The Land of Oz: January

Already I'm starting 2017 by getting behind in blogging. I'm trying. I really am and I am determined to keep up this year if it's the last thing I do.

January was a good month--it seemed to go by in a flash but also dragged on forever. The dragging on was mostly because the month after Christmas about kills us financially. We overspent at Christmas (again!) and that combined with Kalen getting his monthly paycheck before Christmas makes January a tough month to get through because no matter how much I say that we won't touch his paycheck until January, we always have it halfway spent by then and then it's really challenging to get through the whole month on half a paycheck. I am really excited though about a class that Kalen and I are taking together. Our stake is one of only a few that are trying out a new program put on by the church. There are a few different self reliance classes that people can take like improving employment opportunities or education opportunities or business development. The class we are taking is about finances. At first I didn't really want to do it. I've budgeting for years and we've been working on Dave Ramsey's baby steps for forever. I didn't feel like I would learn anything in this class that I didn't already know. But we decided to go ahead with it anyway and it has been pretty awesome. I really haven't learned anything I didn't know so far but the way it is laid out and the method of handling things like the budget, etc. is amazing. For the first time really ever, Kalen is as invested in the budget too. That has probably made the biggest difference--having him as involved in the process as I am so he knows exactly where we are financially as well. The other thing that helps is that we are logging our income and expenses daily instead of weekly or monthly. It makes it so much easier to keep on top of things and to know exactly how much we've spent or earned. It's such a little thing but it's making a huge difference. So anyway, it's a 12 week commitment which is kind of big, but we're learning a ton and I'm more hopeful that we'll one day see the end of our debt than I ever have been before.

I love my kids and their fun personalities. Kaya's little disguise as an old judge was just too cute.

We got to celebrate Lynnsey's 14th birthday! She is just growing up to be such a beautiful girl. Like seriously, sometimes I look at her and just about panic thinking about all the boys that are going to be falling for her (and hopefully getting their hearts broken!). Lynnsey is super excited about this birthday because it means that she is finally old enough to go to stake dances and activities and youth conference. Kendall has said that he'll take his role of big brother seriously and make sure that she has to dance every single dance!

So last summer, Spencer had earned $20.00 from my mom by picking up sticks all over her yard before Kendall could mow. It was hard work and took a long time and he was thrilled with that giant paycheck. When we went to the zoo one day (while Lynnsey was still in New Jersey with cousins), we visited the gift shop just to look around. Spencer found this adorable stuffed red panda and he said "Lynnsey would LOVE this!" It was true. She would love it. But the price was prohibitive--about $20.00. We looked at a few other things but Spencer kept coming back to the panda and he finally said that he wanted to buy it for Lynnsey for her birthday. I actually tried to talk him out of it knowing that it would take pretty much his entire earnings for him to buy that for her. I even tried to get him to buy it for himself. But he insisted and it was his money, so I let him do what he wanted with it. He got it home and kept it hidden in his room for the next 5 months. And he was so excited the closer Lynnsey's birthday got. I think in some ways he was more excited about that then he was about Christmas. We let his gift be the last and best of her gifts. She loved it and Spencer has just felt so proud of himself for choosing such a special gift for her. I just love that he loved his big sister enough to do so much for her! They don't always have the greatest relationship but it makes me so happy when I see them doing things like this for each other.

Kendall made Lynnsey's amazingly delicious birthday cake this year. I am so happy to have a kid who loves to bake and who is so good at what he does.

He also made some delicious cupcakes for a baby shower that I had to go to.

One day I pulled out a new gallon of milk from the fridge and happened to look at the expiration date and I realized that Taylor would be home before the milk went bad! (Not that milk ever goes bad in this house--we drink it way before that would happen).

We also got the news recently that my sister Susannah is getting remarried this summer. She asked some of the nieces to be a part of her wedding. Lynnsey gets to a bridesmaid and Kaya gets to be a flower girl. We got Kaya's dress already and she is beyond thrilled with it. It is a beautiful dress. And the awesome thing is that it'll be perfect for our Lord of the Rings Halloween theme this year. Kaya wants to be Galadriel so this will be great! Now we're still hunting for a bridesmaid dress for Lynnsey but that one is proving to be much harder to find.

I belong to a Missionary Moms Facebook page and sometimes I crack up at things people post and how they tend to go so overboard. Every so often people will post pictures of their missionaries bedrooms that they have gotten ready for their return home. They'll show how they painted and bought new furniture or how they made a quilt made out of pictures from their child's mission or all of their mission ties, etc. So I thought it would be funny to show my missionary's "bedroom"! Since Kendall has taken over Taylor's room and has no intention of moving out again, we have to have Taylor bunk in with Spencer on an air mattress on the floor! I should post that on the Facebook page!

Taylor got to wrap up his mission with some really fun experiences. On his last P-day, he got to go to St. George and spend a couple of hours with Paul Anderson and Jeremy Crawford from The Piano Guys! They had a ball visiting with them and sharing mission stories.

And finally January 25th was here and it was time for Elder Oswald to return home! It was so surreal! It seemed crazy that two years went by that fast. But it was so, so, exciting!

We made sure to leave in plenty of time to allow for any traffic delays. There weren't any traffic delays so we wound up getting to the airport very early and had a lot of time to kill. Better early than late though! We kept checking the arrival board to see if his plane had landed yet. And we wandered around and talked and watched other people arriving.

And finally, his plane was listed as arriving.

We lined up with our banner that the kids and their cousins had colored over Thanksgiving break and watched for him to come through the doors. Finally some people who had been on the flight with him came through and said "He's coming, he's coming!" and "You have a great son!" And then the doors opened and there he was!

I think there is some unspoken rule that says the mom gets to have the first hug. But I think the little sister was even more excited for his return than I was and Kaya ran straight for him. That was almost sweeter than my own hug!