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!