Blowin' in the Wind

Hooray! The windmill is finally up and operational! It's been almost a year since we started digging the trench for this windmill project. As always seems to happen, this project turned into a BIG project that took a lot longer to finish than we anticipated. (Read about the beginning of our project here.)

Brian made the changes required by the electric company on the disconnect switch, so we had the "all clear" to get it up and running. Here it is all ready to be lifted into place:

(Fortunately it was a fairly windy day for the initial test!)

Brian hooked up the hydraulic hoses to the Skid Steer...

... and up it went! (Love how well this design works -- I'm still amazed by it!)

Then he had to finish lowering it the last few inches and bolt the tower into place on the base.

Looking straight up -- 75 feet!

After an initial warm-up period, it started spinning! We watched our electric meter go backwards at times.

And, finally, for those who are interested in some of the technical details, Brian had me take pictures of the junction boxes:

The only bad thing about launch day was that Brian's dad couldn't be here to see it all happen. He put a lot of time and effort and know-how into this project with Brian -- we couldn't have done it without him!

So Happy

I'm so proud of my Hannah this morning.

This morning was the "Academic Pep Rally" at the elementary school. They have one at the end of each grading period to recognize the honor roll and give out a few other awards. Hannah was so excited this morning on the way to school and couldn't wait to get there. She told me she really hoped she got the "Miss Manners" award for 3rd grade. (They choose one boy and one girl from each grade who have the best manners in the cafeteria and hallways. The winners get to go to lunch in town with the principal.)

Well, she was recognized for the "A" Honor Roll, but she didn't win "Miss Manners" for 3rd grade. However, Courtney did win "Miss Manners" for 1st grade. I was worried that Hannah would be disappointed or upset that Courtney won but she didn't, so I found her after the assembly. I wasn't sure if I'd find her in tears, but she had a big smile on her face and just said "Mom, I'm so happy for Courtney!"

I'm so happy too.

Pumpkins of the Past

Blogging about our family pumpkin this week made me reminisce a bit about some of our past family pumpkins. So I thought it would be fun to go back and look at the pictures we took...

2001 -- The first year we carved a family pumpkin

2003

2004

2005 (only got the kids this year and not the whole family)

2006

2007

2008

2009 (you just saw this one, but I'll put it again here!)

You'll notice the only year missing is 2002. Apparently we didn't do a pumpkin this year -- I guess it wasn't much of an engrained tradition at that point and probably had something to do with the fact that I looked like this:

But at least the kids managed to get dressed up for Halloween that year:

Pumpkin FHE

For several years now, we've kept a family tradition of carving a family pumpkin on the Monday before Halloween for FHE (you can see at least 2007 and 2008 in the archives here). So this past Monday, we pulled out the pumpkin and the carving knives once again.

Dad is the head pumpkin carver, but he has lots of willing helpers (and Mom is officialy photographer). First job is to scoop out the insides. The girls were excited to help, but not making a lot of progress. Two seeds at a time would make for a long night!

So I got to take over the scooping job while the kids worked on the face design. Dad might be the carver, but the kids are the designers. We had them each draw their idea on a piece of paper and then we all picked which parts we'd use -- McKay's mouth, Courtney's nose, Hannah's eyebrows, etc. Then the kids are very watchful to make sure Dad does it right!

(Hayley's the only one paying attention to pose, but wow! look at that dirty window! Actually I think Courtney "cleaned" it for me not too long ago...)

(I have to include this picture because I thought it was funny and it illustrates one of Hannah's habits that is driving me nuts. Do you see that little tongue of hers just looking for some hair to chew on? Aargh! She has already chewed enough of her hair off that we had to layer it (it used to be all one length) -- I hope she outgrows this habit soon!)

The kids also wanted to try their hand at carving. McKay took over the mouth -- and the whole time he was carving, he kept making comments about how he wasn't going to repeat his mishap of last year.

Hannah & Courtney also got to try a little bit of carving with Dad's expert help.

Hayley with our finished pumpkin!

Then of course we have to test him out with a candle and the lights off.

The final part of the tradition is to take pictures with the pumpkin -- first with just the kids...

...then the whole family!

Fun times!

Almost There!

Brian has been making a big final push to get our windmill up and functional before the colder weather really sinks its teeth in (we have already had several chilly days as it is).

A while ago, he built the support to help hold up the tower when it is lowered, then in the past week he has been finishing up stringing wires through all the conduits. First, McKay helped him string wires through the tower itself.

Can you tell a storm was moving in?

Even Hannah got to help for a bit by holding the spool at the base.

This this past weekend, he got the turbine and blades installed and hooked up.

Finally, today, he had Brandon help him pull wires through the conduit from the tower to the house -- they gave their arm muscles a good workout!

The electric company came by this afternoon and had one concern about the disconnect (they were going to have to check on what the specific regulations are), but other than that, told us everything looked great. Hopefully it will be up and blowin' in the wind soon! I'm still so amazed by what he has accomplished with this project!

Girl's Getaway - "Wicked" Weekend!

Several months ago, my sister and her daughter were able to go see the touring Broadway production of "Wicked" in Salt Lake City. Afterward, they found out it would be playing in Denver in October and since we have another sister that lives in the Denver area, we decided to make it a girls-only occasion!

We got our tickets and waited all summer. It's always lots of work to get away for a few days, but so much fun. Brian was a great sport about letting me go and having to get the kids off to school by himself for a couple of days. (Although he did say he wasn't quite up to fixing the girl's hair in the morning!)

Our tickets were for a Thursday evening production -- front row balcony seats! I arrived Wednesday morning and got to hang out with my sister Amy and her cute daughter Emma for a bit. By Thursday morning, we had all arrived at Amy's house -- my mom, my sister Sandra and her daughter Kelsey, and my sister Malinda. We originally bought 8 tickets, thinking my sister-in-law Sarah would be able to come (so sad she couldn't!) and one for Amy's husband (but he decided he didn't want to be the only guy around), so Amy invited a couple of her friends to come with us.

It was a fabulous evening! Started off with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory:

Here I am with my big sis Sandra at dinner (those mirrors made for difficult pictures!):

Then we walked a few blocks down to the theater. We looked for a poster or something to take pictures, but all we could find initially was this little marquee in the lobby with the names of the cast. This is me and my little sis Amy (our fabulous hostess):

And here we all are! My Mom and her four daughters (from left: Amy, me, Mom, Malinda, Sandra).

And the show was just FABULOUS! I loved, loved it. The performers were fantastic, the set and costumes were gorgeous, the music was beautiful and the story had a great message. I was not familiar with the storyline or any of the music beforehand other than it was a story about the witches from "The Wizard of Oz." I know this Broadway version is fairly different from the book (which I've been told not to read) and that it was written to "fit in" with the original "Wizard of Oz" story, but I'll never watch "The Wizard of Oz" the same again!

On our way out of the theater, we finally found a poster for some more pictures!

Here is our entire group! From left: My mom, Amy's friends Jenny & Michelle, Amy, Malinda, Kelsey, Sandra and me!

And in addition to the fabulous night out, it was great to just spend some time with my mom and sisters (and nieces) for a bit, even if it was a short visit.

I even managed to squeeze in a short sewing lesson with Amy and helped her hem one of Emma's dresses. Yay Amy!

And of course we had time for lots of stories with cute little Emma!

I had to hurry back Friday evening so I could be here for our Primary practice and program, but I'm so glad I was able to go. I don't know how long it will be until we can have another getaway, but I can't wait! (And I'm already checking into whether "Wicked" is coming to a city near me -- yeah, I know it won't be Amarillo, but maybe Dallas?? -- I want to take Brian!)

Lift Up Your Voice and Sing

Last Sunday was our Primary Sacrament Meeting program at church. I have been thinking about it a lot since then, so I thought I'd just share a bit. I've been serving in Primary pretty much since we moved here (over a year ago), but in August, I was called to serve as the Primary President. I absolutely love Primary and am so grateful for the chance I have to work with these kids. This new calling has been a bit overwhelming at times and not without challenges, but I love it.

The theme for Primary this year is "My Eternal Family." Since we have a relatively small Primary (just under 50 kids), every child got a speaking part in the program (except for our little Sunbeams who got to sing a song together). McKay even had a couple of different speaking parts. Hannah, Courtney and Hayley all memorized theirs (and Hannah and Courtney had fairly long ones) -- and they all spoke loud and clear and made me so proud. All of the kids did great! (But note for next year -- the Spanish translator wished he had a copy of the program to make his translating easier!)


Leading up to the program, I was a little worried about a couple of the songs, but as usual, the kids came through fabulously! It just warmed my soul to hear them sing their hearts out.

The first song in our program was one of the new ones we learned this year. It is called "The Family is of God." It has four verses and lots of words to get in (one of the songs I was worried about!) so by the time we had practiced it and practiced the kids knew that chorus. While they might have missed a word here or there in the middle verses, they came in loud and strong on the chorus. It has been in my head all week.

God gave us families
To help us become what he wants us to be.
This is how He shares His love,
For the family is of God.

(If you want to hear it, click here and then click on the MP3 Music & Voice icon for "The Family is of God")

I love the simple truths that are in Primary songs. I love the simple and sincere testimonies that come from the hearts of these little ones. I am so grateful to have four choice spirits in my own eternal family. Many days I feel discouraged and lacking in my abilities as a mother and panicked about the things I'm not doing or teaching that I should be. But when I hear their little voices singing out these words, I know that I'm doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do, even if I'm not doing it perfectly. I love my eternal family!

Books and More Books

A while ago I finally decided I needed to start a "TBR" list -- you know, books "to be read" someday. When I heard about a good book, I didn't want to forget it the next time I was looking for books to put on hold at the library. So I made a list of a few books. Then I started to read a little more, and got some more recommendations, and found some book review blogs with tastes similar to mine, and now I think my TBR list is out of control. I don't think I'll ever catch up, but at least I should always have something to read!

Sometimes I'm still surprised with this new reading hobby of mine. I have certainly not always been an avid reader. It's not that I hated reading -- it's just something I rarely made time for. Even throughout all those years before the kids came along, I hardly ever read for fun. And then after the kids came, I used to always ask people, "How in the world do you have any time for reading?" I read a book here or there -- I finally started Harry Potter after the 4th or 5th book was released -- but it was definitely not something I'd consider one of my hobbies.

Fast forward to about a year ago -- my friend Emily had been trying to convince me to participate in the small Relief Society book club. I finally did (see my post here), and the rest, I guess, is history! Now I find that I cannot get enough of these books and stories. And I find that, as with so many things, I can make the time for it if I really want to!

I was thinking the other day about some of the odd little tidbits I've noticed about myself and my reading -- my "confessions" as a reader:

• I have a bad habit of skipping ahead in the story -- sometimes all the way to the ending! I'm trying hard to stop doing this so I don't always ruin all the surprises for myself, but sometimes I just can't help it. I notice it most often when I am in the middle of a very engaging, suspenseful story that I need to put down for the moment, but I just have to know what's going to happen, so I'll skip ahead a bit to see if I can find out if everything works out okay. Bad habit, I know.
  
• I hardly ever sit and curl up on the couch or lay in bed to read. For some reason, this makes me feel more guilty about all the things I'm currently not doing. Instead, you will probably find me reading standing at my kitchen island counter or once in a while sitting at the kitchen table. (Plus, it's easier to appear like I'm being productive when somebody walks in on me.)



(This is a really bad picture, but all I had!)

• I tend to learn towards young adult (YA) and even middle-grade books (they're usually "cleaner" and they tell fun stories) -- especially fantasy and fairy tales. I also tend to lean towards what could probably be called "fluff" books -- they are quick, easy reads that I enjoy. But I'm trying to incorporate more books with "substance."


• As soon as I'm finished with a book, I immediately go back and re-read my favorite parts. (And yes, I admit it -- often these parts are the sweet romantic moments...) I usually do this repeatedly for as long as the book is sitting on my counter!


• I can read fast and frequently finish books in a day. (Not that much else gets done on those days...)


• It seems like I always have a book or two "on hold" at the library waiting to be picked up (sometimes they're books for me and sometimes they're for the kids). I love the library and most of the librarians know us by name now! (I just wish sometimes there was a larger circulation, but it's still great!)

I'm still working on balancing all these books with the rest of my life -- some days I do better at that than others (as my family will tell you). But I'm also excited to have some fun stories to look forward to reading! So if you have a favorite or two to add to my list, I'd love to hear about them. (One of the book review blogs I recently found and really like is this one.)

And I'll end by sharing just a few that I've read recently that have been added to my favorites:

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (second book of The Hunger Games)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Happy reading!

Warriors

Hannah's latest obsession is a series of books called "Warriors" -- about these clans of cats out in the wild. I have not read any of them yet, but she has just practically inhaled these books -- she read all 18 of the "regular" books (divided into three "mini" series) and now she's reading one of the "super editions". It's the last one our library has available, so I don't know what we're going to get her to read when she's finished with it. She's convinced herself that these are the only books she likes.

In a way, it's been really good for her -- they are the first chapter books she's really gotten into where she can't read the whole thing in one sitting and has to stick a bookmark in it. The reading level is about where she should be reading. But on the other hand, she stays up late almost every night trying to read in the dark (she lays at the end of her bed and tries to use light from the family room to see). And according to her teacher, she hurries through her work at school just so she can get back to reading (she even got a discipline warning once for not paying attention because she wouldn't stop reading).

She's been convinced the author (Erin Hunter) is the most amazing author in the whole world. She was quite surprised to find out that Erin was a girl. And she was even more surprised to find out (after being assigned a special author research project by her teacher) that Erin Hunter is actually a pseudonym for three different authors!

She found the Warrior Cats Web site and has been playing the games and making everyone in the family take the "Find out Your Warrior Clan" quiz and learning your new Warrior Name (mine is "Fuzzyfire"). One day while looking around the Web site, she came across a little story written in script format. She printed it out, recruited Courtney, assigned parts (they each played 5-6 different parents), made scenery and put on a little performance for us!

Here they are with their scenery -- a forest and a river (plus some sort of bush made out of the blanket).

The girls just read their lines, but they were both quite dramatic about it! Very cute.

So if anybody has any suggestions for what I can get this girl to read next, I'm all ears!