Budgeting Battles

Money is the root of all evil, but it is a necessary element in life. We have decided lately that we really want to live on a budget. With the help of the One for the Money pamphlet, (and two incomes) we feel like we have gotten our finances in control. Now that things are in control, we have decided it is time not only to make up a budget, but to live by it. The Henderson family has a trend going . . . budgeting. Lately it seems like the topic. "How much do you spend on food, how do you stretch your money?" So this month not only did we re-vamp our budget, but we committed to live by it. Grocery shopping has been the true eye-opening experience. We have split our grocery list into three parts: Have To's (Things that we have to have to make dinner this week. Coupons (Things that we could buy that we have coupons for.) And Other Stuff (Things that we could use but don't absolutely need at the moment.) So we get the have-to's first, then pick and choose off of the other two parts of our list while trying not to go over our budgeted amount. I am happy to report that we are doing pretty go so far this month. We actually are eating better because we sit down once a week, plan out our meals, and buy what we need for them. Devin cooked his first roast this week, which was SOOOOOO good.

So long story short. If you've never read the One for the Money pamphlet read it! Apply it! Set up a budget and try to live by it. It really makes shopping a more exciting adventure. Yesterday at Costco we were holding our breath. When the guy told us our total I actually said "YES! We didn't go over!" He kind of looked at me weird. But I was way excited that we are doing it. And so can you!

Cat Walk

This last week at school we had the annual Cat Walk fund-raiser. Each student gets people to pledge money for how many laps they will walk during the hour long Cat Walk. There are prizes for who collects the most money, who walks the most laps etc. Being the competitive type I told my nephew Brent, who is in first grade that I would pay him $1 for each lap. The day of Cat Walk several teachers and I had talked about running the whole time to see if we could run the most laps. After we ran a few laps I saw my nephew Brent. He was plugging along. I decided that more than running the most laps, I wanted to get Brent to run a lot. So I dropped out of the teacher-runner pack and grabbed Brent's hand and we ran 15 laps together. Each lap is 1/4 a mile. So 15 laps=3.75 miles. Not bad for a 6 year-old. We had lots of fun.

Oh Good, I'm Not Lost

Even though my brothers don't believe me, I really think running is fun. Each year I love running races. This year has not been the best year for me and races. From dental surgery, to knee problems, to other "misfortunes" I have not been able to run some of my favorite races this year.

I am happy to report that this past weekend I was able to run the Utah Relay Marathon. (Even though I had a pretty nasty cold. Try running and not being able to breath through your nose sometime. It is quite the adventure. It changes up what would be a nice normal run. You know, keeps it exciting.) There were five of us from Westmore who ran the race. It was so great! We didn't break any world records, but we had a wonderful time. They changed the course this year so that was fun too. A kind of cool thing that happened was that Devin came up to take pictures of our team. Part of the way into the race one of the guys in charge asked Devin if he'd take pictures of everything and e-mail them to him. So needless to say, my husband had a great time taking pictures of not only his favorite team running, but every team running. (Go to www.baldwinmedia.com/relaymarathon2007 to see his great pictures. Or you can go to www.baldwinmedia.com/relaymarathon2007westmore to see just our team's pictures.)

One other thought on the race. I unfortunately forgot my ipod so I had 5.2 miles to think about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The course went mostly along the Jordan River which was beautiful, and even though there were way too many people running with big scary dogs I still ended up having a pretty good thought.

This race was very small. There were only 38 teams, which means that there were only 38 people running the race at a given time. Now compared to some of the big races that I have run, it just is weird to not be running in a big pack of people. And with the race being on an unfamiliar course I was a little concerned that without a pack of people to follow, I might get lost. This is the type of race that you might see a few people the whole time you are out because the runners get so spread out. So here is my thought...

I think sometimes we are traveling in the path of life and we don't see anyone else on the path. We question, "Am I going in the right direction? Where is everybody?" Then every once and a while we see someone up ahead or someone even comes up on us from behind, or there is an arrow pointing which way we should go. The relief comes. "Oh good I'm not lost! I am on the right path."

It makes me grateful for people who are examples on the path. People who are holding up their light so that I know I'm headed in the right direction. I am also grateful for markers or arrows along the path that help me know that I am still going the right way and that I am not lost. Arrows like Scripture Study, Family Home Evening, Prayer, Going to the Temple, Regular Church Attendance, and so many more things! It's nice to know that we are not alone on the path home to our Heavenly Father. And it is comforting to know that even if we feel alone at times, that He will always send markers or other people to help us know that we are still the right track.

Rubber Ducks and A Happy Marriage

Devin and I are pretty convinced that we have just about the most perfect marriage ever. We love each other tons, we don't fight, and we are more in love each day. So what is our secret to this huge amount of joy? It's as easy as two rubber ducks. Actually it is two rubber ducks. I'm sure you're confused so I'll explain.

This summer my nephew Paul had a birthday party. Everyone was given a little rubber duck with their name on it as a party favor. Devin and I brought ours home and well...we're not quite sure who started it, but someone started hiding the ducks in random places in our house. Now it is one of our favorite games. The ducks have been all sorts of places. Anywhere from the washing machine, to school, to the mailbox. Our creativity is the only thing holding the ducks back.

So you might be wondering what this ridiculous game has to do with a happy marriage. The ducks are the means for making the other person smile. It has become our daily quest to find the best hiding spot, not to be the best, but because we know it is going to make the the other person smile when they find the ducks. That is the key. Each day we try to find little ways to make each other smile. Who would have thought that something free could bring us so much happiness.

With that thought I have an invitation for all married and single people out there reading our blog. Find some way each day to make someone else smile. It doesn't have to cost anything. In fact if it doesn't cost anything you can do it more often. Not only does it make someone else smile, but it is a guaranteed way of bringing instant happiness to your own life.

Here We Go Again!

Well, school has started. Which means I finally got my new classroom put together. I am really excited to be at my "new" "old" school. It is fun being on the teacher side of Westmore Elementary. It has a really great home feeling. It should be quite the experience this year. I only have 16 students. I am really excited to have the time to teach them one-on-one and to give each student the attention they need. I hope you enjoy all the pictures of my new classroom. I'm sure with the weeks to come I'll have great "teacher" stories.

Rodeo! YEE HA!

Oh what do you do in the summer time when all the world is green? When the last days of summer are quickly slipping through your fingertips? You go to Logan to a good old-fashion rodeo that's what you do.

I had never been to a rodeo and it was really fun. Devin was not pleased with the lack of "skill" that the riders had. But lets face it, when you compare cowboys with prissy horse riders one is going to look better than the other. But I'd take the cowboys any time!

The evening overall was quite fun. My favorite thing to watch was the barrel races. I think this was only because no one could stay on any of the bulls for more than a few seconds. I was very disappointed!
It was also fun just being around the "fair" atmosphere. I love the fair. Maybe it is because one of my favorite childhood memories is going to the Amador county fair in California with my grandparents and cousins. I had fun looking at the quilts and Devin loved all the big tractors. I was really impressed! There were some really huge tractors there on display. So yeah for the fair! Yeah for cowboys! There is one thing I'll never understand. It is beyond my understanding why any girl would aspire to be a "Rodeo Queen." Apparently there is scholarship money involved. But I'd rather work at Classic all summer than dress up like a feathered-haired, weird- clothes, barbie on a horse.

Tetons + Rain = Quite the Adventure

Some of you might have given up on me updating our Blog. Sorry to say, school is back in session and that means that I don't have all the time in the world to update our Blog all the time. This evening Devin is camping with the scouts so I decided it was time to bring you all up to speed on the Baldwin Family Adventures. We will start with our most recent trip to Idaho.

Missy decided to organize a family hike to Table Rock, which is close to or part of the Tetons (I'm not quite sure). I was thrilled to be hiking in a new area and it was fun to be going with Devin's whole family too. You learn a lot about people when you spend all day hiking with them. I never knew how much my brother-in-law Mahon liked to sing.

We had a great time. We went at good pace. It wasn't too hot. One of my least favorite parts was the HUGE rock fields on the ridge part of the trail. If you think my mom's back yard has a lot of rocks in it, you should see this place! When people talk about a "rocky" road, I am quite sure that this is the exact location that they are talking about.

By the time we got to the top of table rock it was well past noon. It was quite the view. Devin had lots of fun sitting on the edge of the big rock-like-cliff and taking pictures. The only bad part of the view was the nice big black storm clouds that we could see rolling in towards us.

Packing up quickly we started down the mountain. We decided to take the shorter path down the face of the mountain rather than going down the seven mile trail that we went up on. The wind and rain started up before we even got off the ridge. Missy was the only smart one, she had actually brought a poncho. (Who says Boy Scouts are the only ones who are prepared!) I was glad that we had brought our sweat-shirts with us. It really wasn't too bad hiking in the rain. The fun part was the fact that the trail gets pretty steep at the bottom and rain + rocks = slick trails. I think we all bit the dust at least once...or we were really close to falling down. We were very glad to get down off the mountain and that the storm was not too bad. I had to laugh at the sign at the bottom of the trail. It said something like "Very difficulty trail, this trail is not recommended" I believe it!

Overall we had a great time. It made me grateful that I'm not a pioneer, but the I can go out on crazy hikes in the rain for "fun."