The remains of 2010

Jared celebrated his 33rd birthday this last week. The kids were able to spend that whole day at Aunt Wendy's house having fun making these cool candy trains, and playing Boola Boola. Thanks Wendy!





I went to the prison, and Jared went to work. But what fun, Seth Snow got his mission call that very day and we were able to watch him open it, he's going to Mexico. Then we headed home to celebrate Jared's day with the Barretts at our first hot tub party! It was so fun. I actually came home from the prison a littl early to make Jared's favority birthday dessert, brownie pudding trifle. He loved it! And we love him. Happy Birthday Jared!






That day sped by and the next day also. Christmas Eve was upon us and the traditional Schauers progressive dinner and program was underway. The kids sang their songs and we enjoyed lots of great food and company. Then we sped home, put the kids to bed, and got the Christmas presents ready.





Grandpa Neil woke us up at 7:15 and Christmas morning magic begun. We love having Grandpa over for Christmas morning, no matter how early he comes! We opened our Christmas box where the kids have been writing and putting in their acts of service and we took turns reading each one. Then stockings!






Savanna's stocking theme was earrings, Fiora's was "Littlest Pet Shop" and Weston's was Bakugons. I put an actual real orange in their stockings instead of a chocolate orange this year, they were not thrilled.






The Weights gave us gifts this year, and we all loved the hats and socks and activities they gave us. Thanks Lynn and Heidi!





The kids all opened the smaller gifts they gave each other and the one big gift from mom and dad. Savanna's was a huge-o art kit, Fiora's was a house for her Littlest Pet Shop, and Weston was iron man accesories. Somewhere in there I managed to get a gift too, a new blow dryer.





Then the SANTA present, the grand finale, the climax...we got the kids real live gerbils! Jared found this to be the least expensive big exciting gift we could get. There are three males in that cage. Savanna named her black and white gerbil Skippy Jon Jones, Fiora named her tan gerbil Squeaker McSqueaken, and Weston named his black gerbil Fred. They were thrilled.






We did discover that Savanna has a phobia of rodents. She screamed at the thought of touching them, screamed when Fred got out of his little plastic ball, and screamed when she did dare to touch Skippy Jon Jones. She is warming up to them now, and they are warming up to the kids too.




We spent some time playing with gerbils and then headed up to Eagle Mountain for an amazing Christmas brunch of peach french toast, ham, potato egg caserole, and fruit. We exchanged presents with the Barretts, my parents gave us "Shrek Forever After" ! We came home and watched it that very night. We love it. After we visited Great Grandma Rappleye of course, thanks for your gifts Grandma!







The next day after church we went back to Eagle Mountain to celebrate Gabe Carpenter and Kelsy Barrett's birthdays. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my wonderful family, they are such a great support and we're so lucky to have each other in this dreary world. It truly was a very merry Christmas! We are so blessed.







As a parting note for 2010, I would like to include an excerpt from "If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard" that sums up an important coping tool for me this year:
Paul concluded his sermon with the statement that of faith, hope, and charity, the greatest is charity. The implications of that declaration are spiritually staggering. Could charity possibly be greater than faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Or greater than hope in the Atonement? Or greater than hop for happiness in this life or hope for a better world and a place at the right hand of God? Yes. Because charity defines who and what we are seeking to become. Charity defines the nature of godliness. Paul taught the Colossians that charity was the bond of perfectness. Said the Prophet Joseph, “Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity and ought to me manifested by those who aspire to be the sons [and daughters] of God.”
Very simply, without charity we cannot enter the celestial kingdom, because if our natures have not become defined by charity, then we won’t be like our Father and His Son. It’s as simple and as profound as that. For charity changes us. It transforms us. It is as a healing balm. When we plead with all the energy of our hearts to be filled with the pure love of Christ, the increasing continual bestowal of charity not only changes our natures, it heals us from the emotional and other wounds created by the buffetings we experience in this lone and dreary world.
Sheri Dew

Busy Busy Busy

This hot tub is so fun! It is my anti-anxiety medication. The kids like it too. Savanna set a record to sit in it at least once every day. Jared and I have had a learning experience keeping the chemicals regulated, but I think we're getting the hang of it. We are excited to share with friends and family, so if you want to come over and relax please do!

The kids finished up their last school week of 2010 with a Christmas sing and parties and treats. I wasn't able to see Fiora and Weston sing, but I got to see Savanna sing "Pablo the Reindeer" because 4th, 5th, and 6th graders sang on my day off. She was a cutie singing her heart out up there. Weston sang "I want a hippopotumus for Christmas" and Fiora sang "Up on the Housetop."


During this busy last week of school, Fiora got THE DISEASE. It is a bad stomach bug that makes a person dry heave, throw up, diarrhea, and just plain feel miserable for 24 plus hours. Fiora started it, and it spread to me, then Jared, and Weston, and today it hit Savanna. So dealing with sickness has added to the fun this past week or so. Thankfully Fiora got better before the last day of school when she got to make her gingerbread house. Savanna and Weston's classes did white elephant gift exchanges. There are lots of sweets around!



I had a crazy week last week, I had finals and working at the prison, and the one day I had to be home I got THE DISEASE. So this week I've been trying to catch up on Christmas stuff. I got this idea from a friend of mine a couple years ago to make homemade chocolate covered pretzels for Christmas gifts. On Saturday I finally got a chance to try it, and just tonight I finally got a chance to distribute them. It was a labor of love!






It took me 6 hours. I melted carmel in an electric skillet, and twisted it around pretzels, then melted chocolate and coated the pretzels with it, and sprinkled them with green sprinkles. The kids wanted to help which made things take longer, and somehow I burned the white chocolate I intended to drizzle over it, and most of the green sprinkles got spilled all over the floor. I ran out of carmel and had to run to the store in the middle, but thats when I got this brilliant idea to use peanutbutter chips instead, which was easier to melt and in my opinion turned out tasting better. I made about 100 pretzels, put 4 in a bag, and viola! Yummy pretty treats.

December hours

Well now it seems I need to catch up. November was pretty snowy. My kids have fun in the snow. I'm allergic to cold and never play in the snow, but I like to take pictures of them playing and Jared snow plowing.



This is how I've been spending my time, or part of my time anyway, in a classroom with my other 36 fellow MSW students. The other half is at the prison in my internship. I am 2 finals away from completing this semester, and I'm already a little sad that I'll be graduated soon. I will really miss this cohort!


CLASS OF 2011

Jared decided to buy a BowFlex one day, he didn't consult with me or anything! I know, shocker. But the funny thing is it didn't come for months and Jared thought it was out of stock and we pretty much forgot about it. Until it just showed up on our porch this week and the invoice hit our account. I guess we won't be renewing our gym membership next year, and hopefully it won't just collect dust.



When Jared decided months ago to buy the BowFlex I made some comment like, "Why don't you put our extra money to good use and buy a hot tub!!!" I have always wanted one, and its my favorite thing to do to relax myself, and being so stressed this past year has made my desire increase for a powerful relaxing coping skill. I did not expect that guy to take me seriously, but he started pricing hot tubs on KSL, and did so for 2 months. Of course, Jared doesn't buy anything unless its a special product at a special price. A couple weeks ago he announced that he found a hot tub perfect for our family in Midway for $1500. I was shocked! It was black Friday, and instead of hitting the stores we all drove through the canyon to Midway. An old lady was selling her hot tub because her husband who has Alzheimers was the only one who ever used it, in fact, he bought it without telling her for $3600 new less than two years ago and she was worried he was going to drown in it because he would get in it at 3 AM in the morning. It was kind of funny. Jared talked her down to $1200 (1/3 the purchase price!), and picked it up a few days later. So Merry Christmas to us.


Cleaning and getting all the water out was the first step. Electrical upgrade was next, which cost more than we thought, but needed to be done anyway.

Then we filled it up, and I was getting excited, and we went to the spa store for chemicals.

Now its heating, as I type! We regulated the chemicals and PH and alkalinity, and we are just waiting for it to get to a lovely 104 degrees. Jared and I had to do some research on spa care and chemical regulation. At first it seemed complicated and I was wondering why I was getting into more work just so I could relax. But I think it will be well worth it. Jared and I promised not to get each other anything but this for Christmas. The BowFlex just happened to come around Christmas time so maybe that too.

Thanks be to our God

THANKSGIVING AT THE BARRETTS. My brother in law Bill made a TurDucken, that is a chicken in a duck in a turkey. It took 12 hours and a lot of work. I was in charge of veggies, easy. We got a puzzle out to give Grandma Rappleye something to do while we cooked, and it ended up distracting half the family and we were late getting dinner on. I forgot my camera, so thankfully Heidi doesn't mind that I copied all her pictures off her blog. It was a fun day and we are very grateful this year for our many blessings.

Jared and I feel so blessed, he has done well in his business this year, and I have had a life changing experience with school and internships. I thank the Lord every day for his abundance of blessings. Working at the prison makes a person so grateful not only for freedom, but for family and resources and the gospel and education. IGNORANCE and WANT are unfortunately a plague in our society that we would like to pretend are not there, and I have seen them up close and personal this past year. I've been doing my best to serve and help, but feel my efforts are so meager against the tower of disadvantage some of these people face. I've turned to the Lord and keep moving forward.

THANKSGIVING ABC's. We are grateful for...
Alan, Atonement
Barretts, Bill
Carpenters, Christmas
Doctors
Exercise, Education
Fiora, Faith, Family
Grandma, Gabe
Holy Ghost, Heather, Heidi, Holly, Home, Health, Holidays
Iron Rod
Jesus, Jared, Jesse, Justin, Joseph
Karli, Kathy Sue, Krystal, Kynsie, Kali, Kelsy
Love, laughter
Mothers, Music
Nature, normal health, nice people
Optimism
Priesthood
Quiet time
Repentence, Rachel
Savanna
Transportation
Utah
Violin lessons
Weston water
Xtra helpings
Yards to play in
Zoo (our family gatherings are like a zoo)

Breakfast in bed

One morning Savanna asked me to make her breakfast in bed. Jared and I aren't too keen on eating in beds, crumbs and whatnot. So I said no, sometimes I'm really not a fun mommy. Savanna asked me again then next week on Saturday, and since I was feeling in a "want to be a good fun mommy" mood, I said I would do it. Weston came in the kitchen and saw the tray of food I was making and asked if he could have breakfast in bed too. Fiora followed suit. So I made all my kids breakfast in bed. To say they loved it is an understatement. Weston thought he'd died and gone to heaven. The next Saturday Weston asked for breakfast in bed again. I said no I'm going to stay in bed. I guess he didn't hear me because he sat in his bed for 30 minutes and finally started yelling and crying "Why isn't anyone making me breakfast in bed!!" That made Jared mad and me not really wanting to validate his pain. He didn't get his wish that morning. But we both agreed that it showed how much he loved it the first time. I scheduled Thanksgiving morning as the day I would do it again, and we got some pictures.

Nearsighted

Fiora is nearsighted. I was sitting up at the pulpit in church to lead the singing and when my family walked in, Savanna looked at me and waved, Weston looked at me and waved, Fiora looked, then squinted at me, then waved. I thought, that's funny, the other kids didn't squint. So when I sat by her in church I asked her to read the hymn numbers. She got them all wrong. So it was off to the eye doctor. After a brief, overpriced exam, and a huffy letter to the corporate office, we went to Wal-mart to get some glasses. She picked the $9 frames, which was nice of her. She looks so grown up now, and not she can see the blades of grass and hymnal numbers in church.

Dinosaur museum

I had a busy week as usual last week and came home Friday thinking, "I don't do enough fun stuff with my kids. Soon they will be too old to want to do fun stuff. I want to take them to the dinosaur museum tomorrow!" I told Jared my idea, he has principles that go against spending over 5 dollars on anything for a kid, but I was resolved in my determination to do something fun and educational with my children that they are going to grow out of in a few years. So on Saturday we were off!

The kids loved seeing all the dino bones and trying to pronounce all the names, but by far and yon their favorite part of the museum was the water/sand exhibit. They spent an hour making islands with trees and dinosaurs, dams, pathways, and dino burial grounds.

We had to leave the exhibits halfway through to have lunch, sandwiches I made and brought so as to not waste more money, and then we walked back through to where we left off. Of course, we ended in the paleontologist exhibit where the kids get to dig/brush out dinosaur bones from the ground. They liked that, but then we went back through the exhibits so they could spend another 30 minutes in the sand/water!





Can you believe Jared chose fishing over this exitement?!? We spent 4 hours there, it was worth every penny. And the kids thanked me more than once for taking them.