Gift of Love

I started this quilt 2 1/2 years ago.  My intensions were to get it done for my sisters birthday.  Then life happened.  I got busy, I stopped going to quilting class and never finished it.  I started school only to find out that school isn't where I needed to be.  So about 3 months ago, I pulled out the quilt blocks, went back to class and finally finished something that I started.  It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to starting another one!

Incidentally, this quilt is for my sisters birthday this year!  Hearts are a sign of love, and I love her so much!

Sons

It's hard to believe that these boys have grown up so fast!  Garrett will be graduating this year from high school, and will be going on his mission in 14 months.  He has become very talented in his music.  The bishop told him and us, that if he didn't go into music as a profession that it would be a shame.  He told us that Garrett was given a gift not a talent. He is very amazing on the piano, and has composed many songs.  Hopefully he will be recorded after he graduates.  We are very proud of him.

Gavin also has a talent, and that is physical activity.  He is very athletic, and loves the competition .  He also has a very strong testimony of which I'm so thankful for.  He is very close to the Lord and loves people.  He is very kind to everyone and shows his manners quite frequently.  I'm very proud of my sons, and pray that the Lord will continue to bless them.

Senior Prom

It's hard to believe that this is Garrett's last year of high school, and his last prom.  The girl he took was a doll.  The only problem is she was hit in the head with a golf club the day before, and was suffering from a concussion.  She felt fine through dinner, and as they got to the dance she became sick, and was taken to the hospital.  Garrett was left at the dance to watch others enjoying themselves with their dates.  As you can see the other kids that he went with are all good kids, and they did have a great time.  We have not heard how Garrett's date is, but hopefully she is recovering well.

Track and Field

Gavin tried his hand at a new sport this season.  Normally Gavin is in soccer, but this season he decided to try track.  (Due to the fact his mom didn't get him signed up for soccer in time)  He seems to really enjoy it, and has done remarkably well.  His talent is the high jump.  He jumped 4'10".  I can't even jump 6 "!  There were 4 schools that were in the finals, and Gavin was the finalist for his school.  

Gavin is our miracle child as well.  At the beginning of track season, he had to have a physical and permission to play in sports.  The chiropractor took his blood pressure and found it to be elevated.  He thought that perhaps it was because Gavin was nervous.  When I took him home, the next day I took it again, and again it was high.  I called the regular Dr. and took him in to be checked out.  His EKG was abnormal, and the pressure again was high.  They suggested that we have an ultrasound performed.  The cardiologist thought that perhaps it was a coarctation or kink in his aorta, but they couldn't see the aorta very well.  Then he suggested an MRI.  Last Wednesday his Dad gave him a blessing, and we fasted for him.  On the day of his test, they took his pressure and it was totally normal.  The MRI was normal as well, and there was no abnormality with his aorta.  I truly believe that the Lord blessed Gavin, and will continue to bless him.  I'm grateful for the priesthood.  I honestly don't know what I would do without it.  It was a testimony for Gavin as well! 

Lucy

After our last dog passed away, Ron said absolutely no more animals besides the birds will come into this house.  My old saying is never say never!  

I recently decided that school right now in my life was a bit much with trying to raise and family and keep a house clean.  I prayed about dropping out, and my answer came that I needed to take care of my family right now.  Garrett will be on his mission in a little over a year, and I didn't want to miss any of their lives.  So I found myself alone at home.  

We (Paige and I) have been begging Ron to allow us to get a dog.  He finally gave in, but the way he did was because a lady in our ward had a female dog that had 10 puppies!  We went to look at them on Thursday night, and Ron knew then he was had.   Both Paige and I fell head over heals for the runt of the litter.  She is only 5 weeks old, and the mom had  stopped nursing them so we picked her out and brought her home.  She is Australian Shepherd mix.  She doesn't even weigh 2 lbs, but since we have had her she has gotten a belly, and is so much fun!  At night is a different story.  She hates her kennel, and we have to lock her up in a room away from everyone so that we can sleep.  Life isn't going to be at all boring in the next couple of weeks as we will be training her to mind and be good, plus I'll have good company!

Paige's Sweet 16 Party

This is Paige's sweet 16 party.  There were 30 kids here!  Luckily our house is big enough to hold all of them without any problems.  We went through 3- 24 inch pizzas, 8 bottles of soda and snacks.  It was the blow out party of the year!  Almost everyone that she invited came.  They played all kinds of games including hide and seek in the dark.  The person that is it carries a flashlight, and tries to find everyone.  It is a bit hard when you have kids hiding in the dryer.  You read this right the dryer.  I wish I had known she was in there I would have taken her picture.  Apparently she was texting her sister that she was stuck and couldn't get out of the dryer.  Paige had a wonderful day.  We had gone shopping previously that day for her birthday presents and had lunch so it was a great day.  I so enjoy being with my sweet 16 year old daughter.  There is nothing in the world like have great kids to spend time with.

Happy Birthday Paige!

Cassie

My friend in Math needed to take her other Great Dane to the vet in Seattle.  She needed to leave her dog with someone and I volunteered.  She is a real sweet dog, but it is kind of funny that she is on Prozac to keep her calm.  

My Paige is such a dog person.  I feel for the man that marries her because she will have a farm at her house.  I guess she sort of takes after her mom.  :0)

At any rate it is so nice to have a dog in the house again even though she is as big as some of the dear outside.  I only wish that I could talk my husband into getting another pet.  He wants to rest for a while from dogs, so I will be patient.

Merry Christmas!

It is so amazing how we prepare, and prepare for this wonderful day, and the kids are so anxious to see what they get and it is over within 30 minutes.  I love this time of year, when we can all be together.  Last night we didn't make it to Doug and Sally's because of the weather.  It is just awful here, but we did go to some members home in our ward.  It was a lot closer and it still took as an hour to get home, however we had so much fun at their home.  This lady is German and she fixed us German food for Christmas Eve.  She made really yummy noodles and a individual little meat rolls.  The meat wrapped a pickle and bacon wrapped the meat.  It was pretty interesting, but really good!  Then we sat in their living room with the Elders and played games.  

Our kids get money every year and next week will be our big shopping day.  We make a day of it, and always go when everything is on sale, that way our kids get what they want.  We just put a few things under the tree so they can unwrap something.  We always get new movies.  

We all need to reflect on the true meaning of the season.  Our Savior did a lot for us.  We need to be thoughtful to others that need our help.  We have been blessed with thoughtful members of the church.  Living out where we do has it's challenges.  We have had members come out and dig us out and call to make sure that we are fine.  There is always an opportunity to serve others.  In this coming year, I'm going find opportunities to serve others.  We get so busy with our lives and families that I think we forget about others around us that may need our help. 

We all need to strive harder to help others.  For some reason I feel especially strong about this, maybe it's because we have been recipients so many times because of all the snow.  Anyway, hope this finds you all well and happy!

   

May the Lord continue to bless us all!  Merry Christmas!  

Winter Wonderland

Well we have blue skies peaking through the clouds today, and it has stopped snowing.  Today we went out to see if we could shovel a bit, and Garrett took this picture of our beautiful mountain.  As I was reading Cari's blog yesterday she was so positive about this weather.  It taught me a lesson to take comfort in the beauty of this earth.  Thank you so much Cari!  It was so quiet outside and so peaceful!  My family is safe, (Ron is still at work, but expected to come home today) my children are well, we are warm,  and so what more could I want right!  

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!  Love to all!

SNOW!

I haven't seen this much snow since I was a little girl!  It all began yesterday morning, and by 24 hours later Spokane was covered in 17" of snow.  I guess they have exceeded their records.  I went to finals with someone in my class because my snow tires are a little less desirable, and which incidentally I did great on finals!  I passed all my classes with flying colors!  Anyway, it took us an hour to get home from Coeur D Alene!  It is only 15 minutes away!  Ron called from work, and was not able to get home last night.  He is not expected to come home tonight either because we are basically stuck here without plows.  We used to have a neighbor that plowed us out last year, but I haven't seen him yet today.  

Spokane is shut down, the schools are shut down and the hospitals are under their disaster plans.  Ron said just kick back and enjoy staying home.  I do enjoy doing nothing, but on the flip side I don't like to be separated from him.  I have always thought what would we do if we did get separated during a disaster.  I guess this is giving me a little taste.  I'm thankful that we have food storage!  If we listen to the prophets and do as we are told, we will be blessed.  I'm also grateful that Ron is safe.  We miss him, but all will be well soon.

Hope you all are warm and safe this holiday season!

love to all!

Our Dog Rosie

It is amazing how an animal warms your heart, and they become part of the family.  Rosie came into our family when she was about 6 months old.  She was full of energy, and would chase anything that was running.  Anything from remote control cars to  laser lights.  She jumped out of a moving car when Ron took her for a ride in the car, and because she saw a cat she jumped out took a tumble was a bit scraped up, but recovered.  She also was poisoned twice and recovered.  We always said that she was like a cat with 9 lives.  

This last week she got very ill, and today I took her to the vet.  There wasn't any hope so we had to have her put down.  Garrett and I sobbed because she had become so much a part of the family.  I don't think my heart will heal enough to get another one for a long time.  

I think she is in heaven playing with our other dog Poky.  She was a great dog!  She was a great companion, and we will miss her terribly!

Scriptures and Thanksgiving

It is amazing what a person can learn from a child.  My kids went to EFY a couple of weekends ago in Coeur "D" Alene.  It was only for a day, but they learned some valuable lessons.  One lesson in particular that I think would help me.  One of the instructors taught the kids that if they read their scriptures before they study, the Lord would open their minds and help them achieve good grades.  So when they get home from school they read their scriptures 10 min before they do their homework.  Paige has been struggling, and has found that her grades are coming up after this habit that she has formed. 

For quite some time I have been complaining to the kids that I just don't seem to be getting this math.  Gavin said Mom read your scriptures.  In the last couple of days, I have put this challenge to the test.  Last night I was working, and my client had gone to bed.  I sat on her couch, and read the scriptures for 15 min. before picking up the dreaded math.  I prayed that the Lord would bless me and help me understand those things necessary for this math class.  Low and behold things started to click, FINALLY!  I work and work for great grades, and then when I do a simple thing as read the scriptures the Lord blesses my life!  What a testimony!   His promises are sure, that if we do as he says he has no other choice than to bless us.

At this Thanksgiving time, I'm so thankful for the gospel.  I'm thankful that I have such good kids that are relying on the Lord in these hard times.  I'm thankful for Joseph Smith for translating the Book of Mormon so that we can learn more of the Savior.  I'm also very grateful to the Savior for the sacrifices that he made in my behalf.  How blessed we are to live in this day and age.  It is scary, but if we are prepared we shall not fear, and if we do all that he has asked us to do he will bless us our lives!

Kidney Stones! YIKES!

Have you ever had the deer in the head like looks when someone has told you that your kidneys are covered in stones!  (No wonder I have been in so much pain for months!)

I had a CT scan last Wednesday, and the Doctor told me that the stones were caught in my ureters, and too big to pass.  PAIN!  I have been in incredibly amounts of pain for months!  I have just been taking lots of narcotics and Ibuprofen to get me through going to school, and homework.  No I'm not a druggie! 

Friday I had surgery, and things went really well.  I can never figure out though how one minute you are in the operating room breathing through their mask, and the next minute you are in the recovery room wondering if you are going to throw up or not. It is such a weird feeling!

In the time that I have gone through this procedure it has allowed me to be able to talk to all kinds of medical people.  I have worried about nursing school because as I was trained as a CNA I discovered that nurses generally sit and chart, turn off alarms fix IVs, but they in general don't interact with the patient.  Sure they get the big bucks, but I love patient care, and I love people and spending time with them.  I have considered Radiology Tech but when I talked to the Rad Tech that took my x-ray he told me that they have to have Radiology Physics !  I think I will stick with College Algebra even though math is not my fort-ay! Physics scares the hell out of me!  Nursing sounds better and better!  I also took note of the recovery room nurses.  There weren't any CNAs or LPNs just RNs.  They did all the patient care and the charting.  That sounds better to me. 

At any rate I'm on the mend, filling a cup up with sand and thinking I'll be able to get up and go for a walk soon without pain.  Now the Dr. just needs to find out why I'm making the stones that I am.  I'm sure I will have to change my diet, but after this ordeal I'm very willing! 

Five things about me

You can all thank Cari for this.  I got poked, and now I have poked some other lucky people.  :)  It is fun for once!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Living in Salt Lake City Utah

2. Raising 3 kids

3. Homeschooling

4. Wondering if I will survive homeschooling

5 things on my to-do list today...
1. Study for a Biology Test

2. Do my Math

3. Eat dinner

4. Get the kids off to Mutual

5. Study for a Big Biology Test

5 snacks I enjoy...
1. Anything sweet

2. Trail Mix

3. Crackers and Cheese

4. Vegetables from a veg. tray. (I hate cutting all those vegies!)

5 things I'd do if I were a Millionaire...
1. Buy a house

2. Pay for my kids' education

3. Do things that will make memories with my kids

4. Buy a couple of new cars

5. Travel

5 places I've lived...
1. Salt Lake City Utah

2. Meridian Idaho

3. Boise Idaho

4. Middleton Idaho

5. Post Falls Idaho

5 jobs I've had...

1. Computer Corp. (Where I met Ron)

2. Salon 

3. Primary Children's Hospital

4. Alzheimer's Facility

5. In home Care

I will now tag - 1. Deb, Laura, Emily, Katie, Mike

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

Piano Man

Melissa took this picture while she was here.  It is a great picture Melissa!

Garrett has an amazing talent, one that most of you have heard.  Heavenly Father has blessed this child 2 fold.  We had an audience with Marvin Goldstein a couple of years ago, and Marvin said that Garrett is amazing!  Marvin couldn't even play some of the music that Garrett wrote!  He wrote a song and dedicated it to his Grandma Grover entitled Memories.  This song is going to be sung at the graduation ceremonies at the end of the school year.  

My Mom would be so proud of Garrett, and I know she is watching him from above.  She loved to hear him play, and sat with him every morning until the day she died, and helped him to improve his talent.  I know it was her inspiration that helped Garrett to achieve this marvelous talent.  I miss her terribly, but in listening to Garrett play the piano softens my missing her because she was so much a part of his life.  So grateful for the gospel in knowing that I will be able to see her again someday.   I'm also grateful for my kids and to be able to see them achieve greatness!  

ELK!

I don't have a picture, but this is an amazing story.  Remember yesterday when I said that the Elk were bugling?  Well this morning I said boy Ron the Elk sound really close!  I looked out our back window, and there they were in our pond!  There was one big buck, and about 9 females, and 1 baby.  We watched them for about 5 mins, and then they were off.  My camera isn't such that it takes pictures that are a ways off, and Elk are so skittish that they would have run off at the slightest sound.  It was such a treat to have those big animals right in our backyard.  Started my day off great!

Fall

I came home today a bit early from school, and was just enjoying the quiet.  I got on the computer, and looked out the window at this pretty tree.  The picture doesn't do the tree any justice.  It is gorgeous!  I stepped out to take a picture to the sound of Elk bugling up the hill.  (Rick don't get excited, you already have your Elk.)  :)  Even though today doesn't feel like fall, it is all around us.  All the signs are here.  This is my favorite time of year.  It makes me think of kids in school, yellow, red, green apples, canning, and hot chocolate season!

We are all so busy with our lives, that we don't stop and check out the beauty of the earth.  I'm guilty of just that, but today I stopped to look and listen, and was grateful of the things we have been blessed with.  

Paige's Personal Progress Recognition

Last night was Paige's Personal Progress Recognition.  As most of you know Personal Progress is just as hard as earning an Eagle Scout Award.  It is a really big deal!  Paige worked hard to get this award.  She did several (7 to be exact) projects 10 hours a piece.  Just to name a few and the ones that I can remember; she memorized The Living Christ.  I can't memorize a scripture let alone this.  I actually tried to do it with her, and was unsuccessful.  I guess it helps to have a young mind.  :0)  She learned how to make whole wheat bread.  We took a plate of it with us to the recognition, and there wasn't any left when we were through.  She exercised, helped me at the Alzheimer's facility and spent some precious time with the residents.  She was also in a Shakespeare play, and had a blast.  

When the presentations were through, we had a slide show that depicted her life up to now.  Then the young women's president gave her 2 dozen roses.  They are beautiful!  We then had refreshments.

This project has really helped Paige.  She has grown up so much over the last several months. She is a kind and loving girl.  I am amazed at the inspiration that the prophet has in all aspects of the gospel, even down to the youth who are so important in these last days.  Her testimony has grown so much and for that I am grateful!  Her Dad and I are so proud of Paige, and congratulate her!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

This last month has been kind of fun.  We just got an Apple Computer with the left over money from my school grants, and we really needed a new computer so that I can do my school work. We got a great deal on an the computer and the Ipod because I'm a student.  Garrett has one, I have one, and Gavin wanted one so bad.  He has been saving his babysitting money, birthday money, and anything else he could get his hands on.  All month long he kept saying I want an Ipod so bad!  I can't wait until Christmas to get one with the money that I will get at Christmas. He even had made a list of songs that would go on his Ipod.  When the computer came, I set aside the Ipod, and then when his birthday came I wrapped it in several boxes.  He had no idea what was going on, since for tradition we give the kids money for their birthdays, and then take them shopping for what they want. (Saves time on taking things back) :0)  This is what the result was!

I love it when a plan comes together!  He was so surprised, and now has filled the Ipod up already.  It is an 8 gig, and it is half full already!  

Happy Birthday Gavin!

MAD!

Have you ever felt like this?  I have!  We just got this computer, and I'm having a real hard time getting used to it.

Paige loves our dog Rosie, and Rosie really is a great dog.  When you hold her feet she gets really upset!  It is so funny.  She reminds us of an Alien.  

Anyway, I think I have finally figured out how to get my pictures on here, so you will be hearing more from us!