Cannery Assignment

I am sorry to admit that I've never been to the cannery before.  When the sign up sheet rolls around, I just pass it along.  My reasons for not going are selfish, of course, and I guess I've never caught the spirit of humanitarian work. Until now. 

 Justin and I decided that we should be better about stuff like this, especially considering our leadership callings.  So, tonight we went for the first time and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. We did peaches and the four hours flew by!  Of course it helped that we had friends from the ward there to pass the time with.  :)  

Anyway, I had forgotten that there is a very unique joy to be found when you serve others in this capacity.  I guess I've had humanitarian aide on my mind this week because of the Boise fires that destroyed ten homes and left those families without anything. 

 It is such a priviledge to be able to work.  So often we see it as a bad thing, but tonight I was reminded that it is a blessing.  There's a line from a movie the kids like to watch that says "One of the greatest prizes life has to offer is working hard at work worth doing."  I couldn't agree more!  

A picture is worth a thousand words...

We've all heard this expression, right?  Well, these pictures are worth a thousand dollars!  Quite literally....

As most of you know our new neighborhood was suppossed to have a pool.  As a result, the HOA dues are above what a normal neighborhood would charge.  We knew this and understood that it costs money to run and maintain a pool, so we were prepared.  We payed the first $500 when we closed on the house and moved in.  Well, summer came and went, and no pool.  We payed another $500 this year and, well, summer came and went, and again, no pool.   This was causing a lot of contention as you can imagine.  Homeowners were refusing to pay, the HOA would put a lean on their homes, and meanwhile, the developer was suing the pool guy for unfinished work.  Problem was, the contractor subbed out all the work, but never payed any of the subs.  It was a mess! 

Well, we are proud to report that the pool is open!  Or, rather, WAS open. After being open for four days it's closed again for cleaning.  Many of you have heard about the horrible wind storm that blew through here yesterday.  It started fires in Southeast Boise that resulted in ten homes being burned to the ground.  We didn't suffer anything remotely that devastating, but the pool is nasty! The dead mouse floating around was enough to make you sick.  

So, anyway, we enjoyed our three days at the pool and I'd like to post these few pictures that are very literally worth $1000!   I feel like a Mastercard commercial...

Hoa dues in the spring with no pool....$500

Hoa dues the next spring with still no pool ...$500

Swimming in your own pool for three days....priceless!  

First day of preschool

Carter started preschool this morning.  He was so excited and had a great time.  The first day was a Mommy-and-Me class and he starts on his own Thursday.  As a result, we recently had a conversation in our home that went something like this: 

 "Gee Mom, what are you going to do now that all of your boys are in school?" (Justin)

                

"She'll probably sit around all day watchin' T.V. and snackin' on chocolate chips..."  (Jamon)

Okay, family....first of all, preschool is 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week.  I'd hardly call that a ton of free time!  Nevertheless, I'd like to defend the role of office managers ( I mean mothers) everywhere and say this to Jamon......

Gee, I dunno.  I guess I'll wash dishes, vacumm, do laundry, clean toilets, mow the yard, grocery shop, make dinner, shedule all of YOUR appointments, take you to and from football, help you with homework...what else?  Oh yeah, that part time job I have and I guess I should also include help run the primary!  That's a good start.  I know this makes me sound a little bitter.  I know Jamon didn't mean any harm.  I just thought I'd throw that out there in case he ever wonders what it is I do all day.  I think he checks this blog every now and then. 

 I love you, Jamon and gladly accept all of this responsibilty.  And, congrats to you Carter!  Preschool is such a big deal in a little tiger's life!!!

We interrupt this marriage to bring you football season..

I saw that cute little quote on a sign in a craft store but I'd like to expand it a little further to say "We interrupt this FAMILY to bring you football season."  I can really relate to this!  With Jamon practicing four nights a week and the broncos season opener just a week away, I feel like everything is put on hold for football.  You should've been here the day the season tickets arrived!  Our stake is doing it's "Fill the Temple" week and we were supposed to go tomorrow afternoon.  Justin will just go alone because one of us needs to be here to get Jamon to and from practice.  Our ward campout is this weekend and we were all set to go until we found out Jamon has Jamboree Saturday morning down at Bronco stadium.  They play a scrimmage and get their team photo taken on the turf.  So, maybe some of us will go camping, or no one will.  I don't know.  All I know is that for the next 4 months this family will be highly interrupted!  

Grandma Rocks!

So, this is going to sound bad and a little selfish, but here goes anyway....

We spent the weekend in Eastern Idaho with Justin's parents.  We had them all to ourselves and we LOVED every minute of it!  This is a rare occurance and I think it's only happened two or three times in 12 years of marriage.  Because Justin is 1 of 6 kids, usually when we go home there are one, two, or even three other siblings home as well.  Now, don't get me wrong, we usually plan it that way on purpose because it's so fun to see everyone and be together.  However, with 6 kids, 5 spouses, and 14 grandkids, there is very little one-on-one time with grandparents.  It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of trying to control chaos.  Stress of feeding a crowd that big, babies crying, or fighting, or making messes, or even just trying to figure out where everyone is going to sleep is often the focus of attention.  So, this weekend was perfect because the boys got all the time and attention that is sometimes just really nice not to have to share.  Camdon especially enjoyed riding up in the cab of the pickup alone with his grandparents.  He and grandpa picked huckleberries together for nearly three hours and had a great time!  Blair and Carolyn are so full of wisdom and love and I'm so grateful for the opportunities the boys have to get to see that.  It's hard to notice when the house is so full.  On the way home from the trip, Carter yelled "Grandma Rocks!"  I guess he enjoyed his one-on-one time, too!  Anyway, here are a few pics from the weekend and as usual, you can check out Justin's flickr to see all of them.  I rode grandpa's horse and I think there's a shot of that on there!  

Swear Words...

From the time the boys were little, we've talked about "bad" words.  Now, obviously, some bad words are just bad.  We don't use swear words in our house, but we don't use certain other words either.  The boys have grown up thinking words like "stupid" and "shut-up" are bad words.  Now, obviously they aren't , I just didn't want them thinking it was okay to talk to each other that way. This was all well and good until they started school.   Out in the real world, people use those words.  So they'd come home and say, "our bus driver said a bad word!"  Or, "our teacher swears".  I realized I'd created a mess, so I had to back peddle a little and explain that they weren't BAD words, they were just bad words at our house.  This seemed to work for a while until I got caught saying something was stupid!  Then I retracted my retraction and said that they weren't BAD words, they were just words you can use when you have the ability to use them wisely.  So, anyway, as a result, my kids will very often ask if it's okay to say something. I have clearly confused them!    So, tonight Justin and Carter were watching the olympics together and beach volleyball was the event.  Carter turns to Justin and asks:  "Dad, is it okay to say those girls are hot?"  To which Justin replies, "probably not, Carter, you're just a baby".  OH, BROTHER........

Ordinary Justin...Cool Justin...

Justin splurged on some perscription sunglasses and they are not at all what I expected him to pick out.  I laughed out loud when I went to the eye doctor to pick them up.  They're pretty hip!  Anyway, Jamon is obsessed with his new "cool" dad.  He thinks it's really fun to ride through the neighborhood, top off the jeep, radio blasting, riding alongside his dad with his cool shades on.  A few weeks ago, during church, Jamon drew this two-sided portrait of Justin.  It might be hard to tell from the picture, but one side is "ordinary dad" and the other is "cool dad".  I think it is so sweet how much Jamon worships his dad and I wanted to remember the funny picture.