January 23, 2018

Life has been crazy around here. I started my new job on December 19th. I am not sure what I was thinking starting a new job a week before Christmas but I did and thankfully we had a great Christmas even with the new craziness. At the beginning of the new year Kevin started traveling every week to Salt Lake. At first it looked like it was going to be short lived but last week we found out that he is getting a promotion to CISO (Chief Information Security Officer). He is shocked by the promotion and do not feel qualified for it at all but I am sure he is going to do great. Since Kevin has been traveling every week and my hours are longer then they will normally be once I am trained, the girls have been home alone a little more then we would like. My schedule should stabilize and I should be able to work from home more in about a month. I am not sure about Kevin. I hope traveling to Utah does not become a weekly thing but right now that is what it looks like.
Yesterday I worked a 10 hour day and did not get home till 8:00 pm. Allison and Ashley did a great job fending for themselves. I did not think that today was going to be a late day but as 5:00 pm approached and I was still working I called and let them know they could go out for dinner and I would hopefully be home soon. Allison felt like she could make dinner so instead of going out she followed my menu and made some wonderful baked salmon and baked broccoli. When I got home at 7, it was so nice to have a plate waiting for me and the kitchen cleaned. I am so thankful for the girls good attitudes and their willingness to step up and be helpful during this crazy time. I promise that they are going to get their mom back.

November 30, 2017

It is hard to believe that it is the last day of November. Christmas and the end of the year is fast approaching. We finally finished decorating for Christmas today. I love having a mantel to hang our our stockings from. Allison decorated the mantel with the snow villages that we got from Grandma Struchen. I love having this little piece of her in our home. She loved Christmas and the girls really loved her and all the time that they got to spend with her.
Tonight Kevin and I went with Allison to a meeting for her Europe trip next summer. It sounds like she is going to have a lot of fun. Kevin and I wish that we could go with her. She is going to London, Paris, Switzerland and Munich. It is going to be so much fun.
When we got home from the meeting we talked with Madison and had family prayer together. I love that technology makes it so easy to communicate with her and share in her day. After being home for Thanksgiving she is interested in broadening her daily diet. She has been sending me pictures so that I can see how healthy she has been eating. I remember those college days and the limited groceries that I had. I am glad that I am figuring things out.

November 28, 2017

Kevin made it home safe from his business trip this afternoon. Before picking Kevin up from the airport, I finally got around to scrubbing the kitchen after baking Thanksgiving dinner. I can not believe how messy the stove and oven got but now it is all cleaned up and pretty. I was hoping to get the rest of the Christmas decorations out today but it didn't seem to fit in today. On the way to the airport I dropped Macie off at Laurans to be groomed. She was starting to get really shaggy. I feel bad cutting her since it is really starting to get cold outside but she is a pretty dog when she is groomed. All afternoon after I got Macie home from being groomed I would either find her by the oven if it was on or by the fire if it was on. Glad we can keep her warm with the oven or fireplace. Ashley has piano lessons on Tuesdays so we had dinner early tonight.
Once she was home from piano we had some time before bed time so we spent some time facetiming Madison. It was nice chatting with her. She got a lot done today. We have been waiting for her BSU transcripts to get added at BYUI but it hasn't happened and we requested it back in August or September. She contacted BSU and found out BYUI had the transcript so she called them and they did have it but forgot to process it. This has been a big frustration every time she registered just in case she registered for something that will transfer from BSU. I am glad that we should have answers here in the next week or so. She also got some grocery shopping done. I am glad that she has roommates with cars so she can tag along with them when they go shopping. It is fun to watch her come into her own and get more comfortable in what she is willing to make. Allison had a pretty low key day. Just school and homework. She is so dedicated to her school work and making sure she gets straight A's. I wish that I would have been that dedicated when I was her age. All in all it was a good day but I can not believe how fast the days are moving. It is almost December and it feels like

we just rung in the new year.

November 27, 2017

It was sure hard to get up this morning. I am so glad I set my alarm or we might have all slept in. My alarm when off at 5:50 like normal and I checked to make sure Allison's light was on but it wasn't. She slept through her alarm. Thankfully she was able to pull it together and made it to seminary and not too late. Ashley got to sleep in since we didn't have time to read scriptures this morning because of the alarm debacle. I am sure Ashley appreciated an extra hour of sleep. Once the kids were gone to school, I actually laid down for another hour. I had a hard time sleeping last night at 5:50 came way too early this morning. After my little nap I spent my day putting things back together after our week of down time during Thanksgiving.
Madison was excited to try out her new appliance that I got her while she was here. She is very picky about how her eggs are cooked so I thought this little egg cooker might be nice for her. It looks like a mini waffle maker. She was very happy with the results. I am glad that I could make her day.
Kevin is loving his ride while out of town. Since he was the only person that would need to ride it in he thought it might be fun to get a Camero. I think he is having fun driving the fun little sports car around Orlando. Glad he can have a little fun since he hates these quick little business trips.
After dinner tonight we decorated the Christmas tree. I love the way that it turned out. Allison and Ashley really captured my vision for the tree. It is sad that they are getting older because they lost interest early so we didn't get all the decorations up. I will finish it tomorrow while they are at school. Probably my favorite thing that we did tonight was hand up our stockings. This will be the first time that we have hung our stockings up and love that they are hanging from the fireplace. I can't wait to get the rest of the house decorated tomorrow.

November 26, 2017

Kevin's day started early today as he headed on a business trip to Orlando. He has one meeting on Monday and will fly back on Tuesday. I wish that we could have gone with him. There is so much to do in Orlando. While he was busy traveling all day, we were saying goodbye to Madison and all the cousins before we came back home tonight. This whole Thanksgiving weekend was a lot of fun. It is always nice that the girls get to make these memories with their cousins. It is always hard to say goodbye until next time.
Madison made it back to Rexburg safe and sound. When everyone got home in her apartment they started decorating for Christmas. It is fun seeing her creating these memories and that she doesn't miss out on anything while she is away at school. I don't like that she is gone but I love that she is having such a great time paving her own path in Rexburg.
Allison drove us home from Twin. I joked at the beginning about making it home safe but she did a great job and she was even presented with a scary situation. On our way home the freeway all the sudden came to a stop. Apparently a crash had just happened ahead of us because after we stopped emergency vehicles started coming from all different ways. She was nervous she wouldn't know what to do to get out of their way and I just told her to watch and see what everyone else did and she did a great job when we needed to get out of the ambulances way that needed to come down the lane that we were in. When we came up on the crash it was scary. A minivan looked like it had rolled several times before landing on its side. It looked like everyone got out of the car and wasn't too severally hurt. I hope everyone was ok.
Tomorrow we start our routine again. I love having the kids home

and am not looking forward to tomorrow.

November 25, 2017

Today was a lazy day after the stress of the craziness of Thanksgiving. I loved hosting everyone and I feel like it went pretty well but it was stressful so it was nice to have a relaxing day today. Madison and Kylie slept in. Once they were ready for the day we ran some errands to pick up a few things Madison needed before she heads back to school. We also needed to get some gifts for two wedding receptions for tonight. Our errands were quick so I thought it might be fun to let Madison and Kylie ice skate at the Village. I don't know why we have not done this before. Madison and Kylie had fun and it is a really fair price. Madison has been skating before but this was Kylies first time. She was a natural.
After skating we got ready for the receptions. Madison wanted to use one of her bath balms that we got yesterday so her and Kylie hot tubed in the bathtub upstairs. Silly girls. It was so nice to see the two beautiful brides. They were both from our old ward and I had watched them grow up. Emma and Jillyn have grown up to be such amazing girls. It was also nice to be able to see so many people from our old ward. There are so many great people that we miss so it was nice to catch up with them.
Once we were done with the receptions Madison, Kylie and I headed to Twin to pick up the other two and drop them off. I can't believe that this Thanksgiving weekend is almost over and we have to return to normal life on Monday. I have really enjoyed all the time we had with family.

As we were driving between receptions the sunset was beautiful. I can not get over hwo beautiful the skies are here in Idaho.

November 24, 2017

I love when the holiday rolls over into more than one day. It was nice to still have family in town this morning. The kids had fun continuing to play while I shopped with Aunt Karen, Nana, Madison and Allison. I am not a big Black Friday shopper but Karen wanted to check out some stores that she doesn't have in Montana. We went to the village and I was not really as busy as I thought it would be. I got some Christmas shopping done. I feel like I am behind because I normally have more shopping done by now. After we were done shopping we headed home for some leftovers for lunch before everyone headed back to Twin Falls. Kylie and Madison cooked up the idea that she stay with us till Sunday when we take Madison to Twin to catch a ride back to school with the Wallis's. Allison and Ashley went to Twin to spend some time with their cousins since they don't get to see them as much as Madison has lately. I don't know how it worked out that I sent two kids but only kept one extra kid.
After everyone left we ran some errands. Madison's' knee has been hurting so while we were at Winco she got one of the motorized carts and let Kylie ride along with her. I love that she is so close with her Scharnhorst cousins even with the age difference. Family is everything. We also pulled our Christmas tree out in hopes of getting it decorated while Madison was here but I really did not think it through that well since the other girls are in Twin. Oh well it was a nice thought though.
Every year after Thanksgiving Louise makes turkey should with the bones from the turkey. I have always wanted the recipe since it is one of Kevin's favorites. This year we finally got it and had yummy turkey soup for dinner. I look forward to many years of making this for Kevin.
Before Allison and Ashley headed to bed tonight, Aunt Karen sent an update on how much fun they are having with everyone down there. Issac has attached himself to Allison and they hold hands where ever they go. He even ask her if they can be best friends or at least best cousins. Ashley is also having the best time. I love that they get to make the memories.