Jake plays again

Jake and his friend decided to play for the 6th grade talent show (with a little persuasion from their teacher and parents). I think they did a great job! Jake's friend actually plays the guitar too, but they thought it sounded better with him playing the drums, he just started playing about a month ago--I was very impressed!

Accomplishments

I ran a 5K today. A year ago, I didn't think I could run more than a mile. I don't aspire to run marathons, but I did want to do this, a 5K and possibly a 10K. It is not much for many, I see lots of friends and family running lots more than that all the time. But it is a big deal for me. I am not fast, I don't even aspire to win any races, simply to finish, and I did. And I felt great. The last couple of years have been hard for me and there has been far too much "food therapy" going on. Exercise is a different way to combat my challenges, a better way. I have very long way to go still, but I am moving in the right direction and it feels wonderful. Why is it so hard for some of us to do something good for ourselves sometimes? My life revolves around taking care of my family, but I need to be taken care of too, that is such a difficult thing to do sometimes. I needed to "tweak" a few things, and hopefully everyone will be better off because of those changes.

Camping in Moab

We have always heard that Moab is great. When we drove from Texas to Utah last summer, we drove through and the boys made us promise we would make a trip back. So we said when they were off track in the spring, we would go. Last week we made it back to Moab and were able to find a fabulous camping site near the Colorado River--it was wonderful! We went with Rick and his girls and really had such a great time. We were able to hike in Arches National Park and we found another hike up Negro Bill's Canyon to see one of the largest natural bridges in the world. The kids hiked almost 10 miles total over just 2 days--they did awesome. And I just have to say, I love Moab! What a beautiful place! Everywhere I looked there were more beautiful rocks and trees and flowers. Our kids were absolutely filthy by the time we left, which for me equates to them having a fabulous time. I was a little embarrassed when we stopped in Price to grab some lunch and my kids really looked neglected--I wanted to put a sticker on each of them that said "Had a great time camping in Moab". But I figure I'll never see those people again and it is good for others to have compassion for the needy, right?! :)

We are doing good otherwise. Brian just finished his course work to get his real estate license and he and Rick are still working on the property issue up in Heber. But we are really trying to not put all our eggs in that basket just in case it doesn't work out. We sincerely hope, but that doesn't always do the trick. Brian feels a bit like he has a little black rain cloud over his head, he gets discouraged and I don't blame him. This has been very hard for him, but he is an eternal optimist, so I think even though he sees the cloud over his head there is still some silver lining left.

The kids are doing great. Kash finished preschool and can't wait to start kindergarten. The other kids just can't wait to be done with school. We are excited that all of them were accepted to a charter school down here so we can at least be sure their class size won't be out of control next year and they will be on traditional schedule--both pluses.

No other news to report, we are all healthy and happy and that is enough.

April...so far

Sunday was Kash-man's birthday. I am so in love with this boy. I know I have said this before, but it still holds true, so I will say it again. I am so in love with this little boy! He has the MOST sparkly eyes and wonderful smile. He is snuggly and gives the greatest hugs. When I look in Kash's eyes, I see unconditional love and trust--that is a lot to live up to. He makes me a better mom. He was SO excited to turn 5! My mom called a few days before his bday and asked if it would work out to have a boy's sleepover. I thought it was fine, but realized Kash would then wake up at Grandma & Grandpa's instead of with us for his big day. I explained to him how it would work and then left it up to him. I will admit, there was a part of me that hoped he would want to be here with us, but not after I saw the look of pure excitement on his face as he considered the possibilities. Needless to say, he woke up in Cache Valley on his birthday! We drove up after church and celebrated with as many cousins as could be there for cake and ice cream, collected our boys and drove home. Kash had a FABULOUS birthday! He is already talking about "when he turns 6". It is so nice we can do things like this again!

Yesterday, I took Kash grocery shopping with me and I felt obligated to participate in Happy Hour at Sonic--I love 1/2 price! This particular Sonic employs many Spanish speaking people--I think I have only been there once when a ESL person didn't help me. Well, yesterday the cute girl helping me spoke very good English but had a very strong accent. After I was done ordering all the drinks and I was pulling up to the window, Kash said in a very impressed voice, "Mom! I didn't know you spoke Spanish!" Oh, how I wanted to run with that one--I am always looking for ways to make my kids believe I am as smart as I tell them I am! But I regrettably had to explain she was speaking English with an accent and that no, I don't speak Spanish, but wish that I did. Kash asked if I knew any Spanish words so I told him the few I remembered from high school. He didn't seem as impressed anymore. I remember as a missionary in Boston, I went out with the Spanish speaking sisters a few times. One particular time, I was really struggling to stay awake. The Puerto Ricans we were with kept their home VERY warm and I didn't understand a THING they were saying except for a word here and there. The sister missionary I was with could tell I was going to sleep and she called on me to share my feelings about Jesus Christ. I was so caught off guard, I didn't think about the fact she could translate for me and I ended up saying, "Jesus Christo is muy bueno." They all nodded politely. She never asked me to do that again--phew!!! And there you have my Spanish abilities in a nutshell! I will have to find other ways to impress my children.

Things here are going. We are on hold with the business because of some zoning issues. The dream is not dead, but waiting until the property owner can get the zoning changed permanently to commercial. It's a long story, not one that I care to elaborate on at this time. Right now, Brian is working on his real estate license. We have a few other things out there as well that we are hoping will work out, but I am not going to curse any chance of that. So I will post about anything AFTER it happens.

I will be honest, it has been a challenging few months. But we are doing fine. We are all healthy, we like each other, and I can still go to Sonic for Happy Hour. Once again, I will commit to doing better with the blog. We will see!

Conversations at our house...

Ben is always hungry, Brian is a smarty pants and Jake always has something clever to say, it lead to this conversation yesterday.

Ben: "I am hungry!"
Brian: "Nice to meet you, Hungry." "I am Brian."
Jake: "That seems to be a pretty popular name."
Brian: "Yep, Hungry really is a popular name."
Jake: "Especially in third world countries."

I laughed pretty hard, we all did.

No news is good news?

I guess I figure that no one really checks here much anymore, but if there are some of you out there, I need to do better.

Nothing much has changed here. This whole "starting a business" things has been a roller coaster ride. Brian and Rick have everything in place to start the business, three banks were willing to loan them money, all said it was one of the best business plans they had ever seen--kuddos to the boys. Anyway, all they are lacking is a location. Twice we have had leases fall through. Brian had pretty much given up and had started looking for another job, but Rick went up to Heber one more time to see if there was anything they had overlooked. He found a property and then took Brian & John up to look. Brian was actually really excited again. Like I said, a roller coaster. So we are in the prelimiary stages of discussion with realtors and property owners once again. We are just praying this one works out. Any extra prayers would be so much appreciated. I would really love to see this work out for these Owens boys--I just love them all so much--being especially fond of the oldest one! :)

The kids are all doing really well. I still don't like year round school or the prospects of school in Jordan School district. They are talking about 10,000 more students next year with no increase in budget. The kids will be in classes with up to 40 kids. SOOO dysfunctional!! So if we have to stay here another year I am desperately hoping the charter school works out. But I really hope we move. I have never felt so disconnected from a school, the communication between teachers and parents is almost zilch and we have been told our kids are in one of the best schools in the district. It has been crazy. I can't help but think the teachers are overwhelmed and burned out with the number of students they are trying to teach--like I said--I hope we don't have to deal with it next school year. Hard for me to even believe Kash will be in kindergarten next year--Ruby and I will miss him terribly! But enough ranting, we have wonderful neighbors and the kids have all made some very nice friends. Jake continues to play guitar and dream of cars he and his dad can fix together. Ben continues to grow faster than I can keep up with. He LOVES Harry Potter and is just about done with#7. Sally is looking grown up with more permanent teeth now and loves her iPod, Taylor Swift, and having a room to share with Ruby. Kash loves Iron Man, John Deere Tractors and his bike. He is in constant motion and is usually singing or driving a car on the kitchen counter. I am totally smitten by him, he tells me I am beautiful when I get off the treadmill, how could I not be? Ruby is our resident dictator and true to that role, throws a horrible fit when anyone has the nerve to tell her no. She is super sweet the rest of the time and is talking more and more every day. I knew when we had Ruby she would be our last, so I didn't want her to grow up too quickly. But I have no control over that as much as I wish I did. So getting my head around the fact that May 2 she will be 2 is hard! I am grateful for the sleep I get these days, but fight the hard truth that I don't have babies anymore.

I am doing well. Just plugging away at the same old stuff. In spite of all the changes and craziness in our lives lately, the laundry still has to be done and dinner still has to be made. So we just keep moving on and hope we are going forward.

Books and just stuff in general

I guess I will start with the general stuff. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We spent Christmas here doing all our traditional stuff and and the kids were thrilled with Santa (he gets way too much credit!) as well as the few other things they found under the tree. We spent New Years in Logan at my sister, Katie's, house. She has lots of room, which is required when my family gets together. We were entertained by all the kids performing for us, lots of good food and just getting to spend time together. What a treat for me and Brian and the kids to get to do this again! On New Years Day, we went tubing on the hill behind my parents house--so much fun! I do love the seasons--snow this time of year just seems right. Jake and Ben got to spend a few days at their cousins--they stayed up half the night every night playing XBOX--so of course that was a highlight for them when discussing their Christmas break. It really was a fabulous holiday season.

As far as other news, we FINALLY sold our house. We closed on Dec. 30 and couldn't be more thrilled to be done with home ownership in state where we don't actually live. That was gift right there for Brian and myself.

On the business front, I will say it again, things are moving slowly. But they are moving and in a very positive direction. Things are falling into place and we should know by the end of this week if we have a place to lease and can get up to Heber and get going. It has all been such an adventure. Some days we feel so excited and other days are discouraging and we wonder again what in the world we have done. But really, overall it has been a great experience and I continue to feel like we are where we need to be and things will work out.

I have been reading the "Fablehaven" series the past few weeks. They are fun books although I would like to kill Seth at times (for those of you who have read them). Anyway, I really do love to read, I always have a book and when I don't, I get fidgety until I can get to the library. Well, I think Fablehaven is getting to me, I have started dreaming of large amphibians that bite and multiply quickly, all very strange. I need to hurry and finish #4 so I can move on to something a little less fantastic (not fantasy). Ruby also loves books. She has taken a fancy to Sandra Boyton--I might have something to do with that. Anyway, one of here favorites is "Moo, Baa, La, La, La". In the book it says, "Cows say moo, sheep say baa. And three singing pigs say la la la. No, no you say that isn't right, pigs say oink all day and night." I did that from memory, are any of you impressed? I should think not since I have been reading that book to my kids for 12 years now. Anyway, I just had to explain so when you watch this little video of Ruby you will understand why she thinks pigs say no no no. I do love books though, even if they do affect us in wacky ways.