The Last Post of the Year

Really, what is a Mormon Mommy's Blog without an end of the year wrap up? Here we go!!

The Top 10 Things That I Blogged About and That Made 2008 Special (not like Special Olympics) with some links (not hot ones)

1. I found a note on my desk and it could be the funniest thing I ever see in my lifetime.

2. My oldest become teenagers.

3. I found my first gray hairs (see above).

4. I started a quest to lose weight, I went to the gym for the first time in my life and I lost 40 pounds! I am trying to lose 30 more in 2009.

5. Women's Conference was awesome and it is all I posted about the entire month of May.

6. I got a new bra.

7. We had our 15 year wedding anniversary.

8. We had a great vacation at the cabin.

9. We visited some of our favorite people.

10. I failed the National Blog Posting Month - it was just too hard. I did post 23 times in November, so, I have that going for me.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Joyeaux Noel

I hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Much Love -

Jolene

File Under: Maybe Not the Best Idea

Giving a Talk in Sacrament Meeting Written Under the Influence of Nyquil.

We will see what happens tomorrow as I deliver my "Sunday Before Christmas Talk" in my Katherine Turner voice. I am fighting a nasty cold.

Tomorrow I will attempt to sing with the ward choir for our special program. I will also give, at the conclusion of the program, the previously mentioned, poorly prepared talk. Then, I will serve my first two hours in my new calling as primary chorister.

I am afraid that my low voice will scare the Sunbeams.

This is My Mom

She stayed with me for three days this week while having cataract surgery. Normally she lives with one of my brothers. We had a grand old time while she was here - especially while she was recovering from the anesthesia. Or at least I am going to blame it all on the anesthesia.

My mom is almost 80 years old. She has lived an amazingly healthy life. This cataract surgery is the first time she has had surgery or anesthetic of any kind since she had her appendix out in 1947. I am not kidding - 1947!! She had six babies with no anesthetic and then never really got sick. Every time I take her to an appointment where we have to fill out new paper work - the Dr. is always amazed that she takes no medications.

Before the eye surgery, the put my mom out for about 15 minutes so that they can completely numb the eye. The stick needles directly in to the eye-ball and it is better for patients to be unconscious during that part of the procedure. She woke up fine and then they took her in for the 15 minute procedure. She never went back to sleep - hence, my doubts about blaming the craziness on the drugs.

My mom is typically a little loopy. I think it comes with her age and the fact that she really can't hear anything and now we know that she really wasn't seeing much either. But while she was here she saw tomato plants growing in my living room. She wondered how I watered them without getting the carpet wet and how I got the rows so straight around the furniture. She also feared she grabbed someones purse since her plain black purse had suddenly turned tan with big red flowers. She had a few more doozies - she was convinced the Christmas lights on our neighbors house were turning from plain white bulbs into little colorful trees and she misunderstood one conversation about someone riding a motorcycle to someone wearing adult diapers.

Since my dad died there has been no one to make fun of her when she says and does crazy stuff. My kids encourage it, they think it is hilarious and say things like "yeah, those lights are so cool how they are changing like that" and then they laugh and laugh. Later when I made them be honest with her about the lights she thought it was funny that they were going along with her. I just feel like they are so lucky they get to have her around a lot. She will live a long time yet, all of her sisters are still alive and some of them are well in to their 90s. None of them have had serious medical issues and are all still as active as my mom is. Growing up during the great depression was good for them.

A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words

I'm hoping - because this post is kind of word light and picture heavy. But some fun things happened in the last few days and I actually remembered to take pictures! This is Devon sitting on Spencer W. Kimball's lap. There is a statue in a local park that commemorates President Kimball's growing up in Arizona and his love of the desert. I love that it looks like President Kimball has is hand on Devon's shoulder.

While we were at the same park - Alan gave Courtney a piggy back ride. It cracked me up because her feet were almost dragging the ground.


We had our ward Christmas party and a special guest came. It was obvious to Nicole that he was one of Santa's helpers because his eyebrows were brown. But she saw that I have Santa on my cell phone and she is hooked in for at least another year.

My girls are so lucky to have great friends in our ward - Devon has good friends here too - he just wont pose for pictures with them. This is Morgan and her adorable friend Saedra.

Courtney and Sarah.

Nicole and Kristen.

Alan and baby Kate. Kate is the most adorable baby! Every time we see her at church or some ward function - we crawl over each other to get to hold her! She reminds us so much of Morgan when she was a baby. Those of you who didn't know us back then - it is true - little tiny Morgan was the fattest baby!

I wonder who lines their m&m's up by color before she eats them?

Devon - wishing it was his picture on the cover of Golf Digest. Or Devon wishing Tiger Woods was in our living room.

Nicole saw a play called the Snow Queen a couple of weeks ago. The Snow Queen wore a white dress and she had white hair - so Nicole decided to dress up like her. It cracked me up how creative she was with her hair - that is a tank top of Morgans bobby pinned to her hair.

Nicole gave an oral report on France in her class last week. We also served a Buche de Noel. She was adorable in her beret and she did a great job talking about France. She was only a little embarrassed when she was talking about French Artists and held up a book of Renoir paintings and it opened a little to reveal a painting of a nekkid lady. Then she sang all afternoon "There is a place in France where the naked ladies dance but the men don't care because they wear no underwear." She is the youngest - I don't know where she learns these things.

The Weeks Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

I have been struggling with my blog. I totally failed the National Blog Posting Month challenge of a post a day for the month of November. I was discussing this with a fellow blogger and came to the conclusion that no one really cares. Why do I even blog? Who is even reading this and cares about the minutiae of my life. I am getting over the guilt that I feel for not blogging and the incredible blogging block that follows it. I keep getting great ideas for random posts but feel like I can't do it until I get this thing caught up. So here it goes.

Thanksgiving was nice. The food was eh... but the company was wonderful. We went to one of my brother's homes in North Scottsdale, the weather was chilly/rainy but it was great to visit with the family that was able to make it. My brothers and sisters are all so spread out (in age and by miles) and busy with their own families that we have not all been together since my Dads funeral in July of 2006. To all be together for an occasion soon (other than a funeral) is on the top of my grown-up Christmas list.

Black Friday was great. I am a die-hard Black Friday shopper. I went through the ads Thursday night, made a plan and tried to get a few hours of sleep. I left my house at 3:45 a.m., shopped in 8 stores and I was home at 7:45 a.m. with everything on my list. I went back to bed and got a nap - it was great. We got the Christmas tree up later in the morning.

Devon took this picture while we were getting the tree up. I am the double-wide in the white sweater.

We went out riding and also went to an old friend's house to reminisce. I grew up with a great group of friends. We all lived there and went to church and school together from kindergarten to graduation. A few of us visited and told stories that some of our spouses were surprised to hear. I was really the only girl on the block - and I was definitely a tom-girl - there were always shenanigans involving fire, dumpster diving and long distance bike rides. It was great fun to see them again.

That weekend we went out to dinner and to a Phoenix Coyotes game with some good friends. We kind of happened upon a newer fro-yo place called Ocean Blue. It is great - I can't wait to go there again.

During these last few weeks I have cleaned and decorated. The honest truth is that Courtney did almost all of the decorating - she was in a better mood than me in the week after Thanksgiving.
This entire bag of trash came out of the cushions in our chair and a half. It is mostly candy wrappers from Halloween. Gross!

I have shopped (almost done!) and crafted. I have hand addressed 65 Christmas cards and written a personal note on each one of them. We have attended orchestra and choir concerts and a wonderful Enrichment meeting. There are three three parties this week to attend! We had a very nice visit with Alan's dad and his wife DeAnn. They were here for DeAnn's daughter's son's blessing. Is that confusing enough? We love all of them. DeAnn's daughter Kelly and her husband Travis are special people and we enjoy having them in our extended family. During their short weekend visit we made a trip over to see the temple lights. It was gorgeous as always - visit that linked web site and get excited about taking your family and friends to go see them. It was pretty cold - but you would have thought it was a lot colder by looking at how we were dressed!

That is my update. I feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders just by putting this out there. Now, I feel I can return to my regularly scheduled blogging.

This is Coco!

This is Courtney he he....I'm writing for my mom because she thinks her life is boring and has nothing to write about...blah,blah,blah. I don't think she has a boring life. She has it good! While I am at school she can just be on the computer all day while I have to sit through the boringness of junior high; but of course she doesn't!!! He he. I would just like to say, as I am hacking into my mom's blogger account..jk.. what a wonderful person she is. Tonight she let me do her hair and make-up and I was only the second person to do her make-up for her. Plus, she is always willing to help others first. I love you Mommy!!( can I have $20 please? JK!)

Finally, Some Wedding Pictures!

Last week, my niece got married. Have I mentioned that before? The whining and griping about the cake - you forgot that right?

Well, here are some pictures - you know you are curious:

My niece and I sharing a moment. She is 10 years younger than me and is a riot! We have had a lot of fun over the years, mostly making fun of her Mom - my sister.

The tall flower girl is mine - they were spreading fall leaves down the aisle.

Deidra had her son Alex walk her down the aisle. It was adorable.Deidra and Garen Bagdasarian. How's that for a last name? He is a special guy and I totally approve of him. My beautiful daughters with Tracy (the tall one) who stayed at our house with her husband Aaron.

A family picture that I was hoping would be Christmas card worthy - but no, it's too dark and we were too tired and worn out.

Only look at the next picture if you are not easily offended. The women in my family are blessed with certain assets (ahem).... some of us choose not to show them off - Deidra's wedding dress did just the opposite. Hers were out there for everyone to see. I was making fun and someone snapped a picture (really, I didn't pose for this or anything... I promise)

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We Came, We Saw, We Were Not Disappointed

Courtney and I saw the movie this morning with our friends Shannon and Samantha. We saw another Mom and daughter duo from our ward. I can't say that I loved it. I went with pretty low expectations but I will admit that right as the title sequence started, I grabbed Courtney's hand. The anticipation was killing me!

I love how blood thirsty Shannon and Samantha look with their red eyes!

During the movie, there was so much laughter - but I'm not sure that the movie makers were going for a comedy. It was pretty campy, a little melodramatic - just like the books I guess. Just like teenagers.







The movie ended just perfectly for the next installment and I am sure that when that comes around in a couple of years, I will be holding Courtney's hand in anticipation once again.

Holiday Cards 2008

No, I'm not posting one - I will admit to using an old picture on it though. It is one of the wonderful pictures that our dear friends took of our kids this summer. I wanted to do a new family picture this year - but it wasn't in the cards (ha! Christmas cards) for us. Hopefully, next year when I've lost a few more lbs. and maybe have a few more dollars in my pocket.

But, I have a story to tell. Did you all make a free digital scrapbook on Snapfish last week? I got about 15 e-mails telling me to get my cyber booty over there and take advantage of Oprah Winfrey's goodness and I am nothing if not obedient. Courtney went to work arranging and placing pictures of last summer's trip to the cabin for an awesome memory book. She spent a few hours last Saturday getting it together and we paid $4.99 or something ridiculously low for shipping and that was it - the book came on Wednesday and it is all that it was cracked up to be. We love it.

Along with the book came all kinds of generous e-mail offers from Snapfish to do more books, make prints and order our Christmas Cards. The Christmas card offer sounded good - the first 20 cards for $.01 a piece. I typically send out 60-80 cards so I thought I would go for it. Their selection was okay and I put one together, while checking out I put in the e-mailed promo code and went to the grand total. $348.00!!! For 60 cards! That is like SIX DOLLARS a piece! Then they were going to charge $19.99 for shipping! Wha?? They were cute but not that cute.

I promptly went on to Costco's photo page and ordered much cuter cards - a bigger size and quality that I trust for $20.28 for 75. Just to be clear - I get more cards at a savings of over $300.00 and I can pick them all up tomorrow morning at 10:30 ... Hmmm. What would you have done?

Just when I think that I won't renew my Costco card - to save a little extra cash - I fall in love all over again!

Pale Is The New Tan

So many people are preparing, napping, gearing up before the big midnight showing of THE MOVIE tonight. Not me, I'm putting it off just a little. I don't want to be deafened by hundreds of screaming teenage girls. I found out that a friend of mine got to go see it LAST NIGHT at 7:00 for a special fundraising preview. It only cost her $15. I totally would have done that.

Courtney made herself a Twilight t-shirt to wear to school today. She is always looking at them online but decided she could make herself one. Hers said:

Half vampire

+ Half Jonas

__________

= perfect boyfriend

We had so much fun looking at t-shirts online that I wanted to share some of our favorites:

I'd rather have a dog than a pet rock

Team Jacob / Because who doesn't want a personal sun?

I wish I could run with vampires but they run too fast

I need Jasper - I'm in a bad mood

Rosalie is my mechanic

Team Mike / Just kidding

Blood - it's whats for dinner

If you listen closely you can hear the sound of thousands of teenage girls moving to Forks, WA

Towns named after utensils are all the rage

(for the husbands) If I agree to bite you will you put down that #$^&*% book?

Team Jacob / Once you go PACK you never go back

My new favorite font is Edwardian Script

Nothing ever happens in Spoons

Cutest Turkey Treats Ever!

Go HERE and see how to make them - so much fun for the kid's table, or your kid's classroom - or your visiting teachers...

Tuesday Tag, Wednesday Edition

I am going to do this tag that Alan's adorable cousin Danielle sent me. I love her! I am thinking that doing this will help me catch up while I upload the pictures I want to post.

CraZy EigHTs

8 Shows I Watch:
1. Amazing Race
2. The Office
3. 30 Rock
4. E.R.
5. Survivor
6. Pushing Daisies
7. Top Chef
8. Anything on Food Network

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. went walking at 5:30 a.m.
2. got 8 kids ready for school and out the door at 7:20 a.m.
3. watched Amazing Race that Shannon tivo'd
4. made lots of Chicken Cream Cheese soup for my food group
5. watched Return to Me while folding clothes
6. afternoon carpool (5 elementary school kids and 5 junior high kids)
7. had dinner, family scriptures and did homework
8. made a last minute trip to W*#-M&%t with Alan for lunch meat and shoe laces

8 Places I Like to Eat
1. P. F. Changs
2. Carrabas
3. Jamba Juice (it's like a meal)
4. Pete's Fish and Chips
5. In n Out
6. Brio
7. Flemmings
8. California Pizza Kitchen

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:
1. Getting caught up on my blogging!
2. Salisbury Steak for dinner tonight (thanks Food Group)
3. visiting with my sister later today
4. a nice lunch out this afternoon
5. making pecan pie at Thanksgiving and thinking about my dad
6. Singing Christmas songs in church
7. Black Friday shopping
8. going out riding in this beautiful weather soon!

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. Someone else coming over and uploading my pictures for me so I can get caught up on my blogging!
2. A cleaning lady
3. seeing all of my brothers and sisters during the holidays
4. a pressure canner
5. these last 25 pounds to just melt off in my sleep
6. a new camera
7. a sick-free winter
8. WORLD PEACE!


I am supposed to tag 8 people - but I won't do it! But, I would love it if you would do it on your blog and then leave me a comment telling me so I can come read your crazy eights!!

Monday Post, Tuesday Edition

I will get caught up because I want to share some pictures from the wedding yesterday. Will you all be offended if I post a slightly off-color picture of my cleavage? (I was trying to be like my niece wearing her very revealing wedding dress) I need to know before I post the pictures.

Today for my Food Group dinner I made Chicken Cream Cheese Soup. It is delicious and easy to make. I gave everyone this bread mix to make and eat with the soup. This Hawaiian bread is so yummy - I don't have a bread machine so I just make it in the oven - it is more work but so worth it!

Here is the recipe for the soup for one family:

Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 Tbs. butter

2 - 3 potatoes, diced
2 - 3 carrots, sliced
3 cups chicken broth
salt, pepper and garlic to taste

1 cup milk
1 8oz package of cream cheese (cubed if you use the brick, I use a tub of chive and onion spreadable cream cheese = more tasty goodness)

Directions:

Cook chicken and onion in butter until onion is completely clear and chicken is cooked through. Add vegetables, broth and seasoning - simmer until veggies are done.
Add milk, cream cheese and cook until cheese is melted.

Sunday Post, Monday Morning Edition

I am FAILING at this posting everyday thing. I am going to try and keep up - but we will see. We have out of town guests here for the wedding, my niece's friend Tracy and her husband Aaron. They were total strangers to us when they showed up at our front door to sleep in our "junk room" - but now, we are proud to call them our friends. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful Tracy is - on the inside as well as the outside. She is so pretty that you want to not like her but she is so kind and sweet that you have to. Tracy is from Zimbabwe but met her husband while studying at BYU. They have amazing stories of Africa that have kept us all wanting more.

Today (Sunday) was our Primary Program at church. I cried during the whole thing. From the moment they began with I Am A Child of God until the closing song there were tears streaming down my face. The closing song was "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" - that song should be in the Hymn Books. Everyone needs to sing that song! So, I was bawling the whole time and Alan was giggling. He loves seeing all of the kids waving to their parents and fidgeting, giving their teachers a hard time. He especially loves when they come up to the microphone and talk real loud or exhale into the mic - his favorite this time was the little boy that kept saying "what?" to the Primary President who was trying to feed him his line.

This morning (Monday) I will take the kids to school and then I am off to the wedding site to start cooking. Happy Monday everyone!

Seriously, Don't Comment

Because I don't want you tell me that it looks good when it really doesn't.

No, I changed my mind - I do want you to comment and tell me it looks good, even if it doesn't because then I won't try and re-do it before Monday morning and possibly break the Sabbath tomorrow.

Here are the promised pictures:

What there aren't are any pictures of me yelling or pulling my hair out. There are also are no pictures of Shannon helping me roll out and put on all of the fondant. That stuff is not as easy to work with as they make it look like on Ace of Cakes.

That is a picture of my niece and her fiancee on the top. That is what she wanted. I really hope to never do this again. I really hope it is going to be dark wherever it is displayed!

No Time to Blog

I am trying to decorate a WEDDING CAKE!!!! Didn't know I decorated cakes? I DON'T!! I am doing this as a favor for my niece. She asked three "influential women from her life" to decorate a cake for display at her wedding. No one will be eating it. If I get desperate - I will take it out back and spray paint it. I will post a picture tomorrow.

10 Movies I can Watch Over and Over

I decided not to quit on the post-a-day thing. I hope nobody's sorry.

I love to watch movies while I fold mounds and mounds of laundry each week. Sometimes I go to the Redbox and find something new or I pull out one of my old standards. Here is my list of my top ten movies to re-watch while folding laundry. You will see that I have a very shallow, escapist pattern to my movie watching. In no particular order:

1. The Holiday - I watched this one today. I really love how cute Jude Law is in this movie. In fact I love, love, love Jack Black and Kate Winslet in it as well. Cameron Diaz is truly awful - but she is in every movie she is in - so she is easy to ignore. She is easy to ignore especially when you are caught up in Jude Law's beautiful blue eyes.

2. Ever After - Truly a classic. My husband can not stand Drew Barrymore and he will watch this with me - living through her terrible fake accent. I just love it - I love to say Danielle de Barbarac and Nicole de Loncrae over and over in best French accent. Every time Danielle asks her evil stepmother if there was ever a time when she loved her in even the smallest way and Anjelica Houston says, "how can one love a pebble in one's shoe?" it makes my heart hurt.

3. Nacho Libre - To sum up how we feel about this movie at our house I will tell you a true story. Our little Nicole found out that her Grandma and Grandpa had never seen Nacho Libre and she told them "you can't even know what our family is about if you don't watch Nacho!"

4. The Princess Bride - Is there any woman who dated in the 80s who doesn't love this movie? Who didn't have a crush on Wesley? Who can't say "no more rhymes and I mean it" without saying "any body want a peanut"?

5. Return to Me - I love this sappy romance. I love David Duchovny and Minnie Driver - but I love Bonnie Hunt and Jim Belushi even more. It is such a feel good movie with very good advice "don't shave your legs on the first date".

6. Signs - Yes, the M. Night Shyamalan movie. I really do love all of his movies (haven't seen the new rated R one) but this is my favorite. I love how it all comes together at the end. I love the Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix as brothers relationship.

7. Hope Floats - I love anything with Harry Connick Jr. Even when he played that killer in that Copycat movie - he is so cute!


8. Radio - Cuba Gooding Jr. is so great as the mentally challenged boy in this show. I do enjoy a lot of sports movies like Glory Road and Remember the Titans but this is my favorite of all.

9. Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? - Every time I watch this I catch something new. George Clooney is classic in this movie and no other movie has inspired me to listen to Blue Grass or any other "country" music. I love the Soggy Bottom Boys! I really want to buy the soundtrack so I can learn the words to the lullaby that the naked ladies sing down by the river "Don't Leave Nobody But the Baby".

10. Memoirs of A Geisha - Of course I loved the book so much more than the movie - but the movie is so beautiful. I just can't get enough of the beautiful colors of the kimonos and the vivid imagery of Japan during this time.

Honorable Mentions: 27 Dresses - during one Women's Conference weekend, we watched this movie 4 or 5 times. Mamma Mia - I only saw it the one time in the theater but I am sure that when it comes out on DVD it will be one that shares my laundry days. Enchanted, Penelope and Aladdin are the movies that my kids watch that will draw me in to the Family Room to see a little part or to sing along.

What are some of your movies to watch over and over? Do you hate mine?

What The? or The Case of The Missing Post

I really am trying hard to do this post everyday thing. It is difficult. I couldn't think of anything important to say. I have a read a few good books lately - I might do a review soon. I took the kids to the pediatric dentist today - no cavities! Yeah! Really, nothing exciting.

So I decided to go through the Edit Posts tool and find something that was still a draft and fix it up and post it - there are several in there. Instead, I was trying to be all smug and show one of my children that I really have posted every day so far this month, and then I saw that I did not post on Wednesday, November 5th. Why didn't I? November 4th - Sarah Palin. November 6th - Mayonnaise. I can't think of a single reason that I would have failed so early in the month and not even realized it!

So, this is what I am wondering - do I just give up on the whole every day in November thing? Or go on as if nothing happened and no one noticed? I'm really torn. On the one hand, if I was not posting everyday - maybe the posts would be more interesting. On the other hand, no one called me out on it and I don't like to be a quitter. (except when it comes to the treadmill, I'm totally okay with quitting in the middle of that. Or smoking - I'm okay with people quitting that nasty habit. And maybe really hard college chemistry classes that don't have that much to do with your major anyway - you were just taking it because you wanted a dumb boy to think you were smart - it's okay to quit that stupid class)

What should I do?

Happy Armistice Day!

Did you know that that is what Veteran's Day was originally called? To celebrate the end of World War One - the name was changed sometime in the 1950s to honor all veterans. At 11:00 this morning on this 11th day of the 11th month, I will talk to my kids about some veterans. We have several in our family including three of my brothers - one of whom was killed in Viet Nam. My kids have a veteran Grandpa, several veteran Great Grandpas and even a couple of cousins who have served in the military. I am sad that we will not be able to go downtown and watch the parade (we are helping a young man in our ward with his Eagle Project) but we will fly our flag and we will be proud Americans today.

I am pasting here a post that I wrote in July of 2007 when my blog was just a couple of weeks old. It explains some of my extreme sense of Patriotism:


Patriotism

I love the 4th of July - Because I love the United States of America. We are going to be out of town and away from the computer for the next 10 days so I wanted to get this all out there now.

I love America!! I know my love of country comes from my Dad. I never heard him say a prayer that he didn't thank our Heavenly Father that we live in this great country full of freedoms, liberty and justice. He would get very emotional whenever patriotic things would come up - when the Boy Scouts had a flag ceremony, when the military would march by in a parade and whenever the Star Spangled Banner would be played. I get my heavy emotions from him too.

I remember one time when I was at a Phoenix Suns game - before the game started a woman came out to sing the National Anthem. She sang the first couple of notes and then her microphone went dead. She kept singing, and then the most amazing thing happened, the people close to the floor of the arena started singing with her and it just rose up the arena until the whole place was singing along. Chills ran up my spine and of course the tears started flowing - it was such an amazing thing to be part of.

While I was on my mission in the South of France, the first gulf war broke out. There are a lot of Arabs there, the South of France is only a couple hundred miles of ocean away from North Africa. Those North Africans did not really love the United States, so as a safety precaution my mission president told us to lie. If anyone came up and asked us if we were American we were supposed to tell them that we were Canadians. All of the Canadian missionaries loved that. It was a happy day when I could put my American flag pin back on my back pack.

After those 18 months of living away from home in a foreign country, I will never forget the way I felt when I came home. I had a layover in Detroit, MI. It was very odd to be there and to still be a missionary and to be able to hear English all around me. When we touched down in Phoenix, of course I loved seeing my family waiting for me at the gate (pre - 9/11 obviously), I loved the feeling of the warm, dry air hitting me, and I loved all of the American flags I could see. I never felt so much pride in country as I did on that 25 minute drive home from the airport. There were flags flying everywhere! I could see them over car dealerships and storage facilities - we started counting them and there were more than 25 flags visible from the freeway. I loved it!! I know they had always been there and I had traveled that freeway countless times, but they had never meant so much to me as they did that night.


Just one more quick story - I know this is getting long. Alan and I were so blessed to be able to travel back East a couple of years ago. We had read this series of books - A Prelude to Glory - about the American Revolution. They were amazing historical fiction books about a family during that time in our history. Although the church was not yet organized, these colonists were being moved by the Spirit to establish this great country. Alan and I walked the Freedom Trail, we visited the Old North Church, Paul Revere's home, Bunker Hill and the State House. We boarded the USS Constitution sitting in Boston Harbor and witnessed the cannons being shot. It was an amazing trip and it made me even more proud to be an American (yes, I cry whenever I hear that Lee Greenwood song).

I wish everyone a happy Independence Day!! I hope you will go and see the fireworks and hear the National Anthem being played. I hope you will fly a flag that day and teach your kids what it means to you. We will say the Pledge of Allegiance and pray for the soldiers who are defending this great country. We will also thank our Heavenly Father for allowing us to live in this great nation with all of it's freedoms, liberties and justice.

Speaking of Funny...

Saturday night, Alan and I went to the Super Saver movies after a delicious dinner. We saw the funniest movie. I seriously was laughing so hard that it hurt. Seriously, go watch the trailer.

I love me some Ricky Gervais. He was in the original British version of The Office. My kids know him as the funny boss on Night at the Museum.

The whole movie was great (a little too many curses for my taste) but I especially enjoyed the little part played by Kristen Wiig. For a good laugh - go here and watch her in one of my favorite SNL skits.

Sunday Funnies

I totally stole that title from my friend Nic who posts a Sunday funny every week. Her kids are always up to some kind of shenanigan and she reports on them every week. I'm not nearly as funny as her - I just have some funny pictures to post.

I have been having a bit of a hair crisis as of late. I want something different but I am too scared to do it and I don't really know what I want. My kids (the girls) are always telling me that I should dye my hair darker - but I am way too big of a chicken to do that.

My daughter Courtney has luxurious long brown-ish locks. She was willing to share that hair for a few pictures:Here I am with Courtney's flowing hair - it kind of matches my eyebrows. Forgive the lack of make-up.

Here is Alan with it - he looks very White Snake to me.

ASU Volleyball

To celebrate the last 8th grade volleyball game (record 0 and 11) and the getting of our lives back, I took Courtney to an ASU volleyball game last night. It was great. We met a few of her team mates and their parents there. The games are not very well attended so we had great seats. What a different experience when you are used to watching 8th grade volleyball to witness the action of a college game. We are going to try and go again soon before their season is over.




After the game we were able to go down on the court and meet the players. Courtney brought her volleyball from home and had some of the players sign it. It was interesting to see how tall they really are. Courtney is about 5'7" and she is expected to grow another inch or inch and half according to our pediatrician. On the ASU team there are two girls shorter than Courtney (5'1" and 5'5") and then all of the rest are 5'11" or taller. I think it kind of smashed Courtney's dreams of playing college volleyball but the ASU players were so kind and encouraged her to keep playing as much as she could.



After the game, we drove around the campus area a little bit. I think Courtney will stay home until she is married, she said "I don't want to go away to college, it is scary". Want to keep your kids home under your own roof and away from the scary world? Drive them through the bar lined streets of a notorious college party town - it will work every time.

this player was crouching down to get her picture with Courtney - she is 6'1"

I'm Going To The Store Right Now

Remember how I said that I was trying to avoid making little trips to the store? And that we had run out of dishwasher detergent and that we were going to wash dishes by hand for a few days? Well I really wanted to post a picture of my kitchen and show how that is working out for me. But, I can't find my camera - I think it is on one of the kitchen counters - but they are so piled up with dirty dishes that I can't find it! There is only so much a pioneer can do.

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do or Do Without.

My mom used to say that all of the time. It really was the mantra of a good part of my childhood and I hated hearing it. Then, several years ago I heard it over the pulpit during General Conference (Pres. Packer maybe?) and I figured my mom was pretty smart. Now, as we are living on a lower income than before, I am doing my best to live up to my mom's mantra again.

When we decided that we were going to have to crack down on our spending - I knew that it was the little trips to the grocery store (almost every day) that were killing us. Every time I ran in to the store to "just get milk" or "just get bread" it was costing us $30 or $40 in extra things. So, this pay period, I made a list of things to feed us for two weeks and I haven't gone back. We are doing it! We have been fine. Tuesday we ran out of dishwasher soap, so we have been washing our dishes by hand. It's not like we don't have the money to run to the store and get the stuff, we are learning a lesson over here.

So yesterday morning as I am making the sack lunches, I realize that we are out of mayonnaise. So I MADE some! Yes, I MADE mayonnaise - and it is good. It tastes just like the stuff you buy in the store only it has no preservatives and it tastes a little lighter and fresher. Some of you may make mayonnaise all the time and not be as impressed with me as I was with myself, but, seriously, I was so impressed with myself! I made everyone taste it and tell me how good it was at 7:00 in the morning. They were all gagging and running to brush their teeth - but I could tell they were impressed! The best thing was that it was really easy to do, so I will probably do it again!

Here is the recipe - just in case you want to impress your family too. If they are not falling over themselves in love with you, just call me and I will give you the props!

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/8 teaspoon sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
4 to 5 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil or olive oil
4 teaspoons hot water

Preparation:

(I mixed it in the bowl or my Kitchen-Aid, but you can do it as easily in a food processor or blender) Beat yolks, salt, mustard, sugar, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice in a small bowl until very thick and pale yellow. Add 1/4 cup oil, drop by drop, beating vigorously all the while. Add another teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/2 cup oil in a light stream. Then repeat (1 tsp lemon juice - 1/4 cup oil in a fine, steady stream) twice. (total oil in so far - 1-1/4 cups) After beating in the last 1/4 cup oil - add the warm water little by little until it reaches the consistency you like (I used the full 4 teaspoons and think I will add more next time)

Can't We Just All Get Along?

I voted early this year. During the Presidential Primaries - my husband and I waited in line for an hour and a half to cast our votes. We didn't want to do that again so we got early ballots. I'm sure that who and what I voted for are really no secret. I am a conservative gal with a conservative background. While I really wished Mitt would have won the primary in Arizona just to show the country that not all Arizonans love John McCain, I support McCain for president.

I also support Sarah Palin for Vice President, I think she is a rock star. She has consistently stood up for what she believes even when she had to cross her own party to do it. I don't really think the argument of her (lack of) experience holds water, she has all kinds of life experience and leadership experience. I do believe that 24 hours from now or a week, a month or a year from now, whether she is Vice President or not- we have not seen the last of her.

This election has been a great learning experience for my children. They have had the chance to "vote" in their schools and we have taken the opportunity to talk to our kids about the propositions that are on the ballot. On Halloween, however, Morgan learned about politics in a different way. As mentioned yesterday, Morgan dressed as Sarah Palin. At some doors she was greeted warmly with "I'm voting for you" and "I think you are great". At other doors people took her picture or told her how much she really does resemble Sarah Palin. Sadly, at some doors she was not greeted very kindly, including one group of people sitting on their driveway handing out candy who said "Republicans are not welcome here" and then didn't give her any treats. She is a child for heaven's sakes! She is not a politician! When that happened I was wishing that Kelly B's husband Jake was still walking with me so that I could have sicked him on them for breaking a girl's heart.

I really will be glad when all of this over and there can be some peace restored. I read this quote today on the Millennial Star blog. "I’m not an Obama fan, particularly, but a lot of people I like and respect are. To treat Obama as something evil or subhuman would not only be disrespectful toward Obama, but toward them. Instead, I hope that if Obama is elected, their assessment of his strengths will turn out to be right, and mine will turn out to be wrong. Likewise, those who don’t like John McCain or Sarah Palin might reflect that by treating Palin and McCain as obviously evil and stupid, they’re disrespecting tens of millions of their fellow Americans who feel otherwise."

Truer words...

Halloween

I have four kids. Only two of them went trick-or-treating. That has seriously cut down my candy consumption this year. I saw plenty of teenagers out doing the deed on Halloween (including a group of teenage girls who dressed up as "unwed mothers" with the pillow in their teeny-tiny tank tops) - why did my kids all of a sudden decide they were too big? Thank goodness for the younger two!

May I present Sarah Palin:

People tell Morgan all of the time that she looks like Sarah Palin, all we did was put her hair up in a clip, amp up the make up a little bit and print out a campaign sticker.

Nicole was a Corpse Bride:

Courtney made Nicole's costume, did her make-up, did her hair and took her outside for a Halloween photo shoot. That definitely is an advantage to having teenagers! I did not spend one red cent on costumes this year!

Stake Conference

Some of you may have been getting worried that I was going to fail on my pledge to blog everyday on this, only the 2nd day! But I am here.

Today we attended our Stake Conference. It was being broadcast from Salt Lake to 88 stakes in Arizona. It was pretty amazing that this broadcast that has been scheduled for 18 months as a trial thing turned out to be two days before an election that is crucial here in Arizona. Long before any of us had heard about proposition 102, the Lord knew that we would need to hear from some General Authorities that we need to do all that is in our power to save the sanctity of marriage.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen, Sister Margaret Lifferth, Elder Jay Jensen and President Boyd K. Packer all spoke to us. They all kind of had stuff to say about Arizona. Not all of it was complimentary - mostly in the form of pioneer stories of those that came to the dried out desert and thought it impossible to actually live here. Elder Hafen quoted someone saying something to the effect of the United States had gone to war with Mexico and gotten Arizona and they were just waiting to go to war with them again so they could give it back.

There were wonderful stories about Pres. Spencer W. Kimball who lived in Arizona until he was called to be an apostle. I was especially touched when Sister Lifferth (a member of the General Primary Presidency) asked all of the primary children to stand and repeat the 1st Article of Faith. She said "are you standing in Mesa? Are you standing in Show Low? Are you standing in Holbrook?" and all of a sudden I could just imagine the children standing all over Arizona repeating that Article of Faith together.

The best part about Stake Conference is sitting together as a family and seeing so many friends from other wards all together to be edified and built up. The worst part is arriving 35 minutes early, hoping to secure some soft seats only to land in the hard ones and sit there for an extra 35 minutes!

NaBloPoMo

I'm going to do it! To help me overcome my strange feelings about blogging (you know, how it feels like homework sometimes, how you feel guilty when you haven't posted in a while, how I totally love it and totally hate it at the same time) I have joined the National Blog Posting Month movement and I will post EVERYDAY in November. I will. It may not be pretty but I will do it.
I invite all of you to share in my misery and do it too!

Today, November 1st, is the birthday of three of my favorite people! First, my sister Susan. She doesn't blog - and even when I e-mail her and tell her that I wrote about her on my blog, she may not ever see this. But I am going to tell you about her anyway. Susan is 14 years older than me, she left home when I was young and got married when I was 7. I spent a lot of my growing up years at her apartment, helping her wash dishes, watching her decorate cakes and just hanging out. She was a good mom to me, when I felt like my own mom didn't understand me, Susan always did. She excused my absences (sluffs) from school, let me bring my friends over to her place and didn't care if I ate entire cans of black olives from her pantry.

When I was 10, Susan gave birth to my niece Deidra on November 1st. It has always been so fun to celebrate with Susan and Deidra on their special day. They have made the most of their shared day, going to all of the places that give you free stuff on your birthday. They see movies for free on this day, get donuts and free lunches. Deidra is getting married in a few weeks and I have loved being able to share time with her as she is preparing for her big day. Deidra was always my little buddy, just like I was to her mom - I hauled her around with me everywhere. I dressed her up, took her pictures and carried her around like she was my baby doll.

The third person who shares this day is my friend Shannon. She never updates that blog by the way! Shannon and I met seven years ago in the mother's lounge at the church when we were both nursing our babies. We got to talking about our kids and realized that we had older girls the same age - those two girls have become best friends, as well as the two girls we were nursing that day. We both had kids in Montessori elementary schools and shared a lot of the same views on schooling. We became fast friends. Shannon sees me at 5:30 every morning in my bad moods, bad hair and bad pajamas as we take our morning walks - but those 2 miles every morning are an important part of my day and I really miss them when we don't go.

I hope all three of you lovely ladies have a great day today!!

All of My Excuses...

This is so lame that I haven't blogged in so long. First, the keyboard wasn't working and I didn't have time to go get a new one. I was packing and cleaning like a mad woman - because - Second, we decided kind of last minute to go to Utah during the kid's fall break. I had to clean because while I was gone, my niece had her bridal shower at my house.


I have to post a few pictures of the trip, then I will feel caught up and then I can get back to my non-relevant blogging. The weather was so great, it wasn't too cold. We got to see all of Alan's grandparents and Aunts, Uncles and cousins. And I got to spend some time with my BFF Nicole.


For your viewing pleasure:

Cousins
Silverlake (?) at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Whitnee, we just love this little girl.

Sydnee and Haylee, Whitnee's big sisters - we love them too!

Nicole asleep in the back seat on the way home.

Winner! and Conference...

Last night for our Family Home Evening Activity - after Root Beer Floats - I put the names of the commenters from the last post in to a Tupperware bowl and Nicole picked out:

jt - Jane from This is Us

Jane, I'm pretty sure you already get Family Fun Magazine, since I WON MY SUBSCRIPTION FROM YOU! So, if you want to get Paper Crafts Magazine or maybe a Sonic gift card - just let me know.

Thanks to everyone for your money saving advice. I especially loved Nicole's advice to only shop at Wal-Mart where you can buy lots of fun things like craft supplies, underwear etc... and it will all look like groceries in the check register. We are in a major financial crack down over here and I was going to post about how I am trying to support my husband and be frugal and all that but it is too depressing to think about/write about so I changed my mind. I'm not going to do it. I mean I'm not going to write about it - I still have to do it. Budgeting sucks.

So, lets talk about conference instead. I loved it. I needed it. I'm so glad I watched all of it. It was much better than Cats, I'm going to see it again and again. [painfully old SNL sketch] Saturday morning, my Mission President, Neil L. Anderson, spoke. His address really spoke to me and lifted me up. His voice is so familiar to me [and I have been home for a really long time] that as soon as he started talking - I felt the spirit.

He said that we don't need to know everything - we know enough. I really do feel like I know enough. I know that God lives and I know that he loves me. That is enough. I know that God wants me to succeed. That is enough. I know that when I do all that I can do, our Heavenly Father will take over. That is enough.

President Anderson also told us that faith is not just a feeling, it is a choice. I tell my kids all of the time that happiness is a choice - but I really needed to be reminded that faith is a choice as well. I can choose to have faith or I can do it on my own. President Hinckley described it like an airplane - it can run on one engine but it is much more efficient with two. We can do things by ourselves, but we can be more effective if we let the Lord help us.

I also loved when Pres. Anderson told us that as we have moments of "spiritual power", moments of revelation that we should store them up like food storage to be used when we need them. I am storing up all of the feelings I had during conference while listening to the prophet of God speak, while being moved by the beautiful music and by the inspiring words of all of the General Authorities so that I can draw on them when I need to.

Which talks are you storing up? What was your favorite?

Give Oh Giveaway... Sans Exclamation Points

The top row of my keyboard is on the Fritz... Only 5,6,- and = work. I can't type out my e-mail address or use exclamation points. I didn't realize how much I use that little key. I think I use exclamation points more than I use periods. So this post might be a little bit of a downer. Just plain old periods at the end of each sentence. Maybe I will throw in a question mark now and then to spice things up.

About a year ago, I was checking out all of the blogs on Kelly B's sidebar. Kelly B is an uber cool blogger in my ward. One of the blogs I started stalking was her sister-in-law Jane. Jane is fantastic as well - and last year she had a little give away. She gave away a subscription to Family Fun magazine and I won. I used to subscribe to Family Fun back when my kids were younger - we have loved having it again so much this year. My teenagers have been all over the experiments and fun things in the magazine. Here are some pictures that they took using a tip they found in the magazine. You just put a colored post-it note over the flash. It is awesome. Devon in Green [the instructions said a dark room works best - so that is why all of these are in the downstairs bathroom]Scary Nicole in Hot Pink.Morgan in Orange.Courtney during her Blue Period.

Devon and Courtney thought they were going to be tricky and put a pink post-it on half of the flash and a blue one on the other half - thinking that it would turn out half pink and half blue. Instead it is a little bit purple.

Anyway, my subscription is running out and I am going to renew it as well as gift one to one of you. That is right - I am giving you the opportunity to have these same good times. Just leave me a comment before Monday morning [10/5] with some money-saving advice for my next post and I will have a drawing for the winner sometime on Monday. Do it. [Please, don't put "stop giving away magazine subscriptions" as your money-saving advice]

News Flash: I got another great offer in the mail today - if you don't want Family Fun magazine I will send you my other favorite magazine {after the Ensign of course} Paper Crafts. When I draw a winner, you can let me know which one you prefer.

The afore-mentioned Kelly B is also having a give away on her blog for this fabulous t-shirt. Go leave her a comment for your chance to win. Do it.

I love the green jello mold detail.

There is one more give away I want to tell you about. A new website is giving away 24 great handbags in a couple of weeks. One bag every hour to celebrate the opening of their on-line store. You can choose the bag that you want to be drawn for. I chose this one:

Go sign up but pick a different bag so that my chances to win this one will be better. Do it.