Changes.

Its amazing how fast your life can change in the blink of an eye!  You get going on your normal day to day life and don't think about the changes and who you are becoming.  In the last seven years we have dealt with many changes.  When I started dating Ron I never expected he'd be the one. 

 Things changed. 

We dated.

Got engaged.

Got married. 

Lived in a tiny apartment for the first six months.

Moved to what I thought was the middle of nowhere, Idaho. (Terreton.)

Served in the nursery, primary, and now YM/YW.

Started a family.

 Finished school.

Was the JV cheer coach.

Babysat.

Had baby #2.

Made great friends.

Enjoyed having family around.

Learned to do home canning become self reliant.

And all the while we were making plans and dreaming of ways to accomplish them.

Then, in the blink of an eye an opportunity comes that you can't pass up.

For the last four (at least) years Ron has been looking and hoping for a new job. Preferable farming. We've been able to farm a little on our own, but it hasn't panned out the way we've hoped, and has never gotten us to where we want to be. 

But, TODAY,  he quit his job. 

He will no longer working for a corporate farmer. 

He leaves December 1 for North Dakota. 

He will drive water truck for the oil fields.

 No, its not a glamours job. 

 It will be tough for the family, especially the first couple months before the rest of us can go with him, but its what we feel is the right decision for us at this time in our lives.

We will miss the community we are in and having family close by. It is an adventure that I never saw coming.   I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.  It doesn't feel like its reality and it probably won't until Ron leaves us in 2 weeks. We can't wait to be with him in a couple months!  

October 2010

I have to admit I've become addicted to blogging in the last year-to the point of doing at LEAST 2 posts a week at times.  However, THIS month I've been one of the busy moms that is lucky to even get one post done a month! Its been a crazy, hectic, good, fun, month!  (This is a long post, so even if you don't read it, make sure you at least scroll to the bottom to see the halloween pictures.)

We started the month out by going to Yellowstone for General Conference Weekend.  Madilyn had heard a story about a time Ron and I had gone.  After that she kept telling stories about how she'd been to Yellowstone, when I'd correct her she'd get really sad to the point of almost crying! I decided it would be a nice little break during Spud Harvest, so we took a day trip that Sunday. (Pictures to come...they are on Ron's CRUSHED phone!)

 

SPUD HARVEST was successful! despite the crazy year!  Last year we were fighting the freezing temperatures, THIS year we were digging in the middle of the night because the day time temps were too HIGH!

It always rains at least a couple days of spud harvest...this year was no different! 

Eventually we did get some cold weather and Ron was forced to unload the firewood!  It was a great show for the kids!

Until Madilyn fell off the fence and got a black eye!

Look at my muscle man! 
 hehe okay, he's really just kicking a few logs out of the way!

******

This is what our house typically looks like on a normal day.

But I'm okay with that because it means things like THIS:

or this:

aren't happening somewhere else!

(FYI its Vaseline in his hair!)

A few nights ago I just needed some quiet time!  I went and took a bath.  When I got out, I could hear Ron chanting
"Come on!  You can do it! You're almost there!"
A few thoughts ran through my head but not THIS!!

Except, when I came out and  first saw them, they were BOTH climbing up at the same time!  Landon was only a foot below Madilyn! 

...no wonder I needed some quiet time!

I decided I needed some structure in my days, since babysitting wasn't cutting it, I pulled out all my moms old Joy School manuals and invited a couple of Madilyn's friends to come to Joy School. I think I just needed something to get my mind off everything else. Let me tell you, its done the trick! It keeps me busy! The kids are loving it and I really am too! We even put on a Halloween Parade last time as part of our party!

The days we don't have Joy School I at least try to do an activity with the girls. Either baking something or some kind of craft activity!  Here are our MONSTERS we made last time!!

Its always fun when Holidays land on days when you can celebrate for the WHOLE weekend! Despite all the previously mentioned things I've gotten myself into, here is another: making Landon's dinosaur costume!!  Growing up I really wasn't into sewing, I did a few things to pass of projects or something, but I've come to really enjoy it in the last couple years!  I didn't have a pattern for the costume so Ron made so much fun of me when I started tracing Landon's PJ's to make my own but I'd have to say it turned out pretty darn good! Although, it would have been nice if I'd had more experience in sewing...but you gotta start somewhere!

Friday we got to go to the Halloween Carnival (sorry no pictures, Ron had my phone).  The kids LOVED it.  The only disappointment was the cake walk. Madilyn REALLY wanted to win a cake! But Landon enjoyed every minute of swiping pop from the ring toss and marbles from the plinko booth! Its a good thing everyone thinks he's so cute or we would have been kicked out! (okay maybe just annoying!) Landon's favorite was the the duck pond! He'd throw his ticket into the water instead of handing it to the girls and he thought it was just so funny!  Madilyn just had fun everywhere we went and probably just because she got to dress up like a princess!

SATURDAY! We did our trick-or-treating!  We went to Menan and hit all the grandma's, and did the trunk-or-treat there with all Madilyn's cousins!  She didn't waste ANY time and tried taking HANDFULS of candy at each car!  After the trunk or treat we went to Grandma Jane's for pizza!  The kids had a blast!   Celebrating holidays with family is always fun!

All the cousins: Baby Aiden (lobster), Landon (dinosaur), Madilyn (snow white), Kirsten (little red riding hood), Baby Brielle (lady bug)

And as if that's not enough my calling has been a busy one this month! All in the last two weeks of October we had a temple trip and made 35ish sack lunches, went to EFY, had a Stake Dance in which we had to 1. round up all the formals we could find 2. prepare part of the dinner 3. have a seperate activity for the beehives, let alone all the meetings and lessons that come along with the calling. AND be on top of everything for the frist activity in November since my class is in charge! Don't get me wrong I LOVE my calling and working with the beehives.  I'm just grateful I'm not the president! 

Brianna, YOU ARE AMAZING!

What makes you happy?!

I NEVER EVER expected myself to be a "canner". I really wasn't exposed to it growing up. I remember my mom bottling tomatoes a couple times growing up.  When I moved up here I thought everyone was crazy for home canning everything in their gardens! 

Well...I've turned into one of those...

CRAZY IDAHO MORMON MOMS! 

(except it really is more than just the Mormons...its  EVERYONE)

This year I did:

 35 Quarts of Green Beans

13 Quarts of Vegetable Soup

14 Quarts of Beef Stew (some were in pints)

13 Quarts of Pickles (some were in pints)

6 Pints of Salsa

29 Pints of Crushed Tomatoes

20 Quart Bags of freezer Corn (I Still had about 50 left from last year...so I sold the other 20 dozen ears from the garden!!)

Carrots...are still pretty small, I may not get to them this year!

Green Beans:

Vegetable Soup: 

Fresh Tomatoes: 

Corn "off" the Cob 

Green Beans Snapped and Washed (a little out of order) 

Corn ON the Cob:

MY CUPBOARDS!! 

To top it all off, I participated in my very first CASE LOT SALE!!

I bought

3 cases of bottled water (72 total)

2 cases of Chicken Noodles Soup (48 total)

1 Case of Cream of Mushroom Soup (24 total)

1 Case of Cream of Chicken Soup (24 total)

1 Case of Powdered Sugar (12 2lb bags total)

1 Case of Brown Sugar (12 bags total)

1 Case of Peach Slices (24 total)

1 Case of Pear Halves (24 total) 

  (With my hand I didn't know if I was going to be able to do Peaches or Pears on my own...so I just bought them this year, BUT I would have been FINE.)

4 Cases of Apple Juice (32  64oz bottles)

1 Case of Spaghetti O's (24 cans total)

1 Case of Cheese Nips (7 boxes total)

1 Case of Flour (2 total)

1 Case of Sugar (1 total...is that really considered a CASE??)

Can I just tell you how HAPPY it makes me to see all this food storage?!  I LOVE IT!!

AND...What better time than now for this post!!  I just entered a contest with Shelf Reliance.  This first 100 people to put a button on their blog gets a $10 coupon to the store!!  I've never actually gone here but I hear its WONDERFUL!  Hopefully my next adventure will lead me here!!...and I GOT IT!  Even before I got my post up!  WOO HOO!  Now I'll have to order something!!

Back to School!

I graduated from BYU-Idaho in 2007 with my B.S. in Elementary Education.  I decided to become a certified teacher even though I knew I wasn't wanting to teach in the near future.  Here in Idaho (I'm sure its much the same through out the rest of the country) you can not teach unless you are certified through the state...basically just paperwork after graduation. 

 HOWEVER, I have to re-certify every five years to keep my certification.  Which requires completing 6 credit hours with in those five years.  If I loose my certification, I will most likely have to GO BACK TO SCHOOL.  That's NOT going to be on the list for ME! My plan is to only teach if something happens and I HAVE to have a job to support our family.  I know that my place is in the home raising my own children.

Out here in Terreton, the schools all get a TWO WEEK BREAK for spud harvest so the students can help with the harvest. Crazy huh?!? During one of those weeks the super intendant scheduled a 3 credit math class for all the elementary teachers to take. (Apparently this is a required course if you want to re certify before 2014...usually it doesn't matter what credits you get.) I was lucky enough to be able to add the class.  It was AMAZING! It was all about teaching the students how to understand what they are doing in math and why we do the things we do.  We usually see math as direct instruction-the teacher telling the students the step by step the traditional algorithm "because that's the way it is".  I learned so many methods of doing just the basic math operations THAT MADE SENSE and I didn't even know they existed!! 

 A big emphasis was also on letting the students discover for themselves and share their ideas of how they solve problems.  We all think in different ways, so we need as many ideas out there as we can for the students who just don't understand the traditional way of doing it!

I loved the experience of the class.  I loved being able to socialize with ADULTS! I loved that I didn't have to worry about my kids because I had such a great babysitter. BUT it really helped me realize how much I really do want to be home with my kids.  And that I need to spend more time interacting with them. The past few weeks I've been really frustrated about our finances and just keep thinking, if only I could have a real job I wouldn't have to worry any more.  But all in all, its just not worth it.  I know I would put my job before my home. Even after just one week of being gone all day I noticed that it would put too much on my plate and I wouldn't take time out for my family.

 But someday I would really LOVE to teach.... 

SOMEDAY!

Just a bunch of RANDOM

I LOVE before and after shots! 

 And Not that ANY of YOU really care about this one...BUT I finally got my carpets shampooed!

 WAAHOOO!!!

Look how DISGUSTING they were!! (EMBARRASSING)

and..WALA

okay, the still look pretty bad, but it looks much better! 

 I've started giving Madilyn allowance for doing odd jobs around the house. 

She LOVES it.  She'll even UNLOAD MY DISHWASHER! 

(no, I don't expect her to!!!)

We counted up her money the other day and I took her to the dollar store to pick out something fun to use her spending money on.

This is what she picked...

Yep, she decided she needed a pair of be-noc-lee-ers.

I love how she's sitting on her bike scouting for things. She found a FOX...but she reassured me he was a nice one.  LOVE the imagination!

She's always putting blankets around her like capes, then gets mad when the clothes pins don't hold. SO..I decided to make some capes! 

 I whipped THREE up in just HALF an hour! 

One for Madilyn.  One for Landon.  One for her doll!

  I'll probably make a couple more so we have extras when Braydan and Maya are here!

and tomorrow...YELLOWSTONE...or just a nice drive.

single life as I know it!

Spud Harvest is here once again. 

That means THIS is how much we get to see Dad:

Yep, just the couple time he drives past the house on his way to another field!

Can I just tell you how much I HATE spud harvest!

Not being able to eat meals as a family

Dad leaving before kids are awake

Dad coming home after kids are asleep in bed
Dad not being home for family scriptures and prayers

Not being able to communicate with him between the hours of 7:00 AM and 12:00 AM (on a GOOD day) unless I want to get him fired for talking to someone OTHER than the company!

Not getting a break from the kids

The rumors and BULL that always goes on

The stress that comes with the weather..too hot, cold, wet, or dry, never perfect digging conditions!

Having to go without hunny-do's for a MONTH-things like taking the garbage and mowing the law!

HOWEVER

This year I'm going to make the best of it!  I've been EXTREMELY irritable the last couple weeks and its time for a change.  I'm going to make the best of spud harvest this year BY:

Waking up early with my hubby and making him a home made breakfast every morning!

Start packing his lunch BEFORE he's ready to go out the door! :)

Make treats for his lunches.

Do fun activities with the kids!

Take advantage of the long hours and DEEP CLEAN the house and shampoo carpets!

Eat CHICKEN everyday!!

Hopefully get into a math class so I can re-certify!

Talk him into going to Yellowstone for the Sunday Conference!

Start working on my projects again!

NO MORE NAPS!
Finish up all my canning and freezing for the year!
Take the kids to go ride in the tractor when he digs the closer fields-sorry Ronald, it was a HASTLE last year, everyday is no longer an option for our growing family!!
Start decorating the house for FALL!

It took me a while, but I used to really enjoy spud harvest.  I loved being outside and driving truck-once I finally got out of my comfort zone!  I LOVED making amazing bucks in just a few (LONG) weeks.  But that's not the case anymore.  Its impossible to send the kids off to a babysitter for 15 hours a day 6 days a week for nearly a month. 
HAPPY SPUD HARVEST EVERYONE! 

Brittney is Climatized!

As we were walking to the library for our usual library day enjoying the beautiful fall weather, I happened to notice the temperature on the high school marque.  It read "56 degrees".  Here I was with my 2 little kids, WALKING to the library, NO JACKETS, just enjoying the cool breezy day. I thought to myself, MAN! No doubt about it!  I have definitely climatized (if that's a word)! I can clearly remember what 50 degrees felt like 10 years ago in high school, when we were stranded outside on the soccer field ALL day long due to a bomb threat.  It was FREEZING cold!  Everyone was bundled up in coats and blankets and huddled together just so we wouldn't FREEZE to death!  I look back now and laugh because even in the winter or spring time it can warm up to 30 degrees here and I think its WONDERFUL and WARM enough for only a light jacket...and that's only because the wind is always blowing!  I still can't handle the cold as well as Ron can.  But I can honestly say "RONALD, whether you think so or not, I AM climatized!"