Queen of Duwalt

I used a skill saw today!!

My friend Anna posted about one of her firsts recently on her blog. Well, I have to say I did one of my firsts today as well. I often find myself more daring as ever in my age with trying new tools and such. Or maybe I am just determined to do it myself without the help of a man. After pacing the garage a few times I thought heck I can do that--no need to wait for Doug. So I did just that, I used a skill saw! I admit I was a bit nervous. My knees were sweaty and I was a bit shaky but I did it!! I managed to cute a few pieces. As you can see above. I am still in the process of the project. I would tell you what I am doing, but I am using it for my family members for Christmas (whom read this) so I will have to post it at a later date. They weren't as straight as I would have wanted so I waited for Doug to get home to do the rest. So starting around 10am this morning I began my sweatshop. I got all of these tiles at Home Depot for 0.14 a piece. I only had planned to do a couple but once I started I couldn't stop. I even braved drilling the holes in the top. Woo hoo for me. Normally I would have waited for Doug to do this part of it. Allison M. is always giving me ideas on different things to make. Utah has so many great craft ideas I couldn't help steal some of these ideas. I am using these ones for teacher gifts etc. I also finished painting and putting vinyl stickers on this Santa board. How cute is that?

This is another project I may or may not duplicate. I made this i spy bag last year for my kids. It is a perfect quiet thing for church. I also made Angie and my friend Chanel one last year for Christmas. I can't really say I am all that crafty since most of my projects are stolen ideas from others. But, I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results.

i spy bag

Tonight the Achievement girls had a daddy/daughter survivor night. It was themed tropical. They ate hawaiian haystacks for dinner, had a shaving lesson activity and finished the night off by making homemade icecream from a can. I was surprised how well it turned out. Who would of thought rolling ingredients in a tin can would make good icecream? Well, I am off because my body aches due to my hard wood working efforts today. I pulled out nails, cut board with a skill saw, sanded down the boards. It's funny how much work needed to be done for a free piece of wood. I just hope it turns out. More details to follow.....

Morning through a lens

Normally I am not at the computer this early in the day. But so much has happened in a matter of hours I couldn't wait anymore. I am not sure why I didn't think of this much sooner, but Angie and I have been walking by this piece of trash for weeks. I guess the garbage man has refused to take it. Then I had an ah hah moment.... this would work for most of my Christmas projects!! So after our walk we drove the car over and began using the hammers to ply this baby apart. I am sure if these people were sleeping we definitely woke them up pounding the heck out of this wood.




Luke captured us in motion. Pretty good for a 3 year old. It is a bit blurry, but you get the picture. Once we safely got it into the car we headed to Sonic for the daily diet coke. Its a good thing I got it because..........




Luke has been naughty since his eyes popped open this morning. I yelled at him and told him to go to his room. Finally after the third attempt I heard the door slam and then silence. I think he must of been a bit tired because I found him asleep in his bed at 10:30am. Just like this covered and all. Now that he is asleep Weston is a bit bored. Can you tell? He is currently getting into EVERYTHING and roaming the house.



I am a bit overwhelmed right now I have projects galore everywhere and don't know where to begin!! What was I thinking starting 4 projects at once. AHHHH! And it's not even noon! My rat race will then start at 3pm when I have to take Taylor to dance, Jared to soccer, later a baby shower to attend, oh and I can't forget watch Grey's Anatomy.

Making Headway

I'm starvin Marvin right now... so I am going to make this quick. I spent the morning running errands again since it was Luke's preschool day. I came home and tackled a bit more of my scrapbook. It always takes the longest to journal it. I type everything on the computer because I HATE my handwriting. I took a picture of my favorite page yet! I really don't do much to my pages...really out of pure laziness and I want to get it done. Sadly, I also don't have a book for each of my kids like most. We just have one family album and thats it. So each year they want they will just have to copy it.

I had to take a break because the kids got home from the bus. Homework issues, snack time, etc... I offered to take the girls to dance at 4pm since I had to make a few stops in that neck of the woods. When Angie brought Mackenzi's dance clothes down she brought me in this package from my sister. I couldn't not blog about it because my mom has instilled in me since I was a kid to thank people for what they give you. I remember her hounding us to write our b-day, christmas or whatever thankyou's to the proper people. So, I guess now as an adult I just do it automatically. It's a bit blurry, but I am being super lazy.

The funny thing is she was driving to my house my mail man Art flagged her down(picture someone waving their arms) to give it to me. Once again, a bit strange. One of the stops I was going to make on my way was to stock up on more candy corn. Sad, but true. I was completely out and even begged the kids to ride up to Walgreens yesterday before we started RV movie. They all shouted NO MOM, we don't want to go anywhere! So I decided to go without and settled munching on some chips ahoy cookies. I sent Janet a package last week and of course she put mine to shame. She had just finished this book and thought I would like it (The Female Brain)I later found a Sonic card slipped inside. Thanks sis you totally made my day!


Along with Angie's good mail drop off she brought something for me too. I guess she got sick of hearing me complain about my candy corn issues and brought me some too along with this fun shirt. Now we can be the double mint girls once again. I was excited about it because I always enjoy a new shirt....who doesn't? Thanks Angie!!! Seriously you are an amazing gal and I am proud to have you as my bestest friend.


I dropped off the girls and headed over to Sam's to pick up some staples and couldn't pass up getting gas. Are you seeing what I am $2.06........what a bargain! I would never of thought I would say such a thing after paying $0.97 a gallon when I lived in New Orleans. CRAZY.



Anyways, I am sure when I picked up Taylor I was the talk of the dance studio due to my zoo animals running around the place. Many of the ladies comment and say to me ".....and you have four kids?" Like they are in disbelieve and think I am nuts. Yes, I have a daughter and 3 boys I always reply with a smile. Doug called and said he wouldn't be home until 8 or 8:30pm so I decided to make it simple and drove to Subway to grab them something to eat. I then ventured on to the Dollar store to pick up some odds and ends for a package I am getting ready to send out. And well now I am needing a snack since I just shared a bite of sandwich with Taylor for dinner. I am also a bit sleep deprived after staying up until 1am. It's already 10:30 pm YIKES! Off to bed I go.

FHE Do Over

Sunday & Monday night my boys seemed to want to test and try us just a tad.... We try to do FHE on Sunday, but, well that just wasn't going to happen. I had planned to do a message that I found in the LDS living magazine which was pretty simple. But after reading scriptures it went down hill from there. We ended up sending Jared & Luke to their rooms around 6:30pm for behavior issues. Yesterday we had another mishap with Jared so decided it just wasn't going to work then either. Finally today, I saw that I still needed to take the two movies we rented back, but with the new blockbuster rules they really weren't late yet. So...we fed the kids dinner and Doug went off to work. I decided it would be a good time to sit down and watch a movie with the kids for FHE. We try to switch it up a bit and have a serious lesson one week and have an activity the next. I sat and watched RV with the kids. I thought it was great! I ended up watching the whole thing without getting off the couch. (this is really a miracle--I am always on the move) I did seem to lose a few bodies in the middle, Taylor left to the other room in the middle since her Disney Channel show was on, then Jared. However, Luke sat and watched the entire thing with me. It was kinda fun to have him sit and proceed to tell me what was going to happen next. He warned me of the parts the "man was going to get mad" or when he was going to ride his bike out of the water" He watched it the other day when I was gone. Its amazing how much kids remember just from one time. Anyways, if you have a chance its really a must see. I do admit I love Robin Williams though as well as Jeff Daniels. I am going to count that as our FHE for the week minus Doug.

Reason for my hiatus

Doug reads our family blog almost everyday. Sadly, when he is not around we use it as a communication device as well as talking on the phone. I think everyone else finds out about my day most of the time before him. So yesterday he pulled it up on his laptop because he hadn't all weekend. I had to laugh at his comment he said "oh, so you had your 200th post..... and now your slacking." What was funny is he makes comments about me loving my computer more than him and now he is making fun that I didn't post! I decided to go on blogging "hiatus" for the weekend and spend my time doing other things. Because it seems once I commit to sitting down hours seem to fly by without me noticing.

It was a very non exciting weekend really. Friday Jared had a soccer game in which I forgot my camera. Saturday Doug went up to the hospital to study until noon, I decided to mow the lawn since he was gone and got attacked by mosquitos! I took advantage of Doug getting home and went to lunch with Angie and to Michaels Craft Store. I think that place is SOO dangerous. But, it was so nice to browse without screaming kids and of course we didn't walk away empty handed. I got a TON of great ribbon, some paint, wood and a few other pleasurable items. I was thrilled to find some stuff for my Pink Christmas project and now I am almost done!!

Saturday evening Doug had to cover a high school football game (they needed a team doctor). I was kinda bummed because that meant I didn't get to go to the R.S. broadcast. I used the time I had to myself to get online and get some stationary from Doodlebugs. If you haven't checked out her stuff. You must....very fun and cute! Sunday I had correlation meeting at church at 7:30am! Yikes!! But was glad I went to represent Doug and I since we are the Activities Chairmen in our ward. I got the details ironed out for our Annual Halloween Party.

As for today, Luke had school so I got some errands done and putzed (is that a word) around the house. I ventured out to the mall and found myself in Macy's department store. They had some great things on sale and I couldn't pass up a pair of long denim shorts for $9. I wished I would have found these at the beginning of the summer! Now, I am off again to scrapbook.....since my junk has been on the counter for over 2 weeks!!

200th Post

I can't believe I have actually typed 200 posts. Woo hoo for me!! I offically started blogging the last week of April and I am still here. Amazing really. Well, today the schedule got a bit screwed up. My boys got up an hour earlier than normal (5:30am) painful! So I finished up morning tasks, walked, showered and went up to the kids school for some last minute PTA stuff. By then I was in DESPERATE need of a soda from none other than Sonic of course. I went retrieved my morning "drug" and Weston fell asleep on the way home around 11am. So, my ventures came to an end due to a sleeping child. I got some other stuff done around the house and then I was out of time. The boys got up (around 2pm). A little earlier than normal due to an earlier naptime. So I then questioned to blog or not blog while they were awake. Well, as you can see I decided to blog and this is the result of my front room! So was it worth it? Well, they seem to have thought so because they are giggling and jumping on the couch. I'll I have to say is TGIF and Grey's Anatomy was worth watching!! Oh, and congrats to Jen & Glenn--I now have a new nephew Austin. We can't wait to meet him.

Musings of the week...............

I feel like this week has been the week of eternity. Maybe because the last two weeks seemed to fly by. Anyways, today has been a little better than yesterday. Luke continues to throw lovely fits when he doesn't get his way. Weston is now catching on.... I don't think I need to go on. So on to the rest of the morning. I decided to take part in the stake sisterhood and take my scrapbook and head off to the church. I can't say it was really all TOO productive since I had two wild boys running around. And they seem to just know how to push Maryn's buttons so it was really a snowball effect of unhappy toddlers. I managed to finish two pages which put me caught up to March 2006. So, I am still just KINDA behind. That's okay because I will soon catch up eventually..............

I had to take a picture of how ridiculous my front seat was this morning. It was crammed with junk. I can't believe I had to lug so much stuff to the church just to do 2 pages. On my way home I was able to mail off about 9 things of good mail. I still have two on my desk to get out...so I will have to send those tomorrow. Again I say.....fellow bloggers, secret bloggers and family members be on the look out--good mail is a comin' your way. I was actually impressed that Doug too was getting into the good mail stuff. One of the people I was sending stuff to (without saying names) he said, "hey it would be great if you could add xyz..... to their package." I had told him that I had already sealed it though, so maybe next time right?


I have been meaning to post this picture for a couple of days and am just getting around to it. Amie sent this to my kids the other day. I had commented on her blog that my six year old still didn't know how to tie his shoes. Well, it literally took no more than 5 minutes for him to master this task! I guess I should have gotten one of these a few years ago. He was so excited you can see the "glow" on his face. So proud! He has come home from school everyday to tie the practice shoe at least once.

I am kinda bummed one of my favorite shows happens to be on one of our busiest family days. Taylor has dance, Jared has soccer practive and Doug has a soccer game. Yes, I said soccer game! He hasn't played soccer since he was 8, but the residents got a team together. And he decided to join in on the fun. I may have to miss this game because tonight at 8pm I will be just a bit preoccupied!! I am a Grey's Anatomy junkie and will probably be taping CSI since I like that show as well. That is if we can find out VCR remote. We are living in the stoneage and don't have TIVO or DVR so we use the good old cassette tapes. On another note, Allison was nice enough to call me when her husband was downloading the Grey's Part 2 cd and asked if I wanted it. Of course I couldn't pass that up I love the first cd and music they play on the show. She then sent it to me along with some good mail for my better half!! Thanks Alli--seriously you are the best. (I love when the cast says this throughout the show---"seriously"). Are you as excited about McDreamy as I??

Mass Production

I wish I had a book to review other than blog about my boring daily life. But, right now that will have to do. I had kind of a crummy day. There really wasn't anything awful about it, just kind of a blah day. I ran errands this morning searching for part of my pink christmas project--to find out they didn't carry what I needed at the local hardware store. I then went to Target and Office Depot. Weston was hungry so I ended up sharing a personal pan pizza from Target with him (really not very satisfying) It kept him happy for a while while I meandered the store. I got some new cheap curtains for my room since I am just too lazy to make them. Too cheap to pass up. And I bought some labels. Since Jill has been making so many of these great "good mail" labels I thought I would give it a try myself. So tonight I have been doing just that--experimenting. It's really quite addicting. I have been playing around with different colors oooh the possibilites! This did make me feel a bit better. Right now I am in the process of a mass production of labels to send out. So exciting! Along with that I have been trying to compile my operation mail stuff as well. I figured if I got it set aside I wouldn't stress over it later. Anyways, its late and I best be getting to bed. I am hoping to get my fun stash of stuff out tomorrow :)

Luke....(not Malcolm) in the middle

Meet Luke. He's definitely our ham and is constantly asking for me to take his picture. So he's vain too! I think he may have a bit of G'pa Stan in him if that's the case. (my dad worries more about what he looks like than ANYONE I know).--love ya dad! :) He may look irresistable, but man he's a pill! I admit I do get a lot of comments on how cute he is, but honestly I think he came that way for a reason......We are going on day #2 without naps again. He was doing well for a while but now we're having an "off" week again. He through a cork into my day not taking a nap because I had all intentions on getting some scrapbooking done. Instead, I played bogle junior and connect four. Normally, I don't mind playing with him, but I too want my time to play! I love him to pieces, but man is he a STINKER! And well, now since I am on the topic of my child #3. I had hoped I didn't raise my children out of a barn--and I mean literally!! Luke came in with a surprise in his pants after playing outside telling me he was going to the bathroom outside! I admit I on occasion (when lazy) I tell him to tinkle on the lawn if necessary. But the other NEVER!! Okay-- yuck first of all and secondly, last I checked I don't OWN any animals.

Green Is The Word

My sick little dude.

After FHE last night we had a pretty eventful evening. We struggled to get the kids quieted down in bed after reading scriptures, story time, and finally saying prayers. I always enjoy hearing my kids pray because I think its good practice for them to say them on their own. However, lately Taylor and Jared have been saying in their prayer...please bless mommie not to scream at us. Okay I do once in a while, but on the days I don't they still pray for that. Dang it! Once I told them that it hurts my feelings when they say that..... they changed the words to bless me to be able to take care of Luke and Weston.

Now back to the eventful evening. Ironically, the only one that went to sleep fast was Luke due to his no nap for the day. Weston over the past week or so has been ear pierce screaming the minute you put him to bed. This is really odd for him since he is the one who normally falls asleep with the lights on and with loud noises. Anyways, he had a yuck nose and congestion so I gave him some cold medication and tried to lay him down again. Again pain screaming, this time I allowed him to do this for about 20 more minutes until Taylor brought him to us pleading to do something. Doug got out his otoscope and looked into his ears to find some redness. I felt terrible knowing that he has probably had an ear infection for over a week. But who knew? When I got him out of bed and you would have thought he won the lotery running around giggling and playing. Luckily, Doug was able to call in a prescription and we had some drops here to get us through the night. About 10:30pm Doug was able to get him to sleep by rocking him.

About this time it began to pour down rain, lightening was flashing and loud bursts of thunder. I always enjoy nights like this especially since we have been lacking rain for a while. The bummer part was we were watching tv and the electricity went out, but only briefly. I was watching the news getting updates on the weather while Doug was sucked into "Kill Bill" the Quinten Territino movie starring Uma Thurman. Seriously, this movie is pretty gross and violent.... even if it's on TBS. It must have been a marathon weekend of it because it was on non-stop. He loves those fighting gorey movies--go figure! Finally about 11:30pm we went to bed with the sound of rain--gotta love that.

On to Monday--I took the kids to school and it was raining pretty regularly. I already had my workout clothes on and was determined to go rain or shine. I just don't feel as good if I don't do this and I had missed Saturday. Anyways, I was prepared for the worst so I got the big golf umbrella and off we went. I told Angie to go on to the gym (after all I would if I had a membership) I am just to cheap for it. I was pleasantly surprised that the rain had cleared and we were rain free during our walk! It was nice outside just to hear the droppings of rain off the trees and I love the smell of a fresh rain. I am sure if I wasn't prepared with the umbrella it would have poured right?

I got home, showered and took Luke to school. As I mentioned before this week is stake sisterhood unity week. I took the opportunity to give some "heart attacks" It was kinda fun decorating doors anonymously and leaving a little treat behind. Angie and I ended up doing 6 doors including our visiting teaching letter routes. I just hope these inactive members really live there--if not someone got a special treat! Or who ever lives there now thinks its a bit weird to get hearts on their door. When we were driving around we were both STARVING so....we took the plunge and went to Chuy's. I had to laugh because on our way Allison had called and it seems everytime I talk to her I am going to get a burrito. She must think I am part Mexican or something because that is literally all I eat. I too am surprised they don't recognize us in the restaurant yet. But, really can you beat eating for two for $10?

On our way home I couldn't help notice how green San Antonio has gotten. Remember our terrible drought we had in August and July? Now it is green everywhere, so much that I had to document my lush yard. We are expecting more rain at the end of this week. Maybe we are in for a rainy fall. There is nothing better than seeing blooming flowers and pretty green grass. My favorite! So, if you are looking for a fun place to visit--we are no longer brown anymore it's really green again folks! Woohoo.

Love lush green grass!!

On a completely random thought--Weston learned how to blow his nose today. He is the first of my kids to be able to do this. (weirdly Taylor still doesn't really know how to do this) It was kind of funny because we ended up turning it into a game. He blew then laughed--priceless really :)


I just got back from getting my mail (it comes super late) and received these sweet things in the mail. Amie sent something for my kids a braclet for Taylor and awesome shoe tieing kit for the boys. I am so excited about it as were my kids. Thanks Amie. Also, I got this package from Michelle. My favorite colors ....brown and pink photo album and personalized -J- journal. Now, I am really feeling guilty about all these acts of kindness. How do I keep up?? Thanks to the both of you!! It's always nice to see fun packages rather than blasted bills. You both made my day for sure. Thanks again!!!!

Sabath Day

Sunday is always a day that rejuvenates me and gives me a bit of a boost. (At least I hope it does). I have really been trying to take my scriptures to church now that all my kids are either in primary or nursery. I have said this before, but I love attending Doug's youth Sunday school class. He has a way of teaching that I love. Today we talked about Amos and todays prophets. We discussed how we should listen to the teachings of the living prophets and apostles which includes reading their message each month in the Ensign. I would have really never thought about that, but we as members have messages each month that are sent to us at our finger tips! We really should take advantage of that. I guess I need to get out the Ensign and start reading.

In Relief Society we had a family history lesson. Usually, I am not a person to "tune in" to these types of lessons. However, the sister that gave the lesson today told some very cool stories. She talked about her ancestors. Her mother had passed a "chain bag" down to her which was passed on from other members in her family. There are pieces or objects in the bag the represents a part of their life. She told the story of her mother that had put in a turquoise broach. What a fun idea to pass on a bag of objects that represents you as a person. At any rate it made me think more about family history and how I really should try and do some research of my own.

This week is sisterhood week in our stake. They have planned an activity each day this week so that we could unite as a stake. One of the ideas they suggested was to give some one a "heart attack" Well, of course not literally, but I thought that this was a great idea. So, after church Taylor and I spent about 30 minutes cutting out paper hearts. I won't devulge that person or persons just in case they are a secret blogger. It's always fun to do things like that for others along with sending out great mail. Speaking of which, my week was so crazy last week I forgot to disclose some more good mail. Tasha sent these cute cards to me last week. I am always in need of these since I don't have a nitch for making them. Thanks Tasha for such a sweet jesture. They will be put to good use! She seriously has the best quotes to. My card read..."If you're going through hell, keep going...."



Tonight for FHE we read our "acts of love" out of the vase. It was nice to hear all of the thoughtful things we all did for one another. For our lesson we played one of our new games out of the packet I made last week. It was called Mormon Cranium. Some of it was a bit too hard for our kids, but they had fun. You also kind of need a few more people......




I also had some nasty bananas that needed to be put to good use. So, I made some yummy banana bread which was a big hit as always. Plus another bonus is it makes your house smell good. This treat reminds me of my childhood. I used to love when she made it and there was NEVER any leftovers. Hope everyone had a good Sunday. I know my husband did, he is currently watching "web episodes" on his laptop and putting all of his favorite shows on his planner. Has anyone watched one of these previews? I found him hiding in the corner of our room with his computer in hand--kind of funny.

Soccer

Today was actually a pretty low key type of day. It was nice not have to run around with my head cut off and to have Doug around. Another big bonus! We slept in this morning a little and Jared had a soccer game. We left the house around 8:15am. He was beyond excited and has been talking non-stop all week about this big event. He was crushed last week when they had to forfeit due to not having enough players.

This is his first year playing and he did so well. He actually scored 3 goals (#24) today!! Way to go bud. We won the game 7-0. Jared's team seems to do really well together since it is the same kids that were on his basketball team last year. I love that they have kept the same kids with a few new ones so that they all know one another. It makes it great for them and the parents as well!

Doug also scheduled some one on one Jared time after lunch today. He did this with Taylor the other day and took her to dinner. They went to the driving range and hit some golf balls together. Taylor and I stayed home and rented "Shes The Man" I must say I was laughing quite a bit and enjoyed just hanging out on the couch. I really need to do that more often!! We ended the day going to the Sprint store to fix Doug's Trio phone. He has been having a lot of trouble with it so they ended up giving him a completely new phone. Big bonus for him! We then splurged and went to Freebirds for dinner. I just can't eat enough burritos. Well, we are about to watch the Sentinel with Keifer Sutherland. The kids are asleep and I gotta go eat some popcorn!

Busy

Thursday was just a bit crazy (well thats really an understatement). It was really busy, hence no post from me. Anyways, I really have been trying to once again be more PATIENT with my kids and stop and "live" for the moment. Which means if they need something I have stopped right then what I am doing to assist. I figured I can't expect them to turn off the tv or whatever they are doing if I need something if I don't do the same. I have really noticed when I did that this week how differently I viewed things. I thought I would take a moment and just write out the funny, great, wonderful things and how rewarding being a mom is.

Luke-(our lets just say more difficult child) helped me in the yard yesterday. He really is a very hard worker. He will do anything to help you especially if it involves going outside. When I was out mowing he said, "mom need a coke, water bottle or something?" He also got the broom out to begin sweeping after I had edged the yard. He really is a great kid!

Weston-It just fun to hear him laugh outloud. He has got such a great laugh and I love his little smile. I enjoy rolling around on the ground with him and tickling him until he can no longer stand it. And I just can't squeeze him enough! I also love that he calls everything "doggy"

Jared--Okay, normally I wouldn't allow this to happen, but I did and it ended up being kinda funny. I made the boys some pizza crusts with sauce and let them eat it outside. Well, of course the sauce went all over the porch. So, I hosed it off so that it wouldn't cause a red ant infestation. I started spraying the hose (much like a rain storm) when the boys were playing baseball. Jared somehow got the hose and began acting like he was going to the bathroom (you know with the hose) Not appropriate but I admit it was pretty funny. During this time the hose was bent and began spraying over everything which included ME! So I was drenched, he was drenched as was everyone else. We all just laughed it off. Good times!

Taylor-She is my emotional rollercoaster. And so much like me is really quite FREAKY. I think that is why we butt heads so often. We had an argument over something earlier that day. Having said that she is one who writes everything down in her journal. Whether she is mad, upset or sad. I have to admire her for that because she does it in very good detail. Anyways, I got this letter from her after I had put her to bed. (She is always up reading or writing) She claims it makes her sleepy. Well, and I just can't argue over that. She writes (I copied it just as she wrote it):

Dear Mom, Sometimes I can be naughty and whine a couple of times. But what matters is you feelings right inside your heart. I know we can be bad and I know it's hard for you. But what's important to me right now is you. I know your always cleaning and have stuff to do. But I Love you lots and that's what matters most! I love mom's yes I do I love mom's how bought you? From Taylor



All these small things that have occurred over the week have made me realize and continue to realize how much I love being a mother. Despite my complaining and grumbling I do a lot of the times I really wouldn't change it for the world!!

Blissful Afternoon

I got this awesome package in the mail yesterday from my friend Anna. Her and her husband actually used to live here (he started out doing an ob residency and switched) and now they live in Minnesota where he is doing his general surgery residency. Anyways, I couldn't believe how many little things she stuck in it. She made a quote book and wrote out (handwritten mind you) several of her favorite quotes and bookmarked each section with a ribbon. Seriously, it was so sweet and nice. Doug was admiring all the quotes, I think I should make him one. (he loves quotes) Ha! She also included a Sudoko book (I was actually wondering about those) cute stationary, cards, yummy lotion, and tags. She labeled it her "favorite things" Wow, I really felt like I got an Oprah package because her favorite things are mine!! Thanks so much Anna for your kindness! One of the quotes in the book that I like was:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because, those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." --Dr. Suess

Well, compared to my crazy hectic afternoon and evening yesterday.... Today has actually been a pretty pleasant day. I was glad we were able to walk this morning because it ended up raining later. Around 9:30am I headed up to the church to make FHE packets. I was kind of excited for these since most of them were geared toward older kids. And since I NEVER used my younger kid versions I thought this would be a good start. It was nice to let the kids play and sit around and chat to the gals I don't see too often. Afterwards I took the kids (Maryn, Luke, and Weston) to Chick Fila to play and eat. I had Maryn with me because Angie went up to Austin to meet up with a girlfriend. She was going to take Maryn, but I pleaded that she leave her here with me. She told me "no" I think a dozen times until finally I took her keys and went and got out her carseat myself and put it into my car. I knew she would feel much more relaxed to shop and eat lunch with Tara than to drag a toddler around. Hey, and it was a bonus for me because it kept Luke extra happy to have a playmate.

So no worries Ang!! The kids had fun playing and I came home and now they are all fast asleep. So it was a win/win situation for both of us. Angie had a couple of hours to herself and now I do too! I got my pink envelope in the mail yesterday and am so excited about it. I have several thoughts and ideas in the works, but haven't decided on what I am doing yet. Well, now I am off to scrapbooking. I think that it is a miracle I have my stuff out!! I spent about 2 hours organizing pictures yesterday so now I'll see if I can make a dent in it.

A Day to Remember

September 11, 2001. We all remember this day that the twin towers fell. I was surprised to find in my photo albums I wrote my thoughts and where I was during this time. I was alone with my kids since Doug was away in Utah on an away rotation. He had been out there for two weeks already. This was the day I was suppose to fly out and meet him. (weird to think that) You can imagine how anxious I was to see him and then this all occurred. I saw it right as I was finishing up my morning news that I used to type up and summarize. Live... a plane crashing through the twin towers. I don't think I left my television set the entire day, it was definitely surreal. I did fly out about three days later to see him. I remember my kids and I on a plane with probably only 5 or 6 other people on the entire flight. It was an eerie time.

September 11, 1998, is ironically another scary day that took place in my life. My grandparents came out to visit me in New Orleans. It was raining quite a bit, and as you all know now it flood rather quickly. I didn't think anything of it, it was raining and I went ahead to take them to see the sites downtown. Doug was at school, however at the time I didn't know that he left early and already headed back home. Well, the rain wasn't letting up and the streets were becoming flooded with water. Many people like myself found ourselves driving on the neutral ground. (the ground in the middle of the road) I seriously began to panic. Wouldn't you? It was a new city to me and I didn't really know my way around all to well. I pulled into a parking garage on La Salle since all the streets going home were unsafe to drive down due to water. We ended up sitting in a hotel for a few hours. I used the pay phone a number of times trying to call my house hoping I would get an answer. (this was before cell phones) Taylor was 14-months at the time and was really pretty good considering the situation. I was the one who was a mess! Finally, after the water began to reseed a little and I made the decision we should just try to head home. This picture was actually taken in Amy's car on their drive home. We had our camera with us, but it was in the trunk and there was no way I was stopping for a picture. Now I wished I would have.

I found out they canceled classes at the medical school due to all the flooding. Doug had already left and gone home with Dave in his big white truck. No worries there!! They could go over huge puddles no problem so they were safe. He also thought I was too, little did he know we were in several inches of water driving home. I was supposed to be home not driving out in crazy weather. I think it took us over 2 hours to get home that day once we got back in the car and had to go a round about way home due to the flooding. Normally it would have been a 15 minute drive. The funny thing is my grandparents never visited after that traumatic experience. I don't think I drove out in many rainstorms after this occurrence for a while.

Today is my grandma's birthday. This is one of my favorite pictures of her and I. I have several, but I happened to find this one. I could probably write a novel about what a wonderful woman she is, but instead I thought I would pick some of my favorite highlights about her. As you can see in this picture we are matching. I have a number of pictures of us together like this.

-I loved going on annual August trips with my grandparents driving across the different states.
-Utah, All over AZ, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, just to name a few.
-She always bought me my favorite Brachs candy.
-Would let me pick the hotel when traveling (and it had to have a swimming pool) Looking back they were pretty dumpy! Can you imagine letting an 8 year old pick your place to sleep?
-Saturday mall trips (I never left empty handed)
-Calling her at Talley everyday when she worked.
-Sunday dinners
-Homemade bread and sugar cookies
-Going to eat Mattas EVERY Friday night.
-Sleeping in my holly hobby room.
-Always buys traditional Hallmark cards and includes stickers. (still to this day she does this).
-The only person I know who cleans "freaky" like me. (I wonder where I got this from?)
-Goes out of her way to help others.
-Is the best grandma in the world!!

Happy Birthday Gram!

Get Your Homemade Ice Cream

In honor of Grandparents week, we made G'ma Dorothy's famous homemade ice cream today. The funny thing was when Doug got out the machine Luke yells, "I want to help! Just like at Grandpa's house." It was pretty cute. So as you can see they all wanted to take part in the action.

With Doug's hectic schedule on Mondays we have been doing family home evening on Sundays. It has actually worked out pretty well since we have such early church. We have been holding a once a month FHE with the Gordon's and tonight it was our turn. Doug doesn't ever fail to amuse us with his power point presentations and added pictures to go with it. We talked about Love At Home. It was a good reminder how we should express and show one another how much we care and love each other. Doug came up with a great idea of putting a vase on the counter for a week and everytime we see someone doing an act of kindess we write it down and place it in the jar. At the end of the week we will discuss and talk about it in our next family home evening. I am anxious to see how it pans out since about an hour after we had a lesson my kids were bickering over their gameboys. Hummmm.......I wonder if it will work?


We had some more air conditioning issues tonight. Argh. So frustrating. I heard water dripping near the inside unit and sure enough the carpet was saturated near it as well. Thank goodness the Gordons were here to save the day once again because Greg knew exactly what to do. This occured in their house once when they first moved in. So all it took was the use of a shop vac to blow out all the stuff blocking the pipes and we were up and running all again. Doug says we need to some how recruit them to Arizona. And we somehow need to keep them by us. I don't think they were to hip on having a cactus in their front yard or paying double for a house they could get here in Texas. Ha! Also, I had to add that with all the good mail circulating Doug claims that guys are some how getting jipped and should start their own thing. The funny thing was the same thing took place when we were in New Orleans. The girls had their quilting group and the husbands felt left out. So, Amy's husband Alph started a "Kung Fu Club" He even made the shirts to go with it so they could watch all their fighting movies.

Go Hookem' Horns!

Update on the camp out......We were all ready for the camp out, the girls were SO excited, the car was packed. Then Angie called and said her car wouldn't start again. So Doug went down to see if we could jump it and it started after a few times of trying. We decided it would be best to just take it down to the dealership and have them check out the battery or figure out what was wrong. (if you read her post from the other day...the same thing happened then). You would think a car that is not even a year old would be problem free. Anyways, we loaded everything back into my car and decided it would be better to take mine to the campout just to be safe. We got to the dealership around 4:45pm, they checked it out put a new battery in it and Greg showed up shortly after and told us to go. So we took the girls and left them with Maryn and the three boys. The girls were STARVING and not very happy because of it and they all said they wanted Subway. Angie and I would have chosen a different place, but whatever they were hungry and that would be quick and easy....so we thought.

We got to Subway to find two very interesting characters working. One had extremely long hair, the other had huge holes in his ears. And the bread inside the store (I believe parmasagne smelled rather gross) The line ended up being painfully long and all we could think was we were going to be putting up a tent in the dark if we didn't get out of the city soon!

We left the parking lot reaking of nasty bread and it was sprinkling a little--but no worries we were leaving right? Well, as we headed out the direction of the campout it began to rain even harder. Plus it was 6:30 before we got on the highway out of the city. We got a hold of someone we knew would be out there and she said DON'T COME!! It is raining quite a bit and we are all drenched. Okay so we were in a bit of a dilema. Remember we had been promising these girls for a VERY long time we were going camping and put it off for the past 4 years living here. However, do we want to put up a tent in the rain, get muddy, have wet junk all for 12 hours?? We made an executive decision and turned the car around. Well, the were just heart broken and sobing the whole way. "We will never get to go camping, its not fair!" Angie and I felt terrible, but after a bit of comforting we told them we would get a movie and they could sleep on the floor in the front room. So we did just that. We ended up stoping off at Hobby Lobby (my all time FAVORITE craft store) got the girls a craft and came home. So instead of camping we had a Pink Party. Did a pink craft, had our pink pj's on, and painted pink toes. Really nothing as good as a campout, but better than nothing.

Today is a huge college game the UT/Ohio State. #1 against #2. Doug and Greg have been planning a while to attend this. They were invited to a tailgate party which has bbq, and food galore with 800 people expected to attend all paid for by the Orthopedic Drug Rep. Needless to say, they were like two women going shopping for 12 hours. Very giddy and excited about their "mens night out" One of there other colleagues (Russell) went along as well. I would love to be a fly on the wall there seeing all those guys drinking (well except for the three mormons) and having a good time. But, neither one of them would take the camera.

There they go......I am not even expecting Doug to get home until 2am. The game doesn't start until 7pm and the traffic in Austin I am sure will be terrible. Angie and I decided we got robbed of our fun since the campout didn't work out. I guess that means we should plan another trip. Ha Ha. I am glad they went, because I think they too need a day of fun to get out and play.

C-C-C .....What begins with C?

Can you tell I have been reading Dr. Suess on a regular basis? Everything that I dealt with or am doing today deals with the letter C. So here it is all in a nut shell.....

Cleaned: Picked up the house and did a little dusting.

Camp out: Packing and gathering my stuff for this afternoon.

Costco run this morning--couldn't pass up using their quarterly coupons!

Crap: Ate a hot dog and part of Luke's pizza after shopping at Costco. Now am feeling a bit ill. Yuck!

Coke: Yes, had one of these as well.

Care packages: I got these yesterday. One from Dana with such cute Halloween stuff. The other from Allison which included a couple of shirts, lotion and Candy Corn. She always seems to go above and beyond. Thanks to both of them very sweet and thoughtful!

Read "Come Down Now, Flying Cow!" to Luke for nap time (ironically by his choice):

Cinammon Rolls: I need to run and make these for our breakfast tomorrow morning.

Cookies: I saw these yesterday and had to buy them. I buy these for every holiday. The bad thing is they are very addicting and hard to stop eating. I thought they would be fun for the boys to make with dad when Taylor and I were gone tonight.

Cold: I am feeling a head cold come on. I hope its nothing big so I am about to go take something before we get into the...............

CAR! Okay after doing this I feel like I am back in elementary school writing one of those alliterations.

C-ya later :)

Where did the week go?

Seriously, where did the week go? It's funny how some weeks fly by much like this one and others just drag. I feel like I have been going in over drive for the past couple of days. I decided just to highlight what went on rather than going into gruesome detail.

-I stripped all the beds this morning and remade them. Painful task, but accomplished all before 7:30am.
-Went on my morning walk. Surprisingly, a little chilly this morning. Nice!
-Stopped off at Sam's Club to turn in some more digital pictures and found this great book for $19.95 and get a diet coke of course. I am hoping it is a motivator to get my photos out of the bags and boxes and put them in until I have time to sit and scrapbook. Maybe in the next century??

-Went to Wal-mart to get some milk and other staples. I did find part of my boys Halloween costume that is in the making. So excited about that!!
-Taylor started dance yesterday which meant.......(really a blog all itself)
-We had to switch her shoes due to buying wrong color the first time (nightmare experience--just imagine chasing Weston around the store while trying to help my daughter pick out shoes.
-My house is a mess. Well, maybe not a mess--but grimy floors, yucky bathrooms you get the picture.

-Decided not to clean because tomorrow is the mother/daughter camp out for our stake. Which means 4 boys home in my house ALONE. Why bother?
-Taylor proceeded to tell me at 8pm last night that her ballet shoes no longer fit. What?! You have ballet tomorrow and need your shoes!! Sorry mom I thought I told you.

-Today I went back to the dance store and had to "guess" her size hoping it would work. Once again chasing not only Weston around the store, but Luke decided to knock off a rack of leotards to the ground. AHHH!
-I then took her shoes to school pulled her out of class and tried them on her. Perfect it worked. (I know weird but I didn't want her to get to dance wear them and have them not fit.)
-Came home fed the boys and put them down for a nap. Then Greg insisted on showing Angie and I how to put up a tent. So we would be prepared for tomorrow. Thanks Greg! He sacrificed his study time for this. Now we will know what we are doing and not like two bimbos!! HA.
-Angie was nice enough to watch my kids today during the "bewitching" hours of the day so that Doug and I can go to the temple. When I say bewitching I mean between 3-6pm. She is also serving as my taxi driver taking Taylor to dance and Jared to soccer. I don't think you owe us we OWE you. Thanks a million!!

-Last but not least I am excited to be able to use my temple bag twice in one month. I can't remember the last time that occurred. It really is a miracle. I remember the first time my friends mom gave me this. I was totally freaked out and way freaked out when I saw she had written my "new" last name. I wasn't married yet and it took me a while to adjust.

-Now we are off to the temple and drop off the kiddos. We owe you guys now!
-We had a great session and went to Double Dave's Pizza for dinner. Doug has been talking about going here for about a month. So finally I caved and we went there for dinner.

Boasting

Today I just have to boast a little about what I accomplished. I admit I rarely shop at Marshall's or TJ Maxx for that matter. However, since it was next door to my stop at Target I decided to browse in the store. It's always dangerous when you are "just looking" in my opinion. You really are just setting yourself up for spending money. Having said that there were a couple of clearance items in front of the store so I decided to pick through a few. To my surprise I found a king size quilt for $23 and in the new blue color that I absolutely love. I placed it in my basket for satisfaction and decided I would think about it. I have been wanting a new quilt/bedspread to put on my bed for months now. I have had the same denim cover on my bed for the past 10 years we have been married. So, yes it is definitely time for a change and umm denim.........well is just slightly not really in right now. I have been getting a number of magazines in the mail and have found a bedspread that I loved, but due to the price tag of a merely $299 I have just thrown it aside. And decided to put that dream on the back burner until today.

I found some more throw pillows (blue and chocolate brown) to match as I was walking around the store. Remember I was only there to look! After meandering the store for a bit I decided it was just to dang good of a deal to pass up. So I left the store with a new king sized quilt and two throw pillows for $55! Can you believe that?? After I got home I immediately striped my heavy nasty denim cover off and viola whole new makeover!

My new bed!

I then decided to take off my old bed skirt and unpick it to make another one. Since denim and this new one really didn't go. I went through my old fabric stash and was happy to find a ton of white muslin left over from Taylor's duvet cover I made her about 8 years ago. It happened to be just the right amount I needed for my bed skirt. Perfect!! Some of you may remember (Tasha) me making this and ironing on these pink flowers to the top. (If not see below). Well, sadly she still has it on her bed along with the pathetic yellow bed skirt I made her years ago! It still works, but you can imagine how tired of the decor I am. All I can say is thank goodness for sewing 101 lessons from Tasha. She has no idea how much I owe her for teaching me straight lines and basic sewing. I am no seamstress nor can I do embroidery, but I can sew a few straight lines now and again.

So all in one day I have a new makeover in my room. I am also excited to have enough left over to make some curtains for the window to replace the old ones! Woo hoo for me!!

Terrific Tuesday

I am not really sure if this post really flows all together. Today I mostly ran errands, but overall it has been a terrific day! I took the kids to school this morning and it was so dark and cloudy. I came home and we went on our morning walk. I was really hoping for a torenchal down pour when we were walking. Okay that's sad when you wish for that when you know you will be walking in it. It hasn't rained since May though and I miss it. Well, right as I got out of the shower it began to pour. I was so happy I had to document this rare occasion right as I pulled out of my driveway. My kids were a little shocked and excited as well. Luke was concerned that we weren't going to be able to pick up Taylor and Jared due to the rain. I'm really not sure why he thought this--they ride the bus home from school. He was also expressing concern that we needed an umbrella. I never carry one of those so we ended up sprinting into the post office to mail my last package of good mail for a while.

I also had to stop off an ink.com since yesterday my blog took up all the ink in our printer. On a side note it is the best place to get refills. You can get them for half the cost--so great! Like Michelle's post a while back when her ink ran out one of my cartridges did the same and there was no printing for me! I was pleasantly surprised when this nice little man greeted me (who really didn't speak english that well) at my car window with a huge umbrella. I guess he saw me drive up and attempt to get the kids out and came running out to assist me into the store. Luke was a bit concerned when the man offered to pick him up. It really was quite comical. Its nice to see people help you least expect it though. I got my cartridges and I was on to my last stop Sonic. I decided after all the good mail I sent it was time to do a nice little jesture for my husband. After all he is the bread winner and I think its important to every once in a while tell him how much I appreciate him. I got him a Sonic card since we never carry cash around I thought it would be nice to have this in hand. You never know when you need a drink right?

I had to capture this moment of Luke singing in the car. The picture really doesn't do it justice. If any of you got Jordan's cd of toddler tunes thats what we constantly listen to in the car. In fact, it is played more in the car when Doug's around. He loves it!! Luke was mouthing " I L-O-V-E C-H-O-C----L-A-T-E milk" It was pretty funny.

Our little singer

I got home fed the boys and Angie and I decided we needed to get busy and finish some really BELATED projects. I helped her zigzag her star on her Texas quilt and we were able to update her blog and post her picture in her profile! Yeah!! So, whenever she comments her picture will now show up. We were also able to update her reading list. I am sure she will be posting pictures of her quilt on her blog. So you will have to check it out sometime.



I was also pleasantly surprised with two forms of good mail today. Jill has out done herself once again and gave me a sweet package of books and good mail stickers. I was very excited about those and love the pressed flowers that were in the envelop. Thanks Jill!! My grandma also sent me a great card with some added coke money in it. She always goes out of her way to do things for me.




I felt totally guilty about getting it because today is actually my Grandpa's 84th Birthday! He amazes me at how much he still does for his age. He has been a CAT mechanic and has worked on and fixed up so many tractors for as long as I can remember. He really is a jack of all trades. Happy B-day Papa!!


Last but not least (that is if you are reading this lengthy post) we watched the Gordon girls so Greg and Angie could go to the temple. The kids had a blast. Dinner was a bit hairy, but we finished the evening off by taking them all to Baskin Robbins for dessert. You can't beat their $1 scoop Tuesday nights.