a family adventure.

Last year we had one gigantic goal, cut back! That means I had to learn to cook more, limit my Crazy 8 and Target trips, and lots of boring nights at home. Was it hard to adjust? You betcha. Have we gotten use to all of it yet? Nope. We like to be on the go, and I love spending money. This goal trickled in to 2015, and it might just stay around forever.

We have gotten really creative in our boredom. We play games, we do lots of crafts, and some nights we just clean. Are you jealous of my life? I know, it is glorious.

One Saturday we were literally going crazy, and we decided to go on a long drive...and do some surprise visits. {Do I even need to mention the insanely low gas prices? I mean, everyone is talking about it.}

We drove to the farthest place we wanted to visit, and worked our way back home. I put a status on Facebook warning people to put bras on and clean up their houses. I updated it throughout the day with pictures of our stops.

Our first stop was Jill's house, but she wasn't home. Whomp, whomp, whomp. We didn't want it to start off like this, so we found out she was at WalMart. I ran in and hugged her in the medicine isle.

We headed north to Shane and Kelsey's house. We were sad our little Dominic was sleeping, but we got to see all the fun improvements they have made on their house.

Our last stop was Cathy and Dan. How could we go to Utah County and not see them!? She was watching my status on Facebook, wondering if she was going to be one of the stops. 

We made stops at both of the Water Gardens theaters, dinner, a gas station stop in between our favorite people stops.

This was one of our favorite days. I think we were gone for more than 8 hours, and we decided we needed to do more days like this.

Thank you to everyone for letting us in your houses without much warning. We are thankful to have so many wonderful people in our lives. 

doin' it right.

I have found that parenting will probably always be hard, just different things will make it this way. Babies like to make it hard by not sleeping through the night,  2 year olds like to throw tantrums, 10 year olds are extra hormonal, and I could probably come up with something for every age.

We have a 10 year old in this house that is bossy and sassy...and is smarter than me, obvs. Boy howdy is it fun! I think we all look forward to Monday's, because we need a break from each other.

The fun thing about parenting is you are constantly learning. Even though I have been a Mom for a decade, I have never had a 10 year old. It is all new to me, we are all just trying to figure out what works. We have lots of hard days, buckets of tears, and plenty of stomping to bedrooms with a nice slam of the door.

Just when I am about to throw in the towel, something good happens. Does this happen to anyone else?

Last Friday I picked up Savannah, and knew right off it had been a bad day. Just like the previous 4 days. 4th grade is hard yo! 

She looked at me and said "Mom, I don't even want to tell you, you are gonna be mad!"

Uh, since I didn't get a phone call from the school, it couldn't be that bad, right?

She proceeds to tell me how they took a timed quiz in class, and when she knew she wasn't going to finish, she copied off of her neighbor.

Is it bad that the first thing I said was..."Well, did you get caught!?"

She then tells me that she didn't get caught, but after she turned her work in, she didn't feel good. She started to get emotional, and had to go and tell the teacher what she had done.

I clarify with her..."So, you told on yourself?"

Yup!

Did I get mad? Nope, I laughed hysterically thinking my kid told on herself for cheating.

Moral of the story: 

I must be doing something right, even when I feel like I am doing it all wrong. 

Now pass the Coke and chocolate so I can survive the teenage years.

who am I? who can I become?

I recently got the boot from teaching the Sunbeams, and got a couple of new callings with the Young Women in our ward. I have quickly fell in love with these young ladies, and truly feel at home with this group. I am so excited to plan girls camp, I do admit I don't know what I am doing. I am going on faith and a prayer, or something like that.

Even though I am not in the presidency or a teacher, I have been invited to attend class and activities. Our lesson this past week was especially good for my lil' soul. 

As the girls answered the question "Who Can I Become?", I loved all of their responses. One girl wants to own a farm, one girl wants to marry a return missionary, one girl wants to have 2 kids. I remember being that age, and hoping for all those things too. 

After they all shared their big, grand goals, I thought of mine. I couldn't help but feel emotional. I am living what I dreamed of, and what an honor that I get to. I didn't always believe I deserved it, or that it would happen for me. Thankfully I have a loving Heavenly Father that has always been watching out for me.

Although being a Wife and a Mother isn't what everyone dreams of, it was my dream. It didn't all come as naturally as I thought it would, but I try every single day to be better than I was the day before. So thankful for the opportunity that I have, and feel especially lucky.