December News

We are still plugging along!  I look back on this last year and it has been a miracle that we have made it this far.  We are still relying on total faith, especially  now that Mike is starting his own Insurance Business.
He has had a pretty good couple of months for just starting out, but it has slowed down some because of the Holidays. And unfortunatley he could not keep his office he was subleasing because the Farmers agent two doors down made a big stink about him being there and the Landlord had no choice, but to make Mike leave.  Talk about a scrooge!(The Farmers agent). You would think that someone who knows what it is like to start a new agency would be more understanding, but he is too worried about himself I guess.  Anyway there must be a reason for it.  And it is just as well because Mike can't really afford it right now anyway in these begining stages.  We are trying to have faith that it will all work out. And there have already been a couple of miracles and blessings that we have been able to recognize that gives us hope.
The kids are doing well.  This Christmas season has been much more meaningful for us. And I am glad that they will be able to better understand what Christmas is all about this year.  Past years the presents and the hype always got in the way of the true meaning of Christmas No matter how hard we tried to make them understand.  And so I have to admit it is a relief and a nice change to not have to worry about the commercialism of Christmas as much this year.
They are looking forward to this Friday because it is the last day of school and they deserve a much needed break from school.  We are looking forward to spending time with family.
Amanda had her Band concert last week and I was impressed with how well they did. She has been enjoying school this year and spends all her free time writing a story with two of her friends.  They have thier own blog and they have about 7 chapters done so far and they hope to publish it :-)
Natalie has been busy getting involved with the art club and entering her art work in different contests at  school.  She won a $75 gift gard to Wal-mart from a art contest that the high school had durning freedom week.  She spent it all on a Hermit Crab habitat and two cute hermit crabs.  she has really been enjoying them.
Joseph will be starting Jr. Jazz Bastketball soon and he is so excited about it!  I am glad that we were able to find a way to sign him up this year.
Danielle has been really fun lately.  she has a much better understanding of Christmas this year and she enjoys playing with the ornaments and nativities and pretending with them.  She chatters and pretends all day in fact at this very moment she has a bunch of stuffed animals sitting around her and she is having a full out converstion with them.  It is fun to see her grow up.  I am glad that I still have the privilage to stay home with her and not miss any of her childhood.

It's already September!

So it has been a million years since I have updated this blog and I have decided that I have too many blogs.  So I am wanting to merge a couple of them and I am not sure which ones yet. 
My kids started school last week and everyone seems to be happy so far :-)  It has been a tough year financially so it was miracle (and I am still not sure how it happened still ), that we were somehow able to get  school clothes, pay school fees (High School fees are outrageous!)and many more unexpected expenses that I took for granted in the past when were more well off financially.  I have decided that the Centerville D.I. is my new best friend! The selection there is much better than the D.I. selection here in Tooele.  And looking at my kids you would never know that most of there clothes are used.  If I am ever in a good financial situation again I will never go back to how I did things before.  So people up in Bountiful and Centerville!  Your wasteful habits are my gain :-)
We  have five chickens laying eggs now!  The Arcana's are not laying yet, but I imagine they will soon.  It has been nice to know that we don't have to rely on the store for eggs and that the eggs from our chickens are healthier and taste better!  And the icing on the cake is that they have become beloved pets too.  They are so tame now that they walk right up me and Danielle takes turns picking them each up and talks to them and gently puts them back down.  I think her contact with them has contributed the most to how tame they have become.
I don't know what it is about Fall, but it brings out the crafty side in me.  I am excited about some of the fun ideas I am working on and that we are going to be doing in my Wards Super Saturday.
right now I am working on making matching dish towels, apron, trivet and hot pads.  I also want to make a few other things that are in my brain that are just itching to come out!
The exciting news in my family is that my brother Russ (that we had all lost hope and given up on ever getting married) has finally found his true love and is getting married October 16th!  I am so happy for him and am excited to have Cami in our family!  I wish my Mom could be here to witness it. I know she would just love
Cami! 
I know I should post pics of all the latest activities, but I am not in the mood right now so maybe later.

Essay written by Amanda

I was looking through our documents and found this short story by Amanda.
 She wrote it for a class this last year when she was 11 years old.  I really like her descriptive words in this story.  I think I will encourage her to continue the story cause I want to know what happens next!

Ally's Rock
By Amanda Logan

Ally picked up the rock. It was a greenish blue rock with foamy looking markings.

She had been looking for bugs when the rock caught her eye.

It was smooth and cool in her hands. She wondered how a rock could be so beautiful.

Suddenly she heard a noise. A little scared she but the rock in her backpack and ran home.

There at home she reached into her backpack to retrieve the stone. She pulled back, whatever she had just touched was not the rock. She looked at her hand it was blue from cold. It's summer she thought but there is something in there that's really cold.

She got on her gloves and reached in she closed her eyes and pulled out the thing.

She opened her eyes. There staring at her with eyes the color of ice was a dragon.

She gasped. It was a white dragon with icy blue eyes. It had three blueish white horns on it's head and clear claws. It's wings were white and leathery and it's scales sparkled like snow with the sun shining on it.

“What am I going to do”, she thought. This is the best day of my life. But dragons are myths! If someone sees it then they'll take it away from me!

“Will you please stop calling me it? I'm a girl you know and just name me already.” Ally froze. The voice had come from the dragon. It was a nice clear voice that reminded Ally of frost on the grass.

“Did you just talk”, Ally asked. “Yes”, said the dragon. “And just like you I also don't know what to do. I have been in my egg for so long always trying to get out and I finally did.” “But I must keep you a secret I must. I just met you but I like you”, said Ally. “Good “, said the dragon grinning. “Because your stuck with me for life since  you found me.”

“Well”, said Ally. “I guess I better give you a name.”

She thought and thought. “I know”, she said. “Aria. It just seems to fit.” “Hmmmm Aria I like it said the dragon.” “Well then Aria it is”, said Ally.

And that is how the adventures of Ally and Aria began.

summer so far!

We have had a relaxing  yet busy summer so far :-) 
This is the first summer in a long time that we don't have any major plans due to low finances and it has been nice to be home and not have my summer eaten up by trips.  We do have one camping/family reunion trip with my family in the Uintas at the end of the month and then bing, bing bing the kids have Scout camp, Brighton camp and Girls camp so July will be more busy.
I enjoy my kids being home in the summer I know some people don't, but I really enjoy having them around me :-)  Natalie has been enjoying her first Youth Conference the last 3 days and she also has been doing a lot of baby sitting and hanging out with friends.  I can't believe my little girl is going to be a Freshman in High School and am scared for her and excited for her at the same time.
Amanda just turned 12 at the begining of the month and she has entered the world of Young Womens :-)  she is loving it and has grown up so much emotionally this year.  a year ago I did not think she could handle leaving primary, but magically over the year she has changed into a young women! She is so excited for her first Girls Camp!
Joseph's summer so far has been doing his chores as fast as he can so he can play with friends everyday.  Dani has been busy, busy, busy!  She loves going out side with me to help feed the chickens, care for the garden and play in the sunshine :-)  she had her first experience running through the sprinklers the other day it was so darling watching her trying to act as big as Amanda and Joseph!    I have a video of it. As soon as I figure out how to down load it on here I will add it to this post.
Mike has been working really hard to try and meet our families needs.  He works full time at Wells Fargo and then comes home and works on other side jobs.  He currently is starting a new business saleing Prop. and Casualty insurance part time that he hopes to eventually  replace with his full time job.  What he likes about it is he can still help people with investments, but he can add the insurance side to it also which will provide more stable income then the financial industry can provide right now.  Being a financial advisor it is either feast or famine depending on the economy.  I hope it works out so he does not have to work such long hours all the time. 
Well I try not write such long posts, but I can't seem to help it!  I hope the rest of you are having a great summer so far :-)

More Chicks!

So saturday while I was in Salt Lake my dad surprised the kids and brought by two more chicks  these ones are bantam hens.  When full grown they will be about half the size of a normal chicken and they lay smaller eggs.  They are about the size of a robin right now and so they could easily hop right out of my chicken run fence and before people knew it Abbey ( Our retriever) grabbed one in her mouth.  Natalie screamed at her made her drop it and  she put it in the coop. By the time I got home it was still sitting in the coop tramatized.  I was not sure it would snap out of it and make it through the night, but it did!  Yesterday it was happily pecking around with the other chick/chickens.   I was a little frustrated at first when I heard my Dad got me two more chicks for me.  I thought it would be too many, but now I am very happy about it.  These little hens are more like pets!  Because they could fit through the fence I had to wire on a smaller chicken wire around the fence and while I was doing that the  little bantam chick who was NOT tramatized by Abbey followed me everywhere I stood. At one point I was sitting cross legged  tieing wire onto the bottom of the fence and It walked up to me and into my lap and fell asleep.  Then later while Natalie was holding it it jumped up on her shoulder and perched there.  They don't seem to be afraid of people at all and they don't cower when you reach out to pick them up.  So I think they will be a lot of fun.  So that makes 7 chicks/chickens now 2 Road island reds, One white leghorn (I would have had 2, but Abbey killed the other one), 2 Araucanas (My dad brought by these chicks about 2 weeks ago. They are more shy and flighty and will lay pastel eggs) and the 2 Bantams.  I think that is plenty! I hope we are not up to our ears in eggs when they start laying.  We might have to start an eggs saleing business!
Natalie has been teasing me and saying  between the garden and the hens lately I am turning into a farmer lady :-)  I had to smile at that because am so winging it right now! (excuse the pun)

The latest!

So it has been a busy and a little bit of a stressful week! 
I started my 2nd round of HCG after an eight week break. My body stayed at a good stable weight during the break even with an occasional splurge.  I was pretty good about what I ate most of the time though.   I am on my 6th day of injections and the special diet. So far I have lost about 6 1/2 lbs.  It is a sacrafice to get injections and eat so strictly, but it is worth it seeilng the scale numbers go down :-)
Sadly my dog Abbey killed one of my young chickens on Tuesday :-(  I was so mad at that dog! But Have to remember she is a bird dog and bred to retrieve birds.  I secured our new pen better and I doubt there will be anymore problems as long as we keep a better eye on the chickens.  I am excited though because the remaining three started roosting the last few days :-)  Anyone who knows anything about chickens knows what I am talking about :-)  It is so cute seeing them up on the dowl looking so sleepy and comfortable perched up there. 
The other exciting thing this week is I planted my kiddie pool gardens and my asparagus roots that I planted a few weeks ago are starting grow asparagus spears!  I love asparagus and can't wait to have some fresh spears to eat :-)
The bad news this week was our family van would not start Wednesday even after jumping it so we thought that we were in huge trouble because we have to have that car and our bank account had no money to fix it, but the good news was we found out that it was just a bad battery so the cost was minimal compared to what we imagined it would be.  So we felt blessed.
Amanda had her first baby sitting job on Friday and did a great job!  She was soooo excited about it and was very prepared with lots of little activities for the kids she baby sat.
Natalie had her first "Boy/Girl" Birthday party.  I can't believe how grown up she is now!
Joseph and Mike had a blast at the Fathers and Sons campout.  Joseph looks forward to that every year :-)

Saturday I made my own compost bin out of a 55 gallon water drum I already had.  I am excited to see if it will work!  I put fruit and veggie scraps that I was already collecting, chicken doo doo, and Mike cut the grass yesterday so we put some grass clippings in there too. I got the idea for a compost bin from our Relief Society gardening class  on Tues.  It was a great class that I learned a lot from!
So those are this weeks  highlights.  I know I am missing a bunch of stuff, but oh well I don't want to turn this into a novel so adios!

Chicken coop

We moved our big chicks outside.  They pretty much look like smallish chickens now.  We borrowed a chicken hutch from my Dad and because of the dog and cats we needed to make a chicken run too.  We used an old Dog run that was left by the previous owners of our house.  We still need to put a top on, but for now they don't want to leave the hutch anyway so that will need to be added on a different weekend.  Mike and I were pretty proud of ourselves and how it turned out :-)  I forgot to mention that My Dad brought me two more chicks the other day so that makes 6 hens now.  They are small and fluffy so I still have them in the garage with the heat lamp until they get their feathers in.  I hope this new adventure is a positive one. 

There are two red hens in there too, but they blen in with the red wood :-)