Hanging Out

Here are some fun pictures with Grandma and Grandpa:

After Family Home Evening on Monday night Jorja wanted to tell us a story. She has quite the imagination and the story lasted a good 15 minutes. There were lots of "aper dat's" (after that) and she pretended to "read" it from her Book of Mormon. It was so stinkin' cute!

Jillian and my dad

Jorja and my mom

Grandma brought a sugar cookie mix and they made Christmas cookies! The kit even came with frosting, which was pretty nasty but the kids sure had fun!

Post-War Games

On Sunday night we had to teach Grandma and Grandpa our Family War Game. Grandpa won, but only because he cheated. Logan was pretty upset that he didn't win -- as usual -- so to make it up to him, Grandpa gave him some of his candy.

But Grandpa didn't just give it to him -- he had to catch it! Of course, Jillian wasn't going to miss out on this action!

It doesn't look like Logan got much from those picture, but look at this catch! Love the nasal drip, buddy!

Visit With Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came to visit us earlier this month for Jillian's Baptism. They stayed for a week and we had so much fun! They arrived on Wednesday the 3rd in the afternoon. On Thursday we participated in the big shop and wrap day for the Kearney Family Foundation. This is a charity organization that helps provide Christmas and a three month supply of food for needy people in our area. It was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad Mom and Dad were there for it! Brad and Dad spent the day packing boxes and I took Mom and our kids to the store to shop for two families. We let Jillian skip school and I think it was a good experience for her. It took us a while, especially with numerous potty and drink breaks. We did so well with our budget that we were able to get a few extra things on the families' wish lists!

On Friday we spent the day at home trying to get ready for Saturday. We had a big day planned: our ward Christmas breakfast in the morning, Jillian's baptism in the afternoon, and then Jillian had a birthday party in the evening. As with all ward family parties I helped with setting up activities for the children to do. We had some coloring pages, word finds, foam picture frames, and a sticker nativity scene. Mom and I also made a bunch of orange rolls for the breakfast. They were soooo yummy!! On Friday I also finished up Jillian's baptism present, her own covered scriptures. I'll write about this later because they turned out so cute. Anyway, we were glad we didn't go anywhere because the day ended up being pretty busy.

Saturday was our busiest day with the above mentioned activities, Sunday we went to church and recovered from Saturday and Monday we went on a local church history tour. (I'll write about each of these also.)

We had so much fun with them and were so sad to see them leave Tuesday morning. I loved watching Mom and Dad play with our kiddies; they each felt so loved and had such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa! I also loved talking with Mom and Dad in the evenings. It was just great to be together!!

It's Freaking COLD!!!

I kept looking out at our thermometer we have on our back porch and it never made it above 0 today. Our thermometer is in a really cold spot and it was a bit warmer -- a balmy 14 degrees according to The Weather Channel -- and that is up from our low of 2 degrees this morning. Factor in the wind chill and we're looking at about -10 degrees this morning.

I have decided that once the temperatures dip below 20 degrees it is miserable around here. And even though my thermostat is set at the same temperature it feels so much colder. I really have to either keep moving or snuggle under a blanket.

Because it has started to get colder I haven't been in the mood to blog lately. But I need to get back to it because I am way behind on all the happenings around here. My computer is in the coldest part of our house and I don't really enjoy working on the computer in the winter. Usually by the time I am done my fingers and toes are numb from cold and my nose has turned cold, runny, and red. I get cold to the bone. But I have to be here tonight; I need to write my letter to the families who have primary children to put in our New Years' packet. So of course I had to blog first instead. I'm a pro at procrastination, and it drives Brad batty.

But I digress -- that is a blog for a future time. To combat the cold I am wearing sweats, socks, slippers, a hooded coat -- with the hood on of course -- and a blanket wrapped around me. Now I got all settled and ready to write my letter and I realized that I left my primary folder all the way upstairs. Drat. I didn't want to get up just yet so here I am procrastinating just a bit more. I've had a good month to write this letter but I just haven't felt like doing it. Of course, I often work better with a little more pressure anyway so I don't feel too bad about it.

OK, I can only feel myself getting colder so I'd better get this done....

The Value of a Dollar

Logan went to work with Brad a while back and so we paid him a dollar for all his "hard work". He was SOOO excited to have his own money! He kept asking us to take him to the store so that he could spend it and today it happened! We were at the grocery store and found some hot wheels on sale for 99 cents. When we got to the register I made him pay for it himself, separate from my purchase. He thought that was pretty neat. In fact, as we were leaving he started singing, "I got a recei - eet! I got a recei - eet". That's right, the receipt was way more satisfying than actually buying his own toy. Ah, those small symbols of independence!!!

Helping Mom

I asked Jorja and Logan to help me pick up the family room this morning. I think they were a little confused by what that actually meant. It is getting worse by the minute....

Ha ha! Jorja just came over and said, "Mom! How you get that on the wad? (garage) No, Mom, how you get that on the tumpooter?" I just love how she says things.

Happy Birthday Jillian!

Yesterday Jillian turned 8 years old! How could that be already? She had a great day. She wanted some bran muffins for breakfast so I got up early to have it all ready but she was so nervous about all the attention she was going to get that she couldn't eat any of it. At school she got to announce over the intercom that it was her birthday and everybody in her class made her cards and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Then, Logan, Jorja and I got some Sonic hamburgers and ate them with her during her lunchtime at school. (She loves hamburgers.) At the end of school she got to pass out some brownies I made for her class. When she got home she spoke with Grandma & Grandpa and Mimi & Granddaddy. Then it was time for her favorite spaghetti dinner, birthday cake and presents. I made her wait all day to open presents and it about killed her! After that she ran to activity days up at church, where she got some Ho Ho's and more singing. As soon as we got home she was sung to by the Jensen family - Uncle Joe, Aunt Allison, Afton, Paige, Jake, Luke, and Cole - over the phone. Whew! What a day! She fell asleep a very happy girl.

Converstations

On Tuesday I was out running errands and had a fun conversation with Logan. His reference at the beginning is from Credence Clearwater Revival's song "Proud Mary", aka "Rolling on the River" (see my playlist).

Logan: Mom, how do you roll on a river?
Me: It just means going down a river on a boat.
Logan, after a thoughtful moment: Mom, Jesus walked on water.
Me: Yes he did.
Logan: Wow! I want to be just like Jesus when I grow up!
Me: That's great Logan!

So there you have it! Logan wants to be like Jesus just so that he can walk on water!
~~~~~~~
Logan: Mom, when I grow up I want to be an ice cream truck driver.
Me: Way to go bud! That there is setting your goals high!
Logan: Then guess what? I can come to your house and give you FREE ice cream! That would be so cool!!!
Me, laughing: Yippee!

Can you guess what he wants? I can just see the gears moving inside that little head.

Musical Instrument

Jillian had an assignment in school to make an instrument to bring for their science class. The second grade teachers each take a subject (Social Studies, Science, and Writing) and then they trade classes so that all the second graders get the lessons. I think it is a great idea! Anyway, in science, Jillian is learning about sound. They could create any kind of instrument except for maracas, since their music class had already done that. Jillian came up with a kazoo kind of thing (an idea she pirated from someone else at school) but it just was not good enough for Builder Brad.

So, he spent some time with her and they came up with this design for a xylophone. Jillian got to help drill the holes, staple the pieces together, sand, and paint. She was pretty proud of it, as you can see from the picture below. I have to say that I was done listening to the "music" after about ten seconds!

The Big Movie

I told Jillian a while back that instead of having a big birthday party this year I would take her and two friends out to see High School Musical 3 in the theater. So the big day was last Saturday and boy was she excited!! She invited our neighbor, Kaylee Mulkey, and her friend from school, Mae Chaney. They were all dolled up to go out to town! I loved Mae's big sparkly purse!

I paid for the tickets and a big bucket of popcorn. It about made me nauseous to buy the popcorn. What a rip-off! But I figured that was part of the deal and I was glad in the end that I did. Mae brought some extra money so she bought some cotton candy and Hot Tamales to share with the other girls. They were sufficiently sugared for the evening!

The girls absolutely loved the movie, which was a given anyway because it is such a chick flick. Did I like it? Yeah, I did...duh, it's a chick flick! It was cheesy but fun. I find it interesting how much money a musical has made for Disney when musicals seemed to be so out of style. I was talking with a theater employee who said that this movie was completely sold out for the first three weeks after it opened. I told him, "That's why I waited a month!"

I was amazed at how old the characters looked. They were more like college age looking (which they are in real life). It bugs me when actors portray someone who is much younger than the actors actually look. Just a little pet peeve of mine but given the history of the movie I can let it slide this time. There are already plans to make a 4th movie (Can we just give it a rest? Talk about milking it for all it's worth!) but none of the original cast will be in it. Hmm, that sounds really lame.

Most importantly, the girls had a blast. I refilled the popcorn bucket to take in the car on the way home. This is them waiting for the popcorn to pop out of the pot. Fun times!

Jorja's Puppet Show

Tonight Jorja was so excited because she had prepared a puppet show for all of us to watch. So after we all gathered together she said, "Wait! I have to go find the puppets!" Hmm, I don't think there was much preparation there. So this is how the puppet show went:

1st puppet: One upon a tine, acty (actually) someone did someting.

2nd puppet: eating dinner and making munching sounds.

1st puppet: One upon a tine, acty someone did someting.

Puppets kissing, at which point, Brad asked what was the rating on this puppet show.

1st puppet: One upon a tine, acty someone did something.

I didn't understand that part. We just started laughing at this point.

1st puppet: So, one upon a tine, actly someone did do something.

Yeah for Jorja!!! Ha ha ha.

It's always fun when Mom is gone!

Yesterday I was able to travel to the St. Louis temple with some ladies from our ward. We left bright and early -- actually it wasn't bright at all but it was very early! We were able to do two sessions and then dinner afterward! I had never done two sessions before back to back like that and I really liked it. I wasn't quite as tired the second time around! Half the fun was the drive with all the girls; it was so nice to get out and be with other women for a while!

Because I left before everybody was awake, I had everything all ready to go for Brad. Now I have to say that Brad does a great job getting our kids ready to go places but our kids think he is totally incompetent. They usually get out of bed around 7:30 and get dressed only after I tell them to several times. I think I should leave more often because all three were out of bed and dressed by 7am!! They were so afraid that Brad would mess things up that they decided to actually be responsible! I had arranged for Ali to watch Jorja and Logan during the day and they were so excited to leave! Sometime during the day they were fighting over who could go potty first and they took too long deciding. Jorja pulled her pants down and peed all over Logan. He has taught her to pee standing up and I have to say she has gotten pretty good at it. Anyway, it was a mess and they both needed some clothes to change into. Jorja was able to borrow from Lindsay, who is her age. Logan insisted that he had to wear some 5-year-old boy clothes. The thing is, Ali doesn't have any 5-year-old boys! He ended up picking out some Daisy Duke shorts that were just hilarious on him. He has such twiggy legs. Too funny. But it gets better! I was cleaning up today and found the shorts tied to Logan's bouncing ball (the kind with a handle that you sit on and bounce all over the place). Brad started laughing and said that the "belt" -- which was more like a ribbon -- came undone and so he tied it back up. Then when he was done bouncing he realized he had tied his shorts to the ball and started to cry because he couldn't untie the knot and was stuck to the ball. Brad told him to just take off the shorts and the problem was solved! Brad was just glad he didn't have to see Logan in Daisy Dukes any more.

I had made some cookies the day before because I was just craving them. Whenever I make cookies I only cook up half the dough and the rest I put into balls and freeze them. Those are for Brad. So at dinner last night Brad said that they could have a cookie after their dinner was done. Logan wanted a cookie ball instead but Brad said no. He became really mad and and told Brad that he was "the worst babysitter ever and when Mom gets home I'm going to tell her to never have you babysit us again." Brad had a lot of fun with that but his teasing didn't really make Logan laugh. Instead, he said, "Dad, if I ever see a shooting star, I'm going to wish on it that you're not my dad anymore. I'll get a new dad and he'll be nicer to me."

That kid just makes us laugh.

My Boy

Earlier today I asked Logan why I loved him so much. He told me, very seriously, "Because I'm your boy, but I am NOT your servant!!!"

Bummer. I thought that's why we have children! Now my plan is foiled -- that boy is just too smart for his old mama! he he he

Busy Week

I have to say that I am very glad this week is over. I have been involved in way too many things and I am very ready to have a change of pace. On Saturday I was in charge of a greeting card project at our Super Saturday craft day. I was asked to do this and disobeyed the voice screaming in my head to say "NO!!!!" I should have listened. It wasn't that it was a bad experience. I just didn't have the time to do it last week and my family suffered because of it. I enlisted the help of my very kind friend, Ali, to help me make all the cuts and get everything ready. She even helped me at the table that morning. I needed her sanity more than anything! The project came out really well but I wasn't able to stay the entire day because I needed to get ready for our teacher in service meeting we had at church today.

I was more stressed about that because 1) I just felt like it was very important and 2) teacher in service is what I struggle with the most in my calling. We held it during Sunday School so that we could get maximum attendance and it went really well. We had all the teachers, music leaders, and nursery leaders come and we had lots of help taking care of the things in primary. I guess it got a little crazy in there though! We changed the schedule around to accommodate our meeting and my counselors kept forgetting how the timing went. Then, I had asked one of the missionaries in our ward to play the piano and that didn't turn out so well. I wasn't able to get with him until just before Sacrament meeting so he wasn't as prepared as he wanted to be. So, yes, it was chaotic but we survived!

Brad had an abscessed tooth this week. He thought it was just stress but turns out he had a major infection going on inside. Tuesday it was hurting him pretty bad and by early Wednesday he had taken all our leftover percaset and vicadin and was still in major pain. We eventually got him to the dentist, who drilled a hole in the tooth. Brad watched the whole thing and when it was all over, promptly passed out for a bit while the dentist was talking with him. Brad is still deciding if he wants the tooth pulled out or get a root canal. He has had continual problems with it so he is torn on what to do.

Logan and I also got our hair cut this week. I'm not sure how we fit it in but it is really nice to see Logan's face again! I am glad to have shorter hair also! The long hair was really getting old.

Wife Test

Brad's always saying that I was born in the wrong era. I guess this proves it!!

97 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

The Refiner’s Fire

Malachi 3:3 says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver". This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of Christ. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining and purifying silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in the fire of trials to burn away our impurities. Then she thought again about the verse that says, "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver".

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "When I see my image in it". If today we are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that Christ has His eyes on us and will keep watching us until He sees His image in us. Whatever we are going through, we will be a Christlike purified person because of our refiners fire.

2nd Annual Candy Bath

Yesterday Jorja and Logan held their 2nd Annual Candy Bath. As I have stated in an earlier post, when these two get excited about something they have to take a bath with that thing. I'm not sure what possesses this but I do find it incredibly funny. The best part about this is that all their candy is GONE!!!! Jillian still has a bunch but she stores it spread out on her bedroom floor so it won't be around much longer, especially now that she's got two helpers!

Now I have to say that the candy bath itself is rather nasty. It is the chocolate that makes it an oily mess. Here is Jorja at the end of her bath. Look at that ring around the tub! After she was done, I cleaned out the tub and then washed her in a new bath. She had so much chocolate oil on her that it left another, albeit lighter, ring around the tub.



Logan actually washed himself with the chocolate. He thought that was pretty funny. He hoarded most of his chocolate this year (mostly peanut butter cups) so his bath wasn't as dark as Jorja's. He really enjoyed watching the color coming out of the M&M's coating. Oh, funny, funny kids!!!

By the way, I do realize that Logan really needs a haircut!

The Tale of the Cracked Pot

Nobody's perfect, but our imperfections make us interesting.

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

'I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts,' the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, 'Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them.

'For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life!

Homemade Mixed Martial Arts

I had a really busy day yesterday so I really needed the kids to get their jobs done fast. Positive incentives always work the best for this kind of thing so I had them make a list of possible fun things we could do after their jobs were done. Having a wrestling competition won out but I didn't think that would be enough incentive to get things done fast. I realized we needed trophies! There's my incentive! The person who got all their jobs done first got to make the first place trophy, which had to be the biggest. The second one done got to do the second place trophy and that had to be medium sized and the third one to finish got to do the third place and that had to be the smallest. They thought that was pretty cool and they did their jobs in record time. It was awesome! Jillian finished first, then Logan, then Jorja; no surprises there. They worked for the rest of the afternoon on their trophies, especially Logan, who covered his trophy with cut up pieces of cardboard.

We ended up not having enough time for the wrestling competition yesterday so we made good on the promise tonight. It was a blast and the kids really had fun. We did it UFC-style with three rounds of 30 seconds starting off with "Let's get it on!" or "Let's wrestle!" All the kids had to fight each other and then, because Logan was winning, it was the girls against Logan. He is surprisingly strong for such a little guy. The fact that he's not afraid to punch really hard doesn't hurt either. We made sure nobody got really hurt; if they started to hurt then they just tapped out -- except Jorja who would start to cry and have me hold her.

Then the kids wanted to see Brad and I wrestle. We had to go four rounds instead of three and we had to start on our knees. I'm no match for Brad because he's better trained than I am but I can hold my own for a while.

Logan won the competition, Jillian second, and Jorja third. However, Logan was upset because he really wanted the trophy he made for second place. Jillian quickly traded and all was well again.

Then we got to watch the movie, Water Horse, before going to bed. What a fun night!

Halloween Traditions

Every year we get together and carve our pumpkins. We usually do a competition and this year it was between the girls and guys. I decided to get online and find some templates because I can never think of anything else but the traditional pumpkin face. Even though I was teased for using someone else's idea I think we did an awesome job.

I really like this picture of me because I just look great! Don't I look so thin? Love it. Yeah, my girls are cute too. :)

Logan and Brad with their more traditional pumpkin. Actually, Brad usually comes up with the really fun ideas (which is, of course, why I needed help!). Logan is just a knife freak. That kid is obsessed with cutting things -- he loves scissors for the same reason. I constantly have little pieces of paper or cardboard all over the house. The thing is, they all have a use to him, whether it be food for Special Dog, or money for playing "store" or whatever. Shhh! I secretly throw them away when he is asleep! I know he'll just make more the next day so this is simply clutter control. I think he finds the joy in the cutting itself anyway.

This is what Jorja wanted to do: eat raisins. She's a raisin nut, just like her brother. She actually did help scoop out all the pumplin goop.

See what I mean about him cutting things? This actually has a purpose; it is future pumpkin puke.

I could sense that I was taking over our pumpkin too much so I told Jillian that she should carve the back side of our pumpkin. That would automatically make it cooler since we would have two carvings rather than just one. So she designed and cut this side all by herself! Go Jilly!


The final product! The boys' pumpkin has teeth, eyebrows, ears, nose and a "nosebrow" attached with toothpicks. Logan thought that the whole process was pretty cool (he used the handle side of the knife to hammer in the toothpicks) and got a little hammer crazy and added a few extra appendages. Hence the nosebrow, toothpick horns, and ears.

Jillian with her great design.

What happy kids!

The next night was Halloween! Jillian was a corpse bride and was very proud of her self-done make-up job. I actually thought she did great also! It was my turn to take the kids out this year while Brad gave out candy at home. We went with Jillian's friend, Mae, and her family. Jorja wasn't feeling that great so I took her in the stroller. I really enjoyed watching my kids have fun. Jillian was holding hands with her friend and I could just tell she was so happy.

Logan was just plain funny as usual. His favorite candies are the Reces peanut butter cups in the orange wrapping. He would literally run to each house, ring the doorbell, say the required "trick or treat" and then ask if they had any orange candies. When they didn't know what he was talking about he would hold up an example. At our neighbor's house he even tried to trade his partially eaten candy for an "orange candy"!! We just died laughing. He actually did score on the peanut butter cups. People thought he was so cute that they gave him extras. Brad and I have decided that he will get a lot out of life simply because he asks. By the way, he thought his Spider Man costume with the huge muscles was pretty darn cool. He just loves Spider Man and he loves flexing his own muscles to see just how big they are. It was the perfect combination. :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been making my own laundry soap for a couple of years now. I have tried lots of different recipes, both dry and wet. I like the wet ones the best and I have come up with my own recipe through trial and error. It is actually pretty similar to a lot of recipes out there; I just add an extra bar of soap. It takes me about 20 minutes to make and it lasts me 4-6 weeks, depending on how much laundry I do. The best part is that it only costs about $3 per batch!

Here are the ingredients that you need:

You can find all this stuff at your local grocery store. The Fels Naptha soap and borax are in the laundry isle, the washing soda in the dishwashing isle and ivory soap in the bath isle. Fels Naptha is the BEST spot remover I have ever found. To pre-spot my clothes I wet the stain, and then rub the soap over it. I let it sit for at least 1/2 hour or more for better results. Fels Naptha soap has a distinct smell to it and I found that adding the Ivory soap tempers that smell.

Laundry Detergent Instructions:

Chop both bars of soap to smaller pieces and place in a pot with 5 Cups of water.
Heat pot to just below boiling, stirring slowly with a wire wisk, until all the soap is dissolved. (This is the longest part of the whole process.) **Boiling will cause the liquid soap to foam.

Fill a 5 Gallon bucket with 3 Gallons of hot water.
Add one cup each, one at a time, of the borax and washing soda and stir until each is dissolved.
Add the liquid soap mixture and stir.
Let the container sit until it is cool, mixing it occasionally, and then put into containers.

This yields just over three gallons of light yellow slime that looks like this:



I have a large capacity washer and hard water and I use a heaping cup, as shown. It takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how much to use in your own machine. This is a low sudsing detergent so it can be used in front-end loading washers, but you probably do not need to use as much.

Fill your storage containers leaving about four inches at the top. The detergent will solidify a bit and you need room to shake it up so that you can pour it out. This bottle shows the maximum amount you should fill the container.


It is not as fragrant as many laundry detergents so if you want more fragrance, you can buy your favorite liquid fabric softener and add it to the rinse cycle.

**Update: It costs about $3 to make 3 1/4 gallons. That is about 390 cups, which comes out to about $.01 per cup.

Funny Logan

On Sunday we asked Logan how his class was in primary. He said it was good and explained how he was writing letters with his teacher and he really liked that. (Logan will write random letters and then ask what they spell. One of his teacher was getting a big kick out of it and stayed after class to watch Logan finish.)

After some quiet contemplation, he yelled out, "Oh my gosh! They should be my parents!"

Obviously, we just aren't fun enough!

Halloween Decorations

Due to popular demand in the Simmons household, we have finally decorated for Halloween. The kids made some ghosts that I tied around our yard, we spread out some spider webs, and I got out the indoor decorations. Halloween can finally come!!!

My Obituary

Last Thursday I went to a funeral of an elderly man in our ward and I was so touched by who this man was. In fact, Brad and I came home saying that we wished that we had known him when he was younger. Each person that paid tribute to him noted how happy he was. He always had some funny cartoon to share or something funny to say. He found joy in life and he didn't complain. He loved others and they loved him.

I've been thinking since then about my own legacy and how I want to be remembered. (Don't worry; I plan on living a long, full life still!) I have heard that you should write your own obituary and then live to make it happen. Perhaps this isn't such a bad idea because it helps you define what is most important to yourself.

So, one day when I pass from this earth, this is what I want to be said of me:

• I was a good wife, mother and friend
  
• I was kind and compassionate
• I helped other people feel good inside -- whether it be about themselves, their lives, etc.
• I was fun to be around
• I had a strong testimony and understanding of the gospel and the scriptures
• I faced challenges with faith and courage
• I was a happy and positive person and never complained
• Other people loved me because I loved them
• I tried my best in all I did
• I was a beacon of light in a dark world

I have a lot of work to do!

Tiggety-Tag

I've been tagged by my friend, Meredith!


8 TV shows I enjoy watching when I have time and would like to chill:

1. The Office
2. Biography -- on interesting people
3. The Soup
4. Burn Notice
5. news
6. OK, I don't watch a lot of shows. I actually prefer movies any day over TV.


8 Things that happened yesterday:

1. I made dinner for a sister in our ward whose husband died.
2. I made a cake for the luncheon after the funeral today.
3. Brad got whacked in the head by a cement mixer. We think he will have a really cool bolt-shaped scar on his forehead because of it.
4. I took Jorja and Logan to the library.
5. I helped Jillian prepare for her math test.
6. Brad helped a friend build the set for the high school play.
7. I took Jorja and Logan to McDonald's while the car was having the oil changed and safety inspected.
8. I finally bought pumpkins to carve.


8 Things I am looking forward to:

1. Having my kids babysit themselves
2. My parents' visit in December for Jillian's baptism
3. The temple built here
4. The day when my kids know how to clean the entire house, and do it when I ask.
5. Soccer being over
6. When I have our food storage all done
7. Getting my house all decorated
8. Building a new house with lots and lots of storage space


8 Things I love about Fall:

1. Cooler temperatures
2. Fall colors (but not leaves falling -- I much prefer leaves on the trees)
3. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving
5. Fires in the fireplace
6. Holiday parties
7. Drugs that make my fall allergies better (yeah, I know that was stretching it!)
8. Starting new things -- school, soccer, etc.


8 Things on my wish list:

1. A house with more storage space
2. Someone to help me decorate my house
3. Retrieving my lost 400+ pictures that disappeared when my computer crashed
4. A DVR
5. Piano lessons for me and Jillian
6. New windows that don't leak
7. Food storage
8. To be completely debt free

8 people I am tagging:

1. Heather
2. Stacy
3. Deanna
4. Laura
5. Aunt Carolyn
6. Verena
7. Kristi
8. Ali -- you are double tagged now! :)

Halloween Hallows

A couple of weeks ago I took our kids to the local Halloween party. We went with our friends, the Ellefsens'. It was actually a rather hot day so we spent part of it sitting in the shade. There were lots of fun games and activities and even trick or treating in the woods. The best part was that it was free! Dressing up was optional but I couldn't get Jorja to wear normal clothes. Actually, she is rarely in "normal" clothes! She usually wears jammies or dress-up stuff all day long.

Anyway, the very best part of the day was the "Make Your Own Pixie Stick" table. Wow. We spent a good half hour there. All the kids filled up their pixie sticks. When we were all done, Logan tipped his head back and let the entire contents slide right down. He did that three or four times before he swallowed wrong and had pixie dust down his lungs. Jillian sucked on hers for a minute and finally asked me how to get it out. The top inch was mixed with saliva -- not very appetizing. She got it after a bit of explanation. Then there was Jorja. She worked really hard trying to suck out the pixie dust. When she finally walked up to me I asked her if she was having a hard time. She hung her head and nodded. Her pixie stick was saliva-filled all the way to the bottom. We had a really good laugh at all of them.

Here are Logan, Brynlie Ellefsen, and Jillian

Jillian and Brynlie

Um, I think those are my kids!

And they're off on the fastest bouncy ball competition ever!! They had so much fun doing this that they had to do it twice. Actually, I wanted them to do it again anyway so that I could get the picture of Jorja coming in on the homeward stretch.

I love Jillian's expression in this picture. You have to enlarge it to really see her.

Tee hee!! Jorja's dress kept falling off of her. I tried to attach it in the back but it was "too itchy." I had a really good laugh.

Brynlie trying to hit the bell. I tried this and it is harder than it looks!

When we arrived at the park, it took Logan all of one minute to find his favorite square-pants yellow man. So I just had to ask him to take a picture with my little man.

Jillian is trying to look mean but the size of the teeth just aren't working. Hum, maybe it's the fact that they are pink also.