Gymnastics season is over...

I have neglected this blog-- not on purpose, just based on time! :)

Nicole's gymnastics season is done for this year!! (the time involved in that is why I haven't written here!) We have been to Boise two times, Pocatello, ID, Eugene, OR, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Seattle, and most recently, Whitefish, MT for the Regionals meet. She has placed so well this year and did a GREAT job! At state, she tied for 2nd on floor, received 3rd on bars, and placed 3rd overall.... At regionals, she took 1st on bars!! HURRAY. She has worked hard and enjoyed it all.

I enjoyed the travels quite a bit. It is a bit disruptive, but we figured out how to make it work for us. I think we survived. :) LOL

I do have more pictures and videos... one of these days.. :)

Home again...

Nicole and I went to Boise this weekend for the BSU Open gymnastics competition. We had a wonderful time. While there, we stayed with a good friend, Saundra. It was nice not having to stay in hotel! Nicole got to hang out with her good buddy both days in Boise, go swimming, cozy up with warm blankets and watch movies at Saundra's house... very relaxing weekend! (okay, other than the meet.. those just aren't relaxing!!! haha)

The meet went very well. I have no pictures.. but she earned a 36.625 overall score- her best yet. Nicole's goal each meet is to raise her score a bit each time, and she has done it. The competition was really tough and the age group she was in included ages 7-11! So in that, she placed 8th overall for the kids in that age group, level 7. Another good meet...

Jason took the older two skiing yesterday. Jessica has become quite a skiier and does so well!! She even braved a black diamond trail yesterday... had to take her skis off for part of it, but I'm proud of her for even tackling that trail. :)

These weekends are busy with travels, but such a blessing to find ways with each child to make the weekends special. I wouldn't trade this for anything

However.. I will say getting up at 3:30 AM Friday, then 4:30 our time Saturday, then a time change meaning getting up today at 5:30 our time has made for one very tired me! Whew.. LOL

Nicole's winning beam routine...

On Saturday, Nicole competed at the Great West Gym Fest-- a big gymnastics competition held here in Coeur d'Alene. She placed third overall in her age/level division, but the highlight of her meet was this beam routine. She earned a 9.575 score for this routine, giving her first place in this event. It was a very exciting moment!!!!

I was so proud of her as this routine came after a disappointing bar event for her. She has learned a new, more difficult level 7 routine and Saturday was her first time to compete with it. She made the most difficult part of the routine beautifully, then somehow missed the part that is usually the easiest for her. She was SO disappointed (even though she still placed third on bars), but stepped up to the plate and competed so well on the beam. It takes a lot to let go of one disappointment and tackle the next event. I'm sure there is something deep to learn there, but for now-- here's the video. :) Enjoy!!!

Moseying along...

Hi! That is life right now.. we are "moseying along". Nothing too exciting happening.. all three children were sick for a few days with Nicole getting it the worst. She missed a gymnastics meet due to being sick, but since her competition season is January through March, it's bound to happen! She has four more meets, possibly five, coming up, so it was not the end of the world missing this one.

School is going well. we have FINALLY settled into a sort of routine after Christmas break. I know - this is the second full week of FEBRUARY and we're finally settling in. Whew.. that took some time.

Piano lessons are going wonderfully and I am enjoying teaching now more than I ever have before! I have four students, not including my daughter, and hope to have more soon.

In a couple months I will get to play the piano for a program done by the local Christian Youth Theater (CYT). I am VERY excited about this!!!! A friend of mine from church will be the director..... very cool!!! There might even be possibilities for Michael and Jessica to be involved in one way or another. I enjoy playing for theater like this and haven't done it in SO long..

That's our update! Jason is in the midst of restructuring (AGAIN) at work.. had some rough months there.. we are grateful he has a job still!

Today I am just breathing a sigh of relief at the routine we have settled into. I know it won't stay "calm and routine", but I'll enjoy it while we have it!!! :)

My Three Gifts

Here they are! Sometimes I call them my Little Rascals. :) I used to call them munchkins, but for some reason they aren't liking that as much now.. LOL I love this picture.. it really sums it up some days. :)

Michael is a joy- 14 years old, learning to play the electric guitar, really likes helping with audio/ video at church..... Great sense of humor and enjoys hanging out with friends from youth most of all! Skiing and snowmobiling... does not get much better than that.

Jessica, 9, so sweet... plays piano and enjoys reading, art, writing stories... lately swimming. Getting to swim at lessons and also one evening a week has been a highlight for her lately. One of her very favorite things is church camp! She's already making plans for this next summer. Sweet and extremely loyal to friends.

Nicole the monkey at age 9... Monkeys and the color green are her favorites and truly, bars are her favorite event at gymnastics. What fun! Life is one big adventure for Nicole.. the Olympics in 2016 is her dream and she will be 16 that year... hmmmm... love dreams!

I am daily reminded to delight in them. I never would have dreamed life could go by this quickly and they could be these ages already. Wow. We are so blessed by these gifts from God.

The Birthday Girl...

Yesterday was Nicole's 9th birthday!!! I can not believe she is nine... these years have passed by so quickly and I am constantly reminded to delight in my children and treasure every single day I have with them!!!

Nicole loves green... everything she got for her birthday is green. :) That made her so very happy!!!!! She is very enthusiastic about life and has no problem showing her excitement over whatever she chooses to be excited about. Did you know that a bottle of sparkling cider can make a 9 year old clap for joy??? Little green digital cameras can practically make one speechless and blue and green lava lamps are a constant source of delight!

May we all live life with enthusiasm and find reasons to clap our hands for joy!!!

Traveling with Garmin...

I think Garmin could become a fabulous traveling buddy. My children were so polite to Garmin, saying "Yes, Ma'am" every time 'she' spoke. She very politely and consistently told us where to go. Garmin is, of course, a GPS road map.

My Dad let us borrow 'Garmin' as we traveled north of Seattle for Nicole's gymnastics meet. We programmed in the destination, listened to the mostly clear directions and made it there in great time, as if we knew where we were going!!! We didn't.. and the funny thing about traveling with 'Garmin' is that I still do not know how to get where we went... I would have been lost without her.

The day was also very foggy as we drove... it was such a blessing to not have to try and find road signs in the thick fog. 'Garmin' made the travels much more pleasant. "Drive .9 miles then turn right"... "exit left, drive 1.2 miles then turn right"... or whatever. Just follow 'Garmin' as she is completely unaffected by the fog.

Why am I writing this??! Because it struck me that the Bible is our 'Garmin' in life. Life on earth is quite foggy at times and often I have no idea how to get to a specific destination. But the Bible is God's direction for us.. how to live... and even our final destination for eternity will be arrived at through God and God alone. I was so encouraged by 'Garmin'... looking at it in a Biblical sense.. and knowing that God provides the direction we need in life and we can trust HIM when we can hardly see in front of us!!! And He never fails.

And sometimes we have to take the next piece of direction without understanding why or where it is going to lead! If we take a wrong turn, 'Garmin' recalculates to get us on the right path again. I do believe God has the same grace and mercy!!

Perhaps a lot to get out of a trip with 'Garmin'.. but we sure got a kick out of it. :)

I have another buddy called 'Griffin'. :) Perhaps I'll explain in another blog..

Home again...

We are home once again! We had a great weekend... celebration dinner for my Dad as he recently graduated from UW with a master's degree... celebrating with my nephew on his 7th birthday... watching Nicole at a gymnastics meet... busy weekend, but definitely worth it all. Time with family is priceless.

Nicole's meet went very well. She placed fourth overall in her age/group and had her personal best overall score ever. There were some falls and missteps in her routines, but she is improving all the time and was pleased with how it all went. Soon I'll learn how to post videos as we have one of her bar routine.

Meanwhile... I'll write about traveling with Garmin sometime soon....

Scripture.... time of rest... gymnastics meets...

Wow. What a combination of topics, but hang in there!!! This will all make sense. HA! :)

I am joining with some friends in memorizing two scriptures each month and we are holding each other accountable for this. I love it. I love the focus on scripture and finding ones that really speak to me and help me through my days.

For the first part of Jan, I memorized Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". My new verse is Psalm 28:6-8 (HCS version) "May the Lord be Praised, for He has heard the sound of my pleading. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices and I praise Him with my song."

The common themes are TRUST in Him... and the resulting joy and peace.

Time of rest-- much needed!!! I thought I hit the ground running after Christmas break, but the reality is more like I was caught in an avalanche and could not get out or stop and it was rather overwhelming. After a week and a half of fighting this, a very wise friend encouraged me to STOP. Take some time to get the house back in order (remember.. all things left to themselves fall apart!!.. there is a scientific way to put that....), finish my Christmas cards (!!??), get caught up on lesson plans and cleaning and adjust to our new schedule with added lessons... and then we can hit the ground running the direction we want to go!

Whew. I can't even tell you the relief I felt when I just put it all down and took a breath. I am grateful for the godly friends God has provided in my life and for those who will see the big picture and say "it's okay to STOP" for a moment!! :)

So tomorrow we leave for Seattle. Nicole has a gymnastics meet this weekend and we get to spend the weekend with my parents. We are all looking forward to this trip very much! I will have pictures to post after!!

I continue to "Find Joy in the Journey"!!!

"Normal" is "in transit" as well....

Oh dear. Friday again?! This week back at school was so busy... partly because I found myself running around trying to find "Normal". I imagine "normal" is about as hard to find as "Transit". Perhaps they are in the same state....

We have done well and survived our first week back in school. Jessica started swim lessons and Michael started electric guitar this week... so that somewhat added to the busy feel. (correction- "feel" is the wrong word.. that was no feeling!!! It WAS busy!) And somehow my six month and one year return appointments for dental work and eye exams ended up one day apart this very week! How did that happen?? Whew. Got that New Year off to a rip roaring start. LOL

The girls and I head off to a friend's tonight for a Mom/Daughter sleepover... fun!!!! We are all really looking forward to this. I have no idea how many girls will be there, nor any idea if the Mom knows how wild a place can be full of little girls. LOL Should be a blast.

Yes, the computer came and I'm typing away on it. It's wonderful.. fast and doesn't take unexpected naps on me, acting too tired to change to another web page. That's so rude of a computer, isn't it!?

I downloaded a home school tracker program.. designed to keep lesson plans and grades all together and make my life easier. HAR HAR HAR HAR

Well, fellow blog readers, I must go fold laundry or there will be no clean clothes to pack for tonight. Have a fabulous weekend!!!

Where's "Transit"??

I just had to share this as it makes me laugh every time I think about it.

I am very patiently waiting for the arrival of a new laptop computer (and the top of the laptop is green .. now that alone makes me smile!!! LOL) It is arriving via Fed Ex and I have only checked the tracking around 74 times today. I'm a very patient person when it comes to deliveries that have tracking numbers....

Just before lunch I checked the 63rd time just to see if there was recorded progress between 1:59 AM today when it was in Pasco, WA, and now. Nope... nothing new... it just said "in transit".

Well, when I read that out loud, Nicole asked "Transit??? Where's Transit? How many hours away is that??" LOLOLOL

Now.. I know the UPS schedule around here really well, but not the Fed Ex. And it's still in Transit, wherever that is...

First Day of School....

For 2009, that is. Yes, vacation is over.... we had extra days with Jason home due to snow and boy did we all enjoy that!!!! So with thankfulness for the wonderful vacation, excitement over the start of a New Year, and mixed feelings about returning to the daily routine... here we go!!!!


I actually like the routine of school. The house is pretty quiet at the moment with them all working away on their math or reading. In all honesty, they weren't too thrilled about the start of school again, but all is well. Michael starts electric guitar lessons today. COOL!!! or rather.. "SWEET"!!! I am quite sure he is going to enjoy this. Jessica starts swim lessons on Thursday. She wants to swim on a team.. I do believe there will be one in Cd'A later this spring. Hmmm.. will have to look into that!


I'm including a favorite pic of the kids. May the start of 2009 be great for all of you!!!

Modern in-conveniences..

LOL. What are those??? I have discovered over this Christmas break how very inconvenient "modern conviences" can be!!!

This was the year of electronics for our family. Jason got an iPod for his birthday... he gave me a portable speaker to put my iPod on. Well, the speaker will charge mine while it plays, but it won't charge his as it is a newer generation iPod!!! Oh brother...

And cameras come with a college textbook type manual!! And far too many instructions for me.. please.. just how does one turn it on and snap a shot? I figured that out.. will leave the technical complicated pictures for someone else...

And the final inconvenient moment was getting a Wii. We are very slow in updating video games and TVs and such things. We finally figured out that we have never bought a normal TV (just a small, and I do mean small, vcr/tv unit). The TV we have had for over 13 years belonged to parents first! Hmmmm... So we decided to purchase a flat screen TV (that HAD to fit in the TV cabinet, so it isn't too big). That meant unloading the TV cabinet... then hooking up a DVD player, a VCR player, the Wii.. and hey.. why not the stereo system as well?!?!?! So that meant taking apart the stereo system in the other room, putting it in here, trying the speakers in one spot, moving them to another..

And a flat screen you can't just turn on and use! One has to set it up... this color, that color, surround sound or not?, wide screen, zoom screen,...and on and on the lists go. What seemed to be such an easy thing turned out to take all evening and then some!!!

The not so modern TV went downstairs and guess what? Yep- another inconvenience as the DVD player down there doesn't hook up to the TV. Oh my goodness....

I'm really laughing about this. We call all these things "modern conveniences", but they take so much time and energy just to figure out and run!! Yes, they certainly are fun after one figures out how to get past "on". :) I was just amazed at how complicated things have become. Even a simple speaker thing Michael got that one plugs an MP3 player into had a long instruction list!! And this truly was a "turn on and play" type item. It's hilarious. Does anyone really read all these, and in every language provided?

Good thing they come with "quick start guides"....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

January 2, 2009!! That is the first time I have typed 2009.. what a strange feeling. I love New Years.. such a wonderful time to look past, look forward, and really... learn to enjoy every day that we are given! I pray God gives me the ability to dream, learn from the past, but mostly to enjoy this very day I have and live it without regret.

I am starting this new blog to keep those who are interested updated on the family happenings. This could include anything from pictures, interesting events, daily life, fun things the kids do, and even the latest book I'm reading, project started, finished, etc. :) Just for fun.

I have been blessed, I guess, with well over 15,763 words to use every day so this is one way to get them out.... LOL

So- for the family introduction I have included a family photo- very recent, taken less than a week ago. Jason and I have been married 16 1/2 years. Happily married, with the ups and downs life has to offer.. but happily and thankfully married!!! I am SO grateful for Jason!!! Michael just turned 14, Jessica is 11 and Nicole will be 9 in a few weeks. I won't say much more as you will become more acquainted with each in the coming days and weeks.

I hope you enjoy the blog and reading about our family. As for the blog title... Dundai is the plural of Dundas....