I'm Thankful For...

...soooo many things. We have had a great week. We started the week off by letting Tanner have his birthday dinner early, since we knew that our company wouldn't want to go to Sushi (Tanner's favorite). So, Monday we went to RA Sushi and had a fun and yummy dinner with Tan. He was a natural with his chop sticks and out-ate both Kevin and myself. He's getting so big!On Tuesday, Tate had his Thanksgiving party at preschool. They had a feast that featured chicken (we called them "turkey") nuggets, corn, rolls, pudding, and a capri sun. They were so cute. Before we ate they sang this darling song to us:

My mom and dad came on Tuesday afternoon. We were all excited for their arrival.
We did some birthday and Christmas shopping on Wednesday, and got the final items for our own Thanksgiving feast.
This morning I got up and got our meal started, and once again, went way overboard on the food. It took me until about 12:30 to get it all put together, and then I was able to relax until about 3:30 when we finally ate. And did we eat. And eat. And eat. After dinner was cleaned up we had a birthday celebration for Tanner. We had fun talking about the day he was born and all the crazy stuff that happened. We also had fun joking that he was born in the supply closet at the hospital, which isn't too far from the truth. He loves hearing stories about when he was small, and I love telling him about them. He had a Happy Birthday Pumpkin Pie (at his request) and opened his gifts. We decided that since he was turning the big ONE-TWO that he was old enough to have a cell phone. He was so excited! He also got a ripstick, a nerf gun, and money (which he LOVED!!). It has been a great week, and it's even better that the Black Friday Ads had nothing in them that warrants an early morning shopping spree!! I'm so excited to sleep in tomorrow!!!

4th Annual RS Retreat

Back Row: Me, Leslie, Sara, Debbie, Shauna, Michelle, Michelle N., Lynn, Rock

Middle Row: Annette, Barbara, Cyndy

Front Row: Desi, Christy, Lexine, Natalie, Janae, Judy

Not Pictured: Sara S., Cathi, Debbie M., Alysa

This past weekend was my ward's annual RS Retreat in Show Low, AZ. It's something I always look forward to! We got up to Show Low around 11:30 a.m., had lunch, and then headed to the theater to spend a few quality hours with some vampires...LOVED IT!!Then we went to the Jones' cabin and claimed our beds. That's the perk of being the first ones there!! We then went to WalMart to get the items we needed to make our yummy dinner and then back to the cabin to get the soups made. We had "Soup Of Joy" (as I lovingly refer to Zuppa Tuscana) and a creamy chicken veggie noodle soup.

Sara

I had also made some rolls a few days before and had frozen them. I was a little anxious to see if they would rise, since I had never frozen my dough before, but they did and they were FABULOUS! I had a great time with old and new friends, and loved being able to chat, eat, and relax with some of the wonderful women in my ward.

Leslie and Lexine

I can't wait to do it again...although I should probably try to go to bed before 3:30 a.m. next time!!! ;)

Hot Dogs and Napkins

I've been searching for two weeks for dinner napkins to go on my Thanksgiving table. I know, you're thinking, 'Two weeks?? How hard can it be to find dinner napkins??' . For me, it's proven very difficult, and I don't know why. Those of you who know me know that I'm not really into that kind of stuff. I'm more of the disposable-paper-plate-kind-of-girl. Why would I stress about dinner napkins? But for some reason I got it into my head that my Thanksgiving table needed dinner napkins this year. Never mind that I don't have a fancy table cloth, or center pieces, or fancy plates for that matter. As it stands right now, I don't even have enough seating for the number of guests I'm expecting. So why dinner napkins?

Then, last night I was sitting at our combined YW/YM activity and I decided that my quest for dinner napkins was just silly. The YM were in charge of our activity. We had a huge bonfire in the middle of a open area and they served...hot dogs. Just hot dogs. There were no plates, only mustard and ketchup, and NO NAPKINS. Everyone seemed content to hold their hot dogs and to wipe their mouths with their hands (or in the case of some of the deacons, their shirts...). The simplicity of it all made sense. Why stress about something like dinner napkins when I should be enjoying that fact that I'm going to be surrounded by people who love me and could probably care less what kind of napkin I have on my table? So I made a monumental decision to stop this futile search for the perfect dinner napkin and will let my guests wipe their hands and faces on the cheesy, paper, Thanksgiving themed napkins that I purchased for my Recipe Club meeting earlier this month. They will do the same job as the fancy dinner napkin and cause me way less stress...not to mention, save me a little $$. So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I would like to thank the simple hot dog that helped me see the light and ease my napkin burden.

What'cha Doin'??

Tonight I put on my funky 80's style sweats and fixed bikes. My motivation to fix them is completely selfish. I would rather fix bikes than have to fight the traffic at the school every morning....talk about road rage!! Tanner and Ty's bikes had flat tires, so I replaced the tubes with the self sealing kind (genius, by the way, who ever thought that one up!!!) and decided that while I was at it I'd get my bike up and runnin' too. Tate wants me to take him to school on my bike tomorrow....we'll see...

Kevin snapped this picture when he got home from work....I'm looking pretty hot. The funky sweats are wet because I taught Tate how to play "car wash" with our bikes and he thought it would be fun to spray me instead of the bike. Aren't 4 year olds the best???!!!

I'm just happy that the boys will be able to get themselves to school in the morning. I don't think my nerves could take that carpool line for one more day!!!

I Am A Child Of God

Yesterday seemed like a big day...but to most it probably didn't feel much different than any other Sunday. We went through our "normal" Sunday morning routine. For us that includes a lot of wrestling, screaming, calling each other names, crying, tattle-telling, and so on. Breakfast was a fiasco with each boy picking on the other, or 2 or 3 of them ganging up on one...and then they would trade off and start ganging up on another. I lost it at this point and told them that I couldn't understand how they could be so awful to each other. I mean, they say the most horrible things to one another...it really makes me sad. I went into my office and closed the door and frantically tried to put a million thoughts into some sort of organized lesson to present to my Laurels, while listening to the utter chaos that was happening in the rest of the house. It's amazing to me how much noise 4 young boys can make. By this point I was TICKED...I literally felt my blood pressure rise...and resigned to the fact that there was no way I was going to be able to concentrate on getting my lesson together. I stopped and just sat at my desk listening to what was going on outside of my office. When I really listened I discovered that the boys weren't fighting at all. In fact, they were all playing together--LOUDLY, mind you,--but together. I just sat and listened. It's rare that they all play together without getting on each other's nerves. It's rare that they all play together without getting on my nerves. I decided to let it fly. These moments are way to rare to interrupt with a plea for less loud play. For some reason I was able to shut out the noise and put my lesson together.
At 12:something, Tanner had his 12 year old interview with the Bishop. I'm still in shock that he'll be old enough to hold the priesthood in just over a week. He's growing so fast. I wish time would just slow down a bit.

After his appointment we all gathered in the Chapel of the church and waited patiently for Sacrament Meeting to start. Treyson and Tate were extremely excited and anxious because it was the Primary Program. They had worked hard to memorize their parts and couldn't wait to say them into the microphone. Ty and Tanner grumbled a lot, but trudged up to their spots on the stage and waited for their turns.

That's when it hit me...

This was the very last Primary Program where all of my boys would be participating. I fought back the tears as I watched the four of them sing the songs and say their parts. I held in the laughter when Tate pulled a face at Kevin and I, and when he was doing his "Spider Man hands". I was filled with pride as Tanner stood up there, the oldest boy in the primary, and even though he didn't want to be there, set an example for his brothers to follow. I was reminded that I am a child of God, and that God has sent me 4 of His choice spirits to love, nurture, and teach. What started out as a pretty awful day ended up being extremely enjoyable for me. I am so thankful for my beautiful boys, even when, at times, they drive me absolutely crazy. They are my life and my heart.

Lay It All Out There...

Happy day!!!

My gross, disgusting, horrific, nasty, light colored, stained, worn-to-death carpet went bye-bye today and I couldn't be happier about it. It was replaced with a plush, dark, beautiful StainMaster carpet called "Pottery". It's just lovely...Now if I can just hit the mother lode I can re-carpet the rest of the house!!!

Dance Like No One Is Watching

I saw this on a friend's blog and I just had to post it. I was literally smiling from ear to ear as I watched. This world is a crazy place, but it seems like people are the same where ever you go. Maybe we all just need to do a little more dancing...

Trick Or Treat....

So, when I was at my spin class yesterday morning my darling, and very skinny, instructor asked who was going to help their kids eat their Halloween candy. In my head I'm screaming, "ooo, ooo, Me!!! Me!!!".

Then she says, "Not me!".

Wow! Apparently I'm going to the gym for the wrong reason. I thought you were supposed to work out so you can eat your kids Halloween candy...

I guess I need to re-adjust my thinking...

Tanner and Ty really went out on a limb this year...dressing as a baseball player is such a stretch for them... ;) Tater Bug has been wearing his Spider Man costume for 4 days now...it's amazing that it's even recognizable!! Treyson is a darling Harry Potter.

Our jack-o-lanterns all aglow...
I think they turned out pretty good! Oooooo, that's a scary costume!! Oh, wait...it's not a costume! ;)

And for the record...I ate some Halloween candy with my kids. It was fabulous!