Monday Moment

This "Monday Moment" is titled "Dancin with Dad". I think the picture says it all. They sure do love him. And I think he kinda likes them too!!

Wednesday Words

So, I would like to try something different on our blog. Each Wednesday I am going to post a favorite quote or talk of mine for all of you. Hopefully you will enjoy what I post and feel my inspiration.

So here are today's Wednesday Words:

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." (Abraham Lincoln)

The reason I posted this quote is because as I was watching television last night I heard mention that our current President does not like the words in the Declaration of Independence that read


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


I don't know why this stuck with me, and I am not a huge political junkie but I remember memorizing this passage in school and it is important. I find it very sad that we have a President of our country who wants to go against these words that were so carefully written by our forefathers. We ARE here because of our Creator and no one, including the President of the United States, can change that or take it away from us. We owe everything to our Creator.

With that said, I hope everyone has a lovely tax day. My bank account is smaller today. Gotta love those taxes. We had to pay state taxes again this year. I don't understand how seeing as last year we changed our deductions to avoid this. Oh well, I was told it is because we have such high taxes in Nebraska. I don't know if that is true or not, just what I heard.

Bye

Let it Snow...in APRIL!!

So last weekend proved to be a typical weekend in regards to weather here in Nebraska. Saturday consisted of staying inside all day as the wind howled and a huge blizzard hit the town of Sidney. Around 8:30 PM the power decided to go out. Not knowing how long it would be out we put all 3 kids in the girls' room on the queen bed and bundled them up. I had waited for Dusty to get home from the Priesthood Session of Conference to make dinner for he and I. So we hurried and grabbed some lunch meat and cheese out of the fridge and ate sandwiches and chips by candle-light (so romantic).

After that, we went to bed. I fell asleep while Dusty played Jacob's Nintendo DS. At some point in the night we got a phone call that we might need to go rescue some stranded travelers who were staying at the local AmericInn but had been kicked out to their car in the freezing cold, with 3 children, because the fire alarm had gone off in the hotel and everyone had been evacuated. Dusty didn't end up having to go. I woke up around 3 AM to lights on in the house, turned them off and back to bed I went.

The snow reached about 2 1/2 feet below the trampoline. It also reached to the top of our central air unit.

When we woke up Sunday morning it was crazy. There was soooooo much snow. I took lots of pictures because the snow drifts we get here are insane (they don't get this kind of snow in Utah). Everything was frozen including our screen doors, which were also pushed shut due to the massive amount of snow that had blown against them. We finally made it outdoors and started helping our neighbors clear driveways. (In the picture on the left you can see our neighbors truck. The hood of his truck has a snow drift on it that reached the top of the cab.) When Dusty came home Saturday night he couldn't get the van up the driveway, so it had to sit at the bottom. Luckily it was IN the driveway. We had to dig it out and then kept shoveling away.

If you look closely you can see our car below. I took this while standing at our front door when Dusty got home and it was stuck at the bottom of the driveway. Can you see it?

We have a DVR, so we had recorded conference. We went inside, made hot chocolate and settled in watching conference.

Yesterday I took the kids sledding and they had a blast. I personally don't like the cold and snow but they really wanted to go and I didn't want to regret not taking them. So I took our 3 bundled up munchkins out and we got cold, muddy, and cold some more.

Now today, 1 day later, the snow is melting rapidly and I didn't even wear a jacket when I went to pick the kids up from school. I tell you, this is CRAZY weather!!

Even the little birds were confused by the snow. In this picture they have found a small amount of water in front of Dusty's truck.

Well, all this being cooped up inside has had me going crazy. Hopefully, the sun will continue to shine and we can get outside in the fresh air.

Soccer

So I am frustrated. Let me start from the beginning.

The kids started soccer this week. Dusty is coaching Alexis' team. Our first game was on Tuesday and the girls did o.k. We were only able to have 1 practice prior to this and so they did as good as could be expected. Tonight was our second game. Our girls kicked butt!! They were awesome. I am somewhat of a loud "cheerer". I am also supposed to be helping Dusty coach. So I would yell to him to switch a girl out or to tell them to pass the ball to each other. The first game Alexis was very hesitant to get near the ball. But tonight she was all over it. She was aggressive and just did great. So I was cheering her on and I was yelling things like "Keep going", "Get ahead of it Lex", "Run", "Go, go, go". I thought I was helping.

But we get home and I said something to Dusty about me yelling a lot louder than the other parents. He told me that I am one of those annoying, over-competitive parents who yells at their kid the whole game. I honestly was not trying to be like that, nor do I think I was. I really was just cheering them on.

So, here is my question. Am I just offended by Dusty's comment because he is right? Or, am I offended by Dusty's comments because he is wrong? I guess none of you can say if he is right or wrong because you weren't there, but I would like some advice. This is the first time our kids have really competed and I honestly was just very excited that Alexis was doing so well. Is it wrong to cheer loud?

I also think that Dusty was frustrated, like he was in the first game, because of one of the parents who stands close to where Dusty is and tells the girls different things than Dusty is trying to tell them (basically he is the parent who didn't want the responsibility of coaching but thinks he knows best). Maybe Dusty was just frustrated with him and took it out on me.

I think that next time I might just sit on the parent's side and let Dusty coach the whole thing on his own. I will sit there and try really hard to just cheer like a quiet, submissive woman (can you feel the sarcasm?).

I want this to be fun for Lex and I don't want to be the parent who screams at their kid.

Advice anyone? I think I need it because as our kids get older there will only be more experiences like this and I think I should just learn how to behave now.

At least we don't have to play again until next Monday.

I am off to take out my frustrations on the elliptical machine!!

Activity Days - Princess / Daughter of God

Last Wednesday was our activity days focused on the girls being Princesses and Daughters of God. We had the Young Women President come and speak to the girls about the Young Women Program and about what they would get to do when they entered the program. The girls all like hearing about girls camp. She was a big hit because she brought them chocolate bars wrapped in cute paper that had the YW value's on them. Each girl carefully took the paper off so that they could save it and then ate their chocolate.

Next, I bought dress up crowns at Target (gotta love the dollar section). The girls decorated them with curling ribbon and hot glued flowers onto them. They turned out really cute. I took them all into the bathroom in front of the mirror to see how they looked in their crowns. I explained to them that each girl had decorated their crown differently, but that each crown was beautiful in its own way. I likened that to each of them and told them that they are each unique and beautiful and different from each other. I took the picture on the left of Lou in her crown when we got home. Cute stuff!!

We then watched the Liken video Esther and the King. The movie taught the girls about inner beauty and told the story of Esther and how she portrayed her inner beauty. The activity was a success. Thanks to Sister Webb for helping me with everything. She is there every week offering support and help with the girls.

"Pooper Scoopers"

We have finally put Lilly outside in her very own kennel. She used to be cramped up inside the house and now she has lots of room to roam. We also love it because it contains the poop. So we told the kids that they could earn $2 each time they cleaned out the kennel. I thought they were so funny when they were cleaning it. And the faces they were making were priceless.

Now that it has snowed they haven't cleaned it out again, but hopefully the weather will clear up and we can get out in the yard and get some work done.

Oh yeah, below are pictures of our dogs. Lilly is on the left. She is a yellow lab with some labradoodle in her. Dot is on the right. She is a miniature dachshund.

Tithing Family Night

Last night we did a family night focused on tithing. We had a lesson and showed the kids with pennies how to figure 10%. I also showed the kids how to figure 10% by writing it on paper. After that we made piggy banks out of shoe boxes. Each box had 3 slots - one for tithing, one for savings, and the other for spending. The kids had tons of fun with decorating their boxes and now they want to earn money to put in them!



Below is a picture of the kids with their boxes. Please note that Jacob is wearing boxers, but the photo kinda looks like he wearing nothing. What can I say, he is just like his dad when he sleeps!!