Happy Day

I'm excited today because I realized that I am 20 pounds lighter today than I was a year ago on this date! I still have a long way to go to my ultimate goal, but I am definitely getting there. I have been at approximately the same weight for several months, but I think I'm going to break through this plateau soon!

Now the plan is to lose 8 more pounds before May 2nd. It is a very ambitious goal, but that is the weekend of the Flying Pig 10K and 5K and I can't wait! Our Pink Princess racing team is getting ready to FLYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Dave Ramsey Financial Class

Dear Friends,
I am just putting in a plug for the Financial Peace University class being taught at church on Thursday nights. Shane and I took this class last year at Rolling Hills Baptist Church and it is AWESOME!!!! Even if you feel you have good control over your finances, this class is chock full of good information. Plus, Dave Ramsey is incredibly entertaining. During each class, we watched a DVD by Dave and we came away excited about gaining control of our money. I STRONGLY encourage you to take the class if at all possible.

Brother Jewell in the Hamilton Ward is teaching this class and its starting soon.....the 19th or the 26th. (I'm not sure which.) You don't want to miss it!!!!
Shane and I are planning on coming to a couple classes just for a refresher. They are SO GOOD.
Maura

Michael's Baptism

What a great weekend! Dad came up to visit and attend Michael's baptism. It was standing room only in the Relief Society room Saturday night. I couldn't believe how many people came. Lots of friends came, Shane's parents came, and several people I didn't even recognize. Glenn Unklesbay spoke and had great insight on joining the church as a teenager. Chris, Michael's brother, baptized Michael. That was really cool. Chris joined the church last year and was honored to be the one to baptize his "little" brother. Michael's mom, dad, and grandparents also came. They are really fun people and "grandpa" had us all laughing when he started acting up during the picture taking. (Wouldn't you know my camera died just when he got silly! I hope to get copies.)

Chris, Michael, and Shane (he confirmed Michael in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.)

After the baptism, Michael and Chris came up with "M is for Mormon"!

Darlene (Michael's mom), Michael, his grandparents (so sweet), Chris, and Mark (Michael's dad) in the church foyer after the baptism.

Our families went out together to McDonalds for a little celebratory ice cream. Things got a little messy!

Jared got really sticky by the time this ice cream was gone.

Grandpa Schofield got a great seat at the kids' table. Next to Hunter on the left is Alanna, a neighbor friend.)

We noticed that all the little kids had left the table and Grandpa was all alone. (He was really okay with that.) Mikayla was worried about him and went over to rescue him. I can't believe this is the only picture I got of Jessica before my camera battery died.

What a great night!

p.s. For those of you who might not know, Michael is Jessica's boyfriend and a real sweetheart. He's like a big brother to all our other kids. We love him!

A New Member of the Family

This is our new kid---Cody!

He is a real doll. Shane and I met him a week before Christmas and had him delivered Christmas morning. The kids were thrilled. Tanner kept walking around saying he was dreaming! Cody is 11 months old and house-trained (a major plus). I swore we wouldn't get another dog until all the kids were out of diapers, but Cody was too good to pass up.

Supposedly, he is part Austrialian shepherd and blue heeler, but we think he has setter and pointer in him because of his markings. He belonged to Jessica's friend Aaron at school, but Aaron's family is pretty grown up and they were gone all day at work and school leaving Cody in a crate a lot of the time. So, they decided to look for a home where Cody would have lots of kids to play with. They found the right place.

The first few days were pretty rough, especially Christmas night. Cody paced through the house, not knowing where he was supposed to be. Eventually, he laid down and relaxed a bit, but he was up 3 times in the night. Jessica has decided that he must sleep in her room and that has been great. She lets him out in the night if he needs it and first thing in the morning she takes him to the backyard for a long game of fetch! He has tons of energy and loves to run after anything you throw for him. He's still got a bit of puppy in him and chewed up a "Pokeball" that Hunter got for Christmas. (Hunter is still not over it and wouldn't you know Meijer is out of them so I haven't been able to replace it!) Cody buries his rawhide bones and tonight during scripture time he came running into the living room with the bone he recovered from under a tree in the backyard. It was a bit dirty. I had a hard time concentrating on the scriptures between Jared kicking a soccer ball (and then cheering for himself) and watching Cody toss his bone in the air and try to catch it!

So, the chaos of our home has moved up another notch.....oh and did I mention Santa brought Tanner a set of drums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Santa

The gift you left on the front seat of our van was over the top! Thank you and God Bless!
Maura, Shane and the kids

Homecoming

I've been slacking on blogging. Here is Jessica and Michael before the Homecoming Dance.

and here are my 3 girls. Jessica, Savannah, and Mikayla.

I sure love them!

My Star Quilt

This picture is for you Grandma Martin!!! I finally learned how to put pictures on my blog using this computer. I'm hand-quilting this using a large wooden hoop, so you can still see I have large safety pins all over it. I've finished a lot of the stars and a lot of the yellow blocks. I haven't decided how I want to quilt the stripped border. The white edge is temporary to protect the edge until I'm ready to bind it. I'll probably bind it in bright yellow, maybe dark blue.

When my mom and dad were here to visit in October, I showed the quilt to my dad and he asked me what I was going to do with it when I was done. I told him I was "giving it to myself". hee hee. I just love the colors and it makes me happy everytime I work on it.