This entire month is scheduled with Softball and Community Rec Dance pictures. With the exception of Fridays, 2 saturdays,and of course Sundays, we will either be at the ball park, or the rec center taking pictures of the children in this city.
Dena and Jerry were here this last weekend for ISU Graduation and Mother's Day. I thought it was a good visit. Fast and furious anyway. On Friday, we went to lunch at one of my new found HOT SPOTS! Costa Vida Baby. I am in love with a sweet pork burrito! We had a fun visit and then took mom to buy her an mP3 for Mother's Day. She wants to download the Carpenters and Barry Manilow to it! Who knew.
On Saturday, Steph and I woke up at 6:00 am to drive to American Falls for our Bountiful Baskets. I was again reminded how I hate mornings. I swear we had $75.00 worth of produce for $15.00. AWESOME.
Afterward, we went to Dena's graduation. Congrats. 20 + years to complete her degree, but she finally did it! WahOO!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
ApriL.... ALreadY???
Yeah, it has been ApriL and nearly half way into May as I write this entry :)
Things are starting to settle down around here. Thankfully. The weather is still not showing any signs of breaking for good. Still snowing... a lot... in April?
We started the month off with General Conference. Last year, Derek reserved the Kimball Condominium for us during Conference this year... amazing we even got it. That place was HoPPing this weekend! It snowed on our way to Salt Lake and again every day while we were there. BRRR! We had tickets to the Sunday afternoon session only. Dennis and Shirley were coming home from Arizona and stopped in to watch Chloee and Gage while we went to the session. 'Totally loved it! I have never seen a prophet in person. I could feel the spirit- even 30 rows back with 21,000 people in the same room. As the First Presidency entered, the quiet buzzing fell completely SILENT! I could have heard a pin drop it was that quiet! What an awesome experience to actually SEE them.
Of course the talks were all great, but I could not get over how AMAZING the choir sounded. They sound good on tv... but I am telling you. The acoustics in that center are phoenominal (-2 for spelling?) I had chills! ... and of course my tearducts were working over time. My kids think I am psycho.. ok. Derek does too. Anyway, we all enjoyed the meeting. I would love to go again.
The next week was NUTZZZ. I had 2 temple enrichment activities and a Ladies Night to prepare for. BUUUUUZZZY! I think it is kind of funny that they keep changing the name of our meeting... like it matters. Does the name of it make it any more fun, meaningful or important? NOT. Derek and I like to refer to it as THE MEETING FORMERLY KNOWN AS ENRICHMENT :)
Everyone is hanging in there.. Except me. Derek is trying to pick up some slack, where I have been so busy, but things still aren't the same. I really cannot wait until our economy bounces back. We have been so spoiled. We have had to switch into conservation MODE. We are really learning to do without, make ends meet & fix things up around here. I am not saying it has been easy, but we are doing it. I think the thing we all miss most is going out to dinner and movies. We have had to substitute them with meals at home (lets here it for the pressure cooker we got for Christmas- thanks Mom & Dad!) ,red box movie rentals, and microwave popcorn! Thankfully, we have been able to pay the bills without touching our savings. I guess that is all we can ask for. We did get an offer on the "BIG" house that we just finished in January. It closes next month. YEAHHHH! So far, no sign of a presale, but Derek has started another spec. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
We celebrated Derek's 42nd Birthday on the 13th. Yes, he is getting old. We tried to throw him a surprise party, but he always has a way of ruining the surprise. He eventually found out. We made him a great GOLF cake and invited the Dyes and the Crocketts over... It ended up being moms and kids for cake and icecream. Pres. Dye was hung up in a meeting and Darin Crockett (who was just put in the bishopric in their ward) was stuck in meetings as well. So, the kids all sang Happy Birthday to him and then he went to play in a church basketball game. Eventful? NADA!
On the 16th we went to the temple with members of our Elder's Quorum. Only 4 couples went, but we had fun. Funny, what you can learn about people in just 45 minutes :)
Derek has put the trampoline back up for the season. The kids are on it Non stop! It kills Brennan's back, but he is still out there.
Bren decided not to play Baseball this year. SOOOOOOOO glad. Doing better in Math, only because Derek has had to sit down with him and spoon feed it to him. I think he is liking school a little better, but still hates to get out of BED in the morning. (GEe... ME too). He finally talked his dad into a cell phone. HE loves it.
Mady is just starting Softball. Still cheering and dancing. Always has a cloud of friends hovering. Give me strength. She has abs of solid rock from all of the back hand springs that she does in a day. SHE IS GROUCHY! She hates Brennan to tease her and has really sensitive feelings.... we can't hardly look at her without compromising the situation. WHERE is the LOVE? She is an amazing little baby sitter. SHe is also a big helper, but one of the biggest mess makers at the same time. Chloee really loves her to pieces :)
Gage is just Gage. He loves to play with friends.. ie, Max, Brayden and Austin. They all love to go to the jumps, dig and build new jumps, tear down the jumps, make more jumps, talk about the jumps... funny. He is just full on BOY. Scooters, bikes, dirt, tools, and tape. He hates school and has an excuse not to go EVERY DAY! oHHHH! My Back is killing me... I am sick...SNIFF> I have a bad head ache... I will only go if you take me to SUBWAY. SHEESH!
Chloee. MISTRESS OF DISASTER. Oh my GOOOOODNESS>. If it is quiet for more than 2 seconds we have to be on the run looking for her. SHe is either into the makeup, nailpolish or cleaning sprays, or the gypsy blood in her has again forced her to wander. We cannot keep up with her. She says and does some crazy things... ie. I'm not going to be your mother anymore (when she thinks I am being mean to her). She asks Noelle if her sister can come over to play (Reagan) She still does the "Mummy eyes" from wizards of waverly place "Your UNDAH MY POWAH". She has to bathe with anyone that takes a bath. She LOVES lip gloss and has a tendancy to get carried away :) She is just nuts. Right now her favorite movie is Polar Express. She has watched it 30 times i swear. Each time, she says. " Mom I will save you" we finally figured out that she is scared of the conductor... when she sees him, the wolves, or things get too intense, she hides under the covers. CRAZY- but she loves it!
I have been steady with temple orders, selling crafties for mothers day, spring and every other thing imaginable. (What's new, eh?) Noelle and I just found out that we got the Chubbuck Girls Softball League photography job. YEAHHH! we will be busy. There are 22 teams... I have been contacted by 3 different distant cousins on my dad's side. We have been comparing notes and trying to figure out more information about my great great grandparents. It is TOUGH. I may just be done. 5 generations might be my limit. Even though we have technology in our homes, It still takes a TON of time to search for people when you have very little information about them.
Steph and I have been couponing and have just started getting bountiful Baskets every other Saturday. It has been fun spending time with her. She is nutz!
Derek is coaching tee ball again this summer. I am hoping this will be out last go around. Steph is helping and the twins are on our team. It should be a wild and crazy summer.
We have several trips planned. I am hoping the weather cooperates. If it is too muddy at Mink Creek to ride, I am pulling my camper to LAVA and soaking in the hotpools for Memorial weekend. YEEHAW!
Things are starting to settle down around here. Thankfully. The weather is still not showing any signs of breaking for good. Still snowing... a lot... in April?
We started the month off with General Conference. Last year, Derek reserved the Kimball Condominium for us during Conference this year... amazing we even got it. That place was HoPPing this weekend! It snowed on our way to Salt Lake and again every day while we were there. BRRR! We had tickets to the Sunday afternoon session only. Dennis and Shirley were coming home from Arizona and stopped in to watch Chloee and Gage while we went to the session. 'Totally loved it! I have never seen a prophet in person. I could feel the spirit- even 30 rows back with 21,000 people in the same room. As the First Presidency entered, the quiet buzzing fell completely SILENT! I could have heard a pin drop it was that quiet! What an awesome experience to actually SEE them.
Of course the talks were all great, but I could not get over how AMAZING the choir sounded. They sound good on tv... but I am telling you. The acoustics in that center are phoenominal (-2 for spelling?) I had chills! ... and of course my tearducts were working over time. My kids think I am psycho.. ok. Derek does too. Anyway, we all enjoyed the meeting. I would love to go again.
The next week was NUTZZZ. I had 2 temple enrichment activities and a Ladies Night to prepare for. BUUUUUZZZY! I think it is kind of funny that they keep changing the name of our meeting... like it matters. Does the name of it make it any more fun, meaningful or important? NOT. Derek and I like to refer to it as THE MEETING FORMERLY KNOWN AS ENRICHMENT :)
Everyone is hanging in there.. Except me. Derek is trying to pick up some slack, where I have been so busy, but things still aren't the same. I really cannot wait until our economy bounces back. We have been so spoiled. We have had to switch into conservation MODE. We are really learning to do without, make ends meet & fix things up around here. I am not saying it has been easy, but we are doing it. I think the thing we all miss most is going out to dinner and movies. We have had to substitute them with meals at home (lets here it for the pressure cooker we got for Christmas- thanks Mom & Dad!) ,red box movie rentals, and microwave popcorn! Thankfully, we have been able to pay the bills without touching our savings. I guess that is all we can ask for. We did get an offer on the "BIG" house that we just finished in January. It closes next month. YEAHHHH! So far, no sign of a presale, but Derek has started another spec. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
We celebrated Derek's 42nd Birthday on the 13th. Yes, he is getting old. We tried to throw him a surprise party, but he always has a way of ruining the surprise. He eventually found out. We made him a great GOLF cake and invited the Dyes and the Crocketts over... It ended up being moms and kids for cake and icecream. Pres. Dye was hung up in a meeting and Darin Crockett (who was just put in the bishopric in their ward) was stuck in meetings as well. So, the kids all sang Happy Birthday to him and then he went to play in a church basketball game. Eventful? NADA!
On the 16th we went to the temple with members of our Elder's Quorum. Only 4 couples went, but we had fun. Funny, what you can learn about people in just 45 minutes :)
Derek has put the trampoline back up for the season. The kids are on it Non stop! It kills Brennan's back, but he is still out there.
Bren decided not to play Baseball this year. SOOOOOOOO glad. Doing better in Math, only because Derek has had to sit down with him and spoon feed it to him. I think he is liking school a little better, but still hates to get out of BED in the morning. (GEe... ME too). He finally talked his dad into a cell phone. HE loves it.
Mady is just starting Softball. Still cheering and dancing. Always has a cloud of friends hovering. Give me strength. She has abs of solid rock from all of the back hand springs that she does in a day. SHE IS GROUCHY! She hates Brennan to tease her and has really sensitive feelings.... we can't hardly look at her without compromising the situation. WHERE is the LOVE? She is an amazing little baby sitter. SHe is also a big helper, but one of the biggest mess makers at the same time. Chloee really loves her to pieces :)
Gage is just Gage. He loves to play with friends.. ie, Max, Brayden and Austin. They all love to go to the jumps, dig and build new jumps, tear down the jumps, make more jumps, talk about the jumps... funny. He is just full on BOY. Scooters, bikes, dirt, tools, and tape. He hates school and has an excuse not to go EVERY DAY! oHHHH! My Back is killing me... I am sick...SNIFF> I have a bad head ache... I will only go if you take me to SUBWAY. SHEESH!
Chloee. MISTRESS OF DISASTER. Oh my GOOOOODNESS>. If it is quiet for more than 2 seconds we have to be on the run looking for her. SHe is either into the makeup, nailpolish or cleaning sprays, or the gypsy blood in her has again forced her to wander. We cannot keep up with her. She says and does some crazy things... ie. I'm not going to be your mother anymore (when she thinks I am being mean to her). She asks Noelle if her sister can come over to play (Reagan) She still does the "Mummy eyes" from wizards of waverly place "Your UNDAH MY POWAH". She has to bathe with anyone that takes a bath. She LOVES lip gloss and has a tendancy to get carried away :) She is just nuts. Right now her favorite movie is Polar Express. She has watched it 30 times i swear. Each time, she says. " Mom I will save you" we finally figured out that she is scared of the conductor... when she sees him, the wolves, or things get too intense, she hides under the covers. CRAZY- but she loves it!
I have been steady with temple orders, selling crafties for mothers day, spring and every other thing imaginable. (What's new, eh?) Noelle and I just found out that we got the Chubbuck Girls Softball League photography job. YEAHHH! we will be busy. There are 22 teams... I have been contacted by 3 different distant cousins on my dad's side. We have been comparing notes and trying to figure out more information about my great great grandparents. It is TOUGH. I may just be done. 5 generations might be my limit. Even though we have technology in our homes, It still takes a TON of time to search for people when you have very little information about them.
Steph and I have been couponing and have just started getting bountiful Baskets every other Saturday. It has been fun spending time with her. She is nutz!
Derek is coaching tee ball again this summer. I am hoping this will be out last go around. Steph is helping and the twins are on our team. It should be a wild and crazy summer.
We have several trips planned. I am hoping the weather cooperates. If it is too muddy at Mink Creek to ride, I am pulling my camper to LAVA and soaking in the hotpools for Memorial weekend. YEEHAW!
Friday, March 26, 2010
March Madness?
I have to laugh at all of the HUB-BUB over college basketball! Madness it right.
We started the month off with a super fun Elder's Quorum party. HOLY COW. Can you have that much fun at an ELder's Q. party? Is is legal? We played Rock Band and had Fresh Mex Food. Stick a fork in me... I am good. We got to know a few members of the ward a little better and on a more personal level. Had lots of laughs. For sure need to have times like this more often.
In January we get together with friends and sit down with our calendars to plan out our Year worth of extracurricular. On the books for March, we planned a snowmachine outing at the cabin. After much craziness, teacher parent conferences and a last minute temple order, we finally made to Island park. There is very little snow on the roads but still enough to sled around on. Our kids love this weekend. Mady and Gage both got to ride sleds by themselves this time. Too much fun. Aside from all of the cooking and cleaning, there is still plenty of fun to be had.
On the 20th, Gage received his first set of stitches following a minor run-in with his old bike. He has spent the last week over at the jumps behind our house... jumping, sliding & all other manner of craziness. On this particular Saturday, he was parking his bike, tripped and landed on the end of the handle bars. That was all it took. We spent the next 2 hours at the urgent care sewing up his cheek. He was all good with it - as long as he could get a remote control truck out of the deal!
This has been the crazyiest month for school. There have been tons of half days, days off and then SPRING BREAK of course the last week! Did we make plans? Ohhhh. YEs. We made plans. Plans to clean this crazy house. When I was growing up, My mother would tear the house apart twice a year. The minute the weather would break in the spring she would bust out the bucket of amonia water and the cleaning rags. I am not quite so regular with it , but due to the neglect the last year, it is time. We have tried to rip into at least one room each day and spring clean it. Washing walls, dusting, vacuuming, redecorating, washing bedding, etc. We have accomplished a lot, but it has not been without knashing of teeth! The kids hate it and think we are for sure the worst parents ever. They have still played with friends every day, stayed up late every night, been to a movie, have been shopping, went skiing at Pomerelle and have had time to just breathe. I am sure they will only remember the work they had to do - and when they grow up and have their own homes, I am sure they will all do spring cleaning on Spring Break too!
We started the month off with a super fun Elder's Quorum party. HOLY COW. Can you have that much fun at an ELder's Q. party? Is is legal? We played Rock Band and had Fresh Mex Food. Stick a fork in me... I am good. We got to know a few members of the ward a little better and on a more personal level. Had lots of laughs. For sure need to have times like this more often.
In January we get together with friends and sit down with our calendars to plan out our Year worth of extracurricular. On the books for March, we planned a snowmachine outing at the cabin. After much craziness, teacher parent conferences and a last minute temple order, we finally made to Island park. There is very little snow on the roads but still enough to sled around on. Our kids love this weekend. Mady and Gage both got to ride sleds by themselves this time. Too much fun. Aside from all of the cooking and cleaning, there is still plenty of fun to be had.
On the 20th, Gage received his first set of stitches following a minor run-in with his old bike. He has spent the last week over at the jumps behind our house... jumping, sliding & all other manner of craziness. On this particular Saturday, he was parking his bike, tripped and landed on the end of the handle bars. That was all it took. We spent the next 2 hours at the urgent care sewing up his cheek. He was all good with it - as long as he could get a remote control truck out of the deal!
This has been the crazyiest month for school. There have been tons of half days, days off and then SPRING BREAK of course the last week! Did we make plans? Ohhhh. YEs. We made plans. Plans to clean this crazy house. When I was growing up, My mother would tear the house apart twice a year. The minute the weather would break in the spring she would bust out the bucket of amonia water and the cleaning rags. I am not quite so regular with it , but due to the neglect the last year, it is time. We have tried to rip into at least one room each day and spring clean it. Washing walls, dusting, vacuuming, redecorating, washing bedding, etc. We have accomplished a lot, but it has not been without knashing of teeth! The kids hate it and think we are for sure the worst parents ever. They have still played with friends every day, stayed up late every night, been to a movie, have been shopping, went skiing at Pomerelle and have had time to just breathe. I am sure they will only remember the work they had to do - and when they grow up and have their own homes, I am sure they will all do spring cleaning on Spring Break too!
February FinaLLy!
According to the calendar, this was a fairly MILD month. THe weather of course is still chilly. We still have snow on the ground that hasn't melted in forever due to colder temps.
Brennan is playing basketball on a Rec team. Again, he does not love it. Derek is assistant coaching. He does not love it. Hmmm. Why are we doing it?
Mady is in a continual fix trying to Juggle her social calendar with dance and Cheer classes. This semester, she is trying Jazz/Ballet, because there were no hip hop options. Hmmm... I do not know if I like it. We will see. Ballet is one of the oldest forms of dance. Traditional. Graceful. BORING! I pray we make it through.
Before we knew it, it was already Valentine's weekend. We went to the cabin with dear friends to celebrate- our 2nd annual sweetheart sledding extravaganza. I think this is by far my most favorite weekend of the year. I do love my children, but this is for sure one weekend that I do NOT feel guilty about leaving them with a sitter - (and I swear they appreciate us more when they are without us for a few minutes) The weather was stormy but still good enough to go sledding. Thanks to the Simonsen's again for their navigation skills and knowledge of the trails. One day we are hoping to be familiar enough with them that we recognize where we are:) I still laugh at our pathetic movie projector and makeshift quilted screen setup. What were we thinking? My eyes still ache from squinting to make it seem more focused :) Maybe next year we can celebrate Valentine's day somewhere warm... with a real theater room??
Right after Valentine's day was my 40th birthday. To be quite honest, it seemed like any other day, aside from all of the wise cracks & crazy aging gifts... Steph got me the darn-dest sack of old lady items I have ever seen. It kind of looks like the crap we hauled up to Quailridge for Grandma Belva! Yeeesh! :)
Spent the day doing literally nothing important. ok... maybe I did. I took Chloee to Dance. She loved it, we had a bonding moment. although I have never been a ballerina, I love that she is having a great time and is excited to be with other sweet little 3 year olds that are having as much fun as she is....
I spent time with my sweet husband at lunch who has been with me through thick and thin this last year...
I took Madelyn to Cheer after school - it is fun to see her excel at something that I can only do on accident.... (things like the splits and stuff...) sheeesh!
Our family went to dinner tonight @ Ruby Tuesdays.... I was again reminded that it is not a bad thing to take your kids out in public once in a while so they don't forget how to use good manners and to be on their best behavior. Yeah, it is 60 minutes of pure chinese torture to sit there with them all doing whatever it is they do.... but important.
After dinner, we all went to icecream at Farrs with Steph's family... again, was reminded of an important lesson, how important it is to have a FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand when having birthday cake for anyone over 10 years old. Damn.... that was a lot of candles. Pretty sure we could have set the smoke alarm off when we blew them out.- and it took 3 of us to blow them all out. Sick. The cake top is in shreds after removing all of those candles.
I did get a new laptop out of the whole torturous day... so it was not all bad... oh and a couple of liters of Pepsi. Only a true friend will bring you Chocolate Ganache cheesecake and pepsi for your 40th birthday :) Tiffani is pretty swell. So the day was not entirely the pits ;).
On the 20th Noelle and I took picture for a Clogging team. I did not know that clogging was so popular. Lots of kids. Lots of cute costumes. Lots of laughter... There is never a dull moment with Noelle. My sides nearly split at times laughing at her...
It seems no matter how we try, we just can't keep our house clean lately. My kids are a whirlwind of messmaking mass! They THRASH everything they look at and leave it in a state of shreds! That little poem that mentions "One day you will miss my little hand prints" CHA! AS IF. As if there were only handprints. What about all clutter and craziness? That, I will not miss.
So, I have decided that I am grateful that I am not a cleaning lady by profession. I am happy to fill in and help out in a pinch - Steph and I went to clean an apartment today after the cleaning lady quit. (Yeh. GOod move sister!) That place was scarry! We needed a stick of DYNAMITE to clear it out first so we could even start cleaning. Again, there is never a dull moment when doing anything with Steph! Is it just that nothing is funny at my house? I didn't think my life was dull or lacked humor. Apparently it is. This woman needs to be on stand up house wives - totally hilarious... for sure laughter is the best medicine while cleaning something that calibur of GROSS! Laugh or you will end up CRYING!!
I took Basketball team photos for my nephew Dallas on the 23rd. There team is undefeated so of course they think they are smokin' hot studs! Funny. 'Took some pretty cute shotz, action shotz for sports posters. They are going to love them... but what 10 year old doesn't love to look at themself doing something totally cool like a lay-up or jump shot?
The 25th was our ward skiing party. Did we have hot dogs and chili you ask... (that is a joke at our house...) Why yes, they did. Of course we had fun skiing. I am always reminded of how BLOODY OUT OF SHAPE I AM when I ski - beginning with putting my boots on. SHEEESH! Then my knees are screaming by the end of the night. WOrth it? Of course it is. Chloee skiied with Derek tonight for the first time. We thought she would be a whining mess and want to go back to the lodge after 5 minutes. SHE LOVED IT! She skiied most of the night. Amazing.
Gage is improving and BOMBS is down the hill. He gets really sick of waiting for me at the bottom. I am in no hurry to get to the bottom. I do not need to be reminded of what it feels like to "YARD SALE" it on the hill. I am good with moderate slow and steady s curves. I am completely comfortable with the fact that my 6, 9 & 12 year olds can out ski me. Most especially, I am grateful to be able to walk in the morning after it all :)
The next night, we were invited to a good old fashioned dinner party at the Simonsen Home. We are truly blessed to have such great friends & such great memories of fun times. Cooking is FOR SURE an ART FORM and a lot of work and planning! There is beauty in great tasting food & beautiful presentation, a table set with china, crystal and personalized place cards! She is an amazing cook! (totally need to raid her recipe box for Chicken Cordon Bleu, twice baked potatoes and PEACH CHEESECAKE!) Oh my! LIfe is GOOD :)
Brennan is playing basketball on a Rec team. Again, he does not love it. Derek is assistant coaching. He does not love it. Hmmm. Why are we doing it?
Mady is in a continual fix trying to Juggle her social calendar with dance and Cheer classes. This semester, she is trying Jazz/Ballet, because there were no hip hop options. Hmmm... I do not know if I like it. We will see. Ballet is one of the oldest forms of dance. Traditional. Graceful. BORING! I pray we make it through.
Before we knew it, it was already Valentine's weekend. We went to the cabin with dear friends to celebrate- our 2nd annual sweetheart sledding extravaganza. I think this is by far my most favorite weekend of the year. I do love my children, but this is for sure one weekend that I do NOT feel guilty about leaving them with a sitter - (and I swear they appreciate us more when they are without us for a few minutes) The weather was stormy but still good enough to go sledding. Thanks to the Simonsen's again for their navigation skills and knowledge of the trails. One day we are hoping to be familiar enough with them that we recognize where we are:) I still laugh at our pathetic movie projector and makeshift quilted screen setup. What were we thinking? My eyes still ache from squinting to make it seem more focused :) Maybe next year we can celebrate Valentine's day somewhere warm... with a real theater room??
Right after Valentine's day was my 40th birthday. To be quite honest, it seemed like any other day, aside from all of the wise cracks & crazy aging gifts... Steph got me the darn-dest sack of old lady items I have ever seen. It kind of looks like the crap we hauled up to Quailridge for Grandma Belva! Yeeesh! :)
Spent the day doing literally nothing important. ok... maybe I did. I took Chloee to Dance. She loved it, we had a bonding moment. although I have never been a ballerina, I love that she is having a great time and is excited to be with other sweet little 3 year olds that are having as much fun as she is....
I spent time with my sweet husband at lunch who has been with me through thick and thin this last year...
I took Madelyn to Cheer after school - it is fun to see her excel at something that I can only do on accident.... (things like the splits and stuff...) sheeesh!
Our family went to dinner tonight @ Ruby Tuesdays.... I was again reminded that it is not a bad thing to take your kids out in public once in a while so they don't forget how to use good manners and to be on their best behavior. Yeah, it is 60 minutes of pure chinese torture to sit there with them all doing whatever it is they do.... but important.
After dinner, we all went to icecream at Farrs with Steph's family... again, was reminded of an important lesson, how important it is to have a FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand when having birthday cake for anyone over 10 years old. Damn.... that was a lot of candles. Pretty sure we could have set the smoke alarm off when we blew them out.- and it took 3 of us to blow them all out. Sick. The cake top is in shreds after removing all of those candles.
I did get a new laptop out of the whole torturous day... so it was not all bad... oh and a couple of liters of Pepsi. Only a true friend will bring you Chocolate Ganache cheesecake and pepsi for your 40th birthday :) Tiffani is pretty swell. So the day was not entirely the pits ;).
On the 20th Noelle and I took picture for a Clogging team. I did not know that clogging was so popular. Lots of kids. Lots of cute costumes. Lots of laughter... There is never a dull moment with Noelle. My sides nearly split at times laughing at her...
It seems no matter how we try, we just can't keep our house clean lately. My kids are a whirlwind of messmaking mass! They THRASH everything they look at and leave it in a state of shreds! That little poem that mentions "One day you will miss my little hand prints" CHA! AS IF. As if there were only handprints. What about all clutter and craziness? That, I will not miss.
So, I have decided that I am grateful that I am not a cleaning lady by profession. I am happy to fill in and help out in a pinch - Steph and I went to clean an apartment today after the cleaning lady quit. (Yeh. GOod move sister!) That place was scarry! We needed a stick of DYNAMITE to clear it out first so we could even start cleaning. Again, there is never a dull moment when doing anything with Steph! Is it just that nothing is funny at my house? I didn't think my life was dull or lacked humor. Apparently it is. This woman needs to be on stand up house wives - totally hilarious... for sure laughter is the best medicine while cleaning something that calibur of GROSS! Laugh or you will end up CRYING!!
I took Basketball team photos for my nephew Dallas on the 23rd. There team is undefeated so of course they think they are smokin' hot studs! Funny. 'Took some pretty cute shotz, action shotz for sports posters. They are going to love them... but what 10 year old doesn't love to look at themself doing something totally cool like a lay-up or jump shot?
The 25th was our ward skiing party. Did we have hot dogs and chili you ask... (that is a joke at our house...) Why yes, they did. Of course we had fun skiing. I am always reminded of how BLOODY OUT OF SHAPE I AM when I ski - beginning with putting my boots on. SHEEESH! Then my knees are screaming by the end of the night. WOrth it? Of course it is. Chloee skiied with Derek tonight for the first time. We thought she would be a whining mess and want to go back to the lodge after 5 minutes. SHE LOVED IT! She skiied most of the night. Amazing.
Gage is improving and BOMBS is down the hill. He gets really sick of waiting for me at the bottom. I am in no hurry to get to the bottom. I do not need to be reminded of what it feels like to "YARD SALE" it on the hill. I am good with moderate slow and steady s curves. I am completely comfortable with the fact that my 6, 9 & 12 year olds can out ski me. Most especially, I am grateful to be able to walk in the morning after it all :)
The next night, we were invited to a good old fashioned dinner party at the Simonsen Home. We are truly blessed to have such great friends & such great memories of fun times. Cooking is FOR SURE an ART FORM and a lot of work and planning! There is beauty in great tasting food & beautiful presentation, a table set with china, crystal and personalized place cards! She is an amazing cook! (totally need to raid her recipe box for Chicken Cordon Bleu, twice baked potatoes and PEACH CHEESECAKE!) Oh my! LIfe is GOOD :)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Happy New Year 2010!
Again, please note that I am recollecting memories written on the calendar in order to write this entry. I promise to be better for March :).
Our New Year was most uneventful - THANK HEAVEN! We spent the day at home, watched a few movies, did some laundry How great is that? I am pretty sure that 10 years ago I would have been pretty BUMBED not to have smokin' hot plans for New Years Eve. Derek made call ahead reservations at Texas Roadhouse. It of course was amazing food. - anything that I don't have to cook is out of this world.
Monday marked our first day back to school after the break. The kids of course did not want to get up. We were up late and slept in nearly every day. Totally love that. We are all night owls, except Gage-R. He falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow, unless he is watching Fineas and Ferb on Disney. He stays awake to see what they are building and then falls asleep :) I am sure when my kids are grown and gone, I will be sad , but right now, it makes me crazy that my room is the HUB of our house. My bed is where we hang out, watch movies, take naps, read scriptures, have family prayer, and where my little babies fall asleep for the night before they are transferred to their beds. Alot has happened in that bed over the last 14 years. WOW. All Hail the California King Pillow TOP!
I went to Lunch with some dear friends on TGIF. Ladies Lunch Out. On the way home, after a most enjoyable meal and amazing uninterrupted conversation... I found myself wondering if these incredible women know how grateful I am for their constant support & friendship. We have been scrapbook chicas for many years, and are really the only ones who truly know how much money was spent on scrapbook supplies in the craft room. SHHHHH. Nobody else needs to know.
We scheduled more Dance photos for the Rec Center in conjunction with the dress rehearsal prior to the recital. IT was a ZOO, but as always, we were grateful for the opportunity. With every photo shoot I think we get a little more organized, a little better at our poses, and our pictures are little bit cuter also. WOW there are some really darling little girls in this city.
Along with the day to day HUB-BUB I have been working on 3 different temple orders for Enrichment meetings. I totally love this, but wonder for how long. I am out of practice staying awake all night so my day time is crazy trying to juggle more. One of these days when I am like 90 or something, I will wish I had things to do to keep me busy.
The 12th was Mady's Dance Recital. She LOVES DANCE & CHEER! We love to watch her. Upon arrival, Chloee asks me, "Mom did you bring my dancing clothes?" I am saying to her... " UHMMM no, not tonight. She asked me several times when it was her turn to get up there and do her dance show. Hmmm I thought to myself... if you run up there during a performance, I will die! We were able to contain her through the recital, but she has bugged me since to take a dance class.
For the first time in the History of the Leslie Cabin, we did not go there for Martin Luther King HOliday. Yeah. It was great. I can't figure out why I am so far behind all of the time... because we never stay home.... that's why. It felt amazing! Every Saturday this month the kids and I have ripped into at least one room to get some deep cleaning done. This weekend, we did the kitchen. We had everyone on a dust rag wiping cabinets and baseboards. Amazing how fast it happens when we all pitch in. All of a sudden the hardwood started to get a little slippery so the kids were sliding in their socks... of course having a great time, while the rest of us nearly killed ourselves. After about 20 minutes, I finally realized why the floor was getting slick. GAGE WAS SPRAYING HIS SOCKS WITH FURNITURE POLISH AND THEN MAKING A RUN FOR IT DOWN THE HALL. Leave it to Gage to think of that one! Needless to say, the floor was slick for at least a week.
We had our ward conference on the 31st. As a general rule, this is uneventful for me, but our Bishop gave a talk and I actually felt inspired by a comment in his talk. Many people know how slow the construction business has been. This has been a real trial for me. We have been sooo busy for soooo long that I just didn't think we would ever get a break. Well, we have had that break. We have not had a closing since July. It is only because Derek has always managed & budgeted our money so well that we are surviving the economy. Bishop spoke about how many righteous, faithful people had lost their jobs, or would be loosing jobs in the future but that we would all see Miracles. Those miracles might not be in the form of a better job, or a job with better benefits, but that the miracles might be in our ability to learn to live with less and to better manage what we have. This is totally the Leslie's. It has really been a difficult lesson for me, but I am learning it. We have all made some lifestyle adjustments and are adapting. I am grateful to have been taught the importance of food storage, managing debt, saving money for a rainy day, and that our home is paid for! That is a great feeling. oh, and it never hurts to have your own "School of Boating", just in case you need to earn a little bit of cash on the side ( This was a joke made by our good friend the Stake President... he made reference to Holli's school of Boating in his talk, and that my philosophy was that if you aren't having fun, you aren't going fast enough... Oddly enough, some thought he was serious. We can always count on him to keep things lively :)
January has come and gone and I am wondering if I am going to survive the cold weather & lack of sunshine - or my pasty skin tone, rather. Mom and dad are in Nevada, soaking up the rays. We are just here...grateful for a slower pace.
Our New Year was most uneventful - THANK HEAVEN! We spent the day at home, watched a few movies, did some laundry How great is that? I am pretty sure that 10 years ago I would have been pretty BUMBED not to have smokin' hot plans for New Years Eve. Derek made call ahead reservations at Texas Roadhouse. It of course was amazing food. - anything that I don't have to cook is out of this world.
Monday marked our first day back to school after the break. The kids of course did not want to get up. We were up late and slept in nearly every day. Totally love that. We are all night owls, except Gage-R. He falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow, unless he is watching Fineas and Ferb on Disney. He stays awake to see what they are building and then falls asleep :) I am sure when my kids are grown and gone, I will be sad , but right now, it makes me crazy that my room is the HUB of our house. My bed is where we hang out, watch movies, take naps, read scriptures, have family prayer, and where my little babies fall asleep for the night before they are transferred to their beds. Alot has happened in that bed over the last 14 years. WOW. All Hail the California King Pillow TOP!
I went to Lunch with some dear friends on TGIF. Ladies Lunch Out. On the way home, after a most enjoyable meal and amazing uninterrupted conversation... I found myself wondering if these incredible women know how grateful I am for their constant support & friendship. We have been scrapbook chicas for many years, and are really the only ones who truly know how much money was spent on scrapbook supplies in the craft room. SHHHHH. Nobody else needs to know.
We scheduled more Dance photos for the Rec Center in conjunction with the dress rehearsal prior to the recital. IT was a ZOO, but as always, we were grateful for the opportunity. With every photo shoot I think we get a little more organized, a little better at our poses, and our pictures are little bit cuter also. WOW there are some really darling little girls in this city.
Along with the day to day HUB-BUB I have been working on 3 different temple orders for Enrichment meetings. I totally love this, but wonder for how long. I am out of practice staying awake all night so my day time is crazy trying to juggle more. One of these days when I am like 90 or something, I will wish I had things to do to keep me busy.
The 12th was Mady's Dance Recital. She LOVES DANCE & CHEER! We love to watch her. Upon arrival, Chloee asks me, "Mom did you bring my dancing clothes?" I am saying to her... " UHMMM no, not tonight. She asked me several times when it was her turn to get up there and do her dance show. Hmmm I thought to myself... if you run up there during a performance, I will die! We were able to contain her through the recital, but she has bugged me since to take a dance class.
For the first time in the History of the Leslie Cabin, we did not go there for Martin Luther King HOliday. Yeah. It was great. I can't figure out why I am so far behind all of the time... because we never stay home.... that's why. It felt amazing! Every Saturday this month the kids and I have ripped into at least one room to get some deep cleaning done. This weekend, we did the kitchen. We had everyone on a dust rag wiping cabinets and baseboards. Amazing how fast it happens when we all pitch in. All of a sudden the hardwood started to get a little slippery so the kids were sliding in their socks... of course having a great time, while the rest of us nearly killed ourselves. After about 20 minutes, I finally realized why the floor was getting slick. GAGE WAS SPRAYING HIS SOCKS WITH FURNITURE POLISH AND THEN MAKING A RUN FOR IT DOWN THE HALL. Leave it to Gage to think of that one! Needless to say, the floor was slick for at least a week.
We had our ward conference on the 31st. As a general rule, this is uneventful for me, but our Bishop gave a talk and I actually felt inspired by a comment in his talk. Many people know how slow the construction business has been. This has been a real trial for me. We have been sooo busy for soooo long that I just didn't think we would ever get a break. Well, we have had that break. We have not had a closing since July. It is only because Derek has always managed & budgeted our money so well that we are surviving the economy. Bishop spoke about how many righteous, faithful people had lost their jobs, or would be loosing jobs in the future but that we would all see Miracles. Those miracles might not be in the form of a better job, or a job with better benefits, but that the miracles might be in our ability to learn to live with less and to better manage what we have. This is totally the Leslie's. It has really been a difficult lesson for me, but I am learning it. We have all made some lifestyle adjustments and are adapting. I am grateful to have been taught the importance of food storage, managing debt, saving money for a rainy day, and that our home is paid for! That is a great feeling. oh, and it never hurts to have your own "School of Boating", just in case you need to earn a little bit of cash on the side ( This was a joke made by our good friend the Stake President... he made reference to Holli's school of Boating in his talk, and that my philosophy was that if you aren't having fun, you aren't going fast enough... Oddly enough, some thought he was serious. We can always count on him to keep things lively :)
January has come and gone and I am wondering if I am going to survive the cold weather & lack of sunshine - or my pasty skin tone, rather. Mom and dad are in Nevada, soaking up the rays. We are just here...grateful for a slower pace.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
DecembRRRRR!
So far this month there has been no decking the halls with anything that is staying here. Everything is headed out the door to the Festival of Trees crafty booth. I have been frantically painting, staining, packing, etc. things for this 2nd show. Somewhere I lost a week on the calendar. I was thinking I had 2 weeks between these shows and in reality only had one. WOW!
Although, a long and crazy week at the Festival of trees, I met some really amazing women and had a few moments of downtime to get my act together. I am also making a note to self to get tickets to the Princess Tea for my girls... I think they would seriously love it!
On the 9th we began taking dance photos for the Pocatello Rec Center. There are some seriously darling little girls in this city. We had to start early this time...my little partner Noelle Merzlock is very pregnant... She is actually going to be induced on the 17th. I pray she makes it until then.
On the 11th, we spent the entire evening setting up the foyer for CeleBrate Christ. Somehow that was my responsibility again this year... thankfully that was only one night this year and we were able to tear it all down on Sunday after the program.
I still have no Christmas tree up... I still don't care that I don't have a tree up.
On the 13th we had our annual Leslie cousin Christmas party. Good food, good company, fun activities, were had by most.
The craziness continues... on the 17th we had the adult Leslie party... we went bowling in Blackfoot - there is never a boring moment with Brandt in your company.
The 18th was our Ratliff Christmas party. We had it at the Red Lion... the kids swam, we sat in the hot tub, opened great gifts from mom & dad and slept over, only to wake up and leave the mess for the merry maids! It was the greatest.
As all of this is going on, I continued to make temple pictures... was trying to pack for our trip to Arizona, Christmas shop, wrap, Plan a school Christmas party, clean up messes from the previous month, decorate a spec home to free up the red trailer that was full of decorations, had a tooth pulled, was drowning in laundry, had two birthdays to buy presents for ( Chloee 21st and Gage 26th) birthday cakes to make..... woOOOOOW! I'm not so sure I don't need to be evaluated after this month is over.
Our trip to Arizona was anything but relaxing for me. We,, well, I worked from the minute we arrived until them minute we left. Painting... cleaning... cooking... we put up a tree, finshed the shopping, wrapped presents, made cake, baked cookies for Santa, watched the Nativity movie.... seriously. By the time Christmas was here, I was struggling to even CARE!!!
On the ride home, all 16 hours of it, I had plenty of time to review the hellacious month(s) previous. Nobody cares that i am stressed to the max, Nobody cares that I get fewer than 5 and sometimes 4 hours of sleep / night, Nobody cares that I have a "To-DO" list as long as both of my legs. NObody. As I found myself longing for days as a child when I was bored and had nothing to do, I also took time to think about resolutions for the New Year... and funny, many of them can easily be achieved by learning to say the word(s) NO, and Gee,I am sooo sorry... wish me luck!
Although, a long and crazy week at the Festival of trees, I met some really amazing women and had a few moments of downtime to get my act together. I am also making a note to self to get tickets to the Princess Tea for my girls... I think they would seriously love it!
On the 9th we began taking dance photos for the Pocatello Rec Center. There are some seriously darling little girls in this city. We had to start early this time...my little partner Noelle Merzlock is very pregnant... She is actually going to be induced on the 17th. I pray she makes it until then.
On the 11th, we spent the entire evening setting up the foyer for CeleBrate Christ. Somehow that was my responsibility again this year... thankfully that was only one night this year and we were able to tear it all down on Sunday after the program.
I still have no Christmas tree up... I still don't care that I don't have a tree up.
On the 13th we had our annual Leslie cousin Christmas party. Good food, good company, fun activities, were had by most.
The craziness continues... on the 17th we had the adult Leslie party... we went bowling in Blackfoot - there is never a boring moment with Brandt in your company.
The 18th was our Ratliff Christmas party. We had it at the Red Lion... the kids swam, we sat in the hot tub, opened great gifts from mom & dad and slept over, only to wake up and leave the mess for the merry maids! It was the greatest.
As all of this is going on, I continued to make temple pictures... was trying to pack for our trip to Arizona, Christmas shop, wrap, Plan a school Christmas party, clean up messes from the previous month, decorate a spec home to free up the red trailer that was full of decorations, had a tooth pulled, was drowning in laundry, had two birthdays to buy presents for ( Chloee 21st and Gage 26th) birthday cakes to make..... woOOOOOW! I'm not so sure I don't need to be evaluated after this month is over.
Our trip to Arizona was anything but relaxing for me. We,, well, I worked from the minute we arrived until them minute we left. Painting... cleaning... cooking... we put up a tree, finshed the shopping, wrapped presents, made cake, baked cookies for Santa, watched the Nativity movie.... seriously. By the time Christmas was here, I was struggling to even CARE!!!
On the ride home, all 16 hours of it, I had plenty of time to review the hellacious month(s) previous. Nobody cares that i am stressed to the max, Nobody cares that I get fewer than 5 and sometimes 4 hours of sleep / night, Nobody cares that I have a "To-DO" list as long as both of my legs. NObody. As I found myself longing for days as a child when I was bored and had nothing to do, I also took time to think about resolutions for the New Year... and funny, many of them can easily be achieved by learning to say the word(s) NO, and Gee,I am sooo sorry... wish me luck!
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