auntie

isn't she the cutest little thing! Natalia is getting so big.

and check out this video of my newest nephew/niece coming up. It is amazing!

who said staying home was boring?

After our showing in the afternoon we tried to keep things clean, and then cleaned up for the evening showing. We took Millie to Tori's (thank you very much) and went to S's seminary graduation, which was very nice.

This morning we had another showing. You would think that with two yesterday and all the cleaning up we wouldn't have any cleaning to do this morning. Wrong. How is that??

Anyway, J missed the bus so I threw on some clothes and Lu scampered out to the car in her nightie and we drove J. On the way I noticed Lu was sticking her finger in her nose so I told her to cut it out. Then she informed me that there was something in her nose.

Great.

We dropped off J and I pulled over to look and sure enough there was a lime green craft bead, stuck in her nose.
I tried to get it out but it wouldn't budge and she cried, and we weren't dressed and had a showing shortly.

I called our doctor (who I love) and said I'm driving to your office, Lu has a bead in her nose. We can wait for you to work us in.

When we got there everyone had a "something up your nose story" and they were very nice. Dr G left instructions to try blocking her clear nostril and blow into her mouth while we waited. We went in the bathroom and tried it. I did get a face full of snot blown on me but no bead. One try was enough and we sat back down in the waiting room.

Luckily we didn't have a long wait and he was able to get it out! whew! and we got back with a whole hour to clean and get dressed in.

maybe this is the one.

my life is a cartoon

Yesterday we had two showings! We've had four this week! Hope Hope Hope.

We now need to take Millie with us when we leave, she has tired of the showings and barks her head off the whole time.

Our first showing was in the afternoon, and it was a two hour block. Lu and I cleaned up, then put Millie out in the back so I could mop and vacuum. Then got her leash and brought her to the car...unfortunately she got wet in the yard and tracked mud through the house and so after I put her in the car I got to mop and vacuum again. We decided to go to Trinity Park since we had some time to pass and we don't often go there.

By the time we arrived Lu was asleep and Millie was anxious to get out. I woke Lucy and off we went. Millie was very interested in every squirrel, jogger and kid there and barked and barked. We were there about 10 minutes and Lu, who only has to pee once a day at home but who upon leaving the house needs to stop and pee at least every 47.4 minutes, had to use the bathroom. The only one available was port-a-potty...on the other end of the park. So we hiked along, Lu doing the dance and Millie barking and lunging every which way. We got to the potty and ALL climbed in. It was a little too cozy so the canine got kicked out. She then spent the next several minutes crying, whining, sticking her nose under the crack of the door and rocking the potty. I guess I am grateful that I didn't open the door to find her own personal calling card on the walkway.

It was a long two hours.

storms

Today marks the end of 8 years of seminary. Whoo hoo. Adding the 4 I went that's a lot of early mornings. We still have 2 years left until our 2 year break, then another 10 years

Last night after we got the littles to bed Beloved and J and I started to watch a movie. J abandoned it after an hour and went to bed, and we quickly followed and went to the porch to try and catch some lightning shots. They were elusive.

These two events got me to thinking. Next week is our 11th anniversary and we've passed through a lot of storms and early mornings together.

8 years of early mornings

3 girls getting their drivers licenses

2 moves across the country (I'm being optimistic that this one will happen smoothly)

3 labors, resulting in 3 beautiful babies

4 additional pregnancies resulting in empty arms

potty training

11 April 15th's

2 cars purchased

3 houses sold (again the optimism)

the throw up fest of 2003

a few fender benders

a few disagreements

3 grandparents buried

countless cross country drives with kids

more than a few burnt dinners

some surprise expenses

2 broken bones

3 dogs

a handful of teenage scraps

a bunch of toddler screaming

lots of callings

4015 nights sharing the same bed; 15 of those uninterrupted by a waking child

3 first days of kindergarten (1 more)

2 last first days of school (senior year)

friends moving away

11 years of apologies for Christmas and birthdays :)

and me going over my budget

and immunizations, homework helps, trips to the doctor and the accountant, looking over insurance and weeding the yard (you know, the fun stuff)

our share of heartache and sorrow

...and 11 years later I like him more than when we started. He's smart and kind and hard working (and sometimes kind of annoying)

so here's looking forward to facing more storms, and more mornings together.

count down

Dani comes next week!!! She's coming for S's graduation. Can't believe we'll have another high school grad in a week and a half! Yeah!

memorial day unleashed

We had a super fun memorial day. Judging by the sun kissed shoulders, shopping bag of new stuff and laceration on Beloved's head everyone played and played hard :)

J and Em wanted to go shopping so I drove them to southlake towne square, super ritzy upscale shopping. They had a very fun time. Tori picked them up after and then they biked over to the party to join in the fun. J got some cute shirts.

The party was very fun. I made cute blue and red cupcakes with tiny little red and blue pinwheels in them. Also brought a watermelon and blue fluff, which was sadly more gray than blue but I heard it's sugary yummness was still delish :) This joined a table over-flowing with delicious and beautiful salads and desserts and all kinds of summerfare.

Beloved spent the morning cleaning out the garage looking for things to donate to the boys venture crew for their fundraising garage sale coming up, he had to go deliver the goods so we took two cars. I arrived with kiddos and food and chairs and towels and luckily the Bishop was outside and helped me schelp all the wares into the backyard. Thanks!

After lubing up the littles I found a spot pool side and watched them swim. It was hot and sticky and the occasional splashes felt good. It was fun to sit and chat. Julia, also posted by the pool, and I visited and many other sisters came up and sat with us and visited a bit and then moved on. It was relaxing and nice and hot and a perfect memorial day picnic visit.

A few hours later everyone got called out of the water for dinner. Justin grilled, and I was looking forward to that. We love to BBQ but our grill died a premature death some months ago and "since we are moving" we didn't replace it. We've missed it and it's first on our list of things to buy at the new house. SO burgers and dogs on the grill. I was excited. The food was yummy.

The kids swam and swam and played marco polo and jumped on the trampoline and ran around with friends and ate watermelon until it dripped down their chests and onto the ground,then they swam some more. All their best and favorite friends were there and it was just wonderful. Lu swam and played in the sandbox, and enjoyed cupcakes and jumping and giving me a heart attack when she took off her vest to swim with her dad. S and J came and swam and ate and enjoyed the company of friends and the "new boys" in the ward. Beloved played full contact tether ball and got a hit to the head that caused some bleeding & a wound that will be noticeable for some time(who'd have thunk it) and swam and ate and talked. It was a relaxing afternoon. There were MANY people there, I didn't even count but at least 70-80. Some came early and left early, some came later. Some swam & some sat around under the trees and tents keeping "cool".

Yeah summer is here!!!
save the pesky two weeks of school left~ but I won't mention that here

Four Day Weekened

We have a four day weekend!

Thursday night Beloved and I went to see Angels and Demons and out for some OG soup.
Brother went to his friend Mason's birthday sleep over.
H went to play at Amanda's.
S went to Kat's and spent the night.
J made some $$ baby sitting.

Friday J and Lu and I had a fun day shopping. We went to the new Sam Moon near us and had so much fun, also to the mall and got some summer clothes for miss everything is wearing out.
Beloved and H did yard work.
Brother went to the Lego store and McD with Mason and had such a blast!
J drove herself to Sofia's for the evening.
S went out with friends.
H had Sara sleep over and swim.
Brother went to C's house.
at 11 we got to go pick him up, I guess two sleep aways in a row weren't so great.


Saturday we went to the primary activity then up to Frisco to the mall. Brother wanted us to see the new lego store because it was SO COOL! and it was. That mall has really cool stores. They had a $1 smoothie sale while we were there, and the Disney store had a great sale. Very fun.
J went to the Lockheed pool with Kelly and Nicole and Kisa and Mariah and Rebecca. Lockheed has an awesome pool and they had fun.

Saturday night we went to Sensei Mike's for dinner. We were supposed to go earlier but Connie was sick so we rescheduled. It was a very fun night. The dinner was yummy and after we played a very fun extreme Yahtzee game. The kids had a great time.

Today we'll go to church.

Tomorrow is the Cook's Memorial day BBQ, that Lu has been counting down to for some reason.

We love our life here and feel so blessed to have many good friends.

Primary Activity

Our Primary had a wonderful quarterly activity. They took a bus down to the temple. They got to go inside and meet Pres. Gerrard. He talked with them about temples and they sang to him.

After they toured the outside and learned about the building and the grounds. It was really wonderful and they felt the calm peaceful happy spirit that is at the House of the Lord.

After the temple they went to a park for a picnic and then home again home again jiggity jig.

What a great activity.

real life friends

There are many things I love about blogging.
1.I love having a record of our daily ins and outs. I have a bad memory and it's fun for me to look back and see details that I forgot from just last year:) The kids all enjoy it as well and I often find them reading my blog and archives.
2. I like doing it for my family. Grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and cousins and kids far away and sisters, whoever can read and keep up. We live so far from everyone and it gives them a glimpse of our lives, and they can look at their leisure, or not.
3.I love reading friends blogs. It's just fun.
4. I love reading blogs about peoples whose lives are very different than mine. I would never know what an expat life was like, or a missionary family in Wamena life, or a foodie from NY, or a Rancher from Oklahoma, or a Jewish woman in Tel Aviv, or a cupcake maker, or many others that I can read about now and comment on and receive comments from. It's a whole new world.
5. Most unexpectedly I have loved getting to know people well enough to consider them my friends. There are some blogs that I read often and they read mine and we comment and we become cyber-sisters :) Yvonne is one of those people. I love her, she is so positive and fun and loves her family and husband. When I read her blog I think my life will be like that someday~ full of grandkids and grown children and service to others. She and Allan are down from Canada for a wedding and yesterday drove to the temple to meet me. We had such a fun, but too short, visit. She was just as delightful in person and it was a wonderful to meet in real life.

silver lining

no offer yet means more afternoons under the umbrella.

Kids splashing.

Sun hot.

Water cold.

Fountains singing.

Voices laughing.

Cool drinks in hand.

Book on rock.

relaxing

summer (contended sigh)

alternative transportation

We live right down the street from H&E's school. If the road didn't bend a bit we could see the school from our house. However there is no exit from our neighborhood on that side and no way to get there from here so the children catch the bus at 7:15 and ride through our neighborhood, and several others, to arrive at school for an 8am start time. Or, if they miss the bus I can drive them and it takes about 10 minutes to leave our driveway, head the opposite direction and way around and weave through the stop signs and cars and kids coming and going to reach our destination:the hallowed halls of learning.

We have one neighbor who has a creative solution to this "problem". They have a golf cart. Every morning and every night either mom or dad hop in the cart and tool down the dirt road behind the houses and to the school. I don't know if this really saves them any time or $ but the kids are always smiling and happy. If it's raining they have these plastic sheets that hang down the side, if it's cold they bundle up, if it's hot~ yeah! They wave at their friends and have a good time and this always makes me smile :)

Yesterday we took the kids to see Star Trek. Tuesday is discount day. S was working and J and Lu stayed home to swim. The movie had just started and they were meeting up with the big bad Romulans when my phone vibrated so I looked down and it was a house showing...in 45 minutes. I left and zoomed home, got a hold of J in the mean time who dressed herself and Lu and started picking up. I got home with 15 cleaning minutes left and quickly vacuumed and fixed the fountain whose timer had stopped. Fortunately we left the house clean "just in case" and only had few things to do to make it ready to go. We grabbed Millie and ran out the door just as the realtor was pulling in.

Today J is part of a living museum. She is Confucius. A year or so ago we were thrifting and she found a cute silk jacket and finally she has a chance to wear it!

Yesterday she got her driver's license. However she is still not allowed to drive. We got it so we wouldn't have to start over in MD and pay again. In Texas there is no behind the wheel test...can you believe it?? and you can do a parent taught program so anyone can be out on the road. It's crazy!

Tonight Sensei Mike invited us over to his home for dinner. Which is so nice.

some choices are difficult

wanting to spend the day laying in the sand and playing in the water would not be one of them :)

other than this particular non-choice there are lots of kind of hard ones facing us now.

Last night we went to play KBT. Very fun. The kids had a wonderful time jumping on the trampoline and eating pizza and playing together. We have an oddish mix for them to get along so well. Zach and EC are both almost 10 and our little E is almost 7 but they get a long great and have a blast together. Lexi is 12 and H is almost 10, again a bit of a span but again it works out great. Lu is 4 and Issac is 2 and Oriah is 10 1/2 months, yet they played all evening sometimes together sometimes happily side by side. There are no age gaps and the big kids keep an eye out on the little ones and it's always great.
Hard choices last night: which dessert to try and whose bunny to kill. I like to win at games but I don't really like to make a full frontal attack on someone so it's always hard to launch a weapon on somebunny.

Sunday night we went to Caroline's graduation party! Whoo Hoo! I'm so proud of her, and she's not even my kid :) We had a fun time, lots of yummy Tori food and fun company. We sat around the fire later in the evening and the kids watched the stars come out. It was a relaxing nice night.

Saturday night we had lots going on and even though it wasn't tough to choose we also would have loved to attend the things we missed. Our friends the Tovar's daughter had her wedding reception, and our friend Rick graduated from med school and was having a party. We missed both of those. We went down to UTA and attended Caroline's graduation, which was so exciting~ all those caps and gowns and sashes and pomp and circumstance. Very cool.

The biggie in front of us now is how low can we go,...and the answer is not very much more, on our house sale. And at what $$ amount do we have to bail on the new house and start from scratch getting something much less nice, or much smaller. And when do we leave. I have had plans all along to leave after graduation, or shortly thereafter, and go to Utah and spend time with Dani and MSV and the cousins and see friends who live there and already bought season passes to 7 peaks and and and BUT if we don't have a contract on our home I don't know if I can do that. I feel like I need to be here to make sure things are nice and the movers get everything packed. large exhale

things will work out. It's hard to still stay when we've been saying good-bye literally and in our hearts for some time. It will almost be a bit of relief to actually leave, as much as we will really miss everyone and everything Texas.

come on house, sell already!!

surprise!

my dear friend "good life' asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner with her a few weeks ago. With a move looming on the horizon we find ourselves squeezing in lots of "one last..." I was happy to say yes and looked forward to an evening out :)

She came to get me and Beloved was a little late getting home so I invited her in to wait..not thinking that we were in hurry. Looking back now I have to laugh because she was less than relaxed and even asked if I ever left H to baby-sit. (laughing to self while remembering) I was so clueless, I thought she was upset because her husband had the kids and with everything going on and never suspected a thing. Finally Beloved arrived and we left and she sped down the road. I kept saying, "oh we have all night, don't worry" and she's was like "oh I'm so used to rushing!". She even drove right past the restaurant and had to u-turn :) We went to Joe T. Gracia's, where I had been only once before. Last time we ate inside and I had no idea, it is not the same experience at all. The outside gardens are so lovely and festive and fun. Normally there is a HUGE line (like plan on standing there for an hour or two) I headed toward the line and she said no we don't need to,and went in and talked to the hostesses. This part is cracking me up too. They had seemingly no clue so we stood there for several minutes until R broke out her Spanish and in flurry of words finally got through to them. I was just standing back watching her and enjoying the scenery, and all the people and then we started walking back. The server pointed to spot after spot and R shook her head no and I never thought anything but "hmmm, who knew she was so particular, which she is not at all it was rather odd and still never suspected until we turned a corner and there was a table with my dearest friends at it. Then, being the super observant sleuth that I am I suspected!

I truly never even gave it a thought that it was anything but me and R going to dinner and what a fun surprise! They had been waiting for us for an hour, so we ordered right away and the food was yummy and it was just so fun. Tori brought a box of chocolates for dessert, and we passed that around, the perfect treat for the end of the dinner, and it was funny to watch everyone pick and hope for the kind they like.

I could write a VERY long post on each of these dear sisters and how much they mean to me. I would never adequately find the words to express my feelings. The love I have for them. The inner peace it gives to me knowing that I have people I trust that can watch my children when I need them to, or help with any innumerable number of things. I really can't even say. These are the people I celebrate with, talk to, counsel with, laugh with, spend my time with, help, serve, trade kids, cry, worship, complain, problem solve, pass the time of day, worry, read, go to the park with, and hope for a brighter future with. I will always keep them in my heart and really it's a small small world and I have no doubts that we won't run into each other and renew our friendships in the future.

For more photos look here.

poet or drama queen?

H won her class poetry contest! Whoo hoo! She was very excited. Next week she'll represent at the school wide competition. She had to pick a poem, memorize it, make a poster and costume and then recite it.

This is her after school, hot and happy :)

dreaming of summer

I made strawberry pie today. Hope it's yumm-o. It felt like a summery thing to do. Even though it's not that warm, and we still have three weeks of school and still haven't sold our house and

can only dream of the carefree days, hopefully to come.

At least today we have pie.

Strawberry Pie

2 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries

1 cup white sugar

2 T cornstarch

1 cup boiling water

1 package strawberry flavored gelatin

in a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely. Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix and stir until smooth.

Place strawberries in baked pie shells, pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries.

Refrigerate until set.

crust

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 cup butter chilled and diced

1/4 cup ice water

in a large bowl combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. stir in water a tablespoon at a time until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Roll dough out to fit pie plate.

Bake 350 for 15 minutes.

zoo

Today we needed a break from the stress of moving and cleaning. Really we are fatigued and everyone is suffering from psychosomatic illnesses. Not really...but almost. Anyway, we went to the zoo. It was delightful. We rode the merry-go-round, an unusual treat, we looked at lots of birds and monkeys and deer, kind of a different path than we usually take but I just let her led the way. It was fun.

Yesterday we had to be out of the house for 5 hours, with the dog. How fun was that? Not. Luckily my friend Joy took pity on us and invited us over to her house, including Millie. It was SO nice. The kids jumped on the trampoline, I made dinner while she convalesced. We talked and Becca made chocolate cupcakes for us. I was so glad to be there and have the fun of a casual spend time togetherness.

This is my 1500 post, BTW. I'm verbose apparently.

Had an offer on the house. It wasn't great. We're countering now. We'll see.

house

We have three showings this afternoon. Two of them are 2nds.


....dare I hope?

crazy idea

I've got this idea brewing in my noggin. It's crazy, and not free, and frankly I don't know if I am up to the challenge...but there it sits percolating, and tantalizing me with it's presence.

I'm thinking of taking the GRE. Crazy! I know. I'm not good at math. I'm not good at tests. Here is a secret I never took the SAT or the ACT. I went to community college where I took a "placement test" which I think is code for "does she walk uprightly and breath through her nose?" and after my 8 year tenure at AVJC I graduated and was able to go on to get my BS without further testing. I did have to test to get my teaching credential. Two tests actually, both caused me great anxiety and I am relieved to say I passed each on the first try, which isn't the norm. I got lucky questions I guess.

Now Lucy has one more year until Kindergarten and while I have been blessed enough to live a life of leisure all these years, sitting around eating bon bons and reading "Where The Wild Things Are" and going to story time and the playground and the zoo and having toddler play group at our house and I have LOVED it and been so grateful in 15 short months I will not only have my leisurely life of laundry and grocery shopping and floor mopping but I will also have 8 hours kid free a day. Not that I'm counting :)

This upcoming free time begs the question what will I do? I know I don't want to teach. I know I don't want a job that cuts into mommy time after school, or on weekends or in the summer. I could just stay home and garden and practice tai chi, and bake organic bread from the wheat I grow in my garden, and sew flattering/stylish/modest gowns for my princesses. I think attending story time might be frowned upon if I don't actually have a toddler with me.

Now the crazy part. I have always thought being a librarian would be an awesome job. I like books. I like to read. A school librarian would have the hours I want and the pay is worthwhile. If I worked I could take the family on a cruise, or pay for new tennis shoes for all, or braces, or any number of things that families need. Families are expensive. I could help J with college, and S if she is still going by the time I am done. I could get dressed each day and go somewhere with accessories on.

I'm just thinking.

...there is a program, 18 month long, a mere hour and a half from our new home in the edge of the world, tip of the wilderness, outer limits of civilization Maryland.

Maybe

...

Mother's Day

This morning Brother came to wake me up and let me know I had a surprise. They made me a delicious mother's day breakfast!

Then I got to open my present, "the wave", which I requested. Because I am such a big exerciser :)

Last week I took the kiddos shopping and they chose nice cards to send to the Grandmas. We wrote letters and tucked them in. Hopefully they got there on time. We have AWESOME Grandmas and want them to know how much we love and appreciate them, and how much we like them too!

Happy Mother's day

Beloved's Birthday

Tuesday is Beloved's birthday. He has karate and won't be home until late so I asked the children when we should celebrate and they decided Saturday afternoon would be great.

I took them to the store and they carefully looked at all the stuff and decided what they wanted to give him. They were very thoughtful and cute. Brother looked at a stuffed duck for a while but finally discarded it for a new belt since "dad had to hold up his pants at the airport where he broke his other belt". He then picked one that looked like his own, always wanting to be like his dad :)

Lu chose a "who Y E" shirt, blue with an island print. H a new wallet, one that can hold pictures so he can always have her picture with him.

After presents and a favorite dinner we had yumm-o cake. Then ended the evening with a rousing game of Killer Bunnies. Brother won.

date night

Star Trek.

Saw it.

Loved it.

Going back :)

under construction

the new abode, on it's way to finished. Hopefully the builders will be slower than our buyers, whomever they may be.

Happy news, at least to me. I happened to look at the EFY website, for no particular reason except that we have had some discussion about what to do if our home isn't sold by June, would I stay here and try and keep up the pool and lawn and dusting or would we carry on with our plans, and I wanted to check if Buena Vista still had openings on their campus for the later part of July in case we needed to switch. They did, do. But I saw that someone had dropped out of Provo for the same week she is currently scheduled to go to Logan! We had tried to get her into Provo but had no luck. So I quickly made the switch and now she's off to BYU!! Which I am so glad about. I wanted to go to school at BYU, but didn't. Then I wanted D to go...but she didn't want to, now I want S to go, again not so much. Maybe if J gets a nice BYU tee shirt and she has soooo much fun at EFY she'll want to go to college there in two years :)

Worked today. 3rd grade. It went well. Lu was fine. I am glad. I'd like to get a few more days before summer, we'll see. Now I'm the flaky sub so I don't know.

things I don't love:

I hesitate to write a post that is not cheery, for several reasons. One I am a cheerful person. Quick memory, years ago I was in a RS class that Aunt Merretta taught. She had these affirmations that she would write down and say to herself to mold her character. I remember the one she shared "I am a happy, cheerful person." And she was. We lived down the street from Uncle Bud and Aunt M when Dani was a wee babe and I would walk down to say hi sometimes. She was always so sweet and kind. Through the years that phrase has stuck with me and I have said it to myself to remind myself when things get a little gloomy.
Two, several real life friends and family read this and I don't want them to worry because we are fine.
Third, this is a journal and do I want to remember the grumps?

However, I will indulge myself and carry forth with my list.

in no particular order, and ranging from small and insignificant to truly annoying, again not in order.

1. when I read a past post and find a typo. That drives me nuts.
2. when I find someone else's blatant spelling errors and typos (which is ironic since I am queen of bad spelling) for example: last night Beloved and I were reading some on line parent/student reviews of the high schools in our new area and one extolled the virtues of the principle of the school.
3. hair in the drain.
4. people who sell you something on ebay and then scam you, I would in fact call it stealing. Which happened to us on a ds lite we just bought and now are SO SAD that we are out $100, and don't have a new ds lite. and we needed that $100.
5. going to the dentist.
6. chronic pain (I know, how unusual most people LOVE pain :) )
7.the stress of selling a house that no one is buying.
8. $$$
9. dare I say it.......Jack Bauer. Used to love him, now I find the whole thing disturbing.
10. going to a movie I think I'll like and then not "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" to name one. Very sleazy.
11. going to a Chinese Buffet and not having fried bananas.
12. May days that are not warm and sunny.
13. 17~ not my favorite age
14. trash in my car
15. living so far away from Dani and Greg :(
16. and all the family I love
17. cooking food that fam hates
18. loud music
19. mean people
20. gooey toothpaste tubes
21. a dishwasher that doesn't do it's job.
22. library fines (which we have none of right now!)
23. war
24. slovenliness
25. "drool" on eggs
26. desserts that don't have chocolate in them (just kidding~ I'm running low but I am sure there are more)
27. being obsessed with placing blame, and dodging blame.
28. skinny people (again not really)
29. Sponge Bob (why? is all I have to say)
30. waiting for trains
31. making huge decisions that have huge impact on your life and not being sure which way to go.
32. $$
33. not a huge fan of Valentines day, really, it's my least fav holiday.
34. computer viruses
35. our current president. Sad to say.
36. doing puzzles


and now, since I would feel WAY too GUILTY to publish as is

things I love:

• summer
• fun books
• chocolate
• foodnetwork
• Beloved
• watching Brother play sports
• or J, she's an athlete too
• blogs
• visiting with friends
• having a dentist friend who can quickly grind a chipped tooth before work just because he's so nice
• my cell phone
• cowboy boots
• the zoo
• kid smiles
• seeing the kids be kind to each other
• FHE (when it's going well)
• planning trips, and sometimes going on them
• laughing with S and J
• talking to D on the phone, especially when she's talkative
• peanut butter
• clean sheets
• bath and body works soap
• a freshly vacuumed floor
• date night
• the smell of morning
• walking around down town
• going to the library
• having all the laundry done at once
• Edward
• good grades
• Josh Groban
• driving through the car wash and FREE vacuum
• fun earrings
• jeans that fit
• Sesame Street
• not having the swine flu
• listening to conference talks on my DVR
• the beach
• my kiddos
• my sisters
• and brothers
• and awesome in laws
• and parents
• skpe
• that H's leg is healing so well
• graduation! yeah!
• salsa music
• new babies :)
• looking forward to a fancy new kitchen (even if it does come with a huge does of sticker shock)
• my suburban
• my testimony
• a living Prophet
• the Atonement
• people who try and live good lives
• the Amazing Race
• my book of Mormon
• the Ensign and Friend
• EFY
• medical miracles that make our lives to much better
• Wal mart
• diet strawberry limeades
• brushing my teeth
• crayons
• making yummy things
• freedom
• seeing our flag fly
• and many many many many more :)

trying this soon

nostalgia for all things Texas is seeping in fast. One of my favorite Texas bloggers, that I don't actually know, posted this the other day. I'm going to try it this weekend. Maybe for Mother's Day

TEXAS CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I always use a bit more, just because)
1 cup water
2 cups unsifted flour
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk (divided)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*. In a small saucepan, melt 1 cup butter, stir in cocoa, then water. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. In large mixer bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add cocoa mixture, beat well. Stir in 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour into greased 15x10" jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides).Bake 15 minutes or until top springs back.

FROSTING
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
Remaining Eagle Brand from can above
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1-1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

In large saucepan, melt butter; stir in cocoa and remaining Eagle Brand. Stir in confectioners’ sugar and nuts. Spread on warm cake.

it wouldn't be summer without

Maggie's southern reading challenge. There is something so hot, sticky, southern summery and charming about this genre! I haven't picked books yet but am excited to start looking :)

edit: I picked

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
and either
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
or
Up From Slavery by Booker T Washington

if I were a piece of Ikea furniture

what would you be??

little boy church clothes

What is it with boys and church clothes? First of all, yesterday was fast Sunday and we have the late church time this year so we came home starving and the missionaries were coming to dinner so I hopped right in the kitchen to get dinner started. I had made dessert before church, and jell-o, and cooked the chicken so all I had to do was shred it and assemble the enchiladas and make the corn bread and salad. J and S both helped so it went pretty fast. In the meantime Beloved and the littles were outside playing and when the missionaries arrived they also played while dinner was cooking. Everyone came inside neat as a pin...except for one. A small, almost 7 year old boy who had grass stains on his pants, a tie that was smooshed to the side and one slide into home base away from lost, and dirt everywhere.
Every Sunday the first thing I say when we pull in to the driveway is "Brother~ go change your clothes". That is usually not enough of a reminder for him to actually do it but it's the start. I don't know if I said that yesterday or not but he should know. And more importantly Beloved should know , and in fact does know, and said to me when they came in "I wondered why you let him play in his church clothes." Who was with him? and who was in the kitchen making dinner??

Secondly, he doesn't have many church clothes. One outfit. This is because he never wears it except to church. The girls all have several- many dresses and they wear them from time to time during the week and want to wear them often. He NEVER says 'can I wear my church clothes to school?' never. He has one pair of socks and one pair of shiny black shoes~ both of which he hates and sheds the moment he comes inside. Which brings me to another wonder? I wonder how it is that I find one sock behind the red chair, and one shoe under the computer desk and another shoe in the living room and the other sock missing? Doesn't he take them off at the same time, presumably sitting in one place? If I found one of the four wouldn't you think the other three would be close by? You would be wrong if you thought that but it does make sense. One tie, a vest, a striped blue shirt and a short sleeved white shirt.

There is nothing cuter than a little boy all spruced up for church. Ever since he was a baby we have had special outfits just for church. I remember his first one...sooooooooooooo cute. Sister Becktel made it for him. It was a little one piece shorts and white shirt with a vest and bow tie. I loved it on him . We have always gone the tie and shirt route, not all little boys do some just wear a nice shirt and not play clothes but I like the whole "little missionary" look. This is hard to find in stores. Easter and Christmas brings out the dressy clothes and we have to get them then. Luckily he hasn't been growing too fast so it's worked out. Last week we noticed his pants were turning into boy capri's and so he needed a new pair. Which is what he wore yesterday, the day of the huge grass stain.

This morning I gathered his clothes, carefully wadded up in the corner of his room where he "hung them up", and got out the spray and wash and sent them to the washing machine. Hopefully by Sunday I'll have found the missing sock and we'll be all set to go.

The End.

after school fun

movies

yesterday I rented not one but two movies from redbox.

First we watched "City of Ember" which I liked. H had read the book and was excited to see it. We all gave it a two thumbs up.

Next we watched "Yes,Man" which was a risk to rent because sometimes I hate Jim Carey. I have to say I really liked this movie. It was funny and kind of touching in a "learn a good life lesson" kind of way. It also had scene that has to totally be fast forwarded (why do they do that?) and some bad language so even though I liked it I can't recommend it.

Tonight we're going to go see "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" which I have high hopes for. S and J both have plans with friends so we are trying out a new sitter, Alexis, who is 12 now. I am sure she'll do great.
Yesterday S went out bowling and E got to to spend the night with C. The little girls and Beloved and I went to "play-dohs" Lucy's favorite because they have a play room :)

4th grade fun

Red Ribbon week
Pajama day

Slipper day, H is third from the left.

Book It ~ H is dressed as Laura Ingalls

Crazy hat day~ H in Jester hat