Life at our House

Beginning of May, both Leah and Blake had field trips the same day.  Leah went to a war museum for Social and Blake had a Science Talk day where he participated in some quiz offs and some building classes. They both really enjoyed it. That weekend they had a Stake Youth Conference.  This was Blake's first one and he was not super excited to go. As they drove out of the yard together, Dave commented how strange and cool it was to have both our kids going off together for Stake Youth Conference. Leah had a a very very rough week with school friends. Then a few more things went down that night.  She spent part of the time in the bathroom on the phone with me crying.  She almost didn't return Saturday.  I think if she had not had to give rides to people she probably would not have. But Saturday was much better and by the end of the afternoon she was good again and had even been invited with her boys to go into town for some game and a movie.  She was totally down for it, but had to give rides home to some people so she missed it. Blake had a great time.  He was nervous since the kids he knows are all a year younger and couldn't attend yet.  But he had some fun groups and watched out for his sister.  There is always lots going on at these activities and they do a good job of getting everyone involved.  Dave and I decided to go on an actual date Friday while they were gone.  We had dinner at the golf club and came home to watch a movie.  Here the kids are ready to take off Saturday morning.

Blake has been getting lots of hours in with his job. He can solve a rubik cube in under 30 seconds now and is saving up for a 12 sided one.  He has an app that he has solved a 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8.  He hopes one day to own them all not just on an app. He has really stepped up his studying. He is a pretty smart kid and has always had good grades, but he has started doing review tests at home and practicing writing assignments.  His grades have improved more and he is amazed.  We just laugh at him and say yay no duh!! :) 

Leah has been loving softball.  She can really bat well now.  Her goal was to hit the green by the end of the season and she is now almost constant with that.  She is working on grounders.  They make her nervous and she misses a lot.  Practice, practice.  They have won about half their games and she is getting better every day.  Stressing as school comes to an end and she is starting to review for finals.  We have been looking into scholarships and other things for college for her.  It is a weird time of life as they are getting ready to leave home.  We help as she moves forward, making plans, looking into schools, and be coming more independent at the same time you just want to keep them extra close before they leave. She got a job working at the canteen at our local campground.  Sunday was her first day of work and she enjoyed it already.  It is going to be good for her.  We just hope they give her a schedule more than a few days out as they get more organized.  This waiting day by day is annoying already.  She can't make any plans.

Leah had a tournament this weekend and a surprise birthday party.  She was a couple hours late to the party and felt kinda gross, but it was fun as usual.

Dave has had a few frustrating weeks. They have lost a lot of calves and a cow.  Work with the transition to new buildings has hit lots of daily snags.  He has been working 50-60 hour weeks and then still trying to catch Leah's games and help Blake with projects and do his share of farm stuff.  He is pretty exhausted all the time.  We hope and pray for some turn around soon.  But he likes his job and the people he works with.  And when things do go smoothly he loves it. He got some shelves built in our storage room and we are unpacking.  He said it is like Christmas an it is time to move in. :)

Blake has spent the last few days, in between work, taking apart the 350 and putting it all back together again.  He got it running, except a fuel leak.  So last night he took it apart again and has been looking for the problem.  He is so excited to ride this bigger bike.  He does have a bit of fear of the power coming out of it.  Which makes Leah and I feel better.  He will be a little cautious. He took it for a spin and LOVED it.

Cora is doing great still.  Loves the island, the people, flying.  She told us Sunday that so far she has had 18 flights in the last 3 months.  She flew out again yesterday for a mid-trainers meeting.  She absolutely loves her mission president and her companion.  Her new companion is from a farm in Idaho.  She plays sports and works hard.  They have a lot in common. Cora is training now, which totally freaked her out. I know she will be excellent at it tho.

She got to fly back for zone conference 2 weeks ago and got to see a few of her MTC zone.

They are having a great time.  Finding friends and teaching lots.

It is always so fun when she calls.  Cora has a love for life that is fantastic and makes everyone around her smile.  She has a unique personality that is so entertaining.  We have got a few letters from people, in response her mass email that she has me send out, and they all say how much they look forward to her emails for the fun point of view on life she has.  She loves the work and is fully embracing missionary life.  She is so in her element.

Nothing is new with me.  Never is:)  Running to kids games and activities, late night chats, RS stuff, always laundry cooking dishes cleaning packing lunches, making bread and muffins.  Just mom life.  We had my parents up for Mother's Day.  That was nice to spend a few days with them.  We love the Come Follow Me.  Sometimes Cora will tell us what she has learned and we share insights with her back. Life is just rolling along.  Everything seems so mundane and not important and yet even these quiet simple days can mean so much when we look back on them.  Building bonds, testimonies, and experiences on a daily basis.  Simple and small acts that hopefully have great rewards.  Just keep praying.

Easter Break

Everyone had Good Friday off.  We didn't do much and it was perfect.  Dave was really needing a break from work.  We slept in, ate breakfast, did a bit of cleaning, read, and sat in the front room and talked about nothing.  It was fantastic. Leah went out with friends that night.  They went bowling and back to a friends for a fire and a game of fugitive.  Saturday we didn't do much either.  Blake helped me get a start on cleaning my windows.  It was pretty scary up there. Dave and Blake did some work on some of our vehicles and Leah actually did some room cleaning.  It was shocking really.  We cleaned church and threw a ball around.

Sunday had some nice Easter lessons.  We were in desperate need of groceries.  I have been trying to shop every two weeks, then we label half of it to not use until the second week.  I think it has been helping us to stay closer to our food budget, but I had a few appointments close to my usual shop day and didn't want to go to town twice.  We were overdue and I had forgotten about Easter when I did last shop.  So we had no ham and no Easter candy.  But is was ok.  Monday, Dave thought he had the day off, but in the end he didn't.  Because he thought he was going to be home, Cora had planned to call him, she ended up talking with us instead. (She called him this past Monday at 4 AM before he went to work.  He was really happy to talk to her)  Leah then went over to meet with friends to practice softball and have a picnic. Tuesday we finally went to town.  Leah did some of our grocery shopping while I was at one appointment, we ate our packed lunch, then I dropped them at the Mill to watch a movie while I did second appointment and finished shopping.  Wednesday was another lazy day.  Leah was supposed to have another ball practice and a date, but she didn't feel comfortable with the people she was going with and cancelled. Thursday the kids and I spent way to much time playing iMessage games as we talked in the front room. Leah is way to good and has gotten many crowns.  I did not even know you got crowns. That afternoon they did temple baptism with the ward youth.  When Leah got there she realized her recommend was expired.  Good thing bishop was there to help her out. And they ate at the cafeteria.  It was Dave's week to check cows, so I asked if he wanted to go on a date with me.  We decided to have a gourmet grilled cheese and get into our finest coveralls to check cows and play match maker with a mom and orphaned calf.  We were then going to ride in the finest of vehicles, the grain truck, to take water to the bulls.  I tell you, after 20 years of marriage we go all out for special occasions. It was a fun night.  Jared had already put cow and calf together, but we checked everything else off.  Friday Blake and Dave had to work.  Leah and I cleaned, did laundry, made bread and treats, and cleaned the church.  Leah left to go hang out with Emily before they went to the stake dance.  When the boys got home they did farm stuff and then we watched a movie. Saturday was another nice sleep in.  Blake off to work again, Dave farm stuff, Leah and I not much till she left to go to a party that got shut down early because of the blizzard.  We knew blizzard was coming, so Dave tethered the tramp, block things that could blow away, and got ready for it.  We were quite surprised they still had party.  If it had been anymore than 10 mins away, I would not have let Leah go.  We cleaned and found new toothbrushes and washed sheets just in case any of her friends needed to crash for the night. Dave, Blake and Jared went out to herd the cows into a bit of a shelter.  After they left it was only 15 mins or so before we could not even see the end of our deck.  Dave totally drove in the ditch on the way back home.  They had two calves run off, but could not see to even go find them. You could not see ANYTHING!  The water in our toilets was sloshing around.  I have never seen that before and our house was swaying.  Sunday morning the wind had died some. Dave and Jared were up early to find the lost calves.  Our early church meetings were cancelled.  Blake was really hoping church would be cancelled, but it wasn't.  It was a nice needed break.  We are already looking forward to May long.

Leah is 17

Leah turned 17 yesterday.  We celebrated with Chicken Caesar Salad and opening presents on Thursday.  Don't mind the very short shorts, she had just gotten home from practice.  Leah randomly decided to take up softball last week.  So we had to buy all the gear.  Good thing we had a birthday excuse.  She is loving being part of a team again, and being there with girls that actually want to.  Her physics teachers had been asking her to play for two years.  And one day she just said yes.  First practice he asked her if she had every played before.  She answered that she had not and he said, 'You are not good'.  She laughed and thanked him for boosting her ego and he went on to tell her that she has a lot of potential and more determination and heart than anyone else.  He has confidence in her.  She is very frustrated with her batting, but practice, practice.  Leah did not get her #4 sadly.  But they did assign her #17, which we think is hilarious.

Friday she did a job shadow at the hospital in the x-ray and ultrasound department.  When she arrived she saw that she was in the job shadow with two friends of her's from another high school.  They had so much fun together.  They gave ultrasounds to each other and did x-rays.  They helped with some real patients and learned a ton.  Since Leah has had so many issues they pulled up a lot of her x-rays and then explained them to the other 8 kids that were there. They were fascinated by her cyst.  She also found out that yes her ribs and pinky were both broken during basketball.  They watched her food digest, saw many brain scans and learned about brain freeze and concussion, and got to ask a lot of questions.  She loved every minute of it.  After I took her to the mall to met Emily.  Leah had gotten a little money for her birthday and they did some shopping, laughed, talked, ate, and caught a movie.  Today during conference session she had her usual birthday dinner of spaghetti and cookie dough ice cream cake.

We are constantly amazed at the young women that Leah is becoming.  As a kids she was so into Disney princesses and fairytales that Dave used to comment that the sky was pink in her world.  I swear she lived in this la-la land.  She was stubborn and sassy and the cutest little thing.  Look at those beautiful big green eyes.  And she loves her scar.

She fell asleep everywhere.  Right in the middle of tasks or eating.  We lost her many times when she was asleep.

And she has turned into this stubborn, sassy, gorgeous young women, who has a hard time sleeping.

But her stubbornness is in a positive way.  She is so focused on doing well in school she spends hours every night doing homework.  No more la-la land.   Even if there is not an assignment, she bring things home to go over and study.  She has extremely high standards in everything she does.  The gospel, her schoolwork, her job, her closest friends, and how she interacts with others at school.  Everything except her room of course.  She has a huge group of friends and meets new people every where she goes. Leah is the type of kid that the teacher will assign her the group at school with the kids that are hard to get along with because they know she will be kind to them.  Her sasssy-ness, well she comes by that rightly and I am a little proud of it. :)   Dave and I are so proud of what she is becoming and who she is already.  We marvel at her drive and at how outgoing she is.  She has a very off beat humor that is hilarious if you get it.  She loves every sport she can watch and watching friends is her favorite thing to do.  Love this girl to bit and I can't wait to see where she goes.

 Happy Birthday beautiful girl.  I am glad it was an awesome day for you.

ST. Patrick's Day

We had a lovely St. Patrick's Day.  All of us found some green to wear to church. There was nice talks and lessons as always.  We had green Jell-O, a pear, broccoli,and mint Oreo cheesecake as part of our dinner. 

The kids' Sunday School teacher really spoils them.  She had recently returned from visiting her daughter in Australia for 2 months and brought each of the kids that she teaches a little gift package.  It had a little stuffed animal, a pin, a kangaroo sac, and lots of other neat stuff.  She also had each of them write a letter to someone in the ward she was going to and then had the kids over there write back. What a cool idea.  Then on the Sunday she got back she brought an entire table full of treat native to Australia for them to all try and bags for them to fill to take some home.  Different flavored chips and chocolate bars.  Chickpeas and gummies.  So many things.  Yesterday as I walked by the Sunday School room I saw two tables full of all the green food you could think of.  Fruit, veggies, chocolates, gummies etc.  Again the kids got to snack and then had bags they could bring stuff home.  Leah got some limes and Blake brought the pear for us all to share.

Dave got the cows fed before it got to soft outside.  As the next few weeks warm up it is going to be a muddy, slippery mess for Dave and Jared as they feed, and we start calving in just a couple weeks.  But enjoying the warmer weather.  Anyways, I digress.  Blake and Leah worked on some homework after dinner and Leah practiced the piano.  We did our Come Follow Me then the kids were off to a fireside and Dave and I went out to do some ministering.

The kids said it was a great fireside.  It was a Face2Face with the Stake President.  Leah said Priests and Laurels were asked to sit right up front together.  Blake is starting to make some friends in the Stake.  He doesn't love staying after with Leah because he thinks she takes to long.  But as he makes friends it is getting more fun for him.  We keep telling him he is going to need that.  It was nice to hear their stories when they got home.  Family prayer and off to bed.  For most of us, Leah still had lot of physics to do.  But it was a nice warm day, spent together, not doing much and getting to see friends.

Found some lovely pictures that Leah took on my phone yesterday. 

Not Much

We haven't had much happen lately.  Dave is working long hours as they move to a bigger building with his job.  An expansion that he is excited about. It will give him some needed space for the line he manages.  We preg tested the cows last week.  It went well and not many open.  Oh I do have pictures from that.  I was thinking I had no pictures.  I took them to send to Cora.

Good looking crew we have. :)  This year Blake helped Dave bring the cows up.  Dave enjoyed that.  Leah left a little early to go get ready for a game. 

She has been working hard at bio and physics this semester.  Will often spend time with the teacher at lunch or after school learning all that she can.  They will tell her she doesn't need to know all that yet, but it fascinates her and she loves to learn.  She just got placed in a job shadow program for x-ray tech.  She is hoping to also do one as a lab tech.  Leah sang O Canada at the Irish Concert last night.  She was asked to sing something else as well, but she didn't feel she had time to get something performance worthy.  Leah has also been busy watching her boys play basketball.  It was an exciting weekend of zones last week.  Dave, Blake and I even went down a few nights to watch. Blake got to play in the Advanced Band group at the concert as well.  He is really enjoying the Advanced Band class, and recently has taken on the oboe to play along with the trumpet.  

After the concert they all showed up at the church to help me clean up from our RS birthday celebration.  Blake has been selected to attend a special Science day along with about 16 other kids from his school.  There is a lot of  memorization and work to do before he goes.  He has been working hard at that.  Cora is doing well.  They were sad to lose one investigator last week.  He is no longer interested.  But as usual she is in good spirits.  They kids were out of school on Monday so she got to talk to them.  It is still a little strange to talk to her so often.  We are enjoying some warmer weather again.  Seemed like such a long time.  Funny how plus 2 can seem so tropical after -30.  Everyone is in shirt sleeves.  Yet 2 above is freezing in August.  Hahaha.  All relative. We have had a few funerals the last couple week.  We are getting better at doing those.  I had been busy getting the RS party ready.  It went well.  I kept it simple.  Just soup, one salad and buns.  A short 15 min program where we talked about the RS purpose.  It is time to start the spring cleaning soon.  Soccer will begin as well.  Life rolls on :)

Basketball and Family Week

 Blake had a fun basketball season.  At first he was very disappointed to not go and play with his old team.  But he really enjoyed Uncle Jared as a coach and had fun with some of the boys on his team.  Some it would have been more fun to play without, but isn't that how most things go.  For none of the team, except Blake, having played before, they did quite well.  By the end of the season they were coming together and learning to be a team.  Jared's patience was amazing to us.

I didn't know that when I took these pictures of Leah it would be her last game.  As mentioned before there had been some problems with her teammates.  Drinking before practice, not showing up etc.  Before this game the principal and athletic director had a meeting with all the girls and had them re-sign code of conduct, gave them a talking to, a warning, and all girls agreed to be better.

I love watching Leah play against her friends.  They play hard and don't give in, but during down time are just chatting.

Anyways, with in 24 hours of the meeting, many things went down.  Girls expelled, skipping school, drugs.  It is a mess.  They were all called back in and they cut the girls basketball program.  Leah had one tournament and one game left before league finals.  It was a huge blow to her.  There were many tears for many days.  She is really hoping for one last season next year, but things do not look good right now. :/

We had a great Family Day.  With the new changes in how missionaries communicate with family we all got to talk to Cora early in the morning. She was excited that her first call just happened to catch us all at home.  It was good to catch up with her and actually get some answers to some of our questions.  Cora is great at phone calls, has never been good at texting or emailing.  We then had a nice breakfast and went into the church to play ball for a few hours.  It was an amazing foul shot day for all of us.  We played many rounds of bump and hardly missed anything.  Don't usually play that well, but we were on fire.  After lunch we had projects to work on and had a lazy sort of day.  That evening we spent more time than usual on our Come Follow Me and watched a movie.  Dave was back to work the next day, but the kids had the week off.  They each picked a day to prepare dinner. We watched some movies, went for runs, deep cleaned and hung out.  It was a good week. 

Winter Camp book ended by Updates

Dave and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this past month.  We had basketball games on the day of.  A great way to spend it and then the day after we did a temple session.  It was nice to spend some time together just the two of us.

My birthday was also a nice day.  We didn't do anything.  Perfect!

Blake is still going strong with basketball.  He has another tournament this weekend.  It is a JV tournament, so hopefully they have a little better chance.

Leah also has about another month of basketball.  She is getting a little frustrated with her team.  Since Christmas there have been two of them showing up to practice.  Once in a while they will get 3-4 other girls.  But usually when they show up they either are high, drunk, or sit on the stage and talk.  They had real potential at the beginning of the season.  Now they have lost the last few games and even to some that they have beat before.  It's to bad.  But she just keeps showing up and doing her best every day. Leah has a tournament this weekend too.  Dave and I will decide  who is going which way.

Blake has been wanting to go winter camping with his friend Gilbert since Dave took him last year.  I kept telling him to get is organized with his dad.  I am not a camper and it really made me nervous to  send these two 13 yr old boys off by themselves.  A weekend finally opened up, I realized that he was going to be persistent until it happened, so we made arrangements.  Blake decided on the food and found all the camping gear.  Dave over saw and checked to make sure it was all there and winter appropriate.  We didn't want freezing boys.  They loaded up a vehicle and followed Dave down to the willows, about 3 miles away.  We wanted to leave them with transportation just in case.  Dave said the grins on their faces was so proud and excited as he glanced back in his mirror.  The boys got all set up.  They cleared a spot for a fire and cooking.

(No on was harmed in the taking of this photo:))

Dave went and checked on them a few hours later and then we went down again just before bed.  They had built a fie, eaten dinner and washed all the dishes, played card games, had hot chocolate and tried to pick out constellations. Blake had decided on tin foil dinners for supper.  I made up 4, 2 for them and 2 for Dave and I.  Leah was at a friends all day.  Then I cooked theirs, so they would only have to heat it up, and set it out on the BBQ to cool to put in the cooler.  They got all the food and gear packed up.  I asked if they had gotten the dinner, yes they had and off they went.  Later Dave came home and said, uh what are the tin foil dinners out on the BBQ for?  They had packed the raw ones.  :)  Dave went down and exchanged them.  When we checked on them that night they said they had not left the dinners on the fire long enough and ate them cold.  To bad, but good thing they were not the raw ones. 

The next morning after breakfast, we all went down and Dave brought the guns.  We shot at a couple targets. Leah sat by the fire, then we came home.  Blake and Gilbert stayed and made lunch and packed all up and them eventually came home themselves.  They were very safe and smart.  And they had a really great time.  Now that it is over, I am very glad they did it.  What a cool thing to do as a young teenage boy.  They will remember that forever.

Cora update:

Cora loved the MTC.  They would go out on field trips to Manchester and practice talking to people.  She was there 3 weeks.  They took a bus to the mission home.  She said they had a full day of more training and interviews before she got to meet her trainer and see where her first area would be.  Her first area is Jersey.  She was really hoping that she would get one of the channel islands at some point in her mission.  Lucky girl got it first off.  They are opening a new area back up.  Her companion is really awesome.  They Skype the district leaders who are on Guernsey. and they get to fly back and forth to the mission home in Birmingham for zone conferences.  Flying, Island, England.....this whole mission is so Cora it is amazing.  They Lord sure knows and loves this daughter of His.

In her last letter she said, 'I can actually speak to people on the streets. It's not me though, 100% everything I say is inspired cause I'm just an awkward person. Ugh I LOVE this!!