Our Family History

In Our Family This Week... this has been another wonderful week spent with Grandma and Grandpa Carlson! The week started off busy with saying our Goodbye's to John as he left with the Army for Annual Training. It was also spent getting August and Seth ready to leave on their High Adventure Scout Camp. Grandpa worked with the boys and got them further along in Scouts. He and August worked on Merit Badges and he got Seth started off on his Eagle Project! These things had been weighing heavily on me and so I am so grateful for this! Wednesday we all worked outside (it's our weekly "yard" day) and with grandma and grandpa helping, we really knocked out some good work! Ben also taught Nathan how to ride a bike this week!The girls were wanting to be like Nathan and ride a "Two wheeler" and we were blessed to find 2 little girl bikes at garage sales over the weekend. Of course, we had fun this week shopping too! I don't normally go shopping and so it was lots of fun for me! We hit several of the thrift stores and found some great homeschool items, books and clothes for all of the kids! We also made several trips to Walmart - which are always fun! We also hit the craft stores and Ross and Burlington Coat Factory. On Thursday, the 3 little ones, myself and Grandma and Grandpa all went out to dinner at the Golden Corral - Yum! We don't eat out very often and so during dinner Aubrie asked when the Cake and Ice Cream were coming out (she figured it was someone's birthday and that's why we were eating out!). Ben was invited to go to Roaring Springs with his best friend, Seth Henderson. He needed $30 to go and was frantic to get that much money. I told him that there was no way he could earn that much $ in a matter of hours.... that's when grandma came to the rescue! The $30 was given to him (mostly because I know she wanted him to have a fun day with his friend!) after entering into an agreement that he would BE IN BED no later that 9pm every night! He also has to :"deep clean" the 3 bathrooms. He readily agreed to these and was on his way where he had a blast at the water park. He even wore his new swimming suit and T-shirt that grandma picked up for him :) I also spent quite a bit of time on Wednesday and Thursday (a total of about 10 hours) on making the Trek Slideshow to be shown at the Pioneer Celebration. It was a lot of work but it turned out quite well and I'll be able to count those hours towards my YW Honor Bee! We hit some garage sales on Friday and Saturday mornings.On Friday, we went to a 10+ Homeschooling family garage sale and found TONS of curriculum and resources! I was most excited about several of the publishers that I had checked out already and knew I liked their approach! We also were able to get quite a bit of Christmas Shopping done! I am now completely DONE with both of the girls! Yep, that's right.. Done with the girls Christmas shopping and it's only July! The boys were harder to shop for (especially at garage sales) but I was still able to pick up a few things. Although John was gone out to the Field for AT, he had to come back into Gowen Field on both Wednesday and Saturday - so we all went out to his office and spent some time with him :) Saturday night Grandma and Grandpa got packed and mom and I went over some school lessons! :) Sunday, they went to Sacrament meeting with us and then they had to take off for home. I've felt a little "blah" inside today and know it's because I'm sad that they're headed home :(

In Our Homeschool This Week... Mom worked some with the girls and has them on the early brink of reading! We also went over some new methods that she has used with her students on teaching them to read and I'm really excited about implementing them! We also discussed some great strategies to help Nathan along with his letters and sounds. At the Homeschool garage sale, I was able to pick up the entire curriculum of "Five In A Row" which I'm pretty excited about using with the kids this next year!

My Favorite Thing This Week... oh, I had sooo many "Favorites" this week that I don't think I can choose just one!! Getting the Pantry stocked, new running shoes, Nathan not needing glasses (just yet), chatting about school stuff with mom, running with mom, walking with dad at the track and getting to talk with him, going to Golden Corral, visiting John at work with the family, GARAGE SALES, Christmas shopping and laughing into the night with my mom!

I'm Grateful For... That August and Seth were safe during High Adventure! We actually had quite the scare regarding them this week. I dropped them off at the church at 8am ready for a 3-4 days of adventure! The plan was to arrive at Riggins, Idaho by about noon and check into the SRHAB (the Base Camp) at 1pm. At 4:30 that afternoon, I received a phone call from Julie Meyer (the RS President who also had a boy going to High Adventure) and she stated that her husband (the Scout Committee Chairman) had gotten a call at 2:30 that afternoon stating that our troop had never checked in and were wondering if he knew where they were. They said they could wait 1 more hour, but then would have to leave them. Bro. Meyer received another phone call at 3:30 saying they still weren't there and the buses had to leave. I found out at 4:30 and immediately called John (who happened to still be at Gowen Field working). He proceeded to make several phone calls to the Idaho State Police who in turn located all of the little towns between Boise and Riggins. There had been no reports of any breakdowns or any wrecks (which made us all feel better but we still didn't know where they were!) Cell reception was null and none of the wives of the leaders had heard anything from their husbands all day.... It was a mystery! John had decided that if we hadn't heard anything by 7pm, he and his dad were going to drive up there and look for them. Bro Meyer ended up heading up there a little after 6pm (after he was told that it would be Thursday afternoon before anyone from their camp could verify if they had indeed hooked up with the tour guides). Everyone was praying. I just felt sick to my stomach! I kept thinking the worst and how life would be so different without my two awesome boys! Shortly after 8pm, we got a call saying they were found and had caught a bus and made it with the group! Yay!! Immediate relief and peace came over me! We still didn't know what had happened and knew it wouldn't be until they got home that we could ask where they were - but that was OK since they were alive and safe! When the boys got home later in the week, I ran up to them and hugged them tightly and asked why they had missed the bus - August looked puzzled and replied that they hadn't missed the bus and were there by 1pm and been sitting on the bus the whole time! Apparently what had happened, was they went directly to the bus loading area without checking in at the base camp headquarters and so they didn't know they were up there just waiting. Regardless - I am so grateful that all of my children are well and healthy and were safe this week!

I'm Also Grateful For... There was just so much I was grateful for this week that I had to make a second entry for this topic! I'm just so grateful that grandma and grandpa came out to visit us! I'm grateful that they were able to make it here safely. I'm grateful that although we all got sick (to some degree) it wasn't ever enough to keep us down! I'm grateful that I have so much fun with my mom and dad. I really enjoy spending time with them and chatting and just being together. I'm grateful that I was so lucky to have them as my mom and dad! I'm grateful that they taught me the gospel and are such incredible examples to me and my family. I'm grateful that they love to spoil us! I'm sooooo grateful that we were able to get ahead on the necessities of life and could get our freezer meals stocked back up! I'm grateful that we were able to find the things we wanted/needed at the garage sales! I'm grateful for the love and support of my family! I just love them all so much and am so grateful that we can be an eternal family!

My Goals For This Week... Get back into my daily scripture study of at least an hour each day. Read to the kids each day - a minimum of 20-30 minutes. Get us all packed and ready to leave on our vacation on Saturday morning.

Photos I'd like to Remember From This Week...