Smell The Roses

Living without

2012-02-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

There are some things I would NOT want to live without. Things like my dishwasher, indoor plumbing, washer and dryer, piano. There are some things we have discovered lately that we CAN live without, and I am enjoying it very much. This would include TV, mindless internet use, ipods and microwave. The first few things were on purpose. Both DH and I had the same impressions a couple weeks ago. Upon discussing it, we had a family counsel (not to be confused with family "cancel" as the little ones say, HA!) and decided to have a month of detox from things we feel are hurting us as individuals and as a family. So...no ipods, no Facebook or blog surfing, etc. No TV-even on weekends for any of us. No movies, even. No video games, except for Just Dance because it is a fun family activity where we are interacting and not just sitting there. And basically only using technology as a tool when we need to, not just for wasting time.
It has been tough! But, I am feeling so much better! I admit that today I checked a couple of friend's blogs, but other than that we have stuck to it. I am so happy not seeing Teeny Bopper with her ipod on 24/7. I know that is a tough one for her, but she is doing very well. I have especially been happy that Dr. Destructo hasn't been on the TV or Wii. He is addicted, and at his age I am aware that it is my fault. Well, I have taken matters into my own tentacles and turned it OFF. He is doing great! I love it, too. There have been a couple of times that I have wanted to turn on the TV just to get some "space" and clean or do something without interruption. But instead of turning on the "babysitter", I have sent the kids outside or pulled out the playdoh or dug into the toy box for a long lost toy to keep them occupied instead.
At the end of the month, we are going to reconvene our counsel, and discuss how we have felt and establish some limits for re-introducing these things back into our lives. As for the TV, I am voting for one movie on the weekend and that's it. IF we have something we really want to watch. I guess we'll see what happens...
As for the microwave, that wasn't planned. It quit working. But knowing how unhealthy they are, I am actually kind of happy to be forced into not using it. There have been 2 times in the past week that it would have been really convenient, but we used the stove instead and took 5 min instead of 30 seconds. Totally worth the extra 4 min and 30 sec to feel better about our food. :)

Memories of a month

2012-01-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

So, I did Z-E-R-O posts in January, huh? Yeah, I blame that mostly on my camera. I hate posting without pictures, but maybe I can steal some from Teeny Bopper for this post. This month has been a true whirl-wind. Seriously, I feel like I am just taking my first breath after holding it for weeks, trying to make sure I didn't forget anything! Life with older kids is soooooooooooo busy!!!! I LOVE it, but man. It gives a mom a run for her money. :)
Here is the rundown of our January:
(I am just including the "big" things, not all of the day to day stuff that filled in every.single.empty.gap of time)

*Daddy's birthday-39!!! The last glorious year of his thirties! Now he is beginning the very wonderful decade of his 40's. It's going to be a great one, I can feel it.

*Sweet G's birthday-14!!! We had a lot of big birthdays this year. She can now go to stake dances, which she has. We had a fun party for her-maybe I can find some pictures on here.

*Teeny Bopper's birthday-16!!! Yikes! This is a big one. Dating and driving, here we come!!

*Winter Formal-see the previous entry, which includes dating. Yep, she had her first date and was a vision of loveliness! Her date was a perfect gentleman, too. We borrowed her dress, I made the shrug to go with it for modesty, and she wore shoes she already had so the net cost was very minimal. Whew! It was a great night for her.

*Sweet G received her Patriarchal Blessing. What a sweet and wonderful event that was!! I am telling you, the children of these latter days truly are the best of the best. Wow-this was a powerful experience her as well as her dad and me.

*I began teaching Art Masterpiece at the kid's elementary school. I LOVE it! I chose to teach this because I know nothing about art, or famous works of art. I am learning so much and I get to present to Blondie's class of sixth graders and they are so much fun!

*The Scarlet Pimpernel-wow. Let me just say that again: WOW. Tons of rehearsals and finally the show this month. This was one of the best shows I've seen! The kids in this (and the adults, can't forget them) did such a FABulous job. I learned a lot about French Victorian hair, and that I can do 2 large heads of hair in 40 min start to finish. That was quite a job! But so, so fun. :) Teeny Bopper and Sweet G are doing nothing to their hair for at least a week to let it recover from the serious curling and teasing.

*Little Miss won an award for a drawing she did at school, and won a $100 savings bond and an invitation to a Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast all the way out at ASU West. (read: waaay the heck out there) It was a really nice event, and of course a delicious free breakfast. This was a great honor, and we are so proud of her! The title of her piece is "Still be friends even if you're different". Cutie!!

So, add in to all of that pedicures, driving kids everywhere, meals to be made and cleaned up, choir, school field trips, doctor visits, activity days, mutual, etc. Yep. I barely made it, but it was a great ride! Oh, and I did simplify somewhat. Up until this month, our kids have been riding the bus. Well...at the beginning of January, a kid on the bus shot off a .22 pistol. Fortunately for everyone he fired into a seat. Luckily, neither of our kids were on the bus that day. He sat right behind Little Miss! The other moms that we ride to the bus stop with wanted to quit the bus and drive to and from school instead. I agreed, and gave it a try, but this just ended up adding time, stress, and expense to life for me so we are now back on the bus. Aaah. It's just a little thing, but it helps nonetheless. Yay for the little things!

Some pictures to document the month:
Winter Formal
The girls: Modest is hottest! This pic proves it! :)

The guys:

Picking up her date:

Say cheese!!

The group:

Scarlet Pimpernel
The Baroness De Fancourt:

A French citizen:

Miss Amelia:

Our darling actress children: The costumes were SO awesome! Big girls like to play dress-up, too. :) Sweet G is really proficient with that fan.

Little Miss' award breakfast. Blondie came along as a supportive sister. Did I mention there were around 1500 entries for this award?:

A close-up of her picture:

Receiving the award:

Her teacher came, too! She is so sweet.

Senator Lewis was there:

Of course, mom and dad are so happy to be here with Little Miss:

A collage of Christmas

2011-12-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have created a collage of the pictures I was able to get with my dear daughter's camera of our Christmas. We have the tree, both lit and unlit. The gingerbread houses-Sweet G's (she did 2 because Teeny Bopper admitted to not enjoying decorating gingerbread houses), Little Miss', Blondie's, and Dr. D's complete with lava coming out the chimney. Nana with her fabulous purple glasses. A few stocking opening pictures. The kids lined up in the hall, youngest to oldest per tradition, as they await being released to find their stockings. Our nativity table with our little glass set from years ago, the rock painted set my niece made last year, and the wooden block set I made this year. Dr. D with his beloved slinky eyeball glasses. Lastly, a few decorations around the house. What a lovely Christmas!!

Happy Holidays Stuff

2011-12-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

We have had a very full and wonderful December. Why isn't much of it documented here? Well, for one, I have been so busy doing things I haven't had a chance to write about it. And for two, my CAMERA won't DOWNLOAD. I am t.i.c.k.e.d. So, I will have to grab Teeny Bopper's camera and take some after shots.

Here is a brief low-down of what we have done:
Bought a real Christmas tree
Decorated the house and aforementioned tree
Christmas concerts out the wazoo
The older girls got contacts
The younger girls got a bunk bed
Decorated gingerbread houses
Walked around the Temple and saw the lights
Ate lots of food
Gave out salsa to the neighbors
Lots of shopping
Lots of wrapping
Made a wooden blocks nativity set
Put lights on the house
Attended and hosted parties and gatherings (including a little bonfire in the backyard)
Cleaned the house and messed it right back up again, ~~multiple~~ countless times
Sewed
Played games with the kids (and hubby), especially Just Dance and Curses, our newest games-HILARIOUS
Watched movies
Dr. D learned how to ride a bike
Had Little Miss' tonsils and adenoids chopped out
Took our family picture

It has been a fantastic month! Christmas was great because we were able to get many things we have needed for a while and the kids were so happy to get them. Since we got the girls big things (contacts and bunk beds) most of the Christmas gifts were family oriented. I mentioned the Just Dance game and Curses. We also got some good jump ropes-individual ones and long ones for double dutch. Also the movie The Help and books-the Fablehaven series and a Shannon Hale set. DH and I got Kindle Fires for our Christmas gifts. We have had lots of fun with those!

It's sad to see 2011 go, because it has been such a good year to us. Kind of strange to think of the year almost being over. Life is good! Bring on the new year.

Family Picture

2011-12-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

Phew! We barely squeaked it in, but we took our annual family picture!! We did it in 15 min from the call, "Everybody get dressed; let's go take our family picture!" to back home and done. I had a pedicure to do but the sun was going down, so we threw some clothes on, brushed our hair, ran across the street to stand by the wall, and got 'er done. I love them!

We had to use Teeny Bopper's camera, because mine won't download for some reason. grrrrrrrrrrrrr Oh well. And the beauty of black and white is, you can wear whatever and don't need to match! Yay for modern technology! (and Picnik) The only thing that bugs me is that I look like my eyes are closed. I squint when I smile so I don't know if they are or not. Whatev. :)

Soooo tired

2011-12-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Yearning

2011-12-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

Another choir post. I know, I know. But I can't help it. :)
Tonite was our first Christmas concert. One of my favorite songs isn't actually a Christmas song. It's called The Yearning. It is about our yearning for Christ. My heart swells when we sing this song, it's so amazing. I was bummed because I got a major tickle in my throat just before this song, so I couldn't actually sing it. At all. Or the next song, and most of the next song. Gah! It was so frustrating because if I started singing the tickle would come back so I had to just fake it until I knew it was gone. I was kind of sad because my voice wasn't included in The Yearning, but it was nice to listen to it.
After our concert, we went to sing for one of the choir member's mother. She has terminal cancer-breast, bone, brain, liver. She slept all day just to have enough energy to come out and listen to us. I spent 30 min. with her and her husband and could tell she is a gem. The kind of woman that is gracious and loving to everyone she meets, even in her suffering. Very much the heart of this family. I could picture in my mind her husband sitting there thinking, "What in the world am I going to do without this woman?" Though this family was face to face with this intense trial, and I could tell that though there is sadness at the prospect of being separated by death, there was not fear. There was strong faith holding them together like glue. My voice was fine and I was able to sing The Yearning for them. It meant so much to me to be singing and sharing the beautiful spirit that was there with this family.

Messiah

2011-12-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite events of the season happened last night. The Messiah sing-along. This year I was asked to be in the choir, which basically meant sitting at the front and standing up when it was time to sing so everyone would know when to sing. But for me, it also meant that for the first time ever, I wasn't completely lost! I borrowed the Messiah CD's from a friend, and practiced singing with them. It was great!
Handle wrote the Messiah in less than 30 days. That is utterly amazing. I have enjoyed the sing-alongs in the past, especially the Hallelujah chorus. That's everyone's favorite, right? This year the whole thing touched me a lot more than it has before. Maybe it will sound strange, but praising God has been on my mind. We thank Him, we communicate with Him, but how often do we praise God?
As I was participating in this music, I felt like I was praising the Lord. "Honor, power and glory be unto Him, be unto Him", "Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God in the Highest!", "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah!", "Wonderful! Counselor! The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace". These were the words, and the melodies were just as awesome. My soul was happy. Thank you, Handel, for the Messiah. I believe you did hear the angels singing when you wrote this. I am grateful for this season to celebrate our beloved Savior's birth, especially through music.

One year ago today...

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

We officially moved into our house. (warning:looooong post ahead)

One year ago our family underwent a monumental change. We packed all eight of us (and all our ~~junk~~ belongings) and moved. To a new house. A new ward. For some of the kids, a new school. For all of us, a new life.
For the past several years our family has been on a pretty intense roller coaster ride. To sum it up, because it's not really possible to write all of the gory details right now, DH left a fairly comfortable albeit dead-end job to go into business with a good friend. We had prayed about the decision, but never got a "go ahead" answer. In spite of that, and contrary to the advice of friends and family, we took the leap into this business venture. We ~~sunk~~ invested ALL of our retirement, savings, etc. into this business in order to fund the projects and plans.
OK-here's the big summary part:
Turns out, our friend and partner was doing many illegal and immoral things. He ended up in jail and we lost everything. Our money, DH's confidence and self esteem, and ultimately our home. What we didn't lose was our faith, each other, and the knowledge that our Heavenly Father was very aware of us and our situation. During these years, we received countless acts of service--from the prayers or others to $500 coming to us anonymously through our mail slot. (what came through our mail slot deserves it's own post sometime) This kind of thing happened more than once, especially around Christmas, and always at crucial times.
In April of 2010, a good friend and neighbor gave DH a job. Very low paying, but a job nonetheless. This job not only provided money, but gave DH a huge boost and was a life-preserver to him when he felt he was drowning. We will be forever grateful to our friend for this opportunity. From here, DH was able to get his current job (last November).
There were many months throughout this time that we couldn't pay our mortgage, so even though we were working with our bank constantly and trying to modify our loan-or do whatever we could-we ended up losing our home. This was not just another house to me. My grandfather built it and I grew up in it. This was a tough blow for us to deal with. My mom was also living with us and I had break the news to her. That was no small task.

Some of the hardest things to leave. My board and batten wall! And pretty light fixtures. And granite counters. :)

Somehow, however, I maintained a feeling of peace through most of this time. Don't get me wrong, there were those moments of panic and worry, but deep down I knew things would work out. I couldn't see how, but tried to strengthen my faith. At this point, we had to decide if we should just stay in the house without paying anything for as long as possible, or move on our own terms. DH was very certain we should leave on our own terms. The uncertainty of "is this the day we get kicked out?" was too much. I was grateful for this decision, and looking back am even more grateful now than I was back then.
I began looking for rental homes. I scoured Craigslist (we almost got totally scammed once, it was awesome!), worked with realtors, drove neighborhoods looking for rental signs, and spread the word that we were looking.
In conversation with a good friend one day, I brought up that we were looking for a place to rent. She told me that her parents had just moved and were trying to rent out their house.
Another long story made short: it was the perfect price, perfect size, and great neighborhood. And besides all of these positive factors, the moment both DH and I walked into the house we knew it was the right place for us. This move was exactly what we needed to officially "start over".
Our biggest concern at this time was our two oldest daughters. At almost 13 and 15, this was a hard age to uproot. Fortunately, they were able to remain at the same school, so our biggest apprehension was the Young Women in our new ward. Would they be accepting? Stuck up and clique-ish? Warm and inviting? Who knew.

we were excited to have a basketball hoop

and a tree house and high ceilings

Since we were moving on our own conditions, we began moving stuff over a little at a time over the period of a few weeks. Beginning about a week or so before our bona fide move-in day, some of our new neighbors came by to get acquainted. The Young Women leaders came by. The Bishopric came by. We had three families come caroling and bringing treats before we even moved in! We just happened to be there when they came by. This experience helped solidify in my mind that there is very little "coincidence" to life. I felt the hand of the Lord very strongly in all these little things.
The Young Women turned out to be lovely. They scooped up both our girls into their arms and carried them through that time. They were wonderful! There was really no pain involved with this whole move that wasn't completely overcome by they joy of our new situation. We were so blessed!
Fast forward one year.
We have some of the best friends we've ever had in our lives. Some of which are right next door! We have just enough space. (I'm not saying I don't want a bigger house at some point. Maybe in a few years.) All our kid have good friends in the ward. Great new school for the younger kids. We have an increased knowledge that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. I am a member of a choir that I ADORE. This would have never happened if we hadn't come here. I feel so peaceful about our life now, even though we are still in a fairly precarious financial state. I guess it will take some time to totally remedy that.
5 years ago, I wondered if there would ever come a time that I could say, "I am grateful for this trial." It has taken me this long, but now I can say with full sincerity, I am grateful for this trial. We have learned SO MUCH. Too bad it takes hard knocks to teach us sometimes. (I don't much like hard knocks!!) :-)
Here's to at least another year in this house, hopefully more. Thanks to a Father in Heaven that is watching over us, and for the comfort and peace this brings. I love life!

Resonance

2011-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have heard many women say that it's important to have something to do every now and then to help keep balance in our lives, that is separate from being a mom all day long. Even though being a mom is the best occupation there is, sometimes giving of yourself 24-7 can get draining and leave one feeling in need of a re-charge. I agree with this, and for me this has taken different forms at different times in my life. I have done card making and scrapbooking, "Mommy's night" out with friends--things like that.
My newest outlet and re-charge is choir. I was invited by a member of my ward, who is the director of the choir, to join and I LOVE it. I love it so much!! I always planned to join an orchestra at some point. You know, when the kids were grown up a bit and I didn't have little babies at home. I figured something like that would be much farther down the road for me, but then along came Resonance. They are super family friendly, and though it is a firm commitment to attend rehearsal once a week they do understand when things come up. It is affordable and close to my house--perfect, really. (another big plus, the choir outfits are fairly attractive, not hideous like I was afraid of :)
And turns out I can not only sing in the choir, but they use my flute and piano playing as well, which makes me super happy!!! I know it sounds like I am exaggerating, but being a member of this choir is one of the highlights of my life. I am so blessed to be a part of it.
Last night we had the annual choir Christmas party and as a part of this, we went to sing for a lady who is homebound and terminally ill. She was a sweetheart, and well aware that this was her last Christmas on this earth. I felt a sweet Spirit with us as we sang to her in her home, and what a privilege this was for us. THIS is the kind of group this is. We are going to another similar woman's home on Monday.
I thank the Lord for putting Resonance in my life. It's great all year, but at Christmas?? Wowzers. Try singing Christmas songs with an awesome choir. :) It's a good life. :)

I blame the hormones for this one

2011-12-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

So, it hasn't been the best day. I don't usually post things like this, but I think I will today. :)

The day started with the realization that I missed the early registration for Blondie to start Jr. High next year. Grrr I called the school, and they said it's ok-jut get the application in asap and she will just have to do her entry tests in the spring. Bummer, but ok. She can still get in so it's all good. But only after some worry and fret on my part. Oh well. Taken care of now.

Try to upload some pictures from my camera, and for some reason they won't upload. I will try again later I guess, but this has never happened before. Great.

So, I shower and take the time to remove my toenail polish and fuss over my cuticles a bit so I can paint them a happy red glitter later. With white polka dots. I get out, dry my hair, and get a phone call. It's my visiting teaching partner calling to remind me of our very important appt this morning. Yeah, of course I FORGOT all about it! At least my hair was dry, and thank goodness she called! I bet she was inspired to do that. I yank on a horribly unflattering shirt; no time to change. My toe nails are stained a slight ugly yellow, but gotta leave them for later. (who's going to notice them, right? I mean besides toe people like me? gah-I have got to let these things go!) Grab the boys from the table, faces and hands covered in jelly, and we jump in the car and go. It turned out to be a very good thing we went. Whew!

Next, I get a text from Teeny Bopper who has a ballroom concert tonite saying that the tickets are all sold out. Um, EXCUSE ME? So, I won't be able to go see my daughter perform? I am ticked off about this one. She may be able to get an extra ticket from a friend, so DH and I will toss a coin for it or something. Or....maybe I could sit on his lap? :) So, after the registration thing and now this, I am feeling like Loser Parent of the Year. Yep. AND...there's more.

Well, I decide to take the boys to the mall for Kids Club and let them have their free carousel ride. Even get a pretzel for a snack and play in the play place. Sounds good! We get to the pretzel place first, so I order and open my cute little purse to pay. I stand there with it open while he runs my debit card. When he gives it back to me, I go to put it back into my purse and there hanging out are my *ahem* feminine supplies, practically splayed out on the counter. O.K. I quickly stow things away, take my pretzels and run.
We go to the carousel--oh boy, the kids are psyched! Yah, turns out there is no kids club in December so they don't get a free ride afterall. Well, I don't have any money to pay for a ride, so we have to leave. Lucky for me, the boys are totally fine about it and we head to the play place in peace. I was expecting resistance with this one, but they were so good! What a blessing.

SO...I decided I should look for the joy in my day after all this. Having a good visiting teaching partner who is on the ball even when I am clearly not. And taking the time for the appointment was a good thing. I feel so glad we went. I love how my Dr. D was so obedient (after a little talk about it). He was truly so well behaved today. Hearing Tail Gunner talk. It's SO adorable!! He's at that stage where people walk by and hear his cute little voice and can't help smiling and commenting on him. He is such a smart little turkey! It was fun watching Dr. D gallop around the play place like a horse (thanks to his cousin in Utah who taught him to do that) and watch the other kids show the funniest expressions at him! Like, "What the? This boy is galloping around here like a horse? Huh?" So funny!
And now, my toes are wearing a happy red glitter and await their polka dots. Ahhhh. Much better! Now off to change my shirt, put on some makeup and relax. For the next 5 minutes until the kids get home, that is... :)

Not much Christmas

2011-12-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

This post is not so much about anything Christmas-y. Just random stuff.

* My beloved SIL just went through a miscarriage. It was sad and very surprising to us all. She is a trooper, though, and handling it very well. It has made me think, is all. And try to figure out how to get me a plane ticket, pronto! :)

* I had to fill out the form to register my Dr. D for Kindergarten. I am kind of freaking out! There is a choice for full day or half day. I canNOT get myself to check one. In my mind I have reasons for both being ok, and all I can do is sit here and cry (yes, cry) because I am having a hard time letting my baby go. What do I do?

* I really want a Kindle Fire. Well, I want an Ipad, but a Kindle Fire is way cheaper, so I want one of those.

* OK, on a Christmas note, I made a Christmas craft, put up a few more Christmas decorations, hosted a Christmas party for my Activity Day girls, and started making a Christmas gift today. Yay!!

I turned this: (they were all out of "J" so I had to be creative :)

Into this: (inspiration via Pinterest, of course)

Christmas Tunes

2011-12-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

I really feel like Christmas is in the air when my older kids start listening to Christmas music. I LOVE hearing "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" being belted out from their bedroom. :)

Temple lights

2011-12-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

I forgot my camera again so this pic is from the Church News.

Our family activity today was going to the temple to see the Christmas lights. It was pretty cold out there, so we bundled up and I took some hot chocolate in a thermos. We also took some "fireworks glasses" that DH brought home from work. They made the lights look like they were exploding rainbows or something, it's hard to describe. We saw the nativity displays inside and called it a night. I love the temple! (Although, I must say that as much as I love the lights, I like the temple better without them.) :)

The Ward Party

2011-12-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

OK, no month of December is complete without the ward Christmas party. This year the theme was "Christmas Around the World". We had foods from all different countries. DH signed us up to take empanadas, his favorite food from Chile, where he served his mission. I should have taken a picture, because the platter of empanadas did look pretty cool, but I didn't think of it. In fact, I was just glad to have finished them in time. :)
Dr. D was Joseph in a little living Nativity that the primary kids did. Oh my, they were so adorable!!

Insert picture here as soon as I get one emailed to me

What a nice evening. Time well spent with family, our ward family.
(I have to admit, that I was feeling a little homesick for some friends in our last ward. "Make new friends, but keep the old..." So glad that is a true statement!)

Creating the "mood"

2011-12-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

We pulled the Christmas decorations out of the attic the other day (meaning I crawled up there, bumped my head against the nails in the shingles a few times and got dust in my eye), and yesterday got the courage to get into the boxes and start the decorating!
Here is a little peak of my favorite display:

bad picture from my phone in low light. sorry!

I love how the ornaments look in the gorgeous glass jar and a quote from my favorite Christmas movie, Elf; "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear". Let the fun begin!

Merry December!

2011-12-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

our tree last year

Wow. I had all kinds of thoughts going through my head about things to do in December, and then all of a sudden, here it is and I am unprepared. (that's a shocker :)
Well, I do have some goals for this month. I guess I will start off with those.

1. No TV during the day. The only TV I want on is sometimes in the evenings when my honey and I watch our new show "Lie to me" :), or Christmas movies on weekends. This also includes no video games for my little guy. He took the news surprisingly well, btw. Whew.

2. I want to only make dinner that includes meat maximum of 2 times per week. If that meat is fish, I will be even happier. We need to cut back on our meat consumption, and even DH is with me on that one. I am also going to cut waaaay back on dairy products, except yogurt. I want to make my own with raw milk. That's the goal, anyway. And then another food goal I have is to start eating "cultured vegetables"-a little with every meal.

3. The LDS website has ideas for the twelve days of Christmas and I haven't looked through all the ideas yet, but I figure if it's on the church site, it must be good. That 's my plan as far as "advent calendar" goes. DH wants to teach the kids about Hanukkah as well. We have a menorah, and are going to learn about it and incorporate this into our holiday celebrations. (not all the traditions, just the learning about it)

4. I want to make a lot of our Christmas gifts. Note to self: get on the stick!! They aren't going to make themselves!! :)

That's a good December 1 post, I'd say. More to come. Welcome, December!!!

Family Photo Shoot

2011-11-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peak for my sister in law. Her inlaws graciously asked me to take their annual family picture this year. It's my first family photo shoot that isn't my own family. I hope they like them, I think they came out pretty good! :)

My Scarecrow

2011-11-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

We just planted grass a couple weeks ago, and I have enlisted the boys help to keep the birds away. Today Dr. D showed me this:

It's his "Scarecrow face". He is going to stand outside and make that face to scare the birds away. But, he said, it would be a lot easier if I could just get him a scary mask... :)

my nemesis

2011-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Laundry is not my best thing. (understatement) I feel like its out of control most of the time. Like today, for example. I could literally do at least 10 loads in my super-capacity machine in an attempt to get "caught up". 10. loads. Now, imagine my joy when I find 2 more loads of donation clothes that my little girls took outside in order to have a yard sale (that I said they couldn't have) which were rained on for 2 days and are now soaking and need to be washed.
Just what I needed today. :)

So, HOW HOW HOW do you stay caught up on laundry? My biggest problem is kids putting clean clothes into the hampers. We have one hamper per bedroom for the kids, and they are OVERFLOWING DAILY. I know they aren't wearing that many clothes. Suggestions? Anyone?

He cares

2011-11-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

I was just sitting and scanning through the newest New Era, an LDS church magazine designed for teenagers. Nothing was really catching my attention, just kind of flipping through it to see what was in there. Good articles, but nothing really hit me until I turned a page and there was a few pages about General Conference. Common questions youth (and anyone, for that matter) come across everyday, and the answers to those questions straight from General Conference talks.

Questions like, "What do i do if I feel lonely or unimportant?"
"Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?"
"How can I receive personal revelation?"

I started crying. Just like that-from feeling nothing to crying in a matter of a second. I guess the Spirit hit me suddenly and I couldn't contain it.
I had been pondering just minutes earlier about my lack of personal devotional this morning. I had forgotten to take the time to say my personal prayers, or to study in the scriptures. My mind had wandered into the question, does it really matter? Does it matter if I missed something as small as saying my prayers or reading the scriptures? I got the distinct impression during this "moment" with the New Era that God loves me and He wants me to make the effort to do these things because HE wants to know ME.
He wants ME to know HIM. I want this, too.

I LOVE our church magazines! Do you?

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2011-11-06T14:59:00.001-08:00

I came across this recipe online, I can't remember where to give credit, which is sad cuz this is AWESOME!!! The whole fam loved this one. Give it a try, and let me know if you do!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 large chicken Breasts
1 large onion
2-3 stalks celery chopped
2-3 carrots chopped
1 clove garlic mined
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. sage
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 c. beef broth
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 small pkg. tortellini
grated parmesan

Saute chicken pieces in olive oil and brown. Add celery, onions, and carrots. Cook till soft. Return chicken to pan; add garlic, spices, tomatoes, broths, and tomato sauce. Simmer 1 hour. Meanwhile, cook tortellini in boiling water. Rinse and drain. Add tortellini to soup. Cook 3-5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with Parmesan cheese. Makes 6-8 large servings.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

This was our first Halloween in this house, and I must say it was a little different than our past years. For one, we didn't carve any pumpkins! This is the first year I EVER remember not doing that. But know what? It was ok. I barely thought of it on Halloween and almost got some but just didn't. We all survived. :)
Secondly, DH didn't go all out on decorating the outside of our house. I'm not sure why, but he wasn't into it. And I was ok with that. :) We dolled up the inside, and that was good enough for me.
Thirdly, the kids ran off without getting their pictures taken for the most part, so I don't have everyone's picture. Just the littles. I guess that will have to do this year.
Fourthly, this was the first year I can remember that we didn't go down our old street. Even when we didn't live there, we always went there. The reason we didn't is a cross between being too busy and too laid back. That hardly makes sense, does it? I guess what I mean is that we wanted to stay laid back so to prevent too much busy-ness we stayed home. That sound better?
Lastly, we had many friends come drop by just to visit. It was so nice! We have great neighbors.

Without further ado, I present Aang, the Last Airbender:

No, it isn't a bald cap, it's the real deal. AWESOME!

And our little garden gnome:

Peace out, man. Here's to my little hippie. Love, peace and tenderness rules!! :)

2011-10-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

This morning, Dr. D decided he didn't want to go to church. Here's his conversation with Sweet G about it.

D: Sweet G, I'm not going to church today.
G: Yes you are.
D: No, I'm not. I don't like it.
G: Why not?
D: Because they only give tiny food during the Sacrament and it takes forever to get to Primary. And it takes forever to get TG to nursery.
G: Well, you're going to church.
D: No, I'm staying home.
G: Well, who's going to stay with you?
D: Nana.
G: No, nana has other stuff she needs to do. So who's going to stay with you?
D: Well, I'm just staying home from church.
G: OK. Go ask mom and dad if you can stay home from church.
D: No, mom OR dad.
G: No, you need to ask mom AND dad and see what they say.
D: But if they say I can, then I'm staying home.
G: What if they say no?
D: That means that I have to go, but I don't want to.

His other reason to me when he asked was, "The microphone is just TOO loud".

Yeah. We are all going to church. :)

Ward Halloween Party

2011-10-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night our ward had its annual Halloween party. It was GREAT! They had tons of chili and cornbread, hot dogs, and homemade rootbeer. YUM There were lots of games for the kids and they had a blast. They earned tickets at the games, and then used the tickets to buy prizes or treats.
I wasn't going to have the kids dress up, but at the last minute they all wanted to. Of course. :) So we put together what we could. Teeny Bopper and Tailgunner went as a couple:

Sweet G was a biker girl with her daddy. (no pictures of them, we were in a huge hurry!)
Blondie and her friend next door went as black and white opposites. Friend S had black pants and white shirt, Blondie had white pants and black shirt. Again, no pics.
Little Miss was a dead-goth-princess, or something like that.

And last but not least, Dr. D was an indian:

AND-the great part is, three of our kids won awards for their costumes!! Teeny Bopper won funniest costume in her age bracket. Dr. D won Most Creative costume award for his age, and Tailgunner won Cutest Costume for his age. Sweet!! Hurray for last minute dressing up. :)

Halloween-ified

2011-10-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

I removed most of the Fall stuff from the house to make room for the Halloween stuff. I didn't think I was all that jazzed about doing this, but as soon as it all came out, it was so fun!
Here is my style of Halloween decor:

And here is DH's style:

Baptism Day

2011-10-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was a very special day for our family. My baby girl was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! All month we held special family home evening lessons to talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost. Last week she had an interview with our bishop, and he said she was the most prepared of any person he had ever interviewed for baptism! He kept trying to ask her more in depth questions, but she knew the answers to all of them. :) We are so happy that Little Miss decided to be baptized, and know this decision will bring her peace and joy throughout her life.
Here are some pics from the day:

Oh. my. cuteness.
You can see the excitement on her face! She is radiant.

What a special bond she will have with her daddy because of this.

Our good bishop. We love him!

A candid moment between sisters. :)

Grandpa R, Uncle L, and Little Miss.

My side of the fam.

All the grandparents with Little Miss. We were so happy Grandpa D could make it! We weren't expecting him to. (what is grandpa trying to tell me with this look? LOL)

Me and my mama with Little M.

Daddy and his mama and gpa.

We used this picture on the cover of her baptism program. She is so beautiful! I am a lucky mother!!

The GORGEOUS dress Grandma W made for her. Little M knew exactly what she wanted, and when she told Grandma, turns out her cousin (who is getting baptized this year also) wanted almost the exact same dress!! So they will have matching dresses. She is so thrilled about this! It is a true princess dress.

Here is a back view. Love the bow!

International Children's Day

2011-10-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

A favorite yearly event at our favorite preschool is International Children's Day. Instead of dressing up for Halloween, the kids dress up in clothes of whatever country they want, parents bring food from that country, and it's a parade and potluck for everyone. I LOVE this day!! The kids march around to "It's a Small World", then sing songs that melt my heart every time. Songs about loving each other and the world, stuff like that. Yes, I usually cry. Dr. D went as a Mexican, complete with moustache:

His sister Teeny Bopper did the stache for him, and he felt so proud of that. He just knew he looked like a REAL mexican with that moustache. Just like George, he said. :) (grandpa's farmhand down in Mexico) When I dropped him off at our carpooler's house and they opened the door, he said, "It's me! Dr. D!!", just in case they didn't recognize him. :)

This guy came too, of course:

And I love squeezing on my boys:

(Dr. D had a bloody nose that day, can you tell? haha)

The Par-tay

2011-10-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of Dr. D's "Lego Party". Pretty much the only thing "lego" was the cake, and his gifts. He got his legos! Yay!! Every boy should have legos, in my opinion.
The food:
We had completos, which means hot dogs with everything. Bacon wrapped stadium brats, with ranch beans, sour cream, salsa, onions, mustard, ketchup-the works!! Some chips, fruit and veggies rounded it out.

Blowing out the candles turned out to be tougher than we expected. :) It took several tries, but he finally resorted to blowing them out one by one and that did the trick.

We had expected all the local cousins to come, but Aunt L's family came down with chicken pox, and Aunt T came but had to leave after 10 min because she realized she had left her purse in the shopping cart at Michael's. (luckily, a VERY nice lady found it and she got it back the next day in-tact). We did get the keep cousin J, though, and since Aunt T had to leave we just kept him all night. hehe So that worked out well for us. We also had a wonderful surprise guest, a new cousin who just moved to town that is Dr. D's age!! He was able to come and they got to meet each other and play. He gave Dr. D Zou Zou pets for his bday, and he has LOVED those things! So fun. It was a great time for all.
I have found that keeping parties rather low-key just works out the best. The kids can feel the tension when we try to have "perfect parties", and though they are fun to look forward to and prepare for, they can often be a let-down when they have such high expectations. We have found that good food, family and a few friends is best for us. When mama ain't stressed, ain't nobody stressed, and that's a good thing! :)

Birthday Boy!

2011-10-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today is my oldest son's big number 5 bday!! He is very excited to get to use a whole hand to show his age. I have so loved seeing this boy grow, but admit that as he is growing up and those precious cheeks are thinning out, it is bittersweet. I still love kissing his face all over, and can't get enough of his smile and super cute laugh. He has always been joyful and a wonderful companion to me (and the rest of the fam.). He is much beloved of all his sisters and his daddy's little man. We are so blessed to have Dr. D in our family!! Happy Birthday, and we love you, boy!!

Here is a birthday interview with Dr. D. I stole the questions from my friend Nikki...:)

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite thing to do? Draw. Paint. Climb trees.

What's your favorite Wii game? Indiana Jones

What's your favorite movie? Spiderman

What are you really good at doing? Running, but not tripping.

Who are your favorite people? Jesus and Heavenly Father.

What is your favorite color? Red.

What is your favorite food? Pizza. Anything else? Um, yes. The obstacle course on the Wii fit. I mean food. Oh. Eating Ramen.

What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots

What's your favorite fruit? grape

What is your favorite book? Um, uh, um. Trucks.

What is your favorite song? Book of Mormon Stories.

What is your favorite toy? Um, All of my toys.

What's the square root of 115? 14

Who is your best friend? My best friend is Paxton.

Why? Cuz we play spiderman and we play indiana jones. we play together and we spy on people, like their parents and sisters.

What is your favorite memory? Paxton.

What makes you laugh? a clown

What are you most afraid of? Monsters.

What embarrasses you the most? Like when you say "come on Dr. D. Come and play with me." If it's a water fight I won't come, if I'm talking to Paxton.

What really makes you angry? Like when people hit me.

If you were the Dad for a day, which rule would you get rid of? From people hitting people who are not nice, I will spank them.

What do you want to be when you grow up? a doctor.

If you could have a magical power, what would it be? Air. What does that mean? Air bending.

What's your favorite vacation? Mexico. Why? Cuz, um, it has a new trampoline. I built it.

If you could buy anything, what would it be? Woody. But you have Woody. Oh yeah, I do. Um, a truck.

Name 3 things you're good at: Obstacles, running, skateboarding. But you don't have a skateboard. I know, but, for my birthday I want one.

What is the best thing about being five? Playing Indiana Jones.

What is the best thing about being YOU? Um, special. You mean you're special? Right now.

Birthday Babe!

2011-10-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today is my Little Miss' 8th birthday!!! For us that means...baptism! She is so excited about this and so are we. When our kids turn 8 their birthday gift is a set of scriptures.

Here is some info about Little Miss-
Favorite color: blue
Favorite smell: brownies
Favorite clothes to wear: her pink ruffly shirt with black shirt underneath and shorts
Favorite toy: baby dolls
Favorite movie: Imagine That
Favorite TV show: H2O
Favorite treat: homemade ice cream
Favorite fruit: blueberries
Favorite vegetable: carrots
Favorite game: Wii Sports
What to be when grow up: a mom
Favorite school subject: art

For her birthday dinner tonite she chose shrimp cocktail, sub sandwiches and chips, with brownies and ice cream for dessert. (we even made some with honey for those of us not eating sugar)
We LOVE this girl with all our might and are so glad she is part of our family!! Happy Birthday LouLa!!

Fun in the sun, everybody wants some

2011-09-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

We got the sprinkler out yesterday just for fun. Here are my crazy boys playing in the water.

It's so cute how they try to catch the water and get it to go through their fingers. This was probably our last fun in the sprinklers until next year! Bring on the Fall weather. Please!

The Zoni Awards

2011-09-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Teeny Bopper and Sweet G were both nominated for Zoni awards for their performances in Jekyll & Hyde this past year. That is a huge honor, and we were so pleased for them!!! The Zoni's are the Arizona version of the Tony awards. We didn't realize what a big deal it was until we went to the award ceremony and saw how many different acting companies and plays there were to be nominated from. The night began with getting all gussied up.

I didn't have my camera out to capture it, but there was a red carpet for us to walk in on. So fun! The hosts for the night were interesting. Entertaining, yes. Age appropriate comedy for youth awards? Sometimes.

Here we are in our seats.

After the awards. They didn't actually win, but that's ok. They were so happy to just have received a nomination!

Here is the whole AYT group. Overall, they came away with almost half of all the Zoni awards!! A very talented group, for sure.

After the award ceremony we attended the after-party. No pictures were taken here. We had some good food, and there was dancing for the kids. Pretty good, until one of the songs came on that was HIGHLY offensive. The song was bad enough but there was a video screen up playing music videos, and the video was VERY bad. We left after that.

Except for the last sour note at the party, it was a fun night and I hope we get the honor to attend again! Congratulations to Ernestine and the Flower Seller's Mother. We love you and knew one day all the "drama" would pay off. :)

The Merry Adventures of Prescott

2011-09-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend was DH's and my second ever get away without our kids! Yes, in almost 17 years. It was fun and our kids were very well supervised by Naunee, who spoiled them and made them happy to have a break from their parents. :) (it was all part of her master plan...)
We went to the AZ Centennial Celebration in Prescott. The weather was GORGEOUS, as was the town itself. DH was invited to do his historical flag presentation. This means all our expenses were paid, giving us a free vacation!! Woot, woot
Here is the evidence of our adventures in Prescott:

This is us listening to Marshall Trimble (I probably messed that spelling up big time!). He is the State Historian.

We LOVED loved loved the Ballet Folklorico Arizona. Both of us got super homesick for Mexico.
Oh, the dresses!!!

The dresses! The dresses!! I WANT one.

The machete dance. The boys blindfold themselves and "fight"/dance with real machetes. Impressive!

So cute!! They said these dresses contain 200 yards of fabric and ribbon and are very heavy. Still want one!

The Mexican Hat Dance. Their skirts were completely sparkly sequins!

Biplanes flew over a few times. So cool!

Our own little corner of the world:

Someone stole one of our flags!! Can you believe that??
Here is DH doin' his stuff on stage. I love hearing this and learn something almost every time, even though I've heard it so many times. And he is so cute! :)

The cicadas were loud! But they are interesting to look at:

And the food was fun, but SUPER duper expensive!! At least we had the cicadas... haha

A HUGE thank you to Naunee for taking charge of the fam so I could go with DH on this trip. It was fun, and we will be doing this again in Tucson and Phoenix and will take the kids this time. There is tons of fun stuff for everyone to do, and the weather will be nice. Woohoo!

Pure Energy

2011-09-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

How my boy plays with his toys. He is a blur most of the time, running and jumping everywhere:

With LOTS of energy!! Can you see the joy on his face? (ignore the laundry in the backround. It was put away soon after this. Probably. :)

Homemade Barbie House

2011-09-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

The kids went to town the other day making a cozy mansion for Barbie and her friends. They used books, blocks, game boards, plastic drawers, and some actual Barbie stuff.

There are many rooms, so visitors are always welcome. Here are close ups of a couple:

I LOVED Barbies when I was a kid. Anyone else a Barbie fan?

Sunday, I love you

2011-09-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm calling this a pretty darn good Sunday. DH and I feel like the family did all very worthwhile Sabbath activities today. Church, then reading church books, naps, girls working on personal progress, kids mostly not fighting (sweet!), doing necessary (minimal) chores together, no heavy cooking but enjoying a good meal together. We had family council and discussed a few things on our minds, and then Blondie suggested we draw names to do family "secret service" this week. The kids LOVED that! All in all, a dream of a day! AND... no school or work tomorrow!!! Happy day!

One more twin post

2011-08-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

OK, I won't post all the pictures, but here are some more. They are too cute NOT to share!
It's funny-I added a signature to the pictures because I read that it's a good idea to discourage image theft and Blondie thinks it is the greatest thing. She is so impressed that I have "signature pictures". :)

The sweetest twins!!

2011-08-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently had the cutest little twin boys and let me come take pictures of them. I was in heaven, for sure!! They are super sweet and so adorable and cuddly and precious and I could go on forever!! There are so many cute pics, I will post them over a few posts.
They pretty much slept the whole time. We turned the air off so it was warm and toasty. So warm that I was literally dripping sweat. Pretty gross, but worth the sleeping babes. :)
Enjoy!!

Too. much. sweetness. I could eat them up!!

Their mommy wants to use this bear as a way to measure their growth. Cute!

So happy in daddy's arms.

I HAVE to get me some of these sock monkey hats! Darling!

I want to kiss them. Right now!

Summer Pool Pics

2011-08-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

Although we have done lots of swimming this summer, I haven't taken any pictures. Ya know, too busy swimming. So I took the camera this last time for some summer 2011 pool pics. And took more than I needed to. :) Enjoy!!

The boys in matching suits. Love!

He started out in floaties, but by the time we left he swam around the entire pool alone without them!!

What goes up must come down? :)

Tailgunner LOVED laying on the raft.

BAck to SchOol!!

2011-08-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Can. You. Believe. It??? Is it REALLY back to school already? Time does fly. It is a bittersweet experience for all of us. I admit that it is really quiet around here this morning, and that's not all bad. :) I hope the kids are having a great day!!
Here are the back to school shots of the morning:

First, the big girls. Teeny Bopper is sporting new bangs and a driver's permit as a sophomore in high school. Did I just say that out loud? I am OLD enough to have a sophomore?? Sweet G with her lovely mermaid hair and glasses that we need to get fixed. Do NOT lose your lens today, K?

Little Miss ready for her first day at a new school. Cutie!

Blondie at a new school, too. Her last year of Elementary!! WHERE has the time gone??

I will miss my girls today!!

Mexico, oh Mexico

2011-08-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

We had a WONDERFUL trip last week to our favorite little vacation spot in Mexico. :) Sounds so exotic, eh? Well, I am referring to my in-laws house. It was a dream of a vacation, though. This was for several reasons:
1. I left "real life" behind. Yep. Right here at my house, and believe me it was here waiting for me when we got back.
2. My hubby went with us. Sometimes he has to stay behind and work, but he came this time and it was great!
3. We took 2 cars. What does that spell? H.E.A.V.E.N. We were able to spread out, there was NO fighting, no crying or whining. Oh my, it was the best. ever! I don't know if we will be able to do this again, but I hope so.
and 4. My bff sister from another mother was there with me. We haven't seen each other in a YEAR. A whole YEAR! That is a crime. But, we were able to pick up where we left off as usual. The only problem is that when I leave her i go into mourning for a while. Oh, well. I will look at my cute toes and that will make me smile. :)

What did we do, you ask, down in Mexico? Well.... I didn't take many pictures, but I will steal some from my lovely daughter.

The view of the back yard from the back door. It is child paradise!

The corn field and very tall swing. The guys use a rope to swing the kids on this swing, and let me assure you, it takes them to new heights! The cable swing, aka zip line is off to the right and we didn't get pics of that this time.

The teeter totter. I am scared of this thing, it can be quite dangerous. But fun at the same time. The basketball court is right in front of it.

The kids favorite spot: trampoline.

The tire swings. These are so fun!

The shady hill under the mulberry tree.

My favorite place to sit, the porch swing. You can see the big picture window that is on the back of the house.

The patio, where we always have family bbq's. I love those!

The view of the house from the back. I miss it already!

I don't think it got above the 80's the whole time we were there!! (temperature, that is)

C (my sis in law) and I hung out. We painted toes. We shared massages and facials. We sewed wristlets. We made (and ate) jalapeno poppers. I shared my healthy fudge with her and she loved it. We had a photo shoot (see previous post). We shopped for jewelry at a local lady's house down there that is SO talented at making jewelry. We had the best brownie/cake thing we have EVER had at the jewelry lady's house. We had a double date at a local restaurant. Yum! We played our piano duets and sang together. We dreamed, schemed, and had a grand ole time!!
Oh, and I also played with my kids a little, too. :) They had cousins there, so everyone was happy.
The husbands along with the cousins and my older kids all went to Basaseachi, a gorgeous waterfall further down in Mexico. The pictures I will share here are from that trip. I stayed behind with C, grandma and the little kids. Next year we are planning to take our whole family to the falls.

The falls:

Some street souvenirs:

Some street food:

The cutest little local Indian girls:

Now, we are home. I am glad and not at the same time. It was such a great departure from reality. Well, back to life and getting ready for school to start!

Photo shoot

2011-07-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy! I had a blast with my SIL yesterday. She wanted some good head shots, so we got her new camera out and took some. She is gorgeous, so it was a breeze for me to get some GREAT pictures!! Then we had fun in our favorite photo editing place, Picnik. Enjoy!

Birthday Blondie

2011-07-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

My Blondie has been with us for 11 wonderful years. Happy, happy birthday, Blondie girl!!

Eleven things I LOVE about Blondie:
1. She has a great sense of humor.
2. She can impersonate voices and go "gangsta" if she wants to.
3. WOW, she is a great artist!
4. She is a very sweet friend to everyone.
5. She is a good diaper changer. :)
6. She takes good care of her younger siblings.
7. She is very curious and likes to know how things work.
8. She always likes to help in the kitchen.
9. She has fun ideas for making silly videos and pictures.
10. She is my only blue eyed child.
11. She is great at memorizing poems and scriptures.

To make this day special for her, she woke up to a heart-covered wall and we started out by making her breakfast of choice-waffles and a chocolate smoothie. Then her sister Sweet G helped her pick out a cute outfit and we headed next door to get a cute hairstyle. We opted for "curly girly". So awesome!!

Then she spent the day at Amazing Jakes with one of her bff's, who has almost the same bday. When she got home we gave her her presents: mommy made pj shorts, a mommy made headband, a lace vest (she got this one early, actually), and a project Runway drawing kit. She has an upcoming shopping date with Nana as well.

We looooove this girl. I feel so blessed to have you for a daughter, Blondie. Hope you had a great day!!

Invisible Tape

2011-07-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

At the Dollar Store the other day, Little Miss came across some "invisible tape". You know how new rolls are all rolled up and not across the plastic holder thing yet. Well, she looked very closely and said, "Look! I can't even see it! It IS invisible!!" After a good chuckle, we showed her how it was just a new roll and not extended yet. She got a laugh out of it, too. It's a new family joke. :)

Teeny Bopper and Friend

2011-07-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is hilarious! We LOVE these girls, and when they get together, FUNNY things are sure to happen.

Trek: After

2011-06-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of "after" pictures from Teeny bopper's Pioneer Trek:

All dirty and tired, but so happy:

Telling us all about her experience:

BLISTERS, baby! I think she also had some on her little toes. They had a doctor on the trek, and at one point he syringed the liquid out of them, which relieved a lot of the pain. Ouch!

Lick the bowl

2011-06-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to lick a bowl.
1. With a spoon

2. With your finger

3. If all else fails, just get your head in there and LICK!

I love how you can see through the bowl and get the full effect of the lick. :) Love it!

Memorial Day

2011-06-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love most about DH is how seriously he takes patriotic holidays. For Memorial Day, our tradition is to go visit our grandpas at the cemetary and place new flags at their graves. We have also added his cousin who was killed in Afghanistan to the rounds as well.
Here is my grandpa's grave. He repaired B-17's in WWII:

DH's cousin is in the same cemetery (buried next to his dad and little niece):

Three family members in a row:

A cute little turkey:

We also took a trip to the state capital to see the memorial that has the aforementioned cousin on it. Such a nice memorial! It was quite an eventful trip. Sweet G had a bit of tummy upset in the car on the way. I had her swap places with Teeny Bopper for the window seat just in time. Luckily we had loaded the car with water bottles before leaving, because we had to use most of them to wash off the side of the suburban. :) At least she felt better after that.

A bunch of turkeys. (interesting "cheese" face on Dr. D):

On the way home we made one more stop to DH's great grandpa:

The oldest and youngest turkeys:

It's nice to take time out to remember those who have sacrificed all for their country and family. We miss and love them all! Thank you!!

Pioneer Trek

2011-06-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today's the day!!! Teeny Bopper has the tremendous opportunity to go on a re-enactment of a pioneer handcart trek. Her journey will last for 3 days, and I KNOW it will be one of the highlights of her life. The youth had to pack their belongings into one bucket. No modern conveniences allowed for the most part (no make up, electronics, phones, etc.). We found out when we dropped her off this morning that they won't even have tents. (they do have sleeping bags, though)
We have a tremendous youth in this ward. They are such great kids, and the leaders are fantastic!!
Here is TB with one of the "Ma's". She is the bishop's wife, and we love her:

Here is the bishop giving some instructions: (the guy in the beard in this photo is also Tail Gunner's nursery teacher. He is the reason TG loves nursery!)

TB with one of her good friends in the ward:

More group pioneers pics:

The kids are going to receive a leather bracelet which they will engrave the name of someone who has inspired them, and they are trekking in their honor. TB chose a pioneer ancestor of hers that left everything in order to join the church and join the saints in the West. She traveled all the way from England on her own - she left her own family behind - and crossed the plains as a young teenager. She carried a baby most of the way for another family. Her story is an inspiration to us, and she is a fitting name to wear on TB's bracelet.
We can't wait to hear all about the trek when TB gets home!! (next time, I WANT TO GO!!) They do this every 4 years so that most of the kids get one chance to go.

Carry On!

The more you eat, the more you toot...

2011-05-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Tonite at dinner, Dr. D got sent into time-out for passing gas at the table. He does this out one end or the other almost daily, so we are trying to break that bad habit. He finished his dinner not too long after returning to the table and as he was clearing his plate...here came more toots. He laughed and said, "Why do I keep farting? Maybe there is something in my pocket!" (checks pocket) "Hmm. Nothing". A shrug and then continues walking to the kitchen with his plate.
I wonder what could have been in his pocket to cause such a thing? :)

Father's and Son's

2011-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was our ward Father and Son outing. DH took both our boys, and they had a BLAST! Here is how Dr. D packs for a campout:

That would include: two armor shields and some cars, and about 6 pairs of pajamas. :)

Here they are leaving:

(as good as I could get of the very back seat-they were literally driving away)

Glad my boys had a great time together and came home safely. Let's do that again! ;)

Raising a rockstar

2011-05-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

We like to start our groupies young-

He LOVES singing in the mic, too. Fun!

How does your garden grow?

2011-05-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Turns out, despite my black thumb, I CAN grow some things!! This is so exciting!

Tail Gunner at Two

2011-05-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

What Tailgunner does as a new 2-year-old:

Has times where he talks, and talks, and talks (mostly unrecognizeable, but there is definitely inflection in that jabber)
Loves to sing
Is a very serious, somber observer around people he doesn't know very well
LOVES being outside
Can say prayers (it's so CUTE!) and read scriptures (he repeats what we say in both cases, although he does input some of his own into the prayers) He loves to fold his arms.
Favorite game is hide and seek, esp the counting and seeking part. Not so much the hiding.
Can say all of the family and close friends names
They sound like this: Teeny Bopper is "Eeeeee", Blondie is "Nana", Little Miss is "See-see-ya", Dr. D is "Een-ta". For some reason he doesn't say Sweet G's or his own name very often.
Loves bubbles with all his heart, esp. the "bubba dun", Teeny boppers bubble gun
Finally likes nursery at church!! He actually wants to go now
Doesn't care for TV. Even if its on he doesn't watch it, except sometimes he watches video games momentarily
Loves watermelon, apples "bapp-o", grapes "geeps", strawberries "beeees", frozen cherries, yogurt, toast "tote", pizza
Loves to drink water, hates milk. When he wants a drink he says thirsty, sounds like "tee-tee"
Still has orange hair
Loves cars, both real and toy
Loves looking at pictures of himself and family
Loves grandpa "paw-paw", grandma "pa-ma", and Nana "nana"
Goes to bed well and sleeps well at night, but has recently started revolting his naps. Not ready for that yet!

That's our Tail Gunner in a nutshell! Babies change so fast. I love being his mom and watching him grow.

Da birthday boy

2011-05-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

For Tail Gunner's big 0-2 birthday day party, we had a little family dinner party.

We played:

We were excited about cake:

VERY excited:

We pointed and talked about the cake:

We tried to get into the cake with our brother:

We blew out candles. Dr. D showed him how to blow with the first candle:

Then TG knew just what to do:

It was YUMMY cake!

Blondie and Sweet G made a game where we chose a paper out of a bowl that had an object written on it. We then had to make up a commercial to advertise that object. Blondie chose "the newest Hip Hop CD". She gathered a few props for hers:

Teeny Bopper got a "can of peas". She looks pretty convincing, don't you think?

I wrote down some of the "catchiest" lines from that game. Some are so funny!
Canned hot dogs- "because any time is wienie time!"
Tangerine- "sweet enough to handle, tart enough to be exciting!"
Overweight Barbie- "because McDonald's is the staple of our society, we have become bigger so our dolls have, too!"
Hip Hop CD- "Bunny Blastin' by Homie. We're shootin bunny rabbits, wearing hats crooked and other bad habits..."
Doorknob- "only 19.95 plus $195.00 shipping and handling."
Fancy Nancy book- (by Dr. D) "you need to buy these books at the library because store don't sell books."

Nana brought bubbles, including the kind you can catch and stack. Blondie had fun with these:

Dr. D was pretty fascinated with how they don't pop and they landed all over him.

I love my baby boy! (he's great to squish and love on) :)

Happy Birthday Tail Gunner!!

We love you! (lookin' forward to #3)

Last week!!

2011-05-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Only one more week of this:

I am SO GLAD!! I am soooo looking forward to a more relaxed summer schedule. How about you?

Temples and Dr. D

2011-05-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

We have an LDS temple screen saver on the computer. Dr. D was sitting and watching the different temples come up, and his daddy started asking questions. It went like this:

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: Temple!
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: Because it has a Statue of Liberty on it.

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: Temple (it was St. George with the weather vane)
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: It has an arrow on it.

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: Temple (Manti, with spires on the towers)
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: It has a thorn on it.

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: Temple!
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: It has the Angel Moroni on it. (I guess he remembered it was Moroni instead of Lady Liberty, LOL)

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: Temple (Mesa temple)
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: It's ours!

Dad: What's that?
Dr. D: a room inside the temple
Dad: How do you know?
Dr. D: because it has a lamp. (chandelier)

:)

More kids say and a recipe

2011-05-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

So...my boy is truly a boy. The other day Teeny Bopper was blowing bubbles for the boys and one bubble popped near her collarbone. Dr. D took note of that and commented, "haha That one popped on your good things!" She was like, "Good things?" He said, "You know, your moobs". And then he whispered "boobs", in case she didn't get it.
She got it.
Oh, boy. Raising boys is going to be fun!! :)

Anyway, here is a recipe that everyone really liked!! I can't say how sick I am of hearing "I don't like that!" or "I don't want that!" at dinner almost every stinking day lately! Ugh I wanted to make tuna casserole and didn't want to use canned cream soup. So I googled and found this one. I modified it a little bit and voila! Here it is:
Ingredients:
16 oz. egg noodles 2 cups milk
4 T butter 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 T flour 2 cans tuna, drained
2 t salt (opt. to taste)

Cook noodles al dente. Drain.
For the sauce, combine flour, butter and salt. Stir until butter is melted and ingredients are combined. Add milk, and whisk until the sauce thickens. Add cheese to mixture, and whisk until cheese is melted and well blended. Stir in tuna and noodles.
Serves our family of 8 just fine.

That's it! Super creamy and you will never want to use canned cream soup again.

Kids Say...

2011-05-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

This morning Dr. D came running up to me and said, "Mom! Look at my pouch! I have this pouch to hold all my weapons!". He just stood there kind of sideways as if to show me a pouch at his hip. I kept looking and he kept showing me his pouch...
I finally asked where it was and he said, "It's right here! It's invisible!".

Don't know how I missed that one. :)

Good sister

2011-05-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Tail Gunner, my babiest of babies, is turning two this weekend!! I have a certain amount of sadness in this turn of events. And as happens when little ones grow up, he is wanting more and more independence. For example, he doesn't want sippy cups much anymore. He wants regular cups. He also fights sitting in his highchair. He wants to sit at the big table. Which most of the time is fine, but with especially messy food, it is a disaster.
Take cereal, for instance. Yesterday TG wanted to sit at the big table with his cereal and I just didn't want to deal with a big mess. We have church at 8:30 am - I just didn't have time to clean up all that. So I put him in his highchair, kicking and protesting all the way. I put him in anyway and went into the kitchen to clean up. Well, after several seconds of crying he stopped. I thought he would go on for a while so I took a peek and saw this:

Little Miss moved her cereal over to his highchair so he wouldn't feel so alone over there, I guess. It worked! He totally went with that and was happy as a lark. What a great sister!!

Favorite toy

2011-05-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Can you tell what is his favorite toys are? These were given to us by a friend who was clearing out her toy stash. Tail Gunner has loved these Chevron cars since he could play. It's so cute! Anywhere you find Tail Gunner, you can find at least one, usually two of these cars.

One baby's trash is truly another baby's treasure! :)

Love notes

2011-05-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

DH and I enjoy leaving love notes for each other. We say "I love you" often, but notes are just so fun!!

This was on my frig Sunday:

Thanks, sweetie!! I love you, too.

More bday pics

2011-05-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

I don't need to say much, but I just got these downloaded. These are the rest of the pictures from my bday. I was (AM) a happy lady, to say the least!! :)

My old slow cooker still works, but has no knob, no warm setting, and isn't as big as this one.

Can you believe this??? It's a camera bag!! I drool over it daily. :)

The inside is as cute as the outside!

Tickets!! Oh, yeah!! Less than a month away now! Can't wait. My girls are going with me. We will have to bring our own oxygen for our seats, but we don't care! LOL

Mother's Day

2011-05-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was so wonderful! My wonderful husband gave me the gift of his time and muscles and we cleaned out the garage!!! When he told me this is what he was doing for my gift, I told him that even if we suddenly came into lots of money, I didn't want anything else! That garage has been bothering me since we moved in, and was just getting worse!
We took a suburban load of stuff to Goodwill, got shelving put up and most of it all put away. Just a bunch of half-full boxes left and we can park a car in there!! Woot, woot! Just in time for summer. I am in heaven! :)
The kids made cards and things at church and school, and I LOVED every one of them! Blondie and Sweet G performed on violin and viola for us, which I thought was the bees knees, as well.
For my mom, we had her come over for Brunch for Lunch. I made crepes (the best I've ever made! yes!) filled with a sweet cheese filling and my strawberry jam on top, and a breakfast casserole made with eggs, bread, sausage, etc. So yummy! Mom brought a fruit salad and it was perfect! We might even make it a monthly tradition because it was just so good.
After lunch, we had a blast making silly videos and then watching the backwards. Weird, I know, but it's something we like doing. It is hilarious-I never laugh as much as I do watching those things backwards!

I made my mom and I the cutest matching aprons. They were super easy and she loves it!
For dinner we went to my sil's for a roast beef dinner. My mil was going to be there, but they left town early. Oh well, we had a SUPER fun time! Good food, and then a rousing game of "King of the Jungle". My kids have been wanting to play it constantly since! :) And for the record, I was King of the Jungle for the longest. ;)

My Bday

2011-05-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

OK-I am way behind on posting stuff. Important stuff, like my birthday! :)
Here are the boys taking a ride on Nana's scooter. I never knew it was a three-seater, haha:

Here I am with my lovely Sam's Club coconut cake. It was pretty good, and I didn't have to make it so double thumbs up there:

Looks like all my wishes will come true! Yes!

It was a great birthday, due to family, friends, and food. Those three F's are always key to a great celebration, yes? Thank you to all who made it a great birthday for me! Smooches!!

The things kids say

2011-05-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of our living room ceiling currently. Notice anything strange? (besides blurry phone pic)

If you followed the big arrow to the headbands hanging from the ceiling, you found it! It started with one shot up there by mistake and it stuck to the popcorn ceiling. We like shooting these things around the house. They don't stay in hair, so we have fun with them. To get the first one down we shot another one at it, but it also stuck. Trying to get those down we shot another one and it stuck, too!!! It cracks me up.
Well, luckily, Dr. D thought up a plan to get them down. All we need is a cannon. He will get inside, and someone has to light the fire thing, then pull the lever and BOOM! He will shoot up there and get them down. Hmmmm It's worth a try-anyone know where I can find a cannon?

I was also lucky enough to chip my tooth today. Huzzah! (NOT) As we were talking about it on the way home from school, I said how I am so bummed because although the back of the tooth chipped today I think the front is going to chip off soon as well. Then I will look like a hillbilly with a tooth all chipped. Yes, it is a front bottom tooth. Well, to encourage me Dr. D told me, "You don't have to look like a hillbilly, just be a mom!". Thanks, son. I'll try my best. :)

Easter tradition

2011-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

We really wanted to emphasize how important and meaningful Easter is to our family this year. We had a couple of Family Home Evenings about it, but this one was great! A new tradition for sure. I got the ideas from How Does She?. It worked great for all ages and gave us lots to talk about. How Does She does this as a countdown to Easter, but we did it all in one family night. Just open the eggs in numerical order, ask what the object inside has to do with Easter, read the scripture that goes with it and talk about it.
For example, here is the first one:

1. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,

“O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Mathew 26:39 (Sacrament cup)

Follow the link for the rest of the eggs. Happy Easter!!

Easter Eggs

2011-05-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about the annual coloring of the eggs, the pictures speak for themselves:

It was the best of times:

It was the worst of times:

But things got better:

And then they got worse (he was tired and frustrated that I had to help him):

Hmmm, what to write on the egg?:

Blondie's tradition is to write "evil" on one of the eggs. So each year we have an evil egg:

For some, just a scribble and dunking in the color is good enough:

Mom had to supervise the little guy:

He did a pretty good job:

Teeny Bopper took the pictures, so she isn't in any of them.

Sweet G was babysitting and got home kinda late. She colored her eggs but the camera was already put away.

I love coloring eggs! :)

Baby Blessing

2011-04-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Ok. This baby is so darn cute!! I want to snuggle and eat her at the same time. We had a fun little conversation taking these pictures. We got some in her blessing dress, which was made from the actual fabric her mother's wedding dress was made out of. So sweet!!

Sweet baby smiles!

My favorite. I LOVE this cute little expression:

We are going to try to take monthly pictures with this flower to gauge her growth. :)

Crafty Every After

2011-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

I have realized that crafting is like breathing for me. It is just something I need to do in life. To survive. You know what I mean, right?
Here are a couple of things we have done in the crafty arena lately:

T-shirt shrug! This is our first version of converting a tshirt into a shrug. Totally worked! Super cute!! I am going to try one of mine next. I am not as cute as Sweet G, but hopefully it will give me a new look. :)

Wheat grass!! This is my spring centerpiece. I got three metal pails from the dollar spot at Target and made some black vinyl numbers with the Silhouette. Planted the wheat berries, and voila!! It took about a week to get it this tall. Perfect for Easter weekend! Oh-and the grass pails needed a sweet table runner to sit on, so I paid $2 for a piece of burlap and fashioned this ruffled beauty.

In love! Burlap was easier to sew than I expected, and about as itchy as I expected. Don't think I'll be making pants out of it anytime soon...

Avocado bubblegum?

2011-04-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

On the way home from school on Friday, Dr. D and I were talking about different foods. He told me he didn't like avocados because they taste like "bubblegum that has lots its flavor". :)

Alrighty, then.

Oh! Here's a random picture from our trip to Mexico. We bought a bag of bolillos to make sandwiches on the trip, and one of them looked just like lips!!

Artichokes

2011-04-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite vegetables was on sale this week: artichokes. They had a bit of brown on the leaves, but they were a good shape and boy, did they ever cook up well!!

Here's how we eat an artichoke. Step 1, boil the smack out of it. Step 2, let it cool a bit so as not to burn one's self. Step 3, pour a ~~gob~~ bit of this sauce into a small bowl for dipping. :

It is a lemon goddess tahini dressing, and is MADE for artichokes, let me tell ya. Step 4, peel off the leaves until you start to see some "meaty" part at the base. When you see the meat, dip and scrape it off with your teeth. Step 5, when you get to the heart, remove the fuzzy choke, do a happy dance, dip and eat. This is your reward for getting through all the leaves! :) And sometimes, by the time the little kids are done with the leaves, they leave the heart! YES! I am happy to clean up their mess in these cases. hehehe

Next time maybe I will try to make them like the Cheesecake Factory does. Boil them until done, then cut in half, season with salt and pepper and grill. Oh, baby.

Army dudes

2011-04-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

DH thought it was time for the boys to have a set of plastic soldier guys. They got a $3 bucket of them from Walmart, and went to town!

And here's the secret: the girls had fun with them as well. Blondie actually set up this scene and then let the boys ~~destroy~~ play with it. :)

Too bad the "prisoners" are all armed... hehe

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2011-04-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

We had our jam session! Naunee came over and we jammed our little hearts out. The easiest, tastiest kind--strawberry freezer jam! I love freezer jam because of the fresh taste. Since it isn't cooked, it has the best just-picked taste, and is such a gorgeous bright red color. Yum! We made about 8 pints, and I am going to go buy some more berries and make more. In quarts this time. :)
Strawberries are only 99 cents a pound at the Ranch Market by me, and they are good ones. Here is the recipe we followed: (from Chef Tess)

4 cups crushed berries (used food processor)
1 1/2 cups honey
1 pkg freezer pectin

We used a gel kind of pectin and the powder kind. The powder kind set up better. I was going to add some Clear Jel to the runnier jam, but we are just using it on pancakes instead.

How do we like our jam? Well, if it were proper I would eat it with a spoon out of the jar. But, to be a good example to the children I try to use it on other foods such as toast, biscuits, pancakes, in yogurt (makes beautiful parfaits-just layer plain yogurt and strawberry jam), on ice cream, you name it! I think I will have some for lunch on this lovely bread~

(see how pretty it comes out with good wheat? yay!)

What's with my wheat?!

2011-04-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks I have been trying to make all sorts of things. And FAILING! Yep, lots of fails. I have made yogurt, tortillas, bread, cookies, etc. The tortillas began as big crackers, the bread tasted good, but wasn't pretty and crumbled apart. I wasn't very happy about all this. Then I went to a nutrition/cooking class on breads and used a couple of pointers from that class to change my results. Now...drumroll...they all came out great!!
My problem? I was using old(ish) wheat. I canned it in 1998, and I thought wheat was just wheat and could last for 30 years and come out as good as ever at any time. NO. Not so! I opened a bucket of wheat I bought a month ago, used it, and everything came out beautiful! Lesson learned. Use new wheat for breads and keep the old for cereals.

Also...I won a blog drawing!!! And guess what I got! A canning set! I won it off of my all time favorite food blog Chef Tess Bakeresse. I am so excited, what with my obsession with food storage and all. Can't wait to use it...I am thinking salsa should be a good inaugural project. Although, I am planning a jam session first. Strawberry freezer jam, that is. Trying it with honey this time, because Chef Tess said I could.

Off to eat my homemade whole wheat tomato basil tortillas. Who wants to come over for lunch? :)

LDS cannery prices

2011-04-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here is another good reason to be thinking food storage. Prices are going up everywhere, including LDS canneries. Here is a little article about it. I have always wondered if there was going to be some kind of big natural disaster, or maybe war that would make it so we would have to use our food storage and not be able to get other food easily. But lately I have been thinking more along the lines of financial disaster in our country. It could be ANY of these things, or just hard times, that drive us to use our food storage. For whatever reason I hope to be on the right track and at least be trying to get stocked up. I believe that if we are trying, the Lord will help fill in the rest.

Grandma

2011-04-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

My beautiful Grandma G just celebrated her 90th birthday. I have always looked to her as an example of what I want to be when I grow up. She is a family history expert, and remembers more than I can. She used to have a deep auburn hair, but in her old age it has turned pure white. I hope my hair does the same thing when I get older.
I love her strong testimony and spunky spirit. She is a little lady, like me, and I hope I get her longevity as well!! :)

I love her hair flower!

My brother came down from Utah for the party. We don't see each other enough!! It was great to be with him.

My dad and our family:

All my uncles and aunts: (my dad is the oldest)

With their spouses:

I love my (quirky) family!! :)

Dollar Store Fruit

2011-04-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

I had to get a couple of things at the dollar store today, and perused the food aisle. Sometimes they have some really swanky foods that were overstocks or something, so it's always fun to check. Today I saw canned strawberries! Maybe these have been there, but I haven't noticed them before. I don't much care for canned fruit, but berries are one of our family's favorite foods, so I got some to try. If we were in a situation where we couldn't access fresh fruit, I think these berries would be a welcome addition!! (here's hopin' they taste good...)

Grocery Ads

2011-03-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's a new week for grocery ads! Yay!

Here is my plan:
Check Deals to Meals to see which ads are a really great deal. This means, what items are cheaper than Costco or Sam's. I will plan my menu around those items and try to get a couple extra for food storage. My budget is extra low this week, so I will use what I already have as much as possible. Good thing I stocked up the last couple of weeks!
Second up, I will check Centsable Shoppin . This site is AWESOME! If you know anything about Couponsense, this is very similar, except it is all FREE. I don't get the newspaper either, but tons of the coupons she uses are printable, so I just print them out on my computer and away I go!
When I go to that site, I usually just click on the Fry's button because they have the best coupon deals. You can read the site for more tips. She posts deals constantly, so you can check back once a week or once a day for new deals; whatever you have time for. Check it out!!

Load up the pantry

2011-03-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Gas is cheaper in Mexico. The price hasn't gone up in years. REALLY makes me wonder why it has gone up so much here...
I told DH I wished we could load up on gas there and keep a tank of it here at our house. Sounds safe enough, yes? (just kidding!)
Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal called "Load up the pantry". They point out that it is a lot safer and makes more sense to keep a store of food instead of gas. I guess so, but still... ;)

Food Storage

2011-03-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

My latest, and possibly the most beneficial, obsession I've had in a while! :) I'm not sure what is in the air, but I know several friends who are focused on the same thing right now. And this was even before the Japan earthquake. (now that I think about it, I think it was prompted by Rhonda's blogging about her food storage...) :)

I believe that as women we WANT to take care of our families, which (let's face it) means FOOD. Food brings health, energy, brain power, and comfort. There is not much better than opening the pantry, seeing lots of good food in there, and being able to fix something great for your family. I know you feel the same on this one.

I have also been doing some couponing in conjunction with food storage, because on a limited budget that is one of the easiest and fastest ways we are going to be able to stock up. In the past month I have gotten more than 10 cans of pasta sauce FREE and over 20 boxes of pasta FREE!! Among other free or seriously cheap food.
In fact, if you want to get pasta for free, you still can! This week at Fry's. Just print out these coupons:
http://ronzonismarttaste.newworldpasta.com/pasta_coupon.cfm
http://www.itpaystoeatpasta.com/
(select American Beauty for the Quick Cook version)

At Fry's this week, this pasta is only 49 cents when you buy 10, so use 5 coupons and get 10 boxes of pasta for free! You can print each coupon twice, so go ahead and get 20 FREE BOXES!!
Here are some FABULOUS websites/blogs I've been reading lately:

Everyday Food Storage go to the blog for lots of great stuff. I am LOVING this blog!!! Tons of videos on how to make stuff from your food storage (even making yogurt from powdered milk!), how to store things...it is just AWESOME!!

Food Storage Made Easy

Deals to Meals this is so cool-you can try free for 2 weeks, and if you want to subscribe, it is $4.95 a month. This site tells you which ads are cheaper than Costco and Walmart, so you know what to stock up on at the store. It does all the local stores, so you can just make your list of what you want from each store and price match it all at Walmart for one-stop shopping. It also makes your grocery list and gives you a weekly menu from the stuff on sale that week. Check it out! (only avail in some states)

Let's keep sharing our ideas and motivation, K? This is an endeavor worthy of helping each other and plugging away at. Fun, fun!

What a day!

2011-03-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am feeling good about what I did yesterday. After standing in the kitchen until 3 pm, pretty much nonstop, here is what I accomplished:

Made 6 loaves or so of bread. I tried a new recipe and it tastes good, but did not come out beautiful. I have a hard time making beautiful bread. It tastes great, good texture and all that, but not lovely. hmmm I will keep working at it.

My neighbor friend (a girl I went to high school with, actually! small world.) was planning to come over and lend me her pressure canner and show me how to can chicken. (more on food storage to come!) I wasn't sure when she would get here, so I thought I might as well make the dough for the pizza I had planned to have later this week. I knew I had to freeze the dough before it rose too much, but my friend showed up just as it was mixing and we had to start the chicken. Well, the pizza dough rose (hugely!) so by the time the chicken was all in bottles and cooking, I thought I might as well just make the pizzas and have them for dinner. I didn't get a picture of the pizza before I put it away, but here is a remnant. haha Incidentally, I made 2 cheese pizzas with red sauce (the usual), one bbq chicken (my favorite) and an asian style. Yum!

I made so much dough that I ended up making four pizzas and a slew of bread sticks, too.

For family night I wanted to have some cookies so I made these "healthy cookies" that have no sugar in them. They were super good!!

I would be feeling like Super Woman, but the kids were slightly neglected through all of this kitchen time. Dr. D helped some, we played some ball and didn't miss any meals, but there was more TV watching than I would have liked. Each day holds trade-offs, I guess. Still feeling great about canning my first meat! :) (although canned meat is not beautiful either!)

Back from Mexico

2011-03-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't record much about this week by photo or writing, but thoroughly enjoyed every second of it!! Except for when my little Tail Gunner was sick. And the fact that DH couldn't go with us. But other than that it was exactly how I was hoping/knew it would be: relaxing, enjoyable, sociable, relationship-building, and every other good thing. SOOO GOOD!! I didn't even take my camera, but my kids did so I might be able to post some of their pics.

What did I do that was so great? In a nutshell, we went to Mexico to visit grandma and grandpa. The kids were great on the drive, YAY! The weather was perfect, so there was lots of sitting outside on the porch swing watching the kids play and pushing them on swings, etc. And having them push me on the swings. :) Watching the birds glide on the breeze in huge flocks every day. I LOVED that! They were buzzards; ugly up close, but large and cool to watch fly. Had the usual family cookout on the patio and made some new friends. Went to the Temple. Visited with cousins, like this one. Went to the dentist, who was FABULOUS and we will definitely go back to him. The kids rode horses, DROVE, played in the dirt, in the ditch, on the playground, with their cousins, with the neighbors, petted dogs, made cookies with grandma... We listened to the kids say the funniest things!

Here is a funny by Little Miss: "Mom, I thought Jeff was a pretty boy's name, but now I found out it's actually peanut butter. I'm not going to use that one on my children anymore." LOL

We enjoyed becoming good friends with a 17 year old boy that is living with gma and gpa. Ruben's family is paying the (HUGE) tuition for him to go to school at the Academy in town there, and he is staying with DH's parents. He was so funny and so nice. Dr. D wanted to bring him home!! They became fast friends. Frankly, I wouldn't have minded because he is such a good boy. I wonder if the kids got a picture of Ruben... I hope so.

I am so proud of driving home by myself. I feel like a big girl now. :) Well, gma and gpa got us to the border and then I drove the rest of the way. Grandpa had Teeny Bopper drive about 90 miles of the way home. You know she was loving that! The kids were very good, and great company for me.

Ahhhh. That is my sigh of contentment over Spring Break. It was relaxing and rejuvenating and our family is closer because of it. Doesn't get much better than that! ;)

My new neice!!

2011-03-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is our family's newest little dolly, E. Such a fabulous name! She shares it with an adoring aunt. :)
We snapped some shots of her today. She has tubes coming out of her nose because she had a bone blocking both nostrils. They removed that bone and now she has these tubes until her passages heal. (a couple more weeks) Such a beautiful princess!!

More family pics

2011-03-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Monograms are all the rage, right? hehe

Teeny Bopper had fun posing us. Although some were DH's idea...

And some were my idea. :)

Inspiring Quote

2011-03-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?"

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

How we do yogurt

2011-03-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

We are a family of yogurt lovers. Good yogurt is very good for you, with all that good bacteria and all. BUT--just buying a yogurt at the store isn't always as good for us as we think. A regular yogurt can have as much sugar as ice cream. Isn't that scary!? And I avoid artificial sweeteners (splenda, aspartame, etc.) like the PLAGUE. So that rules out sugar free. And just eating plain...well, let's just say my palate isn't adjusted to that yet. :)

So, here is a super healthy solution to having your yogurt and eating it too:

(picture taken on my phone; not the best)

Plain yogurt (Trader Joe's is my favorite), frozen berries, and real maple syrup (cheapest at Trader Joe's). Just mix it up in a bowl, and YUM-O! All the kiddos love it, and I feel so good about feeding it to them. A winning combination in my book.

Temple Pictures

2011-03-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

We had a great Stake Conference this weekend. One of our church leaders suggested that every child have two things in their room: a picture of the temple, and a picture of Jesus Christ. We decided to take a walk around the Temple yesterday and take a picture of the Temple with the children who are in the room. Here are the pics we came up with, and some editing on my part.
For the boys room:

For the little girls room:

For the big girls room:

Some fun with me and my man:

We also had a few frames to fill on our family wall, so these will be a great addition:
Da boyz:

The girls:

The crew:

I guess Dr. D's elbow was tickling Blondie in this one. :)

I LOVE my family!!

Our Day

2011-03-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here is an overview of our day today:
Watched a few episodes of Phineas and Ferb, complete with popcorn. I love Netflix, because you can watch almost three episodes in the time we would have watched one because there are NO COMMERCIALS!! Which also means no advertising. LOVE it!!

Put together a new-to-us dinosaur puzzle. They worked together so nicely (with me helping a tiny bit). Great puzzle minds!

Made bread. It came out really well this time, yay! Last time it tasted good, but was flat because I killed my yeast and didn't fill the pans high enough. Much betta:

Read books. It doesn't look like a lot of books, but when you consider we have to read each one at least three times, it feels like a lot. :)

Played cars. This is what Tail Gunner does EVERY day, most of the day. He LOVES cars, trucks, airplanes- any vehicle really. He lies on his tummy on the kitchen floor and plays with them.

Naunee read Tail Gunner his tractor book about a zillion times. It was so adorable! If she got distracted at all, he called her attention right back by saying her name "Nau Na!" a few times right by her face.

Blondie found a ponytail holder all curled up just like a treble clef. We had to document. :)

We did something else too, but I will tell about that later. :) Here's a clue: It involves Barbies and Sharpies...

I'm so versatile!

2011-02-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

I have received my first blog award! My good friend Jen awarded this prestigious honor to me, and I would like to thank my husband, my children, and the academy... Oh, wait! I get carried away so easily. ;) But I do want to thank Jen for thinking of me! You made my day!

And the 10 questions are:

1. Why did you create your blog?

-I started this blog as a family record. I post mostly family stuff, but also things I just want to remember and not lose track of. I have a family video blog, a craft blog (that I haven't posted on in forever), and a blog to help me keep track of cute projects I want to make.

2. What kind of blogs do you follow?

-Family and friend blogs, DIY/decorating blogs, and some food blogs.

3. Favorite brand of make-up?

-I like mineral powder foundation cuz I like to look smooth, but not feel any makeup. Currently I have Xango brand, because my brother in law works there and he gave me a ton of it. Sweet! My eye shadows are all Mac, and they last me for-ev-er. Mascara I have right now is Maybelline Falsies and I really like it. Lipstick is tricky, but I have a Mac one that is ok. I still need to find one that I love.

4. Favorite brand of clothing?

-Well, I don't really have one right now. Whatever fits me and looks decent.

5. Indispensable make-up product?

-MASCARA. I need the color on my lashes so I look like I have eyes.

6. Favorite color?

-I love color, so don't think I can choose one. I love greens and blues, though.

7. Favorite perfume?

-I don't have one. But I really like Sensual Amber and Twilight Woods from Bath and Body Works. I also love some essential oil blends.

8. Favorite movie?

-Classics, musicals and clean romantic comedies. I really love The Importance of Being Earnest. And Nacho Libre. And Pride and Prejudice. I'll stop now. :)

9. What country would you like to visit and why?

-Another toughie. I would like to go to lots of places. Does Hawaii count as a country? hehehe

10. Would you rather forget to put mascara on one eye or forget blush on one side of your face?

-Blush, as I already explained my NEED for mascara.

Here are the rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award

2. Answer 10 questions

3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy

4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award

The 7 blogs I'm passing this on to in no particular order:
*Christine
*Rhonda
*Holly
*Teeny Bopper (private blog)
*C (private blog)
*Stephanie
*Julie

Thanks again, Jen!

Food stuff

2011-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have been taking a lot of great nutrition classes lately. I feel the need to be more healthy, and especially to lost weight in order to be healthier. I decided to post random nutrition tips here on my blog, in order to remind myself of what I am learning, and to share info. You know how you always learn more when you try explaining to others? It helps cement the info into my own head.
Becoming educated is one thing, applying what you learn is completely another. Yah, that is definitely the part I struggle with. :) So if I am posting things here, it will give me some accountability. Hopefully. :)

So, here is a tip for today:

Kale Chips. A great way to get more dark green veggies and satisfy cravings for salty snacks, like potato chips. These are so easy, cheap, and kids usually love them!

Ingredients:
1-2 big bunches kale, leaves chopped to chip sized pieces
         **you don't want any of the stem, just the leaves
1 tablespoon oil, preferably olive
salt, to taste, and any other seasoning blend you would like to use (or not)
you can also add 1 T apple cider vinegar if you like, but this is not necessary

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Spread kale onto baking sheet. Pour the apple cider vinegar, oil, salt and seasoning onto kale. Mix to coat all pieces.
   **give the leaves a nice rub with your fingers to get the oil all over them. season lightly with salt (as the leaves dehydrate, they'll shrink, so the chips will taste much saltier than when they go in).

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy.
   ** Lay leaves flat on a baking sheet; don't overlap them, but they can be close to one another. Bake until they're dried, crisp and crackly with no chewiness left. In any event, be sure not to bake them for too long, lest they brown and get too intense.

Try them! And let me know what you think. :)

More days in Mexico - Lots of pics*

2011-02-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

I got a bunch of pictures of my boy so here they are! I CAN"T WAIT until he comes home!! Only a couple more days! Woohoo!!!

Riding bareback. He liked "feeling the horses bones" and hanging on to the mane:

Riding with a saddle. I can't believe how he isn't freaking out! My boy who is terrified by dogs of all sizes (even the teeny ones!):

Watching the car get fixed from down in the pit. Boy heaven, I tell ya!:

Driving the tractor. Grandpa only allowed this for a couple minutes for safety:

Watching the dump truck dump, which apparently he LOVED:

Just being a goof:

Throwing sticks and rocks into the ditch. Grandpa didn't take his eyes off him around the ditch, I was assured:

With Gramps in their Sunday duds. Such handsome dudes:

In the bucket of the backhoe:

Going up:

Nite-Nite

2011-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

How Daddy puts Tailgunner to bed every night. Filmed by Teeny Bopper. Gives a new meaning to stop-drop-and roll. Daddy counts 1-2-3, drops the baby, he rolls right over and sticks his buns in the air and says "nye-nye"...and that's it! He's out for the count! Love that kid.

More Mexico Pics

2011-02-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Sittin' on the porch swing with gramps.

Playing on the teeter totter with Brigham.

Swinging on the big swing.

Grandpa told us that on the way down they stopped at a place with a big cement statue of a T-Rex. Dr. D did NOT want to get very close to it. Grandpa told him that it wasn't real, only a statue because dinosaurs are extinct; they aren't around anymore.
Later on, they were looking at a picture of a dinosaur and talked about that T-Rex. Grandpa again explained how dinosaurs are extinct; not around on the earth anymore. Dr. D asked what extinct meant. Grandpa said it is when something is dead and there aren't any more of them on the earth any more. Dr. D said, "Is Grandma extinct?" Grandpa explained that no, she wasn't extinct just back in our home town. Dr. D said, "What about Grandma D?" Grandma D passed away before Dr. D was born. We talk about her frequently though, and Dr. D knows she is gone.
Pretty good connection for a four-year-old!
Today Dr. D got to ride on a horse, both on a saddle and bare back. When we talked on the phone he told all about how he could feel the horse's bones when he was riding without a saddle. I don't get how this kid can be TERRIFIED of dogs-all sizes, even teeny ones-and have no reservation about horses...
He also rode in the bucket of a back-hoe. The big front bucket. Grandpa said they raised it as high as it would go and Dr. D told him it was "so AWESOME Grandpa!!". I am missing him and hope they aren't gone much longer. It is SO QUIET!! I have to admit, I enjoyed sleeping in today. Dr. D is our alarm clock around here. 6 am every day. Wonder how long that will last...

Mexico-Day 2

2011-02-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

The boy having a ride on the cable swing:

Doing what boys do best:

A push in the giant swing by Grandpa:

Yep, he's having a blast! Watching movies, sleeping in grandpa's bed, riding tractors, riding in the back of grandpa's truck, driving grandpa's truck through the river... The list goes on! I wonder why he's not homesick yet... :)

Uncle D told us this story: I was on the phone with them this morning and Grandpa kept telling him to eat his breakfast so they could leave. Then your boy says, "Grandpa, you're giving me a bad time." We were cracking up.

We miss that little turkey!!

Mexico-Day 1

2011-02-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

No wonder he was having such a great time last night! A friend (Brigham) and lots of cool toys! He would hardly talk to me on the phone, lol. Grandpa's friend (Brigham's dad) let Gpa use his camera and will email me the pictures every night. So nice!!! I can post the highlights here, and it will be easy for Dr. D to browse through later. (and for me to browse while he's gone!)

Bye Bye, Boy!

2011-02-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

I let a little of my heart go to Mexico today. This little guy, to be exact:

He LOVES his grandpa W, and when grandpa started talking about taking my boy home with him for a little while, we couldn't contain his excitement. So, after some persuasion, I agreed to let him go have an adventure with gramps. He could not have been MORE excited! As soon as grandpa got here this morning, Dr. D grabbed his little bag and RAN out the door. I had to chase him down for a kiss. I'm glad he is going, glad he is so happy about it, and I think I am done crying now. :)
My good friend said it well this morning as we were talking about kids being away from home. I am fine with them going to play and having fun other places, but when night comes I want them under my roof. That is so exactly how I feel. I like knowing they are safe and snug and close by. Ah well, they will have a grand time, I'm sure. (I hope, hehe) Here's to grandpa's who love their grandkids!
Loading up the car: (obviously we hadn't done our hair yet this morning, lol)

Gramps and Dr. D, so happy together:

My baby, all buckled up:

Bye, Boy!! I love you!!

Honey Brownies

2011-02-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

This is the recipe we have used a couple of times for brownies. They are made with honey instead of sugar, and they are so delicious!

HONEY CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
(2000 Huron County Fair Blue Ribbon Winner)

1 cup softened butter
½ tsp. Salt
1 ½ cups honey
1 cup flour
3 eggs beaten
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa
Beat the butter with mixer until creamy. Slowly add honey, mixing constantly. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Add the cocoa. Add the flour. Add the nuts. Make sure it is mixed completely. Pour batter into greased 9x13x2 inch. deep pan and bake at 350* for 30 to 35 minutes.

Our V-Day

2011-02-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

We started the day with some heart pancakes and a sweetheart smoothie:

Here's my sweetheart with his smoothie:

I gave my kids a "love-ly" lunch; a ham and cheese melt in tortillas cut into a heart shape:

I didn't get pics of dinner, but we had stuffed pasta shells, salad, garlic bread, and Martinelli's to make it all so fancy. ;) For dessert we had honey brownies. Have I mentioned Teeny Bopper hasn't had ANY sugar all YEAR?? She is a rock.
The great food was my gift to my family but DH did get me a beautiful bouquet of flowers:

Twas a lovely "love" day!