A great read.

I finished this book in about 3 days. Loved it. I keep thinking about it. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Menu Plan Monday

Taking a cue from my sister, Ann-Marie, and posting our menu for the week.

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie, Spiced Apples

Tuesday: Spaghetti Carbonara, Green Salad, Clementines

Wednesday: Broiled Tilapia, Steamed Broccoli, Rice

Thursday: Chicken Tacos, Santa Fe Lime Rice, Refried Beans

Friday: Eat Out

Not sure for our weekend meals yet.

A new niece

My youngest sister, Natalie had her baby today. Lexi Isabelle. 8 lbs, 5 oz, 21 inches. I'll post more about that when I get a picture of her! Whenever someone has a baby I think maybe I should have had more. I miss little ones. But then I remember that when my kids were little I was running a daycare and had my three and 6-7 more (baby through school age). There was no way I would have been able to add more kids to our family at that time. And now that my youngest is 12 1/2, ummm...it's too late. In my opinion. I don't want to start over. Five and a half years until my baby graduates from high school. Yes folks. I'm a little conflicted ;)

I need to take a trip with him

I'm ready for another trip. This is us at Walden Pond in Massachusettes in November. It's time to pack up and go for a bit. Too bad there are other things that need attending, like jobs. Well, not too bad that we have jobs. I'm grateful for that. It's just too bad that jobs get in the way of taking last minute trips.

Time for a new post

My sister, Ann-Marie posted her menu for the week on Monday. I'm not that advanced. But I can tell you what we are having tonight: pork chops w/mushroom gravy, steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, baby corn, onions, green beans), wheat bread and clementines.

After work I came home and cleaned my bathroom and bedroom. Including dusting blinds. I love a clean room!

We have Young Women's tonight. I work with the Mia Maids (14-15 year old girls). We are finishing up a couple of Personal Progress things and then doing some crafts. I'm not in charge tonight so I don't have details. Last week we were combined with all of the YW. I was in charge. We had a Personal Progress "Ketchup" Night. We served tater tots, corndogs and ketchup (and lemonade). We had scriptures, conference copies of the Ensign, the Proclamation, For the Strength of Youth booklets and anything else we thought we might need for the girls to finish an experience. We had about 9 girls show up and all of them finished at least one. Some girls did 2-4 experiences. Some of them got things signed off that they had done, but not had someone initial. I thought it was a great success.

Before & After

I'm so excited about this cute little Nativity I found at a thrift store for $1.50! I love the simple lines and that it only includes Joseph, Mary and Jesus. I knew exactly how I wanted to alter it. When I brought it home, I wiped it off, spray painted it white and sprinkled some gold glitter (from Sara's craft supplies...thank you Sara!) on the star. Easy. And I'm very pleased with the results. Are you working on any Christmas crafts?

More Concord

That's Concord (pronounced Concrd by locals). Love the churches around here! We went to the Concord Museum. They've got some great stuff. Thoreau's writing desk, chair and bed. Items from Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I can't get over how much history we saw and the fact the all four of the above named lived in Concord, which is also the place the American Revolution started is AMAZING! Can you tell I enjoyed the trip. More to come.

Concord, Massachusetts

A beautiful old cemetery on a hill overlooking the town of Concord. We enjoyed reading the gravestones and just thinking about what it must've been like two- and three-hundred years ago. Some of the burials took place in the 1600s.

This is the Wright Tavern (built in 1747). It was the headquarters of the Minutemen early on the morning of April 19, 1775 (the day that the American Revolutionary War started). Later that day it became the headquarters of the British.

I love this town! The shops are quaint and a lot of buildings have been kept the way they were hundreds of years ago. The houses are cute and sit right next to the road. Very different than the west coast.

Walden Pond

We arrived in Boston on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning we drove to Walden Pond. David has been reading Henry David Thoreau for years and years and really wanted to see Walden Pond, where Thoreau lived for about two years. The weather was beautiful - cold, but sunny and gorgeous. We met David's sister, Debbie and the three of us walked around the pond (it was bigger than I expected) and stopped at the site of Thoreau's cabin. I think it was the highlight of our trip for David. And I liked it, too!

Massachusetts

A picture of a little boat house near where "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired on April 19, 1775. David and I are in the Boston area. Got here on Tuesday and will be heading home tomorrow. So much history here! We've loved it! And we were able to spend some time with Debbie and her family. We would love to come back. It's fantastic and I highly recommend a trip here! More when we return home...

a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e

All found on http://www.marthastewart.com/

2001

Last pics for the night...promise.

Wish: Rewind

I'm smiling, laughing and tearing up looking through these pictures. If I had one wish, I think it would be to go back to when my kids were little...and hopefully to enjoy those times more. Not that I didn't enjoy them. I did. I just wish I would've enjoyed them more and realized how quickly they would be gone. I sure do love my family and I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to be an eternal family. I get to enjoy the people I love FOREVER!

Halloween Past

Just looking through some old photos and thought I'd share. I love looking at old photos. I haven't really scrapbooked much lately. I've started a couple of new hobbies (crochet and sewing), so those take up some of my scrapbooking time. But since school started I've just been really busy. I'm doing a little redecorating/organizing. Hopefully I'll be done with that by the end of November and I can spend some more time scrapbooking these precious photos! I will try to share pics of the progress I make on the decorating front.

Pretty Sweet

Isn't this fun? Makes me want to plan a Halloween party! Six days away and I still need to decorate our porch. I've got an idea, just need to go get the pumpkins.

Back-to-School shopping

Well, it's that time. Back-to-school shopping. Over the weekend i had the kids make a list of what they needed for the start of school. They had to be fairly specific: how many jeans or shorts, how many tees, how many button-up shirts, how many neutral (khaki, gray, black, white, etc) skirts, how many printed skirts, how many casual shoes, how many flats, belts, underwear, etc. Then we sat together as a family and went over each list and figured out about how much each would cost and which stores the kids wanted to shop. We totaled the list and yesterday we went to the bank, got out the cash and headed to the stores. It was fantastic! Everyone knew pretty much what they were looking for and didn't waste time looking at stuff that wasn't on their list. If they found what they needed and the price was lower than what we estimated...Yeah! If it was more, they had to pay the difference or they could wait and we will look for it at a different store. I loved it, they loved it. Lauren only bought one thing, but we still have stores from her list that we didn't get to. Dallin and Sara got most of what they need. The girls need new backpacks. Sara got hers: bright pink from Vans. For us, it's worth it to spend $12-15 more on a quality backpack because the kids can use them for 2-3 years. I bought Lauren a backpack at TJ Maxx last year and she needs a new one because it's ripping. Sara has been using her Roxy one for 3 years and it's just now that she needs a new one. Dallin got a Quicksilver one last year and it's looks brand new and might even last through high school (can't believe he only has two years left!).
Anyway, it was a good day. We walked and shopped at an outdoor mall and it was beautiful. I love hanging out with my kids. I love to listen to them shop together and ask each other, "How does this look?", "Would it be weird to wear this with that?", "Does this look too young (or old)?" I'm grateful that David has a job that allows us to get some new school stuff. I wish he could've been shopping with us...but someone has to make sure PacSun has the stuff kids want, right? Love you David.

Time for a new post!

Wow! Five months later...

We've moved. We are enjoying our little house. We've got a small garden in the backyard: corn, spinach, beans, zucchini, maybe some other stuff that I can't think of. It's really David's garden. Square foot gardening. He built the frame and mixed the soil, planted the seeds. Sara has a few things growing in pots, too.
I would like to get some living room furniture (our couch is in the family room) and some rugs. The living, dining rooms and hallways are hardwood. Maybe this summer I can at least get the rugs!
Work is winding down. Next week is my last week with kids. After that I've got a couple of weeks of "shutdown". Hope I can get everything done that I'd like! I'm planning on bringing a bunch of books home for the summer so I can be ready for the "I don't know what book to get" comments in the fall. Maybe my kids will read a few of them, too.
The only scrapbooking I've done of late is for the Red Bee. I've got a great little desk and everything set up, I just need a chair, so i haven't even used the space.
Lots of stuff going on this summer. I hope we can fit a vacation in there somewhere!

Delicious!

Yesterday we made and ate cookies and even put some on plates to deliver this evening. I made cookie press cookies, Lauren made Chocolate Avalanches (marshmallow creme sandwiched between chocolate cookies), and Sara made Patricia's sugar cookies (recipe from my Aunt's mother-in-law, Patricia). My aunt used to make them for my brothers and sisters and I when I us growing up. We would spend the night at my Aunt Vickie and Uncle John's house on the night before Christmas eve. We'd have dinner, yummy cookies, hot chocolate, open gifts from them and watch TV or movies. It's a great memory. Thanks Aunt Vickie and Uncle John!!!

And thank you Lauren and Sara for making cookies with me!

How many more?

I had been planning on getting a lovely family picture for our Christmas cards (not unlike I do every year). In October I started thinking seriously and saying, "I'm going to make an appointment for family pictures, so if anyone needs a haircut, tell me now." Well, the weeks went by, no appointment was made and at the end of November I thought we could just set up the camera with the timer and take our own. That didn't happen either. So on Dallin's birthday when the kids got home from school I told them we were heading across the street to the park for pictures. David was in Kansas, so if I were going to get the cards in the mail with a picture it would have to be just kids, no parents. They were really good sports and we took some crazy pictures. It had been a good 15 minutes before anyone said, "How many more?".

PS - I knew I was making the photos B&W so we didn't worry about what colors they were wearing!

Happy Belated Birthday Dallin!

OK, OK. It's late. Dallin turned 16 on the 16th. Dallin, I just want to let you know how glad I am to be your Mom. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Happy Birthday! Top picture was taken on 12/16/09. I forced him to let me take a picture of him on his birthday before school. Bottom picture was taken 2/26/00. Six years old, on a hike with Dad.