Rhett

I got this picture from Rhett's teacher the other day and it cracked me up! Wish is would rotate. February is Mad Math Month at the school and each grade has certain math requirements they have to pass off in order to sign the mad math month wall.  Rhett was the FOURTH kid in the entire school to pass his off and got to sign the wall on the first day! He has worked SO HARD this year on his grades.  He had over 10 book reports finished before Christmas even.  He only needed 10 all year.  He has pushed, and pushed himself and I am so proud of him! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what he wrote around his name.

It reads: Rhett Hawkins, Flat Stanley (his nickname at the school...infact I was there when the Principal announced over the intercom who had signed the wall already and he announced him as Flat Stanley. Haha!) 4th person to pass math facts in school! AMAZING, AWESOME, GOOD LOOKING. 

Hahaha! His self confidence is great! LOVE this kid!

Eugene, Oregon Mission

In January my parents received their mission call to the Eugene, Oregon Mission.  We are SO EXCITED for them! This has been a long time coming and we are glad it is finally here.  They have been preparing for several months to try and get everything at home ready so they can go.  Their biggest concern is their moms.  My dad's mom is very well taken care of because their is a lot of family around.  He HATES just leaving her for everyone else to take care of.  But at the same time he understands that those you leave behind are also blessed from a mission.  My mom's mom is in a little different situation, in that I am the closest relative to her and my parents did not want me to have to take on her care all alone.  It is a big job and one that everyone will be blessed for helping with.  They have done a lot of arranging and things are going to go smoothly while they are gone because of it.  On Sunday, January 31, they had their mission farewell.  They both did an amazing job.  My mom talked about the blessings of raising a righteous family and promised blessings from temple attendance.  My dad spoke about women in the gospel and told the story of my grandma getting pushed off the bench at primary as a little girl and how she vowed to never go back.  What a blessing that years later she did! We are all a living testament to that choice. After church we had a nice dinner and then went back to my parents for just a few minutes.  Of course we waited till everybody that could take a picture of us all together had left.  Thank goodness for iphones, timers and teenagers that know how to use them. :) The lighting in this picture is terrible, but EVERYBODY is in it.  Mom and dad, all 6 children, all 6 spouses, all 30 grandkids (15 boys, 15 girls) and one grand-daughter-in-law and even their little great grandbaby.  What a SPECIAL, SPECIAL day!!

I found this quote one day and it rings true to me, "I find as I grow older that I love those most whom I loved first." - Thomas Jefferson

Mem and Em

With all the fun snow and with grandma being in Arizona we have got to keep these babies quite a bit this winter for Yvonne.  Memory is at such a fun age.  She LOVES to clog and keeps us all laughing with it.  She LOVES my phone and gets SO MAD at me when I try to take it from her.  She is spoiled rotten at my house because the kids just can't get enough of her.  And then chubby little Ember (in her carseat in the picture) is such a good baby.  Other than the normal fussing every once in a while she is easy to take care of.  This day I was watching them for Yvonne when Ryan decided we needed to go get a kitchen sink for the house.  We aren't as good at packing up babies as we use to be, but it's like riding a bike....we figured it out pretty quick.  So much fun! Sure love having littles in my house again!

More Skiing

Dallin, Rhett and Laiklie LOVE to ski and this year we have had a lot of really good snow so it has been a blast to be able to take them.  We go with the school so we get cheap tickets. Yay!

 It is even better with cousins! Laiklie and Sage.

 Kiana, Dallin and JD

Rhett and his friend Kylie

With the good snow we have atleast 2 more times to go with the school and maybe even a few more times on our own.  Yvonne was nice enough to take Dallin and Rhett with her, Kiana and JD to Targhee last weekend and other than Dallin skiing off a cliff (he was SO SORE) they had a great time! What a great Aunt!!

Oakley's First Accident

On January 20, Oakley was in her first car accident.  She had finals that day and didn't have anything 1st hour so she slept in and then was running behind by the time she got ready and got a notecard finished for her math final.  I knew the roads were slick and told her I wanted her to drive my suburban.  She told me she is much more comfortable driving the little car, especially in the parking lot of the school.  The suburban is so big to park.  I knew the roads were slick but had NO IDEA how bad they really were so I let her take the little car.

Just 10 minutes after she left my phone rang and it was her.  I didn't even say hello, I just asked, "are you okay?" I knew something had gone wrong!

There was a lady and her son sitting at the stop sign as Oakley turned into the school parking lot.  She hit ice and locked up her brakes and slammed right into the ladies back door.  Everyone was okay.  The lady did have to crawl out the passenger side since her door wouldn't open, but they were both ok.  The teenage boy that was with her jumped out and told Oakley, "If I'd have been driving I would have pulled up a little and let you hit the snow bank behind us. My mom didn't think to do that though!" I sure wish he had been driving. Hahaha!

 For how much damage was done to her car we only had a few minor scratches. 

As I jumped in my suburban to run into the school to meet her and the police officer I couldn't believe how slick the roads were.  I called her and said "Oakley, you should have turned around and come home for the suburban." After seeing the damage though I am actually grateful she was in the little car.  I think since she locked up the brakes she would have hit the lady in my suburban too and would have done so much more damage and maybe even hurt the lady with how big the suburban is.  So I think it was actually a blessing she was in the little car.  The police officer was so good with her and told her he had been at the same corner just 1/2 hour before with another accident just like it.  He did ticket her for going to fast for the weather conditions.  Which is ok.  It helps her to learn a lesson and she had to pay the $90 ticket, which is also good for her. 

This was also good for her parents.  We are new to this teenage parenting thing and so Ryan was trying to figure out a punishment for the accident and I was trying to get him to see that the damage done (to her mentally), plus paying the ticket was punishment enough.  Ryan and I were raised very differently and so seeing eye to eye (like in every other marriage I'm sure) is sometimes a little tricky.  We decided the best idea instead of punishment (thank goodness!) was to give her the knowledge of what to do next time.  So I suggested Ryan take her out in the slick driveway and let her try locking up her brakes a few times...and see just what it feels like when she does/doesn't.  It actually was good for her and her daddy to spend some time together teaching her.  Accidents happen SO FAST and we know this was not an intentional thing and just so glad it has all turned out okay.  Glad to have our first accident down....now hopefully we never have another one again. Hahaha, wishful thinking! ;)

"Mom, We are Stuck!"

 PHONE CALL

Dallin: Hi mom, Rhett and I got the 4-wheeler stuck in Luella's field.

Me (babysitting 2 of the neighbors babies): Did you call your dad?

Dallin: No, dad will be mad at us!

Me (knowing that he is right): Bud, I'm in the middle of watching these babies.

Dallin: Mom! We've even tried to use boards to get out. (He is such a smart kid. He has watched his dad closely growing up on a farm and knows all the tricks. So Proud!)

As I'm on the phone the baby girl tips over and her headful of hair lands in Oakley's just newly painted hot pink toenail polish.

Me: I've gotta go Dallin. (More yelled than anything!)

After scrubbing the baby girls hair with fingernail polish remover and then washing it so she wasn't the stinky kid when her mom picked her up, I left the babies with Oakley and Laiklie and grabbed a garden hoe (couldn't find the shovel) and headed to get the boys unstuck.

They had the sled behind the 4-wheeler and had tried to go up over the dike in the deep, deep snow.  It was quite the hike from where I could park my suburban and my hoe wasn't a great help, but it was all I had. I worked until I was sweating and then after a few attempts and using the boards Dallin had tried earlier and a little team work we were successful.

 

This is a terrible picture of me.  You can kinda see the tracks where they were stuck in the background, but we had to do a quick Snow Crew Selfie. :) I love these two little knuckleheads.

January 4, 1999

On January 4, 1999 THIS happened!

January 4th is kind of a special date around here.  Ryan left on his mission January 4 and then January 4th a few years later he asked me to marry him.  We were just babies. I LOVE that we had a camera that night and got a few pictures.  I still love this guy, 17 years later, more than ever!