preparing

Tomorrow is the Sabbath day. Often on Saturday I do not give the thought I should to the coming day. I sometimes wish I was an Orthodox Jew. Then, I think to myself, I would get ready. I would look forward to the ritual and the change of pace from daily life. I would prepare myself for worship and fellowship with similarly minded friends. My daughters and I would sweep the hearth and prepare food and press clothing. This thinking is silly of course. I could and should do the same thing now. The problem is Saturday is a day of play, of squeezing in extra chores, of running errands and seeing movies and seldom is it a day of getting ready.

Our Sabbath days are different than other days. We don't work, or shop and we always go to church. I just don't always feel it gets the reverence and thought it warrants. I need to do better.

Last week was our fast and testimony meeting. We forgot, since it didn't fall on the first Sunday of the month due to stake conference, and so we arrived and took our seats unaware and not a bit hungry (spiritual or physically? I don't know, hopefully we were still spiritually hungry). J leaned over to me and asked "is it fast Sunday" The we realized it was . Ooops.

Fortunately the week before that the kids were not too reverent in Sacrament meeting again and on the way home I told them 'this is it! no more drawing, whispering, squirming, sitting on my lap and kicking me in the shin with little hard black church shoes on your cute little feet. no more anything but sitting and listening. You are ALL old enough to behave.'. On the way to church I reminded them, this is it, last week was the last week you were wiggle worms. Today dawns a new era of reverence (cue majestic music). And, somewhat miraculously, they did sit still. The whole time. Which was wonderful and even more of a miracle considering the meeting ran over a half hour.

Early in the meeting the Bishop stood and said he felt there was someone who needed to bare testimony. That really opened the flood gates and we had many powerful, heartfelt testimonies. There were many good and important messages shared. At the end of the day I felt like we had been to conference, only it was our own brothers and sisters right in our ward, speaking by the spirit and sharing things they know are true. It was wonderful. Even a week later I am still pondering on some of the messages and trying to implement changes in my life. It made me think about the last days and seeking refuge in the stakes of Zion. We really have, right here, the strength and wisdom to follow the Lord. Of course I am so eternally grateful for a living Prophet who walks and talks with God and speaks on His behalf to the world, the church, and me individually. But we also have great strength and goodness right here. We need to rely on the spirit more and teach each other more and help each other more.

This week is stake conference. Beloved is at the priesthood leadership session right now, soon I will join him for the adult session and tomorrow our whole family will go to the general session. I am looking forward to some wonderful meetings, feeling the spirit and strengthening my testimony.

I love the gospel. What comfort it gives. What joy. The sweet assurance that our Heavenly Father cares about us and is involved with our life and leads the way is a priceless gift in a these tumultuous times.

this and that

Lu has decided that she doesn't like to go play with friends. She wants to be with me, and she wants to be home.

This week I didn't sub at all. I had a couple days scheduled but she has been super upset and behaving naughty (which isn't like her), and we had a house showing that we knew about for a couple days before it actually happened so I saw the corners that needed dusting and the window that had a smudged sill and....

so I cancelled and she stayed home with me. We played candyland, and play dough, and read books at home and at the library. Today we made sugar cookies. We played outside and inside and cleaned stuff up. It was a pleasant week.

Next week I have two days that I need to leave her, one to sub and one to go on a field trip with H. I hope it goes well. I don't want her to be sad and have been having some guilty feelings about working, albeit I really don't work very much.

Tonight I am going out for a girls night. I've been looking forward to it since Monday. The only bummer is my good friend is also have a small birthday dinner and I can't go. I really wanted to do both and felt super torn. In the end I decided that since I told Ingrid I'd go first I wouldn't swap. The truth was no matter which I had chosen I would have felt bad about missing the other. ... this on the heels of no girls nights out in months!

night swimming

my offspring are loco in la cabeza!

it's a race to get out!!! BRRR!

future Young Ambassador

someday he'll put his talents to good use and try out for the Young Ambassadors!!

walking

she's got her hat and gloves and baby Oriah in a stroller and she's all set.

#104th thing I love about Texas

actual pictures taken in my backyard...today...a sunny afternoon in Feb.

The water is not warm, and the swimming didn't last long but it still was.

not that I am not thrilled about living in the liberal northern tundra :) I'm sure next Feb's pictures of the children chipping ice off their mittens will be equally enchanting.

gym rats

Lu getting some instruction from the head coach. This is a very fun program the kids are doing. They get to try a bunch of stuff and see if they like it in a very low stress, high fun environment.

E and his friend Mason standing on their heads...almost :)

trying the rings.

not really Nadia, but she's having fun :)

Trampoline is a favorite of every one's.

Beloved came last night to watch the kids. We're half way through our little six week introduction and it's been great fun.

This day I also had all the kids. Brother was home "sick", he wanted to be sick one day while Austin was here and had felt a little under the weather over the weekend so we deiced this was good sick day. They ran around all day playing. The girls too. It was warm out so they spent a ton of time playing outside. It was a quiet day for me, despite having 5 kiddos here all day, and fun for them.

tagged by my friend Rach

photo tag:fourth folder fourth picture.

Homecoming dance 2001. Dani was a freshman. She went to the dance with Meridith. Here she is with her sisters all ready to go. They were excited to watch her prepare and head out the door.

karate stuff

The kids and Beloved have been taking karate for going on two years now. They really enjoy it. Over the course of time we have found a great place to order our karate gear. http://www.karatedepot.com/. For Christmas Beloved got a new gi there that he loves. It is crisp and clean and looks sharp. H got her pink sparring gear that is the envy of all the other girls in the class :)
Most recently they ordered bo staffs and are looking forward to them arriving and to learning the bo staff katas.
So if you're looking for some karate gear you should give them a try.

SnowBall

Last night was SnowBall. What a busy day. We had Renaldo's sale which started at 8am. Finally by 4ish he was sold. He got $850, which was awesome. We still had to wait to load the animals onto the truck but that wasn't scheduled until 7pm. Several of the girls had going to the ball plans so they were able to convince friends to load for them and after a nod from Mr Maynard that it was okay we were off. We got home at 5 and then she had to get ready and be out the door at around 6.

Here was the itinerary:
meet at Sofie's at 6 to do each others make up and admire each others dresses with out the boys in the way.
Go to where the limo was picking them up and meet their "dates".
Ride in the limo (although many of the dates had to meet them there)
Dance.
Go home
Spend the night at Sofie's.

She called a little before midnight to say they were back at Sof's and ready for a long night of giggling and reminiscing.

I am anxious to hear all about it and to see the pictures she took.


Lucy and Brother enjoyed looking at the animals and buying chips. It was a long day for them but they did well.

H and Beloved went to Dallas to a karate thing.

S opted to stay home by herself and enjoy a quiet house :)

practicing

two sisters practicing "gymnastics" in the living room.

goats: day 2 of 3

These baby lambs were so cute :) This weekend is the Jr Stock Show. It's been busy. Yesterday they moved all the animals over to the Will Rogers Coliseum and got them weighed and settled in. It was a day of errands as we got enough bedding and hauled over food and water and buckets and all we needed. Renaldo ended up in the medium dairy group.

Today was the showing. J and Renaldo got 7th! in their class. That means they made sale and we'll go back tomorrow and see how much he fetches. If he didn't make it he would have been sold per pound.

Don't mock me, if we weren't moving I totally would have bought this for my cowboy bathroom. They had lots of fun crafts and baked goods for display, judging and sale.

It was quite a fun event. There were all kinds of animals being shown, goats and swine and sheep and cows and rabbits and chickens. Beloved and I got to watch and run a bunch of J related errands :) (buy her and her friends lunch at Taco Bell, go pick up dance tickets, go get church clothes from home, half an hour away, that she forgot...)Still and in all it was a positive experience all around. If we weren't moving I'd sign all the kids up to raise something again next year it was that much fun. Just a little tip, if you should go to a stock show, do not lean up against a goat cage. If you do you might get a little goat bite on the butt. Not that that happened to me, I'm just saying it might. So watch out.

While running errands we did get to stop at Dos Gringos for lunch, fun. I had never been and the food was excellent. We shared a fried ice cream for dessert that was so yummy. Years ago when my little brother was baptized we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was over on Sierra Hwy, whose name escapes me now, and we had fried ice cream which I thought was so heavenly. I have never had such good fried ice cream again...much to my disappointment. This one matched the yumminess in my memory though. I will have to go back again soon :)

Tonight J is on the youth temple trip so we had to rush over and get her there. E is off playing, S is at laser tag, Lu is sleeping and H is reading. We have a quiet house.

random

bubble bath girl...only not sanctioned. This is what happens when daddy gives her a bath and isn't paying attention so she dumps the whole bottle of baby bath in the tub with her. She had a great time, and did come out clean; now we are out of soap however.

Two of our favorite Elders stopped by to say good bye. Elder White is going home and Elder Ingalls is being transferred to a new area. We wish them well. crazy boys.

Maryland

I had all the kiddos today. Lu loves it when we do. This morning we went to Nikko's house where she so nicely "helped" me make a shrug for J. By helped I mean she made the pattern, and sewed it while I chatted, changed little M's diaper, got a drink for someone, changed Baylee, killed a bug in the sandbox and made sure no one ran out of the yard. Finally when she had enough of my "help" she sent us home and finished on her own. Nikko, you are awesome!!!

The weather is delightfully warm so the kids spent several hours playing outside.

We had a lesson about prairie dog towns, then made our own prairie dog mobiles, which turned out cute. The kids all thought the predators were mean for eating the poor little doggies.

This afternoon Brother went to play with C while I drove all the girls to activity days.

It wasn't a bad day, despite a headache/stomach ache combo I've had all day.

Also Beloved got home from MD, which is nice. No big lonely bed and sole control of the remote...I'll take his company any time over that.

survey from Caroline

How well do I know my spouse?
1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? 24
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? blue cheese
3. What's one food he doesn't like? bean threads
4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Strawberry lemonade
5. Where did he go to high school? Miamisburg Ohio
6. What size shoe does he wear? 10 1/2
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? money
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? something from Subway? I don't know
9. What would this person eat every day if he could? steak and a big salad
10. What is his favorite cereal? frosted mini wheats
11. What would he never wear? a dress
12. What is his favorite sports team? Pittsburgh
13. Who did he vote for? McCain. duh
14. Who is his best friend? me
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? forget to exercise
16. What is his heritage? anglo saxon everything, he has ancestors on the Mayflower so he's pretty American
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake will it be? Angel Food Cake w/ strawberries
18. Did he play sports in high school? Marching Band, is that a sport?
19. What could he spend hours doing? karate
20. What is one unique talent he has? he's a good problem solver and has good attention to detail

Anyone who reads this, I challenge you to fill it out about your hubby!

just for fun

Valentines Day 1992. Such little sweetie pies, this was a short 16 years ago :)

S on her first birthday.

beach baby J (1993)

Another fun picture :)

The other night I made Paula Deen's Italian Sausage Soup and it was so delicious!!

1 1oz package sweet Italian sausage, casing removed

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 cup minced celery

1 cup minced carrots

3 cans beef broth

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can red kidney beans

1 can light red

1 can northern beans

2 cups ditalini pasta

1 t salt

1 t pepper

Brown sausage, onion, celery and carrots over low heat until sausage is browned and crumbles. Drain well. Stir in broth, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add pasta, simmer for 8-10. Add salt and pepper. Serve.

I used more veggies and left them more bite sized and more pasta than called for. Everyone loved it and last night asked for "left overs".

Today we have Austin over to play. We had errands to run so I alternated a fun one, with one that I needed to do. Library, Kohls, Pet store (like going to the zoo but free and close), Hobby Lobby, Chick fil-a to play. It went well :)

back in the day

Bea asked me to send some photos of the girls when they were small so she could make an album. I had some time this morning to start scanning and had a fun time looking through the ancient albums, back in the day when we had no digital photography and a point and shoot camera :) The quality isn't great but the memories are.

Poppies are the CA state flower and they grow great in the desert. Every spring we'd head out and take pictures in the poppies. (this year I am bound and determined to get some in the bluebonnets!) Dani could almost stand here :)

This was my favorite dress that Dani had when she was little. It was soft and the blue made her eyes look like two blue marbles so bright and inquisitive! I loved it! and I love her!

Valentine Fun

Valentine Fun. I am H's room mom, and I was subbing, but I saw an announcement saying all the parties would be at 2pm so I figured I'd be safe in music and could come over and room mom it up anyway. Well, I was wrong. All the parties, except 2nd grade, who have their specials last, were at 2. I think it turned out okay anyway. I brought plates and cupcakes and cookies and goodie cups and made a game and brought everything and Mrs. Alsup ran that party, and H helped her set up, which I think she liked. We went early that morning to school so she could "heart attack" her door and we had a box that she decorated and her valentines. So it turned out well. Lu went to a other G's house and they both went to a party at Landon's. Lu was thrilled, they decorated cookies, and exchanged Valentines and had a craft and played :). Brother also had a box, and a stack of valentines and had a party. At school they sold "valentine-grams" and H had bought him one, and so did Mason. He was super excited to get two!!!

Valentine night. E went to a party at Ethan's home and had pizza and raced around with a bunch of other little boys.

H was very excited to go to a special party at A & B's home. They made poppers and decorated cookies and had a great time.

Em and J went to a gymnastics meet at the HS and are now considering careers as professional gymnasts :) just kidding.

After everyone was done with every thing we headed to the Black's backyard to roast marshmallows and sit around the fire chatting. It was cold and fun. This morning when Brother came sliding into bed with me to wrap his little cold feet around my warm legs he smelled like a campfire and a toasty marshmallow. Not unpleasant at all.

This morning we had a special Valentines breakfast, completely with boxes of chocolates for all. We took turns telling everyone what well loved about them and toasted the institution of family with some OJ.

Today was karate day. While everyone was gone Lu, Pickle and I went to the mall to look for a snowball dress. Many stores, a few tears, a lost sweatshirt (Lu's), two ice cream cones and several hours later we came home with this :

Super pretty. Now I just need to find a pretty silver shrug to go with it...or make one...anyone want to help with that little project?? Nikko??

Tonight Beloved and I will hit the town:) and go dancing (at the stake adult dance)

music

From time to time I go to Wal mart and the checker is courtesy and competent. I really appreciate that. When someone does their job well I am grateful. Today was not one of those days. (sigh)

This week I have been subbing for the music teacher. I wondered how it would go since I am not musical, it turned out to be easy. The lesson plans are that the kids in classes K-2 will read a book about Camille Saint Saens, and then watch a video staring the Mormon Youth Orchestra and "Radar" from MASH. The kids seem to like it. I thought it was cute the first 3 times. I am on times 6-9 today. Not as cute, but not awful.

The bigger kids are watching blast, which is a really cool show of music and choreographed dance by a drum and bugle corp. I enjoyed it a lot, but really 7 times is enough in three days.

The nice thing about today is I only have 250minutes with the kiddos so I had a two hour break in the middle and ran to wal mart to do my grocery shopping.

All the kids have fun plans tonight and are so excited. They were also excited to go to Valentine's parties today. Excitement everywhere:)

cousins!

I am excited, this summer the kids will get to spend time with their cousins. We live way too far apart from each other and it's hard to get them together. Miss M and little Miss H are only 5 weeks apart in age. I know they would be bestest friends if they lived near each other. This is them on M's first birthday. She was a walking, smiling, fuzzy blond headed cutie. H didn't walk, or smile, but she was a brown haired cutie!

Same summer we took all the kids to Knotts Berry Farm.

When school gets out this year I am packing up the car and driving to Utah. We'll spend a few weeks there with the family, playing and swimming and enjoying each other's company. I am looking forward to lots of time with my sisters, and for the kids to be together. We're also going to take a quick drive up to Boise and see Alec and family! and I am looking forward to seeing some friends who have since moved to the Beehive State and catching up with them. Hopefully by that time our house will be sold and Beloved will be in temp housing in MD. Then when we close on our house we'll make the trek to MD, via Ohio and unpack and set up. Then Lu and I will go back when little Ziggy is born!!

gymnastics

Tonight the kiddos started gymnastics. They LOVED it :)

Today was a fun day. This afternoon Joy and Tori and I went out to lunch. We went to Tai food, which was fresh and delicious. We had a fun visit. Emma watched Lucy (which Lu loved).
Tonight when we went to gymnastics we were pleasantly surprised that many of our friends were there too. Alison, Ingrid, Alicia, Angela, Jennifer, Ruth and I all got to sit in the bleachers and visit while the kids jumped around and shouted watch me! and learned how to cartwheel and flip and whatnot.

It's funny to me sometimes, having kids of such different ages, and friends with kids in both sets, or one or the other. And I am grateful for all of them!

out takes

some thing is funny

what evah!

the monkey house at the zoo

is this really my family???

see no evil

Shady Oaks

We went to Shady Oaks tonight for dinner.

BBQ is not my favorite (I know, how un-texan of me) but everyone else loves it so I was game. They had a great waiting area. Lots of grass, and chairs and an outdoor fireplace right by the river. We had a fun time sitting and chatting and watching the crazy antics of our crazy crew.

Keeping warm.

Telling secrets.

Sisters.

Something is funny :)

Nana and Abba and the big girls.

H and Abba.

Dinner was noisy and yummy. A balloon guy came by and made cool shaped balloons for everyone.