Smells

There is a gross smell in our house and we can't figure out where/what it is. I have been cleaning and sniffing around for two days now. I think I have it narrowed down to the kitchen, but the smell is so strong to me that I can't be in there very long before I start gagging. Thank you pregnancy nose! I am going to see if Steve will check out under the kitchen sink and under/behind the fridge for me tonight when he gets home. Until then, I am either upstairs, outside or running errands. I can't deal with it for very long.

Finally some relief!

I have been having terrible acid reflux every afternoon/evening and I finally called my doctor's office about it. I now have a prescription for zantac and it is working for me! I'm not perfect, but the relief is so wonderful! I do feel guilty about all the meds I have ben taking in this pregnancy. I haven't ever taken any before. I am just having much worse symptoms than ever! Anyway, hooray for finally starting to feel like I can cope again, even if it is just a little bit!

Still obsessed

So, Jake came home with a "family" homework project. We are supposed to help "Morris the turkey" come up with a disguise so that he doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving. I bet you can all guess what our turkey's disguise is. That's right...Darth Vader. The thing is, this darn turkey is looking to the side, so that makes the helmet part kind of tricky and he is made out of paper, so trying to make it look good totally flat is starting to become a challenge. I have some black vinyl fabric around here somewhere and a silver chain to use. I wish I had some gray felt for the little thing on his chest with all the buttons and such. It is due tomorrow, so I just have to work with what I've got around the house. I will post a picture of him when we finish..hopefully his disguise will work!

What does it mean to you??

NO SOLICITING!!!!!! I have a sign right next to my front door that says this. It certainly doesn't seem to deter anyone. Makes me crazy. Sometimes I wish I could just tell them to read the sign as I slam the door in their face. But, that would be unkind and rude. Still, isn't it rude of them to ignore it? Ugh!!

Sick of being sick

Ok, I know that I have been a big whiner, but seriously...this nausea has got to stop. I am not throwing up a ton like when I was expecting Rachel, but I am so sick all day long. I hate it. I am nervous about keeping up with preschool, the kids' activities and church stuff. Not to mention the disaster that is my house. It is a wreck! I have people coming next weekend for Jake's baptism and the house is gonna be messy. Ugh. The doc had me taking 50mg of Vitamin B6 and half of a unisom tablet every 6 hours, but it didn't help much. It's been a week of trying that, so today, in desperation, I called and got a prescription for Phenergan. I hope it works. Sounds stupid, but I just feel like crying all the time because I feel so rotten. Poor Steve has had to endure me crying to him in the mornings that I just don't want to wake up because I will be sick again. Let's hope this prescription works! Right now I spend most of the day lying in bed or on the couch or rifling through the cupboards trying to find something to eat that will make me feel better. My poor kids are tired of eating cereal and pizza, lol! Not to mention how terrible I look, big dark circles under my eyes are not attractive.

Bad blogger

I know, I have been a bad blogger lately, but there is a good reason! We are expecting a baby!!! Those lines are faint, but they are there for sure! I have been feeling really sick again this time and just sitting at the computer makes me nauseous. I'm hoping it gets better soon!

Couldn't resist!

Saw this on 9th Ward Cartoons, had to share. It's awesome!

First day of school!

Hugging Rachel goodbye. Jake said he was making a sad face because he would never see her again, weird kid.

My baby is a middle schooler!

Big 2nd grader now!

Two cute kiddos!

It's finally here! The first day of school!!! Jake headed off to 2nd grade with a big smile on his face. He got the teacher he had been hoping for, so he is excited! Becka left for the bus only to come running back about 20 minutes later saying that the bus had come early and about 15 kids were left stranded there. I got her and the two neighbor kids to school just as the first bell rang. Poor Becka, I hope that is the only thing that goes wrong today. I don't want her to hate middle school from the start!

Another one

I did this one of Ava for Amanda's CT and also used it for the photography challenge at PGD. I LOVE this kit. The colors are gorgeous, I wish I that had been creative enough to use more of it.

I am anxious to do more LOs with it!

Scrappy

I am really having a hard time finding my groove for the digiscrapping I need to be doing! I got this one done tonight, but, man, it was painful. I am not all that happy with it, but it did turn out better than my last page at least!

FYI

A few people have asked me about my Project 365 blog. I got a spammer who left a comment on there, so I have changed it to private. If you want to be able to see it, email me or leave a message here and I will send you the info. I hate to do it that way, but I don't want random people on there. I am assuming that I will eventually need to make this one private also.

Service

Today I am teaching a lesson on service in Young Women. The youth just finished completely redoing a house for an elderly lady and her disabled son, so it seems sort of redundant and anti-climatic for me to be preaching to them about service. This project was their idea. The youth were given a donation of $500 to use towards a fun beach trip this summer, and they decided that they wanted to use that money toward a major service project instead. I tear up every time I think about that. I don't think I would have willingly, happily and even excitedly given up a beach trip to do weeks of asking for and collecting donations, cleaning, painting, etc. when I was a teenager. I would have done it, but it wouldn't have been my idea, that's for sure! I am so proud of these kids, and it humbles me to know that I have been asked to be one of their leaders.

As I was preparing my lesson, I decided that I would like them to take some time to talk about the things they learned and enjoyed about their service project. I also remembered a story I like that is actually a Christmas story, but I feel it applies. It is called "That Thine Alms May be in Secret" by George C. Durrant. I have a little copy of it in my Christmas boxes out in the garage, so I will be out there digging it out in a few minutes, lol. Here it is in case you want to read it. :)

Most folks in Steelville were just a little bit afraid of Big Sam Edwards. Sam had lost his job when the steel plant had cut back, and he hadn't been able to find work during the past six months. He was a proud man; and now, with Christmas coming, he made a few telephone calls to important people telling them that he didn't want any "do-gooders" trying to help his family at Christmas. He gruffly warned, "I'll be staying up on Christmas Eve, and if anybody comes around trying to leave anything at the door, somebody's going to get hurt."
On Christmas Eve, when his wife, Kathryn, and his children had gone to their beds, Sam sat in his small front room with a shotgun draped across his lap. He became so weary that around two o'clock he fell asleep.
The next morning when he awoke, there in front of him he saw a whole pile of toys, a large ham, a small Christmas tree, and an open Bible. For a few seconds, he felt a surge of joy. But then he became angry. To himself he muttered, "I warned them, and somebody will pay for poking their nose into my business." Just then the children came into the room. Seeing the toys, they shouted, "Look, Daddy! See what Santa left us!"
Sam jumped from his chair and quickly stepped between the children and the toys. "Don't touch those things!" he shouted. "This is not our stuff, and somebody is going to pay for sneaking in here and leaving it. That's breaking and entering, and I'm not going to put up with it."Sam went quickly to the telephone and called his long-time friend Sheriff Walt Durrant. After several rings the sleepy sheriff picked up the phone. Sam blurted out, "Sheriff, you get over here. Somebody broke into my house. I want them arrested." He hung up.
Sam looked over to the corner of the room where his children were standing in a huddle, gazing longingly at the pile of toys. "You kids get back to bed," he said. They didn't move, but fixed yearning eyes on their mother, who stood behind them. She didn't know what to do. During the past few discouraging months, she had more or less given up on helping Sam. If she voiced her thoughts, it always started an argument.
Sam sternly repeated, "I said get back to bed. It's too early for you kids to be up anyway."
The children reluctantly retreated. Kathryn went into the kitchen and started cooking some oatmeal. Breakfast might be the best meal they were going to have that day.
Thirty-five minutes later, Sheriff Walt Durrant knocked on the door. "Come in!" Sam shouted. The sheriff opened the door and said cheerfully, "Merry Christmas." Sam's only reply was a look of disgust.
"Now, what's happened here?" asked the sheriff.
"Somebody broke in last night and left all of this stuff on the floor, and I want them arrested."
"Well, Sam, that looks like pretty good stuff to me. Did they take anything?"
"No, they didn't take nothing, but I'm fed up with all of the do-gooders in this town. I can take care of myself and my family. I don't need help from nobody. Besides, didn't I tell you to keep those meddlers away from here?"
"Were you gone away last night when they did it?"
"No, I was sitting right there in that chair."
"Well, Sam, you know nobody could have come in here without making a big racket."
Sam, more angry than ever, replied, "They might have made a big racket, but I guess I slept right through it."
"I guess you did," the sheriff drawled. "Funny thing is, when I drove down your lane from the road, I could see that nobody else had been down here since the big snow last night."
"Well, somebody drove or walked in here. Now you find out who it was."
"I told you, there's not a track out there. The snow quit falling last night around nine, and nobody has been in here since then."
"Sheriff, there must be some tracks out there."
"Go see for yourself, if you think you're so smart. See if you can see where anybody came in here."
"I'll show you," said Sam. "I don't know why we pay taxes for a blind sheriff like you anyway."
Together the two men went outside. Sam wandered down the lane searching for some tracks other than those left by the sheriff, but there were none.
He returned to where the sheriff stood. "Let's go around the house," he said. "There will be some tracks out back."
Together they circled the house, but all around it the snow was as smooth as a calm lake. Not a mark on it.
Sam, more irritated than ever, shouted, "Somebody's raked over the tracks."
"Nonsense," said the sheriff, "nobody has been here. I don't know where that stuff came from, but I know this--nobody brought it here."
Sam didn't know what else to say or do. The sheriff spoke as kindly as he could. "Look, Sam, I've got Christmas waiting at home. Why don't you just take the stuff and enjoy it. Forget where it came from. Just be grateful."
Sam's voice was choked with emotion as he replied. "Sheriff, I'm not grateful for nothing, except the stuff I provide for my own family."
The sheriff replied, "I know, Sam. But you'll get work soon. Things will get better." He drove away.
Completely mystified by what had happened, Sam came back into the house and sat in his chair. Kathryn spoke softly. "Sam, what does it matter how it got here? It's here."
Sam's only reply was, "I just can't figure out how somebody came here without leaving no tracks."
Little four-year-old Katie, who was standing nearby with the other children, excitedly said, "Daddy, maybe there's some tracks on top of the house."
"I don't think so, honey," Sam replied gently.
Then it hit him like a light. Some troublemaker had actually rented a helicopter and landed on his roof!
A few minutes later Sam propped his old wooden ladder against the side of the house, and to the amazement of Kathryn and the children he almost ran to the top. Up there he looked carefully around. "Nothing," he muttered.
Little Katie called up to him, "Are there any reindeer tracks?"
Sam paused and looked down at her and the other children. Then he winked at Kathryn and said with a chuckle, "Yeah, I think I can see some reindeer tracks over by the chimney."
Suddenly Sam had a feeling that he had not had in years. He shouted out, "Well, what are you kids waiting for? Those toys are for you, you know!"
Soon the ham was cooking in the oven. The children were playing with their toys. The miniature Christmas tree was on the table. Unnoticed by his family, Sam picked up the open Bible. A verse was underlined. He softly read: "That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Never before or since has more joy been packed into one little house or into one father's heart than there was at that moment.
From then on and through the years everybody in town knew that Sam had changed. During the next thirty-six years almost everyone had been touched by one of Sam's kindnesses. He'd done everything from helping Arnold Conder build a house to being the chief cook at the annual old folks' dinner. On his sixty-eighth birthday he was honored as the city's most generous citizen. Sheriff Durrant, his closest friend, was appointed to present him the plaque.
Sam wasn't much of a public speaker. As he accepted the award, he awkwardly said, "I don't do no more stuff for others than anybody else around this here town. I just wish I could do like Jesus said in the Bible. I wished I could do something good and do it in secret so nobody would ever know."
As the years went by, in almost every conversation he had with Sheriff Durrant he would say, "You remember, don't you, Sheriff--that Christmas when there was no tracks nowhere? If I could do something good for someone and leave no tracks, that would be the merriest Christmas of all for me."
The sheriff would smile and say, "Maybe someday, Sam."
All in the community mourned when Sam's wife died. By now the children were all grown up and married, and had moved to larger cities to get work. They and their children visited Sam as often as they could, but most of the time he was alone.
Now it was once again Christmas Eve. Tomorrow Sam's house would be filled with his children, his grandchildren, and even his two-week-old great-grandson. It was a family tradition for all the family to come home on Christmas afternoon. But tonight he was alone. He would have gone to visit some friends but his eyesight was such that he could no longer drive, and his arthritis made walking a lot less than pleasurable.
At about five o'clock the Gentrys had come over to sing Sam a Christmas carol. They were a young family who during the past summer had moved into the old Conder home across the hayfield from Sam. Their two young children, five-year-old Lexie and three-year-old Ben, had taken a special liking to Sam, and he to them. The family made it a point to give Sam a ride to church every Sunday. The children loved him to tell them stories about when he was little. They and their mom, Marinda Gentry, came to visit him often.
This Christmas Eve tears moistened his cheeks as first Lexie and then Ben hugged him and said, "We love you, Grandpa Sam. Merry Christmas." Just before they left to go home he gave Lexie a doll and Ben a ball. He had wanted to make each of them something, but his hands were not now his servants as they had once been. Sam watched them through his front window as the little family departed down his driveway toward the country road that led the one block to their home. A heavy snowfall had begun.
Sam, who had difficulty in sleeping anyway, had decided to stay up late this night. As he prepared for bed he looked out of the window and saw that the gentle snow had covered all of the fields in the country neighborhood with a soft smooth whiteness. The snow by then had stopped falling. The winter scene reminded him of that mysterious "trackless" night so long ago. As he let his mind wander in a multitude of memories, he was suddenly jolted back to reality. Looking out across the field toward the Gentry house he saw an orange glow. To his horror he realized that the Gentrys' house was on fire. Hurrying from his chair he scooped up a jacket on his way to the back door. He quickly climbed the wire fence that separated his house from the hayfield. His pains forgotten in his fears for his friends' safety, he hurried toward the burning house. There he found a group of people standing together near the mailbox. The firetruck had just arrived, and the hurrying men were unrolling hoses and exchanging shouted instructions.
No one saw Sam approach, all eyes being on the leaping flames. Mrs. Gentry was screaming, "Bennie is still in there!" The boy's father shouted, "I'll try again!" but two men grabbed him and shouted, "You can't go back! It's no use!" Unnoticed by anyone, Sam ran around and entered through the back door. He couldn't see because of the thick smoke but that didn't matter because he knew the layout of the house, since he had helped build it. Flames were everywhere. He could feel the heat biting against him. The smoke choked his lungs. Suddenly he heard a faint cough. He blindly made his way toward the sound and found little Bennie lying on the floor. He scooped the crying child up in his arms and, running through the flames, made his way to the back door. Once outside he held the boy close to his body and looked heavenward.
After coughing violently for several seconds the child began to cry. He placed little Bennie down on the snow and told him to go out front to the mailbox to his mother.
Now for the first time Sam could feel the pain. His lungs seemed to be on fire and his skin felt as though he had been immersed in boiling water. He wanted to be home. Home was where he wanted to die. Without consciously knowing what he was doing, Sam, as if carried by the angels, crossed the snow-covered field, climbed the fence, and staggered into his home.
A fireman found Bennie crying and making his way through the snow. Soon the little boy was in the arms of his mother, who embraced him as she wept with love and gratitude. As she held him, Bennie repeated over and over, "Sam, Sam, Sam." Overwhelmed with emotion, the parents didn't register this, but someone else did. The former Sheriff Durrant, now too old to be a regular lawman, but always a volunteer, stood up straight, and a look of wonder crossed his face. "Sam," he said softly to himself, and he walked back a few yards so that he could see across the field. Just as he did, he saw the light go on in Sam's bedroom window.
The sheriff walked back to where he could watch as Doctor Jones looked at the boy. After just a minute the doctor said: "He looks fine, other than his curly hair is mostly gone. But why don't you drive down to the hospital, and I'll come down and we'll have a good look. Then we'll find a good place for you to stay until the house can be rebuilt."
The sheriff tapped the doctor on the shoulder and said, "You rode out on the firetruck. Why don't you let me give you a lift down to the hospital."
As the old sheriff and the doctor pulled out of the Gentry lane, the sheriff said, "Let's just stop in and wish old Sam a Merry Christmas. It will only take a minute."
The doctor replied, "He'd be sleeping, wouldn't he?"
"No, I don't think so," the sheriff replied. "I think he stays too busy to sleep much."
As they pulled down Sam's lane, the sheriff said softly, "No tracks in or out."
"What's that?" asked the doctor."Oh, nothing."
The deep new snow on the doorstep was undisturbed. The two men knocked, but there was no response. The door was not locked. The sheriff pushed it open and entered.
The doctor said, "Let's go, he's asleep. Let's not wake him."
"Sam," shouted the sheriff, as he moved further into the house. "Let's look back here," he said, as he walked toward the bedroom.
A few seconds later they switched on the light and found Sam lying fully dressed on his bed. He didn't stir as the sheriff said, "Sam! Sam! are you okay?"
At the same time, the doctor took Sam's limp wrist in his hand. There was a faint pulse. He put his hand on Sam's forehead. "He looks flushed," he said softly. "Feels like he has the flu that's all over town. He's burning up with fever."
The sheriff moved closer and said, "I can smell smoke, can't you, Doc?"
"Yeah, it must be on our clothes," replied the doctor.
The sheriff spoke again, "Sam, can you hear me?" There was no response. "Sam, have you been over to the Gentrys'?"
"What are you talking about, Sheriff?" the doctor asked. "This man's one of my patients. He can hardly walk."
The sheriff leaned down so his face was only a foot away from his old friend and asked, "Sam, did you go to the Gentrys'?"
"What's wrong with you, Sheriff? I told you he can't walk much, and he's sick, and besides, when we drove in here I noticed that there wasn't a single track out there in the snow."
An almost indistinguishable smile crossed Sam's face. A smile that only someone like the old sheriff could have seen. Then his head fell to the side. Sam Edwards had died. The doctor placed his fingers around Sam's wrist, and after a few seconds he said: "He's gone. The flu didn't do it on its own. My best guess is his old ticker just plain gave out on him."
"Maybe too much strain?" the sheriff asked.
"No, just too much age," the doctor replied.
Near two in the morning, the sheriff had the Gentrys settled in at the local motel. Warren Anderson from the mortuary had come an hour earlier and had taken Sam's body away. Now the sheriff came back to Sam's house. There was something he felt he had to know.
Sheriff Durrant parked his car just in front of the dark and quiet house. In his heart he felt certain that in some miraculous way Sam had gone to the burning house. Soon he would know. Were there tracks out back and across the field? Had Sam saved the boy and brought the greatest joy a family could ever know?
As the old sheriff's boots crunched into the cold snow, he felt for a moment he could hear the angels singing. He paused and looked up at the stars.He spoke softly as he looked up. "Oh, heck, Sam! You and I both know there ain't no tracks out there. Besides, I need to be home. It's Christmas."
As the sheriff opened his car door, he looked back at Sam's house. He'd miss his old friend. A tear ran down his cheek, and he felt he heard Sam's voice saying, "I finally did it, Sheriff. Merry Christmas."
Already there was a rumor in town that the life of a little child had been saved by a miracle. Sheriff Durrant felt satisfied with that.

I love that story! I hope I can do a good job today when I teach. I am always so nervous teaching kids older than about 8 or 9 years old. Little kids, no problem, but I feel like such an idiot in front of older kids/teens and especially adults!

The new toy!

Here it is! Can you tell the kids are almost as excited about it as Steve? :)

Lookie!

Yay! I made Amanda's CT! Hooray! Gonna add my blinkie to the side bar thingie right now! :)

Steve and his toys

Steve has been wanting a wave runner forever and for the past several months has been researching them online, looking at Craig's List several times a day, wishing, hoping and knowing that we can't afford it in any way, shape or form. Well, somehow, he convinced his mom and dad to buy one if we store it at our house. So, last night, he and Grandpa went and bought a wave runner on a double trailer (for when they buy another one) and now his dream of playing on a wave runner has happened. I didn't realize how enormous this thing would be, and now we can't get to anything else in the garage. At least it will stop us from throwing junk in there to deal with later! I will add pics after I dump them from my camera later today. Steve is in "toy" heaven!

Excited and nervous!

So, I think I have decided to jump out of my comfort zone and apply for a CT (with Amanda, so at least it is a friend and not a stranger) and maybe even a description writer spot at PGD. I am not anticipating making it on either one, but it will be good for me to apply and get myself out of my little space. :) I'm sure I will let ya know how they end up!

Company's coming!

Tomorrow the Summers' family is coming for a visit! I am super excited and starting to stress out. I have been really bad about organizing things for a long time and so the office (which doubles as our spare room) has become a dumping ground for stuff that doesn't have a proper "home." I have been trying to go through everything and put it away in it's place, but I am running out of time and still have a few boxes of stuff left. I'm thinking my closet will be a perfect hiding spot for the ones I don't get finished with, lol!

It has been ridiculously hot the last few days. we have had three days with temps above 100 degrees. It hit 107 yesterday, 105 on Tuesday and was about 102 on Monday. Today is supposed to be about 100 or so and then we "cool down" into the 90s again. I can already tell a huge difference between today and yesterday. Our poor air conditioner is certainly trying it's hardest. My flowers are suffering a lot in this heat. The hollyhocks look so pitiful, I am thinking I will just cut them down and hope that next year they do better. My dahlias fell down, despite me staking them, and need to be fixed. My poor cosmos just look pathetic. Darn hot weather! One the other hand, the garden is doing well, especially the tomatoes and sunflowers. I have already had tons of green beans and about 5 cucumbers. There are tons of tomatoes on all three plants, so close to turning! Rach is especially excited about her "mato plant" that she got from Sister Stum (her Primary teacher). It is growing big and healthy. We are planning on taking some of the first tomatoes from it over to Sister Stum to say thank you. :)

Okay, I'd better get back to work. I have been avoiding it for about an hour now. :) Have a happy day!!!

Scrappy scrap

This was for the Recipe Challenge at PGD. A 6 word memoir. The "recipe" was to use the following: One picture of one person, 6 word memoir about the person in the picture, no other words on the page, a monogram for the person in the photo, striped paper that isn't full size.

Icky Sickies revisited

So, Saturday we had planned on working on Steve's lesson for church most of the day and then running some errands. We went to the library where I ran in and grabbed a few Star Wars books that we had requested for Jake. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I heard the sound that every parent dreads...the sound of your child in the backseat puking. Nice. Poor Jake was sick. We drove home and our plans for errands and such were gone. We spent the next several hours pulling seats out of the van, cleaning, vacuuming and then using the carpet shampooer to clean it out. On the up side, it is nice and clean now!
Steve finished up his lesson plans (he was teaching the 1.5 hour lesson for combine YW/YM because of ward conference) while I took care of my sick little boy. We all went to bed hoping that Jake would make it through the night without throwing up again. He did, Steve didn't. Poor Steve woke up around 4am and started throwing up. He hardly ever gets sick, so I was surprised. He was pretty stressed out about the lesson thing, but Ralph and the Bishop came over, gave him a blessing and took all of his notes and things for him. I'm sure they did a fantastic job! He went to work today, so this sickness is definitely a short-lived one. Only about 12 hours or so. I hope the girls and I don't get it...I was sick last week, with something different and now have cramps like I haven't had in a long time, so not much is getting done around here because I have been unable to do much. I have got to get things taken care of because we have family visiting in a couple of weeks.
So far today no one is sick. Please pray that it stays that way!!

More scraps

Two more scraps for PGD challenges. Need to see if Tammy wants the one of her and Jadon...

New scraps

Two pages I made today for the challenges at PGD. I miss digiscrapping!!! The first one was a photography challenge, you were supposed to get close and fill the frame with your subject. The second one is for the "wild card" challenge. We were supposed to use only the colors of our favorite ice cream. Mine is Mint Chocolate Cookie. YUMMY!! It was hard finding a photo that matched mint green and dark brown, so I am not thrilled with that page. Oh well, at least I got a chance to scrap. I need to get to work on the kids' scrapbooks, especially Jake's. I want to have them displayed at his baptism. It will be here before I know it!!

*ETA: I see the mistake in the text on the one I did of Andy...gotta fix that!

Friday!!

Hooray, it's finally Friday! Best part is that I am not sick anymore, worst part is that after going to camp and then being sick, the house might just be past the point of no return. I think today's picture for my 365 blog will be of the disaster that is my front room/playroom. Although it will be embarrassing, I will hopefully have a nice clean picture to share by this time tomorrow!

Phew!

Wow! It's been a week already, a long, fun, fast, crazy week! Girls' Camp was amazing, as usual. I loved being there and getting to know the girls on a more personal level. I will post some pics later. Saturday I got home around 2pm, and we left for Bryce's baptism at 4pm, then stayed for his bday party at Grandma Ard's house. I also found out an exciting surprise about Afton and Brandon! :) It was fun, but I was so tired, I am afraid I might have seemed anti-social. Oh well, they probably just all thought I was being my usual grouchy self, lol.

I was supposed to teach on Sunday, but was totally unprepared. The lesson I had been working on at camp all week just wasn't doing it for me, so late Saturday night I decided to show President Monson's talk from the April 2009 YW conference. All was well until I realized the DVD i made had no audio. You could see Pres. Monson, just not hear him. I figured that the church library would have it, so I wasn't too worried. Well, guess what? They don't have it! A little bit panicked, I decided to drag Steve home in between Sacrament Mtg and YW and have him fix it, since he is the computer whiz. No prob, right? Wrong! He couldn't get it to work either. So, I went in there with a copy of the talk in my hands and a really big prayer in my heart that it would end up ok. I think it did. I got a lot of discussion from the girls, more than I usually get when I teach, so that was good. Thank goodness for the girls and the other leaders being willing to jump in and discuss things!
Monday I decided to tackle this horrible office. I haven't cleaned it up since before Christmas. We are having family come and stay with us at the end of the month, and this is the room they will be in, so it needed to be cleaned. By about 11:30am, I was sick. Like, feeling like I was gonna throw up sick. So, I stayed in bed or on the couch for the rest of that day. Yesterday I had to take Becka into the orthodontist and after that, I was wiped again. No more nausea, but I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I spent most of the day in bed, watching videos with Rachel and refereeing fights between the older two kids.
Today I am feeling better. I am still kind of weak, but definitely improved. I took the little kids to see "The Tale of Despereax" this morning while Becka was at "work" (although I don't see playing with Kylie and Lexi as work!). I wasn't impressed with the movie, kept asking Jake if he thought it was weird. :) Poor kid. Now I am just trying to do a few of the chores that have been neglected since I left last week for camp, and rest a bit when I get going too much. My trusty glass of ginger ale has been a near constant companion since Monday evening.
That's about it, my week in a nutshell. Time to get back into the groove of things!

Yes!

I got a ride to camp for tomorrow morning! My sweet sisters (Cat and Dana) are watching my kiddos for me so I can go up with some ladies from the stake. I owe them both big time!!! I will have lots of pictures and fun stories, I am sure. Hooray for camp! See you all when I get back!

Girls' Camp!

"This necklace is a little gift

in hopes it might give you a lift.

And in the night, it will glow

to let you know we love you so."

"A snicker here and a snicker there

will never show someone you care.

Try to be a friend today

to all the girls who pass your way.

"It is through our trials and afflictions

that we can become like diamonds.

Strong and full of light."

"I am a child of royal birth.

My father is king of heaven and earth.

My spirit was born in the courts on high,

A child beloved, a princess am I."

"If you thought yesterday was a ball,

just wait for today!"


Phew! I have been going crazy with stuff for girls camp. I am not even sure if I get to go. There is a good chance I will though. Both Karen's and Kim's sons are expecting to receive their mission calls this week, so their moms will be driving back from camp to be there when they open them. If that happens on Wednesday or Thursday, they offered that I could ride back with them because Steve took Thursday and Friday off of work in case that happens so I could go up. Hooray! He wouldn't let me drive up there on my own for some reason. I won't get into that argument again, but this option is my best for now.

The pictures are of the little treats that we, as a YW presidency, are giving the girls every day. I had fun working on them and putting them together. I also made some stuff for the "Service Survivor" game they will be playing on Thursday night. I really hope I can go up. It will be so fun. I love YW camp!!!

Independence!

I love the 4th of July. Maybe I just love fireworks...the smell of the smoke, the sounds, being wrapped up in a blanket watching them with friends and family. Having a BBQ, playing games until it gets dark enough to start the fireworks. Bug spray, sunblock, buckets filled with water and used fireworks, and matches. I love it all. Getting up early to proudly put out the flag. Singing patriotic songs with my hand over my heart, remembering all the men and women who have fought and are still fighting for my freedom. My dad in his Army uniform, boots polished, pants ironed stiff. Watching parades, feeling that surge of fierce pride when the soldiers walk by holding the colors of our country high.

Sorry, I sort of went stream of consciousness there. I have been thinking about this stuff over the past several days. Today in church, we stood to sing the National Anthem. I love doing that. I miss being the chorister. There is something so moving about leading a congregation in singing a song like that. Listening to them sing and knowing what it means to all of them and to me. It is an awesome feeling.
As we were singing, I noticed particularly the 2nd and 3rd verses of the song. Verses that most of us don't know by heart like we do the first verse. I love them, even more than the first verse of the song. They have so much emotion. Music does this to me often...paints a picture in my mind or helps me understand a concept better than other ways. I might be silly, but music moves me, speaks to my soul in a way that makes me feel the spirit of the Lord and makes me want to be a better person. I love it. I want other people to feel the things I feel when I hear or sing a song. I usually end up in tears when a certain song touches me. I love it!
So, enough of my blabbering, right? Well, not quite. I am going to leave you with the words to that song...pay particular attention to the second and third verses, and take a few moments to just "feel" and "see" the words.

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I am such a dork!

So, I decided to do a little preschool this fall with some of Rachie's friends from Primary. I didn't want a big group, and was happy to end up with 5 kiddos that she is friends with to join us. I wanted to make it official, so I came up with a name and then of course, needed to make a logo, right? :) I know that "doodlebugs" might not be the most sophisticated name for a preschool, but it fits me and my personality well. Do ya like my logo? :)

Giveaway!

Found this on Brandy's blog and had to jump in! Go here: http://itsallaboutthebow.blogspot.com and find out how you can enter to win super cute hair bows! They are adorable!!

More Becka birthday...

Blowing out her sparkler candles!

This gift was wrapped in about 15 layers of paper, lol!

Giant cupcake, anyone?

Olive fingers!!!

Great Wolf Lodge!

We had a fun and crazy two days, one night at the Great Wolf Lodge! It is a hotel/indoor water park, and has lots of other fun things. You could spend a lot of time (and money) there! The big kids got to do MagiQuest." Basically, it is a game where you have a magic wand and go on different "quests" and "adventures" throughout the first 5 floors of the hotel. Battling dragons, looking for Pixies, etc. Almost everything (pictures on the walls, statues, decorations) lights up and/or talks to them when they wave their wands at it. here is an arcade, a kids and an adult spa, a game room for the kids/teens, "cub club" for the little kids, tons of little shops and restaurants. They have storytime at bedtime for the little kids. It was seriously crazy! Go here: http://www.greatwolf.com/grandmound/lodge to see more! The kids loved the water park also. It is indoor, and kept right around 85 degrees. There is a wave pool, kiddie area, several slides, a fun clubhouse type structure, other pools...LOTS of fun. Becka and Jake loved the bucket that dumped 1,000 gallons of water on the clubhouse every few minutes. Rachie enjoyed the smaller slides in the kiddie pool. Everyone liked the wave pool! I only put a few pictures up here, but I have more on my dropshots. www.dropshots.com/punkinmama. Email me if you need the password. I think most everyone who reads my blog already has it though...

Happy Birthday Becka!!

Becka is 11 years old now! This year we had something extra special planned. We got up on her birthday, opened her presents and then headed to the Great Wolf Lodge as a family for the night. I will post pictures of that in a bit. These pictures are of Becka opening her gifts. She got an iPod shuffle, a Nike duffle bag, fun new bookmark, her annual "Growing in Grace" Precious Moments figurine, and a fun photo collage frame for her bedroom. Jake and Rachie gave her a pair of biking gloves that she has been wanting since last summer. Pretty lucky kid!!

*ETA* I was too lazy to edit these pictures, so sorry about the scary red eye!

Last day of school!

Here are my kiddos on the last day of school this year. Jake is now a 2nd grader, and Becka is a 6th grader! I don't feel old enough to have a child in middle school. Someone please tell me I don't look it either, ok?

Growing up!

Today was the 5th grade promotion. Becka is officially a 6th grader! Only one more day of school and the kids are done for the summer. I wonder how Jake will feel without his big sister at the same school as him every day? This picture is Becka and one of her best friends, Cearah. Rachie wanted to be in the picture also. :)

Fighting for our garden!

The war rages on! We will be victorious! Those squirrels will rue the day they decided to eat our veggies! OK, well, maybe not, but I can hope, right? Here is our very patriotic garden...full of pretty fluttery things that we hope will frighten the squirrels into finding their daily ration of greens somewhere else! Hope it works, otherwise I have a lot of very chubby squirrels laughing at me...

Jake's got talent!

Jake played two songs in the 1st grade talent show last Thursday afternoon! My video is kind of crazy because I forgot to turn it off while I was clapping between songs, so don't watch that part if you get motion sickness, lol! He played "The Butterfly" and "Paper Ships." He hadn't learned The Butterfly one during his lessons, but wanted to play it for the show. So, I helped him and he learned it in 4 days! He's a smart cookie!

Poor Becka!

I think I wrote about Becka getting an expander. Well, it has done it's job. She now has a gap between her two front teeth. Poor kid! Some of the kids at school are asking her what's wrong with her teeth. If you see her, don't mention it, she is kind of sensitive about it, but it looks awfully cute! I will try and get a picture to show ya...she is avoiding open mouth smiles lately though.

And it just keeps coming...

Last night was so terrible, it was almost comical! Our downstairs toilet has been a thorn in our sides since we moved in almost 6 years ago. Steve has had to pull it out at least three times and he has replaced the floor twice because of leakage. Well, last night he decided to pull it up and see why it is always getting clogged. He also decided to tear up the floor because once again, the boards were warped. While he was doing that, he accidentally put a hold in the wall. He went out to the garage to get the extra boards for the flooring and realized that he only had a few left. He decided to run to Costco and get another box. I was supposed to help at mutual last night, so as he was getting the kids ready to go, and I was literally walking out the front door, Rachel threw up. Of course. Not only did that make me miss mutual, but I was supposed to have playgroup and our recipe swap group over here today. Steve took Jake with him to Costco, I stayed home and cleaned up puke and Rachie. When Steve got to Costco, he found out that not only do they not carry those boards anymore, but that the manufaturer doesn't even make them anymore. So, then he and Jake went to Home Depot to try and find something similar enough to work. No such luck. He ended up buying some of those peel and stick vinyl "tiles" and was planning on just having the bathroom floor be different. When he got home, he used the boards he had to put in the floor. There is a tiny spot toward the back of the toilet where it didn't get covered, but we are calling it good for now. As he was in the middle of dealing with all of that, I was trying to do Becka's new expander thing and she was freaking out. Poor kid has such a sore mouth. I am hoping she gets used to it quickly. Rachel threw up about 5 or 6 more times, and by the time I got the kids in bed, it was 9:30. Then, Becka was still pretty much hysterical and would not stop crying. I tried to talk her into taking some medicine, but she refused. She never wants to take anything, no matter what. So, her crying and fussing upset Rachel, and I had two crying girls. I finally gave up trying to calm Becka down and just took Rachie downstairs to sleep on the couch. I spent the night on the couch with her. She threw up only twice more, so I am hoping she is over the worst of it now.
I tell ya what...it's never boring at the Ard house!

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD Video by Trailer Park - MySpace Video

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD Video by Trailer Park - MySpace Video

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NEW MOON NEW MOON NEW MOON!!!!!

Did you see the first peek tonight? Oh my heck! I am so excited!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ9afRgToxE

Mother/Daughter Tea

We got u-no bars for learning our manners

Pretty flowers made by the girls

Our "tea"

Marissa and Becka modeling their fabulous hats!

Last Tuesday was the Mother/Daughter tea for the activity day girls in our ward. The girls made tissue paper flowers, placemats and decorations for us. We nibbled daintily on finger sandwiches, truffles and drank our "tea" while listening to a lesson on manners. We even made fancy hats to wear while celebrating! It was lots of fun!!!

Coupons!

Dana taught me how to coupon shop and get things for an awesome deal! I got everything in the picture for only $2.93! I saved$40!!! That's three boxes of wheat thins, 2 boxes of triscuits, one box of graham crackers, 2 Kraft BBQ sauces, 1 Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, 1 Kraft salad dressing, one bag of marshmallows, one 6 pack of hershey bars and 2 packs of shredded cheese! I went out the next day and got $16.35 worth of stuff for free. I love it!

All done!

All done with Jake's Star Wars eggs! Hooray! I had so much fun!

C3PO has lost the battle

Jake stepped on his head

After he fell...poor guy!


So, you all know I have been crazy making egg people lately. Well, I had them all ready to go, sitting on a table in the front room, since no one usually goes in there. This morning, Rachel went barreling through there and bumped the table. C3PO fell off and sustained fatal injuries. One eye popped off and his face cracked. Luckily I only had to redo his head. His body took a long time to put together. Here he is after his ordeal! Oh, the first picture is after Jake stomped on his head. Destructive little boy!

New Moon poster!!

I am seriously drooling! Just saw the official movie poster for New Moon and I LOVE IT!!!! They totally nailed it! Oh heck! I am so excited!!!

Parade time!

Last Saturday was the "Hazel Dell Parade of Bands." We went with my mom (Nana) and Dana's family. It was hot and sunny and so much fun! Kylie and Rachie had a blast playing together, Lexi was so cute...she kept clapping and waving. Jake and Becka had fun trying to get people to throw candy to them!