End Of Two Wonderful Years

Two years ago I was called to be the ward Nursery Leader. (I was told at the time that I was called that it is only a one year calling by our Bishop...)At the time I had just been released from 3 years of serving in our ward Relief Society. Wow, going from serving my sisters in one capacity to serving my sisters in another. It was hard to think of being so involved in RS to be sent to what has been labeled "The Black Hole". (Meaning you really don't know what is going on in the rest of the ward.) At first I was not very excited. (What am I going to do with little ones...all my kids are almost out of their teens!)

OK, a little attitude....

Then I guess there was a bit of hiding...

Then I think there was a few days of screaming....

And other days, more screaming...

Then as the weeks went by, we had singing and maybe some dancing...

Then we found lots of kisses and hugs

Two years really goes by faster than one would think. Now I have been released and I am not sure if I want to cry or do a happy dance. I can say that I will miss the weekly snuggles. My boyfriend had already moved on at the beginning of the year...He was three and ready for Sunbeams.

I do feel that I was greatly blessed. I had the most AMAZING partner in crime (Deanne..You are the best!) and some great stories that I can share. I love the kids and love the waves and peeks that I get during Sacrament Meeting. The great thing is I have not moved out of the ward, so I will be able to continue to see the kids in Sacrament Meeting and other ward functions.

I loved my two WONDERFUL years!

Christmas

Ahhhh, the most wonderful time of the year.

This year....where to start.

Well, it has been a hard year with work, or lack of it. I think it was a blessing that Jeff had the time off from work so that he could have the time to get his pilot's licence which he has wanted to get for as long as I have known him. So money has been really tight. Right after Gobble Day, our friends/family (The Holcombe's) treated us to Disney Land. What a fun day. It was like Christmas early to be able to spend time with their family. LOVE THEM!!!!

The past few weeks since then have been busy with my open house with DaNae and then we opened her garage at night to sell our stuff to people walking the lights in her neighborhood. I was also busy getting things wrapped up at work for the kids to do a small gift for their mom's, and finish up papers for classes. Then....well, lets just say that life has been busy with EVERYTHING. I tried SEVERAL times to write a Christmas Letter to send out to everyone. For some reason, it just never came together. Not to mention, the thought of spending all the money on the postage was a bit intimidating.

Coqui-this year has been about choices and consequences. I am hoping that this next year brings happiness to her with new adventures. She is moving to Washington to live with some friends and hopefully go back to school.

Keana-is trying to find the perfect place for her. She is in Washington now looking for the perfect job.

Colton-is still going to school, working and playing hard. I know he is alive because the piles on his floor in his room move.

Klaira-learning to drive, busy with school and church.

Jeff-Pilot. (so fun to add that to his accomplishments!)He will be starting a new job next week, we will see what adventures he has this next year!

Christmas eve was our traditional homemade egg roll/eat tons of Chinese food night. We started a tradition several years ago where we don't have gifts for the kids, we just give them $10 for every year of age that they are until they are 18. Then they get a gift card. We fill the stockings, for those that are home, with a few goodies. We just have not had the money for the past few years to do more than that. Sometimes I really wish I could buy the stacks of gifts for my children of things that I know they need and wish to have. Other times, I am thankful that it is not about the presents, but the time as family. I so enjoy spending the day with my family and the day after. (We go to the movies and out to lunch.) I will miss these days when all of the kids are making their own traditions with their own families. I think I would like to start making new traditions with my family, but sometimes it is hard when we all have in our minds what we want Christmas to be.

Now I look forward to this next year. What will it have in store for us all?

My goals: Listen more, tell my kids I love them more, learn more, enjoy more! I still have not found my theme for this next year. Maybe in the next few days I will find it.

New Beginnings!

A few weeks ago a dear friend of mine (DaNae)called me and said that she needed to meet me for lunch. She had something very important that she needed to talk over with me. Well you know that got the mind going...

My friend had a business proposition for me...Ok, I'm listening!
Well, long story short, her sister was coming down to have a craft show here and thought DaNae should have something in it also, especially since it was going to be at her house...(that is a sneaky way of getting a sister to open her house to have many people track mud in and have it all discombobulated for several days..)
DaNae somehow thinks that I am crafty and it would be fun to make crafts with me. Oh, and we only have about 2 weeks to put it all together. And we have no start up money.
OK, I'm in! Anything with DaNae is going to be an adventure!

Sooooo....
Working at the school
Driving Klaira around with all of her activities..(still working on the driving permit)
Calling at church
Keeping a house running (well, it is better on some days)
Sure...I have time!


6x6 Glass Block Bank: $15



6x6 Wood Santa: $8
Well, the open house/craft Boutique was a success! DaNae's sister brought enough stuff that she could of had the whole show herself. We had 4 other girls bring their stuff to sell also (candles, jewelery, etc...)
Now DaNae lives in a neighborhood that people come from all over to look at the Christmas lights. At night time we open up her garage and we have everything set up that people are still coming to buy our stuff! Its great! We have even had several orders for more things. Who knows where this will go! I have set up another blog (I haven't had time to really do much with it yet...) that will have some of our fun creations. theaccentedlife.blogspot.com
YIPPY!

Thanksgiving

Ok, quick update of what we did for Gobble Day...
Coqui went to Washington to spend a few days with friends,
Keana is living in Washington and her car would not make it down, so she stayed up there..
Colton found a girl and her family that would feed him up at Shaver Lake where he could play in the snow...
Klaira stayed home with Jeff and myself...poor kid. Wednesday night Klaira was sliding on the kitchen tile and fell on her arm, just below the elbow. SOOO Thursday morning her and I made a trip to Urgent Care. X-rays are crazy and don't really show everything. They wrapped it and sent her on her way.
We (Jeff, Klaria and I) went to see the new Disney show "Tangled" which was a cute movie, to come home to a Turkey dinner. We got up 4 in the morning to drive down to DL to meet up with our dear friends, The Holcombes! A very full day of standing in lines and giggles and cold, Jeff and I traded Klaira for Keith and came home to get in about 2:30 in the morning. Klaira stayed and had another day at DL and Jeff and Keith were golfing fools. I am getting ready for a open house this next weekend so I am up to my eyeballs in craft stuff... Klaira got back this afternoon in time for her and myself to give it round 2 at Urgent Care. She is in a half cast for now and we will look at x-rays next week if not better. Now we head back to work and school for 3 more weeks until we are off for Christmas Break! Yippy!

Harvest

This last month I was reading my friend's blog and her experience with getting ready for a huge marathon and how she did. Forgive me for my paraphrasing, I really do not have the talent for words that she does. She used the term, "The Hay Is In The Barn" meaning farmers will work the land for several months, preparing the land, planting the hay, etc until the hay is in the barn. The farmers will only get the amount of hay that they really worked for. In her training for the marathon, she worked hard, but probably could have worked harder. She was not able to finish the race this year. She got as far into the race as she had prepared for. This got me thinking about this past year. At the beginning of the year we all make our new goals. Things we were going to accomplish. So how did we do? How hard did we work? How much "Hay is in the barn"? I have tried looking back on this year to see if I can even tell what I have accomplished, planned or not planned. I say planned or not planned because I can now see, when looking back, that Heavenly Father had his hand in all that I was able to accomplish, weather I was trying to reach a specific goal or I was just plowing though what was put in front of me. Did I "Harvest" friendships? Did I "Harvest" education? Did I just survive? In Octobers General Conference President Tomas S. Monson spoke and said, ..."may we be filled with gratitude for the right of choice, accept the responsibility of choice and ever be conscious of the results of choice." As I move into the next few weeks of "Crazy get ready for Christmas" moments, I want to keep in mind and close to my heart the 3 R's and better plan what I hope to be able to "Harvest" this next year. What will be in "MY Barn"?

Busy!

It is really hard to get caught up with everything that has been going on since my last entry. Best thing to do is to tell about the latest adventure with Klaira.
Klaira's drama group (56 people total..) just went to Disneyland for a workshop. We had (I say we since I got to go...) 2 days of travel and 2 days in the park. We rode the train, bus, train, bus to get down to Anaheim. The kids were so good at waiting in between train and buses....

In the workshop the kids got to work with a incredible puppeteer who was so wonderful to watch! He was great with the kids. The kids were able to use actual puppets that are used on Disney T.V. programs.

This a great group of kids. I so enjoyed hanging out with them.

DisneyLand is all decorated for Christmas! Pretty!

Klaira has been busy since school started. She is in two choirs, (one being on Tuesday nights) Photography, Drama and French, and her basic classes. In her photography class she is having fun taking pictures. I love this pictures..looks like the cover for a record!

Klaira turned 16! She got her drivers permit and had her first date! She was busy with the Stake Youth Musical where she had a singing part! She will be trying out for the next school play, "Hello Dolly", and then she will get really busy!

Colton...he is still going to school, working at a tractor supply store, playing paintball, roping cows, going to the beach...just keeping busy. I really don't see much of him.

Keana...she is in Washington (state) right now working for Cabela's. She is thinking she wants to move back closer to the family...we will see if she can find a job back in the area...

Coqui...she moved back in with us for a short stay. She is planning on moving to Washington (state) to go to school and be closer to friends. (one coming, one leaving..)

Jeff is now a pilot! Hmmm...he hasn't been able to get back up since because of being a OH MIGHTY GREAT WHITE HUNTER! He was able to go up to Cousin Joyce's place in Idaho and caught himself a good ol time. But, alas..no elk or moose. Now he is back up in Sonora being a builder. He is finishing up a garage for a family that he built a house for several years back.

Me...I know that I am hard to catch on the phone..There just is not enough hours in the day!
School started. I found out that my student didn't come back this year, he went to Freemont to a school for the deaf and hard of hearing. Since I was hired for him I thought I was not going to have a job. Well my boss had different ideas. I now have 7 students that work with. 1 boy is in the 8th grade, 3 boys in the 7th grade and 3 girls in the 7th grade. All have different levels of learning, hearing and needs. I work everyday with it suppose to being part time but most days it turns out to be full time.
I am still nursery leader with over 20 kids in my class. I have 1 full time helper and 1 part time helper. It is crazy!!!!
A friend of mine came to me about 2 weeks ago wanting to start a new business with me. She wants to do the vinyl lettering. We are trying to get a show together for the first week in December and we have nothing ready yet.
My day looks like this..
5:15 wake up and drag myself to the shower.
6:15 dressed and ready to take Klaira to seminary
6:40 back home to make breakfast and gather up stuff for the day
7:15 take Klaira and other kids to school
7:30 at work
12:30ish leave work-find lunch
1:30 work on projects
2:45 pick Klaira up
3:30 cook dinner
4:30ish clean up (Some days go pick Coqui up from work..this takes an hour..)
work on projects/ clean house/pay bills/run errons
6:00 Tuesdays get Klaira to choir 7:00 Wednesday to Mutual
8 pick Klaira up from Choir/Mutual
9:00 showers/wind it up
10:00 in bed if lucky

Weekends we just add in working on stuff for open house, nursery and church activites.
Today I took a nap. It was lovely! I think I will do it again soon!

Where to begin...

I am really bad about taking pictures...just putting it out there before I start this update...

SOOO, a few days before school started we (Jeff, Klaira and myself) FINALLY were able to make a trip over to San Francisco to see this....
Last year Nana Judy had given us the sound tract and said that we needed to learn it before we went to see it so that we would enjoy it all the more. I was really enjoying the music but still did not understand everything that was happening in the music, so I read the book....OMY! So there was a great book under all the gunk you had to wade through but in the end, I was glad I read it. (I gave the book away the day I finished it..) Nana was so wise in having us learn the music first. We (Klaira and I) were so excited we were full of giggles for days. Jeff was not really excited about going but since it was going to be late at night in the middle of San Fran, he came to be our body guard. THIS WAS SO FUN! It was all Klaira and I could do to not sing along with it. BUT...it is coming to Fresno in April and Klaira and I (and yes, Jeff) will be seeing it again. AND WE WILL SING LOUD AND PROUD! (Jeff said that he liked it!)

THEN....
Jeff has been trying hard to pass his testing to be a pilot. The person giving the test is described as a #*$&#^@)!! and kept failing him for not using terminology that he was looking for even though Jeff was telling him exactly what he was asking. So a week ago on Saturday, Jeff tried again and the guy failed him. That night the man who owns the plane and school that Jeff is taking lessons from, (and just happen to be some really fun friends of ours) invited Jeff and I to fly along with him and his wife over to Montery Bay for dinner. (Who does that? Just decides what they want for dinner and then think of their favorite place for that food and FLY over for dinner?) IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Now I am not really fond of flying, but it was a fun trip. We were only in the air for about 22 minutes. It is fun to listen to all the talk between the pilot and the tower. When we landed, there was a car waiting for us and we drove about 2 minutes over to the wharf to walk up and down by all the little shops and restaurants. We ate a little place that had yummy oven baked pizza and different fish items. I don't like sea food. I keep trying it hoping that my adult tastbuds will finally grow and except the flavor..but it just has not happened yet. (I had some fried calamari but still don't like it. Jeff had a smoked Salmon pasta dish and it was OK.. but not something that I want to eat more than 1 bite of.) Then we played in some of the shops that all seem to have the same stuff in them and then flied home. It was dark and so all the house lights look like you have stars on the ground while you are in the sky with stars above you. What a nice evening out!!!!


Well, then on Monday, Jeff took his test again. The man failed him again. So Jeff worked with our friend for about an hour on maneuvers and then took the test again. I think the guy giving the test was really going to try failing him again, but Jeff and Gene put up a stink and the guy passed him! YIPPY! Jeff is a PILOT!
We celebrated at our favorite steak place and had a double celebration since Klaira's birthday was going to be that next Saturday and we usually go there for dinner, but why not save some money and celebrate both at one time. LOVE IT!

Then of course, Klaira had her 16th birthday on Saturday. Amazing! The time has just wizzed by! We had a layed back day which was so nice. Dad gave her our traditional "16" birthday gift and we went out for ice cream to finish the day. She is dragging out the day by going horseback riding next Saturday with some friends and Dad.

LIFE IS GOOD!