The holidays are upon us. Halloween was a fun holiday, we have had an adult party for the past four years and have had a great time. This year was dress up as a famous couple, so Jerott and I went as Gomez and Morticia Addams, there were some awesome costumes. The kids went trick or treating at Jerott's brother's neighborhood and got way too much candy. But it is all gone now and I am happy.

Kids are doing well in school and are all healthy at this point.

I love it when kids say things that make me smile, for instance; Jacob and I were talking about the scriptures and he says "Maybe I will be in the next Book of Mormon". He knows his name is in the first one and I guess he figures that earns him rank in the sequel, who knows maybe he will be a great leader someday.

We took some family pictures at Katherine Albertsons Park, this had been a tradition since 99', but we have slacked since we moved out to Kuna. In the past we had tried to get them done a little sooner that Nov, but at least the Fall colors were still around due to the Indian Summer we have had.

We finally finished our boardwalks and most of the rock area, we need to get more river rock, but it's just getting to cold to harvest them.


The project begins

finished boardwalk.

My brother, Gary, building our window well.

School is in Session!

Well, what a crazy summer is was at the Rudds. Each one of my kids got sick, similar symptoms to the swine flu, we took a couple to the dr. and the flu test was negative. They each got sick for a month and a couple of them even longer and they didn't have it at the same time either. So from the end of May to the middle of Aug I had children sick. But other than that we managed to go to Tri-Cities and visit family, attend our family reunion in Utah, my niece's wedding, and go to Lagoon (thanks to Jerott's boss, he bought the kids tickets). Now school is in session and they are all finally adjusting.
Kierstin is a senior and has a pretty easy load, she gets a free hour every other day. She is keeping busy with her graphic design talents. She has created screen savers for Kuna High School computers, created the cover for the year book, and is busy taking a independent Graphic Design class during school.

Tanner is doing home school this year, he has named his classes, for instance math is: arthimancy, scripture study is: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Geology: Ancients runes and other exotic locations. We are both learning and hopefully will grow from this experience.

Mckenzie has left the charter school and headed to the Middle School for 8th grade in preparation for High School next year. She is enjoying her teachers, she has a couple of really fun teachers that make her smile, she is quite shy.

Hannah is enjoying 4th grade and she really likes her teacher. She continues to excel in school and is learning a lot. She is making new friends and has a little more homework than last year.

Jacob is finally adjusted to 1st grade. He came home the first day and said it was the worst day of his life (so dramatic). "It was way too long, like 100 hours" was his comment. He had been in tears the first couple of weeks, we talked to him about it and this week he is doing great. He is participating, playing with friends, and not tearing up. He told me that whenever he would think about me he would start to cry, then he would tell himself that he could do it, he could do it. Talk about ripping at my heartstrings. We talked about praying and asking Heavenly Father to comfort him when he felt like crying.
Well, Jerott's busy time is over, the summer is when he gets to go to court and it gets quite busy. He is still mission leader for the ward. He is also building me a trellis, it is an oriental style, I am so excited to see it finished. Pictures later.
I started art classes yesterday and had so much fun. Madison was my first student, she is 10 and is doing really great. I composed a piano piece this summer and recorded it to share. I have lyrics,but not finished writing them. The name is "Give Me Wings"
It's a little choppy, but after recording three times, I said that's it, that will have to do.
I love keeping in touch with all my friends on FB, it's so awesome to see where, how, what old friends are up to these days.

We love camping

Hannah




Just loved this picture



Running barefoot in the sand, nice thick thorn.

Mckenzie

Yes, he is really that hot....

Ella, Queen of rock mountain

Row row row your boat

Climbing the steep hills, rock hounds...

Jacob

Ok, Thursday, Momorial Weekend, I downloaded a camping list from the internet and then set out to gather up all of our things. I was going to be prepared. Of course a few things had to be washed, and finding everything wasn't too hard, since we had kept all the camping stuff in the garage in one corner. So all was going well, Kierstin vacuuming out the Yukon, and the little kids helping also with their sister. We were packed and ready to head to the hills.

I have since decided that a one-night camping trip is just not worth the trouble taking a full day just to get ready for it. Needless to say, we had a fabulous trip, some of our best memories are just hanging out in the big out doors.

One of our best memories of camping was right next to a lake, I was pregnant with Jacob, who is now six, I remember this well, because....there was no latrine, outhouse, nothing, pure roughing it. The kids soon found the inlet was loaded with frogs, big frogs, and they began their frog races. They wanted to take those frogs home......they didn't!

Ok back to the present. We had outhouses this time and running water. We were fairly close to the river and this was our first trip with our inherited canoe. Soon the kids were off, Kierstin, taking them on a rock hound adventure and it turned out to be quite a crystal mine up on them there hills. After seeing the loot the kids brought back, Jerott and I thought we might enjoy a little rock hounding ourselves. So off we went and we found more than a few little crystals, there was a tiny tiny scorpion, a strange looking spider, and the bull snake with her eggs.

Well, back to the lake we set out to go fishing, but the wind, the wind was blowing a lot. I told Jerott I would hold her steady right out in the middle and he could just fish away. Ha, within a few minutes we were nearing the shore and he would have to help me row back out again. Great work out though. So that is our camping adventure in a nutshell.

Oh ya, the best part was..... I didn't have to pack any of the kid's bags, basically told the two little ones what they needed and that was it. I was stoked, this is definitely a great age for camping with kids.

Summer time

beforeafter

This was a practice she doesn't graduate until 2010

A page from "The Memory Shirt" illustration I did.

Well, summer is here and we are already having a great time. Kids are going to the library once a week for the summer book reading program. I am giving Jacob and Hannah piano lessons, Jacob has just decided to to teach himself, he just turned to the next page of the book and started playing the songs. Hannah has read 5 chapter books in two weeks and is starting another, good job Hannah. Mckenzie has spent her summer sickly. Last Wednesday she got a fever and started throwing up. So she missed field day at her school and was sick Thursday and missed her field trip. So Friday fever was gone, but had a little cough, so she went to the last day of school. Then her cough got worse over the weekend and then on Monday welts started showing up on her torso and then radiated all over her body. Gave her benadryl and they went down. Then yesterday, they came back, she is going to the doctor today and of course her welts are gone, but she has that persistent cough. Tanner has bee having fun playing his wii, and really wants a summer job. With the market like it is, it's hard for a teenager to find a job. Kierstin just makes up her own job. She is in summer school, by choice, she is trying to graduate early, not sure if that will happen, she is not able to take the other class because it is during trek. Anyway back to making up jobs, she caught two mice the other day in her bunny shed. She put them in cages and one had babies, she then said she was going to sell the babies for snake food.
Jerott has lost 25 lbs and looks great, proud of him.... I have lost 10, but the rest is just going to have to be toned up I guess. I do feel better, more energy when I lay off the sugar and white flour stuff. I finished the illustrations for the children's book I am doing and that was a big relief. Now it's projects, projects, projects. It think I will go dig up some more dirt, it's a great stomach toning exercise, and I really enjoy doing it. We got more free wood to do a second boardwalk.

Getting healthy

Ok, I am not one who has ever taken a diet seriously until now. For the past 2 years I have been putting on some extra stuffing around the middle, and in the past couple months I have really been having a little wee bit trouble getting into my jeans. So I decided that I needed to change my eating habits and I am now on day 4 of the new healthy me. I have been actually having a lot of fun and enjoying the challenge it provides me. Being self disciplined has helped me in more ways than one and I am grateful, that I am finally learning this value.
I am cutting back on the sugar for the kids slowly, and they whine and say this doesn't have enough sugar and I say, you just have to get use to it, our family is going healthy.

Kierstin & Tanner haven't eaten dinner for two days now, the younger three I can still tell them, well then no dessert. I am not going to be a fanatic about no sugar, but we have gotten into this cycle where that's about all they eat.

Jerott is on Medifast, a lot of his family have lost a lot of weight and are now maintaining it and staying healthy.

My kids don't need to loose weight and I am hoping that as we eat healthier, they may actually gain a little.

Life is Good

Ok, so Jerott & I are entering a whole new stage of our lives, Kierstin graduates next year and my baby goes to school all day long. As I was reading a friends blog, I was reflecting on those days gone by: babies, diapers, and little ones messes. It seemed everything at their eye level had to be below them on the floor, there were the spills, crying, throwing themselves to the floor, and yes even an running out onto the front lawn stark naked. Wow, how those days have flown by so fast. I miss those days sometimes, my kids loved me, they gave me hugs and kisses, they would listen to me and believed me when I told them something. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom, but it's a lot more emotional draining raising teenagers. The physical drain was hard, but now it's amazing how independent they want to be.
We have been doing a lot of reflecting, I like to reflect, and realized we need to be kinder in the way we speak, look, and listen with our kids. We are not super mean people, but the wear and tear of everday life takes a tole on your emotions and soon you don't sound too happy or nice, especially to the ones you love.
Another area we have been working on is finances, it is awesome. I grew up in a home where everything was handed to me on a silver platter. I realized that growing up and I tried super hard not to be one of those stuck up rich girls. Well, none the less it didn't help me have self control when it came to money. I have been practicing not spending money on things that I don't need. I was in the store the other day and I had the cat food in the cart, cream rinse, and bananas. I saw the Easter clearance isle, so I went to browse and found 5 little stuffed animals with a package of jellybeans. Only .75 cents each. So I gathered them up and stuck them in my cart and off I went to retrieve another needed item. I got that feeling you get when you know you really don't need something and you try and justify it. So I started to pray and asked if I should get them. I heard in my mind "you should go put them back". So as I strolled back to the shelf, many thoughts flooded my head this time favorable ones like "Those stuffed animals, wrappers, and candy will just end up all over the house." And then one golden one "It would mean more to your kids to have you sit next to them and read a story or play a game with them." This may be a trivial thing $3.50 really isn't much, but it was one of those little choices that will bring about a greater change.
Just felt like sharing........

Are we too busy.....

Ok, I am not good at this blog thing. I haven't been online much the past month. I got sick on Sunday and I am struggling to recover, it seems I go through this about ever 6 months. I have came to the conclusion that the symptoms are a lot like mono, but I think the cause is that I never slow down to rest, it's just my body saying "take a break".
I just finished painting my friend's parent's bathroom. The bathroom is a cream, so I added a red plaid border on one wall and the adjacent wall has tall grass and greenery across it. Then I painted 16 ladybugs all over. 16 is the number of grandchildren she has or she will have, one is on the way. It turned out way fun. I forgot to take pictures so I will have to go back and take some, then I will post them.
Kierstin took some great pictures with her friends a couple of weeks ago, she is like her mother, always got something to do. Jerott and I spend all day last Saturday cleaning out the shop and Kierstin shoveled bunny poo and organized the bunny shed. She is a hard worker.

Tanner is wanting a job, he wants to quite school and just go out and make a bunch of money. He really is quite entertaining for his younger siblings, always making up some fun game with this or that. He had all the decks of cards we own spread out through the dining room and living room. The kids went to different stations to play his version of each card game.

Mckenzie is doing a little babysitting and helping me clean a house job I just got. She is a big help and loves to bake, we get cookies, brownies, at least 3 times a week. She loves Y.W. and always looks forward to going. She is also our little peace maker and trys to smooth out all the ruffles in our lives.

Hannah is continuing to excel in school, she's a great reader, good at math, and a good speller. She loves Kierstin's dog and is very helpful with her, taking her potty and stuff. One of her favorite things to do is spend time with her cousin Racheal, they are two peas in a pod.
Hannah continues to give us lots of hugs and kisses.

Jacob ever seems to amaze us. I was explaining to how to do times to him and he actually got it. We got to the 2's, he said "Oh I get it the first number (2) is how many of the second number (3) you add together. He is always creating some type of infrastructure design, he had all the flash cards out and made some 3-D creation. He can make some really great lego stuff.

I am working on illustrating a children's book, it's been a lot of fun and I it's coming along quite nicely. I almost have all the ink drawings done, then it's off to paint paint paint.

Jerott is busy with work, missionary work, and family. He is a great dad, husband, and leader. He is an awesome husband, he really puts in overtime some nights when he gets home from work. He's done his fair share of dishes this week, and made a delicious dinner on Sunday.

Dining Room before pergo

This is the second stage of the kitchen.

Final stage of kitchen

Boys room before, well during really

This is Tanner's room

Mckenzie & Hannah's room

Kierstin's Room

We were without a railing for about a year

Master bedroom, someday we want to put in bamboo flooring.

We hope this new year finds you well and happy. I am looking forward to spring. The picture above in my project. When we moved in it was just dirt and rocks. I add a little more each year.
We have been in Kuna now for 3 1/2 years and still love it. We have herd of chickens, 2 labs (buddy & Sadie), a little Maltese/Poodle (Ella), a few cats, and several bunnies.
We have been fixing up our place little by little and we just have two bathrooms left to remodel inside. The major project we finished this year was our boardwalk, it leads from the back door to the driveway. I am so elated that we don't have to deal with the brown muck on our carpets any more. Well, there are occasional, oops, I forgot to take off my mud layered boots, but for the most part my off white carpet is still looking pretty good.
So I guess I will tell you a little about what is going on at the Rudds:

Jerott is still an appraiser for the State of Idaho. He loves his commute to Boise, OK, he doesn't love it, but he says he is use to it now. He is preparing for Robie Creek run again and is working on beating his time. He'll do awesome, cause that's the kind of man he is. We have had a lot of fun together remodeling this house, we really do make a good team. He was complaining about the draft in the basement door and I said, well we have the new one under the carport, and he said "well, I was expecting to come home and see you have ripped out the old door, and then I would "have" to put the new one in. So I said, ya, but I can only start so many projects at a time and it just got too cold for the door project. Anyway, that's truly how it goes, I start ripping something apart and then we get to work on another project together. Jerott is a ward mission leader and gets to teach a Gospels essential class once or so a month, he does a great job.

Well, I was hired as an illustrator this fall by a company called Magnificent Custom Wonder Makers (http://www.cutstomwonders.com/). It's been a lot of fun, I have been creating custom greeting cards and designed a cd cover for a Children's Interactive Play CD. I have been very fortunate to work from home and do what I love, Art, of course be a mom first. I am an activity's day leader for the 10-11 year old girls, they are all really great. They just finished making skirts last month and some of them wore them to church:) I am also busy being a mom, the kids aren't in any extra curricular activities right now and that is just fine with me. They all like to be creative and we have a great little sledding hill across the yard, so there's much to keep them busy. I also love to play volleyball, we start games with the Stake this month, dang I need to start practicing.

Kierstin, turned 17 in October and is a Junior. She is busy with school, her pure breed bunny business, her online store http://www.leeshay.etsy.com/ (selling jewelry she designed). She is also a great artist, she is working on some artwork that is turning out really good. I posted a self portrait that she is working on. She also just whipped up a really cool black vinyl work of art for my wall. It's a cool bird on a branch with a couple leaves.

Tanner is 15, a Sophomore, he enjoys illustrating video games. He sold most of his legos in the fall and bought himself a Wii and games to go with it. Amazing what kids can do if they set their mind to it and if it's important to them. He really enjoys making up fun games with the kids. A really fun one they played was where they gathered a bunch of shoes up, one kid stood at the top of the little hill with a shoe on foot, and then flung it into the air trying to drop bomb it on the targets below. See picture on this blog to view the targets.

Mckenzie is 12, 13 in February, and is in 7th grade. She is still attending Falcon Ridge Charter School and really enjoys it there. She loves to cook, is a really hard worker, and is very nurturing. She asks quite often if she can make cookies and I will say well of course, her favorite recipe is from Lori Brown, yum. She also enjoys drawing sometimes, she loves playing on Webkins creating things virtually. Mckenzie is a great peace maker. Oh, ya she is our athlete, she loves to play any sport, especially football. She and I ran a 5k together last fall, it was pouring rain and we had a blast.

Hannah is 8 and in 3rd grade. She is a great reader and is doing very well in math. She really is quite the tender heart, she loves to give mom and dad cards expressing her love for us. She is also very affectionate, she loves to give hugs and kisses. She likes to play with her pet shop pets and loves animals like her big sister, Kierstin.

Jacob is 6 and is in Kindergarten. He is doing really well in school, he is bringing 2nd grade math homework home and is so fascinated with numbers. He has loved numbers since the time he could count up to 20 at age 2 1/2. He will ask questions like what is google times google. One time when he was doing his math he said "Ok, here's how I do it in my head, you know how you add 4+3=7 then you add 4 more and that makes 11. He came home from school last month and said "There is a girl in my class that can read better than I can, she can read essay's, you need to start reading to me more". Ok, I am saving the best for last. About a couple weeks before Christmas, I received and email from ebay stating that I won a online auction. A little confused, I opened up the email and sure enough I had won three little lego pieces for $9.99. I was a little miffed for a moment thinking maybe my 15 year old had bought something. As I took a closer look I noticed that the maximum bid (the most amount of money you are willing to spend) was $468. My wheels started turning and I called my 5 year old down stairs and said "Did you bid on this ebay auction?" He said "Ya, aren't they cool, I don't have that one with the corners on them." I said no that it wasn't cool and he would have to pay for them. I was trying hard not to smile, out of shock that my then 5 year old, almost 6, could get on and make a purchase on ebay.
So for all you parents out there, keep an eye on your little ones they are too smart for their britches.

Well, we have all been healthy and happy for the most part. Reality check, our kids fight and argue, and sass, and whine, and do all those things real kids do. We are trying really hard this year to focus on their positive qualities and reinforce the good things they are doing. Life's too short, we want to find the joy in parenting.
May all your days be filled with laughter and music and nights be peaceful that all your children sleep through the night. We are finally at the stage in life, what a wonderful thing.....
May we all try to be more Christlike in our thoughts, actions, and deeds.