Update...Finally!

Well, there has been a lot of things happen with our family since I last posted. Starting school and working a second job has made it a little difficult to sit down and take the time to update our blog.
On October 12th, Colton returned from serving 2 years in the Samoa, Apia mission. It was such a great homecoming. I still look back at the pictures of that day and get a little teary eyed. It's great to have him home.

Love this Kid!

All together again!

In November he proposed to his girlfriend, Teneil Christensen. We love her and are excited to have her be part of our family. They will be getting married in the Bountiful temple on June 11 and will have a reception that evening at Teneil's parents house. Lots to get done between now and then but I think Teneil has it all under control. I just hope she can whip him into shape.. Man, he is a messy kid!

The proposal!

Love this picture!


Christmas has come and gone.. It was great to have all my kids together again. The big hit this year was the kinect for the xbox 360. We all played together and had a blast!!! The next morning everyone felt the effects of the challenges that were attempted and conquered.

Christmas Jammies


As for the rest of the kids, here are their updates...
Cameron- He is working on finishing up his schooling and is looking forward to serving a mission after the wedding in June.
Courtney- She is working at Kravers, completing her senior year and is looking forward to a career in the medical field. She is just finishing up her CNA course and previously received her medical assistant certificate. She hasn't yet decided where she will go to college. She has originally was planning to go to SLCC but has since decided to maybe check out USU..
Caden- His seizures have still been a problem. They change his medication and about 2 months later, they start up again. During that time, I think his body gets used to the dosage so it no longer works.. Poor guy! Wish there was something I could do for him.
Colby- He is just being a kid! His attempts to bug and frustrate his older siblings is working.. There isn't a day that goes by that there isn't some kind of a conflict.. Guess he is doing a good job at succeeding.. Funny kid!

Well.. that's about all there is for our update. We will all of you a Happy New Year and may this next one be better than the last. Love you all!
The Chynoweths

Back to School

Back to school and am loving the fact that we are all back on a schedule. Adjusting to new classes and new students have made for a long week. The kids seem to be loving their schedules and I have a class full of personality. I wouldn't want it any other way. This next week we will be jumping in with both feet as we move to a more routine schedule in my classroom.
Got some much awaited for news on Thursday. Colton will be flying in to SLC on Oct. 12 at 7:07 p.m. I'm sure the time from when I get out of school that day until we leave to go pick him up will seem like FOREVER! Can't wait for the day to get here!
Cameron will be ordained an Elder this next week and will soon have his papers ready to send in. I am looking forward to the time that Colton and Cameron will have together before Cam leaves. I'm sure Colton will have some good advice for his as he prepares to enter the mission field. Don't think I could be any prouder of those two boys and for their diligence to serve their Heavenly Father.

CRAZY~

It has been a crazy month. I start back to school in 2 days and can't seem to get back into that frame of mind. I definitely wanted to stay busy this summer but think I have overkilled it. Blogging and working part-time have consumed a lot of my summer. I am trying to finish up started projects and get back to a normal routine. I guess I better hurry. I only have 2 days. UGH!
My computer crashed!!! Until I get it fixed our blog will be pictureless. Hopefully it isn't too long before I can post current pictures.
The kids are all ready to head back to school and Cameron is working on getting his papers completed and turned in so he can get his mission call. We hope to have that all wrapped up by the end of the month. So crazy to think that I have one coming home and one leaving. Hope it's a little easier the second time around.
We have Taylor living with us at the moment. Bad choices make for bad consequences. We hope that by staying here we can help her get back on the right track. She knows what she needs to do and by staying with us she feels that she can do that. Rules here may be a little stricter that at her home but she was told what to expect before coming and she still chose to come. We love her and hope that we can make a difference for the better.
Only 57 more days!! WOOHOO! Can't wait until I see that kid come down the stairs at the airport. I just hope I can contain myself until he gets to the bottom and that I don't run up the stairs to meet him..LOL. I think I need to hire someone to take pictures so I can post the great reunion. Take care all! We love ya!

July 24th/ the Lake

First off... Happy Birthday to my MOM! I wasn't able to send the day with her but I did get to visit with her on the phone for some time.
We went with Melissa and her kids to her mom's house to have a bbq. A trip to Ellen's isn't complete without getting in the lake and catching some fish.





The kids were having a blast using the nets and catching the little fish that swam by the dock.



While the rest of us were eating, Colby decided the take the pole and see what he could catch. Shortly after casting out, he was calling for help. He had a carp! A BIG carp. Because of a malfunction with the rod, Courtney grabbed a net and quickly scooped him up. Lucky for him he was sent back to swim among his fishy friends.





The paddle boats make for a fun trip out on the lake. I was a little surprised to see Cameron ask to go on the water. He hasn't been in any water(other than the shower) since he had a scare a few years ago at this same lake. I guess coming here calmed his fears enough to try it one more time..



The day wouldn't have been complete without the fireworks. Watching Melissa's youngest, Blake, get all excited was the best! That's what it's all about.... the kids. We had a blast and was so grateful to Melissa for inviting us over to spend the holiday. Now.. only one month till school starts.. Time to change my focus..

It's FINALLY done!!!!

I can't believe it is finally done.. anyway, for the most part. I still have some touch up on the already existing walls to fix but IT IS DONE! The project wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that I ran in to some problems with the shower curtain. Ruffles and I do not get along AT ALL! Courtney helped to do most of the sanding and I love that she is honest when it comes to things that don't look good... She has a pretty good sense of what goes and what doesn't. I can't take any of the credit because I can't come up with things like this on my own. At http://www.makit-loveit.com she has all the tutorials listed on how to make all the cute things I did. The only thing I came up with on my own was the one rosebud in the double frame on the right.. Yup. Came up with that all by myself. I hope you enjoy!! Now it's on to Melissa's bathroom to hang the bead board and baseboards. I should be a pro by now... right? We shall see.. More to come!



Here it is!!!!!!!!


Thanks to my friend, Melissa, for these cute frames. I love how the cloth flowers turned out.

Projects!

I have become a blog junkie! I have found so many inexpensive crafts and ideas to do that I now have a list.. (Poor Blaine.. most of them include him building something.) With that said, this past week since all the kids were gone but Colby, Blaine and I decided to take on the kids bathroom. Water had escaped the shower and had rotted some of the baseboards. So.. that's where we started. Above is the picture before.



As we started tearing out all the baseboards I had this great idea from a blog I had seen...hehehehehe(I really had it all planned). So we decided to put up some beadboard on the walls which meant tearing out the toilet and all. We had some extra insulation downstairs and took it back to the Depot and got the baseboards and beadboard that we needed. Well.. by Wednesday Cameron was back home and Courtney returned on Thursday. The bathroom still isn't done! With Courtney's help, we painted the part behind the toilet and sanded it so Blaine could put the toilet back together. It sat out on the front lawn for part of a day.. How redneck is that? LOL. Above is our finished piece..We still have the other wall to do and finish it off with a new shower curtain(that I will be making..saw that on a blog too) and some cute wall decor. The bathroom will now be black and yellow instead of blue and yellow. I will post more pics as I finish!



One other thing we need to do in the kids bathroom is frame the mirror.(another blog idea) We had the baseboard to go around the mirror but I think I confused Blaine because he cut two pieces 1/2 inch too short. Oh well.. Don't sweat the small stuff.. We just used it in the other bathroom. Court and I still need to sand it but doesn't it look great? Trying to keep myself busy.. this last 86 days is draggggging on. Stay Tuned for the last of the bathroom remodel.. I can't wait to see it finished!

How did that happen?

I let a whole week slip away without posting. We have been busy with concerts, senior pictures and me starting another job. Traci came down from Syracuse and we went to the Air Supply Concert. It was fun to hear all the old songs from the 80's. It was also great to have that time to spend with her. We don't get to do that too often so I loved getting the chance to catch up.

Courtney had senior pictures taken on Wednesday so we decided that evening to jump in Jodi's RZR and head up to the mountains and get some pics with the lake behind her. I know now why I don't do that more often.. She was a grizzly bear! Pictures looked good but when I told her how to pose she would complain every time. Next time I will hire someone to do the work.. she won't be as grumpy with them.

Thursday was Cameron's birthday... the big 19!! Happy Birthday Cameron! As usual we had the stawberry cake with strawberry frosting. He left the next day and went with his friend to Wendover. All the way out there to just play X-Box? They could have done that here.

Cameron leaves tomorrow for Youth Conference. Caden and Courtney are both in Richfield because it is no fun here in Stansbury... (So they say) Blaine, Colby and I will be hangin' out with the dogs for a few days.. should be exciting...LOL.

New job at Copy Cottage. I work with some awesome people. I think I'm really going to enjoy this new adventure. Just hope it isn't too much once school starts!

Well.. It's been a much awaited thing for me..Cameron finally let me cut his hair! Not sure how happy he was but he needs to start preparing and acting like a missionary. Since this day, he has gotten many comments on how much better he looks. Well.. it's because we can see his EYES! Yes! He as beautiful eyes!

Busy Day!

Today was the last day of summer school for Colby. We went to the school and watched as he participated in a play about the solar system. He played the part of the moon and did an excellent job of rotating around the earth.. From there I headed in to Salt Lake to the temple.
My nephew Cody took out his endowments today. I am always excited to see family members. It doesn't seem to happen often enough. Robb and Trina flew out from Georgia to enjoy the experience with him. When our session was over, we went to the top of the Church office building and took some amazing pictures. What a great view of the city from way up there. It has definitely been a busy day! So grateful that I am able to attend the temple and receive those blessings.

Never a Dull Moment Here!

This past week has been an exciting one! On Tuesday we finished up summer school and Courtney left for girls camp(not willingly I might add). Once she returned on Friday she was glad she had gone. Funny how that always seems to work. Saturday was Colby's birthday and started off quite crazy. First we decided to have a yard sale. I don't think we will be able to have anymore for a while or we will have to start selling the kids..LOL.j/k. Anyway, later we celebrated with cake. No ice cream because the cake was an ice cream cake. That same night(or I guess Sunday morning) Caden's friends came up at 1 and said he was having a seizure and they couldn't get him up. Blaine went down to get him and ended up coming back to get me to come down to see if he would respond to my voice. I talked to him and he got up and came home. Well, around 4 he started to have another seizure. Nothing like he has had before. He was shaking and his body was completely stiff. Scared me to death! I picked up the phone and called 911. The police were here quick and were asking us about his history with seizures. Shortly after, the EMT's arrived and tried to get him to respond just like Blaine had earlier. They weren't satisfied with his responses so he was transported to the hospital. After two hours of being there, they sent us home with a medicine that would stop his seizures and make him sleep and they also upped his dose of his regular medicine. So... as of today(Tuesday) all is going good. I am having a hard time letting him go too far. Scares me that it will happen again. Hopefully this week will be better! Lots planned with family and friends.
I have become a blog junky! I love all the ideas I am finding from browsing through blogs that friends have suggested. Maybe I will become motivated to do more projects.
Still pondering this fact... Do I want to take the cake decorating class or not? Hmmm. Not sure!

Yup.. Second Day in a Row.

Happy Father's Day Blaine! Today I wanted to make it special by spending sometime together as a family and going hiking. We prepared hobo dinners on Saturday so that when we got out of church on Sunday we could head up Middle Canyon and begin our hike. Well, we woke up to the wind blowing.. YUCK! Blaine decided that he didn't want to take the chance of building a fire and burning down the mountain.. So, he built a fire in the backyard on a little fireplace and cooked our hobo dinners. They were delicious!!! Kind of the redneck way of doing it but.. it worked. Not sure that's Blaine's idea of spending Father's Day but what else could we do?

A few weeks ago, Colby had his appendix removed. On Sunday night as we were going to bed, he came in my room and told me that his stomach hurt. I said.. "I'm sure it's because of all the crap you have been eating." Knowing that he eats nonstop anymore.. I said.. Go to bed.. you will be fine. Shortly after, he was in the bathroom throwing up. My thoughts were.. Great, we have been out of school for 2 days and he has the flu. I continued to hear him off and on through out the night as he ran to the bathroom to throw up. The next morning as I was leaving for my first day of teaching summer school, he asked if he could get in my shower. I told him it was fine but that he better not expect to go and play video games since he was sick. He assured me that it would not be happening. To make a long story short.. 2 hours later, Blaine came to get the key to the car because he was taking Colby to see Dr. Abarca. At that visit, Dr. Abarca told Blaine to get in the car and take Colby to Primary Children's Hospital. He was sure that's what was wrong.. appendicitis! Sure enough, he went in for surgery around 6:00 on Monday night. Gosh, I felt horrible.. He kept telling the doctors... " I told my mom that I was sick and she wouldn't believe me!" I guess I get the horrible mother award for that day! Here is a picture just before going in to surgery.. You can tell the poor little guy doesn't feel well.. Darn it!

Really?

As I look through other blogs I started to wonder how long it had been since adding to my own. Really? I haven't done anything since October. 8 months.. that is really sad. So my goal is to be a little more diligent in posting. If I have to write it on my computer to help me remember then I will. Summer is here and we only have 4 months left until Colton is home! YAY! However, by him coming home, that means that Cameron will be leaving shortly after. Kind of a bitter sweet feeling. Cameron should be putting his papers in somewhere around the end of August-first of September. As for the rest of the family, we still continue to plow through the regular daily activities. Caden, Courtney and Colby are all in summer school. I like the routine that it keeps in our house except for the fact that I am teaching at the high school level and have to be there by 8 each morning. I keep telling myself.. only two more days, only two more days.
Courtney will be a senior this next year (so weird.. she can't be that old already), Caden a sophmore, and Colby will be in 6th grade. One more year and I won't have any kids in elementary school..ever! As for Blaine and I... I am going on my 9th year of teaching. Can't believe it has been that long already. I love teaching and learning new things from my students each day. Blaine is still unemployed. He has worked 2 months with a month here and there but hasn't worked a full time job for over a year.. YIKES! It's been a struggle but we try to get by with the bare minimum. I try to be positive (on most days) and think that things could be worse. I need to be thankful for all that I am blessed with not the things I should be blessed with...HA HA!