Just in case you wanted to know....

It’s hard to believe that 2013 is drawing to a close. This year has been an interesting year. Full of uncertainties but alas, it has been a good year because we have each other and we have good health. Our Father in Heaven is so mindful of us and continues to bless us richly despite our weaknesses.

Michael is doing well. He celebrated 19 years of employment with Republic Services, in August. It is hard for us to believe that his 20^th anniversary with the company is just months away. Time flies. He is a Sunday school teacher for the 17 year olds. He enjoys the group of teenagers very much.  As usual, he is happy to be constantly busy with work life and with home life. Having such a large piece of property has its challenges that he enjoys conquering. I think the riding mower may be his favorite thing, ever.

I am busy, busy, busy, just as any other mother and wife out there. I am still working primarily from home for Olympus Clinic. It is a great job and I am so blessed to be employed. I co-teach with Michael in Sunday school. We love our calling in church and we especially love “our” teens. Besides work, home life has kept me plenty busy this year. Our kids are growing up so fast which means their needs have become a bit more demanding than just cheerios and juice. J I am having a hard time accepting the fact that our lives are changing as we enter into a new chapter of parenting with Jordan becoming an adult.

Jordan is 18 as of today. This is a hard pill for me to swallow. He will be graduating from high school in June. He is planning to serve a full time mission for the LDS church with hope of a leave date sometime in the early Fall. He is considering enlisting in the military upon his arrival home from his mission. He has a desire to serve our country and also be trained in mechanics. Time will only tell. He is an amazing kid. We are so blessed to be his parents. His humility and love that he has for every person he meets is inspiring. I am not sure how I am going to handle having him gone from home. He adds so much to our family.

Justin is just as adorable as ever. He is in his last year of elementary education. We made the decision to move our kids from their charter school into public school. Justin has blossomed and progressed tenfold at Bluffdale Elementary. He has had excellent success with his school studies and has made a great group of friends. He is still obsessed with Legos and also enjoys his video gaming time. 2014 will bring big changes for Justin as he enters pre-teen status and enters middle school. Heaven help us all. Justin brings good balance in our home. He thrives on structure and refuses to procrastinate any task at hand. This is so good for us as he keeps us all on task.

Audriana is so smart and so beautiful.  She turned 8 in March. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in April. She was thrilled to have her dad perform her baptism. Just about any task is easy for her. She continues to do so well in her school studies. She has also made new friends at Bluffdale Elementary. She is taking piano lessons, although our attendance has been a bit sporadic lately. She is so sweet and is so mindful of others feelings. She has the cutest sense of humor and is a constant source of light and happiness in our family.

We hope that we find you well. We think of you often. May we all remember that, all we have and all we do, is by the loving grace of our Father in Heaven and that Jesus Christ, our Savior, has made it possible for each of us to continually repent of our shortcomings so that we may someday live in the presence of our Father. We love you! May 2014 be full of happiness and prosperity and much less drama than what 2013 had to offer.

The side effects of botox

Warning: If you are not aware yet, please know that we are not your typical family. For some, we are too much. For others, we bring the crazy out in them. Either way, we certainly do our own thing and follow no trend. Kind of like a family full of awkward Shrek's.

Yesterday we were watching the TV show series called A Thousand Ways to Die. Surprisingly, there are crazier people than us. One guy used a rubber tube to tie a large salami to his leg to try and, shall we say, impress the ladies that like girth!?!? Well, having a rubber tube tied to your leg for hours obstructs the blood flow. He formed a bunch of blood clots. One made it to his heart and lungs and there you go, he died. Another case was of a lady that hired a doctor that made house calls to inject botox. What she didn't know was that the said doctor wasn't really a doctor but managed to get botox. The batch of botox he had was tainted so it really was full blown botulism . After he injected her with the botulism, she started having severe pain. She thought it would be a good idea to get into her hot tub to see if that helped her pain. She essentially became paralyzed throughout her whole body and drowned. Pretty sucky.

For some reason, we thought it was a good idea to give our kitchen a face lift. I have to remind myself everyday not to complain because I asked for this. I am so thankful to be married to a guy that is capable and likes to do this sort of stuff. Not only does it raise his sexiness level but it also saves us a bundle of cash. Things are really starting to take shape. My dream of having a farmhouse style kitchen is coming true. It's going to be so great! Unfortunately, I have a bit of OCD along with a bit of anxiety. Oi, what a combo. So having the house in complete disarray has been super hard for me. I desperately want to have my house sparkly clean but when I look at my surroundings my anxiety kicks in full force and I become paralyzed like botox lady. I will say however, that I am proud of myself for working through my issues and not even touching one of my friends named Xanax. That's a big deal.

The biggest blessing of this kitchen face lift is it has forced me not to focus on having a perfectly clean house but to focus on other things that I enjoy doing. There have been so many firsts for me this summer. Things that I have never done, ever. I have also found that I am an all or none type of gal. You'll see why. My friends that know me very well will surely be impressed by this.

Firsts:
What's the point of making beds when the kitchen is a mad crazy mess? (all or none)
You can sign your name on any piece of furniture in the whole house.
Once the pink ring formed in the toilet bowls, I figured the least I could do was squirt toilet bowl cleaner in it and hope it eventually did the trick. It did.
Whenever the kids are looking for a certain clothing item, they can surely find it at least clean and folded on the coffee table unless.....here's the kicker, if it is still sitting in the washer. I have never left washed clothes in the washer overnight. Ever. There surely is a first for everything.
I have spent more time outside on our deck enjoying our beautiful surroundings.
The kids and I have loved watching for satellites passing by in the big sky at night time.
The orange heads and I have been taking evening walks which has resulted in a bunch of new pet toads. Oh my.
I have had ample time to read. I love to read.

Needless to say, I am super excited to have my house put back in order. I will be so happy to clean, clean, clean. I really do love a sparkly house. But, I am going to focus on finding better balance with the demands and the pleasures in my life. Life is so good and so full of wonderful things to experience. I am so grateful for it all.

On a side note, I have an amazing "little" brother. He is one of the most charitable, loving people I know. A true heart of gold, that boy has. He and his angel wife, Marie came to our house yesterday. Rather than spending their afternoon doing a fun family activity, they spent it at my house so Dennis could install a gas line for our new gas stove. The love of a family is by far, the biggest blessing any of us has. I am so grateful for this blessing and for the awesome yahoo's I call family.

“Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?”

Yesterday, in our Sunday school class that Michael and I teach, our lesson was on the importance of keeping a journal. I referenced a talk given by Henry B. Eyring titled, "O remember, Remember". He asked this question in his talk, "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?" Boy, if this question doesn't make you stop and ponder on the events of the day, I don't know what else could. So it got me thinking about my family and the many different ways we are blessed as a family and how blessed I am individually. I need to do better at typing these things out. Here's a start....

I am so blessed to be surrounded by good people. Literally and figuratively. Never have I been more blessed with such an amazing  group of friends. My friends come from every walk of life and I love that. I learn so much from each of my friends. I am so grateful for each and every person that is in my life, positively. I love that I can candidly talk with my friends about the things, both good and bad, that happen with my family. I love that I can be myself 100 percent of the time, even if at times it seems that their eyeballs may be ready to pop out of their faces because of the things I tell them.

My family is blessed continuously. A recent blessing came in the way of an information chip. Our kitty, Kahlua, was hit by a car a week ago and subsequently died as a result of his injuries. This was so hard for my little family. We really loved that cat so much. The blessing in this was that we had him chipped. We have never done this with any of our other pets, but for some reason we decided to with him even though he was an indoor cat. Had Kahlua not been chipped, we would have never known what happened to him. Not knowing would have been terrible. We all would have constantly wondered where he was, if he was okay, etc. Death is a real crappy piece of work. I shutter at the thought of losing one of my older humans. Grandma needs to live forever. End of story!

Anyway, despite the crap we all have to face from time to time, life is good and God is mindful and so very kind.