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.