I wish I were in Disney.....

Dizz Knee Land - Dada




Did ya hear about the mom who faked her own abduction and then took her daughter to DISNEY?

She paid for a hotel room at the GRAND FLORIDIAN and was picked up.

She is being charged with all sorts of silly things. I don't know why I find this so funny but I do.

No one knows why she did this -

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? for a trip to the famous DISNEY WORLD?

An attitude of grattitude

I've received this awesome award from Nicol on
Classy and Sophisticated
You should check out Her story about Gratitude!



Here are the rules for the award:

1.Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show an attitude of gratitude
3. Link to your nominees within your post
4. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received this award
5. Share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for the award
6. Tell us how you've come to have an attitude of gratitude



An attitude of gratitude

I look out over the many memories of yesterday and awe in the fact that I didn't crumble or fall apart completely.

Crumble? yes.
Fall apart? yes.
But completely? NO.

There were so many onlookers and people who cheered and lent their guidance and their support. They taught me to keep my chin up and to make the most of any given situation. They taught me to smile and to feel thankful. They showed me that the future was unmarked and that my choices could pave that road however I wanted.

The first person I am grateful for is my mother. I look back at the hell we went through and I've realized that she is a beautiful angel that made the most of what she was dealt with and did it with LOVE and COMPASSION and SERVICE. She is stronger than anyone I know.

My Aunt Phyllis is next on the list. We had to live with her family for awhile and she so graciously let us in and treated our wounds with gentleness and kindness. I remember one distinct time she put my sisters and I in the tub and washed our hair. She doesn't think much of it but she treated me like I was someone. She wasn't afraid to touch me - to hug me. In went a dirty little girl and out came a child who realized there was still love in the world. I think my addiction to my Aunt's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies is tied to this memory.

3rd on the list is teachers. We moved over 42 times by the time I graduated from high school. A little tribute to some that still stand out in my memories:

Mrs Grey, Mrs Smith, Mrs Watkins, Miss A. Searle, Mrs Major, Mrs Phipps, Mr J. Briggs, Mr T.Potter, ,Mrs S Thompson, Mr R.Longhurst, Mr D.McArthur, Mrs V. Messick, Mr S.Best, Mrs L.Chapple, Mrs L.Dalton, Mr S.Durfee, Mrs M.Makowitz, Mr Z.Miller, Mrs E. Oswald, Mr M. Winston, Mr V.Wray, Mr G.Gemar, Mr B.Howell, Ms C. Hussman, Mr L. Hemming

4th is Spiritual Advisers
I'm not talking about fortune readers! These are the people in my life that taught me how to find and listen to that still small voice. That when the outside world was raging and out of control I could still be at peace within myself.

Mr D.Behunin, Mr S.Wilson, Mr R.Stuart, Mrs W.Gardner, Mr R Cote, Mr R. Jeans, Mrs. J George and V and K Denton

5th - My husband and children. We've been through a lot in our marriage of 7 years. We could have killed each other, left each other.... but we made it despite our differences - through sickness and health - thick and thin - rich and poor - Our friendship is stronger today than it was yesterday and each new day gives us the opportunity to become better. To do better. My kids - they have taught me so much about myself on a deeper level. I love my family Immensely!

Last but most certainly not least. The church. The people in the church. Especially the ones who get it. They're in it for more than the social friendship. They live by the teachings and examples and they are in tune to the divine spirit. They feed the hungry and clothe the naked. They give of their time and possessions. They love unconditionally and spare their judgements. I am thankful that I know that this life is just a pit stop on a much grandeur trip and that there is a Celestial being that we call God our Father.


My life turned out better than I thought it would. I am grateful for so many things but mostly for people. It doesn't matter if you lay your head down at night in a mansion or under the pale yellow moon. It doesn't matter if you are wearing designer jeans or hand-me-downs... What matters most is Who you are and the person you are becoming. How do you treat others? In the end we will leave this world with no possession's except for the experience.


What are you grateful for?

The hardest part of this award is copying and pasting all the links and web sites. That being said - Here are the nominee's... in no random order but picked randomly out of fairness of not picking on anyone.....


My loves

Life Learning Leonards

Dunhaven Place

Life with the Carey Gang

Me and Mine

Messes and Mudpies

The better to stalk you with my dear

If you're happy and you know it

Haag family story

My life in a Scrapbook

Some milestones and a funny story.

Valorie started to walk!



Sarah graduated from preschool and turns 5!



Jon completed Pre-Kindergarten and rocked on his air guitar performance for the music program - it was way too funny!




We caught up with the bills since my episode with ebay in February. (Yay! Out of the dog house for me.)

Funny story - Jon has rode the bus to school all year and for the past two weeks we've allowed him to walk to see if it is something he can handle for this fall.

He has done really well.... BUT one morning he decided it was time to go at 7am. He left in his pajama's and took his back pack.

I couldn't leave the house and called the police to have them look for him. The found him an hour and 15 minutes later. Someone had let him into the school and put him in the gym with other kids that were there for the before and after school program.

It's funny now because nothing happened. But it was scary at the time.

What am I going to do with that kid??? He was so proud of himself for being so responsible. It is bittersweet that they grow up so fast.

It's 30 minutes past bedtime.

It takes an hour to get ready for bed.

brush teeth

go potty

read a book

get one last drink

family prayer

individual prayer

hugs and kisses

diapers and pull-ups

tylenal for teething

cough syrup for colds

look for favorite blankies

yell get back in bed a thousand times

check on kids

kiss them one more time

pull blankets up to their chin


Are we done yet???

Meet me halfway

Not so good. Maybe a C-

It's a lot harder to just jump into my new workout schedule. So many distractions. Feeling guilty about taking time to do ME THINGS. But Nontheless! It must be done.

Is it normal to feel so hungry after working out? My tummy has been growling and I've been having cravings and my mouth waters.... I haven't had any of these symptoms for a long long time!!

This is going to take some time to get into a normal everyday routine. But the benefits will outweigh the effort!

So, (good paragraphs start out with "So") So, I took my children this week to the annual seatbelt safety check up and they made me take all the carseats out to be inspected and then "trained me" to put them in right.

Some teeny weeny little ol' lady was in the back seat with me demonstrating how to put your knee in the carseat to get the seatbelt as tight as you can. I followed her lead and she checked my work. That seat wouldn't budge.

"Wow" she said. "That is the tightest carseat I've ever seen!"

Much to her surprise I said - that's the benefit of weighing so much!
The look on her face was priceless. She didn't even know how to respond.

I hunted down my children - they had all run off... mooched some water bottles and free helmets from the Dare Officer and put them back into their "ain't gonna budge no more carseats" and drove home much more safe than when we first had arrived.

This journey to find my thinner self is going to be very entertaining indeed.



But not THIS entertaining! ha ha ha

All the winter clothes had been carefully and neatly packed away. The boots, the snowpants, the hats and mittens. The coats washed and dried and put in the back of the closet. And then it happened. I awoke the other morning and soft big flakes were gently falling to the ground.

I turned to my kindergartner and said "Jon, you will need your coat, hat and mittens for school today." I began digging through the box and came up with matching mittens.

Mom! Jon said, those are not mittens - those are gloves!

Oh? There's a difference? (like it really matters - just put them on)

Mittens have fingers and Gloves only have thumbs! he replied.

We proceeded to dress him from head to toe and as I was tying his shoes he yells out "Spongebob!" Thinking that he wanted to take spongebob to school with him I began listing off all the reasons he couldn't, he interrupts and says "thats my baby's name!"

What? You don't have a baby Jon.

No Mom, when I grow up and get married...that's my baby's name.

Oh, I see. Do you think your wife will like this name? It's her baby too...

His reply: Yah, cause she likes me.

The sacred name of Mother

I see my mother kneeling
with her family each day
I hear the words she whispers
as she bows her head to pray.
Her plea to the Father quiets all my fears,
and I am thankful
Love is spoken here

Mine is a home
where every hour
is blessed by the strength
of Priesthood power,
With Father and Mother
leading the way
Teaching me how to trust and obey
And the things they teach
are crystal clear,
For love is spoken here

I can often feel the Savior near
When Love is spoken here


Mom, Happy Mother's Day

Life is not perfect -

I needed a break so I drove up through Sundance Wyoming. There is a teeny weeny branch of the church up there and I stopped and attended their meetings. Loved it. Loved the people. Loved seeing how humble and spiritual they are. Our wards here are so big and I only know a few handful of people. The drive home was beautiful. It was snowing and very slushy and wet. Sundance is probably the closest thing we have to mountains and pine tree's. I miss the mountains. Here, it's all wide open and far as the eye can see.

I escaped the house on Saturday for another training (second one this month!) I got to push the garage door button all by myself! I didn't have anyone fighting over which car seat or which radio station to listen to... I was.....Childless!! All by myself!

So in indulging in these little things I have found other ways to steal some ME time. Like today... my children were in primary and I snuck into another ward's sacrament for fast and testimony meeting. It was GLORIOUS! I wasn't constantly struggling with a child to sit down or to be quiet. I just sat there and enjoyed people bearing their testimony's. I feel smug.

And well that's it. Nothing more nothing less. Well, except for this one thing. I heard it on Brides' War the movie:

Life isn't perfect - It's Messy!

Wondering how I feel about daycare this week? Yay or Nay? I don't know yet. I sure have been having mixed feelings about it. I guess it depends on the day and how many messes there are. Make up your mind already would ya?!

Anyhoo. As you can see I'm just rambling. I should have just saved all this garbly goop for my personal journal. And as you can see - we never have gotten rid of the internet. Every time I go to pull the plug - I just can't do it. So back to blogging. Which really isn't so bad unless I keep posting garbly goop.

My Alta just interrupted my typing to help her diaper her baby dolly. Gosh darn it - She is SO CUTE!

May day! May day! Where is spring? We got up this morning to more snow! Unbelievable!

For your viewing pleasure I have posted this picture. What you are looking at is a sky scene above my backyard. There is two airplane jet trails. One was headed east to west and the other was traveling something like north east to south west. You can see they crossed paths right over my house within a few minutes of each other. How would you like the job of coordinating the flights and paths of airplanes? Not me.



What could I post that would be worthy of your listening ears today?

I have to remind myself that I started this blog as a journal of the things my kids do and well, my kids are pretty busy but here are a few funny things that have happened this week.

One: Sarah was not excited to go to school and get dressed and ready. By the time her bus came she was NOT a happy camper. She stomped out to the bus and stomped up the three stairs and stomped all the way to the back of the bus and sat in the very last seat. It was the big long bus and all of her 10 friends were sitting in the very front. The bus driver just looked at me and gave me a "whats up?" kind of look and closed the doors. I made it a point to stand on the porch and wave my arms big and blow her kisses. At the last moment possible she waved back and blew me a kiss. I think I would have felt bad if she hadn't have waved back.

Two: Valorie is learning to walk and was at the top of the stairs. She grabbed the railing and was going to walk down the stairs like a big girl. I started to run towards her to stop her but it was too late. She did a perfect cartwheel down the first few stairs before I caught her and stopped her fall. It scared her so much that she was still in a frigid handstand position. Let's save gymnastics for the floor mats shall we? She also looks cute when she stands on her head and looks at you between her legs. I am so in love with that little girl.

My daycare numbers have been at an all time low. 6 full time during the day and 5 evening-overnight. The other night I had 3 parents who failed to show up on time and I ended up with 9 kids at the table for dinner and 3 babies. We finally got everyone settled in for bed by 9:30. Whew what a night but it's going smoothly and my children are enjoying their friendships. And my biggest joy......3 more kids have been fully pottytrained!! It makes my life SO much easier!! Pretty sad that I am so excited about something like that!! Actually, I do have something more exciting than that. We met with a financial professional and we were able to move things around to where we will be debt free in 31 months. That means I will continue to do daycare for 2 and 1/2 more years but then I am moving on. I think I will either do preschool for 1-2 hours a day or get back into massage therapy. My kids will be in school. It will be perfect.(BUT) I like that saying that goes something like:

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

We shall see what happens.

And on a side note:

Here is the church and here is it's steeple. Open the doors and see all the people. Close the doors and let them pray... Open the doors, they've all gone away.
We are getting very close to moving into the new building!!

Egg Hunt

Easter 2009