Sunday, October 30, 2011

October 30

Balance. We are striving for balance in our family. Hopefully we will find the correct rhythm soon.

One week ago we shopped at our favorite thrift store and discovered Halloween costumes and Louis L’Amour books. Both are incredible finds. Underfoot decided he wanted to be a cowboy. We found a cowboy shirt just his size. Hurricane found a Thomas the Train costume and fell in love. Both costumes were put to use yesterday at our ward’s trunk-or-treat. Trunk-or-treat definition: A group of people come to a parking lot and open up their trunks as children pass from car to car collecting candy.

The reason for the trip to “Dillards,” as we called it, was to find an appropriate cowboy costume for Underfoot because he was not going to have me pull out a plaid shirt from his closet to be a cowboy. Underfoot caught on that his Mama makes Halloween as simple as possible by using what we already have. Hurricane decided at the last minute to change his costume to a cowboy (moments before the trunk-or-treat. Unlike his brother, he was okay that I pulled out a plaid shirt from the closet to be his “cowboy” costume with his cowboy hat. He then put Thomas the Train over the top of the cowboy get-up and was a Thomas the Train cowboy.

Before the trunk-or-treat, a lovely family hosted a party and DINNER!!! It was lovely to go and let children play while adults chatted. I was very excited about not making supper.

Our week held its regular activities of Joy School (with Halloween party), work at Raytheon, music class, and Scouts. We have also been getting ready for our community yard sale. We are going to participate this time and have been collecting, cleaning, and labeling the odds and ends we hope that others will think are great treasures. The new discipline tactic is that if the toy doesn’t get picked up it will be labeled and sold this coming weekend. There have been more tears and prompt responses when that threat has been issued. Only a few things have been labeled and tucked away.

Underfoot, at his t-ball game, got the ball after a hit. He promptly pick it up and held it high. He yelled, “I got it!” He was so proud.

Hurricane pooped in the potty. He has no interest since then.

Sweetheart rearranged out library. From our Dillards visit we found a desk for me. Now Sweetheart will have space on his desk instead of me using it and walking away and leaving the papers on it. It also removed one of the two computers that was on it. We are very excited to have some personal space. We will put a table in the room for the boys to work at and hopefully make it our school room.

No crazy home preservation projects this week.

Be Well.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October 23

It is funny how your perspective on life can change in an instant.

On Saturday afternoon we received word that Mama’s brother was in a car accident. A combination of Divine Intervention and a split section decision on his part made all the difference. We learned that an oncoming truck veered into his lane, demolished the mini van in front of him, and sideswiped his 3/4 ton work truck with such force that it knocked it on its side, shearing off the rear axle. Mama’s brother and two nieces are okay. Four other people were taken to the hospital. One little boy, about Underfoot’ age, is in critical condition. If Mama’s brother hadn’t veered out of the way of the oncoming truck, what was a side swipe could have been a full head on collision with a very different outcome. We are grateful that they are safe.

On a lighter note, the phrase for the week comes from Hurricane. It is, “I do it.” Hurricane has determined that he is capable of doing everything. Among other things, he told me this week that he could wipe his own behind. I didn’t let him try. He is a happy boy, except when he’s not feeling well. Today during church he was not a happy camper. He has some sort of tummy ache which gives him very toxic gas, making his backside  raw. I held him for the last hour of church. Mama attended a conference on Friday to keep her Counseling Certification current. We chose to stay the night at my sister’s house. She was in Las Vegas with her husband who was attending a conference of his own. My father was in town to hold down the fort. It was fun to see the interaction between the boys and their grandpa.

While Mama was becoming ethical (at her conference of course) my father, the boys, my niece, and I went  to a train museum in Scottsdale. It was a great time. Hurricane and Underfoot loved riding in the cattle car of the train. Underfoot really liked the carousel ride. Another highlight was the model train exhibit. Hurricane was enthralled with the little trains and the little lights and the moving parts.

We hope you are well and safe.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

October 9

October 9, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,

Hurricane: Hurricane likes to go to t-Ball. He gets to sit on a blanket and play with the other children while Underfoot has t-Ball practice. He likes t-Ball better than the Zoo. Funny Hurricane story for the week- during the passing period at church, Hurricane was so excited to see his friends that he took off without us. He found his way to the room, only to find it empty.

Underfoot: Underfoot likes t-Ball too. This week was his first t-Ball practice. Underfoot got a book from the library. He has memorized the book and will “read” it to anyone that will sit still. Mama thinks this is the first step in reading. At least she is hoping so.

Mama: Mama has been busy all week with her new calling. On Saturday night she finally finished the Visiting Teaching schedule (much to my relief!) She went with some other ladies (and their children) to the zoo and had a picnic. Thursday they played at the local park (not in our HOA) so they could make it to the local library bus.

The wind was so strong! One child took her shoes off and the wind blew them away. (It was the same day Utah got snow.) On Saturday she drove all over town getting parts and price checking tires for the Pilot.

Sweetheart: On Friday night I worked on Fred. On Saturday morning Mama discovered that the Pilot had a flat tire. Not low, flat. No air at all. I discovered the cause- a 3 inch long nail. Since Fred was on the jack stands, I had to use several blocks of wood to support the Pilot while Mama went into town to get the flat tire fixed.

It turns out that the tire place won’t fix a flat tire when the steel is separating from the tire and it needs to be replaced altogether. So, we got 4 new tires instead of 1 flat fix. This took all day, along with a trip to an auto parts store to get one more part for Fred.

We went to bed some time after 10. I worked on Fred for the better part of 10 hours. I think he’s better. Hopefully, the parts replaced will help Fred last a little longer. This email comes to you a little later than intended. Hurricane treated us to some sass, throwing mom’s nail polish bag across the room. Does anyone know how to get black nail polish off of cheap carpet?

Be Well.

October 16

Underfoot participated in the Primary program today. He sang a solo in the microphone and did a good job. He decided before church that he wasn’t going to do it. We talked about singing, and he said he would for an orange cupcake and then added a blue cupcake to the order. He gets shy when asked about what he did. Hurricane wanted to sit with his Dad who is now a Primary teacher but alas sat with me for sacrament meeting.

This was the last week of our fall break from Joy School. The boys and I went on two adventures. We went to an air-conditioned castle full of taxidermied animals and a fall-esqued you-pick apple orchard and pumpkin patch. The International Wildlife Museum was better than the zoo Underfoot and Hurricane said. They liked that they could look at all the animals and touch some of the displays. I liked it because we stayed together better, and the boys liked it. Apple Annie’s Orchard is a fun place to pick apples (but the place had picked most the apples) and to have a picnic. After visiting the tourist attraction, we went and bought a 40 pound box for 60 cents cheaper a pound. The boys liked the hay ride the best.

We went to a cake party. The invitation said something about the cake party being a warm up to the Locey pie party (btw - November 18th - 6 pm - 8:30 pm). How exciting to have that coming up around the corner. The party took an exciting turn when all the children were screaming a death scream because a rather large rattlesnake wanted to join the children on the trampoline. The firemen got to come and remove the snake. Apparently children were thrown from parent to parent to get them inside. It turned out to be lovely party.

Eleven year old Scouts is now held at our house. Sweetheart is thrilled! He is so excited to have Scouts “closer” than at the church. He attended the HOA meeting.

With my new position in church, I worked visiting teaching routes. Visiting teaching is putting women in a companionship of two so they can bring a spiritual message and check on the other women’s families that they are asked to visit. Since we are a new congregation all the women needed to be given the opportunity to say if they would minister to each other or not.  It is wonderful to have done.

We hope you are well and safe.

Monday, October 3, 2011

October 2


This weekend was LDS General Conference. We spent the time together at home listening and learning lessons on how to be better in our testimonies of Jesus Christ. A lot of the talks focused on the family, morals, the scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), and prayer. We have made goals to improve our relationships in our family and with God.

Kirk: My train goes to on the track. Yeah. President Monson is my favorite guy. He is on the wall. I like the temple. President Monson likes the temple.

Lucas: Dear Aaron, I want you to go on another mission. And be back home again. We are watching General Conference. We get to stay with Mom and Daddy. You should get a sandwich on your birthday. And one more grade after my birthday. That means I’m five. We were on a picnic on a mountain this week. I ate apple. Lucas.

Wendy: We had our traditional Priesthood Potluck on Saturday. We hold it so men can eat before they go to priesthood meeting (where the men ages 12 and up are taught to be better men) and then return for dessert. The women and their children get to see a different set of walls after being at home watching conference for 2 two-hour sessions. Fall break started this past Monday for our Joy School group (and our local school district.) We have 3 weeks off. In preparation for the impending question “Is today Joy School?”, I organized a few outings. One day we went on a picnic to Mount Lemmon and let children run up and down the mountain. Another day we went bowling. I got 3 strikes (1 on my own and the other 2 with the help of the bumpers.) I learned how to make pumpkin rolls. They are one of my favorite treats my Grandma Hoggan would make. I remember eating it with her at least.

Lance: I got sick early in the week. On Tuesday I was too sick to fix Fred. Fortunately, a friend was kind enough to work on Fred while I slept. (I went to bed around 7:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.) Wednesday was the big meeting at work. On Friday the doctor diagnosed bronchitis. Some antibiotics should help me get better.