painting

paint booth

inside the paint booth

Ryan loves to do. He is a guy that always has something on his list to get done. He is still working on my dining room built-ins. We ran wires on Friday. There will be lights on the top shelves switched in with the over head light. Yesterday we sanded, caulked, and cleaned. After the afternoon session of conference Ryan donned his painting gear and sprayed a second coat of primer. I can't wait for the project to be finished!! Not only will it look fantastic but it will also give us our dining room back. We current have quiet a barricade up to block the children from entering.

dining room

Ryan is building a window seat with extra storage. I think it is going to look great. We want our house to have a standing chance at selling whenever that comes around. So our house has to compare to all the exact same houses in the neighborhood. We hope this helps. We are going to paint it white. The only problem currently is the chair rail. We had a black chair rail all around the room but how will it look butting into the bookcases? We also plan on painting the chair rail white so it matches and what color should be paint the bottom of the wall??

Happy Birthday!

I know Carter doesn't look happy.. but it is pretty good of Ryan.

Carter is wearing his cool batman pjs with his cape! Here we are looking at the super hero pop up book. The batman sign in the sky lights up.

I made birthday flags for the living room. I loved having them up!

Carter testing out his rain boots.

Our lovely.. aka terrible Birthday Cake and a very Happy Boy. It was a wonderful day and it is going to be an even a better year.

Fort

Ryan decided to redo the fort again. He moved the tunnel entrance over and made a defined dirt section.. Hopefully to keep the dirt/sand in one section instead of it growing every time they play. Landon loves to dig.

this is how it looked before.

naptime at our house

Maybe this was the reason my kids were being so naughty.

We got home and ten minutes later both are asleep.

working out

I love working out... but it has been awhile.

Wait. Actually it hasn't. I have a friend who loves to run. We were talking about running and I told her I ran a 5k 4 maybe 5 years ago. She was impressed.. why? I am not really sure. Anyways. She has decided that I am going to run a 1/2 marathon with her. We started my training last Monday. So far I have discovered that as much as I don't want to let my friend down-she expects SO much. She is a cross country coach so really the best person to teach/push me to do this. So far I have worked out everyday this week except today-my day of rest. Monday I ran 2 miles with NO walking-it was a very slow running. Tuesday we went walking since no husbands could watch children. 4 miles. Wednesday we walked again 4 miles. Thursday we ran this time I was sore so only like 1.5 and I walked.. I know shame. Friday we did the bleachers at the high school coach wanted me to do them 3 times! like all of the bleachers 3 times. I told her a heart attack was not on my list of things to do so I did it 1.5 times. Saturday we went to a zumba class. wow. zumba was really fun and walking was really nice. running was not nice or fun but hey maybe it will be.

FHE report two weeks ago we read a story in the friend and sang choose the right. this past week we played the quiet obedient game..this week hopefully wont be as lame..

Happy Birthday Singing

One of my favorite parts of birthdays is the singing!

going for a ride

Ryan finally got his bike in riding condition-not finished but it runs and rides. Very cool. He still needs the electrical done, horn and lights etc. and all the other legal requirements. I am so proud of him.. but can't wait for this project to be done. :)

FHE

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. It happens to be in my favorite month- birthday month. So for family home evening we did the nursery lesson "I love my family" and we talked about what we can do to show each other we love each other. Such as sharing, hugging, being friends etc. Than we talked about the heart shape and that it reminds us to be nice and than we colored. See our heart garland? What did you do for Family Home Evening?
I repainted our magnet board (here it is before.) Not sure if I love the way I redid it but the BRIGHT green under the white was just way to neon. The yellow I picked was way to bright too so I added some stain. This was my first project like this and I certainly could us a little more practice. Lately I've been loving yellow throughout my kitchen. Since I have green accent walls it just seems to pop and remind me to be happy.

Family Home Evening

Snotty but you can see his first real haircut results.

Stripes on my boys.

Sunday we had a few talks about how we will be blessed if we have Family Home Evening weekly instead of weakly.. So I think I will try and post what we do. That way I am more likely to make sure we do a real FHE instead of just a typical night at home. So tonight we did a lesson from the nursery manual "I will obey" I think we have done this one pretty often. At the end we played Green Light Red Light. Carter really enjoyed it. If he played correctly than he got a piece of caramel popcorn when he reached the light. He also enjoyed being the sign holder.

What did you do for FHE??

persuade

Carter is turning into quiet the little persuader.

I was mopping the floor this morning. Landon was sleeping so I had to get it done right away.

"Mom come play with me."

"Sorry Carter I have to get this done."

"You're a Mommy not a Daddy you're a Mommy not a Daddy"

"Okay. I still have to get this done."

"No Daddy's job is to mop, Your job is to play"

Very clever..

and Yesterday when we were climbing in the car he said:

"That's not our car that's Riley's car. We need to take it back to Riley's house."

And for some time when he doesn't want something- like go to the corner for time out/ or if he doesn't want some else to play with a toy. He says "There is poop and pee on it."

Hiking

Carter and Ryan went on an adventure this weekend. Ryan has a work buddy who always does the same hike and invited them to come along. Ryan said you could see the temple the whole time. He only had to carry Carter less than half the time. They both had fun together. Carter was singing Dr Seuss's GO GO GO on and Adventure song all morning before they left. I am so glad the weather is already so lovely that we can play outside.

"Battling Back"

Ryan's brother had a nice article written about him last week. The Amarillo Global News website has it up currently but not sure the link will work forever so I copied the article and picture from there.

When Tommy Johnston steps on the mat, he is fighting more than just his wrestling opponent.

The Amarillo High senior takes on the pain in his left arm caused by tenderness from a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. But the cancer hasn't slowed him down. Since returning to action in November, the 152-pounder is 18-4 with 15 pins and leads AHS with 58 takedowns.

That Sunday in late August before his senior year began, Johnston was informed he had cancer. He was diagnosed with dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

"It's a pretty cool name," Johnston said. "It's pretty rare. They told me only four people per million cases of cancer actually get this kind. It's a tumor with little fingers that come out of it."

In his freshman year, Johnston noticed a bump on his left arm but was told it was a cyst and not to worry about it unless it started hurting. This past summer he began experiencing pain when he would pick up his little sister, Madisyn, and she would put her weight on the arm.

"I went in for surgery two weeks (after being diagnosed)," Johnston said. "I was awake during the surgery. It was pretty cool watching it. They went in and cut a little circle, then they went and tested it. Every part that came back positive they cut more and more. They took a little muscle out of my arm."

The doctors brought up the idea of skin grafts but Johnston chose wrestling instead.

"They told me if I did skin grafts that I wouldn't be able to wrestle this year," Johnston said. "So we just had them stitch it up. About six weeks later, I came back to wrestling. I'm trying to get back into shape. It's hard after this. I'm in remission right now. It has about a 70 to 75 percent chance of coming back. Hopefully, it's gone for good."

AHS wrestling coach Gregg Clear has noticed the way Johnston commands respect in the practice room.

"He's taken over a leadership role," Clear said. "The kids follow him and he is a great one to follow. His work ethic is second to none. He busts his tail every day on everything we do. When he leaves he is the sweatiest one. The kids see that and they want to follow him. He's got great morals, great leadership. He's the kind of kid you want your kid to grow up and be like."

Johnston was cleared to continue his career by doctors in mid-November, shortly before the first tournament of the year in Dumas.

"I was really determined to come back to wrestling," Johnston said. "I have been wrestling since sixth grade. I quit football to wrestle and I had played football since kindergarten. Wrestling is my life right now."

Johnston found success early, winning his first three matches in the Dumas tournament before forfeiting the championship match.

"I could feel the stitches in my skin tearing inside," Johnston said. "I had to stop because it was all bruised and it wasn't looking good."

Clear is inspired and proud of Johnston's determination.

"Having to battle through that as a teenager is hard enough," Clear said. "Then having to come into a combative sport like wrestling, that's just as hard as can be all the time. I was surprised he was even able to come out this year. I'm really glad he did."

Johnston says his outlook on life has changed a bit but his goals remain the same.

"I definitely took working out for granted," Johnston said. "Being a senior, that senioritis was kicking in and I'd slack off on workouts and stuff. You never realize how great something is until you can't do it. When I couldn't work out I wanted to.

"My short-term goal is to be first in district. I have Donaven Roberts (of Randall) ahead of me right now. Hopefully, it's a good match and I can come out on top. Long-term, I definitely want to go to state. I am focused on making it to state. I have a shorter amount of time to train. I have to work harder than I would have."

Clear thinks Johnston has a chance to make state.

"I think it has really motivated him a lot," Clear said. "If he can battle through that, wrestling is easy. They always say that after wrestling everything is easy. I think it's the other way around in this case. After battling through cancer, now wrestling is easy."

Despite the possibility of the cancer returning, Johnston is counting his blessings and focusing on the future.

"Not very many 18-year-olds can say they have survived cancer, though, I am pretty happy about that," Johnston said.

By Terrence Hunley

In the Leafy Treetops

We tried to call one of Carter's Grandmas so he could sing to her. He got phone shy. He needs a little more practice but I'm liking it.

Bike Update

I have an amazing wife. She let me take apart a carb and clean it in her kitchen. Looks good doesn't it, should have taken a before picture. It was so gummed up inside and out that you couldn't see the screws holding it together and the floats were stuck up.