Tylers Birthday

My oldest son turned 10 yesterday. What a great day he had. Friday we went to his favorite restaurant, IHOP, for breakfast for dinner. Grandmas and Grandpas Bush and Oborn came with us and we opened gifts. Saturday morning the boys were off to a day of fun at Boondocks Fun Center. I thought they'd be there for a few hours. We got there at 11, I left at 1130 to go to a gymnastics meet and they all got home at 730. That is A LOT of laser tag, go-carts, mini golf and bumper boats. Brady is a GREAT dad. He took Tyler, Carter, Kaden and Kyle all by himself. This morning I got a play by play from Tyler of the entire day and how AWESOME Dad is at Lasertag. Apparently he was had the HIGH score all day.
Then today we went to the McKimmeys for a BBQ and birthday party for Ty and Lily. Becky pointed out that their last birthday together was when they turned 2!!!
We had a great weekend, though Brady left today, for Dallas for some training for Digital Theater installation. This is part of the training for the potential new job, the next step. We should know this week... Keep your fingers crossed for us.

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Birthday party for lily and tyler and becks house. Fun family bbq!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Rumors are flying....

Have you heard?

The Bush's are moving (AGAIN???)

to California....

Fact or Fiction???

Sadly, I don't know...

Which, trust me, is VERY hard for me to say.

I am a planner, I like to know what I am doing in 5 minutes, tomorrow, next weeks, and next year. I live for websites like Cozi and Google Calendar and I drool over pretty notebooks that I can make lists in.

Just after Thanksgiving, Brady and I made some major changes in our lives. We moved to a new, smaller (read- cheaper) home. We changed schools, moved closer to my job and Brady left his job traveling to Denver to work for his sister. The decision- to put more emphasis on the family and our spirituality, and trust the Lord, that He will provide a way, if we have faith.

The last 5 months have been filled with miracles, testimony growth, incredible family time, and new opportunities. Incredible things have happened that when looked at individually just seem like every day events, but when seeing  the whole picture, we can see the Lords hand in our lives.

It reminds me of the story of the people of Limhi, when they were slaves to the Lamanites. After all their trials and iniquity they finally decided to trust the Lord but he didn't answer their prayers for freedom over night. He gave them small blessings to test their faith. With each blessing, came more faith and more prayer, then a bigger blessing until they were freed from bondage.

It has felt that way for us, small blessing that lead to larger blessing, and one of these blessings and opportunities took Brady to California for a Digitial Cinema Training. While there he was asked about his experience as a trainer for Vantage, and was then asked to interview for the Digital Cinema Training Manager Position. This happened the last week of March. There have been 5 interviews, resumes and credentials emailed, and lots of waiting. And we are still waiting. We have been told (by VERY unofficial channels) that the intention is to offer Brady the position but there are some internal corporate issues to address first. This is a HUGE International Company with well over 3000 employees in offices around the world. So we are patient... Ok, not really but I am trying to be. Brady is patient. His patience and faith are amazing. Every time I complain about the wait or not being able to make plans, he says... 

"It will happen, when and if the Lord wants it to, be patient" 

So if/when we get the "official" offer, we will let every know. It will mean a move to the east side of Sacramento, California. Another new home, new neighborhood, new schools and new ward. In the mean time, I have faith, I try and have patience, and I hope that this is the great opportunity we see it as and that it is what the Lord has planned for us.

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@ movies- went to see tooth fairy @ dollar show. Girls had a blast!
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Lilys bday- girls day out.... The got updoos and mani cures, the rest of us got pedis.
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Lilys bday- girls day out.... The got updoos and mani cures, the rest of us got pedis.

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To Allowance or Not To Allowance:

I grew up in a family where being paid for work was having a roof over our heads and food on the table was our payment. So when my children started asking for an allowance, I didn't like the idea. My husband agreed and we decided against paying an allowance. As the kids have started to get older, I have started to rethink my stand. We tried the chore list and payment for chores completed. This didn't work very well as it required my daily attention to what they had done and then remembering come "payday" who had or more often, had not done what. We tried a few different options, and have finally come up with our solution, we call this "Bush Bucks."

Bush Bucks are plastic gold and silver tokens. A silver token is 1 and a gold token is 5. Every Sunday (sometimes Monday) I hand out 15 coins each. Then throughout the week they are expected to live by the rules and standards of our family. They must do chores daily, keep their rooms clean, have good personal hygiene (without complaint,) do what they are told the FIRST time, and get along. In exchange for doing these things they get to keep their coins, but there are times they must give them back. They each have their own bag of  "tokens" and there is a glass jar we call the "bank." The bank holds all extra coins. If Brady walks through and over hears me having to repeat myself or raising my voice to one of the children, he will say, "Obey your mother the first time, go pay us a silver." When I find the kitchen not clean when Katrina has insisted it was done, she must pay me coins, for lying and for not doing her chores. Then she has to finish the chore. There are no set rules on these payment, it is completely up to us as to how much they will pay for different infractions.

In addition they have to pay for the extras and privileges in their lives. The coins have a monetary value of $.50 each. The boys pay for their monthly WofW subscription, and we have put limits on how much time they can play. There is a total of 2.5 hours free per week, and they can buy up to 2.5 extra hours per week. Eating out is no longer part of our budget, so when the children want to eat out they pay 10 tokens each.

A few weeks ago we decided to go to the movies. There was lots of discussion as to what they would like to see. Brady and I agreed on a $40 budget and we laid out what that would pay for. Either 5 tickets to the 3D matinée of their choice, but no snacks, or 5 tickets to a matinée (Percy Jackson), a tub of popcorn and 2 large drinks to share, or a Red Box rental, snacks from Maceys and dinner out. With their new understanding of the value of money, they began to negotiate. We settled on Percy Jackson, us paying for concessions, and they bought us all dinner out (with coupons) at Arbys.

At the moment Bush Bucks are working for us, today when Katrina interrupted a conversation I was having, my quick, "pay me a coin for interrupting me" sent her scurrying to the bank. I went back to my conversation, then she stood patiently waiting for me to be done talking to ask me her question. I know not every one believes in the allowance thing, but as we have moved further down this road we are encouraged by the respect our children are learning to have for money. They are paying tithing, having to pay for all their own toys and 1/2 their clothes. It's amazing what is no longer ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY when they are the ones paying for it.

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