Tagged - 7 random things about myself

1. I HATE the word belly. I think it is the most awful word in the human language (up there with all cuss words). It gives me the creeps to hear that word, I just can't stand it. It was all I could do to type it.

2. I LOVE recipes. I collect them (I get this from my mom). I have drawers and a storeroom full of books and printed recipes. I know I will never get around to trying most of them, but it makes me feel good I will always have something if I need it.

3. I really, really dislike talking on the phone. Even to my hubby. I don't think he appreciates it much, but I just really don't like talking on the phone.

4. I absolutely, positively LOVE to bake! I should have gone to culinary school instead of becoming a paralegal - oh well. I love to bake so much I usually have to give most of it away, because there is so much.

5. I am obsessed with The Biggest Loser!! I LOVE that show and could watch it every day. I am so happy Bill won the latest one and am counting the days for the new one, happy that I don't have to wait months for another one to start!

6. I detest fish, but love tuna fish sandwiches.

7. I LOVE going grocery shopping (as long as it is by myself). I think it is because I love food so much, but I just really look forward to grocery shopping :)

I tag anyone reading my blog :)

Christmas Quilt Finished!!

Hooray! I finally finished my Christmas quilt on Christmas! I didn't have enough of that border, so I went to the fabric store to get more - and they were out! I freaked out. But, I called my mom and she went to her store in CO and found it there - whew! Then she mailed it to me, so thanks to her I was able to finish my quilt. Here is a picture of it. I have now made 4 quilts, all of the same design. I am trying to branch out and try a different pattern, I am still just not very confident in my quilting abilities. I know I can make this pattern, so why try another one? But, I am going to go outside of my comfort zone and just do it. I am thinking of trying a pinwheel pattern next.

Christmas morning

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve. A friend in the ward invited us to her family dinner, the kids had a blast. When we got home they got to open their pj's, then we read the Night Before Christmas and the 2nd chapter of Luke. The kids were good and went right to bed. Thank goodness we didn't have to stay up late doing much. Just set Santa's stuff out and filled stockings and we got to go to bed ourselves. I love Christmas and am so excited the kids are having so much fun.

All spiffied up

Well, I had to take pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits before church today. Yeah, Tyler got the short end of the stick and didn't really get a Christmas outfit this year, I don't know where my brain is sometimes. But, they still look cute. Tyler and I were eating cereal this morning and he said "mom, do you know what I love about the wonderful Christmas season?" I am still trying to figure out if this is my 4-year old talking or what. And then he finishes and says "that I get to spend time with my family especially my nana and papa." He just cracks me up. It is funny too because he talks like spending time with his family is something that rarely happens when in reality, we are all usually together 24/7. Except for Nana and Papa, but they will be here in 6 days. Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope everyone gets to spend this wonderful Christmas season with their family.

Funny story - but not so funny story

This morning at about 7am the phone rang and it was the RS pres. She was crying and told me she had really bad news. One of the families in our ward just had their 18 y.o. daughter, Rachel, go away to college over in AL. Last night she was abducted after she got off work. Her roommate woke up about 3am and called the police when she realized Rachel wasn't home yet. The police called her parents about 5am and they went right away up to AL. I was crying all morning, I called my mom and sisters and told them to pray they would find her, I even emailed Andrea in Italy because they were friends when they lived here. Well about 11 or so I got another call they had found Rachel. She had spent the night at a friend's house. Obviously we were all relieved. But still, to get that kind of a phone call - can you even imagine???? Anyways, all is well. I was even being extra loving to my kids all morning, thinking how grateful I was they were safe and sound with me :) And I have a card update - I have gotten lots more Christmas cards now - yeah! Oh, and an update on Piper who swallowed the penny...she did have surgery and they got the penny out and she is fine - we just had lunch with them today. I also got Christmas presents from my parents and grandparents in the mail today - life is good! 8 days 'till Christmas and 12 days 'till mom and dad get here.

Christmas Party

Last night was our ward Christmas Party and we did a Night in Bethlehem. It was pretty neat. We were all supposed to dress like biblical times. We all got tax notices (cans of food that will go to needy families) and we paid our taxes to the centurions and got a bag of 10 gold coins. Then we went into the market place where we paid to buy our dinner. There were different booths set up, like the Dairy Mart, Meat Market, Pita's Inn, Toy Shop, Winery (we had sprite with apple juice), etc. The kids could spend their gold coins on all toys, or food, or a mix, but once your coins were gone, they were gone. Then we went into the gathering place and ate. Then we had our program. It was different, I have never done anything like that. Tyler had a blast buying things. He kept buying his sister necklaces and grapes :) The kids got a special silver rock that they took to the Gift of the Magi booth and got a little sack of goodies because there was no Santa there.

Christmas Cards!

Yeah! I finally got a Christmas Card in the mail :) It made me happy to see it. Isn't it cute?? It is from my friend Jenn. Thanks Jenn! I now have 3 Christmas cards, one is from my Dad. My dad is an awesome stamper. He makes my mom's and his Christmas cards every year. My dad's card is the one one the bottom, Jenn's is on the top.

Scrapbooking

I finally got some scrap booking done! It was so nice to be able to sit and do some pages. I am now only about 20 months behind! I have to scrapbook in chronological order, I can't do it out of order for some reason. Here are some pages I got done.

Self-Cleaning Oven??

Yesterday I had a fire in my oven. I have never had a fire in my oven before. It scared me. I was yelling outside to TJ to come in quick! I knew my oven needed to be cleaned, I just have never cleaned an oven before, besides turning the oven to "clean." I actually didn't even know there were ovens that weren't self cleaning! So I wrote oven cleaner on the grocery list and checked on my hamburger buns (another story) in the oven. And there was a fire! I turned the oven off and TJ came in and put it out for me. All is well now, I am cleaning the oven today. My hamburger buns were a little smokey tasting :) Do you have a self cleaning oven?

First Solo Flight

TJ did his first solo flight on Monday! Yeah! I am so proud of him for not crashing :) No, seriously, he said it was awesome and he just loves flying. So as a tradition after you do your first solo flight they cut the back of your shirt off and you write the date of your first solo flight and it hangs like as a flag with all the other t-shirts somewhere. I was upset because he forgot they would do that so he had one of his nicer t-shirts on and it got all cut up. Oh well. He has now done 2 solo flights I believe. He has to do a cross-country flight in the next few weeks and his cross-country flight is all the way over to Alabama! That is a joke because AL is only about 30 minutes from here. They call it a cross country flight for some reason but the students are not allowed to go more than a certain distance from their training spot. He will finish this part of flight training mid-December then in January go onto another training.

Silly stuff

You Are Christmas

More than most people, you are able to find magic in life's small moments.

Traditions mean a lot to you, and you tend to be quite nostalgic.

You are a giving, kind person who really understands the true meaning of holidays.

You inspire others to be as altruistic and caring as you are.

What makes you celebrate: Tradition and a generous spirit.

At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The storyteller.

You like to recount memories with everyone.

On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Give a gift to everyone you know

What Holiday Are You?

Quilt MADNESS

AAAHHHH!!!! I got the top of my Christmas wall hanging quilt almost done, I can't believe I didn't have enough material for the last border piece, and do you know how short I was??? I had another piece and I thought it was big enough, it needed to be 3 1/2" wide, the only piece I have left is 3 1/4" wide!! And do you know why it isn't long enough, yep because of the mess up I did earlier, which there is pictures of a couple of posts down. Oh well, another trip to the fabric store :)

Knitting

I decided to do some knitted dish cloths to go with some Christmas presents for people this year. I am going to put them with a cute little poem about dishes and then a white wheat mix of some kind in a jar. I decided I needed about 15 dish cloths. I have 5 1/2 done. I am whipping one out every couple of days, I don't know if I will have them all done by Christmas or not, I might have to cut some people off the list - isn't that horrible? They looked all cute stacked up, so I thought I'd show my progress.

Elf dance

I had to do the elf dance for our family. Found it on Jenn's blog, and it was so cute! Here is our elf dancin' family!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1133099083

Mess up

Ok, so do you see the first picture? It is the front entry way and other than the shoes and junk everywhere it is decorated for Christmas. Then I looked closer and the quilt wall hanging just doesn't go. So I decided to hurry up and do a Christmas wall hanging to go there. I started and was half way done with the top when I messed up the design and I am not picking it all out and sewing it over. I also didn't really like the fabrics I chose to go together, they were too similar in value and didn't really show the pattern very well. So I am starting all over with the new pattern, picture #3. I don't like it either, but at least the pattern will really show up. I am thinking I will turn the mess up wall hanging into a table runner somehow.

Beautiful Fall Day

Amaya is a little girl from Tyler's preschool class. We used to pick her up every day and her mom would come get her after work, she got off at 12 and the kids have to be picked up at 11:30, so I told her I could just get her, it was no problem. Her mom doesn't work in the day anymore so she hasn't been over in a while. Well today her mom called me asking if I could pick Amaya up because Piper, her 2-year old, had swallowed a penny and was puking blood! So I picked up Amaya and she has been here all day playing. I just heard from her mom and Piper might have to have surgery because the penny is lodged in her esophagus and they can't get it out! But, we love having Amaya over, she is the sweetest little girl and gets along so well with my kids, it is easier to have her here than to not have her here. Here are some pictures from the kids outside today. It has been such beautiful fall weather lately.

Funny email

I got another funny forward from my friend Kate. It made me smile :)

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear.

When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months.

I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid.

I could deal with that, too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute cuddly cubs.

I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.

I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat. Yup...gonna be a bear.

Spin Class

So yesterday Jen and I thought it would be a good idea to go to a "90-minute after Thanksgiving spin class with optional 60 minute class" at our gym. HA HA!! I have not done a spin class in almost 2 years and I have not ridden a bike in almost a year probably. But I just kept thinking of all those calories I could burn. We started with a full class, maybe 25 or so, after about 50 minutes we lost about 6-7 people who went to the next class - body building! Then at the 60 minute mark we lost quite a few more. Jen got off the bike and I was SO close to following, I had sweat dripping in my eyes and down my nose, but I told her we could do it, so she got back on and we peddled our way to 90 minutes of spin. Only 6 people finished the class. I am impressed we went for 90 minutes, but it was a good work out. I think I will try spin more often now. I will have to wait for my backside to heal, I feel like I need a doughnut pillow to sit on wherever I go.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice Thanksgiving with the Russell's. We had turkey and ham, and all the fixin's. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have to admit I was crying most the morning. I am really missing my family and the thought of everyone being together without me was hard. I am counting down the days until Dad & Mom come!

Fall

It doesn't much feel like real fall weather here, but the leaves are changing and falling off the trees. TJ raked some up today and the kids had a blast jumping in them.

Tyler's last soccer game

Tyler had his last soccer game yesterday. I am kinda glad the season is over, I am ready for a break from practices and games!! He played good, but their team lost 0-1.

Hay Ride

Last night the Stake had a combined youth hay ride activity. We ate hot dogs, drank hot cocoa and ate s'mores next to the big bon fire. We went to some house in the middle of nowhere. It was lots of fun and I think all our girls had a good time. Here are some pictures of my funny girls.

Keeping Busy

I have been trying to get my big quilt done, so it has been taking a lot of my time. I decided to post my progress so far. Of course you can tell it is not done yet. I have some of the top quilted, just around all the latices. I still need to trace the design on it and stitch over that. Then of course bind it. I have started cutting material for another quilt. There is, of course, a huge fabric sale the day after Thanksgiving that I will be going to and stocking up on more fabric and sewing notions, can't wait!

Tagged

Everyone else is doing it :) I think there won't be any new stuff in here, but it is fun anyway. Ok, 10 years ago, TJ was gone on his first west pac, we had been married for 6 months, and I had gone back to live in CO while he was gone. I don't have any pictures of that, so I will just post one of our wedding pictures. We spent our first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years thousands of miles apart. It's ok, the homecoming was AWESOME!


Five years ago I was pregnant with Tyler. I don't have any pictures of that either because our computer crashed not too long after that. We hadn't told any of our family we were pregnant and we flew home for Thanksgiving and surprised them with an ultrasound picture. I have a picture of that page from my scrapbook.




One year ago is not something I want to revisit, so I will go to about 1 year and 5 months ago :) And I was jealous Katie got to post her Italy pictures. We were in Italy and it was the best vacation ever. I enjoyed it so much, up until the last few days when I was missing my babies something awful! I loved everything about Italy and have very fond memories of that trip. The first picture is from Pompeii down in Naples and the second picture is in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. We also went up to Venice and Vicenza.





5 places I'd rather be:

1. In Colorado with my family
2. In Wyoming with my sister
3. In Naples with Curtis'
4. At Hanauma Bay with TJ
5. In San Diego scrapbooking with friends again


What I'd do with 100 million dollars


1. Take my whole family on a trip
2. Take my sisters and myself on a trip without kids
3. pay off my sisters' houses
4. buy a really really nice new sewing machine to quilt with
5. buy TJ his own airplane
6. put in an underground pool in the house I don't have
7. buy a boat


5 Favorite TV shows:


1. The Biggest Loser
2. CSI - Las Vegas
3. Shark
4. Without a Trace
5. Cold Case


5 Favorite Snacks

1. Chocolate
2. Ice Cream
3. Cereal
4. cheese
5. Apples


I think every one's blog I read has already done this, so I can't tag anyone. If my family members would get a blog, that would be cool and I could tag them :)

Funny poem

I got this email from a friend who told me I HAD to read it (I normally delete all forwarded emails, I HATE forwarded emails) but this one was pretty funny. I thought I'd post it here so I don't have to forward it on. Enjoy, if you want to read it.

Mormon Women: If you, or someone you know has ever felt overwhelmed by all they feel they need to do, Vickie Gunther of Redlands , California , wrote a hilarious poem, Dr. Seuss style, about how much LDS women try to take on. David B. Marsh used it at Women's Conference, and Vickie has given permission to share it.

The Girl in a Whirl by 'Dr. Sue' (a.k. a.. Vickie Gunther)
Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
You could do what I do if you only knew how.

I study the scriptures one hour each day;
I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray.

I always keep all the commandments completely;

I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.
I help in their classrooms! I sew all they wear!
I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair!

I memorize names of the General Authorities;
I focus on things to be done by priorities.
I play the piano! I bless with my talents!
My toilets all sparkle! My checkbooks all balance!

Each week every child gets a one-on-one date;
I attend all my meetings (on time! never late!)

I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,

I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;
Our t-shirts are ironed! My toenails are polished!

Our family home evenings are always delightful;
The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.

I do genealogy faithfully, too. It's easy to do all the things that I do!
I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;

I know all the names of each youth in my stake!
I read to my children! I help all my neighbors!

I bless the community, too, with my labors.
I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;

My visiting teaching is done the first day! (I also go do it for someone who missed hers. It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.)

I chart resolutions and check off each goal;
I seek each 'lost lamb' on my Primary roll.

I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,

I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!
Each day, I write 'thank you's' to those I admire.

My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!
My kids get straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean!

I have a home business to help make some money;
I always look beautifully groomed for my honey.

I go to the temple at least once a week;
I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak!

I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread;
I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.

I make sure I rotate our two-years' supply;
My shopping for Christmas is done by July!

These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;
You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them!

It's easy to do all the things that I do!
If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!
It's easy!' she said and then she dropped dead.

Learn to fly an airplane in a week!

As per Melissa's request, I've been asked to scribble my experience so far in IFS (Introductory to Flight Screening). Gotta love the world of acronyms! So I endured 24 hours of ground school in 1 1/2 weeks, and in my off time, I was asked to go through a 660 page large textbook...not to mention the additional books and sheets they hand to you in a handy-dandy Jeppesen bag. Jeppeson is the name of the company that has created a syllabus for private pilots. There has been a lot thrown at me, but it's good that I have had some experience in my 11 years of Navy live relating to physics/math, engines, navigation (even though i suck at it), and other navy type stuff or else I would have been in trouble. Today was my big flying day. I am no longer an aviator virgin! My flight instructor had me pre-flight the airplane, taxi the plane to the runway, and off we went. He helped me do all of the radio controls to clearance, ground control, and the tower/departure control....but other than that, i was piloting the airplane. Pretty cool stuff, except for the 8-12 knot crosswind when we were landing......my flight instructor went ahead and landed the plane for me and I wasn't going to argue with that! Now Melissa's take on it. I asked him if we had our will up to date. I still can't get over the fact he just started class last week, and he flew a plane today!! Holy crap! And in 2 weeks he will be flying solo - no instructor in the plane, just little old TJ all by himself!!! I hope they know what they are doing. Off to check the will now. Oh, and here is a picture of the beautiful piece of equipment he flew, it was made when we were born!

Granola Recipe

I have another recipe I wanted to share. I usually eat this for my cereal every morning. It is very good and I like that it uses wheat flour in it. If you like granola, you will love this! Here it is.

4 c quick oats
1 c white wheat flour
1 c coconut
1/2 c sliced almonds
1/2 c honey
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs oil


Mix first 4 ingredients together in a big bowl. In small saucepan combine last 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until very well blended. Spread onto a large greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes or until it is the crunchy consistency you like. I usually bake mine for 30 minutes and I stir it at every 10 minutes. I let it cool and then put it in a big Tupperware container. Then I eat it as my morning cereal with milk on it. Yummy!! Enjoy :o) You can also add other dried fruits and nuts if you want, just experiment with it. I also will give it to the kids as a dry snack, they love it too.

Gratitude

I have been wanting to do a gratitude journal for a while now and I figured with this being the month of Thanksgiving I should just do it. I really love the Fall Flowers paper from Stampin' Up! and decided to use that to cover my little on board journal. I am very happy with how it turned out. I did measure my paper wrong so it doesn't go to the left edge of the journal, but I didn't want to cut more paper, so I just left it like that, I wish now I would have gone back and had the paper cover the entire surface, oh well. Now I can write down all the things I am grateful for instead of just thinking them.

Finished!

I finally finished my wall hanging quilt. It is a smaller version of my bigger quilt. I am very happy with how it turned out and if I can say so, the picture really doesn't do it justice. You can't really see the quilting on the middle of the quilt, and that is probably my favorite part. In the middle there are big flowers quilted on each square. I machine quilted it all. I hand stitched all the binding. I like the scrappy binding. Now I need to finish the Halloween wall hanging then on to the big quilt which needs to be quilted and bound - who knows how long it will be until that one is done!

Halloween!

Well, the kids had a great time last night. We had our ward party last night, but before that I took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with some church friends. Tyler had a blast. Brena was so cute, she loved getting all the candy and would say "thank you, bye bye" and wave her little hand at the person at the door. It was a fun night and the kids got way too much candy. Here are the cute little monsters.