Young Women in Excellence at the county fair!

Tuesday night we had our Young Women in Excellence program. We did it around a country fair theme. Everyone dressed up in their jeans, bandannas, and straw hats. Here is a lovely picture of me with my bag of popcorn. The popcorn bags had the program for the evening attached to it. It was made with one of those movie popcorn machines and tasted really good. We then played a different carnival game for each value with the girls

who were presenting projects for that value. I was a bit concerned when I first heard of the idea, but it was so much fun and turned out so well. It was a big success. We had a fishing game, pie eating contest, donuts eating contest, duck shoot, ring toss, and sewing game. The girls were good sports and we laughed until we cried at times. We had apple pie and warm apple cider for refreshments.

Cute Shoes

Diana made these cute flip flops at activity day on Tuesday. She has the most awesome leader who always does the most fun things. And they are really checking off things in their books as well, which is really good. They also play a fun article of faith bingo game that is helping the girls learn their articles of faith. Sadly this sister just got called into the stake primary presidency. She has said that she will keep doing activity days until they find someone new. So we will see how long that lasts. In the mean time we will just appreciate her willingness to serve.

School picture, part II

Yesterday Diana brought her new school picture home. I think it turned out pretty cute, although I liked her hair better in the first picture. Diana liked this picture because she was disappointed that she had a small red sore on her chin in her first picture. I didn't think it was that noticeable, but she is quite sensitive about such things. Also a bonus, if you click on the picture and look at it closely, you can see her stick on ear ring. Did I talk about her ear ring drama? She got these stick on ear rings and the first day she wore them, we didn't even get past our drive way before they fell off. The next day we made it all the way to the crossing guard before she noticed they were missing. She then wanted to turn around and go back home to get new ones. This of course was out of the question which produced much protest on Diana's part. So imagine the joy that her ear ring managed to stay on long enough for this picture. Simple pleasures. So all's well that ends well. Now we have the fashionable red scarf picture for future generations to admire as well as this nice picture.

BYU prevails!

In a classic "It ain't over, until it is over" moment the BYU game went down to the final seconds before the winner was determined. We had nine people over to watch with us. It was awesome to watch with so many fellow cougar fans. Thanks to my Aunt Sally for supplying the pizza and treats. Of course at the crucial 4 and 19 play, I held my lucky bone for good luck. And no surprise it worked. When we completed a pass for the crucial first down, I was compelled to jump up and down on my couch, cheering with glee. And then when BYU scored the go ahead touchdown with seconds to go, well the crowd at my house went wild. Yay, for exciting games that end happily. Now we will wait and see if the Cougs will be back in Vegas for the third straight year. Good luck, team, at San Diego this weekend.

Fall into the season!

Yesterday we gave into Jared and Diana pestering us to put up the Christmas tree. Marion got the tree down from the attic and got it assembled. Diana then insisted that I get the ornaments down, so she could decorate the tree. I hate the ladder thing that goes up to our attic in the garage. It is really hard for me, who is mechanically challenged. After wresting with it, I finally climbed up to find the missing box. Somehow it was the first box I looked in. I wonder why I have never labeled my boxes before. Note to self, label the boxes in the attic. As I was pulling the large plastic tub down, it came faster than I expected. In a classic comedy moment, I lost my footing and fell backwards. No worries, a tool box broke my fall. Also some bags of salt for the water softener. I lay there for a moment and finally realized that I was basically unhurt. Today, I am very sore in several places, and I am sure I will have a great bruise in a few days. I am very glad that I will not be in some sort of cast for the Holidays. Here is a picture of our tree.

Recipes for Leftovers

Here are some yummy things you can do with your left over turkey:

Turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry Wrap

12 inch tortillas
Cranberry Sauce
Sliced Turkey
Stuffing
Spread 3 tablespoons of cranberry sauce on a tortilla. Lay 2 or 3 turkey slices on the wrap. Top with 3 to 4 tablespoons of stuffing. Roll the wrap and slice in pieces.

Very Easy, and equally yummy!

Cashew Turkey Pasta Salad

2 cups chopped turkey
3 cups spiral tricolor spiral pasta, cooked and drained
2 celery ribs, diced
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 c diced green pepper
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 cups salted cashews

In a bowl combine mayo, sugar, vinegar, salt, and lemon juice, add remaining ingredients except for cashews, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, stir in cashew.

This one is a little more work, but really quite tasty! Enjoy!

Black Friday

Well I decided to join the crazed masses that attempt to score hot deals on the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent several hours pouring over the adds, planning my strategy, and making lists of things I thought I might need. Diana foiled my plan to go to bed early when she found the musical "Legally Blonde" on TV last night. It had a few questionable parts just like the movie, but it was fun to watch a real Broadway production nonetheless. Thankfully Diana fell asleep and did not see much of it. I was reading something about it being the first time, that a current production allowed cameras to film a show and put it on TV. Finally it ended at 11:00 and I set my alarm for 3:30 am.

When my alarm went off, I actually did get up. Arming myself with my camp chair, down coat, water, snack, book on tape, list, camera, and competitive spirit, I set off in search of victory. When I opened the garage door, I woke Marion up. He came down to the garage just as I was pulling out. He then called me on my phone to see where was I going at that time of day. I said the sales, of course. He said he just wanted to make sure I wasn't sleep walking or that someone wasn't stealing the car. So off I went.

First I drove by Circuit City. They had a great lap top for $300. Even though they did not open until 5:00 and I was there at 4:00, there was already a huge line, probably 500 people. So I decided that it would be useless to stop there.

Next I headed to Mervyns. It was 4:00 when I drove up, which is when the store was suppose to open. There were huge lines here as well. The item I wanted the most was a Zume 30 gig MP3 player at Toys R Us. Since Toys R Us is right next to Mervyns and did not open for another hour, I decided to to just go on over to Toys R Us and get in line. Taking my camp chair with me and bundling up in my down coat, I took up my position in line which was rather far back I have to admit. Here is a picture of me. It was taken by the man in front of me who said he could not work digital cameras. I wish he had gotten more of me in the picture, but I felt it would hurt his feelings if I asked someone else to take my picture. I am sure that those around me found it humorous that I would even bring my camera to such an event. During this time I kept myself entertained by talking to my sister and sister in law in Utah. They had already been to several stores and were standing outside of K-Mart. It was pretty funny that I would have someone to talk to at 4:00 am in the morning. Finally the hour passed and the line began to move. Of course I had to carry my chair with me through the store. I went right to the electronic section, but of course they only had 16 of those MP3 players and so I struck out there. This was actually good news because I did not have to stand in the ridiculously long check out line that was forming.

Next I went down the road to the mall to go to K-Bee toy store. This is where my luck began to change. I scored a really close parking space. This time I traveled much lighter with just my purse and sweater, no coat or chair. Things at this store were much calmer than Toys R Us. Although it should probably be a danger sign when they give you a ginormous bag as you enter the store. They had all of their advertised specials at the front of the store. I proceeded to succumb to the feeding frenzy that was going on inside, buying pretty much one of everything. Perhaps in the light of a new day I will need to make some returns. The past two years I have put off shopping, and have not been able to get certain items on Diana's list. I think this year I have over compensated, but I can take things back, right? Finally I emerged, with a bag that looked like something Santa carries around Christmas eve.

Dragging my purchases across the way, I checked at Radio Shack. This is when I discovered that I had made a crucial mistake. Radio Shack had not been open when I first got to the mall. In fact I noticed that there were only 5 people waiting outside. If only I had stood in that line, I could have purchased the MP3 players for $99, but by the time I got over there, they were all sold out. Oh well, but it really irritates me that I was that close to getting it and just didn't plan correctly. Next I drove over to the Radio Shack that is close to my house. They didn't have any either, and so at this point I gave up on that dream.

Now I was already in the Wal Mart parking lot, so I figured that I would stop in there. It was now 7:00 am. I wondered aimlessly around that store for about an hour. Of course by this time the DVD players for your car were sold out. In fact the Wal Mart employee laughed at me when I asked her if there were any left. I think that was uncalled for. I did get several things that were on my list and so it was not a total loss.

After this, I drove across the street to Target. There was one thing I wanted there and they still had that, so yay. I can not be very specific about my purchases due to the fact that my children do sometimes read my blog.

By now I was feeling quite hungry. I snacked on my wheat thins and drank some water, while I drove over to game stop. Our play station II broke last Sunday. This was pretty much a tragedy since Jared had just purchased Guitar Hero III several days before. We went to Gamestop on Monday to replace the broken system. The worker there was kind enough to tell me that if we waited until Friday, the Playstation would be $20 cheaper. Sadly I had to wait in another line at Gamestop. This was due to the fact that, they only let a certain number of people in the store at a time. Finally I was allowed to enter and purchased the sought after game system.

So I returned home at 9:00 after five hours of shopping. I had some wins and some losses, but my trunk was full of loot. My children of course are dying of curiosity to get in there and see what I bought. They spent quite some time trying to get the keys away from me. Here is some good news, my new car has an alarm on it. I did not really know about this, but when they tried to open the car without pushing the button on my key fob, the alarm sounded. This then scared them away from the car. I wonder if I am going to have to keep things in there for a whole month. I don't know why they want to spoil the surprise, but neither Diana or Jared are especially good at waiting for things. Happily I did get a bit of a nap, but I still feel a little bit woosey. So I don't know if I would do this again, but I do feel like I learned some valuable lessons that I can use in future years if insanity strikes me again.

Turkey sings the blues!

As I was picking all the bones out of my turkey meat, look what I found! I think it is totally a sign that BYU will be victorious tomorrow. What else could it mean? Obviously even the turkeys are bleeding blue. Those of you who live in Utah valley, tell me this doesn't look just like the "Y" on the side of the mountain. So on to victory, Cougars. Perhaps I will drill a hole in this bone and make a necklace or hang it from my rear view mirror. Or do you think I could sell it on e-bay to some really die hard cougar fans? We are less than 24 hours away from kick off. I hope I can sleep tonight. This should be as exciting as last year's game and so I will need to be well rested in order to survive the nail biting that may be going on as I watch.

Happy Turkey Day!

I spent the morning cooking and finally got my turkey into the oven at 1:00. Marion, Jared, Diana, and I then went and saw the movie Enchanted. We all gave it two thumbs up. It was very cute. Came home in time to finish up making the corn, potatoes, and gravy for the big dinner. Here are the before and after pictures. It is always hard to believe how long it can take to make what takes people a few minutes to consume. We have lots of left overs, so hopefully they will last through the weekend. We did miss being with family, but we enjoyed a nice quiet day. I slept in until 9:30, how nice was that? Now I am planning for tomorrow and where to spend my shopping time and dollars. Hope to have a report for you all about my exploits. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all have sweet dreams of great deals tonight.

Work, Wal Mart, and Wise Crackers

So when I went to figure out my hours, so I could turn them and be paid, I discovered that I had worked 37 hours in just 5 days. No wonder I am so tired and my house is such a wreck, and my kids have been eating cold cereal for dinner for a week. Sheesh! Well at least I am done for a while. There will be more stuff to do in January. And I my checking account will very much appreciate the infusion of cash. So that is all good. I needed an extra helper last Monday and Tuesday. Jared was out of school for Veteran's day and teacher prep day so he volunteered to go with me. He was a big help. Part of our job was to help with the sample sale. Jared was excited to earn $8 in tips when he helped people get their stuff to their cars. He was even more excited to earn $180 for two days work. He already spent some of his cash on Guitar Hero III. Yea for paying jobs.
Due to the fact that pretty much every one in our family is on the brink of exhaustion, we have decided not to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. Both of our families wish we would visit, mine in Utah, and Marion's in Arizona, but they will survive without us somehow. I am looking forward to a very relaxing weekend full of movies and scrap booking. Oh yea, and a day of crazed cooking. But even that shouldn't be too bad. My turkey is defrosting in the fridge as I write. We will see how much of the trimmings cut trimmed away or make it to the table. Then on Saturday there will be the highlight of the Holy War to watch on TV. For any of you not familiar with what that is, it is when BYU plays the University of Utah. It is always a big game, but it is an even bigger game this year for very many reasons that I will not bore all of you with. I have missed parts of the last two games due to church responsibilities and the fact that I came home from the ward camp out very sleep deprived and fell asleep while watching last Saturday's game. Inconceivable! So I am keeping next Saturday from 11:00 to 2:00 sacred. Just so you know, don't call me and my kids will be instructed not to talk to me either. Not that it ever works, but it will be worth a try. Usually the boys are too embarrassed/annoyed with my screaming and leave the room. I will have to think of a project for Diana to keep her busy.
For any of you who are unaware there is good news called the movie Hairspray was released on DVD today. I just got back from Wal Mart with my exciting purchase. I went to Wal Mart because they always have their movies marked down the first day it comes out. Of course then I was enticed by the evil powers of the movie industry and succumbed to buying a two disc version for $25. I could not resist the "sing along to the lyrics track" or the "step by step dance moves". I am such a sucker for giving in and paying $10 more for it than just the plain DVD. While I was shopping there was announcement made over the loud speaker that went something like this:
"Attention all managers, please report to the meeting room where Nancy will give keep us spell bound by her information that she will impart in a most interesting way. And will someone bring some napkins for Dave. He has brownies all over his face and he needs napkins."
I found this announcement to be quite amusing and unlike any other I had every heard there. Who knew that there is actually one Wal Mart employee with a sense of humor? Besides the DVD I got some new sheets for the beds in Diana's room. The ones she has now are quite old and worn out. You know colored on with pen and stained by a burn mark when a hot iron was accidentally placed on the bed. Just your usual wear and tear. We are having some company this weekend and so I though they might enjoy having some decent sheets on the beds. So with only 3 items, I figured that I would use the self check thingy. I scanned the first item and put it in the bag. I think I forgot to touch it to the blue star on the scanner, so the "Skip bagging" message appeared. I hit OK. Then the machine said "Unauthorized item in the bagging area." Criminy, it was the one that mistakenly thought I was skipping the bagging. The same thing was repeated with the next item. For crying out loud, how long can it take to check out with three items? Finally I was triumphant and left with my purchases. It was at this point that I remembered some pants that needed to be returned but of course were still at home. Curses. Maybe next time, which is what I tell myself every time I go.

Ward Campout

Our ward had a camp out this weekend at the Valley of Fire. It is called this because of the red color in the rocks. The weather was absolutely, beautiful. This is one of the times that it actually IS great to live in Las Vegas. We have had a very mild fall, and it has been warm longer than usual. I think it is supposed to finally turn cold next weekend, but thank goodness it was still very mild for the camp out. The great thing about this place, is that it is really just a big playground with rocks to climb on. Especially for someone like me, with older children, I just said "Have fun, and don't get hurt." We went camping here for the first time last year and we loved it then, also. That time Jared found a great hole in the rocks that he slept in. We stayed at a different camp site this time, and so he just slept on the ground next to his friends. Because of daylight savings, we got there just after dark last night. I was worried that the kids would fall off of some cliff in the dark, but they managed to not get hurt. It is always a fun part of camping to put your tent up in the dark. I took my cot from girls camp and Diana and I slept in our little tent. We had a great time and even though it is a lot of work to get it all together and put it all away, I am glad that we went.

Be Back Soon

For any of you checking and being disappointed that there are no new posts, just let me tell you that I have been really busy working for the past few days. So just be patient and perhaps I will have the energy to post something new tomorrow.

On your mark, Get set, Go!

OK maybe Jared read my post yesterday about motherhood being an amazing race because he seemed intent on providing me with the opportunity to race this morning. When I got up at 6:55, I found him still asleep in his bed. This is bad, as usually by this time he has showered, dressed, eaten, and is preparing to leave the house fifteen minutes later. Once again I am forced to waken him with threats, hoping to get him to move faster than a snail. I tell him if he hurries, he can still catch the bus. This is not an incentive for him, as he hates riding the bus. His biggest complaint being that they are forced to have 4 people sitting in a seat. I do share his pain in a "Hey that sounds uncomfortable" kind of way, not in a "OK, I'll drive you to school every day" kind of way. This seems the perfect time for the life lesson "Life is hard, suck it up and deal with it". He takes a shower while I make his breakfast and lunch. He seems to be dawdling in the shower and I sense that he plans to be so late that he misses the bus and I have to drive him all the way to school . I counter by prodding him along with everything short of a cattle prod. Does anybody know where I can get me one of those? Finally we leave the house and I drive him to the next bus stop that is just around the corner. He tells me that, surely we must be too late and I should just take him to school. But I revel in the victory that is mine, as the bus drives up at the same time we do. Bwaaahahahaha! What could he do, but admit defeat and get out of the car and onto the bus. I am especially glad that I didn't have drive out of my neighborhood as I am still in my knee length pajama shirt, with only a robe on for decency's sake. For sure that would be the time that I was in another car accident. Perhaps that would be the best cure for Jared, drive him to school dressed very inappropriately and get out of the car and embarrass him to death. I will have to keep that card up my sleeve.

Next we moved onto the sport of getting Diana to school. It was of course picture make up day. I had decided to just take every one's advice and live with the first picture. It did after all have to potential for good memories in years to come. Just like the picture of Trent with his nose scraped up when he was 2. Anyway, Diana decided that she would like to get a new picture. So I helped her get ready. Her hair has grown since the last picture and so we had to curl it under instead of up. Who knows how this one will turn out. Stay tuned for the results. She was very excited to wear her stick on earrings. She had to make sure that her hair was tucked behind her ears, so that they would show. I guess you can't really see the earrings in this picture, but this is how she looked when we left the house. No scarf's, hats, or any other accessory. And I would like to know how this picture day landed on library day again. At least now, we have taken to keeping Diana's books in her backpack. We aren't really reading them, but hey we are able to return them when they are due. So does the teacher actually expect us to read them and return them? I think that is taking things a bit far. Onto school where I had to go in and fill out a picture form. There were about 30 other parents doing the same thing and it was quite crowded. Finally all was taken care of, my child went off to her class and I headed for institute. Yes, just another day in paradise and another victory in getting my children to school.

Paul Bunyan's got nothin on me!

So my front yard has been running amuck for a long time now. I have two rosemary bushes that are trying to take over my entire yard. If not impeded, I imagine some day they would have completely barricaded me into my house. This is a job that has needed doing and yet has not made it to the top of the to do list. Instead it has been easier to just drive into my garage and pretend not to notice the extreme overgrowth. So today I finally managed to get motivated to reclaim the sidewalk, if not for my benefit, for others who occasionally do still visit my house. I'm not sure

if the pictures can fully show how much I trimmed away. It filled a garbage can and four black bags. Just so you know I am dangerous with my tree trimmer, and am glad/pleasantly surprised that no blood was spilt in today's yard work. At one time the button stuck on the trimmer and I had to just do the best I could with it until I finally got it unstuck. At this time the thought of losing a toe did cross my mind. But all is well that ends well. Perhaps it is not a great idea to prune bushes wearing shorts and sandals. Also pictured here is the lovely rock mentioned in an earlier post. This is the infamous rock that was painted. It is actually quite cute in that Diana did it all by herself. Also pictured is a dead, decaying bird that is attached to a branch that I cut off a bush. I thought it was an uncommon occurrence to have a dead bird fall at my feet and so I documented it for all of you. You can thank me later for sharing. Now we can all walk on my side walk to my front door without a close encounter of the green kind.

No waiver required.

Many of you may know that I enjoy the TV program, The Amazing Race. My kids were asking me if I would ever like to be on the show. As much as I enjoy watching, that is where my involvement must end. I do not really like to fly and especially do not do heights. So there would be no point to starting something that I know I would not be able to finish. Eventually I would come to some point where the producers of the show would say "walk around the top of this sky scraper with a small rope supporting you" and I would say "not even for a million bucks". That would not be good TV and so I am sure I would never make the show. Never mind I could never leave my kids for 30 days anyway, so the whole thing is a mute point. But I can enjoy watching others do, what I never would and see interesting places around the world that I will never go to visit. In searching on the web, I found an actual application for the show and thought this part of it was interesting enough to warrant publication on my blog. What do you think?

"All applicants must be in good physical and mental health and must be aware that, and sign releases attesting that, the activities in the Program may involve risks and hazards, and that participating in the Program may expose applicant and other participants to, among other things, the risk of death, serious injury, illness and property damage caused by the risks associated with their participation in the Program, including, without limitation, the following: latent or apparent defects or conditions in any equipment used in the Program; the use or operation by applicant or others of said equipment; acts of other people including, without limitation, acts of the Producers or other participants; accommodations; weather or other natural conditions; the nature of travel including, without limitation, latent defects and human error; applicant’s physical condition; applicant’s own acts or omissions; sleep deprivation; first-aid, medical or emergency treatment or other services rendered to applicant or others; exposure to illness; consumption of food or drink; acts of God (e.g. earthquakes and floods); laws or local ordinances; war or riots; terrorism; strikes; and/or no reason at all. Applicants must understand and acknowledge that the above list of reasons is not complete or exhaustive. Applicants must accept and assume all risks of injury, death, illness or disease, or other damage to themselves, to others, or to their property, which arise in any way from their participation in this Program."

After reading this, I found myself surprised that no one is forced to sign a similar waiver when they become a mother. I think many of things listed on this waiver, are dangers that a mother faces on a daily basis. In my humble opinion, motherhood has been one of the biggest adventures of my life and has felt very much like an amazing race on a daily basis. Repeatedly, I have faced road blocks and detours and breath taking moments. So perhaps I don't really need to go on the TV show, I am living it every day.

Life at hyper speed and Betty Crocker

So I would like to know what is the deal with putting out the Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over. Is it really going to make or break these stores if they waited two more days to put out everything for Christmas? And is anyone going to buy Christmas stuff when they are still in the middle of celebrating Halloween? Is it just me, or does this seem to happen earlier and earlier each year. Pretty soon you will have to pass by the Christmas stuff when trying to buy fire works for the Fourth of July. Sheesh. Or perhaps they will just be out year round.

On a different topic, Diana was looking at my blog of her school picture. She misread the comment line to be complement. She asked me why she only had 2 complements and looked down at other posts and was equally disappointed to find zero complements there. I was cracking up because only she would just assume that people would be giving her complements. Saturday afternoon she engaged in one of her activities again. As I was laying on the couch half asleep, she informed me that she was making a cake "with or without me". I said "OK, I pick without". She proceeded to do just that. I did have her bring me the box and the measuring cups. Then I would hand a certain cup to her and say "Go put this much oil in". I don't remember being involved in the baking part of the project. Perhaps her father helped her, I can't be sure. But here is the result. It is a bit flat and over cooked, isn't it? I questioned her about it and she told me that she decided to put in extra oil. Next, I tried to explain that although individuality is a wonderful, even desired quality in many areas such as fashion, cooking is one place where one must conform to the recipe. I don't know if I convinced her, but hey at least this nap didn't come with the price of any colored substance being places that are not meant to be colored. I am still finding green food coloring in my freezer. Somehow it keeps coming back to haunt me. Oh well, there are perks to having an independent child. At least that is what I keep telling myself, to keep my sanity.

Lady in Red

Yesterday after school, Diana proudly gives me her school picture. I am excited to see how it turned out. Remember the picture day, the same day I went to traffic court? Well refer back to the post titled Traffic school Graduate, if you didn't read about all the trauma we went through the morning of her picture. Let me just say that I did not send her to school wearing a red scarf. So when I saw this picture, I was a bit stunned, shocked, perhaps even horrified. Had I know that this accessory would be added, I might not have chosen purple for the background color. I questioned her about the scarf. She informed me that "Oh my friend Bianca let me borrow it." Now it might just be me, but I think this scarf might fall into the "big bowl of ugly" category. (can you tell I have been watching to much Hannah Montana) I'm not really sure how I will feel about putting this picture on my wall and seeing it every day. I guess that is just what you have to deal with when you have a child with her own sense of fashion. I wonder when picture make up day is, perhaps we should try again. But then I have to go through the "morning of picture day" marathon again. Perhaps I should just call it good enough. And know that each time I see this picture it will bring a smile to my face because I have such an independent child. Who knows, she may grow up to be a famous fashion mogul someday.

Halloween Hijinks!

Here are a few pictures from our Halloween adventures. Diana put together some goodie bags that she took to school. She had fun carving her pumpkin, although it was a bit messy. She had fun at her class party, the high light being someone brought chocolate dipped strawberries. All the kids at school loved her costume and kept saying that her wig looked like her real hair. There was the traditional Halloween parade. There were some interesting costumes. My next door neighbor made the cutest costumer for her little girl. It was a washing machine made from a box with some folded towels and laundry soap glued on the top. We got Little Ceasars pizza for dinner and that was nice. We painted Diana's face green and her lips black. She was happy and satisfied with how it turned out. Jared wore his Lacrosse stuff but refused to be photographed. Now I don't feel so guilty for not having more pictures of him the last few years. Jared, Diana, and I went to the ward trunk or treat. I think everyone had fun. It was extremely crowded. After that, Diana wanted to go around the neighborhood. I was so tired, she finally talked me into driving her around. Knowing I could just sit in the car, I gave in to that idea. We went next door first and our neighbor decided to come along. How lame is that to just drive your kid. Actually we found a street with a lot of lights on and followed them as they ran from house to house. My neighbor also has older kids and we commented how it is a bit sad for these youngest kids to have moms that have run out of energy for this stuff. All in all it seemed to be another successful Halloween.

Abiento October!

The month of October has come and gone. Abiento means good bye in French. I only know about it because of my favorite mystery heroine Amelia Peabody. Yea for literature expanding your vocabulary. I first picked it because I thought it was "obiento" and we all know how much I love aliteration. But alas when I looked the word up, I discovered my mistake. I still think it sounds better then just plain good bye. But I digress. Over all October has been a pretty good month. There have been some highlights:
My birthday
A new record for number of posts in one month by me
BYU Football team coming to Vegas
Purchase of my new, glorious camera
Beautiful weather
Unexpected financial windfalls
New bra, new haircut, new eyebrows, and perhaps new attitude

There have been some low moments:
My birthday
Nine year anniversary of the day we lost Camille and moved to Vegas
Yucky head cold
Diana's "Projects"
School copiers
Car troubles
Cat Stalker

By far the good has outweighed the bad and for that I am grateful. After all, we must have opposition in all things right? And so I bid a fond, farewell to October, see ya again in a year.

The rest of the story, well the picture anyway!

So I finally got new batteries for my camera. Whoo Hoo! Yesterday, a kind friend called and offered to come over and take a picture of the blue ooze in my freezer. I declined since I could take my own now that my camera is operating again. So here it is. I think this may be a case of fiction being better than the truth. It doesn't look so bad does it? And it is green instead of blue. Sorry. Because I was waiting to take a picture of it, a carton of ice cream was placed on the green slime. Yesterday afternoon I found a big green smear on my kitchen table. It took me a minute to figure out where it came from. Well we used up the rest of that ice cream carton last night when we made banana smoothies. I think I have got all the green out of the freezer but I am not quite sure.

Ghosts of Halloween Past!

So I thought it might be fun to look at all my old Halloween pictures. What do you think? I even found two pictures from my chilhood. I remember how much I loved being Mary Poppins, as she was/is one of the people I would like to be. My mom did her best with the costume and even if no one else could tell who I was, I loved it. I had an umbrella that is not in the picture.

It is a bit sad that my boys have faded from the past few years of pictures. But hey, I think that has been purposeful on their part. Also at fault seems to be the fact that I haven't taken any pictures at night for the past few years, so they weren't there when I had the camera at school for Diana.

In 1998 there is the picture of Jared as Spider Man. Some of you might remember that year as when we moved to Las Vegas on October 31st. In the process of packing the house in California, we/I lost Jared's mask for his costume. This was of course the end of the world for him, but he survived and will probably only require a few years of therapy to recover when he grows up.

Another noteworthy costume, would be Diana's Little Bo Peep. There are 10 yards of lace on the pantaloons alone. This was back in the day when I actually used my sewing machine for more than a place to store my dirty laundry. The first year she wore it, I only made the pants and hat because we had the dress. The second year she wore it, I made the dress to go with the rest of it.

Also notice that I have been very guilty of/good at recycling costumes. Several of them were used multiple years and for multiple kids. Ah, good times.... once they are over and you can look back at them. I guess like most worthy things it does require some effort and stress to make these things happen.

Wild and Crazy Guy!

I was looking through the pictures on my computer and was rather surprised to find this picture of Trent. The reason for my wonderment was that I did not take this picture. Trent tells me all the time that he is a bit different when he is with his friends. I guess now I have proof. It is delightful that he shared this picture with me that he took with his phone. And in case you are wondering, I did receive permission from him to publish this picture. He asked why would I want to put it on my blog and I said "Hey, it is entertainment."

Science project gone wrong.

We had no school on Friday in celebration of Nevada Day. It was a nice relaxing day, but of course this means the kids have extra time on their hands. Diana did have some friends over in the morning which provided her with a nice diversion. Marion was working on an electrical job up north a bit and he got done about 1:00. Diana and I went up and met him at my favorite restaurant "Sweet Tomatoes". I had a coupon that will expire this week and so we had a fun, yummy lunch. After that I sent Diana home with Marion and I went next door to my favorite store JoAnns where I also had a coupon. I may be going broke saving all this money with coupons. JoAnns was having a midnight madness sale in honor of Halloween. I can't remember the last time I went there, but I spent a good hour drooling over the many craft choices they have to offer. I spent most of my time in the scrapbook section. Ignoring common sense that tells me I have enough scrapbook paper to scrapbook for my entire ward, I gave in a bought a fun Christmas paper stack. How can you pass up 180 pages of Christmas paper for $12.00? Obviously I could not. Perhaps when I die, I will have to buried with all my paper, because there is no way I will ever use it all up. It is kind of a good news/bad news situation. I have replaced my fabric addiction with a scrapbook supplies addiction.

Friday night Marion and Jared went on a scout camp out. I went to a very fun adult only Halloween party. Thanks Shauna, I don't when the last time was that I laughed that hard. Probably, at girls camp.

So that brings us to Saturday. After soccer I told Diana that we could make sugar cookies. I figured that it might be easier to get that project done on the weekend, instead of after school. So with her eager help, we mixed up the dough. At one point a friend called her and she was trying to talk on the phone and crack eggs with one hand. I think only a few shells fell into the cookies. So what I hoped would satisfy her craving for kitchen activities only wet her appetite. I was attempting to restore order to the kitchen and rest of the house. Taking leave of my senses, I left her concocting an experiment in the kitchen. She was raiding my cupboard for ingredients. Perhaps I should have been concerned when she asked for a canning jar, but naively I filled her request. I didn't pay much attention to what happened next, but it involved a lot of food coloring and sprinkles. In fact I decided that a short nap would be nice. So while I was laying down, she decided to move onto a new project called "Let's paint a rock from the front yard to be a Halloween decoration." She has been complaining all month that we do not have enough decorations in the front yard. What a rough life to be stuck with a mother lacking in Halloween spirit. So I wake up from my nap to find that she has cleared off the craft table in my room and covered it with a towel and an entire roll of paper towels rolled back and forth over the table. I am less than thrilled with this and ask her why isn't she doing this down on the kitchen table or not at all for that matter. She doesn't have a good reason. A little while later, another friend came over to play. I was now absorbed on the computer with the project of trying to print out my blog. So Diana has Alison make a science project also. They then decide that they are going to paint some more. I tell Diana to help find some painting clothes for Alison and figure that they are painting in the kitchen. I then had to leave and take Jared to his last Lacrosse game. That went well and I returned home and go upstairs. I find Diana in my room with about 10 paper plates covered with paint. There was a lot of paint on the towel on the table, the light switches, bathroom floor, and my bathroom sink looks like something Picasso would be proud to call his own. Also two additional towels are covered in paint. Oh Mylanta! I throw all the plates of paint away and get most of it cleaned up. Unbelievably there doesn't seem to be any paint on my carpet so I make it through one more day of keeping the commandment "Thou shalt not kill". I think I am going to throw all my acrylic paints away. Why store dynamite near an open flame, right? But chances are if you throw out all your paint, some kid will need it at 11:00 pm to complete some project for school that will determine his grade and future success in life. Good thing Wal Mart is open 24 hours a day and is just a mile from my house.

So Saturday night about 10:00 pm Jared asks if we can make sugar cookies to take to his priesthood lesson the next day. Normally I would have shot this idea down, but the dough was already in the fridge, so it was his lucky day. I did have to make a late night trip to the grocery store because as fate would have it, we were out of powder sugar. Inconceivable! I also made some cookies for my class as well.

Sunday morning, we were hurriedly frosting the cookies and guess what I don't have any food coloring left to make orange for my pumpkins. Good Grief! Oh well, they still tasted good no matter what color the frosting is. But it would have been nice if my brain was functioning and I had realized this would be the case. Then I could have bought some more the night before. Oh well maybe that will be on the list of banned substances for my house. On Sunday afternoon, I was cleaning the kitchen, AGAIN, and it occurs to me that I have not seen any canning jars filled with disgusting colored liquid anywhere. With a feeling of dread and despair, I question Diana about the location of her "science project". She gladly shows me that they put them in the freezer. Oh, of course, where else would it be. So now we get to experience the law of science that says that a liquid will expand when frozen. We also learn that frozen water is stronger than glass and will crack a jar. This then means that blue ooze will run down over all the frozen food in the freezer. So right now I could be cleaning out my freezer, but it is so much more fun to be writing about it so all of you can share in my adventures. And the batteries on my camera are dead and I have no new ones yet, so sadly I missed this photo opportunity so you will all just have to use your imagination. And perhaps I need to be better at supervising my child, huh.

I've got the school copier blues!

Today I innocently walked into the school and signed in to be a parent helper. If it was a TV show, ominous music would have played, foreshadowing trouble looming on the horizon. Perhaps the copiers have become alerted to my Thursday afternoon routine. Probably, they have met at night in secret meetings to conspire against me. If they had arms and hands they would rub their hands together with glee, knowing that I was coming back for them to torment me yet another time. The other problem is that the teachers have lulled me into a false sense of security by giving me a smaller copy load the past two weeks. So I show up unaware that my copier karma is at an all time low. (Any of you now familiar with copier karma, see my first post on this blog)
First of all the teacher gives me a mountainous pile to copy. Then the darn copier proceeds to come up with every error message I have ever seen before and even a new one I have never seen. I wasn't even finished by the time the bell rang. After finding Diana, I tried to finish up but the confounded machine kept jamming. Finally with 2 double sided copies to go, I decided to call it quits. Sometimes that is the best thing to do, just walk away. Sadly I had these 6 piles of copies that I usually put in the teachers room. The teacher had left and locked her door. We don't have school tomorrow and everyone cleared out of there fast after school. So I had to squish these big piles into each of the six third grade teacher's boxes. If I calculated it correctly I used about 2300 pieces of paper. Most of those were double sided copies, so I ran most of those papers through twice. Also at least half of it had to be hole punched. Whew! What a big job. Is it just me, or does my picture portray a copious amount of copies? Next week I have a doctor appointment and I told them that I can not come. But at least I persevered today as long as I did. I feel victorious, if only in my own mind.

Look Ma, No cavities!

So today Diana went for her six month check and a very out of the ordinary thing happened. She did not have any cavities. Hooray! I think that this may be one of the first times for her to have a good check up.
When it was time to go, I went to take her picture and the dentist wanted to be in one with her. That struck me as funny, I don't know why. So that is one of us that will not be funding the dentist's next summer vacation.

Pie-licious!

Every October and April, Marie Calender's does this awsome thing called "every pie is $5.99". After reading a friend's blog about the joys of pie, I couldn't resist going and getting a few pies for our family. Somehow my car just turned into the parking lot on its own. So here is Diana modeling the lovely pumpkin pie, which she picked out. I myself am partial to the double lemon, which I can never resist. We also got a banana cream for Marion. Since my birthday is October, I usually get pie for my birthday, but I hadn't gotten any yet this year. What are the chances we can eat all these pies before next week when the sale ends. Oh yea, remember the hoard of locust that lives at my house, I don't think we'll have a problem. Then when these are gone, I would like to go back and get a chocolate satin pie. There was also a raspberry cream one that looked rather tempting. Hooray for pie! And Hooray for pie that it is on sale!

Take your reptile to scouts day!

Currently the scout troop is working on the reptile merit badge. Last night they were all invited to bring their reptile to scouts for everyone to see close up. Jared brought his two corn snakes. One of these two snakes is the culprit that bit me last spring. I am not sure which one it is but it doesn't really matter does it? The scout master brought his red tail boa and two cute little turtles. The boys seemed to enjoy this activity. Next week, Marion has arranged to go on a field trip to the college. One of his colleagues in the biology department has quite a lot of snakes that he will show to the kids. I am just glad that I am not required to be present.

Cannery Candids

So today I had an exciting adventure called going to the cannery. Not even being able to remember the last time I went, I figured it must be time. In the event that we had to live on our food storage, it might be good if we had more than a case of macaroni and cheese. The sad thing about my current food supply, is that I really have no idea what or how much I really have. It is all tucked into various and sundry places and I have not kept a good inventory. So I figured that I couldn't go wrong getting just a little bit of several things. And hey, any day you get to wear a hair net is a good day, don't ya think? My most exciting purchase was a case of apple slices. It was hard not to eat them all, while I was canning. Now if I can just convince Jared and his friends that these apple slices would be a great snack choice. They have entered the "hoard of locust" phase of teenage hood. It seems like all I ever hear from Jared is "I'm hungry" and "What can I eat?" Now I will have something else to suggest instead of "Go make yourself a dang Quesadilla." He and his friends seem to devour what ever there is around here. I also got some oatmeal because I love it in cookies. The other thing I got was a case of wheat. I don't think I have much wheat because Marion is not a big fan of wheat. He had enough of it when he was growing up to last him a lifetime. Which may not be that long since he doesn't eat whole wheat. Any way now I have a case that I can look at and feel good knowing that at least I have it. We had to can 11 bags of powder milk and that was kind of a pain. We do have a lovely, large, new canning facility that was just opened 6 months ago. So after about two and a half hours we had finished the task. We started for home, but the three of us in our car all agreed that we were famished. So of course we had to stop at In-N-Out for a little lunch. This is my friend Teresa showing off the lovely lap pad they give you so you don't spill on your lap. What a great day... hard work, yummy food and time with good friends.

Fashionista!

Well, those of you who are well acquainted with Diana and her quirks, will know that she is very opinionated about how she looks. It cracks me up how she is able to fix her own hair. In fact at times when I try to help her, she takes the brush from my hands in an exasperated tone says "Let me do it." So I thought I would document her hair style yesterday. I had hoped that you could see how perfectly she did her part and then swept it to the back, but the picture didn't turn out that well. (I need to figure out how to turn my flash off. Maybe I should Google that question.) And then she clips it up. I asked her how she learned to do that and she said she didn't know. And we have been doing pretty well with remembering her glasses. Yeah!

Blessings from Heaven

Well I would be very ungrateful, if I didn't write about the multitude of blessings that have come into my life recently. Amazingly enough, many of them have been financial in nature. About a week ago I got a call from my insurance company telling me that they were sending me a check for $450. This was because of my accident in the rental car. According to them, I was eligible for rental car coverage, and because I did not use it, they were sending me the cash. I was shocked to think that they were paying me for the accident. Of course I did have to pay my deductible, and I have paid much dough over the years in premiums, but I feel grateful and undeserving anyway. Then there was the great deal on my camera, that has become the source of much joy and entertainment to me. The same week I got my camera, a friend gave me 3 free tickets to the BYU game. Yesterday I received a check for $750 from my credit card company. This was my reimbursement for my deductible. So I think that I may have come out ahead from my car accident, although it doesn't feel that way to my nerves. Selling that awful Honda would also count as a blessing. And after not having any electrical jobs all summer, Marion has been flooded with requests. He just finished a job that took 24 hours to complete. And he has 3 more people on his waiting list. I credit all of these astonishing and unexpected events to tithing blessings. Also in Sunday school we had a lesson a few weeks ago about the book of Romans. In Romans 8:28 it states "all things work together for good to them that love God." At that time none of these things had happened yet, but this scripture spoke to me and gave me comfort. I realized that I did believe the scriptures and so why shouldn't I have more faith that eventually all these terrible things that had happened would work out for my good. Surely I would be counted as one who loves the Lord. And now as I count my blessings one by one, I am surprised at what the Lord has done. I do feel that the windows of heaven have poured out more than I could even receive.

Queen of Denial!

Ok, so I don't think that we own any cats, but these pictures seem to prove me wrong. Yesterday I was sitting out on my patio, and the cat kept coming around. I told it in no uncertain terms "You DON'T live here" It just looked down its nose at me like cats do. The look on the cat's face seemed to say "You go ahead and think that lady, if it makes you feel any better, but I know differently." I guess if I really don't want to have a cat, I am going to have to be more proactive about it. Not wanting to expend any effort to de-catify myself, I have been hoping that they would just go away. You see how well that is working for me? We still are not feeding it, but it must be finding food somewhere. And it does get a fair amount of attention, ie holding, petting, and rides on the slide, so maybe that is enough to keep it coming around. Not to mention it has taken to napping on my patio furniture. Aye carumba!