The Seven of Us

Here are a few pictures from last Christmas. It was our first Christmas in our new house.  Here are the girls modeling Grandma Rosanne's hats.  Rosanne has some pretty amazing talents & makes awesome things every year: aprons, scarves, nightgowns, etc.  H ere's Corbin with his stash. Underneath, you can see his excitement while opening his stuff !  Jared usually passes presents out, so if we don't nag him a little, he won't open anything till the end.  I love this expression! Terrible lighting, but the food was good!  My good friend Donna Veca.  I've known her for about 18 years.  Even though I don't see her as much as I should, I always enjoy my time with her! All of us.  (we gave all of the kids a Haxtun basketball t-shirt.)  Taylor is 18, Caleb, 16; Isaac, 11; Kenna, 14; Corbin, 7.  And I'm 40! (Jared is 41)  This was taken during Christmas break.  There were a few nights ...

In the spring of 2013, I called our realtor.  For several years (maybe five) we'd been saying that we needed a bigger house.  Ours felt huge when we bought it in 2001. We had just three kids,  and they were young. Young kids don't need much space, and their stuff is small, and they all congregate in the same place anyway.  Also, our Bryan St. house had only been about 630 sq feet--so anything would've felt huge in comparison.   Anyway, I called Laura to ask about rentals.  We'd had it with our no storage/stuff everywhere/poorly heated/energy-inefficient home.  Two years ago I wasn't working, and we assumed (wrongly) that we couldn't qualify to buy another home, so we had decided that even renting would be an improvement.  Laura promised to keep her eye out for something appropriate, and then she said, "I should have you look at a place...remember the Penningtons?  Well, their house just come up for sale.  It's a foreclosure..." ...

A few facts about me: I like food.  A lot. I don't overeat, and I don't eat a lot of junk (no MSG, not much HFCS, not a lot of pre-packaged, prepared stuff), but I do like food.  My go-to foods for the past year or so are strawberry greek yogurt with granola, strawberries, and sometimes chia seeds; Kashi and Cascadian farms granola bars; water; Subway subs, and "real" (homemade) popcorn. I'm not overweight because I like food.  I'm overweight because I didn't exercise much between 2003 and 2009.  Although I know I'm overweight, I don't feel overweight. Why?  1-Believe it or not, I'm smaller than I was about 6 years ago. 2-I'm getting stronger all the time. 3-I exercise regularly and have set some pretty challenging fitness goals lately.  My biggest health fear is developing pelvic floor issues. I've watched 2 friends suffer with the pain and emotional exhaustion caused by pelvic problems. I'm slowly learning about pelvic flo...

One other great thing about Christmas:  We had people here, and not just for Christmas dinner.  The kids had friends over:  Bo. Austin. Jacob. Other friends. And I loved it.  We've always wanted people to be comfortable at our house, to spend time here. We  like our kids' friends and we like having our kids around here with their friends. So that was a bonus. 

1.  I haven't thought about school one bit. Really, Thursday was the first time. I spent a couple of hours in my classroom.  I didn't accomplish enough.  I am behind where I wanted to be and am a  little concerned.  And guess what?  Teachers are always a little behind and a little concerned.  I bet I'll survive. And my students will still learn. So I'm blogging, not prepping.  (Okay, so I spent another hour or two working today.  It's not enough, but it's okay.  And blogging is way better than okay.) 2.  I've been a homemaker.  Okay, so there are things about that word that used to really bug me.  I used to say "I am a MOTHER , not a homemaker!"   It's true: After a couple years of playing house, I didn't really want to be a homemaker.  I'm not crafty.  I don't believe in doing chores for my family; instead, I taught my kids to do chores.  I've done a lot of delegating. I take no pride in having ...

Things I'm grateful for--Mostly in Order:  1. My knowledge of God & his plan for His children , which is closely related to 2. My membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 3. A really incredible, selfless husband  4. Five healthy, mostly happy/responsible/good kids who have taught me most of what I know 4. Great parents who taught me all kinds of good stuff & who continue to play an important role in our lives 5. My health-and the role  Stephanie Harms  & mark mcdonald play in keeping me going! 6. A comfy house that provides a place for us to just BE 7. Our good jobs--we are fortunate to have dependable jobs that we like. 8. Our family & friends, who make life meaningful. Merry Christmas to all of you. Best of 2014:  1. Working with Steph--getting strong again, deciding to do an event 2. Caleb's all star victory--hitting when they were trying to intentionally walk him 3.  Selling houses, getting money 4. I am...

Today is August 1st. It feels a little like D-day, because my summer is over.  On Wednesday I go back to work.  .luckily I won't have students until the following Thursday, Aug 14.  I'm not completely ready for them yet! Having the summer off really has made me love my job.  I'll admit: The month of May felt long.  But then it was summer, and I felt so lucky and grateful to be home.  What other job would allow me to do that?!  While I wouldn't mind another week or two of vacation, I can tell that I'm almost ready for a change.  I wish I could be home with the kids for their last week, but it's not a perfect world.  So I'll do what I can to be ready.  And it'll be good, because we had a great summer together.