Ministering in Threes

All three of the sisters I minister to posted on facebook today and yesterday.  One had a little boy who cut open his head after falling out of bed and had to go to the ER, another had a sick daughter at home, and the last was feeling overwhelmed with three little kids and posted about a late night run to the grocery store for chocolate.

It seemed like a good idea to create "Mom's Emergency Kit" filled with chocolate for mom and goodies for the kids.  Happy to say, the kits brought a smile at every stop.

Painting on a Mirror

Misha worked on this project for school earlier this month.  I am always impressed with the artistic mediums she likes to work with...that, and with her artist talent.

Aced the Calculus Test!

For the past week, Amy has been studying in preparation for her calculus test yesterday.  She has a study group and spent time with them along with some one on one sessions.  She invested a lot of time in preparing for the test.

Yesterday the students were able to come to class for additional instruction, if needed, but didn't have to attend if they didn't want.  Amy chose to go to the help session and spent the hour asking questions and clarifying.  Her words, "I could hear your voice and Dad's voice in my head asking if I understood everything and was fully prepared.  I just knew I needed to get all the help that I could."  (Bonus when your child's inner voices nag and you as the parent don't even have to say a word!)

Today, Amy excitedly texted that she earned 95% on the test--the highest score in her study group!  So proud of all of her hard work.  She's learned some great life skills.  And she's learning she can handle the hard stuff!

A Thoughtful Friend

So often on Facebook, I wish my friends a simple "Happy Birthday" and then move on.  I was touched by a friend's thoughtful and kind birthday sentiment.  I appreciate people who inspire me to be better and do great things:

I wish you a happy birthday and a wonderful year to come! You have always been an inspiration to me. I have admired your willingness to try new things. I also admire your ability to keep your family “intact” and moving forward with a husband who traveled so much. That is such a challenging lifestyle but you do it masterfully. I always loved any lesson you taught because I learned something new and felt uplifted. Thanks for being such a great example of righteous womanhood and motherhood! My knowing you has enriched my life.

$100,000 Pyramid

Misha has an off-block every other day for her first class of the day, meaning she gets to come home after seminary.  I asked about seminary and she mentioned that they had played the $100,000 Pyramid.  I asked, "Did you win $100,000?"  Her response, "No, but I did get a piece of candy and some gum."

Piano Lessons in College

When Amy was trying to find an interesting class to take this semester at BYU-I, I had exhausted most of my suggestions when I happened upon the music section of courses.  I suggested piano lessons, and the idea didn't suck (in her opinion).  She signed up for the class, and though her fingers have gotten a little rusty since she stopped taking lessons in high school, she is enjoying the time to practice and the stress relief that playing the piano can be for her.

Happy Everything

Happy New Year!  Happy Father's Day!  Happy Birthday! and Merry Christmas! to Christopher.  He has wanted a hot tub for a long time.  Sad to say, it comes after most of the hard yard work has been completed.

It was delivered on the coldest day of the week.  Chris spent time filling up the hot tub, and then his friend, Spencer Jessee, spent time hooking up the electrical components.  Unfortunately, there was a wire that Spencer overlooked, and he was out in the cold for hours trying to figure out why the GFCI outlet kept popping.  It was too cold to leave the hot tub with cold water in it because it would freeze.  Finally it was fixed and the hot tub is now a toasty 100*.

Chris had to leave town for work, but Kristen was more than happy to create the first inaugural splash.

The Chariot

Misha was a little excited that she got to operate The Chariot at work--the ride on vacuum.  Normally she wears a vacuum pack and vacuums the classrooms and wings/pods by hand.  Though to balance the effort, she switches her vacuuming hand every night.

She snagged a picture in the reflection of the mirror as she drove on by.

Organizing

Since we got rid of the desk, we moved the piano in to its place.  The piano is now more visible and I wanted a place to put all of the piano books and sheets instead of all over the top of the piano.  That involved cleaning out the closet next to the piano.

I'd say we don't need to buy anymore pencil crayons for awhile.

Come, Follow Me for January

We have had a lot of success, teaching moments, and discussion with Kristen and Misha throughout the month and are thoroughly impressed as they embrace this time together as a family.  Kristen has had a lot of "ah ha" moments in her understanding of gospel subjects and it is so fun to watch.  The outlined discussions always lead to other questions and topics.

My "ah ha" moment came a couple of weeks ago as I realized the miraculous wisdom of this new home-based teaching curriculum.  As a family we discuss topics pertinent to our family as well as topics that would never be addressed in depth or at all in a church classroom setting.

Chris and Kristen sat for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon talking about the timeline of events in the Book of Mormon and helping to solidify concepts in Kristen's mind.

On a side note, how would it be if we could all sit/stand like Chris and be comfortable?  He has one bent leg resting on the counter top while standing on the other.

Another New Book

Chris gave me another blog book, comprising 2017-2018.  It is almost 800 pages.  We all love the blog books at our house.  (Pardon the cheesy smile).  The package arrived while Chris was gone on business, so I had more presents to open on the weekend!  Yay for an extended birthday.

Why Eat Out?

Chris and I were eating at Old Chicago and overheard a conversation between a young waitress and an older gentleman.  They were obviously acquaintances.  After a couple minutes of small talk, the waitress asked, "So, what brings you in tonight?"  The friend responded, "Ummmmm, hunger?"

Goodbye to the Desk

We bought this desk in our first year of marriage, moving it from house to house over the years.  Now, while the girls work on laptops a lot, the desk doesn't get a lot of use anymore.  We thought it was time to pass it along to another welcoming family.  I, of course, cleared off all of the stuff.

Planetarium

Misha and her friend, Sam, attended the Fiske Planetarium's laser and music show "Laser Queen".  They had a blast rocking out to these fun Queen hits.

We Will Rock You
Bicycle Race
Another One Bites the Dust
Best Friend
Flash
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Somebody to Love
I Want it All
Stone Cold Crazy
Princes of the Universe
Killer Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
We are the Champions

The performance didn't start until 10:30 pm and lasted for a couple of hours.  Misha got home a lot past curfew, but since she had asked beforehand, I was okay with it.  The rule is though, if you stay out late, you can't be grumpy the next day!

Being Financially Savvy - Adulting 101

When Chris and I were first married, I am embarrassed to say that I let a few of my die-hard habits fall by the way side--regularly exercising and balancing a check book--to name two. I eventually got back in to the habit of daily exercise while creating a financial dynamic in our marriage took a little more effort. It wasn't until about ten months after we were married that I sat down and over the course of a week, proceeded to balance our check book. Until then, we had had a good idea of how much money was available to us, but not exact numbers.

As a couple we decided that I had more time for the day-to-day business of keeping our finances on track and Chris had a better handle on the longer term investment and retirement planning side of things. To this day, that is how we have continued to divide the responsibility of managing our finances. I make sure our budgets balance and our bills are paid each month. Chris ensures that our future days in retirement will still have budgets to balance.

Throughout the years of raising our daughters, we have tried to instill some financial sense in them as well as pass on information we have learned along the way. "Adulting" is a term we often discuss with all of our girls, but especially with Amy, a college student, and Misha, a high school senior. As they look toward setting out on their own and thinking of marriage, it seems apropos to discuss being financially savvy. My daughters are a great example of having inborn tendencies as two are spenders and one is a saver. Being fiscally responsible, while a natural gift to some, can totally be a learned behavior for all of us.

As a newlywed, I took my charge as "keeper of the budgets" seriously and created a budgeting system that would be easy to manage and give a quick glimpse in to our financial health for the month. I started by creating a simple table that listed our income sources and then our obligations: tithing, groceries and food storage, toiletries, medical bills, insurance, gas, utilities, and rent/mortgage as well as allowances for car repairs, clothing, gifts, and entertainment. I also allocated funds for student loan payoffs, Christmas gifts, vacations, car registration, and baby needs. Each of these categories was given an amount, ie., Gas - $50, and adjusted as necessary. In the beginning, I penciled in the amount we spent in each category, and we were pretty good about staying on target. My budgeting system has become more sophisticated over the years, but the concepts are all still the same.

This is a plan that I would recommend for young adults, single or married, to begin learning how to budget and live within a budget. It is hard, and sometimes you have to forgo items or activities that you would really like to have or do simply because there is not enough money to cover it. That is what "adulting" is all about.

Children learn from what is demonstrated at home, and in turn, learn that there is peace in being financially responsible. When my grandfather passed away, my father was asked to give the eulogy.

"He was a frugal man and made use of everything. He worked hard and finished jobs once they were started. He tackled things that would have cost to have done so he would learn how to do them himself. He was an inventor and could figure out how things worked, repair, and keep things going long after everyone else had gone out and bought a new one. His old Minneapolis tractor, which was the first one he bought was still running forty–two years later. He had taken it apart and nursed it back to health many times on his own" (Gordon Rice Life History, February 24, 2015).

Through the years, Chris and I have continued to prepare our daughters through Family Home Evening lessons, simply saying "no" to some wants, teaching about credit cards and checking accounts, and emphasizing the importance of paying your tithing first.

"Chris and I presented a budgeting Family Home Evening lesson to our girls that was hands on and thought provoking. I created a fictitious budget with income and expenses for them to work with, plus emergency expenses. We gave them Monopoly money to work with to try and cover all of the monthly expenses. It helped them learn how I budget, understand why I sometimes say, "It is not in our budget this month," or learn how to make a choices for cable tv, cell phones, and other "extra" expenses. I'm sure we could have even spent more time on the lesson, but after a couple of hours, the older two had homework to finish.

"We hoped that they got the notion that just because you have money in your bank account, it doesn't mean that you can spend it. It might already be allocated. Also, Chris and I wanted them to understand about saving for big expenses. We put money away all year long for Christmas, vacations, some utilities and expenses that are paid on a quarterly or yearly basis, and car registration to name a few. It is never too young to be financially savvy and to develop good spending and saving habits" (March 14, 2016).

I'm not going to tell you where to spend your money or where to invest or even if you should invest. I simply want to emphasize the importance of keeping an accounting of your wants and needs and planning for your future. If this idea is second nature to you, then you're on top of things already. If this is a talent you need to develop, make a plan, ask for help, and get to work.

Fresh Bread

It was a bread-making kind of day.  Amy asked if I could send her some.  If only it were easy, I would.

Misha's No Snow Day!

Misha tried to back out of the garage and drive to school this morning without much success or traction.  Even after getting the four-wheeler out to clear the driveway, she still wasn't able to make it up the driveway.

I sent a note excusing her from school, and she had her own snow day.  Until, that is, I started giving her some chores to do.  And then suddenly, she was anxious to get to school.  She went outside to clear the driveway again as the snow had started to clear and the clouds were breaking up.

She made it out of the driveway on her second attempt and was off to school.

FabFitFun Box

My sister-in-law sent me this FabFitFun box for my birthday.  I believe you can sign up for it as a quarterly delivery if you wish.  Opening the box to discover all of the fun gifts inside was awesome.

Texting with Amy

While we waited for Kristen's Honor Choir performance to begin, Chris texted with Amy about her math class and the cute boys in her study group--both with the same name--vying for her attention.  She is definitely having fun.

Chris was laughing all the while finding the perfect GIFs to send to Amy.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was a rather quiet day as Chris was working in Boulder for the day and the girls were at school.  I enjoyed the quiet and worked on my book.  Kristen had an Honor Choir performance in the evening so that was our activity for the night.  Fortunately we were able to go out to dinner together on Monday night.

As we arrived home, Amy joined us via Facetime for a lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" and some gifts.  I am so grateful for my family and all that they do to celebrate me.  Chris brought home edible brownie-flavored cookie dough and apple fritters (donuts for the rest of my peeps).  The edible dough was delicious.  Probably not a good thing that I know you can buy it at the grocery store.  My family spoils me.

Here's Amy card to me.  I particularly like the line about me passing on my handwriting talent.

Ministering Sister

I have an awesome "ministering sister" who checks in with me every month, comes to weed in my yard, brings me goodies, and delivers beautiful red roses for my birthday.  To top it off, her entire family sang "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone.  Some of the best serenading I have had in a long time.

UPS "Drop" Off

I happened to be watching the other day when the UPS delivery guy arrived at our house and then proceeded to have a package fall off of his...skateboard?  I guess it makes it easier to push the packages and then he can zip back to his truck on his skateboard.  Anyway, he knocked and then waited for me to answer, acknowledging that he had indeed dropped a package and heard what sounded like something breaking.  He said he would wait while I opened the package.  Lucky for him it was a bunch of metal brackets.  I was impressed with his honesty since he didn't know that I had been watching.

Honor Choir - Kristen

Kristen participated in her last middle school Honor Choir through the school district.  Thirteen schools had students audition for an intensive rehearsal and instruction experience.  Kristen was able to work with Kate Klotz as the girls honor choir clinician and had such a great experience.  These kids sounded great.

Cupcakes with Maggie

Kristen and Maggie were a little bored the other night.  I suggested they make some brownies or cupcakes.  They opted for cupcakes since they could then decorate them.  My only requirement?  Clean up the kitchen when you are done.  They have a lot of fun together.

High School Orientation

Chris and I attended the high school orientation night with Kristen.  OUR YOUNGEST GOES TO HIGH SCHOOL NEXT YEAR!   Who said that could happen!?