Come Out, Come Out Where ever You Are!

One of my favorite hobbies is genealogy. I enjoy finding the ancestors of mine and Kyle's families. I have been working on our family lines on and off over the last eight years. When we started looking for family members we could not locate very many of the Beninghofs. Which is Kyle's mother's maiden name. We got back 3-4 generations and hit a dead end.

Well I decided that I was going to figure that line out this summer if it kills me! So I started with the information I had from graveyards and moved backwards. Or sideways...anyhow I looked through the growing collections of microfilm at the Ashland Public Library and recovered obituaries from as early as 1909. In those obits I found a lot of names.

Then believe it or not one of my long out the list cousins was in there researching and she told me about a website she uses. labs.familysearch.org I hit the jackpot. Not only did I find the next generation back the line I found all of the siblings on that line too. I have a complete with spouses family group record! I spent about 10 hours last Thursday sorting out all the information.

On that website there are death certificates, all the census information, military records and so forth. I am so excited about this new development. So much so I put off doing any homework last week. Just a few more assignments to go now.

Stake Dance

YMCA

Techno dancing

Superhero theme, Kota as Ironman and Kayla was Perry the Platapus from Phineas and Ferb.

Rites of passage are fun to watch. Kyle and I chaperoned a stake dance last night with our children, Joey and Meredith Patlon and Richard Jeffery. I was never a shy teenager so to watch the kids have to warm up to go dance was funny to me. I had to actually go out with Kayla to get them started. They did end up dancing most of the dance. Kota had the assignment to get 5 phone numbers from girls, he did come back with one.

I actually got to dance a bit with my husband. It was fun.

Temple Date

It has been several months since Kyle and I have been to the temple together. The last three times we went...we went without each other. It was a wonderful experience. We had a nice time talking and just being with each other.

The other fun part about going to the temple is the trip home. we found a Krispie Creme Doughnut shop that is always making doughnuts in the evening. We get a dozen hot, fresh doughnuts right off the line. MMMMM! Kyle is so good though with his diet he only ate one. I'm proud of him for working so hard. I on the other hand ate my share.

Kayla and Kota always like when we bring them home the sweets too! Although Kota was enjoying the Wii at grandma's too much to eat any. I took a couple of scenic views from Mom's to share. The sun setting and the moon rising. I was much prettier than my camera shows. It was fun sitting out on the deck and watching.

Father's Day

I hope my husband knows how great a father he is to our wonderful children. I love and appreciate everything he does for them. He is a rock in our home. He is humorous, but also calms alot of storms in the house. We love him greatly!

We Did It

Yesterday I recieved cut scores for the Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA). This is the state mandated test that all 6th graders take in reading and math. My students scored really well. My class got the highest score in the building! Out of 28 students only 2 did not pass. I'm so proud of them!

I love teaching to this group of children. Some come with so much baggage, but I try to make them feel loved anyhow. I think my strategies are paying off!

Here is my 2009-2010 class.

Reminiscing

I was looking through my digital camera to see what pictures I could delete because it was full. I found a bunch of fun memories....


Eagle Court of Honor. Kota received his Eagle Scout Rank in January. Tommy Spellman was the last scout from our troop to get his Eagle Scout, 10 years ago. He came back to present Kota his.



Who knew teenagers could still be entertained by bubbles?

Memorial Day Parade in Hayesville. Kayla didn't throw all the candy she came home with 1/3 of the bucket left. I use ice cream pails to dump my compost in...she dumped her spaghetti in on the tootsie rolls. She is a ball of laughs!

Kayla's 13th Birthday we went on the Goodtime II cruise on Lake Erie. We went from Sandusky to Kelly's Island to Put-in-Bay. We had a great time!

Dakota and Kayla enjoying the Lake breeze!

It's fun being a family.

Sacrifices for Children...Wonder when they will pay off?

Okay, Okay so I was talking of all this free time I will be having without having to go to college after 3 more classes and 8 more assignments now, since I finished one today.

Kyle and I volunteered to teach seminary as a co-teaching partnership. For all of you who are not members of our church it is an early morning scripture study program they complete while in High School. Dakota and Kayla will be in seminary this year. We spent a lot of money in fuel last year and Kyle and Kota lost a lot of sleep with their 1/2 drive to seminary. So, Kyle got the idea of just team teaching it ourselves. I agreed to the team thing because doing it myself seems a little too overwhelming.

The Pros: Dakota will get to sleep an extra hour and I hope that improves the mood swings, (who knows with teenagers though, right.) Kyle will get an extra 1/2 of sleep and will put him back on his original schedule. Kayla will be getting up when she always has as well as myself. Kyle agreed to teach the first half of the lesson and I will do the finish. I found out that is only 15 minutes (I really get the better end of the deal.)

The Cons: Well, early morning anything for me...change in my routine, pay day Friday meetings will cut out some time. I'm sure the list could be long.

The Major Pros: we get to learn about Church History because we will be teaching the Doctrine and Covenants (History majors dream!) The early Church was in Ohio for a period of time so we will have a lot of field trip opportunities, and I get to have a regular family scripture study. (We all have to start doing things we know we are supposed to do sometime. Better late than never.) The other interesting thing is we get to work with Karl Anderson who is a church historian on the Kirtland area. My first meeting tonight was way cool! I learned that Zion's Camp actually marched through Hayesville.

Humid Tuesday

To beat the heat today and scattered thunderstorms the kids and I went to see a movie. We watched the Prince of Persia. It was a pretty good action flick! I might have to go see it again with Kyle.

We had a great time. The boy scouts are at a poltical speech tonight doing a flag raising and earning part of a merit badge or Duty to God requirement.

I went walking with Vicki last night and got an enormous blister on my heal. I bought a new pair of tennis shoes today, hope that helps. It was a lot of fun sweating and talking together. Now that college is on the downward stretch I'm going to have to establish some more relationships with the sisters. It's fun getting to know people.

The Final Stretch

I went to college today. I offically have 3 more on campus classes, 9 assignments and I will have a masters degree, plus 10 additional credits. On the pay scale that bumps me up two steps! Yeehaw!

I am very excited to be finished and be able to focus a little more on my two teens! They will have busy schedules again here in two months. We got Kayla's first letter from the High School today welcoming her and telling her what the dress code is.

The last day of 8th grade she said she would be wearing flip flops to school the first day of High School. Today she said she will be wearing her new Nikes because they are way cool, then flip flops the 2nd day of school. We will see as the new wardrobe starts taking shape.

Sunday Recharging

Today was a great Sunday service. We learned a lot over the pulpit today about working hard for a living and taking care of our families. The stake Relief Society Presidency came and helped train my new presidency. I'm happy to have them here.

Our Relief Society Lesson today was on the life of Christ. We watched a video on "Finding Faith in Christ." I love that video and how it puts things in perspective in what is important in life. I hope that I can remember to keep Christ the focus of my life and that of my families. It is easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of life.

You can view it at this website: http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonofGod/eng/finding-faith-in-christ/video/finding-faith-in-christ

Happy Sabbath!

June 10, 2010

Last night was Relief Society Meetings. (Homemaking!) We learned about Time Management and Menu Planning. It was a fun night. Even though I'm pretty good at time management during the school year, it has been rough getting settled into a summer routine. I find myself with more time to manage. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I am going to start walking off some pounds with Vicki Selvege next week. (YEAH!)

Yesterday I went to the public library to find some information on the Beninghof family. I have not worked on my genealogy much in the last 2 years since I've been working on my masters degree and being called as RS president, I've been busy. This family is very hard to find information on. I quit trying several years ago, but I'm drawn to them this time. I hope I can find out more about them.

Today we are off to go strawberry picking. Kayla and I are going with my Mom. Then we are going to help her clean her basement. I made the mistake of telling my mom I was bored yesterday with so much extra time on my hands. You know even as an adult moms still find chores for you to do! :) I'm actually glad to help her.

June 9, 2010

This is my first time blogging so hope all goes well. I wanted a safe way to keep up with friends and family. I officially have two children in high school now. I'm not technically old at 34, but I'm wondering where all the time has gone. I am enjoying have two teenagers in the house even though I'm suddenly not as smart as I used to be.

Dakota is in weight training for football on MWFs this summer. Kayla is just hanging out with me. I'm finishing my last two college classes and will have my masters degree in August. Kyle is working away for the family.