Of Good Report

                                                                Part 1 So, I started a graduate program  two weeks ago.  It is something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember.  I finally did it.  I was so excited to get started and fairly confident that I could be successful.  However, I have been struggling with the amount of technology I need to be familiar with. That part is a stretch for me.  I can do school "old school", but having everything online and all the updates and changes made to older things has really thrown me.  Any way, I was really stressed about class last Wednesday because I had submitted a paper that I knew was less than stellar.  I was frustrated that the technology that is supposedly here to make our lives easier and better wasn't, in fact, doing that for me.  As I was about to leave Sarah said to me, "Are you going to school?" Me, "Yes." "Are you so excited?" Well, I had not been excited prior to he

So we don't typically have our kids write down Christmas lists per se.  We do ask them what they might like and let them know that whatever they say are just suggestions and Santa gets to choose what to give them.  This year for some reason unbeknownst to Taylor or myself Destry asked Taylor to make a list in ranking order.  Well the list is amusing to say the least and worth a blog post.  This is his list:   (parenthetical statements were added by me). Lego space center Tippmann chronos tactical paintball marker (paintball gun) nexus7 (tablet) nexus5 (cell phone) Dewalt power drill sand blaster large outdoor rc plane outdoor rc heli syma g3 Chinook gallium (what!) iron powder (????) sulfur (are you kidding me?!) Destry suggested we put some coal in his stocking and tell him he got some carbon.  Taylor is not really a kid that usually asks for a lot, and he knows not to expect everything on here, but I thought his choice of req

Last weekend Destry and I made a trip to Panguitch to hear Claudia speak in stake conference.  Since she was speaking on Saturday, our plan was to leave on Saturday in time to get to the conference then get up early on Sunday and head home to get our minions ready for church on Sunday.  My mom was not available to stay with the kids Saturday night, but Erika was.  However, the more we thought about it and looked at the calendar, we decided to ask my mom to stay on Friday night and leave on Friday afternoon and make a weekend trip out of it.  That is what we did.  We had a lovely ride.  We talked and enjoyed the sagebrush sights along the freeway.  We stopped for dinner when we were hungry and didn't make any other stops along the way.  We enjoyed a visit with Leon and a good night's sleep.  On Saturday, Claudia and I went to a craft fair and got a couple of ideas for our men to do.  Then Destry and I went on a ride in the Saturn Sky with the top down.  It was a perfect fall d

Last Saturday morning SHOULD have been an ordinary Saturday morning.  The children have "Saturday chores" that they are required to do before they move on with their day.  There are a few exceptions.  This morning Spencer had an exception because his scout troop led by Destry went on a rock climbing expedition.  It was a gorgeous day!  They had a great time thanks to Destry's former missionary companion and friend, Dallin Ward, who shared his talents and expertise with the group.  Spencer was the star as I was told.   For those of us who stayed behind, it should have been chore time after they left.  They were all playing together nicely for a while and I just let them.  It is fun to see them getting along and playing well.  At around 10:00 I reminded them  to get get started because Emma had her first basketball game of the season and Estelle had a birthday party that both started at 1:00.  That should have been no problem.  They are expected to have their chores done

This is the season of endless gratitude posts on facebook and of remembering the things for which we all are grateful.  I have three friends and one family member who are mourning during this time of gratitude.  I know they all recognize the hand of God in their lives and that they could list a myriad of things they are grateful for; however, their hearts are heavy because of feelings of loss of a loved one.  Each of them has lost in a different way, but none of them is gone for good.  Our knowledge of the atonement and its role in the plan of salvation brings acceptance of what is right now, hope for the future and the grandfather of all gifts, peace.   I saw on facebook this morning a post from Danielle Cahoon.  She shared lovely pictures of her family, recently taken.  In the photos were four of her five beautiful children.  She expressed sorrow that one precious daughter is not in the picture.  She expressed the difficulty she has had in taking family pictures since the loss of h

So we had our annual pumpkin carving extravaganza last night.  I remember when we would purchase one large pumpkin to carve and maybe a small one for each child to decorate the porch with.  Destry or yours truly, more often than not, because he wasn't available would cut scoop and carve the jack-o-lantern face into the thick orange flesh.  I have never been a fan of slimy, smelly things and pumpkin guts are both, but I "took one for the team" each year.  Now we are up to five large pumpkins carefully selected by each individual carver/painter.  Taylor was ill when the rest of us went to select the pumpkins, so we were instructed to text pictures of possible choices to him for review.  Luckily for us, he liked the first one we chose for him!   After our traditional Monday night taco dinner was consumed and cleared from the kitchen we laid out old towels, carefully washed the pumpkins and located carving tools, seed and gut containers and paint supplies.  Both Estelle and

So today, as part of my usual Thursday morning routine, I volunteered at the school for Miss Eliason in Sarah's first grade class.  I was signing in in the office when the vice principal informed me that there would be a fire drill at 8:25 and that I would be required to leave the building with the students.  Okey dokey.  I went into the classroom and received my assignments for the day and decided that I needed to warn Regan Holdaway, my sweet four year old charge on Mondays and Thursdays, of the loud noise that would be blaring in about 20 minutes.  I dutifully went about my volunteering when the alarm sounded as promised.  A couple of children were startled, but no one was out of sorts.  Miss Eliason instructed the children to get their jackets; I forgot mine, darn, then to line up at the door.  There are only nine students on her "A track" roll so it was very easy.  We all filed out the front door with the other classes who are assigned to exit that door.  It probably

Tomorrow will be my oldest daughter's 11th birthday.  She is a middle child and oldest daughter.  I was so happy to meet her and to see that she really was a girl.  At the ultrasound her legs were crossed when the technician tried to show us so we couldn't see for ourselves, but she assured us that she really was a girl.  I didn't dare get my hopes up too high, knowing mistakes are made.  However, I bought plenty of pink outfits.  I am also pleased to report that she was by far my easiest delivery.  Taylor had come nearly three weeks early and I was hoping to get at least a week from her, but no such luck.  She came 2 1/2 hours before her due date. The waiting part wasn't easy. My labor started in the afternoon and I realized that a trip to Walmart was necessary before she came.  I prepared dinner and my hospital bag.  We had a meeting scheduled for a financial planner  at seven that evening.  Destry didn't make it home, so I tried to discretely count/time contrac

I began this blog one year ago this month.  This is my 31st post.  That puts me at exactly 2.4 posts per month.  Not a world's record, but a personal best.  Up from the zippo I had before.  I started it so that my children would have some record of their family's life.  I haven't been very good at journal keeping in the past.  I have been hit or miss at best.  What I hadn't anticipated was how much I have enjoyed writing and reading this blog.  I have reread my posts, some of them several times.  They have made me laugh, cry and reminisce about my life.  I like to write, so it should not have been such a surprise.  But for some reason or other I didn't realize how much I would benefit from it.  Maybe next year I will average a 3 or even 4 posts each month.  I have ideas and notable life events that I could write about, but we shall see.

So several weeks ago Destry burned music from iTunes onto five CD's to put in the Yukon.  He gathered a variety of genres from a variety of eras.  There are quite a few selections from the Carpenters and ABBA.  I enjoy listening to both.  They could be considered contemporaries , but I have never thought their styles were similar enough to be confused.  That is, until my children did.  Now whenever we get into the car and turn on the tunes we play a little game of "is this the Carpenter's or ABBA?"  Usually they get it wrong.  They are slowly getting better, but it has taken a long time.  Who knew?

Today could quite possibly have been called a perfect day.  I had a slow morning, followed by  getting some laundry started, cleaning the kitchen and mopping the floor and vacuuming the rest of the upstairs.  The little girls played together nicely, Spencer and Emma went to the blue barn together and Taylor and Zach Skinner hung out with their electronics (Zach's family went to Lake Powell for the weekend.  He wanted to go on the scout camp out Friday night instead of going to Lake Powell--what is wrong with him??, and his mother didn't want him to stay home alone for the rest of the weekend so she asked if he could stay with us.  Of course he could).  Destry worked for a couple of hours at the Oborne's on a small remodeling project they hired him to do.  I also had a nice visit with Renee who is homesick.  I am sad for her.  Her hubby is out of town again.  He has been working lots of overtime since they got to Alaska.  Renee and the girls have made some nice friends, but

So, every night when I listen to Emma say her prayers she always prays that we will not suffer from any "harm or wrecksion."  I wouldn't have even known how to spell this nonword until I finally decided to ask her what she meant by that.  After she told me I thought, "well, that makes perfect sense now."  She explained to me that means that we won't have anything get "wrecked."  Ok, now I know.

Fifteen years and two days ago I became a mother.  I could say so much about this child, but I will share the beginning of his life on this earth.  My pregnancy went well, I gained a lot of weight even though I threw up a lot.  I was tired and hot and very uncomfortable for the last six weeks and my labor was 24 hours long.  There have been so many ups and downs since then.   I was 28 years old when I got married.  I knew I wanted a family and I knew that was a later start than for most Mormon women and I didn't know how easy it would be for me to get pregnant, so we decided not to wait.  Three months after we were married we were expecting our first child, Spencer.  I remember the day I found out.  We went to the temple that day and I had been feeling very dizzy off and on (a symptom I learned to recognize for future pregnancies).  I had a feeling in the temple that I was pregnant and I knew that was the reason I had been dizzy and not feeling great.  So the pregnancy test was a

While I am not a fan of hashtags, I am a huge fan of summer, motherhood, and family time.  We have had a wonderful eventful summer.  Renee and her brood spent the month of June in Utah.  We had fun at parks, Thanksgiving Point, pedicures and just "hangin' out at the house."  We ate at Cafe Rio and JCW's, both were on Renee's "must-do list."  A highlight of their stay was the time we spent in a cabin in Bear Lake with the whole Smith Clan.  My mom payed for the cabin rental and we all pitched in on the food that Kevin and Christine so graciously bought and brought.  We went through a cave and spent a day at the beach paddling in paddle boats and a canoe.  We of course engaged in a water fight.  We had fun "Smith Family Olympics" thanks to David and Jessica with the Crumps and Erika performing a lip sink to a Taylor Swift song, "Trouble," for the opening ceremony.  The goat version.  I wish we would have had a camera on the audience whe

So last Friday I took the boys shopping.  Spencer needed church shoes, they both needed snacks and miscellaneous items for their scout camp which starts tomorrow.  I also wanted a new bedspread for my bed in my newly painted bedroom.   School is approaching and I thought that we would do a little school shopping while we were out and about.  We also have a 30% off coupon for Kohl's, so it seemed like a good time to a little shopping.   It didn't turn out exactly the way we planned.  Spencer did get shoes, we bought the needed scout items, but no school clothes and no bedspread, but we did get a Blendtec blender--hooray!!.  I have been eyeing them and its competitor, the Vitamix for several years now.  Every time Costco has a demo of either one of these I covet, just a little bit.   Well, this time we had our own personal demo.  Taylor drank a smoothie that had a variety of fruits in them, seeds and all.  And he ate green ice cream.  The green coming from spinach.  And he love

Yesterday was a red letter day!  It began at 6:30, early for a Saturday and ended late.  All the in between times were wonderful.  I readied myself and finished preparing and setting up food for the guests who attended Estelle's baptism.  I set out flowers and springish decorations.  My friend and neighbor, Melonie Jex, agreed to bake the quiche I had prepared so it would be hot and yummy when we returned from the baptism.  9:00 a.m. is early for a baptism and the conflicted with some schedules, but we had most of our family there.  Calie Macdonald was ready to have a baby so they didn't make it; he, in fact, was born this morning--yay!  With that one exception, all other grandparents aunts, uncles and cousins were present. The Tymons and Neva and Karen, Wendy and Christian came.  They are very supportive and I love them!   Even Taylor, who is sick AGAIN came to this once in a lifetime event.   Our stake Primary presidency is awesome.  They are organized and lovingly helpful.

Today began a little earlier than most, especially for a Saturday.  We were awakened, or rather jolted out of bed by a phone call at 5:00 a.m.  When it rang Destry and I knew who would be on the other line, what we didn't know until we answered was which one of Taylor's ailments was the reason for this call.  Asthma.  Not surprising.  It's spring.  Pollen count is high.  He is hanging out outside and sleeping in a tent in the boonies an hour away. Taylor's scout troop is camping out near Mona.  Good cell service--yay!  Fortunately for us and most especially fortunately for Taylor,  Destry's brother JR Macdonald lives in Santaquin which is much closer to Mona than Saratoga Springs is  AND his sweet daughter, Allison, has a nebulizer.   So, Destry called  JR and asked him to take their nebulizer and pick up Taylor.  Hooray for family!  Destry immediately left to meet up with JR to bring Taylor home.   They were back safe and somewhat sound by 7:30 a.m., a time that

With Mother's Day just three days away and a recent service given me by my mother, I have been thinking about the love I have for my three moms.  The woman who gave me life, Shirley Renee Luce Smith; the woman who gave my husband life, Sherrie Lynn Horrocks Macdonald and the mother who came into my husband's life during his teenage years, Claudia Walkenhorst Crump have all had an influence on me.  I love them all.  They all continue to serve their families in ways both seen and unseen. Several weeks ago my sister-in-law, JuNette, asked if I wanted to attend BYU Women's Conference with her this year.  Heck ya!  Two days of uplifting, inspirational, motivating talks, fun talks with JuNette, mint brownies and no children...I didn't even need to look at the calendar.  I was going.  She suggested we stay in a hotel closer to BYU and, to be honest, it would be way more fun to have girl talk at night instead of making sure kids were in bed.  When one couldn't be found I