The World According to the Leach Family

Recipe of the Week - Cube Steak Stew

2012-01-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

(insert picture here) Okay ... it's been a while since I have done this type of post. One of my 2012 goals is to be more consistent in my blog posting. So ... here we go. This week chicken and cube steak was on sale. As red meat is great for Darin's weight loss and general health, it isn't mine; thus the chicken. But I did get some cube steak for him. So, I looked online for some cube steak recipes and got this one from allrecipes.com. Haven't tried it before, and I am tweaking it a bit, so ... I will take a pic of it and post it when I make it. That way you know what it looks like. And maybe even a comment to say what was thought of it when all was said and done. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. beef cube steak
1 T. olive oil
1/2 T. butter
1 tsp. onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cubes beef bouillon, dissolved in 2 cups water
1 cooked and cubed sweet potato
1 can of peas and carrots or 1 small bag frozen peas and carrots
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper (I may use just a pinch of cayenne instead)

Directions:
1. Cut cube steaks into pieces of about 1/2 inch in size.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add garlic and onion to oil to season it. Add steak pieces and brown. Add more butter if needed.

3. Stir in beef boullion, peas and carrots, salt, and pepper. Cover. Turn heat down to simmer, and cook for 25 minutes. Add cubed sweet potatoes about 20 minutes into the simmering. Thicken with guar or xanthan gum if needed.

I will let you know how this recipe is received. It sounds yummy at least. :D

Attitude of Gratitude - Walking

2012-01-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

One of my 2012 goals is to be more consistent with my family walking time. Our route we usually go on is about a mile ... maybe a tad more. Well, Monday night we went on the "special family walk". We basically walked from our house to the post office via the phone company so we could pop our bill in their box before the due date, then go on to mail some stuff off and pick up our mail. It's longer, but I don't know how much. Drew wasn't as happy about it because on our other route we see or hear dogs and cats and even a few rabbits. This route we didn't see as much of that. But the great thing about this walk as well as last night's walk is that I actually go faster than I have been able to in the past and I wasn't in lower back agony by the time I got home. It just made me grateful that I am getting stronger and healthier.

Leach Family State of the Union - Lots of Running Around Going On ...

2012-01-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Oooohhhh .... this is what it felt like I was doing last week. Last week was a tough one. Lots of tough hurdles. What could those hurdles have been you ask??

One - our ward choir was asked to participate in singing in stake conference this last Sunday. They had given us two weeks notice. Now there are some that can do that with no skin off their nose, but the majority of my choir are ones that need time to learn the music. Many of them didn't participate because they didn't want to feel bad about how they did. About 7, including me, participated. The stake music chairman got lots of others last minute, and it actually turned out pretty nice. But I did give her the heads up that if she asks us again, she needs to give us 3 months notice. It kind of sounded like that wouldn't happen, so chances are we will never be asked again. Which is fine. Not everyone can pull things off so last minute like that, and there is nothing wrong with that. I had given her some kind suggestions, which she promptly blew off, so ... and that's her perogotive to do so. But I am very protective of my people. I want these things to be positive experiences for them, not something they will regret.

Two - I had two new little piano students start up a new group lesson time. It is so fun to see new students still in the honeymoon stage of piano lessons. Several weeks they will see that it is continual working at it. It can still be lots of fun, but it starts taking more work and effort. It's kind of like ... kindergarten. Remember how fun kindergarten was??? It was great! You spend all your time painting and singing songs and playing out in the sandbox. Well, then first and second grade start happening. Not as fun. Takes more work and effort. And it just gets more uphill climbing from there. Well, that's how piano lessons are too. At first it's pretty simple and lots of fun. Then it starts taking some effort. Anyhow ... I had to race around getting ready for shopping day and getting the books and things ready for these new little students. Fun, but busy :D

Three - Darin had to let go 4 of his people at work; one of them was one of his main guys. It was REALLY hard on him. Weeks of sleepless nights, of trying to negotiate with those above him but being shot down. In the end, he's made to feel like public enemy number one. One of our home teachers really said some nasty things. You know, I have always felt the the main purpose of visiting teaching and home teaching is that you go into their homes and really get to know them; find out what makes them tick. This man has been coming into our home for several months now. Does he REALLY think that Darin would be so heartless and cavalier about this??? If he truly thinks such hurtful things about us, then to me, he hasn't really been doing his job. Because ANYONE who truly KNOWS the kind of people we are would KNOW that we aren't like that at ALL!! We have been praying daily for these people and their families; hoping that the reason this had to happen is that this door had to shut so that the window that was supposed to be opened could do so. Hoping that this will be a blessing in disguise for them and their families. So, we have been very sad the last few days, needless to say.

I am hoping that this week will open up less busily and more positively.

FHE Idea - The Life of Christ; Following in His Footsteps

2012-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

I am getting back on track with my blogging. It's one of my 2012 goals. :D So, here is this week's FHE idea. Hope it will give you out there some great ideas, or you can use this idea just as is :D Sorry I don't have copies of the feet for you to just print out. I am sure you can get the blank shoe prints online as I did, then type in there what you want to say on them. If you don't have Publisher, may I strongly recommend you get it? Very helpful tool. Okay ... here we go.

The Life of Jesus Christ; Following in His Footsteps:

Song Ideas: Come Follow Me
I'm Trying to be like Jesus
Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

Lesson Materials: Gospel Principles Chapter 11

Materials Needed: Picture of the Savior
Foot Prints with the following sayings written in each one:

Jesus taught me that is is important to be a member of his church
Jesus taught me to bless others with the priesthood
Jesus taught me that if we love God, we will trust and obey Him
Jesus taught me the importance to sacrifice for others.
Jesus taught me the importance of being a good example
Jesus taught me to follow the plan Heavenly Father has for me, even when it is difficult.
Jesus taught me that if we love others, we will help them all we can
Jesus taught me the importance of serving others
Jesus taught me the importance of sharing the gospel
Jesus taught me to love and obey the truth
Jesus taught me how to be baptized and the importance of it
Jesus taught me that I can resist temptation
Jesus taught me to show compassion for others
Jesus taught me to love all, even those who are unkind to me
Jesus taught me to never judge other unrighteously
Jesus taught me the importance of repentance

(may I recommend that you laminate your footprints after you are done printing and cutting them out? - grin)
Laminated Board (one of those heavy foam boards that is laminated. I used those self laminating sheets on it.
masking tape

Read the first paragraph of Gospel Principles Chapter 11.

We have been asked to follow the Savior's life and example; to follow in His footsteps. What are some of the things that the Savior taught us with the example of His life; what we need to do to follow in His footsteps so that we can one day return to our Father in Heaven.

Have your footstep cut outs words face down. Have the picture of the Savior on the top right of the board and have each person select a footprint, read out loud and discuss each footstep. Tape on board as if walking back up to the Savior picture.

Close with the thought that may we all try to learn from the life of our Savior and follow in His foot steps.

January 2012 - State of the Union - Start Out the New Year

2012-01-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Cannot believe it is already 2012 ... holy smokes ... I know that this cartoon has been circulating around a lot ... LOL ... makes me giggle. Anyhow before we talk about the start of this new year, I felt we needed to address the ending of the last one.

Ashley and Austin came up for Christmas this year. It was really nice. It was great that Christmas this year was on a Sunday. As the choir director of my ward, I got to be in charge of the Christmas program. It was like a music and the spoken word kind of thing. The choir did three numbers, the primary children did two numbers, I had Ashley sing a solo, the congregation sang 3 numbers. It was great. I don't think Austin thought we really could just get up, have our traditional 'cocoa and toast' Christmas morning breakfast (it's a german thing) and read the Christmas story, then get ready for church to enjoy the Christmas program, then come back home for the present opening. But seriously, what a great way to begin Christmas Day ... focusing on the true meaning of it all.

Anyhow ... we get back, get into our Christmas PJ's so we can open presents. This is the last year Ashley and Austin are coming to family for Christmas. And although I love it when they come, I really can understand that they need to start having their own Christmases as their own personal family unit. Create their own memories.

Drew was very excited to open the presents. The last two years he has really gotten into the spirit of celebration. I don't know about you, but as much as I love getting presents, I would have to say watching those you love open the presents you got for THEM is my favorite part :D

Darin likes to get shorts for his Christmas PJ's. How do you tell one that it is WINTER outside??? We actually had to turn on our heater this year. It's been chillier than normal here. I have actually gotten to wear some of my sweaters :D

Was very happy that Ashley received a new smart phone from Santa Claus. She needed a new phone that she could depend on really bad :D That way when we are chatting I will be able to hear her and she will be able to hear me. Yes. Very good present Santa. You chose ... wisely (heh heh heh )

I am sure you are all wondering why Darin has a large garbage can in front of him. We have learned over the years that Drew likes to clean up the wrapping paper right away, so we bring a large garbage can in to throw the wrapping paper right in there. LOL ... ah ... somehow I will direct that obsessive compulsive desire to bigger and better desires ... like Drew cleaning the house ... or filing papers ... or ... or ... or ... I'll think of something (heh heh heh heh)

Since Christmas day concluded, Drew has been spouting to me daily about his birthday plans! LOL .... I have been told that we need to have "food and drinks and candy treats and big presents" and then he goes on to list for me what those presents should be ... lol ... goodness. Ummm ... the list is quite extensive ... he may get one or two, but fifty million ... love you son, but no :D

Monday's FHE was about what goals we want to accomplish as a family this year. I don't like calling them resolutions. Resolutions are so absolute. So, if you falter on a resolution, you feel like a failure. I prefer goals. Goals are a journey. If you falter one day, it's okay. Just stay on the path and keep trying. So, for those reading this, I hope you choose some goals to work on this year. And share them with someone. It makes you more accountable and it's great to have a cheerleader in your corner to cheer you on your journey to goal reaching success.

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Is it just me or does it seem as if this year has just ZOOMED by??? It feels that way to me. Time just seems to be whizzing by faster and faster with each passing year. Hard to catch one's breath anymore. Sooo ... let's see ... what has our family been up to this past year?

Darin:
Darin is still busily being the store leader at the Lin's grocery store here in Overton. It's a good thing that I know that my husband is a conscientious, hard working workaholic. He puts in a lot more hours than I think people realize he does. But he is doing well there. He and I had started a while back trying to follow the "Eat Right for your Blood Type" diet. last January, he went back east to visit his brother Alan before he shipped out to Guam. He had re-committed himself to following the plan as well as getting more physically active and has dropped quite a bit because of it. He has gotten back into playing basketball and baseball which has been a very fun thing for him to be doing. :D The best part, I think though is that he feels better. And that is always a good thing. He had been serving in the Elder's Quorum Presidency in our ward, but back in September was called as the Ward Executive Secretary for the new Bishopric. He has to do something he really doesn't like doing ... talking on the phone ... ALOT. lol He is doing a great job and I am sure that this will be a great growing experience for him.

Kris:
Well ... what have I been up to? First, the battle as a domestic goddess is ever continually raging war. Dishes and laundry ... I swear they get together and multiply and replenish the earth when I'm not looking! It never ends ...
I had begun teaching piano and voice again. Came out of retirement. I had looked around and saw that those playing piano are becoming a lost art. Music plays a BIG part in our worship, so I thought I needed to help with bringing up a next generation to follow. I am definitely limiting how many students I take this time around, however. No more teaching until the cows come home for me. I think Drew would take me out back, kill me in the night and put gum in my hair if I did that. It is really nice to have a room with my piano that is well insulated and has a glass door to close so that it doesn't bother him too much :D I am still working in Mary Kay ... keeping the world a beautiful place ... at least my clients are. As I get older, I am grateful for the "Mary Kay 10 layer bean dip" I use on my face to fight aging with a vengeance. I have been serving as our ward music chairman and ward choir director since January. It often gives a feeling of being a salmon swimming upstream and I wonder if people think I am the music Nazi, but I do believe in magnifying my calling as part of that is to help people and stretch out of their comfort zones and learn new things. I really am grateful for my choir members. I would love more of them. :D

Drew:

He is 13 ... and showing us his version of 13. In so many ways he is easier than the average 13 year old. I don't have to battle with him about what sneakers he wears or a need to keep up with the boys next door. He doesn't care about stuff like that. But if I ask him to do something, he often will look and passively ignore me. Ummm ... that dog won't hunt. The one thing that keeps life exciting with him is that he has no polite facade to keep what he is feeling concealed. If he is angry or frustrated or irritated ... etc ... etc ... he will let you know in no uncertain terms .... out loud ... for all to observe. A real carnival ride sometimes. But he is still the Lego King. LOVES building new stuff. He will build and build until he has used every last brick, then break them apart and begin building again. The Super Mario World is very fun in his eyes. But Peanuts and Winnie the Pooh are the best too. Some days he is 2 and some days he is 13 and some days he is in between. Since getting the priesthood back in September he has been joining another boy to help with fast offerings which has been a great thing. And he is getting more interactive with the world around him since he has received the priesthood as well. There have been several occasions that he would say "Hi. How you doing?" to kids he sees around first and the last few weeks at choir practice he goes around and shakes everyone's hand. It's very cute :D My choir is very sweet with him. Last night we did some neighbor goody deliveries and he just loves doing that. It brings him great joy.

Ashley and Austin:
Ashley has quit working at the law office and is doing her photography business, Ashley Dawn Photography, full time now. She is progressively getting busier and busier which is a good thing. She is working as the Nursery leader and is doing such a great job. You should see how she decorated the room. And the kids just LOVE to go play with Sister Ashley. She is also a temple worker every Wednesday which I think is wonderful. What a great thing to be doing. :D Her babies are still her two cats, Kitty and Mischeif (that's how she spells it) and their dog, Titus. I am so very proud of who she is. She is beautiful on the inside and out. In all my flaws, I must have done something right.

Austin is busily building his insurance business. He is also running the St. George Iron Man, being a rafting guide, camping and doing as many outdoor activities as he can possibly fit into his busy schedule. And on top of that, he is serving in the Elder's Quorum in his ward which keeps him hopping. He's like the energizer bunny ... he just keeps going ... and going ... and going... etc ... etc ... etc. Holy smokes. These two make me tired just thinking about all they do.

In closing this letter, we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. May you feel of the Savior's love more this season. May we all be worthy to receive His best blessings. And may we all embrace the wonderful possibilities of a new year. God lives. The Savior lives and gave us the greatest gift we could ever get. May we all be worthy of this great gift. We love you all.

Merry Christmas,

The Leach Family

Random Post - Feeling Thankful

2011-11-24T10:21:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all today! I hope it is a great day for all of you :D We are showcasing Drew's "paint a picture day" picture ... a turkey. He is definitely my son ... loves art. That makes me happy :D

I have so much to be thankful for. My heart is so full of gratitude for all the blessings Heavenly Father has given to this family. We are going to be beginning a new tradition for Thanksgiving. We are going to make a thankful tree. A tree that we put on the leaves things we are thankful for. I am sure that it will have many, many leaves on it. The completed masterpiece will be on tomorrow's post. But as I cook our Thanksgiving dinner, I can't help but be bombarded by all the things I have been blessed with. From the big things such as My Heavenly Father, my Savior, the truthfulness of His gospel, and family and friends to the lesser thought of ones like great insulation in my inner AND outer walls that makes it possible for me to NEVER have to turn on heat in the cooler months and making my summer month electric bills bearable as well as making it possible for me to close the door of my living room to be able to play some piano again without it bothering Drew too terribly much. Life truly is good and I am thankful everyday for my blessings.

State of the Union - Fall Garden Six Week Check Up

2011-11-23T11:33:00.001-08:00

Let's see ... what to talk about since the last state of the union ... ??? ... well, it has been about 6 weeks since we planted our first fall garden. Can I just say that in some ways I like fall gardens better. For one, you don't swelter when you go out to pull weeds. I have been really trying to take advantage of the weather to tackle the grass areas out there. I work on them a little each day. I figure if I get more and more roots out, the grass over time will be less and less.

But for our first attempt at cauliflower (above) and broccoli (to the right), I am pretty happy how they are doing. And the flat leaf spinach below ... a good part of that will be part of our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I love Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad, so ... but I really do like the flat leaf spinach the best. I need to get more seeds for that.

Oh, I gotta tell ya something Drew has been doing lately. When he has seen people, HE says "hi" first. That's a big deal. And last Sunday at choir practice, he went around and shook all the choir members hands. I know to many that isn't much, but for Drew, it's much. He is also getting more and more talkative ... I mean A LOT! We are working on clarity. Before it was getting him to talk at all, now it's all about him being understood.

Just have to comment on my tomato plant to the right here. This is the soul survivor of my tomato plants I planted in the spring. This is a cautionary tale. I NEED THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE WIRE CAGES for our tomatoes. This poor thing ... it has the regular tomato cage, then I have a pole in there, I have it tied to some outside things, AND I have a metal chair wedged in there to try to keep it from falling over. This poor thing is flopped over and so heavy. If it had the second support, it would probably be standing between 5 and 6 feet in the air. I told Darin that he HAS to make me those cages for next spring. Anyway ... in spite of all that, this has lots of tomatoes on it that are starting to ripen. Very fun :D

Darin has been one busy guy. There have been some new restructuring going on at Lins that has been keeping him on his toes on top of his church calling. I know he has asked Santa Claus for Christmas a tablet (is that the right word) to use for his calling. I guess the question is ... are the on the naughty list or the nice list Darin??? Do you DESERVE one for Christmas??? heh heh heh heh. Seriously, I can't blame him. In some houses a computer is a luxury ... they are a necessity in this one. And our desk top computer is saying we need to have it checked; that one of the dual hard drives is bad and needs to be repaired or replaced. And then our lap top hot spot WON'T turn ON for the last three days. Not good. Oh the joys of living so isolated. You can't just pop down the street and have this fixed that day. You have to plan a special trip and HOPE they can get it done while you are there. *sigh* It will all be good in the end .. but until then ...

Random Post - I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

2011-11-19T10:02:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtU1c5JZf0k

Overton is having a Messiah Sing A Long in December! I was telling Darin that I wished they would do this ... and here they are ... how fun! :D Anyhow ... I was asked to sing this for the performance on the 18th. It's been a while since I did any Messiah ... or sing ANY classical in public for quite a while. I am looking forward to working on this. Never sang any of the solos before. Should be very fun! :D

I put a link of someone singing it for those who read my blog and are not familiar with this piece. I like this woman's voice. It's classical, but it doesn't take over the planet. It's nice and rich sounding.

State of the Union - Silly Windows

2011-11-18T16:50:00.001-08:00

Better late than never right??? I will tell you, life just seems to get nuttier and nuttier, busier and busier ... and I sometimes feel as if I am just treading water to keep from drowning in all I need to get done.

Drew has definitely been 13 the last 10 days or so. Yikes ... most 13 year olds have the polite facade they keep intact at all times. They may roll their eyes, or sigh deeply, or even try to sass (I hope you don't let them get away with that ... otherwise they will become a tidal wave that you can't control ... just saying). But they actually keep MOST of what they feel inside. The anger, the frustration, the irritation, etc ... etc ... etc ...

Umm ... Drew doesn't HAVE that polite facade. So I will let you use your imagination as to what I have been having to deal with the last bit. All I will say is ... NOT pretty. I do feel bad for him though ... in spite of the "Drew the Cranky Boy" adventures we have been having. The only friends he has are his parents. The kids in our ward or around don't give him the time of day. I can understand to a certain level, but they can't even acknowledge him at all? Can't even say hello when they see him??? Do you know what that does to a mother's heart??

And on top of that, sleep has not been fast friends at our house. Had five hours of sleep two nights ago, so yesterday I was completely WORTHLESS in the 'getting things done' department. So, yesterday, I just sat and finished two of my window displays. And just so you know ... these are drawings I drew free hand, colored, and cut out. I didn't paint on my windows. Can you imagine the mess to clean them up??? Yikes! And as a bonus .. I can laminate them and use them next year. YES! :D I definitely wanted a pilgrims window, and a turkey window, but I wanted a little personality showing. Oh what to do ... what to do ... at this point, I was getting a little silly; sleep deprivation can do that to ya ... but in that silliness haze I came up with a great personality chaser for my window. LOVED Bugs Bunny growing up. Sorry for you out there, but seriously, they don't make cartoons like that anymore. Sad. They were the best. Anyhow ... one of the Bugs Bunny episodes I really loved was when Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny were arguing about which hunting season it was "Duck Season ... no ... WABBIT season ... " lol So ... Bugs ... this window's for you" heh heh heh heh

I will say this though. I am truly grateful for my husband and my children. They and my Heavenly Father and Savior are truly my lifeline. I couldn't cope without them. Life would be miserable without them. And isn't that what this month is really about? To stop and really count the blessings we have been blessed with. Well ... THESE are my top blessings. I am so blessed to have them, warts and all.

Random Post - A New Way to Cut Hair ...

2011-11-10T20:27:00.001-08:00

Cutting Drew's hair has always been a challenge. It started with his hair getting gradually cut over time (sometimes it would take me a couple of weeks of snip, snip here ... snip, snip there to get him to let me get it all done) Then we got a Flow Bee which was great ... for a while. You could get his entire head done in about 5 minutes. But over the past year and a half he came to think that the noise was too loud, so he wanted me to go back to scissors. So, I tried for a while to have Kenna cut his hair, which worked a few times, but she uses buzzers and he decided that sound was unacceptable as well (exasperated sigh) So, back to mom cutting the hair once again with scissors. At least he doesn't fight me as much about it. Well, the last two times now (we cut his hair two days ago) after he would get out of the shower, I would spike his hair all up then trim, trim away while his hair is still all wet. Here are the results. Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Attitude of Gratitude - Paying the Ultimate Price

2011-11-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

As this week is going to celebrate ... I HOPE celebrate anyhow ... Veteran's Day, my heart of gratitude goes to those veteran's who stood up to keep my family and freedoms safe. These brave men and women have been doing this since the beginning of this country. I always get so emotional at the sacrifices and service of these people throughout our history who stood at the gates to keep the freedoms I cherish safe and sound. So, from a VERY grateful heart, thank you. Thank you. And thank you. I hope that we all can take a moment to ponder on those who have in the past and are now keeping us safe. There are many who paid the ultimate price for my freedom. Again, thank you. I pray for the families who give up their loved ones for me and MY family. I pray that you will be sustained while they are gone and that you will have what you need and that your loved one will be safe today.

State of the Union - Getting in the Gratitude Mood

2011-11-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Ooohhh ... November has hit. I like November. I like it for several reasons. But I would have to say that the main reason is that it makes me reflect on the many blessings that have been given to this family of mine. I am truly thankful everyday. My life is definitely full of challenges, but I know there are others out there that have things SO much more rough than I do. And my heart goes out to them. I have been in much more difficult circumstances throughout my life and although I am grateful for those experiences because they have molded me into who I am today, I am thankful for the the great blessings I have.

This past week, I had a bout with a bug. Not fun. My immune system. It's too friendly. Anything that is going around it says "Hey stranger! Come on in!!" Wish it wouldn't do that. But although I battled with a bug, life went on and on November 1st Drew wanted those Halloween decorations GONE!! So, we decorated. The top picture is my village that I have above my kitchen cupboards. They got all fall festive and "autumn-ized). Then this is my little desk decoration. I got the cornucopia from my mom, and the little vegetables and cute turkey from Cost Plus World Market. LOVE that place!! One of the things I had learned in Mary Kay is making up gift baskets and such and they have SO much stuff in that store that my creative juices were FLOWING!! Too fun. I don't have much in November decor, so I got a few things while on vacation in Cali. And those two things were a couple of my purchases.

Then we had gotten two pumpkins for Halloween. Little pumpkins ... I think Darin called them sugar pumpkins. Drew tried putting them into the red tote of decorations to put away. Ummm ... no. No can do boo.

Soooo ... I had to do SOMETHING with them. So I made these cute little turkeys. lol

These are the decorations I got at Bishops Pumpkin Patch. Very fun.

I am doing the window dressing as well. They aren't completely done yet. I hope to have them done this week. I will plan on taking pics of them for next week's state of the union.

My fall garden is growing nicely. Even my seven watermelon plants that come up of their own accord. LOL!! And my squash plants that came up all on their own as well - grin. And let's not forget my single corn! LOL! I know nothing can happen with that one. They need each other to make baby corns, so ... I figure I am going to see what happens. It's been really fun to see it grow. My broccoli has little baby broccoli's on it. YES! Victory is MINE!!

I have decided to do the Bev Whiting version of couponing. Wish me luck with that. I know people who are ninja when it comes to couponing. I am not one of them ... yet. But I hope to get there. I feel that it is important to get all the ducks in a row in self reliance. Learning to grow a garden. Being debt free. Having a well stocked "pantry". Eating right. Having my bones aligned for optimum health. Exercise for a strong and healthy body. Get eyes checked. etc ... etc ... etc ... just having a well balanced and healthy body and lifestyle. There IS a method to my madness. I am hoping that couponing the "Bev Whiting" way will get my "pantry" stocked nicely. I will let you know how I progress.

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I know it may not look as if I was busy, but believe me, I was. We all were. :D

Random Post - Darin: aka the Snow Miser

2011-11-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

(this picture taken of Darin just last night - LOL)

What is it with my husband??? I am happy to say that Fall weather has FINALLY started arriving here in the desert. When it first started cooling down at night, I had started putting a box fan in the window to suck in the cool air. No air conditioner, but yet pleasantly cool indoors. I was happy.

But Darin has continued that little ritual as it is getting cooler, so inside the master bedroom it gets to about 65 degrees. BRRRR ...

But HERE is the random part. Last night, I am taking things I put on hangers to hang up in the closet (I use Drew's bed as my folding table. That way I can watch something while I fold and hang up laundry - makes it more tolerable) and as I am going into the master bedroom, I glance at the heat and air gauge that tells me the temperature - yep 65 degrees in there. And what do I find??? Darin lying on the bed, watching something in shorts and a t-shirt. Ummm ... what is WRONG with that picture??? Even the guy above has more clothes on than that! Yikes!! Me? Bring on the sweater and socks!

Attitude of Gratitude - Chiropractors

2011-11-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Oohhh ... what a great month to show one's gratitude. November is always a month to truly reflect on one's many blessings. For my gratitude posts I am really trying to think of the things I am grateful for that one just doesn't focus on as much as others. So, this week I want to express my gratitude for ... drum roll please ... chiropractors. I know ... sounds funny right? But seriously ... for the past five years I have been getting my daily headaches again. I hate those. Migraines are no good. Me no likey. When I would try exercising, it would aggravate things and do more harm than good. Ummm ... I NEED to exercise. I don't want to be in this physical condition forever, you know? I have a game plan I want to conquer and it's not gonna happen without exercising. Another thing, when I would look in the mirror, it was physically noticeable to ME that I was off kilter. Then my right hip started giving me grief and it got to the point that it was so painful that I was limping and having to take something every 6 hours. Finally on the day we were to leave on vacation, I couldn't stand it anymore. I was able to get into the local chiropractor here. He thinks I just need a tune up as I have been in two car accidents (neither one my fault by the way). It took a few days after being adjusted for the hip to calm down, but SO much better. And my headaches are getting better too.

Had another appointment yesterday. Aaahhhh ... continuing down the road to better health and happiness ... :D So, to all you chiropractors out there ... thanks :D Now, all my local guy needs to fix is my adverse reaction to whatever it is down here that makes my face peel a layer of skin every day. I guess I can look at it as a free face peel ... uh ... no. And hey! Wanna figure out why I am sneezing year round in this valley??? That would be good too - thanks! So get crackin' ... and I mean more than backs! heh heh heh heh

October State of the Union - Life Happened

2011-11-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

Oooohhh ... it's been a while since I have posted. Just like the title says; life has truly happened this past couple of weeks. So, I will play a little catch up. First off, remember about my planner? What a wonderful tool that has been for me. A true blessing and keeper of sanity. Well, I had gotten the whole house in the planner game plan ... except for the final frontier ... the office. The office still tended to be a catch all room and a bit of a mess. Well, Darin gives me a call from work on Friday morning to tell me ... ummm ... heads up, the Bishop is coming over and helping me to figure out why our computer isn't letting me do the ordering like I should be able to. He will be here tomorrow morning at 8 am. Well, I was planning on tackling the office on that Saturday, but it just got bumped up. So, took out dead computer, and DI stuff, tossed the riff raff out .... took the entire day (I am a slow but thorough cleaner, so it takes me a while - grin) But it was so worth it. I really liked how it turned out. It's actually a pleasure to work in there :D

It's actually a functioning room now. I guess I needed a fire put under me to get it done.

My next project was to do something I had been wanting to do for a while. When we lived in the Santa Clara Valley, there was a family in our ward that she would have something in her front windows that was themed for the month. I always loved to see what she would put up. So, I decided to start doing that. This is my October efforts.

And I decided that I was going to try to put something monthly themed on the cute little desk in the office too. I just love this cute little pumpkin. You just can't help but smile when you look at it :D

From there it was vacation time! Woohoo!!! We went to spend a week back in the old home town. It was so nice to be back in the green country side. We went to stay with Ashley and Austin. They had to go to Monterey the first couple of days we were there, so we just stayed there and took care of their animals. Drew has gotten so much better around animals. He has always loved animals, but he would want to love them ... to death.

These two were practically inseparable while we were there. Drew pet Kitty the cat a LOT ... and Mischeif (that's how Ashley spells it ... wanted to be different) decided that she was going to be afraid of us the entire time we were there. Sad. Oh well. But while Ashley and Austin were gone we also decided to hit one of Drew's favorite places to go ...

Chuck E. Cheese, of course! Have to go there ... right??? Oh, RIGHT!! Yeah ... anyhow ... gone are the days of earning mountains of tickets. Lots were still earned, but Drew likes playing the non ticket games more and more. And that is okay. I had done something to my right hip, so I just stayed sitting in the booth while Darin and Drew played. It was funny ... Darin was playing that Basketball game where you shoot the ball into the hoop as many times as you can and Drew decided to try it too. He made a few baskets all by himself! That's a big deal. Was very proud of him.

The next day, we went to visit Darin's parents for the day. Darin's mom has surgery, so we just went to visit. Drew is a blood hound when it comes to legos. He sniffed the grandparents lego collection immediately and played pretty much the whole time we were there. He tried to take them with us, but alas, we said no. :D

When Saturday rolled around, Ashley and Austin came back home and we along with Darin's parents went to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch. I had fully intended to stay there until they closed, but Drew had been doing his version of 13 lately (deep sigh) so, we actually didn't stay very long. But I did accomplish what I wanted to do while there. They have this cute gift shop that they had fun holiday decoration stuff there and I wanted to get some Thanksgiving decorations. Don't have much of that. You will see those later in my post next week. We got a few cute pictures anyway ...

except this one. The sun was directly in my eyes. I was going blind here. But had to show one of the pumpkins we purchased at the pumpkin patch.

Sunday we went to spend time with Greg and Kelley and family. They were having a 1st year birthday party for Lon's youngest boy, Zenock. It was nice getting to see them for a bit.

Monday we went and had dinner with Austin's family and had a very good time. Something funny. As soon as we got there, Drew started playing their wii game. Evidently this certain Mario game you could have four players go at once and Drew wanted to observe, so he just went and started picking them for Mario game duty! LOL ... you WILL play for me to watch and you will LIKE it! Mwahahahahaha!!! Seriously, they were very good sports about it.

Tuesday we went to Fresh Choice with Darin's parents ... and were acting very silly (well, at least Ashley and I were ... don't know what was in the soup - silly spice maybe) Then we went home and made gluten free woof ums (don't know if the spelling on that is correct, but you get the idea) Very yummy and fun. It was really starting to cool down, so it was fun to sit around a camp fire. Afterwards, we took our holiday pictures. I came up with this idea of what I wanted for it, Ashley thought it would be good too, so we did it ... until late into the night. I am not going to write what we did because I want it to be a surprise for Christmas card time.

Well, Wednesday rolled around and was time to get ready to go home. Still felt giddy from the silly spice soup ... (or maybe just sleep deprived) and felt creative. I call this one "Pumpkins Incognito" (heh heh heh heh heh)

Then thought I would leave Ashley and Austin with this final holiday fun for the Halloween season (LOL!!) Funny, huh? (big grin) Can I just say it is SO much more fun for me to DRAW on a pumpkin rather than CARVE one. Yep ... MUCH more fun - grin When we were leaving, you should have seen Titus the dog. He was so SAD that his friend was leaving. It was truly sad :-( Poor little puppy.

When we got to the airport, I got to get searched because I was wearing a skirt. That was fun ... umm not much. Note to self. NEVER wear a skirt to the Sacramento airport EVER again! :D

And finally, yesterday was Halloween. I was under the impression that Drew wanted to stay home and hand out candy to the few trick or treaters that come, but at about 8 pm, he decided he wanted to go. We didn't get him a new costume. Luckily ... I had his last two years costumes ready to go, so he went as the yellow peanut M&M again ... (sigh) silly, silly boy :-) He went to about 10 or 12 houses, felt he was done, and came home and confiscated the rest of our candy as his. Which is fine with me. I don't want to eat it. But it reminded me of something Ashley had read and told me about ... the 2 year old mentality list:

If I am holding it, it's MINE

If I want it, it's MINE

If I am building something and need another block, they are all MINE

etc ... etc ... etc ....

LOL

I think you get the idea.

Attitude of Gratitude - Rain

2011-10-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

I think a lot of people think me strange but I personally love rain. I get very happy on cloudy, rainy days. Now, I have never lived up in Washington State or Oregon where it rains a lot, so I may get to hate it if I did (hmmmm .... maybe, but maybe not) but I love the rain. I love the way it waters my new little fall garden plants. I love how it makes the air smell. I just really like it. Last night it began to rain (quite loudly with a fabulous thunder and lightening show) and has continued today. When I see overcast, rainy days I get this overwhelming urge to make some home made soup, grab a comfy quilt to wrap up in and watch a classic movie. Maybe Cary Grant. You can't go wrong with Cary Grant.

FHE - The Scriptures

2011-10-04T11:04:00.001-07:00

(Lesson to follow)

State of the Union - Conference Weekend

2011-10-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well ... this week was a good one. Lots to do. Drew didn't fight me at all on the home schooling which was wonderful and we accomplished much. Ashley came up to Saint George this week to do some photo shoots up there and Austin came for a bit too and they stopped by Sunday night. Ashley will be staying today and tomorrow to play so that will be very fun! Let the Castle marathon begin!!! And facials ... and foot reflexology sessions ... and gluten free cookie eating ... it will be very fun :D

We had General Conference weekend and it was absolutely wonderful as always. Was it me or are they getting more bold and plain in their speaking? Which I love, actually. You know where you stand that way. They say it with love, but they say it. That is something I have as a parent really tried to do. I want there to be no question where I am coming from. No confusion about the point I am trying to get across. Anyhow ... I came away from conference with these points or themes:

* God knows you and cares about all facets of your life, but respects your agency, so we need to ask for his help and guidance.

* Read the Book of Mormon ... ALOT!

* REPENT now

* Step up for who you are and what you believe. The time to get out of the comfort zone has come.

* Love each other. Love yourself. Cherish your family.

I am sure there was MUCH more, but those are the ones that are coming to my mind now.

It was very exciting that Drew and Darin went to Priesthood Session together. Something I don't recall them doing before ... they showed the session at 5:00, then again at 7:30. Darin went with Brad Whiting to the 5:00 session, then came back and got Drew to go to the 7:30 session. The sound was too much. He didn't last more than 20 minutes, sad to say. It's a start though and it was very exciting that he was able to go. A very good week this past week. Looking forward to what we will accomplish this week.

Random Post ... A Turkish Gecko????

2011-10-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

For this week's random post ... I would like to discuss ... I guess geckos. A few weeks back I had run into what I thought were these little baby pale colored lizards in my house. They were maybe ... 1 1/2 inches long ... if that much. So, I reacted like any normal, red blooded American female would at seeing a little 'lizard' scurrying around inside her house. I freaked and squished it. Three of them. Over the space of a week. For those of you that are 'lizard' lovers, I apologize. I leave wild life be if they don't scurry inside my abode. Well, for the past week, there has been a light colored silhouette on Drew's bathroom window while we would get Drew dressed for the night ... what Drew and I thought was a lizard. I figured it was the family of the 'baby lizards' I found in my house. At first it always seemed to be where the screen was so I thought nothing of it. Then, I noticed it was on the top window that had no screen on it. I thought "hmmm ... how does it get up there and stay???" The lizards I grew up with in California didn't have 'sucker cup' super lizard powers that I recalled. Hmmm ... Well, Wednesday night as I was turning off lights and making sure that doors were locked, I see the tummy side of one of these 'sucker cup powered lizards' on one of my front door windows; white tummy ... kind of see through with a moth in it's mouth. I thought "hey, cool little super lizard ... you do your thing OUTSIDE and I will stay INSIDE and we will get along JUST fine! Well ... tonight, I go out to put the wet garbage into the garden spot and I see the super sucker cup powered lizard creature scurrying up my wall. I took a picture, but didn't have my glasses on and could only get so close, so it was WAY blurry. So, I get on Google and start looking for pictures of lizards ... nothing ... nope ... not that one ... then this one comes up listing a gecko ... so started checking out gecko pictures and found this picture. THIS is what it looked like. A Turkish Gecko. Ummm ... what is a Turkish Gecko doing in my yard??? I See Turkish Gecko and think 'Mediterranean' creature, not 'Nevada desert' creature. Go figure. How's that for random!

What's For Dinner ... Black Bean and Chicken Burrito

2011-10-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Any of you ever go through the "what am I going to cook today?" rut? Over the years I have gleaned great knowledge from cooks who have gone before me ... heh heh heh ... and figured that if I have a weekly menu based on a theme if you will, I save money and take the stress out of the guesswork. Plus when at all possible (that means when I am on the ball ... still working on that one) I have a cooking day where I do a lot of the prep work on that one day so it makes the rest of the week so much easier. So, I thought I would post my menu ideas and for those of you that follow my blog can steal my ideas or perhaps it will cause your creative juices to bubble and collide and come up with some fun ideas for you. I am also gonna share a recipe for one of the menu ideas. I love recipes ... and I love recipes that are no nonsense, down to earth eating and with the way we are eating (Eat Right For Your Blood type diet) it will show how I have perhaps tweaked a family favorite to fit the diet bill. :D I only cook on main meal a day. Breakfast is usually a health shake or smoothie and the other meal is like a sandwich or left overs or something like that. Sooo ....

Okay, so chicken is the theme for this week, but I do try to have a fish item once a week (struggle ... struggle ... I don't like fish, but I know it's good for you) and I LOVE breakfast foods, but don't really get to cook breakfast foods at breakfast time, so I have a breakfast for dinner day. Here we go:

- Chicken Cranberry Spinach Salad
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Chicken Salad Sandwiches
- Cheesy Chicken and Rice (my own creation ... very yummy)
- Tuna Melt
- Garden Omelets
- Black Bean and Chicken Burrito

Black Bean and Chicken Burritos

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

2 tomatoes, diced (I prefer Roma)

1 1/2 c. shredded lettuce (I prefer Romaine)

1 cup cheese, shredded (we use mozzarella because we can't have cheddar, but you can if you want - grin)

6 burrito flour tortillas (we use rice or Ezekiel tortillas - gluten free)

sour cream (we use Tofutti Sour Cream)

Salsa and guacomole (optional)

Bake chicken seasoned to your taste (I like to use Spade L Ranch Chicken Seasoning, but you can use any poultry seasoning mixture)

While chicken is cooking, heat black beans and chop and dice and shred remaining ingredients. Cube chicken when cooked through. Heat tortillas (they fold better) and add the toppings. Roll and eat :D I usually like to make a little spanish rice with this meal.

Attitude of Gratitude - My Day Planner

2011-09-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

As I believe that it is important to be grateful for all things great and small in our lives, I thought I would once a week jot down something I am grateful for. This week it is my day planner. Silly huh? Well ... not if you considered the background.

One of my weaknesses I would have to say is that I am NOT a multi tasker. So when I see so many things around me that need to be done, I get overwhelmed, freeze and then proceed to do none of them. Years ago I had stumbled upon a website named flylady.net for us people that get overwhelmed and do nothing or don't know where to begin. They basically teach you to make lists and follow that list one step at a time. So, me lacking multi tasker skills could really relate to this thought process. Well, I stopped doing flylady.net stuff and it was getting really bad. Things just seemed to be spiraling out of control and I was frozen all the time. This really started to affect my mindset about life. Not good. So, had an experience that basically caused me to feel inspired to get back onto my lists. So, went out and got a planner that had month at a glance calendars as well as week at a glance. I have then proceeded to write my lists. I put much thought into what I wanted to have or what needed to be done and broke it up into lists throughout the week. Ones for keeping the house tamed. Ones to keep me on track for what Drew needs to have accomplished. And ones for my personal growth and physical well being. Then I have a space where I can write in there what I need to buy for groceries that week, as well as appointments or errands that need to be done. It's all in one place. No more scraps of paper all over the place. I know there are fancier types of day planners out there. I just happened to like the lay out of this one. It works for me. And can I say I am SO much happier and feel on top of things. So, thank you little book, for filling my life with some peace and control.

FHE - Prophets of God

2011-09-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

Ever think "we are supposed to be having Family Home Evening, but what exactly is the game plan for that?" I don't know about you, but I need a game plan; a plan of attack. Well, a while back, I had felt inspired that for Drew I needed to use the Gospel Principles book for my game plan, but I needed to 'kid' it down and make it engaging and interactive on his level. So, I had pulled out a spiral notebook and began to have a page for each of the chapters on it. I call it my FHE brain book. On those pages I have the Gospel Principles chapter, as well as primary lesson chapters that I can draw stories that relate to that topic. Then I have song suggestions for the lesson, scripture or good story ideas, followed by object lesson or game ideas. With Drew I need to make it a bit fun for him to want to participate. So, can I say that the computer is my favorite friend to make this happen? Yes. So ... I take the gospel principles lesson and 'kid' it down for Drew to be able to understand. So, here it is.

What is a prophet of God and what does he do? (I used word strips which I had Drew tape up on my prepared foam board - I have it covered with contact paper)

- He chosen of God to be His representative on earth (Amos 3:7)
- When he speaks for God, it's as if God were speaking
- He's a special witness for Jesus Christ
- He teaches truth
- He calls the unrighteous to repentance
- He receives revelation and directions for our benefit
- He may see into the future and foretell coming events so that the world can be prepared

We have had prophets on the earth since Adam. What are some things a few of our past prophets have done? ( I used pictures of these prophets - there are great pictures available on the internet)

- Moses brought the children of Israel out of bondage and gave us the 10 commandments to follow
- Nephi got the brass plates which contained the scriptures, built a ship and sailed to colonize in the Americas. He gave us many great teachings in the Book of Mormon
- John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus Christ's coming and ministry on the earth.
- Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today with many of the great blessings that come from having the fullness of the gospel restored.

What are some things that our modern day prophets have counseled us to do? (I used cute pictures that I got from the Sunday Savers series (you can get from Deseret Book), but you can make up your own pictures that cover these things. I had Drew pick the cards)

- Attend your church meetings
- Love one another
- Pay your tithing
- Keep the Word of Wisdom
- Find friends that choose the right
- Believe in Jesus Christ
- Read and study the scriptures
- Respect your parents
- Be a missionary
- Write in your journal every day
- Be a friend to the friendless
- Have family home evening
- Keep the commandments
- Strive to be worthy to attend the temple
- Plant a garden

It is important that we sustain the prophet today. What can we do to sustain the prophet? (I showed a picture of our prophet, then used word strips - which Drew helped me tape up on my board)

- We can pray for him and his family
- We should study his words and follow his counsel
- We can listen to him in General Conference

Wilford Woodruff said (I show a picture) "The Lord will never permit me or any other person who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place."

Again, I don't know if anyone wants to use these ideas or not, but it may inspire some with their own ideas and get one's creative juices flowing. :D

September 25th State of the Union - Lots to Say ...

2011-09-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been called to repentance. We just had a family home evening lesson about prophets of God and what they have asked us to do. ( which I will share with you shortly) One of the things that they have asked us to do is to keep a journal. I view this as one of my journals. One that I can share with my family and friends. Then I have another one that I put those sacred moments in. Makes me think of the Nephites. They had the larger records to keep track of the goings on of the people (like this is), then they had the smaller plates to keep track of the more sacred things. That's what I'm doing :D So, I am going to give it a more concerted effort to be a better record keeping person. I don't know if any of my family and friends really look at this or not. I hope they do. But it will keep tabs on what I am doing in my life and that's really what's important isn't it?

Okay ... so what's been going on?

Well, we planted our fall garden this past weekend. Don't know if we are too late or not. Never planted a FALL garden before. Always just the spring/summer one. So, this should be interesting to see if it all goes well, or blows up in our faces. We planted a couple of new things I have NEVER tried to grow before ... broccoli and cauliflower. Never tried to grow them before, so should be interesting to see what happens. I find that I really enjoy planting a garden. I am sure that there are many out there that are better gardeners than me (like my neighbor two doors down), but I am not completely without skill :D

Next ... Drew was ordained as a deacon on the 11th. Suffice it to say that it was an AMAZING experience. I asked Darin if this type of experience was normal. He said "ummm ... no." So, you can guess my smaller record wrote about that experience.

And yesterday, our ward bishopric was changed. Darin and I were called into the stake presidency's this past Thursday ... and we knew this event was coming up. Needless to say, we were feeling a little anxious. I mean, we are willing to do our best at whatever calling we are asked to do, but goodness ... this would be enough to give anyone butterflies and anxiety. So, when we got in there and they issued Darin the calling of Executive Secretary ... (whew). As we were leaving, Darin said "well, I am both surprised AND relieved". I know we both felt this was the right place for him to be. So, it became official yesterday in church. Our past bishop, Darren Leavitt, was an AMAZING bishop, and our new bishop, Steve Holyoak, I think will do a good job too. It all felt as if everyone was in the right place, you know? It's all good. I led the choir in my arrangement of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" and thought, "how appropriate". This hymn gave the prophet Joseph comfort when he really needed it. And if I was just called to be the new bishop or in the bishopric, I think I would need something to calm my nerves too. :D

It's Becoming a Tradition ...

2011-04-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

... that we plant our garden around Darin's birthday. We had to go up to Salt Lake City for a few days for a convention for Darin's work. Darin's parents came up there as well so that they could watch Drew so that I could attend with Darin to the luncheons and banquet that the spouses are to attend. We then went to Thanksgiving Point ... which I will talk about THAT adventure in another post. This one is about the garden.

Anyhow ... Darin's parents followed us back down to Overton to spend a few days with us, so we were VERY happy they were here to help us put in the garden.

Okay ... let the gardening begin! Who would have thought that I would be so excited to plant a garden? I can tell you that I was NOT excited about gardens when I was growing up and helping in our family garden. Lots of weeds. Hate pulling weeds. Just saying ... anyhow ... we have had several people ask us our formula for a great garden. It's Darin's parents that gave us the formula and it has worked out very well for us. So, I am happy to share and take you on a virtual tour of how to do it ... :D

Step one: Have a cute husband. If you don't have one of these, you may have some trouble. Okay, okay ... I will get serious ...

We had gotten this nice rototiller for our family Christmas gift this year, so we rototilled the entire area. Although it is VERY nice to do this, for those of you that don't have access to one, you CAN do this without one. We just grow organically, so we feed the dirt and it's good to mix that compost all back into the soil.

Step Two: Dig some holes. Use either a regular bucket or a five gallon bucket like the one shown in the pic here to know how wide and deep the hole should be. Be sure to space them to give your plants room to spread out. They may be small now, but they WILL get bigger.

Step 3: Mix a big bag of potting soil and steer manure together in like a wheel barrow. Fill your holes 1/3 full with this mixture. Add one handful each of blood meal, bone meal, epsom salt, and sugar into the hole and mix it with the new dirt.

Step 4: Bring on the plants! I chose this year some standards like my beloved Roma tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash and have added some new ones to the mix; peas, red sweet peppers, spinach, watermelon, cantaloupe and corn. You can plant from seed, but last year some little creatures left my planted plants alone, but ate all the new seeded sprouts. So, until my garden is fenced in, we will go this route.

(the strawberries are going into hanging strawberry planter)

Take plants out of planter pots and place in hole on top of new dirt. Use native dirt to plant your plants. Only fill the hole another 1/3 full. You should have 1/3 left.

So, as you can see, your plants are in a hole.

Now, fill the hole with water to the top of the hole. In the desert, I have found that I start with twice a week, then 3 times, then build up to having to water daily.

Oop! Drew's favorite time has now come ...

It is a moral imperative to throw the dirt clods so that they break up. LOL!

True, your garden may look a bit like a prairie dog field with holes everywhere, but you use a LOT less water, the weeding is minimal and your plants grow big and healthy.

Now to move onto the flower beds .....

2011-04-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

This Valentine's Day time at the store, they had a special Valentine's event. They wanted the couples around the area to give a copy of their wedding day picture and then a current picture and saying how long you had been married.

Here we were 18 years ago ...

... and now. This picture was taken by my favorite photographer in the whole entire world. And I am not saying that because she happens to be my daughter. I love how she seems to capture moments ... although some may be a bit more structured, lots are like this one ... a moment of joy captured with a click.

Darin, I love you and am the luckiest valentine out there.

Since the house is ours now ...

2011-04-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

... I guess that means we can paint and hang up pictures and everything huh? heh heh heh :D

We had gotten this rug at Wal-E-World so that when lots of wii fit was done, it wouldn't destroy the light carpeting underneath. I really love the colors. They are neutral, but have vibrance to them. And my couches match ... heh heh heh (love that currant color) So, this will be my color palette that I am going to decorate my house in. It's gonna take me a while I am sure to get all the stuff in place that I want, but that's all good. Kind of a fun thought actually. So ... the first room that is going to be changed is the master bedroom.

Yellow just isn't in the color scheme. Sorry. You gotta go. A nice neutrally color to take it's place. I cut out a strand of the light color from the carpet and matched the paint to that. See? I told you I am going to use that rug as my color palette. :D I do have to say that although the strand and the paint matched on the card, it does look a little darker on the wall, gives it a bit more drama. I like it. :D

Darin and I conquered the painting in one day. When we were painting, we realized that this was the first time in our married life that we got to paint a room a color we wanted. How sad is that??? Sad in a way, but we have been so blessed lately, that it also brings a heart full of gratitude for those blessings.

I hadn't taken a completed picture. I will have to do that huh???? I see another posting in the future. One thing that I will say about the paint job is that I never stop liking the color my bedroom is now. It's very nice ... sigh

Drew's answer to post nasal drip ...

2011-04-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

Drew doesn't get very sick, but this winter, he had a bit of a runny nose which caused his nose to get sore and as he had a bit of post nasal drip, his throat was sore. So, he came up with this remedy.

Band-Aids really CAN cure everything ... even make shift ones ... LOL!!!

January 2011 Drew's Birthday - Day of the Dinosaur

2011-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

So ... the Drew boy turned 13 this year. Holy smokes ... in Jewish culture that means he could be considered a man. Ummmmm ..... no. He's still a little on the short side among other things. But I wanted it to be special nonetheless. So we had Kenna give him the birthday boy haircut for the special day and then we decided to party like it was 15,000,000 B.C. ... heh heh heh.

Drew loves dinosaurs, so I thought it would be a fun thing to go to the Johnson Farm Dinosaur museum in Saint George.

It was good ... in a way ... he kept asking "where are the animals???"

Maybe they were on walkabout ... heh heh heh heh ...

Well, if the dinosaurs are extinct, I guess there is only one thing to do ... go to IHOP for a birthday lunch surprise!

Look at the cute little 13 year old boy!

I often wonder what the waitresses think of people who take pictures in their restaurant? Probably that we are insane ... and they would be right. Being nutty is a great place to be - grin.

We took Drew's cake over to my parents and sang happy birthday and blew out the candles. I don't have pictures of that because I forgot the camera at the restaurant and had to go back and get it. Luckily it was safely nestled in the lost and found, so all was good.

I think Drew had a good "manhood" birthday. Drew, I love you more than you will ever know. Your dad and I waited so long for you to come and are so grateful to be your parents. Love you son.

Wow ...

2011-04-04T21:50:00.001-07:00

I had NO idea it had been so long since I have posted something ...

Artwork from an Autistic Eye

2011-01-11T12:20:00.001-08:00

Drew has discovered that he LOVES to paint. We have a painting day about once a week and these are some of his creations. Now, the Thanksgiving one, I told him we were painting turkeys, but the others ... he told me what he wanted to paint.

One of these hand turkeys was my hand and the other one is Drew's :D

A cute little snowman :D

A fun little Gingerbread man :D

And just like Kevin from Home Alone, Drew had to have his Christmas tree :D

I have really enjoyed watching him blossom in his artwork. It is fun to see him enjoy it so much and to be able to express what he wants to paint on his own. Very exciting.

I Have Missed You My Dear Friend!

2011-01-07T11:33:00.001-08:00

I had misplaced my camera and have been COMPLETELY lost without it! So, I realize that I haven't posted in a while, but it is because I didn't have my camera, so I tried to take some pics to catch up on what I could and will put in some future posts about them one at a time.

So glad to have my camera back ... (deep sigh of contentment)

2010 Family Christmas Letter

2010-12-13T23:28:00.001-08:00

Hello to all our friends and loved ones. I hope that the very best and most wonderful things have been happening to you this year. This year has been pretty good for us. Let's see ... what have we been up to?

Well, in general news, we are once again home owners. We are so glad it is done, but goodness! What a road it was to travel. Lots of wrenches thrown into the system. It was a long and stressful journey to get it closed and done, but as of October 20th of this year we are the proud owners of the yellow house with the bright red door. Ever since we moved to Overton, we have been destined to live in a house with a bright red door. I guess we could say "hmmm ... this must mean something ..." and then proceed to make sculptures in our mashed potatoes (if you have ever seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you will know what I am talking about. If not ... well, you'll feel a little lost - grin)

Now let's get a little more personal. Darin ... what has he been up to besides trouble??? Heh heh heh heh ... as always, he is one of the hardest working people I have ever known. Puts in lots of hours at that grocery store to which I am truly grateful. I have really enjoyed that last few years getting to just be a stay at home mom because he works so hard and brings home the bacon. He is still first counselor in the Elders Quorum in our ward and I think is really enjoying his experience there. I think the presidency is on the same page; to care for those in the quorum and I think that makes it a positive place to serve for Darin. I know of one sister who's husband isn't active who thought the elder's quorum presidency was just their home teachers and said how they really enjoyed having them come. I think that is a great thing. People need to feel wanted and accepted and missed when they aren't there. It's important. Darin and I have also gotten on a 'better lifestyle' kick. We read this book called "Eating Right for Your Blood Type" and are trying to follow it. We are not perfect yet, but we do feel better when we follow it. I recommend it to anyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Darin also enjoys playing a lot of wii sports and is very good at it. I will have you know that we have made characters for each of our family members and it is a great thing when my character hits a home run ... which it usually does. Too bad I can't do that in real life - grin.

Let's see, what have I (that is Kris talking here) been up to? Well besides the better lifestyle thing? We are in our third year of home schooling Drew. It amazes me how much time on my part it takes to prepare things for him compared to how long it takes him to do them. But it is worth it in the end. Home school is a good fit for him. I have noticed all sorts of things that to me tell me we are on the right track. Some are big and obvious and some are small and bland. We don't have melt downs the three and four times a week like we used to. That's a big one. It's now just occasionally. Something small I noticed is that he no longer bites his nails. That to me says he is much more relaxed. He is progressively moving forward which makes all my hard work and effort worth while. He truly enjoys school which again, makes all that effort worthwhile. So, I have been doing that ... ALOT. I am still the primary pianist which is nice. Something funny ... We went to visit Ashley and Austin and Darin's family in California back in October for 10 heavenly days, so we were gone for two sundays. When I get back, the primary chorister proceeds to tell me that while I was gone, the kids were REALLY acting out and they were on their best behavior since I was back. She then said "it's almost like they think 'you don't want to get her mad'". LOL Who would have known that I am such a scary individual??? I never yell, I actually talk quite quietly when I am trying to make a point ... I have with love in my heart called them on the carpet a time or two when they were being disrespectful, but hey! Someone has to right? It takes a whole village to raise a child right? We are here to help each other out. Anyhow ... so I have been doing that. I still take care of my clientele with Mary Kay and that keeps me out of trouble most times .... heh heh heh. I love my ladies.

Ashley and Austin .... seriously they have to be some of the busiest people that I know. Ashley is still working in Greg's law office as well as building her photography business. She is the one that took the cute family pictures that were on our Christmas card this year. I have always wanted to have Christmas cards with pictures on them and I can now get them through her. so fun! She is getting VERY good. Photography is not one of my talents. I am doing good if I don't cut your head off when I take a picture. Definitely a 'point and shoot' kind of picture taker. But Ashley ... it IS her talent. She has a real creative flair and artistic eye when it comes to making people look good. It reminds me of this scene in the movie "Beautician and the Beast" where Fran Drescher says to her mother "what I did with Mrs ______ 6 hairs on her head Sigfried and Roy couldn't do on their BEST day". That's Ashley's pics. Ashley is the 6-7 year primary teacher in her ward and her kids just LOVE her! The class that is coming up is telling their parents that they are counting the days until they get to have her as their teacher because it's going to be SO much FUN! Don't we all want our kids to think that church is SO much FUN??!! Yes!

Austin is continually building his insurance business ... out of all my insurance men ... he is my favorite! heh heh heh Seriously ... being in insurance requires a lot of time and effort and patience while you are building your business. He does very well for himself, but with the effort that he puts into his business, which I like to affectionately call 'pumping the well', one day it is just going to gush all over the place so that when I get old and gray, he will be able to support his mother in law in the way she needs to be supported - LOL! They were up here for Thanksgiving time and spent a little time with us here in the desert. Austin hung up all my curtain rods in my house that I currently had. WOOHOO!!! I STILL look at them every day; grateful that he did that. It was very much appreciated. Again ... not another one of my talents. I am sure I could learn, but ... he KNEW how to do it, so it was very nice. Austin for the longest time was in the scouting program in his ward; which means he was never home because he was taking those scouts here and there and EVERYWHERE to get scouting stuff done. I think he really enjoyed that; which is a great thing. He was just released and is now in the Elder's Quorum presidency. I am sure those boys will miss him terribly, but I think the Elders will really enjoy having him there.

Drew - can you believe that is his just a few weeks away from being 13??? I can't. Especially if you look at him. He IS growing, but he is still small for his age (sorry son, you get some of that from your mother - :S) He is working hard in the home school thing - getting smarter all the time. He has always been smart. Very smart. It's just learning how to tap into that intelligence so that he can interact with the world more around him. His favorite things to do are still legos - and playing PS2 and wii games. The family room is the main room of the house and Drew calls it the "play room". He has dubbed it as his own room. He brought all his toys out into that room and enjoys playing with them every day - lots of lego creations strewn about ... etc ... etc ... etc ... One of the things he loves to do is ask me "Tomorrow ...." We have this calendar that we use for school as well as family needs. He likes to have a daily activity to look forward to. So, on this calendar, I have made these little cards for different activities that he likes to keep me on track with. If it's on there, he doesn't let me forget to make sure we get it done. He is also quite the arts and crafts enthusiast (spelling???) I try to make sure that we have one or two arts and crafts activities every month and he loves them. One of these days, I will get more on the ball and have more planned in that venue.

Well, I think this epistle pretty much sums up that we are all VERY busy people, as I am sure that you are as well. Just know that even if we don't keep in as good of constant contact with all those whom are important to us, that we think of you all often and you are always in our thoughts and prayers. May you truly feel the love of Him whose season this is.

Love you all ...

October 2010 Halloween Trunk or Treat

2010-11-09T13:58:00.001-08:00

I have had this thought that I need to play a more active part in my community ... get out of the house as it were. Because I am a real home body and am more than happy to stay home ... but my little boy likes to do things, so I need to make more of an effort. So, after some thought, I thought it would be a good thing if I was one of the trunks for Lins trunk or treat. The community and church since we moved here have had trunk or treat activities for the area, but last year the church stopped doing it and this year the community chose not to have one. So Lins stepped up to the plate :-)

After some thought, as I don't like scary Halloween stuff because it makes me very aware of my surroundings, I decided to be the Great Pumpkin and my trunk be the most sincere pumpkin patch :D So, I drew and painted and colored my Peanuts themed Halloween picture ...

... my mom had leant me her sewing machine (which was so nice as I am familiar with it since that's what I had sewn on when I was a teenager - grin) and so I made my pumpkin costume and Drew's costume (he wanted to be a frog this year). Darin's costume was really easy. Swet shirt and sweat pants and make a tail and some dog ears. Whew! Can I just say that I have learned a very valuable lesson this year. From now on, don't try to find an already made up costume in stores because you will spend DAYS searching in vain, then you will have to willy nilly sew up costumes in TWO days time. Got very little sleep. Anyhow ...

... when everything was done, Drew and I handed out candy to all the little kids. Wanna hear something funny? I think Drew enjoyed handing out candy more this year than trick or treating himself. He wanted to dress up, but not trick or treat. And that is a good thing since trick or treating had to stop by age 12. Ashley had to stop at that age, and so Drew had to as well. Glad it worked out. Darin was Joe Cool. Wanna hear something that I guess REALLY dates Darin and I? No one knew who Joe Cool was! They all said to him "I thought you were dressing up as Snoopy this year." and he would try to explain to them who Joe Cool was and they would return his explanation with a 'deer in the headlights' look. Hmmm ....

So here is all of us being "halloween-y" :D This isn't the best quality pic, but I am so grateful to get a copy since this is the only picture we have that shows all of us dressed up. It was good and Drew had a great time :D But I was a little disappointed in some of the kids. We were supposed to be there for 4 hours, so I had purchased 6 big bags of candy. Some kids were coming around 3+ times. I finally had to put a stop to that; probably not as nicely as I should have (Ashley told me a better way I could have handled it and if I am in that situation again, I will do it that way. It would be much nicer) but seriously???!! I shouldn't have had to say anything at all. That's the sad part. There were also some teens as well as some little kids who didn't dress up at all but had a bag and went around trick or treating as well. Took some of the fun out of it. Not for Drew. He didn't care I don't think. But dressing up is half the fun. Anyway ... glad we did it.

October Trip - Go to the Park with the Cousins

2010-11-06T12:35:00.001-07:00

Although the main purpose of this vacation (for me anyway) was to be able to exhale and de-stress, it was very important that we had a daily activity. So, on this day, we all went to the park in Rancho Cordova.

Ah, Drew loved looking at the ducks and geese. :D

Max had this little red back pack that he HAD to wear all over the park. It was very cute. He was disappointed that we didn't get to feed the ducks though. Sorry little guy.

Time to go play on the toys. Oh the fun of getting to ride on the shoulders of an uncle. What fun being that little that you can still do that :-D

This is the coolest swing. It's for special needs kids. I would love Overton Park to get one of these. Drew likes swinging, but always is a little nervous of swinging too high. He felt really comfortable in this swing. He knew he wouldn't be falling out the back, so he was able to go higher than he normally does. I think he really liked it. :D

And little cousing Ryan was swinging right along him. It was a very fun day. There was a birthday party going on at the park when we were there and they had one of those bounce houses there. Max proceeded to tell me that he liked bounce houses. I then told him that it was a birthday party and we weren't invited. His response? "I can be invited." LOL I think the kids really enjoyed their time together at the park.

October Trip - Visiting the Grandparents

2010-11-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

We went on a little family vacation in October. Needed a little break from all the stress we had been swimming as of late. So we went to visit family for a week. It was heaven :-) The first part of our trip we went and stayed with Darin's parents as they just returned from their mission. Darin's sister, Debbie and her two cute kids came too, so we got a little 'play with the cousins' time. All in all, it was good. But because Drew doesn't play with other kids like other kids do, I don't think that Max really knew how to deal with that. Drew could only play 'planes' for so long much to Max's dismay. Sorry about that Max.

Ryan here was good as long as mom was nearby.

Aaaahhh ... found something that Max and Drew had in common. Here they are on Grandma and Grandpa's bed watching Kipper on our Netflix Instant Play. Can I just say that I LOVE NetFlix! A true lifesaver :D

Look What I Made???

2010-10-26T18:42:00.001-07:00

We are getting ready for Halloween ... and this year I am going to be a trunk at the Lins Trunk or Treat. I am going to be the Great Pumpkin (heh heh heh) and my trunk is going to be the most sincere pumpkin patch (heh heh heh heh)

So I made this to hang in my trunk. It is about the same width as my trunk. Then I am going to have lots of pumpkins and silk Autumn colored leaves strewn about. Isn't this picture cute? I am quite proud of myself if I do say so myself. And in case you are wondering ... YES I DID draw this all by myself. I got a picture from the internet, then had to draw it larger for my trunk. Not bad for a scruddywink, huh? I don't like scary for Halloween stuff ... and neither does Drew (he wants to be a frog for Halloween this year). I prefer cute and fun. And Peanuts themed trunk is definitely cute and fun! :D

The Drew Boy Way to Tell Time

2010-10-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things that have been happening at our house lately. I am trying to ask Drew questions that cause him to think about his answers. One of the things I have been asking him if basically "do you want to go to bed now or in thirty minutes?" For quite a while he would always pick the latter answer. But lately .... he has invented a time table all of his own design. So when I would ask "do you want to go to bed now or in thirty minutes" ... he would think for a minute ... then say "it's called .... forty four o'clock" or "ninety nine o'clock". Now he is getting more bold by saying times like "1987 o'clock" or "2012 o'clock" and even answers such as "2544 o'clock" LOL You gotta love it.

The Book I Have Been Reading ...

2010-10-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Soo .... this is the book I am reading right now ... I want to give it an honest effort for 30 days and see how it goes. Should be fun. According to this ... I should basically eat vegetarian. I can't wait to see what happens in 30 days.

It's Bubble Tub Day!

2010-10-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

Drew likes to have a specified activity every day. So I have made these little ... I guess you could call them 'tags' to put on our calendar to show an activity that will happen for that day. One of our activities is "Bubble Tub Bath Day". I love our jet tub in our bathroom, and so does Drew. We thought we would throw in a little Mr. Bubble while the jets would be going.

Ummm .... here are the results ... LOL!!!

Sooo ... do you think the Drew boy likes Bubble Tub Day???

I would call that a very big yes! :D

Learning about the Vikings ...

2010-10-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

In home school Social Studies, we had been learning about Vikings. I have some viking blood in me on my mother's side I believe. Anyhow, we had a few fun arts and crafts activities that we got to do. Drew loves arts and crafts. Darin says he definitely gets that from my side :D Anyhow ... here are some fun things we did:

The viking long house. One big house with no windows and only a hole in the roof for a chimney. They would build these ... I guess you could say benches that wrapped around the entire room that they would roll out blankets and such to lay on at night to sleep on and use them for seating during the day.

The vikings would have these carved dragons at the front of their long boats to bring fear to those they came to raid and pillage.

They would make jewelry out of silver. Brooches was very common for both men and women to pin their cloaks and such with. Our project asked for silver beads, but hey! We live in a tiny little place and there were no silver beads to be had, so we made due with sparkly jewel-y things instead.

So, do you think Drew had fun? Ummm .... yes! :D

September 2010 Family Field Trip

2010-10-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

On Patriot Day (September 11th), we went as a family to Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay. Drew and Darin had gone there before, but it was my first time going there. It was very fun to go. Drew, being a lover of fish and acquariums, was in seventh heaven. I will put in here our pics as soon as Darin sends them to me from his phone :D It was a fun day.

A Christmas present for Val ...

2010-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Ashley and I happen to LOVE the Twilight series books and movies for that matter. Val, on the other hand, gets very upset about them. Because as my Christmas present to him last year says "Vampires do NOT sparkle" LOL!!!

Substituting in Singing time ...

2010-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, I am the primary pianist in my ward. Probably one of the most cake walk callings I can ever have. I just show up with my books and play when needed and go home. No preparation necessary :D. Anyhow ... I got to substitute for the primary chorister about 4 times ... 3 times in August and once in September. Seriously ... that calling has to be one of my all time favorite callings. It is so much fun. I got to teach the kids the hymn "I Know that My Redeemer Lives". This is one of my helper sheets I made to help them learn the words. Isn't it the cutest picture? I thought so :D

Can we say Drew loves babies???

2010-10-02T13:50:00.001-07:00

The Whiting family in our ward (and Brad works with Darin has well) had a baby girl a while back that they named Autumn. We went to visit them after the baby was born and Drew got to hold her. He was in HEAVEN! :D

Valley of Fire field trip

2010-10-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

Once a month I am trying to have a family field trip. My husband and my son both love to get out and do fun activities, but I am a real home body, so this is a means of getting me out of the house for my family's sake :D Our August field trip activity was to go to the Valley of Fire. Drew loved it. He got to climb on the rocks. Me? I was an ice cream cone and melted in the heat. I decided that if we ever go to the Valley of Fire again, we need to go between November and March.

Let the climbing begin! heh heh heh heh

He is loving this. Can't you tell? :D

Have you noticed that with both my children, they know how to pose for the camera ... lol

I don't know what it is with Drew the last while. He LOVES doing THIS face for the camera. Is it a boy thing or something??? Don't know. Anyhow ... this face is more common and getting a decent look on the face is becoming more and more rare.

All in all, it was a nice day.

The St. George Iron Man

2010-10-02T13:23:00.001-07:00

Austin back in the Spring participated in the St. George Iron Man competition. He did very well and we were very proud of him. We kept tabs on how he was doing via the internet which was very cool. But one of the days that they were here, Ashley and I went to this little restaurant that she had been wanting to go to. Lots of atmosphere there. It was very fun to get to spend time with her. I only had my phone to take pics with, so the pics aren't the clearest, but still ... I love having a phone with a camera in it so that you don't have to miss great opportunities like this.

What a cute daughter I have! :D

We had the waiter take this pic for us. I am sure they thought we were nutty ... which we are :D

Yikes ... that's all I can say. The evening was very fun anyway :D

April 2010 Clark County Fair

2010-09-24T16:51:00.001-07:00

The Clark County Fair is held in April. We all went together as a family. We went to see the mutton busting contest that Lin's sponsors, then on the way home, we let Drew try this giant bubble aquatic thing ... he LOVED IT!!! Had to share a few pics with ya. :D

Looks fun doesn't it? :D

Something I just had to share

2010-08-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

You know how I said earlier that I am getting back into listening to music and have been watching Roswell episodes? Well, I have been perusing about youtube in search of new music. I have found that some of the nicest music is usually attached to some of these fan music videos that some people do, so I looked up Roswell and found among others great songs attached to videos this one. This is BEAUTIFUL music playing. I wish I knew what the name of it is. I would put it on my playlist. As it is, the only way I can listen to it is to play this video. But there IS a bonus. I just LOVE the way these two look at each other. Gets me every time. I loved it when Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) looks at Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle) that way and I love it here. Deep sigh. I just LOVE young love. Melts me like an ice cream cone every time :D

If you don't want to watch the video because you have no connection to the characters, I can understand that. Just listen to the music. I think you will love it.

Stuff has been happening ... on a daily basis ...

2010-08-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

What can I say? Events have been happening in life lately that have been overwhelming and freezing. So, let's discuss some of those events shall we?

Oh ... where to begin ... I would have to say that the Overton Lins fiasco is a good place. Remember how the store here was recently remodeled? Well ... evidently one of the things that was NOT remodeled was the piping that went to all the refrigeration and freezers and they decided to break down ... to the point that thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS of dollars of food was melted and gone bad and tossed in the dumpsters. That had to be one of the most stressful 3 - 4 days for Darin since we have been here. It was AWFUL. I will tell you that when things like that happen, you can really see people's true colors. People dumpster diving ... at their own risk, people getting so angry that they blame the store and say "I'm NEVER shopping here again!" Really?? I mean .... come on ... look around people. It's one thing if the store had holes in the shelves that they consistently don't have what you are looking for ... but during a time of crisis getting your knickers in a twist like that ... show a little class for heavens sake!! I truly try to put myself in the other people's shoes but I am sorry ... I do not understand that kind of mentality. It is such a foreign concept to me that I just can't wrap my brain around that way of thought.

Let's see ... what else? Oh ... I had a birthday on the 30th. Can I just say that on some levels getting older really sucks big rocks??? Well, maybe getting older isn't the problem, but how it effects my psyche ... which has thrown me for a loop. I have been on an emotional roller coaster and I know I SHOULD be able to say "Isma ... put your hands in the air!", but have found it difficult to do that. For the last several years my birthday has brought to me some ... unique personally designed for growth gifts I guess you could say. This birthday had brought a new present to deal with. Have you ever seen the movie "Dune"? Or read the book ... I am sure it is in there too. Anyhow ... there is a part in there where the main character says "the sleeper has awakened". Man. That is too true in my life right now. My sleeper has awakened. There are parts of me that I haven't seen since I was in high school that has once again awakened in me ... and in some ways that is a good thing. I am reconnecting with facits of who I really am inside. Probably someone Darin has really never met until now. I really liked her ... I think Darin will too. She just isn't as docile as I have been for the past while. She is full of life and passion. She knows what she wants and wants to go after it. She is definitely opinionated ... lol. She will say it as nicely as possible, but she will let you know what she thinks. She is much more animated than I have been in past years too. It's nice ... but it has also left me a little disoriented. Like I had been split in half all those years ago and those two pieces have once again found themselves and are attempting to reconnect. Weird feeling. So I have been dealing with that ... alot.

But wait! There's MORE! We have been trying to buy this home we are in ... and some wrenches have been thrown into the system that have caused lots of drama and trauma. When we moved in here, it was agreed that we would rent for a year and within that year we needed to let the homeowners know if we were interested in purchasing the home. In so many ways I ache to move back to Northern California so that I can be close to my daughter, family, friends, the Delta breezes ... and green. But I know that this dream just is not possible right now. So, if we are to be here, it is a wise choice to purchase and it would be nice to be in a home that I can feel peace and be happy in. There are things that are are definitely in my top MUST HAVE'S in my life ... and feeling peace and happiness are definitely in the top 5 of choices. So back in May we started down the road to purchasing. The homeowners just wanted what they owed on their loan. They wanted to get out from under that burden. I can understand that; especially in this economy. So, on the surface it looks like a win-win situation right? And it was ... until the appraisal came in. It didn't appraise for the loan amount. It was lower. Since that point, it has become an uphill battle. I won't go into great detail on that point. Just suffice it to say that for the time being peace and happiness have flown and stress and frustration has taken their place. We are meeting tomorrow to hopefully resolve things and get things back on track so that peace and happiness may once again prevail. If not, then we get to start house hunting again. Oh joy. But after much thought and prayer, I am of the opinion that what is to happen, will happen and that whatever that is will be for the best all the way around. I feel peace about THAT at least - : )

Finally ... Drew's sleeping, even with medication has been giving me a run for my money as of late. I sometimes feel that my life seems to orbit around his and in consequence my sleeping cycle. Frustrating. I guess I shouldn't complain. If you think about it, I COULD have much more severe worries to focus on, so I should be grateful that it is only his sleeping ... and a few other things that I worry about with him. But this worry does seem to take what attention I do have in my sleep deprived state. I think one of the key factors to this problem is that Drew is very ... sensitive to his surroundings. He gets that from his mother. Both of my kids have gotten that gift. I think he picks up the vibes that are flowing around him. When life is peaceful and happy, he is more peaceful and happy and more prone to have more balance. When there is chaos ... well ... I think you see where I am going with this. I am hoping that once the house and other outside forces that are sending stressful ripples in our lives have calmed down, we can get back on track. I think that will be the case anyhow.

So, as you can see, there has been a lot on the plate of life right now. To function, I have been watching Roswell episodes and have really dove back into listening to music. I have been having a lot of fun finding music that is more current that I actually like. I guess I am not so ... disconnected after all. Makes me want to go dancing. I love dancing. It's an expression of my soul. Uh oh. There she is again. The "sleeper me" peaking out into the light. I may just have to grab my husband or son and do a little kitchen dancing.

I guess I have rambled on long enough for this post. Reminds me of Ashley's fun rambling entries. I love those. It's like she is right there telling you what's on her mind. Maybe this rambling entry makes you feel the same about me. Hope so.

Vengeance of a Wrathful Gardener ...

2010-07-13T19:23:00.001-07:00

You know ... I don't mind sharing with God's little creations to an extent ... but those cursed squash bugs killed both my zucchini plants, my cucumbers are at death's door, my summer squash is hanging on by a thread, and now you think you can jump onto my cantaloupe plant??? I DON'T THINK SO!!!!
My sister Lori told me the best way to get rid of squash bugs is to pick them off, stick them in a bottle and let them cook in the sun. I had been doing that, but I have to admit that I freak out at touching them ... yuck! So today, I tried something new ... I put on one of those surgical laytex gloves and WENT TO TOWN tonight!!! Got a whole SQUASH BUG full! HAHAHAHAHAHA ... VICTORY is MINE!!! And there is another little plus to this discovery. for some reason I am very allergic to squash plant leaves. Break out in hives every time I touch them, so this way I was able to go around and nab so many more bugs WITHOUT breaking out in hives tonight, so that was very good. So I say to you nasty little squash bugs ... I will not quit, I will not disappear into the night ... I will fight you to the bitter end my little insect nemesis!

Coming Back From the Dead

2010-07-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

I know ... I know ... you thought I was dead and came back from the dead right??? Mwah ha hah ahahah ... nope ... had to wait while things with blogger got worked out, but now I can do it again :D

By the way. happy Independence Day all! We made it through another year without any aliens trying to invade, so life is good. On a serious note, I hope you all took a moment to feel gratitude to our founding fathers who with the help from above made it possible for us to enjoy living in a free country. And a heart felt thanks to those who in past and present continue to protect our freedoms today. Thank you.

Farewell Little Easter Eggs ...

2010-04-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well, my little Easter Egg friends ... it was very fun ... and you were very cute ... but ...

... it's time to make egg salad out of you now ...

Wha???? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Growing Things in 2010

2010-04-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

We got our garden planted in the backyard. I know right now it doesn't look like much. Just a bunch of dirt ... with holes .... hmmm ... does that remind anyone of a movie??? heh heh heh ...

But we really did plant some stuff in those holes ...

... see??? :D I think this is the biggest garden we have planted since we have been married. Should be fun to see how it turns out. We have tomatoes, and zucchini and yellow squash, and cucumbers and this year I am trying my hand at beets, and peas, and spinach and radishes. Darin rototilled and dug the holes and Drew and I did the rest. Drew actually helped shovel the good dirt into the holes. It was fun to have him helping me. :D

We are also planning on planting the watermelon and canteloupe as well. We were told that melons LOVE the heat ... that's probably why that watermelon plant went so nuts last year. So it will be fun.

But wait! There's more!

Had to plant some flowers too ya know. :D

Drew planted the windmill and silly birds in the pots. heh heh heh ... I have taught him well. :D

Also planted in the front. Should be interesting to see how these flowers work out.

What is it with us and tree problems???

2010-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the property next to ours has this ... tree. And we were minding our own business ... enjoying a very blustery day and I hear this sound that I mistook as a sonic boom. Very loud. Thought nothing of it, until I went onto the back porch to get Drew's sandals and what should I find? This HUGE branch laying to the side of our house. Evidently it had hit our roof (the sonic boom sound ...), luckily didn't squish our air conditioning/heating unit on that side of the house (it was a big enough branch that it definitely could have done some damage) and lay there. The rest of the tree looked like a trouble maker. Our landlords came over a few days later and cut another branch or two, but that tree REALLY needs to go, but evidently legally we can't touch that tree. And the people who own the property next door live in Las Vegas .... I would love to know who they are so that they can be talked to so that this tree issue can be addressed. The home owners don't seem bothered by it. Luckily, nothing happened ... THIS time. But what about next time???

A Major Catching Up Opportunity ...

2010-04-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

As I was listening to General Conference today, I thought I would take the opportunity to update the blog. I know there are a few more things I need to get caught up on, but the fact that I am getting the energy to again do that is a true miracle. So, be sure to scroll down a few entries to get them all. Love you all :D

Happy Easter 2010!

2010-04-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Someone fuzzy visited our house ... heh heh heh

Yesterday was supposed to be coloring the Easter Egg day, but Drew got busy doing what he does and I just KNEW that I would have to do the coloring on my own. So, I thought ... well, if I'm going to be the one doing the coloring, I don't want to color them. I want to do something else. I wish I could say that the idea of these faces are purely originally mine, but alas, no. My sister, Kelley sent me this email that had these fun faces on eggs. So ... I stole the idea and drew faces on our Easter eggs. LOL!! I can't help but giggle when I see these faces ... :D

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter today. What a blessing this holiday represents. May we always remember that.

It's Not Very Fun ... to Turn Forty One!

2010-04-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

March 7th ... in shock ... Darin turned 41. Quick! Bring out the smelling salts!!! heh heh heh heh ...

We are really trying to cut down the amount of desserts we partake of. Heaven knows, Darin and I both feel that we really don't need it. Darin received this cake from work, so we used that as his cake. It was perfect. We each had a piece and it was gone. That's the worst thing, isn't it? When you have a big cake around the house, you EAT the cake until it's GONE!! So, this was good.

Well, Darin and I may freak out with each passing birthday, but someone else still loves them ...

... and feels it his calling to help blow out ALL birthday candles. Well, he IS a professional candle blower after all ... lol ...

Drew is a Boy Scout!

2010-04-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

*sigh* ... Drew is at that point in his life that to get him to smile nicely for a picture is like pulling teeth ... anyhow ...

Can you believe it? Drew a Boy Scout? Yikes. The Scout leader in our ward is really making an effort to reach out to Drew so we are making the effort to meet him half way. So far, so good. Drew obviously isn't at the same level as the boys he is around, but he enjoys being around the boys doing his own thing. I just need to get a copy of his Autism diagnosis to the Scout leader. Evidently if the Boy Scouts have a record of things like that, the deadline to reach Eagle Scout is waived. So, he can take as long as he needs to take to make that happen. Right now, I don't see that happening, but who knows about the future? You never know ... and I don't want to destroy his opportunities before they have really begun.

German Pancakes

2010-04-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Lincoln California wards had put together this recipe book. Well, you know me and recipe books... it's a weakness of mine :D. Anyhow, Ashley had gotten me this cook book and I love these kinds of recipes because they are real recipes from real people. Probably why I like Taste of Home. Anyhow ... on a trip to Cali, Ashley had made this and it was WAY yummy. My dad made something similar to this when I was growing up and called it Yorkshire Pudding, but he cooked it differently. This is a fun and simple recipe to try and I thought I would share. Because I believe that it's important to give credit where credit is due, this recipe came from a woman by the name of Joan Cardinet.

Ingredients:

6 - eggs

1 cup - Milk

1 cup - All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. - Salt

5 T. - Butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whip the eggs until thick and lemon colored. Add milk, flour and salt. Melt butter in a 9 x 13 pan. Pour batter into the pan of melted butter. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-30 minutes. Serve with hot syrup (or my favorite way with squished berries with a little added sugar and top with whipped cream .... mmmmmm)

Enjoy!

I just love the wii fit plus!

2010-02-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

(insert picture here)

Can I just say that I love the wii fit plus? Drew had gotten the wii game console for Christmas. I am happy to say that he is starting to get it and seems to enjoy it. Yay!!! Anyhow ... The console came with wii sports and evidently it has a wii fit exercise thing using the sports which Darin was really seeming to enjoy. That got us to thinking that it would be nice to get the real deal ... at least for me it would be. So we got it around Valentine's Day. What a better gift to give to your sweetheart than a healthy heart right? Anyhow ... this system is PERFECT for me and my life. I can sandwich it in when I have time and it works at my health level, so I WANT to be consistent. That's what it's all about, isn't it. Being consistent. And it seems to add just a pinch with each consecutive day. I like how it has a well rounded regimen. Strength training, aerobics, yoga, etc ... etc ....

A Little Arts and Crafts Fun ...

2010-02-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

As our lives are slowly getting back to normal, one of the things we are being able to do again is some arts and crafts for school time. Drew doesn't really like coloring per se, but he likes cutting and pasting a lot. So, here are some things we have done this past week:

A little Valentine fun ...

... and a little Mardi Gras. President's Day stuff will be happening next week. Can't have too much arts and crafts all at once. Have to spread the love :D

A song for the week ...

2010-02-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ob8fuI0NPw

I am going to have to have Ashley tell me how to stick the window on instead of just a link ... but until then. ...

Anyhow ...

I don't know why but I like this song. It's very fun to listen to :D Sorry I had to do it this way. I wanted to add it to my playlist, but it's not available there.

Hmmmm .....

2010-02-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

Drew did something today that he has never done before ... he cut his own hair! He was so proud of himself and to be honest it wasn't too bad, just had to take a few snips to even everything out. I will post a picture of his first 'barber of seville' adventure for all to enjoy. It was cute how thrilled with himself he was though (lol)

Why can't he smile regular anymore??? LOL What a ham bone!

YouTube - Bones / My Ghost by Glass Pear

2010-01-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Bones / My Ghost by Glass Pear

They played this song on Bones and I thought it was beautiful and wanted to share.

Getting Up to Date

2009-12-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

Soooo .... what have we been up to for the last several weeks???

Well, at the on the 12th of November, Drew and I flew out to spend 10 fun filled Autumn days as Ashley and Austin's house. At that time, it was still quite warm in Overton, so it was a true joy to actually have Autumn weather. We had to wear sweaters and fuzzy socks every day. And it was truly a vacation ... no running around here and there and everywhere; just relaxing and reading and enjoying the country. I really miss it. Darin drove out on Wednesday to spend a few days there as well. We went out to a brazilian bbq restaurant to celebrate Austin's birthday with his family. It was very yummy, but I am not used to eating that much meat. I like how they season and cook their meat though. They go around and let you sample several different types of meat. It was fun. Later that night, Ashley, Kelley and I went to the midnight showing of New Moon.

This is the three of us waiting in line. It was so fun to get to go with the girls. I really miss that too. It was so fun to spend time with people that we could be silly and they didn't think I was from another planet. I think the fine people of Overton don't quite know how to take me. I am a shock to their systems :S Anyhow ...

It was so fun to get to wear my birthday gift from Ashley. If you can read it, it says:

"Yes, I'm a mother ... Yes, I have read and watched Twilight ... and yes, I am in love with Edward (don't tell my husband)"

LOL!!! Ashley made a sweater that said on the front "Team Edward" and on the back it said "Unless Jacob is shirtless"

LOL!!!! Very fun!! Never went to a midnight showing before, it was great fun. Darin and I went to see it again together on Saturday :D What can I say? I am married to a great man who loves his wife and is confident in his masculine side.

That evening we went over to Darin's parents home to pick up this china hutch. Very excited to get it and it fit perfectly in the back to the truck and we were able to get it home safe and intact. I am still putting things in it :D

We got back in time to get ready for family to come for Thanksgiving at my house.

We had quite a gathering. My parents and Val came, Kelley and Lynn, Greg, Minghua, Joel, Shawn, Lon and his little family, Steve, Lori, Kylie and Rylan. It was very nice to have them come. I don't have my family come to my home all that much in my life, so it was very nice to have them come.

I love my kitchen. There is enough room to have several people working there and not feel crowded.

And my main area had more than enough room to have my birthday present (dining room table and chairs) as well as 2 banquet tables be in an "L" shape to fit everyone. It was very nice.

As it was Kelley's birthday in 2 days hence, we had birthday cake and ice cream.

Afterwards, we all watched a movie together and while that was happening, Lori worked her magic on some of my silk flowers I bought years ago. This is one of them. The other is the arrangement shown on the china hutch. I love them. I am a sucker for that kind of stuff. Some people would think that kind of stuff just collects dust and is an irritation. To me, it makes things look homey and beautiful.

In exchange I got to give makeovers on my two cute nieces that were there. They are at a good age to do that. That way, there will hopefully be no sky blue eye shadow to the eyebrow line or something else positively frightening :D They looked very cute. We accentuated their natural beauty without having it be an assault. They just looked like beautiful young women, not trying to be older than they are. I guess I should have taken pictures. whoops ....

Finally, we had set up the decor to feel the magic of the season. Drew pretty much decorated the tree on his own. He loves that.

So, as you can see, we have been very busy. And that is a very good thing :D

The Only Regret About Not Having Television is ....

2009-11-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

... is not having PBS. Drew loves and will only watch PBS.

A "Pumpkin-y" Singing Time Activity

2009-11-09T14:25:00.001-08:00

One of the church callings which I have held in the past that I truly, truly enjoyed doing was the Primary chorister. Darin would laugh at how much time and effort I would put into games and things for the kids to do to help them learn the songs. I have a lot of fun coming up with cute ideas. For our homeschooling, I have a singing time. Drew kind of fights me, but I am just as stubborn as he is and make him do it anyway. But to make it at least bearable for him, I use my primary chorister ideas to keep him engaged. Yesterday at church, I actually got to go to Relief Society. Some things about the woman's lesson were truly disturbing, but one thing she said hit home. She talked about the importance of keeping a record for our posterity. I thought "wouldn't it have been fun to get recipes and church calling ideas from my ancestors?" If anything, it would get a feel for them as a person. Any of you out there who would like to use my ideas for your callings, you have my blessing :D Anyhow ... this weeks idea is the "Goofy Goard Pumpkin Patch" idea. I have begun doing my fun activities so that it would fit into a binder. Easier storage that way. But if you wanted to do them, bigger, that would be great too. If I was actually doing this for Primary, chances are I would do it larger so that the kids could see them from their seats. It would work either way I would think though. Okay .... let's get started!

Step 1: The Background

Get two light blue pieces of paper and a piece of green paper. Cut green paper in zig zaggy lines to create a look of grass. Glue onto the bottom of the blue paper.

Step 2: The Fence

Cut a white piece of paper into strips. Cut half of the strips in half and give them a point on one end. Glue them down a few inches apart from each other on the blue paper.

Take a couple of the uncut strips and glue on top of the 'fence posts' to complete the look of a cute little rickety fence.

Step 3: The Leaves

Take two different colors of green paper and cut into strips about the same width as you cut the fence posts. Fold a strip in half, in half again, and in half again so that you are left with your paper folded over each other to make a square.

Now, cut out a leaf shape. Make sure that you make the leaves into different shapes, as below. And because we folded the paper, you may only cut out one shape, but get several leaves with that one shape.

Intersperce (spelling???) and glue down the leaves on and around your fence. With a thin green marker, draw the to connect the leaves and make it appear they are part of a pumpkin vine.

Step 4: The Goofy Gourd Sign

Cut out of one quarter of a white sheet a rounded, oblong rectangle. You can use your black marker to print the words, or if you don't like your writing, you can print them out from your computer, then paste the words "Goofy Gourd Pumpkin Patch". I drew in the corner a pumpkin with orange and green markers, but that's a personal choice. I also glued a couple of the leaves onto the sign as well. It's up to you if you want to do that. Glue onto one of the background sheets in the 'sky' area. Place sheets into sheet protectors.

Step 5: The Pumpkins

On an orange piece of paper, draw several differnt shapes of pumpkins. You can use my shapes below if you would like :D Cut out the pumpkins, then outline them with a thin black marker. Cut out pieces of green paper to create the stem of the pumpkin. Glue onto the pumpkins. You may even want to put a leaf or two on the green stem. Laminate pumpkins. I use the self laminating sheets myself. They just need to be laminated on both sides. Glue onto the pumpkins a pair of those cute 'googly' eyes.

I write on small pieces of cardstock papers the songs I use, then tape them on the back with a loop of masking tape, so that I can remove them and use them for other singing time activities. Saves time and effort. Then with another loop of masking tape, I tape the pumpkins onto the sheet protectors so that they are ready to be chosen. Voila! You are done!!! Aren't they cute???

Halloween 2009 Note to Self ... DON'T Put in the Stuffing!!!

2009-11-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

They had Halloween activities on Friday, the 30th and Saturday, the 31st here in Overton. Friday came around and I started getting Drew ready for the party. As M & M's are plump and Drew ... isn't (big grin), I started stuffing in some stuffing. We put on a smile and tweaked his hair and he immediately said "Take the picture!", so I did. Then he started saying "Off! Off!" He stripped his costume off, had me wipe off his smile and wouldn't come out of his room for the rest of the night. So .... lesson here .... don't stuff the costume ...

Saturday, I didn't put any smile or stuffing on, so he went to the community trick or treating activity. Hmmm ... wonder if that stuffing felt scratchy to him or something?????

It's Autumn Time ... It's Autumn Time ...

2009-11-05T16:52:00.001-08:00

.... the leaves are falling down ...

It's Autumn time ... It's Autumn time ...

.... it's all around the town.

We made these cute little Autumn leaves one day. Drew LOVES crafts ... I think I finally have things figured out ... we have arts and crafts day on Fridays. :D Anywhoo ....

For those of you who would love to make these with kids or grand kids, all you need is some fingerpaint paper, some tempera paint in yellow, red, orange, brown and green and a big brush and scissors. Swirl each color one at a time with your brush on the paper until they swirl together and they get all mixed up. Wait to dry and cut out in a leaf shape. Simple. And as you can see, it's kid approved :D

Check Out Song Number One ...

2009-11-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

Because in this life, we could all use a little more cowbell! :D

Getting ready for Halloween 2009!

2009-10-27T14:28:00.001-07:00

Since Drew was 6 and discovered that when you dress up and go house to house on Halloween and they will give you CANDY, Halloween has been a real favorite for him. :D One of the tricks though is that doesn't like anything scary; which is fine with me. I had been trying to figure out what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. There was this cute coon skin cap, so I thought he could be Daniel Boone, but he said no .... a cowboy then??? Nope. How about a knight. Uh uh. Well, one day we went shopping at the grocery store and they had these cute M & M displays. One was the red M & M, one was the yellow M & M and one was the green M & M. He got this huge grin on his face as he really likes the M & M's (not necessarily the candy ... but the little M & M people) So, just out of the blue sky, I asked if he would like to be an M & M for Halloween. He got a big grin and said YES! "Do you want to be the red M & M or the yellow M & M?" "Yellow!" So, on Saturday, I got a big yellow sweat shirt (and can I say that was NOT the easiest task) and some white stick on felt. I came home and cut of the sleeves and cut out the M and stuck it on there. I showed it to him and he got this HUGE grin ... very excited. On Halloween, we will be adding stuffing so that he is a more well rounded M & M, but he was very excited. Not bad for a scruddywink, huh? :D

No, We aren't dead ... we just feel like it sometimes ...

2009-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

It has been a while. I know. The sleep battle continues. So, you may have thought Overton was bombed and we didn't make it, but that's not true. We only FEEL like it's been bombed and that we didn't make it. heh heh heh ... anyhow ...

There is much to be said. I have repented and mended my ways. So, this post is to let you know that more are coming. And I had a thought that I would like feedback on. One of the blogs that I follow has given me a thought. As I love cookbooks and things, I am thinking about posting a recipe of the week. As I am homeschooling, I thought I would perhaps post a weekly fun craft or game idea. As I get asked all the time 'what does this spot on my foot mean?" questions, I thought perhaps I may share the wealth of foot reflexology spots and such. As we are trying to do FHE, I thought perhaps I would post a FHE lesson and such idea weekly. I thought it would also be a lot of fun to have "blast from the past" pictures posted and talk about what happened. What do you think? This is my way of 'being a record keeping people". So, I was thinking ... wouldn't it have been fun to have these types of things from MY ancestors? I think I would have enjoyed that. And the beauty part is that cutestblog .... has a thing where you can print your blog out in book form. How cool is that??? I would really like you thoughts.

No Rest For the Wicked ...

2009-09-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

Can I say that I am EXHAUSTED??? Drew was up until after 4 am (I really miss Melatonin working ..... deep sigh) and YET I woke up at 9 am. So, I am a zombie today ... I think I even LOOK like one. And Darin got woken up at midnight with some problems at the store ... and wasn't home when we went to bed ... and was gone when I got up ... so I guess we BOTH are zombies. Anyhow ... I am TRULY wanting to take a nap today ... but you know what Drew wants to do? That's right ... unpack boxes ... I know it needs to get done but can't we wait a bit? Uh oh ... now he's wanting to make cookies ... this picture is looking MORE and MORE like me every second! And the kid is looking MORE and MORE like Drew too! Sleep ... I want sleep ....

First Day Back to Homeschool

2009-08-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, as public school started today, so did we. And Drew had a very good first day. I think he was very happy to get back to schooling. We were able to do so much more than last year as well, so I think we will be able to progress at a good pace for him. We are excited!

You need to hear this guy!

2009-08-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-h8fip81Ts

I tried to just put it on here ... but I guess it's still smarter than I am ... anyway ... his name is William Joseph ... I would love to know what you think.

Life has finally slowed down a little ...

2009-08-03T13:51:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted an entry or even looked at other blog sites. We have been a TAD busy ... but now that we are moved in and surrounded by boxes that need to be emptied and put away, I can breath a little and get back to communication.

Since our last post, I do want to say that we DID get to pick the watermelons. YAY!!! I wanted to take a picture of this momentous occasion ... and Drew thought he was supposed to stand IN FRONT of the watermelons ... (big grin). That is OKAY ... he is a cute boy and can get away with that.

I only weighed two of them ... because I wanted to cut one open to make sure they were ripe before I picked the other two, so I didn't weigh that one, but ....

they were ripe! YES! And they were quite sweet. But I did weigh the other two. One was 23 pounds and the other was just shy an ounce or two to be 18 pounds. Not bad for a volunteer plant! (lol)

Sorry, you get to see other stuff around the pics as we were in the midst of packing up the house at the time. Anyway ... the landlord finally had the yard and trees taken care of (because I found someone local and licensed to could do it ... friends of ours) and they tore up our garden while they were at it. It was a great garden while we had it. We really enjoyed it. But the sun was just drying up our tomatoes and all but one of our squash plants ... the watermelon took the heat in stride. But the guy was absolutely amazed that it was only ONE watermelon plant. He thought it was 3 or 4 plants because of the size and spread. It was fun.

I had to put in this little picture of Drew. He was on a Disney Channel kick again and wanted me to cut out the old Disney Channel logo. Not bad if I do say so myself. He wanted to make sure that this made it to the new house fridge. So my new fridge is wearing it with pride (big grin)

Then, of course was my birthday this month ... on the 30th. We moved into the new house on my birthday ... were supposed to have a bunch of help, so I bought 6 pies and some ice cream for the guys as a birthday celebration and thanks for helping .... but only 3 people showed up ... so now I have pies a go-go. I am going to cut them into single servings, put them in tupperware and stick them in the fridge. That way when we feel the strong urge to have something sweet, we can have a single serving, rather than having to polish off an entire pie!

Drew did pretty well with the moving ... until the day we had to take his legos and computer and other security blanket items over. He melted down big time. I don't know why, but evidently he thought we were throwing his prized things away. So, I had to take him over to the new house and have the rest of them bring things over. He has been a happy little camper ever since though.

Well, I think that is it for now. I will post again soon, but it is time to get off the computer. :P

A Virtual Tour of the New House

2009-07-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Ashley the other day asked if I would take pictures of the new house so she could pick which room would be hers ... so I thought I would give a virtual tour. Ready?

Okay ... let's walk up the steps of the house and unlock the door ...

and enter the foyer. Nice flooring ...

To our right ... is the future school room/office ...

that has a direct line to the kitchen. You can leave it open ... or you can close a door between the two. It is one of those doors that slide like we had in the Lincoln house when we were kids that separated the kitchen and the living room.

Now, to the left ...

is the sitting room or living room if you prefer. Nice place to visit with visiting teachers or home teachers or something like that. This is where my piano is going to go as well in hopes that as this room as well as the school room/office has doors that close. I am hoping that if I close the doors, it won't bug Drew too much if I play some piano again. They have told us that ALL the walls are insulated, as well as a squat load of insulation in the ceiling, so I am hoping for the best.

And we're walking ... we're walking ....

when you continue down the foyer, you enter a large open area that contains three important pieces to the house. To your left ...

the kitchen complete with all new appliances; microwave, stove with the kind of stove top that I like that is so easy to clean and a very cool oven, new refrigerator with water and ice in the door. I will probably use the ice, but not the water as the water doesn't run through a filter unit and water in Nevada leaves a LOT to be desired. They strongly recommend you either get a reverse osmosis or soft water system because of how hard the water is ... or you drink bottled water. When this becomes officially ours, THEN we can look into a filter unit ... but until then ...

But it has work area island where the sink is. Love that. Gives lots of working room ...

OR you can just stand there and play in the water. And yes, it also has a new dishwasher. I am seriously going to talk to a place to ask what I can do to keep it at its best performance. The hard water gets everything all gummed up. I want to know how to stay on top of that. Anyhow ...

If you look straight ahead, you will see ...

the family room. Very open. I like that. Has some carpet which will be nice for family prayer time, but is surrounded by the bamboo flooring. Because of the light coloring, we are going to not wear shoes in the house. I guess you can say we are thinking Eastern. Wouldn't you? Lori, if you are looking at this ... note: I know there are a LOT of arrangements I would like done, but per our agreement, I would like three arrangements done ... and two of them are going to be here. On top of the electric fireplace, I want a rose silk arrangement. And can you see that little cubby shelf above? I think a nice wandering green arrangement would be nice there with some knicky knack stuff. Just thought I would throw that in there.

The third important factor is a ... I guess you would call it a breakfast nook, but that's where we are going to get a table and chair set .... again. What a concept. Trying to all sit down together as a family for meals at night.

A picture to give perspective to the space. Nice and open. I like that ... I believe I already said that. Okay .... moving on ...

Now, if you continue past the eating area, you run straight into the utility room ... with it's brand new washer and dryer! (Don't I kind of sound like Bob Barker on Price is Right? You just won ... a BRAND NEW CAR!!!) Aaaahhhh ... to have a laundry ROOM again will be very nice indeed. the cleaning closet was fine, but having a room will be very nice indeed. I am hoping to get a little table in there for a folding table ... as well as a table if I wanted to do crafty things, like scrap booking or something, I can leave them there and close the door. Sweet!

To the left of the utility room is a door that goes directly to the two car garage. And in the garage, there is a place where you can pull down a ladder and have storage space in the attic. In this heat, I am not really sure what you could put up there though. Anyhow ... if you go to the right ... you go into the master bedroom. Now I do have to admit, I don't quite understand the dream behind the window selection, but it is a workable thing as far as I am concerned. Now let's go on into the ...

master bath with shower AND jet tub! My lower back is REALLY looking forward to that jet tub I can tell ya. Now, this bath has ...

his and her sinks. All the drawers but the very top one are working drawers ... nice. And don't you like the picture of me taking the picture? LOL On the opposite wall is the linen cupboard. Sweet! And if you walk past the sinks ...

you enter into the walk in closet. I think I would like to put another bar halfway up the wall in the center, so you can have a section for shirts, pants, and skirts and then the sides can be for the longer things. I think that will have to wait until it is officially ours though.

Now, if we went back out to the Family Room area and went to the opposite side of the house we would find ...

a hallway. If you go left ...

You know how in the White House they have the Lincoln's Bedroom? Well, at OUR house, we have the Ashley's bedroom. It has a door that goes directly out to the back porch and back yard.

If you went straight ahead, you would go right into the guest bathroom. Love that tile, don't you? If you headed to the right ....

You would enter Drew's room.

So, do you feel like you have ACTUALLY been to this house? You SHOULD! Ashley, I hope this gives you a really good idea of what the house looks like, as per your request.

Our Fourth of July .... ummm ... adventure?

2009-07-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Okay ... so ... here we were ... heading up to St. George to celebrate the 4th with my family ... and four miles out of Mesquite ... my car WIGS OUT!!! It all of a sudden is making this weird noise and can't go over 40 miles an hour.

We were planning on having sub sandwiches and I was in charge of bringing the meats and cheeses! .... Drew is FREAKING OUT (I don't know why, but when the car is in trouble, he can't handle that ... melt down a go-go) we tried calling tow service that we have in an extended warrantee insurance that I had gotten for the car ... but where we were was NO RECEPTION ... we were in a swiss cheese hole ... oh no ...

Well, we turn around (no police watching please ... but this was an EMERGENCY) and drove back the 4 miles to Mequite with the hazzard lights blaring and going 40 mph on the shoulder of the road and pull into the McDonalds there. We get something to eat and let Drew play in the playland (whew ... thank goodness) and get our bearings.

We call around to friends in Overton and find that our new bishop to be has family in Mesquite that runs a very reputable auto repair establishment. They aren't open ... as it is the 4th ... but we have our friends, the Kuenzli's (pronounced Kinzlee's) come pick us up and help us tow our car to the place then take us home. That took 5 hours of our holiday ... I have to be so grateful that we were able to get to a place where we could be stranded in an air conditioned facility with food and a place for Drew to play. And good friends that were happy to help.

As I was planning on getting the big dog fireworks up in St. George as Lin's in Overton can't sell fireworks due to Nevada State laws, all we had were poppers and snaps. So Drew and I went outside and did those (as Darin was exhausted by this point and was fast asleep). But evidently we have some new neighbors (wasn't sure ... but I guess we do) who didn't know the rules and had some fireworks ... and Drew decided to invite himself to their party :S

So we have now been eating sandwiches everyday ... and we ate the Marie Callendar's Key Lime Pie I was bringing up as well as my Pink Stuff jello salad (I guess I should say I am eating it as Darin doesn't like it ...) So, as you can guess ... a memorable day.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

2009-07-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy day today. I hope everyone feels the love of their country today. And I hope that we are worthy as a nation to receive God's blessings.

I am hopeful ....

2009-07-02T19:55:00.001-07:00

that these ....

three big bad boys ....

get fully ripe before we have to move and pull the plant up!

We are MOVING!!!!

2009-06-24T21:43:00.001-07:00

We are still going to be in Overton, but we are moving to a larger home ... with an option to buy. It is funny. Darin and I have enjoyed the house we have lived in for the last almost 3 years, but we would always say "this would be perfect if it had a family room, a room for an office and more back yard that was more user friendly. That way we could have a guest room for when people came to visit. And we would leave it at that. I think it is because for the first two years we were here, the thought of moving into a different home made me break out in hives. I felt as if I had enough on my plate ... I couldn't add ONE MORE THING. But lately, it has begun to sink in ... we really need more room. We really need more yard ... well this woman in our ward for the last two years has tried to get me to look at her house that she had for sale ... then for rent. So finally last week (because I was already starting to have this 'need more room' feeling thing) we went to look at it.

The yard is a blank canvas ... which to me is a good thing. That way things can be planted ... friendly non prickly plants ... and a little patch of grass ... and a few nice trees that don't have stickers in them ... I like planting things, so I see great possibilities.

This is the entry way. Bamboo flooring through most of the house. There is SOME carpeting, but it is mostly bamboo flooring. Where is Fred the Conquistador with this entry way to guard? (heh heh heh) The room to the left of this picture ... a formal living room or 'sitting room' if you prefer. I also plan to put my piano in there. So, perhaps, I can close the door and get to play some piano again. That would be nice. The room on the right ... a formal dining room, but to me ... the office/school room.

This kitchen ... it has an island in it. I have always liked islands in kitchens. To me, it gives more room to work. All new appliances that stay with the house. So, a fridge with the water dispenser in the door. And a new dishwasher! Woohoo!

The master bedroom ... all three bedrooms are like this. They have the carpeting, but the bamboo flooring around in the high traffic areas. I like that. I think it will be much less wear and tear on the carpet, but you have someplace soft to kneel and say your prayers at night. :D It's bigger than this picture makes it appear.

The master bathroom. Again ... it's bigger than this picture makes it appear. But in both of the bathrooms, it has this tile. The tub is a JET tub!! Woohoo! Hop in there and relax the muscles. I can definitely handle that. The thing I really liked about this bathroom is that the walk in closet is off of the BATHROOM ... very cool.

So, when we walked in, this house had all that we were looking for in a home. A living room, family room, office/school room, three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, great kitchen area, a utility ROOM with new washer and dryer that come with it, a two car garage, front and back yard with lots of possibilities, our garden spot would be facing south which is very good, covered front and back porches, and it has two storage sheds in the back that if need be, it has room that it can one day be turned into a granny cottage if my parents need closer care, then they can come be by me, but still have their space. Needless to say, I fell in love. I know that we have said we want to move back to Northern California, but I also know that with this economy, we are grateful that Darin has his job and know that we will be here for a while. So, as that is the case, it would be nice to be in a home that we can perhaps purchase and make our own.

There was another couple who was looking at it the same time that we were who wanted to try to buy it right out. But evidently, that didn't work out for them, so they said it is ours. YIPPEE!! So we will begin the journey of the big yellow house on Alma Avenue on August 1st and if it is meant to be, then we can make it our own! They are really trying to work with us. They are letting us move in little by little before the 1st in hopes that Drew won't freak out too bad about moving to a new house. I have high hopes that if he sees us take stuff from this house and set it up in the new house, he will realize that it's no biggy. Our things will still be our things. We will be in a different ward though, so I am a little nervous how he will handle that. But apart from that, we are VERY excited!

A Little Family Reunion - 2009!

2009-06-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

LET'S PAR - TAY!!!!!!

We had planned a couple of years ago to have a family reunion around now ... and then it was cancelled because of obligations a-go go for everyone ... and YET ... here we are ... all but one of my siblings in attendance. They went camping up at Pine Valley. Darin was in SLC at the time and I didn't take Drew because melatonin doesn't work on him anymore so we are usually up until around 3 am again .... (deeeepppp siiiiigggghhhh - gotta figure out something new). So I came up on the 12th (our anniversary) while Darin came back from SLC and we all met for dinner and chatting at my parents FAVORITE restaurant ... Chuck - A - Rama. It was sad that the grand kids from all quarters weren't able to be there ... but with the economy the way it is ... and the stresses of life the way they are ... it's completely understandable. I just want them to know that they were very much missed. It wasn't complete without each and every one of you. It was nice to see my siblings though. I haven't seen my sister Denise and her family in years .... they are MUCH taller than they were when I last saw them ...

... and my cousin Garth ... I haven't seen him since he was 17 years old ... so OBVIOUSLY he wasn't married and had two cute little girls at that time ...

My cousin Kent and his wife Joy also came. It was really nice to see them again. They look as happy as ever!

Lori and Steve and kids were there ... and we have plans of a pyro nature on the 4th of July. Should be fun :D

Kelley and Lynn were there ... had to rush off the next day as they remembered that they had a birthday party that was being held at THEIR house the following day (lol ... I am glad I am not the only one who does stuff like that - grin)

Greg and family ... well the one's that are ... wait ... I can't say still at home ... they have a LOT of their kids still at home right now (big grin) ... anyway ... Greg and family were there in between having to flit from here to there to hit all the important graduations and such that they had to hit. Isn't it funny that we may grow older ... but yet never change? (heh heh heh)

Of course mom and dad and Val was there. Val even sat THIS close to something growing ... (heh heh heh - did you break out in hives Vallie???) He's been losing weight. You can tell can't you? Go Val, GO!

Ahhhh .... the anniversary couple. It was really nice. Denise and Petey bought our dinner for us since it was our anniversary. They didn't have to do that. But it was very much enjoyed!

After dinner, we just sat out front and visited and visited. It was really nice and relaxing. Drew really tried to hang out with his boy cousins. He wanted so much to just be around them. He was so excited for the "BIG family party". I am glad we were able to all get together and spend some time.

And I thought that Texas was the only state that grew 'em big ....

2009-06-18T19:54:00.001-07:00

First the lizard ... now this grasshopper. I am seeing a pattern here. This grasshopper evidently likes to make his home in my flowers. Didn't know the flowers had grasshopper growth hormones in them. HOLY COW! Drew wanted to kill it ... but as far as I am concerned ... you don't bug me and try to come in my house ... or try to kill me with poisonous venom ... and I won't bug you ... you big bug!

I call this picture ....

2009-06-18T19:44:00.001-07:00

... Watermelon Falls. (big grin)

The little watermelon plant that came up on its own (I truly have NO idea how that seed got there .... go figure) is growing like wildfire. The above picture here just gives you a little glimpse of the thing.

But the best thing is that yesterday I looked closer and what did I see?

About TEN ...

.... baby watermelons growing on the vines. From the looks, I would guess that this is going to be one of the oblong type of watermelons. Should be fun to see the final result!

Can you believe that it has been 17 years?

2009-06-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Holy SMOKES!! What young whipper snappers we were! Yep, we celebrated our 17th anniversary on the 12th. Wasn't exactly how one would like to get to celebrate one's anniversary ... but welcome to our world! That's kind of how our life is. Darin had to go to SLC for his ARS convention ... and came back on the day of. We had a sort of family reunion on my side in SG during that time. All my siblings but one were there. Lots of the grand kids weren't able to come ... so that's why I say it was a 'sort of' family reunion. I want them to understand that they are important too and were missed. But it was really nice to see my siblings and spend some time with them. I will be posting more on that in another post. I am hoping to snag my mom's pics she took since for some weird reason I didn't get my camera out and take some of my own. I BROUGHT it .... just didn't get it out :S Anyhow .... if it wasn't for the fact that we were up in SG, I would have written on the DAY. But since we were ... this will have to do. :D

What a great day this was! We looked so young back then ....

It never ceases to amaze me that he still loves me after all this time. Doesn't he look so handsome here? I love a man in a tux. And I loved this one ... with the tails. It was great!

This is the card he got me. Why am I NOT surprised! LOL What a typical Darin type of card.

And these are my presents. I call the one in the front "Harry" and the one in the back I am still trying to come up with a name for him. He's a rubber plant. Any ideas? I got him a present too ... a very practical one for my very practical guy.

We stayed up in St. George in a hotel there .... with Drew ... (LOL). It was just nice to get away and be together.

Darin, I love you. We have gone through some great years ... some just good years ... and some very tough years. But we have made it and we have stuck together through them all. I am so grateful that I said "yes, yes YES!" to you when you asked me to marry you. I haven't regretted it once. And I am glad that we get to go through eternity together.

A Little School Fun ...

2009-06-10T16:52:00.001-07:00

I just had to share some of the things we are doing in home school. What! you ask? Isn't it summer vacation? Not at our house. It's more year round school ... and take the breaks when we need to during the year. Anyhow ...

Drew fights me on the music part. So, each week I have songs on the back of things and he gets to choose three songs for us to sing together. Then we do different things with them. One day we use the fast - slow - loud - soft - buzz - hoot sticks to decide how we will sing it ... another day we get to use jingle bells or maracas or kazoos or something for the songs ... another day we may use the music cube. Anyhow ... this week we get to pick the vegetables. He doesn't fight me too much if he gets to pick something fun.

For our fitness part of school, I have made the fitness wheel. He gets to choose three different types of exercise to do. He really likes this one. And I figure it's good for him and it's good for me who has to do it with him :D

And finally ... the letter of the week. Drew LOVES to do arts and crafts. Loves it! Gets very excited. I found on a blog site that I found from another blog site that Ashley introduced me to a letter of the week theme that they have different crafts and snacks and such, so I thought we would try it. It's letter A for this week. This is our first thing ... an "A" alligator ... today we are making Eric Carle apples. Will take a picture of them when they are done. :D

Drew's Cub Scout Day Camp Experience ...

2009-06-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

This is Drew's first Cub Scout Day Camp experience. It was a 3 day extravaganza. Darin went with him which I am glad.

Day one I think was his favorite. It started by going to a home called Adam's Farm. It is a really nice place with a swimming pool, fishing area, horses, etc. They started by doing a few little activities like a little nature walk and such that Darin thought ... and possibly Drew thought ... "Goodnight Sweet Prince!". But then the boys went fishing. The boys in his group did what young boys do .... push and shove to be first in line. Drew isn't like that,, so he was obviously the last one. He evidently got the worst pole there was. A nice boy scout who was there to help found him another pole I guess and put the worm on for him. He and his dad cast off ... and about 45 seconds later .... tug, tug. Woohoo! Drew caught a FISH! He knew what that tugging meant and got a big smile on his face and kept saying "Hello fish!". He was very excited. Evidently Drew was the only boy in his group who caught a fish and one of only 3 boys out of the whole day camp group that caught a fish. heh heh heh. I guess that it pays not to push.

Then they got to go swimming in the pool. Because I didn't take him to get certified (hey ... he really doesn't know how to swim, so why would I do that?) he had to be in the shallow part of the pool with his vest, but that's fine. He had a BLAST! He finds joy in the most simple of things. It always amazes me. He had a GREAT day that day.

Day 2 started at 8 am .... and as melatonin doesn't really work on Drew anymore, we were up until around 2:30 the previous night ... and he doesn't wake up all that easy, so he missed a good chunk of this day. But his dad persisted because THIS DAY was the egg drop activity. We had put it together ... and I think quite well. So, we pushed and he wasn't happy about it. But he finally got up and went in time for the egg drop activity.

As you can see ... looks a little tired ... and not the happiest of boys. Gotta wait our turn.

..... and we're still waiting. Will it work we wonder????

Here we GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Okay .... how did we do????

YES!!!!! We are KING OF THE LAB!!!! (a little Bones humor) It was a total success!!! He was very excited to have been a success at it. Sad story though. The first boy who had his egg dropped had it in a metal bucket with packing peanuts or popcorn or something. It fell fast .... and SPLAT! Made a VERY big mess. It was obvious his egg was dead and he cried. Darin told me about that and I really felt sorry for the boy.

Day three didn't get to happen. Up until 3 ... so there was NO WAY we could get him up today until almost noon and by then all the activities were over and they were just going to be having the family luncheon, so we didn't go. Two out of three ain't bad. I was glad he participated as much as he got to.

Got Gratitude?

2009-06-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Couple of stories regarding Lins and this community.

Story 1: On the week of the Lin's Grand Re-Opening, they would daily have little give aways. I don't know ALL they did, but I know on Friday, for the first 200 customers, they got a free cookie. On Saturday, the first 500 got a free package of Twinkies. One of the fine citizens of this community had the .... ummmm .... gaul to say to Darin "We only get a PACKAGE of Twinkies? You should be giving us a BOX! What a jip." oooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyyy ......

Story 2: On Monday the 1st, someone had won a $150 shopping spree at Lin's. That is $150 of free groceries. The only criteria was that they could only get one of each item ... well the winners were a fine young couple with a few kids. Their response when Darin was explaining again the rules was ... "What? ONLY $150? I thought it was $250! Man! (grumble ... grumble)

So, what can we learn from these two stories you ask? How about ... "HOLY COW PEOPLE!!!!" What has happened to having a grateful heart? I keep thinking if it was me in these two situations. Well ... in a way I did get something free on Saturday. At the Re-Opening, they gave out free little meat sandwiches, fruit and vegetables and cake. They had so much left over that when I was there, they had given me some to take home. Now, my reaction was "WOOHOO!!! Dinner ... and I didn't have to cook it." Not ... "That's ALL you gave me??? You have more there ... hand it over! What a jip!"

I know there are many of you out there that are against spanking kids, and I am not one that is in for beating. However, I AM one for a single swat on the behind to get their attention when they choose to sass, ignore or just plain be disrespectful. I think there should have been more single swatting in these people's lives because THIS attitude is unacceptable.

Oh Say Can You .... ummmmmm ......

2009-06-04T13:10:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, May 30th, it was the Overton Lin's store's Grand Re-Opening. Darin asked me if I would sing the National Anthem. No problem ... or at least I THOUGHT!!! I have sung the National Anthem a good number of times in my life time without a hitch. Well, on THIS day I sing it through once right before I leave to head down to the store which is about 2 minutes away from home. Just for safe measure I throw in my hymn book into the car. I get to the store (remember ... two minutes away) and my mind goes COMPLETELY BLANK!!! I can't believe it. So I look at the hymn book and refresh, then step out of the car. BLANK AGAIN!! NOOOOO!!!! This can't happen TODAY!!!! I had to write notes on my hand to remind me. How sad is that!!! And for those of you who have in their minds "well, it's okay to be nervous". Ummm .... that's not the problem. Not nervous at all. Just one of the little 'blessings' that I am dealing with right now. (DEEP sigh) But it turned out fine. We lived to tell the tale. Had one of the corporate men come up and tell me I almost made him cry. That's a good thing. To me, that means that it brought out his patriotic side, so I did my job right. Anyhow ... see why I say that for now, all you may get on your special day is a thought of you? I can't remember to act much further than that.

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T10:12:00.001-07:00

To all the veterans .... thank you.

Drew's Pride and Joy

2009-05-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Just had to share ... Drew came to me with his "Lego Drawer" completely empty. He had made his masterpiece ... he used every lego he had to make these different creations and put them on the little hutch of Ashley's that she said we could borrow as a lego shelf. Just had to take a picture of this momentous occasion. :D

I think he is very proud. :D

Lins Overton Store Remodel Virtual Tour

2009-05-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Darin thought that some of you may enjoy seeing the finished product of the store. I wish we had before pictures so you could see what they had to work with. What a DIFFERENCE!

When Darin first told me they were going to have a two sided register, I was thinking the kind of register they have a WinCo or Food4Less where you have to bag your groceries and people would be mean to you. But it wasn't like that at all. Actually ... WinCo wasn't as bad as Food4Less in the mean department. I have to be fair here.

They now have a little area where you can eat from the deli. Before you would see people standing in front of the deli eating right there or they would have to take it outside. Well, when kids from school come get lunch at the deli or something, they have a place to sit now.

What an improvement here. The way it was before it was SO congested if you wanted to get a drink or something. And now they have take home and cook quiche and pizza and stuff. Very nice. (personally, I like my quiche better ... but what cook doesn't say that about her own cooking? Let me rephrase ... what cook with German ancestry doesn't say that ... heh heh heh)

Fun story on this one. they named it the Lost City Cafe because of the Lost City Museum and Lost City area in the community. A customer came and and commented that evidently one of the restaurants here was originally called The Lost City Museum until they changed the name to Sugars. The community was disappointed that they did that. So Lins calling their deli the Lost City Cafe definitely won some points in the town :D

Ahhh ... the yummy bakery area ... where they make things that I love to eat, but shouldn't. :S

See what I mean? Boston Cream Pie, Cheese Cake, cakes with that yummy whipped cream frosting ... dogs and cats living together ... MASS HYSTERIA!! (heh heh heh)

Ahh .... the bread department ... also known as the Aisle of Weakness. I love bread ... and it loves me. Once I eat some, it never wants to leave.

How nice does this look? Before, they had just open area for all. What a difference some doors make.

The meat department .... so much more room to offer so much more selection ... what is it about having a nice shiny meat area ... makes the meat look better.

I guess you really don't need a commentary on these pictures, do you? Well tough! You're getting one! (evil laugh) hahahahahahahahahaha

Yep ... now they offer fresh seafood (YUCK!!!) It is nice that it is behind glass.

Anyone want ice cream???? heh heh heh

Aren't the signs nice? I think it makes things look nicer.

But wait! There's MORE! ....

In my opinion the most important part of the store. The fresh produce department. I remember the very first time I went into the store when we moved here. The fresh produce department was ... how do I say this ... FRIGHTENING! It is SO much nicer now.

YUMMY!

And my favorite apples are the ones on the left ... the cameo or braeburn apples. Crisp, crunchy, perky. Very yummy.

So many salads ... so little time .... heh heh heh

and our new pharmacy area ... where they have a drive up window. How nice is THAT??!! How many of us have been sick or had sick kids and had to get a perscription and had to take them IN where they can get everyone else sick as well as look awful! Yep. Drive up window is a much better plan.

And the nice little floral area for fresh flowers. I have taken advantage of this several times since they have had it .... VT. Had to give flowers for several sick sisters or sisters with birthdays.

They used to have the couple of ... what looked like outside plastic lawn chairs for the older folks who needed to get their medication would sit. This waiting area is MUCH nicer.

And the customer service area. SO much better. And I would think much easier to work in for those that do.

Ahhh ... the little "Tempt Me with your Specials" bins in the front. Very sneaky.

Well ... this has been your virtual tour of the NEW and IMPROVED Lins Overton store. I hope you enjoyed your little walk through with me as your guide (heh heh heh). There was much whining and moaning from customers during this whole process, but I think in the end it was all worth it. Don't you?

A Little Mother's Day Fun!

2009-05-11T15:33:00.001-07:00

I had a great Mother's Day and I hope all you other mothers out there did too. I just wanted to share some of my Mother's Day treasures. :D

Drew ... on his own volition drew a picture of me on the front of his Mother's Day card to me. I DEFINITELY see the resemblence, don't you?

These are my great cards that I got for Mother's Day. Aren't they the best? I thought so too.

A little more green around the house .... (deep sigh of satisfaction) I have always liked ferns. This will be fun.

I got a dozen BEAUTIFUL pink roses from my hubby. LOVE 'em. I am a sucker for fresh flowers.

Ashley and Austin got me Season One of Bones. How funny. I have been thinking the last few days that I wanted to start getting these. I am more selective of what movies and shows I purchase. I need to know that I will be watching them over and over again. If I am not going to do that, then I will just get them from Net Flix. And I decided that Bones is something I would watch over and over again, so .... how did THEY know that I was thinking that? (cue in Twilight Zone theme music)

I love being a mom. It truly is the best job in the whole wide world. It is also the hardest job at times ... but aren't the hardest jobs also the most rewarding?

Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Dessert Night

2009-05-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

For the Blue and Gold dinner, they chose to have a dessert night instead and have awards given out for the desserts.

Drew added all the ingredients into the bowl, used the mixer to mix it all up ... then put on the sprinkles. We called these Party Cupcakes. He was very proud. He didn't win the big prize ribbon, but he had fun making them and to me that is all that mattered.

A Little Cinco de Mayo Fun???

2009-05-11T15:27:00.001-07:00

For Cinco de Mayo, Lins employees all wore sombreros. When Darin came home, he gave his sombrero to Drew. What do you think? Do you think he likes it? Ummmm .... no. He kept pulling this face every time I tried to take a picture, so ....

May 9, 1985

2009-05-09T10:08:00.001-07:00

On May 9th, 1985 at 9:36 pm I gave birth to the most beautiful Little Ashley in the entire world!

She weighed 8 pounds on the nose and was 21 inches long.

To me, she was so small and I was very protective of her. It was said that I didn't like to share her with others. I wanted to be the only one holding her all the time. (big grin)

She liked to sleep with her mom under the big blue blanket ....

... or in the big waterbed.

She was the cutest Little Ashley in her baby blessing outfit with the darling lace hat ... which she hated.

She started sleeping through the night at one month old. I remember the first night that I actually slept through the night too, I ran in there in the morning to make sure she was still breathing. She was. (big grin)

She had this piece of hair at the crown of her head that grew longer than the rest and she had the "Beyer Mohawk" curse, so it would try to stand up straight in the air. I would weigh it down with a little plastic hair clip. It made her look so cute!

She was such a little charmer from the very beginning. She would suck you right in with a cute little grin.

She was the happiest little girl ... always grinning at everyone and just doing her thing.

She has NEVER been camera shy. She posed for the pictures from the very start.

She loved to explore new things ... like birthday cake. (heh heh heh)

Happy birthday today honey. I love you soo much. It has been such a blessing to me to be your mother.

I know that you are all grown up now, but to me, you will ALWAYS be my Little Ashley. I am so grateful that I get to have you as my daughter for forever and ever and ever .... I love you.

What are YOU doing on ....

2009-05-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

Doing anything fun today???

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

2009-05-04T11:28:00.001-07:00

Well, it SURE wasn't popcorn popping on the apricot tree!!!

Here I am ... minding my own business .... getting school things ready for this week and I hear this scratching sound at my window.

Look at this guy!!! Holy cow! I wish I could remember the rules about lizards. Is it they are fine if they have a black stomach or they are the poisonous ones??? Can't remember. Wouldn't let Drew outside just to be on the safe side, although he thought it was cool. What a typical boy.

We had lizards in Lincoln too, but they weren't this BIG!!

Our First Fruits!

2009-05-02T10:24:00.001-07:00

Look what I got to pick today! Our first Heat Wave tomato! How exciting .... (big grin)