2021 First Day of School

John starts 4th Grade at the 4-5 Building. 

James is alone at the  Middle School.

6th Grade. 

Anne starts High School Freshman Year

Grace starts Sophomore Year. 

Robert is in 2nd Grade.  

All alone at the elementary school.

"Don't Touch Me!" 

Clearly 6:30am for seminary was too early for some people.

 

2020 Final Days

This evening Robert said the prayer for dinner.  He ended the prayer with, "please help our appliances to not break any more."  I thought it was funny and so applicable.  Edwin said it wasn't really a thing to pray for, but today, I think praying that no more appliances break is much needed.  

October- Oven broke.  The local appliance repair man came and we have a working cook top and the mini oven works, but not the full size oven.  We may have it fixed by mid-January.  

November- Drier stopped working.  I spent the month taking our laundry to the laundry mat and met various people there who have incredibly interesting lives. 

November- Mom's foot. I know this isn't an appliance, but since it's my driving foot that means I'm not driving which means no more laundry mat, grocery shopping, and driving kids around to their activities. Camille Whiting did our laundry for several weeks and that was so helpful.  Meals were brought, treats shared, Bridger drove kids to their activities, and many friends helped with the carpooling.  The kids have had to do more chores, and Edwin has certainly picked up extra work at home since I am laid up.

December- The dishwasher. It stopped draining which meant the kids washed dishes while Edwin was away in Rawlins for work that night.  Thankfully Edwin was willing and able to fix the dishwasher so we were only without for two days.

December- HVAC. I went downstairs to get meat for dinner from the freezer.  Since I still was unable to walk I wasn't really eager to go down to the basement, but dinner needed cooking and I was going to figure out how to get the meat upstairs with one foot.  Thankfully I was ambitious and determined because I found the water in the basement and we the repair man was here in a few hours to fix the broken pipes. 

December- Edwin's eye.  Edwin has a sty again.  It's been sore for weeks, and has drained a bit, but not fully yet.  It's still puffy most days and bright red.  He seems terribly uncomfortable and and has commented on how difficult it has been to see out of it. 

December- Hot water heater.  Edwin went downstairs to help Robert ride his bike in the basement, and found water all over the floor.  The hot water tank was leaking and there was water spreading through the rooms.  We mopped up the water as best we could, turned off the water valve, and set up a fan to dry out the space.  Tomorrow we will call the repair man, and hopefully they will have a hot water tank on hand that we can get installed right away.  I am missing hot water in the kitchen, and a bath tonight would have been lovely!  

This afternoon while I was slowly hopping up the stairs one at a time, I recalled a conversation we had a few months back with the kids.  We were discussing wealth and prosperity.  We talked about the financial blessings we have in our lives.  Robert said he wished we were rich.  Edwin said we are rich Robert, and little Robert responded with, "What?  We're rich?  Then why don't we buy cool stuff?"   We laughed and talked about some of the "cool stuff we own, and the kids made a list of things they wished we had."  Tonight I feel very rich.  We have a lovely home with plenty of space.  We have hot water.  We have a stove indoors to cook our dinner on each day.  We have  nice beds and comfortable furniture.  We have a piano, a television and multiple computers.  We have so many worldly things, and we have the finances to fix what breaks, replace what is lost, and acquire new things as needed and even as desired.  We have plenty of things we enjoy.  But more than that, we have each other.  We have two parents who respect one another.  We have kids who want to do well in their lives and are trying to be their very best selves.  We have scriptures and doctrines that allow us to have the spirit dwell in our home and allow us to be a forever family.  

Indeed, we are truly blessed and our lives are very rich.  A few broken appliances have helped us to see more of our heavenly blessings.  Tonight instead of stressing about how we are going to pay all the bills and worried about how things will work out, Edwin made cotton candy and we enjoyed watching Star Wars together.  All things will be okay for us, and that peace of mind is a great blessing. 

In Memoriam

This old piano was on its last leg. It was the instrument Jennifer grew up with and was refinished by her father. More and more keys kept going bad and she decided it was finally time for a replacement. So, last spring it was out with the old and in with the new. You will be missed.

Robert the Arc Welder

While I was busy cleaning out the boys's closest and pulling out the spring clothes Robert was busy playing in the room.  I heard a funny sound and turned around to find a blackened outlet with two night lights and a quarter in it.  I asked rascally Robert what happened and he said he put the money in a "boom there were fireworks."

Sure enough, the little lad plugged in a second night light, slid his quarter down near the outlet and his quarter was welded to the prongs.  

Thankfully he was neither harmed nor was there a fire in the bedroom.

Here's his "fireworks money." 

Never a dull moment.

To the Border and Back

It took 2 days to get there. 2 days of visiting. 2 days home.  

2 hotel rooms.  2 National parks. 2,000 miles.  

All in all we had a great time.

We took a page out of Aunt Susan's travel logs and stopped for photos at the borders this trip.

It was fun to jump out of the car for 5 minutes and do a little dance to keep us energized as we traveled.

We stayed the first night in Pueblo, Colorado.  There were murals everywhere which way in the downtown area.  The weather was warming up and we enjoyed shedding our coats. 

Day 2 brought us to New Mexico.  It rained a whole lot and our picnic plans at the park were moved into the moving car.  We drove for 8 hours before our first bathroom break!  We all needed to get out even if it was raining!

White Sands, NM.  The sand is truly white and incredibly soft.  The rain kept the dust down and the temperatures cool.  It was a perfect day for sledding!  Everyone got on a sled and had a great time.  We decided that although we love sledding on the snow, it was nice to hike up the hill without pounds of bulky winter gear.

 James was our crazy sledder.  I think he crashed in to everyone once and if you didn't watch out on the bottom he may have run you over. 

Grandpa was a wonderful spectator and Grace was always ready for the sledding lane to open so she could go down again.  John liked the sand with or without a sled. 

Day 3 was a sight seeing tour with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to the San Antonio overlook and viewed the city and then drove the Mexican Boarder lines and viewed Juarez, Mexico from behind the fence lines. Without passports we stayed in the USA this time, but might adventure further south on another trip.

Our Lovely Missionary Grandparents.  Here is the real reason for our visit!  

It was so good to visit and spend time with them.   We are looking forward to their return home this summer, but so happy they have been serving so faithfully and lovingly.

One of the old missions.

Day 4. James was bummed that with all the driving around the military base he didn't see a tank. So Grandpa took James, Anne, John and Edwin to see the tanks, helicopters and a missile before we headed out for the day.

The kids met Penny the pot-belly pig that lives upstairs from Grandma and Grandpa.  

A squealing pig has to be the most obnoxious wake-up call ever!  

We took a photo of the Texas boarder as we left the state.  It was dark and dangerous to take a photo on our way into the state.  Of course our engineering Grandpa had to check the latitude line of boarder line.  This little monument sits right at line 32.....if anyone is as interested in that tidbit of information.

I love that we live in the Rockies and yet where ever we go we tend to find the tallest mountains in the area we visit.  Here is the tallest mountain in Texas....Guadalupe Peak.  It sits at 8,750 feet.  That is a mighty impressive climb.

We enjoyed a windy lunch at Carlsbad Caverns before we spent hours in the dark exploring the underworld.

Here is this year's family photo in front of the mouth of the cave.

Since we have a small cave to explore in our canyon the kids were familiar with the different types of stalactites and stalagmites. However, the magnitude and scale of these beasts was a sight to behold for everyone.  We hiked down the cave, which Robert slept through while Edwin carried him, and then we took the 1.5 mile hike through the main hall.

James and John slowed down for a brief moment to snap their picture.  I think they would have enjoyed running down the entire path if we would have allowed.

It was a long hike down....every photo op was a welcomed rest!

Day 5.... We spent the night in Roswell, NM on our way home.  There are Alien Selfies all over this little town and we loved our visit.  Here we are ready for a long day in the car.  

Happy birthday John!!

We finally made it to Aunt Leonora's house!  She made John a birthday cake!

Little buddy got a chocolate cake with orange frosting, just what the birthday boy ordered!

Day 6...Well rested.  Wonderfully fed.  Full of hugs and loves we were ready to hit the road again.  Thanks lovely Colorado cousins for all the fun!  

We enjoyed the journey.  Girls finished their audio book.  Boys watched countless movies.  Mom finished some hand sewing projects.  No one threw up this trip.  Dad did all the driving.

We are looking forward to our next adventure....not sure where it will take us yet, but we are happy to think there is something fun in our future.