Busy August

The last few weeks have been really crazy!  I just added up 48 people I did hair for in the month of August alone.  It was a record month for me which is fun, but it has also been a bit stressful.

The past few weeks I have been trying to arrange details for a Joy School for Alissa which I will post more about later.

I have been working on my new calling as Relief Society Emergency Preparedness Coordinator.  It's been really fun for me to talk to so many people about emergency preparedness.  I've learned a lot of things and got some good contacts.  I finally decided I may not be able to convince everybody to get prepared, but it sure is doing a good job teaching me how to be. I did start this blog www.wewillprepare.blogspot.com to hopefully help the families in our ward have a gathering place for the information I find.  It is a work in progress though.

Dustin and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary!  I will write about that soon.

We have a couple little gatherings with friends.  This particular week we had a surprise party for my good friend Farrah in our back yard.  We had about 18 adults and around 25 or so kids running around.  It was a good time and I felt so thankful for such good friends who showed up to support.  

The past few days Molly has been trying to go potty on the toilet.  I seriously hate potty training, however I will be happy to be done buying diapers for a while.  I'm so glad we have a removable shower head.  That was one of the greatest investments I have made as a mom.  Makes cleaning up accidents so much easier!

 

Our garden has been fun this month.  We have harvested so, so many zucchini and have tons of pumpkins growing all over!  We got a few cucumbers, 2 green peppers, carrots, cabbage (we didn't even pick it though), tomatoes, beans, peas, radish, 3 strawberries and a blueberry!  I tried growing about 5 pots of herbs like parsley and cilantro but one day I stuck them outside to give them some extra sunlight and it cooked them.

 

 

 

 

We let the ladybugs have our cabbage.

This year we also put some chicken wire around our peas, cucumbers and zucchini.  It worked excellent for the peas.  They grew super tall and made it easier to pick.  Our cucumbers never really got big enough for the wire to matter and the zucchini hated it!  We actually had to open the "cage" for the zucchini because it was restricting them a lot.  It's fun to try new things.

 

Ella accidently spilled a cup of water on my 5 year old laptop back in June or July and ruined it so I have spent a few sad weeks without my computer.  It's amazing how much I did on my little laptop in the kitchen.   Dustin decided since it was our 10th Anniversary this year he would find me a new laptop.  We found a good deal on a refurbished one through newegg.com (Dustin's favorite store).  I am so happy to have a computer back!!

 

We moved all 3 girls into 1 bedroom this month.  Molly has been a pretty bad sleeper and I remembered when I moved Alissa into the bedroom with Ella she finally slept through the night.  Ella and Alissa were ok with Molly sleeping in the room with them.  It is like a sleepover every night.  Sure enough, Molly has been sleeping much better.  Horray!  We now have a BEDroom and a toy room upstairs.  It makes it easier for bed

 

Life gets so busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I really love having lots to do and friends to hang out with.  I love being able to stay home amidst all the craziness and am thankful that I have that opportunity.  I love that the kids like to play at our house and we have lots of toys and things for them to do.  Heavenly Father has blessed us so much and I am so grateful!!

 

Toilet Troubles

For a couple of weeks this month we had to lock our main bathroom door due to a flooding toilet.  No matter what we tried we could not get it plunged.  My brother in law came over with a snake and it just scratched the toilet up instead of unclogging it.  My brother came over with fish wire and got it stuck so our last resort was to pull the dang thing off.

So with a bit of hesitation the boys unhooked it and headed for the back door.  We looked like a redneck family for a few minutes out there with our good ol' toilet.  :)

Anyway, we found there was a popcicle stick sideways blocking about 6" of toilet paper and wipes from going down.  And we also found the most possible suspect.

Pen Pals

Last year I met with Ella's first grade teacher, Mrs. Crow and talked to her about Ella's performance at school.  She mentioned that she is doing so well in all areas, maybe we could challenge her in creative writing.

I thought about that for a while and tried to decide what I could do that would help Ella write, yet not be another "homework chore" for her every night.  Grandma bought her this cute notebook a while back which she decorated so we decided to make that our little Note-book.  I write her a note & draw a picture and she writes me back.  She will leave it on my bed when she is done and I will do the same.  It has become a priceless item as far as I'm concerned.  I love that we have that.

Another idea that came to my mind was to find her a pen pal.  When I was in 3rd grade my teacher assigned us pen pals with another 3rd grader from a nearby school.  The girl I was assigned and I wrote letters to each other for YEARS after and I always loved getting mail so it motivated me to write.  I thought of a good friend I had in high school, Holly Davis, who also has a daughter close to Ella's age so I wrote her and asked her if they would be interested in being pen pals.  We were excited that they agreed to exchange letters and the writing began.   They don't write too often because we want it to be a fun thing, but boy when the letter comes in the mail it is one exciting day!  Especially when cute Brooklyn will send her a quarter or Pokeman card or something.  Ella loves the treasures and has a special Pen Pal Box hidden nicely under her bed where she keeps all the letters.

While we were at Rigby lake a few weeks ago my friend Holly came and talked to me and we introduced the girls.  It was so fun for them to meet in person and play at the lake.

 

I hope this can be the beginning of a life long friendship and also great penmanship practice. :)

1st Day of School

It seems quite unreal that the summer is over and that Ella is already starting 2nd grade.  She has been excited to start and only the last week of summer she started complaining that she was bored.   We did ZERO school work and reading all summer minus the first four weeks.  We signed up for the library summer reading and met our goal every week for the first four.  After that I got tired of stressing about not finding the time so we just quit.

When it was time to write her name in all the folders and school supplies, she totally messed up her last name.  I could tell she was pretty rusty in her writing.  However, she drew this amazing owl in the bottom of her folder - the eyes are the holes in the folder.  She said she drew it for Aunt Heidi because she loves owls.  I thought it was impressive.



Ella's friend McKenzie got glasses about a week ago and after seeing how cute she looks in glasses, Ella decided she wanted some too.  However, we had her eyes checked and she doesn't need glasses so after we finished Back to School night she and I went on a little adventure to the mall to find her a pair of fake ones.  She fell in love with this pair and has worn them every day since.  I love to watch her admire her reflection.   It was worth every penny.

 Oh, how time flies.  Sure do love this cute little 2nd grader!

Her teacher is Mrs. O'Rullian who we hear is the best 2nd grade teacher ever.  This is her 4th year teaching and she subsituted for 12 years while raising her kids.  Just for fun, here was the supplies she had to take this year:

1 large box of Kleenex

1 box of Ziploc bags, any size

2 dozen yellow pencils (sharpened)

2 highlighters

4 large expo brand dry erase markers

8 small glue sticks

1 4oz. bottle of Elmer's glue

1 large container of disinfectant wipes

2 reams of paper

1 ruler

1 pair of scissors

2 pkg. 3x5 cards

4 pink pearl erasers

1 school box

4 pocket folders

1 set of watercolors, Prang or Crayola

1 package of colored pencils, Crayola

1 package colored markers, Crayola

3-4 boxes of 24-count Crayola crayons

Ella has to catch the bus at 7:20am, but thankfully the bus stop is our drive way.  School goes from 8am - 2:31pm.  Ella loves to bring her own lunch every day.  She is not a fan of cafeteria food, and I don't blame her.  I'm more than happy to pack her lunches since school lunch is $2 a day and that adds up quick. 

Molly gets her ears pierced!

All the girls have got their ears pierced about 2 years old and Alissa I ended up piercing by myself.  Since I already had the little instrument I just decided to do it for Molly too.

 

Our "deal" is that they have to say, "I want earrings" before Dustin will let me pierce them which is why they are usually 2. :)

 

My mom held her for me and she did just great.   She cried which is to be expected.  She lightly touches them all the time and smiles.  It makes me happy that she likes them.

 

She is such a happy little girl.  I just love her to pieces and can't stop kissing those sweet little cheeks!

Fun to have Boys - 7th Lost Tooth

This past weekend Dustin's neice Julie brought her 2 little boys over to stay with us.  They wanted to spend some time with Dustin, but sadly he was gone most of the weekend so they got stuck with me.

Thursday night after triangle, square and star pancakes we went to grandma Carol's house to pick some vegis from her garden.  The boys have been especially excited about this since they had an adventure in our garden the last time they visited with picking beans, peas, carrots and squash.  Dustin made them think there was a lion in the corn which got all the kids excited and they ran back and forth through the rows while he growled.  They loved it!

Friday Dustin had to work so I took all 5 kids to Rigby Lake.  Thankfully my friend Farrah and her sister were able to come with us too for some company.  The kids had a great time.  There was a crazy weird pelican that kept swimming so close to the kids.  They could touch it and it wouldn't even care.  I didn't let the kids get too close - made me nervous.  However, the thing swam right by them when they weren't paying attention so I did get a picture.

We had a great time in the sun!

Some friends from Dustin's work invited us to iJump that night so we hauled all 5 kids there too and had a super fun time!

Saturday we went to our stake garden to give service and picked a row of beans - well hopefully we did more picking than stepping on beans.  With 5 kids I'm uncertain, however I know it is a blessed garden so it will be ok.  The kids thought it was neat that we were helping a family have some food.

We drove around for a minute and found the kids all a $.50 toy at a garage sale and felt pretty successful.  That night we went with my sister in law to Leos place for another fun time and dinner.  It was pretty much a complete weekend of parties.

Before the boys left they got to watch Ella pull her 7th tooth.  They thought that was pretty wrong and were sure that would never happen to them until Ella convinced them it was pretty cool to loose teeth and you get money. 

That night we had my brother's girls over for a few hours and Kailey decided to pull the same tooth out.   This is the 2nd time they have lost the same tooth in the same day.  Funny girls!

I will honestly admit it was pretty darn fun having some boys around.  They do have quite a lot less drama ingrained in them then these girls.  It was a bit of a change to me though when I asked them to get dressed.  They pulled their shirts off and their bottoms off and after a quick moment of shock I shoved my girls into their room and locked the door until the boys were dressed.  :)  I really get used to this one gender stuff.

Rigby Lake

In between my 2 days of back to school haircuts this week we have squeezed in 2 trips to Rigby Lake.  I am so sad we haven't made a trip there until now because let me tell you, IT IS FUN!

My good friend Farrah and I took the kids on Tuesday along with way too many treats and sat out on the lawn and watched the kids play.

It was especially fun because Ella got to meet her penpal - Brooklyn Davis.  I will dedicate a post about this next.

The next day I called up my sister in law, Lisa to take her 3 girls and go spend the afternoon there. 

Again, it was a great time!

It's so fun to sit and visit and watch the kids play in the sun. 

I let all the girls pick out a My Little Pony to take and play with in the sand and we had a good time building little tunnels for them to play in.

Oh how I love summer.  Only 1 more week - time to party!

Krista at the temple

We had the opportunity to go to the Idaho Falls temple with Dustin's sister Krista as she recieved her endowment on Saturday, August 11th.

It was a beautiful sight to behold to look around and realize all of Dustin's siblings have now been to the temple and hold a temple recommend.  Boone was unable to make it because he had to work, but everybody else was there along with their spouses and some family friends.  Ashley and Julie - Dustin's neices also made it.

Dustin had I sat with tears in the chapel as we looked around with a full heart so thankful for eternal families.  We are truly blessed to have the gospel and to have a temple within 15 minutes of our house.  It just brings such joy and completeness to our lives.

Krista & Nick's kids - McKenzie, Kayla, Jacob & Mason.

We had lunch at Grandma & Grandpa Braithwaites and then the party showed up at our house about 8:00 pm (which is when Braithwaite parties typically start) and ended about 2ish?  We had a great time spending the weekend with family and are especially happy for Krista and the example she set to all of our family in her dedication to make it to the temple.

Cousins Anita, Molly & Amy - all within about a year of each other.

Wheeler Electric 50th Anniversary

Wheeler Electric recently celebrated 50 years of business! 

My mom asked me to come take some pictures to hang on the wall in the office.  I do love taking pictures, but I will gladly admit this was a little stressful.  I am not a professional.

Grandpa always makes me feel like he's so proud of me.  He gave me a big hug at the end and told me how impressive it was that I would come out and do this for them and that he loves me.   It made me feel a little better.  It really was my pleasure.  (I just wish I was a little lot better at it.)

I wanted to include a few things from a paper they handed out at the celebration. 

Founded by John Richard "Dick" Wheeler a half century ago, Wheeler Electric is, in fact, Easter Idaho's largest electrical contracting firm.  A new, but talented electrician, Dick Wheeler started out in 1962 with little more than a dream and plenty of encouragement, particularly from a neighbor, friend and former Department of Energy coworker Vic Owens.  His first contract earned him a whopping $450 for wiring a small post office in Arco, Idaho and his second contract - a remodeling job for a local high school not only earned him more than $14,000 but also ignited a momentum of electrifying magnitude that continues today.

A true company business, Wheeler's wife, LaRae spend many years taking care of the company's books and both of their sons also joined their parents in the business - Doug in 1978 and Jeff just one year later. 

Today, yet a third generation of Wheelers are moving up the ranks, with Jeff's sons Jeremy and Cody and Doug's son Josh all learning the ropes.  In addition to biological family, Wheeler Electric also has an extended family of dedicated employees - a dozen office employees and approximately ninety electricians.  Many of who have worked alongside the Wheelers for more than two decades.

At the celebration there was food catered by My Half restaurant and home made rootbeer.  They also gave everybody a Wheeler hat and a gift bag with a key chain, flashlight, pencil & pen.

The girls especially loved the new hats.

Grandma and grandpa were sitting seperate while visiting with friends so we had to get 2 pictures.  I just wanted my picture with them though.  I sure do love them and appreciate everything they have done for me and my family.  The hard work they put forth starting in 1962 has sure paid dividends for our family.  I can only hope to provide that well for mine one day.