Journal Entry

Things have been rather busy around the house recently. I've has spent extra time at work to finish some presentations. Recently, the administration decided to accept a proposal that will radically change the way students recieve care; My co-workers and I are in the process of developing the training necessary for the transition into the new model of care. It is exciting, and it feels more congruent with a healthy view of human relations. It should be noted that my proposal was influenced by many ideas, books, talks, etc. One group of books are those by Terry Warner and/or the Arbinger Institute. Mom gave me a copy of Leadership and Self-Deception a number of years ago. After reading that, I purchased and read Bonds that Make Us Free. And recently, Mom gave me Anatomy of Peace. These are all great books that have greatly impacted my way of thinking and approaching life. I look forward to the change in our company with excitement at trepidation at the same time. It will be a tough transition.
Patricia has been wrapped up in camp kickoff. Actually, she's been wrapped up in keeping the family fed, off to school, back from school, cleaning the house, keeping Aaron organized, taking the kids to many doctors appointments, doing PTA work, doing more PTA work because the other PTA members don't know their jobs, cooking for families in the ward, babysitting kids from the ward, substituting for the music in primary, etc., etc. AND on top of that, she prepared a great camp kick-off. She put together a wonderful slide show focused on the Savior. I will try figure out a way to post it on this blog. Now, the next couple of months will be preparing for camp.
John and Reed have focused on wild workouts, meaning that they do cardio workouts in front of the TV for about 40 minutes each evening. They use soup cans as weights, since I haven't found any weights yet at DI. They also have spent a lot of time reading and writing books. Together with Anna, they run a store in the house to raise money. They sell their books, artwork, and anything else they can coax Hyrum into buying. Of course Patricia and I shop at the store as well. It is a fun endeavor as they are creative and always work well together when running the store.
Anna just finished a season of indoor soccer. Should have taken pictures, but I didn't. She had a lot of fun. She also reads a ton. She reads every night with Patricia and they are currently hooked on Nancy Drew mysteries. Anna has an amazing memory. She will talk about minute plot details weeks after reading something.
Hyrum still loves to play trains. He loves to make Elizabeth laugh, too. He also loves to read and be read to. One of his favorite things to say is "I'm thinking Arby's".
Elizabeth is growing like crazy. Four teeth now. She loves ice-cream and chocolate--and that's my fault. The girls in the family got my sweet tooth. Anna and Elizabeth are much more into sugar and chocolate than any of the boys.

We are looking towards a very busy spring and summer. My folks and sister are moving back to Utah; we have Girl's camp, 4th year hike, Boy scout camp (x2), and youth conference to attend to with our callings; family reunion on Aaron's side at Bear Lake; kids soccer (all four oldest want to play), plus the other stuff that never can be planned--it just happens. Hope to visit the cabin a lot more this year than last. AND, we are thinking about a SoCal trip in the fall. We'll see what happens.

Tonight we read the scriptures. We read 8 verses in 2 Nephi. We didn't accomplish President's Hinckley's challenge two years ago, so we've recommited as a family to read it by the end of this year.

That's all for this post.