I couldn't let the day go by without wishing everyone a Merry Christmas....and the opportunity to take the Thanksgiving down from the top post on my blog. I know. Bad blogger. Later.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!
I couldn't let the day go by without wishing everyone a Merry Christmas....and the opportunity to take the Thanksgiving down from the top post on my blog. I know. Bad blogger. Later.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am especially grateful today for family and friends who enrich my life and whose influence impacts my life for the better. Today I attended the funeral of a long-time friend, Maxine Fullmer. She lived such a full, exemplary life. She was loved by all who knew her. I hope someday to be like her.
Happy Thanksgiving! And enjoy your Black Friday shopping.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
November in a Nutshell
I'm going to try to play catch-up for the month of November. I went visiting teaching the first week of the month since we knew we'd all be busy as the month progressed. The next day my body decided to be sick. I went to the Dr. who said I was having complications from allergies. So he gave me a few days of prednisone. I don't really like the feelings I have when I take it, but it does take care of allergies and inflammation. I wasn't getting better, though. I was sick on my birthday....which was a real bummer. Mark had taken the day off so we could spend it together, but we ended up spending it together at home. I missed teaching a class on Saturday, which didn't make me happy at all. By Monday, I still wasn't better, so back to the Dr. I went. He gave me another week of prednisone and antibiotic and it seems (finally) to have kicked the junk out of my system.
That week I was sick I managed to make Eliza a pioneer apron. She was in a play that their stake put on and she needed/wanted an apron. Abby had her student of the month assembly that week, too. She's such a sweet girl and such a good student. She's every teacher's dream child. I did drag myself out of bed for a couple of hours to go watch Eliza's play. It was very good and Eliza did a great job. I also missed going to Matthew's Scout-O-Rama that weekend. Man, I don't like being sick!
And the final missed event was teaching Relief Society. Thankfully, Heather Stone stepped in and taught for me.
The next week was Veteran's Day, so we had Matthew and Dallin over for a boys' sleepover. They had a great time together. Obviously, there are huge differences between a girl sleepover and a boy sleepover. Lots of bodily noises and laughing done while the boys were here. Enough said.
Aunt Dovetta went into the hospital that week and spent a few days there. They weren't able to do the procedure they'd hoped to do, but sent her home with medications that are supposed to help somewhat.
We had Ellie's birthday sleepover on Friday night. I say sleepover, but she didn't spend the night. We picked her up and took her shopping for her gift and took her to dinner. She chose to go to Elephant Bar and she LOVED it! It was so much fun to have just Ellie to spend time with and get to know her better and build our bond with her. We took her home to sleep and picked her up the next morning, along with three of her sisters to spend a few more hours. We took them to lunch and had a great time with them. However, we're so not used to having that many kids at one time!!! Yikes!
The week of the 16th was a busy week, too....but aren't they all?? Book group was Tuesday night. We discussed The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. I loved the book, but some others had mixed reviews. Earlier that day Erin and I made bread....she made bread and I tried out a new roll recipe. What delicious rolls they are! I'll be making them again on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I got the recipe online from Our Best Bites. If I knew how to link it here, I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to find it on your own. Sorry.
Wednesday was a baby shower for Courtney Overstreet in the ward. She had her baby about six weeks early....but he's doing great.
Thursday last week was Abby's Thanksgiving program at school. The second graders put on a program with speaking parts and singing. It was fun!
On Friday, Erin had youth conference and battled with herself as to what to do with Ruby. She didn't want to have to be away from her for too long at a time, so I went to Youth Conference. Ruby and I spent the whole time in the car. She was so good. She slept the entire time, except when she woke up long enough to eat. Then back to sleep she went. I had planned on walking around, but it was too cold for her. We snuggled in the car and were quite content.
Yesterday Jan and I taught the Zutter class again at Scrap Happy Sisters. We had 9 in the class. It was a fun group and most of them finished their books. We had several requests to teach it again in January....so I guess we will!
Today we went to Erin's ward. They were reorganizing the bishopric (again!) and Brian was put in as first counselor this time. Now we're off to Matthew and Emma's Primary Program. That makes three programs this year. The fun part is that they're all enough different that it's still very interesting and fun to watch the children express their testimonies through spoken word and music.
This week is Thanksgiving, but it doesn't feel much like it. We'll be getting together with Erin's family for Thanksgiving lunch and meeting up with Dan and his family, too, for dessert and fun at a park.
I almost forgot....today is Ellie's birthday. She's four....and I can hardly believe it. It was four years ago that she came home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day! What a memorable day that was. Ellie is such a little mother and organizer. I know it probably annoys her sisters, but it will serve her well as she gets older. Love you, Ellie!
That week I was sick I managed to make Eliza a pioneer apron. She was in a play that their stake put on and she needed/wanted an apron. Abby had her student of the month assembly that week, too. She's such a sweet girl and such a good student. She's every teacher's dream child. I did drag myself out of bed for a couple of hours to go watch Eliza's play. It was very good and Eliza did a great job. I also missed going to Matthew's Scout-O-Rama that weekend. Man, I don't like being sick!
And the final missed event was teaching Relief Society. Thankfully, Heather Stone stepped in and taught for me.
The next week was Veteran's Day, so we had Matthew and Dallin over for a boys' sleepover. They had a great time together. Obviously, there are huge differences between a girl sleepover and a boy sleepover. Lots of bodily noises and laughing done while the boys were here. Enough said.
Aunt Dovetta went into the hospital that week and spent a few days there. They weren't able to do the procedure they'd hoped to do, but sent her home with medications that are supposed to help somewhat.
We had Ellie's birthday sleepover on Friday night. I say sleepover, but she didn't spend the night. We picked her up and took her shopping for her gift and took her to dinner. She chose to go to Elephant Bar and she LOVED it! It was so much fun to have just Ellie to spend time with and get to know her better and build our bond with her. We took her home to sleep and picked her up the next morning, along with three of her sisters to spend a few more hours. We took them to lunch and had a great time with them. However, we're so not used to having that many kids at one time!!! Yikes!
The week of the 16th was a busy week, too....but aren't they all?? Book group was Tuesday night. We discussed The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. I loved the book, but some others had mixed reviews. Earlier that day Erin and I made bread....she made bread and I tried out a new roll recipe. What delicious rolls they are! I'll be making them again on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I got the recipe online from Our Best Bites. If I knew how to link it here, I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to find it on your own. Sorry.
Wednesday was a baby shower for Courtney Overstreet in the ward. She had her baby about six weeks early....but he's doing great.
Thursday last week was Abby's Thanksgiving program at school. The second graders put on a program with speaking parts and singing. It was fun!
On Friday, Erin had youth conference and battled with herself as to what to do with Ruby. She didn't want to have to be away from her for too long at a time, so I went to Youth Conference. Ruby and I spent the whole time in the car. She was so good. She slept the entire time, except when she woke up long enough to eat. Then back to sleep she went. I had planned on walking around, but it was too cold for her. We snuggled in the car and were quite content.
Yesterday Jan and I taught the Zutter class again at Scrap Happy Sisters. We had 9 in the class. It was a fun group and most of them finished their books. We had several requests to teach it again in January....so I guess we will!
Today we went to Erin's ward. They were reorganizing the bishopric (again!) and Brian was put in as first counselor this time. Now we're off to Matthew and Emma's Primary Program. That makes three programs this year. The fun part is that they're all enough different that it's still very interesting and fun to watch the children express their testimonies through spoken word and music.
This week is Thanksgiving, but it doesn't feel much like it. We'll be getting together with Erin's family for Thanksgiving lunch and meeting up with Dan and his family, too, for dessert and fun at a park.
I almost forgot....today is Ellie's birthday. She's four....and I can hardly believe it. It was four years ago that she came home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day! What a memorable day that was. Ellie is such a little mother and organizer. I know it probably annoys her sisters, but it will serve her well as she gets older. Love you, Ellie!
Neglect
It was brought to my attention that I've been neglecting my blog....and I have. I will get caught up soon, but in the meantime, I thought I'd let you know that Jan and I are teaching the ABCs of Christmas (star book) at Scrap Happy Sisters on Tuesday, December 15th from 6-9 pm. The structure of the book will be done for you so all you'll have to do is add the words and embellishments. Fun, huh? If you want to see pictures, just scroll down to the last post and there are pictures and a better description. So give Scrap Happy a call and we'll see you on the 15th!!
I'll be back soon, I promise!
I'll be back soon, I promise!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Oh, Dear!
It's been a while since I've posted here. Where did the month of October go???
Ok....what have I been doing that's kept me so busy that I didn't blog?
The Young Women (Laurel president to be exact) called and asked me to be on a panel at a YW activity. I was the "grandma" of the group. Aimee Stirling represented a new mother of very young children. Heather Holdaway represented a mother of several children, varying in age, and I was the grandma of the group. We were to talk about experiences we've had as mothers/grandmothers and lessons we've learned through the years. It was fun to do. The girls were very attentive and even asked questions!
The rest of that week was spent grading papers, going to a crop at SHS and plowing through life. They gave me some beautiful flowers as a thank you.
That weekend Mark got sick. He kept feeling worse and worse, and by Sunday he was down. We missed church that week and he was at the Dr. the first thing Monday morning. The Doc. said he couldn't totally rule out H1N1, but he didn't think that's what he had. He thought it was an upper respiratory infection and sinusitis. Mark got a couple of scripts and had instructions that if he wasn't "well" in 48 hours, he was to come right back to the Doc. Luckily, after being off work for three days, he felt good and returned to work. His only complaint at that point is that he was tired. He mostly slept the three days he was off work (and that Sunday). Glad he's better and it wasn't the swine flu.
The next week started with a class at Sun City Grand that Jan and I taught. It's a Christmas Star book. The bones of the book is Bazzill cardstock and it's all hand stitched together to form a star shap when it's open. I had taught Jan how to make it a couple of weeks ago. We decided on the title The ABCs of Christmas, and in order to have enough pages for all of the alphabet, I came up with the idea of stitching in an additional signature page in each star page. Sounds complicated, but it's really not. We used Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper for the inside pages of the book. We then stamped the alphabet using the 7gypsies clear stamp alphabet. I formatted lots of words associated with Christmas and printed them out and we mounted and used them on the pages, too. After it's all glued together, the book opens and looks like a star. You can either leave the rest of the pages blank and just have a beautiful book, or there is room to add pictures to document your family's holiday season. The beauty of it, though, is that when Christmas is over, it folds flat for easy storage. When it's open, it's 6" tall and 12" across.
Tuesday was our monthly book group. It was supposed to be held at our home, but since we didn't know for sure about Mark, Linda graciously let us come to her house. We discussed Jason Wright's latest novel, Recovering Charles. For refreshments, I thought something "southern" would be in order. Since it was pie month at Marie Callendars, we had pecan pie and peach pie. Yum!
Wednesday I went to swap papers with Brian at the school, helped Erin with some Halloween projects she had going and I had my annual blood tests (which all came back as normal!).
On Thursday , I picked Abby and Dallin up from school. It was early release for parent/teacher conferences and their usual early release sitter's husband had the swine flu, so I was chosen to spent some time with them. It was fun. I picked them up and they went with me to get my annual flu shot. They enjoyed watching that and were glad it wasn't for them. Then we drove back to Erin's. Eliza called me and invited me to come to her school book fair with her. So Erin and I took seven kids to the book fair. They did well. They each chose a book and we made it out without injury or incident. Libby wanted Dallin to stay and play with her and Abby wanted Eliza to come to my house to play, so we did a bit of a kid swap. They all had a fun time, but Erin was the one left with five kids! I only had two and they were the oldest two. Lucky me! When Mark got home from work, we went back to Erin's to trade back kids and Abby and Dallin went back to the school to meet Brian so Dallin could go to T-ball practice. We put a LOT of miles on the car that day, but it was a good day.
Jan and I met on Friday to put kits together for the Christmas star book. We're going to try selling them already put together and see how that goes.
On Saturday, we left home very early to go watch Matthew and Emma play soccer. As it turned out, both games were at 8 am. Emma scored a goal that day. Matthew played goalie the whole game, and their team won 10-0. Matthew didn't let them score the whole game. Way to go, kids!!!
So after we watched them play, we went to Mimi's for breakfast. It was fun to sit, visit and enjoy one another's company.
Last Sunday, Oct. 25th, it was the Trimble family's Primary Program. So we went to watch. Erin and Brian also decided to bless Ruby that day so that people wouldn't have to come again for the blessing. It was a great day. Ruby was blessed in Mark's christening gown. Mark (and his siblings) were all christened in the Catholic church. They all wore the same gown. When Mark's mother passed away many years ago, Mark got to keep the gown. It is beautiful. When I remembered that we had it, before Ruby was born, we decided to have it cleaned to see if it would hold up for her blessing. Gratefully, it came out beautifully. So Ruby wore her grandpa's dress. That should be something to talk about for a very long time.
Mark was released that day, too, but we weren't in our ward for him to "appreciate" it. He's served for five and a half years on the high council with responsibilities over the Young Women and stake sports. He did a good job and will miss his associations there. Who knows what's next for him??!!!
On Monday this week, Erin and I were back at baking bread. We had a month off after Ruby was born and were both in need of some good, whole wheat bread goodness. It was a little trickier with one more "helper" in the mix, but all in all, we survived and so did the bread. Ellie and Hattie love to snitch bits of the dough before it's baked. It's a wonder we have anything left to bake, though.
On Tuesday, Margaret and I finally went visiting teaching for October. We have the best ladies to visit. I made some pumpkin bread to take to them. It was pretty good, if I do say so.
Also on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was busy putting together the Christmas star books. It's amazing how much time they each take to put together. I spent two days stitching and gluing.
Thursday was also a Christmas star workday, but it was also Libby's party. Erin had an idea to let Libby have a three friends over for a party....just because....to help her feel more important and to learn a few social skills. Two of her friends were able to come and they all had a good time. Erin asked me to come help her with the party to help keep things on track time wise. The girls started with coloring a Halloween picture with glitter crayons. Then we went out back and they each glittered a foam pumpkin. They turned out cute. Then it was back inside where they dipped Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate and added mini chocolate chips for eyes to make ghosts. They then dipped pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles to make witches wands. Erin cook dinner for the girls. She made mummy wraps (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough), chips and juice. Then she painted their nails for Halloween....in orange and black. They all had fun and Libby enjoyed being with her friends. She had a goody bag for each of them.
Friday I spent at Jan's again trying to finish up the book project. But it's still not done. Ugh!
Abby's last ice skating lesson was Friday afternoon, so Mark and I went to watch. She still struggles a bit, but she's more confident and is more able to move on the ice.
Saturday morning we went to Eliza's soccer game and later to Dallin's T-ball game. Then it was Halloween. We stayed home and sat outside in the beautiful weather handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
Whew! Caught up!
Ok....what have I been doing that's kept me so busy that I didn't blog?
The Young Women (Laurel president to be exact) called and asked me to be on a panel at a YW activity. I was the "grandma" of the group. Aimee Stirling represented a new mother of very young children. Heather Holdaway represented a mother of several children, varying in age, and I was the grandma of the group. We were to talk about experiences we've had as mothers/grandmothers and lessons we've learned through the years. It was fun to do. The girls were very attentive and even asked questions!
The rest of that week was spent grading papers, going to a crop at SHS and plowing through life. They gave me some beautiful flowers as a thank you.
That weekend Mark got sick. He kept feeling worse and worse, and by Sunday he was down. We missed church that week and he was at the Dr. the first thing Monday morning. The Doc. said he couldn't totally rule out H1N1, but he didn't think that's what he had. He thought it was an upper respiratory infection and sinusitis. Mark got a couple of scripts and had instructions that if he wasn't "well" in 48 hours, he was to come right back to the Doc. Luckily, after being off work for three days, he felt good and returned to work. His only complaint at that point is that he was tired. He mostly slept the three days he was off work (and that Sunday). Glad he's better and it wasn't the swine flu.
The next week started with a class at Sun City Grand that Jan and I taught. It's a Christmas Star book. The bones of the book is Bazzill cardstock and it's all hand stitched together to form a star shap when it's open. I had taught Jan how to make it a couple of weeks ago. We decided on the title The ABCs of Christmas, and in order to have enough pages for all of the alphabet, I came up with the idea of stitching in an additional signature page in each star page. Sounds complicated, but it's really not. We used Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper for the inside pages of the book. We then stamped the alphabet using the 7gypsies clear stamp alphabet. I formatted lots of words associated with Christmas and printed them out and we mounted and used them on the pages, too. After it's all glued together, the book opens and looks like a star. You can either leave the rest of the pages blank and just have a beautiful book, or there is room to add pictures to document your family's holiday season. The beauty of it, though, is that when Christmas is over, it folds flat for easy storage. When it's open, it's 6" tall and 12" across.
Tuesday was our monthly book group. It was supposed to be held at our home, but since we didn't know for sure about Mark, Linda graciously let us come to her house. We discussed Jason Wright's latest novel, Recovering Charles. For refreshments, I thought something "southern" would be in order. Since it was pie month at Marie Callendars, we had pecan pie and peach pie. Yum!
Wednesday I went to swap papers with Brian at the school, helped Erin with some Halloween projects she had going and I had my annual blood tests (which all came back as normal!).
On Thursday , I picked Abby and Dallin up from school. It was early release for parent/teacher conferences and their usual early release sitter's husband had the swine flu, so I was chosen to spent some time with them. It was fun. I picked them up and they went with me to get my annual flu shot. They enjoyed watching that and were glad it wasn't for them. Then we drove back to Erin's. Eliza called me and invited me to come to her school book fair with her. So Erin and I took seven kids to the book fair. They did well. They each chose a book and we made it out without injury or incident. Libby wanted Dallin to stay and play with her and Abby wanted Eliza to come to my house to play, so we did a bit of a kid swap. They all had a fun time, but Erin was the one left with five kids! I only had two and they were the oldest two. Lucky me! When Mark got home from work, we went back to Erin's to trade back kids and Abby and Dallin went back to the school to meet Brian so Dallin could go to T-ball practice. We put a LOT of miles on the car that day, but it was a good day.
Jan and I met on Friday to put kits together for the Christmas star book. We're going to try selling them already put together and see how that goes.
On Saturday, we left home very early to go watch Matthew and Emma play soccer. As it turned out, both games were at 8 am. Emma scored a goal that day. Matthew played goalie the whole game, and their team won 10-0. Matthew didn't let them score the whole game. Way to go, kids!!!
So after we watched them play, we went to Mimi's for breakfast. It was fun to sit, visit and enjoy one another's company.
Last Sunday, Oct. 25th, it was the Trimble family's Primary Program. So we went to watch. Erin and Brian also decided to bless Ruby that day so that people wouldn't have to come again for the blessing. It was a great day. Ruby was blessed in Mark's christening gown. Mark (and his siblings) were all christened in the Catholic church. They all wore the same gown. When Mark's mother passed away many years ago, Mark got to keep the gown. It is beautiful. When I remembered that we had it, before Ruby was born, we decided to have it cleaned to see if it would hold up for her blessing. Gratefully, it came out beautifully. So Ruby wore her grandpa's dress. That should be something to talk about for a very long time.
Mark was released that day, too, but we weren't in our ward for him to "appreciate" it. He's served for five and a half years on the high council with responsibilities over the Young Women and stake sports. He did a good job and will miss his associations there. Who knows what's next for him??!!!
On Monday this week, Erin and I were back at baking bread. We had a month off after Ruby was born and were both in need of some good, whole wheat bread goodness. It was a little trickier with one more "helper" in the mix, but all in all, we survived and so did the bread. Ellie and Hattie love to snitch bits of the dough before it's baked. It's a wonder we have anything left to bake, though.
On Tuesday, Margaret and I finally went visiting teaching for October. We have the best ladies to visit. I made some pumpkin bread to take to them. It was pretty good, if I do say so.
Also on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was busy putting together the Christmas star books. It's amazing how much time they each take to put together. I spent two days stitching and gluing.
Thursday was also a Christmas star workday, but it was also Libby's party. Erin had an idea to let Libby have a three friends over for a party....just because....to help her feel more important and to learn a few social skills. Two of her friends were able to come and they all had a good time. Erin asked me to come help her with the party to help keep things on track time wise. The girls started with coloring a Halloween picture with glitter crayons. Then we went out back and they each glittered a foam pumpkin. They turned out cute. Then it was back inside where they dipped Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate and added mini chocolate chips for eyes to make ghosts. They then dipped pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles to make witches wands. Erin cook dinner for the girls. She made mummy wraps (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough), chips and juice. Then she painted their nails for Halloween....in orange and black. They all had fun and Libby enjoyed being with her friends. She had a goody bag for each of them.
Friday I spent at Jan's again trying to finish up the book project. But it's still not done. Ugh!
Abby's last ice skating lesson was Friday afternoon, so Mark and I went to watch. She still struggles a bit, but she's more confident and is more able to move on the ice.
Saturday morning we went to Eliza's soccer game and later to Dallin's T-ball game. Then it was Halloween. We stayed home and sat outside in the beautiful weather handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
Whew! Caught up!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A Blur
The past two weeks is becoming a blur (which it mostly was!), so I'd better write down what happened.
We had Erin's two oldest girls while she was in the hospital having Ruby. We were their school shuttle to and from school, and they spent the night two nights. Between that and making a run to Brian's school for papers that week, we keep the roads on that side of town very busy! On Friday, Jan, Jolene and I made a trip to the Bazzill warehouse sale. What fun that was! They do the sale once a year and it's a good time to pick up lots of cardstock at a much reduced price. You can't be too picky on colors, since the items on sale are discontinued papers and overstocked papers. But I think I got a nice variety that should last at least a little while.
The first weekend in October was general conference. It was wonderful to stay home and watch all of the sessions. They were GREAT! I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk. What a powerful man!
On Monday, I picked up Ellie and Hattie and brought them home to give Erin another day to rest. However, Libby was home ill that day, so I'm not sure how much rest she actually got. She also took Ruby to the Dr. for her one week visit and she was deemed healthy!
On Tuesday, Luke came to spend the day. He'd had a touch of a fever and they didn't want him "contaminating" the other day care kids. Jan came over early that morning and we spent all morning getting kits ready for an upcoming class. We were BUSY, to say the least. And Luke behaved very well and allowed us to work. What a good boy he is!
On Wednesday, I was the after-school shuttle for Abby and Dallin. Brian was gone to his school's Outdoor Ed., and they needed a ride home and a place to stay until Kamille could pick them up after work. Also on that day, Aunt Dovetta was put in the hospital. She hadn't been feeling well and the Dr. at urgent care thought she might be having a heart attack. She spent until Friday in the hospital and they determined that her heart wasn't pumping hard enough to oxygenate her blood sufficiently, so she wasn't getting enough oxygen. They sent her home with oxygen and is supposed to have more tests. As of today, that hasn't been done. I'm not sure when it will be done. It's hard to get much information from my dad.
Thursday afternoon I was not only the shuttle for Abby and Dallin, but also for Eliza and Libby. Erin said that the hardest time was from the time the older girls get home from school until Brian comes home, so I offered to take the older girls that day. I forgot to mention that I went to Erin's that day and we had the wild idea to make a trip to Hobby Lobby. We both needed to check out a couple of things, so we loaded up Ellie, Hattie and Ruby and headed off. The girls were very good, considering, but it was a little chaotic. But we survived!
On Friday, Mark took the day off work. He thought we needed a day of R&R, so after we went to Erin's to help her with a couple of shopping items, we went junkin'. We didn't find much, but it was a good day.
Saturday was our stake Preparedness Fair. We had planned on attending a couple of classes, but on Friday night, Eliza called and asked us if we'd come to her soccer game. How do you say no? So Saturday morning we went to watch Eliza play soccer. Then we went to the preparedness fair and spent a little time, then headed off to watch Dallin's T-ball game. It was fun to watch the kids play! That afternoon, we'd agreed to watch Libby and Ellie while Erin went with Brian to their ward Standard's Night. (Eliza was at a birthday party and they got a sitter for Hattie.) So we picked the girls up and took them to a holiday boutique. I think they had fun. Libby was looking for a particular toy we'd purchased last year at a different boutique, and was disappointed when we didn't find them this time. But they did like the kettle corn we got! Then we went to dinner....they wanted McDonald's. Yuck! But they liked it. Mark and I opted to get dinner later...somewhere else! We took the girls home about 9 pm and we went home and CRASHED. But Sunday morning came quickly and I taught my RS lesson. It turned out to be a good lesson...on families. It's an easy topic, but could have turned sour quickly....Keep in mind that not everybody has what's considered to be the "ideal" family. However, I would say that the majority of the ladies in the room are in the less than "ideal" family situation. They're not alone....but we just have to get through it the best we can and make the best of whatever situation we are presented with.
Sunday dinner was quick and easy. We picked up pizzas on Saturday at Costco and cooked them on Sunday. And we had cookies for dessert. Then the parents went home and five of the grandkids spent the night. There was no school on Monday, so we thought it would be funn to have a sleepover. Matt and Emma couldn't make it because Emma was feeling ill. We sure missed them. But they're spending the night with us very soon. By the time we got everyone delivered back home on Monday afternoon, Mark and I were totally wasted. We came home in a sort of catatonic state and just sat for quite a while. We did get up later in the evening and did a few things, but we had been on kid-overload! And we're sure not used to that.
Today was a "back to normal" day....mostly. My visiting teacher came by this morning and Erin and I met at Joann's for a couple of items and to deliver Ellie's much ancitipated and hard to find glitter crayons. She'd earned them on her chart, but we had been unable to find them anywhere. Mark and I found them last night at Hobby Lobby, so we picked up a few extra boxes to have on hand.
Tomorrow's another day. Let's hope I can keep up better with this blog. Sheesh! Ths past two weeks have been a blur. Where did the time go???
We had Erin's two oldest girls while she was in the hospital having Ruby. We were their school shuttle to and from school, and they spent the night two nights. Between that and making a run to Brian's school for papers that week, we keep the roads on that side of town very busy! On Friday, Jan, Jolene and I made a trip to the Bazzill warehouse sale. What fun that was! They do the sale once a year and it's a good time to pick up lots of cardstock at a much reduced price. You can't be too picky on colors, since the items on sale are discontinued papers and overstocked papers. But I think I got a nice variety that should last at least a little while.
The first weekend in October was general conference. It was wonderful to stay home and watch all of the sessions. They were GREAT! I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk. What a powerful man!
On Monday, I picked up Ellie and Hattie and brought them home to give Erin another day to rest. However, Libby was home ill that day, so I'm not sure how much rest she actually got. She also took Ruby to the Dr. for her one week visit and she was deemed healthy!
On Tuesday, Luke came to spend the day. He'd had a touch of a fever and they didn't want him "contaminating" the other day care kids. Jan came over early that morning and we spent all morning getting kits ready for an upcoming class. We were BUSY, to say the least. And Luke behaved very well and allowed us to work. What a good boy he is!
On Wednesday, I was the after-school shuttle for Abby and Dallin. Brian was gone to his school's Outdoor Ed., and they needed a ride home and a place to stay until Kamille could pick them up after work. Also on that day, Aunt Dovetta was put in the hospital. She hadn't been feeling well and the Dr. at urgent care thought she might be having a heart attack. She spent until Friday in the hospital and they determined that her heart wasn't pumping hard enough to oxygenate her blood sufficiently, so she wasn't getting enough oxygen. They sent her home with oxygen and is supposed to have more tests. As of today, that hasn't been done. I'm not sure when it will be done. It's hard to get much information from my dad.
Thursday afternoon I was not only the shuttle for Abby and Dallin, but also for Eliza and Libby. Erin said that the hardest time was from the time the older girls get home from school until Brian comes home, so I offered to take the older girls that day. I forgot to mention that I went to Erin's that day and we had the wild idea to make a trip to Hobby Lobby. We both needed to check out a couple of things, so we loaded up Ellie, Hattie and Ruby and headed off. The girls were very good, considering, but it was a little chaotic. But we survived!
On Friday, Mark took the day off work. He thought we needed a day of R&R, so after we went to Erin's to help her with a couple of shopping items, we went junkin'. We didn't find much, but it was a good day.
Saturday was our stake Preparedness Fair. We had planned on attending a couple of classes, but on Friday night, Eliza called and asked us if we'd come to her soccer game. How do you say no? So Saturday morning we went to watch Eliza play soccer. Then we went to the preparedness fair and spent a little time, then headed off to watch Dallin's T-ball game. It was fun to watch the kids play! That afternoon, we'd agreed to watch Libby and Ellie while Erin went with Brian to their ward Standard's Night. (Eliza was at a birthday party and they got a sitter for Hattie.) So we picked the girls up and took them to a holiday boutique. I think they had fun. Libby was looking for a particular toy we'd purchased last year at a different boutique, and was disappointed when we didn't find them this time. But they did like the kettle corn we got! Then we went to dinner....they wanted McDonald's. Yuck! But they liked it. Mark and I opted to get dinner later...somewhere else! We took the girls home about 9 pm and we went home and CRASHED. But Sunday morning came quickly and I taught my RS lesson. It turned out to be a good lesson...on families. It's an easy topic, but could have turned sour quickly....Keep in mind that not everybody has what's considered to be the "ideal" family. However, I would say that the majority of the ladies in the room are in the less than "ideal" family situation. They're not alone....but we just have to get through it the best we can and make the best of whatever situation we are presented with.
Sunday dinner was quick and easy. We picked up pizzas on Saturday at Costco and cooked them on Sunday. And we had cookies for dessert. Then the parents went home and five of the grandkids spent the night. There was no school on Monday, so we thought it would be funn to have a sleepover. Matt and Emma couldn't make it because Emma was feeling ill. We sure missed them. But they're spending the night with us very soon. By the time we got everyone delivered back home on Monday afternoon, Mark and I were totally wasted. We came home in a sort of catatonic state and just sat for quite a while. We did get up later in the evening and did a few things, but we had been on kid-overload! And we're sure not used to that.
Today was a "back to normal" day....mostly. My visiting teacher came by this morning and Erin and I met at Joann's for a couple of items and to deliver Ellie's much ancitipated and hard to find glitter crayons. She'd earned them on her chart, but we had been unable to find them anywhere. Mark and I found them last night at Hobby Lobby, so we picked up a few extra boxes to have on hand.
Tomorrow's another day. Let's hope I can keep up better with this blog. Sheesh! Ths past two weeks have been a blur. Where did the time go???
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Non-Gooey
Here is a "non-gooey" picture of Ruby (as Erin's girls would say!) They liked the one right after her birth, but they asked me to take one that's not gooey! I just love those little cross-eyed newborn pictures. And by the way, she looks EXACTLY like Erin did when she was born. I dug out one of Erin's baby pictures, and they could be identical twins!
What do you think?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Ruby Mae
Ruby Mae Trimble was born this afternoon about 2:15 pm. She weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and is 22 inches long. She has lots of dark hair. Her sisters couldn't be happier or more excited. Her name is Ruby Mae Trimble.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wondering...
I was doing so well, and I guess I fell off the blogger wagon!
The schoolgirls' sleepover was a huge success. We woke up Saturday morning and the girls quickly got dress and went with Grandpa to pick up our Bountiful Basket. They thought that was fun. When they got back home they each chose a couple of their favorite fruits to take home to enjoy. Then we all got ready and went to breakfast. We went to IHOP. That sure was fun! The girls ordered exactly what they wanted and they were all amazed that our waiter, Luis, was able to remember everyone's order, down to the slightest detail, without writing anything down! And he got everyone's orders perfect. Wendy's could take a lesson from IHOP! On our way back home, we saw a sign for an estate sale in our neighborhood. Naturally, we had to stop. They girls were delighted! They each found a cute purse to buy. And when we got home, they were eager for me to find things to fill their purses. We found pencils, pens, highlighters, mints and post-it notes. They were thrilled. We even heard the words, "This is the best day of my life!" That's what makes it all worthwhile.
The in-town girls were picked up around noon and we took Emma home after that. On our way back home, Mark and I made a few stops in the east valley and then we got home and I watched the Relief Society broadcast while Mark went to get dinner. We settled in for the night and were up bright and early Sunday morning. We had told Erin we'd go to her ward to help her with the girls since Chrystalyn was out of town. The girls did well, but I'm not sure how much the rest of us got out of the meeting. We'll have to work on that one. We spent most of the rest of the day at home. Mark had meetings in the afternoon and my siblings/spouses and Mark and I met at Dad's to begin plans for our next family reunion. It looks like it will be in January. We're planning something low-key and relaxing, I hope! Aunt Dovetta treated us all to fry bread. Yum! Thanks!!
Since we like to have cinnamon rolls for conference weekend, Erin and I had to figure out how we would make that happen this time. We decided to make the dough and get it all rolled and cut and freeze it before it had a chance to rise. Then when we're ready to eat it, we'd get it out, let it thaw and rise and then bake it. So that's what we did today. So we have two batches of cinnamon rolls ready to go! Erin had to buy stamps, so we made a quick trip to the post office. Then it was back home and on to household chores.
Tonight we're waiting for Eliza and Libby to come over. They'll be staying here while Erin has baby #5....hopefully, tomorrow. The Doc. is planning on inducing in the morning so we'll have the school girls for a few days. We'll have to get up early to get them to school on time! Yikes!
So I've been wondering the past few days a few things about our newest granddaughter...
What's she been learning before she comes to our family?
Who's been teaching her?
Is she with my mom?
What will she look like?
What will her little personality be like?
How will she fit in with her sisters?
What's she doing today as she prepares to come to earth?
Lots of thoughts passing through my mind.
I'll keep you posted when she arrives!
The schoolgirls' sleepover was a huge success. We woke up Saturday morning and the girls quickly got dress and went with Grandpa to pick up our Bountiful Basket. They thought that was fun. When they got back home they each chose a couple of their favorite fruits to take home to enjoy. Then we all got ready and went to breakfast. We went to IHOP. That sure was fun! The girls ordered exactly what they wanted and they were all amazed that our waiter, Luis, was able to remember everyone's order, down to the slightest detail, without writing anything down! And he got everyone's orders perfect. Wendy's could take a lesson from IHOP! On our way back home, we saw a sign for an estate sale in our neighborhood. Naturally, we had to stop. They girls were delighted! They each found a cute purse to buy. And when we got home, they were eager for me to find things to fill their purses. We found pencils, pens, highlighters, mints and post-it notes. They were thrilled. We even heard the words, "This is the best day of my life!" That's what makes it all worthwhile.
The in-town girls were picked up around noon and we took Emma home after that. On our way back home, Mark and I made a few stops in the east valley and then we got home and I watched the Relief Society broadcast while Mark went to get dinner. We settled in for the night and were up bright and early Sunday morning. We had told Erin we'd go to her ward to help her with the girls since Chrystalyn was out of town. The girls did well, but I'm not sure how much the rest of us got out of the meeting. We'll have to work on that one. We spent most of the rest of the day at home. Mark had meetings in the afternoon and my siblings/spouses and Mark and I met at Dad's to begin plans for our next family reunion. It looks like it will be in January. We're planning something low-key and relaxing, I hope! Aunt Dovetta treated us all to fry bread. Yum! Thanks!!
Since we like to have cinnamon rolls for conference weekend, Erin and I had to figure out how we would make that happen this time. We decided to make the dough and get it all rolled and cut and freeze it before it had a chance to rise. Then when we're ready to eat it, we'd get it out, let it thaw and rise and then bake it. So that's what we did today. So we have two batches of cinnamon rolls ready to go! Erin had to buy stamps, so we made a quick trip to the post office. Then it was back home and on to household chores.
Tonight we're waiting for Eliza and Libby to come over. They'll be staying here while Erin has baby #5....hopefully, tomorrow. The Doc. is planning on inducing in the morning so we'll have the school girls for a few days. We'll have to get up early to get them to school on time! Yikes!
So I've been wondering the past few days a few things about our newest granddaughter...
What's she been learning before she comes to our family?
Who's been teaching her?
Is she with my mom?
What will she look like?
What will her little personality be like?
How will she fit in with her sisters?
What's she doing today as she prepares to come to earth?
Lots of thoughts passing through my mind.
I'll keep you posted when she arrives!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sleepover/Pajama Party
Tonight has been so much fun! The school-aged granddaughters are her for a sleepover/pajama party. We started out the evening getting everyone picked up/dropped off at various points in the valley. Then it was dinner. At first, it looked like it might be a problem getting all four of them to decide on one dinner location. But then they asked if they went to Wendy's, could they have a Frosty. Of course, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" (especially if that meant just one stop!). So we stopped and picked up Wendy's on the way home. Naturally, they got the order totally wrong, so after a rather stern phone call, Mark returned and they got things straightened out. Sheesh! How hard is it?? It would have helped had we been able to understand the broken English of the order-taker! Oh, well. Then it took another hour plus to finish up dinner, brush teeth and get ready for bed. And of course, it was a little interesting getting their bedrolls situated just right. Then we watched a new movie I picked up today, Princess Protection Program. It was a very cute movie and the girls all seemed to enjoy it. By the way, while Grandpa was out getting our dinner, the girls called him to request some movie snacks. Their requests were simple....popcorn, candy corn and M&Ms. They nibbled a bit and then started quieting down. As of this moment, we have two down, and two to go! Who knows what tomorrow will hold!!??!!
As far as earlier in the week goes...
Monday I spent at the dentist getting a couple of teeth worked on. No cavities or anything, just a little cosmetic stuff. But nobody would notice but me! Oh, well. The doc wanted to do it to "strengthen" my teeth. Ok....as long as insurance will pay.
Tuesday was book group. We read Minding Mama, by Marilyn Arnold this month. It was a funny book about a woman who promised her mother that when she died she'd take her to southern Utah (from Georgia) to be buried. So she did...literally. She propped her up in the cab of her old pickup and headed across the country. The book tells of her various antics/encounters on the road. It's a very funny book.
Wednesday, I went back to the dentist so he could finish up the teeth he worked on on Monday. Then I went to Erin's to take pictures of my 7gypsies Christmas project. As soon as I get the ok, I'll post pictures here.
Thursday was a full day. Brian called on Wednesday night and asked if I was available on Thursday to watch Luke. Their sitter and her kids were feeling ill and they needed a place for Luke. Of course, I agreed. So Luke came early Thursday morning. We watched Snow White and Lady and the Tramp. He also entertained himself very well playing with blocks and the little box of plastic animals. And he loves to pound the pegs with the wooden mallet. He could do that forever, it seems! He was building something with the blocks and called to me, "Grandma, I'm building a house. Take my picture!" Of course, I did! What a cute boy. After lunch, he took a 2+ hour nap. I had to wake him to take him to Brian's school.
Today Erin and I got together to bake bread one last time before the baby comes so they will have enough bread to get them through a couple of weeks. We made a quick run to Target for lunch and a couple of movies and Erin needed to stop at Costco. Then it was back home until the girls started to arrive for tonight's festivities. Lest you'd think we left the boys out...not to worry. Their sleepover will be next month! I'm sure it won't include lotions, colognes, lip gloss and hair styling, like the girls' did tonight!
As far as earlier in the week goes...
Monday I spent at the dentist getting a couple of teeth worked on. No cavities or anything, just a little cosmetic stuff. But nobody would notice but me! Oh, well. The doc wanted to do it to "strengthen" my teeth. Ok....as long as insurance will pay.
Tuesday was book group. We read Minding Mama, by Marilyn Arnold this month. It was a funny book about a woman who promised her mother that when she died she'd take her to southern Utah (from Georgia) to be buried. So she did...literally. She propped her up in the cab of her old pickup and headed across the country. The book tells of her various antics/encounters on the road. It's a very funny book.
Wednesday, I went back to the dentist so he could finish up the teeth he worked on on Monday. Then I went to Erin's to take pictures of my 7gypsies Christmas project. As soon as I get the ok, I'll post pictures here.
Thursday was a full day. Brian called on Wednesday night and asked if I was available on Thursday to watch Luke. Their sitter and her kids were feeling ill and they needed a place for Luke. Of course, I agreed. So Luke came early Thursday morning. We watched Snow White and Lady and the Tramp. He also entertained himself very well playing with blocks and the little box of plastic animals. And he loves to pound the pegs with the wooden mallet. He could do that forever, it seems! He was building something with the blocks and called to me, "Grandma, I'm building a house. Take my picture!" Of course, I did! What a cute boy. After lunch, he took a 2+ hour nap. I had to wake him to take him to Brian's school.
Today Erin and I got together to bake bread one last time before the baby comes so they will have enough bread to get them through a couple of weeks. We made a quick run to Target for lunch and a couple of movies and Erin needed to stop at Costco. Then it was back home until the girls started to arrive for tonight's festivities. Lest you'd think we left the boys out...not to worry. Their sleepover will be next month! I'm sure it won't include lotions, colognes, lip gloss and hair styling, like the girls' did tonight!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
My New Notebook and Stitchery
A week or so ago, I helped Erin put together some composition books for her girls to use during church time to help them be reverent. I made them cute and personalized them for each of the girls. I guess they were totally surprised when Erin pulled them out during sacrament meeting the first Sunday. As a thank you, Libby and Eliza made me the sweetest gifts. They're ones I'll treasure forever. Eliza made the "I Love You" stitchery project. She did all of the stitching herself and I think she did a wonderful job. Libby personalized a small notebook for me to carry in my purse. She did it all herself....even down to choosing which stickers and messages to put on it. There are lots of meanings incorporated into the project. I got to use the notebook today during stake conference while I took some notes. Thanks, girls. I love your creativity and willingness to share your talents with me.
Sunday Session Lessons
This morning was the Sunday session of stake conference. The talks were great and the music very moving. Elder Pickard taught some simple, but deep spiritual messages.
Here are some of the suggestions that he had:
To the Primary children: Have a temple picture in your bedroom that you can look at and think about every day. Be someone the Lord can depend on.
To the Youth: Follow the guidelines given in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and there are promises made to you if you do. Also....the For the Strength of Youth guidelines are for both the youth and the not so young. He suggested that it be called...For the Strength of YOU(th)!
He urged all who are old enough and who haven't yet received their partriarchal blessing, to do so. By the way...we got a new stake Patriarch....Maurice Baysa from our ward. He will be WONDERFUL!!! He's such a spiritual man, I know he will be a great asset to our stake.
Elder Pickard then asked another question to ponder...Where are your priorities? He suggested several scriptures that talk about our treasures and where our hearts are. He counseled us to have Family Home Evening, even if we don't have children at home. And his final message (thought provoking, for sure) was, "You can change your life."
So that's what I learned today in stake conference. I have some studying, pondering, and changing to do. I'd better get on it!!
Here are some of the suggestions that he had:
To the Primary children: Have a temple picture in your bedroom that you can look at and think about every day. Be someone the Lord can depend on.
To the Youth: Follow the guidelines given in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and there are promises made to you if you do. Also....the For the Strength of Youth guidelines are for both the youth and the not so young. He suggested that it be called...For the Strength of YOU(th)!
He urged all who are old enough and who haven't yet received their partriarchal blessing, to do so. By the way...we got a new stake Patriarch....Maurice Baysa from our ward. He will be WONDERFUL!!! He's such a spiritual man, I know he will be a great asset to our stake.
Elder Pickard then asked another question to ponder...Where are your priorities? He suggested several scriptures that talk about our treasures and where our hearts are. He counseled us to have Family Home Evening, even if we don't have children at home. And his final message (thought provoking, for sure) was, "You can change your life."
So that's what I learned today in stake conference. I have some studying, pondering, and changing to do. I'd better get on it!!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thoughts to Ponder
Tonight was the adult session of stake conference. Among lots of other things, Elder Pickard, our visiting area authority, asked two questions that he wanted us to ponder. 1) What voice are we listening to? 2) What way are we facing?
I know....deep thoughts to ponder. But try.
I know....deep thoughts to ponder. But try.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Again So Soon?
Yes, I'm posting again. Trying to get myself back in the habit. Today was our stake fill the temple day. We went, despite my dislike for wearing hose/dresses. I guess it isn't the dress so much as the hose. Erin suggested that I just not wear them, but no, that's not an option for me. Legs are way too ugly and white. At least hose covers them a bit. It was hot today...which is probably why the hose dislike. Normally, Mark and I like to stop at a few of our favorite spots, but we made two stops and I was READY to come home and change clothes. The temple was great. We saw a few people from the stake, but not a whole lot. We had lunch at the temple cafeteria. Yum! We had a roast beef meal. On the way home, we stopped at Mystic Paper. I was wanting to get some inspiration for a Christmas project I need to get going on. I didn't really find any inspiration there this time, but I did come up with an idea for a project. I think it will be a fun one! I'll have to keep you posted. I do know it will take a LOT of cutting, though! UGH! Our other stop was at DI in Mesa. We had been there earlier in the week and bought a book on tape, but when we listened to it, we realized we only got tapes 1 and 2, so we went back looking for tapes 3 and 4. No luck today. But we did find two other audio books. We can't seem to get enough of them! And DI has great prices! Our next stop (Ok...we made 3 stops!) was Sonic and then we headed to the west side of town. I hurried into the house and quickly changed clothes. Ahhh!!! I feel better already. Now it's off to finish grading papers and getting my Christmas project done. I think you'll like it. I think it would make a really nice class, too....We'll see.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Self-Imposed Torture....a Good Thing!
Can you believe it? Two posts in two days. Wow.
Today I went to Erin's and we baked bread....lots of it. We each did a batch of 7 loaves. So 14 loaves of bread. It's a good thing she has two ovens or it would have taken a whole lot longer. While the bread was cooling, Ellie and Hattie wanted to go to our "usual" lunch spot....the snack bar at Target. They both knew what they wanted to eat. Ellie wanted nachos and an Icee and Hattie wanted a pizza and an Icee. Erin shared Hattie's pizza and I had a turkey sandwich. Such gourmet diners! Then we walked around the store looking at the Halloween decorations and satisfying Erin's craving for M&Ms and candy corn. Then we went home and bagged up the bread. I came home, put the laundry basket full of supplies away and started in grading papers. I should finish sometime next week! Just kidding...probably tomorrow. And tomorrow is our stake temple day. The only down side to that is I dislike wearing dresses/hose...and with temple day and stake conference this weekend, that will be a dress three days in a row. Yuck. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll live.
Today I went to Erin's and we baked bread....lots of it. We each did a batch of 7 loaves. So 14 loaves of bread. It's a good thing she has two ovens or it would have taken a whole lot longer. While the bread was cooling, Ellie and Hattie wanted to go to our "usual" lunch spot....the snack bar at Target. They both knew what they wanted to eat. Ellie wanted nachos and an Icee and Hattie wanted a pizza and an Icee. Erin shared Hattie's pizza and I had a turkey sandwich. Such gourmet diners! Then we walked around the store looking at the Halloween decorations and satisfying Erin's craving for M&Ms and candy corn. Then we went home and bagged up the bread. I came home, put the laundry basket full of supplies away and started in grading papers. I should finish sometime next week! Just kidding...probably tomorrow. And tomorrow is our stake temple day. The only down side to that is I dislike wearing dresses/hose...and with temple day and stake conference this weekend, that will be a dress three days in a row. Yuck. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll live.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Holey Moley!
It's been a while since I've blogged....what else is new? I can't seem to find time to blog regularly. Sorry about that for anyone who keeps checking and I haven't changed my post.
Matthew's sleepover went well. We had such a good time with him. On Friday night, we met him at Dan's office and we picked him up. He was so jazzed!! Our first stop was Target. He knew what he wanted and where to get it. Luckily they had one! It was the last one on the shelf. He got a Star Wars gun of some sort. I'm sure it has a name, but I have no idea what it is. It comes in several pieces and the gun itself can be configured in various ways. Before we left the parking lot, it was out of the box, batteries inserted, and gun assembled! He played with it ALL the way home and ALL day on Saturday. We were glad to take the gun (not Matthew) home on Saturday so someone else could listed to the "laser" sound of the gun. We went to dinner...pizza, of course, and the home to watch a movie. Matthew chose Kit Kitteredge. It was a cute movie....it's an American Girl movie, but it was good for any audience...not just girls! That night it started to rain...a lot! When we left here on Saturday morning, it was POURING and it rained all the way to Fiddlestix. That's where Matthew wanted to go for his birthday activity. He wanted to use the batting cage, drive a go cart and play miniature golf. We were afraid it wouldn't be possible, so on the way, we started making alternate plans. However, by the time we got the car parked, it had stopped raining. We purchased his wristband and bought a couple of games of miniature golf for me and Mark. We went to the batting cages first. He got 5 tokens to use and each token was supposed to get him 20 pitches. He put in the first token and probably got 300 pitches from it! We mentioned it to the workers, and they said, "Go for it!" It never stopped, but Matthew got really tired swinging the bat! So we let the next family continue on our token. They were still batting the last we saw! The next stop was the go carts. Luckily, it had dried up enough that they let Matthew go on the ride. He was the only one of the race track, which probably wasn't as fun as it could have been if there had been others to "race". The worker got him going and told us he could ride as long as we wanted him to. He took MANY laps and finally asked to stop. Funny. So he got his fill of batting and driving all in one day! Then we played a round of miniature golf. Of course, Matthew won! By that time, it had started raining again, so it was time to go after the round of golf. Then we went to lunch...he chose pizza at Sam's Club. Funny kid! And we headed back to his house to return him home. It was such a fun day....at least for us....and I think for Matthew. Happy Birthday, Matt!
On Sunday, we had our family dinner here. We were celebrating Brian's birthday (which was on the 7th), and he requested burgers and brats. Yum! Then on Monday, Brian and Kamille went with Dad and Aunt Dovetta to Seven Springs to gather some prickley pears. Brian and Kamille have been wanting to learn how to process them and make jelly. So this was their chance. We had their kids while they went. Cactus and kids don't mix well. They were able to pick all they wanted and went back to Dad's to learn how to get the juice from the pears and process it so they could make jelly. They were successful. They came here and picked up the kids and went home to process the rest of the prickley pears. And last Saturday, Kamille made jelly! Yumm! One batch didn't set up too well (a risk of prickley pears), so we had prickley pear syrup. I can hardly wait to make some waffles or pancakes and try it out.
Mark had a job at the arena on Tuesday. It was a NickelBack concert. Don't know a thing about the group, but I went down and met him for dinner around 9 pm. He picked up salads at Shane's Rib Shack and I picked up sodas. We ate in the parking lot near the intersection where he was directing traffic for the evening.
Wednesday morning I went to Erin's and we (along with Hattie and Ellie) went to her friend, Rachel's house, where Rachel and Terri threw a baby sprinkle (small shower) for Erin and another friend, Kari. It sure was fun. Erin's so fortunate to have such good friends who love and support her. They all used to be in the same ward, but due to several ward divisions, they are all in three different wards now. But that doesn't seem to matter....they all look out for and take care of each others' needs.
On Thursday, I went visiting teaching. I got to go with my new partner, Margaret Jackson. She's so fun! We visited Linda and Jenny and then we went to Margaret's house where we waited for our visiting teachers, Eileen and Joyce to come. Margaret and I visit Joyce and Joyce and Eileen visit both me and Margaret. It worked out well.
Friday was Grandparents Day at Abby's and Dallin's school. Mark took off work and we both went to have lunch with the kids. It was fun to see them interacting with their friends and teachers.
I spent Saturday with Jan teaching a Zutter Fun class. Then that night was a multi-stake Laurel/Priest activity at Polar Ice. It didn't start until 9 pm, so it was a LONG day. I got to visit with Erin and several friends that night, so it wasn't too bad.
Sunday morning was Abby's and Dallin's Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. So we headed out their EARLY. They did well both singing and Abby with her speaking part. Then we rushed back to our ward where I taught in Relief Society. Whew! And in the afternoon, all of the kids and grandkids came over for Sunday dinner. We had an easy-cooking meal...rotisserie chicken from Costco, Rice-a-Roni, fresh corn and Brian and the kids made cookies and brought ice cream. We had a great time. Thanks, everyone, for coming!!!
Then on Monday this week, I went to Erin's house about 9:30 am. We spent until after 4:30 cooking, if you can believe it! Erin had planned out several recipes and had all of the ingredients ready and we put together 20+ meals to put in the freezer to feed their family after the baby arrives. It was a very tiring day, but it felt so good to be so productive. By noon, both of us had aching feet, but I think it was worth the work and effort. Poor Hattie and Ellie, though. They felt very neglected that day.
Tuesday this week found us at another school for Grandparents' Day. We had lunch with Matthew and Emma. It was a fun time. I guess when they came home from school, they couldn't stop talking about the fun time they had at lunch with us!
Today I got a haircut, then went to pick up papers from Brian. We stopped by Erin's to drop off a rug that Dad had made for her new baby's room. It turned out to be the perfect colors. It looks so cute in her room. Then Mark and I went junkin' to a couple of places and other than one really sweet Little Golden Book score, we didn't find much today. Boo! Then we came home and I've been grinding wheat. Erin and I are baking bread tomorrow! Does it ever end? I don't think so!!
Oh, I almost forgot. I picked up my new glasses today. I'll have Erin take a picture tomorrow and I'll post it for you, Courtni!!
Have a great rest of the week. I think I need a nap! Just reading what I've been doing makes me tired. And yes, I took some pictures, but they aren't downloaded yet. I'll post them later....maybe. :)
Matthew's sleepover went well. We had such a good time with him. On Friday night, we met him at Dan's office and we picked him up. He was so jazzed!! Our first stop was Target. He knew what he wanted and where to get it. Luckily they had one! It was the last one on the shelf. He got a Star Wars gun of some sort. I'm sure it has a name, but I have no idea what it is. It comes in several pieces and the gun itself can be configured in various ways. Before we left the parking lot, it was out of the box, batteries inserted, and gun assembled! He played with it ALL the way home and ALL day on Saturday. We were glad to take the gun (not Matthew) home on Saturday so someone else could listed to the "laser" sound of the gun. We went to dinner...pizza, of course, and the home to watch a movie. Matthew chose Kit Kitteredge. It was a cute movie....it's an American Girl movie, but it was good for any audience...not just girls! That night it started to rain...a lot! When we left here on Saturday morning, it was POURING and it rained all the way to Fiddlestix. That's where Matthew wanted to go for his birthday activity. He wanted to use the batting cage, drive a go cart and play miniature golf. We were afraid it wouldn't be possible, so on the way, we started making alternate plans. However, by the time we got the car parked, it had stopped raining. We purchased his wristband and bought a couple of games of miniature golf for me and Mark. We went to the batting cages first. He got 5 tokens to use and each token was supposed to get him 20 pitches. He put in the first token and probably got 300 pitches from it! We mentioned it to the workers, and they said, "Go for it!" It never stopped, but Matthew got really tired swinging the bat! So we let the next family continue on our token. They were still batting the last we saw! The next stop was the go carts. Luckily, it had dried up enough that they let Matthew go on the ride. He was the only one of the race track, which probably wasn't as fun as it could have been if there had been others to "race". The worker got him going and told us he could ride as long as we wanted him to. He took MANY laps and finally asked to stop. Funny. So he got his fill of batting and driving all in one day! Then we played a round of miniature golf. Of course, Matthew won! By that time, it had started raining again, so it was time to go after the round of golf. Then we went to lunch...he chose pizza at Sam's Club. Funny kid! And we headed back to his house to return him home. It was such a fun day....at least for us....and I think for Matthew. Happy Birthday, Matt!
On Sunday, we had our family dinner here. We were celebrating Brian's birthday (which was on the 7th), and he requested burgers and brats. Yum! Then on Monday, Brian and Kamille went with Dad and Aunt Dovetta to Seven Springs to gather some prickley pears. Brian and Kamille have been wanting to learn how to process them and make jelly. So this was their chance. We had their kids while they went. Cactus and kids don't mix well. They were able to pick all they wanted and went back to Dad's to learn how to get the juice from the pears and process it so they could make jelly. They were successful. They came here and picked up the kids and went home to process the rest of the prickley pears. And last Saturday, Kamille made jelly! Yumm! One batch didn't set up too well (a risk of prickley pears), so we had prickley pear syrup. I can hardly wait to make some waffles or pancakes and try it out.
Mark had a job at the arena on Tuesday. It was a NickelBack concert. Don't know a thing about the group, but I went down and met him for dinner around 9 pm. He picked up salads at Shane's Rib Shack and I picked up sodas. We ate in the parking lot near the intersection where he was directing traffic for the evening.
Wednesday morning I went to Erin's and we (along with Hattie and Ellie) went to her friend, Rachel's house, where Rachel and Terri threw a baby sprinkle (small shower) for Erin and another friend, Kari. It sure was fun. Erin's so fortunate to have such good friends who love and support her. They all used to be in the same ward, but due to several ward divisions, they are all in three different wards now. But that doesn't seem to matter....they all look out for and take care of each others' needs.
On Thursday, I went visiting teaching. I got to go with my new partner, Margaret Jackson. She's so fun! We visited Linda and Jenny and then we went to Margaret's house where we waited for our visiting teachers, Eileen and Joyce to come. Margaret and I visit Joyce and Joyce and Eileen visit both me and Margaret. It worked out well.
Friday was Grandparents Day at Abby's and Dallin's school. Mark took off work and we both went to have lunch with the kids. It was fun to see them interacting with their friends and teachers.
I spent Saturday with Jan teaching a Zutter Fun class. Then that night was a multi-stake Laurel/Priest activity at Polar Ice. It didn't start until 9 pm, so it was a LONG day. I got to visit with Erin and several friends that night, so it wasn't too bad.
Sunday morning was Abby's and Dallin's Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. So we headed out their EARLY. They did well both singing and Abby with her speaking part. Then we rushed back to our ward where I taught in Relief Society. Whew! And in the afternoon, all of the kids and grandkids came over for Sunday dinner. We had an easy-cooking meal...rotisserie chicken from Costco, Rice-a-Roni, fresh corn and Brian and the kids made cookies and brought ice cream. We had a great time. Thanks, everyone, for coming!!!
Then on Monday this week, I went to Erin's house about 9:30 am. We spent until after 4:30 cooking, if you can believe it! Erin had planned out several recipes and had all of the ingredients ready and we put together 20+ meals to put in the freezer to feed their family after the baby arrives. It was a very tiring day, but it felt so good to be so productive. By noon, both of us had aching feet, but I think it was worth the work and effort. Poor Hattie and Ellie, though. They felt very neglected that day.
Tuesday this week found us at another school for Grandparents' Day. We had lunch with Matthew and Emma. It was a fun time. I guess when they came home from school, they couldn't stop talking about the fun time they had at lunch with us!
Today I got a haircut, then went to pick up papers from Brian. We stopped by Erin's to drop off a rug that Dad had made for her new baby's room. It turned out to be the perfect colors. It looks so cute in her room. Then Mark and I went junkin' to a couple of places and other than one really sweet Little Golden Book score, we didn't find much today. Boo! Then we came home and I've been grinding wheat. Erin and I are baking bread tomorrow! Does it ever end? I don't think so!!
Oh, I almost forgot. I picked up my new glasses today. I'll have Erin take a picture tomorrow and I'll post it for you, Courtni!!
Have a great rest of the week. I think I need a nap! Just reading what I've been doing makes me tired. And yes, I took some pictures, but they aren't downloaded yet. I'll post them later....maybe. :)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Bad Blogger
It was brought to my attention tonight that I haven't updated my blog in a while. (Thanks Ashley!) I know....bad! So I will attempt to do a bit of an update.
Last week:
Wednesday--visiting teaching....I will have a new partner and a new sister to visit starting in September. Yea!
Thursday--I picked Abby and Dallin up from school. It was early release for them and it's pretty pricey for them to attend the after school program, so I got to pick them up, take them to lunch and spend the rest of the day with them. So fun. It could be a monthly event...we'll see.
Friday--Jan and I cropped at Scrap Happy. We worked on a Christmas project. Basically, it's a star book structure with an additional signature tied into each star point. We used the newest Graphic 45 paper (Christmas Past) and it's an ABCs of Christmas book. It folds out for display, but after Christmas it folds up for easy storage. So cute. When I finish, I'll take pictures and post.
Saturday---we picked up a Bountiful Basket. Then we spent the day junkin' and running errands.
Sunday--Dinner at Erin's house. Then we went to a meeting at their stake center. Four of the ward in their stake were being realigned and Erin husband, Brian, was put into their ward bishopric. The party has begun for Erin....Sacrament meeting with (soon to be) five little girls and her husband sitting on the stand! I pray that ward members will help her as needed. But they'll be well blessed for the sacrifices they'll be making.
Monday (this week)--Jan and I taught a Collections From the Journey travel journal class in Sun City. There were three women in the class and another six signed up for us to teach another time! Yikes!!!
Tuesday--Jan and I went to Creative Quest to get ribbon for our Christmas project. Later that day Erin and I (along with Hattie and Ellie) went to Hobby Lobby. Erin needed knobs for the new baby's dresser. Hobby Lobby has a good selection of dresser knobs, cabinet knobs and door knobs. She found some pretty clear glass ones. They'll look great on her antiqued orange dresser!
Today--I spent the morning grading papers for Brian. And working on some church activity books for Erin's girls. This afternoon I had an appointment with the eye doctor. Not bad until they put in the drops to dialate my eyes. I hate that part. It's been seven hours and my eyes are still dialated. I must take after my mom...her eyes were dialated most of the time. UGH! The worst part is the sunlight and at night, it's the street lights and the beams of light radiating from them. Not fun.
Tomorrow--a trip to swap papers with Brian at school, a teeth cleaning appointment and a session with the wheat grinder to prepare for bread baking on Friday. Also on Friday, I'll be meeting Erin at the eye Dr. to help me choose new frames for my new glasses. Mark offered to help, but I opted to have Erin....I think she'll be a better judge of what looks best. Sorry Mark! And Friday night will be Matthew's birthday sleepover. Don't know yet what he has in store for us, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun! Can't believe he'll be 10 this year. He was born on 9/9/99...and turns 10 on 9/9/09!!
Last week:
Wednesday--visiting teaching....I will have a new partner and a new sister to visit starting in September. Yea!
Thursday--I picked Abby and Dallin up from school. It was early release for them and it's pretty pricey for them to attend the after school program, so I got to pick them up, take them to lunch and spend the rest of the day with them. So fun. It could be a monthly event...we'll see.
Friday--Jan and I cropped at Scrap Happy. We worked on a Christmas project. Basically, it's a star book structure with an additional signature tied into each star point. We used the newest Graphic 45 paper (Christmas Past) and it's an ABCs of Christmas book. It folds out for display, but after Christmas it folds up for easy storage. So cute. When I finish, I'll take pictures and post.
Saturday---we picked up a Bountiful Basket. Then we spent the day junkin' and running errands.
Sunday--Dinner at Erin's house. Then we went to a meeting at their stake center. Four of the ward in their stake were being realigned and Erin husband, Brian, was put into their ward bishopric. The party has begun for Erin....Sacrament meeting with (soon to be) five little girls and her husband sitting on the stand! I pray that ward members will help her as needed. But they'll be well blessed for the sacrifices they'll be making.
Monday (this week)--Jan and I taught a Collections From the Journey travel journal class in Sun City. There were three women in the class and another six signed up for us to teach another time! Yikes!!!
Tuesday--Jan and I went to Creative Quest to get ribbon for our Christmas project. Later that day Erin and I (along with Hattie and Ellie) went to Hobby Lobby. Erin needed knobs for the new baby's dresser. Hobby Lobby has a good selection of dresser knobs, cabinet knobs and door knobs. She found some pretty clear glass ones. They'll look great on her antiqued orange dresser!
Today--I spent the morning grading papers for Brian. And working on some church activity books for Erin's girls. This afternoon I had an appointment with the eye doctor. Not bad until they put in the drops to dialate my eyes. I hate that part. It's been seven hours and my eyes are still dialated. I must take after my mom...her eyes were dialated most of the time. UGH! The worst part is the sunlight and at night, it's the street lights and the beams of light radiating from them. Not fun.
Tomorrow--a trip to swap papers with Brian at school, a teeth cleaning appointment and a session with the wheat grinder to prepare for bread baking on Friday. Also on Friday, I'll be meeting Erin at the eye Dr. to help me choose new frames for my new glasses. Mark offered to help, but I opted to have Erin....I think she'll be a better judge of what looks best. Sorry Mark! And Friday night will be Matthew's birthday sleepover. Don't know yet what he has in store for us, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun! Can't believe he'll be 10 this year. He was born on 9/9/99...and turns 10 on 9/9/09!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
A Little of This, a Little of That
Where do I start? I guess I'll start with some of my Project 365 photos...
Erin and I made bread last week and Hattie wanted to try her hand with the 'Ove Gloves. She did a pretty good job of modeling them with her bathing suit. Doesn't everyone bake bread in their bathing suit??
Dad and Aunt Dovetta came home from Silver City via Virden. They brought back 24 HUGE watermelons. They used a few of them for a High Priest party in their ward and the rest they shared with family. Here is ours. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's ginormous!! I had to weigh at least 50 lbs. We ate it for several days!!
I've been working on another altered book taken from Erin's Big Picture Scrapbooking class. It's the same techniques, but a different book. Here is the result.
A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I had a fun day junkin' around the valley. Here are a few of the items I scored! Mostly they're for a class I'll be teaching in RS at Super Saturday. You'll want to sign up...I know you will!!
And I've been bidding on a few items on ebay. I got this wonderful vintage bingo game and a couple of sets of word flash cards. The Bingo game is large enough for a party of people and it's aged nicely, but in pristine condition! I was lucky on that one!
Last Tuesday I went to the Southwest Summer Trade Show for scrapbooking retailers in Scottsdale. Here is evidence that I went! Deb did a make-and-take using the 7gypsies binderie punch. The cover papers, etc. are from 7gypsies. The insides were from various other companies, but since I'm a gypsy at heart, I'm sure they will be replaced...not the cover, just the "guts". Several companies did make-and-takes. Some were better than others...but 7gypsies was the BEST! But am I prejudiced? I think not! It was fun to see the new products that were released at the CHA summer show. My friends and I did a bit of damage when we made some hefty orders. But oh, how fun it will be to play when it gets here!
Friday and Saturday was Libby's birthday sleepover. She chose McDonald's for dinner. Rest assured that Mark and I chose something else! But that's what she wanted. She also wanted to go to Castles 'N Coasters to play miniature golf. She's pretty good! She got several holes in one and beat Mark, to boot. I didn't play...I took pictures! Of course, she wanted ice cream afterwards! It was hot, after all. The next morning she wanted Pop Tarts for breakfast. Then we headed off to Target to shop. She had to look at EVERYTHING before deciding. We looked at clothes, books, movies, toys, room decor, shoes, etc. She kept saying, "I'll remember that." And we'd move on. As you can tell in the picture, she chose several items to stimulate her creativity. She got a Klutz stenciling kit, Play-Doh, a white board and several markers, two Amelia Bedelia books (they are her current favorite), and a movie. I'd tell you the name, but I can't say it nor spell it, so you're on your own! She couldn't wait to go home so she could get started creating.
That evening, Eliza called us and asked us to come watch her in their ward talent show. It was sort of spur of the moment. She did a little jump rope routine....all by herself! She choreographed it by herself and did a great job!
Today I went visiting teaching. I've been going alone all summer since my partner moved. And one of the ladies I visit moved last month. Boo! Hoo!! But I'm getting a new partner next month and we get one more lady to visit. It's a great group and I'm looking forward to it.
I snapped this picture today on my way home. I was noticing the clouds and they were beautiful...so billowy and fluffy. I had to snap a picture. I just wish it would have rained. Tonight is the RS book group. We'll be discussing a Mary Ellen Edmunds book, "Peculiar in a Good Way". It was an excellent book. I enjoy her perspective and dry humor. Very motivating. Next month we're reading "Minding Mama" by Marilyn Arnold. I just started it and it's very funny already.
On to the next things.....
Erin and I made bread last week and Hattie wanted to try her hand with the 'Ove Gloves. She did a pretty good job of modeling them with her bathing suit. Doesn't everyone bake bread in their bathing suit??
Dad and Aunt Dovetta came home from Silver City via Virden. They brought back 24 HUGE watermelons. They used a few of them for a High Priest party in their ward and the rest they shared with family. Here is ours. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's ginormous!! I had to weigh at least 50 lbs. We ate it for several days!!
I've been working on another altered book taken from Erin's Big Picture Scrapbooking class. It's the same techniques, but a different book. Here is the result.
A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I had a fun day junkin' around the valley. Here are a few of the items I scored! Mostly they're for a class I'll be teaching in RS at Super Saturday. You'll want to sign up...I know you will!!
And I've been bidding on a few items on ebay. I got this wonderful vintage bingo game and a couple of sets of word flash cards. The Bingo game is large enough for a party of people and it's aged nicely, but in pristine condition! I was lucky on that one!
Last Tuesday I went to the Southwest Summer Trade Show for scrapbooking retailers in Scottsdale. Here is evidence that I went! Deb did a make-and-take using the 7gypsies binderie punch. The cover papers, etc. are from 7gypsies. The insides were from various other companies, but since I'm a gypsy at heart, I'm sure they will be replaced...not the cover, just the "guts". Several companies did make-and-takes. Some were better than others...but 7gypsies was the BEST! But am I prejudiced? I think not! It was fun to see the new products that were released at the CHA summer show. My friends and I did a bit of damage when we made some hefty orders. But oh, how fun it will be to play when it gets here!
Friday and Saturday was Libby's birthday sleepover. She chose McDonald's for dinner. Rest assured that Mark and I chose something else! But that's what she wanted. She also wanted to go to Castles 'N Coasters to play miniature golf. She's pretty good! She got several holes in one and beat Mark, to boot. I didn't play...I took pictures! Of course, she wanted ice cream afterwards! It was hot, after all. The next morning she wanted Pop Tarts for breakfast. Then we headed off to Target to shop. She had to look at EVERYTHING before deciding. We looked at clothes, books, movies, toys, room decor, shoes, etc. She kept saying, "I'll remember that." And we'd move on. As you can tell in the picture, she chose several items to stimulate her creativity. She got a Klutz stenciling kit, Play-Doh, a white board and several markers, two Amelia Bedelia books (they are her current favorite), and a movie. I'd tell you the name, but I can't say it nor spell it, so you're on your own! She couldn't wait to go home so she could get started creating.
That evening, Eliza called us and asked us to come watch her in their ward talent show. It was sort of spur of the moment. She did a little jump rope routine....all by herself! She choreographed it by herself and did a great job!
Today I went visiting teaching. I've been going alone all summer since my partner moved. And one of the ladies I visit moved last month. Boo! Hoo!! But I'm getting a new partner next month and we get one more lady to visit. It's a great group and I'm looking forward to it.
I snapped this picture today on my way home. I was noticing the clouds and they were beautiful...so billowy and fluffy. I had to snap a picture. I just wish it would have rained. Tonight is the RS book group. We'll be discussing a Mary Ellen Edmunds book, "Peculiar in a Good Way". It was an excellent book. I enjoy her perspective and dry humor. Very motivating. Next month we're reading "Minding Mama" by Marilyn Arnold. I just started it and it's very funny already.
On to the next things.....
Friday, August 21, 2009
Fun Weekend Ahead!
Next week is Libby's birthday, so this weekend is her sleepover with us. She has lots of fun planned. She's wanting to go goofy golfing. We'll also shop for her birthday gift. As of the last check, she wasn't sure what she wanted for her gift, so I'm sure we'll be looking at LOTS of stuff so she can decide! That will translate into lots of time at the store!! But it will be fun!
We're excited to spend the time with her.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Stuff
I've been busy....really.
On Thursday morning, Erin and I took a drive to Anthem. She'd found a cute dresser on Craig's List for their new baby and we went to pick it up. I think she's planning on painting it and adding some funky new knobs. It will be wonderful when she finishes with it. I can't believe it's only 2 months until grandbaby number 10 makes her way into the world and our lives.
On Friday, Jan and I cropped the night away at Scrap Happy. It was fun. I got a couple of projects done, which always feels good.
Saturday started off with picking up our Bountiful Basket. Yum! And then we spent the whole day just junkin' around town. We managed to get a few items, and had a good day together.
Sunday we had dinner with Erin's family and Brian's family at Erin's house. We had pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and Kamille's famous corn flake "cookies". Everyone loves them....A LOT!
Today Jan and her sister, Sharon, and I went to Mesa. Our primary goal was to get a new line of paper at Scrapbooks, Etc., but we managed lunch at Cafe Rio, another stop at Mystic Paper and finally, Deseret Industries. That's always a fun adventure. You never know what you're gonna get. And we got!
It was a long, but fun day. Tomorrow is the Southwest Summer Scrapbooking Show in Scottsdale. It will be another LONG day, but it will be fun seeing all the new products, hearing Heidi Swapp speak and doing some fun make 'n takes. And on Wednesday, Jan and I were "invited" to volunteer at the registration table at the show for a few hours. It should be relaxing....at least I hope so. And on Thursday, we're teaching a Zutter class at her house.
If I had back to school pictures for all of the grandkids, I'd post them, but since I only have pictures of two of the school-aged grandkids, I'll have to wait until I get the rest! Hint! Hint!
On Thursday morning, Erin and I took a drive to Anthem. She'd found a cute dresser on Craig's List for their new baby and we went to pick it up. I think she's planning on painting it and adding some funky new knobs. It will be wonderful when she finishes with it. I can't believe it's only 2 months until grandbaby number 10 makes her way into the world and our lives.
On Friday, Jan and I cropped the night away at Scrap Happy. It was fun. I got a couple of projects done, which always feels good.
Saturday started off with picking up our Bountiful Basket. Yum! And then we spent the whole day just junkin' around town. We managed to get a few items, and had a good day together.
Sunday we had dinner with Erin's family and Brian's family at Erin's house. We had pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and Kamille's famous corn flake "cookies". Everyone loves them....A LOT!
Today Jan and her sister, Sharon, and I went to Mesa. Our primary goal was to get a new line of paper at Scrapbooks, Etc., but we managed lunch at Cafe Rio, another stop at Mystic Paper and finally, Deseret Industries. That's always a fun adventure. You never know what you're gonna get. And we got!
It was a long, but fun day. Tomorrow is the Southwest Summer Scrapbooking Show in Scottsdale. It will be another LONG day, but it will be fun seeing all the new products, hearing Heidi Swapp speak and doing some fun make 'n takes. And on Wednesday, Jan and I were "invited" to volunteer at the registration table at the show for a few hours. It should be relaxing....at least I hope so. And on Thursday, we're teaching a Zutter class at her house.
If I had back to school pictures for all of the grandkids, I'd post them, but since I only have pictures of two of the school-aged grandkids, I'll have to wait until I get the rest! Hint! Hint!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I Got My Job Back!!!
Remember last spring when so many school employees were given their pink slips??? Well, I didn't ever get a pink slip, but since school has started, I have my old job back. I'm grading papers again!!! I'd forgotten how rough the kids' handwriting is at the beginning of the year. Their cursive is downright painful to try to read! Ugh! I'm sure they (at least most of them) haven't put a pencil to paper since school got out in May. It will get better, I'm sure, but for now, it's pretty difficult to read some of their papers. But I'm grateful I still have my "job". It's just enough of "school" to satisfy my need.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
What a Week!
On Wednesday of last week, Brian started back to school. He called me in the afternoon and reminded me that I'd told him I'm make his name "tents" for his students' desks. And would it be possible to get them before "Meet the Teacher" night on Friday?? Of course! I got right to it and it took less than two hours from start to finish. And since we didn't really have anything else going on, Mark and I drove them to Brian that evening so he could get them set out and ready.
Last week, Erin and Brian had a wonderful week in Hawaii, so we got to enjoy their girls off and on during the week. On Thursday, we picked up the three older girls and brought them to our house. Libby was so excited to get to finally work on her jewelry making...a well deserved reward for her. She made jewelry. Then she made more jewelry. Then she made jewelry again!! She had such a good time. Ellie got in on the fun, too and made four bracelets and a necklace, which she proudly wore for the rest of the week. Eliza made a pair of earrings that she could wear that evening to her Meet the Teacher night. All in all, Libby made 14 bracelets and a necklace. She would have happily made more, but between the time of night and my dwindling beading supplies, we decided we'd save the fun for another day. Before we went to meet the girls' teachers, we dropped Ellie off for a sleepover at Brian T's sister's house. The girls met their teachers and looked around their classrooms. They found their desks and got a feel for the layout of their new rooms. They even convinced Grandpa that they "needed" a school t-shirt, so he obliged. Then we went and picked up Abby and Dallin and brought them back to our house for one last summer sleepover. They watched the movie, Race to Witch Mountain, and then they all sacked out on the living room floor. The all went to sleep quite quickly. The next morning we had a French braiding session with Abby and Eliza. Libby just wanted a couple of clips. And Dallin was lucky enough that he didn't even need a comb! Then we headed out to find a new outfit for each of them for school. It was a long morning, to say the least, but I think they all were happy with their choices. After picking up Ellie, we delivered them all back to their respective homes and Mark and I crashed for a few minutes!
On Friday night, I finished reading our RS Book Group book, Peculiar In a Good Way, by Mary Ellen Edmunds. I loved the book. She has such a unique style of writing (and speaking). I can really relate to what she has to say.
On Friday night, after his Meet the Teacher session at his school, Brian headed to Urgent Care. He hadn't been feeling well all week and thought he should have things checked out. He found out that he had a viral infection and the Dr. told him he was highly contagious (Oops!) and should not plan on returning to work until at least Wednesday next week. Poor Brian. That's not the way a teacher wants to start off the new school year. So Mark and I spent a good part of Saturday at the school with him getting things ready for a substitute and disinfecting his classroom!! Tomorrow won't be a good day for him, I'm sure. He'll be missing out on meeting his new students and seeing Dallin start his first day of kindergarten. Hopefully, he'll be back at it on Wednesday!
Today was my lesson in RS. It was on the Wentworth Letter. I was a little concerned about having a good discussion, but my worries were all for naught. It was a great discussion and we ran out of time WAY before we ran out of material to discuss. It's a wonderful lesson and I would recommend it as good reading annually.
I hesitate to say this, but my calendar for next week is totally BLANK! I probably just jinxed myself....I hope I can get some things done around here, though.
Last week, Erin and Brian had a wonderful week in Hawaii, so we got to enjoy their girls off and on during the week. On Thursday, we picked up the three older girls and brought them to our house. Libby was so excited to get to finally work on her jewelry making...a well deserved reward for her. She made jewelry. Then she made more jewelry. Then she made jewelry again!! She had such a good time. Ellie got in on the fun, too and made four bracelets and a necklace, which she proudly wore for the rest of the week. Eliza made a pair of earrings that she could wear that evening to her Meet the Teacher night. All in all, Libby made 14 bracelets and a necklace. She would have happily made more, but between the time of night and my dwindling beading supplies, we decided we'd save the fun for another day. Before we went to meet the girls' teachers, we dropped Ellie off for a sleepover at Brian T's sister's house. The girls met their teachers and looked around their classrooms. They found their desks and got a feel for the layout of their new rooms. They even convinced Grandpa that they "needed" a school t-shirt, so he obliged. Then we went and picked up Abby and Dallin and brought them back to our house for one last summer sleepover. They watched the movie, Race to Witch Mountain, and then they all sacked out on the living room floor. The all went to sleep quite quickly. The next morning we had a French braiding session with Abby and Eliza. Libby just wanted a couple of clips. And Dallin was lucky enough that he didn't even need a comb! Then we headed out to find a new outfit for each of them for school. It was a long morning, to say the least, but I think they all were happy with their choices. After picking up Ellie, we delivered them all back to their respective homes and Mark and I crashed for a few minutes!
On Friday night, I finished reading our RS Book Group book, Peculiar In a Good Way, by Mary Ellen Edmunds. I loved the book. She has such a unique style of writing (and speaking). I can really relate to what she has to say.
On Friday night, after his Meet the Teacher session at his school, Brian headed to Urgent Care. He hadn't been feeling well all week and thought he should have things checked out. He found out that he had a viral infection and the Dr. told him he was highly contagious (Oops!) and should not plan on returning to work until at least Wednesday next week. Poor Brian. That's not the way a teacher wants to start off the new school year. So Mark and I spent a good part of Saturday at the school with him getting things ready for a substitute and disinfecting his classroom!! Tomorrow won't be a good day for him, I'm sure. He'll be missing out on meeting his new students and seeing Dallin start his first day of kindergarten. Hopefully, he'll be back at it on Wednesday!
Today was my lesson in RS. It was on the Wentworth Letter. I was a little concerned about having a good discussion, but my worries were all for naught. It was a great discussion and we ran out of time WAY before we ran out of material to discuss. It's a wonderful lesson and I would recommend it as good reading annually.
I hesitate to say this, but my calendar for next week is totally BLANK! I probably just jinxed myself....I hope I can get some things done around here, though.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
It's That Time of Year Again!
It's time for school to start. I my opinion, thought, it's way too hot for school to start. I remember playground duty the first couple of months of school....HOT!!! This is the time of year when I get the urge to go back to school, go back to work at the school....do something school related!! I did get my bulletin board fix a couple of weeks ago when I helped Brian get his boards done in his classroom. They look great, too! And next week will start the paper grading again, so I guess I'll be okay!!
I've been busy since the reunion, but mostly boring busy. Know what I mean? Last week I helped Brian one day with his kids while he attended a district math meeting/workshop. On Friday, Mark and I went to Casa Grande to take Matthew and Emma school shopping. They'll be attending a new charter school this year and will be wearing uniforms. Matthew's things were easy to find, but Emma's...no so much. We decided to look in Phoenix for what she still needed. Over the weekend we had a sleepover with Hattie and Ellie. What fun that was! Ok, Saturday was fun, Sunday was tiring! On Saturday we went to Target to finish up some shopping for Emma for school. The first store we went to had everything she still needed! Lucky us. So we called Dan and arranged a meeting in Chandler. We met for lunch at Saigon for some Pho. Yummy! Dan's kids LOVE it, but Hattie and Ellie weren't so sure. They were troopers, though, and tried it without complaint. Then Dan mentioned that the reason they came to the valley was for an entertainment center at Sam's Club. Problem was it wouldn't fit in their car with all of the seats in, so they would have to come back next week without kids. We offered to help. So we put on of our seats down, put Ellie and I in their car, and Dan, Mark and Hattie in our car with the entertainment center and off we went to their house. That baby was HEAVY!!! But after a time, we got it out of the car, unpacked, and all set up. It looks great!! Then we and the girls headed back to the valley. It was a long day, but fun. The girls loved playing with Matthew and Emma....at least until Matthew donned his Star Wars Storm Trooper helmet that alters your voice when you speak into the microphone piece. The girls were both scared. It was funny....they come from an all girl family and just aren't used to boys and their antics! The girls went to bed just fine on Saturday night, but Hattie woke up at 2 am and didn't want to go back to sleep. She did lay in her bed for a while with her eyes wide open. We tried her in our bed with us, but with the same result. So at 5:30 am, we finally got up with her. We went to church and other than a little grumpiness, it went fine. The girls were good during church (just not so good at whispering!) and we went home afterwards hoping for a nap for Hattie. She did finally go down after lunch for a couple of hours. We returned them home that evening.
Last night was the August Enrichment meeting. It was a swim party/BBQ. But we didn't BBQ anything. We had macaroni salads, fried chicken and brownies. The food was good, but the weather was so darned HOT!! I was glad when it was time to go home to our cool, air-conditioned home.
Today I will be getting things organized for another couple of days with grandkids. Tomorrow Libby and Eliza are coming over. Libby earned a day of jewelry making with me and Eliza has been wanting to make a Summertime Album like one I made recently. So we'll be busy with that. Then on Friday we're taking them, along with Abby and Dallin shopping for school clothes. Should be a fun couple of days!!
And I teach this week in Relief Society. The lesson is The Wentworth Letter. If you're going to be there on Sunday, be sure to read the lesson....we'll be having a DISCUSSION!
Anyway....on to crafty organization!!
I've been busy since the reunion, but mostly boring busy. Know what I mean? Last week I helped Brian one day with his kids while he attended a district math meeting/workshop. On Friday, Mark and I went to Casa Grande to take Matthew and Emma school shopping. They'll be attending a new charter school this year and will be wearing uniforms. Matthew's things were easy to find, but Emma's...no so much. We decided to look in Phoenix for what she still needed. Over the weekend we had a sleepover with Hattie and Ellie. What fun that was! Ok, Saturday was fun, Sunday was tiring! On Saturday we went to Target to finish up some shopping for Emma for school. The first store we went to had everything she still needed! Lucky us. So we called Dan and arranged a meeting in Chandler. We met for lunch at Saigon for some Pho. Yummy! Dan's kids LOVE it, but Hattie and Ellie weren't so sure. They were troopers, though, and tried it without complaint. Then Dan mentioned that the reason they came to the valley was for an entertainment center at Sam's Club. Problem was it wouldn't fit in their car with all of the seats in, so they would have to come back next week without kids. We offered to help. So we put on of our seats down, put Ellie and I in their car, and Dan, Mark and Hattie in our car with the entertainment center and off we went to their house. That baby was HEAVY!!! But after a time, we got it out of the car, unpacked, and all set up. It looks great!! Then we and the girls headed back to the valley. It was a long day, but fun. The girls loved playing with Matthew and Emma....at least until Matthew donned his Star Wars Storm Trooper helmet that alters your voice when you speak into the microphone piece. The girls were both scared. It was funny....they come from an all girl family and just aren't used to boys and their antics! The girls went to bed just fine on Saturday night, but Hattie woke up at 2 am and didn't want to go back to sleep. She did lay in her bed for a while with her eyes wide open. We tried her in our bed with us, but with the same result. So at 5:30 am, we finally got up with her. We went to church and other than a little grumpiness, it went fine. The girls were good during church (just not so good at whispering!) and we went home afterwards hoping for a nap for Hattie. She did finally go down after lunch for a couple of hours. We returned them home that evening.
Last night was the August Enrichment meeting. It was a swim party/BBQ. But we didn't BBQ anything. We had macaroni salads, fried chicken and brownies. The food was good, but the weather was so darned HOT!! I was glad when it was time to go home to our cool, air-conditioned home.
Today I will be getting things organized for another couple of days with grandkids. Tomorrow Libby and Eliza are coming over. Libby earned a day of jewelry making with me and Eliza has been wanting to make a Summertime Album like one I made recently. So we'll be busy with that. Then on Friday we're taking them, along with Abby and Dallin shopping for school clothes. Should be a fun couple of days!!
And I teach this week in Relief Society. The lesson is The Wentworth Letter. If you're going to be there on Sunday, be sure to read the lesson....we'll be having a DISCUSSION!
Anyway....on to crafty organization!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Family Reunion
This past weekend we were in the White Mountains of Arizona for our Arvin and Emma Mortensen family reunion. The reunion itself was held in Alpine, AZ., but we stayed in Eager, AZ. Some of the family also was in Greer, AZ, so we got to spend some time there, too. We took a drive one day around Big Lake and the surrounding area. It was beautiful, to say the least. And the weather was perfect. It was fun to see so many cousins, most who we haven't seen since the last reunion two years ago. After the reunion, we went to visit Uncle Beans' and Aunt Lorna's cabin near Alpine. Our kids wanted to see it again, since they haven't been since they were maybe 10 or 12 years old. There were LOTS of cousins staying there and they had the mules there (for riding) and even a little pony with a buggy for rides. Our grandkids had such a good time at the cabin. There was also a rope swing hanging from a branch behind the cabin that provided lots of fun. I was especially glad to see my cousin, Tom. He even brought some of his new, recently recorded hymn CDs. It's really good. I hope he'll continue to record hymns and perhaps even a Christmas CD soon. (Hint, hint!!) I look forward to our next reunion in three years.
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