Back to School 2013-14

Noah's in 3rd and Lucy is in 2nd. Ben (9th) and Sophie (7th) started earlier so I will need to get pictures after school. Everyone is very close to home this time so I'm hopeful for a more peaceful, simple way of life this school year with very little driving, yay!

Lucy's Ears

Lucy's ear surgery this morning went just fine, Her third set of tubes, thankfully the only preemie problem we have. She is barfing and groggy but will rest today and be back to ballet tomorrow. Her hearing loss should be corrected hopefully, just in time for school Monday.

Ben turns 14

Wow, my firstborn was ordained a Teacher on Sunday. Although he is getting a little bit too cool for everything, he actually is pretty cool. He is just about taller than his dad, give him a couple more months. He found a few of his dad's old suits in the closet and they fit! I'll add a picture of that.

Ben gets good grades and loves playing trumpet in the jazz band--he also got into the main symphonic band, the best one in the state! In his spare time you will often find him longboarding around town and he is starting to get into cycling, he got a jersey and some shorts and a helmet for his birthday, plus a bike tuneup from mommy's mom. Every winter he participates in the snowboarding club at school also. He also loves going up on the slopes with his dad a couple of times a year.

He got to move to the upstairs bedroom after hitting his head on the ceiling going downstairs, so he is now in the adult section of the house and happy to have a nice new bedroom. This year he has been getting into action movies, Ironman and Superman, the robots versus dinosaur movies, etc. and go ahead and judge us, we are letting him watch LOST. Most of all, Ben is an outdoors type of guy. He loves camping and fishing and hiking. Right now he wants to go into environmental sciences, and is taking his first AP class in this area this year as he goes into ninth grade. He's most interested in forestry but also considering geology. I'm looking for some kind of outdoor summer job for him next year that will allow him to be outside working in nature, possibly a boys camp or something like that, let me know if you have ideas.

Things I love about Ben: he is willing to work hard physically, he is very independent and generally stays on top of what needs to happen, which is a huge help to me. He is very intelligent and if you can get him to do it, gives a very nice hug.

He seems very low-key and unlike his early years, is not excitable at all, but can pop off with some pretty funny things sometimes, like his recurring joke that anytime you prefer a color of anything, even a snow cone, he will call you a racist.

He's trying to figure out the world and what is important and seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. He seems to innately understand that, and temptations for boys his age represents the restriction of freedom and the kind of shackles, and he seems to have an internal desire to avoid losing his independence in that way.

Socially he sticks to one on one situations generally and seems comfortable being on his own, like his dad--he likes peace and quiet. This is probably why he likes to go to grandma and grandpas as much as possible where there are fewer small and yelling children (and fewer larger, but sometimes also yelling, adults).

I love him, I'm excited for his future. We've been trying to make it to the temple together weekly, it's something I felt I need to do with him, and it has helped me have a sense of who he is. Teenagers are definitely a whole different world for me. Seminary is starting this year too, he's not super enthusiastic but I'm hoping it will be a place he can answer his questions and feel the Spirit. I don't know what the Lord has planned for him, but I know that Ben can do great things. I am very lucky to be his mom.

Davis County Fair 2

Lucy did a great job for her first time in showmanship.

Davis County Fair

Although we live just one minute away, we have not come for the last two years. And although I was raised in Davis county, I don't remember ever being here. Our neighbor is heavily involved in 4H and the fair and encouraged us to enter our chickens. Lucy even participated in the showing competition where you hold and present your chicken. She got a blue ribbon. Sophie's hen won first place and got a champion hen trophy! Noah got first place for a warty Pat-A-Pan summer squash he entered in the living arts. Sophie also had some sewing projects in that I have not seen results for yet. This has been so much fun for so little effort. I'm so glad we did it.

Backyard in (Almost) August II

Backyard in August I

Bad Farmington water . . .

Hi friends--I didn't want to be "that" person, the protester, and have been debating whether I should make a stink about this for over a year, but now my water stinks, so I guess it's time.  If you do Facebook, please like this page and forward to anyone you know in Farmington--http://www.facebook.com/FarmingtonDeservesPureWater

The city was told the well they dug by the park would be bad, then it was bad, so they just added more chemicals, built a nice well house and just started adding it to the supply in the last few weeks, and now our water is smelly, discolored and tastes awful.  They say, "Don't worry, we'll just increase the chemicals to mask the color and smell, but hey, it's safe."  Yum.

Here's a write up in the Deseret News about it: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865582995/Smelly-yellow-water-disturbs-some-Farmington-residents.html

There's clean water on the other side of town and I even heard there was an offer to trade it for irrigation water so we could have another clean well--let me know if you have any details on that.  Not sure why they kept moving forward when all signs pointed to bad news, maybe just stubbornness and unwillingness to recognize it was a bad investment.  Still, the city seems to have ignored all the warning signs and simply wouldn't admit they made an expensive mistake.  Now we all have to pay the price.  

Now I see I should have been more involved 18 months ago.  Please forward along to other Farmingtonians, and let your City know you expect pure, not just chemically-made "safe" water, since it is ready available just a few miles away.   

VC

Do You Think You've Been Robbed?

I got my annual chance yesterday to see my dear friend Lori. We talked much about how the Savior promised that in the world we would have tribulation. Yet all of us continually act shocked and wronged when things are hard or people let us down, despite thousands of years evidence that being human on earth will entail far more troubled than calm waters. 

She asked me to look up this quote and send it to her, and when I found it I realized I probably should read it every morning myself. 

President Gordon B. Hinckley:

Life is like that—ups and downs, a bump on the head, and a crack on the shins. It was ever thus. Hamlet went about crying, "To be or not to be," but that didn't solve any of his problems. There is something of a tendency among us to think that everything must be lovely and rosy and beautiful without realizing that even adversity has some sweet uses. One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented:

There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed.

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .

Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

family pics

Family Night

The lazy way. $1 at Harmon's.

Sorry

My apologies to all those who are automatically sent blog updates from me. I accidentally copied my blog email on a text to my father-in-law! But here is an excuse to tell you all we are doing well and I still hope to start updating more often toward the end of February when things calm down a bit. Of course you have all heard that before…

Love to all!

Happy family birthday to us!

Merry Christmas 2012

Well here we are just before Christmas and I'm just slowing down to realize I haven't taken time to reach out to friends and family this holiday. This is mainly because David and I took a much needed vacation, the likes of which we never have done, to Kauai for a week, and we got home just a few days ago. It was a gift from my very generous employer, and it was a very special, amazing experience.

I hope to write more about the details and post a few pictures, but that will wait for a future post. I know this is sent automatically to many of my friends and family, and I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all of you and how blessed I feel to have so many people to love and who I know love me.

The end of this year marks the end of a very long, stressful time for our family. I would not have believed a few years ago that the end of 2012 would find us in our own lovely little home, David working his dream job, all the children doing so well in school and turning out okay despite my inadvertent efforts toward the contrary, and that I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who has been my best friend and companion for 24 years. In fact, we celebrate a marriage of 20 years this January.

We have been extremely blessed, and we have been taught a lot, even though much of it has come the hard way--we are slow learners sometimes. I come into this new year with a new desire to be really converted to Christ and to make Him the center of my heart and home. My desire is there, but I need much more diligent to bring about the change after 40 years of more or less selfish habits.

David and I were blessed to hear David Bednar speak recently, and he gave a very powerful witness that our only key to real happiness is to overcome selfishness and truly follow Christ. The adversary would have us turn inward and attend to our own needs, and lick our own wounds, and pity ourselves in our time of trial. But the Savior showed the example and continually turned outward, even in his greatest suffering. It seems like so much to ask when we are suffering, but the Savior knows the truth, that only in losing our life in loving service to others do we find ourselves.

I see now that only when we become a vessel of the love of God are all of our inner holes truly filled. No amount of personal attention, from ourselves or others, can fill any emptiness inside us, but when we allow ourselves to love others and to be God's hands, His love fills us as it moves through us to others, and only then are we made whole.

I can't say I am living this principle very well yet, but I'm only just coming to see it and understand it's truth. But this is my goal for the coming year, to start living the principle more fully.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and pray each of you will grow closer to the Savior over the coming days and years and rely on His strength to help you in the trials that come.

All my love to you and your families,

Valerie

Happy #11 Birthday to Sophie!

Go ahead and judge me, but she is here instead of fourth period at school. With David's intense work schedule, this is the only time I can have some one-on-one mommy daughter time. Happy bday to my lovely young woman!

Favorite color: light purple
Favorite food: fish, rice, asparagus and mango with French bread
Favorite activities: Cheerleading, dancing, ice-skating, singing, shopping, cooking, drawing, reading, looking in the mirror
Favorite thing to cook: cookies and cake and ice cream sandwiches
Favorite music: music theater and pop, artists like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Bella Thorne, and zandea (?)
Favorite movies: Mamma Mia, Grease, Hairspray, Good Luck Charlie
Favorite books: Dork diaries, Secret language of girls, boxcar children, Twilight series
Favorite class: musical theater
Favorite teacher: Mr. Langlois and Mrs. Gabbitas
What she wants to be when she grows up: a star in Broadway musicals or a famous singer
Goals for improvement in the next year: dancing, singing, and grades

Of course mom is hoping most for the latter, although she is doing much better.

I LOVE YOU SOPHIE!!