Monday

I drove the girls to before school piano lessons.

Helped Trent with his home reading in the car while waiting for said piano players.

Sent off the kids to school.

Fought off the extreme sleepiness that was waying me down.

Went to the Elementary & made 500 copies then passed them out.

Came home to the most wonderful email from the missionary. :)

RAn errands with sky & lori.

Ate lunch with them too.

Carried Lori's sweet baby girl around a cute shop then ran home.

Returned emails & made phone calls for hailey's play- I'm over the ushers.

Another email from the missionary- the first one was from last week- it didn't send.

(He is doing really great even though someone threw rocks at him.)

Argued with Trent for at least 1/2 hour about having a friend over.

Picked up hailey from play practice.

Drove ballet carpool.

Sat at the ballet studio & cleaned my car while listening to talk radio & feeling extreme panic over economic situations in the world.

Talked with a friend for a while who also has a daughter at same ballet studio.

Made more calls on my cell for the play.

Drove home- almost had a heart attack when I drove up to see Trent playing in the STREET with his very thin & very old spider man costume on (it has a huge hole in the back & in the knees) no shoes or socks. (it's still freezing here)

It's a good thing DAd was watching him. ??????

Made dinner - BLT's on "green bread"

HAPPY sT. pATRICK'S DAY - thanks for the green bread sky.

FAmily night complete with one of Brian's best friends derrick who leaves on a mission to spokane in 2 1/2 weeks. (andrea & lynnie- you are gonna love this guy, I hope you get to meet him)He brought over some pictures for me to send to Brian in his next package.

VAcuumed out the car- I just couldn't take the dirt any longer. You could grow a garden in there.

Now-- dishes, laundry, emails, posting, picking up....

Not a bad day.

(kids with Derrick)

SPT Thursday Part II

Well, Ladies, this is Brett again. I reviewed your comments and, though I appreciated the "nice husband" comments, I took your remarks kind of personally that Patsy got off "too easy." So, this is Part II of SPT Thursday.

This is "the scene."

This is my noble accomplice.

Sorry, but you need to wait ~ 50 seconds before she walks into "the scene"...and you'd better turn your sound up. I'm sure she will have photos of me sleeping in the shed tonight, and tomorrow night, and the next......you get it!

I promised to never scare her again - it's a real taboo with her!

I'm done.

Jack's Birthday

Today I got up early to frost these. Treats for the young men & young women at church- since it's Jack's birthday & Sky's son's birthday too!
We went to meet Elder Thompson. Cool missionary who just got home from Chile two weeks ago. Yep, he was with our missionary just a month ago. They weren't companions but in the same zone. It was so fun to hear him speak about his mission, the people in Chile, & how much he loved it there.

When the meeting was over we immediately went up & introduced ourselves as Elder Messer's family. It was so great to talk to someone who had seen him in Chile. I told him I was getting a package together & asked what he thought I should send. He said- you can definitely get American candy there. He thought for a minute then said...
socks & a new pillow case... they grow fungus pretty quickly...??
Gross.
(Not exactly what I wanted to hear.)
We had a little birthday dinner for the birthday boy. Seth, Megan & Tony came. The menu- pork chops, potatoes & carrots with a salad. His choice for birthday dinner every single year. Then some yummy peach pie & ice cream.Is that a good lookin' pie or what? This kid's not too bad himself, even with his favorite goofy look on his face.

Happy Birthday Jack

Great day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK- 17!!

Jack is turning 17 today. I just can't believe it- I really can't!!

He is such a great kid, well young man.

I am listing 17 things I love about him today- this should be easy...

17. He sucked his thumb & carried his "baba" until he was six.

16. He is a really good older & younger brother.

15. He is almost never caught without some kind of BYU apparel on. (this picture is from his birthday last year)

14. He can sleep like none other.

13. He has no problem- at least doesn't complain when getting up early to go to church or put up scout flags, or whatever-amazing.

12. He is cool.

11. He is tall.

10. Megan was almost 3 weeks late, Brian 1 week late, Jack a week early!!!! He's my favorite.

9. He was my biggest baby at 8lb. 15oz.- 22 inches.

8. It was 11:30 PM. I was in labor & told the doctor I was disappointed he would be born on St. Patrick's day. He said Let's Do This Then... he was born at 11:58 PM.

7. He has great friends.

6. A bunch of them eat lunch at our house almost everyday.

5. I can't believe he isn't complaining that Megan's car broke down & now she has his car- He won't get it back until the wedding. Megan's not the only one counting down the days.

4. He is a huge helper around the house.

3. He plays the guitar beautifully. He doesn't believe me but he has a beautiful singing voice too.

2. He is really smart. A - AP Biology?????

1. He is a middle child- but is his own person. He tells the most incredible, crazy stories. He has an extremely adventurous personality. He plays "bad" rap music in the car when Hailey's little friends are there just to scare them & make them think he's really rowdie. He loves oldies & knows who is singing just about anything on the oldie station. He's a cowboy at heart. He is tender hearted & says I love you back on the phone- Megan told him he had to, but he does it. He likes to come in my room at night to tell me he's home, he wakes me up, scares the living daylights out of me when he gets home late, then tells me how weird I was in the morning. He's funny.

What can I say... I like him.

Shocking But True

Those who know me.. just won't believe where I went today. Yep, I guess it was inevitable. I went to the new-ish walmart that is in my town.

You see I fought with many others not to have it built in our town, for many, many reasons. Namely I don't want this store 4 blocks from my house- well don't get me going.

To make a long story short- my new son-in-law has an internship at their headquarters for the summer. Believe it or not, they are pretty good to their summer college interns- or at least that is how it seems so far. When Megan told me it was a possibility he might work there- I knew it would happen. The heavens are laughing at me.

So today, for Tony & Megan's sake & out of pure curiosity we went here instead of here.

My first love.

Now I feel dirty & cheap... it really wasn't too bad.

Not so crowded, clean parking lot.

Low prices? My eye... I spent $88 in the blink of that eye. I guess that's how it goes.

*are you picky about where you shop?

*is it me or are MOST walmart parking lots filthy???

It's a Small World Afterall!

Yesterday I ran a PTA meeting for the council president because she is in California & I am the president elect. Anyhow, one of the local PTA presidents needed some information that I didn't have so another one offered to email it to her, then offered to email it to me. Later in the day I got the email with a note that said- I thought your email address looked familiar... she had emailed me in the summer because her son was serving a mission in Osorno, Chile & my missionary was soon going that way. Anyhow, to make a long story short her son came home two weeks ago. And --- had spent a lot of time with my Brian his last two months there!!! Brian was going to send home some stuff with him, but then they never ended up getting back together. So- we are going to hear him speak & meet him tomorrow at his church. I am so excited!

It is Truly A Small World

Oh my gosh! Tonight I went to see this show. Thoroughly Modern Millie put on by the local H.S. with Hailey & two friends. This is the first year in 4 that I haven't had a kid in the show. Our town is known for amazing local theatre- if you live anywhere near me... and you know who you are- go get tickets- SERIOUSLY! It's the best show they've done for a couple years, sorry brian if you read this, but it was that good. It's only playing two more nights but even if you can't get the best seats- go anyway- trust me - You'll love it!!!

SPT- Welcome Home

If you came to my house to visit. You would definitely ring the front door bell. Even though there is one at the back door- it's just for meddling, smarty pants kids who like to trick their mother & watch her go to the front door over & over. This guy would most likely open the door.

followed by intensely annoying barking by Max.

He is very territorial & it is extremely embarrassing.

I would most likely look like this- pony tail, ratty ol' inside out sweatshirt & jeans, with bare feet. I call this my puttering around the house style & I love it.

I love visitors- when I know they are coming. I am definitely not a just drop in kind of gal. Being a chronic over scheduler/planner type person, that throws my mind into a tail spin.

Yesterday was kind of a bad one. Today is better.

Really hard day. Shouldn't have been- just was. My head is pounding. I have too much on my plate. I'm way off balance. I sat down tonight & thought gee I haven't blogged for days... yesterday feels like a week away.

I'm way off balance.

CREATE. BALANCE.
(my new chant)

CREATE. BALANCE.

hummmmmm

*It doesn't help that the missionary didn't email. He wrote to his dad only. Missing him.

*Wishing Trent didn't have problems - embarrassed he told his cub leader her (very cool) activity was boring then walked part way home- just to be caught - & marched back in - then made to apologize while bawling like a big baby.

*is it possible my #5 really needed to go to Jr. High orientation today? Jr. high cheerleaders, orchestra, & jazz band= major annoyance & heartache for another child to turn teen.

*bathrooms still dirty, budget is dry, dinner forgotten while homework struggled on.

* two meetings down one more on Friday.

*working tomorrow

I'm tired.

I picked up a sample of Megan's wedding announcement Saturday.

Here's a sneak preview....

I hope Megan doesn't mind this little sneak preview of her wedding announcement.

It's beautiful! I can't wait to get them & send them out!!

Saturday night Brett & I met Tony's parents. It was great- they are wonderful people, just like we had expected.

We went to this fun Italian place that had great ambiance & even an accordion player. He was a great singer too.

Here they are... the happy couple.

Book Club

Tonight it's Chloe's book club. Lily's sister is in it too. There is some extreme jealousy going on here. I can't say I blame them. So hey- these two made their own book club! They decided to take turns reading- Junie B. Jones Has A Monster Under Her Bed. Talk about cute. Of course less than half hour into it, Trent ditched that idea & moved on. Lily finished the book soon after on her own- of course. She is the more serious book club member. Trent got in his 20 minutes of reading homework so it's a total win, win, -win situation!
Lily brought the treats- mmmmm cupcakes. Oh how I love them. I was so good & only ate one.

Introducing my friends to Bakerella was pretty much the smartest thing I've ever done. Twice now someone has brought me these. These ones are made by WEnde. We absolutely LOVED them. These are amazing really, I've been wanting to make some- but I have that whole sugar addiction- & I know I couldn't eat just one or two.

Then surprise, surprise... miss Lelly sent me one of her Valentines!!
(I had been secretly coveting one so just imagine my excitement.) I feel so special. I also got a sweet card from her this week & now I can't find it!!! It's probably hangin' out with the extra special card I got for my father in law's birthday last month & now can't find. I'm losing everything these days. Aargh!

*are your kids in a book club?
*isn't it hard being the youngest?
*when you get really busy do you start misplacing things?

Pay Back

Another Field Trip

Today I went on another field trip!

This one was really fun because we weren't walking forever or taking public transportation. Those are rough.We went to the U of U for Engineering Day. It was so cool. I learned a lot about engineering. But then, I had a lot to learn. Students & some faculty put on a 1/2 day presentation & it was GREat! They had contests & this one was building a fish out of clay that would be either fast or slow in a tank of water, pulled by a pulley, in teams- the team picked whether they wanted to try for fast of slow.

The fish were pulled by the paper clip. Chloe's group tried to make a Slow fish. They really learned a lot because they made this stream lined fish, and he was definitely not slow. The college students taught about what makes something go slower, faster.

The kids also built "buildings"out of straws that had to be sturdy & wind proof. Cool. Loved it. We also learned about Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, & more. Anyhow, that was my day.

I am feeling very blessed to have the time to go on these trips & be with my kids. I know all too well. It'll be only six years before Chloe is out of the house. I'm really enjoying this precious time.

SPT- What's Extra Special About Me?- MOVIE STYLE

Last night while I was laying in bed thinking about my really busy day today, I remembered today's SPT challenge. Even though I believe I have special qualities, I really couldn't think of what to SPT about so I came up with this little movie idea.

I hope you enjoy it!

What's special about my mom... Hailey & Trent edition.

What's special about my mom... chloe edition.

What makes mom special... jack edition.

What's special about mom... dad edition.

So there you have it. What's special about me? I have a fun loving family!

Family Night - Chloe Edition

Yesterday Chloe came home so excited about her really cute & awesome new primary teacher & the lesson they had. She wanted to share with us what she learned and make these. Homemade pretzels. So that's what we did tonight for family night.

It is such a darling little story I thought I would share it.

"In about 610 A.D. a very creative Alpine Monk decided to make use of the pieces of dough left over from baking bread. The Monk formed them into thin strips folded into a looped twist to represent the folded arms of children in prayer.

This scrumptious treat was given to the children as they learned their prayers. They began calling the treat 'Pretiola', which is Latin for little reward. Soon it was known the world over as a pretzel. The secret of making great pretzels is not only in the baking but also in the shaping. We like pretzels, are made from the best ingredients, by the best hands, the hands of our Father in Heaven. Have you ever seen a broken pretzel, or one that's lost it's shape? we too, can lose our shape when we don't pray always to keep our spirituality intact. Even in the midst of our greatest trials, we must remember, as did Job, to call on the Lord. The simple shape of the pretzel, arms folded in prayer, reminds us to pray each day. Our 'Pretiola' or little rewards are the blessing we receive."

Every time you see a pretzel, remember prayer. Check to see if you arms are often folded in prayer and have not lost their shape.

This recipe is really EASY! I made the dough in my bread maker. You can find the recipe here!

*I think this was my first time making themed FHE treats- do you do that?

*do you have a bread maker? I love mine, but only use the "dough" option, never bake in it.