Learning

I am just so grateful for all the experiences that going back to school has provided for me already. I have learned so much more than what is being taught in my class! I have thoroughly enjoyed learning what is taught in the classroom though! I have been able to invite a fellow student to church, have talks with people about politics, happiness, and religion. Today however I am most grateful for what I have learned in my ASL class. I have been assigned to Visit Teach a Deaf woman in our ward, and I have been able to communicate with her because of my schooling. We just had her and her husband (both Deaf) over for dinner and it was so much fun! Even Ben and the kids were involved and trying to learn to speak to them. They were so patient with us, and so willing to teach us and try to understand what we were saying to them. They are interesting, funny and so kind. I really feel that I would have missed out on knowing them had I not gained the courage in my class to approach them. I wonder how many things in life we miss out on because we don't have the courage to try. Or that we limit ourselves just because. I had a talk with one of the cute 11 year old girls in my class today, telling her that she is just as capable of Enos of having an amazing experience with prayer, and in fact she already has. She was asking why all the people in the scriptures are able to do amazing things, and we just aren't now. I assured her that amazing things are happening every day. And it is true. We have had several baptisms in our ward in the last couple of months, one of which was a whole family! Another family is investigating the church now, and I know that their 11 year old girl (in my Primary class) wants to be baptized. If that is not just as amazing as some of the things in the scriptures, I don't know what is. All these amazing things that are happening around us I think are the result of courage. Whether it is that a member finally has the courage to talk to their friend about the church, or whether a stay at home mom finally gets up the courage to go back to school, or whether the school aged kid has the courage to stand up and choose the right. There are exciting things happening all around us, and all it takes is just a little courage.

Well apparently I have been in some sort of weird time warp! Here we are, on the other side of February and I haven't said a WORD this year! As much as I detest "catch up" posts, hang on tight because you've got one coming your way! -January 5th-8th I ran the Ragnar Relay. one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot about myself that weekend. Ben learned a lot too, like how much he REALLY doesn't want me to leave him for that long alone with the kids again! -January 9th I started school again! I am going to FINALLY finish up my degree from Dixie College from about 100 years ago (okay, 1996/1997....but still....). I am taking Political Science, 20th Century Humanities, and American Sign Language. I have had so much fun so far, and am looking forward to getting my a.s. in December and move over to the University of Central Florida in January! -January 16th we moved to a new house! Good bye mean ole lady, and awkward landlord! This new place feels like double the size of the old one, has tons of kids in the neighborhood that are welcome to play outside, and we've got an amazing view of the fireworks at WDW! If you get on Google Earth, you can draw a line from our neighborhood to the Dumbo ride at WDW without running in to any other houses! So nothing MAJOR has happened since that crazy first couple weeks of January. We have mostly just been trying to recover from the initial madness! JT and SM had their well child checkups and were both found to be healthy and growing like crazy. JT is in the 95th percentile for height and SM is in the 75th. The doc told me I would probably be the shortest one in our family. DB has been working hard in school and basketball. He loves going to scouts and does whatever he can to earn iPad or computer time. He is currently saving up to buy himself an iTouch. We have been doing really well lately as things have recovered from January. We teamed up with a family in our ward to do a babysitting swap once a month, so we went on a date in February already (GASP!!) and are already looking forward to our date in March (Dave Ramsey event). Whew! Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? Not much detail, but we are all caught up now.

2011 top ten

It has been kind of hard coming up with a top the for this year! We have had a nice quiet year, I guess but here it is.

10. The beaches of FL- we visited the beach as often as we could this year. We made it to Cocoa, Daytona, Treasure Island, and several smaller beaches on both coasts. We even spent Christmas Eve day at the beach!

9. Scouting-DB had a full year of scouting and earned his Wolf. He loves scouts, and I love that it gives us some good ideas for FHE!

8. WDW- if we ever had some spare time or a day off of school, odds were that we could be found at Walt Disney World! We live about 15 min from the gate (and will soon be moving even closer!) and definitely used our FL resident status to our benefit!

7. Mama and Papa Shoff-oh, how spoiled we are by our gramma and grampa! The came to visit us not once, but TWICE this year! We have such a good time when they come and I really appreciate the time they spend with us.

6. New car-we sold the Lexus SUV and were intending to buy a house here but have felt that we should hold off on that, so we bought a Honda Civic. It is perfect for me and the minions to run around in and will suit me great when I am commuting to school in 2012.

5. Joyschool-JT, SM and I participated in joyschool this year with some friends we have made here. I am not exactly sure how much learning happens sometimes, but we all have had some fun doing it.

4. St Augustine- when I got back from Utah this summer, Ben took me to St Augustine for my birthday. We had so much fun on our first trip without the munchkins in tow in 4 1/2 years! Thank heaven for Uncle David and Aunt Becca!

3. Broken elbow-ah, yes. The broken elbow. 4 days before coming home from UT....surgery, 1 sling, 2 casts, 7 long weeks-- good times. JT took it all in stride though and actually taught me a LOT about perseverance, patience, courage and the effect of a positive attitude.

2. Ragnar training-the last 5 months have been completely consumed by my training. My whole family has helped me in preparing. Ben has watched the kids in the mornings during my runs, dealt with random runs at the drop of a hat, DB has ridden his bike along side me, JT and SM stretch with me before and after runs...now let's hope they all get along while I am gone for 4 days next week!

1. Utah visit-we spent 5 weeks in Utah without Ben. That was so hard to be apart that long, but I was so grateful for the time it gave me to spend some good time with both sides of our family.
The kids did a good job on our flights, and we had some really great experiences while there.

2011 was a quieter year for us, but that just gave us time to cultivate friendships, learn, and grow closer together as a family. 2012 is knocking on our door with a LOT of enthusiasm already, so I am going to sit back, relax tonight and enjoy the last quiet moments of a year that has served us well.

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful day today! It was so relaxing to stay at home and veg all day. We did manage to throw some church clothes on 15 min before church and make it there on time. The kids were all happy with their haul, and I got the biggest surprise of all this morning! I am actually entering this post from my present...an ipad! We have been considering getting one for a while, with me starting school and all, and I am excited to put this bad boy to use there. Meanwhile, we are cultivating a very unhealthy habit to angry birds. I put together a missionary book for Ben which has been a lot of fun to read through today. Those letters and documents have been buried in a Tupperware tote for many many years.

We are so grateful this year for all we have been blessed with. We have made some amazing friends here, we have family nearby that we get to see for the holidays, we live in an awesome place, we have food on our table and warm beds. We truly have been so blessed this year! Merry Christmas!

I am Grateful November is over!

Sheesh, that was rough posting every day! It was good for me to be grateful though. There were definitely days that I would have griped more than anything, and it was good for me to just ignore that and be grateful. My blogging experience bled out into my life and I really was a happier person this month simply because I was consciously thinking of being grateful. We are happy to be in the midst of December and the Christmas season. As stressful as it can get sometimes, it is fun to see so much excitement and anticipation on my kiddos faces.

We are definitely counting down until the big day, but meanwhile we are staying as busy as we can to keep everyone out of trouble.

I have had to ramp up my training for the race. It is funny, you know. This race has completely overtaken my life. I consider the race in almost everything I do. Everything I eat, how much I sleep, how much exercise outside of running I get, scheduling, everything! I think my teammates and I are all getting a Ragnar Christmas. This race has turned out to be much more expensive than I anticipated and, well, what do you do. Unfortunately I am that type of person that once I commit to something (except for a craft) I usually see it through, dang the consequences. Speaking of consequences, I finally went in and saw a doctor who is 85% sure that my knee pain is just from overuse. Knowing that, I am able to run through the pain and not worry about really hurting something. I ran 6 miles on Thursday and 8 miles yesterday. When I crossed the 8 mile mark yesterday, I even got a little teary-eyed. It truly is an amazing thing to accomplish an 8 mile run. I am going to me a blubbering mess at the end of my 15th mile, I assure you. (Whether that is out of pain or pride will be determined soon) I am pretty dang proud of myself right now. It is the good pride, though right? I have increased my Ibuprofen dose before my runs and that has helped. There are 34 days until the race. Getting closer! I am definitely worried about my leg. "4.2, 8.1, 2.7" is my mantra these days as I run. Scary. Thrilling.

Our bikes

So much of our day is spent on our bikes. Okay, not MINE per se, but JT and Baby girl definitely are on their bikes a large part of the day (I allow them inside) and DB finally has realized the joy of bike riding and can't wait to get out and ride after school. Because of his sudden interest, I finally got my bike put together after the move and hitched on the trailer so Baby Girl can come with us on longer rides. We have had so much fun the last couple of weeks on our bikes! We love to ride over to Publix (see previous Publix post) and get our cookie and ride home. We take the long route around the pond and look for gators, ducks, cranes, and fish. And SOMETIMES that wears JT out. Which makes me even more grateful for our bikes.

My snack size Snicker stash

Today was one of THOSE days. Yes, you know what I am talking about. Sleep deprived, not feeling good, doctor's appts, work....life. But you know what? It turned out to not be so bad because of my secret stash. Ben, don't you even worry about it--you are never going to find them! I just took out three of those bad boys and all my troubles melted away. I am grateful that some genius made a snickers bar in the first place, but then to make them travel size/calorie wise, really needs a medal. I am grateful that they made me feel better. That little shot of chocolate just made everything a little less blah and I was able to have a better attitude. I am grateful that with all the inventions that has made life a little easier, we have been blessed to have some things that make life a little sweeter also.