Lock Down

I was studying for my finals this afternoon and I felt like I should check online at the news. Wow, was I surprised to see that Roseville had 2 elementary schools on lock down. I knew when I saw that headline one was Echo's school. I was a little freaked because I did not know what was going on. I tried to call Mick but he was not available. I went next door to see if it was on the news but they were busy too. We don't own a TV so that was the reason for going next door.
I called the school and they were a little less than informed so I finally called the district office but again not to informative. I finally continued to refresh the news page to be updated. Its been about 4 hours and I guess we will have to wait to get the real information because the 4 local stations had conflicting information.
I think there was a gun toting man across the street from the school who held a women hostage, he was captured soon after the police arrived but they could not find the women till several hours later barricaded in a room.
I am so grateful that Echo and her friends were safe and that the school reacted in they way they did. Many thanks to those who kept our kids safe.

Ty's dream come true

Today Ty had a football game and his one goal since 2nd grade was to be able to run the ball but because of Ty's weight in pee wees he was never able to run the ball.
In Middle school Ty is on the heavy weight team and is still not able to run the ball but not because he too heavy but because he is not fast enough. Today was his dream come true. He caught a fumble and ran the ball for 7 yards before he was tackled. We are so excited for him and his dream was realized.

Wahsington DC Temple

My trip to the temple was one I will never forget. I went out to DC with Mick on his business trip and decided to go out to the DC temple which happened to be 45 minutes on the metro train with a 20 minute bus ride. I'll first mention that I was very nervous and apprehensive about going out in a town I was very unfamiliar with. I left for the metro train which happened to be basically just outside our hotel door, very convenient. I had directions from the internet on my travel but when I arrived and got off the train the directions I had to transfer to the bus were wrong and right there and then I thought I had made a bad decision to go on the adventure in an unfamiliar place and I was almost in tears. I asked a few people where to go but with no avail I did not receive good directions and it took me about 20 minutes to finally find the bus I needed, during this time I told myself several times I should probably go back to the hotel.
I got onto the bus and again not really knowing where I was to stop I felt very nervous and scared.
This is when an angel came to reassure me and I felt the hand of God in my life again.The angel was the girl that was sitting behind me on the bus, just out of the blue she asked me if I was going to the Temple and I said YES. How would she have known I was not dressed to go to the Temple nor did I have temple clothes with me,
It was our loving Heavenly Father. She (Amanda) was very kind and helpful in getting me there and making me feel comfortable and calm.
The Temple was amazingly beautiful. When I arrived I felt a peace I had not felt just a couple hours prior to arriving. God's hand is in our lives when we need him, just at the time I needed it the peace came and it was through one of his servants. It does not to be a big grandiose experience to feel God's hand in your life its the little things that you can feel loved and watched over.

Wahsington

Camping in the rain, Again part 1

Our little family and some family friends joined us for our last camp out celebration of the summer, last weekend. It rained again but not the whole time. We headed out Thursday for our campsite and stayed 2 nights. On Saturday we went canoeing and headed home to get some needed rest. Camping is a funny activity, it takes much effort to get out there and you don't get any sleep at night so when all is said and done when you get back home and unpack you are more tired than when you started. We love our friends the Mitchell's with whom we went camping, we enjoyed our time with them as well as the Chaffin's who joined us late Friday evening.

CRABBY!!

Look at these awesome flowers Mick brought home for me yesterday.
They did not do the trick. I started school yesterday and boy am I CRABBY.
I know most of you think I'm like that all the time but, really I'm not.
Yesterday I had so much homework I was still doing it last night at 11:00pm. and first thing at 7:30 am. This is only for one class and I still have one more; sure glad I only took 2 classes this semester.
I hope things slow down or I get faster at math.

Double Date

Mick and I have not been on a date for a really long time due to the fact that the last year has been busy with grad school.
We finally got out on the town with some really good friends, our double date was one to remember. First, Mick and I love to find fun hole in the wall places, we found a fun upbeat trendy little spot in Minneapolis a few years ago, we happened to tell our friends about it and now a year later we finally made it with more adventure than our original plans. The original plan was to eat at Sonny's and have dinner and desert.
I mentioned to Mick a few hours before our time to go out that maybe we should go on a traveling dinner night. When our friends came over we gently let them down and told them of our changed plans and that we would take them to some of our favorite spots to eat various courses to our meal. First, we started at Que Viet best egg rolls in town. Second, El Taquito they have awesome tacos. Third,we needed some entertainment so we went to play ski ball and I kicked everyones butt. Fourth, we went to The Italian Pie Shop for pizza fries and last but not least we finally made it to Sonny's for gelato and pie( the turtle pie is to die for very rich and good). It was a great evening with good company. I hope to be able to go one a double date with the Mitchells again soon. We had a lot of laughs and good political conversation.

Cooking Monster

Look at this!Picture it three times the size. That would describe the size of zucchini that Mick picked on Saturday. Today I made bread because there is not much you can make with this size zucchini. It made three batches plus I put some extra grated stuff in the freezer.




This is the zucchini all mixed with all the ingredients




This is how many loaves it made, 6 mini and 3 large loaves. I think I will save them for our family reunion this weekend. I also made 3 dozen cookies and put 5 dozen in the freezer for visits I need to make before Thursday night. Several of the elderly people in our ward love for our family to come visit them and I try to bring a treat.

rambling random thoughts

This morning I am so thankful for so many things in my life.
My Family
My husband he is so loving, kind, hard working loves me despite my weaknesses.
My kids they are wonderful, happy, kind, helpful, generous and they love unconditionally (and they are teenagers).
The gospel I am a daughter of God who loves me and is concerned about my life.
My friends they support and give me advice that is sound.
My sister who just gives me a call out of the blue.
My cousin who has a firm testimony of the gospel and needs to remind me to be nice to everyone.
My house it's not big or fancy but we have love, mutual respect for one another and laughter.
Tears they show love.
Prayer its one way to get closer to God.
These are a few things I was thinking about this morning. I just hope my family and friends know how much I love and appreciate them.

Yesterday at church I was reminded how we need to look at the now and not the future, waiting for better things to come. I already have better today, I just need to remember to look for the good right now. I know we need to look to the future tambien (spanish for also) but sometimes I get so caught up on looking for a better tomorrow I don't see the good that is happening today. I'm rambling again. Have a good one.
See You
Love You
Bye

House of Bounce

Echo and I went to the House of Bounce in Rochester this last week. We had so much fun. The price was good, the exercise was great and we wished we had more time to spare as we were in Rochester for a baby shower.
There were about 15 different bouncy things most were slides but they had just plain bouncing, slides, jousting, and obstacle courses for racing. We want to do it again with the whole family.

Our life with cars

As most of you know we never buy a new car and when we need a new one Mick just happens to find a good deal on something that he loves. Well, a good deal for who I wonder. Our last purchase was probably one of the worst except for today that is. Our car was making a funny noise under the hood, Mick the professional that he is said it was probably one of about 4 things. He's usually right on the diagnosis. Today was not a good day to have the car put into the shop. I am leaving out of town with Echo for the day we need a second car for Mick to get around town for YM ,work and school stuff . We were trying to find a rental around town but because he needs to be to work by 9:00 no real luck so he decided to call the shop to see if they had a loaner. He was told no but the shop manager said we could use his car for the day come pick it up and we will help you out. Wow, I was shocked that even happened but as we thought about it we were like yeah they should help us out with as much money as we have spent in the last year and a half (we could have purchased a brand new one by now). Think he could clean a few things out first, NO. I won't complain.
Here is the loaner.

Mega Green

I have been making a few quilts the last couple months. I have tried a few new techniques and am very pleased with my latest quilt.

The

It's raining, It's pouring...

Siah, Ty and Echo are crazy. It rained yesterday late afternoon and the kids went out in the rain and got SOAKED. They actually love to play in the rain but I warned them that it was lightning out and they should be very careful. 1/2 hour later my neighbor let me know that a 14 yr. old girl in Stillwater about 10 miles away died from lightning this evening very sad story and makes me very grateful that our kids were safe.

1st Harvest

This is our 1st harvest of the season not including the lettuce and spinach, we had at least 4 grocery bags full of that stuff.
Fluie our bunny digs the fresh garden veggies.
Look at those peas; I think they taste amazing, all our hard work is paying off.

Boys Favorites!!

In the last two weeks we have gone through 2 bags of dried mangoes. I have to hide them from my kids, how pathetic is that.
We could actually go through 6 to 10 bags in two weeks but I refuse to buy more than 1 bag a week. Costco has us hooked because without these babies I think my boys would die.

Bugs, Heat, Rain and More

The boys went to encampment this year. It was a good time but I heard lots of complaints.
Bugs
Unorganized
Hot
Boys being jerks
Rain
Getting wet (night)
Cold at night after getting wet
Too tired
No sleep

Does that sound familiar? It all sounds like camp to me.
The boys did actually have a good time and they enjoyed the classes, the Priests teaching them how to prepare for missions, the general young mens president and when the Minneapolis Minnesota mission president spoke.
Some of the activities they enjoyed were playing football, frisbee golf, and the homemade boat floating contest, needless to say they did not finish any merit badges this year because it was a little unorganized and with all the encampment stuff it was too busy. Fly fishing here we come..
The next couple days after camp they were exhausted. Mom let them rest up but not for long
band camps, football camps and just regular old chores needed to be done.

Frolfing?

Wondering what Frolfing is? Its a made up word meaning Frisbee golf.
Mick took the day off and we decided as a family to go and do something we have not tried before and golfing was the sport of choice but after talking about it we thought we probably could not pick that up in one or two tries so we settled with frisbee golf.
What a blast!!
We recommend you try it once, you'll fall in love and never go back to a regular old frisbee.
Warning: Don't lose your frisbee they can be expensive.

The best part of this is that its free once you have the equipment needed and there are parks all over that have the courses.
Here are a few fun pictures.

The Ninja and the Stone of Awesomeness

Ty loves to make movies and does his best to get Siah and Echo to help him.
Here is Ty's feature movie starring Siah, Ty and Echo.

Beauty Part 2

Just a few more pictures of our wonderful hike

Beauty, Just around the corner

Beauty is just around the corner from where we live. Well, its 3 hours away. Our family decided to venture out to Lake Superior on Memorial Day. We hiked 14 to 15 miles in 6 hours it was fun but more fun when we finished and got to sit down and relax to eat dinner.
Our day started off to an early 5:00 am start where we ate breakfast before we left to Gooseberry park in the Duluth area. We arrived at 9:00 and started on our hike around 10:00 and finished around 4:00.
We had so much fun, we love to be spontaneous.
This was not a well thought out plan and we seem to have the best adventures when we do this and we are so glad we took this time for our family.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Budnick

Echo loves her new bike Thanks to grandma& Pa Budnicks

Echo received her new bike via UPS yesterday afternoon and Mom and Echo put the bike together. I know we are very talented.
Thanks again for the wonderful gift Echo has been riding it non stop. You guys are great, now the boys want bikes.
We love you.

Master Mick

Mick you are so awesome
Congratulations again for a job well done.
Masters, What next??

Congratulations Mick

Mick we are so proud of you and all that you have accomplished the last 4 years.
Way to go Master Mick
We love you

All about Ty

Ty has had an adventurous couple weeks at school. This is his last year in elementary school and as 6th graders they have a all school 6th grade track meet with the other 5 elementary s in the district. Ty participated in the 100 meter shuttle run and got first in his heat with his teammates, he was also in the tug of war but lost the first round due to bad footing.
His class had a poem/music night. He will have a graduation in a week. Ty loves to make movies at home mostly about ninjas and fighting.
He is such a good kid we love having in our home.

We are back

Wow! What a long time it's been since our last blog, since before Christmas.
SOOO much has happened.
Ty had a great basketball season and we can't say much for Echos but she did have a blast. Siah quite his team due to his parents making him quit for bad grades.
January brought cold weather and miserable attitudes to go with it.
The kids birthdays were all in January, we did not do much only for the fact that we were packing to move.
We now live in Roseville out of student housing, Yeah!!!
In Feb. we celebrated the kids birthdays and had a fondue night with friends and more friends.
The last few months have been crazy due to the fact that it was Micks last semester of classes for graduate school.
We will post some pictures and more updates on the last few months.