First Half of January

I CANNOT believe that January is officially half over. It is the weirdest January I can remember. No snow, and consistently in the 40's. Feels like spring already. Honestly, I'm loving it...but it makes me nervous.

Lindy is officially a Sunbeam! She's been very excited, but since I'm in primary she has found it a little weird that she can't sit with me. On one of the first Sundays, the choristers did "rolo for a solo" where the kids can perform a song of some sort and get a rolo. It's a really fun talent show type Sunday the kids really look forward to. Gwen played a piano piece, Miles some ukulele, Lindy helped Sister Dickey lead a song they have been working on in nursery. :)



Utilizing our first Kiwi Crate! This set was all about color and light. One of the experiments was making a night light that would mix colors as you turned it. The kids thought it was super cool.


Hair cut time! Lindy felt so grown up. :) She just got it trimmed because she says she wants it to be long "like Rapunzel". Gwen opted to get her bob cut short again. It suits her. And Benson got his very first hair cut! It was so long and wispy, it definitely needed a trim. He hated getting it cut, but look how handsome and grown up he looks now!


Family Movie Night! Usually if the kids get to watch a show at night, they pick it and I use that time to get things done. It's hard to want to sit down and just watch a show. But sometimes we make it a priority to all sit down together and watch the same movie. Usually Richie and I get to pick the show, and choose something the kids normally wouldn't, but that's worth introducing them to. This night, it was "The 3 Amigos". Classic. Richie knows it well enough he could "edit" out some of the curse words.


Miles comes up with cool things to draw all the time, but recently he's discovered drawing tutorials on Youtube. He's really good to just sit and stay focused. He's done some really good ones!


Dinner and Pie Face with Uncles and their girlfriends = fun Sunday night!


Even though this blog is mostly my efforts at keeping our family's history, I realize one or two people check it occasionally. Which is why I'm too scared to post my "official before picture" because it's just...embarrassing. But it should be noted somewhere that a lot of my focus lately has been on losing baby weight. Losing weight for me has to be an "all-in" effort. It can't be something I do here and there. I still have about 20 pounds (I didn't realize I had so much to lose!) I'd like to lose before my birthday in May, but I am proud of myself for making it this far.(37 pounds lost so far) I'm back to what I weighed when Richie and I first met, and it has done wonders for my mental health.


Pictures of Lindy loving Joy School. I'm grateful to these other Moms who put effort into teaching my child!

2017 Booklist

Going to try and keep the list short and sweet. To sum it up, I'd say this year my personal reading wasn't spectacular. Reading over this list, it's obvious that I was just working through certain books because people gave them to us, or I got them for basically free at the library. Lots of non-fiction, which is all well and good, but I'm going to try and work in more fiction this year. We did however read some fantastic stuff with the kids.

Personal Reading:
*Call the Midwife- Jennifer Worth
*Emma- Jane Austen
*It's just my nature- Carol Tuttle
*Live your life for half the price- Lyle and Tracy Shamo
*My Beloved Sisters- Spencer W. Kimball
*The Gentle Touch- Ardeth Greene Kapp
*The Idiot's Guide to Gut Health
*Letters to a Young Farmer- Gene Lodgson
*Teaching From Rest:A Homeschoolers Guide to Unshakable Peace- Sarah Mackenzie
*Cut your Grocery Bill in Half- Steve and Annette Economides
*How to Grow More Vegetables- Forgot the name
*How to get your Child to Practice without Resorting to Violence- Cynthia Richards
*Edenbrooke- Julianne Donaldson

With the Kids:
*Swiss Family Robinson- Johann Wyss (Richie read)
*Knights Castle- Edward Eager (Rach Read, supplement to history curriculum)
*Jungle Book- Rudyard Kipling (Richie read)
*The Big Wave- Pearl S. Buck (Rach read, supplement to science curriculum)
*Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: J.K. Rowling (Listened to on CD)
*The Little Prince- Antione De Saint-Exupery (Listened to on CD)
*Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems (Rach read)
*Marvelous Land of Oz- Frank L. Baum (Listened to on CD. It's crazy)
*Peter Pan- J.M. Barrie (Rach read, simplified version)
*It's Raining Pigs and Noodles- Jack Prelutsky (Rach read. Fun poetry)
*The Legend of Sleepy Hollow- Washington Irving (Read as a family. SO great! Language was over the kid's heads, but so well written and funny!)
*Pocahontas: American Hero (Rach Read, supplement to history curriculum)
**We also listened to about a billion Magic Tree House books in the car, and read books 1-8 of the Herb Fairy Books Grandma Garner gave us.

Looking forward to another great year of reading!

The Humanity in the Fridge

I had waited past the acceptable time to clean out the fridge. Again.

The clear shelves were opaque. There was sticky sludge somewhere, and I didn't want to know what it was.
Our fridge leaks inside, but not to worry, we've found a state-of-the-art way to handle the problem.
We identified where the leak was coming from, wedged and old feta cheese container at the site, and wait for it to fill and freeze, then we dump it in the sink, and repeat.
Sometimes we forget to empty the tub, and water runs down the back of the fridge, collecting under the fruit and veg drawers. It mixes with who knows what and results in a not exactly pristine puddle that makes me gag. But this whole process is much cheaper than buying a new fridge. So here we are.

It's funny you know, I feed our family from this fridge. And every time I open it's doors to pull something out, I never notice the sticky or the smudged or the puddled. Nope, not until I decide to roll up my sleeves and clean the darn thing out. And then, then I am "agog and aghast" that I have allowed my family to live with such...yuckiness. (That's a technical term for varying levels of fridge cleanliness)

I am put face to face with my humanity and come to grips with my imperfections yet again. If I ever get feeling like I am in any way superior to my fellow brothers and sisters on this journey, all I have to do is clean out my fridge. Problem solved. I'm sufficiently leveled. And if that doesn't work, I just pull out the oven to sweep behind it, or move the couch to vacuum under it. Ta-Da! A formula for humility.

Our fridge was borderline empty the other day, as it tends to get when I try to beat the grocery budget that month. It's that time of the month when I look in the fridge for dinner ingredients and find mustard, an egg, left over barley from some soup, and not much else. So I get creative. Then I go shopping the next day, convinced I've stretched my pennies enough to deserve a trip to the store. I come home with more bags than I can carry in 3 trips, stuff our cupboards to capacity, play the adult version of Tetris as I maneuver supplies in the fridge, and step back and stare at our bounty. I stand a little taller as I think of all the yummy, healthy food we can afford, and what delicious dishes I will create with it. "Look at all of this!" I think, my head held high.

I should probably go scrub a toilet or something.

The Break and New Year's

We were planning on heading to SG right after Christmas and spending our Christmas break down there, but we just couldn't seem to muster up enough energy to do everything that needs doing in order to make a trip. We decided to save the gas money and stay home while Richie had time off work for Christmas. And man, it was just what the doctor ordered! We got projects done that needed finishing, slept in, and had lots of time together doing fun things. I actually felt on top of everything! (Which is a rarity) It was awesome. Here's some highlights:

Cute Benson and Grandpa


The kids "helped" me with some projects for about 2 seconds. Then my OCD comes out and they have to leave. Over the break I painted a "new" bed frame for Richie and I, painted some shelves Richie made me for the downstairs, and painted a little microwave table some neighbors were getting rid of. It's amazing how much life can be breathed into old furniture with a little love, and how new it makes the house feel.


We took the kids to see "The Tree of Life" in Draper. It's no secret Richie hates seeing the lights at temple square, so we thought we'd give this much smaller version a try...after Christmas...when we hoped there would be less crowds. Success!


Thanks to a gift card from Ben and Becca, we took the kids to see "Coco". We arranged for Benson to sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's house while we took the 3 older ones, but right before we left Gwen knocked her head on the concrete as they were pulling each other in the wagon on our street. She was throwing up and not feeling so hot. So she stayed at G&G's house too. The next day Grandma and Grandpa took just Gwen to see "Coco" so she didn't miss out too much. :) Lucky girl to have G&G all to herself!


We painted lots of thank you notes! Benson thought it was awesome.


We used another generous gift card to eat out one night at Dairy Queen (Thanks Christensens!)and since it was near Lehi, we used our newly renewed pass to Thanksgiving Point (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Crosby) to go to the Curiosity Museum. It's so much easier taking the kids when Richie is with me, and we've found the perfect time to go: 6pm! Everyone is heading home, but the museum is open till 8, so it's 2 hours with much less chaos than normal.



New Year's Eve this year was really low key and perfect. We measured the kids and after Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we headed home and instead of making the kids go to bed immediately, we got in our cozy pajamas, brought all of our blankets into the living room, stoked the fire, and watched "It's a Wonderful Life". We never got around to watching it during the Christmas season, but we've decided it works pretty well as a New Year's movie also. Lindy and Gwen zonked out eventually, but Miles managed to make it till midnight, and humored me by going out to bang pots and pans. I left my 3 babies snuggled up together next to the fireplace and went to bed. It was perfection.


New Year's day for dinner we got together as a homeschool group at BreAnn's house for fondue! It was a new experience for most of the kids, so it was chaotic and really fun. I'm really grateful for these families who push me to be my best and who are my partners in crime with this whole crazy home-schooling journey. We missed having our newer family there, the Braithwaites, but we'll get 'em next time. Welcome 2018!

Christmas Day 2018

My favorite Christmas tradition that we started a few years ago is that Dad is the first to wake up. He makes a nice cozy fire and starts breakfast, which consists of German pancakes and grapefruit. If we're lucky, we might also spoil ourselves with some bacon. We woke up to delicious smells and enjoyed our breakfast and fire, then let the kids see what Santa brought.


Gwen was thrilled she got "Just Dance" to play on the Wii, Lindy was thrilled with her "My Little Pony" set, Miles was thrilled with his Minecraft game (but bummed he had to wait till our computer was fixed to actually use it), and Benson was thrilled with his wagon. After I felt like they gave those gifts adequate attention, we moved onto wrapped presents. Hands down, my favorite was watching the kids when someone was opening a present they had given. They were so excited and just couldn't contain it! As siblings they drew names and picked out gifts for each other at the DI, and then we washed them up here at home. Lindy gave Benson a toy car, Benson gave Gwen some barbies, Miles gave Lindy a barbie, and Gwen gave Miles a doggie stuffed animal. I loved that Gwen gifted me a rock she found on a walk, and some mixing bowls I had bought myself a while ago and stashed downstairs. I loved that Miles gave Richie and I each a book he bought with his own money at the library. Check out the one he picked for Richie!:) After those favorite moments, my next favorite was watching the girls open their presents from Richie and I. I gave them my old American girl dolls. They were over the moon about it, and I was a little more sentimental about it than expected. They are already 100x more worn in these few weeks than they ever were when I had them for years, but I wanted them to be really and truly played with.


We paused the gifts for a moment to go over the Grandma and Grandpa's house so that we could Skype with Elder Garner! It's always nice to see their face and chat for a bit, but I admit I feel a bit awkward doing the missionary call thing.


We came home, opened our stockings, cleaned up, and then the kids proceeded to play Just Dance for 3 hours without stopping. No joke. Talk about a work out! Then family came over to hang out and they played with them too! It was a really wonderful Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

I loved having Christmas Eve on a Sunday. It seemed so appropriate. We had a lovely sacrament meeting, both Richie and I had to give mini-talks, and Richie "debuted" as the choir director and did a great job.

When we got home, I cooked, and then got the kids to be sneaky and get Richie out of the house so I could finish a present for him from the kids (fire starters). Gwen helped me with it later. It was a sweet, quiet moment with her while we listened to Cori Connors, and she capably worked away while singing "When I'm worried, and I can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings."


Before leaving to eat at Mom and Dad's, we made sure we checked the Santa Tracker to see where Santa was at. We feasted, then had a little talent show, acted out the Nativity scene, and opened a few presents. It was a wonderful night with our family.


The kids were anxious to get home to see if they got new Christmas Jammies and keepsake books (which are still on their way! Boo) They left some cookies out for Santa and anxiously settled down in the girl's room to sleep.