Of Good Report

To cut to the chase, I passed the Real Estate Licensing Exam today! Destry has a good job and earns a fair amount of money, but with five kids, a dog and a mortgage it only goes so far. We always have medical expenses, but have not had a car payment in years. I'm not sure we could afford one. We get by, we live frugally, but some months feel a little more stretched than others. With the kids getting older and all of them in school, I looked into getting a job myself; however, having been a stay at home mom for the past 16 years I was looking at entry level jobs, even with two degrees. I felt a bit discouraged for a while. And even with my kids in school, my working will take some teamwork and sacrifice from my family and I could not justify my time away from our home for $8.00 and hour. I would need to take some classes to get my teaching certificate, but I feel like I have been teaching for 16 years and I have about 16 to go to get these kids through, so I do not really want t

Today was a perfect Thanksgiving Eve day. The kids helped me to clean the house since we are hosting dinner tomorrow. I made two pies. The boys went on a 4-wheeler ride in the hills behind us. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. I am especially grateful that Taylor was able to go. Sarah played with her friend Lydia, pretty much all afternoon. Emma, Estelle and I went shopping. We bought each of the girls a pretty black and red dress. I bought a red sweater to wear with a black skirt I already own. We are going to be matchy, matchy on Sunday. Destry worked hard for us. He worked late last night hoping he could leave early tonight, but it didn't work out. We are all gathered around watching a movie with a few friends. This is what life is about and I am very grateful.

I am so glad I live where there are mountains. I love driving down the street outside my neighborhood and looking over at Mt. Timpanogos and Utah Lake. I love nature and the varied beauty that this earth offers each of us.

I am grateful for Family Home Evening. I am grateful for prophets who have encouraged church members to set Monday night aside from other activities in order to have quality family time. I love that my kids are old enough to have meaningful discussions. Poor Sarah has to put up with it, she is only 7. I love our activities and our traditions and rituals surrounding Monday nights. I have a feeling that watching the new episode of Studio C is going to become a regular part of our Monday nights. The kids and Destry really enjoy watching it and I really enjoy watching them watch it, so we are all happy. I am not perfect at many things, but I can proudly say that I guard my Monday nights for family time nearly perfectly. My kids enjoy it too, even the teenagers participate without complaint.

I am grateful that I live in a place where I can experience all four seasons. I love the feeling of renewal and rebirth that spring brings. I love the summer sun and that my kids are home. I love the colors and smells of autumn and the crisp morning air followed by the warm afternoons. I love winter for about a week. I doesn't feel like Christmas unless it is cold and the earth is blanketed in snow. Ok, I could do winter for maybe two months, December and January and in my Camelot that is all we have. I actually love change and the changing seasons revives me and gives me one more thing to look forward to.

I am grateful that I can receive Priesthood blessings. As a child my dad would give us a blessing before school started each year and when we were sick. My husband does the same for our children. When I get a new church calling a member of the bishopric gives me a blessing to give me guidance for the calling and in other areas of my life. I have asked for blessing when I have had a question or felt overwhelmed by the demands of life. Right now I am in the overwhelmed part of needing a blessing. I have the opportunity to do many things in the next year. They are all good things, and indeed I do consider them all to be blessings, but I just hope I have the capacity to fulfill them. Motherhood alone can be too much. It is my top priority and my top choice of where I want to spend my time. Even though my kids are getting older, I do not feel like they need my time or attention any less than they did when they were younger. I am the Primary chorister, something I love doing. I love the

For the past three or four years my sweet mother-in-law has taken all the adult girls in the family to Time Out For Women. Deseret Book sponsors an event that features popular LDS speakers and musical artists who share their talents and inspirational messages. They do this in several cities throughout the United States throughout the year. It is always at the end of November when the finish their tour in Salt Lake.  We always have a great time. I get a break from the kids and Claudia, JuNette, Whitney and I get a little big girl bonding time. Claudia pays for us to stay in a hotel. It is a mini vacation for all of us that I think we all look forward to. Last year we even had our picture in a newspaper article with cute Claudia front and center. We got to hear from Sherrie Dew and Ann Romney at the same time. This year I am looking forward to Noel Pikus-Pace. We are heading out this afternoon. I will be able to pick up the kids from school, get them organized then enjoy a girls night

I love to sing! Especially songs of testimony of my Savior. I love to hear other people sing praises to God as well. I am grateful for music and its ability to uplift and inspire. I am grateful for opportunities to sing by myself and with others. I am grateful for composers and poets so I have something to sing.

Today three of my children benefitted by the Church of Jesus Christ's youth activities. Estelle went to Activity Days. A program for 8-11 year old girls. They get together twice a month for hands-on learning. Estelle loves it. Today they made Thanksgiving center pieces. they are very cute. Emma went to Young Women's. She gets to go every Wednesday. Sometimes she meets with the 12 and 13 year old girls, sometimes she gets together will all the girls who are 12-18. Once a month their activity includes the 12-18 year old boys. Spencer went to his Young Men/Scouting activity. Taylor would have gone had he been healthy. I am grateful for the dedicated adult leaders who sacrifice their time to allow my children to have experiences that I could not provide for them alone. They are loved and shown skills and values that reinforce what we do at home. They get to have a social activity and learn practical and spiritual skills. Life gets busy with everyone's schedules, but on the &q

Today I am thankful the Grandpa Leon stopped by in time for dinner and especially that he went to Emma's game and saw her make two baskets! Her team was tied in the fourth quarter and Emma made two of the three baskets that helped them win the game.

This was going to be a post about Taylor and his healthy days, but the truth is, I am grateful for any day that any of my family is healthy. Up until 6-7 months ago Taylor has been sick for almost as many days as he has been healthy. He had a pretty good summer and early fall. Even the girls were keeping track of his good health streak. He missed a week of school a couple of weeks ago; he is still trying to recover academically. And we are headed to see Dr. Yeates, asthma and immunology specialist, today. It means we are heading into a few days of prednisone, which means we are headed into uberhigh blood sugars, tons of insulin, calls to Dr. Lindsay, his endocrinologist, ketones, and every two hour round the clock blood checks. I seriously have to get myself emotionally psyched up for it. I always say a prayer before I give him the first dose. And continue to pray. All day. And night. Anyway, back to the gratitude. I am grateful for prayer and that I can turn all of my children's

I am thankful for babies, and the mothers who share theirs with me now that I don't have any of my own. As we were seated on our regular pew waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start, or friends walked in with their five young children and sat in front of us. Julie, the mom, took her baby out of the carrier and I snatched him from her before she could sit down. My girls quickly surrounded me, ok, I really mean the baby. They oohed and awed and asked to hold him. No, they could not. He snuggled right up and within minutes was fast asleep. I love sleeping babies most of all. Wyatt was warm and sweet and I loved every minute I got to spend with him. He woke up when there was only about 15 minutes left in the meeting. He seemed content and I decided not to be a complete "baby hog" so I let Estelle hold him. She loved every minute of it. I love watching my own children as they learn to nurture. She was gentle and patient. After about 10 minutes he started to squirm a bit so I h

I guess I missed a day of gratitude. As I was viewing my posts I noticed that there are only 14 posts this month and today is the 15th, so here is my makeup post.  I have been taking online classes to get a real estate license. I attended a live review all day Thursday. I just need to study and then, find a broker to sign on with, pay a few fees, pass the test, then get started. I am nervous and excited to be starting a new chapter of my life!

I went to Emma's 9:00 a.m. basketball game this morning. She has a great team and coach this year. It was fun to watch them win. Her team this year is the reverse of last. They have not only won her first two games, but creamed them. Last year they got creamed. When I got home I was greeted by the smiles and sounds of four little neighbor girls who where gathered in the kitchen along with my two little girls making hot chocolate and eating waffles. When everyone had eaten their fill the breakfast party quickly turned into a "Frozen" music freeze dancing party. (I think Destry was glad he had a place to go). I loved it. I took a picture of their smiling hot chocolate faces with my phone and another of their smiling, dancing bodies with my heart. I love the pure joy of living in the moment that children are so good at demonstrating. They were free and connected to each other at the same time. I remembered the times when my boys were younger and their version of this kin

I am grateful for my body. It works. It walks, talks, thinks, learns, and does pretty much anything I would like it to. It has changed over the years and I am grateful for that too. I am most grateful that it has borne five children. It continues to love, nurture and care for them.

I am grateful for Christmas music. In November. It warms me on the inside when it is cold outside.

Tonight I had the privilege of attending Young Women in Excellence, an annual recognition night to honor and share what the Young Women in the ward have accomplished. My new Young Woman was at my side. It was great to attend with her and know will be attending these meetings for the next 11 years. It is very different than scouting and I'm not gonna lie, I'm looking forward to the change. I'm grateful for what the scouting program has done for my boys and I'm grateful we are at the end of those years. I am also grateful to find out all that the Young Women's program will do for my girls.

Today, of course, I am grateful for the veterans who have fought for our country. I am especially grateful for my Dad who served in the Army as a cook during the Korean War. He continued to serve in the National Guard for many years afterwards. My Father-in-law, Leon Crump, served in the Viet Nam War. It was an experience that changed him forever. My other Father-in-law, Joseph Macdonald, joined the Navy and was a "sonar man" on submarines. He learned a lot from his experience and likes to share things with Destry. I am grateful that my children are patriotic and that their school teaches them to be grateful for the veterans who served our country. Yesterday for family home evening we talked about our grandfathers who served either in the Army or the Navy and we made cards to send to them to thank them. The girls came home from school having read a book that taught them the symbolism of setting a table with a white tablecloth, black napkin and a red rose with an empty chair

I am grateful for schools and teachers and mentors I have had throughout my life. I am grateful I was able to home school my children for a time and I am also grateful for the schools they are currently attending. They have had (mostly) good teachers who have enriched their lives.

I am grateful for my calling as Primary chorister. The children bless my life. 

I am grateful for the easy access to information, goods and services that the internet provides. Digital scripture study is the best thing to happen to my scripture study habits. I love the ease of cross referencing and the ability to read conference talks, the Ensign, the scriptures as well as a whole library of Church reference materials. I love online shopping. When I order Christmas gifts I feel like I get Christmas twice. Once when the package arrives and again when the gift is given. I am not a huge fan of shopping, and if it were always cost effective I think I would purchase everything online. I love the access to information that the internet provides. I makes helping my kids do research so much easier. I can look up symptoms of illness, find a recipe, get homework help, checkout a dictionary and so much more. Keeping in touch with friends and family through social media and email is also a blessing to me. I know that I cannot believe everything on the internet and tha

I was blessed to grow up in a large family. Being the oldest of six children, at the very least, taught me to have patience. We had to compromise and share, take turns and support each other. I had participants, often unwilling ones, for my plays and shows and circuses. There was always someone around to play with or go exploring with, if we were camping. I went to many "a" baseball game and they got to enjoy many "a" jazz hand at "Hi's" performances. These days we get to come together to visit and watch our own offspring play with each other. Cousins are great to, but that may be a post for another day. For the longer distanced ones we get to Skype and talk on the phone and look forward to visits from them while hoping that some day we will get to visit them. I think that the time I was most thankful for having a lot of siblings was when our beloved father passed away. We mourned together, planned together and remembered together. A favorite activ

I love art in all its forms. One only needs to look around to discover that beauty is important to God. This earth is varied and beautiful. I am equally grateful for the works of the master painters as I am the works that adorn my walls created by the hands of my children. I am grateful for music and painting, photography and the beauty of words. I am grateful for theater and poetry and prose. My mother-in-law creates works of art in the form of quilts An online dictionary defines art as: : something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings :   skill acquired by experience, study, or observation <the art of making friends> 2 a :   a branch of learning: (1) :   one of the humanities (2) plural :   liberal arts b archaic :   learning , scholarship 3 :   an occupation requiring knowledge or skill <the art of organ building> 4 a :   the conscious use of

Twelve years ago on October 22, I got to be the mother of an adorable baby girl. She is still adorable and I cannot believe that she has hit that milestone. It has been on my mind since January when we attended New Beginnings, a Young Women's meeting to introduce the girls who will be 12 that year and give a basic plan for the year.    I have had mixed feelings about this birthday. She graduated from Primary, received her "Faith In God" award, can babysit, thinks she is old enough to wear mascara, plays basketball, is funny, responsible, on the student council at Thunder Ridge Elementary, and just super awesome. It is fun to talk to her. We have more "mature" conversations. Her circle of friends is growing and it is fun to watch them grow up as well. Some of them I have known for almost as long as I have known her, others are new. She is on the quiet side and is not part of most of the drama that goes on among some of the other girls--hooray! She has had her s

Hats off to women who raise many boys, especially to those who are parenting them singly. I know that the Spirit will give them an extra measure of assistance to make up for the language barrier, but I am grateful that my husband can help out at our house. He may not be the same age, but at least he is the same species. There have been several occasions when I just don't get it and several others where they (my teenage boys) would rather talk to their dad. I am grateful for the inspired advice he gives to them. Yesterday Destry was prompted to check on things at home while he was sitting on the stand at church waiting to help with the Sacrament. (4 of our 5 children were home for one reason or another). As soon as the Sacrament was over he quickly went home to discover that he was, in fact, needed there. He had a Spiritual discussion with Spencer that blessed both their lives.

This morning was not a whole lot different from any other Sunday morning except that Emma and Estelle both had fevers and stuffy noses so wouldn't be attending church. Taylor got injured yesterday doing a scout activity and didn't feel like going. Spencer was having an emotional moment and was attempting to get ready for church. So really, it should have been an easier morning because I only had Sarah to get ready and she did that pretty much on her own, cheerfully I might add. But I was not feeling particularly repentant and ready to take the Sacrament. In fact, I knew that if I didn't change my tune, I probably shouldn't. I was feeling grumbly and worried about my offspring and I said a quick prayer in my heart for help as I was slapping on makeup two minutes before heading out the door. Destry sat at the Sacrament table because Spencer wasn't the only Priest who wasn't there on time. Sitting there waiting for church to begin my mood had changed little; in

November is the month for expressing thanks. I am going to try very hard to write something I am thankful for on the blog each day this month. Many posts will be short, I am sure, but I am going for consistency. To begin with I am grateful for the people who help me to enjoy Halloween. It truly is because of the people that I care about that I even care at all about Halloween. I have been known to be a bit of a bum bug, but when I get to make memories with people I love it makes it enjoyable for me. I am grateful that the Halloween parade at the school was just for the "A" trackers, which means that there were half as many students in it. My kids love it and I love to see them and a few neighbor kids too. I am grateful that I got to go to the temple right after the parade. I felt inspired, taught and uplifted. This year I am grateful that my Mom, David, Jessica, and Malcolm joined us for a festive dinner (positioned plates of food in a holes cut into a pair of Destry&

Tonight after our nightly exercise regimen, Sarah told me that I look like I am pregnant. She has been mentioning this quite often lately. She is not being rude, just making an observation, maybe even hoping. I usually just tell her that I'm not and we move on. I have been a little touchy today, not necessarily about looking like I'm pregnant when I'm not,  and was a little bothered by her comment this time. So tonight when I reminded her that I am not, I also added that I was sorry. She looked at me and sincerely said, "why are you sorry?" I honestly didn't know what to say. I just looked at her. I was thinking that I was sorry that I have been exercising regularly, honestly trying to watch what I eat and hoping to lose a few pounds, but my body wants to hold onto all of them for some reason. She does not need to know that.  Mostly I don't care. I spent a lot of years being skinny and now I'm not, but my body works. It has grown five babies, it can

It turns out that mothers of children with diabetes can experience the sensations of fight and flight. At the same time. Those primal responses embedded so deeply within each of us that, when triggered, take over any rational part of our brains in order to protect oneself, or ones offspring I might add. I've been told that that response was needed when human beings needed to say, run away from a saber toothed tiger. I am here to testify that they serve a purpose in our modern day as well. Picture yourself in that eerie place located somewhere between sleep and complete wakefulness. That time where you have laid you have laid your head on your pillow, run through the events of the day as well as the ones you expect to happen the next day and when you slowly let your mind and body relax and you are about to surrender yourself completely into dreamland when you hear through the intercom, "Mom, I feel low."   Those are never welcome words. Never. But they are especially of

I will start off with a disclaimer lest I come across as a hypocrite. If you look through the cabinets of my home you will find Tupperware, Pampered Chef items, Mary Kay, doTerra and at one time I had a Sentsy candle warmer, but my children are too enthralled with melted wax that I got rid of it. I am even slightly embarrassed to admit that I am probably on a dusty list of dormant Tupperware and doTerra distributors. All of these companies have great products at way too expensive prices. In my opinion, the reason for the expense is due to the MLM type of marketing that each of these companies use. Let me just get this out there, I am not a fan of this distributing style. As I said before, I have owned and still use products that were marketed this way and I am sure that I will purchase some of them again. If they have something I can't live without and/or can't get any other way, or if I am supporting a friend or family member, I will buy. I was recently invited to check out

Purchasing clothing for five children is not usually something I look forward to. If money grew on trees, it may or may not  be different. Plus, some of them are really picky, not just about how the clothes look, but how they feel. Shoes are especially challenging for some of my little sweeties. However, this year, in spite of the fact that money does not grow on trees, it was rather enjoyable. Emma needed a pair of shoes to take to Clear Creek Camp mid July, so I decided to make good use of our time out and get her school shopping done as well. We had fun together. She always surprises me a little bit when we shop because she acts like she is a no frills kind of a girl and in many ways she is, but she really likes feminine looking clothes. She is growing up too. 6th graders are the top dogs in school. (She even got selected to be on the student council. Something I did not know at the time of shopping, but since I am behind the times in writing, I know this now. She is doing a great

It has been a big year for my big boy. He has grown and matured into quite a delightful human being. He has experienced a great many firsts. Checking account, debit card, learner's permit, girl/boy party, requesting a date, job, high school, blessing the Sacrament,.... One big influence and change in his life is his group of friends. In ninth grade he took a musical theater class as well as earning a part in the school play. Because of these experiences he was introduced to a new group of friends. Brevin Harrison has been nearly a life-long friend, they were five when the began playing together. He encouraged Spencer to take the class and to audition for the play. Because of these two things he has developed several friendships. They are a stellar group of kids. It has been wonderful watching him settle into his own groove. As difficult as he has been, he likewise fills my heart with joy as I have seen him become a caring, spiritual, smart, fun human being. He has natural leade

When my kiddos were little we started a tradition of "Friday pizza and movie night." We would rent a DVD from the local Hollywood Video to select a family film and maybe one for mom and dad too. We would enjoy our pizza, get into our pj's and turn on the show. It became a little more challenging selecting a video that would please everyone when we had bigish boys and little girls. Sometimes we would watch a girlie one first then put the girlies to bed and watch another one with just the boys. Sometimes we would take turns choosing. Things evolve. Next came the occasional "late night." We, like many other families, decided that we would not participate in sleepovers and the late night became the substitute activity. During some late nights we would have our friends over and occasionally my kids would go elsewhere. As time went on Friday nights became more about friends than family until now where it is exclusively about friends. I have been told, more than

As I sat teary-eyed for most of Sacrament Meeting today, I reflected on how much responsibility and faith the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gives to its youth. To my knowledge there is no other church in the world who does so. 16 year old young men bless the sacred emblems representing the flesh and blood of the Savior of the world. It is then passed by 12 and 13 year olds to members of the congregation. In our particular ward, the organist is 15 and the chorister who leads the entire congregation in hymn singing is 16. Both are vibrant young women. Today every sermon came from youth. The first one was from a 15 year old young woman named Emma Fong. She taught a truth about how each person needs to develop their own relationship with God for themselves. No one can do it for them. She compared this to a recent experience she had of having her wisdom teeth removed. She said she was given instructions on how to care for her recovering gums, stating that if her parents took

I just dropped Taylor off for his week long scout camp. I always worry about him when he is away because of his medical issues. Thankfully, my desire for him to participate as fully as possible in life's experiences allows me to let him out of my sight. In addition to his campout, Spencer went on a three day trek and a week long scout camp in June. In July Emma went to Clear Creek for a week. The kids and I went to Panguitch from Wednesday to Saturday last week to celebrate the 24 of July. Destry had to stay behind to work. Spencer, Emma and Sarah stayed an extra night in Panguitch and came back home yesterday with Grandpa. Destry is going out of town for three days next week and he and Spencer and Taylor have another three day campout planned for the weekend before school starts. The boys also have the annual "fathers and sons" in August. When I left the three kids behind in Panguitch I found myself stalling before driving away. I hadn't planned on leaving them. We

We received a note in the mail a few days ago from Claudia. In it she explained that what Leon would like for his birthday was for everyone to do five acts of kindness. We were to write them down on the card she provided along with a birthday wish for Grandpa/Dad. He will be turning 72 next month and if each family member does 5 acts of kindness that would add up to 72. We are going to meet for dinner at Golden Corral on August 2 to celebrate together. Only Taylor, Estelle, Sarah and I were home when the invitation arrived, but we had a brainstorming session and watched a video on facebook about a group of college students that got together and did 21 kind acts. We got a few ideas from that as well. We discussed later with the other folks and we decided that we would do four things together as a family and that we would each do one thing on our own. We also did them a week earlier than suggested because Taylor will be at scout camp the week just prior to the birthday party. Here

Nearly two years ago I posted about my kids growing up and our lives changing. One of the changes we made was that we no longer played in the "baby pool" at the Lehi Legacy Center.  In addition, Spencer was beginning to attend Stake Dances. Last Saturday the girls, Erika, David, Jessica, Malcolm and I went to the Legacy Center pool together while the boys were out on a 4 wheeler adventure without any adults. I pondered on my hesitations for letting the boys spread their wings and realized too, that I could have dropped the girls off at the pool and they would have had a perfectly lovely and safe time without me. Much of the past 16 years have been spent teaching and protecting my children from physical harm that could befall them. Wear your helmet. Look both ways before you cross the street. Don't play in the street. Brush your teeth. Don't talk to strangers. Buckle up. Learn how to swim. Don't climb on that. Wash your hands before you eat. For one ch