{Mindy Pitcher}

the post that was more than a week in the making.

2012-01-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

you know when something big happens in your life, and it has really affected you? you know how you have to sit on it, think about it, let it percolate a bit, just so you can get everything out of it that you possibly can? well, I have had one of those experiences.

one of the leaders from my youth passed away a couple of weeks ago.

she was a miracle.

she had been diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma eight years ago. the doctors didn’t give her much time. but she fought. it was a most excellent fight.

numbers upon number of surgeries, countless hours spent either enduring chemo or radiation, and the even more countless hours of pain and sickness, and she was not one to complain.

everytime there was a new development in her health, she would post something she was thankful for on facebook. her positivity was amazing.

right after the new year, she was rushed to the hospital, and was told then that she didn’t have much time left. but I believe that she was ready.

she is such an example to me. as I reflect back on the parts of her life that have directly affected me, I am thankful for what she taught me.

theresa was called to be young women’s president when I was 16 (funny fact, she was the age that I am now when she was called..). I was the bishop’s daughter, their family had just moved into the ward from out of state, and I didn’t know her well. add to these factors that the previous presidency had been in for nearly the previous 4 years, and i had grown to love them dearly . it was a hard change.

now I am not using that as an excuse for my behavior (more to come on that), it’s just that being a teenager is hard enough, add to that changes (which I am not good at dealing with), and you can get a not too chipper kid.

that being said, I was a brat.

I never said anything purposely hurtful to her, I was not mean-spirited, I was just unhappy, not excited about this change, not excited about someone I basically knew nothing about. I didn’t treat her with the respect she deserved.

but she didn’t treat me any differently.

she still cared about me, was so incredibly friendly to me, treated me with much more respect than I was sure I deserved. things improved little by little over time, teaching me these little lessons all the while, little lessons that I didn’t realize were just that until I was more mature. but the biggest lesson she taught me, personally, came that summer.

I used to be the most homesick kid you ever met. I couldn’t even go two doors down for a sleep-over with my best friend without getting homesick. there were times I was able to tough it out and stay the night, then there were those other times I would call my parents and they would come walk me home at 10:30 at night. it didn’t get any better as I got older. (I blame my family for making me love them so much, blame my mom for making home such a wonderful place to be.)

this particular summer, I was called to be a youth leader for an all girls church camp (remember “laurel legacy” anyone?). it meant a week away from my family, my home, my room, and my friends, to stay in a tent with five other girls, none of whom I knew outside of this experience. there would be girls coming from my ward and stake later in the week, but I wouldn’t be staying with them. I would get to see them, but when it came to the bulk of my time, I was with these other girls who attended different stakes, different schools. I grew incredibly homesick.

I spent most of my time those first three days praying, crying, reading my scriptures, and praying more. out of desperation, I wrote my mom a letter. it was quite miserable. looking back on it, it was a pretty silly idea, because, how was I going to get it to my mom? it wasn’t like there was mail service there. while I would like to say that it helped, it really didn’t.

the day came when all the girls from the wards and stakes arrived, and with it, their leaders. MY leaders.

I saw theresa’s face. I ran to her, and she opened her arms and hugged me while I cried on her shoulder. she didn’t let go, she didn’t push me away, she just held onto me. I think she even cried a little herself. she reassured me that I would be fine. I remember her telling me that things would get so busy after that that I wouldn’t even have time to be homesick. she even waited while I ran back to my tent to get that letter for my mom. she would deliver it.

as I look back, realizing what a brat I was, I think of how undeserving I was of her grace. would I have treated someone who wasn’t so kind to me that way?

I have thought of that often. while my inner thoughts might not match up to my outward actions, I am hoping that they will match up, that I can have truly loving, kind, and charitable thoughts about everyone, regardless of how they have treated me in the past.

I am so grateful that she treated me better than I deserved.

I am thankful to know that where she is, there is no more pain and illness for her. I am thankful for the knowledge I have that she will be whole, with her family for eternity. I am so thankful for her Christlike example, that will undoubtedly stay with me for the rest of my life.

fluffy waffles

2012-01-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

when I made these for dinner the other night (yes, breakfast is one of our favorite things to have for dinner), I asked the girls to tell me if these were “so fluffy they were going to die!!”

(more “despicable me”, I can’t help myself.)

they were indeed pretty fluffy. I was told many times over the line that I wanted to hear.

waffles

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 egg yolks

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup cooking oil

2 egg whites

in one bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. make a well in the center and set aside.

in another bowl, beat egg yolks slightly. stir in milk and oil. add wet mixture to the dry mixture all at once. stir until just moistened.

in a small mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight up). gently fold the egg whites into the batter. make sure to leave some lumps of the beaten egg white. do not overmix!!

bake in your waffle iron per manufacture’s instructions.

we like to set out just about everything to put on top of our waffles. syrup, butter, jam, powdered sugar…

they are pretty fluffy!

payday bars

2012-01-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

of all places, a funeral luncheon was where I discovered these. I am thinking of presenting another “rule” to add to the church handbook, that when someone brings something to a funeral luncheon, or another church gathering, they need to bring copies of the recipe as well.

so when I came home, I hunted them down.

I have made them twice already, so I am more than qualified to tell you some of the tweaks and tips to make you love these as well.

here’s where I found the recipe.

PAYDAY CANDY BAR COOKIES

1 yellow cake mix
1/3 c. butter
1 egg
3 c. miniature marshmallows
2/3 c. white corn syrup
1 (12 oz.) peanut butter chips
1/4 c. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. salted peanuts
2 c. Rice Krispies (I left these out.)

Mix cake mix, egg, and 1/3 cup of butter (room temperature). Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 18 minutes (watch it closely after the 12 minute mark), or until golden brown around the edges. Spread marshmallows over the top and return to oven for three to five minutes until melted. Cool completely. (I popped them into the freezer while I made the topping.)

In heavy saucepan, mix peanut butter chips, syrup, butter and vanilla; heat and stir until smooth. Add peanuts and Rice Krispies (or leave them out). Spread over marshmallows. Cool and cut.

I learned to freeze these for just a few minutes, long enough to get that marshmallow layer solid. when you pour on your hot mixture over the top, if those marshmallows aren’t settled enough, they will melt when they come in contact with the topping and then you will only have marshmallow on the outer edges. but merrill likes it that way because he “doesn’t like marshmallows”? issues with that boy…

after I top them, I pop them into the fridge to let the topping firm up, and then cut them and let them come to room temperature before eating them. cutting them while they are cold, helps the knife go through easier and your lines are pretty. (cut the ones in the picture too soon, I was obviously too excited.)

I also tried adding another egg to the cake part to see if we liked it more cakey, but we all seemed to prefer it less cakey.

it is definitely a keeper of a recipe!

texas roadhouse rolls (copycat)

2012-01-25T16:26:00.001-07:00

thanks to a friend, I pinned this recipe a while back, very excited to try it out. but it just wouldn’t be right to have them unless they were paired with pulled pork, and well, we have really cut back on the meat intake in this house, so it was going to be a while.

and then I finally got to it!

so I don’t have a picture of my own to pair with this recipe, because the first time I made them they kinda got eaten fast.

the second time I made them (I made them again when we had leftovers because that recipe for pulled pork makes a lot!!!), I let them raise while I was out shoveling, and that took longer than I thought, so they rose, and then they fell, and they were delicious, but not cute.

so, no pics.

but here is the pin.

here is the link.

and here is her pic:

Texas Roadhouse Rolls - Copycat Recipe

adapted from: Good Stuff Maynard

(Printable Recipe)

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cup milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

3 tablespoons of melted butter, slightly cooled

1/2 cup sugar

2 quarts all purpose flour (7-8 cups)

2 whole eggs

2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy. Add melted butter, eggs and salt. Beat well.

Add enough flour to form a soft dough. Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto counter and let dough rest. Meanwhile, grease a large bowl. Knead dough until smooth and satiny and put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. (I used the dough hook on my Kitchen-Aid to knead this for about 4-5 minutes). Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Punch down. Turn out onto a floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Baste immediately with butter. Yield: 5 to 6 dozen. Serve with Cinnamon Honey Butter.

*Jenn's Notes: I shaped my rolls by rolling out the dough into a rectangle, about 1/2-inch thick, then I folded the rectangle in half, making it about 1-inch thick. I used my rolling pin and rolled over the dough, ever so gently, just to seal the two halves together. I then used a dough scraper and cut the rolls into squares and placed those on my greased baking sheet. I cut the recipe in half and I got exactly 12 big rolls and baked them for 16-17 minutes. In order to get the 5-6 dozen rolls like the recipe states, you would have to make really small rolls.

*Mindy’s notes: I found the first time that I made them, I used too much flour. I prefer a softer roll, so the second time I used about 6 1/2 cups of flour instead of the 7 1/2 I used the first time. it was a stickier dough, but the rolls were softer.

kickin’ it.

2012-01-23T11:11:00.001-07:00

(as per usual, click on image for full list of credits.)

this kit is absolutely charming I tell you! we have a budding little soccer player on our hands, and lots (tons!!) of pictures of her playing, or laughing on the field while others are playing, and lots of pictures of her running hard. this kit is without a doubt what I needed to motivate me to scrap these cute pics.

it is on sale today. :)

as for the rest of what goes on around here, lots of knitting and crocheting, peyton thinking she can crochet (putting a couple of hooks in a polly pocket dress and moving them around), and it’s quite cute.

and finally, snow!! (like snow that should hopefully stay, not get rained away, or melt.)

and with that snow: cocoa.

and more baking on top of it all. seriously.

church isn't just on sunday at our house.

2012-01-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

while peyton might prefer to not stay in her primary class on sunday, it doesn't mean that she doesn't love church.

i have heard her many times, while playing house, bless the food with her babies or say a bedtime prayer. she has played church with them as well.

after a mistake was made one sunday on the sacrament prayer, she asked me why they had to say two prayers on the water. i explained that the sacrament is an ordinance and that there can be no mistakes in the prayer. she seemed to accept that. at dinner that night, she volunteered to say the blessing on the food. well, she made a mistake, and then started her prayer all over again!

"i made a mistake! i had to start all over."

then there was today.

we were getting ready to go over to the school to be the mystery reader for lynn's class, and needed to get shoes on peyton, so we went into her closet. there were her little people, all lined up in rows, one up front, sitting on a trike, just a little higher than the rest.

"i made a church for my little people mommy!"

yes, she did.

oh how i wish i had gotten a picture of that..

this whole post might be because my kids watch “despicable me” too much.

2012-01-12T13:42:00.001-07:00

this is peyton:

she is almost 4, loves her purse (doesn’t like hannah montana though), eats just about everything (but oranges have been a favorite lately), and is my favorite sidekick.

part of her duties as sidekick include making me laugh.

(like just now, she informed me that her panties are hanging out of her skirt.)

this child, as well as my other two, love the movie “despicable me”. I can’t blame them. I find it pretty darn funny myself. I am not sure if I love it enough to want to watch it everyday though.

there is just one certain part of this movie that has seemed to have stuck in the brain of my little nearly four year old.

imagine, the minion.

“whaaat?”

go, see for yourself.

now pair it with this sweet face:

and here’s a story to put the two together for your enjoyment:

sunday has changed in our home. we have moved from the 1-4pm church to the 9am-12pm block. it’s still taking a little getting used to, but for the most part, we are loving it. sundays have also changed in the fact that peyton is no longer in nursery. she is a sunbeam! (she is also the only one of my girls who would not allow me to take a picture of her after her first sunday as a sunbeam with her new ctr ring. stinker.) her first sunday in class, no big deal. she rather enjoyed it. I was rather relieved.

the second sunday, I was gearing her all up for another fun sunday as a sunbeam (!!!). we got there, and despite another kid, crying incessantly, she went to class without hesitation.

now, merrill and I teach the oldest two classes in primary. during peyton’s class time, we are in music and sharing time, during our class time, she is in music and sharing time. so just as we make the transition to go to class, right when we are going to have the opening prayer, there is a knock at the door. it was the primary secretary and peyton’s teacher.

and there was peyton. big tears on her cheeks. her teacher explained that she thought peyton wasn’t feeling well, she stood the whole class time and didn’t want to sit down. she didn’t cry for a while, but at the end of class, she started to cry and said she wanted me.

so I took her into class with us, but when she started to get too comfortable in there (read: she was being a distraction) I had merrill take her out to see if she wanted to go into singing time.

(come to find out she didn’t like that either.)

well, after sacrament meeting, when we were going home, I decided to ask peyton what happened in class to make her so sad.

“well.. I was just trying to play with all of my friends, but they didn’t want to play, so I was like ‘whaaat?’ and then I was sad. and I didn’t want to sit down, and so I started to cry. and my teacher was like ‘whaaat?’ and she asked me why I was sad and I just couldn’t talk. so I said I wanted my mom. and well, then she took me to you.”

that girl…

other funny things she has said lately:

sunday night when she wouldn’t go to bed she told merrill:

“when I am grown up, I am going to stay up all night, and I am going to be tan.”

she also told him that she was going to change her name, but he couldn’t remember what name she said.

she also likes to bust in on conversations by saying, “what? are you guys eating chicken nuggets over there?”

I love that I get to spend all day with her, and merrill, that does not give you permission to say anything about when she starts school, in the very, far, distant future, and leaves me all by my lonesome. her position of sidekick might just have to be filled if you say anything that makes me cry.

and well, I kinda sorta got my picture of my new little sunbeam in a round-about kind of way after all.

snow at last!

2012-01-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

I love where I live, I love everything about it.

I cannot pick a favorite season, because I love things about each and every one.

but, really, to be completely honest, winter is my favorite.

I am not sure if it is because I have such fond memories of my childhood that are associated with winter, if it is because Christmas is in the winter season, or if it is just because the usually white landscape is just so quiet and peaceful. I really tend to believe that I love it, because the cold and the snow puts us all at home together, inside, sharing time together. whether we are all cozied up watching a movie, reading books, or just being together, it is my favorite place to be. maybe it’s the cocoa….

(yeah, stick with me, there’s a rocking awesome recipe coming up.)

this year has not been a typical (and disappointing) year in the way of snowfall.

we got a little bit, and it stayed around for a minute, then slowly melted only to reveal all the dead and ugly foliage that lay beneath the surface.

(and let me be honest again, for just a minute, maybe two.)

we love the snow, for many reasons, one of the top being that it directly affects our summertime recreating. not a lot of snow = less water in our lakes. especially our beloved lake powell. low water levels there just aren’t fun.

but I should add, that there are a bunch of weirdos that I am related to, that don’t like the snow(?!?).

so as we were watching the weather friday night, watching the channel we trust most when it comes to meteorologists, we were warned that we might get a “skiff” or light “dusting” of snow.

well, we were disappointed to say the least. we were hoping that the storm would turn into a monster and dump on us. so we went to bed, expecting to see our “skiff” the next morning.

before I go on, thanks must first be given to my younger brother (the intelligent brute), he is quickly approaching 30 and decided to get himself an early birthday gift. a motorcycle. that was on friday. (tempt those weather gods!!!)

saturday morning, very early, obscenely early, I was wakened to most of the feeling in the right side of my body gone. whatever wasn’t numb was cramping, and the reason, there was a little extra body in my bed. I got up to put ashley in her bed and glanced at the clock: 5:12. as I was glancing at that clock, I was distracted by how bright it was outside. uncharacteristically light for 5 am.

I looked out the front glass, and…

we had much, much more than a “skiff” of “dusting” of snow. my guess was about 3 inches at that time.

once we were really up for the day, when all was said and done, we had six lovely inches:

and I would have gladly taken more.

I shoveled, and my neighbor, being incredible, cleared out our mailbox and driveway entry with his atv, and the girls played in the snow. they even got to use their new sleds that they got for christmas!!

ashley was slightly emotional, either because she is a girl, because she was so overcome with our snow, because she was cold, or maybe just because she is a girl, and cried about nearly everything. she cried mostly because she kept crashing into the small tree in the front yard.

“I wish this tree were never invented!!” (sob.)

so to ease the emotions, and the obviously cold limbs and such, we went inside and made the best cocoa EVER.

so basically, we are very happy to have the snow we have, and will be hoping for obscene amounts to follow in the coming weeks.

the best hot cocoa EVER.

2012-01-10T14:55:00.001-07:00

(I have my friend dani, and our mutual love of pinterest to thank for this incredible pot of hot goodness. thanks dani!!!)

christmas break finds our little family staying inside and spending a lot of time together.

(I started to wonder if it was too much time this year. can you say drama?)

when evening comes, you can usually find three little girls who are in need of a snack (read: they are “starving”), and I could take a little sweet something or other as well.

I found this recipe, through a friend’s pin on pinterest, and knew I had to make it. I am pretty sure it was the can of sweetened condensed milk that convinced me. you can take that to mean either that it has sweetened condensed milk in it, or that I get to lick the can clean. whichever. take your pick.

(but I did get lynn hooked on it, so there.)

I apologize for no picture, but if you can imagine a cup of melted chocolate (plus that sweetened condensed milk, please don’t forget that, whatever you do!!!), some whipped cream on top, and angels singing, you got it.

now I say it is the best because merrill likes it!!

merrill calls most cocoa “hot caca”. and if you remember anything from junior high spanish, you will recall that “caca” is not good.

but let’s be honest, the kid doesn’t like green olives (?!?) and he usually sleeps diagonally in bed. he has a few issues. (we can go into those later.)

I changed it a tiny bit, because the first time I made it, I used the bittersweet chocolate chips and it was “too rich” for some people’s taste. so the second time around I used milk chocolate instead.

here’s the link.

here’s the recipe:

Polar Express Hot Chocolate (aka the BEST hot chocolate you've ever tasted) Recipe:

--1.5 cups of heavy cream

--1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)

--2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips

--6 cups of milk

--1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large pot over low heat, combine all of the above ingredients. Stir regularly for 30-40 minutes until chocolate is fully melted and incorporated with other ingredients.

this was perfect to have in the evening and cover it, stick it in the fridge and then warm it up the next morning to have with breakfast. or FOR breakfast.

seriously the best EVER.

thor

2012-01-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

merrill and I come from some pretty tight-knit families. well, our moms’ sides at least. both of our moms come from big families (my mom is one of 7 merrill’s mom is one of 9), and we still see the majority of all of those cousins.

it gets kind of confusing when you refer to someone as your “cousin-in-law”. so we just call each other “cousin”.

so this is my cousin (merrill’s cousin), and her baby.

beautiful story of a couple who tries and tries and tries for a baby, and 9 years later, when they have basically given up, are surprised.

he is such a wonderful surprise!

such a sweetie… I loved how happy he was, his many expressions, and his silly little tongue!

so happy I got to see you carrie and take shots of this sweetie!

one of those “assess and improve” times.

2012-01-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

last year (feels weird to type that out), I did some assessing, and decided to make some changes. now this happened to be one of those times when I saw something wasn’t working and I needed to fix it, instead of waiting and making it a new year’s resolution (bleh!), I made it a goal right then and there.

now, I cannot take full credit for this change. someone who I am very blessed to know and have in my life, was inspired to share some information with me, and that information was just what I needed to hear at just the right time.

three girls is something that I never dreamed I would have to deal with. for some reason, I thought I would have boys. maybe one girl, after all, that pattern seemed to work out pretty awesomely for my mom and dad. I never really got along with girls. I found them to be a little too dramatic and catty for my taste. I got along just fine with boys, and my brothers were my best friends. if I had the choice, to play with a girl friend in my neighborhood, or to hang out and play g.i. joes with my brothers, I would pick playing with my brothers.

don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being a girl, I like to do some girlie things, but to be surrounded by girls? not exactly something I thought I could handle.

so you might be able to imagine the shock when I was told I was having a girl the first time around. I was so sure little lynn was going to be a boy. (I still have little boy clothes with tags on them, in my cedar chest, that is how certain I was that I was going to have boys.) then, there came ashley. I was hoping for a boy, because I was freaked out (!!!) about having a second girl. how would a mother daughter-daughter relationship work out with two girls?! but we adapted, and really couldn’t picture life any other way. the fact that peyton was yet another girl, seemed to come as no surprise. if we were to have one more (just one more merrill?!?) we would most definitely want another girl. we have a system established here.

but as the years have come and gone, the drama has seemed to increase. life progressing certainly doesn’t help in that area. with progression came school, homework, extra-curricular activities, friends, different personalities developing, and lots of emotion associated with them all.

now, I’ve always known that I take after my dad more than I do my mom, so it seemed as though the patience thing just wasn’t in me. oh, I tried, and usually failed miserably by the end of the day. I prayed, I fasted, how I tried!!!

this last year, it seemed that the volume to life in our home was always set to yell, and I was the one yelling. I hated it.

again, there were the attempts to change, but I always fell to my old ways, not that it worked and provided the results I desired. I think the girls became experts at ignoring me which only made me yell louder.

I was not the kind of mother I wanted to be.

it was the day after ashley’s birthday. I went out to play volleyball with friends and have some much needed time out of the house. I was feeling like a horrible mom. there was a constant prayer in my head and in my heart, pleading to be better, to find something that would help me.

that is where my inspired friend comes in.

sometimes, after a physically exerting game of volleyball (hahaha…), we would leave and go get ourselves a cold treat. (frosties at wendy’s are the best. try a chocolate frosty float with orange soda. really. you are welcome.) that night, we were having our treat, talking about things that were going on in our lives, doing what good friends do best, listening and supporting. she had just attended a parenting conference and was telling me about some of the techniques they discussed. this was what I needed to hear.

no yelling. speak slow and low. don’t toss out punishments or consequences with anger or emotion, think about them for a while. find the best, fool-proof one and stick to it! let consequences happen. don’t rescue your kids. take deep breaths. lots of deep breaths.

so many more things were said, and it was just what I needed.

I promised myself that from that point on I would not yell at my girls.

I haven’t yelled (out of anger) since that day. That was three months ago.

the girls listen to me now. they take me more seriously, because I sound sane.

I have yelled, to call them to dinner, stuff like that, but never out of anger. when I yell for those things, they listen to me!! I get a response!

while I was painting peyton’s room, she was admiring my handiwork and backed-up in awe towards the wet wall. when I yelled her name, to get her attention, so she wouldn’t pinkify her clothes, she ran to me. see, they listen now that yelling isn’t a part of their everyday existence.

what is even more amazing to me, is how easy it has been. yelling is no longer my first reaction to any situation.

I have taken such deep breaths, I have nearly lost consciousness.

I have rolled my eyes (while my back was turned, of course!) so far that they have nearly gone up inside my head.

I have talked so slowly, and so lowly, I swear they have stopped breathing to better hear me.

my punishments are so well thought out and calculated, my children are actually fearful of consequences.

ashley has always been the one to push the limits when it comes to my threats. she questions every single detail. she learned a lesson the hard way one sunday.

she was being a complete stink. merrill was home with peyton who wasn’t feeling well, so it was me, playing single mom at church and ashley was misbehaving. I have a problem with certain behavior in the chapel and will not put up with it so she was warned to cut it out. if she didn’t, we would clean out her room when we got home. I would leave only her bed and clothing in her room. but she pushed it.

(mind you the kid just had a birthday!! birthday = lots of new, super fun stuff.)

“will you leave my light? will you leave my curtains?” a little giggle was added after each question. “will you leave me door? what about my carpet?” I warned her again to stop, and she didn’t, so we left and sat in the foyer where she continued.

“seriously, will I have a light mom?”

she thought she was hilarious.

I warned her again, that if she kept it up, we would go home where she would have to sit in her empty room for the same amount of time that we would have been in sacrament meeting, and I didn’t want to go home without taking the sacrament.

but because she likes to push it, she kept it up.

now I had a choice: I could let her continue to act this way, and ignore it, not follow through with my punishment of having her sit in her empty room for the duration of sacrament meeting, or I could follow through, take her home, make her sit in her empty room for and hour and stare at all the emptiness.

I stuck to it. she did not want to go. we went down that hall, lynn leading out, me dragging ashley as she promised and cried that she would be good. she begged and pleaded as I nearly pulled her arm out of its socket. once we were outside, I lugged her up onto my hip and carried her like a sack of very uncooperative potatoes.

she was afraid now. pretty sure she regretted her earlier behavior.

once we were home, I made her sit on the stairs as she watched me, merrill, lynn, and peyton, clean out her room and take everything downstairs to one of the unfinished bedrooms. trip after trip past her with her beloved belongings, her face progressively fell sadder and sadder. then, she got to sit in that empty room for an hour and fifteen minutes. at the end of her sentence, I went in and explained to her just what she did, what consequence I laid out, and how I followed through with it. I also explained to her that she would have chances to earn back her belongings everyday.

if she got out of bed without protesting and got ready for school without me nagging her, she would get to pick out one of her belongings.

if she came home from school, got her homework done without complaining, she would get to pick out another.

if she behaved well the rest of the evening, following rules, respecting others, and getting ready for bed without problems, she would get to pick out a third item before bedtime.

if she did other things that were pleasing during the day, there would be more chances to retrieve her belongings.

that first night, she had the chance to earn two belongings back, and I picked that number purposefully. I knew she would want a doll or stuffed animal to sleep with, and I knew she would most definitely want her music to fall asleep to. merrill and I would be the judges of how many she got to pick out. she needed to be respectful of others for the rest of the evening (one) and get ready for bed without complaint (two).

she only earned one, because the kid has issues with boundaries, so she was sad to only have a doll to snuggle and no music.

the next day, you know she was doing everything she was expected to do, and the first thing she picked out of the basement was her cd player.

she still has stuff to earn back out of that basement, and that is because I am sticking to it!

I am so proud of myself.

I am not doing it alone, I pray for help everyday. it is a huge help though, that I made the decision to change.

I also have to credit that one amazing friend, who shared what she had learned, not even knowing how awful I felt about where I was. she was truly inspired.

the spirit in our home is not always the best, we all still need to improve how we react, but it is so much better.

it feels so good to not yell.

an update on the painfully obvious.

2012-01-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

so I believe we have already established the fact that merrill does not like the obviously stated.

(remember? he doesn’t like it.)

but I certainly cannot help myself.

I believe I smell a terrific april fool’s joke.

about them eggs…

2012-01-04T21:52:00.001-07:00

they were very anticipated.

we didn’t make it to midnight.

(didn’t want to!)

and they were harder to crack that I thought. a little pain, offense, then revenge was experienced.

(don’t be jealous of peyton’s bedtime get-up. I know you want one just like it.)

here’s the infliction of the pain:

evidence of the pain and trust me, she’s a little offended here.

and here would be the wind-up for the revenge whack:

hope your new year is as awesome as ours is already.

the whole bushman family

2012-01-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

so I am used to the smaller lot of the bushman clan. used to bribing one of the wee ones with suckers, but this was (almost) the whole gang, and it was cold, but it was fun. I must say that the cold lent to some pretty awesome frost that had the normally not so cute foliage looking spectacular.

and, well, let’s be completely honest, this is why I like to take pictures of the bushman family:

love ya nat!!

the 2012 outlook.

2012-01-03T17:16:00.001-07:00

**before I really get into this post, I have to say that the information in italics is all in fun, just a joke, not serious, playful in fashion, not in any way sincere, totally in jest. I am not full of myself nor do I think I am awesome (all the time). it was just a funny story, and a great lead-off into the things I would like to do in the year to come. okay? so don’t go reading on and get all huffy and call me a snob. I am only kidding.**

(imagine that this picture is in italics, kay?)

it was suggested in our sacrament meeting on sunday, to write your goals (or resolutions, if you prefer) on a 3x5 card, and tape them to the mirror as a way to help you to remember them everyday. I just happened to be sitting next to my best friend (who appreciates my sense of humor) and suggested to her that we had nothing to resolve this year, nothing that needed improving.

“we might as well go home and write, ‘continue being awesome’ on our 3x5 card.”

that earned a giggle.

we listened to this particular speaker end the meeting and I said, “okay, let’s go home and write our resolution on our card!”

right after that, the opening chords of our closing hymn were played by the organist.

you’ll never guess what our closing hymn was.

“be thou humble”.

“is this a sign?” I was sincerely worried. but only a little.

so I am not one to necessarily believe in “resolutions”. I prefer the word “goals” and I also prefer this “self-improvement” process to be an on-going one, not one that happens once a year.

(apparently I prefer quotation marks as well.)

there are many things I find that I need to improve upon throughout the course of the year, and as I discover those things, I readjust as needed. but there are things I would like to accomplish within the course of that same year, and make those my goals.

I prefer not to set outlandish goals, things that will set me up to fail, things that will be entirely out of my control, like “win the lottery”. yeah, cause I have all power there.

I set realistic goals, things that I am truly interested and personally invested in, things I know I can do, and things in which I will have the support of my family and friends.

for example: I will never set a goal to not eat sugar. that is too unrealistic for me. I will also be lacking in the “support of my best friend” area, because that is something we enjoy doing together. dude, I am so not sacrificing good times with my best friend, oh, and I don’t wanna quit sugar. do I look that crazy? I so wouldn’t last a day. nope. not a single day.

instead, I set a goal to eat sugar every day. that way, I win. every day. and if I don’t, well, I really don’t feel like a failure.

so this year, for the very beginning of the year, I have two things (because small is so manageable) that I have set out to accomplish.

- crochet school.

- get better acquainted with my new camera friend.

okay, so somebody might look at me and say I already know something about both of those things. yup, I do. and I enjoy them, and I can get better at both!

see, they are things I like. so there’s my motivation. and like I said earlier, there is always room for improvement (no matter how awesome you are). and they are totally realistic.

I will most likely add to this list as time goes on. so the fun is guaranteed to continue.

I decided long ago that I was done looking at everything I hadn’t accomplished the year before, almost taking inventory of my failures, and starting the year trying to be something that I obviously really didn’t want to be, and hating every second of it, feeling every inch of failuredom (totally invented a word, should have put “invent a new word” on that list) and feeling like a sucky horrible person every day I didn’t do what I thought I might just pull off.

I also learned to not make those lists too long. crazy long lists are also motivation killers.

last thing I want on my hands is a murder.

so there you have it. I have picked the things that I am genuinely interested in, have motivation to further my skills and knowledge, and I am excited! so they won’t take a year to do, but I am guaranteed to grow during the process.

so go ahead, give yourself permission to go and be awesome this year.

(and if you are interested in crochet school, you should do it with me. I dare you!)

orange dreamsicle fudge

2011-12-31T14:54:00.001-07:00

if you are anything like me, summertime means dreamsicles. sure, winter time could mean that same thing, if I weren’t wrapped-up in a cozy blanket, reading a good book, knitting or crocheting, all with a cup of cocoa or spiced cider.

otherwise, a dreamsicle would be perfect!!

but, I discovered something whilst perusing pinterest, and we have since decided it is a winner.

(we’ve also made two pans of it. in one week.)

orange dreamsicle fudge.

Here’s the link and below is the recipe.

(and might I suggest, you have a cooking buddy handy, because two people is helpful for this recipe!)

1.5 sticks) butter

2- cups granulated sugar

3/4- cup heavy cream

1- package (12 oz) white chocolate chips

1- jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream (or fluff)

1- tablespoon orange extract

orange (or a combination of red and yellow) food coloring

Prepare a 9 x 13 pan by spraying it with cooking spray (they suggest lining it with foil as well, but it worked just fine without.)

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cream, and butter over medium heat.

Continually stir the mixture until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.

Brush down the sides with a wet pastry brush.

Bring the mixture to a boil, and once it starts boiling, stir continuously for four minutes.

After four minutes of boiling, remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the marshmallow cream and white chocolate chips.

Stir until the white chocolate has melted and the fudge is completely smooth.

Working quickly, pour about a third of the white fudge into a bowl and set aside.

To the remaining fudge, add the orange extract and orange food coloring, stirring until it is a smooth, even color. It is important to perform these steps quickly, because the fudge will start to set if you take too long, and the end result will not be smooth

Pour the orange fudge into the prepared pan and spread it into an even layer.

Drop the white fudge over the top by the spoonful, then drag a table knife or toothpick through the fudge to create orange-white swirls. You can spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray and gently press them into the top to smooth out the swirls, if desired.

Allow the fudge to set at room temperature for 2 hours, or in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

To cut, pull the fudge out of the pan using the foil as handles. (or not.)

Use a large sharp knife to cut the fudge into small 1-inch squares. Store Orange Creamsicle Fudge in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week, and bring it to room temperature to serve.

new year festivities and junk.

2011-12-30T22:09:00.001-07:00

so I have had grand ideas for our little new year’s celebration.

we are historically known for going to bed long before midnight, and this year will be no exception. we will start 9-12 church block which means structured bedtime at our house.

we still like to have fun things for the kids to do, and those are usually noisemakers of some kind. this one year, it was sticking popcorn kernels up your nose, apparently. so this year, I was trying my darndest to think ahead, and get something fun together. you know, something that says, “you just had a rip-roaring good time, now go to bed without complaining, mmmkay?”

and then came racheal ray.

I am going to tell you this little story that is much too long and perhaps even a tad unnecessary, but I have to let you know how I got to rachael ray.

here, where I reside, her show comes on at 10 am. that is the slot of another show I love(ed), and thusly, really didn’t watch too much of our dear rachael. until a couple of months ago. my favorite local show started evolving, the co-hosts found other jobs, and slowly but surely, 3 of the four hosts were gone. it is a bit painful to watch. it just isn’t the same. so my 10 am folding the laundry, or cleaning the kitchen, or even some days, fixing my hair, tv viewing time has been going through a change.

that is how rachael ray entered my life.

and then there was this episode:http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/sabrina-sotos-new-years-eve-decorating-tips/

and I was sold.

sabrina sotos had my new fun, rip-roaring good time idea.

cascarones.

(or in normal person speak: confetti filled eggs.)

so here you go..

1. get a bunch of eggs, like one for each person. hold them tightly (but not too tightly) in your less-dominant hand and poke a hole in the pointy end with a nail. stick that nail into the egg and twist it around, like you are mixing the egg up inside the shell, because, well, you are, and you need to! then poke a hole, a little larger this time, in the other end.

2. get out a clean bowl (and be thinking of recipes that require eggs!! we have cupcakes and oatmeal butterscotch cookies currently on the countertop, and omelets on the meal menu.) and put your cute little mouth around one end of that egg and blow! just like you are the big bad wolf.

(I know, my analogies are incredible!!)

3. wash out your egg and let them dry. I used a q-tip to get out some of the white that was left by the hole and my trusty blow dryer.

4. spray paint those babies!! (if you want, but it is what all the cool kids do.)

I put mine on sucker sticks that I stuck into a block of styrofoam.

let ‘em dry.

5. after they are dry, and not while they are wet like my hands can prove I did (I look like the freaking tin man over here!), take your eggs, and with an awesomely crafted paper funnel, fill your egg up, about half way with confetti.

6. after filling your eggs, gently (cause these are eggs dudes), brush on mod-podge around the edges of your hole. place a small square of tissue paper and mod-podge over the top of that.

7. try to be patient, and let them dry.

(or go bake something with all of your eggs!!)

8. now you have a choice, you can glitter these up, to try to camouflage your tissue paper, or you can leave them, or you can be awesome and spray paint them again!!

(I totally did.)

and then I was really patient and let them dry while I made packaging for them.

the story with these mess-makers goes something like this:

and my kiddos will be busting them over each others’ heads outside, and I will probably vacuum them off on the porch.

don’t they go well with these?

(another new year’s eve celebration essential…)

(click on the pics for supplies.)

have a happy new year!!!

gunning for “mother of the year”.

2011-12-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

I might just totally get it too.

so we had a little cold floating around our house before thanksgiving. it went from peyton, to me, to ash, and it was fun!

so when december rolled around, and some of us were still suffering from some cold-like symptoms, still, I thought it was just that, the cold.

then ashley started to complain that her head hurt (here’s where “mother of the year” comes in). complaints would start rolling in as soon as it was bedtime, and being the night-owl she is, I thought it was all a ruse so she would get to stay up late. but the complaints stayed consistent, and being the great mother I am, I drugged her up with some good old tylenol. I thought that perhaps, she wasn’t getting enough hydration, enough sleep?

so this goes on for a week, maybe more. face it, I am running for “mother of the year”, I really didn’t keep track.

then one night, I start to realize that my head has been hurting too.

(I was sure it was a result from the complaints and lack of sleep on my end of the deal.)

then my teeth start to hurt.

there was junk in my throat too.

then the pieces (the first ones anyway) fell into place.

I had a sinus infection!

then a light bulb went on in my little noodle; and it sounded like gru from “despicable me”.

“yight bulb.”

ashley had a sinus infection too.

so I took us, and our twin sinus infections to the doctor, to pay twin co-pays, and twin doctor bills soon as well, and got us a couple of prescriptions.

then I went and stocked-up on more drugs, cause that advil congestions relief is awesome.

things got better, kind of.

then ashley got all itchy.

ashley is allergic to penicillin.

so fun!

so our christmas break consisted of her, getting in her three doses of azithromycin, and ensuring that the doctor noted her new allergy on her chart.

I am so thankful thankful that I am able to instant message my doctor!

(and not have a new co-pay to pay…)

see, “mother of the year” material here.

kennadee

2011-12-29T18:14:00.001-07:00

this is my sweet friend’s baby.

she has been a long waited addition for their family, a source of healing for them.

she is a beauty!

(and not that I am complaining about baby boys, but it was fun to have a baby girl to photograph!!)

and with some fun edits:

kennadee with her big brother kenner..

and yawning.. because it is so cute!! my newest favorite.

the day dictionary.com helped me be a good mom.

2011-12-29T17:40:00.001-07:00

so we’ll just say that there has a lot been going on around these parts. sure, sure, you have most likely been busy too. whatever.

but there was this one day, roughly two weeks ago (I know cause my antibiotic just ran out..) and ash was home from school after having a bad night, trying to sleep with a sinus headache.

(yeah, I am sure that I am in the running for mother of the year for that story.)

so, being sleep deprived and not feeling too well, she was understandably a bit emotional as well. she came and snuggled in my lap, and started to tell me how she was sad and didn’t like going to school, that kids were mean to her, one kid in particular.

the situation was one that some might not think too serious, but in our family, there are certain words, language that is not acceptable. in our home, we try to have an atmosphere of love, and we just don’t say certain things.

so this kid was apparently telling ashley that she was stupid and also an idiot.

(so here’s a tangent for your enjoyment, merrill and I still find occasion to use these words, when they fit, but we don’t say these words, we have changed them just a smidge so the kiddos don’t catch on, and if they do use them, nobody else knows what the crap they are talking about. stupid = stubbid and idiot = idjuwit.)

I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to simply tell her, “well, you aren’t.” I sat there, trying to keep my anger in check, my knee-jerk reaction from coming out first, and thought about what my response to her should really be. we’d had problems with this kid previously, and I was trying to be wise in my approach, not wanting to dredge up past incidences and tell her that basically this kid was just what they were calling her.

then the thought hit me.

use the dictionary.

it’s an approach I’ve taken with lynn recently while doing homework, I make her work out the bulk of it instead giving her all the answers, telling her what or how things are.

(oh, and she loves it!!)

(that was sarcasm by the way. it has been a while, I was afraid you forgot what my sarcasm sounded like!)

so we went to dictionary.com and looked up each word. as I read the definitions to each one, I asked her, “are you any of those things?”

“no.”

“then you don’t worry about what anyone else says to you. you know you are not those things.”

it worked.

and that is the story of how dictionary.com helped me to be a better mom.

oh, and it was also pretty great of me to go and talk to her teacher about the problem. her teacher is a saint!

I mustache you question…

2011-12-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

isn’t this line the cutest?!

(click on layout for list of full credits.)

echo park’s latest “times & seasons” has these great elements for both heritage/traditional type pages, and then stuff for the funny/silly/hairy variety.

perfect for a few pictures taken at lake powell with our fake mustaches.

(thanks jaclyn, those were a blast!!!)

so many more fun and exciting things going on here.. fun activities, darling pictures, silly stores, etc.

but those will have to come after I wrap all of those christmas gifts.

(and cram in everything else I let wait until the week of…)

I am aiming at getting that chore done before christmas eve. there is nothing quite like staying up until 3 am (christmas morning, really) wrapping gifts, thinking about how all of this hard work and lost sleep will be in the garbage can within hours.

there’s some christmas spirit for ya!!

sweet baby luke.

2011-12-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

one week old babies are now my new favorite.

they smell so good.

they sleep so good.

they are just sweet!

here’s luke:

funny story about sweet luke’s dad..

his dad and I went to the same school in the sixth grade. his family moved into my neighborhood the summer right before sixth grade. he and his very cute four brothers were like fresh produce at the grocery store. all the girls adored them. I crushed on luke’s dad pretty hard.

his family moved a town away, but we all stayed close. we saw each other every once in a while, and then he and his wife moved into our neighborhood.

they are such a sweet family!

so happy I got to photograph little luke.

I’m dreaming of a toothless Christmas.

2011-12-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

here is my sweet ash:

this time last night, she lost her first tooth.

in this pic her cheeks are still slightly tear-stained and her eyes a bit shiny. she didn’t take to this development very well initially.

I can honestly tell you that my kids can bribe me. sounds backwards I know. but if they want something, and they have a loose tooth, they will get what they want just about every time if the words, “and I will let you wiggle my tooth” are attached.

that is how ashley lost her tooth last night.

I cannot recall what it was she wanted.

I just remember that I got to wiggle her little tooth. then, it got stuck behind her other front tooth and she wanted it “back to normal”. but that was not what she got. I got it out of it’s stuck position in every way. got it out of her mouth.

lynn freaked.

(she doesn’t like blood.)

her freaking freaked merrill.

ashley cried.

she looked at herself and said, “now I look ugly!”

she said she wasn’t going to go to school because, “everyone will look at me.”

we talked about that and decided that it wouldn’t be that bad. today was a half day, so they would only look at her for half of the day. by the next full day, it would be old news.

(but I am sure her classmates will still look at her.)

when ash initially told me she had a loose tooth, I assumed it was a bottom guy. I am still weirded-out by the tooth-falling-out-order situation with this kid. I mean, she refused to be born the conventional way (not that I am complaining. I loved the c-section. but it was pricey!), she is pretty stubborn about most things in life, and now, her teeth are going to fall out all wonky.

(totally kidding. I am aware that there is no set order for this occurrence.)

I am just accustomed to the bottom middle guys taking the fall first.

the second emotion I felt when she first told me of her loose tooth was sadness. was she really getting older and reaching another milestone?

I thought I told her to knock this business off…

and her perfect little teeth..

those perfect baby teeth…

(sigh.)

but now, I am loving this gap, and the cute little lisp that accompanies it.

she likes the perfect little nook in which to stick her straw.

she got over her sadness when we started talking about all the pros to this situation, like the straw thing, the tooth fairy, and how she would be queen of the day today. popsicles also helped. she picked out her own box at the store and promptly turned her whole mouth green.

as part of the “queen of the day” arrangement we have here, tonight, she picked dinner: spaghetti and meatballs. she enjoyed feeding herself spaghetti through her new gap.

I am hoping for the next door fellow (who is also loose) to fall out soon. would prefer it to fall out before christmas, cause really, it would just be too cute!

sugar cookie bars: more “pinspiration”.

2011-12-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

so when there was nothing better to do, I perused pinterest and saw that one of my friends had recently pinned a rather tasty looking treat.

I thought, “how perfect for my family!! they love sugar cookies.” I don’t so much love the mess. whenever I roll out the cookie dough, little hands want some to either eat, or roll, roll again, then re-roll to make one nasty looking cookie. a totally inedible cookie.

this recipe is perfect because you make the dough, spread it in a pan and bake it. we love our sugar cookies THICK, with lots of frosting, so this was perfect!

I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand, so I made my usual buttercream and everyone was happy.

(although, I know someone might just fall over in shock, but I thought it was too much frosting.)

(gasp.)

here’s the pin.

here’s the recipe:

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13 x 18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean (they won't look done so do the toothpick test). Cool completely and frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 of an 8 oz block) softened
1 tsp vanilla (I used almond extract for half of the frosting)
¼ tsp salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)
For frosting combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk a little at a time and mix until smooth and spreading consistency. You may not need all the milk! Spread over cooled cookie bars.

so go and try them out, use some fun sprinkles!

our countdown to christmas.

2011-12-06T20:03:00.001-07:00

so, sure, we have many countdowns to christmas. many. but how can you resist making another cute one? this one will end up in the trash in the end anyway..

we have darling countdowns that grandma pitcher made years ago, reminiscent of the ones she’d made for her own kids years ago. they are sweet, and something I have used, but have had trouble with, with the girls at different ages.

with the ones she made for us, you tie each treat onto a long fabric strip with ribbon. my problem usually comes in with my hands (thank you genes and arthritis..). it’s always cold, and sometimes stormy, which is a great little story problem that equals aching hands in my situation. the second problem is one, two, or three little girls, who like to steal treats prematurely. then I get ornery because chances are, my hands are still hurting after the initial 75 treat tie-ons, and then there is one (most likely more), treat to tie on.

(now I shouldn’t blanket blame all three.. it’s usually a certain culprit.. ahemashleyahem.. who likes to take their sisters’ treats and say that they did it.)

(it is also partly my fault, as they inherited my sweet tooth.)

so I started thinking about this waaaay back in november, and came up with a pretty sweet solution.

(bonus: it is also up cycling!!)

so if you can’t tell, we’ve been saving toilet paper rolls like they are spare change.

it didn’t take us long.. helps to have the hotel pitching in.

I placed three treats in each empty roll cardboard core thing, wrapped it in tissue paper (okay, merrill did), and then twisted the ends, and tied them off with some string.

(okay, merrill did that part too. my hands aren’t hurting!! sweetheart.)

I printed off papers that are brand-spanking new from jessica sprague + heidi swapp (genius combo. can not go wrong there.). cut them to fit my rolls (got enough for 4 from each 8.5 x 11 sheet), and then taped them on the back side. I finished each one off with a number to identify just how many more days until christmas, that I printed off and punched with a 1 inch circle punch and stuck that on with a glue dot.

getting them all hooked-up together wasn’t as easy as I initially thought. I tried glue-dotting the heck out of them, but they just wouldn’t stay. it was too heavy. so I resorted to my trusty old glue gun.

worked awesomely.

I took a small piece of ribbon and hot-glued that to the top roll to use as a hanger.

now, all the treats are concealed, and safe, until the right day comes.

the girls tear off one side and there’s the treats!

but really, I love these papers..

love these colors!!

trying really hard not to re-do the scheme of the tree this year….

and it would totally work, I re-painted the wall in the family room as one of my “keep yourself busy because merrill ditched us for two weeks” projects.

links to jessica + heidi’s new collections here and here.

dudes… they are totally on sale now too, along with a ton of other products!!!

not boasting or bragging, just saying we are blessed.

2011-12-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

we endured quite the storm here.

it was a great night for a windstorm of epic proportions to keep us awake.

(that was sarcastic.)

I had jury duty the next day. (yay!!)

(more sarcasm.)

and the wind was howling. so on top of noise, my mind starts going, worrying about all the possibilities of what the wind could do. the only thing I worried about, that I could do anything about, was to check on the garbage cans. that was at 2:22 am.

the garbage cans were fine.

(miraculously.)

when my alarm went off later that same morning, I instinctively went to my knees in prayer.

“bless and protect our family and friends this day. bless the girls at school. bless merrill at work. help peyton and I to travel in safety. protect our home in this storm.”

it seemed kind of petty to worry about our home, but a lesson that has been taught to me repeatedly is this:

if it is important to me, it is important to heavenly father.

so it wasn’t so silly to pray about my house. I really didn’t want to come home later that day to find stress and mess waiting for us.

the girls and I watched as one tree toppled over. it fell from one neighbor’s yard over the fence onto the other neighbor’s yard. numerous other trees were already down around the neighborhood, fences down or panels blown out of them. garbage, tarps, toys, branches.. just about anything you can imagine floated through our neighborhood.

our bird feeder was making all too much noise hanging from the rain gutter, banging against the eaves of the house. it was slowly breaking apart, one piece coming off after another. I decided to go outside and take it down. so I grabbed the broom, but still couldn’t get it down (my height being my handicap). so I grabbed the kids picnic table, and looked the part of a fool (or maybe you can picture a weather man on the news, standing outside in a hurricane to prove that it’s windy?), trying to walk while carrying a small table. when I finally got it to where it needed to be, solidifying the image of fool, I climbed on top of the table, in my stocking feet, to get that bird house down. to the horror of my children in the window watching me, the wind began to blow me, sliding me and my stocking feet off the table. I eventually got the birdhouse down. it did not survive.

as peyton and I drove down the street we noted more damage. we only stopped because we knew we were supposed to, but the stop sign was bent to the ground.

my younger brother texted me to check on us.

“we are fine, but others around us aren’t.”

I received phone calls throughout the day, giving updates about damage and power outages.

when I got home at the end of the day, the winds were slightly calmer. people were attempting to clean up.

our home was safe. hardly touched.

so we had a two foot piece trim and a downspout fly off. our bird feeder and hummingbird nectar holder were also casualties of the storm. not a single shingle was shed from my roof. but nothing more.

other people aren’t as lucky. our old house had a tree on top of it and many good friends are having roofs re-roofed, trees removed from their yards.

I had to laugh to myself, laugh to keep from crying, when my dad told me what he did as he got up early that same day.

“I told heavenly father what the deal was.. asked him to protect our family.”

our prayers were answered.

we do have trash to clean up, more leaves to rake. and somebody’s kiddie pool to dispose of in our back yard, but we are blessed.

mayes family

2011-12-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

this is my family.

(I must say that we are a good-looking bunch.)

all of those darling grandkids…

my grandpa with some of his great-grandkids.

my mom and dad, me and my siblings and their spouses.. oh, and merrill too.

and this is what happens when you tell everyone to kiss whoever is next to them:

(I especially love the front row.. ashley, james, cade pretending he’s gonna smooch levi..)

us kids and grandpa… he was such a good sport.

mom and dad with grandpa. grandpa was the only one who kept his eyes on the camera and didn’t talk while this picture was taken. it took many tries to get this..

and then there’s mom and dad. they have always taught us how important it is to be affectionate.

(I think it should be my mom’s new facebook profile picture..)

the universe discovered who I married and is now, most assuredly working against me.

2011-12-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, I had a washing machine. it lost it’s water level adjuster knobby thingie twice (once we retrieved it from the nether-regions of the washer, the next time, not). it also made a horribly horrendous banging/clanging/serial killer is coming after you loudly sound as it spun and the load became un-balanced. it also leaked something awful. that leakage was worsened by the fact that the laundry room at this particular house does not have a drain in the floor. those are quite convenient when you know the luxury of having one. this old (as in former, and well, aged) washing machine of mine also had an agitator that resembled a new york city skyscraper.

(i.e. it stuck up out of the bottom of the washing machine tub.)

now this agitator did not only agitate the laundry, it agitated me as well.

it liked to tie our clothing in knots. knots so wonderfully tied that I could usually take one whole load of laundry out, in one knotty mound, and deposit it into the dryer. one shot.

(it was really quite annoying. one sleeve being longer than the other? that is not fashionable.)

now something must be said of how excellent my dryer is. it could magically untie that massive knotted mound of wet clothes quite magically. wonderful dryer..

(that is why I kept it around, and the washer.. well, not so much. what did it magically do for me?)

that old agitating washing machine also liked to munch on drawstrings like they were rope licorice and get them all in a tangled, wet, tightly wound mess. they would wind themselves underneath and around the skyscraper-like agitator. that is quite the olympic feat to get that mess undone, especially when you are 5’ 2” and you are dealing with a super-capacity washer.

(i.e. it’s DEEP.)

during it’s last few weeks with us, it started to smell something awful. I later found that along with a leakage problem, it also had a drainage problem. old water would get stuck inside the washer, and well, I discovered that it smelled like fish tank water. fish tank water that has a fish or two (or ten) swimming and eating and pooping in it for a good month. that little issue made our laundry smell not so freshly laundered. it was quite gross and it gave merrill a complex that he had major b.o. for a couple of days.

(that was kind of funny.)

but the thing that that agitating agitator did that was so extremely agitating, and is now coming back to bite my butt is this:

it tore a hole in the back of my waterproof mattress pad.

(okay, not mine, per say, but one that I purchased for the girls’ beds.)

so I was thinking, the last time I laundered this wonderful waterproof mattress protector, it really isn’t a big deal. if I place this spot where the hole torn in the protective plastic goes, at the foot of the bed, where littlest wee-wee-er can’t really get any wet mess, I will be totally jake.

(jake as meaning “okay” or “alright”.)

that is what I was thinking.

not only that, I thought I was really covering my bases putting it on ashely’s bed, who hasn’t done anything wet in her bed in years.

situation neutralized, or so I thought.

then one night, the universe, who apparently has a beef with my dear husband as I have explained in the past, discovered who it is that I am legally and lawfully wedded to.

you see, peyton, who has had an issue with this whole nonsense of daylight savings time, has tried to sneak away either right before dinner (like as I am making it) or during, when my choice of meal preparation for the night has somehow offended her, and takes herself a nap.

then, there is part two of the most recent issues with my wee-est child, she has started wetting-the bed (and the couch, and the floor) again. only during bedtime and these aforementioned ill-timed naps.

so here is where the universe started laughing in my face:

one night, when my choice of cheesy potato soup offended this little girl, she went to take a nap. after we finished eating (because cold cheesy potato soup is not delicious), we all went hunting for the kid. she was not in her bed, not by her bed, not in her closet, nor on the couch. no floor held her. not even my bed had she chosen.

she was asleep at the foot of ashley’s bed.

where she peed.

which pee, went straight through that four inch square space that was not protected by awesomely protective waterproof mattress plastic protectant, and soaked right down through that flowery mattress.

awesome, universe.

since when aren’t we friends?

needless to say, we have been giving lots of bubble baths, washing lots of sheets, using lots of fabric softener, and I bought a case of goodnights. I am sure they would be more helpful (and I happier) if I used them for good-ill-timed-naps as well.

in closing, I would like to add that our family got a new washer as an early christmas gift (thankyouverymuch!) and I love it. I could watch the laundry be laundered all day long.. it is quite fascinating, really. and I fixed my dryer which had an issue. I wasn’t about to keep that agitating washer around much longer. sure we could have repaired it’s issue(s) all except for that one, very agitating one.

baby cole.

2011-12-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

this little guy was a complete dream to photograph! now, I am not dissing any of the other babies whose pictures I’ve snapped, it’s just that this little guy never fussed, and slept better than my own offspring ever did! what normally takes an hour, hour and a half took us a half of an hour and we breezed through.

I will admit, the sound of the shutter made him jump at first, then it must have been like white noise to him because he was out!

the end of november, really?

2011-11-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

it’s is hard for me to believe that november is pretty much over. I mean, it went by so fast! it helped that I was a single mother for nearly half of it. those were days that I prayed would pass quickly.

so here we are, at the end of the thankful train. not sure I got out all that I was thankful for, I know I didn’t post every day like I wanted to. but hey, there is always next year, right?

I am thankful for the gifts and talents I have been blessed with. there are many things I enjoy doing, and most of those things are to the credit of others teaching me how to do them. I am thankful for many creative people in an inspirational world, who share, teach, and inspire me daily.

here’s a couple of layouts with products from some pretty amazing talented women.

(click on images for full credits.)

so if you love what you see, there is a pretty amazing sale going on at jessica sprague. save up to 35% on product and 20% on classes (even the new ones)!! they would make some pretty fun gifts.. for you or someone you love.

not to mention a FREE holiday class. she does this every year! how sweet.. it starts monday, so go register!

(click here to register.)

now go tell your friends!

not so great with the follow-through.

2011-11-29T19:04:00.001-07:00

so I realized, I said I was going to catch up on the picture-posting, and well, I haven’t.

I could toss out any number of excuses, the effects of a head cold, the effects of little people when they are sick, holidays, houses, global warming..

but really? like any of those have stopped me?

(okay, maybe a couple have aided me in my failure..)

so I am going to attempt to rectify this situation. and I will do you one better than that, I will even get a thankful thing out too!

what better way to start than to start off with my best friend. mostly because she is my best friend, but secondly because she is amazing, and so is her family. and then, well, because she is my best friend.

I am so thankful (if you can’t tell already) that she is part of my life. I am so thankful to have her right next door pretty much any time I need her, or anytime I just want to be near her. she was my sanity while merrill was gone for two weeks (far, far too long a period of time for that man to be absent), and she has been the sidekick to many of my creative projects (many of which were undertaken while merrill was gone). she is there to listen to me, talk me off of a cliff, ledge, or any other bad spot in life. we laugh a lot and she never makes me feel guilty about my choice in food groups (sugar anyone?). my family loves her. partly because she notifies me when our favorites have gone on sale at a local store, but mostly because she helps me maintain my sanity.

I am thankful for her family too. I love her kids! we enjoy double dating when we can, and love getting our families together (although it has been a while..).

I am thankful that she asked me to snap some new family pics this fall. it is always a good time with them. it is quite an honor to capture a family, especially when it is one I love so much!

love ya ju!!

little lynnie turns 9.

2011-11-24T21:45:00.001-07:00

I was a little (and to say a little, is totally understating it) shocked to think that it has really been 9 years since this kid has entered our lives.

I like to relive every moment of her entering our world, reliving that moment when she made me a mom.

gosh that was awesome!

today, I am thankful for her. she is turning into such a little lady! I mean, she really was all along. sure, she had her dinosaur phase, her super-hero phase, but all the while, underneath it all, she has been a girlie girl. she called lip-gloss and lipstick, “glip-gloss” and “yip-stick” for the longest time. she never went anywhere without it. still doesn’t.

lynn, I love that you love to read, even if it is four different books at a time. I love that you sing, no matter what. even if your friends (or family) give you weird looks, you belt it out. you are silly. I love it when you are tired, and something really tickles that funny bone of yours. that giggle is awesome! I will buy you orbit gum just to hear you do your own version of an orbit commercial. that giggle again…

I am thankful that you are such a great help with your younger sisters. I am so happy to see you take peyton and give her make-overs. I love seeing that special relationship that you have with her. I am so happy that you and ashley are so close. even on the worst days, when you two swear that you will never play with the other one ever again, we can find you two snuggled up together in one of your beds. sometimes you are even asleep! you have inherited my gift of gab, and it is quite entertaining to have you talk, non-stop, as soon as you are in the door after school. I love that you have also inherited my love of carbs. a roll with butter should be considered part of every meal, especially your sack lunch (which is a sandwich, drink, sometimes chips, and cookies). I am thankful that you give everything your best, that you can be so stressed over an up-coming test, but you get 100s like it’s nothing. you give it your all. I know that you and your dad are best buddies, you almost couldn’t survive with him gone for two weeks, but I am thankful for the relationship that we have and that is growing everyday.

I am thankful that it was you who grew in my belly first. you that we get to practice all of our parenting skills on. I am thankful that you are such a good kid, and we don’t have to practice too many things on you (ashley bears the brunt of that, that darn kid). I am thankful for your bedtime kisses, your spontaneous hugs, even though the top of your head is getting ever closer to mine…

I am thankful for how persistent you are at everything you do. even if that means practicing your cartwheels inside the house, in the family room, when I have asked you not to, repeatedly. but you don’t give up!

besides the fact that you look just like your dad, you were meant to come to this family, and I am thankful, above all, to a loving heavenly father who trusts me (somehow) to be your mother.

I love you.

a funny story to tell.

2011-11-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

so I will get to a funny story in a minute, I ought to catch up on those thankful bits and pieces.
- so thankful for date-in nights with merrill. chinese take-out and a flick, time with him, awesome. I should also note that nachos and and a flick on upstairs in the loft for the kiddos is a necessary addition to that awesome date night equation.
- sundays at home with the family. all is quiet in the house, and we just get to be together.
- I am thankful for the talents I have, for the information that is available for me to add to those talents, to strengthen them.
- I am thankful for two days of school this week!!! (although I am questioning if I will make it through…)
- I am thankful for this time of the year, for the holidays, the coziness of home, the baking… having everyone together.
so here’s a funny story:
a friend of mine from school asked if I would take some family pictures for her. I have taken her boys pictures a couple (here and here) of times already, and they are hilarious!! I would just love to photograph ryker’s expressions and drake’s eyes all day long…. anyway, she wanted an orchard, but we were coming up short on an awesome orchard, so we opted for some old (or not so old?) tracks up the canyon. I have been there MANY times, and have only seen a train once. no problems.
we were not on the tracks (at the time) but a little close, and we had an engineer yelling at us and blaring his train horn. how could we tell he was yelling you might ask? head, hanging out of the window, arms flailing, mouth going.. he was yelling.
we continued on with our little shoot only to have a union pacific official come to visit us, make sure we were being safe and give us a heads up that the engineer was calling the sheriff.
our shoot ended a bit prematurely.
now I am not downplaying the safety issue or anything. I felt like we were in a safe spot, like I want to kill my friends? but I do understand how these guys would be extra nervous what with all the accidents that have been going on with trains+people lately. I would be ticked too.
so we had to do part two.
just a few of my favs:
(and by few, I really mean more than a few.)

a few things to be thankful for…

2011-11-18T16:54:00.001-07:00

- the snow falling right this second.

- a husband to back me up when my voice doesn’t sound stern enough.

- tissues.

- triaminic (in both the day time and night formulas).

- bubble baths.

- my new, uber-organized laundry room (it’s awesome I tell you).

- three little girls, who, despite being sick, and all of them being home, are pretty alright.

- cousins who share their babies with me, especially their milestones.

it’s like christmas at the pitcher house.

2011-11-14T09:36:00.001-07:00

seriously.

it started with snow, and then I started in with the christmas tunes, and movies (and for all the bah-humbuggers/grinches, I have a totally valid argument for that, to come later..), and then the scentsy scents, and well, the best present of all…

merrill came home!!!

(it was only two weeks… two very long, much TOO long weeks.)

I found ways to kill time..

painting a couple of rooms.

re-doing my picture wall.

painting a bookcase in the living room.

re-arranging/re-working a couple of rooms.

taking apart and fixing my dryer.

a couple of photo shoots (one in which we had to leave quickly, before the sheriff arrived).

editing photos.

(which I need to catch up on posting, like desperately.)

playing with the girls.

playing just dance with the girls.

watching movies with the girls.

putting little girls to bed early so my brain and emotions could have a release.

and some scrapping…

exciting news at jessica sprague:

pink paislee has joined the ranks of awesome designers there!!

darling stuff there..

(click on layouts for full credits.)

and then there is some new lovely goods from miss samantha walker.

the name of the paper pack I used for this layout is “foundations gray baby”.

and well, if you know me, ever been to my house, you’d know just how much I adore babies and the color gray. I would have painted the whole first floor of my house gray while merrill was gone if I could have also refinished the cabinets.

(but I am not that crazy.)

I will have to post pictures of what I did while the husband was away (for far too long I might remind you again..) soon.

so to catch up on the thankfulness:

friday-

so very thankful that I have lovely pictures of the temple to display in my home. so thankful to have them so abundantly and so near us.

saturday-

I am thankful for my body, for my health and strength, and ability. thankful for the fun (and exercise, and sometimes bruises) I get with good girlfriends playing volleyball. (BEAM!!)

I am thankful for the snow today, and for the “elf” soundtrack. (I will really have to get into my completely valid reasons why christmas is coming before thanksgiving in this house.)

I am thankful for red bull. you see, I was awake at 5:45 and could NOT go back to sleep. I was excited for volleyball, thinking of the finishing touches for a few projects, and mostly because merrill was coming home that night.(!!!!)

no napping. too excited for napping. thankful for red bull.

I didn’t tell the girls about merrill coming home until an hour before we left to get him from the airport. their squeals of delight were awesome (and reminded me why I waited to tell them). I was so thankful, that despite the snow, and many accidents throughout the day, we made it to the airport safely and in time.

that reunion was so sweet!

so thankful that he made it home, because if he hadn’t, I would have lost it.

for real.

sunday-

so thankful to have my WHOLE family under the same roof to enjoy the evening. incredibly thankful for the many prayers that were answered over the course of our two (way too long) weeks.

I think bonus is the word of the day.

2011-11-10T22:30:00.001-07:00

so here I am, at the end of the day, not one, not two, nope, not even three days later.

today I am thankful for things that one might call shallow. but aren’t all things in life that either make life easier, us happier, blessings?

that’s what I thought.

so I am going to count them one by one.

so today I am thankful for the ogden rescue mission’s thrift store. I found a nightstand for peyton’s little room and I scored a bonus chair! (merrill will undoubtedly shake his head at yet, another chair. this one has taken on a new identity of glossy black!) bonus on top of that bonus, my purchase was an additional 25% off the marked prices! bonus bonus.

I needed something to go by her bedside to hold a few special items and I didn’t want it to be just anything, I also wanted it to be a certain color. so there ya go. thrifty finds!

(I am still kicking myself for not buying a small statue for $7 that was of a couple, the woman sitting in a man’s lap, they were passionately making out. would love to have that in my boudoir!)

the other thing I am thankful for is my introduction to polycrylic top coat spray. I recently heard that polyurethane yellows (gross) but polycrylic doesn’t, and as a bonus, it is more durable. has a harder finish.

then, as I moved on from this miracle in a can, I was thinking I would get me some cans of white spray paint. I wanted this nightstand to be high gloss. I thought I knew just what I was going to get, when an extra tall can of glossy white spray paint grabbed my attention (and my heart as I would later discover).

high performance enamel.

professional results. (bonus.)

high durability. (bonus.)

high gloss. (hello, bonus!)

dries in 15 minutes?! (holy bonus of all bonuses!)

dude, you so had me at high performance enamel.

this stuff is amazing.

I am so thankful for it.

it makes a lovely combination with my polycrylic topcoat jobber.

so you see, these seem to be a bit shallow. but you weren’t in my head, dwelling on a night table for my sweet youngest baby. finding things that were waaaay too pricey and oh, so not right. then to find this? and you will remember, I am sure, the sweet baby is 3 going on 4, and well, we need high durability like lindsay lohan needs to rewind the past 6 years of her life (know what I mean?).

so answers indeed.

blessings all around!

a little game we will call “catching up”.. and a funny story for your troubles.

2011-11-09T22:08:00.001-07:00

that’s right, I promised a funny story (now it’s funny) if you can actually stick out this post of catching up on all that I happen to be thankful for.

let’s see…

saturday I was thankful for snow. I wasn’t quite so thankful that it came and bent my poor tree nearly in half, but I was thankful for the great excuse to stay home, snap some first birthday pix of my cousins babies, then snuggle up with my girls and watch some “anne of green gables”.

what can I say, watching anne spelled with an “e” is a tradition with first snowfalls around here.

I was also thankful for the dryer parts that came in the mail, and the repaired dryer. clothes are so much softer (aka not crispy) dried in a dryer versus on a hanger in my bedroom.

sunday I was just thankful that it was a sunday. good heavens, I love that day! I was also thankful for the little break I had from my single parenthood going to choir practice. a half hour can do wonders for the sanity.

monday. I am thankful for pink paint. it is quite cheery. I am also thankful for a best friend who let me borrow her paint rollers, because mine aren’t placed at my home at the moment, and she also let me borrow her body, her ears, she even dispensed comforting advice!

tuesday I found myself still grateful for the best friend, and a mom, who seemed to say all the same things that darn best friend had to say.

I am also thankful for south ogden fire department and a nice guy from questar gas company who made lovely company tuesday evening.

today, well today I am thankful that I have a perfectly pink, perfectly striped little girl room. I am also thankful for a thoughtful mother-in-law who took the girlies to tumbling. I am sure I will be thankful for nyquil in the next hour or so.

so you want a funny story?

(it’s funny now…)

last night, it was not feeling so hot. tired, run-down, had a little headache that was partially crying induced, partially because a certain third grader was arguing over homework, and partially due to the single-parenting situation I have been in the last week and a half.

(but that last little part is a story all by itself.)

I was supposed to go to a birthday dinner for my sweet sister-in-law but wasn’t really feeling up to it, headache, sore throat, swollen eyes and all, so I opted out.

the evening was turning out to be not so bad. peyton decided to fall asleep earlier than she should (thank you daylight savings time…) and I was anticipating her waking up thinking she had an awesome nap and would want to party all night long and allow me a little sleep. as I was getting her ready for bed, trying to do it all slowly and calm like, to keep her asleep, the smoke/carbon monoxide detector starts to be annoying.

I pulled a stool over to see what the deal was. it was the carbon monoxide half of the deal freaking out. I pushed the middle tester button thingie (cause that is what it is technically called nowadays) and then all of them started going off. like as in every one in my house! well, except for the wall guy one in the basement. that one didn’t go off. but the rest were. as I went to put the stool away and find something sharp to put in my ears, all went quiet.

I put the sharp object down (okay, not really, I didn’t grab one in the first place), and went on getting the small people in my house to bed. right after we said bedtime prayers, the blasted thing started going off again.

fantastic.

I decided to play it safe and such, seeing as I am kinda solely in charge of these kiddos, and merrill said he would not be replacing any of them if something happened, got coats on them, all zippered up and hoods on, bundled them up in blankets and sent them out to the front porch while I tried to find a non-emergency number for the fire department.

that was pleasant. alarm going off, and I cannot seem to find the location of that number. so I call my trusty neighbor, the one who is my best friend and lets me borrow lots of stuff.

so I call the non-emergency dispatch number. it refers me to another non-emergency dispatch number. once I finally got a call in to the right non-emergency dispatch, they started asking all the typical carbon monoxide related questions:

“is anybody feeling ill?”

“well, I have a headache, but I know it’s crying related.”

“is there anybody else with you in the home?”

“yes. three children.”

“get them outside immediately.”

“they already are.”

“good. we need to verify your address and then you need to disconnect with me and evacuate the home.”

after I verified the address three times, and evacuated the home, I went outside to sit with the girls. they were having the time of their lives.

it had to have been 20-something degrees.

they were so happy though.

we waited a few minutes and then watched as the fire engine passed our house.

then a police car.

then the police car came back, shined his spotlight on us and asked, “are you the ones who called about carbon monoxide detectors going off?”

“yupperoonies.”

(okay, so I said yes.)

he radioed for the fire engine to come back. apparently, despite verifying my address three times, dispatch got it wrong. while waiting for the fire engine to arrive, we then had a lengthy discussion as to whether I am a south ogden resident or a resident of unincorporated weber county.

it was ridiculous.

dispatch radioed back the correct address and added, “that’s in south ogden.”

ha!

(he was a really nice guy though.)

he asked the girls if any of them were feeling sick, and ashley piped-up, “I am. I am sick of hearing that thing!” isn’t she fantastic?

everyone was so cute with the girls, and they were equally cute with them. the declined to sit in the back of the patrol car and the fire engine. they were having fun after all.

after checking our house with their equipment, they couldn’t find any carbon monoxide, but the detector wouldn’t stop. so they called out the gas company.

while waiting for him to show, they let us back in the house and they tried to get the thing to stop. they eventually did by swapping it with another one in the house.

apparently I jinxed them. we have two nursing/assisted living facilities right down the street, and they are there all. the. time. so I matter-of-factly stated how it must be nice having a call to help out some people on the other end of the age spectrum. they all groaned. “you jinxed us!! we haven’t had to go there yet today! we are usually there 3 to 4 times a day. now we’ll get a call at 3 am, and when we do, we are going to toilet paper your house.”

see, they were fun.

when he finally got there, he asked if there was anything gas on the main level, I replied with, “a little girl in that first bedroom.” and, well, it’s true.

there was nothing wrong, all they could figure was the sensors are going bad in our detectors.

did you know that you are supposed to replace them every seven years? well, now you do, just like I do now.

I was also warned that our water heater is going to “blow”. isn’t that fantastic?

I blame it all on merrill. had he been home, instead of in the caribbean, none of this would have happened. but he would claim the opposite. he would tell me that it all happened because the universe knew it was his house.

you see, he has a bit of a persecution complex going on. when things don’t work out the way he thinks they should, it’s because it is him.

buy a tv and the sleep timer doesn’t work, it’s because HE bought it.

want prime rib at a restaurant and they are out, it’s because HE is the one asking for it.

if our little family had been incorporated at the time color tv was invented, we would most certainly purchased a new color set the day they came out. we would have brought it home, plugged it in, turned it on, and it would have been in black and white.

that’s my boy.

so that leads us to today. I am thankful that those darn detectors have remained quiet. I am also thankful that someone bought a calling card in aruba, and called. finally. it has been four days.

I bet you are thankful that my little (okay, not so little) story is done?

Days three and four.

2011-11-04T22:17:00.001-06:00

I have so gratitude to catch up on!

I am thankful for a working washer, one that doesn’t leak.

I am thankful for family, family that lives so close, family that I can spend time with, get support from. A family that we have a lot of fun with.

I am thankful that my kids have cousins as their best friends.

I am thankful that we got to talk to Merrill today. Two days with only a few texts as communication leads to weird/bad dreams. The girls were so happy to talk to him.

I am thankful for my kids, to be able to look back on their little lives and to have so many memories of them. I wish I were better at recording them..

As I took down the picture frames from our staircase to update the pictures, I got to go through the years of pictures underneath the most current one. They go back eight years. It was a little tearful, but I am so thankful for the blessings they are in my life!

Even though I love them like crazy, I was also thankful to have my best friend’s husband offer to come and sit with them as they slept last night so I could get out and play volleyball.

I am also thankful for this time of the year. There is a feeling about our home as the weather turns. We draw closer together. It’s quite cozy.

On this snowy night, I am thankful that there is no school tomorrow, and the girls and I are snuggled up in my bed together enjoying a movie.

Momma.

2011-11-02T22:39:00.001-06:00

I can think of many things to be thankful for today..

My super, extra-large, gargantuan clothes dryer. (aka my bedroom.) It only takes clothing 12 hours to dry. But seriously, at least I have someplace to hang it all, and the hangers to hang them on, to hang them all on those chairs and drawers..

Maybe I should be thankful for my little collection of chairs as well. Drawers too.

I am also thankful that it was half day (more time with the kiddos).

Thankful for my best friend who was able to take care of my oldest child today while I went to Lowe’s for the second time in one day.

Thankful that Lynn got her homework packet done with minimal threats on my behalf.

Thankful to have such great tumbling teachers! The girls LOVE it. Peyton cries because her class hasn’t started yet, but grandma finds a way to sneak in a turn for her. I love seeing them learn and grow, and the stretching, that stretching is just too cute!

Well, while I am being honest here, I am thankful for bedtime just as much as I am thankful for the half day of school.

But really, in all, complete and utter seriousness, I am most thankful to have been able to spend time with my mom today.

We got to go shopping, looking at new washers. Honestly, new washers are so exciting! We talked and talked, and we seem to never have enough time to say all there is to say.. and that is with almost daily phone calls.

We enjoyed lunch and running other errands.

But these are rare days, these days when I get to spend such time with my mom.

Sometimes, I get homesick for the days before school started for the girls, when life was more relaxed. I would load up whatever children I had, and head out to mom’s for the day. We would sit and quilt, crochet, play with the girls, make lunch (and you know it always tastes better because mom made it..). The day wouldn’t end until grandma and grandpa would come for dinner. Then I would pack my kiddos up, and we would head home to start our own dinner.

I miss those days.

But I had one pretty close to those kind today.

Thanks mom!! I love you.

another month of thankfulness.

2011-11-01T21:18:00.001-06:00

last year, I made a point to find something to be thankful for everyday for the month of november. it was a rather good thing, and something I rather looked forward to doing again this year.

so here goes!

today I am thankful for know-how. for what my parents have taught me. I am also thankful for the internet, which aided me, and my know-how, in my pursuit to fix my dryer. I took it apart today in an attempt to fix it’s problem, leaving gray and sometimes black streaks on my clothes (grrrrr…). I think I will have also sped up the drying time, you know, once the part I need gets here, gets put in, and the whole she-bang is up and at them again.

I am thankful for the spirit, which prompted a friend to call me for help. a crying baby is something that I can easily help with, and it gave me a little break from two, un-named, rambunctious girls of mine…

speaking of them…

I am pretty darn thankful for them too.

(especially when one farts, just to get the others to smile and laugh for a picture.)

Halloween Happenings of 2011

2011-10-31T22:45:00.001-06:00

This year proved to be just as chaotic (if not more so) than previous years.

Saturday, we realized that we needed to cram in a lot of fun, and fast!

We went out to a pumpkin patch, conveniently located near Lagoon (the girls have been loudly hoping and wishing all year long to go..) because, well, we didn’t have pumpkins.

We went on a search for just the right pumpkin for each girl.

(It wasn’t as easy as we thought, especially for Peyton.)

Then we spent the day at Lagoon. We thought we were surprising them, but there wasn’t much surprise expressed.

It was such a fun day! Peyton is finally tall enough to enjoy a lot of the rides. She giggled more than I think she did at Disneyland, and that is surprising! She loved the skyride, rode it twice in a row. She also loved the Tidalwave. The second time she rode it, she whispered to me, “This make my tummy feel a bit funny.”

Ashley also hit a new height that allowed her to ride more rides. Colossus and Wicked are her two new favorites. (They are a definite tie.) We rode Colossus (walked-on tow in a row) and she wasn’t done! The kid would have kept going.

Lynn also rode wicked for the first time and loved it. She was a bit nervous, but she loved it.

We also enjoyed the family trunk-or-treat the weekend before Halloween, got a good jump-start on the sugar high.

Pumpkin carving was a joy.

(Seeds are still drying out.)

And then there was the day of.

There is a smaller, “B” story if you will to the Halloween festivities of 2011. I will call it “The Great Costume Conundrum.”

Peyton started out the season with the plan to be Bo again. I wasn’t complaining. Lynn wanted to be a candy corn (or a bag of twizzlers, seems there is a candy theme constantly running through her head.. remember last year?) and it was great to re-use a costume. And Ash, well, she is obsessed with Mulan lately.. so guess what she wanted to be?

Well, the genius mom that I am, while ordering Ashley’s Mulan costume online, I could get free shipping if I ordered one more item. With the costumes all being on sale, I thought it would be really silly if I didn’t order Peyton a Pocahontas dress-up for her birthday and totally be ahead of the game for once. So , I did.

Good thing, because as Peyton and I were going to procure the necessary items for Lynn’s candy corn costume, she reveals to me that she really wants to be Pocahontas for Halloween, and could I please make her a Pocahontas costume?

Haha!! So ahead of the game.

So then, she was going to be Pocahontas.

“But Pocahontas doesn’t wear any shoes mom.”

THEN, I got out the great bin of costumes from Halloween’s past. Lynn’s Old Navy dragon costume was lying in there, the perfect size for Peyton this year (not to mention super warm), and Peyton fell in love with it.

The girl wore the costume every day, it was the first thing she wanted to put on every day.

She was going to be a dragon.

Until this morning.

She watched Pocahontas, while wearing her dragon costume.

Then she was going to be Pocahontas, again.

Until it was time to go and run errands, and then she was going to be a dragon, again.

Silly kid.

(Doesn’t Lynn look so happy?)

Today, we went to the girls’ parade at school, where I discovered that Ash is student of the month in her class (again.), and she knew, but never told me. After school, we went to the ward trunk-or-treat, then off to visit grandparents. We only found a couple of those grandparents though!

The girls would tell you it was a successful night, they got their fair share of candy and a slightly later than usual bedtime.

ryker and drake (part 2)

2011-10-24T23:10:00.000-06:00

love these silly little guys!

you will remember them (won’t you?) from here…

well, I got to take more shots of these cuties..

boys are so fun!

back to our regularly scheduled life.

2011-10-24T14:54:00.001-06:00

we just got back from a lovely and very fun-filled vacation.

we did disneyland.

it was awesome.

I think everyone who lives in this house, is a little homesick for all things disney.

but I now realize that this transition from vacation to real life is a lot harder than I thought. it is also made more difficult when I realize that there are a few things that I neglected to do before we left..

like plug the latest product releases from jessica sprague.

so, let’s rewind, pretend that it is last monday, and instead of getting ready to surprise the kiddos, pack all of their stuff, clean the house and all that junk, I will do what I am supposed to, and show you what I made:

first up I will show off jodie lee’s latest water color paper..

I saw this dreamy stuff and was transported to last fall, when we hiked the “u” near our house. the colors were too perfect.

(click on layout for full credits.)

I have been dreaming up some hybrid projects to use this stuff on, print it off on linen look paper.. it would be lovely, I am sure.

then there was the big one.

I based ashley’s birthday party around this next one.

splendid fiins “trick or treat” practically yelled my name, winked, and then grinned at me. it knew it fit the bill for our halloween themed birthday party.

invites:

(click on image for full list of credits.)

a little lesson learned, that I will share with you for free:

don’t put names (even though it is so fun, personal, not to mention stinking cute) on a first grader’s birthday invites. you are better off to leave those babies blank, that way, your child doesn’t distribute them a child with a different name and thus, have a buttload of confusion on your hands when parents are calling you and asking if their child was really invited because their invite doesn’t have their name on it. oh, an then you get to make more, because a few kiddos don’t get their invites due to the whole, “not give them to the right kid” issue.

we had a great time though..

we put together goodie bags with fun stuff from target’s dollar area, candy was a necessary addition, and I put together these little notebooks using splendid fiin’s “trick or treat” line.

they were pretty darn cute.

I added these little tags for ashley to sign, a little thank you to all her friends.

(splendid fiins again, and I used the font mtf “jotted”.)

In the way of decorations, I used my old felt ghosts..

some balloons (which all the right colors were sold out, should have anticipated that one..), and this banner that I threw together the day of.

(polka-dot paper from splendid fiins, some good old cardstock, ric-rack, and letters I cut out with my cricut + storybook cartridge.)

I employed the old dry ice + rootbeer in the plastic cauldron trick.

played “pin the eyebrow on frank”, ashley’s new boyfriend. we made him out of foamcore, and vinyl. his eyebrow was some black felt with double stick tape on the back.

this game was also a last minute add, but I saw it on a local tv program, and had to do it!

I took three kiddos inside, and wrapped them up with crepe paper, just like a mummy. as I wrapped, I hid three cards with one letter on them, in different places in the wrapping. as their teams unwrapped them, the found the cards, and the first team to spell their spooky word, won!

I used words like bat, boo, and cat.

(I got the idea from this fun mom blogger who has a ton of fun ideas.)

and what’s a party with out cake and ice cream?

I prepared cupcakes and frosting a head of time, portioned out the frosting in little disposable cups with a plastic knife, and put out candies for them to decorate with.

I found a genius idea for ice cream serving at a birthday party on pinterest, and I will be using that one again and again I tell you.

before your party, like an hour, you take your regular old cupcake liners, place them in your muffin tin, and scoop your ice cream into them. pop the tin, with the portions of ice cream in it, back in your freezer and when it’s cake + ice cream time, bring them out, and give one portion to each child. it was a breeze!

ash had a great party, and I must confess, it is the first birthday party I have ever thrown. I will do it again. it was so much fun, but next time, I might just request no gifts be brought. I know, I am so mean, but we are seriously overrun here.

I sense a theme here..

2011-10-10T15:06:00.001-06:00

here’s two layouts.

can you tell what they have in common? it’s quite obvious, once you really look. it took me longer than the average person though. I will blame that on my head congestion.

well, they both feature peyton, and they are both photographs from behind.

see, pretty obvious.

maybe they both feature her because she is on my mind an awful lot lately. maybe it’s because she is the only one around enough for me to take pictures of?

the kid is in size 4t now. the 3t stuff looked kind of floody on her. it’s fun, but a bit sad at the same time, to see her grow so much.

(as always, you can click on the layouts for list of full credits.)

but just some fun things I did with these:

the top one, I used liv.edesings washi tape as masks for my patterned papers. I wanted some thing a little more interesting than just a scrap of paper and I love the jagged edges.

on the bottom one, I used products primarily from jessica sprague’s newest designer, samantha walker. she is so fun! I can’t wait to see what other fun stuff she comes up with, and to share it with you.

now I am off to try some more pinteresting things.. I will let you know how those work out!

family prayer is not a contact sport.

2011-10-06T19:05:00.001-06:00

at least at our house.

so twas the night before ashley’s birthday, and all through the house, the family was gathering, for family prayer, of course.

peyton was snuggled all up with her dad. watching some blather on fox news. so sad.

lynn and ashley were wild, rambunctious you could say, and I, as their mother, was having it in no way. I started to yell, get after them a bit, but little peyton, so sweet and so small, started to cry.

I wasn’t getting after her at all!

but that wasn’t the issue. nope, not the yelling at all.

“my thumb!” was the problem with our child so small.

but what with the thumb? that was quite the mystery.

she’d let not I or her father examine it, even gingerly.

so at five to nine (when the instacare doth close), we gathered her up and I dashed out the door. sped down more than a few blocks to the instacare we did go, got there just in the nick of time, just as the nurse was about to lock the door.

“do you need to be seen?” she asked cheerfully.

“yes,” I replied, “the er co-pay is far too obscene.”

the staff happily, willfully took care of my child. I was made happier to see our favorite doctor there.. my mind went quite wild.

(yup, the rhyming is starting to suck..)

“tis’ not broken.” he said, “methinks it just a sprain.”

so we left with a splint, and orders for x-rays, just in case.

the point of this story, as I have so artfully told to you, is that I still have no idea how peyton hurt her thumb, but it is feeling better now.

(yes, I have given up.)

I think it had something to do with her subconscious knowing that the next day was ashley’s birthday, and that ashley would be hogging all the attention. (as is her right.)

not saying it was intentional at all, just that she knows, subconsciously. or something.

as we went to see the doctor, the most amazing doctor of all time, it was close, but we got there.

he told us that if it still hurt the next day, was swollen and she couldn’t move it, then to take her directly to the hospital for x-rays.

then he asked us what happened.

that was funny.

as I told him and the nurse, they laughed.

“family prayer was never a contact sport in my home.. family home evening was.”

she really is doing better. the splint came off today.

you should also hear how cute it is to hear her say splint, with a cold.

bottom line, I am so thankful that we were able to get there, just in time, and that the doctor who was best able to care for us (in my opinion) was there too.

and they keep growing up.

2011-10-05T21:31:00.001-06:00

ashley turned 7 today.

I know.

I thought I had made a deal with these kids.

a deal that entailed their not growing up anymore, and I would keep up on the laundry, cleaning, feeding them and whatnot.

they totally aren’t living up to their end.

ashley is in a current phase.

a phase which includes these questions, daily.

1) what is your favorite color?

2) what is your favorite dinosaur?

3) what is your favorite princess?

I can tell you all of her favorites today.

1) brown

2) mammoth or allosauarus (it’s a tie)

and

3) mulan

so at first this birthday was going to revolve all around our extinct friends until, while rummaging around for the jurassic park dvd, she came across mulan, and, well, the rest is history.

let me tell you how hard it is to find anything mulan.

nevermind. I am still tired from finding the few mulan things I did to tell you how tiring it is.

I have never been more thankful for amazon prime (free 2 day shipping!!), or rather the fact that I forgot to cancel it after my trial period (ordering easter goodies that I couldn’t find locally).

her birthday presents (well, at least the bulk) arrived today.

(see, SO thankful for 2 day shipping.)

but look at how happy she is:

think she might be even happier when she gets her dress-up..

(shh!!! don’t tell her!!!)

she also asked for a mulan cake.

I will say that I did my best, but this weather, and a time crunch today left me less than pleased with how she turned out.

(my dad would reassure me that it looks fine, and that it will just turn into poop anyway..)

I think she turned out looking more hispanic, maybe even polynesian.

I will blame it on:

a) the time issue

and b) the weather. my hands are killing me with this new cold air and all the rain.

and now that I have read through this post a couple of times, I sound not so chipper.

I guess that is why I usually compose happy birthday posts (heavy on the happy) a day or so in advance and plug in pictures the day of?

not so tired then, are we?

so here goes 7 happy things about my 7 year old girl:

1) you have quick wit. I mean seriously, where do you get that from? one thing can be said, and there’s ashley, following through with a zinger to tack on the end.

2) you can’t seem to go to the bathroom with the shower curtain open. you also can’t seem to spend less than 15 minutes in there either. I think that is hysterical!

3) you cannot go to sleep unless I have tucked you in. sometimes you need to take one of your famous (aforementioned) trips to the bathroom, after the initial tucking-in, and you cannot settle down unless I re-tuck.

4) you make up songs in the shower. then you sing them repeatedly and get them stuck in my head.

5) you eat anything and everything!! well, except for school lunch, and well, I can’t blame you there.

6) you read like it is the easiest thing in the world. homework this year is a breeze! and you love to read.

7) everyone (including the random kids we meet at random places like mcdonald’s in page) are your new “best friends” and everyone in our neighborhood/ward/grade/school, are also on that “best friends” list.

happy birthday sweet ashley. xox

Scary

2011-10-03T09:39:00.001-06:00

one of today’s new releases at jessica sprague is from carina gardner.

raven scary paper set:

(click on layout for full list of credits.)

last year at frightmares, we teased lynn relentlessly about one of these guys being her boyfriend. she was such a good sport about the teasing. the last night for frightmares, we kind of sort of convinced her to let us take a picture of her and her “boyfriend”.

go check out all the other new releases today!

the only thing scary that I will really be doing today is tackling my craft/scrap/sewing room.

if I ever dare share pictures of it’s present state, you’ll see why it is so scary.

have you ever suffered the effects of picture overload?

2011-09-30T19:01:00.002-06:00

well, if you haven’t, you might now.
the kids were out of school today and what with it being the end of september, we planned a hike. september usually yields the perfect weather for hiking.. not too hot, not too cold, usually some pretty fall foliage to look at while we make our way.
that sort of stuff.
it was a perfect day.
it was a wee bit hotter than usual (more like the end of august).
and we did have to find a different trail head (a paraglider was injured up the trail, broke both of his ankles so the normal trail head was closed off). but we all got to see all the flashy emergency vehicles and news vehicles. even the lifeflight helicopter!! we watched it take off and hover and land multiple times.
the extra that we did hike was easy and so pretty.
(no complaining here.)
so there were the usual suspects, me, mom,promise, ken, and our kiddos + dad, joe, josh, cade, and soph. it was nice for all of us to be together.
(kev joined us when he finished work.)

walking sticks were helpful..

I just can’t get enough of abby and the sweet daddy’s girl she is!

loved this moment with levi, ken, abby, and dad..

the kids, and some of the big kids (ken and joe), climbed on other rocks and boulders, ya know, just for the fun of it!

abby threw rocks into the river just about every chance she could.

we took lots of breaks..
mostly because of the little ones. whether it was because they needed the break, or we (i) did, because we were carrying the wee-est.

or maybe we stopped to get hugs and kisses from grammy (or a drink of her ice cold water).

one of the funny moments of our hike was when we got to the falls. we came to this one first, and it was just so little and cute! I wanted a picture of all three of my chicks sitting by it. ashley was the only one who wanted to cooperate. I threw out, in my onery/sassyness (probably because I was dealing with a tired and crying 3 year old, carrying her most of the way up the dang mountain, all because of a bedtime snafu..) to the other two, “what, you don’t want a memory of this? FINE. I’ll stop trying to make memories for you!!!”
that got a chuckle from the rest of the party.
but wasn’t it worth it?
she’s so cute..

speaking of the 3 year old…

and here’s the view from the top…

lynn doing her best vanna white…

see, some kiddos like to pose, like having their picture snapped..

others, not so much.
(the blur is james.)

here’s my family:

and this cute caterpillar we found on our way down.
we were bringing up the rear like it was going out of style!!

the last funny, that i can clearly recall, was while we were bringing up the rear awesomely, i was carrying peyton (despite the fact that she WANTED to walk at that point) because she was moving about as fast as our little caterpillar friend. we stumbled on some of the loose rock, the forming blisters on my feet aided in the stumble, as did my tiredness, and i "oh!-ed". ash turned around, all concerned, and said: "did you fall? i fell. it wasn't comfortable. but i didn't cry."
love that kid!
and there you have it, a lovely end to our summer hikes.
or maybe not?
p.s. congrats for making it through the picture overload.

tis the end of september.

2011-09-30T08:11:00.000-06:00

can you believe it?!

time has never passed faster, I swear.

there are many things I either forgot to do (birthday countdown for the middle child) or thought I would somehow have more time to do.

enter creative team layouts.

my assigned designer to work with this month was jessica sprague and I felt that hybrid was only fitting to showcase her goodies.

that is an awesome idea and all, if you have a organized/functioning space in which to make said hybrid craft/layout.

so between two days of work (but a still messy craft.scrap/sewing room) I have my two layouts done.

(and more planned!)

it was quite fun to be back there with my hands doing something besides ctrl+z.

(click on the layouts for full list of credits.)

what I loved about these, was that I designed the 8x10 spaces using jessica’s photo templates. then all I had to do was print them off on my presentation paper (I like the matte quality to it), and print off another sheet of other papers and embellishments and have fun putting it all together.

I need to do more of this, more often.

eat.

2011-09-29T18:19:00.001-06:00

merrill hates the obviously stated.

hates it.

so being the wonderful wife that I am, I decided that it would be cute, to post something stated quite obviously, because I thought it would be cute and rather fitting.

while hunting down corbels for a project that has cost me much time, sweat, and tears, I came across these at hobby lobby.

aren’t they cute!! they are about 2 feet long. so fun.

I had to put the word eat above them.. had to do it.

and merrill hates it.

(maybe hate is too strong a word.)

he really dislikes the obvious stated.

“I know what to do when I see a knife and fork.”

(maybe sometime I will have to go into more of this particular conversation wherein he told me that he resents me for making him read everyday. “you put this stuff up around the house that I have to read.. I pass it everyday, and I know what it says, but every time I pass it, I have to read it.” see, resentment.)

oh well. I think it’s cute.

I look forward to making the word “read” and hanging it in the reading area downstairs.

(I love my scroll saw.)

and before we leave the subject of eat..

(didn’t we, when I started talking about reading?…)

I made these.

found on pinterest.

they are good. and I am talking about every step of the process, from licking out the sweetened condensed milk can, to cleaning the pan, to you know, eating them…

(I used yellow cake batter cake mix. it is merrill’s favorite and I used it trying to coax him into liking my “eat” wall wordage.)

(hey, the tasty bribes worked with the wee ones.)

(don’t judge me.)

but I would suggest following her recipe for the glaze.

this silly woman (finger pointing at me) thought she knew better, tweaked it a bit, and well, we were left eating them like this:

with a spoon.

but they are tasty.

(and the picture isn’t as pretty as hers.)

a three year old's prayers.

2011-09-28T20:29:00.000-06:00

we've talked about peyton's prayers in the past. they only get better.
with all the "bad dreams" going on around this joint (i swear, it's contagious!) prayers at all times of the day refer to bedtime and what usually happens.
at breakfast, it isn't uncommon to hear one of the girls ask that they not have bad dreams that night (like 12 hours later).
bedtime, they are down to business though, even making suggestions for what they can be blessed to dream about.
tonight at dinner, peyton asked to dream about princesses.
a couple of nights ago, she prayed that she wouldn't have bad dreams so she wouldn't wake up and have to come and get in my bed.
"and bless that i won't have bad dreams so i won't have to get in mom's bed."
it was sweet, funny, and, well, it made me feel like a bad mom. i guess i have been complaining a little bit too much about my sleep being interrupted.

“pin”spiration.

2011-09-27T12:00:00.003-06:00

so let me tell you how pinterest snagged me and hasn’t quite eased up.
a lot of my friends out there (you better know who you are..) have been talking all about it, saying how great it is, yadda yadda yadda.
knowing how I am, a rebel to all that is popular, I ignored it. for a while.
you see, I had a routine for saving all those things that I found around the internet and blogs that I loved, and dreamed of making, that just wasn’t working out as well as it had been.
I began saving images in my picture file on my computer. (good.)
my sister-in-law told me of a genius idea to put those things in their own folder on my computer, labeled, what else: “ideas”. (better!)
but then there arose the issue of me not remembering exactly where I got the idea from. (instructions are very important things at times.) oh sure, I usually knew where I got the idea from, sometimes there was a watermark on the image, but to sift through hundreds of blog posts, sometimes months after I came across the idea, was a major time waster.
so I tried to save all the ideas I liked in my bookmarks folder.
until merrill made fun of me.
and really, before he mocked me, it really wasn’t working. there were vague descriptors of what that bookmark was marking, no image, and the were forgotten.
enter pinterest.
I looked into it, and it made total sense. it solved all of my problems in that, I could save the picture AND the link to where the idea was found. no searching and pulling my hair out trying to find the original source!!
oh, but that is not all..
it does more!
I can sort all of my “pins” into neat little categories or boards (something that I am still trying to perfect). so all my halloween stuff is on one board and christmas gets its own area. photography ideas don’t mingle with recipes.. it’s order, not chaos anymore!!
I also love that I can follow people whose style I admire, people who have crazy ingenuity and creativity.
I am totally addicted.
(I have also found new blogs to stalk..)
so out of my love of pinning, and creating my own version of others ideas, I am officially coining the new word: “pinspiration”.
I saw this:
(click on image for source.)

and I LOVED it!!!
(it is so me, and a few others I know..)
I took the idea, tweaked it a bit, and came up with this:
(click on the image for full list of credits.)

I can see that this is going to be a long, beautiful relationship!

aaron+eli

2011-09-26T15:21:00.001-06:00

here is a wedding that the bride took care of every single detail!

it was amazing..

and I felt so bad that a freak rainstorm came and dumped right before their backyard ceremony.

(good thing she had me there early to photograph all of those little details..)

this one thing I really wanted to do this summer, but didn’t, so I guess, I’ll get to it now.. maybe.

2011-09-26T14:54:00.001-06:00

one of those awesome, “make life easier changes”, streamline life, and just plain change it up, things I was going to do this last summer, and, well, never found the time (or wanted to spend it in front of the computer long enough to execute it..), was to combine the three blogs, my three loves and identities.

yeah.

hasn’t happened, eh?

it is going to.

so when you stop by, you will understand why there might be scrapping one day, photography the next, a funny story or tow another, and then maybe some goodies posted for good measure.

it has been something that I have been mulling over for awhile, and it just makes sense!

(making sense and helping my mom to navigate and find the things she wants to..)

the archives will be up at those other two places for a while still, and excuse me if your google reader fills up with all the posts I will be importing here and re-tagging and sorting.

I know.

I am totally selfish.

I want my life to be easier!

between diet coke and chocolate…

2011-09-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

here I am, enjoying a diet coke and some hershey’s miniatures, and realize that I have other goodies to share today..

some new products at jessica sprague (available today) are getting me in the mood to scrap (more) and make some fun hybrid stuff for the halloween season.

first up:

carina gardner-

(click on layouts for list of full credits.)

and some cosmo cricket:

can’t you see a little banner, just like this, but in real life?

I can too.. hopefully I will get it done soon!

a chocolatey update.

2011-09-14T22:57:00.000-06:00

success!!
(sort of.)
two of my three little ones actually stayed in their own beds the whole night.
(no wakie-uppies.)
i was able to...
sleep..
kind of..
in a bed.
not my bed, mind you..
but peyton at least got the idea that she is to sleep in her own bed, and not mine.
i needed to clarify that in order to earn a candy bar, i would have to be allowed to sleep in my own bed, all night, as well.
the kiddo got half of it!
she woke up "fweaked out", and asked me to snuggle her.
it wasn't her fault that while snuggling, i fell asleep in her bed, and stayed there the rest of the night.
i replenished my cupboards with a variety of candy bars from the fall-apart (aka wal-mart). all children were paid (with the exception of the youngest, who didn't nap today and fell asleep early).
i think i might just pay myself for surviving yet another night in a twin-sized bed with my littlest who also enjoys kicking the covers off.
yup, mars bar for me indeed!
(moral of the story is: bribery works.)

i am placing all my hopes on candybars.

2011-09-13T21:41:00.001-06:00

let me tell you what the nocturnal hours have been like here:
bedtime. not always on time, but pjs are put on, teeth brushed, a little girl with longer hair gets it brushed and loosely braided for the night, prayers are said, and three little girls get tucked in their own beds. sometimes (most times) a second prayer is said with each little girl who is anxious and nervous for what the night will bring to them, all alone in their own little room. tuck-ins and reassurances are generously given, and then night begins for the parents.
well, the night begins, as do the interruptions from three, nervous little girls.
they are not always all nervous on the same nights, just sometimes. peyton in the only one who is consistently nervous, and she tells us everyday that she is "grateful when there are no bad dreams".
she usually ends up in our bed with us, after she wakes up crying.
now a bad dream isn't what you expect it to be with this little one. she had a "really bad one" last week. you know what it was about? she got something stuck in her toe at lake powell and it made a hole in her foot. but in her little mind, that is awful!
last night, she fell asleep on the couch. merrill was up late with an uncomfortable cyst swelling in his armpit (remember this?) so we left her there, tucking the other two into bed. only the oldest of my bunch was worried last night. bedtime went on for almost 2 hours due to the nerves of this child..
i was later awakened by ashley.
(i am unable to tell you at time, i used to look at the clock when these things would happen, and that is just a bad idea.)
lynn hijacked her bed, kicking her out, and into my bed. i was all for sleep of any sort, so i welcomed her into my bed.
then peyton arose, crying. crying and needing to go potty.
after we took a trip to the potty, i went to snuggle her in her bed. sleeping there until it was time to start our day.
needless to say, i am one tired momma. so tonight, before our circus of bedtime rituals, to try to insure one good night's sleep, i bribed my children.
"if you can all sleep in your own beds the whole night, i will give you a candy bar."
shall we see how this ends up?
let's do.
but let me say this: i know it would be more than enough to keep me in my own bed the whole night.

those funny little things that happen that make life, life.

2011-08-29T10:53:00.001-06:00

I have three little girls.

they add a fair dose of drama to our house.

a lot of humor.

too much excitement at times.

here’s just a sampling of the shenanigans that have gone on the past week:

lynn has another loose tooth. she won’t let me touch it, but complains about how it bugs her and has given her a sore on her tongue from playing with it.

she is also terribly nervous about the moment (which will inevitably come), when her third grade teachers will start to throw all of the “hard” stuff her way.

she passed her level one, basic ice skating class!!

she has also started channeling her inner comedian.

then there is ashley.

she is growing up.

the child who was once afraid of talking in front of people, saying prayers in primary, etc., has started to voluntarily, and by herself, fill in for kids who aren’t there. amazing!!

she is also the child, who will lose things.

she is at school all day now. (sniff..) which means she doesn’t have lunch with me anymore. (sniff..) which means that I pack lunch for her to eat at school. (sniff sniff..)

now I could put her lunch in a boring old brown bag, but that might just depress her. if I put it in her fun hello kitty lunch bag, it will make her happy, but she will lose it. honest!

so as school started last week, so did the eating lunch at school minus her mommy, and the hello kitty lunch bag went too.

it came home two days in a row, and the third day, it was forgotten.

now do I know my kid or what?

it was happily reunited with us friday.

she is also obsessed with dinosaurs. mammoths are her favorite, and she will happily recite random facts about them to you if you listen.

(allosaurus is a close second.)

and the youngest of our bunch has an obsession with taylor swift. I need to record her singing along to a few songs and post it. it’s pretty darn cute.

she is also currently idolizing mulan.

she even butchered her hair (but not obviously), in an attempt to be like her.

I swear, every time I fix her hair, I find a new spot that has been trimmed or scalped.

p.s. merrill turned 32 on saturday. he desired a low-key day, no cake, but he does make a handsome 32 year old!

and then there was august..

2011-08-25T16:53:00.000-06:00

I don’t want to depress you.. I don’t want to depress myself, but did you know, were you aware, that august is almost over?

really.

next week, and that’s it.

hello september.

see, I depressed you.

shame on me.

I really am sorry.

maybe what I have been working on, catching up on (because I’ve been enjoying the last bit of my summer and playing a lot), will help to cheer you.

they just make me long for summer…

(click on image for list of full credits + links.)

Say it isn’t so…

2011-08-23T10:13:00.001-06:00

Summer, over, really?

I don’t like the idea of this.

So I am going to proclaim that it isn’t over, nope, not really. Not yet.

We still have stuff we want to do. So much more fun to be had!

So what if they are “in school”. I will just pretend that it is just a practice run until our summer fun is really over and done. (Well, more like when the weather doesn’t shout summer at us anymore.)

Sunday night, we slept out on the trampoline, you know, one last “hoo-rah” before bedtime becomes nazi-ish again.

(And when I say “we”, I really mean just me and the girls.)

We attempted this in July, the night of the 5th (really our 4th what with the real fourth being on Sunday and all..) but a little rainstorm somewhere around 3 in the am cut out night out on the trampoline short.

This time, I was going to have all our bases covered.

- good weather (check)

- mosquito repellant (check)

- plenty of cushiness (check, check, check, check)

- sprinklers off (check)

Or so I thought on that last one.

4:30 am I hear the combined gush of air and water and then one drop, that was all it took, right on my forehead. I was up faster than I have been in a long time, running back into the house, out to the garage, and turned that water off!!

It was pleasant sleeping after that.

Well, until that period of time, right before dawn, when I would swear to you it gets its coldest. I wasn’t sleeping too well then. I wished I’d had my socks on then. So instead, I curled up in a little ball, snuggled close to Peyton’s warm little body and fleece blanket, and all was better.

Yesterday evening was back to school night. We knew exactly what we were going to get with Ash’s teacher, and we were ALL very excited about that. Lynn was a little nervous about her teachers. There was a last minute switch to her teaching line-up that left my already nervous daughter that much more. I think some of her fears were put to rest after meeting them.

We came home and had family home evening. We talked about prayer, that the girls can always go to their Heavenly Father in prayer, whenever they need help. Even if it is while they are sitting at their desk and need help. We also talked about the priesthood, how it blesses our lives. Merrill then gave them each a father’s blessing to start their year off right.

Peyton was so excited, she even got one too.

That is a tradition I cherish.

Then there was last night.

Sleeping (or trying to).

In our own beds.

At a nazi-ish time.

I don’t know who slept worse.. me or them.

Third grader.. times-tables and cursive? Really?! Good heavens, I had to buy her a flash drive as part of her school supplies.

And then there’s the first grader.

I will miss her terribly come 11:30. She will have lunch, at school.

It is a happy time of life. It really is all good…

But it sucks that summer is over.

there was this one time, that we went camping, and i wanted to take the bikes, but didn’t have a tow kit, or a bike rack, so i did this..

2011-08-16T15:06:00.001-06:00

ratchet tie-down straps and all my muscle/energy/patience and there you have it. (there are 3 mountain bikes and one bmx with training wheels up there.)

this was the way to start off our week of camping. (with a lot of fun!!)

driving up the canyon, i realized that i forgot the milk, at home in the fridge. no big deal, we could buy some at the valley market. so we drove on. once we reached the turn-off for snowbasin, about the top of trapper’s loop, i realized that I also left the camping chairs, on the floor in the garage.

so we turned around.

one cannot fathom how completely crushed my children were, especially lynn, who had been talking about this trip for the whole summer.. she was driving me so crazy the day before, I nearly sent her packing, on her bike, with a headlamp, her stuff strapped to her back, and a map. “we’ll see you there tomorrow!!”

(she was just a little excited.)

after our take two, we eventually got to camp.

(we wish we were still there.)

(like, really bad.)

you can see why:

grandpa got to come along…

lynn loved spending every day she could with sophie.

we all loved playing at the river.

loved cade’s (my nephew) expression… james and ash.

just for you mom!!

painting rocks..

playing headbandz and other games. uno got fierce when merrill was there.

other crafts that involve rocks.

being with our favorite cousins.

talking around the fire.

painting nails, very dirty nails.. and toes.. and feet.

who does she belong to?! sheesh…

again..

my dad.

s’mores. we (sophie and myself) tried them with caramellows. i highly recommend it.

along those lines, i would also like to highlight some other camping favorite foods.

-tin foil dinners (or hobo dinners)

-hot dogs (usually all beef, cooked over the fire).

-easy cheese and crackers.

-um, marshmallows.. of course!

and a new one, banana boats (thanks jacks!!).

this is my niece abby. this was the condition of her face about 90% of each and every day.

isn’t she darling?

ken would tell the girls stories around the campfire each night. there was one in particular about a cannibalistic doll. lynn became possessed and chased ken around camp with her little napkin tucked in and a knife and fork.

(she refuses to sleep with her doll anymore. thanks ken.)

we had plenty of laughs.

this day, levi and ash started using the bike pump, pressed against their skin to make fart sounds. it was pretty funny.

each and every day there was a dream, one i didn’t want to leave. maybe because i love it up there with all my family, maybe it’s the simplicity. maybe it’s because school is supposed to start next week…

either way, i didn’t like coming home so much to the tv, the computer, the phone…

i would seriously take washing my laundry in a small tub, hanging it to dry, and cooking over a fire, over all the crap that we have.

(call me crazy.)

my kids miss their grandparents and cousins.

i miss the simple life, the relaxation. having two other women to wash faces and feet with every night.

i even kinda miss the mosquitoes and the fragrance of bug repellant… the screech owl that visited us every night..

kinda.

p.s. i ate an ant.

p.p.s. it was on a dare.

p.p.p.s. my dad was the dare-er.

p.p.p.p.s. so you see, i HAD to do it.

a special moment with my "most special-est" middle child.

2011-08-03T23:17:00.000-06:00

today was a fun day.
i had only two children for the bulk of the day instead of my usual three.
so it was just me, the youngest, and the middle.
during our day, ashley asked rather thoughtfully, "mom, is it true that the middle child is the most special-est?"
suppressing a laugh, i answered her in the affirmitive.
"you bet."
there was a little chorus of "yes-es" and fist-pumping from the middle seat (perfect for that middle child, wouldn't you say?) at my response.
"i knew i was the most special-est!!!"
after a while, she came to me, rather somber again, and asked, "mom, even though i am your most special-est child, because i am the middle child, you still love us all equally, don't you?"
i had to answer yes again.
such a sweetie. glad she is embracing her middle child role.

advances in swimming

2011-07-31T08:07:00.000-06:00

it seems like every year, ashley “forgets” the fact that she knows how to swim.

this year she even took to screaming when we would try to take her to the deep end, just as a reminder that she knows what to do…

every summer, by the end of the summer, the kid “remembers” that she knows how to swim, is going down the slide and off the diving board no problemo!

last summer, sadly, she didn’t “remember”.

(but she would jump off the back of the houseboat at lake powell?)

i am happy to say, that this summer, she remembered.

(finally.)

lynn lives with goggles attached to her face…

and little peyton, who started out not liking the water much, has fallen deeply in love.

seems as if all my girls have grown gills and fins.

introducing skipperdee.

2011-07-30T08:48:00.000-06:00

(still not sure of the spelling of his name.)

the other day, we went to visit good old dad at the hotel. took him a treat.

(it wasn’t a very good day for him.)

while there, peyton ventured into the lost and found area of the back office. she emerged with this little guy.

no one knows how long he’s been there, probably lonely and crying.

lost toys like this sit there for a long time, in hopes that their owners will reclaim them, which rarely happens.

if it’s something that merrill knows the girls will love, then it comes home, in a nice, plastic, shiny best western laundry bag. otherwise, it gets sent to the d.i.

peyton was in love and asked merrill if this turtle, whose name was suddenly skipperdee (or maybe it was all along?!) could be her turtle.

well, obviously he said yes.

skipperdee is never far from peyton’s side. if he is, then that means he is lost, and we all help to find him because it is pretty sad around here until he is safely by peyton’s side again.

he slept underneath her pillow last night, then was dragged into my bed, placed underneath my pillow before she snuggled up to me after having another “bad dweam”.

she even made him breakfast this morning.

the kid who doesn’t want to try anything new, tried something new. (!!!!!)

2011-07-29T12:35:00.001-06:00

indulge me for a minute, mmmkay?

(proud parent moment coming your way.)

lynnie-lou doesn’t like to venture out and try new things often. she is a teensy-weensy little bit like her dad in that regard, he doesn’t care too much for change. this kid, well, she goes above and beyond that and doesn’t like pretty much anything out of the norm.

new meals?

not a snowball’s chance…

a different color cap on the milk and her world implodes.

this summer, we (her dad and i) were trying our hardest to convince her to venture out and try something (anything!!) new.

first, there was a cooking class. she would have gone with her cousin (notice the “would have” there) but bringing it up only brought her to tears.

she told us that she was interested in art camp so we, very excitedly, got her in there. she loved it.. after being nervous that she wouldn’t know anyone there…

my friend called, wondering if lynn would be interested in taking ice skating lessons. her daughter has always wanted to, but thought it would be funner with a friend.

let me tell you, merrill and i were doing our best to talk this kid into it.

she tried crying.

she tried stressing.

she tried to out-right, flat-out say no, and we wouldn’t let her off that easily. we told her to sleep on it.

the next day (the day of the first lesson), the kid told me that she didn’t want to do it because she was scared she would get hurt. crack her head open, break her leg.. she had dreamed up some real great possibilities.

so i enlightened her.

(that is part of my job as “mom”.)

“did you know that you could fall down the stairs and break your leg?”

“well…”

“does it stop you from coming down the stairs?”

“no…”

“did you know that we could get in a car accident today? maybe even die?”

(shocked expression.)

“does that stop us from going anywhere? do we just sit at home?”

(still shocked. maybe i took this a bit too far.. nah.)

“did you know that when we fly to disneyland this fall, we could crash? does that stop us from going?”

“we could get there some other way… we could drive?”

“did you know that it is more likely that we get into a car accident than our plane crash?”

okay.. maybe i went a little too far.

but guess what?

she decided to learn to ice skate!

(and she had fun.)

(after she was over the nervousness..)

so they look like they are dancing..

they aren’t.

they caught each other, saved each other from falling. probably breaking open their heads or something..

the funniest thing had to be seeing lynn, talk to herself constantly! when she was near riley, she would yammer on to her. i kept telling her, like she was really going to hear me, to knock it off!! she is such a chatterbox.

this is after they crashed again.. well, after lynn crashed and her arm, flailing, took out riley’s leg.

as i type this, she is over my shoulder, yammering on even more about how excited she is to go next week..

julie and I are too. we get a great core workout from all the laughing we do while we watch them.

because i suck at stuff.

2011-07-26T01:06:00.001-06:00

so with part of our tax return, i got seven sorts of excited about a two terabyte (2 TB) external hard drive, and bought it. one of those seven sorts of excited primarily dealt with all the cds worth of images i have, and need to preserve in a better way.

i discovered problems with a disc from 2005 while putting together lynn’s little picture disc for her baptism. yeah, I remember totally reading an article years ago in creating keepsakes about how long those discs will last, yada yada yada.. and yup, years later, i am finally doing something about it!

sadly, the one picture i was after on that one disc, not able to bring it up…

(yeah.. so I got this thing back in.. it was a while ago, and now, I am really getting to my precious preserving?.. see, I suck at stuff.)

so here i am, before any more time is wasted, getting around to putting all of those discs onto that hard drive.

(helps that i can’t seem to sleep..)

*sigh*

it is a bittersweet thing to do.

i give you reasons why:

(most of them circa 2006)

lynn still gives me this dirty look:

sad to see that lynnie-lou wore this shirt not that long ago, and now peyton fits into it.

don’t believe me, see the header…

but glad to know that they are still this close…

i just can’t help but wonder where the time has gone..

we sat and watched the girls swim tonight. all three of them, going all over the pool, jumping off the diving board, totally belly-flopping, but loving it. laughing, playing, splashing together…

i am afraid to blink.

i see where we are, completely loving it, but remember all too well where we just were. to be completely honest, i am a little homesick for it.

oh my goodness… there are so many more like this.

a layout or 5..

2011-07-25T13:08:00.000-06:00

I have been getting a lot of scrapping done.

(sadly it is all digi scrapping.. heaven knows how many pictures i have that are printed off, waiting in the mess that is now known as my craft room in the basement.. don’t even get me started on the stash of supplies that keep those pics company..)

I am not sure if this surge of digi scrapping is because of the re-discovered passion my girls have for playing polly pockets or for watching jurassic park.

(both of which seem to take place in the loft, upstairs where the computer is..)

but anyway.. here’s a few:

(as always, click on layout for list of full credits.)

new today:

“chemistry” by cosmo cricket:

and i was way too excited about these brushes by liv:

and well, then there is all of this other stuff, that was basically just for fun… our summer has been well-spent, and i have some cute pix to prove it!

(cute pix = more scrapping motivation!!)

hope you are enjoying your summer as well!!

how red river paper saved my father’s day.

2011-07-22T12:07:00.001-06:00

imagine:
it’s father’s day.
you have planned the perfect gifts, purchased the necessary items to make those gifts awesome, including printing off the perfect photos of your three darling girls.
you printed them off days in advance so you wouldn’t have to go to costco the saturday before (when it is a total madhouse there) no doubt dragging those three (not so happy girls now, because you are going to costco on a madhouse, day-before-fathers-day trip). instead you went days before and picked them up. now all of the makings for your perfect gifts lay, waiting for you to assemble them.
but that week before proves to be way too busy and the event of assembling these sure to be awesome gifts is left to the morning of.
the assembling looks more like a mad scramble to get it done before the three, now bed-headed girls wake up, so they can give the gifts to the dude who fathered them (and still fathers them).
as you get out the ikea frames, with those three perfect spots in the mat (perfect for those three perfect little girls) you notice, that is a 5x7 opening in that mat.
not a 4x6.
did you really print off 4x6 photos?
(right about here, it should be state that i am a silly, measure once, cut twice kind of gal. no, i haven’t learned my lesson, yet.)
you mean, you didn’t double check before uploading and ordering all those photos?!
nope.
and then you cry a little.
(maybe even say a few naughty words under your breath.)
(then you repent because that isn’t becoming of a lady.. and it’s sunday..)
your mind starts to run (cause that’s what the mind of a woman does when it encounters a problem) and the possible solutions to fix this problem start coming.
- mounting photos on a different paper to add interest?
- cutting a new mat, with the matting I don’t have and what, my laser glare?
- printing off new photos… um, it’s sunday. you aren’t ready (don’t look the least bit attractive), and hello! it’s sunday…
- maybe i could print off new photos on that awesome presentation paper.. why use awesome presentation paper when YOU HAVE THAT ASWESOME (and free!!) PHOTO PAPER FROM RED RIVER PAPER?!? (!!!)
yeah. remember that? it was sent to you to try out and review?
that red river paper is looking more awesome than the awesome presentation paper, isn’t it.
well, it is more awesome.
up the stairs you go, RUNNING. to your trusty printer and that awesomely free photo paper.
you print off all of your pictures (5x7 this time) with ease onto gorgeous photo paper.
as you compare them to the costco prints, these are so much more awesome.. sheesh, and all i have is an hp printer, nothing too fantastic.
(not that i have anything against costco, they are great, fantastic, awesome even.. i also love the word awesome, apparently.)
the color came out more true to what i saw on my monitor. (the costco prints were darker.) now, i know that i can go out and spend a pretty penny and get a fancy-schmancy monitor calibrating program doohickey, but let’s be realistic. food is funner.
they are also a nice, matte finish. (another mistake i made in the online ordering process, i failed to check the proper box for my desired finish.)
they are also so very incredibly helpful as to giving you tips for your specific printer and purpose.
i used the arctic polar luster, arctic polar satin, and the polar matte. they were gorgeous on their own, but with my little girls’ faces on them, that much better.
point of this story:
red river paper saved my father’s day from being reduced to a bunch of empty picture frames, and promises of pictures, or those darling pictures being printed off on awesome (but sub-par) presentation paper.
basically saved me from being reduced to a pile of pitiful woman mess because this silly girl who happens to measure once but always cuts twice (did I mention that before?), did almost that and tried to remember what size those mat openings were once, and print twice.
seriously.
*in all seriousness, this paper is incredible!! i am not being paid to say this, but i was given some awesome paper to try out and then give my honest opinion in exchange for said paper.**
*that is all.**
oh, and another link to their site.

late night/early morning randomness from one tired mom.

2011-07-20T01:48:00.000-06:00

i am here, snuggling the world's cutest three yer old, typing one-handed, re-living my days of nursing this same child (but in infant form) and typing one-handedly taking those crazy/stupid facebook quizzes (like the one that told me i was captain kirk type nerd?).

(sshhhh! don't laugh too loud. she's asleep now.)

the snuggling is a result of "scawy dweams". she doesn't get past that, or the crying. we are on night two (or is it three? wow i am tired.) of this adventure. all i really can do is snuggle and reassure, and pray.

apparently it is effective.

first thing this morning (like 7:30 this morning, which totally caught me off guard, by the way, mostly because i thought for sure she'd want to sleep in..) she woke me up, told me again about having a scary dream, to which i rather sleepily/grouchily responded, "i know. that's why i am here, in your bed." but she also added that being scared is silly because Heavenly Father protects us.

things always look better in the light of a new day, don't they?

sweet liana..

2011-07-15T21:03:00.000-06:00

this is a friend’s baby. she was quite the sweetie!

just look at this sweet mouth:

she is such a sweetheart! thanks for bringing her to me lorie!!

"you know..."

2011-07-13T17:36:00.000-06:00

i had to jot down this sweet moment that happened this morning when it was just me and peyton..
we were getting breakfast ready, she was being so sweet! quietly playing dolls, being the sweetheart she is, i asked her if she wanted to bless the food.
now the kid has some fun prayers, i gotta say.
she prays about everything exciting that has happened since she can remember, and she prays for everything that will happen in the near future.
here's an example list:
- halloween
- trick or treating
- her desired costume (bo peep, again)
- christmas
- a new movie (or old one), she usually adds a favorite part or funny line.
- everything that has happened so far in the day (she told Heavenly Father about playing dolls this morning).
- lake powell
- disneyland
- if someone has offended her (name that sister!!)
today, the most anticipated activity was going out to grammie's to play with cousins and have a "water day". water day usually consists of lunch, grammie's blow-up pool, shallow pool, sprinklers, and slip'n slide. lunch is always included, cause grilled cheese and peanut butter always taste better when grammie makes it... even i can admit that!
she was so excited about the day she had to pray about it, of course! i love that she has this special relationship with her Heavenly Father already, a relationship where she feels like she can tell Him about anything and everything. i hope she never loses that connection..
well, she was so excited with everything that was going to transpire in her little life this day that she started to jumble her words, literally tripping over them with her excitement. she stopped, took a breath, and said with a little sigh attached, "you know..."
just that simple little bit taught me a huge lesson.
He does know.
He knows the good, the bad, the exciting, the stressful, the sad. the crazily happy and excruciatingly exciting!!!
He still wants us to come and tell Him. if there aren't words, He will understand. the key is to still go to Him. it feels so good to know that He knows. such a comfort.
i find that sometimes i gloss over what i think might just be the same-old same-old when it comes to me. i know that He knows, that He is aware, but i should still communicate my feelings to Him.
i can think of many times where my prayers were more tears than talking. i have felt comfort because i know He knows.
it was just the perfect reminder for this time in my life. we are having lots of fun this summer, we aren't stress free (at all!!) but i can receive help and comfort when i communicate with Him.
such a sweet little girl! i am so thankful to be her mother, to have her teach me so many things.