Live, Love, Learn

About a year ago hubby's work changed to 4 /10 hour days instead of the typical 5 day work week. For the most part we have LOVED it. It's great having a 3 day weekend EVERY week! When the kids are in school it's like a whole day we get to spend together on a date. First we go to the gym, then we do our Sister Savings/coupon shopping at Wal-Mart. We frequently go to lunch or to the temple together. It's awesome.

There is just one little issue we've(more like I've) had to deal with.....Hubby is the cook. Has been from the beginning. The work schedule change meant we weren't able to eat dinner tell around 7pm. I pretty much need to eat around 5 or I'm cranky. Not only that but- I DON"T COOK!!! So, here's what we came up with.

Each person in the fam takes a night for dinner-hubby has to take weekends due to his schedule. That means my 4 children are getting to each cook dinner 1 day a week. So far it has worked out amazingly well! I get to eat around 5 AND I only have to cook 1 night a week:)

Here are some of our recent entrees

teenager-omelets, pizza, mac n cheese casserole
deacon-sloppy joes, chili and cornbread, tacos
twin 1-pancakes, grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob
twin 2-waffles, mac n cheese, scrambled eggs
me-sweet n sour chicken, chicken squares, chicken noodle soup (home-made even), nachos

Yay for opportunities to learn and improve!

A few of my favorite things..

I have really been enjoying my kids and family as of late. Not that I don't usually enjoy them, but, I have just had an awakening to how much fun they all are. What a blessing to be a wife and mother to this crew. I figured I better blog about it so that on some future frustrating day..I can look back and remember...

Steve and Derek have been working hard on Derek's science project. Determining which metal is softest-aluminum, copper or brass. Here they are cutting the metal to be tested..

For FHE we each made valentines day mailboxes that we hung on our bedroom doors. We spent the week filling up each others boxes with notes of love and appreciation. You can see that this girl is loved AND appreciated.

I couldn't resist getting a picture of the new glasses. Isn't she cute?? You can almost see the little heart she had in her hair for V-day today. We've had fun putting hearts in her hair all week.

And here's my boy with his newly acquired braces. Life is constantly moving and busy at our house...but for the most part..I sure enjoy these guys.

Tid bits

Went on a field trip to the state capital this week with my 8th grader. Here's some things I learned...do you know the answers?

How many Supreme court justices in AZ?
How much do they make?
What is the line of succession for governor in AZ...1-5?
We elect many positions that other states let the governor appoint, such as secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, superintendant of schools, etc.
The state librarian gets to do some cool stuff:)
AND 8th graders are A-L-O-T scarier then they used to be....

On another note...Kins was awarded the award this month at school for the character trait of determination...Uh..YAAAH. She got to eat lunch with the principal. We had to laugh, even the teachers notice her ummmmm trait.

She did it!!!

A year ago we came upon a random blog (someone we didn't know) and were intrigued by their entry. Three kids were pictured, each with a $100 bill in their hands. As we continued to read we discovered that they had each made a commitment to go for an entire year without candy in exchange for 100 big ones! The rule was that they could pick 3 days out of the year to eat candy-the rest of the time there was to be NO candy! However, cake, cookies, ice-cream, donuts, etc. were acceptable-just NO candy. Well, being the candy lover that I am I started to talk about what an IMPOSSIBLE task this would be. Immediately my 2 daughters piped up that they wanted to make this same commitment if I'd agree to the payout. I flippantly agreed, knowing this wouldn't last more than a few weeks. As you can see...when a challenge is issued...I have 1 girl who is up to the task:) I can't tell you how many phone calls I received: "Mom, is a popsicle considered candy.?" Or how about chocolate covered raisins? This girl wanted to be honest and very sure before she had anything remotely sweet. There were numerous times that I would forget and pass her the box of candy while at the movies or other outings-she would respond "Mooooommmmm..I can't have candy!" She saved her valentines candy from school and ate it on Halloween-THAT is impressive-although a little gross.

Here's to my Kinsey girl- $100s richer!

Mele Kalikimaka

We had the UH-MAZ-ING opportunity to cruise the islands of Hawaii with my parents and my sister Janette and her husband Brian from Dec 12-19. Here are a few highlights!! I have to say that cruising is the absolute BEST way to see all the islands..basically a floating hotel with food and entertainment. Each day we spent on one of the beautiful islands seeing the sights.

Steve had a slight cold.....actually this picture is taken on the Big Island at Akaka Falls:)

Here we are on Kauai..we had just kayaked 2 miles up the Wailua river and then hiked a mile through the jungle to get to these beautiful falls, named Ulu Vea, meaning life giving. We swam in this pool and renewed our "bowl of light" before hiking/kayaking back.

On Maui we saw this ship on our way to church and had to stop and take a pic for Mamo and Poppa who so graciously watched our kids while we were away. We love you guys!! Thank you!

Here we are at Iao state park on the island of Maui. You can see some of the beautiful scenery we were able to enjoy behind us. We learned lots of Hawaiian history to.

We spent a day on Maui snorkeling at the Molokini crater. We were lucky enough to see 1/2 a dozen whales including a mom and her baby while cruising to our destination. We also ended the trip with a visit to turtle bay....lots of beautiful sea turtles..this was quite a memorable time. Mom even won the raffle on the Four Winds excursion that day!!

On the Big Island we spent a day touring the Kilahuea Volcano national park. We walked through the lava tubes, saw the steam vents and craters and drove down to the ocean to see where the most recent lava flow closed the road.

This picture is on Kauai where we rented a paddle board and did some body surfing. You can see our ship in the background...The Pride of America.

Too many pictures to share all of our happenings...suffice it to say that it was a trip we will remember FOREVER! It was like an early Christmas present/anniversary present combined. Thanks to both our parents for making this trip possible.

Mele Kalikimaka!!

Memories...

Shay found this at Walmart today and I couldn't resist buying it. This candy reminds me of my Great Grandma Amy (yes, she's my namesake) Everytime we visited her home we could have a piece of this kind of candy. I've eaten like 10 pieces already...

Some of my favorite Peeps!!

What a crew we've become! Just a few days previous we were all out running/biking our own home-made turkey trot....4.5 miles! We didn't look or smell as nice then....