Bryce's blog

Bryce's blog is awesome. http://bzhabel.blogspot.com
That's all.

Family History Friday

I did it!

I finally got a batch of names ready to take to the temple. I've now linked 3,700 names to the New Family Search website. I've got a long way to go (only 45,000 left....) but I am making slow progress. Some time in March we'll take Bryce to the temple to for the first time to do baptisms.

What have I done....

In the last General Conference President Monson gave a talk called What Have I Done For Someone Today? We put a sign on the wall by our kitchen table that asked that question.

This morning at breakfast I looked up to see that our sign had changed:

I burst out laughing as did the rest of the family when I showed them the new sign.
Brett is so funny. He usually doesn't have much to say but he has a great sense of humor and often says and does things that make us laugh.
Now on to Kylie. Lately we've been playing a lot of CandyLand. Since it is Kylie's game we play by her rules. First rule - She get the deck of cards ready and she goes first. Miraculously the first card she draws is always the "Lilypop" (aka Lollipop). We then take turns as normal but if she draws any other picture card such as the gingerbread man which would make her go backwards she declares that she's skipping her turn. And since it's her game it's ok for her to skip her turn. Thus Kylie always wins and usually wins quite quickly.

Can I just tell you that life has been wonderful this week. I think I figured out the reason why: We have been going to bed early every night and thus getting enough sleep. Why the need for change? Brett had not been getting enough sleep lately. He had been staying up late to study and then going to bed way too late and then had to get up early for seminary. He is an incredibly light sleep and wakes up at every little noise. The consequence of this was after weeks of not enough sleep he was a walking zombie. I honestly thought he had mono or something physical causing his extreme fatigue. A trip to the doctor this week and some lab work showed nothing so we were told to give him Benadryl at night to knock him out. We started doing bedtime at 8:00 so everyone was downstairs and settled with lights out by 9:00 thus giving Brett the chance to get enough sleep. What a difference not only in the kids but in me as well. I've been getting 8 hours of sleep each night and the younger kids have actually been waking up on their own fully rested. Yes I know bedtimes are important but I guess I never realized just how important and what a difference it makes when EVERYONE gets enough sleep. Our home is a happier more pleasant place this week with kids that are less ornery and it's actually cleaner because I have the energy to clean and be a good mom.
Last night I guess Bradley said it best. It was his turn for a date this week and I took him to Wal-mart. On the way home he said - I'm glad it was my turn for a date today because you are so happy today. It's amazing what a difference sleep makes!

Booking Through Thursday

It was a great week for reading. I listened to 3 books and read 2. I got back in the habit of using my MP3 player with books downloaded from Utah's Pioneer Online Library. Why did I ever stop using it? I'm at 24 book so far this year.

I love to listen to Dr. Laura so I enjoyed this book about being a stay at home mom.

This book by Marie Ricks was ok. A few good ideas but there are other books I would recommend before this one.

Skip this book by Robert Cormier. Great writing but too much objectionable language and content.

Loved this book! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What a crazy name but what a great book.

Spiritually Centered Motherhood by Sherrie Johnson was also a wonderful book I highly recommend.
http://www.goodreads.com/inspiredby

Work It Wednesday

I really do want this mat to place outside my front door. My house was clean last week. Really it was. I'm not sure what happened. Or why it always happens. My house can't seem to stay clean for very long.
At least I've kept up on laundry. At most I have 2 loads that need washing, drying and folding. That is about as good as it gets because I have to do 2 loads of laundry each day to keep up with what the kids have worn on any given day.
Thankfully I have little on my calendar for the rest of the week. Other than running to pick up Kim's new glasses when she gets home today there is nothing else I need to go out for. I've got several good audio books to listen to so I better get off the internet and get to work.

Sick Day

Another sickness for us.
I think we've now had our share for this year.
4 kids are home from school today.
Thankfully they aren't horribly sick.
Just fever and not feeling fabulous.
Thankfully it's not the stomach flu.
Hopefully they'll all be better tomorrow.
It's nearly impossible to get much done with them home.

Kim's Birthday Party

Kim had 7 friends over for a birthday party yesterday. The girls had a lot of fun.

Playing the skittles game.

10 candles on her cupcake.

Kim opening her presents. She was thrilled with all the fun things she got.

8 Girls going to see Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief - They all loved it and thankfully no one thought it was too scary.

Bryce's Choir Concert

Bryce was required to take a trimester of Choir at the Intermediate school. The end of the trimester was this week so there was a required concert on Thursday night. We all went to hear the performance. It was a lot of fun.

Bradley's Pinewood Derby

Bradley leading the pledge of allegiance at Pack Meeting.

Getting his car ready to race.

Waiting at the finish line.

Bradley had a great car. He and Brian spent a long time working on it.

Happy Birthday Kim

Kim turned 10 on February 17th. Since it was Bradley's Pinewood Derby that evening we checked her out of school and took her to Pirate Island Pizza for lunch to celebrate. Then we had cake after the pinewood derby. Kim is such a wonderful daughter. She is kind, caring, helpful and a peacemaker. We're so lucky to have had her in our home for 10 years. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl.

A Clean House is the Sign of a Broken Computer

Click on this image to make it bigger so you can see it:

A couple years ago my friend Melissa sent me a sign that says A Clean House is the Sign of a Broken Computer. It hangs in my office.
While I was cleaning my bedroom today I found this this paper Kim had made. It didn't scan well but at the top you can see a computer that has broken and then before and after pictures below of a shelf, bed, stairs and table first messy and then cleaned.
Thanks for the laugh Kim! It's good to laugh at myself since there is a little too much truth to this drawing.

Booking Through Thursday

You may have noticed–the Winter Olympics are going on. Is that affecting your reading time? Have you read any Olympics-themed books? What do you think about the Olympics in general?

This Olympics is going on?

Where have I been?

No actually I knew the Olympics started because the image on Google was of the Olympic rings. But as far as watching the Olympics... I don't watch TV. We don't have cable and most channels come in fuzzy.

As far as reading this week I finished 3 books bringing my total to 19 so far this year.

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider: Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz

A Murder, A Mystery And A Marriage by Mark Twain

If you click on the image of the book it will take you to my review on goodreads.
EDIT: The images just take you to the books on goodreads. To read my reviews you must become my friend on goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/inspiredby

Happy Valentines Day

Life is good. Life is really good right now. I'm so blessed and have been so thankful today for what I have. A wonderful husband with a good heart. 5 healthy happy good kids. A nice home. Good friends. Wonderful extended family.
I know the storms of life are coming (there is always a new trial or challenge on the horizon) but for now I'm enjoying this season of peace.
Since it is Valentine's day I thought I'd share a few nice things about my Valentine.
Brian & I have been married for 16 1/2 years. Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday we had met at BYU and were dating.
Through the ups and downs of life I've come to love my husband more than I thought possible. He is a good man with a good heart. He wants what is best for me and our family. He's a hard worker, boy is he a hard worker. Few men put in as many hours as he does and take as little time for themselves as Brian does. He is a great father. The kids look forward to spending time with him each Sunday on the trampoline. When bedtime rolls around he's infamous for letting the kids stay up just a few minutes longer so he can spend time with them. I was sick this past weekend and before heading off to work on Monday he spent an hour scouring the kitchen to make my life easier. He spends time studying the gospel on a daily basis, does his best to provide for our family and loves me unconditionally.
I'm grateful to be married to such a wonderful man. Happy Valentines Day to my sweetheart!

Got Our Day!

Hooray! We got our vouchers for free tickets to Disneyland today! Less than 4 weeks until we'll be at Disney! Disney's Give A Day, Get A Day program ROCKS!

Booking Through Thursday

2 books for me this week bringing my total to 16 so far this year. I actually read both of them. I spent a lot of time reading this week. I had a good excuse since I was sick.

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale.
I stayed up until 3 am finishing this book last night. I haven't done that in a long time. I loved this book! I laughed so many times while reading it. I love the way Shannon Hale writes, she is hilarious. Those who have read it seem to be split between loving it and hating it. It was a light hearted, silly, completely unbelieveable, yet laugh out loud funny kind of book I was in the mood for.

Over The Moon by Diane Daniels
One of my friends has a book that is being published this summer. She is doing the final edit and asked me to read it through before she sent the final copy to publishing. What an honor! And what a fun experience that was for me. It's a paranormal romance which is my favorite genre so it was right up my alley as far as books I enjoy. I can't wait to see her book in print!

Work It Wednesday

I'm grateful to be healthy again!
Today is a clean the house day. Laundry is 3 miles high & clutter is overtaking the living room. Those are my first 2 projects for the day. I've got a book on CD to listen to and nothing else on my list for the day. Hopefully I can keep from getting sidetracked and get the house back in order today. There are lots of other things that should be on the list too but I'm going to start with laundry & the living room get them done. I have 2 full baskets of junk to sort through sitting in the corner of the living room. Hopefully by day's end I'll have those all taken care of, laundry all folded and a book on CD finished.

Sick Day

I woke up feeling horrible today. I have a cough and was fevered and chilled. I didn't think I could make it to church so I asked Brian to teach my lesson and I stayed in bed most of the day.

What a nice relaxing Sunday. I'm almost grateful I'm sick because I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep and enjoyed my day of rest!

I was completely out of milk and thankfully Shauna came through for me and let me borrow a gallon.

I spent the afternoon reading/proofreading a book a friend wrote and am now doing a few family history names.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Happy Late Birthday to Bryce! His birthday was actually last Friday but he had a scout campout that day. He took his friend Spencer to the movies the day before his birthday. He had best of EFY as soon as he got home from the campout. Brian took him to a movie and shopping after EFY and we had a cake for him on Sunday. He had no presents to open, he was just given money. He made a comment about birthdays being such a big deal when you are little and they're not as big of a deal as you get older. I'd still like to have his friends over for cake and a small party one day but there seems to be too much going on and no free days.

Disney Here We Come!

Disney has a program running where you can get free tickets if you do a day of service. We signed up to make blankets for Project Linus. 7 blankets = 7 hours = $70 = 7 tickets to Disneyland! Regular cost would be $494. It was so worth it. Since Kylie doesn't qualify for a ticket we made a blanket for grandpa so he can get in free and we'll just have to get Kylie a ticket but I have Disney reward points that will cover her ticket, parking, food and souveniers. So it should be a cheap trip to Disney!

Cub Scouts

We are starting our last 3 years of Pack Meetings. We've already had 3 years with Brett & 3 years with Bryce so it will be 9 years total by the time we're done. Bradley's first pack meeting was 2 weeks ago and boy was he excited! He earned his Bobcat. I did get to the scout store to buy him a shirt since I realized too late for Pack Meeting that I don't know what happened to the shirt Brett & Bryce wore.

Booking Through Thursday

The northern hemisphere, at least, is socked in by winter right now… So, on a cold, wintry day, when you want nothing more than to curl up with a good book on the couch … what kind of reading do you want to do?

Paranormal Romance - My favorite type of book to curl up to.


Just one book again this week. This one I read. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale. A great sequel to the book The Goose Girl.
I've found I can't concentrate on family history and listen to a book at the same time. Grrr! The number of books I make it through in a week is going to drastically drop!

Work it Wednesday

It's 4:20 and I've accomplished little except for some family history work. I'm working my way through mom's 48,000 names. I've matched up 3000 of them in family search so far. That's 1000 names per week. I love it and wish I could spend my whole day working at it.

However my house needs my attention. Today's job:
Scour the bathrooms
If I can get that accomplished before book group tonight I'll be feeling good.

Weekly Wrap Up

WHAT A WEEK!
Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.
Brian's changing Real Estate Agencies. I think it will be a wonderful thing for him. It means he's moving his office home and into the basement. So we've cleaned out a room for him to have as an office and shuffled everyone around to different rooms. That means a HUGE mess. I just can't move things in an organized manner. Hopefully today I'll get the house back in some sort of order.
That plus a large amount of time spent doing family history work has meant I was out of balance last week.

The good:
I finished the conference Ensign and started on the January issue
I did get 1 book read and started on another one (actually I listened to a book)
I've not eaten any "empty calories" - still on my no sugar, no refined flour diet
I've kept up on my scriptures and prayers
I've made a dent in the file of family names

The bad:
I didn't exercise everyday - I was just too tired to care
Our routine has been a little chaotic this week so meals, family prayers & scriptures suffered a little as did blogging. I've got to find a few minutes to post some pictures but it's likely going to be later this week before I get around to it.

Other than being a bit out of balance it was a good week overall. Today I'm focusing on getting the house in order, tomorrow I'll shop and then I'll spend the rest of the week doing some good cleaning.