Today the rain is falling all around, finally.  We have had the driest winter I can remember.  The weather has been gorgeous, to say the least.  (Sorry to all you people who are in that cold, arctic ice winter.)  We have been having gorgeous sun and heat, which doesn’t happen here.  It has been hard to pray for rain.  We all know we need it, but none of us really enjoy the… Read More

I cannot believe our fourth child is now 18 years old!  I know it keeps happening and they just keep growing, but what all of that means is I am getting old! Sport has some fabulous stories! When we first moved here, Sport wasn’t quite three.  A few months later, he had figured out the differences between boys and girls.  The 1st Counselor in the Bishopric had invited us over for dinner. … Read More

I decided it had been a while since I had down-loaded the photos off of my phone.  I remembered some, but also found some random ones the children obviously took.  I thought they were kind of funny.  So here they are to share. The shirt Spike is wearing is a 6-9 month shirt….so these are kind of old photos….like 2 years old.  I also found these: Same shirt 🙂 And everyone needs… Read More

cinewsletter.blogspot.com Today I was made aware of the death of one of my children’s classmates.  One of our little fourth graders passed away on Monday from a long battle with cancer.  Our school is honoring him today.  I do not know the family personally, but as a parent who has had a sick child and tinkered at the edge of death, my heart goes out to them.  I pray that their hearts… Read More

npr.org Have you ever had one of those Sundays where the cosmos seems to conspire against you?  Four days ago was like that for me. As the 2nd Counselor in my ward’s primary organization, I didn’t have any specific responsibilities this month.  Because we were down two teachers, it was decided that I would substitute for one of our missing teachers.  Previously we had been surviving by combining two classes, but it… Read More

dreamstime.com (This is how we felt). Have you ever considered illness to be a blessing?  I usually don’t either.  But this week, illness has blessed our family.  Our schedule was crazy! Monday:  Basketball practice (2), 5:50 -6:50 and 7-8:30.Tuesday:  Basketball game 5-7; Board Meeting 7-8:30Wednesday: Class 4:15-5:30; Basketball game 5-7; typical mutual stuff 6:45-8:30;                           Priesthood Preview 6:30-7:30, Basketball practice 8-9.Thursday:  Concert 5-8Friday:  Family Home Evening. Sickness in our family this week eliminated… Read More

THIS one! I took Sport to the scouting office yesterday to get his Eagle Scout paperwork finished off so he can turn it in since his 18th birthday is two weeks away.  Sport finished his project in December.  All of his merit badges were finished.  His dad has been on him about finishing up the paperwork but it was Christmas and his brothers were home and Grandma and Grandpa were here.  Paperwork… Read More

The basketball season is in full swing here at our house.  We have two boys playing community ball and one playing school ball.  Four games a week, minimum.  This weekend Shorty had a fifth grade tournament.  It was very exciting.  His team actually won the tournament!  I have photos, but they are on my phone, so I don’t have them right now to post. Because of the season, we are needing to… Read More

Drew and I have been married 24 years today!!!  Hip hip hooray!!!  I have learned so very, very much!  Here are some snip-its, 24 snip-its in fact: Marriage is hard work.   It takes time. It takes two. Drew is my very best friend, still.  Sometimes I have forgotten that. Home IS where the heart is.  I have to work to keep it here. When I do the work and put in the… Read More

We don’t have amazing family Christmas traditions, they are just simple.  Each child gets one gift.  We eat a fancy dinner on fancy dishes.  I wish we all dressed for dinner, but we don’t.  Our desire to have dinner on china dishes was to help our children learn to eat in a formal setting, so as they got older that was not intimidating to them.  Aside from the fact that we are… Read More