365 Joys- November 14th 2015

11/14/15

We've been waiting for THIS since February.
We bought tickets then for the game in November.
Friday night we went to the fireside for the BYU football team and their coach.  It.  Was.  Awesome.

We got there nearly 2 hours early and were in the 4th row, but they asked that non-youth move back to the back so the youth could be in the chapel.  So we left our youth (Michael, Benjamin, Emilie, Nathanael, and Samuel) in the chapel and moved everyone else to the overflow.  Still awesome.  I ended up sitting next to a wife of one of the football players.  Just added a personal touch.

Thankful for the opportunity to do all this!

Then we got to go to the Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead stadium and see our BYU football team play.

Getting ready... all the kids.












At the stadium.

At the stadium.

3 cold girls!

365 Joys- November 6th 2015

11/6/15

Today I'm thankful for Samuel.  No, it's not his birthday.  Not really anything special about today.  Just wanted to take a day out of a month of thankfulness and focus on my 10, almost 11 year old boy.  He loves his family and especially his baby sisters.  He's helpful.  He's smart.  He is fun loving and adventurous.  He's also shy and quiet.  He is a friend.  He has an amazing sense of humor.  He is well read and loves his scriptures.  He is an artist.  He builds.  He gets into trouble.  He thinks great things.

We'll keep him.

Today he got a BYU sweatshirt and is very happy about it.  He'll get to wear it to the game next weekend here in Missouri!

365 Joys- November 1st 2015

11/1/15

Is it really November?  Wow.

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur as I got sick and kind of muddled through most of it.  I went to a retail clinic and was diagnosed with acute ear and sinus infections plus acute bronchitis.  Well, if that wasn't enough, I kept getting worse and went to an Urgent Care and was then x-rayed and diagnosed with pneumonia which just changed the antibiotic.

I love November and sharing posts about what I am thankful for each day.  I like the tradition.

Today I am very thankful for modern medicine and all the wonderful technology and inspiration that our ancestors did without.  While it is to be used with discretion, it is still given to us by God and I am so thankful that when our family needs it, it is there.

This picture shows some of the wonderful modern advances that have helped me the last 2 weeks.



Oh, and while I was sick we were supposed to have  Lumination Glow Stick Markers House Party.  So we partied!  It was so much fun.  We had to spread the party fun to separate houses so as not to share germs... but this is our version!

Enjoy!

365 Joys- October 19th 2015

10/19/15

Even more awesomeness... pictures of Michael in a BYU sweatshirt.


He says he feels "official."

365 Joys- October 18th 2015

10/18/15

What's this?   Someone has drawn a "Y" on our calendar... hmm.  What could this mean?


That someone is pretty happy about being accepted to BYU.  (he'll defer because of a mission, but still... sooooo exciting!  Even more so because it kinda validates the whole homeschooling thing, too.)

365 Joys- October 13th, 2015

10/13/15


Michael looking a little startled.  He took this himself... and this is BEFORE he checked his messages on his phone and found out he got accepted to BYU!

(he found out a week before that he was accepted to BYU-Idaho, but wanted to know about Provo before telling anyone!)




Silly kids.


Pictures of the temple.  We were up at the church for the evening taking kids to Scouts, Young Women, Prospective Elders class, Cub Scouts, etc.  Tom usually takes everyone but he was in Pennsylvania for 3 days...

The rest of us walked around the temple a few times, talked to the temple matron, enjoyed the sunset.  It was a nice evening.


Enjoy!




Here's your faith promoting story for the evening.  Christopher is wearing a CTR ring here, right?  This was early in the walk. Well, right after Timothy was done with Cub Scouts but we were still waiting for the other kids, Christopher suddenly realized he didn't have his CTR ring anymore.  You can see it's dark, right?  I thought, there is no way we are going to find it.   However, we went over every inch of gravel he says he lost it in.  Twice.  We walked up and down the sidewalk 4 times.  I was about 50 feet away checking one place with the girls in the stroller and Timothy, Christopher, Liberty and Samuel were just losing hope but still trying.  I looked at them and said a prayer.  I literally, just stood there and said, Please, if it's possible, Heavenly Father, let them find the ring and know you helped them find it.  As I said Amen, they looked down, literally right then, and jumped up with the ring.  And I told them that this happened.  So there you go.  Faith on behalf of my children and their faith can work miracles.  The CTR ring is found.




 

365 Joys- August 2nd, 2015

8/2/15

Quadruple decker strawberry shortcake for dessert after Sunday dinner.  yum!




Ginny and her first pony tail.  All ready for church!  BYU hairbow.  No judging.  It totally matches.



Samuel ready for church.



Michael ready for church.



Juliana all ready for church.

365 Joys- May 7th 2015

5/7/15

We had a few days of Batgirlman furor around here, with Ginny and Jules wearing their fun outfits and borrowing Timothy's mask.

Oh, and this is Bat-Zombie, he has a black washcloth as his cape.






Plus a fun matching brothers picture.

365 Joys- April 29th, or, day 5 of our 2015 Epic Trip of Epicness

4/29/15

Day 5 of our trip to Utah

We went to BYU campus.  We got pictures at the BYU Museum of Paleontology, the building where Tom and I met, and elsewhere, but our favorite story is about having lunch on campus.  We were at a table near the library.  Tom and I were noting that there were students looking at us all around.  Kids would say hi to random strangers, and most of them said hi back.  One couple looked particularly amused and Tom said, yeah, they're just seeing themselves in 20 years... we all had a good chuckle.


Dinosaurs!  How many kids fit on a brachiosaurus femur?


Studio C!  If you haven't seen this, you're missing out on some funny stuff.  Look it up!


Provo City Center temple.  This was neat to see every time we were in Provo.  The kids loved seeing SO many temples each day, but especially Payson, which was right within view of my parents' home!



All my kids next to a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull.  Yes, this is at BYU.


Are we feeding Ginny to a dinosaur?  She's the one who wanted to be closer.

April 6th 2014- A Daily Valencic

4/6/14

Ginny and Mom.

March 18th 2014- A Daily Valencic

IMG_0171, a photo by atvtnv on Flickr.

3/18/14

Emilie's car for the YM/YW pinewood derby. We call it the Abomination... BYU and the U on the same car? Ack!

February 6th, 2014- A Daily Valencic

IMG_2797, a photo by atvtnv on Flickr.

2/6/14

Ginny in her BYU shirt... very alert and awake! 

December 26th Picture-A-Day

IMG_2512, a photo by atvtnv on Flickr.

12/26/13

Baby girl presents! She is loved, too. Tom is thrilled by the baby BYU shirt. Now we're ALL covered, even in February when she arrives. Or January. Not December, though. I think.

August 17th Picture-A-Day

IMG_1453, a photo by atvtnv on Flickr.

8/17/13

Samuel was taking pictures of anything BYU related in our home. Well, here are two. Tom and I both graduated from BYU over 14 years ago... Tom graduated in 1999 and I graduated in 1997. Still something that makes me happy.

August 8th Picture-A-Day

IMG_1344, a photo by atvtnv on Flickr.

8/8/13

On top of the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, with a great view of the Salt Lake Temple.