Loving Life

Spring(y)

2012-01-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

The peach and apple blossoms seem like they are early this year!! The weather is warm and wonderful! I fell asleep in the yard this afternoon...it was heavenly, until the boys came running and screaming to tell me Eli got stung by a bee...yet again. There's a hot hive next door, and they are trying to get it under control, but we are getting a sting a day now, on average...not our idea of perfect, by any means.

Nathaniel and Zach get to experience the pains and joys of braces together for the next few years. They are both good at brushing, which is always a relief to me! Their smiles have already changed a lot.

Andrew is a flipping machine now, between bee stings he heads out to the trampoline (braving the bees) and practices every second he gets! He's trying multiple flips, now.

The Best Day Ever!

2012-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Ry's first grade

day ever...interesting!

Andrew & Ry were chosen as good citizen in their class rooms for the month of January for the virtue of courage. I'm sure it takes courage to be the 5th and 6th of 6 children in this day and age. I'm so pleased with who they are!

Back Flips!

2012-01-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a land mark day at our home! Eli has been working on back flips on the trampoline for a few weeks, not a small task at 170 pounds. There's a lot of weight to fall onto his head, and thus a lot of truly understandable fear at hurling that weight up and backwards and over. But last night, as Eli was making great head way, Andrew pipes up, "Doing a back flip was on my new years' resolution list. May I try?" And Eli, being the awesome big brother that he is, stepped aside with great drops of sweat running down his cheeks, so Andrew could give it a go. And after about 6 attempts Andrew did his first ever back flip on the trampoline and landed it on his feet. Luckily, Eli had run into the house for a bathroom break, so he didn't have to see his little brother master a trick that he's been truly working his tail off to master. But I have no doubt that Eli will have it soon, as long as he keeps trying every night. I remember being too big for a spotter myself and it is much harder to learn gymnastics when the only thing catching you is the ground and your head! I made a promise to myself to teach Zach and Ry how to do flips while I can still spot them...there's not much time left!

Growth of Every Kind!

2012-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Eli and Andrew have been experimenting with how high Eli can propel Andrew into the air on the trampoline. It's pretty high! The wall behind them is over 6' tall.

Five feet eleven and one half inches. That's how tall Eli was this morning with his "little" shoes on and his spiky hair (13 years old). He's tired every morning, I think he's just growing like a weed and apparently weeds need a lot of sleep. (I've been hearing that sarcasm can be very misunderstood when writing for things like blogs and facebook...that's why I don't write very much on facebook, and also why I'm very misunderstood:).) So, to be more realistic and clear...Eli is growing fast right now. He looks taller and broader in his shoulders every day! I'm not sure how tall he is barefoot, but a lot taller than Savanah and me (Savanah is beginning to look like his little sister!). This morning Savanah thought Eli was standing on his tip toes when we compared them, but he wasn't...that's how much changes over night! These pictures are from Christmas when I had a bout with cystic acne. It seems to come on about every 17 months, if you know what happens in our bodies on an every 17 months cycle, please let me know! The Dr. says I'm lucky it doesn't happen more often, luck or no luck, I'm grateful it only happens every other year. But it's times like these that remind me I'm so extremely grateful that I have a loving husband, children, parents, and sibling, that love me no matter how gross something on my face looks (because it goes away in it's own due time...even with injections from the dermatologist). And that my family are the people that love me at my worst and my best, just because they love who I am. Family is the best! Make your family work if you can...and yes, it is work, but if you can count the laughter, smiles, hugs, and kisses as payment, the pay is the best there is out there.

Itchy & Scratchy

2012-01-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned I'm allergic...to my garden. It's not very pleasant, and so I don't talk about it often. But when I get all excited and spend hours weeding or thinning or taking out old plants, my eyes water and get puffy and my skin (any exposed to plant life) gets all swollen like a huge bee stung me, and the rest of me has little red splotches all over that itch. And so, Wednesday, when it was so beautiful, I went out and cleared a few rows in my garden, only to be rewarded with itchy welts... But I am counting my blessings because this fall my allergies were MUCH less annoying than they had been in the past! In the past I would wake with a waterfall for a nose and unless I did the stuff tissue up your nose trick, I would be literally dripping until 10am. But this fall I didn't have that problem. So, I'm hoping my healthy life style is going to improve my allergies, even if it is in baby steps. I can't give up growing things...it's not that bad, yet. And what would we eat then?

Back to the Science Center This Time to See the Pirates

2012-01-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

I felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness, as I was making dinner one night last week, that the broccoli was from our garden, the chicken from our chickens, and there was a #10 can with 21 eggs in it from our layers. It's all coming together!

Last week I took Zach, Andrew, and Ry to the Science Center...during school, even though I took Andrew and Ry last week. I haven't done that for a long time (taken the kids out of school for a field trip...but sometimes, it sounds like a good thing to take a break from education and see what we can learn from a museum. I had a lot of fun with the boys, we went to the pirate exhibit and learned about real pirates that sailed off the coast of Cape Cod 300 years ago. We learned about physics, and behavioral sciences, and the oceanic conveyor. It was all very fun, even feeding the pigeons and little birds during our picnic lunch. The boys looked through what looked like a telescope and their eyes were projected on the lens of a telescope like object jetting out of the ceiling (very Dr. Seuss like). And they each took a turn laying on the bed of nails and touching pieces of 8.

Another Chicken Class!

2012-01-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a full day! We taught our 9am-12pm chicken class (with another one on the calendar for next Saturday), full of greeting total strangers toting sharp knives at our front door, cutting off chicken heads together(again as a group of total strangers), today I realized there must be something like a reality t.v. show feeling for these souls. They come in blind, not knowing where we have them going, who we are, what our background is (except we kill our own food in our backyard), it almost sounds creepy. I think I can see the relief on their faces when I open my 10' iron front door and welcome them into my cozy living room, with the biggest, "relax, I'm not going to hurt you" smile I can muster. Thankfully, the majority of our class members are doctors, lawyers, Realtors, IT people, and scientists...not your typical "farmer". Today's class was just as fun to teach as the first one, although, I still get really nervous about teaching it! We have had 100% positive reviews, but I still get really worried someone won't learn anything from us...

So, all in all we butchered 25 chickens today. Eli played in 11 short basketball games this morning (winning 10) with his deacons' quorum, Zach played a baseball game (8-10), and Andrew and Ryon went to a birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza, and Zach worked with his friend on a school project for 3 hours, Savanah did tons (literally 2 thousand pounds, just kidding) of homework...or at least 8 hours, and then for the rest of the day I prepared my lesson for tomorrow. I'm thinking that's why it's 8:01pm and I feel like I should be going to bed! It's been a lovely day, but I'm tired! I hope you have a great Sunday! I think after church I'll be taking a nap. At least that sounds like a good idea right now:).

Becoming self sufficient is fun and rewarding...and very time consuming and tiring! But I still like it. I'm really excited for the next few months...peach blossoms (and peaches), apples, tomatoes, and all the other foods that are about to burst out of our brown landscape.

Back to School!

2012-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

Long car rides are not our favorite!

(Even short for that matter! Do you have your seat belts on?

A belt around your forehead does NOT count!)

Batting practice with coach dad.

Today is a sad and happy day after a long vacation like Christmas vacation was this year. Sad because all the happy laughter and rambunctious Nerf gun wars are over and happy because I have so many things to get caught up on and today is the day to begin.

We have spent a lot of time helping with science fair projects over Christmas break. Eli, Nathaniel, and Zach all "GET" to do one this year. Eli chose a civil engineering topic again, although, he loves civil engineering, it's really hard for him to come up with a really good idea, and normally ends up with a trebuchet or bridge or this year what material stops water the best... It's definitely not the best he could do, but I'm not good at helping brainstorm ideas, either! Nathaniel is doing a chicken project with eggs, and with about 24 eggs a day, it's turning out to have a huge number of data points, which is always good! And Zach is doing a baseball project, which most of the boys and Ryon spent 12 collective hours working on on Saturday. So, with 600 data points Zach's looks like it will be pretty good, also. I'm always torn on how much I should help with a project. I've been to the school and seen a class where all but one set of parents helped, and it's obvious what a child can do alone is a totally different project than the one they can do with a little bit of help.

The boys had played a lot of baseball this Christmas, they are getting excited for the up-coming season when Ryon will coach for the first time. Since, he didn't really play baseball as a kid, it's been a hard decision for him to volunteer to coach. But now with 8 seasons under his belt, he's feeling confident enough to give it a try.

Savanah has been taking lots of photos, all of the ones in this post she took. I'm grateful for the help in recording our family history!

I better get to work...but first, I wanted you to know I pulled a perfect 10" carrot from my garden this morning!!! I'm so excited that my soil is soft enough for a carrot to grow 10" in my compacting clay soil...who says horse manuer and bermuda grass clippings are bad for my garden... :)

Christmas Break Outings

2011-12-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

We used to go and do a lot of free community events with our kids...I'm trying to decide if it was because we rented, so we didn't have so many responsibilities at home, or because we didn't have as many kids, or we just were more interested in what was going on in our community. But we've tried to renew our interest this Christmas vacation and we went to a Challenger Space Station Museum Family Night. Where we got to listen to the pilot of a Space Shuttle tell us about his last voyage to the space station. It was really interesting, although, I was a bit surprised when he asked how man of you are interested in outer space...and well, I didn't raise my hand, he said we were all supposed to raise our hands. I guess I just haven't progressed that far, yet. I'm more interested in my backyard right now... Although, he did say the brightest thing in the night sky besides the moon is the space station and that was really interesting to me. He said it's not visible every night, but when it is it's close to sunset or sunrise.

Ryon gave us all a ticket to the Phoenix Suns' opening game. It was quite an event to attend together, we all received free shirts at the door, and even though we were in the nose bleed seats (just one row between us and the ceiling!) we had a lot of fun!

Today we had 15 kids here to play (including mine). I made 4 loaves of banana bread and 48 corn tortillas while they were all running around. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do. They had fun playing flag football, jumping on the trampoline, playing board games, riding rip riders, and swinging in the hammock. They asked me a lot what they were supposed to do...go play, make something up if you have to.

Happy New Year! 2012...it's normally no big deal to me to change into the new year, but this year, it seems like 2012 is in the future somewhere...not just 2 days away!

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

I found this photo from this summer in Ryon's archived pictures, and thought it was too precious to pass up.

This was the best Christmas ever! We celebrated Christmas Eve with a meal fit for a king, with a pork crown roast with all the fixings. Then, we read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 (we didn't want to leave out the wise men). And we exchanged our secret Santa gifts, I received a gift certificate from little Ry for one hour of work:)...he knows what my favorite things are:)! Then we tucked everyone into the fort they've been making for a few days in Nathaniel and Zach's room. (It was a super cool fort! When the door is such it is like a tent, and it collapses to the ground when the door is open.)

On Christmas morning the kids started getting up at about 1:30am, Ryon nicely asked them to go back to sleep at 2:30am, I got out of bed at about 4:30pm (and stayed up all day long) and Savanah was up last at 5:30am. The kids were too excited to really sleep last night. I sure remember those sleepless Christmas Eve nights! I seem to have passed those feelings on to my own children. This year I labeled the stockings with names, so there weren't the stocking confusions we've had in years past. I think everyone received what they needed and wanted, I know I did. A long day with my family surrounding me. That's exactly what I asked for this Christmas!

Santa brought Ry and Andrew Razor Rip Riders, which are like big wheels, but with rear casters, and they spin 360 degrees when the boys apply their foot brakes. They seem to spin all around, and the boys love them!

Three Days and Counting

2011-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Everyone is home! Our Christmas vacation has officially begun and there are only three days until Christmas! Savanah is curling up with a book and the boys are playing football out back. It's quiet, except for my Christmas music, and I'm feeling ready for the big day! Sigh & smile!

I make a lunch salad for Ryon almost every day of the year. And today it included: tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, radishes, and green onions -all from our garden!! It's so exciting! And delicious! We're supposed to get some cold nights here in the next few days, so I don't know if we'll keep getting our tasty garden treats, but I hope so! Our chickens are being super layers! This morning I had 10 dozen eggs in the refrigerator, and none of them are more than 7 days old! We have received amazingly delicious assortment of sugary confections this season!...Bea sent us Italian chocolates (like 20 pounds of hazel nut truffles and true European Nutella, and a slice of heaven...just seeing if you were really reading, but seriously they are amazing chocolates!), she knows us too well!), and a couple of our great friends gave us a few batches of home made almond rocca, and a HUGE box of homemade and decorated cookies (it appears that's what households that only have girls do at Christmas time-decorate beautiful Christmas cookies...they're so beautiful!) BUT my head is telling me, "STOP eating the sugar!" But my mouth is saying, "sure, another one sounds delicious! Thanks you!" The great dilemma, now it tastes the best because it was just made, but too much of a good thing, well, it gives me a headache and makes me want to sleep for way too long when it wears off. Good thing there are 9 other people here willing to eat it for me!

YUMMY!!!

I volunteered at Ry's Christmas party this morning. Nathaniel wanted to come along, since he got out of school for Christmas on Tuesday, and Ry and Nathaniel made the cutest little "gingerbread house"! I didn't know Cheezits (sp?) came with letters on them now a days! They sure spice up a gingerbread house!

Uugh!! Even Steven!

2011-12-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

I need help! My closet floor is crowded with Christmas and I'm supposed to be making it "even". How can an elephant and an apple be equalized on the scale of Christmas presents? Is a hypothetical baseball bat equal to a remote control car? Is a pad of paper equal to a pair of pants? This is SO hard for me! Thus, the spread sheet! It sounds so unromantic but it is the only thing keeping me sane at this moment! Back to the present cave with me... Only six more days 'til Christmas, I can't wait! For lots of reasons! (Nearing the top of my list is to vacuum my entire closet floor...again with the unromantic!) But I am still smiling:) I hope you are, too!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for Christmas lists and secret Santa. We have a great neighborhood, and almost 50% are members of our congregation...but not 100%. So, the other day, an elderly man (my neighbor) pulls me into his house to show me the "gifts" some woman who is in love with him has been giving him. As soon as I saw the 2 liter bottle of Sprite with the witty little note attached I knew he had a "secret Santa" not a secret lover! But how to explain that to him, when he was holding a pot holder towel set that said something clever about him being "hot"! It was a classic BYU play on words, but to him it was a secret admirer. It helped reset my perspective a bit. We have had amazing secret Santas over the years, we've received everything from a pan full of blue jello with white marshmallow swans "a swimming", to enormously large sums of money that made us cry because of the unknown givers extreme generosity. So, to see first hand the wonder of an elderly man who had never known of someone to secretly give, night after night, prompting him to sprint from his t.v. watching recliner at the first sound of a knock at 7pm each night, only to find yet another gift on his thresh hold, he searches our street, but no one is there, it is exciting, yet frustrating, and it makes me think, I need to do that again some time! I love the spirit of Christ, giving with no thought of return.

I made a double batch of cinnamon rolls (some 8 dozen) on Friday and tried to give them all away, I fell short, but my family helped eat those that remained.

Today, Ryon and I went Christmas shopping together. He is fun to shop with and has really wanted to do some Christmas shopping this year, but we definitely have different shopping styles, I'm more of a take the list (I actually have a spread sheet with all the categories I buy for each person (eat, wear, play, read, surprise...), get only what's on the list, go home (quick and to the point), he's more of a SHOPPER...What is this?, What is that?, Would any one want this cool thing?, let's not skip one aisle in the store kind of shopper. He really owns the spirit of Christmas, I'd have to say. He loves to give with no thought of what he might get in return, except he'd like to get a "surprise" from me this year, but he keeps opening every box I bring home and even Amazon deliveries. What am I supposed to do with that? We do share every space in our home. (If you read this Ryon...which I know you don't.) STOP OPENING THE BOXES!!! Or you'll never have a surprise on Christmas morning!

Savanah hosted her annual Christmas party this year. We made pizza and they watched a movie, and they chatted.

I'm really excited for Christmas this year! All of our children are giving gifts to each other, and they get so excited to see how happy that makes their siblings. A few years ago, Nathaniel gave Andrew some Christmas tree socks that he wore about 5 times a week for 2 years. Ryon would ask Andrew to wear different socks to church in August, but Andrew would still wear his favorite socks. I'm excited for Christmas!

Christmas Time, Parenting, and Farming

2011-12-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

We've decorated for Christmas, it took about a week this year, and finally it took Nathaniel staying home from school and helping me for 3 hours to get it done. We have already gone to one school Christmas concert. Now, I just need to figure out what everyone needs for Christmas, and get my shopping done in the next 6 days before school is out!

I chaperoned Ry and some of his classmates on a field trip to the zoo last week, or was it the week before. Seriously, when life gets this busy, each day just melds with the last. Zach is playing winter baseball and is the starting pitcher on his team and the 4th batter in the batting line-up. But we missed his first game because it was on Saturday morning, the same Saturday morning when we were butchering chickens with complete strangers. I'm disappointed I didn't get to see Zach's game! I plan to see the next one!

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands."–Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Jay (Aug. 23, 1785)

Ryon informed me Thomas Jefferson grew tobacco and had slaves work the land for him, does that mean African Americans are the most valuable citizens?? I guess that's not exactly what Thomas Jefferson meant, but I don't know and it really doesn't matter, the quote still seems to ring true to me about our gardening and raising animals:). We've had a busy few weeks, months maybe. But today seems like a good day to at least say "Hello" to my blog followers...Mom, Jody, Ruby, Lacy, Sarah, Bea, and Ricky.

I've been busy getting office gifts ready for Ryon's co-workers. We gathered fresh eggs, made a dozen fresh (like right off the griddle) corn tortillas for everyone in his office, and cut some fresh licorice basil and sweet basil for his office manager. Plus, we gave each of them a chicken...one of our chickens. Here's the photo one of them sent me of the food she made from our gift.

Saturday we held our first official How to Raise Laying Hens & Butcher Meat Chickens Hands on Informational Class. We had fun teaching, and our students had fun learning. They were surprised when we told them it was our first shot at teaching about farming, which made us feel like we were good at delivering our information. Only 2 of our students actually gave butchering a try, but at least the others got to see first hand how it is done. So, now we have some 30 plus chickens in our freezer, and let me tell you, they are the most delicious, moist, tender chickens I have ever eaten! I was a bit nervous at first that they'd taste gamey or tough, but the meat is amazing!

Well, tonight is the AWFUL WAFFLE, what is that you say? Well, my neighbor has been baking up green and red waffles on the 2nd or 1st Monday in December for some 35 years and feeds whoever shows up! It's really fun! And it's free dinner for just walking a few doors down. I LOVE my neighborhood!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! In case I can't find a spare minute for blogging before next year!

Christmas Letter Time!

2011-12-04T19:35:00.001-08:00

FRIENDS & FAMILY!!! It's time for me to send out snail mail Christmas cards, but I know a lot of you have moved since I last sent out cards, and I haven't been good at writing down your addresses, so, if you have moved in the last 4 years, please get me your new address ASAP!! :) THANKS!

Special Day!

2011-11-06T18:53:00.001-08:00

Andrew, Ryon, & Eli all had play-off football games on Saturday. Andrew and Ryon's team lost for the first time this season, which happened to be their last game of the season. Andrew and Ryon both played exceptionally well this season. Eli & Ryon helped mark the plays on the sidelines for most of their games.

And Eli, being the amazing big brother that he is, had to miss his play off game so he could go to Andrew' baptism. We thought Eli would be able to play some of his game, but it was delayed and it just couldn't work out, even after he dressed out and warmed up with his team. But Eli's team won, so he'll get to play in the last Championship playoff game next week.

Andrew's baptism was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come, and they brought along some cousins. We got to visit and Grandpa took all of us to Chili's for dinner afterwards, yum!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T08:39:00.001-07:00

Savanah-blonde Mulon (everyone laughed when she said it...), Eli-doctor (not pictured...I didn't see him in his costume this year), Nathaniel-karate guy, Zach-soldier, Andrew-alligator, Ryon-Ninja

I enjoyed this Halloween! I didn't stay home to wait for the 2 trick-or-treaters that meander into our neighborhood, or try to make some elaborate healthy dinner before my kids indulged in Hershey heaven, or try to come up with new costumes. We dug around in the dress-up bin and our closets to come up with adequate costumes, we grabbed pillow cases (coming up with 6 spares when we already use 10 on a regular basis is more difficult than you might think), walked down our street trick-or-treating to get to our ward's trunk-or-treat party, then went to Nathaniel's friend's neighborhood, where the kids trick-or-treated and Ryon and I visited with Jacob's parents, then we headed to the neighborhood where Eli had gone trick-or-treating after school with his buddy, Max. We made a few specific stops to say "Hi" to old friends and then headed home to drop off Savanah's friend, who had hung out with us all night. There was a lot of picking up and dropping off kids (with on average 9 people in our suburban), but Ryon and I got to visit, and laugh, sing, and dance all night long it was so fun. It really was the best Halloween in a long time. Plus, the kids got more chocolate than ever! Eli had the most with about 250 pieces! It might not count because his friend didn't want candy and divided it up between Eli and Max. Andrew had the least with 100 pieces...still, that's a lot!

Last Swim Meet of Savanah's Season

2011-11-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of Savanah! She has worked very hard and steadily improved all season long. She's in great shape and is happy with her own progress.

Well, I went to the first swim meet this swim season. And, even though I sat attentive in the stands...I only saw her swim once out of the three events she swam. There were no announcements to signal events, or schools, or anything. And honestly, I can't distinguish between 50 girls with matching swim caps, goggles, and swimming suits, even though my daughter is almost a head taller than most other girls (I do have a distinct advantage over other moms). Add to the confusion the trip digit temperatures, and well...I didn't go to many swim meets this year. But I did go to this final one. Savanah shaved 3 seconds off her time (and the long hair off of her legs, which she patiently waited 3 months to shave!) to earn the best time her relay received all season (by about 10 seconds, which is amazing!).

(In the top left picture I see Lacy and Ian...such a strong family resemblance!)

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

2011-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last night we celebrated Andrew and his birthday. A lot of his friends from football, school, and his 2 best buddies who moved away all came together to swim, play football, play capture the flag, and eat (the best birthday cake I've made to date...chocolate mousse filling). We started the party at 3pm, which was really fun for me. When we start at 12pm, I'm never quite ready, this time I had showered and everything was in its place before the first guest arrived, Andrew had a lot of fun, and it was perfect for me.

Andrew is tall for his grade, but normal height at 8 years old for our family. He is very verbal and athletic. He loves playing quarter back for his football team, but he loves to tackle and especially sack the other quarter backs the most. Every 2nd grade boy that comes in contact with him admires him. He emanates confidence, patience, and gratitude. He truly listens when I talk to him, and he truly cares about what I think and say. He wants me to be happy more than he wants to be happy himself. We works hard at school, and everything he does. He wants to make everyone happy, and when we aren't happy with him he is very stubborn and difficult to be around! Parenting him is a balancing act because he is wonderful, and truly works at being a good boy, but when he makes a mistake, if I bring it to his attention he does a 180' and pretty much stops trying. He's motivated by success, and luckily he has a lot of it. He has many true and devoted friends and many admirers. I admire Andrew and love him much more than words can say.

Yesterday was a busy Saturday. We dropped Savanah off at her school at 6:45am so she could swim the 100 meter breast stroke in 1.26 minutes in the Last Chance Swim Meet. She hasn't qualified to swim at state, but she's improved a lot. Eli's football team played their last season game and ended the season 7 wins 1 loss. Andrew had his birthday party. And Ryon and I went out last night to a dance party that was thrown by our very fun friends, Travis and Sarah. Seeing Sarah dance reminded me of the fun time we had when we went to the Christian music concert together, she really is a talented dancer! But by the end of the day I was just really ready to go to sleep. I enjoyed this Saturday, but definitely could do with a few less activities in one day. But more than anything I feel very blessed with joy in my family.

Something Sustains Its Life Solely From Our Garden!

2011-10-20T08:48:00.001-07:00

My life has felt fairly hectic lately. Like how can I possibly accomplish everything I would really like to do. Spend quality time with my husband and each of my kids each day, keep a clean house, fold and put away 10 people's laundry daily, cook all our meals, bake all our bread, keep a garden and landscaping beautiful and productive, take care of the chickens, maintain our pool, sweep the porches, maintain the house (that really feels like it's falling apart some days, I thought a new house was supposed to be...well new and not need fixing!), along with the spiritual feeding and the gaining of knowledge...each day just feels like it has about 48 hours too little time. Throw in there a healthy dose of fall allergies and I'm feeling a bit like a very small speck in a great big world. That's when I go outside...because well, when I go outside everything is beautiful in it's own special way. Even dirt is beautiful, it smells some how healthy, and I love the way it feels between my fingers. The colors are so diverse and intense and lovely. So, I can get lost in a trance of feeling happy and light hearted, I can pull a few weeds and take a few pictures and feel as good as new, until that is I go back into the house and remember my huge list of what needs to be done today...and possibly yesterday. And wish I could just live outside, but without all the bugs, and with plenty of water.

I'm growing all sorts of amazing things lately. The above photos are from our front courtyard, and garden. With the help of liquid fertilizer I have tomatoes growing prolifically, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, green onions, and cantaloupe. In the front we have hibiscus blooming, along with zinnias, and an assortment of bell flowers, which I love. We have lots of purple, which I like because it compliments the gold color of our home. I found this big juicy caterpillar this morning. He was devouring every single leaf from a tomato plant. I hear that devoted gardeners squish bugs with their fingers...I'm not there, yet...I fed it to the chickens. I always wonder when I find huge bright green caterpillars in the desert, how do they survive out here? They adapt...I could barely see it, even when my hand was almost on top of it.

Fossil Springs Vacation October Break 2011

2011-10-17T13:05:00.001-07:00

For every parent out there...you know going "camping" means you get to do everything you do at home, plus more, in a place where it's a little bit harder, with a lot less water, and you have to try to remember EVERY thing you use at home, so you don't feel like you are a member of a prehistoric nomadic tribe. That being said, we threw in a new hitch...2 teenage boys...young men, who didn't want to accompany us on our camping trip. So, along with all of the gear we needed to pack for 10 people, we had to convince them there really was no opting out. Sound like fun, yet? It really was!

Fossil creek is just like that amazing river my parents told me about when I was a kid. The one that is clear all the way to the bottom, that you can tube down. The one that is fed by some mildly geothermic spring that is 75' degrees year round. It was amazing! And the reason it is called "Fossil" creek is because it lays down a fossil mineral layer on everything sealing it up nicely so it feels so clean!

The highlight of the trip was floating, and sometimes tumbling down the river on our inner tubes that were probably meant more for a bath tub than a river. But it was fun. We had to portage the "water craft" for some of the rapids...but we only figured that out after we had a savage trip down the first one...some of our legs, hips, and backs were a little worse for wear after that, and after ending up under Nathaniel's older and some what heavier body Andrew opted to stay out of the rapids for the rest of the day (fearing death if he had another tumble)...but hopefully my boys learned a lesson they won't have to repeat with their teenage friends some day!

Ryon and our older kids jumped from cliffs and stood under a beautiful waterfall while the rest of us just warmed up to the idea of getting in while it was still cool in the morning air.

Our reluctant travelers let down their hair, or probably more appropriately their pants and floated down river in their skivvies. I guess we looked like we were having the time of our lives, so they couldn't resist joining our fun, it was a lot of laughs and very fun!

The close second adventure of our stay was during the night when I felt "something" on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. And I flung it off in my/Ryon's sleeping bag...feeling somewhat guilty that I just flung who knew what onto my husbands "pants" I quickly grabbed "it" and threw it across the tent. In the morning we found that "it" was a large scorpion...and luckily it was only clinging to Savanah's sweat pants and hadn't stung any of our campers. There were also skunks which visited the boys tents throughout the night, but no one got sprayed.

We made it home with lots of fresh dirt, a few sun burns, and many fun memories of being a diverse family of 10. I definitely like being home, but it's worth all the laundry and bug bites to do something different every now and then.

"I think our dad is Very Handsome." & General Conference Weekend

2011-10-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

We picked "Jimmy" up from the airport on Saturday night. He's a 6' tall Chinese boy from Shanghai. He is kind, generous, and funny. As we pulled out of the garage to go to his new high school on Monday morning, he saw Ryon finishing up some yard work and said, "I think our dad is VERY handsome." I had to validate that, "I think our dad is very handsome, too!" Jimmy made us all bust up laughing when he said his teachers at school can't tell when he sleeps during class because his eyes don't look any different whether they are opened or closed. He's very humble and very kind, we're happy to have him as a son for this school year.

We love and miss our exchange students we had last year, but are excited to get to know Jimmy and Kiko this year. In some really great ways Jimmy reminds us of Bea, and it makes us miss her even more.

I just realized this morning that I will have 10 children at our home every morning for a week, starting tomorrow. The great part is they are great kids, and it's really no problem...it just looks like a lot of people!

We spent 4 hours on Sunday watching General Conference. If you know me, I don't like to spend 4 hours watching t.v. in one day, but General Conference is different! My brother in law shared this link http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/why-do-mormons-hold-general-conference/2011/09/26/gIQApq5P0K_blog.html which I thought was really a great commentary on why we watch conference. I personally watch because when I do I am inspired to be a better person, to forgive more, do better, and love more fully. I struggle to stay awake, so I normally find an easy task to perform while I listen. This year I washed out my refrigerator and washed my kitchen counters. It helps me listen and stay awake. :) Maybe a little unorthodox, but still helpful to me:). If you wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ and His modern day followers. These are also great web sites: http://mormon.org/ & http://lds.org/?lang=eng.

Chinese & Meat Chickens

2011-09-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Eli, Nathaniel, and Zach all have taken some Mandarin, Eli more than the rest with 5 years already. So, we are so excited that on Saturday our Chinese exchange student will arrive. I think he speaks Mandarin, but we'll have to wait and find out on Saturday. :)

He wrote me a few e-mails, but I erased them!!! Ooops! His address was all numbers and the subject line was in Chinese characters. So, of course I thought it was spam! Then, when I got the last one, it dawned on me, oh yeah, maybe our Chinese exchange student is writing to me. The best part was when Eli came over, he read me all of the characters! He had just learned them in Chinese this week! This is going to be fun!

We picked up a little chicken house yesterday. You may be wondering why... Well, we are going to raise some of our own meat chickens. It's Ryon's idea and project, so I'll try hard not to own it:). And yesterday he found a free building, which his friend already helped him move and now, once it's off the trailer, instant chicken house:). It's just in time because the meat chicks arrive on Monday! Going to pick them up at the post office is one of my favorite things in the world! Everyone is standing all grumpy in line waiting for the next slow teller, and then, when my package starts chirping and wiggling they all smile and ask 1000 questions. It's pretty rewarding just to pick the chicks up from the post office. Hopefully, all of our experience with laying hens will come into play and we'll have great success!

Zoo

2011-09-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

Andrew, Ry, and Evan had a 1/2 day of school on Friday, so, we enjoyed the afternoon at the zoo.

FIRST, Battle of the Books, Friends, Swim, and Garden

2011-09-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel is involved with First Robotics (Lego League) again, I'm so glad. He and his buddy are excited to build their team's robot and program it to accomplish the tasks that they are currently learning about. I'm excited that I get to encourage and watch, but that their science teacher is their coach.

Zach is competing in Battle of the Books with his buddies. Zach has also found some great friends at his new school and keeps pretty busy (at least he keeps me busy) playing with them.

Savanah's swim team won in their meet last night. 130-18...I guess it wasn't a very good match up...our suburban stopped working yesterday morning (something having to do with turning over, the starter works, the battery works, the alternator works, but the car doesn't??-any ideas are appreciated!), so I didn't make it to her swim meet.

The chickens devastated our garden this morning! So, so, so, disheartening! I clipped their wings yesterday, but apparently they can hop higher than our garden fence:(. Any ideas on keeping them out of the garden would be greatly appreciated!

Football...Raiders vs Fiery

2011-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Both Eli's & Andrew & Ryon's teams are undefeated...the season makes life hectic, but the boys are having fun. Savanah has her first away swim meet tomorrow night and will represent her school in the 50 meter free style and 100 meter free style. She is hoping to beat her fast time of 32.72 seconds on the 50 meter.

Living Garden

2011-09-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

In my desert it doesn't take long for the August's gardening dead zone to pass right by. If I blink, or don't want to sweat (so I stay inside), I miss the window for planting fall plants, but this year I didn't do either. I have been busy pushing seeds into the ground for weeks now, and already my work is starting to show both in my chipped and peeling fingernails and in the starts bursting out of the earth. The first collage was taken from our landscape that we've finally started!! It only took about 5 years, but now we have an amazing array of color in our front courtyard. It reminds us of Hawaii with plumeria and hibiscus, fig and snail vine, and other tropical flora.

These next pictures are of my basil/herb garden and vegetable garden. This year I have all the basil I want, FINALLY. I planted about 60 seeds this year. And 8 basil plants are huge, 10 are medium, and there's a pot of decent ones (that I hope to move into the kitchen when it gets cold outside). We have pesto daily and I'm ready to start drying some basil for winter. Gardening is so rewarding when it works out how I dream it will:). The tomato plants are coming back to life after the blazing heat of July and August. There are broccoli, cucmbers, armenian cucumbers, (cantalope-I couldn't bring myself to pull all of them out), chard, leeks, green onions, garlic, arugula, a variety of lettuce, cilantro (I want to make cilantro pesto next:)), carrots, and a few other things breaching the surface of the soil now. We were blessed with rain almost daily for a week after I got the majority of my fall seeds into the ground! That was a huge blessing! We won't get ANY sweet potatoes this year. We'll definitely miss that harvest, it was such a treasure hunt for us! The chickens were ruthless in the garden this year and dug up every evidence of sweet potato vine they could find. We'll have to try again next year.

We have enough chickens now, which give us enough eggs that we don't have to buy them any more:). I don't really know how many years it has been for us to get to this point. But it sure is nice to have all my eggs coming from my own backyard, not to mention the chicken manure fertilizer that the grape vines and apple trees love.

Potential...

2011-09-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

As he left this morning he said, "I'm going to make a lot of money today." To which I countered, "I'm going to clean the kitchen really really well..." I almost laughed as I said it. It sounded so pathetic! And so today, I have baked 5 loaves of bread, made about 100 corn tortillas, and 32 flour tortillas, washed 8 loads of laundry...and folded every stitch of it, searched for books on tape on-line at my local library, fed and watered our hens, and watered our garden, which is germinating nicely (by the way), plus a few other odds and ends. I have a bunch more on my to-do list, but really, it's endless. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing here at home. I spent a few days last week going through lots of drawers and cupboards straightening and getting rid of things we don't need.

I'm still wondering what I'm passionate about. Everyday brings new ideas and new things to do. I like being a stay at home mom.

Football on Saturday was fun! Andrew made a touch down after stealing the ball from a player on the other team. He said he was tired of waiting for his coach to call a play where he scored, so he thought he'd just make it happen. Then, the next play he sacked the quarter back and caused him to fumble, and the Raiders (that's Andrew & Ryon's team) picked up the fumble. Ry has had 4 more tackles this season than Andrew had all last football season, he's doing great also! And Eli is doing great. He plays on the 0-line and has to hold back really big "kids"...they look like men to me!

I took my camera on Saturday, but ended up being the water mom for the team instead of taking pictures...so I still don't have any photos of Eli from football this year.

"Andrew, You're a Beast!"

2011-09-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew is Number 93 and Ry is Number 99.

1 sack, 4 tackles for a loss, and 5 assists-those are Andrew's records for yesterday's game...and Ry had his first 2 tackles yesterday. Andrew and Arrow are the lead tackles for their Raiders' team and they sure make the game fun to watch...for our side that is. The final score was Raiders 30 vs Panthers 6. The boys' team struggled with their extra points, but made up for it with extra touch downs. Andrew plays every play of the game going both ways and Ry was the center for all but one offensive plays and played about 1/2 the defensive plays. During the game, Andrew missed a tackle (lots, but one in particular), but slowed the runner down and Ryon came in and took the tackle. As a mom it's great to watch my boys working together as a center and quarter back on offense and Andrew as a line backer and Ryon a defensive tackle on defense, and sometimes they stand beside each other on the D-line when Andrew blitzes, they look out for each other, and they work together so well! As I was taking their picture after the game Ry was shielding his eyes from the sun and looked up at Andrew to see his eyes in the bright sunlight, so, he over extended his arm to make sure Andrew's eyes had shade, too. They get each other dressed and help each other have enough water for football, Andrew forgot his water bottle for school the other day and Ry had packed 2 for himself, so he gave one to Andrew. And then there's Eli. He had a bye yesterday, but he feels so much happiness in his little brothers being successful in football!

After the game, the coach came to our truck and all he had to say was, "Andrew, you're a Beast! If you do that every game we are W, W, W, W, W from here on out!"

Last week Andrew had 6 tackles and a safety. And the score was Raiders 14 vs Titans 6.

I still have concerns over tackle football for kids, starting with the impact on their brains! But they sure love it. It gives especially Andrew an acceptable outlet to go all out physically and at least that part of football is a very positive thing.

Dead Zone Desert Gardening

2011-08-30T10:44:00.001-07:00

As I type this I am soaking home grown sunflower seeds to see if I can make sunflower sprouts. They have intrigued me since I had some as a garnish at a restaurant.

August is really a dead season in my garden. It's too bloody hot for me to go outside after 6am and do back breaking labor in my garden...so unless something is growing on its own, it has to wait until LATE August or early September. And this is late August, so, I hilled the garden this morning and planted broccoli, onions, and garlic. I found last year, that by covering the rows with sheets after I planted seeds, it helped the germination rate improve by leaps and bounds. So far this "fall", all of the seeds I've planted were grown in my own garden last year:) That makes me feel happy. Tomorrow I hope to plant one more row of something, and then clear out the rest of the garden. We've been harvesting cantaloupe this summer, but they don't taste good at all...so I'm pulling them out to plant something else. Pulling out a living plant is a rarity for me. It feels like I'm killing something that I brought to life...but I'm trying to be smart about my gardening.
Last night's Family Home Evening was a lot of fun. We got to know each other better by playing a get to know you game (who knew I had 3 children who's least favorite food is poop? And that I'm almost everyone's favorite person...I would have guessed Dad, he's mine.), and then we had a Nerf gun war. I got trapped in the pantry...what a stupid place to hide! They just shut the door and I was out of the war! And I positioned Andrew on the window seat...he was a sitting duck and after 2 seconds he was out of the game. If you haven't guessed, my team lost and the President and his body guards made it to the other end of the house. It's quite a fun game. Especially taking into consideration that my favorite games include shooting people and playing with my family...but just for fun mind you! I absolutely love this time in my life.

Ward Camp Out

2011-08-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Caption: Zach & Nathaniel spent hours exploring at the stream, and Savanah stepped in just for the picture, her contorted body speaks to just how freezing the water really was...maybe 55-60'F.

If I failed to mention it...life is really busy right now. And I often feel like we are all traveling in different directions. So, when the ward camp out was announced it didn't surprise me that 1/2 of us had obligations that night and day, and then I found out most of our ward had obligations that night...which meant my kids friends weren't attending the camp out. So, I started collecting kids, until the suburban was full and we...me and the kids went camping. I took Savanah, Nathaniel, and Zach, along with 4 other kids from our neighborhood. It as a lot of fun. We camped at a fish hatchery and the kids caught a bunch of fish with their hands (it was legal) and then we BBQ'ed them when we got home. When the kids rolled all the windows down and were waving crazily at all the passing cars and singing as loud as they could to the radio...I felt much like a bus driver with all of their commotion. We ate smore's for lunch in the car (that were raw), and we had candy bars for dinner appetizers. It's totally against my character to feed my kids and others' kids junk, but it was fun for a change. We laughed and slept together in one big tent. And then, when we got home, I had all the kids wash and vacuum out my suburban because it was SO dirty...and if that wasn't enough time with me, they all wanted to go sit in the desert sun for 2 hours Saturday afternoon to watch Eli play his first football game of the season. I love being in the woods with my children, splashing in the water, and being free of all my cares in the world (and having someone else cook and clean for us), some how camping does that for me.

Happy Birthday Ry Guy!

2011-08-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

I always love to celebrate Ry Guy! He's a very bright and happy person in my life.Ry invited his closest friends & brothers to celebrate his birthday Saturday . He's quite a social butterfly and very likable. So, 21 of his best buddies came to his party. It was so much fun! He had two cakes, both of them were 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla. We BBQed and had other munchies. I did feel like 21 kids around 6 years old is too many when there is swimming involved, gratefully we live in the land of swimming and everyone was an accomplished swimmer.

Happy Birthdays & Happy Anniversary!

2011-08-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

School is in full swing, along with swim team and football. Yesterday we celebrated Ry's birthday. He requested waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon for breakfast. We had to serve it at 6am so everyone could eat together. Then, I celebrated his birthday at lunch by going to his school to eat lunch with him. It was fun to have him home for the evening we didn't think he had football practice, although he found out later he really did. We ate pizza, swam, and jumped on the trampoline. He is in a phase of his life where he loves having a bath (probably because he gets super sweaty in his football gear), so when I gave him a choice between jumping on the trampoline and a bath...he chose to do both:). Ry is so fun! He is helpful, thoughtful, kind, and overall happy. The only two things he really wanted for his birthday were a microscope and a telescope. So far he hasn't gotten either, but we're working on it! He is great...he said, "whenever you can get them for me, that will be fine."!

We celebrated our wedding anniversary and my birthday this month. As the years pass since I carried Ry Guy, I actually feel younger. I think older, but my body feels better than it did throughout my 20's. For me, being pregnant was a challenge (an exhausting, tiring, fatiguing challenge), so right now I feel like I'm in a magical energetic intermission between child birth and old age.

We celebrated our anniversary in Sedona where it was 78' F! That was amazing to experience, a cool night and lovely days. We made the most of our 2 days and one night by leaving home at 6am and taking in the early morning yoga class in the grass by the creek at our resort. Ryon appreciates yoga, even if he doesn't love it like I do. When we can attend yoga together I love it even more! We went on a Pink Jeep tour and ate some delicious Mexicanish food at Elote. We took a moonlit walk along the creek (where we got scared by the sounds of animals that live along the banks). We ate molten chocolate cakes on our balcony by candle light. And mostly we just talked and held hands, and for 38 hours we shut out the world and were just Ryon and Jeanette one more time. Being in love and married to the person I love is such a rewarding part of my life. Next year will mark the year I will have been married for as long as I was alive before I was married...that sure came faster than I had anticipated!

Savanah and Zach are Back!

2011-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

The First Day!

2011-08-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Empty nest is just around the corner for me, and I see it staring me straight in the face! SO FAST!!! That's all I can say. It took me the first 5 years of motherhood to realize that's all we really get with our little ones these days, and less than that if we chose preschool or early dance or any other number of things that take little ones away from their parents. My first grader is gone from home 10 hours a day nowadays between school and football. I guess it's good and bad. Good for me to realize I won't always have him as my little buddy and bad because he won't always be my little buddy. Andrew asked me the other day if he could bring his kids to my house some times. OF COURSE!!! I'd die if you didn't!

But the sad part of the day aside! It was a lovely day! I wasn't lonely one bit! I was hurrying around like a bee, trying to get my list finished without all my helpers. It was a long list and there's still one unfinished item. I might get it done by the end of the day. I'm aiming for balance in my new life of kids gone to school all day. It's hard not to just do tasks, for me. I need to make sure I take time to be with friends and develop talents and to talk to God. And for me a clean house is a necessity!

Savanah and Zach had a great time visiting my parents in Wisconsin in the beginning of August. They were able to see their cousins in Minnesota and a lot of my cousin's children in Wisconsin. I love my family! They are so great at letting us know they care!

Our Break From the Heat!

2011-07-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

I really feel for those of you, who I love, who live in normally cool to cold places, and who are currently feeling REALLY hot. It makes me count my air conditioning units and feel very grateful I live in a place that is always sweltering hot, so we don't even notice heat waves:)! Nathaniel and Zach played water polo this summer on a very successful team. They earned second place metals in our city, which is a great accomplishment. Zach proved to be a very effective goalie, and Nathaniel a powerful force in the water. They will get to play together again next year, I love it when my kids get to play on the same teams! I dream of them being adults and talking about all the good times they had together when they were kids:). Savanah & Eli would have played in the older age bracket together, they wanted to play this summer, but their age division didn't have enough interest.
Zach, Andrew, and Ry got up at 5:30am on Saturday, so we could go to winter in July at the zoo before Zach's last water polo game of the season. They brought their gloves and made and threw snowballs until they didn't want to throw any more. Snow in July is definitely rare in our neck of the woods, it was fun to pretend to be cold.

June/July

2011-07-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Savanah's Birthday Party was lots of fun...except maybe the mega bloody nose she got from diving into Eden's leg...that was pretty gross. Liberty came into the house and said, "SOMEONE has a bloody nose and needs some paper towels." So, I grabbed the roll and headed out to our pool, only to see Savanah leaning over the flower bed with blood... (I'll not explain the rest, it was gross---even to me!) I'm not sure if she broke it...but it was close.
I LOVE Summer and this one has been fun! I've spent lots of time with all my children, mostly working on projects, but we have played some, too. We enjoyed family and the beach in San Diego over 4th of July. And now that swim team is over for us, it's more fun to remember the meets than it was to sit in the sweltering heat watching the meets:). Andrew with his little chiseled body made us proud and Ry did a great job for his first year to finish the swim season. Ry was one of his coach's 2 most favorite swimmers. The permanent ink on their upper arms (in the photos) indicates they were some of the fastest swimmers on their teams and were in butterfly relay races during this particular meet.

This summer will be over before we know it! And then we'll have a Brazilian exchange student, and it will be football season, again,

Welcome Home, Savanah!

2011-06-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

We made some fun, delicious treats to welcome Savanah home from Girl's Camp. We dipped balloons in chocolate and then drizzled white chocolate over them, popped the balloons (and pulled them out), filled with vanilla pudding, and added berries, and fresh lemon balm from our herb garden. We had a few mishaps with balloons popping and sending chocolate flying all over us and the kitchen. Savanah arrived home an hour early just in time to see my face, shirt, & hair covered in chocolate-it didn't make for the bast welcome home hug, sorry Savanah. Savanah had the best year ever at camp and came home with lots of smiles and fun stories.

Mittens still has 3 kittens. Anyone want a really friendly cute kitten? Give me a call if you do! We love them, but 5 cats is probably too many, even though they never come into our house.

This summer is fun, but VERY hectic. I'd try to write about everything just the kids are doing, but it's an insanely huge amount of things, and we'd all feel tired after reading it, so let's just say some kids have more than 6 activities outside our house a day and there are 6 kids here now, so that's some 36 activities...CRAZY. I'm not doing all of this next summer. I few years ago we were this busy and then I said, "no more". And then years passed and I forgot why I had said, "no more." And now I remember and I'm thinking, how could I have forgotten this?!

Happy Birthday & Graduations!

2011-06-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACH!
Zach is AMAZING! I have to pinch myself sometimes to be sure I'm really his mother! He has a magnetic personality, he makes everyone feel like we really are the most awesome people in the world. He is full of compliments and fun! He is handsome, athletic, smart (verging on genius), artistic, and extremely kind. Last Saturday we celebrated his 10th birthday with some of his best friends (I say some because Zach used 40 card invitations and 13 e-mail invitations to invite his best friends to his party.) I think Zach gets the award for having the first co-ed party at our house. And he had a VERY fun party. Even Nana Jan and Papa Kirk were able to come! That always makes it fun! (My camera ran out of battery or I would have given you a glimpse of the fun they had.) Ryon and Eli made an awesome obstacle course with a full-on mud pit and wall climb, diving for quarters, and throwing Frisbees to buckets where the kids dunked their heads in water. There were lots of stations and everyone had fun, even if their feet burned on the drive way. There were hamburgers (Zach's favorites) and hot dogs, a fruit tower (which had to include watermelon and cucumbers), and chips. Zach asked for a baseball cake and my friend, Kelly, loaned me her round cake pan, so, the cake had a nice baseball on top of it.

We had four graduates at our house at the end of this year. Savanah finished at her junior high, Bea graduated from high school, Zach finished his time at his elementary school and Ry graduated from kindergarten. I'm so proud of each of them for their accomplishments. Zach, Andrew, and Ryon were all chosen by their teacher as the best boy student in their class, otherwise known as the citizenship award, plus all three of them received straight A's. A great accomplishment at their school. Zach recieved the Presidential Fitness Award. We went to Ryon's graduation and he looked like a little president signing his class mates graduation dogs, and getting his picture taken with all of the other children. Savanah received the presidential academic award for having an accumulative GPA above 4.0. She is very excited to be in 10th grade in high school next year. Bea received the Arizona scholar award for her amazing academic achievements this year. She is well deserving of her American diploma! We made Bea a homemade peach graduation pie with a cap on it and had a graduation dinner. I learned a lot about how high school graduation works at a huge high school, it was all so different from what I experienced in the little town I grew up in.

Coming to a Close & The Living Christ

2011-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Eli, Nathaniel, Zach, and Andrew all played well in their baseball games last night, even though all their teams lost. I was pleased that Eli is now able to see the good things he did in a bad game. Such an improvement over past years. Nathaniel, Zach, and Andrew just have the double elimination tournament left, and then it will be on to swim team and water polo for the summer. I enjoyed watching my boys build friendships during baseball season this year. We've become part of the baseball community, and it feels good to recognize faces and families from the last 6 years.

Savanah has been going to the gym in the morning with Ryon. This morning they both swam a whole mile (and another 50 meters). Savanah is getting ready for high school swim team, and Ryon said she is awesome! She was only two laps behind when Ryon finished his mile this morning, he's pretty convinced she'll be faster than him in no time, mostly because she's still rusty after not being on swim team for 2 years. I guess I'll always remember that first year of swim team, when she drank so much water from the pool after the first practice, that she looked green, and then threw up in the parking lot, all the while begging to not have to return the next day. Then, by her second swim meet she was taking home first place in back stroke. She has an iron will, and when she sets her mind on a goal, she will succeed! I'm so proud of her! She just finished MEMORIZING, "The Living Christ."!!! The whole thing, which you couldn't possibly appreciate, unless I put it here (see the rest of this post-she memorized the ENTIRE testimony and it moves me to tears every time she says it, it takes a while, she really is AMAZING!).

THE LIVING CHRIST

THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.
He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.
He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvary's cross. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth.
We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world.
He rose from the grave to "become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His "other sheep" (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, ushering in the long-promised "dispensation of the fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10).
Of the Living Christ, the Prophet Joseph wrote: "His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father" (D&C 110:3–4).
Of Him the Prophet also declared: "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" (D&C 76:22–24).
We declare in words of solemnity that His priesthood and His Church have been restored upon the earth—"built upon the foundation of . . . apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20).
We testify that He will someday return to earth. "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together" (Isaiah 40:5). He will rule as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts.
We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.

THE FIRST PRESIDENCY
THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! I have the best Mom in the world! I didn't get to hug her yesterday, but we talked on the phone for a few minutes. I love her more every year! You're The Best mom! I love you!

Mother's Day was really wonderful for me this year! Each of my children made me a thoughtful card! I loved their words of gratitude and admiration. And Zach and Ry each made me service coupons, Ry's had a little twist that was the BEST EVER! Every time I use the service card he will replace it with another identical card, and they are "do my chores as soon as you ask" and "help you in the garden for 15 minutes"...the boy knows his mother:). Also, last week the kids worked hard to help with cleaning our home, even more than normal, as my mother's day gifts. Ryon worked his tail off doing odd jobs around the house on Saturday. He even re-plumbed my garden water, so I can water the far corners of the garden with grey water, now! :) What a great gift! I heard in an insightful talk at church, a grown daughter said her mother always told her kids, I want a clean house and no fighting for my mother's day gift. What a universal desire for mothers! Although, I didn't think about the no fighting part, I sure thought a lot about the clean house part! But next year I know exactly what my request will be:).

Yesterday, our honey bees arrived. Andrew and I dawned our bee keepers' suits and rubber gloves and boots and helped with the installation. It was exciting to see everything that was going on (a fun Mother's Day activity). It was a lot hotter here than where they came from, so we lost a lot (probably about 100,000 bees). You can see the huge PILE of dead bees in the bottom middle picture. That was reproduced in front of all six hives. We are hopeful that at least a few of the hives will take, but there are no guarantees. The queens all lived threw the ordeal, so that's very hopeful! I went out to check on them this morning and there are bees going in and out of one hive, it's so hard for me to not be able to see what is going on inside the hive! I will learn to be patient one of these days. The queen cages will be removed on Wednesday, and then we'll get to see what each hive has been up to.

I NEED Help!!

2011-05-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

I created this blog http://financialadvisoraz.blogspot.com in November, and deleted it when Joe helped me figure out how. But...it's NOT gone-I just can't make changes to it, it's still on-line and Metlife needs it to be gone. Now it can be found under http://financialadvisoraz.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html and I have no control over it. I've read for hours in "help" forums and I can't find my answer. Anybody know what my answer is?

10 to 1, Double Play, The Hives Have Arrived

2011-05-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

10 to 1 is normally your odds of winning, but right now it's the ratio of people to cars at our house. Ryon's truck is STILL in the shop, but we're hoping to bring it home today:). My generous neighbor, Brother Adams, brough me two 5 gallon buckets of amazing fresh lemons the other night. I tried to put them in my fruit bowl, but there were a few too many, which kind of reminds me of all of us getting into our one car right now.

Our family garden is producing, not much is ripe, yet, but I have HIGH hopes!

Andrew had one of his last baseball games of the season last night and made the most amazing double play! He was second baseman, and the best player on the other team hit a pop fly to right field about 10 feet away from where Andrew was standing. He took off flawlessly, caught the ball, and without a second of hesitation (or coaching) he ran to first base and with the tap of his foot, he got the runner out, who's coach hadn't anticipated Andrew's flawless execution, so had never had the runner re-tagged 1st base before running to second base. Boy, 1st graders can sure impress me sometimes! That was one of those, "That's my boy!" moments! The perks of watching 100's of baseball games and playing in even more (backyard games) by the age of 7.

Yesterday afternoon the bee hives arrived!!! I'm so excited! It will probably be a year before we taste our own honey, but the time will fly by so fast! I still remember the 1st year of owning chickens...it was disappointment after disappointment. But NOW, we get a dozen eggs a day, and the disappointments are few and far between.

I took this photo this morning. The peaches are so close to being ready to pick! Sigh...(that's a sigh of contentment and excitement). It's impossible to describe the texture and flavor of a fresh ripe peach, but it's deeply satisfying to grow them, and then eat them from our backyard! "The field is ripe, all ready to harvest." I wish I could really feel the missionary scripture, like I feel the peach harvest. Because when missionary work is as rewarding as picking fresh peaches, that's some good stuff! I do know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, leads me to do what is the best in this life. I'm so grateful for the map, and I know the guide I follow is complete and right. Now, who can I share it with? Because the gospel's fruit is even better than my backyard peaches!

Desert Shade and Gardening Sweet Corn

2011-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last year I planted corn, but out of 50 stalks I got about 50 kernels, each ear had maybe 4 or 5 kernels...a bit depressing. But this year the corn is looking great, much better than last year. It's already taller than Ry, so maybe 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall and it looks very healthy. Our bees should arrive in the beginning of May, so I'm hoping for fully developed ears of sweet corn this year:) a gardener can hope, can't she?

I'm just putting this questions out to everyone. I'm trying to shade my garden this year. On one side I have a little "shed" that is cemented into the ground and is very stable. But on the other end I have a trellis, which (from experience) moves when I put up my shade clothes. How can I secure shade even amidst monsoon rains and winds?

Easter

2011-04-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

It's my favorite holiday, definitely! There's not all the hype about presents, yet there's all the family time and traditions. And this year Mittens had her four kittens starting at about 12:30pm on Easter Sunday. It was amazing to watch. She chose to have them in the spinach bed in the courtyard. I'm glad I harvested most of the spinach Easter morning to make some delicious quiche from home grown rosemary, parsley, thyme, spinach, eggs, garlic, and onions, and also some mushrooms-not home grown. It was delicious, but seeing those kittens born was the highlight of my day. A perfect reminder of the re-birth we will experience because of my Savior's atonement.

We had a true Easter egg HUNT...some of my children would prefer an Easter egg see and pick up...but they really had to hunt this year. Some eggs were buried (I didn't hide those), some were under things, in things, hidden amongst densely growing poppies and bachelor buttons. It was a challenge...and those who chose to really participate had fun. Next year we'll make some changes, maybe eggs on the lawn for those who don't like to hunt (Savanah and Zach), eggs down low for those who can't see up high, and then really hidden eggs for the other two:).

I was feeling tired on Sunday with a sore throat, but by Monday it was obvious I was sick. I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics for my strep throat. I went home and made a smoothie with 2 cups of parsley, 2 fresh oranges, and 2 fresh carrots. And drank up the whole thing. Then, I made a piece of home made wheat toast with two whole cloves of garlic and olive oil on it. Then, for dinner I made a savory soup of onions, garlic, celery, fresh herbs, home grown turnips and greens, carrots, and chicken -it didn't have salt or chicken bullion. I decided I should do my best to avoid salt and sugar. (Even though I made a german's chocolate cake on Easter Sunday for Eli's b-day-I didn't eat any.) And then I slept like 12 hours yesterday. And it all paid off!! Today I feel a million times better. There's still a trace of a sore throat, but I'm rejuvenated and able to keep up with my family and the house today. Antibiotics are great, but the Dr. said it'd take 3 days to feel the benefits. My prayers were answered and eating and resting sure help!

Ryon's truck broke down on Friday night. It was a huge disappointment! He had been planning every detail of a backpacking trip in the mountains with our 3 oldest boys. They had done all of the preparation and then 10 miles from their destination the truck stalled. The mobile mechanic that came out had really bad news, so the truck was towed back here to a mechanic and we're awaiting the complete picture. All we know now is it was $300 to tow it and $900 to take apart the head and see what's going on in there...ahh! It's been an expensive few weeks! But the worst part is the boys worked so hard to be ready for their camp out and all they got was 6 hours in the car, a sleepless night, and to come home two days early. Luckily, when they got home they were just happy to be here. Ryon's friend offered them his truck, but the boys were tired of riding in the car by then, so they just went for a mountain bike ride and called it good.

Easter weekend was nice and long! The four days felt like an eternity with all the different activities going on (a good eternity-like a real break). Nathaniel hit a home run at his baseball game Saturday (& three other games already this season). Eli asked me to take him on his birthday date on Saturday afternoon, since they weren't going backpacking, we went to the batting cages and he was smacking home runs (5 out of 6 at one point), but it rubbed the skin right off his hands-I guess that's the reason for batting gloves...it just seemed cute when he was little, but now there's a purpose. Friday afternoon Savanah was able to find 2 dresses she looks amazing in for Easter and a school dance, shopping and find dresses that are long enough, modest enough, affordable, and still cute seems to be less than easy now a days! But to find two in one trip was very rewarding... I better run, but now everyone seems to be healthy and happy and we're heading into summer. I'm loving life.

Parenting 101

2011-04-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Lest anyone think I'm a perfect parent, I thought I'd share a glimpse of the last few days. Eli was sick on Thursday, sore throat, low fever, general discomfort, he stayed home from school. I thought he was o.k. just after lunch, so I ran and picked up a load of mulch in the truck. I took about 20 minutes. When I got back, he said the school had called and I needed to call them back. I picked up the phone just as it rang. Zach's 2nd grade teacher was calling to let me know Zach was in the nurse's office having some really strange symptoms. I called the school and spoke with the principal, who explained Zach couldn't move his right hand and that Ryon was on his way to pick Zach up from school. So, Ryon and I spent hours with Zach at the Urgent Care and Hospital trying to figure out what happened. (I missed Nathaniel's arrow of light ceremony.) Zach was given a CT scan and full blood work up in the ER and then was admitted to the hospital and given an MRI. By Friday afternoon the doctors had concluded that it was a migraine that caused the light flashes in his eyes, blurred vision in his right eye, partial paralysis in his right hand, and vomiting. It's the best outcome we could have had. Although, I was sure worried for a whole day. As soon as we got home on Friday I realized Eli was REALLY sick. I felt so sorry for him. He had spent most of his birthday alone, and had strep. I ran him to his doctor, got some antibiotics, picked up Andrew from his friend's house, got Andrew and Ry dressed for their baseball games, dropped them off, took Savanah and Bea to see Romeo and Juliet, and ran home to make some dinner. We ate really fast, I picked up Nathaniel from his friend's house, picked up Savanah and Bea from the play and headed home to fall fast asleep. I feel sad that Eli didn't get a birthday breakfast, cake, presents, or really any to do about his birthday on his special day. Today he had a fun party, luckily he's such a low key kid, he hasn't said a word of complaint! But tomorrow I'll make him his german's chocolate cake & birthday breakfast. Some days I am so keenly aware that I can only be in one place at a time and I have 6 children who can be in 6 different places and need/want me with them. Ahhh...the answer to all parenting questions: Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Eli's Birthday Party!

2011-04-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

"Friendship is like peeing in your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth it brings"... I thought it was just the right sentence to unscramble for Eli's scavenger hunt. Eli celebrated his 13th birthday today with his best buddies. We had a different kind of scavenger hunt than we've done in the past. I gave each team 20 close up photos of landmarks and when they found an Easter egg there they picked it up and found a word in it. Then, at the end they made the sentence. It was hard and fun.

Besides the scavenger hunt they swam, played on the trampoline, ate hamburgers and hot dogs, laughed, and hit the pinata. Hitting the pinata was an experience. It was pretty hot today and all the chocolate in the pinata melted...causing a chocolate shower as soon as there was a hole in the corner of the pinata. To say the least, no one took home candy from the pinata.

Then, Eli opened presents, the best gift was from Ry, it was .31 cents, a .25 off coupon for Pillsbury dough, and a Nemo stuffed toy. Eli got some great gifts from his buddies, too. It was a fun day!

A Very Fun Pampered Chef Party & A Beautiful Spring Time

2011-04-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Kelly, threw a Pampered Chef party at my home on Tuesday. She is now a Pampered Chef consultant, so if you need anything Pampered Chef, let me know, and I'll let her know:). That's what the beautiful fruit pizza and blueberry muffin photos are from...yummy!

There's something about taking time to photograph the beauty all around my home that makes me appreciate it more. The uncurling of the garlic sets, the reddening of the Anna apples, the way the grape vine is growing a foot a day on the pool fence AND it's producing grapes for the first time, the oranges, apricots, and peaches that are developing, the tall healthy corn stalks, the broccoli flowerettes, fresh rosemary, thyme, and lemon balm, they all seem so magnificent when I look at them in photographs. And I feel so grateful for the blessings that are growing all around me. Although, I did remember what my dad told me, the most important thing you will ever grow are your children. And with Savanah turning 15 soon, I realize my growing (children) season is at it's peak and in just 15 short years, it will mostly be over. I haven't written in a while because my life has shot into warp over-drive. I have 5 boys playing baseball, to the tune of 10 games a week plus Eli's umpiring some extra games. I'm still making fresh bread, but every day now. We all decided it tastes so much better when it's never been refrigerated or frozen. I make dinner every night, there are very few left over nights with 10 of us eating every night, although, eating together seems to be a thing of the past:(. After all my efforts it is frustrating to me to not get to enjoy it with everyone all together! But Eli has his games until 10pm and the first games start at 5:30pm (arrival time 5pm, leave the house at 4:50pm)-anyway, it just doesn't work out right now for all of us to be in the house together at a single moment for dinner. I'm gardening, because if I don't do it now I'll regret it when it's over 100' in the garden this summer. I made a shade cloth from sheets...any good ideas on how to put it up? Savanah has taken up quilting. She is doing a wonderful job making a beautiful blue quilt that her young women's leader is helping her make. She's also heading into high school sports which begin to practice in May (swim team and basketball). Her height and dad's genes should give her quite an advantage in both sports! She seems to love exercising at 5am in the morning...with me. Thus, my candle in burning on both ends. I had been helping with the PTO for my older kids' school, but I was just feeling like I was spread way too thinly. So, I'm trying to make time for me and my family. I went to yoga on Tuesday night, which meant I had to skip 3 baseball games, a PTO meeting, and another event. But it was SO worth it! I had missed 2 weeks in a row and well, I was feeling spent. Yoga is such a great time to really breath deeply, and concentrate on moving slowly, which isn't really part of my daily grind. I felt guilty for everything I missed, but I felt so happy when I was done! Plus the yoga instructor (my great friend Lee Ann) gave me a shoulder rub right where my muscles were in a huge knot by my neck. I'm so grateful for my girl friends. They are amazing girls! When I'm with them I am happy and laugh and feel loved, they share their knowledge and lives with me. It's good to have friends. God blesses me every day with family, religion, health, love, beauty all around, and happiness. Everyday I am grateful to live my life. I truly am loving life.

Nathaniel's "New" Car & Bionicles Creation

2011-03-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Nathaniel amazes me with his design & building abilities! Tonight Nathaniel borrowed the hot glue gun and made this awesome car with 100% reclaimed materials (from the side of the road), 100% by himself (I only saw it after it was finished). I tried to catch how amazing it looks with my camera, but I didn't. It's so awesome in real life! I'll also include a Bionicle he designed & built from combining many different sets. Great job Nathaniel! Keep practicing your talent!

Spring Break 2011 Zoo Visit

2011-03-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Spring Break is Over!

2011-03-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

I LOVE spring break! It's beautiful here this time of year, and to have the kids home all week, it's the best! Last week we had fun being tourists. We went to the zoo, the capitol museum, Hayden park, ate lots of picnics, rode our bikes, had (little) friends over, and played baseball. It was a fun week! I would post some photos, but I don't really know where my camera is at this moment. I remember Ry Guy being so happy with putting a shirt on our cat while it was sleeping on the couch on the porch and tying a sword to the sleeve of the shirt, so it looked like Garfield was sleeping in the ready to fight position...so he wanted to photograph the scene...but since then I'm not sure of the camera's where abouts.

Savanah hatched out about 8 chicks this week, with the incubator in her room...it does cause her less than restful sleep to have it in her room, we may need to move it now that she needs to get up at 5am for school. The sound of chirping and rolling eggs on wire mesh is a bit distracting during the night.

I've been stressing over our flat roof for years, it needed to be sealed so it wouldn't leak this summer, so Ryon (my knight in shining armor) and Eli (my knight in training) painted a nice thick coat of white elastomeric roof coating all over the roof on Saturday. It still needs one more coat, but my stress is gone:). Home maintenance is one of those things that I just don't seem to be able to ignore. So, I'm so relieved to not have to worry about the roof leaking during monsoon rain storms... I guess as a bit of background, our roof has leaked during rains over the master bedroom, since we moved in (even though it was brand new). So, the thought of all the damage to the ceiling dry wall in the rest of the house has been just way too stressful for me. So, stress all gone, they did a great job, and the white color will reflect the sun and cool the roof and maybe our electric bills will be lower this summer, that's an added perk!

So, even though it's over, and I won't see the kids as much this coming week, spring break was a ton of fun!

Little league baseball games begin Monday. Eli is old enough to be an umpire and he's excited to earn some money working at his brothers' games. Zach and Nathaniel are on the same team this year (the only way Nathaniel would have it), and Andrew and Ry each have their own team. I've been watching the boys at their practices, and it looks like we will see a lot of home runs from them this year! :) Nathaniel is a great catcher and Zach a pitcher...so I will enjoy watching them work together on the field this year! Andrew and Ryon mostly play first base on their respective teams. Baseball season always adds a flurry of activity to our home, but I'm glad the boys work hard as a team (and get their chores done before their games and practices). I'm more organized this year than I have been in the past, so hopefully it will be a fun season, for all of us! :)

Spartan Race, Phoenix 2011

2011-03-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ryon finished the Spartan Race yesterday. It is the only race he has done, even though he's wanted to do an endurance race for a long time. The Spartan Race was filled with climbing over 8' walls, water crossings, mud pits, pulling heavy concrete sleds, crawling under barbed wire, javalin throws, jumping fire pits, and fighting with gladiators. He has lots of bruises and scratches today, but mostly he's just happy that he finished it, and ran the whole 8 miles. After the adult race there was a children's race, my boys all ran in it and had a lot of fun.

Blessed!

2011-03-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

I understand pictures better than I understand words. I guess a lot of us are that way. My life has been full (super full) of blessings from the one and only God...but lately I've been seeing the magnitude of the blessings...and I feel blessed. The collage is a quick trip through my yard this afternoon (it's full of some of my blessings). We have peaches & apple trees in bloom, citrus trees with fruit, chicks and chickens (laying a dozen a day), broccoli, carrots, garlic, summer squash, sweet corn, and tomatoes growing in our garden, the pool is blue, I finally had a girls lunch with my friends in my back yard this week (I've wanted to do that for about 10 years), and the grass is green on my side of the fence (quite literally...Eli helped me out with that one! For whatever reason green grass is one of my favorite luxuries in life, looking at it makes me feel like everything is taken care of...even though I know it isn't.).

I'm sure you know my blessings are NOT limited to my backyard, my children are all healthy...drinking kefir (thanks to my friend), and growing like weeds in knowledge and also height. Today I saw Andrew and Ry Guy succeed in their Field Day activities. Both of them dominating their grades in a variety of activities from the 50 yard dash (can't beat running for your life away from older brothers as practice...it definitely inspires success!) to gunny sack races to balloon pop. They all ride 2 wheel bikes, run fast, get ready for school on their own (pretty much), feed & dress themselves, and get their homework done (most of the time) without much effort on my part. They are turning into good citizens and amazing people. So, so many blessings to count.

Lately, I feel like I have about a milli-second for each thing I'm supposed to be "in-charge" of and I'm not really sure what to do about that, but keep breathing and count my blessings because I have more than my share of them. We may be called do-it-your-selfers...but really it's can't-afford-to-pay-someone-else-to-do-it-for-us-ers. And between cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding animals, growing a garden, helping with homework and after school snacks, taking kids to concerts & baseball, feeding friends and visitors (often as many as 12 for dinner nightly), church and it's callings, and friends, and whatever else pops up, I feel like I'm about out of time for some of my most cherished activities in life...like sleep & extended family.

Savanah received her patriarchal blessing, another huge blessing. She is a miracle teenager, I'm so awed by her abilities, talents, tenderness, beauty, and spirituality. I need to pinch myself periodically to know she is for real, and by the grace of God, I may call her mine. But I really know she is God's, she's on loan, to help me become the mom He wants me to be. I sure love life, it's full (which can be seen as half full or half empty, I'm working on the half full answer). The windows of heaven opened and have poured out blessings on me. Thank you (family, friends, and exchange students)...because you are one of those HUGE blessings in my life.

I just wanted to include some photos for Bea's parents.

Robin Lopez & Eli

2011-03-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Post Game Access...that's when the Symbols of Freedom contest winners got to meet players and coaches. Most of you probably don't know who Robin Lopez is, but he's a starting Suns player, who happens to be really tall (7' even), and here's a photo with Eli & Robin's hands side by side...no wonder he palms the ball with ease! (Eli and I have the same size hand.) Here's the poster Eli made for the Boston game.
Eli with the Phoenix Suns' head coach, Alvin Gentry (Eli is on the taller step).

Freedom Trail

2011-03-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

They are back...safe and sound! I was debriefed yesterday on their freezing cold, high adventure trip to Boston. A few of their stories stuck out to me. The first being that there is a building in Boston with a golden cricket on top of it, I don't remember the name of it. It is a beautiful old mansion and some 10 years ago (like a blink of the eye in Boston) the caretaker was cleaning this cricket and discovered an old button on it, when he pressed it, the cricket opened up, and out poured treasure (real treasure) and a note from the original owner pretty much saying, "Finders keepers". BUT the current owner of the building didn't believe in finders keepers and the caretaker didn't get to keep anything...I bet that was a let down! Buried treasure right over our heads...anything is possible in Boston.

And the Suns and Southwest took VERY good care of my boys! They had fun playing with the Suns' Gorilla at the airport (who gave Eli a backpack filled with Eli's own Suns treasures), slept in a comfortable hotel, ate lots of food (Boston clam chowder in the longest open restaurant in the US, 180 consecutive years), watched a Suns game from the 17th row, received some new t-shirts, visited MIT, visited the Paul Revere house, went on guided tours, rode the subway, and visited the Boston Public Library (the only request Eli had for the trip, to visit the largest Public Library in the US- it didn't disappoint), and learned about the history of our country. Like the Boston Massacre only included the death of 5 people. I didn't know that. It was a trip of a life time! Once again, congratulations, Eli!

THANK YOU!!!

2011-03-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

We received an exciting & delicious package from Italy a few weeks ago! It was filled with fancy, delectable candies AND my own ravioli press and a pasta rolling pin! I love it! We all gathered at the dinner table and tasted a bit of each candy, delicious (we're still eating the candy). But time got away from me (as usual) and I haven't sent a thank you note, yet. So, I wanted to say, "THANK YOU!" to Bea's parents! Thank you for the candy, and the pasta maker, and for your thoughtfulness, and for the wonderful daughter you have raised!

Party!!!

2011-02-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Nathaniel today! Some of his buddies came over for an obstacle course (including BB gun shooting--no casualties), tank cake, tank pinata, and lots of running around! We love you Nathaniel, we all know Nathaniel is creative, kind, loving, smart, athletic, and amazing.

Movie Maker

2011-02-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

Ryon disappeared for a while this afternoon, and when he came back it was with his story in hand and the Legos all set up, it was the least I could do to photograph it...

Snapshot of my World, It's Just A Phase-I think,...And Shoes

2011-02-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

Spring is so beautiful! The days have gotten longer...ahhh! Our peach trees are blooming, we are all excited for some delicious peaches in a few month! The other night the sun was setting behind the peach blossoms and I loved watching it! I'm so grateful we get to see some of the most awe inspiring sunsets in our own backyard! While I was enjoying the sunset, I watched Andrew doing front flips on the trampoline (he's the first in our family to master those), and Zach doing hand stands on the tramp...isn't that hard with all the wiggling of the mat? And with spring comes Valentine's Day and family birthdays!

Ryon bought me roses this Valentine's Day. I love seeing them open a little more everyday. I've been a bit, well, unappreciative of flowers in the past (a big waste of money). But this year they didn't seem as expensive as they always did before, and well, honestly, I'm glad he tried again. I enjoyed our Valentine's Day Dinner! The food was delicious, the decorations were beautiful, and having my family & Bea for company was perfect! Although, it would have been great to have Lili join us, too. I was fully expecting Ryon to think the molten chocolate cakes for dessert were too sweet after his hiatus from sweets, but instead he said they were, "better than I remember." Oh...that's not so good:). The kids are so appreciative of a well planned dinner, I wish I had 8 hours every day to make it, maybe then we'd have less complaints about dinner every night.

I'm going to complain here (that's pretty common for me, I guess), so if you don't like complainers...then maybe read something else. :) I've been tired lately...reminiscent of after I would have a baby. The kind where I wake up tired, think about sleep until afternoon, and then I just want to pass out. If I sit down, I can't possibly stay awake. I notice myself feeling jealous of Ryon and Savanah when they make comments like, "I'm tired this morning (once every few weeks) so I'm going to sleep a half hour longer." Not jealous they are going to sleep a half hour longer, jealous that I don't have any idea what it feels like to wake up and know that today is different than any other tired day, to know that this tired isn't normal and if I slept longer I'd be taking good care of my body. I guess I've been ashamed of being so tired, for so long, that I didn't talk about it much. But now, I'm starting to think it's not normal. I sleep great, I don't wake up once in the night, I hit the pillow, and sleep until the alarm goes off. I don't remember a dream, a turn, a rustle, nothing. I thought that was supposed to be good sleep, so why don't I just wake up refreshed. I'm hoping it's a phase, the last few days I've been working outside in the afternoons and I feel happier, but not less tired. Hopefully, as soon as summer comes I'll feel all energized again! Luckily, summer could be here any day now:).

Shoes can wash over me like a tsunami some times. I don't see the shoe need coming and then wham...there it is. This week we NEEDED 100's of dollars of shoes. Nathaniel & Eli have literally worn through the soles of their school shoes (and the sides-Eli wears a 4E-so the sides of his wide shoes wear out as well as the bottoms), Nathaniel can't fit into his church shoes without a few tears (too tight), and baseball season is coming up and Nathaniel's wide feet don't fit your traditional store bought cleats (and even though we have 15 pairs of cleats, none fit him), plus Zach's school shoes look like he's homeless and found them in a dumpster. I used to find great deals, and for a few bucks, everyone would be protected from the ground, but now...well good men's shoes are not cheap (Eli & Nathaniel-especially in 4E), I've tried the Payless variety and Nathaniel actually ran through his tennies in 2 weeks, I didn't think it was possible! So, I've been cured from Payless tennies shopping for boys. I like Holbirdsports on-line...they carry Brooks shoes for 1/2 the price of them at my local store, but still at $60 a pair when we need 5 pairs it adds up fast! I still remember needing school and church shoes for my 5 older ones all at the same time and when it cost like $150 I was in shock. Maybe we should get a cow for more than just the 3 gallons of milk we drink a day:)...JUST KIDDING!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

Savanah was so beautiful before her winter dance! She gets a bit tired of me wanting to take her picture (thus the big cheeks picture). When she was all ready to go, we went into the living room and all 6 boys shut off their movie and ooed and ahhed over her, and her big daddy put his arms around her and told her, "You are So beautiful!". Her eyes shone like sunshine. Our little girl...she is so loved and so beautiful inside and out.

Happy Valentine's Day! I have a very special Valentine, but he rarely (only a little this side of never) looks at my blog, so I made him an awesome Valentine's Day card to set by his bedside. And tomorrow night I'm making coconut shrimp and mango chutney and Kona Grill's Hawaiian Ribeye with with molten chocolate cakes for dessert. Just a touch of Hawaii to remind us where "we" came from:). This will be the first dessert he's had in months! He's in better shape than when I met him almost 20 years ago! He's lost about 40 pounds! Great job Valentine!

It Is COLD!!!

2011-02-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

Can you tell I'm feeling grumpy? I'm the first to notice it's cold...and the last to warm up! And the last few days it has been about 38'F at 12pm and it's been down to 25' F with the wind chill! That's freezing! And I just can't get myself to work outside for very long when it's so cold, and when I don't stand in the sun for a while I feel...well, I feel grumpy and tired. I wasn't made to live in a cold place, I'm grateful I live in the hot desert, I just want the hot to come back soon! The nights have been cold enough to kill my new tomato plants, even being covered, and it's taken a toll on my citrus trees, too. There's at least one more night (probably 2) of these freezing temperatures, and I hope they don't come back again this spring. I'm ready for our 70's. Sorry to all of my relatives that are buried in snow drifts and are breaking your backs shoveling...you really do live in cold and snowy places, I'm sorry about this storm! I'd warm you all up to 75'F, if I could:).

More Congratulations!

2011-02-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Zach was elected to represent his 4th grade in the student counsel at his school. He's a VERY likable guy and a great leader! Zach wrote a speech to deliver to the student body, but didn't take it to school on speech day, so he was able to make it up as he went...very impressive, Zach! I loved the way he set up his campaign poster! It was a red poster board with negatives all around the outside with his name on the inside and a photo of him. He forgot about making it until 8pm the night before it was due, but once he gathered everything he needed, he finished it in about 30 minutes...I think he's my favorite procrastinator (I'm not very patient with my procrastinators). But when working on his poster Zach was confident about his idea, worked fast, and was ready to finish quickly. He's not a perfectionist (which I appreciate, sometimes there is no perfect, and late at night...well I'm not a perfectionist), but he's really good at everything he does! Congratulations, Zach! I know you'll represent the 4th grade very well!

Congratulations!

2011-02-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

Eli won!! He worked hard, and he's been anticipating the announcement of the winners for a month, GREAT job, Eli! A retired Suns player helped judge the entries...and Eli's was his favorite! Ten students' artwork was chosen and they won a 4-day/3-night trip to Boston, MA to view our nation’s “Symbols of Freedom” and attend the Phoenix Suns@ Boston Celtics game. His trip includes two (2) round trip airfare to Boston, MA, hotel accommodations for a three night stay in Boston, MA, tours of national museums and historical landmarks and two (2) tickets to the Phoenix Suns @ Boston Celtics game. Plus two tickets to a local game so all the winners can meet and get to know each other. Eli is so excited!

Ryon and I decided, besides college scholarships, neither of us have ever won such an amazing prize for a competition. Way to go Eli!

In case you didn't get to read his paper before:

American Food
What Freedom Means to Me
Eli Frisch

I’m a growing 12 year old boy, and I like to eat yummy food. Each of my constitutional freedoms is represented by American food.

In school I have learned about my constitutional freedoms. They’re stated in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. In America we have the freedom of assembly. Without this freedom we couldn’t have a potluck, and I like potlucks. Freedom of the press is the freedom to express your thoughts about something. I’ve been watching the t.v. show “Man verses Food” lately. It’s an intriguing show because this man gets to travel around the US and he gets to eat many different kinds of American food. His freedoms allow him to critique the food and recommend to me which restaurants to go to and what to order. Freedom of religion allows us to choose what we eat and drink for our Sacrament. Without freedom of speech I wouldn’t be able to express my true thoughts about a restaurant and its food. Without freedom of petition my parents couldn’t vote on the zoning of a piece of property where my favorite restaurant is, whether its food makes my mouth water or not.

American food is a pertinent symbol of our constitutional freedoms. It is those freedoms that have drawn people to America of every culture and background, and thankfully they have brought their ethnic foods with them! Every bite I take reminds me of those freedoms. Now, let’s eat, I mean let’s exercise those freedoms!

Zach!!!

2011-01-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well, Zach had our full support last night! Ryon, Bea, Eli, Nathaniel, Andrew, Ry and I all went to the Quad Campus Spelling Bee...we kind of resembled circus clowns when we all got out of the car:). But we piled into the "multipurpose" room and stacked our selves on top of each other so we would only take up one bench. Zach took 11th place amongst 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, and 4th graders...that means he is the 11th best speller out of 2000 kids! Wow! I'm so proud of you Zach! Thanks for practicing and doing your best! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Lili!

2011-01-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Lili is our exchange student from Brazil. She is a fun & kind hearted girl! She makes friends really easily, and is fun to be around. We are having fun getting to know her, she is teaching the boys how to play soccer and loves to play with Ry, Andrew, and Zach. Her great friend Becca came over at 6:30am, baring a soccer ball and a cute teddy bear, now that's a great friend! She celebrated her 17th birthday with us on Tuesday morning...and then had to run to school, and had a soccer game that night. Life is busy for her, even on her birthday. Ry Guy chose to make her chocolate birthday cake in the shape of a heart and even ran outside to get fresh eggs so it would rise up extra high just for Lili, "he loves both his students." I'm glad Lili is here, she & Bea are both a great match with our family...our big happy family. :) We learn so much from having more girls around! Yesterday I got a great lesson about North Korea:).

Lookin' Good! But Not really.

2011-01-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm hopping up on my soap box now, so if you don't want to know what I truly think...stop reading IMMEDIATELY!

$60,000 is spent to airbrush (falsify) each "photo" on the front of US, Seventeen, and Vogue magazines. Female legs reduced to two-thirds their original size. Five body doubles used to portray one Sandra Bullock in a movie. There is a grossly distorted idea of beautiful that is flaunted on magazines at the store check-outs, commercials on t.v., movies in the theaters, and everywhere there is an ad or story being told, it's all being made up, distorted, rebuilt, and falsified (think of the Internet pop-up ads with distorted physical features). I am disturbed by my society. A society that teaches young girls & all women to be uneasy at best, and ready to stop eating, and go under a knife at a horrible extreme. I can't count on my fingers the number of women I know personally who have altered their bodies for some "beautiful" ideal that is in their minds. And I just want to say, it's good to look in the mirror (at yourself...gasp) and see beautiful. The physical features, what ever they are, that you were given from the God of Heaven and Earth, is perfect! Diversity in cultures is beautiful, why not diversity in body types?

As I grew up, I knew my mother was beautiful. I probably shouldn't go into details, but my little eyes saw her true beauty and it shone for me. But I also heard her say, "I don't like this, and I don't like that." And I wondered, why? And now as I grow older and I see that I look a lot like my mother did when I looked at her as a little girl, I see beautiful. With all my wrinkles, sagginess, and stretch marks. I'm still me. I have battle scars from living my life in the sunshine, from creating six lives within my womb, from getting burned on the oven door, from living a full and fulfilled life. My body may not appear to be perfect to you. But to me, I'm perfectly beautiful and happy with my body, the one God made just for my spirit. And honestly, you were perfect before the silicon implants and tummy tuck. Lasting beauty always comes from within, it can't be sewed on, injected, or removed. Now, try to look in the mirror and see what is really there. You are perfectly beautiful, today! We are unique, not to be compared to one another, be your own kind of beautiful!

Studies show women feel 3 TIMES more dissatisfied with their bodies after looking at fashion and "Hollywood gossip" magazines. Would you keep paying a friend to give you put downs? NO! Then stop paying for publishing companies to do it.

All School Spelling Bee Winner!

2011-01-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

Zach did it! He was up against 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and he won 1st place!!! GREAT job Zach! I'm so amazed by you! He was awarded a $20 gift card and asked by countless people where his parents were... Ahhhh! Ry Guy was home sick, and well, schools don't want feverish, flushed cheek children at school who didn't go to school in the morning. Luckily...Zach gave us a chance to make it up, we'll be at the next one, Zach! I'm even more pleased that you were able to win without our presence, how impressive! (But I still want you to know I'm sorry I didn't get to see you win and support you!)

Brazil & "The Farm"

2011-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

We are going to have a Brazilian exchange student move in to our home tonight, I think. I've met her before, and she's very kind. We miss Ricky, and so I'm sure she won't be a substitution, but a nice addition. We're moving the 10th chair back into place at our dinner table, and Bea had her first request since she's been here, I think. She wants to sit on the boy side of the table, so she can watch the girls eat, instead of the boys, I don't blame her!!! :)

Our spring garden is coming along. I have carrots, garlic, green onions, and broccoli planted. I need to read my garden book, and get the rest planted before the 15th of January. Ryon set up a heat lamp for the chickens, because it's been very cold, so now they are laying about a dozen eggs a day. I've begun to sell them...drop me a note if you are interested in buying some:). If you are interested in hatching some, these are Red Star chicken eggs they are very friendly chickens, and VERY good egg layers!

Spelling/ Geography Bee

2011-01-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

I'm sure when I began my blogging I apologized for my horrible spelling. Good spelling, sometimes even decent spelling is, to say the least, not my greatest talent! So, my heart swelled with admiration when my Zachary won the spelling bee in his classroom and is advancing to the school wide spelling bee...and now I'm not even sure I spelled bee correctly (is it really like bumble bee?). Zach is 9 and has been spelling at a 9th grade level and above for quite a while...that means words like froufrou & lackadaisical, I didn't even know those had real spellings! And words like leviathan and oscillation and ameliorate. See, Zach has this knack for spelling...me on the other hand, some times I think about how to spell and then sometimes my mind has a mind of its own...like when I wrote flower on my flour container... Way to go Zach you are an awesome speller! And one my highlights of yesterday was when Nathaniel asked to get out of school to go watch Zach in the all school spelling bee...We are all so proud of you Zach!

Eli is winning the Geography Bee for his classroom! And do you want to know why? One word...well 2 actually...SHOWER CURTAIN! If you've ever been to our boys bathroom you know it's a geography bee winner waiting to happen! We have 2 shower/bathroom stalls side by side each with a world map shower curtain and while the bathrooms are in use the boys quiz each other and have for years about the countries around the world. So, as Eli hears the questions he remembers the colors of the countries and the countries surrounding them and with his near photographic memory he answers correctly! Amazing to me really! I don't really even know where my city sits inside my state...it's not that I haven't looked at it a 100 times...it's just that retention thing. Oh and when we lived in Wisconsin for a short time my parents set my kids up with the U.S. state quarters and all first round questions applied to those quarters, which Eli has studied since he was 3 years old!

Being a mom is so rewarding! Andrew summed it up a few days ago as he understands it. God blesses us because we read our scriptures every day and we pray every day (and for a few other things). For the new year our primary gave each of our primary kids a red marking pencil and a Book of Mormon. As they read they are to color the entire book red inside. Andrew's goal is to read 4 chapters a day...and he's doing it...he's 7 years old. And he has a heart of gold! You're right Andrew, God is blessing you, always remember that in all of life's accomplishments and set backs...God is blessing you to become what he needs you to be. This time in my life is perfect! All thanks be to God.

And as a side note...Savanah played a beautiful violin solo at Nana's birthday party. What I failed to mention was that she arranged the music by herself!!!! She is a true musician. Another talent I played around with, but never developed like she has done. You are truly amazing me Savanah!

Back to School

2011-01-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't remember to take pictures of New Year's Eve, or any thing between Christmas and now...maybe because my December 2010 photo folder held about 400 pictures... I can certainly over do photos at times. The last week has been fun with the kids home, played a ton of games and I was reminded of how much smarter than me they all are...I can't win at games any more. Nathaniel was the shining star of most of the games, once he figures them out...there's no hope, he's a problem/puzzle solver from the word go! Half of the kids headed back to school today and the rest return tomorrow. I miss them already.

We've had COLD weather! So cold Ry had to wear a sweatshirt in the middle of the day to play kickball...that may not sound so cold, but he went out with bare feet to walk on the frost that morning. Today it feels like the super cold (50-28' F) maybe be gone for a while... But it all just adds up to more peaches in the spring :).

I Hope You Had A Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

As I perused my Christmas photos from this morning I was reminded of a question posed to me by one of my boys not too long ago, "What are matching clothes?" I suppose it is my fault. Matching clothes doesn't seem nearly as important to me as it once was:). I seem to have this list of things that are most important in life and matching clothes and especially pajamas is obviously at the bottom of my list:)! I love Andrew's creative and colorful choices for Christmas morning. He wore someone elses' (probably Ry's) too small Pirates of the Caribbean pajama shirt paired with who knows what design that is gray, purple, and yellow bottoms. And he was so happy this morning, sitting on the openers' rug, getting things he asked for and lots of surprises, I guess clothes don't really matter, even on Christmas morning, or maybe especially on Christmas morning... Although, Savanah, you looked really cute in your white and black polka dotted p.j.'s (THANKS Nana)!

Christmas morning this year and last year were so fun! My children seem to now understand the spirit of giving. Savanah used her own money to buy a present for each of her 7 siblings, and she gave Ryon and I gifts also. Eli gave multiple gifts to each of us, and 1/2 the presents under the tree for Andrew were from Ry Guy. It makes Christmas morning so fun for everyone to be excited to see the gifts they gave being opened. Bea gave each of us something special. She gave me a web camera...now I just need a computer that isn't such a dinosaur to use it on:). As soon as we get some RAM we should be up and running! THANKS Bea!!!

And Nana & Papa everyone loved their underclothes and socks! Almost everyone has already tried them on. They were definitely a favorite from today!

I think Santa got a great deal on rubber balls this year (like less than .10 each) so we got 19 balls for Christmas! So, we had a great game of Dr. dodge ball this morning. It's another of my favorite games, seriously.

We've spent most of the day playing games together, sorting Legos (old ones, Ryon made a Lego divider for Nathaniel), and eating. Yesterday our neighbor delivered his annual gift of smoked pork! It is amazing!!! There's nothing quite like it, DELICIOUS!

We're all so happy today! I love Christmas! It's a bit stressful leading up to the day, but Christmas is more magical now than it ever was when I was a child or younger parent. I get less presents than ever, but I feel a lot of joy. My life is full of presents, they just come in different forms than Christmas gifts, which is fine with me:).

Cinnamon Rolls As Far As The Eye Can See!

2010-12-23T18:07:00.001-08:00

We baked for countless hours today! But it was all worth it! Five loaves of wheat bread and 119 cinnamon rolls later, we drove around delivering cinnamon rolls for Christmas to some of our friends. It's so fun to give something to people, any time of year, but especially at Christmas.

I heard a whole new collection of stories from our friends! My favorite from today was told by my neighbor who had a snake that went between his toilet and tub for a few weeks... I thought that was a great one!

If we missed you tonight, and you are in town, let me know tonight. We still have extra cinnamon rolls, but I bet we won't by tomorrow. ;)

Happy Birthday!

2010-12-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

We drove out to San Diego this weekend amidst 4 days of pouring rain to celebrate my mother-in-law's 60th birthday. All of Ryon's siblings came and we celebrated Christmas on Saturday and the big birthday on Monday. I love seeing all of my brothers & sisters-in-law and our nieces and nephews! Our nieces and nephews are the cutest little people! It's hard to tell by the pictures, but they have the cutest curls, little dimples, piercing eyes, and contagious smiles!

Ryon's brother and his wife welcomed us into their home for 4 nights. They are so hospitable, offering us tons of food, beds, washing and folding our laundry, and even let Ry wear Soren's clothes (I was so frustrated that I forgot to pack pants for Ry Guy!). Our kids love to play with their cousins, so it was fun to be together for so long, and the rain made it impossible to do outdoor activities, so we got to chat and enjoy their company for hours each day.

Kirk planned a beautiful dinner for Jan at a restaurant that overlooked the bay and a light house. The kids favorite part was the ice cream buffet that included everything from m&m's to whipped cream and gummy bears. Kirk also organized the grandchildren to entertain the whole family. The kids played violin, guitar, presented a poem, and sang. I enjoyed our trip, even with 9 of us packed into the car like sardines, it was totally worth the trip!

Now to get Christmas taken care of....last night we did our family gift exchange. It was great to see what each person made for someone else. We had it early, so we could include Ricky. We took her to the airport this morning, and she should be home by Christmas Eve. We'll miss her here, but I'm excited for her to be with her mother, father, and brother for Christmas.

Count My Many Blessings!

2010-12-14T13:52:00.001-08:00

(lovely...chickie poo poos and everything!)

Why do I work outside of my home? (Service? Money? Gullible?) I just get stressed out...completely, and I don't feel happy. I've been juggling 2 jobs for a day...really three counting being the mother of 8. This afternoon I took an extended bike ride with Ry in the trailer (to get some exercise, I was way too stressed) to pick up some oranges from our friend's trees and then when we got home we collected 23 eggs from our chickens and turkey (I still think it's a male). And I feel so happy pulling weeds, gathering eggs, and hanging out with Ry guy. Do I want to work outside our home? Do I need to work? Work doesn't feel like work when it is fun...hmmmm. I'm still counting my many blessings...my life is full of them! Health, work, play, eggs, tomatoes that weathered the frost, zinnias that are still in bloom, fresh baked bread, family that we love and that loves us, true friends, 85' in December...I really do love these days, a moment when I feel free to write a blog post for my mom, and my list goes on...but I have to run and get some work done. I'm sorry I haven't called! Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Farm Field Trip

2010-12-10T10:09:00.001-08:00

Holstein...am I the only one that knows how to say it, but doesn't have a clue how to spell Holstein cow? I got to be a chaperon for the kindergarten farm field trip! It was so fun to sip flavored milk (lime, orange, cherry vanilla, chocolate), eat ice cream sundaes, and smell freshly scraped dung heaps together! Actually, while everyone else complained of "the smell", I enjoyed my odd propensity to not ever smell unless I really want to do it (and this didn't really seem like the right time to turn on those olfactory receptors). Thus, it was a beautiful farm, with 2000 head of dairy cattle with no foul odor...that I could detect:). The best part of the day was the Christmas music blasting through speakers hung high above our heads...and watching Ry pretend to sing "Glory to God...Glory in the highest." with his best ever opera voice/face, while no sound (at all) escaped his lips. I've missed out not chaperoning very much! I'm going to do a lot more of this in the next few years! I had a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Ricky, the photographer, took this amazing photo of the Arizona temple when we went to see the lights and listen to the concert last week!

Last Night

2010-11-30T08:33:00.000-08:00

The funny thing about this photo is Beatrice doesn't like bell peppers, at all! But she helped me chop and freeze them, any way. Well, two frosty nights pretty much mark the end of anything with sensitive leaves in our garden...ie: watermelon, cantaloupe, beans, bell peppers, TOMATOES (I'm really so sad), and basil. I feel like this frost came so much earlier than it did last year, I wasn't nearly prepared to save everything. So, last night, right before dinner, I sent out my troops to gather watermelons (24 watermelons to be exact), and after school yesterday Eli and I cleared the pepper plants (a huge silver bowl full), plus a bowl of tomatoes...I'm contemplating fried green tomatoes (any one have any thoughts on those?). So, even though it marks the end of this gardening season, I'm ready for the Christmas season to begin.
We decorated for Christmas for Family Home Evening last night. We "sang" some Christmas carols...poor Ricky had to close her eyes and go to a safe place in her mind for most of it. Having five boys really has its perks...but screaming instead of singing...well, it's not one of those perks in my book:). So, now the living room feels warm and welcoming. Even though I have lots of Santas around (thanks to generous family and friends), the center of the season for me is my Savior Jesus Christ. In the middle of all the decorations we put our manger scene, with a sign above it that reads, "Wise Men Still Seek Him." How true that is still, more than 2000 years after his birth. We would be wise to seek Him more than we do.
We went to the temple lights on Sunday night. Everyone is welcome every night in December to see a free Christ centered concert & free international creche exhibits...the bell choir is Dec. 19th...it's my personal favorite! Merry Christmas! (What? It isn't December, yet...Do I care?:) The Christmas season has begun in my little world.)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T15:57:00.001-08:00

Just thought you might want to see our turkeys...

We were treated to the best Southern hospitality this Thanksgiving! The feast was delicious, colorful, healthy, and comforting (comfort food). Our hosts were entertaining and welcoming. The kids had fun playing football with the dads, and I had fun being a guest, talking and listening. This Thanksgiving we were VERY grateful for friends, family, and exchange students, and amazing food!

We celebrated our private family Thanksgiving last night when Ryon and the boys returned from their father and sons camp out. The food wasn't nearly as amazing as Thanksgiving Day, but we had fun being grateful together as a family while eating turkey and mashed potatoes. We each talked about things we are grateful for in our lives. I heard a lot of: family, friends, food, school, the earth, plants, our home, and Ricky and Bea. The photos are of a bouquet I made with flowers from our yard, including the world's most deadly plant...that I happen to be growing (Savanah seems to think that is so funny), and the salad has all fresh greens from our gardens, and of course our family. Family meals are my favorite part of most days, it's like my heart breaks into 10 pieces and runs around doing things all day long, then at the end of the day it all comes back together and we truly love to be together to eat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

We have some wonderful friends who gave us 2 live turkeys for Thanksgiving...but I'm kind of more chicken than turkey and well...I can't really see myself butchering them. So, it's Butterball for Thanksgiving and Craigslist for the organic, free range...very alive turkeys. This is one time when what's healthiest looses to what is less bloody and less time consuming. I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your rolls turn out wonderfully, Lacy! I know you can do it!

Sunset Out Back

2010-11-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel and Zach love to play out back, a lot. The other night they excitedly ran into the office to grab the small, pink camera and my 9 and 10 year old took photos of what was happening to the mesquite tree in the corner of our yard. The neighbor's horses were kicking up a bunch of dust and the sun was setting and the tree happened to be in the middle of all of the magic. It was more beautiful in real life, but I'm impressed by your photos Nathaniel, they are beautiful!

All About Mesa

2010-11-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

Support your community -- shop Mesa's small businesses! That's it's title...
http://allaboutmesaaz.blogspot.com/ I just found this great blog about mesa that is really helpful! It has coupons and event info...and it's clean, no pop-ups that make me want to cover everyone's eyes in my whole home. Bookmark it if you live in Mesa and want to know what's going on. It's a great resource!

My New Favorite Game!!!

2010-11-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry the photo is blurry...but I hope you get the idea...

"Mom, can you play a game with me?" I hear it about 20 times every afternoon, and then when I've finished the most urgent part of my work (I know it's horrible) we go play kickball one on one, or battle ship, or draw a picture, or put a puzzle together. But honestly, I'm not very good at playing, it should be fun, right? I try to smile and try hard, but there's always so much else on my mind...until Nerf gun shooting gallery on Friday. I love this game!! We lay on the floor with our semi-automatic Nerf riffles and shoot these little guys and horses that stand in the hallway and whoever shoots down the most, first, wins, and guess what? IT IS SO FUN!!! I get to aim, and I'm a great shot, and Ry always gets to shoot first, and he sets up the guys, and I load both guns...it's really a lot of fun! And by the way, he's quite a strategic planner...I was winning every time, so he set up the guys like dominoes (he being the first shot and all), so he shoots and with one bullet down go the first 9 guys (out of 12...there were 3 horses that didn't go down, they are a bit harder). And so, of course he won, because I was second and couldn't beat 9 with only 3 left after his first shot. Even with his strategic planning, and winning...Hands down it is so much more fun than coloring, or puzzles, or kickball:). Let's play this game every day! I almost asked him if he wanted to play a game today:) But then I had to wash sweet potatoes:) there's still a lot on my mind, but when I was playing shooting gallery it all melted away and I just wanted to knock down those guys!

On the First Day of Thanksgiving My True Love Gave to Me...

2010-11-20T15:53:00.001-08:00

...some back breaking physical labor to harvest lots of sweet potatoes.

Today we (Ryon, Eli, Nathaniel, and Zach) harvested 66 pounds of sweet potatoes (Ryon & Eli had the bathroom scale out), and a 17 pound watermelon, plus a little basil, a tomato, and an orange bell pepper. I feel grateful for our bountiful harvest! We have been very blessed here! Yesterday we brought in 12 eggs...although there weren't any today.

We brought our little red hen into the garden this morning to eat the cockroaches, crickets, and HUGE caterpillars (that were the size of my middle finger, where was my camera then?)we were finding...it feels like a waste to just let them burrow back into the dirt:). She just hangs out ready to peck it was just perfect!

I've already processed about 20 pounds of sweet potatoes this afternoon and I'm going to freeze them. I'm looking forward to pumpkin...I mean sweet potato and cranberry bread! It's moist and delicious, I can't wait...well maybe I can wait until tomorrow:). I'm feeling a bit tired!

El Dia Del Maestro, Silva

2010-11-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

Savanah's Spanish assignment was to repaint this art work by Silva. She worked for many hours on it, and it turned out great!

Spuds, Rip Sticks, and Football

2010-11-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

Dress A Spud In Duds! And the winner is...Eli! It was that time again, to dress a potato in some book character clothes. I was in Wisconsin this year, so Savanah and Eli set to work and Eli earned the "Best Resemblance of Character" award. Can you guess his character? I'll give you a hint...Mercer Mayer. I think it looked a bit better before it went to and from school in his back pack, most things do. Notice the homemade overalls with tack buttons and the smartie eyes, so creative! Great job, Eli!
The kids are loving the wave boards that Nana and Papa sent home for them. Zachary suggested the kids come up with a sign language for the drive way so there aren't so many head on collisions. :0 They are having a lot of fun! Andrew said, "Tell Nana the rip sticks are AWESOME!" Thanks! The weather is perfect for riding hard in the drive way now! I'm sure they will get great use all winter!

Zach and Nathaniel both played in their AYSA state championship football games on Saturday. It was super hot in the stands, I layered everyone and by 9am we were trying to make shade from all of our jackets and sweatshirts...and by the end of the last game we looked like lobsters! Do you think I will ever remember that it gets to 90' F in Arizona in November? But the boys made the heat worth it! Zach caught the kick off punt in the first play of the game. He and his team played well and won with a final score of 40-0. Nathaniel played a great game also and his team won...both of them were so happy and surprised to bring home beautiful state champion trophies!

Tuesday in Wisconsin

2010-11-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was our last day in Wisconsin. This was the best visit home I've ever had! I'd recommend flying home late your last day to anyone traveling far away. We had one last day to visit with my family and pack. Much better than the 3am flights! :) My mom and I created a lot of beautiful cards & book marks in the morning. I had so much fun working with her in her craft room! Then, later in the morning I met my cousin Todd...it may not have been the first time I met him, but I don't remember the last time if there was one, I don't even remember having a cousin Todd. Chris and Adam had him helping them with framing and I guess later in the day with trusses. I love that remodeling is a family thing for my parents. We got to see the trusses arrive on a big truck. The boys watched from atop the huge "pumpkins" my parents grew and have decorating their front yard. After lunch we headed to Madison for a little sight seeing before our flight.

We toured the capitol at the speed of light, which is actually the speed I like to look at historic buildings :)! It is really an amazing structure! We arrived just a little late to walk out onto the 4th floor observation deck, maybe next time. The diverse stones and murals and overall grandeur of the capitol are just wonderful! After we left the capitol we went to Ella's Deli. It was a fun little cafe with lots of entertainment in the way of moving characters and games. Each dinning table has a theme inside of it like a moving train on tracks that you can start from your table, origami, yo-yo's, pezz dispensers, just all different kinds. It was extremely impressive! My mom bought us ice cream sundaes there, the boys' sundays looked like clowns complete with sugar cone hats and m&m eyes. It was a fun place to end our visit to Wisconsin.

Our flights home were fast and mostly on-time. So, we arrived home at about midnight. All the kids were asleep, but we saw them this morning. I'm glad everyone fared very well while we were gone! We had a lot of fun, and we're happy to be at home.

Monday in Wisconsin...Reflexology

2010-11-07T19:18:00.001-08:00

My mom set up a one hour foot reflexology/massage for me on Monday morning. It was so relaxing! I especially loved the part that correlates to my spine. It just felt like I was getting lightly stretched out from my head to my toes...ahhh! While I was enjoying the reflexology hour, my mom took the boys out to get them some p.j.'s and socks...you may not know how much boy number 4 and 5 enjoy having their own socks...but it's A LOT!!! Ry Guy said he only remembered trying on clothes once before in a store. I knew he wore a lot of hand-me-downs, but I didn't know it was that many! I enjoyed my walk home after the reflexology massage. And on my way past the mining museum I saw some dead marigold plants. Later in the afternoon we asked for permission and gathered a lot of seeds so I can grow marigolds later this winter and spring.

To prepare for family home evening on Monday night we went outside and raked leaves from around the fire pit and piled leaves around the blueberry bushes. After a delicious ham, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, green bean, and corn dinner my dad taught a great lesson about pride for family home evening. Then we went out to the fire pit to roast marshmallows for s'mores. Afterwards we came in and played another family game of Rummicube with a family friend. It was another great day!

Sunday in Wisconsin

2010-11-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

This morning we got up and got dressed for church. But we all forgot about the time change and arrived at church an hour early. That gave us time to go home and my dad gave me a quick tour of the amazing bowls that he turns. At church I saw a lot of familiar faces, but also a lot of people I've only heard my parents refer to in our conversations. It was nice to put faces to their names. The branch is so much larger than it ever was when I lived here as a child. It's good to see it growing!
After church we ate lunch and had some more cheesecake with berry pie, that's my favorite combination so far! My mom keeps us in the desserts! That's for sure!
After lunch we headed to Monroe to visit with my Aunt Laura, Uncle Chris, Aunt Diane, Grandma Dorothy, and cousins Anna & Aaron plus lots of Chris and Laura's grandchildren. I enjoyed seeing everyone again. It's been more than 5 years since I last saw my grandma, that's too long. It was fun to see my cousin Adam's daughter come and say to me. She's my Great Grandma, too, as she realized she and my boys had the same Great Grandmother. I really have a great family!
Eli's team lost on Saturday so their season games are over. Nathaniel and Zach's teams both won, so we'll have 2 more football games next Saturday and then win or lose all of their tackle football seasons will be done.

Day 3 Arizona/Wisconsin

2010-11-06T08:54:00.001-07:00

I'm missing 3 football playoff games today in Arizona, if everyone wins, I'll get to watch 3 more next week. And I'm missing Amanda's funeral in Arizona, too. Which reminds me, everything happens for a reason that is bigger than me. And this was one of those things. God knows us, and what we need (which is not necessarily what we want). It's so sad to me when a young mother passes away leaving behind young children and a loving husband. Life is so short for some, I'm sorry for your loss, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I'm grateful to have this time with my parents, I don't know how much time all of us have left on this earth. It's fun for me to see them in their own home, living their own lives.

Today my dad got up and made us fluffy pancakes from scratch. They were delicious! And my mom shared her fresh peach preserves with us! It was all heavenly! Andrew and Ryon got to watch "Hook". They've been wanting to see that movie for a LONG time. So, they are as happy as can be!

We met up with my cousin Jody at the M at around 2pm. It was so great to see her family, they are a wonderful family! The kids played together happily and we caught up on what's going on in our lives. It was wonderful! We got to see my parents name plaque on the stairs to the top of the M. That was fun! And then we drove over to the Belmont tower and climbed up that real quick. That brought back memories. Once we were done doing 1000 stairs we ate the pecan bars, rice crispy treats, and brownies my mom had made for everyone...yum!

At night we played Rumicube, Andrew caught on quickly, and with a lot of help from Papa he won the game. Our days are passing by quickly.

Friday in Wisconsin

2010-11-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

Day two was a lot of fun! We had bacon "from a real pig" for breakfast. That's what Nana called it:). I'm pretty sure we eat real bacon at home, too, but this was extra thick bacon from a local butcher, and it tasted great. We made a berry pie from black caps and raspberries they had hand-picked from their garden this summer, and even though I didn't add very much sugar, it is a tart and delicious pie! We drove thru Culver's and ordered a quart of Turtle Dove custard. Yummy! It was delicious with huge chunks of pecans, chocolate, and soft carmel! I haven't had that it about 10 years (because we didn't get any last time I was home), and it was amazing!

My cousin and uncle are helping my folks replace some beams in their home. So, before I had a chance to change on Friday morning I got to say "Hi" to them on the back deck! It made me feel a bit uncomfortable to see my extended family for the first time in 6 years wearing my mom's pajamas, but that's life:). No one else seemed to notice, but me. The boys spent the morning playing around Nana and Papa's house, there are endless treasures to discover. Such as an attic. Now this is no "regular" attic! You can walk around in it, and the ceiling is about 15 feet high at the peak, so there are chairs hanging up there and clothes and pans and lots of toys and games, and anything a little child could imagine. Andrew and Ryon were so impressed!

Later in the morning we went to Walmart. Picked out some toys for the kids, dropped by the Dollar Store for some pens, and went by Aldi's for some "cheap" groceries...and a pezz dispenser, and Andrew and Ryon saw the M for the first time. Maybe tomorrow we will get to see it up close. I don't know though! It was freezing at 3pm this afternoon when we walked around UWP! There was a wind tunnel created by the hills and the new buildings. As the wind hit my face, I was reminded of my childhood here. Walking to school in the freezing cold wind, a mile each way...there was a reason I moved to warm country! Six months of this a year was unbearable for me, but there appear to be lots of folks here who don't mind the cold one bit, they have my respect! We toured the new engineering building. We got to peak into the nanotechnology lab, my dad's office and shop, and lots of other labs and computer routing rooms. We peaked at the women in engineering show case, with a hand mixer and blow dryer. The guys in engineering seemed most interested in building a snowmobile, race car, and dune buggie. My little guys thought those three things were the most interesting also.

We finished out the afternoon by watching Mulan, the Disney movie, and eating an amazing pizza. Andrew and Ryon had regular pepperoni, but for the adults my mom made a delicious pizza with a mix of collards, kale, rhubarb chard, and spinach. My dad harvested about 3 gallons of the greens and my mom cooked them all down until it was about 2" thick on our pizza and then added Parmesan and mozzarella cheese with sausage and mushrooms and seasonings. It was a white pizza and it was delicious! But unlike any pizza I've ever eaten!

After dinner Andrew and Ryon got to take a bath in the 100+ year old claw foot bath tub upstairs, with the framed color pencil tub drawing I made 17 years ago hanging on the wall beside the tub, with little toes peaking out of a mountain of bubbles. Once they had on their p.j.'s we headed to the card making room! Now, I can hardly explain this room, but it is amazing! Stamping, embossing, paper...everything in one room, ready for making amazing cards! So, we made cards for a few hours. I made birthday cards for my kids' friends, those are always cards we need, but never have and then end up making them at the last minute. This will be so much better! I hope to make different cards tomorrow. Card making is definitely my mom's specialty! She knows all sorts of tricks and I would say she has made 1000's of cards already. We are having a lot of fun here! We need to visit more often, it's good for me to remember where I've come from, and what has gone into making me...me.

Wisconsin-Day One and Two

2010-11-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Our first day was a wonderful travel day filled with 2 flights (the long one, and then the fun short one. The clouds around Wisconsin were just amazing from the air . ) and a drive that was perfect for talking with my parents (the boys rested...and "almost fell asleep"). Everything went as planned on our way here and the boys were absolutely perfect. We arrived at Nana and Papa's house to a cool 30' F, but their house is toasty warm, thanks to the wood furnace and Papa's hard work! We've met Moseby, Charlie, and Bart...their dog and cats. They are all part of the family here. Nana made us a delicious pork roast with home grown potatoes, carrots, and onions for our first dinner here. It's been years since I had homemade horseradish, it was so good. And we've had cheesecake and fresh berry pie with ice cream!

We've picked and eaten fresh spinach and carrots...my parents are amazing gardeners! I have to much to learn! We are having a lot of fun. Nana got Andrew and Ryon rapid fire Nerf guns this morning...it's a war zone now:). And this afternoon we are going to make cards. I'm looking forward to that, Nana's the best!

Football Playoffs Saturday

2010-10-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

All four of our boys are on teams that were good enough to be in the football playoffs. Eli's team was ranked 8th out of the 8 teams. So, they got to play against the first ranked Terminators in the single elimination playoffs and (guess what?) THEY WON!!! Against all odds! How many feet could you imagine would be the biggest penalty you'd give to a bunch of 8th and 9th graders in a football game? Would you guess 70 yards??? Yes! Eli's team earned a 70 yard penalty?! The Raiders scored a touch down, were penalized for excessive celebrating a touch down, then the touch down was taken away, but the penalty wasn't and then there were penalties for this and that... until we were lined up on the 10 yard line on the opposite side of the field, I kid you not! It was rediculous, and Ryon almost lost his voice telling them so! :)

Huge Watermelon!

2010-10-26T11:03:00.001-07:00

We're still harvesting watermelon, Eli cut this one off the vine yesterday.

Birthday Wishes!

2010-10-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before his birthday he had on a bright yellow pair of fleece gloves when I got into the car. All the boys had on their football uniforms, shoulder pads and all, but Andrew had on the finishing touches, bright yellow snow gloves. "You can't wear those in the game!" "Yes I can, they will help me play better." "No you can't!" Came the brothers' replies. After about 15 minutes of a very confident Andrew claiming that snow gloves would most definitely be what he needed in today's game, I mentioned he should take them off. "O.K." He said, and left them on the seat when he got out to play, what turned out to be the best game of his season so far! He played the entire first 1/2 of the game, special teams, offensive line, d-line, EVERYTHING. A few games back he made an amazing tackle...it earned him a silver brick from his coach..."the BIG HIT AWARD". Andrew loves to hit! So, in Saturday's game he was only on the side lines for 3 plays of the entire game, and I think that was to get some water.

Besides football, Andrew loves running, being held, being read to and reading, getting perfect grades at school, being the leader in his classroom, playing with his friends, and being funny. He loves to eat red bell peppers whole, and mandarin oranges are his absolute favorite (he'd eat 12 cans at a time, if I let him), but he rarely eats anything called "dinner", which is probably really healthy for him. He's already planning to be baptized next year when he turns 8 years old. That was the first thing he talked about on his birthday morning. In one year I'll be 8, and will be baptized.

Andrew wanted waffles with blackberry compote for his birthday breakfast. We put 7 candles on his waffle and later on his round, chocolate birthday cake. Nathaniel hand picked and made a scene with Lego guys on the the top of the cake. It was really cool looking!

Andrew is handsome, spiritual, kind, funny, intelligent, and athletic. If I weren't his mother, I'd want to be. He's fun to be around! And I want to wish him a happy birthday! I love you Andrew!

Disney

2010-10-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

California

2010-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Point Loma/Sea World

2010-10-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

Point Loma

2010-10-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ricky there are some great photos from this vacation...:) Thanks Ricky!

It Is Magical!

2010-10-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

The drive to California was...dare I say it, good, even with all 10 of us in one car. There were no fights, no yelling, we arrived in 6 hours, and everyone was still happy:). We had a wonderful week full of laughs, and we made many great memories. We came in under budget...probably thanks to Eli's frugality (he noticed early on we didn't finish all our food at restaurants, so he stopped ordering meals and started eating others' left overs...he's a very thoughtful and frugal kid, I love that!) So, everyone was able to buy a souvenir...and mine is a magic trick...it's awesome! I practiced for an hour this morning and I am now able to wow the sister missionaries:). I'll keep it a secret for now, but when you see me again, I'll show you my magical talent.

Here are some of our Disney highlights: World of Color at California Adventure. It's a water, light, music, and fire show. And it's amazing...especially since we got to sit up close in the handicapped section (thanks Bea;)) and we could feel the heat from the fire. Andrew and Zach both went through Jedi training school and did light saber to light saber combat with Darth Mal. We ate Monte Christo sandwiches at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (who pays $25 for a sandwich?). We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, Mimi's Cafe, and P.F. Chang's all in a 4 day period (we chose our favorites). Boy was I ready for homemade food even before it was time to have it! We normally eat out at one of those restaurants like, once a year? Every night I was full before dinner started, but I still ate...that can't be good for my waist line. And not to be forgotten...the funny moment I didn't see coming, when I distracted Ricky and she ran a wheelchair bound Bea straight into a light pole at Disneyland, so when Ricky and I looked forward again I had to laugh and laugh seeing Bea wrapped around the light pole...sorry Bea (I'm glad you didn't get hurt, and I'm grateful you have an amazing sense of humor, and I'm grateful Ricky likes to drive everything with wheels)!

We spent a fun-filled day at Sea World. The funniest part of the day was when the sea lion said in true Darth Vader fashion, "Biff, I am your father." Don't ask me why, but that just made me laugh! And we ate more cheese cake and chocolate cake than any normal person should eat in one day.

But my favorite part of the trip was the time we spent at Point Loma...not really looking at tide pools (even thou it was low tide, because it's that time of the month when the tide doesn't really get low). We were looking at shells and rocks and sea anemone. It was chilly and overcast, that's my favorite beach weather! And we fed a rotten banana to a squirrel, that was fun.

Our drive home felt longer, maybe dead cow highway had something to do with it, with all it's continuous roller coaster hills for 45 minutes. But we all had a fun adventure that I'm sure I'll always remember!

Since we've been home I've been exercising every day. It's tiring, but it's good for my heart, and probably my waist line:). I've also been gardening, today I planted carrots and green onions (from the seeds I harvested from my own garden last year). We've had lots of huge watermelons this fall, they are delicious! I'm not a watermelon fan, but I crave them this fall! I'm excited for the green tomatoes on my vines to get ripe, so we can eat arugula and fresh garden tomato salads. Right now I'm loving the 6 huge basil plants that are growing so well. I've been making basil tomato sandwiches for lunch and lots of pesto pasta for dinner. Gardening makes me happy, I never thought I'd say that as a child weeding an acre garden, our garden doesn't have weeds today, maybe that's why it makes me happy?!

Evening of Excellence!

2010-09-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

So, much has happened since my last post! Bea and Ricky attended Homecoming, they were absolutely beautiful! I went to the Relief Society Conference so I missed seeing their dates pick them up:(. So, I don't have pictures to post. But the conference was worth it! I am inspired to be a better woman.

I'm going to Wisconsin in November...it's been way too long since I've been out that way (5 1/2 years)! So, I'm taking my 2 little boys so they can experience Nana and Papa's house...and their new puppy.

I'm experiencing fall allergies...ugh! They make my eyes itch, my nose run, my throat hurt, and I feel tired. It's not a really inspiring affair. My brain is in a cloud and I mostly just want my nose to stop dripping! I'm trying to decide if I'm inspired to see an allergist, yet? I'm not one who would take claratin every day (it makes me tired, anyway)...or go get a shot once a week for 6 years. But I might try those under the tongue drops...I could be good at that, I think.

Tonight is Evening of Excellence. It's a time to celebrate Savanah. She's become an amazing teenager! She plays the piano when ever she's got a spare moment...and it's beautiful to listen to her playing! I was a bit worried she'd be too shy to play in front of our international students, but it hasn't phased her, I'm so glad. Tonight Savanah is going to display her swim related things, and life guarding things. She's progressing so well in personal progress! I'm proud of you Savanah!