Vacation

Tuesday we headed out on our first family vacation.  The boys were so excited they climbed into the car and then had to wait for 1/2 hour for us to finish getting ready.

First stop Panguitch lake to go horseback riding.  Unfortunatly the lady we made reservations with forgot about us and wasn't there. Fortunately saving that money allowed us to get a motel the last few nights since Elizabeth was getting so dehydrated.

After a short tour of Panguitch, very short, I mean have you seen how small that place is?  :)  We had pizza for dinner and headed out to this farm that we first lived on when we moved there.  It's that house way back there.

Glen and daddy's manly stance for setting up the tent.

Ok, we kept hearing this buzzing noise and having visions of prehistoric giant bugs and we were all kind of freaking out that first night.  The

 next morning we noticed that a humming bird had built a nest right above our table and that was the buzzing noise.

Starting out on our hike to the petrified forest.

They are holding up the rock.

I swear Elizabeth is in there somewhere.

A "cave."

We didn't make it to the petrified forest, but we did see some petrified wood, learned how it forms and the kids were ecstatic that they had climbed to the top of a mountain.  Climbing to the top of a mountain was one of our goals for our vacation.

We were all pretty hot after our hike so I told the boys they could dip their toes in the water while I fed Elizabeth.  Before too long it turned into swimming fully clothed, but it was sure fun to watch and the kids had a blast in the water.

After the petrified forest we headed to St. George and our first stop the next morning, after a morning hike,  was at Johnson's Farm.  We saw a lot of dinosaur tracks, learned how they are preserved and learned about dinosaurs.

This track was as big as Benjamin.

Both boys have their hands on this track and they are olny covering up one claw.

Behind us are a bunch of little tracks.

After our day in St. George we were super hot so we headed to the lake for a swim.

Benjamin and I were chasing a lizard.

That is the end of the pictures because I lost my camera, but it wasn't the end of vacation.  We went to the St. George Temple, hiked the St. George narrows and did some seriously fun rock scrambling, swam at the motel and watched cartoons during the hottest part of the day, spent a morning at Snow Canyon where we learned about volcanoes and petrified sand dunes, spent a few hours at a splash pad, rode a carousel, and ended all the fun with a trip to Judds candy store where we had the best bread sticks ever, gave the kids $1 to get anything they wanted, split a cup of ice cream and bought chocolate covered bacon soda.  It was epic.  All in all it was the best vacation ever and we learned a few things.  John hates camping, who knew? Elizabeth does not do well at all in the heat, and camping trips need to be 3 days instead of 6.  Also we will probably get a motel instead of a camp ground because I think we all enjoyed it more when we had the motel.  I know, we are wimps.

Task list

Last night before I headed to bed I thought I would see if I could find what the book The Entitlement Trap  by Richard and Linda Eyre said about allowance.  I'm not sure why it crossed my mind other then to give me an idea (more on that later)  So then right before I went to bed I had this truly brilliant idea that I just had ti write down before I forgot.  It was one of those life changing moments that keep you awake at night if you don't do something about them.  John is rubbing off on me so I'll give you a bit of background information (20 minute explanations seem to run in the family.)  :D
Before I got pregnant with Elizabeth I totally had life under control.  Silly me, I wasn't even looking for the other shoe to drop, I just thought "Yeah, I'm awesome!"  I was going to the gym 3 times a week, had a clean house, happy kids, we did learning time every morning, and I was so patient, I figured I was doing pretty good at this whole mom thing.  Then the Lord must have seen how huge my head was getting because he humbled me pretty fast.  Being pregnant with Elizabeth was terrible hard and everything fell apart.  My house was always a disaster, I hadn't the energy or gumption to discipline or teach my kids well and patience was non-existent.  I had gone to the opposite side of things.  After she was born I thought I could get life under control again.  It would just take a couple weeks and I could get back our old schedule and everything.  Oh, how wrong I was!
So fast forward 4 1/2 months and we are still pretty much in the same boat as were were before minus the crazy emotion roller coaster.  I still couldn't keep the house clean, have happy kids, and I had no energy for any of it.  I was seriously on the verge of a break down from stress and burnout.  Then my idea came! (I told you I'd get here!)
k, so the book said- no, I need to put my thoughts, not necessarily what the book said.  What I got from it was that allowance should not be given to kids just because, it needs to be earned, just like a job.  That tiny little paragraph I read plus a pintrist idea set things in motion for this beautiful list and the one below.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Write in Journals:	garden	Gym	garden
Glen	Dust	Outside	sanitize
Benjamin	Science experiment	Library	Art
Elizabeth	teach one chore	teach one chore	teach one chore
write a note to someone	Strip bedding	Wash walls	Mop

Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Gym	garden	Gym
Organize	deep clean	Iron clothes
Geography	Math	bath kids
teach one chore	teach one chore	clip nails
Vacuum back of house	wash windows	Practice flute

The kids have their own list of daily tasks and then extras as well.
In my mind there are certain tasks that must be done every day to have a well functioning house.  I can't put them on a check list because then it makes it hugely long and I focus too much on cleaning. With this list I have learning opportunities for the kids, time for extra chores I usually neglect, and then a few extra things.  Basically, these are the extras.  I have to schedule the extras or I get too focused on the other stuff and skip time with kids, small chores and having fun.  Every one has their daily tasks and then the kids have the choice to do extra chores to earn a movie or computer time (They work for that instead of money and I work for a chapter in my book)  I really like this because I do the daily stuff anyway, like laundry, dishes, and vacuuming, and then I get extra stuff done like deep cleaning the bathroom, teaching the kids to wash dishes, playing with them and since today is Friday we all did moth together.  It also helps to to make sure I am not neglecting one area of their education to focus on reading or math.  I got tons done today, I was in a great mood, and I didn't feel bad about leaving the laundry to do the dishes.  I know it may need to be tweaked a bit, but today it worked great and I just know that I have finally found my 3 kid groove!
Feel free to steal and tweak this idea if it helps you, I share it in hopes that it will.  Have a great night!

Better half or other half?

I used to love it when I heard husbands talking about their wives, saying things like "Where would I bee without her?"  "She is the boss, I just pretend." "She is my better half"  "I'm her assistant."  Let's put a little emphasis on used to.  Lately I have been thinking that those husbands are just putting themselves down. I can understand why they say things like that.  Husbands want their wives to feel loved and important.  As women we are so hard on ourselves that we need to be built up constantly by others.  It's just too easy to feel ugly, stupid, or like your a bad mother or wife.  I love that they try to help, but I think there is another way.
I do not want to be my husbands better half, or have him be my better half, he is my other half and I am his other half.  Together we are whole, we compliment each other.  I do not want to be better then him, ahead of him, or dragging him along.  I want to be his equal, walking beside him hand in hand.  I didn't marry him to feel good about myself, I married him because I love him and he completes me.
I feel loved and need when he notices how hard I worked to clean the kitchen, or says thank you for cooking a meal.  I feel important when he comes home early because he missed me or when he teaches our boys to respect me.  I feel special when he opens my door or gives me his seat.  When he carries something heavy for me, or tells me to go sit down so he can put the boys to bed.  I am perfectly capable of doing all these things on my own, but when he gives me a hand I know he does it because he loves me and wants me to feel loved.  He does it because then he feels needed and important.  If I did everything on my own just because I could he would not feel like my other half, he would feel like I didn't need him at all.  It goes both ways then, doesn't it?
Let us build each other up my by putting ourselves down, but by showing through our actions and words just how important the other one is.