Long overdue update

Well, so much has happened over the summer that I don't even think to blog about it cuz no one really cares I'm sure....

First of all I injured my ankle playing volleyball and I'm still recovering from that so I haven't been able to take the kids swimming like I was planning. I also made the decision to take a break from teaching piano for a while to focus on my kiddos. This was a very hard decision for me, but I feel like it will be the best decision. We are still homeschooling our kids this year and I need to be able to give them my full attention!

Then Rob injured his knee playing basketball and tore his ACL so he needs surgery. But before he gets surgery he is going on a 10 mile hike up into the mountain with the scouts!!! MEN!

We went to the Tolman Family Reunion in Idaho and that was nice to see all of the family we don't get to see very often. We also visited Rob's mom in the nursing home. Then went down to Utah to visit Lori and her family and Phee. That is always a good time. :0)

Rob and I celebrated our 14 year Anniversary on the 26th. Where did the time go??? How did I end up with 9 kids and the oldest being a teenager!? I'm too young for that....

MY SUMMER IN A NUTSHELL...but we are ending with a camping trip this weekend with an awesome family from the ward. CAN'T WAIT!

Then back to school and the old grind stone...:0) LIFE IS GOOD!

Thanks for stopping by for this Tolman update. I will try to do better!!!!

SO much FUN!

I LOVE it when I make new friends! :) I have been going to the Recreation Center here in Parker for the last couple of weeks to play volleyball. Volleyball is an obsession of mine. It is very addicting....
The people there have been playing together for a while so I was nervous to come in. They don't know me or how I play and I haven't been playing as consistently as they have. But they were so welcoming and every time I go there is a group that is always inviting me to play with them. Then last night, they invited me to go out for tacoes. It was so much fun! These are the kind of people I wouldn't normally "hang out" with. They are men that are single from ages 30-50 and some women that are my age that are single and there are some guys that are married that have kids that play volleyball and then there are the 20 something kids that have youth and energy on their side. We play from 6:30PM to 10PM. They found out I have nine kids and they couldn't get over it....It was fun getting to know them and find out their stories.
Just thought I would share since my last post was such a downer....But you are never too old to meet new people and make new friends. That is my two cents for the day. :)
Thanks for stopping by! I will try to get pictures of them. I'm sure they will looooove THAT! LOL

What to say....?

Well, First off, I am horrible at blogging. But I have been so consumed with lots of feelings about the past, about the present, about life and death. I think this post is going to be more for my benefit of getting everything out then for your benefit. Although, if someone reads this and can relate, that's great. :0)

We have some friends that lost their 12 year old daughter this morning. She has been fighting a long battle due to being born with congenital heart defects and other defects. She made it a lot longer than the doctors thought she would. I have been reading their blog to keep up on how they have been doing. The link is here, if you would like to read it. http://www.lovemyangel1997.blogspot.com/ It is very humbling to read it and the faith and testimony of the parents is amazing during the hardest trial they have had to face. I cry just thinking about it. It really hit home for me because that could have been my daughter, McKenna. It just never ceases to amaze me that the trials we are called to face are so different. We really just cannot judge anyone, because we don't have a clue as to what they are going through or have gone through.

I have also been thinking about my past and how I thought I had bottled it up all nice and neat so that I could move forward in life. Then someone came back into my life that brought up all those feelings of worthlessness I try to hide. It has been very trying for me. I went through anger at having felt so worthless and anger at those who made me feel worthless. But I just came to the realization that I needed to go through this so that I could get it all out of my system. So there was one person I thought was a friend but turned out to be the epitome of everything I had to deal with in being abandoned by my fathers. I felt abandoned all over again and like I wasn't worth loving. But I am grateful I went through it, even though it hurt, because I feel like I've grown from it. It amazes me that Heavenly Father knew just the thing I needed to go through. I didn't understand what the purpose was until I was truly humbled and then when I was crying on my knees, he let me know what I needed to learn from it. This may sound crazy, but it was very personal and not even my husband knew I was going through it. It also got me thinking about the people that come into our lives and how they have a purpose. Sometimes they are there to lift us when we need it, but sometimes they are there because there is something we need to learn from them. I'm grateful for all of them. I hope I'm the person in your life that was there to lift you when you needed it.

I just feel so much gratitude at the blessings I have been given in my life, that I feel I'm not worthy of, but He blesses me anyway. I also came to the sweet realization that it doesn't matter that I was abandoned by my fathers because I have always had ONE father that has NEVER forsaken me. I love Him with all my heart! I have a very personal relationship with my Father in heaven. I feel Him laughing at me at some of the boneheaded things I do. He laughs in a gentle, loving way. He also gently reminds me when I make mistakes. He reminds me in a talk I hear at church that seems like it's just for me. Or an article I read. Or in someone making a passing comment. He never judges me harshly. I'm grateful for that.

I love my husband SOOOOOOOO much! I can't believe that I married the one man that was perfect for me. He may not be anyone else's ideal, but he is mine. :0) I'm grateful for the beautiful children I have been given and trusted with. I'm grateful for their strong spirits and willingness to do what is right. They teach me everyday. Mostly what they teach me is patience, but sometimes they surprise me with their wisdom and insight. :0)

Sorry this is such a serious post, but it is very therapeutic for me. With the passing of that dear sweet girl, it just made me realize what is important in life. Our friendships, relationships with our family, and our relationship with our Heavenly Father. So go out and tell someone how much they mean to you today.
Thanks for letting me blather on.

The NEWEST Member of our Family

Everyone modeling their new Christmas Jammies
Jason doesn't wear jammies anymore so we found him these boxers with the Grinch on the hiney. Everyone modeled like Jason. :0)

Petey looks like the puppy from the Cottnelle commercials.

Well, we finally did it. We got a dog! I wasn't the one that needed convincing. :0) Here is how it happened....

ME: Rob, Randy Schmidt called and said that he is driving to Utah to pick up some dogs. They're free and he is wondering if he should bring us back one, too.

Rob: No.

Later that night.....

ME: I really feel that we should get that puppy. If we don't do it now, we will miss this opportunity. Jason is almost twelve and he has wanted one so badly for such a long time. Pause....they are sooooo cute!

Rob: crickets chirping.........

The next day........

ME: We told the kids that we would get them a dog last year and you have always found an excuse to not get one....

Rob: We need a fence first and we can't afford it right now.

ME: We can put it in the garage. And since I cant have anymore babies, I want a puppy....

5 minutes later.....

Rob: Hey, Randy. I guess we're going to need that dog after all.

I was so excited! We kept the puppy at the Schmidt's house until 5AM Christmas morning. NORMALLY, we tell the kids not to get us out of bed until 7AM. But I was so excited I got up at 5Am and sat and waited.....didn't hear any noises. Rob got home with the puppy and I said, "Go wake up the kids." They came out all bleary-eyed...."what time is it?" "Mom, I heard some whining."

I said, "Uh-oh. Do we have an animal caught in our garage?"

They all run to check. "Be careful!"

They open the door. "Hey, there is a dog in our garage! Who does it belong to?" Checking the tag. "Hey, our number is on the tag! It's our dog!"

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!! :0) Rob has become attached to Petey the sweetie, too. He is such a good puppy. He doesn't ever bark and he is almost potty-trained.

I hope everyone had an AMAZING CHRISTMAS! Happy New Year!

Cost of Online school

I had a good question about the cost of online schooling. As far as fees, we pay a normal fee like what you would pay if we went to public school. That was it. There are some intial start up costs like school supplies (Paper, pencils, crayons, etc.) They gave us some of the paper and all of the books. The computers were the most expensive, but we just found some laptops for a really good price and figure that they will be useful in the future, as well, so they were worth it. I wonder if we had gone with a different online school, if there would have been a larger fee. We went with one in our school district so maybe since we lived in the district, it was cheaper? That might be something to look into....
The good thing was we didn't buy new school clothes and we don't have to keep buying school supplies for the rest of the school that were shared. We were always getting asked for money for this and for that. We don't have to buy school lunches which went up to $2.50 this year. OUCH! We don't have to pay an exorbitant amount for field trips. $9 just to take the school bus anywhere plus $5 for whatever it was they were doing. So I think it all balances out. :0)

Adventures in Online Schooling

click on photo to see it better

So at the beginning of this year, Rob and I decided to try an online school for our kids. This was not an easy decision. But the reasons for it were too great and we felt an urgency in making this decision. It was a personal decision. We don't think everyone should do it or everyone shouldn't do it. It was something that had to be done for our children at this point in our lives, but who knows what the future holds. I want to get the word out so that other parents will know that it is an option.


Having been involved in it for a few months now, I feel like I can better talk about my experience. If you have any questions about anything, PLEASE feel free to ask me! I don't know everything, but I hope I can take the fear out of it for those who would love to do it but just don't think they can.


So the reasons WHY we decided to do it....The kids were getting bombarded with inappropriate material while riding the bus to school 45 minutes, one way. They weren't allowed to talk about Christ in the schools. They were required to walk a mile to catch the bus. School was starting later and the kids wouldn't be getting home until 5:30PM and then have homework on TOP of that! Some of the kids were getting bullied to the point where the bullies would SEARCH out my child and try to make their life hell. At this stage their self-esteem would have been shot. So those are some of our reasons....


We looked at a couple different online schools and found one right in our own school district. It is fairly new so they are still working out the kinks, but I have LOVED it! We start our school day at 8AM and end around 12PM with lunch. The kids might have some little things to finish up, like reading or PE. We work until Thursday and turn everything in on Friday, so they pretty much have Friday off. Sometimes we even have Thursday off. We have gone to the Science Museum a number of times on our days off. The kids are able to explore and do experiments they wouldn't be able to do at home. Working closely with my younger kids has been so fun! Their writing has improved and their spelling has improved. I get to see exactly what is being taught and I can bring Christian themes into it if I so desire. How awesome is that!


I get asked a lot of questions about how we have everything set up so the picture at the top kind of shows what we have done. We have a little office space right outside of our bedroom and we just lined up desks around the walls. Each child has their own desk where they keep their books, school supplies and computer. They have a hook on the wall for their headset. The younger girls received a box of schoool supplies from the school district to use throughout the year. some of them are consumables and some items will need to be returned. They gave us a list so we know what they want back.

How does it work? The kids are assigned teachers that work with them one-on-one. They meet once or twice a week in a Virtual Classroom with all the other students and get a lesson or they can ask questions. I also get to talk to the teachers about any concerns I have. They can be reached by e-mail as well or through a chat room. The teachers post their assignments for the week and any other info we will need, like copies of worksheets we might need. I sit down on Friday before the week and mark all the pages that need to be done and make all the copies that need to be made and place them in their folders. Now we are into the routine so I don't have to be by their side all the time. They also have websites the kids can go to to do some of their work online for practice. It is AMAZING what is out there! If I ever have any questions or can't remember what a past participle is or something, I GOOGLE it! I find the answers I need everytime. It's nice because I'm re-learning right along with my children. LOL At the end of the week, I scan what the teachers want and submit it to a special place on the school website. Voila!
The teachers grade it and give feedback on their assignments so the kids can see. They receive an e-mail letting them know when it is ready. For PE they just have to be active for so many minutes a week and I keep track. I have them exercise with me so that's nice that I can get it in and they can use it as well. It's been great. Also, with online school the younger kids can take a language much earlier than if they were in school. They don't get graded, they just get to explore. The kids have so much fun with it, I use it as a special treat if they get all of their graded work in.

Jason is a little different. He is in Junior high so he has numerous teachers just like in Junior high. He is a little more independent. I can check online for his grades, though, so if I see he has a D then I get a little more involved and he has to answer to me for all of his assignments. He has really caught on now and is doing an excellent job. :0)

Well, I don't want to drag this on and on, but like I said, if anyone has any other questions, please let me know.
One last thing I want to add is, they really try to keep the kids connected. They meet in the "classrooms" with their fellow students, they have field trips with their fellow students, they have penpals assigned to them that they can talk to, and they get together with their teacher and other students during a face-to-face assessment, like we are doing tomorrow. The kids are so excited!
Okay, that is it!

Thanks for stopping by and reading me blabber on and on. :0)

FINALLY the last of the reunion photos Part 1

The day before Teresa, Adam, and Dylan left, we went on a sight-seeing drive and hike. The first place we stopped was this mountain that apparently had an avalanche that changed that whole area. In this picture you can see where all the trees fell down the mountain leaving the dirt showing.



Here is all the debris. Some of the trees stayed standing and started growing where ever they fell. That was pretty cool.

We found a campground and had a picnic. It started to rain so we built a fire to get warm.

I LOVE Jason's smile when it is genuine. He is such a great kid and fun to be around.




On the drive back home, I saw the Teton mountains pop-up from around the hill and it was so amazing, I can't even describe it. The pictues just don't do it justice! You have to click to get a better view.

Here are some surrounding hills that were the prettiest colors. I would love to live out there somewhere when we retire and all.

This picture shows the Tetons with a river and a little waterfall coming into it. Beautiful.



This is just a random picture of the hail storm we got in JULY! Gotta love that mountain overpass.