Another Project Off The List!

This window in my laundry room has waited a LONG time to get framed in!  Every time I go in to the laundry room (which is lots), I see this silly window and wish it was done.  Well – it’s done now!  My mom (aka: my hero) came over and figured out how much wood and went to the store and bought it.  Then went out to their hangar where her tools are and cut and drilled what needed done and then came back and installed it all!  Hooray!  It’s such a small thing to some, but it was huge to me.  I have seriously gone into the laundry room just to look at the window!  Now I have to get some wood filler and patch the nail holes and I can paint it and be ready to hang blinds.  So exciting!  I wonder how long it will take Lennard to notice this project is done?

Called to Serve

Our Primary Mission activity was a great success!  Hooray!  I couldn’t have asked for a better turnout or a better experience for the kids.  It was a little crazy to start with trying to get pictures of each of the kids with the map as they all came in at close to the same time.  When everyone had got a picture, I neglected to start with an opening prayer and just plowed right in to things.  I finally tied everything together and had a prayer.  We sang Called to Serve (or the adults in the room did) and then we split into the four stations we had set up.  There was Language Training, Missionaries in Action, Life Skills and the Daily Life of a Missionary. 

In Language Training, we had four RMs from our ward put on a small presentation about their respective missions.  We had Taiwan, Mexico, Italy and England.  The kids got to learn a bit about the culture, the food, what it was like to be a missionary there and how to say ‘I am a child of God’ in their language.

Missionaries in Action was a lot of fun as we’d set up a course in the gym for them to ride bikes, contact ‘investigators’, knock on doors (of cardboard houses), etc.  As the kids talked to people (our Ward Mission Leader, Bishopric Member, Stake Primary Presidency, Members, etc), they got a sticker to put on the back of their name tags.  The kids thought it was great and really went out of their way to talk to people (which was the point!).

Life Skills was a station where they got to learn how to sew on a button, tie a tie, pack a suitcase and iron a shirt.  It was the busiest station by far to get all the kids through everything, but I think they learned a lot too.

Then, for the Daily Life of a Missionary, we had the full-time missionaries talk to the kids.  They even had them doing push ups and sit ups!  It was great fun.

We finished off the day with a ‘Mission Conference’ where our Ward Mission Leader (Brother Barnes) talked about his calling in the ward and then Brother Holland in our Bishopric talked a bit.  The kids were really wiggly and loud by then, so it was a little tricky to get them to sit and listen, but it was okay.  After a closing prayer we headed in to the gym for a treat of ice cream bars.

It was so nice to hear all the positive feedback from kids and parents.  It makes the effort all worth it when you can see the kids enjoying themselves and learning more about missionary work.

While the Boys Are Away…

I wanted to get a few projects done while Lennard and my dad are away, so this afternoon I headed out to the airport with the kids and my mom helped me put the rest of the flooring down on the mezzanine!  I was happy with how quickly it went and how good it looks.  There’s not tons of room to stand up, (I can, but with only about an inch to spare) but there will be lots for the kids.  Now to get railings and stairs!

Off to Montreal!

Well, it’s actually happening!  Yikes!  Lennard and my dad headed off to Montreal today to pick up a Van’s RV-7A kit!  Just a little over a week ago, Lennard found this kit on a forum for Van’s builders all over the world.  The guy has completed somewhere between 30-40% of the work already and sold the kit for way less than what we could get it from the factory!  We are hoping that we’ll be able to build it (1st challenge) and then sell it (2nd challenge), so that we can work down some of our debt.  Seems a little backwards going IN to debt to get OUT of debt… but that is our hope!

Unfortunately, we ended up going a little farther in to debt as the engine gave out in the truck!  Dad and Lennard started replacing the engine last week and then Dad finished it on Wednesday.  Nothing like breaking in a brand new engine with a trip across country!  We got a break on the engine though.  With Dad doing the work and getting his business discount we saved over $5000!  Thanks, Dad!

Dance With Me Daddy!

Emma can get her daddy to do pretty much anything… so when she asked him to teach her how to dance, we ended up with an impromptu dance party.  I’m always amazed how these moments always happen at bedtime. (Ha! Ha!)

It was so cute to watch them together.  Then, Ben had to get in on the action.  He thought it was hilarious.  After a few spins and dips, Lennard got the two of them ‘dancing’ together.  So cute.

Mezzanine Fun

We got some more work done on the mezzanine… although we found out how much ‘fun’ it is to get things square.  What a gong show!  I got all the joist hangars put on while Lennard was up in the attic and then he came down to help put the joists in.  Then we discovered that I’d put the hangar just a bit too high, so we had to adjust every single one of them.  So much for making things go faster!  Oh well.  We got all the joists hung and now we’re working on getting everything square so we can put the flooring down.  Oh the joys of all these ‘20 minute’ projects!

 

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

It is my friend, Shannon’s birthday today!  I took her girls for the morning so she could have a relaxing morning by herself and then I invited her and another friend, Dina and her kids to come over for lunch.  The kids were SO excited to surprise Shannon.  They all got birthday hats on and hid around the house.  As she came in the door they all jumped out and screamed (literally) Happy Birthday!  It was quite the party!

I am so blessed to have such good friends.  The kids all played well together and Shannon, Dina and I sat and visited all afternoon.  It was the perfect way to spend the day.

Happy Birthday, Shannon.  Thanks for being such an amazing friend.

I Hope They Call Me On a Mission

I got to hand out all the Primary ‘Mission’ calls today in church.  Since Lennard has a rugby game tomorrow night and Grandpa Nichols is leaving in the morning, we decided to have our FHE tonight.  The kids were SO excited to get to open their calls and see where they will be ‘going’ for our Primary activity on Saturday. 

Emma is going to the Taiwan Taichung Mission and Ben is going to the England London Mission.  As soon as they opened their calls they raced to the map to see where their missions are.  It was so fun seeing their enthusiasm.  It made my heart skip a beat to think that they could serve missions at the same time in a relatively short amount of time (it goes way too fast).  It brought back a lot of memories from when I opened my mission call.  I hope they can always keep this as a goal.

Fun at the Circus!

I happened to see an ad for the circus on the side of a Lethbridge city bus a few weeks ago, so I took a quick picture so that I’d have the webpage address and told Lennard about it when I got home.  He was all for it and so I went on-line to book tickets.  Then I saw how much the tickets were.  Lennard pushed and said he wanted to take the kids anyways and so we ended up with ringside tickets!  (gulp!) 

Since we didn’t realize that Grandpa Nichols would still be here, we only got tickets for us, but he was okay having some quiet time at home while we headed off.  We hadn’t told the kids what we were doing, so it was lots of fun when we drove up to the Enmax parking lot and they saw all the circus tents set up.  They were very excited!  It’s so fun getting to surprise them.

We found some seats and immediately ended up with a few meltdowns when the kids realized that we weren’t going to be buying all the ‘extras’ that were going on around us.  Elephant rides were $10/kid and $15/adult.  Light up swords, popcorn, candy, face painting… it was all too much temptation for the kids and they were upset that we wouldn’t give in.  I felt bad, but when we paid so much just to get in, there was just no way to do all the extras.

Thankfully, the show started and they got distracted!  There were a lot of fun acts.  The kids loved watching the different horses, acrobats, tight rope walkers and elephants.  The clowns were a little strange, but the kids thought they were hilarious.

The only disadvantage to where we were sitting was when the trapeze artists were doing their act.  We ended up being directly below one of their platforms and every time they chalked their hands we got showered with chalk!  Literally!  We were covered!

It was definitely a lot of fun to take the kids to the circus.  I hope they have fond memories of it.

Hanging Out at the Airport

We spent the day out at the airport – again!  We started working on our mezzanine and then my dad called Lennard over to learn more about doing the annual on the plane.  Ben decided to just hang out on the creeper while we watched what Lennard and my dad were doing.

I think Emma’s favorite part about being at the airport is playing in the dirt and mud.  This time wasn’t intentional as she got stuck in the mud and fell over with her bike.  I had to try to lift her up out of the mud puddle without getting covered in mud myself!  Crazy girl!

This is a before and after for today.  It took a lot of work getting up into the attic to get the uprights attached to the rafters.  We managed to get a few of the joists in and then decided to call it a day.  The kids were tired and so were we.  It won’t take much more to get the rest of the joists in and lay down flooring.  Then it will take a bit of time to figure out the stairs, but it’s coming!

Bike Rodeo

Lennard told me that there was a bike rodeo down at the ice rink this morning, so I took the kids down before we went to Stay and Play.  They got grouped in with a kindergarten class and I had to laugh when questions were asked and Emma was the first one to have the answer!  Emma’s helmet was fine, but Ben’s is apparently too small.  We’ve got to buy him a new one. They suggested we go to an adult small for him.  They got to learn rules of the road and how to signal what direction they are going.  They enjoyed it.

Hair Cut

I struggle to make time for myself.  I have also had a hard time finding a hair dresser in Cardston.  I finally bit the bullet and contacted a gal that people had recommended on the Cardston Buy & Sell site on Facebook.  It’s a little crazy that it’s taken me almost a year to get a haircut, but it’s amazing how much better my hair feels now!  I took Ben with me and let him play on the iPad while I had my hair cut and then got done in time to pick Emma and Izzy up at preschool.  Win, win!  Guess I’ll have to be a little more consistent now!

Happy Mother’s Day

I used to dread the coming of Mother’s Day, but today was such a wonderful day.  I definitely figured out why my mom always cried when we gave her cards, etc.  I bawled my face off as I read Emma’s little questionnaire that she did in preschool.  She looked at me and asked if I was sad or happy, but I just hugged her and bawled.  I feel so incredibly blessed to be her mommy.  Who knew that I look as pretty as a mermaid!

After a crazy day at church (as usual), we headed out to my parents.  Shauna and Roger and their families had been out and were just leaving as we got there, but at least we were able to say hi.  Mom saved dinner for us so we at and visited with them for a while. 

Ben kept coming and giving me hugs and kisses all day long and saying Happy Mother’s Day.  It was so sweet.  After getting home, we decided to head over to the temple for a walk.  We are so lucky to live so close to this temple.  It’s amazing to think of the generations that have been sealed together in this beautiful building.  I am so thankful to know that we can be together forever.

Girls Night Out

With everyone busy with family and just life in general, we decided to book a girls night a few weeks ago so that it might actually happen!  Thankfully, everyone stuck to the date and we made it in to Lethbridge!  It was such a fun night!  We went out to eat at the Saigonese and ate way too much (so yummy).  Then we went shopping.  I found a few things for the kids, but not much for me (as per usual).  After we’d shopped for a while, we decided that we didn’t want to head home quite yet, so we went out for dessert!  Crazy idea since we were still full from dinner, but it was a lot of un.  The lemon meringue cheesecake was delicious!  I didn’t get any pictures of us all together, but here’s a few from tonight.  I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends.