23 December 2010
16 December 2010
I lost my shadow...
I lost my shadow
Today I lost my shadow. And it's hard to take in. I walk around the house expecting her to be there on the floor or eating dinner with me, but she's not. I walk in to the room and her persistence of staying by my side is gone. She didnt say much or do much, but a shadow never does.
My shadow no longer lays dutifully at my feet while sleeping, waiting to get up and see where I take her that day.
Loyal and true, that's what my shadow was to me. She was always there to greet me when my day was through. Always there by my side, happy mad or blue.
My shadow was a direct reflection of me. She loved to eat, loved the sun, the out doors, smells, citrus trees, bike rides, car rides, a good chase, a good fight, family and friends. She loved a good prime rib, snuggling, being in the kitchen and being with kids; she was full of love. But of course she loves these things, a shadow is the direct reflection of me. :)
My shadow brought in the perspective of light. With out light, my shadow is dead, and I am too. I feel dead inside with out her.
I wish my shadow would come back. Like they always say, you don't know it's missing, until it's gone.
My shadow's in me, she is me. And I love her very much. I miss her deeply. I wish she'd come back.
Until we meet again.... Rest in a beautiful loving peace.
In loving memory of my shadow, my baby girl, my puppy: Shelby (4 December 2007 - 15 December 2010
Today I lost my shadow. And it's hard to take in. I walk around the house expecting her to be there on the floor or eating dinner with me, but she's not. I walk in to the room and her persistence of staying by my side is gone. She didnt say much or do much, but a shadow never does.
My shadow no longer lays dutifully at my feet while sleeping, waiting to get up and see where I take her that day.
Loyal and true, that's what my shadow was to me. She was always there to greet me when my day was through. Always there by my side, happy mad or blue.
My shadow was a direct reflection of me. She loved to eat, loved the sun, the out doors, smells, citrus trees, bike rides, car rides, a good chase, a good fight, family and friends. She loved a good prime rib, snuggling, being in the kitchen and being with kids; she was full of love. But of course she loves these things, a shadow is the direct reflection of me. :)
My shadow brought in the perspective of light. With out light, my shadow is dead, and I am too. I feel dead inside with out her.
I wish my shadow would come back. Like they always say, you don't know it's missing, until it's gone.
My shadow's in me, she is me. And I love her very much. I miss her deeply. I wish she'd come back.
Until we meet again.... Rest in a beautiful loving peace.
In loving memory of my shadow, my baby girl, my puppy: Shelby (4 December 2007 - 15 December 2010
15 December 2010
'Twas The Night Before Christmas (mom style)
My friend posted this on Face book this evening and I liked it. So I'm copying it to keep on my blog. Hope you enjoy it too. :)
'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Mom Style)
'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Mom Style)
Twas the night before Christmas,
when all thru the abode
Only one creature was stirring,
and she was cleaning the commode.
The children were finally sleeping,
all snug in their beds,
while visions of N-64 & Barbie,
flipped through their heads.
The dad was snoring in front of the TV,
with a half-constructed bicycle propped on his knee.
So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,
which made her sigh, "Now what is the matter?"
With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand,
She descended the stairs, and saw the old man.
He was covered with ashes and soot, which fell with a
shrug, "Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."
"Ho Ho Ho!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake."
"Your gift was especially difficult to make."
"Thanks, Santa, but all I want is time alone."
"Exactly!" he chuckled, "So, I've made you a clone."
"A clone?" she muttered, "What good is that?"
"Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit chat."
Then out walked the clone - The mother's twin,
Same hair, same eyes, same double chin.
"She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.
You'll relax, take it easy, watch The Young and The Restless."
"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream has come true!"
"I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep a night through!"
From the room above, the youngest did fret.
"Mommy?! Come quickly, I'm scared and I'm wet."
The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart."
"Hey," the mom smiled, "She sure knows her part."
The clone changed the small one and hummed her tune,
as she bundled the child in a blanket cocoon.
"You're the best mommy ever. I really love you."
The clone smiled and sighed, "And I love you, too."
The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal."
That's my child's LOVE she is trying to steal."
Smiling wisely Santa said, "To me it is clear,
Only one loving mother is needed here."
The mom kissed her child and tucked her in bed.
"Thank You, Santa, for clearing my head.
I sometimes forget, it won't be very long,
when they'll be too old for my cradle and song."
The clock on the mantle began to chime.
Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."
With the clone by his side Santa said "Goodnight.
Merry Christmas, dear Mom, You will be all right."
29 November 2010
Quote of the month of November
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -
28 October 2010
08 September 2010
30 August 2010
there is a direct relation between Abby Orton and Grandma smith
I'll have you know, that you can be worry free. Abby IS RELATED TO GRANDMA SMITH. Why do you say that, you ask?
Well, she woke up at 2 am last night asking for "dooonnuuttts". Then she woke up this morning and of course insisted on "donuts" for breakfast. And if that wasn't enough. She dragged us to the store this morning and wanted a CHOCOLATE frosted CHOCOLATE donut with sprinkles on top.... and to top it off, she had to have it with CHOCOLATE milk...........
Well, she woke up at 2 am last night asking for "dooonnuuttts". Then she woke up this morning and of course insisted on "donuts" for breakfast. And if that wasn't enough. She dragged us to the store this morning and wanted a CHOCOLATE frosted CHOCOLATE donut with sprinkles on top.... and to top it off, she had to have it with CHOCOLATE milk...........
Missionary Moment
Thursday, I got a call at 5:40 PM from an unknown number on my cell phone. I usually don't pick up, but it was a local number and I felt like I should. I picked it up, lo and behold, it was the missionaries. They had an appointment with a lady in my neighborhood at 6:00 pm and was wondering if I could join them at the appointment.... AND if i could help with the lesson... AND if i could bear my testimony... AND find a baby sitter.... in twenty minutes.
Talk about last minute! I rarely, can find a baby sitter for a date night none the less last minute! I said, I would call them back in a few minutes, too find a baby sitter. Fortunately (and unusual), I was able to find some one to watch Abby. Terra's was home and able to. (Blessing #1) So I called them back and said I would.
I really was proud of myself. I didn't worry at all about bearing my testimony or the lesson, like I usually am. Some one gave a talk in church a week or two ago and quoted someone saying that all worrying is just another way for not putting your trust and faith in the Lord. Since I heard that, I have stopped worrying about the lessons I teach 2nd hour in church and any thing else I might worry about.
On top of that. I got ready and was out of the door in record time (Blessing #2). I pepped talked Abby on the way over to Terra's, telling her mommy would be back soon, and that I was going to leave, and she was going to stay there and play with Tracen. Since I left for Camp in July, Abby screams and cries and we have to pry her fingers off of me as I leave. That day, she walked in, said good bye and I left in a total of a minute (blessing #3).
I got to the investigator's house BEFORE 6pm and BEFORE the missionaries (this could only be done by the hand of God. Me, on time? I blame the Cowles side for having no sense of time. Andrew likes to call hyper active anti punctuality.)
The investigator went to church two weeks ago, where the Missionaries discovered her. She just randomly showed up to church building one day. She really wants to be baptized. She understands the purpose and importance of it for returning to live with Heavenly Father, however, I don't think she understands that by being baptized you're becoming a permanent member of the church. But anyway, she and her 2 month old boyfriend had started to read from the gospel principles book, a chapter every night before bed. Some time, the missionaries are going to have to bring up that you can't live together unless your married... that one will be interesting. I think the missionaries are dreading being that one up. :)
But this lady, is a pretty impressive investigator. For this being her first discussion, she already had quite a bit of knowledge on her about the church (she had it a little confused, but she knew a lot). And she had cancer in her right eye, which caused her to lose her eye and now has a prosthetic eye, which has brought her closer to God and feeling the Holy Ghost. (Actually as a side note, she was worried that she would lose her eye while getting baptized. And come up from the water having a floating eye hanging around the water... that's quite an image).
It was great to listen to their missionaries message. I wish they were more eloquent in their speaking, and that their teaching flowed from point to point better. Some times, even I was having a hard time following where they were going with their thoughts.... I felt like I should speak up, but they only have an hour and I want to make sure they get their lesson finished. I also felt like when I spoke up, they would lose their thought process, and these particular missionaries aren't very good at looking beyond what they're thinking in their minds. I wish they would have told the Joseph Smith story a little better, as well. It's so special and so important, and it's hard not to be touched by the spirit when it's being told...... ....... usually.
Either way, I think she might join the church, which is exciting. I was able to go back again the next day for the second discussion too. And the second day, you could hardly smell cigarette smoke in her house. The first day, it burnt my throat walking in, so hopefully she's starting to make a change for the good. She was already good, but you know what I mean.
I felt blessed and honored to be able to go with the missionaries and do that, especially since I wasn't able to go on a mission myself it was great to get that glimps and joy of missionary work. It made me think a lot about Miles, and wonder how he's doing.
Talk about last minute! I rarely, can find a baby sitter for a date night none the less last minute! I said, I would call them back in a few minutes, too find a baby sitter. Fortunately (and unusual), I was able to find some one to watch Abby. Terra's was home and able to. (Blessing #1) So I called them back and said I would.
I really was proud of myself. I didn't worry at all about bearing my testimony or the lesson, like I usually am. Some one gave a talk in church a week or two ago and quoted someone saying that all worrying is just another way for not putting your trust and faith in the Lord. Since I heard that, I have stopped worrying about the lessons I teach 2nd hour in church and any thing else I might worry about.
On top of that. I got ready and was out of the door in record time (Blessing #2). I pepped talked Abby on the way over to Terra's, telling her mommy would be back soon, and that I was going to leave, and she was going to stay there and play with Tracen. Since I left for Camp in July, Abby screams and cries and we have to pry her fingers off of me as I leave. That day, she walked in, said good bye and I left in a total of a minute (blessing #3).
I got to the investigator's house BEFORE 6pm and BEFORE the missionaries (this could only be done by the hand of God. Me, on time? I blame the Cowles side for having no sense of time. Andrew likes to call hyper active anti punctuality.)
The investigator went to church two weeks ago, where the Missionaries discovered her. She just randomly showed up to church building one day. She really wants to be baptized. She understands the purpose and importance of it for returning to live with Heavenly Father, however, I don't think she understands that by being baptized you're becoming a permanent member of the church. But anyway, she and her 2 month old boyfriend had started to read from the gospel principles book, a chapter every night before bed. Some time, the missionaries are going to have to bring up that you can't live together unless your married... that one will be interesting. I think the missionaries are dreading being that one up. :)
But this lady, is a pretty impressive investigator. For this being her first discussion, she already had quite a bit of knowledge on her about the church (she had it a little confused, but she knew a lot). And she had cancer in her right eye, which caused her to lose her eye and now has a prosthetic eye, which has brought her closer to God and feeling the Holy Ghost. (Actually as a side note, she was worried that she would lose her eye while getting baptized. And come up from the water having a floating eye hanging around the water... that's quite an image).
It was great to listen to their missionaries message. I wish they were more eloquent in their speaking, and that their teaching flowed from point to point better. Some times, even I was having a hard time following where they were going with their thoughts.... I felt like I should speak up, but they only have an hour and I want to make sure they get their lesson finished. I also felt like when I spoke up, they would lose their thought process, and these particular missionaries aren't very good at looking beyond what they're thinking in their minds. I wish they would have told the Joseph Smith story a little better, as well. It's so special and so important, and it's hard not to be touched by the spirit when it's being told...... ....... usually.
Either way, I think she might join the church, which is exciting. I was able to go back again the next day for the second discussion too. And the second day, you could hardly smell cigarette smoke in her house. The first day, it burnt my throat walking in, so hopefully she's starting to make a change for the good. She was already good, but you know what I mean.
I felt blessed and honored to be able to go with the missionaries and do that, especially since I wasn't able to go on a mission myself it was great to get that glimps and joy of missionary work. It made me think a lot about Miles, and wonder how he's doing.
A great day
I had a great weekend and loved every minute of it.
I made a deal with Andrew that if I picked up the house, he had to put picture frames up on the wall. He took the deal and I have picture frames up by stairs and he has a clean house.
Friday, it rained in the morning and I made pull apart. I could have ended the day with that and would have been completely satisified with my Friday, but we didn't.
We dropped Abby off at Terra's house. And Andrew and I headed towards Mesa. Our ward had a cannery assignment Friday and I used it as an opportunity to turn the cannery into a little date. We picked up gamma seals for our 5-gallon buckets. Don't know what those are? -- they beautiful! They're a seal that goes on your 5-gallon bucket, and instead of prying it off the bucket for 15 minutes, it just screws on and off for easy accessibility and still keeps out the moisture with a great tight seal. Now we'll be able to keep all the rye, corn starch and wheat in these buckets and I'll be able to use it more!! oh the joy.
After that we booked it over to the cannery where we helped to bottle spaghetti sauce. I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed when I found out it was spaghetti sauce. You each get to take home a sample of what you helped bottle and I can't eat the church's spaghetti sauce. :( It has dehydrated mushrooms in it, and I'm allergic to mushrooms. But it was still fun to go there and serve with Andrew. We took the hot (120 degree) bottles full of spaghetti off the conveyor belt and onto a rack that pulled the bottles through a cold water bath, which sealed, cooled of and rinsed off the bottles. Then put the bottles off the rack onto another conveyor belt which took the bottles through a dryer and into a little machine that put the labels on the bottles. It's the kind of mindless busy work that I don't mind doing, I could probably do it every day. And it leaves me to my thoughts as talking isn't easy to do with all the loud machines around. It's amusing to see how all the machines work and see how they make things that we buy in stores. It's also kind of a self-gratification knowing that the food we're helping bottle is going to food banks, bishop store houses (which then go to members whom the bishop thinks are in need of food) and bought for food storage.
That finished early so we were then able to go pick up and pay for the window tint that Brent, Andrew's brother, ordered for us. We're hoping that the window tint is 1, accepted by our HOA and 2, will help keep the house cooler in the summers when it's so hot and our AC is blasting. Hopefully it'll help our AC out. I can't wait to put it up and see if we can feel the difference.
Last month we put insulation in our garage door. I couldn't believe the difference it made in Abby's room which is above the garage. The garage is much cooler, still hot, but cooler and Abby's room doesn't take in so much of the heat now from being above the garage. AND it made the garage door quiet! She used to wake up any time the garage door was opening or shutting. NOT ANY MORE, you can't hear it any where in the house. Now she no longer wakes up at 2am when Andrew comes home from work thanks to the insulation. I can't believe that garage insulation isn't a given thing down here in this heat!-- it should be. We're hoping that the tint will be just as miraculous as the garage insulation. *fingers crossed*
Then we called in and ordered some amazing pizza from Picazzo's it's a fresh organic Italian kitchen that's based in AZ that makes amazing food that tastes soooo soooo good. It's so healthy for you too, but unfortunately with that comes pricey. ... Organic olive oil and garlic, mozzarella, fresh Roma tomatoes, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and French feta topped with fresh basil: it makes my mouth water. And their hummus is soo good, it screams garlic but mmm-hmmmmm.. delic.
We couldn't stay, we just picked up the pizza and left because I had doubled booked myself. Thank goodness the cannery didn't take very long. I had to go with the missionaries that night to an investigators house and Andrew picked up Abby.
I got home, searched the house for a large set of scriptures as the regular BOM is too small of font for the investigator then happily dragged Andrew, Abby and I walked back over to her house and gave her the large print BOM for her to read. On the way home, we walked over to the new neighbors behind our house and introduced ourselves.... and then asked if we could get our ball back that had bounced into their yard. :) We ran around the neighborhood chasing Abby and watching the sunset, asking Abby what colours were in the sky. Then got home tired from chasing and decided we needed to go to the store and buy some Blue Bell Ice Cream. yummmmm.
We got there, and Andrew bought my FAVOURITE flowers, Lilies. Oh they smell so good. I don't even have to walk up to them to smell them, they fill the air in the room with the smell of lilies. i love it. It reminds me of the song :
I made a deal with Andrew that if I picked up the house, he had to put picture frames up on the wall. He took the deal and I have picture frames up by stairs and he has a clean house.
We dropped Abby off at Terra's house. And Andrew and I headed towards Mesa. Our ward had a cannery assignment Friday and I used it as an opportunity to turn the cannery into a little date. We picked up gamma seals for our 5-gallon buckets. Don't know what those are? -- they beautiful! They're a seal that goes on your 5-gallon bucket, and instead of prying it off the bucket for 15 minutes, it just screws on and off for easy accessibility and still keeps out the moisture with a great tight seal. Now we'll be able to keep all the rye, corn starch and wheat in these buckets and I'll be able to use it more!! oh the joy.
After that we booked it over to the cannery where we helped to bottle spaghetti sauce. I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed when I found out it was spaghetti sauce. You each get to take home a sample of what you helped bottle and I can't eat the church's spaghetti sauce. :( It has dehydrated mushrooms in it, and I'm allergic to mushrooms. But it was still fun to go there and serve with Andrew. We took the hot (120 degree) bottles full of spaghetti off the conveyor belt and onto a rack that pulled the bottles through a cold water bath, which sealed, cooled of and rinsed off the bottles. Then put the bottles off the rack onto another conveyor belt which took the bottles through a dryer and into a little machine that put the labels on the bottles. It's the kind of mindless busy work that I don't mind doing, I could probably do it every day. And it leaves me to my thoughts as talking isn't easy to do with all the loud machines around. It's amusing to see how all the machines work and see how they make things that we buy in stores. It's also kind of a self-gratification knowing that the food we're helping bottle is going to food banks, bishop store houses (which then go to members whom the bishop thinks are in need of food) and bought for food storage.
That finished early so we were then able to go pick up and pay for the window tint that Brent, Andrew's brother, ordered for us. We're hoping that the window tint is 1, accepted by our HOA and 2, will help keep the house cooler in the summers when it's so hot and our AC is blasting. Hopefully it'll help our AC out. I can't wait to put it up and see if we can feel the difference.
Last month we put insulation in our garage door. I couldn't believe the difference it made in Abby's room which is above the garage. The garage is much cooler, still hot, but cooler and Abby's room doesn't take in so much of the heat now from being above the garage. AND it made the garage door quiet! She used to wake up any time the garage door was opening or shutting. NOT ANY MORE, you can't hear it any where in the house. Now she no longer wakes up at 2am when Andrew comes home from work thanks to the insulation. I can't believe that garage insulation isn't a given thing down here in this heat!-- it should be. We're hoping that the tint will be just as miraculous as the garage insulation. *fingers crossed*
Then we called in and ordered some amazing pizza from Picazzo's it's a fresh organic Italian kitchen that's based in AZ that makes amazing food that tastes soooo soooo good. It's so healthy for you too, but unfortunately with that comes pricey. ... Organic olive oil and garlic, mozzarella, fresh Roma tomatoes, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and French feta topped with fresh basil: it makes my mouth water. And their hummus is soo good, it screams garlic but mmm-hmmmmm.. delic.
We couldn't stay, we just picked up the pizza and left because I had doubled booked myself. Thank goodness the cannery didn't take very long. I had to go with the missionaries that night to an investigators house and Andrew picked up Abby.
I got home, searched the house for a large set of scriptures as the regular BOM is too small of font for the investigator then happily dragged Andrew, Abby and I walked back over to her house and gave her the large print BOM for her to read. On the way home, we walked over to the new neighbors behind our house and introduced ourselves.... and then asked if we could get our ball back that had bounced into their yard. :) We ran around the neighborhood chasing Abby and watching the sunset, asking Abby what colours were in the sky. Then got home tired from chasing and decided we needed to go to the store and buy some Blue Bell Ice Cream. yummmmm.
We got there, and Andrew bought my FAVOURITE flowers, Lilies. Oh they smell so good. I don't even have to walk up to them to smell them, they fill the air in the room with the smell of lilies. i love it. It reminds me of the song :
"Consider the lilies of the field,
How they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.
He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And He will feed those who trust Him,
And guide them with His eye.
Consider the sheep of His fold,
How they follow where He leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed.
How they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.
He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And He will feed those who trust Him,
And guide them with His eye.
Consider the sheep of His fold,
How they follow where He leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed.
He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs in His fold,
And He will heal those who trust Him,
And make their hearts as gold. "
He feeds the lambs in His fold,
And He will heal those who trust Him,
And make their hearts as gold. "
And of course at the store, we picked up Abby's favourite, pink sugar cookies. Then Andrew's favourite, mint chocolate chip ice cream to top it off.
Best. Day. Ever.
29 August 2010
What we've been doing lately....
I have a happy heart. We have been so blessed this year, I'm still pinching myself wondering when I'm going to wake up. I am just so happy with where life is headed and can't wait to see what life will bring next.
I have spent the last few weeks trying to get our house ready for some semi-permanent guests. For the next year, we will have our friend Lauren come live with us and her two boys, Aiden (3) and Kyler (1 1/2 ?) while Richard (husband/dad and Andrew's good friend) is serving in Iraq. He was in the same unit with Andrew in Idaho, and was with Andrew when he went over to Iraq. It'll be new, refreshing, and I have a peaceful, comforting feeling that this will be good for them and us to be living here together. I feel that it's what we're supposed to do and am hoping it'll all work out for good. And maybe it'll encourage me to keep my house cleaner. :)
I've got the toy room picked up and organized and ALMOST to where I want it. I've been through the food storage room and organized, clean and gotten rid of things. A good number of picture frames are up on our walls now (in the staircase). Andrew has been putting shelves in closets and in the laundry room (nice, good looking shelves too. Not those cheapo plastic/metal rod ones. I'm talking wood, screws, caulking and paint! Yay!) A friend gave us a nice dresser for free, so we have moved clothes from our two dressers into the one nice one now. The house is painted (ceilings need to be fixed still though). We got bunk beds for the boys and are trying to go through the closet upstairs that is in the room Lauren will being sleeping in... dum dum dum dummmmmmmmm. It's a very loaded walk in closet that's served as our extra bedroom for random things like, blow up mattresses, sewing machines, baby accessories that we don't use but don't want to give up in case we ever decide to have another hellion and paper filing... lots... and lots.... and lots of papers. I think that closet might be the death of me. My goal is to get it knocked out this week. And I have no idea where we're going to put the crib, but all in all this has kept us fairly busy. Although I think Andrew and I like having little projects and things to work on; a goal to move towards.
After the closet, next up for projects: tinting the windows of our house, finishing up the shelves in our closets, reupholstering the kitchen chairs, and picking up the backyard.
I have spent the last few weeks trying to get our house ready for some semi-permanent guests. For the next year, we will have our friend Lauren come live with us and her two boys, Aiden (3) and Kyler (1 1/2 ?) while Richard (husband/dad and Andrew's good friend) is serving in Iraq. He was in the same unit with Andrew in Idaho, and was with Andrew when he went over to Iraq. It'll be new, refreshing, and I have a peaceful, comforting feeling that this will be good for them and us to be living here together. I feel that it's what we're supposed to do and am hoping it'll all work out for good. And maybe it'll encourage me to keep my house cleaner. :)
I've got the toy room picked up and organized and ALMOST to where I want it. I've been through the food storage room and organized, clean and gotten rid of things. A good number of picture frames are up on our walls now (in the staircase). Andrew has been putting shelves in closets and in the laundry room (nice, good looking shelves too. Not those cheapo plastic/metal rod ones. I'm talking wood, screws, caulking and paint! Yay!) A friend gave us a nice dresser for free, so we have moved clothes from our two dressers into the one nice one now. The house is painted (ceilings need to be fixed still though). We got bunk beds for the boys and are trying to go through the closet upstairs that is in the room Lauren will being sleeping in... dum dum dum dummmmmmmmm. It's a very loaded walk in closet that's served as our extra bedroom for random things like, blow up mattresses, sewing machines, baby accessories that we don't use but don't want to give up in case we ever decide to have another hellion and paper filing... lots... and lots.... and lots of papers. I think that closet might be the death of me. My goal is to get it knocked out this week. And I have no idea where we're going to put the crib, but all in all this has kept us fairly busy. Although I think Andrew and I like having little projects and things to work on; a goal to move towards.
After the closet, next up for projects: tinting the windows of our house, finishing up the shelves in our closets, reupholstering the kitchen chairs, and picking up the backyard.
23 August 2010
09 August 2010
Patriotism.
My sister asked me this weekend if Andrew and I would write letters on patriotism for her YW Lesson being a Veteran's wife and a Veteran that she could read to the YW. Seeing as I missed a post on the 4th of July, here's a tribute to the 4th. This is what I came up with, I thought I'd publish it for others to see too:
I am 24 years old and I grew up in Beijing, China.
I never felt like I had patriotism until recently. I have always had a respect for the sacrifices my ancestors made to make our country what it is today. And I have had a respect for the ideology behind the United States of America, but my love, my memories, my friends, my knowledge of the land, my people whom I felt I belonged to and related to the most, are in China. However, I was no longer living in China, I was indefinitely staying in the United States.
I remember the very day my patriotism grew. I met my future husband while he was overseas on a tour of duty in Iraq for the US Army when I was 19. Though we had never met each other, we had been given each other’s email address by a mutual friend and were begged to write each other. My first letter to this soldier, whom I did not know and did not want to write to, was distasteful and unkind. Having
harsh opinions towards our country, our president and those fighting for the war in Iraq. I did not have patriotism.
The soldier subsided my opinions and tried to get to know me. Our letters grew from weekly to daily to many times a day depending on when he was on the gun line. He finally got home on a two-week leave and we met face to face for the first time. We had one week of dating before he had to go back to war. We watched movies, met his entire family, went to the shooting range, hiked to a glacier, and
visited Temple Square in that one week. I also knew that he was going to be the one I marry.
It wasn’t until that night before he had to leave that my patriotism grew. We stayed up the whole night talking, looking at photos and watching the stars. My time with him was soon going to be put on pause. He went and got changed into his uniform. As I saw him walk out of that bathroom tightening the cuffs of his sleeves, stringing the lace through his boots, correcting his collar and shaping his beret to fit properly on his head, I had that special love for him and for the soldiers he was fighting with. He stood for something and he stood because he knew it was the right thing to do. He was leaving his life, his love, his family, his hobbies, his job, his education, his car, and his friends. Why would anyone do this? And after such a great week we had, would you want to leave? He did this because it was a love and loyalty towards our country. Do you have that?
Needless to say, I didn’t want him to leave. He picked me up, hugged me, and swung me around. Then gently placing me in the car, he kissed me good-bye, and I watched him slowly disappear in my rear-view mirror. He had patriotism; he was trying to give more to the Nation by protecting it from those who want to destroy it. It was a selfless service.
And I learned my patriotism from him that very day. I had to believe that this country was worth defending because otherwise I was sending the love of my life off for no reason. I spent the next 4 months until he got home, waking up at 4:30 in the morning to talk to him. Some times I wouldn’t hear from him for days because their base was attacked, or soldiers had medical problems and all communication coming in and out was limited. But this only caused me to have a more devoted love and support towards him as I learned what he was going through by defending me, and my rights to be able to live the way I do. There are soldiers right now putting their life on the line so that every day I can enjoy the things that brighten my day.
I slowly learned that I didn’t want their fight to be in vain. I have a flag visible in my house to try to remember every day to show my respect, love and support towards my country and the soldiers fighting to defend it. I try to be the citizen that they would want to fight for. I participate in my community, I vote for representatives in the government, I now pledge my allegiance to the flag, I speak up and actively participate in law making that would help better the community, I pay my taxes, I obey the law, I talk to my neighbors, and I make the area I live in worth fighting for by making it look beautiful and by not littering, I treat others with respect and I try not to take for granted the rights and the freedoms I have, that others whom I grew up with don’t have.
I hope we all try and do the same every day to not let the soldiers defending our country be in vain and by doing so you too will gain patriotism.
I am 24 years old and I grew up in Beijing, China.
I never felt like I had patriotism until recently. I have always had a respect for the sacrifices my ancestors made to make our country what it is today. And I have had a respect for the ideology behind the United States of America, but my love, my memories, my friends, my knowledge of the land, my people whom I felt I belonged to and related to the most, are in China. However, I was no longer living in China, I was indefinitely staying in the United States.
I remember the very day my patriotism grew. I met my future husband while he was overseas on a tour of duty in Iraq for the US Army when I was 19. Though we had never met each other, we had been given each other’s email address by a mutual friend and were begged to write each other. My first letter to this soldier, whom I did not know and did not want to write to, was distasteful and unkind. Having
harsh opinions towards our country, our president and those fighting for the war in Iraq. I did not have patriotism.
The soldier subsided my opinions and tried to get to know me. Our letters grew from weekly to daily to many times a day depending on when he was on the gun line. He finally got home on a two-week leave and we met face to face for the first time. We had one week of dating before he had to go back to war. We watched movies, met his entire family, went to the shooting range, hiked to a glacier, and
visited Temple Square in that one week. I also knew that he was going to be the one I marry.
It wasn’t until that night before he had to leave that my patriotism grew. We stayed up the whole night talking, looking at photos and watching the stars. My time with him was soon going to be put on pause. He went and got changed into his uniform. As I saw him walk out of that bathroom tightening the cuffs of his sleeves, stringing the lace through his boots, correcting his collar and shaping his beret to fit properly on his head, I had that special love for him and for the soldiers he was fighting with. He stood for something and he stood because he knew it was the right thing to do. He was leaving his life, his love, his family, his hobbies, his job, his education, his car, and his friends. Why would anyone do this? And after such a great week we had, would you want to leave? He did this because it was a love and loyalty towards our country. Do you have that?
Needless to say, I didn’t want him to leave. He picked me up, hugged me, and swung me around. Then gently placing me in the car, he kissed me good-bye, and I watched him slowly disappear in my rear-view mirror. He had patriotism; he was trying to give more to the Nation by protecting it from those who want to destroy it. It was a selfless service.
And I learned my patriotism from him that very day. I had to believe that this country was worth defending because otherwise I was sending the love of my life off for no reason. I spent the next 4 months until he got home, waking up at 4:30 in the morning to talk to him. Some times I wouldn’t hear from him for days because their base was attacked, or soldiers had medical problems and all communication coming in and out was limited. But this only caused me to have a more devoted love and support towards him as I learned what he was going through by defending me, and my rights to be able to live the way I do. There are soldiers right now putting their life on the line so that every day I can enjoy the things that brighten my day.
I slowly learned that I didn’t want their fight to be in vain. I have a flag visible in my house to try to remember every day to show my respect, love and support towards my country and the soldiers fighting to defend it. I try to be the citizen that they would want to fight for. I participate in my community, I vote for representatives in the government, I now pledge my allegiance to the flag, I speak up and actively participate in law making that would help better the community, I pay my taxes, I obey the law, I talk to my neighbors, and I make the area I live in worth fighting for by making it look beautiful and by not littering, I treat others with respect and I try not to take for granted the rights and the freedoms I have, that others whom I grew up with don’t have.
I hope we all try and do the same every day to not let the soldiers defending our country be in vain and by doing so you too will gain patriotism.
 | |||||||||
| Liz making my army job look good, posing on a M109-A6 Paladin (155mm Self Propelled Howitzer), @ the 2006 Spring Military Ball right after the Iraq tour |
08 August 2010
Why My Calendar is still on April...
It's been a busy summer, I haven't had time until now to change it!
Here's the short and condensed version:
May:
Lots of things happened in may, including running a dulathon. it was something like 2 mile run, 4 mile bike, and then 2 mile run again.
June:
I helped throw a baby shower for my friend, Tiffany.
Andrew graduated:
Family came:
July:
The first week of july, we were in Preston/Yellowstone (Trip #1 to ID) to see family again and have a Family Reunion up in Yellowstone. We were cold the entire time we were up there. We tried to find jackets, but who needs jackets when it's 50 degrees out... THAT'S WARM?!?!!?!
We returned to AZ, only to find out the morning we arrive that Grandma Bartholomew died. so The next weekend (trip #2 to ID) we went to her funeral and had another family reunion there for the short weekend but we got to see Brian and KT again too.
Then we came back home, to AZ. I helped with a RS meeting activity, and got ready for Camp. And then Grandpa Bartholomew died.
I went to Girls camp up at Mt. Lemmon:
Then, I left 1 day early for camp and made the last trip (Trip #3) up to ID, for Granpa B's funeral.
This last month, I have decided that riding bikes is good after being crammed in a small car for 90 hours. I also decided that we need to buy a bigger car. And lastly, I saw more sun rises, than I have ever wanted to see. Having not slept 3 days that week of camp and funerals. ... In case you were lucky enough to sleep in and missed some sun rises, here's what they looked like at Lake Powell on one of many trips back home to AZ:
Here's the short and condensed version:
May:
Lots of things happened in may, including running a dulathon. it was something like 2 mile run, 4 mile bike, and then 2 mile run again.
June:
I helped throw a baby shower for my friend, Tiffany.
 |
| Here's some guests doing the bottle chug game. |
Andrew graduated:
Family came:
 |
| I had to add this, I think Lee Ann's face is hilarious |
July:
The first week of july, we were in Preston/Yellowstone (Trip #1 to ID) to see family again and have a Family Reunion up in Yellowstone. We were cold the entire time we were up there. We tried to find jackets, but who needs jackets when it's 50 degrees out... THAT'S WARM?!?!!?!
 |
| we had our usual feet in the water competition up at Willow Flats. Really, it's just an update on who's more stubborn. -- I won might I add. |
Then we came back home, to AZ. I helped with a RS meeting activity, and got ready for Camp. And then Grandpa Bartholomew died.
I went to Girls camp up at Mt. Lemmon:
 |
| Some of the girls I was over. I was the head leader over all the level 2s for our stake |
Grandma and Grandpa B: we love you and will miss you. You were a great example to us. Till we meet again.
This last month, I have decided that riding bikes is good after being crammed in a small car for 90 hours. I also decided that we need to buy a bigger car. And lastly, I saw more sun rises, than I have ever wanted to see. Having not slept 3 days that week of camp and funerals. ... In case you were lucky enough to sleep in and missed some sun rises, here's what they looked like at Lake Powell on one of many trips back home to AZ:
more details and pictures to come on the subject later.
xoxo
24 June 2010
21 June 2010
02 June 2010
changing a tire
The next day after the chinese dinner, Andrew stayed home from work with sick abby while Aunt Eileen and I drove down to Tucson for a bird convention at the bird oasis. I felt horrible that i was incredibly tired during the drive. Sleep with a sick child doesn't happen.
Over all though it was a better visit than the time before. We got more bird interaction. However, I have very mixed feelings about the oasis. I'm not impressed by those who run it nor their policies. I don't think i would send my birds there if i ever had any, but it is a nice place, fun to visit-- and to each their own.
On the way back however we ate at a mexican restaurant and allllll the blood and water flowed to my stomach. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired. Just out of casa grande, we ended up getting a flat tire. I got out of the car to look at it and the flood of water emptied into my bladder and let's just say the phrase "pee like a russian race horse" was very applicable at the time. However it seemed to help make the process of changing a flat tire go by much quicker having that added stress onto the situation. I almost used a bush but could see a gas station several miles off in the distance and hoped i could wait.
The tired got changed, thanks to dad who showed me how in high school and andrew whom i've watched change all our flat tires since we've been married. And a few tips from andrew on the phone. :)
And i BARELY made it to a bathroom but managed.
needless to say, i changed a flat tire all by myself! YAY go me!
Over all though it was a better visit than the time before. We got more bird interaction. However, I have very mixed feelings about the oasis. I'm not impressed by those who run it nor their policies. I don't think i would send my birds there if i ever had any, but it is a nice place, fun to visit-- and to each their own.
On the way back however we ate at a mexican restaurant and allllll the blood and water flowed to my stomach. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired. Just out of casa grande, we ended up getting a flat tire. I got out of the car to look at it and the flood of water emptied into my bladder and let's just say the phrase "pee like a russian race horse" was very applicable at the time. However it seemed to help make the process of changing a flat tire go by much quicker having that added stress onto the situation. I almost used a bush but could see a gas station several miles off in the distance and hoped i could wait.
The tired got changed, thanks to dad who showed me how in high school and andrew whom i've watched change all our flat tires since we've been married. And a few tips from andrew on the phone. :)
And i BARELY made it to a bathroom but managed.
needless to say, i changed a flat tire all by myself! YAY go me!
Ladies night out
I might have mentioned this before but i don't know what happened to the month of April and May... my calender never even made it to may-- it's still on April. And what have I to show for April and may? I can't remember... :)
I know that we had a great ladies night with some sisters in the ward. I auctioned off a Chinese meal at the YM/YW fund raiser. It was one of the highest bidding items. Sandy, who won, decided to turn it into a ladies night. I'm so glad she did. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food. And it wasn't too stressful either. I had friends watch Abby while I cleaned the house two days before. And then the day before I bought all the ingredients and the day of I had 2 VERY helpful helpers help with the chopping and dicing and stirring. What is a normally 7 1/2 hour job turned into 4 hour job and went by so fast with enjoyable company, I felt more like I was hardly working than working hard. It was the best way to make chinese food and the easiest. I've never had an easier time making the Chinese food. We had everything made and ready an hour before it started!! --very impressive for me. And would have only happened thanks to friends.
We had the usual: kong pao, broccoli and carrots, lemon chicken, shredded pork, green beans, and some fried bread with condensed milk.
However, I think the two friends that helped me will never ask to help me again or ask me to make it again. I don't think they realized how much hard work, time, and skill it takes to make such a meal. Sandy said that she will never complain about prices at a Chinese restaurant again after the realization of everything that gets put into it.
We were able to use my Chinese china and my Norwegian silver, along with some nice wooden chop sticks for dinner. It was nice to host a grown up dinner were we could use the china and silver and not worry about it being dropped. And what's even better is they stayed and put the food away and washed all the silver and dishes by hand knowing it couldn't be put in the dishwasher. What wonderful friends and wonderful evening. We even got in a good game of loaded questions which was fun to play.
Unfortunately the night ended as friends were starting to put food away and clean the kitchen Abby threw up all over me. She ended up being sick all weekend. But it was nice to have friends stay and help while I cleaned Abby, the floor, and I up from the throw up. Made my life and weekend much easier and less stressful
And then ten minutes after everyone left, Aunt Eileen came from San Diego and stayed for the weekend.
I know that we had a great ladies night with some sisters in the ward. I auctioned off a Chinese meal at the YM/YW fund raiser. It was one of the highest bidding items. Sandy, who won, decided to turn it into a ladies night. I'm so glad she did. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food. And it wasn't too stressful either. I had friends watch Abby while I cleaned the house two days before. And then the day before I bought all the ingredients and the day of I had 2 VERY helpful helpers help with the chopping and dicing and stirring. What is a normally 7 1/2 hour job turned into 4 hour job and went by so fast with enjoyable company, I felt more like I was hardly working than working hard. It was the best way to make chinese food and the easiest. I've never had an easier time making the Chinese food. We had everything made and ready an hour before it started!! --very impressive for me. And would have only happened thanks to friends.
We had the usual: kong pao, broccoli and carrots, lemon chicken, shredded pork, green beans, and some fried bread with condensed milk.
However, I think the two friends that helped me will never ask to help me again or ask me to make it again. I don't think they realized how much hard work, time, and skill it takes to make such a meal. Sandy said that she will never complain about prices at a Chinese restaurant again after the realization of everything that gets put into it.
We were able to use my Chinese china and my Norwegian silver, along with some nice wooden chop sticks for dinner. It was nice to host a grown up dinner were we could use the china and silver and not worry about it being dropped. And what's even better is they stayed and put the food away and washed all the silver and dishes by hand knowing it couldn't be put in the dishwasher. What wonderful friends and wonderful evening. We even got in a good game of loaded questions which was fun to play.
Unfortunately the night ended as friends were starting to put food away and clean the kitchen Abby threw up all over me. She ended up being sick all weekend. But it was nice to have friends stay and help while I cleaned Abby, the floor, and I up from the throw up. Made my life and weekend much easier and less stressful
And then ten minutes after everyone left, Aunt Eileen came from San Diego and stayed for the weekend.
17 May 2010
Food for thought
I have been getting a lot of heat on Arizona's new immigration bill. A bill I am completely for (and might I add, so is 70% of Arizona). A bill that only helps honor and sustain a law ("we believe in obeying, honoring and sustained the law"). A law we the people have put into place already, and this bill is there to help support and sustain it. a law that will help keep our (MY) communities and children safe. A bill that every legal Mexican immigrant, I have met, has been for.
There are really so many sides and arguments that i could throw out for pro immigration bill... but i won't.
Instead, I really just wanted every one to see these two videos done by channel 2 news in Atlanta.
According to the Border Patrol the public is being mislead as to WHO is coming into the US from Mexico. As, again, reported by WSBTV in Atlanta.
Video 1
Video 2
There are really so many sides and arguments that i could throw out for pro immigration bill... but i won't.
Instead, I really just wanted every one to see these two videos done by channel 2 news in Atlanta.
According to the Border Patrol the public is being mislead as to WHO is coming into the US from Mexico. As, again, reported by WSBTV in Atlanta.
Video 1
Video 2
14 May 2010
Apricot Tree
(side note: these are not citrus, they are apricots.) :)
12 May 2010
mom
Our evening routine we eat dinner and then Abby says “I want to go to ‘bedt’” we brush her teeth, we fill up a cup of milk, we change into pajamas, read a story, say a prayer, and kiss good night. Last night, instead of a story we looked at pictures of Jesus. It felt very fulfilling and I felt closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus by telling Abby all about Jesus and what he’s done for us. I gambled and didn’t put a diaper on her, hoping she’ll learn to not pee the bed.
I made breakfast, lunch and dinner for Andrew to take to school and work in the morning. Then sent him off to school. Abby saw Andrew drive away through her window—she cried, it broke my heart. I went to hug her and found out that she was wet… I gambled and lost and managed to get wet myself from hugging her. I didn’t mind, I wanted to do was to make her feel better. I changed her clothes, and took a 15 minute nap. It needed to be longer but Abby wasn’t going back to sleep. I put Abby in a bath and took a shower myself. We got ready and then had Abby’s friend Bella come over to play. Abby was excited to have her over but then realized as soon as she came that she was competition for toys. I taught Abby to have fun and share. And I taught her to be nice to friends. The girls had fun together and their laughter makes my day. Abby shared her candy—big deal! She’s learning. ☺
We took Bella home and then picked up a family we’re getting to know well, to go grocery shopping. I really like Terra, the mom. Abby likes her son, Tracen. And the two get along with Tracen’s sister Kelsi. We went to the store and Abby had fun with Tracen in the shopping cart car. I tried to show Terra how to use coupons, I don’t think I accomplishd that very well with all the kids and commotion but still had fun shopping with her. We got bugles for free—I had to decide whether to put the $0.05 purchase (from tax) on my card or try and find a nickel/dime—tough decision. I bought Bella’s mom, Katie, some groceries while I was in town, to save her a trip and to show Terra how to use some coupons that she had that I didn’t. I came home, had a great talk with Katie. Abby and Bella played together—Abby remembered to be nice and share.
We got home then headed back to Terra’s for dinner. Abby shared, played and laughed some more with Tracen. I could live off of their laughter. Dinner was nice, especially since I didn’t have to make it and Terra’s wonderful company.
Got home and Abby conked out on the recliner. I gambled and didn’t put a diaper on her. Andrew called and helped me get groceries at the Asian store on his lunch break. Then watched a few of my favourite shows. Went and changed Abby’s wet sheets from the morning. Picked up sleeping Abby.... and she peed on me while taking her upstairs…. I changed her clothes, gave her the bottle of milk, and needless to say, put a diaper on her for the night.
I ended my day with a wet peed on shirt, the same way I started my day. And I’d do it all over again, because I love being a mom.
Hope you all had a happy mother's day Sunday, for all those mom's, friends who are moms, mom's who are friends, those who want to be moms, soon to be moms and even the old ones. :) Thanks for all you do, your example and for all you have done for me. xoxo
I made breakfast, lunch and dinner for Andrew to take to school and work in the morning. Then sent him off to school. Abby saw Andrew drive away through her window—she cried, it broke my heart. I went to hug her and found out that she was wet… I gambled and lost and managed to get wet myself from hugging her. I didn’t mind, I wanted to do was to make her feel better. I changed her clothes, and took a 15 minute nap. It needed to be longer but Abby wasn’t going back to sleep. I put Abby in a bath and took a shower myself. We got ready and then had Abby’s friend Bella come over to play. Abby was excited to have her over but then realized as soon as she came that she was competition for toys. I taught Abby to have fun and share. And I taught her to be nice to friends. The girls had fun together and their laughter makes my day. Abby shared her candy—big deal! She’s learning. ☺
We took Bella home and then picked up a family we’re getting to know well, to go grocery shopping. I really like Terra, the mom. Abby likes her son, Tracen. And the two get along with Tracen’s sister Kelsi. We went to the store and Abby had fun with Tracen in the shopping cart car. I tried to show Terra how to use coupons, I don’t think I accomplishd that very well with all the kids and commotion but still had fun shopping with her. We got bugles for free—I had to decide whether to put the $0.05 purchase (from tax) on my card or try and find a nickel/dime—tough decision. I bought Bella’s mom, Katie, some groceries while I was in town, to save her a trip and to show Terra how to use some coupons that she had that I didn’t. I came home, had a great talk with Katie. Abby and Bella played together—Abby remembered to be nice and share.
We got home then headed back to Terra’s for dinner. Abby shared, played and laughed some more with Tracen. I could live off of their laughter. Dinner was nice, especially since I didn’t have to make it and Terra’s wonderful company.
Got home and Abby conked out on the recliner. I gambled and didn’t put a diaper on her. Andrew called and helped me get groceries at the Asian store on his lunch break. Then watched a few of my favourite shows. Went and changed Abby’s wet sheets from the morning. Picked up sleeping Abby.... and she peed on me while taking her upstairs…. I changed her clothes, gave her the bottle of milk, and needless to say, put a diaper on her for the night.
I ended my day with a wet peed on shirt, the same way I started my day. And I’d do it all over again, because I love being a mom.
Hope you all had a happy mother's day Sunday, for all those mom's, friends who are moms, mom's who are friends, those who want to be moms, soon to be moms and even the old ones. :) Thanks for all you do, your example and for all you have done for me. xoxo
 |
| From Liz & Abby's trip to the beach with Dan's family |
03 May 2010
Finally! What we see on our credit card statement:
Your new statement is now available online
The new statement for your Wells Fargo credit card account XXXX-XXXX-XXXX is now available to view online.
New Balance: $0.00
Scheduled Minimum Payment*: $0.00
Scheduled Payment Due Date: 05/27/2010
YAY!!!! nothing on our credit card... whohoo! staying out of debt is hard but worth it.
The new statement for your Wells Fargo credit card account XXXX-XXXX-XXXX is now available to view online.
New Balance: $0.00
Scheduled Minimum Payment*: $0.00
Scheduled Payment Due Date: 05/27/2010
YAY!!!! nothing on our credit card... whohoo! staying out of debt is hard but worth it.
28 April 2010
quote of the day
I saw this on a facebook status and i liked it. Here's to sharing a good quote:
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."(Albert Einstein)
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."(Albert Einstein)
26 April 2010
hiked a hike without any hikers.
Spent all week this week trying to find a great place to take the YW hiking, with bad knees, a broken toe and Abby on my neck. I was called as Camp Director, which i was excited about until i found out that the stake has chosen to be in charge of it ALL and i really only get to be a tent mom... I'm just going to try and not think about it, because the way they have the whole thing set up makes me frustrated, like the stake missed the boat on the purpose of girls camp. but.... oooohhhh weellll. When I was called, I was told that I would be in charge of Pre-hikes for girls camp. So we were to have a pre-hike yesterday.
Andrew had finals Tuesday and then had the rest of the week off to help me find a hike for Saturday. We finally found one on Squaw Peak. It's a nice 1.2 mile loop that has hardly any elevation. There were bathrooms and covered pavilions to eat lunch at by the trail head and a nice bench towards the end of the hike where we could have a nice spiritual message. Plus the hike wasn't too far away from home, about 45 minutes, which for our area is good.
We've had the hike on the calendar all month and had planned for it back in March. I came in and talked to the girls Sunday and handed out cute little fliers for them to take home and remember to come to the hike. 5 of the 6 leaders said they could come Sunday and help give rides to the trail head, hike, and then give rides back to their homes.
The YW President talked to the girls that came to the activity on wednesday and 6 of 11 who were there, said they were going. I emailed the girls again, the day before to remind them..... ...... then six o' clock the day before comes around and all of the sudden i only have ONE possible leader that can come, my assistant director and every one else bailed out on me... and according to the numbers on wednesday we don't have enough spaces in the car to take the girls to the trail head. I talked some leaders into moving their appointments around to come, so that there's enough car space and leaders. And hoped it would all work out.
Saturday morning comes along.... I woke up at 5:30am, to get my spiritual message and hand out complete. Sliced tomatoes, lettuce, red onions and strawberries for sandwiches and snacks. Put together the rest of the lunch and put them in the cooler. Tried to get ready and get abby's things ready for the babysitter (that only happened thanks to andrew), we sent abby over to the neighbors to be watched while we went hiking. I picked up olive oil from a co-op, which took longer than it should have and 7:50 comes around (the girls were supposed to be at the church at 7:30) and we have only one girl. .... Who obviously didn't want to hike by herself with leaders, or well... a mom that insisted she didn't want to hike without any friends). Which, who wouldn't want to hike with friends? I can understand that, but how come her friends didn't come?... or even her sister who was supposed to be there...? So all the time and work that went into our hike was canceled because none of the girls showed up.
I was frustrated and disappointed to say the least.
The mom and daughter left, and the two leaders that came, stood together for a second. and then decided just because the girls didn't come doesn't mean we can't go. We all had babysitters for our kids (Andrew was there too, to be the priesthood for the activity), so we drove in a car and went hiking. We choose a different hike, which was MUCH harder than the hike we were going to take the girls on. It's called Piestewa Peak trail (formerly known as Squaw Peak trail). It was good, I don't know if the other leaders liked it because it was a moderate to difficult hike. It wasn't very long, but the elevation changed from 1400' to 2608' and had a LOT of stairs and rocks.
It was great to go hiking still, but didn't make up for the fact that no one showed. I'm trying to fulfill my calling but lack support.
I'm pretty sad and disappointed that the girls AND/OR YW leaders didn't show. I'm going to be spending the next few days trying to figure out in my head why leaders and girls didn't show up so i can see what to do better next time.
Pictures of the hike to come later.
Andrew had finals Tuesday and then had the rest of the week off to help me find a hike for Saturday. We finally found one on Squaw Peak. It's a nice 1.2 mile loop that has hardly any elevation. There were bathrooms and covered pavilions to eat lunch at by the trail head and a nice bench towards the end of the hike where we could have a nice spiritual message. Plus the hike wasn't too far away from home, about 45 minutes, which for our area is good.
We've had the hike on the calendar all month and had planned for it back in March. I came in and talked to the girls Sunday and handed out cute little fliers for them to take home and remember to come to the hike. 5 of the 6 leaders said they could come Sunday and help give rides to the trail head, hike, and then give rides back to their homes.
The YW President talked to the girls that came to the activity on wednesday and 6 of 11 who were there, said they were going. I emailed the girls again, the day before to remind them..... ...... then six o' clock the day before comes around and all of the sudden i only have ONE possible leader that can come, my assistant director and every one else bailed out on me... and according to the numbers on wednesday we don't have enough spaces in the car to take the girls to the trail head. I talked some leaders into moving their appointments around to come, so that there's enough car space and leaders. And hoped it would all work out.
Saturday morning comes along.... I woke up at 5:30am, to get my spiritual message and hand out complete. Sliced tomatoes, lettuce, red onions and strawberries for sandwiches and snacks. Put together the rest of the lunch and put them in the cooler. Tried to get ready and get abby's things ready for the babysitter (that only happened thanks to andrew), we sent abby over to the neighbors to be watched while we went hiking. I picked up olive oil from a co-op, which took longer than it should have and 7:50 comes around (the girls were supposed to be at the church at 7:30) and we have only one girl. .... Who obviously didn't want to hike by herself with leaders, or well... a mom that insisted she didn't want to hike without any friends). Which, who wouldn't want to hike with friends? I can understand that, but how come her friends didn't come?... or even her sister who was supposed to be there...? So all the time and work that went into our hike was canceled because none of the girls showed up.
I was frustrated and disappointed to say the least.
The mom and daughter left, and the two leaders that came, stood together for a second. and then decided just because the girls didn't come doesn't mean we can't go. We all had babysitters for our kids (Andrew was there too, to be the priesthood for the activity), so we drove in a car and went hiking. We choose a different hike, which was MUCH harder than the hike we were going to take the girls on. It's called Piestewa Peak trail (formerly known as Squaw Peak trail). It was good, I don't know if the other leaders liked it because it was a moderate to difficult hike. It wasn't very long, but the elevation changed from 1400' to 2608' and had a LOT of stairs and rocks.
It was great to go hiking still, but didn't make up for the fact that no one showed. I'm trying to fulfill my calling but lack support.
I'm pretty sad and disappointed that the girls AND/OR YW leaders didn't show. I'm going to be spending the next few days trying to figure out in my head why leaders and girls didn't show up so i can see what to do better next time.
Pictures of the hike to come later.
20 April 2010
18 April 2010
Recent Project
I made these signs... thanks to wonderful Shannon who has a fab table saw and vinyl cutter.
Wedding gifts:
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
Wedding gifts:
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
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| From Signs I made |
Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Exhibit
This week we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Exhibit. Thanks to Melissa she let us know it was free to get in to the Gardens AND the exhibit.
The butterflies were good. They landed on most of us EXCEPT poor abby who wanted it sooo badly. Unfortunately a know-it-all-annoying-won't-leave-us-alone-12-year-old kept stealing all the butterflies from abby. ughhh......
Anyway here's some pictures of the desert in the spring and the butterfly exhibit.
The butterflies were good. They landed on most of us EXCEPT poor abby who wanted it sooo badly. Unfortunately a know-it-all-annoying-won't-leave-us-alone-12-year-old kept stealing all the butterflies from abby. ughhh......
Anyway here's some pictures of the desert in the spring and the butterfly exhibit.
then there's Easter... and Abby's birthday-- on the same day!
Dan's family came the Friday before Easter. We spent the Saturday having fun in the kitchen making all sorts of things. And in the evening we celebrated Abby's THIRD (that's right 0-3) birthday. I can't believe she's that old!!
Reasons why I love abby, or what I love about Abby:
I made her. :)
She loves flowers
She likes animals
She's very sweet and caring
She's sensitive
She loves to draw and paint
She loves the sun
She tells her poo good bye after flushing it
She hates to see people leave
She loves to watch movies
She loves to play outside.
She cries when she wakes up and realizes it's too early for the sun to come up... then goes back to bed.
She sleeps a lot, and usually well
She loves chocolate
She likes to make music out of anything
She pronounces Chinese better than English, but speaks more English
She's beautiful
Her personality is beautiful
She has a GREAT stink eye face
She gives great hugs and kisses
She loves to have fun and play
She's very ticklish
She shows off her battle wounds with dogs, furniture, toys, people and whatever else.
She likes to snuggle
Here's some pictures of the Easter eggs we dyed. I ended up blowing out 5 1/2 dozen eggs and dying them with natural dye. Some worked out, some didn't. If i remember right, the blueberries, beets, and spinach worked best. the rest i had to add food colouring to work.
Here's some of the egg hunt:
Abby's Birthday:
andddd... the $ cake at the end was not abby's birthday cake-- her's was the bunny. the $ cake was made by me for a RS meeting about budgeting.
Reasons why I love abby, or what I love about Abby:
I made her. :)
She loves flowers
She likes animals
She's very sweet and caring
She's sensitive
She loves to draw and paint
She loves the sun
She tells her poo good bye after flushing it
She hates to see people leave
She loves to watch movies
She loves to play outside.
She cries when she wakes up and realizes it's too early for the sun to come up... then goes back to bed.
She sleeps a lot, and usually well
She loves chocolate
She likes to make music out of anything
She pronounces Chinese better than English, but speaks more English
She's beautiful
Her personality is beautiful
She has a GREAT stink eye face
She gives great hugs and kisses
She loves to have fun and play
She's very ticklish
She shows off her battle wounds with dogs, furniture, toys, people and whatever else.
She likes to snuggle
Here's some pictures of the Easter eggs we dyed. I ended up blowing out 5 1/2 dozen eggs and dying them with natural dye. Some worked out, some didn't. If i remember right, the blueberries, beets, and spinach worked best. the rest i had to add food colouring to work.
Here's some of the egg hunt:
Abby's Birthday:
andddd... the $ cake at the end was not abby's birthday cake-- her's was the bunny. the $ cake was made by me for a RS meeting about budgeting.
5k Run & the Beach in San Diego
It's been a while since I've put a real post up. I try and put posts up on Sunday as Miles, Andrew's brother who's on a mission, gets to check his email and look at our blog on Mondays. :) -- and he checks them quite early on mondays, it seems. We're horrible writers... and everything we would write and tell him is on our blog anyway..... so it's a good thing he can check our blog!!
Back to the subject on hand: 5k run.
March 26th, Abby and I trekked to San Diego to enjoy some quality family time and a 5k run. We left a little late, and tried to help Dan with some shirts he made (see picture below).
The next day, my cute little nephew Aaron(1 of 3 cute nephews i have-- cuteness must come from the smith family and not married into! :) ) has been diagnosed (is that what you call it?) with Autism. They're working through it getting him help and therapy and what not. Every year, they have a race for autism in San Diego and it goes to help those kids. Aaron had a team, named "Team Aaron"-- original guys. And I joined the team and ran it. Well I'll be honest, i did a lot of speed walking and a bit of running. I hadn't trained for it, in fact I'm pretty sure I haven't run in over a year. :( I jogged with Abby in a VERY flat tired (there seriously was no air in it) jogging stroller. clocked in at about 40 minutes.
Later I dragged Dan's family to Subway and then to the beach. We accidentally went to a state park beach-- which is $10/car for the day, but I totally recommend it. There were fire pits around. There were TONS of whole sand dollars. sea shells, great waves, dolphins, warmer water because it was flatter..., kite surfing, it wasn't too busy, and it was clean.
Then we had Mexican food with grandma and a. Eileen. The next day we went to church with grandma, ate a delicious meal at a. Joanne's, took apart a work bench grandpa once made, and saw A. eileen's birds then went home.
We had so much fun in San Diego. We hope to live there some day. Here's some reasons i love it:
-Smells like wet wood chips and citrus plants
-Grandma Cowles lives there -- we love grandma!
-Relatives live there
-It's beautiful
-It's warm but not desert hot like PHX
-People can take their dogs places and not get yelled at
-Grandma's orchard
-There's a beach
-Play games with family
-Abby learns so much from grandma every time she's around
-Abby LOVES ANYTHING grandma Cowles does.... any thing. She calls grandma "mammos"... no i don't know why.
-Peacocks make cat noises
-Animals are all around "mammos's house" goats, horses, dogs, peacocks, birds... it's a zoo!
-lots of places to go and see.
Here's some pictures from the run:
here's a link to a horrible picture of me running the race and not knowing i was having a photo taken.
https://www.opix.net/cgi-bin/index07.cgi?image_id=dt%202709&search_image_id=dt%202709&race=AutismRun10&race_id=134&race_ids=134&race_for_sale=1
And here's some photos of the Beach with Dan's family:
and i apologize now for the way some of the pictures show up on the slideshow... some day i'll have a desire to figure out what it's doing that... until then you can just click on the picture and it'll take you to the real photo album.
Back to the subject on hand: 5k run.
March 26th, Abby and I trekked to San Diego to enjoy some quality family time and a 5k run. We left a little late, and tried to help Dan with some shirts he made (see picture below).
The next day, my cute little nephew Aaron(1 of 3 cute nephews i have-- cuteness must come from the smith family and not married into! :) ) has been diagnosed (is that what you call it?) with Autism. They're working through it getting him help and therapy and what not. Every year, they have a race for autism in San Diego and it goes to help those kids. Aaron had a team, named "Team Aaron"-- original guys. And I joined the team and ran it. Well I'll be honest, i did a lot of speed walking and a bit of running. I hadn't trained for it, in fact I'm pretty sure I haven't run in over a year. :( I jogged with Abby in a VERY flat tired (there seriously was no air in it) jogging stroller. clocked in at about 40 minutes.
Later I dragged Dan's family to Subway and then to the beach. We accidentally went to a state park beach-- which is $10/car for the day, but I totally recommend it. There were fire pits around. There were TONS of whole sand dollars. sea shells, great waves, dolphins, warmer water because it was flatter..., kite surfing, it wasn't too busy, and it was clean.
Then we had Mexican food with grandma and a. Eileen. The next day we went to church with grandma, ate a delicious meal at a. Joanne's, took apart a work bench grandpa once made, and saw A. eileen's birds then went home.
We had so much fun in San Diego. We hope to live there some day. Here's some reasons i love it:
-Smells like wet wood chips and citrus plants
-Grandma Cowles lives there -- we love grandma!
-Relatives live there
-It's beautiful
-It's warm but not desert hot like PHX
-People can take their dogs places and not get yelled at
-Grandma's orchard
-There's a beach
-Play games with family
-Abby learns so much from grandma every time she's around
-Abby LOVES ANYTHING grandma Cowles does.... any thing. She calls grandma "mammos"... no i don't know why.
-Peacocks make cat noises
-Animals are all around "mammos's house" goats, horses, dogs, peacocks, birds... it's a zoo!
-lots of places to go and see.
Here's some pictures from the run:
here's a link to a horrible picture of me running the race and not knowing i was having a photo taken.
https://www.opix.net/cgi-bin/index07.cgi?image_id=dt%202709&search_image_id=dt%202709&race=AutismRun10&race_id=134&race_ids=134&race_for_sale=1
And here's some photos of the Beach with Dan's family:
and i apologize now for the way some of the pictures show up on the slideshow... some day i'll have a desire to figure out what it's doing that... until then you can just click on the picture and it'll take you to the real photo album.
14 April 2010
Funnies from Pres Monson
I saw this on Facebook and loved it-- I love him.
Have a good day. (Sorry the video is a little wider than my layout allows, but i think you can still see it)
xoxo
Have a good day. (Sorry the video is a little wider than my layout allows, but i think you can still see it)
xoxo
09 April 2010
Abby loves the sun.
Abby still constantly gets sad when the sun goes down. I understand her disappointement, I often feel the same way when I look around my house and think "if i had a few more hours in the day I could..."
So to make her feel better i looked up pictures of the sun on the computer and let her look at them. We found this picture.
Doesn't this image just make you feel so small?
chew on that for today. :)
So to make her feel better i looked up pictures of the sun on the computer and let her look at them. We found this picture.
Doesn't this image just make you feel so small?
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| From |
chew on that for today. :)
25 March 2010
An Inspiring story
I bet this movie as been around for a while. Maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't. But i saw it and loved it.
22 March 2010
My Abby
A few things about Abby today:
She now fake sneezes and loves to get your reaction from it.
Today at dinner, she told me her ice was too cold and that ice should be warmer. .......?
She cries when the sun goes down. She tells me that she misses the sun. She demanded that the sun stay up today, I told her I wish I could keep the sun up, but the sun must always set. (She should move to Grandma's house in Alaska for the summer. The sun will stay up then).
Side note: I related the sun to Jesus and Heavenly Father today during Family Home Evening. I think she actually got it too! I showed her a globe. Pointed out where we were, then used my hand as the sun. I explained why the sun sets (because the earth rotates) and told her that even though we may not see the sun, the sun is always there. And we can always expect it to come tomorrow, just like Jesus and Heavenly father are always there and we can always expect them to be there when we need him. YAY! She's finally getting to that stage where she's cluing in.
And lastly, she can make forts out of her dad's ties... that's just awesome. :)
She now fake sneezes and loves to get your reaction from it.
Today at dinner, she told me her ice was too cold and that ice should be warmer. .......?
She cries when the sun goes down. She tells me that she misses the sun. She demanded that the sun stay up today, I told her I wish I could keep the sun up, but the sun must always set. (She should move to Grandma's house in Alaska for the summer. The sun will stay up then).
Side note: I related the sun to Jesus and Heavenly Father today during Family Home Evening. I think she actually got it too! I showed her a globe. Pointed out where we were, then used my hand as the sun. I explained why the sun sets (because the earth rotates) and told her that even though we may not see the sun, the sun is always there. And we can always expect it to come tomorrow, just like Jesus and Heavenly father are always there and we can always expect them to be there when we need him. YAY! She's finally getting to that stage where she's cluing in.
And lastly, she can make forts out of her dad's ties... that's just awesome. :)
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| From Getting down with the downs. :) |
21 March 2010
We felt a little bit "Down" this week...
but really it felt like the ups. ;)
One of Andrew's friends from the guard who served in Iraq with him (Richard Downs) and his family (Lauren, Aiden and Kyler Downs) came down from Utah this last Monday for a week during their spring break.
I had so much fun with them, thanks to Sara Murdock for her ideas! She was a life saver!!
We got to play at the park, ride trains, eat Mexican food, watch the Easter pageant rehearsals, go to the science museum, play in the kiddy pool and lots and lots and lots of games! FINALLY we found some hardcore gamers!
Lauren's kids are so cute. Their oldest, Aiden is only about 4 to 5 months older than Abby. I have never seen Abby so happy to play with some one. Most of the time you hardly noticed them around unless they were hungry or laughing loudly. They were like two peas in a pods. Until they got cranky and wanted the same toys, but after a nap they were back together again. Normally Abby doesn't want to play with the kids, or the kids don't want to play with Abby, but not Aiden. He kept saying "girl! come play with me!" She definitely misses her play buddy. We'll definitely have to keep our eyes on them when their older though, the two of them could get into some trouble.... easily.
And i thought that Lauren and I got along well. If Richard gets deployed some time, i told her she's more than welcome to stay here!
Anyway, here's some pictures from the week.
The itinerary for the week:
We went to Desert Breeze Park on Tuesday. We got to ride a little kid train, eat lunch by the lake and play at the park. We thought it was going to be a little bit more up key than it was. The website was a little deceiving, but Sara had told me it was just a park to run around in. She was right, and the website was... well... misdirecting. None the less, the park was still fun. And it was 80 degrees outside so it was nice to get out of the house and play in the sun.
Wednesday we ate green eggs and green blueberry pancakes. The kids weren't a fan of the fact that it was green or had blueberries, so they had a smoothie while we ate green breakfasts to celebrate st patti's day. Then we waited on Richard to visit a school he's hoping to attend in Tucson soon (we hope so too! We'd love to have them live close by!). Then we ate some really good Mexican food at Mangoes Mexican Cafe. Let me warn you though, the Mangoes website says that it's "Coffee, Tea, Cookies, Pizzas, Bugger Sandwitch, Soft Drinks". It's not, I was worried and I got Sara all worried too-- sorry Sara. It was excellent Mexican food and the chips were fresh. Then I thought that it was the 24th of march and when it was ACTUALLY it was the 17th-- oops. So we went to go see the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple thinking it would be playing but it was just rehearsals. I think it worked out anyway. We were able to watch with the kids running around and not having to worry about being too loud. We were able to be close to the stage and we even got to pet the sheep that were in the pageant. Then we played Nurtz until 2am, when we could no longer see the cards.
Thursday we went to the Science Museum. I got us all in on our membership so it was free for them-- sweet! :) I think the kids had fun. I was trying not to hurry them through, but i needed to be pack in time for the Relief Society Meeting. I'm on the committee so i needed to be back in time to help set up. I also needed to do a 20 minute thing on my other calling, Family History and Temple work. I forgot until the day of that i was supposed to do the 20 minute spiel. on top of that we were in traffic for much longer than we should have been, so I got home ten minutes before the meeting started and i still needed to figure out what to do. I got it all figured out. I think it went fine, better than expected. I got home and we played more nurtz until 2am again.
And friday, we pulled out the kiddy pool and the cards and played until they had to leave in the evening.
One of Andrew's friends from the guard who served in Iraq with him (Richard Downs) and his family (Lauren, Aiden and Kyler Downs) came down from Utah this last Monday for a week during their spring break.
I had so much fun with them, thanks to Sara Murdock for her ideas! She was a life saver!!
We got to play at the park, ride trains, eat Mexican food, watch the Easter pageant rehearsals, go to the science museum, play in the kiddy pool and lots and lots and lots of games! FINALLY we found some hardcore gamers!
Lauren's kids are so cute. Their oldest, Aiden is only about 4 to 5 months older than Abby. I have never seen Abby so happy to play with some one. Most of the time you hardly noticed them around unless they were hungry or laughing loudly. They were like two peas in a pods. Until they got cranky and wanted the same toys, but after a nap they were back together again. Normally Abby doesn't want to play with the kids, or the kids don't want to play with Abby, but not Aiden. He kept saying "girl! come play with me!" She definitely misses her play buddy. We'll definitely have to keep our eyes on them when their older though, the two of them could get into some trouble.... easily.
And i thought that Lauren and I got along well. If Richard gets deployed some time, i told her she's more than welcome to stay here!
Anyway, here's some pictures from the week.
The itinerary for the week:
We went to Desert Breeze Park on Tuesday. We got to ride a little kid train, eat lunch by the lake and play at the park. We thought it was going to be a little bit more up key than it was. The website was a little deceiving, but Sara had told me it was just a park to run around in. She was right, and the website was... well... misdirecting. None the less, the park was still fun. And it was 80 degrees outside so it was nice to get out of the house and play in the sun.
Wednesday we ate green eggs and green blueberry pancakes. The kids weren't a fan of the fact that it was green or had blueberries, so they had a smoothie while we ate green breakfasts to celebrate st patti's day. Then we waited on Richard to visit a school he's hoping to attend in Tucson soon (we hope so too! We'd love to have them live close by!). Then we ate some really good Mexican food at Mangoes Mexican Cafe. Let me warn you though, the Mangoes website says that it's "Coffee, Tea, Cookies, Pizzas, Bugger Sandwitch, Soft Drinks". It's not, I was worried and I got Sara all worried too-- sorry Sara. It was excellent Mexican food and the chips were fresh. Then I thought that it was the 24th of march and when it was ACTUALLY it was the 17th-- oops. So we went to go see the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple thinking it would be playing but it was just rehearsals. I think it worked out anyway. We were able to watch with the kids running around and not having to worry about being too loud. We were able to be close to the stage and we even got to pet the sheep that were in the pageant. Then we played Nurtz until 2am, when we could no longer see the cards.
Thursday we went to the Science Museum. I got us all in on our membership so it was free for them-- sweet! :) I think the kids had fun. I was trying not to hurry them through, but i needed to be pack in time for the Relief Society Meeting. I'm on the committee so i needed to be back in time to help set up. I also needed to do a 20 minute thing on my other calling, Family History and Temple work. I forgot until the day of that i was supposed to do the 20 minute spiel. on top of that we were in traffic for much longer than we should have been, so I got home ten minutes before the meeting started and i still needed to figure out what to do. I got it all figured out. I think it went fine, better than expected. I got home and we played more nurtz until 2am again.
And friday, we pulled out the kiddy pool and the cards and played until they had to leave in the evening.
06 March 2010
I looked out the window and what did I see??
I looked out MY window and what did i see? Popcorn popping on MY apricot tree!! Spring has brought me such a nice surprise! Blossoms popping right before my eyes! I can take an armful and make a treat. A Popcorn ball that would smell so sweet. It wasn't really so, but it seemed to be popcorn popping on MY apricot tree!
Oh and did i mention we have bees?!??! YAY FOR BEES!!!!
Oh and did i mention we have bees?!??! YAY FOR BEES!!!!
Journal Entry: My day
This morning we did a baby swap. I watched Natalie's baby boy this morning while they went to the temple, and then some time she'll watch Abby. I woke up 5 minutes before they were supposed to be dropping him off, which doesn't surprise me. They were dropping him off early, well early for us (8:00am). However, I was able to get up and open the house windows and have Andrew start making waffles (yum... they were good, we put cinnamon and vanilla in it smelled and tasted delicious) before they dropped him off. Tate, the boy i was watching, doesn't like leaving his mommy. He was sure great once he got over it-- which only took a whole minute and a half. Andrew liked having a a little boy around and i think was secretly hoping to convince me to have another one (before you think it, NO, this is not a baby announcement, i do NOT want another one just yet), but i think Andrew enjoyed it. It's also fun to give the kids barrel rides-- which they loved.
We spent all morning outside, playing fetch with Maddie. Shoveling rocks out of the way to build small plots for a garden, picking up dog poop and putting in a drip system for our garden. PLUS, Andrew was nice and let me plant some flower seeds to outline our grass with (I'd been begging to do this and he kept telling me no, he finally gave in :) ya).
(Side note, a lady who did a class on gardening a few weeks ago in our ward said to plant things on the east side as that gets the best sun in the morning. Well... there was a lot of things i didn't agree with that she taught... a LOT, but then there were some good things too. She taught to plant on the east side which i would normally agree with but i don't for my house. BECAUSE, ever since she mentioned that, i started to look at where my lawn gets the sun in the morning and it is NOT the east side. It's because the east side has a fence and a house that keeps it shaded. The best place for me is the north fence because it gets the morning sun, just FYI for all you Maricopians. you have to take into account fences and two story houses!)
So we're doing 6- 5ft by 5ft plots along the fence. And Andrew's already got the drip system in place, now i just need to start digging all those useless rocks they put in the back yard. (Rant:) Seriously, why do you ONLY put rocks in the back yard? what purpose does that serve? they're not even river rocks, they're sharp! not even a desert tree? or a bush? or even leave a pre-existing cactus??? no. just a ton of open rocky land that you can't walk on because it hurts your feet even through flip flops. you can't stick patio furniture on it, you can't do anything. it's a waste of space and land! good thing we took care of that and put in grass and trees... now we're working on a garden. my back aches for the shoveling of rocks, but I'm sure it's good for me. I didn't do a lot of shoveling today, i mainly watched out for the kids. Plus we only have 1 shovel and it was being shared between Andrew doing the drip system and i shoveling rocks.
Abby got in the way of the wheel barrow a few times. (Abby + wheelbarrow + being tired = crying and a few bumps and bruises = frustrated mom and dad who try and watch out for her and keep her out of the way but still manage to run into her some how). and i was walking backwards with the wheelbarrow and fell into the fire pit-- don't worry i was graceful, but now there's an indentation in the fire pit cover of my butt.
Then... we started to look a little pink so i came in side and made the kids come inside too. Poor little Tate is soooooo pale, I'm surprise he was sun burnt already. Had lunch, (gaucamole sandwich: gaucamole, mayo, red onion, tomato, mozzarella cheese and turkey yumm... ) kids were full from yogurt, string cheese, dehydrated apples, crackers and who knows what else, so they missed out on sandwiches. Kissed andrew good bye and he drove off to work.
Parents picked up Tate (I'd watch him again, he was good) ten minutes after Andrew left. I like the Malan's. I hope we can become better friends, plus i hear they play a hard core nurtz... and i need to get myself in some of that action. 10 minutes after that, a boy from our ward and our neighbor came over to play. i don't know why they come over...? we have no boys... they torture the cat till i tell them to stop, they play fetch with Maddie for a whole minute... and then they want to play with the drum set, the piano, Abby's dolls, Abby's easy bake and our Halloween wigs....? I tell them if they come over they have to play with Abby, but they don't really want to. It makes it sad because Abby really wants to play with them and Abby's really not too clingy to them either, but they could care less for her. They don't even want her in the same room. Yet still, she cries when they leave.
I practiced playing hymns from the easy hymn book (one of my goals for the year to play more piano. so far i can play almost anything decently well out of the easy hymn book) while the boys un-rhythmically play the drums and make the cat cry and scream and Abby of course is knocking on the door trying to let them let her in. And i of course am yelling at them to let her in.
Then all of the sudden it hits me. I got a call from Sara asking to make dinner for a sister in the ward yesterday evening. I texted her back saying i would but never received anything back to confirm. (Sara said she did text me back to confirm but i never got it. :( my phone SUCKS. it's having serious issues lately. for example it's a touch screen, but the touch isn't quite on, so I've accidentally deleted ppl on facebook while looking at facebook on my phone. and it's said that some messages I've sent have failed, but the other side got them. no one can hear me when i speak. and some times i go for days without being able to send or receive calls or texts... until i realize there's an issue, turn off my phone then turn it back on and all of the sudden i have a million missed calls and a million msgs. ugh!) So i called Sara to see if i was still doing dinner. I was. That meant i had 2 hours to get dinner on because for some reason people here eat at FIVE THIRTY! so early! i like having a 6:30 or 7:30 dinner, gives me time to cook and enjoy my afternoon.
Normally 2 hours would be plenty of time... but i had to defrost and wait for the kids to leave, get off of facebook :) etc etc. I wanted to make rye bread rolls so a half hour, broken nails (not that their important, but still! they can hurt!), a pair of scissors and Abby later, i open the bucket to get the grains to grind the wheat and the rye. I grind the grains and start to make the dough only to realize they take 3 hours to make! i made the dough anyways (which as I'm typing, I'm remembering that i forgot to put in the oven to cook. they're still on the stove awaiting my assistance) then decided to make country fried chicken, use the corn on the cob we have, make home made mashed potatoes and gravy with biscuits. I was making it for Abby and i plus a family of 5.5.
I don't know where i get this frame of mind but i have to make sure i cook enough. I feel like if there's not left over's for Andrew to take to work the next day, i have failed. I don't know if i got that from my stay in Italy, or from the Chinese, or just my own philosophy or all three, or two of the three-- who cares. I'm not wasteful because we use it for lunches and dinners the next day, but i feel there should always be left overs to make sure everyone gets the amount of what they wanted. I hate feeling like you wanted more potatoes but there's none left. So i was making a lot of food.
Anyway, i was starting to get everything finished up and was working on the gravy when i decided the packaged gravy was too thin (i like my gravy thick) so i took out some of the cooked gravy and put it in our little salad dressing/mixer container with some flour... closed the lid shook and then POW! gravy exploded ALL over the kitchen!!! And it was HOT. ugh.. PLEASE tell me i am not a moron for doing this! i know i am, because i have done this more than once. each time thinking that it wasn't going to happen this time and each time it explodes. so i took a moment to clean my face off. I however couldn't' tell if my face hurt from the hot gravy or from the sun burn i got from being outside... and i couldn't tell if it was a sun burn or red from the hot gravy. Either way it wasn't bad enough to do anything about it. I decided the gravy was fine how it was and started to mash the potatoes when all of the sudden...
it was 5:32, i was ALMOST done with everything and all of the sudden Abby starts screaming and crying. She yells POOP!!! (which she says when she needs to go or has gone) Lately, she's had some interesting fecal matter and this was no exception. Only this time... some how it managed to completely miss the diaper she was wearing and instead splattered all over the kitchen floor where i was trying to finish up dinner because i was late to drop off the food. her diaper was completely covering her bottom... how the heck did it miss her diaper?? I HAVE NO IDEA! even worse... she didn't think it feel on the floor when it happened because why would she... she's wearing a diaper. and STEPS into the poop which is now on the kitchen floor in multiple places and on abby's feet and hands. All of this very traumatic for her.
So i stop what I'm doing. i change her diaper, because that one obviously didn't work? wiped up the poop off the floor and her, scrubbed my hands. finished the potatoes and had the food at their house by 5:45.
Picked up the mail, and tried to pick up the dog toy i accidentally threw over the fence in a vacant lot yesterday, only to find out someone took it! it was brand new too. gr.. BUT good news is, the house is now foreclosed on and the bank owns it. you're probably wondering why is that good news? well, the Lawton's our friends from Safford have been looking for a house in our neighborhood and like the house behind us, and we want them to live in the house behind us so they're close by-- they're like family for us. and we've been keeping an eye on the house since the neighbors told us they were leaving back in November. so YAY, the bank finally owns it, now hopefully they'll be able to put in an offer to get it.
Came home to find the dogs had eaten butter and other things for dinner off the counter and had to re make potatoes and gravy, heat up the corn on the cob. In the process of doing so, i opened the refrigerator-- normally not a big deal. but i started blowing out eggs since it's march for Easter. the eggs were on top of the fridge and some how got bumped towards the edge. I opened the door and all the eggs i had blown out in seconds were now shattered on the floor i had just swept this morning before they dropped Tate off. ... great. :)
then as i was putting dinner on the table, and Abby has ANOTHER diaper incident? what is the deal?? the diaper is on her correctly!!! not only that but the diaper is just a safety net, she's pretty much potty trained now. ugh. so there was another clean up on aisle 3 (i mean my kitchen) :) thank goodness it was no where near as bad as the one earlier. then went to put something in the sink only to realize that a glass has shattered in the sink. sigh... at least it was controllable being in the sink.
Abby and i ate dinner. Abby loves corn. she would make my grandpa smith so so proud. she can eat an entire corn on the cob, wipe it clean! it's amazing! she'll hardly eat anything but corn on the cob... she'll eat.
Then Andrew writes me to tell me that the days for the 5k run we're doing for Aaron at the end of the month, that he requested off of work were denied (and i already paid to be in the run! grr). also the days off for his family reunion were denied. apparently it is not OK for Andrew to take time off work?... ever? I'm sick of this job. he can't go to church because you have to be privileged to have Sunday's off, he can't take time off work like he's meant to be allowed, he can't have family time.. he can't even go to his own family reunion! so... from here on out, we're praying for a better job. feel free to join in finding a better job. oh and did i mention there's a bomb threat on the trains he works on today?... ya.. "no big deal" he says. they instructed them to "not use cell phones or anything with those frequencies on the trains. and don't touch any packages or bags left on the trains..."
and now... we've come to the end. Abby conked out right after dinner. i caught up on American idol. they kicked off the people i wanted kicked off- yay!
Andrew's home, off to bed. i have to wake up early to pick up fruits and veggies from the co-op i use tomorrow morning.
We spent all morning outside, playing fetch with Maddie. Shoveling rocks out of the way to build small plots for a garden, picking up dog poop and putting in a drip system for our garden. PLUS, Andrew was nice and let me plant some flower seeds to outline our grass with (I'd been begging to do this and he kept telling me no, he finally gave in :) ya).
(Side note, a lady who did a class on gardening a few weeks ago in our ward said to plant things on the east side as that gets the best sun in the morning. Well... there was a lot of things i didn't agree with that she taught... a LOT, but then there were some good things too. She taught to plant on the east side which i would normally agree with but i don't for my house. BECAUSE, ever since she mentioned that, i started to look at where my lawn gets the sun in the morning and it is NOT the east side. It's because the east side has a fence and a house that keeps it shaded. The best place for me is the north fence because it gets the morning sun, just FYI for all you Maricopians. you have to take into account fences and two story houses!)
So we're doing 6- 5ft by 5ft plots along the fence. And Andrew's already got the drip system in place, now i just need to start digging all those useless rocks they put in the back yard. (Rant:) Seriously, why do you ONLY put rocks in the back yard? what purpose does that serve? they're not even river rocks, they're sharp! not even a desert tree? or a bush? or even leave a pre-existing cactus??? no. just a ton of open rocky land that you can't walk on because it hurts your feet even through flip flops. you can't stick patio furniture on it, you can't do anything. it's a waste of space and land! good thing we took care of that and put in grass and trees... now we're working on a garden. my back aches for the shoveling of rocks, but I'm sure it's good for me. I didn't do a lot of shoveling today, i mainly watched out for the kids. Plus we only have 1 shovel and it was being shared between Andrew doing the drip system and i shoveling rocks.
Abby got in the way of the wheel barrow a few times. (Abby + wheelbarrow + being tired = crying and a few bumps and bruises = frustrated mom and dad who try and watch out for her and keep her out of the way but still manage to run into her some how). and i was walking backwards with the wheelbarrow and fell into the fire pit-- don't worry i was graceful, but now there's an indentation in the fire pit cover of my butt.
Then... we started to look a little pink so i came in side and made the kids come inside too. Poor little Tate is soooooo pale, I'm surprise he was sun burnt already. Had lunch, (gaucamole sandwich: gaucamole, mayo, red onion, tomato, mozzarella cheese and turkey yumm... ) kids were full from yogurt, string cheese, dehydrated apples, crackers and who knows what else, so they missed out on sandwiches. Kissed andrew good bye and he drove off to work.
Parents picked up Tate (I'd watch him again, he was good) ten minutes after Andrew left. I like the Malan's. I hope we can become better friends, plus i hear they play a hard core nurtz... and i need to get myself in some of that action. 10 minutes after that, a boy from our ward and our neighbor came over to play. i don't know why they come over...? we have no boys... they torture the cat till i tell them to stop, they play fetch with Maddie for a whole minute... and then they want to play with the drum set, the piano, Abby's dolls, Abby's easy bake and our Halloween wigs....? I tell them if they come over they have to play with Abby, but they don't really want to. It makes it sad because Abby really wants to play with them and Abby's really not too clingy to them either, but they could care less for her. They don't even want her in the same room. Yet still, she cries when they leave.
I practiced playing hymns from the easy hymn book (one of my goals for the year to play more piano. so far i can play almost anything decently well out of the easy hymn book) while the boys un-rhythmically play the drums and make the cat cry and scream and Abby of course is knocking on the door trying to let them let her in. And i of course am yelling at them to let her in.
Then all of the sudden it hits me. I got a call from Sara asking to make dinner for a sister in the ward yesterday evening. I texted her back saying i would but never received anything back to confirm. (Sara said she did text me back to confirm but i never got it. :( my phone SUCKS. it's having serious issues lately. for example it's a touch screen, but the touch isn't quite on, so I've accidentally deleted ppl on facebook while looking at facebook on my phone. and it's said that some messages I've sent have failed, but the other side got them. no one can hear me when i speak. and some times i go for days without being able to send or receive calls or texts... until i realize there's an issue, turn off my phone then turn it back on and all of the sudden i have a million missed calls and a million msgs. ugh!) So i called Sara to see if i was still doing dinner. I was. That meant i had 2 hours to get dinner on because for some reason people here eat at FIVE THIRTY! so early! i like having a 6:30 or 7:30 dinner, gives me time to cook and enjoy my afternoon.
Normally 2 hours would be plenty of time... but i had to defrost and wait for the kids to leave, get off of facebook :) etc etc. I wanted to make rye bread rolls so a half hour, broken nails (not that their important, but still! they can hurt!), a pair of scissors and Abby later, i open the bucket to get the grains to grind the wheat and the rye. I grind the grains and start to make the dough only to realize they take 3 hours to make! i made the dough anyways (which as I'm typing, I'm remembering that i forgot to put in the oven to cook. they're still on the stove awaiting my assistance) then decided to make country fried chicken, use the corn on the cob we have, make home made mashed potatoes and gravy with biscuits. I was making it for Abby and i plus a family of 5.5.
I don't know where i get this frame of mind but i have to make sure i cook enough. I feel like if there's not left over's for Andrew to take to work the next day, i have failed. I don't know if i got that from my stay in Italy, or from the Chinese, or just my own philosophy or all three, or two of the three-- who cares. I'm not wasteful because we use it for lunches and dinners the next day, but i feel there should always be left overs to make sure everyone gets the amount of what they wanted. I hate feeling like you wanted more potatoes but there's none left. So i was making a lot of food.
Anyway, i was starting to get everything finished up and was working on the gravy when i decided the packaged gravy was too thin (i like my gravy thick) so i took out some of the cooked gravy and put it in our little salad dressing/mixer container with some flour... closed the lid shook and then POW! gravy exploded ALL over the kitchen!!! And it was HOT. ugh.. PLEASE tell me i am not a moron for doing this! i know i am, because i have done this more than once. each time thinking that it wasn't going to happen this time and each time it explodes. so i took a moment to clean my face off. I however couldn't' tell if my face hurt from the hot gravy or from the sun burn i got from being outside... and i couldn't tell if it was a sun burn or red from the hot gravy. Either way it wasn't bad enough to do anything about it. I decided the gravy was fine how it was and started to mash the potatoes when all of the sudden...
it was 5:32, i was ALMOST done with everything and all of the sudden Abby starts screaming and crying. She yells POOP!!! (which she says when she needs to go or has gone) Lately, she's had some interesting fecal matter and this was no exception. Only this time... some how it managed to completely miss the diaper she was wearing and instead splattered all over the kitchen floor where i was trying to finish up dinner because i was late to drop off the food. her diaper was completely covering her bottom... how the heck did it miss her diaper?? I HAVE NO IDEA! even worse... she didn't think it feel on the floor when it happened because why would she... she's wearing a diaper. and STEPS into the poop which is now on the kitchen floor in multiple places and on abby's feet and hands. All of this very traumatic for her.
So i stop what I'm doing. i change her diaper, because that one obviously didn't work? wiped up the poop off the floor and her, scrubbed my hands. finished the potatoes and had the food at their house by 5:45.
Picked up the mail, and tried to pick up the dog toy i accidentally threw over the fence in a vacant lot yesterday, only to find out someone took it! it was brand new too. gr.. BUT good news is, the house is now foreclosed on and the bank owns it. you're probably wondering why is that good news? well, the Lawton's our friends from Safford have been looking for a house in our neighborhood and like the house behind us, and we want them to live in the house behind us so they're close by-- they're like family for us. and we've been keeping an eye on the house since the neighbors told us they were leaving back in November. so YAY, the bank finally owns it, now hopefully they'll be able to put in an offer to get it.
Came home to find the dogs had eaten butter and other things for dinner off the counter and had to re make potatoes and gravy, heat up the corn on the cob. In the process of doing so, i opened the refrigerator-- normally not a big deal. but i started blowing out eggs since it's march for Easter. the eggs were on top of the fridge and some how got bumped towards the edge. I opened the door and all the eggs i had blown out in seconds were now shattered on the floor i had just swept this morning before they dropped Tate off. ... great. :)
then as i was putting dinner on the table, and Abby has ANOTHER diaper incident? what is the deal?? the diaper is on her correctly!!! not only that but the diaper is just a safety net, she's pretty much potty trained now. ugh. so there was another clean up on aisle 3 (i mean my kitchen) :) thank goodness it was no where near as bad as the one earlier. then went to put something in the sink only to realize that a glass has shattered in the sink. sigh... at least it was controllable being in the sink.
Abby and i ate dinner. Abby loves corn. she would make my grandpa smith so so proud. she can eat an entire corn on the cob, wipe it clean! it's amazing! she'll hardly eat anything but corn on the cob... she'll eat.
Then Andrew writes me to tell me that the days for the 5k run we're doing for Aaron at the end of the month, that he requested off of work were denied (and i already paid to be in the run! grr). also the days off for his family reunion were denied. apparently it is not OK for Andrew to take time off work?... ever? I'm sick of this job. he can't go to church because you have to be privileged to have Sunday's off, he can't take time off work like he's meant to be allowed, he can't have family time.. he can't even go to his own family reunion! so... from here on out, we're praying for a better job. feel free to join in finding a better job. oh and did i mention there's a bomb threat on the trains he works on today?... ya.. "no big deal" he says. they instructed them to "not use cell phones or anything with those frequencies on the trains. and don't touch any packages or bags left on the trains..."
and now... we've come to the end. Abby conked out right after dinner. i caught up on American idol. they kicked off the people i wanted kicked off- yay!
Andrew's home, off to bed. i have to wake up early to pick up fruits and veggies from the co-op i use tomorrow morning.
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