My like is opening up....

With the subtraction of two teenagers from my home, my life is starting to open up a little.  There are less children to care for, which leaves more time for me.  There are new possibilities staring me in the face.  There is time to explore new avenues, new routes and directions to go in life.  With the future an open book for me, for the moment I decided to opt more tangible new avenues, routes and directions instead of the metaphoric ones.  After 5 years of waiting and anticipating the door, of door jamb framing being walled up, it has finally happened.  I put a new door into the house.  Now my house is directly connected to my garage.  No more cold toes as I run from the front door to the garage!  No more wondering if I will be caught going to the garage in my jammies!  No more walking around the entire house from my bedroom to get the tape measure.  I can see the future, and it is a shorter distance to my car!  I will worry about all that other stuff later.

August Changes

Yes, it is that time of year, the weather gets colder, the leaves start falling off the trees, and the kids head back to school.....Wait! I live in California, it is hotter than blazes, and the leaves, trees and grass are dying due to drought, but, the kids did head back to school this week.

 Gabe headed off to middle school.  As a returning student, he was ready for the upcoming changes.  The other two boys in his carpool were new to the school.  He is doing a great job of being the go-to guy for them.  He was surprised on the first day of school to be put into concert band.  He had requested a science elective for the year, but was not placed in that class.  Even though concert band was his second choice, he is excited to be playing a new instrument, the bass clarinet.  It looks like a cross between a clarinet and a saxophone and is very large!  He loves playing it.
Allie has started highschool.  Due to band camp, she went to school with confidence that she would have friends and know her way around.  She has six classes.  It should be a challenging year for her, but I think that she is up to the task.  She started seminary on Tuesday.  We haven't made it on time yet, but are still hopeful that we will perfect that task soon.
Yeah, life will return to a normal schedule and routine....Wait!  I still have two college students that are not in any sort of routine for 2 more weeks......Maybe my routine is just chaos.

Allie's Birthday

Allie turned 14 this week.  Her birthday was on Tuesday.  She was very excited for her birthday this year.  Typically, Allie's birthday is during the summer vacation and often we are out of town for her birthday.  She has longed for a real celebration for her birthday for years.  This year was the best so far.  She wasn't in school, but she was attending band camp every day during the week.  So she spent her birthday with friends from school.  She brought cookies to share with everyone, then invited some of the girls over to our house after camp was over for a birthday party.  They played games, ate food, opened presents, and watched a movie.  Allie had a great day and finally was able to celebrate with friends ON her birthday.

Allie Personally

Allie has completed quite a milestone in her life.  Last week she was awarded her Personal Progress Award in the Young Women's Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  To attain this award, she needed to do 7 projects of at least 10 hours each, read, ponder and apply many scriptures to her life, often for a period of several weeks, and read the Book of Mormon for herself.  It is a lot of work, and takes constant effort to accomplish.  Not only was she able to do it, but she did it in less than two years.  She set the goal to complete it before she was 14.  There were some times filled with anxiety when she wasn't sure that she would be able to accomplish her goal, but she worked very hard and was able to finish.  We are so proud of her!  Since she still has 4 years as a young woman, she is going to work on it again, this time she is mentoring another girl who just entered the program.  We hope that this journey will help to strengthen her testimony and lay a foundation for a successful life.

Cast Off

It has been a little while since I wrote in the blog, but it has been an extremely busy month!  I could go into great detail of our family activities, but I will start with the greatest family activity inhibitor.  Just this week, it was removed and will no longer overcast our summer!  So here it is.....drumroll.....Gabe broke his wrist.  Yes, about a month ago he was trying out skateboarding, fell and broke his wrist.  He had a cast put on that completely immobilized his thumb and extended to his elbow on the day we left for vacation!  I have had three casts put on my children, and two of them were put on the day I was leaving the state.  My children don't have the best timing.  He chose a black cast to prevent aunts, uncles and cousins from writing on it.  We recently returned home from vacation, and soon after, went to the doctor to have the cast removed.  He says that his wrist feels fine, although a little stiff from being still for so long.

Scout Camp

For the past week, Gabe has been at scout camp up in the mountains.  He had a great time.  He worked on the swimming merit badge.  Even though we had practiced swimming for two weeks prior to going to camp, he still found completing the swimming merit badge was quite a challenge in the high altitude.  But he managed to complete all of the requirements.  He also earned the environmental science merit badge.  It is required, but Gabe's only comment was that the classes were really boring.  He made up for the boredom of environmental science with an exciting rifle shooting merit badge.  Upon coming home, he informed me that he is now fully qualified to shoot guns with Uncle Nate this summer.  He also did the wood working merit badge.
In addition to the scheduled activites, Gabe participated in several other activities to earn extra patches.  He did the polar bear swim every morning.  Since there wasn't any ice, they had the boys wake up really early in the morning and be splashed in the cold, then stay out of the water for a few minutes acting like polar bears.  It was really cute and silly.  He also went climbing on the rock wall.  He was able to secure an opportunity to go on a horseback overnight camp.  He said that was fun.  All in all, it was a week of learning some great life skills and playing with the boys.

For the First Time in Forever

For the first time, this week we attended the temple as an entire family.  Seven years ago, Maddie received her limited use recommend for the temple.  Jayd quickly followed.  Over the years, we have made it a point to take them to the temple as often as possible.  Most of the time, Jeff would take them since he was a priesthood holder and could participate in the ordinances as well.  It was a special time for the older two to spend with Jeff.  It was also a special time for me to spend with the younger two children.  While on vacation, we would often choose a few temples to do baptisms.  There were many occasions while traveling where we sat on the temple grounds, talking about the temple, and the work that was performed inside while we waited.  Allie and Gabe eagerly anticipated the day when they would be old enough to go inside the temple instead of waiting outside with me.
That day has finally come.  We attended the temple this week as a complete family.  It was a very sweet experience.  We were able to do some family file names.  We baptized a dad and his four children, two sons and two daughters.  It just felt symbolic to begin the process of reuniting that family while bringing our own family closer to heaven.  It was a great day at the temple, and a
fulfillment of one of my lifelong dreams, to be with all of my children in the temple.