Pictures of Kids on Walls

I refuse to pay for school pictures. They are a ripoff. The cheapest package is $24 for way too many photos that never get used. All I want is one 8x10 and a couple of 5x7's. I don't need bookmarks or key tags or 75 wallet sized photos. Now that I have four kids in school, I can't justify the $100 expense for bad school pictures. Every year I promise that THIS will be the year that I take the kids up to the BYU-I gardens and take some amazing shots that will replace the ancient pictures that currently hang on the wall. Every year the same pictures remain on the wall.

Recently, I have taken Ron's computer and gone to bed early. I turn the electric blanket on high, crawl under the covers and catch up on past episodes of my favorite t.v. shows. Sometimes the wireless connection craps out and I am forced to search Ron's computer for interesting things to read or look at. One night I came across all the downloaded photos from trips gone by. It was a walk down memory lane. We are good at taking pictures, but bad at doing anything with them.

What do these two things have in common? Well, I am not waiting anymore to find "the perfect picture of my kids to hang on the wall." After scrolling through all the old photos, the kids have all grown up, but their pictures on the wall are frozen in time...time from long ago.


So here are the new pictures that are going on the wall. Not perfect, but then again, neither are we.

Maddie, Goblin Valley 2008

Sam, Yellowstone National Park 2008

Anna, Island Park 2008

Eleanor, Goblin Valley 2008

I really wanted to put this picture of Sam on the wall, but I also really want him to love me...but it is too good not to share. We have lovingly titled this photo "Grumpy Sam."

Nate Update...

Maddie (almost 12) and ever the creative one, decorated this cake for Family Home Evening. It features a man lying in a pool of blood. The title of the cake is "Dead." Probably no accident that this cake is for FHE, as that is what they will all be if they don't BEHAVE!! (We believe in the "scared straight" method for Family Night.)

Sam (almost 10) rockin' out (wearing space jammies). He certainly has the hair to be in a rock band. Sam, ever the comedian he makes us laugh in so many ways. His latest joke:

There is this girl walking down the beach. She sees a lamp. Well, in all the stories there is always a genie in a lamp so she rubs the lamp. A genie pops out and grants her three wishes. Her first wish is to be 10 times smarter than she is right now. The genie grants her wish. Her second wish is to be 100 times smarter than she is right now. The genie grants that wish. Her third wish is to be 1,000 times smarter than she is right now. "Poof "she turns into a boy.

Needless to say, Sam's three sisters don't really like that joke.

Anna (almost 8). A friend told me they want have Anna over to their house more often because she is FUNNY! Of course we already knew that. Seems we are raising a family of jokers. (Can't imagine where they get from??) Anna is getting baptized on April 11th.

Eleanor (6 in November) will be starting kindergarten in August. When I asked her what I was going to do all day while she was gone she said "You will sit by the window and wait for me to come home." Probably true.

I am a Bond Girl

Ha, made you look didn't I? But who wouldn't want to look at this face? I'm just sayin...

No, haven't had implants, buffed up or dyed my hair. I just got sucked into another school bond election in my district. This one is to finish building a much needed High School

Ever since Ron and I led the district to a 72% majority (from a 54% previous loss) for the largest ever school bond for our district ($40.5 million) we have become the "bond experts." This is now my third election. The second was just 6 months ago. To say I am suffering from bond fatigue is an understatement.

When I told the kids I was leaving to go make phone calls, Anna (7) whined, "You mean you are going to be gone for the whole week?" To that Sam (9) replied, "Do you want to go to a toilet for a High School? Then let mom go make the phone calls!" Sam is a man after my own heart.

So, off I go to make phone calls so my kids don't go to a toilet of a high school...

Have you met Samantha?

No,we haven't been keeping her in a secret room in the basement...

Samantha "appeared" one day and allowed us to take her picture. I'm sure "her" future spouse will just love seeing this picture show up in the wedding-day slide show. Prom dates will enjoy flipping through the photo album and coming across this little gem.

There is just too much estrogen floating around this house.

April (snow) showers bring...?

April 24th, 2008. SNOWING all day. What is up with that? The temperature reached a whopping 34 degrees today (with wind gusts 15-20 mph).

WHERE IS THE GLOBAL WARMING THAT AL GORE PROMISED!!

The sad thing is, I just took the last of the Christmas lights down last Saturday. The lights are really the only difference between these two pictures. The first taken in LATE April and the second taken in DECEMBER!!

I'm just glad I haven't planted my tomatoes ...

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, so since we've no place to go...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. NOT!!

Book of Mormon Stories...That my Family Reads Together

After President Hinckley died, a friend told us about this challenge going around the Internet to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. My family decided to take on the challenge. In order to accomplish this feat, you must read a little over 5 pages a day. No easy task for any single person, let alone a family of 6.

We embarked on this challenge and were doing pretty well. Then we hit a rough patch and didn't read for two weeks. That put us a whopping 80 pages behind. It is very difficult to catch up when you are that far behind. You have to read your 5+ pages a day PLUS even more pages if you want to have any hope of catching up.

To catch up, we started listening to the tapes while following along in our scriptures. Then over spring break, we made a commitment to cut into that deficit. By the end of spring break, we were only 13 pages behind.

I am proud to say that as of today, we are 3 pages AHEAD. We are on track to complete the challenge by May 10th.

It has been such a blessing for our family to go through this process. It is true when they say that "there is great power in this book." I have witnessed this first hand.

The graph below shows just how far behind we were and what we had to do to catch up. I thank Heavenly Father every day for my kids. What great examples they are to me. I learn so much from them everyday.

The Moose is on the Loose

Two weeks ago, the kids were playing outside and lo and behold, there is a giant moose in our neighbors backyard. It nibbled on the aspen trees, took and nap and then wandered off.

I love Rexburg.