i'm here....

What a week. Not only did I have card group....which everyone who knows me knows I wait until the last minute to finish them. Then my sweet little Ellie has picked "something" up...she woke up Tuesday, at midnight, and she & I were up all night with a fever and her feeling awful...it then continued all day Tuesday, and into yesterday. Luckily her fever broke, although we are still having diaper issues....which translates as nasty stuff issuing into her diaper. But the best part was that she went to bed last night at 6 pm, and slept soundly all night! Oh the joy of uninterrupted sleep! I may actually get a shower today, without a 2 yr old following me and demanding to be constantly held! What a fantastic thought! So, I'm off to do that, and catch up on all the other stuff that fell by the way for the last two days...more later!

The end of an Era...

For any of you not in Utah, I thought I'd share the news that the beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away tonight. What a fantastic man of God that taught us much and set a fantastic example. He will be greatly missed.

We will mourn his passing, but are confident that he has returned to our Heavenly Father, with a big pat on the back for a job "well done!" He spent most of his life serving the Church, and is loved by all. I'm just so happy he's back with his sweet wife!

HERE is the official announcement of the Church. Also interesting is the article about the succession of the next president HERE.


It will be interesting to hear how Ron's day is tomorrow at work.

Happy Birthday Riley!

Riley and cousin Connor enjoying the 4-wheeler!

Miss Riley is FOURTEEN years old today!

Whoa! It really seems like just yesterday that she was turning 6...

(I can't say it seems like yesterday that she was born, because I wasn't around then!)

Riley really is becoming all grown up though. Going through all the fun moodiness of teenagehood. But thankfully it is getting better! She is very excited to move into the "MiaMaids" group at church since her closest friend in the ward is already 14. She gets her braces off in a month and couldn't be more thrilled. She is a tall darling girl, and her dad is going to start building a moat around her soon!

She has chosen sushi for dinner tonight....so she and her dad are happy about that....the rest of us will have something else since our opinion of sushi is a big fat "BLECH!", and since she doesn't read my blog, I can say that she's getting clothes for her BDay! Sunday outfits, shoes, some other shirts for every day, and some really cute black and leopard print converse lowtops. Hope she likes them!

Please say it isn't so.....

For the second time in as many days, this one:
is refusing to go to sleep!

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

Please, someone make my two year old take a nap!

Her somewhat insane mommy IS NOT ready for napless days with a two year old. She has been my best sleeper....how could she be doing this to me?!

Good thing she's still in a crib and hasn't a clue how to get out....good way to enforce "quiet time" at least.

Problem is I just typed that...same thing as saying it out loud...I've just cursed myself and she will figure out how to get out of her crib tomorrow.

Good thing she's freaking adorable.

it's snowing....

...again.



According to the forecast it wasn't supposed to snow today.

But I guess the actual weather didn't listen to the forecast.

Stupid weatherman.

I know, I know....I live in Utah, and it's January....therefore, we will have snow. I could just really use a look at the beautiful blue sky and sunshine for a day or two.

That or I just really need to suck it up and go do something really fun in all this snow...like cross-country skiing. I haven't done that since high school, and it is really FUN! I wish my kids were big enough to do it. Maybe I'll see if we can find some snow-shoes for us all and go hiking.

MLK Day fun

Well, after Jared only throwing up once more last night, he slept soundly and feels much better today! Hooray! And so far (knocking frantically on wood,) no one else seems to be feeling bad.

Fun part of the night was that he really wanted me to sleep with him. So I curled up at the bottom of his twin size bed, with a little blanket covering me...that I think was actually a towel. I woke up freezing a couple hours later, and since Jared was sound asleep, I went back to my bed. I'm so glad my husband is his own furnace, so that I could cuddle up to him and warm up quick!

Boy, I heard it this morning though when Jared came in. He wasn't too happy that I left him in there alone!

We woke up to a nice surprise this morning. Eight more inches of snow! And it is still coming down. We have received at least 12" now, and it's coming down pretty hard again. So what else is there to do with all that new snow, and everyone home from work or school? Yep! Break out the 4-wheelers and pull the kids around in the field on sleds! It was mucho fun. The snow was deep enough though, that our smaller 4-wheeler had some difficulty unless it was already in established tracks...I've now nick-named it "The Little 4-wheeler That Really Tries"...maybe I'll call it "putt-putt" for short!

So that's our day...hope everyone else had a great MLK Day!

Blessings abound....

Today when we came home from church, Jared complained of not feeling well and his stomach hurting. He kept going back and forth between seeming fine, and complaining of a stomach-ache. Since that was his only complaint, and he would eat and/or play, I didn't think much of it.

During dinner, Ron and I were trying to decide who was going to accompany Riley to the Stake Fireside. Neither of us particularly wanted to get back into Sunday clothes and go, but in the end, I went.

Good thing!

While I was gone, Jared came into the kitchen complaining about his stomach again....then he lost it into the kitchen sink. Hmmm.....going to the fireside really WAS a good choice! :0)

He is now in bed on a towel sleeping by the puke bucket. No other symptoms, poor kid. Hopefully this was an isolated incident...but I've been a mother long enough to know that is a fat chance!

The Bridesmaid

Today my mom came over to visit the kiddos. She also showed up with an armload of dresses from a few years ago...high school. Lame that I never got rid of them, but they included bridesmaid dresses from my siblings weddings, high school graduation, and a couple that I made myself. My mom figures I could decide what to do with them...like stick them in the dress-up box! Ron saw them and bet me that I could still wear them.

Here you go...

Here we have Andrea, modeling the lovely teal green satin bridesmaid dress worn at age 16! I may be able to still fit into the same size dress, but man how I wish I still had the non-existent wrinkles from age 16...sigh!

Hey Beth, do you still have yours?! Take a picture and show us!


Beth, my dear sister, whom I love...If it makes you feel any better...

if you are still reading...

I tried the one on from your wedding, and apparently three pregnancies spread my ribcage a bit too much to zip it up! Ron tried on his tux from our wedding, but it was too obscene to post...the pants looked like socks.

(he made me type that last part about him...it isn't true!)

Lots o' Luv!

Even though I just changed my template...I decided to go with a Valentine theme for the next month...hope the pink isn't too killer for y'all!

It is COLD!

No pictures today.....too overcast to take anything in my house....not enough light...and there is no way I am going outside again except for the absolute essential things(like pick up from school.) It is freaking eighteen degrees outside, 18!!!! Fahrenheit! This stinks. I want to crank my furnace up to 75, and turn the fire on. But I don't want to pay the gas bill if I do that. So I'll just turn the fire on and drink some hot cocoa.

Ron wanted to go "somewhere" this weekend. He was talking St. George, because it would be warmer...yes, 45 is warmer than 18, but it's certainly not warm! We also discussed Colorado...yes cold, but we thought there would be some fun stuff to do...but there was nowhere to stay in Ouray due to an Ice Climbing Festival. We even thought about Arizona.....but 20+ hours in the car with our kids?! For only 2 days there? We decided no....sorry sis!

So, we'll stay here and find some fun(?) winter stuff to do. And clean and organize the playroom. Now THAT sounds like fun!

Photo of the Day

Good Morning sweet Ellie!

What follows is technical-ish gunk, so if you aren't interested, skip it!
Maybe if I try and do one or two photos a day for my class, I'll do a better job at getting familiar with what I'm learning, and my camera settings. I think the light worked well on this one, but my shutter was too slow. Ellie was blurred. Since my aperture was open all the way, my next step was to up my ISO, but by the time I adjusted that, Ellie was too busy to stand in front of the window again! Oh, and I did cheat and cropped the picture a bit with one of my camera options after the pic was taken...I didn't think anyone wanted to see my vacuum!

Today I'm thankful for....

Not that this sounds very nice, but I'm thankful that the Stake Nursery Leader had sick kids, so she couldn't come "observe" today during Ward Conference! We are still working the kinks out, so in a couple weeks, when she does come, things should be clockwork.

I'm also thankful we didn't lose any kids today again. Sheesh. Whenever I started thinking about it, I'd start feeling sick about last week's "incident". I just kept thinking that if that kid had gotten outside, and gone into the parking lot, and wandered behind any number of the large cars out there...ugh! So this week we put the gate up at the door, and the kids got "checked out" and lifted over the gate to waiting family. Much better.

I'm so thankful for my husband who comes home from being at church all day (seriously...he left at 6:30 AM and got home at 5 PM), is starving hungry, and the poor guy has to help me finish dinner. Which consisted today of highly gourmet sausage, egg, and cheese on English muffins. He didn't even complain about the "mock" Hollandaise sauce I attempted to help them along. It was not especially good. Next time I'll attempt the real stuff...and possibly have Canadian bacon on hand.

Lastly, I am so thankful that my HD PBS channel is showing "Persuasion" again at 10 tonight. The kids were not cooperative in letting mommy get her Austen fix tonight, and daddy was completing more church stuff. So I missed most of it. From what I did see, I think I'll enjoy it, although Capt. Wentworth just isn't the same without Ciaran Hinds! What do you think?!




**Updated! It is now 11:38, and I just finished watching "Persuasion"....hmmmm. I am sort-of torn. I really did like Sally Hawkin's as Anne Elliot...a bit more than Amanda Root's portrayal...I guess she's nicer to watch. I thought the whole gist of the story was told better in this version. It is clear from the beginning what Anne's history is with Frederick. As for Rupert Penry-Jones instead of Ciaran Hinds...yep, I got used to that too! Ooh, Anne's family in this version bugged the heck out of me though! So full of themselves when really they need to get a grip, and sister Mary needs a lobotomy. I really didn't like Lady Russell this time, whereas in the previous version, she did feel bad for persuading Anne to not marry Frederick, but in this one, she still had it out for him. Oh well....even though I own the 1st version, I'm pretty sure I'll need to get this one! I am such an Austen-phile!

"Snow" Fun

After receiving about 8" of the white stuff Wednesday, I shoveled the driveway(so fun...not!), and took the kids the the local sledding hill!

Photography 101

One of my birthday presents was a photography class. I need it! It is being taught by the one and only Nicole Hill, whom I love and adore. I've known Nicole since, well, since she was born! I babysat for her beautiful family pretty much until they didn't need babysitters anymore. Nicole is now a photo editor, chef, creative head of the infamous "little sussy" blog, and now, my photography instructor.

Our first class was Tuesday night....and was very informative. I now have all sorts of numbers and camera settings bouncing around in my head that now need to be practiced upon until I know what to do with them.

I attempted one of the assignments the other day while the kids were sledding. I thought it would be a great time to use the "Basic Daylight Exposure", and hopefully get my shutter speeds figured out the create or capture motion.

It was a lot easier to write about just now that actually accomplish. My nice bright sun lasted all of 10 minutes before the clouds took care of that, and I don't think I did all that great of a job on the shutter speeds.

poop.

Then I needed my handouts, and they were in the car, and to top it off, I was cold. So, I bagged it! But, I do think I got some cute photos. Of course, they are of my kids having a blast sledding, so of course I think they are cute. They won't make for a magazine layout, but that isn't what I'm going for anyway!

I've posted them above for all to enjoy!

Life will be complete....

As some of you have already seen, on Steph's blog, Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theatre), on PBS will begin showing a virtual marathon of Jane Austen works beginning this Sunday. I am so excited I'm GIDDY! (Ron is not as excited as I, but I bet he watches with me anyway! I've already converted him to Sense & Sensibility and the latest Pride & Prejudice!) So all you Jane lovers out there, mark your calendars, pop your popcorn, and grab your tissues for any tears! Most of all, ENJOY!

Just a tiny vent....

I really need another warm and dry day to send my kids out into. They have so much cooped up energy right now, but it's too cold, snowy, and slushy to send them outside. So they are downstairs shrieking and yelling so loud that I am biting my tongue to not tell them to quiet and settle down. Any second now one of them is going to run into something solid, or each other, and come up bawling and hurt.

I really need more sleep so that my kids energy doesn't sap me to the bone! Maybe tonight.


Thank you for reading.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog enjoyment.

**edited to add: Jared was playing with my old recorded receipts earlier. He was calling them his addresses. I picked them up and threw them away about an hour ago, because he was no longer playing with them. I just found out now though that he wasn't "done" with them...oops. He's now in his room having a receipts in the garbage induced meltdown.**

Nursery fun...Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!

These are the kids pictures I'm making up for the "Sunbeam" posters in their class. The kids get to find their pictures and then stick them to the poster when they come to class on Sunday. Paper from tangie baxters "happy thoughts" kit.

I am the nursery coordinator in my ward. This Sunday was my first "change" Sunday. I was excited for it...new church time(later, meaning I would actually get there on time), new teachers, the bigger kids moving up into new classes. I guess I should've realized that the kids we are dealing with wouldn't appreciate the changes very well.

One class, Ellie's, did well. She threw a bit of a fit at the very start, but then saw the puzzles, so the fit ended as abruptly as it began.

The other two classes....hysterics, crying, chaos...

The 2nd "older" class was missing a teacher at the last minute. Three of the 6 kids were beyond upset about new teachers, and going to class first instead of toy time. Parents would leave, we'd get kids calmed, and then the parent would peek back in the window of the door to check on them. How is it that all 2 year olds are clairvoyant, and know exactly when their parents are at the window, so they also look up and the hysterics begin again?! We need one-way glass in those doors!

The younger class was...difficult. There was 1 of the 4 kids in there that didn't cry off and on the whole time. The 2nd stopped when she got her snacks...but the others?! Eeek! They hate it! I hope we figure them out soon!

It was stressful to me, as this was the first time I had to try and get it ready when the classrooms are still occupied by the 9 am ward when I need to get set up. Tons of fun to track down tables, open cupboards, get snacks out, and kids are getting dropped off in classrooms that don't have teachers in them yet. I REALLY hope next week goes better since it's ward conference, and the stake nursery leader will be there to observe...I wonder if you can get fired from a calling?! The topper was that at the end of church, one of the kids escaped before his mom came, and no one knew it. Until she came to get him and he was gone. I have never felt so sick. Found him in one of the front foyers trying to get outside, but thankfully, no one would open the door for him. I wanted to fire myself!

Too sad that in all the setting up nursery mayhem, I missed Nicole's talk in primary...grrrr. Ron went in to help her, but she almost didn't need help. That kid is reading on 2nd grade+ level, so had no problem reading her talk. She held up her pictures at the right time and everything. Jared was beyond excited to get his CTR ring. I think he may have already lost it now though....glad they are cheap!

Riley enjoyed the later church time. So much so, that at 10:45 when I'm trying to get everyone out the door, I called, and called, and called down to her....then found her...STILL ASLEEP! Hello?!?! So she got to walk to church today. Good thing it's just around the corner. Too bad for her it was blizzarding when she had to walk. I love it that she was bugged at me that she slipped in the snow while getting to church. Hmmm...hopefully a lesson learned that you get up and get yourself ready on time in order to get a ride to 11 AM church?!

Happy Birthday Ellie-Belle!

My baby turned 2 on the 29th. I can't believe it. She has grown up so fast. In some ways it's nice to say goodbye to some of the "infant" things in life, but on the other hand, I also miss it. She is becoming more independent every day, and her language is improving exponentially. There are days I think she adds 2-3 words, and completes more sentences by the minute. Very odd, since the other two littles didn't really speak English until 3 years of age....we were certain Nicole was speaking Navajo, and Jared was some sort of reformed Adamic. But Ellie, whew! It's so great and less frustrating having a kid that can communicate her wants.

She's been a different and easier kid from the beginning. Thank goodness! I think Heavenly Father knew I needed a break with her since I was dealing with two older "high-spirited" children, not to mention still mourning the loss of my dad when she was born.

She was the most beautiful baby when she was born, and has only gotten cuter.

We had a fun birthday. We were able to celebrate with a lot of family, as two of my siblings and their families arrived that day for a visit, as well as my niece and her hubby here. She got a BIG Costco princess cake, and made it very clear she wanted some of the frog when Ron cut that piece out! Although she really didn't need any more toys 4 days after Christmas, she got them anyway! A Dora bike, that she rode once and now won't get on...perfect...as well as a singing Mickey Mouse, a Little People store, and some Littlest Pet Shop playground thing...Nicole likes that. Spoiled I tell ya! Oh well...she's the baby!

Happy (belated) Birthday Ellie! We adore you, and are so excited to see you grow up!

Oh joy....

T-minus 18 months and counting....


I hesitated to put these up, because I am not photogenic, and these pics downright scare me. But, it's all about the reality of life! Hope these don't break anyone's computers....

I WILL have straight teeth! I just hope having these put on doesn't mean I develop acne as well...but if they make my gray hairs disappear, that would be nice! At least the worst of the soreness has gone away, and the inside of my cheeks no longer resemble ground beef.

I sure hope I can still get a date to prom!

Christmas collage o' fun

I really tried to get the kids to look at the camera, but they were less than interested in that idea when there were new things to take in!

Welcome to 2008...what a ride it will be!

***Edited: WooHoo! I figured out the problemmo with the title field. Apparently, someone...moi...accidentally turned it off whilst trying to post my new main blog title...what a dork! :o)***

Happy New Year!!!

3 days late....

It's been busy around here. No school, which thankfully, ends tomorrow. Lots of family in town, which was so much fun, but doesn't leave a lot of blogging time, and what I did have was spent helping my sister set up hers! Yay! Check Beth out here.

Things start getting back to normal tomorrow, errr, later this morning(!)...last of the family leaves, Ron heads back to work, kids head back to school...which should be great fun for Riley since she's seriously lacking on sleep after this week! Like I'm not....just look at what time I'm posting this...

So, I promise to get the Christmas pics up(as if anyone cares now!), and Ellie's bday fun as well.

after I get the house clean and bills paid...thpptt!