Steve

They say to marry up and I did!

Steve isn't just my best friend, he is also my best critic, cheerleader and hand holder! He just rocks!

We've been through a lot and he has been the steady one. Me? I'm up and down and all over the place, but he is the rudder that guides this family through the choppy waters of life.

What man would let you put this on the back of his shirt? And who would spend two days driving a van with little sleep (and what he did get wasn't "good" sleep) and a van that stinks like runners have been living in it and STILL do something like this:

Begging for donuts!

Honey, you rock my world! 

We wear hats and sunglasses! TWINS!

He took me to JOURNEY!!!

At the most northwest point of the USA!
He goes camping with me! 

How wouldn't love that face?

A Pioneer Heritage

I am a Utah Pioneer Daughter. On both sides of my parents I had family who crossed the plains.  Some crossed at a great cost, others came across the plains in "comfort" of the train. Some crossed more than once. Some were the first to see the Salt Lake Valley.

I will be forever grateful to these ancestors. 

Great, Great, Great Grandma Christine and Great-Great-Great Grandpa Christian holding their oldest child, "Aunt Nettie" 

This family joined the LDS church in Norway and were immediately persecuted by their community. When they had saved enough money to send their eldest, Antoinette, they did. She traveled with a small box holding her "extra clothing" and a few items from Norway, to England to New York, then to the Mississippi River where from that point she walked the whole way across the great plains to Salt Lake City. There was one morning where her leg was hurt and a family let her ride in their wagon.

When she arrived in the Salt Lake Valley she only new a handful of English words. She is my hero. She suffered so much and yet, persevered and made a difference.   

Aunt Nettie

Her younger brother, Charles, was my Great-Great Grandpa. He was able to come to Utah about eight years later in the "comfort" of the train. 

Great-Great Grandpa Charles

I wish I had a picture of John Daniel Holladay Jr. His story is wonderful as well.  His family joined the church from Alabama and they joined the Saints in Nauvoo at the time they were building the temple. He became friends with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.  

When it came time for the Saints to leave for the West, John Daniel, Jr. was part of the advanced party that scouted out the route and was with Brigham Young on that great day when Brigham saw the Salt Lake Valley and proclaimed "This is the Place, drive on." 

John Daniel, Jr. then traveled many times between Utah and Illinois helping company after company of Saints come west. It was in one of these trips that he found his wife. His future father-in-law asked him to drive the wagon with his daughter in it and a friendship and eventually a courtship happened.  

Oh, how I love these family members who walked the hard road and sacrificed so much for me and my family.  

And this is just my mom and dad's part of the family back in 2008. Many more have joined our family. 

Lessons I learned from my deck

My wonderful family has owned three homes and has built four decks.

A Firm Foundation

Our family has a tendency to buy a home and then build a new deck shortly after we move in. We bought our first house and promptly tore down the 3x3 "deck" and build a beautiful 900 square foot deck. Ok, we hired a friend to build the deck, but we were involved in building the deck. Soon after that we sold that house and moved into a new house. With in a couple of years we build a new deck. This time because it was a second story deck we left this to professionals, not only because it was above a garage but also because it was part of a major remodel of our home.

Three years later we are again pulling down a deck and putting up another deck. This deck, the main one off the back of the house, was in desperate need of a new top. The builder of the home, but on shoddy decking. As we pulled the decking off, we found the foundation to be strong, firm and well constructed. This was in stark contrast to the decking we pulled off. Our children, old enough to help now, got into the act of pulling the decking off and hauling it over to a pile of garbage. We added to the foundation and with the help of a friend (he had the tools and the contractor discount) build a marvelous deck.

Well, we find ourselves in a new home with a deck that on the surface looked wonderful. It was pleasing to the eye. It even had a hot tub on it. When we had the home inspected we found that what was pleasing to the eye wasn't necessarily structurally sound. The gentleman who built the deck didn't use proper tools or proper engineering techniques. We knew then that the deck would have to come down.

This summer it is our project to take down and rebuild a deck that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also structurally sound. This is hard work. For a little over a week, the boys (two now in their teens) and I have been taking hammer, saw and muscle to the deck to pull it apart. I should add that unlike the other decks we have built, this one proves to be a bit more challenging. It is (or was) a three tier deck with the top deck attached one floor above the ground. It also has a hot tub which required a tender touch. To complicate matters even more, the deck's edge also hangs over a rock wall that goes down another 10 feet, so at one part of the deck you are some 20 feet into the air. But, what really scares a mother is that as we took this deck apart we saw what truly poor engineering went into the construction.

At one point in tearing down the railings, my son swung his hammer up to knock the top rail off and the whole corner post just snapped off. As we examined the 4x4 post we realized that the previous homeowner had cut off a huge 3x3 chunk of the post off and just used finishing nails to hold the post onto the deck. After swallowing hard and making sure my son was still firmly standing on the deck, I made a mental note of thanking Heavenly Father for keeping that son on the deck and my family from not knocking that railing off though out the year that we have owned this house.

As the days progressed and the deck came down piece by piece I couldn’t help but think of the many decks we have built as a family and how this all relates to two very important aspects of my life.

The first aspect if that of the gospel. In the first house there was nothing to pull down so we built something from the ground up, and left it to professionals to do. Much like when we are first learning the gospel, we build from the ground up with a firm foundation. If it is done well with all the professionals working together you have a thing of beauty and usefulness. The second deck was much like the first. That third deck, had a firm foundation, but it just needed to have a new decking and while we were at it, we added to the foundation and built a bigger and more useful deck. I see this as those wonderful teen years. We have a firm foundation, but sometimes our decking is lacking a little. By removing the decking and replacing it we make something wonderful and beautiful, sometimes we even add a little more to the foundation to make it more useful; just like when I got married.

Now this last deck, unfortunately is like many people in and out of the church. The deck is pretty to the eye, but when you inspect it you see many shaky posts, cracked foundation, post only held on by finishing nails instead of galvanized nails or deck screws. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work to tear it down and even more to build from the ground up. It is much easier to build correctly from the start.

The other aspect is that of education. As a homeschooling mom and someone who has a keen interest in knowledge and education, it stuck me how often we have shaky educational foundations. Shimming up the pillars that hold up our knowledge, we try desperately to act and be knowledgeable, but many times it is transparent to those who are in the educational field. Life isn't necessarily easy with a firm educational foundation, but it sure makes it much easier to add to your knowledge when the whole foundation doesn’t need to be pulled down. It is still even better when we start out with a firm foundation for our education to be built upon.

I honestly pray that my children, as well as myself, are like that first deck we built, firm foundation with the proper tools used and proper materials. Life isn't necessarily easy, but it sure does making changes and upkeep all that much more enjoyable and easier than it is to start all over and tear something shoddy down. I know because my body hurts and I'm so exhausted.

OH What a Beautiful Day

Today we did it again! We went skiing as a family. We didn't get to go to Big White like we all would have hoped and loved to, but we got to go to The Summit just an hour east of our home. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! I didn't do as well as last time on skis but I had a BLAST! I skied with Jessie the whole time and we had so much fun. She was the energizer bunny and kept wanting to go and go and go. The last run, I just couldn’t do it. Not only were my legs screaming at me, but the light was such that I couldn't see the terrain. I also had little kids falling apart on me as it was snack time. Mike had taken a bad fall and was in really bad shape and really wanted to get off the snow, put some food in his tummy and call it a day. I guess "mom duty" is never over even for some play.

Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Picture above: I'm the tall one, in orange boots (those are just in case I get lost--you can see orange better in the white snow).

Picnic lunch under the blue skies!

Jessie posing for dad.

Does it have to end?

I was way too tired to write anything last night. Boy do I need to hit the gym a little bit more. If not to lose weight (but I'm not on a diet) to at least build up endurance and strength in some very out of shape legs.

Yesterday I spent the day on Hummingbird fine tuning my turning ability so that I can stay "in control." I guess that means that I should have some control to begin with right? I didn't do too bad.

Just before lunch I met up with my family and we took one run down Hummingbird and as we were getting off the lift, Jessie ran right into me and knocked me down. How embarrassing, but at least I have a good excuse to be on my backside. I'm claiming SHE ran into me, not the other way around.

We spent the afternoon skiing Hummingbird. I watched the children go over bumps (or jumps) and through the trees. I saw where "Winnie the Pooh" might live. I watched for the shy snow monkeys that were hiding in the trees on the way up the mountain and played a lot of "I spy with my little eye…." ("I spy something white….." "SNOW!" "You guess it mom!")

I took a break to pop dinner in the oven and then we hit the slopes or another hour while we were waiting for the chicken to cook! After dinner, Jessie and I went to the hot tub. Can life get any better?

Today, I pushed my luck and went in the level 3 class. They had too many in the class so the separated the class and somehow I got put in the more advanced level 3 class. I don't know what they were thinking! I have only been skiing for two days!

"Nooner," my instructor, took us up Ridge Rocket! I can't believe I went that far up the hill! It was so scary, but I remembered yesterday, "keep turning until you feel comfortable to change directions." I want to scream, "But what if there is a tree in my way and I don’t feel comfortable yet?"

I took a couple of deep breaths and off the top I went. Of course we were on green (beginner) runs, but these were a bit steeper and now longer than Hummingbird.

I only fell once and that was when my legs screamed "SIT DOWN" and I obeyed, even though my mind was yelling at them to quit being wimps.

At the bottom I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving because I made it all in one piece. Then "Nooner" took us to another chair and this one went even higher up. "What have I gotten myself into?" was the question I kept asking myself. I tried to think about that smile on Jessie's face and how my kids can do this hill. (Yes, they have all been skiing since they were 2 and I have had only 2 days of lessons, but I'm a grown up!)

I don't know how I made it down the hill, but "Nooner" was a great teacher and we made it all the way down and all in one piece. I still don't know how come a flash flood didn't happen since my thighs were on fire. I thought all the snow would have melted behind me.

I took a LONG lunch break and then hit Hummingbird with the kids. I took a ton of pictures with our little digital camera and they didn't turn out too great, but it was still fun to turn around and watch the kids come down the slope taking the bumps (or jumps as they called them). Some of the kids actually got air.

Unfortunately I had to turn my skis in at 4:30, so my fun had to end. I'm sure my legs were glad for it, but my face will just have to remember the fun at least until next time.

The whole family outside our condo on Hummingbird.

I'm Bored!

I'm so bored that I have to do and do something about it. Today was such a beautiful day and boy did we make memories. Look at some of the beautiful pictures I took today.

This one is looking out our condo window.

This is my dear son Chris basking in the sunshine and flakes

I'm told this is the lift to Ridge Rocket

And this is my dear sweet Jessie.

This smile hasn't left her face all week and it is only Tuesday.

But I'm still bored I'm might have to do something about that tomorrow.

Making Memories

Everyone in my family knows how to snow ski and this year we spent a week in Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada enjoying the most fantastic snow on earth. The first day there the day was a bit foggy and snowy, but it was "good snow" or so I'm told. The next day started out a bit foggy and then cleared up to be one of the most beautiful days I've seen up in the mountains during the winter.
My younger four children spend the first part of the day in ski lessons so my husband can go to the top of the mountain and ski some of the difficult runs. My oldest two are very good skiers, in fact they are assistant instructors for a ski school closer to home, so they are free to spend the morning using good judgment skiing where their hearts desire. I gather the children from their lessons just before lunch and we spend lunch time together. After lunch the family skis some of the not so difficult runs together. I'm very pleased this year because Kray and Jason (my oldest
children) are helping out by taking some of the younger children down the slopes and back up the lifts. It really makes my heart warm. When the younger skiers are worn out, I greet them at the door with a cup of hot cocoa, a warm smile and listening ears. To hear them tell their tales they skied through thick forests, "got feet of air" when they went over a jump, skied to the edge of a cliff and lived to tell me all about it.
I'm the only one who doesn't strap on ski boats and hit the slopes. I hope that will change as the years go by, but for now I’m content to just to help make memories for my children. I hope they look back on their child hood as one full of great memories and skiing at Big White being a high light of those memories.
Snowball fights in the hot tub.
Snow angels in the snow banks.
Hot cocoa mustaches.
All the junk food snacks one could eat.
Foot warmers in ski boots.
Games all evening night.
Spectacular views from the condo.
Even all the chick flicks I watched while waiting for them to return from their adventures.
As their mother my biggest wish is that as they grow up and move out that they remember that their dad and I did all we could to give them good memories. Memories that bring smiles to their faces, a desire to call and share those memories with each other and myself. This is a sacrifice I will gladly give to my children because I hope they call me too and share in their memories.