Cousin Kennedy

A couple of weeks ago, Mike's Family (my oldest brother) came down to St. George for soccer tournaments. Kennedy, (5) their youngest, spent the weekend here at the house with us as she would have been bored at the games. Max and Kennedy had a blast together. They went hiking, swimming, bike riding with Grandpa, baked and decorated cookies, went to church together, laughed and carried on all weekend! We had so much fun with Kennedy. Here are some of the highlights of the two of them:

Not Any House ...

Not just any house .... this is the home that my grandfather built and my mother grew up in. You'll find this little home in Circleville, Utah. About 2 1/2 hours away from St. George, Utah. We went over to Circleville a few weeks ago to buy potatoes which is the most common item farmed in this small town. We picked up (3) 50 lb bags of potates for $10 each. We delivered a couple of the bags to my mothers sister and brought the remaining bag home with us. My dad cut the potatoes up and planted them in our garden here in St. George in hopes for potatoes this fall. For sometime, my mother and her family lived in only the basement of this home. There were just a couple of rooms and eventually my grandfather built the top of the home. Life was not easy and truly you made use of every single thing that you got your hands on. It was a fun little day trip to drive over and to be able to show Max where Grandma grew up!

DEBT FREE!!!

Mark and I did accomplish something of great significance this week .... I sent one large but final payment on Mark's student loan! With this payment, we are now completely debt free! WOO HOO! It is a great feeling and better yet I know that "credit heaven" is going to be smiling down on us! Now we can start saving EVERYTHING for our future home once again! Congratulations Mark and THANK YOU for being so brave to go and work in Afghanistan to support us. I love you!

Valentines Tic-Tac-Toe

For family night this week I decided we would talk about love and the commandment that Heavenly Father has given us from John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." We talked about how Jesus loves us all year long but, on Valentines Day that is coming up, we make a special effort to tell everyone that we love them. Afterwards, we played this little game that I made (after seeing in on another crafty blog) and Max has been having fun with it all week. I cut a heart out of construction paper and drew the tic-tac-toe lines on it. Then I sewed together hearts and filled them with beans for our bean bags. They were easy enough to sew and I made them with material that I had on hand ... so it was very inexpensive. Every time I sew ... I am reminded that I am so grateful that I do not have to sew for a living! While my hearts are not perfect, they were perfect for us and our little game! No doubt, I will incorporate this in to an upcoming Primary lesson too!

Tom Johns Visit

Our long time friend Tom John was in town this past week and stopped by to visit us here in St. George. Tom and I met originally back in the early 90's at Langley Ward (Singles congregations) in Northern Virginia. He and Mark met in the mid 90's as well. Tom is so fun to talk to ... as he has so many wonderful stories to tell from his life experiences to the backgrounds of so many people he has met. He recalled helping me to slim-jim my old Sentra after church one Sunday as apparently I had locked myself out. I remember going to a birthday party for him and he told me that he had socks older than me! We laughed about some of our old stories and enjoyed lunch together. Tom joined the church some time ago and his life has changed 360 degrees! He was married about 8 years ago and loves his dear Sandra. This is a silly picture of Max ... but he sure had fun talking and playing with Tom for a couple of hours. Thanks for stopping by Tom!

Where Have I Been?

Seems like quite a while since I posted. I have been VERY busy with our school supply project for the kids in Afghanistan. If you have not checked out our blog, click on the button on the top left to take you over there. We had a huge donation come in from Newell Rubbermaid / Sanford. Four LARGE boxes (about 100 lbs) came in yesterday with 4000 items to be counted, reboxed, recounted, taped, labeled and ready to ship. All of these items along with the generous donations that have come in down at my gym, Anytime Fitness, are on their way.... 16 boxes worth! We also now have a targeted delivery date of February 19th. Hopefully all will go well and we'll be able to get these wonderful supplies in to the kids hands sooner than later!

I've also been busy going to the gym and working on becoming a ROCK STAR! I'm usually at the gym 6 days a week for 90 minutes. Cardio and weights and I am losing weight ... I'm actually on DAY 8 of no Diet Coke ... which is a miracle! I feel good but, still have the cravings for it. No headache, just crave it!

Mark has had some frustrating days lately. I pray that the experience that he is gaining will help us find the right job that is stateside here in the next few months. My hope and prayer is that as soon as Septemeber comes, we'll have another job waiting for us.

Crush or True Love?

So each morning when I take Max to school we pull up and there are usually two teachers out front who help the kids get out of their cars. I think I should note that Max prefers to have the "pretty teacher" or now that we have learned her name, Ms. Walker, assist him in getting out of the truck. He adores Ms. Walker who has long straight dark brown hair, olive skin and is very attractive. I'm so glad to know my sons taste at this juncture in his life ... all of 3 1/2 years old! He loves to see her smile every morning.