End of February and March 2011

February ended with an in service on BLOCKS!  I had to have Jayden come share in the fun!

March was in like a lion and roared out as well.  Not with weather but with activity.  Kimberly had her first Music festival and got a Superior on her solo.  We were very proud!

Wilson had their annual carnival and Jayden choose a certain cake for our drawing tickets to go in... guess what we won!

As always the leprechaun came to our house and yet again we didn't catch the little trickster.

For Spring Break we stayed home and the cousins from both sides of the family came to us.

My American Hero on 11-11-11

My Grandfather is 96 years old.  That in itself is an accomplishment.  However, in these Golden Years he has been working on his memoirs and I have had the privilege of helping him go through his pictures.  Before he was my age he had already lived an incredible life.  It was during this time that I want to share about today.

In 1944 Tracy Strong (aka My Grandpa) was serving our country in the second World War.  He was also a seminary student in Seattle, Washington.  He has never told me why he never became a minister later in life but I would guess that this along with many other experience he had during this time may hold the answer. 

Last weekend he had me scan in the pictures below and in them I discovered that my Grandfather over saw the funeral of 42 American Air men who where shot down over Europe.  The funeral service was in Switzerland on neutral soil.  He didn't say much about it except that he didn't want me to scan in a letter written to one of the solder's family back home.  "To personal." Those were his words.

My only words are......"Thank YOU."

February 2011

When Doug and I got married they attached my wedding band on upside down.  You didn't really notice, it just never sat quite right.  It was something that he kept wanting to fix for me but we both never got around to it.  So for our anniversary he told me that he was going to have it fixed.  It was incredibly difficult to go with out my ring for three weeks but I had the assurance that on my anniversary he would put it back on its rightful place.

For our anniversary he arranged for us to have a night at Hotel 49.  This is an incredibly fancy hotel in downtown Boise.  Needless to say we were both excited!  When we got to the room I did the normal... hunt for freebies to take home as souvenirs and presents for the kids.  After coming back into the room from asking the maid in the hall if I could possibly get one more notebook as I needed three (I couldn't help that I have three kids).  Doug looked a little embarrassed and commented, "If you are going to clean the place out you better get that little box in the window."  Not thinking (you know it!) I ran to the window to find a small ring box.  I was so excited to think they fixed it.  Then I opened the box and only my wedding band was inside, the diamond was missing.  I was sick inside.  Poor Doug, they messed up again.  I turned around and said, "Hunny they don't have my diamond in it." WHAT!  He appeared to be shocked.  Then he got on one knee opened another ring box and said "Will you marry me?"  I almost fainted.  It was a new incredible ring band on my diamond.  I was blown away.  I am SO blessed to have the most romantic husband in the universe.  Everyone else may have had a Happy Valentines that night but I had another affirmation from my incredible soul mate for life!

January 2011

I have to say this has been a busy year already.  I see that I stopped "journaling" after Christmas so Obviously life has been Life.  This year started with a BANG with lots of time with family and friends during the holidays.  This year's New Years party was at our friends Mike and Amy's house and as usual it was a great way to kick off the year. 

January was an extremely hard month for me.  One of my precious students was playing with a lighter and burned his trailer house down.  He was the only one significantly hurt burning the majority of his body.  He was taken to Salt Lake's burn unit and for a while it was touch and go.  I was blessed by the communities out pouring of love and concern.  My "Curve" friends were so sweet.  They sent flowers to my class and me to let us know we were thinking of my sweet student.  He actually pulled through, to God be the glory and he is home and going to school this fall.

13 months or 13 years old?

I look at this blog and I feel guilty. I really need to catch up on my scrapping for 2011 but today I am going to digress to the year 1987.  It is the 80s and I am 13 years old.  You all have those stories your mothers tell of your "terrible teen attitude," am I right?  Well recently I found picture proof that the story my mom tells of my one teenage temper tantrum may not have been so outlandish.

Here is her story...."It was my 13th birthday and I had a friend spend the night the night before my party.  We came up the stairs and I saw my cake and pulled my mother aside and told her I didn't like it.  It was a baby cake."  She said I was terribly rude and that that friend was "that type of girl" that said inappropriate things and was a bad influence.

That has been her story all these years and I have felt such remorse about being so disrespectful.  Then the picture surfaces......really was I WRONG??? (Just asking)  I do love my mom and I really did like teddy bears (secretly like every other tween).  Ah memories!

Soul Surfer

We just got back from an incredible movie that EVERYONE should see.  It is the true story of Bethany Hamilton, the surfer girl who had her arm eaten by a shark.  It was an amazingly inspiring movie.  I honestly cried thorough the whole thing.  We went with our church youth group and unfortunately Kimberly was not with us.  I am sure she will hear about her weird mom that cried the whole time even though it wasn't all sad.  I just was OVERWHELMED.  I felt the voice of God talking to me about many different things.  I felt so compelled to wonder if my three children have been instilled with that spirit of determination and trust in God that this young lady has.  I also wondered if my small family is as closely bonded to each other to support each other in dark times.  Most of all I wonder if my family (and myself personally) are really learning that life is about love and sharing it with others.  I want to be different, to make a difference.  Help me Lord!

Christmas 2010