Measure your Heart

I am in need of some volunteers. Please, Oh Please, Oh Please.

The Richmond Stake has asked me to be a neighborhood chair for the Pennies by the inch campaign. It is my job to recruit volunteers to help collect donations from our generous neighborhood.

Pennies by the inch is a charity to collect donations for Primary Children’s Medical Center. 100% of the donations help cover medical expenses to children in need or who cannot afford treatment.

This campaign is near and dear to my heart. I used to work at Primary Children’s Hospital and saw first hand how these charitable donations helped children receive life saving care.

This would be a great opportunity for a family home evening night, or even a date night with your husband or wife. I have split the campaign up into small routes in our neighborhood so it won’t take up much of your time.

If you are willing to help me with a route please leave me a comment here, email me at fischerfamily2001@msn.com, or call me at 801-834-1967.

The campaign ends on October 15th so we only have 2 weeks left!!!!

Thank you in advance for volunteering. You can make a difference in the life of a child.

Jenny Fischer

Gone Fishin'

Last night for FHE we packed a picnic dinner and went to a little spot in Richmond to let the kids (including Randy) fish. We didn't catch a dang thing. I think we scared every single fish to death in the first 10 seconds. Between Mollie jumping in the water a hundred times and the kids throwing rocks we didn't stand a chance. The fish were jumping and boiling on the other side of the pond mocking Randy.

We did acomplish what we went for...family time. We had some great laughs, yummy sandwiches and ice cream at caspers on the way home.

GO SKYVIEW HIGH

Last Friday night my neighbor invited me and my kids to go to a highschool football game. Randy had school so I was a little aprehensive to take them by myself. Brad gave me the puppy dog eyes and I couldn't resist.

I had no idea football was such a huge deal in Cache Valley. The place was packed. We wedged ourselves in the bleachers as tight as we could. Every spot was occupied. I really couldn't believe it. I think I only went to 1 or 2 games at my own high school.

I am glad I went. The kids had a riot. They would cheer for whoever made a touchdown. Kids have no bias. What good sports.

Daddy's side kick

Brad wants to do everyting his dad does. He LOVES to help Randy with any project around the house. Randy changed the oil in all the vehicles and rotated the tires. Brad was by his side the entire time. It was cute.

I am really lovin' this domestic stuff......

I have really enjoyed canning. It is so gratifying to put something in a bottle then hear the lid pop telling me that is has properly sealed ready to consume in a month or 5 months or just whenever I feel like using it.

I have made just about everthing I could with peaches.

-Peach Jam
-Peach Raspberry jam
- Sliced Peaches
- Peach Butter Jam

Anyone interested can come join me with a spoon and just eat the stuff plain!!!! I love peaches.

Canning 101

With a LOT of help from my mom I successfully preserved my tomatoes. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, there were just a lot of steps.



Then just for fun we made chili sauce. I grew up eating chili sauce. My grandma Gailey used to make it all the time. It has a pretty strong smell so we set up the camp chef outside so my house would not stink for weeks. I love it on eggs, in baked beans, over cream cheese with crackers. Yummy!!!

After we canned every red tomato in sight we relaxed for the rest of the weekend. Randy watched the kids for me while my mom and I went to lunch and went shopping. That night we did our own pedicures.





Thanks mom for the fun weekend. I'll call you when I get some apples!!!

Updates

It is pretty rare for me to go a whole month without posting anything. Things have been a bit crazy this last month

I have had a couple of life changing events this month. I changed jobs AGAIN. I got a job working in the Emergency Room at Cache Valley Specialty Hospital. I still work graveyards. The schedule is a lot better for Randy and I am guaranteed my shifts. I was getting cut a lot at my other job and the hospital changed its shift to 5pm to 5am. It was hard to find sitters before my work and after work. This will be a much better shift for us. I have worked 2 shifts so far and I love it. I really like the clinical part of the Emergency Room and the variety.

I was called to be the Primary President in our ward. We have a really big primary so I feel a little bit overwhelmed. I have an awesome primary board. I am looking forward to working with them. I lay in bed at night just milling over all the stuff I need to do. I hope once the ball gets rolling I can relax a bit so I can quit stewing. I really need to get some sleep!!!!

Randy started school again. He got a little bit of time off between the summer and winter semester. It was nice to have him back for a few weekends. He gets a long break for Christmas that I am really looking forward to.

My tomatoes are getting ready to bottle. I am excited to learn how. My mom is coming up the end of this week to teach me. I am excited to spend some time with her. I don't miss any physical part of living in Salt Lake but I do miss people. I get pretty homesick for my mom. I am antsy for her visit.

I finally updated my blog with some pictures and stuff we have been up to. I hate it when I post everything all at once because I know I leave out a lot of the details but posting late is better than not posting at all I guess.

Charts

I was grateful for school to start up again to get a little bit of routine back.

To get back in the swing of things we made a listening chart for Brad. When he earns five smiley faces he gets to go to Maverick on the golf cart to pick out a treat. Earlier in the summer we did a chart that didn't seem to work as well. It took him a long time to earn his prize which made him uninterested in the chart. This seems to work better since he can earn his prize in 5 days. He seems to do better with instant gratification rather than long term. If he gets three frowny faces in one day he doesn't earn a smile. This seems to work better for him. He doesn't get frustrated when he makes a mistake.




I think sometimes I have grand expectations that he is going to be perfect all the time. (I know I know Ha Ha Ha....) Poor Brad. He is our guinea pig. He has to put up with us adjusting our parenting all the time.



I have been trying to get brave with Claire to get her out of pull-ups at night. We made a chart for her too. When she earned all of her stickers she got a Mrs. Potato Head. This was the ticket for her. She went straight through with only one minor accident. It was so cute to hear her every morning. The first thing she wanted to do was put a sticker on her chart and announce that she was dry. No more pull-ups as of tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.



My freind Seantea had this chart idea on her blog that I stole.

Every day the kids get to pick an uninterrupted one on one activity to do with mom for 20 minutes. I thought this was going to be so simple. It is actually really hard for me. I am so task oriented that it is hard for me to do. I have to physically make myself stop for 20 minutes. Ususlly I make a quick phone call, fold a basket of laundry, or make a shopping list, etc while I am "spending time" with my kids. I have noticed a huge difference with my kids. They are not nearly as needy when I need to get stuff done. It is amazing what 20 minutes of attention will do.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day we spent a week in the Grad Tetons. This is my favorite trip of the year. I think the area is so beautiful.
We camped in Colter Bay. (Our usual spot) Right between Jackson and Yellowstone.

We spent one of the days shopping in Jackson Hole and seeing the Bar-J wranglers.



My kids loved the show. Right before dinner they allowed a moment of silence for people of offer grace. Claire didn't miss a beat. As soon as the cowboy took off his hat Claire blurted out "Heavenly Father..." Everyone around us was giggling. Brad got really into it. He asked me as soon as it was over when we were going to see it again. While in Jackson Brad bought a sheriff badge with his name on it. He could not wait for the show to be over so he could show the "real" cowboys.



Most of the time we were hanging out at camp. On one of the nights Randy, Matt and Lance built the kids a fort to play in. It was pretty cool. It had a living room and a kitchen with a real table for the kids to eat at.



We took a day to drive through Yellowstone National Park. We ended up driving the entire loop. I was surprised my kids did so well. I thought it was going to be awful driving in the car for 8 hours. Luckily we had enough places to stop and saw enough wild-life to keep them entertained.






The rest of the trip was spent reading books, pulling Claire and Brad around in the bike trailer, relaxing and eating. The boys even had an axe throwing contest.



I could have spent an extra week there but we did have to come home to reality.

Richmond City Party

Every Year Richmond City puts on a big party for it's residents. It is quite the event. They have a bunch of rides then serve a free dinner. Randy was at school so the kids and I went.

First Grade

Brad started first Grade. He loved summer but he was glad to be back to school. He is such a social boy...being away from his friends was torture.




His teacher is Mr. James. Brad is really clicking with him. He makes things really fun for Brad. He comes home with fun stories about Mr. James nearly every day.

Tremonton

A couple of weeks ago my family went camping in Tremonton. We didn't go overnight but came in the morning to hang out at the campsite. Saturday morning it started raining like crazy. I have never seen so much rain in my entire life. Within an hour the entire camp was filled with water up to our calves. Since our house is only 30 minutes away ended up at our house.

We ate, watched movies, and had a ton of fun.

The kids had a lot of energy so they wrestled Gradpa Moose on the front lawn.


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For dinner my mom and Aunt Becky made yummy chicken, steak, and shrimp kabobs.

I am sad it rained but glad they ended up at our house.