Decidedly Picky

• Catch up in Indy's baby book
• Write Wills

Continuing Goals:

•  Go to the temple 12 times
• Write at least 20 blog posts
• Hold at least 45 Family Home Evenings
• Have at least 1 out of the house activity per month
• Go to 3 museums
• Host at least 12 game nights

Since the month is already half gone, I'm glad to report that I've actually been pretty productive. (Obviously not in the blogging department though...) 

I've already written our Wills. I used a sight called Law Depot which offered a TurboTax-like experience, where they ask you simple questions and then fill in all the legal mumbo jumbo for you. They offer a 7 day free trial in which you can use their service to complete as many legal forms as you want. I did a Last Will and Testament each for Lewis and I and a Living Will for Lewis. I have yet to cancel the subscription since my mom wants to use it to do her Will too. I'll let you know if they give me alot of grief to cancel or if it is as easy as it sounds. Now I just have to con two unsuspecting people into witnessing it. ("You know the rule. Never witness nothing. You live longer." - Name that incredibly awesome movie!)

I haven't been very artistically motivated to work on Indy's baby book or finish our family journal which I didn't get done last month, which is kinda weird considering how much I've enjoyed making handmade Valentine's for my mom, my husband, and my friend in our awesome Valentine exchange. But I've been pretty busy being sick, and helping make a spy game for my friend, Rena's Valentine's Day party. So now that things are quieting down a bit, I'll hopefully feel inspired to work on the books as well as all my other goals. I already have plans for a Chinese New Year party/game night, and an out of the house FHE activity which will be 2 birds with one stone. So things are looking good that I'll at least meet most of my goals if not all. Wish me luck!

January has come and gone and it's now time to let you know how it went. I must say, that having to report back in public on my goals has really motivated me. It motivated me so much in fact, that I almost did them!

Here's how it went:

•  Go to the temple 12 times (1/12)
• Write at least 20 blog posts (2/20)
• Host at least 12 game nights (1/12)

Needs Improvement:

•  Hold at least 45 Family Home Evenings (3/45)

We were supposed to have done 4 FHE's by now but I knew this would be the hardest one for us which is why I picked 45 for the year instead of 52. So As long as we stay as good as we've been doing, we'll still reach our goal... barely. 

Failed: 

• Catch up in family journal

I started it but my creative juices just have not been flowing. So I did all the preliminary stuff like jotting down the main things that have happened, and printing out and trimming the pictures I want to put in. But I just haven't wanted to write anything, which is one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this post. The other reasons for the delay you can read all about in the next two posts I'll put up in the next couple of days. So check back soon!

My good friend and fellow blogger Karen, has created a fun way to set goals and actually stay on top of them. It's called Project 52. I wanted to join in the fun (and get more motivated!) I don't have 52 goals (that is way too many for a pregnant lady! Unless, of course, the goals are eating and sleeping and peeing.) So I've come up with 10 personal goals and 12 family goals I hope to accomplish this year. Thus the birth of:

•  Go to the temple 12 times
• Write at least 20 blog posts (1 down already!)
• Keep a personal scripture reading chart
• Keep a family scripture reading chart
• Hold at least 45 Family Home Evenings (must contain a gospel lesson)
• Have at least 1 out of the house activity per month (This was Lewis' idea. He said pretty much anything counts, visiting family, going shopping (ok, ok! He didn't actually say that one) going to the park, etc.)
• Go to 3 museums (I'm planning on the free ones around here like the BYU Museum of Art, BYU Museum of Paleontology, and Hill Aerospace Museum. Let me know if you want to join us!)
• Host at least 12 game nights

• Start a good things jar (in case you haven't heard of this, it's just a mason jar that you put strips of paper in with good things that have happened during the year. It's any easy way to keep a journal since it only takes a minute to do. It's also great if you are having a bad day, to go back and read through some of the good things that have happened.)
• Catch up in family journal (When Lewis and I got married we bought a big sturdy journal for our guest book and have been keeping a family journal in it ever since.... ok, so it's really 4 years behind now but hey! That's why it's a goal)

• Catch up in Indy's baby book (It's really not my fault I'm so far behind in this one. It's been packed away for a year because of all that was going on last year that you can read about here.)
• Write Wills! (This one has been on our goal list for the last 3 years running... But this year we're going to do it!... really!)

• Finish Strasburg Final Report (I'm writing a document to help our camp director from last year)
• Make sure Indy is up to date on vaccinations (with all the moving we've gotten behind)

April

•  Find and start baby book for Baby Girl
•  Not have my uterus explode
•  Name the baby

May

• Create savings account for Ireland trip (For our 10th anniversary we want to go to Ireland and stay in a real castle but that's really expensive and by then we'll have at least 2 children to tag along too so we we need to start saving now if it's ever going to happen.)

August

•  Refinish hardwood floors (This is the big renovation project for the year. We are tearing out all of the old linoleum in the house and refinishing the original hardwood flooring underneath. We've never done anything like this and I really hope it turns out.)

September

•  Make window seat for hope chest

October

•  Finish repainting foyer, living room, and hallway (We'll probably do this earlier in the year but I'm giving myself alot of leeway on this once since it took me an extra month longer than I thought it would with our last painting project.)

November

•  Have working prototype of our board game

I'm sure you've noticed a few months in there were missing. I wanted to leave a space for catching up. I'm not sure how much I'll be up to doing after having the baby and I'm a little worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. So I've left June and July with no specific goals. If I don't have to use that time to catch up, I'll use it to get ahead on the continuing goals. I've also left December completely empty because it is plenty busy enough and I'm sure there will be one or two things that I will need to finish up before the new year starts.

I'll check in with all of you once a month and let you know how I'm doing. That way you can give me a little kick in the pants when I need it. If you want to join in, you can tell me all about your goals in the comments below or you can even join our community! Just use this button:

As all the leaves start to fall and we bunker down for winter, my mind turns to contemplating all the events that have happened since the last time the leaves fell. For the last few years, September has been a major month in my life. I never thought much of September before. It was always just the month after school started, nothing noteworthy. But since Indy was born in 2012, Septembers have had much more significance.

In September 2013, our world changed again. We were living in Madison, WI and loving the changing seasons, when Lewis came home with the upsetting news that he had lost his job. We had some good leads but no job materialized. So 1 year to the day after we arrived, we left beautiful Madison and moved to Seattle, WA.

I've been looking forward to living in Seattle for a very long time. It sounded so romantic (and not just because of Twilight!) with the beautiful greens and blues and grays. I love the rain and couldn't imagine being sick of it. So I was optimistic when we arrived. But our living situation was less than ideal. An old friend of Lewis' was kind enough to offer us a room in his home. He has a beautiful house with plenty of room and we got along great with him and his wife. However, they don't have children and they do not want children and the don't really like children. So bringing in an energetic 18 month old who hasn't learned to talk yet but communicates plenty through pointing and screaming, was just a bad idea. It was incredibly stressful trying to keep him quiet all day and all night, while they worked from their home office. After 4 months, we had all had it! Lewis was getting nowhere in his job hunt even though he was putting in 8 hours a day looking and we were in one of the biggest hotspots in the world for video games. So we bought a plane ticket for Indy and me to fly back to Utah and Lewis drove the 17 hours in our car.

Arriving back in Utah was nice. The Adairs (best family ever!) were happy to let Indy run around like a little hooligan and my mom was so happy to have us back. So after a few weeks of enjoying family and friends we took a job at camp. We love Beaver High Adventure Base with all our hearts. If we ever won the lottery, we would buy that place just so we could keep it alive and beautiful. But this year did not go well. The Management was ill prepared and gone 70% of the time. Half way through the first week, I told them I couldn't be head cook because it was just too stressful taking care of Indy and trying to teach them how to run camp and keep everyone on task in addition to my normal duties. So they got another head cook and I became assistant cook and still took care of Indy, my nieces and did most of the program director's job, the commissioner's job and some of the camp directors' jobs. Some of that was to be expected since I was the only person reliably at the Lodge. But I still came back from camp worn out and sick of doing stuff other people were supposed to be doing.

Unfortunately, coming back from camp was no less stressful. We moved into my mom's house where Joe, Josie their two kids, my Uncle John, and Ben, Windy and their 4 kids were all living (It's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house). Joe, Josie, and John were supposed to have moved out before the end of the summer but they had been looking for months and no one would rent to them. (I don't know of any landlord who is looking for smokers with a criminal record, and a bankruptcy in the last 2 years. Do you? Seriously, if you do, let me know!) Ben and Windy's family were coming back from camp too and just needed a place to stay for a few weeks while the paperwork for the house they were buying went through. Unfortunately, that turned into over a month, since buying a house is always more complicated than you think. So Lewis and I lived in a tent in the back yard for a few weeks because we just couldn't stand being in the house with all those crazy people! Really, it wasn't that much different from camp.

Ben and Windy now have a lovely home that they are in the process of painting and doing minor repairs on. So I thought things would quiet down a bit but it's never quiet in the Shaffer house for long.

One night when I was feeling particularly domestic, a knock came at the door. I put down the salsa I was making and made sure the timer was set for the banana bread in the oven, and answered the door in my apron. There was 6 big scary looking guys standing on the porch. I thought, "Is this a biker gang? Are they collecting donations for M.A.D.D. or something?" But they introduced themselves as the sheriff's department, showed me their badges and handed me a search warrant. They searched the house while I took the kids into another room. They came in later to inform me that they had found drugs and that Josie, who was high, was being taken into custody. We asked them if we could keep Josie's children with us instead of taking them into state custody. They said that would be alright as long as Josie agreed to it. I have to say I was quite impressed by how polite and considerate they were. It was stressful but not as scary as it could have been and the kids didn't get scared which I was really happy about.

With Josie awaiting trial, I've been watching a 3 year old, and two 2 year olds during the day while Joe is at work. It's been really hard on me. I'm so used to Indy who is very independent and only wants my attention when he's hungry or hurt. Ethan (3) is pretty much the exact opposite. He wants to talk to me all day long, never takes a nap and wants me to help him do everything. Becca (2) is pretty independent like Indy but you have to watch out because she is a master at getting into things and making huge messes. We have our good days (today was one!) and our very bad days when it seems like I'll scream myself hoarse and there is always at least one kid in time out. But we are getting better at it and Becca is even starting to talk which she wasn't doing at all when we moved in. But I am still looking forward to when they move out and I'll only have my own family to take care of.

As I'm sure you've surmised, this year has been a really hard one for us. I don't think I've ever been this stressed in all my life, even during finals. In fact, I think this year has been more stressful than all the stress from my entire life combined. I've been avoiding blogging because I didn't want to unload all this drama onto anyone. (It's bad enough that I have to deal with it!) But things have just started looking up and I'm finally ready to put this all behind me.

I have two amazingly awesome announcements to make. Lewis got a job! Not just any little crappy job (several of those have turned him down because he's overqualified) but a great high paying job in his field! We are through the roof happy... and relieved! It could not have come at a better time. The savings we have been living on for a year are almost completely decimated, and we haven't been employed at Christmas time in 3 years. So I am so excited! I might actually have the money to send Christmas cards this year! The other great news is, we're expected baby number 2!

For Indy's 2nd birthday we decided on a Thomas theme. Indy is obsessed with Thomas. He will put any rectangular items in a line and say "Thomas! Choo Choo!" He also calls all trains Thomas. So we thought he'd be thrilled with the theme we picked.

I was rather uncertain about the rest of the party though. I wasn't sure about the date or time or anything. So I did some facebook polling, some consulting with family, and way too much reading of blogs. I decided on Sept. 20th at 10am so I could finally make the invitations.

I handed out the invites to my ward members and invited the family. ( I actually have family around here! It's been far too long since we lived near family.) According to the RSVP's, we expected 23 kids and 23 adults. Thankfully, they didn't show up all at once and not quite that many showed.

As I mentioned before, I read WAY too many blogs for party ideas and got a little ambitious. I made a train out of cardboard boxes for the kids to play in, several Thomas themed signs, themed food, crayon containers, and decorations. If I hadn't had all the great help from Stephanie the night before, Windy making the cake, and my family help put everything together in the morning, I would have died. In fact, I was freaking out when 10am rolled around and we still didn't have everything done. We started a little late but we pulled it together.











Indy had a great time playing in the train. He spent 90% of the party there. In fact, we had to lure him with the train so that he would come open presents.

He loved all his presents and the awesome train cake Windy made.




All the hard work paid off with the kids having a great time....






And the adults having a splendid time too!




Thanks everyone for coming! Happy Birthday, Indy!

September is the month of a thousand birthdays and my son is one of them. For Indy's 1st birthday party we picked a Curious George theme. It's one of the only things Indy expressed repeated interest in and it's actually a super cute show. So I was excited to start planning!

First I picked the date and location and made the invitation.

Making the invite was grueling and incredibly frustrating but I loved it! I loved collecting all the images and combining them into my own custom invite. Maybe I can be a crafty mormon mom after all!

As the day got close, we realized the weather was not going to be good enough for the outdoor party I had envisioned by the lake. So we were stuck with our little apartment. It was'nt the best venue but we all squeezed in.

On one side of the room I had Curious George episodes playing, some toys and a bubble machine going for the kids. (This was a bad idea. The TV was too distracting for the adults and the bubble machine made the floor really slippery really fast!)



On the other side of the room, I had refreshments, favors, and a make your own party hat activity. The refreshments consisted of bananas (of course!), rice krispy treats, animal crackers, bunny crackers, cupcakes and lemonade. Basically, it was everything left over from Lewis' vending business and cupcakes.

The cups and plates were supposed to look like The Man in the Yellow Hat's hat but I didn't get the black bands put on them in time. So I don't think anyone got it.

I forgot to take a pic before we started eating. Oops! So much for the crafty mom thing....

My favorite part of this whole party was the favors. I made an Adopt a Monkey basket by going to St. Vincent de Paul's Dig and Save thrift store. Coolest thrift store ever!!!! They have tons of huge bins of stuff and you pay for it by the pound. So I paid 35 cents per pound for these awesome monkeys! I found an actual Curious George monkey, a funny gorilla that would suck on his thumbs or toes, a creepy astronaut monkey with a wide grin, some valentine ones, some big ones, and some tiny ones and attached a thank you for coming button on each.


 For an activity, I printed out a bunch of Curious George party hats to color.

I get the feeling the adults liked that activity more than the kids did...

After the kids played for a while and all the adults were getting really bored, we opened presents and had cake.







All in all, things came together all right and Indy had a great time. So I declare this birthday party a success!