Merry Christmas to All!!

Remembering 2007...

Carissa is growing up. Somehow that happens even to the baby of the family. She is as tall as Samantha was at 10, and continues to grow. She and Samantha share a lot of their clothes already. I think she is the only one that got the Bill Wight height. She played soccer this year and really enjoys being the goalie. She is signed up for basketball for the first time and will start in January. All of her teachers tell me how much they enjoy Carissa being in their class. She and Samantha both got brave, ok, it was mostly me, and cut their hair. She is still just as cute as ever, what was I worried about? The most exiting thing this year for Carissa was that she was baptized. She and her cousin Tara were baptized the same day in Boise ID. Tons of family came and we had a great time together celebrating.

Cason enjoyed playing football and is onto wrestling now. He conquered Elementary school during this year and is now battling it out in middle school. He is going to a charter T.A.G. middle school that is very challenging for him. He is getting the hang of it though. He has had more homework than all the rest of the kids put together. Needless to say he was very excited for Christmas break. Cason loves legos, snap circuits, and bionicles. He earned his arrow of light award in Cub scouts and is on his way to 1st class.

Samantha is still a mini Jeff, they think so much alike it is astonishing. She is focused and ambitious. She has been asked to play her flute by several different groups and just loves it. If she could only bring one thing on a deserted island it would be a toss up between candy, mac and cheese, and her flute. Samantha's greatest accomplishment this year was finishing her Young Womens Personal Progress award. She has been amazing to watch. Some of her 10 hour projects consisted of teaching someone else how to play the flute, organizing my storage room, cooking dinner for a week, learning how to paint, and painting her room. Yes, I am very sad it is over and hope the church comes out with another program that will motivate her to do all of the things on my to do list. I guess there is still Carissa... Samantha also plays one sport, basketball. This last year her team won the Championship game and had an awesome season. Some other things Samantha enjoyed this year was girls camp, the ropes course at the Carter family Reunion, and waterskiing. What a brave girl!

Blake is now a Junior and I am starting to feel the time crunch, knowing our days with him our numbered. I enjoy having him around to lift heavy things and help me out when Jeff is busy. He has been a great teenager that gets good grades, drives decently, and is not obsessed with girls. He has a great crowd of friends. Blake's biggest accomplishment this year was finishing his Eagle Project. He built a fence for the ARC. He did a great job and really changed the whole backyard of this place. He was even able to get a CAT to level off the ground. Nothing puts a smile on a young man's face than big toys. He should have his eagle board of review in the next few weeks and be on his way. YEAH for Blake!!! Because of last years finger surgery, Blake opted not to play football this year and save his body for wrestling. It is a good thing, because wrestling is taking its toll on Blake. He has bruises and aches and pains everywhere. He is on the Varisty team but struggles a bit because of his inexperience. He does well for only having wrestled his freshman year and the last 3 weeks of his sophomore year. Blake enjoyed EFY in Boise, waterskiing at the Carter Family Reunion and deer hunting with Jeff this year.

Jeff has had a great year this year: he shot a deer, helped his buddy Alex, who shot an Elk, continues to solve INTEL's problems, helps Cason with his science fair project, finished putting in travertine tile in the entryway and down the hall and bathroom. He continues to be the family Tech guy, fixing every electronic gadget that breaks down. He has been able to take the two dogs out hunting a few times too. Jeff biggest, what should I call it ummmm, opportunity, came when he became our wards bishop. He was pretty busy serving in the High Council most of the year, but is now back heavily involved in our ward. I sure appreciate what a good example he is to our children and the sacrifices he make in serving the Lord.

My biggest accomplishment is everything you just read about, my family. I hope you have enjoyed catching up with us and enjoyed hearing a little more about our family. I hope your Christmas brings you joy and relaxation. Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Thanksgiving was spent at the Sants, my sister Melinda's

The Buzz club

Many of you have heard rumors that Blake has shaved his head. Yes, they are true. A dear friend of mine, LaFawn, had been diagnosed with cancer a month or so ago. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She teaches many different classes at 24 hour fitness. Last week I was taking her strength training class I was thinking, if LaFawn can do it I certainly should be able to. Wow is she amazingly strong. Blake is great friends with Mitch her son and so her oldest sons started the club buy buzzing their hair. Mitch and a bunch of other friends have buzzed theirs as well. Even her husband did. She has such a great support system. She somehow has the knack of staying in close contact with all of her friends, some from years and years ago. Anyway one of my hard drives are down and so the only picture I have of Blake right now is after a wrestling meet where he got a bloody nose. So here you go....

This month I listened to Dave Ramsey's book on CD called The Complete Money Makeover. I would suggest that to everyone, and to have their children read it before they head off to college. So this month I have really tried to tighten the budget strings and start squeezing more of it into savings. Not such an easy task, but in the process I have found that I have always said "yes " to my kids when they want things. I don't think I have spoiled them, but I don't think they ever gave a second thought to how we spend our money. I have used money to solve a lot of my problems. I am learning not to say "no", but "next month" or "maybe something cheaper". I think it will teach them to be use to a budget and not use to getting what they want right then. That is a valuable character trait that I want my kids to have. Anyway, love the book.

The last thing that has happened in the last month or so has been Jeff being called as our ward's bishop. WILD HUH. He had been REALLY busy at work for a month already, but if you know Jeff he is always busy. So, not much has really changed. I know he will do a great job.

As for me it has been a wild ride lately. I have had some real life changing things happen to dear people around me, (people dying, getting cancer, getting in big trouble.) It has been hard to stand by and not be able to do anything. I guess it has made me grateful for where I am and the family and friends that I have.

I have been busy too. I got the "matching" bunk beds in the girls room and the loft bed in Cason's up. The rooms are all done now. I even got the shelving up in Cason's closet. The girls love the new bunk beds and Cason thinks his loft bed is awesome. The storage room has all of the shelving up too and now I just have to continue to fill it with food.

Samantha had a band concert and performed a couple of duets and was a solo flutist in some of the songs the whole band played. She will be playing with the ward choir in a couple of weeks too. She continues to amaze me with all her music abilities.

Carissa has continued to be a delight in our home and tries to keep up with Samantha which makes me amazed that my baby is so grown up. For instance, just the girls and I went to the pumpkin patch this year with some friends. The childhood wonderment was gone. We had a fun time. We really enjoyed the great weather, friends, kettle corn, (thanks Sarah), but not the same as taking a three year old. She just finished her soccer season and is going to start her 1st year of basketball.

Cason

Cason just finished his football season. They won one game, tied the last game in overtime, and lost 5 other games. Even with the loosing season Cason was awesome this year. He played both offense and defense and stayed in almost the season. He played receiver, and corner back, if that means anything to you. He made a touchdown catch one game and made lots of great tackles for being such a small guy.

Blake's Eagle Project

Well it has been a little over a month since I have added anything. Let me make a quick life update...

Blake has finished his Eagle project!!! Way to go Blake! A big "THANK YOU goes out to Jerry, Tony, Sarah, Mark, and Jeff, that stuck it out with Blake through the whole thing, mud and all. He built a fence for the ARC, and had the ground all leveled off with a bulldozer so that they could plant more grass and make the area usable. He couldn't have don't it without the help of so many people. He has finished writing it up and needs to make an appointment for his Eagle Board of Review. I am so happy for him!

Week of Sept 18th

This last week I decided that I am certainly going to make it to old age, but I am starting to think that if I am to stay in shape I am going to act like I am old all of the time with all of the aches and pains I get from trying to stay in shape just so that I can get to "old age". I was hobbling around all week, it is quite ridiculous. After going to an abs class, strength training class, a bike ride and a four mile run, my body is calling "uncle."

Blake, with one of his good friends, Mitchell had a Happenin Hippy Party. They had 30 or so kids over dressed up in hippy attire. Blake and Mitch had afro and headbands. It brought me back to my childhood. They played games, had tacos, a foosball tournament, and then watched a movie. All said and done we only had the neighbors say they were going to call the cops once. (Keep in mind that they were the ones having an alcohol induced party. ) Actually my neighbors are awesome. Anyway I think they all had a great time.

Blake also had the ARC call and say they have the funding for the fend , and that they want the fence built this next week. He had been tracking down some funding so this has sped things up considerable for him. He has been organizing food, advertising, tools, and supplies. I am so excited that he is finishing this all up.

Cason had a football game Sat night during the Blake's party. Jeff went and took Carissa and her little friend. They lost and even had a kid break his leg which made the game even longer. He really played his heart out and was just exhausted. He has had a really hard schedule to keep up with.

Carissa had a soccer game Sat morning too. She is doing so well and really loves being the goalie. She likes kicking it really hard. She needs to practice dribbling the ball more.

Jeff has still been pretty busy at work. I love seeing him. I feel like we are back to dating, because we don't see each other but on the weekends. It will get back to normal soon.

Oh I totally forgot to tell you what happened Friday. I was out running errands when I decided to take my phone off of mute and check my messages. The last message was just 2 minutes beforehand and was from the high school. I listened to the message and it was Blake's weight lifting teacher (the football coach) saying that Blake might have knocked out 3 of his lower front teeth. I sped as fast as I could to the school and took him to the dentist. He was there but his assistant and good friend of ours took x rays. She said that he needed to go to the orthodontist. So we hopped back in the car and ran downtown to his orthodontist. They go him fixed up and looking close to new again. The teeth didn't come out but were pushed back into his mouth. They say he was lucky he was still wearing braces otherwise the teeth probably would have come out. he may need root canals later but so far everything looks good still. He was very calm and was more upset that he was going to have braces for 6 more months than getting hurt.
He even went to the football game that night.

That was my life this week...

This week was a tough one. But ended up on a great note. Monday I did the normal running around. I took the Honda in to get fixed. $1600 later it works great. I have been to the plumbing store 3 times to get the right drain for our tub and top to our toilet. One of the kids broke it several years ago and just chipped the edge of it off, and I have never replaced it. I still don't have one that fits. Tuesday I went on a bike ride with Bridget and Mahina, which was great until I decided that my tire needed to be pumped up more and broke off the piece that keeps the air in the tube. I changed it fairly quickly. I'm pretty proud of that. When I got back I went to a luncheon at Juliana's which was great fun. I stayed after and made Juliana and Sarah S. help me figure out treasure hunt clues for the Young Womens activity that night. It went off really well. Thanks gals! We had YW Board meeting afterward. We were out until 11 or so. Jeff has been working crazy long hours so I tried to stay up and wait for him but just ran out of gas. Samantha had a rash on her face for a couple of days and Wed I took her into the doctor. It healed up in 2 days. Wed night after taking Thunder for a walk I found out my neighbor had died. It was not good at all. This kind of took up my day the next couple of days and has really made me think a lot. I still went Thursday morning to site counsel at Mountain View. (We are looking for other parents to be on the board with me, so if you have a child going there, you should apply to be on the counsel. It is a great way to have an influence on the school and to be informed. ) I met up with Mahina for an abs class and lifted weights and swam a bit too. Saturday I missed half of Carissa's soccer game because the soccer league hadn't changed the schedule from the previous year. Her coach coached last year and his name was on there and everything. The amazing thing is that I even ended up at the right field and even close to the time of her game. I think we were at the coast when they handed out schedules. I felt SO dumb. The day ended with Cason's football game. They pulled out of a clincher. It was 18 to 12 and the other team was on the 3rd yard line with about 2 minutes left. Wow what an exciting game. Cason played a lot. He had a couple of great plays too. We took him to dinner to celebrate. It is great to have Jeff back in our lives again, even if it is only on the weekend. It was great to talk to so many family members this week too. I even found out my dad has started a blog!!! Cool huh? I had lots to think about this week and am glad I have so many people willing to listen to me. I have awesome friends and caring family!!!

I

Rockaway Beach

I was given a weekend at a friends beach house. I took Jeff for a couple of night and then the two girls for a couple more. It was so relaxing. I think the only thing I did was eat, sleep, watch TV and take pictures. It was our 18th anniversary and it was great to know we still love being together. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I took some of my friend's family one of the nights. They are so cute!

Cason's Room NOT PINK

Here is Cason's room

I have spent the last couple of weeks painting several rooms. Carissa and Samantha switched rooms with Cason LAST YEAR and have finally painted their rooms. Cason was such a trooper putting up with a pink room for that long. He wasn't picky at all about how it was going to be painted. He left it up to me and had resigned himself to being polite to me when it was done. He was so surprised that he loved it. It was great to know all of my hard work was appreciated. The girls spent days deciding how to do their room. I thought we might have to call in a negotiator. Samantha wanted pink, Carissa blue. Samantha wanted stripes, Carissa wanted blocks with patterns in them. This was the compromise... I think it turned out great and the girls think their room looks like a magazine, (except for the bunk bed). They want a different bunk bed that isn't so dark of a wood. I keep reminding them we are in the "money saving mode". We just spent a bunch on the living room carpet. All in good time. They should have them in time for their kids to use. I still have to put up Cason's closet shelving and paint the girls closet too but, again all in good time.

This week...

So I haven't added a lot lately. We went on a family reunion, a family vacation and, I was also in charge of part of the trek for the youth in our stake. But now it's all over I can finish catching up on the blog

This week I was in my grungies all week and painted. The week before the trek I repainted our living room, a this week finished the kids room swap. Cason has put up with pink for about a year now. It looks wonderful now and our home feels put back together. We still have some detail work left like baseboards and doors hung, but overall it is no longer embarrassing to open the door. I'll post some pictures of the living room and kids rooms. They turned out so great. The kids are all really happy. I am too.

Cason is now back into football full force with pads, and found out he is on the Green 5-6 team, not with Stevie or even Dillon Smith, his good buddies. Oh well. He is 1st team Corner back on D and receiver on offense. He really loves it. He also went on his first official Boy Scout campout. He had a great time and came back with a lot of itchy bug bites.

Samantha has been raking in the dough with babysitting this summer. She has a job with a lady in our ward that uses her about 4 days a week. She had a couple of birthday parties this week including one where they watched High School Musical 2. They stayed up until 6:30AM. She has also been going to extra basketball practices and is 2 hours away from getting her YW madallion. That should be done this week. YAY!!!

The big news this week is that Blake got his Eagle project approved. I am very excited to see progress. He is now working out the details of money, dates, and committees. I hope he finishes it in Sept. I am very proud of him.

Carissa went to goalie camp last week and a soccer jamboree on Sat. She loves it, and loves excelling. She beat a boy in the goalie tournament at the camp. People chanted her name and everything. She was very cute and tried not to act too proud.

Jeff went on a motorcycle trip with his dad into Washington on Wed and came back Sat. He had a great time and saw some beautiful places. I am glad he is back. Last night we found an empty torn up wrapper of mice poison on our bed. We spent the night at the animal hospital with Thunder. She is now confined to her kennal for 4 weeks. She can't get a bruise or cut because her blood with not clot. It will be like trying to keep a 3 year old in bed that feels fine.

I can see school sneaking up on my calendar and I see life slipping away again. I have accomplished some of my goals this summer and others have been put on the shelf for another year, or life. My best moment this week would have to be the smile on the girls faces when they woke up Friday morning and walked into the room. They just beamed. I sure love making them happy.

For the 4th of July we went to the Saint Paul Rodeo. I was in a funk all day. The rodeo cheered me up a bit. We had a great time watching the bull and bronco riding. They had a huge jumbo tron this year which made it even more exciting because you could watch the riders while they were preparing in the chutes. What crazy men. You would have to pay me a whole lot more than $10,000 to get on one of those bulls. The clown again made the whole show. They always have a girl come in and pretend to be the "wild child" that is going to jump a truck and trailer on a motorcycle and he always ends up acting like he doesn't know what he is doing and ends up making the jump. Pretty exciting stuff. Not as exciting as the X games though. Blake and I were watching the highlights from that and WOW what incredible jumps they were making, upside down hands free layouts and then land them. Totally amazing stuff. I feel like I am riding the edge when I ride down a hill on my bike going 35, and I am actually on solid ground.

So here is Cason. He is such a ham. He didn't want to take pictures. I'm so glad I've started this tradition. We all love the ice cream but the pictures I treasure.

Birthday Portraits

Last year I decided that I was taking pictures of all of these other families but my own children didn't have any real pictures taken of then every year but the ones at school, which I don't think are the best anyway. So I took it upon myself to take pictures of them on or around their birthday. The key is that I take them out for ice cream afterward. The girls love it the boys will do it for their mom and the ice cream. I have a great time with them and enjoy the pictures and see how cute my kids really are. This last week I had Carissa dress up in her baptism dress again and took her a Cason for a photo shoot. I have only edited Carissa's so far. But WOW is she beautiful. This is at 8. I think I need to start to worry. Or maybe every mother thinks her children are that gorgeous. Either way they turned out nice. Here are my favorites. Cason's will come soon.

Father in Law and Lobster

Every year, it comes and I never know what to do.....Father's Day. Well this year I had know idea of what to get my Father in Law for Father's Day, like that is a big change from previous years. Anyway, somewhere tucked way back in the recesses of my mind was the idea of sending him a live lobster. Now, I don't even know that he likes lobster. My thinking was, he would get such a hoot out of watching his lovely wife open this pakackage and try and cook this live lobster. I thought he would have a story to tell for years to come. So he called me today. I now have the story...
Judy,MIL, left town sometime, not sure when, to visit Jeff's brother Paul back in Virginia. As she was leaving, or maybe she called and told FIL, Bill she would be having a couple of skirts arrive in the mail. So, the lobster arrived on Friday I guess along with another package. He put them both on the from room table. She had called and asked if her skirts had come. FIL replied yes, one from Dillard's and another from the "Lobster House". No clue yet. All is well at the Wight House. He enjoys his Father's Day alone. Jeff called and talked with him a bit and did all of the well wishing but didn't ever bring up the lobster. I guess not wanting to blow the surprise, or thinking it never showed. Today at 5:00 he calls me and starts by apologizing. He has been going through the whole house trying to find what was stinking so bad. He had taken out all of the garbage and taken several showers, done the laundry, cleaned the fridge, to no avail. Then he finally took a second sniff to the package from the "Lobster House". So for fathers day I gave my FIL a stink bomb. Not quite what I was shooting for....but I did get a funny story that I'm sure he will be able to tell for years to come.

"WW" Wonderful women the jewels of my life

I am at a great stage in my life. I no longer have small children. Though I am very lucky, and I'm not sure quite how, but I have a bunch a friends that are still in that stage of life. Getting pregnant, nursing, preschool, car seats, I remember that life. It wasn't that far away. But then I have another set of friends that are in the stage after mine, sending their children out the door and becoming empty nesters. I'm not sure how I have gotten to be their friends either. I feel like I am the link between these two great groups of women. The one has pulled me through my tough times, given me advise, hope, and care when I really needed it. The other is letting me enjoy their youthfulness and joy. I was able to go on a girls weekend getaway with this younger group last week. It was so wonderful. Half of the group still had little babies, so it wasn't nearly as long as we all wanted, but good enough. We talked and laughed and had the best time.





There is something so comforting knowing that these women are doing basically the same thing you are...trying to be good mothers and wives. Then today I was invited to a luncheon with this older group of women. Boy are they fantastic. They are wise and happy and a boost to my soul as well. I love to learn from their experiences. I just had a good youth challenged friend move. Lois left last week. I will miss her smile and friendship. I have been so blessed to have all of these wonderful women in my life. Thank goodness for friends!!

My first Blog

This will be my first attempt. I actually need to finish my budget and make a cheese cake. I have started something new this week in trying to keep the house clean and do a better job at being a homemaker. I have a list of items to do everyday and I stick with the items and ignore everything else until that list is done. It has helped me a lot. I usually and randomly do things that catch my attention.

I start with getting up and making breakfast for the kids.
Then I go work out and come back.
I wake the kids and we read scriptures.
I get the kids off to school and then I eat my wheat cereal for breakfast.
I clean up the kitchen, and that means doing all of the daily stuff and some of the weekly and monthly stuff. I am still trying to decide how often each thing needs to be done to keep it clean without doing busywork.
Next I check my e-mail. I like that part. I start to understand what I need to accomplish and add items to my to do lists.
Then I take a water bottle into the bathroom and take my vitamins.
By the time I reach vitamins I am really tired and want to take my nap, BUT I don't mind showering. A good hot shower is seriously one of my all time favorite things. But before I get in the shower I floss my teeth.
I know this must seem ridiculous to most people but I have a horrible time remembering to floss. I really put it off all day, every day. If it is on the schedule though, I do it.
After the shower I wipe the shower down with a towel and clean up the sink and toilet.
I have a bad time with my feet cracking and so I put that lotion on then too.
Then I finally take a nap. Yey!! It usually is about 1/2 hour.
When my nap is over I put on my makeup and make the bed.
I have trouble with getting dinner ready on time. I am really trying to work on this. So next I start fixing dinner.
Next I enter items into microsoft money and keep the checkbook up to date. I now have a budget and am going to stick to keeping all money accounted for.
Last on my list is paperwork. This is when I make calls, lists, and check my calendar for things I need to do.

After all of this is done it is about 12:30-1:00. I need to make up a schedule for the days the kids are home from school and Friday's. I don't workout on Friday. This worked really well this last week BUT I didn't have anything out of the ordinary scheduled. This week I need to get the jeep in to get the oil changed and VT and I think Blake has a Ortho appointment. I have a tendency to go overboard after I feel like I have failed. I hope I am not doing that. We will see if this takes. I do have to say I didn't feel out of control this week. Time will tell.