Happy Valentine's day

So....I'm gonna get MUSHY.

For Valentine's day I just want to give a shout out to my hubby.

Dell is the best man I could ever ask for. He was brave enough and strong enough to take on a widow and 3 kids with a lot of baggage and make a new family with 7 kids.

He is funny, and charming, and smart, and a hard worker, and a GREAT kisser. He always puts the needs of his family before himself, which sometimes irritates me because he deserves so much more.

He puts up with me, my dogs, my lack of desire for housework, and takes seriously his calling that his wife's social and educational needs are met. He tries so hard to balance church and family and work. He's the first one to shove everything aside and jump into the mud to pull someone else's wagon out.

Love you Dell, love being married to you, and love the life we've built. Looking forward to many more years with you!

Happy Martin Luther King Day - Now lay off my kid!

I don't want anyone to think I'm callous, or that I don't think that the Civil Rights movement wasn't a good thing. It was! It was important! There were many great men and women who worked hard and some even lost their lives like Dr. King. I value their sacrifices greatly.

That being said, will the schools please lay off my kids.

Oriahna came home with "white man guilt" on Friday. She's being quiet and serious and not herself. Something is obviously bothering her. Being the concerned parent I ask her what is wrong.

"Mom, I just feel bad because the way we treated the black people."

"Whoa, wait, they way who treated the black people?"

"We, white people."

No no no no no no...we are not going to even START this!

"Honey, do you treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Do your Dad and I treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Does Grandma and Grandpa treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Then why do you feel bad!"

"Because we were learning about it in school and my teacher said....." (Big heavy sigh by mom here)

My point here is, you don't need to make my 9 year old feel guilty because of the color of her skin for something that happened before I was even born. I'm her mother, if anyone is going to lay a guilt trip on her, its going to be me!

Dog Blog

My husband has a daily complaint. It's one I'm very good at ignoring by now, but everyday he complains about the dogs. Granted, he didn't WANT the dogs. He's made that very clear, and if you ask he'll make it very clear to you as well.

I love the stinky messy mutts.

We have two dogs right now. I want more, but we're waiting until we get moved to the Ranch. I'm not so cruel as to live in the city and get a big dog...(sigh, I miss big dogs)...so we have a small dog and a medium sized dog.

Charlie is the Chihuahua mix (Pure bred...what's that? This is America, we're all mutts here.) I read somewhere that the Chihuahua was the original hot water bottle, and I kind of have to agree. He's a nice soft water bottle that's always hot. He's not the best behaved dog, which is completely my fault, as I often find the garbage cans overturned, food missing from plates, and if you have a toddler with a piece of food you'll have to guard that child's meal from the Sneaky Chihuahua. I kind of liken him to Snoopy trying to steal Linus's blanket. That's exactly what Charlie does.

Shay is our Bagel - Beagle/Basset Hound mix. I love the sound of a hound. Charlie has that annoying little dog bark that makes you want to boot him like a football across the room. Shay, on the other hand, has that beautiful bay. The sound that rouses your blood, makes you want to grab your gun and say, "Come on Shay, let's go get those bunnies!" She's the most loving and patient dog as well. I can leave her with little kids and know that they will be perfectly safe. She tolerates everything, ears pulled, eyes poked, tail stepped on, mauling...just a good dog.

As for my hubby...I didn't hear him complain too much this weekend when he was sick and he had his portable fuzzy "hot water bottle" Charlie and his faithful Shay who snuggled him because he was sick and gets no sympathy from his wife and Shay would give him loves.

Memories

So I read a nice article in Reader's Digest about writing your memoirs. Which is not the same as your biography. Memoirs are memories, they are nice and short. So today I'm writing 2 Christmas Memories. One sad-ish, one funny.


My husband had been dead 6 months. It was the first Christmas without him. Thanks to life insurance, (which I am a HUGE advocate of), money wasn't an issue. Buying presents for kids all by myself was.

The boys were easy. Anything Star Wars related and they were happy. I had them done in a microsecond. Oriahna was a different issue.

I could not find a present for her. She had dolls, she had toys, she had clothes...how hard could it be to buy a present for a 2 year old girl! My husband had done all the shopping for kids before. He was such a big kid himself, he knew exactly what to get to make them excited on Christmas morning.

So here I was wandering around Toys R Us with a cart full of Star Wars toys, tears in my eyes, going up and down the aisles wondering what to buy for her. I said a little prayer even, I think it was probably the silliest request he's ever gotten..."Money's not the problem, Heavenly Father, I AM! What should I get her???"

Then I rounded a corner and there it was...like a television show when the new product comes out on the spinning stage with the spotlight on it. Well, it wasn't that shiny, but it felt like it to me. The Barbie Big Wheel.

I hugged the box and put it in my cart. I know its a dumb story...but I still get emotional thinking about it.

AND NOW...

(Same year actually)

The night before Christmas we were getting ready. I let the kids pick out what cookies we were going to give Santa. They chose Grasshoppers. You know, those nasty chocolate cookies with mint filling. ICK!

So I laid them out with the milk. They gave Santa a huge helping, so he left a few.

The next morning the kids were excited, playing with their new toys...the Barbie Big Wheel zooming around the house. Jefferson found Santa's leftovers and said, "Mom, can I have a cookie."

I shuddered, "You can have all of those cookies that you want!" They hadn't actually tried them yet, they had just bought them for Santa.

So Jefferson took a bite. Stopped. The look on his face was PRICELESS! I giggled and said, "Go ahead and spit it out." I watched him run off to the bathroom and didn't think much of it until later.

Later was when his brother came running out of the bathroom shouting, "MOM! MOM! SANTA PUKED IN THE TUB!"

Sure enough, Jefferson had spit out the Grasshopper into the tub. Jaylan had gone in and found it, and assumed that Santa had just had too many cookies for one night.

Getting to know you - Christmas style

So Dad sent me this little quizlet, and I thought it was FUN so I posted it here too! Love you see yours, or send me an email.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both! Depends on what I have on hand.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial - just bought a new one this year

3. When do you put up the tree? When I feel like it.

4. When do you take the tree down? See #3

5. Do you like eggnog? Yup! Unfortunately, Dell won't let me drink the loaded kind....

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Whitney Doll

7. Hardest person to buy for? Dad

8. Easiest person to buy for? Everyone Else

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Ashamedly, no...hoping to remedy that this weekend with a huge one to put on the lawn with a spotlight.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? HA! You are hilarious!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A gripe card...yeah, guess who was the first person I used it on...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation? Scrooged. Hawaiian cruise.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chineese food on Christmas Eve

16. Lights on the tree? Pre lit tree now! YAHOO

17. Favorite Christmas song? Go tell it on the Mountain

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Mostly home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes, yes I can

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Usually a star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? New PJs Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Radio stations that won't play songs about Christ...HELLO!!!!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Blue and Silver tree, which we are doing this year!

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? For the scene in Mars Attacks to come true and watch Congress blow up on TV

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Don't care! I loves you all anyways!

Slacker

Yes, I am a slacker, truth is, I always look at everyone's blogs at work, where I don't have access to pictures.

So.....Here's a nice long blog with pictures of what's been going on.

Halloween - Jaylan is 12 now, the death knoll for trick or treating. He stayed home and passed out candy, dressed up like Pinhead, so he could scare little kids.

Jefferson was a vampire hunter and Oriahna was a vampire....go figure. Jefferson has this deep hatred for vampires, so it was fitting. Pics NOW.....


Oriahna the vampire...I lost the pic of Jefferson because I am a bad mom. The worst part of his costure was trying to find a cross! Do you know how hard it was to find a CROSS in SLC! (Mutters under breath)









So then the kids went on to Test in Tae Kwan Do. They are green belts now, which means sparring...which means beating each other up with weapons are allowed. Here is the pics of their test, they are in yellow belts testing for their green belts.


Jaylan doing his forms... its called "Tow Sohn Yo" Don't ask me to spell it....


















Jefferson breaking his board, they all broke a 1 inch board this time, even Oriahna. She was scared she couldn't do it, but her Master told her he wouldn't ask her to do anything he knew she couldn't do. She broke it on the first try.


I'll have to get some pictures now with their Nun-chucks and big giant sticks with them smacking each other..... :)

Soooooo it's September

Yeah yeah, time has flown.

I have no pics at this time, sorry, I'll see what I can do about that later.

Updates on us all...

Jen and Nate are finally married! YAY! Sept 5th was the big day. Her colors were Red and Orange and Black and Silver. Halloween colors!!! Yeah...I'll get some pics of that up. Katelyn was a tired bug after that day, she and I laid down and watched Spongebob for 2 hours before the reception. I tried to get her to nap, but I think Nana got more sleep than she did.

Audrey was here for a week. She went down to see Mandy and my new baby nephew Rylan for most of it, and then spent the weekend with us.

Jess and Forrest - nothing much to report there. Jack Jack is growing fast and talking. He loves to come over and torture my poor dog Shay. She sees him coming and just flinches, but she's so gentle and loving. I can just hear her saying, "OK, I'm ready Jack Jack...poke me in the eye, I'm ready!" He gives her hugs then, after he pokes her in the eye.

Keegan - Working for Greene's construction as a concrete person. He needs a hair cut...

Jaylan - Started 7th grade. Yeah, his mom was freaking out about that. I still haven't met one person that said that 7th grade was the best year ever! Everyone has told Jay, "7th Grade SUCKS!" He has told me he doesn't know why since he's having fun. So good so far!

Jefferson - 5th Grade, still the oldest in his class and still the shortest. He's too smart for his own good. He is the bored kid, which can lead to trouble if he isn't involved in something. His teacher is good about that though, and keeps him busy.

Sami - Braces and glasses. I told her, "oh no!! You'll look like a nerd!" But she's a cute nerd. She had 2 teeth pulled and braces on her upper teeth only. They said she'll only need them for 5 months. I thought that was amazing...remembering how my friends had them for years! She only uses her glasses for reading, which is a plus as well. She's a 5th grader as well this year.

Oriahna - 4th grade drama queen. She finally got the point that she has to earn her long hair. If she doesn't brush it...off it comes! (what a mean mom) She had lots of fun with her aunt Audrey and was really really sad when she left. Hopefully she and I can scrape our pennies together and go with Grammy to see Audrey in D.C. in Feb - (shameless plug for donations :))

Dell and I are just working and trying to get the house done to sell it. It's been over 1 year now and the bathroom still isn't finished with it's remodel. But the less said on that the better...or I'll go crazy.