* * * * OUR LIFE WITH 8 KIDS * * * *

Baby Brows

2012-02-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

I love baby eyebrows - so expressive!

(sorry for the boogers, Fifi's got a little bit of a runny nose)

You Can Have It All

2012-02-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I heard a saying that has stayed with me. I was at a meeting and a woman was talking about how we all have a huge list of things we want - things to do, to learn, to read, to buy, etc. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the huge list and how you'll never have time or means to do it all, just remember (and here was her saying):

You can have everything you want,
you just have to have it one at a time.

I loved that! So I already had a mental list, and I went home and made a real list, and sure enough, as I took it one at a time, I was able to buy all the things I wanted for my home (that's where most of my wants were... all this moving and relocating, I'm in constant nesting mode, trying to get the house together, and then once I feel like I'm almost there, we up and move again!)

My list continues and I'm always adding more things and crossing off things that are done. Some things on the list are removed as they become unimportant, or some are still on there, but stay on the list cause they are less important that others. So, whatever you want, just write it down and know that you can have it and will have it if it's really important to you, just remember to take it one at a time.

Little story about this: When Corey left for Chile last month, he asked if he could take my camera. It is (was) a light blue Canon SD 1300 IS. When he went to Chile in November I felt bad that we hadn't thought of him taking it, cause after he got down there he realized he would have liked to get pictures of that pilot. So this time yes, you should take the camera. And as I handed it over (a little slowly, I think I was saying goodbye...) I knew there was a good chance it would get busted or something, as I thought of all the cd cases that have been cracked and broken or cds scratched in his computer bag and/or luggage. I told my little camera "good luck" (the way Brian Regan does at minute 1:00 here) as I handed it over. I also luckily found it's case as he was heading out the door. I hoped that would increase it's chances of survival.

Well, one day during his trip he called to say "Hey sweetheart! I love you. I think I lost your camera". No worries. He was pretty sure he left it on the seat of the taxi. "Well I hope that whoever finds it really needs it," was my reply. He had thought and hoped the same thing. Sure, part of me saw it coming, but no need for me to be upset. I am a stay at home mom, that camera was given to me by Corey, he is the one that earned the money to buy it, he does an amazing job, I know he will yet provide means for me to get another camera. (I also hope whoever has it now can find a charger for the battery - shouldn't be too hard if they know about ebay...)

So a camera wasn't on my list, but after he told me that it was lost in Chile, that moved to #1 of my needs/wants, and after a couple of weeks of keeping my eye open I bought one yesterday at Costco for $109, pretty good deal I thought. With just a little patience, you can have anything you want, you just have to get it one at a time. :)

ps - I also broke my Canon SD780 in Chile, so now I have the accessories/battery chargers for a SD1300 IS and a SD780 if anyone has a similar camera and wants these... I'm in a big time clearing out clutter mode this week, so let me know. :)

Charlie the iPhone

2012-02-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Joseph had only one big thing on this Christmas list, and Corey and I repeatedly said "Don't count on it." But through the power of child like faith a miracle occurred and he got one. (Thanks Nancy, he's loved it)

Sadly, with the addition of the iphone into our family (aka Charlie), Charlie and Joe hang out so much that these two pics represent almost all we see of Joe these days.

We miss you Joe! And Charlie has just about worn our his welcome, so we'll be rationing your screen time promptly, starting... hmm, I think we'll start tomorrow!!!! That gave Charlie and Joe a whole month from Joe's birthday to become acquainted. Now they know each other really well, so time for his non-electronic (aka human) family to become reacquainted with the first born.

(just kidding, it hasn't been that bad, although from how much his siblings complain about how unfair it is you'd think it was...) Our biggest complainer?

She's also the one who just happens to have Joe wrapped around her finger, so this lucky 2 year old usually gets her way. Her favorite app is Talking Tom. And I do admit that it came in super handy when Joe, Lily, and Sophia had to go in for their immunization shots. Lily had the whole clinic staff laughing as they hear Tom imitate her saying "Hey!! 'tupid cat!"

Tom kept Lily distracted until the shot was given, and then continued to do his duty and imitated her screaming cries as she recovered.

Pretty

2012-02-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday at church, all the women and teenaged girls met together for a lesson about modesty. I have some thoughts but don't have the time right now to collect them, but thought I'd share this article that was shared as part of the lesson:

The Death Of Pretty
by Pat Archbold (that's a guy, and the bolded parts below are by me)

This post is intended as a lament of sorts, a lament for something in the culture that is dying and may never been seen again.

Pretty. Pretty is dying.

People will define pretty differently. For the purposes of this piece, I define pretty as a mutually enriching balanced combination of beauty and projected innocence.

Once upon a time, women wanted to project an innocence. I am not idealizing another age and I have no illusions about the virtues of our grandparents, concupiscence being what it is. But some things were different in the back then. First and foremost, many beautiful women, whatever the state of their souls, still wished to project a public innocence and virtue. And that combination of beauty and innocence is what I define as pretty.

By nature, generally when men see this combination in women it brings out their better qualities, their best in fact. That special combination of beauty and innocence, the pretty inspires men to protect and defend it.

Young women today do not seem to aspire to pretty, they prefer to be regarded as hot. Hotness is something altogether different. When women want to be hot instead of pretty, they must view themselves in a certain way and consequently men view them differently as well.

As I said, pretty inspires men’s nobler instincts to protect and defend. Pretty is cherished. Hotness, on the other hand, is a commodity. Its value is temporary and must be used. It is a consumable.

Nowhere is this pretty deficit more obvious than in our “stars,” the people we elevate as the “ideal.” The stars of the fifties surely suffered from the same sin as do stars of today. Stars of the fifties weren’t ideal but they pursued a public ideal different from today.

The merits of hotness over pretty is easy enough to understand, they made an entire musical about it. Who can forget how pretty Olivia Newton John was at the beginning of Grease. Beautiful and innocent. But her desire to be desired leads her to throw away all that is valuable in herself in the vain hopes of getting the attention of a boy. In the process, she destroys her innocence and thus destroys the pretty. What we are left with is hotness.

Hotness is a consumable. A consumable that consumes as it is consumed but brings no warmth.

Most girls don’t want to be pretty anymore even if they understand what it is. It is ironic that 40 years of women’s liberation has succeeded only in turning women into a commodity. Something to be used up and thrown out.

Of course men play a role in this as well, but women should know better and they once did. Once upon a time you would hear girls talk about kind of women men date and the kind they marry. You don’t hear things like that anymore.

But here is the real truth. Most men prefer pretty over hot. Even back in 6th grade I hated the “hot” Olivia Newton John and felt sorry for her that she had to debase herself in such a way. Still do.

Our problem is that society doesn’t value innocence anymore, real or imagined. Nobody aspires to innocence anymore. Nobody wants to be thought of as innocent, the good girl. They want to be hot, not pretty.

I still hope that pretty comes back, although I think it not likely any time soon. For every Taylor Swift, there are a hundred Megan Foxs, or Lindsay Lohans, or Miley Cyruses etc.

Girls, please, bring back the pretty.

I loved his definition of "pretty" as a combination of beauty and innocence. I'm grateful for my pretty girls and a husband who thinks I'm pretty (...even though I'm usually un-fancied up most of the time and just in a t-shirt and yoga pants ...) But I aspire to pretty. I think there are so many pretty fabrics and patterns today, and that you can combine any color that please you. I'm a rainbow girl myself. When we went down to Provo to buy Corey's car, we picked up some Krispy Kreme donuts for the kids, and I had to take a picture...

I think Krispy Kreme donuts with sprinkles are pretty! So another goal to add to my 2012 resolutions, I'm going to bring back some of the pretty into my life, into myself, and my home. I think I'll start with some flowers for the home and a pretty apron.

Heaven and Hell

2012-02-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Corey read this on the news this morning and is the one who broke the tragic news to us at breakfast. I was making sandwiches for lunch when he said he wanted to tell us something but didn't want me to spend the rest of the day at the computer. "...okay..." I said wondering what the news could be. When he told me I just froze and looked at him in disbelief. Every once in awhile an event comes along that just knocks you flat.

We've talked with our kids about this terrible situation before, we watched Josh's interview on Dateline, and have followed updates on the case in the news - this morning continued our discussion with the kids about life, death, and choices. My heart especially breaks for Susan's parent's, Chuck and Judy Cox. They are the ones left behind on earth to endure the sadness and heartbreak. Our prayers are with them right now. I know they they will find comfort through our Savior, as He is the only one who knows fully their pain. I know they will find peace in the knowledge that those sweet boys are with Susan in Paradise.

I also know that Josh is in "spirit prison" a.k.a. hell. I'm not saying that with a "glad he got what's coming to him" attitude or vengeful feelings. I don't hate him, Susan's parents didn't hate him, the problem wasn't with them or with Mormons or neighbors or news bias or anyone who was calling it as they saw it - they were trying to help because they could see the danger and sadness of where it was leading and sadly, despite the best efforts of many people, it has come to pass. Josh refused to accept help, correction, or to look in the mirror. He pointed to others as being the ones with the problems. But the problem was with him and he refused to change his actions, and that is what destroyed his family here on earth and will continue to destroy and torment him. I pity him.

Sarah LaNelle Menet talks about spirit prison in her book "There is No Death". I read this book while Corey was in Chile and read chapter 3 with the kids at night, the part where she describes her visit to "hell". A little background - Sarah tried to commit suicide cause her life was miserable. She had had a terrible childhood and was abused by her father, life didn't get better as she grew up and got married and realized she had married an abusive man just like her father, anyway, I won't go into more details, but she didn't believe in heaven or hell, and since she hated life just wanted it to be done and over with, so she took a lot of pills and died. She found herself in a peaceful sort of in-between place for a while, then a deceased relative comes to tell her "you're not supposed to be here, you have to go back" to which she cries and refuses, then she's sucked into a "spirit prison" - it's dark, she hears what she thought at first was tortured animals but then realizes it's people, she feels claustrophobic like she's stuck in a thick heavy goo surrounding her, as she slowly moves around she asked in her mind "Am I in Hell?"

Quoting from the book:

The answer came quickly. No, this is not Hell, exactly. This was a place of temporary confinement for those spirits who had committed acts of evil during their lives on earth and, having not repented of them had to suffer for their choices. Here they suffered a penalty for their sins that would help them understand the broad consequences of evil. People on earth referred to this place as hell because it is so very horrifying, but here they called it spirit prison.

I understood that there were several areas to this spirit prison, and I was in the worst part of this place of sorrow. I was also impressed with the thought that the entire spirit prison was huge. ...

People who had committed heinous, horrible crimes against other human beings were locked into this terrible place where they would for a period of time feel the pain they had inflicted upon others, but that pain was enormously multiplied. They were in an agony beyond mortal comprehension. I also understood that many of those held there were still filled with the hate and anger that had consumed them while upon the earth. I was somehow permitted to feel a small part of their emotions. The desire to murder, inflict pain, and destroy that they felt in their earth lives had remained with them, but they were now prevented from committing those acts because of their spirit nature. I understood that you could not physically hurt a spirit, good or evil.

I asked, How could a loving God put any of His children in a place like this no matter what they had done? The answer came immediately to me: God did not put them in this place. Their own actions drew them here. I then understood that somehow their evil deeds and desires while in mortality caused them to be attracted and pulled to this dreadful fate.

While feeling overwhelmed by my surroundings, something very strange seemed to come over me. I began to feel very badly for them. The strangeness of what I was feeling was the fact that I had never felt sympathy for anyone back on earth. My attitude had always been that it was a dog-eat-dog world, I was going to take care of myself and let everyone else get along the best they could. But here I was feeling sincere empathy and concern for those around me. I wanted to help them in some way, but there was nothing I could do.

Ok, I'll stop there with the quote, continue on page 57 if you get the book. But I will also tell you that while she was in Hell, she stood next to her father, her father who had abused her and who, when he was dying of cancer and asked her to forgive him, she (page 14) "let all the hate pour or of me and I told him that he was responsible for my horrible childhood and the reason I could not function as an adult. I blamed him for every mistake I had ever made. To my utter astonishment, in the middle of my tirade, he held out his arms and asked me to forgive him. What a nerve he had! I said 'I hate you and am so glad you are dying. I am glad that you are in pain and I will never visit your grave'... " She didn't attend his funeral and didn't shed a tear, she thought that now that the nightmare was over, she could make something of her life.

So, I just told that for background, so you'd know her feelings for him, but while she stood next to him in hell, she was able to feel (page 58) "a small part of the pain that he was feeling for the life he lived. It was so completely overwhelming and excruciating that even 22 years after that experience I can still feel the pain my father felt. ... I felt so sorry for my father that I wanted to put my arms around him, perhaps to give him some comfort of understanding that I had forgiven him, but I didn't. Because I couldn't touch him, I just stood there feeling his desire to change what he had done to me. Now he had real sorrow for his choices and the pain he inflicted on others. I realized that he was repenting, but it was excruciatingly painful and slow. It would take a very long time. Once again I realized that we not only feel the pain of what we have personally done in our lives, but we also feel the pain that we have inflicted upon others--from their perspective. The unspeakable regret and torment these spirits were suffering was because of this ability to feel what others feel."

So those are some of the thoughts that have been on my mind this morning after hearing about Josh Powell's actions yesterday. Small bad choices, if not corrected, lead to bigger wrong choices as adults, which for some people lead them to take the lives of their wife and children. My job as a mom is to help my kids learn right and wrong while they are young and the consequences are small. So it breaks my heart that Josh did this. I can't believe it, but how do you reach someone who is so lost? I can't understand it, how a parent could destroy their children. My heart aches as I think of what the boys were thinking and feeling as they burned. Josh is feeling those fears and pains from the perspective of his children, his sweet innocent children. Fears are a lot bigger and worse to kids, I can only imagine, so sad.

Also made me think of Alma 14 - Alma and Amulek preached of Christ and those that believed were burned by the non-believers. Amulek wanted to stop the fire and save them, but (verse 11) "Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day."

5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charlie, they are in Paradise now with their mother, received in glory. Josh was allowed to do this to them according to the hardness of his heart. This was his choice, his action, and God's judgements will be according to His justice and mercy.

Surprise Surprise!

2012-02-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

Corey's been in Chile for two weeks. He was scheduled to arrive home tomorrow around 11 a.m....

Or so I thought
.
.
.
Here is what I learned this morning as we were chatting online:

8:56 AM Corey: I love you sweetie

8:57 AM you there?

me: hi sweetheart.

yes,

how are you?

Corey: I'm in love with you - how are you?

me: good, can I call you?

8:58 AM Corey: no, I can't talk - the internet is not good where I'm at

but I'm excited to see you soon

did I ever send you my itinerary?

me: no

Corey: you still want it?

me: yes please

Corey: one moment sweetie

will be great to see you soon

me: Yes, I've missed you

Corey: I missed you too

too long of a trip

me: I'll be right back

xoxo

Corey: wait!? where did you go?

9:02 AM me: sorry

Corey: ok -

hey, it says my flight gets in Feb 3, 2012 - 10:19 AM

9:03 AM me: today is feb 3rd (see * at end of this post)

Corey: oh - well

then can you pick me up today?

(pause on my end as I realized the surprise...)

me: are you in the air right now?

Corey: if not, tomorrow works

9:04 AM yes, I'm crossing into new mexico a the moment

me: YOU ARE CRAZY!!!!!!!

ARE you serious?!

Corey: CRAZY!??!

why crazy?

crazy to change my flight just to be with you sooner?

me: you're going to be home in an hour??!?!

Corey: 1:13 minutes

me: Ok, you just put the biggest smile on my face

You are awesome

Corey: I LOVE YOU!!!!!

me: Well, I better go shower then!

Corey: excited to see you

9:05 AM well, you can come get me, right?

me: but the house is a wreck, I was going to clean the house tonight...

I'm not ready!!!

Corey: well, you just gotta always be ready

me: well this is fun,

ok then, You are amazing, thanks for the surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9:06 AM Ah, I get it... last night you said "I'm not going to be available tonight..." now I get it. I thought it was a social gathering

Corey: nope - just boarding the plane

me: well, you just keep up with these surprises and I'll try to keep not expecting it

love you!

Ok, see you soon!

Corey: I LOVE YOU!!!

I'm just glad your happy to see me - Gabriel said you might be busy with someone else.

me: haha

9:08 AM always busy but just with the kids

Corey: ok - well I'm excited to see you

it says 1:09 minutes until at destination

9:10 AM me: I just told Abi we're gonna go get you, then she said "He's coming home now? hehehe! I can't wait!"

so you're in the plane over New Mexico or in New Mexico on a layover?

Corey: I'll get some candy/treats at the airport

9:11 AM sorry to have had to leave you again

out there trying to "do stuff"

see you soon!

Time to Destination: 1:08

me: ok!we'll get ready

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

* so when I said "today is Feb 3rd" my immediate brain thought/vent was "WHAT?!?! Oh great!!! He was supposed to go to the airport yesterday but he didn't look at his itinerary until today and if he would have looked at it before and emailed it to me earlier he would have noticed that he had to leave chile on FEB 2nd to arrive back here TODAY on Feb 3rd and now he probably won't get home until SUNDAY and AHHHHH!!!!!

But when he said "well can you pick me up in an hour then" I knew he planned this surprise for me and what a fun surprise! He came home early! (My love language is quality time, so having more time with him than I thought, well that's just the best surprise he could give me!) That gave me such a smile and boost of oxytocin that I'll probably be in a good mood the whole month.

:) !!!!!! Hooray for a fun husband who knows how to make me smile!!!

One Year Ago Today

2012-02-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

We were swimming and enjoying in the summer time weather. When we were there I didn't think I'd ever say it or feel it, but I do miss Chile. That was a lot of fun and it was hard and it was worth it. Corey's been down there for two weeks, I'm glad he's headed back home to us tomorrow.

Flight To Heaven

2012-02-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

I loved this book. I didn't read any reviews before I read it, got interrupted by kids after starting it on Monday, then last night after they were all in bed, I started on page 78 and stayed up until 2 a.m. reading it, I kept telling myself: "...I really should go to bed... well, just one more chapter..." Finally made myself stop at 163 then finished it today. It was fun to read, some things I didn't expect that I won't talk about here in case it spoils it for you, but if you read it and want to talk about it, shoot me a facebook message and we can chat.

He only shared a little bit about heaven (chapters 14 & 15) and they are similar to other NDE accounts. That was okay for me, cause the thing I loved most about this book was the journey of faith he experienced through his broken ankle. He prayed and prayed for his ankle to heal, and there were miracles along the way that eventually made it happen, but for a time doubt set in and he feared along with his doctor that his "faith experiment" had ruined his chance for healing and that he would be crippled for life. He called himself an "untrained unit" in the war for faith, which I liked cause I feel like I'm untrained too and am still learning how to defeat fear and doubt at times. I also liked on page 134 "I wasn't going to make a parade out of my faith this time." I think I've been guilty of that before. Mostly just in my mind, silly things like when I was so sure we were going to with the Body for Life contest - lots of times as I experimented with my faith, it was more of an experiment using "The Secret", trying to "will it" to happen by my will, not letting God's will decide. So I really liked this book cause I related to his story about how he learned HOW to have faith. I think I've had the same journey but in a different way (mostly through MovieMouth). One of my neighbor's family is having their own experience of faith but through the illness of a child (Here on the mom's hospital journal entry on November 14th "Walking Through Water") as I read this particular entry, I know that I've learned that too, but did wonder why they are learning it in such a hard way, my way really wasn't hard in comparison. (Poor me, I had to live out of suitcases for 9 months with 7 kids and live in a small apartment in Chile... boo hoo. Corey said one time in Chile "Come on, this isn't that bad... it isn't Valley Forge!" (At that time he was reading a George Washington book.))

How do we want to view our life? I know that people who look for the good are happier, so I think since I want to be happy, I'll keep trying to do that. (In Costa Rica, I lived 10 minutes from the beach, awesome! In Chile, I only had 700 square feet of apartment to clean! Sweet!) How do we want to look at our life - Are we grateful as we see the blessings or do we like to complain and murmur about the difficulties and inconveniences?

Anyway... learning to Trust God and turn our will over to Him is a journey that all of us need to have, we all need to experience our own personal Gethsemane where our will is broken, giving us a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see verse 7) - giving up what we want most and letting the Lord give us what He wants for us, according to his will. And as we remember that God loves us we will learn to trust him, and we'll recognize that he has and IS blessing us. We will know that whatever happens will be for the best. (amazing talk at that link above too!!)

I'll end here with another part of the book I liked in chapter 10 as he sat in the backyard in his wheelchair and pondered on the change of seasons:

"Up until (the accident), I had always been a doer; now I was learning to just be.

"Trees need the winter. They need time to strengthen for the growth in springtime.

"I had experienced a lot of growth. Now was the time for the energy to be diverted from the branches to the roots. The roots of my faith were going deeper. Much of what was going on with me was going on underground, so to speak, beneath the surface, unseen. Growth can be a lonely place, but it is a necessary place."

So when we go through changes and trials and hard times, keep a proper perspective, remember past miracles and answers to prayers like talked about here in one of my all time favorite talks ever. Trust that things will work out, but that it's a winter season for you before the blessings and beauty of springtime.

Exercise Equipment

2012-02-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

My exercise quote for February:
I'm going to remember this and focus on diet this month a lot more and still give 100% to my 15 minute daily workouts. Wait, no, let's add some stretching and cool down to make it 30 minutes, and guess what % of your day that is? Not 30%, just a tiny 2.1%! Anyone can all do that, right? I'll leave it at 30% (cause we walk and go up and down stairs during the day) but modify the quote a little to read: "30% Exercise, 70% Diet - Abs are made in the kitchen and with Zuzka!" :)

During January I've mostly just been doing bodyweight exercises with Zuzka plus I did do my own additional exercise goal for January and got 100% in doing 12 minutes of planks 3 x a week (Mon, Wed, Sat) - I do either 3:00 min intervals or 1:00 minute intervals 3 times of (I found random videos online to demonstrate):

1) Center Plank Hold
2) Side Plank Hold Left
3) Side Plank Hold Right (sometimes I do the up and down moves, sometimes just the hold)
4) Yoga Table (this is a P90X Yoga X move, but that link is some other guy showing it. Everytime I do it I hear Tony Horton in my mind "You're gonna feel this in your biceps and your shoulders, I know I do!")

I used weights for ZWOD #2 but haven't done any Bodyrock workouts that require equipment, well, except for the Gymboss timer. Plus I've kinda bailed on the new BR, but I still do Z's old workouts there. For some of her old workouts, I still want/need to get the equipment. I'm waiting for my birthday to get some of the real equipment things. Going to either get a sandbag or equlaizer first.

This is my current "sandbag-ish enough" thing. I bought the above tool bag at Walmart a long time ago, the tools have all been moved to a metal toolbox, so I threw a 30 lb. weight in this bag and padded it with some fleece vests - works pretty good for some of BR exercises, like the power lunge.

But I need to get a real sandbag or better DIY version of it soon. Post about why sandbags are good here and a sandbag DIY here.

I'm glad I never ordered a Dip Station. I almost ordered one for Christmas, but then read the reviews of it on Amazon and decided to try and find a walker for cheap at the thrift store first before I paid $100 bucks for it. Now BRtv is advertising a new product, the Equalizer, which looks like you can use for all the same dip station moves, only it's more functional and you can do more stuff with it.

I haven't ordered the Equalizer yet, I'm just using two chairs for exercises like core splits, or using these two long vacuum poles I found in our house for reverse push ups. The owner of our house has some stuff in the basement, so these are two of my make shift workout centers.

Making it do and doing without for now. It's fun to improvise. Did pretty good with my diet and exercise goals for January, making more diet adjustments and pushing a little harder with my exercises this month. I was able to zip up my pre-pregnancy jeans again, so that was exciting! ...just have a major muffin top. :) It's okay, cause I'll get there... "I'll never give up, you'll have to kill me!" -Zuzka (I just read this post about Zuzana, I liked what she said so thought I'd repost it.)

Thank You Email

2012-02-01T07:43:00.000-08:00

This is Ramana and his wife Aruna and their little daughter Celina. Corey received this email today from Ramana-

Hi Corey, My name is Ramana Seerapu, I met you about 4 years ago when you have visited Chennai. I was glad that I made an effort to come from Bangalore to Chennai on that day. You have inspired me to apply for BYU MBA program. You have also gone through few problems from Official Guide 10 to make us feel comfortable with GMAT. You have also shown us your project and took our introduction videos. Since then I was trying hard to get into to BYU MBA program. As part of my preparation, I came to BYU-Hawaii in 2010 for a 60 credit program in Corporate Finance. This program adds value and considers transferred credits from my previous Indian degree in Mathematics and Physics. Now I will be graduating in BYU-Hawaii with a 4 years US degree, This would qualify me to apply for MBA program. In addition, I am also writing GMAT on 16th Feb. I am confident that I can get a good score in Quant and a medium score in Verbal. I want to thank you for your few minutes of time 4 years ago, that led me to make some of the important academic and career decisions in my life. If I get into this program all credit goes to you for the seed of hope that you have planted. Attached is my family picture, I was married to Aruna; we have a 16months daughter, Celina, who was born in Hawaii around Laie Temple re-dedication last year.
-Ramana

Isn't that great? What a beautiful family! And it was so nice of Ramana to send a thank you email to Corey, I have a few thank you's that I need to send out to people thanking them for things they did years ago that have made a difference in my life. On my February to do list.

Corey went to India for 3 weeks in October 2007 for business. Whenever he travels he offers to teach a GMAT class, I think he's taught classes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Mexico... (am I missing anywhere sweetheart?) He loves to wave the banner of BYU.

Good job, sweetie. I love the righteous desires of your heart.

Chile Update - Week 1 Done

2012-01-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

Corey had a good week and a rough week. Things went well at the schools except for communication with the consejo about expectations. Here are details from Corey's skype conversation with his developer in India, the amazing Kiran (the fact that he's from India plays into the story) :

Corey Wride: I'm a little frustrated. The "take-away" I have is that we simply cannot afford to leave a bad impression with unstable software. I didn't even know those people (the Consejo who showed up during the classes to take notes, video record, and evaluate the software) existed before I got here - and had only agreed to do one class with 8-10 people, so we did very good delivering - but they simply did not view it as a pilot which is strange. This organization has some influence, but its not certain that they'd be helpful. the root problem is that people are very excited about this - and they want it finished sooner than we can finish it. Its a good problem to have - as long as we can manage expectations, its funny - the first day at the University I had a meeting with all the students - inviting them to participate, I told them about the "pilot" and how they would be "testers" and that its not finished, but we want their influence and opinions, then, the woman in charge got up and said "oh, no...Corey is just being modest. Its very great software. We love it, and you're going to love it, its really wonderful" - even though she had never used it, so even when I tried to keep expectations low ...sort of funny. One other thought you might enjoy, they said they want to start using it for all the students at home, so they can use it whenever they want - and I said its not ready yet for that. The woman who is the most critical said "just have people in India finish it for you- they are very smart and they work while you sleep"

Kiran Babu: :D

Corey Wride: I wanted to assure her we have the best India has to offer - but it still takes time

Kiran Babu: That's really funny

Corey Wride: yeah, its weird. I'm told I should l get angry at them and tell them how unorganized they are - but that's not really my style. ok, I'm done venting - anything else you want to talk about in that regard? Monday appears to be the last day of the pilot, and now that all the machines work it should go just fine.

So that's where things were left at after Friday. Sunday he went to church at our old ward in Santiago. Saw old friends, sent me this email: "Funny, I just bumped into her at church and told her that our kids missed the lady with the rabbits - and guess what she had in her purse?"

(On Easter Sunday last year, Corey was out in the lobby with Lily who was being fussy, when the "crazy lady" from the other Las Condes ward (that shared the building with us) told Corey to go get the rest of the kids who were in the meeting with me. Corey waved for them to go to him, a few went out, then came back in, whispered to the other kids, then they all went out again, all while someone is giving a talk from the pulpit, I was starting to steam out of my ears like "You guys are really distracting the meeting, what is going on?!?!" The kids informed me that the 'crazy lady' (which we call her for lack of remembering her real name) had some baby rabbits that were SOOOOO cute, so all the kids were out there, waving for me to come out too, Corey shrugged his shoulders like "Hey, it's Chile. I don't have a say about this..." I sat alone on the bench for the rest of the meeting in defiance. I was like "NO! We don't skip out on sacrament to play with rabbits!!!" So that is funny that my kids miss her and her rabbits, and that Corey ran into her and there was a baby rabbit in her purse AT CHURCH again, funny.)

So, after Church, Corey took a bus to Peralillo to visit an area where he served as a missionary back in the late 90s. He ate breakfast but didn't take any food with him so was pretty hungry all day. He decided to buy some water from the bus personelle, he said as he called me to tell me he was on his way, I said have fun and good bye, then he called back and said "Serves me right for buying something on the Sabbath - the water is carbonated." I laughed. Yuck! Something particular to Latin America - have you ever had water "with gas"? It is nasty. Ugh. Don't think they even sell carbonated water here in the US, do they? But in Chile you have to specifically ask for "Agua sin gas" - water without gas - or they will bring you carbonated water, and the first time I ever tried that, I just can't explain it. You'd have to experience it, but it was nasty. Doesn't seem like it should be incredibly horrid, but it is.

After he arrived in Peralillo, he went to go buy his return bus ticket for that evening and they were all sold out, so he was stuck there for the night until the 5:30 a.m. bus to Santiago. I was sorry for him (glad the kids and I weren't there with him). Corey did find a few of the members that he went there to find. Carlos in particular. Carlos didn't remember Corey at first. He isn't active in the church, it was a little bit of a depressing experience but gave Corey some good insights. Corey ran into the missionaries and went with them for a while on their visits members and teach people, he enjoyed that. They offered for Corey to stay with them at their apartment, he asked "Is that allowed?" They called the Mission Pres. for permission, it's not allowed. Poor Corey, abandoned and alone in Chile. I told him he needs to write down these experiences in his journal (as he was talking to me that night from his alcohol smelling hotel) and he said "No. I just want this experience to be over..." and entrusted me to try and document it. It's hard being the historian for our whole family. Especially since I don't really know half the stuff that's going on at Corey's end with MovieMouth. But anyway, so Sunday night the kids and I here in our comfortable home with soft beds said a prayer for Corey to fall into a deep sleep and that the night would pass by quickly. He was at some run down house turned into a hotel, where the owner was drunk from celebrating his first customer and Corey's arrival as his second customer. I was a little worried for him that night, I woke up and called him at 6 a.m., he was already back in Santiago and plugging away so that was good.

As for me here at our house, things are going well... 1)I gave myself a haircut - feel free to fix it for me if you see me and can tell that I did it myself. 2) I bought "the genie bra" at Walmart on Saturday night. Love it! Saw their infomercial some time ago and so it was on my list to check it out - happy I saw it, and I give it 4 stars, go buy one!! (there were two in the package). 3) I learned that Oxyclean is also a great wedding ring cleaner. My ring hasn't been cleaned for 3 years, looks so nice now! And 4) yesterday at 5:00 I noticed my cell phone had a voicemail message - it was from the principal at the kids school. She didn't say what she was calling about, I just figured I'd call back tomorrow to see. Then during the evening it came up in a conversation with Joseph that he was called to the principal's office where he met Wesley, my 1st grader, who told the principal that Joseph had given him his Scouting pocket knife. So Wes took a pocket knife to school, showed it for show and tell to his teacher, his teacher had to (district policy) send him to the principal's office with it. Then Wes passed the blame onto his older brother. Pretty funny. The knife is still at the school, I have to go pick it up. I think Wesley found it under the boys' bunk bed when they were cleaning their room on Saturday, and Wes snatched it then. He won't fess up that he put it in his back pack. I'm not mad that he took it, but do want him to tell the truth and not be scared to tell the truth. We'll probably revisit the incident again when Corey gets home Saturday and see if we can get Wesley to feel safe enough to admit it, or see if we can figure out if someone else did put it in his backpack. Anyway, that's the Chile and At Home update. How's it going at your headquarteres?

Book Reviews

2012-01-29T19:58:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd do a quick book review of these two books, both by Suzanne Freeman (as told to Shirley Bahlmann (Hmm?))- Led by the Hand of Christ and Through the Window of Life

I read this first one in 4 hours over the weekend. I liked it at first, then around page 84 I was like "What?! That's not right..." I was already starting to wonder how she remembered all the details about everything, started to think some of it was maybe made up or borrowed from other sources? (not sure how much the "as told to Shirley Bahlmann" added to the content...) Then on page 84 she writes about meeting Nephi: "He lives in the heavenly version of a city that the Nephites built after they left an area in the eastern United States." That's where I was like "Mmm, I'm not buying this story..." - I don't think it's impossible that she met Nephi, my doubts come cause I think the Nephites lived in Peru - (that's the current theory I'm leaning toward) so that added detail derailed my waning confidence in this book.

I haven't read anything very convincing about it being in the eastern US. (If you have anything compelling about New York feel free to share, cause so far I don't think that New York or Mesoamerica are the right locations. I read this book by George Potter and it was very compelling and lots of it rang true. I have it if you want to borrow it. Now I'm reading the Book of Mormon again with Peru as the setting in mind and so far it fits well)

...Anyway, then in Suzanne's book on page 130 she says that she chose to not remember her near death experience, but then after she's been back on earth she's been able to remember parts of it and then prays and remembers more. So to myself that validated my skepticism about all the details in her story. Just my opinion. I'd be interested to see how/if my opinion would change by seeing her in person and or hearing her speak. But as for now, meh -

So then I thought I'd read her other book (didn't know why she's have two books talking about the same experience, felt like I had fallen ploy to marketing techniques - 2 for 1 the other way around - 1 for 2 - one experience, sell two books about it) - to see what this one was about and about page 4 I was like, ohh, I'm not going to like this, and I was right, I didn't enjoy this one at all. It was a chore to read it but I felt like I had to, sort of like when I forced myself to read Twilight, just felt like I should know what everyone was talking about, like some obligation.

Twilight tangent: I did think the first book was fun, and since I started it I felt like I had to read all of them. But I didn't do the 4th book Breaking Dawn, but I remember totally just trying to get book 2 and 3 "over with", no offense to Twilight fans, I just don't have time in my life for fiction right now. And this book "Through the Window of Life" fell into my "fiction" category, cause after book 1, I started this one pretty skeptical, and as I read I just didn't like it at all. It's a short book but it took me a week to finally force myself to finish it, and I was forcing my eyes to keep looking at each word so I could turn the page and finish it - it just read like a lot of made up ideas and stories, so I didn't like it, sorry. I don't think that we'll all be crawling out of caves when the Lord comes again. He's not building his kingdom on earth (which I believe is what the restoration of the gospel is) just to destroy everything and start over again when he comes for the Millenium. The world's not ending yet, look to the living prophet and apostles for guidance. Keep setting goals and pursuing your dreams. As President Packer says in the 2nd to last paragraph of this talk:

"Sometimes you might be tempted to think as I did from time to time in my youth: “The way things are going, the world’s going to be over with. The end of the world is going to come before I get to where I should be.” Not so! You can look forward to doing it right—getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren."

When the Lord comes, I don't think it will be how people tend to think it is, which this book is an example of how I think people think it will be like, I don't agree with it. Plus, one of the apostles lives on our street a few houses down, so we'll keep an eye out on him for all of us. ...If we do see the moving van in his driveway, we'll send out the alert to all of you and we'll all pack up and follow him wherever he's driving to. ;)

So these two books are now put on the "Things I don't know what to do with" shelf in my brain. There are lots of other things on this shelf. The other shelves in my head are "things I believe are right" and "things I think are wrong". The reason why this is on my "don't know" shelf rather than the wrong shelf is cause there is a lot I don't know about this lady. I have no reason to believe she is insincere, I think it's possible she did experience many of the things she shares, I just don't believe all of it, thus it's in the "I don't know/don't get it" category.

So there's my opinion. If you want to read them and give me your 2 cents, let me know and you can borrow these copies. :) See ya later!

My Motivation to Get Moving

2012-01-28T00:44:00.001-08:00

Viva La Vida meets Love Story and Without You

The two links above are to two of my favorite workout songs - both by the Piano Guys - when I'm not motivated to exercise, I play these songs and they give me the energy I need to begin it - starting off slowly and just start moving and stretching, and soon I'm working harder and lost in the song, love!

The Triple Whammy

2012-01-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

"The Triple Whammy is a devilish interaction among three factors: non-stop stress, low levels of stress-buggering serotonin (a brain chemical that is behind good moods), and imbalances in your female hormones."

I stumbled upon this book at the library a few years ago during an exceptionally stressful time, and have mentally referred to it several times lately when talking with friends, sharing what I could remember... I finally bought it so I could read it again and have the actual quotes on hand for reference since my brain is getting rusty. It is good stuff. You can buy it on Amazon used for like 50 cents.

It talks about stress, serotonin and hormones, and the multitude of afflictions women suffer from as a result of any one of these being out of balance - and he gives the biology behind our moods and aches and pains such as:
-anxiety disorders
-chronic fatigue syndrome
- depression
-fibromyalgia
-irritable bowel syndrome (diarrhea/constipation)
-memory loss and brain fog
-menopause transition
-migranies
-PMS
-sleep problems, etc

Says Dr. Edelberg, in his introduction:

What you're experiencing is not a disease, as doctors think of disease, but rather the consequences of a susceptibility you have as a woman on three separate fronts. Your symptoms are the result of a three-pronged assault - a "triple whammy" so to speak - consisting of:

1 -stress - Women are poorly protected against the ravages of stress on their bodies because they have less available serotonin, which acts as a buffer to damp down the physical effects of chronic stress
2 -a shortage of a chemical in your brain called serotonin - Women are genetically predisposed to low serotonin, one of the feel good neurotransmitters in our brains. Women actually have more serotonin than men, but it doesn't work as efficiently
3 -our ever-shifting female hormones - Women have shifting tides of hormones, which themselves control serotonin levels and function -monthly and through out life.

One last thing about this book - he says his interest in women's health came about when he gained access to the medical records of his grandmother, years after she'd died in a state mental hospital. Because of the stigma associated with mental illness, he'd been told she died as a young women, when in fact she spent virtually her entire adult life institutionalized. He didn't even know she was alive when he was young - years later as he looked through her doctor's notes, he realized sadly that she could have lived a real life if only antidepressants had been invented a few decades earlier. I can relate to this, cause sometimes I can see myself acting crazy and stressed out but I feel like I can't control it (like now since Corey's out of town for two weeks!!! AHH!!) Going to read through this book and breath, go for a walk outside in the sunshine (sunlight produces serotonin) exercise, get a massage (massaging skin stimulates serotonin production), eat my fruits and veggies, call a friend (no need for a therapist, just call your BFF and start talking - it produces serotonin!) etc.

Another quote "The stress response is a two-edged sword, helpful for the soldier if the bombing is actually under way, but definitely the wrong reaction for the student to feel ten minutes or ten hours before the exam even starts, or after it's over. when faced with a stressful situation, whether actual and dangerous or created by unrealistic worry, if you don't have enough serotonin, two things can happen: your mood may plummet and you'll be come apathetic, or you'll become anxious in the extreme, sometimes to the point of panic."

Like I said, lots of great stuff to help us understand stress and how our bodies react to it. Going to go read some more...

Zip Itty Dodah (aka Brian Regan)

2012-01-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Beka, how was Brian Regan? I've tried to remember some of the jokes from our show so we could compare. :)

- Hogle Zoo - "Well, this is what we look like..."
- Doctor Late to appointment - 5 minutes ok if there's blood under the door
- House construction - what is your net worth?
- Water heater installation - "Not over there, over THERE!!"
- 3 a.m. music for free
- One free kill
- shadow boxing, shadow polo, chest bump (he didn't do the lottery ticket at ours)
- Mortgage crisis - magician trick
- Magician doing dog tricks
- Dog doing "illusions"
- Edna, I love what you're done with your hair!
- space tourist, the rocks are hard!
- checking into a hotel - Is it under another name? Yea, check under Zip Itty Dodah or Yip E. I. O. Kaiyay
- ipod is amazing - it's able to turn all the songs we love into the songs we hate "nope, don't want to listen to that, not that... not that, well, guess I'm done!"
- dancing on the dance floor!
- marching bands, that was the flute player's idea "Come on guys, it's easy! Like this! We're spelling Mississippi!"
- There are only two kinds of sprees - shopping spree and killing spree. "I'm going out for a spree honey, see you later." "what kind of spree?" "You said we needed bread and milk... so I'm going to go kill all our neighbors and take theirs."

I've been wasting time on YouTube now... this clip had a few jokes I hadn't heard before, he's so funny

What were some others? Brian Regan is hilarious!

Sophia Studies Hyrum

2012-01-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

When Sophia was born, she looked exactly like Joe and Hyrum did as newborns. She was taking a good look at Hyrum the other day to check out what many of her facial features may be when she's 8 years old...

She was studying hard...

And her conclusion? Hmm, I think she looks a little concerned...

Don't worry Sophers, you'll have longer hair than that and we'll let you wear pink and dresses.

Yeah, put Hyrum's face with Mel's hair and pink shirt, something like a combination of that. Is that better? It's fun to be a girl! Playing ring a round the rosies, without ringing around. Sit around the rosies.
Love my pretty girls.

Candy Houses

2012-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

It's a little late to be posting this Christmas activity, but better late than never :)

My mom came over and helped out big time with this activity - spending the better part of her evening the day before making all of these little graham cracker houses. "Oh, it will be easy!" And I guess it is, but it's still time consuming. Want to know the quick way to make candy houses? Sugar melted on a skillet - see pic below. Careful though, it is hot like molten lava, and since it cools quickly, it will promptly singe your skin and stick to it at the same time if it drips on your finger (just got me once but that was enough - my attempt to ease the pain by giving in to my first reaction and sucking on it removed the skin that just got cooked and left the burn exposed. 3 weeks later and my finger finally fully healed.)

Mom helped Hyrum frost his house a little - royal frosting is the other must have when making candy houses.

Hy decorating with nerds and gumdrops (and I like Wes's suckered cheek in the picture below)

The finished product:

I thought I'd let Hyrum be the poster child for this activity - he's such a quiet and non-assuming kid, trying to make sure I post pictures of all the kids now and then, not just the littlest ones.

Corey's Chile Update

2012-01-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Corey pulled an almost all-nighter (stayed up 'til 5:30 a.m. then slept 'til 10:30) went to the airport at 12:30, layover in Atlanta, arrived in Chile at 9 a.m. Monday and went straight to the university. He's a really hard worker. If millionaires are created by driving yourself into the ground, I think Corey's definitely earned it. (Don't have a heart attack, sweetie) Here's an email he sent me yesterday of the trip update thus far (on Day 2 of 14):

"Thought I’d take a moment to give you and update of happenings here in Santiago. Last week I was busy with some other non-Movie Mouth priorities and so have been playing catch-up with work – so if I don’t sound coherent, it’s due to a couple of all-nighters – interrupted only by flight to South America.

"When I was here last I had agreed with Cristobal who works for the CNIC (Chilean National Innovation council) that we could do something small with them – and get a chance for them to learn more about Movie Mouth. I had worried about doing something big because we had just finished a pilot and we knew of many issues to address before presenting again, and I didn’t want to get distracted, and frankly the software is not ready yet. I also worried about not having enough resources to do it “right”. Cristobal assured me it would just be 8-10 students on summer break at a lab at the Catholic University.

"So far, 50-60 people have used the system under the watchful eye of maybe a dozen or more administrator’s and academics at two Universities, one of which is the most prestigious in the country and sets the trends for the rest of the nation. Unfortunately, Gabriel was unable (despite my strong urgings) to get access to the labs before I came, so we’ve wrestled with various installation/technical issues that temporarily shook the confidence of some of the people working with us, but they appear to be mostly behind us. Many of the computers didn’t even have sound cards to work with, and are super slow. But we have gotten through most of those issues (happy to go into details if you’re interested. We have three separate, unfinished projects surrounding auto-installation and testing – we just haven’t been able to get to them yet but they should help identify/solve problems much sooner.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of attention here – my biggest worry is whether we have the resources to execute like we need to – and like everyone is expecting/hoping us to. The entire staff at the CNIC seems involved in the project and anxious for its success – and they even hired an outside firm to monitor/track/study the progress. It was not the low-key pilot I had agreed to by any means, but the enthusiasm seems too great to contain. I know that if we do moderately well with this pilot they will want to talk about expansion. As with the last pilot, the vision/concept transcends the technology issues – but we need to close that gap ASAP."

moviemouth movie mouth language corey wride language learn english
So with Chile on my mind, I thought I'd share a personal political side note that after watching the State of the Union (as much as I could handle) and after South Carolina, I'm a little worried about the future of America so thought I'd let you all know we're going to self-deport ourselves to Chile if Gingrich gets the nomination. (Come on Romney!!) I'll stick around for Santorum or Paul, but if my choices are between Obama and Gingrich... see ya. Feel free to try and convince me if there are other options, but I'm not alone, I'm going to start recruiting (see 14:12-14:27). Seriously, Herman Cain left the candidate pool because of shadowy accusations, and now we have Newt claiming to be the Republican lifeguard with his substantial record of adultery, divorce and ethics reprimands? Really?? Please, I just hope that we will have someone conservative, decent and honest to vote for. Is that too much to ask?

A Mormon on Drugs

2012-01-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

My sister sent this to me - we thought it was hilarious so thought I'd share:

Mormon on Drugs
short version above (10 min) long version below (20 minutes) - he talks some politics in that one! Funny!
Long Version

The operating room part is hard to hear, but when he gets in a recovery room (at 2:47) it's better. SO FUNNY! Worth the 10 mins. There's lots of good parts, here are two of them...

"You just knew what Mom? You're always saying you know EVERYTHING!!!"

"I don't want to go to BYU anymore. Those Mormons... some are so nice, but some are soooo ...
rude."

Parenting Strategies - Fights

2012-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

What do you do when the kids are fighting?

Corey in the Nacho Libre mask for some friendly family wrestling in March 2010

Well, the fights we have to deal with the most often are between the boys. There are three strategies that we use most often to help them stop fighting.

#1 - Pull out the video camera - Just start recording them explaining their grievances. For my kids this works like a charm everytime. Very effective, cause they immediately see how ridiculous the whole situation is and they also see it from the outside (aka they think of how the "themselves" in the future will be rolling their eyes and laughing when they see the video). Try it!

#2 - Corey's strategy: Radio Programs on Relationships - Corey usually doesn't want to listen to who did what and why I'm right and he's wrong yada yada. He's usually busy working in his office and is often listening to talk radio online as he works, so he makes them sit down, shut up, and listen with him to Dennis Prager and "The Male/Female Hour" which is pretty funny cause it's usually about relationships and putting aside your petty grievances - hopefully they learn something. He makes them sit for a long time or until I come rescue them after a half hour.

#3 - Tiff's Strategy: Drop and give me 50 on your knuckles! I've just tried this once with the kids, but I've done it several times on myself, and it works great - Joe, Eth, and Hyrum had been in a bedtime fight, they were sitting in Corey's office listening, it was getting late and they had school in the morning, so I said they were free to go back to bed if they did 20 high knee get ups with me (I had already done 40 and was finishing up my exercise for the night when I decided to rescue them from the Male Female hour) They were all laughing as they did it cause it was hard, so it worked cause they had to change their focus from their argument to getting their knees up. They were pretty sloppy in their form and thus all beat me for time, but it was fun. When I feel myself getting stressed and like I need to vent, it helps if I do some quick exercise routine (like 500 mountain climbers or 200 pushups w/plank jacks (alt every 10 reps = 100 each) - always makes me feel 100% better.

:) solving fighting between children sibling rivalry arguments kids fight how to stop ways to stop sibling fighting sibling struggles

Exercising with ZWOD #1

2012-01-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

For anyone who's done bodyrock, you know there have been some changes since Zuzka and Freddy separated, and like a lot of people think who follow their site, it's not the same for me, but I admit I haven't done my part to connect and I don't have the equipment they use. Around November I found this site that lists all the workouts and I've written almost all of the workouts down in a book for myself and so I just take that with me when I workout. The older workouts work for me, so I do those or have made up my own versions, sometimes I'll go see what new ones they have and might add those to my book. Zuzka was MIA until this past week when I was glad to find a current video on this facebook profile proving it really is her! So it looks like she really is back and doing her own thing and I must say I am very excited. :) !!!!

Her workouts are simple to understand and killer to do. She posted this on Friday the 13th: "6 burpees 6 plyo squats 6 lunge backs... 13 times for Friday the 13th. Come on you guys don't be scared." So simple! I wrote it down, quick and brutal (my time 14:25) - it was perfect. Now's she's back with a video - Part 1 here & Part 2 here - love the ending!!!! Oh yeah! Get's me pumped just like a P90X infomercial :)

so I'm going to do this workout in the video posted above tonight or tomorrow morning, but I must say I HATE BURPEES, ugh, they kill me, but 5 at a time should be okay. And don't even mention dive bombers or single leg squats. (Ok, did it, my time was 18:25, but I did a 1 minute wall squat instead of the single leg squats, better for my knees...)

Looking forward to the next one!

Banned from the Bathroom

2012-01-19T15:56:00.000-08:00

... and here is why.

So help me Lily, I shall try my best to keep my bathroom locked at all times. She's taking the advanced toddler destroyer class and as homework now skips the drawn out "unrolling" part of ruining tp, much more time efficient to just throw the whole thing in. Although, as you can see from the pic above, there were three rolls of tp that were spared, so I did count my blessings as I cursed while reaching my hand into the toilet to fetch these loaded rolls out. But it did teach me that White Cloud tp really is as advertised - they almost had that whole toilet bowl of water absorbed - impressive!

BRIAN REGAN!!

2012-01-18T10:36:00.001-08:00

"Bring me the head of a pig!"

Corey and little Abi at Brian Regan's show at Thanksgiving Point in August 2008

Ok, I'm so excited for Saturday!!! Just read these two articles (1 and 2) and I'm just so stinkin' excited! Our tickets were for next Thursday but now I get to go earlier! Corey has to go to Chile on our original date, and I knew that was a possibility he was going to have to leave for several weeks before he booked his flight so I've been on the hunt for tickets for his first week here - 10 SHOWS!!! Can you believe it? Next time he comes around I'm sure it will be 20 since word of mouth I'm sure will double his fan population. It was hard finding tickets, and even with 10 shows they are all sold out so I've been watching the classifieds - finally found some for this Saturday and picked them up yesterday and sold our tickets for the same overpriced price, sweet! This will be our third time going to see him, so excited! We don't do music concerts or go to the movies (well, sometimes we go to the dollar, but Redbox is just easier), so this is our one splurge and it will be worth it for us to be able to go together - last time just 5 minutes into the routine and Corey was laughing so hard he was crying (body crumbling and hearing, so funny!) and I just loved it and knew we'd have to come next time he's touring, Brian Regan is HILARIOUS and I also love his his jokes about family, being a parent, and getting older, totally hits the spot - it's hilarious.

My kids love him too - I remember growing up and listening to 8-tracks and records of Bill Cosby and it was so fun and funny, so glad that my kids have a comedian that they will grow up with too, so kids love it, Corey and I love it, just tons of fun for the whole family, yay!!

1 a.m. Ramblings

2012-01-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

Corey's in St. George for a few days, the kids are in bed, I just did 20 minutes of gymboss running and exercising outside - that was me out in the dark doing plank jacks in case any of you were in the cars that drove by. So, since I exercised now I'm here at the computer winding down, my brother commented on my facebook share of the video of Colum I posted yesterday, so of course I watched it again and started to cry again. So sad!!! Driving home from a Christmas party, and in an instant everything changes...

Who knows what trials we all will face in life? I re-read a few chapters in the above book today, (I have a slight fascination with NDE books... and remember, Corey's going to Chile again, so of course I'm thinking of him dying and me becoming a widow again...) so I've been thinking of losing a child or Corey to death, I know in such a trial the Spirit of God would be there to sustain me, but wow, definitely not a trial I'd pick off of the shelf if I had a choice. In that book above, here's what the back cover says:

Chris Monsen's husband was drowning in the freezing waters of Yuba Lake. Terrified, she left her children on the shore and braved the icy waters in an effort to save him. Then a voice sounded in her mind: "Chris, go back!" She turned and saw her young children struggling towards her, neck-deep in the deadly waters. Already numb with cold, she faced a dire decision: try to save her husband or turn back to save her children. Crying out in despair (now I'm tearing up again) she left her dying husband, all the while praying for a miracle-but it was not not be. Moments later Chris watched in disbelief as her husband sank out of sight.

Doesn't that just sound like an uplifting read? Not really huh, but you know most stories need to have a tragedy and trials to make them wonderful. Thus, this is a wonderful book, I give it two thumbs up.

So, like Valley Forge and "Life is Beautiful" (The Book of Mormon is also mostly about wars and family feuds) here's one more depressing story to give us perspective, here's a talk called "Be of Good Cheer" that shares this story (I remember totally crying through this one too... why do they teach us to be cheerful by depressing us? (...atleast temporary depression) I guess to make us grateful for the blessings in our lives, right?):

In about March 1946, less than a year after the end of the war, Ezra Taft Benson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, accompanied by Frederick W. Babbel, was assigned a special postwar tour of Europe for the express purpose of meeting with the Saints, assessing their needs, and providing assistance to them. Elder Benson and Brother Babbel later recounted, from a testimony they heard, the experience of a Church member who found herself in an area no longer controlled by the government under which she had resided.

She and her husband had lived an idyllic life in East Prussia. Then had come the second great world war within their lifetimes. Her beloved young husband was killed during the final days of the frightful battles in their homeland, leaving her alone to care for their four children.

The occupying forces determined that the Germans in East Prussia must go to Western Germany to seek a new home. The woman was German, and so it was necessary for her to go. The journey was over a thousand miles (1,600 km), and she had no way to accomplish it but on foot. She was allowed to take only such bare necessities as she could load into her small wooden-wheeled wagon. Besides her children and these meager possessions, she took with her a strong faith in God and in the gospel as revealed to the latter-day prophet Joseph Smith.

She and the children began the journey in late summer. Having neither food nor money among her few possessions, she was forced to gather a daily subsistence from the fields and forests along the way. She was constantly faced with dangers from panic-stricken refugees and plundering troops.

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks to months, the temperatures dropped below freezing. Each day, she stumbled over the frozen ground, her smallest child—a baby—in her arms. Her three other children struggled along behind her, with the oldest—seven years old—pulling the tiny wooden wagon containing their belongings. Ragged and torn burlap was wrapped around their feet, providing the only protection for them, since their shoes had long since disintegrated. Their thin, tattered jackets covered their thin, tattered clothing, providing their only protection against the cold.

Soon the snows came, and the days and nights became a nightmare. In the evenings she and the children would try to find some kind of shelter—a barn or a shed—and would huddle together for warmth, with a few thin blankets from the wagon on top of them.

She constantly struggled to force from her mind overwhelming fears that they would perish before reaching their destination.

And then one morning the unthinkable happened. As she awakened, she felt a chill in her heart. The tiny form of her three-year-old daughter was cold and still, and she realized that death had claimed the child. Though overwhelmed with grief, she knew that she must take the other children and travel on. First, however, she used the only implement she had—a tablespoon—to dig a grave in the frozen ground for her tiny, precious child.

Death, however, was to be her companion again and again on the journey. Her seven-year-old son died, either from starvation or from freezing or both. Again her only shovel was the tablespoon, and again she dug hour after hour to lay his mortal remains gently into the earth. Next, her five-year-old son died, and again she used her tablespoon as a shovel.

Her despair was all consuming. She had only her tiny baby daughter left, and the poor thing was failing. Finally, as she was reaching the end of her journey, the baby died in her arms. The spoon was gone now, so hour after hour she dug a grave in the frozen earth with her bare fingers. Her grief became unbearable. How could she possibly be kneeling in the snow at the graveside of her last child? She had lost her husband and all her children. She had given up her earthly goods, her home, and even her homeland.

In this moment of overwhelming sorrow and complete bewilderment, she felt her heart would literally break. In despair she contemplated how she might end her own life, as so many of her fellow countrymen were doing. How easy it would be to jump off a nearby bridge, she thought, or to throw herself in front of an oncoming train.

And then, as these thoughts assailed her, something within her said, “Get down on your knees and pray.” She ignored the prompting until she could resist it no longer. She knelt and prayed more fervently than she had in her entire life:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I do not know how I can go on. I have nothing left—except my faith in Thee. I feel, Father, amidst the desolation of my soul, an overwhelming gratitude for the atoning sacrifice of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. I cannot express adequately my love for Him. I know that because He suffered and died, I shall live again with my family; that because He broke the chains of death, I shall see my children again and will have the joy of raising them. Though I do not at this moment wish to live, I will do so, that we may be reunited as a family and return—together—to Thee.”

When she finally reached her destination of Karlsruhe, Germany, she was emaciated. Brother Babbel said that her face was a purple-gray, her eyes red and swollen, her joints protruding. She was literally in the advanced stages of starvation. In a Church meeting shortly thereafter, she bore a glorious testimony, stating that of all the ailing people in her saddened land, she was one of the happiest because she knew that God lived, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He died and was resurrected so that we might live again. She testified that she knew if she continued faithful and true to the end, she would be reunited with those she had lost and would be saved in the celestial kingdom of God.⁸

From the holy scriptures we read, “Behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in [Him], they who have endured the crosses of the world, … they shall inherit the kingdom of God, … and their joy shall be full forever.”⁹

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us.

My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.

I declare that God lives and that He hears and answers our prayers. His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and our Redeemer. Heaven’s blessings await us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So if you've made it this far, one last thought - I believe President Monson is a prophet of God - a Moses or Peter sent by the Lord to guide us in our day, the latter days, the perilous times before Christ returns to earth. So the world is wicked, lots of bad things happening, lots of work to do, and what is the message of the prophet? It's not hellfire and damnation - it's Be of Good Cheer, be Grateful, Be happy! Of course that happiness only comes from keeping the commandments, but people need to choose it, you can't force it upon them. It's not a doom and gloom work we are doing here, it is the kingdom of God on the earth, we know how the story ends, the good guys win, it's our job to keep out chins up, keep working hard serving and blessing others, that's how we can lift and bless and help others come to Christ. Life is good, "the future is as bright as our faith!!!"

The Pack Family

2012-01-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

A friend posted this on facebook ~ I started to cry at :28...

As I saw this little angel boy's face in the video and his little sweet tiny hands holding the flower, oh my heart would just break to bury one of my children. My love and prayers go out to this family. I know their knowledge that families are eternal will give them peace during this great trial ~ Families are forever, our loved ones are not lost to us because of our Savior Jesus Christ who overcame death, and through him we will all be resurrected and live again, I know it is true. May the Lord bless this family!

Also, Joseph Smith Jr, who I revere as a prophet of God, had 11 children (2 adopted) 6 of which died in infancy. When I think of him and Emma burying all those precious babies, oh my heart breaks. I know that Joseph Smith was a good man who loved his children and all children. I think trials like that make the plan of salvation REAL, it's not just a matter of faith cause in those extreme trials like this come to KNOW and learn to live life with the big picture of eternity and forever on their minds every day.

Imagination and the Batmobile

2012-01-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

Wes is always in character - I love his imagination.

Here he is as Ben 10, pushing the Omnitrix, and then transforming into ...

XLR8!!!! (I know he still looks like Wes dressed up at Ben 10, but trust me, this is now Wes dressed up as the alien XLR8!)

Here he is as Jock from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Jock is the guy who flies the plane when they get away from all the indians trying to kill them - and Jock has a snake that Indiana hates "Aw, that's just my pet snake Richie - show a little back bone!"
And Wes as Avatar the Last Airbender, doing a little bit of water-bending with his water - aka a little ball of paper that he colored blue. He also had a brown one for earth, white for air, and red/orange for fire. - you can tell he's a serious waterbending student

And you've already seen him riding on the rodeo horse, but I love it so we'll repost this one

And life just got more fun for this little boy, cause we got a car -
...and not just any car, this is a black car that's shiny and looks cool, so that means it's gotta be the Batmobile. I know it's the Batmobile, cause Wes told me.
I call it Corey's Car or Dad's Care, but the kids call it the Batmobile, and there have already been fights over whose turn it is to ride in the Batmobile. "But so-n-so rode in the Batmobile to church! Now it's my turn!!" Lucky kid, Wes was the first one to ride in the Batmobile, maybe that means Corey's Batman? That might mean that Wes is now Robin... time to go create a Robin costume, Wes!

Boys Love Babies

2012-01-12T22:41:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from New Year's Eve - Here's a pretty little lady ~

Go grab the girl you love and kiss in the new year!

With a smooch like that, I know 2012 is going to be great.

Assigned Reading

2012-01-12T21:49:00.000-08:00

Mel was laughing at the school books that he had to read today:

"Mom! Look at this book! How BORING!!!" she laughs

And Wesley sat at the table resigned to his assignment and dutifully read it. I admit, I'd be pretty bored with school if I had to read books like this. Just doesn't ignite the fire for reading. It's painful for me too.

(Since I know you're dying to know, the shoes were: flip-flops for the beach, sneaker for the park, cleats for soccer, hiking boots for the woods, work boots for work, winter boots for snow, wingtips for dancing, slippers for rest)

I Heart Curry

2012-01-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

I love curry. If you have a good curry recipe, do share ~ Here's a recipe I use a lot - it's my own version that is my ol' stand by on "Curry Night" (Abi thinks it's "Corey Night" and that he just always chooses curry cause Corey likes curry)... My recipe goes as follows:

basic curry sauce:
1 T. olive oil
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
3 T. curry powder
1 t. coriander
1/2 t. ground cumin
3/4 c. plain yogurt
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
2 T. honey
juice from 1/2 lemon

garnish with cilantro and/or scallions

serve over jasmine rice

Each week the flavor varies just a little bit depending on the brand of coconut milk, the fat content of the yogurt, sometimes I don't add yogurt, etc - there's a lot a flexibility with it, so kinda play with it and see what you like!

But for my usual curry, here's the directions:
heat oil, put diced onions and garlic and saute til brown, then stir in the spices

next, add the coconut milk, can of tomatoes, and yogurt

then stir in honey, lemon juice, and add salt to taste

Now, you can add the other stuff that you're in the mood for - chicken or shrimp? Or just plain curry tonight? Serve it over rice or vegetables, and there's usually plenty left over that I'm quick to hide and save for myself - it lasts me a few meals :)

For chicken curry this past week, I added 4 slightly-cooked-in-the-microwave-and-then-cut potatoes, and 4 breasts of chicken cut into pieces. Feeling like extra veggies? Add some yellow squash.
Then just let it cook and simmer til it's done and the table is set

Another time I made shrimp curry with no potatoes and served it to myself over green beans

Hope you like it!

C is for Courage

2012-01-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Corey booked a flight to Chile. This will be his 4th trip down since we got home from spending 5 months there. This time he's doing a pilot at the Catholic University of Santiago (I think - don't really know that much about what's going on... usually if we do have a chance to talk, he doesn't really want to talk about work...) Corey usually works at home, and I admit I do seem to function better when he doesn't work at home cause the kids knock on his office door and he "can't say no to Lily" and so he gets interrupted and frustrated then I'm frustrated - so it's usually better if he's gone during the work day, but I don't like him being gone for the whole day or for whole weeks. But it'll be okay, I will survive! Easier to stay here and wait while he takes a trip than for us to all pack up and move there together, right? ...Although that is fun to go and experience all the fun with him. He said when he goes to Santiago it doesn't seem as foreign or as far away since we all lived there together.

So Corey is pressing onward with Movie Mouth, but this just might be his big break! ...then again, we've both thought that before, so it's probably best to just keep expectations low. We are learning to enjoy the journey and trust that he will arrive at the destination he seeks. Like President Monson said in his ABCs,

"There will be times when you will be frightened and discouraged. You may feel that you are defeated. The odds of obtaining victory may appear overwhelming. At times you may feel like David trying to fight Goliath. But remember—David did win!

"Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.

"Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required."

Corey is well beyond his second effort, probably in his 94th effort. (This is where Corey would say "Can we not talk about how long this has taken? It gets me depressed...") This next trip of 2 weeks will probably get him up and over his 100th effort. But MovieMouth is a great idea, and I love Corey's heart, his desires are in the right place. I listened to this talk this morning as I folded laundry, it made me think of him. Good stuff.

Jon M. Huntsman Sr.
"God Did Not Put Us Here To Fail"
Read it at the link above, watch it here

Some of my favorite parts:

“Faith keeps one true in the dark and humble in the spotlight.”
- Alfred C. Lane

“There is no education like adversity.”
- Benjamin Disraeli, a former prime minister of England

“We receive our inspiration from the mountaintops but receive our maturity from the valleys of life." & "Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them."
- Sir Winston Churchill

So go Corey! Go MovieMouth! You'll make it sweetheart, you're doing great! Knock 'em dead!

Queeny with a Binky

2012-01-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

Lily didn't use a binky as a baby. I don't know that she'd ever seen one before Sophia came around and started to always want it. I guess it piqued Lily's interest so she's trying it out for herself... The older kids were watching tv with the younger siblings, and when I came in I see Sophia in her swing with her binky gone, not crying though, and Lily helped herself to it and to my bed for a little afternoon nap.

Totally made me laugh!

Political Junkies

2012-01-11T14:25:00.001-08:00

Corey and I like politics and Mitt is our man. We're both excited he's doing well so far! For anyone out there who is not excited about his possible nomination, you can put a sign like this in your yard:

Hee hee!

(Go Romney!!!!)

Cuties Are For Kids

2012-01-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

First she stabbed it with a butter knife to get it started... then carefully worked off the peel

I enjoyed seeing the concentration on her face

Good job Lily! You did it!

Enjoying the fruit of her labors~

Abi's "Jobs"

2012-01-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

I was taking care of the Sophia when Abi came looking for me, holding a spiral notebook and said proudly...

"Mom! Look how many jobs I did!!"

Way cute! I see "MEMABIIEMBI" and an occasional "P" and smiley face and lots of hearts and dash patterns, very good Abers!

And then kept at her homework on the bed with me and the baby where I showed her the rest of the alphabet.

You can tell she was proud when she got finished with all the letters - the big finale with the letter Z!

New Years Resolutions - It's about YOU

2012-01-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

One week is over and so far so good! Going to tune things a little for next week and write more things down, but not too shabby.

- Homemaking -

Trying to follow more of Flylady's ideas this year. I like the "zones" idea but have never done it. I'm lacing up my shoes first thing in the morning and shining my sink, going to try and follow better a daily cleaning list, plus a day of the week and day of the month task to do.

- Spirit -

I've been reading one General Conference talk each day and writing down thoughts/notes. Great stuff. Glad to have the printed talks to study, cause I miss a lot of it during the live broadcast. Doing October 2011 right now, after that I'll probably do April 2011.

- Diet -

Trying to eat more nuts, fruits, and protein, less breads and carbs and seeing how my body reacts. For too much information, see chapter 17.

- Exercise -

My plan for this year is to exercise everyday. I already pretty much have this habit established. However, as I'm shedding the baby pounds for the next 3 months (trying to reach my goal weight by my birthday in April) I'm gonna take that goal and raise it to two workouts a day - one in the a.m. (seriously just let myself fall out of bed and start holding planks, or go into the kids room and say for 12 minutes "get up... Wes, get up... hey you guys, time to wake up... come on, get up!" which is what I have to do anyway, but this way I can get my exercise done at the same time!) and then do a Bodyrock or version of it in the evenings. This week went like this:

Monday/Wed/Friday AM - 12 minutes of Planks (1 minute center plank, 1 minute hold left side plank on elbow, 1 minute hold right side plank on elbow, 1 minute yoga table (or reverse plank if I hold my legs straight)) <-- I repeat that 3 times

Tuesday/Thursday AM - Body for Life workout, Tuesday Upper body (page 1 - chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps) and Thursday Lower body (page 2 -calves, hamstrings, quads)

Monday-Friday PM - Do a Bodyrock workout - Mon: did the Fit Test, Tuesday: Bridge challenge and headstand (I did a handstand against wall - held each for 1 minute), Wed: 60 High Knee Get Ups, and Thursday: Crazy Home Bootcamp (burpees KILL me!!!), Friday: my own exercise challenge of 400 walking lunges. I have a composition book where I've written down almost all of the Bodyrock workouts in my own short hand/lingo, so it's good, I just open the book and find one that sounds good.

Saturday - just going to do one big workout (meaning 40 minutes to an hour) - either a 4 or 5 mile run or one of Bodyrock's Killer workouts, like the Killer 550 or Killer 600

Aside from the snow that fell during the night and made me miss my planned morning run, my exercise plan was executed without a hitch. Still got to do a killer workout today - will probably get to it at midnight (future resolution: go to bed by 11).

I've read a few things about how to make resolutions and live a better life, President Monson's ABCs was my favorite, and I also re-read this article that I'll post here below for you. I first read this at the beginning of 2010 and it totally helped me get on my game. I always come back to it when I feel like I'm loosing my focus:

Forget Time, Let's Talk About Self-Management

“There’s never enough time in the day to get everything done that I need to get done.” “If only I had 2, 3…or 20 more hours in the day I would be able to get everything checked off my list.” “How can I be expected to complete my work, take care of my family, clean the house, take care of the yard, help my neighbor, walk the dog, take out the trash, care for myself, and get to the gym? It’s just not possible.” Sound familiar? First, the disclaimer, hundreds if not thousands of books have been written on the topic of time management, which means there are literally millions of published words teaching individuals how to manage their time. Ultimately it all boils down to three basic principles. First, deciding who or what you want to be, second, creating the goals that will allow you to become that person, and finally mapping out your strategy on a weekly and daily basis to achieve your goals. Before we start, let’s make sure that we’re clear on at least one thing, and please don’t get discouraged with this statement. Time management is impossible! No matter what you do, no matter what techniques you use or strategies that you implement you will never be able to control time. Time simply is. It never stops; it doesn’t give more to some and less to others. It is the same for everyone and it is always moving. The real challenge is to learn to manage you within the boundaries of time. And that takes us to the first point… What do you want to be? The answer to that question will probably free up more time than anything else that you do. As soon as you can say who or what you want to be, you can immediately eliminate everything else from your schedule that doesn’t allow you to be or become that person. Take a few minutes to answer the question. Then compare your past weeks activities to the answer of who you want to be. You’ll quickly see that there are a whole host of activities that could have been eliminated, because even though they were worthwhile and good, they did not help you accomplish your ultimate objective. There is nothing wrong with saying no to something that is good, when there is something that is better or more important that can be done in its place. We can go on-and-on about goals, but at the end of the day, we really just need to make them and then achieve them. Regardless of the strategy that you use, make sure that your goals align with your purpose and with each accomplishment you are closer to becoming who you want to be. Finally, some advice on scheduling, it doesn’t matter if you use paper, your computer, a PDA (do those still exist?), your phone, or a combination of all of them. Use what works for you. What is necessary is that you use a method that allows you to accomplish everything that is important, those things that will help you become the person that you want to be, and ignore or avoid the things that won’t. A great idea is to take time at the beginning of each week, and determine the most important things that you need to do, or the things that will have the greatest impact in your life. Next, schedule each of those events or activities directly on your calendar. Don’t put them on a task list, put them on the calendar and be as committed to those activities as you are to a meeting with your boss. Once that is done, take time every night to list out the things that must be accomplished the following day. Again, focus on those things that will let you become the person that you want to be. Now put those items directly on the calendar. Give them a time and commit to completing them at the assigned time. Remember one of the biggest time hogs, is assigning more time than is necessary to actually complete the task. Ultimately it is not about time, it is about you. What are you going to do to manage you? A rule of thumb is to remember who, what and how. Who do you want to be? What are you going to do to become that person? How are you going to accomplish those goals each day?

Calico Critters

2012-01-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Melodie got some Calico Critters for her birthday last month. I've looked at these before, and they were stinkin' cute, but I resisted for a while since they cost a pretty penny too much. But Mel and I had talked about what she wanted and these were on the list, so my mom and I coordinated to get her a few good sets she could use together. Mel loves it, just look at all the cute little tiny pieces! A little toaster with little slices of toast!! Little head of lettuce and little tomato ready to be sliced on a little cutting board with a little knife!! (So many little pieces that I will probably not see and accidentally vacuum up!!!)

Mother cooking while the Calico dog family's baby is currently the rabbit family's pet.
I also feel bad for horses, cause they almost always stay in that role of beast of burden, no horse family, but there is a cow family. And the cows can ride the horse. Poor horses, they're stuck.

The family sitting down for dinner

So now we've begun our Calico Critters collection of toys - fun fun!

Her friend Aria had some too, so they immediately started working on creating this new little world of imagination, including making homework papers for little boy bunny, who was in a bad mood and didn't want to do his homework, so he scribbled on it.

Little girls playing making the little boys the naughty ones. The girl bunny, of course, dutifully competed her assignments perfectly and does all her chores without complaining, she even gave the baby a bath, wow!
The girls also requested for me take pictures of each rabbit family member in front of their lego Christmas tree (which was a b-day present from her other Grandma - don't ya just love legos?) I'll just post one of those individual portraits, but the girls are hoping I can somehow print up those mini pictures so they can frame them and put them on the rabbit's house's walls, although they don't have walls right now since their house is a coffee table.

Great cross play with legos into all areas of childhood. Merry Christmas to the Rabbit family!
And a happy new year!

Love My Dad

2012-01-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

I love my dad. I especially love it when I have a newborn, cause he can't seem to get enough of these little ones, and I can't explain the feeling really but it just warms my heart and give me joy to see him squeeze these little angels. He'll ask with eager eyes "Can I hold her?"

then snuggles her most of the evening.

Even doing some one handed cleaning up during the party as long as he gets to keep the baby. :) Love you dad

B is for Believe

2012-01-05T10:58:00.001-08:00

Two words that describe what "Believe" means to me are Faith and Trust.

Just listened to this talk by on kbyutv, thought this was a great poem that she shared.

A Tandem Ride With God

I used to think of God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there, sort of like a president. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I didn't really know Him.

But later on, when I met Jesus, it seemed as though life was rather like a bike, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Jesus was in the back helping me pedal. I didn't know just when it was He suggested we change, but life has not been the same since I took the back-seat to Jesus, my Lord. He makes life exciting. When I had control, I thought I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable. It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places and at break-through speeds; it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it often looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!" I was worried and anxious and asked, "Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into adventure. And when I'd say, "I'm scared", He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me their gifts to take on my journey, our journey, my Lord's and mine. And we were off again. He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, to the people we met, and I found in giving I received, and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it, but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, jump to clear high rocks, fly to shorten scary passages. And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus.

And when I'm sure I just can't do any more, He just smiles and says... "Pedal."

(Author unknown)

Sophia Doll

2012-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Mel was playing with Sophia, and we were talking about how she has a mohawk cause she's rubbed off all her hair on the back of her head and the sides. So then we decided to give her a mohawk

Playing with our baby doll, la la la ~

Next, trying a Little Rascals Alfalfa up-do

Then she was hungry and done playing, so I nursed her and put her to bed - her ear got sweaty and sticky during the process and turned her into an elf...

I always laugh when her ear sticks, I went and got the camera and the kids so they could see and it was still holding tight until I sneezed, that made her jump and popped it open. It's so fun to have a baby ~

Boys Dressing Up

2012-01-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Wesley all ready for Christmas at Grandma's - wearing his cowboy outfit, cause he got a horse head for Christmas. He asked for a real horse, but we told him we're not ready for that yet, so here's a horse on a stick. Wes is good at imagining though, looks like this one is real enough. Tenderly feeding his horse above, and below...

Riding the Rodeo! Hold on Wes! Don't get bucked off!!! Love his expression, he's so funny

And we teased Uncle Jeremy a little bit about dressing up for church in his kilt. Wes is just a 6 year old, so he gets a free pass... For a grown adult to dress up? I guess it's okay, we'll give you a pass too. :)

Woody Doll

2012-01-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Lily playing with her dolly...

What a pretty dolly, Lily!!!

Woody makes a lovely Southern bell! Lily with yogurt on her face and wearing her little sister's winter hat that is a little small but I guess kinda still fits.

A is for Attitude

2012-01-03T10:50:00.001-08:00

I am currently reading a book that is helping reinforce why Attitude is so important. I bought the book "The boy who came back from heaven" yesterday - Wanted to stay up reading, but at midnight told myself I should go to bed. I've been reading it most of the morning, and I'm loving it -

Brief sum up of the story setting: in 2004 the dad Kevin and his son Alex are in a terrible accident. Alex is 6 years old and breaks his spine and is in a coma for 2 months lingering between life and death, one evening it's the mom's turn to stay with Alex at the hospital - Kevin's turn to stay at home with the other 3 kids. That night there is an ice storm and the power goes out. In the dark, the dad tries to pack up a bag and they go spend the night with a family member. When he comes home the next day, there is a fallen tree blocking the driveway. With what he and his family have been through, a fallen tree is no biggie - he gets out of the car and walks around it. Sees lots of other trees fallen over. Calls his dad to say "I'm going to need your help to clear off all these fallen trees. Atleast none of them fell on the house..." and as he said that, the house comes in view and there is a tree on it and the roof has fallen in! "Um, let me call you back..."

From page 75 - I quote Kevin's father:

When Kevin called back and told me about the tree on the house, my first response was to laugh - not a laugh of calllousness, but a laugh of joy at the goodness of God. I truly mean that. For me, the question isn't, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" but "Why does anything good happen at all?" We certainly don't deserve it.

I told Kevin, "First, consider that the power went out. What a great blessing. Had it not gone out, you would have been in the house with the kids when the tree struck the roof. Second, you badly needed to replace your roof anyway, now you'll get a brand-new one, and your insurance is going to pay for it! And third, I have one question, Kevin: Which trees were taken down in this storm? All the weak ones! The strong trees are still standing. You've received a natural pruning, making your property safer and healthier, leaving the strong trees for your family to enjoy. By next July, you won't be able to tell a single tree was taken down."

The hand of God was everywhere to be seen in this situation, but, as I pointed out to Kevin, we have to be willing to see it - to receive it as God's good in our lives.

I thought that was great. Also, when Kevin's dad first came to the hospital where his grandson was laying in critical condition, he put his arm around Kevin and said "Son, many people in the world would love for this to be their worst problem." December of that year was the tsunami in Thailand, and Kevin thought "I still have Alex, I still have my home... 'many people in the world would love for this to be their worst day.'"

One last quote from Kevin's father: "Does our daily focus on the ordinary events of life dampen our awareness of the providential and miraculous evens occurring in and around us all the time?"

Isn't that great? In 2012, I'm going to continue to have a good attitude. When trials come, and they will, know that God loves you and wants to bless you, and that your trial is in fact actually a blessing. Our challenge sometimes is to see how it is a blessing.

1 Nephi 11:17 - like the prophet Nephi, I know God loves his children.

I'm going to go read some more. :)

ABCs for 2012

2012-01-01T14:02:00.001-08:00

Here is some wonderful counsel I read recently that I'm going to focus on this year - The ABCs to help us all live an "Abundant Life"

A - Attitude - B - Believe - C - Courage

A - Attitude

"Attitude, to me, is more important than... the past, ...than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day." - Charles Swindoll

We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, choose a positive attitude.

B - Believe
Believe in yourself, in those around you, and in true principles. Don't limit yourself and don't let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities. You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith.

C - Courage
Courage becomes a meaningful virtue when it's though of not so much as a willingness to die bravely but as a determination to live decently.

Ralf Waldo Emerson: "Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide on, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. "

Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward ones coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve. Have the determination to make the effort, to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that come but also to make a second effort, should such be required.

So, REMEMBER:
Cultivate a positive attitude
Believe that we can achieve our goals and resolutions
With courage face whatever challenges may come our way

...then the Abundant Life will be ours!

5 Love Languages for Children Test

2011-12-31T13:26:00.000-08:00

This blog is sort of becoming my online brain, so I'm going to post this here, since I just spent about 10 minutes googling it to try and find the link that I wanted ...

The Five Love Languages - good book with good ideas and a lot of it rings true to me. (I'm Quality Time). There is a simple test here for you to use to find out what the love languages is for your kids.

Now I just need to figure out how to have a master family binder or something where I keep all these things, so they don't all just get lost in the "important papers that I need to do something with" pile on my desk here... speaking of clutter, that's another book I probably need to re-read. Do I need a filing cabinet with a file for each kid, or do I organize important things by item?

Spinach Salad

2011-12-31T09:29:00.001-08:00

Here's my signature Christmas Salad -

Toss:

Spinach
Sliced Mushrooms
Red Onion
Toasted Almonds
Craisins
Crumbled Bacon

Dressing:

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Substitute xylitol for sugar and turkey bacon for bacon if you want to be more healthy. Also, for flavor's sake, NO Bacon bits or "real bacon" bits - it's just not the same. Cook your bacon/turkey bacon up from fresh and crumble it.

* Disclaimer * this is a "green salad", but do not be under the assumption that since it contains a lot of greens that it you can eat all you want - seeing as it's coated with that crave inducing sugary vinegar dressing and greasy bacon you will want to go back for seconds. It is OH SO GOOD, but remember, usually if they taste this good to your tongue they are not that good for your waist. Which is why we indulged on this salad for our holiday parties this week but Parties are Over! and I'm back on the wagon with my resolutions today on new years eve - Getting a jump start on the new year, (which means only one piece of cheese cake today!) oh yeah.

Cross Play

2011-12-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

I love to see the kids playing, especially when in their games one toy type gets to go live in another toys' world. My Mom calls it "cross play" and says toys that you can cross play are the best, cause your kids can imagine more and get more creative with them.

So here we have some cross play - we have a Lego Minifigure Ewok who has been invited to go play in Strawberry Shortcake land at the Itty Bitty Berry Store - Orange Blossom even shared her dress with him.

And a giant T-Rex presiding - making sure everyone plays fair. :)

Ben Breedlove

2011-12-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

Just in case you haven't heard this story yet, I first read it Wednesday on the local news website then again today in my inbox from Positively Positive.

Those Were The Days!

2011-12-29T22:27:00.001-08:00

I've been laughing as I stroll down memory lane - There is the house I grew up in, with what would become my sweet set of wheels during high school waiting for me in the driveway - oh yeah, white stationwagon!

Dressing up little sister in a pretty pink dress with a - what is that mink thing draped around your shoulders, Beka? Neil's toy Chewbacca?
Nice orange and brown patterned wall paper behind Grant... such a cutie in his high chair.

Ah, the Littles... keeping your dolls and furniture safe in a ... peanut butter bucket?

Anyone remember Poochie?

Knight Rider?

Playing "He-Man and Ponies"?

That was our favorite thing to play. We must have been mid-game when I decided to take a nap. And check out the fabric on that couch!!!!

Chicken Pox, from the pre-vaccine days...

Dressed for Halloween -
Sliding down the stairs on the plastic to protect the dark brown carpet from getting browner?

7 people driving to Disneyland in a 4 door - Nissan Sentra - lay down the seats and protect your area from intruders

Pig Tails - and what was that thing hanging on the wall behind you Trice?

Nice shorts, Neil!

Cleaning Tip: Breastfed Baby Poop Stains

2011-12-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

How to get out that major staining yellow mustard newborn nursing baby poop:

1) Get OxiClean
2) Take soiled clothing and put it in a container/bucket/whatever with OxiClean and water
3) Let soak for 24 hours - and magically.... IT'S GONE!!
4) Finish up with a toss in with your regular load of laundry

You'd think after 8 kids I would have found something to do this, but alas, I was at a loss. I was talking with a neighbor and wishing out loud that some way, somehow, that there was some thing that could save the 0-3 month clothing that yellow poop ruins. ("HOW I WISH THERE WAS A WAY!!" - Brian Regan on "All By Myself" = Hilarious) She had the key and gifted me a container of OxiClean - it's a miracle cleaner! Thank you, Elasha!!
newborn poop stains breastfed diaper blow outs blowouts stools color infant poop stain removal

Think a Little Deeper

2011-12-28T09:32:00.001-08:00

Loving this blog today - "Stand A Little Taller" - I'm enjoying browsing through her posts, and reading some of her thoughts on the NDE books she's read. (I just read this one, I hadn't heard of this family or accident, should probably watch the local news more...) - What she shares is making me take time to pause and think deeper. I don't get much of my "to-do's" done everyday, but I do have time to read, think, and ponder. Here's another post I thought was great.

There is so much we don't know. There are many things which I believe strongly, some other things that I know, some things that I think I know (aka faith) - I do not claim to have all the answers. One thing that I do KNOW is that Man is nothing - in the sense that we are small and basically powerless over most of our lives. I remember when my first baby was born and I was trying to learn how to help him latch on and nurse - and it occurred to me - if he didn't figure this out, I was pretty much out of luck getting food to him. Thank goodness babies have a sucking reflex - totally Divine design. I don't believe that anyone would look at the Rosetta Stone and think it was carved by wind and rain. No one would look at a cell phone and not recognize that there is a designer behind it. Cell phones, computers, cameras - all amazing inventions, but no camera man can create compares with the human eye, and the eye is just ONE small part of our remarkable bodies. I know there is a designer behind the human body, behind the earth, behind the solar system and the galaxy, and we know there are GALAXIES without number, amazing. Here is a tiny glimpse (or watch it on youtube here)

I believe and know there is a Creator and Designer. Man is nothing, but we are also everything to HIM.

Living Life Single Handedly

2011-12-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

Shannon's Life Lessons #4 : Read other people's accounts

Here's one for us moms out there when we need a little perspective.

Que Linda!

2011-12-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

Por nuestros amigos en Chile y Costa Rica - algunos fotos mas de la nueva reina de nuestra casa que ahora tiene cuatro meses Es la reinita Sophia, o como la llama su hemana mayor - Fifi

Que linda, no? Me encata sus ojos - ella tiene los ojos de su padre - grande y bonito.

Heaven and the Savior

2011-12-26T21:40:00.001-08:00

Corey got me this book "Heaven is for Real" for Christmas and I finished reading it today. Corey and I have read lots of books like this and they always fascinate me. Has helped my thoughts be more on Christ, who is the reason for the season, as we all know. This one was a quick read and I finished it tonight, then got online to look up the picture "Prince of Peace" that they reference by Akiane Kramarik -

which led me here, which then reminded me of some things Tomas Kofod said during a fireside that we went to back in 2000 ... (cue year 2000 journal entries -)

First, before the fireside where Tomas spoke, we had gone down to temple square to see the movie "The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd - Here's what the newspaper said at that time: -

Salt lake Tribune Religion Section C for Saturday, March 25, 2000. It is the main article on C1. It said that all actors who had a major role had to be temple worthy. The film maker Keith Merrill was told by President Hinckley, “It will be the most important film the church has ever made.” Then Pres. Hinckley said “I have never seen a depiction of the Savior I liked.” They said finding the right person to play Jesus was like finding Cinderella. They looked at “every available LDS actor in the world, eventually considering more than 500.” Merrill gave screen tests to 64, then selected three to present to the First Presidency. The result? LDS leaders told Merrill to “keep looking.” In desperation, the director sent a call across the Internet and received an email from Tomas Kofod, a Danish convert, asking about the part. Kofod had been an exchange student in Utah more than 10 years earlier, had lived with a Mormon family, then returned to Denmark and joined the LDS Church. He became an accomplished actor, performing with the Royal Danish Shakespeare Company. Kofod was brought to Utah for an audience with the First Presidency, and they like him immediately. Kofod’s Danish-accented voice had to be dubbed by Will Swenson. They said His blue-eyed Scandinavian looks are not meant as a church statement about Christ’s appearance, instead, viewers should see Kofod as presenting “the feelings of Christ that were acceptable to the First Presidency.

So, after reading that in the paper, I was really excited to see the portrayal of Christ. We went and saw the film at Temple Square later that month in 2000 and just loved it.

The next year, we went to a fireside where Tomas Kofod spoke on 24 June 2001 (I'm so glad I have these journal entries - making me remember that I need to keep writing and recording today cause I'm going to forget everything about my life right now and it will be lost forever if I don't write it down!!!) Just going to paste this whole entry here...

Sunday, 24 June 2001

This afternoon we went over to Corey’s parent’s house. The single’s ward where Mark and Nancy attend was having a special fireside and Tomas Ambt Kofod was the speaker. He is the man who played the part of the Savior in the Church movie The Testaments of One Fold and One Sheperd. It was a spiritual feast. I felt the spirit so strongly and felt so edified after hearing him speak. I want to come to know the Savior better. I am going to study the Book of Mormon more faithfully - President Benson said that is the tool that the Lord has give us to draw us nearer to Him.

Some things Tomas spoke about was the miracles involved in him even finding out about the part. His wife sent her very first email to her friend in Orem, and her friend got on the computer when she got home from work, which she never does, and saw the email from Tomas’ wife. She sent them information regarding tryouts for parts in the Church film, which she had seen on the internet earlier. That information was only on the internet for that one day. Everything about it was miraculous, from him finding out about the part, getting out of other acting commitments to come and try out, getting his ticket to fly over in time, and then finding a replacement after he was given the part. He said when he was getting his make-up on before his screen test, he looked out the door saw “Christ after Christ” walking down the hall, they were all tall and had deep voices (Tomas kept making jokes about how skinny and small he was). He also said he didn’t like his nose, and after taking a look at himself he asked the make-up artist to put more make-up on each side to shadow his nose a little better, and after she did and he saw himself in the mirror, he said he was looking into the eyes of his Savior. He told of how he got sick on the night before they were going to start filming, and he prayed and pleaded for help to get better, but felt his prayers weren’t getting past the hotel ceiling. It was late and so after pouring his heart out he decided it would be best to go to bed and try and get some rest. As he was laying in bed, a voice came to his mind, as clear as any voice he’s ever heard. The voice said he was sorry to make him sick, but this was the only way to make him humble enough to hear. The Lord told him he needed to be more humble and told him many other things he did not share with us. He said if a person had rebuked him that way, he might have been offended, but he didn’t take any offense, but listened to the counsel. Another time he got sick when they were filming, but it wasn’t to humble him. He was given a blessing, I think by the director, where they rebuked Satan and commanded him to leave.

One more entry of another fireside where we listened to two other actors from the film-

Rick Macy, the man who played Helam in the Church film The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepard, came and spoke, along with the lady who played Mary Magdalene, and Merrill Jenson, the man who wrote the music. It was a wonderful fireside. I invited my parents and Corey’s parents. Corey’s parents came and so did Mom and Rebekkah. The main message: it was all real. You can’t act a testimony. It was an amazing spiritual experience for all of them, and the film has truly strengthened my testimony and touched my soul. Rick Macy said that Tomas Kofod, the man who played the Savior, is such a humble and Christlike man. He was the person for the part

Then searched around online and I thought this was a book - but I think it's just in audio cd, will probably order it sometime. It is probably a recording of a fireside similar to the one I attended.

Ski Bums

2011-12-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

Corey's become a major ski bum. He's taken some of the kids skiing every day this week. He thinks he probably holds some record for taking the most kids skiing the most times during one week. We're loving having the ski resorts 20 minutes away, especially since we missed out on all the fun last year. I haven't gone yet - I'm home with the nursing baby and that's okay by me. I think I'd like to go up in February for our anniversary or something, but for now I'm fine to be lazy and let Corey do all the hard work, I'll take over when they're all trained :)

Alta Ski Resort has a great deal that we try to take full advantage of - Ski for Free after 3

So we go up around 2 and warm up on the tow rope, then they're ready to go when the lift opens at 3.

4 year old warming up her skills again

She's got it! Ready to try the mountain with Dad

Yesterday he left the 6 and 4 year old kids home so he could take the older kids down the harder runs - even did a black diamond they say.

Ethan bragged that he crashed into a tree.

Glad he had a helmet on. (Aren't we such responsible parents! Oh yeah!)

Chocolate Spinach Protein Shake

2011-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

I have one of these shakes almost every day - takes care of any chocolate cravings with the added bonus that it's got a major servings of greens for health and vitality!

Blend:

1 cup of water
1 handful of spinach
1 heaping Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder
1 scoop of protein powder
5-8 drops of vanilla Stevia
1/2 frozen banana
1 tray of ice cubes (half filled)

Then sprinkle with 1/2 c. cereal

Step One:
Get your blender - add 1 cup of water and a handful of spinach - start easy on the spinach if this is your first time, I've warped my tastebuds so much that I can add a ton and not notice it

Step Two:
Add Stevia, cocoa powder, and Protein Powder

Making sure there's enough cocoa powder will over power the spinach taste

Step Three:
Add frozen bananas and ice
I slice my bananas length wise and put them in sandwich bags to freeze, then break them in pieces when I put it in the blender

You'll want to put them in the pitcher in this order - start with the water and spinach to get the blender blades at the bottom of the pitcher going nicely, powders next so they are locked in the middle, topped with ice and bananas to keep the powders in.

Blend into a nice and yummy brown and green goop!

Great thing about it, most of my kids don't pester me asking if they can have some. My toddler loves it though, I usually share a cup with her

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cereal - Honey Sunshine is the best for chocolate protein shakes - tastes like an ice cream cone!

Total Calories = about 310
1 handful of spinach - 20?
1 heaping Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder - 24
1 scoop of protein powder - 140 (Cytosport Whey)
1/2 frozen banana - 60
1/2 cup Kashi Honey Sunshine - 66

Giant Lego Minifigure

2011-12-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

I am very impressed with Ethan's creativity...

He began with this:
and made this:
Got the mini-figure that was his model on the giant legos' shoulder.
He did write on the legos with permanent markers, which didn't thrill me, but I guess they use them and not me, I shouldn't care right? Makes me happy to see them being creative.

The Candy Bar Game

2011-12-17T12:32:00.001-08:00

The Candy Bar game, and here's how it goes:

You will need:

Bags - Get some bags for the treats: brown paper bags, this time I just used random gift bags we had on hand
A die - as in dice, but just one :)
Candy - Today we used some chocolate, some candy, choose what you'd like.

Put one treat in one bag for each kid playing the game, plus some extra treats in another bag all together.

They rolled the die -
roll 1 - trade with the person of your choice
roll 2 - nothing
roll 3 - everyone trade left
roll 4 - guess a treat - if there is one they'd like they can guess for it, if it's in the stash or if someone has it, they do a swap.
roll 5 - nothing
roll 6 - trade with the main stash

We played until everyone had rolled a 6 and had a chance to check the main stash, but you can play for as long as the kids want, or set a timer.

We played it this way today for Melodie's birthday party - I let her plan it out, but I did help make the cake and help with ideas, but I like letting the kid be mostly in charge of it - makes it totally non-stressful. She had 5 friends that were able to come, so with just 6 girls the game was small and simple. Modify it as needed. A way I think I might change this for next time is to get regular sized treats or lots of fun size & miniatures and let them get a collection of treats, so there is more give and take and trading going on, they really seemed to enjoy the drama and uncertainty of it all - what treats will I end up with!?!?

I remember playing something like this once at Alicia's birthday party when I was young - I remember switching candy bars and hiding them under the pillows on our laps. I looked for instructions or a version of it online, I liked this one here, we modified this one for Joe's birthday, but with all the boys it turned out a little too competitive and violent, so we modified it a little again. Feel free to share what you try and how it worked.

Happy Birthday Mel! Her friends were so sweet, too, as they helped take care of the toddler and baby - thank you girls!

Melodie - she likes to try to just blow out one candle at a time, says that way she gets more wishes. :)

Family Pictures

2011-12-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

We got these pictures taken over a year ago, but I just got barely picked up the CD from my friend, lots of fun pictures I thought.

I'm a Fundie!

2011-12-16T13:13:00.000-08:00

Who's watching you?

Well ~ news from the land of blogging. Apparently I'm a "fundie" (religious fundamentalist) and am enjoying some nit-picking from some people over at freejinger.org. Go over and read all the exciting chatter here! Go on, I'll wait til you get back.

Ok, now my a-little-bit-more-thought-out response.

First, let me say that in most of my blog posts I am not putting my best foot forward, but talking to my family and sharing with them and also friends far and near what our chaos is like, hoping to make them smile as they know they're not alone - that life with kids is crazy chaos mixed up with hundreds of delightful moments everyday. (Especially when you are a family with kids living abroad out of suitcases for an unexpected extended period of time. Those pictures from our drive to Samara Beach were on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere Costa Rica, not downtown LA. Not to excuse myself... but my husband was gone thousands of miles away in Chile at the time and I was alone in central America just trying to survive. Now that it's all in the past, I must say it was worth it and I'd be open to doing it again. Yes, I am nuts.)

Secondly, anonymous judgmental woman were not my target audience. Today Corey's sarcasm and wit made me laugh... he told me to keep the blog up for our friends in Chile and Costa Rica and wherever else. Corey's had some thoughts that I had posted, but I've edited out just now. He said he was just spouting out some knee-jerk reactions, mostly trying to make me feel better (it worked) - but didn't actually want me to publish them - that he wouldn't have wanted to offend anyone, so sorry. Corey told me that his entire life growing up he's gotten used to people criticizing his lifestyle and its always been a source of curiosity to him. Perhaps their concerns were based upon a true desire for the health and safety of our family. We'll get rid of that T-shield carseat, but the infant carseat is not expired. And I'm not worried about my relationship with my 2 year old, although I'm not opposed to spanking. I'm not going to go through and rebut all of the concerns, don't want to bother with any of this non-drama.

But anyway, I made it private for an hour while I tried to figure out who was stalking us, pretty easy to do with google. So, when I figured that out and after Corey's reassurance (since of course I always defer to him on big decisions!) I decided I'm okay with the criticism for now. But really seems like there's something better they could do with their time ~

Santa's Lap

2011-12-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

The kids got their pictures taken with Santa at a Church party. As you can tell by Joe's expression, he thinks it's pretty funny/silly and also thinks he's too old to sit on Santa's lap. That is Corey's favorite picture.

My other munckins -

Wesley in his constant costume regalia. He was Indiana Jones on this Saturday morning. If he didn't have to dress normally for school, he'd be in character all the time.

Abi, who will be quite a fashonista someday, I know, from her strong sense of style was wearing a skirt and a slip over a long sleeved pajama shirt.

Glad Ethan was there to make it seem like atleast one of my kids is normal. :) Lily started to freak out when she saw this Santa dude, and Mel brought her to me, so I think that is why she wasn't pictures. Not sure where Hyrum was, maybe he was still working on his Candy tree. It was a fun party. They had an embarrassing/funny story contest which Corey and I were going for cause 1st place got a certificate for dinner for 2 to LaCaille! That kind of a prize made our competitive side shine. I won 3rd place for this entry, Corey got 2nd for a shortened version of this story, and so we barely missed 1st! Watch out, we'll win it next year!

Embarrassing Story Entry

2011-12-14T19:39:00.001-08:00

Our church had a little contest at the Christmas Breakfast a week and a half ago - share your most entertaining/embarrassing true story. I was reading the blog here for some ideas and possible entries and found this one which I had totally forgotten about - glad this blog is here to help my failing memory. I won 3rd place :)

March 15, 2007 - while living in Brazil

Not Your Typical "First Trimester" Day

While pregnant and living abroad, I went to a doctor appointment at a public clinic so they could draw blood for whatever tests they need to do for the baby. I really didn't want to bother with it while we were there but our friend insisted and offered to help and went with me the 40 minute drive into the city. I went in and and had my first exam. It was the first time I've heard this baby's heart beat, so that was fun. As for the blood work, I had to go over to a different room and wait in line. Most of the other people in line only had 2 or 3 viles to fill, but they did 5 for me. So after sucking out all my blood and since I hadn't eaten anything that morning (because I had to be in a state of fasting) I promptly fainted when they were done. Luckily the next lady in line was standing at the door waiting for her turn, and she proudly told me (as I lay on the table after I came to) that she had saved me from hitting the floor. So the new Portuguese word of the week was "faint" --> "desmaio". They had me lay down for a few minutes, my friend came into the room to see if I was ok, and when they felt I was strong enough to walk they let me leave - I told them I had some crackers in the car to get my blood sugar up, so I'll be fine. I scarfed down the cookies and crackers really quickly in the car, cause I was only driving a short distance to the Campinas temple which was nearby. At the temple I was doing initiatories, when I after work for 2 people I threw up all over the nice temple worker and myself (mostly her) the big mess of cookies and crackers that I had inhaled - all down the front of her lovely white dress. We both went and changed clothes, they cleaned the floor, and I sat down for a few mintues, then we finished the work. I did 10 initiatories and afterward told them I was going to skip out on doing a session and head home. I'd had enough fun for one day.

Sophia's 2 Month Pictures

2011-12-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

I have a wall picture collection of each of my kids at 2 months and 1 week old. Sophia has officially joined the wall of babies.

This picture above was the cutest one, since she has a little smile, but the pose is more important to me for than her facial expression for some illogical reason, so we're going with the binki photo, which is still way cute and also tells of what she's been like as an infant, since she is a major binki baby - none of the other kids except Ethan cared much for the binki, so it's a little bit of a trademark for her.

And I just love the little pink sweater - that was a gift from a neighbor, it's so stinkin cute!

Gone Too Soon

2011-12-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Shannon Cloward 1961 - 2011

My heart goes out to Shannon's family. I wish she could have stayed here with us a little longer. But in my mind I know that it was a miraculous gift from God she was with us as long as she was. Thank you Shannon, we miss you already. We love you.

2 December was the day I returned from my mission in 1998, now I will remember Shannon on this day too, the day she finished her mission on earth. She lives on, thinking of her will continue to help me live right so that I can be worthy to be with her and the Savior again. I know Shannon made it, cause she was already an angel on earth.

Shannon's personality and smile and light remind me of my best friend from college Kristy Casperson Swiderski, who was also taken Home sooner than I would have liked. She was my same age by just a few days and died from cancer on October 25, 2006. I miss you Kristy, I want to be more like you, I wish you were here to help me learn how.

So I'm sad for all of us left behind, but having beloved friends and family pass on makes the Plan of Salvation feel more real. I know it is true. Christ died for us, and through Him we will all live again.

Love you Shannon.

Here is her obituary:

Shannon Wilson Cloward
1961 ~ 2011

Shannon Mary Wilson Cloward, our beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, daughter, and friend passed away peacefully on December 2, 2011 surrounded by family after her courageous battle with cancer. She was 50 years old.

Shannon was the oldest of six children born in Burlington, Washington June 25, 1961 to Kirk and Paula Wilson. She attended Burlington-Edison High School, where she was Student-body Vice-President her junior year and President her senior year. She also excelled in tennis, basketball and debate. Due to her leadership skills, she was one of two people selected from the state of Washington to attend a student government seminar in Washington D.C. She then went to Brigham Young University where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in history. There she met and was sealed to Randy Cloward in the Seattle Temple. They had 5 wonderful children together. Randy and Shannon continued to be close friends throughout the years despite divorcing.

Shannon always lived life to the fullest. Her battle with breast cancer began when she was 35 years old but never slowed her down. Tennis, marathons, triathlons, hikes, BYU sports, Jazz basketball, Wilson family holiday parties, and her job she loved at Jordan Valley School working in Special Education were just some of the activities that enriched her life up to the end. She was an incredible and devoted mother to her children and was compassionately devoted to taking care of her special needs son Kevin, who brought her much joy and fulfillment.

A faithful, devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she spent her life in the service of her faith and others. She touched and inspired so many lives as she served and loved those with whom she came in contact. She was a natural leader, serving in many positions of leadership throughout her life.
Shannon is survived by many family members that will miss her greatly, her five children: Amy (Adam) Sybrowsky, Alison, Paul (currently serving an LDS mission in Scotland), Kevin, and T.J,; her parents - Kirk and Paula; her brothers and sisters - Craig (Cari) Wilson, Holly (Steve) Crandall, Wendy (Calvin) Hunter, Kari (Eric) Hull, Keith (Lynsi) Wilson; many nephews and nieces; and her loving grandchild, Ava.
Many have been touched and influenced for good by Shannon. She was constantly looking out for those who needed a friend or a place for a holiday dinner.
She would want to thank those who cared for her over the years including Dr. Difiore, her nurse Kristen and the rest of the staff, and also hospice services and her nurse Camille.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest that contributions be made in her memory to the LDS Church Missionary Fund, 50 E. North Temple, SLC, UT 84150.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. in the Granite Ridge Ward, 9575 So. 3100 East, where a visitation will be held 9:30-10:45 a.m. Interment Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery/Mortuary. Online condolences: www.larkincares.com

Wedding Day Digitized

2011-11-30T21:36:00.001-08:00

Hey! Guess what I did today! Well, since I am old and was married in the days of film cameras, I decided to pretend be young and I finally got some of those old negatives digitized! I picked them up from Costco today, only 3 bucks, gotta love that. Look at us, young and in love. Now we're old and in love. But once again we're also far away and in love. Corey's in Chile and I'm in Utah missing him. But good news is that it's not for 3 1/2 years of missions this time, it's only for 2 weeks, I can handle that, right? And what do you know, we're already a fourth of the way through it. Soon we'll realize that once again we've been time-warped through the dreams of the past and will find ourselves together and will say "Here we are again~"

Time to Retire

2011-11-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been meaning to send out cards to several people. The good intentions have been in my head for several weeks, but I keep putting it off cause I want to take by treats with it or get a better card, but yesterday I kept thinking that doing something would be better than doing nothing. So today I did it. As I was doing it and left my three young daughters unattended, Abi held Sophia and Sophia fell asleep, and that left Lily free to do her damage unnoticed...

Yes, I think it's time to officially retire my scripture and get new ones. I received these as a gift from my parents when I turned 12 years old. I took them to seminary, on my mission, and they've were always safe and well cared for until I had children. They've survived a few rips here and there and different attacks with pens that were left out, but this damage I think is sufficient for them to be stored away for posterity.

I'm missing Genesis 33 - 38 now and 2 Nephi 26 - 29.

I guess I could keep using them without those pages, or I can try to use it with the ripped pages kept with the set where they should be, or should I tape them back together even though the tape will discolor over time? Should just put them to rest while they still are kind of in one piece? Oh Lily, I've told her not to rip books, but usually she just rips the scholastic Disney books, and I don't mind that so much cause I can just go buy them again at the thrift store for 5o cents. Don't know why I didn't see this coming. My motherly instincts must be a little rusty. So I got upset with her, spanked her bottom and said NO NO NO, then went and got my camera. She went and hid in her bed with her blanket over her head. I went in to make peace and I pulled down the blanket she was hiding under. (I adore her little face in this picture! with her hair brushed over her little eyes, and those cute lips, love her expression)

Ok two year old, let's see if you understand now what it is that I want you NOT to do. Don't rip book, okay?

Oh, the pain of being scolded is great. The memory still fresh.

...And she doesn't know why I'm taking pictures of her right now...

Jessie also got broken today. She only lasted 5 months! It's been a tough day for Lily!

Scripture Power!

2011-11-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

The kids got these ADORABLE little chocolate scriptures at church last week after their Primary Program during sacrament meeting - a gift from the Stake Primary Presidency. I think they got the idea for it from here. I thought they were the cutest little handout treats I've ever seen.

They were made with two gold wrapped Hershey's Nuggets chocolates, glued onto a brown piece of paper for the cover of the book, little white paper with your scripture or quote of choice, and then just glue a little bit of red string or ribbon for the bookmark, and there you've got your miniature chocolate scriptures! The kids loved it.

They also did a great job for the program. I think that Abi stole the show ...but not for the usual reasons kids steal shows. She didn’t want to go up on the stage cause she wanted to stay with her cousin Alexis. So Abi was sitting up there with a big pout and cute sad eyebrows. When it was here turn to the microphone, she said her part in such a sad, squeaky whimpering voice “Child of God” and everyone laughed at how cute she was, and laughing at her when she’s in a bad mood turns her into a terrible mood, so she was pretty upset with a bigger scowl and more hurt feelings face than before, but continued to sit up with her class on the bench in the very front. When her next turn came, in the same pathetic squeaky voice she whimpered out “Pray” and everyone laughed again, including me, at how cute this sad little 4 year old was. After seeing her upset after that second round of sighs and chuckles, Corey smiled and asked “Should I go up there with her?” So he went up and sat at the sacrament bench and she came over to her and he held her there for the rest of the program. He told us afterward that among the things she said to him during their time together was “I still love Jesus but it’s not funny!”

Later at home Abi helped me make soup for dinner - she cut the carrots. It's her favorite job to do, she's a cutie.

Abigail and Sophia

2011-11-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

Abi, whose Spider Man costume with rainboots outfit was cracking me up, fell asleep holding Sophia.

Sophia was still awake and wiggling around looking up at Abi and trying to reach her binki with her mouth... it was a cute picture :)

Life Lessons by Shannon

2011-11-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

When we first moved to this area in 2007, I was ready to lose my baby weight after Abi was born, and I saw Shannon going on a run outside. We visited for a minute and she invited me to go running with her sometime. I did, and that first jog led to me joining her and others in running a half marathon and meeting more people and feeling totally at home here in our new neighborhood.

Shannon has been battling breast cancer for many years, and this summer it took a turn for the worse. I've been thinking of her so much, she's just amazing. She has become one of my heroes for many reasons that I'd like to ramble about here for a bit, if you don't mind. So when we moved here in 2007 she lived just on the next street over and I knew her from our church ward, and her smile and the light in her eyes just showed her joy and excitement for life. After that first jog together, I was awed at how much she had endured in her life, and inspired even more that she was so positive and happy despite the challenges she faced and was still facing. I want to be like her. I know that everyone has their own daily struggles to deal with, and as I face my own trials I think of Shannon and it helps me to be try and be stronger and to be happy.

Here are a few quick stories of my hero Shannon:

(...and someone correct me if I don't get this all right)

She first moved to Utah over 10 years ago, and at that time she was a young mother in her mid 30s and she was going through a divorce and had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. She moved here to Utah with her 5 kids. Her 4th child is a son who was born very handicapped, wasn't expected to live beyond two years, but is still alive today and although it's work to take care of him, he's such a blessing to Shannon, she says he is her first missionary (her oldest son is on a mission in Scotland and is her first missionary, but she also considers Kevin her "first" missionary for when he took on his earthly mission and challenge of being born into a handicapped body, she knows what a strong and amazing spirit he has and she feels honored to be his mother). She started chemotherapy shortly after she arrived here in Utah, so she was in a new neighborhood, was a single mom now, sick, tired, stressed, self conscious of being bald etc... she had many reasonable excuses to stay at home and take it easy, but she decided to go to church that first Sunday - and that was an important test of her faith that she passed, and she knows that making church attendance a priority has been a great blessing in her life. That was Rule to follow #1 on her list of Life Lessons that she shared in a church class that she taught. This was two years ago in October 2009. I didn't have my notebook that day, but I did have a pen, and I knew what she shared was going to be good cause she's just amazing, so I wrote it down on my hand and took pictures as soon as I got home. :) So here are some of the rules she lives by and the things she's learned in her life that help her with her trials. Pictures with typed translations follow below.

#1 - Always come to church

#2 - This is not my real home (Earth is not our real home - after this brief mortal life we will return to our true home which is with God)

#3 - Don't be scared about the future - focus on the day I'm on (She tries to not to worry about how long she'll live or all the "what if?"s that cancer brings, she focuses on today - today I'm good, I'm doing okay, or today I'm struggling, but I know God loves me)

#4 - Read other people's accounts - The Ensign, the scriptures, Tuesday's with Morrie (Those are some things Shannon reads that help her. Here's one Ensign article that helped me because of this quote in it: “When someone has an ailment or an illness and they are healed as the result of a blessing, their faith is being strengthened. But for those who aren’t healed but continue faithful, their faith is being perfected. The first is a faith-promoting experience. The second is faith-perfecting.”), Moses crossing the Red Sea is a good one to remember when I struggle with my small trials, and I also love Conference talks - like this one from the prophet which helped me when I was complaining after our first month in Costa Rica last year - it was funny, cause I had been murmuring big time during the week before this talk and Corey said I should be more grateful, so when the prophet spoke on gratitude, I knew it was a call for me to repent. Also another amazing story here - scroll half way down, there's a story of a German woman during World War 2 - heart breaking trial of incredible faith)

#5 - Have an attitude of gratitude - (She said that being bald makes it so easy to get ready in the mornings! Plus, she joked that it was nice to not have to pluck those thick facial whiskers that start to grow here and there as we get older. I met an amazingly happy person in Costa Rica, and when we talked about her insanely good attitude despite the problems she was facing, she shared something which is what I now try to say to myself in my trials: "It must be a blessing" If Stephanie Nielsen can say her accident and the trials that have followed are a blessing, how could I not also try to recognize that my trials (which are so small in comparison!) are also blessings, to get me closer to God. I know that God is good and that he loves his children, so our trials and difficult experiences really could be and are actually blessings.

#6 - Have confidence in yourself - I'm bald (Shannon was bald at the time she gave this lesson from Cancer treatments from her breast cancer that had returned. During her first battle with cancer, she often felt self conscious or uncomfortable being bald. This time she told us she has gained more confidence, took off her hat, and gave the rest of the lesson with her bald head showing. Don't be scared!

#7 - Make it a priority to keep moving (She didn't know what the next year would bring, if she'd be feeling healthy or not, but she still made plans to do fun things that she enjoyed, like a planned trip to New York to play in a tennis tournament)

#8 - Plan something fun - make a Bucket List like in the movie

She asked a sister in the ward to share her experience of her husband passing away. She remembered a condolence card she received that sweetly said "There's a little bit of heaven in your home when someone from your home is in heaven."

(I apparently stopped numbering after 8, but I think 9 and 10 were as follows)

9) "Life is a polishing experience" and polishing a stone, like refining gold or making a precious diamond, takes heat, or lots of pressure, and/or pain. That's what it takes to make us the best and most beautiful that we can be - stretching us beyond our comfort zone.

10) We don't own our problems, God does" Turn our lives and problems over to him. Be optimistic. Plant perennials (make plans to be around the next year)

One more story about Shannon. Several years ago on her June birthday, she went on a hike with some guys up to Pheifferhorn. That was before we'd moved here, so I think it was 2005 or 2006. It was June but there had been a long winter, so there was still ice/snow on the peak of the mountain. She didn't know how to use an ice pick correctly and on a steep icy slope she lost her grip and control of herself and fell, she was literally tumbling to her death off a cliff, and as she felt this was it, this was the end of her life. Then she thought of who would take care of her children, especially her son Kevin, and then she was stopped, she felt something grab her waist and she stopped from her full tumble at the edge of the cliff with her feet dangling off the edge. Her friends Richard and Jerry saw her falling and thought there was no way she would survive with the angle of the slope and how fast she was falling. Shannon knows that she was miraculously spared that day and that she was supposed to have died, so each day since has been a gift from the Lord.

In October 2009, Joe and I went with Shannon and a group of friends to hike Pfeifferhorn. Shannon shared parts of the story again, it is called her "Miracle on the Mountain"

Shannon is the 3rd from left, I'm 5th. It's a really steep hike in places - the picture above is not the steepest part. Joe and I stopped at the "knife's edge" which part made me way too nervous for Joe's life, not that he had been struggling with the hike, it was just too scary - I was scared for myself, let alone putting my first born child at risk. So here below is where we took one last snap shot and turned back. (Plus I had baby Lily home waiting for her milkmaid to return...)

After the knife's edge is the final climb to the peak of Pfeifferhorn, which you can see from the top left of the picture above is STEEP. The rest of our group made it to the peak.

This is Richard who took fantastic pictures of the view during the hike. (image 4027) He was also one of the two guys with Shannon on the day of her Miracle.

When we got back from Costa Rica in May of this year, Shannon was doing great, still out walking in the mornings but taking it easy - no plans for marathon. But her cancer took a turn for the worse over the summer and she's in need of extra prayers. Shannon, I just love you - I pray for you every day.

Update: Shannon passed away on December 2, our prayers are with her and her family, especially her son on his mission.

Hibberts Rule!

2011-11-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about my awesome family this week, meaning the family I was born and raised in. My family that I'm creating with Corey is pretty awesome too, but thinking about my parents and siblings, they are a funny bunch. Lots of great memories. I'm excited for when my kids get older and become friends and have fun together. They have fun now sometimes, maybe 80% of the time, then are mortal enemies the other 20%. but if I was living with all my siblings now, we'd be having a major blast 24/7 cause we are just so gosh darn funny!

I shall now write a paragraph of different word and phrases to bring back some memories to those involved.

Star Spoon, hamsters, 4 square & dodgeball, Ridgecrest, Candy Houses, He-Man, The Spruces, "I'm going for a drive...", The Littles, soccer, Billy Joel, Star Wars, Muppet Babies, Sport, Gaggamaggot stew, Michael Jackson, Mandy and Jenny Dolls, kick the can, Mannheim Steamroller, green toilet, My Little Ponies, Anzak Park, Ashton Idaho, Butler 11th, Dan's, "Around the block!", Happy Meals, Space Legos, Renting a VCR, Mickey Mouse Phone, big wheel ice cream, Chalkboard on the cupboards, barstools, Upside down Christmas tree, play catch, Snow forts, that very unique print on the upstairs bathroom counter, dog run, pac man in the garden... Your turn Hibberts! What are some more?

I love my 7 siblings ~ Hibberts rule!

Give Thanks

2011-11-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

I just thought this Thanksgiving Advent Board was so cute. Link to it here. Maybe I have time to do it before Thursday gets here? Um, probably not. Maybe I'll modify it for a Christmas advent calendar. I'll have a little time for personal crafts and freedom cause Corey is leaving on Friday for Chile again, going to be gone 15 days this time. (I don't feel as much pressure to keep the house tidy when he's gone) He say's it's time for him to "put up or shut up" with MovieMouth, but I know he's not going to give up or shut up about it, I've tried before to persuade him to abandon ship, but he's informed me that that is not an option, so hopefully his pilot will go well or else I guess we'll just keep going down this road till he dies of a heart attack. (I always start thinking of him dying when he leaves on a trip and start making plans for how I'll handle life as a widow. I guess I think if I'm ready for it, it for sure won't happen. I already have an unwashed shirt of his in a zip-lock bag so I can always remember what he smelled like. Corey, you were a great husband. I'll miss you! (Anyone else get crazy like this when hubby travels?))

First Ski of the Season

2011-11-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

Corey took Mel, Wes, and Abi on Friday after school. Then again on Saturday he went up, this time with the 4 older kids and also with his brother and his two kids. We missed winter last year, so we're excited to take full advantage of each opportunity this time around. We even rented skis for everyone.

It was Abi's first time skiing and she did great, she loved it! She wanted to go on the lift but the other kids didn't, so she just posed for the camera and they're gonna hit the slopes next time.

(where'd she learn to tilt her head like that for the camera?)

As for this time, they had fun on the bunny hill and rope tow. We love living so close to the canyon - Alta is just 20 minutes away, and at Alta kids ski free after 3! And may I just say that is perfect for our family. :)

On Saturday when Corey went with his brother and his kids, Wes and Abi let their cousins use their skis. With 6 pairs of feet, we've got all sizes! Anyone else want to come play? We've got skis for your kids already! Neil and Amy? Amy, you and Lucy could stay here with me and my toddlers, we'd let the men and boys go have fun, and have hot cocoa and dinner ready for them when they got back. Anyone else? Let me know! Party time in Utah's winter wonderland!

Hyrum's Contract

2011-11-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was "Tool Day" at the kid's school where parents get to come and tell the students what they do for their career. Well, a lawyer came and talked to Hyrum's class and taught them about contracts. He gave them a paper contract as a handout. Hyrum filled it out.

Contract States: Hyrum must build legos. If he does, Corey will pay him 900,000,000-infinity dollars.

Well, when the kids get home they are always pushing papers in front of us to sign - sign my planner, sign this field trip permit, sign that you saw my scores for this week, sign sign initial sign. Hyrum passed his contract over to Corey and told him to sign it. He signed it without reading it and handed it back to Hyrum. Hyrum's eyebrows went sky high and his eyes got big with disbelief, like he's just won the lottery. He held the signed paper up in the air and waved it as he ran around yelling to his siblings "HE SIGNED IT!!! HE SIGNED IT!!!" We brought the terms of the contract to Corey's attention.

Corey said "Oh. Ok...Well, I guess I signed it so I have to keep my part of the contract! You win Hyrum. I'll pay you 1 cent a day." "No! You have to pay all of it now!" "The contract doesn't say when I have to pay it by" and we continued to have a lesson on contracts and why they are usually really long so people can't find a loophole. Hyrum started to get pretty frustrated with Corey trying to weasel his way out of it. Corey told Melodie "I want you to go get rid of all the Legos in the house" - thus making it impossible for Hyrum to keep his end of the contract. Hyrum said "Nooo!!!" Well, I'm not sure how it ended. Corey might have tried the distraction method which is my favorite tool: Hey! Want to play the Wii? Or how 'bout a fruit snack?

BYU vs. Utah

2011-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Wesley is so cute. He's big into BYU. BYU and Blue. Red is bad, cause Red is Utah. So unfortunately his 1st grade journal is red. Red is bad, so he decided to try and change it to blue. He drew on the cover with blue crayon. Then he said his teacher told him to take it home to fix it. So we tried to erase the crayon. I was able to a little bit, but I thought it was kinda funny to have a peek into why this little 6 year old does things. I'm sure his teacher came and saw him scribbling and was like "Ack! Stop! What are you doing to your nice journal?" Perfectly logical thinking in his mind "What do you think I'm doing? Anyone can see, look at it! It's RED!"

Sophia's Blessing

2011-11-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

Sophia was given a blessing at church this past Sunday. She is such a cutie.

Sophia with my parents above and Corey's parents below.

Then taking a nap at home with Ethan. :) The kids love having her take a nap on them, it's so sweet to have her snuggle with, I love it too, she's my little toasty teddy bear.

Fun To Have Girls

2011-11-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Melodie was outnumbered with brothers for quite a while - I felt like we were a family of boys + Mel. But now these little princesses have evened up the score, so I'm trying to prep myself to be more girly. Melodie is good at helping me.

SLEEPING BABY GIRL + A BIG SISTER WITH POLISH = TINY PAINTED FINGERNAILS

We did her toes too. So fun!

Cute Sophia

2011-11-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

The kids have a stuffed Dog that has a puppy. The puppy is very small. The kids thought it would make a perfect "teddy dog" for Sophia.

Since she's so tight all the time, with clenched fists and arms tucked in, they were able to get her to hold it pretty well. It was cute. I loved Sophia in these pictures, cute to see her when she's wide awake. It's starting to happen more often. She's so cute, she's a keeper.

"I Wuv Deez Widdle Toes!"

2011-11-01T14:27:00.001-07:00

I have fun staring at Fifi everyday. Here are some pictures I took last Wednesday, I thought this one above with Lily and Sophia was really cute - Yes, just enjoying wasting time and being in the moment when Sophia is tiny and precious, Babyhood just goes by too fast.

Look at those big eyes! Those are from her father. And have I mentioned her eye lashes? They are longer than mine are. She's gonna have some killer eyes.

Took lots of pictures of her and her feet, loving ooh-ing at her little toes and cuteness

Oh, I love this little girl! Amazing that I just barely met this little soul 8 weeks ago, but she is now and will forever be one of the most important people in my life.

I'm glad I have Melodie around, cause I know I can count on her to ooh and aww over Sophia, especially when there doesn't seem to be anything to get excited over. Sophia will just be laying on the bed staring off into the distance sucking on her binki and Mel and I will both be looking at her, then we'll both say "She is SOOO Cute!!!"

I was walking by the mirror in our room as caught a glimpse of Sophia's big eyes, said "She is SOOO Cute!!!" and tried to get a picture of it that would do her cuteness justice.

I love that little face!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-10-27T13:14:00.001-07:00

It's RED RIBBON WEEK and "Just say 'No' to drugs!" time here in our school. Tuesday was Crazy Hair Day, which is always a big hit with the kids.

Usually I help out a lot, but we've all be waking up late, so the kids were on their own this morning cause I had to make sandwiches and nurse the baby. Joe did a good job I thought. Hyrum had Corey help him use my hairspray.

I did end up helping Mel - she just couldn't think of what to do and how to do it and was sulking and going to leave with her hair normal when I said "Oh, come here" and we took off a little fall decoration thing from the wall and put that with her hair up in a ponytail.

Ethan got into the girls' curlers. With such short hair they were barely hanging on to his head, so I kept threatening "don't lose them" cause you know the world's going to end if one of Abi's curlers is missing.

Wesley didn't really care about playing the game, but I put his up quickly as he was walking out the door, telling him "you're a Teletubbie!"

And lastly, I thought I'd post this picture of our cute neighbors, they are always over at our house keeping my kids company and helping hold Sophia, they are cute. They did a good job on their crazy hair. I'll keep this picture for Mel's future reference, something to help our creative juices get flowing next year.

October Report

2011-10-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

What we've done this month:

As with each child born in our family, Corey took his "What? a new baby?! I need a vacation!" trip and I get to tease him for the rest of his life about it. He went to Korea for "business" right after Welsey was born, to India when Abi was a month old, kinda funny... Something about a newborn crying at night gives him the international travel bug. This time he went to Chile and Peru for 10 days (5 days in each country... partly for business, partly for pleasure). At the business part of it in Lima, he and his friend Brian got to try some very exotic Peruvian dishes -

Next they took a plane from Lima to go visit Machu Picchu - BUT... how safe would you feel if this was what you saw outside the window at the airport?

closer up...
Uhh, looks like there's a crashed airplane out there? "Let's just get this thing off the runway, yeah, why don't you shove it all over there." Would you be reviewing your life to assess your standing before God and praying to survive the flight? Yeah, me too.

Well they did survive and made it to Cusco, spent the night there, then early on Saturday they drove to Ollantaytambo , then took a train to Aguas Calientes, then took a bus to their final desitnation: Machu Picchu! New friend Javier served as their guide.

Pretty amazing pictures huh. It would be fun to go there someday. As for me, while Corey was gone I was up at night cleaning up throw up (none of it on the carpet, just beds and sheets, which I think means I'm one lucky duck) and then I was sick too and kept myself up at night with coughing fits. I was on survival mode, cue my survival food:

Yes, I ate a whole beautiful platter of these variety cheesecakes pictured above. Mississippi Mud, Chocolate Marble, Fudge Brownie... mmm, chocolate... Confession, actually, I ate two of these beauties - one platter of 12 slices, one platter of 14 slices, minus the three slices that I gave to my neighbor and the maybe 3 pieces that I shared with the kids when they caught me sneaking into the freezer in the garage. 2 for sure, 3 is a generous estimate. Kids were throwing up Saturday night to Sunday morning, the rest of the week I was sick and ate cold cheesecake for breakfast lunch and dinner to sooth my sore throat till Corey returned on Friday, at which time I shared with my neighbor and kids what was left of the cakes to get rid of the evidence. It was good, and now that Corey's back and we've both recovered, it's back to reality. Treats are all gone and I've been getting up at 5:30 and passing an awake baby Sophia to Joseph who for some reason is awake too (he wakes up on his own and showers in the mornings! I'm so impressed!) for him to hold while I go on a quick 20 minute / 2 mile run with a neighbor.

So that's what's been going on here. Other than that, I've been reading a book that Corey got which proposes that Nephi landed in Peru, titled "Nephi in the Promised Land" - very intriguing stuff!! Given me lots of food for thought, I'm eating it up faster than I ate the cheesecake, very cool, it's really fun :)