Black Friday!

Black Friday is one of my favorite days of the year, not only because of the great deals but the pure entertainment! When we lived in civilization I always went with my 4 sisters, mom, and youngest brother. It truly was a sport. We would meet together on Thanksgiving night with our ads and map out the night's activities. Mom always went to BestBuy, I usually got assigned to ToysRus with Lexie, Nichole hit Fred Meyer with Kim in-charge of Target. My brother's assignment was to aid whoever had the longest list. Then we would all go to the clothing stores, Old Navy, AE, and anywhere else with a rockin' good deal. Afterword we would meet for breakfast discuss our adventures, distribute our loot and settle up financially.
Here in the middle of nowhere my store choices are limited to Walmart, Shopko, and Old Navy. No one waits out all night to get a good deal and there is little strategy required. I embraced the limitations of my situation and charged out with my good friend Becca and Emerson at my side. First stop Walmart; 12:01. No need to rush or push here, plenty of merchandise with little fuss. Then back home to rest until 4:30 when off to Old Navy Jeff and I go. Ran into Becca there of course and discovered no other stores opened up until 8:00. Back home to my warm bed. The alarm goes off at 7:30 but my pillow holds me hostage until 9:00. Back out to the mall, solo this time, to grab a few small things left on the list.I completed my shopping with little fuss and even less excitement!
The excitement I enjoy isn't the rumored tales of violence and rudeness so many speak of, but the thrill of hunting down and capturing the elusive deal. The pre-night preparations combined with fellow hunters plans to deliver a great bounty! New friendships are forged through the freezing cold night and once the doors finally open we all look out for one another. We grab doorbusters for each other just in case one of the notorious "bum rushers" break through our ranks and get the deal before the die-hards make it. Then while waiting in lines, that wrap around the entire store, we hold a stranger's place in line while they run grab that one last forgotten item. I think Black Friday brings out the best in people and I love to see it as well as be apart of it. I can't wait to get back down close to my family and a real Black Friday experience and enjoy one of my favorite parts...the people!

Snow DAY!!!

In the last two days it has snowed here more than it did all last year! As a result the kids Thanksgiving break started early. Emerson and Adison tried to shovel the drive-way but by the time they finished the drive-way was covered again. Jeff went out and relieved Adison. After 3 hours of fighting a losing battle they came in. The girls (joined by Adison) enjoyed playing in the winter wonderland.




The next morning checked the school website and found out school was canceled. First thing the kids wanted to do after they woke up was to go out in the snow again. After forcing them to eat breakfast and brush their teeth they snow suited up and headed out. Jeff handed out the sleds we bought them for Christmas (he couldn't resist) and they went out to make their snow hills. We forced them in (it is 9 degrees out) and warmed them with hot coco. Emerson went back out to try to clear a path again and it started snowing about 2 min later. He was less than thrilled! :) Now we are all sitting around still in our p.j.'s eating marshmallows and being lazy! Love snow days!

Prodigal son

My amazing son Emerson has returned from his mis-adventures in Utah. He went back there in January to be with his mom and his friends. We missed him more than I could ever describe! Utah presented him with greater challenges than he expected. He fell in with the wrong crowd and he found himself alone without any supervision more often than not. His return came suddenly and in an interesting way. Friday night I got a text from someone in their neighborhood expressing their concern for Emerson and his safety. Saturday more calls from others expressing more concerns. Sunday 3 a.m. call from Emerson saying he needed to come home now before he got into real trouble. Sunday 8:30 Emerson boards a plane and by 3:30 p.m. he was home. Now he is settling down in to the craziness that is our family life :) He starts school tomorrow; eager to charge forward toward his future and embrace the challenges it will bring. I am grateful to Heavenly Father for watching over him when we couldn't and returning him to us safely!

Sister, sister..

So we finally have a visitor here in the wilderness! My oldest Kim came to visit and watch the BSU vs. UI game. After a couple of wrong turns she finally made it around 6 last night. We stayed up talking and making fun of Jeff til 11. Showing off my house and the town is so fun! She has to leave tomorrow afternoon so it is a short trip but since she will probably be my only visitor in our 3 year run here but It was great to have her even if it was only for a short time!

Clumsy ME???

Everyone who knows me knows how clumsy I am. Jeff always jokes that I could walk down a perfectly flat perfectly clear path and still trip and fall! My history of accidents proves this.... One day, when I was a teenager, I ran down the stairs at my house. I managed to trip over my feet and tumble head over heals to the bottom. I pushed my dress down just in time to see my family lined up at the top of the stairs looking down at me. Some how I had managed to end up feet up, head down on my back with my undies exposed. Fast forward to the future, I am at work into my second week at my new job.... I go to fill up my water bottle, trip over a child laying on a Lovesac and fall into a cabinet and break my thumb, four days before leaving for DisneyLand :) Next, again stairs! Chloie was sick and sleeping in the recliner to help control her cough. Being the good mother I am, I went up to her room to bring down her blanket and pillow... Trip, Falll = Broken big toe. And my most recent clumsy caused accident? Running late (as usual) to get Lauren from gymnastics. I rush out to the garage and reach my arm behind the huge dresser to push the button to open the garage door. My arm gets caught behind it and I get jerked back. My ear, is just the right height , gets smashed into the corner. I stumble dazed back into the house to tell Jeff he needs to go get Lauren. He rushes over to see what happened... The result? A nice gash INSIDE my ear. Blood poured out and my ear rang. It took a little while for me to find my balance (such as it is) again. Needless to say, "Grace" is NOT my first, middle or last name!!!

My cup runneth over!

I am starting to feel overwhelmed! As my semester comes closer to ending my stress level rises faster.... I often feel like I am drowning. All of my previous semesters have been pretty easy. I've had a few tests and projects to do, but I was able to complete them with relatively no effort. So when I registered for my 17 credits I thought, meh... no big. Then I added 2 more days of work to the week... again...no big. I didn't factor in all the kids things, Jeff's stuff, church stuff and oh ya...SLEEP! So here I am getting closer to finals and realizing most of them are comprehensive...WHAT??? What is this thing you speak of???....Comprehensive?? Seriously, last year I didn't have one and this year I have 3 in one semester.... just my luck! So I am working on my time management skills (which suck) and learning to run on 6 hours of sleep (I've always been a 8 hour a night girl). I am sure Heavenly Father is looking down on me hoping I learn my lesson. So I am going to pass my new found wisdom on to all you crazy busy mothers out there... don't take on everything! No one expects you to except for YOU... I know, easier said than done but well worth the time you have with your kids! (Or so I've been told, hopefully I will know soon!)

Happy Halloween times 4!!!

Jeff is the President of the Non-Traditional Students Group
at the Law School. As a result he (and me of course) were in charge
of putting on a trick-or-treat event at the school. This marks day
1 on our candy obsession. This was on Thursday... I took the kids with
me to work....got them ready....and took them over to Jeff at the School.
They came home with a TON of candy. Well I could have been done there
but OH NO! Friday... the kids school celebrates Halloween in a Fall Fun Fashion.
They hold a barn dance. They teach all the kids K-6 country dances, have them
dress in their best county gear to preform for their parents. So Jeff and I spent 3
hours at the rec. center (kids all at different times of course) and watch the
hoe-down! Then Jeff gets talked into taking the kids to the Trick-or-treat
event held by the downtown businesses. They started at the hospital went to 90%
of the businesses and then ended up back at the hospital. There they decorated
cookies and did arts and crafts. I had to work until 6 so Jeff did this by himself
(GREAT FATHER AWARD!) We all got home around the same time...just in
time to get ready for the ward trunk or treat..... Again tons of candy! Saturday
after the race the kids insisted on going out again and Jeff dubbed me to take them
(fair is fair) and we went to the dorms at the U of I. They didn't get a lot of "good" candy but enjoyed the fun decorations and costumes of the college kids. Sunday...
I wasn't going to let them go out but all their friends kept calling and
wanting them to go. I gave in (bad mom moment)
and told them they could go around the block for an hour and then be done. Lauren
stayed home with me and we watched Dora:BOO and handed out candy to
the trick or treaters. The results of our 4 days and 5 locations of trick or treating???
2 Giant bowls of candy...divided up chocolate and non-chocolate. It is probably a
good thing we are taking up running!! Here are some pictures of their costumes...
all store bought this year... expect Adison's. I shredded some clothes and drug
them through the mud to create that true un-dead feeling!














Lauren Monarch Butterfly













Adison...Undead Hippy!














Chloie...Taylor Swift










Kids...Acting Like Their Father
CRAZYY :)

Fun Run???

Adison loves to run.... Jeff and I aren't sure where he gets it from.....but he loves it!
So we signed Adison up for a marathon club here in Moscow
They meet twice a month and run two miles each time.
In between their group runs the kids are encouraged
to run everyday.... goal is to run 32.8 miles by April 1st
So I find myself going against everything I stand for and running
everyday to help my son meet his goal. Exercise...bluck!
The club's first meeting was a 2 mile fun run on Saturday
Oct. 30th Morning. It was freezing cold but we all went out to support him!










Here Chloie and Lauren are waiting in the warm building at
Moscow Charter School for Adison to finish.
The race grouped kids in K-3 and 4-6 grades
The K-3 kids ran a mile and started first.
Then the older kids were told to go to the starting line...
Well those kids only heard the word "Go" and instead of
waiting for the horn.... they all took off.
It was interesting watching all the coordinators
take off after them to bring them back to the starting line!














Here is Adison pre-race all geared up and ready to run.
A couple of his friends from other schools were there
participating as well. There were about 15o kids there total
and about 25 parents that ran with their kids (I wasn't one of them!)












Here is Adison as he charged to the finish line.
It took him about 15 min to complete the race mostly because
he and his friend Sam (pictured) took a wrong turn
and had to back track to finish. (He has his dad's sense of direction!)
When he was done all he could say was how fun it was and
he couldn't wait to do it again. So the lazy Butler's have began
Marathon training...The things we do for our kids!!!

President's Day

Once my hair gets so long that I find myself putting it in a pony tail everyday I know that it is time to cut it. The funny thing is that it looks a lot more blond now, probably because I cut all the red out! But man it still is crazy to watch all the hair fall to the floor! In some spots I took off 5 inches! But I know that it will be long and bugging me before summer is over so I never stress to much about it!





Jeff is so smart, I forget sometimes that he isn't just a smart alick. He has always been able to fix our cars and save us a ton of money by doing it. He wasn't happy that I was taking his picture, notice the middle finger starting to rise. But I had to document his handiness, he is book smart and car smart... the whole package!




Lauren is getting so big! She is able to ride her bike by herself for almost the length of our street, but she struggles with staying straight! I need to cut back on her alcohol consumption! But she sure looks cute with her little helmet and pink bike! I can't believe that she is going to be 5 this summer... where did my little girl go???







Chloie decided to take her bike out for a spin to make sure that it still worked :) The weather has been so mild that the grass is starting to turn green! The kids had a few friends over while Jeff and I worked on the cars and cleaning the house... Over all a great President's Day!

Happy New Year

So I have been a huge slacker on updating this.. sorry! Life is a little crazy with Emerson gone, but we are adjusting. We had a wonderful time in Idaho Falls and Utah over the Christmas break, it was wonderful to see so many of our friends, we wish we could of seen you all! Jeff survived his first semester and did pretty good. I was a little disappointed with my grades, I received a B in my history class and the teacher hasn't responded to my questions as to how this happened. So I finished up with a 3.8 GPA but it could of been worse! This semester is a little strange so far. I have a professor that swears like a sailor and yells out the "F" word just to make sure we are paying attention. Very different from schools in Utah and Southeastern Idaho! But to be quite honest it is the class that I am learning the most in and the most challenging so I guess we take the good with the bad sometimes. The kids are all doing amazing and Lauren has started reading. It is so fun to see them get the concept and see their excitement for books. Adison just finished the first Harry Potter book and it only took him a week. He is so smart, just like his dad and big brother! All the kids are in gymnastics and Chloie is a natural, they have moved her up to level 2 already and they tell me she is a born gymnast! Jeff isn't so sure about it but he will come around, mostly because he doesn't have a choice! Other than that we are all plugging along and looking forward to the summer when we can be with you all again! Until next time, know that I miss and love you all!