Thankful

We have had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. We started off at Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for the Thanksgiving meal. She was so excited to have us there and we had a great time stuffing our bellies with yummy food and playing a hilarious game of catch phrase. Grandma and Grandpa are terrible clue givers. Grandpa kept trying to do the categories, like for 'plants and animals' he kept saying "daffodils and dogs..daffodils and dogs!" instead of pushing the button to get the actual word he was supposed to be doing and poor grandma just had a heck of a time but we laughed so hard and I am so glad we went. After we left the Reed's Rodger and Terry and all of us went to Rich and Steph's to hang out. We took over Fred Clause to watch but that's hard to do with four kids in the same room so we mostly sat around and chatted. A terrific ending to a terrific day.

Friday morning my mom and I got up bright and early and headed out for some shopping. I didn't see any great deals in the ads but it's our tradition to go so we couldn't stay home. We started at Macy's and found a few good deals then to the Blue and Orange store where they had no good deals, unless you wanted an ugly fiesta bowl hat for $1, which I didn't and to the Children's place where everything was 20% off. I went a little crazy on accessories for Em. My absolute favorite purchase from there were fingerless gloves. They are adorable. I wish we would've gone downstairs because I missed Pottery Barn and the Disney Store. It was early and I wasn't thinking. Oh well. We then made our way to Target and my mom and I got the last two portable DVD players they had on special. I didn't go there for that because I figured they would be gone but I asked and the guy took me and they had one left. I got it and was telling my mom what it was. She said she wanted one but I told her I got the last one they had. Just then the same guy walks by with a single screen player in one hand and a two screen in his other and says "Were you the one that was wanting this?" and I said "no, but I'll take that one" and ,voila, my mom had her portable DVD player. After Target we went to Cost Plus and Fred Meyer. The sock deals aren't really great at Fred Meyer but I did find several multi pair sock packages that were a very good deal at half price. My mom and I had both been sick so we decided to call it a day about noon. That sounds early but when you think we'd been out since 5:30 we definitely put our time in. We got home and my mom was supposed to be taking Emily home with her but Rob and the kids weren't there. Rob left his cell phone at Rich and Steph's so I couldn't get a hold of him. To pass the time we went to Walgreens to pick up a few deals.

Friday afternoon Terry wanted to do a thanksgiving meal of her own so we went there to eat more food and watch the BSU/Fresno game. It was a great game and another wonderful meal. I definitely got my turkey/mashed potato/stuffing fill this Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I started sewing my pockets onto my advent calendar. It is looking so cute. I love it! I also had plans to meet up with Steph and Erin, while she was in town, for coffee and a little shopping. She took us to this great out of the way place that is Graples-esque but a little cheaper. It was a fun couple of hours spent hanging with those girls. When I got home there, sitting in my dining room, was my new table. Rob had paid it off and brought it home while I was gone. I was so happy to walk in and see it sitting there so pretty. I was not happy to see our ugly dining room chairs with it. I didn't think they would look as bad as they do. I may be thrift store shopping sooner than I think so please excuse the ugly chairs and the candle holder with only two candles.

Since we had a busy weekend I wanted to go to church Saturday night so we could just relax Sunday. Rob agreed and we went to church with about 50 other people. Not the larger crowd it usually is but the sermon was a good one on being grateful. On the way home we made a side trip to Cabelas, grabbed Wendy's for dinner and watched The Holiday to end another good day.

And that brings me to Sunday. As I sit here in my bathrobe, coffee cup next to me, I am overwhelmed with all the things I have to be grateful for. A house, two cars, good health, food and a family that loves us to name a just a few. We are so blessed. Now, with nothing planned for the day, I am off to finish my calendar and feed my coupon obsession.

Girls night out

Last night Steph, Skye and I flew the coop and had a girls night. Just what I needed. We started the night at Mongolian barbecue where we feasted on noodles, noodles and more noodles. YuM! It has been a long time since I had been to Mongolian and I do believe that I am craving it today. We were going to see Mamma Mia then decided we would rather talk so we headed to Starbucks, by way of TJ Maxx, to talk the night away. Next time we will have to pick a place that stays open later cause they kicked us out at closing time. We had a great night though. Lots of laughing, gossiping(gasp!) and fun. Let's do it again soon.

I've been fighting another illness this week. Not so much a cold as a large frog that has set up camp in my throat. I don't feel bad but I only have a partial voice. Good times.

When Emily gets home we are going to lunch with Rob. We don't get to go out with him very often so I know the miss will love it.

I am totally excited for Thanksgiving and my favorite part other than dinner...the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I can do without the balloons and bands but I cannot do without the Broadway musical numbers. I will sit on the couch for three hours just so I don't miss even one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wasn't so bad

My second first time singing in choir wasn't so bad. Saturday night was a little scary. You see my mic partner who shall remain nameless(she's also my sister in law and has the initials SSS) decided to ditch me. I know! Can you believe it? I was petrified to have to stand there and hold the mic by myself. We were practicing before service started and Doug noticed that three people next to me were sharing and I was holding my own so he moved one of them with me. Thank you Lord! I'm sure I was as stiff as a board but I did it. And that's what I wanted to do. I did both services Sunday, feeling much more comfortable having my beloved SSS with me, and I still may have looked stiff but I wasn't really nervous. I had a few butterflies but nothing that would've kept me away. Now I focus on Christmas music. And can I just say that I love what we are doing. I was organizing my scrapbook room last night and listened to the CD about eight times. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Rob started a project last night. We have talked about putting in a fire pit for a long time and he finally decided that we would put it on the side of the house by our covered barbecue patio. It was freezing out last night but he decided that right then he was going to start it. He outlined where he wanted it and started digging. He even had his first fire in it. There is a long way to go till that side is the way we want it but, in the meantime, the kids had fun roasting marshmallows over a dirt fire pit on a cold fall night. Me? I was in the house where it was warm. I went out to take a few before pictures and scurried my booty back inside. I'm no fool. Rob also finished our Christmas lights. I know it's early but it sure beats putting them up when it's 20 degrees and windy, which is what usually happens.

I went to Costco on Friday and picked up a few Christmas and birthday gifts. I got Em some rain boots for her birthday that are adorable. She is gonna love them. I also got her a Christmas dress. They are so hard to resist.

One last thing...is this bag not adorable?

I may just have to get her book.

sing...sing a song

I joined choir again. I have always loved singing but am on the bashful side so never really did anything with it. I was in choir about five years ago but with three small children and the youth ministry I just ran out of time for it so I quit. Since I'm not really doing anything else I talked to Steph about it a while back. She kept telling me I should join and I wanted to but then the shyness would creep in and I wouldn't. She finally talked to Doug for me (gotta love her) and before I knew it I was in.

Last night was my first practice. I was on my way when she called and said she wasn't feeling well so she was going to turn around and go home. What?! Are you kidding me?! Oh no! Maybe I'm not feeling well either. Yep...my stomach is definitely having issues. Then I told myself to buck up. It's not like I don't know anybody there. It was a little nerve racking walking in the room and trying to figure out where I fit in but it was good for me. She got me most of the way there but I had to get myself to the finish.

The Christmas program is only three weeks away so they practiced that first. I don't know the songs so I just listened. Then they practiced what they are doing for Sunday. First they practice in the modular then they go to the auditorium to get their places set and run through the songs a couple times. I was just going to watch when Doug said something about me finding my place for Sunday. Wait! You want me to sing...on stage...mic in hand...this weekend? As in three days away? Talk about jumping in with both feet! It's not like I don't know the songs. I have heard them all before. But I always had the words in front of me. If I'm up there I have to know all of the words.

Can I confess something? I am one of those people that makes fun, usually to myself but occasionally to Rob, of those people who are on stage and don't know the song. They are up there singing away but their lips aren't matching anything that is being sung. It looks ridiculous and I just want to say either learn the song or don't go up there. It's just not good.

So, that being said, I know there are others out there like me and I would prefer not to be the one they are snickering at. So I got a CD and listened to it on the way home last night and in the shower this morning. I will probably be listening to it all day for the next three days just to make sure I have all the words down. Then, just when I think I do, I will get up on the stage and forget all of them and then still end up looking like a fool.

Wish me luck. Only two days to go.

Let the Christmas shopping begin

I feel like that is all I did this weekend. Friday Rich was doing an open house for some adorable town homes he is listing. As part of the open house they had a bazaar set up so Steph went down to see if it was any good. She said it was and I should go down. They had tons of cute stuff and I ended up getting a couple gifts which made my trek there worth it.

Saturday my neighbor Judy told me Graples was having their annual Christmas open house. They have so much cute stuff that it was hard to be good. I grabbed just about everything that I thought I might want just so I would have it then before we checked out I went through it all and narrowed it down. I ended up only spending a little over $20 which is a little sad but I couldn't justify spending more money on things that we don't need right now. I also had to take into consideration that that evening was the Craft Warehouse open house that we were also going to. My mom and aunt joined us and we spent about 3 hours strolling around the store. I was good there too and only spent $33. I didn't really need anything but I got a picture frame that was 40% off, Yankee Christmas votives, some fall things and a couple other misc. things.

Sunday we had to run by Fred Meyer to grab some candy($1.88 a bag for Hershey's candy with Fred Meyer coupon and the newspaper had a coupon for $1.50 off when you buy three bags just in case you need to stock up for Christmas) and while we were there we decided to look around for a few minutes. I got Steph a birthday present that I know she will LOVE so it made that trip worth it too. That and the candy that is filling my cupboards.

Today I was up and out the door by 8:50. On my list was Target for items to fill up our shoe boxes, which I got, but I also got Emily two velour outfits for a little over $5 a piece ,a Christmas gift and some flannel sheets for Austin, Toys R Us for Littlest Pet Shop sets(they have them buy two get one free) and Walgreens for my weekly deals(they have great deals on stocking stuffer candies this week...39 cents each). I did it all and was back home with time to spare before Emily got here.

I have been working on my advent calendar and am about 95% done with the pockets. I need to finish them so I can sew them on this week. I also have the list of activities and things I am going to put in each pocket. It took some time to come up with them but I think they are good and the kids will love them. The most difficult activity is cutting down our own Christmas tree. It sounds like fun but I need to find out where the best place to go is. I don't want some sad Charlie Brown tree. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears.

I am thinking about putting our chrismtas decorations out this week. It doesn't feel like christmas but if I wait until after thanksgiving we will only ahve them up for four weeks. Hardly seems worth the trouble so...it's a thought I'm kicking around.

Guess what...

I won this kit from Lisa. Guess I'll be making my cards this year.

Five months ago? Day 11

It's been five months since our Philippines mission trip and I was so good about getting my trip documented until the last two days. Somehow, and I'm not quite sure when it happened, five months have passed. I have been thinking a lot lately that I really need to get those days down for posterity's sake so here I go.

June 16

Today is the grand opening of the youth center. It is such a privilege to be a part of this because I remember when Greg came to our church several years ago and told of his vision to open up a youth center down the street from one of the largest high schools in the world and here we were watching that dream come to life in person. We didn't have to wait until Greg came back to the states, we didn't have to hear it through a letter, we were there watching this whole thing unfold. It was truly amazing.

Before all of that could happen we still had some prep work to do. We went to one of the satellite schools to hand out fliers and invite as many students as we could to the center. It's always so much fun when they get out of school and we get to hang with them for just a few minutes before they go home. They are so friendly and most are quite interested in what we are doing there.

We stayed there for a while before catching a jeepney to the church. We had ridden a trike, walked our little legs off and traveled by bus. This was our final mode of transportation to try. It was a short ride but now we can check that one off our list of things to do.

When we got to the church we had enough time to go to the store and get last minute things set up. Greg's plan was do the drama several times in a row when the students started coming down the street. That would get them interested then we could invite them inside to see what else was going on. I really hate to complain but we did the drama outside in a small parking lot. I had shorts on so my knees took a beating since Chrisanna and I kneel for about 2/3 of the drama. I also fell by a puddle of old oil my first time through and my hand landed in it. I had to lay there with motor oil under my nails. Quite a treat. We ended up doing the drama four times in about 30 minutes. After, we went inside to be grouped with a few students to take them on a tour of the upper floor of the center. We also had food and drinks in case they needed a little more coaxing.

The turn out for today was pretty great. I don't know the number of students who came through the center but I know that each person that walked through the doors heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

We also couldn't end the day better than at the Green Spa. We worked hard and we deserved a good rub down. I showed you Chris and my outfits so I couldn't leave out the guys and theirs. I will show the one where their chests are covered to save you and them any embarrassment. We nicknamed these shorts "shants" because a certain someone who shall remain anonymous, robert dorcheus, brought several pair of man capris and another kid was making fun of them and piped up, "nice shants" because they aren't shorts and they aren't pants. Unfortunately for him his shants became the butt of way too many jokes. So here are the boys in all of their glory. The best part of this trip to the spa was when Rob and I were just getting started with our massages and Chrisanna comes in and says, "Rob, you have to trade rooms with me. I just saw Kris in his underwear". We laughed and laughed and laughed. What a sight to behold.

Weekend Update

We made it through our long weekend and I feel ready to take on a new week. Emily had a five day and the boys had a four day weekend due to parent teacher conferences. Here's how they went.
Emily-Mrs. Cochell says she made a super easy transition into school. She says she is quiet but not so much so that she doesn't participate. She has a couple good friends but plays with everyone in her class. She scored a 3 on the IRI and is doing great in all of her other subjects. Her class goes to three specials a week: computer, visual arts and music, and she is loving each of those.

Taylor-Mrs. Duthie says that she loves having Taylor in her class. She says he is a very sweet and curious young man and is well liked by all of his class mates. He scored a 3 on the IRI and is reading at 130 words per minute which is already above what he needs to be reading for the end of the year. He is doing well in all subjects but excels in journal writing. She said it amazes her how much he writes every day. He is having a little trouble in math but he is still where he needs to be for third grade.

Austin-Mr. Price and Mrs. Stevenson are Austin's teachers this year. We had a very good conference. Much better than I expected. Austin has never been a lover of school and only goes because he has to. He is doing pretty well in all subjects. Not excelling but not failing either. They took the ISATs and he scored lower than expected in reading and language and higher than expected in math. I love both of his teachers and they are both very patient with him and are helping him to be a better student.

I was very pleased with their conferences this year. Something my mother in law was told years ago and she passed on to me is "Never brag about your own kids. Let other people do that for you." I have tried to stick by that and never toot my own horn, even though I think my kids are the greatest ever. So it makes me more than proud to hear from their teachers, and other adults, how kind and helpful each of them are. Makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Because it was a long weekend Austin was gone for two nights and so was Emily. What fun it was to spend so much time with Taylor! Rob and I took him to see Wall-E on Friday night. I had already seen it once but I forgot how cute it was. The older Taylor gets the more that child talks. He starts as soon as he wakes up and doesn't quiet down till bed. He almost always has a football in hand or within arms reach and is continually showing me different plays he can do. I usually only hear and see half of it because he is running in and out of the room. He also already has as touchdown dance that is hysterical. Not so showy he's gonna get a penalty but enough to get his point across. He is one cute kid.

Rob, Tay and I made a trip to Albertsons on Saturday morning. Andrea wrote a blog about a promotion they are doing and I saw the ad but totally would have passed it by had it not been for her. Basically for every $30 you spent buying certain advertised items they would give you $15 to spend on your next purchase. To make it even better you can use coupons on your purchase so you can actually spend less than $30 and still get the $15. I spent at least an hour putting together two lists of things that I actually use and then more time perusing coupons.com that had a lot of coupons for the things I was buying but found it to be time well spent. They had to be separate transactions and they went like this...
#1
Spent $27.41
Saved $28.54

#2
Spent $14.83
Saved $34.36 by using coupons and the $15 from my first transaction.
Received another $15 for my next purchase.
Total spent $42.24
Total saved $62.90
I was giddy when we left the store.

Saturday night was Rykon's 2nd birthday party. It's hard to believe that two years has gone by since he made his entrance into the world. He is such a sweet boy and we were so happy to celebrate with him.

Sunday morning I helped with the high school's day of unity. I got there early to help set up breakfast then, after church, headed out to the barn to get lunch ready. It was easy, just sandwiches, chips, salads and cookies, but it was so fun getting to hang out with everyone a little without the responsibility of being there all day. I love this side of youth ministry.

Last night and today Steph and I were on the hunt for felt. We found an advent calendar and a card holder that we are jumping into. We have no patterns and no idea what we are doing but we are excited to begin. Wish us luck.

History in the Making

President Obama.

Not something I thought would happen.

Well, I can't say that.

I had a feeling it would happen but I hoped it wouldn't.

But it has, so now we deal.

My saving grace is that I know that God is still in control.

He knew the outcome of this election long before any of us were even thought of.

I believe this was His plan. His will.

I don't understand but it's not for me to understand.

So I will continue to go about my life and pray for the country in which I live.

A country to which I can still say I am so proud to be a citizen of.

I pray that doesn't change in the next four years.

Happy Birth and Election Day.

The birthday greetings go to my much older brother. He turns 35 today! Yikes! That means I am only eight years from it.

OK five.

Fine! Two and half. Happy?

I also want to wish everyone a happy election day. It has been a long time coming and I want this day to be over with. I want some closure. I want to know what our country is in for over the next four years. And I want to stop seeing political commercials and debates every time I turn the TV on. Enough already!

Last night on the way home from a fun filled trip to the store as a family (remind me to do that again soon and please read with as much sarcasm as you can muster) Taylor was having a smart mouth. I told him if he didn't be quiet he was going to get hot sauce when we got home.
**disclaimer-- No I don't shovel hot sauce in my kids mouths every time they are sassy. Taylor has only gotten it twice in his whole life and Emily once. But it works because when I tell them they are going to get it they close the mouth.**

It was red ribbon week last week so they were learning a lot about drugs.

Taylor says, "I don't even know why you would give me that, mom. Hot sauce is a drug."

I am a little confused about what he is saying. "What do you mean" says I.

"It's called TOBACCO, moooom."

Oh yeah. We got a big kick out of that one. Try explaining to a tired eight year old that it is called Tabasco not tobacco.

Trick or Treat

We had a full Halloween night. The kids were in costume by 4:00 so we took pictures with Matt and Jake. Emily is pre Ariel hair. And I'm not sure what was up with her hippy pose. That's all she would do.

Post Ariel hair. I was going to try and actually make it look like Ariel's hair but once we got the colored spray on it was all I could do to get it up like this.

Steph wanted to go to Harrison Blvd. to trick or treat so we decided to do that together and then go to trunk or treat at church. **Can I just say that this was the most beautiful Halloween night I have ever experienced. It was so warm that the kids didn't have to wear coats all night.** I love Harrison Blvd. Every time we go skiing we drive down this road and I covet each house and think how great it would be to live there. Enormous old houses with so much history and life. And they are all beautiful. This one is my favorite. This one would be mine if

a-it were for sale

b-we had several million dollars just sitting around

or

c-one of us were born into the family and it was passed down to us just as it had been for generation.

Since none of those are true I will just have to keep dreaming that Emily was walking home after a long night of trick or treating and not just going up for seven seconds to acquire more sugar. I was also very disappointed that they were on the front porch handing out candy. I was hoping to get at least a glimpse of the inside when we rang the bell.

This turned out to be a really great idea. Next year we will be there at 5:00 though. We got there about 5:45 and it wasn't too bad. By the time we left at 7:15 there were more people than I could count. So bad that the kids had to stand in line to get candy. And it's hard to keep track of your kids when there are that many people and it's dark.

After we got our fill of door to door we made our way to church. Emily has had a cold for the last week and wasn't feeling very good by that time so she hung out with my parents at their booth while we walked around with Taylor. The really great thing about having family running a booth is they just throw candy in our bags and we don't have to spend the entire night getting it one piece at a time. Emily had her pumpkin almost full and she sat in one spot all night. And my fabulous mother in law knows how to hook me up. She saves the good candy and drops it by the hand full as I walk by. Love that.

Last night we went to the McKay's for dinner. It is hard to believe that we have been neighbors for six years, our kids play together every day and we have never gotten together. Sad. We had a great time and will be doing it more often for sure.

Emily and I stayed home from church today. She was up till almost midnight because she was coughing and her throat hurt. The boys were gone so Rob and I watched the replay of the BSU game and she laid in bed with us till she fell asleep. It took longer than I thought because the child would not shut up. She was actually watching the game and commenting on it. She finally snuggled up and was out in no time. I love sleeping babies. She looked so peaceful and I just wanted to snuggle up to her and let her sleep there all night. Then I remembered how much I hate having my kids sleep with me so Rob put her in her own bed. It was nice for a while though.

On a totally unrelated subject I am dying to make this sweater.

D-Y-I-N-G.

Can I do it? Probably not. But I am so willing to try on the off chance that it's a success.

I am also fast getting into the Christmas spirit. I was at Fred Meyer yesterday and they were putting out Christmas stuff and I was actually excited about it. It made me want to come home and crank up the Now That's What I Call Christmas CD. Of course we don't have many choices. We only own two Christmas CDs. Our other is Boyz II Men Christmas Interpretations. It's my next favorite :o

It's now noon so I better shower so I can make baked beans for another birthday celebration tonight. Happy Sunday!

We shouldn't be allowed to carve.

I know that's what people are thinking as they drive by and see this.

Italian sweet cream coffeemate is a little bit of heaven.

I am eating a Gardenburger right now. yum!

Emily went to bed at 7:30 two nights in a row. She's a tired girl.

We have been watching our pennies lately so I have been cutting coupons, watching ads and going to several different stores to shop. I thought it wouldn't pay off but check out how much I saved just this week:

Walgreens
9 items
spent $5.64
saved $12.92
got free almay mascara

Albertsons
44 items
spent $27.10
saved $58.36
got 10 free 2 liters of pop

Fred Meyer
spent $35
saved $12.11
got a free furnace filter. i feel like this one should say I saved more because everything I bought was on sale then I had a coupon for it. If I added it up that way my savings would be closer to $20.


That's $83.39 I saved this week alone! I think that's pretty great. I watched the Coupon Mom on Oprah a few weeks ago and she got my interest piqued. I have since found sites like moneysavingmom.com and $5 dinners that I am excited to explore. I don't pay full price for anything else, why should I pay full price for groceries? The secret, I'm learning, is don't buy things when you need them, buy when they are on sale. It's only taken me 13 years to figure that out.

At this moment I have 22 boxes of cereal in my pantry

I am thinking about doing a Christmas album like this one from Ali.

We bought a new dining room table. Well actually we put a down payment on it and put it on layaway. I took Rob to look at it and although he didn't think it was as great as I did he liked it. It is 9 inches wider than our current table, has two leaves so we can finally have company over and all sit at the table, has fabulous legs, and, this is my favorite part, it's old. It was owned by someone before us and maybe even someone before them. If it could talk it would have numerous stories to tell. Oh how I wish it could talk. We have 90 days to get it but with all these pennies I'm saving I'm hoping we can have it home sooner than later. It doesn't come with chairs but I saw this idea and love it. Guess I will be on the hunt for cheap chairs soon.

saturday sunday monday

saturday

traditions and birthdays

every year the girls on rob's side of the family get together for craft day. this year the girls wanted to bag crafting and go shopping instead. we started out with lunch at grandma reed's then headed out. we went to several stores and i managed to find a few things i couldn't live without including a dining room table that i must show rob. after shopping we went to my second cousins 1st birthday party. make sense? it's hard to believe that only a year ago we were at the hospital awaiting his arrival and all too soon we are celebrating his first year. time, please slow down. i took my camera to get pictures of these occasions but i had a water bottle in my purse and all 24 ounces ended up at the bottom of it. i was terrified that my four month old camera was kapoot but thank the lord above it is dried out and fine.

sunday

pumpkin carving extravaganza

rich and steph started a tradition last year to have pumpkin carving at their house the sunday before halloween. the whole hines/smith clan arrive invade their house and spend the evening carving pumpkins, eating, laughing, and having a good time. all of our pumpkins turned out crappy this year. i made an owl and the whole face fell out. em made a flower and hers got demolished on the way home and fell out. rob made a spider and his, too, got roughed up on the way home and the spider is almost all the way out. taylor demolished his by carving both sides and basically it looks like two big holes. the only one that looks good is austin's and that only because he didn't carve his. it still looks brand new. our jack o' lanterns look pretty sad on our front porch. these are all the pumpkins together. they don't look half bad from far away.

monday

learning to fly

austin has had a thing for flying for a long time. matt has too. he is in the process of finishing up air traffic controller school and as part of that is getting his private license. for austin's birthday he got him a flight with a friend of ours, tim, who owns jet stream aviation. i really wanted to go with austin but he wanted rob to go with him, and he graciously allowed taylor to tag along too. today was the big day and tim did an outstanding job. when we got to the plane he told austin that he was going to let him sit in the pilot seat and help fly the plane. austin was in heaven and scared to death at the same time. i watched as they all got strapped in and ready to go and was jealous that i wasn't in there but so happy that they got to go together. they had a great flight and austin has been bit by the flying bug. tim said that if we wanted to get him a flight log book he would log this in as his first flight since he helped with the taxiing, take off, flying and landing the plane. so, so cool.

This week...

Emily and I were listening to her Mamma Mia CD before bed and I was dancing to 'Honey Honey'. When I was done she said, "When you did the dizzy part, that was fantastic. The rest was kinda bad." I about died laughing and then I kissed her all over her face.

I started the Beth Moore bible study Stepping Up. I am a huge Beth Moore fan and have a hard time doing other studies because of it. I love her style, her humor, and mostly her abundant love for the Lord. She has never incorporated music into her studies but she is having Travis Cottrell do a song before each session. He sang My Passion today. Fabulous. Can't wait to hear more. If you are not doing this study make no excuses and get your booty in gear. You will not be disappointed.



I am trying to decide on Emily's costume. We were going to go cheap and have her wear a Barbie Island Princess dress that she has and has worn maybe once. Our neighbors have a Cindy Lou Hoo wig that is adorable and I want her to be that but she is embarrassed to wear the wig. I guess we have a week to talk her into it.

I am ready for the weekend. Tacos, enchiladas, my uncle's salsa, a new guacamole recipe and the BSU game. Can't wait for Friday night.

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the patch when Rob got home from work yesterday. I was being lame and wanted to get pumpkins at the grocery store. Taylor wasn't having any of that so we ended up at Linder Farms and I am so happy that we did. They have so much to do there. Petting zoo, hay rides, corn maze, food, and of course...pumpkins! It was an absolutely gorgeous day too. We couldn't have asked for anything better. The only downfalls to the day were I got partially stung by a bee, meaning that it stung me but the stinger didn't go all the way in...stupid bee, and Taylor got bit by the camel when he was feeding it. Other than that it was perfect.























Nothing says teenager like a cell phone stuck in your ear while picking pumpkins.

This and That

I watched an episode of the show that goes along with Spain...A Culinary Road Trip. It's on PBS and it was surprisingly funny, entertaining and informative all in one. Now if I could just remember what day and time it was on...

On the note of cooking I am a little annoyed that Rachel Ray's show isn't on anymore. I don't know if they took it off the air or just off channel nine. Either way I don't get to see it anymore. She is annoying to listen to but her recipes are great. I guess I will have to frequent her website more for recipes but it will never be the same.

Rob got all of us together yesterday for a hike in the foothills. It was a beautiful fall day and we actually had a good time once Taylor quit complaining about why we were just walking. I don't think he got the concept of walking without a destination. He eventually caught on and had a good afternoon. They have two huge trees at the start of the trail so on our way back the boys wanted to stop and climb them. Austin came prepared with his backpack full of ropes and caribiners. He was hanging from that tree like he knew what he was doing.

I won $25 to Shutterfly from Bloggy Giveaways. I think I may use it towards Christmas cards. Or a photo book.

BSU won on Friday. I never in my 30 something years would've thought that I would actually care about a football team. Strange, but I do. My dad must be so proud.

Jumpin' and where'd you get that 'tude?

Emily was jumping rope last night and she was crackin me up because she would not close her mouth.

And this kid...

is about to drive me to drink. He turned 13 and developed an attitude overnight. I have never in my 13 years of raising him had to talk to him about his attitude as much as I have this week. Every night he is trying me on something else. And that mouth. Sheesh. I've decided the terrible twos are nothing. We should lose sleep over the terrible teens. And I'm tired already.

Sweet tooth

Just to show you I haven't completely gone healthy I made pretzel hugs today. Yummm. I figured they would be good because I love white chocolate and pretzel together. Not only are they good they are completely dangerous because they are bite size. Don't let that stop you though.

PRETZEL HUGS
1 bag pretzels
1 pkg. M&Ms
1 pkg. Hershey Hugs

Place pretzels on baking sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 8 minutes (just watch for the Hugs to melt). Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving. At room temperature, this takes SEVERAL hours. I would recommend making these the day before you plan on eating/delivering. Or you can put them in the refrigerator to speed up the process.

In other happenings...some (insert dirty word here) hacked into my paypal account and tried to do six transactions that amounted to over $1500. And they were all to come out of our checking account. Thankfully I noticed it first thing this morning and was able to take care of it.
**The sad part was I had to close our 13 year old account and open a new one. We got that account when we got married.
**The mad part is I have to go through all of our bills and figure out which ones I paid this month that haven't cleared yet and call them so when our payment doesn't go through they will know why and I have to go to all of our e-bills and change our account information. Such a pain. It also means no debit card for at least a week and new checks. Pretty much an inconvenience all around.

Here's a question for you. The last couple weeks when I blow my nose it feels like air comes out of my right tear duct. Is that weird?

Food for thought

Since we joined jus almost a year ago my whole thought process about food and how it affects our health has changed. I have never been a statistics girl. I always thought they were pointless. I mean who actually comes up with these number and how do they do it. Well I have started paying more attention to them lately and health statistics are staggering, scary and almost completely preventable. Look at these on diabetes alone:


• In 2025, up to 80 percent of Americans will be overweight (body mass
index (BMI) of 26 or greater—meaning at least 26 percent of body weight
is fat) and 50 percent will have progressed to obesity (BMI of 30 or
greater). The lifetime risk of being overweight or obese is higher for
minorities.
• Given the increase in obesity by 2025, the lifetime risk of getting diabetes
for those Americans born in the year 2000 will be over 40 percent,
ranging from 30 percent for white males to 60 percent for Hispanic
females.
• In 2025, the average person with diabetes will die 15 years prematurely
and suffer a disease burden of over 20 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)
lost. Black females with early onset of diabetes in their 20s will lose 19
years of life and about 30 QALYs.

Those statistics tell me that Taylor and Emily, because they were born in and after the year 2000 will have a 30-40% chance of being diagnosed with diabetes and because of that could die 15 years early.

Did you also know that we are raising the first generation of children who will be outlived by their parents? You can google it. There is article after article on the subject. Does that scare you? Because it scares the crap out of me.

Do you know why these statistics are true? As stated in The China Study-
“The answer to the American health crisis is the food that each of us chooses to put in our mouths each day. It is as simple as that.”

Seems like such an easy fix doesn't it. Change what we eat. I was walking through the grocery store a couple weeks ago and kept passing a woman that had four kids with her. Every time I passed her cart I would glance in and I was taken back at the stuff she was putting in there. Chicken nuggets. Taquitos. Boxed meals. Microwave meals. I wanted to stop her and say "Do you know what you are doing to your children's bodies?"

As a mother I would never do anything to intentionally harm my kids. But what am I doing every time I make them something that is full of chemicals, preservatives, sodium and sugar. I am sending them straight down the path to a lifetime of health problems. And why? So I can make the meal that takes 10 minutes instead of taking an hour to make them something that will do their bodies good.

Thankfully I have never been a chicken nuggets or taquitos for dinner kind of gal. I've always tried to be proactive in making my family meals that are healthy. That's not to say we don't eat fast food or I have never made something from a box because I have plenty of times, but I have always tried to be conscious of what I was putting into my kids mouths. It doesn't take a genius to read the side of a box and see the junk that goes into that stuff.

Why am I sounding off on this today? Because it doesn't have to be this way. Our children don't have to live a life full of illness and obesity. We can do things now to change their future. It doesn't take much. Make your meals instead of buying prepackaged. Buy fruit and dehydrate it as a snack for your kids. My kids eat the devil out of dried fruit. Be conscious of what you are buying. Go for the Kashi cereal and put honey on it instead of buying sugared cereal that has nothing of value in it. There are a million little things that will go a long way to insuring the health of your family.

Knowledge is power. Let's use it for good.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to my not so little boy. 13! I can hardly stand it.























Rob did a Bible study last year called Quest for Authentic Manhood. One thing it talked about was ceremonializing certain milestones in a young boys life on the way to becoming a man. Rob took that step and Friday Austin stayed home from school so they could go hunting and spend some time together. When they were done they packed up the truck and headed out for a night of camping. For the ceremony part Rob invited men up that have been or will have a direct involvement in Austin's life. They had dinner then they went around the circle and each man either told a life lesson they have learned or gave Austin some encouragement as it relates to growing up and what kind of man they want him to become. Rob said it was the most awesome night. He was so happy to have men show up that truly care about Austin and want to help see him into adulthood. Rob also said God was in the whole thing. Friday was C-O-L-D. Friday evening it was snowing. But not where they were. They were really cold and decided to come home Friday night instead of staying up there. Rob said when they drove home there was snow all around them but not one flake had fallen where they were.



I know this will be a night that Austin will always remember. As he put it "It's night something you could easily forget", and I am so thankful that Rob is taking an active part in raising our boys to be godly men.

Last night we had family over to celebrate. I am so glad we have family close that can celebrate things like this with us. Austin ended up with lots of cash, gift cards, new dirt biking pants and jersey and even a flight with Tim that was given to him by the pilot in the family. He is stoked about that one. He also got a quilt top. Unfortunately, even after the last minute, late night, last ditch effort by my mom, aunt and I that had us cutting, and sewing till much later than I wanted, it took too long quilting Taylor's quilt to get Austin's done too. We plan on going in this week or next to finish the job.

Other than that we don't have much going on. I took a two hour nap on Saturday which is totally out of the ordinary for me. I hate naps. I take maybe two a year and they only happen if I lay down and just happen to fall asleep. I usually wake up feeling worse than I did before I laid down and I just think there is way too much good stuff to do in life besides sleeping it away. Rob was watching a game on the bed and I came in and got so sleepy all of a sudden. Before I knew it it was two hours later. I must have really needed it. It couldn't be because last week Rob was out of town and every time I went to turn the TV off I would hear a noise and decide I would leave it on a little while longer. I ended up not going to sleep until 1:00. 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." My mind was definitely unsound that night. He is going to be gone again so I may need to tape that to the ceiling above my bed. I usually don't have a problem staying alone but at our meal exchange the conversation went to being home alone and things that have happened to some of the girls and I just got freaked out. Great timing. It's going to be a long three nights if I don't get it under control.

Tonight is Bunko night. Steph and I are hosting. Wish me luck.

Tag...I'm it

Erin tagged me and even though I really should be working on The Quilt I am going to do this anyway. 6 things about moi.

1-I cannot and/or will not drink leftover milk from my cereal. By the time I'm done eating it is a little too warm for me and the thought of drinking it makes me want to gag.

2-The toilet paper has to come over the top of the roll. It's so hard to find it when it comes from the bottom. There are those(mom) who would strongly disagree, but in my house that's the way it is.

3-If I ever won the lottery, and I mean the big time lottery, I would buy myself an island in the Caribbean to sun bathe, swim and sail my life away.

4-I. Love. Disneyland. I know it's commercial and there are too many whiny kids and it's expensive but get past all that and it is a magical place. I hadn't been in about 10 years when Rob and I took the kids two years ago. I had forgotten how great it was and why I loved it so much but get a few steps inside those gates and it hits you. Magic.

5-My grandma and grandpa gave me my great great grandmothers wedding band when I got married. The inscription inside says "Albert to Minnie Oct. 8/'98". 1898. It is 110 years old. I love the history of it. I love that she wrote out the story of the two of them and even how they both died. I love that ring.

and finally
6-I hate hotel beds. Why o why do they have to tuck the stinkin sheets in so tight?! I lay there and it makes me so mad that I have to physically get up and untuck the sheets just so my feet can move. So annoying.

Just for kicks and grins I tag Kelly, Jen and Alisha.

So this week...

I have to make Austin's birthday quilt. Yep, I procrastinated and left myself seven days to finish an entire quilt. I think I can get the top done with three full days of work. That leaves one day to do the letters and borders and then try to get it machine quilted sometime Friday or Saturday. Hopefully. That's how it goes in my head. We'll see if it pans out in real life.

We finally did our meal exchange last night. My freezer is stocked and I am stoked. Five of us hung out afterwards for coffee and conversation. It always makes me happy to hang out with women who are in the same place as me. Stephanie said it best. "I love being a girl".

Austin has become a killing machine. Rob took the boys out on Saturday for some pheasant hunting and as he put it "There was one bird, he had one shot and he got it". Of course then Taylor chimes in that Dad had to twist its neck because it was twitching. What made it funnier was when they showed me the bird its head was just hanging there. By a feather you might say. I'm not sure what Rob is planning on doing with all that meat. We have baggies full of dove, quail and now pheasant. I guess he'll have to have a hunting guys night and invite people that will eat it to come and partake. I won't be there.

Oh, and remember the story I told you about the guy that wrote me a poem in high school about how beautiful I was(and I'm paraphrasing here), well there was an article about him in the Statesman yesterday and he is now appearing on Heroes. If he could just win an Emmy then maybe I could get some money for that masterpiece.

Tis the season **ETA PICTURES**

To break out these babies.







I had me some Pumpkin Spice this morning. Mmm Mmm. I would have to say that flavored creamers are the only reason I drink coffee. I can't quite fathom why people drink it black. Just don't get it.





Austin gets his braces today. Poor fella. He will only have to wear them for 18 months though. That beats the four years that I had to wear them. And my teeth weren't that bad. Plus he's getting it over with at a young age. He'll have beautiful teeth by the time he enters high school. No that he needs any help. I don't mean to brag but look at the kid. He's pretty easy on the eyes.





I'll be back later today with a before and after.





















Before and after of our little brace face :o)























He was being a bit of a twit when we got home so this is the best picture I got. He looks so grown up with them on. 18 months and counting...

Getting back in the groove

It's always hard after being gone. I always have a great time when we are out of town but getting back in the groove is hard. There is always a huge pile of laundry, unpacking and catching up with the kids. Lots of things to do but I am wading through them slowly. The laundry is almost caught up, the bags are unpacked(even though the suitcases are still out) and the kids haven't stopped talking since we got home.

Since the kids don't have school today or tomorrow they were farmed out all over town. Austin is at Taylor's, Emily is at my parents and Tay is with me. He was such a good sport to tag along with me to the grocery store. I am doing another meal exchange so I had to get the rest of my ingredients. To make it up to him we went to Sonic for lunch and got a couple movies at Redbox. That seemed to do the trick. We came home and ate and then I spent the next couple hours working on my first meal. Corn chowder. It is the perfect cold weather dish but after making eight meals worth I don't want to eat it for a while.

I wrenched my back yesterday. Chrisanna and I took down a white board at church and carried it to storage. I must be really out of shape because when I got home the left side of it hurt. I went to Fred Meyer and at one point didn't think I would be able to make it back to the car. because it hurt so much to pick up my left leg. Seriously. How lame is that. I did make it to my car but it hurt all night and a little today. I can feel the pain just trying to come back. Goody.

While I was at Fred Meyer I picked up some hair color so Steph and I could play salon. I have only had Abby color my hair (minus the one time I got it cut and colored in Florida and had to have several inches cut off my hair to fix it) so I was a little nervous. But lo and behold it turned out great. It's definitely not a salon job but for $3.49 plus tax it couldn't have turned out better. So that's what's happening here. What's going on with you?