I Just Want to Know

It sounds like a lot of ladies went to see Twilight at midnight. The showing was sold out in 3,000 theatres. I actually went to the Sat morning matinee. I thought it was good. I would even see it again! Of course it did not live up to the book, movies never live up to a good book. Our imaginations can paint things so well. There were a few moments of cheesiness and I wanted more character develpment. Overall I enjoyed it. What did you think? Anyone want to go again? I am also wondering what someone who did not read the book thought of the movie. I wonered if the book kind of filled in the gaps for me and I would have been a little confused if I did not read the book. So tell me, I just want to know!

Women's Weekend

The last two years in the fall we have had a weekend away for all the women 12 and up that are decendants of my grandmother. We had our second annual gathering last week. It was so neat. There are some really awesome women in my family. Every year I learn new things from them and come to appriciate who I am more fully.

The Girls Retreat officially kicked off November 14, 2008 at 3:30pm in the Idaho Falls Temple Parking Lot. My cousins Dannyel, Chaunntel, NaTasha and Monique, my aunts Joyce, and Diane and my grandma all went to the temple. I forgot how beautiful that Temple is. I have not been there since we lived in Rexburg 8 years ago. It was really neat to be there with these wonderful women that I am related to.
My Aunt Vicki, and my cousins Kwinnae, Kayloni and Taryn went to the Mall to shop for last minute items in anticipation of the birth of Kwinnae's baby next week.
Aunt Patty put on a wonderful Mexican Style supper for everyone. Refried Beans and Spanish Rice, Shredded Pork and Chicken on homemade tortilla's and a absolutely amazing Caramel Flan for dessert.

We had a sharing time that started after supper and continued until everyone had a chance to share something important to them. This is one of my favorite parts so I took notes this year here are the highlights.

Our theme was favorite Christmas traditions

Chauntell
All the children sleep together in the same room on Christmas Eve.
Menu of 10 meals from food storage.

Diane
Get up very, very early, 3am early.
Treasure hunt for presents, usually a big family present.
Set up video and record everyone opening gifts.

Monica
Putting together a box of gifts, food and goodies and leaving it for a family that may be in need.
This year I am really excited to make my own digital Christmas card using photoshop.

MaryJo
Filling Christmas stockings. Put an Orange in the toe, this was always done by grandma. An orange was a special treat for her children at Christmas time.
Likes to sneak a little some thing special into every ones stocking. She did this one year when we were at Grandma's for Christmas. I remember getting something in my stocking that did not come from Santa. She must have been the one that snuck it in there. It was something simple like chapstick but it left a lasting memory for me. A little extra Christmas magic!

Patrice
Eating was Christmas, it's all about the food. Traditional foods, candies, cookies, orange chocolate sticks, special dinners.

Grandma
Mincemeat pie came from Great Grandma Peterson
Carrot Pudding from Great Grandma Hyer
Christmas dinner with a stranger. Grandma and grandpa were going to spend Christmas dinner alone so Grandpa stopped a man on the highway to join them and baby Vicki for dinner.
Grandma would stay up decorating the tree Christmas eve, the children were many times surprised to see a Christmas tree in the morning.
Grandma used to make a Christmas Goose.

Vicki
Take turns opening gifts… teaches self control and gives everyone a chance to watch each other open gifts.
Vicki always says, "If you don't believe in Santa he will not come." This has always kept a little magic alive for her children.

Joyce
Stocking is the item to open on Christmas Eve
Visit a family and take a treat…pick someone who has inspired or touched your life this year.
Favorite Christmas books, Little Red Bucket, Christmas Orange.
Santa only brings one present

Monique
Share one special gift the Savior has given us. (talent, blessing)
Family Prayer then open gifts.
Treasure Hunt for last big family gift.
Implementing continuing memories of childhood


NaTasha
Three Gifts are from parents The gift of Want, Need and Love
Want…wrap in gold represents gold(biggest exciting thing)
Need…wrap in green represents mere
Love…wrap in red represents frankincense(example…temple picture-- )
12 days of Christmas Nativity pick a family and give a piece each night… a little message with each piece.

Taryn
It’s not just Christmas Day it’s a Holiday Season
Puts tree up day after Halloween
Make treats, fudge, divinity, cookies gingerbread, sugar
give treats to neighbors
Open new pj's on Christmas eve

Kwinnae
Scrap books on snapfish give as a gift of Love
Cook Turkey all night and then Dad gets to eat a plate of turkey before kids open gifts.

Kayloni
Her mother's Christmas Village
Her mom did not like to get up early so she would drug the children with Dramamine in some juice and change the clocks.
Gratitude means more than thanks.
Take Christ as your best friend…..text 100 times day,

Dannyel
Has a book full of Christmas stories and they read one every night until Christmas.

Other tips and ideas that came up

Dannyel
Book: Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle LDS Author
Amazon.com is cheapest place to buy one.

Chaunntel
Search your Patriarchal blessings for your mission statement, warnings, personality traits

MaryJo
Quote “The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others, blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that we must ask for in order to obtain.” Bible Dictionary
Great resource for scripture study

Vicki
Food Storage…. Find a good deal...if you can afford 3 buy them and use 1 store 2.
Always have a commodity.
Food storage ideas.

Joyce
Mineral Oil… great for moisturizing your face, works for constipation as well.
Continuously think of 5 things a day that you are grateful….changes your brain chemistry

Monique
Personality Profiling….individual personality and makeup helps you understand and appreciate other people's differences.
The D.I.S.C. Learning Model
The DISC Personality test is a nonjudgmental survey for understanding behavioral and personality styles. It helps people explore behavior across four primary dimensions:

Dominance: Direct, Driving, Decisive. These people tend to be independent and results driven. They are strong-willed people who enjoy challenges, taking action, and immediate results. The bottom line is their focus tends to be on the bottom line and results.
Influence: Optimistic & Outgoing. These individuals tend to be very social and out going. They prefer participating on teams, sharing thoughts, and entertaining and energizing others.
Steadiness: Sympathetic & Cooperative. These people tend to be your team players and are supportive and helpful to others. They prefer being behind the scene, working in consistent and predictable ways. They are often good listeners and avoid change and conflict
Conscientiousness: Concerned, Cautious & Correct. These people are often focused on details and quality. They plan ahead, constantly check for accuracy, and what to know "how" and "why".

NaTasha
Favorite quote from Grandma, "Never learn how to do something you don’t want to keep doing." (ie gut a fish, or pluck a bird)

Saturday Morning

We all came out to Sid’s for breakfast. Vicki and her girls were in charge. She helped us make omelette's in a bag. You put all ingredients in a big zip lock bag and put in boiling water until it was done. It is fast and hardly any mess.

Next at Diane's she taught us to make homemade soap. You can buy soap base here, plus the scents. Shred soap base, add scents, and scrubs, etc. and melt in microwave. Pour into mold and spray immediately with alcohol to keep bubbles off the top.




We made Grandma’s Salve. Here is the story of the salve. 80 some years ago Grandma Hyer was making tomato juice and Uncle Gary her brother was about 18 months old and got under the bread board and a bottle of hot tomato juice burst and the juice landed on him. Grandma talked to her grandma Peterson Johanna Maria Mouritsen. Born 1846. This was Grandma Hyer’s Dad, Lorenzo Petersen’s Mother. She brought the recipe for this salve with her crossing the plains. They got the ingredients and made the salve and he only has 2 small scars after healing. He had burns over 80-90 percent of his body, and 3rd degree burns.
The Salve has mutton tallow in it which from what I gathered is lamb fat it smells really bad, we added lavender oil to the salve to give it a little better smell. We also learned that adding a little oil to the salve helps if it gets dry and clumpy.

We also made coconut cups, peanut butter cups, and caramel. Dannyel shared with us her talents and recipes.


Grandma gave away some of her things. The hot item's were the spoon rings that our Uncle Sid made to earn money to pay for college. He made them out of fancy old souvenir spoons and then sold them to a shop in SLC for $12 each. This was in the early 70's. My grandma had kept a box of about 10 all these years. My Uncle Sid is always the entrepreneur. Grandma also brought over to show us her father's army coat from World War I. I tried it on and it barely fit me, I could not believe he could have been my size.




The gathering was wonderful. Thank you ladies for taking the time and sharing a piece of yourself. Also thank you to our wonderful husbands who took care of things at home so that we could unite.

Look Who Is Crawling!

I have been expecting him to start crawling around 9 months because that is when his brother crawled. Well he is about a week short of 9 months so just about what I expected. It is still very exciting to see him do this. Although I am worried because he is going to be harder to keep track of.
I took a video of him crawling but had trouble uploading it so I am going to post pictures instead. He started back in October a couple of days before Halloween.



Now he is getting good at getting into everything!


The Oot was not to be out done. He had to show off his crawling skills too!


He is such a sweet little boy!

Ricks College

This summer we went to Idaho Falls for my cousin Kiery's wedding. We decided to take a trip down memory lane back to where we met, dated, got engaged and spent the first few months of our married life, Ricks College. It was really fun. We walked around campus, went to the botanical garden's and visited our old apts. It brought back lot's of fun memories. We had such a great time at Ricks. Especially my freshmen year, I must have had the best roommates ever! The College has changed a lot since we were last there. In fact it isn't even a College anymore it is a University. We have not been back since graduation.
We took pictures in front of all of our old apts except my freshmen summer house because it was torn down and our first apt together because we just forgot. Mark said we must have been trying to suppress those memories. It was kind of a hard couple of months, it was a frozen tundra the whole semester, we were dirt poor, (I am not even sure how we survived, lots of potato's and chili dinners.), we were adjusting to married life and we pretty much had no social life.
The visit was fun. What a great place to go to school. We would recommend it to anyone with a positive attitude. You have to be creative and positive in a tiny town that has snow on the ground for what seems like the whole school year!

Hooter Hider

I made this image for my mother in law. She is selling these at a craft show next weekend. I thought I would post this and let all who are interested know that she sells them for $30 and if you want one just let me know.

Yes on Prop 8

California voted on Propisistion 8 yesterday to place in the CA constiution these words, "Marriage is only between a Man and a Woman." It passed! Gay and Lesbian couples will still have all of the rights of a married couple under the domestic partnership laws, but when it comes to leagalites concerning the word marriage it will remain between a man and a woman. This will protect churches, schools, photographers doctor and numurous other organizations from being prosescuted for not supporting the union of a gay couple. I am so proud of the many Californian's who still believe in the sanctity of marriage and have worked so hard to keep it that way.

Voting

I voted last week, yup already done. I filled out an absentee ballot. Very cool. I won't have to figure out where to go, get a babysitter, drag my kids along, drive anywhere, squeeze it into my schedule or stand in a long line.
I did my research online with each category before coloring in the circles. Unfortunately I did not feel clear excitement with a lot of the candidates. I am not going to go into that any further, but I am sure many others feel the same way.
So on NOV 4th I will not be voting, cause it is already done. YEA!

Trick, Treat or Conversation?

Out little Oot is a talkative little boy. We had a lot of fun taking him around to different houses. He always had something to say.

On house had the candy in a bowl on the porch with the screen door shut and the front door open. We just assumed they did not want to come to the door. After we made enough noise out front two dogs came barking at the door and along came the owner.
Oot: "Why did you put your candy out here?"
Owner: So the we wouldn't have to keep holding the dogs back.
Oot: Which candy should I pick mom? Yellow or brown?
Me: Oh pick the yellow.
Oot: No I am going to pick brown.

At another house the lady told him he could take as many as he wanted. So he kept taking one after the other until I finally stopped him. Then he looked in the house and saw a large white bowl near the kitchen and said, "Do you have more candy in that white bowl?"
Lady: No it is just tomatoes, do you want some tomatoes.
Oot: NO.

One couple asked him do you live here?
Oot: No I live with my mom and dad.

With many people he would ask for particular colors of candy, more candy or what was left in the bowl.

He asked many adults what they were dressed as for Halloween even when they were not dressed up or why they left out certain decorations or carved their pumpkins a certain way.

We went around with our friends Glen and Niki and they have a new baby that they were pushing around. At our friend Tara's house she wanted to get a peek at their new baby. Oot worked and worked to get her attention so that he could show her our baby. "Look our baby is a Penguin, don't you want to see our baby."

My friend Julie has a brown dog that is some kind of poodle. When her husband came to the door the dog came too and Oot said, "Is that a pine cone or a dog?"

At the Costello's house he asked Patrick, "where is your mom?" (your wife)
Patrick: She is working on the computer.
Oot: My mom works on the computer too.

One house had a logo for our local college football team, I pointed it out and he said, " oh cool." The owner then said, no rival fans will trick or treat here ahh hahahahahaha. (Kind of weird and spooking like.)
Oot looked at him and said, " why did you say that?"
The guy rather embarrassed said,"I don't know."

It was fun. I don't know why he is so social he sure does not get it from me or his dad. It is good for me though to be more social. He is a good boy!

Boo at the Zoo

We spent a fun afternoon with some friends. We went to a special costume and candy collecting day at the Zoo. It is Boo at the Zoo. It is very fun and very crowded. It was a nice day to see the animals.

Halloween Decorations

The lady that watched my children when I work has her house decorated with lots of cute and fun Halloween decorations. My boy was asking about these decorations and so I told him we could get ours out when we got home. Almost everything I have I got from my mother in law. I am not really into decorating for all the holidays except Christmas. I am realizing that it really is not about me, it is about the kids. They are the ones that love the decorations.


Last night after all the boys had gone to bed I was cleaning up some of the toys and such. I found these cars on top of my toilet and put them away.



The next morning my son went about the house placing his cars in different places. Then cheerfully announced, "mom, tell me good job for decorating for Halloween."







My goodness that was cute until later that day I asked him to clean up another one of his messes and he put most of it on the couch claiming that he was decorating for Halloween again!

Mr. Independant

My baby has been getting better at picking up foods and eating them himself. Well today he was mad when I tried to feed him. He wanted to do it himself!

Give me that spoon!


I wanted to do it!


Now I am mad!


Oh that is more like it.

Halloween Dinner

I don't know why this uploaded sideways but I can not seem to get it to upload another way.


The theme for my recipe group this month was Halloween. I found this idea on the Internet and used my own meatloaf recipe. Here are the instructions if you want to try it out.


Meatloaf Mice
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/4 c. milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 c onion, minced
1 egg

SAUCE:
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c. ketchup


To decorate:
Carrots
Spaghetti
Raisins/craisons
You can do this with your own meatloaf recipe too.

First cut 2 coins per mice out of the carrots for ears. Then make long thin strips out of the remaining carrots for the tails, one for each mouse. Steam until they are crisp tender. DON'T OVERCOOK!!

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together the ingredients for the mice bodies and shape into 4 little mice shaped loafs on baking sheet. Have them shaped to a point in the front and rounded in the back. Bake for 45 minutes in preheated oven or until desired doneness.

Take and cut little slits for the ears about 1/3 from the pointed end. Place the carrot coins in the slits for the ears. Make a tiny slit in the rounded wide end for the tail and place one of the carrot strips in the slit for the tail. Use the raisins for the eyes. Break the uncooked spaghetti noodles into pieces and place around the "nose" (pointed end) for whiskers. Mix ingredients for the sauce. Place a large spoonful of sauce on a plate. Place a meatloaf mouse on top of the sauce to serve.




These are some cookies that another lady made.

Where's Daddy?

In mid September we bought a 4-plex. Mark has been looking for one for a couple of years. He has been looking for a unit that would cash flow. He finally found one thanks to Brett. Ever since we closed he has been tirelessly working on the place. All the tenant had vacated when the bank re-possessed the place and they pretty much left it a mess. Mark has replaced sub floor, patched holes in the walls, laid kitchen and bathroom flooring, layed carpet, painted, cut tree limbs, shampooed carpets, cleaned all day, cleaned windows, made numerous trips to Home Depot and Lowes, established an LLC, opened a business account at the bank with our two children in tow, listed an add in the paper, patched fences,and searched for, wheeled and dealed and loaded and unloaded by himself 2 fridges and 3 oven's. All while trying to screen and find good renters among all the potential renters I was sending to him.

These are just the things I can think of off the top of my head. I know there are many more things he had done for his property in the last month. I have a hard time keeping track from day to day.

He has been working 10 hour days at work and then putting in 2-4 hours at the apts after work. All day Friday and Saturday he has been there as well. On top of all this he has been playing flag football and has also been playing co-ed volleyball with me on city league teams. What a guy! This is why I ask where is daddy? We have missed him and are anxious for him to be home with us again.

As a side note.....After a particularly annoying day spent cleaning he commented that he hated cleaning all day and did not know how anyone could do it. I just laughed and said that is all I ever do. I clean teeth at work and then I clean house at home all while catering to two little boys. He sympathized with me as I sympathized with him.

I am sure grateful to have Mark. He is so awesome. He had never layed kitchen flooring or carpet before this project. He did his research and found we would save at least 50% if he did it himself, so he did it himself. This is what I love about him. He is not afraid to tackle a job himself and save us some of our hard earned money. My dad is like this and it is a trait that I always wanted my husband to have. I feel so blessed.

So here is what you have been waiting for the four-plex. Here are some pictures of them. They are 2 bedroom, 1 bath, have washer dryer hook-ups, extra storage and there is one more available. Interested? Hehehe. We have rented out 3 of them. One is being lived in now and two have deposits down and plan to move in on the 1st of Nov.

Fourth File, Fourth Picture

My friend RaNell gave me this TAG.
Here's how it works. I go to my pictures and click on the 4th file, then upload the 4th picture. Then explain what the picture is of. Here's my picture:




This was last year at this time. We went to the corn maze. This little ride was a hit, and so were the suckers. We need to make it to the corn maze again this year. Last year was fun.

Oh I TAG Tanner, Leslie, Tanya and whoever else.

Flossing Tips

I am a Hygienist and for two full days a week I remind patients to floss their teeth. Sometimes I wish I could just play this video instead. My sister found it on YouTube and it is really funny. Thanks Ang and thanks Jammie.

PROP 8

I am posting some more info about preserving marriage. Watch these video's and leave a comment if you would like.

Eight young people talk about the issues in CA.


Elder Bednar has a discusion on prop 8 with young people.


Children learning about gay marriage in MA public schools.

Here are some helpful websites. What is Prop 8? Protect Marriage

Who is losing rights?

Simply Happy Designs

My friend Cathy just started a new blog to promote her photo card designs. She is very creative and good at whipping up new designs. She is having a give away of a custom designed Christmas card. I usually order from Costco, but I often see duplicate cards of others who order there too. I was thinking it would be nice to have something different this year. Most of her cards are only $15 so I could still print at Costco for .17 4x5 or .39 5x6 and get them done for pretty good price. So check her out. http://simplyhappydesigns.blogspot.com/

FLASHBACK!

My little brother is a freshmen in high school and he asked me to post some ideas for creatively asking friends to dances. I am not a good one to ask. Thinking back to high school I can not remeebmer any creative invitaions to dances. There may have been one but I can not remember so it must not have been that creative.
I happened to document two invitations when I was a Ricks. So Tanner here you go. The first is a date invitation I got from my friend Neil. He dropped off a box of Lucky Charms that read, " You are so Charming, I would be Lucky if you would go on a date with me." I returned a porceline fortune cookie with a note that read, "yes."



In this invite the guy had my roommates place pink feathers and pink balloons in my room with a giant pink sign that read, " I would be tickled pink if you would go to homecoming with me."
Speaking of roommates, aren't they cute. I sure loved rooming with these girls. Heather, Lora, Emily, Me, Jess, Tasha. I have enjoyed reading their blogs.

Tanner, I hope that helps.

Stand for Something or Fall for Anything

Last week the subject of same sex marriage came up with a group of women all of my same LDS belief. Some were for and some were against same sex marriage. To tell you the truth, I really had not given it a lot of thought. I do not believe in same sex marriage but I really had not thought a lot about the consequences it could have on our society. I don't agree with homosexuality as a practice but I was not sure if I cared whether or not they married. Let them do what they want, it doesn't effect me or my family or does it?
This week I have discussed this issue with many other friends of and not of my religion, I have been enlightened by their points of view.
Tonight I read a friends blog that gave a link to this article. The Divine Institution of Marriage. This article brought clarity to my mind and reaffirmed my stand.
Then I checked my inbox and found a forward urging religious and non-religious people to fast on Sunday October 12th for the 'building block of society,' the Family. It said, "Pray for a positive outcome for California Proposition 8, that hearts may be softened, that understanding and wisdom will prevail, and that marriage will continue to be defined as between a man and a woman to protect families."
I find that I am often times confused about the political issues and canidates these days. I don't (have) make time to research all of the issues. When I do try to tune in I question if I am hearing the truth or just what the media wants me to hear. More often than not I just go about my busy life and forget about political issues. This one has really got me though. I plan on joining in on the fast on October 12th and urge you to do the same. Also read that article, it really puts things into perspective. Where do you stand?

2 Tags

I have been putting off these tags because there are so many things I still want to blog about like my sisters wedding. Ahhh. But here are my tags.

I AM

I am: A mother
I think: I eat too many sweets.
I know: That God loves all of his children.
I want: To be a better mom.
I dislike: People who are mean
I miss: my old or maybe I should say young body
I fear: Losing loved ones
I feel: hungry
I hear: my children making noise
I smell: like coconut lotion
I crave: chocolate
I cry: rarely
I search: the scriptures too little
I wonder: what the world will be like in 10 years
I regret: when I hurt someones feelings
I love: my family
I care: about having a clean house
I always: get up in the morning whether I want to or not
I worry: the my boys will make mistakes
I am not: a liar
I remember: peoples faces
I believe: in being your best
I dance: with my little boys
I sing: when my boy asks me to, and in my car
I don’t always: arrive on time but I try
I argue: my point only if I am very, very passionate about it
I write: in my blog, and love it
I win: more than I lose
I lose: at times
I wish: I had a maid sometimes
I listen: music, friend
I don't understand: some people
I can usually be found: in the kitchen
I am scared: of not being good enough
I need: good friends in my life
I forget: to eat lunch sometimes
I am happy: with my life


For the I am Tag I tag Amber, Jessica, Tanya, RaNell, Cathy, Tara, Meagan

4 Things

I had to change this from 8 things to 4.

4 things I am passionate about

Family
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Good food
Serving others

4 books I've read & enjoyed

Book of Mormon
All four of the Twilight books, Stephanie Meyer
Stand for Something, Gordon B. Hinckley
Several Nicholas Sparks books

4 words/phrases I say often

Eat your food
What are you doing?
Try to floss once a day or how's the flossing going
I'm so happy to have you as my boy

4 things I want to do before I die

Go back to Europe
Go on a mission with my husband
See my children married in the Temple
Skydive


4 things I've learned over the past

Most people don't floss daily
My house will never be perfectly clean
There is a lot of joy in the little things my children do
How to ride a motorcycle

4 places I want to see.

Australia
The Sacred Grove
Hawaii
New York

4 things I currently want/need

more time
new clothes
more knowledge
a better memory

For the 4 things I TAG Tanner, Glenda, Minda, Courtney, Dannyel, Angela, Kwinnae and Kiery