Children's Chruch

How could I forget? Emilee and I were in charge of Children's Church one night. We did two puppet shows a cool craft and gave the kids light sticks before heading out on a candle hunt. There are no pictures of the craft because it was a little crazy in there. All in all we had lots of fun and the kids did too.

Hello Again

Okay, okay, I'll post. I don't have a good excuse for my sabbatical. I'm just a slacker. :) Well on to my report. The Saturday night before camp my traveling buddies Persephanie and Kristin came over and stayed the night. Sunday morning at 5:30 we were stuffed, literally, in the car and ready to go. We headed over to Jon and Em's and then followed them down to camp, kinda. Somewhere in NM we stopped for a bit and then they stopped for a bit, we kept missing each other but we finally caught up about an hour from camp.

Camp itself was so fun! I had the girls and my kids in my cabin with the added bonus of Sister Marcia. Our bathroom adjoined to the single girls. Yikes, what a combo. One night I scared Anita to death when I went around their side of the bathroom to tell them to quite down at about 2:30 a.m. or so. Another night Sister Marcia and I giggled into the late hours about our torture chambers (camp beds.) Sam managed to fall out of the bed a few times. One of the times Sister Sara was there and said that he sleepily told her no when she asked him if he wanted help. She said he wasn't even awake and he told her no. Ha! He must dream of saying no. Crazy kid.

So some other highlights from camp were Persephanie and Kristin getting saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost! Yay! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Also I had lots of fun with the girls this year. :) However I'm not the fan of Sequence I use to be. Fruit Basket Upset is not a game to be played if you are over the age of twenty and wearing sandals. I don't know what I was thinking. Hmm what else??? I know there was lots more great stuff that happened at camp but lets move on to convention.









Convention is when I really started to miss Chris. Part of me wanted to go home and skip it. But, I'm glad I persevered because God was there and I love being in His presence even if I have to make several trips to the hallway with my children. For convention Persephanie and Kristin stayed with their Great Grandparents and I stayed with Sister Karen, Sister Dodie, and Sister Charlene. I was a little worried about the kids keeping them up but they did really well. I think Sister Karen fell in love with Sam. One morning he wandered over to her side of the bed and said please with his arms wide open signaling he wanted to be held. Could you die?

The Sunday night after convention I stayed with Sister Marcia and company and left early the next morning. The drive home was long. Did I mention I don't have air conditioning in my car? Yuck. But we got back and it is good to be home. It was so great seeing everyone and fellow shipping. It was really nice seeing Kathy and Angie who I haven't seen in years. I think we should have winter retreat. What do you think?

Finally

Sorry I didn’t mean to leave you in suspense for so long. I got busy packing for camp and didn’t have time to blog like I intended. The only picture that really needed explaining was the one of Sam driving. Chris let him sit on his lap and steer. Sam loved it so much! I was six the first time I got to steer. Sam is a lucky kid to start so early. Well, camp and convention were so good! I won’t promise to post about it more latter because I would hate to throw you all into suspense once more. I want you all to know I finally updated my devotion and praise blog!!! It’s about time. I’ve been working on this witnessing thing forever either directly or indirectly gathering information. But it is finally done so if you are interested in witnessing you can check out the packet that Tammy helped me with at devotionandpraise.blogspot.com

I'll Explain Later

Sale

Well it’s 11:19 should I go to bed or stay up and blog? Hmm, blog. I have spent the week getting ready for a yard/garage sale tomorrow. It won’t all fit in the garage so it is spilling onto the lawn. So I guess it is a gard sale or maybe a yarage sale??? Anyway, there are lots of toys, a Christmas tree, a toaster oven, some fake foliage, tee shirts, an old lap top, and lots of other great junk I hope people buy. It is hard for me to price things. I think I have a tendency to price things too high. I guess we will find out. Chris used the sale as an excuse to buy a label maker. I like it. It’s not a lot faster but it is fun and it does look better than my hand writing. Emilee is going to come over at 8:00 and stay for a few hours. I am so glad. Chris is working and I was a little nervous about having the sale all by myself. The turnout should be good. There is a church a few doors down from us that is having a basketball competition and last week there were about fifty cars parked on the block. I hope as many show up this week. Not too much else is going on. I have been cat sitting for a friend and on Wednesday I went to story time and then over to Emilee’s at Nathan and Caleb’s request. We lost to them at Mario Kart again but we came in second instead of 6th. One of these days we are going to squash them! I know, I know they are not even ten yet, but somehow it is still nice to beat them. Ha ha. Well good night everybody, Anna just woke up and she is not happy.

Happy Father’s Day!

Somehow I mixed up my days and thought today was Father’s Day so I went to the store this morning and got Chris all the great things he would want for breakfast that we didn’t have. Then I made it all up while he ran to his job site to unlock the doors for the scientist that were going to be there and finished just as he got home. I had the kids seated at the table and a card in front of his spot and then just after he sat down I left. That’s right I went to Village Inn to meet Emilee for breakfast. Now why would I do such a thing when I really thought it was Father’s Day? Well Chris has been working really long days like sixty two hours this week and I have been stuck at home with the children and going a bit crazy. Today was Ladies’ Bible study so I called Em last night and asked if she could meet me early and go to breakfast. And look at the bright side I am all practiced up and ready to make Father’s Day really great next Sunday and I’m not really bad because I didn’t really ditch my husband on Father’s Day I only thought I did. What a relief. Well breakfast was lots of fun even though we didn’t have room for pie. We laughed and laughed about all sorts of things and then we went to our Bible study and Emilee shared a really great devotion about giving to others and God giving back to us to overflowing proportions. Then we played Sequence. Which is a great game, especially when Emilee doesn’t win. I didn’t win either. Sister V beat us both. After Bible study Emilee and I headed to the thrift store and laughed and laughed some more. They have some of the greatest ugly skirts and shirts ever. After that I headed home and hung out until church. After church us Thompsons were planning on taking Brother Randy out to dinner but we all got a better offer to go to the Smiths for a Bar-B-Q. Mmm it was so good and I got to play on the Wii again. Emille beat me soudly once more but I did manage to beat her at Phase Ten Dice. We left about nine and then I dropped off my family so I could head to the airport to pick up my friend's Mom. Now I am finally home and very tired but after getting a pep talk from the NARR president I decided to blog about my great day while it was fresh in my mind and my many distractions are all asleep. Goodnight everybody.

I'm Back

So as you may have read on Emilee’s blog, she beat me soundly on the Wii Wednesday. But, it was great. Oh and we beat the boys soundly (one out of six times and just barely) playing Mario Cart. On Thursday the kids and I drove out to Parker and got Sam a couple of plastic Little Tykes cars. They were only $10 dollars a piece and Sam is very happy. I’ve been trying to get a yard sale together to get a little extra money and get rid of some of my junk. I have a decent pile I was going to sell today but Chris told me last night he might have some stuff to add if I wait until next weekend. So I’m going to wait so I will have more stuff. Wahoo. In other news, I’m trying to sell my car to buy a van with air conditioning before we get to the hottest part of the summer. I hope it works out. We need more room and I really want a Dodge Caravan.

Now for some sad news, my Grandfather passed away a couple of weeks ago. He died in his sleep. We had the viewing last Saturday and sometime this month we are going to try to all get together to spread his ashes somewhere. None of my family was very comfortable with cremation but unfortunately my Grandfather didn’t have life insurance and the cost of a funeral is very high. Thank you again for all of your prayers for him these last six months. To my knowledge he did not get saved before he died unless it was in his final moments but I know that God was faithful and provided him the opportunity.

God bless you

Spoons

Has anybody played spoons? It is a wonderful fast paced game filled with excitement and danger.

So here’s how it works… You set however many people you want to play around a sturdy table and put that many spoons in the middle minus one. Then you deal out four cards to everyone. The object of the game is to get a four of a kind. Whoever gets there four of a kind first grabs a spoon and then so does everyone else but one. That one gets a letter. When they loose enough to spell out the word spoon they are out of the game. So to start the game… Once the dealer has passed out the cards they start going though the pile one at a time and passing the cards to the person at there left and then they pass to the left and so on. So as the cards go around you look for ones that match and trade them out, always keeping four cards in your hand.

So where is the danger and excitement you might ask. Well when you have a competitive family and people who try to steal other people’s spoons right out of their hands things get pretty lively.

This last weekend Chris and I went to his brother’s house in Pueblo and on Sunday night his two sisters and one brother in law came over and we all played spoons. I ended up breaking the tops of one of the chairs and Chris broke the table in all of the excitement. There was biting, wrestling, nails lost, blood drawn, children pulled across the table, and grown men belly flopping on it, there was screaming, and yelling, and lots and lots of laughter. I am so happy that large portions were recorded for later viewing pleasure.

I don’t have any video but here are some pictures.

Barilla

So little Anna broke out in a rash a couple days ago but it is almost gone now and she is much happier. Poor kid first her top two teeth come in and now this. It has been a rough couple weeks. We went to a kids store today and sold them a few of the things we have never used. I got Sam a little plastic gas pump and a hat with some of the money. I wanted to trade all of my stuff for this little black truck that is missing a door and a bumper but the woman is delusion and thinks it is worth $20. So even though Sam likes it for now he is just going to have to gas up his bike instead of the broken truck. We had a lot of rain for a couple hours today. When we left it was sprinkling and by the time we got there it was pouring. I had fun getting me the kids and the stuff inside. But now we are home and it is down to a sprinkle again. In other news I have been trying to clean out the basement. I’m hoping to have a yard sale sometime soon. That’s about all. Oh yes there was also my fun shopping trip with Emilee and Herbie the bear. We were looking at clothes for Zeke and there was Herbie and only half price. What a deal. So Emilee and I have a new shopping buddy. He rode in the front of our cart and we strapped him in the backseat of the car when we left. He is a bear or maybe a gorilla. We’re not sure. Please tell me what you think he is, even those of you who don’t usually comment. You can comment anonymously just tell me bear or gorilla. Right now we call him a barilla. Bear or gorilla... you decide.

Isn't he a sweet brother?
Sam is silly. He likes to put on my shoes when he goes outside. Got to love the winter hat too.

Hi Everybody!

It’s time for my bi-monthly blog. So let me think what wonderful things have we been up to? Sam can now get himself completely undressed but he is a good boy and doesn’t try to undress at inappropriate times. J Anna is getting her two top teeth. She was up a lot last night with a fever. She is also just starting to try to walk around furniture.

So we did end up meeting with Chris’ brother and watching a little of our nephew’s game. Unfortunately it was raining so we didn’t get to see much before we retreated to the car.

We went to Castle Rock on Monday and spent some time with my Aunt Kelley and her daughter Kialani. It was fun. We went to McDonalds and then when we got back the kids played in back for awhile. We ran some errands yesterday. I’ve become slightly addicted to caffeine so I had to stop and get a cappuccino from the gas station. I knew Emilee would be getting done with story time at the library which is the way I was heading so I got her one too. We hung out in the library parking lot and talked and laughed awhile. Then I went to my friend Hannah’s. We had a good time there too. Hannah is one of the few friends I keep up with from High School. She is going to try to come to Ladies’ retreat this year. Yay! I know she is going to love it! Last night Laura and Adam came over and we ate spaghetti and played sequence. Adam and I were on one team and Chris and Laura were on the other. Adam and I creamed them both games. After Laura and Adam left and the kids were in bed, Chris and I played a couple more times and I creamed him both games. Chris hardly ever will play games so I would have been very happy anyway but all the creaming made it even better!

In other news our land lord is not happy with us. Chris just mowed the lawn for the first time this year last week. The grass was getting high enough to lose the children and play jungle in the back. Chris also had some of his construction stuff in the yard, some concrete blankets and some studs. The land lord said it looked like white trash had moved in. He also said if it got that bad again he would hire a lawn service and send us the bill. That is what he does for the guy on the other side of the duplex. Sam?...... Sam?..... Where are you? The grass is too tall and thick to get to you.

I finally found a plant I'm good at growing, Dandelions. Aren't they beautiful?

Here is my two headed monster. Chris had on two shirts so when it started to rain he put Anna in between them to keep her warm and dry.

Here is Clif and Aaron.

Cinnamon Rolls

I am so proud of Emilee and me! We made real live ewey gooey delicious cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls but until today didn't really know how to make them. They take forever but they are so worth it. I expect to gain about five pounds this week eating my half of them but that is okay too. Becki helped lots. She sent us very funny e-mails and called intermittently to give is much needed instructions and to make sure things were going okay. I wish she lived up here with us instead of in Texas, that way we could hear her best Julia Child impersonation. However, Emilee's was pretty good. In our endeavor to take forth the Bishop's and Sister Smith's torch had lots of fun together and laughed our way through most of the cinnamon roll process. We also had a thumb war match that left us deadlocked just like the arm wrestling match.

Sam had lots of fun running around in the backyard with the big boys. He is out like a light tonight. Anna laughed and laughed as Emilee worked on the rolls. I'm not sure what she was so happy about.

My wonderful husband made dinner tonight which was great because the cinnamon rolls took way longer to make than we thought they would and I didn't get home till after 6:00.

I have had four cinnamon rolls so far, or maybe five. Hmmm. I think I lost count. Oh well I'll start the count again tomorrow.

Nothing Too Exciting.

Since the last time I blogged I went shopping with Emilee, that was lots of fun as usual. I never really liked shopping till I started going with her. I also went to breakfast with my cousin's wife, Wendy and their new baby, Ava. It was great to see them. They live in Springs so I don't get to see them too often. Ava looks just like Ryan when he was a baby. We went to Mimi's Cafe and I had the three berry cream cheese stuffed french toast. Mmmm. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten. I also made a book with poems and pictures for my Grandma for her Birthday. Emilee helped lots. The things I make always look much better when she helps. Grandma loved it. I also went and visited with my friend Hannah and her little girl Samuela. It was nice to just hang out and Sam had a blast playing in her back yard. Not too much else going on here. Oh we are going to go see Chris brother today. He is in town with one of his sons soccer teams. So we are going to watch the game and go out to dinner afterward. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I don't think that they have met Anna yet. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. A couple of the kids, my new second cousin Ava, and Emilee the mad picture taking blogger.

The Pupet Show

We went to the puppet show with my Grandma on Thursday. It was so much fun! We got there a little early so Sam and my Grandma could make some puppets. She made a Queen and Sam made a King. I let Anna have mine. She pretended it was a popsicle and tried to eat it. The show, Rumpelstiltskin, was pretty good. There were six puppets all done by one lady. It must take a lot of planning, mundo organizational skills and some talent to pull it all off. I think I would get which voice goes to which character confused and then everyone would be confused. Our little group seemed to be the only non school group. Most of the kids there were kindergarten age. Sam really liked being around so many "big kids". He and Anna both did really well. I think one of the funniest parts of the whole thing was whenever there was gold on the stage the kids would yell at whatever character was on to "TAKE IT". It was great. After the show the kids got to play with puppets in little puppet stages. Sam was a little short for the stages but he didn't really notice.

This Weekend

Nathan and Caleb from the Smith family stayed with us this weekend. They were here Thursday night until just a few hours ago. Jon and Emilee went to Hatch New Mexico for youth convention and didn’t want to take their gas guzzling van so we kept the boys while they were gone. It was lots of fun. I think Saturday was the best. After Chris got home from working overtime we all played out in the yard for awhile. We have a couple sleds that Sam plays with and Chris decided to use them as large Frisbees. I kept accidentally throwing them over the fence. Our neighbor was nice enough to throw them back which led to a Frisbee match between him and Chris. Chris also decided to duct tape the boys, mainly Caleb. Caleb thought it was great, he just laughed and laughed. Don't let the picture of Caleb below fool you. He likes to be duct taped, really.

One Man's Sled is Another Man's Frisbee

Anna

Anna is doing new things. She crawled up half a flight of stairs the other day and she has been pulling herself up to the standing position anywhere she can. In the mornings she now pulls herself up to the part of the crib closest to the door and calls for me.