First Day of School

Sierra started school yesterday.

She was really excited about getting back to school and "quit being a couch-potatoe".

When we dropped her off she panicked a little and started to cry. But, her teacher came to her rescue and took her by the hand.

She did better, but I did not. I soon thereafter started to cry. "Maybe, I should just home-school her this year," I said to Jeremy through my sniffles and honking nose blows.

It’s been an emotional summer for us and she has become my little buddy, helper, and right-hand-gal.

I was worried about her.

I didn’t want her to be sad, I wanted her to feel okay and happy and safe with Mommy!!!

Luckily, Jeremy was home to help pull me together.

I was a mess for most of the morning, but once I calmed down and realized how peaceful the house was with her at school I felt better about having her gone.

...Much better...

...Maybe even a little glad...

Okay, I got over it pretty quickly, and made a FULL recovery.

But I was still really excited to see her come home again!

Guess we won't be doing home-school this year after all!

Smash and Grab Caught!

Four days ago I received a letter in the mail notifying me that my own personal smash and grabber had been caught!

I had a million thoughts and questions run through my head when I read the letter....

1)Will he come for me after he is out of jail?
2)Was Sierra's MP3 recovered?
3)Maybe I won't have to find all those tunes my sister downloaded onto Sierra's MP3 player.
4)Will he pay me back on all the money I lost?
5)Did they find my hot pink purse?
6)Maybe my "To Do" list will still be in my purse!
7)Maybe there's another binky in my purse!

Well - in the letter I had to fill out a victim statement. There was a section where I could list what I wanted to have happen in the case he is convicted of this crime.

Now I've always been taught to be forgiving and not seek revenge, so thinking of what I might like to see happen as part of his sentence made me feel a little guilty.

On the other hand it would be ridiculous if there are no consequences! So I decided that as long as I get my money back the judge can do whatever seems lawful for the crime.

Then I started thinking about all the time - 7 full days - I spent of cleaning up after his crap! ...Calling banks, credit card companies, vendors where my cards were fraudulently used, endless time on the phone with investigators and police, gathering estimates, waiting in lounges for my car to be repaired. Kids were ignored, dinners were not made, toilets grew bacteria, and there was absolutely NO FUN to be had in the Franklin household for over a week!

Maybe I'd get a little creative for the judge. So then I added the following suggestion to my paper, "In addition to the penalties the judge deems appropriate (jail, prison, probation etc) I would like to see (Name) spend 7 days straight cleaning up dog crap along the Beus Canyon Trail and other trails in the area. Just like I spent 7 days cleaning up after his crap."

But then I started to feel a little guilty again. But I left the statement. Then I started thinking - well if I could suggest this guy to have to do anything, why not turn it into something good - yes, cleaning up dog crap is good community service, but maybe I could cause him to do something that would change his life!!!! Turn his life around!!!!!

So, I added the following statement, "Also, it would be the greatest desire for me to have him read The Book of Mormon and listen to the all of the LDS church missionary discussions, as I firmly believe that the preaching of Gods word has more effect upon the mind than anything else."

Then I referenced the following scripture Book of Mormon Alma 31: 5
5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

Then I thought - well maybe it was meant to be for him to rob me so he could be introduced to the gospel!!!

So I'm curious - if you were in my shoes what creative sentencing would you do?
And do you agree with my creative sentencing?
I'll keep you posted on what the sentence ends up being.

New Home

Well - we been living in our new home for a little over a month now and I still feel so unsettled. I was so used to my groove in AZ and now I'm just trying to figure out where I fit in I guess. I totally love the home we are renting, but since I know we'll be living in it for only a year - I wonder if I'll ever have that sense of feeling settled. Well - I can only try. Am I going to hold back on making friends because I feel like - "what's is worth I'm moving in a year?" But I guess I would really be denying myself from the wonderful blessings and luxury of friendships if I don't get out there and meet some people.

So - what is the best way to make new friends - anyone have any ideas? I'd welcome them. I just miss my circle of AZ friends. There's a little piece of me missing, and I'm sure some new friends will help.

I remember growing up in the military as we moved from place to place. I remember being a little lost when we'd get to a new place and have to find friends. I thought that would go away as an adult. But now I'm realizing that adults need friends just as much a kids do! Maybe a little more. I always had my brothers and sisters there to play with growing up. But there's is a bright side here, a very bright side, because I have moved to a place where I am closer to family and can, once again, "play" with my brothers and sisters. But they are still an hour away so it's not as easy as when they were living in the same house as me. So I guess I can't feel too bad for myself after all.

At your request finally here are some pics of our new house.






My favorite things about our new house are:
1) The view of the mountains behind our house.
2) I have a basement to send the kids down to be noisy in, instead of having them at a maximum distance of 20 feet by me all day long.
3) Having all the toys downstairs and not in our main living area, this make the house feel very clean almost all of the time with little effort!
4) Having grass and a playset in our backyard.
5) Lots of storage.
6) Now we have a place for our guests to sleep without displacing one of the kids. (aka - all are welcome to come visit and stay the night - we've set up a cool little cowboy room called "The Sundance Room" after Jeremy's middle name)
7) A big garage where we don't have to move our cars in and out in order to get the kids' bikes out!

Well - I usually try and make these entries a little entertaining or clever - but I just am not feelin' it right now ya know? So - I'm just going to add some dry little comments below the pics. Hope you like them anyway!


Ella at the Lamb family reunion in Rigby Idaho around 4th of July. A-Dorable!


Porter at the Lamb family reunion in Rigby Idaho around 4th of July. A-Dorable!
(Now I'm really being lazy 'cause I just copy and pasted the comment from Ella's pic right to Porter's pic. It's okay because they are both A-Dorable.



Ella turns 1!!! Can you believe it? I'm so enamored with this little cupcake of a girl. I call her Dolly because I feel like I'm a little girl playing dolly all day with her. She's such a good little baby and hardly ever fuses and never has a bad thing to say about anyone.

Welcome to your new home

We have received quite the welcome to our new home town.

On July 8th we went to a nearby park. While playing at the park with our children we returned to our car to find it had been broken into. My purse was left in the car and was stolen. The police termed it a "smash and grab." It's probably been about a year since I've left my purse in the car. Never happens.

To the thieves that stole my purse and smashed my window - I hope you get caught. I hope the trail of my fraudulent credit card charges all over town become your demise. If not, I hope the guilt of your crimes haunt you every night until you've paid retribution for them. If not - I guess you'll get what is coming to you eventually.

I've always been an easy going and forgiving person, difficult to take offense (well, unless it's a certain time of month and your my husband, sorry Jeremy), but this has rocked me pretty well. Hopefully after I get through the thick of things and settle all the issues surrounding this trespass on my life - I'll be able to get the obscenities and feeling of hate and anger out of my consciousness. I'm sure the thieves aren't stewing over these issues. I'm sure they've moved on to their next victims.

People that steal have no respect for themselves or others. It is a heinous crime that not only robs people of their possessions, but their sense of security, and peace.

Having been a victim firsthand I have a zillion times more empathy for other victims of any crime. It's not just something on TV that happens and people move on, my life has been turned upside-down for the last week as I've spent all day every day doing damage control and trying to repair the various effects of this idiotic act of cowardessness. (I made that last word up apparently, because my spell check is not liking that word.)

Hopefully my next post will be a little more positive.

Packing Up

So I've been packing boxes here and there for the last week and it's setting in a little more that we are moving.

We've got about a week and a half before we set sail. June 24th to be exact. It's a bitter sweet move. I will miss AZ and especially my friends terribly, but Jeremy will be completely done with Residency and we'll be able to not stress as much about how we will pay bills.

More importantly, we will be much closer to my side of the family, and half of Jeremy's family. We haven't been close to any family for the last 7 years. Seven years is a long time. I'm not sure I know how to live close to family anymore - come to think of it.

We've become so independent during this time that I wonder if we'll feel like we are "putting family out" by leaning on them more as we live closer. Interesting.... Although, I already know what my family will say to that thought. There's no such thing as putting family out - that's what they'll say. And that's why I love 'em.

So - anyway - back to the packing boxes. The realization of moving really set in when I took down the decorations in Porter's room today. The nostalgia hit me and I was sure I was going to cry... however, no tears yet. (But I'm sure they will come. I'm not too much of a sentimental cryer - I usually only cry when I'm exhausted and overwhelmed.)

Well - I guess I've rambled on enough for this post.

P.S. In case you are confuzzled, the picture above is just a random picture of moving boxes - not boxes at our house.

R.I.P. Mr. Pool

Your life was so tender
Not even a year
You were in our lives
Part of our family so dear

We basked in your arms
On warm summer days
While enjoying your coolness
And AZ’s sun rays.



Memories of fun
We now can recall
Oh - How we all had a ball

Splashing, sunning, dreaming and running.
Laughing, squealing, snorkeling, and grilling.



A key to our summers of family happiness
You were always there for us.

I’ll never forget that fateful June day
The wind blew you away.
But much to our relief you hadn’t gone far
And we found you at our neighbor’s next door.



Again the next day you tried to escape.
I should have known then, your fate.

Still, I towed you back home
Weighed you down with some toys
And left you to fend for yourself.

I returned home from shopping
That crazy windy day
I pulled up to the house
Finding you’d gone astray.

The toys I meant to hold you down
Were now strewn on the ground.



In a huff and a puff
You broke through those anchors
Whirled through the front gate
with nothing but anger

Determined to be free you had nothing to loose
But air….

10 houses traveled

Cactus plants battled



No longer incarcerated

But so sad and deflated



A life so fulfilling
You threw it away
Now we’ll not be swimming
Our hearts will be grey.