Christmas!

We had a very nice Christmas. It was low stress, my favorite. On Wednesday we got to visit with my niece, Brooke, and her family. We got to see her new baby, Benjamin. Adorable! Her 2 year old, Liam, had fun with the kids. He is so cute. We had my brother, Kevin, his daughter, Jenelle, her husband, Damian, and our friends, the Langis, over on Christmas Eve. We played a white elephant game and the kids acted out the Christmas story. It was fun. We stayed up until 12:30am with them and then I still had some presents to wrap so I ended up being awake until 3:30am. Lincoln woke me up at 8:30. The kids were awake, but just waiting for us to get up. They are such good kids. I would have already made my parents get up. The kids were all happy with their gifts and they played with them all day. I had made dinner on Christmas Eve so we just had the leftovers on Christmas Day. It was nice not having to cook.

It's a little bit of a let down after Christmas. I usually want to take the tree down the day after, but this year I'm wanting to leave it up a little longer. I may take it down today, if I get in the mood.

I made my first rag quilt for Benjamin in about 3 hours. I was pretty proud of myself. I should have taken a picture of it, but I had to give it to Brooke right away because I barely finished it right before they got here. But it turned out pretty cute. I'm planning to make little ones for the kids Build a Bears.

We have another week of the kids being out of school, so my days this week will be filled with keeping them occupied and keeping them from killing each other and tearing my house down. I hope to get some cleaning done, too!

First Week on the Job!

Lincoln is officially employed. It's pretty exciting and it may take us a little while to adjust, but it's a good thing! We are still not sure what his real schedule will be, he's been training the past week, but probably he will work around 7:30am-4:00pm. That's pretty good because then he can still help me run the kids to their activities in the evenings. He's been having a difficult time this week because of his ankle. It's really hard for him to get around on crutches and his leg and ankle are very painful. I'm afraid it's going to take a long time for his tendon to heal. He is not used to being sick or laid up and he has no patience for it. Our hometeacher came over on Tuesday and gave him a blessing and I'm sure that will help.

This week was fall recess from school for the kids so they had Thursday and Friday off and tomorrow, too. Anita helped me can peaches from our peach trees for the first time on Thursday. I'm going to try to post a picture sometime of our canning. It's not too pretty, but hopefully they taste better than they look!

Cody's team won their game on Tuesday against Cyprus. We weren't able to watch the game because normally his games are on Thursdays and I have scheduled my piano lessons around that, but because they didn't have school on Thursday the game was on Tuesday and I couldn't rearrange 7 piano lessons for another day. I was very sad to miss his game, especially since he got to run the ball for the first time this season.

Pasi and Faha's teams won their games on Saturday against Judge. Pasi's team has never beaten Judge and they have lost to them twice in the playoffs, but they won this time. It was a very exciting game. Pasi's team won 13-7. They scored a touchdown in the last minute of the game to win. Faha's game was exciting too and they won 12-6.

I'm looking forward to watching conference today. I only got to watch the last half of the afternoon session yesterday. Last night the boys all went to the priesthood session and out to dinner after, so the girls and I had a girls night. We got Wendy's dollar menu and rented Coraline and The Secret Life of Bees. We had fun watching those together.

I had planned to sleep in today, but our dumb cat, Gizmo, didn't come inside last night and she meowed at our window until I let her in at 5:00am. I'm going to try to go back to bed and get a little more sleep now before everyone else wakes up!

I love Fall!!!

You know how you want to do stuff and visit places, but you never make the time to do it? I know my nieces and nephews aren't like that because I read their blogs and they are always doing fun things and going all over. I guess I have too much of my dad in me that thinks "we don't have time and we don't have money" so we don't do anything and life is passing us by. I am getting pretty sick of that! It's coming to my realization that my kids are growing up FAST! Anita will be in college in TWO years! Cody will be on his mission in a little over THREE years! I want to take time and make it stop for a little while so I can enjoy my family all being together because I know it will never be this way again. Things have been really hard the last few months and, if nothing else, I've learned that if you wait until the kids are older, you have extra money, you have extra time, you have more energy, etc. to live your life the way you want to....you'll be wasting your whole life!

I love fall colors. I love the crispness of the air (I HATE being hot!). I just love Fall (and Spring too!). Normally, I want to drive up through the mountains and look at all the fall colors, just for the fun of it. Of course, we never do. Well, yesterday we had to drive to South Summit (Oakley, east of Kamas) for Faha and Pasi's football games. I had been dreading the drive ever since I found out at the beginning of the season that the boys had games there. By the way, it's only an hour drive (or maybe a little less). We had to drive farther than that just to go from Ramah to Gallup for heaven's sake! Another reason I was dreading it was because Lincoln couldn't go with us because he had to finish up his Scout leader training with an overnight campout in Lehi. So it was just me and the boys. It turned out to be so much fun! The boys and I talked, listened to music, and enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous fall colors the whole drive up and back. They both won their games, so it wasn't even a wasted trip! I just wish I could have stopped and taken pictures of everything because it was so pretty. What a great day to spend time with my boys and listen to their thoughts and ideas and joke around with them. FUN! We made a memory.

So for all of you parents with young children or soon to be parents, ENJOY the journey! Enjoy when your kids are little, have fun with them. I am so proud of my kids and they way they are, but every once in awhile I wish I could turn back time and have a day with them when they were little again. I wish I could hear Anita say, "Sing happy songs." and watch Cody wear his little white construction hat that he NEVER took off (even for church) with his spatula sword shoved down the front of his pants, strutting around the house. Or see Faha's double dimple smile and him trying so hard to keep up with Anita and Cody. You think you will be forever changing diapers and never get an uninterupted night's sleep, but before you know it they are all grown up. And they have more grown up problems that you can't soothe away and solve for them. So, we are changing how we do things around here. We are going to have some fun and enjoy being together more. Just wish we had been doing it all along!

It's a Good Football Week!

We're home from the games today and after a little nap to recover from the early morning to afternoon day at football, I'm ready to report. Cody's team had their first win of the year against West 40-0. They finally decided to show up for the game! The JV and Varsity teams both won their games, too, which was nice because it was Homecoming this week. All the teams dressed out for the Varsity game last night. It was so cute because Cody was so excited. Even though he didn't get to play, he was still so happy and excited!

Today the little league teams played in Tooele (about 30 miles west). We left about 6:45 this morning and it was a little cold and windy. By the time Faha's game started at noon, it was hot and no wind. I think I got a sunburn. Anyway, Pasi's team won 40-6 and Faha's team won 33-0. Good games! Faha played most of the game, offense and defense. He is pretty tired. He's not used to playing that much. This is a much better week than last week. Last week all the teams lost. So we have much happier boys at this house this week!

Tomorrow is the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. Siu says she has her part memorized...we'll see. She is supposed to play "I Wonder When He Comes Again" on the piano for prelude, but I don't think she's ready so I may not have her play it. Pasi is singing a solo of the third verse to "Baptism". He's also supposed to play a song for prelude, but he hasn't practiced anything. We've been too busy practicing for the song he's singing.

This next week is the last week Lincoln will be home before he starts his new job on the 28th. I have lots of things I would like him to do before he goes back to work. I don't know if they will all get done, but I can hope, can't I? Last Saturday he tore his achilles tendon so he has been in pain and limping around all week.

Time to go make some dinner and do the Saturday night prep for tomorrow.

Official Job Offer!

Well, Lincoln's job offer is official! He got the paperwork last week and we are waiting for the background checks and paperwork to go through. If all goes well, he will start on September 28th! We are pretty excited. He will be a Benefit Specialist for ADP (Advanced Data Processing). I'm still not really believing it's real. I probably won't breathe a sigh of relief until he is actually at work!

Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support! We really appreciate it!

Lincoln has a semi official job offer!!!!

Back to School Time!

Amazing that it's already time for the kids to go back to school. They start on Monday. They are all excited. It hasn't been such a fun summer around here, so I guess they figure school will be better. I'm missing the back to school shopping, that's always so fun. But we have to forgo that until Lincoln gets a job. The kids have been great about it, very understanding. My kids are awesome!

We are all going to fast tomorrow for Lincoln. He has a job interview Monday morning. Please say a prayer that he will get the job!

Lincoln and I and the three older kids went to the temple this morning. (6am, the kids think that's waaaaaaay to early!) The kids finished doing baptisms about 2 hours before we came out and they were pretty tired. It was good to go with the kids. We wanted to go this Saturday before football games start next week.

Hopefully when I post next I can report that Lincoln has a job!

It's cool today!

I'm sooooo excited! The weather is so nice and cool today. I love cloudy cool days. What does that say about me??

This morning we went to the Kearns Dayz Parade. It was fun. The kids got a ton of candy. Pasi and Faha were in the parade with their football teams. There were a lot of entries. Way more than last year.

I forgot that Siu is giving a talk in Primary tomorrow so now I must go and help her get her talk ready.

New Look!

How do you like my new look? I finally decided I needed to jazz up my blog. I will probably change this in a week or so. I'm just trying out different backgrounds. As usual, I had problems getting everything to work so I didn't get all the font colors I wanted and stuff, but it's a little bit cute don't you think??

My next project is trying to post my pictures. I have a lot to download and with my computer it could take awhile. Well, gotta run and get ready for the day. I've spent the last 2 hours playing on thecutestblogontheblock.com. Enough wasting time!

The Summer is Almost Over!

I can't believe the summer is almost over! Only three more weeks and the kids will be back in school. I know no one but me reads this blog, but I'm just posting for my own benefit!

Football has started. We have been going since last week. Daily practices from 5:30-7:30. It gets a little crazy. Pasi found out Monday that he made the A team! A big accomplishment and we are very proud of him. He also made the A team last year, but this year the competition was a lot more tough. Being on the A team is significant for me because Faha and Pasi's games will all be at the same place and will start at the same time every Saturday. Pasi's will probably start at 9:00am and Faha's at 12:00pm. Having kids on the B team means that games are all over the place and at different times. Games start on August 29th.

Siu finally passed Level 4 swimming!!! She has probably taken that level about 10 times. It's been a tough one for her, but she finally did it! We are so proud of her!

We had a good family vacation to New Mexico to visit my family and have Siu's baptism there. I will post more about that in a separate post (with pictures!).

Monday was free admission to the Utah Museum of Natural History so we took advantage of that opportunity. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the frog exhibit.

I started with two new daycare kids last week and things are going well with that. It is a little hectic keeping up with 7 daycare kids plus my 5 kids, but so far I'm surviving. I am having a hard time finding things to do to keep them all occupied and fed. I tried having more structure today and they didn't like it very much! We had breakfast, went for a walk, came home and the daycare kids colored and did workbooks while I helped Pasi and Siu clean their extremely messy rooms. Then they played outside, we had lunch, storytime, nap and now they are running through the sprinklers. They should all be picked up in about half an hour! Then I fall into a heap of exhaustion! Yesterday was worse because I had 11 piano lessons in the afternoon/evening.

I just wanted to do a quick post (even though I know no one reads this because hardly anyone EVER comments on my posts!!!) so I better go now and get the kids ready to be picked up.

Another Week!

Well, another week has gone by and still no job. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but sometimes (especially in the middle of the night) I get panic attacks about it. Lincoln did have one interview with a recruiter last week, but he hasn't heard back from him yet. I have been thinking today about what we are supposed to learn from this experience. There's the obvious, that we need to learn to better manage our finances, get out of debt, and save. Could there be something else, as well? I'm trying to figure it out, so I can hurry up and learn it and move on to having a steady income again.

Lincoln and Faha are leaving in the morning for Scout camp at Bear Lake. They will be gone all week. Lincoln was going to take my van, but I was able to convince him that I NEED my van! I wouldn't be able to go anywhere during the day all week without it. So, finally, he told me today that he will be taking the car. Hurray!

Pasi is leaving in the morning for Mill Hollow. It's a school camp that Granite School District does for students that have finished 4th and 5th grades. He will be gone until Wed. He is sooooooooo excited! I hope he will be able to sleep tonight.

So for most of the week it will just be me and the girls and Cody. Where can we send Cody???? No, I want to keep Cody here to entertain the 4 day care boys. They think he is "awesome" as one of them said to me.

Pasi and Siu finished their first set of swimming lessons this year. Pasi passed Level 6 (first try) and now he is finished with swimming lessons. He is officially a swimmer. It's a good thing, because he HATES swimming lessons! Siu is still at Level 4 and will keep working on her swimming skills. Their last lesson was on Wed. and most of the classes had the kids jump off the diving board. Siu was going to do it, but she chickened out. She was very upset about it and had a big temper tantrum fit right there. I took a picture of her when she was walking out on the diving board before she started freaking out. So here it is:


I'm pretty excited because I have just found out I will be having another great niece or nephew. We are now up to three of my nieces and one niece in law that are pregnant. It's so exciting! For two of them this will be their first baby and the other two their second. So, for those of you who might know them: Brooke (Coleen's youngest daughter) is expecting their 2nd boy in October, Alysha (Coleen's 2nd daughter) is expecting their second child late February or early March (she just found out she is pregnant), Jenelle (Kevin's oldest daughter) is expecting their 1st in February, and Kelly (Sheryl's oldest son Brandon's wife) is expecting their first in February. I have to get busy making baby stuff. I love it!

A Bad Week!

The last week and a half have been really hard for us. On the 10th of June Lincoln was laid off from his job of almost thirteen years. He was given a decent severance package, but it won't last long. Unfortunately, we have not followed the counsel to not get into debt and to have an emergency fund, so we are definitely not prepared for this crisis. I ask all of you for your prayers that Lincoln can find a job soon so we can take care of our family and not lose our house. It's so hard to keep going and act normal when I am so worried, but I try. It took all of my effort to go to church today and play for Primary, teach my lesson, and go to sacrament meeting. I did feel better after though. I try to keep up my spirits for Lincoln's and the kids sake. It's pretty hard for me though!

We went to our ward camp out Thurs-Sat and we had a good time. It was a little cold the first night, so I came home and got us more blankets and warmer clothes and the second night was much more comfortable. We camped in the Spruces campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful! We have had so much rain so everything was really green and pretty. We saw a moose in our camp the morning we left. I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures. I have to be better about taking pictures. I know I will regret not having taken pictures more as the kids get older.

I'm stressing this week because I have my follow-up surprise inspection for my daycare probably sometime this week. I have to have corrected the problems they found on the announced inspection last month. Most of the problems were with my swingset that we bought last summer. I hope we have everything fixed so that it will pass. I had my kitchen inspection almost two weeks ago and almost had a nervous breakdown before it. It turned out to be no big deal and I passed with no problems. I also will be having my food program inspection sometime in the next two weeks. Sometimes I wish we could just be normal in our own house, but it is good to have that income and be able to stay home. Trying to count my blessings!

I hope Lincoln has had a good Father's Day. I made him breakfast in bed. He doesn't want us to spend money on him ever, so I didn't, but I wanted him to have a good day.

Summer is here!

Well, summer has arrived and I love the weather so far! It's rainy and cloudy with a little sun each day, temperature is mid 70's. I love it!! Can it stay like this all summer??

Yesterday I had my kitchen inspection from the state health department for my daycare. STRESS!!! I was having panic attacks, but it turned out to be no big deal. The inspector lady was only here about 5 minutes and everything was up to her standards and she liked my floors. I only have 2 more (hopefully) unannounced inspections from child care licensing and then my quarterly inspection from my food program. Sometimes I get sick of it all and want to tell them all to kiss my grits, but I do love being home.

So the kids got out of school last Friday we are all still alive, so that's going well. Cody and Faha left Monday night for an orchestra trip to Disneyland. They will be gone until Friday. Monday night Anita spent the night at her friend's house, so we only had 2 kids home. Last night Siu and Pasi both spent the night at their friend's houses and Anita was the only kid at home! It was cool! Very quiet and when I got up this morning, the living room looked exactly like it did when I went to bed. Amazing!

Pasi and Siu have started swim lessons. Pasi only has one more level to pass and Siu has three. Pasi doesn't enjoy swim lessons so he is working hard to pass this time so he doesn't have to take lessons all summer. Faha is taking tennis lessons. He is missing the first week because of his Disney trip, but he will make them up the next lesson set. Cody has weight training for football Mon., Wed, and Fridays at 7:00am. So even though we are out of school, we still will keep busy. I'll post more later.

My Projects

Well, has it been long enough since I last posted?? I have waited partly because I wanted to post some pictures, but haven't been able to find my cable that connects my camera to the computer. It's so great to have sooooo many helpers to help me keep track of my things (translation, lose everything I own!). Anyway, I had a couple on my phone so I will post those, even though the picture quality is somewhat lacking. These are my projects I have been working on the last couple of months. I painted the playroom and Siu's room. For those of you who have seen my house, you know that the playroom was painted about 1/3 of the way up with chalkboard paint. That is all gone as you can see.

Siu and I had been wanting to paint her room for a long time and I finally got it done! We went with pink (sassy pink) with brown polka dots. I still need to get the vinyl lettering and more polka dots put up. It takes me awhile. Above her bed we will put "Sweet Dreams", above her closet "Butterfly Kisses", and some other place we haven't decided yet, "The Princess Sleeps Here". A friend of mine (Stacie) has a Cricket machine and offered to cut out the vinyl for me. It's great. We just haven't been able to get together to get everything finished. So here it is so far.... The big circle is a chalk board. I made it from a table round top that I was going to throw away. It's coming along, it's a work in progress. I found a cute comforter at Target, I just need to save up for it.