Friends from our Ole Kentucky Home!

We were super excited to have our good friends the Chadwicks visit us this last week. We just adore this family. Our kids are all good friends and we have missed them terribly. So we were thrilled to hear that they were coming for a visit. Fortunately, they have a son at BYU and so we may get lucky and get to see them occassionally. They spent the night with us, but Brig and Katry had school the next day. That was definitely a day that they wished they were still Homeschool-ed. Seth had a blast playing with them. I pulled the kids out of school a little early and we all went swimming and had a fun couple of hours all together. I love this lady. It has been such a blessing to know Brenda. She has helped me in so many ways- it would be impossible to ever adequately repay her. She has a very generous heart and has been there for me over and over. Thank you so much!!!!
We love you Chadwick Family. Thanks for coming to stay with us!

Oh the weather outside
is FRIGHTFUL!
But the fire is soooo DELIGHTFUL!
And as long as you LOVE me so

Let

It
Snow
Let
It
Snow

Let
It
SNOW!!!!!
We missed you Brig. He was off gathering Fast Offerings.
Farewell Summer- We missed you Fall! Be gentle to us Winter!!!!

Surprise Gift

Kind words can be short, but their echoes truly endless. Katry made this jar of love for me- just for fun. It has little slips of paper inside- 50 of them! I get to read one each day. I'm a lucky mom, and she is an angel. Thanks for being so thoughtful Katry! I LOVE YOU!

Conference Weekend

The kiddos had Thursday and Friday off of school so we packed in a lot of fun. Lots of sleeping in, (They love to now- which I think is so funny, cause before we started going to public school they pretty much slept as long as they wanted to, but they got up early anyway. Now that they "have to" get up- its such a luxury to sleep in. I love to sleep in too!), swimming, movies, some shopping and lots of playing. Seth found some puzzles in a box in the basement and quickly set everyone into a puzzle mania. They worked on those puzzles like there was a deadline. I admit it was a little frustrating. At times you could hear me saying,"Set down the piece and walk away from the puzzle,"in my best police voice. I mean we do have other things to do! Anyway- they completed two puzzles this weekend. Way to go!
Conference was AMAZING! I was so sad to see it end. So many good thoughts and lessons, all accompanied by the Spirit. An elder from my mission always said, "The spirit is the FINEST feeling!" Amen to that! We were supposed to be in Alpine with the Thompsons this weekend- but life got in the way. We missed being with everyone down there. Here is a shout out to them- Love you All and hope to see you soon.

The kids built a tent to sit in while they listened to the prophets voice. (reference- King Benjamin) We had a tasty breakfast bar that everyone pitched in to help make, pictures to color, clay figures to make, a nap for me, dodge ball for everyone else, Steak and Tators, pina colada pie, a family soccer game, a romp through our home construction site and we washed all the action down with a little gin rummy before bed. Oh yea- we also read our scriptures! 3 Nephi 13 in fact. It has one of my favorite scriptures- verse 33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Love it- put God first and He will take care of you. I believe it! Here are some other thoughts from conference I loved and needed.
Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.
There is no friendship more important than your clear conscience- Sister Elaine Dalton
We are not going to suffer any more than is for our good- Elder Cook
He's not asking us to die a martyrs death, He's asking us to live a disciples life.- Elder Ballard

and my favorite:
Come what may and love it- Elder Worthlin- advice from his mother

TV Stars

Saturday was unusual. Saturdays usually have no fewer than four soccer games. Usually in different cities. So we have had to divide and conquer. This last Saturday- we only had one game- for Kaleb. It is fun to watch Kaleb. He is a bit timid. He just kind of follows the ball around with his hands clasped in front of him. BUT- if the ball actually comes into contact with his feet or shin guards a light goes off inside of him and he takes off to score a goal. It is seriously like the cue to turn him on. Then, once the ball is in the goal his hands, like magnets, return together in front of him and he returns to acting docile. Too funny.
Kaleb is taking a break and getting some strategic advice from his Poppadopolis.
Kai- just being Kai- Super Cute!
Since we only had one game to attend we joined a Catholic sponsored shoot out. You had to kick the ball into certain areas in the net for points. The point areas ranged from 5 to 20. Each player had 15 shots on the goal. Katry won for the 10 year old girls and Brig won for the 12 year old boys.
Brig was also the best shot out of all the boys so he got to compete with the best girl in a shoot out against a local news guy. He has a segment on Friday nights where he does a challenge called- Beat the Beam (his last name). He challenges different people to do different things and then puts it on tv- its a way to highlight the different activities in the area. So anyway- for the final challenge they each had five balls to shoot. The "Beam" got ten points, the girl got 80 and Brig fiercely challenged with a mighty 70 points. His second to last shot hit off of the goal post. Bummer! But it was a lot of fun. I am hoping that when the segment airs this Friday night I will be able to post the actual thing- but if not these pictures will have to do. Way to go Kiddos . Too bad Seth couldn't enter the contest. He probably would have schooled them all!

Redd Haven Rising II

The second floor is all framed. With the exception of the front and back wall of the middle section. They are waiting for the trusses to arrive before they frame those. In this picture you can see the trusses in the foreground. They put up the front door and bay window and put up the garage walls. They will start putting up the roof today. Yea!
We finally chose our brick and rock. We chose Brandywine brick, it is kind of a reddish brown. We really like it. The name "Brandywine" reminds us of the Shire. Perfect for the LOTR fans in our home- which is really everyone capable of an opinion. The rock is Champagne Ledgestone. These things were harder to pick out that I thought possible. There are so many choices. We looked at hundreds of different brick and rock samples and drove around looking at houses all over Kentucky and Idaho Falls. Glad that is decided.
After a week delay- they should be starting on the roof today. Exciting!

Melting My Heart

A couple days ago we watched some family videos. We had a great time reminiscing. I let a couple of comments slip about how I don't like how my teeth look on the video. They look really elongated and that bugs me. Anyway, my sweet Seth turns to me and says, "Mom, I don't know why you say that? I think you are so beautiful." If that doesn't melt a mother's heart- I don't know what would. Every mom needs a "Seth" compliment. Hope you get yours this weekend. Thank you Seth. I love you!Seth in Edinburgh, Scotland- November 2007