Hymn of Praise

 This past week we learned that a dear friend and father figure to Nathan had passed.  This was not a surprise passing but still sorrowful for those left behind.  The quote used on the program was "to take the sorrow out of death would be to take the love out of life." Nathan's ex-buisness partner's Dad (but not ex-ed from our lives) Lorraine Brady passed at the tender age of 81.  He had been having health problems for a few years now and each time the boys and Nate went hunting they would say their goodbyes to him just in case it was their last visit.  I always find it a bit sad that it is in the moments after our loved ones are no longer with us that we express what they have meant to our lives and the example they have been.  I know we shouldn't be defined by what others think of us, but in a world filled with so much negative it is nice to hear the good.  I always come away from a funeral with a new resolve to live a better and more meaningful life.... which I guess is the purpose of the tribute.  To remind us that life is short and we better make the most of it while we can.  I told Nate that I wanted my funeral to be 30 minutes max and he didn't really need to have one, he could just have a high five line where everyone could walk by and congratulate him on being lucky enough to have been married me for as long as he was.  heehee.  I was also made aware of another desire I didn't know to have for my own funeral arrangements.  A pine box casket.  Dude, I absolutely loved it.  I have always joked about not wasting money on a casket for me and just throwing me in a pine box.  This is the real deal people.  The most beautiful pine box.  I want one.  Lorraine was also a sheep farmer so I loved the sheep flower arrangement.  The other thing I loved was his hat and belt in the flower arrangement and when the family placed their flowers on the casket one of his son's put his Chapstick on there because he always had some on him.  Can I also just say the the drive from Spanish Fork to Mt Pleasant is the most serene, peaceful and stunning drive.  It makes you want to chuck everything and live in the middle of nowhere.

 On our way there I saw this cute little white church that looked like I could see a pioneer walking up to it and going to church today.  When we got close enough to see the sign, sure enough it was LDS.  It was in the middle of nowhere where there were a few homes cut into the side of the mountain next to a ,I think, granite or some sort of stone mine.  We got to also spend lots of time with Nate's parents and his brother.  We got to talk about family history with his parents and asked his Dad to put some stories together for when they come.  Dad is such an amazing and captivating story teller and there is some amazing stories from Nate's line.  One of which is the story of W W Phelps who is a direct descendant. I am going to record him telling the stories and then give it to the rest of the family.  It will be so fun.  The kids also need some stories for the Trek so this will come in handy.  Although I will probably make one of my kids bring stuff about me since I am the "pioneer" on my side of the family.  We also had such a great visit with Ja and his family.  The kids are easily bribable with our electronics, although as hard as Nate tried to get Ty to call him his favorite uncle, Ty wouldn't do it.

We also got to spend a few hours in downtown SLC on Saturday.  I had forgotten how absolutely stunning Utah can be.  It made me want to weep it was so beautiful.  Hey, Jack!  I live in the desert, you would weep too!  I can never have too many pics of the temple.  There is always something new to see or a new perspective to capture.  It actually made me sad to leave this time.  I must be loosing it or something because I am one of the ones who bad mouths Utah and the crazy self absorbed, over done up, body obsessed town....but there are a lot of amazing people that live there too.  Everywhere has it's set of challenges, so my heart softened for all the good and beauty that lives there in Zion....remember, I was about weeping.  There was also so much yummy food to consume while we were there.  I loose all self control while I am there and have to eat like I will never get to eat like that again...well, because I won't.  Remember I live in the biggest small town in the US.  Aside from green chili, we got nothin else!

On Sunday morning when I woke up in our hotel room a block from the Temple I had a song stuck in my head.  "Each life that touches ours for good."  I had been thinking of Lorraine, my friends from high school that had such a life changing impact on me, the wonderful people I surround myself with now and the amazing new friends we met while on our family history adventure.  Each life that touches ours for good really does reflect thine own great mercy Lord.   I love all 4 verses of that song and it is still stuck in my head today.  If you need to be reminded of the gifts that God has given you, start with your friends and the blessing they are in your life.  If you can't think of a friend that has been a blessing then you can be that for someone and your eyes will be opened to the many blessings that our Father in Heaven has for you.

One final quote that was not credited from the funeral program.
Miss Me ~ But Let Me Go
When I come to the end of the road, and the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom-filled room, why cry for a soul set free!  Miss me a little -but not for long.  And not with your head bowed low.  Remember the love that we once shared, Miss me-but let me go.  For this journey we all must take, and each time must go alone. It's all a part of the master plan, a step on the road to home.  When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to the friends we know.  And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.  Miss me- but let me go.

Ethical

After 4 years of living next to an empty house we were excited to get some neighbors....until the dog barking torture began.  They moved in right before summer and we spend most of our time outdoors.  All they had at first was the psycho chihuahua that barks non stop for 13 hours at a time.  No joke!  I had patience in the beginning thinking that psycho dog would eventually get used to us or loose his voice, whichever came first was going to be a happy day.  The neighbors are both nurses and they are gone for 13 hours a day and they leave that little dog on a chain that is usually wound around something and it has no food or water.  Finally my other neighbor and I were at our whits end and had enough of being woken up at 6 am to barking and having it not stop until 9 pm.  I decided to leave a note on the door because trying to catch them at home was tricky.  It simply said, just wanted to let you know that while you are gone your dog barks the entire time.  This lead to her coming over and saying that it wasn't her fault and what was she supposed to do?     Um, let's see.  Not have a dog if you are never home to take care of it.  Stop buying new cars and buy a fence so your dog isn't tied to a 1 foot square area all day.  Theres just a couple for starters.  My husband offered for her to throw the dog over the fence and we would take care of it during the day to help but she didn't take us up on it.  Their solution.  Hey, if 1 dog is bad 2 dogs is better!  This new dog at least has a deeper bark but he is so stupid that he dumps his water and food 1 second after he gets it so he spends his day pissed off.  They were keeping little psycho (LP) in the garage for awhile and put butch (it seems a fitting name) right under my friends kitchen window to help cover the noise of the barking??   I guess they gave up on that idea probably because LP destroyed anything they had in the garage and now it is back tied up outside yapping the hours of the day away.  The strange thing is that we have tons of coyotes in the neighborhood that love little dogs and cats.  We can't figure out why this meat kabob hasn't been eaten yet.  I keep pondering the ethics of dowsing the dog in bacon grease and ringing a dinner bell.  Slipping a shock collar on it during the day and zapping the bajeebers out of it.  Maybe taking my dogs over there for a little "meat" and greet. :0) I asked my 15 yr old daughter if she thought I could be jailed or at the least need to repent if I just went over there and "accidentally" unhooked LP from the chain.  Unfortunately she said that I would definitely be in need of repentance.  Darn valiant youth of today!  So instead my neighbor and I conspired to take pictures and finally call animal control after our months of threats.  Guess who wont be over for a bbq this summer?  Did I mention that in addition to the guy being a nurse he is a MMA?  Ruh roh!

How We Deal

Ever want to visit The Land of Enchantment?  Well, if you plan on a visit in the spring you would be wise to bring a pair of goggles.  We have an overabundance of dirt here and some gale force winds to send all that dirt whizzing through the air.  Sometimes when you go outside it literally feels like walking into the middle of a bb gun fight.  There are several funny memes out there talking about putting the sand in sandwich and a chain for a windsock to gauge how strong the winds are.  On days like this you walk back into the safety of your home and you start noticing a crunch in your teeth and grit in your ears and in every pore of your face.  It is so gross.  My neighbors daughter had the right idea while we were waiting for the bus to drop of the elementary kids, she had those goggles on.  I tried to get her to let me take her picture but she wouldn't have it, so she let me borrow them instead.  I'm telling you, it may look silly, but boy does it protect your eyes.  I'm gonna stop caring about looking like a crazy person and go for practical from now on. Genius!

Eagle

The day has finally arrived for me to be a Mom of a son working on his eagle project.  Luckily for me I've got a rockin next door neighbor with a son who is also working on his.  She went to a local elementary school and asked if they had any projects they needed done that our scouts could do.  Sweet!  She set up a meeting and our sons showed up in uniform and found out what projects needed to be done.   Jared went back later and took some pictures to go with his proposal.   He got his 2 signatures from the troop and he has an interview on Monday night with someone from the council.  Jared will be building 25 bookcases for the montessori area of the school.  The school has all the shelves so we just need to get them put together and in their places.  The scheduled date for this service project is May 4th.  We are in the home stretch.  It will be nice to have it done before all the BSA controversy hits the fan.  Who knows whats going to happen with all of that.  My 2 cents?  The whole thing is ridiculous.  It shouldn't even be up for discussion.  It can all be boiled down to 1 question.  Would you be saying the same thing in a coed situation?  Just because that's the gender they are attracted to doesn't mean they are going to act on it.  Really?  Would you still say that?  Would you send your little girl up with a male leader?  I'm so tired of common sense being chucked out the window under the guise of acceptance and love.  As far as the boys are concerned it shouldn't be a subject that is brought up.  If they are not going to openly tell everyone and act on it then all is well and you are welcome to camp with the gender you are attracted to.  Precautions should be put in place to keep everything group oriented and avoid alone one on one contact.   Leaders, no way!  Suddenly we want to wipe from our memory all the alter boy scandals and the coach scandals and put our children in a potentially dangerous environment to spare someone their feelings while touting the cry of sameness.  You are no longer the same by definition.  I asked Jared how he felt about it and he said "I think that would be pretty creepy if he was camping with me."  Is that hateful?  No, it's honest.  He would say the same thing about camping with a woman.... or perhaps when he gets a bit more testosterone in his veins he will say something like. is she hot?  Again, not good.  Well, that got way off topic, but that is what is going on right now while we move forward with an amazing program that has been helping boys become responsible, respectful citizens for a very long time and I hope it stays that way.

Experience of a Lifetime

What to say or where to begin when writing about such a spiritual experience ---- that sentence sat here lonely on this page for hours before I came back to try and write something.  I'm still not sure what to say, but I'm going to give it a try.  Looking back through some of my old posts I realized that I used to talk about spiritual things more often or just reflect on random things I was feeling and I've moved to a more picture history style as of late.  I'm not sure why this happened but it probably had to do with my insecurities.  I was becoming scared of myself if that even makes any sense.  I started thinking and relating everything to the gospel and some people love that about me and I suspect that it makes others want to roll their eyes.  I have also been deathly afraid of anyone stumbling across my blog because of a keyword search or phrase and when talking about things in the gospel you use references.  I keep doing it though because it is the only way I have been consistent at any attempt at documenting my own families history.  I often catch my kids in the office looking through one of the six years published into books from this blog.  This was the intended purpose.  For my children to remember their childhood (because it is gone in the blink of an eye) and for their children's children to know what our lives were like. Anyway, I am getting way off track here.....see, I'm stalling.

Back to my new favorite people in the world.  Without me looking back through my calendar I would have to say that we met some of these people for the first time around August- October??? Sorry can't remember.  They had picked our Stake to film the family history to temple experience. Lots of names were submitted to them via our stake president for interviews.  We were one of those families.  We interviewed with them as a family and I walked away feeling scared because I was pretty sure they were going to select us.  Lots of time passed and we didn't hear anything so I began to think I had indigestion on that day and they had so many other wonderful families to choose from so why on earth would they pick us.  Turns out, we were selected.  We had an initial meeting with everyone selected and the film crew so they could tell us what the objective was.  We signed release forms, given a personal video camera and did a little initial filming in the church building talking with the the family history consultants.  We also left with an appointment for our first in home filmed interview.

We had no idea what to expect that first interview.  We also had no idea if any of the footage would ever be turned into anything.  We knew how many people were being filmed and there was only so much they needed to turn into something for the church.  So, they arrived, moved all the furniture around, got the lighting just right and the cameras all set up and ready to go.  It was a 6 or 7 hour adventure and I cried like a baby through my entire interview.  I thought for sure none of it was usable because they didn't want my crying to be interpreted as pain so I needed to try and smile while restating some of the things I said.  I thought for sure I came off looking like a crazy person, but I felt safe and in good hands so I went with it.  They left and we continued to work on FH and took our very first batch of names to the temple as a family.  They filmed us going into the Temple and then interviewed us again after our experience.  I think it was around the end of October or the beginning of November when we had that last interview after our Temple trip. We still had the video camera so I kept filming our experiences, but that was the last we had heard from them until this month.

There was a youth FH fair that was like a youth conference that I attended with the yw of our ward in March.  There was a video about pizza and laptops that a youth group did to get their ward involved in FH.  As I was talking to one of my yw about the video we decided to do the same thing in our ward.  I was already wanting to get the scouts together so I could work on the genealogy merit badge with them because I had signed up to be a merit badge counselor.  It was just perfect (inspired) timing that we decided to involve the entire youth instead of just the scouts.  We had a joint activity coming up in April and the Deacons asked me to take over the night so we could move forward with this FH activity.  We decided to have 4 stations.  Merit badge, indexing, intro to FH and advanced FH.  We got our FH advisors to come and I called in a couple of friends that are experts as well so we could have enough help.  We also had to work really hard at getting the word out because it had been spring break and general conference so using time at church to get the word out wasn't going to work.  As soon as the date was scheduled the FH crew sent and email saying they were coming back in town and they wanted to film us some more and show us the videos they had made with our family.  I sat and stared at that email forever because I knew I needed to tell them about the event we were having but really did not want to.  For the major front I put up of self confidence, it is really very small behind closed doors.  I couldn't figure out how to word it or what to even say.  They were going to be here on Friday and our activity was for the Tuesday before.  I finally wrote down something acceptable and closed my eyes and hit send.  Sure enough they wanted to film the event so now I was under pressure to produce and amazing event and get 50 plus release forms signed in addition to praying for a miracle that this event would actually work.  Aside from my miserable failure trying to teach the "why" of FH to a bunch of deer in the headlights and looks of "I know your tricks of calling us out by name and if you do, so help me I will shank you"( I was seriously wishing for a trap door to swallow me up at this point)....the night went better than I could have expected and we had tons of people there.  I came home from that night and laid down on the family room floor and just stared at the ceiling for probably an hour.

On Friday the film crew came back and did all their lighting and setting up and we all were interviewed again.  This time I was smart though and told them I was feeding them so that everyone wasn't starving.  I knew that if the last evening filming was any indication of what to expect this time, they were going to be there until 11 pm.  The funny thing was that I had been too busy cooking and cleaning and I have really slowed down on my obsession with the news so I didn't know about the whole pressure cooker talk.  I decided to keep it simple and make some black bean soup because it would be easy to eat whenever we had the chance.  To cook beans here in this altitude you really need a pressure cooker.  The first thing they said when they got here was (in a whisper) "pst, hey guys, she's a terrorist!"  Oh my gosh so funny.  Anyway....this time I was not weepy like I was in my first interview.  I hope that my interview came of strong and happy and not cold and hard......So much self doubt.  The reason I began to worry so much is because we were shown the videos about our family.  First was one of Emma and Jared and the director filmed us on his phone watching the video.  It felt like they had said so little but it came together so nicely.  I was so impressed at their abilities and of my children's ability to convey a testimony.  So good.  Then they pulled out this other video.  Words flashed across the screen "my conversion"  my heart started to race. Was there really an entire video about myself.  I also noticed that the director was no longer in the room.  I understand now why he couldn't watch me watch it. I had an out of body experience watching myself and my testimony.  I could hardly believe that something so beautiful and inspiring came out of all my blubbering.  Not to take away from anything I said, because I said all those things and felt all those things, but the way it was put together was beautiful.  The director is very talented.  I'm not using any of their names here because, well, they didn't sign any release forms for me. hahaha :0) Not sure that it matters but this is my experience and it kinda keeps it that way if I keep at least their names to myself.

This entire experience has been amazing.  I got to "experiment upon my words...with the smallest particle of faith....and many things were revealed unto me." Alma 32:27 Doing your own FH is a sacred work and responsibility.  My testimony has grown in ways that I didn't know were even possible.  My ability to feel pure joy has increased.  The world is literally falling apart around us and I have gained perspective and direction on what my focus needs to be.  I have a deeper love and capacity  to find the good in others and a desire to lift and strengthen them.   I have a passion for sharing what I know so that everyone can experience what I have.  I am grateful that the Lord loves me and didn't give up on me long ago and that he never ever will.  I know that I am a literal daughter of Heavenly Father which means that I have his DNA in me which means that all things are possible through Him.  How amazing is that statement alone?  He can take a rundown jalopy like myself and reveal it's true nature, a Maserati.   It just takes some time in the repair shop and a willingness to put aside the things of the world and "Come follow me."  

Pioneer Sewing Fun

Our Ward is going on a pioneer trek this year instead of girls camp and scout camp.  Naturally, that means that it time to get out the ole sewing machine and whip up some skirts, aprons and vests.  Emma didn't like any of our old sheets or extra fabric I had laying around.  Honestly it was a bit sketchy and I wouldn't have wanted to wear anything made out of it either, so I let her get new material from the store.  While we were there picking it out I decided to get wild and crazy and pick up a pattern and some material to make Jared and Nate a vest.  What possesses me to do such things is a mystery even to myself.  Jordyn was feeling left out of the process so she got out her kiddie sewing machine and decided to make some clothes for her barbie.  The poor kid got this thing for Christmas and I always have some excuse as to why we can't get the dumb thing out and make something.  Well, this day I figured out just how intuitive the excuses were.  Seriously, don't waste your money on this piece of junk.  The thread does not hold because there is no bobbin for the underside.  Jordyn just kept getting frustrated and yelling out "this thing is a piece of crap!"  I know, I know we are potty mouths here.  I had Emma sewing her own stuff and she did a good job.  She was looking extra professional with the pin in her mouth, in fact it inspired a similar move from Jordyn.  

I decided that for my skirt I would make a slimmer one to avoid adding any extra circumference to my body.  The thing is, I'm lazy.  I didn't feel like doing any math or trying to figure out radiuses, so I grabbed a skirt from my closet and just cut out around it.  The problem?  I forgot to add extra around the waist so that I could actually get the thing on over my bedonkadonk.  It is super fantastic if I want a skirt for 1 leg.  Let's face it, it wouldn't be a "heather" project if I didn't mess something up.  It happens every time without fail.  So there it is.  I went for a mini apron so I didn't cover up all my super cute bees on my fabric but Emma wanted to look more authentic so she went for the full length version.  Good times.  Did I use a pattern for those, nope.  I just held up a piece of fabric, eyeballed it and cut the piece out.  It is a very basic and super easy.  So are the skirts I made for Emma.  No measuring.  Just hold the fabric up and see how long you want in and then cut while the fabric is folded in half.  Make another the same size and sew the side seems and put your elastic in and your hem on and you're done.   I still have the vests to make and take another stab at just making the super full version of my skirt.  I am also just going to order the bonnets because there is no way that would turn out with me doing it.  :0)  Fingers crossed for the vests...

Spring broke

We were all set to have an amazing spring break this year when all our plans were derailed.  I should have know that things just weren't going to work out because of all the little hurdles we had to overcome while planning the trip.  1st problem, the rv needed to be fixed and they had to move heaven and earth to get it done before we left.  Hurdle 1 was jumped.  Next we had to decide if we were going to go directly to LasVegas from Utah because Nate had a tactical gun course he was taking.  There was nowhere good to take the rv and we decided that it was just too much driving.  Hurdle 2 jumped when we decided to just come home and Nate would fly there.  Then we had to get his personal office moved and a massive desk built before we could take off and leave the rest of the moving to his staff.  Hurdle 3 jumped.  Next we had to worry about a rental car to get us to conference and the wonderment of no one working in the state of Utah continued when we discovered that all the rental places closed at 12 so we had to hurry our buns there to get a car.  We also had to overcome some patient scheduling problems that effected when we could leave and when we needed to be back.  It was problem after problem but we managed to solve each of them as they came along.  Oh, and I always manage to forget that we have animals that need to be cared for until the last minute when reality hits me and I have to find someone to take care of them.  Will I ever have 100 % of my brain turned on at one time?  Probably not.  So we had overcome every obstacle thrown at us.....

Friday morning arrives and we start loading up the RV because we had only gotten it back from the repair shop late the night before.  I noticed that Nate was limping around but every time I would ask him about it he would say it was nothing and he refused to go lie down for a bit to see if it would help.  Nate is the driving force behind us getting ready to do anything and we have all grown to rely on that direction.  Well, he started slowing down and hunching over to the point I couldn't take it any longer.  I finally got him to sit down and admit there was something seriously wrong with him.  He has had a hernia for well over a year that he refused to fix and it had become strangulated that morning.  I sat next to him and refused to go any further until he called the dr or went to urgent care.  We sat there for quite some time before he gave in and we went and had it checked out.  A primary dr that he knew had him come in so we headed over there for a 10 am appointment.  We were supposed to leave by 12.  He could hardly even walk by this point and was in excruciating pain.  The Dr was immediately worried because anytime there is strangulation you risk killing the intestine that is squeezed out through the hole.  She sent us over to the ER and called the general surgeon.  The surgeon was surprisingly in surgery.  Haha.  It took forever for the ER to figure out what to do and all the waiting made the strangulation recede because he was able to find a good position and relax.  When we finally finished up and talked to the surgeon it was 1 pm.  I was starving and Nate was in shut down mode.  We still had to get a few things at the store and finish packing up.  He pulled the car over and climbed in the backseat exhausted and unable to move forward.  I took him to lunch because I always shut down when I'm overwhelmed, hungry and been suffering through major pain.  I got some food in him, took one look and said "we aren't going anywhere, it's over."  Sometimes you think you are handling all the stress (a major office move) and your body says, "excuse me, no you're not."  It was going to be a cram packed hours on the road filled vacation that didn't clear his mind because there was too much to worry about back home.  So.......

 I had heard about this place that a man with down syndrome owns and I decided that was where we were going for our first official day of our staycation.  I showed the kids his youtube video to prepare them for the awesomeness they were about to discover.  But, before we headed out to breakfast Ethan and Jordyn were being so darn cute.  Ethan was helping his sister  to ride this skateboard thing.  It melts my heart when I see my kids being so kind to each other.  Anyway, back to breakfast at Tim's, his motto is food is food, but hugs are better.  He gives the most amazing hugs to everyone that comes in.  To make up for the fact that we didn't get to take the rv on vacation and she was all ready for action, we took her to this diner.  Let me tell you, Tim can brighten anyones day.  You get greeted with a hug and showers of compliments on anything he sees about you.   The kids got their hugs and he escorted us to our table and then went to greet others.  Well, Emma was still being a bit grumpy....so being the crazy, embarrassing Mom that I am, I called Tim back over and told him that she needed another hug because she was still grumpy.  Oh he played it so well and got a smile on her face and then he went up to Jordyn and told her that she was his favorite and that he loved her.  He was also loving on Ethan.  My 2 little ones have the biggest hearts and so I'm sure he was attracted to that.  He then realized that I was the only one who hadn't received a hug yet and told me it was my turn.  This is no obligatory, stiff, lets see if we can hug by touching as little of each other as possible, hug.  No, this was a full on I love you and I'm going to hold you tight pure hug that could cure the world.

The great thing about not going to Utah for spring break, is that I actually got to watch all of saturday's general conference because we weren't on the road and picking up a rental car etc...  It was really nice and I so enjoyed conference.  It was so powerful and so many things that I had been thinking about were talked about and I thought, I'm not crazy, I'm exactly in line with the gospel.  I loved it.  Sunday morning instead of heading to the conference center at the crack of dawn with the kids, we cuddled up and watched it on the tv wishing so badly that we were there like we had planned.  Sunday was so good again and Nate and I were air fist bumping each other several times throughout the conference.  I make the kids take notes and then we talk about them between sessions.  It is so interesting to see what each person picks out of the talks.  I love it.  It's kind of a little barometer of where my kids are with their testimonies by what they pick up on in the talks.  

The rest of the break we ice skated twice with friends and cousins and went to the movies and I even took Jordyn out for a special treat, a pedicure.  At dinner the kids tried making their lips going in different directions like I can and it was hilarious.  It's the only thing I've got on them.  Every single one of my kids, including my husband can roll their tongue and my kids cannot understand how it is possible that I can't... well, exhibit A, it's like them trying to get their lips to do what mine do.  You can either do it or you cant but it is sure fun watching people try.  Because we stayed home we were also able to go check on his sister that lives here.  She had been not feeling well and having some health issues but wouldn't let her husband call anyone over to help him give her a blessing.  He had been praying and trying to figure out for 2 weeks what to do about it and we just showed up at their house and answered that prayer for them and Nate was able to help give her a blessing.  Most of the time we spend making plans and the Lord says, that's nice, but here's what I need you to do instead.  So, although we didn't get to do what we had planned, Nathan was able to relax and help get his office set up, we got the most amazing hug ever, got to watch all of saturday's conference, spend some quality time just having fun with the kids and help a sister in need.  We also learned that our kids aren't exposed to healing blessings enough because Jordyn didn't know what the oil was all about, gotta fix that.  All in all, I would call that a success! 

Fun with Sun

 The day that I have been waiting for a couple of years finally arrived.  The day I personally owned a solar oven.  My husband loves me.  I hadn't even mentioned it in awhile and it just showed up on my doorstep. How exciting is that?  I'm no hippy chic, but I am a doomsday prepper.  You never know what kind of disaster could occur.  Maybe even one of a zombie nature.  Or should I say dead walking nature?  :0)  My absolute favorite show!  Honestly if the price of electricity keeps "necessarily skyrocketing"  everyone will need to start cooking with the sun.  I didn't waste any time testing it out.  It came in the mail last night and I was using it this afternoon.  I let it warm up for an hour or so and then tried out baking some cookies.  I discovered that the pan I got thinking it would be small enough really wasn't.  So, slight problem with sliding cookies.  Oopsies.  The first batch went well and I was able to maintain 350 degrees. The second batch, however, encountered a little thing called cloud cover.  I lost my oven temp so they sat in there slowly cooking at about 200 degrees.  Oh, well.  This was a test run and really an after school science experiment.  I felt like a mad scientist.  I kept calling my helpers Egore.

Since I already had the oven out and it was heated back up to temp, why not try to cook some tilapia?  Fish tacos for dinner sounded like a good idea.  I was having more trouble with cloud cover but I was able to maintain a decent temp and then the sun came back out again.  The instructions say that you can't overcook in the oven so you can leave it in there for a long time.  I just kept chasing the sun by pointing my oven where it was most directly shining.   It was in there for probably and hour and a half and it was moist and tender and flakey and most important, delicious.  I'm in love.  I can't wait to not have to turn on my oven in the summer and just cook outside. A little something different than grilling.  Super fun.

Piled Up

Sometime laundry just makes me weep.  You think I would know by now that doing laundry everyday avoids laundry explosions such as this.  I don't mind so much the doing of the laundry.  Or the folding, because I fold it directly as I take it out of the dryer.  It is the sorting it into piles and having the piles leave my bedroom floor that makes me twitch.  Many would also say that my kids should be doing their own laundry.  I would say to that, you're right.  Now would you kindly come over and teach my kids?  Thanks, much appreciated.  Emma has actually done her own laundry and when she doesn't get her basket to me when I'm doing everyone else's she has to do her own.  Every time, though,  she has sudden memory loss and can't figure out how to do it.   I simply just lack the energy for the fight.  My bad, I know.  I'm getting there.  They both know how to cook and do it quite frequently so I'm not a complete failure and they do have to clean their own bathrooms and they have other chores around the house.  I guess by the time it gets to laundry I'm tapped out.  I've got a couple of years left before I send them both out on missions and I fully plan on sending them out self sufficient.  No overly coddled kids here.  So here I sit "airing my dirty laundry for all the world to see." harharharhar I crack myself up!  ps this pile didn't include everyones sheets.

The Doctors Are In

How do you entertain yourself while you are supposed to be helping Dad move his office?  By playing dress up with Dad's Dr coats.  The kids love to talk in British accents and they all do it very well, while mine sounds more like a redneck trying to speak British.  Jared is obsessed with a time traveling dr who is always saving the world, so that was what he was pretending to be.  They also took turns giving each other rides on the dolly.  Yep, they got lots of work done.  But they sure do make cute doctors and their imaginations are always being put to good use.  :0)

Collector

My Jared is quite the collector of Pez..  His collection is growing pretty rapidly.  It started out pretty small with just the ones from the holidays.  He always kept them displayed and always asked for some at the store.  I soon realized that this was a collection he was getting into.  It always makes it nice when your kids collect something because when you go away and need to come back with a surprise for your kids from your vacation you've always got something you can get.  For Jordyn it is snow globes.  Emma decided that she wanted me to start bringing her hoodies from everywhere I go because she has been left out of the collection loop.  Well hoodies are quite a bit more pricey than a snow globe or a pez candy machine.  Ethan doesn't have anything he collects either but he is happy with anything I bring him.  Anyway Jared's collection is getting pretty big and I have found that I love searching for new ones for him that he doesn't have.  I love the founder fathers ones that I found, the star trek ones and the lord of the rings ones.  Those are my favorites of his.  He just got a bunch of superhero and nemo ones for Easter.   It will be fun to see just how big this collection get throughout the years.

It's a Miracle

This miracle started when I got some sub bread last week.  I was making a ham and turkey sandwich for lunch with some lettuce tomatoes and onions.  I casually mentioned to MJ that maybe she could try a piece of ham on the yummy bread since she eats ham whenever I make it.  The only sandwich she eats is a homemade strawberry jam one..... and you can't get those at any restaurants that I know about.  It is extremely hard for my family to all eat at one restaurant.  Someone is always unhappy or we end up at 2 different places to keep the peace.  Well the miracle took root in the kitchen.   MJ decided to give this putting a piece of ham on bread a try it.  She even added lettuce and onion because she does like those things.  Guess what, she actually liked it.  I decided to take things one step further.  After we finished working at the office on Saturday everyone was starving, so we stopped to get some lunch.  Would we have the same griping about where we could all eat?  I whispered to Nate to just drive to the sub place without telling the kids where we were going and see what happens.  MJ ate a sandwich there. Hallelujah.  You have witnessed a miracle folks.  It was a good day.  Yahoo, we have 1 more place we can all go as a family and she has one more place she can go with friends and doesn't have to eat something fried. Now if we can just get Jared and Jordyn to start working on their list of foods they said they would try this year......we have the kids make one every year and set a goal for how many they were going to try that year.  Ethan eats just about everything so he doesn't need a list, but the other 3 do.  MJ is the only one that actually tries to accomplish her goals.  Good job girl!

The New Office

Well, here it is, the new office.  We have started moving a few things over, but they are still seeing patients this week.  The official move will be next week.  The colors came together fantastic.  The reception area that we were worried was going to be too small ended up being perfect in size.  The waiting room however, is very small.  The designer made a pretty big mistake on the plans.  All of our existing furniture was measured and the new space was built around that.  We had to make some compromises because of the amount of space we had to work with but overall we thought everything would work.  Well, when measuring the waiting room chairs and designing a space that would fit all 10 of our chairs...the designer obviously forgot that people have legs.  As a general rule I don't think people want to be straddling each other while waiting to see the dr.  There unfortunately is no way to remedy the situation.  We are backed up to hallways both directions we could potentially expand so, unless we move again, we are stuck with it.  We brought the chairs over and played around with the configuration and finally came up with a way to get 8-9 of the chairs in without anyone touching knees.  We have a display wall that has to go in so depending on how far out into the space it goes will depend on if we can get 8 or 9 chairs in.  Who wants to bend over to look at something and end up sticking your behind into someones face?  Not a good scenario.  The size of the room would work with 4 treatment rooms going but the problem is that no one comes to a foot dr by themselves and they usually don't just bring one person with them they bring the entire family along.  Fingers are crossed that everything works out.

Saturday Fun

What fun and exciting things do you do on a Saturday?  I built a massive desk for my hubby's office with my boys.  This is what I get for being the furniture assembling expert.  I actually really enjoy it as well, but let's keep that little tidbit on the DL.  OK?  OK.  When I arrived at the office Friday night to assess the work load I was met by 5 large boxes.  A little tear started forming in my eye.  The amount of time it takes to assemble such things is always grossly underestimated.  I thought, oh boy, here goes a week of my life!  There was a book case, a filing cabinet and then the desk itself which consists of 3 desks and a hutch.  This includes building doors and drawers.  On Friday after school I loaded the kids up and we headed to the office and got a head start on the work we had to have finished by Saturday.  Nate and Jared helped and we were able to get the bookshelf, filing cabinet, base of the desk with the hutch and the connecting desk with the keyboard tray assembled before we headed out to one of our favorite taco places for dinner.  The next morning we started in bright and early.  Emma was on office cleaning duty, Jordyn watched cartoons and Nate started sorting through the stuff to be moved.  Luckily we are just moving across the hall.  Jared and I tackled the hutch and the drawers to the desk filing cabinet and then I went to figure out seating in the waiting room while Jared and Nate assembled the last desk.  Those desk top pieces are massive and heavy.  And I have a gimp hip and back.  The hip I am actually having surgery on in May.  So, my body had it by this point.  When the desk was all finished we found Ethan and Jared pretending to fire Emma.  It was hilarious.  Jared of course wouldn't let me take his picture but Ethan was happy to pose for me.  I had to have a picture with my favorite furniture assembly tool, the power drill.  The instructions always say not to use one and I always do.  I don't need to end up with carpo tunnel from hand twisting all those screws, I mean seriously!  Now we just need to move the entire office over........

Ripped Off

Exhibit A: Above picture - the rip off.  Jordyn came home from school last week very upset.  She grabbed a paper from her backpack and passionately slammed it down onto my desk.  What had her so upset?  Her teacher and 12 dollars.  She explained at a million mile a minute pace at a heightened level of passion that she had a field trip coming up.  I always go on field trips so she was worried that I would not be able to go on this particular field trip because the teacher was only waving the entrance fee for 2 parents.  She selected the 2 parents by how much they volunteer in the class and if any other parent wanted to come they not only had to pay the 5 dollars for their child, but an additional 12 dollars for themselves.  She's said, "this is a total rip off mom, I mean like, you are going to have to pay 17 dollars and that is too much money.  How could she pick 2 parents and not you.  I mean like, I understand you can't go because it is 17 dollars.  I just can't believe this."  She just kept going on and on.  I couldn't stop her because it was just so cute that she was so upset that her mom got jilted.  I calmed her worries and fears and told her that if my calendar was clear I would come up with the 17 dollars and I would go.  The relief on her face was equally cute that I wasn't going to let 17 dollars get in the way of doing something so majorly important to her in her life right now.... being able to have her mom on a field trip with her.