I made it!

I made it to Utah in 14 and half hours! The dog and the kids are all alive and well....woo hoo....

There are many people I want to see and hope I get the chance to see everyone!! Right at this moment I am at my mom's in California. I will be back in Utah on Wednesday. It feels so nice to visit my family...and I can't wait to see my friends!

Halloween Past

Isn't Halloween fun? I just love seeing all the kids dressed up and having a good time. I was telling my friend Cindy about my wonderful snow white costume that I found on ebay several years ago. I LOVE it. I've worn it several times and each time I have so much fun in it. There is always at least one little girl who wants to meet the "Real Snow White". I get a little taste of what it might be like to be a princess at Disneyland. I feel I must leave a disclaimer here...I am the Snow White after she marries the prince and has lots of kids!!!

As I write this I am so so so tired....but also so so so so excited to go to Utah...I leave tomorrow!!! I'm driving out with the kids and our dog...Aaron is staying home...he has to work:(

Husband tag

1-WHAT IS YOUR HUSBANDS NAME? Aaron James

2- HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED? 16 years, 9 months, 12 days.

3-HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? 10 days before we were engaged, then 4 months before married

4-HOW OLD IS HE? 38

5 - WHO IS TALLER? He is

6 - WHO CAN SING BEST? hmmm...probably me, but not by much.

7 - WHO IS SMARTER? He knows a lot of weird trivia.

8 - WHO DOES LAUNDRY? me...he does his clothes if I don't get to them, which is quite often!

9 - WHO PAYS THE BILLS? I wish he did...

10 - WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? He does...

11 - WHO MOWS THE LAWN? He does, usually, sometimes our older boys do it...I never do.

12 - WHO COOKS DINNER? I do most of the time..he does many times on his days off.

13 - WHO IS THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY"RE WRONG? usually me.

14 - WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? He did...in the car on the freeway... on our first date.

15 - WHO WEARS THE PANTS? hmmm.... in depends on the issue....

I tag......Cindy, Brenda, Michelle W. and Sarah

My Birthday Boy

Joseph Henry Schafer was born on October 25th 2003 at 12:30 in the morning. He was just such a sweet baby...my only mostly bald baby. He was so spoiled from day one. I think he was held almost constantly. What a joy it is to have a baby with so many hands to help take care of him.

Joe is so full of energy and has the biggest imagination. When he was 3 he started to LOVE super heroes. He talked about them all the time and would pretend to be them. Once when we were at the Dr's he "became" Woolverine and jumped right off the table in the patient room into our Dr's arms....I can still picture the horrified look on the Dr's face!! There have been MANY other instances when he "became" the hulk and he would suddenly be shirtless. This happened everywhere, at home, at the store and even at Church. I remember one of the Primary Presidency coming up to me and saying "it's been a good day for Joe....he still has his shirt on"..... He also loves to snuggle with me and I soak every minute of that up now, for I know it won't always be so. He loves to wrestle with his older brothers..especially Josh. He loves for Matthew to spend time with him. He loves Hannah and although he does fight with her sometimes he's also very loving and protective of her. Last week we went to Kohl's and they were playing in the toy area while I was shopping in the kid's clothes area...I told him I was right over by the boys pants. As I was picking out pants for him I hear him talking to a woman..I heard "she has dark hair and she just got a haircut".....I called to him and said "I'm right here, bud"....He was trying to find me because Hannah had to go to the bathroom....he's always looking out for her....I love that! Being young with so many older siblings has it's ups and it's downs He has learned far too many potty words...like the time he called the photographer a jerk when we were at kiddie kandids...he was only two and he had no idea what it meant...but we got a really good picture because all the kids were laughing. Or when he started saying "you scared me out of the crap". He is so smart too...already learning to read, he will be very ready for kindergarten next year!! A couple funny things I remember are...the time he was two...I was very pregnant with Hannah and I stopped and got him a happy meal at McDonalds (his favorite restaurant!)...anyway, I sat him down at the table and went to have a much wanted/needed nap...then next thing I know he walks in to my room and says "fwy in nose"...he had a fry in his nose!! I could not get it out and ended up not getting my much wanted/needed nap and it took three of us, me and two nurses, to hold him down while his Dr. got it out! Recently he was complaining about his tummy hurting while he was trying to go to the bathroom so I told him he had cramps in his tummy. A few minutes later Zack came and told me Joe was telling him about the "craps" in his tummy. Joe is a mischevious, adventurous, wonderful boy! He brings a smile to my face every day!

We will be in Utah for his birthday so I wanted to get this posted early. I love you bud...you are one of the biggest lights of my life!! Happy Happy Birthday, Joe!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

I wish I had a scanner.....

So, a while back some of my cute girlfriends were posting old pictures from high school and I wanted to post mine, but I don't have a scanner....boo hoo!!! So, I tried taking a picture of a picture...it didn't work so well...but I'm posting it anyway......and maybe Santa will leave a scanner under the Christmas tree....

Who wants some logrit?

Ahhh logrit, or as the rest of us call it, yogurt. Yesterday I was so tired. In the morning I went to get my health check up for work and ended up getting a TB test, blood drawn, a flu shot and a DTP shot. Later in the afternoon I just felt kind of yucky so I decided to take a nap...I spent most of that nap time either awake with a child in my face or in that state where you feel as though you are asleep but can still hear some of the goings on around you...so, during that dreamy state Hannah came in and told me she needed to wash her hands...I told Joe to get her a towel...then went back to my dreamy state. When I finally emerged from my nice warm covers and wandered into the kitchen, look what I found!!!
This is "princess baby"....she is known by this name because she is wearing a dress and all princesses wear dresses, right? So, I guess princess baby was hungry for some logrit...lucky for her it all washed off nicely and now she is as pretty as a princess should be!! I hope I happen to be around next time princess baby decides she wants a snack!

This and That

Last week was not my greatest week ever.....just some of the same ole problems stirring up again.....*sigh*......but here are some of the happier moments-

On Thursday I went Visiting Teaching with one of my new wonderful friends, Cindy. We have so much in common and we think alike too...I know, scary!! We decided we didn't have enough time to visit on our way to our sister's home so we went to Subway for a little lunch before our appointment. We went to see an awesome new sister in our ward..she is so much fun and so easy to talk with! Then we went VT again on Friday at noon...thanks Cindy for your wonderful shoulder!!! Anyway, we visit this wonderful older sister in our ward and we've decided to visit her twice a month. She is not able to attend church and I think she really enjoys getting to see us more than once a month. I love to hear all the stories she has to share....it reminds me of listening to my grandma. (I miss her)....

Saturday afternoon I called Cindy to see if she was going to the Marching Band competition...she was....so we went together....thanks again Cindy...what a good friend you are!! Okay, so the Marching Band Competition...wow, what a world I never knew existed!!! I think every high school in Nebraska who has a marching band came to compete. North Star did so good!! They got a division one in both drum major and auxiliary...woo hoo! Cindy's daughter is in the Color Guard. After taking Cindy home Josh called and wanted to head back over to the competition (he was at his high school dropping off all his stuff)...so I went to the school and thought I was going to drop him off at Lincoln High to be with his friends...but he asked me to stay with him. It's not often a teenager wants to hang with his mom...so I called home and told them we'd be late...and we were!!! They didn't pass out the awards until 1130pm!! Luckily the weather was so nice and it was nice to have some one on one time with my son.

My children were relatively well behaved during Sacrament. Aaron works on Sundays and so some of the times are pretty stressful...but I actually heard most of the talks this time! One of the talks was on Elder Holland's talk from this past conference (that was my personal favorite).

Sunday night we had Aaron's assistant manager over for dinner. His name is Mike and the little kids adored him! At one point I looked over and he was sitting on the chair with Hannah on his lap poking and pulling on his face, his mouth was full of a piece of cookie Joe had licked and shoved in there, and he said "thanks for having me over"....too fun!! I'm sure he can't wait to come over again!!

Last week on a whim I applied at a nearby hospital here in Lincoln. The economic situation has been very bad for business at Sofa Mart...I got online and decided to just apply and see what happens....well I interviewed on Friday and was called and offered the job today. I will start sometime in the beginning of November. The best part of all is that Joe and Hannah will only need to have daycare one or two days a week. Two other very good things....I will have benifits from day one..good benefits...and I will be home in the afternoons for my kids...I'm sad to have to go back to work, but happy it's something that will help my family.

I think I'll end with a good quote...I love a good quote!

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.
Mark Twain

Lars and the Real Girl

I saw a little blip about this movie a while back....I didn't know what to think, but I thought I'd try it out....oh my what a good movie!! I loved how subtle it was, how you had to really watch and listen to understand why this guy has a doll for a girlfriend. I love how it shows a community all come together to help someone they love and care for...I love how it didn't tell you everything and you had to be very observant to pick up the details. I love how convincingly the actors played their parts...even Bianca....the doll!! It was funny and moving.....LOVED IT!!!

I must add a conversation that occured while we were watching it...this is a clean movie....I was surprised but it really was. We were watching it without the little ones but Joe happened to wander in about half way through and wanted to sit on my lap.....after about 5 minutes this was our conversation

Joe: Is that a real girl...because she is not moving a muscle!!!

Me: No she is not real, she is a doll.

Joe: Oh.

about one minute later......

Joe: Does that guy know she's not a real girl?

Me:No...he doesn't.

Joe: How can he not know....she's not moving a muscle.

Me: I don't know how he doesn't know, he just doesn't.

Joe: Oh.

We had a good laugh!!

My Sister, Friend

This past week has been an extremely stressful one. I won't go into every detail but it just seems that all the hard stressful things about life have hit us this week. The economy is not the greatest so therefore Aaron's pay is not the greatest (commission only, folks). My teenage kids are particularly horrid this week. My knowledge of how terrible our medical insurance is has been confirmed over and over again this week. I spent two afternoons balling my eyes out, which I have not done in a long while and it was very apparent that the dam broke!! I do need to add that my sweet darling little ones Joseph and Hannah came to my aid during one of my crying sessions and were so tender and caring...I sure love them! I'm sorry they had to see mommy losing it....but, now they know that everyone cries sometimes....Anyway, during one of those days I was trying to find something in one of our old filing boxes. While searching I came upon a beautiful poem written for me by one of my dearest friends on my 30th birthday in 1999. I have looked and looked for this poem and thought is was forever lost.....imagine my delight in finding it at a moment that it could not have been more needed and appreciated. I really want to share it, and after asking for the author's permission, I will share it now. She has requested that if it is used by others that her name for sure be used ...and for good reason, it is absolutely beautiful...just like it's author.

Beyond the Veil

by Julie DeMille

If I could look into your eyes,

Without the veil that clouds my mind,

I'd have a memory of my life,

And the world we left behind.

I imagine you and I,

Dressed in robes of white,

Living in that Holy place,

Basking in His light.

Did we walk & talk together,

Of the world we didn't know?

I wonder if we shared our fears,

About the life we'd face below.

If I could push away this veil,

And look into your soul,

I'd recognize the sister, friend,

I'd known not long ago.

Julie 8/5/99

What a beautiful birthday present this was and still is today....Thank you Julie...this brightened my soul almost 10 years ago.....just as it did again today!! Girlfriends are the special gift we all enjoy everyday!

Talk Low, Talk Slow, and Don't Talk Too Much

Great words of advice from John Wayne.....perhaps the Presidential Candidates should take it to heart.

Tagged by Lia

Answer the questions with one word (or a little more) and then tag three people.

1. Where is your cellphone? purse
2. Your significant other? working
3. Your hair? dark brown with a few gray roots...
4. Your mother? Busy
5. Your Father? Cool
6. Your favorite thing? laughing with my kids
7. Your dream last night? can't remember
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream goal? to be happy most of the time.
10. The room you’re in? family room
11. Your hobby? reading
12. Your fear? Failing as a mother.
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? I can't even think that far ahead.
14. What you’re not? losing weight
15. Muffins? fattening
16. One of your wish list items? a double jogger stroller
17. Where you grew up? La Palma, California
18. Last thing you did? Picked up Josh at school and ran to Walmart
19. What are you wearing? Black jeans...a black and purple striped shirt
20. Favorite gadget? My camera
21. Your pets? Molly, our beagle and Velcro, our cat
22. Your computer? new
23.Your mood? anxious
24. Missing someone? Far away friends
25. Your Car? Navy Blue Honda Odyssey...Love it!
26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite store? Kohls
28. Like someone? yeppers
29. Favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? This afternoon when Joe and I were doing a puzzle together.....he makes me laugh..alot!
31.When was the last time you cried? I had a huge crying session yesterday afternoon...I think my eyes are still puffy!
I tag....Julie, Michelle and Cindy

LNS Marching Band

I finally got some good pictures of Josh marching in his cute uniform!! Aaron was getting irritated with me because I kept saying I needed a picture of him with his foofie thing in his hat....Aaron informed me it was called a "feather"...I like "foofie thing" better.....Anyway.. There was a game yesterday...our football team played North Platte (we won...28-21!) The marching band played two songs during half time...they did such a good job. Josh looked and did awesome and I'm so proud of him. He plays the saxophone and has been playing for 3 years now. His band teacher is also teaching him to play the french horn which he will play in concert band next semester. Today North Star Marching band is competing in Columbus Nebraska...I hope he has fun and does a good job....Go Gators!!

I snapped this picture just in time....that lady was grabbing the foofie things as fast as lightening and putting them away...a split second after this was taken Josh's was gone!!!

ABC Tag

A-Attached or Single? Attached
B- Best Friend? Most of the time it's Aaron, but not when he's a poop.
C- Cake or Pie? yep
D- Day of Choice? The good ones
E- Essential Items? lipgloss and my flat iron
F- Favorite Color? blue
G- Gummi Bears or Gummi Worms? aren't they both the same?
H- Hometown? La Palma, California
I- Favorite Indulgence? homemade cookies, a good chick flick
J- January or July? January if I'm in St George and July when I'm in Salt Lake or Lincoln..both are nice in California.
K- Kids? several
L- Life is incomplete without? friends and family
M- Marriage Date? January 10, 1992
N- Number of Brothers & Sisters? 1 sister
O- Oranges or Apples? yum!!
P- Phobias or Fears? the thought of one of my kids being hurt or killed, high places, my kids in high places about puts me in the grave!! I don't foresee us ever taking a trip to the Grand Canyon
Q- Quote? I don't have to do anything but pay taxes and die
R- Reason to smile? Life is good
S- Season of Choice? Spring and Fall
T- Tag two Friends. Erin and Courtney
U- Unknown Fact About Me? I think Hugh Jackman is sooo cute!!
V- Vegetable? I wish I liked them more..I know they are so good for me...I love broccoli and a good salad.
W- Worst Habit? Only one? popping my knuckles..being lazy...being impatient with my kids.
X- X-Ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound!
Y- Your Favorite Food? The kind that tastes good...again, only one?
Z- Zodiac Sign? Leo