Alyssa's turning 8

My little girl is turning 8 years old on Tuesday. Since last year she was completely jipped on her birthday I thought I would start a tradition I've seen some friends do and blog about my little lady. Alyssa shares a birthday with my Grandmother, her great-grandmother. It's a pretty big deal and she thinks it's pretty neat. This year since she is turning 8 she gets to be baptized. She is really excited and has been looking forward to it for a long time. That and getting her ears pierced. We let Natalie get hers done when she was 8 and so Alyssa wants hers pierced as well.



Some things I love about Alyssa:

She LOVES to swim! During the winter she still asks to go swimming.

She loves rocks. She collects them. She will put them in her pockets on our walks home from school everyday. This love of rocks she seems to have picked up from her Grandmother and Great Grandfather on Nate's side. I love it now that I understand where it came from.



She loves birds, and animals in general. When we are playing either at the park or at the school she will stop what she is doing and chase the birds. She has never caught one, but it doesn't stop her from trying!



She loves the monkey bars now that she can go across them well. She even has the blisters/callouses to prove it.

She is artistic. She LOVES to paint! She loves to paint anything from pictures on paper, to ceramics, to wood. She currently is fascinated by mermaids so she's been painting/coloring pictures of mermaids.

She is sensitive. It's a blessing and a curse.



She is a great friend. Above is Alyssa with 2 of her closest friends that are not related to her.

She is very smart and has a pretty good size vocabulary. Not only does she have a great vocabulary but she uses the words in a sentence correctly.



She can ask great questions. Alyssa this ability to ask questions that get right to the heart of the matter. She picks up on things that most 8 year olds don't. Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge because the questions that she asks are almost always the ones that you can't really answer properly in one or two brief sentences. It only gets difficult when we are in a hurry to piano lessons or somewhere else and she wants to know the meaning of life....(heeheehee). Ok that's not one of her questions, but really, the kid is a thinker.

She still loves to sit on my lap and play the tickle game with her Dad. She has the sweetest little giggle and we love to hear it.


She is a petite little thing but she hates it when people call her skinny.


She loves stuffed animals, especially her little friend Fizz the monkey.

She is honest. Sometimes brutally so. I have to tell her sometimes that even when something is true, it doesn't always need to be said.



She is a great teacher to her younger siblings. She has a way of explaining things so that people can understand them. Much like her questions she can simplify things and get straight to the heart of the matter....just like her Father.

She loves to play with her younger brother and will sleep in his room with him at night so that he won't have to sleep alone.

She has big, beautiful blue eyes.

She has my freckled cheeks.

She hates piano lessons and only kinda likes to read.

She LOVES to dance and sing. She loves ballet to be more specific and she loves dressing the part. She would wear tutu's all day and too school if I let her. She makes up songs about all kinds of things. I've heard songs about how she loves Jesus and songs about how she wants to be a mermaid. It's great.


Obviously I could go on and on with this list. I'll save some for her actual birthday party.

This girl is so sweet and I feel blessed to be her mom! I can't imagine our family without her and I'm so proud of her. She is quite the little lady. I'm thankful that I get to have this little girl call me Mommy everyday. Happy birthday Alyssa!

2011

Fair warning, this will be a long post. I seem to be a cluster blgger. I'm not good at posting something everyday or even every week. I seem to do it in clusters. Sometimes several in a day. Annoying I know. I can hardly believe it's December 26th. The year went by fast and slow all at the same time. The year started with Nate's Dad, Glenn's passing, and my Alyssa's birthday. It was the same day. I still can't believe that this Christmas was our first without him. The kids still talk about him and I keep pictures up on the walls with him so that the kids will keep him in their minds and hearts. Some of the them are young enough they may not remember him well so I figure this way even if they don't have a lot of memories of him he will be someone they know because we talk about him and have his pictures up on the wall. We also lost Nate's Grandfather. He was a truly great man and I still tear up a bit when I think about his passing. He was a blessing to so many and me and my family especially!

The coming year will bring many changes for our family. It's an exciting time yet I'm already struggling with it. We will be moving to Virginia in June after school ends and the kids are about the same as I am, nervous but excited. We are hoping to go to our Glenn Goodman family reunion in April and I'm super excited about that. We are also planning on making the trip out to Virginia a fun one and visit family along the way.

During the summer we went to Yosemite with our Glenn Goodman family and it was so much fun! The only issue we had was getting there. We all, except for my wonderful Nate get motion sick. The road to Yosemite was not straight and therefore we had some sickies....I'll leave it at that. It was great spending time with cousins though and we're looking forward to next years adventure.




My wonderful, talented, fabulous husband, Nate is doing well with work, the move is proof of that. He is being promoted which is why we have to move. He is still gone a lot but we look forward to having him with us much more once we are there. The picture above is pretty typical. The thing he is giving the kids a ride on I'm not sure what you actually call it, but it's a four-wheeled bike thing that we used to pedal around on when we were dating, years ago. Now that his Dad has passed we have it at our house and the kids love it. Nate is really good about playing with the kids when he's home. Whether it's riding them around on this thing, or roller blading with them, or working with them he's always doing something with them. He's a really good teacher too so when the kids need help he's the one I recommend the kids go see. I love him so much and I'm very grateful for him. I chose.....wisely.





Fortunately, I can't find any current pictures of myself. This one is more current and has all of us in it. I am still trying to finish losing weight. I have about 15lbs to go and I'm 28 down. I am still doing Shelf Reliance, and taking care of the kids. With all that the kids are doing in school and extra curricular things I don't have much time for anything else. I read a couple of books this year that I liked, Killing Lincoln, and The Help. Loved them both! Killing Lincoln was great because a great deal of the book is about Richmond and the history of that city and the state of Virginia. I have always loved history, and I had forgotten much of it and so it was a good book for me. I joined the gym again, Merry Christmas to Nate....and me. I am also helping a bit with caring for my Grandma who is 91. It's a joy to be able to spend so much time with her and it makes my heart happy that my kids will remember her and have memories with her!

I am teaching Valiant 8 in Sunday school next year and this last year Valiant 9-11 boys. It was interesting and fun. I'll sure miss those guys next year.

This last year also brought the passing of my great aunt Drue and that same week, her brother, my great uncle Paul. It was really, really sad for me and my kids and also a bit weird planning 2 funerals so close together. Aunt Drue spent alot of time with her sister, my grandmother and our family. She was such a neat lady. She and my Grandma made my prom dress when I went to prom with Nate. Anyway, she was 95 when she passed and a truly wonderful woman. We miss her terribly.




Natalie has had a big year. She now has braces AND glasses and is doing well in piano. The first couple years were difficult for her but she seems to be enjoying it and now playing songs that she knows and can sing too. She also decided to join the school band and is learning to play the drums. It's a LOT of fun to see her in concert! My brother Brian and sister Sara were here visiting and were able to see her first performance along with my sister Melissa, Amy, Whitney, and new Brother Michael. Everyone was here for Whitney and Michael's wedding Dec. 2. Natalie is an excellent student and LOVES to read. In her class she is the top student and she also LOVES science. She is always asking me to do science experiments. For Christmas this year we got some kits for science projects we can do at home. Natalie is quite the leader and coordinates dances and cheers at school, recruiting anyone who wants to have a part. She choreographs the whole thing and assigns out the parts to each girl. It's pretty fun to watch and hear about.



Alyssa. She is growing so much! This last year has been an interesting one for her. She is also taking piano lessons and hates them. I tell her that she will like it soon. She isn't convinced. When we ended the school year this year, I was a bit discouraged. Her teacher was not what I expected and Alyssa was struggling a little bit. Over the summer though we took Alyssa to the pediatrician and had some blood work done. With my family history of celiacs and her difficulty focusing, her tiny little frame and lack of growth I thought we should have her checked out. She came back as positive for the problem and also had not gained any weight or height in a very long time. So long that the pediatrician was pretty concerned that I take her off of gluten completely and feed her everything healthy that I could as much as she would eat, focusing on veggies, and lean meats, rice and potatoes. Needless to say she hasn't put on a huge amount of weight but she has grown 2 sizes and her weight is catching up. School is not a struggle anymore and her focus is sharpening. She is extremely imaginative and artistic. She LOVES to sing and play. She also LOVES science and nature. Anything that has to do with outdoors she loves. Birds, trees, rocks, mountains, anything. She is very sentimental and like her mother emotional. She, like me, is a bit shy and feels uncomfortable making new friends, although, she's a very good friend. The picture above is of her and her cousin Brynn. To say that Alyssa loves this girl would be a bit of an understatement. She thinks she is her sister...or should have been. They are 2 peas in a pod, definitely kindred spirits. This picture was taken at Great Grandpa Brown's funeral and the two were inseparable. They had a fantastic time just being together.




Conner turned 5 on Halloween this year. He is such a joy. I knew he was supposed to come to our family before he was even thought of. Now that he's here and growing so fast I understand a little bit more of why. He is such an even tempered, kind, and caring little guy. He is a friend to literally EVERYONE. Not just kids his age but people more than 10 time his age. He will strike up conversations with sweet old ladies in wheelchairs at the grocery stores. Before we leave the little old ladies are nearly in tears and Conner is hugging them telling them to have a good day or they are his friend now. When Conner used to go to the rest home to visit my great uncle Paul, Conner would stop to visit with some of the residents there. Tell the older ladies that they looked beautiful that day or else another one something other sweet thing, and he really means it. He isn't not scared by their skin being wrinkled or their hair being gray or white (most of my kids are). He just treats them like he would anyone of his friends, and it makes their day. At school when we walk home random kids who aren't in his class say hi to him and call him by name. Even those on the other end of the school in 6-8th grade. This kid just loves everyone and they know it. He is still a kid though and has his moments at home. Overall though he is such a well behaved child and we feel extremely blessed to have him in our home. We tried this year to start him in piano and he actually did pretty well but he really didn't want to do it and I want him to want to so we will try again next year or the year after. He is doing super good in school and his teacher Mrs. Ebersole is FANTASTIC. He loves her and is learning so much not just about letters and numbers but about manners and structure. It's been fun to watch him grow.




Ethan. He's 2 this year. He is such a funny, fun little guy to have around. He is just busy, busy. He loves to take things apart, make messes aka helping, and be with his Daddy. Ethan LOVES his Daddy. He is a lot like him too. Though in many ways he reminds me of his Uncles. He climbs everything and runs constantly. I'm told that Both his uncle Matt and his uncle Ben did those things. He's a bit mischevious and is very strong-willed. He makes us laugh quite often though and is such a sweet little one. He looks very much like his older brother and I get comments frequently about that. I've even had people ask if they are twins. He is trying to do everything Conner does right now and it's so cute sometimes. Other times it's not so good.



This photo of Ethan is pretty typical. He is "fixing" our Rockband drums. Yep, he's Mr. Fix-it. Or fikit, as he would say. He loves his blankie that Grandma Goodman actually made for Conner. Ethan just attached himself to it and Conner didn't seem to mind. He loves his find-it, which is his pacifier. He should be off of it by now but we are babying him far too much and he still gets it. Soon enough it will be gone. He still takes naps and enjoys time with mommy in the mornings when all the other kids are at school. He is growing up so quickly and has actually mellowed quite a bit from 6 months ago when he would NEVER stop moving. He is so much fun and Nate and I both are really enjoying him.



This picture was when we were in line at Disneyland for Peter Pan. The only reason he survived was because he could climb on the railings. I'll blog about Disneyland in another post, which will most likely be mostly pictures.

We had lots and lots of great experiences and made lots of great memories. We also had some sad ones. The sad ones made me appreciate the happy ones even more. Time is precious. We never ever know how long we have to be here or what the future holds. So I cherish every minute that I have with family and friends in familiar places. Happy new year to all our friends and family. We love you and hope the new year brings happiness and joy to each of you and yours!!

Family

It's the best!!!

Black Friday

I've never been a huge fan...unless I have money to spend and someone to go shopping with....Sadly these two things never happened simultaneously. I do have a nice list of things I want though.

We're moving...

I'm still in denial/shock. I am not as strong as I thought I was. I feel like I should be so excited and happy but I'm struggling with thoughts like, it's going to be sad to leave all my friends, and my girls friends, ow can I do this to them? Take them away from their friends and Grandparents and wonderful ward members? I'm going to have to leave my chickens (which I have ALWAYS wanted) behind, along with my cats who I LOVE and the house Nate and I always planned to stay in forever!!! The life I have always wanted is here. I've only ever wanted to stay here with my husband and children and family. I'm going to have to leave it all behind...am I strong enough? I can't even think about it or I cry...talking about it...forget it! Right now I am just not thinking about it (denial) and praying (that that dreadful day in June will never come) & for wisdom, strength and courage to do what the Lord wants us to do.

Decisions

Well, I've never been good at making decisions quickly or well, at all. I get overwhelmed easily and worry if it is the right thing or not. It takes me a while sometimes. A family trait I'm afraid. So when Nate was offered a job in Richmond, Virginia I knew I was going to have to, with my husband make a monumental life-changing decision. How do people make decisions like this without taking weeks or even months?!? I feel very ill-equipped... but, the decision must be made. To go, or not to go....? I'm overwhelmed just thinking about having to make the decision...

Shelf Reliance Sale!

I just get really excited about this stuff!! For any of you who may be interested The 5 DAY SALE is...starting TODAY!
Shelf Reliance opened it's doors to a brand new building last night in American Fork!

To celebrate we are having a super 5 day sale!!

Starts Sept. 1st and ends Sept. 5th


Our Best Shelving Deals!

Our most popular shelf, The Harvest 72" $459.99 now $251.74*
Our newest model that has 6 rows and holds all small cans, Harvest 78" $459.99 now $261.25*
Harvest 72" Holds all #10 cans $459.99 now $251.74*

Cansolidator Cupboard fits right in your pantry and can hold 20 small cans in small area! Only $18.52*

FRUIT

Banana Slices $28.79 now $23.27
Blackberries $38.19 now $32.67
Blueberries $39.89 now $34.19
Mangoes $25.49 now $20.19
Pineapple Chunks $37.69 now $32.29*

VEGETABLES
Carrot Dices $17.09 now $13.86
Celery $22.79 now $19.56
Green Beans $15.99 now $13.69
Garden Seeds $41.39 now $35.43*
Mushroom Pieces $20.49 now $17.57
Spinach $17.69 now $15.19
Tomato Powder $35.19 now $28.99*




GRAINS


(All #10 can sizes)
Quick Oats: $6.59 now $5.69
White Flour: $7.69 now $6.26
Hard White Winter Wheat: $7.79 now $6.74
Whole Wheat Flour $8.39 now $7.21
White Rice: $9.59 now $7.78
Instant White Rice $11.39 now $8.73
6 Grain Pancake Mix $10.99 now $9.40

YOGURTS
Blueberry $37.39 now $33.35*
Orange $38.69 now $34.54*
Passionfruit $33.89 now $30.28
Pomegranate $33.89 now $30.28
Strawberry $33.89 now $30.28
Vanilla $37.29 now $33.25

CHEESE
Cheddar $42.79 now $36.66
Colby $49.19 now $42.08
Monterey Jack $47.29 now $40.46
Mozzarella $41.49 now $35.52

MEAT
Chicken $37.49 now $32.10
Ground Beef $44.69 now $38.28
Ham Dices $53.29 now $45.59
Roast Beef $45.69 now $40.78
Sausage Crumbles $43.79 now $37.52

ENTREES
Baked Potato Cheese Soup $41.39 now $35.43
Beefy Chili $41.19 now $35.24
Broccoli Cheese Soup $41.89 now $33.25
Cheesy Potatoes $28.69 now $24.60
Chicken Curry $37.89 now $32.48
Creamy Tomato Chicken $37.89 now $32.48
Chicken Noodle Soup $29.19 now $26.40
Dijon Chicken $37.89 now $32.48
Mesquite BBQ Chicken $41.39 now $35.43
Sweet Pepper Beef Steak $36.19 now $30.96
Vegetable Risotto $30.39 now $26.02

DESSERTS
Fudge Brownies $15.69 now $13.48
Ice Cream Chocolate Bars $24.59 now $21.08
Neapolitan Bits Ice Cream $47.99 now $41.03
Ice Cream Sandwiches $26.99 now $23.08
Macaroons $16.69 now $13.26

PACKAGES

Freeze Dried Meat 6 pack $282.89 now $231.79
Mixed Berry 6 pack $198.79 now $162.44
Entree Soup 6 pack $224.89 now $184.29

1 Year Deluxe family of 5 with 2 Harvest shelves $7,657.49 now $5,674.34 savings of $1,983.15
1 Year Deluxe 1 person with 1 Harvest shelf $2208.39 now $1636.84 savings of $571.55


Start your monthly Q within this 5 day sale and add all these sale items all you can to get the most out of your budget!! Email me if you need help starting your Q!

Go to: www.thrivefoodstore.shelfreliance.com and click THE Q to get started.

If you start at a $100 budget or more, you get FREE Platinum Status which gives you monthly deep discounts as well as exclusive products, coupons and gifts!


Shop for these and anything else you need through:
www.thrivefoodstore.shelfreliance.com

Heather

THRIVE FOODS