Falalalala lalalalarp!

What do good little girls do to entertain themselves when drinking yourself into oblivion isn't an option? You go flarping! There is something about fart noises that is just hilarious. The curious thing is that when you fake it, it becomes hilarious. But, if its real no one fesses up. Curious indeed. So, as per my last post I am having surgery soon and will be confined to bed for a couple of weeks. Naturally, rounding up equally crass girls for a night o' fun was in order.
We started off the night with one of my favorite places to eat and made a game plan. There are even rules and points if you can believe it. You get points for the level of reaction you get. If the stranger actually say something to you about it you get the most points. This was also our testing ground for the kind of reactions we were going to get later that evening. It was pretty loud in there so there weren't a lot of reactions. I know you must be wondering, How old are they? 15? The answer is yes, yes we are, and proud of it. Life is too short to not have some insane fun every once in awhile.

After dinner we headed to the mall. The hardest part about the night was not busting up laughing. Our favorite place was the store in the mall with all the underwear and bras, you know the one. I think we ruined a lot of sales that night! Oh my goodness were people offended in that store! We discovered that when people don't know what to do with such a disgusting situation they blink a lot and walk away out of sight and then break down into a combination of laughter and dry heaving. It's times like these that I wish I had a hidden camera show!

So, a couple of the best reactions of the night: This kid that ran to his dad and pointed and screamed "Dad, that lady just farted!!!!" Next favorite was in a department store. We were all strategically placed so that we could see the reactions of people after the prank. 3 guys came walking toward me and c talking about how grossed out they were and wondering if that really just happened. Then one of them jumped in the air and shuddered because he was so grossed out! Oh man, I was laughing so hard I was actually crying! 3rd favorite was 2 guys walking past and they stopped and looked at each other wondering which one of them did it. We got a lot of scrunched up faces and a couple of "I know what you just did, and you are sick!" stare downs. It was a hilarious night and if you are ever in need of some cheap entertainment, give this a try! Or if you just need a creative way to work out those abdominal muscles, all the laughing will do the trick! Happy Flarping!

This is the Story of my Toes.... Part 1

!!!!!Warning!!!!!

If you are skeeved out by feet, don't look! The title should have been a dead giveaway though!

After 16 years of being married to a Podiatrist I am finally getting my toes fixed.....By another Dr in town. Seriously, you never cut on family! Just a standard rule in case something goes wrong you don't have to spend the rest of your life hating them. :) I was born with these lovely toes. The legend that was perpetuated in my family to explain away the freekness of my toes was that I walked on my toes all the time. I was in fact always on my toes and rarely did my heels touch the ground. But that was not the cause of the curled toes, although it makes for a good story. I managed to also pass along these gems to my 11 year old son. So, I'm gonna see how fixing them goes and then eventually get Jdogs fixed too.

The big day is this Friday morning.... I figured that I would just go ahead and ruin Christmas this year. Actually, it was just the best time to do it and I'm pretty sure the kids will recover. Anyway, The last joint in 3 of my toes on the right foot and 3 on left will be taken out. I will also loose around half of the bone behind that joint and then with a smiley face incision my toe will be brought up to where it should be. No pins, just the closing incision. If you are wondering if I will have a floppy toes, nope. Sound like loads of fun, doesn't it. The crazy thing is that I am doing both feet at the same time, so getting around should be pretty interesting, especially since I will be hopped up on some pretty heavy drugs. Yea, for drugs! Maybe I will finally be able to use the phrase: help, I've fallen and I can't get up! lol

I will post part 2 of my sausage toes with all their gnarly stitches sometime next week. That will be when I start wondering if I will ever NOT look like a freak, luckily the drugs should keep me from thinking about it too much. Hopefully they end up looking better than they do now and most importantly fit into shoes better because I get blisters on the tops of my toes whenever I wear closed shoes. My toes will end up being kinda short, but at least you will be able to tell that I have toenails. So, if they end up looking bad, start practicing the lies you will be telling me when I ask how they look....and be sure to be creative! :)

Lost?!

While recently in Hawaii my friend, C, and I went on a hike in the Manoa rain forest. One of my all time favorite shows is, of course, Lost. What could be better than hiking around in an area where my fav tv show was filmed and stumbling across this little gem?(click to enlarge above pic) Hiking around with someone that has actually seen the show! That's what could have been better. The tv show built that nice little latrine that, per the sign, tends to leak when it rains! So, as I am hiking through this rain forest while it is pouring down rain on me I am wishing that C could enjoy all the little reenactments that I am doing. Screaming for Jack as I run from the black smoke, the others, and all kinds of fun like that. It proved to be a bit embarrassing since the thickness of the foliage tricks you into thinking you are hiking along the trail alone, but lo, tis not true! I'm sure a few people thought that I was nuts when they walked around the corner to find me screaming for Jack! hahaha

As I mentioned, it was in fact raining. Very hard. There is a nice little warning sign before you enter the trail, but did that stop us from worrying about getting swept away in a flash flood? Apparently not, because off we went. I was only about a mile hike, but the terrain wasn't all that great and we got soaked. But it was still a stunningly beautiful hike. There were lots of cool things to look at. Like that red flower that resembles something akin to a red pickle.

We finally made it to the top and saw this magnificent waterfall that is usually a mist, but because of all the rain was a mighty force of rushing water. We also saw some interesting fruit that we couldn't identify. Hmmmm the "forbidden fruit" perhaps?

Getting back down was the hard part. It was so muddy and slippery that we really had to take it slow to avoid injury. Down near the entrance of the trail there were trees completely covered with some type of foliage. We had a nice little discussion about whether it was a symbiotic relationship and what kind. It had finally stopped raining so the tropical birds started coming out of their shelters and so I'm pretty sure that it was during this very nerdy discussion that all the mosquitos decided to have lunch on my flesh! We put bug spray on before we took off on the trail, but I'm sure all of it washed right off in the rain. Good times! So, if you ever have a chance to go to Honolulu, be sure to get "lost" on this gorgeous hike.

Stroke of Luck

Whenever I go somewhere that has a Temple I love to go and do a session. I think it would be really cool to go in every temple. Since I don't think I will travel to all the places that there are temples, I can at least attend a session whenever I go somewhere that has one. I have quite the collection of temples that I have been in now. Let's see if I can remember them all: Portland, Manti, Provo, Oakland, Mount Timp, Idaho Falls, San Diego, Seattle, Albuquerque, Laie, Mesa. I have also stood on the grounds of Salt Lake, Louisville, Monticello. I'm not sure if that is all of them, but I definitely need some more!

So on this trip to Hawaii I was really excited to get to go and do a session in the Laie Temple. However, while watching general conference they announced that it was going to be rededicated. So I got online and sure enough, while I was going to be there it would be the open house. Score. I love doing sessions, but during a tour you get to see all the rooms and find out about it's history. I had a fabulous guide and learned so much. I love how every temple is unique and different and the culture of the area is incorporated into each temple.

I actually got to go through twice because I was alone in Hawaii the first day and going to the temple was the only thing on my "must do" list. I went again the next day and it was interesting to see the approach of the 2 different tour guides. The first day I got much more architecture and history about when the temple was first built and how it has changed in the 2 remodels, some family history of the tour guide etc.... the second day we had a couple doing the tour and he just kept bearing his testimony about each of the rooms we were in with no explanation of any changes. Already being a member and loving history I'll let you figure out which one I liked best. :) It just reminds me that everyone is unique and everyone has something different to bring to the table and that's what makes being alive interesting. That couple was a really cute young couple and it was fun to talk to them after the tour. The spirit was so strong in each tour and both times I had wells of tears in my eyes. Every time I go I sing a song in my head that perfectly describes the feeling I feel; "I love to see the temple....."

Smarty Pants

My two smarty pants made the honor roll this semester. MJ got a 4.0 and J got a 3.6. So proud of both of them! Keep up the good work! I wish I could have gotten those kind of grades in school. They must have gotten their smarts from their Dad! :) I opted not to get the bumper sticker that said my kid was an honor roll student. I like to save my bragging for my blog and not on my car. lol

For Eternity

Unfortunately Nate and I aren't in a picture together because I was the one taking all the pictures. So you get to see two pictures so that you know we were both there. :)

Two years ago this December my friend Jolene got a call that a set of twins needed a home. Her and her husband had signed up to be foster parents a few months before this call and were anxiously awaiting an opportunity to have an infant come into their family with the hopes of being able to adopt. These little angels were an early Christmas present that day and it was an emotional roller coaster for nearly 2 years. These babies were born prematurely to a drug addicted 19 year old mother that already had 2 children in the custody of an Aunt. The babies were born in an uninhabitable house and then rushed to the nearest hospital where they received no visitors for the 10 days they were in the hospital. They were dropped off at Jo's house where the family quickly fell in love. Many months were spent with visitation rights given to the mother and the aunt that already had the other 2 children. For many months the aunt wanted custody of the twins, but in the end the rights were severed with the birth mother and the aunt decided against custody. So, just last month the twins officially became a permanent part of my dear friend's family. It was my privilege and pleasure to go to az to see this beautiful family sealed to these sweet twins in the Mesa Temple. Going to a sealing of a new bride and groom is pretty great, but I have to tell you that going to the sealing of a family is like touching heaven. From the moment I walked into the sealing room and the sealer came in an introduced himself with tears in his eyes my heart felt like it would explode. I think I have a bit of an understanding why we can't see our Father in Heaven without being transformed (like Moses). I think our physical bodies aren't capable of processing the intense feelings of love and joy that being in his presence would give us. I think my heart would literally explode. Then my friend and her husband were brought into the room and then some women brought in the 5 children all dressed in white. There was such a strong feeling of peace and love in the room that even the women that were helping started to cry. I marvel at the tragic beginning of these sweet children's lives and how now they are sealed to such a wonderful family and able to partake of the blessings of that sacred covenant. I also marvel at the ripple effect that this one ordnance creates in the lives of countless people that these twins will be in contact with throughout their lives. Immediately following the sealing we went to the visitors center and the twins were given their blessings. What a truly special day and I consider myself extremely blessed to have been there. I can't wait to go back when the twins sibling who is 5 months old gets adopted as well. {Yes this very mother had yet another child who is now in the care of my friend and her family and the very sad thing is that this mother is pregnant again! } The day ended with a trip to one of my all time favorite restaurants to visit while I am there for some delicious Mexican food and then back to the house for cookies and a fancy sherbet punch before hoping back on a plane and heading home full of love and appreciation for a Father in Heaven who loves his children.

A Bit of Irony

When we heard that Nathan's parents would be serving a mission in Brazil we decided that it would be the experience of a lifetime to take the kids and go visit. When we finally decided to commit and I was online booking the flight I sat staring at the computer screen for what seemed like forever trying to get up the courage to hit the purchase button. I really thought that I might throw up. Buying tickets for 6 people was not in the least bit cheap. In fact, it was painfully expensive. I was worried about the 2 days of flight time on each end of the trip and the adjustment to different kinds of food and just generally worrying about the safety of my family. But, I knew that it would be a wonderful experience and so with a violently shaking hand and a prayer in my heart, I pushed the purchase button.
A few months later we got an email from Nathan's Mom saying that she was having some heart problems and they were on their way home to the states to receive medical treatment. I'm not gonna lie, Panic struck my heart at the massive amount of money that had been spent on airline tickets that were now not going to be used. I am so grateful that all is well with his Mom and that is definitely the most important thing, but I have to keep reminding myself of that and stop asking myself why I pushed the purchase button. The airline is "kind enough" to only charge us a $250.00 fee PER ticket to change our flights in for something else. The other "kindness" to our plight is that all 6 of us have to get on an airplane to use the credits as well as the per ticket fee. I think we have finally come up with a plan to use the tickets so all is well. I know the Lord does things for a reason and we were supposed to get those tickets to go to Brazil, but why? I guess I probably ask that question too much and maybe that's why these things continue to happen to me

Now, the bit of irony...... My husband was so generous to let me go to Hawaii with my very good friend for a week recently. While I was there playing in the ocean I experienced a very painful stinging sensation. What was this? A jellyfish sting. From what kind of jellyfish? A Portuguese Man of War. So not only am I not going to Brazil where they speak Portuguese, but a Portuguese stinking jellyfish stung my butt! How ironic is that? Sometimes I think that our Father in Heaven must have a pretty good sense of humor. I can also picture him saying, "you want something to cry about? I'll give you something to cry about" and then him having a good chuckle when I figure out from the lifeguard on duty the kind of jellyfish that stung me. Something else I learned was that it was much better to be stung by that kind than a box jellyfish that is on the other side of the island. That one requires some vinegar or someone peeing on your leg to neutralize the sting.

So there is lots to be grateful for! Nate's mom is home and doing well and will be around for many years to come. The sting of the airline tickets could have been worse and the sting of a jellyfish could have been worse. We found an alternate travel plan that everyone in my family is pleased about and I have the most amazing husband a girl could ever hope to marry!

Apparently when the wind is blowing a lot these can be found all along the shores and I was person number 15 of the day that had been stung by one of these.

Showin' Some Bravery

It was that time of year again....Show Choir tryouts. Jared went back and forth for weeks trying to decide if he wanted to audition or not. You have to receive an invitation to tryout from the teacher, so getting the invite was apparently the deciding factor for him. I was surprised when he handed me the permission slip and said that he was going to go for it. He decided to stick with something that he couldn't mess the words up on and that would show his range, so he went with "Happy Birthday." On the audition night both the kids went pretty late into the evening so Jared had plenty of time to get himself worked up into a frenzy. His face went completely pale when the teacher called his name and he had to walk up on the stage. The first picture is of him really trying to keep it together and not break down and cry in front of everyone.

Well, try as he might, he couldn't get control of his fear and he started to cry. Everyone was so awesome and cheered him on and encouraged him and let him know that it was alright. Then my friend Christin offered him 10 bucks if he would not only sing, but sing it to her. So, what did my little man do? He pulled it together and sang the song to her and won a standing ovation and 10 bucks! Way to go J, we are so proud of him. I think that I would have passed out right there on the floor and would have had to be dragged off the stage in a stretcher!!!!

Emma was just about the last one to sing that evening and she sang "Angel of Music." She practiced the song for weeks and did it A Capella. Hello, hard!!!!!! She sounded like an angel and once again amazed us with her nerves of steel. People have a hard time believing she is so shy when she can get up there on stage and commit full voice to her songs like that.

Ethan could hardly control himself the entire evening and wanted desperately to be on the stage. He ran up on stage several times between auditions and he was singing along to everyone's songs that he knew. This kid is obsessed with music. He has several favorite songs and gets on the computer to get the lyrics to his favorites and likes to listen to them over and over again on youtube. I guess we love to sing in this family.

Really Sick!?!

Of course the minute Nate leaves town the kids decide to get "sick." Jordy had already missed Tuesday because her stomach and head were hurting her but I convinced her to go to school on Wed and Thursday. By Friday morning Ethan was complaining of the same thing and of course Jordyn was ill again. The rule when you are sick is that you have to stay in bed until the school day is over. Apparently Ethan and Jordyn decided that my bed was a good place to camp out and they invited all their animal friends to join them. Busted, you little turkeys!!!! When I found them like this I wondered if they were feeling well enough to go to school. Well, they had a sudden surge of illness and fell to the bed moaning in agony. Little fakers! They got themselves some kisses for being so darn cute and then they had to clean up all the animals and go in their separate rooms for the rest of the day.

Punkin Around

We went to this pumpkin patch for the first time last year. Since the kids had so much fun we decided to do it again this year. Last time we went on a Saturday and so I decided to try out the weekday experience this year. They only allow field trips on weekdays so I called them up and asked if a church group could go and they said sure. So, I got some friends and family together and off we went. The only day we could get a reservation for was the day before fall break which was a short day anyway so I let the kids skip school. Do my kids know how lucky they are???? :) Because it was a field trip day at the farm some of the kids' favorite things to do were closed. I wasn't sure they would recover from being mad at me and then I reminded them that they could be at school and that solved the problem pretty quickly.
Ethan was cracking us up because he seemed to have some goat whispering capabilities. They kept coming up to him and letting him hug them. What a nut that boy of mine is. I guess he may get it from me...... We had to take a picture of the guy on the hay ride in his army camo and his hunting camo. He kept disappearing and reappearing because he blended into nature so well.......ha. Lesson number one in fashion. Never mix camo's!!!! Lesson number two. Never wear hunting camo anywhere other than hunting or camping! Just sayin!

We packed a nice lunch and enjoyed all the activities that were open and had a very enjoyable and relaxing day on the farm. Life's good.

5 AM

We have lived in Abq for 11 years and had not been to a mass ascension during balloon fiesta. We tried to go last year and didn't leave until around 6am and the traffic was so bad that we never even got to the exit off the freeway and missed the whole thing. It wasn't a pretty site inside our car that day. Hunger and grumpiness got the best of us for sure. This year we decided to try one more time, but leave at 5am. Yea, it worked. We got to experience mass ascension for the first time. The difference between a mass ascension and a glowdeo is lift off. It is one thing to be standing next to the massive balloons and another to then have them lift off and fly away. Next on my list is to actully fly in one. It really was spectacular and I highly recommend it. You get home around 10am and then you take a nice long nap.




The tradition that we do every year is go to the balloon glowdeo. It is always hit or miss if the balloons will actually inflate because if the wind is over 10 mph they will burn up when they go hot. We knew when we left that it wasn't likely that they would go up, but there are lots of fun booths to check out and lots of grass for a picnic. So, we went anyway and sure enough it was cancelled. But we still had lots of fun. Christin is obsessed with a chin hair that she has named Maurice and he had made a reappearance. Since I had a flashlight and some tweezers, I took care of Maurice for her. Too funny. I also got a hat from one of the booths and Brennan really thought that yellow was the way to go, so he got one too. Don't we look awesome? We took a virtual tour of Texas and rocked out to a cover band that was playing and ate lots of good food. I look forward to this time of year and I'm so sad now that it is over.

I've said it before........

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.....I'm spoiled! I'm not the kind of person that is all giddy about the latest and greatest in technology, but I have recently been moved to sing a little tune....."technology, I love technology. I love you, but not as much as technology." haha When a fancy app filled phone came out, didn't want it. When the fancy book reading gadget came out, didn't think it was worth the one capability, then a rival to the app phone came out with an alien name, and I was almost tempted.....But, I knew that I wanted something that could do all the things the other's could do, with the exception of making phone calls, and I decided to hold out for what I really wanted. We were going to be taking a trip to Brazil for Christmas to see Nate's parents while they were serving a mission for the LDS church, but his Mom started having some heart problems and had to return to the states. Nate wanted to help make the 2 day trip to Brazil a pleasant one and bought me my little rectangle of love that is ever so poorly named. I could watch movies, read books, play games, check on my schedule, listen to music and so much more. Nate teases me that I will start sleeping with it under my pillow. It is pretty much attached to me and I don't go anywhere without it. I use it so much that I don't ever even go onto our pc anymore. Nate also finally took pity on my after only a few weeks of ownership and got me a wireless keyboard to go with it. Heaven, I'm in Heaven. I am typing on said keyboard as we speak.
Well, it's time to go read scriptures with the kids and put them to bed. Guess what I will be using.....yep, my rectangle of looooovvvve! I really need to give it a proper name.......Jordy thinks Lulu sounds good, so, Lulu it is.....at least for now. :)

How Did We Get Here?

I haven't thoroughly thought this post out and researched a bunch of great quotes so that I don't end up sounding like the ding dong that I am, but I figure that if I do that I will never get around to it. Since all my posts go into a paper journal for posterity, I didn't want this to go unmentioned.
My question? How did we get here? Meaning, where we are as a society today in 2010. I feel like I have become some super freak protector of the constitution. In everything I see and do I look for evidence that people still know who they are and where they came from and where our "rights" come from. The perversion of charity and that the source of our rights is from the government terrifies me. I am so grateful for events like 8/28 where I can see and hear from people of the same ideals. Why have we let ourselves be talked into bondage for what we are being sold as security? Why do we not think that the people in our government are capable of misusing the funds they are entrusted with. Look at CA. That town where the city council members stole millions of dollars from the people is not an isolated incident. What do we do? Continue to give them more money and more power. They screw things up and then sell us a load of crap about it being someone else's fault. Their solution? Give them more money and power so they can fix what they screwed up. Sounds like the definition of insanity to me.
We have also been lead to believe that whatever station we are born into in life is where we will stay forever and we shouldn't have to do anything about it. We are too weak and too stupid to fight for the American dream so we should be able to just take it from someone who has it. It's only fair, right? The "haves" owe everything they have to the "have nots." I believe that Charity is the pure love of Christ, but it is my responsibility to give of my own free will and choice. I should not have my agency taken away from me and be enslaved to the government who keeps taking and needing more money under the guise of helping the little guy. This is a pattern we have seen repeat itself over and over again since the beginning of time. Look through the Bible and the Book of Mormon to see what was considered bondage of the people. Why are we so dense? We are here to work by the sweat of our brow, not sit around collecting money for things we have not earned. We are breeding incapability and a serious lack of self reliance. Even a pop star has an inkling of the truth behind that in the lyric "you have to give what you take" and "I don't belong to you, and you don't belong to me....."
Like I said, I haven't completely formulated everything that I want to say, but I think I can sum it up by saying: Come on people, wake up! We are quickly moving down the path of a life of servitude and extreme poverty for all. It isn't spreading the wealth, it's spreading the poverty except for the elite in power! (there are plenty of great chick ficks with this scenario if you need a reminder of how sucky that is)
There. Hopefully I didn't sound too much like a ding dong and there is no doubt in anyone's mind where I stand. :)

The First of Many This Year

The music teacher at the middle school enjoys torturing the parents for a beginning of the year band/choir night. This is an hour and a half event where he lectures/ informs us of how the music program works and what is expected of our children and the parents yadda yadda and then each of the 3 bands and 3 choirs perform a song. What did the beginning band dazzle the parents with? "hot cross buns" yes ladies and gentlemen you read correctly. Not only did they play it once, but they gave us an encore of the delightsome song. It was held in the gym this year instead of the standing room only cafeteria which was nice to be able to have a seat. The problem was that there is absolutely no airflow in the gym so we were all drenched in sweat and ready to harm someone by the time it was over. I really enjoy school functions, can ya tell?? :) Hey, at least I'm there with my smile on!

Now, Jared is actually playing the trombone this year, but for this concert he is playing Nate's saxophone. J actually signed up for band because he wanted to play the saxophone and he was excited to get to play on his Dad's from high school. For beginning band the kids go to a music camp for the day where they play all the instruments and they told J that he was a better fit for the trombone. The teacher decided that since there were already a bunch of kids wanting to play the sax and only a couple on the trombone, J got the trombone. Well, this was a bit upsetting since we already had the instrument and the whole shpeel that was given was that the kids got to play whatever they wanted...not so apparently. So, after some discussion we decided to just get J the trombone cause I found one for a good price and so my hope is that he will learn both instruments since he likes to play them both.

MJ went from beginning Choir last year to advanced this year and she hates to pose for pictures. Little stinker! They actually sang a nice song that was pleasing to the ears. Edog was entertaining us by helping to hand out the "uniforms" for band and choir. inbetween customers he and T would be practicing some sort of moves which was highly entertaining. This was the other purpose of the night, to collect fees and hand out the t-shirts. Let the musical fun begin!

Jordy turns 6

It's hard to believe that my little munchkin is 6 years old already and in the 1st grade. We had a nice little quiet birthday this year because I was out of town the weekend before her birthday and labor day was the next weekend and we were camping. So, she got a cake and she got to pick where we ate for dinner and she got her presents and lots of love. Her most prized gift this year had to be ordered online. They started carrying this particular pillow in stores, but they didn't carry the coveted turtle so I gave up and just ordered it. We hear the lovely song now all the time that goes with this pillow an it drives us all crazy, but she loves this thing.

Jordy is doing well for being the youngest in her class and she is getting some extra help everyday one on one for 30 minutes with her reading. She is really enjoying that time and loves the teacher that does the program. She gets to make books to bring home to read along with the other books she has to read each night. She is really building her confidence and really feels important and special with the extra attention.

Jordy is a true joy in our family and she has such a kind and loving heart and when I ask about her friends at school she always tells me that everyone is her friend. I also love it when she tells me that when she was in heaven she picked me to be her Mom. There's no doubt about that since people say she is a mini me. I also remind her that she may have picked me, but I also picked her. :)

EEEEKS!

To say that I had a case of the heebie jeebies when I found this centipede in the bottom of our pool is an understatement. Bugs have a tendency to freak me out! The first thing I did when I saw this creepy creature was to run back in the house and get the kids......and my camera. In case this thing was still alive and tried to attack me, I needed back up! Plus the picture would come in handy if the kids had to tell the paramedics what attacked me. lol I pulled this bad boy up out of the pool with the skimmer net and luckily he was dead. It really didn't make it any less creepy and I've seen too many horror movies where things are never really dead! I've seen centipedes around, but never one this big. We have also seen lots of dead snakes lately and we caught our 12th mouse this weekend. That was 12 just this weekend people! They seem to think our garage is party central. I'm hoping they start to wonder where all their friends keep going an realize that when they venture into the party house, they never leave...... muwahahah Living in the middle of nowhere certainly has its drawbacks! Eewww, eewwww and double eeewwww!

My Little Rookie

E has been dying to play a sport and I have been putting it off simply because, I'm lazy. The older 2 are so busy that it was just one more person to work into the taxi service schedule. He has been wanting to play soccer, but when brother signed up for fall ball, E decided he wanted to sign up too. He looks like such a little baseball stud on the field. In rookies you get the pitching machine so he usually gets a hit every time he is up to bat. He has also made it home a couple of times. The whole catching of the ball and then what to do with it is still a bit hazy for him, but he'll get it. He is on a team with a bunch of hardcore parents that have all the gear for their kids and are constantly giving advice from the stands and I'm pretty sure they are waiting for someone to draft their kids at any moment into the majors. It's not like I don't say "go Ethan" or "you got this" but the other parents take things very seriously. I thought J's team was intense, but at least they are quite a bit older than 7! Life's short, can't we have some fun for awhile before we start beating these kids up. Geesh! You would think that after all the games that I've been to I would know some stuff, but no. I am such an airhead when it comes to sports and knowing what the heck is going on. E claims that he loves baseball and will never stop playing it.......guess I better start getting into this game. :)

Arizona Fun

I love road trips! I have been trying to have a girls' trip for the last couple of years and something always conflicts. When I found out that my favorite band was having a concert close by I decided to try again. My friend that lives in AZ also added another foster baby into their home so it was time to make this trip happen. I talked my friend Christin into coming along and worked out child care for the kids and away we went. The first group of pictures was of our adventures on the way there. I love minute marts. You can find the craziest stuff there! I just had to try out the beverage that sounded so promising! Yea, not so much! I love turtles and this little native store we stopped at had a huge one. I like turtles and all, but come on! Who would buy that? We saw plenty of interesting billboards, as evidence by the pic. So..... when this 100 calorie pack of strawberry cupcakes was made, did anyone look at them and think hmmmmm.... does that look like what I think it looks like?????? Hello!!!! We also found a fun looking country store with an equally fun name. We just had to stop and check it out. Apparently one of the price tags from the hat took up residence in C's hair. Good times!!!!
Our next set of lovely pictures occurred when Christin got all excited about seeing the cactus. We took a little pit stop to hike along the freeway to this tall prickly barrel of love. We just had to get an up close view and investigate the smell and texture. In case you are wondering.... there is no real smell and trying to carve your initials in one is no easy task. Even though they all have scars in them from lack of water or animal damage, they are still beautiful. I love it when I can spot one that looks like a person. So Fun!

It was so good to see my friend Jolene and all the babies. Jolene is a foster Mom and in the process of adopting the twins and just recently got their sibling as well. These babies' biological mother is 19 and those are babies 3,4 and 5 and were born addicted to meth!!!! So sad! But so lucky that they get to go to someone as wonderful as Jo! I just had to see my little buddies and enjoyed every minute of it.

After we loved on the babies for awhile we headed on over to the Mesa Temple. I am working on quite a collection of Temples that I have been in. It has been awhile since I have been in a session with so many people. It was packed and I also loved seeing all the old architecture. Very enjoyable and a great start to the day!

I forgot to include some of the shopping pics that were taken. That was another reason to go. We don't have that much good shopping here in good 'ole abq. We took Nate's truck so we could get some big things that C needed,but it ended up not being enough room to get everything home. Some of the boxes were just too long so we had to rent a trailer after spending an hour in the 105 degree weather with the most kind man ever that insisted on helping us. When we finally excepted our defeat we got the trailer and had to move everything yet again and then the air conditioning in the truck stopped working! This sent me into a twinkie and soda consuming pity party! We took the truck to an auto repair shop and C prayed fervently for a miracle! After sitting in the air conditioned waiting room for about 15 minutes they reported that all was well and there was nothing wrong. It miraculously healed itself. And no we aren't dumb blonds that didn't know how to work the a/c! It absolutely was not working!!!!

Anyway, back to lovely pictures above of the concert that brought us to AZ. It was amazing and fun and I may have drooled....just a little. I got to touch the arm of Jon from switchfoot and stare longingly into John's eyes from the ggdolls. We were in the 7th row right in the isle. AAHHHH! Such good times. I even almost had to kick some girls behind, so it was really awesome. The story is much too long, but she will forever be referred to as "Seriously B----" simply because those were apparently the only 2 words in her vocabulary. The more I ignored this girl the more it upset her and all my attempts at waving "bye bye" to her and then finally pulling out the big guns....."Do you want me to get security?" Didn't seem to phase her, so I was left with getting security and she was left with getting kicked out (or at least back to her ticketed seat- which she was not in). Awww, too bad! Seriously! haha Drunk people are so annoying!

So, there you have it. All the glorious fun that I had with 2 of my favorite people in the world in one of my favorite places of all time to visit!

Craftin with C

This past Thursday I spent the day with my friend C helping her recover her dining room chairs. She believes that she is decorating challenged so I agreed to help her out. We went and picked out the fabric together and then a day or so later we got to work. We set up craft central at my house and got to work cutting and stapling the fabric. I was on staple duty since C couldn't seem to get the staples in all the way and I kept hitting my thumb with the hammer trying to hammer them in the rest of the way. What happens when you staple 8 chairs? You get an owie! That's true love for you right there I tell ya! We were on such a roll that she decided to sneak in an extra project of recovering a bench cushion with some left over fabric that her brother-in-law used to sew her a new bed set. Yes, I did say brother-in-law. I think the 2 of us are going to have to have a craft off! Needless to say, C had to staple the bench cushion because my hand was out of commission. Anyway, we had blast and C tried out her new seat cushions to see if they would rip when she sat down. Did they? Of course not, I helped make them!!!! lol I talked her into using 2 different fabrics - 4 chairs each - and I think it turned out awesome and luckily, so does she. I love crafty days!

First Day for My Cuties

I didn't take pictures of the older kids this year even though it was J's first year in middle school. I thought he would die of embarrassment so, I refrained. However, the 2 little ones still love the attention so they got their first day documented. :) They are growing up so fast and I really don't know how it happened. Time just seems to be slipping through my fingers and doesn't want to slow down. E is in the 2nd grade this year and JE is in the 1st grade. I'm down to just 2 in elementary school so I will be a little less visible this year instead of the lady with all the kids.... which is just silly to me. I only have 4 kids not 14! :)

My Night With M.K.

I love it when the unexpected happens! I was cleaning my house while listening to the radio when some concert tickets for M at K earney were being given away. I really love his music so I decided to give it a try and I WON! It was an awesome night at a local bar and stage listening to the musical talent of an incredibly skinny man..... sorry...but his legs were the size of my arms! But, he has an amazing voice and is really funny and we had a good time. Nate was a good sport going with me even though he didn't know who he was, but was so glad that he did. He loved it too and thought they had incredible talent. We were also entertained by J ane C arrey who was equally funny and entertaining and I enjoyed her quirky songs. We were also entertained by 2 people in the audience that obviously believed they were at a rock concert because every couple of minutes they screamed at the top of their lungs. MK was only about a foot from them and handled it well, but I'm sure he had nightmares about it that night. I know I was ready to go over to them and put the smack down when it went from funny to downright annoying. Luckily I still had an amazing night with my hubs and one of my musical crushes. :)

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

I am the kind of person that always assumes the worst in any kind of situation. You could call it the glass half empty way of thinking --if you want to get all negative and technical. I look at it as mentally preparing myself for the worst thing that could happen so that I am pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen. I like to call it being a realist or super preparedness. :)

Anyway, long story short-ha! I found out that I was getting released from my calling as yw pres. Nate ended up being the one to tell me because it was yc and things were hectic and he is not good at keeping secrets. I thought he was kidding and when I realized that he wasn't, I just started bawling and dove head first into a pit of despair. I of course go to all the things that I had done wrong or could have done better and felt like a complete failure because I wasn't going to a new calling and I had only had that one for a year. I was just being released and the thought of not being in yw anymore was killing me. I love my girls! The next morning I got the official release visit and was reassured that I hadn't done anything wrong an something about the Lord and his plans--yadda yadda. (it was hard to hear anything through my weeping hahaha) I finally made peace and starting trying to figure out what direction my life was going to take. It was hard keeping a secret from the girls for a week during activities and some other events that we were at together. My consolation was that I knew before I knew who the next pres was going to be. I was also touched by the lesson that was given in Sunday School on my "limbo" Sunday ( you know the one. You know you are getting released, but they haven't done it yet). It is found in 2Kings chapter 2. It is when Elijah goes up to Heaven in a chariot of fire and leaves his mantel for Elisha. This got me thinking about the line of authority:
If you have a testimony that the prophet has been given all the keys to the priesthood by God, then you have a testimony that the Stake President has been given keys of authority/mantel by the Prophet.
If you have a testimony of that then you also have a testimony that the Bishop was given his authority by the Stake Pres.
The Bishop has been given the authority to assign people to callings that require a mantel. So.....if you follow the line of authority; I got my use of the mantel I carried as yw pres from God through the Bishop and the Lord decided I was needed elsewhere. So, the mantel went back to the Bishop to then give to the next yw pres......I gave this as a lesson today to introduce the yw to their new pres. and I used a scarf as an object lesson to represent the mantel when I was explaining this all to my girls. I then took off the scarf and gave it back to the bishop and he gave it to the new yw pres....the lesson actually had the effect I was going for. The spirit.
So, what does this all mean? That we have to trust the Lord and His plan. There is a work to do and we are all vital. After 4 days of being released, but not officially, I was given new calling. I was at the Temple for a youth baptism trip and ended up sitting in the foyer with the Bishop to get my new calling...which I think is going to be my favorite place to get a calling! I am now the 1st counselor in RS and I pray that I can grow to love the women of the ward as much as I love the yw. Charity really is the pure love of Christ and when you serve someone with all of your heart it is like getting a new set of eyes. Eyes that enable you to see people as Heavenly Father sees them and you truly love them.

Courage

I've been thinking a lot about this years Mutual theme for the yw/ym program in our church. It is found in Joshua 1:9
"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."
How can this be applied to my life and what does it mean to me? I recently learned of a Christian leader in the Nazi era by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You can read a bio about him here
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bonhoeffer.html

There are 2 quotes by him that I feel speak to what Joshua was talking about. The first is found on the page mentioned.

"Who stands firm? Only the one for whom the final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these, when in faith and sole allegiance to God he is called to obedient and responsible action: the responsible person, whose life will be nothing but an answer to God's question and call."

The second one is:
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

We are in the middle of fundamental transformation of our Government where the founding principles of this country are being destroyed. We are in a time where the principles of God are being perverted which I like to refer to as "the teachings of man mingled with scripture." I believe that we have to stand firm for truth and righteousness and fight the good fight no matter what the odds or persecution. We don't have a call to arms, but we do have a call to education and a call to be the voice of the people. I take great inspiration from Dietrich and pray that I can continue to stand up and "answer to God's question and call."

Starting a Book Club

I am not the kind of person that likes to start things up, but I suppose I can't avoid it any longer. I have recently caught history fever and need an outlet. What better way than a book club. So all the great books that I have on the founding principles of this great nation will now get to be thoroughly picked over and evaluated and absorbed. I really feel like right now that is the best thing I can be doing with my time and also the thing that will most add value. Our Country is at a critical point in history and I feel a great sense of responsibility to make sure that everyone has an understanding of the founding principles of this great nation. We have been told remember, remember countless times in the scriptures and along the way we have forgotten the great miracle that made this country possible. Fighting for our freedoms starts with an understanding of our history. Education is the key! There is also strength and hope in numbers. I am looking forward to the feeling of unity that studying together brings.
I hope people show up :)

Forgetful

It has been awhile since I have been to my home State of Washington. You would think that when packing clothing for a trip I would remember that the weather sucks even when the weatherman claims it wont! Now in all fairness it hasn't rained on me yet, but the sun has been hiding behind the clouds for a good portion of the time and it is FREEZING here. It seriously felt like winter yesterday. What was I wearing? Shorts! Luckily I had the good sense to pack a hoodie so I was able to stay a bit warm, but I didn't pack a single pair of pants. It wasn't until after I got here that I remembered the days of wearing shorts with a over sized sweatshirt that is such a common phenomenon here. It is really born out of a necessity to keep warm, but wanting to feel like it is summer...the perfect blend of fantasy and reality. :)

It is also fun to see everyone that is local to the area fit into my Washingtonian stereotype. There is definitely a look that the locals have. There is a difference between city local and country local though which is highly entertaining. You can also tell you are in Seattle by the number of coffee shops you see within a block of each other. People here are passionate about their coffee!

I also looooove seeing all the vegetation that spontaneously grows everywhere. Do you know how much I have to pay for a pint of blackberries in NM and they just grow wild along the freeway and everywhere else there is some dirt here in WA. In fact blackberry bushes are hard to get rid of and grow out of control here! I do miss the days of eating blackberries whenever I wanted because I could just pick them from the side of the road. So, while I did grow up here and there are plenty of things that I miss.....it's a nice place to visit, but not to live. :)

RQ Factor

Recently my little cutie pie has had 2 offers for marriage. This is especially funny because she has been declaring for a long time now that she wasn't getting married or having any kids because she was going to live with Mom and Dad forever. She did have the good sense to want her sisters bigger room and her own TV. We kept telling her that there was no way that was going to happen, but she seemed undeterred. However, on a recent trip with friends to CO she decided that getting married was a good idea, so much so, that there was a wedding ceremony performed under the slide of the yard where we had pitched our tent for 2 weeks.

For the last week that we were there, her and her "husband" (Parker ) were inseparable. Jordyn didn't want to do anything that Parker didn't. She was romanced with flowers everyday and hand holding and there was pet names like "Honey" being used. It started out cute, but then there was a couple of kisses on the lips and we had to have a little chat. Jordy definitely got my genes for liking all things boy. I am pretty certain that we are going to have to lock this girl up when she gets a bit older to keep her out of trouble!

We get back home and her cousin, Noah, comes to visit. All of a sudden she has a quandary. Noah and Parker both want to marry me, what do I do? This was a question that she posed to me while she was sitting on the stairs by the office looking all forlorn while I was on the computer. Well, sweetie. I can solve this problem for you pretty quickly was my reply. Noah is your cousin so you can't marry him! After explaining what exactly that meant we had the situation all cleared up. I found out later that the two had made big plans for their wedding which involved being married on the steps of our travel trailer! This made me laugh so hard because if you are going to marry your first cousin, steps of a trailer should definitely be involved! Apparently our red neck qualities are rubbing off on our children and they are taking it a bit more seriously than intended!!! :)

When you have kids, there is never a dull moment!

Puppy Love

Call me crazy, but we just got another dog. We had been feeling sad for our dog, Champ, because he had no one to play with, so,when the opportunity to have another dog came along...
I wasn't really sure how committed I was to getting a friend for our dog and it was something that we were kind of talking about in some day in the future tense. I was hoping for a smaller more indoor dog that didn't shed all over the place like Champy boy does. The back yard was also barely surviving "dumb dog" as it was and the pool toys, goggles, towels, shoes and anything else left unattended were being destroyed in seconds. So when the Dr Nate hired in Artesia had puppies I kinda closed my eyes, took a deep breath and said "sure, let's do it." The kids couldn't have been more thrilled. We decided to drive down to Roswell to pick up our new little puppy and it ended up being a pretty fun little adventure. It takes about 3 hours to get there and the kids were so good in the car probably because they were drunk with anticipation. They also discussed the name for the dog and everyone wanted to honor our very first try at owning a dog with his name, Cody. We got there and chatted for a few minutes and then..... there we were with our new addition. No turning back now! We got to get some lunch from the super cool ufo McD's and then headed to a park so we could let the puppy get used to us. Then we loaded back up and headed home. When we pulled in the garage, I was trying to unload everything and answer a phone call so the kids ended up taking the new pup in to see Champ. I had explained to the kids that there might be some problems introducing the dog, but it didn't really sink in because they were too excited to wait for me. All Champ knew was that there was another dog with his kids and he was not happy about it and one of the kids opened the door and Champ flew in and attacked the new little guy. Needless to say everyone was traumatized including the new pup and we waited for the Alpha male, Nate, to get home to do the proper introductions. We did little doses of interaction between the 2 for the first few days and they have been inseparable ever since. I think Cody is starting to get on Champ's nerves though because he just wont leave him alone and trying to take the 2 of them on a walk is a tangle of leashes. So, we are now officially a 2 dog family and that's how it's going to stay.....we aren't running a farm here! :)

Major Deal!

My Jdog did it! He made it through his very first year of playing baseball and major league baseball at that. He started out the season knowing absolutely nothing about the sport and behind all his teammates in skill level. He had some intense coaches that expected a lot out of their players, but they also really knew how to teach the kids good technique. There were some tears shed, but J really dug deep and put all he had into learning how to play and playing well. We even signed him up for a couple of private lessons because he had never hit a pitched ball in his life and his throws needed some serious work. He really impressed his coaches and teammates with how much he improved during the season. We are all so proud of him and I think J is pretty proud of himself too. Hard work and determination pay off.

This was the end of the season party and awards ceremony at a pizza place in Corrales.

J got lots of nice things said about him and his level of improvement that just made him beam.

Pure Awesomeness!

We went for memorable this year when we planned our summer vacation...and it was! We started planning for this vacation about 6 months ahead of time and it evolved into 3 families going together. We had some left over tickets into the theme park from our last trip, so we decided to add that onto our trip as well. The cruise, by far, was everyone's favorite part of the trip and if I had to do it again I would have ended with the cruise instead of the parks. It was really hard to go from being completely pampered to fending for ourselves. The cruise had plenty of activities to keep us busy and plenty of food at our fingertips whenever the hunger pains struck. I think what made it so fun was that the kids and us adults were there with friends. The older kids had a ball having free reign of the ship to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted to go. We get so used to being able to talk to each other whenever and wherever we want via cell phone, and there is no svc on the boat. We had to wing it old school style. Absolutely no communication with the kids except for designated times and places or just by hunting them down. The smaller kids were given electronic id bracelets and we were given a pager so if they needed us their activities counselor would send us a text. We really spent a lot of time together doing some pretty awesome things. There are so many more pictures of some really fun stuff we did, but other people in our party were taking them, so as soon as I get a hold of them I will share. :)

MJ's 13th Bday

My first born turned 13 this past month. This was a pretty exciting bday for sure. MJ got to stay home from school in the morning because we had made a Dr appointment for her to get some vaccinations that she needed to register for school. I know, getting shots on your bday stinks, but it was a perfect excuse to get an excused absence from school. I put a very pretty tiara on my little girl's head and off we went for her special day. She doesn't enjoy drawing attention to herself as much as I do, but she was a good sport and wore it until it hurt her head. Anyway, after the dreaded 4 shots we went to the mall. MJ was having a hard time coming up with something that she wanted for her bday and we finally decided on getting a makeover so that she could properly learn how to apply makeup since she hadn't been allowed to wear it up until then. She probably would have gone another year without wearing makeup if I hadn't suggested it but, her sister Jordyn, on the other hand, doesn't understand why she can't wear it now too. The lady at my favorite makeup store did a really nice job and I think she looks beautiful. I can't believe how grown up she looks. Because MJ shares her bday with her parents anniversary we met Nate for lunch but let her pick the place. We had mine and MJ's very good friend, C, along for the entire bday experience because she makes things more fun and she doesn't get to do any girls stuff with four boys. We had a very yummy lunch and Daddy showed up with the most spoiled girl bday present ever for his pretty princess. We were so busy with end of the year stuff that we didn't have a birthday cake for her until a few days later. Not a bad way to spend a birthday if I do say so myself.......and I think she would say so too :o)