SNOW MUCH FUN

We had a good snow storm hit us late Saturday night/Sunday morning, waking up to a phone call of NO CHURCH. WOW! That has not happened for us since we lived in Indiana. So we had a little lesson and then invited some friends over for lunch. The snow kept calling to us, so we soon found ourselves out in the middle of a white wonderland. So, what do you do when you have full tummies, awesome snow, and awesome friends.........

They also cancelled school on Monday and Tuesday because of the snow and slick roads. What a long weekend. Now for Berek news. He flunked his hearing test at school so we had to take him back to the ENT. He now gets a new tube put in his right ear next Thursday. Hopefully #6 will be his magic one.

LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley

A Great Tribute to Our Prophet

Pres. Hinckley

I got a really neat email about Pres. Hinckley and in it was part of a speech to the Youth from the dedication of the Hinckley Building at BYU-Idaho. It is so sweet and shows the love he had for them and all of us. It is my favorite speech/talk I have heard from him.

"First, I want to tell you that I love you. I love you kids, you wonderful young people of this Church. I love you. I believe you are the best generation this Church has ever had. No generation which has gone before measures up to the stature to which you measure up. You are better educated. I think you have greater faith I think you have shown that faith and are showing that faith than any other previous generation. I am so thankful for you. I thank you for your strength; for your willingness to do the right thing; for your desire to serve the Lord; for your capacity to help build the kingdom; for the fact that you get on your knees and say your prayers, as I know you do; for the fact that you pray to the Lord to help you, to guide you in the things you do, as I know you do.

God bless you for what you are and who you are.

Now, don't ever do a cheap or a tawdry or a mean or an evil thing, my dear young friends. You don't have to engage in these things. The world is on a slippery slide, it is going downhill and it is going fast. And you are as a beacon on a hill young people of rectitude and virtue and decency and goodness. Remain that way. Do not destroy your effectiveness. Do not become involved in any kind of behavior which would destroy you, injure you, hurt you, debilitate you in any way whatever. You don't have to do those things. You can stand above them. You must stand above them! The world will look to you as the years pass, of that I have no doubt whatever. For if it continues to go in the direction in which it is going, the disparity between the world and this Church will grow and lengthen and we will become more and more of a peculiar people.

Now, be faithful, be true, go forward, be ambitious. Don't short-circuit yourself. Don't stop now. Keep growing. Keep going. Educate your minds and your spirits and never lose sight of the fact that you are a child of God with a divine destiny and capability of doing great and good and wonderful things. Don't sell yourselves short. Don't cheapen yourselves. You know who you are. Each of you knows that you are a child of God and that your Heavenly Father expects something great and noble and good of you.

The Lord bless you, my dear young friends. As I look into your faces, I see the future. Keep the faith. You will marry. You will have children. You will have grandchildren. You will go out and do the work of this world, but maintain your integrity. Be honest. Be good. Be decent. Be prayerful and the God of heaven will smile upon you and bless you, and give happiness in your hearts and a sense of peace in your lives.

I wish for you nothing but the best. You are so choice and so wonderful and the future is so great that you can't afford to betray yourselves in anyway or to do anything less than that which each of you is capable of accomplishing. You don't have to be a genius. You don't have to be a straight-A student. You just have to do your very best with all the capability you have. You have to do your very best. And somehow, if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine, and your lives will be fruitful and you will accomplish great good in the world in which you take a part. I couldn't wish for you anything better as I look into your faces this day.

May heaven smile upon you. May you be blessed. May you be happy. May you have joy in your lives. May your tears be few and your smiles many as you go forward with your lives is my humble prayer as I stand before you and express unto you my love for you and my confidence in you and my hope for you and my prayer for you. You are the very fiber of this Church and this Church will grow as its young people the young people of this generation magnify their callings and go forward and serve the Lord and live in loyalty toward Him. God bless you.

There is no end in sight for the good you can do. Do you know it? You are just simple kids. You are not geniuses. I know that. But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way people of your kind who can do these things.

I repeat. Don't sell yourselves short. You look in the mirror every morning when you boys get up to scrape off the fuzz, and the girls get up to put on the paint you look into the mirror and say "I can do the right thing today, God being my helper. And I will do it."

Our Weekend at Schweitzer

I was able to snap a few pictures of the kids and Jared in the room but Jared gets the credit for the rest. Thankfully he can snowboard down a hill with a camera without it coming back in pieces. He ROCKS!!!

Kenna just chillin with some apple juice

Berek thinking he wants to be a stripper someday

Nothing takes Jared to heaven like pnut butter and chocolate, AHHHH

Bailey enjoying a little sweetness.

Tayler coming off the "MAGIC CARPET"

Marianne heading down the hill, yeah!

Tayler during lessons heading off with Makenna.

Just cruzin away

Waiting in line to go back up hill.

Loading on the "MAGIC CARPET"

It was quite a fun weekend. Only a few little bumps and bruises with all of us :) It is always hard to come back to reality after a fun weekend with the family. We left on Thursday night right after Jared got home from work. Friday morning we got up early and got ready for our exciting day. Bailey was going to be in the child care there, which was awesome!!! Tayler was in the kinder camp which was child care plus 2-2 hour lessons, one in the morning and one after lunch. She loved it. I had a two hour private lesson, was awesome. I think I got more in that two hours then I would of all day with a class. Plus she kicked me into gear and made me do things that I would have been chicken to if Jared was teaching me (only cause he would let me get away with it) Jared, Berek, and Makenna just hit the hill. They are so fun to watch---someday maybe I will be almost as good as my kids.

Tayler did awesome. She is a natural no fear in that kid. She would just go down the hill no problem. She had two days of the kindercamp so her last day we got her an hour of private lessons and she went all the way down the larger hill and rode the lift up, didn't even fall getting off the lift. What a girl.

On day two I practiced what I had learned and finally got down linking the hill side, toe side. I was so excited I almost cried (seriously) I think Jared and Makenna almost did too. They saw me as they were going up the lift and wanted to cheer for me but was afraid it would distract me and I would crash, and I probably would have. This was a huge accomplishment for me. I have a problem of giving up too soon thinking I can't do it. With lots of encouragement from Jared and the kids, they just kept me going even when I was being a scaredy pants. LOVE YA"LL

Saturday night we watched fireworks from the balcony of the room. They were so fun!! Right after that the kids and I went soaking int the hot tubs while Jared put Bailey to sleep. Berek needed it badly. He hurt his tail bone while getting off the lift. (long story but I think the lift chair hit him on his way off) He asked if he could go to the bum store and buy a new one since he thought he broke his.

We all loved the weekend. It was fun learning along with Tayler. I even rode the magic carpet and Tayler cheered for me :) So family, you must of prayed or something cause I didn't die, and Andra, I am not in a wheel chair with a colostomy bag hanging out my side. Oh ye of little faith (in me).

THE ROCK BAND

Yes, we have a rock band. Okay, it's really just a cool new game and they finally got it for the PS2 but it is so fun. We have Sing Star and love that. Guitar Hero is the greatest. And then they came out with this, THE ROCK BAND. It is such a fun game. The whole family gets to play. It comes with a microphone, drums, and guitar. We bought it last night because Jared went out of town for the weekend to do some courses for his CE credits so we decided we needed some entertainment while he is gone since he usually entertains us. It can get quite lonely here when he is gone. I miss him, the kids definitely act different, not bad, just kind of whiny. Anyway, back to the game. It is so funny watching the kids play. They are so serious. It scores you and if you aren't doing well, it lets you know. Hopefully all you out there that like to play a video game once in a while, will come over and have some fun with us. It really is a good laugh at times.

Now for other news. Yesterday there was an envelope in the mail for Berek from Pasco Recreation. I of course opened it. He got 6th place in his division for the 1 mile at the Cable Bridge Run. I brought it with me to the school when I picked him up. He was pretty excited about it since last year we only got the purple participation ribbon. WAY TO GO BEREK!!!

2008-HOW SWEET IT IS

CELL PHONE PICTURES

AHHH, we made it till midnight. ALL OF US. I didn't ring in the New Year all alone this year while everyone else in the family was in la la land in bed.

New Years Eve Jared worked a half day so the kids and I just goofed around. That night was dinner at FIESTA, MMMM. I think most of the family has been there so you know how yummy it is. We ate, drank (lots of pop), and partied to the sounds of Mexico :)

As soon as dinner was over, Jared and Tayler went on their "Date". Yes, Jared now has 3 more women in his life besides me he has to impress. They went to the Tri-Cities Hockey game with Spokane. I guess it is suppose to be the BIG game of the year since it was New Year's. They had lots of fun. Tayler even gave Jared a kiss at the end of the date. I informed her that she is no longer allowed to kiss "my man". She got a big giggle out of it.

While they were at the game the rest of the kids and I went to our friends for a New Year/birthday party. We had lots of goodies, met some real fun new friends (hopefully they'll let me call them that), and watched the kids open their birthday presents. It was lots of fun. Jared caught up with us around 9:30 pm and we hung out for another hour & half. Bailey crashed so it was time to go home.

By this time it was 11:00 pm and we got our phone calls from the Idaho gang. We tried Andra, but it was 1 am her time so no answer. Tayler soon fell asleep so the rest of us all sat and watched a new scary show on A&E. Jared and I dozed off just for a bit but were up in time for the ball to drop in the BIG APPLE. The kids and I ran outside and lit some black cat fireworks. YEAH!!! Quite a few of our neighbors had the same idea. We drank a little sparkling cider and then off to bed finally. I'm just glad everyone made it this year.
New Years Day was spent shopping, exchanging some things, and then going into a coma on the couch for the rest of the day.

Friday the 4th we decided to take a family snowboarding trip to Bluewood. This trip was not as easy on me as the first trip. I had a real nice face plant/belly flop that knocked the wind out of me. I just laid there like a dead fish, at that moment, I wish I was a dead fish. Jared was still great and very encouraging, informing me that I was doing more advanced things than the first trip so not to get down. By the time the day was done, my right butt cheek was bruise to the point it hurt to sit, and it felt like I tore every muscle in my body from my waist up. Yet, I am still saying, "IT IS WORTH IT" It takes pain to get better,right??? Now for the kids. THEY ARE AMAZING! When I grow up, I want to snowboard like them. Berek has only been doing it for a few years and Makenna just one. It seriously makes me so proud I get tears in my eyes. It is so fun to see them do something like this and do so well at it. I never had the chance when I was growing up and this trip was my first time seeing them do it. KIDS, you are awesome. I love you. You rock!!! Now I just have to pull it together and work harder so I can keep up with them.

Kids are back in their first full week of school. Bailey was a little sick with the flu last week, then Tayler caught it but only had it on Monday. Berek's asthma has been acting up again. I'm at a loss of what to do about it. We are back on his breathing treatments and using the Advair. If it doesn't clear up in a few days we will probably do a Dr. visit to see if there is anything else out there that might work better, faster. It seems like it happened at this time last year and then in the spring so maybe it is just the season that makes it act up. Who knows?!?That is about all that has been going on here lately.