Hello Spring!

I was going to clean my house the other day.  I did start, but I then I got distracted...

There were these tulip bulbs in my garage.  I dug them up last fall, and never got them replanted.  Every spring they come up in these huge clumps and they needed to be spread out, but when fall comes I can't remember where they are.  I accidentally came across some of them last fall while digging up tree roots. Like I said I never got them replanted they were just in a bucket in the garage.  About a month ago they started growing.  Every time I get in my car, I can see them and I think "I should do something with those."  Well I decided it was the day to do something.  I was going to go outside, but I was sure it was colder than it looked.  I decided since I was going to try putting them in a pot I would just do it inside on the table.  I filled my pot, but there was still a whole bucket full of bulbs.
 

The Strawberry Patch

My Garden

The hill

 I ventured outside to look at some of the flower beds.  I discovered that my roses are getting leaves.  They shouldn't be leafing yet, I haven't pruned them.  And there were crocuses trying to poke through the mounds of dead leaves.  I started cleaning the bed.  I had to go to the garage and get some tools and on the way back I saw another bed in need of help, and yes there across the yard was another spot.  Oh and the poor strawberries are being choked out by grass!  I think that I ended up working on about 6 different flower beds.  I don't think that I finished any of them.  I just couldn't focus.    I spent two more days this week working in the yard.  Including yesterday.  It is starting to look better.  Last year we cut down a bunch of thorny trees and had them chipped.  The giant pile of wood chips is still sitting in the garden.  Since we never got it taken care of we didn't have a garden last year.  I need to get the wood chips spread out on the flower beds so I can get my garden ready for planting.  I don't do anything like my parents garden.  I think that it is too much work.  They spend a lot of time out there in their giant garden.  Mostly I like to do tomatoes and squash and peppers.  I might do peas, but I think right now is the time to plant them, and we aren't ready yet.    I think that we also want to get a tree to plant on the hill where the thorny ones were removed.  A nice tree instead of garbage ones.  Plus we have lost several of our scrub oaks in the windstorm.  We might still be able to see our back neighbors through the trees this year they are so much thinner.  Any suggestion of what kind we should get?  Isabelle wanted to go see the creek, but there is so much fallen wood I couldn't even get to the lower part of the path.  There is a good amount of water, but not as much as previous years.  although I think it is usually April when it hits its height. 

Did I mention I have a sliver from doing yard work.  And I can't get it out.  I also have several rose bush pricks.  I hope everyone is enjoying spring as much as I am.  (aside from the yard related injuries.)


Besides yard work we did get some things accomplished yesterday.  Thomas got our taxes finished.  They were almost finished before, but then we realized that we were using the online version of the program and not the download, which was causing problems.  We were almost finished and he basically had to start over, but it did transfer some of the information and everything else was already collected.  That is always the hard part of doing taxes.  There are always thing you need that you have to hunt for.  I was going to get the van registered, but we have been having problems with the battery.  When I left to get it inspected it was completely dead.  It  is weird because it is a brand new battery.  We have tested the alternator and it seems to be fine.  Thomas charged it and drove it to work.  Hopefully we can get it inspected this week and figure out what is going on with the battery. 

I did also get a little bit of housework done, but not as much as I wanted to.  I spent the evening with my sister.  She made dinner, which we kind of invited ourselves to.   I keep showing up at my mom's house just are they are doing dinner.  She has been kind enough to share.  My older sister is out of town and her kids are all at my mom's house, so my younger sister was already cooking for  a good sized crew without us.  It tasted really good, and I enjoyed visiting. 

We also went shopping for the bathroom tile this week.  WE brought home a couple of samples.  I am not sure which I like the best.  It needs to go with the carpet the cabinet and the wall, which is a turquoise color. 

And it wasn't just me who enjoyed being out in the yard.  The kids had a lot of fun too.  They are so excited to be doing things outside.  

Where Did January Go?

So we made it through the holidays, but now we are stuck in the slow winter months right?  Well apparently not this year.  I can't believe that January is almost over.  I have so many things I have wanted to write about lately, and haven't had time to do any of them.  Maybe  I will get some of them done Monday. I am taking a "sick" day.  I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning and then I will be taking some very needed down time.   I am still working on my Hawaii post,and I and planning a post about my latest obsession... LEGOS!  I know, its sad.  I also wanted to post about my New Year's resolutions.  Lucky for me most of them are still relevant despite it being the end of January. So here they are before we find out it is February.

First we had a few Family goals.

1. Keep the house cleaner.    This one has been going fairly well.  I especially wanted to focus on clearing the table after meals and picking up toys when we are done. There is still room for improvement, but it is definitely going better.
2. Share with Siblings.      This one was specifically geared toward the younger members of the family.   I am not sure what to say about this one since I had to pause in writing this to break up a fight over a toy.  I guess that is why we have a whole year to work on it.  
3. Have Family Home Evening   This one is also going well so far.  We have had a lesson every week but one.  We have also sang primary song, which I thought was a lot of fun.  We decided that we need another song book.  Thomas  needs it on the piano and I don't know the words as well as I once did. 

Then there are the Personal Goals:

1. The Relief Society in our ward challenged us to read the Book of Mormon 365 days this year. I thought it would be nice if Thomas and I did it together.  We have been reading about a chapter a night, and so far, we haven't missed.  
2. Another challenge we have been facing lately is finances.  The basement cost more than expected, we have been over spending in general, and there have been several large unexpected things.  We are trying to rebuild some of our savings by minimizing our expenses, which is a lot harder then it seems.  We don't have a lot of frivolous expenses.  There isn't much to cut out, which leaves things like going out to dinner and other activities.  It isn't much fun, but hopefully it will pay off.  
3. I don't know if it is really a goal, but I am trying to work through some personal issues.  I have not been very happy lately, and I need to change that.  Part of the problem is figuring out if it is because I am overstressed, just letting myself get rundown and in a rut, or if there is something physically or chemically wrong with me.  Right now I am trying to do two things. Reduce stress and be more positive.  I am also trying to monitor when I have my meltdowns. Is there a hormonal component? 
4. I also need to play more and spend more time with my children.  Isabelle will be starting kindergarten next year and it makes you realize how quickly they grow up. 
5. One last one, I would like to write more.  It makes me sad when I read other people's blogs and they have so many more posts than me.  Especially when there are things I want to write about.  Maybe my sister moving to the other side of the country will help with that.

I guess we will see how well we continue to work on these.  

Family Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2011

I was hoping to get this out early this year, but here it is two days before Christmas and I am still finishing up.  I hope that everyone has had a good year and great holiday season.  This year has been a lot of the same stuff with a few surprises thrown in.  As far as our jobs everything is mostly the same.  I am still teaching at Mueller Park Jr. High with 8^th and 9^th grade English.   This is the first year that I have not had a new subject; although the first little bit of 9^th grade felt new since I missed the first seven weeks of the year.  I did apply at the new junior high they built here in Kaysville, but my friend got the job.  Last year our entire English department was expecting.  I had mine in August before school started, the other two had theirs after the year ended, and neither came back.  The fourth teacher was the one who got the job at the new school. That left me as the sole returning English teaching. I had several other friends that quit or moved to the new school, so there have been a lot of changes. It has been a bit of an adjustment getting know and work with new people.  Allen is still managing the subway in Ogden.  Other than the constant influx of new employees not much has changed on that front. 

           

Annika is now four years old.  She is really enjoying being a “big girl.”  She is also generally a fantastic older sister; although sometimes brother “bothers” her.  They are both still at the high school day care.  Annika loves it there.  She is always excited to go to school.  I think that socially it has been a great thing for her.  She has learned a lot about being friends and interacting with others.  She loves to sing.  Her favorite song right now is “I’m getting nothin’ for Christmas.” We are getting a little tired of hearing it.  She is also obsessed with princesses.  She was a very pretty princess for Halloween. 

           

Aidan is almost 17  months .  He is a happy baby.  He is always full of smiles and mischief. At school he is one of the favorites. All the high school girls liked to hold him. He went 14 months without getting teeth and then got six all at once. That  did make him a little cranky, but he seems to be doing better now.  One of his favorite activities is to open and close things, especially cupboards.  He also loves his blankets (there are five of them.) He is always carrying one or more of them around.  He doesn’t always have to be holding it, but it must be on floor in close proximity.  He also loves to be outside.  I have never seen a child before who got so excited about shoes and socks.

           

Our first big surprise of the year was Allen’s opportunity to go to Africa with his uncle.  He was gone for two and a half week during July.  The rest of us kept occupied with camping trips and family reunions, but we missed him a lot.  He spent most of the time in Tanzania and Kenya.  At the end of the trip they flew down to see Victoria Falls as well.  He was his uncle’s photographer.  He “had to” get a new camera before he went and then rented a fancy high zoom lens (you don’t want to get too close to those lions after all.)  He took about 16,000 photographs.  You can see some of his favorites at www.flickr.com/photos/alyntopia/. 

I also have a flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/wravenlockw/, my pictures are generally not as impressive as Allen’s.   The other thing I got into this year was blogging.  There were two blogs I started reading, which inspired me to start my own blog.  I have really enjoyed writing it;  although  I have not publicized it very much. You can read my posts about some of the other things we have done this year at: adventures-gretchen.blogspot.com. 

The other thing that has kept us busy this year is finishing our basement.  Allen started it in the summer, but he just didn’t have time to really work on it.  We ended up hiring help.  They have completed all the work but the painting, which Allen and I did.   It has taken longer than I expected, even with professionals. Right now Aidan is sharing a room with the computers.  It makes it hard because the best time to work on things is when he is sleeping and you can’t because the computer is in the room with him.  I am hoping that once the computers are downstairs, I will be able to do more with my blog, scrapbooking, and dealing with our family pictures.  I also am very excited about my new tub we installed in the basement.  I can’t use it though because it doesn’t have a surround.  All we have left to finish is the tub surround and floor in the bathroom.  That,  however, is on hold, because something else came up.

Allen’s sister told us in October that she was engaged.  That normally wouldn’t have been a big impact on our basement, but she picked the Laie Hawaii temple.  We had six weeks from when she got engaged until the wedding.  To complicate things the trip would be over Thanksgiving and my birthday.   It ended up being pretty good, although there were a few problems.  Aidan ended up being sick the day before we left, and then I was sick on the plane there.  It is never a good sign when you are nauseous before you get on the plane. The first day there was the wedding.  It was very nice.  The temple workers were amazed that we all came so far for the wedding.   We also got to spend a little bit of time at the beach.  The second day we went to Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center.   The third day there was snorkeling, shopping, the Dole Pineapple Plantation, some more beach, and fish for Thanksgiving dinner.  The waiter also sang me happy birthday. I got a piece of coconut cake.  It was very tasty.  We flew home that night at midnight.   It was fun, but short.  Mostly it helped us know what we want to do next time we go. 

We welcomed December with a huge windstorm.  We did have some damage.  One of our windows was broken by a flying shingle, the roof was not as well covered as it had been, and the plum tree in front of our house was gone.  We were saddened by the loss of the plum tree.  There were originally two, but we lost one in an April snow storm.  It was half dead and kind of ugly, so we didn’t mind too much.  The other was bigger and had a nicer shape.  Our house now looks naked without them out front.  I almost stayed home that day because I was so traumatized just driving up to the high school.  I got hit by a large tree limb and almost by a garbage can.  I was assured that school was on, so I braved the winds rushing through Centerville.  It was terrifying to drive down the road feeling your car sway in the wind and see semi after semi tipped on its side.  In Bountiful it was much calmer.  By the time I got to school the power was already out.  At the end of the first hour we were informed that we weren’t getting power back and we started sending students home.  Emergency evacuations are a huge mess.  I spent the morning as a runner going to get students out of their classes when their parents came.  By the time it calmed down at 11:00, I had over 6,000 steps for the day.  At that point I found out the daycare was closed and left to go pick the kids up.  Unfortunately I had left my lights on and my car was dead.  I had to have another teacher jump my car.  It was one of the most exciting days I’ve had in a while. 

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas Season.

Love the Widdison Family

Project Basement: Phase One

Apparently, I was right. Making a plan is the way to get things done.  Although Thomas originally told me he didn't have any days off this week, it turned out that the meeting he thought he had on Thursday was really next week.  I asked if he remembered why I wanted him to take a day off and he responded that yes he remembered that I wanted to do some work on the basement.  The plan was to go to the store for supplies in the morning.  When we got home we could start working and be almost done by dinner time!  One thing I didn't think about was the fact that our van battery was having problems.  We had to run it over to the Autozone, but they couldn't test it when it was dead. Consequently we had to wait an hour for it to be charged.  They didn't say the battery was bad like we expected.  It charges just fine, but it won't hold a charge.  We decided to buy a new battery. We can't charge it every time we want to drive the van. We finally got to Lowes at about 2:00.  We selected our wood and went out to load the van.  Now, I did mention that it is spring break.  Well the first of the week was a little stormy, but not bad.  Thursday it started raining.  When we came out of the store it had turned to snow! (It actually snowed for three days! I thought this was spring break - not winter break!)  We stopped at my brother's house to borrow some tools.  We then dropped Isabelle off at my Mom's.  She was having a grandkids's slumber party. We are home with all of our supplies and missing one child. It is 6:00 and we have all evening to get work done. How much did we get done you ask...nothing.  We made dinner (some very tasty grilled chicken) and watched Remmington Steele.  When Isabelle is here she almost always insists that watch Star Trek, so we thought we would take advantage of her absence to watch something else.

Day two was Saturday.  Again we have the whole day ahead of us and I thought that we could jump in and get a lot done.  Thomas got out his measuring tape and measured.  Then he measured some more. Then he thought about his measurements. I wanted to start cutting boards.  He said that we had to have a plan, or we would ruin our wood.  I would have disagreed with him.  How hard can framing be, but the wall we are starting on has two pipes, so it actually is kind of complicated. So instead of cutting wood, we made a plan.  After a while I decided that making a plan was not a two person job and I went upstairs to clean. Finally after more measuring, planning, and watching some videos on the internet, some boards did get cut. He finished what is probably the most complicated part of the wall.  So the one day I thought it would take for this part of the project will probably be several more, but I am super excited that we have started.  That we have moved past the thinking about it stage.   Also while Thomas was working Isabelle made a castle and played princesses (her favorite activity) while her daddy worked.  It was very cute.

Friday night we had started watching Sound of Music.  We were almost half way when Thomas' brother called.  They were having a brothers night and watching True Grit.  He had forgotten all about it. We paused the movie and he went to meet his brothers.  I tried to watch my own movie, but I was too tired, so I just went to bed.  Saturday when we were tired of working we finished watching Sound of Music. I really enjoyed the movie.  My daughter liked it too, at least the parts where they were singing or wearing fancy dresses.  Her favorite part was the wedding where Maria became a princess (because of the fancy dress) and got to be with her prince. 

On the whole I am pleased with the progress we made on this first phase of working.  Hopefully we can get more done in the weeks to come and it won't be one of those never ending projects.

Little Bud Needs a Space

I have not had a good post in a while, and I am not sure that this will be one either.  Part of my problem is the time.  I have trouble finding time when I can use the computer.  This is mainly because of one small boy.  Before he came along, we had two bedrooms and an office.  It worked out well. Husband and I had a room, Daughter had a room, and the omputers had a room.  Along comes my little man who must also have a room.  Since there isn't a room available, he gets to shares with the computers.  Now, I can't say that this doesn't have some advantages.  For instance, computers put off a lot of heat.  Having my baby sleep in a room with two computers, at least one laptop, and various other computer clutter, I don't usually worry about him getting cold, even when other parts of the house are a little bit chilly.  Despite this advantage, it has the huge drawback of being unable to use the computer when little buddy is sleeping, a prime computer using time.  I can only use the computer when he is being entertained by his toys, which generally only happens in short chunks. Frankly, I am surprised how long this particular moment has lasted. Not that he doesn't love his toys.  He also goes from perfectly fine and happy to inconsolable when he sees his mother. Despite how much fun he is having, he realizes that he isn't being held and he should be. Although lately I have had a harder time holding him because he has decided that I am in fact a jungle gym.  I think that we will all be happier when he starts to crawl.  However, that will bring its own complications.  Anyway, to get back to the computer issue, it is not meant to be permanent. The computers want to live in the basement.  The basement is currently unfinished and lacks a couple of key items.  1) heat 2) power outlets in the area where the computers will go.  I was hoping to do some framing over spring break.  Thomas was supposed to take a day or two off, but the person at work who does the schedule told him that this was a bad week and it just wouldn't work out.  (Did I mention that Thomas is the manager and is the one who does the schedule?)  We did finish up our taxes last night and we are getting a refund.  Maybe we can use some of that on the basement project. The biggest problem is really just finding time.  I think that is one of those things that needs to be planned and scheduled, or it won't ever happen.  Plus there is the part where I mentioned Tristan is getting ready to crawl.  Not being able to crawl does not make him stationary.  He is developing a fascination with cables the extend out the back of computers, off of desks, and anywhere else that is in his reach.  This to me says that something must be done soon.  He has become very talkative lately.  I can hear him now talking to his toys. Currently his favorite consonant is B. "Bababab Babababa." I did hear a "Ma" yesterday, but is was only once.  I tried to get him to repeat and get a "Mama," but no such luck. 

A couple of unrelated side notes:

1) I was really wanting something chocolate and snackish the other day, so I decided I would make brownies, "to share" with the new neighbors.  I felt like that was a valid excuse to make such a horribly delicious and fattening recipe.  After much anticipation, they turned out horrible.  I forgot to add the flour.  I have never done that before. I couldn't believe that I had done such a thing.  I had to throw out most of them.  The crusty parts tasted OK, but the rest was gross. It made me so sad because I was really looking forward to them and because they are kind of expense. (An entire box of butter, 8 eggs, the cocoa and vanilla!)

2) Saturday when we went swimming, I made it an entire  length of the pool without stopping.  I really wanted to stop, but I pushed through.  Now I just need to be able to do it consistently, then I can start working on going down and back, which most people consider a single lap.

3)  We actually made a plan to do some yard work on Saturday as well, and it happened.  Maybe making plans is the way to go.  I have a whole post I need to do about the yard, but that will have to wait for latter.  Child #1 finally got out of bed and is asking for breakfast, and Child #2 is no longer entertained by his toys.  He says that someone needs to come pick him up.  I guess we will go and make breakfast.