Bits and Pieces

A great read.

2011-04-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

I finished this book in about 3 days. Loved it. I keep thinking about it. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-03-21T16:28:00.001-07:00

Taking a cue from my sister, Ann-Marie, and posting our menu for the week.

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie, Spiced Apples

Tuesday: Spaghetti Carbonara, Green Salad, Clementines

Wednesday: Broiled Tilapia, Steamed Broccoli, Rice

Thursday: Chicken Tacos, Santa Fe Lime Rice, Refried Beans

Friday: Eat Out

Not sure for our weekend meals yet.

A new niece

2011-03-15T16:43:00.001-07:00

My youngest sister, Natalie had her baby today. Lexi Isabelle. 8 lbs, 5 oz, 21 inches. I'll post more about that when I get a picture of her! Whenever someone has a baby I think maybe I should have had more. I miss little ones. But then I remember that when my kids were little I was running a daycare and had my three and 6-7 more (baby through school age). There was no way I would have been able to add more kids to our family at that time. And now that my youngest is 12 1/2, ummm...it's too late. In my opinion. I don't want to start over. Five and a half years until my baby graduates from high school. Yes folks. I'm a little conflicted ;)

I need to take a trip with him

2011-03-15T16:35:00.001-07:00

I'm ready for another trip. This is us at Walden Pond in Massachusettes in November. It's time to pack up and go for a bit. Too bad there are other things that need attending, like jobs. Well, not too bad that we have jobs. I'm grateful for that. It's just too bad that jobs get in the way of taking last minute trips.

Time for a new post

2011-02-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

My sister, Ann-Marie posted her menu for the week on Monday. I'm not that advanced. But I can tell you what we are having tonight: pork chops w/mushroom gravy, steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, baby corn, onions, green beans), wheat bread and clementines.

After work I came home and cleaned my bathroom and bedroom. Including dusting blinds. I love a clean room!

We have Young Women's tonight. I work with the Mia Maids (14-15 year old girls). We are finishing up a couple of Personal Progress things and then doing some crafts. I'm not in charge tonight so I don't have details. Last week we were combined with all of the YW. I was in charge. We had a Personal Progress "Ketchup" Night. We served tater tots, corndogs and ketchup (and lemonade). We had scriptures, conference copies of the Ensign, the Proclamation, For the Strength of Youth booklets and anything else we thought we might need for the girls to finish an experience. We had about 9 girls show up and all of them finished at least one. Some girls did 2-4 experiences. Some of them got things signed off that they had done, but not had someone initial. I thought it was a great success.

Before & After

2010-12-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about this cute little Nativity I found at a thrift store for $1.50! I love the simple lines and that it only includes Joseph, Mary and Jesus. I knew exactly how I wanted to alter it. When I brought it home, I wiped it off, spray painted it white and sprinkled some gold glitter (from Sara's craft supplies...thank you Sara!) on the star. Easy. And I'm very pleased with the results. Are you working on any Christmas crafts?

More Concord

2010-11-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

That's Concord (pronounced Concrd by locals). Love the churches around here! We went to the Concord Museum. They've got some great stuff. Thoreau's writing desk, chair and bed. Items from Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I can't get over how much history we saw and the fact the all four of the above named lived in Concord, which is also the place the American Revolution started is AMAZING! Can you tell I enjoyed the trip. More to come.

Concord, Massachusetts

2010-11-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

A beautiful old cemetery on a hill overlooking the town of Concord. We enjoyed reading the gravestones and just thinking about what it must've been like two- and three-hundred years ago. Some of the burials took place in the 1600s.

This is the Wright Tavern (built in 1747). It was the headquarters of the Minutemen early on the morning of April 19, 1775 (the day that the American Revolutionary War started). Later that day it became the headquarters of the British.

I love this town! The shops are quaint and a lot of buildings have been kept the way they were hundreds of years ago. The houses are cute and sit right next to the road. Very different than the west coast.

Walden Pond

2010-11-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Boston on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning we drove to Walden Pond. David has been reading Henry David Thoreau for years and years and really wanted to see Walden Pond, where Thoreau lived for about two years. The weather was beautiful - cold, but sunny and gorgeous. We met David's sister, Debbie and the three of us walked around the pond (it was bigger than I expected) and stopped at the site of Thoreau's cabin. I think it was the highlight of our trip for David. And I liked it, too!

Massachusetts

2010-11-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

A picture of a little boat house near where "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired on April 19, 1775. David and I are in the Boston area. Got here on Tuesday and will be heading home tomorrow. So much history here! We've loved it! And we were able to spend some time with Debbie and her family. We would love to come back. It's fantastic and I highly recommend a trip here! More when we return home...

a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e

2010-10-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

All found on http://www.marthastewart.com/

2001

2010-10-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last pics for the night...promise.

Wish: Rewind

2010-10-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm smiling, laughing and tearing up looking through these pictures. If I had one wish, I think it would be to go back to when my kids were little...and hopefully to enjoy those times more. Not that I didn't enjoy them. I did. I just wish I would've enjoyed them more and realized how quickly they would be gone. I sure do love my family and I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to be an eternal family. I get to enjoy the people I love FOREVER!

Halloween Past

2010-10-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Just looking through some old photos and thought I'd share. I love looking at old photos. I haven't really scrapbooked much lately. I've started a couple of new hobbies (crochet and sewing), so those take up some of my scrapbooking time. But since school started I've just been really busy. I'm doing a little redecorating/organizing. Hopefully I'll be done with that by the end of November and I can spend some more time scrapbooking these precious photos! I will try to share pics of the progress I make on the decorating front.

Pretty Sweet

2010-10-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Isn't this fun? Makes me want to plan a Halloween party! Six days away and I still need to decorate our porch. I've got an idea, just need to go get the pumpkins.

Back-to-School shopping

2010-08-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time. Back-to-school shopping. Over the weekend i had the kids make a list of what they needed for the start of school. They had to be fairly specific: how many jeans or shorts, how many tees, how many button-up shirts, how many neutral (khaki, gray, black, white, etc) skirts, how many printed skirts, how many casual shoes, how many flats, belts, underwear, etc. Then we sat together as a family and went over each list and figured out about how much each would cost and which stores the kids wanted to shop. We totaled the list and yesterday we went to the bank, got out the cash and headed to the stores. It was fantastic! Everyone knew pretty much what they were looking for and didn't waste time looking at stuff that wasn't on their list. If they found what they needed and the price was lower than what we estimated...Yeah! If it was more, they had to pay the difference or they could wait and we will look for it at a different store. I loved it, they loved it. Lauren only bought one thing, but we still have stores from her list that we didn't get to. Dallin and Sara got most of what they need. The girls need new backpacks. Sara got hers: bright pink from Vans. For us, it's worth it to spend $12-15 more on a quality backpack because the kids can use them for 2-3 years. I bought Lauren a backpack at TJ Maxx last year and she needs a new one because it's ripping. Sara has been using her Roxy one for 3 years and it's just now that she needs a new one. Dallin got a Quicksilver one last year and it's looks brand new and might even last through high school (can't believe he only has two years left!).
Anyway, it was a good day. We walked and shopped at an outdoor mall and it was beautiful. I love hanging out with my kids. I love to listen to them shop together and ask each other, "How does this look?", "Would it be weird to wear this with that?", "Does this look too young (or old)?" I'm grateful that David has a job that allows us to get some new school stuff. I wish he could've been shopping with us...but someone has to make sure PacSun has the stuff kids want, right? Love you David.

Time for a new post!

2010-05-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! Five months later...

We've moved. We are enjoying our little house. We've got a small garden in the backyard: corn, spinach, beans, zucchini, maybe some other stuff that I can't think of. It's really David's garden. Square foot gardening. He built the frame and mixed the soil, planted the seeds. Sara has a few things growing in pots, too.
I would like to get some living room furniture (our couch is in the family room) and some rugs. The living, dining rooms and hallways are hardwood. Maybe this summer I can at least get the rugs!
Work is winding down. Next week is my last week with kids. After that I've got a couple of weeks of "shutdown". Hope I can get everything done that I'd like! I'm planning on bringing a bunch of books home for the summer so I can be ready for the "I don't know what book to get" comments in the fall. Maybe my kids will read a few of them, too.
The only scrapbooking I've done of late is for the Red Bee. I've got a great little desk and everything set up, I just need a chair, so i haven't even used the space.
Lots of stuff going on this summer. I hope we can fit a vacation in there somewhere!

Delicious!

2009-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we made and ate cookies and even put some on plates to deliver this evening. I made cookie press cookies, Lauren made Chocolate Avalanches (marshmallow creme sandwiched between chocolate cookies), and Sara made Patricia's sugar cookies (recipe from my Aunt's mother-in-law, Patricia). My aunt used to make them for my brothers and sisters and I when I us growing up. We would spend the night at my Aunt Vickie and Uncle John's house on the night before Christmas eve. We'd have dinner, yummy cookies, hot chocolate, open gifts from them and watch TV or movies. It's a great memory. Thanks Aunt Vickie and Uncle John!!!

And thank you Lauren and Sara for making cookies with me!

How many more?

2009-12-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

I had been planning on getting a lovely family picture for our Christmas cards (not unlike I do every year). In October I started thinking seriously and saying, "I'm going to make an appointment for family pictures, so if anyone needs a haircut, tell me now." Well, the weeks went by, no appointment was made and at the end of November I thought we could just set up the camera with the timer and take our own. That didn't happen either. So on Dallin's birthday when the kids got home from school I told them we were heading across the street to the park for pictures. David was in Kansas, so if I were going to get the cards in the mail with a picture it would have to be just kids, no parents. They were really good sports and we took some crazy pictures. It had been a good 15 minutes before anyone said, "How many more?".

PS - I knew I was making the photos B&W so we didn't worry about what colors they were wearing!

Happy Belated Birthday Dallin!

2009-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

OK, OK. It's late. Dallin turned 16 on the 16th. Dallin, I just want to let you know how glad I am to be your Mom. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Happy Birthday! Top picture was taken on 12/16/09. I forced him to let me take a picture of him on his birthday before school. Bottom picture was taken 2/26/00. Six years old, on a hike with Dad.

Why is that OK?

2009-11-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

Why is it OK for women and girls to say things like, "Men are so stupid" or "Leave it to a man to do something so idiotic"? I have a real issue with this. We are all created after our Heavenly Father, who happens to be male. None of us are perfect and we all do and say stupid things sometimes. It is not only men, nor are men as a group stupid or idiotic. What a disrepectful thing to say about any group of people. How is that not different than saying an ethnic group or a religious group is "stupid" or "idiotic". I just don't get it. Do women want their sons growing up thinking that because they are male they are stupid? Do these women realize that without men, they could not live up to their potential? We need them and they need us. We are on the same team, not rival teams. It's interesting to me that the same women who use these terms would be livid if a man said something so demeaning about a woman. Just something to think about.

I want my guys to know that I think they are smart and have a lot of good about them. They're fun, too. I love my guys!

Conference Sunday

2009-10-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today we were able to listen to our prophet Thomas S. Monson and some of the apostles speak to us. The talks were amazing. It's so nice to be able to get these inspired messages twice a year. I'm looking forward to getting the Ensign (a church magazine) with the talks published so I can read them. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a very powerful talk on The Book of Mormon in the Sunday afternoon session.
It's been a nice relaxing day. The kids and I just sat on the couch, watched conference, played a game, made bread and hung out. David is in Utah visiting family. He's actually there for his older brother's wedding reception. He's been able to watch conference with his family. I'm missing him, but glad he is with his mom and dad and brothers and sisters.
Hmmmm, I've been laying around so much today I haven't even thought about dinner. Guess it's time to go check the cupboards. I hear the kids eating something crunchy...it's probably not dinner fare.

2009-10-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'll be updating later today.

2009-08-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

I love this picture.

Mountain Bike Nationals - Granby, Colorado

2009-07-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

We drove to Granby, CO for mountain bike nationals. We left Tuesday, 7/14. Drove to Mesquite, NV where we stopped at about 2:30 am. I have to tell you that of the total 2000 mile trip, David drove all but about 60 miles. He was awesome! Anyway, we parked in an LDS church parking lot and slept until about 6:30 am. Drove on to Grand Junction, CO. We stayed in a nice little RV park there. Sara and I went swimming, David went running and Dallin went for a bike ride. We got up Thursday morning and drove until we got to Granby (about noon-ish). We stopped at a grocery store and then headed up to our camp spot. I'm thinking we will have a "camp site". I hadn't considered that we were going to be parked at a ski resort. No camp sites. Just a semi-flat area up on a mountain side where you could look for a spot to park your RV or pitch your tent. We did find a good spot...looking over the side of the hill. Beautiful! Dallin rode the course. Altitude was a bit different than what we are used to. We live at about 100 feet above sea level. Where we were was 8400 feet above sea level. The course climbed to about 9200. Yikes! Dallin said he couldn't recover very well and the hard breathing was making his throat hurt. Granted, we did know that this would be an issue before we came. I was completely winded climbing the hill to our camp spot. While Dallin rode the course we meet up with David's parents, who had driven from Logan. It was so nice to see them! We went into downtown Granby and looked at some little shops. Then David drove back to get Dallin and we went out to dinner (pasta for Dallin!). That night Sara went to Grandpa and Grandma's hotel. It was at a natural sulpher hot springs in the area. The next morning we all got together for some hot pools. That afternoon (Friday) we were back for the race. Dallin did well. Fourth place! The start was horrible...basically straight up a hill. But when you are riding at a ski resort, at least some of the ride is going to be a steep climb! I was impressed watching the riders go up that hill! We just kind of hung out waiting for the riders to start coming back in. Dallin came back after one hour and 12 minutes (I think). he looked good and felt good. No crashes or flats for him - that's always nice! We left that night. David drove until almost 4 am. Thank you skittles and diet coke. We stopped at a rest stop and slept (well everyone but David had been sleeping). Saturday we drove until Las Vegas. Stayed at a hotel there. Went swimming, watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, ate at a buffet. Drove home the next day. Whew! David didn't have to work until Wednesday, so it was nice for him to have Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday to relax.

Cove Fort

2009-07-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

On our way to mountain bike nationals we stopped at Cove Fort at the junction of the 15 and the 70 in Utah. It was very interesting. We all really liked the tour. It's a fort that Brigham young asked Ira Hinckley to set up for people traveling through. There were rooms for the family to live in and a few rooms that were rented out to travelers. One of the things the guides show you is a game called hoop that the children (and probably some adults!) played. It's an iron ring that you guide with a stick and get it rolling. If you're really good at it you run along with it and keep it going. If you get a chance to stop and visit, I'd highly recommend it. It's very educational and will make you reconsider what you may deem as needs/wants and what it means to be self-reliant.

Wonderful summer day.

2009-07-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Sara and I spent several hours today on Balboa Island. The weather is beautiful, the sky is blue, the water is sparkling. So, so nice. We walked around the bay looking at the adorable houses and sailboats. We (mostly she) played in the water. We stood in line to take the ferry to the fun zone, but one of the ferries broke down and it was taking waaay too long to fix it. We're going to go back for that next week. We ate at a very tiny, but super yummy mexican place called Picante Martin's. We bought salt water taffy (and some malted milk chocolate balls for David) at Balboa Candy. Then we came home and took a nap. Sara is still sleeping. Tonight David, Sara and I are going to see William Shakespeare's As You Like It performed in a lovely outdoor theater. This is a wonderful summer day.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to afford to have this built right on the bay?
I love seeing these houses so clean and lined up. Perfect.

I really want to see inside this one. But I don't have $3000/week to rent it or a couple of million to buy it.

Sara liked this one. It looks like Snow White's cottage.

Salt water taffy, baby!

Miss her.

2009-07-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Lauren flew to Oregon to visit her best friend in the whole world on Tuesday. She'll be gone for a couple of weeks. I miss her already.

Feelin' crafty

2009-06-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

I've had a blank wall staring me in the face and today I saw something in a magazine that I thought would be perfect. I love how it turned out. It was fun to make and easy, too. It's pretty much a copy of what was in the magazine (except for the colors/name). I can't remember the name of the magazine and I'm too lazy to get up and get it. It was from last summer, though. It was some kind of home craft magazine. The frame and mat I've had for a while and right before we moved I spray painted the fram glossy black. The mat was a dark grey and I painted it with Kaiser Craft paints (again, too lazy to go look at the color name). I don't have a large circle punch, so I just traced a circle with a cup on the back of the paper and cut it out. I've got some plans for wall decor in the loft. I'm hoping to get to it tomorrow.

First day of summer vacation

2009-06-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

My summer is off to a good start. The girls and I are going to do a little running program this summer. We started off today with 20 minutes (run 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes). Easy-peasy. We all have 20 minutes to spare! Our plan is to do this for 2 weeks and then up the time to a total of 25 minutes. We will also increase our run time: maybe run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes). Hopefully, by the end of the summer we will be run/walking for about 40 minutes, 3x/week. I should have started this months ago so I'd be ready for swimsuit season. Oh well.
After our run, I had oatmeal and a plum for breakfast. I think I'm going to ride my bike to the grocery store in a little bit to pick up some things for lunch/dinner.
I'd like to get some scrapbooking done today. I also want to spend a little time poolside. However, before I do either of those things, I need to move the dog crate and vaccum, wash his bedding and scrub the carpet where he threw up in the corner of his crate yesterday. Yep! That's gonna be fun. Luckily dog barf is not nearly as gross as human barf. I must be a mom because I'm going straight from "gotta clean the vomit spot" to "what should we have for lunch?".
I'm thinking chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and Lauren wants pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. I might have to switch the chicken salad with something else so we aren't having so many sandwiches today.
I promised to post the recipe for Holy Cow Cake, so here it is:

Holy Cow Cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Bake cake according to package directions for a 9x13 inch pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom.
In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the top of the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits; then sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm. (Hint: I crush my candy bars into small chunks as opposed to crumbs - I like to have pieces I can chew on!)
Let cake cool completely, then top with whipped topping. Decorate the top of the cake with some more chocolate toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan!
This cake is absolutely delicious!

The chinese chicken salad is actually a kit from Costco. All you add is the lettuce (I like green leaf). It comes with crunchy wonton pieces, chow mein noodles, yummy chicken, dressing, almonds. You get enough to make two salads and I think it's about $8 (that's $4/salad). You could make it cheaper yourself, but I like having it ready to mix together. It's Sara's favorite salad.

The girls just cleaned up their room and Sara wants to show me, so I'm signing off. I hope you all are making some fun summer plans. And if they're cheap ones, do share!

Eleven

2009-06-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sara's birthday was yesterday. It was also the last day of school for her and I. She requested sushi, chinese chicken salad and potstickers for dinner. We added plums to the mix, too. Then we had Holy Cow Cake (if I feel energetic tomorrow, I'll post the recipe). Yum! She opened presents (clothes, books, movie tickets and money from Aunt Natalie). Today we picked up a couple of her friends and went to a salon where they got their finger and toe nails painted. Then we went to the home of a very creative lady in our ward who fixed their hair. We came home to a house totally decorated by Lauren and her friend Courtney (who happens to be the sister of one of the girls Sara invited). They did a fabulous job! I'll try and post pictures tomorrow. The older girls have played games, given facials, served food and been wonderful hostesses. They even took the girls across the street to play at the park for a while.

Happy 11th birthday Sara!!!!

Some people just shouldn't say anything

2009-05-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

I love this:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Mr-Harrison-isn-t-going-to-Washington-Steeler-?urn=nfl,163886!

As far as I'm concerned, it's hilarious.

You Choose

2009-05-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've discovered some books that I just love. They are "You Choose" books, Capstone Press. There are something like 20 titles and I recently ordered them all for our school library. They include the real history of the event, including names of people who actually participated. You read a few pages and then are asked to make a decision (ie: If you want to be a wealthy passenger turn to page___, if you want to be a 3rd class passenger turn to page___, if you want to be a crew member turn to page___). I've read a few of them aloud to 4th and 5th grade classes and when it's time to make a choice we do a vote. The kids absolutely LOVE it! They have been checking out the You Choose books and other books about the historical events we've read about. They are a great tool to get kids interested in history. We've read them aloud as a family, too. They're so fun! If you're interested, you can get paperback copies on Amazon for $6.95.

no more matchy-matchy

2009-04-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

I've got a problem. No seriously. I find these pictures in magazines and online of stuff that I love (home decorating, entertaining, etc.) but I have a hard time transferring those ideas into real stuff for our home. I love bright colors: red, turquoise, yellow, orange, apple green. I love it when people use these kinds of colors in their decorating. I want to use them, too. Here's my problem: somehow I've trained my brain to think everything needs to match. I hate that! I'm not going to do that any more. I'm going to decorate with stuff I love whether it matches or not. I'm not kidding. I'm going to do it. Sorry David...there will be more changes. The poor guy has to put up with me decorating and re-decorating because I struggle with getting it right. I think if I just use things I (and the rest of the family) like, I won't always feel like I need to change things. I know, I know. In the big scheme of things this decorating business doesn't matter at all. But it's something I've been trying to figure out. At least figure out why I'm always unsatisfied with my results. After 16 years of decorating a home I think I've final figured it out. :) Do what you like people. Don't subscribe to "rules" when it comes to artistic things.

enjoying Sunday

2009-04-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

I had a nice day today. The sun was shining and it was warm. We went to church. Everything about it was good. It's so nice to be able to return each Sunday and feel the spirit and learn something new. We came home and had sandwiches for lunch, took naps, played Boggle, watched Glory Road (I know, it's not really a perfect Sunday movie, but it's due back at the library tomorrow). Then we had french toast for dinner and a couple of hours later, peach cobbler. Yum!

Tomorrow is back to work, but I'm looking forward to it because I was able to catch up on some stuff last week and I've got my lesson plans done for the rest of the year.

Sara and I went and saw Earth on Wednesday. It was really good. I highly recommend it. The filming is amazing!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is thought to be the actual tomb where Christ's body was laid.
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

I'm so grateful for the gift of the Atonement and that we, through Christ, have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again.

more photos

2009-04-11T14:46:00.001-07:00

Sara and Jenna doing art.

Dallin, Randy and Corey playing "a racing game". I think it was a big hit with Corey and Randy! Notice Dallin's "runner's tan" around his ankles!

David, Lauren and Sara at a Beckman High School track meet. It was unusually cloudy and cold...probably around 63*. Gosh, I love these guys!

2009-04-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yesterday went by really fast and I didn't post again. But here I am a day later and posting! Yea!
Our family rode bikes to a farmer's market this morning. We rode for a little over 2 hours. So nice to have everyone together on a beautiful sunny day. We brought pb and j, chips, carrots, drinks and cookies. At the market we bought pita bread, tzatziki, artichoke hummus, apples, oranges and snow peas. We sat on the grass and had a yummy lunch. Of course, I forgot the camera. The kids were glad to hear that I'd left it sitting on the counter.
David got back from Kansas last night. He went for work. PacSun has a distribution center in Olathe and he goes just about once a month, usually for 3 days.
I'm behind (as usual) on Easter stuff. It's Saturday afternoon and I still don't have any food for tomorrow's dinner. I hope someone still has a ham left for me. Here's the menu I'm thinking we will have: ham, rolls, green beans (hopefully fresh...I forgot to pick them up at the farmer's market), mashed potatoes, gravy and sweet potato casserole. These are some random pictures of things we've been up to lately. Lauren experimenting with hair accessories. I love the blue flower. Dallin rode his first century. Notice the 100.97 miles on his bike computer. It took him 6 hours and 15 minutes. Sara playing tennis. Dallin at the beginning of one of his mountain bike races. He's in the middle of the photo looking away from the camera and wearing a black and white Sho-Air kit. Sara making cupcakes. They were cute with frosting grass on top and chocolate eggs in the grass. Happy Easter everyone!

2009-04-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've let this thing go for so long. I'm sorry blog. I'll be better about giving you attention and updates. But, this one is short. The lady that does our taxes needs me to answer a few questions. I'll be back later today and I'll even upload some pictures.

Busy weekend

2009-02-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday and I got up (without an alarm clock, thank you very much) at 6:38 am. I'm surrounded by empty cardboard boxes, packed boxes, shelves that are in the middle of being repainted and all of the other stuff we haven't picked up in days. It's a HUGE mess. So bad, that I told everyone if the doorbell rings, don't answer it. For those who haven't heard, we are moving next week. Less than 2 miles away. It's a cute little condo. So we've been trying to pack for the last few weeks, but now it's really game time. We get the keys at 3 pm on Monday. The Tour of California is going on right now and today our family is driving up to Pasadena to watch part of the bike race. We're leaving in a couple of hours, so I'd better get off of the couch and pack a box or two!

Hello Cupcake

2009-02-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

Sara got a cupcake book(Hello Cupcake) and supplies for Christmas. Aren't these so cute? She's made a few different designs. She really likes baking. Lucky for us...and unlucky for our waistlines.

Pics from CHA

2009-02-11T15:08:00.001-08:00

Some cute products and ideas. The little monster is adorable. If I had a little boy, I would plan a monster birthday party for him and make invitations, decorations, and treat bags. Somehow I don't think Dallin would appreciate the monsters for his 16th birthday as much as he would have for his 4th. :(

CHA

2009-02-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite things from CHA (Craft and Hobby Association). These are some of the new scrapbooking items coming out soon. I did throw in a picture of wall stickers that I think are fantastic (and not for scrapbooks...well, I guess they could be!). And I love how the flowers and felt pieces are displayed in old looking frames with burlap and felt. I think I may steal that idea for my house.

2009-02-08T20:09:00.001-08:00

Isn't he cute? Poor guy has an ear infection. I've been giving him ear drops 2x/day for a few days. It seems to be getting better. Dogs with floppy ears are more prone to ear infections.

I'm back

2009-02-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Boy, it's been awhile. I've been trying to take my picture-a-day. It's harder than I thought. I've missed a few days, but done pretty well. I'm still waiting for my 365 kit from Creating Keepsakes to be sent.

My book club is going to be reading 1776. I'm picking up my copy from the library tomorrow. Dion, I'm glad to hear you liked it! I haven't started on any of the books from my previous post because I knew our book club would be reading something else.

I was able to attend CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) a few weeks ago. I saw some great new stuff! I loved this display of tubes of paint. I love the colors and the organization of the colors. I want them all!

I'm going to post separately with lots of other goodies I want!

Oh, we're moving! We found a condo nearby that's less than what we're paying for our apartment. We get the keys on the 23rd. We've got a few things that we're selling on craigslist. No need to move things that we aren't going to use. I'm having a difficult time doing housework, because all I want to do is pack things up or get rid of them!

Happy

2009-01-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm happy today. The girls and I went on a hike at Peter's Canyon for an hour. We took Cooper and he loved it. When we came home we gave him a bath because the groomer couldn't fit him in today. So now we've got a very clean, very tired beagle. Nice. I did some scrapbooking. I've got dinner planned. Hamburgers, fruit, vegetables, Sun chips. Sara is making cupcakes for dessert. I've got a stack of books by my bed waiting to be read. Several of them are recommended by a friend (thanks Jennifer!). I finished several things that needed to be done this weekend, so that's a load off. Here are a few photos I wanted to share of Peter's Canyon and my books.

2009-01-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh...Sunday night already? The weekend sure goes by quickly. The house is still fairly clean, so that's nice. I did some cleaning yesterday and a little bit of relaxing. I took a nap after church. Definitely needed, because I only slept six hours per night for the last two nights. Meetings, primary activity, and other primary planning, house cleaning, reading, TV, etc. Ugh! I need to get to bed on time. Gotta go...the family is going to watch TIVOed Monk.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! We were up until 2 am. The girls spent the night at a friends' house. Dallin went to a youth dance until 12:15 and then David and I had to help clean up. We slept in, took Cooper for a walk, David and Dallin went for a bike ride, I cleaned up a little and now we're watching the Rose Bowl. I think I'm going to pull out some scrapbooking stuff out and get to work. David's in the kitchen cooking pizza and chimichangas, dishing up salsa and chips, filling glasses with soda. He's quite the host when watching football!

I went to the library a couple of days ago and checked out about 8 books. I've read one and started another, but I'm not liking it too much. I think I'll return it and just start one of the others. I can't even remember what it's called.

If you haven't seen Valkyrie, go see it. David and I loved it. What a great story. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was a true hero. It's nice to be reminded that many tried to stop Hitler. It's so amazing to me to think that all of that happened such a short time ago.

I'll be writing out my goals for this year later this evening. When I get them finalized, I'll post them.

Hope you all are having a great start to 2009!

Tuesday's activity

2008-12-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

This evening Sara and I baked two kinds of cookies and watched "White Christmas". We made shortbread cookies with a big chocolate kiss in the middle (cookie mix from Target), and then we made my Aunt Vickie's sugar cookies. She always made them Santa faces and added coconut to his beard, but I only had a snowman cookie cutter (and no coconut). David and Dallin were watching some other movie and Lauren was babysitting. Tomorrow, the plan is making fudge and then boxing up some goodies to take to friends. Oh, and start on our holiday puzzle. I used to hate puzzles growing up, but we've been setting one up at Thanksgiving or Christmas for the last few years (since the kids are old enough to help and not just lose pieces!). Tomorrow evening is a party/dinner at a friends' house. There will be 9 families there. All but one of the families are from our ward. The one that isn't from our ward is from a neighboring ward and are brother/sister-in-law with the party hosts. Should be a lot of fun. Good food and company and a gift exchange for the under- 20 crowd. The hostess, Cheri, assigned each of the kids another child of similar age to buy a $5-6 gift for. My goal is to remember my camera! Hope you are all having a relaxing, joyful holiday!

Monday's activity

2008-12-23T23:22:00.000-08:00

While David, Dallin and Lauren went to finish up some Christmas shopping, Sara and I worked some magic. We turned this:

into this. We had a fun time, but neither of us knew how long it would take. After sticking the sides together, we had to wait an hour to put on the roof. Then we had to wait 2 hours before decorating. And, of course, decorating it is the most fun part! Sara was in charge of decorating the roof and I did the icicles. We worked together on the windows and door.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

2008-12-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

Today is Dallin's 15th birthday. He's such a great kid. I'm glad he's my son. I love him more than he can imagine. Here's a picture of him when he was 6 1/2. We were at the Oregon Coast on a little weekend getaway.

The other picture was taken at the beginning of October right before a stake dance.

Here are some things about Dallin:

favorite movie: Breaking Away and School of Rock (for the Jack Black quotes)

favorite drink: Dr. Pepper

favorite color: green

favorite college: University of Oregon

favorite sport to watch: cycling

favorite sport to participate in: cycling

favorite thing to shop for: shoes

favorite day of the week: Saturday

favorite food: Mexican

favorite holiday: his birthday

favorite class: geometry

what book are you reading: Into the Wild

favorite outing: Iron Maiden concert w/Dad

favorite scripture: Matthew 5:14-16 (you'll have to look it up!)

Have a great birthday Dallin! I love you :)

2008-12-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

I just purchased a very cool mini album kit from my friend, Donna. She has them for sale on her blog (www.donnasalazar.typepad.com). I'm excited to get it and get started on a little album about the things I love about Christmas. If you are interested in buying one, get it quickly. I think she only has a few.

I've been trying to look for some Christmas gifts at Etsy (www.etsy.com). I want to support the "small" business people as much as possible. Don't get me wrong...I love Target. But if I can find something I want from a smaller place, I'll buy it there. Even if it's a little bit more expensive. I did find a birthday gift for Dallin on Etsy. I'll post a picture of it after he opens it. His birthday isn't until Tuesday, though. Is the suspense killing you? I thought so. But you're going to have to wait.

2008-12-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of decorations I've got around the house. Sorry about the blurry ones! This year, I've added lots of glittery stuff. The star on the top of our tree is so sparkly: beads and sequins. I love it! It's from Target. Oh, and the glittery red trees on the dining table are from a second hand store...love that! Hope you are all enjoying the season!

2008-12-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm getting sick. Yuck! My throat started hurting last night and I woke up several times during the night with my throat and my head hurting. I should've rested more today, but I did do a little Christmas shopping. Some online and some at Target. Now I'm wishing I had stayed home and slept. I need to rest tomorrow because tomorrow night is a birthday party for Dallin and two of his friends. We are celebrating all three boys' birthdays. They have Nov, Dec and Jan birthdays. The party is at our clubhouse. There will be pizza, soda, cake, loud music (the boys all put music on their ipods to be played on a Bose speaker), dancing and swimming/hot tubbing. The boys printed 100 invitations and passed them all out at school. And they've been telling people to bring friends. I hope we have enough food! But when you have a party, don't you usually only get about 40% turn-out? We'll see tomorrow night! I'm so glad we have the use of the clubhouse. I may have to take some Thera-Flu before the party. There will be another mom there with me. Hmmmm...2-4 adults and who-knows how many kids...we didn't plan that very well, did we?

beautiful bright snowflakes

2008-11-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

I went shopping on Black Friday and I found these fantastic snowflakes at Michaels. They came in pieces and with the pretty brads. They can be put together however you like the colors. They're bright and sparkly and beautiful! I love them. I love the colors so much, I'm going to buy some new Christmas ornaments in turquoise and gold and green. I've got lots of red already. And I'm buying another package of these snowflakes! I think they are from K & Co and they're $9.99 for a kit that makes 12 snowflakes.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T17:15:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving. Lots of food and relaxing and my brother, Dave! It was so nice to see him. We hadn't seen him for about three years. He drove down from Provo on Wednesday and left to go home on Friday. We wanted him to stay longer, but he had a long paper to write that's due on Monday. We put the extension in the table and the kids set it for us. We had a free-range turkey, mashed potatoes (with sour cream, butter and cream cheese whipped in), sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, rolls, gravy and, of course, sparkling cider. For dessert we had apple, chocolate and pumpkin pie.

I'm so thankful for my family and friends. I'm grateful to have the gospel in my life. I'm grateful for the scriptures and the examples of the people from the Bible and Book of Mormon. I'm thankful for all of the little convienences that we have like dishwashers, washing machines, cars and bicycles, cameras, phones, computers. I'm grateful for doctors, teachers, police and firemen. I'm grateful for the men and women who have and are serving our country and putting their lives on the line for freedom for us and for people not from our country. I'm thankful for a living prophet. I could go on and on. I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for all of the blessings He has given me and I hope I'm living a "thankful" life. What are you thankful for?

New niece and nephew

2008-11-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

My brother and his wife have two new babies. Macie and Zeke join 6 older brothers and sisters. Whew! I'm tired with three! Anyway, they were born Nov. 21. Congratulations Dan and Timani!

Scrappy stuff

2008-11-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

I pulled out my scrapbook stuff on Saturday evening and it's now Monday morning and it's still spread out on the dining table and surrounding floor. I don't have a scrapbook room, so I keep it packed away and have to get it out each time i want to scrapbook. Needless to say, I don't scrap as much as I'd like to. But when I do get it out it sometimes stays out for 2-4 days. I've done 14 pages. I had a bunch of photos of each of my kids that I wanted to do something with, but most of the photo didn't warrant a whole page to themselves. So last night I did a sort of collage page for each one of them and we all love them! The kids really liked all of those pictures together. It's fun to see pictures from baby on up all on the same page. The pages were very easy. I chose my photos, then used a 2" square punch to crop the pictures. Then I just laid them out grid-like on cardstock. I filled the empty spaces in with patterned paper, buttons, bling, etc. It was exciting to get so many photos scrapbooked in one sitting and I think the pages look great! I made another quick one (the layout idea came from an online scrapbook gallery) with a pic of our pumpkin patch trip last year. The other page I've posted is also one I made last night. Dallin and two friends were invited to an 80's themed 16th birthday for a girl from church. Everyone was supposed to dress 80's, so these characters went as The Beastie Boys. They thought of some other things to wear, but their budget was small and they couldn't buy suits or HazMat-type jumpers for $10! They looked great and the adults that were there (at the party) knew exactly who they were supposed to be.

Finally!

2008-11-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

OK, two things: Did you notice my new pic? I've got a new hairstyle again...it's a sickness. About a week ago, I got it cut and weaved. I got ready for work on Monday and had some time to kill before I needed to leave for work so I took some pictures.

Second, we got a new laptop. Our other one had to be fixed 3 times in about 6 weeks and on the fourth time (all for the same issue) they decided to junk it and give us a new one. Thank goodness we bought the warranty. I like this new one much better. I didn't realize I didn't like the other one until we started looking around at the new ones. And I finally got our desktop out of the box it's been packed in for two years (since we moved here) and set it up at our desk. I bought a network cable and hooked it up to our wireless connection. So now we have two computers that have internet access. I know I'm behind the times just getting two computers in the same house, but it's exciting for me!

2008-11-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

We finally got our computer back yesterday. It's been in the shop 3 times in the last 5 weeks or so. Best Buy told us if it happens again, they will get us a new computer. It's been the same problem each time. It won't charge. They've changed the mother board twice. It's good to have it back!

Interesting to watch election night, huh? We started with CNN, switched to a recorded SNL Presidental Bash and then back to CNN. I didn't vote for Obama and I was a little worried at first, but after talking to David, I feel much better. I do think he will be good for the mood of the country. I think he will be good for our associations with other countries. I don't think he's going to make any huge changes. There is too much chaos right now for him to be able to do that. We have a government that is balanced. Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. All meant to work together and to make sure one branch doesn't have all of the power. I hope he is serious about reigning in the government spending (and I do believe he is). As for his questionable associations: he will not have them in his cabinet. We are going to have some rough years, but seriously, would they be less rough if McCain were in charge? I highly doubt it. The republicans have not done a good job in the white house recently and the people know it. The largest increase in government since Lyndon Johnson? Really? Anyway, I've talked to David and prayed about it and I feel fine! I think it's fantastic that we have a black president. I think it says a lot to the rest of the world. Enough about that!

I'm so excited! I'm finally going to spend an evening scrapbooking at the Red Bee! Yea! We have a design team meeting and then after that there is a crop until midnight. I need to get some recent photos printed. I need to get better about posting layouts.

David's brother Daren is coming to visit for a few days this week/weekend. That will be nice. Not sure what we have planned. I'm leaving that up to David.

Well I've got laundry and a dirty bathroom calling my name, so I'm off!

Grandma's visit

2008-10-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

My mom came to visit us a couple of weekends ago. She drove down here (by herself) from Eastern Oregon. After she left us she drove to Las Vegas to visit her aunt/uncle/cousins and then on to Provo and Tooele to visit my brother Dave and his girlfriend and brother Dan and his family. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to. I just forget! Mom made apple butter with the girls and also brought them an ice shaver for snowcones (and about 4 different syrups). It was nice visiting with her. We didn't really do anything exciting...just hung out and relaxed. I hope she had a nice time. We are really enjoying the apple butter Mom! Thanks!

I'm thankful for: my Mom, my good childhood, rain

Update coming soon!

2008-10-04T08:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything for almost a month. Our computer has been "in the shop" for 3 weeks! I've been able to check my email at work a few times. I'm hoping to get some new pictures up today. Stay tuned!

2008-09-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

NOTE: These pictures are supposed to be at the bottom (that's where they fall in the story).

Yesterday David and I spent the morning spreading the word about Proposition 8, which will be on the ballot here in California in November. We knocked on a few doors, but people weren't home. We are working with the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign. Prop 8 is an amendment to the state constitution that says, "Only marriage etween a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It's the same wording as Prop 22, which was passed in 2000 by a 61.4% majority. It was overturned by a 4-3 vote of the California Supreme Court and that's why it's on the ballot as a constitutional amendment. If the people vote yes, it will re-establish traditional marriage as the law. A no vote will allow the legalization of same-sex marriage. It's about preserving marriage; it's not an attack on the gay lifestyle. It wouldn't take away the legal rights of same-sex couples. Under California's domestic partner law, they already have (and would keep) all the rights that a state can grant to a married couple. If this amendment is not passed, teachers could be disciplined and dismissed if they do not teach that both are equally approved in society. (They are required by Education Code 51890 to instruct children about marriage in health education class.) Also, churches that are open to the public (almost all) would be required to perform marriages for same-sex couples if asked, whether it goes against their teachings or not. If they refuse to perform those marriages they will lose their tax-exempt status. If you are interested in reading more you can go to http://www.protectmarriage.org/. Anyway, we are just trying to figure out which voters are yes, no, or undecided. We were not trying to talk anyone into changing their minds. Since we didn't have much luck at the doors, we came home and called people. That was better, but we still had to leave quite a few messages. The responses were mostly positive. Between the two of us, we were only hung up on 3 times. Not bad. I'm not sure exactly how many phone numbers we called, but it was over 60 for sure. In case any of you are wondering: The members of the church in California have been encouraged by the First Presidency to donate our time and money to this cause. As most of you know, the church does not ever tell us (or even suggest) for whom we vote, but because this is a moral issue, the church has taken a stand. I hate to think what this might lead to if it is defeated. We have been asked by the man on the watchtower to really get involved. I am so grateful to have a prophet that we can look to for guidance and direction. I'm grateful for the scriptures and the lessons we learn from reading about people who fall away from the teachings of the Lord.

Back to the story:

So when we finished with that David started cleaning out the garage. How do we get so much stuff? He had a garbage/recycling pile, a give away pile and a keep pile. He hung more hooks for bikes, reorgainzed cycling gear, tools, nuts/bolts/screws, etc. He was out there for hours (and I helped some, too!). It was really hot. After he finished the garage we went to Target for a few things. Well, David has a driving game for the Playstation and for his birthday I gave him a steering wheel/pedals for it. He's been holding it on his lap which isn't ideal when you are trying to race a super car. At Target he found a black wooden TV tray and a black folding chair with a cushion. When he got the steering wheel attatched to the tray he realized that it was a little heavy on that side. So, (joking) I said, maybe you should put a big soda and a plate of nachos on the other side to weigh it down. Five minutes later, and his problem is solved. Notice how close this set up is to the TV.

Can anyone tell me how to get my photos in places other than the top of my post?

First day of school

2008-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it's come and gone. Sara loves her teacher. She's tall...6'1", and is "super fun!". Lauren's favorite class is yearbook. Dallin likes high school. He refused to let me get a picture of him and I didn't have the camera ready so he escaped before I could get it out!

Our adventure with friends

2008-09-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Our very good friends, Chris and Michelle, flew down from Portland to visit us for Labor Day. We had a wonderful time and we picked up right where we left off! Sara loved doing word searches and crosswords puzzles with Michelle. On Saturday, we all got on bikes (thank goodness for our little "bike shop" in the garage) and rode 15 (yes, 15) miles to the beach. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get there. Chris rode one of David's bikes, Michelle rode my bike, I rode Lauren's mountain bike, Lauren rode her cruiser, Dallin rode one of David's bikes (not sure why, as he has four of his own), and David rode the extracycle with Sara on the back. We had all of our baskets filled with sunscreen, snacks, water bottles, and towels. David had more of all of that and a beach blanket and beach umbrella. We rode on the Mountain-to-Sea Trail that passes right by our house. We played in the water, went to a pizza shop and an ice-cream shop, sat on the beach and read books and magazines and played in the ocean some more. Then it was time to get back on the bikes and ride home. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get back. So we rode a total of 30 miles that day! It was so great! And no one crashed or had any bike trouble.

I'm thankful for great friends, a beach close by, and bicycles.

She's discovered a new talent

2008-08-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night at Young Women's (church group for girls 12-18) a woman in our ward that does cake decorating brought her "tools" and taught the girls basic cake decorating. They all loved it. Lauren would like to keep practicing. She really enjoyed it and as you can see, she did a great job on her cake! She wants to make her own birthday cake this year. Each girl got to take home 2 frosting bags and 4 decorating tips. I see more cakes in the Davidson family's future!

I am thankful for: 400 count white sheets, dentists (we've been getting our teeth taken care of), good friends.

Back to School

2008-08-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. Schedules, new teachers, early to bed, early to rise, brown bag lunches, new clothes. School starts for us on Sept 3rd (next Wednesday). I have to go to work today and tomorrow for a couple of hours each day. Just need to start getting the library ready. I will have a couple of weeks of school without students so I can finish up anything I need to. I should have several boxes of new books waiting to be catalogued when I get there today! Yeah! It's so nice to be able to spend thousands of dollars on new books and not have my bank account go down!

We registered Dallin and Lauren last week. Dallin is excited for high school. He's running cross country and they started practice this past Monday. 7-9 am. Today they ran on the beach. I had to take him there so I stayed and read and took some pictures of the ocean (above). He likes his schedule. The entire school has to read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd by the beginning of the year because they will be tested on it. I'm also reading it. I like it, but am failing to see why, of all of the books that could've been chosen, this was it. To me, it seems like a book that most young men are not going to connect with. The girls, yeah, but since studies show that boys reading drops off more than girls after fourth grade, let's try to choose something a little more "relatable". It was a summer reading assignment after all. Anyway, he'll be getting up at 5:30 for seminary which starts at 6 am. I feel for him as I went to released-time seminary (it was part of my high school schedule of classes). For anyone who doesn't know, seminary is basically a Sunday School class that high school aged kids take, generally Monday-Friday while school is in session. During each of the four years, they study a different book of scripture: New Testament, Old Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. It's a great way for them to start off their day, before heading into the craziness of high school living. Dallin is looking forward to it, but not the early time!

Lauren likes her schedule. She's on the yearbook staff this year and is very excited about that! She's also taking a cooking class that will be fun. She's scoped out her locker and it's at the perfect height. Last year her locker was on the top row, so it was a little hard to reach, but this year it's one row down and it's perfect! She has PE 4th and is a little worried that it's going to be too hot. Last year she had it 2nd period and it was just right. She'll live, though! She will be taking two dance classes/week and takes tennis lessons (through a family friend...for FREE!) once or twice a week.

Sara will be meeting her teacher on Tuesday at an ice-cream social. I ordered her supplies to be delivered to her desk. It's so nice. We go to a specific website and tell them what grade, what school and pay and the supplies are waiting for the student on the first day. No hassle school supply shopping...I love it! It was a little more (maybe $10) but it's a fundraiser for the school and I didn't have to drive around or fight crowds! Last year she was in the Earth Club after school. This year she wants to take the pottery class. It's one day per week. She is also taking tennis lessons and she wants to go to the Olympics in 2016. Keep practicing Sara and you can do it!

I'm thankful for seminary, Katherine (our friend and tennis teacher) and dishwashers (mine is running right now!).

Junior Track Nationals

2008-08-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

This week is Jr. Track Nationals. Dallin has been looking forward to it for a couple of months. We are lucky enough to have it in Carson this year. Last year it was in Colorado and the year before it was in Pennsylvania. My pictures are not very clear. The first is Dallin on the track warming up and the second is a shot of the infield where all of the cyclists are set-up in little waist high "cubbies" made of fencing. Dallin and two girls are the only members of their team (Sho-Air) that are competing. They are sharing a "cubbie" which is nice because we don't have to bring everything. We share a trainer (for the kids to warm-up or cool-down on), chairs, bike pump, etc. He's already competed in one race. It was a 200 meter sprint qualifier. There are 31 kids (for all over the country) in Dallin's age group. He got 23rd and took .3 seconds off of his previous best time. That doesn't sound like much, but it's quite a bit in that short of a distance. He was very pleased with that. Dallin is 14 and because he turns 15 during 2008 (Dec. 16), he has to compete with boys that are 15 and 16. That's the drawback of a December birthday...sorry Dallin! He's got three races left: 500 M Time Trial (alone on the track...just against the clock), 8K Scratch Race (mass start...1st, 2nd, 3rd place), 15K Points Race (every ten laps the 1st-5th place crossing the line get points and at the end of the race the rider with the most points wins). The last one is pretty fun because the winner of the race may not have crossed the line first during the race at all!

Good luck Dallin :)

Pictures

2008-07-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the last month! Hollywood, best friends, beach trips, birthdays, cousins and lots of fun!

Summer

2008-07-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's so nice to have a summer break. We've already done a lot of "going". Lauren's best friend, Anna, came and stayed with us for two weeks. She lives in Oregon. While she was here we went to the beach, a swap meet, the mall (a couple of times), Knotts Berry Farm, Beverly Hills, Hollywood (Mann's Chinese Theater and Walk of Fame), swimming (a lot!), out to eat (too many times) and got haircuts. We also went on bike rides and shopped at the Marketplace. While we were at Knotts', I spied Snoopy and made all four of the kids get in a photo with him. I think they did it only because I had taken them to Knotts and it was the least they could do, not because they wanted their picture with Snoopy.

The girls and have the dining table completely covered with scrapbooking supplies. We scrapped on Sunday night and a little bit today. We've left it out because we are planning on doing some more tomorrow. I'm trying to work through a lot of my supplies. I've gotten rid of a lot, but when I sit down to scrap, I realize that I still have too much!

This is a short post, but I'm getting tired, so off to bed for me. I'm thankful for: Air conditioning, sunscreen and Costco potstickers.

2008-06-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the bookshelf I want. I got paid a couple of days ago, so I think I'm going to buy it tomorrow. I really like the red. I don't think it's something that my sisters would pick for me :) I've always been more into neutral colors. But I think it will look great!

I've got the painting done. I absolutely love my kitchen color! It's called Paradise Valley. It's a green color. The new carpet is in. Most of the furniture is back in the house (including the new stuff). I still need to put stuff up on the walls. I think I'm going to buy a couple of canvases and do some of my own. Still not sure what, but I'm looking for ideas.

I'm itching to do some scrapbooking. All of my stuff is still in the garage, but I'll move it in this weekend.

Tonight was a baptism at church. I don't think I've ever been to a Wednesday night baptism, but it was great. A nine-year old boy who's family doesn't come much decided he wanted to be baptized. There were a lot of people there. I was in charge of the refreshments. We had brownies, cookies, ice water and raspberry lemonade. Healthy, huh??? Speaking of healthy, I'm so excited to be able to go to the farmers' market this summer! I love fresh food. I only have 4 more days of work. Wow! This year seemed to go by fast!

Dallin is looking forward to high school. He isn't looking forward to 5:55 am seminary. Seminary is basically a weekday "Sunday" school for high school students. It's not required, so the kids that make an effort to get up early and go deserve a pat on the back. Each of the four years of high school is spent studying a different book of scripture. One year it's the Old Testament, then New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. I loved seminary. I really learned a lot and my testimony of Jesus Christ grew so much then. I was luck enough to be able to attend release-time seminary, which is when you take it as a high school class. I think it was 3rd period. We had a seminary building (converted house) right across the street from the high school. Don Davis was my seminary teacher. He was really good. I wonder what he's doing now. Ann-Marie, do you know?

I'm getting tired, so I'm going to go to my room and read some Mary Higgins Clark and then hit the hay! Goodnight!

I'm thankful for: the Gospel, southern California weather and watermelon.

I must be insane and new furniture

2008-06-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

I painted our kitchen, dining area and living room (basically all one room) and our hallway in Novemeber. I painted it a beige-khaki-tan color. Well, I've decided I want a little more color in our living space. Color makes me happy! So, I'm repainting. Yes, I'm crazy! Six months and I'm doing it again. I'm going back to a light colored wall...saffron ivory. It's basically a white with a bit of yellow in it. We don't get a lot of sun so I thought going really light would be good. We are getting new carpet on Monday. We just bought a new sectional sofa (delivery is next Wednesday!) It's a brown color. I know, I know! I said I like color. But, I want my big stuff to be neutral because I like changing my mind and my rooms almost as much as I like color. So, here's the plan: Saffron ivory walls in the living/dining area, fun green walls in the kitchen, brown sofa, colorful pillows, curtains and artwork. I hope it turns out as fun as it is in my head. I'm trying to get all of the painting done before the new carpet comes. Oh, and we are getting a new mattress delivered tomorrow...can't wait for that! We also bought a new dining table and chairs. I've never had a brand new dining table. The one we are using now was a Goodwill find several years ago. I paid $80 for it. Repainted it and recovered the chairs (a couple of times). The new table is counter height. It's perfect for us, because Cooper (our dog) likes to put his front paws on the edge of the table and lick up anything left on the table - yep, disgusting! For those of you that have eaten from that table, you can stop dry heaving because I do disinfect! Anyway, it will be nice that he can't even reach to put his paws up on the table. And perfect for standing and scrapbooking!!!
I'm counting down the days until summer vacation! Still loving my job, but I'm ready for some relaxation :) I wish David could take some time off this summer. He's sick today. He went to work because he has this big presentation tomorrow that he had to prepare for. I'm not sure what tomorrow will be like for him, though. As soon as he got home today he took Nyquil (is that spelled correctly???) and went to bed. Poor guy! He says he has to go to work tomorrow.
I'm getting tired, so off to read a little and then hit the hay - last night with this mattress. Today I'm thankful for: sunny days, paint rollers, Sprouts (farmer's market grocery store)

Thankful

2008-05-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

My sister, Natalie, reminded me that I didn't post what I was thankful for. I'm still working on making this a habit! So here are six things I'm thankful for (3 for my last post and 3 for this one):
1. My sister, Natalie
2. rain
3. libraries
4. pink nail polish
5. contacts (and glasses, too)
6. Fridays!!!!!

2008-05-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

David bought an xtracycle. It's a "thing" that you add onto a regular bike and it makes the bike longer and able to carry up to 350 pounds. There are bags that you can put stuff in and a seat that will hold two people (in addition to the driver). It's awesome! David took Sara to the beach on Saturday. They took towels, a beach umbrella, snacks, blanket, books/magazines. They left our house around 8:30 am and didn't get home until 6 pm. They rode a total of 30 miles! Sara loved it. I think this is something we will do on a Saturday with all of us. Not all on the extracycle, though!

Busy

2008-05-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've been soooooo busy!!! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. I'm writing this just before heading out the door to go to work, so it'll be short. I wanted to post a couple of pics of my bedroom makeover. We've been needing an office space, so I created one in our room. I really like it. I have scrapbook stuff in all of the drawers of the desk. You'll notice in one of the pics I still need to find a home for a few things. But it's coming along! And I really need to update my blog photo. I don't like that one. I'll try to get that done as soon as I can. I've been working on a scrapbook for an auction that the young women in our ward are doing to raise money for camp. The auction is tomorrow night, but I'm almost finished. I'm teaching a scrapbook class (Mommy and Me) on Saturday and just picked up the product yesterday! I need to get everything into kits by Saturday noon-ish. Tonight I have a Stake Primary meeting. I also need to get Dallin to a doctor appt and Sara to Activity Days today after school. Hmmmmm...I guess I need to figure out something fast for dinner, too!

I'm going to try to start something new (inspired by a blog I read). I'm going to post 3 things that I'm thankful for ever time I post.

I'm thankful for...art, straightening irons and the birds chirping outside my window.

A little bit of scrapping

2008-04-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

I was able to do some scrapbooking on Friday. Here are a few pictures. The "Goofballs" layout is actually a lot brighter than it looks in the picture. I also received my monthly club kit Studio Calico (the link is on the sidebar on the right). I love getting that in the mail every month! I will try and post a picture of my goodies later this week. I've got all (OK, most) of my supplies broken up into kits. The kits I've been getting in the mail inspired me. It's so nice to be able to just grab a kit and have all of the paper and embellishments together.

Sara is still sick. David and I took turns at church today, so someone would be with her. I was hoping she'd be back at school tomorrow, but I don't think that will happen. Good thing I have Monday off! Hopefully no one else will be getting sick. We're supposed to be leaving town on Wednesday night!!!

sick

2008-04-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

Sara is sick. Fever. Headache. Throwing up. Yuck. We were going to go to Disneyland today after school. Bummer. I feel so bad for her. She is starting to eat more (and keep it down). I hope she's better by tomorrow. Here's a photo we took a couple of days ago. Pre-sick.

New hairdo

2008-04-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Tara is also my hair dresser. Today she gave me more highlights and a new cut. I love it! It's very choppy. The layers are obvious. She straightened it and the choppy layers show up much more when it's straight. I looked in the mirror at the back of my hair and said, "It looks like a tiki hut roof." She got a horrified look and said, "I thought you wanted choppy!" I had to explain that I really loved it, it just made me think of a tiki hut roof. The last time she colored my hair it was quite an ordeal. She put blonde highlights in and the hair at my part turned orange! She then tried to bleach it out and it did something else wacky (I don't remember what...I've tried to forget it!). She ended up having to color it all darker and then bleach highlights back in. She said she will never use color on me again...only bleach! It was really weird! I'm glad this time turned out OK :) Oh, you can see my new hair in the picture at the right. I like it more in person.

General Conference

2008-04-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Our semi-annual general conference was great! We watched the first session yesterday morning. We were out in the afternoon, but recorded the afternoon session. Today, we watched both sessions. Dallin was bummed that Elder Dallin H. Oaks didn't speak, though. Sara was very impressed with Elder Boyd K. Packer's talk. She really liked it when he held up a Book of Mormon and a Bible and said that the Book of Mormon supports the Bible. I thought that was an interesting point to have made such an impact on her. She even drew a picture of him at the pulpit. David and I went for a walk with Cooper between the morning and afternoon sessions and now the kids are on a little walk. David made pancakes this morning and then made pork chops for lunch. I guess that means I'm on for dinner. Not sure what we'll be eating. I'm going to go enjoy the rest of the sabbath!

Pretty toes!

2008-04-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

The nail salon was calling our names. We got manicures and pedicures today. I'm not sure if you can see it, but the girls each have flowers on their toes. It was nice to go with my girls and just have a girls day. We went to lunch, to the mall and the scrapbook store. Didn't spend too much, but had fun. This is going to be a short post because my contacts are killing me...I've got to go put on my glasses!

Beach trip

2008-04-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

On Friday of spring break the kids and I went to Little Corona. We had a nice time looking at the tidepools and just hanging out on the sand. It was so nice to have that week off. I felt bad sleeping in and lounging at the beach and pool while David was still getting up early and spending all day at work! I was hoping that he would take a couple of days off work, but there was just too much going on for him to be able to.
To get to the beach from where we parked, we had to walk down a cute little street with some fantastic houses. Some of them had specatular views. Ahhhhh, what would it be like to live on the beach? Gorgeous! Our timing was great. As we were walking up the hill to leave, a group of about 35 kids in matching t-shirts were walking down. Nice kids I'm sure, but it's a very small beach!

Poor little dog!

2008-04-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, a woman from our church was bringing over dinner and dessert for us (we weren't sick and I didn't have a baby...it was just something nice she wanted to do). Cooper (our 3.5 year old beagle) barks when someone is at the door and since she was bringing food (which he LOVES) we thought it would be good just to have him on the back patio while she dropped of the dinner and then let him back in after she left. So he was on the back patio and jumped up onto a a chair and then put his front paws on the table so he could smell the daffodils that are sitting in the middle of the table. We all saw him do it and thought it was soooo cute. Then the doorbell rang and we all moved closer to the door and I answered it. The dinner was delivered and as I went into the kitchen to get plates, David went to the sliding door to let Cooper in. He was sitting at the door holding one paw up (Cooper, not David) and it was dripping quite a bit of blood. So I went out to look at it and one of his toenails (is that what they're called on a dog???) was twisted and looked really weird. We think what happened was that he was getting down after smelling the flowers and his nail got caught in the metal mesh table top and kind of tore/twisted close to his toe. So all five of us are trying to get a sock on his paw and clean up the blood that is now tracked through the living room and into the entrance of the kitchen. When we finally get him sort of bandaged, Lauren and I get in the van with him to go to the vet's office. All this time I'm thinking, "I just want to sit down and eat the yummy food that I didn't have to prepare". So we leave David and the other two kids to finish cleaning up the blood and then eat a hot dinner, while we drive to the vet's office. It's 4:10 and the office closed at 4:00. OK, I think there's a little hospital inside of PetSmart. We drive over there. No animal hospital. Oh yeah, that's the Hillsboro, Oregon PetSmart that had a hospital. The manager said he'd look up a vet that's open. He gets online and gets me directions. Great! It's pretty close to our house. We unload and then see the sign that says they are open Monday through Saturday. What? Didn't the PetSmart manager say he looked for one that's open today (Sunday!)? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt...maybe he thought it was Saturday. So we drive home. By this time, David, Dallin and Sara have eaten dinner AND dessert. Cooper's not bleeding and seems to be walking OK. I decide that I'll take him in the next day. Monday morning I took him to the vet and at first she couldn't really see anything. He wasn't licking at it and she said if there was something wrong she would've thought he'd be licking the wound. I left him there and after watching him for a while they noticed that it starting bleeding again and looked more twisted. She examained him more closely and saw that there was definite damage to the nail and a "shard" (her word, not mine) of nail was digging into his toe. She said she thought the reason he wan't licking it was because it was so painful! Ouch! So they did a little surgery and fixed him up. We picked him up today. He's bandaged and has one of those collars so he doesn't chew the bandage off. It's so sad! He's moping around and having a hard time napping. Poor little guy! All because he wanted to smell the daffodils!

2008-03-24T16:53:00.001-07:00

It's been a very long time since I've posted. Spring Break has started! Yeah! The girls and I went to the pool and had some friends come over with us. It was very fun! The forecast was for 84* and I think it made it! Yesterday was Easter. Yummy baskets of candy and other little goodies. Church was great. It's always nice to focus on the Atonement/Crucifixion/Resurrection. I got to do Sharing Time for the primary kids. I had 12 Easter eggs, each with a scripture reference and little object to illustrate that particular scripture. I called up 12 kids (2 from each class) and had them choose an egg. They took the eggs back to the group and as a group they looked up the scripture and talked about how the item from the egg related. Then I called them up in order (the eggs were numbered) and the child would show us the item from their egg and then read the scripture(s) that went along with it. It was a great way to illustrate the story and be able to hit the highlights in 20 minutes. The kids seemed really interested in the story as I told it and we talked about it. And I have to say that I didn't come up with the items in the eggs on my own. I found it on a primary website.
After church we came home and David's cousin, Delos, his wife Misty and their 3 children came over for Easter dinner. They were visiting a friend in Oceanside. We had a nice dinner (ham, mashed potatoes/gravy, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, salad), took a walk to the park, came back and had dessert (lemon bars and ice-cream bars). We had a wonderful time talking with Delos and Misty and the kids had fun playing together. It was a very nice Sunday.
Now I'm looking at some beautiful daffodils on my table. I need to go to the mall and pick up two pair of jeans that I bought last week and had them hem. I also need to go to the library website and renew a couple of books since they are due today! Tomorrow I think we might ride bikes to the Farmers Market and the library. It's supposed to be a chilly 74*. Just kidding...about it being chilly. It really is supposed to be 74*.
I'm hoping to be getting a little bit of scrapbooking done this week. Maybe I can even post some pictures.

Happy

2008-03-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some things that make me happy:

1. made beds
2. a spic and span laundry room and empty hampers
3. vaccum lines in my carpet
4. clean window/sliding door tracks
5. dinner in the crock pot
6. 1.5 hour hike w/two friends and my dog

I had a very productive day today. I even rode my bike to drop off the dry cleaning and went to Sara's classroom and read 5 stories to the students for Read Across America! I also watch the movie "The Queen", which I had checked out from the library. Then I returned the movie and some others books. I checked out three books: The Second Time Around by Mary Higgins Clark, Someday My Prince Will Come by Jerramy Fine (a book about her wanting to marry royalty and trying her darnedest to do it!) and A Simple Plan by Scott Smith (it was made into a movie that I didn't see).
Anyway, I'm feeling very good about all I was able to accomplish! I hope to keep up the momentum for the whole week.

Disneyland with family

2008-02-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Lauren and Elly - Uncle John, Aunt Vickie, Mom, Dad, Elly, Lauren and Sara - Sara and Chip and Dale - Elly, Aurora, Lauren, Snow White, Sara and Seth - Stacey and Trevor

These are just a few of the pictures of us having a great time at Disneyland las weekend. Thank goodness we had good weather. It was rainy before my family arrived and rainy after they left, but the weather cooperated while they were here. And we finally have DL passes!

I love these guys

2008-02-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add the picture to my earlier post!

I love these guys

2008-02-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of David and Dallin when they went to San Francisco last weekend. They are enjoying one of their favorite activities...watching a bike race. I'm so glad they have a mutual interest in bikes. They ride together almost every weekend. Usually long rides. Typically a minimum of two hours. Sometimes it's a mountain bike ride and sometimes it's a road ride. I don't admit it in front of them, but I like hearing them talk about riders from different teams (who's fast, who's faster, who they want to win). I like that this is a hobby that they can both continue for many, many years.

2008-02-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

Still trying to get better. I say I'm trying to get better, but I'm not resting like I should. I've worked the last two days and tomorrow I may be a Disneyland all day. Lauren has been sick since Tuesday. She seems better today, but we'll see how she feels in the morning. I'm stuffy and have a cough. Seems like a permenant tickle in my throat and it's driving me crazy! I haven't scrapped in weeks and I'm having withdrawals. My good friends from the Red Bee design team picked up some little goodies for me from CHA. Thanks girlies!

David and Dallin are in San Francisco visiting David's parents and watching the start of the Tour of California. They drove up the coast and David said it was beautiful. They left at 4:20 this morning so they wouldn't hit any traffic. When I call this afternoon they were napping! Can't blame them.

I guess I should get to bed so I'm not too tired at Disneyland tomorrow!

Sick

2008-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ugh! I've been sick since Saturday. Fever, headache, stuffy nose, sore throat, upset stomache. I've had it all. Yuck! I was planning on going to CHA on Monday and couldn't because of this darn bug! Luckily, a few of my friends have been posting pictures of the cute new products.

On another note, I was called as the Primary President for our ward. Primary is the group of kids 18 months-11 years old. I'm very excited, but a little nervous. I've got a great group of ladies to work with. I'm looking forward to getting to know the children better and help them to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know and love them individually. This will be an exciting adventure for me!

A fun weekend coming up!

2008-02-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited! My aunt and uncle (officially it was my Uncle John) won a sweepstakes. The prize was a a trip for 4 to Disneyland and a 2008 Honda CRV! Lucky! So My Uncle John, Aunt Vickie and their invitees, my Mom and Dad, are coming to visit and hang out a Disneyland next Saturday. They will be flying in from Oregon. My brother and sister-in-law and their six kids are flying in from Utah. Should be a very fun time! One bad thing...David and Dallin won't be here! They are driving to San Francisco to visit David's Mom and Dad and brothers. We didn't realize that the timing was such. Bummer! Anyway, I will finally be buying annual passes for our family. We will now be able to catch some of the super cool shows Disneyland and California Adventure offer.

Tagged

2008-01-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by my sister-in-law, Debbie. Soooo, here are seven little known facts about me:

1. I ALWAYS have my toenails polished.

2. I seriouly considered getting my nose pierced when I was 17. I was in Virginia at an Army training school. Thank goodness I came to my senses!

3. Most people probably don't know that I was in the Army National Guard.

4. If I go to see a movie that starts after 9 pm, I usually fall asleep. Sorry David! (This has caused more than one arguement between us!).

5. I like going to meetings. Granted, I don't have to go to meetings for work. And probably because of that, I enjoy going to other meetings.

6. I bought my sewing machine so I could sew on scrapbook pages, not with fabric. I have used it for fabric, I just didn't buy it for that!

7. I LOVE to clean out closets.

Now, I'm tagging my sister-in-law Timani, my friend Echo and my friend Jennifer Lee.

2008-01-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Not much going on today. The rain was nice. I made chicken noodle soup for dinner. Yummy! David made a cake yesterday, so I'm sure I'll be eating that for dessert. The kids and I started a Seattle Seahawks Monopoly game today. The dishes are calling, so I'm outta here!

Owls

2008-01-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Oops! Forgot to add the picture to the post below! Here are the owls.

very blessed

2008-01-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

Aren't these little guys cute? I found them at a thrift store a couple of months back. They were covered in grease and really nasty. I scrubed them and spray painted them. They are trivets. I just love them. I actually thought I would sell them on ebay, but I enjoy them so much, I've decided to keep them!

Tonight I went with some ladies from our church (there were 8 of us) to a cold weather shelter in Santa Ana. It's an armory that is transformed into a shelter from 5 pm-7am during the winter. Single people and families are there. One Wednesday a month our church sends people to serve dinner. We also brought clothing and shoes and after dinner we piled it on tables and the people were able to look through it to find things they or they're family members might need. It was fun to see some of the things my kids donated get picked up and how happy the people were who got to take them. Dallin donated some Nike shoes he had outgrown and they were still in good condition. A boy about 11 or 12 picked them up and I thought he was getting them for himself. I watched him walk over to his family's spot on the floor and sit down with them and a few other things he had picked out. He had a warm hat (that Lauren donated) on his head. I didn't see exactly what happened next, but a few minutes later when I looked over that way, his mother had the shoes on. I'm not sure how it happened, but I like to think that he saw the shoes and got them for her. It was very humbling to see those people. There were the "typical" homeless looking people, a few "crazies", some that looked like they could live down the street from me. I saw a very clean, pretty Mexican woman with her daughter who looked to be about 2 years old. I saw a sweet looking family with 3 boys, about 4, 6 and 8. There were other families there, too. Most of the people were very friendly and thankful that we were there to serve them. I even got asked by an old toothless man if I were married. When I said I was, he said, "I knew it was too good to be true!". I guess he thought he had a chance with me since I was talking to him! He was telling me all about his rich uncle and said if I went with him, he could probably get his uncle to give him lots of money. Hmmmmm...tempting as it, was I turned him down. So anyway, it was good for me to go see the circumstances that these people are in. Earlier in the day, I had been thinking about how happy I'd be if only I had a new bedspread and pillows and artwork for my bedroom. Green instead of khaki and blue. Lame. Lame. Lame. Not that there is anything wrong with a new bedspread, but come on Stacey! These people get to wake up tomorrow, give back the gray blanket they borrowed and carry their belongings into the street in a duffle bag.
Be grateful for what you have! Because it's a lot more than what some people have. None of those people grew up thinking, "I want to be a homeless person when I grow up."

Sunday

2008-01-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today was fairly non-eventful. It was fast Sunday. For anyone not familiar with "Fast Sunday" in connection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it's the first Sunday of the month and we don't eat or drink for 24 hours. Usually the fast begins Saturday night after dinner and ends on Sunday at dinnertime. In addition to not eating, we donate money in the amount that you would normally spend on a meal (or more, if you want) to our church. It's called our Fast Offering and it's earmarked to help families in need. We can also ask in prayer for extra help on something for ourselves or others. Maybe for a sick person, person who is having a hard time personally, or if we need help from Heavenly Father with a big decision. There are lots of other reasons one can fast for. Church was wonderful. Lessons about reading the scriptures daily. In 2007 we studied the New Testament and 2008 is The Book of Mormon. One of my goals this year is to keep up on the reading for Sunday School. I can do it!
So after we got home from church (keep in mind we are still fasting), I go into the kitchen to whip up scalloped potatoes and ham, from scratch. I usually use a box and just add the ham. Well, the recipe called for 4 1/2 cups of potatoes and I read it as 4 potatoes. There is a big difference between the two! I made the sauce (butter, milk, flour, salt and pepper), poured it over and popped it into the oven. 45 minutes later the potatoes still were not done and it seemed dry. Then I re-read the recipe and figured out my mistake. And the whole time everyone is looking forward to a delicious dinner. Well, I had to make more sauce, pour that over it and cook some more. It's better, but not great. I think I'll stick with the box. :(
On a good note, I looked really cute today! I found a light yellow skinny skirt at a thrift store. Banana Republic and brand new! I wore that with black boots w/heels and a black wrap blouse. Oh, and yesterday David took me to the mall to get new jeans. I buy new jeans about every 2 years. I HATE shopping for jeans! But, I needed them. We went to Macy's and after trying about 12 pair I found two that WE liked. Thanks David, for taking me shopping. A perk of having a husband who works in apparel. He likes to shop and knows what's in style and what looks good.

My little violinist

2008-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Sara is in the school orchestra. They had their first concert in December. I was very impressed! They did a very nice job. David was able to go into work late that day, so he and I went together. Why on earth they have the concert during the school day, I don't know. If I were a parent that couldn't take time off to see my child in a concert, I'd be on the phone with the principal! Anyway, the orchestra has another concert in May or June and I'm looking forward to it. I just realized as I'm typing this that Sara hasn't picked up her violin since school got out. I guess that's going on her to do list for today! She's so cute. When someone plays the violin on the radio, TV or at church, she puts down whatever she's doing, gets a big smile and says, "I'm going to learn to play like that!". I love her so much!

Christmas Morning

2007-12-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

Not a great photo, but in our small living room, I couldn't get a good one from the front! The kids are just checking out the goods in the top picture. Lauren showing off nail polish from Grandma (in her stocking) and Dallin and Sara. We had a very nice Christmas morning.

Adorable!

2007-12-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

One of my kids at school gave this adorable little owl to me for Christmas. I think it's the cutest stuffed animal I've EVER seen! I LOVE it!!!! Thank you Taylor :)

Happy Birthday Dallin!!!!

2007-12-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Dallin turned 14 on Sunday. Yikes! It's amazing how fast time goes by. I wanted to post a picture of him as a baby and a recent one, but no digital pics 14 years ago! So here's my 14 year old.

Christmas goodies

2007-12-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

The girls and I spent hours baking cookies and then delivered them to some friends from church. Each of us chose one or two kinds of cookies/bars. We ended up with 5 different treats to put on the plates. I hope this becomes a tradition! I've been wanting to have a whole day to bake Christmas cookies, but haven't ever done it. It's a lot of work, but also enjoyable. The boys are going out of town this weekend (to Las Vegas for a bowl game) and I'm hoping to spend this Saturday scrapbooking/paper crafting with the girls.