Book Club

So the end of the month is almost here and the means Online Book Club! For all of you ex-85th Warders - you'd better be reading!!!! For anyone who hasn't heard of it, Kristin started up a blog so we could continue the much loved tradition that got abandoned when everyone moved away. Now, I know you all probably have tons of friends with new book clubs, but I don't! So I hope you participate. Besides, that original group was one of the best book club mixes I've ever seen. Here's the link, if you haven't seen it already.

eightyfifthwardbookclub.blogspot.com

Our book is The Bronze Bow. I like it so far. I don't have a car and going to the library is a pain sometimes, so when I saw that the library would let me do an e-check out, I jumped on it. I love audiobooks, especially really good recordings and this one is. But it hasn't been as convenient as I thought. I don't have an mp3 player, and so I have to listen to it at my computer in my room. Well, I don't often have the chance to do that so it's taking me forever to finish it. If I just got the book I'd probably be done in a day or two. What I really need to do is get an ipod or something so I can listen to my books while I do housework. Maybe someday when I find an extra $100 in my coat pocket. Like that's ever going to happen.

A Thanksgiving Tale: Take Two

So, to finish off our Thanksgiving stories, here are some pics of the family geo-cacheing. My father-in-law loves this. He always finds several caches on the internet for us to go explore. On this particular trip we had three GPS systems in our midst. Here's John holding one in the background. S and G'ma are checking out the purple cactus in this shot.
Here's M and me. He didn't particularly enjoy geo-cacheing. The wind was too much for him and getting in and out of the car constantly (due to everyone finding the caches minutes before we even managed to get the carseats unbuckled - man they're quick) was wearing on him.
Aunt Katie and Uncle Ryan gave presents to the kids. Here's M in his new tee. Very appropriate, no? To see S's new shirt, look at the slurping the waterbottle pic on the previous post. Thanks guys!
Well, the first group departed on Friday and after that we were pretty boring. A few decided to go hiking up the mountain in the freezing cold. I thought they were nuts. Then some watched the BYU vs. Utah game. Much yelling came from that room. And we put the tree up. The best part was going shopping Saturday night while everyone else stayed at home and watched my kids. Yea for date night!

A Thanksgiving Tale

Well, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving and lived to tell the tale. Our home was bombarded (pleasantly) with 9 out-of-town relatives for a week of fun. I thought I had a relatively large house until 13 people tried living in it for a week. S was the only one who got to keep her room to herself. Grandparents filled the toy room, an aunt and uncle took the nursery, bumping M back into his cradle which was placed very lovingly in Mom's closet, and the downstairs was filled up with five singles: girls in the living room, boys in the family room. Amazingly enough, we never ran out of hot water. Well, at least I didn't.
Everyone arrived sometime between 2pm on Tuesday and 5 am on Wednesday. I had planned on sleeping through most of the arrivals, but by some series of very unfortunate circumstances (namely M unable to sleep through the commotion) I was awake everytime a new person came in the door. Oh, well.
N was very pleased to push everyone out the door on Wednesday to enjoy the fine weather and to play wiffleball. M was sleeping so I was stuck at home but I did get to see the pictures. This is mostly what S did the whole time:

And here's G'ma with her turn at bat. Notice S in the background, still slurping at Dad's waterbottles.
On Thursday S's Aunt Sarah tried to teach her some yoga tricks.
Our dinner was fabulous. N had the presence of mind to set the alarm for me because I wanted to get up early to start the turkey. But the idea didn't seem so good at 5:30 in the morning. But the bird was in the oven by 6:40 which meant dinner was promptly served at 1 o'clock. Not bad in my experience. We cooked it in a roasting bag so the meat was falling off the bone by the time N went to check the temperature. Oh, and we roasted it upside down to make the breast meat extra juicy. Highly recommend it. I put my own personal touches on my mother's dressing recipe (which was almost gone before I even got through the line), made my grandmother's homemade noodles (which left the kitchen covered in flour), and lots of other yummy dishes which I won't enumerate because I'm getting hungry just thinking about them. Too bad leftovers don't last longer.

Here's the family at various times throughout Thanksgiving Day.

And here is the most fabulous video in the world. It can speak for itself.

Portraits of a Cute Girl

These were taken a couple of weeks ago. I've been slow in posting lately. Funny how life gets in the way sometimes.

Fudge Recipe

Melanie requested this and since I had it typed up, I thought I'd share. It was a Sunday tradition growing up in my house.

Peanut Butter Fudge from the kitchen of my dad!

2 cups sugar
3/4 cups milk
Mix in saucepan. Put on stove and let boil without stirring until it reaches softball (235 degrees). If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can get one for just a few dollars at the grocery store. Or, you can test the readiness by dropping a dab of the mix into a cup of cold water. It's ready when it forms a soft ball. Most cookbooks explain the process. If in doubt, I would under boil the sugar. If it's too hot the fudge turns hard as rock and you can't eat it. But if it's too cold, it just doesn't set up and then you can at least scrape it out of the pan with a spoon. Still delicious.

Remove from heat. Add a big dash of salt, 3/4 cup peanut butter, and 2 t vanilla. Stir until it has lost its gloss. Pour onto buttered platter and let cool.

Enjoy!

Can't Hold His Giggles

The picture is a bit shaky. It's not so easy to play with a baby and take video at the same time.

Fried Okra

For those who don't know of the Southern/Midwestern delicacy of fried okra, let me enlighten you. I was so excited when I saw a bag of okra in the freezer section and I just had to get it! I was very surprised finding such a country cookin' treat in the middle of the desert. When my great-grandfather came to visit us when I was little, we always went to Po' Folks and got fried okra. Eating it always reminds me of him and home and all sorts of good things to eat that no one seems to know of outside of the mid-west. Like noodles at Thanksgiving. Here's a sample of okra, next to S's baked potato.

Our Sabbath

Oh, what a day. Whoever said that Sunday was a day of rest didn't have kids. Or husbands. (But I love mine dearly.)

For reasons I have yet to comprehend, we can never seem to make it out of the house on time on Sunday. Now, we are rarely actually late to Church, but I never get the seat I want. Well, today was no exception. We were fifteen minutes late leaving for Stake Conference. Then when we got to the car I asked N if he knew how to get to the Stake Center. He said he knew about where it was, having carpooled to a Stake Priesthood meeting. So, off we went, already late. Well, it turns out that the Stake Center was not where N thought it was. After cruising up and down the wrong road we stopped at a gas station to check a phone book. We had two addresses to choose from. Of course it was the second address we checked, in another part of town. But he did get us there (35 minutes into the meeting) and for that I am grateful. Luckily, the kids were pretty good and my darling husband put M to sleep for me.
The one talk that I got to listen to was our Stake President. He had some interesting comments to make on being thankful for what we have. He related the following story which I liked and decided to share a bit of. It was originaly in The New Yorker.

Kurt Vonnegut to Joseph Heller, while having dinner at the home of a very wealthy man:

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22′ has earned in its entire history?” And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.” And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?” And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

And so, with the season of thanks being upon us, I am trying to "know" that I have enough and to be grateful for that. Like husbands who try to cheer me up when we're thirty-five minutes late to Conference. Or a sweet baby who smiles at everyone sitting behind us. Or a wise two year old who starts singing "Jesus Said Love Everyone" when her daddy gets mad at the motorist who just pulled out in front of him. I really do have enough.

Musings....

Here's my lil' cute one. He makes his mommy happy. Most of the time. Right now he's in bed, off for another nap. He goes to sleep on his own and takes good naps throughout the day usually. He's a much better sleeper than his sister ever was.
For exciting developments, M can now roll from his tummy to his back (although he rarely gets the chance because if he's on the floor his sister will clobber him) and he's eating rice cereal. We've been having feeding issues (namely he's too lazy to nurse and makes a fuss the entire time) so we started cereal a month or two earlier than I would have liked. But he loves it. As soon as he sees his bowl and spoon he starts grunting and whining to get at it. You have to constantly be shoveling mounds of cereal into his mouth or he starts crying. Then he shrieks when it's all gone. It takes a few minutes and a pacifier for him to realize that he's not starving anymore and he doesn't really need anymore food. That kid would eat and eat until he made himself sick.
M's new favorite thing is a mirror. Put him in front of one and you are 99.99% guaranteed to get a smile. And if he's really cranky a bath followed by (yep, you guessed it) rice cereal will usually do the trick. Handy for when Dad's going to be late and the house is in chaos.

M's First "Ice Cream"

S's Band

So check out this awesome Tinkertoy guitar that I made. S has often requested it but it's so complicated and she's so good at sabotaging that I've never actually completed it before. And the most amazing thing is that she's still left it intact - a whole day later!

Birthday laughs

So here's N's absolute favorite birthday card in the world. Compliments to Ab for having the presence of mind to purchase such an absurdity. I finally decided enough was enough and the card was headed for the recycling, but first I thought I'd share it with the world. It'll make N happy knowing there are others out there laughing their heads off too!

7 Random Things

So, I don't normally pay attention to 'tags' (although I enjoy reading them) but since Melanie called me by name, I guess I'll make an exception. So here are my 7 random things.

1. One of my best friends in the world (Hey Sarah!) and I were born on the same day, same hospital. We even got engaged the same weekend. And three of my cousins and I were all born in the same month. Eight years later we had a massive baptism with wet, shivering little girls everywhere.

2. When I was 16 years old I went to Australia with a bunch of other American teens. (No idea what possessed my Dad to pay for the thing, but I'm awfully grateful!) While there I ate crocodile and licked an ant.

3. I've nearly died a number of times in random ways: fell headfirst into a diaper pail, locked myself into a running refrigerator, nearly drowned twice, got stung by a yellow jacket six times, a near scrape with a kidnapper, I stuck a belt buckle into an electric socket, fell off a counter on to a concrete floor and broke my collarbone, and fell out of the attic onto the garage floor.

4. I have the worst sweet tooth in the world. I have no will power when it comes to sweets. If they are within my reach, they'll be gone in a day. Baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and brownies are my favorite. I like ice cream and chocolate candy too. Sugar candy like Skittles and Starburst don't tempt me so much. Oh, and if there's sweets lying around the house, I make N hide them so I can't get into them.

5. I can't wait to go back to school. I might even get several more degrees because I love learning. I don't want more education for any particular career aspirations. I just want to do it for myself. The only problem is which subject to choose?

6. My husband is an AMAZING cook. Depressing because I find new recipes and he likes them and then next time he makes them and they're ten times better. But it does mean I get to eat good food (better than restaurants in most cases)!

7. I have a brand new dishwasher that I don't use. I wash all of my dishes by hand now because they come out cleaner. This is due to the fact that our town has the hardest water in the world and our builder put the cheapest dishwasher on the planet in our kitchen. The dishwasher is so bad that the dishes look cleaner going in than coming out.

For Grandma

At Grandma's request, I present the Cougar Fight Song!

Oh, and she kept marching closer and closer to the camera. Hence the awkwardness.

Joy in Little Things....

.... gathering dirty laundry from around the house and catching the scent of sweet, clean baby.

.... S's eyes going as big as saucers when I tell her there's a Tootsie Roll (her new favorite candy) in the middle of her sucker.

.... while S was jabbering away during lunch, I caught the words "I'm thankful." So I ask what she's thankful for. "My mom."

Survival Mode

What do you do when dinner's not made, everyone's cranky, and Dad doesn't come home for two more hours? Everyone gets in the bathtub!!!!!

S-isms

While wrapping M's Christmas presents: "This dog is fabulous!"

While Trick-or-Treating: "I'm just terrified about the dogs."

During naptime: "Don't lock the door 'cause it makes me sad."

All the time: "I need a two-ze-ro (Tootsie Roll)."

Today:
"S put Daddy's treat back."
"No I need you to eat it."
"Why?"
"Cause I don't get a treat cause I wasn't nice to my brother."

While taking her shoelaces out: "No! Don't! I don't like it when you come! Stop, stop, stop!"

Running down the hall: "Don't step in my poo diaper. It's grossie!"

Musings from Sunday

On Saturday we had a baptism and welcomed the Lintow family into our ward. As a ward missionary, N has been able to watch their progress up close. It's amazing what a difference the gospel can bring about in people's lives. This family looks so different from what they did just a few months ago and they are so happy. N got to baptize the youngest daughter. She's in senior Primary so I'm guessing she's 9 or 10 years old. When she came up out of the water she had the biggest grin on her face and started clapping her hands uncontrollably, she was so excited. It was really cute. And I was extremely impressed at how the ward turned up to support them. The Relief Society room was packed and the front was lined with itty bitty Primary children. (As a side note, when I told S we were going to a baptism Saturday morning, she requested that she be allowed to play in the baptising water.) Most of the people there hadn't even met this family. It was great to see. Now I need to start following their example and get to know this new family better, as most of what I know of them has been learned vicariously through N.
And speaking of our ward, we seem to have a pretty good one. We don't really know a whole lot of people and therefore don't have too many friends (boy I miss Utah sometimes!), but the people here do seem to be strong members. Everyone does a good job of serving in their callings from what I can see and the missionary effort seems to be moving ahead. Our ward is growing by leaps and bounds, albeit that's due mostly to new move-ins. There are already three wards in our chapel and we need a fourth, but the building is too small. Kind of amazing considering the third ward was just added in April. I'm hoping we get a new chapel announced soon (maybe a stake?).
So, I'm a CTR 6 Primary teacher. Primary hadn't even crossed my mind as a possible calling when we moved to this ward. I've worked almost exclusively in Relief Society my entire adult life! So I was a little surprised (and not too excited) when that call came. It's working out though. At times I even enjoy it! But mostly it's just hard. I'm not a teacher (history major with NO teaching certificate, there's a clue) but have enjoyed teaching adults in Church because that's more of a discussion leading type assignment. And adults at least stay quiet even if your lesson is awful. Kids are a whole other story. I feel sorry for them a lot, as my lessons aren't that exciting. But on the flip side, a few of them don't make it too easy. They are all good, smart, sweet kids. But there are two imparticular who just can't seem to behave during class. I'm at my wits end! I've no idea what to do with them. And since I am not a great teacher, all attempts to engage them in a new way has failed miserably. Oh well. They are sweet sometimes. I'll probably still be their teacher in the new year, so maybe they'll grow out of it a bit (don't squash my deluded hope!).

S's Wisdom

I just love how little children are so innocent and yet so wise beyond their years. Often it seems that they understand the world much better than we do.

Today, as I was getting S dressed, she asked why we were putting on Church clothes. She is in the ask questions about everything phase and I thought this was just another one. I responded that it was because we were going to church. She then said, "It's a commandment because Jesus loves us." I told her that she was right and that we do it to show Jesus that we love him, feeling that this was actually a better response to the commandment thing but then I started thinking. I came to the conclusion that in a way she was more right than I was. We do keep the commandments to show Christ that we love him, but he first gave us the commandment and he did this because he loves us. This world and probation period would be useless if we did not have commandments and the agency to choose whether or not we keep those commandments. I'm so grateful that I have a Father and Savior who loved us enough to give us commandments and to trust us to follow their example.

The best part of bath time is eating the newly cleaned M.

Somersaulting: the new pink.

S loves to sing Ring Around the Rosie. For those of you who can't understand her, let me interpret the last verse:

The cows are in the meadow,

eating buttercups.

Thunder, lightning,

we all stand up!

We have no idea where she learned this. We certainly didn't teach her. The first time we heard her singing it we made her repeat it several times until we understood all of the words. Our best guess is that someone in Nursery taught it to her.