Validation

Daniel's Dad sent us this link and I thought it was wonderful. You should really watch it.

End of Year

It's so hard for me to believe that 2008 is coming to an end. Time truly flies. As I look over the past year there are so many things that I wish I had accomplished. But at the same time I see huge improvements in many areas of my life. For instance, this is the first time in my life that I have kept an accurate budget for any significant amount of time. I have also seen major growth in Daniel's and my relationship. Every year we grow closer and closer. Sometimes I think we must have got as close as possible and then am amazed as we take our relationship deeper still.

But as this is the end of the year, my thoughts seem to stray back to all the areas that I can improve on. One of the things that I wish I had done better was write more consistently here on my blog. So as I say good-bye to 2008 and welcome in 2009, I am recommitting to keeping in touch. I also really want to increase my knowledge of the scriptures. I feel that is key to my spiritual growth for this next year.

Photo Tag

So Denise tagged me like a month ago, and I am finally getting around to it. At least I'm doing it, right?

So, it was a photo tag, and I was to go to the sixth folder in my photos and post the sixth photo.



Isn't she cute? This is a picture of Briona when she was 3. She fell asleep while reading a book. "Like mother, like daughter", as Daniel would say. He has taken very similar pictures of me (which I'm not going to post).

Okay, so I have to admit to a small falsehood. That really wasn't #6 of the sixth folder. It was actually #8. Here is #6:



If you can't guess, this is a picture of the rear end of an old time car (I'm pretty sure Christopher was the photographer). Our neighbor's have a pumpkin patch and every other year or so they have a group of customers come and visit in their vintage cars. It was actually pretty cool ( I just couldn't pass up the chance to post a picture of one of my kids.)

I tag Maralee, Chelsea, and Amy (again)!

Elections

Well here it is election night and I am anxiously awaiting the final results. I still have several more hours to wait however. The way things stand right now, according to Fox News, is McCain 13 electoral votes and Obama 3.

It has only been the last three elections that I have cared at all about voting. My interest has steadily grown over the past 8 years however. I had my mind made up about who I wanted to win in 2000 and in 2004. But I have to admit that I wasn't extremely passionate about it. Yes, I hoped Bush would win, but beyond that I really didn't think I would be upset if he didn't.

This year is different. Not only do I really want McCain to win, but I really want Obama to lose.

Church Music

Today Christopher and I were in the car together. I had put in a CD called "Not your Mother's LDS Music". As he was looking at the case he said to me, "Mom, I wish we had more church music around the house".

It made my heart happy.

Are Those All Yours?!!!

That was the question we got several times as we walked around Disneyland will both our kids and the Huhtala kids.

Summer Update

I know, I know, you all thought that I dropped off the face of the earth. Nope! I'm still here. The last few months have just been extremely crazy.

Here is a letter Daniel wrote to his sister a month or so ago. It gives a quick summary of our summer. I will make another post soon to catch you all up with us.

he kids are getting excited for our DisneyLand trip in October. We'll be on the road form the 7th to the 17th, visiting Marc (who lives in Northern Cali. right now; wasn't sure if you knew) for a few days, and staying at Disney for three days. We'll have to head home in time to be back for one of Christopher's rehearsals for the Singing Christmas Tree here in Portland.

The kids have been in school for a couple of weeks now, and they're liking it. Mostly. Getting up at 6:30 is not much fun for them, but they do pretty well as long as we get them to bed before 9:30. Robin and I are both teaching at the school this year: 5th grade Math for me, and 3rd grade science for her. It's fun, fits with our schedules, and also means that we don't have to pay anything for the kids to go to PHA.

Michael just started walking around last week. He's getting more and more steady on his feet, and he'll wander around in circles for minutes at a time just to practice. (At least, that's how it looks.) He's not saying a whole lot yet, but makes lots of noises that he expects us to understand. I imagine we'll get better at it soon.

Briona just barely turned 5, and just started pre-school. She loves her class and her teacher and, most of all, the snacks she gets at school. Not sure what she's learning yet, but that'll come.

Kira had a great time this summer. Just before her 10th birthday, she and Robin went to "Sisters' Camp", a three-day hang-out with lots of other girls her age and their moms (mostly), doing all the same kinds of things that Christopher has been doing at Scout camp: riding horses, shooting BB guns, cooking over a fire, tying knots, sleeping in a cabin and hiking all over the place. She loved it!

Christoper is nearly twelve, and will soon be ordained as a Deacon. He's pretty happy about it, but not quite as excited as he was, since I'm not working with the Deacons anymore, so he still won't be in the class I teach. He's doing great in school, and has a huge jump on his Math, since he tested through the first half (and then some) of the book.

Robin works at JoAnn Craft Store, staffing the cutting table and the framing counter. She loves the framing part, since she gets to work for long periods of time on one job, without being distracted by "Mom!" this and "Mom!" that every 2 minutes. Working the cutting counter, though, is no different from being at home, just with bigger and grumpier kids. We hope that with her working, and some of the other changes we've made. we'll be able to get completely out of debt (not counting the house) in a couple of years. It's a long road, but SO worth it.

I'm still working computer jobs, and loving what I do. Again, mostly. Office politics always make the job a little tougher, but it's a small price to pay for getting paid to do something I like so much.

Montana Memories

We spent our 4th of July holiday in Montana. It was WONDERFUL!

Daniel's Uncle Chris and Aunt Linda live in Yorc (right outside of Helena). After a 14 hour drive we pulled onto their beautiful property. Talk about picturesque! (Of course we had to wait until the morning to actually see it because it was 11:00 pm when we got there).



Chris and Linda had a place all set up and ready for us (even though we showed up a day before they were expecting us). They have a large fifth wheel that they completely turned over to us. It was like a little home away from home. We had hot running water, electricity, air conditioning, you name it. We were so comfortable. It was parked right next to the stream, so we went to sleep each night to that peaceful sound.

The kids had a blast while we were there. They got to tube down the creek, ride the four wheeler, collect rocks from the river, hike, and best of all, play with their relatives.







If you notice there is a rope tied to the tube. Mic (Daniel's dad) thought this would be a safer way to ride. Linda and I kept trying to convince him that they didn't need it because the bridge would stop them from going to far, but he informed us that it was his right to be protective over his grandchildren. Of course the kids only wanted to play on the cautious side for so long . . .



Here, Brian (Daniel's brother) and the 3 older kids decided to try riding down the river all together. It kind of reminded me of the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-Dub-Dub", except there were 4 in the tub.

It was so much fun until they hit the "waterfall". There was a large rock in the middle of the creek that created a small dip in the water flow. Small though it was, it caused just enough of a tip to capsize the vessel. From our vantage point on the porch it was quite the comical scene. All of the sudden where 4 happy children use to be was the bottom of the tube. Then in the next second , Brian climbed off of Christopher, and then pulled Kira (bottom side up) out of the water. At the same time, looking every bit as much like a drowned rat, Briona crawled up onto the bank sputtering and crying. Later as we talked about the incident, she informed us that nobody pulled her out and that she "didn't survive".


As you can see the trauma didn't last too long.



Linda had gone out of her way to make sure that the kids felt comfortable and at home. Over the past few months she has been stocking her house with toys and games she thought the kids would enjoy. The tinker toys were a huge hit! Every one from Michael to Grandpa, got in on the action.


Of course we couldn't leave all the fun to the kids. In fact, on the fun scale I might have topped the charts. I got to set aside some of my usual titles, like cook, housekeeper, and chauffeur and trade them in for farm girl and biker babe.

I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite activity. My Aunt Linda lent me some of her biking gear so that Chris could take me for a ride on his Goldwing. Kira and I got to man the tractor. We moved rocks, smoothed out dirt, and had fun trying to learn the controls (now which way is up?). I sped down the road at high speeds (shhhhhhh, don't tell Chris) on the four wheeler.

I think my Father-in-law and Uncle were trying to convert me to farm life. They seemed to get almost as much pleasure out of giving me these experiences as I had doing them. It was a real treat!

I think Daniel might have got the short end of the stick, but he didn't seem to mind to much.






In the evening of the 4th we drove down by the reservoir and parked by a large field. From here we could see the entire valley. It was amazing how many different places were letting off large fireworks. It was impossible to see them all because they we being launched from one side of the valley to the other. It was definitely a sight to see!

RE School on Hold

A couple of posts ago I said that I was starting Real Estate School. Well, actually that has been put on hold for awhile. It just isn't the right time for it. I really look forward to continuing my education, but with the way the economy is right now, Daniel and I just can't bring ourselves to sink a ton of money into it.

There is always tomorrow!

Costumer Service?

Be forewarned. This is a long post full of my rantings. Feel free to skip it without feeling any guilt.

I can't believe it! I actually had a positive experience while dealing with a business this week.

It seems like over the past years a lot of businesses have stopped focusing on costumer service. What ever happened to the motto "The costumer is always right". I think this has been on my mind lately because in the last month or so I have had two major confrontations with sales people. The first one was with Temp-A-Cure. I am going to discuss that one on a post all of it's own. The second was with Sears. So here's my story.

Two Christmases ago, Daniel bought me a watch from Sears. It wasn't exactly my style so I returned it and purchased a different one. When I was paying for it the clerk offered me their 2 year service warranty. I told her no thanks because I always lose the receipt, so it ends up just being a waste of money. She then told me that I didn't have to keep my receipt because Sears kept my info in their system. All I had to do was go to any Sears in the US and give them my name and they could pull up the warranty. I thought that was great, so I bought it.

Well, about three weeks ago I took my watch in to get the battery replaced because my indiglow light had stopped working. I took it to the jewelry counter and the clerk asked me for my receipt. I explained that I didn't have it and then explained why. She tried to pull my info up on the computer. No luck, she couldn't find me. She went to the back and tried there. Still no luck. She was pleasant enough to work with but after about 20 minutes she told me that she couldn't help me because their system only kept records for 1 year and then it dumped them. I asked her what should I do. She said if I could bring in the credit card statement that said that I had bought the watch from Sears that I could get a new battery.

I drove home slightly flustered. However when I got home I went back through my bank statements and found where it said that I had made a purchase from Sears. It didn't list what I had bought specifically but it was the best I could do. I knew that was when I had purchased it, so I knew it was the right transaction.

2 weeks later back to the store I go. I explain the situation to the lady behind the counter (a different girl this time). This lady was not helpful. In fact I would have to say that she was down right rude. Basically she told me that there was no way to prove that I was being honest and that it was stupid of me not to keep my receipt in the first place. I asked her if I could speak to a manager and she got all puffed up and informed me that she was one. After several rounds with her she finally told me that "just this once for customer satisfaction" (oh boy, was I NOT satisfied!) she would replace the battery. She gave me a little slip to take to the repair counter that stated that I had no prove and that they would not honor any other part of the warranty except to replace the battery this one time. Hello! Why didn't she just stamp the word lier on my forehead!

The thought occurred to me several times "Was all of this worth it for a new battery?"

And then wouldn't you know it? The technician informed me that the battery was not the problem. There was something else wrong with my watch.

I stormed out of there and on my way home I called Daniel and unloaded on him. Can I just say how much I hate confrontations (and how much I love Daniel). Daniel sat and listened and did what I could never have done. He sent an email to Sears Corporate office. They emailed us back to say that we would be contacted in a few days.

Two days later I got a call from the general manager of the store that I had gone to. Let me just tell you the experience was like night and day. He had me explain the situation to him and then he sincerely expressed his apologies. He said that he felt bad that I had to go though such an uncomfortable situation and that he planned to make it up to me. He then asked how much I payed for the watch. He then said that the next time I went into the store there would be a credit waiting there for me in the amount I paid for the watch. He said that I could us it for whatever I wanted.

WOW! I couldn't believe it. I guess customer service isn't dead. To bad I had to be made a fool of to get any. All that really matters to me though is that they did make it right, in the end.

At the ZOO

We went to the Zoo today. Notice how we are dressed! It was so cold when we first got there. Finally it started to warm up around noon. Crazy! I thought by the end of June we were suppose to have packed away the jackets.

It was great fun though. We road the train, watched the bird show, visited the rose garden, and played at the park. It was a full days worth of fun!

Kiraism

Kira and I were spending some time together baking the other day. As I bent over to pick something up, Kira informed me that my bottom was wiggly and jiggly. I told her thanks for the information and let it drop. Then several minutes later, as she was bringing a batter filled cake pan to the oven, she said, "See mom, you bum wiggles just like this cake batter!"

I guess that's what I get for always encouraging my kids to be honest.

Little Miss Domestic

Here is my little garden. This picture was taken on June 16th. The day after I planted. I know it doesn't look like much but these things have to start small.



We planted late because the weather has been so cold and rainy. We have 6 tomato plants, 2 zucchini plants, 1 squash, 3 cucumber plants, 2 sweet pepper plants, and 1 cantaloupe (I really don't have much hope that it will produce though).

Last year I planted a garden but was unable to keep it up because I had just given birth to Michael. I hope this year goes better. I'm pretty new to this whole gardening thing though, so we will see.

I also finished making 35 pints of strawberry jam. Isn't that a beautiful sight! And it tastes good too!

Mission Accomplished!

(Jen is going to kill me for posting this picture, but it was the only one I had with the two of us together. I thought when you had a digital cam it was suppose to end the days of bad pics. Don't you just love that we match! We didn't even plan that!)

After almost a year and a half of little to no running, I decided that it was time to lace up my running shoes.

When I got pregnant with Michael I had just finished training for and competing in the Hood to Coast relay race. I was running 3-4 miles four days a week and then doing a long run on Saturday. I felt great. I had never stuck with an exercise program before and I surprised myself by sticking with this one. I had never seen myself as a runner. In fact before I started this training, the last time I had run any significant amount of time was in high school gym class (and back then I hated it).

The H2C relay was in August and come late September I was already starting to feel the effects of being with child. Because I was so sick and because my heart rate went through the roof every time I tried to run, I stopped running all together. I figured I would pick it up again after Michael was bone. It took me almost 6 months after his arrival to figure out how to find the time to exercise again.

So some time in January of this year I decided that I wanted to try and run another 1/2 marathon. Honestly I wasn't sure I could do it again, especially after not exercising at all for more then a year. But here it is, the middle of June and I have a finishers metal around my neck.



Jennifer (who was my running partner last time) and I decide to train together again for the Helvetia 1/2. Up until the weather got better we ran inside on treadmills, but once it got a little warmer we did all of our longer runs outside. Jennifer planned all of our routes. We started by running 7 miles, adding a mile each week, until we reached 13 miles.

Both Jennifer and I felt very good when we finished the race. We ran a little slower than we did in 2006, because we didn't push ourselves as hard. But the pace was much better for both of us. We finished the race in 2 hrs, 25 min. (about). In 2006 our time was 2 hrs, 21 min. So even with the slower pace we only finished about 4 minutes later. And this year we finished feeling wonderful instead of feeling totally spent.

I had a great time! So great in fact that now we are making plans to do a triathlon!

Give me that Wink

Michael was trying to wink today.

It was soooooooooooooo cute!

These are the best pictures I could get though. It's hard to capture the moment when it happens in the wink of an eye.

The Man of My Dreams

I'm not much with words so this is going to fall sadly short on expressing what I really feel. However, I can't let this day pass by without trying to convey some of the love and appreciation I
have for the father of my children. Since I am much better at making lists than at constructing sentences that is the form this is going to take.

The top 50 reasons I love Daniel:

1. He loves me unconditionally
2. He plays with the kids
3. He is great at helping our children unfold the scriptures
4. He's forgiving
5. He's respectful
6. He never puts me down
7. He never complains
8. He is a wonderful father
9. He honors his priesthood
10. He gently encourages me to be a better person
11. He never pushes or pulls
12. He gets up with Michael EVERY night
13. He is a great provider
14. He loves reading to the kids
15. He's not afraid of hard work
16. He's so funny
17. He's helping me learn to enjoy life more
18. He is patient
19. He thinks more about me and our family then he ever does about himself
20. He's not afraid to try new things
21. He is continually working to improve himself
22. He's not afraid to recognize his short comings
23. He is an exceptional teacher
24. He loves to be near me, even when I can't stand to be near myself
25. He's supportive
26. He's hot stuff
27. Our priorities are the same
28. He's tender
29. He's the best dad in the world (and there is a difference between that and being a wonderful father)
30. He's in tune with the spirit
31. He loves to see me smile
32. He knows me inside and out
33. He never gives up
34. He is always willing to help others
35. He's honest
36. He is great with words
37. He's so darn smart
38. He never criticizes
39. He helped me learn to love reading
40. He doesn't like watching sports
41. He makes me laugh at least once every day
42. He's not afraid of getting his hands dirty
43. He's encouraging
44. He loves to cuddle
45. He lets me warm my cold feet and hands on his warm body
46. He's a deep thinker
47. He builds people up
48. He lets me sleep in
49. He never blames
50. We fit each other perfectly

He truly is the man of my dreams and so much more.

Happy Father's Day My Love!

She's Got a Good Eye

A week ago Kira decided to mess around with my camera. This is actually a favorite pass time for all of my kids. Usually they take pictures of each other making funny faces or doing funny poses. In Briona's case, she likes taking pictures of totally random things. The garbage can, the side of the couch, the floor, you get the idea.

What made Kira's photo shoot different is that she decided to go outside and take some nature photos. When she came back in to show me her results I was amazed! Most of her pictures were incredible. And just so you don't think that is because I am biased, here are my favorites.















Aren't they great! On Sunday we had a Talent Show for Activity Days and I suggested that Kira pick out her favorites and put them in a book to display. She was surprised by how much everyone liked them. She didn't even know that taking pictures was one of her talents. But as you can see, she does have talent!

Spaghetti Dinner

Don't you just love it when they start feeding themselves!

Birthday at the Beach

For Daniel's birthday we spend the night at Newport Beach. It was beautiful! It was also a much needed break. Daniel and I realized that it has been over 4 years, possibly even 6 years, since we have spend a night away without the kids. As you can see in the pictures, we weren't completely without kids this time either, but it was still amazing to have some close time together, even if we did have a tag along.

This was the view from our hotel window



Michael and I outside our hotel



Michael in the wind



Daniel and I thought this was the coolest log



Daniel and I on the beach

Do I really think I can do it all?

Things have been pretty crazy in our household these past few weeks. Thus, why I haven't posted for awhile. Since my last post we have had a school over night field trip, 2 birthdays, attended a navy retirement, Mother's day, a visit from Grandma Marilyn, Memorial day, the last week of school, our big father/daughter activity for Activity Days. Those are the bigger calendar events.

Of course I have to also mention some of the little "to do" items. For example: being without a furnace for a week (still don't have one yet), dentist appointments, teaching primary, getting paperwork for scout camps turned in and collecting paperwork for Activity Days Day Camp, running an average of 18 miles a week, figuring out our budget, retraining a baby to sleep through the night, planning a garden, conquering the weeds (yeah right), working on being a supportive daughter, research papers, etc, etc, etc.

Needless to say blogging has become lower on my priority list. And I'm sorry to say that my post will probably become even more infrequent, because starting Monday I am going to Real Estate School. That's right, I'm going for my real estate license. I have 150 hours of class time to complete and then I will take all the exams. After that I hope to start working for Re max.

Daniel and I both feel like me becoming an agent is the best option for our family right now. Please keep us in your prayers as we undertake this new adventure. I will try and post when I can.

I am a Warrior!

I did it!

I took the Hinckley Challenge and succeeded!

In memory of President Hinckley I read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (he was 97 when he died). It was so great to take part in this experience. Over 30,000 others took the challenge as well.

In order to complete the goal, I needed to read about 5 1/2 pages a day. I think I only missed reading three days total. There were many days that I read more pages because I was enjoying reading so much. Isn't that cool!

I have never had an experience like this before. I have always admired those people who say they love reading the scriptures and that they have a hard time putting them down. Honestly, there was a part of me that doubted them though. But now I know what they were talking about. It has been amazing.

I am really proud to have done something so worthwhile to honor President Hinckley. That is also something new for me. I have felt a great sense of purpose during this whole time. I am very grateful to the Brother who put this who program together. It has been fun seeing my progress and the progress of the group as a whole. Because of this challenge my view of scripture reading has changed. My life has been blessed because I took the time to feast upon the word.

Day of Firsts

Today Kira bore her testimony for the 1st time! And it was completely her idea! We haven't even talked about bearing our testimonies lately as a family. About half way through the meeting you could tell that she was being touched by the spirit because she started to get a little fidgety and then she moved to the end of the bench. She then asked Daniel what time testimony ended and she started eyeing the clock. A few minutes late she was at the pulpit. Her testimony was short and sweet. I am so proud of her! It was a big feet for her to over come her shyness and follow teh prompting of the spirit.

Another 1st is that Michael started crawling today! He has been close for weeks but today it is official (of course I missed when it first happened because I was asleep). He is up on all fours moving across the floor!

What a great day!

Easter Egg Hunt

Here are the pictures I took of our Easter egg hunt last month. It was the only nice day in weeks.