The Beach--Year 8

This past weekend we headed to the beach with the rest of the Lughesworth family for our annual fall get together. We are so lucky that we have this great group of friends for our family. After every get together with these guys we exclaim multiple times, "this is our best year yet!" This year did not disappoint. The weather was unbelievable, especially since we were having 20 degree low temperatures at home. We enjoyed hiking and playing in the sand and just being together. We are already counting down the days until next year.

True Love

Last night I headed to bed a little later than usual. I'm adapting to a new "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle now that Eli is an early morning seminary student. As I tiredly brushed my teeth I looked forward to settling down in bed, but I had a nagging thought. I knew that my ipod was in my car and that it needed to be charged. As I brushed I weighed my options: go immediately to bed and endure my morning workout without the help of music, or venture into the cold garage in my pajamas and plug my ipod into my car charger. Although I really wanted to just go to bed I knew I would regret it if I didn't go take care of charging the battery. I opened the door to my car and there was my ipod plugged into the charger. Jason, knowing I would need the battery charged had taken care of it when he had driven my car earlier in the day. And for me that is what true love is all about.




Photo by Misty Alger. You can see the rest of our annual fall family photo shoot here.

A Confession & A Declaration

A few weeks ago I stood in my favorite section of Goodwill. On the shelf I spotted the familiar blue spine of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it and I almost bought it, just to save it from the shelves of Goodwill. I was saddened as I thought of someone discarding the book that means so much to me. Instead, I pulled the book from the shelf and left it facing forward so some other shopper would be sure to see it. Just moments later, as I was leaving the book area a man who appeared to be in his 20's entered the book section and asked a Goodwill employee if they had any bibles. The employee directed him to the religious area of the book section and I watched as the man picked up the Book of Mormon and held it in his hands. He then placed it back on the shelf. I stood there with my hands gripping my cart, hoping for the courage to boldly proclaim, "read the book, it will change your life." Instead I froze and did nothing. After hearing Elder Holland's bold declaration today of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I wish I could go back in time and simply state the truth to one who was searching that the Book of Mormon is true. But since I can't I declare today that I know the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. It is the fulness of truth and my beacon in a world of confusion. I am inspired by Elder Holland's testimony and example to never let another opportunity pass to testify of what I know is true.

Last Week

Last week came and went and I didn't even take a picture. A few months ago my good camera was stolen from the car along with Jason's ipod. We have yet to replace it and I'm just not as motivated to take pictures with my little camera. Last week flew by. It involved a lot of driving kids around and a lot of time lounging by the pool.

Emma did a tennis camp with Abbie and Reese. It started at 8:00 and Kariann and I carpooled. It was so hot which made it less enjoyable for Emma but by the end of the week it had cooled down and she enjoyed it a little bit more. Jack also did a little sports camp and he loved it. He looked forward to it every day and managed the drop off with only a few cling-on moments. He is definitely ready for kindergarten and I have great confidence it will be a successful year for him. Small things like watching him make eye contact with his coach at the camp and confidently tell him his name make me realize just how far this boy has come. On a side note Jack is obsessed with the lake. On Saturday we didn't do his usual routine of getting up and heading right out to ski. About halfway through the day he said, "hey, it's Saturday, why aren't we at the lake?" He later put the hitch on the back of the car and helped Jason hook up the boat. I need to video tape it because it is the cutest thing ever watching him guide Jason backing up to the boat and then giving him the thumbs up signal when he has the car in the right position. He is an observer and has learned from watching Jason.

Jason and Eli spent three days on a high adventure activity with the YM. They had a great time white water rafting, swimming, hiking and doing a zip line in the Glacier Park area. It was a great three days for them and they came back tired and satisfied. I am so grateful for good YM leaders. It helps that one of our best family friends is our YM president. Jason is anxious for us to take a family trip to Glacier, something that we've been meaning to do for years.

While Jason and Eli were away Jonah's friend Mitch got to spend three days with us. Mitch's family has a pool at their house and they graciously let us use it while they were out of town. I was truly humbled by their generousity of just letting us crash their house. They probably didn't realize that I would take such advantage of their offer but every afternoon we spent about three hours swimming. Their pool was nice and warm so even though it was only 60 degrees on Friday they swam their little hearts out and it made the long days with Jason gone go by quickly for me.

Saturday was one of those slow days where we were indecisive about what to do. The weather wasn't great which always depresses me. Eli was working on his Eagle project. He and several other scouts spent from 9 am-3 pm standing outside Shopko getting donations of school supplies. Eli is donating them to a school in our district where Brother Barnett, our favorite ward member did his student teaching. I am overwhelmed by how many donations they received. Our dining room floor is covered with sacks of crayons, markers, glue sticks, scissors, pencils and piles of paper. The project will require a separate post complete with pictures.

By the time we got home it was four and Jason and I were back and forth about what we should do. It had never really warmed up but the thought of a Saturday without getting in a little waterski time didn't sound very good. Jason had been home all day doing load after load of laundry and I had driven back and forth to Shopko about ten times. We asked the kids who wanted to go skiing and we had three very enthusiastic yes votes and three who wanted to stay home. Jonah, Jack and Emma were the enthusiastic ones so we headed down to our little sweet spot on the river. Earlier in the summer I had just listed our boat on craigslist. I listed it at about one in the morning (it took me a few hours to figure out how to post big pictures) and the next morning I wanted to see what else popped up when I typed in Mastercraft. Right above our listing was a post offering boat moorage on the Spokane River in exchange for occasional use of our boat. I had heard Jason and Chad several times say how it would be their dream to have a place on the river where they could ski right in town. Long story short, their dream came true and they have enjoyed skiing there every weekday this summer. Since we only had three kids and it was already evening we decided to ski there. I about had a panic attack driving Jason through the waterski course. The water was smooth and it was the warmest time of the chilly day. We didn't even feel cold after we skiied. Emma and Jonah skiied great but poor Jack had to sit it out since we didn't have his skis. After the river we headed out to Coeur D'Alene so we could dock our boat at our cabin for the week. I hope to give the kids a few more chances to ski as the summer winds down. By the time we left the cabin it was late and we were starving. We took the kids to a fun dinner at Panda Express and then stopped by Wal Mart for more school supply shopping. It was the perfect way to end a busy and full summer week. Only 2.5 more weeks until school starts. I am not ready to put the summer to rest and neither are the kids. It's going to be a big transition.

May

A few months ago Emma and her friend Abbie checked out a book about rabbits from the library. They were obsessed with it and studied all the facts and info about taking care of a rabbit. Emma was so passionate about getting a rabbit that we told her if she could earn the money for a cage and the actual rabbit she could have one. We never thought she would do it. Next thing we knew she wanted to do a bake sale. Not wanting to squelch her enthusiasm we whipped up some of our favorite chocolate chip cookies and rice crispy treats.



We started out at the park and then Grandpa suggested she move to a more populated area. He took her to the high school where there was a tennis tournament and a baseball game just letting out. She ended up selling all her stuff in about 5 minutes and made $20 bucks. Two more bake sales followed and I was getting nervous. Luckily she went with Abbie to get a kitty and decided that's what she wanted. I was afraid it would upset our other cat but after consulting other cat owners we decided to go ahead and let her get the 2nd kitty. She named her May because that was the month she was born. Our whole family loves this new cat but she's all Emma's. Because she had to work so hard for her she is taking good care of her. She was really hyper at first but has settled down as she's become more used to her new surroundings. Emma is in heaven.

10 Days

Three different lakes

one day of rest

6 kids skiing and wakeboarding

one broken water pump

early mornings

family jumps in the lake and swimming with the kids

kayak rides

swimming without life jackets

naps

tube rides

Eli driving the boat

Hudson Hamburgers

Gooey Desserts

sleepovers for the three oldest kids

fun visits from all kinds of friends and even a surprise visit from our favorite 2nd cousins from Seattle

One broken nose

three days of nonstop fun with our "fake" cousins

15/16 fake cousins skiing (after years of hard work)

one thunderstorm

celebrating my 37th birthday

King of the tube

living in our swimsuits

catching snakes

Our week at the lake gets better every year. Even this year with a few extra days it seemed too short. Our time just flew by. It's hard to explain how much we love this place.We had great weather: hot in the day, cool in the night. The mornings were the best this year. So quiet and calm and peaceful. The kids are all so independent that it has changed our whole way of lake living. We used to sit on the beach but now we sit on the boat. It's so good to get away from everything for a week. It's hard coming back to the reality of piles of laundry, an Eagle Scout project for Eli to complete, and school starting one month from tomorrow. The summer is so short, so fleeting. It's hard to believe how quickly it goes.

Rebirth of the Blog

Three summers ago I sat poolside with Lucy as our children learned to swim. Lucy discussed her two passions: blogging and So You Think You Can Dance? I have yet to watch an episode of SYTYCD but i did start reading her blog and was instantly hooked. Then I started my own blog. My first post was titled, "Equal Sharing." Basically I was saying if I'm going to read other people's blogs I might as well share my own thoughts. Last night Kariann, Lucy and I sat at a round table at one of our favorite restaurants. It's been a year since we've seen Lucy. I asked Lucy, "Do you think blogging is dead?" Because for me, obviously, it pretty much is. But this reunion with Lucy made me realize that once again the sharing is not equal. I know what's going on with her yet I remain silent. As I walked Lucy up the hill from the backyard to say goodbye I realized how important friendship is and how important it is to stay connected. And so today I bring my blog back from near death.

Five For Friday

• I am mourning the passing of Truman Madsen and have been thinking a lot today of my time spent in Israel with him and his equally amazing and intelligent wife Ann. The thing I admired most about them was their marriage. They were equally yoked in intelligence and spirituality. Both of them impacted my life in lasting ways. I still have my set of scriptures from that time that are marked up with insights I learned from them every time they taught. I've spent the day cleaning the house, listening to Truman's CD's about Joseph Smith, just to hear his voice.
• The school year is quickly coming to a close. All four kids had major projects this week that almost put me over the edge. I was so proud of how hard they worked to do their best work. Now everything is done and we can jump into our short summer. Eli, My most awesome, incredible, and humble son, made a commercial starring Jonah for his project. I'll put it on if I can.
• We have had awesome weather this week which has prompted two trips to the lake and hopefully another trip tomorrow. Lily, Jack and Anna all got up on the wakeboard so it should be a fun summer of skiing and wakeboarding. Another reminder that the hard work when they were all little has paid off as they all hit milestones at the same time.
• We have planted a little garden. Ironically it is on our deck. We would love to work the land we have but it is too cost prohibitive so we have set up some square food gardening boxes on our deck. Let's hope we can grow something.
• Jason and I have been hosting a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class at our house. We took the class a couple of years ago and loved it. It's been great to take it again and fine tune our financial goals.

Sleep Deprived

It is a rare day that I indulge in an afternoon nap. The hours between 12:30-3:00 are valuable to me. It's my small window of time to run errands or work uninterrupted around the house. I usually pack it in and try and get a lot done. Yesterday as I was driving home with the sun shining through the car windows I started to feel a little drowsy. I was talking to my friend Betsy on my cell phone as I drove home and when I arrived home I went straight to my bedroom and lay down on the bed. It was shortly after one and I had big plans to fold laundry and make dinner before I picked Jack up from school. After I ended my conversation I thought to myself I will just close my eyes for five minutes and then get up. Imagine my surprise when I heard the phone ringing, waking me from a sound sleep. I was too out of it to even jump up and grab the phone. I checked the time and was shocked that it was 3:30, half an hour after I was supposed to pick Jack up from school. As embarassing as it was to sleep while I was suppposed to be getting Jack, I have to admit that nap was pure heaven.

Women's Conference Recap

I have a little handheld hymn book that my roommate gave to me 16 years ago when I left for a study abroad program in Israel. I carried that little book with me to many holy places such as Shepherd's Field in Bethlehem, the sea of Galilee, the garden tomb, the Garden of Gethsemane and Mt. Sinai, just to name a few. At each site we would sing a hymn as a group and I would write next to the hymn where I was when I sang it. Those songs are etched in my mind and I am often taken back to that moment in time whenever I hear or sing the songs.


Last week at BYU women's conference I marked another song in my hymn book. From now on whenever I sing "Now Let Us Rejoice" I will be transported back to the Marriott Center packed with women who were united in purpose and in spirit. Singing this song was unlike any other experience I've had singing with a group. We were led by Merilee Webb who had such passion that it was impossible not to catch her enthusiasm. She taught us how valuable we are as individual women and then we sang through the song once. She told us we could do better and when we sang through the song again it was such an improvement over the first time. I think we all had tears in our eyes. I felt strength as a woman and a follower of Christ.

I went with three of my friends and I am glad I get to be influenced by them in my daily life. We had so many great talks and I cam home with such gratitude that I am raising my kids with these women. I loved being back in Provo surrounded by mountains and walking the BYU campus. Highlights included visits to the creamery, the book store, staying in the dorms and eating at Los Hermanos. The best thing about our trip was access to our friend Stephanie's handicap placard for our rental car. On Friday we attended our last class in the Smith Field house and were able to park right outside the door in the handicap spot.

Other, more serious highlights included so many realizations about my life. From simple things like improving our Family Home Evenings and scripture study to more fully devoting myself in my roles as wife and mother. I am so glad I've reached a point where it's easy for me in so many ways to have a quick getaway and recharge my batteries. After two years in a row I can say I've established a new tradition.

Special guest post: in Honor of my Birthday

As king George said on july 4th, 1776, " nothing of importance happened today". Luckily, that quote doesn't apply to me today. So, without further ado, My birthday highlights:

I woke up to a (not so) beautiful morning and had a delicioud breakfast of goldenrod. then I had to walk halfway to school in 43 degree weather. Also, the juicebox in my lunch was leaking. luckily, I noticed early on and threw it out. now let's skip foward to 3rd period. I announced to the guy next to me that it was my birthday. the person behind me heard us, and happened to be carrying around a bunch of birthday cards (crazy, I know). Several people signed it, and so that was a nice suprise. Then the teacher gave us 2 tests. In my 6th period class, there is a girl who is 3 days younger than me and has been irritated abour it since she figured that out. I showed her my b-day card and she signed it, followed by a skull and crossbones. She then proceeded to draw on her arm a detailed narritive of how i'd die and nobody would care. (by the way, we're friends, so it was all a joke.) then I went home and had my party. I got:
A puzzle
A book
A comic book
A Lego set
and an iPod Nano
Then I had chicago suffed pizza and carrot cake. afterward, my mom and dad went out to shop and left us to tuck the kids in. lily and jack broke my Lego set, and later, jack lit a match. (disaclaimer, I capitalize wods at random. That's just the way I write.) All in all, a pretty good day.

My Boring Little Life

It's time for my longer than anticipated blogging hiatus to come to an end. Sickness is my excuse. Sure I was sick at the beginning of the month but even worse my computer came down with a terrible virus and completely shut down. It was wonderful and terrible at the same time. I found myself with more time due to a sharper focus on my life without the distraction of the computer. At the same time I found myself wanting to be online with no way to be there. Luckily we still had our laptop for emergencies but it's on its last leg so it was annoying to use.

Life is good. We've had a few beautiful days of spring weather which have been so rejuvenating to me. We enjoyed a beautiful day of spring skiing at Silver Mountain and then three days later went for a boat ride to check out the lake. The air was so warm that it felt like a summer day. Jason even skiied. The next day things changed drastically and the weather went south and so did my mood. I guess the snow and wind that came so suddenly makes me appreciate the gorgeous, sunny, 70 degree day even more. It's brutal though, to have it one day and gone the next. So fleeting.

It's time to start writing again. My most loyal readers, my kids, miss my posts and are begging for updates on the lives they already live. Tuesday my boy turns 14. That means four more years until he leaves home. I can barely comprehend where the time went. Maybe he will do a special guest post in honor of his birthday.

Spring Break Sickness

We made our annual spring break trip down to Utah. We were looking forward to warmer weather, seeing family, skiing and a side trip to Southern Utah. Instead we all came down with the most miserable flu and scrapped most of our plans. We also infected my sister (our wonderful hostess) and left her on Wednesday sick in bed.

Even with our illness we stuck to some of our original plan. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and hit the slopes the next morning. Jason had several cousins in town so we all met at the resort. The day started out badly and ended up being my worst ski day of the season. Anna, lily and Jack were all sick, but since the bug hadn't hit me yet I had little sympathy. By the 2nd run I knew I wouldn't survive the day. Lily was crying and complaining that she hurt all over and had the worst hacking cough. We called my sister-in-law Staci who came to the rescue and drove up the canyon with her two babies in tow and saved the day. By the time she arrived Jack and Anna had given up as well so I sent her packing with three little kids. The afternoon made up for the morning and we had a fun time skiing.

Friday was also Anna's birthday. Luckily she felt well enough to celebrate and she had a fun party with quite a few of her cousins.

Saturday was the big family event. Our nephew Nathan was married in the SLC temple so we spent the afternoon at the wedding and the evening at the reception. It was so fun to see our favorite nieces and nephews all grown up and married with families of their own. I can't believe they were the ages of our kids when I met them so long ago. I made it through the wedding and reception and then went home and crashed.

Our original plan for Sunday had been to attend Music and the Spoken Word with the big kids. Everyone was feeling pretty sick and tired by then but Jonah and I woke up and decided to go. We DVR this every Sunday and then watch it after church while we are making lunch or dinner. It was pretty cool to see it in person. The best part was running into my friend Angie who was there from Boise. Due to extreme weather she was stuck in SLC. We had a great time catching up.

Monday we took a tour of the church humanitarian center where the poor tour guides had to endure our little kids hacking cough's and frequent complaints. We also drove down to Provo for a shopping trip for BYU t-shirts and sweatshirts and a taste of icecream from the famous BYU creamery. I had my usual roasted almond fudge. We also ran into some friends from home in the bookstore.

On Tuesday Jason and Jonah hit the slopes again to take advantage of the fresh powder in those awesome Utah mountains. During the time we were there they got over 4 feet of snow in the mountains. Rebekah and I took the other kids to temple square and did a lightening fast tour. That night we left the boys to babysit and went to dinner with my sister and brother and their spouses.

Wednesday morning we got up and made the drive home. By now my illness was getting worse and I was so happy to get home. I've been trying to rest ever since. The laundry is undone and I'm getting more behind by the moment. I finally gave in and went and saw the doctor this morning so hopefully I'm on the road to recovery.

I'll add some pictures later. I barely captured any of the week. We all looked/felt so bad all week that I never felt like bringing out the camera.

Birthday Party Reprise

Emma and Anna's birthdays are 16 days apart which makes for a busy March. We are going to be out of town for Anna's birthday so we held her party early. It was a pleasant affair with a fun group of girls. They were content to do their crafts and color their treat bags. No one even complained when the pinata broke after only two girls had hit it. (I used the pinata on the hoe trick that I learned from Lucy's blog). We went with a butterfly cake. Anna was a very happy birthday girl and could barely wait for the party to start after she got home from school.

The rest of the weekend was low-key. Eli and Jonah held a scout campout in our backyard. Our scoutmaster can't leave town because he is on call for his job so we used our backyard. I loved it because it was so easy for the boys to get themselves ready. They just grabbed our tent and sleeping bags and were good to go. On Saturday we attended a baptism, cleaned the house and then went to a spaghetti dinner at Jack's school. It's our first Saturday in weeks that we haven't been skiing and we all experienced some withdrawals. Luckily we'll get a chance to hit the slopes a couple of times while we are in Utah this coming weekend.

Jack was so sick yesterday. We woke up and started getting ready for church and he was slow moving. I was getting ready and when I came out of my bathroom he was sleeping on my floor, curled up in a ball. I stayed home from church and he slept most of the morning. He spent the rest of the day laying on the couch. He didn't say anything all day, just rested. I must admit it was nice to experience the subdued Jack for a day. The house was so quiet and stayed clean. But today Jack is back, feeling much better and as active as ever.