Christmas Journey - A Picture Only Update

View from Patty's yard/Dry River Bed thats raging in the summer

Patty's & Chuck's Awesome Place 

Faith's Deaf Mormon Friends @ Kids Museum

Ok so now some words cause I can't not say something....We had a great time-great journey-glad to be home-miss those we saw while out there in Utah-oh yeah and glad we live in MD...'This IS the place' for us :)

The Second First Day of School

Today was the second, "First Day of School". I am not quite used to MD and it is not quite used to me. MD schools start at a weird time -before Labor Day!- along with most of the country but who's counting. 


VA schools start after Labor Day- And so the first, first day of school snuck up on me (yesterday). We were quite disorganized yesterday and as it turned out due to the hurricane that caused devastation here - some leaves fell on the ground!! (that's sarcasm people) Faith's school was closed on The First Day! 


(To be fair kids come from all over to attend this school and so they take many, many counties into consideration when deciding if they should close.) 


So today I count as the real first day of school. I felt a little more mentally prepared -breakfast didn't burn and wasn't late and both my kids got on their buses. 


Please note in the photo that Faith is really growing up since she did her own hair! (hehe gotta see it in person) They look pretty cute if I do say so myself.


  

Hmmm, Beginning to think about the election next year

I am beginning to think about the next election. Humor (and lots of it) helps. This is a funny and entertaining clip but shows how people/journalists just repeat 'talking points' over and over like they are
original thoughts - makes me crazy.

I HAVE NOT DECIDED who I am voting for, but this is interesting...makes me wish for the extinction of
the 24hr news cycle, maybe we could get someone who actually has good intentions for America.

Sorry no you-tube link you gotta actually click the link below :)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/268553/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-indecision-2012-ron-paul-and-the-top-tier

Enjoy!

Recent Camping Trip

We just got back from a really fun camping trip. It started out kind of hard.
-Hard time shaking off work
-Hard time shaking off 'the world'
-Hard time taking a deep breath
-Hard time finding the place
and
-Hard time staying dry

We arrived late after driving WAAAY past where we were supposed to. Anyway, we finally arrived to our friends clapping as we pulled in (which made us smile...which we really needed to do) That night we endured a horrible thunder/lightning storm. Now I wish I had some pictures of this but we were just doing all we could to keep it together. But we did and we moved forward.

We were SOOOO impressed by the camp ground. 'Yogi Bears Jellystone Park' (this is a link to the main sight) We stayed in Luray, VA. It was THE CLEANEST friendliest campground ever. The activities are so organized from sun up to sun down, almost like being on a poor mans cruise - haha. We never left the campground and we only did 30% of what they had to offer. Here is just a peak at what we did.....

The jumping pillow - way better than a trampoline, never saw anyone fall and get hurt. Kids were on it from dawn to midnight. It was close to campsite so we could send the kids ahead with little worry. 

Our View - this picture doesn't show nearly as pretty as is really was

This next picture Grace took while I was interpreting for a Zoo presentation. This was another FREE activity!  

Feel The Burn

This week I have been reminded of the gospel principle of 'The Refiner's fire' We are desperately trying to save money to BUY-A-HOUSE. It is hard. I means saying no. I don't mind saying no to my kids actually, don't mind it at all (sometimes i enjoy it, insert evil laugh) BUT, saying no to family, friends, etc is much harder. Telling people we can't go here or there with them, THAT is the hard part.

We have NEVER been good at saving money...EVER. Short term goals we can accomplish but $20,000+ in one year...yeah right. So, we had to do something different. We have opened a savings account in another state. We have virtually no way to access the money, no debit cards and no checks.  If we wanted to access the money it would take a week or more. The money is automatically deposited weekly into our account. It has been quite effective. It has forced us to make do with what we have. But since we began saving it feel like one thing after the other. Dog sick - Mom sick - Car sick - etc - etc. so we are feeling the burn.

'He is a boy and he has a penis'

Ok so I wish I had a picture to share with this post. A picture of Faith's face that is, why, what were YOU thinking? Tonight while I was petting Jake (our new beloved golden retriever, who is the size of a person) i looked over at Faith's face - it was priceless - I knew exactly what she must be looking at - as her eyes grew bigger and bigger in horror. she finally slowly turned her head to look at me the horror frozen on her face. Slowly she said, Whhhattt? (all exaggerated in sign of course) I smiled thinking of how we live in a house of girls.

I told her, 'he's a boy and that's his penis' - she looked like she was gonna throw up...well they do look kinda gross...I can't blame her...hahahaha

Until Jake moved in 2 weeks ago we were ALL girls (Erik doesn't really count as a boy to them and he is very modest) even our other pet is a very fluffy 10 lb. Female Yorky-Poo with '0' muscle tone.

So not only is Jake somewhat the brother they will never have he's educational too!

Hhahahahahaha

This week -

        

        

(Deacon and Faith - wish we lived closer he's a cool kid and I loved rocking him to sleep. It was nice to hold a baby again...hurry up and pump some more out sis cause I have to live vicariously through you :) 

We had a good and tiring week! We went to VA Beach, Richmond and PA. 

New Family Member!

This last week we went on vacation. My sister Nancy and her family came to visit from Utah. We went to the beach and a lake and we came home with a new family member - Jake. 

This was totally unexpected. 

While visiting with family we learned about Jake and that he needed a home. He is a 6 year old Golden Retriever. He comes from a very loving home where he was raised so well. He is very well behaved, great with the kids and loves to please, which I guess is very typical of Golden's. He is HUGE and call me silly but it feels like we have another person in the house. 

We weren't currently looking for a new dog. (Grace and I learned that we are allergic to Sunny our Yorky-Poo. We are already on meds for that and other allergies so one more dog won't affect that) We love our Yorky-Poo and we tried taking her on trips. She throws up the second she gets in the car and doesn't stop until 30 mins. after shes been out of the car. When we walk her more than 10 minutes she has to be carried. She a wonderful fuzz ball of love but we have wanted a dog we could take on trips. We are so glad to have Jake with us and take him on trips to the lake and on hikes. I am also so glad that he was raised with love and comes pre-trained!

Frederick is a very dog friendly place with many dog parks.

(Faith, Jake, Grace & Sunny at one of the dog parks.)

(Jake at Gifford Pinchot State Park)

NEVERMIND...

So...what a difference 7 DAYS, a RIBBON OUTLET and some RASPBERRIES makes!

Then the girls went swimming at the lake with a friend while I went to work today. They also went rasberry pickin on the side of the road - I did that as a child with my Granny so I thought that was pretty cool that they got to do it too. And oh man them things were like candy - so delicious.

So Today I am starting to like this place. Thats right just cause of rasberries and cheap ribbon. Now...

what to do with it and where to put it. Hmmmm....

I'm Cranky

We have been in Frederick, MD for about two months now and i'm ready to move again. I know I have issues. This move has been our hardest one yet. Before moving I thought I had come up with a pretty good plan to 'dive in' to our new place. I had assessed our previous moves, determined what went wrong formulated a fool proof plan to prevent some of these past mistakes from happening again. I would make some friends lickity-split - you know the kind of friends that have your back through thick and thin and watch you kids for you -last minute- cause you just can't stand to be around them on more second and you want to hear yourself breath...those kinds of friends. I thought I had a plan for all of that. 

Ya well, that didn't happen...at all. Well actually I TRIED to MAKE -A.K.A.- FORCE it to happen but now im starting to feel like a crazy stalker person. Im not - really I swear but EVERY time I have made a play date for the kids - or for me - something always happens. Something truly tragic or something silly; someone gets a fever  or I get vertigo or my friend blows up his face from his pig cooker - - WHATEVER. 

So I guess the lesson in all this is moving sucks - that I don't have patience and that I need some Valium or maybe there IS some other spiritual lesson to be had but I can't quite see it right now. 

Grace's Blue Belt

Grace earned her blue belt yesterday. This is her 6th belt. She will continue after we move to MD. Maybe I will join her.

Faith's Baptism

Faith was baptized a few weeks ago. She was baptized only once! For those of you who attended Grace's baptism you know it took 3 times for her. (you can see the post of Grace's baptism in the archives for clarification) Faith's beautiful dress was made specially for her by Grandma Hodge. Grace was able to use my baptism dress from when I was 8 but there was NO WAY Faith could use it. She is cut from a different cloth than the rest of us. When I look at this picture I can't believe how old the girls look. Its a cliche but time goes by so fast. This is one of the reasons I want to stay in MD when we move. Moving, for me, is an excuse not to focus on the NOW and always be thinking of the future. That makes time go by too fast. I'm hoping that 'blooming where i'm planted' will help me to focus on The NOW, watering and taking care of my plant daily instead of thinking of the things I WILL plant 2 years from now. 

So..back to Faith's baptism...It was just lovely. That is all.

Faith's Birthday Surprise

Ok so BEFORE we knew we were moving I painted Faith's room for her birthday her favorite color...purple! It really needed to be painted anyway since she glues things to the walls when she can't find tape and puts other things up when she can't find tissues....the walls were a MESS!! I also made her some magnetic chalkboards and hung up flower boxes for her stuffed animals. She loved it!!! It stayed clean for a whole week! 

(Hats are from BEST AUNT EVA! Nancy the are so cute its ridiculous!!!)

Here We go Again

     I am happy to say that we are happily moving to Frederick, MD. Erik and I have struggled with feeling like we belong to a place since we were married. Our anniversary is today and we have been married 14 years. Thus, we have moved every 2 years or so with the intention of finding THAT place. When we move it is always with the intention of striving towards more balance in our lives, a better school for Faith, more affordable housing, a better job.

     Living in Northern, VA (20 miles outside DC) has never suited us because well, balance is a rare commodity here, for everyone. Upon first moving here we had high hopes that it would be a good fit. Alas, it has not. However, we have benefited and grown  from the love and support of beloved friends like - The Spanbauer's and Gray's. They have always been there for us come rain or shine and I know they will continue to be a part of our lives whether they like it or not. Just to give you an idea of our life here... and the challenges we have to find balance:

- Faith wakes up at about 5am to get ready for school. Her round trip from AM to PM is on average
4 hours every day. Fridays, because she stays for dance traffic is much worse and the round trip average is 6 hours spent in the car and/or bus. FYI - her school is only 24 miles away people!

- Erik got a promotion and works in Gaithersburg, MD now. Thats 45 miles away - you do the math.

      There's more but these two things alone make it challenging to find peace. Well with Erik's recent job change, our landlord wanting his house back and Faith struggling to stay awake in school basically ALL SIGNS POINT TO FREDERICK.

      So, here we go again. We are happy we have decided to take adopt a new perspective and 'bloom where we are planted' There is a top-rated deaf school there in Frederick with a large Deaf population. We will continue to have support at church - with interpreters and Deaf members in the area. It is a beautiful area - rural, which I love. Lastly, WE WILL BE LIVING NEAR FAMILY. About 30 min away is my Grandmother and Aunt. That will be a nice treat to visit often.

We will be moving the middle to end of May. We will be living in a tiny tiny apt. until we buy a home.

Guest's At the White House?

OK so this is more than a little blurry - but still - funny!

I missed this field trip with Faith and I had to do a double take when she showed me the picture. She is in the bottom/front row, second kid from the left. This is their field trip to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in DC. 

Uncharted Waters

After years of begging from Grace we have begun our journey into the strange land of homeschooling.  When I withdrew her from school I got some strange looks, her teacher never returned my emails and I know they wanted to ask questions -but they didn't, cause they're probably not supposed to. They did tell Grace 'not to give your Mom a hard time' and ask 'are you excited?' (as though they were expecting her to say no) Little do they know or understand that Grace has been begging to be home schooled since 1st grade. She is in 4th Grade now. She is thrilled.  While it has just been the first week everything is going well. Her attitude has greatly improved and she doesn't cry for an hour a day when she comes home. She is very studious and focused and can work on a subject for several hours. There are many reasons that we decided NOW is the time too many to go into...but basically it seems to be right for her.  It is not right for all kids. I will never be one of those homeschoolers who think if you don't home school means you don't really care about your kids and you want to pass the buck to someone else (yes, they are out there and I have been told this) I reluctantly homeschooled Faith last year for the last 2 months of school when her teacher suddenly quit to avoid being fired and the school realized she had not logged grades into the grade book for months. To sum up that homeschooling experience - It was NOT right for her. Faith is currently loving school at Kendal and it is the best environment for her.

Snow Days

 Awesome hill behind our neighborhood school! We bought a

sled but popped it! The hill is steep enough you can go down on your bum!

Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of Erik running into Grace at the bottom of the

hill. It was good payback for the large snowball Grace put down his shirt although I'm sure Grace would disagree!

Grace's Tae Quon Do Birthday - BIG 10!

Giant Cupcake Cake - with cookie sprinkles

Grace: Black Belt for a Day - she is holding the knife for cutting the cake

Board Breaking:

Beating up the Dad's:

Christmas Pictures

     This year we set up a 'fake' tree. I was raised with ONLY real trees. Anything else

was sacrilegious (in a joking way). We would go as a family and stand in the cold while Dad took 

hours sorting through piles of trees looking for the perfect one. My Dad also spent quite

a lot of money on trees - a lot for then and still a lot for now. I think the most expensive one 

cost around $80. That is a lot and still is.

     This year I bit the bullet and bought a $50 pre-lit tree. 

It was hard for me and for Grace - she told me "its not in the spirit of Christmas". So this

was a good time to try and help her understand that Christmas is what we make it. Also we changed 

the name of our tree...It is not a 'fake' tree. It is a 'Eternal Tree' (haha) - which is a lot better than the ones that die - right? 

Grace & Faith with American Girl Dolls and PJ's from their Grandma Hutson - Note:matching Pj's 

for their dolls - they love them!

     Below: Horse Pj's from Aunt Nancy - She didn't take them off for 3 days!  I don't mean she wore them at night for three days - I mean 3 straight days. I did get her to change her underpants though - (such a good mom - I know)  

     Just the other day she had a day off from school. She was wearing Grandma Hutson's PJ's and I asked her to please get ready for the day and change into 'clean clothes'. So 5 minutes later she came down in clean...horse...pj's! I thought I asked you to change into clean clothes, Faith? She said that she did and that these were clean. Well she was right  and she wore them all day -  I guess I need to be more specific. 

Don't Say That...It's a BAD word

So, Gulliver's Travels was pretty good except they said 'lame ass' like 20 times. So - Faith couldn't hear it and Grace really doesn't focus or hold onto that stuff. But - I was talking to a friend and the subject of 'BAD WORDS' came up. I have a different view of 'BAD WORDS' - that is to say I don't believe in BAD WORDS. There are NO bad words..and this is what we prescribe to in our house. I remember my girls being very young, they were at a playground and a kid said the dreaded F word - ya know the one....fat. The Mom was very embarrassed and said 'Honey, we don't say that word its a bad word' Huh???

Words are not bad...As far as I can tell there is NO word I would not say, but here is the key...

- There is a time for everything - 

I really believe that every word has a place and an appropriate time to use it. Words are exactly what we make them AND if we change a word or refer to it as 'The N word' well that phrase actually becomes 'The N word' cause everyone knows what you mean.

It reminds me of Harry Potter - he was not afraid to say Voldermort - others gave that word power and that made it bad. So I don't believe in bad words...sometimes things really are fat, ugly, stupid and sometimes when I watch the news i'm like , "What the Hell???"

SO TRUE...SO TRUE

On New Years Eve our family went to see Guliver's Travels. We drove 30 minutes out of our way just so we didn't have to see 3D. Faith hates - hates 3D. She will not wear the glasses and so what your left with is a Deaf kid with a headache watching a blurry screen. Forget it - My wallet doesn't like it  and My kid doesn't like it - Now just imagine going to see a movie that is IMAX AND 3D for a family of four its $60 -just to walk in the door. Movies just aren't THAT good. So when I came accross this poster I was like -

AMEN!