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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Blessings

The rental market here in Lewiston is sparse. There aren't a lot of options let alone good options. Brad and I spent months looking before we moved here then one night I noticed the house we're in on Craigslist 4 minutes after it was posted and I called right away and luckily we got the rental. 
At the time I remember the owner thinking it must have been meant to be because I called him so fast after he listed his rental. It hasn't been until recently that I've started thinking that he might be right.
 We now live right next door to a family that have been good friends with the Simmons for years and have been becoming great friends of our own. 
AND, a few weeks ago a car stopped by while my kids and I were playing in my front yard and out walked one of my good friends I made from work when we lived here 5 years ago. I found out she lives just a few house down from us! 
AND, when I registered Kade for kindergarten I initially wasn't able to get him in the school closest to us and in the AM class like we wanted but the morning that school started the district called me and they got Kade in! I was so happy. He has two friends from church in his class and he made another great friend named Tanner. He's been asking me for weeks to have a play date with Tanner. I finally met his mom and learned they live down the road from us as well! He is ecstatic! I'm so grateful that he found such a good boy to be friends with and that they live so close to us.
 Whether or not this rental house was meant to be ours, I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be here and surrounded by such great friends and neighbors. 

Snuggles

Some days I just need snuggles on the couch with my kids! I love them!


Tuesday, September 29, 2015

New Friends

We've been meeting new friends and having lots of fun playdates! Our new friends had a fun toy that the kids used to love to play with at the Children's museum in Indianapolis! It brought back great memories!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Selfies with Tenley

Tenley and I cuddled up during Kade's football practice and she let me take selfies with her. It was a blast!





Friday, September 25, 2015

Lewiston Fair

We enjoyed the county fair this afternoon with the Simmons. Kade's school art project won a blue ribbon! Tenley and Ryder loved petting the animals. And Kade got to go up on a stage with a ventriloquist! 








Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Tenley's Drawings

I wasn't feeling that great today for some reason and then I saw this cute drawing on Tenley's whiteboard that just made me smile. She's getting so creative with the way she draws people and I'm glad she is using her imagination!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Toys

The kids and I went to the library today and they had so much fun playing with toys there that they don't have at home. It was fun to see Kade and Tenley's creativity with the building blocks and it was really fun to see Ryder get excited about playing with toys!




Friday, September 18, 2015

Kindergarten, Naps at the Park

I LOVE Fridays! Mainly It's the start of a long weekend as a family. Since Brad had the day off, I went to Kindergarten with Kade and volunteered. It was fun to be in class with him! I helped them all make paper mache bees. It got messy, but it was fun.
This afternoon we walked to the park in our neighborhood and while Brad and I layed on the blanket, Kade and Tenley played on the playground and Ryder sat on the blanket with Brad and I and quietly played with his toys. He loves being outside. Brad and I pretty much fell asleep since the kids were being so good. It was the perfect afternoon.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Driveways

The kids favorite thing to do each afternoon these days has been to ride their bikes and scooters in the driveway. They love it and Ryder and I will sometimes sit in the garage and watch them. Our driveway is a bit different. We have a one car garage on an upper level and a two car garage on a lower level so they love to start at the top of the hill and race down the curve into the garage. It's a bit scary to watch and Tenley has biffed it a few times. We are so grateful, after years of not having a driveway, to finally now have one big enough to ride bikes and scooters in!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Charlotte's Web

The kids and I have startded reading Charlotte's Web together. We read a chapter every day and they love it and so do I! Each day they wonder what will happen to little Wilbur. 
Reading the kids a story with each one cuddled up on either side of me is the highlight of my day!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Flag Football

Kade has started playing flag football and he loves it so far! He has a great coach and teammates and we're excited to watch him play!



Monday, September 14, 2015

Robert and Elzada Simmons

Since  Brad and I have been married I've gotten to know Kent's parents Robert and Elzada pretty well. They are such nice people and both extremely inspiring! They have 9 kids and Kent is number 8 of 9 so Robert and Elzada are the ages of my grandparents-they are both around 80 years old. Staying with them at their house this weekend helped me get to know them even more. Elzada is an amazing pianist and has been playing really difficult classical pieces since she was 10 years old! She was sweet enough to sit down and play a few songs for us. We loved that! And Robert has been very fit and active his whole life. We determined that if American Ninja Warrior had been around when he was in his prime he could have won it. He is 80 years old and he still goes to the gym every day! Well, he corrected me, 5 days a week. :) I was surprised on Sunday night when he asked me if I wanted to go to a spinning class with him the next morning at 5:15. I laughed, but he was serious! I hadn't brought any tennis shoes or gym clothes with me since it was going to be such a quick trip, but Elzada let me borrow some of her socks and shoes, and my nephew Emmett let me borrow his gym shorts. I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous to everyone, but it was worth the early morning! Robert and I warmed up with some weights and then I sweated buckets during the spinning class. I've always wanted to do a spinning class, I just never thought the first time I would go it would be with an 80 year old, who probably did a better job than me! He is very fit still and I hope to be as active as him at that age. 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Private Airplanes, Shopping, BYU Football games

Today was one of the funnest days ever! This morning we left Lewiston in Kent's airplane and arrived in Boise 1 hour later! We're used to a 5 hour drive from Lewiston to Boise, so our brains were a bit confused to get there that quickly. The flight was amazing, comfortable, and smooth. We feel pretty spoiled and don't ever want to travel any other way now! Kent and Heidi were so nice to let us fly with them. Heidi had yummy snacks and drinks to share and everything! We all got to wear headphones and Emmett was a great D.J. and provided fun music for all of us.
After we arrived in Boise we got beds set up for the kids and Kent's parents house and then Heidi and I left for a few hours to shop at some of our favorite stores that they don't have in Lewiston. 
When we got back, the Murdocks had arrived from Idaho Falls and the adults left all the kids to go to the BYU vs BSU football game in Provo. My niece Haley was so nice to take care of my kids, especially little Ryder.
After another quick and amazing flight to Provo we went out to dinner and then headed to the game to meet up with more of the Hobsons! Brad's brother Travis is the football coach at Century High School in southern Idaho and has done a lot of summer football camps at BYU so he had connections to get us and many more of the family awesome seats to the game! We were two rows up from the field and had a great view. It was the perfect weather and Brad and I felt very nostalgic to be back at BYU together and to be with a lot of his family.
The kids had a great night playing with their cousins and didn't miss us. We were so grateful to have had the opportunity to do this. 















Friday, September 11, 2015

The Last Lecture

Last night I went to book club and the girls discussed the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It's been years since I've read this book but it is such a good one and it was nice to hear everyone's thoughts on it and remember all of the good stories from it. On my run this morning it got me thinking about what I would want my "last lecture" to be to my kids. What knowledge have I gained so far in my life that I would want to leave with them? I had a lot of thoughts so I tried to narrow it down to 3.

#1. Everyday do something that makes your SOUL happy.
There are many things in life that appeal to our carnal self, but what is it that makes your soul so happy you feel as if you feel a tiny bit of heaven with you? Everyone's answer to that question is probably different, but knowing what that answer would be for you and seeking those things everyday will add a lot of peace and happiness into your life. The key in life is for our spiritual desires to outweigh our physical desires, for our spirit to rule our bodies. As we pay attention to what makes our souls happy I think we are able to accomplish that. A few things I've learned that make my soul happy are: being in nature, providing service to others, playing the piano, listening to uplifting music, reading scripture, and spending good quality time with my family.

#2. Make GOALS and DON'T GIVE UP on them.
Making goals is so important. We will never reach our true potential unless we make goals and accomplish them. And really, we won't ever reach our full potential in this life, but gal darn it, I want to die knowing I was trying my hardest to reach my potential. There are times when I've made goals and halfway through I've wanted to give up, but I've learned not to let myself do that. The harder the goal is to reach, the greater the sense of accomplishment you'll have when you reach it. And you will reach it if you don't give up. That is a feeling you don't want to miss out on!

#3. Consistently do the "SUNDAY SCHOOL ANSWERS." (i.e. read your SCRIPTURES, say your PRAYERS, go to CHURCH, SERVE others, regularly attend the TEMPLE, etc.)
These things may seem simple but I've learned that it truly is the simple things that we do on a consistent basis that have the biggest impact on our lives as a whole. We can find direction from the scriptures. We maintain a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father when we pray to Him. We're able to repent, feel the spirit, and learn how to be a better person as we attend church, serving others bring us happiness, and we gain a lot of knowledge in the Temple that prepares us for our life after death. 

"How fragile life, how certain death. We do not know when we will be required to leave this mortal existence. And so I ask, 'What are we doing with today?' If we live only for tomorrow, we'll have a lot of empty yesterdays today." 
-President Thomas S. Monson


Life is to be LIVED! People are to be LOVED! You are to be HAPPY!

Pictures from my runs lately. The river is beautiful in the morning.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Old Friends

I've been getting in touch with a few of my old friends from high school this week and it has been fun to catch up. Sending Kade off to Kindergarten has been really hard for me. I really really like having my kids at home. I love being with them and I love teaching them. I'm really considering home schooling and it is a hard decision, but I want to do what is best for my family and my kids education. All these thoughts have led me to catch up with some old friends from high school who have chosen to home school their kids. I've loved getting their perspective and advice. And I've loved catching up with them as well! I'm so grateful for the great friendships I've made through out my life!

I still haven't made a decision on whether or not I'll home school. It has been an extremely difficult decision and what's been making it even harder is that Kade really loves going to school. He loves his teacher and his friends. But I'm hoping we'll eventually be able to make a decision!




Sunday, September 6, 2015

Primary Music

For the past few weeks I've been substituting as the primary pianist and I have loved it! It's been fun to practice primary songs. My favorite has been when the kids will sing along to the songs as I practice them. Kade's new favorite primary song is called The Miracle. It is a beautiful song that my friends Mom wrote and I couldn't believe they were learning it here in primary. What a small world! It was amazing to play it in primary today with all the kids standing singing their hearts out. They did such a great job singing and the spirit was so strong! I love primary.


Sunday Dinners at Heidi's

We always look forward to having Sunday dinner with our family at Kent and Heidi's house. The kids especially love it and they really loved it today because Heidi had some friends visiting with kids their ages. The played the whole time, except when we made them come eat, and they didn't want to leave. It was really fun when they dug into the costume box!

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Football Season

Football season has begun! We had such a fun day lounging on the couch and watching football games. The BYU game was especially exciting. The kids were pretty entertained as they watched Brad dance around cheering when the Cougars pulled off a touchdown to win the game at the end. It was epic!
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