OK so this is real snow

All the other snow was just wimpy. The ground was bare this morning. Now we have at least four inches of snow! It's only 4:30 and It's still snowing. The kids were sledding on the hill behind our house. They had so much fun!
I'm singing the Alto solos for the Messiah here in Brigham. I went to play the cello at our local orchestra and discovered that I sing better than I play. I already knew that. Actually they were desperate for an alto to sing to two arias Oh thou that telest good tidings to Zion and He will feed his flock like a shepherd so I voluntered. Now I don't have to learn those two songs on the cello. YAY! If anyone wants to come it's on the 10th. Its a Thursday, at the brigham city tabernacle. I'm excited. I hope you are all well.

Trying to fly again.

So, a few years ago I tried to do flylady.net. How to rid your life of chaos. I miserably failed. I was not ready to change. I just wanted a quick fix to my chaos. I also found that the way they were doing it with all the cards didn't work for me. (too structured) So I am trying again. I have shined my sink and gotten dressed ready for action. Just doing that makes a huge difference in how much I get done every day. I am not doing any less work. I have found that expecting to not have to do as much with a magic routine isn't realistic. I am still tired and busy but I'm not stressed about whether my house is clean or not because it is cleaner than usual more consistently now. I had a friend show up for lunch without warning yesterday and I was fine. I had a clean kitchen and food to feed her. It was so much fun. If I was wallowing in my overwhelming mess just whining about it I would have been so stressed. I need to get habits in place to help remind me to keep up on the mess instead of ignoring it for a week and then catching up. Well have a good day and go shine your sink!

Missing the ocean

Sometimes I just need to look at it. I really don't know what it is about the ocean but I love it. I could live on the water. Maybe someday I will.

Call me Crazy... Everyone Else Does!

So I guess I'm still not busy enough. #1 man and I have been feeling like we need to do foster care lately. In UT it takes about three months to qualify so I would be able to get things ready before we would actually have more children in our home. I don't know why this is something we need to do. I am terrified. My parents did foster care for about six years while I was growing up and I remember how hard it was. The children need lots of extra care and love and they are challenging to dicipline because of many instances of abuse and neglect. They can have physical problems because of parent's drug or alchohol use during pregnancy and because of physical abuse in early development. In UT they also expect that if a child needs a permanent home you will become the adoptive parents for those children already in your home so they are very careful about placement. The police do their recording of the case in a seperate place so you don't have to be present when they document the abuse so that will be good. I always hated that process. The compensation is better than Idaho so I think money wise we'll be fine and if we have a child under the age of five which we probably will they qualify for WIC so that will also help. In order to qualify I have to take 32 hours of in class training. I'm glad because I don't think my parents had to do those classes until later. Hopefully they will help.

Well I am sure I will need lots of encouraging words as this is a very daunting idea. I have no idea how we will juggle it all but I know that it is what the Lord wants for our family.

I can do hard things with the Lord's help!

And with all of yours as well. Pray for me. I'll need it!

Here was Halloween!

So, first of all we had carved pumpkins about a week and a half ago and... They melted so...

We did some more. They were just as cute as the first even though we rushed through the process the second time around.

Here is the big day! We went to the trunk-or-treat first and took pictures. I never get good Halloween pictures because I always forget to take them before it gets dark. I like this one. Boy #2 likes being a vampire can you tell? They all liked their costumes this year for the most part. I did try ro paint boy #3's face for him but after two attempts, and him still not satisfied, I made him wear the mask. They got a ridiculous amount of candy again which the Halloween fairy took care of right away. Thanks to whoever told me about that idea. I let them each pick out their 20 most favorite pieces of candy and then the rest goes into one big bag for all to share.

This picture turned out really fuzzy but I only took this one, the rest are videos. Our good friends came over for family night and we had doughnut races. Way fun!!! Hope you are having a great day!

Let it snow...

Snow again! It's not even Halloween yet. Are ya kidding me? This was yesterday. It didn't stick but it is supposed to snow all week long. Crazy! I love the snow though I just can't believe it is here already.
I've been having fun all day planning a trip to CA in Jan. I looked at all the local things to do and had fun looking at pictures of the beach. I haven't been to the ocean since 06. I get a little crazy when I don't see it for awhile. I was really ment to live in Hawaii I just know it. Far cry from snow in October!!!!!
I have a student now for cello. I have taught three lessons. It is really fun. I know a lot more about how to play than I thought but I need to learn how to convey that information without getting overwhelming. I tend to try and say everything about a topic instead of just saying what they need to know now. Oh well I'll get better at it I hope. Hope you're having a good day.

Isn't this the funniest picture? He took it himself. That is a toy phone by the way. The boys borrowed my camera when they were bored one day and filled the memory card with pictures of toys and furniture and dizzying videos of the world ending and monsters jumping out from behind the couch and stuff like that. It was hilarious! I remember doing the same thing with my siblings growing up. We are all better and the older boys went to school today. It was nice to have them home for a few days. I miss them when they go to school.