New Years

Another picture-less, sorry!

2017 has been a heck of a ride. We've had our ups and our downs. Learned a lot of lessons, some easy and some hard. Scott and I have grown as a couple and we strive to continually strengthen our family and push to be better. The kids have not only grown by inches, but mentally as well. Its been good. Here are some highlights of 2017.

JANUARY:
-Tayden turned 8 and Beckett turned 6.
-Tayden participated in his first pinewood derby.
-I was called to Scouts.

FEBRUARY
-Tayden was baptized.

MARCH
-Kyle was potty trained.
-Luna got her first haircut.
-We started our cement project.

APRIL
-Ky turned 2.
-We poured cement.
-We enjoyed Easter at my parents new house.

MAY
-Scott started building the shed while I planted trees.
-We saw the monster trucks.
-Cache finished up Joy School.

JUNE
-Scott got a new truck.
-Boys got out of school for the summer.
-Baseball started.
-We attended the Idaho Falls Temple re-dedication with Tayden.

JULY
-Our favorite tradition, the Fourth of July in Inkom.
-I got my braces off.
-We saw Blue Thunder Jets.
-Turneys came to visit.
-Gages came to visit.
-Luna went swimming for the first time.
-The boys slept outside in the tent with Dad.

AUGUST
-I turned 31.
-Justin and Echo and the kids visited.
-The Great American Solar Eclipse.
-School started.

SEPTEMBER
-Primary Program.
-Warrior Run.
-Scott and I celebrated 11 years of marriage.
-Cache learned to ride his bike without training wheels.
-We harvest corn with our own hands.
-Beckett lost his first tooth.

OCTOBER
-Cache turned 5.
-Luna turned 1.
-Tayden got to go hunting for the first time and his Dad got a deer.

NOVEMBER
-Scott turned 34.
-We started our Thankful Tree.
-Scott shot an elk.

DECEMBER
-We celebrated our third Christmas in this home.
-We participated in Light the World.
-School break.

Looking back, it has been such a great year. And I am excited to see what 2018 has next!

Christmas 2017

Christmas was so great this year. Scott and I got new phones and all the pictures of Christmas are on the old phones, so as soon as I get access to them, I’ll post the Christmas pictures. But I didn’t want that little hiccup to stop me from posting about a great day.

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Packard’s house. We went to church, ate pizza, did crafts, played games and enjoyed each others company. Cheryl really put in a lot of effort to make it a fun day and boy, did she succeed. She and Dave bought Ky a remote control fire truck and it has been the highlight of Christmas for him. He loved opening presents more than the other boys. He didn’t care about what was inside so much, just about ripping the paper to shreds.

Christmas Day was spent at our house. Opening gifts, lazy breakfast, playing with new toys,  PJ’s all day and a nice ham dinner to end with. My perfect idea of Christmas. Grandma and grandpa Mennear and JoDell came for a few hours. We exchanged gifts and gabbed for a bit. JoDell got Cache a remote control tarantula and he hasn’t stopped playing with it.

It was a great Christmas this year. Truly, one of the best. We spent the month finding ways to serve and trying to follow Light the World the best we could. We held Sunday night devotionals and talked about the Savior. More than anything in this world, I want my boys to know about Christ and know that their mother loves him. And I’m grateful Christmas provides such a wonderful opportunity to show that.

Walmart Bags

I walked out of my room this morning and Cache excitedly exclaimed.... "I want to be a Walmart bag for Halloween!" Man, I love this kid. 

Service Star

Last week Caches primary teacher gave him the Christmas Service Star. The idea behind the star is doing a kind deed and leaving the star so that person can pay it forward. Its been fun to watch the kids get excited about helping out and serving the family. My favorite so far has been Becketts kindness towards Scott. Scotts shoes were in a bit of a jumble, so Beckett decided to organize them for him.

Beckett is not my most organized child, so I was beyond impressed he decided to do something so against his grain. Even though it was far from how I would have done it, he did it with a great deal of love. He was so happy to serve his dad.

My kids are growing up to be the best kind of people.

Light the World

As part of the Light the World, Christmas challenge, today we served our neighbors by taking in their trash cans. It snowed last night and was so cold and icy. I was expecting the big kids to do one or two, but much to my surprise, they did nine! Cache and Ky even got in on the fun!

Watching them serve warmed my heart and talking about how good it feels to help people was the highlight of my day. Often times service is more rewarding for those that are serving, rather than those that are being served. And today was no different. Feeling all sorts of blessed!