That one consistent thing

Halloween picture in Evelyn and Roberta's living room. The craziness that is us.

Lucy- Three Billy Goats Gruff Bridge troll, Beth- Owl, Ruth- Belle, Daryl- Darth Vader, Lilly- Peter Pan

I have decided about the only consistent thing I do in life is keep trying. A few weeks ago in church a speaker challenged us to keep a journal. It struck a cord with me. I keep coming back and trying. That will have to do for now.

We are alive and moving, some days faster and better than others. Some happenings of life as of later are- ( I can't remember how to get to my pictures on Dropbox from the chrome bit right now.)

Lilly got an award at school for being a great student and person. We whole heartedly agree, though she still is very much a teenager. She played fall volleyball till play rehearsals became to consuming.

Lilly was in Hello Dolly, done by the youth productions at Desert Star Theater. She loved it! They did a wonderful job of it. As she was getting in the car to come home from the after the last show cast dinner, she said she wanted to be in the play again.  Glen and I on the other hand have not shed a tear at not having to get her to Murray in 5 o' clock traffic. It's also nice she has 3-4 more hours a night to work on homework now! She is happy to be able to go to Irish dance classes again, and is learning hard shoe now too.

Lucy played fall volleyball and loved it. She turned 11 in October. She got to go to North Carolina for her birthday with Glen, Lilly and Grandpa Richins to watch the BYU football team get beat by East Carolina State. They had a wonderful time. She wants a typewriter for her birthday because she didn't ask for the trip. We haven't found one to her liking that I am willing to pay for yet so the search is still on.  She is fun and a great babysitter, tries to have patience with Daryl  in getting to and from school, and loves all things dogs. She is also very creative

For Halloween Lucy was the bridge troll from the three billy goats gruff book. She was much prettier than any troll we have seen. She wanted to walk her goat around with her while trick or treating but Winkie(her goat)  is not quite that sociable yet. For school she built a cardboard bridge and river and borrowed a friend's little brother's toy goat and dragged it around school during the costume parade.

Daryl is doing well as a first grader. It still is a little weird to not have him with me half the day. He is getting to be a good reader but would rather do math or science or play with legos. He was Darth Vader for Halloween and the mask and light saber were the best parts of his costume.  He also got to spend time with Grandpa Egbert on Friday while he was doing tractor work. Grandpa even let him drive his skid steer. It was pretty much the best day ever.

He is speech is improving all the time. S, G and J sounds have been hard for him. Right now he is doing the best he can with no front teeth. He seems extra cute with his big toothless grin!  He continues to be such a fun twist from all our girls. He is still taking Irish dance and liking it too.

Ruth's life got so much better when preschool finally started this fall. She was set on being a Silver Pup like Daryl was and going to school at Dad's school in the preschool lab. She loves it!  She really wants to be as big as  Daryl and do most of what he does and it is finally slowly happening.

She likes to tell us about her grown up life plans a lot lately.  Currently she is going to marry Carson Kalbes, who is a preschool and former ward friend. They are going to have 11 kids, which is up the 10 she had talked about having for a long time. There are going to be 6 girls and 5 boys. She is going to drive a pink car that the boys won't like too much. They will like her husband's orange and red plane though. She is going to go to work and her husband is going to stay home, except on Mondays and Tuesdays. Those are days he is going to work.
It is all so fun to hear about!
She still loves warm milk morning and night, playing with my hair to comfort herself, and loving her baby cousin a little too aggressively.

Beth is a wild woman. She loves to climb. any thing and everything. One of her favorite spots lately has been the top of my van.  She just goes right up the font. Then she stands on the crossbars and jumps on to the roof. She loves it... I am waiting for the ER visit.  She climbs anything else she can too. Jumping is also wonderful. Thankfully we have a couple mini tramps that I try to send her too instead of the furniture and beds.
She turned 2 in October and it is hard to believe. She has just wanted to be big and go from the beginning. Her vocabulary is always increasing. She likes to say,"SIT Down. ead (read) it!"
I am excited because she has been waking up dry pretty regularly. I am hoping that potty training will not be too hard or too far away for her. She likes warm milk like Ruth but eats food so much better than her sister.

Glen is enjoying the assistant principal life at the high school. Every day is a new adventure with the naughty kids. He really does miss teaching a lot though. Maybe after he retires from the AP gig. He likes that he gets front row views of sporting events and the good people he gets to work with.
He loved the North Carolina trip. He came home and said, "We are moving to North Carolina!" when he got home. He usually says that about places he travels too. Maybe someday we actually will move some time but not now. He was a trooper helping to get Lilly to and from play practice.
He ask for a rowing machine for his birthday and I was able to finagle a way to get one. He has been putting it to good use and was very surprised by it. That made me happy.
We also got him a newer vehicle. Our suburban is just getting old and well used at 18. Glen now drives a Honda Pilot which we affectionately call "Fred" in honor of our favorite pilot!

At a BYU women's volleyball game, and in the BYU bookstore and walking on campus.

I am trying to keep up with this crew of mine plus all the things I have said yes to that are suppose to be helpful and be showing I am supportive of them. While Glen and the big girls were gone my mom helped me get a lot of the painting on the back bedroom and bathroom done. I am not sure how I thought that project would be a good idea with three little kids. It was probably more that I really would like to get that project that has been in the works for more that two years finished and I was sulking that I didn't get to go on the trip. Thank goodness for moms and sisters who help so much.
I am still helping with Evelyn and Roberta but not as much as I had been. I am quilting on my aunt's long arm quilting machine a little more. I might even get some paying quilts soon.
I was stressing a ton about feeding my family good food and finally paid for a meal plan subscription to superhealthykids.com. It has been wonderful... at least for me. I think everyone else has enjoyed it too. It sends me a weekly meal plan with three meals a day plus a snack and grocery shopping list. I have the option to change any of the meals I want. Having a plan for dinner and the food on hand has helped so much, even though most of the things are a little different than what we were eating.  I love it!

Life is good. We have lots of blessings and things to be grateful for if we just remember to see them.