Category Archives: Children

Apr 23 2020

18 years

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18 years ago this little guy, not so little anymore, made me a mom! It was one of the best days of my life. When he was young he and I did everything together. He was my little buddy. He loved going on walks everyday with his mom. He loved waking up at 6 am to watch winnie the Pooh and Totoro. He has always been a smart kid. He learned to sing “I am a child of God” in Japanese by the age of 2. He has always been sensitive to others feelings and gets really concerned when someone isn’t feeling well or is sad.

 

 

 

 

Preston is a ham! He loves to make people laugh and have fun with them. He has a witty sense of humor. Preston is a good big brother to his little brother and sister. He is always there to help them out when they need him.

 

 

 

 

When we moved 5 years ago it was tough on Preston. He struggled finding his place. Eventually he fell in love with music and theater. He has been blessed with an amazing tenor voice. He often sits at the piano and plays a song to a broadway musical and sings. I love that!

 

 

Preston loves acting in his high schools plays and musicals. He usually gets the part that is hilarious. We love going and seeing him perform. The past few months have been a bummer like it is for most seniors. He was super bummed when their school musical was cancelled. He was going to play Donkey in Shrek the Musical.

 

 

 

 

Preston’s future is bright. He is planning on going to Idaho State University in the fall. He was able to get a 4 year academic scholarship full tuition. He is planning on being involved in the theater program there. I can’t wait to see him perform there. He is amazing and I hope he has very Happy 18th Birthday!

 

 

 

Mar 18 2020

Extended Spring Break!

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With the craziness that is happening lately I thought it would be good to keep track of what we are doing to keep busy. My kids school got cancelled yesterday for the COVID-19 pandemic. So far the plans for reopening are March 30th but who knows if we will actually send kids back by then. My mom who lives in Oregon told me their schools have planned to stay closed until April 28th! I choose to believe it’s an extended spring break for us in hopes that school will start up again by the end of the month.

This is what I’ve started to keep us busy. My kid’s first day without school was yesterday. I had them clean their bathroom and pick up their rooms. I spent the day scrubbing and oiling cabinets. That’s right we started spring cleaning a little early this year! I figured each day they are home we could do a little spring clean up and hopefully our home will be sparkling in time for them to get back to school. My kids aren’t excited about this little endeavor of mine but I figured it would be good for them to spend a couple hours cleaning instead of playing video games. Plus this will teach them to appreciate their home and maybe take better care of it. Who am I kidding they probably view it as slave labor.

Yesterday while doing the cabinets my back and wrist started hurting. I find that when I start a project I often overdue it and end up hurting myself because I don’t stop until it’s done. So today I enlisted the help from two of my three kids. We did something a little less intense. We cleaned all the doors in the house. It doesn’t seem like a lot but when you have 29 doors in the house it can be when you have to do it by yourself. Having my two helpers really made a difference.

The worse doors to clean were the doors to the outside. Go figure I mean that is where our homes meet the world right!? The interior doors were better and took less time to clean. To clean the doors all I used was a wash rag, bucket with hot water and some dish soap, and a magic eraser. The wash rag and soapy water help to get the dirt and grime off and the magic eraser is for the finger smudges and black marks. It takes a little elbow grease but we were able to accomplish the task in a little over an hour. It would have taken me twice as long by myself. Once we were done all the doors look amazing!

  • Finger print smudges Yuck!
  • All clean using a magic eraser!
  • Black marks on the doors
  • Black mark gone using magic eraser and elbow grease
  • cleaning supplies used for the doors
Dec 24 2018

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas from the Edwards

Merry Christmas! Usually I’m pretty good about getting Christmas cards out by the first week of December but not this year. I love getting Christmas cards each year from friends and family. I’ve noticed that over the years more and more people stop sending cards and I just couldn’t understand the reason for it. Well this year I fully understand. I didn’t get cards out this year. First issue we didn’t have a good picture to put on a card. Another issue my husband takes the pictures and I often need to wait for him to upload the pictures before making the cards. I’m still waiting on pictures for our Hawaii trip from June! Last issue, it gets busy this time of year and I totally get why people don’t spend the extra time on cards. I guess this is the alternative to a card this year. Hopefully next year we will be better.

Corey and I celebrated 19 years of marriage this year by going to Hawaii with my parents. This is my first visit to Hawaii and I fell in love with snorkeling. Throughout the year I’ve kept busy with various hobbies like, tennis, hiking, and sewing. Corey is still involved with the Bonneville County Search and Rescue. He has been an active member now for 9 years. Corey has also really enjoyed wood working the last couple of years. He has built many projects for me and a few furniture items for the home. His biggest project this year was building a podium for the Search and Rescue building.

Preston is now a Junior in High School. He is really involved with the music and drama program at Bonneville High School. The school has an amazing choral program and he enjoys being a member of the Bonnevaires. In the spring they went on tour to San Francisco. He is also in a smaller more elite group of apollo 6 a group of 6 young men who sing more barber shop style. This next year the choir is planning on going on tour to Seattle. He also participated in the Drama district competition where Bonneville High School took first place. He then was able to participate in state for his Musical theater ensemble. He’s a busy kid and we often don’t see him until late in the evening most school days.

Levi is now experiencing his last year in middle school. He enjoys playing the cello in his school’s orchestra. He also decided to stick with piano lessons one more year. He turned 13 this year and is looking forward to passing his mom up in height. He is only about a centimeter away! He just returned from a trip to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa Tiffany and 3 of his other 13 &14 year old cousins. He loves playing video games with his friends. To his mom and dad’s dismay he has also become an excellent flosser (not the teeth kind of floss but the dance from the game forte night).

Sophia started 5th grade this year. She is involved in the schools drama club. They are working on the lion king jr. musical. She is also taking piano lessons and enjoys trying to make up her own songs. She is always humming around the house often times Corey and I have to remind her that she is humming. She loves anything to do with animals and was able to participate in the the local junior zoo keeper program at the zoo this summer.

It’s been a crazy year and shows no sign of slowing down for the next year. We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Love, The Edwards

 

 

 

Feb 27 2017

Braces off!

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After 2 years and 4 months Preston is excited to announce that he finally got his braces off! I hope we get to see him smile a little more often now. He is excited to eat some of his favorite things he hasn’t been able to eat. Corn nuts is top on that list along with caramel and raspberries! While he had braces on he ate a lot of stuff he shouldn’t like popcorn and hard candies. I would catch him putting a hard candy in his mouth and he would always tell me “I’m just going to suck on it”. He is getting used to the slimy feeling of having the braces off. He hasn’t told any of his friends. He wants to see how many notice. Once he told me a friend of his got their braces off and he didn’t notice for three days until the friend pointed it out to him.

Before getting them off

After getting them off

Aug 29 2016

First Day of School 2016

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We did it! We survived the first day of school! All the kids had a good day at school and are excited to get the new year started. Now that it’s the end of the day we are all a little tired but in good spirits. Sophia started 3rd grade this year. I love this little girl. She always has a song in her head and a smile on her face. Levi started 6th grade. This is his last year of elementary school. This guy is my sensitive helper boy. He always knows just what I need and is willing to lend me a hand. Preston started his freshman year in high school. Today he was the one who was the most tired when he got home. He is a very bright boy and loves spending time with his friends. I love these kids of mine.

3rd grade

3rd grade

6th grade

6th grade

9th grade

9th grade

Aug 27 2016

The Week Before School Goal 10

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The week before school goal 10: Since today is the last day of summer vacation our goal is to have some fun. We usually go to a drive in theatre but the movies playing tonight aren’t really kid friendly. So we will try a matinee at the local theatre. Our goal is to spend time with the kids and enjoy freedom for a day.

Aug 26 2016

The Week Before School Goals 8 & 9

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The week before school Goal 8: As I’ve said before I’m not a morning person so making a big nutritious breakfast for my kids before school is not on my mind in the morning. Usually it’s cold cereal. I like to make some things to go into the freezer to give a kids a better option for breakfast. Yesterday I made some french toast sticks. I get the big texas toast and make french toast than cut them into strips. I’ll freeze them so then my kids in the morning can just grab a few and stick them in the microwave and wallah yummy breakfast. Today I’m making breakfast burritos. These freeze really well. It takes about a dozen scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, & cheese. I’ll scramble the eggs until they are just a little runny and then layer in a tortilla egg, hashbrown, bacon, and cheese. Roll them up and wrap them in saran wrap put them in a ziplock freezer bag and put them in the freezer. To heat them up we just unwrap them stick them on a plate and microwave for 2 mins turning half way through. I also made chocolate chip cookie dough this week and portion it out and froze that for the after school snacks.

french toast sticks for breakfast

french toast sticks for breakfast

Cookies for snack

Cookies for snack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week before School Goal 9: Haircuts! I usually cut my kids hair at the beginning of summer and then let it grow all summer. By the time school starts they all really need a good haircut. I’ll probably take Sophia to a salon to get hers done because I’m not that familiar with cutting girls hair. The trick for this goal to be accomplished is convincing my boys that they need a haircut. My 14 year old is going to be especially tricky. Did I mention that I hate cutting hair and getting it all over and having to clean it up? Another reason this is going to be a difficult one to accomplish.

Aug 25 2016

The Week Before School Goal 6 & 7

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Goal number 1 is still as tough as ever. It’s probably the toughest thing for me during the school year. I just can’t wake myself up! Anyway still have the same problems as before. Yesterday’s shopping was as horrific as I thought it would be. By the end of the day we were all tired and cranky. Next year the oldest is going to go with his dad. He’s the one I had the most trouble with. Can you believe that? My 14 1/2 year old was the worst. It doesn’t help that he hates shopping and didn’t want to be there in the first place. I’ve tried shopping for him before and just bringing something home but that doesn’t work either. He’ll usually complain about how it fits and then never wear it. He has to be there as painful as it is for the both of us. Anyway, that goal is done and I shouldn’t have to do that again until next year.

The first week of school goal #6: Today we have a big goal to obtain. It’s something that I usually do at the end of the school year but I just kept putting it off and here we are it has to be done now. It’s cleaning up all the old papers and clutter from the last year of school. My kids have some baskets that I let them put their school papers in. Throughout the year we’ll sift through them and throw away anything not worth saving. I can’t tell you how many times this has saved us with Levi and missing assignments. Before school starts the next year we clear out the baskets and make room for the new year. I swear my kids alone bring home enough papers each year to kill a forest. Here is a picture of what we have to deal with today.

Sophia's dresser

Sophia’s dresser

Sophia's basket

Sophia’s basket

Levi's dresser and basket

Levi’s dresser and basket

Levi's shelf

Levi’s shelf

As you can see we have our work cut out for us. I’ll try and take pictures when we are all done so you can see the results. It’s crazy how it only takes a short amount of time before it’s out of control. I know the kids are going to hate doing this but they’ll appreciate it when it’s nice and tidy (at least I hope they do) One way a child learns best is in a clean and uncluttered environment. I’m just prepping them for homework later right?

 

 

The first week of school goal #7: Tonight we have Back to School Night for the elementary kids. So we are going to tackle all those school supplies. We went school supply shopping back in July before our trip to Oregon. I had to stop by the store yesterday because I needed a few last minute items. Don’t you love it when they change the school supply list the week before school starts?! We’ll get them all organized and ready to take to the school tonight so we can drop them all off. The kids will also get to meet their teachers tonight. As much as I don’t like back to school night I think it’s great for my kids. It helps them get familiar with the environment and ease some of their night before school starts jitters.

Aug 24 2016

The Week before school Goal 5

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Goal number 1 is going to be the death of me this week. I actually woke up before my alarm because of the smell of smoke from the fire burning in the hills. Getting out of bed though was a joke this morning. Even my normally chirpy 3rd grader had a difficult time. She eventually climbed into bed with me which made it even harder to wake up. We eventually got out of bed at 7:00. We would never make it to the bus stop on time if we kept doing that. My oldest, however, had an easier time getting up. I woke him up around 7:05 and he was up eating breakfast less than five minutes later. I’m not sure I’ll ever win this battle but hopefully it’ll get easier.

The week before school Goal 5: Today I have activity days at my house so we can’t really get going until after lunch. Remember Goal number two? We made room for new clothes. Today is the day to go and get those new clothes. One thing I like to do is go to any websites of places I plan to go to and download any coupons that we could use. It’s expensive to buy new clothes for the kids and any kind of break I can get I’ll take. Shopping is not my favorite thing to do especially with three children in tow. As my kids have gotten older it becomes easier in some ways and harder in others. Easier because they are more well behaved harder because they have become more picky on what they want to wear. I may need a long nap by the time the day is over. Wish me luck!