Wonders Never Cease

New baby

2011-03-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

Joanna Louise Ashby arrived on the 1st of March of 2011. She weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 18 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair and is a very sweet baby. She looks very much like her older sister. The kids are very happy to have her home. They always want to hold her or touch her. But they are very good about putting "hanitizer" on before the handle her in any way. Joanna is such a precious bundle. We are very lucky to have her in the family. Her name is very special because of family members that share her name. She has a great aunt Jo Anne, mommy's middle name is Ann, and Louise has been in the family for generations. Both an aunt and great aunt will share that name with her. Names have meaning so we wanted to make Joanna's special.

Grant's party

2011-01-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

Grant is now 7 years old and we are finished with all the celebrations. He had more toys than he knows what to do with. We had a family party and a friend party. He wanted an outer space theme party. I ordered some great things from Oriental Trading. We bought the blow up solar system and found we had two Earths and no Neptune, so we had them send out a replacement. David hung them from the ceiling downstairs. During the party I had the kids answer questions about the solar system. So, yes, I am that mom that turned a party into a learning experience. The kids had to stick the head on the alien, throw Transformers bean bags threw holes in space, and had a wonderful time hitting the pinata to get all the candy. We forgot to have the kids throw the mini golf discs. David was going to make them be alien space ships that were coming in for a landing. I always get a 1/2 sheet cake for our birthdays. Grant has a space shuttle that we put on the cake for a decoration. The cake is almost gone one week after the party. I bought inflatable space shuttles for the kids to take home. They all had a great time and enjoyed all the fun things they got to take home. I may overdue things for a kids party but I have a lot of fun putting it all together. I do have pictures but I am terrible about posting any. Grant put together a poster for school and had a week where he got to be the special helper. He is growing up so fast that I have to take time to just watch him and soak it all in.
I don't have to plan another party until May but since I am having a baby before then I am making some preparations already. We know our Lila is going to have some sort of princess party. I found these adorable little bead bags to hand out to the kids who come. This will be Lila's first friend party. Two out of the three birthday's she has had have been in California due to us going on vacation. No vacation planned this year so she is thrilled to invite her little friends over to her house for a party.
So birthday party was a success and we are now looking forward to the arrival of the new baby girl. The name of this girl is still up in the air. We will decide for sure when we see her. We just bought a new car seat because the old one was only supposed to be used for 6 years and we bought it for Grant 7 years ago. Now I just have to get a new dresser and wash the clothes before the baby comes. I will have a few months to get Lila's room ready before the baby will be sharing it with her.

Christmas cookies

2010-12-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

I love making Christmas cookies. There are some kinds of cookies that I only make at Christmas time. I must be crazy, but I love doing it. I don't always make them to give away. I have in the past and it was so much work making large batches of cookies. This year I am making most of them just because I want them. I am making peanut butter cookies to take to the ward Christmas party. I plan on making gingerbread cookies, spritzes, biscotti, my grandma Louise's special chocolate cookies, and of course the sugar cookies the kids will help me decorate. I made chocolate chip cookies a few days ago, and I dipped pretzels in white chocolate on Wednesday. I need to make cinnamon rolls, and homemade chocolates. Maybe toffee and caramel corn will be added to the list. I think I might have to go to the store to get enough supplies, even though I always keep certain baking essentials in the house at all times. I know it seems like a lot of stuff to make, but it helps the time go by faster. This is the perfect time of year, since this baby really makes me want desserts. I feel like I can get away with eating said desserts because I am pregnant and I am suppose to gain weight anyway. I just won't know if it is baby weight or dessert weight. There is a certain amount of freedom that comes with that thinking. I hope to get everything made. May the rest of the Christmas preparations go as well.

Christmas gifts

2010-11-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

I like to make something every year that I can give out to my friends and family. I found something this year that will be easy and useful. It requires a lot of ribbon. Luckily, Joann's had their holiday ribbon 50% off this last week. I could have saved a fortune, but I just bought twice the amount of ribbon. I wanted to make snowmen out of pavers stone. Problem is the stone I need is a seasonal item and is not carried in the stores right now. I will have to keep it in mind for next year and buy the stones in the spring. I am still at a loss as to what to give to the neighbors. I have the cute jars, I just need something to put in them. I might end up doing candy, but that is so boring and no one really needs more candy at Christmas time. Last year I made pot holders. I put them with a bag of walnuts from my mother's tree. Last year I made pillowcases for my nieces and nephews. Nothing as fun or exciting is coming to mind this year. I may have to go the easy route and make it something store bought. But I have always enjoyed the homemade gifts that I have given and received. I think they mean a bit more because someone has put a little bit of themselves into the present. Now if only I could get Lila to tell me what she really wants for gifts this year. We have a few more weeks before I have to get her something. Here come the holidays.

Tattle tales

2010-10-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

I can't stand it when my kids come and tattle on their sibling. A lot of times there is nothing I can do about what happened. They bicker all the time. And I am having a third child to add to the mix? I barely stay sane as things are now. They seem to think they can't clean up after themselves. Bribery doesn't even work with these two. Grant has the day off from school and the trouble began before the sun came up. My kids will be the death of me. Or they will send me to the insane asylum.

Halfway

2010-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Twenty weeks have passed in this pregnancy. The ultrasound showed us that our daughter is growing well and looks to be well developed. We don't have a name for this little girl yet, and this is driving me crazy. I try to find things to keep me busy, but I tire quickly. The holidays seem to be looking over me and we haven't even reached Halloween yet. The fact that stores have had Christmas things out since the end of September doesn't help me feel any better. I don't want to think about having to get gifts for people. I want to enjoy getting ready for a good Thanksgiving dinner. I loathe the change in temperatures. I don't look forward to snow. These next 20 weeks are going to be more difficult because of the time of year and being pregnant. I am glad I am halwfay, but I do not look forward to the next 20 weeks.

Baby #3

2010-09-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a surprise back at the beginning of July. I will be having a 3rd child at the beginning of March. She will be our second girl. I had to find out at 16 weeks what the gender was. This entire experience is such a surprise, I couldn't wait any longer. My feelings are very mixed about this whole thing. Lila will be almost 4 when this baby comes. I was thinking about my "5 year plan" and it involved possibly finding a part time job. Now that has been pushed back even more. Maybe in 7 or 8 years I'll find something to do during my days while the kids are in school. I have always hated being pregnant. It's a scary time for me because of possible complications. I hope to make it to March without going on bedrest. I don't get morning sickness, but I was exhausted for nearly 12 weeks. I was taking two naps a day. I had all sorts of plans for the summer, but they went out the window because I was tired all the time. My poor kids were bored to tears often. Now that Grant is in school I have more energy, so Lila and I do some fun things during school time. I still get tired and need naps, but not as often as before. I am always congested. I can't sleep if I can't breathe through my nose. I haven't had a good nights sleep for months and I won't have a good nights sleep for many months to come. I find myself bursting into tears because I don't want to be pregnant. Then I feel ungrateful because I should see this as a blessing not a burden. I have friends and family that can't get pregnant. I should be thankful that getting pregnant has never been a problem. I just have to get through another 5 months of this. Then I will have to deal with all the newborn stuff. I guess I'll deal with things as they come. I will search for the good in this situation. But I am still having a hard time with this at the moment.

Who's reading?

2010-08-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to know who is reading this blog. I am looking into going private so leave a comment so I get an idea of who needs invites.

Finding motivation

2010-07-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

For the past few days, things have been quiet here at the Ashby house. I haven't wanted to do any of the big projects that are crying out to be done. I know the weather is great, but I can't bring myself to paint the doors in the basement. It's too much work getting the doors off and outside. I have sewing projects I need to do but I just need a break from my sewing machine. I finished one big upholstery quilt only to have another one to start on. My craft room is a mess and really needs some attention. But I am lacking the motivation to get any of this done. I clean the house instead. I am avoiding folding laundry or cleaning the kids rooms. I made an attempt at cleaning Lila's room. The gullywumpus bag ate a lot of her toys, even some of her dress up clothes. We are still working on just how she can earn them back. The kids are getting restless with the activities I plan. We did lots of fun stuff in the beginning of summer so this last month seems to be dragging. I know it will go by quickly and I should be preparing for school. But I'm still having trouble finding the motivation to do stuff. Maybe I just need a few lazy days.

A new look

2010-07-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to cut my hair and I don't have money to buy a new wardrobe right now. So I thought I would change the background on my blog to give me a new look. I seem to be putting things on facebook more than on my blog lately. Grant learned to ride his bike without training wheels on Thursday, July 8th. He told his dad later that evening that he "felt like a new man". We are looking at buying him a bigger bike soon. We have to pay off the vacation before we can do that. The kids are enjoying the grass in the backyard. Grant still misses his dirt. He thinks it was much more fun than grass. But yesterday he did somersaults all the way across the backyard. He was laughing and really enjoying himself. I think he just needs to spend more time outside and he'll see how much fun grass can be.

June

2010-07-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

June went by so fast, but we managed to pack things in. We put in the grass and it survived while we left on vacation for 16 days. My sister came to stay at my house to watch the cat, and make sure my garden stayed alive. The grass is green, thick and is right out of my dreams. My lettuce bolted so I have to pull that out and start again. I think I'll try a different kind.
Our vacation took us through Wyoming, Nebraska, part of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota, back though Wyoming, then home to Utah. It was just over 4000 miles in total distance traveled. We had a wonderful time seeing old friends and showing the kids where Mommy lived when she was a little girl. Here's a list of some of the things we did on the trip:
Steamboat Arabia, Missouri
St. Charles Historic Downtown, Missouri
St. Louis Science Center, Missouri
River boat tour of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri
Historic Nauvoo and all that entails, (many activities, a day and a half stop), Illinois
Wisconsin Dells, Upper Dells Boat Tour, Wisconsin
Miniature golf at Pirate's Cove, (Grant got a hole in one all by himself) WI
Lake Michigan, at the beach in Sheboygan, WI
Bonfire in the backyard, (how I miss that)
A friends' farm where the kids rode horses and pet all kinds of animals
Parnell Tower, 60 ft tower tall enough to see the Kettle Moraines
Kids did Blue Harbor indoor water park with Gma & Gpa Schuette
Crystal and David go to Six Flags Great America (since kids were otherwise being entertained;)
Milwakee County Zoo, WI
Toy Story 3 in 3D
Vollrath Park in Sheboygan to test out David's new golf discs, all 5 of them
Lots of Wii games (we won't ever have one, I'd never get Grant away from it)
Playing in the hot tub, (it makes a good pool for 6 and 3 year olds)
Walking around Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota (what a tourist trap, but fun)
Mt. Rushmore lighting the mountain at dusk, ( at 9:30, late for the kids especially with a time change) South Dakota
Badlands National Park, SD
We missed driving through the Black Hills because of a severe thunderstorm that we managed to get caught in. We went back to the hotel and watched a movie and played in the pool, there was a slide.
In between all of these activities, we drove in a lot of rain for the first 4 days. Rain is different in the Midwest. It comes down in sheets for long periods of time. We don't get rain like that in Utah. We saw one amazing lighting storm coming home from Great America.
It was a great trip and the kids did pretty good in the car. We had no "Are we there yet?" statements, but we did hear, "Where's the hotel?"
We saw a lot of water towers on the trip and somewhere along the way the kids thought that if you were the first one to see it, you got to sing a song. Lila always sang "Follow the Prophet", and Grant's choice was "Book of Mormon Stories". So as you can probably guess, there was fighting over which song was going to be sung. My kids were fighting over singing Primary songs.
Now we're back and have no plans for the rest of the summer. I pulled out my "Oh, what Do You Do In The Summertime" calendar and started filling it with activities. We went to the craft store and got supplies for craft days. Grant wants to do them all right away. We have library trips planned. The Living Planet Aquarium was on the schedule for today. The kids were well behaved, and since they are both getting older it is easier for me to take both of them out. I had to stroller or diaper bag with me. I loved it.
I know my schedule will fill quickly one middle of August hits. I better get started on some of my craft projects that had to be put on the back burner for the month of June. I have two upholstery quilts to make for friends who got married in June. they make great picnic blankets.
I did both of my bike rides the first two weeks of June also. I wasn't able to go as far as I wanted due to time constraints, but I rode 33 miles the 1st week and 25 miles the next week. I love getting on my bike and riding forever. I might try to get another supported ride in this year. We'll see what July brings.

My backyard

2010-06-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have lived in this house for 6 1/2 years now. We finished the basement in Feb-Mar '09. Now it was time to finish the backyard. In May we had someone come and put in a sprinkler system while we were in California. We thought about doing it ourselves but after looking at things closely we knew it was out of our league. Then it was time for grass. David took off work on Tuesday the 1st of June. It rained so we couldn't work in the yard. On Thursday we were able to go out and till the yard some. Weeds were an issue. I used the tiller during the day and David was able to come home and work in the evenings. I put in 4 terraces on the south side of the house all by myself. I leveled most of the yard. David moved more rocks than we ever thought possible. But after all this prep work, we had sod delivered on Wednesday the 9th of June. With the help of two wonderful people in the neighborhood we were able to lay the sod on both sides and the back of the house. We no longer have dirt in the backyard. The kids want to go play on it but we must wait. We are going on vacation for just over 2 weeks so when we come back the kids should be able to play on it. The timing of things was done on purpose so it would be easier on the kids and us parents. We have been having some rain so the grass is staying wet. The temperatures are in the low 60's which is strange for Utah in June, but works out great for the new grass. David made a comment about everything being done with the house. I made sure to tell him our next project is hardwood floors in the upstairs. But that is for next year.

Milestones

2010-05-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Lila is now a 3 year old. Her birthday fell on Mother's day this year. We were in California on our Disneyland vacation so we celebrated at Grandma Harriet's house. We gave her a fabric sided market and lacing books. Grant gave her a Snow White crown. Grandparents gave her a bunch of new clothes, (little girl had very few shirts). Her cake was pink with princess things on top. It said Happy Birthday Princess Lila. It was a quiet day. The week that followed was crazy. We went to Disneyland 5 days that week. We are now ready to rest from playing. The kids had a great time. We made Grant ride the Tower of Terror in California Adventure. He covered his ears the entire time and wouldn't go on it again. Lila was afraid of the Matterhorn, but she liked the ride when it was over. We made her go at least 4 times. We did get to the beach, but we only stayed for a short time. The water was cold and the temperature was only in the mid 70's. They kids collected shells and sand. We went to some tide pools where we found some hermit crabs. We had breakfast in the park with Minnie. It was expensive but the smiles and laughter from my kids was worth it. My favorite ride was the Toy Story Midway games in California Adventure. Grant gives me a list when I ask him what his favorite was. Lila doesn't have a favorite but she asked for Alice. We saw more characters than we did two years ago. Lila went to see the princesses. She was brave and went up and gave them hugs and had her picture taken with them. The weather was perfect every day we were there. The kids stayed happy most of the time. Now we have to plan for the next vacation in June. I have two big bike rides before then. School is almost over. Summer is coming. Full steam ahead!

A Journal

2010-04-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

I went to a wonderful Family History fireside last night with David McCullough as guest speaker. He was amazing. He told of finding journals and how that brought these people from the past into the present, making them alive again. No one lives in the past, they lived in their present. You must learn to understand their present if you want to know them. He told us how he found a diary of a US ambassador to France during the times of Napoleon when Paris was engulfed in civil war. He found this diary in the Library of Congress of all places. He then said to write a journal and give it to your library or college or even the Library of Congress and then you will be forever quoted because it will be the only diary in existence from our time. Then I thought of what I will leave behind. I need to write things down. I have wanted to organize a project for a while now. Both of my children have been named after a great grandparent. I want my children to know who these amazing people were. I am hoping to get stories of them from the living children, that would be my parents, aunts, David's parents, aunts and uncle. If we don't write things down in some form, think of what we will be depriving future generations of. A young John Adams wrote in a small book with tiny script about wanting to read about the world and famous authors. He even wrote at the age of twenty about probably being a man of little consequence. We never know if we will be influential in the coming years. But I am grateful a young man decided to write his thoughts down so he comes to life for us years after his death. So I will write something for my children and my children's children, so when they read my words I can live again for them.

Working in the Garden

2010-04-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love my new raised bed garden. I have planted the lettuce starts and green beans went in today. I will add zucchini when the time is right. I am thinking about growing roma tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce this year. I don't think I will do peppers since I am not planning on making salsa. I have a yam that put out greenery that I will put in the ground and see what happens. I did this with a red potato the first year we were in this house and it was the only thing that produced. I love having a garden.

First Ride of the Year.

2010-04-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

I love getting on my bicycle and just going. I signed up months ago to ride the bike tour that is in connection with the Salt Lake Marathon. I was going to do it with a friend but due to medical circumstances she had to back out. It was on April 17th. The ride was only 24 miles long and was mostly downhill. I got to ride on Salt Lake City streets very early in the morning. We left from the George Eccles Bridge at the U of U at 6:00 am. It was still dark, but the temps were already in the low 50's. I finished in just under 1 hour and 30 minutes. I got to the finish line at the Gateway a few minutes before the 5 K runners left. I was given a medallion for finishing. The bike tour wasn't timed like the marathon was. After I was done I felt like I was just starting. I hope to find another ride this year where I will get to go a greater distance. There were no stops on this short ride, but that was okay because it was such an easy ride. I might do this ride again next year. Maybe I'll make David ride it with me. The feeling I get while on my bike must be the same that some people get when they run. I hate running, but riding a bike is a great high. Plus I get to see so much more on a bike than I would just running. I hope to work my way up to being able to do a century ride. That's 100 miles in a single day. I guess I have some crazy in me.

A New Vacuum

2010-04-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, my Electrolux vacuum that I have had since 1997 became possessed a few months back. I was cleaning and while holding the vacuum had a major shock. This must have shorted something in the machine because it started having issues. The machine would turn on when I touched the machine anywhere. Then the head no longer turned and it would turn on all on its own. Telling you it was possessed by the Vacuum demons. This demon gets into your machine and makes your life horrible because you can't clean your house anymore. Then it plays the dirtiest trick, it destroys your vacuum so you need to buy a new one. Oh well, my vacuum had a good run. Over 12 years with mostly minor problems. So I did the crazy thing and bought the new model. It is lighter, has better suction, no handle board to get shorted out, a true HEPA filter, 20 year parts and labor warranty for the canister, 5 year warranty on the other parts. So if the demons come back for this machine the problems will be covered for the next 20 years. I really like the fact that customer service comes to my house to see what is wrong with the machine. Areus electrolux is a great company. Someone tried to sell me a Kirby before Christmas but she took over 3 1/2 hours of my day without telling me at the beginning that she was trying to sell me a machine. She told me she was just out cleaning a room for free. I thought it was a cleaning service that if I liked what they did I could buy their services. She made me so angry that I will never buy a Kirby simply because the customer service was manipulative and deceiving. Back to what I bought, I also bought an upright for the downstairs for quick pick up. A Spring Cleaning sale went into effect at the beginning of the month and with my trade in I got a great deal on the machine. In the end I spent $1604 for two vacuums. The tax was over $100. I will not be buying another machine for at least another 12 years, hopefully more like 20 years. I know you think I am crazy for spending that much money on a vacuum, but it beats buying a Hoover or a Dyson every 4 to 5 years. In the end the cost would be the same, and I have a better machine in the intervening years. Now I am off to use my new vacuum in the house where the old machine has been causing problems. My house will finally feel clean.

Big Day

2010-04-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day for our Lila. She begins potty training. So far we have had much success. I took her 3 times this morning with no results. Not ten minutes after I took her the third time, she took herself and finally tinkled. She has now done this four times already and it is only noon. We had a bit of an accident because she was playing outside and didn't get into the house in time. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I told her to say goodbye to her diapers because she won't be needing them anymore. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Finding Time

2010-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

Lately, I seem to lose track of the days and wonder exactly what I have accomplished. The last two days have been filled with the desire to do nothing because I came down with a cold. Looking back over the week I think a lot of time has been spent of Facebook, watching television and just zoning out. I need to get things done...laundry, cleaning, craft projects. When I look back on the week and see the progress made in these parts of my life, I managed to get the kids laundry folded and put away (a big step for me), I cleaned out the pantry, the kitchen table has been cleared at lest twice, the living room is presentable after the books are put back on the shelves, I am in the process of making my birthday cards for card group,I made 2 doilies on Friday to donate to a friend for a silent auction. I rode my bike 3 times for 30 minutes.
Well, when I look back I guess I did get some things accomplished. This cold is just kicking me while I'm down. I need to get back to my scrapbooking. I managed to get 62 12x12 page layouts done when I went to St. George for the annual Ashby sister's and relations scrapbook weekend. But I haven't even looked at the rest of my pictures since then. I need to print pictures out from June of 09 up to the present. I hate taking the time to upload everything, as evidenced by my lack of pictures on this blog.
David and I made a sketchy itinerary for our big vacation in June this year. That in itself was a great big check made on "the list" Now with the weather turning nicer we have to get the back yard in so the kids can play without bringing in half the yard back in the house as mud on their shoes. I love that Spring is here, but it means a lot of work is coming with it. Now I just have to find the time to do all I want to. Garden here I come.

Cards

2010-02-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, so no pictures yet. But I decided to make some cards and see if people are willing to buy them. I have three made up already with another two in the works. I had the idea to do this a few years ago but I had some friends who thought it wasn't a good idea. Why I ever listened to them, I don't know. I gave a friend 16 different cards for her birthday. She is not into paper crafting of any kind, even though she is a very creative person. Paper just isn't her thing. She loved having so many different cards. I have been making cards for a group exchange for years and I happen to make extra every time I make them. So I was able to go into the "archives" and find a plethora of my creations to give her. It gave me the momentum to begin a new project. I don't know exactly what I am getting into, but I am enjoying making cards.

I procrastinate.

2010-02-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to put up pictures of Grant's birthday since the 10th of January. Here it is nearly a month later and no pictures yet. I hate how long it takes me to post pictures on my computer. I could do it on David's computer, but that means venturing into the Man Cave. I need to just do it. I need to print pictures, also. I have over 1000 photos to scrapbook, but that only takes me through June of 2009. I told myself that I would get pictures printed every month. So much for that idea. Well, for all of you waiting for pictures you will have to wait a bit longer. WE;ll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe pictures.

Grant is 6

2010-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

Grant had a birthday and it was not stressful like last year. He had a party on Saturday. He wanted to go bowling so he was allowed to invite 3 friends. We managed to get all the car seats in the van and the boys had a blast. Lila was allowed to come because she was the sister. They had a blast and then we came home and opened presents. Grant got a Nerf gun with a laser sight and lots of Ben 10 action figures (Kevin, Gorvan, and Brainstorm). He already had Chromostone from after Christmas. We gave him Kevin Levin's car ( a Ben 10 toy). The 4 boys sat in the corner of our living room and quietly played with the Ben 10 stuff for a good 10 minutes. We ordered a cake that we had to design ourselves to look more like a Ben 10 cake. Grant loved it. Plus we had to put Ben on it so he got another action figure. I have pictures to post but I am on the wrong computer to do so. Grant is nearly 44 inches and 36 pounds. He is skinny! He still doesn't like pop, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He loves candy corn and tootsie rolls. He is a smart kid and is learning to read quickly. He is a very sociable child. It gets him into trouble at school sometimes. He is an amazing kid.
On Sunday, his actual birthday, he opened gifts throughout the day. Bakugans for breakfast, Voltron DVD's for lunch, and rockets, Ben 10 figures (Humongasaur, Swampfire, High Breed, Anodite Gwen, and Nanomech), another Bakugan from Lila, Glow in the dark stars, a foam rocket launcher, & 2 real rockets. I think that was everything. I might have missed something. He has been happy with his toys and plays with them constantly. Television holds no appeal compared to his imagination.

Do Better

2010-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

I am supposed to start the new year with a resolve to do better. Better at what? you may ask. I will do better at keeping up on the housework...did I just write that? I will do better at cooking dinner...what? I will do better with my children...but they are so unpredictable. Well, I will just try to do something better every day. I might try to work on my piano skills, or pick up my guitar and really work at getting better. Maybe I'll organize my scrapbooking and other craft supplies and try to keep them that way. I guess my motto for the year is just "Do Better". I don't have to get anything perfect, just better than it was the day before. I'll do better at keeping up my blog. Do better at getting pictures posted. Do better with my health. Do better at the garden this year. Do better with the backyard landscaping. No matter where I look in my life I can always see something that I can do better, since I know I'll never be perfect in this life. May we all "do better" this year. Find something that will make you a better person and work on it. Think more of others this year. Do more service for others. Be better at being grateful for what we have. Everything we do can make an impact on someone else. Try to make that impact be for the better. I'm going to try and make this one last all year, and maybe beyond that.

Lists

2009-12-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a season of lists. Lists to send to Santa, lists of gifts for family, lists of gifts for friends and neighbors, lists of things to do to get ready for the great day. They seem to go on and on. My lists have many things on them. My to do list gets added to while the getting gifts goes down. I am nearly ready for the special day. Just a bit more shopping and some cleaning left. I don't like making lists and now I remember why. They make me feel overwhelmed.

Two weeks

2009-12-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here come the most hectic two weeks out of the year. Lila has just decided she wants Santa to bring her a Barbie. That is doable. That way Santa brings the kids the same size of gift. Grant has been asking for a Bumblebee transformer for the last three months. David and I need to take an inventory on what gifts we have for the kids. We still have money from the Ashby Grandparents that needs to be used and we are running out of ideas. Gifts for most of the family are finished. Neighbor gifts still need to be put together. I keep forgetting to buy holiday ziploc bags.
I caught the kids wearing the Christmas stockings yesterday so I brought in the Santa pole to hang them up. I can't blame the kids for playing with the stockings. I did the same thing. I think everyone has done it at least once. We have a Church Christmas party tonight, the Teamster party on Saturday, Grant's school holiday program on the 16th, and his class party on the 17th. Things are going to be busy this coming week. Then Grant is out of school for two weeks. How will I keep him busy? The second week he will have all his new stuff from Christmas which should help him pass the time. Then two weeks after Christmas is Grant's 6th birthday. My child is turning 6? He is such a smart kid. He is learning to read at an amazing rate. He can sound out words without trouble. I am trying to teach him some of the crazy vowel rules for English. However those rules are always broken. How we ever learn this crazy language is anyone's guess.
Must get to work on the house and Christmas preparations. We are having lots of family to our house this year. David has been wanting to have his family up for Christmas ever since we bought this house. Now that the basement is finished we have the space to put everyone.
Time to put on the Christmas tunes. Music is a good motivator.

Christmas projects

2009-12-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

I always seem to do this to myself. I don't feel like working on Christmas gifts until the season hits and then I do too many projects and eventually run out of time and some things get left undone. I have neighbor gifts to finish, family gifts to make, and other gifts still in the planning stage. I don't think cards will be sent this year. I would have to have family pictures taken and that is too much work. David is busy with work already. Being the Brown Santa is a time consuming job this time of year. I might as well get started. Here come the holidays!

Spring Cleaning

2009-12-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know we are months away from spring, but I feel the need to organize some things in my house. I managed to get Lila's room done yesterday. I put away her clothes she has grown out of and had some teary moments. We put her mattress on a bed frame yesterday. She slept in her bed all night long for a change. Maybe this will be a good thing. I need to work on my closet and my craft room. When walking into both places you are uncertain if you will be able to find your way out. Sometimes you just have to dive in. So here I go, into the pool.

Begin the countdown.

2009-11-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Here come the holidays. Am I ready? In no way at all. Do I have ideas for gifts? Some. Will I get everything finished in time? Probably not. All I can do is try. But I am finding motivation just as difficult to obtain as a Black Friday limited quantity doorbuster. I may have to get up early to get some. Not looking forward to the work Christmas entails. Christmas cards? Probably not. Homemade gifts for close friends? Looking dicey. Something special for my man? I'm plum out of ideas. I have a feeling I might be changing how we do Christmas.

Ready to drop!

2009-11-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

We have been a very busy family. Every weekend since the first of August we have had something going on. Here is a list of our activities:

This is the Place
Kearns hometown parade, then a bridal shower
Primary activity
Teresa's baby shower
Family reunion and 12th anniversary
Lagoon
Peach Days
State Fair
Crystal in Vegas with Teresa, Dave and kids at Toys R Us birthday party
General Conference
Boo at the Zoo in Willow Park (Logan)
Early morning hike for my birthday with the girls, then craft day, then Treehouse in Ogden
Kids Halloween party
Halloween
Going to the U of U football game
Pow Wow for Cub Scouts
Crystal back to Vegas to see Baby Sam

My first weekend without any plans happens to be Thanksgiving weekend.

That accounts for my entire fall season. I have been slacking about putting pictures up anywhere. I am currently getting them off the camera and onto a computer. I feel like I am busy all the time. Every Thursday Lila and I go to Grant's school and help out for the day. Grant likes having Mom come I think. Lila likes to be with the big kids and is very well behaved. I like going because I get to see what Grant is doing in school and I feel more connected with what is going on. Last Thursday we had a Halloween party for the entire class time. We has 6 stations of activities and I got to read the same story 6 times. It was a long story so the other stations were always waiting for me to finish.
I've also been going nuts getting the house cleaned and decorated for the 2 Halloween parties we had, one for kids, one for adults. Now my house is looking better, but still gets messy if I turn around.
Lila is talking up a storm. Her new favorite sentence is "I do it myself." I was carrying her down some stairs and halfway she said this sentence. I put her down and she proceeded to go up to the top of the stairs so she could come down all of them by herself.
Grant is learning how to read and picking up on it quickly. As long as he doesn't let himself get frustrated too quickly we can get him to read simple books now. He knows a good number of sight words and is picking up more by the day. School is a good thing for him. He has never been much of an artist, but he has started to draw pictures. He even entered a picture he drew into the Reflections contest for school. I was so proud of him. The theme is 'Beauty is..." and he drew himself standing in front of his house with green grass and a blue sky with a very colorful bird flying by. He titled his piece " Home". I forgot to take a picture of it and am sad because he probably won't get it back. Maybe they will have it displayed at the Reflections awards assembly and I can get a picture then.
David is going into the Christmas season at work. He knows long days are on their way. I am trying to plan accordingly. This means I have to find sitters if I am going to do things on a weeknight. That's just they way things work when your husband works for UPS.
Maybe things will slow down for us soon. What am I thinking! Bring on the Holidays!

Update on School

2009-09-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

Grant enjoys getting on the bus. He doesn't like to talk about school. I decided to volunteer in his class so I would have some idea of what was going on and how he was doing. I like helping out in class. Lila comes with me and there are times she causes a disturbance and has to be dealt with. Grant does pretty well with listening to the teacher and his does great on his school work. He gets homework every day. Not what you would expect from kindergarten but he is picking things up quickly and is getting faster at reading words. I didn't push him to learn to read before school and he is still doing well in his class.

My house on the other hand has been steadily getting worse. I am so overwhelmed that I mowed the lawn instead of cleaning the kitchen today. I still need to fold laundry and make some headway on cleaning my bedroom. My craft room is also a disaster and needs some attention. We'll see what gets accomplished today.

School

2009-08-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Grant is very ready for kindergarten. He starts on Monday the 31st of August. Grant gets to ride the bus. He has watched it drive by for the last few years and was so excited for the day when he would get to ride. The school is 1.4 miles away from our house and he has to cross two busy streets in order to get there. He isn't going to walk to school unless he misses the bus and the car isn't working. He gets to go to the new school that just was finished. He will be going to Diamond Ridge. The mascot is a rocket. Grant couldn't be any happier. The school is wonderful and the kindergartners have their own entrance and playground. We saw the school st the open house and it looks like a great school. The kindergarten kids have two rooms they get to learn in. One for learning the core stuff and one is an activity and play room. There are only 19 kids in his class right now. Not bad for a kindergarten. He had his evaluation and I think he did okay. He doesn't like to answer questions when I ask him about it. Silly boy.

The next few days will seem like an eternity. He is already bored with the activities we have been doing all summer. He is bickering with his sister all the time. He is just ornery. We are going to be able to go to someone's house today to play. I have special prizes for him if he can be good, but they are still sitting on the shelf, waiting to be earned. School should help with the bored part of his day. I know Lila is going to miss him. Last year when he went to preschool, Lila took a nap because he was gone in the afternoon. Now he has morning kindergarten. We will have to see how things work out.

Goal Accomplished

2009-08-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

I always have an unspoken goal for every day. I have two small children who have envious amounts of energy. My goal is to tire them out enough that they both fall asleep at the same time. I took them to see Monsters v Aliens today. Then we went to the park for free lunch. They played with friends and ran around in the sun. We came home and they had a creamie. Now they are both sleeping peacefully downstairs where it is cool. Yea, I love it when I reach my goals.

Busy already?

2009-08-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden I seem to be very busy again. I have something planned for every weekend until the 2nd week of October. That is crazy. I am not completely booked. I just have something going on every Saturday. School hasn't even started yet. I need to go school shopping with Grant. Maybe I can take time to do that this Saturday after the parade. I am bogged down in the project department, too. I finished all the stuff for trek and thought I won't have much to do after that. I now am busy making invitations, doilies, Christmas gifts, a shower gift. I must be crazy. But I think this is what keeps me looking forward. I love doing projects. Maybe I should try to space them out. Naw.

Apricots

2009-07-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

I was able to can 14 pints of apricot halves and 19 half pints of jam. Since I got the apricots for free I would say that isn't bad at all. I have already given away some of my jam. Teresa is going to benefit from all my labors also. The things I do for my sister.

Cleaning

2009-07-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have family coming this weekend and I need to have the house clean. I have been trying to work on the house everyday. But it seems like whatever I clean up must be done again the next day. I am tired of cleaning and so I sit here at the computer wasting time. Some would call it Procrastination, I just call it Avoidance.

A full week of fun

2009-07-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to go on Pioneer Trek with my Stake this year. We walked nearly 30 miles, but the weather was beautiful. I slept better than I do at home because no children woke me in the night. I wore pretty dresses and fun aprons. My feet hurt by the time I got back home. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I was able to be in a family which made the experience all the better.

Now that I am home I am doing all sorts of activities with the kids. On Tuesday we went to the store and bought the kids a Spiderman scooter to share and Lila got her first trike. It was fun watching her try to pedal then give up when it got to be too much work so she just used her feet on the ground.

Yesterday we went to the theater and watched The Lion King, then came home and had some friends over for a water balloon fight in the front yard.

Today it was the dentist for Mommy and immunization shots for the kids. Grandma Sue came down to help make Grant brave. He wouldn't get out of the car without some major coaxing. Lila only had one shot, but Grant needed 3 in order to be ready for kindergarten. We then bought lunch and brought it home. The kids ate like kids do. Off and on again. We then painted sun catchers. Grant has been waiting to do those for few weeks. They both had a great time. Amber helped Lila while Grant was able to do his pretty much on his own. Now it is quiet and cool time with a movie in the downstairs family room. This is a very good way to spend the afternoon on a hot day. I am in the mood for making some cookies. If only my mouth would get feeling back.

I Just Can't Win

2009-07-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park and have free lunch today. The Granite School district gives out lunch to all ages of kids every day during the summer for free. I thought it would be nice to get a good meal that I didn't have to make or buy and the kids would get to play at the park. We had a great time. I put them in the wagon and waked to the park. It's a pretty long walk, over a mile. The kids did okay with eating their lunches before playing and the temperature wasn't overwhelming. We found a tree to sit under for shade and met friends and enjoyed this first day of July. As we were walking home after just leaving the park, I hear this from Grant in the back of the wagon. "I'm bored".

I just can't win.

Projects

2009-06-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

My son keeps telling me how bored he is. So I went to Wal-mart and bought over $100 woth of activities for the kids this summer. I bough sun catchers, pony beads, fun fuse beads, pom pom animals, chenille animals, hand puppets, 3D chalk, and paint brushes (already have the paint), foam visors, foam sunglasses, and masks. Quite a list of things to do. Now if only they will be okay with doing just one a day. There are always lots of other things we can do. Lets hope I can keep them occupied for the rest of summer. Ha Ha.

Pictures of YW Camp 2009

2009-06-16T09:35:00.001-07:00

We made it to camp and start with a story. The Lorax and Warm Fuzzies!

Marie almost gets hit by flying logs. The girls like to use the ax.

Aren't they pretty in their tutus.

Ready for the hike. We have sunshine!

Those are some big beavers. Good thing we didn't run into any on the hike.

Star Charts. The sky cleared just for us.

The Amazing Leaders, Crystal, Jenae, Anjela, and Marie

Anjela imparting her wisdom and Marie showing us the source of her strength. Her Wonder Woman belt buckle.

Kristi nearly gets nailed with flying debris.

See where the flying debris came from? Our supportive Priesthood leaders.

Jenae testing the cheesy potatoes. A favorite for many of the girls.

We enlisted the Bishop to help us cook the bagged omelets. He did it with a smile.

"Do you trust my aim?" Poor Aaron was doused with used cooking oil. Oops.

We had sunshine the last two days and it was wonderful. We have the best girls!!!!!

We got home and the rain came pouring down. But we managed to dry out.

YW Camp

2009-06-14T19:43:00.001-07:00

I managed to get to camp and back home this week. We have had rain unlike any other June in history. OK, maybe not that bad but rain was coming down in buckets. The roads were so muddy we didn't think we would be able to make it to the camp. The girls were real troopers though. I made them do activities in the rain. Most of them managed to keep a good attitude about it. We had so many crafts for the girls we should have called it craft camp. But it worked out well because of the rain. We tried to keep warm and dry. We witnessed many miracles and the girls came away thankful for the experience. I get to work with some of the best girls ever. They all care about each other and get along so well. I am grateful that I work with them.

Contacts

2009-06-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

I really am beginning to appreciate my contacts. I have to go with them and wear glasses for the next three weeks due to a growth on the back of my left eyelid. I've been wearing my glasses for 5 days already so it will be a month of glasses, hopefully. I was given a medication for my eye and must use it 4 times a day for 2-2 1/2 weeks. Then I can try the contacts again and see if there is any trouble. At least he didn't say the bump would have to cut out. Yet. Let's hope meds take care of it.

Kids Are Messy

2009-06-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

It seems I am endlessly cleaning up after my children. They do help out sometimes in the cleanup but they are so much better at making the messes. I am so tempted to sit down with a book and read all day. Then the house will really be in need of a cleaning. It's like trying to keep a tornado tidy. At least with the basement finished I can contain some of the mess to a single room. Oh well, this kind of thing won't last forever. But I don't think I'll miss cleaning up spilled juice everyday.

Late (Take 2)

2009-05-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

Let's try this again.

We have been very busy so I haven't been posting anything.

Lila had her 2nd birthday. She has grown so much and is talking up a storm. She is even putting the end sounds on her words now. Yea!!! We had a small party at Grandpa Charlie's house. She has clothes, a stroller and a new baby doll. Plus lots more.

We had friends/family some for a visit this last week. I met Missy when I was three living in Wisconsin. She was an only child, and still would be except for the fact that her parents 'adopted' me as their own. I became her sister and we have been friends ever since. Missy came out on a Saturday and her parents came on Tuesday. My kids are the only grandkids Diane and Tom have. Missy doesn't have any kids yet. So they had fun getting to know the kids. We went to the park, the zoo, the aquarium, Thanksgiving Point, Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Grant's favorite, Bowling. We did just enough to wear the kids out but not the adults. We had a wonderful time. We hope to be able to go to Wisconsin and visit them next summer.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Charlie were visitn Teresa in Vegas over the Memorial Day weekend. We decided to go up and visit Amber and Heather anyway. We went to the train park and Dave got to throw some discs. We then went to Night at the Museum 2. Very funny movie. Grant loved it. We then had hamburgers and jello back at the house. It was fun getting to spend time with my sisters.

Grant and Lila went to the Dentist for the first time on Tuesday. Grant was amazing. No Fear!!
Lila was terrified and wanted nothing to do with the dentist.

Lila has a double ear infection. I didn't even know until I saw some dried blood in her ear. And then I thought she might have stuck something in it, or her brother did it. But I went to the pediatricians office and the N. P. said it was pretty bad. Lila had been grouchy, but what two year old isn't grouchy when her schedule is all wonky. Now we just have to get her to take the medicine, which is proving to be a little challenging.

My sister is having a boy. She is trying to even up the odds in our family of all girls. Girls are still ahead by one. I can hardly wait to go buy clothes for little Samuel Charles Mika. Carter's is having a sale and I plan on getting to that one.

I know people want pictures. It all depends on when I find time to do it. Just keep coming back.

Have a great day everyone.

2009-05-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

Grant just lost my post.

Arches

2009-05-14T17:26:00.001-07:00

We made a quick trip to Arches National Park on Monday. We picked up Grant right after school on Monday and drove right to the park. Had to find a hotel room because we didn't reserve a campsite. Not smart of us I know. Grant was okay with the hotel, but it was boring. We managed to get the last campsite for Tuesday night. We walked to Landscape Arch in the Devil's Garden area first. The kids whined some and Grant couldn't keep his hands out of the sand. It was his favorite part of the park though. We made stops at the Windows section and the Delicate Arch viewpoint. We did the small stops along the road. We made three trips into Moab because we kept forgetting things.
The day was sunny and warm, reaching the low 90's. It became windy in the afternoon and we were not able to set up the tent until we were going to get into it. We did no cooking because the stove would have blown out. We got a movie for the kids and let them watch it in the tent right before bed. I took a few mintues around 10:30 pm to look at the stars. There were so many. The moon had yet to rise and there was no other light pollution. I love looking at the night sky. The wind died down in the night and the morning was still as could be. We took the time to see a few more arches the next morning before we had to leave. The temperature was a wonderful 68 to 70 degrees. Lila walked when there were stairs. Grant always wanted to be in the lead. We managed to get a few family shots. Dave and I took turns with the camera so we are both in lots of pictures. The kids had fun running around the visitor's center. Grant wanted to bring home a lizard. Lila was just in awe of them when she saw them.
So many people would stop and look at our license plate, and I couldn't figure out why. Dave looked and said it was we were one of the only cars with the Utah centennial plate. It has Delicate Arch on it. Pretty funny when you think about it. Here we are in the place where our license plate picture can be found.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip. The kids did really well, and they were in the minority of people in the park. Lots of adults and fewer teenagers. Very few children. Lots of international people.
We can't wait to go again. Or maybe we just want another vacation.

So much to do

2009-05-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

I have so many projects going right now that I am having a hard time picking which one to work on. There is the yard, 3 sewing projects, the scrapbooking, a doily, not to mention the cleaning of the house, some painting, caulking, redecorating. So I pick and choose each day. I still make time to do fun things with the kids, like going for walk or to the park.

What shall I do today?

Randomness

2009-04-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

A friend told me I don't put enough random things on my blog. I guess I get the random stuff out when I'm on Facebook. So, something random. I give up.

My lilacs are blooming and that makes me blissful. Lilacs are my favorite flower and they only bloom for about two weeks out of the year. I go out every morning to smell them and soon I will cut them to bring into the house. Then, once mine are gone, I will go to church buildings that have them and take some of these beautiful flowers. I don't take too many. The smell of lilacs just rejuvenate my spirit. If only scent companies could get it right. I long for these weeks all year. And now they are finally here. Does life get any better?

My yard

2009-04-29T08:06:00.001-07:00

I am really looking forward to the day I can send the kids out into the backyard and I know that they will be safe. We have the money to put in fences along the front of the yard. Then we are on to sprinklers and sod. I am also looking forward to putting in my garden. Here's hoping for some nice weather.

My bike

2009-04-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a bike ride on my new road bike yesterday. Yes, this bike was expensive. Yes, I want to ride for long distances. Yes, I am crazy. I can hardly wait to get on the road with it again. Riding a bike always makes me happy. I love the feeling of the wind in your face as you ride. I love the smell of Spring that reminds me of life renewing itself. I, in turn, feel renewed after a bike ride. I feel tired, too. I have to ride more to get my endurance up.

Spring

2009-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

I went on a walk with my family today. It was sunny and I didn't wear a jacket.

Easter Pictures

2009-04-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Our little family on Easter
Lila chasing Rainbow
Grant has it right. Take time to smell the flowers.
Lila is telling Daddy how pretty the flowers are.
The kids managed to stay looking nice during church, so we could take pictures outside afterwords.

Grant Goes to Grandma Sue's House

2009-04-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

My boy loves going to grandma's house. He gets special treats when he stays there. He gets to go to the park every day, unless it's raining. He gets to play with the special toys that grandma keeps only at her house, like Voltron and Legos. He goes fishing with Grandpa Charlie, a highlight of every trip. And if he is lucky, they will go shoot off grandpa's rockets. He loves having so much attention devoted to him. I'm just mom and have other responsibilities at home. I'm not able to do all the fun things that he gets to do at grandma's house. Grant was on spring break for school so he had a few days that he could go spend with Grandma Sue. She is his favorite person in the world. She loves him "even more than Mommy does." He gets to play in the backyard and pet the nice kitties, "ours is mean and we need to take her back to the pet store." It was his turn to have a sleep over with his favorite person. I think he gets spoiled when he stays there. But then that is what Grandmas are for.

Mr. Robin Red Breast

2009-04-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have to thank our little songbird friend. He lets me know that even though the weather is terrible and it seems as if Spring has forgotten our part of the woods, the season is changing. I wake up to his song in the morning, and he lifts my spirits.

Lila

2009-04-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

Lila thinks every color is yellow. What's funny is that she says it so often. I tell her the right color and she tries to repeat it, but she always goes back to yellow. She is starting to talk more. If only she would lose the binky while she talks.

Funny fact: Grant said lellow, Lila says yeyyow. If only I could put the two together we would have the right sounds.

Snow in April

2009-04-04T15:07:00.001-07:00

Here we are on April 4th. Two inches of snow covered the ground as the sun tried vainly to shine. Outside is not a place to play for us. It is too cold and wet. At least my basement is finished (with the exception of some painting of trim). My house is now twice the size that it was only 2 months ago. My children can run around and get out wiggles. I can go somewhere and find a little peace in a chaotic day. I am very grateful for this miracle in my life. After 5 1/2 years in this house that I call home, I see what this house was meant to be. A Sanctuary from the world for my family. There is enough space for all of us now. It may seem silly for me to call it a miracle, but that is truly what it feels like to me.

Down to the wire

2009-03-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

Things are coming to a head. I want the basement to be finished in the next 36 hours. I have people coming over Wednesday night and would like the basement to be complete. Due to things beyond my control this deadline might not be met. The basement is livable and warm. The bathroom should be done. But the kitchenette might be the one thing that doesn't allow us to cross the finish line. We shall see if a miracle will happen and mistakes can be rectified quickly. It will be done soon. I just am not sure of the 36 hour time limit.

Crafting

2009-03-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

I moved into my craft room yesterday. I have a desk for scrapbooking. Getting the desk into the room was an adventure. We had to remove the desktop in order for it to fit through the door. But it has the largest worktop, and that is just what a scrapper needs. Dave also put up another table for my sewing machine. This is a very big room so I can have projects out in both areas at the same time. I also put a TV in that room and a phone. I could spend most of my day in that space and be a happy girl. Grant knows he has to ask to come in. We'll see how long that will last. But for now, I have a sanctuary in my home.

House Arrest

2009-03-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

I guess working on the basement has felt a little like house arrest, at least that is what my friends say. A friend told me just yesterday, she can't wait for my basement to be finished because then I can come do things again. I guess I haven't really noticed, but I am really tied to the house. I have to wait for people to get here early in the morning and I have to stay while they work. I do get out to run some errands and take Grant to school. But as for getting together with people during the day, it hasn't happened in 7 weeks. I would say I need to get out more. When the basement is done I won't want to go anywhere because I'll have all this space to play in downstairs. I'll just have to have people come to my house.

Snow + Carpet

2009-03-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

I was going to have the carpet installed in my basement on Friday. Due to things beyond my control the carpet wasn't going to be available until Friday afternoon, too late for them to install it. Friday was a beautiful, clear, warm day. Now the carpet guys are coming today, Monday. It is snowing as I type. It is cold and wet. I hope nothing bad happens to my carpet, or the tile for that matter. I will have to clean the tile when everything is finished. I just hope I don't have to clean off mud. Nothing I can do about the situation now. By the way, I hate snow.

Stuff

2009-03-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have a large portion of my scrapbooking stuff sitting in my kitchen and living room area. I haven't had a place to put it away since the basement isn't finished yet. I was so looking forward to moving it today. The carpet guys thought they would be able to install the carpet today, but the carpet itself is coming in on the truck in the afternoon. So I have to wait until Monday for the carpet to be put in. I am sad. Teresa won't get to see the basement nearly finished now. I can't set up the guest room for her either. Oh well, just one more thing that I cannot control. The electrical is finished, though. We have wonderful light and power all over the basement. I still have a few paint touch ups to do. We should be done by the end of next week, barring any unforseen wrinkles in the schedule.
Grant is registering for Kindergarten today. I have to take him out of preschool in order to do this. I am not happy. The school is having the registration at 2 in the afternoon. Younger siblings should not attend so I have to find a sitter for Lila. What is the school thinking? What about parents that have to work? Grant is going to meet the teachers so he is supposed to be there. It still seems asinine. Will Grant even remember the teacher 4 months from now? Grant gets to go to the new school that is still under construction. Here's hoping the building is completed on time.

Nearly finished

2009-03-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

The painting of the basement is nearly finished. I am nearly finished, also. I let the house go all week because I was spending so much time painting. The kids had free reign over the upstairs. Now I am dealing with the fallout. My basement will be a wonderful place for the kids to play. I love how much light I have down there. It doesn't feel like a basement since all but one of the windows are completely above ground. I love the walkout in the back. I can't wait for it to be done.

Coming Back

2009-03-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

My weekend away was wonderful. The weather was warmer, the sun was shining, the trees were blooming. I did 46 pages. I enjoyed spending time with my sisters in-law. I spent lots of money. I got to eat hot meals without interruptions. I ate junk food. I didn't have to clean my mess up every day.

I am ready to go again. Being a mom is a very hard job. I'm sure there will be days that aren't as difficult. The kids will get older and will become better behaved. They will still fight with each other but Lila's main form of communication won't be 'crying'. She was very happy to see me after being away from me for 3 days. Grant had a lot to tell me when I walked in the door. Well, at least they missed me.

We primed the basement last night using a sprayer. I love how fast a sprayer goes, but I was covered from head to toe in fine paint dots when we were finished. Next time I will wear goggles. I wore a breath mask and covered most of my hair, but it still isn't enough. Now I am on to the next step, rolling the walls. I hope to be able to get started on that today. We shall see what the day brings.

Going Away

2009-03-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

Here I go. I am nearly ready to leave for the weekend. I plan on going out of my mind doing scrapbooking. Maybe in losing my mind I will find some sanity to be able to cope with my life when I come back. We all need a break once in a while. I'm taking mine.

Pictures

2009-03-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

I print my digital photos at home. My printer has been on the fritz for a few days. In a panic to get my photos done for this coming weekend, I went to my parents house on Friday. My dad is wonderful and let me print around 250 photos there. He then gave me ink cartridges for my printer so I could continue at home. I was able to do about 100 before those cartridges gave out. Again, in a panic, I called my dad and he came down on Monday and fixed the printer up for me. I now have a continuous ink system for the printer so I don't worry about cartridges getting empty or wasting ink on cleaning the heads. I can see how much ink I have. The ink is very reasonably priced. (Dad has given me a supply to last me for may a print job.) I buy the 4 x 6 photo paper and edit the photos here on my computer. I don't have to sit in a store and choose which shots I want. I can reprint anything I want at any time. I love this system. Sadly, I still need to print around 8 months worth of pictures. Good news is, I have been able to print all the photos from my vacation to California and North Dakota from last year. I must be crazy for printing so many pictures. My mom was looking at them and noticed that most of these pictures aren't meant for going on the wall. They are memory pictures. I will remember where we were, what we were doing, and how much fun we had simply by looking at these photos. What a wonderful invention. Now I just have to go buy more paper. Oh well, it's worth it.

One Week

2009-02-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

In one week I will be on my way to St. George, UT for a scrapbooking weekend with my sisters in-law. I am more excited than I can believe. A few years ago we decided to do this and make it an annual thing. We couldn't have picked a better time than this to do it. The first week of March is a perfect time to get away from the world and motherly responsibilities for awhile. I for one have Spring Fever. The weather will be nice in St. George. Even if it was raining down there, it would mean I wouldn't be in the snowstorms that would be happening back home. I look forward to this with gratitude in my heart for my sisters who do this with me, and a family that makes sure it can all work out.

Grant is very excited about this trip for different reasons. It means he gets to have Uncle Randy and cousin Jaden come for a visit. He has been asking about it for days now. He is a little sad that he doesn't get to go stay with Grandma Sue and Lila does, but once he realizes it is a boy's weekend he will be so overloaded with excitement that he won't care in the least. This is also Lila's first time away by herself. She is getting to be such a big girl. Usually she has Grant with her when she is at Grandma's house. It should be interesting for all involved. They do get to take her to church with them on Sunday. This time Grandpa Charlie can take Lila into the nursery instead of roaming the halls with her.

So all in all, this next week will seem like a year. If only I could make the four days after seems as long.

Lila's Hair

2009-02-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

My daughter's hair is getting so long. It's always in her eyes and gets sticky from things she eats. I try and pull it away from her face, but barrettes don't last long.

Yesterday, she was sitting on her little couch with Grant, when Grant stands up and says, "Look Mom." He has in one hand a small curl of Lila's hair, the other (as you have already guessed) is a pair of scissors. When I asked him why he cut her hair, he said he wanted to show Lila her hair.

Yes, saved that small curl.

Interesting

2009-02-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

I have this wonderful blog where I post stories and pictures of what is going on in my life. It allows me to stay in touch with people far away. My husband never reads it.

Drywall

2009-02-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

The basement is getting done so quickly. The drywall came today. Grant went outside and took 20 pictures of the men taking it off the truck. He has his own camera. He had so much fun. I get to paint in less than 2 weeks. I am beyond excited.

Looking for Paint

2009-02-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

The work in the basement is to the point where I need to get the paint color I want. who knew that this could be such a difficult decision. I know the basic color I am looking for. But do I paint the ceiling a different color? And what about the trim? So I am off to the home improvement store for color chips. We shall see what turns up. Some of the things we need to do for the basement are lots of fun. Others seem a little overwhelming. Like finding a sink I like.

Valentine's day

2009-02-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

We had a happy day all around. Grant was able to attend a Dinosaur Safari Birthday Party. He had a lot of fun. Lila went with us to pick out tile and thought running through the aisles of tile was the best thing to do. Dave surprised me and took me out to lunch without the kids. I truly enjoy getting to eat a hot meal, especially one I did not prepare. I wish I had taken some pictures, but we didn't do anything picture worthy. I just don't have any pictures to scrapbook of Valentine's day. Not that big a deal.
The funny stuff happened the day before. Grant woke up and was so excited to go to school. He wanted to get dressed in Sunday best for the "dance" at school. He wanted to dance and hold hands and kiss girls. Remember, he is 5. He had a blast at the party. They watched a movie, danced and passed out valentines. He could hardly wait to get home to see all the candy that he got in his box. They made the cutest boxes for their cards. (I remember doing the same thing with a tissue box.)
The next day I ran into one of his teachers at a store. I found out he has at least 2 girlfriends. I knew about Aspen, because that was who he told me he wanted to dance with. I didn't know about Anastasia. Apparently, they held hands during the entire movie. He also kissed Aspen on the cheek, and Ana might have kissed him on the lips.
I think I might be in trouble. Dave tells me not to worry, girls will get gross any time now. We shall see.

Stupid Company

2009-02-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

I am in the middle of trying to figure out why I have an outstanding balance with a certain "music company". I paid the bill on time, yet I now have outstanding late fees. I looked back and found they had refunded my payment, and then show me as having an outstanding payment and the late fees begin piling up. I did nothing wrong. Yet, due to the ineffectiveness of their system, I am "responsible" for late fees. I am willing to re-pay the original amount for that is what I owe. But I do not consider the late fees to be my responsibility because they occurred due to an error on their part. How I wish i could get this taken care of so I can close the account. I will not use this company again. The customer service is terrible and it is difficult to get this problem even addressed with how they have the department set up. I don't even have a phone number to call and work with a live person. So I wait for emails to go back and forth. It takes days for them to respond. This is annoying. Stupid Company!

Snow

2009-02-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

I am very sad that today has proven that winter is still around. Snow is falling as I type. How I long for the warmer climates and wait until spring finds its way to where I live. Maybe I should think about a short getaway to Vegas. Teresa, What do you think?

An Open Saturday

2009-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

This could be a very dangerous Saturday for my family. We have no real plans. We could end up spending a fortune because we have nothing to do. We are thinking about taking the kids to a dollar movie. That shouldn't break the bank. But we do need to go looking for home stuff for the basement. Framing is nearly finished and electrical and whatnot will start soon. I am more than excited, I am elated! But I do have to stay within a budget. So I must watch the amount of money I spend today. Sure wish I had some plans.

Cinnamon rolls

2009-02-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

I have a friend that has been making cinnamon rolls quite a bit lately. This made me crave them. I took the time to make them yesterday. I should have left them in the oven for tow or three more minutes. They are a bit doughy, but still taste good. I even made cream cheese frosting for them. I now have a 9 Huge rolls left, (they rose big time). I only did a half batch, but I think I will have them for the week to come. This is what happens when your friends influence your choices. Oh well, it's just my waist line.

New spot

2009-02-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

I wanted to move my blog to a place where people could comment more. This change will take some time to complete so bear with me.