Musings

I went to the Relief Society General Conference broadcast at the Stake Center on Saturday evening. It was good to go and I'm glad I went but have to admit I had the hardest time listening because while I was sitting there a cool thought came to me on what to do for our RS Christmas dinner.....so I had trouble concentrating on what was being said and kept daydreaming about enrichment....for those who don't know..I'm the Enrichment Leader in our ward, (which means I am in charge of planning the activites for our Church women's group, Relief Society.) this is a calling that's hard for me...the non organized person that I am.

I'm really liking my new hair cut...so much more than I thought I would...who'd of thunk?

My little Hannah is so spoiled....I just can't stand how cute she is and I just have to give her everything she wants.....

I am not fond of Zack's chemistry teacher.

Josh is learning to play the french horn......need I say more?

I find it amazing that no matter how often I clean or how well I clean....my house is always a complete mess.

Where does all the laundry come from?????

I have never seen such a heartbroken little girl as the one I had to tell today that I sold her kitty costume at our garage sale....

Why does Winter have to follow Fall?

I wonder how I ever survived without my blog????

You Light Up My Life

My sister, Jenny, and I have the best relationship now....but it wasn't always so. She is my one and only sibling. We are two years apart...I am the oldest. When we were little I was so mean to her. I used to tell her that she wasn't really my sister, that the mailman left her at our house. We have this funny private joke...."I'm gonna tell what the cat did"....we both don't remember why this worked for so long.....I used to say this to her when I wanted her to do something and she would always do it...It always worked. I know the cat pooped behind our couch, but I have no idea why this would of been her fault??? Probably the worst thing I did was to sing "You Light Up My Life" at the top of my lungs ALL THE TIME.....just to bug her. Whenever we were going to go somewhere my parents would send Jenny and I out to the car (now that I'm a parent I realize they did this to get rid of us so they could finish getting ready to go in peace)....anyway, we would get in the car and I would immediately start singing You Light Up My Life, I knew all of the words (I still do). She HATED it!!! She would start screaming for me to stop and this would just egg me on. I have to admit that it's still fun to call her up and sing it to her...and I put the song on my playlist just for her.....I guess, once an older sister, always an older sister.... We didn't always fight...sometimes we played together. We used to draw fashion shows. We would draw pictures of girls in pretty dresses and then judge each others drawings. Every night when it was time to go to bed we would summersault up the stairs...we did this by putting our heads on a step and then rolling up, coming back down and then doing the next step the same way....it was a stall tactic..to keep from going to bed. (I once tried to summersault down the stairs...it hurt). On car trips (we took many car trips) we would sit in the back and take turns squeezing each other cheeks together while we told each other to say things. "say mama"..."say daddy"...."say pickle"...then we would laugh and laugh at how funny it sounded. I have many fond memories of my sister....I also have many things I regret....I wish we'd been closer through our early teens....I wish I'd been nicer to her and been friends with her through some really hard times. I try and tell my kids to be nice to their siblings because when they grow up they will feel bad for being so mean....I guess it's just something you have to learn on your own. I love you Jenny...you are the best sister ever! Thanks for forgiving me for peeing on you in the tub when we were little...I promise I'll never do it again!

My Vision Board

I have been wanting to make one of these for a long time now. I've read about them and saw a blip about them on Oprah a while back and thought it sounded like such a good idea. So I finally made one and put up right next to my bed so I can look at it everyday. The idea is that if you visualize what you want you can get it...so that's what I'm doing. I can be such a negative person and I really want to be happy and be positive....so I'm going to do it!! I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

WHY????

Garage Sale for Utah

We had a garage sale this weekend...we have never had one before, so it was a new experience for us. We did great! Megan had some of her jewelry outside and she sold a few pieces. We earned enough money to pay for our gas to get to Utah and back...so we are planning a trip out there in October. It feels so nice to be rid of a bunch of stuff we didn't need anymore. When it was all over I packed up what was left in the back of the van and took it to Goodwill. What a lovely feeling to let it go.....

Megan's Birthday Party...of sorts

We have a tradition in our family where the kids can have a birthday party with friends every 4 years...this cuts down on cost and makes the birthday party more memorable..hopefully. I stole this idea from my friend Jacque. It has really been so good. I've tried to make the parties something big and super fun. The interesting thing is the 12 year party....so far all three that have turned 12 have just wanted to do something with a few friends. Zack went to Leatherby's and a movie...Josh went to play Laser Tag. Megan had to wait to do her party until this weekend because of the play last weekend. She decided to go to "Paint Yourself Silly" and then we went to have dessert at Chili's...where I decided to enjoy some chips and salsa instead of dessert....Megan's friends Jamie and Claire came...we had a good time. Then we came home and Claire and Jamie slept over. Happy late Birthday Megan!

Why I love my flat iron, By Kimberly Kay Jackson Schafer

Because.....You can start out with this.....

And end up with this.....

Or this......
My flatiron is my friend.
The End

I'm Gonna Live Forever

Zack and Josh are just finishing up working on the play Fame with school. Zack was in the ensamble and Josh was working as a "techie". They both enjoyed it so much and have made many friends. I think they will not know what to do with all of their extra time now that the show is over (last day today). Our family went and saw it on family night (the pictures were taken then). It was good....then I went on Friday night by myself to see it and it was soooo much better. The humor was more fun and all the characters just seemed to be more comfortable. What a great experience for my boys...yay for them!

What a Corn Dog!!

Our little Molly is a stinker! Three days ago Hannah was sitting at the table having a corndog for lunch when Molly jumped right up and grabbed it out of her hand and swallowed the hole thing....stick and all!! I took her to the vet and after waiting a couple days and it was not coming out on it's own she had to have major surgery yesterday to remove it from her intestine!! Her Dr. is very sweet and nice and I'm so thankful to him. She came home today and is doing well for having 17 staples in her tummy! My kids are very sure that she has learned her lesson, but I for one am planning to put her in the kennel if we ever have corndogs again!!

Molly's ouchy belly

A $550.00 corndog stick.

Our sweet little girl.

Locks for Love

Last night I took Megan to have her hair cut and highlighted. She has been planning to get 10 inches cut and donate it to Locks for Love. I told her she could get highlights when she turns 12. She got some pretty caramel highlights. She got home and measured her ponytail and it was actually 14 inches...she is quite offended...but she's happy to send it in for someone else to enjoy it. I'm really proud of her! And it looks so cute!!

Happy Birthday Megan

Today my sweet daughter is 12! She is so excited to move up to Young Womens at church. I just can't believe how fast these years have gone. I wish I had a scanner so I could scan in some of her baby pictures. I just can't say how exciting it was to know we were having a baby girl after having our two boys. Out of all of my kids she was the fastest and most painful birth. (not counting the C section I had with Hannah). I think my first thoughts of her when she was born were that she was just so beautiful! She already had these long eyelashes and so much hair....she was so hairy she even had hair on her ears and on her back. I'm sure she's glad that is no longer the case...lol...From the beginning she has been such a joy. She was such a sweet calm baby and always seemed to be able to entertain herself. She has always marched to the beat of her own drummer. She's so independent and always has been. I remember when she was little, like 3 years old she wanted her room to be pitch black while she slept with her door closed!! She was so blessed to have a sweet friend named Sadie when she was little..they did everything together and got along so well. A few of my favorite memories of her are.....when she was around 3 or so I asked her to tell me a secret and she whispered in my ear that she knew where some wishes were...I asked her to show me and she took me outside and pointed to some dandelions......Another one when she was 3....she came downstairs and said "Mom, look at my cute haircut." She had cut her hair into a mullet!!! After I took her to have it "fixed", I took her right over to the mall to have her ears pierced. I remember how sad she was when we found out we were having a boy when I was pregnant with Joseph...she cried and cried all these silent tears. Then when we brought him home she cried and cried again....I brought him into her room and layed him in her arms and told her how special she was because she was his only sister...it was such a tender moment and from then on she just loved him. She is so talented in her jewelry making. She loves beading and hopes to open her own shop someday. She is very motivated by money...of all of my kids I see her being the money maker! I remember once when she was around 5 Judith Everett called me and asked if I knew she was going door to door selling her toys. Ha ha! She is such a good babysitter and so loving with Joe and Hannah. I love her more than words can say....she is my dear daughter and friend. Happy happy birthday Megan!!

My Sweet Grandma

Today is my Grandma's birthday!! She would of been 83 today...man I miss her. Happy Birthday Grandma, I love you!

Marching, Football, and Teenagers

On Friday night I took Josh to his first marching band performance....it was North Star's first football game. Megan was a love and stayed home to watch the little ones...thank you Megan! Josh got into his cute outfit (I will need to take a cute picture next time) and sat in the bleachers with the rest of the cutely outfitted marching band members. Zack showed up later with his friends and he even came and sat next to me for a bit, I was blessed with a hug too! The North Star Gators started the game right and scored right away. Then the Southwest Silverhawks scored and then it went back and forth the whole game until we were tied at the end....we went into double overtime and ended up winning the game 40-39. What excitement!! The Marching band did so awesome for their first performance of the year..I felt so proud of Josh as he played his sax and did all those formations. Yay for him! As I sat there in the bleachers there were some things running through my mind...they were...

1.Next time I hope I can bring someone with me...I felt a bit lonely.
2. I'm so glad my kids are so involved in school....I watched them having fun with their friends and being a part of something where they felt included and comfortable. And it's something wholesome and good for them.
3. Football games are a great place for people watching!! Wow!! There were many times when I remembered "Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to be watching the game".
4. I was freezing!! I mean the cold, shivering kind of freezing..my feet were numb and my bones felt chilled...I was wearing a sweat shirt and tennis shoes!! When I got to my van at the end of the game I checked the outside temp (I love that about my van!!) and it was......57!! Okay...if 57 is cold to me...what will I feel like in a few weeks when it's 12? Man, I must be a whimp!
5. The thought that ran through my mind through the whole game was this...MAN I'M SO GLAD I'M NOT A TEENAGER ANYMORE!! Did I ever act so dumb? I just don't think so....did I mention how great the people watching was?

The Mom Quiz

I copied this from Lara's blog..I think it's sweet......Megan asked Joe the first 5 questions and then she answered the rest. The thing with this mom quiz is that you do it with one of your children. I had Megan type in the answers and then I went back and commented on her answers.

1. What is something mom always says to you? i love u and clean your room. Probably true.


2. what makes mom happy? cleaning my room and thats all. Many other things make me happy....like lots of hugs and kisses.


3. what makes mom sad? jumping on the couch...True


4. how does mom make you laugh? everything....I'm quite talented


5. what was mom like as a child? i don't want to do this any more. Me neither


6. how old is your mom? 39 yep


7. how tall is your mom? 5'6 I actually used to be 5' 7" but last time I went to the Dr. I measured 5'6"..I must be shrinking.


8. what is her favorite thing to do? read yep, love to read.


9. what does your mom do when you're not around? she's a spy I've been found out!


10. if your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? being on the cumputer the longest VERY FUNNY!


11. what is your mom really good at? cleaning I don't know about that...notice I haven't done the tag Lia challenged.....


12. what is your mom not very good at? math Don't like math much...my poor kids are on their own with the math homework....


13. what does your mom do for her job? watch the kids among other things


14. what is your mom's favorite food? not oinions true again


15. what makes you proud of your mom? being my mom it's a tough job, but someone has to do it....

16. if your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Boots (this answer came from Hannah). HEY...isn't Boots a boy?


17. what do you and your mom do together? sometimes shop I love it when Megan tries on the clothes happily...boys don't like to try on clothes!


18. how are you and your mom the same? looks I'll take that as a compliment


19. how are you and your mom different? i'm goode at math yet another truth


20. how do you know your mom loves you? she tells me she does I'm told I tell her this way too much....but, can you really tell your kids you love them too much?