Some pictures I wanted to share. Our Jonah on our way out in the woods.



Here is all of us before heading out to explore the woods. Are we not a site :)
These are some flowers that Jason brought me home just because, the best reason I think. I love them. It is funny how we change over time. I never was much for flowers, thought they were are waist of money. Now I love to have them in the house. They make me smile. Thanks hon.

Aren't they beautiful. Such a variety.

field trip

Here is a picture of the boys at a field trip we went to at the Tacoma Glass Museum. That was an awesome place to see. The art was unbelievable. I am always amazed at the talents people are blessed with. Here is a horse that an artist did right in front of us. It was an awesome thing to watch. It was nothing and then he worked it into this piece. Sorry the pictures aren't better.

He did this in front of us. This bubble is a piece of glass. He blew it until it shattered. All the kids thought it was so cool.

Halloween 2009

It is awful, I am an awful mother but I don't have pictures of the boys dressed up for Halloween. Jonah dressed up in things from his dress up box, something that he does all the time, speaking of he is sitting here watching a movie in his turtle man costume and a superman cape. Jeffrey was a soccer player, which he has been every Saturday for 2 months.

I do have a picture of Jason and I, we were on our way to a Halloween party. I am a rock-climber and Jason is a motorcycle dude. Got to love the hair. He is so funny when he wears it, he has to swing it around and play with it.

Birthday

So what does everyone get the pleasure of having, whether we wont it or not, every year? A Birthday. Jason's was the 19th of October. I think we gave him a good day, besides the time he had to be at work.

There has been a lot of changes in the time since his last birthday. All in all I think it has been a good year. I, more than anything, wish you Jason a wonderful year and so many happy memories. Love you so extremely much.

Motivation

So this has become by little motivation journal. So if I hear something that strikes me or if I need a little motivation boost here is where I will come. Jason does a much better job at motivating me but here is where I can come back and reread. This meaning that it may become a little boring for others to read, sorry.

At the moment I am listening to my Ipod and there is this song on there, can't remember who it is, that it hitting my motivation meeter. It talks about being in the here and now. "And if the moment brings tears then taste them as they fall let them soften your hear, if it brings you laughter, then throw your head back and let it go." I LOVE THAT. "This is the only moment we can do anything about, I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment." (Hey I think that is the name of the song" "There is only one out there waiting and the moments yet to be and all we need to know is He is out there waiting and to him the future is history." That made got me thinking. The Lord knows all that we are capable of; what we are able to do and who we are able to become. Let us not disappoint him by not giving every moment our best.

That was a little jumble of my thoughts as I am listening and typing at the same time. Multitasking isn't really my strong point :) HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Motivation

So I am known, to myself, to be so focused and dedicated to my new goal in life. Well when day 2 comes I am slowly slipping and by day 3 I am thinking "what goal was that" So I am doing what Jessi needs to do to keep it together and stay on track. Yesterday was a very busy day so I didn't get out to run, I did do a 3omin tape in the morning but I was also suppose to run. So when night time came and I didn't want to venture outside in the dark alone what did I do? I put on my running shoes and a movie and jogged in place for 35min. I felt so dumb, especially with Jason lying in bed watching the movie/ reading. He was great though, said I needed to do what I needed to do. Oh and he also said I needed to switch places so I didn't wear a hole in the carpet. When it was all done I was so glad I stuck with my plan, no matter if that meant the torture of feeling a little weird. YEAH WHOOIE

Here is a quote I found in a magazine. "Ask not what the world needs, ask what makes you more alive. Because what the world needs is people who are more alive" That is so awesome. There is such a difference in life if you choose to be apart of it and if you just choose to just go threw it day after day.

I recently started reading this book called "Toss the Guilt And Catch The Joy A Woman's Guide to a Better Life" by Merrilee Boyack. This book is so much more than I thought it would be. I have been thinking about how there is so much to do in this life. Our Father in Heaven has given us a smorgus board of options. Things to learn, experience, shair, teach, DO. I have some friend that next year are going to participate in this really neat running experience. I have been nervous to say yes because of being nervous. Nervous of training for it, nervous to have someone else rely on me, nervous because I have never done it before, bla bla bla. She gives a quote by John Greenleaf Whittier, "Of all the sad words of the tongue and pen The saddest are these: "It might have been!" She goes on to tell of this testimony of a woman. She told of her goal for the year. "I want to live this year with no regrets." "I want to say the things I should say to people, especially tell those I love that I do love them. I want to try the things I want to try and not look back at the end of the year and wonder why I didn't. I want to stop doing the things I don't want to do. I just want to look back on this year and say, I did it! No regrets." YES!!!!!!!!!!! I love that. I am constantly thinging of the things that I want to try. I pull out magazine pages of things I want to make. I spend more time thinking and no time doing. We have so many different seasons in our life and right now is a busy one but that is no excuse not to work on something. I have a piano waiting to be learned, a guitar sitting against my wall waiting to be practised on. It is time to start. Which one will I choose? We are so lucky to have so many options, I just hope I can remember that I want no regrets and to choose one thing and go with it. Wish me luck.

school

This year we are trying out a new curriculum and are loving it, thanks Melissa. It is from Winter Promise, http://www.winterpromise.com/ . We are studying God's Animals all year long. It is so amazing the things we are learning. He has made His animals so wonderful, from their defenses, to the way they raise their young. It just testifies to me the absolute amazing greatnesst of our Father in Heaven.

One of the projects we got to do was a Diorama of animals in the African Savannah Here is Jonah's. I thought he was paying attention but then after making this I wasn't so sure I think I missed the chapter that they were able to hang from the sky. I think it still looks good.

Here is Jeffrey's. He did a really good job, they even put some animals on the floor where other animals were standing over them feeding.

fall decor

When my mom came in May my living room consisted of a couch, 2 school shelves, a piano and a computer desk. She helped me do some decorating. She has an unbelievable eye. Ever since then I haven't been able to do enough. I am so enjoying it. When Jason first got home from sea he liked it so much that he didn't drop his sea bag and leave it for the weeks. That made it worth it. The Goodwill and garage sales have become my friend. Here are some little things that I have done to decorate for fall. Now I just need to learn to take pictures so that they will look as good. I do have to say that I am so looking forward to getting school out of my living room. I really should be packing instead of adding things but I am so excited about the change in seasons that I just can't help myself. This is my kitchen table. I got the tablecloth and the from the Goodwill for about $2. Not a good picture but when Jason got home he commented on how good it looked. Yeah!!!!!!!

Here is a Longaberger Basket the my mother-in-law gave me a while ago. It was Jason's Easter Basket. I grabbed some pine with pine cones on them and put a candle in the middle.

Pier One is so Awesome

I added a cheap $.50 garland that I got from the Goodwill to this lamp. I found this sign, IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS, from Ross for less than $2.

I took this container, Goodwill for not very much a while a go. I put corn in it and with a candle in the center.

This was a flower vase from flowers from Jason a while ago and my $1.50 set of flowers.

Just a few things but they change the feel of the room and I am enjoying them.

pictures

I had some pictures I wanted to show.

This is one of us on top of the Space Needle. We had to go there for a Reinlistment. Hey here we are again, all except Jonah, 1/2 his face got cut, as you can tell. These are Jason's pictures that he takes himself.

Doesn't he look so very handsome.

Here is a picture of a Steller's Jay. The boys feed them sometime in the morning. Here Jeffrey put some leading into the house to see if they would come in to get it. It took a little while but they did. I am so glad I was able to get a picture of this.

My Jeffrey :)

This is Jonah at a football game. He doesn't like the game so much, he is ready to go back to soccer. He likes the constant moving of soccer.

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Digital-Supplement/Thanksgiving&Christmas.html
Above is a link to get on a list for a holiday supplement, not sure what kind of stuff will be in it but it is from the homeschool magazine that I subscribe to and love. Thought I would share.

cleaning recipes

I don't know about you but I hate buying cleaners. If I can make my own I much prefer it. I do have this dishwasher soap that I have been buying from Costco, when I went last week I could not find it. I was going to try a new one but decided to try my own instead. I tried it and really like it. Give it a try:

2c borax
2c baking soda
4 little pkgs of unsweetened lemon kool-aid.
Mix together

Veggie wash
1T lemon juice
2T baking soda
1C water
Put in a spray bottle

Deodorizer
1/2 to 1C liquid laundry softener
1C vinegar
2 to 3 C water
mix in spray bottle

15yrs

Wow, Jason and I just celebrated 15yr of marriage this year. I can not believe it has been that long. I have to say that was the most wonderful day. I wanted to get married at the beginning of a new day so I decided that 7:00 am was a perfect time. We got married on the beach looking out at the water because I didn't want to be looking at walls. I was in a clearance dress that I found at the Express and Jason was in his shorts, both bare footed. (Sorry I have no pictures to show, that was when I was doing 35m film, you know ancient times). Oh and if I could show you the pictures of my reception. It was potluck. I do have a video of the reception. It was filmed by my brother, who was 14 or so along with his friend and my even younger brother so you can use your imagination on that one. My wedding was a total of $120.00. I had just turned 19, Jason was 21, we had been engaged less than 2 months. Thinking about the whole time still brings a smile to my face and my heart. If I had to do it over again, what would I change; to remember more about that day. How grateful I am that Heavenly Father has blessed me with such a wonderful, loving husband. When it comes to this family he is always thinking about the boys and I first. He is a man above men. I just pray that my boys will grow up to be the man their father is, what a blessed life my future daughter-in-laws will have.

To cool not to shair

Here is a picture of Mt. Rainier. We were not to far from there during our off-roading weekend. The boys sleeping, this was after our first run.

My cuties.

What a cool picture.

My three main men

Jeffrey's creative side

Jeffrey is in charge of craft time, which he has once a week. This week his craft was making masks. His looks so cool. Jonah's is actually a neat looking one, too, it is just hard to see, he is a one eyed tiger. Jeffrey's pirate with a beard and blood on his mustache ( he was fighting) and check out that cool eyebrow.

This is my pretty one, sorry no blood or wild animals. The boys put there special powers on the back of their mask. Little kids are so creative and easy to entertain, most of the time.

This is superman/robin hood/Jedi

Crafts

Here are a few things I have done lately. A little bit of fun.
Here, I hope, is the end to canning for this year, it is great being able to can and having an abundance with to be able to do it but it is sure nice when it is done. These are my flavored applesauces; raspberry and peach.
I love those little craft cards you get for free at JoAnns. This craft cost me less than $5.oo to do.

I keep scrap paper and we have a stack of it. I keep it under our school shelf. It was always getting spread out on the floor but I didn't want to buy a container to keep it in. So I took a box and covered it, am I a genious or what, did I spelle genius right?

Offroading

So what do you get when your spotter, well didn't spot?

You can't call the sport of off-roading to boring, unless of course, you have a huge group of people and you spend a long time in line waiting to get up that so have to do obstacle. Here is a poor kid who was going around to help a friend of ours get out of a mud hole. He didn't see this huge hole on his spotter's side, so down he went. All of those around were just wide eyed wondering what in the world he was doing. HE DIDN'T SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this kid was 18, just got this vehicle from his dad and to top it off, he left a note for his parents telling them he was going off-roading and would be back on Sunday.)

It took them an hour to flip it back over. We started our with 4 in our group and at the end of this there had to be 10 vehicles checking this out. (CAN'T MISS THE SHOW)

My birthday

Last month I celebrated my 34th birthday. My boys were sweet, they both drew me a picture and wrapped up one of their cars. Jason surprised me with a bike I have been wanting. A really comfy cruiser. He picked this one out himself. Not a bad job at all. It is so nice to ride, a little heavier than my other one that I can pick up with one finger but a lot more confortable on the butt.
So Jason has been fitting us all with bows, still hasn't decided on his, this is my new compound. I am a ringer for shooting, just check out the board behind our haystack, the one that holds the target and luckily we found the one that I completely missed the board and shot into the woods, you should have seen that thing fly.

Ok I found this great idea on a blog that I check every so often. She said that she has baskets in her pantry containing everything for a quick meal. That way when she is short on time or something unexpected came up than she just had to pull out a basket and there is everything she needs. All I came up with is pasta and spaghetti sauce. Anyone have any other ideas?

We had a church activity last weekend. It was a lot of fun and a whole lot of running. Jeffrey and I started the day with a 5k, it was great. We did really good. Jeffrey ran the whole way and I only sounded like I was going to die for 1/2 of it. (I have not kept up with running since we moved here, working on changing that).Here is Jeffrey in his age group for the sprints

Each ward had a color, ours was hot pink, Jeffrey was not happy with that. So to get him to wear it we let him put pink stinks on it.

Here is Jonah in his age group sprint. We also had relays, we did the family relay. Jonah started the first leg and we told him to just follow the lines to me but he thought that was to long so he decided to run right across the grass to me. It was so funny. Unfortunately no one got a picture. One sister told us that she was trying to get a picture of her son that was in the first leg and when she was going to take the picture she saw Jonah running across the field that she was laughing so hard she didn't get a picture of anyone.

Tuesday Sketch. We have finally gotten back to Tuesday Sketch, even though it is more like Thursday when we finally get to it. This time it was on something black and white. Here is Jeffrey's, it is a Pokemon, of course.

Here is Jonah's, he copied his from Jeffrey (he does everything Jeffrey does)

Here is mine, my canning pot.