It's been a while!

Lots has happened over the last year! Everybody is growing, learning, changing, & flourishing! Tanner enjoyed about 6 months of unemployment & pretty much LOVED it! To help make our savings last a bit longer, Tanner did some research, planning, lots of praying & started a small business of selling & installing water softeners & reverse osmosis systems. He was able to use a bit of his mind & his hands to install & mostly get out of his comfort zone to advertise & sell. It is something he is still doing on the side of his fulltime position at Honeywell Aerospace (Honeywell International Inc.) in Oro Valley, AZ. The position at Honeywell was a long time coming, but he is loving it! He gets to use his mind, sometimes his hands, review loads of projects (not just the same on that takes years to accomplish). The kids & I really, really enjoyed having him around during the spring & summer. Our family grew so much spiritually as we included the kids with some of our discussions, desires for our family, working together to keep ends met, & seeking more earnestly our Lords direction for our family. One of the things we did together as a family was invited (while Tanner was unemployed) Brother Howard Lyon to do an art show in our home just before Thanksgiving. Mostly I was excited. The kids enjoyed the sharing & inviting & baking of goodies for this home show while Tanner accepted the employment offer from Honeywell & I worked diligently to TRY to clean the house. I wasn't too worried about the house, other than a good scrubbing, whereas Tanner decided we needed new floors! So for the next 3 weeks or so instead of getting the house sparkly like I wanted, it became VERY dusty! But the finish was worth it! Tanner, his uncle Dan, & I along with a few others totally busted the move, mostly Uncle Dan & created a fabulous floor! Ever since I met Tanner, he has encouraged me to continue sewing & pushing me towards learning to more customize my patterns & projects. Well, as you can imagine with 6 kids, my sewing time isn't really all that much unless I ignore other household/motherly responsibilities. But, one thing that I have been able to do more of lately with a little one propped on my lap is research. I am just recently discovering much more information out there as to making patterns fit more flatteringly to my girls ever changing bodies. I absolutely LOVE retro looks, 40's 50's & some 70's. But as much as I love finding the patterns & TRYING to find more apparel fabric than what Joanns has to offer. I’m getting there! This afternoon I made arrangements for my friend Danielle to take pictures of my kiddos in their Christmas gowns before they get completely worn out! I’m so excited!! I had so much fun finding various gowns online & recreating them for my girls! This season I went with a Cinderella blue with a white & silver accent. My AMAZING friend Michelle Romine made some gorgeous pendants for us Potterf girls to wear using silver & white quarts which I strung with some ribbon necklaces I found on ebay.com from Hong Kong. I’m getting back into a good routine of spending time with Cameron & Alea while the girls are at school & almost getting caught up on housework enough that I don’t feel too guilty when I sew & craft. To also cut back on frustrations, I came across a fabulous website: that for a mere $10 a month I receive a weekly menu for dinner with the simple preparing instructions, shopping list that is divided up into relative categories, & estimated cost for the grocery store of my choice. I can choose from 13 eating styles & can switch between these plans 1-2 times a week. They also offer lunch, breakfast & dessert menus & you can choose between 2 servings or family up to 6 servings. For us the 6 servings is just perfect because my kids are more hesitant to try new foods & we end up with left overs. Although we do have a “3 bite” rule that they must have at least 3 bites of each on their plate before they bale out for a peanut butter sandwich. So far my family has loved 6/7 recipes tried each week! It has helped me with our grocery budget & I am able to stock up more according to our likes & dislikes. I haven’t had to pester anybody about “what do you want for dinner?” “what’s on hand for dinner?” & “do I have everything I need to make dinner?” We have had a couple of substitutes when I know without a doubt that NOBODY in our household would ever eat that, & that becomes the meal that would have landed on Friday/Saturday for our traditional weekly pizza movie night. I am seriously thinking of signing up for the 1 year & $5 month offer because it has been working out so well! When I do have the opportunity to price match & coupon I end up spending less than they estimate & because we make our own breads, tortillas, marinara sauce, & have other staples on hand we really do come out ahead! Ok, enough on emeals! ;-) Next week we’ll be heading down to the Mexico house for most of the week to enjoy the rest of spring break & have a quiet get away with the kiddos. We are really looking forward to that! All the girls are in need of new swimsuits so we get to go shopping this week to see which size is best for each of them then hit Amazon for their prices. I LOVE the internet! Between stores having websites to order from, Amazon.com, Ebay.com, Etsy.com & others I am able to find AMAZING prices & deals for some of the better quality things that my family wears out so quickly (like swimsuits!!)! And once I know their sizes I am able to shop their birthdays & Christmas online & not have to deal with the crowds. But we still like to go out just for the experience especially during the holidays to see decorations & feel the spirit.