just me a thinkin'

The other day I was thinking about motherhood. And sometimes I feel like I'm going to go crazy! Part of it is because I'm a very social creature and I don't have a car during the day to get very far from the house. Many of my friends that don't work live across the highway so I don't like to walk over there cuz it's just scary. Other days I realize how lucky I am to have 2 beautiful children, a hard working husband, and a nice home to live in with them.

But I was thinking how hard it must have been for mom to live so far from everyone, with a husband that had to work long, hard hours every day, and five kids that fought over everything possible. (Sorry about that mom!)

And then I also realized that mom was my exact age when she had her fifth child!! Not to mention her oldest was 7!

Honestly, I cannot imagine having my fifth child right now! I'm having a hard time with 2 1/2!! I'm literally only halfway there.

So what I am getting at is, Mom, thank you for not killing us! Thank you for surviving your life and learning to deal with the struggles motherhood can create. And Dad, thank you for always working so hard to support our family and showing us the type of man we were worthy of marrying. I'm so thankful that we have such awesome parents! And not to sound boastful, but I think all of us turned out pretty good! (Maybe our husbands might disagree at times... but whatever.)

Anyway, I feel very blessed that I was raised in a God-loving home that taught me the things that I need to know to not only endure, but enjoy the stage of life I am in now. So thank you mom and dad! I love you both so much.

And I really hope dad gets a job in Utah soon cuz I really miss you. :)

Swenson October Goal Results

As Leesa stated, this month flew by in a flash. We actually did pretty pathetic for it being Steve's goal. Maybe if he was actually home we could have practiced more. We did however work on Salsa Dancing. I tried to learn it on the cruise, so I taught Steve. As we were practicing in the bedroom the kids walked in a busted out laughing at us. So I'm thinking that I won't be videotaping it! It would be fun for all of us to show off our moves the next time we are together. And hopefully we will keep working on this to improve our skills.

Jones Oct. Dance Moves

Wow, the month of October flew like a flash. This goal was a bit tricky. Dan and I both took social dance classes in college, although not together. The dances that we don't know, we also don't know exist. (Although I never did learn the Electric Slide either, good idea Ron.)
So, we practiced our country dance moves and taught them to our kids. (Dan's true love in dance is country dancing. And he's pretty good at it too!)
Some of the moves were tricky having such short partners. hehe
Sorry we didn't video tape ourselves. I really wanted to see everyone else's dances too.

October Goal Update

So no laughter but Ron and I decided to learn the Macarana (sp). We both had
not learned it in the mid 90's when everyone else did and Ron really wanted
to do that one. I wanted an Indian Rain dance but we found a wonderful
teacher online for the macarana a very handsome guy doing the dance in his
wood paneled basement so we went with that. We also worked on the 2 step
as Ron didn't really know that one either.
So thanks Steve it was really fun to practice it at night together even though
we are 15 years late on this dance.
PS - Ron also wanted the Electric Slide so maybe we will work on
that later!

November Goal

My turn. Lately I’ve been thinking about gratitude and how integral this principle is with being content with life and my level of happiness, especially when I attribute my blessings to God. My goal is pretty simple, I would like to recommend everyone tell their spouse at least one thing every day, maybe at the dinner table one thing that God did for them that day or how he has made things better. That’s it. I’m confident everyone will have much better days and we’ll realize how involved He is and how much He cares to be a part of our lives. Thanks everyone.

Jason

FHE

So just wanted to share something that is working for our family during FHE.
Of the 5 regular Mondays in a month, Ron and I teach out of the RS/Priesthood Manuals for this year. We thought it would be a good lesson for the girls as it is covering the basics every week. Brynja on the other hand is always running around doing her own thing. Addison and Kylee always want a turn to teach but were always coming up with random items and dragging it on for a "lesson" so we added them teaching on the 2nd and 4th Mondays with those 2 teaching Brynja out of the new nursery manual. I copy the color pages every week and we all sit on the floor while they gear their lessons towards her so it involves her and teaches them in the process. They have been so cute with it and worked so hard to teach her at her level. I know it would not work for everyone but it is working her and now. If you have not bought the new nursery manual it is really great. As a side note if there is a 5th Monday we have a game night!

Sept. Goal for Mom and Dad

Well, we probably did the worst of all!!! Dad usually exercises every morning while I am still sleeping. I tried to do my exercixe bike, but some days my feet will not do what I want them too. Excercise has always been hard for me. This really was a good goal Dan because the rest of the family did really well. We can't go on walks any more because I can't walk. I did do leg stretches and lifts before I get out of bed though. Dad did way better then I did!!

October Goal

It is finally my turn to pick a goal for the month. After extensive deliberation and introspection, I have decided that this months goal is going to be...................................................(drum roll please).........................to learn a new dance. That's right folks, you read correctly; nerdy, boring Uncle Steve's goal for all of us this month is to learn to dance. I'm sure all of you were expecting something more like "do 300 push ups every day on your fingertips with your spouse on your back" or "compare and contrast the original Greek text of the New Testament with St. Jerome's fourth century Latin translation". While those more "Steve-like" goals would undoubtedly produce a veritable cornucopia of enriching experiences and/or intellectual stimulation, not to mention countless hours of fun, I thought that I would mix it up a little bit. You can learn a formal dance, a break dance move, or you can just copy Napoleon Dynamite. For beginners, I would recommend watching the "how to dance" video clip staring Goofy from 1953-- you can look it up on YouTube. Maybe we can show off our dance moves the next time that we are together.

P.S. If your newly learned dance requires a pole, you can keep those moves to yourself.

cook family results

Well, I am here to admit that we did the worst of all. The week I first saw it was when I was at Jill's and sorry, but I was purely exhausted that week. (Not necessarily because of Jill's kids though... I'm not complaining....)
This week I have done pretty good, now that it is the final week.... we got an old exercise bike from Jason's brother that I've been using and we've gone on walks to the park and stuff. And on Monday we went on a super long hike with the kids. So we didn't do super awesome until the last few days. Jason usually tries to work out once or twice a week but it was a good reminder for me to be active too. I'll keep trying to get some exercise.... especially with this baby coming I need to find some good workouts. (Jill, I'm still going to check out that zumba thing.)
So, thanks Dan for the goal, and sorry I've been such a bad goal keeper lately!! I'll try better, well, unless Steve's is really as hard as everyone is making it sound, then I'll be slacking for one more month.... ha ha.

Jones Sept. Results

Wow, when I saw Ronda's update, I thought why is she posting the results so early? Then I realize this was the last day of September! Where did this month go??
Dan has starting mt. biking all over the place. It works more muscles than you'd think.
I have to say that my exercise has been in the garden. Picking tomatoes and peppers for 30 minutes a day (or longer...we have a LOT of tomatoes) has been the best squatting workout ever! My legs kill by the time I'm done!!
We slacked off involving the whole family though. We did family evening walks for a while, but then life got busier.
Good job Ronda on the morning routine. That's more ideal, but Dan leaves the house at 6:00 and Emmee leaves at 7:00. It just won't happen in our house! Hopefully the treadmill will get more use this winter.
And I am terrified of what Steve is going to make us do! Be kind Steve, please!!!

Swenson Goal Results

Well, we didn't do as awesome as Ron and Ronda. I'm very impressed that they have been getting up early each morning. As for us, well Steve and I do pretty good about exercising during the week. Steve has been coming home a few days during lunch to go running and I've been going to the gym. I haven't really pushed this kids to get more exercise like I should be doing, but they do run around outside a lot and Kari likes to do her own little exercise routines. Plus the older two do have gym 2-3 times per week so they get exercise there too.

I do wish I would've tried a little harder because I think a family walk in the morning or evenings would've been a great time together. Maybe I'll keep working on this one.

Thanks Dan.

September Goal Update

Thanks for the goal Dan. We have been getting up every morning
at 6:45am as a family to go for a 20-30 minute walk (depending on how fast
we can get the girls out the door!) I don't know if we have hit the 2 hour mark every week
due to Mom's late work nights and Addison's strep but we have been working on it and
trying hard. It was the extra push we needed to get going again as we slacked off
during the summer. We choose a trail so we could take Mugsey and have enjoyed
seeing deer, birds and even a red fox catching mice! We have loved the extra
family time and exercise time - Mugsey loves it too. And I'm sure this will
just help us get ready for Steves grueling goal that will come in October!!
Thanks again