Hello March! This month David and I celebrate 27 years of marriage. We are so blessed! But let's revisit February:
February started off with the SURF (Sweet, Unique, aRtsy Friends) Club Valentine's party. It was a lot of fun and 19 of my craft girls made it so it was my biggest craft party to date.
The girls made Valentine unicorns,
Froot Loop bird feeders,
Jolly Rancher lollipops,
Old fashioned Valentine cards,
Paper plate hearts,
And the older girls made mixed media hearts.
The girls surprised me with this giant Valentine's card. So sweet!
It's nice to be loved!
Marcus and I spent nearly all of February in Montana with David. This is where his job is currently and it's been challenging to live a part so I freed up five weeks for the three of us to be together. It's been so nice despite the freezing temperatures and the mounds of snow.
This is a picnic table in the backyard.
We have basically become hermits. :) Every morning David goes off to work, just a few blocks away, Marcus watches his online classes, and I lounge around the house. My friend Shelly calls this peaceful existence Hygge living. I wrote a post about it here. Besides housework which doesn't take me long in this one bedroom rental house, I've been reading, coloring, and making cards. And a little bit of binge watching (Hallmark channel).
On the weekends we've sometimes made a trip to Billings for a little bit of shopping. We bought Marcus an air mattress so he didn't have to sleep on the couch or floor, and we bought ourselves a mattress topper for the bed we're borrowing from David's mom (the mattress on it is rock hard and was hurting my back). David was very sweet one Saturday to find a Hobby Lobby for me so I could buy card making supplies. I also made each of my SURF Club girls Valentine cards and mailed them off.
And that was our February! Marissa is doing well on her mission and I hope you will check back to read her updates. She was able to video chat with us this week and that was so much fun. She elected not to write a group email, but promised one next week.
I hope all our readers enjoyed a beautiful Christmas. We sure did! The highlight was Skyping with the Sweetest Missionary Ever on Christmas Day. She truly has a missionary spirit of love and service. She would love to hear from you! I'll include her email addy at the end.
As we wrap up another year to embark on a new one, our hearts are filled with gratitude for all we've accomplished this year.
January-
In January, Marissa started her full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was called to serve in the Cusco, Peru mission. She also turned 21.
I chose two words to guide me through this year- Trust and Faith. I've been trusting in my Heavenly Father to keep my baby girl safe in Peru. I'll talk about faith later in this post.
February-
In February, we visited Hardware Ranch to see the magnificent elk there. We also discovered some cool prairie houses in Idaho while on a scenic drive, and I wrote a fun homeschool series on my personal blog. We also celebrated Zach's 25th birthday.
March-
In March I saw the first blooms of my very first tulip garden. The crocuses came out first and cheered me with their yellow color.
April-
In April we celebrated Easter as a family. And my hard-working guys surprised me with my very own craft room. It's beach themed and has become my favorite room in the house.
My craft girls love it, too. 😊 Our first craft time in the new room was a spring craft party at the end of April where we made tulip gardens.
May-
In May I hosted my first Homeschool Meet and Greet. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and the turnout was better than I expected. It was my way of advocating homeschooling in my community. I hope to host another one next year. We also attended our town's Black and White Days as a family. We watched the parade and horse pulls.
June-
In June I started weekly craft days for my craft girls. This was the first time I've done so and it made my summer delightful. Every Thursday I hosted two 2-hour craft sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It worked great! The girls made kindness rocks, a Father's Day gift, nature journals, and leis. We also went to Summerfest which is a summer tradition for us. Summerfest is a crafts fair in Logan, Utah.
In August I wrapped up my weekly craft days with two final crafts: lollipops and scrapbooks with photos from our summer fun together. We also came up with a name for our club: the SURF Club which stands for Sweet Unique aRtsy Friends. I also hosted a mom craft! Marcus got his driver's permit and started his driver's ed class, carpooling with three girls in our ward (church congregation). One of the girls told him that he doesn't go to "real school" and as a response, Marcus wrote a personal essay which I posted on my personal blog. It's called, What is "Real School" and I think he makes some honest points!
September-
In September, Darcie, Marcus and I participated in our first Walk MS with Zach. It was Zach's second Walk MS. Zach was diagnosed with MS when he was 23. It was an emotional experience for me which I've heard is common for mamas. We hope to pull together a bigger walking group next year so come join us! It was also my birthday and David came home that weekend to spend it with me. The boys and I went hiking to Bloomington Lake which was fun. Marcus and I visited David in Montana (he started working there this year) for the last week of September and first week of October.
October-
In October I hosted a Halloween craft party. The girls made Halloween wreaths, witch cauldrons, and monsters. They wore costumes and for dinner I served mummy dogs and monster mac 'n cheese. Marcus participated in a week long Youth Conference through Liahona (his distance school).
November-
In November I decided to host weekly craft days again! To accommodate the girls after-school schedules I ended up hosting a group on Monday, another group on Wednesday, and a group on Friday. Whew! It was a lot of fun. They made story pumpkins, foam turkeys, stain glass art and turkey cupcakes, and penguins. I took Thanksgiving week off of course. We celebrated Thanksgiving as a family. At the end of November, Marcus and my friend, Heather, and I, saw the Broadway show, Finding Neverland at our local theater. (For my birthday this year, David gave me the best gift- season tickets to Eccles theater.
December-
In December I hosted a Christmas craft party for my SURF Club girls, of course! The boys and I also went to Eccles to see a Bar J Wranglers Christmas concert. Just before Christmas, three of the moms of some of my craft girls surprised me at my door. They sang, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and gave me a spa gift. It was a really sweet act of friendship that meant so much to me.
The most beautiful part of our Christmas Day was Skyping with The Sweetest Missionary Ever. She's amazing! She is soooo happy! She was bubbly and cute and she would love to hear more from extended family and friends so WRITE HER! Her birthday is coming up (January 12th) so send her birthday wishes. Her email is: marissa.madsen@myldsmail.net
After Christmas, we kept our yearly tradition of going down to Salt Lake City (or thereabouts) to attend an event as a family. This year we chose to walk through Thanksgiving Point's Luminaria. My brother, Clint, and his family joined us. David's mom, who spent Christmas with us, was there, too. It was COLD! But it was a lot of fun. We also visited the BYU Museum of Art and went to dinner at Rodizio Grill. Yum!
To all of our friends and extended family, thanks for being a part of our lives. We love you and wish we saw you more often. We wish you a Happy New Year and a successful 2019.
When the month started, Marcus was in the middle of a driver's ed night course through the local high school. He was carpooling with three girls in our ward (church congregation) and one of them informed him that he does not go to "real school." This really struck Marcus and on his own he wrote an informal essay about "real school." I was so impressed that I immediately posted it to my personal blog where I have some homeschooling followers. I'm sure they've heard that line also. If you'd like to read his brilliant logic, just click on the link above.
One of the really nice things about homeschooling is the freedom to go on a hike in the middle of a school day, and that's exactly what Marcus and I did one Friday morning after Seminary. Fridays are often fun-days for us since Marcus does not have online courses that day. On this lovely Friday we hiked the Limber Pine Nature Trail up Logan Canyon. It was very peaceful and just what we both needed. If I sent Marcus to school, I'd miss precious time like this with him. Not only that, but I would not be his primary influence during the day and I'd miss out on opportunities to teach and nourish him as I've been admonished to by the Lord. I was called to homeschool my son and it hit me the other day that that I am a better mama as a homeschooling mom. So no matter how anyone judges us for homeschooling, I know I am doing what my Heavenly Father would have me do.
A big highlight of the month for me was my first Walk MS. It was an emotional experience for me to be there with Zachary. Darcie and Marcus joined in also. The only other support Zach received was from David's youngest brother, Bruce, and his wife, Pam, and their daughters, Lindsey and Bridgette (I'm sorry Lindsey, if I'm spelling your name wrong!). And one friend from our ward gave a donation. Next year I really hope to rally more support and get a good group of us on the walk together as an open show of our love for Zach. I know his MS isn't easy on him and I don't understand all he deals with, but I see him struggling now and then, and he's so brave! I admire his inner strength so much.
On my birthday weekend, the boys and I did a hike to Bloomington Lake in Idaho. It was so pretty!
I had a lovely birthday this year. My sweet husband gave me season tickets to the Eccles theatre; my mother and her husband, Dave, sent me flowers; my daughter, Darcie, gave me some cute Mickey sweats; my friend, Heather, and her daughter stopped by with gifts for my beach themed craft room; my friends, Steph and Natosha, gave me pampering gifts; my sister treated me to lunch and gave me autumn scented lotions. It wasn't the gifts that made my birthday lovely. It was to be thought of and remembered by family and friends. 💙 The Primary program was on my birthday this year and my little charge was so cute and funny at the microphone. We had practiced his line for months: "Jesus loves me." But when the time came he repeated a sound like "ah ah ah ah" until I cut him off, LOL. I love my calling and I think I learn more from this sweet little boy than he learns from me.
I am always happy to see September, but how quickly summer flew by this year! I am excited for cooler weather, changes of the leaves, boots, hoodies, hot cocoa and pumpkin pie. What's your favorite part of autumn?
As for August, here are the highlights-
David, Marcus and I spent some time at Tony Grove and Marcus and I walked the trail around the lake.
The SURF club had two final craft days where the girls made lollipops and memory books. Each girl's memory book had 4 photos from our summer crafting parties.
We also had a movie/pizza party as a last hoorah. The girls chose Disney's original Freaky Friday movie which none of them had seen. Our next craft party will be in October for Halloween.
Marcus and I have just begun his tenth grade year and we are both excited to continue our homeschooling journey together. High school is a time when many homeschooling parents put their kids in public school, but that will never be an option for Marcus because of my firm belief that teenagers need their parents more than ever and how can I be the kind of mom he needs if I send him away to strangers for the majority of each week day, only to get what is left over? That left over time would too often be rushed, filled with more school (homework), and competing time with other activities. Plus, the more I dive into the history behind compulsive schooling, and the more I learn about all that is terribly wrong with the public school system today, I can not in good conscience send my baby there knowing I will answer to my Heavenly Father for my parenting choices, especially after He led me to homeschooling and to Liahona Academy.
Besides, this year is going to be amazing! We have an early church history unit study planned which will go along with his Doctrine & Covenants year of Seminary. And if you'd like to read a delightful essay Marcus wrote about "real school", check it out on Camie's Cozy Corner. Thanks for reading and please leave me a comment letting me know you were here. If you have a blog, leave your link so I can follow you. :)
