Muhlestein Magic

Where have I been?

2011-06-09T16:05:00.003-07:00

I have no idea if anyone reads my blog. They certainly haven't read anything new for 4 months. I am still dazed at how different my life is from 4 months ago.

Here's the reader's digest version of what has been going on. Early in February I wen to Colorado for a conference for facilitators of Becoming a Love and Logic Parent course. I came back with grand ideas of how to get going with classes and such. I was still subbing at the kids' school as well. They called me to come and substitute again, and they asked me to work full-time as an Instructional Aide. I said yes, since it would only be a few more months until school got out.

Life got exponentially busier then. I have never had to go to work and then still do all the mom and house stuff when I came home, I was exhausted. Then, just as I thought I was getting the hang of it and the end of Spring Break was coming to a close, the Bishop and 1st Counselor in our ward visited our home. They extended the calling for me to be the new Relief Society President. WWWhhhhhaaaatttt? Somebody upstairs has a sense of humor, huh? In a daze, I accepted and the days have all started to run together even more.

I have wonderful counselors and a truly great set of sisters in the ward, but sometimes managing just a lot of details at once can be a bit crazy. Now, I am learning to keep my life planned out on my Ipod touch, and learning to delegate the things I can.

I make no promises of more and frequent blogging. I will, however, be writing a talk I will give in church in a little over a week and preparing my lesson for Relief Society the first week of July, amongst other things.

Pray for me, I need it!

Sun, The Starfarer, and the Lucky Gold Star

2011-02-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to write your own book and have the characters emanate people from your life? Have you ever wanted the main character to be a girl instead of a boy? Do you know anyone that's ever published a book? Well, if you know us, you know someone who has a book published. John and Sidney have been working on a book for some time and last summer they held a book club with a few of Sidney's friends to go over the manuscript and see if they liked it. They did.

John approached his publisher that published his first book ("The Endowment") and they said that they would publish this book as well. The news that it would be published was announced in mid-November and we received our copies a couple weeks ago.

Sun, the Starfarer can be ordered through Amazon. However, they list that the book is out of stock. Order one anyway. The publisher has only been printing what they have requests for. It may take some weeks to get it, but it will be worth it!

The book is science-fiction, the main character is a girl and it's geared for young adults. Sidney was recognized at her school for getting a book published and many kids have been asking about it.

We bought a few books to sell to friends, but we only have a few left over if you're really interested.

So, when my husband and daughter are famous, you could say you knew them when.

Project Life

2011-02-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

I enjoy scrapbooking, but it takes up more time than I have available now. A couple years ago a favorite scrapbooker started a new system of recording events of every day life. It started as Project 365. Now it's called Project Life. I have never found scrapbooking so easy. I take a picture every day. Average stuff. Funny stuff. Messes. Projects. Events. All kinds of stuff. Then I journal a small bit about each day, each picture. Then I slip it into my book, and ta da, it's done. I'm already done with last year's pictures! Isn't that great?

This year's albums actually came in two different designs. I got one for our family and the other design for a friend and their family. I love that my kids and family and friends want to look through it and see what's been going on. It's funny how the everyday stuff is just as interesting as the great big events.

Bottom line...an easier way for me to capture the moments that will mean the most to our family.

Muhlestein Surprise Day of Fun

2011-02-01T21:14:00.001-07:00

On the early morning of January 17th, we woke Hayden and Sidney up, told them to get dressed and that we were going on an adventure.

We drove to the airport, got in line to go through TSA security and watched the kids have perplexed looks on their faces as we told them just before we got to the gate that we were going on plane ride to San Diego.

They were astounded! Hayden's never flown before and Sidney only flew when she was two or younger and doesn't remember.

We ate breakfast at a superb restaurant in San Diego, right off the beach

Then we headed over to Sea World for a full day of great fun!

It made for a very long day, but it was GREAT!

It's synchro season again...

2011-01-31T20:58:00.005-07:00

Now that Sidney has joined the competitive team for synchronized swimming, from now until the middle of June or so, there is a meet at least once a month. This season started off in Tucson a weekend or so ago. Sidney is swimming a team routine and a trio routine. The suits are so great.

Sidney is the 2nd one in from the right.

Sidney is right in the middle.

Sidney's trio, she's in the middle. These suits are so cute, right. I helped design then and them the team seamstress made them. I tried to get a better picture during the routine, but none turned out great.

Way to go sweetie!

Aren't Grandmas Great!

2010-12-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Early in October, it became evident that John's grandmother was not going to hang on to this life much longer. She passed on October 5th. Since she lived in Utah, we made the trek to attend the funeral and spend time with family there.

It was wonderful to see family and nephews and nieces that have grown in the time since we've seen them, some more than a year.

All of John's siblings were able to come, and we were only missing a few of the grandkids because they were either to young to enjoy the funeral services or not in the country. It was more like a reunion than a sad event.

Here is all of John's family. It was his mother's mother that passed and she was the oldest daughter.

John's Grandpa is a rock of a man. He spoke at his own wife's funeral and bore testimony of the gospel and making choices that will bless you and your family. It was great to witness that.

Here is John's parents and all their children. No spouses or grandchildren just their immediate family. They are each different in their own way, but you can see just a few similarities amongst them.

We had to take the opportunity to capture our own family while we were dressed up and together.

We will certainly miss Grandma Graff. She was a sweet, wonderful woman. She truly loved her family and the stories of her life were evidence of that. She loved to have family close-by and have get-togethers at their home. She was a simple, unassuming woman who cared so much about each individual. She listened well and asked with sincerity about how you were and what you were up to. She loved to give. She was a wonderful example to her family of genuine love. She will be missed.

Fall baseball

2010-12-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Baseball is pretty big here in Arizona. So, when Hayden's friend's mom asked if Hayden would like to play baseball on the same team, Hayden said yes. At first, the practices were twice a week which was difficult to schedule in, but we did. As of now, there is only one more game to play and I think Hayden has enjoyed himself. In the very latest game he got walked twice to first which both resulted in scoring runs, he slid into 3rd base..."safely". AND he got an out at 3rd base. He had a really awesome game and he was awarded a game ball by his coach. The coach chooses someone each game to award the ball to that demonstrated effort and heart in the game.

Hayden is so unethusiastic about all the sports we've encouraged him to try. It's hard to tell whether he will ever be excited about something. Baseball was good though since his friend was there to enjoy it with.

How sad...

2010-12-07T19:48:00.002-07:00

It has been so long since I have posted something to our blog that I'm not sure if I even remember how to post. Pathetic, eh?

I haven't decided how I want to post, either by person and what they've been doing or chronologically, or by event.

Anywho, stay tuned...

What are we up to?

2010-09-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, my blog says to come and see what we're up to, but according to the lack of posting recently you would think, "Not much." This would be the opposite. We are exponentially more busy than we were before (if that's possible).

John is taking on more responsibilities with his work because his partner and colleague is possibly retiring at the end of the year, so he is taking over some of her tasks before they all land squarely in his lap when she leaves.

Sidney has joined the competitive synchronized swimming team. She was on the recreation team and it is less time per week. Now she swims twice as much on the competitive team, but she's still enjoying it.

Hayden is now in 3rd grade and it seems that there's quite a difference in the homework area from 2nd to 3rd grade. It used to take him about a half hour, tops, to complete his homework last year. Now it takes hours. And I'm not exaggerating when I say HOURS! Even with me by his side to keep him on task, it can take over 2 hours on some nights. And he's still trying to adjust to that reality...all of us are. In a couple weeks, Hayden will start fall baseball with his best friend, so we'll have to squeeze that in, too. He hasn't tried baseball yet, and we're all hoping he at least enjoys himself.

I am adding some change into the household as well. I have a job. Two actually. I was hired by the kids' school to be on the substitute list and I've already worked once. And I already have positions lined up for future days. I'm excited to be working with kids and getting a chance to see different age groups. My first assignment was with 6th grade and my next will be with 1st. We'll see how much I like it after that.? My second job is independently consulting with parents for the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent course, which is distributed through the Love and Logic Institute. I am ecstatic about it! I am having so much fun. I love helping parents see that there are some practical methods to offer them through this course.

I like that our new phase of life is pushing each of us to learn more and challenge us more and get out of our comfort zone more. So far so good.

School started a while ago...

2010-09-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

My kids have been in school for 3 weeks. I have been slacking in the area of blogging. So, here's pictures of my kiddos before they left for school.

End of Summer...

2010-08-12T17:06:00.006-07:00

My kids claim that they didn't get to do very much this summer. In some ways I agree with them, but when I made a list, it says otherwise. You decide.

First, here's a few pictures of some of the stuff we did or friends we spent time with.

Now, lets see, what did we do again?

Slid down inflatable slides
Made a scavenger hunt and went on a scavenger hunt
Made blue cupcakes with green frosting
Sidney got her ears pierced
Went fishing
Made fabric rosettes
Hayden got baptized
Danced with a Native American tribe
Made homemade popsicles
Got rained on
Played at a playground/jump center
Swinged on swings
Hayden cut his head and got staples
Visited Cardinal Stadium for RV show
Went to the UFO museum
Tried to make paper mache pinatas
Rode bikes
Went skating at Skateland
Stood in a White Sand desert
Went swimming
Played at a water park
Sidney chopped her hair off
Toasted marshmallows
Ate fresh veggies and fruits from our garden
Went to a Bead Museum
Went to an underground cavern
Visited an aquarium
Played video games
Made homemade bread
Ate at many great restaurants with friends and family
Shot guns
Built sand castle
Rode a carousel
Made cookies
Saw sunsets
Watched lightning
Visited a temple
And played many card and board games
Sang songs out loud, really loud

Oh yeah, and just had some good plain fun!

There is a time for every season...

2010-07-06T14:49:00.004-07:00

Sidney has had a blast with her synchronized swimming team. She's made some great friends, and she's learned to push herself farther for something that she wants. The regular season ended a few weeks ago and is allowing a healthy 2 month break before the new season begins. We are glad that she enjoys herself.

Here's Sidney at the end of her last meet where her trio placed 1st! (Can you see the moon behind her?)

A Banner Day...

2010-06-15T12:21:00.004-07:00

Saturday was a wonderful day. We all got up bright and early and headed to church for a great event, Hayden's baptism. In our area there are many people who share the same faith(LDS, if you didn't know), so they set aside a day every month for those kids who reach the age of 8 to be baptized. Hayden had to wait over a month to be baptized since his birthday came right after the date during the month of his birthday.

Anyway, he was the very first to be baptized that day. John baptized him.

Hayden got a special present from his former nursery leader. She is now his Pack leader in cub scouts and she gets to see the kids that were in nursery when she was the nursery leader get baptized this year. She decided to embroider a white towel with their name and their baptism date on it in their favorite color. It's turned out beautiful.

Everything happened very quickly. Next, after Hayden and John got dressed, Hayden was confirmed by his Grandpa Muhlestein. That was what Hayden had requested. We had many friends and family show up for the baptism and we're only sad that there were those that wanted to be there but couldn't. We did miss you.

We had a yummy brunch at our house right afterward and most everybody came to that as well.

Hayden got a surprising present during the brunch from our home teacher. A sword. A real sword. A real, heavy sword. The script reads, "The Sword of Laban."

It has a little story that goes with it and has special meaning to it. Come check it out, Hayden would love to show it to you. He hasn't kept his hands off it since it arrived. Thanks to our home teacher, Hayden is grinning from ear to ear.

Only 2 staples...

2010-06-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday. Just a normal day. Hayden's friend had just come over to play. Next thing, shrieking penetrates the quiet. It's coming from Hayden's room. Both John and I are thinking, ok, I guesss we should go see what happened. Not really in any hurry.

We arrive in Hayden's room. He's lying prone on his floor with his left arm holding the side of his head and we hear from his friend that they collided together. Hayden's shrill screaming is much more intense at this close distance. What could possibly be wrong?

"I think I broke my arm!" Hayden cries.

Next, he removes his hand from the side of his head to reveal a bloody palm and a red blur in his hair.

The next few minutes fly very quickly as Hayden seems to have been scooped up and taken to the bathroom without his feet hardly touching the floor. His wound gets cleaned and old towels are stained with what seems to be too much red. It's not real bad, but bad enough.

After a long journey to find an urgent care center that was open, on a Saturday, after 5 pm, we got Hayden fixed up. He received 2 staples in his head. He could have got more but he kept pleading, "Please no more staples, please no more staples..." And they seem to work just fine.

Fortunately, the gash was in his hairline so it won't be very visible, especially when his hair gets long. Like now.

Now, I have to show a couple pictures. They are not too bad, but then I don't get queasy with blood and stuff like that. You have been warned.

First, Hayden is not excited to see what's going to happen.

The gash.

The staples. They will help keep things secure for about 10 days.

At least he waited until he was 8 years old to require equipment or a procedure to keep him together.

His baptism will be memorable as well. How many kids get baptized with staples in their head?

Weekend in New Mexico

2010-06-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

We decided to start off our summer vacation by heading out of town. Since the budget was limited we decided to spend it with family. We went to Artesia, New Mexico to see my brother and his family. His little family is growing up so fast that we have to see them before they grow too fast.

With it being Memorial Day weekend, it gave us more time to spend together.

Here's some of the captured moments that were our favorites:

On the way to New Mexico, we passed through eastern Arizona and visited the Gila Valley temple that had been dedicated just the previous Sunday. We weren't able to make it out for the open house, but I'm glad we got the chance to see it all nice and completed.

Once we made it to my brother's place, the kids couldn't wait to play together and we were excited to visit and spend time catching up.

The very next day we got to go to their local park event and the kids played in the water, built a sand castle, checked out a fire engine, and ate snow cones. Good times.

One of my nephews.

Another cutie nephew.

John with my niece.

My brother helping the boys put together a sand castle.

We couldn't miss the opportunity to see the UFO museum in Roswell. It was interesting. We saw quite a few aliens in the vicinity, as well.

We made our way to Ruidoso, up in the mountains to a resort on an Indian reservation and we got to see some dancers and even got a chance to join them. It was warm out on the lawn by the lake, but an enjoyable day nonetheless.

They even had a blow-up slide and bounce house for the kids to play.

We visited Carlsbad Cavern which is truly amazing! And pictures are irrelevant to the size and vastness of it all. If you have an opportunity to go, do it!

We also stayed to watch the bat flight at dusk. There aren't as many bats during this time of year, but there were still plenty to see.

This is the natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns and the location of the evening bat flight. Instead, we rode an elevator 70 plus stories to visit deep down in the belly of the cavern.

On our way to Carlsbad we stopped at a shooting range to get some practice in. I haven't been shooting in a very long time. My kids have shot a BB gun once, but this was their first time with real bullets.

On our way headed home we stopped at White Sands National Monument. It was very hot, but it was amazing to see white sand dunes go on forever. The kids liked playing in it, except that it was hot.

Overall the vacation was a great success. Too bad it's over so quickly.

What's left of him...

2010-05-23T08:26:00.003-07:00

I mentioned several weeks ago that John had begun a new diet. Well, he's on the tail end of it and a noticable change has taken place. It's easier to show in pictures. Check 'em out.

Even after these pictures were taken, he's still lost a couple more pounds. Yay, John.

When chipmunks come to your birthday.

2010-05-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hayden had a birthday this week. Number 8! We had just a small celebration on his birthday. The funny part was what we caught with the flip video. We had received a helium tank with balloons in a silent auction with some other great birthday stuff, so I filled up a few balloons for his arrival home on his birthday.

Later, the kids wanted to try inhaling the helium to see if it made their voices high-pitched. Of course, John was willing to model for them how it's done.

I do not recommend trying this at all. Learn from us. It makes you loopy.

Enjoy, though. Watch out chipmunks, you're jobs are in jeopardy.

Oh, and listen for my mom encouraging them to "suck it in".

Sidney's debut solo...

2010-05-13T17:06:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago, my daughter sang a short solo to open the 5th grade musical program. She tried out on her own and got the part with little or no encouragement from me. I'm so glad to she did something out of her comfort zone! She is usually very shy and reserved in large groups. I'm so excited for her.

She is the one in front of the mic, with the tie-dye white and blue skirt. You can hear me taking pictures throughout her performance.

It's not the greatest quality. We didn't get the best seat even though we showed up pretty early.

Anyhow, enjoy the drama.

Way to go Sidney, we're so proud of you!

A Lovely Mother's Day

2010-05-10T13:33:00.009-07:00

Mother's day is usually very nice, but nothing too fancy. I like simple. I like small and cozy. But this Mother's day was especially lovely, and partly because I wanted to make it special for my mom.

First off, we all got to chat online via Skype with my brother and his family. Even though the connection wasn't great we got a chance to SEE his kids and how much they are growing.

Here we are stooped over the computer trying to talk back and forth.

My mom headed back home for a Sunday nap, while we got ready for her surprise. We set the table with the fancy dishes she got when she was very young (about 16 or 17).

We used fancy glasses and candles at the table, even.

We had note cards at each place setting that told what the menu for the night would be.

Then the kids wanted to make it seem like a restaurant so they made a sign, "Welcome to Cafe de Muhlestein."

And then the fun began. John was such a sport to help plate each course when he could only eat certain things because of his diet. Sure do love him!!

First came the "Spring mix with baby spinach salad." We had our choice of dressing; Ranch or Tuscan House Italian. Oh, how I love a good salad and this one was top notch.

Next, came the main course; Mediterranean Garlic Roasted Chicken with Garden fresh Red and Gold Roasted Potatoes (fresh from our garden), and savory herbs stuffing.

Here's my mom and I getting ready to dig in.

And finally, the piece de resistance; the choices for dessert were Vanilla Strawberry Sorbet Swirl or Strawberry frozen yogurt with Chocolate Chunks. Either choice was placed in an edible bowl made from Vanilla almond bark.

I was in heaven. How can you go wrong with a dessert like that?

I was so excited to get pictures of the food that I didn't get a picture of mom and I together enjoying our Mother's day meal, so we got pictures outside afterwards.

Here's me and my wonderful mother.

Here's me, mom and my two reasons that make this day worth it.

And here's the most wonderful husband and myself. He went right along with my plan and exceeded my expectations of how I wanted the evening to go. Thanks, dear!

Everyone needs a friend like this.

2010-05-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Over 6 years ago, I met a woman who was so easy to talk to. She was thoughtful, caring and we seemed have the same values. She still is all those things, but she doesn't live just a couple streets away anymore. I know that shouldn't put a damper on friendship, but we kinda lost touch after she moved to the other side of town (almost to CA(J.K.)). Well, I found her on Facebook recently and we finally got together for lunch and some serious chat time.

I just love the kind of friends that you can just pick up where you left off. We caught up on kids and husbands, jobs and interests, concerns and hopes. It's just great to know someone that awesome. Man, I really am spoiled!

Thanks Jami, for an incredible time. And almost 5 hours was still not enough!

The corn had to go

2010-05-04T09:35:00.004-07:00

Our garden is growing, sort of.

Last year when we planted corn it was growing over the kids' heads and eventually over mine & John's. It was a deep green and had the most beautiful texture to it. I loved it.

This year the corn is pitiful. It didn't even grow. It turned yellow. And it went to seed faster than it was supposed to. So it had to go. No corn.

No yummy kernels to nibble on. No buttery flavors to mix with. No corn.

I'm sad.

Just some fun.

2010-05-03T07:22:00.002-07:00

While we were at church yesterday (Stake Conference), each of us had a small notebook to doodle in, take notes, make lists, etc. John decided to ask the kids some questions by having them write their answers down. I figured I could get in on the fun, too. My question was: Name 10 activities that sound fun to do for the summer. Each of the kids wrote their own answers down.

I got some great responses: swimming, camping, mini golf, hiking, road trip, a jumping center. Then, one caught my eye written by Hayden.

It read, "a month of fun."

Nothing big, just a whole month.

Now you try stifling a laugh at church.

Another synchro event...

2010-04-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Sidney and I made our way to Tucson for a Synchronized swimming event. I makes for a long day and we weren't even there the entire meet, she only had Saturday events. Anyway, she did her best and got 1st in her duet for her age group and 5th in figures for her age group. Yay!!! She's really enjoying synchro, and getting some confidence by doing this herself. I got video of her, but can't seem to get it to cooperate to download to blogger.

So here's pics of the edge of your seat excitement that goes on at a synchro meet. The swimmers are either in the water or waiting.

Way to go, Sidney!

I've lost my personal chef...

2010-04-30T09:37:00.003-07:00

For 3 weeks now, John has been on a special diet program. I'm excited for him, especially since he's lost more than 30 pounds already and he's more than half-way through the program. I was really supportive of him before he started the program because I wanted him to have some success. I didn't foresee any problems with my lifestyle.

I didn't realize how much John helps me when it comes time to cook and clean-up. In fact, we're kind of like a good team. I don't really need to ask him to help because he's anticipating what's next and doing it. I didn't realize that he wasn't going to be there if he chose this program.

John has some food restrictions, as with any diet. And it's difficult for him to help me make food for me and the kids because he has to prepare other food for himself. AArrrggghhh. I lost my kitchen help. I lost my partner in preparation. I lost my personal chef. Sometimes he would completely take over the meal and I would just get to enjoy the yummy goodness. How could I have not thought this through?

Yes, I know that I'm spoiled. And, yes, I have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. And just like anyone else, I have difficultly with change. I'm just glad that he's more than half-way through the program and my cooking cohort will be back by my side in less than 3 short weeks. We might even be making healthier dishes together, what a plus!

In the meantime, I've been replaced by this:

That digital food scale is lucky that I like red!

Making some changes

2010-04-16T15:11:00.005-07:00

So, as of late, I've been doing more than my fair share of complaining. What do I have to complain about? Oh, we don't need to go into that. It's sad, really.

Anywho, I decided that the best way to get out of this funk is to be more grateful for the things that I do have, and to be honest...I'm spoiled. I was thinking first off that I have some great friends. Friends that I've had since grade school, since high school, since college and many since I've been married. I have friends that live all over, some on the opposite side of the country and some that live right around the corner. I have friends that I get to share my fears with and others that just make my laugh until I cry. Best of all, I got to marry my best friend. Lucky me!!

Now, I am not a natural at being grateful and thankful. I rarely send thank you notes, and I'm always the second or last to thank someone in person and usually only because someone else beat me to the punch. I don't know why I'm such an airhead in this area. But I want to get better. So, be patient with me.

I want to thank a particular set of friends. I feel like sometimes I am the one that drains them and needs them more than they need me, but thank heavens they still stick around. They are always giving us stuff too. And just because.

I hope you can see this beautiful glass paperweight. I don't know how they get a laser to engrave it, but it's amazing. Our friends gave it to us after they came back from Hawaii. And they gave something to each of my kids too. I know I said thank you, but it doesn't seem enough. I am so grateful that I have this sitting on my nice side table so that when I walk by it I can remember that we're important to someone. And that means a lot!

So, if you're reading this, than you're probably a friend. If you're a stalker, than I'm kinda flattered (because I'm not really that interesting to be stalked).

I thank you. We could be just acquaintances or have known each other for many years. I thank you! I feel blessed to know you and to be your friend. And most important, I hope that we get to continue to be friends!

Here's some recent captures with friends:

You guys are awesome, so again, Thank You!!!

A birthday, a watershow, a book signing...

2010-04-03T22:36:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was filled with great events, all surrounding my beautiful daughter, Sidney. First of all it was her birthday, she has officially reached tweenhood by turning 11 years old.

She was treated to dinner the night before. She chose Korean food, much to her dad's pleasure. We gorged ourselves while the servers looked on, amazed that an American family could put down so much Korean food. (This restaurant does not cater to Americans looking for dumbed down Korean food, this is pretty authentic stuff. Oh, and it's so yummy!) Grandma came along for the feast, as well.

Anyway, Sidney got some great things for her birthday. One of which was a chair for her room, from Grandma, lime green, of course, since it matches her room and it's her favorite color at the moment.

She had to spend most of the day either practicing for her synchronized swimming watershow, or performing at it. She has to put her hair up and then I have to put Knox gelatin in it to make it stay in place when she gets in and out of the water. It really is quite noticable when you're in public. (This comes into play later in the day.)

The watershow was awesome. All the teams seemed to do their best routines ever. There was even a routine where the dads swam with their daughters. The dads were awful at synchronized swimming, but the performance was great.

So, after the watershow was over. I took Sidney and a nephew and niece to the nearby Barnes and Noble bookstore for a book signing. The author, Brandon Mull, who writes the series, Fablehaven. This is the 5th and final installment in the series. I find it a great read and it's meant for young readers. Very creative, mythical, and clean.

Anyway, we waited for two and a half hours at the bookstore. Fortunately they had some activities for the kids to do like puzzle games, making bracelets, and face-painting. Finally, they called our letter for us to stand in line to actually get the book signed. When we got to the author, he almost immediately noticed Sidney's hair since it was still "knoxed" from her watershow. Mr. Mull was so taken with the oddness of her hair, that he became almost speechless. I told him he could touch her hair to feel the texture of it, and he did. We told him that she was wearing her hair that way because of her synchronized swimming show earlier that day, and then he began to ask her a few questions about that. She asked him if he would personalized her book by signing "Happy Birthday, Sidney" so she would always remember that she had the book signed on her birhday. He obliged with that as well. It was a cool experience and one that maybe even the author might remember. In fact, Sidney said later that if he creates a character in a later book that has something in their hair that might resemble the knox gelatin that she had in hers, that she probably inspired him to write about it. I only hope that he really does write about it...that would be awesome. I would have taken a picture at the signing but John had the camera and he didn't come with us.

What a full day! Sidney said she had a great birthday, and I didn't have to throw a party! She's not hard to please. I sure do like this sweet girl. I love talking with her and sharing ideas and spending time with her. Does she have to get older?

April Fool's days gone by

2010-04-01T15:32:00.004-07:00

I like April Fool's Day. My sister's birthday is on April Fool's Day. I like a good practical joke, too. Those two put together make for a ripe opportunity to have some fun.

My husband and I were recently reminiscing of the good 'ol college days when we used to pull practical jokes on friends and roommates. So, with it being April Fool's, I though I would share the joke we played on John's roommate a long time ago in a college town, far, far away.

John and I like to tease other people as well as each other and so when we came up with an idea together to pull on his roommates, it seemed to just fall right into place. We had gotten officially engaged the day before...literally, the day before. Obviously, we were a little smoochy, but not to the point of making others sick...or were we?

Anyway, I had some time in between classes and headed to his apartment (in Provo, by the way) to spend some time together. I was talking with him how it was April Fool's Day and I hadn't thought of anything good to do as a joke. After a minute or two we had a scheme worked out. We only had a little bit of time, but I ran back to my apartment and got a set of extra clothes and proceeded to drop them on the floor, the couch, and the doorknob to John's room (that's where I hung the bra). We left the door to his room open only enough to barely see in, and when you looked you could see his bed where we put a body pillow under the covers and a blonde wig (John had blonder hair back then, and more hair)at the head of the bed. We left the radio on in his room playing some light music. Then, at that point we both had to leave to go to class.

Not real funny yet, I know.

John had a roommate named Jon. He was a very nice guy, a good guy, a guy that would never do wrong things, type of guy. Anyway, while we were at class, Jon came home and saw the clothes and followed the trail to John's room, peeked in, and probably gasped. (I'm trying to recall how he told the story back to us, but keep in mind this was 16 years ago. I might have to take some liberties, as well, to make the story more interesting.) Either at the same time he arrived home or shortly after, his girlfriend arrived. He hid the clothes so she would not see them. He became so distraught at the thought of what we were "doing" in John's room, so he asked his girlfriend if she would pray with him. They prayed and yet we "stayed" in the bedroom, quietly of course. He got out his guitar and started playing, probably in the hopes that we would hear and "refrain" from our activities. He said he played for about 15 minutes and then told his girlfriend how sad he was at our choices.

Are ya laughing yet?

Only a short time later, John and I walked in the front door (fully clothed) and his roommate looked shocked, to say the least. He got all tongue-tied while he pointed toward the bedrooms and then breathed a huge sigh of relief that we were standing in front of him instead of "doing" something else. He said he didn't dare open the door to the bedroom any more because he didn't want to embarass anyone. He was relieved and yet perturbed at the same time.

I love how remembering that event still makes me chuckle today. Now, you got any good practical jokes? Share.

We made out like bandits.

2010-03-23T10:00:00.001-07:00

On Monday, the kids were finished with homework and there was a little bit of time before dinner, so I decided we should do a couple errands.

First, we took Sidney's watch to find a new battery. Come to find out the watch is defective. The store was going to give an equal exchange with the same watch, but Sidney had looked around and found one that was lime green, her new favorite color. Lucky us, the green watch was cheaper than the other and so we even got cash back. Only $3.24, but still more than we walked in with.

Next, we went to Krispy Kreme to get our free donuts. Yes, I said free. I only found out last quarter that you could have your kids bring in their report cards and they receive a donut for every "A" they earned, up to 6 free donuts each. So, the kids kindly asked for their six donuts each and we had free treats for Family Night.

All is well in the world.

Keep it G-rated

2010-03-22T17:05:00.003-07:00

Let me start this off with a preface. Yesterday, I was sitting down with my son, looking through his baby scrapbook as part of an assignment. On one of the pages I had written a short synopsis of the details surrounding his birth. They go something like this. "My water broke early, we got to the hospital and a little while later his heart rate dropped and the nurse checked to find that his hand had gone through the cervix. The doctor was paiged and he called for a C-section. Hayden was born at 8:46 am with a beautiful round head! We were not surprised he came early, but that he weighed so much that early!" (He weighed 8lbs 15oz and was 19 days early.)

Hayden asked, "Mom, what's a cervix?"

I responded with just the basics. "It's the part of mom's body where the baby comes out. Usually babies come out head first, definetely not hand first. So, they made a cut at the bottom of my belly and pulled you out of there."

He seemed satisfied. We moved on to other events in his life that were in the scrapbook.

Now, fast forward to today after school.

"Mom, I told some kids in my class how I almost died at birth because my hand went through the cervix." Hayden exclaimed.

"Really?" I replied.

"Oh, but don't worry mom. I totally kept it G-rated."

Seriously, I can't make this stuff up!

Please pass the ketchup

2010-03-11T09:57:00.004-07:00

Occassionally we eat breakfast for dinner; french toast, pancakes, omelets, or yummy potato, egg and sausage skillets. Last night was skillets and french toast. We are enjoying the yummy goodness and John asks me to pass the ketchup for his skillet.

Hayden stops for a minute while John drowns his skillet with the smelly, red ketchup (I don't enjoy the smell of ketchup). He looks at John and says, "Dad, I just don't think ketchup is a breakfast sauce."

John replies, "That's okay. We're eating dinner."

(I hope this is not one of those funny things that you had to "be there" for.)

Is it against the law to be blind?

2010-03-02T11:27:00.002-07:00

During our Family Home Evening last night, my mom and my kids were discussing their glasses and their ability or inability to see. My mom explained that she is legally blind in her left eye.

Hayden paused only for a moment and said, "Is there an illegally blind?"

And there was much laughing!

A science project is real blood, sweat and tears

2010-02-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last year Sidney's science project got selected to go to the science fair. She was satisfied with a "Good" ribbon. It was her first project and one that she could learn from.

This year, she wanted to put more effort into it. She decided to incorporate the garden since it was at her disposal. She chose to test fertilizers on tomato plants over the course of 4 weeks. She took all the measurements herself. She kept track of how often they were fertilized. She did the research on fertilizers and tomato plants. She wrote out her own results, procedure, materials, etc, all that stuff. She documented the growth with pictures. And she put her project together.

When she came home from school and told us she had been selected from her class to go to the science fair, we were all stoked. Her teacher had lots of compliments for how much devotion she had put into her project. Then a whole week passed with building anticipation. She woke up in the morning with some nausea and upset stomach, but after speaking with her teacher we sent her to school because her project would not be considered if she couldn't give her oral report to the judges. She felt fine, and was able to answer all the questions the judges had to ask. She was very excited that she could do really well.

We picked her up early from practice to go to the science fair. We arrived and went straight to her display. She received another "Good" ribbon.

We start to wander and look at other displays and see that some of the other "Good" ribbon receivers didn't look as good as Sidney's (yes, I know that my perception was biased). After a short while, she got extremely upset, hysterical even. She just had her heart broken.

Let me give you just a little background on Sidney. She loves science. She loves reading and history. She was so excited the day she found out she could get a PhD without being a doctor. She takes her homework and learning very seriously. She corrects our grammar at home all the time. She is extremely smart.

So, back to the science fair. She didn't expect to get a "Superior" ribbon and get a trophy, but she felt like she had been lumped together with others who hadn't put as much time and effort into their project as she did. John had to take her aside and try to console her because she was just so upset.

It just hurt my heart to see her so sad. At the same time I do want my kids to feel some sort of disappointment at some point so they can learn from it and be motivated by it, but it still hurts to see them go through that pain. I know how hard she worked and the satisfaction she had when she realized she got chosen to go to the science fair. We were just sad to see her disappointed with the "Good" ribbon as opposed to the "Excellent" or "Superior".

It's a hard knock life.

Can you swim in the rain?

2010-02-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was a big day for the synchronized swimming teams, the Cactus Classic Meet was held at a local Jr High aquatic complex. While this is a long 2 day event, it is a chance to compete with other local teams as well as some teams from other states.

The forecast was a 30% chance of rain in the beginning. The actual weather was windy, cold and rainy...all day! Many of the parents and even some of the athletes asked when it began to rain really hard, "Are they going to cancel the meet?" Well, the answer was no, only unless there was lightning, and there was no lightning. The athletes were obviously already wet, so there was no reason to stop.

The sun would pop out intermittently, but then it would rain again, seemingly harder than it had the time before. Sidney and I were there from 6:45 am to 6:30 pm on Saturday, which made for a long day. Sidney swam early and then not until the evening, but she has to stay for the whole day. Since Sunday was optional, she opted out of that.

I think it's great when the girls get to get pumped up for their routine. They have to "knox" their hair, so it's all uniform and out of their faces. Then they put on these handcrafted suits that are meant just for that routine, with headpieces to match.

I should have tried to get a group shot of her trio and then her team, but it was pouring down rain when her team was getting ready to swim, it stopped a little during her routine though.

Check out this video of Sidney's team routine. Don't mind the cheering you hear in the background, we're just showing our support.

A cure for hiccups

2010-02-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

As a youngster I was frequently plagued by the hiccups. During the day, while eating, even while sleeping. And I didn't just get little hiccups, they were the kind that shakes your whole body and makes you hurt kind of hiccups. I would often cry after a while. I detest hiccups still to this day.

Now, since I had the hiccups so often, I was given plenty of opportunities to test solutions. And I've tried several. Here's a few, hold your breath; hyperventilate yourself; drink through a straw; swallow a whole spoonful of peanut butter; swallow water with your head upside down; have someone scare you; and the very unpleasurable, drink a concoction of vinegar, mustard and sprite while holding your nose (I don't recommend this to anyone,......EVER!)

I continued to get the hiccups into adulthood and got a pretty good handle on it. I usually tried this breathing thing and most of the time it worked unless I was going on a date and then of course, it didn't. Even after I got married, John can even attest to me crying one night because I was so tired and hiccups were keeping me awake.

Well, pregnancy not only transfers some of your DNA to your offspring, but apparently for me, I passed on my hiccups to my children in the womb. I rarely get hiccups anymore, and my kids had them all the time in my tummy.

We have a new solution, though. The first time I tried this, I was amazed how quickly it worked. So, I am not guaranteeing that it will work for you or your kids, but it's worth a try.

Take a paper towel, preferably a thick one. Fold it until it just fits over the edges of a plastic cup. Fill the cup with cold water, put the paper towel over the top and try to suck the water through the paper towel. Keep doing this until the water is all gone or you have to take a breath.

Good luck!

Two teeth in one week

2010-02-23T19:31:00.001-07:00

My son comes running in from school to show me how his tooth is loose. I start cracking up. His tooth is hanging out of his mouth, but it's still hanging on, and it doesn't let go until almost a week later.

We came home from church and Hayden asks his dad if he would do the "door trick" to get his tooth out. John complies and it takes all of about 20 seconds. He tied floss to the door and then to the tooth and then counts "One, Two, ...Three." Only John didn't wait until "Three" to slam the door, he shut it on "One" and a little. The tooth kinda went flying. Hayden was very excited.

Not as excited as the next day when he came running in from school again to show me another loose tooth. I asked him if he was going to wait another week to see if it came out. He said, probably.

Two days later when he bit down on something he flinched because he had knocked the loose tooth a little more loose. He was really uncomfortable at dinner trying to chew with this tooth getting in the way. So dad said he would do the door trick again since it worked so well the first time. John tied the floss around the tooth and realized that when he tightened it, it had just about come free then. He tugged on the floss real good and the tooth was out.

Hayden has already discovered the "Tooth Fairy" secret so he asked fairly quickly, so how much do I get?

I already forgot the lyrics!

2010-02-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening a momentous event occurred. A party. Only adults. Fantastic Italian food. Great conversation and friends. Such fun.

Then to top it all off, we all gathered around to play "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" Six brave Contestants were chosen from each team. Then the real "belly laughing" fun started to happen. Each contestant came up to chose a category and from there they were told which song and artist they would be singing. The words were projected onto a screen for everyone to read and sing along and then somewhere after the first or second chorus there were blanks to be filled in with lyrics by the contestant.

My husband was lucky enough to catch a shot or two of almost all the contestants. (Please keep in mind that the pictures are not the best quality, the lighting was not optimal, and it's hard to take a picture when you're laughing.)
Also, please note that the contestants appearance has been altered to protect their identity.

Unfortunately our first contestant was not captured on film, but "Willy" will still be part of our party memories doing his best rendition of Queen performing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

Our second contestant, let's call him "Frank", is singing "That's Amore" by Dean Martin. "That's Amore" was the theme for the party, so of course it had to be a song choice! Also, note that our game host, "Cathi", is helping the contestants get into character by participating alongside them.

Next up, "Katie" got dolled up to sing "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.

Then came time for "Brian" to strut his stuff with his version of "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. Way to jam on the guitar!

Our next contestant "President Lars", chose to reach out for one of the life lines and had his good buddy "Bishop Brian" join him for a duet to sing "Already Gone" by Kelly Clarkson. We're still surprised that they didn't know the lyrics right off the bat.

Next came "Becky" singing what else, but "The Music of the Night" by Andrew Lloyd Weber from Phantom of the Opera. We hope she takes our suggestion to become a professional, truly amazing!

Getting into the country groove, was "Sara" singing "One More Day" by Diamond Rio.

Don't be distracted by the shiny, glorious blond locks, "Sara" is having a blast singing "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. (I know you seriously thought for a moment that Taylor Swift had joined our little party in person, but no, it was "Sara" incognito.)

We got Cathi doing some serious drumming to accompany "Judy" in her best tenor voice doing "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner. She rocked that song!

Though the disguise may seem redundant, "Mark" was happy to share his version of Shania Twain's "Forever and For Always".

The true Rock Star of the night turned out to be "Rod." We had no idea he was pulling out all the moves for "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. He danced, he sang, and he took home the win for his team. Well deserved.

Cathi truly outdid herself putting this game together. She really left her heart out there when she led us all in singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John. We can't thank you enough for helping us let down our hair and loosen up a bit and just have some good fun!

Here is some video during "Michelle's" rendition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles.

And just a taste of "Rod" doing his best Michael Jackson impression.

Good Times

Not my green thumb.

2010-02-03T16:46:00.001-07:00

So our family(John and the kids)are back into the throws of "garden Saturday." Every Saturday there is something to do in the garden. We have a container garden because the soil in Arizona is very difficult, and that's being nice. John has plants to plant, watering, fertilizing, trimming, thinning and basic ooohhhing and aaahhhing over the great new blossoms and developing buds of yummy goodness.

I enjoy it because I do virtually nothing but enjoy the labors and get to eat what is produced. I like watching the plants grow and I find the plants quite beautiful actually. Pictured above are broccoli, romaine lettuce, butter crunch lettuce and glimpses of onion stalks. I have one word...YUM!

One room makeover

2010-01-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

Since November, when we had to get my daughter a new bed, we've been planning to paint her room and redo some things. Then easily enough she got many items for Christmas to help make that possible.

Sidney picked out the color of paint to go in her room and with just a little bit of suggestions from me she even decided how it should be painted on the wall. I completely emptied her room of furtniture before I painted and decided that some of her inexpensive, but still useful furniture just need a little "make-up", so it got spray-painted dark brown. Her furniture was rearranged and we'll see if it stays put.

I've tried to put in order the transformation of how her room took its evolution. Enjoy!

I guess my little girl has grown out of the "pink" phase.

The circles on the wall are vinyl stickers, easy peasy.

Now, my son is asking when he turns 10, can his room get a makeover? Phew, that gives me some time.

Synchronized swimming

2010-01-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am posting this quite a bit late, but I've wanted to see if I could post movies from our flip video to blogger. Cross your fingers because this is going on almost the second hour...

If you know anything about synchronized swimming, you will recognize the dolphin, sommersault back tuck, ballet leg single and a shrimp. If you know nothing about synchro, don't worry, it's a world unto itself. Just like how ice skating has figures, so does synchronized swimming. These swimmers compete with others in their age group and level of ability. Sidney has competed in the City's summer synchro program, but this was her first time competing on a team. She got to compete at the novice range since this was her first competition, but her coaches told her she would have to start competing the next time at the intermediate level. Anyhoo, she finished 3rd in her age group at the novice level, and we couldn't be happier.

Now she is learning a team routine and will shortly learn a trio or duet routine for future competitions. That's the fun stuff! Colorful suits and hairpieces. Good stuff. Hopefully I'll remember to post those videos sooner after the event.

Favorites of Last year

2010-01-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here are just some of my favorite pictures from this last year. And it's not that the pictures are that great, but the memories that go with them are some of my favorite. So I guess I should actually say here are some of my favorite moments captured on film. They are not in any particular order. Just random....like Life.

Our family loves to play games, it's good bonding time.

Our family worked together on our first garden and amazingly, we all loved it. So much that we decide to make the next one bigger.

My sister and her husband came to Sidney's 10th birthday party, we all had a blast!

Hayden took this awesome picture in the garden!

John and I in front of one of my favorite temples, Mt Timpanogos. LOVE the tulips on the grounds. So glad John's brother got married there.

We reaped these veggies from the garden, they were so yummy!

Love some cousin playing time!!!!

Schwan's mint flavored chocolate cones, a new family addiction. (I'm drooling just thinking about them!)

The beach in Cabo, we couldn't swim there, too dangerous. Loved snorkeling at a beach farther away and the beautiful resort there.

My sister came to visit in the Spring, so glad we got to spend time together!

Sidney was her team's volleyball star. Girl after my own heart!

My two oldest brothers and my mom on Christmas Day. Feeling blest.

Our game playing gets invaded by yummy mint flavored candy.

The last time I got to see my sister in person. Miss her.

Face time with the kids. Gosh, they are such good kids!

Me and the honey. It's probably just me, but he is getting funnier the older we get, and he was pretty funny when we met.

What a full year! And looking forward to having more of ....Life. Bring it all on!!!

See the resemblance...

2009-12-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to make time to blog and other things...dinner, laundry, and sleep keep getting in the way. Anyway, I had to share this funny story.

A couple Sundays ago my son came out of his church class with some homemade playdough in the shape of a person.

So, I asked him, "So, who did you make with your playdough?"

He responded with, "Why, mom, it's you!"

"Oh, I didn't see the resemblance."

Then, without missing a beat, he says, "See, mom, I even tried to make boobs."

Then imagine a small eruption of laughter from myself and about 4 other kids who were hearing the conversation at the same time, in a place that should be calm, respectful and reverent.

Oh, how I love that my son makes me laugh, even when I'm not supposed to. Hehe.

Thanksgiving...good intentions

2009-12-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

So we decided to host Thanksgiving at our house this year. I know how to make a turkey and so it can't be that difficult, right? I think the hardest part was making sure the assignments for 18-19 people were going to fuse together properly. Who was bringing what and how much of it.

Anyway, I had grand visions of a wonderful before and after picture of the turkey.

I did manage to get a good "before" picture. This beauty was 21.1 pounds. Could be the biggest one I've cooked, yet. I was looking forward to the "after" picture with the crispy goldenness, and the oozing out of stuffing, but no...alas, I was too busy making sure all other food groups were represented.

So, instead...here's the "after" picture.

Nap time

I laugh at this picture because my son, SO has a crush on his Aunt Kayla.

Ok, so just imagine a nicely cooked turkey, and THAT'S what mine looked like!!!

Conversation

2009-12-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is how a conversation went with my husband and son yesterday:

Dad: Ok, son, let's get ready to go.

Son: Oh, Dad, while we are out can we go to Home Depot?

Dad: What do you need at Home Depot?

Son: A small nail.

Dad: A small nail?

Son: Yeah, a pretty small nail.

Dad: What are you going to do with the pretty small nail?

(Wait for it....)

Son: Well, ya know the screw that goes in my glasses?...yeah, it came out and I was thinking if could find a small nail, then I could use that so my glasses stay together and the lense stops falling out. (said so matter-of-factly)

Dad: (somewhat holding back bewilderment) How about this? How about we swing by the eye doctor and have them fix your glasses for you?

Son: I guess so.

I have too applaude my son for practicing some problem solving skills. He did seem like the air was let out when he didn't get to use a pretty small nail, though.

Multi-tasking and a good laugh

2009-11-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

I feel like today I was the master at multi-tasking!

Laundry, 2 freezer meals, built a bookcase with a desk attached, and packed for a trip.

It doesn't seem like much when you write it all out, but it was a beautiful thing.

Now, I don't feel like cooking and would like to relax. Nothing better than a good laugh, too.

I thought this was too funny not to share.

I thought weekends were for relaxing...?

2009-11-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

What happened to lazy Saturday mornings and lazy afternoons snacking on ...well, snacks? How did my weekends turn busier than my weeks? Now they are filled with working in the garden, cleaning the house (which never really got clean, except for the kitchen), shopping with my daughter because that's the only day we can go together, arranging play dates for son (because he's decided every Saturday he needs to have friends over), football games (BYU, of course) (mind you, I only got to see the last quarter because the shopping took longer than planned), church duties, cooking for church activity, attending church activity, crashing on the couch (because that was the only time I stopped to sit down that day). Phew!

Then you would think that Sunday would be so much more calm, right? Wrong! Perhaps, just as busy!

Showers, practicing song that family is singing for program, helping kids memorize a scripture so they can have them passed off before the end of the year, getting ready for church (why has this turned into such a chore?), getting part of dinner prepared before we leave for church, singing in program for church, teaching training during Sunday school, leading music during Relief Society (which I didn't really stress about because they asked me on the fly), preparing and serving dinner for missionaries only a half hour after church go out, so that we could all attend choir shortly after that. Then we returned home, it truly looks like a dust devil has entered my house tousling items to lay willy nilly on every surface imaginable. I guess I know what I'm doing Monday morning...yup, blog about it!

I need a vacation! Oh right, I have to get ready for that now!

A creative invitation

2009-11-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

My daughter came home from school with this creative "letter" invitation. (Names, #'s and info have been omitted for privacy).

It reads:

You are cordially invited to the premiere viewing of my new movie, New Moon, in celebration of the birthday of XXX on Friday. Transportation arrangements from the school to the theatre have been made. Please gather with XXX after studies have ceased. An overnight bag is required as a sleep over following the movie is planned. Late-overs may be arranged as well.
Please call with your confirmation by Friday the 13th.
The Cullen Family, the Pack and Bella are eagerly anticipating your company.

Edward Cullen

I thought this was a pretty cute idea. I knew about the party beforehand, but the invite was very cute. And it was printed on nice paper in a flowery font. Very creative.

My new thing!

2009-10-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently got into digital scrapbooking and quite enjoy it. BUT! I also enjoy doing the tangible scrapbooking, plus I have so much scrapbook stuff that should probably keep working with what I have, right?

So, I keep looking at these really cool personal die-cutting machines and thankfully they've been too expensive for me to purchase, until I had a weak moment. And I purchased THIS! A Slice!

(They are usually a sea blue/green color, but mine is a special edition for Breast Cancer Awareness Month...I mean c'mon, it's PINK!)

I have been having a lot of fun adding die-cuts to my scrapbook pages that just needed a little bit more to finish them off.

Then I discovered that I could cut vinyl with it! And I created signs for my kids' rooms. They were thrilled.

Now I realize how those companies really keep sucking the money out of you...you have to buy more design cartridges, if you want more options to cut. Curse you, wretched scrapbooking companies! (J.K. I wish I had the creativity and business sense to have started one 10 years ago, so I could be filthy rich!)

In the meantime, I will enjoy my new play toy and create more die-cuts for items that never thought they needed it. And I'll love every minute of it!

So the garden begins...

2009-10-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

If you follow my blog or on facebook, you'll know that last winter we planted a "container garden." Well, we were so pleased with the results that we decided to get rid of the grass that the old one was sitting on and utilize the space better for the upgraded garden.

Now, the grass is gone on that side of the yard, the rock and step stones got laid, the containers are set, the drip system is ready and waiting for...plants and seeds.

In Arizona, we have to wait until after October 15 to start planting, it's still just too hot. We almost couldn't wait until it was time. John went and got some new plants; peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and broccoli. And they are now planted. More will be added hopefully each week. Yeah, in a few short weeks we hope to be enjoying fresh veggies to add to our meals. And after that, come on over because there's always some to share!

Do you see what I see?

2009-10-21T18:10:00.001-07:00

You can't believe everything your kids tell you, until they keep telling you the same thing, over and over and over and...

Hayden kept telling me that he got moved to the back of the classroom, and that he couldn't see. At first, I honestly thought it was an excuse to not get work done, (he usually comes up with a couple a week). After a half-dozen times of saying he couldn't see very well, I decided it wasn't just a cop-out. Off to the eye doctor we went. And it looks like he is near-sighted, of course. And possibly color blind, but I'm not convinced of that just yet.

After we had him try on every single pair of frames in the store, we came out with this:

Now, everyone is asking how he likes his glasses and he says he likes them very much! Love this kid! I guess the stigma of wearing glasses doesn't phase him...he would rather see!

We're all related.

2009-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

While driving, my son and I were talking about different things when he tells me of a conversation between him and his best friend.

Friend: You know that we're all related to each other, right?

Hayden: Of course, ...because of Adam and Eve, ...duh!

Too funny!

My Sweet Sister

2009-09-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, my sister passed away on September 17th. This passing is bittersweet. She battled breast cancer since May 2006. She is an example of fighting with all you've got.

Colleen Marie Hahn Newton was born April 1, 1959. She was the oldest of 3 brothers and 1 sister (myself). She is survived by her husband, Dave Newton, and 4 sons; Chris, Skylar, Sean and Casey. They are some amazing men!

She had an incredible affect on people. She always asked questions to find out more about...everything and everyone. She really loved life. She liked to take great pictures of flowers, people, art,, scenery. She was very creative and artistic, she had a unique sense of style.

She won't get a chance to see her boys get married or have children, but she left a wonderful legacy because they are great young men.

While she was 13 years older than me, she loved being a sister and mother-figure. We missed out on sharing clothes and talking about boyfriends, but we shared many stories and struggles as mothers. She was sincere about her interest in me and my family.

She was one of those that when she called to talk it wasn't just for a minute or two, it was more like an hour or two. And we could easily laugh, talk, cry and share together.

I will miss her terribly! She was my only sister.

I am relieved she doesn't have to suffer any longer with her physical body, it was too small to hold her strong spirit, anyway.

Until we meet again, Colleen Marie, I love you.

What's your maiden name?

2009-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll try to be succinct with this funny story, but not leaving out important details.

Just this last May we made a trip to Utah for a family wedding. Whenever we are in Utah we try to get together with John's buddies from high school, Chris and Stanton. We've stayed close over the many years.

Chris had been divorced for a few years and said that for our get together he was bringing a friend. MMMMmmmm, interesting. We found Janelle (the friend) to be absolutely delightful!! She was full of ideas, personality and opinions. (It is necessary to stand on your own when these boys are in a room together.)

Here we are at lunch on that very day. We are having a superb time. It was during a bathroom break that Janelle told me that she and Chris had only been dating a mere 2 and a half weeks. Granted they knew each other for 2 years in the same PhD Nursing program.

We continued talking back at Stanton's house on the back porch. Catching up, laughing, getting to know Janelle a bit more. When out of my mouth came the following sentence..."So, what was your maiden name?" At the very moment it slipped out I knew that I my brain and mouth were not working in sync. She had eluded to many points that I knew she had never been married. What was I thinking? Needless to say, everyone got a very good laugh about it, and I think Janelle handled it very well in telling me what her current and maiden name were. And the moment was relived when Stanton's wife got home later.

Now, jumping ahead to the first weekend in September.

Here is Janelle and Chris at our next get-together, they look pretty sweet on each other, right?

Here is Stanton and his wife LaRayne at the same little get-together, which happened to be the night before...

THE WEDDING!!!!

John captured this precious moment between the couple on the temple grounds of the Oquirrh Mountain temple. Sweet, huh?

Here is Chris and Janelle with his 2 children. They make a nice little family.

And what's a wedding without some cake, which was absolutely delicious, by the way.

What I just realized, in hindsight, is my ability to predict the future. I just need to work on my timing. I should have waited until after they were married to ask her maiden name, right?

It all turned out very well in the end.

I have a feeling they won't let me live it down, though.

Senuous Sandwiches

2009-09-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Do you have a favorite restaurant that you'd love to go to, but it's located several hundred miles away? A restaurant that provided comfort food? Or a place that just had great food, but you can't reach?

I have such a place. This place is not in the state I live in; it's in Utah. One of my roommates used to work there. They have great sandwiches. They have really great sandwiches.

This place is unique not just because their sandwiches are good, but because of the names of their sandwiches. The restaurant is called Senous Sandwich. And the names of the sandwiches sound like this: the Stimulator, the Enticer, the Tantalizer, the Bodasious, and of course, the Sensous Sandwich, just to name a few.

I haven't tried all the sandwiches, in fact, I've only tried 3. I stopped trying because I found my favorite. It's called the Spicy Enticer. It has pastrami, pepperoni and Italian sausage with your choice of cheese, and then whatever fixings you choose. It is so good. It's one of those sandwiches that is all juicy from the moment you pick it up, until your very last bite (probably because I like the oil and vinegar).

The picture really doesn't do it justice, it just looks like part of any old sandwich.

It's probably a good thing that Senous Sandwich doesn't have a restaurant closer to home because I would probably go there once a week.

So, if you are ever in Orem or Provo...just stop in...it will be worth it!

It's time for school...

2009-08-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

It used to be that EVERYONE didn't start school until the day after Labor Day. Now, school's start clear in July even! Well, today was the first day of school for Sidney and Hayden. They got up and got ready without incident, and had time enough for pictures. It will just be this year and next school year that they go to the same school, and then not until Sidney is a senior in High school, so I hope they know how lucky they are to have each other.

Here they were this morning:

Alright, all set with their backpacks and everything.

I like this one of the both of them. Real candid.

Sidney gets nervous I think when she gets her picture taken.

Hayden is pretty photogenic.

Another of the both of them.

It looks like there isn't anyone else at school, but it was truly packed with people, I guess I got lucky without anyone else in the shot. Hope they have a great first day.

Part 4: Utah

2009-08-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

After a pretty good night's sleep, we packed up the van and left the hotel to head to Utah. Another six hours in the van was starting to wear on all of us, but we made it, just barely. John arrived to let us all know that his ear has been hurting for some time. He went to an urgent care and sure enough...swimmer's ear! We're all glad he got it taken care of pretty quickly though.

We relaxed with family that Thursday and just visited.

We got up early the next morning to head out to West Jordan, UT for the second to the last day of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was so awesome! We did our best to try to explain to the kids what they would see and the importance of it, I hope some of it sank in! It really is a beautiful temple. The celestial room was especially bright with the morning sun coming in! At the end we got to sit in one of the sealing rooms and just take it all in. The irony is that some great friends will be getting sealed there next month. Cool, huh?

Once again, we forgot the camera during the tour, but we drove up next to it after we were done.

We came home, played games with John's parents, brother and sister-in-law and the kids played with their cousins.

Then, John and I got ready to go to his 20-year High school reunion. We rode with John's good friend, Chris and his fiance, Janelle (the ones getting sealed next month), to the reunion. It was held in Salt Lake at the Grand America. All-in-all, it was pretty darn fun. Easy for me to say, though since I wasn't the one seeing people I haven't seen for 20 years. I knew a handful of people that John has kept in contact with, so I didn't feel left out. It seemed to go on for quite a while since we didn't leave until about 12:30 in the morning. Lots of people did some catching up and reminiscing.

Here's a capture of some of his graduating class of '89 from Alta High. John's up near the top row with his friend, Chris to the left.

They played some games, relived some good and bad, laughed at old photos, and had some pretty good food.

Saturday was much relaxed with family; another of John's brothers, Trevor and his new wife, Kayla drove up from Orem to spend the day.

Check out the kids getting into the tickle tackle with Trevor!

We drove over to an aquarium nearby and saw lots of cool things with all the kids. An octopus, a couple different kinds of sharks, got to pet some rays, and see some big tarantula.

Sidney got up close and personal with the rays.

We headed back home for games and then a barbeque. Some more games out on the lawn. We all tried to show our best bocce ball game.

I thought this was a nice capture of our bocce ball game, mid-throw and everything. Here they are from L-R; Brittany holding Xander, John's dad, Allen, Ryan's in mid-throw, John's mom, Pat, John, and then Trevor.

The cousins had fun watching videos and playing with each other. It's nice they can be instant friends when they are together.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church, had a nice dinner and visited and played more games with the family. It's really nice to have these times together, they are some of my very favorite.

Later that night we headed south to Lindon, UT for a mini-reunion of sorts. Some people that John grew up with in high-school that really were a tight-knit group and they all just seemed to fall right back into step with each other. Four girls and 3 boys that some had crushes on and some didn't, but they all just were a great group of friends. John had brought a video that they made while they were extremely bored one late evening in high-school and it was a riot watching with them to see the old styles and how much they have or haven't changed. The evening was a blast! Most everyone was able to bring their spouse (or future spouse) and their children, so that everyone could meet and get acquainted. Then each person took a turn catching everbody up to date of what they had been up to since graduating. The kids seemed to have fun, and I know the adults had a blast recalling funny moments and teasing each other. It was great!

Here's the crew: Marcia, Stanton, Chris, John, Kristin, then in the front, Leanna, and Stacey. They are a pretty unique bunch!

Ok, we are nearing the end...hang in there!

Monday...we went to .....Lagoon! The kids almost didn't earn the trip, but they squeaked by and got to go at the last minute. It was very hot, but pretty fun.

There was a new ride added 2 years ago called Wicked and so we got on pretty soon after we arrived. At first, Hayden said he didn't like it, but after 2 more times and some distance, he liked it well enough

We are far away, but here we are just before getting on Wicked.

Here are Hayden and Sidney on the Dinosaur Drop.

Then John and Sidney are on the Rocket Blast Off......they both seemed to like it...afterward.

Probably because it was hot, but that seemed like the longest day on the trip up to that point. Little did I realized that 11 hours in the van the next to drive home would seem longer, much longer.

We traveled many miles, we saw many people and visited some very fun places and got to each some great food. That seems to be a pretty good vacation.

Part 3: Las Vegas

2009-08-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have to apologize right off the bat because we didn't take a single photo in Las Vegas. Nada, nothing, zilch. We spent the most money here, but nothing to show for it. Only memories.

Alright, on with the story. We drove Wednesday to Las Vegas from CA, and thank heavens it was only a little over 4 hours!!! We got to our hotel, checked in, and had some down time. So, John took a nap, I read a book and the kids watched a little TV. Then we got hungry, ate at the Mexican restaurant there at the hotel (it was only so-so). Then we came back to the room and got all fancied up to go to the big show --- "O"! We had to pick up our tickets by a certain time so we headed over to the strip, valet parked (the only way to go at the big hotels), and got in line for our tickets. When we realized we had a little time to kill we went the front of the Bellagio to watch the water show. After which Hayden asked, "That was it?"
We walked through the shops a little, checked out some of the Cirque du Soleil paraphenalia, and looked at the sculpture exhibit outside the theater. We seemed to wait forever in our seats for the show to start, and before we knew it, the hour and a half was over. "O" is a great show, I recommend it to families. It really is like watching a circus since there are some many things going on at once. I felt like I was missing out on some of it because you couldn't watch everything at once.

Go to the website and watch the trailer. It's very cool.

Sorry again about the no pictures. Guess we were just really out of it!

Part 2: California and the beach

2009-08-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

After only one day to do laundry, tie up loose ends, pack for several venues, plan a menu for a couple meals, we headed out on Sunday morning to Carlsbad, CA for some fun on the beach with great friends.

Even though I did not drive the leg to CA, I was so done being stuck in a vehicle. I wanted to be outside, or walking or doing anything else! We got to our hotel room, unpacked a little and then headed to our friends campsite that overlooked the beach.

They fed us a great meal! And then we took a walk down to the beach. Already we were feeling rejuvenated by the wind and sand. Here's the motley crew down at the beach:

We played a rousing game of Mafia with all the kids. I think the kids enjoyed it more than the adults, but we all had fun regardless.

The next day, we were all pretty anxious to get to the beach and play! The kids had a blast boogie boarding, making sand castles, playing in the water, and finding sand crabs, some even tried surfing.

Here some of the girls, Sierra, Sidney, Peyton and Kaylee made a fancy sandcastle!

Sidney and Tanner were logging in quite some time on those boogie boards. And they were plenty water-logged to prove it!

Hayden and Haylee were working together to combat the waves. So sweet!

After a full day at the beach, we got cleaned up at the hotel, and returned to make dinner for everyone. Then we sat around and visited, laughing and telling stories and jokes, and then John taught the kids some of the games he learned in Korea.

The next day was pretty similar, except we went to a different beach just a couple miles north of where we were before. The water was a little choppier than the first day so the kids could only swim and boogie board in certain areas and the water seemed a bit cooler. The beach, though, was nicer. Less rock and seaweed and the kids teamed together for a good hour and half building a fortress in the sand. There was a lot more sunscreen applied on this second day since many of the kids got s little sunburned the day before.

This is what was left of the sand fortress. When they knew we were heading out they had just as much fun stomping on it as they did building it!

Our friend Craig got some good naptime in, but unknowningly got caught in pictures. They put sand on him and even a sand crab, but he took it all in good spirits.

The adults went out to dinner to a super-yummy place called Rockin Baja Lobster. It was sooooo good!

We got some nice pictures at the pier during the sunset.

Then we came back and got the kids to head over to Cold Stone for yummy treats. We took another night-time walk on the beach and got some cool pictures with the kids twirling their glow-sticks in front of them. Check it out:

We said our good-byes to our friends that night since we were headed out in the morning to go to Las Vegas.

The Way Round-about

2009-08-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Miles traveled: 3248

States visited: 4

Days gone: 12

Calories consumed: too many to count

Fun Had: lots and lots

We are home, we are tired, and we survived probably the longest vacation we've ever endeavored upon.

So to make it easier to post, I'll go in stages so that no one gets confused.

Part 1: New Mexico

Early on a Thursday morning, the kids and I left to drive to New Mexico. Why there you ask? My brother was moving his family there from Dallas. He had been staying alone at the house in NM for a little bit, while his wife was in Dallas waiting for the arrival of their 3rd child. My mom flew to Dallas to help them pack and help with the kids. Then, we she was a little older than 2 weeks they flew the family to Roswell and drove to Artesia. Then my brother had to fly the next morning back to Dallas to drive the moving truck to the home. On that same day I drove from AZ. Sidney and Hayden got some good playing time with their cousins in a near empty house.

My brother arrived after 12:30 am with the truck and hit the hay for a little rest before unloading the truck in the morning. My kids did their best to keep the little boys out of the way of the movers. I tried to help as much as I could by putting the boys' beds back together. At about 12:30 pm we had to be on the road with my mom in tow or we'd get back home really late. It turned out to be an almost 10 hour drive each way. PHEW! Totally worth it, though.

Here's some snapshots of the kiddos.

We got to play some games in the living room before the furniture got loaded in.

And my sweet little niece, is just adorable! Can you believe that hair?

We hated to come and go so quickly, but we had to get back to pack for our next bigger and longer part of vacation.

The synchronized swimming meet...

2009-07-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

This last Friday we went to the City's synchronized swimming routine championships meet. It is the final culmination of routines that the girls have been practicing since the beginning of the summer. Some of these girls have been swimming for a couple years, but it's mostly everyone's first time doing "Synchro".

Here is the promised video of Sidney's trio doing their "Swing" synchronized swim routine. And the family was all there to see it this time. Even if it was a blazing 112 degrees.

They really did a great job! So good in fact that they placed 1st in their age division for trios!!! Sidney was ecstatic!!! (It must have been the cute hair piece! JK!)

Here is Sidney's team group that performed to various "American" themed songs. It is pretty windy, so the music is harder to hear.

They ended up with 3rd place for their team. They were thrilled!!!

Here is Sidney with her winnings... a blue ribbon for her 1st place trio, a medal for her 3rd place team, and a rose from her coach. We're so excited for her!

She will probably join the recreational team for the Desert Dolphins. Check them out here: http://www.azdolphins.com/, they even have a blog where you can watch routines from their recent Nationals trip to Florida.

Just missed it...

2009-07-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

So, Sidney has been taking a synchronized swimming class through the City's recreation program for the summer. She really enjoys it. This last Friday was the first time they would get to perform their routines at a qualifying meet to see if they go on to the championship meet. So, I took Sidney on Friday, they finished getting ready and warmed up. Here she is with the other girls in her trio...

Sidney is on the far right. Don't they look great!!

*Side note: I made the belts and the hair pieces for their routine. They turned out way better than I expected them to. Here's a close-up of the hair-piece.

So, back to the routine meet...John and Hayden and my mom were waiting at home because it was unbearably hot and we didn't know when Sidney was going to perform. When I saw the list, Sidney and her trio were performing 4th to last. So I asked one of her coaches how long the meet was supposed to last, and she told me until about 8 pm. So I made some assumptions and thought that she might be performing around 7:30 or so. I called John at home to let him know. They were going to come later without waiting in the heat. Also, the pool is about 30 minutes away from our house.

Needless to say, something else came up and I had to run home shortly after the meet got started. I told Sidney I would be back in an hour. Traffic and road construction hindering me along the way, I didn't arrive back at the pool until about 6:40 pm. To my utter surprise, the parking lot, the bleachers and especially the pool were deserted. Only a handful of people were left putting away stuff from the meet. My poor Sidney performed without us being able to watch. We were all very shocked and very sad. Thankfully, a good friend took some photos of Sidney during the routine that I'll get later.

Fortunately, Sidney's trio placed 3rd and she will be performing next week at the championship meet. We won't be missing this one, in fact, I will be sure to record the whole thing on the camera. And just for the record, many people said it was the fastest meet they'd been to.

Doing some catch-up with a summer slide show.

2009-07-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have been a serious blog slacker. We have been having a fun busy summer with Synchronized swimming, basketball practices and games, reading books, playing games, gardening, and so forth. So I decided to compile a bunch of pictures from around the last time I posted to now. And since a picture is worth a thousand words...enough said, right? Enjoy!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Whirlwind Trip

2009-05-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

We had to make a trip to Utah for a family wedding and now it's done and over with, so here's the recap. We left early Thursday morning for UT. We are usually in such a hurry just to get there, but this time we decided we could stop and take in some of the sights. Our longest stop took place at Glen Canyon Dam. We took the tour that takes you into the dam and you can see the turbines and look up at the dam from below. It was pretty cool. One of the coolest parts is that the visitor center is called the Carl Hayden Visitor Center. Our Hayden thought that was so cool that his name was everywhere.

Notice where we told him to place his hand so it reads, "Welcome to the Hayden Visitor Center."

Here we are standing on top of the dam.

We stopped in Provo to have dinner at a favorite spot when John and I were living in Orem, Los Hermanos. It just wasn't the same. We drove by some of our old apartments and some of BYU campus. This is the first time that the kids have been interested in where John and I met and lived briefly before they came along.

We met up at John's parents' house and met our future sister-in-law and aunt. She's a hoot. Everyone was teasing the cute couple and she dished it right back. She will fit in just fine.

The next day we had made plans ahead to spend some time with some of John's friends from high school. And did we have a blast! We shared, we laughed, there was much teasing and even some philosophizing, but mostly we just had a dang good time!

Here we are at lunch with Stanton, Chris, Janelle, me, John, and LaRayne. What a crew!

That evening we met back with John's family to take some family pictures. Since it's been almost 8 years or something since we've had pictures taken, it was about time. We met at a park and got each of the families and then a big group shot.

So, here's our family...not too shabby. You can't tell, but it was windy and chilly.

Here's the lucky couple getting married, Kayla and Trevor. They were pretty adorable.

Ok, so here's the big group picture. You can't really see who's who, but it's 25 great people.

So, the next day is the wedding. They got married at the Mt. Timpanogos temple which happens to be one of my favorite. I got to go to the open house before it was dedicated and then to the dedication. I love the chapel there, it's amazing.

Anyway, outside on the temple grounds were incredible with all the spring flowers out, tulips, daffodils, pansies, petunias. Wow, the colors were great.

SEE!

And of course the happy couple were ga-ga over each other.

Here's the couple with parents and siblings only on the Muhlestein side.

Then we raced to pick up all the kids and head back to Provo for the luncheon. Good Italian food. Then we took a breathe at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Orem. And from there got ready for the reception. All the little girl cousins got to wear these frilly froo-froo skirts. They were pretty cute.

Here's a few on the lawn before at Grandma/pa's house.

And then Kayla was trying to get them to play ring around the rosie before the reception.

THEN, even after that long day, a bunch of us decided after we drove back to Sandy from Mapleton that we should try to go see the new Star Trek show...and we did. CRAZY!

Fortunately the next day was Sunday and so we took it easy and just relaxed, played some games and chatted.

For us the next day started way too early when Hayden got sick at about 1:00 AM and so we decided instead of trying to get a couple more hours of sleep, we'd just leave then and head home. Man, we're still trying to get back the many hours of lost sleep.

Oh, well! It was fun. And all worth it!

Embracing the Nerd within.

2009-04-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

I've accepted the fact for some time that I'm a nerd. And I'm perfectly fine with that. Sometimes I venture out and try to be a little girly and occasionally trendy, but for the most part, I'm nerdy. I love to read. I love to learn new things (not all things, but things that interest me). My husband (a fellow nerd) and I have taught our children that the best place to sit in a classroom is at the front. (They don't always get to sit there since the teachers make the ultimate decisions). I know more than the average person about Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and even Star Trek. I am pretty frugal (I didn't realize this was a nerdy trait, but was led to believe that it is considered as such). I was in the marching band in high school AND in college. (Apparently this is an automatic portal into nerdiness). (Bear in mind that I did not play an instrument in the band, but was on the flag line both places...some say that's bordering nerd, not automatic). I only enjoy certain sports. (If you are a huge fan of any major sport, it cancels out many nerdy qualities). And most importantly, I LOVE to play games; board, card, dice, almost anything on my weekends, weeknights...anytime, really. (I know, I know, it's like smearing nerd on nerd).

Anyway, I have completed submitted myself to being a nerd. I hope all those of you who were wary of it before...now it's out in the open. Tolerance is the key. Besides, you may catch me in a moment of complete normalcy. I just didn't want to think I was one of the "cool" people.

Now, anybody up for a game of Carcassone?

Number One

2009-04-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Celebrate!

One year of blogging!

Yeah!

Courtesy is not dead!

2009-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

The media would have you believe that the world is in a state of turmoil and despair, some days they are right on the money. Today, however, while there may be hardship and stress, some people seem to make life positive. I went to run a couple of errands, no big deal. I wasn't feeling particularly positive or negative, just normal. BUT, for some reason the people (all of them strangers) around me seemed to go out of their way to show courtesy to me or other people. A man helped put my cart away when I was done just because. I thanked him and he said "Just trying to be a gentlemen." I really don't think I was being particularly observant, but many people seemed to make eye contact and smile. (Perhaps, I had something on my face and they were waiting until I passed by to snicker.) I think maybe in this economic downturn that people are a little more approachable, more likely to see others and help out by holding the door open or letting someone go ahead of them. Maybe I'm delirious and I just want to believe that people are truly good, and that courtesy is not dead! Either way, my day's going good, how 'bout you?

Ode to Sidney

2009-03-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

(I saw this on someone else's blog and so I totally had to lift it!)

So cute
Ingenious

Does well at volleyball

Notices others

Excited about her birthday

Yearns to learn

Mesmerizing eyes

Always kind

Sticks to what is good

Helpful

Extremely funny

Loves to swim

Makes us laugh

Unavoidably smart

Happens to be clever

Likes to try new foods

Example to others

Steps in as big sister

Tries her best

Exceptional reader

Intuitive

Naturally girly.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Sidney.

We love you!

Is that Sew...

2009-03-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to teach Sidney how to sew, so before Spring break, Sidney picked out some material to make a dress out of and we finally got around to it this last Friday. Sidney enjoyed learning how you decide which pieces of the pattern to use and how you place it on the fabric. She was anxious about the actual sewing part, but once I taught her all the buttons on the sewing machine she was ready. She liked practicing with different stitching pattern. If I hadn't run out of thread on Friday we probably could have finished it then. But she asked if we could finish it Sunday morning, so we got back to work and by then Hayden wanted to know how to sew, so Sidney was sharing her new info with him. A couple of hours later and...WA LA. A new dress for Sidney. She was beaming.

Locks of Love

2009-03-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I asked Sidney if she would consider cutting her hair. We've been good about trimming it, but it seems to reach a certain length and stops growing. So, when she said she would think about it, I decide to see what it takes to donate to locks of love. It's really pretty simple...you can do it yourself or have it done at any hair cut place or salon.

So, I asked Sidney to look at other girls her age and check out which length of hair she might like. She told me that she liked it "shoulder length". Well, everyone has an idea in their head of what they think shoulder length is, so I was thinking of my idea and told her that if she wanted it that way then there probably wouldn't be enough to donate to lock of love, but that it would be okay, she could have her hair any length she wanted.

(This is just before we left)

We decided last Saturday that we had time and she was ready to get it cut. We went someplace close to home and put her name on the list. When the lady was ready and asked what we were doing with her hair, I said that Sidney had wanted to donate to locks of love, but that she also wanted it shoulder length. Then for the first time Sidney points to her neck, just barely lower than her jaw and says "Yea, I want it just above my shoulders." That surprised me because then she had plenty of hair to donate. The lady took her back and measured it, combed it, put an elastic in it.......and then cut it!

At first, Sidney said she didn't notice anything different. Not until the lady was done cutting and let her see the back of her hair with a mirror did she seem surprised.

Now, she loves it and it takes less time to take care of.

I think she looks adorable!!! But then again...I'm biased.

The bonus is that the hair cut place didn't charge us because she was donating her hair...who knew?

The fruits {and veggies} of our labor!

2009-03-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

So, John and the kids have finished planting everything in the garden for this season. It all started about 6 weeks ago. We have anxiously been waiting for the chance to try something and see if they are worth it. On Sunday, John snipped off some of the butter crunch lettuce, some romaine, some of the pretty purple stuff (like the technical terms I use?) and some of the spinach. I added some of our ripe cherry tomatoes and we had a yummy salad. Some of the romaine and spinach were a little bitter, but we ate them and enjoyed it anyway. Later, John found out you're supposed to pinch off the first of those and discard them because they always tend to be bitter. We just didn't want to waste any!
{This is the very salad, all ingredients grown in our very own backyard!}

Then, just yesterday, the strawberry that has been growing and ripening up and we've just been waiting for it to turn all red...finally was ripe! The kids were so excited (and this is just one strawberry). We also clipped off some more spinach and chives to use with dinner last night...oh, they were yum! Anyway, we cut the one strawberry into 4 pieces and each ate them at the same time. Guess what? It tasted just like.....a STRAWBERRY!

{THE strawberry, ain't it a beauty?}

Well, we're having such fun. [Yes, I totally just admitted to enjoying the garden] And we're hoping that everything else just grows like it's supposed to.

Project 365

2009-02-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

On the very first day of this year I was lucky enough to order a kit from Creating Keepsakes created by Becky Higgins called Project 365. Basically, you take a picture everyday and journal about it. The kit provides an album and page protectors that allow you to just slide your pictures right in. Then you can write about your typical day and so forth. Well, the kit was so popular it sold out in like an hour and many people (including myself) are waiting for the kit to come in from backorder. So, while I haven't posted one picture this year on my blog, I've been trying to take one picture everyday of something original or typical about that day. Some days are hard because there's not much to take a picture of and other days where you have to choose. Anyway, I thought I would just post a few favorites. Here's just a little of what we've been up to.

On the first of January we did a lot of organizing. The pantry, the food storage, some cupboards and drawers. It was a great way to start the year.

John made cookies for us. Just good 'ol chocolate chip, they were delicioso!

The kids went back to school after the holiday break. It was bittersweet, we had such fun while they were home.

I decided to make homemade birthday cards for all the family this year. Trying to get prepared by making them in one or two sittings. Some turned out better than others, but please know that I made them with love!

Trying to get a decent self-portrait. My hair changes a little too often and sometimes I have to document the different stages so I remember.

My sweet daughter. She came to sit by me and just snuggle for a bit. Why does she have to grow up?

Homemade pizzas. We make them very well if I do say so myself!

Kinda blurry, but Hayden learned to ride his bike without the training wheels. They probably should have come off a while ago because he didn't have any trouble turning or going up onto the sidewalk or anything.

My sweet Sidney. She has just a gorgeous smile, but when you put the camera in front of her she gets all nervous and tries to make a different smile with her face.?

The garden, phase 1. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, strawberries, zucchini, and spinach, just to name a few.

Every Sunday, the kids and I play Killer Bunnies while John is at his Sunday meetings. I had to capture the fact I had 6 bunnies at once. The funny part...Hayden wins this game...all the time...every time. We all still love to play it though.

We're a motley crew, but we're family. We are having a small reunion of sorts. Two brothers, my mom, 2 nieces and one came with her husband and two children to meet up for lunch at Matta's grill. It is nice to have family close-by!

Our Friday Game Night with our friends, the Bowman's.

Hayden got an award for Citizenship because another teacher caught him cleaning up the bathroom at school. He was thrilled to be recognized! He got to have a special chair in class the rest of the week. Proud mom moment!

Typical morning before school...gotta brush those pearly whites.

Fruits of our labors, literally! (Yes, a tomato is truly a fruit.) By the way, they are now ripening faster than we can eat them, so if you like cherry tomatoes come on over!

Ok, so that was a glimpse of our simple family life. It's not glamorous, but when I look at these pictures I feel right where I need to be.

Now, if my kit would just come...

Ironic

2009-01-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling you've tried really hard or worked on something expecting a certain outcome and it just wasn't there. The closest I can come to explaining it is with lyrics to a song. Ya know the song by Alanis Morissette, Ironic? Okay get that tune in your head, then the lyrics will come.

"An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day..."
(move on to the chorus)

"It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures "

(then jumping clear to the very last verse)
"Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out "

I'm sure I take many things and people and opportunities for granted. I try to appreciate who I have, what I have and how lucky and fortunate I am. (I've said before how spoiled I am).

BUT, earlier this week I felt like I was trying to row upstream and was just so completely frustrated. I'm better now. Life seems to ease up on its own.

So, what do the lyrics mean? Life is just ironic. It's never coordinated to work out exactly how you've planned it or wanted it to happen. Life just happens whether you're on board or not. Sometimes I just get caught off guard and don't know what to think.

(Oh, I just remembered another song that could be applicable too. Howard Jones, No One is to Blame.)

Wii earned it just in time for Christmas!

2008-12-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Since about September 3rd our little family implemented a plan to earn a very great reward. The plan was for certain chores, extra work, and normal routine things everyone could earn a certain number of beads. We had a goal to move 2000 beads from the "supply jar" to the "earned jar". We all knew it would take some time and that it would take some hard work, but at the end the reward would be a Nintendo Wii system. Beads were earned, sweat and tears were prevalent, some beads were even returned to the supply, some days there were many beads earned and some days only a few were earned...but lo and behold on December 24th the last of the beads had been moved from the supply jar to the earned jar. Wii had earned a Wii!!!!

The question from the kids came whether it would be under the tree for Christmas.? We tried to kid around with the kids that we would have to wait until the day after Christmas and go out to buy our new Wii, but that there probably wouldn't be any. But they had been under the tree for awhile.
Here's the loot!!! Needless to say, we were all very excited to get it set up and play.

Here's my brother and John enjoying a round of golf on the Wii. Fun was had by many at our house that rainy Christmas day.

Even the next day when my nephew Skylar came to visit, it was hard not to get sucked in to the Wii vortex.

All I can say is that I'm glad we worked hard for it and that we all feel like we took part to make it a family goal. Now,...who's up for a game of Boom Blox? Game on!!

Christmas at Disneyland

2008-12-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

If you love Christmas time and you love Disneyland you should really go to Disneyland during the Christmas season. It truly is magical. The lights, the music, all the decorations...it's just, well, the "merriest" place on earth.

Alright, so some great friends were going to be our guides at Disneyland because John and I haven't been in quite some time and this was the first time for our kids.

So, here's the typical entrance photo with all of us!

We all thought it would be a great idea to start with some easy rides to ease into the fun. That plan did not turn out so well with Hayden...he doesn't like rides that are in the dark and have loud noises coming at him, like Pinocchio, Toad's Adventure, Toontown.Can you see how Hayden has buried his face right into John and he's got his eyes closed tight and plugging his ears with his finger...crazy kid.

We thought that Hayden was really going to have a hard time spending 3 days at Disneyland if he didn't even look at any of the rides, until...we noticed that if the ride was outside, he was just fine.

He didn't seem to mind spinning us dizzy on the teacups!

So how did he do on the faster more exciting rides, you ask? Pretty darn good. We couldn't get him to open his eyes during the Space Mountain ride, but he loved that it went fast and he loved the music in it.

Here we're getting ready to go on Space Mountain. Hayden hasn't closed his eyes just yet.

The first day went great except for John's tired feet. We all loved the fireworks and the snow at the end of the show.

The second started off fabulously since we seemed to be the first ones on every ride for almost 2 hours. We hardly waited longer than a minute at most of the rides. Then once California Adventure opened up we headed over to hit all the fun rides there. Can I just say that I love quite a few rides there...a lot! When Sidney was 2 she fell in love with Monsters, Inc and so did I. To see a ride come to life in person was incredible.

Here she is standing in front of "Boo's" door at the entrance to the ride.

We had to try "Tower of Terror". We told Hayden and Sidney that they had to go on every ride at least once and if they didn't like it then they didn't have to ride it again. So everybody went on this first ride.

Here's the proof...if you look in the upper left corner you might be able to see Hayden clinging to my side. He DID NOT like the Tower of Terror, so he did not ride it again. BUT, on the other hand, my sweet daughter (whom I thought would be terrified) absolutely LOVED this ride. There were six of us that got right back in line to do it again.

We made our way around the park, got wet on Grizzly Rapids, and finally found the big roller coaster...California Screamin'. So, who do you think liked this ride? All of us except for our friends' youngest, and he actually never rode it. (We think he would have liked it if he actually would have ridden it.) The top of the list of favorite rides is Screamin'!!

Hayden is even smilin' in this picture! (Yes, we did take a picture of the display pictures when you get off the ride. I know...we're cheap!).

On the last day we again had few lines on the rides, mostly because of the rain or threat of rain that kept people away. We enjoyed repeating all our favorites. The highlight of the morning was the Jedi Training Academy. My kids are HUGE Star Wars fans and we knew that they would be picking kids from the audience to go up and be participants in the show. We got SO lucky!! Our friends son was the first to be chosen, then Sidney got picked 3rd. We were happy with that and since Hayden is our lucky one ...he got chosen as well! They put a Jedi robe over their clothes and then gave them a lightsaber. They teach them certain choreographed movements all together. THEN,... Storm Troopers and Darth Vader and Darth Maul show up! Each of the kids get to duel with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Sidney got to go up against Darth Maul. She was supposed to stay on her circle mat and go through her choreographed movement, but she came to take out Darth Maul and she went after him with her lightsaber! (You, go girl!!!!)

Then it came Hayden's turn to battle Darth Vader. He was up on the stage so we could seem him a little better. He did so awesome with his choreographed moves. Then, the host guy told Hayden he needed his help with the storm troopers. He asked Hayden to use his Jedi mind force and push them back with his hands. He pushed them back and it was so awesome!! He was the ONLY kid in that show that got to do that, we were so thrilled. It truly was the best part of that day for him. He beamed for quite some time after that! We even loved the pictures that the park took and bought them because we really wanted the kids to remember that event.

We got our fill of our favorite rides, and there were probably a few shows that we could have tried to catch and I know that there was a parade that we missed that our friend wanted to see, but we made a pretty good dent in our usable time. And we were exhausted at the end of each day to prove it.

We will definetely come back. I don't think I would have thought to go to Disneyland during Christmas time, but it was so neat. And the weather was really mild (I think we really lucked out!). So...who's coming with us to Disneyland, say in, 2 years maybe?

Blog Slacker

2008-12-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, I look at my own blog and think that I haven't done anything because I haven't recorded it, but really we're just caught up in the whole windstorm of Christmas. Since the last entry we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with John's family as well as got to play host part of the time while his sister and her family from TX was here. We visited the Arizona Science Center and the kids got some good playing time together with their cousins. I got to enjoy a couple of birthday dinners; once with family and then again with friends. Then we made preparations to head to the happiest place on earth...yep, our first family trip to Disneyland. The last time John went was just before we got married, but he didn't get to enjoy it because he was trying to keep track of 200 high school students. And the last time I went I think I was about 12 years old...Disneyland has changed a lot since then! Anyway, I will give more detail about Disneyland later. Also, in a month's time Hayden has lost both of his bottom teeth (we have been singing a revised version of "All I want for Christmas...").

We are truly enjoying this holiday season. The lights, the music, the tree, the yummy goodies we've been making and ones we've been given, even the cold that has finally arrived! Merry Christmas to you!

Fun times in Costa Rica

2008-11-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

(Warning: This is a long post)

I didn't think it would would take me this long to get around to posting, but since I promised...here goes.

First off, Costa Rica is very beautiful. So green and lush with trees and vegetation everywhere. We arrived on the tail end of their rainy season, which also makes for extreme humidity as well.

It was night when we arrived so we couldn't see much, but when we got up this was one of our views from just outside our room.

And this view is looking from the main lobby area down towards our room. Pretty nice, huh?

The first full day we just took it easy and hung out at the beach, snorkeled, ate and relaxed. While we were getting ready to leave the beach there were a group of howler monkeys jumping from tree to tree right above us. There were probably about twenty or so of them. I was able to get pretty close to a baby one and capture it snacking on the leaves.

The next day was a blast. A big group that were all staying at the resort and were part of the main company that John's associated with all signed up to go on a combo tour. The first part was to get all geared up and fly through the trees going zip-lining.

Here's John zipping from one tree to the next.

Here's me finishing one of the lines.

So, after we got to do 11 zip-lines through the trees, we got into swimsuits and hiked a trail to arrive at the head of a narrow, cement waterslide. You used an intertube to help protect your arms and elbows from getting banged up. And they even made you wear a helmet for the slide.

Here's what it looked like as we hiked up to the top of the slide.

Here's what the end of it looked like.

And here's what it looked like from John's point of view actually going down the waterslide!

After the zip-lining and the waterslide, we had worked up an appetite, so we were treated to a typical Costa Rican lunch. The meal was incredible! Nothing spectacular, but flavorful and new. Good stuff!

Then, came the next facet to our adventure...horseback riding. It took a while to get 36 people set up on their horse before we could head out on the trail. John got a really old horse that decided if he couldn't be right up front to lead the pack that he wouldn't bother and fell to the very end. My horse liked to keep up with the pack.

Once we came to the end spot for the horses we finished the end of the path where we found the last of our adventure which was a natural hot springs. You caked on the mud, washed it off then sat in one of the pools to relax and enjoy. It was very refreshing.

It was a full day. The scenery could take your breath away. Good times!

The next day we had made plans with a dive shop to do an early discovery dive and then go with a PADI (certified instructor) diver into the ocean scuba diving that same day. Well, the bad news came when we were filling out the waiver information and John told them that he had just been getting over pnemonia. They said absolutely no, that he could not dive. We were a little bummed, but we decided to catch a ride on the same boat and go snorkeling while the other divers were diving.

We did get to see some interesting things that we hadn't seen snorkeling before. Using the waterproof camera John captured a picture of an eel. The film is pretty grainy but you can still see the eel pretty good.

We also saw a sting ray and lots of different kinds of fish. We were gone on the boat for the better part of the day.

On our last day in Costa Rica we caught a taxi to Coco Beach were we just did a little sightseeing and souvenir shopping.

We were told by many people to be sure and eat at one of the local restaurants called "Seafood Papgayo". They were the best place to get fresh seafood. Well, they were absolutely correct! We had the best shrimp corn bisque and I enjoyed the "catch of the day", which happened the be the biggest piece of tuna that didn't look I had even made a dent in by the time I was full. John got a mix of seafood in a garlic cream sauce. Mmmmm, my mouth's watering just remembering it.

We had to get up pretty early in the morning to catch our plane to Houston. As you can see the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica is less complicated than other airports. We even climbed stairs to get onto the plane.We had a wonderful time, we would probably go back, but we're glad to be home again.

Gathering my thoughts.

2008-11-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am just returning from a trip to Costa Rica, and I'm anxious to share the photos and the stories of what we did and saw...but there's other things like kids and housework and laundry and bills and groceries, okay you get the idea. So, check back in a while and I'll try to get the trip stuff posted soon.

Costa Rica
Pura Vida!

Took me by surprise.

2008-11-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was running around trying to get so many things done, I barely had a moment to breathe. So the kids came home from school and started on their homework and I was thinking about dinner. My mom walked in and said "Come here." Her voice sounded odd, something was up. When I came around the corner to see what or who was at the door, I saw my sister and her husband (that don't live in this state). I was in shock. She had kept it a secret that she was coming to visit, she had kept it from everyone. She had been surprising people all day. And it worked on me...I was taken completely by surprise! So, we went out to dinner and had a great time.

Here's my sister, Mom, me & my honey.

Last night when I was looking at the pictures that had been taken with the camera I also looked at the camera my kids had taken along (we got a new camera and so the kids got our older one). I knew they had taken pictures and I was excited to find this one.

It's a lille blurry, but it sure captured the moment of us having a great time. I don't even remember what was so funny, but it makes me laugh just looking at the picture.

How are feeling about the election?

2008-11-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

So, the results are in. Mr Obama.
Are you jumping up for joy or do you feel like you just got socked in the gut? Well I happen to think that Obama is not going to do much with this crazy, twisted country that's starting to circle the drain. So does my husband. He feels even more strongly about the political scene. If you are interested in what he has to say or you're just curious, then check out his new blog middleamericanparty.blogspot.com/. Perhaps making the new Mister accountable for the things he has promised will help others to open their eyes. Anyway, just take a looksy and see.

Jedi, terrorist, McCain...oh my!

2008-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

We had the power of the force with us as we went trick or treating with both of my kids representing the Star Wars genre. Hayden is dressed up as Anakin Skywalker and Sidney is playing Ashoka. She is a new Star Wars character from "The Clone Wars" series. I thought I did a pretty good job doing Sidney's makeup, especially since I didn't want to use the face paint. I found some extra blush and eyeshadow to help.
We had an eventful night of trick or treating. Usually we get plenty of candy from our trunk or treat, but since it was cancelled we decided to make a real go of trick or treating. The kids made out like bandits! Just once around the block filled up their containers. So we stopped at the house to empty out their containers and then headed over to another nearby neighborhood to see how well we could do there and to stop at a ward member's house for homemade doughnuts and rootbeer.

Who knew that we would run into so many famous faces? We saw Achmed the Dead Terrorist (a Jeff Dunham favorite).
Then just as we arrived at our friends' home for doughnuts and rootbeer, I was so surprised to meet Sarah Palin
...AND John McCain!

It was an awesome night! The kids had a blast going trick or treating and sorting out there "booty". And we had fun watching them light up at each new addition to their treat bucket...and meeting presidential candidates.

Just for fun

2008-10-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

So if I was really Bella, would I have become a vampire...probably not. Anyway, just for fun.

I got squat.

2008-10-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for once I have remembered something funny that my kids have said so that I can blog about it...you let me know if you think it's funny or not (actually, only tell me if you think it's funny).

So, I had emptied the dishwasher earlier and I noticed a bunch of dirty dishes in the sink. So, I said to my kids, "Hey, I've emptied the dishwasher, so there's squat in the dishwasher. You can put your dishes in there because it's empty."

Without skipping a beat, my daughter says, "Squat in the dishwasher, got it!"

We all laughed for a good five minutes.

A Camping we did go..

2008-10-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

So, camping is not a past-time yet in our household. We have been as a family a total of 2 times, including our trip this last weekend. Our great friends invited us to come join in their fun on the Rim. We agreed. We brought all the right camping gear and enough food to last a few more days longer. The first days weather could not have been better. Warm and sunny and cool at night once the sun went down. We made the traditional tin foil dinners and smores and everyone was having a blast. We slept the first night in our tent and the wind blew and howled something fierce. John had kind of a rough night, but the rest of us slept great! (Sorry, sweetie.) Our friends have a trailer, so of course they were just fine. The wind never seemed to let up for the whole day. We were determined not to let that stop us, so we pack up some fishing gear and headed for the lake. The fishing was only slightly successful with the catch being a crawdad (sp?) and a small trout. The kids rode bikes, played sardines (backwards hide & seek), and even shot a BB gun. Once the sun set on our second night, we scrambled for the indoors of the trailer. We enjoyed some fantastic food, some great games and then we manuevered the sleeping arrangements to fit our family of 4 into our friend's trailer. We are so grateful for the toasty night's sleep because it was around 19 degrees in the morning! Anyhow, fun was had by all and we might even consider going again!

When the family gets together...

2008-09-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

My brother drove with his family from Texas to spend a little more than a week with us. We had a family get together, we played lots of games long into the night, we reminisced, and we ate. I got to spend lots of time getting to know my two nephews whom I had only seem once before. They are adorable and certainly have lots of personality. While it was difficult on the kids' rountine, we still had lots of fun reading books, playing and just laughing.

Here's our family get together...don't mind the camera angle, we were trying to use the timer so everyone could be in it! I've got nephews and nieces, 2nd cousins and sisters-in-law, brothers, my mom, my family and a good family friend all wrapped up here.

My brother Randy, me, my brother Monty, and my mom! We're only missing my sister and another brother.

You can't tell at all that we're related, huh?

My brother trying to get his boys to cooperate in getting their picture taken.

Celebrating past and future birthdays!

My nephew Preston LOVES trains...a lot!

He also loves to swing!

My kids fell in love with their cousins. We are definetely going to have to plan a trip to Texas in the near future, or we may all go through withdrawals.

Seeing is believing

2008-09-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sight is a vital sense. Seeing completely clearly is a privilege. I have been blessed to be able to see just fine without the assistance of glasses or contacts (the only one in my immediate family, I believe). So, I was hoping that my daughter would inherit my good genes in the eye department, even if she didn't get my eye color. Nope, last week she came home with a paper from the school nurse that said she failed the eye test (Sidney was devastated...it's the only thing she's ever failed at). Next came the appt with the eye doctor, she didn't seem to mind too much until he wanted to put drops into her eyes. I had to finally get the second drop in. Then came the picking out of frames, and I made her try on almost every single pair. None of it has become real until now. The glasses were ready for pick-up today. Sidney put them on and the sheer enthusiasm is almost tangible. She can see!!! I had no idea how badly she needed them, of course, she didn't really realize it either. Now, the world is new. She even said right after I took her picture, "Hey mom, I can even see the crevases in your face!" Hhmmmmm. I wasn't expecting her to see that!

BEFORE...

AFTER! Ain't she cute!

I am not schizo...I think

2008-09-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

OK, just in case there's anyone out there that follows my blog and finds that I change my background design like...ALL THE TIME. Please know that I only do so because it's so darn easy. It's like changing your clothes, almost everyone doesn't wear the same thing everyday. Well, I like to change the look, almost everyday or week. It's an accessory to me. So, please don't run off because I can't stick with just one thing. I just like to change things around occasionally.

An adventure to the ice caves.

2008-09-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

While still in WA, the weather was cooperating and so we set out for our adventure to see some ice caves. The drive took a little more than an hour to get there, and next thing we knew we were headed onto the trail. No big deal, mostly paved, beautiful scenery. Until we passed some people who had wet shoes, or the bottom of their pants or shorts were wet. No big deal, they probably just liked playing in freezing river water, right? Back at the beginning of the trail, we now remember seeing the small sign that read "Bridge is out". What bridge could they mean? There are actual several small bridges that go over small brooks, but they all seemed to be intact. Then we get to where there is no access to the bridge and you can hear the water rushing. We had to cross the river on foot. The bridge has been completed taken out by an avalanche of downed trees and snow, that has since melted. We survey the river for the shortest distance and least deep place to cross. My brother-in-law, Dave, rushes into the water to see if it's truly crossable, followed closely by my brother, Randy. I can see their shorts and pants getting wet (they have removed their shoes). My mom is not completely thrilled with the idea, but begins removing her shoes for the watery journey. I watch as others who are wearing "river" shoes traipse across in record time and realize that they knew the bridge was out. So we managed to make it across with only a few wet spots. We continued down the trail where we found many more trees that had been knocked down by the force of an assumed avalanche and then had to be cut just to keep the trail clear. We got closer to the back of the mountain when the ice caves came into view. They were amazing. The closer you got to the ice, the faster the temperature would drop. Here is my brother headed into the largest opening to go check things out...against my mother's better wishes. He couldn't go too far though because it became very dark inside. Here is my sister, Colleen Marie. You can't really tell until you get up close how large the caves are.
So after visiting the ice caves, we made our way back down the trail to head back. As we got closer to the river crossing we wanted to see if there was yet another shorter and less deep crossing. A fellow hiker pointed us farther up the river. We found a good spot to cross, but on the way down a steep incline my sister slipped and hurt her good arm. We tried to hurriedly make our way across the chilly river so we could enjoy the picnic lunch we brought. This last picture was actually taken before we started hiking. This is me, my mom, my brother, Randy, and my sister, Colleen Marie.

GO BYU!!

2008-09-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

So as part of my trip to Washington, we had planned to attend the BYU vs Washington football game. It was a fantastic day! We drove to a park and ride and caught the bus that would take us to the stadium (we avoided traffic, didn't have to haggle over where to park, etc.). The sun was shining, we had FANTASTIC seats, and there lots of BYU fans there as well.

The game was intense nearly the entire time. We'd score, they'd score...they'd score, we'd score. There were fumbles, sacks, tackles, injuries, long passes, long runs for the endzone. And the stadium was incredibly loud! Those fans are crazy.

So, for anyone who didn't see the game, or hear about the outcome......BYU won. With mere seconds on the clock, Washington had just scored a touchdown and they were making their PAT(point after touchdown)attempt to tie the game....and BYU defenders BLOCKED THE KICK!!!! It was crazy! I nearly went hoarse screaming so loud! That game was so sweet, I would have liked it if we had won by a landslide, but winning by one will do just fine, too.

Here the offense is warming up and you can barely see #15, quarterback, Max Hall, who is from Mesa as well, preparing to throw the ball. Funny thing...on the plane ride to WA, I briefly met his parents and another player, Dennis Pitta's (#32, wide receiver) parents. They were headed up to the game also.

Now my mom is sandwiched between me and my older brother, Randy. He's a nut when it comes to BYU football. He brought a few copies of the BYU roster that has their position and some stats for each player...yeah, he just likes BYU football a little!

Then here we're celebrating our win with my sister, Colleen Marie, looking at how funny we are holding up our #1 fingers.

This was a fantastic start to a great weekend!

Reunion

2008-09-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I got to go on a trip without my husband and kids. We only planned it that way because we knew the kids would be in school and it would be less expensive as well. The trip was to go see my sister, Colleen Marie, and her wonderful family that live near Seattle. Also, arriving would be my brother, Randy, coming from Texas. Since the middle of July, my mother has been staying with my sister to help out because my sister has breast cancer. Her situation needed some TLC so since my mom had planned on coming this last weekend she changed her ticket to arrive earlier during the month of July.

It was a great reconnection of sorts.! My brother and sister hadn't physically seen each other for about 12 years, so there was some good bonding to catch up on! We talked, we laughed, we ate, we laughed some more! And I'll tell more later of some juicy details of the trip. All in all, the trip was wonderful, short lived, but wonderful!

My eyes were opened to the battle my sister is trying to fight with this horrible cancer that invades her body. She has the heart of a lion, not wanting anything to keep her from her family and the people that she loves. Her husband, Dave, is a saint! He works hard to make her comfortable, feel safe, and is so compassionate! I've learned many lessons just by watching his example. Cancer is a horrible monster, but I still see the strong spirit in my sister that will not go down without a fight. I pray and hope that the treatments she's taking will provide her life with the quality we all want for her...healthy!

This is my lovely sister and her wonderful husband. This was on the bus to go see an awesome football game...but I'll post about that later.

Just zip me in, Mom!

2008-09-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

I got out the luggage, so I could start packing for a short trip I'm taking. I'm the only one going, so I got out the smaller bag. Hayden had been in my room watching some TV, when I came around the corner this is what I saw.

I asked him if he wanted me to just zip him in the bag so he could come with me and he said "Yup, no one will even know I'm in here, it could be a surprise!"

AAWWW, bud, I would love to wrap you up and put you in my pocket so you could be with me all the time! So, sweet! I love this guy!

Egg, bird, menace?

2008-09-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

We have many birds that live in or near our backyard. I really don't mind the birds that much except when they come onto my back patio and "mess" on the patio furniture or BBQ or windows and screens. They are welcome to live in the trees and sing songs on the fence. So when our family discovered the first bird family nested in our fruit trees to the side of the house, I thought it would be okay. Only 2 days after the first family left the nest with the little birdies flying away, another momma bird laid her eggs in the empty nest.

I walked by the empty nest once or twice thinking that I should probably just get rid of it. I really am not that mean, but these birds don't need encouragment with making a place to live nearby. Now that there are new eggs, we'll have to wait for this new mom to hatch the eggs and then wait for the babies to get big enough to fly away. You can see from the pics with my kids how small the eggs are.

My New Toy!

2008-08-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is my new toy, but mine's black. John and I found it at Costco for a great price, and we couldn't pass it up. (Just for the record, I rarely buy big ticket items when I shop alone, but when I shop with John at my side the bill goes way up). Anyway, we had talked about it for some time, so we caved and got one. I am nibbling peanut butter cookies in between keystrokes. I wanted to try something simple first...I'm not disappointed! Yum, yum.

What am I thinking?

2008-08-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Rules: Answer the questions using the first word that comes to your mind, ONLY ONE WORD. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? sleeping
3. Your hair? mussed
4. Your mother? traveling
5. Your father? elsewhere
6. Your favorite thing? winning
7. Your dream last night? forget
8. Your favorite drink? lemonade
9. Your dream/goal? clarity
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? scrapbooking
12. Your fear? disappointment
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? traveling
14. What you’re not? overbearing
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? genie
17. Where you grew up? Mesa
18. The last thing you did? sleep
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Favorite gadget? spatula
21. Your pets? none
22. Your computer? annoying
23. Your mood? sleepy
24. Missing someone? siblings
25. Your car? parked
26. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
27. Favorite store? Kohl's
28. Like someone? absolutely
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? awhile

Ok, so there are my thoughts. Now, I tag whoever wants to do it...come on, try it, it'll be fun!

First Day of School

2008-08-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

The first day of school brings back memories of anxiety and nerves. I feel them for my children today. Here it is, not even the middle of August and I'm sending my children off to learn from someone else. I like their school. We've been lucky that, so far, their teachers have been good, some great. Hayden was fortunate this year to get the same teacher Sidney had when she was in 1st grade. I am ecstatic! Sidney's teacher seems very sweet and very interested in the kids. Cross our fingers that Sidney ends up liking her.

We have to have the traditional first day photos.

Does Sidney like pink, or what?

What? No bright yellow or camo for Hayden?

My cutie pie taking a self portrait on the ride to school.

Here they are, heading for their classes...now the rest of the year will jump to light speed right in front of my eyes. Hold on tight!

This first day was not as bitter as last year. We've gone through the motions before. Sidney was more than happy to start school again. I think Hayden may take a few days of convincing, we'll have to wait and see. For me, my list of things to get done is not that long, but then again I haven't finished completing the list. I do, however, have a stack of books that is calling my name and they are calling much louder than the TO Do List. I don't think I'll be too crushed that my kids are gone for the first little while. Besides, they get to reconnect with friends and play on the playground and check out stuff at the library and... Yeah, I'm pretty sure they won't miss me either.

O Hernia!

2008-08-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

So, we took off for Las Vegas last Monday so that John could have his umbilical hernia repaired through surgery. He researched several places and found this specialist in Las Vegas who performs roughly 3-8 hernias repairs per day. AND the best part was that he and his team only charge a flat fee for the appointment, surgery, hospital, follow-up, etc. No hidden charges, just a reasonable flat fee. The surgery normally takes 30 minutes, but John's only took 15. Unfortunately, the hernia was larger than expected, but the healing time would be the same. John was out of it for a couple days, but he's recovering quickly and feeling more normal everyday. Of course, there are some things that he won't be able to do for a while, but he's not in much pain, just discomfort and itching. Now, he's got an "innie" instead of and "outie"!

What happens in Vegas...

2008-08-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

If you ever plan to visit Las Vegas or are just passing through you might want to catch a show...I adamantly recommend a Cirque de Soleil show. We made plans to be in Las Vegas for other reasons I may later venture to explain, and so we decided while we there that we'd check out a show. Since we had the kids with us we had to make sure it was family friendly. There are 2 Cirque de Soleil shows that are family friendly in Vegas, "O" and "KA". Since KA was the only one showing on the night we were going to be there we bought tickets. You should really check out the trailer.

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/ka/home/intro.htm

Okay, so the show is AMAZING!!! It's a vertical, eye-popping, stimulating show. The kids loved it! We loved it! It was worth paying a month's worth of groceries to go see! (We now have to eat PB&J for the month of August, but totally worth it)!
John saw O a few years back and had a similar reaction. We might make another trip soon so that I can catch O as well.

It's been 14 wonderful years...

2008-07-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Try it out for yourself...for fun!

2008-07-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Fun Game that fellow bloggers are doing...So why not join in the fun?

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Erase my answers, enter yours, and post it. *Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...*They have to be real places, names,things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Debbie

4 LETTER WORD: Date

VEHICLE: Dodge

CITY: Dallas

BOY Name: David

GIRL NAME: Deidre

OCCUPATION: Driver

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Dress

FOOD: Dessert

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Dove

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Died

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Don't!

Now....Your Turn!!!

Proud of our own!

2008-07-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

We have reached the end of Sidney's synchronized swim class that she took through the city's Parks & Rec program. The weekend before last she competed in a figures championship and placed 36th in her age group (I can't be sure how many there were, but my guess is at least 80, so in my mind she's placed better than half). Then just this last weekend her team placed 3rd in their age group for their routine. We are so excited for her and proud that she has done so well.

Here's Sidney all dressed for her team routine!

Here she is with her team.

Their final pose in the water.

Way to go sweetie!

Me? Quirky? You tell me...

2008-07-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

So, I've been tagged to give 6 of my quirks...thankfully only 6! Here goes:

1) I find that I must have things symmetrical. Things must look even, balanced...all things in their right place, so to speak. Now, please don't come over to my house and point out things that are off kilter, ok? It's just some things have to be balanced.

2) I eat slow, I like to make good things last longer. I'm the one that always has something still left on their plate when everyone else is getting up and washing their dishes. I've been this way for as long as I can remember and it doesn't seem to have changed a bit. I don't think it's because I talk or am distracted...I'm just slow at eating.

3) I fall asleep the last 20-30 minutes of a movie that we watch at home. We're big movie watchers and there's probably hundreds of movies that I've never actually seen the ending to. I usually just have John tell me what happened because it seems like too much effort to watch it again. Besides, storylines are so easy to follow anyway, you could see it coming in the first hour, right?

4) I am a super-light sleeper. Poor John could be breathing loud and he used to get nudged by me. In my defense, he does have a CPAP now, so it's just the constant noise of air passing through a hose. I'm okay with white noise...static, rain, in fact, (and this adds to the quirkiness), I must sleep with my sleep machine on the entire night. The button I have it set on says that it's a train, but it really just sounds like static. If I don't have that, then I have to be medicated to fall asleep.

5) I like to read about true-crime stories. I've read one too many books about the Green River Killer and Ted Bundy and any other sick, twisted serial killer or strange crime offender. Some people may think that this oddity stems from my position working at a prison for over 3 years, but I was reading true-crime long before I ever thought about applying for a job at a prison. It's a strange one I know.

6) Last one...a two parter; I love comedians that have a super dry sense of humor. If you've ever watched the "Big, Bang Theory" you might get what I'm talking about. I can laugh hysterically at that forever. But here's my quirk...I can be laughing and even just ten minutes later someone can ask me what it was that I was laughing about and I could not retell the joke to save my life. I am awful at retelling jokes...it doesn't stop me from trying, but I'll start off okay and get through most of it and then I'm snapping my fingers and almost jumping up and down trying to remember the punch line and by then I've lost my audience because they saw it coming anyways and fell asleep.

Welp, that's me quirks a plenty. Love it or leave it! Soooooo, I tag Kara, Jennifer W, Sharon, Tara & Sheri!

Better late than never.

2008-06-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

So, Father's Day was a couple of weeks ago and I really did want to post something nice, but time just got away from me.
Father's Day is an odd day to me only because the presence of a father in my growing up years was almost non-existent. I'm not looking for sympathy, just stating facts. In fact, I remember getting my mom a father's day card on a couple of occassions because she filled that role for me as well.
Now that I've been married for quite some time I realize and appreciate the presence of Father and husband. And to be honest, I'm spoiled. My husband is awesome. He cooks, he works so I don't have to, he's hilarious, he's intelligent, he's inventive & creative, he cleans up, he's always saying what I was thinking (or vice versa), he's attractive, he's sensitive, he's a loving, nurturing father, he teaches, he disciplines, and he encourages. We are so fortunate that he works at home so that we get to see him ALL THE TIME. Most families don't have that advantage! And all the time that I get to see him, I would still prefer to spend more time with him. We sure love you, honey...just wanted to let everyone else know too!