Savanna Post

Savanna is still plugging away at Jr High, dealing with Jr High drama but surviving the stress and adapting which is good for her. She is definitely a survivor! She gets hurt fast and deep but she bounces back quickly. She's still a great debater, has Jared's love of loud pop culture music and my singing voice so she can really raise the roof when she sings, but still refuses to join the ward choir! She has (I think) reached her max height at 5'3" and gets a little miffed because she has a Schauers build rather than a Heather build.  Not many people in this world have the scrawny Heather build so its a sorry comparison to live with, and in spite of it I think she is mustering the inner courage to love her looks and body, for which I am so proud of her because at her age that is very hard.  I just cry when I think of how beautiful my Savanna is, and wonder if she will ever see herself the way I do. She is also smart, funny, musically talented, and has a strong testimony and a strong spirit.

Savanna is my sunshine. Her hair is usually done with perfection, so I hope she's not mad I put a picture on here where her hair isn't done. She is the child most like me when it comes to my own limitations, (except she seems to get over things quicker) sometimes its a painful look in the mirror. For example, when I'm rattling off all my great answers to Fiora's life's problems and in comes Savanna sits down and starts rattling off all her great answers to Fiora's life's problems, and suddenly everything I was saying sounds so ridiculous, haughty, and unempathetic I just cringe. We are both oldest childs, we are inborn with a "know-it-all" computer chip in our brain, and its taken years for me to try to reprogram my brain so it should come to no surprise that Savanna is still hard wired that way. Savanna loves to make me laugh and feel happy, she also likes to let me know when I'm correcting her about something that I behave the very same as she just did in my weak moments. How can you argue with that? Yes, I'm human and I don't always handle things very well, I'm not nice and impatient and irritable when I don't feel good, just like you, and I really have no leg to stand on trying to get you to find other ways to handle yourself in this situation, so...if neither of us likes it when the other acts this way, its a maladaptive behavior that gets us no where, why do we do it and what do we do instead? Maybe that is a life long lesson to be learned. Interestingly enough, because we share this limitation we both notice when the other is trying very hard to be agreeable even though we are hurting inside or outside, and we both compliment the other when we do.  We both have fire coming out of our eyes when we are pushed beyond our patience limit, but we both have sunshine and love pouring out of us when we are in a good place mentally/physically. There's nothing better than to have Savanna in your corner and her joyful spirit in your company. She has helped me find some inner peace because I love her so much despite her limitations, it helps me to love myself despite my similar limitations instead of constantly feeling disappointment with myself, and I needed some self awareness and self correction for which no other spiritual being could ever have given me. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father gave me Sav. Love you.

Savanna age 12 months

Fiora Post

January 2015, 11 years old. This fun little girl isn't so little any more. She is taller than me now and keeps growing, and will be 12 next month, so definitely becoming a Young Woman, a beautiful woman is in the making. I still see my chubby sweet little baby when I see her, she is and always has been a wonder and a joy to me, my beautiful flower.

October 2003, 10 months old

Last night we went to the YW new beginnings activity and were asked to say a little bit about Fiora. So I've been thinking about what I love and appreciate about her. Jared stood up and made the remarks which were cute and fun, but he sat down too soon. There is so much more about Fiora I love! She is responsible! She is faithful about taking care of her braces and rubberbands, she is so faithful about keeping those rubberbands in place in that she runs out before the month is out. She keeps track of assignments and gets them turned in, she puts her lunch bag away each day after school, she gets to the bus on time every morning, and she feeds and takes care of her pets every day. Fiora loves animals of every kind, she will probably be one of those people who when she has a house of her own has 4 cats, 2 dogs, three birds living in the house with her, and possibly a couple goats or chickens out back. She is a wonderful writer and a speedy typist, she loves to read literature instead of just pop culture books, and she is super smart at memorization.  Fiora is shy and timid around people she doesn't know or doesn't feel included with, but at home or with her friends she is zaney and silly and hilarious, and even a bit on the wild side. She is sensitive to the feelings of others, and wants to do the right thing, and loves us so much. I can always count on Fiora to tell me she loves me multiple times a day!  Fiora has been making comments lately about how she feels her life is useless and she doesn't do anything skillful like dance or athletics or art or music.  As her mother, I can verify that Fiora is no ordinary child and she will be a valuable and very useful member of her family, society, and God's Kingdom! Just because she couldn't care less about sports and has limited interest in pursuing music skills doesn't mean she isn't a champion! Fiora will very likely do more valuable work of an eternal nature than she or anyone can now comprehend, because her heart is pure gold and her mind strong, she is faithful, trustworthy, and she is willing to do Heavenly Father's will. I'm honored to be her mother.

A Weston Post

Weston made a goal to get a 62 overall score at a gym meet this season, Jared and I were trying to tell him its ok if you want to make it a 60, but he insisted 62. He blew us away and met his goal this weekend at his gym's home meet! So fun to watch him perform and see his hard work pay off and we are glad he met his goal. Next goal, its ok if you're not #1 next meet, after all he has always been a champion in our eyes.

http://youtu.be/mMceCHDvYDc

1st place overall in his division! That's him with the beanie

They let Weston take the team trophy home because he had the highest score

Fiora came with us to the 4 1/2 hour meet, and was very patient and watched movies on her kindle, and even watched Weston at his events a couple times. We were all starving after and went to Maria Bonita's to celebrate. After so much stress and so long without food Weston was starving but in no place to "rest and digest" and that night he threw it all up, poor kid, but he is still on cloud nine about his performance so its all good.

My parents came over to visit so my mom and I could practice a musical number I volunteered to do this last Sunday, and while we were practicing my dad went downstairs and nosed around. He went into Weston's room and noticed 4 piles of clothes neatly folded on his floor, his gym medals lined up carefully on a shelf, his legos all put together and on display on his shelves, and his bed, unmade but all the covers neatly stacked together and pulled back in a neat triangle. Then he went into Fiora's room and could barely see the floor and couldn't tell where the bed ended because of blankets and objects on the floor, then he went into Savanna's room and couldn't open the door because of the piles of clothes everywere...then he walked back into Weston's room and Weston came up behind him and said "Sorry about the mess."(referring to the folded clothes on the floor instead of in the dresser and the unmade bed).  Dad had a good laugh.  That's Weston for you!
After his gym meet I started having some anxiety that this win would go to his head so I was trying to tell him "You're not better than anyone, you met your goal and that's the important thing, but God and I don't love you any more or less because of a win."  He is the type of kid who is hard not to love, he is conscientious of how I feel and tries to help me out, he wants to do the right thing and asks me what he can do to help, he is organized and talented, he is just an all around awesome kid. I was very overwhelmed when I got pregnant with Weston so soon after having Fiora, but the spirit whispered to me I would be eternally grateful for my son, and that is surely true.

back to family history recording!

We got new couches! We had a goal not to buy new furniture until 2015, and on January 2nd 2015 these were in our living room. We found a great deal and love them. Jared has always wanted a man chair, so we got a great deal on two recliners, so our bay window is no its our relax an recline center. 

Here is an update by family member: 

Jared: My husband is enrolled in a “small business entrepreneurs” educational program funded by Goldman Sacs, he qualified because his business is growing and he is getting educated on how to make his business continue to proliferate and expand. Its at the SLC community college campus twice a week and he has a cohort, work group, homework and it lasts a few months.  I support him completely in educational pursuits and hope he manages the extra stress ok, because he is still very busy running his Real Estate/Property management business full time. He is currently in competition with Gabe Carpenter to see who can get the most defined abs first, so he still takes time to work out in the morning and he tries to eat healthy.

Heather: I am feeling somewhat better some days with my functional bowel disease, and my current theory is my dramatic change in diet last year threw off my stomach acid production (or maybe its always been off) causing bacterial overgrowth and ulcers and a plethora of other unpleasant symptoms, one of which being I couldn’t absorb large food molecules and proteins.  My body is slowly but surely still trying to find a balance of good bacteria, acid supplements to help absorb proteins and produce minerals that help produce sufficient acid, and regulating blood sugar so I can heal and stay healed. I have lots of hope that this year won’t be as unpleasant health-wise as last. I have made a goal to work 4 hours a day towards my LCSW hours to speed up my licensure date. I’m currently at 1941 of my 4000 required field hours, and I hope to have acquired 1000 hours by the end of the year. I’m still cooking a lot but have become more efficient and savvy about it and I’ve simplified some so it doesn’t take up all my time.  

Savanna: She just started a new semester in junior high and has a new schedule she is excited about. She did fail math completely last term, but with a new teacher and tutoring and math labs she hopes to get that grade up. All her other grades were A and A-‘s.  She has a good friend named Aislyn she hangs around a lot, she still loves nail art, makeup and hair doing, and she helps around the house earning money for rides to school.   She is considering dropping orchestra and taking choir and trying to find a private teacher for violin because the orchestra teacher at Oak Canyon is not teaching her much. She watches way too much Miranda Sings and likes to dress Fiora up like her because Fi kind of resembles her and they both can do some pretty good Miranda impersonations.

 

Fiora: This girl is in the middle of a huge behavioral science project for her 6^th grade science fair, she made a mouse maze and bought 2 female mice (Chocolate and Marshmallow, Chocho and Marshy for short) that she hopes to train to go through the maze perfectly by shaping their behavior through reinforcements. She is also doing a non-silent movie project, doing battle of the books, and is taking on extra math work every day to boost her math skills.  She has some tummy sensitiveness but we aren’t sure what the cause is yet, she is also having a growth spurt so she is hungry all the time and it s tricky to find lots of food she likes that she can eat. She is taller than me now 5’2” and still has braces, she also still has her CRT contact lenses she has to put in every night and she is doing a fantastic job at keeping that up even though its uncomfortable sometimes.

Weston: We are in the middle of heavy gym meet competition season. He had his first gym meet last Saturday and has another one this Saturday.  He did pretty good for his first meet, 56.4 overall score, but his goal is to get a 62 at one of his meets this season which would be pretty awesome! You would have to get perfect scores on every event plus bonus points to get that.  He is loving his mushroom at home to practice on and impresses us daily with his press handstands and splits. He is doing well in school and still practices the piano consistently, and is back in orchestra accompanying them on the piano. You can view his meet at this LINK.  Also he loves puzzles about as much as I do and completed this one.

In other news our pet gerbil of 4 years is dead, he had a stroke or something and he kept falling over on his left side, he was making funny noises, and his left ear started to deteriorate, so I drowned him and put him out of his misery. The mice are helping the kids with their grief over Fred. On a funner note, my sister Krystal got engaged to this guy, Kollin Williams, and they are looking at May 16th ish for a wedding. Exciting stuff!