Playing Catch-up . . . again

Kendra enjoyed playing Junior Jazz this year. This is her team being tough.Tall socks are IN with the young gals today, don't you know?

Drewby turned 6!

His day started out with breakfast in bed, of course!
He wanted a Harry Potter party (because of the Lego Wii game). He and his buddies decorated wands and practiced some spells. They were so into it!

Legos. . . his obsession, for the moment.

They made "potions" with dragon blood, bugs, worms, dirt and troll brains. They were delicious!

My baby sister got married last week at the Salt Lake Temple--it was an amazing day and I'm excited to have Jonathan part of the family. We will have the reception tomorrow!

Me and most of my siblings.

We had a few "teaser" days this month where it really felt like Spring! We tried to enjoy it as much as possible. The boys love blowing bubbles!

My sweet Grandma celebrated her 90th birthday and there was a party thrown just for her. I love my Grandma so much and am glad we got to celebrate this momentous occasion with her.

Money Matters Monday

The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.
~Frank Hubbard

Dear Jon

Yes indeed, you are one handsome man.
Yes, you have rocked my world many a times,
mostly on my scrub-the-kitchen floor days.

But you just celebrated your 49th birthday.
That makes you 15 years older than I.
So listen.
I've been doing a lot of thinking,
but sorry, honey, you're just too old for me.
Shh, please don't cry.
Really, it's for the best.
And, besides, we have both been happily married for many years
with kids of our own.
It would never work out between us.

In fact, my studly man brought me to see you on Tuesday.

I was excited. Only slightly.As were thousands of other adoring fans to your sold-out show.

Yes, my man delivered.
And so did you!

You made good on your promise to play some new stuff and some old stuff.
I particularly loved your rendition of Hallelujah.
Still, I wish you would have played one of my favorites,
Bed of Roses.

Many are surprised to learn that underneath my softer exterior
I'm a true rocker.
I can't help it--I think I was born that way.
Or made that way by older rock-loving brothers.
Give me Pat Benatar, Led Zepplin, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Whitesnake, Janis, etc.
all the oldies, any day of the week.
Sorry, let's face it Jon, you're right up there with them--an oldie.
But, that doesn't mean I love you any less.
Everyone knows Jon Bon is the Bom-Bom.
It just means we are growing old together.
That should give you some consolation, right?

So I can check off one box on my Bucket List.
Perhaps we will rendezvous again
next time you are in town,
or I'm in yours.
Hopefully then I will get a closer seat.
Until then,
adieu.

Funny Friday

Fake laughter.
My big brother (not pictured) got us hooked on it.
All his idea--started a year ago.
None of this is real.
None of it.
Okay, maybe by the last one we were having giggle-fits.
Try it.
On the count of three, make it just LOOK like you are laughing.
It might just be the funnest thing you'll do on this Friday.
It makes for some great pictures.
These were taken Wednesday at my youngest sister's wedding.
What makes me laugh every time is my older sister.
Is she singing?
Is she constipated?
Like I said, fun picture-taking experiences.

Want another?
Just follow this to see one from a year ago.

Money Matters Monday

So, this is a late Monday post--sorry. Hectic day all around. But I wanted to post something about my new meal swap plan. I wrote about it on my IAHY post for this week. I love it!! You can read about my plan there, but Monday is my day to make a meal and this is what I made tonight. Not sure what to call it as I threw a bunch of stuff in the last time I made it. Who knew it would be a hit with my family? I just hope the other two families liked it as well as we did.

Most of the ingredients come from home storage:

Pork, Rice, Beans Wraps

1 can black beans

1 can pinto or kidney beans

2 cans corn

1 can pork (or other meat)

1 can diced tomatoes (the lime and cilantro flavored kind is what I used—yum)

1/2 jar sweet chile sauce

1/2 jar salsa

dash of cumin

First I sautéed some garlic in a pan, then added the meat—let that sauté together, then added the rest.

I made white rice then put rice in a flour tortilla (I like the ones you cook yourself that can be found at Walmart or Costco), then the stuff above, topped with cheese, plain yogurt (or sour cream) and finally fresh cilantro. It was really good and made for an easy, healthy, quick meal!

Why on my "Money Monday" post you ask? I made this for three families so had to triple it. I totaled up all the ingredients that I got for it from Walmart today. It came out to $23.36 (not including the tortilla chips from Costco that I split up and gave them as well). That's for 3 families! That comes out to $7.79 per family and it made a TON! I have enough left over for another night of this meal for my family. I am saving money, time, energy and sanity. I look forward to the rest of the weeks' meals that will be brought to me! You should try out this meal swap thing. It's rather nifty and thrifty.

Funny Friday

I don't know how he finds these, but my brother sure sends me some great ones! I dare you to watch this and NOT laugh! Really. This one is good. Now, go blow your nose.

6 years ago. . .

This little stinker turns 6 today. There are days he drives me batty, but gosh darn it, I love him. He is sensitive, a tease, lover of sugar, the classic clown, oh and did I mention he's a tease? This kid has us in stitches all day long, not only by what he does, but what he says. Today he was SO THIRSTY and after he guzzled down a glass of water, he said, "Mom, it only took 2 globs of water and now it's gone!" (--pretty sure he meant gulps, but hey, that's my boy--always mixing up his words and I love it!) He lives to make people laugh and if you don't believe me, just watch the video.

Happy Birthday little Drewby--we love you crazy!

Money Matters Monday

Okay, so it's totally late (got stuck watching the Bachelor Finale--yes, I admit it!), but I still wanted to get this on before Monday ends. Remember how we bought and sold a car last week? Well, if you are interested in knowing more details, you can always go to my IAHY blogpost that was posted today! If not, just simply take this to heart and make sure you are enjoying what you do every day:

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation,
his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him, he is always doing both. "
-James Michener

Dissecting a Word

Today was Stake Conference. Because of a sick girl, Todd and I had to trade off halfway through to have someone stay with her at home. I came for the second half and it was inspiring. I loved a talk that our former bishop (Bishop Louder), and now counselor in the stake presidency, gave. I should also add that he was a biology teacher at my high school. Because of his field of expertise, he said he likes to "dissect" things. His talk was about how we can BECOME what we need to be in this life. He chose to dissect the word BECOME.

On either side of the word is BE and ME. There are people that are living lives of sin, running around touting that they are "just being themselves" and "take it or leave it--this is me" and "I just need to be true to me." It's all a farce. You want to know why? Because all of us were born into this life as pure and spotless as He who came before us. We were born in His image. That is the REAL us, the TRUE us. Yes, it is important to be ourselves, but only when we are being true to our real selves. It is only when we start living in this tainted world that we get pulled away from HIM, away from what we really are. We are pulled away by our own choices. One small justification after another, inch by inch--pretty soon we forget. I think we all know who is doing the pulling in the other direction, clouding our vision.

On the inside of BE and ME are the letters O and C. O for Obedience and C is for Christ. If we will obey the words of Christ, we will once again be closer to Him, closer to who we really are. Our spirits know. We are reminded each time we do something aligned with the Savior. Don't believe me? Try it! I promise you will feel the warm, comforting feeling of being true to you . . . and to Him.

I know I need to be better. I need to remember. So many days my vision is clouded, but I'm determined to BECOME who I need to be in this life and beyond. The only way is through the Savior. Otherwise we spend a lot of wasted hours trying to figure out what it is all about, spending time on trivial things, or just not caring--simply living life without purpose. How fun is that? I'm determined to live more purposefully. Today was a good reminder for me.

What will you "BECOME" this week?

Funny Friday

This cute boy says some things that are pretty darn funny. The other day, while he ate lunch with a friend, I overheard this conversation:

"Guess what? You know I have never-ending girlfriends? For reals. (Pause) But, all my girlfriends are boys."

Then, after taking a few more bites of his sandwich, he said, "My girlfriends can eat a whole entire city! Like giants!"

A little later (but still eating) he looked as his friend and said, "I am Batman and you can be Rockman!"

His friend didn't particularly like this idea and responded with, "No! Fine, now I'm never gonna trust you ever again!"

I love kids and love to hear how their little brains work--city-devouring giant girlfriends? Now, only a little boy would come up with that. . .

Turnback Tuesday

It seems like yesterday that she looked like this.

10 years her senior, I remember taking her as mine.
I did her hair.
Fed her.
Changed her diaper.
Played,
held,
danced
and sang to her.
We even made up our own "secret sister" language.
And she laughed.
A lot.
It is still pretty darn contagious.

Now this little lady is getting married in 15 days.
To a pretty swell fellow.
He is "goofy" yet sweet
She is a Disney enthusiast
They are perfect for one another.
Here is a shot from Missy, who is doing her wedding photos.
Didn't she do great?
Can't wait to see the rest.


Congrats Lacey and Jonathan!
I love you forever.

Money Matters Monday

I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I am selling my dream car.

Why? Rather than the typical excuse of "Dave Ramsey says" why don't you check out my IAHY blog post for this week. It pretty much explains everything. And it is amazing how everything has fallen into place in the matter of days! On Saturday, we found this.

I was literally listed for under an hour when we called. Can you say crazy deal? Like $7500! (NADA for this is over $12000!) So we will be literally cutting our costs in half and have it paid off in under 18 months, verses another 3+ years with the Sequoia. Wish that we could have paid cash for it, but this is a step. Again, just read the IAHY post to see our plan.

Oh, and just a plug for the Man Upstairs. If anyone wonders if miracles still happen, my answer is He does. If you wonder if He cares about you, even your financial situation, He does. How do I know? After listing our car at midnight last night, I started to worry that we wouldn't be able to sell and then be left with 2 payments for a time. So this morning, just before Todd left to work, I prayed that if it is His will, that we could have a buyer for our car quickly. TWO HOURS later, a lady called, had her mechanic brother come look at it and is buying it TODAY WITH CASH!!!! That means we can then turn around, put $2500 into the new loan, making our loan only $5000. Miracles? Answer to prayer? You bet! Sell and buy a car all in the same day? This just doesn't happen without a little help from above. Thanks to Him who cares for my little situation enough to send a miracle my way today.

Firmly Attached to Him

I am overcome with sadness lately.
Sadness for those around me.
Friends
Family
Neighbors
An overwhelming number of them are struggling with the weight
of personal burdens.
So many of them need comfort.
I want to remove their hurt.
But I can't.
I try to comfort,
in my small ways
yet I know it is insufficient.
Only He has the ability
to give complete peace.
I know that first-hand.
So I get on my knees
and pray for His mercy to be with them
that their burdens will be lifted.
He does heal.
I know it.

Funny Friday

My brother sent this to me a while back and I just found it again--thought it was Funny Friday worthy. Happy Friday everyone!

February Catch-up

It is already March, which means I need to catch up on February. Sorry, not going to go ALL the way back to January, but at least I will be current from here.

After our stay at Primary Childrens' Hospital, we took a few weeks and laid low, so as to not contract anything else, but by Presidents' Day we were ready to get out. There's this great new place we went to called the Provo Beach Resort (thanks Heather for telling me about it via your blog!) and the kids had a great time with some of their cousins. Anyone who knows my Colby knows he loves and wants to do three things in life. They are, in random order: go to the beach, go golfing and go bowling. He would be elated to do any one of these things every single day. I can't blame him on the beach part--wouldn't mind doing that everyday myself.

Anyway, as soon as he saw this mini bowling game, he saw nothing else. We had to do it! The great thing was, after we played a game, one of the lanes broke and the employees had to fix it. When they were done, there were three games loaded and they let Colby play them all. He was in heaven! The other kids played in an indoor playground, but I couldn't get pictures of them as I sat out with the babe.

He was pretty excited that baby brother even got in on the action!

We played in the toddler area for a while. The kids were tuckered out by the end of the day! Isn't that the way we like them? Gives us moms a sense of accomplishment for sure!

They have a little carousel there too--what kid doesn't love a carousel?

Afterward, we had dinner at a great place called Malawi's Pizza. Yah, Malawi is a place in Africa. It is also a pizza place. African Pizza? Not really. Super yummy, super healthy pizza. Try it. You will love it. My favorite part is that a portion of each meal, goes to feed children in Africa. I totally stole these pictures from some lady's blog named Julie. Don't know her. Didn't order these. But thought you'd want to see what healthy pizza looks like.
They even have dessert pizza. Okay, so maybe not-so-healthy, but yummy nonetheless. I know we will be back.

That night, as Todd and I lay in bed, ready to go to sleep, he heard a large BOOM. I told him the washer was on and maybe it was that. We decided not to investigate, but after a while Todd had to go downstairs to get his phone/alarm clock. He came up with no pants or socks on. Weird. And he was in a huff. "We should have checked it out!" he said grumpily. What had happened was the liquid laundry detergent, which I had placed on top of the washer, fell off, breaking the cap, during the spin cycle of the wash. Brand spankin' new bottle. Only used it for that one load. This is at about 11 p.m. How do you clean liquid laundry detergent up without a sudsy mess? It flooded the entire laundry room and got on everything !!! It is clear. Can you see it? It was a 2-hour project that we hadn't anticipated, washing everything, even pulling out appliances. Lesson learned. Don't place detergent on top of the washer, and folks, check out any suspicious BOOMS in your house!
Last week Andrew fell flat on his face on his way to school. Sisters aren't quite sure how it happened, but they said after he fell, he couldn't walk real straight. So they brought him home and I kept him home for the day. He skinned it pretty good, though this picture doesn't do it justice. Boys.

Last Saturday the girls graduated from another book in their Suzuki journey. Alli from book 3 and Kendra from book 4--here is a clip from each. Kendra is in the second row in a white sweater and turquoise shirt.

Here is Alli's. She is in the white dress in the front. Way to go girls!

I feel bad that we didn't get many pictures of Todd on his birthday. At least he got breakfast in bed! We also celebrated Friday night by going to dinner at another favorite place of ours called La Jolla Groves. The same chef owns Malawis. Coincidence? It may just be pure talent on his part. It was a great birthday for Todd (and me) because we actually got to talk!! We need nothing else than to spend quality time together. Happy 36th Babe!