8/5/12

Brainstorm for questions to study:

Danny

• Love him into obedience
• what school will be best for him
• skills he needs, talents to develop

Rachel

• I need to be more loving toward her
• get her to open up to me more
• help her strengthen talents - art, piano, tennis, kindess

Aaron

•  Build self-esteem
• help him avoid negative thoughts
• help him be a better friend

Seth

•  give him more attention - play with him
• teach him preschool
• discipline more consistently

Ruby

•  more play time
• consistent discipline
• start playdates this year

Young Women

• build relationships with each
• pray for guidance every time I see them

Bob

• Things I can do to make him happy
• things we can work on as a team

July 29, 2012

So much has happened over the last few weeks!  We've been on vacation for the whole month! It was spectacular!

At the beginning of July we left to go to Utah for Grandma Donna's 80th birthday. We all rented a big house to share in Salt Lake.  Then we got together with everyone else at Tanya's house for the birthday part.  We were supposed to go to a fun campground up American Fork Canyon, but there were fires there, so we all went to Tanya's and she rented an inflatable water slide. We also went to a Rodeo, but only stayed for a little while because we got rained out.  And we went to temple square and walked around and went in the church history museum.  We got there Tuesday and then Bob and I left the kids with my mom and Kristal on Friday and we drove back to Las Vegas to catch our flight to Tampa that night.  Everyone else stayed in Utah and then my mom drove them home on Sunday and stayed with them for the week while we were gone.

We flew all night Friday night and got to Tampa Saturday morning.  Bob's aunt and uncle, Judy and Darrell, picked us up from the airport and took us back to their house.  We sat around and chatted with them and we went to Cheddars to eat, it was one of our favorite restaurants in Columbus.  We love their monte cristo sandwiches.  Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting and then had lunch with Judy and Darrell and then they drove us to the pier to get on the cruise ship. 

We had a great room with a window.  We had great weather everywhere we went.  We heard that the week before there had been a lot of rain, but we hardly had any.  Monday we were at sea all day.  It was nice to just relax and explore the ship.  Bob went to the gym everyday, but I only went twice.  I was more excited to read.  It's been a long time since I read a book for fun and I read seven this month.  We ate so much good food.  Our motto for the week was "let's go, we've got things to eat!" 

Tuesday we stopped at Cozumel.  We got off the boat and walked to town.  It was a 30-40 minute walk just to get there and it was HOT.  But we walked right next to the ocean so that was nice.  Then we did some shopping for the kids and went to their big grocery store.  It was fun to see everything.  Then we dropped our things off at the ship and took a taxi to a beach we were told was where the locals went to snorkel.   And it was great.  It wasn't crowded and it was such good snorkeling.

Wednesday we went to Belize.  We  rode the tour bus for two hours to the Xunantunich Mayan ruins.  It's almost at the border with Guatemala.  The tour guide told us all about the country while we drove.  It was great to see a lot of the country like that.  Then we got to the ruins and they were amazing.  The only downer was that I'd worked it up in my mind that this was going to be a great Book of Mormon experience and it was great to see how the jungles looked and felt, but then our tour guide started showing us the ruins and talking about the gross rituals they did there and I realized that those big buildings and things were mostly from the Lamanites. We climbed to the top of the big ruin.  It was so tall and kind of scary to be up so high without any guard rails or anything, but the views were great.

Thursday we went to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras.  We went on a big zipline and then they took us to a pretty beach.  It didn't have good snorkeling though and there were lots of ants on the beach. And Bob was grumpy that day.  It wasn't our best day, but it was still fun.

Friday we went to Grand Cayman.  We loved it there!  We rode a boat a few miles off the coast to a sand bar where we could hold sting rays.  Then they took us to a coral reef to snorkel.  That was amazing snorkeling.  And Bob found a whole conch shell that we got to bring home.  The island was so nice.  Bob mentioned there are GIS jobs there pretty often.  We think it would be awesome to take a furlough from his job for 6-12 months and go live there.  Probably not going to happen, but it's fun to think about.

Saturday we were at sea all day and Sunday we spent at airports with layovers and rain delays until we finally got home at 3:30 in the morning. 

My mom did a great job with the kids.  They had lots of fun and it was so great to know the kids were doing great with my mom.  I think if we'd left the kids with anyone else I'd have worried and missed them more, but it was nice to be able to have a great vacation and be confident the kids were doing great too.

We were home for 4 days and then we left that Friday for Lake Tahoe.  We had another great trip there.  I love Amanda and Wendy. I'm so thankful for their friendship.  They've influenced my life so much.  They've been my best friends for 16 years now.  They're such a blessing.  We went on lots of hikes and played lots of Settlers of Cataan.. The kids rode their bikes on a fun new bmx track, the boys especially loved that.  We had two great days at the beach with lots of jet-skiing, kayaking and playing in the sand.  We left on Thursday and stopped at Carson City again on our way home. 

Today I was called as the Second Counselor in the YW.  I'm really excited.  Here's what I remember from my blessing when I was set apart.

• I should seek inspiration and inspiration will come
• I should think about the girls often and will get direction for how to help them
• I should study and learn how a presidency works and I'll be able to speak my mind with them
• I'll be able to organize my time to fit young women's into my life

Nov 1

I taught the combined young women today. The lesson was on taking care of our physical bodies. I think it went well. The young women don't give the same kind of feedback that the RS sisters do. It was a good lesson to teach for me because it really made me aware of how I need to eat better. I've been working on eating more fruits and vegetables. But then this weekend was Halloween, so I've eaten way to much candy, of course.

We had a fun Halloween last night. Danny and Aaron were Star Wars guys. Rachel was a princess and Seth was a football player. We walked down our usual street, plus an extra. So the kids came home with lots of candy. The weather was great too. We had a really cold week. Our Trunk or treat on thursday was cold, but it warmed back up.

Rachel had Hand, Foot and mouth disease this week. That is such a bad sickness. Danny had it a couple of years ago. It gives you canker sores all over your mouth. Danny didn't talk for two days when he had it because he didn't want to move his mouth. Rachel got the canker sores on her throat and tonsils. This was the sickest and grumpiest I've ever seen her. She's pretty much over it now, though. We're glad for that.

My back is still doing great. And I'm able to work out at the gym and have a great time. And my websites continue to stay busy. As soon as I feel like I'm close to being caught up, someone else calls or sends me an email wanting something new set up. I guess if it was the other way and no one was calling, I'd have that to complain about. So I guess I'd rather have it this way; and so far it's not been an overwhelming amount of work. But it's always there; I work at least an hour a day.

September 27

I missed writing last week because we were in Utah. We left Friday and drove up to Bob's mom's house. Casey came over that night. Then Saturday morning I went up to Sandy and had lunch with Amanda and Wendy. That was great. I love those girls. Then Bob and I went to the BYU game with Casey and Kami. Casey won 4 tickets to the game plus VIP parking and food before the game and at half time. BYU lost big, but it was still fun. Then we came home Sunday morning.

Today Bob, Rachel and Aaron are all sick. It was the primary program, so that was sad for the kids to miss it. Rachel seems to have it the worst. She's had a fever for 3 days, so if she doesn't get better tomorrow I might have to take her in. I really hope Seth doesn't get it. He's just barely getting back to his regular self after being sick the last time.

I got a new calling today. I'm a beehive advisor now. And they'll release me from both my other callings. I'm happy, but sad. I'm sure I'll really like Young Women's too. I loved it in GA. But I was really loving being RS teacher and VT coordinator. There are so many amazing women in our ward and I got to know so many of them because of my callings. And I loved going to Relief Society every Sunday.

My websites continue to stay busy. I keep thinking I'm almost done, but as soon as I get something done I get another request from another site. The money is really nice, and I guess it's good to get it in now since the kids are back in school and it's before the holiday season.