A Day Late and A Dollar Short

So here it is. You can see the piano the shutters and everything all at once. (Just not the new tree outside.) I said I would post it and that was a few weeks ago, so now I can mark that off my list. That seems to be the way things have been going the last couple of weeks; a day late, and a dollar short. But I think of all the good things that have happened and then I think of others that have major struggles going on right now and I will take my day late and my dollar short and go forward with faith. As Thanksgiving is just around the corner I am so grateful for so many things, especially my family both near and far, we are so blessed to have each other. When it comes right down to it that is all there is...just us. I guess I should explain the picture a little more, Karl and Megan played a special number in church and now have been asked to play it in my mom sacrament meeting next Sunday. They have had fun learning the song together and it sounds awesome. I am excited to go home for Thanksgiving! Hope you all have a great and yummy day!

Is this really what I am getting paid for?

So I am blogging at work today. I came into work at 7:30 am and by 9:00 am I have done all that is required of me to do for the day, granted more work will come in later, but for now I am visiting with who ever will talk to me or walk through my lobby. I finally thought of my blog and remebered that it has been a while since I have posted anything so I thought I would use my time wisely and update you on the Websters.

First off I have been a little busy, we have had some amazing things happen at our house and it has caused us to do things that we really don't like or would ever want to do. For instance, we have a neighbor that is having to foreclose on his home and wanted to recover some of the money they had put into the house when they bought it and offered us his plantation shutters for an AMAZING price. So we jumped on it and had to remove them from his house and install them in our house. This meant that windows and screens had to be washed, which saddly has not been done since, well a long time. (I am embarassed to tell you how long it has been, so we will leave it at that.) So hopefully by Saturday we will be completely done with this project. By the way I have never imagined that I would have shutters in my home, but if any of you get a chance to have them I already love them and would highly recommend them!

Next we have friends that were involved with a tree nursery auction that we helped with and got in on a really good deal. We bought a big ficus tree for $150. We were told that is was a $800 tree so we were pretty excited! I dug the hole and let all the men do the lifting. Thanks to the Hamberlins for coming over to help set into place and kill the scorpions that came with it! Thanks to the Whitmores for letting us borrow the black light so we could go hunting for more and kill them all! I HATE SCORPIONS! Love the tree!

Finally we got a 6' grand piano for the best price ever! If you want to know the whole story you will have to come and see it, and I will tell you then. But needless to say it needed some TLC and Brother Christiansen to make it what it is now. It has been somewhat of a distraction for Karl, he has stayed up till midnight playing it on several nights (not that I mind) and Megan is on it every chance she gets.

I don't know what we have done to deserve these wonderful opportunities that have come our way lately, but I am so grateful for them. Karl has been so good to make time for all the work that I am putting him through in addition to his regular job or should I say jobs. I will try to send pictures when I get home later.

Going Home

So this weekend I had a chance to go "home". Yes, I still call my parent's home "home", even though Gilbert is home Snowflake/Taylor will always be home to me too. Not that I am running away from any thing, but no matter what is going on in my life I have always been able to go home and gather my thoughts and feelings and return with a new outlook and new motivation. It gives my spirit a renewed sense of who I am and what I was taught there. I am so thankful for parents who made home a heaven on earth. I hope that I am making my own home that kind of refuge for my children. I remember going back home with Karl after it had been quite a few years and just driving into the valley where he used to live brought tears to his eyes (though he would never admit to it) I know he felt feelings of being home again and a rush of memories flooded his mind. I have thought quite alot about this along with returning to our "heavenly home". Not that I am ready to go or anything like that but I think that we all feel those feelings of wanting to return when we think about our heavenly home and one day a flood of memories will come rushing back and we will remember.
Who wouldn't want to go home with things like making popcorn balls for the homecoming football game and bundling up for the game and coming home from the game to make hot cocoa to warm up, carving pumkins, bobbing for apples, going through the corn maze, homemade cinnamon rolls, Sunday dinner, apple crisp and ice cream, biscuits and gravy or french toast for breakfast, Family Home Evening with everyone, spending time with cousins and family. I love it, crave it, miss it, want it all the time!
I love the things that my children learn from their grandparents. It was windy, wet and cold Saturday while we were there and the boys were going to help take care of the lawn but we had to wait and do it all on Monday. So if you ask Camron we just played cards and watched old western movies all day, but is there anything wrong with spending time doing what someone else wants to do once in a while? I don't think anyone was hurt, and they did get to go play ball at the church for a while. Anyway, he did say he enjoyed it too. Since it was so cold it froze what was left of the garden that night so come Monday the boys and I had the oportunity to take care of the frozen plants, cut the lawn (with a riding lawn mower, that they thought was so cool) and winterize the garden spot. Austin had never harvested carrots (or beets) before and he thought that was pretty cool. If we didn't stay busy we had to have a jacket on and that gave us a taste of fall that was absolutley wonderful! Yes we were so spoiled! What a great fall break!
Thanks mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!

Megan is 10 years old! I can't believe that my baby is ten! We had a F&FHE (Friends and Family Home Evening) for her birthday on Monday. It was so much fun. We had about 50 people over to eat dinner and cake and ice cream. Then we had a lesson, played a game and then just visited and the kids played around until it was time to go. Megan is so cute, she was so happy to have everyone come. She wanted everyone in the family to enjoy her party so we invited families instead of just her friends. She is growing up so fast. I feel like I am going to miss something if I don't stay with it and celebrate every moment in her life.

Homecoming 2008

I thought I should tell you about Treston's first big dance. First off we had to find out what color the dress was. Treston didn't want to know what it looked like so he sent me over to check it out. He was so funny about that. Anyway we picked one tie out and almost got it, but not quite so we tried again and found one at Kohl's. I liked it better because it was better for church too, so that was a bonus. He was pretty handsome after a new tie and shirt and dad polishing his shoes. I think his feet might be done growing for a while this is the first time that he has had to polish his shoes. Before, if they ever got scuffed up enough to polish them he was already grown out of them and we would just buy new ones.

Treston had to do a scuba certification class saturday morning before their "Day date". So I decided to help him out and we washed the truck and ironed his shirt. I have to admit that I got a little teary while I was ironing. I just am amazed how fast time flies with our children. It seems like yesterday that I was kneeling on the floor waiting for him to come crawling around the corner so I could chase after him.

So anyway, Karl wanted to know what is this "Day date" stuff! When we were in High School we went to (or played) the homecoming football game ran home and got a shower and went to the Homecoming dance. This is more like Prom! I guess that means we are getting old or maybe we have now received the wisdom of our parents.

They went to the new iceskating rink here in Gilbert and then to Bahama Bucks for a cool treat and then took the girls home to get ready. They picked them up around 6:15 and headed over to the Halbert's house here in our neighborhood. We gave them a little pina colada with an umbrella and pineapple on the side and then we had fixed kabobs and rice and a couple of salads for a group of 12 couples. We did a little bit of Hawaiian decorations and it ended up quite cute. After the dance they all showed up (hot and sweaty) at our house for games and a treat.

A Little explanation

So I thought I should explain the whole MOM in the uniform thing. It is not everyday that you see both the boy and Dad and Mom in a Boy Scout uniform. My current calling in our ward is the advancement chairman on the scout committee. I was originally called to be the Duty to God specialist and then it just got bigger.

Karl is currently the scoutmaster for our ward troop and he is doing great! He loves working with the boys and pushing them along in their rank advancements as well as their merit badges. He enjoys watching them grow up right in front of his eyes. We have the boys over to our home every 3rd Sunday to have cookies and report their successes for the month for both Scouts and D to G. It has been working very well and we could possibly have about 12 Eagle Rank Advancements by February.

Last year Karl and I attended Wood Badge training together and I have earned my "beads" and Karl is just about to get his done. (He has to have them done by Oct.) He has just one left and it is half done, part of which was to lose 20 lbs. and he has lost 30. He is looking way good if I might say so myself! We enjoy working with each other. It seems to make my job easier to have him as the scoutmaster. When it is all said and done we will have spent at least 18 years in either Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts as parents, so we might as well jump in with both feet right? I guess so:)

September 13, 2008

Karl and Austin and all the scouts just got home from their adventure to Gisela. I guess there is a really good water hole there and they had a blast. So much so that Karl is wanting to take the whole family next weekend. I am not sure, Austin said that the water is pretty cold, but you get used to it they say. I more want to go to get some prickley pears. We asked the neighbors for theirs a few weeks ago and made some yummy jam and now we want to make more!

Treston has asked Natalie Stevens if she will go to homecoming with him and she said YES! We fixed a pan with Treston's name on the bottom on the inside and then baked brownies in it and cut out the word "homecoming?" and laid it on the brownies and powder sugared the brownies. So she knew that it was for homecoming and had to eat them to see who asked her. Natalie is a grand daughter to Mr. Reed, who was my Jr. High principal. Man it is a small world! She is a skinny little cute thing and Treston will make her look like an even skinnier little cute thing. Just kidding T.J. He has also got a job at R&R Pizza as of today, but has another possible offer at Laguna Cafe and he is not sure what to do yet.

Camron is just trucking along with school and stuff. He loves Highland High and has lots of friends and fun. He make the dive team along with Treston and Treston says that Camron is better than he is. It would be fun for him to stick with it.

Austin is loving Jr. High. He leaves early for Jazz Band and is loving all of it. We never have to ask him to practice he just does it on his own. He has become quite a reader. He will sit and read when I can't pay my other children to even pick up a book.

Megan is doing well. She was just sick for a couple of days but she is good to go now. She has lots of friends in the neighborhood, as do all the kids. She just started the violin today and I think it is going to be fun to watch and see what she can do with it.