The Van Sciver Chronicles

Disneyland Countdown

2012-01-20T06:17:00.004-07:00

The kids (as well as Josiah and I) are super excited and can hardly wait for our trip to Disneyland next month!! This will be our 3rd year in a row going in February and we will probably continue going each year for the rest of our lives, so I decided that it calls for a countdown!

I am not a very creative person. Show me something and I can copy it, no problem. So, to google I went, in search of someone else's creative idea to borrow. I was surprised to find that there aren't many Disneyland countdowns out there, other than something you might throw away after one time use. That was not going to work for me! I did find one idea that I liked but I didn't know how to make it work, because I don't have a cricut. I liked the basic idea of it though, and knew I could use that and hopefully figure out the rest.

After spending several hours at a few different craft stores, and a lot of back and forth with ideas, here's what we finally came up with...

We spray painted a cookie sheet yellow and mod podged Disney themed/colored paper to the front for the background. The #'s we printed using Waltograph font which you can download for free from the internet. I had a bunch of bottle caps left over from a previous project so we spray painted them red and black to go along w/our color scheme. We then found a bunch of pictures either from Disneyland or that remind us of our past trips to California and pasted them into Word. We decreased the size of the pictures so they were small enough to cut w/a 1" circle punch. We put clear epoxy stickers over the tops of them and then glued them into the bottle caps. We then glued magnets to the backs of the bottle caps and those will be used to place on the #'s as we countdown our days to the trip.

Now, if there could be less arguing over who gets to start the countdown!

Midway through November...

2011-11-16T10:04:00.003-07:00

I found the courage (or whatever it was that I needed to find) to call and make the appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed. I called on a Thursday and scheduled it for the following Monday (which happened to be the day before my anniversary and 2 days before my birthday...not the best time to schedule it, if you still hope to enjoy those two days!) so I had the entire weekend to freak out over it!

Josiah had a presentation he was preparing for, so he wasn't able to go with me. My mom was able to take the day off from work though, so she was my designated driver.

The appointment was scheduled for 9am which was good, because I had to fast the 8 hours prior to. I informed them of my concerns (being put under and my jaw possibly locking during the procedure) but they took good care of me! The anesthesia they gave me wasn't as strong of a sedative...they referred to it as a "twilight" sedation. I figured I'd still be conscious, just very relaxed. I remember them starting on the first tooth and the next thing I remember was the assistant telling me she was setting up my chair and that I should sit for a moment before walking to the wheelchair that she had ready for me. Crazy! But in hindsight, I'm glad that I wasn't alert during the whole procedure. I honestly don't even know how long it took.

They only removed three. My dentist wanted to keep my bottom left. I guess it's extra pretty, or something. In talking to several people who have had theirs removed, I feel like I got pretty lucky. I only had a tiny amount of swelling and had no problems talking/opening my mouth. I do still have a weird spasm-y type pain on the right side of my head from time to time, near my temple and/or behind my ear, which I've read it's normal? I'm hoping... Anyway, I'm glad it's behind me and the healing process seams to be going well.

Now to move on to planning for Thanksgiving!

Life is passing by...

2011-10-25T09:02:00.003-07:00

October is almost over! AaaahhH! I'm not sure where the time has gone! And since I've become so bad about blogging it all, one might think that we've done absolutely nothing during that time! Which is 1/2 true. We've done dentist appointments and concerts and church callings and the gym and rearranged some rooms and cleaned out some junk from said rooms and plenty of other stuff I'm sure!

I am currently in need of having my wisdom teeth pulled. I've been putting it off for a couple reasons: reason #1) I am having some anxiety about it. (them putting me under, the possibility of my jaw locking while in the middle of the procedure and never being able to close my mouth again! and what if I never wake up from them putting me under? I guess then I wouldn't have to worry about if my mouth will close or not...) reason #2) Money. I wish it could be free! The problem I'm facing now though, is there is some pain involved. Never fun! Fortunately I have some Tylenol w/codeine left over from a previous visit to the dentist...

Wednesday night is the Young Women's Evening of Excellence. Rylie and I are trying to work on a project together for it. It's hard to put 10 hours into something that I haven't made a priority, when I've got a million other things that I'm trying to do. Even though most of those million other things aren't priorities either...I think it's harder to do something when there's a deadline. I'm better working under pressure but this project is going to require more time than what I've got. Ugh! I feel like I'm failing sometimes!

August 10, 2011

2011-08-10T09:15:00.005-07:00

Rylie started jr high today. She is attending Desert Ridge Jr High and I can't believe she is growing up so fast!! In 2 years she will be in HS! AaaaaahhhhhhH!!

Last night was "Back to school" night for Desert Ridge. She got to find where all of her classes are and meet all of her teachers. Hopefully that helps to ease some of the nerves for today.

I felt totally unprepared for today. I picked up a few basic BTS supplies over the last couple of weeks but never really go all out. It's toooooo expensive!! I typically wait til Meet the Teacher night and ask if there is anything specifically that they need and make sure the kids have those things. This year I think each of the 3 younger kids' teachers said..."Do you have a copy of the supplies list?" I hate that they make those lists! I have bought a majority of that stuff in the past and 1/4 to 1/2 of it gets sent back home unused at the end of the school year. Last year Camden brought a few things back home just a couple days in that he wasn't going to need. I didn't even get a list for Rylie until last night and of course the things she needed were basically sold out. Next year I'm going to go in early and buy up a ton of stuff. Then I will put together kits of what each grade "needs" and sell them for a small profit...It will save some parents' time and headache. (Not really going to do that, but wouldn't that be ideal??)

Alyssa left for school this morning feeling fairly sad, knowing that her big sister is not going to be at the same school. Alyssa has always been very independant but she definitely looks up to and loves Rylie. There is such a sweet bond between sisters!

I'm curious to see how much Camden grows this year. I bought him a pair of new school shoes a couple weeks ago which seemed to fit fine when we got them. He went to put them on for meet the teacher night and they were too tight. He's got big clodhopper feet! He somehow ended up with the worst part of each of mine and Josiah's feet traits. He got big feet from me which alone is bad enough, but then the bone on the outside of each of his feet sticks out quite a bit which he gets from Josiah. Anyway, he is just about taller than Alyssa. He's going to be expensive to dress over the next few years!

Trenton started 2nd grade today. My baby! How can he already be in 2nd grade?! He was complaining a little bit this morning about his stomache hurting. I'm not sure if it was just nerves or if he really wasn't feeling good. I have found in the past when he complains about his stomache...it usually ends with him leaning over the toilet. He went to school. Hopefully I don't get a call from the nurse!

Now I get to readjust to being alone at home everyday again. Probably won't be too hard. I just wish I would spend more of that time being productive. I got all caught up on laundry in the last couple weeks. My goal is to stay caught up on it. Really caught up is not the right word. I got all the clean laundry hung/folded and put away. That is quite an accomplishment for me. So really my goal is to keep laundry off my bedroom floor. There are also many areas in the house that I want to get organized. That is another goal. And blogging. I want to be a better blogger. Mostly for the sake of having my family's history kept. If I get readers in the process, so be it.

My Weightloss Journey..

2011-02-25T16:29:00.003-07:00

This morning I went running (mixed with walking) as I do about 4 days a week. Only today I went the furthest I've ever gone. When I came home, I was so proud of myself and wanted the world to know and I considered posting about it on Facebook. The problem? I don't really want to post it on there because when I post on FB I feel like it's not for me, but for others. I want to post about it for ME! It didn't even cross my mind to put it on my blog where only a few people come and look. Until I was just on my sil's blog reading a guest post about a weightloss journey. It is very inspiring. Then it hit me, why not post my "journey" here on my blog??

So for starters, Josiah and I decided about 1/2 way through January that we wanted to shed a few pounds before taking our trip to Disneyland. He had just finished off the last of our supply of Dr. Pepper the day before and we committed to not buy anymore. Another thing we had committed to do (or NOT do in this case) was to stop eating fast food several nights a week, especially french fries...something that I love!

I was going to start fixing grilled chicken every night for dinner and for lunch we were going to eat turkey sandwiches on 100% whole wheat bread. We didn't cut out mayo completely, but instead of making sure the entire piece of bread was nice and lathered up with it, I would put just enough to moisten it and it didn't even reach the edges. For breakfast we would eat either low fat yogurt or healthy cereal or something of the like.

Aside from just eating better, Josiah and I started walking between 1.5 and 2 mi in the evenings, and I was running about 4 mornings a week. We also used the Kinect as a form of working out and would do that a couple days a week for about an hour. We were surprised to find how much of a workout you actually get from that!

We both had a realistic goal in mind for how much weight we wanted to lose by the day we were scheduled to leave on our trip. For me it was 9 pounds. I will admit the first 6 pounds came off pretty quickly and I knew it was most likely water weight. (I retain so much water when I consume Dr. Pepper! Which is why I've tried so many times to quit drinking it! It has been so much easier since Josiah has been staying away from it too!)

I've always read that you should only weigh yourself once a week, typically because it can be frustrating to see when you're up a pound from the day before. We decided we were going to go ahead and weigh ourselves daily anyway but only really look at the weekly weight for how well we did that week. But I've found that seeing my weight each day gives me more motivation to keep going. Even if my weight is down from the day before, I know that if I go running, it will be even less! But if my weight is up a pound or 2, I know I need to do better today than I did yesterday. It's all about control.

We did really well with how we ate right up to the minute we left for California. We rewarded ourselves a couple times with some Chipotle or something similar, but ate smaller portions and didn't get the Dr. Pepper! (From the fountain is my favorite form so it is especially hard, if we're out, to not get one.)

On the morning we left we weighed ourselves one last time. My total weightloss at that point was 12 pounds! 12! That's 3 lbs more than my goal!

We knew that while we were in California (especially while at Disneyland) that we weren't going to be eating as well as we had been the previous 4 weeks. I personally was a little nervous about that. We had plans to eat ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries, as well as fattening food at the restaurants around Disneyland and fast food for dinner, including french fries! Disneyland serves coke products but for whatever reason they don't have Dr. Pepper, so there was no temptation there, and we were awesome about just drinking water the rest of the time.

Josiah was really hopeful that all the walking that we were doing in the park each day would help to balance out all the crap we were eating. It was honestly weird to not weigh ourselves each morning and we felt like we should have brought the scale!

Needless to say, when we returned home, we had each put a few lbs back on. The worst part was we had brought home quite a bit of junk food from Disneyland, not to mention the Girl Scout cookies that we'd bought from our neighbor had come in the day before we left to California which didn't get eaten on the trip but were then still here waiting to be eaten. We had come home on Saturday and Monday was a holiday. We attempted to eat better but it was not happening right away with all that junk food sitting around! We decided we were still on vacation since Josiah had taken Monday off and the kids didn't have school so we would focus on jumping back on board Tuesday.

That was this past Tuesday and we've done really well. (Excluding Tuesday night when I tried to grill chicken but the grill decided it was too full of greasy drippings and tried to start a fire so we went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night but only got 6 oz steaks and did NOT ask for more bread when they asked if we needed more and we drank water! /end run-on sentence...) I am happy to report that I have been able to take off every single pound that I brought back with me from California!

My walk/run this morning was 5.5 miles! The furthest I've ever pushed myself. It felt good knowing that I did it. I use RunKeeper to track my routes. It's an awesome website!

I am excited to continue on with losing weight. My next goal is to be down another 13 lbs by the summer. I think it's totally doable and I can't wait to get there!

Stuff..

2011-01-14T12:23:00.005-07:00

I'm feeling very crampy today! UGH!! Miscarrying is the worst!

This morning I took Alyssa to the dentist. She had a baby tooth that was being stubborn and holding on for dear life! It was barely loose and didn't have much room to wiggle around. The adult tooth grew in several months ago but way behind her teeth. Since I hadn't taken Alyssa in to the dentist since the end of 2009, I hadn't paid a copay for 2010 and being so close to the end of the year I decided I'd just wait incase she needed any other work done. Now we won't owe a copay for the rest of this year so we'll have to make sure to get any new work done!

As it turned out the dentist wanted to pull 2 teeth, to give the adult tooth a chance to move forward. He mentioned braces which I know she will need, but I would rather wait til she's a couple years older. Chances are her teeth will do a lot more shifting over the next few years.

Here's Alyssa trying to open her mouth with a numb lip...

Monday morning I took Camden to the doctor for some bumps that he has on the back of his leg. He's had them for a few months but they didn't seem to bother him at first so I didn't worry too much about them. Then last week he started complaining about them hurting so I finally made the appt. Turns out it's Molluscum contagiosum.
She didn't prescribe any medications which is fine by me. Time is all it really needs. She recommended using some Cortizone for itching.

Camden had his first den meeting on Tuesday...

He was very excited and couldn't wait to leave! It didn't start til 6 but as soon as he walked in the door from school he wanted to put his cub scout shirt on so he would be ready. Funny kid!

We are anxiously planning another trip to Disneyland. It's almost all that is talked about around here! Josiah ordered this book from Amazon. It's called The Disneyland Encyclopedia: The Unofficial, Unauthorized, and Unprecedented History of Every Land, Attraction, Restaurant, Shop, and Event in the Original Magic Kingdom. He's spent a lot of time over the past few days reading every detail. We are planning/hoping to go the 3rd week in February. Hopefully it works out.

Busy!

2010-12-07T08:47:00.006-07:00

This time of year, without fail, is busy busy busy! This year I actually have added to the regular stress by making bottle cap necklaces to sell on ebay. It started when I bought this magazine at Hobby Lobby for Christmas card ideas, only instead I got caught up in the idea that it shared of making bottle cap crafts. What they showed were magnets but to me they looked like Christmas tree ornaments so naturally I decided I wanted to try making some.

Well...(small sidenote) I had bought some Monster High dolls at Target a few weeks ago that I was going to try selling on ebay. In looking them up on ebay to see how much they were going for, I came across bottle cap necklaces that were made w/images of these Monster High dolls...and they were selling. I had already put money into a big lot of bottle caps, all I needed was some chains and to know for sure how to put it all together, so I googled that info. Wow! is ebay addicting!! The best part though, was that they were running a deal where you could list for free as well as free "buy it now". That's always been the drag in the past, having to pay to list things and not knowing if it will even sell.

Anyway, it turned into a little business for me and my girls. We used different images (non Monster High) and they took them to school to try and sell. Rylie has sold a few. I was actually surprised at the response that we got when we advertised it on facebook. I am almost out of chains. I reordered more last week but I haven't gotten them yet. I thought they would have been here yesterday. Of course the seller didn't provide any tracking info...which stinks!

It's been fun though. It's given me something to do. Sadly though, my printer is acting up. I ordered some new ink a couple weeks ago and it's not working properly. I guess that's what I should expect from remanufactured ink cartridges. I actually ordered me a new printer last week too. The one I have I actually got from my mom after she bought a new one because she was having some sort of problem w/this one. It has worked off and on. I decided to google it to see what reviews have been on it and it turns out it's not just mine but most people haven't liked it. Lots of people complaining about pouring money into ink all the time, and another problem I'm having where it only prints a portion of the page 1/2 the time, others were having also. That's when I decided maybe it wasn't just the ink...

So back to the beginning of this post...I had mentioned that I bought that magazine for Christmas card ideas. Yeah...I don't think cards will be homemade this year. I want to get them out before Christmas Eve. I did get a picture of my kids the other day to put in w/it, so that's good. Of course really, that's an understatement. I wish it had been that simple...of just getting "a" picture. The camera comes out and my kids can not be serious. I was so frustrated!!

Here's a few of what didn't get selected for the Christmas card...

I almost gave up because Rylie was having a girl moment and wouldn't stop crying.

She eventually got a hold of herself.

Then I wanted some individual ones...

Rylie 11

Alyssa 9

Camden 7

Trenton 6

Rylie wanted me to get a picture of her holding a present...this was the expression she came up with...

But this was my favorite...

Tonight I'm getting my hair cut. YAY! I go too long in between cuts! My last one was in May. But actually that's pretty good for me...I've gone much longer in between before.

Tomorrow's a 1/2 day for the kids. For mutual tomorrow night, the young men and young women are combined to make gingerbread houses.

Friday Alyssa is supposed to be singing w/the school choir for a school event but it's also our ward's Christmas party which I would much rather go to...I'm torn! Not sure if she's required to be at the school thing.

Saturday morning my mom and sister are supposed to come over to do some baking. (I hope they don't cancel!) And then Saturday night is Godaddy's big holiday party. Should be lots of fun!

I also need to get my lesson prepared for Sunday! Soo much to do! Where's all the time going?!

Fail!

2010-12-02T12:31:00.002-07:00

Wow! I obviously didn't keep up with my goal of posting each day, something that I am thankful for! But still we had a nice Thanksgiving! And in reality, November flew by! I can not even believe December is here! Good grief!

Josiah and I went out super early Friday morning to stand in line at Target which opened an hour earlier this year than in years past. 4 am. We were there by 2:30 and it was soooo cooold! Once inside we got the 1 thing we'd really wanted to get and grabbed a couple other things. We paid and came back home and got back into bed. Too cold and too early!

After a few more hours of sleep we headed back out and hit a few more stores. Then we came home and did more shopping online. In hindsight we shoulda started our shopping online. (I think we will remember that for next year.) Now I just hope everything that we've ordered online gets here in time!

Alyssa sang at Barnes & Noble on the 30th w/her choir class. I wish there had been a better set up for it. I would have liked to see her. They were singing on the 2nd floor, which isn't a full floor...it's more like a mall where the center is cut out and you can see down to the 2nd floor. Anyway, they had the choir pretty much shoved in between some shelves of books and there was very little space for parents to stand/sit where they could actually see. We could hear them though and I guess that's good!

Tonight Rylie has an orchestra concert. She's fairly bummed though because they aren't playing any Christmas music. Lame!

We've got a lot going on this month and I can just see it flying by about as fast as November did! Hopefully I will get some pictures and get around to posting more often!

I hope everyone is doing well!

11-9-2010

2010-11-09T16:19:00.003-07:00

On this day, *cough*thirty-three*cough* years ago, my mother gave me life. She has been a great example to me through-out my life and I've always looked up to her. She is the one I go to for advice and when I need a 2nd opinion. She is one of my best friends!

Today I am grateful for my mother! I love you, mom!

Oct. 10, 2010 My mom and I

11-8-2010

2010-11-08T14:52:00.004-07:00

I'm behind a few days. I think that has been where I get so overwhelmed w/blogging, because I want to catch up on everything I've missed. So instead, I'm just going to pick back up today, and go from here...hoping I don't miss too many more days.

Today marks Josiah and my 13th anniversary. What an adventure the past 13 years have been. It hasn't been all peaches, but like they say... "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" I believe that 110%! We are definitely a stronger couple from the trials we have encountered along the way.

Today I am grateful for my husband! It amazes me that even 13 years later he can tell me a story from his "pre-ME" years that I'd never heard before and of course, I fall deeper in love w/him! He hates the word "amazing" but to me, that's exactly what he is! AMAZING!!

I could not have asked for a better partner to go through this life with! Thank you, Josiah! For all that you do for me and our family! I LOVE YOU!!

11-4-2010

2010-11-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mom and sister came and picked me up to take me to Costco because I needed to get something for mutual last night and today my sil, Leslie, picked me up and we did some running around. (she also treated me to an early birthday lunch! Thanks again, Leslie!)

We are still a 1 car family and most of the time I'm able to do the things I want/need to do in the evenings after Josiah gets home from work. Somedays though, I fail and forget something & other days it's just nice to be out instead of home alone all day!

Today I'm grateful for family members who are willing to help me out in my time of need!

11-3-2010

2010-11-03T20:44:00.002-07:00

Earlier today the girls were in my room watching an old home video and Camden was in and out of there a few times. At one point someone (and I'm pretty sure it was Camden) bumped the ironing board and knocked the iron off but didn't bother to pick it up. To turn on the iron, you tip it forward (and then set it back in it's standing position...for obvious reasons.) Well when it got knocked off, it was triggered ON and was left sitting on the floor w/the hot side down. I really don't know how long it was like that before I walked in there, noticed it and picked it up, but it was long enough to burn a whole into the carpet, and leave a very stinky smell! I don't even want to think of how quickly a fire could have started and how crazy that would have been!

So, needless to say, today what I am grateful for is that our house is still standing!!

11-2-2010

2010-11-02T12:04:00.003-07:00

Today, especially after reading this blog , I'm grateful for my children and the time that I've been given to be their mother here on this earth. I don't want to take a second of it for granted!

11-1-2010

2010-11-01T22:00:00.002-07:00

An attempt to get back into blogging...

This month I want to share each day, up to Thanksgiving, something that I am grateful for!

I'll start off simple...

I'm grateful that Halloween is over! I think October would be less stressful for me if Halloween fell earlier in the month!

Time...

2010-04-23T08:41:00.002-07:00

I remember being a kid and how it felt like time passed by sooooo slooooowly! I couldn't wait to grow up! Now that I'm grown up, I wish time would slow down again! Why don't we learn at an early age, to enjoy the time that we have? As adults, do we ever get used to time going by so fast?? Just about every month, towards the end of the month, I find myself saying "WOW! It's already the 23rd?!" (Or whatever day it happens to be.)

The kids have only 5 weeks left of school. On one hand it's hard to believe. On the other, it's not. That's just the way it seems to go. The calendar is pretty full for the next month so summer will be here before we know it! I have a feeling that it's going to last waaay too long though. Not that I don't enjoy having my kids at home, because I do. But I will have my neighbors daughter all summer. The extra money will be nice. Thank goodness for a pool!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

2010-04-12T16:12:00.005-07:00

Our trip to Disneyland, 2/22/2010 - 2/26/2010

Back in February Josiah and I took our kids on a 5 day vacation to California. The trip included 3 day park hopper passes to Disneyland and California Adventures, a hotel which was maybe 3/4 mile away, and LOTS of fun to be had by all of us! I knew I wanted to include a trip to the beach as well as a trip up to L.A. to visit Josiah's sister Jenna. It was less than an hours drive...we couldn't pass it up!

We had planned to leave home by 10ish Monday morning (the 22nd of February) for the
6 hour drive to Anaheim. It was more like 11ish before we got away and we had to make a couple quick stops before we could leave Mesa. Including picking up a GPS from my sister Tanya, which we decided we were really glad we had w/us. Not that we got lost, but it sure simplified things. (except the time that we were looking for a gas station and it had us drive around the block to get to one that was almost kitty corner from the hotel. (Where we were parked, we couldn't see that there was one that close...))

The drive wasn't too bad. I had packed some sandwiches to eat for lunch on the way. Since we left so much later than we'd planned, we ended up eating those pretty early on. Josiah and I took turns driving. It's a fairly boring drive with all the straight, flat roads. The kids loved seeing the huge windmills. The mountains w/snow were neat also.

We got to our hotel around 5:30 CA time. There was a little trouble getting checked in. We had booked our trip only a couple weeks beforehand but for some reason (as we were told anyway) we weren't "in the system". Fortunately we had our confirmation receipt w/us so after several minutes of being in the back room (or whatever is behind the doors) the lady came back out and tried to offer us a deal for only $25 more a night on an upgraded room. We said "no, thank you" and that we were "fine with what we had reserved" and after a few more minutes of looking at the computer she said "I think they just painted your room" and asked us to "please hold on" again. A couple of the kids needed to go to the bathroom so I took them and while that was being taken care of the lady was finally able to finish up w/Josiah. They ended up upgrading our room for free because of the fresh paint in the one they had us down for. They were pretty smooth (or so they thought) trying to offer us a "deal" on an upgraded room.

We got settled in and then decided that for dinner we would try the little restaurant that was located inside the hotel. Definitely not the best. I ordered some nachos which the menu said included some shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheeses but instead had some cheese sauce. Not to mention it took quite a bit of time to get it out to us. Whatever though. We know for next time.

After eating we headed back up to our room so we could get some sleep for the busy day we had planned for Tuesday. As it turned out the bed Josiah and I slept on was less comfortable than sleeping on a hard floor. No joking. (The next night we took the other bed and it was a bit of an improvement, but still not super comfy like you would expect from a hotel.)

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early so we could get dressed and head up for our free complimentary breakfast before starting our Disneyland adventure. The breakfast was actually pretty decent. They had sausage and eggs the first and third mornings, along w/donuts, toast, fruit, cereal, etc and the other 2 mornings they had biscuits and gravy plus some eggs w/diced ham as well as all the other stuff.

We headed down to Disneyland by around 9:15 so we could make sure we had time to get our tickets picked up before it opened. They started letting people through the gates at about 9:45, so we got the "must have" picture in front of the Mickey Mouse head flower bed.

We stopped in a couple of the stores to take a peak at what they had to offer. In planning our trip, we had decided that we would let the kids each earn $50 for spending money. We also told them beforehand, that we weren't going to buy anything right away. The best idea would be to look around and see what there is, keeping things in mind and at the end of the day we would come back through the stores and make some purchases at that point.

The rides opened so we began to make our way around the park. Starting in Adventureland and heading clockwise, hitting as many rides as we possibly could! The very first ride we tried to go on was Indiana Jones Adventure, but Trenton was about 2" too short. (As a sidenote, since we've been home, Trenton has mentioned several times that he "hung on the bars at school today so I could stretch myself, so next time we go to Disneyland, I'll be tall enough to go on IJA"...Too funny!!) I almost positive that the longest we had to stand in line at any of the rides was 30 minutes and that was for the Dumbo ride. Most waits were 5-10 minutes. Because of the time of year that we went, there were a few rides that were down for maintenance. But of those, I think the only one that we really felt like we missed out on was the Matterhorn. Next time!

We ate lunch in the park at (I believe) Village Haus Restaurant. Josiah, Rylie and I had burgers, Alyssa had mac & cheese, and the boys split a pizza. I had to make a scene there and point out to the cashier taking our order how poorly I felt their little system was for taking orders. Whatever, my 2 cents isn't going to change anything. Actually, it did for the next customer in line, so I guess that's something! That's all I'll say about that.

After lunch we continued on our journey. The park was only opened til 8pm but we were all pooped by 6 and so rather than stay for the parade, we made our way out of the park, hitting a couple stores on the way for any purchases that needed to be made.

The walk that didn't seem so terrible to get to Disneyland that morning, was almost torture after spending the entire day on our feet. After arriving back at the hotel though, we all changed into swimsuits and headed down to the pool to relax in the hot tub. So. Nice!!

Originally our plan for Wednesday was to head down to California Adventure but we decided on Tuesday night, after how exhausted we all were, that we would instead take a ride down to the beach and then head to Jenna's in the early afternoon to spend the rest of the day at her house.

We all wore jeans and jackets to the beach. It was a cloudy, chilly day, but being that close to the ocean, I wasn't going to pass it up. We had a blast for about 45 minutes or so and once it started sprinkling on us, we decided to head out. It was enough time though. The kids were wet, cold, and covered in itchy sand. Thank goodness for the "shower" that they had right near the parking lot. I had the 3 younger kids pull their pants off so I could rinse their legs. I'm sure it was quite comical for the people walking/jogging/riding by.

We grabbed some lunch from Taco Bell on the way back, and then had to make a quick stop at Target because Alyssa had informed us that she forgot to pack underwear. Silly girl!

We got cleaned up and left for Jenna's. I think we got there around 2:30 or 3. She fed us some delicious baked spaghetti along w/some yummy salad and other vegis. She had also made a zucchini cake w/cream cheese icing that was soooo good! The kids had fun playing w/their cousins that they rarely get to see, and Josiah and I enjoyed visiting w/Jenna and Adam.

Thursday morning after breakfast, we headed back down to Disneyland. Our tickets included one magical morning so we were able to get in an hour earlier than the parks regular opening time. We headed straight to Tomorrowland because we had opted against it on Tuesday, due to some longer lines that by the end of the day, we just weren't interested in standing in. Especially when we knew we could come back and hit them first. We rode the Finding Nemo ride as well as Space Mountain. Then I think we headed over to Splash mountain and rode that a couple times before we headed over to California Adventure around lunchtime.

Before going on any of the rides at California Adventure, we stopped and ate lunch at Taste Pilots' Grill.

Going over the map, there wasn't too much there that we were really hankering to go on. We started on Soarin' Over California, which several people I had talked to about Disneyland/California Adventures before we went, mentioned that one ride as being their favorite and how I had to make sure to go on that one. I was not let down. I will admit, I even got teary eyed at the end where you fly over Disneyland and the fireworks are going off.

We then went on the Grizzly River Run which was fun. The best part was that Josiah took the alpha on the big splash! We walked over to the Pier and stood in line forever for Mickey's Fun Wheel which I can pretty much guarantee I won't go on that one, ever, ever again. The Towere of Terror was another favorite! Although, if we're being completely honest here, that's the ride I was pretty certain my heart was going to give out on! What an adrenaline rush!!

We made our way back out of that park and headed back over to Disneyland to spend the rest of the day. We rode Splash mountain a few more times, the 2nd to the last time being when Josiah hurt his tailbone. He was focused on posing for the camera, and not prepared for the final thump at the bottom of that fall. That put a little bit of a damper on the rest of the trip, but it didn't keep us from having fun. We thought we'd be able to see some of the parade that night, but we were a little too late for how big the crowd was. Maybe next time!

We left the park, missing it before we could even get back to the hotel. We would be leaving the next morning around 11 and saying goodbye to all the fun until next time.

Friday morning we got up and dressed and started packing our bags. At some point, for whatever reason, I went to my purse and pulled out the flyer that we had been given at Disneyland. In looking at it, I noticed it said that on Friday the park opens at 8am. This idea of trickery started forming in my head! The passes were 3 day park hoppers and we'd only used 2! I discussed w/Josiah "what if we surprise the kids w/one last quick trip down to the park before we head out!?" At first he thought it was a silly idea. I still had it in my head though. Eventually he realized the fun in it so we planned to ask the kids at breakfast, "Out of ALL the rides that we went on yesterday, if you could pick just 1 of them to go on one more time, which would it be?" We wanted to get an idea of what they REALLY liked so we can plan our attack before letting them in on our secret.

We finished eating breakfast then went back downstairs to the hotel room to get our bags and things to take to the car. We did that before checking out, so we'd have to go back inside before getting into the car. The kids were anxious to get in the car and wondered why they had to come back inside w/daddy while he checked out. Typically I probably would have just sat in the car w/them while he ran in to take care of that himself. Since we were parked in the underground parking garage, we came in the back way. After checking out, we headed out through the front doors and started walking. The kids questioned where we were going and when we told them we were going to the car, they weren't fooled. "The ramp to get the car was back there." "Why are we walking?" Rylie mentioned that "We aren't going back to Disneyland, we don't have the tickets!"

They still weren't quite sure what was going on when we got down there, until Josiah pulled the tickets out of his pocket. We explained that we wanted to take a quick ride on the 4 rides that we all liked the most. (Besides splash mountain, due to Josiah's injury) At Disneyland we went on Autopia and then Space Mountain (the lines Friday morning, even as early as it was, were noticeably longer than they were Tuesday and Thursday) and then headed over to California Adventure to ride Soarin' Over California and The Tower of Terror. The kids loved it and then we were able to leave knowing we'd gotten all of our money's worth!

We had sooooooo much fun! For the next several weeks I dreamt everynight about rides. Josiah has done a lot of research about Disneyland since we got back. It hadn't occured to me until a couple weeks ago, just how much fun he actually had. We were sitting at the table as a family eating dinner and he confessed how badly he wants to go back. He wants to buy annual passes. That would be so much fun! The kids have not stopped talking about it either and keep asking when we are going back. At the moment, I don't have an exact answer. I can just say that we will!

Apples!

2010-04-09T12:44:00.005-07:00

Gala apples are my favorite!

Time is flying by!!

2010-03-25T13:27:00.002-07:00

California was sooo much fun! It's been a month since we were there and I still have dreams that relate to our trip. Can't wait til we can go back!! I had been planning the trip since September and was determined to make it work. We've thought about planning trips like it in the past, but they never worked out or we figured the kids were still too young. I am so happy we waited til now to take them. We were able to ride on just about all the rides at Disneyland and the kids will all be able to remember their first trip.

Saturday Exercise!

2010-02-06T07:34:00.002-07:00

I have found that I love the way I feel about myself when I am active in working out. This week I worked out each day. Monday morning started extra early w/my 45 minute core workout at 5am. Followed immediately by my typical Monday morning run. Tuesday is my day off for running but instead of sleeping in, I got up at 6 and did my core workout again. Wednesday I just did my morning run. Thursday I didn't wake up early to workout, instead I got dressed for it, got the kids off to school, came home and THEN worked out. (45 minutes of core) Friday was my usual run again. Saturday I would typically sleep in however this morning, I woke up at about 6:15 and my legs felt sorta achy. Instead of laying there not being able to fall back to sleep I opted to get up and go running.

Aside from exercising this week, I've done a fairly decent job of watching what I eat. I'm not trying to say I'm on a diet...I honestly hate that word. But still, I believe you can have your cake and eat it too...just in moderation. That's what I always learned. Moderation.

So I've been eating homemade oatmeal for breakfast. I love oatmeal. I remember my mom fixing it for breakfast when I was a kid and I loved it then. The nice thing about oatmeal though, is how filling it is and the fact that I don't feel the urge to snack all the way through til lunch, because I never quite got that satisfied feeling. For lunch most days this week, I had broccoli in cheese sauce. Those Green Giant Steamers bags are my new best friend! I know, it's probably more healthy raw, but I figure if I'm atleast adding it to my diet in some form, that's probably better than before, right? For dinner, I've eaten whatever I've fed the family, just smaller portions.

I feel good. I'm attempting to lose another 10-15 lbs. Anybody with me??

YUMMY Banana-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies

2010-02-04T14:21:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I had 3 bananas sitting in the kitchen getting rather spotty and no one here will eat them once they have that look. Usually I'll make some banana bread or muffins, (unless the motivation takes too long to kick in, then they just end up in the garbage!) but I wasn't really in the mood for bread. I was however, in the mood for some cookies so I googled banana cookies and I was succesful in finding a recipe. I usually put walnuts into my bread or muffins becuase that's just the way I like them. My kids however? Not so much. I substituted the walnuts w/chocolate chips instead and they turned out heavenly.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies w/Chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 C shortening (I used butter flavored)
1 egg, beaten
1 C mashed ripe bananas (I always use a blender or food processor to puree the bananas)
1 3/4 C rolled oats
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, & cinnamon. Cut in the shortening until almost no lumps remain. Stir in the egg and bananas; mix well. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfull 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 12-13 minutes or until edges are browned. Remove from pans immediately to cool on wire racks.

ENJOY!!

Make-A-Meal-Monday...

2010-02-01T18:39:00.003-07:00

...minus a picture.

Growing up, one of my favorite entrees that my mom would fix was Beef Stroganoff. Now that I'm 'all grown up', one of my favorite entrees to fix for my family is Beef Stroganoff. (Usually just referred to as "stroganoff".) It's so simple and really only takes 3 ingredients to make it good. Tonight for dinner I fixed aforementioned meal for my family. YUM!

1 Bag (12oz) extra wide egg noodles
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 lb ground beef, browned

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add noodles and cook for 10-11 minutes, stirring ocassionally.

While the noodles are cooking, brown the ground beef in a frying pan. Season w/salt, pepper, onion powder & garlic powder. (I was out of garlic powder tonight and I really liked how well you could taste the onion powder, so feel free to omit as well.)

Drain noodles and return to pot. Using a large slotted spoon (so oil can drain into frying pan) add ground beef to pot of noodles and then add cream of mushroom. Stir & serve. I added some mozzarella cheese tonight for an extra bit of goodness and it worked.

I know that stroganoff is nothing new or exciting but it IS yummy! I'm sure there are many variations however, and I wanted to share mine...er, my mom's. Or maybe it was her mom's...

Blahged!

2010-01-31T20:06:00.005-07:00

Does anyone even come here anymore?? I've been fairly MIA lately!! Rylie asks me every now and then when I'm going to blog again and she reminds me of all the things that I still need to blog about. I hate any obligation of having to blog every little thing that goes on. It's too overwhelming, especially if pictures were involved and then I get behind. It used to be a fun hobby but the "fun" in it ended a while ago for me. :(

December is half over!?

2009-12-15T09:30:00.008-07:00

Life is busy these days! I'm not sure where last month went or where this one is going!! The good news is, we seem to be surviving!

Anyway, I'm not going to go back and try to catch up on everything that has gone on because I've decided that probably gets boring. Instead I'll mention a few highlights from the past week or so.

The girls both had concerts last week. Rylie is playing the violin this year and Alyssa is singing in the Honor Choir again.

Rylie & her friend Leah...

Alyssa and her friend Courtney...

Friday night I finally got around to getting some pics of the kids for Christmas cards. Here's a comparison pic w/last years...
2008
2009

Saturday night Josiah and I went to the GoDaddy Holiday party...

It's always fun to get dressed up to go out!

Last night for FHE we made Gingerbread houses...

Our final works of art...

Tomorrow I get to go on a field trip w/Camden's class to see The Nutcracker. I've never seen it before so I'm looking forward to it. Thursday is filled up with parties at the school that I get to help out at and Friday Trenton has field day which I will go and have fun with him at. Friday is also a 1/2 day and then after that they are out for Christmas break! YAHOO!

I'm so close to being done w/Christmas shopping! I am hopefully going to get cards in the mail this evening and a couple packages shipped off. Then I can finally get down to the fun holiday baking! (Intermingled w/some washing of dishes, laundry etc!)

I hope everyone is enjoying this Holiday season!

Facebook is overrated!!

2009-11-01T13:25:00.011-07:00

I really don't use facebook all that much. I go to facebook. I read through what people have posted. I occasionally leave comments to other people's posts. I rarely post my own comments though or update my status. I consider it from time to time and I actually have a few times, but really it's not me. I've always felt like facebook is better utilized by people who have the need/want to be heard. I'm fairly low-key. But, I do like that I can quickly say something to someone without having to call them. I don't like talking on the phone much. It's always awkward when you need to go but the other person on the other end is still talking and you don't want to be rude and interrupt. The worst is when someone else calls YOU and there's a lull in the conversation but again, you don't want to be rude and say "Ok, I'll let you go..." but at the same time, why should you be the one to keep the conversation going if they called?! I don't know, maybe I need to take a course in phone etiquette.

Anyway, contrary to popular belief...I didn't log in to blogger to rant. I actually wanted to post my Halloween pictures since FB was being retarded and wasn't letting me upload them there successfully....which lead to the rant.

I'm super duper happy that Halloween is over and done with for another year!

Since I'm here, I may as well fill in a little bit of what has gone on in the past month.

The other day I got to be a chaperone for a field trip that the kindergartner's were taking to Schnepf Farms. It wasn't a super organized field trip. They pretty much told us to do what we want and to meet back for lunch at a certain time and then a little later to pick pumpkins. Trenton and I spent the day standing in lines and riding rides...

The train...
the rollercoaster...
the big swing...
the bumblebee...
the big slide...

Last weekend the girls and I went to an activity days recognition that the activity days leaders were holding for the girls in our ward. We got to paint each other's faces to look like scarecrows...

They supplied the rest of the scarecrow getup and backdrop for fun picture taking. I didn't get any on my camera though.

We carved pumpkins this year. It's not our favorite things to do, but we all enjoyed it...I think even Josiah got into it...

The end results... The "scared Elmo" looking one was the one I carved. Josiah carved the "Felix the cat w/fangs" looking one. That wasn't the idea when we started though.

A few other things that happened in October include a trip to the dentist w/Alyssa. She had to get a tooth pulled. We will be taking her a couple more times before the end of this year to get her mouth all squared away before we have to pay another $50 copay. As it turned out, we overpayed on Trenton's stuff by about $50 so the remainder of what Alyssa needs done will mostly be covered by that credit. YAY!

We are holding off on piano until January because we'd like to have a little Christmas, atleast. Things are a little tight right now but we have faith that things will look brighter in the not too distant future.

I got to go to parent teacher conferences last week and came out a very proud mother. You might even say I was beaming. It wasn't even about the grades, although they all are doing pretty well. The girls each had 4 A's and 1 B and Camden had all A's. (Trenton doesn't get letter grades yet.) It was more about the way each of their teachers went on about them. I love having children who are loved by their teachers. Not because they brown-nose or try to be the teacher's favorite, but just simply because they are well behaved kids. I was concerned about Camden's teacher because, well, I just hadn't gotten the best impression of her to that point. But after getting through that conference, I was able to go to the rest without any concerns.

Coming up this week will be my 1 year anniversary since I started running. Insane! I'm surprised myself to say I'm still running 3 days a week. Anyway, I've set a new goal which I'm going to start tomorrow (instead of the 7th which is the anniversary) and start fresh. Eating better, no more Dr Pepper (again) and whatever else goes along with it. My goal is 10 more lbs gone by New Years. I went down a total of 20 lbs in a few months when I started last year, but put a couple back on...so I think it's totally do-able.

Anyway, Christmas music was playing on the Sounds of the Season channel this morning, so everyone can FINALLY be HAPPY!!

YAY for October!!

2009-10-01T09:11:00.009-07:00

Kids are funny! I got up and dressed at 6 this morning, so I could run to the store for some bread before Josiah left for work, and when I walked out of my room the girls came out of their room exclaiming "Mom! It's COLD outside!" Rylie continued with "I was just on the internet and it said it's 70°! It's soo cold!" They were serious. I had to laugh.

September is already gone. It's so hard to believe! I've been busy with life and haven't had much time to blog. Not that I was doing the best job keeping up on it anyway.

Piano lessons started back up a couple weeks ago. We took the summer off so their teacher could have a baby and move and get settled. Camden is now taking lessons also. He loves it and I hope that doesn't go away! He's doing really well for a beginner! After his first lesson he was really excited to go back. For whatever reason he thought the next time would be a recital. He was a little disappointed when I told him he has to take piano lessons for a little while before he gets to do a recital.

I've been going down to the school 4 days a week to help out in a couple classrooms. I'm in Trenton's class Mon/Wed/Fri for about an hour each day, and on Tuesdays I go into Rylie's classroom in the afternoon for a little over an hour. I enjoy having that connection with the school rather than not having a clue as to what's going on.

On the 22nd of September, the 5th graders had an evening field trip to a D-Backs game which Josiah and Rylie went to together.

Labor Day morning we took the kids down to the park nice and early and played some t-ball.

Josiah and I have been frequenting the Chiropractor lately. I started going because I jarred up my upper back/neck area and the friend that I run with kept suggesting that I go in to see her husband (the chiropractor). For Josiah it's been more of an attempt to relieve some work related stress/tension that builds up in his back & hopefully it will also help to improve his immune system.

Josiah got moved to a different location for work which is about 20 minutes further away. It's not fun having to fill up on gas more than once a week. It's kinda like a small demotion. Especially when you throw in the fact that they started taking out more money for health insurance, but lowered our coverage. We are grateful he still has a job though. I'm still watching my neighbor's little girl Monday - Thursday, before and after school. It's nice having that little extra money at the end of each week. It helps more than I expected it would.

Now it's October and the kids have been talking about Halloween costumes for weeks. I can not wait to get that out of the way! It's such a headache every year! I would much rather skip it and use the money that I use on costumes, for Christmas instead.

I should probably clarify...

2009-09-17T10:31:00.003-07:00

I think when I posted yesterday, I was mostly just frustrated at myself because of this lame desire to eat even when I know I'm not hungry, and I didn't clarify some things.

I drink about four 20 oz bottles of water a day. I keep raw almonds and/or walnuts (which I love both) on hand for snacking. The only "junk foods" that I keep around on a regular basis are chips and fruit snacks which are for the kids' lunches and for the most part, I don't go to those when I'm in a munchy mood.

In the last week, what I found that I really wanted was ice cream one day and didn't have any on hand, and then over the weekend I had a serious "need" for chocolate which I, again, didn't have any on hand. I purposely try and avoid buying those types of things at the store, because then they stare me in the face and beckon me to partake. (I should probably add that I did eventually make my way to DQ last week for a Blizzard and on Sunday evening, I made some no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies...to help w/my chocolate craving. Just so you know I'm not trying to claim to be strong when I have these urges.)

I make homemade smoothies several times a week to have for breakfast or more often for dinner. Yesterday for breakfast my smoothie contained 4 frozen strawberries, 1/2 a frozen banana, a handful of frozen grapes, 1/2 an apple & 1 C of skim milk. (Occasionally I'll use 1 c of OJ instead of milk.) So it was a fairly healthy smoothie. That was around 7 am. By 10:30, I was wanting something more and I try to not eat lunch til noon. Maybe because I'd gone running at 5:45 yesterday morning and then had to walk to and from the school (10 minutes in each direction) not to mention the walking around the classroom that I did before returning home, my body was just ready for something else? I also think maybe the fact that I'm due for my period within the next few days? Does that play a factor here?

I think my biggest problem is that I sit around at home most of the day, all alone and usually not doing anything very productive. When I'm busy, my mind is on other things and I don't have that same desire to eat. I need to figure out some things that I can do that will keep my mind occupied. Ugh! I'm a lost cause!

What is my problem?!

2009-09-16T14:51:00.003-07:00

I need help. Lately I have been struggling with this not feeling satisfied after I've eaten. I don't want to get to the point of feeling stuffed after a meal, but I want to not feel like I need to go munch because I'm not full. Does that make sense? What is my problem? My regular activity includes running 30 minutes/3 days a week, walking to and from the school every day sometimes up to 3 times in one day, back & forth. (I've been helping out in classrooms 4 days a week.) This doesn't seem like it's enough physically to balance out what I'm eating. What can I do?? I need suggestions. Any and all are appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Now I must walk down to the school to pick up the kids! The good news is, it's only 95° outside.

Yummy

2009-09-02T16:04:00.003-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, 3 of my sister's-in-law did a "baking in the kitchen together from a distance" sort of thing. They had all decided to bake one of their favorite recipes from their childhood that their mom (my mother-in-law, aka Nana) used to make, and since they all live too far apart to get together and bake, they instead baked in their own kitchens but on the same day and then blogged about it. What a fun idea, I thought.

Well, I wanted to try out that recipe for myself because from their pics, on each of their seperate blogs, it looked sooo good! And they each customized it to their liking. One did a regular cake form, another did bundt cake and the 3rd one did muffins. The recipe was for Sour Cream Blueberry Cake. I opted to try some mini muffins. Muffins for the convenience and mini because that is the size of pan I have. After filling the pan the first time though, I decided to pour the rest into a bundt cake pan.

Blueberry muffins are not my favorite but this is soo YUMMY! I altered the directions very slightly because it wasn't going to work very well w/mini muffins, but it still turned out super good!

The recipe: Nana's Sour Cream Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup softened sweet butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour 9x13 pan (or a bundt pan). Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well. Mix dry ingredients together and add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, ending with the dry mixture. Stir in vanilla and 1 cup of the blueberries; Pour half the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and the other cup of blueberries. Cover with the rest of the batter. Bake 40 minutes.

Ok, so what I changed was that I just put all the blueberries into the batter and then w/the muffins, I just sprinkled brown sugar on top, since it would have been too tedious to try and get just a tiny bit of batter into each mini muffin hole, a few blueberries, some brown sugar per each and then a little more batter. When I poured the rest into the bundt pan, I did 1/2 first then layered the remaining brown sugar and then the rest of the batter. The cake ended up turning out better for me because I didn't quite leave the muffins in long enough so the tops were tearing off. Which everyone prefers muffin tops anyway, so no big deal.

Give it a try and let me know what you think! You won't be sorry!

One down...

2009-08-15T20:29:00.007-07:00

We managed to survive the first week of school! Hooray!

I like to compare years, so here's last year's first then this year...

There were a couple days that Camden didn't want to get out of bed but other than that, we haven't had many problems. Really. He's been complaining about his teacher being "mean". I have mixed feelings about her myself. She's an older teacher, which isn't my problem. I'm not quite sure what it is about her though. I think I just didn't get a very good impression of her on meet the teacher night. She didn't seem very interactive w/the parents. She talked to Camden but didn't take much time to really talk to Josiah and I which I think kinda bothers me. Anyway, several days after school this week Camden was complaining that he got "yelled" at for doing nothing. I had to explain to him that he just needs to make sure he's staying on task; not talking when she is, looking at her when she's talking, and doing whatever he's supposed to be doing...when he's supposed to be doing it. That way when she "yells" he will know that it's not directed at him. We'll see how that goes.

Hope everyone else survived their first week of school!

Almost...

2009-08-06T08:26:00.012-07:00

Just a few more days til all the kids are back in school! Summer is ALMOST over! YAY! Don't get me wrong. I love my kids! I'm just looking forward to a little bit of peace and quiet. After this week I could definitely use some.

I have been watching my neighbors little girls all week, from 7am until about 4:30pm. They are really good little girls, but having 2 extra kids is a LOT of extra noise. My neighbor across the street has been very kind and taken my own girls for me a couple days for a few hours each time. She just has one daughter and enjoys having my girls over because she can finally get some free time. My girls love going over there also. It's a win-win situation. I have also had her daughter over a couple times this week which is even more noise, but well worth it for the exchange.

Last night the class lists were posted at the school. Rylie's name, for whatever reason, was not listed. I need to call down there this morning and find out what the deal is. Tonight is "meet the teacher" night and I'd prefer her to go back to school already knowing what class she's in as opposed to her having to wait and find out the first day. Alyssa isn't thrilled about her teacher. It's the one she did NOT want. She's heard that this teacher is mean. I explained to her that it is mostly that she is "mean" to the kids who are disruptive. Alyssa is a very good student however, so I'm sure she will not have any problems. I'm not familiar w/the teacher that Camden got but the girls say she's nice. And Trenton got Camden's teacher from last year which is what I was hoping for.

A couple weeks ago I got to go see "Wicked" with my mom and sister. I honestly didn't know what it was until just a couple days before we went when I finally asked my mom. I feel kinda silly that I didn't know. I mean, I knew it was a broadway production and that I've only ever heard that people love it, but as far as the plot. I had no clue that it had anything to do w/The Wizard of Oz.

*****************************

Now for some miscellaneousness...

I chopped Rylie's hair a few weeks ago only I was dumb and braided it first thinking it would make it easier to just cut it across since it's sooo thick, and then I'd just make it even after that. Well, I considered the fact that the weaving of the braid would bring the hair up a little in length, so I needed to come down a little further w/the scissors for it to not be shorter than what Rylie wanted. *Tip: Don't braid your daughter's hair before cutting. If anything, just put it into a ponytail and cut it above the holder. It was a mess. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but at the time I was just horrified! The 2 sides were fine but it went way up in the middle, so the end result was her hair being a couple inches shorter than she had wanted. Fortunately she's very forgiving!

I was quite surprised after that to find that Alyssa was still willing to let me trim her hair. I will admit though, she was a little hesitant.

Josiah's sunburn, which resulted in sun poisoning...

shedding his skin...
This is one of those things for me that is like nails on chalkboard. Josiah wanted me to help him peel it off, but something about the way it feels between your fingers as you're pulling it away...ew! (And I have no problem sqeezing his zits, so it's not like I just don't like to touch him...)

Baking some "cooks" as they are called around here...
We've actually made lots of yummy cookies over the summer. I've found that Rylie is really good for helping out w/that sort of thing.

The Phillies were in town so Josiah took the boys to see them...

I had a yard sale which the kids insisted on having a stand of some sort but since we didn't have any lemons for making lemonade, I let them sell the soda and water. Alyssa did a great job of advertising...

I got a kick out of it. She rode up and down the street (a few houses on either side of us) chanting "Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Water for sale! [insert address here]! 50 cents each!" Over and over again. Good times! Sadly it was a HOT day and we really didn't have many "customers" as they were being referred to as. Next time though! Better watch out!

Tomorrow Trenton has one last (for now) dentist appointment. In all he's had 3 teeth pulled, 2 baby root canals, 3 spacers (well 3 after tomorrow...he's getting the last one put in plus a permanent filling put over the last baby root canal that he had done 2 weeks ago.) and atleast 1 regular filling, maybe 2. I don't remember for sure. It's just been an expensive journey especially since Nitrous Oxide is $50 per high. Not to mention the teeth he's had root canals on will come out eventually. One of the teeth that they just did a regular filling on will actually need to be pulled once the tooth behind it has grown in. The dentist isn't sure how long the filling will actually hold up because the cavitiy was so big. I have an appointment for all 4 of them for the 21st to get cleanings. I can't wait to find out who we need to start on next and how much work needs to be done! YAY!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few days/weeks of their summer vacation!

Little bits of random

2009-07-17T06:13:00.005-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was sitting at my desk when Trenton came in and said "mom". I turned around and this is what I saw...

You gotta admit, at first glance that's kinda creepy looking! Of course each of the kids needed to have a turn as well as a picture taken...

We moved into this house last July and the kids swam well into September...maybe even October. They started swimming again this year in late March, early April. Daily. Several times a day even, on some days. (Especially this summer.) In all that time I hadn't had to deal w/any green hair until the Saturday of Alyssa's Baptism. Later that day Rylie went to a friend's birthday/pool party. She had been swimming before she left so her hair was wet. I helped her to get it brushed before going and there was nothing wrong w/it. That evening after she showered I helped her again brush her hair while it was wet only this time....It was GREEN! Like gross, seaweed looking, green. EWWW! I suggested she get back in the shower and try washing it several more times, but still green. It was already well into the evening so there wasn't really anywhere I could take her (salon-wise) to get help and we had 8am church the next day. I couldn't have my daughter going to church w/green hair. I don't care that I've seen other girls at church w/green hair, they weren't my daughter. I quickly started browsing google. There were suggestions of special shampoo for that sort of thing but I didn't want to run out and try to find it, not to mention how much money I probably woulda had to fork over for it. There was another suggestion for vineger and one for lemon juice. I tried the vineger but still nothing. Finally I came across the suggestion to use ketchup. Sure enough, got it out. I got some before and after pics. Take a look..

Anyway, we are barely surviving the summer. It's been soooo hot the last couple weeks. The last couple days the sky has been teasing us w/clouds and lightning, but so far nothing exciting. Fortunately, as I mentioned previously, the kids have been able to go swimming several times a day.

I'm mostly done w/all the school shopping. Each of the kids could still use a couple more pairs of shorts but decent shorts have been hard to find this year. I refuse to buy the super short shorts for my girls and I don't like the elastic waistbands in shorts other than sports type shorts for the boys, or the girls, for that matter! Shoes are taken care of as well as backpacks and lunch boxes. I've picked up a few school supplies but will have to wait til 'meet the teacher night' to decide what specifics we need. It all starts in 3 weeks! YAY!

Starting Aug 3rd I'll be watching my neighbors 2 little girls. The oldest starts Kindergarten this year though and the youngest they are actually putting into an all day preschool/daycare sort of thing, so technically I'll only have the older one for an hour before and after school and then the weeks that there's no school, I'll have both of them. It'll be nice to bring in a small amount of money. I wish it were more, but hey, I'm sure I could go out and find a job if it really starts to bother me, right?

I hope everyone is having a super great Friday! I gotta go bake some cookies w/Rylie now! YAY! For awesome momness! HA!

June

2009-07-09T11:11:00.010-07:00

I don't know if anyone is even bothering to check my blog anymore. I can't say I'd blame anyone for not. I've been fairly MIA the last several weeks.

June was a busy month for us. It started out w/Alyssa's birthday on the 2nd, followed by Josiah's on the 4th, Alyssa's baptism on the 13th, Father's Day on the
21st, and Trenton's birthday on the 29th. Not to mention, everything else that fell in between.

For Alyssa's birthday this year, we didn't do a regular birthday party. She decided that what she wanted was to get her ears (re)pierced, so that's what we did.

She blew out a candle in a birthday brownie on the day of her birthday.

We baked Josiah some cookies for his birthday present...
(he also got some software for his computer that he'd been wanting..but that was 1/2 birthday, 1/2 Father's day present)

...and a homemade angel food cake w/homemade cream cheese frosting...
(not the most attractive looking cake, but it sure was tasty!)

Alyssa was baptized on the 13th by Josiah.

There were 13 kids being baptized from our stake that same day and 5 of them were from our ward. (Three of them were triplets!)

We had everyone over afterwards to sing Happy Birthday and to eat cup cakes & ice cream. (although now that I think about it, I forgot to take out the ice cream!)

We had my parents over for dinner on Father's Day. I fixed some super yummy Chicken Parmigiana, per Josiah's request. Sadly he spent the day not feeling his best and ended up missing church that morning. (I think he was just trying to get out of saying the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting...which he was successful at until the following weekend when they called him again.)

For Trenton's birthday, we did an Optimus Prime themed party w/a few of his boy cousins.

(My pathetic attempt at decorating a birthday cake last minute)

He couldn't stop talking about his birthday for the full month leading up to it. Each day he would come to me and inform me of what day it was and he was constantly standing in front of the calendar counting the days down. I was grateful once it was finally passed.

Anyway, that is the important stuff that has happened around here in the last month. I have some other fun pics that I'll try and get posted hopefully sooner than later.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

5-19-2009 - 5-25-2009

2009-06-06T18:57:00.006-07:00

(I feel like I'm getting more and more behind, but I think I can see a light at the end of the tunnel?)

The kids' have been out of school now for a couple weeks.

Trenton's last day for preschool was on the 19th and we celebrated by having a little pool party here at our house.

On the 20th the 4th grade put on a "musical". Here's Rylie's class' performance...

Later that same day, Camden's Kindergarten class had a small celebration...

The last day of school was Thursday the 21st and it was a nice short 1/2 day.

The first day of summer the kids got to hang out at home while I spent a good portion of the day at the funeral & helping out at the family luncheon, of a friend from church who had passed away very suddenly the week before. Less than 1 week after being diagnosed with Leukemia. Her name was Celia Turley and I don't think a single day has gone by, since I heard of her passing, that I haven't thought about her or her family. Even 2 weeks after the funeral. I guess I hadn't realized while she was around, how much of an impact she had on my life. She is surely missed. I wish I could go back and atleast have the chance of giving her a hug and telling her "Thank you!" I don't think I realized it right away, but now for sure I know how blessed I am to have known her.

The following Monday was Memorial Day. Josiah had the day off and since we didn't have any plans I took the opportunity to go to my mom's by myself and scrapbook all day. I then spent the next couple of days at home working on some scrapbook pages w/Rylie and Alyssa. I'll put pics of those pages up later.

Hope everyone is having a super great weekend!

5-16-09

2009-05-30T16:20:00.008-07:00

The weekend of the 16th we were supposed to have gone camping w/my family. However, after some unexpected events and unsure feelings Josiah and I were both having (because even though we finally had the oil changed and got new tires back in Feb/March, we are now experiencing some serious vibrating when we step on the brake in our car), we decided it'd be best if we just stayed home.

This was obviously upsetting to the kids especially since we've had to cancel several "road trips" in the last couple years due to either car issues or lack of money. We felt bad and decided to make the most of our weekend even if it didn't include mountains and campfires and outhouses.

We spent the morning at Jeepers which the kids thoroughly enjoyed...

After that we headed over to Fuddruckers for lunch. SOOOO YUMMMY! (Except we were a little upset that they no longer serve their chipotle bbq burger!)

After that we headed home and did a little swimming and then set up a tent that we picked up that morning so the kids could still "camp out" in the living room.

I think all in all, the kids as well as Josiah and I, were able to enjoy the weekend even if it didn't include gettin' outta dodge! We are hopeful that by the next trip, we will have our car problem figured out.

5-11-09 - 5-14-09

2009-05-28T16:17:00.004-07:00

Alyssa's final project for her ALP class was to do a report on air & flight. When the paper came home about it, I turned it over to Josiah. ALP is just what it sounds like...too advanced for me!

Josiah and Alyssa agreed to do her project/report on Bernoulli's Principle. I was able to go in and listen as she gave her report. She did an awesome job. She's kinda quiet in the video, but here it is...

That evening Alyssa had a choir concert. I only recorded one of the songs and it's from my camera, so the picture is rather grainy, but here it is...

The girls' piano recital was also that week. They did awesome!

I was totally lame and missed the first few notes in Rylie's first song...

And then she got to do a duet w/her piano teacher which was fun for her!

Their piano teacher is about to have a baby so lessons are on hold for the summer. But also, their piano teacher is moving a ways away and I'm torn not knowing for sure what to do. The girls love her and I hated ripping them from their first piano teacher. The dilemma is that I have to take Josiah to work on the days of piano lessons which hasn't been a problem because she lived in the neighborhood and I could just drop the girls off and come back home while they had their lessons. I'm just going to have to decide what will work best. We will likely stick with her atleast to try it out and see if we can make something work.

Anyway, that's today's update! Hope everyone is having a super great week!

5-8-09 - 5-10-09

2009-05-24T19:30:00.020-07:00

I'm behind. Rather than try and cram everything into one long post, I'll break them down and date each one accordingly.

A couple weeks ago Josiah's mom and sister, Abby, came into town. We were so excited to see them! It was so nice having them here w/us for a night and wish it could have lasted longer. But alas, we'll patiently wait for the next gathering. We sat around eating grilled chicken fettucine and garlic bread and laughed til we cried over stories from the past. I love hearing the stories that Josiah's family have to tell.

We spent that Saturday morning at the Phoenix Zoo and then enjoyed some delicious pizza at Streets of New York for lunch.

That Sunday was Mother's Day. We haven't seen Josiah's mom on Mother's Day in about 10 years so it was well deserved. We spent a couple hours at his grandmother's house just sitting around, visiting. I realize some people have little to no patience for that sort of thing, but honestly, I could sit around forever just visiting and enjoying the company of others. Even if mostly what I'm doing is listening to others visit. It's all good to me! I love my husbands family and sincerely wish we could see them all more often!

Here are plenty of pictures to enjoy...

(Josiah's mom and sister Hannah)

One of the monkeys

Rylie, Alyssa, Trenton, Camden mostly hidden, Ash, & Bella

Alyssa, Rylie, Abby, Amanda, & Mikayla

Cooling off

These orangutans were very entertaining to watch. This one used a branch of a palm tree to shade him from the hot sun.
This was a mama and her baby. The mama is hiding under the sheet and the baby was very typical of a toddler trying to get his mother's attention by climbing all over her...

At Streets of New York

At Josiah's grandmother's house on Mother's Day...

Anyway, I think that about sums it all up. I've got plenty more to catch up on but will save it for tomorrow perhaps. The next one will be the girls' piano recital! They did awesome! Until then...

A somber day...

2009-05-17T19:57:00.003-07:00

Today, in less than 2 hours time, I was informed of the deaths of 2 different people that I know.

One was the husband of one of the mom's in Trenton's preschool. I didn't know him but it still hits kinda close to home because I know his wife and I taught his daughter the weeks that preschool was at my house. He was at Jeepers this past Monday with his wife and girls while we were all there for a last get-together for preschool. I haven't heard too much about it yet but he was young and it sounds like the cause right now is unknown.

The other was a friend from church who, even though we weren't super close, I admired and looked up to her. We did chat occassionally though. We worked together in Cub Scouts for a little while. She was the committee chair so it wasn't directly working together, but I called/emailed her for different things because as a den leader, I had to report to her. We also sang together in the ward choir. One of her daughter's is Rylie's age and she often picked Rylie up for activity days. She was recently diagnosed w/Leukemia. I hadn't heard about it until Friday when an email went around to people in the ward suggesting there be a fast for her because her body wasn't responding well to the Chemo-therapy. I was kinda shocked when I got the email and of course even more so to find that she had passed away.

I can not even imagine what these two families are going through. It really makes you stop and wonder if you are doing everything that our Heavenly Father would want you to be doing. I know that I fall short in soo many areas right now. I strive daily to be a better person than the day before. There are definite trials for me though.

Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with these families tonight. May they find comfort in knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan and that families will be together forever.

(I have plenty of stuff that I need to blog about but didn't feel it appropriate to do so in this post and quite frankly am not feeling up to it tonight...maybe tomorrow.)

Plain and Simple...

2009-05-10T06:25:00.004-07:00

I don't have a whole lot of time because I need to be getting ready for church, but I wanted to start the day off by wishing my mother a Happy Mother's Day! I couldn't have asked for a better person to call 'mom'.

My mother and grandmother last Mother's Day.

Because I'm short on time, go here to read last year's tribute.

I sure love you, mom! Thank you for everything! Hope you have a wonderful day!

*ALSO*

Today is my dad's birthday...

Last year on his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
Hope your day is extra special!
We all love you!

Can we say, BUSY!?

2009-04-28T11:43:00.007-07:00

So incase anyone hadn't noticed, the day after tomorrow is the last day of the month. I don't know. That's what the calendar is telling me.

This morning Alyssa had her weekly honor choir class which meant I had to walk down to the school twice to drop kids off. I had only been home for about 10 minutes after walking down the 2nd time when I got a call from Rylie. The kids had planned to buy their lunches today because French Toast was on the menu. Turned out the toaster(?) was broken so they weren't able to fix that (Not sure when people started cooking french toast in a toaster...maybe they come frozen and they use a toaster to heat 'em up?) and Rylie was asking me to fix her a lunch and bring it down. Well upon hearing this, I knew Alyssa wouldn't be happy either (she rarely buys and was ONLY buying today so she could have the french toast) so I decided I'd fix them both a lunch and walk them down. I decided to wear my sneakers which I was glad about because after dropping the lunches off Trenton was very hopeful that I'd push him on the swing at the park which he knows I don't like doing when I'm wearing flip flops. He even pointed out, "You're wearing your sneakers, mom, so you can do it." It was nice out so I decided, "sure! why not?!" We hung out there for about 20 minutes or so then we walked down the street and around the corner to the neighborhood walmart to pick up a few things. Instead of just walking, I decided to make an adventure out of it. We started by listening to the different sounds that we could hear; birds chirping, wind blowing, cars driving by, airplane overhead, etc. As we approached the corner we took a shortcut and walked through the gravel and continued in the dirt along the wall that seperates back yards from the main street. While holding Trenton's hand he climbed on and jumped off each of the big rocks. Along the way we found a dried up leaf that was bigger and a different shape than what was in the trees/bushes along the way. I noticed this and suggested he pick it up so we could see if we could find what tree it came from. We plucked a leaf from each of the different trees along the way and compared them but never found a match. (I assume it was a traveling leaf and it had come a long way!) But it was fun. Different from just walking and not talking which tends to be the way it usually goes. I'm usually just in a hurry to get back home and tend to find myself repeating "come on Trenton, lets go" and "hurry up". We stopped to look at some ants that were crawling back and forth along this twig and I explained to Trenton how that little twig was like their freeway. He thought that was kinda funny and he found another similar twig nearby and extended their 'freeway'. We also discussed what a fire hydrant is and what it's used for (besides what dogs use them for.) We arrived at Walmart, made our purchases and headed home.

Last night we got to go to Academic Night for Rylie. It's for students 4th grade and up who get all A's the first 3 quarters of the year, with the exception of 1 B. YAY! For Rylie!! Awesome job!! WOOOHOOO!! She was given a certificate at school and received a pin at the ceremony.

Saturday morning the kids had a joint birthday party to go to for my niece and nephew at Bounce U. I went and hung out with my sister-in-law and after the party we went to their house for a bit. She then offered to let me leave them there and suggested Josiah and I go out, so I took her up on that. We went and saw 17 Again which I wasn't sure if it was going to be too teenage-ish for us or too chick-flicky for Josiah or what. As we were waiting through the commercials it appeared that it wasn't an audience full of teenagers, or even just a bunch of girls so I wasn't as worried about that anymore. My sister would probably say it was too corny but Josiah and I both got some pretty good laughs out of it. I felt it had a good story line and could probably actually reach a wide range as far as audience goes. I recommend it.

Friday night we took the kids to the school's annual carnival, which as usual was not as organized as I think it could have been. Next year, since I will no longer have any kids at home, maybe I'll have to take the initiative and join the planning committee! That'll learn 'em! I think for the most part though, the kids had fun. Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen for dinner and then some ice cream.

The Saturday before that was non-stop GO for me! The day started with a photo shoot w/my sis-in-law which we ended up being late to, but Leslie did an awesome job and got some great pics! Here is a small sampling...

Anyway, after the photo shoot I had a Pampered Chef party to go to which I had to leave early from to get Alyssa to a birthday party which was being held at As You Wish which is a good 15 minutes from where we live. As it turned out there were a few other girls from our neighborhood that were going and it would have made so much more sense to put together a car pool. We know better for next time!

On the way home Rylie and I stopped at Costco to pick up a few things. We decided we wanted to try their Orange Chicken but while we were standing at the freezer, a lady walked by who was also about to pick some up and she was talking to her son about the coupon that she had for it, which reminded me that I had gotten a thing of Costco coupons that week and should run home to get it before buying it. I didn't figure it'd be too much out of the way since I'd have to come right back by it when it was time to get Alyssa from the party. Home we went. Sat down just for a minute and then right back out the door. We ended up grabbing a few other things that we found coupons for. I need to remember those coupons more often. This was my first time actually using them but a couple months ago I had gone there and bought close to $150 worth of stuff only to find within the next few days I had some coupons sitting around that included one for about 1/2 the stuff I bought! Aargh! Lesson not quite learned, although this time around it wasn't too late. Maybe now it has set in and next time I go I'll have them with me. We'll see! Anyway, we made our purchase and left to pick up Alyssa. It seems like we had something that evening also but I don't even remember what now.

I suppose this maybe makes up for my lack of posting for the last couple weeks! Hope everyone is doing well!

Incase you were wondering...

2009-04-23T11:00:00.004-07:00

This is all it takes to make old toys exciting again...

(yes, the castle is upside down too!)

Take it from a 4 year old!

Make a Meal Monday x's 2!

2009-04-20T11:21:00.005-07:00

I have a couple recipe's that I've tried in the last week that I wanted to share. I got both out of a Women's Day magazine.

The first is Chicken Sorrento...

The recipe calls for a bag of frozen stir fry vegetable blend but I didn't have that on hand so I used frozen broccoli and some fresh carrots and celery instead. I thought it turned out really good!

INGREDIENTS
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 5 oz each)
1⁄4 tsp salt
1⁄8 tsp pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1 bottle (8 oz) creamy Italian dressing
1 bag (16 oz) frozen stir-fry vegetable blend

PREPARATION
1. Sprinkle chicken with the salt and pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 2 minutes on each side, or until golden.

3. Pour dressing on chicken; turn to coat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

4. Add frozen vegetables, cover and cook 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are crisp-tender.

I used 6 breasts so I just cooked a little longer. The chicken was so moist and delicious! I fixed corn on the side for those in my family who won't eat the other veggies.

The next one was Sausage and Pepper baked Ziti...

INGREDIENTS
8 oz uncooked ziti rigati pasta
2 tsp oil
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
2 cubanelle peppers, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
12 oz spicy or sweet Italian sausage (4 links)
1 cup part-skim ricotta
11⁄2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
1⁄4 cup grated Parmesan
1⁄4 cup chopped parsley
2 cups marinara sauce (from a 24- or 26-oz jar)

PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Cook pasta in a large pot of lightly salted water as package directs for al dente or firm texture.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add peppers, onion and sausage; cook 6 minutes or until sausage is browned. Remove from heat; cut sausage into 1⁄4-in. slices.

3. Mix ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 3 Tbsp Parmesan and the parsley in large bowl. Drain pasta; toss with cheese mixture, sausage mixture and 1 cup marinara sauce.

4. Pour pasta mixture into a 2-qt shallow baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Again, I thought it was really good but I don't think anyone else in my family liked the red peppers. (I don't know what cubanelle peppers are and I couldn't seem to locate any at the store I shopped at, so I just did without.) But they were easy enough to pick out. I think next time I would probably use ground sausage instead because the sausage didn't seem to cook all the way through, which made me nervous to eat, but reheated it cooked the rest of the way and was really good.

So there you go! Hope everyone has a super Monday!

Where is April going?!

2009-04-13T12:14:00.011-07:00

One of my VT'ers called last night to schedule a day to come visit and after getting off the phone I thought, "Wow, they are getting that done early this month!" Not that I was bothered by it or anything. Well, after finishing up preschool this morning (it's at my house this week) I sat down and was thinking of calling my VT'ing partner so we could get it out of the way early also, when I looked up at the calendar and realized it's not exactly early anymore. WHAT?! April is 1/2 over! Next thing I know the kids will be out of school for the summer and I'll be expected to keep them entertained. After reading my sil's blog today, I realize that I should be excited about this opportunity, but truth is, I don't look forward to it. It may partly have something to do with the fact that I don't have a car during the day most days. This is generally not bothersome to me at all until I have my kids home and it suddenly becomes more apparent how nice a second car would be. My kids get bored easily. I don't want a 2nd car for now though. Someday. But that day hasn't come yet.

For the past week I've been somewhat "out of commission". I've had this weird chest congestion, probably bronchitus but I haven't gone to the doctor. The last time I went running was last Monday and I almost died then, from feeling like I couldn't breathe. I'm worried that I'm losing all my muscle and that once I'm able to breathe properly again, I won't be able to run the same. UGH!

Anyway, other than that nothing super exciting has been going on. We had a nice Easter. My niece was baptized Saturday morning and we would have been early only I didn't pay attention to details in the email so we went to the wrong building and then couldn't get a hold of anyone to find out where it was actually supposed to be. I guess I've fallen into the comfort of knowing that someone usually calls me to find out how soon we'll be somewhere or if we're going to make it, so I can just ask those sorts of last second questions at that point. This didn't end up being the case on Saturday though. Fortunately my sil Leslie finally saw that I called and she called me back.

Saturday evening we colored Easter eggs...

The kids didn't seem to have any problem finding where the Easter bunny hid their baskets...

(Hopefully this will be the last year using those baskets!)

Last night we went to my brother's house for an Easter dinner which included ham, rolls, cheesy potatoes, corn, & deviled eggs. It was YUM!

This afternoon I have cub scouts. Wednesday instead of regular preschool we're going on a field trip to the county fair which I guess is free, but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to go. This is my last week of having preschool at my house, so there is a bonus. YAY! Thursday I have dentist appointments for each of the kids. Trenton's is to get a spacer put in which was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago but he's got odd shaped teeth or something, so they had to take an impression of his teeth and have one custom made. The other kids I scheduled cleanings for and hopefully they will do x-rays also, to see what sort of stuff they need done. I've decided I want to get everyone (atleast the kids) taken care of asap so we can be on track and get braces lined up if we need to. Not a bill I'm looking forward to, but want to do this for my kids if at all possible because I've lived a life of crooked teeth and don't want my kids to go through the same if they don't have to. I still hope to get them for myself one day, but for now, they come first.

Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying April before it's too late!

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T20:36:00.003-07:00

Happy Easter!

Can we say, "YUM!"??

2009-04-08T14:33:00.002-07:00

What is it about these? If I didn't know the real reason we celebrate Easter? I'd say it was so we could eat these without feeling guilty! Who's with me?!

Life...

2009-03-31T10:04:00.016-07:00

I think my title pretty much sums it all up. I probably could leave it at that and everyone would have a general idea of what has been going on around here. That does seem a little boring though, so for those who are interested, I'll go into details.

It all started the afternoon of my last post (the one before yesterday's).

I was sitting outside in the driveway, visiting with my neighbor's parents who were in town to visit during Spring Break, (my neighbor was at work) while my kids and the neighbor girl rode bikes and kept us entertained with all sorts of child-minded theories.

Trenton came to me to tell me something and his voice was somewhat horse. As he got a little closer I could tell he was feeling feverish. As the weekend progressed he became very lethargic. Saturday evening I decided I needed to take him in to see a doctor but with how late in the day it was, all the urgent care offices around were closed. I gave him Tylenol. After church the next day I took him in. He had a low-grade fever of about 101. The doctor said his throat was red and guessed it was probably strep, but didn't do a culture test, just prescribed some antibiodics and sent us home. He was feeling better by Monday. Thank goodness!

So for the start of Spring Break, everyone was well. We spent the day at my mom's doing some scrapbooking. Well, mostly the girls did and I just helped them. The boys played on the Wii most of the time. My mom couldn't do much because of the surgery she had on her hand/arm the Thursday before. But it was nice to be able to sit and visit with her.

Monday night we went down to BounceU with my brother and his wife Leslie. The kids enjoyed it. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent at home. The girls and I did a little bit of scrapbooking, we went down to the park, the kids tested out the pool which was still way too cold in my book, but it was after spending time at the park and getting rather warm, so I figured I'd let them get in for a bit. They had been dying/begging to for several days at that point...I didn't want to totally ruin their SB!

Thursday we spent the day at my mom's again, doing more scrapbooking. This time we had gone by the scrapbook store on the way over for the girls to pick out some papers and embellishments to use for this one layout that they both really wanted to do. Again, I mostly just helped them with their pages and didn't really do much of my own.

By Friday Camden was suffering from a sore throat, cough, congestion, etc, but I never noticed that he was feeling warm.

Friday night Josiah & I went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse then we went shopping. I bought Easter Sunday clothes for the kids and then we went home. I had the girls try on the dresses that I got them but decided I didn't like them all that much so Saturday morning the girls and I headed back to the mall to return them and find something else, which thankfully, we were successful.

Saturday afternoon I took the boys with me and headed over to my mom's, for one last visit before SB was completely over. This time I actually did a scrapbook page all for myself.

Sunday morning before church Alyssa complained of a headache so I gave her some Tylenol and didn't really think anything else about it. Josiah was on call for work and after we were all dressed and ready to go, he had work stuff that he needed to take care of before everything broke completely! I headed to church with Rylie, Alyssa and Trenton, and since Camden wasn't feeling well, he stayed with Josiah until he was done working and was able to head over for the remainder of church.

By Sunday evening when we sat down for dinner, Alyssa was complaining again about a headache and didn't feel like eating. I felt her head and sure enough she was feverish. I gave her some Tylenol and sent her off to bed.

After our busy Spring Break, I was ready to get all the kids back to school so I could get some stuff done around the house. Well, Monday morning rolled around and Alyssa was still feverish and eventually threw up. Needless to say, I decided to keep her home from school. Rylie and Camden got ready for school and just a few minutes before we were ready to leave I noticed a tiny pimple-ish looking spot on Camden's nose. I got a little closer to examine it, mostly because I thought it was kinda funny that he had a 'pimple' at 6 years old so I was curious if that's what it acutally was, and realized he had one right under his nose as well. As he reached his hand up to touch them, I found another on his knuckle. By this point "chickenpox" is what goes through my mind. I didn't know if I should just send him not knowing? Or if I should just keep him home? Afterall he was still a little horse. Well, after calling my mom and googling, I decided I'd walk him down to the school and take him right into the nurse (Josiah had already left for work for the day so I didn't have a car to just take him to the doctor.) to see what she thought. After examining it herself and asking if he'd been vaccinated (he had recieved both shots) she suggested that it could possibly be a mild case and that I should take him into the doctor to confirm it.

I called Josiah to let him know that I may need him to come home early...depending on what I found out when I called the doctor. The nurse had mentioned that they may not want me to bring him in, incase he was contagious. It was still too early to speak to a triage nurse, so I left a message and waited about 3 hours before one ever called me back. Once I mentioned that he had been coughing and stuff the previous few days, she suggested I bring him in. I called Josiah again and he was able to be home within 45 mins or so. According to the doctor, it was the varicella virus, but since he'd had both vaccinations, it would just be a very mild case and he shouldn't be contagious. She wrote a note saying he was safe to go back to school and we left.

Alyssa laid around and slept for most of the day Monday. She wasn't able to eat much and by Monday evening, she threw up again. Tuesday morning when she woke up, she seemed to be feeling more normal but her face was really pale and she looked like she might pass out any minute. I figured this was due to how little she'd eaten in the past few days. I decided she should stay home one more day. Of course once she realized she had honor choir that morning she was really hoping I'd take her down there for that and just pick her up afterwards. She didn't want to ruin her perfect attendance. I agreed for a bit and then after thinking of her having to walk the entire way to the school and then back, just made me wince for her. I could just picture her passing out either to or from and finally convinced her that her health was more important than her perfect attendance. She eventually was ok with it.

By that morning something had also hit me. I was all congested and was suffering from a cough and running nose. I napped for a couple hours that afternoon. By Thursday I was feeling a little better but even still today, I have a bit of a drainage problem.

(warning: slight diversion)
Thursday morning Trenton had a dentist appointment which had actually been scheduled for the previous week, but because he was still on antibiodics and still had a cough, I opted to reschedule, not knowing how he'd do sitting there having to have his mouth wide open and if he needed to cough. Anyway, so we show up for his appointment and right away the girl at the desk reminds me that they plan to use the Nitrous Oxide, since he's so young, but that it was going to be an extra $50. Ugh! I'd forgotten about that part and hadn't figured it in to how much we would possibly be spending. I knew we had the $50 copay, and then whatever else ontop of that for what they were doing that our insurance wouldn't cover. I figured they knew best so I told them "ok" on the gas. While we sat there waiting, the dental hygenist was making conversation and asked how my day was going. I thought it was kinda funny because my only response was..."Pretty good! Being here at the dentist is a nice break from what I've been dealing with the past 2 weeks at home!" They got Trenton started on the nitrous oxide and waited a good 15 or so minutes while that set in, then they came back to do the shot which lead to more waiting. It was entertaining to watch Trenton on the gas though. He went into a couple giggling fits. He was suddenly very outgoing which is so not Trenton. They finally got started. They were drilling his very back tooth for a cavity and found soon after that they were going to have to finish it off with a "baby root canal" as they kept calling it. I guess because it's in a baby tooth? I dunno. Anyway, they deadend the nerve and put a temporary filling in and then proceeded to pull the molar in front of that one, which had already been breaking apart. (Rylie had the same problem with that same tooth on both sides when she was the same age. My poor kids! Between mine and Josiah's families, they have no hope!) They prescribed him some antibiodics and off we went. We get to take him back this Thursday to finish the root canal and put in a spacer. YAY! I may pass on the gas this time....I think he'll be fine with just the shot. (end diversion, Thank you!)

By Thursday evening the bug found Rylie. She started complaining of a headache. I offered her some Tylenol but she refused. She does NOT take medicine well/easily. I asked if she wanted to stay home from school the next day but she said they were studying for AIMS testing and that she needed to be there for it. She didn't seem to be feverish, so I let her go.

Saturday evening I had Pinewood Derby which I had planned on having everyone come with me. Josiah started to feel nauseous by Saturday after lunch sometime. I realized he wasn't going to feel up to coming with us, so I offered to let anyone else stay home, but all the kids wanted to come over with me even knowing there wasn't going to be anything for them to do but watch. While we were gone Josiah spent some time bowing to the "porcelain god." Upon arriving home and hearing this news, I knew right away that I'd be teaching our primary class the next day, even though it was Josiah's turn. I didn't even question him about it.

Sunday morning Rylie was complaining about her stomache so I told her to just stay home with Josiah. Sunday evening she ate dinner but by Monday morning she was complaining about her head hurting again. She couldn't even eat her breakfast she just laid her head on her arms at the table. I could tell by her face that she didn't feel well. She was red and she had dark circles around her eyes. I hadn't really noticed a fever at this point but I was able to get her to take some Tylenol for her headache. The AIMS testing was starting but I knew they were going to have make up days, so I figured I'd keep her home and hopefully she'd feel better by today. She went back to her bed and ended up sleeping until noonish, when I finally woke her up and gave her a smoothie that I'd made for her. She only sipped a little of that and by now, I could tell she was feverish.

I had cub scouts at 4:30 which everyone came with me to. Josiah was helping go over pocketknife safety with the boys. Rylie laid on the floor the entire time. She looked awful. After I was done with cubscouts, I decided to take her into the Urgent Care. After a super long wait we were taken back where they took her temp and found that it was at 105.2!! Geez! I was sure glad I'd taken her. They decided to do a chest x-ray, which the doctor said that there didn't seem to be anything that should cause too much concern. He mumbled something about Valley Fever and I didn't make much sense out of what all else he said, he had a strong accent. I googled it once we got home and then I realized what he was saying. He mentioned that there were some nodules in her lungs or wherever they are, but they appear white on the x-ray which means that her body had already started to take care of them. If they were grey, there would be reason to be concerned. Anyway, he prescribed some antibiodics and some ibuprofen but of course the nearby pharmacies were closed by this time (7:00pm) so I just grabbed some Motrin from Walmart and against all rules, I just gave Rylie some of the antibiodics that I had on hand from Trenton's dentist appointment. I compared the label to the prescription and it was the same name, (Amoxicillin) same strength. Josiah called our home teacher and asked if he'd mind coming down to help administer to Rylie. Within an hour she had broken into a sweat.

I had planned to send her to school this morning. She looked much better when she woke up and didn't seem to be feeling sick. I gave her another dose of the antibiodics and fixed her some breakfast so she could be all good to go on her test taking. After just a bite or 2 and a sip of her orange juice, she started gagging. I didn't know what to do. I hated the thought of her having to make up 2 days of testing. Alyssa had honor choir at 7:50, so I decided that when I walked her down there, I'd go into the office for advice. They informed me that it would be better to just keep her home because if she started the test and ended up throwing up, they'd have to throw out the test and she wouldn't be aloud to start over. I was glad I found that out. They have several days of make up and they don't make the kids do it all in one day, so she should be fine.

Anyway, that's it in a nutshell.......

Here are a few pictures of the highlights...

Bounce U

The next 2 are a little blurry, but you can see that they are having fun.

Josiah and my brother Jeremy duking it out...

At the park...

After the park...

My most recent basket of fruit...

I volunteered that day so I got an extra thing of strawberries and a couple extra avocados.

Last Friday Camden had a field day and he asked if I could come down to hang out during it...

Trenton enjoyed being aloud to participate and Camden loved showing him off to everyone!

Lastly are the scrapbook pages that we got done and the layout that we got inspiration from...(most of them are still missing pictures and the title, but for the most part you get the idea)

Alyssa's page...

She got her inspiration from here...

Rylie's page...

She got her inspiration from here...

Another page that Rylie did...

She got her inspiration from here...

Here's the page that the girls were fighting over...

I had the kit and they both wanted to do it, which was when I decided to just take them to the scrapbook store to pick out their own papers/embellishments to make their own.
This is how Rylie's turned out...

And Alyssa's...

And the one page I made...

And my inspiration...

Anyway, I need a vacation after this long post! Hope everyone is doing well!

P.S.

2009-03-30T08:22:00.003-07:00

I'm still alive. The nasty "bug" has been making it's way through our family and last Monday when I thought I'd finally have a chance to post about our Spring Break (since the kids would be back in school) Alyssa ended up staying home w/a fever and Camden had some chickenpox looking spots on his face and hand. UGH!

It finally hit Rylie by the end of the week, although she insisted on going to school because they were studying for the AIMS testing which is scheduled to start today, and now today, she's home because of a really bad headache which she has also complained about for the past several days but I couldn't get her to take any Tylenol until this morning, finally! (Sorry for that ridiculously long run-on sentence!!)

I will post very soon about our last couple weeks...they were busy, so no doubt it will be a looong post, w/some pictures though. So come back soon!

Ready? SET!!

2009-03-13T10:16:00.012-07:00

When I was a kid, I remember my mom sitting in the kitchen for hours canning various fruits and making jams. She would do so by following recipes found in this book...

The picture is of the actual book even, which I acquired the other day. You can see how used it was by the crease marks down the front of it.

My all time favorite jam that I remember her making while I was growing up, was plum.

A couple weeks ago I joined a food co-op, where, for $15 every 2 weeks I can get a laundry basket full of produce. It's an awesome deal...assuming you can/will actually use all the fruits & veggies that they stock you up with before it goes bad. So far I haven't gotten a picture of my basket. I forget until most of it is put away.

The first week I got 2 stalks of romaine lettuce, a bundle of broccoli, a bundle of spinach, 5 huge roma tomatoes, 4 large (and pretty I might add) red bell peppers, 2 long english cucumbers, about 6 oranges, 7 or 8 apples, about 10 plums, a bunch of bananas (maybe 12ish?) a pineapple, a small thing of blueberries, and probably a couple other things that I'm forgetting.

Last week, even though I hadn't used everything I got the first time, I HAD to buy again. The stuff changes from week to week and I HAD to find out what I'd get this time! It's a sick addiction, I know! Anyway, I got a huge thing of leafy green lettuce, another long english cucumber, 4 big yellow onions, a bag of carrots, a bag of celery stalks, another thing of what I thought was spinach, but after comparing it to what I know was spinach from the first time (because it was labeled as spinach) I don't think it is....it says "collard greens" on it..anyone know what that is exactly? I mean they look like big green leaves, but what are they like comparison wise? anybody? Sorry, got off track there a little...so there was also a bag of green grapes, a pint of strawberries, 7 pears, about 10 gala apples (my favorite) about 8 (bigger/sweeter than last weeks) plums, a cantaloupe, another big bunch of bananas, and again, I'm probably forgetting 1 or 2 things.

After getting all the stuff this last week and knowing that a bunch of stuff was still sitting in my fridge from the previous week, (2 weeks ago actually because it's only every 2 weeks..) I knew I needed to figure out something to do with the stuff. The salad makings I seem to have no problem making use of. The fruits on the other hand haven't been eaten as quickly.

Well, remembering back to how much I loved my mom's plum jam and the fact that I got a new food processor for Christmas that I've been trying to get good use out of, I decided I wanted to try and make some plum jam all on my own. I already had jars because my sil and I have made strawberry jam a couple times in the last year and a 1/2. I wasn't sure if I had a pot big enough for sterilizing the jars in, but I was willing to try. I've only ever made the strawberry jam with my sil and her mom present, so all I've ever done was follow their instructions. I was a little nervous going about this on my own, so I made sure to read the instructions several times through so I'd know exactly what I was supposed to do.

I realized right away that I wanted to avoid the recipe in the book my mom used, as it required an hour or so of actual cooking time. I didn't have that much patience, not knowing if it would turn out. Plus I had my own ideas as to how I wanted to try it and they were all against what this recipe called for. So I googled. I found that it WAS possible to do it the way I wanted, so I read up on all that I would need, made sure I had enough empty jars/lids/seals and then walked down to Walmart to pick up some Pectin and sugar.

After returning home, I pulled out my biggest pot (8qts) and filled it with water. I was able to easily fit 3 pt sized jars in and probably could have fit a 4th if I'd actually checked.

I proceeded with washing all the plums, then cutting and pitting. Next they went into the food processor. The recipe actually said to finely chop them, but that would have been too much work...I'm lazy I suppose.

After running them through the food processor, it was into the pot for 5 mins of simmering...

After the 5 mins it was time to add the sugar...

I guess I didn't get a picture of the after cooking/before jars but here they are after all the jars were filled...

According to the directions, I should have "processed" them in boiling water for 10 mins, again, one extra step I didn't have time for. I knew we had never done this with the strawberry jam and I was actually following the same (I believe it's the same anway) directions right off the pectin insert, so I was betting that they'd be fine if I just turned them upside down for a bit and then turn them over again. I let them set upside down while I was preparing some stuff to take to my parent's to fix them dinner and flipped them just before leaving. By this morning they had sealed properly and were already "set"...

I was very happy to say the least. I couldn't even wait to try it out. I took a bite before I remembered to get a picture...

It's good! Yummy, even! I'm rather proud at my first attempt of making jam on my own!

Now I gotta get some banana bread made with all the bananas I have. I'm an old pro at that though!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Randomness w/a few pictures

2009-03-12T08:48:00.015-07:00

Last Friday Alyssa was very anxious to get to school on time (early if possible) because she had a field trip and didn't want to miss the bus for it. She was up and dressed pretty early. I went about making sure everyone else was getting ready and then headed into the kitchen to start lunches where I found this...

My little Alyssa had taken it upon herself to start all the sandwhiches, in an attempt to get to school in a timely manner.

The day before, I had gone with Trenton's preschool class on a field trip to the Rockin' R Ranch.

It was cute. I think most of the kids enjoyed it.

They learned about drawing stories on rocks just like the Native Americans did back in the day...

Trenton chose to do his about rain clouds...

Next they learned about Teepees...

and how the Native Americans used stones to grind grain into flour...

Next they learned how to lasso a rope...

and how to pump water out of a real water pump...

They got to sit inside a saloon on these cool seats that were made out of real saddles, as well as stools that were made out of old tractor seats and horseshoes...

Lastly, they got to pan for gold...

************

In other news...

I'm fairly proud of myself for how much working out I've done this week. I did my regular running Monday morning. Then Tuesday morning I got up at 6 and did some core exercise that I do along with a dvd I've got. Tuesday evening I went down to the track and ran 5 laps around, along with 9 times up and down the bleachers. Got up again Wednesday morning and did my running. And this morning I was up at 6 again and did more core exercise. I think Josiah has enjoyed it almost as much as I have. He doesn't mind seeing me in my workout attire. I think it helps to start off his day pretty well.

I was really wishing this morning that I'd gotten a full body "before" picture back in November, so I could really see the progress. I mean, sure, the scale should be enough to say I've done something, but it'd be neat to actually SEE what the difference is. Y'know?

Next week is Spring Break. I may spend a day or 2 at my mom's. She was having surgery on her hand this morning and I'm sure she could use any extra help she can get. (I have my limits though...sorry mom.) I'm not sure what else we'll do besides that. The kids will whine alot, I'm sure. I think for sure that we will get their rooms cleaned. I should put that at the top of my list, and make sure it gets done first, so we don't have to worry about it the rest of the week. The den could use some cleaning too. I may have to put some reward system in the mix. Hmmm.

I hope everyone is having a great day!!

I Have a 10 Year Old?!!?

2009-03-09T11:43:00.010-07:00

It almost doesn't seem possible. But, believe it or not, Rylie turned 10 years old on Saturday. I think I'm handling it better than Josiah. Now, when my BABY is 10 years old...that might be a different story!

I love this picture. It was taken sometime during February(ish) of 2001. Rylie was just about 2 years old.

How is it that it only seems like such a short amount of time that she went from that to this...

Saturday was her birthday which was nice because we were able to have her party the same day. We went with a movie night theme. Here is the front of the invitations that I made for her to pass out to her friends from school...

And the cake that my awesome sil Hannah made...

She never disappoints! Thanks a ton, Hannah!

Josiah and the girls found the perfect balloon...

Instead of doing the typical treat bag, I used the plastic popcorn cups that you can find at Target, and filled them w/a bag of movie theatre candies, a mini can of soda, a microwave bag of popcorn, and each girl also got 4 little bracelets in their popcorn cup. I thought they turned out cute!...

We ate Barro's pizza for dinner and the girls watched An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. A really cute movie. The girls all seemed to enjoy it. In all, counting Rylie & Alyssa, friends from school and cousins, we had 14 girls here. Needless to say, it was very LOUD.

Besides the movie, they also took turns playing Rock Band...

We love you, Rylie! Hope you had a great birthday!

TGIF!!

2009-02-27T13:42:00.011-07:00

For starters, I left out a couple minor details from my post about Valentine's.

I forgot to mention that I made pink, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast that morning. Which Josiah, knowing I'd want to blog about them, so kindly took a picture of...

Next, I had a request from my cousin Rachel, to see a picture of the earrings that Josiah got me for Valentine's...

*************

Going back a little bit further...

A few weeks ago, I think it was January 24th, Josiah's brother Ethan and his wife Sharis and their son Hunter were in town from North Carolina, for a comic convention. Josiah planned a little get-together so we could see them. We pretty much just hung out here at our house, ate some Olive Garden take out, played a little Rock Band, and visited. I only managed to get a few pictures and they were mostly of my kids and Hunter. Here they are though, for those who were wondering...

The kids set up a couple tables and were trying to sell some fool's gold to passers by.

This is what resulted from a package of Halloween make up which my sister let the kids open. (we were having a garage sale that morning and the make up was something she'd brought to sell) I'm not sure what look he was going for...

Josiah's sister Hannah and her husband and kids were here also. Some of the kids playing Rock Band...
Hunter is the one in front/middle. Hannah's son, Ash, is the one to the far right. You can see the smudge mess that was left behind on Trenton's face, from not being able to clean the make up off all the way.

*************

Jumping back to nowish...

Yesterday Camden had a Kindergarten musical during school. They had 2 performances but I only went to the morning one. They did a great job. Their theme was "Goin' to the Zoo" so of course they sang songs all about animals. The battery in my camera was dying so I only got a couple pictures...

Alyssa ended up coming back home with me after the performance. She was not feeling well. Mostly she's got a cough and stuffy nose. Her cough isn't a hacky cough though, it's more of an asthmatic type cough. She's never been diagnosed as beeing asthmatic, but when she was 3 or 4, she was prescribed with some breathing treatment medicine. I need to take her back now that she's a little older and see if they can prescribe an inhaler for her. There are some nights that she just coughs constantly through most of the night. There's no way she's getting good sleep.

She did seem to get better as the day went on though and eventually she even came in and asked if there was anything she could do to earn .24 cents. (She was trying to get to an even $10 and she had $9.76) I suggested she pick up the few things that were on the living room floor but that didn't sound very exciting to her so she asked if there was anything else. I told her she could clean the bathroom. As funny as it sounds, that perked her interest and she was up and in there cleaning away in a matter of minutes. I paid her $1.00 for that job. It was worth more to me than a measly .24 cents.

Last night after the girls were done at piano, I needed to run to the library to return some books that were due. The kids had been dying to go and check some out, ever since I got a library card a couple weeks ago while I was there for a field trip. I agreed but had no idea what I was in for. The boys first stop was the graphic novel section, where Trenton had pulled about 4 or 5 books off the shelf and was certain those were the perfect ones for him. He then proceeded to the spanish section and started picking a few. That was about when I realized what was going on. (I had run into my friend, Sundee, aka my running partner, and started gabbing as the kids were set free) I quickly grabbed Trenton's books from him and started looking through them, explaining that maybe he should get some that were a little more age appropriate. He then remembered where we'd picked books out for him a few weeks ago and headed in that direction, while I put the other books away. When I found him again, he had a nice stack of books more suitable for him and made himself comfortable at a nearby table, where he quickly realized, they were nowhere near what he was looking for. He put them all back. The girls needed help locating the Magic Treehouse books and other stuff that might be of interest to them so I took care of that. A few minutes later I found Trenton again, this time in the C.S. Lewis section, with a couple big Chronicles of Narnia books in his hands and he wasn't done. He sure had set his goals high. He was a little sad that I wouldn't let him pick out books that were similar to what the girls were picking out, but we finally settled on a few that were not quite as in depth. Camden also attempted to get a couple Goosebumps books, certain that he'd be able to read them all in the 2.5 weeks that we will have them. Now, I don't want people to think I'm trying to diss my kids and say they can't read. Camden is coming along very well considering he's in Kindergarten, but I'm just trying to be more realistic. Anyway, he ended up with all (kid oriented) graphic novels which I figured Josiah would be proud once he found out. Here's what we ended up with...

Tomorrow I'm having a Pampered Chef party here at my house. When I booked the party I was really excited and thought, "Yeah, I can do that! I know alot of my neighbors now and several people from church and from Trenton's preschool class! I for sure should have a good turn out!" Well, so far out of the 30 people I've invited I've had 3 say that they will for sure be here. A few have said they wouldn't be able to come but want to order. It's hard to depend on outside orders though. I'll admit though. The party that I was invited to a couple weeks ago, I didn't actually get the invite until about an hour and a half before the party was supposed to start. Not because it was sent out late, but because that's how often I check my mail. I hate having cluster mailboxes. I realize my mail is probably safer and it's alot faster for the mailman, but if my mailbox sat at the edge of my sidewalk like it did growing up, I'd check my mail daily. Anyway, I was so excited to get the invite and was especially glad that I didn't get it too late because I really had been wanting a few things but didn't know of anyone who sells it. I decided to do a party, in hopes that I could get enough sales to get some stuff at discounted prices. If anyone is interested in ordering anything, you can go here, click on "order products" in the lower left hand corner, enter my first and last name (Sarah Van Sciver) and place your order. The items will ship right to you. Anyone who has used Pampered Chef before knows how awesome their stuff is. I love every kitchen tool that I've purchased from them.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go on a sale pitch there. Mostly I'm just ranting that nobody RSVP's. I thought that was supposed to be to say either way if you can make it or not. I will just feel silly if the consultant gets here tomorrow and 3 out of the 30 people I invited show up. UGH! I'm done with that rant now! Sorry!

Speaking of RSVP'ing, I need to go call Rylie's friend's mom to say she'll be at her birthday party tomorrow night.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Trenton Quotables

2009-02-23T15:11:00.003-07:00

This morning, after returning home from walking the kids to school, I asked Trenton if he wanted to wear his sneakers to preschool, or just keep the flip flops on that he was already wearing.

His response:

"Aw man! I have preschool today?! But today I have sneezes and coughses!" (Insert a couple fake "coughses" here) "Mom, can I stay home today?"

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

2009-02-20T12:33:00.014-07:00

Should I state the obvious?

Now I have to go back.....

Valentine's this year was a day early for us, but really nice! Josiah surprised me. A few days before, he was telling me he was going to need me to come with him to pick out some earrings because he didn't know exactly what I'd like. That was fine with me. Well Friday I called him on his lunch break assuming he was at lunch but he told me he wasn't exactly "at lunch". Well, I guessed that he was at See's picking up the traditional heart shaped box of chocolates which he knows very well that I love. Not just for the chocolates of course, but for my growing collection of heart shaped boxes. Anyway, a couple hours later (about 2 hours before he should have been getting off work) he came strolling through the door with this big box in his hand. He was going to hide it and give it to me the next day, but I ruined his plan when I heard the car alarm going off as he locked the car. I wasn't expecting him home early, so of course I had to get up and see for sure if it was him. Anyway, he gave it to me then and then he had another surprise for me. That morning he had snuck my engagement ring out of the house without me knowing, so he could take it into Helzburg and have it fixed. The diamond popped out a couple weeks ago while I was changing laundry around. My finger smacked the post in the middle of the washer and knocked it right out. I was just lucky to have found it. The ring was actually going to take a week to have it fixed, but while he was at Helzburg, he went ahead and picked out a pair of earrings all on his own. They are beautiful. More oval shaped than round and they are white gold. It was probably better that he went ahead and got them without me there because knowing me, I would have suggested we put it off a little longer, after seeing the price tag.

That night we went out to Chili's for dinner. We got there before 6, so we didn't have to sit and wait, which is nice, but now Josiah refers to us as "old". I'd rather give my body a chance to digest the food a little, before I go jumping into bed for the night. If that makes me old, so be it!

I made some chocolated dipped pretzels for Josiah for Valentines. They were super yummy!

I also made up a couple little bags of them for our neighbors...

Yesterday Trenton and I went to the zoo with his preschool class.

(Thanks for the picture Deb! I borrowed it from your blog. Mine like this didn't turn out very good.) This picture includes a couple extra siblings and one random little girl who decided she wanted to be in the picture also.

This jaguar was pretty cool to see...

He's new there and was so close up so we got to see him really well. He wasn't very entertaining though...just gnawed on some raw frozen meat the entire time!

Trenton wasn't as excited about these big lizards, as he was with the little tiny gecko looking lizards that were running around on a log 5 feet away from this guy. You'd think he'd never seen a gecko before. (Funny...just now as I was searching for the picture of this iguana, he came in and saw it and asked if I'd gotten a piture of the "baby lizard"...!)

I love this picture of Trenton watching the Stingrays...

They were pretty neat to see and Trenton even got to pet them...

Next we were off to the carousel...
(Thanks for this picture also, Deb. Several of my pictures came out not in focus!)

We finished off the day with a ride on the train...

By this point, this was the best smile Trenton was able to give me, I guess.

And to prove that I was there...
I just bought these sunglasses the night before and now looking at them in this picture...they look like big bug eyes.

*****************

Last night I went down to the high school and ran the bleachers. I started off with running 3 laps around the track, then I did 3 times up/down, 2 more times around the track, 3 more times up/down the bleachers, then to finish off I ran 1 more lap and walked for 1/2 a lap. I think I'll go back tonight. Ideally, it would make the most sense to go Tuesday and Thursday mornings, since I'm not running those days, but I'd rather sleep in a little on those days and go down to run the bleachers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. I've kinda hit a plateau and I feel like I need to kick up my workout a notch. I seem to enjoy eating. Food is overrated!! Or would that be underrated??

I don't think much else exciting has happened. I'll try to update a little more regularly, but no guarantees.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Back...

2009-02-05T08:35:00.004-07:00

...by popular demand! (Not really, but it sounded like a good beginning to a more than 2 week long hiatus!)

I kinda got into a blogging slump I guess. And to be completely honest, it was just brought to my realization how poor my math skills are. For some reason I kept thinking it had only been about a week since I last blogged, (I even had to go back to the top and correct it to say "2 week long hiatus" because I had only put "a week long") even though I could clearly see anytime I'd open my browser (my blog page is set as my homepage) that the last time I'd posted was January 20th, and yet I knew that it was already a few days into February. That actually might make one think that I've been having loads of fun...since the time seems to be slipping by without me really paying attention to it's speed, which in turn would seem like I should have plenty to blog about. But unfortunately that's not the case. Not to say that I've been miserable the last couple weeks, but I just sometimes feel like I say the same thing in each post, while others continually post these long, deep, thought filled posts and I just want to hide in their shadow. Y'know?

Really though, life is just happening around here. Josiah and I are in love. We're happy. Of course, that doesn't mean that everything is going perfect or the way we'd choose for it to, but that isn't the way it's supposed to be, right?

Last Saturday we had a little block party with several of our neighbors. The purpose of it was to start a block watch because there had been a prowler around a few weeks ago and we figured it would be a good idea to get to know everyone and pass around a list of names, addresses, & phone numbers. My neighbor across the street had called the city or police station (not sure which) to find out if it would be possible to actually block the street off so that we didn't have to worry about kids being in the street, etc. Our street happens to be an inlet to the neighborhood from the main road. Because of the fact that there would be a couple ways to get around without having to go through, it was approved. The only thing that we needed to be concerned about was anyone who lived within the barricaded area that may have been inconvenienced by this and then they could call and complain and it would be revoked. Everyone living within the area that was barricaded was invited though and other than one lady who needed to leave to go to a wedding, there wasn't going to be a problem. Well, apparently some people are easily angered. Someone did call and complain and a cop came out, but once he got there and saw what was going on and that we had city barricades, he told us to "carryon". A little while later however, some guy came plowing through one of the barricades and almost hit a couple kids, some of which were my own. Completely unbelieveable what a jerk he was. He was coming from a ways down the street and once we heard the noise of him hitting the barricade, we quickly started yelling for the kids to get out of the street as we all headed over into the street to try and wave the guy down so he'd stop. Well, he barely stopped long enough for the couple of people who were in front of his truck to get out of the way and he sped off, catching my neighbors flipflop in his tire and ripping it off her foot. Fortunately we (Josiah actually...he's a hero!) got the license plate #. One of the guys called the police and reported the incident. The same cop who had come out previously, came back and we all filed a "victim of endangerment" report. Just a few moments before this all took place, my kids had all been down the street right infront of those barricades and I felt a little uneasy with them being out of my sight like that. Even though I knew the street was blocked off and most of the neighbors were at the party, it just didn't feel safe. As they came back down the street, I headed out to explain to them that I'd rather they stay down a little closer to where all the adults were gathered. It must have been a prompting because it was literally no more than 5 minutes later that the guy came plowing through and had my kids been as close as they were before, they could have been hit either by the barricade or the truck itself. The kids were close enough to see the barricade fly up into the air and come crashing down in a yard. Those things aren't light. Anyway, besides all that, I enjoyed getting to know my neighbors.

I sit outside and visit almost daily with my neighbor from across the street, while my kids and her daughter ride their bikes and scooters around the driveway. She is actually trying to give me the credit as to why she started coming outside and letting her daughter come out to play. I'll admit though, before I met her, we didn't go outside very often. It's always so easy to just drive in, open your garage, go inside the house and shut the garage door and never have to talk to anyone. We seem to have some really good/nice neighbors right now.

************************

In other news....

Trenton has a field trip today to the library. This was actually my month to set up the field trip. My first month was back in September and I failed miserably. I ended up just suggesting we take the kids to the park. They all loved it though, and I guess that's the most important thing. I've been thinking about the library though ever since then. I looked up the info a couple weeks ago and found that they have story time on Thursdays, which includes songs and finger puppet plays as well. It's only about half hour long so I think it will be perfect.

Josiah ended up having to work this past Sunday because of the Super Bowl but because of that, he gets tomorrow off. YAY!! I've been loving having him home so early these days with his new schedule change. Also, because of the fact that I'm walking the kids to school every morning, I think that has aided in my continuing weightloss. I'm now down 20 lbs as of night before last. I've definitely been eating more these days (not as much as I was prior to when I started) than I was in the beginning of my weightloss, but I think it's all balancing out. I'm so grateful that I've been able to stick with my running for as long as I have. It definitely helps having someone else depending on me to show up to go running. We actually talked about this the other day and she was saying the same thing. That basically the only reason she has stuck with it is because we have a schedule.

Ok, so I had more to say than I thought. If anyone is still reading, I feel loved!

Ugh! And other stuff!

2009-01-20T13:50:00.007-07:00

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! to my little brother, Michael, who turned 19 today!! (Not that he reads this)

I've caught something. I don't like it! It's the "something" where your nose drips like a leaky faucet, your eyes feel ever so slightly like they are burning (although that may be due to the million sneezes that sneak up and act like they're gonna getcha, but then they quickly run away...), your throats a little raw-ish feeling, not from coughing though, from drainage, etc. Anyway, it's not fun.

This morning I got to walk down to the school and back 3 times. Alyssa has honor choir on Tuesday mornings at 7:50 which is about 25 minutes before school actually starts, so I can't walk the other kids at the same time. They can't get through the gate before 8:10. The 3rd time was because I'd forgotten to write a check for Rylie's lunch money and I hadn't packed her a lunch.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be doing preschool. On the bright side, I only have 1 day this week since yesterday was a holiday. On the not so bright side, I don't know how up to it I'm going to be feeling tomorrow. I think I will for sure need to cancel running. I can hardly sit still without having to blow my nose every couple minutes...I don't want to take a box of tissues running with me, not to mention a bag to dispose of them in.

Yesterday was a fun filled busy day starting out with my morning run at 6:00, then a drive to the store for some ingredients that I needed for homemade mac & cheese. (I was trying out a recipe that I'd gotten at a recipe exchange in December.) My friend Lisa was bringing her kids over and we planned to go to the park which didn't last long because someone (probably a drunk teenager who'd been partying late the night before, because there seems to be a bit of that going on in our neighborhood) puked on the slide and in the sand and quite frankly we didn't want to deal with cleaning someone else's puke off our children. It's bad enough when we have to clean off their own puke! So instead we came back to my house and just visited while the kids continually tried to blow up water balloons with a balloon pump. We ate the mac & cheese for lunch but unfortunately, it wasn't as good as what I'd tasted at the recipe exchange. It was quite a bit on the salty side. I don't know if it was the sharp cheese or what, but I'll use mild next time just to be sure. I think I will also try my mil's recipe next time instead.

After they left, the girls went across the street to play with a friend, Camden spent a few hours around the corner at a friend's house, and Trenton and I worked on spraying weeds in the front yard. Weeds are such a pain in the butt! And HOA's are even worse, which is why I deal with the weeds, I guess. I need a good recipe for some homemade weed killer/preventer. Anyone?

About 4 o'clock, we headed down to the other park in the neighborhood, to meet my sil Leslie w/her kids. We spent a good hour and a 1/2 or so there and then I took all her kids back to my house for another hour, while she finished up some laundry at her mom's house, who lives a couple streets away from me. The kids were kept pretty entertained by the cats, which I'll be calling the animal shelter very soon so they can come and pick most of them up. I hate to do it, but we can't keep them all. I've explained before why so I won't go into that again.

A couple weeks ago my neighbor brought over a paper bag with a sample of some Amish Friendship bread and a "starter" bag. I've heard of Amish friendship bread before, but I was never aware that there was so much time put into it. When I first received it, I was rather confused, to say the least. I opened the paper bag and the girls and I quickly consumed the small sampling. It was good! So of course I was curious. I started reading through the instructions but was still not for sure what the whole deal was so I asked my neighbor to explain it to me. Well, I don't know if it still made much sense to me, but I was willing to give it a try. After the 10 (+2 cuz I was lazy) days were up, I finally had 2 pans of my very own, fresh, Amish Friendship bread...

Of course now I have 4 (+1, cuz my other neighbor who also received some when I did, brought me some of what she worked on) bags of starter. I didn't really feel like just assuming people would be interested in doing this, so I think I will freeze the bags and bake them all myself, eventually.

For anyone who's unaware and curious, here's the instructions that I got with the starter...

Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl when mixing. Do not refrigerate. When air builds up, gently open the bag and let the air out. It's normal for batter to bubble, rise, and ferment.

Day 1 - receive the starter
Day 2 - mush the bag
Day 3 - mush the bag
Day 4 - mush the bag
Day 5 - mush the bag
Day 6 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar, and milk.
Day 7 - mush the bag
Day 8 - mush the bag
Day 9 - mush the bag

Day 10 - Add 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 1/2 cup milk. Divide into 1 gallon ziplock bags, (don't forget to mark days, 1, 6, and 10 with the dates) with 1 cup each for four of your friends and the remainder for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the batter for your friends, combine the remaining Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large non-metal bowl:

2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding mix

Using a wooden spoon or spatula beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (optional).

Grease two loaf pans with butter, coat pans with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle left over on top.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

I think partly what confused me in the beginning was that she had marked day 6 on the bag, but in the instructions she gave me, she had day 5 and 6 mixed up, so it said to add more ingredients on day 5 rather than day 6. I couldn't figure out why day 6 was on the bag. I finally googled "Amish Friendship Bread" and got that figured out plus I got the whole back story of why it's done and other tips and ideas so I felt a little better. Then of course once I got to day 6 and was ready to add the ingredients, I was concerned about the fact that I'd be adding the milk and just letting all this sit out on my counter for the next 4 days. I'll add now that I ate the sample bread before I understood this part, otherwise, I don't know if I would have been able to. But alas, knowing how good it was, I did consume several pieces of my finished loaves. (I will run extra!) The only thing I don't know for sure now is how to actually start the whole process from the very beginning, but technically, I may never need to worry about it cuz between the 5 bags I currently have, I could start my own business!

Anyway, I have pack meeting tonight, the kids will be home from school soon, I have laundry that I REALLY need/want to get put away (before I go adding more to the piles) so until next time..........

Randomness...

2009-01-12T12:33:00.007-07:00

It's Monday again. A week since I last posted. Ironically, I'm procrastinating again! My house isn't a disaster today like it was last Monday, however my sink and it's surrounding counterspace is begging "please release me, let me go!" from the amount of dishes placed on and in. I've really neglected them over the passed week.

It has been quite a week though, so I have that as an excuse, right?

Josiah ended up staying home sick a couple days. It really didn't bother me that he was home though. It always works out better for me when he stays home, cuz then I have a car to run errands with, without having to take him to work and pick him up.

Trenton had his first dentist appointment last Thursday. He needs 3 teeth pulled + spacers added, a couple fillings put in and a baby root canal. Ugh! In all, after insurance pays their portion, our estimated portion is $329.10. Nice! He's 4 years old for crying out loud. We're trying to be better about making our kids brush their teeth. Afterall, they don't need lack of that adding to the hereditary poor teeth problem that they get from both sides.

Friday I got to go on a field trip with Trenton's preschool class. We went to the Spine and Joint hospital and the kids were hooked up with a bag full of loot. One of the mom's father-in-law works there and arranged a tour for the kids. Lots of fun!

I somehow didn't make the connection that I had scheduled to bring birthday goodies to Camden's class that same day at 1:20 and the field trip started at noon, so I ended up being late to drop off the goodies. Camden seemed to be ok with it though.

Saturday we did Camden's birthday party. As it turns out, you can't find Indiana Jones themed birthday party stuff anywhere, so that ruined my cake idea. We ended up going w/Pirates of the Carribean so atleast the treasure hunt would still fit. Friday I came up with the idea to just decorate the cake to look like a treasure map. Well, 9 o'clock Saturday morning rolled around and I realized I wasn't going to have time at that point to bake the cake and let it cool in time to decorate it, so I just grabbed a cake from Walmart. (I know, I will be shunned by a couple of my inlaws for this, but I did what I could in the little amount of time I had, plus I really like their cakes w/the whipped topping. Buttercream is overrated!) I think the kids had fun. We did have a boy fall in the pool though, when they were outside finding the "treasure". I felt awful! According to his dad, he seems to fall into the pool multiple times on accident during the winter. Atleast he can swim and is used to the frigid temperature. We got him some of Camden's clothes and threw his into the dryer. They were done just in time for his dad to pick him up.

Looking for the treasure map...

Trying to figure out the treasure map...

Finding the treasure...

Last week after Josiah returned to work from his 2 week vacation, he found an email that had gone around from his boss, saying that he wanted to rearrange the schedules so that no one was having to work til midnight or on the weekends. The 2 available shifts were going to be 7a.m. to 4p.m. and 10a.m. to 7p.m and they needed to let him know asap as to which shift they would prefer. Well quite frankly I was a little perturbed about this! Josiah had been working the 9-6 shift for the past 4 years and it was working out very nicely with our schedule. His boss had just hired an extra guy a few months back just so they could have extra coverage in the evenings and on the weekends and now he was screwing that all up. Also, a couple weeks ago Josiah was telling me about how his boss told all the guys on his team that when there was something that needed to be escalated within their team, to send it to Josiah because he's the only one not on hourly. So now I was thinking "great, he's going to be given all this extra stuff at home that he's gonna have to do that he won't get paid for. Anyway, I was really being selfish I think, and after the initial annoyance wore off, I started considering all the good things that this schedule change may possibly bring. Besides the fact that Josiah will have to get up 2 hours earlier (early for him) and that I'll have to walk the kids to school (because I can't send them out the door alone in the morning and just assume they'll make it to school even though I have no problem with them walking home alone afterwards, but I justify that with the fact that all the walkers leave school and are walking home at the same time, they don't all arrive together.) there aren't many other downfalls. He'll be home 2 hours earlier which will be nice for everyone, especially for me on Mondays...he can help w/crowd control when I have my rowdy cub scouts over, and Tuesdays when Rylie has activity days...I can help in the carpool, and on Thursdays I may bag taking him all together, because the girls piano isn't until 4:30 which was the biggest reason I was taking him...which in turn, will save us gas! YAY! for looking at the bright side!!

Yesterday while I was at choir practice, Josiah found Trenton...

Anyway, surprisingly my dishes are STILL waiting for me! Hope everyone has a great week!

I'm procrastinating....

2009-01-05T12:07:00.004-07:00

After 2 weeks of having everyone home all day everyday, the kids went back to school today, Josiah went back to work, and I'm left with a house that is in serious need of a maid! I find comfort in knowing that I'm not the only wife/mother who's house goes to pot while her kids and husband are on "vacation".

The day started at 5:30 when I woke up to go running. As many things as I had on my list for the day, I was tempted to call my running partner and bail out so I could get as much sleep as possible before diving into the day, but I didn't.

Last night we discovered that our cable and internet were not working, which I quickly figured it was due to lack of payment. I never got around to calling to set up payment arrangements either, so I suppose they had no other choice. So the first thing on my "to do list" was to make that payment. As soon as I walked in the door this morning I looked around for a bill so I could call and get that cleared up. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't try to put the check through til tomorrow.

After that was taken care of, it was time to get the kids up and going.

This Saturday we're doing Camden's birthday party and I wanted him to pass out his invitations today to give parents plenty of time to RSVP. Well, I still had not gotten those filled out so I started them but quit before I got very far on them, because kids were requesting breakfast. I also needed to get lunches made so at that point, I decided I'd just get the kids out the door and walk the invitations down later.

I continued on the invites while Josiah took the kids to school and then browsed the internet for a few minutes between the time I finished them and the time I needed to leave to walk Trenton to preschool.

Just after dropping the invitations off at the school, my cell phone rang which I rarely if ever take it with me if I'm just walking to the school or taking to Trenton to preschool, etc. It was the preschool teacher, hoping I could come back and sit with the kids for about 10 or so minutes while she ran a spare key to her husband who locked his keys in the car while at Costco. I was glad I was available to help.

After returning home, I sat around wasting time for the next hour before it was time to pick Trenton back up. I picked him up a little over an hour ago and I'm pretty much out of excuses for putting my list of "things I need to do today" off, so I had to sit and blog!

Really I've only got 2 more things on my list that I have to get done today and that is, clean the house and go over cub scout stuff before my cub scouts come over at 4:30 for den meeting. Technically, I need to figure out atleast the next 2 months worth, but I think for now, I'll just figure out what to do today. The up side is, I've been a den leader long enough now, that I can just go back to a year ago and do the same stuff, since the boys aren't the same now as they were then.

*********************

For Camden's party, he wants to have an Indiana Jones theme so Josiah and I, after winning 1st place on the cake we made for our ward's Halloween party, are going to attempt to make a cake to go along with it. We thought about doing his party at the park, but the other day I decided it'd probably be just as fun for the boys to sit in the living room and play Rock Band. We're also going to put together a treasure hunt. I have a few ideas.

My good friend Lisa is in town from Idaho and last Tuesday she and I went out to lunch at P.F. Chang's. The food was good, but mostly I think the place is overrated. Josiah and I have discussed this lately about how people are completely warped and it really doesn't matter how good or bad something is, as long as it was pricey, they are going to like the place or go on about how "good" it is. Quite frankly, I'd much rather pay 1/2 the price I paid, and just get some Panda Express instead. It's not that I'm cheap, although I may be, but really, if I'm going to pay so much money on something, food specifically, I'd like to think it's because it was actually that good. I was glad to be able to visit with Lisa however, and that alone made the expense worth it.

Anyway, I guess I should stop this foolishness and get my butt in gear!

Camden G. Money!

2008-12-29T11:26:00.009-07:00

Today Camden turns 6 years old!! So far I don't think he has any issues with his birthday being 4 days after Christmas. Hopefully he'll never let it bother him.

With his birthday being smack in the middle of Christmas break though, I decided to put off doing a birthday party for him until after they go back to school next week. So it will be almost 2 weeks late, but he'll be able to invite his friends from school this way. It will be his first birthday party with friends afterall. Can't let the Christmas break put a big damper on it the way Summer birthdays do.

We did get him some presents to open today though. And in just a bit we're going to go out to lunch and eventually we'll eat cake!

In honor of his birthday though, here's a walk down memory lane at each of his (or right around) birthdays.

Camden's "BIRTH"day 2002

2003

2004
(Because you can't really see him in the last one...)

2005

2006This wasn't on his birthday, but I can't seem to find any from his birthday that year, or from a birthday party. So this will have to do. It was taken 2 days before.

2007

2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAMDEN!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T17:19:00.018-07:00

We finally made it down to the Temple lights on the 23rd. It was chilly, but we enjoyed being together and seeing all the lights.

On the way home we took the scenic route, trying to find a neighborhood that was jollily lit, but to no avail. I don't know if it was the rain the night before, the time of evening, or just the way the economy is right now, but we were somewhat disappointed.

Christmas Eve morning started out with us heading to IHOP around 9am.

Somehow we manage to get seated at the exact same table every time we go.

Our morning continued with a trip to Harkins...

We were the first ones there so we picked the best seats!

Decorating cookies for Santa...

(Thanks again, Hannah, for the delicious icing recipe!!)

Santa's plate...

Opening Christmas Eve pj's...

(What has become our) Traditional Christmas Eve pose...

2008

2007

2006

2005

Christmas morning...

After presents were all opened, some sat around playing Rock Band...

While I fixed a delicious breakfast...

Later we headed over to my parents house for a gift exchange and lunch.

Besides the fact that the lamp in our TV died that afternoon and no one has been able to play rock band since that morning or watch any of the movies that we got on the big screen, I think everyone had a good Christmas! Hopefully the replacement bulb will be here before the year is over! :)

Christmas Eve Eve

2008-12-23T06:25:00.005-07:00

So far (knock on wood) nobody else has gotten sick. Trenton acted normal all day yesterday. He ended up in the bathroom a couple times after church on Sunday. The first time he never threw up but here's how Josiah found him a little bit later... (to no surprise, those of you who are familiar with Trenton...) Poor little guy!!

I had my brother's kids for several hours yesterday. I think all the kids had fun torturing the kitties. Well, I'm sure they didn't think of it that way, but I don't think a cats idea of "fun" is being dressed up in doll clothes. Although I will admit I did the same thing when I was a kid. I did find this sorta humorous though...
I was a little concerned that the bricks might fall, but other than that, the kids were very creative in building this "cat condo".

Josiah and I got everything wrapped yesterday morning. YAY! Now we won't have to be up ALL night tomorrow night. YAY!! YAY!! I'm very excited about that part.

I wanted to take the kids down to see the Temple lights last night, but the rain kept us from going. I don't remember it raining in the past this close to Christmas, as much as it has been this year. It's putting a damper (no pun intended..) on us having our Christmas lights on outside. It keeps breaking a circuit. I guess we need better extension cords. I just hope it's dry on Christmas Eve. For as long as I can remember, I've had Christmas lights on on my house ALL NIGHT LONG on Christmas Eve. It's supposed to be the only night that they're aloud to stay on all night, but we've actually forgotten to unplug them several times this year. Oops!

Today I want to sit around and just watch Christmas movies all day. Tomorrow we'll get up and do our traditional breakfast at IHOP and then see a movie. I think we've decided on The Tale of Despereaux. Later in the day we will bake and decorate some cookies for Santa. I also need to pick up some very last minute Christmas gifts tomorrow.

My weightloss is now up to 14 lbs gone. YAY! We aren't running tomorrow because it's Christmas Eve and then my running partner is going out of town Friday and won't be back til Monday, so it will be a week off of running. Hopefully I don't put all my weight back on!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

A First...

2008-12-21T13:35:00.003-07:00

Over the last several weeks we've made a serious effort in getting to church on time. (Sacrament meeting starts at 10:00am.) In my opinion, we've done really well.

Last Sunday was a minor exception because Josiah and I had been out til almost 1am the night before at his work's holiday party and then by the time we got the kids picked up and home and into bed ourselves, it was nearly 2. We had discussed just getting a sub for our primary class as we drove home, and not going to church at all.

Well, for whatever reason, I was up at 8:30 getting ready to go. I wasn't going to push for anyone else to because by this point, I'd be lucky to make it in time for sharing time.

I started going to choir practice back in November and we've been working on the songs for our Christmas program which was today. This has been playing a big part in why we've been getting to church on time; our ward's choir sings a song almost every Sunday. I'm sure I'm not making a very big difference, if any, but I was feeling slightly guilted into going by our choir director, who happens to be my brother's mother-in-law. I do enjoy singing though, so I hold no hard feelings. Plus, if that is what's going to get us there on time, so be it.

So I was looking forward to being a part of our Christmas program. I did several things last night that would help speed us along this morning. I was up at 6:30 to get myself started. (I'm quite the project and need every spare minute I can get.) Showered, make-up on, hair dryed then straightened. Then I had to take care of the girls' hair before I could get myself dressed. Thankfully I have Josiah to do the ironing (which he does without complaint...have I ever mentioned that I have the best husband ever?!) and to get the boys dressed.

It was Josiah's day to do the lesson which he had prepared the night before and just needed to gather up a few things this morning to take. Alyssa had a talk in sharing time which I put together yesterday so it would be all ready to go. We were making near perfect time.

About 10-15 minutes before we would be walking out the door, Trenton comes in talking about his tummy hurting. Josiah and I both thought maybe he just needed to go to the bathroom, so I took him in there. He had nothing. I felt his forehead and it felt fine so I just sorta brushed it off.

In the past, if any of the kids had come to us complaining about feeling sick, we didn't even think twice about keeping them home. It was often the excuse we were looking for. Well, today was different. It was the Sunday before Christmas. I had little gifts for each of the children in our class, I wanted to sing with the choir, Alyssa had a talk. I mostly just wanted to be at church together as a family though, so I ignored any thoughts of "maybe Josiah should stay home with him and I'll just improvise with the lesson" and off we went.

As we walked in, the opening prayer was being said so we waited quietly outside for it to be over and then we found our seats. I sat their with my choir binder, patiently waiting for the Sacrament to be passed so I could take my place on the stand. I had sat on the end so I could easily make my way up. Trenton had taken the seat all the way down on the opposite side of the family.

The Sacrament is being passed and I'd forgotten all about Trenton not feeling well beforehand. Until suddenly I look down to see what some commotion is and I see Trenton with his hand over his mouth and Rylie giving me this look of "Why in the heck is he sitting next to ME?!" I quickly stand up and move down to grab his arm to pull him out of there. I tried to be as quiet as possible to respect the reverence that others were putting forth. Well, so much for my efforts. I can only walk so quietly over the hardwood floors in my heels while I'm trying to get my 4 year old son who is spewing at the mouth to the nearest exit as quickly as possible. Fortunately we were sitting back in the cultural hall area, so I didn't have to get passed too many people, but the nearest door was all the way on the other side of the gym. I saw a garbage can a little ways away, so I quickly took him back there and stood there in horror with him, wondering how much of a racket I had actually caused.

I now had Trenton's breakfast all over my arm, hands, dress, and a foot. Poor Trenton had it all down his front. Josiah got a bit splashed on his suit. So now, I was going to miss being a part of our Christmas program, but atleast we made it to church on time.

We left the 3 older kids there while we ran home. I cleaned myself up, which I felt like required several good scrubbings before the smell came off, changed my outfit, cleaned up my shoes and headed back out the door. Josiah stayed home with Trenton.

Instead of making any further scenes by going to the stand late once I returned, I just sat with my kids and listened to the remainder of the program. I will be up there next year though.

So with any luck at all, Trenton just wasn't feeling well and won't pass anything along. Do we generally have that sort of luck though? Yeah right! I imagine atleast one of us will be sick on Christmas Day.

Sarah Needs...

2008-12-18T12:14:00.003-07:00

Ok, so I'm copying this from my sil Leslie, who copied from my cousin Rachel, who copied from...you get the idea.

Go to google and type in your name with the word "needs" after it and see what it brings up. (i.e. search for "Sarah needs") Apparently this meme has been going around and my search actually brought up someone else's blog (who's name happens to be Sarah) that had done this. I don't know that I'll list as many as she did, and I'm not going to copy off hers either!

Here's what I got...

Sarah needs...a cold shower...
(uh...)

Sarah needs...to get her life back...
(Is that really possible with 4 kids?)

Sarah needs...your manly vote...
(I wonder what they're voting on...)

Sarah needs...to make a cake and some cookies.
(So true! Cookies atleast...not necessarily a cake.)

Sarah needs...more Love Lyrics

Sarah needs...YOUR HELP PLEASE!!!

Sarah needs...your friendship and support

Sarah needs...a Wii

Sarah needs...to lean on her man.

Sarah needs...watering.
(I'm wilting...)

Sarah needs...to say she’s sorry.
(I am, too!)

Sarah needs...batteries.
(Christmas is a week away...batteries are ALWAYS needed!)

Sarah needs...sponsors to compete in Deaf Olympics.

Sarah needs...to Get Over Herself.

There are plenty more, but I think that gives you all a heads up of what I need! Let me know if you decide to play along so I can come read what you need!

The Girls' Piano Recital & an Award...

2008-12-12T13:50:00.006-07:00

Rylie and Alyssa did a great job last night at their piano recital. We had both my digital and my non-digital cameras but of course most of the pictures that were taken are on the non-digital. My digital camera was acting up and when I tried to get pics of the girls as they introduced their songs or bowed, the stupid thing wouldn't go off. Grrr! Anyway, I got a video of them playing their duet but they did much better on their individual songs. If nothing else, they were the prettiest girls there....well, that's my biased opinion. (Besides the fact that I failed to get them some tights in time for the recital.)

Their piano teacher, Kristen Arnett, and her 6 students...

I'm considering putting Camden in after Christmas. He shows interest which means something. I may just try and work with him on my own for a bit. We'll see what happens.

**********

My awesome sil, Jenna, gave me a blogging award!

YAY! Thank you, Jenna!

I will wear it on my sidebar with honor and I will always think of her when I see it!

I want to pass it on to my sil, Leslie, who is always very real in her blog posts!

Busy Busy Busy...

2008-12-11T08:51:00.013-07:00

So far we've survived the whirlwind of stuff that this time of year brings. It feels like I haven't been able to stop and take a break, and yet at the same time, it feels like I haven't done a thing.

Monday I spent the day finishing up some ornaments that I had started back in October at a GNO, and getting a few more started. I wanted to go see the Temple lights Monday evening but Josiah was super tired by the time he got home from work, so we had to postpone that.

Tuesday I spent the day cleaning. Not because anyone was coming over, but just for me. It was nice not having to hurry and knowing I had the whole day to do it. I got the boys room mostly straightened. I ended up taking their closet doors down and put them in the garage. Because of where their beds are, the closet was a pain to get into.

I also straightened the kitchen, cleaned the kids bathroom, and did a couple loads of laundry.

Tuesday evening Alyssa had a choir concert at 6:30. I also had a scrapbook class scheduled for the same time which I went late to.

Wednesday I had to take Josiah to work because the girls' piano lesson was rescheduled for the week, due to their recital that is tonight. I didn't get much of a chance to do any running around yesterday though, that I would typically do when I have the car, because Josiah was expecting his computer to be delivered and it required a signature. I suggested he just stay home from work, but he didn't think that would fly.

The kids had 1/2 day yesterday anyway, so any running around that I would have been doing, would have been interupted to get them from school. Fortunately, the computer arrived just before they got out, so I was able to pick them up, run to Albertson's for a few things, and then to Taco Bell for some lunch. I was completely exhausted by the time we got home and finished eating, (I had been up since 5:40 with my running and all...) not to mention I had a headache, so I went to lay down thinking I could get a couple hours nap in before they needed to be at piano. Well, that thought was cut short when my cell phone rang about 2 minutes later. It was Josiah wanting me to pick him up early so he could come home and play with his new toy! (I knew he shoulda just stayed home...) I did get a 25 min nap in before I needed to leave to get him though. I picked him up at 2:30 and after we got home, Rylie was ready to go shopping for her Pollyanna gift. (She knew Josiah had gotten paid yesterday...kids!) After we were done with her shopping, it was time for piano. It ended up being a short lesson since they had been practicing so much and had their songs down pretty well. Their piano teacher even gave back the money for that days lesson...since she didn't have to do any "teaching". I appreciated it.

I took Rylie back home and Alyssa was ready to go shopping. After her, Camden insisted. While I was out with Alyssa, I had discovered that a couple things that Josiah and I had bought a few weeks ago, had finally gone on sale for about $8 less than the original price, so I did a return and repurchased them for the sale price. Gotta love saving money like that. I was really glad I happened to be at the store and saw the sale sign otherwise I totally woulda missed out! Camden found what he wanted to get for his Pollyanna and we were ready to go. As we're standing there waiting for the cashiere to ring everything up, I pulled out the cash that I'd gotten from the return so that I could pay for our new purchases, and discovered that I was shorted $10 when I made the return. I was supposed to get back $54 but only had $44. Hmmmm...They ended up having to watch the survelance videos to verify that what I was saying was true. I'm just grateful that their cameras can catch that sort of detail. The lady brought me my money and we were on our way. I picked up some JitB for dinner on the way home. I had bought some steak to bbq, but by this time, it was too late to get those started. Trenton was asking to go when I got home and I told him that we'd have to wait til after we ate. Well, by the time we were done eating I was pooped and it was almost 9 o'clock and I did not feel like making 1 more run. He didn't let it bother him though. I'll take him out tonight after the girls recital or tomorrow.

So anyway, the girls' piano recital is tonight at 7pm. Tomorrow night I have an appointment to get my hair cut. Saturday is a busy day. I've got a cub scout field trip at 10am, Camden has a birthday party to go to from 1-3, and then Josiah's work party is that evening. My family's Christmas party is Sunday evening. Next Tuesday night I have pack meeting. Maybe we can do the Temple lights Wednesday or Thursday next week. I know Rylie has been mentioning driving around and looking at lights on houses which we seem to do each year. Usually just in one big neighborhood where it looks like alot of the houses are decorated. Plus we have to do our traditional going out to get hot chocolate, which fortunately just has to happen one time, but the kids look forward to it. (Or maybe it's just me...)

I want to get some baking started soon. First I have to compile a list of what I want to make. I know I want to do cinnamon rolls and chocolate dipped pretzels and some cookies of some sort and maybe fudge. MMmmmm, fudge! My MIL sent us The Ultimate Cookie Book last year for Christmas and since Christmas is really the only time of year that I do much baking, (experimental anyways) I'm excited to put it to good use. Plus, our neighbor brought us a plate of goodies last night....I totally need to get on the ball!

Anywho....here are some random pics that I pulled off my camera the other day. There was a months worth of pics sitting on it...

Josiah and I on our Anniversary (Nov 8th, for comparison purposes)...

And then here we are almost a month later at our wards Christmas party (Dec 6th)...Since November 4th I've gone down 11 lbs. My goal was 10 lbs by this Saturday. I don't think I've ever set a goal like that and actually achieved it. I'm happy. Not done, but happy.

Alyssa with her friends after their 2nd grade musical...They sang songs about America, incase the flag backdrop didn't give that away. She's the little one on the end. I never realized how smallish she is in comparison to other kids her age. I mean, I knew she was/is compared to our other kids, but I actually just thought they were giants for their age and that Alyssa was average. It's probably a combo of our others being giants and Alyssa being smallish. :) We like her though and don't plan on giving her away just yet...

I'm not sure what this expression was all about, but I thought it was funny...

The kids helping with the Christmas tree...

What we wake up to every morning...

What happens next...
Naughty, naughty kitties!

Each of the kids took their turn talking to Santa at the ward Christmas party...

Rylie...

Alyssa...

Camden...

Trenton...

Anyway, I think that's about it for now.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!!

You Make it Feel Like Christmas

2008-12-10T10:08:00.004-07:00

My sister did this on her blog and I got a good laugh from reading through so I wanted to try it out...

1. Put your iTunes/playlist on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

What is your motto?
"Forever Young"

What do your friends think of you?
"What child is this"

What do you think about very often?
"Santeria"

What is 2+2?
"The Gift"

What do you think of your best friend?
"The First Time"

What do you think of the person you like?
"Be Still My Soul"

What is your life story?
"Welcome to the Black Parade"

What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Hero"

What do you think when you see the person you like?
"Bend and Break

What do your parents think of you?
"Carol of the Bells"

What will you dance to at your wedding?
"What I Got"

What will they play at your funeral?
"He Gave His Life For Me"

What is your hobby/interest?
"Do They Know It's Christmas"

What is your biggest secret?
"I Want To Hold Your Hand"

What do you think of your friends?
"Birdhouse In Your Soul"

What’s the worst thing that could happen?
"Silent Night"

How will you die?
"Someone's Waiting for You"

What is the one thing you regret?
"Jingle Bells"

What makes you laugh?
"Come On Eileen"

What makes you cry?
"Circles"

Will you ever get married?
"Up On the Housetop"

What scares you the most?
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

Does anyone like you?
"Wonderful Tonight"

If you could go back in time, what would you change?
"Everybody's Fool"

What hurts right now?
"Take A Chance On Me"

What will you post this as?
"You Make it Feel Like Christmas"

Tis the season...

2008-12-02T10:07:00.004-07:00

...to be super busy!

Ok, so after I typed that title it suddenly sounded like something I'd said before. So I had to go back and sure enough, it was the same way I started my first blog post in December last year. I guess I'm pretty boring!

S'anyway...Thanksgiving was nice. I didn't get any pictures though. Boohoo!

Thursday morning I got up bright and early and went down to the high school for a Turkey Trot that a girl from the ward was putting together. I did a total of 11 laps. Ran 7, walked 4. I would have stayed to do more, but I needed to get home to put a turkey in the oven.

The turkey turned out soo good! I don't like to brag, but even my younger brother went on about how good it was. First, I cut through the skin on the breast side of the turkey and slid some real butter inside between the skin and the meat. I used salt, pepper, onion powder, thyme, and rosemary to season both sides of the turkey, as well as the inside and then I tossed a cube of butter into the inside. I cooked it in one of those foil turkey pans and used another one as a cover. I left the cover on for about 2/3's of the cooking time and then removed it so the breast could brown. During the last 1/3 of the time, I basted it every so often with the juices from the bottom of the pan. I think in all it cooked about 4 hours at 325°. Soo yummy! To round out the rest of the meal, we had mashed potatoes w/gravy, homemade rolls, corn, olives (black & green), pickles, and fruit salad (which was also soo good!) I did a really good job of making sure I wasn't dishing up too much for myself. My mom made pecan & cherry pies & I supplied a pumpkin pie. (which I waited over an hour at Costco for them to finish making them. They were selling out faster than they could cook them!)

We got our Christmas tree up Thursday evening. The kids did a great job decorating the tree. I was busy cleaning up from our feast.

Friday morning Josiah and I got up at 4am to start our BF shopping. We were out the door by 20 to 5 and in line at Target by quarter to 5. We weren't terribly thrilled with their ad, but they did have a few things that we wanted to grab. So we stood in line for an hour and 15 minutes to get inside (they didn't open til 6) and then waited another 45 minutes in line to checkout. It was insane!

After that we headed over to Penneys to get Josiah a suit. They had them marked 60% off as a doorbuster special. That was pretty lucky. I hadn't expected that so it was a nice surprise. We got what we needed and then headed over to the Children's Place which was having a sale plus an additional 20% off your entire purchase. AWESOME!

I'm pretty pleased with what we've gotten so far. It isn't too much and really we just need to get a few more things and then we'll be done. YAY! Now if I can just find time to do everything that I want to do before the month is over...

There is so much going on that I'm not sure when I'm going to squeeze in getting a family picture done. I would much rather have my sister-in-law take them than go and pay out the nose at a studio, but her anniversary is this Saturday and that's about the only time that would work for me, before it gets too late. Ugh! What do I do?! (Leslie, feel free to comment about this... :D)

This week I have preschool at my house. I canceled for yesterday because I kept my kids home from school. Alyssa was the only one who was actually sick but it was easier to just keep them all home. I'm a bad mom, I know! We ended up putting up some lights outside which they had been begging us about since Thanksgiving day! We still need to get some replacement icicle lights to go around the house though. We'll see if that happens before Christmas.

I did hold den meeting last night though, for what it was worth. I am hoping to take them on a field trip on the 13th to the Mesa Historical Museum. I need to come up with some sort of game that they can play while we are there...something like, things they need to look for. Or something along those lines. We took the boys that were in it last year and it was a nightmare. They didn't have anything to keep them busy, so they ran around. I want to go again because it goes along with the section we're working on, and it's a different group of boys of course. We'll see how it goes.

Ward Christmas party this Saturday evening.

I have a scrapbook class on the 9th.

The girls piano recital on the 11th.

Josiah's work party on the evening of the 13th.

My family's Christmas party Sunday the 14th.

Alyssa has a choir concert sometime in the next couple weeks and of course I threw away the paper that had the date. Hopefully she remembers to ask her teacher.

There are several other things I want to get done. Holiday baking, a few Christmas crafts, Christmas cards, Temple lights, etc. So much to do, so little time!

I suppose none of it will get done while I'm sitting at the computer! Until next time...

Loved it!

2008-11-21T13:22:00.002-07:00

I was invited by a few girls from my ward to go see Twilight with them this morning. We got into the first showing of the day and actually got some fairly decent seats.

I think I've admitted this before, but I'll say it again. This was the first movie I was going to see where I'd actually read the book first. I've always heard people comparing the movies to the books and being disappointed, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I wasn't too thrilled with the acting that I'd seen in the trailers, so that was the one thing that I knew I would notice. I think because of the fact that I was kept entertained throughout though, it pretty much distracted from any poor acting that may have gone on.

I was not at all disappointed! I was reading a comment that someone left on another blog about it and she mentioned that if they had made it 5 hours long rather than just the 2 hours, so that they could have fit in all of the good details, she would have sat through it....I have to agree. I think I would be completely enthralled and sad at the point that the 5 hours had come to an end.

I guess I'll just have to read the book again! I'm about 1/2 way through the 4th book. I'll wait to reread the first til I'm done with the one I'm on.

Can't wait for the next movie to come out!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday!

P.S. **weightloss update** I've gone down 8lbs since I started on Nov 4th! YAY! Two more pounds to go til I've reached my goal...but I plan to keep going!

I'm soo lame!

2008-11-14T09:11:00.008-07:00

I completely failed to mention in my last post, that my super awesome husband, aka Josiah, made me a cake for my birthday!

He even did the piping himself and layered the cake w/frosting in the middle and and and...it was sooo yummy! (The first "junk food" that I'd had since starting my diet last Tuesday night. Woohoo!) Anyway, neither of us knew that my mom was baking one also, since we were going over there for dinner, so there was plenty of cake to go around.

I don't care for the picture of me, but the expression is too funny. And yes, between the 2 cakes there were 31 candles. The cakes almost melted!

***********************

Crazymama did a Thanksgiving survey on her blog the other day and I wanted to play along, so here goes...

How do you do thanksgiving dinner?

Growing up we always spent Thanksgiving day w/my dad's family. I mostly remember going to my grandma's house and eating there, she always had green jello w/pecans in it. (I think that's what it was anyway...) It was good. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we got together w/my mom's family. It was an idea that I think my grandmother came up with so that there wouldn't be any conflicts on Thanksgiving day and wondering who would be where... It was much bigger and usually looked forward to more than the Thanksgiving Day gathering. (Although I do love my dad's family) Of course as we (the cousins) all got older/married/had kids of our own, it became more and more difficult to get everyone together.

Since I've been married, my parents wanted to continue w/the same sort of tradition so my brothers that are married got together w/their in-laws and well, most of my in-laws are out of towners and the ones who live here seem to do stuff w/their in-laws or friends or whomever on Thanksgiving day and we didn't want to inconvenience them or ask them to change the way they like to do things, so we have pretty much just done our own thing on Thanksgiving day. Which for the last couple years has included my parents and that's fine. And then up until last year, we still went to the big Jarman (my mom's family) Thanksgiving thing on the Saturday after. Last year was the first time one wasn't held though and so my family just go together to spend time together and did our own "Smith Family" Thanksgiving.

Where do you go for thanksgiving? stay home? in-laws? travel?

I think the last one pretty much answers this one too.

If you bring something what do you bring?

Everyone is usually assigned to bring atleast a dozen rolls and a pie. Everything else is dispersed and hopefully everyone knows what they're bringing atleast a week before the get together.

What "makes" thanksgiving dinner for you? (if it's missing it's just not the same. )

Rolls. If no one's going to bring rolls, you may as well forget it! I'm hoping to find a recipe for the Texas Roadhouse rolls for this year. If I don't find one, I'll use the Lion House rolls recipe that I have mentioned before.

Gravy preference? brown? turkey? Homemade?

I think I prefer homemade turkey gravy. Or if it's from a can or packet, I like to have some of the giblets added. I always loved the smell of the giblets cooking on the stove when I was a kid. Mmmm.

Mashed Potatoes? from scratch? or instant?

Always from scratch. Anything else and you've ruined a perfectly good meal. I can never make mashed potatoes just right though. I like my mom's mashed potatoes.

Do you actually eat Yams?

Nope. I don't remember them ever being part of the buffet of food growing up, although they very possibly were when we got together w/my dad's side of the family. It seems like something my grandmother would have made.

what about cranberries?

We always have cranberry sauce but I don't eat it. I'm pretty sure I've tried it, but I stay away from it. Although I believe my husband likes it, which is surprising if you know him... :)

Pie? what is a "must have" at every thanskgiving dessert table?

By far, Pecan. LOVE IT! My mom makes homemade pecan pie every year and it's soooo good! I don't typically eat any other pie. Maybe a tiny slice of pumpkin, but only if it's super good. I do like the frozen dutch apple pie though that Marie Callender's makes. That's usually what I buy and take, because I don't make pies. I'm growing up though, maybe someday I should try!

Pies? from scratch? or store bought?

I think this was answered in the last one.

Whipped cream? from scratch ? cool whip? or from a can?

I think we typically just buy cool whip in the bowl. I'm sure it's been made from scratch here or there by someone in the family and brought, but like I said, I don't eat too much pie and it never goes on my pecan pie, so I don't have much concern over whether or not it's store bought or from scratch.

Well that's it. Now everyone knows a little more about me.

***********************

Trenton and I got to go on a field trip to the petstore w/his preschool class. I'd actually forgotten all about it until one of the moms called me about 8 minutes before we were supposed to be there to see if I'd like a ride. Fortunately I'd already showered and was dressed so I didn't have to do much to get ready. I'd even gotten Trenton dressed which is not very typical for a day that we're just going to be sitting around at home all day. The kids had fun. They got to see all sorts of birds and snakes and fish and turtles and tree frogs and a big fat cat! At one point while all the kids were looking at the snake that the guy had taken out to show them, I moved around this cart thing to take a picture and all of a sudden I had this fat cat meowing in my ear. I hadn't realized there was anything in these cages until it got up and meowed at me. I don't think I've ever seen such a big cat.

Last night I went down to the church for the Stake women's volleyball. I was somewhat hesitant to go, and hadn't actually signed up, but my friend Sundee had talked me into it and so I went. I was mostly hesitant because I hadn't played volleyball in 12ish years or so and I know as a teenager, I hated the sport because of my whole low selfesteem issue and the fact that I wore glasses and what if the ball came and hit me in the face and blah blah blah. Anyway, I went, I had fun. I actually even, believe it or not, hit the ball over the net a few times! And I'm an awesome server!

My running is going well. We ran for about a full mile stretch this morning before slowing to a walk. That's pretty good for me. I'm loving the exercise. It's pretty chilly out there that early though. But I guess I'd prefer that to 100° weather.

I'm soo glad it's Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm still here...

2008-11-12T10:13:00.003-07:00

...just been busy the last several days. Now I get to go back and catch up from last Monday. Go grab a snack and something to drink...maybe something cozy to wear....

Last Tuesday I voted. I will be honest here and admit that I don't keep up on all the politics. Not so much because I just don't care, but mostly because it all goes over my head. I hate all the bickering that goes on though during elections and wish we could all just get along! Ok, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Last Tuesday night, whatever it is that is supposed to hit you or wake you up or just cause you to open your eyes, to finally, actually be serious about getting in shape or losing weight or whatever, finally did. I think it was a little combo of seeing a picture of myself taken on Halloween and my face just looked super round, plus I stepped on the scale and could not even believe the #. Sure, it was at the end of the day and I had eaten at Mi Amigos for lunch and that hadn't finished digesting, but seeing that # was apparently what I needed. It was about 5 lbs more than where I had been sitting (give or take a couple) for a little while now. That's not to say I was happy about where I'd been sitting but the fact that I was pretty much staying in the same area, was ok with me, considering I wasn't doing any exercising or watching what I was eating.

Anyway, I had posted last Monday about wanting to lose atleast 10 lbs by Dec 13th. That was clearly not going to happen without some serious change. For the past week I've done a really good job of eating a small bowl of special k (no sugar added) w/skim milk and a banana for breakfast. I have not had ANY Dr. Pepper, which is amazing that I'm still alive...that's pretty much what runs through my veins...or so I thought. I have been making sure I don't sit around "munching" between meals. I bought some rice cakes and have had 1 here or there. I think I've only had 2 total, so there you go. During meals, I have made sure I take smaller portions, which honestly, I think is the biggest thing. Well, that and the Dr. Pepper. I've always stuck by the rule of "eat everything on your plate" which I have found now that I'm older, that's not necessarily the healthiest rule to go by. Especially if you have that bulging feeling in your stomache by the time you're done. Which is typically the point I'd get to. So, I'll dish up less. I really haven't had the craving for Dr Pepper that I usually have when I'm trying to quit drinking it. I did have a headache for a couple days that wouldn't go away w/Tylenol and considered getting one in hopes that it would help, but instead, I drank lemonade.

Wednesday and Thursday I did my Carmen Electra workout which is just under an hour long. It is mostly core stuff, but it gets your heart pumping and you feel refreshed when it's over. Last Friday, this past Monday and then this morning, I got up early and went running w/a friend of mine. The route we're taking is a little under 3 miles from start to finish. It's nice to have someone depending on me so she doesn't have to run alone. I think it's the motivation I need. We all know I don't like to let people down.

So I weighed myself this morning, and I realize that I should actually wait and weigh myself at about the same time as I did last week for it to be more accurate, but, I went down 5 lbs from last Tuesday night. I'll weigh myself again tonight though, and record that weight. I'm happy though.

Josiah was on vacation from last Thursday through yesterday. We didn't get to do what I'd originally wanted to, which was go out of town, but we still thoroughly enjoyed spending time together.

My sil, Leslie, watched my kids Saturday night so that we could go out on a date. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner...YUM! The steak was sooo good. They do not disappoint. Their rolls are heavenly! I know, I know...not the best thing to go along w/my attempt to eat more healthy, but hey, it was a special occasion. Plus, I didn't even eat my entire steak. I boxed it up and ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Sunday was my birthday which really, anymore, is just another day. I think I finally learned that the year I turned 25. We went to my parent's house for dinner. My mom made roast and potatoes just the way I like em. Soooo yummmmmy! I rarely fix roast because Josiah doesn't care for it that much, so it's always a treat to be invited over when my mom is fixing it.

Monday I had my Dr. appointment which I was really tempted to just cancel. I went though, like a big girl. As far as the spot on my back, he diagnosed it as ringworm, but he wasn't positive. It doesn't itch and it doesn't have a red ring w/a white center. It's uniform. Which he even mentioned. I guess that's the way doctors work these days. He prescribed some fungal cream stuff and suggested I come back if it doesn't disappear in 2 weeks. He said alot of stuff while I was there. Partly because I'd asked him a few questions, the rest because he was supposed to. By the time I left I was a little confused as to what I was supposed to do but after talking to my mom who happens to be a pro, I feel a little better and think I have a better idea of what he meant by a few of the things he said. One being that I need to go into the lab and have a physical done to make sure all my organs are working properly and before I do that I need to call the insurance to make sure it's covered because if not, it will cost me around $400 OOP. YIKES! Glad he suggested that. I mentioned my sleep apnea symptoms and he suggested I have a sleep study done. Grr...why can't I just go to ONE place and have all these things taken care of. According to my mother, doctors aren't the same as they used to be.

Last night I enjoyed a GNO w/my mom, sister, & sil Leslie. We went to a scrapbook class which Leslie paid for for me as a birthday present. Thanks again, Leslie! I also spent some birthday money there that I'd gotten from my mother & mil. Thank you mom and mom! :)

I'm still undecided if I'm going to make Christmas cards this year or not. I kinda want to. Mostly because I still have alot of leftover stuff from last year. At the same time, they were extra postage to mail out because of the thickness of the envelopes. We'll see though. I first need to figure out what I would want them to look like. I wouldn't want to do them just like last years. Decisions, decisions!

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Cold!

2008-11-03T15:54:00.004-07:00

No, not as in chilly...I wish!

I woke up Saturday with a slight tickle in my throat. I could tell what it was leading to. A full blown head cold! Atleast I know myself, right? For reals though, I wouldn't have been offended had I been wrong.

I was supposed to start running today w/a friend from the ward. I felt kinda silly when I had to call her last night and back out of our first day. Really, I'm not a wimp. I just knew I'd be struggling for air before we got more than a couple blocks. She was very understanding though. Hopefully I'll be up to par by Wednesday. I am looking forward to this opportunity. I have always enjoyed running. Plus, I have a goal. I want to lose 10-ish pounds by Dec 13th. More would be fine with me, of course, but lets not try and shove the entire elephant in our mouths, ok?

This has got to be the worst time of year though for trying to lose any weight. I mean seriously! Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? All the food/candy/goodies that go along with this time of year is just insane! I'll be honest here. I don't have the best self control when it comes to all the yummy things to eat. I try, but maybe I could try a little harder. Knowing I have a goal in mind might help a little.

*Randomness*

This coming weekend is my 11th anniversary as well as my 31st birthday. As much as I was hoping to get out of town for it, I don't think that's going to happen. The car is in serious need of an oil change plus possibly some other work before we could go driving it for that length of time or distance from home. The money that I thought would be available ended up going another direction. I think I was really just hopeful that Josiah would have heard something about this interview he had a few weeks back now and that he'd be making a little more money soon. I lack patience sometimes and get a little ahead of myself. So for now, instead of going out of town, all of the bills are paid and there's gas money to last til next payday, plus a little extra so we can atleast go on a date for our anniversary. For this I am grateful.

I did sit down this morning and planned out all our bills/finances for the next several weeks. I was happy to find that Josiah gets paid the day before Thanksgiving and from that check we should have enough money left over after bills to have some fun with on Black Friday! Very exciting news! I'm also excited about the possibility of going shopping with Josiah this year. The last few years I've gone alone because there was no one to watch the kids. I'm always so sad and lonely being out by myself in all that hustle and bustle. I think we'll be able to bribe Rylie into keeping an eye on all the kids so we can go out together this year. She's very responsible when it comes to that sort of thing.

*************

I made an appointment for myself to go to the doctor. I haven't been to a regular doctor in over 10 years. That's kinda sad. I mean, on one hand, it means I haven't been sick enough to need one. But on the other hand, if I suddenly got really sick? I'd have no place to go! Well atleast not some place that I'd be familiar with. I decided it's time. I'm getting old. Like I mentioned previously....I'm almost 31 for crying out loud! OLD! Anyway, I actually have a spot on my back that I'm slightly concerned about. I don't know that it's anything to worry about, but at the same time, I don't know that it isn't. If it were on my arm or leg or someplace else that I could see it, I probably wouldn't even give it a 2nd thought. But it's not. It's on my back and the best I can see it is in the mirror 3ft away. The soonest I could get into a dermatologist is December 1st. I made that appointment, but also decided to call the Dr's office where Josiah has gone a couple times in the last couple years and make an appointment for myself there. Turns out I made an appointment there 2 years ago (For the same "need to get myself familiar just in case" reason) that I never actually made it to, but they still had my name in the system so they were able to get me scheduled for next Monday. I'll ask him about it and see what he says. If he thinks I should go to a dermatologist about it, then I already have that appointment made.

*************

I picked up the 3rd book in the Twilight series again. I had stopped reading for a while because I was busy with other stuff. I need to get it finished though before the movie comes out. I think the trailer I saw for it the other day said it's going to be out this month. The 23rd maybe? Does that sound right to anyone else? Anyway, I want to see it. But I want to be able to compare it to the books. Or maybe it only covers the first book? I have no clue. But I need to get them finished anyway.

I suppose I've rambled on long enough. If you're still reading, you're indeed a true friend!

Hope everyone has had a fabulous Monday!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T11:47:00.006-07:00

It's over! Finally! My Halloween shwerve was all thrown off this year. First by our ward Halloween party being a whole week before Halloween. It felt like it should be over after that night. But it wasn't. And then for preschool we had our little Halloween party on Wednesday because we only do preschool Mon & Wed. And it still wasn't over after that day! UGH! To make matters worse, all day Wednesday I kept thinking it was Thursday, and "atleast Halloween will be over after tomorrow"...but NO! I still had to wait TWO DAYS!! UUUUGH!! I don't hate Halloween. Really. I just highly dislike it being dragged out for a WHOLE flippin' week! Atleast the getting dressed up in the costumes and partying like it's my favorite holiday ever. Because lets be honest here. I haven't been given the name "Christmas brat" for nothing! (Thanks, Josiah.) And in my defense, I don't really think I'm a brat just because I like Christmas. It's not like I expect expensive gifts or anything. Maybe Josiah can explain on his blog sometime, why he has given me the nickname.

Rylie as a "Dark Angel"...

Alyssa as s "Sweetheart Bat"...

Camden as a "White Ninja"...

Trenton as "Darth Vader"...

They all had lots of fun Trick-or-Treating! We hit a few houses in our neighborhood and then headed over & met up with my sil, Leslie while she was still out with her kids and finished up our ToT'ing with them, before heading to her dad's house for scones and chili. The scones were, as always, delicious! And very healthy for us no doubt!

My day started out with taking the kids to school. We got there about 10 minutes late so I walked them into the office. Then I had to walk Camden back to the auditorium because his class had already left for the assembly that was underway and I was afraid he wouldn't have a clue where to go.

After checking w/his teacher about party time & making sure Alyssa found her way on the stand to sing w/the honor choir, I left to run by the store to pick up some treats for Rylie's class and a couple more things that I needed.

Around 11 I decided I wanted to dress up somehow. Afterall, Josiah had thrown together a "Clark Kent" costume to wear to work that morning, I knew I couldn't go costumeless. Well, with very little time and no car to run to the store for anything, I went with what I had. My hair. I decided to curl it in tight curls w/my curling iron and go Shirley Temple-esque. So not much, but whatever.

I got to the school around 12:20 and helped Camden get into his costume. The girls had taken theirs with them but I knew they needed help w/a couple things, so I then headed over to their classrooms. First to Rylie's to drop off the cookies. Perfect timing, she was in the bathroom getting dressed right then. I helped w/her wings and tied her dress for her then headed to Alyssa's class to find that she had no problem getting hers done all by herself. Very typical of my little Miss Independent! (I'm amazed at her ability to tie her own dresses and things behind her back!)

After that I headed back up to Camden's class to hang out until the parade. His class was doing Halloween centers, so I helped out with those. Afterwards, Trenton and I found a spot along the wall while we waited for the kids to come by in their costumes. I had planned on going home after that but Alyssa asked oh so sweetly if I could come to her class party which was going to take place after the parade. I had nothing better to do, so I stayed.

By the time school got out, my feet were killing me! I had worn some not so comfy flip flops and couldn't wait to get home to kick them off. Of course, I had walked to the school because I didn't have the car that day, so I had to walk home in them.

Josiah ended up getting home early so we'd be able to get our night started asap.

It was a busy day to say the least. Everyone had fun though! Now we can get started with Christmas! YAY!

A walk down memory lane...

2008-10-30T13:51:00.010-07:00

Halloween 1999 - Rylie as a flower for her first Halloween.

She even spent her first Halloween Trick-or-Treating w/her cousin Hunter, which if we didn't have pictures, she'd never know she met him.

Halloween 2000 - Rylie as Ragedy Ann.

Halloween 2001 - Rylie as Alice (from Alice in Wonderland not Alice from The Brady Bunch, although the dress is the same colors...) & Alyssa as an Angel for her first Halloween.

Alyssa claiming her "loot"...

Halloween 2002 - Rylie as Cinderella, Alyssa as a Ballerina.
(Obviously a crappy digital camera.)

Halloween 2003 - Rylie as a Leopard print Kitty cat, Alyssa as (what she considered to be) Tinkerbell, & Camden as a froggy for his first Halloween.

Halloween 2004 - Rylie as some sort of Bratz Diva...

Alyssa as some sort of Oriental Bratz, Camden as Spiderman...

& Trenton as a Dalmation Puppy for his first Halloween...

Halloween 2005 - Rylie as Princess Aurora, Alyssa as a Purple Princess, Camden as an awesome Pirate...

& Trenton as an adorable monkey...

My mother-in-law saved Halloween for us that year. She called us up and offered to make all the kids' costumes. I don't think we would have had the money for costumes that year otherwise. They were all SO adorable!

Halloween 2006 - Rylie as a Witch, Alyssa as Supergirl, Camden as Robin from Teen Titans, & Trenton as Woody...

Halloween 2007 - Rylie as a 50's Girl, Alyssa as a Devil Fairy, Camden as "Police Man", & Trenton as "Cop Boy"...

There you go! I'll post this year's Halloween pics after it happens.

Crabsy past few days...

2008-10-26T14:31:00.006-07:00

I just made that word up. But here's what I would expect to see in the dictionary if it were in there:

crab⋅sy [krab-zee]
-extreme adjective

1. The combination of crazy, busy, & crabby!

Anyway, that's really what my last few days have been....crazy busy, with a hint of crabiness.

Tuesday morning I called the doctor's office to see if we could get a same day appointment for the Dr. to look at Trenton's eye. His bottom eyelid was super puffy by the end of the day Monday and rather pink. The earliest time that they had was 10:20. Josiah decided to hold off on going in to work, so I wouldn't have to drive him twice in 1 week.

We got to the mall about 20 minutes early, so rather than waiting around in the dr's office, we headed over to Penney's to browse around. They happened to have their holiday dresses on sale for 50% off and I couldn't pass up the deal, not knowing if they'd go down that low again before Christmas. So I found a couple that I really liked for the girls and hung them together so I could quickly come and pick them back up after the appointment.

We headed back down to the Dr's office and had our little visit. Turns out it was a pretty bad eye infection, but not pink eye. We believe the term she used was periorbital abscess. We were able to get an antibiodic and clear it up though.

After the amount of time that it took to get the prescription filled, Josiah decided to just log into work from home, rather than driving all the way over just to have to turn around and drive home a couple hours later.

Wednesday I ended up keeping Trenton home from preschool again, just to be safe.

Thursday I took Josiah to work. On the way home I stopped at a goodwill and found a couple pairs of jeans for Camden for $1 a pair. After that, we went by Michael's to see if I could find anything that we might be able to use for this cake that Josiah and I signed up to make for our ward Halloween party. I was fairly discouraged by the time I left, and was really starting to feel the pressure of lack of time.

The kids had 1/2 day and I had parent teacher conferences from 3:35 until 4:30. I left the kids home while I went to those. It's always such a breath of fresh air going and hearing nothing but positive things about your children from their teachers. I love hearing things like.."She's the top reader/writer in the class & all her work is perfect!" (Alyssa) or "She's really focused and on top of everything, has lots of friends and is just the sweetest girl! Everybody loves her!" (Rylie) and "He's very advanced! He already knows all the stuff that isn't even required for him to know until the end of the 4th quarter!" (Camden) The only concern I had going into conferences, was with Camden and his ability to be moving constantly. His teacher said he's not at all a distraction and that he's very in control of himself during class.

I think I was literally beaming when I walked out of the school. We'll see what next year holds for us though. Trenton can be a smart alec at times. Not sure if it's the youngest child thing or what.

Friday started out pretty bad. I was trying to get everything ready for preschool this next week, keeping in mind that I had day camp the first 1/2 of the day Saturday and then the Halloween party Saturday night that we needed to spend the few hours beforehand making the cake...which we still were not 100% positive what we were going to do. We had thrown around some ideas. The first one being a couple cakes stacked and carved to look like a pumpkin. We considered using a bunt pan to give it the outside look that we'd need, without having to carve. Eventually we had this idea to do some sort of haunted house looking cake. Again, carving would be involved.

Finally, we came up with the idea of doing a spooky looking gravesite w/a hand busting out of the ground, still not certain exactly how to do everything so it would be just right.

Josiah ended up leaving work early Friday, so we took advantage of that time and headed over to his sister, Hannah's house, and she was kind enough to brainstorm with us a bit. She also was extra kind and allowed us the use of some of her cake decorating tools. (Thanks again, Hannah!) Off we went.

We headed to Michael's to pick up a few things and headed back home. We baked the cakes that night so they'd have time to cool

Saturday morning I was up bright and early (although being that it's October, it's not very bright at 5:30 in the morning) and headed down to the church, where we were meeting to carpool over to day camp. I'll just say I'm glad that is over. Although, I should add, I'm grateful for the other leaders in cub scouts, and the fact that I'm not alone.

We had some lunch when I returned home and then we got started decorating.

We had lots of fun working together to complete this project and were very happy (to say the least) with the final outcome...

To top it off, we won 1st place at the ward Halloween party. YAY, US!!

The girls and I decorated a pumpkin for the party...

Rylie wanted to cut/carve it, but since Josiah and I were working ont he cake, we really didn't have time to do any carving of the pumpkin. The girls still had fun painting it.

I think I'm ready for preschool tomorrow. A couple of the girls will not be coming this week, so that actually takes off a little stress. I think on Wednesday, rather than doing the regular "show and tell", I'll just have everyone come in their costumes and show them off. I've got a couple little crafts planned and a couple cute little games, but I don't think we'll do a full blown party. It will just be a relaxed fun day.

Now I'm going to take a quick nap before fixing dinner.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Randomness!

2008-10-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, my awesome sil, Jenna, awarded me w/this...

Thank you, Jenna! I'm honored to know that she feels I deserve this!

Now I want to pass it on to my sister and my mother, because they are the ones who inspired me to get back into scrapbooking and encourage the creativeness that I have been blessed with. (Now you guys get to pass it on...)

The kids went back to school today after a week long Fall break. I was certainly ready for a little quiet time. I love my kids to death, but they sure have a ton of energy and are loud to boot! I ended up keeping Trenton home from preschool today though, because he's got some sort of eye infection that I didn't want to risk him passing on to someone else. I don't know that it's pink eye...but as far as I know I've never dealt with that, so I could be wrong. His bottom eyelid is pink and puffy and he's got a little bit of drainage. He seems to be dealing fine however!

Last night for dinner I fixed shredded pork tacos. The pork was sooo good! Here's the recipe I used...

3-4 pounds pork shoulder roast
1/4 cup chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Place the roast on top of a large piece of aluminum foil. In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, oregano, taco seasoning and garlic. Rub onto the roast. Wrap foil around the roast so that it is completely covered, using additional aluminum foil if necessary. Place on top of a roasting rack in a baking dish, or place a cookie sheet on an oven rack below to catch any leaks.
Roast the meat for 3 1/2 to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until falling apart. Remove from the oven, and shred into small pieces using two forks. Season with salt to taste.

We used the small flour tortillas and added only sour cream & mexican blend cheese. Totally yummy! I didn't get a picture though.

Friday night I fixed some homemade cinnamon rolls for Saturday morning breakfast...

******C i n n a m o n R o l l s ******
2 packages (about 3-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
4 to 5 cups sifted flour
melted butter
brown sugar
cinnamon

PREPARATION:
Add the warm water to the yeast and soak 10 minutes.

Scald milk; pour over the shortening. Add sugar and salt and cool to tepid. Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups flour adding one at a time beating after each addition.

Dough should be soft yet firm enough to handle.

Knead on floured board until elastic and smooth. Avoid too much flour. Turn dough into well oiled bowl. Let rise for 1-1/2 hours.

Press dough down and divide into workable size. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Cover with melted butter. Layer with a generous thick layer* of brown sugar. Sprinkle on cinnamon* as desired.
Roll up jellyroll fashion.

Cut slices about 1" - 1.5" thick. Place slices on foil lined, greased pan. Let rise another hour.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 15 - 20 minutes. If rolls get too brown, cover with a piece of tin foil until the end of baking. Do not over bake rolls.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

stir together the following ingredients:
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.

Again, SOOO YUMMY!

This is my 3rd year of making these. I only bake them October through December though, so we enjoy them while we can.

Last Thursday night for dinner I made Fried Porkchops...

Josiah suggested it and they turned out soo yummy. I don't think I'd ever tried them fried before. I made them the same as I do fried chicken.

First I started out w/a boneless pork loin, which I sliced into no more than 1/2" thick slices. Then I salt & peppered both sides before covering them in flour.

Melt shortening over medium heat until hot. (You'll know it's ready when water flicked onto it, pops.

Add pork chops 1 piece at a time to hot oil. Cover with lid, while heat is still on medium/low, cook 3-4 minutes per side. After both sides have cooked, turn the heat to high and cook chicken for 2 more minutes per side, uncovered.

I guess it's pretty obvious that I don't cook the healthiest meals. I am however, very proud of myself that I've been cooking at home as much as I have lately, rather than going out for fast food. It has been saving us a ton o money!

Saturday I was at Costco and picked up a few things which included frozen chicken patties along with a few other things. As I was driving home, I was very tempted to pick up some lunch somewhere rather than having to fix something when I arrived. Typically, if I'm in the car and have this sort of urge, I will just go with it. It's easier all around. I resisted this urge though. Knowing I had some left over buns at home from hamburgers that I'd made a few nights before, and if they didn't get used soon, they'd go bad. I also had some leftover ham & swiss cheese from the night before when I'd made omelettes for dinner. I decided that going home and heating up some chicken patties would be the best idea. The kids just had chicken patties on a bun. For Josiah and I, I added ham and melted a slice of swiss cheese over our patties. A quick and easy meal, and a happy mom since the buns and extra ham didn't go to waste! I hate wasted food!

Saturday I went to my sil's house for a GNO craft night. We made some Christmas tree ornaments. I tend to be a super slow crafter, so mine of course did not get completely finished. I will finish this week though and hopefully get some pics up. We had tons of fun crafting and chatting and snacking. We even got to meet a fellow blogger for the first time! Julie aka Crazymama, came and crafted with us. She was, as stated in her blog title, Truly Delightful in Every Way! Lots of fun meeting you Julie!

The next couple weeks are going to be fairly busy! Josiah and I signed up for a cake decorating contest for our ward's Halloween party this Saturday evening. (Josiah's idea..) It may run in his family to be great cake decorators, but not in mine. Sure my mom used to make cakes, but she took a class to learn those skills. I haven't done that. No clue how it's going to turn out. They were also sending around a sign-up list to the primary classes for the kids to sign up for either a cake or a pumpkin, so of course a couple of the kids signed up. Rylie signed up for the pumkin carving contest and I'm not sure about the others, but we'll get a reminder call...hopefully before Friday night.

Saturday morning I have Cub Scout Day Camp. I'm not at all thrilled that I have to spend the first 1/2 of my day there. Especially since we'll have to get that cake done. Ugh!

Next week is my week to teach preschool. I really need to look over the curriculum before Sunday evening. I don't expect it to be that bad though. Mostly I just need to make sure the house gets and stays clean. For Wednesday next week, we're just going to be having a Halloween party. That should be simple enough. I hope. I should probably figure out details for that ASAP, so I can let the moms know if they will need to help.

Then of course, Halloween is the following Friday. We will be going to my sil's house for her scones that she makes every Halloween. The kids will get to go trick-or-treating together which they always love. Although Rylie is wishing we could just go in our neighborhood for once. I told her that maybe we could do that before heading over.

The following week, starting on the 6th of November, through the 11th, Josiah has off from work. Our anniversary is the 8th and my birthday is the 9th. We are going to try our hardest to (fingers crossed) head up to Show Low for that weekend. We spent our Honeymoon as well as our 1st anniversary in Show Low, both in the Honeymoon Suite at the Days Inn Hotel. We are hoping this time though, that we'll be able to stay with Grandma & Grandpa Holiday?? The kids will be going with us too, so the Honeymoon Suite is out of the question. I'm very excited about this possibility though of getting out of town for a couple days.

Christmas is just around the corner. I can not even believe how quickly it is coming! That's ok though. So far I'm not stressing out about it.

We discussed with the kids a few days ago, about how we don't want to overload ourselves with too many presents this year. We want to try and focus more on the real meaning of Christmas. We discussed w/them how we've been blessed that Josiah still has a job during this falling economy and how many homes haven't been as lucky. The girls liked the idea of picking some names from the Christmas Angel tree at the mall, and sharing our blessings with others. I'm excited for the opportunity that they will have to learn from this experience. I hope it can be a very memorable one for them.

And now I've sat here long enough! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Monday!