The light at the end of a long tunnel......

Wow! I can't believe the time has finally come. I have been a senior at the University of Utah for 15 years. I have always wanted to finish up. Kids, moving around and money have always played a role in my schooling. In a week and a half I will be done with my BS degree. Now, I finally feel like I can see the light at the end of a tunnel.

One day, I will go back and get a masters degree. School is important. I want my boys to understand that education is a must. I hope they understand how important it is to work hard and go to college.

Wow! I still can't believe it is almost over. I am a little excited and very grateful.

December 30th, skiing at Alta

I thought it might be nice to take the boys up for a few runs up at Alta. It was our first time out this season. I decided to take advantage of Alta's "Ski Free After 3" deal. Ha ha ha.....it was an adventure. We left our house at 2 and did not get home until 9:30 that night. When we got to the mountain and read to hit the slopes, Spencer found out his boot would not click into his bindings. So that cute little smile on his face in the picture didn't last too long. I told him that there wasn't time for us to take his boot and ski's to the shop to get fixed. By the time it would get fixed, it would be time to go home. So we told Tanner to take off and get as many runs in as he could before we had to go. Spencer and I made our way back to the car and loaded up our stuff. A huge storm had hit and the snow was come down fast and heavy. I started to worry about Tanner being out there a lone. He found us and we decided to leave right away to beat the traffic. But everyone else had the same idea. 45 minutes into our ride home we had only gone 3/4 of a mile! It was dark and the snow kept on falling. Suddenly, to make the trip even more fun, the car died. I couldn't get it started again. Some nice guy tried to jump start the battery but it didn't work. We had to leave the car on the side of the road in a snow drift. A sheriff came by to help us. He told me that he could get us to a ski bus to get us down to the bottom of the mountain. We had to get our car towed before 10pm or it would be impounded. My cell phone battery died and I had no way to call Tom. He was at work and I don't know his work # because it has always been in my cell. I quickly realized there are only a handful of numbers I know. The sheriff let me use his phone and I called my mom. She told me not to worry and that she would get a hold of Tom. The sheriff got us on a nice and warm UTA ski bus. We sat in the very back, the only few spots available. The boys were starving. A nice grandpa and his grandson were on the bus and shared some oranges with the boys. We got to know them quite well. The bus ride was a 3.5 hour bus ride. Another gal and her daughter sat by us as well. Spencer made 2 new friends and had fun playing with them. Tom met us at the bottom of the canyon and we got home nice and safe. The lovely tow company charged us $300!!!! But it was a nice adventure. Now I know that I will always have a PBJ and some healthy snacks in my back pack even if we are only skiing for a short time as well as have my cell phone fully charged!

Temple Square

We made it to temple square this Christmas season to see the lights. We made the mistake of going on the last Monday before Christmas. It seems almost all the families in Salt Lake County had made the same plans for FHE as we did. It was really crowded and so cold! We went with the Strickler family and Joe and Joy's family. We had a great time.

Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas Eve. I got up early this morning and made sugar cookies and fudge to give to neighbors, Tom's home teaching families and my visiting teaching sisters. We have a full day planned. It is the last day to prepare for Christmas. Our Christmas shopping is all done. This evening we have a family Christmas party. The kids are putting on a little Christmas pageant and opening gifts from grandparents. Tomorrow we are hosting Christmas dinner.

Below are pictures of Tanner and Spencer that we used on our Christmas cards this year.

We procrastinated so long this year that I had to take the pictures myself. I took the pictures right by our mailbox. The snow was softly coming down. It was great.

Merry Christmas everyone! Our Savior Jesus Christ lives. He knows us by name. He loves us.

The Christmas Tree Is Up!

Typically, in our home we have our tree up and decorated by the first Monday of December. Since Tom's promotion at work, he has been working longer hours. Tanner seems to have YM, basketball practice, home work group or school activity each night of the week. Spencer has a reading class and basketball practice as well. So it is hard to get us all together one night to do our family activity. Our Christmas Tree went up in phases this year. One day while Tom was at work and the boys were at school I pulled the tree and decorations out of storage. The boxes sat in the family room for 5 days before I had a chance to get the tree out of the box, set up and branches arranged. Spencer was so anxious to get the tree decorated. Tom and Spencer got the lights working on the pre-lit tree. I love the tree when the lights are working. But that is a story for another time. One night when Tom and Tanner were at scouts, Spencer and I decorated the tree. I put the hooks in the ornaments and Spencer decorated the tree. It took us an hour. Once he was done it was time for bed. Tom and Tanner came home and giggled when they saw the tree. I looked up and realized I hadn't help Spencer put any of the ornaments on. He reached as high as he could and managed to get the lower 3/4 of the tree decorated. I wish I would have taken a picture of that. Tom and Tanner helped get the top part of the tree decorated. This year was Spencer's turn to put the angel on the tree. He was really excited. Last year we got a new angel and the boys thought it was so cool. Spencer climbed on Tom's shoulders and got the angel on top. I am so glad it is up. It seemed like it was a lot more work to get it done this year. But it is so nice to have that extra Christmas spirit a tree brings into your home. We have been working diligently as a family and individually to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Our stake president challenged each of us at the first part of November to set this goal. He said if we did, we would have the best Christmas ever. I don't think that means we will have the biggest Christmas ever. I think it means we will all have a better understanding of the spirit of Christmas. I pray that we can accomplish this goal as a family and as individuals. It has been fun for me to see the boys reading and marking their scriptures. Hopefully this weekend, we get to Temple Square to see the lights.

Way too long!!

It has been way too long since my last post!! Since last May so much has happened. We had a wonderful summer. It was busy but wonderful to have the time and opportunity to spend with family and friends.

Tanner is now in 9th grade and will be 15 this month. He is working diligently to get his Eagle before he turns 15. As soon as his project is approved he will complete his project and be done. He is playing jr. jazz this year. In school he is taking Chinese and has been really excited about that class. He found that he loves geography. He also does very well in biology and English. He is a social butterfly and calls everyone that says hi to him a friend. He is a good boy. He is so helpful around the house and a patient big brother. His favorite activity this summer was the week he spent at BYU for EFY. He said "It was the best week of my life!"

Spencer is now in 3rd grade. He has enjoyed school so much this year. He had to miss a couple of weeks the first month of school to get his tonsils out. He did well but then had problems with some post-operation bleeding and had to stay home an extra week. We were worried he would have to go back in for surgery again, but so thankful he did not. Spencer's favorite subject is now reading. He recently played the part of John Adams at school. He loves to read just like Tanner and his dad. Spencer loves books about the Titanic, tornadoes, volcanoes and glaciers. He also loves Star Wars Legos. Some how he has managed to become a BYU fan. I'm not sure how this happened since our entire family cheers for the team in red. But we still love him.

Tom is a director for Stevens Henager College. He has been working their since March and really likes his job. In his spare time he enjoys being with family and friends. He loves to read. He mostly reads history books and political books. He has a side business with his best friend Nathan, sourcing and producing projects for their clients.

As for me (Kim), I am no longer a Lope (Antelope, the GCU mascot) working for GCU. One day corporate flew in and decided to close the Utah office down. It happened fast. I was shocked, hurt and then a little angry. It is hard to find closure when you don't have the opportunity to say good-bye to so many people you saw every day. Now I am ok. I feel blessed that they are still providing me with a scholarship to complete my schooling. I will graduate in May. Then I will continue on and get my master's degree. Right now I am home. It has been an adjustment to go from a working mom to a stay at home mom. For my own sanity I will need to get at least a part-time job. I thought by staying home I would get home work done and have all this free time. Well I still have daily house cleaning tasks, but there are always so many projects that need to be taken care of. It seems I was better at getting my home work done when I was busier. But I am thankful to be home during the holidays.

Jobs are scary right now. I lost my job, two weeks later my younger brother Matt lost his job. He was blessed and got a job right away plus a nice severance package. My brother-in-law just found out last Thursday that this coming Friday would be his last day. His company his going under. He has only been with that company for 2 months so he will not be getting a severance package. Please keep him and my sister in your prayers.

Tanner aka Jiffy...................

Tvyea posing after the play

Last month Tanner starred in Channing Hall's school play Fiddler on the Roof. He played the part of Tvyea. First, we had no idea he could sing. It was quite impressive to see him in the spot light and hear him sing. He has a cute personality. It was really a lot of fun for us to see. I don't mean to brag but really, he did well.

Tanner is the 3rd one from the end

Tanner also graduated from Channing Hall this year. He will complete his 9th grade year at Summit Academy. He chose this school because he really wants to get his Chinese back. At Summit he will be able to study Chinese. Leaving Channing Hall was hard. They had a small class. So they were really close and have cute friendships. I love all of Tanner's friends. He actually goes by "Jiffy" at school. It used to drive me crazy, but I am okay with it now. His 6th grade teacher gave him this nick name. Tanner wore a Jiffy Lube hat to orientation. There happen to be 2 Tanner's in the class. So Mr. Worthley started calling Tanner "Jiffy" and it stuck. In fact when Tanner's name on the play program's said "Tvyea played by ...Tanner "Jiffy" Martin", everyone kept saying, "What, your name isn't Jiffy?"

Maddie, Tanner and Lauren

This is it for tonight. I have some fun stories about Spencer to post a little bit later.