January

January is the LONGEST Month of the year. Your body is exhausted from the 2 month holiday run.

Here are the families goals: Greg: Put more god in life. See and point out the good in others.

Syringa: Be better at names. Be a stronger kind mom, no is no but...yell less

Denali: more personal scripture study. Have a better attitude and walk away.

Colvin: Work out more. Don’t lose things as easy, put things away so I can find them.

Azalyn: Be grateful for what I have and not ask for everything.

FAMILY: be kind, most of the time kindness is the hard road.

We started the year off great, with games and just relaxing. Then we started running. At Christmas I promised the kids we would go back to the Mesa Visiting Center. We had a great time at the park and walking around the Visiting Center with NO crowd.  Before the kids went to school, I set up the massage parlor. It really does relax all of us. Ok funny story; Denali does not have the KFC cures. He went to KFC and they messed up his order like they do, but they were already fixing it when he went to talk to them. I guess he will get to order from now on.

We went shooting and Azalyn started to read Greg’s kindle. The little stink can read better than she lets on most of the time. I was just glad it was a clean part of the book. Talking about shooting Greg is the one this year loving it. I guess when you feel good things are more fun. The kids really have wanted lemons. There is a road, Citrus Lane, that the city lined with citrus, lemon, grapefruit and oranges. The lemons were very picked over but with the kids tenacity they got it done. Lemons trees are poky.

When you run your mouth, the lord will humble you. I have been telling everyone how excited I am for 8 o’clock church. Well, every Sunday the kids have slept in. Azalyn has even taken a blanket to church every Sunday, her words “I need to finish my sleeping. Our ward started playing Women’s Volleyball on Wednesday nights, I love it so much. One I get exercise two I get out of the house and 3 I get to be with other women. Everyone is in bed by the time I get home.  A major upside of 8 church is having the WHOLE day. We had a family over to play games and eat dessert. Watching my boys grow up and become young men is the greatest blessing but hurts my mom heart.  Watching Colvin pass the sacrament makes it that much more meaningful. The first time he passed I actually moved seats so he could pass to me. I now have a deacon and a teacher in the house. Colvin loves being in young men with his brother. They went on a young men’s hike, I had to pick Colvin up early and he went to a birthday party to medieval times.

Funny story, Azalyn had a friend over. It was the first friend she had over that was not just ok following her lead. It took them an hour to get into the swing of things. Denali really wanted to bike to Wendys. We got to Wendy’s and his back wheel had a flat. The one that wanted to ride was the one that only got ½ of the ride.  Sometimes your husband does things that really show his love.  We dropped off Colvin to a friend’s house, a few houses down there was a junk pile. In the junk pile there was a really nice dresser. I asked Greg to stop and help me throw it in the back, he did but there might not of been a smile on his face. LOVE comes in all shapes and sizes. Right before the kids went back to school Denali talked Greg and I into playing a game of Monopoly. I was out in the first 2 hours.  I then took over Gregs spot and it was classic Monopoly. Every day we would play for an hour, a full week later Denali finally showed mercy and let me call defeat.  Greg and I were able to use one of our date cards. We had to tweak it, but it was perfect. We put all the seats down in the Honda and went star gazing. It was so nice just being together.

Fun family News: we got 5 puppies. We were just getting ready to clean one Saturday, I went to start laundry and there was Oreo and one black dot. She did 1 and 5 on her own. I popped the sack for 2 – 4. The kids helped dry them all off. They are all black, Marshmallows white is very recessive. Names: Dragon, Old Man or cream (it is a girl so old man does not work), cinnamon roll, sushi, socks. We have one sold to a neighbor.  They are so small they can get buried very easy.

Of course, I have to do a mom and dad update: Dad is just loving the adventure for now, mom is trying. They are going to have some very interesting stories.

Something gross: I had a 25lbs bag of popcorn that I had to throw out. I was noticing there were a few bugs on the bag, I went to move it into a 5gal bucket and the whole bag fell apart. 50% of the popcorn was just bug mill. I cleaned the whole laundry room, and every cupboard in my kitchen that held food. The popcorn was the worst but now food is off the floor in 5gal buckets or doubled sealed. Fun; I bought me a heat gun and silicone molds. I have been making 3D poop earrings. They are all so different and fun. We tried a new arcade, they had a ropes course I was up there for 5min. It was ok but uptown alley is still the best.

Going back to school is hard for everyone. The worst part is getting up, the first day back to school I was dressed had dropped the kids off, shopped at lows and was home by the time I had been dressed any day of the brake. For the new year the school changed their “walking” policy. I now have to go in pickup line. Not too bad I can only listen to books not read but it could be worse. I did a thing that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I did rainbow hair and LOVE IT.  My hair stylist wanted a hair model, pick me. I try to help out at the school as much as I can. I helped out at the book fair all week. The first day is boring, I get a lot of personal things done (read) then it just picks up from there. I had parent teacher conferences and my kids are thriving. Azalyn got student of the month, and blessing of blessing Greg was able to come and watch. They also had the daddy daughter dance. Azalyn had to help set it up, so she was extra excited to show her dad what she did. The boys and I went to dinner then played Mario. I was able to go to lunch with Azalyn and Colvin. Blessings of a stay at home mom.

I have been trying to go to the temple more. If you don’t recognize your blessings, they will go away. Here are just a few of the most obvious, one day I came home and really wanted to clean but had no motivation. As I walked in the house Timber called and talked to me the whole time I cleaned, I got my list and more done. There was a day I really just wanted to read but if I am at home my mind will not let me relax. I had a dentist appointment, and they had some openings so I was able to get all my work done. Blessing one, everything got done. Blessing 2 it took all day and I was able to read. Every day after school I have been able to spend one on one time with the kids. Right now, we are thriving. I caught the   organization bug. (Pun because it started with the laundry room bugs) but...I had Christmas put away minus the tree before Azalyn’s birthday. We even moved games to the back room, so the front room looks more organized. Cleaned off the kids desk. I threw 2 bags of junk away. Moved the 3D printer and just deep cleaned.

Talking about thriving we were invited to our neighbors for dinner. They turned on the hot tub for the kids. Colvin and Azalyn spent the whole time swimming.  Ok one down side to losing all my weight is I am always COLD.  Let’s talk more about weight I am officially down 25lbs have about 20 to go, People are starting to tell. Here is to a great YEAR!