President's Day Weekend

Fun family weekend at a cabin in Ashton, ID.

For 4 days we played with all our Andrus Cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings. We played games, watched movies, ate lots of good food and played in the snow.
 

  

OUR VIEW

 

 Aunt Tina playing with the older girls.  She's their favorite!!

Sledding FUN!

We also had a game tournement with pool, ping-pong, and fooseball.  We all learned that Jenny is the MASTER at fooseball!!

Good food, Good Family, Good FUN!!  Let's do it again next year :)

Sledding Mishaps

We had two accidents during our Presidents Day Weekend.  Both on the same sledding hill.

The hill was pretty icy and most of the kids were loving it!  It was fast!  Lilli and her cousin Lilly were sledding together on the hill with Grandpa.  Lilly S. went down just a few seconds before our Lilli.  Lilly S. stopped or crashed and somehow got turned around backwards, just in time for our Lilli to run right into her, going extremely fast.  Sleds and faces hit just right.  Lilly S. had a minor concussion and couldn't remember much, and our Lilli got a nice big cut on her cheek and a pretty cute black eye.   Luckily Dr. Sewell is part of the family!  He had forgotten to pack his "Dr. bag" and so we drove to his office in Idaho Falls.  We had to put 3 stitches under Lilli's skin and 5 stitches on the top.  She looked pretty beat up in the end.

Then came the next day.  James decided to go down the hill.  Most of the time he just watched from the snowmobile or rode in the  trains, but finally he got brave to actually sled the hill!  He went down only a couple of times before his accident.  Then, when every one else was at the bottom of the hill loading up on the snowmobile to get hauled up the hill, James decides to come down by himself.  Luckily the snowmobile was not moving at the time, because James slid his sled right at the snowmobile and underneath before anyone saw him.   He suffered a cut lip and a few head bruises.  This time Uncle Lindsay (Dr. Sewell) had is bag with him.  We put James on the kitchen table and stitched him back together.  Three stitches in his lip.

 At this time I thought maybe we should just wrap everyone in bubble wrap!!

Three strikes in February

Well, they say everything comes in 3's.   Well, we hit our 3 in February with our home.

Strike 1 -
On a Monday night about 4 weeks ago we had a wonderful family night put on by Emily.  She used our large white board which was set up against our fireplace.  She did awesome.  We went to bed, awoke Tuesday morning and rushed out of the house.  Tuesdays are my work day, so we were all gone.  Casey came home for a late lunch.  He worked out in the garage and likes to open the house door to warm up the garage.  He ate, worked a little, and left.  The temperature in the house dropped just enough to turn on our fireplace.  I came home around 2:45.  As I got out of my car with my girls from school, we heard the fire alarm.  Fear entered my mind as I knew this was not the typical "I burnt dinner" fire alarm.  This was real!  I opened the door and and sure enough my home was full of smoke.  I ran in to find where the fire was.  I soon found the white board, leaning next to the flaming fire place.  I quickly kicked it off, thinking I was getting it away from the flames, then I thought "I just put something extrememly hot on my carpet!"  But I was too late, by the time I picked up the board I had already burned the carpet.  Knowing the house was not in danger, I quickly had my girls help open windows.  But the smoke was thick enough that they were all coughing and said their throats were burning.  We opened windows and left to let the house air out.
       DAMAGE:  Smoke damage through-out the upstairs, and burnt carpet that needs replaced
       BLESSINGS:  It could have been worse!  We didn't lose anything other then a white board.

Strike 2 -
The restoration team came in my home.  We had to leave for a day while they let the Ozo machines run in each room.  Then they cleaned everything from top to bottom.  The best spring cleaning ever! They even pulled out my refrigerater to clean behind it.  They did a great job.  However, by pulling out the refrigerator they accidentally knocked on the water which preceded to drip constantly down my wall behind the fridge.  After 4 days we began to notice our kitchen floor was warped.  Weird.  So we pulled out the fridge and found the leak!  Then we reallized our stinky family room carpet was also being flooded from this.  The smoked damaged carpet pad, with water on it really stunk!  We had to get fans in to dry out the floors and began to pull up our carpet. We now put all furniture in other areas of the house.
        DAMAGE:  Kitchen floor now needs to be replaced.
        BLESSING:  The kitchen and family room are connected.  This ment we could replace them both with wood flooring that would work better for the  wear and tear we put on carpet.  Also we found a blessing in that we found strike number 3......

Strike 3-
By tearing out the kitchen flooring we were able to find out what was under our floor.  For months we had a weird smell coming from the floor under our table.  It was different.  We weren't sure what it was, but we knew the only way to find out would be to tear up the whole thing.  We had a cheap laminate down that broke easily and we just knew if we tried to tear it out, we would break some and end up replacing the whole thing.  So, with the flood accident, we were able to tear it up and see what was there.  MOLD.  By our back door water had come in and begun to turn in to mold on the sub floor and baseboard.  So glad we found that and could take care of it!
       DAMAGE:  Back door needs to be re-insulated.  Boards need replaced
       BLESSING:  We found it!!!  It could have grown for a while and been worse.

We have literally spent the last month in construction zone!!  Crazy.  I would never recommend living in a house while building or remodeling, but what are you going to do??!!  So we live one :) I am finally seeing the light at the end of this tunnel.  Our new flooring is sitting in my living room and we will be able to put it in later this week.  And today I finished all the painting.  We are on our way.

In the mean time we had a fun presidents day weekend at a cabin with my family, had two different kids get stitches, our lambs we born - 2 sets of twins, and Ashlyn had a birthday.  Wow! I have some blogging to catch up on :)  

James' Birthday

My boy, my buddy, my favorite little guy is 5 years old!!  Wasn't he just born??? Seriously though, he is growing up to fast and I am trying to keep up.  James will always have a special place in my heart.  He is my youngest, he is my only boy, but he is also my buddy.  There is nothing I can do that would get James to not like me.  There are times I am frustrated with him, and he still wants a mom hug, or to sleep in my bed, or to play with me.  He loves me no matter what. 

James is a chatter box.  He is always talking to other people, telling stories, asking questions and saying, "When I was a baby...."  His memory is actually pretty amazing, but still he can make up a story about anything!

James loves anything electronic, movies, animals, tractors, super-heros, and his sisters.  He loves to play with Lilli, loves to be silly with Kailey, loves to play outside with Emily, and loves to take Ashlyn away from her school work to play cars/tractors with. 

James loves to eat....well, actually, not much!  He had a hard time picking his favorite dinner for his birthday because he could live on Chicken Nuggets, bread, eggs and sausage.  Yep.  Thats about it. 

He LOVES the color RED.  Everything he colors is red. Everything!  He only wears t-shirts with tractors, super-heros, or BYU/BSU on them.  And each day he puts on shorts.  Even if it is a blizzard outside.  He is just like his dad that way!  So if I need him to wear pants or a different shirt, we go through a lot of whining :)

Being a little social bug, James love to hang out with is cousins.  Wither it's on my work day, for pre-school, or on Sunday afternoons, he is always asking to see his friends.

Love this boy!!  Love his squishy cheeks!  Love his silly personality!  And Love that he is mine!

The New Year

Write more blogs. Serve more. Photograph more. 
Do something amazing. Take a family trip.
Challenge myself.  Learn more.  Teach more.

2015 is here!  I love love love new years.  They always feel so refreshing.  I know everyone talks about "new year resolutions." Some people really stick to their goals and others make them for the month of January/February and then the goals are forgotten and life continues with its business and noise.  I have been in the past, the one who gets busy and life takes over.  My goal for 2015 is to keep my goal!  So I have picked one word for my goals.  No deadlines, no percentages, no obligations that might make me feel I have lost and should just give up.  

Service

I have been thinking about this word for a long time.  I need to learn how to include more service in my life.  Service in my own home, service toward my siblings, service to my neighbors, and service in the church.  I want to open my heart and mind to more possibilities.  There are so many different ways to serve and not one way or one person does it right.  I can learn to serve in a ways that are in-line with who I am.  Use my strengths.  My talents.  And be willing to give up my time.

Healthy

I am done with watching scales, joining groups, and pinterest challenges.  My main goal for myself and my family is to be healthier.  I love to exercise!  But when I feel I HAVE to, I don't.  I am learning that I love the feeling of healthy exercise and eating, but I hate feeling like I have so many RULEs to follow - don't eat this or that, or exercise this many minutes, bla bla bla!  I know it sounds weird, but for the last month I have exercised more regularly by just saying "I enjoy physical movement!"  I want to include my kids in my physical activities as much as possible.  I cannot exercise while my kids are at home by themselves. I love being with them.  SO I will be including them or exercising in the early morning before they awaken.

So here is to 2015.  May it be the year I grow stronger through service and not through food!

Christmas fun

On the Monday before Christmas, we went over to Grandma's house for a talent show and gift exchange. Our family sang a different version of "Jingle Bells" that talked about Christ birth. During each verse of  "Jingle Bells" each person played a different instrument while the other people sang. Lillian and Ashlyn played  their violins, Kailey played her clarinet, and dad and I played the ukulele.

 On Christmas eve we had dinner and did a play of the nativity. The older kids were the narrator and the younger kids acted out the nativity. Kailey and I were narrators, Ashlyn was an angle, Lillian was an innkeeper, and James was a wise man. later that night Santa Clause came and let us sit on his lap and he gave us a treat. following Santa grandma gave us all of our gifts.

 

by Emily Mickelsen








       

Emily

It's birthday time again for my spunky, cute, active girl.  Emily turned 11 years old and is already counting down the days till she is 12 and can enter young womens and go to the temple.  But for now she is 11 and I will slow down time as much as possible!

Emily is a Type 3, push-forward, get-things-done kind of girl.  She is active and organized and very talkative.   I love all these things about her!  She has a secondary type 1 energy that keeps her happy and fun to be with.  She adds a lot to our family and keeps things interesting!

Sadly, Emily is probably the one child I get after the most.  And really, she is probably the most like me!  I think I see in her my own weaknesses at times, and I just want to fix them for her so she wont' have to deal with them like I have :)  But I guess it doesn't work that way.  I am working on just being there for her with an understanding ear, cause like me, she will want to work through things on her own and in her own way.  Love that about her, and I also struggle with that. :)

Emily loves gymnastics right now and is really doing great at it!  I love to watch her tumbling around each week at practice.  She learns well and quickly and pushes her self to succeed. 

Emily is a great friend to others and is always surrounded by friends.  She has a personality that attracts people and then she is a great example and friend.  She has surrounded herself by amazing friends that build her up and strengthen her.

Emily's testimony of the gospel is amazing!  She learns so quickly and is also quick to forgive.  I absolutely love this about her!!  She is quick when it comes to answering questions and she can really easily liken the scriptures to her and her life.

Simply stated, she is a blessing in our family and so much fun to be around.  I can tell that the Lord has plans for this girl.  She is preparing herself and is a force for good in the world, and I am proud to be her mom.