Ahhhh...the Beach

We had such a great time in Oregon the past 3 weeks! We did movies, shopping, the Rose Festival Carnival, OMSI, the Oregon Zoo, the beach for a week up to Washington to see Brackon and Marcie and the girls, and loved the stay with G&G Henwood in Portland! What a great time! (Wished Ben didn't have to work so much, but they launched the "Palm Pre" while we were gone so Ben had to travel some too.) It all worked out and we used some well earned (and deserved) Marriott points to stay half-way in Boise on the drive to and from Oregon! Now I might need a vacation from our vacation...and a diet!!!

Pioneer Fun

Tanner's Pioneer Trek fun! For several years now the 4th grade has done a 3 mile pioneer trek and then spent the day at 'Strong Hollow' eating a chuckwagon lunch and doing pioneer activities and games! Good fun!

Mom and Tanner

Cute Tanner pioneer!

Jace's Year-End Choir Concert

Jace took choir this year and did really well and even ENJOYED IT!!!

This is from their last performance! Great job Jace!!!

Jace and some of his buddies!

Spring Break and Easter #3

Well we have had all four seasons in the past WEEK! Spring Break was a really nice change of pace! It was great to see Shaula and Jon and their cute chicks (Patti's Canadian cousins) and have them stay with us and to see the Hunt's too! Olivia is getting so big!

I took the kids to a couple movies at the beginning of the week because of the rain. We then got about 8 inches of snow in the Park so of course sledding was fun and then the snow disappeared almost as quickly as it came!

We all enjoyed the annual Easter Egg Hunt at G&G Livingstone's-our Easter #3-no complaints from the kids of course! It was just so nice to be able to sit and visit with everyone!

This week it has been so nice the kids did slip 'n slide yesterday here on the lawn! -Should have taken pictures! Now back to the grind!

Easter #2

On Saturday the Easter Bunny came and the kids got way too much sugar.

Sunday we decorated some eggs to use for lunch-the kids were way too grouchy-due to the sugar-and it was a long day!

We had a yummy dinner after Stake Conference was out at 4pm and then off to Barclay's to share dessert and play.

Now we have a week of Spring Break...and hopefully the sugar will wear off!!!

Happy Easter #1...finding more than just eggs!!!

Once again 'YEAH for Target gift cards from G&G Henwood!!!" The kids have such a fun time shopping by themselves-well Mom and Dad are there, but THEY decide!! It's so fun to listen to them and watch them carefully spend all $10 choosing and re-choosing what they are going to get. The one thing I do tell them is that they must get at least 1 article of clothing first and then the rest is whatever they want. They of course try to find the least expensive item of clothing they can find and they always do pretty well. This time the girls got the same little skirt $2.48 each and the boys: Jace shirt $3.48, Tanner jacket $5.48-he was amazingly very excited about his find-usually he takes the longest and is looking at the $1 socks so that he has plenty for candy. Not so this time-he was the fastest! Anyway, fun was had by all and they got some pretty great things too! THANK YOU GRANDMA & GRANDPA HENWOOD!!!

Look what we got!!!

Like twins!!!

In a Nutshell...

This is my poster that I made for Enrichment Night about me! So here I am right now in a nutshell!! (Emma was hammering open acorns while I was printing it out making the greatest little discoveries-I should have taken a picture!!!!)

Luck 'O the Irish...and them some! GREAT BARGAINS!!!

St. Patrick's Day dinner for the boys! (Chicken Alfredo-if you can't tell :)

Anyone that knows me well knows that I LOVE a great bargain! So I was thinking about how many I have come across lately so I thought I better write them down so I can remember, share and count my blessings!!!

Macy's- Brown wool pea coat- total cost $28- down from $129!

Down East Home-pair of American Eagle jeans-$3.50, pair of American Eagle cords-$3.75

Albertson's- 20 Betty Crocker cake mixes, 20 cans Friskies cat food, 40 cans Progresso soup, 1pkg Orbitz gum-total cost $36.75!!! (6 transactions)

Albertson's-20 cans Stagg chili, 6 can Pilsbury Grands biscuits, 4 BC cake mixes, 10 cansProgresso soup-total cost $21.12!!! (2 transactions)

Albertson's- Frosted Flakes $1.17 per 14 oz box, GM Cocoa Puffs, Kix $1/box, Pasta Roni .60/box! PLUS earned $10 'bucks back' for Old Navy with 10 grocery transactions between 2/14 & 2/28!

Macy's -Madden Girl shoes, 3 pair boys Timberland jeans, 2 boys Timberland shirts, 2 mensdress shirts, 2 Charter Club wool vests, 1 Izod mens sweater-total cost $48.47!!!

Old Navy- 7 girls long-sleeved shirts-total cost $1.73 (used '$20 bucks back' reward! aka free $$$)

R.C. Willey- 3 very large mirrors-total cost $27.74-no shipping (reg. $650 thanks Mom for the 411!)

Office Depot- 18 reams of paper, 40-4 piece business portfolio kits, 100 printable magnetic sheets, yellow ink cartridge for my CX5400, 12 Thank You cards w/envelopes-total cost $25.41!!!

Albertson's- 54 -20 count Valentine's napkins, 6 -8 count Valentine's plates $14.40 (for PTA)

Office Max-girls camo backpack & HSM 11 piece school set-total cost $10.15!

TODAY-I just got back from Albertson's with 14 boxes Kelloggs cereal and 6 gallons of milk- $1.20 each!!! Even Chocolate milk people!!!

A lot of people ask how I come I don't share all of my deals? Sometimes I happen upon them and take everything there is so there is nothing to give notice about, and most of the time I don't think others get as excited as I do about a great deal!!! But here you go!

I know I have more-I just can't remember- like my 30% off I just used at Old Navy to get outfits for the boys...anyway it's all pretty exciting to me!!!

Happy Hunting!!!

24 Hours I Would Like to GIVE BACK!!!

Monday, Feb. 23rd 10:00am
-Call and get MD appt. in Pleasant Grove for Lauren who had been complaining of back pain (last week it was stomach ache-she's a bit of a hypochondriac also).
-10:10 appt. for Lauren's UTI check. Takes one hour, two juice boxes and two long trips to the bathroom to get a sample.
-11:15 on the road to Target in Orem for prescription. Lauren not feeling well so we take our time in the fresh air before going in to wait for scrip.
-11:45 Get scrip. Get up to leave Target. Almost to the door and Lauren THROWS UP all over the floor all of the apple juice she had just had. Poor thing! Of course we are the spectacle of the store-everyone asking if she is okay as it keeps coming and coming! She was upset about her new shoes she was wearing too! They get us some deli bags to take along for the ride home as they clean up her mess.
-11:50 realize Emma is going to be late for school if we go home for lunch so we stop at the Wendy's right there to get lunch. (Lauren feeling fine now!)
-12:00 parked in the van eating, receive a call on my cell (good thing I even had it!) reminding me at 1:30-3:30 Kindergarten registration starts that I had agreed to help with weeks ago. School secretary asks if I can remind the 3 others that are supposed to help too.
-12:10 Don't have any phone numbers with me and I had said yesterday I could go visiting teaching @1pm to a lady very hard to get a hold of!
-12:25 Drop Emma off at school. Lauren and I go home (she will stay with Dad who is working). I find #'s and make phone calls. Check messages. Check email. Leave messages with Utah Jazz Rep because we are missing a ticket that we need for a student award by tomorrow.
-12:55 Pick up VT partner. Find apartment. Have a nice very short visit.
-1:15 Drop off partner. Go back to school to help with registration. 3rd helper doesn't show up.
-2:00 Find out TSA had spent all day adding class reading minutes thinking they were due today. Due TOMORROW by 10am. Principal comes in to vent/clarify issues with Jazz Read-a-thon and missing ticket!
-2:15 Get a call back from Utah Jazz. Chat with her about the frustrations/successes of this year's contest. Find out we can send winning student without ticket after all.
-2:30 Search for Principal. She is in a faculty meeting. Interrupt TSA to have her tell Principal to ask teachers in the meeting to suggest a student from their class for the Utah Jazz Bball Clinic.
-3:30 Registration over. Check back with Principal for names. No names. Not even a mention.
-3:35 Gather reading sheets to determine top readers in each class. Go home.
-3:45 Start checking calculations on 28 reading sheets. THEY ARE ALL INCORRECT!!! Spend 7 HOURS entering 700 students minutes into 28 spread sheets to get accurate totals and Top Readers for each class. NIGHTMARE!!! and realize we have a flying ant infestation!
-11:00pm Email my totals/top readers to Principal and TSA anticipating higher total of reading minutes. Add up my totals and they are LESS than the TSA totals!!! WHAT IS GOING ON!!! Add up TSA totals and they are off by 26,000 minutes!
-11:30pm to bed-can't fall asleep until 1:30am. Wondering if my last 7 hours were a complete waste!
-5:00am wake up when Ben leaves for the airport.
-8:30am phone call from TSA. "we need names/numbers" "did you get my email" "no""I will be at the school at 9am with everything."
-9:00 find out extra minutes had been added for Reading Nights by Principal. Find discrepancies. 7 hours not a waste! 4 hours of popcorn popping at the school (for the third time) coming up on Friday!
-9:30 draw names, call parents trying to get a commitment for the Jazz Bball Clinic. NO ONE WANTS TO OR CAN GO until 7th try!
-9:45 fax in name & numbers by 10am deadline.
-10:00 go home!!! (To clean up before my Visiting Teachers come @ 11:00)

This probably means nothing to any of you...but it sure was a crazy 24 hours...do it again??? NO THANKS!!! BTW FHE was moved to another night!!!

Can I have a nap yet???NOPE!

Early Valentine's Day Celebration!!! THANK YOU!!!

The kids were once again very excited to get Target gift cards from G&G Henwood for Valentine's Day!

(I tell them they have to get at least one article of clothing and then they can spend the rest on what ever they want.)  

They all chose new shirts and other great stuff! 

Thank you G&G Henwood! 

See how far $10 can go!

We love you!

Starring MICKI-My Sister!!!

Look who is in BYU Magazine (Winter 2009, pg 14)!!!

My sister Micki has been making the BYU Bookstore fudge for several years now! 

Best fudge EVER-btw!

Yeah Micki!!!!

You can't win 'em all!!!

It was a tight squeeze this year getting Tanner's pinewood derby car ready this year! Between illness and travel we managed to do it in less than 24 hours-though NOT recommend! Last year Tanner won the whole thing with the fastest time! This year-18th!! (of 19...ahem!) He had fun though decorating his car with the cool vinyl cutouts that Grandma made for him-skulls, bones and lightning bolts! And of course we still celebrated with Arctic Circle milkshakes!!!

YEAH!!!

Very cool!

Emma wanted a 'car' of her own-so she painted the cutoff top piece from last year's car! 

She does have wheels on it now!

BIG snow!

So Ben went out Tuesday to shovel-for the 5th or 6th time in 24 hours- and the kids followed and had a ball in the very deep snow! Ben helped make them snow forts-with a bench in the girls'-very exciting!!! And of course a snowman was made too! We have soooo much snow!!!

They all have snow pants but NONE of them put any on!!!!

Behind one of the forts!

Snow pile on the street!

Ha ha ha!!!

In the fort!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We sent out about 75 letters this year so for anyone that I did not have an address for...this is for you! p.s and send us your address for next year!!!

Greetings Family & Friends,

Can you believe it’s almost Christmas? Another year and another Henwood Family Christmas letter. A quick disclaimer about this year’s letter – Patti is not writing our family letter this year. I know – you are all shocked. Let’s just say that being a mother of 4, a wife, her Primary calling and being the PTA President at the kids’ elementary school this year has taken its toll. So this year I get the opportunity to write our family letter. With that being said let’s start with our youngest daughter Emma.

Our baby Emma is now 6. (I can hardly believe it either!) She started kindergarten this year and just loves it. She loves to pick out all of her outfits each day without letting us help her – you can only imagine the outfits. She loves doing homework, enjoys reading, coloring, and can’t wait to go to school each day. Emma is full of energy – all kinds of it! She is always doing something – something fun, something loud, something crazy and so on and so forth. Check out our blog http://bhenwood.blogspot.com to see some of the things she has done this year – like fall 12 feet off the slide at the playground. She loves to help her Mom and Dad whenever they are doing something – like making dinner. She likes to think that she is a big grown-up and can do all of those grown-up things. Emma loves to play with her cousins and friends and is always on the go – going here and there and everywhere. She reminds me of me when I was that age – at least she does not bite everyone like someone who will not be named.

Next on our list is Lauren. Lauren is now 8 and was baptized in September by her Dad. She was so excited to be baptized. Lauren is now in 3rd grade and does great at school. She is quite the little planner – she is always organizing slumber parties and birthdays, making lists of things to do and what to eat. Lauren still loves to color or draw (or whatever it is called when you are 8). She is quite the little artist. Lauren is definitely our little girly-girl – she loves wearing dresses, doing her hair, putting on make-up and all of those things girls do – I will never understand it all. She and Emma were so excited on July 4th when we were able to see Miley Cyrus live in concert. I thought they were going to explode in excitement, which would have been messy! Both Emma and Lauren love Build-a-Bear and their Webkinz.

Tanner is the big Ten and is in the 4th grade. I can’t say that Tanner loves school or homework, but he got straight A’s on his last report card. He is naturally smart, which he sometimes uses to his advantage. Tanner loves computers and his Wii video games. He is always doing something on the computer – I think he may have been born with a USB cord attached. His “non-electronic” activities include Webelos, playing with Jace and his friends, and he still likes to play football with his Dad every once in a while. He loves his wheels – from his bike, to his Razor or Heely’s – and is always rolling somewhere. This summer their Uncle Mike stayed with us and Tanner and Jace both had a great time with him – especially playing “speed-minton” (a crazy form of badminton) at the park.

Our final child making the list is Jace. Jace turned 12 in June and became a Deacon. He passes the sacrament each week at church. Jace started at Lakeridge Junior High as a 7th grader this year. I was worried about how he would make the transition from elementary school to Jr. High, but he is doing just fine. Jace does excellent at school (when he remembers to turn in his homework), enjoys math and science, and wants to become an engineer – we can hardly wait for Jace to support us in our old age!!! Jace is very responsible, a great help around the house, and is very thoughtful and tender hearted. He is especially a big help when we want to go out for a date and he is the “babysitter”. Jace enjoys scouting and just finished his First Class rank. He loves camping and I have had the opportunity to go with him several times this past year. Jace is really becoming a fine young man. All of his activities remind me of growing up in Portland with all of my friends. He is just like I was, only not as crazy and way more obiedient!!!

And now, our beloved wife and mother Patti. To start, I want to say that Patti is simply amazing. I could end there, but that would make the letter a little short and that just wouldn’t be right. Like I mentioned above, Patti is the PTA president, which is pretty much the most unthankful job that anyone may ever do and not be paid for it. She is always doing something for the PTA. She is still in the Primary as the 1st Counselor, volunteers each week in Emma’s class, and somehow finds the time to help the kids with their homework, take care of the finances, run a home and a family, and take care of her husband in her spare time. Patti did get a few breaks this year. In April we were able to go up to Rexburg, ID for Mike’s graduation and reminisce of when we met and fell in love. In June she and most of her sisters and Mom went down to Vegas to visit her sister Reecy – what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! J In August we went up to Canada for the Lowry Family Reunion – something we wouldn’t miss for the world. While in Canada we journeyed up to Calgary and got to see her old stomping grounds and eat some Tim Horton doughnuts. We also snuck away to Park City, UT for our 13th anniversary. It’s amazing that she still loves me so much. More recently she and her sisters and Mom went to the midnight showing of Twilight. If you want to try and keep up with everything Patti does, you can check her out on Facebook or our blog. Good luck!!!

Well, I guess it’s my turn. This year has gone by so fast. I started my 10th year with MarketSource in February. I continue to work on the Palm Program and travel as needed, although is has not been too bad this year. I was also called to be the 1st Counselor in the Stake Young Men’s Presidency and a Scout Commissioner. This has been a great blessing to work the youth in our area. I have helped to plan and participated in multiple events and campouts, including a 3-day handcart youth trek in June (check out our blog for more details). Both Patti and I are going out to Portland this month for my mom’s family Christmas party – something we have not been able to do since we have been married. It’s always fun to get back home. We love living in Orem. It’s a great place to raise a family. We loving being close to Patti’s family – it’s been such a blessing. Plus our kids would go crazy without all of their cousins nearby.

Well, that about does it for the Henwood clan. We are so grateful to be able to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and spend time with friends and family. As the Angel said to the shepherds watching over their flocks in the field:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

God Bless and Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

The Henwoods

SNOWY DAY!!! YEAH!!!

Such a beautiful day! It's 32 degrees and COMING DOWN! The kids are having a great time! Most of it has come down in the last 2 hours-very wet-very heavy!

Good fun!!!

Off to the park!!!

11 inches!!!

Where did the road go!?!

"Let the Most Frazzled Win!!!"

I read this the other day hanging on the door in my chiropractor's office. I thought it is especially appropriate for this time of year! Enjoy! 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15808494

Quilt for Ben's Grandma!

Mom and I (mostly Mom) have been finally getting the photo lap quilt done for Ben's Grandma Erickson for Christmas from all of her children. It has gone so much faster than I was expecting-this is what we finished in a few hours yesterday and it sounds like Mom is finishing it up this morning! 

My mom is soooo talented! 

It would have taken me hours just figuring out how to best do it and she know just the right tricks! 

Gone Shooting

Ryan had a GREAT idea for a 'day after Thanksgiving' activity! Ryan, Eric and I went gun shopping Wednesday evening-did not get anything-but got very excited to go out shooting for a couple of hours on Friday! Yes, I was the "only girl" (little Clay thought that was weird that a girl would want to shoot guns!) but Spencer, Ryan, Clay, and Ken (Spencer's boss) and I had a great time shooting up ($$$) some shaken up pop cans south of Saratoga! GREAT FUN!!!

Memories of back in the day!

LOVED the revolver-more than I thought I would!

Wishing we had video of the multiple shot blasts!!! Spencer is a great shot!

Clay LOVED the guns!!!

Sharp shooter!

Thanksgiving gone Christmas!

Reecy and Eric were already gone-but Saturday the rest of us went out for dinner! Kind of hard to see but Ben and I are 3rd and 4th from the back on the right!

Pictures from Thanksgiving Day!

Caught By An Angel!!!

So, two days ago on Monday at 3:35 I got a frantic phone call from an old neighbor friend.  I recognized her voice but wasn't sure why she would be calling me.  She told me that Emma had just fallen from the very top of the slide at the park. Okay-I'll be right there-thinking our neighborhood park-which has an open twirly slide not too high up.  Then she repeated a couple times "at the school park, at the school park!!!" Realizing what time it was (school is out @ 3:30) I knew she was talking about Cherry Hill park-which is attached to the school grounds-on the way home.

It took maybe 90 seconds to get there and as soon as they pointed to where she had fallen from and where she landed I immediately felt sick! She had climbed up the outside of the slide and slipped off when she couldn't get to the rail. Thankfully my friends sister-who is a current neighbor-was holding Emma. (I'm so grateful for 'other mother' arms for my kids!!!) I picked her up and she cried and cried but could hardly breath.  Nothing appeared to be broken (!) at the outset but she kept saying "it hurts-my back-everywhere". I quickly thanked my neighbors for being there to call me (another great blessing!) and then I hurried and got the kids in the van to drop them closer to home and to rush Emma to her doctor's office! 

She wasn't crying much on the way and wasn't blue anymore-but obviously had the wind knocked out of her so badly that she was really hurting to breathe! It was a quick drive, we got right in, got Emma checked and she was FINE! No blood in the urine (tmi, I know) no fractures and she was breathing a lot better. We were sent to the hospital to get a chest xray just in case there was a small lung drop-not really sure what that would be-her lungs were clear sounding though and the xrays came back normal!

Miracle of miracles! Because she landed flat on her back-they said that was the best-she was really lucky-it could have been a lot worse! 

Emma at the top!

Notice the lack of fill where she landed too!

Not even a bruise!