All I Want for Christmas...

I guess I already have it all.

Another Blogger

Ava now has a blog. Enjoy:)

Busy.

Jinnie is fine... glad the lyme disease was caught early.

Lots of dr. & dentist appts lately.

Just figured out one calling, only to be released & put in another (was in Activity Days, now in YW).

House is bigger than what I want to clean. Should have had the big house in Chile (where I could actually afford a maid) & the small house in the US. Lesson learned.

Forgot how much work owning a house is. Kind of miss calling the landlord so they can take care of every problem. But still, it's nice to have a place of our own again.

Forgot how much work it is owning a car. Transmission had to be pulled in my van recently. No, it's not an old van. Warranty covered it. Wahoo.

Spoke in Stake Conference (adult session) this weekend. Went better than expected. As soon as I finally figured out what I was supposed to say, all nervousness pretty much went out the window. Wahoo.

Zack forgot what it's like to sleep through the night (he's a growing boy & loves to eat). So did Hailey (coyotes wake her all the time). So did Ava (whenever she can't feel her heart beat she thinks she's dying... happens often during the night apparently). So did Jinnie (nightmares?). So did Dave (talking in his sleep... about my twin? I'll admit, we do need 2 of me to keep the house clean & get up in the night with my nocturnal family).

Ticks

About a month after we moved to the USA Jinnie ended up with a large tick embedded in her head. It was huge & full of blood. I kept waiting for Lyme disease. It never came.

Apparently she is very sweet because a deer tick recently decided to drink her blood and in return gave her Lyme disease. The joys. Fortunately we caught the bulls-eye surrounding the bite rather early and with the help of antibiotics she should be just fine. I will start being a better mother and sending my kids outside with bug spray and check them for ticks when they return home (which is not nearly as fun as Brad Paisley's song, 'Ticks,' makes it sound).

Growing

Today Zack is 11 months. Yesterday his big sister, Jinnie, taught him how to walk. She stands him up, backs away, and has him walk to her. Cutest. Thing. Ever. Every little boy should have a big sister like her.

Honey I'm Home!

First of all, can you believe I'm actually blogging? It's a miracle. And it will be a miracle if we ever get our house completely put together. Here is a photo tour... the first 2 are from the MLS & the rest I took when the house was being inspected (the furniture, decorations, etc. are not ours... when my house is picture worthy you may get to see some pictures of us living in it. Or not). Also, the tour will start with the basement because I don't want to take the time to put everything in a more pleasing order. Be grateful for what you get:)
We're on 5 acres and we're loving the space!
Family & play room. Maybe someday we'll have a tv. Or maybe not.
View from the other side of the room. The door (which is open) leads upstairs.
View from the family room into the downstairs kitchen/ office/ not sure yet. It will be something I'm sure.
View of Jinnie & the downstairs kitchen & the family room.

Guest room. When are you coming to visit?

Utility room. This room is huge. And it's full of stuff. We have geothermal heating, in-floor heating, a septic & a well. Plus the regular things that are in a utility room.

The girls room. All three of them are in there. And so far they haven't complained.
The girls closet. It has a lot more clothes in it than it used to.
The girls bathroom. Yes, it is amazing. I think that every family with a lot of girls should have this bathroom. It has separate rooms for the toilet and the shower. Plus a huge vanity. The girls have really had fun doing each others hair in the chairs:) I can only imagine that as the girls get older, we will appreciate this bathroom even more.




The kitchen. I love it. When looking for a house I wanted a nice kitchen. Dave wanted property. This is what we found.

View from the living room... so pleasant.

The fireplace is wood-burning... we'll see if I can talk Dave into using this winter.
Zacks room (plus another guest bed). He needs a brother to share it with him. Someday.
Zacks closet. It is mostly boxes at the moment. None of boxes belong to him. He's nice to share.Zacks bathroom. It's also the main bathroom. It doesn't have a bathtub so he bathes in the kitchen.
Laundry/piano/possible mud-room... room. The piano won't stay here long. It will be moved to the basement (the owner gave it to us... I want to paint it blue. Still trying to talk Dave into it).

My room.

My tub. It has yet to be used. Hopefully one day soon I'll have time to clean it and then take a nice long bath with a book:)
Shower. It has 5 shower heads. One Sunday we woke up late & the girls didn't shower the night before. I threw them in the shower with me & everyone had their own shower head. 4 people showered in the amount of time it usually takes 1 person. It was amazing.
That's it. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Hope that those of you that kept asking for pictures are satisfied.

No More Chillin in Chile

Soon we'll be freezing in Minnesota... Twin Cities area. Any ideas for a new blog name?

Earthquake Preparedness

I've been thinking about this post for a long time. I was going to write it a year ago. Then I was going to write it on the 1 year anniversary of our 8.8 earthquake (February 27). Obviously that hasn't happened. But today, after reading about the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I decided it's past time. This picture is of the tsunami crashing into Japan this morning... it absolutely took my breath away when I first saw it... it reminded me so much of visiting a little town called Dichato last year after the tsunami... such devastation.

Hopefully you are already doing these things, but I wasn't. But since our earthquake, I have. They are now habit, part of my life. Hopefully I won't have such an experience again, but if I do I'll be better prepared.

• Keep slip-on shoes next to your bed at night.
• Keep your car at least 1/2 full of gas.
• Sleep in pj's (nothing like running outside in the middle of the night without them to convince you of the importance of this one... take my word for it).
• Keep a flashlight next to your bed.
• If you work out of the home, keep a 72 hour kit at your work (in addition to the one at home). If your car is unusable, the roads are bad, etc. you will be grateful for the extra supplies on your walk home.
• Talk with your children's school... see what measures they have taken to prepare for a disaster (my children's school has food to last weeks, as well as great emergency plans all in place. I have heard of parents filling a large plastic bin with emergency supplies for their children's classrooms as well).
• Keep your tent and sleeping bags near your 72 hour kits for easy access.
• Make sure every member of the family knows the basics of disaster safety.

My Morning

by Zack Ponczoch

Today was supposed to be the best day of my life.

My favorite football team played in the SUPER BOWL yesterday.

I ♥ the Green Bay Packers.

Since I spent all of Sunday studying my scriptures, I DVR'd the game so that I could watch the game on Monday morning.

I woke up at 4:30am.

Mommy had said there would be yummy food.

So excited. Football & Food.

The DVR didn't work.

So, so, so SAD

(I even spit a little)

To make matters worse, there was no yummy food so I had to eat my hand.

Then I found out that my team WON!!!

So, so, so HAPPY!

(this is really daddys story... mommy feels sad for him. he is handling it well though)