Don't Call Me Mummy

Sunday Story

2012-01-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad about blogging but I think I will give myself a little kickstart with a Sunday Story. I have a new little Primary class, since it is a new year, and these kids are FANTASTIC!!! We started the year out with 12 on the roll - only one of them was a girl. We are now up to 14 with THREE girls. Too fun. Today in sharing time little H sat next to me. I naturally put my right arm out on the back of the chair next to me. It's a serious habit that I never noticed until little H told me "I don't like it when adults do that." Everytime my arm would go up he would glance at me!!!!!! Next week someone else needs to sit by me because I can't handle it. He also told me, half sarcastically, "keep your hands to yourself." SERIOUSLY??? He's six.Then during classtime I have little T. He is amazing and I'm still not sure why he hasn't been called to teach primary. Who cares that he's only 6. Actually, Gospel Doctrine might be more his speed. He can take any question and he just expands upon it. These are not the regular "sunday school" answers either. H looked at me and said "T sure is serious about all of this." It's true - T is very serious about all of this and I think it's great.

Pike's Peak

2011-09-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in a few months mostly because I didn't feel like blogging through tears and being a big downer. I'm not fully adjusted to this whole idea of living in Colorado but there are some things that make it easier. It sure is nice to have my parents here and my nephew is just down the street as well. Jackson thinks it is pretty cool to actually go to the same school as his cousin. I just think it's amazing that we're all in the same place! We've spent most of our time settling in but this last weekend we did do a little sight seeing. We headed up to Pike's Peak.

This was a trip we might NEVER do again. We will probably go to Pike's Peak again but we will not drive. It had to have been the windiest uphill drive that any of us had ever been in. It is also pretty difficult to breath at 14,000 feet so as you are driving up the mountain you can feel the difference. It was beautiful if you didn't think about falling off the side of a mountain.

The trip down wasn't as bad unless you count almost getting run off the road by an ambulance. There was a charity hike up the mountain that day and I guess there were several people in need of medical assistance. There is always medical crew up at the top and they even have an oxygen room to take those that need help breathing. Well, after the charity hike the one ambulance wasn't enough. On our way down we passed one coming up and THEN we came around a curve with an ambulance headed straight for us. Some idiot in a blue car did NOT pull over for the ambulance and so he was trying to pass it just as WE came around. Nothing like a giant vehicle squeezing in between two cars on a skinny mountain road!!! Fortunately we all survived!

As we got closer to the bottom of the route we got to watch a life light helicopter land. Turns out one of the people at the top was too sick for the ambulance and at 14,000 feet the helicopter is limited on the weight it can carry so they let off one of the crew and then flew up to the top. They actually let off a smoke signal so the pilot knows where to land up there. The kids thought this was pretty cool and one of the forest rangers was nice enough to explain it all to us.

Now I'm just hoping that the rest of our adventures in Colorado are just as beautiful but not as "eventful".

Absent Blogger

2011-06-27T23:16:00.008-07:00

Have you ever just had so much to say that you just couldn't blog? I promise I will get to some of our events over the last few months.
Jordan had her first piano recital. She really loves playing the piano.

Jared graduated from the 5th grade. I do have a picture somewhere, but it must be on the other computer. Strange....but here is a picture of a play he put on with his class the day before promotion. They wrote the whole play as a class and they all performed in it. He had a great time.

Jackson graduated from the 8th grade. I am not sure how this happened at all!! Just last week he was holding his friend Jenna's hand as they nervously walked in to Desert Willow Elementary for kindergarten and NOW he will be headed to highschool!!

Right after all of those graduations we headed to Minnesota for a friends wedding. While there I crossed off one item from my bucket list and we went to The Mall of America. The kids had a great time at Nickelodeon world and I walked the entire mall. I am pretty sure it was the first time I ever got a blister on my foot while walking at the mall.

We then went to Colorado Springs. Once again - pictures are not on the computer yet so I guess I will have to add those later.

At this point I think we were home for ONE week and then the boys headed to scout camp. Stew went with so Jared could go to camp this year and Jackson was all set for his second year. They all had a great time and Jared ended up getting 8 merit badges!! Jackson got a few as well and they are both well on their way to advancing in rank. Jared shared a tent with his friend Ethan and they had a great time!!

While the boys were camping Jordan and I went to California to spend some time with my parents. We had fun enjoying cooler weather and going to Disneyland. We stayed with my cousin and I had to get a picture of Jordan on his bike.

The travelling didn't stop there. My mom, Jordan and I then drove to Colorado Springs again. I am pretty sure I don't want to be in the car for more than an hour - and I have to say that because it takes that long just to go grocery shopping some days ;) - for quite a while. In a two week period I drove 7 hours to California and then 7 hours back to Tucson. 6 1/2 hours to Albuquerque and then 6 hours to Colorado Springs and then three days later in reverse.

I would like to think the rest of the summer will be a bit more relaxed but I'm pretty sure that just the opposite is in store for me. I'll keep you posted!

Mother's Day...Everyone Loves Flowers

2011-05-08T19:21:00.004-07:00

I have been married for over 18 years and I can count on one hand the number of times I have gotten flowers from my husband. A friend on facebook today shared her husbands lack of flower giving and it got me to thinking that she is not alone.

About 9 years ago I received the first of the few flowers. Yep, took him 9 years to buy me flowers. Not a big deal since several of the previous years flowers were definitely not in the budget. Well, anyway, he was out of the country on a business trip and a bouquet of flowers arrived. I can not remember if it was Valentine's Day or Mother's Day but I remember exactly what I said to my neighbor. "Stew is in England with Mark who probably bought flowers for his wife and told Stew to buy me some too." So, Stew comes home and guess who was right? Yep!!!

The next time he bought me flowers they were "I'm sorry" flowers. It was a ridiculous bouquet of flowers and I don't even want to know how much he spent on them. They would have looked better at the front of a church for a funeral or wedding than in our living room. It was like an advertisement to anyone that entered our home that he had ticked me off and was seriously trying to recover.

While out with a girlfriend one afternoon we stopped in a shop with some beautiful flowers. She picked some and so did I. As we were walking to pay she stopped and said she wasn't going to buy them because it was Valentine's Day the next day and her husband would probably buy her some. We both discussed how I was pretty safe to buy flowers since it was doubtful I would receive any. We were right.

Last year I was at my mom's for my birthday and amazingly some roses showed up. They were beautiful. I was actually quite shocked but enjoyed them. Roses are nice and I know they are the favorite flower for a lot of people - especially red roses.

Well, today is Mother's Day and yesterday I got my 4th bouquet of flowers. This time I was even more surprised. This time they were tulips. I am still wondering if he honestly KNOWS that tulips are my favorite or it was just luck. Either way I have a beautiful bouquet of tulips on my counter. Thanks Stew!!!!

Boys Will Be Boys

2011-04-09T13:33:00.003-07:00

We've been on a pretty good run of getting "asked" or "persuaded" to leave places lately. First we were at Dairy Queen and the kids were playing. I should premise by the fact that we had entered with a crowd but the crowd had long since left and we were just visiting. The kids were playing and one picked up another and the employee told them they needed to leave because that is a liability. We packed up and left. No big deal. Another incident puts us at Chipotles. Once again, in with a crowd and staying until the place had died down. An employee walked over to the children - who were NOT playing at all but sitting nicely and chatting with each other and told them that the garbage cans were placed by the exit doors. Sort of an "encouragement" to leave. We were annoyed so we did just that.

Now, yesterday, back at the DQ the oldest child was outside hanging out with some of his friends from school. I look over just as he is about to leap frog the "thank you" sign for the drive thru - as I get up and race to the door to stop him he goes over and the sign? Well, it is offset on a cement pole. The pole stayed where it was supposed to while the sign bent under his weight - and the fact it is offset from it's support. I continued to go out and yell at him. An employee out there looked at him and then turned back to her book.

Fast forward a few minutes to where it occurs to me that the inside employee MIGHT just be on the phone with the police. I raised my voice and told her the child that bent the sign was mine. Do you see here how I did not volunteer the information when it actually occurred? Anyway, she tells the person on the phone that the child's mother is here and that she will call the owner again and call them back if he want them too. So, I get to have a chat with the owner. For some reason he is impressed with my honesty. Um, the alternative was explaining it to the police and I don't think we want to go there yet. He tells me he will come out and look at the sign and I tell him I will leave all of my contact information at the counter. Once again he is shocked I'm volunteering information.

About an hour later I got a phone call from the owner once again. He has been to his store and fixed the sign. He then says "I'm not sure how often you come in...." I tell him almost every Friday, without admitting any prior offense. He then tells me that the next time I am there to ask if he is around because he would like to buy me a Blizzard.

The moral of this story? If your kid breaks something you might just end up getting free dessert out of it. Wait, is that right?

Seven Years

2011-03-14T16:54:00.003-07:00

Seven years ago today it was a Sunday. The weather was beautiful that day. We went to church, had lunch and we were visiting outside with our neighbors. I was outside with the kids and Stew was inside. He came out and told me I needed to come inside. I am usually annoyed by this kind of thing. Really? You can't come out here? Either way I went inside to see what important thing he had to say.

He just stood there for a minute as I looked at him, probably annoyed by the ordeal. He then said "Larry died." I honestly looked at him and said "Larry who?" My brother was two years older than me. I certainly KNEW who Larry was but he isn't the only one. He was named after our biological father. There was a brief moment, the only time in my life that I HONESTLY wanted someone to be dead. I shouldn't say that I wanted someone to be dead - I wanted it to BE someone else. In the moment I came to the realization of what I was being told I was on the ground. I am pretty sure why in the movies and on TV when someone comes to tell you bad news they tell you to sit down first. I sat on the floor in my living room for a long, long time. Neighbors came in, said a few words, cried a few tears and left. I stayed on the floor.

It is amazing how in a matter of seconds a beautiful day outside turns in to something else. I sat in the family room with the lights out, in silence for several hours. Hundreds of miles away the weather had never been so nice. The roads had been icy. The grass was wet and slick as ice themselves. Whatever caused the actual accident will never be known but the results will certainly never be forgotten.

The evening was a haze. A good friend came and took me to the store to get out of the house and to sort of buy things to provide for my family for the next week. My husband and a close family friend in California spent hours on the phone coordinating travel plans. My kids spent the afternoon and early evening with friends and then came home. Their routine was normal. Read a story, say a prayer, go to bed.

I then went to bed. The realization that I would be giving the eulogy/life sketch was very clear to me. I only had one sibling. He was gone - this was my responsibility. My mind went blank and I couldn't remember a thing. I was in a full panic that I couldn't remember a single childhood story. How could I be 9 days from my 31st birthday and not remember a thing about someone I had known my entire life??

Somehow I slept, somehow I packed my things and we headed to Phoenix. I was going alone, leaving my husband and children at home. We couldn't figure out the expense or I was too out of it, I'm not sure. I flew from Phoenix to Denver where I was to meet my parents who were flying from California. I made a few phone calls, calling my great aunt who we had sent to tell my Grandmother the news. Grandma was suffering for a bit of old age memory loss but we're sure she understood for a brief moment what had happened. I called friends who cried with me while I sat in the corner of the airport. My parents flight landed and I was supposed to board their plane. I'm pretty sure if they hadn't walked off during the brief layover that I just might not have boarded. It was just too much.

During all of this we were figuring out other logistics and letting people know. The "biological father" that was spoken of earlier? He decided not to come. His response was that it had been to long and that it would be to uncomfortable for everyone? Really, for EVERYONE?? You mean uncomfortable for you?????

The next few days were a roller coaster of emotions. Dealing with an exwife, a new wife, a 10 year old son and a 4 month old son as well. Taking phone calls and fielding calls. Making arrangements that nobody wants to make. Writing a life sketch.

It was amazing to me the moment I started writing about Larry's life I couldn't stop. I wrote memory after memory, story after story. I almost worried that I would talk forever. That I would forget something. Somehow it all made it's way on to paper. Thankfully the hotel staff let me use a computer in their office that was hooked to a computer. I don't know what would have done if I had to write a pen and paper.....that's a bit crazy!

The weather in Illinois had been indifferent. It was just dark and grey. No sun, no rain, no snow. Just as grey as how we felt. The morning of the funeral there was snow. Everything was so beautiful and white. Instead of grey dirty snow and ice it was all crisp and clean. As the funeral was ending and I stood at the grave site alone that is how I felt, alone. How could he do that to me? How could I go from having a sibling to being alone? Didn't he know that meant I had to take care of my parents all on my own some day? Don't people who decide to have ONLY one child know what they are doing to them?

We ended our week long ordeal with some family time. Just me and the parents. We had experiences that were just amazing. We cried and we laughed. The first laugh is definitely the hardest but once it comes you sort of know it will all be okay. You know that life will go on. You know that you will all make it and that together we can do anything.

This is honestly a post I've started and stopped many years. I probably even have drafts on this blog I could go back and look at. Do I sit here and wonder if I will hit post? Sure I do? But today - I'm just going to post. The day I lost the person that had been my friend longer than anyone else on the earth. The person I thought would always be there. I had plans to call him - it had been about three weeks since I had talked to him last and I kept forgetting to call. Is there a moral to the story? There always is. Either way I'm thankful for the 31 years I did have. I am thankful for the calls we did make. The visits we had. Even the fights.

Sunday Story - Today's Top Three

2011-02-27T20:28:00.003-07:00

3 - glad I chose the t-shirt instead of the cami under my cardigan. I did get a bit warm and I was glad I could take the sweater OFF.

2 - I learned I should throw an extra skirt in the back of the van just for those moments. You never know when a diaper decides it isn't going to hold anymore.

But really - in all that goes right and goes wrong or just goes crazy in the day there is nothing like #1.

1 - hearing a sweet little voice tell you "Hi Sister Weber". That same sweet voice also said "bye" without any persuading when Sister S. said goodbye to her on the way out of sharing time. That makes it all worth it.

Sunday Story (shhhh)

2011-02-21T00:22:00.003-07:00

Haha I just realized as I wrote the title that it is a little too appropriate. I probably shouldn't share this today but I'm pretty sure one of my little sunbeams said a word SEVERAL times that started out with the Shhhhhhhhhhhhh. It was really hard to tell for sure....but maybe I was just trying to HOPE he wasn't shouting what I thought he was. I guess I should just be glad it wasn't in sharing time, right?

The Substitute

2011-01-31T17:04:00.002-07:00

I'm really thinking about making an anonymous blog about my subbing adventures. But then again - I hardly keep this one up and if I am going to keep subbing will I have time for both?

Today was a crazy day subbing. First off I was asked to teach math. I know NOTHING about math. I said yes with the assumption that there would be lesson plans and that everything would be fine. WRONG! No plans. I was teaching remedial math and there were teachers aids in each of those classes. You would think this would be helpful but they didn't have any great ideas either. Fortunately one student in one class said something about a workbook. Ding ding ding - workbook it is. The next class the TA took over. Something about 3 adults sitting in the room while a 16 year old goes over a previous assignments and leads them in to completing the homework. The 4th class? We did NOTHING. The parapros said that is basically what they do everyday anyway. Really?

At the end of those classes the teacher came in and I let her know what we did with no plan. She argued that she had left them. She blamed the administration who, while teachers are taking pay cuts, are making all the money! What? You really can't tell me the substitute coordination secretary is making $$. I've seen district pay scales. She finally FOUND her lesson plans that she saved under the wrong name and admitted she sent ones from last week instead. We won't talk about the fact she was at a meeting the parapros all thought she should have opted out of when it was known that district wide we were low on subs. Oh well!

I ended the day with 2 Algebra2 classes. I barely made it through algebra so I was not much help but they all got their assignments.

The biggest thing of the day was the fact that I am SO thankful for friends who are willing to jump in and help out with my kids on a moments notice. Nothing like telling kids they can't have cell phones out while I'm texting and making calls to ensure my kid isn't stranded at school. Tomorrow - house keys will be made for the little latch key kids. ;)

Sunday Story - All About Dad

2011-01-30T18:53:00.003-07:00

Today the little ones were learning that Jesus had a Father just like they do. We asked them what their Dads like to do. The answers?

-Play games with me
-Go to work
-Computer stuff

but the winning answer?

-Get some money and go to the store and buy Raisin Bran.

I mean really - who doesn't like cereal shopping?

Sunday Story

2011-01-23T21:29:00.002-07:00

Oh, how I have missed the Sunday Stories. I really think now that I am working with the 3 year old's at church that I need to bring this weekly special back. The hard part is remembering all the funny things they say.

I do believe the BEST thing I heard at church was:

"Oh you silly girls, Erica, I just don't understand girls!" Really? You're 3 - at least he's figured that out early though, right?

Slacking Again

2011-01-18T15:57:00.009-07:00

I guess I haven't gotten the New Year off to a very good start. I'll just have to do a pictorial edition of what we've been up to lately.

Stew went to England before Christmas. While he was gone I went to his company Christmas party. I took the kids and we stayed the night. They swam and we had great fun. I didn't take any pictures except for this:

Jackson has ALWAYS been a car guy so we had to document the sighting.

There was also this set of pictures - lonely me at the party.

Yes, I'm too lazy to scan it.

Oh - I can't forget this one of Jackson trying to gain a few inches in height.

My parents came for Christmas and on Christmas Eve we went to the museum of dead animals. I mean the International Wildlife Museum. We've been before and the kids always enjoy it.

And then there was Christmas:

We also went to Albuquerque for New Years and for our little friend Sophie's baptism.

And then tragedy hit Tucson. I went out to UMC with my neighbor.

It was really amazing being there - everyone was so quiet. It didn't feel like you were in the middle of the city. Such saddness.

Band & Choir Concert

2010-12-13T22:20:00.004-07:00

This past week Jared and Jordan had their first choir and band concert. I wasn't really looking forward to the band part of it but they didn't do too bad.

Jared plays the clarinet and he likes it so far. I hope he sticks with it because I think it will be a great activity for him. He's not really a sports kid so band is good.

There is still a bit of squeaking but it's a reed instrument and I know nothing about that. I played the flute starting in the 4th grade through all of highschool. No breaking reeds or cork grease or any of that stuff - so Jared is pretty much on his own.

Jordan is in choir. She loves singing and even more than that I think she likes the extra hour she gets during the week to hang out with her best friend Isabelle.

I have to give a shout out to the Glade's for taking pictures and actually putting them online. My camera is still in the car so who knows when the pictures I took will come off the memory card.

I am thankful

2010-11-30T22:48:00.003-07:00

I am thankful it is the end of November. I missed a few days but I did pretty well coming up with things I am thankful for.

I think I used all my blogging brain cells this month so I may need a few days to recover. And I need some good blogging material. I'll see what I come up with in the next few days.

Only Two Days Left...

2010-11-29T22:38:00.004-07:00

I have given each of the boys a post but as I started thinking about Jordan I was pretty sure I spotlighted her already this year. I did here when it was her birthday. So, I'll just do a short list. I'm lazy.

1. She is 1/2 girlie girl 1/2 tom boy. The girl really needs to quit skateboarding in her nice skirts though!

2. She loves to cuddle. I still tuck her in at night.

3. She loves to cook. Of course she is limited to quesadillas and grilled cheese. Oh and she makes a pretty good omelet. Someday we'll branch out with foods that don't include cheese in the middle...but why?

4. She loves to read, to sing, to dance, to do gymnastics.

5. She is fun to shop with.

6. She loves animals. Horses, dogs, cats, bugs....

7. She is a great helper and a good worker. She hardly complains and she gets the job done. I'm sure this won't last forever but I'll take it for now.

8. She loves hanging out with her brothers. However, the word of the day in our home the other day was "provoke" and she's pretty good at that too.

9. She just has awesome freckles. I'm waiting for the day she is in the bathroom with a lemon trying to get rid of them like Jan Brady.

10. She is a GIRL! Yes, I'm thankful for Jordan because she's a girl. I will admit it. While pregnant with her people would ask if I was going to keep trying for a girl if she turned out to be a boy. I would respond "no we are only having 3 but you can ask me again when I have 8 boys and I'm trying again for that girl".

--Obviously I am not capable of making short lists. Oh well!

Top 10 Reason's I'm Thankful for Jackson

2010-11-28T21:33:00.003-07:00

Yep, I'm running out of time and I need to spread the love. I'm also exhausted from 4 days of late nights and early mornings. We'll see what I can produce.

1. He is my first baby. I won't deny that there IS something special about that first baby. Experiencing all those 1sts. I'll even forgive him for being 10 days late!

2. He has a great sense of humor. He takes his dad's dry whit and my sarcasm and uses the combination to his advantage. After parent teacher conferences once I asked him why all of his teachers think he's so great. He simply turned to me and said "well obviously they see in me things you don't". Hahaha. If you didn't know him you would think he was backtalking - the sarcasm is a gift.

3. He takes his responsibilities to heart. At his age I probably would have blown off half the things that are asked of him. He does his best to do what is expected.

4. He doesn't quit. He's a pretty hard worker when he has to be. He is also able to see more of the benefits of working.

5. His best friend is a girl. I love that. I hope it lasts because they have been friends since they were 5.

6. He is a good babysitter. Not that I haven't gotten reports that he was mean or forced them to watch tv in the other room so he didn't have to listen to them but for the most part I feel very comfortable leaving him in charge.

7. He is very open and honest. There isn't a conversation we've had that he didn't just ask what he wanted to know. This doesn't mean that as the immature mom I didn't have to run in to the other room and LAUGH AND LAUGH AND LAUGH and then come back with a straight face and answer his questions.

8. He has taken guitar lessons for 4 years. I'm thankful that he's stuck with it at times he thought he wanted to quit and I love to listen to him play. My kids have been lucky to pick up their dad's ear for music. I was in band in highschool but it wasn't a natural talent and I really can't HEAR it like they do.

9. He is frugal when spending my money. I know I said when he has his own money he tends to spend just to spend but he's learned how to shop when I'm buying and it has worked in his benefit. He picked up on what "clearance" meant pretty quickly.

10. He has a tender soul. There have been times I've said something and realized that it just cut a bit too much. He wants to please and when he realizes you are disappointed you can see how sad it makes him. I love that he cares. I love that he will still cuddle on the couch. I could go on and on but I am just thankful he is a part of our family.

New Friends

2010-11-27T23:43:00.002-07:00

I am thankful for new friends. There is nothing like taking the leap and saying "hey let's go shopping" or whatever and then having a ton of fun. I am really bad at this. I think I overthink it too much and then in my head it turns in to something else. Yes - I am neurotic. OK, maybe that's a bit much but sometimes it seems to be true. Just the other day a friend on facebook mentioned she wanted to get out of the house and so I jumped and asked "where". Next thing you know she's on her way to pick me up and I am sitting her wondering - did she say yes because it's out there on facebook and she doesn't want people to think she's a jerk? These are the things that go through my head. Either way - we did go out, we shopped, we laughed, we had fun.

I am not sure what my hang up is about making friends. I have to REALLY set the goal. When we lived in England I made it a point to be social. I seriously told myself I was going to meet people. I was going to be different - and when I say this I really mean at church. I have made friends at the park. I have friends who are my neighbors. It's the church friends I suck at. So, in England I was different. There were even new families in the ward that would comment that I was the first person to welcome them at the door - I will admit I was probably just stalking someone to teach primary that day - but I would also immediately introduce myself and go on from there. I think when we moved back to Tucson I just fell back in to my old ways. I did move back in to a ward that I had already been in before. There were faces I recognized. Groups I knew I probably didn't fit in. So, the cycle continued.

I think I need to go back to being social. Jumping out there, introducing myself. It really is more fun and I could always use more friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-25T22:44:00.002-07:00

Today I am thankful for family, friends and good food. I'm also thankful my mom taught me to clean as I cook so my kitchen is not a disaster. I'm thankful for friends that bring pies and rolls since baking is not my strong suit. I'm thankful for neighbors that accept the invitation to stop by when they get back from the thanksgiving feast they were invited to. I'm also thankful for 6 kids who get along great and spend the day playing together, or in pairs, instead of complaining of being bored or arguing with each other. I'm also thankful only 1/2 those kids are mine!

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving!!

Top 10 Reasons I Am Thankful For Jared

2010-11-23T22:26:00.003-07:00

I guess I better keep track of these kid posts because I'm running out of November thankful days. I'll get the other two in there.

1. He is just an easy going kid. He was born layed back. I think he realized I had my hands full chasing his brother around so he was always content to just sit back and watch.

2. He just has a different thought process. What I mean is he thinks about things that my other kids would never be concerned about. Sometimes he will think about something for days before he will bring it up for discussion. When he was three he had an in depth discussion with my brother about pickles. The next day he said "we should talk about pickles again". My brother told him they could talk about other foods too.

3. He is a collector. As much as it drives me NUTS I also have grown to love it. You know if you see a sparkly thing on the ground or an odd piece of paper or a cool stick or rock he WILL pick it up. Sometimes you have to yell - DON'T before he gets his hands on it. He had a collection of wood chips for a while - I threw them out when he was at my moms.

4. He is a Grandpa's boy. It's actually sort of odd because the other two could hang out with Grandma all day long. He went and stayed with my parents and my mom was shocked thinking she would have someone to hang out with. Nope - he went everywhere with my dad.

5. He is a great reader. This took a LOT of work. In the early days I thought someone might lose a life over trying to learn how to read. It was painful. Very painful. I'm still not sure how it happened but he is a great reader and he loves to read. He is on book 5 of the Harry Potter series and has encouraged his friends to also read them - boys that haven't even seen the movies.

6. He is frugal. When my other two have money they just HAVE to spend it. If Jordan has a dollar she's in the dollar section at Target searching for something. Jared will go to Target several times and also search online until he has finally decided what he really wants. Jackson will just buy something to buy it.

7. He is happy to play alone. He will be in his room for hours playing with lego's or GI Joe or his other toys. Of course on the flip side I've gone in to his room and noticed that every GI Joe is strategically placed to shoot whoever entered. It's like Toy Story in there.

8. He still uses words he learned in England. He also still pronounces the letter H as "haytch".

9. He is a trivia buff and loves history. Even when he was having a really hard time with school he would retain stuff that was shocking. We could travel to some castle or historic area in England and say "hey Jared what's the difference between the anglo saxons and the normans" and he would explain it. It always amazes me.

10. I'm just thankful for him because of who he is. There have been many times that we've said "well that's just Jared" but it is. It's like he is his own definition.

Finally....Well, Almost!

2010-11-22T22:34:00.003-07:00

I submitted my application to be a substitute teacher in our school district back in September or maybe even last August. It took some hoops to jump through just to get a state certificate to substitute teach and then to file all the information. I was then told I needed to wait for an interview. I have never been interviewed to substitute teach but I suppose there is some merit to it. Of course the first time they called for an interview I was going out of town that day. They do them in a group so I then got the impression it was more like an orientation, not an interview. Either way I waited for the next call. On Friday I got the call that my interview time would be today. I went to the district office and sat with 5 other people. We all followed the substitute coordinator and another woman from human resources in to a conference room. It was then explained that we would all be interviewed together and that we would all receive the same questions. For a minute I thought they were just going to hand us the packets and let us fill in our answers. Nope! I was at the top of the list so had the luck of answering the first question. There were several times that someone would answer and you would go OH MAN WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??!! There were other times someone would answer and you could see eyes rolling from the others being interviewed. Or maybe I was the only one rolling my eyes at the guy who kept name dropping. You know what - I could name half the teachers at both schools my kids go to but I'm pretty sure they aren't interested in that.

So, if you noticed I said ALMOST. This is where the best part comes in. This was only an interview. I now have to see if I made the cut and in 2-4 weeks I might be lucky enough to get a call back for a 3 hour orientation. I'm not sure what they are going to fill three hours with. I'm sure I'll let you all know when it happens. Right now I'm just thankful that I finally had the interview and now I'll just wait for the next go round.

I'm also thankful for the friend that picked Jared up after school. (Because, of course, they scheduled the interview right during school pick up time.)

Sunday Story

2010-11-21T22:40:00.004-07:00

There was a time in my blogging life that I had a regular Sunday story. That was when I was in Primary every week and my Sundays were filled with cute, embarrassing, hilarious or spiritual stories. Now I'm in Primary every now and then - I sort of enjoy being an on the spot substitute.

Today I had a group of 6/7 year olds that I have never taught before. In fact I only knew 2 of their names. We were discussing how sometimes people that we love go away for a while and how we feel when they are gone and how happy we are when they come home. Some of their comments were:

"My mom never picked me up from preschool once and I was really scared. I had to stay with the teacher and her daughter and I didn't think my mom was ever coming. When it was really late my Dad came because my mom was having my baby sister - I didn't even know she was having a baby."

"My mom went to Utah once and I sort of missed her but not really because my dad let's us do all sorts of fun stuff."

We also put a board game together and they colored it. Instead of writing the rules on the game I just wrote which lesson manual and the lesson number on the back. The kids were very confused because the "rules" didn't sound like anything I had told them. And they also weren't sure that their moms would understand what all that meant. I'm pretty sure their moms are all smart enough that they'll get it.

So, my thankful post of the day is that I'm thankful that I have Sunday stories to tell. Thankful that every now and then I get to jump in and have fun with the kids. (I'm not saying I want to be there EVERY week - just that I do enjoy it every now and then.)

I Would Be Grateful If....

2010-11-20T17:55:00.003-07:00

someone could tell me how to fix my blog. I see many of you with a list of the blogs that you like to visit and it shows when those friends blog. I have searched and searched and I can't figure out how to make that change.

If anyone would like to share that secret I would love it!!!

I am not sure if this counts as something I am thankful for but I WILL be so it is an advance on the gratitude.

The 50's

2010-11-19T21:45:00.005-07:00

We had a fun 20 minutes on Thursday night when Jared had his 5th grade music performance. Yes, 20 minutes. Maybe it was a few more than that but not much. Sometimes I'm thankful that they are so short, when Dad walks in during the last song I wish they were a few minutes longer.

Jared had a speaking part and he practiced but up there in front of everyone he stumbled over his words a bit but finally recovered. Either way I think he looked cute up there.

When we were at home getting ready Jackson asked if I knew how to dress Jared because of movies I watched when I was a kid. He's lucky he didn't ask if it was because that is how WE dressed, even though the similarities between the 50's and 80's are too many to number. He sort of looked like my friend Matt when we were in the 8th grade. The truth is, though, it really was from the movies I watched as a kid. My friend Andrea really called it though when she saw his picture and called him Pony Boy. We LOVED the movie The Outsiders.

My parents went out of town once for a few days and Andrea came and stayed at my house with me. I'm not sure why really. My brother went to a friends and Andrea, who was just 5 years older than me came and stayed with me. We both went to school during the day and then after school we watched The Outsiders OVER AND OVER AND OVER. We can still quote lines from the movie. (I think we lived on Lay's potato chips and dip that week too.)

I think Jared made a perfect Pony Boy.

Stock Piling!

2010-11-17T16:18:00.005-07:00

I have a friend that I have shopped with a few times. Sometimes at Target she will say that she needs toilet paper. As we stand in front of all the rolls she picks up one package, four rolls, and puts it in her cart. I am always stunned by this and other similar behaviors. If my cousin is going to fix dinner she will go to the store and buy one package of pasta, one can of corn, and one of whatever else she is going to prepare.

My mom is the queen of stocking her pantry. I learned early on that if you need one of something chances are you're probably going to use it more than once and you should buy enough to last a while. I am not sure if my mom has ever run out of shampoo, toilet paper, or green beans.

I can honestly say that I do not have "food storage" in my house. I'm not proud of it but it is what it is. I've often joked that I will have enough toilet paper that I will be able to trade a roll or two for that ground wheat and potato pearls. I'll let you know if it works out in my favor or not. Mostly I just know that I'm glad that I'll have at least a few cans on my shelf and paper products in the cabinet. I'm also thankful that my mom has passed this down to me. Living where I do I'm not sure keeping only four rolls of toilet paper on hand at a time would be a good idea anyway.

Rebates

2010-11-16T21:41:00.002-07:00

I love getting the mail and opening up something you think is junk mail only to find that it is a rebate check. Thankful I didn't just toss it in the trash.

The Joy of Guilt

2010-11-15T22:24:00.002-07:00

The past two weeks we've had a bit of trouble in our home. Nothing to serious but annoying nonetheless. And you know - it's just a slippery slope and that nothing serious becomes something else. Lucky for me I like to lay on the guilt and it currently still works. Yes, I am thankful for guilt. Insert evil laugh.

Jackson is having a difficult time with his homework lately. I'm not sure what it is but mostly it's just that he isn't finishing it. This leads to getting after school detention of sorts, they call it ZAP. It can be good, it lets kids get help if they need it and it does show that the teachers are on top of their missed assignments. All fine and good if I wasn't asking him if he finished his homework and he wasn't saying yes. We all know what that is...when someone says something that isn't true. It's a bad three letter word.

Flash forward to today. The boy goes off to school only to call me an hour later and tell me he has ZAP. I promptly went in to his room and took his iPod, his PSP, his gameboy, any other form of entertainment that was in there. When he came home I asked for his phone and he responded "I know, I'm grounded."

I then stood in the doorway of his bedroom and told him he has a week to get it all together. To get his homework done and prove to me that he deserves all of his stuff back. I told him he had to earn his iPod and phone back and that it would probably be a lot easier to earn those "things" back but it might take some time to earn my trust back and that I hoped he thought that was more important than texting his friends. Yep, the guilt. And I layed it on thick. We'll see if it worked.

Family Time

2010-11-14T21:53:00.003-07:00

I am thankful for family time. We spent the whole weekend just the 5 of us. We had lunch together, we went to the movies, we just hung around at home. I know that soon enough my kids are going to be older. They are going to hang out with friends. Have even more extracurricular activities than they already do. So, for now I'm thankful that they still like to hang out with us. It could just be the food and movies that keep them around though.

Annoying Gratitude?

2010-11-13T23:21:00.002-07:00

I noticed today on facebook a friend posted "I'm grateful you didn't post what you're grateful for today." She doesn't read my blog so I'm pretty safe in saying it wasn't directed at me but it also made me wonder. What is it about someone else's gratitude that can be annoying? Maybe she was being sarcastic? I would take annoying gratitude over some status updates I have read.

I have a friend who ends almost every update with the word "sigh". I have had to block her because I can't take the negativity every day. I don't understand the constant depression. Is there nothing in your life that makes me smile? Sigh.

I have another friend who constantly brings up topics to spark in depth conversations. Playing devil's advocate ALL the time? I've even been lured in to make a response and immediately regretted it remembering that his sole purpose is to watch the dance between all of his friends.

Another friend just posts nonsense. If we were still 14 I would find his status updates funny. Instead I read them and wonder how, at 37, his sense of humor and his friends haven't changed AT ALL.

Maybe I'm just boring and easily annoyed myself? Maybe I am facebook friends with people I was not actually FRIENDS with and those are exactly the reasons why. I do know that I wouldn't be bothered if some of these people were more grateful. I am also thankful for those friends I have that are.

My Mom

2010-11-12T19:58:00.002-07:00

My mom came to visit this last week. It was perfect timing since Stew was out of town for two weeks. Always nice to have someone else here so the kids aren't left alone in the evenings so much. Of course I could drag all 3 of them to different activities but nobody wants to hang out at the gym for an hour and a half, or at the church, or the bowling alley.

We had a great time shopping and eating out. Yesterday Stew came home and today my mom went home. Tag team help - sounds good to me. I guess in all the excitement I forgot to be thankful for something yesterday but hey, who really thought I would do it anyways?

So, I am thankful for my mom. Thankful that she loves my kids and that she likes to come and hang out with us. I love that she cooks and cleans. I love that she sits on the couch and does crossword puzzles and soduko with the kids. Those soduko puzzles have numbers in them..NUMBERS!!! My kids like numbers, I don't, so that is good.

Where Is My Computer Repairman?

2010-11-10T22:49:00.002-07:00

My computer is actually working just fine but we have the entire system hooked up to a battery backup. The battery is no longer able to support the four devices hooked up to it and it has been beeping. Beeping the same way a smoke detector does when it needs a new battery. Beeping, beeping, beeping. I can't turn it off because my internet router is one of those devices hooked up to the back up. It wasn't a constant beeping so it was easy to ignore at times but today it decided to give up the ghost. The beeping has turned in to an alarm sequence of beeping. I finally had to steal a surge protector that I plug my laptop into and transfer everything to it to stop the beeping.

So, you may wonder, did I forget I was supposed to be thankful for something? What does all this beeping have to do with being thankful? Well, my computer repairman will be here tomorrow. He's been gone for almost two weeks and we pick him up at the airport at lunchtime. I'm not ready to do an "I'm thankful for my husband" post so for now I will just say that I am thankful my computer repairman is coming home. And I'm thankful the beeping has stopped.

Today I am Thankful For...

2010-11-09T21:31:00.004-07:00

My son's boyscout leaders. After taking a carload of boys to home depot and then standing in the store while they all picked out lumber for a project I can positively say that I am thankful for their leaders. I am also thankful that I am NOT their leader.

I did have an older woman stop and chat with me. She commented that she thought they were well behaved and that they all looked like they were great friends. I am not sure about the first but I really think the second part is true. They are a GREAT group of boys and it is nice to see them working together.

Bowling

2010-11-08T23:12:00.003-07:00

Monday night is MY night. On my one night that is all about me - I bowl. I have had people ask me how long I've been bowling and sometimes I will reply "in utero" since my mom bowled in a Sunday night league when she was pregnant with me and I was born on a Monday morning. The truth is I have only bowled for about 20 years. My mom has bowled off an on my entire life and it was also something my brother did. For some reason I never picked it up - probably because it was Larry's thing. We kept our activities pretty separate when we were kids.

When I went to Rick's for college I was picking classes and needed one more credit. Hmmm what to do what to do? I picked beginning bowling. It was a fun class, I learned how to bowl, I learned how to keep score, there were boys. As the next semester was coming up it was time to plan my schedule again. Did you know they offered Advanced Bowling? Oh yes, that was me. Not really but I had the pre-requisite of beginning bowling so why not?? This is where I met my husband. Truth is that I thought he was a bit of a geek. We were friends though, we bowled together. The rest is history.

We went years where neither of us bowled. It was an expense that we couldn't afford. It was also time that we didn't have. When we moved to England we both joined leagues. It was a great way for me to get out and meet people. The Tuesday Morning Women's League was the place to be. Stew bowled on Thursday nights and for a while I bowled with him. Now that we're back in the states it is back to him being too busy to bowl but I still do. The kids are old enough I am able to take time out for myself. A night where I just hang out with the ladies I bowl with. Some days I bowl horribly, some days I do pretty well. Tonight? A 201!!! I'm thankful for the 201- we won the game. I'm thankful for "advanced bowling". I'm thankful for ME time!

Cookies & Neighbors

2010-11-07T21:05:00.003-07:00

I am not going to turn this in to a "thankful for food" month but for the second day in a row I AM thankful for food.

Today I am thankful for chocolate chip cookies. I loaned a book out to our neighbor, she is 11. Today there was a knock on the door and two girls standing with a container of chocolate chip cookies. I told them to thank their mom, actually saying how incredible she is. Triathlete, cookie baker, what else can she do? The younger sister turned and said "my mom didn't make them - Mandy did." Even better! And let me tell you they were GOOD. I am going to have to ask the secret but they were just the right amount of soft and crisp and the chocolate chips were still gooey!

I love having neighbors close to borrow eggs and cups of milk and to loan out books. Too bad they are not likely to get delicious cookies in return - but with a cookie maker like Mandy they don't need mine.

That Was Close!

2010-11-06T20:31:00.003-07:00

I almost failed on my challenge. It didn't help that I counted my midnight challenge as 5 posts and ended up with a whole day of no posting because of it.

So - what am I thankful for today? When I tell you just remember that I didn't promise that they would be total heartfelt earth shaking things to be thankful for. We all know we should remember to be thankful for the small things too, right? So, today I am thankful for

Yes, chips and salsa from Chili's. We went to Chili's for lunch today. My mom, Jordan and I with our good friends. It is always nice to be out with friends visiting over chips and salsa. It doesn't hurt that I think their salsa is extra yummy.

It also reminded me about when we lived in England. No, they don't have a Chili's where we lived but they do have one in Chicago O'hare Airport. I remember ending almost every visit home with a layover in Chicago. I would go to the Chili's and order a side salad with ranch dressing and chips & salsa. Two things that I knew reminded me of home just to prepare me for the long months I would then be away. It may seem completely silly. And yes, it probably also means that I turn to food for comfort but you know what - there could be worse things.

A Challenge...

2010-11-04T23:58:00.007-07:00

I have another friend who has taken up the challenge to blog every day in November. Since it has been two weeks since my last post (I didn't get the job and never got a call or letter but the new teacher started on Tuesday) I wonder can I actually take up that challenge. I mean it is the 4th of November, actually in 2 minutes it will be the 5th. So, it is too late right? Oh, who cares about the rules and let's just get started. I think I'll even have a theme. Being November I'll go with Thanksgiving. Not only will I find things I'm thankful for but I'll actually have to come up with something interesting to say about it. This could get interesting, or extremely boring - stay tuned.

Since today is the 5th, yes I've been typing for two minutes, I think a list of 5 things is due. Since I didn't blog about our trip to Vegas I'll work that in too, I'm sneaky like that.

#1 The ability to turn 38 years of not being a family into working on being one.

#2 Crazy family members who are willing to be shot up in the air at the top of the stratosphere. Especially for that little girl of mine who is just incredible. She chickened out for a bit but got back in her seat and did it! Jordan ROCKS!

#3 I am thankful for this old man. He's been my dad for as long as I can remember. He is a fantastic dad and a great grandpa. He even watched all the kids while we went and saw Cher and the guys were out at a casino.

#4 I am thankful for M&M's. No wait that isn't right. Well, I do like chocolate but that's not the point. At the M&M factory the kids were racing up the escalator and Grace tripped. It was NOT a pretty sight. A nice employee helped us out and got bandaids and all of that stuff to clean up her shin.

#5 Hoover Dam. Can I be thankful for the Hoover Dam? I think so because it gives me all of these opportunities to post dam pictures. It's become a hobby and it makes me happy. Dam happy.

To work or not to work

2010-10-18T15:08:00.004-07:00

That IS the question. I frequent the job openings over at our school district's web page. The majority of the time there is nothing that I am qualified to do so that is that. I recently gathered all of my stuff together and decided I would start substitute teaching. Hey, that's a great way to ease my way back in to work right? Work when I want, don't work if I don't want to. Well, before I've even gotten a chance to sub I noticed today two jobs available. I decided to put my application in not thinking anything would come of it. I mean, I haven't taught school in 10 years. I do not hold a current teaching certificate. I'm not a real candidate. Safe.

Flash forward 35 minutes after I pressed submit and I got a phone call. Now I have an interview tomorrow at 1:30. What was I thinking? Am I ready to go back to work? How will we all get out the door in the morning and what will the after school routine be? Of course I'm putting the cart before the horse. Perhaps I should wait until I bomb the interview to put it all out of my mind and get back to my lazy lifestyle.

I'll keep you updated on my self induced stress.

Dirty Jobs

2010-09-14T11:58:00.006-07:00

My kids and I love to watch the show "Dirty Jobs" and it got me thinking about different jobs I've had. Actually, cheese is what really got me thinking. Cheese? Cheese makes you think about jobs? Well, I was at the grocery store the other day, buying cheese, as you probably figured. As I picked up the package I had to give it a look over before putting it in my cart. Making sure the cheese had been sealed correctly in its package and that it isn't noticeable that it was spliced together from other pieces of cheese so that it makes the correct weight. All of this comes from a result of working for 4 months in the worst job I ever had.

I've worked at a restaurant as a hostess, at an insurance company as a file clerk, I've rented cars and I've rented rooms. I've also taught 7th graders and that could be argued as a dirty job all on it's own. However, none of those required a white apron and a hair net. I also never came home from any of those other jobs smelling like cheese. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as icky. I love cheese - but I don't want to smell like it.

Have you ever had a "dirty job"? Do you still have nightmares of conveyor belts moving faster than you can work? Not in a fun "stuff your mouth full of chocolates like Lucy and Ethel" but 8 oz blocks of cheese that just keep piling up? One of those jobs that just makes you happy that you have moved on in life and you aren't stuck in a white apron and hair net?

September 11th

2010-09-11T10:46:00.002-07:00

On September 9th I took my husband to the airport for his first international business trip. Our two boys and I walked him all the way up to the gate. We sat and watched airplanes taking off and landing as we waited for his turn to board the plane and head off across the world. The trip was scheduled for two weeks but the others that had travelled before shrugged it off saying they always came home early. He boarded the plane after hugs and kisses and was off.

Two days later as I was still in bed my phone rang. My mother simply said to turn on the tv. I watched in horror as they replayed what had happened and like much of the world sat in shock as ANOTHER plane hit right as we were watching. Neighbors came home from work. Others picked up their children from school and many travelled to be closer to family...and further away from the Air Force Base near by. Nearing afternoon I got a quick phone call from my husband. He just simply stated he was fine, they were safe. I asked if he had heard and he made no comments on the situation. Two hours later someone from his office locally called to also tell me the men overseas were all safe. I also had made several phone calls ensuring the safety of friends that live in New York. All were safe, one was even in the hospital delivering her first child.

Living in an Air Force town with an airport as well the skies are always busy. It was quiet. For days it was quiet and then one morning there was a plane. It was early and I walked outside to see the airplane flying East. As I looked down the street I could see many of my neighbors also standing silently - watching the plane fly through the beautiful blue sky. Life was slowly turning back to normal - or at least the sky was.

Six weeks after 9/11 my husband returned. As we went to the airport to pick him up there was no going to the gate. There was no sitting and watching planes land while others were taking off. We stood downstairs waiting for him to walk down the stairs. My boys were 2 and 4 and the two year old took off running at the sight of his dad. He crossed the "do not enter" area and put some security personnel in a bit of a panic. Fortunately others were very understanding that he was just a little boy who missed his daddy.

For three more years my husband travelled. He was often gone for 4-6 weeks only to come home for two weeks and be gone again. He doesn't wear a uniform. He doesn't fly airplanes or fight in battles at the front lines. He stands along side many like himself - his uniform is most often a pair of Levi jeans and an In-n-Out t-shirt. The average Engineering Geek. However, he is not average - he is clearly above average. And to him and all of the others that we do not see, do not hear about, perhaps we don't even know they exist. I say thank you!

Lame Insults

2010-09-07T12:16:00.002-07:00

My ex sister in law sent my mother a nasty letter yesterday. She included many things that were bothering her about my mom, my brother's second wife and then she got to me. She was ironing out the "roles" she thinks that we all should be playing in her son's life. My nephew is 16. I was sort of looking forward to my name coming up in the letter. Wondering what she was going to say about me. I was sadly disappointed. This was ALL she could come up with:

Other roles that may be of concern to you:
Sandy- Aunt, not to be confused with someone who’d hand my husband dishes so he didn’t have to go back into the kitchen after he was done cleaning up. I won’t go into being a good guest, but I will say that I doubt Steve wore a butler’s uniform during your visit.

Really? The worst she could come up with was the fact I handed her husband a plate as he was headed to the kitchen? I do NOT know how I will go on in life knowing this was said about me.

I've come to the conclusion

2010-08-30T11:31:00.009-07:00

That I love my inlaws. It's been 17 years...almost 18 and you know what? They drive me crazy. They have their quirks but I actually do love them. The picture above is Stew and his brother's and sister. There is a similar picture of the "inlaws" and I'll have to put that up here when I get a copy. But really - I love that they all get along. We went to Idaho Falls for my nephew's mission farewell. He was an awkward little boy and as he grew up he had many different illness's. We were almost not sure he would be allowed to go on a mission. Yet he is at the MTC now - on his way to the Omaha Nebraska mission. As a matter of fact this was the first baptism, baby blessing, mission farewell, or wedding that the entire family was there, except for my niece who is on a mission in England so she was given a pass. All 4 Weber kids, all 4 wives and 15 of the 16 grandkids.

So, why the proclamation of LOVE? Because I've noticed lately a few friends who actually don't like their family. Or maybe that isn't it but they certainly don't go out of their way to spend time with them. Is it that my husband likes his siblings so I go? Actually, I've gone without him before so that must not be it. So, it must be because I like them too.

You might ask...where is the picture of the "parents"? Well, we spent 3 days with them and 2 of those were in the car touring Yellowstone. My conclusion on that topic might better be saved for another day. But I will say we got told off for being at Stew's brother's where that first picture was taken and not telling them we were all there. Boohoo! ;)

And some fun pictures of our trip through Yellowstone.

My father in law took this picture. Not sure what he was looking at but I guess getting everyone's head in the photo wasn't a priority.

Just some of the beautiful landscape in Yellowstone Park

The kids in Montana - the sun shines there!

The kids on the Wyoming side - apparently there is no sun there. Maybe that's why Montana gets the Big Sky name?

One of the many Bison we saw along the trip.

phone

2010-08-17T20:09:00.002-07:00

Just found out I can blog on my phone. Wonder if that will mean more updates? You'll probably still have to wait for me to get home from vacation.

Back to School! (And what we did this summer)

2010-07-19T12:46:00.017-07:00

Here we are, ready for another year of school already. I can't believe Jackson is in 8th grade!

Somehow I have one in 8th Grade, one in 5th and one in 3rd!!!

I love how excited Jordan was to get to school this morning. She had to run out to the playground to find Isabelle. They acted like they hadn't seen eachother all summer long and yet they just saw eachother at church yesterday....girls!

And now that the kids are back in school I now have a minute to sit down and blog a little so you get to see some of the fun things we did.

We went to my mom's in California which isn't all that new or exciting but it was fun. Jared actually went a week before the rest of us and spent some one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa. They went ot Legoland and had a great time. Once we all arrived we met up with our friends from Tucson that were in California for a dive meet and we went to the Pier at Santa Monica. None of us had ever been before and we all had a great day.

It started out a bit overcast but it burned off and was a beautiful day.

The kids had a lot of fun on the rides at the pier.

This is my cousin Patty and my Dad. She pretty much looked like this most the day. I think she's on the phone more than a teenage girl.

We then spent the 4th of July at my moms. We were supposed to have a big bbq but things didn't turn out that way so it was just the family. We had a nice day though.

We also went to the beach. The boys and my Dad spent the day fishing and Jordan spent the day in the ocean. If you look you can see an X on her back. This was from a few weeks before when I forgot to reapply sunscreen when we were at a friends and her straps shifted and she got FRIED. I didn't take a picture of her after this beach day but let me tell you....when there are 5 adults and 3 kids you shouldn't assume that anyone else put sunscreen on the kids. My excuse is that I spent an hour looking for a parking spot while everyone else piled out of the van and went to play.

We also went to Disney's California Adventure this trip. We hadn't planned on it but my cousin and her husband came for a visit too and they wanted to go. I am just thankful for good friends that work for Disney that didn't mind getting us in that day. The first thing the kids did was Grizzly Bear Rapids. They wore ponchos the first time and came off the ride dry - Jordan wanted to go again without a poncho and this was the result:

This was also the first time Jared decided to ride the California Screamin' Roller coaster. Last time we went he stood in line with all of us and put one foot in the roller coaster and walked right out the other side.

He was really proud of himself for riding it!!!

Friends! Let's Get Together, yeah yeah yeah!

2010-06-22T22:55:00.003-07:00

So today the kids and I were a bit crazy. My friend Ellen had a birthday yesterday and so we decided to meet for lunch. Her job has been driving her crazy so I said she should play hookie and we would go to lunch. Sounds normal until you find out that she lives 7 1/2 hours away. We met half way, spent 2 hours chatting and eating and letting the kids run around and then we both turned around and went back home.

I met Ellen while living in England. It turns out we have a mutual friend - nothing like telling a story and someone you don't know FINISHING it but that's another story. We're good friends but I think the true love affair is between our husbands. I really wish I had a picture to prove this story but you'll just have to create your own visual. We travelled down to another military base for the weekend while living there. We were at a small base and for good shopping and taco bell we would drive 3 hours and spend the weekend. (Hmm this 3 hour driving thing is sounding normal now.) Anyways. We decided to order the kids pizza one evening and to go out for dinner. We sent the men out for the pizza as we got the kids all situated. Soon Stewart walked in and I realized he had a new jacket on. Seriously, you went for pizza and you came back with a new jacket? It really isn't that cold out. And then the door opens. Greg walks in......same jacket. Like two 13 year old girls they walked in to the store, looked at jackets and bought MATCHING ones. To make it worse they proudly wore them when we would all go out.

Either way I guess I'm grateful for good friends. I'm grateful for 3 hour drives for 2 hour lunch dates. For husbands with matching jackets. And for teenage boys who pretend to despise each other yet get along a little too well at times for us to believe. And amazingly 2 little girls who wore the exact same outfit on their first day of school last year without either of us knowing.....maybe their dad's planned it behind our backs!

Complicated Families

2010-06-01T20:58:00.002-07:00

Jordan and I went to Portland a few weeks ago to attend my cousins wedding. While we were there Jordan got to meet her cousin Grace. Grace is a year older than Jordan and they got a long great. We went to the zoo and the girls acted as if they had known eachother forever. Kids are great like that.

Grace's mom is my step sister. This was also the first time I had ever met her. We are 37 and 38 and had never met - but I've known she existed for a lot longer than she knew about me. It's a complicated history of family but we're all trying to make up for it. I'm trying not to be territorial and she's super nice considering I'm the girl that took her life - that grew up with her father as my Dad. It's difficult to have feelings that I DON'T WANT to like her but I do. I still cringe when looking at her facebook pictures of her with my mom and my dad labeled "Me & My Dad". I even have trouble seeing the pictures of Grace and her Grandpa. Jordan is the only grand daughter - or she was - and now she isn't. Like I said - complicated.

The picture above is my mom, Ann-Marie, Me, Jordan & Grace

Where Have We Been?

2010-05-07T10:10:00.015-07:00

Last month seemed to just fly by. We were pretty busy and somehow I missed updating the blog at all.

Let's see what happened?

Jordan got baptised

and we had a lot of our family and friends come for that. It was a crazy weekend with way too many people in my house - but we had fun.

(I could comment on my Mother in Law's sudden involvement with having her hands on Jordan's shoulders but I'll keep my Mother In Law stories for another day)

We had two school performances - one from Jared

And then a week later from Jordan

When I go to school performances I can't help but think about when we were in England and we had school musicals like this you'll have to click on the video to check it out 1/2 way down the entry.

Right after Jordan's performance we continued rushing around to get Jared ready for his school Grand Canyon trip. I've never been and I'm a bit jealous but I really didn't want my first Grand Canyon trip to be on a bus with a ton of kids. I did have to laugh when Jackson said it was no fair that Jared got to see the Grand Canyon. When Jackson was in Year 6 in England (5th Grade) he went with his class on a ski trip to Switzerland. Let's talk about not fair!

I think Jared took some pretty good pictures
This is Mikey - he has been all over the world with us so of course he went to the Grand Canyon too!

And then this last Wednesday we made a drive out to the new Gila Valley Temple. This was the kid's second open house experience.

The Wave or Tunnel Vision?

2010-04-08T08:34:00.002-07:00

Every morning when I drop my kids off at school I pass by a few moms I know. Depending on who is on time or ahead of time or running late it could be coming or going. As we pass there is usually a wave. I am a waver. (And when I say waver I don't mean in the sense that I peg my pants and listen to New Order.) If I know what kind of car you drive I can pretty much spot it from a good distance and I will give you a wave as we pass. Some people are so intent on their driving or listening to their talk radio or something that they just seem to have driving tunnel vision. I have a friend who I used to pass on a regular basis when we were on a small military base in England. I could practically run in to her and she wouldn't even turn her head - she just wouldn't see me. I wonder if maybe she is just more focused and I'm more.....what was I saying?

Sometimes I drive my husband's car and I still wave and then I have to remember...they don't know it's me. It doesn't stop me from waving. Have I ever waved at someone and then realized "oops, wrong person"? Yes, but it doesn't bother me. Everyone needs a wave.

In England I did a lot of waving. The roads are small and you often need to share one lane with cars going both ways. As you signal to let the other person go ahead you wait for the pass and it is standard that you wave. A quick lift of the hand off the steering wheel to just say "thanks" or "you're welcome". You don't see that kind of hand gesture here too often. We're pretty quick to raise the hand but it's more often in the "would you get out of my way!" shake of the fist...unless you're being a bit more naughty.

I will continue my wave. I will continue to hope that you wave back. And for those of you that do...thanks.

Spring Break

2010-03-22T08:51:00.003-07:00

This spring break we:

Went to Build-a-Bear. Jordan had birthday money burning a hole in her pocket.

Went swimming at the Cove in Sierra Vista. The kids love the wave machine and the water slides.

Went to the Zoo in Phoenix.

Before all of that we even went to the Rodeo.

And took NO pictures since my camera was in Germany. I think it's time for another camera in this house.

Something Old

2010-03-03T14:57:00.008-07:00

I have thought about the idea for this blog several times and finally got around to blogging it.

I have this habit of holding on to stuff. Some of it useful, some of it, not so much.

I have this denim jacket hanging in my closet. It is a small and it is, let's say, 20 years old. Will I ever wear it again? Highly unlikely. But I will tell you I did toss out the matching jeans some time ago as I gave up the idea that I would ever be a size 2 again.

This is the TV we got when we first got married. It's 17 years old and is in our bedroom. We have upgraded it 2x but seriously - only 3 TV's in 17 years? That's not bad either. I am getting ready to move this one out and put our bigger TV in here - but it's such a monster I don't think we can lift it on to the dresser. (The dresser would qualify as old too - we inherited it from my Grandmother and you guys are lucky I didn't take a picture of the bed that matches it - yes we sleep in a double/full size bed.)

Yes, a fantastic picture of my ear. I was actually going for the earrings and I'll tell you that the hoops...I've been wearing those since I was 12. I've worn other earrings but I keep coming back to the hoops. They are comfortable, I don't have some allergic reaction when wearing them. I could go on. As for that "second pair" I got those from my husband when I graduated from college 13 years ago. That's why I wear them. I'm also suspicious that they are the reason I've never had a calling in young women's at church as well.

My alarm clock. This is probably the oldest of my possessions that I use on a regular basis. I got this for Christmas probably when I was 9. It used to be the only radio I owned and it got a LOT of use during the Duran Duran period of my life. I have used it almost my entire life except for when we were in England. Four years of using an alarm clock I never quite trusted. I was so happy to take this out of the box and proudly put it on my dresser again. Granted the light that tells you the alarm is set no longer works, but it has never failed me.

Some of these things have sentimental value, some of them comfort, some of them because we're cheap. I mean we are frugal and living within our means. Some of them are just trusted and I'm afraid to replace because I might not like it as much. And then there are those things that you held on to for 30 years. Something that you loved. Something that YEARS and YEARS ago you thought you might keep to give to someone else....and then that day comes.

If she treats the dress well I might just let her read my Little House on the Prarie Books that I have NEVER shared with anyone.

Happy Birthday...Better late than never?

2010-02-24T08:33:00.003-07:00

Monday was Jordan's birthday. She was born on 2/22/02. Yes, very cool birthday but it gets better. On the day she was born we joked about all the different "cool" times she could be born. I was induced that morning and as the clock ticked we passed quite a few of those times. Then the time came...Jordan was born and we all stopped in shock as the nurse announced the time: 2:22. Needless to say, if you ask her, her lucky number is 2.

Jordan is such a joy to have in our house. After having 2 boys EVERYONE asked if the new baby was a girl were we going to be done. I just told them to ask me again when I was the crazy lady down the street with 8 boys. Truth be told 3 was our number regardless but I was SUPER excited to be having a girl. When the ultrasound tech said "most likely" a girl I went 100%. I never even mentioned to anyone the "most likely" part. Good thing she was a girl because I had never seen a closet so full of pink in my life. I think when she was born she had more clothes than I probably ever will.

Jordan is just fun - she's a bit of a tom boy since she has to keep up with two older brothers but she also loves to dress up and be girlie. Not that there weren't times after church when I would have to tell her to quit climbing trees in her church clothes. She's also ruined a dress or two while skateboarding - but what can you do?

Jordan is also my sidekick. She tends to keep the house in order - even though she's the biggest culprit of leaving her snack wrappers on the couch. I was sick once and could barely get off the couch. I remember hearing Jordan tell the boys that it was time for bed. When asked if "mom said??" she responded YES and the boys brushed their teeth and went to bed. I just smiled to myself and went back to sleep. She also loves to take the lessons she learns at church and use them at home. Of course she has to TELL me she learned about being a peacemaker as she will walk in to the other room and tell the boys to "get along". Of course she's also the one jumping in and stirring the pot 99% of the time.

She loves to read, rollerblade, design dresses, and just about anything else. She is one of those kids that will try anything and she has no fear. I am thankful for her every day.

Look for the update in April when she gets baptized. And yes - she has to wait because of family schedule conflicts. She did suggest getting baptized now and then doing it again when everyone can come and was a bit disappointed when I said it didn't work that way but she is SUPER excited for April!!

Hair today gone tomorrow?

2010-02-15T10:37:00.003-07:00

Can you tell if this is a boy or a girl? Apparantly the hair on this child was getting so long that at Chuck E Cheese's on Saturday Jordan had to say to another child "That's not a girl! That's my BROTHER!"

I'm not really bothered by what my kids want to do with their hair. There are so little freedoms for kids that hair really isn't something I make a fuss over. (I will also admit I get some sort of pleasure from people asking about his hair and those that just don't think it's "appropriate") Jared had decided a while back that he wasn't going to cut his hair until summer. Fine, let's see what happens. He then changed his mind a month ago because he "saw himself in the mirror and didn't realize it was that long". We still didn't get it cut mostly because we just didn't get over there to cut it.

On Saturday, after the "That's not a girl" comment and the fact that his older brother wanted a haircut we went to Great Clips. Jared still wasn't sure if he wanted to cut it or not so he decided on a trim. They did take 3 inches off - if you call that a trim.

The Deal

2010-02-02T10:43:00.002-07:00

My mom was here last week and when we stopped for lunch before I took her to the airport to go home she put an offer on the table. I've been wanting to lose weight for a while. In fact there were 2 New Years in a row that I joked that my resolution was to become anorexic. I don't need comments about how insensitive that is and all that other stuff. I'm not really choosing to have an eating disorder to lose weight. And anyways, it obviously didn't happen, so you can relax. So, after trying to figure out what would REALLY motivate me an offer came. A deal was made. (Doesn't hurt that I saw my picture on two different blogs and that might have encouraged me just enough!)

The deal: lose 20 pounds before my cousins wedding May 15th and get a $500 shopping spree for a new wardrobe.

Now I'm not a style maven and I'm pretty much most comfortable in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt but those things wear out too. So - we'll see how the next few months go and what kind of fun things I can buy.

So, I now have to figure out how to get this done. I can't run because I have a bad knee. A floating patella - if you want to see it I'll show you sometime. Haha. Mainly I think I need to start on my diet. Cutting out the soda, the junky snacks and the second helpings. I'm also hoping to go pick up an elliptical from a friend who doesn't use hers. Just have to find someone with a truck to pick it up for us and then I'll be on my way to a skinnier me.

Let's Talk About Change!!!

2010-01-26T14:54:00.002-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while and part of that is because my Mom was here visiting for two weeks. We did all sorts of things including looking at houses. Not for me but for my parents. They put their house on the market in California and we were just seeing what was out and about in Tucson. It has been on the market several times in the last 4 years but nothing ever came of it. This time they have had more people look at it in the first 2 weeks then probably the last 4 years combined. And then the offer came in. THE HOUSE SOLD! It has gone from "someday" we might come live by you in Tucson to "it looks like this is it!"

Of course we looked at house after house finding nothing up to her specifications. Single level, living room and family room, not trashed, and not squished in between 2 other houses. We might have found a couple if it were not for the "not trashed part". You do have to wonder in some of these houses how the children colored so high on the walls and if they touched the wall with dirty hands EVERY time they walked down the hallway. So, we found nothing....until.

Until what you ask? Until we walked around the corner from my house. Literally 3 houses down and one street over. An empty, brand new, smaller home. It's on a corner and the lot is huge. All of a sudden the idea of my mother moving in to a home that I can see from my back yard got a little crazy. 7 hours is the closest we have ever lived to family (oh wait at USU we were 2 hours from my sister in law.) Obviously in England we were an Ocean away. This is walking distance. Exciting and scary all at the same time. No offers have been made though as they are waiting for the sale of their home to be finalized. It should be an interesting couple of weeks ahead of us.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T09:37:00.003-07:00

Yes - I know I'm 4 days late. That seems to be the trend lately. We had a fantastic 2 weeks off just hanging out with the kids and working on things around the house. I guess we were so happy not going to school and work that we figured we would skip it today. Well, almost. I managed to wake up 5 minutes before Jackson needed to be on the bus and 25 minutes before the other 2 needed to be to school. Great start!

I'm also a bit late with the goal setting. Not really sure what goals I have. I know I would like to lose weight - this has been a goal 4 years running...so far with no success. I suppose if I was out walking the dog instead of sitting here in my jammies while he is sleeping on the floor next to me that might help.

So, before the day gets away from me and it's time to get the kids from school I suppose I better get on that walk.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T15:17:00.003-07:00

So far we've had a great Christmas Holiday. My mom's for a few days of California sun and Disneyland. Now we're at home spending Christmas with Stew's parents. Never a dull moment around here.

Bad Habit?

2009-12-16T08:27:00.003-07:00

Last night the youth at church went Christmas carolling. I am always finding Jackson a ride home from these activities as I hate to drive back and forth all night long to drop him off and pick him up. So, as the activity was about to start I went inside the house they were meeting at to find someone who would give him a ride. This is where my "bad" habit took over. I walked in to see a couple people sorting gift baskets. Trying to match up the baskets with the correct address and then group them together. I could have walked in, found a ride, walked out. But I couldn't. I have this problem. I see something that needs to be done or something that needs an extra hand and I just have to jump in. I stayed for a good 20 minutes making sure everything was set up so they could easily grab their baskets and get going when the time came. Seriously - why am I not one of those moms who drops their kid at the curb and goes back home? Is it my way of payback for begging someone else to make sure my kid gets back home at the end of the night? Actually I know what the cause of my problem is. It's genetic! My mom is the same way and as much as we would like to sit back and enjoy or socialize you'll often find us jumping up to take care of something else. I'll continue to blame the bad habit on her. Oh well, guess there are worse things.

What would you do for a pair of shoes?

2009-11-19T15:34:00.003-07:00

The other day I stopped at the shoe store for a new pair of tennis shoes. The kids were with me so they wandered around the store. Of course they each found a pair of shoes they thought they needed as well. Truth was the boys did need new shoes so I was easily swayed....almost. Jared picked a pair of converse. Totally acceptable shoe except for one thing - he coudn't tie his shoes. It isn't that we hadn't tried in the past, we had. We had sat on the couch several times and his little fingers just flopped lazily and he would say he couldn't do it. I never pressed. Between velcro, slip ons and shoe laces you don't actually have to tie I figured he would be fine for a while.

So, we sat at famous footwear and I made a deal with him. I will teach you how to tie your shoes and you have to tie them all on your own 5 times and I will buy them for you. At first I thought for sure I would be saved the purchase of the shoes. Nope, he was determined. Unlike all of the other times when he didn't see the point - this time he had a goal, a reward within reach. He finally got it and sat there and tied and untied them five times. He was so pleased with himself he wore the shoes right out of the store.

When I was 4 I taught myself to tie my own shoes. I tied my brother's shoes for several years before he decided having his little sister tie his shoes wasn't something he wanted to to do for the rest of his life. My other two picked up the shoe tying thing pretty quickly - each by the time they were 5. I'm now able to say that all 3 of my kids are shoe tyers (if that's how you even spell that)!

Talents I Don't Have

2009-11-14T16:38:00.003-07:00

Today Jackson went to a chess meet with the school chess team. He is not really on the team if you consider he doesn't go to practice but I guess he plays during his first period home room class with the chess coach. He was on the chess team last year so the coach is trying to bring him in again. I guess he's not too bad he just isn't patient enough sometimes to really sit and think about the next move. Not good when you're playing chess, right?

Well anyways, at the meet today he was playing and the coach came out and started talking to me. At this poing I'm not sure how he didn't see the glazed over look in my eyes. Something about board one and then something about the bishop. Which one is the bishop again? Oh right, that guy that's looking up all the time with his mouth open in a funny smile. What does he do? Heck if I know!

Just proof to me that our kids are so different than we are. That they develop talents and interests in things that we have no clue about. Yes, my husband knows how to play chess if you're wondering. But really, it is truely a talent I do not have. I also can not skateboard, play with a hackey sack, draw, sing, or...oh let's just stop now before this gets out of hand.

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T18:47:00.003-07:00

My Grandpa and Grandma. They met while my Grandpa was in Texas during World War II. He was in the Navy and she was in the Women's Air Corps. I think it is totally cool that my grandma flew airplanes. She was a test pilot so when they would make repairs on airplanes she would then take them for a test flight to make sure the planes were fixed completely. She crashed more than once and broke her nose two times.

Costume Party

2009-11-06T08:08:00.003-07:00

I know, halloween was last week but I have a costume party to attend tonight. I've had sick kids home all week and totally forgot about it. I have no costume. The theme is "dress up like you would if you were a kid". I don't have any princess costumes on hand in my size, no cheerleader costumes, no cowgirl. I have 10 hours to pull something together. I may just have to drop by the costume shop and see what they have. What was it I wanted to dress up as when I was a kid and never got the chance? What did you always want to be?

I guess we'll see what I come up with....if all else fails I'll dress up as a baby and just wear my jammies. Hmmm that sounds comfy.

Kid Talk

2009-10-29T23:03:00.002-07:00

In the car today the kids were talking about who knows what. Something my Dad told Jordan came up. The fact that almost any bug out there tastes like popcorn. Jordan says "I'm not sure if they really do taste like popcorn." Jared's response? "He's an old man - he can't lie you know!"

Halloween is Coming!

2009-10-22T10:37:00.003-07:00

Amazed is a Halloween junky (actually I'm pretty sure she loves ALL holidays) and has a lot of really fun ideas for Halloween on her blog. Pumpkins and witches and cupcakes. I'm thinking the cupcakes are all just too cute. I decorate a little bit at my house. Mostly stuff that I've made at one relief society activity or another. Some of the stuff I have purchased but not much. I'll admit right here that I'm kind of cheap. My previous shopping partner was probably more frugal than I am so there were years that I would have never bought anything just because I thought it was too cute. Now I tend to wander out in to the world with my neighbor. I should say that a lot of my decorating is done with my mom - but she also does some of the purchasing so it allows me to still be cheap. But now with my neighbor I don't see her buying me stuff for my house but she sure helps me spend my own money. We were at Kirklands Home store and I saw the candy corn/pumpkin girl and we both thought she was really cute. Being the frugal girl I am I went home printed off a coupon and went back a few days later. When I was told that they only had the two on display and they wouldn't get any more halloween stuff I knew she had to come home with me. My only thought now is wondering where she will live after halloween is over.

The Stay at Home Mom

2009-10-19T11:14:00.003-07:00

I am a stay at home mom. My kids are all in school, in fact my youngest is in 2nd grade so she's been in school for a while. I am still a stay at home mom. I have my degree in English and before we moved to Arizona I taught 7th grade English and Utah History. We then moved to England and I dabbled in working. I was a substitute teacher and I worked in the Education center on the base. Now we're back to Arizona and I'm back to not working. I don't think I've ever had another stay at home mom ask me what I do all day but I have had a few others wonder.

Today was a prime example of why I don't work. I spent the morning gathering things my husband needed in the colder weather, as well as a colder lab at work, while he's on a business trip. I then drove those items in to town to have the shipping guy at work mail them to him. While running this errand Jackson called to tell me that basketball starts TODAY and he needed his shoes and clothes for after school.

Off to Target I went as he wore his tennis shoes in the river camping with the scouts and he didn't really have the appropriate attire for basketball - he needs new shorts. Easy enough if I had remembered which child I was shopping for and didn't bring home shoes 2 sizes too small. I will exchange them tonight when I need to go back that direction.

Then once I returned home I had to call the guitar teacher. A 3:30 lesson time won't work when the basketball player doesn't get home until after 4:30. Rescheduling to 5:30 on Wednesday was the option.

After I pick up the younger two from school I'll take Jackson's things to him at his school.

I'm not sure how I would manage this all if I did work. And I'm really not sure who made up the term STAY AT HOME mom because I'm hardly ever home.

Hiking is Fun?

2009-10-17T12:40:00.003-07:00

Since Stew is out of town I'm doing double duty with the kids. Today Jared had a hike with the Webelos and the 11 year olds and a parent was "encouraged" to come. Since Jackson also wanted to hike that left Jordan. I suppose I could have put some effort in to finding her some place to hang out for the morning but sometime during the week a little "family hike" sounded like fun. We loaded up the backpack and met everyone at the church. 27 hikers - 25 men/boys - and then me and Jordan. At one point I thought about backing out and one of the dads even gave me the option but nope - we're going to hike. At 2.8 miles I wondered if this was really a good idea. At 4.8 miles I wasn't sure I was actually going to make it as it only got hotter this morning. But .6 miles later we were in the car with the A/C going full blast and headed to McDonalds. Sounds like a successful morning...now if we only had the energy to get some chores done. Oh well.

-And that is a picture of a tarantula we came across on our hike. Some boys were disappointed we didn't see any snakes - I was not.

Wonderful Do Nothing Day

2009-10-15T11:28:00.002-07:00

Today is a do nothing day. I've had days and days of this vacation running around. Not today. Today it is 11:30 and I'm still in my jammies. The kids are up and dressed and playing Clue. I did get dressed enough to let the garage door repairman in the garage to fix the chain but that has been my big activity of the day so far. The kids don't even seem to care that we're not going anywhere, that nobody is coming over. They are probably as worn out and ready for a do nothing day as I am.

Crazy Mom Life

2009-10-13T16:31:00.002-07:00

I'm in the midst of a crazy mom life. Actually I'm in the beginning of 5 weeks of craziness. My husband just left for a 5 week work trip. That's 5 weeks of me being a single mom. I saw a blog the other day where the girl took pictures of all of her activities during a day - I'm not sure my blog has enough room for that some days. Just today my schedule was this:

Leave house at 9am for a 10am allergy appointment for Jared.
Sit in waiting room for 40 minutes.
After 2 1/2 hours at the allergist (including waiting room time) we left at 12:30. This was after Jared was poked and prodded and covered with welts. Apparantly it's easier to say what he ISN'T allergic to than to list those things he is allergic to.
Our next stop was Chuck E Cheese because the boy deserved it and we were all hungry and needed a fun break.
Run home and get Jordan changed for Gymnastics at 4:00
Organize a ride for Jared to scouts at 4:30.
That's where we are now - so at 5 we will be done with gymnastics and head over to pick up Jared from scouts.
We will be home for an hour and a half and Jackson will be off to scouts/mutual at the church. I was just called to give another child a ride because her husband is out of town. I laughed to myself - said I would pick him up - no problem.
At 8:30 I will have to pick up the boys and bring them home again.
Hopefully around 9:30 all kids will be in bed and I can chill for a bit.

Of course that will last for hours longer as my chilling will turn in to late night tv viewing because when the husband is gone it takes me much longer to fall asleep.

And then tomorrow - we can do it all over again. Just substitute the allergy doctor for the orthodontist and one activity for another and I'm sure I'll be just as tired come 9:30.

If you're wondering - the kids are out of school for fall break - they will go back on Monday and then my crazy life will be strictly an afterschool affair. I may just nap all day while they're gone.

Back to Blogging - or trying

2009-10-11T20:32:00.002-07:00

I actually read some blogs today. The strange thing is that I read blogs of people I actually know. If you look at my list of favorite blogs I don't actually know any of those people. I have read and followed and even retold stories of blogs I have read but I didn't know anyone that actually blogged. And I wasn't sure I wanted anyone I know reading what I blog. Like a secret journal that can be read by people you don't know. It seems safe. Now I'm thinking that I might want to branch out. That I might want to read those other blogs - that I might want to be part of that group. Then I wonder - what if those girls don't want me reading their blogs. Is there a rule about reading the blogs of people you actually know? I got the one blog address from facebook and it snowballed from there. Do I casually comment on something that is written that I relate to? I'm on totally different ground. I'll let you know how it all works out.

You Can't Pick Your Family...

2009-08-08T18:22:00.002-07:00

Actually you can pick your family when it comes to the inlaws but it doesn't really work very well. When I met my husband and consequently his family I thought they were all sane. I remember sitting in the living room while we all enjoyed a Buster Bar from Dairy Queen...good times. I also remember the day I got married when my mother in law said, "Well, now it's a done deal we can all quit pretending we're people that we aren't." At the time I thought it was a joke. 16 1/2 years later it is certainly no joke. I have a brother in law and his family and then a sister in law and her family that are all normal. And then there are the mother/father in law and the oldest brother and his family. Sometimes you have to really wonder how people end up like they do when they come from the same parents.

You may wonder what spurred this blog. My oldest son is 12 and in our church this is a pretty big age so the events that occur has brought in quite a few family members. I'm pretty sure that when they are all on "my turf" their quirkiness shows 10fold. Fortunately for me part of their craziness also includes them driving many miles to be here only to turn around as quickly as they can to head back.

My Lack of Blogging

2009-06-22T23:21:00.003-07:00

Why is there no blog here? Where have I been? I've been lazy, I've also been busy, and I've been on Facebook. Horrible addiction.

Life is good. I'm enjoying having the kids home for the summer. We've had adventures to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa and coming up we have another adventure to Utah. My niece leaves on her mission for the church on July 2nd. She's going to London England (London South) and I just know she is going to love it! I have known her since she was 3 years old and now she's a beautiful young woman getting ready to go on a mission. She will experience so many new things, including her very first airplane ride. I'm going to need a lot of stamps and stationary too so my kids can write her all kinds of letters.

So, I will try to do better. I will try to think of fun little stories to get this blog going again. I will...right after I get back home.

Senior Pranks

2009-05-19T11:51:00.005-07:00

This morning I got the kids ready for school and Jackson headed out the door. He is the only one that rides the bus. The other two could but we enjoy the extra 20 minutes we get to sleep in and watch Sponge Bob in the morning so I drive them. I left the house and noticed Jackson still standing there with all the kids. Not unheard of as there are sometimes issues with a later driver or traffic incident. The elementary school kids were still at the bus stop too - that is a little bit more eyebrow raising. I head to the school and there are no busses at all at the school. Before you ask if there was actually school this morning, there was, that's why all the kids were waiting for the bus. I head back home and there is my son still at the bus stop. I make him get in the car and we head off to his school. It seems that the senior prank this year was to let the air out of the tires of 76 school busses. They also painted Class of 2009 on the busses, in washable paint. It seems like a harmless prank, nobody was hurt, a few kids got to be late for school - all fun right? Of course they weren't thinking about the man power that would need to be called in to get the busses operational. The checks on the vehicles to make sure they were safe to drive. It seems that harmless prank is costing around $10,000. not so harmless is it? Maybe I'm just old and ornery? I don't know.

I did not participate in a senior prank when I was in highschool. In fact I can't recall one happening my senior year - but I could be wrong. When my brother was a senior a group of his friends did pull a prank on their English teacher. At the time Trinity Broadcasting Network was a pretty small operation located not far from our house. The group of boys went over in the middle of the night and loaded up pieces of the lifesize nativity and transported them to the front lawn of their teacher's house. In the morning he woke up to his children excitedly talking about the camels, sheep and cows in the front yard. Monday morning the teacher told each class that whoever was responsible needed to remove the animals and take them back where they came from. So, in the middle of the night they went back and got the animals to return them to Trinity. As they were unloading the van the police cars pulled up and the boys got a bit worried. My mom received a phone call at 4 am that she needed to pick up her son. The broadcasting network didn't press charges but all of the boys were handcuffed to the stop sign next to the van. The best part of the story is that a month later the mom whose van they used was loading some stuff into the van and went to move all the blankets that were in the corner only to find that there was still a sheep in there. She had to drive back and return the long lost sheep to it's flock.

Death by Car

2009-04-10T21:59:00.002-07:00

Many many years ago my brother came to visit me while I was in college. He had been there for a few days when we were all in the car and he had a confession to make. He explained to us that he had done something really bad and that he didn't know if he could even talk about it. How intriguing is that? WHAT could he have done? So he proceeded to tell us that on his drive from Spokane to Rexburg he had hit something? What had he hit that would have been so horrible? I had to ask if he had hit a PERSON, which of course he had not. My next question was if he had hit a horse? He then asked what kind of idiot hits a horse - well I have a roommate who actually hit TWO horses head on. She was driving to seminary (religion class before school) one early morning and only had one working headlight. She drove with her high beams on until a car came towards her and she turned down to 1 headlight. When she flipped her brights back on it was too late - two horses were RUNNING right towards her. She was lucky to have walked away uninjured - the horses were not so lucky. Back to my brother's story - once he stopped being completely shocked at the horse story - we continued guessing what he could have hit. A dog? A porcupine? A cat? Ahhhhh yes a cat. He hit a cat and for 3 days could only think about some little girl getting up in the morning and going outside to look for her cat and finding the aftermath. For three days he couldn't even TALK about that he had hit a cat.

I have been fortunate in the fact that I have never hit a cat, dog, horse or porcupine (I had a roommate who hit a porcupine too if you're wondering why I brought this up two times.) I have, however, been at fault for the death of several birds. I'm always amazed when the birds make it without being hit by the car but even MORE amazed when they don't fly fast enough. I hit a bird today that didn't fly HIGH enough. I've gotten over it though...I didn't even have to wait 3 days to blog about it.

Birthdays

2009-03-25T16:29:00.002-07:00

I had a birthday 2 days ago. Not a monumental one, nothing even to blog about really. However, that in itself has led me to the blog. I can remember some birthdays I have had in vivid detail. I know that when I turned 5 I had a birthday with all the party games: Pin the tail on the donkey, drop the clothes pin in the mason jar, musical chairs, all the fun you can have in ones backyard. When I was 10 I had a combined sleep over birthday party with my neighbor. It was at her house and it was a disaster. I went home at 3am but my mom didn't hear me knocking on the door so I had to go back. When I was 16 I didn't have a fantastic party or anything but the boy I liked came and picked me up and we had lunch - our first "real" date that was interrupted by a phone call that I got my first real job and they wanted me to come in that day. When I turned 18 I spent the day horseback riding with my on again off again boyfriend - we were currently off. And then the guy I had been dating a bit took me out but suddenly remembered he needed to get his car back home for his sister so we needed to swing by my house and get my car. Voila a surprise party was waiting. Many more birthdays passed that I can't recall but when I was 30 Stew was out of town and I had lunch with my neighbors and we had cake and then dinner at another friends with more cake. When Stew returned home after his business trip we went to Vegas. Six birthdays have come and gone since then. Not sure in 30 more years I'll remember any of them but I suppose I should be happy I keep having them.

I'm A Lazy Blogger - here's a meme!

2009-03-09T16:21:00.003-07:00

1) What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch - the occasional bleu cheese.

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Anyone without my kids? Haha just kidding - claim jumper. Can't wait for The cheesecake factory to make its appearance here.

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it? Peanut butter - as I probably eat it everyday anyways - pb crackers/pb toast. It's the breakfast of champions.

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice? pepperoni and pineapple

5) What would you like to put on your calendar today? 2004 and I would go back and make that phone call I never made.

6) How many televisions are in your house? Three - one in the family room, one in the kids hallway with the play station and then one that isn't even plugged in in our bedroom.

7) What color cell phone do you have? Black - but I really miss my pink one.

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed? right

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body? No - unless you count the pieces of road that were stuck in my chin when I crashed on my bike once.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted? I would guess boxes as I'm still not completely unpacked but I move boxes from place to place as needed.

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope.

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Absolutely not.

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I would change my last name. LOL JUST KIDDING! I don't know - I've had this one for long enough I've sort of gotten used to it.

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? I might entertain the idea but I doubt I could.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own? None - I really don't find them comfortable.

16) What’s your goal for the year? get all those boxes unpacked and my office organized. Organize the garage too.

17) Last person you talked to? My neighbor

18) Last person you hugged? My daughter.

19) Favorite Season? Spring

20) Favorite Holiday? Christmas

21) Favorite day of the week? Friday or Saturday

22) Favorite Month? March

23) First place you went this morning? The bowling alley - I had to prebowl since I'll be travelling to Utah on Wednesday.

24) What's the last movie you saw? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - the night before it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the theater it was Bedtime Stories.

25) Do you smile often? I think so.

26) Do you always answer your phone? I have caller ID - if it is a telemarketer I do not.

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? A wrong number because the guy who had this phone number before me didn't tell his friends he changed it. It's usually related to something I do NOT want to know about.

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be? Maybe green? I like my blue eyes though.

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic? Orange Creme Slushie.

30) Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes - many. In college we had 4 - John, Paul, George and Ringo - you'll never guess which one died first.

31) Favorite Christmas song? I don't know that I have a favorite - I love them all.

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday? I better get thinking about this one since I only have a few weeks. Lyposuction and a tummy tuck maybe? hahaha

33) Can you do push ups? Yes, as I demonstrated to my Webelos the other day - those 10 year old boys could NOT do them.

34) Can you do a chin up? That would be a no.

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited? A bit of both.

36) Do you have any saved texts? I have a ton on my phone but not saved for any particular reason except I just haven't deleted them.

37) Ever been in a car wreck? Nothing where anyone has been injured.

38) Do you have an accent? No.

39) What is the last song to make you cry? I Can Only Imagine - but sung by Wynonna because that's who sang it when I heard it the first time.

40) Plans tonight? Taking the girl to Gymnastics - that's it.

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? No, I don't think so.

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. Nothing, it was Sunday.

44) Current hate right now? I don't know that I hate anything. I dislike when people do NOT use their turn signals.

45) Met someone who changed your life? Yes - I think most people influence your life one way or the other - it's all part of life.

46) How did you bring in the New Year? At my mom's neighbors eating jambalaya mmmmmmmm.

47) What song represents you? I have no idea - I guess I don't have an anthem.

48) What were you doing at 12 AM last night? I was sleeping.

49) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Wondering if the kids were up yet and if they took the dog out.

Seven!

2009-02-22T11:44:00.003-07:00

Seven years ago my baby was born! Hard to believe it's been seven years and that she is still the baby. She is everything I ever wanted in a girl - I think I said that in my last post about her reading but it's true. She's kind and sensitive and she just has a joy about life. She also has a passion for animals. At Christmas she asked for a puppy. She wrote letters to Santa asking for a puppy. In fact at school she wrote a letter and whoever the genius was that wrote back to her focused on her request for a puppy. Seriously, who does that? She cried when she did not get a puppy for Christmas. So, February rolls around and what do you think this little girl wanted for her birthday? A puppy of course. I have spent the last two weeks looking in the newspaper and on craigslist in search of a puppy. Checking the lists of the dogs at the shelters. I have really no desire to spend 100's of dollars on a puppy. I also was picky about the age. I didn't really want a brand new puppy but I didn't want a DOG either. So yesterday we went to the animal fair. What better place to find a puppy than to go to 1 place where all of the rescues/shelters bring their dogs. We wandered around and didn't see anything. Too big, too old, too mean looking, not what I was looking for. Then we spotted him. A small black dog. The rest is history. He is 8months old and a chihuahua/jack russell mix. So far he's been absolutely wonderful. And my 7 year old is having the best birthday ever - and now she isn't the baby anymore.

Bragging!

2009-02-12T12:44:00.002-07:00

I'm not big on bragging normally. In fact I come from a family that just doesn't do it very well. This comes from both sides actually - I married in to a family that takes pride in one another's accomplishments but they just don't brag about them. When we have family reunions with my husbands extended family we usually spend one night all hanging out in one big room and everyone updates on what is happening in their lives. Stew's dad is the oldest so he ALWAYS goes first. He gives a very matter of fact update on each of his children and grandchildren. It then moves on down the line, there are 8 siblings, and as it goes the accomplishments become BIGGER and BETTER. We often sit and think - well so and so has a 4.0 too and so and so conducted the Utah Symphony but it just doesn't occur to us to BRAG like that. And it does feel like bragging. In my opinion a family update is "Stew and his family live in Tucson- we're so happy to have them back from England." Not "Stew spent 4 years saving the world, his children are all merit scholars and his wife just wrote her first novel." Even though sometimes I think we should get a rebuttal at the end of the reunions so we can add all the things we didn't THINK to brag about being the first in line.

Well, anyways - the whole point of this post is so that I CAN brag! Yep, it is my blog and I'm going to do it. I have to say I love my boys they are fantastic and they are both very smart. Their interests and abilities are sometimes different than mine but this is to be expected as they are 1/2 of someone whose interests and abilities are also very different than mine. So this brings me to the girl. I really WANTED a girl and I am so absolutely thrilled how similar her interests are to mine. She is just so sweet and she loves school. Absolutely loves it. However, the thing that I LOVE that she loves the most is reading. I love to read, I have always loved to read. I can remember learning how to read and then that was it I was off. Jordan is the exact same way. She will be 7 next week and she is in 1st grade. She was retested for her reading level this week and her ability is 5.0. This means she is on a 5th grade reading level!! I absolutely am thrilled - there is nothing I DID to make her a good reader - she just IS. And I'm going to brag about it!

The Proposal

2009-02-05T09:13:00.005-07:00

Over at Amazed she's having a little contest to gear up for Valentines day I would guess. I figured I would play along and tell about how I got engaged.

Of course when I met Stew I was not at all interested but those things change. We dated a while. We talked about marriage and we talked about rings. I told him exactly what I did NOT want and some of the things that I did want, being very materialistic obviously at 19. So, while at Rick's when a girl would get engaged she would announce it to her friends/dorm roommates through something called a candle lighting. We would all sit in the dorm lounge and pass a lit candle around the room. Everyone would say something to the lucky girl - without knowing who it was. When the candle would come to the newly engaged girl she would blow it out. So one evening my roommates and I all attended a candle lighting. The candle went around the room and when it came to me I leaned to my roommate Shelley and informed her that if Stew asked I wanted a ring JUST like the one on the candle. The candle was passed and it continued around the circle again. Strangely nobody was blowing it out. As the candle reached me for the 2nd time Shelley leaned over and whispered - blow out the candle. I was shocked. The door opened and Stew walked in and YES I blew out the candle.

Of course - I do enjoy another proposal story. A friend of ours took his girlfriend hiking up a mountain and when they reached a nice area they stopped and had a picnic. He then pulled out 2 ring boxes and asked her to choose one. When she picked he promptly threw the other box over a cliff. As she opened the EMPTY box and started freaking out he then pulled a 3rd box out of his other pocket. He's pretty lucky she didn't throw HIM over the cliff if you ask me - but it makes for a great story!

Making a House a Home

2009-01-16T19:17:00.002-07:00

Yep, I've been busy lately and neglecting my blog. First we had Christmas which was great. Then we went to my mom's in California and we all went to Disneyland with my sister in law and her family. Her oldest Daughter turns 21 in May so this was the last family vacation for a while - as she hopes to go on a mission. Their 2nd oldest daughter got married right before we moved home from England so this was also the first time we met her cute husband. We all had a great time.

I've also been busy with the house. My mom came back with us after our trip to California and she was busy helping me organize and all of that. I do NOT enjoy hanging pictures on my walls so the 2 of us tackled that together. It took us almost a week to have to nail more than one nail to get something hung correctly. We should have stopped there because our last bout at interior decorating was disastrous. As was said by a good friend when I told her the story "they shouldn't be called window TREATMENTS they should be window PUNISHMENTS". This is after I first installed one part of the rod and it was crooked - and then fixed it and installed it upside down. After the rod was hanging and even we lifted up the curtains to begin putting them on and wouldn't you know it - TOO SHORT! We won't mention that my mom was ironing the creases out of the sheers and panels while I was hanging the rod. All that work gone to waste as we folded them back up and put them in the little plastic sleeves they came in. Fortunately the store was able to exchange them and order me the correct length so in a few days I'll tackle that job again.

So, if I'm missing in action for a while longer you'll know I'm tangled up in sheers in my living room!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T19:56:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy Holiday!

Best $1000 I ever spent

2008-12-04T18:11:00.003-07:00

When I was 16 I got my driver's license. Not right away as I turned 16 in March and I was still taking driver's ed. I also couldn't drive until I could get my own insurance so I had to have a job. Anyway - when that was all in place and I passed the test (the second time) I got a car. My first car was a 1972 Datsun B110. It was orange and we called it the little orange bomber. It's official name was the Little D - as it was my Dad's car and he was Big D. Well, driving a car that belongs to your parents has it's pitfalls. I was not allowed to drive their other cars as I was only insured on the Datsun. AND if I was to get in to any trouble the car was the first to go. My dad would take the car for missed classes, fallen grades, late curfew, you name it. I finally had enough of the car being taken away - in fact so had my mother. On one occasion I was grounded from the car except for going to school and back - I also had a job. My mom let me take the car to work too because she just couldn't get me all over town and back. Shhh don't tell - my dad still doesn't know. So anyway, enough of the car being taken away - I unloaded all of my belongings one day and literally threw the keys at my dad and told him I would buy my OWN DAMN CAR! Yes, that's exactly what I said. So, at 17 I had about $1000 in the bank and my mom tracked down a car for me to buy. I took my hard earned money over and made the exchange $1000 for a 1978 Datsun Pickup - it was red. This little truck got a lot of use. I bought it in 1990 and drove it for my entire senior year. I went to Ricks for my first year with no car but the second year my friend Stefani and I loaded up truck and headed to Idaho. We underestimated the amount it would cost in gas and had no money to stay in a hotel so we drove straight through. It was brutal but we made it. When I got married we were one of the few couples I knew with 2 cars. I had the truck and Stew had a little blue Mercury Tracer. I would go home and friends I had would ask if I remembered that little red truck and I would respond "you mean the one in my driveway at home?" I drove that little truck until 1999 when I sold it on July 4th. Why did I sell it? Well, I was a month away from having my second baby and there were only 2 seatbelts. Not enough room to haul two kids around. The second reason we sold it was because it didn't have A/C and my husband didn't want to drive it. So, off went the little red Truck - which I sold for $500 - and I got the Tracer and Stew bought a used Ford Ranger. Since then I've driven only 3 other cars - the Sienna I sold before we moved to England, the Toyota Picnic I drove IN England and now another Sienna. There are definitely days that I miss running around town in that little red truck though.

Just a Story

2008-12-01T08:44:00.002-07:00

You know how you have a story, something that happened to you or someone else that makes people say REALLY? Well I was reading on another blog this morning and her story was about how she left for the weekend for a trip with friends and her parents moved while she was gone. They didn't move HER stuff, they just moved their things. Totally crazy - wouldn't you say? My story isn't that fantastic but at the time it was unbelievable to me.

Right before I left for college I was spending a lot of time with this guy Terry. He first dated my friend Cameo, as I was dating Pete. Things go as they sometimes do and relationships changed and Terry and I became good friends if nothing else. So time goes by and I go to Ricks College in Idaho, leaving behind all of my friends in California. I got a phone call one night from Cameo saying that she was pregnant and that she was unsure what she was going to do. She was a senior in highschool at the time. We talked about all sorts of things and about what her and her boyfriend were going to do. I would say a month or so went by and I made a phone call to Pete, who I mentioned above, and he wasn't home. I was chatting with his roommate and then asked if he wouldn't mind going a few doors down and seeing if Terry was home - Terry didn't have a phone and since Pete wasn't home I guess I figured it was fair game to chat with Terry. Then the shocking thing happened. Brian, the roommate, says "Terry isn't here anymore, he moved out." Okay, so that is curious. Where did he move to? "Cameo and Terry got married this weekend so he moved in with her." WHAT? Seriously, how do you leave for college and then a month later your best friend and your boyfriend get married? They didn't even call to let me know.

Trust

2008-11-26T16:24:00.005-07:00

I was on my way out to lunch today and to get to the little taco shop I was craving I have to cross two sets of rail road tracks. Normally I don't think anything of it. Three things are usually occuring - traffic is flowing normally, traffic is stopped for a train, or traffic is stopped for a bus. There are two school on the road that crosses the tracks so most often there is a bus there. Today we were stopped for another reason, a truck. A Union Pacific railway worker was maneuvering his truck on to the train tracks to do whatever it is that they do riding on the rails. He was alone and had to hop in and out of his truck a few times to get the wheels on the tracks and get moving. As he drove off down the railroad tracks I had to think that he was REALLY putting his life in the hands of his coworkers. I wonder if he even thinks about it anymore - hoping that somewhere down the line everybody has hit the right switches and a train isn't going to come at him anytime soon.

How many things do we do each day that are completely putting our trust in other people. Heck, even when I drive you should all trust that I'm going to remember what side of the street I'm on, and yes I did have to think about that today after stopping to chat with a neighbor. I have to trust that my children will be taken care of at school, that other people will watch where they are driving, I even have to trust that my house was built correctly and that when I light the stove it isn't going to blow the house up.

I don't really have a huge point to this blog today - just a rambling mostly. And to be thankful I don't drive a truck on train tracks and have to worry about when the next train is coming.

Randomness

2008-11-19T09:28:00.004-07:00

I tagged myself to share 8 random facts or habits after reading Baby Tea Leaves blog this morning. I was hoping she would have something to start my brain blogging this morning - and she did.

1. I set my alarm clock each night and then turn it off and back on just to make sure. I've also been known to get OUT of bed to then check it a 3rd time.

2. I will use the same cup for drinking water several days in a row. When I use a glass I use it less than a plastic cup - the fingerprints get to me. I'm currently back to giant iced tea cups of water.

3. I have to get up and showered and dressed before I take my kids to school. I don't even wear make-up (aside from mascara) so that's not the issue - I just don't like leaving the house and then having to come back and get ready later.

4. I like to dance. If we go to a party with dancing I dance. My husband doesn't dance so he sits and socializes with his friends - I dance.

5. This one is related to the dancing. I have been known to catch a ride home with someone else when attending a party because my husband has gone home- I am a closer. Yep - I'm well known for being part of the last group to leave. In England I was most often the designated driver as well - so I would stay and then drive everyone home. I bet they miss me!

6. I have superstitions when I bowl. I used to bowl in the morning so if I had toast with grape jelly and bowled a good game I would eat that in hopes to relive the game. Lately I bowl at night so it's fries and a coke.

7. I can not quit drinking coke. Seriously! I don't have it at home but if I am out I will order one, or two, or three. I can NOT drink diet.

8. I collect Thimbles. It makes me feel like an old lady but they are SO easy to pick up and carry - they don't take up any room in your suitcase - and they are usually inexpensive. I also don't HAVE to go to the place to collect the thimble - I take donations from the places my friends/family have been. Hint, hint!

OK so here are the rules.
Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their name - (and here's where I personally break the rules. I tag everyone.)
Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.

Secrets

2008-11-13T08:48:00.008-07:00

I've been thinking lately about secrets and who we tell them to. Do you have a friend that knows all the dirty details of your life? Do you share every thought with your spouse? Is the person you tell your secrets to in fact a secret? Some of us, I'm sure, tell our secrets in our blogs. I can look back through the different stages of my life, crap I'm having stages of life now, that's not cool. Anyway - I can look back and remember who I told my secrets too. In high school it was pretty easy, you find your BFF and that's it. Easy enough to divulge what boy you like and how many times he kissed you on Friday night or whatever the latest event in your life was.

I can count on one hand the friends in my adult life that I have shared a significant secret with. I think the main reason for this is because you have to be pretty sure that the person you are talking to understands you. Someone that sees MORE than what you are saying. Turning it a little bit I remember when I got married and my Mom gave me the advice to never say anything bad about my husband because for some people that would be the one thing they remember or opinion they have. I know how much this is true because I've seen people in their blogs go on and on about how horrible their spouse has been and then they are shocked when people say "oh he is a jerk". The back pedaling starts and they realize that they were just annoyed and that in fact their spouse isn't a jerk - but too late - opinion formed. If you think you're spouse is being an idiot it works out much better if you share this with someone who knows that in fact YOU are the idiot. I've had friends in real life as well who have people convinced that they live a horrible life just because that is ALL they ever talk about.

I also think some people share things too easily. There are times my own husband says something to someone and I think to myself that I would NEVER have said that. I think I live my life a little more privately than he does. He has no trouble sharing health issues, financial problems, issues with our children and who knows what. I could probably be bleeding to death before I would mention I was a little worried. I have had to specifically TELL him not to mention X to so and so because I know he will. Perhaps this is because I worry about how those issues will reflect on me and apparently he doesn't care. hahah I don't know.

I do think it is good to have someone who understands you. Someone who knows exactly what it takes to make you laugh and someone who knows just how to put you back in your place when you need to be. Someone that you just talk to and you don't realize you are sharing the most private parts of your life because you are so comfortable with them that it doesn't occur to you to NOT share your life with them.

Of course if you don't have anyone to hear your secrets you could always go here PostSecret but I would hope that you have someone to listen to you and someone you listen to in return. I am also not going to be held responsible for any of those secrets people post because most of them are those ones that I would NOT share. Even annonymously. (They are not always rated PG so view at your own risk - I'm not a regular visitor of the site either - my own disclaimer.)

Tag from Amazed.

2008-11-11T13:47:00.005-07:00

I saw this over at Amazed and thought I would participate. We need to keep her entertained while she's at home - so here it is. ( I have no idea why my pictures showed up as they did - but I'm sure you can figure them out.)

A Place I Would Like to Visit.

Your Age

Your Indulgences

Your Name

Or

Get It?

What You're Doing Right Now -
Well, obviously I'm blogging but the tv is on and the kids are watching SpongeBob so I guess I am too.

Your Favorite Color -
I don't actually have a favorite color - it depends on my mood. I do love tulips and this fits since they come in all colors.

My life would be better if I had more ________.

2008-11-07T08:40:00.003-07:00

I've been participating in the Hot for the Holidays weight loss challenge over at Baby Tea Leaves each week. She usually has a prompt for blogging but I've been so busy lately that I have only done one of them. As you can see by blogging evidence I'm not on here much anymore - I'll work on that. However, I saw her prompt for today and it got me thinking.

How would my life be better? Pretty much my life as it is today is the way it will be. It would be better if I was a bit more outgoing. I take a long time to settle in and to make friends. Actually it's finding people that I am comfortable with that is the problem. I see myself so outside the circle that they are. I am not THAT girl so why would I want to hang out with them? Or better yet, why would they want to hang out with me? I am also not the one to call and ask if you want to go do something - I have this rejection phobia so I will just sit here. Don't get me wrong I do have some close friends. I have friends that I could drop by unannounced and spend the whole day and we would have a blast - but it's the new friends I have trouble with.

I was also thinking that my life would probably be better if I had made decisions based on what I wanted. I tend to be a pleaser and I do what is expected of me. I do what other people WANTED me to do - so as not to disappoint them and their expectations of me. When you live your life the way it was "expected" you miss out on a lot. When your head talks above your heart it leaves you with a wonder that can carry on for far too many years. I can look back and see how many amazing things I have in my life and things that I would never give up but I also have to wonder if I had lived the life I wanted to - how much different that would have been. How much different would I be?

The House

2008-10-26T09:30:00.002-07:00

Having a new house is really cutting in to my personal time. Oh wait, I guess that is my personal time. I've been busy everyday unpacking boxes and finding space for things. I am behind the game because we were all sick when the movers came. Things that normally would have been done immediately are taking time because I slept on a mattress on the floor while the movers brought in all of our boxes. They must have reading issues as well. Because I was asleep I suppose they didn't mind putting boxes marked "Kitchen" in the garage and "garage" items in the dining room. The upside is my kitchen/family room is mostly put together, outside of hanging anything on the walls. I can sit here and feel like I have moved in - but outside of this little space the evidence is clear I still have work to do. Oh and did I mention they didn't bring all of our stuff? We've had things in storage here for 4 years - they didn't bring it so this Wednesday is moving day again. Hopefully this time I won't sleep through it.

Thursday Thirteen #23 We Are Homeowners!

2008-10-08T21:23:00.004-07:00

#23 Thirteen Pictures of the New House

We closed on our house today. After going to the house one last time for a quick walk through we drove almost an HOUR to the other side of town to then sit and sign paper after paper. With keys in hand we drove back to our new house!!

I know Amazed has been waiting to give me advice on all things HOME. What advice do you have? What horror stories? What would you do again and what would you not do? Do you line drawers? Do you hang pictures right away?

Here are Thirteen pictures of the new house:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
oops 14.

When is your birthday?

2008-10-06T12:53:00.002-07:00

A friend of mine asked Jordan when her birthday was the other day:

B: When is your birthday?

Jordan: February 22.

B: What year?

Jordan: Um? What year?

B: Yes, what year?

Jordan: It's February 22 EVERY YEAR!

Well, duh!

Hot for the Holidays Week 2

2008-09-19T17:11:00.002-07:00

Hot for the Holidays

So this week I am down another 1.2 lbs. I've been eating better and trying to be more active. It's mostly the better eating I think!

Okay 10 things on my lifes to do list.

1. Go to Washington D.C. Yep, I've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower but I haven't been to our nations capital.

2. Go on a Medeteranian cruise. This would have been easier when we were in England but such is life.

3. I know it isn't technically my life but the next 3: Help my boys get their Eagle in Scouts. One is 11 and the other is 9.

4. Have two boys go on missions for the church.

5. Have all 3 kids married to fantastic spouses.

6. Back to travel. I would love to go to Egypt.

7. I used to think I didn't want to go to the Great Wall of China but you know I think it would actually be really cool.

8. Lose weight! Also in this I want to be supportive in my husbands goal to lose weight as his is actually a serious need.

9. Go back to school. I think I would like to get my masters in reading.

10. Learn how to cook a gourmet meal.

The Search Has Ended!

2008-09-13T17:01:00.004-07:00

Well, because of my cheapness I found a different table - a totally different table. It was purchased today along with 6 chairs.

I think this one will actually go better with the kitchen and I WAS going to try to get away from the whole "country kitchen" look so this should do it. Plus my friend Ellen would complain about the fact I live in the Southwest and then didn't have furniture that was correct for the area we live - or something like that. I do have to say that for the table and 6 chairs we spent 1/3 of what the other table and chairs were.

Hot For the Holidays

2008-09-12T09:17:00.004-07:00

I've joined up with Baby Tea Leaves and her weight loss plan to get us all hot for the holidays. Today was the first weigh in and I am down 2.2 lbs. Hopefully I can keep this going! The hubs is on a pretty strict diet as well so that should help both of us. Of course the difference is I want to lose a dress size or two and he would like to live for another year or two. (Okay not THAT drastic but he does need to make changes)

Christie also wants to know what legacy we want to leave. I want to be remembered as someone who was fun. Someone who wasn't afraid to dance in the kitchen with the kids or sing at the top of my lungs in the car. There is so much time to be serious but I think it is important that I teach my kids that sometimes you just need to laugh and have fun.

In Search of

2008-09-04T21:58:00.006-07:00

The Perfect Table. That has been my most recent quest. Tables come in all shapes and sizes but most of them so far are either too tall, too small, too formal, too ugly, too big, too square, too oval, too long or my favorite - too expensive. I also have complaints about the finish, the wood, the pedestal, the table legs, the way the chair hits my shoulder blades. Being a mom has also ruined some of my choices. I have no desire for a built in lazy susan in the middle of my table that could only be used to fling food around the room. Do you think the person that designed that also thought about what would happen if you spilled milk on the table? Isn't it going to go right through the space between the table and the lazy susan? And then lets talk about grooves. They are not so groovy I have to say. I keep picturing myself trying to get frosting, crumbs, juice, who knows what out of the grooves in the table. And then there are the chairs. Is rattan really a good option with children? Doesn't that just seem like a crumb catcher? What happens when that same glass of milk that is headed for the lazy susan changes direction and heads right towards the rush seats? Oh, these also come in a fabric of my choice? Let me repeat the ages of my children 6, 9, and 11. Let's get serious here.

I have narrowed a few things down - this is a table for the kitchen. The breakfast nook is round - requiring a round table. To adequately seat our family without elbows, knees, or fingertips touching it needs to be a 60" table. I'm currently leaning towards this one:
But with this chair
Did I mention I'm sort of cheap though? UGH!!

If you're curious this is the space it will go into:

Hello From Arizona!

2008-08-14T20:09:00.004-07:00

It has been a whirlwind around here the last 2 weeks. We arrived on August first and I don't think we've taken a break since. In the last 2 weeks we have:

Found our church building
Bought 2 cars (a Toyota Sienna and a Corolla)
Celebrated 1 birthday
Put all 3 kids in school
Bought cell phones
Gone to the dentist
Gone to the ENT (tonsils and adenoids to come out for J9)
Had a visit to the allergy doctor
Walked through our house that is under construction
and
Shopped, shopped shopped.

Just imagine doing all of your back to school shopping in 4 days. We got here on Friday and the kids started school the next Tuesday. School has been a challenge to say the least. J11 has settled right in to 6th grade which is fantastic. He is making friends and doing well. The homework is a bit more than we're used to but he's quickly getting a handle on it. J9 started out in 4th grade but we quickly realized he was not ready for 4th so after 3 days we moved him to 3rd grade. The change was really for the best and he's making friends and feeling much better about school now. J6 is in 1st grade. This has been hard as well because she is first grade AGE but she has been in school for 2 years already and honestly some of the stuff they are doing she has done before. Fortunately the teacher has recognized this and she is giving her more difficult work. We will re-evaluate her placement at the end of September.

I'll update you with any new happenings as they come and hopefully I'll get the routine down again to get this blog moving.

Things I Will Miss

2008-07-31T13:58:00.002-07:00

I don't know how far this list will go - mostly because I don't know if I can type very long through the tears.

I will miss the green. It is green everywhere here. Beautiful green dales. Beautiful green fields dotted with white sheep.

I will miss lambing season. Green fields dotted with big AND little sheep.

I will miss the history. To stand in a building that was built before Columbus sailed the ocean blue - fantastic.

I will miss the stone houses. I am returning to the land of stucco.

I will miss having a front yard with grass. My new home will have rocks in the front.

I will miss sticky toffee pudding at the Queens Head.

I will miss the secure feeling we had on base. I could do my shopping and the kids could sit on the floor near the tv's and watch a video - with at least 5 other kids they knew sitting on the floor too.

I will miss that in just a few hours I could be in a different country - seeing things I never thought I would see.

I will miss our church family.

I will miss teasing A. Stewart about his Scottish accent. He'll tell you that if you want to know what heaven looks like just go to Scotland.

I will miss my friend Ellen. Good thing is she's from Tucson so we're sure to cross paths again.

I will miss our friends, our neighbors, and probably all those things that in the last post I said I wouldn't miss.

Next blog will be coming from Arizona - where I probably won't ever be called Mum - but I'll keep this blog to remind me of where I've been.

Things I Won't Miss

2008-07-30T13:54:00.003-07:00

I decided since I only have one full day left in England to create a list of the things I won't miss. Everyone asks what I WILL miss - but we'll get to that later.

12. I won't miss tv here. You never know if the language will be acceptable - not to mention the material in general. I am sitting here at 9:55pm watching BBC1 - a news program much like Dateline is on and during the interviews they have no problem saying the F word. BLEEP!

11. I won't miss the driving. When I take my kids to school in the morning I spend the majority of time driving on the wrong side of the street because their are cars parked on the road on the side I SHOULD be driving on.

10. I won't miss the small parking lots - also known as car parks.

9. I won't miss the amount of children I see sitting in the front seat of cars. They have great carseat laws here but seriously put those babies in the back seat!

8. I won't miss the exchange rate. We went out to dinner a few nights ago with friends and I can tell you if we went out to a restaraunt in the States and spent $180 we wouldn't be going back. And we probably would have gotten more than ice water and pizza!

7. I won't miss the lack of closets. We had wardrobes in every room - and we had to purchase those. I want a house with closets that come with it - not purchased from ikea.

6. I won't miss paying to park. You even have to pay when parking in the ASDA (owned by the Walmart Company) parking lot. It is 1 pound to park and you get that back if you make a purchase in the store - but having to remember to have it on hand is a task in and of itself some days.

5. I won't miss carrying two currencies. We use dollars on the base and pounds on the economy. Nothing like dumping out your change purse and sorting out your money to make a purchase.

4. I won't miss transformers. No, not those robots in disguise - but the electronic transformers that I had all over my home so that I could use many of our US appliances. You might wonder why - but it's just not cost effective to buy new crockpots, game boys, blenders, curling irons etc etc when the ones you own will work just fine when plugged in to a transformer.

3. I won't miss the smell. Those sheep in the corner of this blog aren't there for looks. We are in sheep country. There are cows as well. I have been asleep in the car and woken up and without even opening my eyes could tell we were close to home just by the small. If you don't know what it smells like when the farmers slurry their fields you're lucky. When a green field gets sprayed brown I'm sure you can figure out the result - especially if the wind is going the right direction.

2. I won't miss the winters. I won't miss dropping my kids off at school at 8:30 in the morning with the sun barely up and picking them up from school at 4pm while having to use a flashlight to get back to the car.

And lastly -

1. I won't miss the rain. It rained today just to remind me that I won't miss it!

Things I Won't Miss

2008-07-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

I decided since I only have one full day left in England to create a list of the things I won't miss. Everyone asks what I WILL miss - but we'll get to that later.

Things I've Learned

2008-07-25T09:47:00.003-07:00

There are a few things I have learned in the last week and I thought I would share what those are:

10. I am too involved in my boy's scout program - I cried after picking them up from their last meeting.

9. When a tent pole hits you in the mouth there is a strong possibility you will end up with a chipped tooth.

8. I need to clean my house more often - we took way too many trips to the tip (British version of the dump - but actually a parking lot full of dumpsters that they THEN take to the real dump.)

7. I should have packed my son's clothes, that way I wouldn't have had to buy him new underwear because the movers packed them. I should have packed my husbands too - because apparantly he thinks he only needs one pair of levis for the next 2 months.

6. A child can play for hours with a cardboard box and some packaging tape.

5. All walls should be painted with paint that is washable.

4. The guys at the moving company use a lot of sugar in their tea.

3. Don't say no when someone asks if you need help with anything.

2. Don't say yes when you are asked to speak in church your last Sunday - when the previous week was spent packing out.

And the number 1 thing I have learned this week is:
1. I don't want to move again for a long time.

Getting the Kids Involved

2008-07-18T13:15:00.003-07:00

As I said in my last post I have been cleaning! It isn't just me - I have the kids involved. I figured it would be a bit traumatic if they went to school one day and came home to an empty room. I also learned my lesson back in February when I threw out a giant Patrick Star and had to confess to my 8 year old that I had thrown it away. So, this time I had them helping. Of course this morning that same 8 year old came in asking about a monster truck that had gone missing. I reminded him that he was there and had the opportunity to make the choice of give it, bin it, keep it and if he didn't see where it went I was really sorry. He then told me that I must have thrown it away while he was in the bathroom! He also tried to get me to go back to the dumpster that we had thrown the trash bags into yesterday to retrieve his toy. Oh - and did I mention the missing monster truck was a HAPPY MEAL TOY??? Of course I made up for it by taking him to Burger King for a kids meal with accompanying Pokemon toy!

I have to also tell you the best part of throwing things out. I tossed a trash bag in to the dumpster only to have a toy yell back to me "GERONIMOOOOOO" as it hit the bottom. Hahaha - what were the odds?

Where did all this junk come from???

2008-07-16T09:24:00.003-07:00

We are in massive house cleaning mode. There are 3 piles - keep it, toss it, donate it! It's starting to look like our keep it piles are the smallest of the three. I really don't know WHERE or HOW we managed to get so much stuff over the last four years. The biggest culprite is my 8 year old. The boy is a packrat. He keeps EVERYTHING! My mom was here in February and I'm sure we filled a trash bag with things from J8's room and today I filled another. Rocks, sticks, pencils, erasers, rubber snakes, hotwheels and the list goes on and on. Oh I forgot to mention LEGOS. I don't know if I have found a nook or cranny that didn't contain a lego or two. Once again - I will return when I've dug myself out from under the hefty bags!

Still Here!

2008-07-08T00:55:00.001-07:00

But preparing for the move is getting the best of me. I will update soon!

What's in a Name?

2008-06-25T03:28:00.003-07:00

What is in a name? We have many little creatures in our house and they all have names. None of them are living - they are all of the stuffed animal variety. Almost four years ago I picked up a tiny monkey off of the swap table at church. He came home to live with us and soon became a regular companion to Jared. We had friends visit and when Griffin asked what his name was Jared responded "monkey" however Griffin heard "Mikey" and he's been Mikey ever since. Mikey has been to Belgium, Germany, France, and all over England. With naming Mikey Jared also started naming all his other toys. He is the quickest of the kids to name a new friend. We went to the aquarium a few weeks ago and they had lots of little animals for $1 so I let the kids choose a few. While I heard "where's my fish?" "where's my dolphin?" from the other 2 I heard "what happened to Rod?" from Jared. I'm still not sure if he even caught the cleverness of naming a fish ROD but I thought it was cute.

Jordan is also pretty good at naming her animals. She usually puts more thought in to it than Jared and sometimes they go through a few names before the right one is chosen. She has a bear named Baby Rosie but it isn't her "first". When she was 2 she fell in the Chicago Airport and we ended up in the ER getting stitches. When the entire ordeal was over the hospital staff gaver her a brown bear. The bear was quickly named "Baby Rainbow". Along with the adoption of Baby Rainbow Jordan also changed her name. For several months she changed her own middle name to Little River. Jordan Little River and her Baby Rainbow. I was never quite sure if she was getting in touch with some long lost Native American roots or if she was going through a hippie phase. Baby Rainbow ran away from home - maybe she was a hippie searching for her freedom? - and a replacement bear was called in via e-bay and Baby Rosie took her place.

Jackson is about growing out of the naming thing. He still has Lambie, a lamb he got after getting his tonsils out when he was 4. And Tigey - you guessed it - a Tiger. Come to think of it he wasn't ever in to the naming thing to begin with. I'm just hoping now when he has kids of his own they aren't named Baby, Boyie, and Girlie. We'll have to put the naming in to his wifes hands.