Ivan was messing around with the calculator the other day and asking me how old John and I were. As it turns out, our family is 100 years old!

(I can’t get the numbers to all line up in the post….)

John                  38

Lisa                    36

Calvin               11

Ivan                  8

Reed                  5

Avalon       +    2

=         100

Alright, I didn’t take this picture.  But, I wanted to share with everyone a great way to discern between T.P. prices.  When I first got to Utah I was amazed at how high the price of toilet paper is here.  Way more than Oregon.  I was really upset about it because while I’m no longer a t.p. snob (I can do without the Charmin…) I still liked a good soft toilet paper.  Every time I went to the supermarket I felt swindled.  How was I to know what is a good deal?  Well, go to this webpage that my friend Diane wrote and you will learn the secret.  And, you will also know why my toilet paper is the cheapy stuff.  Just double/triple it up and know that your sister/friend/daughter/in-law is being a frugal shopper.   By the way, there are only two brands here in Utah that typically meet the “good buy” at my local Macey’s Supermarket.  One is the “Sure Savings” brand that is sold in a four pack on the top shelf and the other is “Scott” (Yup, the thin stuff!).

TOILET PAPER

Check it out!

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Here is the rag rug I recently learned how to make.  It uses scraps and is lots of fun.  I realize this picture is pretty crummy.  John won’t let me put it in it’s intended spot (the mud room).  He says it’s too pretty to get muddy with shoes.  So, it is in my kitchen now.  I guess when it is dingy enough, he will let me put it in the mud room.  :)

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Have you ever seen a rooster with a comb like this?  Strange, huh?  We call him “Spikes”.  Well, we used to call him Spikes.  We had too many roosters.  And, Spikes lived up to his name.  He would chase Reedy down and peck him.   He is now in my freezer awaiting a good time for me to make chicken noodle soup….

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Ivan was inspired by one of those spam e-mails that is floating around the internet.  He decided he wanted to play with HIS food, too….

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On April 1st, we had a nice little snow storm.  So, for April Fool’s day we bagged the home school and went sledding in the morning.  We had practically the whole hill to ourselves.  Due to strange weather, this was the first time all year that there was enough snow to sled with.  We went at Christmas, but since then if there was snow, it was on Sunday.  We had a great time.  I even went down the hill twice!  Ha!  Those of you who know me would be proud.  :)

I got some video of Calvin snow boarding, but it wasn’t great enough to share.  You can see Reed very tiny in one of these pics.

Avy and I got cold, so we took a break in the van.

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And, to end the random picture sequence, I don’t think I have shared this picture of me and John.  We just celebrated 11 1/2 years of marriage on Valentine’s day.   What a handsome guy I have for a spouse.  I am one lucky girl.

Have a wonderful day!

Before Christmas we had the opportunity to go skating twice in one week.  At the same place!  First, John has his company work Christmas party.  Then, we had a home schooling Christmas party.  Both were a lot of fun.

For the company party, John’s bosses gave out a ton of tokens, so Calvin and Ivan spent most of the time playing arcade games instead of skating.  But, they had a blast!

Calvin with one of his “winnings”.

Reed had fun scooting around.

John took Avy for a stroll.

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We invited Mary and her girls to come with us to the home schooling party.

Avy and Emily had fun pushing each other around the rink.

Natalie did great with the scooting.

Both were a lot of fun and we hope to go again soon.

I am trying to instill in my children a love of service.  Helping others is really what life is all about, right?  And, it feels so good.  At least, to me, it does.  My children are not quite so sure yet.  I think, though, as we go along my children will look forward to opportunities to help others.

Here are a few things we have been up to lately…..

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Early in November, some home schooling friends and their families met up at Maple Dell and we did a service project.  We sanded the benches in the scout camp’s chapel.  It was a lot of fun.

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Calvin and I took one evening and went to the LDS Home Storage Center.  We canned some food for ourselves and for a sister in our ward.  Calvin had a blast!

Here is a picture of Brenna who is expecting her second child next month.

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I don’t have any pictures, but we also spent an hour at the LDS Bishop’s storehouse.  We bagged oranges and grapefruit into 5lb. bags.  We got to go into the warehouse and see where they store all the food.  The boys weren’t so sure they wanted to be there, and Avy had a fit in the baby backpack, but I figure it will take time for them to get used to the idea.  I had a wonderful time.

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We attempted to make some soft pretzels for some of our neighbors for Christmas.  The recipe wasn’t that great, so we didn’t give very many away.  We did something else instead.  But, it was fun to make these for others, even if they didn’t receive them.

This is the one Reed (5 years) made of Baby Jesus.  He did it all on his own.   Wow!  Doesn’t it look great?  We did give this one to our neighbor, Sister Nelson.  She is the only one who got one, though.

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We also had the opportunity to “help others” by watching our neighbor’s children while they packed up their house to move.  Lulu, Bubba, and their new baby sister were a delight to watch.  We will miss them!

Avalon loved holding the baby and feeding the baby.  She can’t get enough!

She also enjoyed being the “baby” and getting into the baby’s car-seat.  Too funny!

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We did a little cousin gift exchange for Christmas and the boys made some beaded necklaces for their girl cousins.  They turned out very cute!

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Well, that is all I have for now.  If you need service rendered or can think of good ideas for children’s service activities, please let me know!  Helping Others is fun!  Right?…..Boys?…… Right!

Remember Kelsey?  Well, she was blessed in November.  It was a quiet, beautiful service.  Here is Avy admiring the “bebe” afterward, but she didn’t want to smile for the camera.

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Here are the kids having fun with Papa!

I have no idea what Reed was doing here, but I thought it was a cute photo.  He is a fun, happy kid!

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Grandma Pratt came over one day a few months ago and brought the boys these spinning top things.  They were somewhat complicated to figure out how to operate.  We looked to the packaging for help in knowing what to do….

Say what???

Can we say “MADE IN CHINA”???  (The boys did figure it out and enjoyed the tops for about 1.1 day until they broke.)

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Here is Avy at the Cablelas hunting/outdoor fun store.  She loved all the fishes.

Another cute pic of Avy.

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This is how Calvin can be found just about every waking hour.

This week was the County Fair! The boys are in 4-H and they entered a bunch of stuff. Grandma Pratt is really good about working on projects with them throughout the year and now we have “pay day”! And, they really do get paid!

Here are some of Ca’ls items that I tagged.

And here are some of Ivan’s.

(The picture didn’t turn out that great, but it is a race car that Ivan made out of “Edible Floam”.)

I don’t have a picture of them, but Calvin won a purple ribbon for his Ginger Cookies.  Here is what the options are:

3rd place–white ribbon–$1.00

2nd place–red ribbon–$1.50

1st place–blue ribbon–$2.00

Best of Show–purple ribbon–$3.00 (and goes to state)

The competition was fierce, but the cookies were fabulous.  It’s my Aunt Jamar’s recipe.  (She is currently on a mission in Germany.)  Calvin was very excited to get a purple ribbon!

Calvin also competed in the talent competition.  He sang “You’re a Grand Ol’ Flag” and “God Bless America”.  Yes, a solo.  In front of 60+ people.  He did a fantastic job and he sang out loud and clear.  It was beautiful.  He has a great singing voice.  He won a trophy.

It was a great fair week.  The best part for the boys was earning money for their projects.  They also bought some African Dwarf Frogs which live in water like a goldfish.  So, we now have some new pets in the family.  I’m sure there will pictures soon, knowing my budding photographers.

I just got done with “Great Expectations” by Dickens and I really enjoyed it. I am trying to read more classic novels to build my brain.  I sure hope it works.  Ha!

I have just started “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. So far it is a little hard to wrap my brain around, but I’m enjoying it. Would anyone like to read it with me?

Lisa

It may be my first.  Many of you who know me know that I just don’t do sports.  Never have.  I have many friends and cousins who are way into sports.  They are true “soccer moms” (and/or baseball moms) and that is fine for them, but it has never been my thing.  My poor boys have never even played on a sports team.  So, when there came up an opportunity for “home school baseball”, I thought we might participate.  It is held on a Friday morning for six weeks.  I thought I could handle that.

Well, apparently not.  You see, they put me in charge of the 2-5 year olds and a little four year old had a very strong swing and I ended up with this lovely black eye.  I thought the wiffle ball was safer than a regular baseball.  I was really trying….

The Weapon

(These are very LARGE heavy wiffle balls….)

So, it doesn’t look so bad when my eyes are open.  Just a little like I put way too much magenta and purple eye shadow on.  Calvin keeps saying to me, “Man!  Your eye looks terrible!”  It really does.

So, now I’m official.  Have any of you real soccer moms had an injury to tell about?

–”Coach” Lisa

(five more weeks to go…)

Here are the boys flying some cool Chinese kites.  It is hard to see, but there are several mini-kites all on one string.  G&G Allen brought them to us from their trip to China.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

I think I mentioned before that Avalon LOVES to sit in boxes!

And baskets.  (And anything else that is tiny and can fit her bottom.)

We went to a local Rock and Mineral show.  Here is “Mr. Bones” eating the children’s heads.

Ivan especially loved it.

A bunch of un-opened geodes.  By the way, the boys LOVED this field trip!  They each brought some money and came home with cool fossils and rocks.  It was great!  They can’t wait until next year.

These rock eggs from around the world were on display.  Very cool!

Avalon LOVES asparagus.

And the keyboard.

I guess that is about all for now.  Loves to everyone.  Enjoy conference weekend!!

Reed, says to me, “Look, Mama!  My ABC’s!”  “Mama!  Look!”  After a few moments of doing who knows what, I check out his recent block structure.  What a great kid!  He did this all on his own.  He’ll be reading before you know it!  And if not, who cares??  I love this kid!!!  (Oh, and when I showed him the picture I took, he says, “Hey!  There is a ‘Y’!”  Sure enough, at the top next to the box, there was.  Wow!)