Homecoming parade

The year the MSWSA entered the BYU homecoming parade. As a member of the student association, I offered our trailer and 4-wheeler, and it ended up being quite a production at my house getting ready and then actually decorating the trailer and walking in the parade. I was glad to be involved, although extra work, it all went very smoothly. We held posters telling what social workers do, and had pictures of humanity on the float, and passed out candy and fliers with resources, and yelled "Strengthening families!" and "The social work program is alive at BYU!" Jared did a lot of trailer loading, transporting, hitching, and kid watching so it could work out. While waiting for the parade to move, we painted all our faces with BYU and Y and NASW, etc. There was plenty of candy and not a lot of crowds and decent weather. The kids had fun and so did I. Good memories!

Violin Recital

Savanna and her violin teacher Cathy Webb.



Savanna did a great job at her first violin recital. She played "Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She had literally come straight from a soccer game, change in the car, and was very composed and beautiful. Good Job Savanna!
And here is Savanna at her last fall soccer game.

Fall Soccer

This year Weston was a yellow Lightening and Savanna was a lavendar Hurricane.







My kids are quite the mediocre soccer players, but they have fun and get exercise and that is what its all about, right? Savanna mostly played goalie this fall, she stopped a lot of balls! Her defenders were worthless so Savanna had a lot of opportunities to block the goal. Weston needs to put some of the aggression he experiences fighting his sisters into kicking the ball. He lags behind and jogs and kicks it when it comes to him, not hard, but he always says afterwards that he had fun and likes soccer. I guess Fiora is the smart one, knowing full and well without even trying that she doesn't want to run that hard to get kicked and tripped and be blocked by eight other players. Fiora is doing gymnastics and that is quite good enough for her. The kids sure love jumping on the tramp! Weston wants to get in karate or Tae Kwan Do, he lives in a marshall art dream land. Even on the soccer field you will see him karate chopping the air and sweep kicking an unseen enemy. Maybe next year, maybe, he will be in a self defense class instead of soccer.

Jared has recently been into flipping ATV's. Every week or so he has a new one sitting in our garage that he got a stealofadeal on and plans to sell for profit. He even flipped a fridge. He claims he is earning back my tuition and books, and that leaves me in no position to argue.

I Heather am settling into my grueling semester. Now that 20 hours of my week are spent at my internship, finding time to study has been tricky. I let the pressure take over last week, because I got sick, and so I was spent physically and mentally I was ready to quit my callings, school, internship, mom and wife, and admit myself to a psych hospital. But it also made me grateful for my health, I really haven't been sick like that since I started school, what a blessing. No time to be sick. Lovely how I take on the world one day and am crushed by the weight of it the next day. I'm trying to just take it one day at a time and unwind my tightness. We are so blessed.


This is Weston last week, I came home and Savanna had tucked him in and turned on a movie and was making him soup because he threw up twice at school. (I think I got his sickness.) I was worried about my girls getting it and told them what they need to do if they get sick at school--call Karli, call Jared, and then call me--but only if they are throwing up or have a fever. Fiora took my lecture as permission to get checked out of school. The next day Fiora called Karli and got checked out saying she didn't feel good, and Karli had to take her to Jared's office because Karli had school, and Fiora seemed just fine. I don't know what to think about that, but we had a talk about it.

One last Camping trip

We blew off quite a few responsibilities to make this camping trip happen. But I think the general concensus was that it was worth it.

Weston says of our trip: "We made a barbecue and barbecued a fish. We gutted it and it was more gross than you can imagine and slimy. The first night we had tin foil dinner. Breakfast was french toast and bacon and hot chocolate. Not more hot than you can imagine, just hot. We also had smores."

Fiora says, "The breakfast was very delicious and I liked the hot chocolate but it kept burning my tongue and now its still red. Dad caught a fish and I named it Edward. When we cooked it up I called it Cookedward. Savanna called him choppedward. Dad took out its heart. Um, I almost ate the tin foil on the tin foil dinners. What I liked the most was watching a movie and spending time with my mom and dad and brother and sisters. I stayed in one place in my sleeping bag because it was so cold! I loved it. Except for the cold part. We hiked to a waterfall, and there were bridges and they were so fun. And Savanna lost her balance and almost fell in the river."

Savanna says, "I learned how to fold a sock in a circle in school. Oh wait we're talking about a camping trip. Yeah, it was fun. OK bye. Nevermind, acutally, I want to keep talking. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakual at night and it was fun, but really cold. Fiora's feet kept freezing and she couldn't move them in the morning. Um, um, um oh yeah, I remember what I was going to say now, we slept in a really warm sleeping bag, not the cheap ones from walmart. They aren't warm at all. It was kind of fun. K bye for reals."

Weston adds, "Hi again its me Weston, well I just wanted to say I found a stick that was sharp at the top and bottom like a pencil. I put my stick in Savanna's face when we were doing a picture at the waterfall."

By Savanna

my name is SAVANNA!!!

My school has a lot of different rules. My teacher yells alot. And lunch is very different. We have a recess before lunch. and When we are done eating our lunch we have to raise our hand to be dismissed. And then we dump our (styrofoam) trays and then we have to stack them. which is rely wierd because afterwards they just throw them away.
This week I got a new bike. And we got a trampoline too. Granpa Neil gave it to us.

I was spinning on the trampoline today, and I almost fell off, but I caught myself.
On Friday I went to a birthday party. It was for one of my friends named Sidney. It was very fun. We listened to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus about a hundred times. We did these crazy dance moves and Jill flopped her hair up and down and her head band flew off and hit her soda. HAAHAHAHAHAH.
Fiora has alergies. She gets a runny nose and watery eyes and sneezes alot, sometimes at 4 in the morning. I like that song "4 in the Morning" have you ever heard it? Oh never mind, you don't have to answer that.
Hmmm, I use ABSOLUTES "all the time." At least that's what Mom says, and she says I should not to use absolutes, and not say "all the time" or "never" or "always." Example: "Fiora's never nice!" or "Weston ALWAYS hits me!" or "Weston is ALWAYS chewing with his mouth open!" or "School will NEVER end!"
Happy birthday to you!
I don't know why I said that.
The END.

Back to School

My kids have some character don't they? You gotta love these outfits, compliments of Aunt Wendy. So yes, school started. My kids are all in school all day. Wow, what do you do with your time, you ask? So far my time has been absorbed with visits, cleaning, appointments, lawn care, and grocery shopping. I'm not sitting home eating popcorn and watching Oprah. Wait, I don't watch Oprah anyway. Bad analogy. The point is, I keep busy. And school is starting for me tomorrow which means, I'll still be busy.
The kids did great the first 3 days. They leave together and they meet up together after school. Weston did say that staying that long at school is hard, and there is a boy in his class that is already starting to be a bully, but otherwise he likes school. The girls have no complaints. I am diligently enforcing the music practicing in the morning, but for some reason the kids don't really like to practice. I think its harder to do housework than sit and play an instrument, but they have been opting to do a chore rather than practice. I actually practiced Savanna's violin one morning while she did the dishes, trying to show her how easy and enjoyable it is to sit and play while someone does the house work. She got all antsy because I wasn't doing it right and eventually took the violin and showed me. I can now play a D major scale and Twinkle Twinkle on the violin.
Here are the back to school on the first day pictures.

Letters to Heaven

August 22 was Lillian's death date. It passed by as mostly a regular day, it was Sunday and the choir did sing and I secretly dedicated their song "Our Savior's Love" to Lillian. The FHE prior to this we had a lesson by Savanna and she had us write letters to Heavenly Father. We all miss Grandma Sandy and Lillian. The kids wanted to tie balloons to the letters and send them to Heaven, but I wanted to keep these letters forever. (Jared wrote one too but wouldn't let me scan it.)




My letter to Heaven would pour out my thanks to Heavenly Father for my life, my family, and my Savior. What a wonderful family I have been blessed with. I'm grateful for the strength the Lord gives me every day to do what I need to do and knowing I don't have to do it alone. How wonderful forgivenenss is, and faith, and healing, and I'm thankful for His love and the Spirit. I'm thankful to have the ability to serve the Lord and to be served by all my spirit brothers and sisters on this earth. "And at last when I've completed all you've sent me here to do, in thy Holy habitation may I come and dwell with you!"