the first to volunteer. He loves to build stuff and work with tools. He can't stand to have an unopened package sitting around. He's gotta get his hands on it and open it. I can't tell you how many times he has fixed things, built furniture from the box and various other tasks. It makes my heart proud to have a child like this. I know we didn't teach him this, he came that way.

Zachary turned 11 years old. He is in the 5th grade. He is involved in scouts and is very excited to be a real 11 year old Scout. He was just awarded his Arrow of Light on Wednesday night. He also earned all 20 Webelos badges. His Webelos leaders work very hard and love to help the kids earn all they can. It is such a blessing to have such dedicated leaders.

He is in the drama club at the school. They meet every Friday after school. Eventually they will perform a play of some kind. They've just started so they are learning to work together, etc.

Zach has decided football is his favorite sport. I flubbed up this year and didn't get him signed up to play on a city team. We will definitely do it next year. If we don't, I'm sure he wouldn't forgive me. Everyday at school recess he plays football with his buddies. I'm not sure how good he is but he sure enjoys it.

I think that's all I have to say right now. I'm just glad Zach is part of our family. I love him lots. He makes me smile!!!

My weekend and SNOW on October 11th!!!!!!

I have had quite the weekend. It started Thursday when Eric and I went to lunch to shop for Zachary's birthday. I sent Eric back to work and continued running around, to Wal-Mart, Shopko, Scout office in Ogden, bank, Sam's Club, Baskin Robbins, etc.

Since I was going to be gone the rest of the week we decided that Zach's birthday celebration would take place on Thursday night (his birthday was officially on Friday). Eric came home early (at 5 pm) to have dinner and open gifts. We did all that while I was in the process of packing my Creative Memories stuff into the van. We had a lovely dinner of steak, baked potatoes and spaghetti squash. Zach opened his presents-- a cell phone, MP3 player (2 GB), his new Scout uniform and all the belt loops he earned while in Cub Scouts (The ward doesn't pay for these so the boys are given the cards and the parents choose whether they want to purchase them. He had a few on his belt already but needed 23 more!) Zach chose to have a Baskin Robbins Fudge Nut cake. We sang and had yummy ice cream cake. By that time all I needed was packed in the van and I took off.

Usually the first night of my retreat (Thursday night) is my prep/set up night. I give my customers the the option of being there for the extra night. I had two others there with me. The rest of the retreat started Friday morning. We had a great time. Many wonderful scrapbook pages were completed. At least two people completed the pictures they had brought with them. I was amazed at how productive everybody was. We officially ended around 5 pm but had the conference room until midnight on Saturday night. A few people chose to stay while I packed up and wrapped things up. When I was done packing up I sat down with them and ended up not leaving until after midnight. I hit the sack around 1 am this morning. I am exhausted because I didn't get much more than 6 hours of sleep each night along with being busy the whole time.

I can't believe we got SNOW! Yesterday's forecast was rain and possibly snow. Well, it rained slush most of the day. I was inside all day so when I went out to my van imagine my surprise when I found at least an inch on the van. I drove home in the snow and when we woke up this morning there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground. The kids were so excited!!! They spent most of their day outside playing in it. I am just so surprised that our first snowfall is so early in the season!!! I sure hope this isn't a sign of what is to come. It could be a very long winter.

General Conference

Wow! I really enjoyed General Conference this time. I am usually able to pick a couple talks that stand out to me but this time I felt like all of them were so good. I am really excited about the announcement of the new temples. Rome, Italy!!!! Who would've thunk? Right in the middle of Catholic headquarters! So exciting!!! It's amazing how many temples there are now compared to when I was a little girl. I think there were only about 12 then.

I love President Monson. He is such a loving, caring man. Our claim to fame is that Leonard (Eric's step-dad) cuts his hair. We've talked about stopping in at the barber shop one of these times he is supposed to be there. It hasn't happened yet. The way Leonard talks, President Monson lives up to everything they say about him. Once you are President Monson's friend, you are always his friend. Leonard enjoys his friendship.

On a side note, did you catch the "Nacho Libre" lady? I had to chuckle as she spoke with the perfect accent, "baptized", "salvation", "everyday", "duty"..... Her talk was excellent but I just
couldn't help myself... I've been hanging out with Christine (my neice) all summer. When I first saw "Nacho Libre" I thought it was really stupid. Well, Christine helps me see the humor in it. We've spent the whole summer laughing over all the funny quotes from the movie.

I wrote down quotes I loved from the talks. Here are a few:

L. Tom Perry - Be positive. "The best is yet to be." Simplify our lives to basic needs.

Elder Anderson - "You don't know everything, but you know enough".

President Uchtdorf - Despair vs. Hope. "Hope is a confidence in God, patient perseverance. In the midst of winter we find an invincible summer."

Elder Wirthlin - "Come what may and love it."

Elder Holland - "Angels are among us through our lives and trials."

President Eyring - "A great day of unity is coming."

Elaine Dalton (YW General President) - "The temple is the reason for everything we do in the church. Young Women (all of us) should point toward the temple. Be clean. The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

President Monson - "Find joy in the journey - NOW! If you pile up a lot of tomorrows you, you will find a lot of empty yesterdays. People around us are most important. Gratitude for our blessings goes hand in hand with finding joy."

I need to watch Sunday afternoon since I fell asleep :(. I'll add those later.

Jared is 18 years old!!!

Okay, so, life is really getting in my way!!! Jared's birthday was a week and a half ago and I still haven't written. Since I just started this blog and I'm still trying to introduce everybody I thought birthdays were a great time to focus on each person. It just didn't happen this time so... here I go......

Jared's birthday was great for him. He has been wanting a "Zune" (MP3 player) for quite a while since his "Creative" broke early this year. The "poor" guy has had to deal with a broken screen. (Can you tell I don't have much sympathy?) This zune is 80 GB and he is so glad he got it. This gift was a bit weird to give because it is an expensive item. We don't spend that much on gifts so we told him we would pay $100 and he could pay the rest of the $185. That meant we were off the hook for other gifts. He found a brand-new-in-the-box one on KSL.com and picked it up in Woods Cross that afternoon. As soon as he hit the door he was hooking it to the computer downloading all his music. So, he got his birthday gift but we didn't even have the chance to wrap it!!! I guess it doesn't matter because he was happy!!!! The kids gave him a 3 foot long gummy snake and a big container of protein powder. (Don't ask, he wanted it!!!)

Eric actually got up early that morning and made pancakes but didn't wake the rest of the family since we would have been up eating breakfast at 6:30 am. (We DON'T get up that early!!!) Eric and Jared had a birthday breakfast and the rest of us ate when we woke. We have a tradition to make a special dinner of the birthday person's choice. Of course, true to Jared's expensive pleasures he asked for prime rib! NOT! He settled for steak, baked potatoes, veggies, etc. As I was purchasing the steak I checked out the price of prime rib. A roast to feed our family would have cost $60. Wow! (I'm not used to buying beef since we usually have 1/2 beef in our freezer but we are running way low right now.) We ended the day with a yummy ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. They make the BEST fudge nut cakes!!!

I can't believe Jared is 18 years old. I remember when I was 17 and a senior in high school. It was just yesterday. My parents were "old" then . I remember going to my mom's surprise 40th birthday party and thinking she was "old". Now I'm there and UGH I don't feel old!!!! I refuse to get old!!!

So...a little about Jared... He is a senior at Layton High. He is in his 3rd year of participation in the show choir. Choir at Layton High is where it's at. They sing and dance and have a great time. The instructor is a bit crazy but they mostly have a great time in spite of him.

He is also on the LITE (Lancer Improvisational Teenage Educators) team this year. They are a group who put together skits for different issues (drugs, bullying, friendship, etc.) kids face. They go around to local schools (elementary and junior highs) performing these skits to help kids to deal with issues the school feels need to be addressed. It's a peer-tutoring program. He is enjoying being associated with this team of kids.

His classes this year are pretty easy. His hardest ones are Creative Writing and CE English. CE stands for Concurrent Enrollment, which means it is a college class through Weber State University, that he is getting college credit for. His other classes are choir, LITE team, Social dance (ballroom), Gold's Gym (PE at Gold's Gym), Seminary and Auto tech (learning how to work on cars). Looks like a cake walk to me.

Jared is still working at Lagoon (Frightmares) on weekends until the end of October. He really needs to get another job to pay his bills. He's currently working with a neighbor kid with a new sales thing. We'll see how that goes.

Other than that, he is a typical teenager....always on the phone or computer or out being social with his friends (most of them are girls!) He says he is single right now and that he is preparing for his mission but he seems to have at least one girl he really likes. Fortunately for us, she lives in Brigham City. He doesn't have wheels so he doesn't see her much.

We are proud of Jared and his accomplishments. He has goals and aspirations and seems to be headed in the right direction. He has always been determined to get what he wants. It hasn't always been fun being his parents over the years but this determination will take him far as he goes on his mission and works towards his career. He has a great testimony of the gospel. He really "gets" it. We hope he will continue to make good choices. It will be great to see the consequences of those good choices.