SKI RACE

Jake and Adam participated in a snowboard race up at Solitude when I was in Chicago visiting my little sister Melanie. They had a great experience racing. Jake took 1st and Adam took 2nd in their age group. I have a feeling if I know these boys they will be racing a lot more next year. Good job guys!!! =)

SUNDAY FUN

Last Sunday when the weather was in the high 50s we "LOVED" spending time together enjoying the sunshine in our backyard. It was absolutely gorgeous weather...LOVED IT. The kids and Mike were playing flies up and they were getting so into it I had to go and grab the camera. I was laughing so hard when I looked through the pictures I took. Their facial expressions are priceless.

I love how Sadie is in the background crying from a wound from a previous round...FUNNY!!!

It ended with Rachel and Jake wrestling in this little patch of snow we had left in our backyard. GOOD TIMES!!!

BLOG BOOK

YAHOO I just finished our "2010" BLOG BOOK...
and it is ready to print. LOVE IT =)

SCIENCE FAIR

Jake and Will entered the SCIENCE FAIR last week in school. They both did a great job on their projects and were happy with their results. Jake did his project with my nephew Adam. These two are a great team...they both equally helped with the project. Their project was the distance you can jump in different types of shoes.

Will decided he wanted to do is project alone which I was fine with. His project was which liquid will freeze the fastest.

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

FAMILY NIGHT at the FOOD BANK

We had a great time at the FOOD BANK this last Monday night for family night with the Nelson family. My sister Amy is always so great to schedule times for our family to go every 4-6 months. The kids love to spend time with their cousins and what better way then to spend it doing service together =).
(We missed you Jed, Mandy, Brad and Mel.)

PARENTING 101

Sometimes as a parent it can be so hard to sit back and watch your kids figure out who they are and where they belong with their friends. I have watched my kids as they call or text a friend and they can’t hang out but they find out later that they were together with another group of friends. I have seen at recess some friends say, “Go find someone else to play with today.” I think the hardest thing for me is that when our child gets their feelings hurt it brings back the same feelings that I had when I was young. I want to share a story that happened to me when I was in the 6^th grade and I think it really changed me.

I had a group of about 6 girlfriends in elementary. We stuck together and we really didn’t care about anyone else or their feelings. Yep you could say I was in a clique. Well I was really bossy…I know hard to believe =) and one day my group of friends decided to turn on me and not want anything to do with me. They got sick of me wanting to always be in charge. They would run away from me at recess and say and do really mean things. I am pretty sure I deserved some of it, but they went a little too far in the way they treated me. I had a hard time at school for about 5 days of them being really, really mean. I mean they would wait for me in the hall and just say things that were so mean. I refused to go to school and I stayed home for about a week. I still remember my 6^th grade teacher Mrs. Williams coming to my house with some earrings and saying she missed me and that I needed to come back and try to make new friends and try to get over what these friends had done. It was hard, but I did it. When I came back they apologized and said they were sorry, but the damage was done. I really never was as close to them as I used to be and I learned that nobody likes to be bossed around and I needed to have a lot of friends and not be exclusive.

I am so grateful for my family and the friends I have in my life. I know I couldn’t go through this PARENTING thing without them. I want my kids to know that I too had to figure out which friends were good for me and that it is important to always be who you are and not change for ANYONE.

PEACE

Mike and I went to the temple last night and I just wanted to write my testimony I have of the temple for my kids. I want them to know I am so grateful to live close to so many temples and be able to go there and do service. I want them to know it is so important to live a life that you are worthy to go to the temple. As I was sitting in a session last night, I couldn’t help but feel such PEACE and how nice it is to leave the outside world when we are there. No phones, internet, TV, children, problems etc. I am grateful for a place to go and feel close to our Heavenly Father and feel the spirit. It seems like we have been given so many talks lately about temple attendance. Last Sunday in sacrament meeting Brother Campbell gave a talk about the importance of temple attendance and he says he goes 3 times a week and tries to do 3 sessions a time. I know he is older and has more time and isn’t busy with everyday life like we are, but still he has to physically get himself there which I am sure can be hard some days. Mike and I need to make more of an effort to at least go once a month. We are going to try really hard this year to make it past June. It seems like every year we do so good from January – June, but once summer hits it is so hard to get there. I was also grateful for the temple name I did yesterday because as I was getting ready to finish the session I looked and noticed her birthday was the same day as mine March 23, 1838…pretty cool 134 years before my birth year. I hope to do baptisms with Rachel and Jake more this year. One sister in relief society said when she turned 12 her dad took her to the temple every Friday. I am not expecting to do it that much, but how cool to get to go more with Rachel and Jake. We are lucky as Latter Day Saints to have a temple, so if it is hard for you to get there like me, I hope this year you can make more of an effort to go.

I love this PEACE sign we were given from our friends the Jefferies' for Christmas. I am keeping it up all year long. LOVE IT!!!