Scofield Ice Fishing Tournament

Don in ice tent

Cory and Don have made a tradition of going to the Scofield Ice fishing tournament, when they can. This year it was held on December 27. We went and stayed at the cabin Friday night and they got up bright and early to freeze their butts off. When they first got out there he told Cory, "I'm not going out there in -4 degrees farenheit." Don is a trooper. He caught a 16 inch fish. He was 5 inches and a pound away from the winner of the contest. Although they don't have a kid category. He was the only kid after all. You would think they would have a special prize for him.

his 2 fish he caught

He won an ice fishing bucket with a seat from the raffle and he was proud at least he got something out of his day. He just likes having a Dad and Don day.

What Inspires This Child?!

Tyler runs out of his bedroom wearing this shirt yesterday, and yelling ready for bakugan battle. My husband and I both look at him and can't figure out what he is talking about. He tells us this is his bakugan battle shirt. He wrote bakugan on it, so that he can use it for battling. We ask him why he did it. His words "It is okay, I used washable marker, it will come out." What inspires this child to do these things? I haven't quite figured him out yet. We just had to laugh and hope it will wash out today as I do laundry. I had to get pictures first. I didn't want to take pictures while he had it on, I didn't want to encourage him anymore.

Christmas '08

What Have I been doing?

For the last week between holiday baking and getting ready for Christmas, I haven't sat down to blog. Last Wednesday and Thursday I created a huge mess in my kitchen making 24 dozen cinnamon rolls in two days. Somehow I started making them for Christmas. It is the only thing I know how to make. My kitchen was a disaster by the time I was done. Not to mention my house!

My mom took my kids home yesterday. I finally got my Christmas presents wrapped. You can't wrap presents with a 4 year old around that tells everyone what they are getting. It is a little lonely sitting home alone. Next year when all three kids are in school will be a little lonely, I discovered.

I got all of my laundry done in one day for the first time in months without interruptions. It is amazing how much you can do without your kids home. My house is clean for Christmas, we are going to visit my parents and bring the kids home Christmas Eve.

One perk, I actually got to spend a night alone with my hubby last night. It has been a while since we have been able to do that. We got to go out to dinner and enjoy ourselves and actually have a conversation.

Gingerbread House In the Making

Every year somebody gives us a gingerbread house. I dread having to make it with my kids even though it is something that they love to do. This year and last, our neighbor that Tyler adores gave us a kit. They have been bugging me for a week and a half to do it. I finally got around to doing it tonight. Since dad was home to help in the mess making even
though this year it wasn't too bad.

Temple Square Fiasco or Fun?!

Ty, Don

Dad & Joslyn

So we went to Temple Square with Cory's whole family last night. What is crazier than going on a Friday night you ask? Going with 20 kids under the age of 14! We had a really good time, it was just insane trying to keep track of that many people. Not to mention we didn't even make it there until 9:00 p.m. My kids really enjoyed going to Temple Square with their cousins and it brought the meaning of Christmas with family to life. Here are a few pictures. We had to park across the street from the State Capitol building and of course my crazy husband would have to find something nutty to do to make the night exciting. That is where my kids get their crazy ideas. The whole gangCory on buffalo

Random Tag

I got this in an email and thought it would be a fun blog tag.

Five names you go by:
1: Melissa
2: Mom (usually being yelled cause someone needs wiped)
3: Sister Page
4: Lissa (usually little kids that can't say my name)
5: Muffin's mom (Dillon)

Three things you are wearing right now:
1: Red heart pajamas
2: socks (never go without socks, my feet are always cold)
3.

Two things you want very badly at this moment:
1: Breakfast
2: Headache to go away

Three people who will probably fill this out:
1: Melinda
2: Heather
3: Vanessa

Two things you did last night:
1: Went to Temple Square with 20 cousins under the age of 14.
2: Made Breadsticks and had dinner with husbands whole family except grandma and grandpa.

Two things you ate today:
1: Haven't eaten yet.
2:

Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1: My friend Kim
2: My sister Melinda

Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1: Go to church
2: Get to take my friends baby to RS with me (now I don't have a calling and no babies anymore)

Two longest car rides:
1: Nevada and California for Cory's Graduation (Tyler cried the whole way, he hated his car seat)
2: Went with my grandma on a trip for a month as a teenager, ended up in two wrecks.

Two of your favorite beverages:
1: Cherry Coke
2: Milk (It goes with about everything)

Now please copy and paste, add your own answers .
Now that I did it I am tagging Melinda, Heather, and Vanessa(since that is who I put would probably fill this out).

I Don't Want To Go To School!!!

My Ty is quite the guy! We had to fight him all morning to go to school today. Come to find out he wore a Jazz wristband to school yesterday and got it taken away for playing with it during learning time on the carpet. He didn't tell me about it until bedtime last night.
We had to go in and ask his teacher for the wristband back today cause there was no way in heck he was asking for it back. In his eyes he got in trouble yesterday.
I went in and asked his teacher if he got in trouble yesterday and she said,"Tyler never gets in trouble, he is a wonderful student."
I know, if you know Tyler, hard to believe. So she had to explain to him we can't play during learning time and she would let him try and wear it today if he wanted to. No way, No how, mom had to take it home and he was not staying for school.
Finally after 20 minutes of coaxing (luckily we went early to talk to his teacher), we finally conned him into staying at school. It is hard when you have a stinker that is very tenderhearted.
We will have to see how school went in about an hour.

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Ty made it through school okay. His teacher said he had a good day at school and he realized it wasn't just him when another kid got something taken away today. We are glad to see he made it through another day of Kindergarten and he isn't scarred for life. Silly kid.

Ornament Swap

Tiburon hosted an ornament swap. This is the ornament that my swap partner Suzy sent me. She couldn't have picked any better. I absolutely love snowmen. It is the perfect addition to our Christmas tree. We found snowmen bells with our whole families names on them this year so I am so excited to add this to our snowflake and snowman addition. Thanks Tiburon for the great idea!

Instructions for Clipboards

Back

This is the one I made for Joslyn with the ribbon.

Since I have had a few requests, here are the instructions for the clipboards.

First you take a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and cut it 9 x 10 1/2. You take another piece that contrasts and do the same. The leftover 3 inch piece, you cut 9 inches also and makes the second back piece. You cut one plain piece 1 inch by 9 inches. You have to cut the top pieces around the clip part smaller.

You get a wood clipboard and put modge podge with a brush on it. Put your paper on and let it dry. When it dries you go over the top of the paper with the modge podge. Sometimes the paper will bubble.

If it bubbles usually it will go down after it dries.

After it dries you tie matching ribbon on to the clip part. Hence I didn't have that part done in my pictures. Voila, you are done and it only takes about an hour. Very easy. Have fun!

Make sure you modge podge under the paper that overlaps each other. We learned the hard way.

Craft Night, Teacher Gifts

So now that my sister-in-law moved close, we decided that once a month we are going to get together and have some type of craft night. This is what we did last night.

It was so simple and they turned out so cute. I need to learn how to take pictures without shadows though. These are easy teacher gifts and cheap too. I had a lot of fun visiting an making these. Now all of my kids think they need one for some reason or another. I guess if it is a motivator to do homework I guess we can make it work.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

kid's decorating tree

Minus the snow, my kids are going crazy over getting ready for Christmas. Especially, Joslyn she can't hardly stand it. We had to get the tree out today and get it decorated. The kids had a blast.

We got all of our decorations up today and we are finished. Other than a few gifts we are about ready for Christmas now.

Whole family

Thanksgiving Feast and Reflections

Today was Tyler's day. At least it was good for him, he is not for sale. His Kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Feast that his dad got to come to. He was pretty excited. Of course mom was there too since she is the room mother. The kids were the pilgrims and the parents were the native americans.

________________________________________________

Tyler sporting his WOW shirt.

Tyler also won one of the excellence awards for the reflections this year out of the K-2 division in the school. He was pretty excited. The theme this year was WOW and he made a poster of his first hunt with his dad. They got to have an ice cream party and the BYU cheerleaders came for all of the kids who participated.

4 Year Old For Sale

Just when you start thinking your kids are starting to get out of the trouble stages it starts over.
Sunday I lay down to take my Sunday afternoon nap and I go upstairs to hear Joslyn crying and Cory yelling. Joslyn comes downstairs with RED lipstick all over her face and in her hair. It is also all over the walls of my bedroom and lightswitches. She got in my makeup cupboard that was locked.

Being a good mom we had a talk about if you want lipgloss you can have some you just need to ask, but please don't get it yourself. I painted her fingernails red and her toenails purple so she wouldn't try herself.

What do I come downstairs to find this morning. PURPLE fingernail polish opened and spilled on my carpet. My fault, I left it out. Figured since I painted the toes and fingers last night wouldn't be a problem, right. WRONG!

******************************************************************************

Meanwhile while I was writing about these mishaps this is what was going on upstairs,because I never found the red fingernail polish and the little poop would never fess up to its wherabouts this morning. Needless to say, I found the RED FINGERNAIL POLISH in my daughter's bedroom and she decided to paint her self with it . Anybody want a 4 year old? She is for sale today.

Any suggestions on getting fingernail polish out of carpet without ruining it?

Twilight Review

Overall I thought the movie was pretty good. Like Amanda I was a little confused with the references to the monkeys. I also thought the movie was supposed to be about vampires. I was glad Edward did not look as creepy in the movie as he did on the posters though. I must be a hopeless romantic because the movie had me tied up in the moment. I haven't read the book for a long time, so now I want to go back and read the book again.

Thanks Heather for arranging the girls day out. It was fun to go by ourselves and enjoy the movie.

Catholics Defending the Mormon Church

I received this in an email today about proposition 8 and all of the controversy surrounding the LDS churches involvement. It is a very good video. Thanks Tiburon, for the lesson on how to create a link. I finally did it.

Mindless Monday

So we all expect to take our children to the doctor but how often is it that we would expect to take our dogs to the doctor. I spent my morning in the vet's office with my cute little Blaze. He woke up yesterday with his face swollen so we decided we better get him in. After peeing all over the office and growling at the frog statue we got into a room to be told he has to be put under anestesia to see what is going on. We have to pay $150.00 deposit just to be looked at. I never even liked dogs and now I am paying money to have mine looked at because I am worried about the silly thing. Joslyn was a little worried when we had to leave the office without him. When we got home our other dog was letting us know she wasn't happy that she was alone either. When did I turn into such a sucker for these silly animals?

After he spent most of the day at the vet's office, he is home and feeling better. Poor dog can you imagine how shameful we would feel if they sent us home from the hospital with something like this on?! He is acting much better and on his way to recovery though.

Spiritual Tag from reading Naulu Tribe

I want YOU to do this tag, you do not have to put the photo up on your blog, but use this to show everyone your faith. Tell us about you. Here are my questions I want you to do.

1. What is your religion, and what is your favorite part about it. I am LDS or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love that our church teaches us that our families can be together forever. I also love we have the Book of Mormon to add to the teachings of the Bible.

2. What has been your favorite service towards others. We have and older lady in our ward that has adopted me and my kids. We help her work in her yard all summer. It isn't one sided, she also does many things for me and my family.

3. What has been your hardest calling in your church. I was the Relief Society President of a college ward. I was married in a singles ward. I am a perfectionist, I had to learn to let my presidency do their callings without me hanging over them. It was very hard and humbling.

4. What is your favorite place to go for worship. I love to go to the Temple. It is always a very peaceful place and you always come away feeling refreshed and ready to take care of your family again.




5. Where would you like to spread your knowledge of your faith. One day I would like to go on a mission with my husband anywhere the Lord decides to send us as long as I get to be with him. I would love to go on a service mission to one of the third world countries though.

6. When did you know your church was true. I have always known it was true but I have had several manifestations in my life. When I was about 18 I was very sick and felt like I would rather die. I had a lot of time to read scriptures and ponder on life. That was probably the most major time I knew by heart and soul and could never deny it.

7. Who has been a Spiritual giant in your life. My grandma, she has served 2 missions for our church. Her husband died at 45 and she finished raising the last of her 8 children by herself. She has always been a great example of service to me. She never says anything bad about anybody and always even at 78 years old is still always taking meals to people who are sick or just need something or someone to visit. She has always been there for me when I have needed someone to talk to.

Friends Moving Friday

Last night Joslyn realized (after who knows how many times I have told her) that her friend is moving today. I guess it just finally sunk in. We had to go buy her something last night and then she came over to play today for awhile before the final move out. Joslyn will miss her little friend. Especially since it is the only girl in the neighborhood she plays with.

Joslyn and Mattie

We are not only losing our friends but I am also losing my beautician. The only good thing we are getting, we got a trampoline from them. They are great friends and we are sad they are moving. The kids are enjoying the new trampoline though.

Christmas Slippers

My Dear Family & Friends,
Somewhat embarrassing to admit, I'm not getting an annual bonus and Christmas is tight this year. I will be making bedroom slippers for you all as gifts.
Please let me know your sizes. You'll most likely agree that it's a splendid idea, and should you wish to do the same, I've included the instructions below.

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads:
* You need four maxi pads to make a pair.
* Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.
* The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.
* Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers (this is most aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers are:
* Soft and Hygienic
* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh
* No more bending over to mop up spills
* Disposable and biodegradable
* Environmentally safe
* Three convenient sizes: (1) Regular, (2) Light and (3) Get Out the Sand Bags.
I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you can see the nifty slippers for yourself....Awaiting your response. It's crucial that I get the right size for each one of you.

Hehehehe........ I only wish I was creative enough to write that.

Wonderful Wednesday

I actually got my kitchen clean today, bathrooms clean today and all of my laundry done. That doesn't happen very often. What a wonderful feeling to have those things done. It is rare at my house to have all those things done and know that you could let someone in your house and use your bathroom unannounced. My theme hanging on my wall "My house was clean last week, sorry you missed it." Half the time it is 20 minutes ago.
I also got to babysit my neighbors baby. I don't get that opportunity very often anymore now that my baby is 4. I love to have babies around.
I have three wonderful kids and a wonderful husband that love me and don't care if the house is dirty. They are getting better about helping but they are the ones that make a mess.

Concealed Weapons Update

I should clarify that they do fingerprint us and send them to the FBI so if these weirdos do have a record they don't actually receive their concealed weapons permit after they send them in. I now have my fingerprints in the national FBI database. That should reassure you after I freaked everyone out with my other post.

Concealed Weapons Class

So me and my husband

took the concealed weapons class yesterday. Our teacher is a retired Riverside County police officer. He is telling some stories about his jail and how you don't mess with the police officers down there. This long hair guy similar to the picture pipes up and says," yes, I know I have been in that jail and it is no fun." Then a little while later a hispanic guy tells us how he got in trouble for speed racing and the cops down there don't put up with that. They had way too many jail stories for me to be comfortable knowing that they are going to be carrying a loaded weapon around. I am wondering what kind of weirdos can get a concealed weapon after going to my class. I don't agree with Obama taking it away but maybe they should put a few more restrictions on it. The pictures are a few examples of classmates since the real pictures we couldn't get off of Cory's cell phone.

Taking time for the funny moments

Tonight as I was not watching my curious 5 year old and reading blogs instead. I look up and he shows me a stack of probably 15-20 envelopes sealed and tells me he made some mail for his friend Kaden. As I got ready to yell at him and started going into my big story about those were my envelopes for my bills that I send.
He had a look of pure shock and innocence on his face and said, "I just forgot that was what they were for." I couldn't help but just start laughing at and with him. I need to realize more often that the little things in life don't matter. He came over and gave me a hug and we agreed it was a little funny and that is was okay. Mom could probably afford to go buy more envelopes, especially since I have probably had those since he was born anyway. I just usually keep them locked away from his curiosity. He is a funny little kid.

A Message of "HOPE"

As I finally sat down and watched some of General Conference last night (thank goodness for DVR) I was very touched by President Uchtdorf's talk entitled The Infinite Power of Hope. After feeling very confused and upset over the election results yesterday this talk was a breath of fresh air to my feelings last night. Here is the part that really hit me the most, but if you get a chance, this is a wonderful talk to read especially at this time when so many are feeling the same way.

Hope Leads to Good Works
We learn to cultivate hope the same way we learn to walk, one step at a time. As we study the scriptures, speak with our Heavenly Father daily, commit to keep the commandments of God, like the Word of Wisdom, and to pay a full tithing, we attain hope.28 We grow in our ability to “abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost,”29 as we more perfectly live the gospel.
There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope. Like Father Abraham, we will “against hope [believe] in hope.”30 Or, as one writer expressed, “in the depth of winter, [we find] within [us] an invincible summer.”31
Faith, hope, and charity complement each other, and as one increases, the others grow as well. Hope comes of faith,32 for without faith, there is no hope.33 In like manner faith comes of hope, for faith is “the substance of things hoped for.”34
Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity.
The things we hope for lead us to faith, while the things we hope in lead us to charity. The three qualities—faith, hope, and charity35—working together, grounded on the truth and light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, lead us to abound in good works.36

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Snow Day

Since my other post was less than uplifting, I decided I needed to find something more uplifting to put on my blog as well today. My kids woke up this morning very excited about the first snow. I never went outside with Joslyn this morning. Tyler couldn't even let me pull into the garage before he hopped out of the car and had to run in the snow. We had a little snow ball fight and we built our first small snowman of the year.

The Dreaded Election Happened!

Even though we all knew it was going to happen I hoped it wouldn't. Last night Obama won the election. What is going to happen to this country now? It could be an interesting 4 years ahead of us. If he thinks socialized medicine works he needs to go spend a few years in Canada. Ask anyone who has spent a little time there. My husband for example who served a mission there and had the worst medical care of his life.

He wants to take away our guns so the bad guys can still get them. I will be going to get my concealed weapons permit and buying myself a gun in the near future before that can happen. Hopefully Congress will be smart enough not to implement some of his hairbrained plans.

I am probably not being politically correct but I believe Obama is evil and nothing good is going to come from his presidency. There is my two cents on the subject.

Halloween

Well after a rough start to our halloween day, it is finally over. I had to do Tyler's kindergarten party for school since I am the room mother. I had a craft planned out and it seems the craft disappeared last night. Luckily my neighbor saved my rear end and we did the sucker ghost craft. We went to the school's parade they do and then came home and got ready to trunk-or-treat up at camp maple dell. Don found a man dressed as Darth Vader to battle with...hence the picture of the battle. Tyler was also Darth Vader and is battling the man's son. All in all we ended up having a fun day and the kids got more than enough candy. Kenny told Tyler he could come beat up his ugly guy in his yard with his bat. Nothing would give me more joy even though he didn't do it.

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY DON!!

I wanted to do a slideshow but I couldn't get it to work and I was sick of fighting with it. This is birthday's 1-6 since our hard drive on our computer crashed and had 7 and 8 on it.

Don decided to get up at 6:00 a.m. and started asking to open his presents. (you would've thought it was Christmas day) That is also after the kids went to bed at 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. I said no way until 7:30. I think he liked what he got. He is a good boy. I never thought I would feel old until I realized I just turned 31 and now a week later I have a 9 year old. Tonight we will finish the celebrating with going to dinner at Sizzler (every year tradition) and cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday Don! We love you!