Our Family History

In Our Family This Week... This has been another busy week!  I went Visiting Teaching on Tuesday (my partner and I always go on the first Tuesday of the month). Wednesday was the 4th of July. We all went over to the church in the morning for a ward breakfast and bike parade. Then we came home and did up all of the yard work. That afternoon, John and I went to one of the local ponds and did our swim training. And then that night we went over to the Meacham's home for a BIG BBQ and Fireworks.  Now, when I say "BIG" that is exactly what I mean... they were planning on 175+ people and I'm certain at least that many showed! The Firework display was incredible!  They had a launch pad with 25-30 mortar tubes screwed in and then all of the mortars were fused together to go off one after the other. We were so close to the action that we had debris falling all over us! Thursday the kids and I all went swimming in the afternoon and then on Friday I started getting ready for grandma and grandpa Carlson to arrive (they'll be here on Wednesday). I borrowed a carpet cleaner from Tina Erbe and got our carpets all shampooed so that they'll look nice for mom and dad. Saturday was spent doing some deep cleaning in the kitchen and then I had a photo shoot downtown with the Jordao's.  John woks with Louie so he accompanied me on the shoot.  Afterward, we did the weekly shopping at Walmart. Today has been a good Sabbath. We all made it to church on time :) Ward Council went well and then I got the Trek photos ready to deliver to the Stake. John and I were also able to sneak in a nap.  August has left to go back to work on the farm for a few days - so he'll be missed. As far as training for our next Tri - I went running 3x's this week. I actually ended up taking 3:13 off of my run time this week - so I was happy about that!  and then we also did our one swim day. No bike this week (John's hand is still hurting him to ride his bike from the carpel Tunnel surgery) However, he did go on a bike ride with Ryan Pearson early on the 4th of July before the ward breakfast.

In Our Homeschool This Week... After a FHE on Monday about our family "missing" something, we all concluded it was our Enrichment time.  So this week, we have made it a HIGH PRIORITY to put Heavenly Father first in our lives and we had family scripture study each day as well as our Enrichment lesson in the mornings after the boys got back from football. I really think this is helping!  We also went to the library this week and got some new fun books for everyone! The girls were also able to do the ART time at the library. The girls also took some time and worked on their letters with some really neat alpha blocks that they have (see photos below). And then on Tuesday, Ben led the 3 little ones on a treasure hunting party at the park after they had all made their treasure maps (see photo below).

My Favorite Thing This Week... Spending the 4th of July together as a family. Another thing that was a "favorite" was that we banned ALL video games that had anything to do with violent acts. Sadly, that genre made up most of all the games we owned.  The boys were pretty heartbroken at first but after explaining to them WHY we needed to do this - they all understood and we went and turned in all of their games at VIP and got some good, wholesome games that they could feel good about playing. I've been feeling this burden for a while (that our family was participating in entertainment that wasn't pleasing to Heavenly Father) for some time now and  now  that it has been implemented.. I am THRILLED!!

I'm Grateful For... That John and I, and all of the kids are well and healthy!  Mom told me today that they had to postpone their trip for a day becuase some good friends of theirs just lost their 10 year old son in a car accident. That really put things in perspective for me - and I am soooo glad that I have all of my family with me and that they have their health and are safe.

My Goals for the Week... Getting the rest of the house "ready for Grandma and Grandpa".  I also plan to finish up the Jordao's photo gallery so I won't have to worry about it while mom and dad are here.  And of course, daily scripture study and having fun with mom and dad!! Yahoo!  can't wait for them to arrive!

Photos I'd like to Share from the week...

The kids working on their Treasure Mpas