My kids and fun at Lindon Elementary

Friday started a little crazy, but it was all fun! Brayden had piano at 7:15 a.m. and then Michael at 7:45 a.m. At 8:15 all 4 boys and daddy started their "Walk to School Day" walk. They are normally bused and it is just over a mile. They had alot of fun and it was fun to see alot of the students walking to school. I met Rick over at the school with the van so that we could take the bikes and other stuff home.

While I was at the school Annella Carter, who is over the Lunchroom came and asked me if I would be willing to help serve in the lunchroom. I have been PTA President over at Lindon Elementary the past 2 years and now I am treasurer. I have formed many special friendships at the school. They are amazing people!!! It was sooo much fun serving the students in the lunchroom. I realized I wasn't as quick as I needed to be in serving up potatoes, gravy, chicken and a roll on each plate for the students, but they were patient :). I loved having the students say hello as they came through the line. It was fun to serve my own 2 boys for lunch.

Then we loaded up and headed to Price for a Friday and Saturday race. These are the last 2 races for the season. Then we will start back up in April if Scottie decides to race next year. It is a nice get away and the boys have a blast. We went to the public pool for Friday afternoon and they have a BIG wave pool that the kids love. Michael is a good swimmer, but he got caught in a wave and couldn't break out of it. The lifeguard hit the stop wave button and jumped in and got him. I asked him if he was alright and he said that he knew that he had to keep kicking his legs to keep himself a little above water until he could break out of it. He ended up being alright, but I think it taught him that there are times that water can be unsafe and you have to be careful.

We then went to the races and Scottie was doing great! He has been really fun to watch all season because he is quick and very competitive with the rest of the racers. Unfortunately, he got caught in a big group of cars, spun and then got hit by another car that rolled to the point of a pretty destroyed car. That was it for last night, but they are working hard today to get the car up and going again for tonight and it sounds like it will happen. The driver that rolled wasn't too badly hurt. I am always amazed at how safe those cars can be even in accidents.

I will add pictures to this post later and probably put the crash on here so that you can see what I am talking about.

We are now off to Goblin Valley for a little bit until the races tonight.

First Pampered Chef Online Orders

Today was a really good day! I had my 6th Pampered Chef Party tonight and it was alot of fun. I have done alot of different at home businesses, but this business has been alot of fun and Pampered Chef makes it really easy to have a successful business. I have found alot of fun and it has given me an out from the stress that I feel sometimes at home.

Tonight started with 2 people at the party and we were having a great time! After about 45 minutes we had 4 more people come to the party. With the 6 people there we ended up with almost $ 150 in orders. That was exciting, but last week I set up my Pampered Chef Website and when I got home there were 2 orders in my email box for the party that I was at tonight. Those were my FIRST orders from my website. That was really exciting!

Also, Rick has been trying to help my brother and brother-in-law sell some Sport Court that they had. My brothers were willing to pay Rick a portion of the sale and the sale happened tonight. It is amazing how things work!

As we have gone through this unemployment stage in our lives I have found that when I pray, read my scriptures and listen to the real feelings of this experience I feel calm. I absolutely don't understand why I feel calm and I can't explain it to anyone. When I start to question everything and start to get mad about our situation things fall apart. It's not that things aren't falling apart little by little :), but each day there are little glimpses of hope. I don't know what the Lord has in store for us and I definately can't make sense of it, but I feel that it is all in the Lord's hands and we are doing all that we can.

My sweet boys have prayed diligently for their dad. At first it was praying for both of us to get a job, but then we talked with the children about praying that their dad would find a job so that their mom could be at home with them. They have fasted and prayed very diligently for their dad and have been so positive through all of it. They have been encouraging and very loving.

Well, tomorrow we are going to go to Price for Rick's brothers last races this year. The boys really enjoy the races. It will be nice to have a little break.

Here is a picture of the boys with their Uncle and his car and trophy (Trever, their cousin, comes to the races with us):

I was going through the summer pictures for the blog and when we go to Bear Lake we go to this REALLY fun playhouse in Garden City, UT. It is called the Pickleville Playhouse. They have an outdoor barbecue beforehand and the cast and family of Pickleville Playhouse serve the dinner. Then you go in for the great plays. All of my family that went to Bear Lake went and there were over 20 children in our group and everyone of them had a GREAT time! Anyways, I found a video clip from the play that we saw that was so funny and really fun so I thought I would share it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and children have:

The beginning. . .

"Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms his child."

Well, my husband has begged me for a long time to start a blog. I have decided that since I don't journal at all and there is so much going on in our lives right now that I would go ahead and start to write a little bit. Also, the last month and a half of our lives have taken a twist that I never prepared myself for. All my life I have thought, "how would I handle this or that situation?" I have to admit that my husband has always been such a hard worker and had at least one job with 60 hours or 3 jobs and working even more that I have never imagined being unemployed. I have to admit it is alot harder than I thought it would be.

On July 31st about 30 minutes before Rick and I were to leave for an overnight get away for our Anniversary (the first in many years) the company that both of us worked for pulled me into a meeting and in about 2 minutes they laid me off. I did alot of my work from home and I knew that they were going to more in house work so I half anticipated it, but it was still a stress on our family.


My husband had been with the company for about 5 years and they kept telling him that he was very valuable to them so it never crossed our mind that he would be laid off. On August 11th he was laid off. Within 11 days we lost ALL of our income. It was a shock to me and my husband.


I have to say that the last 6 weeks have taught my family many experiences. Several of my friends have given me advice along the way and I have found alot of comfort from family and friends and their support.


The other day my sister-in-law referred me to a blogsite that a mom shares daily scoops of thoughts after she lost her 14 month old in June. I have found a lot of comfort in her daily entries and that has inspired me to share some of my thoughts and day to day stuff that maybe I can help someone.

So, here goes the blog. . .

What a summer we had!!!!!!

My husband set this blog up and started an entry for me:

"I still can't believe that the summer has already gone by and we are well into school. I have already completed my major project in the PTA this year with the school carnival. I thought that I would start this blog by sharing some pictures from our summer. We went to Lagoon, parades, stock car races, bear lake, stock car races, goblin valley, stock car races, crandall canyon mine, not to mention all the time at the pool at my moms after a movie with all of the cousins at the scera every Wednesday."

It worked. I had to make some corrections :) so that motivated me to add to the Summer entry. We had a BLAST! When it was time for school to start I didn't want my kids to go back to school. My children are at perfect stages and we have a blast together! I can't believe that month of school has already gone by. With 3 in regular school and 1 in preschool 2 days a week I actually get to enjoy 4 hours a week of quiet. It is really nice, but it is great when my children come home. Here are some fun pictures from the summer fun. . .

Orem Owlz Game in July

All of my family (except for 1 sister and her family and a sister who is in Hungary serving a mission came to Bear Lake) and we hiked into Minnetonka Cave. This is the end of the cave.

Went to Hogle Zoo with Grandma Hardman

Went to Family Reunions. . .Dad was racing on a skateboard in one of the activities.

These are just some of the fun things! It was an amazing summer!