Where did Mom and Dad go?

On Thursday morning, our parents abandoned us to this cruel, fatal world, where we probably could not survive...if Ariel wasn't here.  Mom and Dad are in Wisconsin and Illinois visiting family and fulfilling work duties.  May I just say that this was one of Mom's birthday wishes, so she better be happy for a long time when she gets home...even if the house is a sunken carrier.  You're Welcome Mom!  As you may have noticed, we lead extremely busy lives, in fact, they are so busy that it was not sufficient to have Luke be the only driver, since he has things he has to do and places he has to be.  Besides, that, our parents think that we can't deal with it by ourselves for almost a whole week, so they left us with a babysitter, Ariel.  Little did they know, that when they left her in charge of keeping us sane, they were really pushing s closer to the edge, because Ariel is the life of the party, or any party for that matter.  Ariel, is an awesome person, and very capable of getting stuff done, but sometimes, she just makes me laugh so hard, that I think I might fall over because I can't breathe.  Anyway, that is all for now, so I'll be off!

Tess

P.S. This has made our family laugh many a time...http://www.modbee.com/2011/10/14/1903363/mormon-candidates-stand-out.html

Individual Personalities

The other day, somebody told me that they liked it when Marta posted because she was funny and straight-forward about her opinions.  May I just say, that the rest of us are plenty funny.  We are just not as ready to announce our goofball-ness to the world like she is.  To prove it is this, which we all enjoy very much:

There are five more where this came from (youtube.com).  However, beware, if you watch them once, you will quote them forevermore.  But that is OK, because these are really funny.

Tess

Time Keeps On Slippin', Slippin', Slippin', Into the Future

One realization that I came to long ago, was that hours move way faster than minutes, days move way faster than hours, and weeks move way faster than days.  As a human, I become so concentrated on the present, that time truly flies away.  Already, I've got 15 years under my belt!! (almost 16)  The most disconcerting thing is that every now and then, you get pulled out of the present, and you watch the past and the future.  Meanwhile you miss out on the present.  The middle ground of these two view points is what is called Eternal Perspective.  This last week, I got to look through all three of these lenses, as did the whole Houghton family.

During the week, we had regular school stuff, water polo games and tournaments,

 homecoming prep.,

 

 (80's day above, crazy day below)

 soccer practices,

   football games in the band,

 music lessons, PSAT's, church group activities, parties, Scout camporees, girls' night, etc.  Basically, it was a typical crazy week, with lots of "present" stuff going on.  It flew by.

Then, on Saturday night, our family was whisked out of the present, into the ethereal land of "past and future."  Kelsea (15) and Savannah (13) Webster (who we have known for about eight years, and with whom we have shared friendship, dinners, church and school activities, and who had very recently gone to live in Utah) along with another friend, were caught in between two trains coming from opposite directions on parallel tracks.  Wind currents pushed them into the trains, and Kelsea and the friend were killed instantly.  Savannah is in critical condition with major injuries.

I'm finding that for me, when someone dies, it takes a while to truly comprehend that they are gone.  I forget the present, and let time flow by.  First, I have to think about how they lived, and what they meant to me.  After I've done that for a few hours, I think about what it will mean now that they're gone, and how I will move on with life.  The answer to "how do I move on with life" is simple: I trust in the Lord, and realize that I will see that person again.  Then I need to return to the present with a renewed purpose to live and appreciate life.

I think my whole family went through this process in different ways, and now we've been shoved back into the hectic life that we call our own.  We don't forget and move on.  We remember, and move on.  We try to remember to live a life that is fully worth living, because we never know how long we have until we must leave this earth behind.

Now, Mom is acting as the phone service for anyone who wants information on the funeral, memorial service, how Savannah's doing, etc.  This week is also homecoming for the high schoolers, and activities for that and for water polo occupy all the time not filled with school.  Time has started to slip away again.

Love, 

Marta 

(with help from Mom)

Aaaah, Conference Weekend!

Have you ever wondered what God would tell us if He had a prophet who could speak to the people on earth today?  Here are some of my highlight takeaways from the words of LDS Prophet Thomas S. Monson:

Thomas S. Monson
LDS Prophet

• We are responsible for our own actions
• The laws of God will not change and there is nothing which can bring more joy to our lives or peace to our souls than following those laws
• We must be vigilant and reject anything that does not conform to our standards
• Work towards the goal of communicating with God daily in prayer and receiving His inspiration and guidance, so we can recognize, trust, and follow the personal revelation we will receive
• Show increased kindness--ever be found doing the work of the Lord
• Fear not, for God is with us!

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we feast upon the words of God's prophets and apostles twice a year at "General Conference."  Yes, God loves us just as much as He loved the people of biblical times, and He speaks to us through the modern-day prophets and apostles He has called!  The great news is that this revelation is available here! (http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/10?lang=eng)

This year, we've reached a real landmark in General Conference listening--we all took notes!  Now the challenge is to make opportunities to go back to those notes and figure out, personally, and as a family, what we can do to implement what we have heard and learned this weekend, into our lives!

Tess, Luke, and Levi all set to watch Sunday morning
session of General Conference!

Mark, who really did take notes
during most of Conference

We love Conference weekends.  Even though our Saturday was jam-packed with soccer and water polo games and birthday parties and general household chores, we did get to watch some of the conference sessions.  And today, we incorporated our tradition of Kugen for breakfast with doodling, crocheting, snuggling under blankets on a cool autumn day, and listening to Conference.  We missed Eliza, and trust she was listening to Conference in Utah!

Of course, after all those hours of listening, a Sunday dinner (which doesn't happen every week around here), and games (ping pong, bocce, and "pajamas") were in order!  I think some of the kids never did change from their pajamas.  We don't get many of those days, so it's a welcome break from the cares and schedules of the world!  

Other news from the past couple of weeks:

The two bushels of apples from our
very own tree. . .and part of
the pumpkin and corn stalk ensemble
Marta and Tess created
on the front porch to welcome autumn!  

• We won some exciting items at an auction from a bakery that closed--among many things, a butcher block table, 50 pounds of honey bran muffin mix, and 20 pounds of cinnamon!  With the additions to our pantry, Marta has declared that breakfasts on Mondays will have to change from hot cereal (which she does not fully appreciate) to muffins!
• In the last six days, Marta and Tess have played in a total of 13 water polo games.  We've watched most of them.  And the girls even scored some goals--a great accomplishment for our family.
• Levi scored a goal in soccer!
• Luke's been quoted in the paper.  At least once or twice.  Nothing contentious though.
• Mom hosted "ladies lunches" twice  The house was clean for both.  Woohoo! 
• We picked two bushels of apples from our tree out front.  We'd better start eating!  And Marta and Tess had fun playing Martha Stewart with the pumpkins we picked up in the Valley and the corn stalks from our garden.
• We're gearing up for the water polo fundraiser dinner. 

Levi playing soccer on a beautiful
Saturday morning

Fun watching water polo?!  Go Cats!
(Pictured here, the coaches and bench of the Girls'
Varsity Team--Marta's in the water--maybe the one
with the hand up near the ball!)

Denise

Night time.

I would like to quickly dedicate this post to the late-night adventures that, as a Houghton, I have come to love and cherish.  Now, I know that in D&C 88:124, we are told that we're supposed to be in bed early, and that we'll be blessed by doing this, and by rising early.  Well, we've got half of that.  During the school year, Tess, Marta, Luke, Mom, and Dad all rise at 5:00 a.m.!  Seminary starts at 5:55, so we actually leave the house while it's still dark outside, every morning.  We usually get home after dark too, around 7-8 o'clock.  Do you have any idea how depressing it is to only see one's house in daylight for 2 days a week?  Enough about the teenagers though.  The rest of the house is bustling as soon as the sun goes down.

Homework is a popular occupation for the evenings these days, and Mom and Dad know that between Facebook and online course-work, the kids will demand priority on the computers from about 8-11.  Usually, the house is quiet by about 11, but occasionally the homework festivities continue past midnight.  It's surprising how much sleep you can live without!  Mom shows us all up by making breakfast and lunches every morning, with a smile on her face (although the bags under her eyes give away her tiredness).  Most of us kids are a bit grouchy by the end of the week, and it takes all of Mom's peace-making skills to keep us from biting each other's heads off at the breakfast table.  Of course, the morning is the hardest part of the day.

One of the traditions that I hope will always remain in the Houghton family, is that of Sunday family games and activities!  Usually, we convene for Family Council on Sundays at about 8.  All of the kids complain, and we all wind up sitting around the living room discussing the week ahead.  Every week, Dad starts the meeting off with "alright, we've got another really busy week ahead of us..." the kids respond "yes Dad, every week is really busy."  After much discussion (about who's giving who rides, and where so-and-so needs to be on which day, and who's got what meetings and where, and who's going to be too busy to help with dinner on one night, etc) we usually beg some dessert from Mom and Dad.  They give in, and then we're all wound up, so we have family games!!!!  In the past we have had family ping-pong tournaments, rounds of The Great Dalmuti, hide-and-go-seek in the dark, star gazing/family wrestling time, run-up-and-down-the-stairs-chasing-each-other-around-the-house-time, family chat time, etc.  It's pretty much amazing.  All of it.  I think some of my favorite memories with the whole family have been these times when it's dark outside, and we are inside talking and laughing and singing and tackling and just having a really good time.

So basically the "after-hours" at the Houghton house are the best.  I love my family, and whether we're helping do dishes, or frantically doing homework, or grouching at each other in the morning, we have a blast when it's dark outside.

Love, Marta

P.S. it's 11:00

Pears, Computers, Swimsuits, and Cats

Pears

"Family Home Evening" pears

The last can of pears, with all
 colors added together, ended
up "camouflage" green.

 The two boxes of pears Mark brought home were green on Sunday and ready to eat on Monday.  And ripe pears don't pack well in school lunches.  While the kids were at school, one box became 14 quarts of ordinary canned pears, 10 quarts of Pear-Pineapple Syrup, and two batches (with some garden berries added), of PearBerry jam.  By 5:00, Denise was exhausted!  So when everyone returned home and had finished up dinner, it was time for our "Family Home Evening" activity.  Of course, with Mark thinking he was in charge, production moved to the back porch (even though it was dark) and the food dyes came out.  In no time at all (okay, over the course of "many" "exhausting" hours--descriptors added by Luke), we had 30+ more quarts packed and ready to process.   Beautiful, yes?  (By the way, photos taken the next a.m.)

Computers

The new computer arrived on Thursday and Luke set it up.  This picture does not quite show that the monitor is HUGE--the better for watching Netflix movies, my dear!

Swimsuits

Marta had a water polo tournament this weekend, and is shown here sneaking in her "day of rest" before another crazy week of seminary, water polo, and school.  (Those things on her lap are swimsuits.  I count seven.  Why does one girl need seven swimsuits?)

Cats!

You can see the bottom of the bed here on our sleeping deck.  Last night at about 10:45, Mark had just settled in that bed to enjoy the stars and half-moon when he heard a noise and looked up to see, between the fence and the tree pictured here, a mountain lion strolling along the ridge.  There is a gap between the ridge and the deck, but it's easily "leapable" for a large, limber predator.  Belle, our domestic cat leaps it all the time!  Mark didn't call through the window to me to let me in on the sight, imagine that!  Belle stayed curled  up at Mark's feet all night long, but while we think the chickens were locked up, there was one missing this morning.  Hmmmm. . .   (Our large feline visitor could well be the one whose photograph was in this week's paper, linked  here).

The One That Didn't Get Away!

Mark and Levi went camping at Dead Man's Creek last night, and this morning, Levi caught this beauty! Fifteen inches, at least.  And Levi's "hooked" on fishing.  Trout for dinner tonight!

Denise