Makin' it Through the Day

Flood of 2011

2011-06-28T08:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, we've had a lot of rain and the river a mile from my house and down the hill is nearing it's point of over-flow and I've had people ask me if we are in danger of getting flooded and I say "No, not even possible" Well the river didn't hit us but a broken irrigation pipe did. It broke underground and finally found an escape route through the dirt and spewed up one night after the sprinklers went off. It's a pressurized line so it had some force. It filled the big window well and the pressure broke the window and destroyed the blinds in the process. It was 4:30 AM, thank goodness we were home. It was very loud and there was running water so we ran downstairs...barefooted. When I heard arching from the treadmill I ordered all barefoot people out of the water and ran upstairs to hit the breaker switches and unplugged everything before turning the lights back on. On our second trip down nearly every step under our now shod feet was breaking glass that had floated all through the craft room and hall and was making it's way into the bedrooms and even into the family room. This water came from the window well so of course it had dirt, leaves, worms, bugs and even a salamander.

Did I mention that the force destroyed the blinds?

I've never been known for my immaculate house keeping and it came back to bite me in the craft room. I had my top drawer full of stamp pads open 2 inches. It instantly filled with water and filled all three drawers below it. The cart with my paper caught the water coming down and ruined all of that. The family and personal portraits, however, were in hanging file folders safely under the counter.

The counter had my paper cutter, quilt fabric/projects (only a few) and pictures, framed and otherwise. Those items did not fare well and were strewn throughout the room.

This is down the hall and into the family room. Glass even got this far.

Dirty water everywhere.

(I lost a couple of pictures here, sorry)

ServiceMaster to the rescue and after much ulcer causing questions, State Farm came to the rescue and is covering the repairs.

All carpet had to come out and the cabinets. Sheetrock had to be removed 16 inches up and all insulation below that point. D was ready to start on his back yard work shop but now he's sheet rocking and we spend a lot of time looking at paint and carpet samples. Not how we wanted to spend our summer but so grateful that our disaster was nothing more than an inconvenience and otherwise we have all been well.

For my Sisters

2011-03-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

No, it's not done yet but do you wanna see the progress of our sampler quilt?
Let me remind you that I've been crazy busy and...well...CRAZY!
This thing is a little labor intensive and remember me reminding you all that I had a new blade on my rotary cutter and it's sharp? Well, I had a little delay because of a rotary blade accident. Haha, nothing serious but it stopped me for a while. Anyway, Here it is:

Obviously I have not put the blocks together but see how cool they look all criss-crossy? If I do two more and put a border on it should be plenty big because it's not supposed to fit a bed anyway, it's just a throw.

I love the randomness and the contributions. Believe it or not I have actually sewn several more strips. It really takes a lot of strips. We bought the green and the brown solid fabric and the green just looked a ton better even though I was leaning toward the brown. Anyway, I love it but can't wait to get it done cause I have so many other projects I want to work on. Thanks again for coming and thanks for indulging me in this fun little project.

Wha? Two months? Really?

2011-01-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

OK, First let me be the first to congratulate myself on getting right to the Thanksgiving blog post and showing off Sista J's amazing hosting skills and cute kids to boot. BUT (and it's a big one!) The last two months have really slipped through my fingers. I'm not a big fan of January and I find myself enduring rather than being productive. While I have done all of this (snuggling with Baby E) as possible.

There has been way too much of this going on:

I have managed to get around to this:

I am notoriously NOT a decorator but my lovely daughter helped me make the word HOME in big letters on the shelf above the doorway in our living room so by getting the letters L and V and repapering them I now have my Valentine decoration up. Ok, there's more but I really don't like the old ones I have so I'm working on something new.

I've been trying to get to this:

This is one finished quilt block that my sisters and I worked on while we were together. I should have it done, put together and all quilted up but refer to the beginning of this post. But, hey, did you catch the point about ALL my sisters being together? That has never happened before with just the girls and Mom. We had a great time and since the girls from the midwest were here we saw a little of this:

Yeah, these two are 32 days apart in age but from birth have been 6 inches apart from birth but since the growth spurt of last year this is now the distance between the two. If I did nothing but blog I would go into detail about these two and their exploits. Oh My!

But, yes, we all got together and on a cold blustery day we braved the icy roads and went to the Salt Lake temple and trudged on to the JSMB and enjoyed a wonderful early dinner at the Garden Restaurant complete with fried dill pickles. don't knock it till you try it. We stayed up late that night and the next night was New Years Eve. We had our traditional German Chocolate cake and observed my favorite tradition and went to bed early. Really, I'm no fun late at night. On new years we ate and sewed and watched movies and laughed. We planned another get-together and made memories. I love my sisters and enjoy getting together with them and can't wait to do it again.

As you might have guessed they came a day early and we had a salon day where they got their hair done. That was fun too.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

It looks like we are about ready. 13 of us ate in one room at my sisters house. The placemats were made by her family. They had real fall leaves between sheets of wax paper. They were so cute and the kids were so proud.

They made the cutest centerpieces! (yes, they deserve exclamation points)

This is the group minus the hosts. Interesting group. I usually host but was feeling a little overwhelmed so a couple of months ago I volunteered to bring food to anyone elses house and not host. It was an "off" year for my bro-in-laws family so we had his Dad and younger, single siblings, my parents, my two sons, me and my husband, D along with J and DH (hosts) and their kids.

Sweet little E managed to take out her pony tail but was cute never-the-less and headed to bed before dinner making dinner itself less stressful for J.

Cool dude, R was excited to have so many guests and yes, my Mom really does have a Thanksgiving apron.

Grandpa B managed to get little E in a snuggly mood and danced around the kitchen with her. This is a bad back-lit picture but it was the only one that showed both their faces. So sweet.

T and R get plenty of attention from their Aunt and Uncle.

Oops, this was not Thanksgiving. This was Saturday when R popped in to see Grandpa and he got out the new toy he bought. We aren't sure who likes it best but baby E seemed to really enjoy it. I was at work but they did come see me too. I was disappointed to have to work so much around the Holiday but expect to get a little more time after Christmas when I am planning a sisters get-together with....my sisters, of course!

Just pictures (to melt you heart)

2010-11-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here's our little darling at 2 months in her blessing dress. So cute.

She was an m&m for Halloween and R and A were packages of m&m's, plain and peanut.

Here she is at four months. So much personality and expression.

We had family pictures done the end of September just before L left for London. The leaves had just started turning so we got the perfect blend of colors. I loved the background.

Ooooh, he's so handsome. don't worry, you will all get a Christmas card with the fam picture on it plus a couple of bonus picts.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our house 2010

2010-10-17T16:55:00.001-07:00

So L is gone. A month ago she was here, on her last group trip down Cataract Canyon with her other guide friends. A great farewell trip. This is where she is today, somewhere near Preston England in or around the MTC. In a few short hours she will be headed to London in a van with 10 other missionaries.
During that two weeks that she was home we had to finish her preparations and have a BIG farewell party following her opportunity to speak on a gospel subject prior to leaving on a mission. See previous post. On September 30 we had to get her to the airport to fly off to England:

So, in two weeks she went from a river guide to a missionary. BUT since she is gone and really has been for a couple of years, we've been doing some remodeling. First D took her room apart.

and where the door was supposed to go discovered a vent pipe from the bathroom downstairs which greatly complicated this project.

This is what the hallway looked like before demolition. Because of the pipe the door couldn't go directly into the front room so we had to sacrifice a major portion of our huge hall closet and make a diagonal facing door. D pulled up the carpet, laid hardwood, repainted, stained the floor and hung a new door.

We have very little decorating done but I love the colors.

This room is what one would have considered a conservatory. It has the piano, keyboard and guitar. It will have more seating and bookshelves.....eventually.

needs pictures. The perfect ones currently hang above our bed, they are moving.

So the house has more character now with our angled door next to our very small linen/hall closet.

But check out this beautiful rug! I was leaning toward a couple of plain ones when D spotted this. It matches perfectly and looks like it was woven with our bedroom pictures in mind.

AND, since we have been having family events at our house and usually do and never have enough comfortable seating:

We finally got a sectional in our front room. We replaced the Burgundy carpet but still need to replace the curtains. The furniture is not my favorite but after two years of looking, we were both satisfied enough that we are happy with it.

yeah, a super comfy chaise lounge.

Now there is room for all the teenagers that USED TO hang out at our house. It's still great for family gatherings so COME GATHER!

Sunday of Loved ones

2010-09-26T20:17:00.001-07:00

Our daughter, L is going to England!Today was her "opportunity to speak on a gospel topic in Sacrament Meeting pryor to leaving on her mission" (farewell)

It was full of Friends (eating)

friends visiting

Baby E getting passed around and a happy Grandpa

and more friends from high school...

from church and the neighborhood...

and Moab (river)

and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

It was a great day that was long awaited, well prepared for (could have been better) and much anticipated. We baked and prepared for days, most of the week even and figured around 50 people would show up. There were 72 at one count and that didn't get them all. We ran out of plates first, breakfast casserolle next and forks next. Thank goodness we have peaches and apples on the tree and continued to cut up fruit. It was so fun to hear L speak along with her friend and past Young Women leader, Shannon and to see everyone enjoying themselves and to visit with our family and friends. It will be a busy week to get her all ready to fly out on Thursday.

Thanks to everyone who came and supported us today. It's a parents payday!

Parents Pay Day

2010-09-05T17:57:00.001-07:00

This is all about Baby E Check out that tongue. She loves it.

Today (Sunday) was her Blessing day.
She looked beautiful and was perfectly behaved.
Do I look so happy with my little Grandbaby?

R and I made the dress. G'ma Cherri made the bracelet which I was going to get a close-up of but forgot it. It matched perfectly.

R loves the "matchy" family photos. Aren't they cute?

Here is baby E, my girl, R, Me and My mom with her new hairdo.

(no I didn't do it. She "bought" it) I like it.

Four generations!
It was a great day!

What's in a name?

2010-08-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

I've thought about and talked about names frequently as of late. Mostly because our grandaughter has a very unique name. It doesn't mean anything in particular but goes with the currently trendy names such as Kinsley and Ainsley. Her middle name is the combination of the two Grandmother's middle names Kay and Lynn, thus, KayLynn.
I also have a personal goal in life to let everyone know that Maggie is not meant to be a human name. Many people use it as a dog's name. So many, in fact, that to hear it now it goes quite well with Rover, Spot or even Daisy. A dog doesn't really mind the name so use it if you like it, BUT my name is close enough to Maggie I can tell you I have never liked the name and if you go through the whole alphabet there are many unkind things that rhyme with Maggie. Go ahead and try it. I'll wait....
B
H
F
S
R
N
Or go one step further and use two letters together.
Br
Sl
and a whole bunch of other nonsense words that just by their sound are unappealing.
'Nuff said. Friends don't let friends name people Maggie.
It kind of goes along with the return of the old-fashioned names. To that I say "whatever"
Now to the confusion of cross-gender names. You really don't know who (whom?) to expect when you see the names Tracy, Chris or Pat, male or female. If you see it written correctly you have a pretty good idea with names that have a different spelling like Erin or Aaron or Gene and Jean but what about names that used to be male names that have turned into female names like Morgan, Taylor or Devon.
That reminds me of a story. (go ahead, get a snack or a blanket or leave the blog, it's up to you) Last week we were visiting D's brother who has two little neighbor boys. They are both about 4 years old but one happens to be the uncle of the other. This little boys poor mother had a very late in lifer. D commented that they should have named him Isaac. (biblical reference, if you need to look it up.) And I suggested that I would use the name which ever gender it turned out to be and with the current name situation there should be a female spelling for Isaac so I racked my brain (or did I wrack my brain? it seems like it should be wrack. Hmmm) and came up with it
Izyk!
It sounds a lot nicer than it looks on paper but I would do it anyway.
What about your name. Do you like it? Is is appropriately feminine or masculine? What interesting names/spellings have you heard?

Feeling left Out?

2010-07-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

I thought so.

So I uploaded more pictures of Baby E.

R,A and E spent last weekend here so Grandma could get up in the night and take care of the little angel while Mom and Dad got a couple of nights of uninterupted sleep. She is just as cute at 2 AM as she is during the day. (R might disagree).

Enjoy!

More Wonderful days!

2010-07-18T18:57:00.001-07:00

My 48th birthday was Tuesday.

I woke up snuggling with my Glow bug - my new Grandbaby.

I stayed Monday night so R and A could sleep as much as possible so when baby E wasn't really hungry but just making noises I could take care of her and since she had to be on the bilibed she was in the front room. When she fussed I held her on my chest and we slept like that for a couple of hours. What a beautiful way to wake up. I went to work that day but we had plans to celebrate on Thursday. The timing worked out well since CJ was going to camp for 4 days leaving on Weds so D and I left at noon and went to spend the day with R and Baby E. D was happy to see the baby since he hadn't seen her since Sunday when she was in the hospital. We fixed dinner there and all ate together then we left for the event: YAY!
We had tickets for the James Taylor/Carole King concert!
They are some of my favorite musicians and Carole King is what I listen to when I need "feel good music" I have so many CD's that someone else sings that she wrote the songs. So talented. Here we are waiting for the show to begin:This is the whole stage. She is at the piano and JT is sitting with the guitar at the right.

They did some of her songs and some of his.

They are looking older but still move like they are 30. She danced around in those heels like they were running shoes and she is so thin and 68!

This picture was from the big screen over-head, thus the distorted color but Carole had always left her curly hair down. Maybe it's a trademark but she still does although she has lost the color in her hair.

Here they are both on guitars.

Both looking older but still sounding great!

I've posted two posts today so be sure and check the next one. It's the most important one I've EVER done.

Wonderful Days!

2010-07-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here she is. Baby Eisley!!! We have been loving being Grandparents!
She had a little Jaundice and was on the biliruben lights. When she was held she was supposed to have the light pad on her so when she was wrapped up she looked like a little glow worm. I called her my Glow Bug. She is so fun to hold and cuddle.

She is so sweet and squishy weighing in at 9lbs 10 oz. and measuring 22 inches long. R was induced and had a long labor but did super well. She is recovering very well and loves to share the love and lets everyone hold her precious baby.

How precious is this little yawn?

Every little thing she does we get excited over. She is so loved and coddled.

We tried to get a picture with her eyes open. It doesn't happen enough but it's good that she sleeps so well.

Her Grandpa D was so excited to see her after 4 days of missing her. He took her right from her bath and cuddled her wrapped in her towel.

R is the best Mommy ever. Baby E looks so much like R did when she was born.
Oh those sweet kissable cheeks! So soft. Mmmmmm

Yes, Grandma Gigi loves to hold this precious baby and loves to take pictures of her. She is my new favorite thing to talk and write about and take pictures of. I love being a Grandma!

Kick off to Summer

2010-07-01T18:13:00.001-07:00

These first pictures are two that I forgot to throw in but the trip wouldn't be complete without saying that we really did go to Winslow Arizona and took a picture "standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona" (sorry if you are too young or not an Eagles fan and the whole line is lost on you)I lived in Aztec, NM when I was very young and remembered going to the Aztec Ruins so we went way out of our way and found it. It was truly amazing. 1000 year old ruins with about 800 rooms. You can walk through some of them. It is amazing!
Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog post:

So we went to San Diego - the long way!We started by going to Moab and doing a late hike to Delicate Arch

We met with L who is always our guide when we go there.

Here are my hiking buddies just before the hike.

L loves to go places with her Dad. They are both so funny.

Then we went way out of our way to Four Corners. It's all fenced off and under construction so we walked all around it and at each "corner" we stopped and made the letters of the state we were in. We are a little dyslexic - this AS should be AZ for Arizona.

We stayed in Chandler where an old High School friend of mine lives. I had a great/quick visit with her. We arrived at almost the last minute because now they have moved to Virginia and I would not have seen her.

Our first visit was at the Mormon Battalion museum. It was amazing how they told a very "moving" story and had so much interactive information.

The reason we went to San Diego was for a conference for D. Our hotel was close to Sea World so while D was in meetings the boys and I hung out at Sea World. For future reference, if you sit in the "soak zone" you don't get splashed on - you get SOAKED!
We actually had to go back to the hotel and change. It was too cold and humid to ever dry out.

See the sunshine. That was a brief few hours but such a beautiful time to be out biking on the beach.

Whose jaws are the scariest?

No, it's not a dolphin, not a killer whale either. It's a Pilot Whale. Everyone has pictures of the common animals so I decided to use the unexpected.

Yeah, that whale really is bigger than CJ.

The nature of our trips have changed over the years and it's nice to let the boys take the car and go to a movie so I can sit by the pool and read. We drove 2400 miles and saw a lot of territory. The temperatures in the desert of Arizona got up to 109 degrees to 3 days of 65 in San Diego and down to 45 on the way home. So nice to be home. I had four very busy days at work as payback for being gone for over a week.

Now we wait for a new grandbaby!!!!!!!!!

Family Reunion 2010

2010-06-24T16:04:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was a family reunion for my parents and siblings.

This is what a family reunion looks like:

It was held in Paragonah. We also went up Parowan canyon for a picnic where there were more trees and water. However, we were so close to the mountains that our morning walk was a hike in the mountains.
My Dad and oldest sister from California visiting here.

Did I mention that our morning walk was in the mountains? And was 2 hours long?
The first day most of the gang took an assortment of guns out and shot targets.

D likes to shoot.

As many as possible got in on the action.
Some would consider it a shame teaching a sweet little girl to shoot but she learned some important gun safety along with it.This is us in my sisters yard. Great place for a reunion!

Saturday was also our 29th anniversary. We don't usually make too big of a deal of it but we did manage to escape for an hour or so for another shorter hike.

While the majority of the group went shooting the older sisters and Mom took a scenic drive to Cedar Breaks and had a great visit.

Cousins. (second cousins)

It's been called a "redneck reunion" with the guns, 4-wheelers, country atmosphere and dogs but what a fun time us hicks have!

Our family is the greatest!

FUN DAYS!

2010-05-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE OLDEST DAUGHTER!She's got a cute man and they are going to have cute baby soon!

We love to hang out and like doing the same things.

She loves her Dad and he does a lot for her.

She loves her sister!!!
This Wednesday was a big day for
the second daughter!

(notice the belly on the older one. yeah, I'm gonna be a Grandma!)

All the guesses were in

And the friends were here!

(see the baby belly?)

Friends and Family had arrived for the "reading"

She got a letter from the prophet and wanted to share it with all these people.

It was a very big deal!

L has been called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the London, England Mission!!! She will report to the MTC in Preston England October 1!

We are so proud of her.

Store It!

2010-05-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

I read a blog recently that wasn't about food storage but about organizing.

This cute girl was organizing her pantry. It was nice and only a little better than mine but smaller. She was giddy over her storage feeling very blessed to have so much food in the house. Not to be outdone!!!!! I did my own comparison. This is enough to keep us going for a long time.The bottom section of the above picture is food storage cans two deep, labeled!

My storage room downstairs has ALL the staples: And emergency equipment!
I have a cold storage room with MANY cans of beans, rice, wheat, oats, milk, sugar and flour.
One wall has flour, oil, condiments, veggies, tuna, cake and brownie mixes, boxed pasta and stuffing, soup and a plastic box with chocolate chips and brown sugar.

We have enough brownie mixes to give the whole neighborhood a sugar high for a month!

The other side of the aisle has bottled fruit, jams and jellies and a variety of drinks.

We have not one box less than TWENTY boxes of hot chocolate packages and I still go berserk when my kids drink it. It's a special treat! I hoard the stuff but wont let anyone drink it, unless it's especially cold, or a special day or a very special treat. WACKY!

I'm sure we would last a very long time. If I by chance have a reader that has never had a prophet of God tell them to get a years supply of food they might think us a little eccentric. This is the best insurance policy I have ever purchased and I use everything we store. I even learned how to make sweetened condensed milk out of powdered milk! I am officially smart!

If times get bad we're eating better! (we might be allowed a cup of hot chocolate ; ) )

So Sara (blogger) I may not be super organized, don't judge me, but I have a lot of very delicious and very useful food and emergency supplies.

IT MAKES ME HAPPPPPPY!

Fire, Fire, Fire!

2010-05-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know college students are not known for their cleaning skills but really, this is what B's apartment looked like yesterday! This is the new sky light in his hallway. Unfortunately it doesn't meet building codes nor would it protect from cold Cache Valley weather.
The stairs were a mess as well. But, I think those boots belong to a professional. I think he's enforcing evacuation.
B Just moved into his new apartment. The bed had bedbugs so he had to get the mattress swapped and got a plastic sheet to protect him from existing conditions. He had just settled in and had roommates he liked and former roommates and friends next door. He decided not to go camping with them because he was going 4-wheeling with his Dad, brother and Grandpa so he sat home alone watching a movie in his shorts and no shoes. The fire alarm went off next door but upon walking out onto the balcony the alarm sounded distant so he gave it no more thought. The apartment manager took it seriously and entered the apartment but realized the fire extinguisher was not enough and told Braden to call 911 and evacuate the building. Of course, his shoes were upstairs and he wasn't going up for them. By the time the firemen got done there was insulation on everything including his bed.

The fire started in his neighbors bathroom ceiling. One of the guys left the bathroom fan on and it overheated and started a fire in the attic (third floor). This was actually the neighbors bathroom with the offending blackened fan on the toilet. Imagine retrieving your things out of this mess. They all did.

This is the new ventilated ceiling in B's hallway next to his bedroom.

And some charred trusses.

Last week he was homeless because he had to be out of Old Farm on Saturday and couldn't move into this place until Monday. He was there 4 nights. 20 units, all evacuated, only 2 were uninhabitable. Of course, his is one.

The ironic thing is that he got hired at a new job as a bank teller that requires a week of training in Salt Lake so he was going to spend a week with a friend there.

This weekend has been spent washing EVERYTHING that could absorb smoke. The washer and dryer has run constantly for 24 hours. B doesn't know where he is going to live but right now he needs to concentrate on starting a new job. If he gets desperate he can stay with Grandparents or Aunt and Uncle. It's good to have options.

Raw as I wanna be

2010-04-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

So I have some friends who have been eating RAW for about a year now. They have both lost a lot of weight. Neither were heavy before but they look and feel great. Lauri decided to do kind of a support group so once a month she invites us to her house to share ideas and recipes. The first night was "Green smoothie night" You got it. We all tried green smoothies.

You start with a couple of large handfulls of spinace, chard, kale, romaine or leaf lettuce. I usually use spinach. Pour about a cup of water in the blender with it and add whatever raw fruits and vegetables you like. Since I have a LOT of frozen peaches from our tree I always use about a cup of frozen peaches and maybe half a frozen banana. The best flavor is to add the juice from one lemon and a little packet of Sun Crystals:

It's down below, it just wont move. Grrr Anyway that's like a spinach lemonade. Hahaha

It has the consistency of SLUDGE! Yum!

Not a bad way to start a day although you need to chew to blend with your saliva. I asked if you could just spit in it. I don't think the ladies liked my idea.

The next month we had a salad night with raw dressings. Y'all get salads. Nothing special but I learned to do a chopped salad with my ingredients chopped small. Its tasty and colorful. In this salad I have romaine, kale, spinach, cauliflower (one of my favorite vegies), tomato, mushrooms and yellow pepper. A colorful pepper makes the salad look festive and adds so much flavor. Then I top it off with, raw dressing? Heck NO! I'm as raw as I wanna be! I have discovered Wish Bone Olive Oil Vinegrette. It has 60 calories per serving which is half or less of a ranch or cream dressing. I'm sure I usually end up with 2 servings but YUM!

Now if you really want to increase your raw food intake try pulse. It's supposed to be in the Bible or something but you go to the health food store and get a plastic screen to go on your wide mouth canning jar. It's worth about 50 cents but costs $5.00. You have to use raw seeds and nuts so they sprout. I use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, buckwheat choats and a little flax seed. I was told to use almonds too but They swell so big and don't distribute well so I do the sprouts and chop the almonds and add it in at the end. I put this on salad and in yogurt. By the way, these ladies are completely down on dairy but I am as raw as I wanna be!
Ahhh, here is that stubborn picture of Sun Crystals, it's a natural sweetener made from stevia. It's super sweet.
Last week we had a get together for raw desserts. Ya know, there is a limit to how raw I wanna be. The facebook group and e-mail group is called "rawaswewannabe" Thus, my constant reference/tirade. I go to get some healthy food ideas and I have come away with good ideas every time but I'm not going 100% on this. I disagree with a few of the ideas and I have not seen any of the references backed by a doctor so it's just a lot of peoples opinions but there is some good information. I'm eating less fried food and cutting down on sugar. I got a new knife just for cutting my vegetables and I enjoy apples regularly and salads all the time now.
The moral of this blog is try it!
Go chew some sludge today!

Hind family baby shower

2010-04-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we had a baby shower for A's side of the family. I spared you pictures of all the guests but the aunt at the far right is the long arm quilter that did a beautiful heirloom quilt. This is the stack of presents:This is the quilt I made. R chose the fabric last year and this year likes pink and green instead but it's a super cute quilt and even hand quilted.
These are the receiving blankets I crocheted. I wish the colors showed up better on the pink one. It's so cute. Both have very nice prints. I've probably done 100 of these over the years.

Oh my Gosh!

For cute!

This is a cupcake of burpcloths with coffee filters as the muffin cup. It was all wrapped in celophane. Most of the cousins were very crafty.

Another crafty cousin did a whole set of burpcloths with cute borders and applique. The flip-flops were a hit.

There were some beautiful basics, receiving blankets and onsies.

This was one of many little outfits. This one was pink and brown, ( how cute will baby look in this with that cute little pink and brown quilt Granma Gigi made?) It has a matching onesie and flare legs. Most of the sleepers and outfits were size 6-9 months.

Now for the heirloom:

Aunt Karen got swatches from R's layette set that she's making and made this beautiful quilt. This is a showcase quality quilt. She could hang it on the wall or a rack for decoration.

There were darling shoes, sewn, bought and crocheted, hairbows and head bands which is a good thing considering that R didn't have much hair till she was three but now has enough for three people. Her mother-in-laws family gave a cash gift to help them buy the stroller/car-seat that they want. Now she needs some basics like crib sheets, matress pad, bottles and books.
We will be doing a family party/shower/barbeque on Memorial day for our family. I'm very excited now for this baby to come. R is getting a little uncomfortable but we are so happy things are still going well.

The food was delicious and the presentation was beautiful.

Blindfolded Easter

2010-04-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Not a glamorous picture but I had all my kids decorating Easter eggs. We had some very creative eggs. a strawberry:

a grenade...

and of course a variety of colors and kits.

L is here to demonstrate our adult Easter egg hunt and the hunt begins!

The things we learned or were reenforced during this activity was that R doesn't like being out of control, B is slow and methodical and it pays off, L is rough and CJ just likes having the older siblings around. A was not quite sure why all the kids would participate so willingly even knowing there was money in the eggs. He thought it would be cents but like the others he came away with $$$!

I have great video but after an hour of it saying it was uploading I figure it pobably never would. Darn!

I have another one when we opened the eggs. The surprise was that there were baby sock and baby washcloths in the socks to R and A got a bunch of that stuff too. Then we had cinnamon rolls and watched conference. It was such a beautiful weekend!

Western Carribean Cruise

2010-03-16T19:04:00.001-07:00

That sure is a big boat!

The last week of February was cold and gloomy but we had an alternate plan, we went on a cruise. This was to celebrate D's 50th birthday. We saw blue blue water and white sandy beaches.

We dressed up for dinner and walked on deck in the cool sea breezes.
We ate warm chocolate melting cake and went to comedy shows and musical entertainment.

We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets!

We climbed the ruins at Kohunlich and learned about them from an experienced archeologist. It was so fascinating but we just didn't have long enough to see it all.

This is the temple of the masks. These masks are carved on tombs and then covered by another structure to protect them. In some cases the outer structure crumbles leaving the original building exposed and we were lucky enough to see it.

We got out picture taken dressed up. D thought this was frivalous but I reminded him that our kids spent more money than we were on pictures with people they will never go out with again and we have been married for 28 years and rarely get our picture taken together and we looked good!

There were two elegant nights so we got our picture taken both times.
We were so cute.

We had a great time and had some warm days. We had cool days at sea and some days that were a little warmer and a couple of really warm days. I think February is a great time to go on a cruise.

This is only part of the trip. If I get to it I'll show you more.

tidbits

2010-03-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, that was weird, I kind of expected my family to respond but nooooo. My good friends and customers. That is really funny. Ok Linda, these books were suggested by my sister and I think I told you about them.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
This book takes place in Afghanistan in the 80's I believe. It's a great history and culture lesson but sad. It makes one think about the purpose of your own life. I would give it a 3 1/2 of 5 because I like happy. Very well written and I learned a lot. Be grateful for our lives!
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
A book my sister learned of by association with the author on a writers blog. Well written, a book of unmet possibilities. 4
Then I still had the ride home and nothing to read so I picked up Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger in the airport. Easy read, thought provoking. I remembered to be grateful for every minute I have with those I love and my associations with people who inspire me and make me happy. also a 4 maybe even a plus.
I am a people person and love to be with people. I am motivated by people. My house doesn't get clean unless someone is coming over. I love to meet new people which is why I love my job. Anyway, more tidbits later!

2010-03-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

So much to blog about, so little time. Should I blog about the great time we had on the cruise and tell you all the things we did? But I did that on facebook. Should I tell you the books I read last month?, two just while vacationing and enjoying the peace and cool sea breeze.

I could also blog about how I'm so lucky to have spent nearly 29 years with such a wonderful husband and how I'm learning to enjoy every good moment because there is enough sadness and difficult times to deal with.

Or, I could blog about D and his 50th birthday and the great cake R made for him or give you his list of things he accomplished in his 50th year like buying his motorcycle and riding it home from Vegas or rafting cataract canyon with L and the cruise that we took together
and zip-lining in the everglades and doing a perfect 360 degree flip off of a rope swing in a river in Belize.

I could also blog about the things we have done with K to try to teach her to take care of herself and her things and the next step in her life.

There is so much and I have so little time and when I get home in the evenings I have no energy and don't want to blog at all.

I'm also expecting a grandchild around my birthday and still run a salon which is a happy place right now. So many things and I still have nothing really to say. If there is anyone that reads this or anyone that has an opinion about what I should write about, leave a comment. If not, I'll blog in April. hahahahaha

Room of Disaster

2010-02-08T18:54:00.001-08:00

This is what a tantrum looks like at our house: That is black sharpie on the bed. The bed is on the floor, not a frame because we learned years ago that any empty space is where all the nice and useful things go, all gobbed up and covered with any liquid close at hand, such as: lotion, glue, nail polish, blood, the list goes on. There was a washable marker in her room that she pulled apart, drained onto her hands and wiped on the walls, carpet and clothes. Thank goodness, this washed off pretty well.

Now, notice the purple marker on the box spring and on the carpet and then notice the spot just to the right of it that is NOT washable but black sharpie.

The interesting thing here is what set K off. D told her to eat her dinner. We had chili, which she usually likes and didn't say she didn't want. In discussing this with the therapist we think she can feel us withdrawing from her and acted out. D has been done for about a year and can't wait for this phase (foster parenting) of our lives to be over but I'm so concerned with the regression she will make. We haven't had a big tantrum in so many months but we can't have her constantly destroying our house. This is probably a good thing because as much as I've been hanging on, I think I'm on the same page as D now and CJ has been ready to be done for a long time. I think L thinks we are just giving up but as much as she wants to save the world she hasn't volunteered any time to help out. About a year ago R told me that she told her husband A that she wishes he had known us before K because we used to be fun. I thought about that and I'm not sure we would have been fun anyway. We used to have kids that got good grades and enjoyed school and friends and activities and were very involved in band and plays. Now we have K and CJ who just wont do school work even if he does understand it. It's not the best time of our lives but we are happy we are not in the position of some of our friends whose son is stealing and doing drugs and they are afraid to be home with him.
OK, back to the story. So we've discussed this with the therapist and case worker and it was decided that K needs to go to another home with higher level of structure and supervision. The interesting thing is that K asked if I would talk to the case worker and ask if she could go to another family for a while. Now we will do as she requests and she feels like she has control of her life. Maybe it all will work out just fine. The case worker wants her to stay in the area so she can go to the same school so I could still take her and do things with her without her taking over our lives. After being her mom for 4 years I can't just stop.

The consequence to the tantrum was to have the door removed and I took her "extra" clothes
so she wears her school uniform all day. She also lost TV, computer and phone privileges all week. D can't wait to get into that room and fix it up so it will stay nice.

Book review

2010-02-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, I read a book and it was a 600 page book at that. I've read most of the Ender books by Orson Scott Card and wanted to read some of his non sci-fi books. Saints is a book about an LDS woman/family by an LDS author but certainly not considered an "LDS novel". It has some parts that are just to risque to be published by Deseret Book. It is however a story about a generation and polygamy in a positive light and tells the story of the characters gaining a difficult testimony of the "Principle". It made me laugh and cry. Since I don't have a lot of time for reading but become obsessed I usually read when I have a day or two off so I started it Thursday and finished it Sunday night and worked two of those days. Now I need to give my family some attention.
Last week I read The Associate - John Grisham. It was typical John Grisham and enjoyable.

Freshen up the house

2010-01-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

So, back in Risa's high school days she had an interior design class and for a class project she and a friend painted our family room downstairs. they did faux painting and stenciled the ivy. It was the year 2000 and ivy was in. Now it's 2010 and ivy is out and the color never really matched the carpet so we decided we needed to move furniture down stairs but I wanted it painted first. This is what it has looked like for 10 years: This is the mess we created so we could start:

We had to prime the bottom half of the room and it took two coats of primer and heavy coats of paint

The colors are "baked cinnamon" which is a pretty tera cotta color and the other color is taupe.

This picture is blurry because the flash distorts the color.

See the legs behind the TV table? That's CJ putting all the electronics together.

The tera cotta color matches the fleks in the countertop of the kitchenette. I love it. Now I want to find some plaid with the right colors to make a quilt or two to hang on a quiltrack and would look great on the couches too. One more project done.... Many to go.

Christmas fun

2009-12-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

We decorated and cleaned and prepared and spent time together.

I worked Christmas Eve so we had an appetizer night and everyone prepared their favorite appetizer and we feasted like we (I) had spent all day cooking.

We all hung our stockings and pretended we had been good all year.The next morning it was all over in a flash.
There was plenty of bounty to go around.

We kind of like the mess afterwards.
Where's Waldo

We even had some light-hearted tickling/wrestling fun.

Now everyone goes back to their homes/apartments and we go back to work and the Christmas music stops playing on the radio but I'm not ready to be done so I will still listen to my Christmas music on my i-pod and have as much fun as we can till everyone goes back to school and we get back to our routine. I can't wait till Christmas next year!

Ready for Christmas!

2009-12-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

The tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped, the choir has sung and it's time for Christmas! Our new mailbox has a power outlet so we bought lighted garland. It looks so festive and made it through the wind. It doesn't lay as nicely but it stayed on, then the snow fell and it may be months before we get the lights out of the snow.

We've had get-togethers with my family:

and with his family:

The teens and young adults plalyed a rousing game of Perudo. It was so fun to watch them play. I think everything is taken care of. Now I just have to go to the grocery store to buy supplies for our Hors de'voures night for Christmas Eve. It's exhausting but so much fun to get together with family and friends. It's fun to imagine the excitement of our kids opening their ever-practical gifts. Maybe the fact that the gifts are practical reduces the excitement but I just can't give useless gift. It's fun never-the-less.

I'll try to get my Christmas pictures up soon.

Gone With the Wind

2009-12-16T02:37:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine a fabulous wreath like this on my front door? Maybe different colors so it wouldn't clash with the burgandy on the door but it would look so lovely framed by the etched glass of my rectangular window. Or maybe an elaborate lawn display with some lighted snowmen, twiggy trees or angels like these:

I had a cute tree similar to this with little white lights on a wire frame. Not a lot of mass, I figured it should be able to withstand the wind...but NO! I cannot decorate outside because our decorations either blow away, blow over or bang into the house by force stronger than the big bad wolf ever dreamed of producing. I even tried the little tree on the back deck "protected" from the wind. I could still see it through my french door and it looked so wonderful. Well, it blew over several times and broke the little bulbs so then we had bent wire and shards of glass. This year the three men at my house got out and hung our Christmas lights. It was beautiful for about 3 days then the winds kicked up. Either the bulbs blew into the house with such force that it dashed the glass bulbs into pieces or the wires shook with such violence that they became unplugged from the other set which was plugged into the outlet. When our house has all it's lights on it's a festive gingerbread cottage. After all the work done we have no lights on the roof lines, top or front edge. We do have lights around the front bedroom windows and around the garage so at least we are balanced.

These things we should have known and understood before building in the wind tunnel. I love it here but our options are greatly reduced when it comes to decorating. The new mailbox looks wonderful with a small garland and white lights wrapped around it and has endured the wind. I used to put out holiday welcome mats but I got tired of retrieving them from the neighbors yard or finding them under snow in the spring in my backyard. So, lest you think us a pair of Scrooges realize our decor is dictated by a house that faces right into gale-force winds.

Landscaping is another issue....

Thanksgiving memories

2009-12-08T06:52:00.001-08:00

Ahh the planning, preparing and presenting of Thanksgiving.
I love it! It stimulates me and exhausts me.

I did some cute little toll painted pilgrims and indians a long time ago when I dabbled in that stuff a little. Daren put them on bases a couple of years ago and I like them even better now.

I bought a large white tablecloth so it wouldn't clash with my China. I love it and it came with 10 cloth napkins. But alas, it made for a very boring table so I looked for some darker colored napkins or non holiday table runner. My China has dainty pink flowers with silver trim so the Burgandy napkins I found at Penny's were perfect and after my "fall" that day I needed to be done shopping.Little E keeps showing up on my camera. I didn't even get pictures of R and T because they were off doing their own things. Mostly R was playing Mario Kart with CJ. E is just the sweetest little thing and look at her new teeth.

Next Year we will have a baby of our own to love on and take hundreds of pictures of! We had all of our family which was important to me because this was B's first Thanksgiving home since his mission and if L goes this year we wont all be together for a couple more years. Joining us this year were my parents, my sister S from southern Utah and my sister J from just a little south of us along with some friends whose family had plans with thier in-laws. That's just the way it is when your children grow and have other family obligations. I'm learning about that but so far it has all worked well for us.

This was the young table with Wade and his parents. Since my kids have been such good friends with theirs I figured they would be more comfortable with the kids, besides, they do all the kid stuff.

This is how they digested their big meal. I'm glad I didn't get smashed by Big J!

It was also Younger S's birthday so we had German Chocolate cake after our pie. Yum!

Oh yeah, the fall... I was out shopping two days before Thanksgiving and stepped off a curb and totally tripped on.... uhh, nothing. I went down on my left knee scraping it and hit my hip on the edge of the curb making a bruise. Next I put my hands out to catch myself and scraped both heels of my hands and took a piece of skin off the palm of my hand at the base of my thumb. (Imagine trying to keep a band-aid on that area and have your hands in the water all the time) Well, then I had enough momentum going that I went right over my hands and did some pretty good damage to the muscles, tendons or whatever makes your hand work, of my left hand. and continued on to hit my shoulder and the left side of my face. Commical, no? Oddly enough I don't thing anyone saw it happen and I got back to my car to stop the bleeding on my hand and assess the damage. When I realized I could still move I went to the next store and continued my shopping just holding my very sore left hand closely in front of me. The next thought was "Oh no! I have a perm to do in 2 hours!" I got to the salon and took some Ibuprofen and went to lunch with D. I worked and flexed my hand as much as I could and by the time we were done eating I had regained most of the motion in my hand and went back and did a splendid perm. I had another one the next day and had to loosen up for that too. Now, two weeks later the only things that hurt are sweeping (after every haircut) and tying my shoes. Big movements and small movements.

To end the day fabulously D called me an hour before I was to come home and told me he was heading to Insta Care to get stiches in his hand! He has been building a trailer and cutting metal. He had a cutting blade on his metal grinder and it caught the metal weird, jumped and hit him on his first nuckle. If the thing is made to cut metal imagine what it could do to even a gloved hand. Yeah, it wasn't that bad and didn't hit the bone but it cut the joint pocket. (I didn't know there was such a thing) so the Doctor wanted to wait for a hand specialist but after an hour of waiting D talked the Doc into stitching it and letting him go home. So we managed the next couple of days including Thanksgiving prep with two gimpy left hands and sharing a latex glove so we could keep moisture off our wounds and germs out of our food. Aren't you glad you didn't eat at our house? Haha

Oddly enough, with our two injuries the pain we still feel is in about the same place. We just have that tight of a bond between us.
Now we prepare for Christmas!!!!

More later

Halloween

2009-11-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

It's hard to get anyone together to do any activity but K and I carved our Jack-O-Lanterns together and CJ came home late and did a quick and easy one on the big pumkin we had saved. Use your imagination for what the N might mean. It is for the school that he goes to but who knows that and who cares. Grrr. Kids.

We had our own "black" cat that liked the excitement of visitors and so stayed crouched on the front steps where people were walking up to the door. She's lucky she didn't get stepped on, it was close. The little neighbor boy was more excited about Kiesha than the candy. He stomped around excitedly and repeated "Mow, Mow" (sounds like cow). So funny

K was little dead riding hood and expected people to know that. Ahh, lost brain cells. Who knew they were so important? She and CJ both went trick or treating even though I've told them both they are now too old. It was a nice night so we did a quick run around the block and were done.

Fridays together

2009-10-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

Now that the kids are back in school and Daren and I both have Fridays off we are taking little outings together. Since he got his new motorcycle we have been on a couple of rides. Most recently to Antelope Island.

This is the bike right after he got it. Since then he has changed the seat and put on a back rest.
This is the causeway we drive accross to get to the island.
It gets kinda stinky on the Syracuse side.

Just proof that's where we went. haha

There is an old ranch on the island that they keep up for tours, sight-seers and school field trips. This is the old farm house.This is the ice house or spring house. It's built over a spring so it stays cool inside.

They even have one of Utah's famous steel buffalos on the island.

And a visitors center with lots of information and a bathroom!

And lots of buffalo!

This last friday we spent the morning at the Insta-Care for Daren's week long Sinus infection to get checked and medicated and the one before that began our adventure to the Bay area for Daren's nephews wedding. It was a 3 day trip with his parents.

Our camera wasn't working so we have no pictures of that very fun event.

We love spending our Fridays together.

Quilts, Crafts or Clutter

2009-10-09T20:47:00.001-07:00

I heard that my favorite craft/fabric store had lost their lease and is closing and everything is 40% off. I had been looking at some of the fabric that I liked but am certainly not ready to use but I bought a quilt pattern so I ran in to look at fabric. Any sewer or crafter know this is dangerous. I couldn't leave.
Most of my relatives who have had a baby have been given a little blanket with crocheted edges. I usually have a few on hand and have one in progress almost always so I checked out the flannel and found these cute little prints.
Then I looked at the fabric I had seen and a few other and proceeded to the cutting table.
Because it's a going out of business sale they will not cut fabric smaller than a yard so I ended up with full yards of all of these.

I did find some fat quarters at Ben Franklin (I sure will miss them) and Joannes that I thought were wonderful. For those of you who aren't quilters. Fat quarters are used in quilting. Instead of buying your fabric in 1/4 yard pieces they are cut in 1/2 yard and then cut the other way so you don't have one long skinny peice but a "fat quarter". (I have a friend that quilts)
The pattern that I bought a few months ago requires 9 fat quarters so 9 different prints.

Aren't these wonderful?
And these too?
Look how great these prints go together!

And how pretty this fabric is.

The problem I'm having is I like 4 or 5 of them together but not any 9 of the 14 together.

I do have some at home I can sort through but...

It looks like another trip to the fabric store.

Guessing game

2009-10-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

So... this is the game:

Can you guess what this is?

Here's a hint:

Do you all remember our very cool, trendy (in the 90's) mailbox?

Remember the tilt?

Daren couldn't stand it so he tore it down, reset the paver stones and now

is setting a foundation for his new project.

Now you know what this is, a made from scratch steel mailbox!

Very strong and contemporary.

The funny thing is that several people need our temporary mail-box.

Summer Fun!

2009-07-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to spend any available time with my family so we got together twice this week!

These are the favorite cousins M&E with CJ. M is only a month younger than CJ but has always been tiny and CJ has always been big!

At birth CJ was 24" long and 10 lb 9 oz and M was 18" 5 lb 15 oz
They have always been close although opposites in almost every way.

We went to a park that had a splash pad and let the "little" kids play.

I think 5'10" CJ enjoyed it more than any.

HEY! How did this get in here? That's not mine. That is Daren's new toy that he has saved for for years. He found it for sale in Las Vegas
and flew down Thursday, bought it and drove it home.

Now here is Rad!
He is the funniest kid on the planet.

My sister S and her Youngest daughter El

I love hanging out with my sisters but one has self esteem issues. If she's not dolled up for pictures she would rather make ugly faces so here are my sisters, J and S at the park.

These cousins are also close they are J and S daughters.

After an afternoon of boating and swimming the girls were happy to sit in the shade

and just eat and play. This is K, E and M.

We celebrated Rad's fourth birthday at the lake and we had spiderman cupcakes

This is J's husband and baby. He is the most hands on Dad.

After working long long days he still spent all day playing with kids

near the water and taking care of baby E.

(I managed to get in some baby time myself)

My guys, D and B were there but D was driving the boat all day so we all

could ski and tube and play. He was tired when we left but went all day.

He is the greatest!

B had a few good runs on the wake board and CJ is getting good too!

Lots of fun in the sun and no bad sunburns! A really good day!

Beal Family

2009-07-08T19:51:00.001-07:00

July 3 was my family reunion.The reunion was for extended family but we started with family pictures of just my parents family. This is Mom and Dad with all 7 kids.

The next one is all the grandkids. Our L was working on the river Shirleys J is a newlywed and had to work and nephew M is serving a mission in Japan. All others present including one great grand child.
Here is the big group

Here is just our family group without L of course.

This is my nephew Logan, he's so quiet but freakin' smart. He got a 34 on his ACT. Can any of you say that? Unfortunately if you waste your time reading this you probably didn't. He doesn't say much but when he talks it's worth listening to. He has a great sense of humor.

OK so this genius boy didn't find plans to build a water balloon/candy cannon on the internet he came up with his own with the help of his "genius" friend, he says.The kids had a blast running for candy that was shot 50 feet in the air.

The funniest thing was the volley ball game going on the other direction. They decided to shoot candy right into the game and the adults all scrambled in the sand for the candy. It was great!

Awwwwww My little sister has the sweetest kids. This is the youngest grandchild of my parents and there is no shortage of attention. My brother loves babies and this one was never neglected. He held her most of the weekend. Precious!

I have the coolest brothers. The younger one has an unusual hobby. He makes ropes. Yeah, really, ropes. He made his own rope making machine and brings it to family gatherings. It always draws a crowd and most of the kids leave with their own custom made rope. They even choose the colors. Here is my Mom and nephew, L on the controlling end.

Now here is little R on the crank. Sooo Cute!

To top it off one cousin brought horses and the kids and adults went on little rides. We had huge meals and everyone wore color coded shirts. Blue for my Dads family. I feel bad that I didn't get more of the extended family members. It was interesting to see these cousins after not being a regular reunion attender. I enjoy getting together with my siblings and their families so much that we spend most of our time with each other. Since we are spread over 4 states we don't get together all that often.

My creative (nerdy) brothers even came up with a code to figure out who each of us was. The first number designates which family you came from. There were 10 children all together and My Dad is number 10 so his number was 10 and Mom is 10.s (s for spouse) They had 7 children so being the third child I became 10.3. I have 5 children so they became 10.3.1 & 10.3.2 etc. It was fun to see who could figure out the code and who adopted it. It's kind of a "cerebrial" (brainy) thing to do.

Great reunion! Great family!

More Beal Family

2009-07-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of my niece L who is a lot like my daughter L who loves being outside, dirty and playing with critters. She took to this snake with no hesitation. She's da woman!
The guys were all very patient while waiting for pictures to happen at the womens request, of course. They had a good time and didn't go hungry so all was well.
R made a lovely cake for her grandparents second celebration of their 50th anniversary. She helped me with Friday night deli sandwiches and was fun to hang out with. It's fun to see her interact with her cousins now that they are adults and to get to know their spouses. She sure loves her Dad too!

My sister Ronda and her husband Dan were here from Southern California with all their kids (4) and each with a "significant other" (a child is significant too). Fun to see all of them!
The Freedom run began right at our campground and my brother has run this before so he signed up and beat his goal time. Way to go! This is him at the beginning of the race. 9.3 miles.

These are my two boys who ended up getting matching shirts without knowing it. My sister said we all looked like oatmeal. My shirt was about the same color. We looked good. These boys are 7 years apart and the younger one overtook the older one this past year. This is actually their height difference. I love these boys!

Maiden Voyage!

2009-06-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

We put the canoe in the water!

We went to Mantua and rowed around for a little while.

B and D tried it first and found out you can't stand in it.

It's not stable like a motor boat.

Of course, having been on many scout camps, they knew that

but I didn't quite grasp that until I got in and felt the wobble. It's water-tight and fast but the stability issue worries me.

I wasn't holding the camera when I was in the canoe so there are no shots of me actually

rowing but I felt the burn in my tricepts so I know I was there.

All-in-all a fun day topped off by a trip to the mall for:

Now I can clean with style!

Homecoming!

2009-06-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

He's home and he spoke on Sunday. We had lots of family to greet him.

I didn't get pictures of the grandparents. I really should have

There were kids having fun and playing all over.

Cousins from both sides of the family got together to visit.

The greatest thing is the bond these returned missionaries have with each other.

So many of them came to hear B speak. They were in the living room but when they got their plates they went outside but there wasn't seating out there so they found the stack of lumber against the garage and lined up. My sister-in-law the super photographer came running in and told me to grab the camera. She said this is the cutest thing ever:

We're glad to have him home and glad to have his friends around.

A couple of weeks ago a bunch of these guys were at our house and I commented to D that there wasn't a greater group of 21 year olds. Most kids of this age are causing trouble. These guys compare mission experiences and use thier foreign language skill with each other.

FLORIDA!!! can I stay forever?

2009-06-18T04:14:00.000-07:00

This is a bunch of pictures we took in Florida. Daren had a conference there and we stayed at a Disney resort called Shades of Green.

We drove out to Daytona Beach. It was beautiful and you drive right out onto the sand and don't get stuck!
We frolicked about in the Atlantic Ocean. (a first for both of us)

Daren had goals on this trip. One was to see a gator in the wild.

Success!
(do you see him?)

We went on a super cool zip-line in the Everglade forest.

It had 7 zip lengths and 2 plank bridges.

We were with a group of 8 people so we got to know some interesting people and had a great time. The temperature was in the mid 90's and super humid. Great!

There were so many different animals all around.

We were so lucky to be near a temple and we are such temple tourists. On the second day we went with another couple from here to the Orlando temple.

That makes 24 different temples for me and 28 for Daren!

Shades of green is a golf resort and our third story room looked out over the tee off of the first hole.

We managed to get a little footage at the zipline!

Definately a successful conference about aircraft maintenace! hehe

Missionary Home!

2009-06-07T17:11:00.001-07:00

Yes he's home!!!Elder B got home May 29 to this:
and this:

and this and more.

He felt rather lost, confused and overwhelmed the first day. The second day he got up and ran for a while. He's adjusting to the lack of structure, companions and oxygen in these mountains.
I did R's hair while everyone else went shopping for things needed after 2 years.
It was R's birthday so we went to Firehouse Pizza!

L and her bro's.

While waiting for our table everyone had to show off their new sandals brought back by L.

Check out her tan after just 3 weeks. We wont recognize her by the end of summer.

It was a fun weekend!

Since then he has been to the eye doctor, dentist and is supposed to get a TB test.

Say What?

2009-05-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last night D and I went to Kohls. It was to be a quick trip so I just grabbed my wallet insert with Drivers license and a couple of debit cards. Walking into the store I commented that not carrying a purse was so liberating. I told D I feel like a man. Then before he thought of anything I went on. It makes me want to pee on a tree.
Rarely does it happen that I think of the quips before him. He laughed all the way into the shoe department.

Moab and more

2009-05-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, not much is happening here, just the regular: work, school, cleaning and yard work. The only thing out of the ordinary is L. She has gone back to Moab to work and undergoing extensive training. Here are some pictures of her training on the "riv":How hard does this look. Yeah, grueling

A full day of cold water, thus the wet suits.

A van-load of fellow trainees and trainers:

Gotta eat - There's no place like Out-law cave:

They're in the water anyway, might as well have fun and pose for a picture.

Serious or play?

Who knows?

This is one of the pets she left, Cuomo, (sorry it's on dark carpet)

Before she left she was busy taking tests and such but noticed one day that Cuomo had gotten out of his tank. She told me the next day and put grocery bags around the corners and crevices of her room so she would hear him slither. It happened to be my day off and I was busy cleaning windows and such, spring cleaning! I moved the couch to get to the windows and there was the renegade snake. Grrrr. I didn't want to be the one to find the thing but I was the only one home. I have held the snake and don't get squeamish but not sure how to go about picking him up. I reached down and got him with two hands but didn't feel like I had control cause I didn't know where his head was. (He doesn't bite and he's only about 14 inches.) Anyway, I dropped him on the couch so Icould get a better grasp and picked him up so I knew where he was and carried him to L's room to put him away. I had both my hands tangled in snake so I had to unwind one and open the tank and while holding the tank open shook the snake loose into the tank. He didn't go completely willingly, he managed to squirt, pee, musk on me just to get me back. YUCK! Anyway I got the snake back and texted L to let her know just before a major test so she was at ease.

I've also been feeding and cleaning up after a turtle for two years. I'm excited to be done with that. There is also a lizard in L's room that she loves and her dad volunteered to care for him while she was gone and then left for a week. I asked CJ to get a cricket and give it to the lizard but he couldn't catch one so he gave it a dead one which he ate gratefully but I knew that wasn't good so it was up to me the next time. I really don't like crickets and don't want to feel them squirming or crawling on me so I brought home a latex glove. (that's thinkin') I could catch them and toss them in without feeling it. Thank goodness Sobe, the lizard, was out of his log so I didn't have to lure him up to catch the bugs. How did this happen to my life?

SPRING!!! and a Man and his boat

2009-05-02T17:46:00.001-07:00

I started doing season pictures from my front window in the fall and lucked out today because it's a perfect spring day with rain and sun.

These are my peas that I planted as close to St. Patricks day as I could.

I have a few pretty tulips in the front with red in the yellow tulips.

My neighbor always has a beautiful yard and has wonderful tulips in her flower beds.

There are actually more to the tops of this mountain than you can see. It's topped with clouds.

Now to the man with his boat. It's finished!!!

It took about 6 months and he worked on it hours a day. It's been very time intensive but he's done a great job on it and it's beautiful. He's not even afraid to put it in the water, in fact he can't wait and still wants to go on a 3 day canoe trip.

Isn't that beautiful craftsmanship?

50th Anniversary

2009-04-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

These are a few pictures from Mom and Dad's anniversary party.

It was a lot of fun and many old and new friends came and enjoyed great refreshments and socializing. Wish you all could have been there.

3 Cars

2009-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Recently Joni posted a blog about 3 beds. I thought of doing this yesterday when we were doing so much running around and decided to name this 3 cars after her blog. The Explorer is my car. It lugs around the people and stuff I need summer and winter. Yesterday I didn't work so I took the Explorer to Brigham city to go to lunch with my Mom and sisters. In the evening I dropped little K off at Layton high school and drove back to the salon to print reports and went back to the school for the program. Total miles about 120.

The Impala is D's. He drove to Hyde Park to get his parents to drive them to Provo for a family party then back to Hyde Park to drop them off. Total miles 400

This is L's focus. She had to leave early to do a reptile show. She got to the shop in Salt Lake and took the van to Sandy, back to the shop and out to Rose Park for another show then dropped off the animals and took her car to 6000 south for a wedding. Total miles 60 on the car about 30 on the van.

We are such a busy running family I think we are keeping some oil shiek in Saudi in his gold plated car. This is not a normal Saturday but it's not unheard of either.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-04-24T10:48:00.001-07:00

This was 50 years ago today, April 24

These are my parents. Hardworking, fun-loving dedicated people who

raised 7 great children who are all great productive members of society.

(not many people can say that anymore)

They have spent their lives dedicated to their family,

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and each other.

I need to write a tribute to them to be presented tonight at their

anniversary party/reception in Hyrum

I've also wanted to write about marriage which I will do later.

I plan to add the tribute and the advice essay later so stay tuned!

Spring!!!

2009-04-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday I went shopping. I shopped for me and for the salon. It was a beautiful day and my mood was light despite the marshmallow like flakes falling on me. The flakes were huge but soft. It was a beautiful winter storm but it was in April. I understand we are to expect this in Utah. Maybe that was why I wasn't bothered, maybe it's because we had had a couple of warm days or maybe it was because I was shopping for myself. hehe. Now, one week later we will be in the mid to high 70's. This is our spring. I hope everyone is paying attention because spring lasts one to five days and is gone again. This weekend the temperature will drop 20 degrees and be cold all weekend. When the weather does decide to warm up we will go directly to the 80's or 90's and be in full fledged summer. It's good that it warms in intervals though. Last week the Weber river was flowing fast and dirty. This week it's just high. If it cools the snow will stay in the mountains a little longer. The rain we get this weekend will be good for our yards and the mountains will turn green so I'm looking for the silver lining in the clouds that will be bringing the rain. I hope the warm weather helps take away the congestion I have in my lungs.

Easter and Snow

2009-04-15T10:05:00.001-07:00

Three Blind Mice

Malayna decided that since they (the kids) were older the Easter egg hunt should be more challenging so her suggestions of obstacles and Gladiator style blocks were not accepted by all we decided the blindfold idea was a good one and let them go. The eggs have money and candy so they still want the eggs but more of a challenge. It was really funny.

Now here it is today after a warm Monday and rain all day yesterday:

Oh, and an update on the canoe. Now he's putting on the gunwales.

It's not a weekend project for sure.

General Conference

2009-04-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

We've had another great conference. The cinnamon rolls ALL turned out great. The tradition is to overcook the second batch. We broke that tradition. Unfortunately I ended up working most of Saturday even though I was going to try to take it off. I don't have many Saturdays I can take off so I'm going to try to take Wednesdays off so I have time to do salon stuff and home stuff.
I wasn't feeling well yesterday so I took Ibuprofen and went to work. I am so healthy that even when I get sick it's a very minor case of whatever so I just have nagging aches but I do most of what I was doing anyway. I really did enjoy conference even though I only got to watch Sundays sessions. When I listen I think of Braden listening and wonder what he thinks of what is said. Next conference he will be home.
The kids have spring break and little K is not good without lots going on so we took her to the Christmas Box house.(childrens shelter) We get 2 1/2 days without the constant chatter and destruction. We'll get her Weds and do something fun. It is so peaceful.

Spring?

2009-03-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is my out-door decoration. I am willing it to be spring. I took this picture this morning in 18 degrees. Brrr. It was warm last weekend so we fertilized, tilled and planted peas. It's a good thing we got out while it was warm. Now it's just miserable.

On a good note:

Braden will be home in 9 weeks. This week he went to Mt. Vernon. They had a good time. I think he's learned a little history being able to go to museums and historic sites.

I've reminded him to get some pictures of the cherry blossoms while he's there. This tree, although not a cherry tree, has beautiful blossoms and it's just outside thier apartment. The other picture is from Mt. Vernon. He looks so happy but what's with the hair? He has been obedient but his hair doesn't look the best parted. He's kind of goofy in a sweet his-mother-loves-him kind of way. He just realized this week that the person that will replace him just entered the MTC this week. Does anyone know a young man going to Washington DC South mission speaking spanish? I know one coming home in May!!!!

Teaching

2009-03-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I usually teach the "Teaching for our Times" lessons but our month was messed up with conferences and such so I ended up teaching from the Joseph Smith manual. The lesson was on "Living with others in Peace and Harmony" The title sounds fine but the wording was difficult to read, understand and teach. Every time I read it I added a comment or scripture. I finally got to where I felt like it would be ok but had one of those early morning dreams just before waking that my reading glasses were blurry and my reference material (out of a women's magazine, I didn't even have anything out of a women's magazine) was half printed upside-down and the rest normal. Relief Society was also going longer and I had more time to fill. All in all a difficult situation.
I got there on time with an it-is-what-it-is attitude and surprisingly the lesson went very well. I used the questions in the manual and when the comments weren't coming immediately I reminded them that we had a lot of time to fill and I was not moving on until we discussed this. Everyone laughed and from then on we had a lot of participation. I actually ran out of time and had to make my final points quickly. I was so relieved. One more little testimony. We do our part and the Lord makes up the difference.

I had a super busy week and worked a lot of extra hours because I had a sick stylist plus extra church things in the evening. Friday, my day off, I was exhausted and got a few things done but rested a lot. It was so nice to rest. I really did mean to post something earlier but all I've done is work and the gotta do stuff. On to another week!

We are Happy

2009-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what? The things I like about living in Utah are the things lots of people like and now the whole world knows! I read this article this morning:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_re_us/states_of_happiness
I know some key points they missed but that's cause I live here. : )
And to top it off I live in the 6th best suburb in the country so says business week:
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106615/Best-Affordable-Suburbs-2009
Wow! We have so much to LOVE! Happy us!

Happy Birthday Honey!

2009-03-05T07:45:00.001-08:00

This post is about my amazing, fantastic, sweet, caring, hard-working, loving husband!

It's filled with some very random and kind of old pictures but they tell the story of us!

This is what he looked like when I first met him.

I like muscley men and look at those strong masculine hands. I loved the afro and the car was cute too!

Our first date was a girls choice High School dance. I wrote to him through most of his mission and we were married three months after he returned. He went to school at USU and I went to beauty school (I needed it) We had our first two children there and moved to California where he worked at McDonnell Douglas aircraft and we had our third child (See old post for Laynie) We moved back to Cedar City for five years as a stepping stone to get here in South Weber.

We love spending time together and have gone on some of the greatest hikes in the world! It gets us away from everything else and usually out of cell phone range.

We love kissing
This is on the West rim hike at Zion

He always has cool tricks.

He makes a great seal!

He loves to work in the yard and one year grew a 300 lb. pumkin.
It made a great Budah for Halloween

Here is our family a few years ago. See how little CJ is?
Not anymore! but he still looks like his Dad.

Aww! Now it's us taking a little walk on the beach on the Oregon coast last summer.

D has always made the most rediculous faces. This one is famous.

(I hate it but it's so much a part of him).

He always has a project or seven going on.

This winter it has been a beautiful redwood canoe.

Now he expects me to go on a three day canoe trip.

(we shall see)

Here is a man who likes working with his hands and can build or fix just about anything. He never really enjoyed school but pushed himself through for his family. He has worked hard and taught his children well and been the greatest example in the world of a great Priesthood holder and loving husband and father. I couldn't have found a better husband and I want to spend FOREVER with him!

Enjoy the Days

2009-03-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

My days off are usually full of beauty supply stores, bookkeeping, cleaning and grocery shopping. I did some of these on Friday and then Joni came with her three kids. Since Eden is so little and it's cold season she isn't supposed to be taken places to prevent getting sick so what do you do with two restless children who can't leave the house cause their little sister isn't supposed to go out? You go to Aunt Margies. There are different things to do and treats to eat. We made chocolate mice.

And ate them!
Sometimes it's nice to not do anything and enjoy the people in your life!

The laundry got done, later. The cleaning will continue but the chocolate mice will be remembered.

Do You believe what you hear?

2009-02-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

OK, I have opinions. I have a LOT of opinions and the older I am the more I want to scream them out to everyone. They aren't popular or even politically correct.
I hate the media! Our up-and-coming generations have been so influenced by the media that you all (if you fit into this category) believe that you are all going to receive a million dollars in cash if it's said on TV.
First of all a Democratic president that we had 10 years ago (and his cabinet and liberal congressmen) decided everyone should have a house even if they couldn't afford it. When our conservative president (and his people) recommended a change in that policy they were "racist". Ten years later people of all races and economic classes and family situations can't pay for their homes. Mostly because they got into a lot more house than they could afford. They lose their homes and somehow that's a conservative presidents fault. So the media tells us that a new person with no experience can come in and correct years and years of greed and giving money to people who don't work. And even better, he's black (the white part doesn't count). It's politically correct to be black. My opinion is that he is well educated, talented and an eloquent speaker. He has new ideas that might need to be checked by someone with more experience. He is a great man with drive and personality! BUT the media makes him out to be a superhero while those who plod along serving thanklessly for years are considered scum by our liberal TV personalities. Did anyone but me hear the benediction at the inauguration? All the races were mentioned as having been through trials at the hands of the evil white man. I personally was offended and that doesn't happen easily. The thing I really didn't understand was that no one in the media had one dissenting remark. HELLO? Is anyone there. Did anyone listen? That is called reverse discrimination and it's politically correct.
Back to the housing issue that began the economic "crisis". If we were not told there was a crisis for most of us life would have continued along as it was. If we had listened to wise financial advisers we would not have spent money so readily and would have saved a little to pay for the things we NEED. We have become a very greedy society and it's coming back to bite us in our fat, lazy, gluttonous tushes. It's ok though, Obama is gonna give us lots of money (again, media) and take it from the rich guys that own the businesses we work for. Where is the incentive for them to succeed if we are going to take all their money. Then where will the remaining jobs go? We all better buy a farm and learn how to grow stuff.
Now were having gay rights rammed down our throats. I know gay people that I really like. I have nothing against them and I'm fine with civil unions. I don't want it to be in the forefront. I don't want to explain homosexuality to my young children. I don't want to see any of it on my favorite TV shows. I understand I have the option of turning my TV off and believe me, there are plenty of shows that have lost my loyalty. It does happen and my heart breaks for those people and their families who deal with same sex attraction. I don't understand it but that doesn't make it right with nature or God. American Civil Liberties Union only wants to protect what is deviant and immoral but not what is a basic religious belief. Whose liberties are they protecting?
I have more opinions but right now I'm just frustrated with the media giving the opinions they want out and not the truth. Where are the honest journalists?

Winter Days

2009-02-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

From my perspective winter days aren't perfect, BUT
Today is Sunday, the wind is blowing outside. There is a foot of snow on the ground but the sun is shining in my window. The heat is on, the shower awaits. (ahh, warm water) I've checked my facebook, blogs and journaled. I've read the Relief Society lesson. CJ is asleep, D is asleep again (after checking his facebook and Drudge Report) and K is at the Christmas Box House. It's quiet and peacful. I could eat a whole pound of chocolate and no one would stop me (Only I know where it is). I love mornings to myself. Tomorrow I have to go to the gym early and trudge out into a cold snowy day to get to work where I will have to shovel the snow on the front sidewalk while my family stays in bed. But today is mine. Good morning to this perfect Sunday morning.

Slip Sliding Away

2009-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

I did the view from my front window in the fall. Here it is in the winter.

So yesterday when I left for work we had about 3 inches of snow. The snow continued most of the day and our parking lot at the salon never did get cleared completely. I had to shovel a path into the parking lot for people to get out to their cars. When the plow came the snow was so wet and packed that it pushed snow boulders around. I had to go out a few times so I just got wet over and over again. It cleared up in the evening and CJ had all 10 inches cleared even though the snow-blower broke. (Lots of heavy snow, good for a strong 14-year old) Today we woke up to another 3 inches and snow packed roads. I left in good time and headed to work. I tested the roads a couple of times and slowed fine so I headed out onto South Weber Drive. The speed limit is 45 and I kept it around 40, I think. All of a sudden I realized I'm still going the same speed but not in the same direction. I was sliding out of control. I was going completely sideways down the center of the road where snow had not been plowed or packed and I was making a huge cloud of snow. I had noticed that there were no cars coming very soon in the on-coming lane for which I was very glad because I was heading that way. By the time I stopped I was past the opposite lane and off onto the shoulder going the other direction. I had spun a full 180 degrees. I just started up again and pulled a U in the middle of the road again. I noticed everyone going a little slower. I had made quite a scene and it convinced everyone that it was much slicker than it looked. For the next couple of miles I had to push down on my leg to keep it from shaking. Six hours later driving home there is not a bit of snow or slush on the road and I was looking forward to seeing my big side-ways snow plow tracks down the center lane. What a disappointment. All that drama for Naught. I Swear it happened. Later on the radio I heard the song "Slip Sliding Away". How appropriate.
It's not that cold so the snow continues to melt and there is not much left to shovel except in front of the mailbox. We didn't get mail today cause the mailbox area was not cleared and Daren's back couldn't do more. Another job for CJ!

CJ

2009-02-07T08:16:00.001-08:00

It's time to talk about my last born. I talk about him all the time. Partly cause he is still at home and partly cause he has so many issues. He's been a challenge since the day we decided to have one more child. He didn't come easily to say the least and when he did he was 10 1/2 pounds and 24 inches long. Giant baby. He never wore newborn clothes. He was born the same day his nearby Grandparents left on a mission to Croatia. He looked like his Dad from the day he was born.

L started school the month he was born so I had a lot of time alone with him. He was fun to watch and play with. I used to dance around the room holding him while he laughed and laughed but he would rather superman dive from the coffee table onto the couch. R (the oldest) always took great care of him. She was 11 when he was born. They have always been close. CJ has always been strong willed and there is a certain way to deal with him. He doesn't always like to do what the rest of us want to do but usually goes along with lots of coaxing. When he was in soccer and very young he decided he was done and wanted me to take him home. I told him to get back out and play. I few minutes later I couldn't find him and he was headed home on foot. In school he loved and complimented his kindergarten teacher but as the years progressed we figured out he really wasn't doing the things he was supposed to do. When I really started pushing it I brought home a stack of missing assignments. B noticed a burning smell and when we investigated found the smell to be coming from a stack of papers in CJ's window well. He obviously has some Attention Deficit problems but frequently along with ADD kids get what is called Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I used to watch CJ play and was amazed at the logic skills he had which tells me he is smart he just does not do well in a classroom setting. He even fights me when I try to help.

He is extremely creative and inquisitive. He wants to invent and just like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Columbus, the kid definitely knows how to think "outside the box". It's getting him to think inside the box that's the challenge. He is very loving, complimentary and loves to hug.

When things broke, which seemed to happen a lot with him, he used to say "it's ok, Dad can fik-ix". Since B has left on his mission CJ has grown about a foot and is now taller than his older brother. That will be a shock for B in about 4 months. If we can just get through these next tough years I think we'll be ok. Don't worry, he wont be driving anytime soon. The deal is that he has to pass his classes to drive.

So to CJ- We love you no matter what and we're in your corner!

Eden Marie

2009-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

So, these are the pictures of Eden when she was two days old and I was there holding her. That is heaven holding a little one who still has so much of heaven about her. She is a sweet little thing that doesn't fuss much and seems to like being held since she is held most of the time. Eventually we wont all visit so frequently and she will have to get put down occasionally.

She is much bigger than Joni's other babies but they weren't quite full term. She is 9 lbs. 6 oz. She is about the size of mine and Ronda's babies. Mine ranged from 8 lbs 8 oz to 10 lbs 9 oz. She feels very normal to me but Teia felt very tiny. I think she looks a lot like Risa did as a baby. I even took pictures of some baby photos on the web cam but can't figure out how to get them in my regular photo file but take my word for it. Risa had the same cheeks.

Teia is the photographer here. She was having fun taking pictures. Joni and Daren got a little rest while she was at school and I took Radley shopping. Mostly I just held the baby. It's such good therapy.

Speaking of therapy K's therapist that does neuro-feedback hooked me up and took a look at my brain waves. It was really interesting. It made me feel relaxed clear into my bones and then super sensitive to sound. By focusing on different areas in the brain he can train the brain to react in a different way. With K we are working on her impulsivety and restlessness (ADHD) It was pretty cool. D was jealous. He wants to try it.

Lifes Lessons

2009-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's time to update but I have little to say. I run and run and get nowhere but I did have an interesting thing happen recently. I have some really good employees right now but all in their 20's (for the most part) This is a turbulent time of life and as life changes so do feelings and opinions. I've had one girl that has started complaining and has a crappy attitude so she decided to go to another salon. It's a brand new salon with a very young owner/manager. She had a recent beauty school graduate telling her how to do her colors and a manager that wouldn't back her up when her color product didn't work as it should and several other stories she related to me. Of course if she was telling me this she was not happy where she was and was back asking for her job back. She is the reason I worked every day during the holidays. She only works Friday and Saturday but I usually take Friday's off and was unable to for a month. So the morals of the story are: The grass is not always greener on the other side. Look at your own life and decide if the feelings you are having are from your own choices. (In this case, spiritual and emotional) and No one is going to make you happy all the time. We have to put up with others personalities and quirks in any situation.
I also got another new employee that is busy most of the time. She's a very nice girl and works the schedule I need but she sure doesn't open up much. I hope she works out. It's a constant change mostly because we get young girls whose lives are in the changing mode. I have always known I need to be around people to be fulfilled and this is where I get the most interaction. I come home tired and happy after a busy day.
I'm looking forward to this week. I'm taking some time off and even going to play "Grandma" for a day. Next week Daren will be out of town so it will be a little tough but we've done it before (when I had to work late every day) and we'll do it again.

Laynie!!!

2009-01-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Doesn't love girl shoes. oh yeah, they got muddy but we found a frog!

These sisters love each other soooo much!

Yeah, that's her doing her thing!

Snakes name is Squish

That's her being launched forward.

She's in charge of this crew!

Can ya see her dangling like a spider?

her caption is "I love my life"

Thursday is Laynie's birthday! She hates it when I call her that in public so for you all, don't. She turns 20! L is definitely my "unexpected" child. She was the most surprise pregnancy, we had just moved to California and didn't even have a house to live in yet. Being a third child she just set out on her own from the beginning. Despite an extreme illness as a baby where she spent 19 days in the hospital, 14 on a respirator she has been extremely healthy. She has always had such extreme interests in views as compared to D and I. She is our "tree hugger", I have photo proof! She is super strong physically, spiritually and in her determination and values. She has a great set of friends and is fiercely loyal to them. Her group of high school friends were all guys and are all on missions. She writes to them regularly and visits and contacts their mothers. She's always loved "critters" and when the opportunity came to present reptiles shows she was ready. She already had so much knowledge that learning the fun facts and jokes was easy. She worked as a receptionist for me at the salon for a couple of years but didn't really like it but has been a lifeguard for three years and enjoys that. That and her music prepared her for her summer job as a river guide which she LOVES. She has more whit than any four people. Never a dull moment when Laynie is around.

Projects

2009-01-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

I've had some requests to see my "shirt quilts".

I've made four now and two were in the last year. I have one that will be done in time for L's b-day next week. For the most part they are made out of old shirts of D's. They are 7" squares so finsished they come out to just over 6". I use sheets for the back and tie them with thick crochet string rather than yarn. I leave the pockets in and have filled them with love notes or money. It's amazing to me that even though I use the same kind of fabric by adding different shirts it really changes the basic look and color of the quilts. The next one has a lot of green and orange. I acutally had to buy some blue to throw more of that in.

Now here is D's project for the winter. He had lots of home improvement projects to do but he saw this idea on line and he was hooked.

Can you tell what it is? It's a Redwood Canoe. The plans call for Eastern Cedar but at the wood store they told him he could drive to Vermont and get it cheaper than they could get it so they suggested Redwood. Well, we had a whole deck of redwood that we wanted to replace with Trex. So we spent a little more and got the trex and he stacked all the redwood out behind the garage. He has cut the planks into 1x1/4" strips. He built the tooling first (forms) and that took a couple of weeks. Then he started laying up the strips. Each piece has to be routed to make the edges fit together and then glued down and clamped so usually he can only do one row a day. Now he is working on the bottom. It's pretty tricky to fit those pieces together but in the end he says it will be "tight like unto a dish"

After all the wood he will take a sheet of fiberglass and lay it over and cover it with epoxy resin so it will be sealed tight. After that is dry he will turn it over and ovelay the fiberglass coating on the inside so the wood should never come in contact with the water and the scratches should buff right out.

Now he wants me to go on a three day canoe trip on the green river. I'm trying to talk him into taking B. It looks like fun but three days?

It's projects that keep us sane and busy.

2008-12-30T05:03:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas morning. The first picture is all of us after we opened our gifts from Braden. He got us all shirts or jerseys. D's and A's are from the countries where they served their missions. C with his DS (no games included. He's anxious to earn all the money he can to buy games) K with her i-pod (we'll see how long that lasts) She also got a flat iron of her own and is practicing with it. L got her printer so she can print her assignments at home and not have to come here in the middle of the night to use the printer and R&A got a "shirt quilt". The shirt quilts will be on posts in the next few days. D and I got a wheat grinder and bread maker. D is having a blast making bread and we plan to experiment with different grains and seeds.

Our visit with our missionary was great! He sounds so happy and confident. I'm excited to have everyone home for the holidays next year. I never did get Christmas cards out so this may be the extent of it. I love my friends and family and I love Christmas time and the music that helps me reflect on Christ and his life and my love for him. I hope yours was great!

Christmas Spirit

2008-12-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

YAY! We are ready for Christmas!

Tuesday we had our salon party here. Since I've been working a lot Daren did the final cleaning. For all of you that come to my house you realize that a cleared off China hutch means there's a party! The amazing thing is that it has stayed clear all week! Our tree is OK not my favorite but I had a hard time getting to it this year. The wooden ornament is my souvenir from the Redwoods. I did a whole angel tree last year. I have LOTS of different angel ornaments. I should count them. I have baked Pumpkin cake roll, Special K Bars and today Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing. It's an easier version of cake roll without rolling it.

Today was our Christmas program in Sacrament Meeting. I LOVE it. I love to sing and our music selections were wonderful. I was sad when it was over. I realized I had no Messiah on my i-pod and I have the CD so I did that today along with some Mannheim Steamroller.

I think all the shopping is done. We have one major gift that ended up being a last minute decision. I has been shipped and should arrive on Dec. 24. How's that for cutting it close. I'm not to concerned even if it doesn't get here. I'd just as soon give the kid a lump of coal but of course when we decided to do that last gift I had to get something else for the other kid to even things up. Grrr.

I had a great plan for Primary music today and was left with less than 10 minutes so after wrapping a box 6 times with song titles on a card on every layer I brought the box home. Maybe a family home evening lesson. Hmm

I've tried not to get bogged down with the stuff. In fact for the first time I didn't get Christmas cards out. Christ was still born and lived and atoned for us with or without cards. In one of the talks given today the speaker asked instead of being ready for Christmas, are we ready for Christ. I like that. Whatever the case may be-I love Christmas and I'm ready!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Week of Christmas

2008-12-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

We had quite a fun weekend. Thursday we went to an Enrichment night dinner for all adults so Daren and I got to go alone and have a really nice dinner. I worked till 7 so we got there late but were in time for the food! Friday night we went to see Jon Schmidt! He is so entertaining. It was at Kingbury hall in Salt Lake. His 7-yr-old daughter sang Where are You Christmas. It was so sweet. He is really funny too. I tried to down-load a video and couldn't even get close to figuring out how so if you don't know who he is find him on Youtube. Little K went to respite so D and CJ had the day alone while I worked. Saturday we had an old Jerusalem Christmas party. The gym was decorated like an old market place with tents connected. Each tent had a different part of the meal and the water came from "well". The meal was pita sandwiches and fruit. It was good. Lots of work for that poor committee. That's why the ones I did were usually pretty easy. Sunday night we went to visit D's parents in Logan. We took them their Christmas goodies so they will have something to unwrap. Tuesday is my work party HERE. I actually suggested that. Now it seems dumb. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning and preparing. I have a lot to do. I love this part of Christmas I just don't want to work through it and I don't even have a day off this week. Eeeek! Wish me luck!

Wednesdays word

2008-12-10T07:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't done this for a while but I ran accross the word "Adroit". Not unknown but not common so here it is:
adroit - quick or skillful or adept in action or thought; "an exceptionally adroit pianist"; "an adroit technician"; "his adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers"; "an adroit negotiator"
Some of it's synonyms are: masterful, nimble, adept, proficient and clever.
A cool word but doesn't ever pop into my head.

Our Missionary

2008-12-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

This is all for now. More later!

Response to Joni's Awesome tributes!

2008-12-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a little response to all the wonderful tributes Joni did on her blog. Thanks Joni, we love you!

Weston says:
Joni-
what I admire: Joni has a wonderful way with words. I love to read her blog and her short stories. She's also very talented musically and I love to hear her sing. I love her enthusiasm and fun attitude.

favorite memories: when Joni was a baby I loved to hold her and let her sleep in my arms. As a toddler, she was a great subject for my photography because she was so darn cute! On Margie's wedding day I went to Cedar City after being away for a few weeks. Joni came running to great me and she had big curls in her hair and a beautiful new dress. She looked so mature for a 4-year old that I almost didn't recognize her. She was also very beautiful on my wedding day and was very excited about helping wherever she could.
Joni, I am amazed at your insight into the personalities of your loved ones and your writing skills. The tributes are well done and appropriate. Thanks for using your talents in an uplifting way. - Shirley-
Joni is always straight forward in her expressions which,I think, is part of the reason she's so good at putting these profiles into words. She is a loving family member and friend and will not let differences of opinion stand in the way of maintaining a good relationship with ANYONE. She is a very loving mother and always responds to her children in a loving way. She uses good judgment in the discipline of her children and they always know that she loves them. She also shows her love for Daren freely and there's no way that he couldn't know that he means the world to her. And since Daren was not on her list of profiles, I think it's fitting to put in a tribute to him as well. Joni has always said that he's the perfect man for her and I agree. There's no one else that I can even imagine who would be as selfless and helpful as he is in Joni's times of need. He's a very patient and loving father as well - not to mention a very able and devoted member of the work force - whatever the job might be. He is devoted to his religious convictions and never says no to an assignment or responsibility. I, frankly, am amazed at his ability to keep it all going and be a pleasant person to associate with besides. He and Joni are a great team and I am thankful for, and proud of them both. Love Mom
Margie says:
Wow, we all know how thoughtful Joni is by concentrating on others to keep herself occupied at what she knew would be a trying time. She serves willingly and loves unconditionally. I loved carrying her around when she was little. I was amazed by her talents in singing and dancing and loved attending her shows once we moved back to Utah and have loved spending time with her as sisters now that we are adults. She has a very creative knack and does fabulous scrapbook pages. Her imitations of kids and situations always makes me laugh. She’s just fun to be with. Thanks Joni!

Sandra Says:
Joni is awesome. Her sense of humor is so compatible with mine (and everyone else, I assume). She cracks me up whenever we're together and we can just laugh and laugh. She's also very good to talk to when you need a listening ear. She truly listens with her heart and you can feel that she cares. She has a very good sense of people's essence and can pinpoint exact feelings in herself and others. That is something I've always been amazed by because often I don't know how to identify my own feelings. Besides all that, she is a talented singer, writer, crafter, and a good mom. I'm happy to call her my sister.
Ronda says:

I can't believe this talented woman is my full sister who I helped name. I remember shedding tears of joy whenever I have had the rare opportunity to see her perform. I am surprised that she would be surprised that I would travel to see her performances. I have been so excited every day to seewhat she wrote on her blog. I am so amazed at how she can be so spot-on with her evaluations of her family members. I didn't realize she really knew me as well as she does which is especially impressive because we have never been able to spend much time together. And she has such a cute family. What a successful woman!

Hey y'all, it's not too late. I'll add yours in when I get it.

Benefit Walk

2008-11-30T15:08:00.001-08:00

We have a new Thanksgiving tradition. We've done it for four or five years now. My friend, Donna and I go up to the Ogden Regional Hospital where the Nuns that have been there since it was St. Benedicts sponsor a food drive run. Donna and I usually walk in the mornings anyway so we get our dinners under-way and go up to do our little walk. It's only a couple of miles but the runners do about 9. We talk about doing that some year but we would end up walking most of that too and who has the time especially if you are having the whole dinner at your house? It's nice to start the day when you plan to eat more than any other day with a brisk walk and good company. Add to that the fact that your donation is going to a good cause. It was around 40 degrees this year so it was very comfortable. There were a lot of people out to enjoy it. It's a great tradition!

My Oldest Daughter

2008-11-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to do these blogs for a long time but want to do them right so it may take revisions to get some old pictures on. I want to journal/blog about my kids.

Risa was born shortly before my 21st birthday so I was a young mother. I wasn't nervous about being a Mom. I had watched my Mom do it for 20 years. I loved being a Mom. Risa was such a sweet baby and it was so fun to watch her. She was so smart and did the cutest things. When I was pregnant with Braden and she was 3 1/2 she would pretend to take her vitamins and run to the bathroom and spit and cough in the toilet. I asked her what she was doing and she answered she was playing "pregment". When Braden was born she wanted to take over. She helped so much and loved him so much. She always did well in school and was very strong willed. She was 5 when Laynie was born and really started asserting her will. I asked her teachers if they were having problem and they reported that she was obedient and charming. She was pushing my buttons.

Risa always liked cooking and crafts. At 11 years she was learning to fix dinner. She liked learning to make new things. When she started playing the clarinet she did so well and it began our fun life of band concerts, practices and band friends. We moved twice while she was in Junior High. She did so well making new friends and got a great group of friends when we moved into our house here. Her high school years were full of friends, concerts, plays and emotions.

I cried at her graduation because I wasn't ready for this time of our lives to end. She had a good time in college and I was so proud of her for her strong desire to get a degree. When it got stressful and I suggested she drop a class and push her graduation out one semester she informed me in tears "That is not an option". I cried at her college graduation because I was so proud of her for sticking with it. I have been proud of her desire to do what is right and that even when no one was there to tell her what to do she did it on her own.

Risa, I love you!

Quilts

2008-11-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

For those three of you that check my blog I had quite a while with nothing for various reasons but here is an update to the quilt squares. I have the borders on although it has taken several trips to the fabric store for more fabric but here they are:

I really like they way they turned out. Now I have to find the matching green that I want on the back of the froggies but the pink is ready to go. I have cute matching stripes for the back of that one. When they are done (after Christmas) I will get some close up shots so you can see how well the rail squares match the little print colors in the focus fabric. I even bought a walking foot for machine quilting.

What I really want to learn now is applique. I just love that.

Mothers

2008-11-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

If there is anything everyone can be grateful for it's Mothers. I'm grateful for my Mom and my husbands Mom. I'm grateful to be a mom and for all the moms that I comiserate with every day and the ones that helped me grow up.

My Mom turned 70 this year and does so much. She works at the temple, takes care of and interest in her family, cooks, cleans and helps her neighbors and works hard all summer in her garden and then preserves it all. She has always been willing to serve in church callings and serve the people in her ward. She and my Dad got home from a great mission in Palmyra, New York this year where they met many new friends that they are so close to now. They learned a lot while there even though we missed them being nearby.

I am the third child of seven and learned to work and be frugal and to love music and singing. My Mom has a beautiful voice and I loved hearing her sing while she cleaned and cooked. She taught us how to sew and quilt. I guess I never was much of a late night person cause I would go to bed frustrated with a project and wake up and Mom had stayed up late correcting my mistakes. We have had hours of fun with word games and visiting. I'm so glad to live close to my Mom. Thanks Mom!

This is my Mother-in-law. She just turned 80. She is full of life and vigor. She reared 10 children and Daren was the 6th. She made a teachers salary stretch and taught her children to work and be grateful for what they have. She and her husband have served 5 missions since retirement and both went when they were young. She keeps everything immaculately clean and very organized. She has served in about every calling possible. I had one friend in Cedar City and she said she just wanted to be a primary teacher like Sister Felix. She was the example of what a teacher should be. For her 80th birthday my sister-in-law contacted a friend in Cedar and asked her to have friends of Alenes get letters together to give her on her birthday. She got an influx of cards in the mail and a gift bag of letters from old friends expressing love, appreciation and years of friendship. She taught my husband to be the hard working, caring, giving man that he is and he is a great cleaner! BONUS!

To Moms everywhere, I'm grateful for what you do for us, eachother and the rising generation. We will depend on them. :)

Showing Kindness

2008-11-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have great visiting teachers. They are so diligent and almost never miss a month. If I'm having a very busy week and they want to come I tell them it might cause more stress to try to be somewhere at a certain time and we just visit on the phone or at church. We talk a while and I feel cared for. They usually stop off a thoughtful gift or greeting anyway. This week has been busy and stressful with Risa in the hospital and still trying to do the other things I do. I got home from the gym this morning and there was a bag on my front porch. This was inside.

The bread was cinnamon apple bread and the note said "Let us know if you "knead" anything". So cute and so thoughtful. Both of these ladies have inactive husbands and they do more and serve willingly in any capacity. I love them so much!

Ungrateful

2008-11-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling very ungrateful for not blogging about all I am grateful for. I have so much. Since I have already talked about my husband I'm going to go down the list with my children. Last week we celebrated my Mother-in-laws 80th birthday so I want to talk about mothers too. (Hey, I'm a mother! I can talk about ME! haha) I think I've been more tired than busy but I've added in a few unexpected happenings so my time is short. Yesterday I got home and hardly left my bed at all after dinner. I just watched TV and played on the computer and went to bed early. So when I have time to sit. I'm going to do this right with pictures and that takes time. I am very grateful for everything today.

Teaching an Old Dog new tricks

2008-11-07T11:59:00.001-08:00

So maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. Our ward is doing several different groups and one of them is a quilting class. Yeah, I've quilted but this is different. It's patchwork art. It's meticulous and that is something I'm not good at. The plan was for a throw. That's a lot of work and a lot of money for a throw. I didn't want to spend that much money for something I didn't need to clutter my house soooo I opted to do a baby quilt. Since I have no baby (grand) in the foreseeable future I decided I needed to do two types so I had Risa come help me pick out the fabric since it seems she will most likely be first to utilize these creations. The pattern we are working on is the rail fence. It's pretty easy it's just hard not skimping on the steps but these are what I've got so far:

I really liked the pink and brown and the fabric was all meant to be matching so that was the easiest and it's coming together so cute.

BUT, this square goes with cute little froggies with a black background. It was harder to find the fabrics that went with the focus print but I'm loving working with these bright colors. They are so happy!

There are five rail squares and there will be 4 focus print squares. The rails are done now to cut out the focus print squares. Maybe I should get my housework done first. Hmmmm

So the moral of the story is- I'm learning to be patient and take the time necessary to make this turn out right and I seem to have plenty of time. haha

My Man

2008-11-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

Since I want to write about things I'm thankful for here is the top of my list!This is my man!

We started dating in High School and he was just so funny and so nice. I compared every other guy I dated to him. He spoils me terribly. For years I never had to put gas in my car cause he did it. (Now he rarely drives my car but still puts gas in it occaisionally) Quite often I come home from work and he's cleaned the kitchen or done the laundry. One Saturday I got home and he had mowed the lawn but there were peaches falling off the tree so he picked up the fallen peaches and bottled them quickly. By the time I got home they were sitting on the counter in bottles. He has an amazing nack for fixing anything. One of Cory's first sentences was "Dad will Fick ix" He can build anything and loves to take on new projects.

This year he took our little laundry room and tiny bathroom and reconstructed the whole thing.

And made this:

He had to move the electrical wiring, water lines, drains, gas lines and dryer vent and even built the cupboards above the washer and built the counter with cupboards and drawers.

He didn't like the gates the guys with the vinyl had so he decided to build/weld one:

He has such tenacity, he will stay at a project till it's done if it kills him. I thought of going around the house and taking pictures of all the things he has built but it would take to long and I would have to clean all my stuff off of it but he has made our headboard, nightstands, entertainment center, shoe "condo", purse "condo", quilt stand, bathroom vanity, kitchenette, and a whole craft room full of cupboards and counters. and lots more. He has made a student desk for Risa in college and recently a really nice TV stand:

Thanks for 27 great years Honey, I love you!

Change

2008-11-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

We were reading scriptures together last night and Daren started. He was reading the header for the first chapter of Mormon in the Book of Mormon. At the end he read: The Three Nephites were taken away - Wickedness, unbelief, sorceries, and witchcraft prevail and Obama was elected President.

Guess what? I like change. I have heard a lot of fear and frustration in this election. I believe the scripture that says "when ye are prepared, ye shall not fear". We have not elected a sadistic dictator and we have people around him that will do the right thing some of the time if for no other reason than to further their own career. I feel amazingly content. I do see this as one more step to the end but we who believe the prophecy that says the constitution of this country will hang by a thread can see the steps we are taking to get there. BRING IT ON.

My feelings today are of gratitude. It's November. I don't especially love fall and I dislike being cold but I refuse to be gloomy when I have so much. I got in a warm shower this morning and all I had to do was turn a knob. (and pay my bill) I got in a comfortable car that took me safely to the gym and pulled back into a garage out of the rain and snow. I slept well in my comfortable bed. I have a pantry full of food and enough dried, frozen and canned food to last us for months. Our bills are payed and we are healthy. We have everything! How dare we complain?

I see young couples that built their second large home and now can't sell their first one and complain that it's the banks fault. For what, their greed? I hear complaints all day, not by the people I see with really crappy lives but by the people who have it all. We live in a free country. If the majority elects someone you don't think is suitable we get to make a choice again in four years or two years for our local people. Can we all be a positive influence rather than negative.

The theme for the day is "Don't worry be happy" I may even take my i-pod to work and play that all day. haha It's a great day, help those around you and smile!!!!

Voting Values

2008-11-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

Do I have opinions? Oh Yeah! If you don't want to hear them move on, change sites or turn off your freakin' computer!

My first opinion is that as far as presidential nominees we don't have any great choices. BUT, When it comes to voting we must vote the lesser of the two evils, you might say. You vote according to your own values. I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ. We have a living Prophet to guide us. I have followed the prophets "religiously" although not perfectly. I believe the family is the basic social unit and needs to be preserved as far as we have the power. I believe that abortion is wrong and the founding fathers of our nation expected us to work for what we earn and use our faith and prayers to get the guidance or inspiration to guide us in our decisions. I'm amazed by the young, up and coming professionals that are flaunting signs for someone who wants to instigate socialism. We are a few short steps from communism people! I am certainly not an expert on history or government but it seems that many are thinking socialism is a good idea. Now that I'm middle aged I see that as a major down-fall to my future. For those of us that plan ahead now there are some that want to take the decision making away from us. From what I've seen the government has never been the best at making decisions for us. Which leads me to a great e-mail I got the other day written by Orson Scott Card calling journalists onto the carpet for lying about the whole Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac debacle which allowed people that couldn't afford homes to take risks they couldn't afford to take and putting them in worse financial situations than they were in. Now Bush gets the blame cause he's the one that was around to clean it up. It was started under the Clinton administration and has cycled through feeding on our greed for more till it has almost undone us. We are definitely seeing the "Pride Cycle" in these days.
I have a client that goes to the state Legislature and he says that most of the Representatives are in it for their own causes. I'm also disappointed in our Governor so blast 'em all and start over! However I looked at the Judges up for re-seating and one is a Judge whose courtroom I have sat in on and she is a great Juvenile judge so she stays.
The prophecy about the constitution hanging by a thread looms over us and is closer than ever. I'm just amazed how Satan has gotten hold of the "very elect" in the choices made across the country. God bless us all. One question. How will they redistribute my food storage?

Word

2008-10-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

SLUMP! That's the word. Isn't it great. It sounds like what it means so I guess it's an onomatopoeia. We all get in slumps so we all relate with this word. It can be emotional, physical, creative, etc. I think I'm experiencing all of these. Have an unslumpful Day!

Ranting and Raving

2008-10-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today was our primary program. It's a big deal for me cause I'm one of 2 choristers. This is our big day. It went well and the kids were darling. BUT! I can't get over the irreverence in church. I certainly do not wish for the loud kids to stay at home but whose responsibility is it to keep/teach kids quiet in church. The popular vote is NO ONE! Let these cute little spirits fly free. From umpteen hundred drinks and bathroom breaks during sacrament meeting to ballerina twirls in the isle or competitive eating during the sacrament.(47 packs of fruit snacks inbetween the passing of the bread and water holds the record) ARE THERE ANY PARENTS PAYING ATTENTION? I am an old fuddy-duddy. I believe that reverence is possible and should be expected. When I had young children I sat by a friend (single mother) with older children who required complete reverence until the sacrament was over. I learned a lot from her. Have a drink and a snack before if necessary and wait as long as possible to break out the necessary snacks. A "Felix the Cat" bag of tricks is not required to keep young ones quiet. After the sacrament and only then do I bring out the paper or mini coloring books. It's OK to say NO! It's also OK if it makes your little darling cry, mine certainly have. My kids are far from perfect and they have issues. We have even taught a girl with ADHD and attachment disorder to behave reverently. Our boys were also a real challenge. Lots of paper airplanes have been built. Some during church but usually as a reward for good behavior once we got home. We are in serious need of discipline but is isn't the popular thing anymore. OK, my soap box is beginning to crumble beneath me so I must go. I'm tempted to start a ward of non-families. Our single kids can't stand to come back after attending single wards and I understand it. So to my kids. Did I damage you in any way requiring good behavior? I love my kids and their good behavior. I can still snap my fingers and their heads snap in my direction. Oh what a cruel dictator!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-25T18:21:00.001-07:00

Well with Halloween coming I decided since Daren and I don't get into Halloween much we would show our spirit by dressing up our picture. Here's me:
And here is my husband dressed up photo and all. haha

Yes, I just learned how to use my camera on my computer that I've had since April. Priorities!

Now check my facebook picture. It's even more festive!

Wednesdays Word

2008-10-22T07:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I got together with my sister and daughter this weekend and we came up with something. I have to preface this with an old story. Back in the 80's (ahh, the 80's) there was a funny little book called "Sniglets" which are words that should be words that are not in the dictionary. Words like Barbicide meaning when the meat throws itself into the flames on a barbeque or excessive bunnerage - meaning having more buns than burgers or hot dogs. Another is aquadextrous-meaning, one who can turn the water on or off in the bathtub with either foot.
Now that that is over I have two words. The one we came up with this weekend which is COMPICTURE-meaning, a picture you have on your computer. The one Daren and I came up with years ago is SPLINK-which is the little scribble you do with your pen to see if it writes. You know you've seen these all over the paper in your junk drawer in the kitchen or your note pad with your to-do list or shopping list. Are there any you have come up with. I love these. Please leave a comment with your sniglets.

Albino Carrot

2008-10-19T20:33:00.001-07:00

The last thing remaining in my garden was carrots so Friday I dug all the carrots out. I grated a bunch of them but found something odd.

This is a carrot I dug out of my garden.

It was the only one but it is a strange albino carrot. I peeled it and grated it and put it in my carrot cake.

Now our garden is tilled and ready for winter.

My Parents

2008-10-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

These are my parents and have been for some 46 plus years. They have reared 7 children who have been successful at a number of things. Most importantly being responsible citizens that contribute to society. They have 24 grandchildren soon to be 25 and final count.

They were both born in the 30's and both lost their mothers at a young age and were raised by family members. They grew up with very little and taught us to be frugal. We grew up with home-made bread and garden produce. Due to the fact that Dad spent many years on a dairy we even had fresh milk from the big tank on the farm and beef from the cows on the farm.

We took camping trips and some fun vacation. We've lived most of our lives in the west but in various states so we've gotten to see a lot of the areas around us. We love to get together as a family and grew up playing board games and singing. We were raised at members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and all have remained faithful to that along with our spouses.

Today is my Dad's birthday so this is a day to honor my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad

Wednesdays Word

2008-10-14T05:22:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm sure I wont be diligent about this but I want to do a word for Wednesdays. Todays word is CANTANKEROUS. Isn't it great!? It has such great meaning and so many letters. It means ill-tempered and quarrelsome or disagreeable. We have found that one certain member of our family tends to make the rest of us more "cantankerous". We want to fight back but there just isn't any intelligence to argue with. It's a case of wrestling with a pig. You both get dirty but the pig enjoys it. The guys I live with are less able to ignore the situation which makes it worse. Never-the-less. It's a great word!

Remedy

2008-10-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

I learned something new and it was very timely. For the last year or so I quite often wake up with pain in my hips. Daren spent Friday with his parents and his mother told him that her physical therapist told her that because women have wider hips (there's a news flash for ya) when we sleep on our sides especially it puts more stress on our hips so he suggested sleeping with a pillow between our knees. I decided to try that so I grabbed the throw pillow off my bed. It's a little big and bulky and kind of got in the way but lo and behold I woke up painless for three mornings in a row. I decided the pillow had to change though. I found an old pillow form that had gone through the washer and was lumpy and unfit to be called a pillow. It should have been thrown away years ago. It was a little too big still so I cut it open, removed one third of the matted, twisted stuffing and folded the spare fabric over to tighten what was still in there and stitched it back up. Now it's just right for putting under my knees to relieve back stress or between my legs when I'm on my side. It takes a little getting used to but for a night of no tossing and turning and waking up pain free it is great! Now I just have to make a nice cover for it so it can go on top of my bed during the day. Live and Learn!

Fabulous Friday

2008-10-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

So Friday is MY day. It's 9:00 AM and I'm not even showered yet cause I DON'T HAVE TO! I do have a lot to do but most of it I can do in whatever condition I'm in. Daren works every-other Friday. Today would be his day to work but an aunt he doesn't even remember died and he had to take his parents to the funeral. (His Mom is from a very large family and it's an uncles wife that he hasn't seen in years) Later we have to do the neuro-feedback therapy that doesn't seem to be making any difference in our lives.
Anyway I have so much to do but sit here on the computer in my filth nevertheless. I really didn't excercise very vigorously so maybe I'll do more cause I can. But to the week. The only important thing I did this week was got to Parent Teacher conference for my 9th grader. He never has gotten school or why some kids stress about getting stupid assignments done. He would rather burn them in large stacks in his window well. (Now that's fire safety for a 10-year-old) Now it's high school and he still doesn't get it. He still is seeing what he can get away with not doing. Of course I stress but he has no idea how this will affect his future. He is failing his remedial math class!!! He just wont take notes and that's about a third of his grade. To redo this term he will have to stay till 6:00 pm and we will have to pick him up. 10 miles away. That's 30 minutes out of our lives every day, plus gas. Uugghh! The frustration of it all. I have discussed many times how all our children are opposites and it doesn't seem to matter how many you have, they are still opposite. My older three were all on the Honor Roll. If there were a Dishonor Roll Cory would be at the top of the list. He is however doing very well in gym, guitar and ceramics. When I sat down and told the teachers I was Cory's Mom they all said: "Im glad you came" At least they know I'm doing my part.

Cinnamon Roll Sunday

2008-10-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, we accomplished another Cinnamon Roll Sunday.

This is a tradition that my family looks forward to every six months. I even manage to get my adult children home for the occaision.

Every General Conference Sunday for the last 10 or more years I have made cinnamon rolls. One year Daren and I had an opportunity to go to conference at the conference center and Risa was home from college and she made them for the younger three. What a darling domestic goddess she learned to be.

This year we tried to do our lunch cooking at the same time and there was just too much going on so they got slightly overcooked but deffinately not ruined. Most of us just like them slightly on the gooey side. Braden loves this tradition. I can't wait till he is home enjoying cinnamon rolls with us again. Just eight months away!

Time Together

2008-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Every other Friday Daren is off work and we usually do something together. That is our temple time and shopping time. This week we have been feverishly canning to keep up with our garden and trees but I'm missing fall so we took a quick little drive around Trappers Loop and down Ogden Canyon. The colors aren't very brilliant because of our hot dry summer. (what other kind is there? We live in Utah) Never-the-less we had a great time driving around and had lunch at The Oaks in the canyon. Our table was outside and in the back right next to the river.

This was taken sitting in our seats at the restaurant.

What a view!

The rest of the day was busy with "have tos".

This weekend I watched PS I Love You and just cried and cried. I had two hours alone. It was great but it made me think of what I would do without Daren. He does everything!

Saturday we got up early and made salsa. Daren did most of that too. It turned out great.

Enough Peaches!!!

2008-10-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

OK, anyone reading this is tired of hearing about peaches and I'm certainly tired of peeling. For the record we got 84 Quarts bottled 24 Quarts frozen, the dehydrator full twice and 32 pints of jam. Anyone want to come over for peach dessert? I even pureed some and put it in the freezer. While we were peeling last night we made peach shakes and smoothies on Saturday. I have a dozen or so left and I'm debating throwing them out but they do so well in the dehydrator I could finish them off tonight.

Now about dehydrators:
A couple of years ago we got a cheap dehydrator that heated more in some spots which left us with very spotty and usually burned chunks of browned fruits and vegetables. Last year we had a plethora of tomatoes and peppers so we borrowed a friends dehydrator and filled them both. The tomatoes done in her machine were so much better we decided ours was just too cheap so this year we got a new one. It cost 4 times as much as the old one and has a knob to adjust heat. We have done carrots, chillies and peaches. All have turned out wonderfully! It is definately worth the investment to get good equipment. Daren and I seem to be very middle of the road. There are nicer tools than what we have but much more is a waste. We have found that it usually doesn't pay to get the cheapest.

So tomorrow begins the Salsa....

Girls Day!

2008-09-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

Friday I went to my sister, Joni's house and we just hung out and bought maternity clothes for her then her husband came home early and we met Risa at Jordan Landing and did some shopping. These pictures of us are at dinner at Chili's. It's so fun to hang out with the girls. I don't remember who said it but it's been said that every man needs a woman and every woman needs a man and a woman she can talk to. I have been blessed with four sisters and two or three daughters. Hmmmm, oh well. We are planning a scrapbook day in October. It's fun just to get together.

Saturday Risa came and we bottled 48 quarts of peaches and about 15 frozen quarts plus the dehydrator full. There are still a few remaining on the tree. We will probably do another batch of jam and we haven't even gotten to salsa yet. My body needs the peaches to be put away. I'm gaining weight like crazy.

Peach Jam

2008-09-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

These beauties didn't even wait to get picked. They jumped off the tree. Probably afraid of our morning canyon winds. Some were a little bruised so we made peach jam. It is yummy and all those behind the bottles of jam are yet to be preserved plus half a tree more. They are not as sweet as they have been in the past. The winter was harsh. The spring cold and wet and the summer hot and dry. There are plenty of people that want them anyway so we shouldn't have to bottle all of them.

My Husband is Falling Apart

2008-09-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Our second daughter has decided to try life on her own as an apartment dwelling college student. She met a couple of girls online that were not prissy types (she couldn't take that) and they have been looking for a couple of months for just the right place considering location, price, safety and the privilege of keeping animals with them. They found a nice place and she cleaned tanks and fed her menagerie. (tarantula, snake and lizard. The cat stays with me and all her birds have now died) She is not taking much and we only had to move her bed, a microwave cart to put her animals on and an old second hand round bamboo chair.(they have a name but I forget) We got her moved and left her to settle. Easy job.
The next morning, EARLY, D woke up in extreme pain. His shoulder hurt and he couldn't get comfortable. It hurt in any position. 4 ibuprofen didn't help so he tried 2 Lortab. It took the edge off some but we made it up to Instacare as soon as they opened. It turns out he has an aggravated bursae. It doesn't take much just some awkward movements. According to Wikipedia: shoulder bursitis is more commonly caused by overuse of the shoulder joint and related muscles. After the spring event of back spasms that had him gasping with every breath I'm concerned that my hard working, in shape, raquetball playing husband is advancing in years. He's not even 50 yet. He still gets over these things quickly though and after resting one day was back to doing maintenance at the salon and we together bottled 16 pints of peach jam. Ahh, that brings me to my next post.

My Favorite Place

2008-09-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

This is the actual view from my favorite chair looking out my front window. I love to watch the seasons change on the mountain. I especially love watching winter turn into spring and then into summer. There is a retention pond accross the street so we don't have a house close to hinder our view. Today the clouds are sitting right on top of the mountain and there are some beautiful red leaves adding new color to my mountain.
I don't get as much time as I like to sit here and it's probably a good thing. I've sat with the computer on my lap almost all morning and I can feel the permanent change in the shape of my behind. I have more work to do and then I'll do my running around. I'm just happy I get to see this every day.

This is the view without the blinds. This is the benefit of living in the mountains. Come winter I'll be cussing all about the problems that come with it. I'm just glad I have a 4 wheel drive. :)

Harvest Time

2008-09-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

I spent the day picking, peeling, slicing, chopping, cooking, bottling and steaming apples. Guess what I have? 26 pints of applesauce. First of all Daren and I went to the store and got a peeler/slicer so that part went tons faster. I did it all by hand last year and it wore me out.
We also got some carrots dehydrated and peppers chopped and frozen. It's amazing how full the deydrator racks are and when you come back to them you have a few little carrot chips. I'm wondering since the dehyrator was on my deck and so were the cats if they took a liking to carrots and found a way to get in and eat half of them. It's just amazing. Where did they go? Who knew there was that much water in carrots?
Pictures coming when I figure out how. haha