Sunbeams

I have been a primary teacher in our ward for a year. About 9 months into teaching, Matt was called to be a primary teacher with me. We were teaching the CTR 5 class, but in January when the classes changed, we were moved to the Sunbeam class. Here are some of the kids in our class. Sage and Mason were gone, so we didn't get their pictures.

We love our calling and we are very excited to get to know these really cute kids!



This is Ericka


This is Grant


This is Justin

Owen's Birthday

My little guy turned 3 yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time goes.

Owen had a great day. He helped me with the cupcakes by putting the paper cups in the pan, then we frosted them. Owen only got to frost about 2 or 3 cupcakes, because he was too busy eating the frosting.


Owen and McKenzie watching me mix the batter for the cupcakes. Owen didn't like the noise of the beaters.




McKenzie and Owen frosting the cupcakes.



Matt and I blew up some balloons and Owen got to pick where each balloon got to go. Then I went to starfall.com (it's a website that my friend April suggested to go to. It helps kids learn to read.) McKenzie and Owen have a great time on there reading the words and playing the games. Then we took silly pictures on our web cam.




At Owen's Birthday party, he first opened presents. Angela got him a Spongebob Bat and ball. We got him new clothes and a plastic bowling set. Mike and Robin got him bubbles, a kite, Frisbee, ball and mitt. He got some money and a card from Grandpa and Grandma Hudson and Great Grandpa and Grandma Samuelson. He got really cute homemade cards from his Aunts Kristi, Jennifer, Wendy and Jaime. McKenzie also made him about 20 pictures of her, Zoey and Owen. Thank you everybody!








From left to right Richie, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma Samuelson, Brady and Robin


From left to right Wendy, Angela, Hunter, Kristi, Jarom, Jennifer, Owen and Matt.


From left to Right Dave, Lindsay, Mike and Zoey

What a Miracle

For those who didn't hear, there was a commercial airplane flight 1549, that took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. About 3 minute into the flight, the airplane ran into a flock of geese and lost 1 or both of the engines. The pilot new that he couldn't make it back to the airport so he safely landed the plane in the Hudson River. Every person on board survived. I know that the Lord was watching over the passengers and crew and I just couldn't help but cry. It was such a miracle. I couldn't help but think about everyone's family and what they must have gone through. What a scary experience for them.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/15/new.york.plane.crash/index.html

This may be Too much info

We've all heard, "When I was your age..." Well, growing up I remember my siblings using cloths diapers, we never used a mop (we had a bucket and were on our hands and knees) and we never had a toilet scrubber (that's right we had to stick our hand in the toilet.) I'm not sure if this was because my parents wanted to teach us how to work hard or if they just couldn't afford these things. I've always thought this was so gross and completely wrong. I am so thankful and so blessed to have these modern conveniences.

The reason why I am writing about these things is because we were running low on diapers and we still have 1 day before we can go shopping. We thought, "what they hay, I used to do this when I was little." So we put Zoey in cloth diapers and not too much later, we were changing a poopy cloth diaper. Nice! lets just say this will be the last time we use cloth diapers.

Update from Yesterday

Well, yesterday I wrote that we were looking for a new place. Matt and I have been praying about it and it just doesn't feel right. So we are staying. Hooray! Obviously we aren't sure how much longer we are going to stay, but since McKenzie is starting school, the soonest we would move wouldn't be until next year in the summer time.

New Home

Ever since Matt and I got married we have moved quite a bit. In fact we've moved so much that I can't even tell you how many times we've moved. I can tell you that it's been at least 10. I've since lost track. The longest that we have ever stayed in 1 place is 1 year and 1 month. Now that our 1 year lease is up, we are again looking for a place to live.

We do love were we are at. The location is perfect, it's a great family neighborhood with lots of parks for the kids, work is not too far away, the ward is great and the church is in our subdivision just around the corner from our house. So why are we thinking about moving? We are looking for a rent to own house so we can finally settle. McKenzie will be in kindergarten next year and we don't want to have her change schools all the time. We've been looking online at some possibilities and there's a lot of rent to own homes the same amount that we are paying for rent. Plus a portion of the rent goes towards a down payment.

We would just buy again, but we have to wait at least another year. With Matt having a commission only job, we have to show at least 2 years of income with the company. We're taking it kind of slow, so we don't get stuck with something we don't like or want. We'll see what happens.

The House Next door

The house next door to us and the house 2 doors down from us are both for rent. I'm not sure how much the rent is, but I'm pretty sure it's between $900-$1000/mo. One house is 3 bedrooms 2 baths with a family room and the other is 3 bedrooms 2 baths with an upstairs bonus room over the garage. If you or someone you know in the Boise area and is looking for a quiet, family oriented, neighborhood we would love to have you as our neighbors!

My Resolutions

So far this year I have a done a great job on my resolutions. I know it's been just over a week since the new year, but I am excited and really proud of myself. I have been really trying to have personal prayers both morning and night consistently and it's been great! It really makes a difference in how the day goes. I feel so much happier and I am so much more patient with my kids.

I also have started playing volleyball 3 times a week and I also have been running in place at home. I use cans of green beans as weights to add some resistance and hopefully help add some muscles :). I never lost the weight after having McKenzie, because I got pregnant again before she turned 1. It took me 2 years to get my weight down after I had Owen, hopefully it won't take that long this time. If anyone has anymore helpful tips on how to lose weight, please let me know. I'm really excited about setting goals for myself and working to achieve them. I haven't done this since I was in Young Womens!

Our first week at church this year

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the year. Matt and I now are teaching the Sunbeams class A. I was really impressed with our class because they were so reverent in primary and they did pretty good in class for the lesson.

McKenzie is in the CTR 5 class! She is getting so big and is growing up so fast! She got a CTR ring and was wearing it all day. She learned all about Choosing the Right.

Owen missed the cut off for Sunbeams by 3 weeks, so he has another year in nursery. He enjoys the playtime and is not ready to sit still for any amount of time. Another year in nursery is just fine.

Zoey hangs out with Matt and I. The kids like to take care of her in class by giving her bottle to her or her pacifier. She sleeps through most of church right now.

Going Private

I don't want to do this, but I think that it's time to make our blog private. Please comment and leave your email address so I can add you to the list if you want to be included.

Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone, so I thought that maybe I would make a few New Year resolutions.

1. I really want to lose weight. I don't weigh myself very often, so I'm not sure how much I want to lose, but I'd like to be able to fit into a size 7/8.

2. I want to focus on growing closer to my Savior, by having personal prayers morning and night everyday, consistently.

3. I want to save more money. After reading my friends' blog, Saving some green, I got to thinking that I need to be saving more and she had a good idea about saving money every month for Christmas. Click here to check out her money saving ideas. I'm planning on saving at least $80/ month For emergencies, $50/ month for Christmas and at least 10% of each check for retirement.

I have other things that I would like to work on, but I thought that if I stuck to just 3 things, then maybe my resolutions will become a reality.