Busy Family

This has been a very mild winter so far. We enjoy the warmer afternoons, but I worry that things have been so dry. I have taken time to water things in the yard to help our plants. We had a little snow this month. It was pretty. For about a week we had colder temperatures, in fact we had icy snow on the ground on the north side of things for the week.  Last night was a beautiful full moon and this morning we got up to watch what we could see of a lunar eclipse. It was neat to watch and see the redness of the moon.  It wasn’t as bright as I thought it might be.

I enjoyed going to a Stake Relief Society conference last Saturday. I was able to attend some good classes and enjoy visiting with friends. I went to a class taught by the temple president and his wife, the Kearns, and I learned from their thoughts about finding peace in the temple. I am thankful I can go often. I enjoyed working in the library last Friday. I was subbing for someone, I normally go in Tuesday. The fun part was that the librarian was out and had a sub who is my friend from church, Laura, and the other volunteer, Sarah, I know from my other ward. So the three of us enjoyed talking about out families, life and church things as we worked with the books. Earlier this month I was flipping through the radio in the car and ran onto a new station. They play 80’s soft rock music. It is the music I listened to in high school and I have really enjoyed hearing it. Many songs I haven’t heard in a long time but I find myself singing along. When I was at BYU my room mates got me into country music and I have listened to that a lot the last 25+ years. It has been fun to go back to what I liked as a kid. I guess it helps me feel young.

Neal has worked with Andrew to do some tree trimming. I have also done a lot with the trees, especially the fruit trees, doing the pruning they need before they start to grow again. Last night Neal thought it would be fun to do a little fire and burn some of the trimmings. We have a small fire bowl thing in the yard. Neal and the boys enjoyed burning the sticks and being outside last night under the full moon.  Neal had his birthday this month. He was joking around about turning 40 and wondering if we needed to have black at his party. We didn’t do any black but we did enjoy being together as a family that day.

The kids, Ruth in the pajamas she made.

Caleb likes being in pictures. The one above shows the basketball hoop that Andrew and Spencer made.
Below, Caleb likes looking like a beaver because of his missing teeth.

Ruth is staying busy. She works hard with school and is keeping her grades high. Last week she had to stay home one day because of being sick to her stomach and I think she was more stressed about missing classes than being sick.  Thankfully she only missed one day. Last Saturday she participated in the State writing competition.  She had hoped to compete in the creative short story writing, but her teacher signed her up for journalism writing. Then the person who was going to work with her group and do a mock press conference for the kids to write about got stuck with a broken car coming from Santa Fe. She got put into another group, which made a lot of kids writing on the same subject, lessening her chances to rank.  She didn’t rank but did contribute to the schools over all score. The school took second place over all. She enjoyed the experience and spending time with her friend Emily. Ruth has been babysitting our neighbors twins twice a week after school for about an hour, until one of the parents gets home.  She often helps the boys with their home work and enjoys being with them.  She is working on getting things ready to apply to a job at a Kumon Learning center close by, to be a tutor. We found out they higher 14 year olds, so she wants to get her application in for it, even though there aren’t any openings right now. One thing she needs is a resume. We had the challenge of thinking of things to write about her since she doesn’t have much experience yet. I think this job would be ideal. Even if she doesn’t get it right away, her application will already be in, so when an opening comes up the owner could call her.

Andrew had a board of review with his scout leaders and is now a First Class Scout. I am glad he works hard to do scouting things. He enjoys scouting and his trains. He also stays up with his school work and does well. One thing that Andrew does that I like is that he always is willing to help with things he sees that need to be done. He will help me in the kitchen with cooking or dishes, he has been working with Neal with yard work, he plays well with Caleb. I am thankful for all he does for our family. He enjoys playing basketball with the scouts after their meetings on Thursday evenings. Last Saturday he went to a stake basketball time and played an actual game with other 12-13 year old kids from the stake. He loved it. One Saturday morning Andrew and Spencer made a little basketball hoop to hook onto our coat closet door. They like to throw little soft balls into it. Andrew is also enjoying playing with the jazz band at school.

Spencer loves his yo-yo. His string had a knot in it and he was frustrated with it. We were able to find some nice cotton string for yo-yo’s on Amazon and bought his some. Now he is constantly playing with it again. He is getting good at many tricks. Last week Spencer had a mild case of the flu. He was in bed for a couple days, with a fever and not wanting to do much. Then he started doing better but still stayed home for two more days. I was thankful he felt well enough to participate in the Pinewood Derby. He had worked with Neal to make his car and he was excited to race it. He was pleased with how it ran. Spencer has enjoyed reading a series of books by Spencer Quinn about a dog named Bowser. I am glad he found books to enjoy.

Spencer brought his old cars with him and ran them on the track after the official race. 

Caleb has really enjoyed learning some 50’s songs at school. The second grade is preparing a musical performance for this Friday where they sing 50’s music. Caleb will even be dancing a swing dance with a partner for one of the songs. It should be fun to watch. Last Friday Caleb sang all his songs for the family and I enjoyed hearing them. One day we looked up on YouTube the songs and watched the original people singing them, he thought that was fun. Caleb has been fascinated with the game of Risk the last couple of weeks. Andrew has played it with him and Caleb also plays by himself. On the 21st we went to a Stake activity for all the kids who will be turning 8 and getting baptized this year. Caleb is really excited about it. We are happy to hear that my mom and Rachel will be able to come for the baptism in March. Caleb enjoys being with friends, yet the other day when I asked if he wanted to play with a friend he told me that sometimes he just likes having some quiet time at home. So do I.

Caleb likes playing with his bugs and blocks, and likes me to take pictures of things he makes. 

January Fun

The days just fly by. The kids are happy to be back into their schedules with school.  They are all doing well. We received the final report cards for Ruth and Andrew for the first semester of school. They both had straight A’s with many A+’s on their report cards. I am proud of them and their hard work.

Just a few highlights of the last couple of weeks. Spencer has been playing with his friend Jonathan a lot more. Jonathan received a yo-yo for Christmas and the boys get together with their yo-yo’s and practice tricks. Spencer is getting pretty good with it. Jonathan has a DVD that shows them how to do things with the yo-yo’s and they are learning quickly. They also like to ride bikes. It is nice that they live close enough they can ride bikes to each others homes.  Jonathan is in our ward and has been in cub scouts with Spencer, but he just turned 11. They are both in the same class at school too.  Spencer enjoys going to cub scouts. Right now he is the only Webelos in the ward. He likes his leaders, Brother and Sister Crookston. They told him they would do some fun electives with him for the next month until more boys start turning 10 and joining them.

Spencer was in the National Geographic Bee that was held this morning. He took a written test last December and scored high enough on it to make it to the final 20 students in 4th and 5th grade in the school. I went to the Bee this morning and enjoyed watching it. Last week Spencer wanted to drop out and didn’t want to participate. I encouraged him and even bought a book from NG about how to study for the Bee. We had fun going through some example questions for him. He did a good job and participated in it. He didn’t make it into the semi-final round (they narrowed it down in 7 rounds of questions to a smaller group) but I am proud of him for doing it. A friend from our ward made it to the final two, but then answered the last question wrong. I enjoyed watching the Bee.

Spencer is number 9

Caleb plays with Charlie a lot. The boys are in the same school class and always come out of the school together. Charlie talks to us and walks with us a little bit before turning around and going home. He lives down the street from the school and walks by himself. The boys like to get together to play at each others homes. They also ride bikes together. Caleb also loves Monopoly right now. He always wants to play it, but most of the family is getting tired of playing, so he often will play by himself and play two players at once. He is creative in many things and one thing he has done is make a new Monopoly board that has places from “Caleb World” on it. He is still working on making all the cards for his new version.

Caleb and Charlie playing together

Andrew enjoyed having his friend Aiden come over to play. It was a first time for Aiden to come to our house to just spend some time with Andrew. He enjoyed seeing Andrew’s train projects and what he does with Lego. They enjoyed visiting. Andrew and Neal rode their bikes to Aiden’s home and then he rode back with them. It is a bit further to go but I think the boys could learn the route and ride to each others homes soon. Andrew is working hard with church things too and takes his responsibilities as a Deacon seriously. In the last month more boys turned 12 and we now have 12 Deacon’s in the ward. They are all involved with Boy Scouts too and Andrew enjoys that. Sunday Andrew, with the help of Spencer, made the family crepes. They turned out great and the boys were happy to do it for us. Andrew enjoys cooking. Often he will come help me make dinner, even when it isn’t his chore assignment.

Neal thought we should take a picture of Andrew and Spencer's fancy breakfast, they even got out candles.

The boys have enjoyed playing with their HexBugs. Neal helped them build hex-boxes for the bugs to run around in. We had a big piece of cardboard that they cut to make the boxes with. They like making towers out of blocks and then letting the bugs run around the tower and hit at the base until the tower falls. They really enjoy playing with them.

The boys with their Hex Bugs

One day Ruth came to me and showed me her pajama pants had ripped across the seat. She was sad that they were worn out. The next week I noticed an ad from a store that had flannel fabric on sale, so we went and bought some. On Monday the kids didn’t have school, for Martin Luther King day, and Ruth and I worked on her pajamas. We worked on them again last night and finished them. She did a lot of the sewing and I helped some with tricker parts, like the neck line and button hole. She is doing well with sewing and enjoyed making something. She likes to write and work on her stories every day after school. She is excited to do a State writing competition at the end of the month. The best part is that it is being held at her high school this year, so she doesn’t have far to go to attend. 

I worked on getting some grain to put in storage to start off another year. I bought 50 pounds of oats while we were in Utah, since I can buy it in bulk there. Then we bought 80 pounds of rice and 250 pounds of wheat here. Neal helped me and we got it all packed up and put away. I do this about once a year to replace what we are using.  It took time though to get it all done. We use dry ice to pack the grain into buckets and Caleb had an idea for a science fair project that he needed dry ice, so it worked out for him to have some to use. Spencer is also doing a project for the science fair. We need to work on them to get it all done.

This year in primary I was changed to teach the 7 year olds, I am teaching Caleb’s class. It has gone well, but very different from the 4 year olds I taught last year. Caleb loves having me for his teacher.  Last week Neal and I gave the boys hair cuts. I have done a lot of yard work and winter clean up. I was pruning the fruit trees last week and I worry that they are already trying to bud. The weather has been dry and warm this winter. There isn’t any snow in the mountains. I worry what it will do to all of our trees. This week I enjoyed going to book club and had a great visit with the ladies. I am thankful for my friends. I look back and wonder what I do and where my times slips away, but it does. Life is good and we have so much to be thankful for.

I finished a puzzle, with Neal and Andrew's help

Happy New Year

We ended 2017 great. I last wrote on the 15th of December, so I will start from then. On Saturday the 16th the kids were happy to start their winter break from school.  Andrew and the scouts did a rocket launch. They had made rockets in conjunction with the Space Exploration merit badge they were working on and they were able to launch them at the balloon park where there was lots of space. After the rockets Neal, Spencer and Andrew went to the food bank to do service. They enjoyed working together and helping there. That evening was a ward Christmas dinner. We enjoyed eating a good meal with friends.

Sunday the 17th the ward choir sang in church. It was nice to be a part of. I enjoy singing with the choir. I took some pictures of the kids by the tree. On Monday we worked at preparing for a trip to Utah. That evening we opened gifts from each other at home. It was fun to see the kids excitement with the things we gave them. The week before I had worked hard to make Andrew and Spencer new pajamas in secret. They were pleased with them and have enjoyed wearing them. It is fun to do surprises for the family.

It was fun to catch real smiles!

I remembered to take a picture of them in their new pajamas at my mom's home

Tuesday morning we got up early and were on our way by 6:00 in the morning. We like getting an early start so we can drive through Spanish Fork canyon in the day light. The drive went smoothly and we had no difficulties with the weather. We arrived in Orem at my mom’s house about 4:00 in the afternoon. We enjoyed a nice evening with Mom. I fixed us some dinner, in fact I did most of the cooking while we were at her home. I didn’t mind, it was nice that I could do some things to help her.

Wednesday the 20th we went up to West Jordan and visited with Neal’s parents. We just hung out at their home, playing games and visiting. It was a nice relaxing day. Thursday we were back in Orem. Neal took Andrew and Spencer up the canyon to play in the snow and try snow shoes. There wasn’t much snow though and so they ended up just doing a hike. It was a nice day for them to be out together. Ruth, Caleb and I spent time with my mom. We helped her do her Christmas cards. It was a relaxing day. When Neal and boys got back we all went to the Orem cemetery. It was cold but a clear day, not like two years ago when it was snowing. It was nice to go visit Dad’s grave. I miss him.

Friday we went to Thanksgiving Point to the Museum of Natural Curiosities. We met with many from both sides of the family there. It was fun to see so many and having fun watching the kids play while the adults visited. Our family was the last to leave out of our group, the boys lasted for six hours!

It was fun to look down on the cousins playing together. Andrew and Spencer got a group of kids work together and make a building in the Lego room.

Saturday afternoon Neal, Ruth, Mom, Rachel and I went to a production of “Forgotten Carols” that was performed in Cottonwood Heights. The boys spent the afternoon with the Hubbard’s. I really enjoyed the production. I have always liked the music from the first time I saw it performed in 1992.  I am glad that I was able to see it again. Michael McLean talked at the end and had the audience sing “Silent Night.” It was so beautiful and spirit felt.

Sunday morning we went to Dallin’s ward for their baby blessing.  Little Jake was born in November and Dallin had the blessing on a day when many of the family could be with them.  It was special to have a baby blessing at Christmas time. Jake is a cute little baby and the family all took turns holding him and enjoying his presence. We also went to the Hubbard’s ward at 1:00, so we got lots of singing and feeling the special Christmas spirit that day. In the evening we enjoyed a nice meal together, the kids acted out the Nativity for us and then we opened gifts from Dallin’s family.  The two families had decided to do a gift exchange for the kids. They all enjoyed opening more presents. We enjoyed our time with Dallin’s family that day.

Andrew was learning how to carve a turkey

Christmas day dawned snowy and the kids were so excited. They had a few more gifts to open from grandparents and others.  We enjoyed a quiet morning at the Hubbard’s home, playing new games, reading new books and visiting. The kids played outside in the snow. About noon we drove down to Orem to spend the afternoon with Mom and Rachel.  The kids thought it was fun they had a few more gifts to open from my Mom. We enjoyed time visiting and relaxing there, with a nice meal together, with red jello for Caleb. 

Ruth got busy reading all the books that were given her and Spencer started in building things. They were all happy with their gifts.

This is a good picture of my mom. We enjoyed spending time with her.

Tuesday the 26th my family got together to do gingerbread houses. We had a great day visiting, playing and making our houses. Jeanie came down from Logan, so all five sisters were together. We missed having Doug’s family with us. It was a fun party day.

The Hancock sisters

Wednesday Neal went up Big Cottonwood Canyon with his brothers, David and Dallin. They did a little hiking and some snow shoeing, there was more snow from the week end storm. I stayed in Orem with the kids. We visited with Jeanie and Mandy’s family. That afternoon we went back to Hubbards.

Thursday we spent the day at the Hubbard’s home. Dallin’s family came over again and the kids had lots of fun playing outside in the snow.  I always think it is great how well the cousins get along and play so well together. That afternoon a group of us went to Salt Lake City to the Family History building. We enjoyed doing the interactive things with Family Search. While there my Aunt Verna  saw me and came over to talk. It was so good to see her. I had been thinking a lot about my dad and just seeing his sister I felt was a tender mercy. Verna had come to Salt Lake to see the lights and since they weren’t on yet she can come into the history center to stay warm.  She could have chosen any of the many buildings on Temple Square to go to, but we happened to be in the same place at the same time and uplifted each other. It was  a special thing. We talked for a bit and then went out into the cold to see the lights. She didn’t think she could walk around much so we said good bye and she went to see what she wanted to see. I enjoyed walking around the Square with the family. It is always so peaceful there.  Friday we drove back home.

It was a warm day, the snow was melting but they had lots of fun playing in it

the moon was so pretty by the temple

We made good time and the drive went smoothly and we made it home in time for dinner. Ruth was happy because she wanted to go to the Stake dance New Years Eve party that evening. She had a lot of fun at the dance and enjoyed being with her friends and staying up late to celebrate. Saturday we were in recovery mode and doing lots of laundry.  Ruth had a babysitting job that evening and was up late again. She was worn out on Sunday with her late nights. Sunday, the 31st, we all decided we should just go to bed at a normal time.

Monday morning we welcomed the new year in with a good breakfast and time together. I had promised Caleb I would play Monopoly with him, clear to the end! Andrew played with us too. It actually ended up being a fast game and it was over in an hour. Caleb won, because he had been able to get Park Place and Boardwalk! He was happy he won. He has really enjoyed that game lately and has played it multiple times with who ever will play with him the last few weeks. Neal worked with Andrew on train projects and with Spencer on his pinewood derby car. Ruth and I enjoyed watching a movie together. It was a nice calm family day for our new year.

Tuesday the kids worked with me to get all the Christmas things put away. While Ruth was vacuuming after all the things were packed up the vacuum made an awful sound and wouldn’t work. This is the second time this has happened with this vacuum. The roller gets jammed up and breaks the gear that turns it. I think it is hair that tangles in it, although I try hard to clean the hair out every week. I took the vacuum apart and confirmed the problem and ordered a replacement roller that will be here by next week. So the vacuuming will have to wait. Wednesday the kids went back to school. They were all happy to get back into routines. Yet they were tired at the end of the day.  I am thankful we had so much family time over the break and could strengthen relationships with so many. What a blessing family is in our lives! We love all of you.

To start off the new year Spencer and Caleb worked on a little song to share