Pages, Pages...

Here are some of my recent pages. It has been fun to use the new version of Photoshop. I still have a lot to learn. Thank goodness Kimberly figured out how to zoom in and out easier!

First Page...

Here is my first page with the updated version of Photoshop. It is going to take a little getting use too.

Dear Sam,

I just want you to know how proud we are of you. This potty training business has been rough. I was nearing the loony bin and you were not a happy boy. Silly as it may sound, this is the best Christmas gift we could have ever asked for. Doing things at your own pace has always been your style and for some reason I just couldn't go with it. Thank you for being patient with me.
I love you!

Mac the truck. Your reward for wearing big boy undies!!

Merry Christmas To All...

...and to all a goodnight!

As I was folding laundry in our room this morning, this is what I heard from the kitchen. Hope it brings a smile to your face, it did to mine.

Closer Then We've Ever Been...

Tonight after I put the big kids down, Max and I went into his room to get him ready for bed. There stood the shopping cart. We have tried before to get him to walk behind it but to no avail. The story was different tonight...

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new adventure for him. I am sure many of you wonder why I push these thing. Well... he might be small, but he will be 17 months on Tuesday and frankly, I am tired of lugging him around all the time. Plus I would really like him to walk before he goes to nursery! (Which is the end of January, but who's counting?)

Milestone...

I'm sure that everyone is sick to death of hearing about Sam and his potty training, but I just have to share... He went to church in undies today!!! No accidents. Wahoo! When was the last time you went wahoo?

What's a Thinger?

Last night as we were finishing our dinner of Grilled Cheese, Fruit and Salt & Vinegar Chips (I was lazy and the kids have been sick), Sam holds up his hand and says, "My thinger hurts!" For some reason that struck me as so funny. I kept replaying it in my mind and laughing. I hope it makes you laugh too.

New Do...

Evelyn decided that she wanted short hair. I hadn't said anything about cutting it, it was all her and out of the blue. She seems to really like it. She said she wanted to be like me. lol!

Before

After

Keeping My Fingers Crossed...

I don't know if this is going to last, but I wanted to have it documented just in case. This morning, Sam said he wanted to wear big boy undies. As you know from previous posts, potty training hasn't gone well with him. He had a bout of diaherra while we were in New Mexico and that seemed to actually jump start him a little. He had 48 hours of no accidents. What a miracle. As soon as we got home that all went out the door. *Sigh* Yesterday was the same. Pull-ups are too expensive to be constantly peeing in them. Back to today... he stayed dry all day!! No accidents of any kind! Can you hear the choir of angels singing the hallelujah chorus? He pooped in the potty! I knew he needed to, he kept tooting. I tried to get him to sit for awhile, but he just kept saying, "I'll try." I didn't want him to try, I wanted him to do it. A while later he came in and said he needed to poop and poop he did. Makes a mother proud...

Gratitude...

I wish to express my gratitude for a loving family. We had a fabulous time in New Mexico for Thanksgiving. It had been over a year since we had all been together. There have been 3 born since our last get together, 2 of them I had never met. The rest of my family hadn't met any of them. We made up for not seeing each other by celebrating a slew of holidays in the few days we were together. There was a birthday party, New Year's (that was sort of every night), Christmas, Easter... hmm am I missing any?

"Your most important friendships should be with your own brothers and
sisters and with your father and mother. Love your family. Be loyal to
them. Have a genuine concern for your brothers and sisters. Help carry
their load so you can say, like the lyrics of that song, 'He ain't
heavy; he's my brother.' "

President Ezra Taft Benson, "To the 'Youth of the Noble Birthright,'" Ensign, 
May 1986

Change...

I decided that it was time for a change. Don't get me wrong, I have been loving the fall weather. I can't remember when the last time we had a fall like this. I'm not trying to bring on the snow or anything, I hope I didn't just curse our weather. This brings to mind years ago when I was first married and a member of the YW presidency. We were at Girls Camp and having some funny weather. It was June. I think we were the first to use the camp that year. We were trying to keep the girls busy and out of the wet weather. They decided that each day would be a different seasonal holiday. That day they decorated cookies and took them to the other wards while singing Christmas carols. Low and behold, we woke up to 2 feet of snow the next morning. Needless to say, camp was cut short that year. We didn't even have enough vehicles to get our stuff and the girls down the mountain. So we piled in and took the girls down, leaving our stuff for the men to come back and get. When they went back the next day, all the snow was gone, as if it had never been there. I had no intention of blogging about this... it's funny what brings back memories.

So Close...

Max is so close to walking, but he just won't let go. Tonight I got a clip of him doing his latest trick...

We kept saying, "Yey!" to get him to clap and he was repeating us. It was so funny. Listen carefully for Sam in the background, it was really cute.

You Learn Something New Every Day...

When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie.

They are:
Monday = Blue
Tuesday = Green
Thursday = Red
Friday = White
Saturday = Yellow

So if today was Thursday (and it happens to be), you would want a red twist tie; not white which is Friday (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember.

I got this off of my friend Tami's blog. I thought it was really interesting, so am passing it along.

Speed Scrap Wednesday...

Tonight was my second Speed Scrap and this time I got Kimberly to jump on the bandwagon. I was having internet problems, so she would read me each step of the challenge as it was posted.

Speed Scrap...

Tonight I participated in a speed scrap. If you are interested in finding out more about them, check it out here... I don't know if I really like the way that it turned out, but it was fun to do none the less. I loved seeing what everyone else came up with.

Today is the Day...

Today I am going to get my teeth whitened. I kept putting off making the appointment... guilt kept rearing its ugly head. There are plenty of other things I could be spending the $ on. Why do woman always feel guilty about doing things for them selves? My friend posted about this very thing a while back. We deserve it darn it! For those of you who feel no guilt, good for you, but how do you do it?

Snow Day...

Yesterday it snowed all day and the kids couldn't wait to get out in it.

M&M's...

Whatever happened to
"melt in your mouth, not in your hand"?


Evelyn was kind enough to share her fruit salad with him too.

Right of Passage...

Tonight, actually as I type this, my 3 oldest (Rick, Evelyn & Sam) are watching the first of the Star Wars movies. Rick has been dying for them to see it and decided that they were finally old enough. Or maybe I decided it. lol! Rick hates the fact that Sam wears tutus and princess clothes (on occasion mind you) and wants him to like things he liked as a boy. They are riveted. Even Evelyn seems to be into it. What is it with these movies? When we first got married, there were only 3 of them. I hadn't even seen all three of them. I had seen parts of them, but not the whole series. I have seen them all now, but still don't really get what the big deal is. I can hear some of you screaming blasphemer! lol! Saturday night we went to Target to start getting some Christmas ideas, you should have seen Rick in the toy isles. lol! I am sure that Sam will be getting a light saber for Christmas.

Thought...

"[We all face] dangers and hardships. . . . [But] there will be 'angels round about you, to bear
you up' (D&C 84:88).  They will sustain us as we carry our earthly burdens. Often in our lives,
those angels are the people around us, the people who love us, those who allow themselves
to be instruments in the Lord's hands.

"President Spencer W. Kimball said, 'God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is
usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve
each other in the kingdom' ("There is Purpose in Life," New Era, Sept. 1974, 5)."

Susan W. Tanner, "All Things Shall Work Together for Your Good," Ensign, May 2004

31 for 21

Well, this is the end of the road for 31 for 21. I don't know if what I had to say this month had any effect on anyone, but it was fun to post every day. Back that up. I didn't post every day, but I did end up with more the 31 posts for the month. That counts doesn't it? I don't have a child with Down's Syndrome, but by sister has 2. I have learned so much about DS as I have tried (I hope) to help her. When William was born, we were all so shocked. Here they were first baby, my sister was only 23. It just wasn't something anyone expected. But they moved forward and the rest of us tried our best to help and support. He is a crazy boy, that Buck! We love him and my kids don't know that he is different. To them, he is William. When Mary was born, there were so many other complications with Kimberly, that I think the fact that Mary had DS wasn't really... I don't know. The other things seemed bigger then that, at least in my eyes. In the days following her birth, I searched for ways to help them. Things were different now, 2 kids was DS was so much bigger. I looked for support groups and blogs, anything that would offer support. We are a very close family, but this wasn't something that we could help with, not enough anyway. You always hear that having a child with DS is such a gift, but I don't think that's what they wanted to hear at the time. They knew that, but having 2 just makes everything different. How was it going to effect Ruth? She won't ever know the difference and will be better for it. Kids are kids, they just need to be loved and taken care of. I feel connected to people, that I don't even know, when I see they have a child with DS. I talk to them, not something I would have done before, and tell them about my sweet nephew and niece. They have been blessed with health and very few, what appear to be, minor complications. They have been a gift to our family and we have all been blessed because of them. I wish that we all lived closer, so that the cousins could play together. Aside from G&B, none of us live near cousins. Growing up we didn't either, but we weren't as close in age as all of our kids are. Once we started having babies, we went a little crazy! lol! The oldest is 5 1/2, the youngest is 2 months today and there are (I have to stop and think about this) 9 in between them! They love to play together, although they haven't been all together for over a year now. Hopefully blogging will keep us involved in each others lives. Knowing the in's and out's of each others days, offering words of encouragement and support when needed. That is what 31 for 21 has been for me.

Happy Halloween!

The kids were soooo very excited for today. Poor Max had to have shots, but he seemed to get over it pretty quick. Evelyn was in rollers all day, but didn't seem to mind. We even ran errands with them in. By this evening though, she said she wanted them out because her head was itchy. lol! They all looked so cute in their costumes. Sam kept saying he was Dumbo the Elephant. I should have sewn a feather onto the trunk of his costume.

Happy Halloween
2008

Transformation...

Just wanted to share with you the before and after pictures of Evelyn. She had rollers in her hair for almost 24 hours! lol!

Don't you just love the fro!

New Hair-Do...

So... I think I am ready for a new do. I am putting it out there for your opinion. What do you think I should do? I have been the same for more then a year, which for me, is nothing short of a miracle. I need color too. Do you have a favorite shade?

My Birthday...

I thought I would share the pages that I did from my birthday.

Photo Tag

I was on Erin's blog earlier and saw that she had been photo tagged and was hoping someone would tag me. lol! I thought it sounded like a fun one. I am supposed to go to my 4th folder and post the 4th picture.

This was taken last summer. Rick had just put training wheels on her bike.

So now I tag Mom, Kimberly, Ashley, Stacy, Brittani and Tami.

About Me (Whether You Wanted to Know or Not)

I've been tagged. This is a first for me, so here goes. The six things you might not know or want to know about me...

1. I can't stand when people clip their nails during Sacrament Meeting. There is always SOMEONE in every ward that does it. Ah, hello, couldn't you do that at home, IN THE BATHROOM before coming!? Yuck!

2. Smarmy people. You know the type that always have something to "sell" you. Someone of this nature came to my door yesterday morning. Seriously, they make my skin crawl.

3. Things that can be ate in pieces (say chips for instance), I have to eat the small ones first. I always save the big ones for last. (My brother does this too, so it must be genetic.) Things have to be even too. Take M&M's, if there are 3 brown, 4 reds and 2 yellows, I have to eat 1 brown and 2 reds before I will eat any of the yellows. Are you following me on this?

4. I have a weird thing with sharks. They freak me out! Not like I have ever seen one or anything. Ok, this is totally irrational and I realize that, but when I was younger and we would have swim practice early in the morning, swimming past the deep end of the pool when it still had the cover on gave me the creeps. Like there was something in there watching me. I KNOW there wasn't a shark in there, but it was a thing I had. Maybe I am reveling too much about myself. That I am actually a little (ok, a lot!) on the disturbed side... lol!

5. I can't stand yucky ears. Like my sil, I like the feeling of the q-tip in my ear. Maybe it was time in the barber shop cutting old man hair, but ears are gross. As I type this and think about it, it gives me the willies! Yesterday morning Max had a HUGE chunk of ear wax in his ear- YUCK! I am constantly checking my and my kids ears for anything that should not be there!

6. When I was young (like jr. high young) I wanted to be a fashion designer. Not that you could tell to look at me now! lol! I remember drawing outfits that were FABULOUS! lol! Probably something along the lines of Jem and the Hollograms. You know you have watched that! lol!

Ok, so now it's your turn... Erin, Jenn, Tami, Carolee, Ashley, Rachel

Road Warriors Return...

I haven't had a chance to talk to Rick yet, but in talking to Sam, this is what I gathered from their adventure-

Dad and Grandpa snored and he kept telling them to stop.

He went up Curly Mountain in the Rhino.

From the look of him when he got home, I'm not sure if he ate anything but sand and Oreo's! The first thing we did was give him a bath. When Evelyn went to get in the shower, she wanted to know what we all over the tub. It was sand from Sam. lol! He is now happily playing cars in his room.

Girls Night In...

This evening the boys (Rick, Sam and Grandpa) headed off into the wild blue yonder (the dunes) and Evelyn, Max and I had a "Girls Night In". Sorry Max, someday you'll get to go and won't have to send the evening inhaling nail polish fumes. lol! We made cookies and then Evelyn had a mani/pedi. We added jewels to her nails in anticipation of Halloween. Now that Max is down, we are going to turn on An American In Paris and have a slumber party in mom's big bed. We finished our first (what I like to call) big girl book tonight, Ramona and Beezus. Next she wants to read Little Women. I hope that she likes it, it is one of my favorites. I can't wait to read Anne with her! Girl stuff is fun... lol!

Retraction...

So I know I said I thought Max's second molar was up... I was wrong! He is back to his lovely (cough, cough) teething self. Last night wasn't pretty. He even woke Evelyn up. He did one of his usual wake up and think he has just taken a nap around 11:30. We put him back down at midnight and he was up again @ 3:15. I gave him more medicine then, but he was screaming an hour later. That's when he woke up Evelyn. He didn't want Rick (there's a shock). I tried to sit and rock with him, but we ended up back in my bed. I can hear my mother cringe at the thought of a child in our bed, sorry mom! lol! He was up and down a little more, but once we got up this morning he was fine. Of course. I really hope he will take a good nap for me this afternoon.

It's A Lovely Thing...

Back up the bus... I started this post 2 days ago and have been having internet problems. So I am going to try again...

Tonight for dinner I made a fabulous pizza that I thought I would share with you all. I didn't think about blogging it until I was already into the process, so I didn't get pictures of it right at the beginning. Here goes...

First, I ground my wheat (Hee, hee! Just thought I would share that), so that I could make the dough. Here is the dough recipe that I use. I got it at an Enrichment Night years ago and love it.

1 c. warm water
1T. yeast
1 t. sugar
Combine and let it do its thing while you get everything else ready.

1 c. wheat flour
1c. white flour
1 T. oil
1 t. salt

Combine and add about 1/2 c. more flour to make a nice soft dough. Roll out, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt (thank you Best Bites for that tip) and pre-bake crust @ 400 for 10 minutes. Add toppings and bake 12 more.After pre-baking the crust, I topped it with this, then some mozzarella cheese. Now for the loveliness...

Shrimp
Artichoke hearts
Pesto
fresh tomatoes, chopped
lemon juice

I didn't think to take a picture of the shrimp while I was cutting it, so here is one when it has already been marinating.
I cut the shrimp in half length wise so that it would cook faster. Anyway, mix the above and let marinate while you are getting your dough together. My artichoke hearts where the marinated type. I rinsed them, so they wouldn't be so oily. I think I used about a tablespoon of lemon juice, don't know about the pesto. It was some that I got from Costco (very tasty, highly recommend) that I had frozen in small amounts. You will need to kind of let this mix drain a little through your hands before putting in on your crust, otherwise things will be too soggy.
I added a little more cheese just to hold everything together and then back in the oven it went for 12 more minutes. It was REALLY tasty! I shared a piece with my neighbor and she enjoyed, hope you will too.

Teething Update...

Well I think Max has cut his second molar. I could feel it a little last night, I haven't checked today. He is sort of tired of me sticking my finger in his mouth, go figure! So for any of you keeping track, that is his 7th (yes, I said 7th) tooth in 2 months! To my surprise, the molars haven't seemed to bother him as much as all the others. Maybe he's just numb to the pain now!

Sleeping Children...

It isn't very often that Sam wakes up in the night, but he did last night. It was about 10:45, I was just about to go to sleep and Rick was on his way home. I don't know if he had had a bad dream, but I asked him if he wanted me to lay by him and he said yes. He loves to have has dad lay by him to go to sleep, it isn't very often that he wants me to. I turned out my light and went into their room. I think he was already back to sleep, but I laid there anyway. It was nice to just watch him sleep. To know that he knew he was safe, because I was there.

"Every human being is a spirit child of God and lived with Heavenly
Father before coming to earth. He entrusts his spirit children to earthly
parents who provide a mortal body for them through the miracle of physical
birth and gives to parents the sacred opportunity and responsibility to
love, protect, teach, and to bring them up in light and truth so they may
one day, through the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, return to
our Father's presence.

"These precious souls come to us in purity and innocence. As parents, we assume
an immense responsibility for their care and well-being. Parents share this sacred
trust with brothers and sisters, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, and all who
touch the lives and impress or influence the souls of these precious children.
King Benjamin admonished parents many years ago, 'But ye will teach them to walk
in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to
serve one another.' (Mosiah 4:15.)"

M. Russell Ballard, "Teach the Children," Ensign, May 1991

Autumn Pumpkin-Oatmeal Cookies

I was at a loss of what to post today and then remembered I hadn't given the recipe for the cookies I posted last week with the stew. So here goes. I got this recipe from the Gooseberry Patch Old Fashioned Country Cookies cookbook. That's a mouth full...

1 1/2 c. margarine or butter
1 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
4 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
2 c. oatmeal (it calls for quick, but I used regular)
1 3/4 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy. Sift dry ingredients (with exception of oatmeal) and add alternately with the pumpkin. Stir in chocolate chips and oatmeal Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. This makes a very LARGE batch of cookies... 10 dozen.

Thought...

" 'Life is good, if we live in such a way to make it so.' . . 'A good life' comes as a result of the way we
do things, of the words we choose to say, and even of the kind of thoughts we choose to have. . .
". . . 'Wanting to' is the determining factor which leads us to lay hold upon the word of God and be
happy. Perseverance in making correct decisions is what leads us to happiness."

Benjamín de Hoyos, "True Happiness: A Conscious Decision," Ensign, Nov. 2005

Thirsty Anyone?

This morning I was emptying the dishwasher while Evelyn was doing her math. She had finished her first page and needed me to read some story problems to her, so I went and sat next to her up to the counter. As we are doing the problems, I hear a weird noise from over by the dishwasher. Max had been "helping" me with the dishwasher, I round the corner and this is what I find.

Camping Trip...

Here are the pages I did from our recent camping trip. (I don't know if I should call overnight a trip). Thank goodness we didn't go any longer or I would have to do a whole book! lol!