Had another great camp-planning meeting today. So excited for girls camp! It is going to be a great experince.!

1/30/2013 Cider and Snow

Bret is such a great helper! He LOVES getting up on the mornings after it has snowed to go with dad to shovel Grandma Chipmans driveway, and them come home and get ours shoveled too. We end it with either hot chocolate or hot apple cider :)

1/29/2013 Afternoon Fun

The kids have so much fun with the young women that come over to play with them in the afternoons. First thing in the morning and late afternoon are my most difficult times with health. It has been so helpful to have them come and play with the younger kids. Reading, and puzzles, games, makeovers, and homemade playdough are some of the fun things they have loved doing! I am grateful that we have such wonderful young women in this ward!! :)

1/28/2013 Catching up... Dinners, Talks, School

I have been quite sick the last while, and I afraid I have gotten behind. I will see if I can catch up with some of the highlights. Samantha spent a day at grandma's making frozen dinners! She had a lot of fun and I appreciate her always being so willing to help! She also continues to get up early each morning to head out for indoor track/conditioning. She heads out in her shorts and t-shirt into the bitter cold... and then takes warm clothes to change into. She has really enjoyed the training though. On Sunday she gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting. She spoke at a young 19 year old girl's mission farewell, and she really did a great job!! We have been going to Grandmas on Sunday afternoon for dinners, which we have all really enjoyed and appreciated. We have dinner, FHE, dessert, and a game. Last night we had pink cupcakes that the kids LOVED!! We played "Red light/Green light", and "Mother-May-I" Bret brougt me flowers to try to bring a reminder of summer. This morning I woke up to seeing the flowers on the table, against the backdrop of falling snow seen through the window behind. It was really pretty and somehow the flowers made the snow seem more beatufiful. :) I will start back with physical therapy today. I have started a new medication that should start to work in the next 4-12 weeks. I am anxious to be feeling well again. Camp will be here before we know it, and there is much to be done!! :) Tyler is loving having extra play time with some of the young women in the neighborhood who come to help in the afternoons! Today, Ashley is going to help her do a makeover, and I think play dough is planned for tomorrow!! :) Bret and Tanner have both started working towards learning the violin as well. I love to have music in the home. It is one of my favorite things. Bret continues to play his basketball games and is really enjoying that. He got to have a surprise visit from Grandpa Chipman and Grandma Linda at his last game. Grandpa Chipman also brought him a chess-board-computuer, which he has been nearly glued to ever since! :) Tanner, ... he always keeps us laughing! He is really progressing in his reading and at school. He wants to do anything Bret does and loves going to watch Bret play his games! I hope that we are in for warmer temperatures soon. Yesterday it hit close to 40, and we were all in heaven!! :)

1/16/2013 Inspiration

This is Bart Yasso with Lisa Bentley. We had a chance to meet Bart at the St. George Martahon in October 2012. Great runner with a lot of great inspiration.He has dealt with chronic illness over the years, and has run in well over 1100 races. He is pictured here with Lisa Bentley who has run 11 ironmans competitively.... with cystic fibrosis. I love finding strength through seeing others overcome the odds and do what they love regardless of the challenges that seem to be stacked against them. I have not been able to even walk around the block for several weeks... but I know I will be out running again when the time is right.... and I am still hoping one day to qualify for Boston. :)

1/15/2013 Knocking Down the Icicles

After realizing that our beautiful icicles, were also adding a two inch solid layer of ice on the steps and porch beneath, we decided it was time for the icicles to come down. Bret knocked down the large icicles and then I spent an hour pouring bucket after bucket of hot water onto the steps to melt the permanent ice blockade that had formed. :)

1/14/2013 -22 degrees! (yikes)

It defintiely feels like winter out there!! It was -22 with windchill when the kids left for school this morning. I think this is the coldest winter we have had since here yet! Everything does look like a winter fairy land, and it so beautiful and in its own way serene. I am just glad that we have lots of warm blankets and hot chocolate! :)

1/13/2013 Icicles!

Our front porch is beginning to look like a Winter Wonderland. With the cold temperatures and lots of moisture, the icicles that started with last Fridays snow storm, have been growing each day, and the kids have loved going to check and see how much bigger they have gotten. They are certain that they are going to grow all the way down to the ground!

1/12/2013 Bretty's Basketball

Bret is having so much fun playing basketball this winter! He loves to be doing anything active, and likes his team and his coach! We have lots of fun going to watch him play. He always has a great attitude and works hard.

1/11/2013 SNOW DAY!!

We woke up to snow..... lots and lots of snow!!! Samantha was already out of school for the day, but the two boys were happy when a "Snow Day" was called in. We are hoping that this adds up to lots of moisture for our water levels next spring and summer! We were disappointed though, as the crazy storm kept us from a planned trip to Idaho to see Elder Sterlings homecoming. Glad for our warm, cozy house though... The temperatures have been soooo cold this year!

1/10/2013 Progress on the Payson temple

I love driving by the Payson temple site to see the progress that is being made. I am amazed each time I go by to see how much has been accomplished. It really is coming along. The kids are all anxious for the return of warm weather, so that we can take our weekly, family "temple walk", that they love so much!

1/9/2013 Tyler's Violin

I love seeing how excited TylerKate gets to practice and play her violin. She know the names of all of the parts of the violin, she has learned how to properly bow (very cute!), and she is enjoying learning the names of the strings, and some basic rythyms. She is working hard, so that she will be able to play the violing "like Sami!".

1/8/2013 Still finishing Christmas cards

Well.... these cards are either really early, or really late. I am pretty sure that is the latter category these fall into, :) We still have a few Christmas cards that we are looking for addresses for that we are trying to get off. Some years, I have had them all ready to go by the first of December. This year, we trickled through getting a few sent out at a time, as we had a few minutes here and there. My health has not been the best the best this year, so getting them out, is an accomplishment in and of itself. But I love how it comes together when its finished... pictures of our kids and family, and Bret puts together a sweet and thoughtful letter to send out with them as well. I keep it on our fridge most of the year... and it makes me happy, just having it up there. Its a little bit of Christmas that stays with us throughout the year. :)

1-7-2013 Little Dollie :)

Tyler loves getting dressed up in her matching Dollie and Me outfits! She brings us such sunshine everyday. She has LOVED this cute little mailbox that I got for Christmas, and loves writing letters to everyone in the family! I tell her and Samantha that they are MY "Real Life Little Dollies!" I love each of my kids so much!

1-5-2013 Tanners Birthday Party

Tanner had his first birthday party today, for his 7th birthday!! It turned out to be a lot of fun. He had his friends from the neighborhood come, and they played legos, marshmallow game, basketball, dance/freeze game, and colored pictures. Then they had pizza, breadsticks, and rootbeer.... yum! Tanner got to open his presents, and then we had cupcakes and icecream! What a fun day with friends. Tanner is so excited about turning 7!!

January 4, 2013

Wow, I can't believe that another year is come and gone and here we are at the beginning of yet another year. I love the new year... new starts, new goals, new experienices and memories. I hope this year to record the little, everyday moments, that are so easily forgotten as we go day to day. Those quiet, small little experiences, or feelings, or cute little things that the kids say. Like this morning, when TylerKate jumped in bed to snuggle this morning...wrapped her arms around me, and said.... "You are the best mommy in the whole world!".... nothing melts your heart like that. I also want to keep this blog as a journal, and a remembrance of our year. As usual, I am a little behind... I had planned to start on the 1st...so I have a little catch-up to do already! We celebrated the New Year up in Idaho, going to see Uncle David for the first time in 3 years while he was home visiting Grandma and Grandpa. The two older kid... Samantha and Bret came with me and had so much fun hanging out with their cousins. They love to be together. We also were able to be there when Sterling came home from his mission which was a neat experience. Bret served as his first companion two years ago, and the time has flown by, and he served a wonderful mission. We are looking forward to what the future brings to him. Tanner celebrated his 7th birthday on January 2nd. He is already starting to count down until he is 8 and gets to be baptized. Oh how I love that cute boy! We went to McDonalds for dinner and came home and had presents and root beer floats. We had a lot of fun playing with his new "Connect Four" game, which he loved! TylerKate had her first violin lesson yesterday and she was so excited, she danced through the whole thing! She learned all of the parts of the violin, how to care for it, the names of the strings, and learned to clap out some rythyms. Bretty as usual, can't stop reading. He is a great kid. He loves school and likes to go to bed early so that he can have more time to read each night. Samantha is growing up so fast... she lets us know often her latest mission countdown... Just over 6 years and she can turn in her papers. She has wanted to go on a mission since she was very little, so she was more than thrilled to hear that girls could go at a younger age! I am so grateful for friends and family and the gospel. I feel that more and more each day. What great blessings they are! I am still working to set my new years goals... but I liked the goals that Elder Uchtdorf had listed in his conference talk... "Of Regrets and Resolutions".. 1) Resolve to spend more time with those we love 2) Resolve to strive more earnestly to become the person God wants us to be. 3) Resolve to find happiness, regardless of our circumstances. I also have a favorite quote from ELder Eyring that I am continually trying to make a part of each day.... "There is not a day that goes by, that I do not take time to write a iine or two ... someway that I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life or the life of someone I love each day."..... I believe that it is through these goals and that statement that we can find the everyday miracles that are just waiting to be discovered. I am so excited for a New Year! Welcome 2013!! :)

2013 is going to be a great year!!