Sisters

I hope my girls remember that no matter how much they fight that they are SISTERS!

A sister may fight with you - but a sister will always stand with you!

Youth Conference 2010

Hannah Nerdin, Rachel Kirchner, Brenna Adelman

Quincy Adelman & Rachel

Room mates!

Michael Harolds, Jordan Abarca, Quincy Adelman, Irene Sanchez, Simon Jiron, John Guevara, Rachel Kirchner, Parker Phillips & Hannah Nerdin

Austin Phillips, Quincy, John, Parker, Nick, Michael, Jordan, Brenna, Hannah, Rachel & Issac Bancroft

These are just a few of my wonderful youth! I love all of the youth in our ward - they are amazing friends and they take care of each other! Youth Conference - Katy Texas Stake - 2010 - Galveston A&M was a great experience for everyone!

Straight or Curly

I say curly - Rachel says straight!

For the longest time Rachel would straighten her hair everyday! I would beg her to please leave it curly - but moms just do not know anything! Before the first day of school this year, I talked her into leaving it curly for one day of high school and see what happens..... and what happened was - everyone loved it curly! So, for the most part she wears it curly everyday now - she still straightens it on some days - I have to be very honest - I am so very jealous - I always wanted hair like hers! I must have wished for it so much my first born got it!

Freshman year of basketball

Rachel's first year in high school was a lot of fun! She went to Mayde Creek High School and she played for the freshman team basketball - this meant a lot of practices, drills and running. She loved every minute of it and made many friends on the team. The whole family enjoyed going to her games, this summer we will be focusing on conditioning and drills to prepare her for next year!

Her team took time out to go to the Rockets game - they had a blast!

Memorial Weekend

This Memorial Weekend was a lot of fun! We went to Fort Worth and stayed with my parents which is always such a treat!

I was asked to make Kathys Baby Shower Cake - which scared the heck out of me - everyone knows that my mom makes amazing and beautiful cakes - so for her to ask me to make the cake put my nerves in over drive! The design changed several times and my fondant is very yummy but still needs help with drying!

We had a small b-day party for me on Saturday - Cindy and the kids, Kathy and Todd, Mom and Dad and the Honshteins all came to celebrate and enjoy the Sun! Cindy made me the funnest cake I have ever had - it was green and yellow -I loved it!

My Dad & Rylee

Rylee Graduated Kindergarten!

I am so proud of my girls - Ashley was given a handful of rewards from school (Gold Honor, Outstanding Conduct, & Awesome Artist) and will be in the 3rd grade next year. Kaitlyn did very well in all classes - her struggle was math but she made it thru 7th grade. Rachel finished her first year of seminary and made it thru her freshman year in high school! I couldn't be prouder!

CROSSFIT GAMES

This past Saturday we had our first ever Crossfit Games!

More thanks than I can ever give goes out to my Crossfit Friends! Jen & Patrick have inspired me, they have given me access to their knowledge and their garage, they both give me great insight and motivation and they teach me correct technique. Elizabeth gives me someone to see how awesome I will look in the very near future - she is always a few steps in front of me - which keeps me going and she always me to complain about the pain! Dallas has been an amazing workout partner - she is strong and steady and is always ready to workout with me. My girls never complain when I need to workout and they always cheer me on! Without these wonderful people I would not have been able to do as good as I did at the games - and so my results:

Event 1:

Rules: Perform each area as many times as you can in 2 minutes - keep count of total reps - when the time keeper say 2 minutes switch to next exercise - each exercise will be done twice!

Wall Ball

Step ups - with 15pd hand weights

Sit ups

Push press - 15pd hand weights

Snatches - 27.5pd bar

Round 1 - 172 reps

Round 2 - 152 reps

Event 2:

Max Bench Press: 85pds

Max Dead Lifts: 185pds

Event 3:

Team event

Thank-you to Jen & Patrick for putting on these games and showing me how very much I have improved - I can't wait to show even more improvement next time!

I need to add here that Elizabeth and I also ran our first 5k together a couple of weeks ago and my time was right around 41 minutes - I am recording these times to see how much better I get in the next 3 months!

Thyroid

I have many post that I need to go back and work on such as Spring Break and Easter - I just haven't had much time lately!

I had been feeling really sick all the time, super tired, gaining weight even though I was working out, having more and more anxiety attacks, and just feeling like I've had a on going cold. I had no idea what was wrong - WAIT......

After re-reading what I'd typed I realized that had I read those symptoms on another friends blog - I would have to assume that I was pregnant - NO WAY! So get that idea right out of your head! Not Happening!

I finally decided that I had enough, and went to the doctor, the blood work came back and found that my thyroid is acting up - it is Hypo-active - and this starts to explain a lot of things. Like why am I working out and not seeing the results and why is it I fell asleep in the middle of sacrament last week!

Hopefully the medicines will take affect and I will be back to my normal hyper self very soon!

Another one bites the dust...

and another one down, and another one down, another one bites the dust!

I love that song and this week I have reasons to sing!

First, thanks goes out to all my supportive friends who have given me some amazing advice, I love you and I am listening very carefully!

John and I have made the decision that I need to be home with the kiddos! The date is set and the girls last day of school this year will be my last day at my work. Just as Todd Martin told me, my new formal job title with be MOTHER, I will dedicate my time and energies to this job completely, the hours will be 24/7 with small times out to exercise and rest, I will teach plumbing continuing education on Saturdays, and I will continue to give service to my church and my neighbors. I am excited and scared! Since making the decision I have only had one panic attack, so I am doing great!

Finally, I passed another test this week - Property Maintenance Inspector.

Yes or No - Stay or Go

I find myself constantly questioning what I should be doing with my life and for the 1st time I am going to go to my blog friends to ask advice.

Ok - it all comes down to this - Should I stay home and be with the kids or work? Should we move to Fort Worth or stay in Houston?

Now wait a minute.... I know that all my Fort Worth friends will say move back to Fort Worth and all my Houston friends will say stay here.

I really need to get my thoughts down so here goes some very serious ramblings......

I feel a very strong need to be home with my kids at this time, I know that I have always worked and I have always enjoyed my work. But, my kids really need me and I need to be there for them in the mornings and when they come home from school. I feel extremely guilty that this pressure in my heart to stay home has appeared after all my kids have already started school. Doesn't most moms stay home while their kids are little and then go to work when they are in school? I am a little backwards - does this make me crazy? And I promise you, I have been trying to ignore this desire to stay home for about a year now and I just can't seem to ignore it any longer. (the reasons could go on and on and on)

So it sounds like decision made.... NO - I am scared to death! What if we can't make it on one salary? What if I spend too much money or get bored or jealous of John for working or feel that I am not accomplishing much (remember that all my girls are in school all day) what if I get lazy and what if I am a terrible housewife and what if I hate it or John thinks I am now lazy and not doing much? The "what ifs" could keep going.

Then there is the decision of where to live - John has a great job (thanks to Metro Code) in Fort Worth - we can not find a job as good or the same pay in Houston and we have been looking for him for over a year. He doesn't mind driving back in forth temporarily but feels like the kids are growing up without him. My mom and dad are letting him stay at their house during the week and I know they would like to have their house back to themselves again sometime. Although - I fear my personal pull to go back to my love of Metro Code, which brings on a whole different problem.

I do love the family business, I love Metro Code with all my heart, I grew up and learned so much there. But, I was never good at just doing the job and not taking it home, I lived there mentally at all times and did not know how to turn the switch off. I was ignoring my family, my church and myself, I did not realize that until after I left. When I left I could not tell you why I had to go, I just did. Over the past 2 years I have learned a lot more, 1st I was very lucky to have a job where everyone loved me and I loved them. I was lucky to have the position I did, I had great clients, staff and family and regardless of how much the City drove me crazy I loved the challenges they gave me. I love CODE, I love Inspections and I love problem solving. I miss public speaking and the debate, I miss the problem solving. Most of all I miss my close family relationships, and the staff.

In saying all of this - I realize that I have a strong fear of going back to Fort Worth - I fear being so close to Metro Code that I will want to be back where I once was (not that they will take me :) ) where I am ALL Metro Code and I forget about my family, church and myself. This is a personal problem that I had and I realize it and do not want it to happen again.

In Houston right now we love our neighbors and our church family, I love my calling and my friends. I HATE moving, I do not want to move the girls again, Rachel is in High School its just not fair to her. But, I miss being so close to my mom and my sisters (my baby sister is pregnant with her first child and I don't want to miss this great time with her). We love our family and they are mostly all in Fort Worth and Arlington we want to be near them.

Lastly, I feel like I have made some bad decisions in the past (the move to El Paso) and I don't want to make this huge decision (to move or not to move - to work or not to work) without full knowledge that I am making the BEST decision.

Ok - Now that I have rambled on and on and most likely made no sense - I want to apologize if I offended anyone in this text - I just wanted to honestly state my feelings and see if anyone has any thoughts for me or will make this decision for me, please???

John and I will keep pondering - and we will be fasting - and we need to be on our knees in prayer lots more, I know! But.... I am so scared to make these decisions and say that we have made the final decision, and I know that I am confusing everyone around me - so this is my way of explaining.

Where we are leaning right now..... I need stop working by the time the kids get out of school for the summer........and Fort Worth is calling to us to return this summer. If this is the right decision - why am I so sad and scared? UGH!

City Council Recognition

Over the years I have been able to certify in many areas of my trade as a building inspector. When I first started working with my father we contracted for a small town near Fort Worth. I did all the code enforcement inspections and citations for the city. During that time the Fire Marshal wanted to take over the code enforcement division, which began a small friendly war between the two of us. The war was who could get their code enforcement officer license first. Since he worked for the city he was able to take the code enforcement 36 hour class that took him away from work for a week. I could not, so I just signed up for the test and took it. I passed with flying colors the problem was they would not recognize me without taking the class. It was a mistake on their part to allow me to take the test without the class credits first. They never thought someone would try to take the test without the class... So many years later - I still never found the time to take the class. I mean seriously my thought was WHY... Why should I take a class for something I already knew.

Then I started working for the City of Rosenberg last year. Normally, they require that the building inspectors have code enforcement license, but with my other certifications and licenses they did not require this of me. I just felt like I should finish something that I started so long ago. The rules had changed, there was a lengthy application to fill out for the State of Texas to approve you, the 36 hour course, and then finally the test. I am very excited to say that the class was a lot of fun and I learned a lot (who would have known - lol) and a week later I passed the test. Now the test was a 2 hour, 55 question test - I took the test in 20 minutes - it was truly the easiest test I've ever taken.

Then the surprise - the City of Rosenberg awarded me with a Certificate of Recognition the past Tuesday night at City Council and my whole department came out to support me. Johanna Garcia is our permit technician and she decided to be the first permit clerk in Rosenberg to take her Permit Technician Test and she passed as well and they recognized her also. She is standing with me and the Mayor of Rosenberg with our Department Manager Lt Wayne Jory. I had the girls go to see what City Council was like and to see me get the certificate, it was a good night.

Special Brownies

A father of some teenage children had the family rule that they could not attend PG-13 or R rated movies. His three teens wanted to see a particular popular movie that was playing at local theaters. It was rated PG-13.
The teens interviewed friends and even some members of their family's church to find out what was offensive in the movie. The teens made a list of pros and cons about the movie to use to convince their dad that they should be allowed to see it. The con's were that it contained ONLY 3 swear words, the ONLY violence was a building exploding (and you see that on TV all the time they said), and you actually did not "see" the couple in the movie having sex - it was just implied sex, off camera. The pros were that it was a popular movie - a block buster. Everyone was seeing it. If the teens saw the movie then they would not feel left out when their friends discussed it. The movie contained a good story and plot. It had some great adventure and suspense in it. There were some fantastic special effects in this movie. The movie's stars were some of the most talented actors in Hollywood. It probably would be nominated for several awards.
Many of the members of their Christian church had even seen the movie and said it wasn't "very bad". Therefore, since there were more pros than cons the teens said they were asking their father to reconsider his position on just this ONE movie and let them have permission to go see it.
The father looked at the list and thought for a few minutes. He said he could tell his children had spent some time and thought on this request. He asked if he could have a day to think about it before making his decision. The teens were thrilled thinking; "Now we've got him! Our argument is too good! Dad can't turn us down!" So, they happily agreed to let him have a day to think about their request.
The next evening the father called in his three teenagers, who were smiling smugly, into the living room. There on the coffee table he had a plate of brownies. The teens were puzzled. The father told his children he had thought about their request and had decided that if they would eat a brownie then he would let them go to the movie. But just like the movie, the brownies had pros and cons.
The pros were that they were made with the finest chocolate and other good ingredients. They had the added special effect of yummy walnuts in them. The brownies were moist and fresh with wonderful chocolate frosting on top. He had made these fantastic brownies using an award-winning recipe. And best of all, the brownies had been made lovingly by the hand of their own father.
The brownies only had one con. The father had included a little bit of a special ingredient. The brownies also contained just a little bit of dog poop. But he had mixed the dough well - they probably would not even be able to taste the dog poop and he had baked it at 350 degrees so any bacteria or germs from the dog poop had probably been destroyed.
Therefore, if any of his children could stand to eat the brownies which included just a "little bit of crap" and not be effected by it, then he knew they would also be able to see the movie with "just a little bit of smut" and not be effected.
Of course, none of the teens would eat the brownies and the smug smiles had left their faces. Only Dad was smiling smugly as they left the room.
Now when his teenagers ask permission to do something he is opposed to the father just asks, "Would you like me to whip up a batch of my special brownies?"

Better Mood Enhancement than chocolate, alcohol, or music

Can there be such a thing???
Yes!
The next time you need a mood boost, forget chocolate. Forget the wine and mood music, too. Because researchers have discovered something else that works even better. And best of all, it’s calorie-free, doesn’t require exercise, and can be done almost anywhere. What is it? Looking at personal photos.

Researchers at the United Kingdom’s Open University examined how much people’s mood rose after eating chocolate, sipping an alcoholic drink, watching TV, listening to music, or looking at photos.

They found that the music and chocolate left people’s moods unchanged. Alcohol and TV gave a slight lift. But the winner by a long shot was viewing personal photos, which made people feel significantly better.

So next time you feel down in the dumps, pull out the photo albums. Or, if you’re technologically minded, you can load your favorite photos onto a digital viewer that you can take with you anywhere you go.

Feeding our Families

Our family is very large and we all enjoy eating! Lately we have been trying to share recipes and decided that we needed ONE place to go to get these recipes - so we have started our newest BLOG - with several families sharing ideas it should be full in no time! If you have any great recipes for us - send them to my email at michelle.kirchner@yahoo.com and we will make sure you are recognized for sharing!

www.feedingourfamilies.blogspot.com

Lady Bug

I made this cake for a friend who is having a baby girl and we planned a baby shower at the office for her. I think I did ok - but I still have to work on my centering I tend to be a little crooked. Perfection might not ever be MY style... oh well!

Be Strong & of a Good Courage

Book Mark Created by Jill at: http://jillsldsyw.blogspot.com

This years Young Women & Young Men theme is truly inspired.

I am so privileged to work with the youth of our church. I was talking to the girls the other day and I realized that when I was a young women my leaders told us that we were chosen for this time, this dispensation. They taught us that we were chosen for this time due to our great strength, that the world in my day was going to be tough and we needed to rely on the Lord for help to make it back to him. Looking at these wonderful youth of today and at first I think - my time wasn't near as hard of a road as they have it. We didn't have cell phones, the Internet, facebook, text messaging, or any of these amazing gadgets that occupy our youths lives. All of a sudden I realize that I was born in my time, to help raise my youth of today that they can grow and learn to find their savior in a world that seems to go at warp speed. Which makes me realize that I need to be stronger and have more courage as well.

Parents - we need to realize that this years theme for the Young Women and Young Men is for US also - if the youth see us working on our Strength and Courage then it will make it easier for them to have Strength and Courage.

So I am making it my goal that I will work harder to read my scriptures, fast and pray, give service, and grow closer to the Lord - by doing these things I know that my Strength and Courage will be stronger and that the Lord will be with me withersoever I go.

15 years old

Rachel is 15! I have really enjoyed sitting back and watch this wonderful kid turning into an amazing teen. This year she has found her love for books - but only for vampire books - at the beginning of the year I would not allow her to read one without me reading it first - but I now know that even thought the books are about vampires - they are very age appropriate and I am glad to see her reading. She worked really hard on her basketball skills this year and she has improved - she really enjoys being on the basketball team. She has transitioned to high school with no problems. She has been very good at getting up early and attending Seminary. She enjoys babysitting and earning her own money. She is driving me crazy to be able to get her learners permit - I just can't seem to get it in my brain that she is old enough to drive and it scares me to death! I guess I will have to work on this fear and anxiety, because she is ready - watch out Houston - you might be seeing Rachel at the wheel and me with my hands over my eyes in the next few months!

Oh yes and for her birthday this year she finally got her braces off and she looks amazing! I will have to get her to smile for me soon so I can show off what my money has done for me lately! lol

Interview with the Bishop

Kailtyn recently did an interview with our Bishop - I think she did a great job with the questions she asked him - she felt like she learned a lot about him - you can read the interview at www.westlakewardyw.blogspot.com