Suze's Newz

Suze Is Back, Alright! (duh, duh nuh nuh nuh nuh, duh, nuh nuh nuh)

2011-10-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Whoever gets the title song reference wins a prize! (not really, but you'll be LOVED by me)

Well it's been a long 4 months away from blogging, but I think it's about time I get back into the habit. We've had a crazy 4 months. Here's what we've been up to:

Finalized our two older girl's adoptions
Vacation in the Tri-Cities and the WA/OR Coasts
Back to school for all 4 girls

Doesn't seem like much, but it was a fun summer for us and I can't wait to go on vacation next year!

However this season is my favorite one! I LOVE Autumn and all of the fun and excitement it brings. Back to school, Halloween, two Thanksgivings (CAN & US), my birthday, etc... Seriously this is my FAVORITE time of year.

BTW Have you discovered Pinterest yet? It is like every blogstalkers ~~dream~~ worst nightmare! Okay it's both. I find myself spending a lot of time on there. But I have gathered a lot of great ideas from it, so I justify it in every way.

Today I made these for my big girls: (camera phone pics - sorry!)

I got the idea from here. I saw it on Pinterest and thought it would be a GREAT idea to build a better relationship with my two older ones. Because they're adopted they still have "mom issues" and what better way to bond and attach to me, than to become pen pals! I LOVED the idea and I got right onto making them.

I just cut out some pretty paper and made a title and their name using Microsoft Publisher; a little Mod Podge to glue and seal it all up and voila! I put a letter inside to start. It says:

Dear ______,

Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. I think it would be a lot of fun!

I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my office desk when you are done.

You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious. About life, friends, boys, church, whatever! Just write about anythnig that is on your mind!

I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!

Love,

Mom

P.S. Write back soon!

On the back I also put a quote that I liked, that I also found on Pinterest (seriously LOVE that site!)

End Of The World?

2011-06-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

A living apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about the second coming and what has been revealed to us in our day from the scriptures. Elder Dallin H. Oaks is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

What THE? NO WAY!

2011-04-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

So last night we had an "Urgent Chorus Meeting".

I knew exactly why, yet didn't exactly know why or how.

The suspense was killing me.

Is it killing you?

Prolly not, eh?

Well here's the deal...

We received a letter from Sweet Adelines International letting us know that Region 13 (our region's) 1st place chorus, Pacific Sound, was "disqualified from the competition and not eligible for any awards".

It so happened that one of their people onstage was ineligible to compete. So therefore they had to be disqualified.

Kudos to PSC for bringing the matter to SAI, knowing full well what the consequences would be. What an unfortunate and disappointing thing to happen to them. Apparently this has never happened in SA history and it is integrous of PSC to admit their mistake. I commend and respect them 100%.

However....(and I quote the letter)

"As a result, all placements in the competition will be adjusted. a cappella joy Chorus is named Region 13’s 2011 first place chorus and will be eligible to represent Region 13 at the international competitions held in Denver, Colorado in 2012."

I was amazed

I was stunned

I shouted joy

I cried

I rejoiced with friends

I am humbled

Cue Freddy Mercury:

Click on Freddy for the full effect

Holy freakin' crazy!

We get to go to International competition in 18 months!!!

Revised Order of Placement as of April 21, 2011
North Pacific Region #13 2011 Chorus Contest

First Place: a cappella joy Chorus (591)
Second Place: Spirit of Spokane Chorus (586)
Third Place: Voices Northwest Chorus (576)
Fourth Place:   Jet Cities Chorus (558)
Fifth Place:   Olympia Chorus (537)

Division A
First Place: Rolling Hills Chorus (535)
Second Place: RiversEdge Chorus (511)
Third Place: Coeur d’Alene Chorus (493)

Division AA
First Place: a cappella joy Chorus (591)
Second Place: Spirit of Spokane (586)
Third Place: Voices Northwest Chorus (576)

Most Improved
a cappella joy Chorus (591)

What's Three Plus One?

2011-04-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't know we have another child in our home. A girl.

No....I'm not talking about the girl we're adopting from before; I'm talking about another girl.

Yup. Another.

This one is 11 yrs. going on 12 yrs old.

I know what you're thinking.....

CRAZY!

Believe me, I was thinking the same thing.

But when God tells you to do something, you do it.

That's pretty much how it all went down.......He talked. We listened.

Thankfully we did.

Now we're a family of six. (hold for applause)

Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-04-10T14:57:00.001-07:00

I've come to realize that I crave change.

I should've known that from the amount of times a month I change my hair, or the amount of time I spend rearranging living room or bedroom furniture. You don't even want to know how much my wardrobe changes......

So often things in life that used to bring me such happiness and pleasure, I feel like burrying in the dirt and never wanting to see it again.

I know there are things in this life I can't change, like the rain in Seattle, or Daylight Savings, or the fact that I will never in my life be a natural blond with blue eyes. But I know that there are so many things that are within my control to change.

I've personally been going through a lot of change recently. Good change, but hard change. Our family has changed. Our family life has changed. Dan's priorities have changed. My priorities have changed. My sanity has changed.....and so on and so on.

One thing I've been wanting to change is this blog.

It started out as me, then I changed it into something that I'm just not; something I did to please other people. So it's time to take control and change it back.

I'll be going through some blog rennovations here soon and hopefully it doesn't upset anyone. But hopefully the right people will continue to read it.

2nd Place?........ Feels Like 1st!

2011-04-05T19:27:00.001-07:00

This last weekend I went to Spokane with my fellow AJoy'ers to compete in our region. There were chorus's from all over Washington, Alaska, as well as northern Idaho. It was an absolute blast & I gained a lot of valuble knowledge as well.

This is the mass sing we did before the Quartet Competitions on Friday night.
Competition isn't easy for me though, cause I get very intimidated when I know people are judging me.

These were all of the new members competing this year, including ME!

So I was a bunch of nerves despite the calming herbs I took, the days previous.

Here's us about to take the stage

At the end of our performance I set myself up for severe disappointment on how we did. Not only did I feel I let my chorus down, with my personal performance, but I also felt a complete let down, cause I KNOW we've sounded better in past performances.

As I sat down in the audience after we got off stage, I had a discussion with a fellow AJoy'er and she and I both felt the same. So when it came time to announce the awards, believe me I was surprised when they announced the winner of the most improved (since last year) chorus, was none other than, US!

Woo hoo! I was more than overjoyed! I was so proud of us. We improved by 44 points from last year, which is a huge jump. Last year the chorus got most improved as well and it's seriously unheard of in Sweet Adelines for a chorus to improve as quickly as we have. So that was a HUGE accomplishment.

Then in our division (Division AA or mid-sized chorus) we took 2nd place! (last year they were 1st in Division A or small chorus) And then as a final medal we took 2nd place overall (last year they took 4th place overall). Can we say AWESOME!!!

I was jumping for joy! I tell ya, that even though we took 2nd, it totally feels like 1st to me!

Here's us wearing our medals and preparing to sing at the Show Of Champions, Saturday night.

Congratulations to my fellow chorus members. Thank you so much for treating me like your own from day one and for allowing me to have an absolute blast everytime we get together. I'm so happy I found a group of ladies I'm proud to call my sisters. I love you all!!!

AJoy Friends & Family

2011-03-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Before we head off to Spokane for our regional competition, we hold a sorta "dress rehearsal" show, for our friends and our family. Last night our friends and family got a look at our contest package as well as the quartets that are representing our chorus (Champagne, Frenzy & Sunbreak).

Thanks to the Thurgood's & the Thatcher's for coming to support me!

Here's video from last night's performance. (I'm the 2nd one on the left in the front row)

3rd Place A Cappella Festival 2011

2011-03-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

We won!
Can you believe that we won something we didn't even know we were competing for?

That's just how awesome A Joy is! Are you jealous yet?

Anyways yesterday's festival was a total blast! I wish I had been there the whole day to see the rest of the acts I missed in the morning.

After having an unofficial warm-up/run through at one of our chorus member's house, we got to the festival in time to see The Baudboys perform. Man are they an awesome group of guys. They were the favs of the day. They have this bass, (Paul Eng), that has one of the yummiest voices and his range is absolutely amazing! He was my favorite. I didn't take any video, but click here for a different video of my favorite song that they did yesterday, with Paul soloing.

At the end of the festival we had the honor of listening to a cappella legends, The Coats. Now I must admitt I've never heard them before, but after yesterday I was glad to be in their presence. Even with the crappy sound system 3rd Place Commons had and with the horrible sound that resonated through the back of the food court where I was sitting with ma peeps, they still stole the stage with their awesomeness, (their tenor is AMA-ZA-ZING!). I've decided I want to be just like them when I grow up. Again I don't have any video of my own, but here's one I found on YouTube.

After a day of a cappella singing what better thing to do after, than sing sum'more! I can officially say that I've had a night of "Tag Singing"......and it's TOTALLY ADDICTING! It's like a drug!

Anyways I have 25 more days till I head off to our Regional Competition. I can't wait! It's going to be blast!

Good Old A Cappella!

2011-03-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't been on planet earth lately, my chorus is singing at an A Cappella festival this Saturday, March 5th. (click the flyer above for location details)
It's a casual event and if they stick to the schedule, we'll be on the stage at 3:30pm.
Hope I'll see you there!

New Menu Items At McDonalds!

2011-02-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

Introducing the new McFried Beef.

One 45% all-beef pattie deep fried in 65% all-vegetable oil.
Limited time only.

MixDonald's is now also prescribing drugs! Call your local restaurant to get your prescriptions refilled and try the new McFried Beef!

So my sweet little Kayla has a crazy imagination. When we're driving in the car she'll sometimes play "drive-thru" with herself. She'll pretend like she's at the window ordering a bunch of stuff and crazy stuff like trees, signs etc... Well yesterday she was playing it a different way and I thought it was totally blogworthy. Instead of "driving-thru", she "called" her order in.

Hello MixDonald's?....Yes, my ear hurts and I need some medicine......I also want a McFried Beef, umm.....some Chicken Nuggets, some umm......Fries.......some trees, a sign......

I asked her what a McFried Beef was and she just said in her cute voice, I dunno?

Maybe she's on to something, eh? Deep fried Hambugers and Pharmacy? Talk about your one stop shop!

10 Pounds!

2011-02-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

I know it's not much, but for me, (who's been workin' her butt off for the last two weeks) it's a lot! Plus it's a third towards my first weightloss goal, which is 30 lbs.

For those who've missed the news on this one, read here.

Day 30 Of The Challenge~A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past

2011-02-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

I took this self portrait yesterday, so it's as current of a picture as you're gonna get. No it's not your imagination that I have short, straight, red hair. It truly is that amazing. Although the picture doesn't do my awesome hair justice. It really isn't as short as it looks.
Anyways here are 3 good things that have happend in the past 7 years:

Meeting Dan

Getting my two little girls

Getting my big girl

Well my friends, that's the end of the challenge. It took me a while, to stay on track, but it's finally over. I'm glad that it got me writing every day (even if they didn't get posted every day). Now back to posting things out of my own brain, instead of forced topics. I apologize in advance for the un-forced randomness that will fill the pages of this blog in the future.

Adios mi amigos!

Day 29 Of The Challenge~Something that you could never get tired of doing

2011-02-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Singing

Here's probably the only photo I have of me singing (I know lame, eh?)
It was taken back in '04

Here's an even older clip of me singing back almost 10 years ago.

Day 28 Of The Challenge~Your favorite music

2011-02-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

Like I've said before, my tastes in music is eclectic, but if I have to narrow it down to a favorite it's an easy job, cause I will pick uplifting music over anything the world has to offer.

A couple of years ago.....okay it was more like 10 (woozers), I made a mixed CD of all this churchy type music and I called it "Sunday Soothers". It was mostly made up of songs from EFY and other songs like that.

Since then the LDS Contemporary music genre has blossomed and you can find a lot more tasteful music by more and more artists. I'm so glad that industry has grown since I was a youth. Now my collection has grown to hundreds of songs, instead of the mere handful that I had before.

I still dream about being a part of that industry....who knows, maybe I'll be on an EFY CD someday. Until then I'll keep singing in various sacrament meetings and whatever else may come my way.

Someday though.....

Day 27 Of The Challenge~A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

2011-02-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of me last May (okay not quite a year, but I couldn't find any others). My hair is a lot shorter now and I'm a mother of 3 now, instead of just 2. Besides being (almost) a year older, I'm also a lot wiser than I was back then. It's not like a lot of time has passed, but it sure does feel like it. And then again, that picture feels like it was taken yesterday.

Day 26 Of The Challenge~A photo of somewhere you've been too

2011-02-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't really been anywhere exciting, so this is a very lame post. Here's a picture of Leavenworth last year during their Maifest.

Day 25 Of The Challenge~What's in your purse?

2011-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

I hate to be lame on this one, but there's currently nothing in my purse, cause I haven't used one for weeks. If I'm going somewhere I usually grab my debit card and drivers license and put it in my pocket.

Day 24 Of The Challenge~A photo of something that means a lot to you

2011-02-01T06:13:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the Seattle Washington LDS Temple. It's a very special place to me. It's where I received my endowment and it's where I was married to Dan for time and for eternity. It's also where my two youngest daughters were sealed to Dan and I.

Day 23 Of The Challenge~15 facts about you

2011-01-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

I am totally stubborn

I'm a total goofy, geeky, nerd at heart

I am one of the funniest people I know

I don't like talking about myself and I'm finding this particular post challenging

I had a career at 19 yrs old

As of March 3/1/11 I will be a RETIRED Hairstylist

I didn't get my drivers license till I was 22 yrs old

Clothes and shoes make me happy (superficially of course)

I'm in love with the color RED

I took a Food Sensitivity test recently and found out I'm severely sensitive (allergic) to Apples, Pork, Cabbage, Bay Leaf, Oat & Sole as well as moderately intolerant of many other foods.

I've finally come to terms with the fact that I am a diabetic (I was in denial for over a year)

There is always a song playing in my head

It's a well known secret that although I'm our ward's choir director, I can't read music

I'm a perpetual re-organizer

I would rather poke my eyes out than finish this post off with another fact about myself, so.......that's it.

Day 22 Of The Challenge~A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

2011-01-30T05:05:00.000-08:00

Dear Me,

You promised yourself you would be thinner and healthier by now. I'm dissapointed in you. You've let me down. However let's not dwell on the negative. I know you can do this and I know that now is the time.

I'm so glad that you've joined MyFitnessPal.com. I know it's something you signed up for months ago, but it's time to really start doing it. I know that with the support of that site and your friends, that you can really do this. I'm proud of all that you've acomplished in the last week to get to this point and I'll support you all the way.

You are a strong, beautiful, loving and caring person and not only are you surrounded with people who love you, but your Father in Heaven loves you; ultimately and unconditionally. Pray to Him for guidance every step of the way and you will be able to acheive anything you set your heart on. Most of all, I love you. Remember that always.

Love,
Me

I've been inspired by the show "Heavy". It's like "Biggest Loser", but there's no money to be won and no fame in winning the contest. Just one goal: shedding the pounds!

Well I'm on a weightloss journey and you're all going to be a part of it. I'm not doing it for the fame or to win a big cash prize at the end. I'm doing it for ME. I'm not going to huff and puff my way into shedding pounds quickly either. Slow and steady wins the race and I'm going to start by tweeking my diet and excersising more. Not a big change in lifestyle, but a big change for me mentally.

My first goal is to lose 30 lbs. I'm trying to make realistic goals instead of saying, "I need to lose 200 lbs"......that's just too big a number and I know I'll get discouraged. So that's why the first goal is 30. My next goal will be 40 lbs and the next 50 lbs, until the last leg which will be a whopping 75 lbs, for a total of 195 lbs!

With your support I know that it will be even easier. That's why I've added the tracker at the top of my blog. I've already lost 5 lbs since I weighed in last time! If you'd like to join me on my journey, let me know in a comment. Then sign up on MyFitnessPal.com and add me as your friend (search for "curlysuze")

Wish me luck!

Day 21 Of The Challenge~A photo of something that makes you happy

2011-01-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

I hate to be petty, but chocolate ALWAYS makes me happy!
Especially these little guys......mmmmmmmm chocolate!

Day 20 Of The Challenge~The meaning behind your blog name

2011-01-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

This is pretty self explanitory.
It's my news....random daily stuff.
'Nuff said.

Day 19 Of The Challenge~Another picture of yourself

2011-01-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

This is me about the same age as my oldest daughter is now.
Crazy!!!

Day 18 Of The Challenge~Something you crave a lot

2011-01-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION

Day 17 Of The Challenge~A photo of you and your family

2011-01-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

I'm going to break the rules on this one, cause of privacy issues and the fact that we don't actually have a complete family photo (pathetic, ain't it?) so I'm going to change this one to be a photo of my brother's and I when we were younger.

This is me with my brother Nelson & Steven, (at Nelson's wedding).

I know what you're thinking.......

......we look NOTHING like Nelson!

Yup, you're right. As much as we used to tease Steven that he was adopted (cause when we were all younger Steven looked nothing like us), Nelson ends up taking the prize for being the least likely to look like your siblings.

But I love them both. Not just because I have to, but because I just do.

Day 16 Of The Challenge~Your celebrity crush

2011-01-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

If I had to choose, it would be....

Day 15 Of The Challenge~Something you don't leave the house without

2011-01-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

I know you're expecting something spectacular like say, a cell phone, or my wallet with wads of cash in it, or my moon boots.....

.....but I honestly can't leave the house without this baby.

Actually I can't even leave a room from this baby without having a minor panic attack.

I'm Suze and I'm a water-aholic.

Day 14 Of The Challenge~A TV show you're currently addicted to

2011-01-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

There's two that I can't stop watching and it doesn't help when they air back-to-back episodes and I'm sick and all I can do is lie in bed and watch TV...

The first one is...

Tabatha's Salon Takeover , (it's the hairstylist in me that LOVES this show)

The other is one that Dan and I can't stop watching- The Smoking Gun Presents Worlds Dumbest....

There ya have it.

I'd like to thank this day's challenge for reminding me that I'm a TV addict.

Day 13 Of The Challenge~Your favorite musician and why?

2011-01-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

This is a tough one, cause I don't really have a favorite. My styles are so eclectic and I honestly couldn't chose a fav to represent all music. But some of my favorites do include the likes of Electric Light Orchestra, Ozomatli........

Okay for some reason I can't think of any more.....but I will leave you with one that is becoming a fav. This is one of my YouTube favs of this guy. Enjoy....

Day 12 Of The Challenge~A photograph of the town you live in

2011-01-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

Although I should've posted a picture of a couple of days ago when we were an island!

Day 11 Of The Challenge~What's in your makeup bag?

2011-01-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Don't have a makeup bag, but this is my makeup drawer....

I know what you're thinking.....

...."That's it?"

Day 10 Of The Challenge~A photo of your favorite place to eat

2011-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Tops any restaurant in the world, hands down.

In case you couldn't figure it out this is a picture of my kitchen, cause I'm the best cook.

(please ignore the unfinshed paint job, the piles of recycling and the unwiped table.....I may be the best cook, but I'm not the perfect housekeeper)

Day 9 Of The Challenge~A photo of something you last purchased

2011-01-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Arrived minutes ago...

We're getting ready to store some sweet pork soon!

Day 8 Of The Challenge~A song to match your mood

2011-01-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a few days and I forgot to post

Well at least the first line of this song is true...

I was stressing too much about the Ward Choir (I'm the director) singing in Ward Conference today (cause they had 3 practices to learn a song and not an easy one I might add) and I kept waking up at night after every nightmare.

But it all went more than awesomely and I had no reason to stress at all. My ward choir rocks! They work so hard (even coming to my house on a Saturday morning for an extra practice AND early Sunday before 9 am church for practice again) and I couldn't be more proud of them. The song brought the spirit and they sounded great!

Day 7 Of The Challenge~Your dream wedding

2011-01-12T06:13:00.000-08:00

Already had mine.

June 5th, 2004
I married my best friend for forever!

Day 6 Of The Challenge~A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet

2011-01-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Day 5 Of The Challenge~A photo of yourself two years ago

2011-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so this was actually 2 1/2 years ago, but I couldn't find one from Jan of '09

Day 4 Of The Challenge~Your favorite photograph of your best friend

2011-01-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

My best friend is my husband Dan, whether you like it or not.

I couldn't choose just one photo.The first one is one of our engagement photos (taken nearly 7 years ago!)
This other one is a more recent one I took, when we were at the pumpkin patch this last October.

I love my Dan....

And you can too! For just 4 easy payments of only $49.99, you can love this cuddly bear yourself. But wait! There's more! Call now and you'll also recieve, absolutely free, a surprise gift (only pay shipping and handling of $29.99). Love Dan today! Operators are standing by.

Day 3 Of The Challenge~Your idea of the perfect date

2011-01-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

That's a tough one........I'd have to say April 25th, because it's not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.

Yeah, I changed this one to read "perfect date", instead of "perfect first date".

My idea of the perfect date is anytime I get to spend out with my husband, sans the kiddos. Seriously and boringly. I haven't had a date in over 4 months! Probably won't for a long time. You can all have pity on me now.

Day 2 Of The Challenge~A photo of something you ate today

2011-01-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

I like to call this "Second Breakfast"

Day 1 Of The Challenge~A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was

2011-01-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

This day was pretty crappy, compared to other days. I've been feeling really "off" lately and today was no exception. I'm not sick like the rest of my family, but I'm always tired. I had a physical therapy appointment this morning and driving there and back I could've fallen asleep, that is if I wasn't driving! Pretty much this day has been a "dragging" one. Sorry I can't report anything more exciting.

Here's a picture of me, that I just took.

Undone & unedited. Yay.

30 Day Blog Challenge

2011-01-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Since I pretty much suck at blogging, I thought I might steal this idea from Jacki. Even though I'm not looking forward to it.

Day 1 a photo of yourself and a description of how your day was
Day 2 a photo of something you ate today
Day 3 your idea of the perfect first date
Day 4 your favorite photograph of your best friend
Day 5 a photo of yourself two years ago
Day 6 a photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet
Day 7 your dream wedding
Day 8 a song to match your mood
Day 9 a photo of something you last purchased
Day 10 a photo of your favorite place to eat
Day 11 what's in your makeup bag?
Day 12 a photograph of the town you live in
Day 13 your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 a TV show you're currently addicted to
Day 15 something you don't leave the house without
Day 16 you celebrity crush
Day 17 a photo of you and your family
Day 18 something you crave a lot
Day 19 another picture of yourself
Day 20 the meaning behind your blog name
Day 21 a phot of something that makes you happy
Day 22 a letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 23 15 facts about you
Day 24 a photo of something that means a lot to you
Day 25 what's in your purse?
Day 26 a photo of somewhere you've been too
Day 27 a picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?
Day 28 your favorite music
Day 29 something that you could never get tired of doing
Day 30 a photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past

Visual Highlights Of 2010

2011-01-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a look at some of my favorite visual *things of 2010 ~ Courtesy of YouTube.comMost gave me a laugh, but others were just plain cool.

Tim Hawkins Comedy (in general)

Trololo

Geico Commercials (in general)

BYU Divine Comedy (in general)
This one is particularily funny to me considering Dan's job

Old Spice Commercials (in general)

My Time Video by Minus The Bear

T-Mobile Flash Mob

and last but not least....

Kia Soul Hamster Commercial

DO, DA, Dippity...

Enjoy!

Another Year Has Gone By

2010-12-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

Painting, organizing, surgeries, trips, adventures, animals, farming, a wedding, visits with family, another child, parties, singing, new friends, and so much more!

I hope your year was great. Here's looking towards 2011!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Poem

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring and hopefully not even a mouse!

The stockings haven't been hung by the chimney with care,

'Cause I had to buy emergency ones at the dollar store last night, since I didn't have the time to make some this year.

The children are all still nestled in their bed while visions of who knows what dance in their heads....(my girls have pretty strange dreams, apparently).

And I in my bandana to put back my short hair, since I pretty much cut it all off yesterday,

And Dan still asleep,

I awoke stressing out, cause my parents are coming in a couple of hours and I still haven't cleaned up my house!

When upstairs in the bedrooms there arose such a clatter, I knew what was the matter......darn it, everyone's waking up!!

I shouldn't be blogging, cause there's work to be done!

The moon on the breast of no fallen snow,

The sun's arising and I think I should go (no seriously I shouldn't be writing this).

When what to my wandering eyes should appear?

Dan and the kids will soon be coming down those stairs pretty soon.

I'll be whistling and shouting and calling them by name:

On Daniel! On Savannah! On Desiree! On Kayla!

Shine the top of the porch, clean the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!

Okay I think I've had enough of this attempt at Christmas eve poetry.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The Facts Of Life

2010-12-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

And I ain't talkin' Tootie here.....

Life on a farm brings you many forms of education. There's the "what you eat turns into poop to make the grass grow"......there's the "eventually this animal is going to be 'breakfast', 'lunch', or 'dinner'".....then there's the "animals in heat makes them randy".

The girls were playing outside just now and Desiree proceeded to tell us that the dog was being very playful with her. To say it in her own words (and I quote):

"Chocolate was wiggling on me with her privates......She was getting on me like a horsey ride for me to run away.......I think she needs her privacies to get the puppies out".

She knows the fact that babies come out of you know where, so I guess she figured that she was needing to get puppies out of her tummy, 'cause she was "wiggling her privates".

Of course we didn't tell her the real reason Chocolate was trying to mount her.

There you have the facts of life.

The Most Wonderful Time~The Show!

2010-12-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our holiday show and it was absolutely awesome! The night before I couldn't sleep cause I was so excited! (well that and I forgot to take my meds for my RLS, so I really couldn't sleep!). It was a lot of hard work and preparation for all involved, but it totally paid off. We had a sold out matinee (which is highly unusual) and an almost sold out show in the evening. The show was filled with many acts which were all sung a'cappella. Our chorus, A Cappella Joy sang two sets and I sung a solo in the second set, as well as a part of a VLQ (very large quartet, which consisted of 8 males and 8 females......and yes we know a quartet consists of 4 people).

Thanks to Northwest Sound for sharing the stage with us, you all are slammin'! Thanks to all my fellow AJoy'ers for an awesome show and for being the best sisters a girl could have! Thanks to Nikki Blackmer who rocks our world! She's seriously oozes awesomeness!

Thanks to all of those who supported me and came to the show! For all those who missed it, maybe next year? In the meantime here's a peek of the most wonderful time had by all. (Thanks to Dan who took photos and video)

AJOYous Time At The Mall

2010-12-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

In case you can't figure it out, I'm the one in the back row on the left.

Caroling! Caroling!

2010-12-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

If anyone is out shopping at the outlet mall in Marysville WA, this Saturday, Dec 4th, between 2-4pm, don't be shocked if you see somone, that looks just like me, walking around the mall singing Christmas carols with a bunch of women.

It really is me!

Sit back and enjoy the awesomeness that is AJoy!

The Most Wonderful Time

2010-11-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

This will be the most wonderful time you'll have this season! Come see me sing on Dec. 11th! Tickets are still available online (but let me know that you'll be there!) or you can purchase them through me.

Don't miss this spectacular holiday event!

Lifehouse Anyone?

2010-11-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

I've entered to win tickets to see Lifehouse in Seattle on November 23rd and you can too! Click here to see this giveaway on the blog of Daring Young Mom.

Good luck!

And On That Farm He Had A.......

2010-11-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Meet "Milkshake"

Faith Is Snowing

2010-11-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

The other night as our family was having a gospel discussion on FAITH, my youngest pipes up and says, "Like, faith like snowing?"

Dan and I both look at each other and go "huh?"...and we make her repeat.

"Like, faith like snowing".

Then it kinda clicks.....

For those of you who know the Primary song, "Faith", then you'll know that the first line goes:

Faith is knowing the sun will rise lighting each new day....

Faith is knowing........faith is snowing.

To a 5 year old I guess it makes sense. Kinda falls into the same category as "Shammeno".

Halloween~2010 Style!

2010-10-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hope yours was frightfully fun!

How To Throw A Rock Into A River

2010-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

A How-To Video by Kayla. She's definitely in a "League of her own".
This makes me laugh out loud every time and the more I watch it, the funnier it gets. See for yourself....

The Bitter Homeschoolers Wish List

2010-10-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

This just made me laugh out loud, so I had to share.

PS: I couldn't have written this rant better myself.

The Bitter Homeschoolers Wish List
By Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling

1. Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2. Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3. Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4. Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5. If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6. Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7. We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

8. Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9. Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10. We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11. Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.

12. If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13. Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

14. Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15. Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16. Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17. Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.

18. If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19. Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20. Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21. Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.

22. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24. Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25. Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!

The Circle Of A Woman's Reach

2010-10-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Okay since my friend Cheri posted this on her blog, I figured I might as well post it on mine.

We had a Visiting Teaching Appreciation night, last week and I got the wonderful opportunity to sing. Cheri's son Brady played the guitar. He's so darn cute I just wanna smoosh him to death! I openly wish him to marry any of my daughters one day. He's such a great kid and his momma raised him well.

Anyways this video for some reason is off from the sound a bit, but enjoy it anyways.

Party Of Five

2010-09-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read the post HOPE, read it before this one.

In case you haven't heard, here's the latest family news:

We have added another girl to our family. She's 12 years old and she's absolutely delightful! She's the perfect fit for our family and I know she feels the same. We'll be transitioning her to our home within the next month, but after she's permanently placed in our home, the road to finalizing her adoption will be anywhere from a few months to a year.

We are SUPER excited and equally freaked out! I mean Dan and I have never parented a pre-teen before, but we're ready to jump in and be the parents that this girl needs. She's so excited to be a part of our family and she adores her new sisters.

We have truly seen the hand of our loving Heavenly Father through this journey of adopting more children this past year. We know that this is all meant to be and will work out for everyone involved, simply because it is His will.

I'm sure I will post more about our adventure soon, but in the meantime that's the latest news about our family.

A Joy's Newest Addition!

2010-09-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

I'm officially the newest member of A Cappella Joy (aka: A Joy)! I couldn't be more pleased.

I had my audition last night and passed with flying colors.

It feels so good to be singing again and especially with this group of AWESOME women.

By the way I sing Baritone. It's SO different than what I'm used to, (cause I'm used to singing the melody or the Soprano line) but it truly is the best part of the chorus and also the most challenging (I think).

Anyways I just had to spread the news, cause I simply can't contain my excitement. I seriously cannot wait till our next rehearsal!

Labor Day

2010-09-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

Why do they call it Labor Day, when most everyone has the day off?

The Farm

2010-09-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today we're going to tour our mini-farm. Come and meet our animals.

The Cats

("Cinderella", "Jasmine" & "Raja")

The Dog

("Chocolate")

The Goats

("Willow")

(Willow's Dan's favorite)

("Donkey")

The Pigs

("Babe" & "Ginger Pork")

The girls named the cats (obviously) and the dog already came with her name. If you've ever seen the movie "Willow" then you'll know where Willow gets his name from. Donkey reminds us of "Donkey" from Shrek, so that's where she got her name from. We're going to breed Babe and eat Ginger, so that's why we named her Ginger Pork, after some fine Chinese Cuisine.

I hope you enjoyed a tour of our mini-farm. Y'all come back now, ya'here?

September

2010-09-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

September is buzzing with busyness. Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to in the next month:

Price Family reunion
Homeschooling my kiddos
Desiree at school once a week
One-on-one time with Makayla
Sack Lunch Day with other homeschooled kids
A Cappella Joy every Monday night!

And things I dread or am dreading:

Physical Therapy twice a week
Speech Therapy appointments
Dan's outpatient surgery
The drive to the Tri-Cities
The drive back from the Tri-Cities

I'm especially excited about joining A Cappella Joy every Monday night. This is something that I've always wanted to do and I'm finally getting to do it. Yay me! (a'la London Tipton)

Hope

2010-08-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

In September ’09 we had finalized the adoption of our two little girls, whom we’d had in our life for almost 2 years. In early January my husband and I were preparing to adopt more children through our state Foster-Adopt program. By doing the Foster-Adopt program we hoped to adopt another sibling group to add to our young family, as well as avoid the high costs we incurred when we adopted our two girls. We were ready to tackle this again and we felt it was the perfect time.

I have never experienced pregnancy, so I can’t say that I know what it feels like to expect a baby, but I can tell you that expecting children through adoption, probably feels about the same, if not more anxious. You start preparing for them; getting a room ready and buying all of the things you’ll need for them. Emotionally and physically, we were “expecting”.

Almost 5 months into our preparation we found out very suddenly that we would not be doing the Foster-Adopt program to adopt more children. Now this may sound like no big deal, (especially cause I'm being vague.....for the full version visit our private blog) but to us it was absolutely devastating. I felt my heart get swallowed up in emotion. I felt as if I had suffered a miscarriage; not physically, but emotionally. One moment I was expecting children and then next I was told this wasn’t going to happen.

For a few moments I let the natural man take over my body and my intellect. The “why”, “how” and “what’s next” came over me. But thankfully the God fearing woman in me regained my consciousness and the most overwhelming feeling of hope came over me. The cloud was instantly removed from my head and the Spirit of the Lord reminded me of who was in charge here. There was a plan for us. Even though our yellow brick road had become dark and dreary for a moment; with no end in sight, ultimately Heavenly Father had shined light on another path. We simply had to choose to take it.

With a little hope and a lot of faith we decided to take the road less travelled and look into adopting older children who were already legally free to adopt. This wasn’t something we felt we were ready to do at this time in our life, but we knew it was what Heavenly Father has planned for us. This story has no ending yet, as we are still in the process of searching for child to fit in our family, but what it does have is infinite hope that our Heavenly Father will lead and guide us to where we’re meant to go, even though the righteous path may lead us to heartache and suffering. To feel joy we must feel pain. Ultimately He’s in charge and we must have faith that He knows what He’s doing, even though it doesn’t fit in to what we had planned.

Tumultuous Tuesday

2010-05-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

What a day!

All I can say is that it was full of emotion (both good and bad) and truly a time when Dan and I could see the Lord's hand in our lives (not that we don't all the time, but this is just one of those bittersweet moments that is evident of just who's in charge here). Even though things seemed horrible and extremely wrong and without an "out", on the other hand it's going to be necessary for us to look somewhere else; a sweet tender moment of Heavenly Father showing us that He's in control and we just needed to be pointed in another direction.

I know I'm being vague, but it's all I can say right now. Enough to get the feelings of frustration out, without saying too much and enough to feel good about the direction we're going.

If you're reading this post, please pray for our family and the changes that are happening. That's all I ask of you and I thank you greatly.

Via Dolorosa

2010-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

I gave myself the opportunity to sing in church today. Since I'm in charge of music for Sacrament meetings, it was up to me to give myself the "okay". It's been over a year since I did it last. I wish I had more opportunities (like I did back home) to sing, but I've got to give everyone more chances to share their talents, so as to look like I'm not favoring anyone (ie: myself).

Anyways I sang a non-LDS song called Via Dolorosa. (Look it up on YouTube, if you like. There are MANY versions of it on there, but trust me, mine was tamed down to be "Sacrament meeting worthy"). I have a recording of it done by a missionary and it's always been one of my favorite songs, sung by him (even though I have no idea who he is.....got it from a friend of mine). I was so glad I got the opportunity to sing it.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Via Dolorosa

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
The Man condemned to die on Calvary

He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

Por la Via Dolorosa, triste dia en Jerusalem
Los saldados le abrian paso a Jesus
Mas la gente se acercaba
Para ver al que llevaba aquella cruz

Por la Via Dolorosa, que es la via del dolor
Como oveja vino Cristo, Rey, Senor
Y fue El quien quiso ir por su amor por ti y por mi
Por la Via Dolorosa al Calvario a morir

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-05-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

If you like CHEWY chocolate chip cookies, then this recipe is for you! They get gobbled so fast I usually have to double the recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

1 C. Butter
1 C. Packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 ½ Tsp. Vanilla

2 ½ C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 (3.4 oz)Pkg. Vanilla Pudding

And of course...
1 C. Chocolate Chips
These are my favorite brand

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a stand-up mixer or by using a hand mixer, cream butter. Add brown sugar and cream together. Add the eggs and vanilla. Cream until light and fluffy.

Meanwhile in another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Stir well and then add to wet ingredients. Mix well.

Add chocolate chips and stir to mix.

Make 1 inch balls and place them about an inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 9-12 min. or until very lightly brown.

DO NOT
I repeat,
DO NOT over bake them!

The end result will be pure heaven!

Here's how to freeze the dough, for making some in a pinch.

First line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place balls of cookie dough on the sheet, leaving about a 1/4 in of space between them. It's okay if they touch a litte, but make sure they're not totally crowding each other.

Next place the cookie sheet flat in the freezer. Freeze for at least 45 min-1 hour.

Meanwhile, label freezer bags with the contents and also the time & temperature it takes to bake them.

When the cookie dough is finished freezing, take them off the parchment paper and immediately place them in the freezer bags. Place the bags immediately back in the freezer. The dough should be good for up to 4 months.

Now you can enjoy these wonderful cookies anytime you want!

Terror In The Treehouse

2010-05-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

Operator: 911. What's your emergency?

Me: Uh...my daughter climbed up our tree house and is afraid to come down.

Op: Ma'am is she okay? Is she hurt? Is she breathing?

Me: Yes, she's fine but she's just afraid to come down.

Op: And you let her climb up ma'am?

Me: Yes. She's been afraid to climb it before, but she asked if she could climb it today and I said sure.

Op: So you let your daughter climb up and now she won't come down? Is that the situation ma'am?

Me: Yes. She was so darn determined to climb up and after about 10 minutes of crying and whining about it, she finally did it. Once she got up there though she got really scared and refused to come down the ladder. She's freaking out.

Op: "Freaking out" ma'am? Can you describe the "freaking out"?

Me: Well she's scared......and she's choked up on her tears. She wants my help, but I can't get to her. Can you help her?

Op: Well ma'am, what would you like us to do about it?

Me: Pardon me?

Op: Ma'am you let her climb up there. Now it's time to help her down.

Me: But I'm afraid of heights. I'm not going up there!

Op: Okay ma'am calm down. Just calm down.

Me: My daughter's up a tree house and I have no idea how to get her down and your telling me to calm down!

Op: Ma'am don't raise your voice at me. I'm trying to help you.

Me: Okay, okay. I'm sorry. What should I do?....oh wait, my cat is going up there to help her.

Op: Your cat ma'am?

Me: Yeah, one of our kittens is climbing up to help her. Good girl Raja! Go help Desiree! Good kitty!

Op: Ma'am are you still there?

Me: Yeah I'm here. One of my cats is up there now with my daughter. But she still won't come down.

Op: Ma'am did you think your cat was going to help her down?

Me: Uh.....maybe?

Op: What's a cat supposed to do ma'am? Carry her on her back. Perhaps grab her neck in her mouth?

Me: Your right. I'm stupid to think a cat would help her down.

Op: Ma'am don't put words in my mouth. I didn't call you stupid.

Me: I'm sorry. I'm just worried about her. She's still freaking out. - Oh wait. The other cat is climbing up there now. Good girl Jasmine! Go help Desiree!

Op: Ma'am what are 2 cats supposed to do? Carry her down around their shoulders? They don't have oposable thumbs ma'am!

Me: You're right, I know.

Op: No oposable thumbs!

Me: I know! I know! I'm stupid!

Op: Darn rights you are ma'am!

Me: Oh great! The second cat can't even figure out how to climb up the treehouse. Now she's stuck up the tree!

Op: You have a cat stuck up a tree ma'am?

Me: Yes!

Op: Well that I can help you with. We'll dispatch a rescue team to your tree house right away.

Me: But what about my daughter!?

Op: Is your daughter still up the tree house?

Me: YES!!!

Op: Well did you call your home teachers?

Me: .............Um.......not yet.

Op: Well don't you think you should've thought about them first, before you called us ma'am?

Me: Gosh I'm sorry. I didn't think about it.

Op: That's okay ma'am. I dispatch your home teacher up the street from you instead of our rescue team.

Me: Thank you! Thank you SO much!

Op: Is your daughter still okay ma'am.

Me: Well, she's still freaking out, but she's breathing.

Op: Did you offer her any form of comfort ma'am?

Me: Let me try that......Desiree, would you like me to sing you a song?....................She said yes.

Op: Okay ma'am. Ask her which one.

Me: Okay.......Desiree? Which one?........She said, "Just Let Me Cry".

Op: Is that the song by Hilary Weeks ma'am?

Me: Yeah that one. It's one of her favorites.

Op: Okay go ahead ma'am.

Me: Oh gosh I can't sing that song! I'm about to cry just thinking about it.

Op: Look ma'am, just sing the song as best you can, alright? Your daughter needs comfort right now and singing that song is the best thing you can do until help arrives, okay?

Me: Okay, I'll give it a shot.........."Just let me cry......I ......know.......it's hard....to see."........That's all I could get out. I'm all choked up.

Op: Good job ma'am. You did you best considering the situation. I'm proud of you.

Me: Thank you............Oh! My home teacher's son just got here.

Op: Okay ma'am I'm going to stay on the line until I know everyone's okay.

Me: Alright thank you.........Desiree go with Chris........Okay she's safe on the ground.

Op: Well that's good ma'am. How are the cats?

Me: Chris is getting them down now..........Okay Jasmine's down. Raja is stuck in the treehouse and refuses to come down with Chris..........okay he's got her!

Op: I'm glad everyone's safe now ma'am.

Me: Me too. Thank you soo much!

Op: You're welcome ma'am. Now there's a few of things I'm going to suggest, before we disconnect ma'am.

Me: Okay. What's that?

Op: The first one is give your daughter a BIG snuggle. The second is make sure you make Chris a big batch of Chocolate Chip cookies as a thank you. And last but not least ma'am......don't let your kids climb up the treehouse for a long time. Can you do those things ma'am?

Me: Oh don't worry, THOSE are already on my mind......Thanks again!

Op: No problem. You have a nice day.

Me: Thank you. You too.

Op: I will. Bye bye.

Me: Bye.

This is our treehouse

Okay so you've probably figured out that it wasn't a real call to 911, but that was a very real situation that happend yesterday. This conversation was pretty much the internal conversation I was having with myself as Desiree was distraught with severe fear of coming back down the treehouse ladder.

I swear that girl's first name should've been "Determination", cause when she's determined to do something, she'll do it at all cost. For ten minutes she fought with herself to climb up to the treehouse and even though I told her to just come down (she was SO full of drama the whole time, with the tears and bemoaning that she couldn't do it). But she was determined to climb that treehouse yesterday and with tear filled stubborness she did!

Coming down.......was another story.

I hope this made your day as much as I had fun writing it.

Almost Paradise

2010-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to catch up on blogging about my latest trips, but there are a lot of pictures to go through and edit. So in the meantime, I'm bloggin' about what a great day it was (still is) today.

My friend Cheri came over to play. We ended up painting birdhouses

(that I bought months ago and never got around to painting with the girls).

And by the way I take no responsibility for my girls outfits. I shouldn't have to remind you that they dress themselves and they decided that even thought it was 68+ degrees outside, they still wanted to wear their "long pants/shirt plus winter boots-combo", instead of shorts & a t-shirt. What a bunch of weirdos!

Can you tell who's belongs to who?

Let me give you a hint.....just pop on over to Cheri's blog and you'll see which one made the best house! She's so darn talented, it makes me sick!

Today was also the perfect day to give "Freida" a bath. She desperately needed it.

(And YES I name my cars. My dearly departed Caroline was my first.......*tear)

What a beautiful day! Thanks Cheri for makin' it extra special.

(and for putting up with my 80's Mega Mix and my wonderful purposely off-key singing!)

By the way today's title was brought to you by the song by Heart; Courtesy of my 80's Mega Mix.

Dinner Dissasters

2010-05-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a good cook.

No really I am.

Just ask Dan.

However sometimes I get a little creative......

Sometimes it works out.

And this time it didn't.

I needed to be creative, cause we're out of groceries and I'm in desperate need of going to Costco.

So instead of ordering Domino's,
(like I wanted to)

I made THIS:

What is "THIS"? (You may be asking yourself)

Well I'll tell you.

"THIS" was hash browns and eggs
(which was pureed with broccoli and spinach-hence the green color)

It wasn't until I was pouring the egg mixture on top of the potatoes that I realized this is one for the books.....

.....The "Dinner Disasters" book.
(*There is no actual "book". However it might be fun to write one)

Anyways after declaring the disaster to Dan,
(who very much agreed that this was a major disaster),
he decided that we would eat out.

As much as this disaster didn't physically appeal to me, the thought of eating out definitely didn't appeal to me, one bit.

So I called off the outing and decided we would eat the dinner I made!

I mean, I knew what went into this dish. I knew it wouldn't taste bad. It just looked awful. But I had to convince the kids that.

So I decided to disguise the green mess into these:

Green Goblins

A little ketchup did the trick and my youngest daughter declared (as she always does, mind you):

"Mom, can you make dis again?"

Nope. Never again Kayla. Never again!

*We did all eat it by the way, and even though it looked awful, it still taste like potatoes and eggs. Although this one's going in the Dinner Disaster Book under "Meals for the blind."

I Know What I'M getting For Mother's Day!

2010-05-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my dear hubby told me what I'm getting for Mother's Day.

I'm getting.......

Pest Control

No..........seriously

He really is the best and ever so thoughtful.

For those of you who don't know me well, I hate pests. Spiders, wasps, bugs of any kind, etc... Well where we live, these critters are around in full force. Because our house wasn't lived in for at least 6 months, before we bought it, they took over. We didn't call it the "Spider House" for nothing. Even our realtor refered to this house as the "Spider House".

Well my Lovey decided that he would grant pest control to me as a gift for Mother's Day. What a sweetheart. It truly was a great thought.

Mother's Day Weekend Getaway

2010-05-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Anyways we've been trying to find somewhere to "get away" as a family, before we add more children to our home through Foster Care. We've been working all year to get our license renewed and it's in the final stages. We should recieve it within the next few weeks. When we get it, it won't be long before we get matched up with the sibling group we desire, so we feel like we needed one more "Mini-Holiday" for our family. That's when we decided to go away this weekend, for Mother's Day.

Destination?

Where I'll be enjoying this:

And The Mother Of The Year Award Goes To.....

2010-05-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

My friend Leighann and I were at the park last week with my girls and as we were eating lunch, a couple and a child came walking into the park.

The child, who was no more than 16-18 months old, toddled into the playground after the couple. He was wearing nothing but a pair of un-footed PJ's. No socks. No shoes. Just bare feet.

As his mother (I use that word lightly) and the man approached the playground, they let the child roam free, while they mounted the teeter-totter. She was no more than 18 or 19 years old and he looked maybe a few years older. Leighann and I could hear their conversation (since we were sitting right next to them) and we came to realize that this must've been the couple's first encounter with each other, since they were talking like they were "getting to know each other".

A date in the park......how romantic.

As they conversed with each other the little boy continued to roam the playground without any supervision whatsoever.......and barefoot......walking on wood chips.

Oh and did I mention that it was about 55 degrees outside, with a wind chill of about 45 degrees? I was wearing a hoodie and Leighann was wearing a jacket and we both sat there freezing to death, every time the sun hid under the clouds and the wind would pick up. So I can only imagine what this poor child was feeling. His feet and cheeks were red from being cold. I wanted to call CPS right then and there.

But I couldn't.

The child wasn't in danger and so I had no right to call. I kept waiting for an opportunity for me to have a good excuse to call, but none came. I wanted so badly to call this woman out on her neglect, but again, I couldn't.

Finally as they were leaving the playground I couldn't bite my tongue any longer. I wanted to say, "Are you stOOpid woman! What kind of a mother are you to let your baby freeze to death at the park and to let him walk barefoot on the playground! I aughtta report you! Come'ere so I can slap yo face!"

But instead I said, "I hope you have shoes for your son"

To which she replied ever so chirpily, "Oh yeah.....I do"

That's all I could do or say. As they walked away, leaving the park (on foot mind you, so now you can understand a bit more of the angst I was feeling) I said to Leighann, "Now that's the kind of kids you see in the system later on".

She agreed.

Her and I kept wondering about that child the whole day. I mean, if he was neglected even that one tiny bit out in public, what kind of neglect goes on at home?

As a mother in general, my heart goes out to kids with stOOpid parents or ones with neglectful parents, but as a Foster Mom, my heart aches even more to help "save" these little ones from neglect or abuse. I've seen first hand, what neglect can do to a child. I've lived through the healing and redevelopment of a neglected child. I'm still dealing with it. I will probably always have to deal with it, as we introduce new children into our home, from Foster Care. But I realize I can't save every child and that's a hard fact to face sometimes.

I'm a major advacate for Foster Parenting and Adoption. I may not seem like it sometimes, but I truly am. Even if I could have children naturally, I would still adopt. It's always been in my heart. I urge all of you out there to look into Adoption or Foster Care. I hear people all the time see our family and say, "Yeah, I've thought about adoption, but...."

Don't think about it......DO something about it!

Adoption's not for everyone and neither is Foster Parenting, but if you've even considered it, seriously look into it. There are Pro's and Con's, but in the end, it's all worth it. Just ask me anything about it and I will help you in anyway I can.

Okay I'll get off my soapbox now.

I still wonder about that child in the park. I can only hope and pray that he grows up strong and healthy.....or pray that his mother grow up herself.

Pirates of Port Angeles

2010-05-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a real cool trip, that started from an olympic port, aboard an ol' sail ship. The mates were a mighty sailin' crew, the Skipper brave and sure. Four passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

Okay, I'll spare you the rest. But really, this was a three hour tour. Continuing on from the post about our semi-spontaneous trip, here's the part about the Battle Sail.

What is a Battle Sail Suze?

Here's the answer from their website:

A Battle Sail is a recreation of a typical 18th century naval action. Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain maneuver around each other for the best position to fire small, but loud cannon. Which boat will survive? Of course, both boats use blanks, and it's all in good fun!

Our family borded the Hawaiian Cheiftan and set sail with the rest of the crew and passengers. All the crew was in costume and it was fun to watch them all interact and work together to sail the ship. My favortie part was watching them climb.

Here's Dan and the girls getting ready to set sail

Desiree giving her best "Pirate Face"

(complete with missing teeth)

We were able to help a bit. Here's a short clip of me and the girls pulling the ropes.

We had true sailor's hands afterwards

The battle was kinda slow, but we did manage to get in more hits than the Lady Washington. In the end we won!

Although the 3 hour trip was too long, I'm glad we got to do this as a family. I'm sure the girls will remember this forever. I know I won't ever forget.

Olympic Game Farm

2010-05-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from our spontaneous adventures, and to bring light to some of the photo clues I posted, we bring you to our stop at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim.

I grew up going to the Vancouver Game Farm (now known as the Greater Vancouver Zoo), so I thought this "game farm" was going to be the same sorta thing.....you know......see animals....all in cages.....your typical zoo-type atmosphere.

This was not the case....

Who knew that we lived 3 hours away from our very own safari adventure!?!

This place is the coolest ever and I highly recommend you to visit if you can. You pretty much drive around the farm, as animals either walk up to your car, or are no more than a stone's throw away from you at all times. It's so neat!

At the entrance they sell you bread to feed the animals. Seriously who's stupid enough to do that? We definitely weren't. But we saw other people doing it and it was so funny to watch the animals all hoarding the cars for food.

Anyways here's a few pictures of some of the animals we saw:

Prairie Dogs

These little guys are THE cutest things ever.......and I want one!

Llamas

Yak

Kodiak Bears

Bison

And last but not least

the Ferocious.....

Atrocious.....

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious......

Common House Dog

I laughed my head off when I saw this behind one of the cages they used for the more dangerous animals, like the Wolves, Tigers & Lions. It was obviously someone that worked there's pet. But it was still funny and so I tried to take a picture of it.

We were actually surprised that the bears weren't behind a more secure fence. They had about 3 ft high of fencing surrounding another 3 ft high of electrical fence. I kept imagining the bears on a rampage and saying, "Screw the electric fence, I'm outta here!"............but they didn't.

Anyways this game farm was the highlight of my weekend and I was so glad that we got to explore part of Sequim.....even if we almost missed our ship's sailing.

Now That's What I Call Spontaneity!

2010-04-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Spontaeous (spon/tay/nee/uss)
adjective

arising from internal cause: resulting from internal or natural processes, with no apparent external influence

arising from impulse: arising from natural impulse or inclination, rather than from planning or in response to suggestions from others

unrestrained: naturally unrestrained or uninhibited

Semi-Spontaneous

That's the word that I would use to describe our weekend. Dan bought our family tickets to be a part of a Battle Sail a couple of Saturdays ago. I thought it was a fun and exciting idea, until I found out it was in Port Angeles.

*Wait a sec.....isn't that like, 3 hours away?

Dan had no idea. Poor guy.

So the night before we left, we had just finished dinner and we decided to map out our trip the next day. Not only is it a couple of hours drive by car, you also have to take a 30 min ferry ride.

It was 7pm Friday night. That's when Dan said, "Do you wanna leave tonight?"

Of course I said, "HECK YEAH!"

I love spontaneity.....especially in Dan.

I packed up bags and we got in the car to leave a half hour later. We were on a total high! It was awesome.

We arrived in a town called Sequim (pronounced S'qwim......I always thought it was Se'queem.....shows what I know!) at about 11:30pm. The kids were in and out of consciousness and thanks to Mountain Dew & Dr. Pepper, we made it in one piece.......barely. Dan and I were both so tired! It was WAY past our bedtime!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim. The following day we slept till our hearts desired then headed down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. We then took a family swim (my first time in over a year, cause of my leg!), then packed up and left for our family adventure.

On our way to Pt Angeles, we stopped at The Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, the coolest place ever! I will post pictures and tell of our adventures in another post.

Staycation From Hell

2010-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Staycation (stay/kay/shun)
(Urban Dictionary Defenition)

A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer

A vacation spent close to home

A few weeks ago, Dan and I had the pleasure of farming our kids out for the weekend so that we could fulfill our dreams of actually having a "honeymoon". We've never had one. When we got married we had a honeymoon planned, but it never happened.

Le'mee es'playn sum'ssing Loossee

One of my clients gave us a wedding present, of a week long stay at her family's vacation home, on the shores of the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. It was going to be perfect! Dan and I planned our sealing at the temple to be one week before our wedding reception, so that we could separate the two occasions and make it more meaningful. Well that week in between was to be our "honeymoon" getaway.

It didn't happen.

Dan got sick on our wedding day and then a couple of days later I got sick. Needless to say, we cancelled our trip.

Sucked BIG time!

Anyways we've never redeemed ourselves with a "getaway", until this weekend that we planned to be away from the girls. I planned a great weekend full of fun and relaxation. We'd planned two days at the spa, eating at our favorite restaurants and a night out on the town. It was perfect.

The morning of the spa day we headed out for breakfast first. On the way there I had a flash of heat to my head. After checking with Dan to see if he felt the same way, I realized that I did not feel well. When we got to the restaurant I felt better, but started to feel worse in a different way.

To make a long story short, I started having severe pelvic pain. After being at the restaurant for about an hour (and spending about 45 minutes of it in the bathroom in agonizing pain), I asked Dan to take me to the ER. I consider myself to have a high pain tolerance and for me to ask Dan to take me to the place that I dread most, meant that I was in serious, health concerning, pain.

The ER got me right in. Gave me pain meds & anti-nausea meds. Took CT scan (I had to down two bottles of this NASTY contrast drink) and then the doc did pelvic exam.....

Didn't find a thing.

They told me to take it easy, the rest of the weekend and then follow up with my doctor and that was that. The pain had gone and I was feeling a bit more like myself. We missed the spa and had to cancel our next day appointment. We cancelled our dinner reservations and gave away our tickets to a comedy show (Larry Miller) to my friend Cheri & her husband.

I was so depressed. I felt really bad that I had ruined our home vacation. Of course my dear husband (Mr. Positive) saw the bright side of everything and still claimed to have had a great weekend, I still was feeling horrible about it.

On a happy note and to bring you up to speed, I did follow up with my doctor...

(*Please stop reading, if you don't want too much information)

She informed me that the pain that I had, was my body ovulating.

Excuse me as I jump for joy.......... *JUMP!

For those of you not acquainted with my body yet, this has never happened before.....at least not that has been recorded. I was referred to a fertility clinic for this reason.

So in the end our little weekend adventure turned out to be not so bad. Although we missed out on our planned activities, Dan and I had a good break from the kids and we were still able to make the best of the weekend.

Although I'm still lamenting over the loss of my Paradise Stone Massage.....

(*sigh!)

I highly recommend the Oasis Spa & Salon in Woodinville, WA

They're the best!.....especially if you work for M$. You get a great discount ;)

Blogger Of Mine....Tell Me Where Have You Been?

2010-04-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

We've been busy doing SO many exciting things, that I haven't had time to blog about it. I will try and catch up soon, but until then, you can enjoy these fabulous photo clues (in no particular order):

(photos courtesy of Bing Images search)

Changing Lives ~ One Person At A Time

2010-04-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Who'da thought my blog would do someone any good?

Well it just so happens that it did just that.

I posted this a while ago about my new blender and how even my girls love healthy smoothies. Well after reading this post, Cheryl over at ThatGirlIsFunny.com made a comment:

So first, I was like, "brussel sprouts with grapes? yuck!" Then, I saw your kids enjoying it and I had to stop to reconsider. Isn't it funny how our point of view changes so quickly when we see someone else do something that we thought was unlikely or impossible?.... I've been having trouble adding in enough fresh vegetables lately. You've given me new resolve to try making smoothies at home. Wow! What if your post actually gave me a way to get my 5 servings of veggies every day? I have some carrots - I'll see what my regular blender does with them. Here's to good health! :D ....What if I really made eating brussel sprouts a habit? If your little girl liked it, surely I can manage it? I'll accept the challenge (gulp - or should I say slurp?)

....OK, I just made my first smoothie! I think your blender probably is more powerful than mine. But I managed to make a carrot-apple-cranberry juice smoothie! Now, need to go shopping for brussel sprouts, broccoli and oranges. I think you may have solved a my "not enough fresh veggies" problem. Thanks for showing your kids enjoying their smoothies. That worked to put me in action. Look at you, making the world a healthier place, one heart at at time :D

So after reading that, I felt pretty darn good about my post and how it might've changed just one person's life. I didn't really take her seriously. I mean, no offense, I didn't know her personally and how was I to know she was serious?

Well she was. She even wrote a post about it here.

I'm so glad that I can eat healthier by using my blender to add more fruits and veggies into mine and my kids lives. I'm especially glad that I was able to influence even one person as well.

(*tear!)

Life School

2010-04-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

I was playing a game with the girls this morning.

Since it's a game about school, it has a space that you land on, that you have to pick up a Report Card.

Well Desiree landed on this spot.......and forgetting what it was called, named it a "Credit Card".

Goes to show you what real life education she's been getting lately.

Writing A Letter To Santa

2010-04-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

My girls are drawing pictures and Desiree just came down to show me the letter she wrote to Santa. Here's how our conversation went....

D: This is a letter for Santa.

Me: Sweetie it's not Christmas. I know it's snowing outside, but it's not Christmas.

D: I know, but we have to put it in the mail.

Me: (*try to think of something to say) Santa doesn't take letters right now........he's on vacation.

D: ......I know that

It's one of those, "had to be there", moments, but I thought it was funny enough to share.

I Looked Out The Window And What Did I See?...

2010-04-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

...Frosty white precipitation on a spree

Spring had brought me such a nice surprise

Winter snowy moisture trickling from the skies

I could take a photo and write a post

About the frost covered lawn I host

Oh say it isn't so

Cause it's s'posed to be

Warm weather, not this crazy 30 degrees!

By the way this is to the tune of a song from the LDS Children's Songbook. You can sing along with music here and click on "Popcorn Popping".

Proud Momma

2010-04-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

Modesty (mod/es/ty)
noun

humility: unwillingness to draw attention to your own achievements or abilities
sexual reserve: reserve in appearance, manner, and speech, especially in relation to sexual matters
shyness: lack of confidence or assertiveness, with a tendency to embarrass easily
simplicity: lack of grandeur or ostentation
moderation: moderation in size, scale, or extent

I had a Proud Mommy Moment the other day, that I wanted to share....

I do my best to teach my girls about being modestly dressed as far as #2 in the definition goes. I've done this since they came to us 2 years ago, when they were just 3.5 and 2 years old.

They get it.

*They probably get it too much, as we're out shopping and my 4 year old says in her "loud" voice about the lady with the mini skirt on, "Mommy, that lady is not being modest!".......talk about embarrassing!

It's not hard to teach kids about this, you just have to do it. Start when they're young too, cause when they get older they won't have to change the way they dress, especially if they choose to receive their endowment in the temple.

Anyways the other day I had the girls get dressed in their, "Going out in public with mommy, so you have to look less like a blind vagabond"-Clothes.

(Disclaimer: *I am in NO WAY making fun of the sight impaired or the homeless......I am merely stating that my kids dress themselves and most often I feel like they got dressed in the dark or they are seriously blind! Sometimes their choices even hurt their daddy's eyes!)

For example:

I rest my case.

Now where was I.....

So anyways I made them get dressed and it happened to be coordinating shirts that were new, (that I bought at Old Navy clearance rack for $2 each) that they'd never worn before.

BTW I most often dress my girls alike, or in coordinating clothes, just so I can give the lady who asks me, "Are they twins?", a strange look of, "are you kidding me? One's like a foot taller than the other!" Ahhhh, the simple pleasures I enjoy in life.

Anyways.....so......new shirt, yes. So I left them to get dressed and I jolted off to a physical therapy appointment (for my leg) and Dan took them to work with him, (so that I didn't have to bring them to my appointment). When I arrived to pick them up from Dan's work, I was horrified to see that my precious little angel, Desiree, was NOT wearing the shirt I told her to wear! In fact she was wearing the same icky stained t-shirt she'd been wearing the day before......and the day before that.

I was peeved at the fact that my husband would allow my child not only go out in public looking like that, but the fact that she'd already been SEEN in public like that. I was SO embarrassed. Until he explained......

I sure was humbled when he told me what happened. Apparently Desiree put the shirt on and came and showed him as she said, "Everybody can see me!", pointing to the front of her shirt. Well she was trying to say that her shirt came down a little too uncomfortably low, that she figured everyone could see her naked chest. It really wasn't that bad, but for her to say that about the shirt and be uncomfortable wearing it, I tell ya, it was one of those moments.....

Those moments, as a parent, where you've taught your child something important and it becomes apparent that they are listening, cause it now becomes important to them too.

*Let's take a moment and sigh a little, shall we?......

This was definitely one of those moments I pat myself on the back.

*Oh and BTW I was SO glad that I had a jacket in the car, so I could cover up her shirt. Gotta love mommy preparedness!

Oh and as far as the shirt goes, it was only $2, so no big loss there!

Breaking Tradition.....

2010-04-06T15:43:00.001-07:00

I've never really been one to conform. In the past I tried it and didn't like it, cause I realized it wasn't the person I was at all. It was a feeling of weakness to me. I've got leadership blood in my veins and although it wasn't predominantly present for all of my childhood and teenage years, it seemed to have surfaced in my young adulthood and it's becoming more prevalent in my mid-adulthood years. (Yes, surprisingly being in my 30's qualifies me as being an adult)

Anyways I've been humming and hawing lately about certain holidays the world celebrates and whether or not I'd like to participate. I see friends and other's blogs about how they choose to celebrate the holidays; their decor, their ideas, their joy and happiness that surrounds it, but lately, as much as I would like to share the joy in their lives (for sole purpose of being part of the crowd), the mere thought of it all I just makes me cringe.

Before you read on......please note that I am, IN NO WAY, trying to criticize you readers or others and your traditions. In fact I applaud you for being creative and having fun. I've just realized that it's just NOT ME. I've decided to post this blog about how and why I feel this way. Some of you may call me a grouch, or a Grinch or a sour puss, but sticks and stones....

Anyways I think it all started with.....

Valentine's Day

I've never liked the "holiday" or the traditions that come with it. As a kid you pass out cards to friends to tell them that you care. In those transactions, someone was always missed and that person, I'm sure, felt like the loneliest person in the world. I know because I've witnessed it; first hand and from afar. As a teenager it was "feeling down", cause of everyone around me being "in love". As a young adult I had my first Valentine's date and although it was fun and sweet, it was all so forced, cause it was "that day". I think the first Valentine's Day I actually enjoyed was when my best friend Lee, brought me flowers and took me and a mutual friend of ours (a girl he liked) out for Sushi.

Feb 2002

I loved that my friend tried to make that day special, but it still didn't change the way I felt about that certain day of the year. I came to learn that, in fact, this was the so called "holiday" that could actually make you feel "unloved", if you didn't have a "Valentine"; a total opposite of what it's been made to be. I always felt like, why the heck do you need a day out of the year to tell someone that you care or that you love them? Henceforth came my grouchy attitude about "love" on Valentine's Day. Some of you may think that my attitude must've changed when I found the love of my life (my husband Dan), who happened to propose to me a week before "said holiday"....(although with NO relation whatsoever to that day!.....purely spontaneously)

2004

Sorry to burst that bubble. In fact I was so DELIGHTED to find out my husband felt the same way that I did about this dumb day. It was true love! ha ha

Okay enough about the holiday I cringe about the most. Now onto a more recent one.....

April Fool's Day

The day I like to call, the Day of Deception.

Nothing but lies and deceit. Sure I think some of them are cool or funny. Sure I've been guilty of pranks in the past, but I don't like the idea of it one bit. No more.

*Gosh Suze, you're such a prude!

Sticks and stones......

Next up is......

St. Patrick's Day

Am I Irish?
No.
So why should I care about this holiday?
Cause it's fun to wear green?
I wear green almost every day, so nothing exciting there.
In fact on this specific holiday I try to purposely NOT wear green to boycott support in any such sport. (although I forgot about it this year and because I wear green everyday......um......yeah)
Oh c'mon Suze! It's fun to eat things that have been artificially colored GREEN, cause it's that holiday of Greenness.

Um.....yeah.....no thanks!

Now on to the one that made me the most callous this year......

Easter

Dying eggs. Hiding eggs. Eating eggs. Chocolate eggs. Bunny eggs......Bunny eggs?

Easter. The holiday of chocolate. Let's just call it like it is, shall we?.....

"The Chocolate Baker's Money Makers",

or the

"Confectioner's Cash Cow"

I decided this year that we weren't having any of it.

The Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house any more. In fact I could care less if he died. (*Oh Suze, you're just sucking the fun out of everything......especially for your kids!)

Anyways, as I was saying,

Easter....

The holiday that is REALLY about the Atonement, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet how have I shown my children in the past about it's importance? By saying that the Easter Bunny comes a day early, cause he knows we go to church on Sunday? Well not anymore. In fact this year and the years past, I did a HORRIBLE job at teaching my children the most important event that EVER happened in the world. We do a great job at celebrating Christmas; the birth of Christ. But that wasn't his mission. He came here for one purpose and one purpose only. That was to Atone for us.

The only way to overcome our separation from our Father in Heaven. He did die for us and was resurrected, but his mission was the Atonement.

My husband read me an article that someone had written and it confirmed my feelings of wanting to dispose of the Easter Bunny. I wasn't alone. Other's felt this way. It also confirmed to me, that as a Latter-Day Saint woman, I wasn't making the most, of the most important holiday of all holidays. In fact most LDS (Mormon) people don't. I never realized it until now. We focus a lot on Christmas and Thanksgiving and those times of togetherness, but where's the week or month long celebration of the greatest gift given to man?

So next year I will do better.

I almost boycotted Santa. But my husband convinced me otherwise. Although I really despise deceiving my children of how things really are. But I'll get over it for his and their sake. Plus the fact that I still see Santa as a symbol of our Savior, so in that sense, I won't kill Santa.

As much as I have ranted about what I feel to be useless holiday traditions for my family, you will STILL see us celebrate these wonderful and glorious holidays (hopefully better):

Easter (as it really is)

Christmas

New Years

Thanksgiving (both Canadian & American.....oh yeah baby!)

Halloween

Independence Day

and in my heart, Canada Day

(and YES, I said Halloween.......As prudish as I may be, there will ALWAYS be enough room for Halloween......one of my most favorite times of the year.....but no, my kids don't Trick or Treat, like other kids do......cause I'm a prude!)

April Showers.....

2010-04-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

....Brings on one heck of a wind storm!

Anyone else feelin' the breeze?

Tim Hawkins Day

2010-03-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

You've never heard of Tim Hawkins?

You're crazy!

That's okay. I was too.

Until about a month ago....

My hubby sent me a link to a video and I watched it and thought it was SOOO funny!

I literally LOL! (That means I "laughed out loud")

I showed it to my friend Leighann and that same day she found out that he was performing here that same month!

Good clean comedy?

I was like, HECK YEAH!

So we planned a double date with our hubbys.

My hubby's been sick the last 2 weeks and by yesterday afternoon he was still feeling the ill. So at the last minute I found myself another date (a hot Canadian chick, who has great hair! No bias there AT ALL!) and planned a girls night out.

First we hit Ming's Garden Chinese restaurant, where we had dinner. OMGOSH I've never craved Chinese food since I left Canada and this place has me craving it everyday! Seriously the best Chinese Cuisine in town.

Anyways we then headed to Fall City for the show. I was SOOO superly duper excited to see Tim LIVE. More excited than any rock show. ALMOST more excited than I get when I see Ozomatli live.

His show was at a church in Fall City. It was a little odd being at a church for professional entertainment. I'm not used to it at all. The stage had a drum kit and the lighting was that of a rock show, but it was cool nonetheless. The seating was so comfy too. I was like, "Man! Why can't we have these seats in OUR church!"

Jason Earles (No, not Jackson from Hannah Montana) opened up for Tim and he was pretty funny himself. But as soon as Tim came on stage I was like, "Woo hoo!!!!"

Anyways the show was beyond awesome. I laughed so hard I almost peed. I was wheezing pretty badly at one point, cause I was laughing so hard. He's just so incredibly funny and amazingly talented. I'd see him again in a heartbeat. In the meantime I just stalk YouTube for clips of his performances. This is one of my favs:

You also must check out The Government Can, Short Songs, Things You Don't Say To Your Wife, Scary Bedtime Prayers and Tim On Technology.

Most definitely check him out if he's coming to a town near you. I've even linked to his calendar, for you lazy people.

March Makeover Madness

2010-03-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was asked by the Beehive leaders to do an activity on hair and makeup. I decided to take it a step further and give a couple of the girls a makeover. They had an activity last month called the Silly Olympics. The 2 top winners of the Olympics “won” a free makeover by yours truly. ($170 value!)

The activity was held last night and the makeovers of the girls were made over the weekend. It was a lot of fun, but the makeovers were pretty tame. This was a chance to get a total change in their look, but in the end, both girls chose something not so dramatic. It was a little disappointing, but I still had fun doing it. I also regret not having any "Before & After" pictures. (Grrr!)

For the activity I gave the girls a Hair Care quiz to see how much they knew about hair care. The majority of them did fairly well and all of them said they learned something new. It was mostly a night where they could do each other’s hair and makeup and learn how to better care for their hair, but I also gave a demo of makeup for those who wanted to learn more.

Like I said before it was a really fun night and I was grateful and flattered that I was asked to do this. For everyone’s reference I’ve decided to post the hair care questionnaire for your benefit and knowledge. See how many you get correct. Post your answers in a comment. You can check your answers here.

True or False

1. Brushing my hair 100 times a day will make it healthy and strong
2. Hair grows faster/thicker if you cut it
3. Split ends can be fixed with the right products
4. Split ends will travel up the hair shaft

5. Hair grows faster on different parts of your head
6. Wearing my hair in a tight braid or ponytail will cause baldness
7. Sharing combs, brushes or hair accessories can spread scalp diseases
8. Hair should be washed everyday
9. Hair products labeled as “Natural” are chemical free

10. Hair will always remain the same texture

11. Swimming pool chemicals will turn your hair green

12. Dandruff is caused by a dry scalp
13. Dandruff is contagious

14. To get really clean hair you must “Lather. Rinse. Repeat”
15. Salon products are better than drugstore products
16. Your hair can get “used” to a product and not work for you anymore
17. Conditioners are only for people with dry hair

18. I should only use conditioner on the ends of my hair
19. Lemon juice will bleach hair blond
20. Blow drying causes hair loss

Show Your Stuff Off!

2010-03-18T09:52:00.001-07:00

I joined in the "Show Off Your Stuff Party #20", today over at Fireflies and Jellybeans.

PS I'm #95 on the link list.

TIMBER!

2010-03-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

If a tree falls in the forest and everyone's around, it makes a really big noise and it shakes the ground!

There's been a lot of action going on around our place these last couple of days. Dan hired these tree guys to take down some trees on our property and it's been really cool watching them work. The girls have enjoyed it a lot. My oldest now says when she grows up, she wants to climb trees with "spiky shoes" and cut them down.

Dan and I were both home sick yesterday from church and we're kinda glad we were, cause we would've missed all the action. I'm sure people thought we were home "sick" as an excuse to be around, but we really were.

There are about 25 trees that we wanted to come down, so that our property can feel more "open". There's about 3.5 acres of our 5 acre property that we can't touch, due to it being classified as a wetland. So with the rest of the 1.5 acres we decided we wanted it mostly cleared so that it can not only be more usable, but it can clear the way for the sun to shine. Even with the couple of trees they took down yesterday in the front of our house, our property looks so much bigger. I love it!

Anyways we took a lot of pictures and video of the trees coming down. I've posted one for your viewing pleasure. (It's not as exciting as being there in person) If you've never been around when I tree comes down it's pretty exciting and freaky at the same time. I kept thinking it was going to fall on our house......but it didn't.

Sir Mix-A-Lot

2010-03-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

We've been adding a lot to our family lately and this guy is no exception. I'd like you to meet

Sir Mix A-Lot

......my new blender.

Oh good sir.......what did I ever do without you?

Seriously one of the best investments I've made lately (and trust me, I've made a lot lately). I use him at least twice a day. He's so easy to clean. He's helping me become healthier. He works harder than anything I've ever seen. He has so many different functions. And best of all, he came in my favorite color.

The other day I made a smoothie. Here's what I put in it:

Grapes

Orange

Brussel Sprouts

Broccoli

Snap Peas

Spinach

Banana

The result?

Don't let this "Green Goop" deceive you.

Our panel of highly critical taste testers

put it to the test for you.

What did our first taste tester say when she tasted it?

"Mmmmm. Banana."

And the other said to me:

"Mom? Can you make dis again?"

Kid tested.......Suze approved!

Oh yeah. This thing rocks. I HIGHLY recommend one.

Our New Additions

2010-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

We've adopted again!

These are the newest members of our family.

Meet

Jasmine & Raja.

Jasmine.

Raja.

Yup. We're officially cat people.

Not to be mistaken for being a

Cat Lady.

Those people are weird.

You'd Think It Was Monday.....

2010-03-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

I have to blog about this, so I can feel like I'm still a good mom.

About 30 min ago, I was making my breakfast (before 11am, even!) and I heard my daughter crying. Just to clarify, this isn't an unusual event in my day. She's the youngest and feels constantly picked on and almost ALWAYS feels the need to get her sister in trouble. So anyways she's crying and I do what I normally do and that's yell up "What's going on?".

Well I did that. Twice.

All I heard was more crying. So I headed upstairs to see what was going on.

By the way this isn't an easy feat for me these days. My leg is still a bit stiff after surgery and my knee swells up as well, so climbing the stairs is usually a "one step at a time" thing. But as soon as I heard my daughter crying specifically for ME, I knew this wasn't a case of "my sister is bugging me and this is my way of getting her in trouble".

I was up the stairs faster than I thought possible.

The scene as I entered their room was this. My youngest daughter was "tied" to the bed post by a necklace and my oldest was trying to "free" her. Thank goodness she was still conscious enough to be crying and calling for me (and thank goodness she was still a normal color). But the sight of her trapped like that still sent my heart racing.

I was surprisingly calm as I asked my oldest daughter why she was choking her sister to death, (okay so I didn't say it like that) and she simply replied, "I was pretending to be the Big Bad Wolf".

So after I comforted them both, we had a nice ~~lecture~~ chat about how we don't put things around people's necks and choke them. I immediately threw away all their necklaces. I might have slight regret over that, but I just don't trust them with those right now.

Anyways I'm much more calm about things now. I can laugh about the situation now, only cause I was planning on taking the girls to get their passport photos done and I really don't think it would look good with a big red mark on her neck.

This is what it looks like:
(Am I overreacting?)

I'm waiting to see if it calms down. I keep thinking that someone will see her and report me to the authorities. Not a good thing when we're trying to update our Foster License. Yeah.....nope.

Have your kids ever done this? Please tell me I'm not a bad mom. I know it's not my fault, but somehow I still feel guilty of not responding quicker. All the "what if's?".

I'd swear it was Monday, if not for the time and date on the computer.

Things That Are Keeping Me Going

2010-02-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

I got my stitches out yesterday. Not that it means anything, cause of the last time I got my stitches out. But to me it means nearing the end. If there ever will be an end. In the meantime I'm on stinky antibiotics (they really do stink) and keepin' the leg up (although, not as much as I should be....oops!).

But I am grateful for all of the good things and people that keep me going each day.

First off, my husband. Seriously....he's the man.

He's awesome and he's doing a great job.

My girls, who "help mommy" all the time.

They're my go-to girls.

Visiting Teachers

Visits in general

Home Teachers

Hot meals brought in

Phone calls

Netflix

Dad's Oatmeal Cookies

(Imported from Canada)

Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer

Good books

Online Shopping (even if it's just browsing)

My daughters quoting Star Wars, or simply singing the theme song....(my current fav is when my oldest randomly quotes Aunt Beru)

"Luke's just not a farmer Owen..."

Anyways I just wanted to jot down some things that get me through the days of grief over this leg. It makes me not so low down. And that's the down low. Yo yo. I'm outta hee.

*I take no responsibility for the gangsta talk

The Colour Of Paradise ~ Review

2010-02-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

An Iranian film in Farsi with English subtitles.

This movie is about an 8 year old boy named Mohammad, who is blind. The film starts out with seeing him in a school for the blind. When he goes home for the summer you get to see the beautiful relationship he has with his grandmother and his two sisters. As you watch the film you begin to realize that it's not the boy who is blind, but his father who doesn't appreciate his son. His father (who's a widower) thinks Mohammad to be a burden and he's more preoccupied in trying to marry another woman to gain status.

Mohammad was blind, but saw more than I will ever see. I never knew just how blind I truly was, until I saw this film. Words cannot express how I felt about this film, so I just recommend you to see it and give your own judgement.

It was nice to see Iran's country side. I didn't even know they had one. I caught a glimpse of customs, scenery, farmers and the culture of Iran. It was just simply beautiful. I don't even have another word to describe it.

Anyways there was a part in the film that touched me so deeply. It's a part where his father decides it's best for him to go and learn the carpentry trade with another blind man. The carpenter is teaching Mohammad about wood and to feel the different types. Then follows the most beautiful speech I've ever heard from a child.

I watched the movie on Netflix, but I found it on YouTube as well. This part with the speech is about the first 2 minutes.

Click here to see it

I'm sure I was emotionally drawn to the movie and the characters, (beacuse I was balling like a baby), but it's still the best scene from the movie.

I hope you all get a chance to see it one day. I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5. If you can get used to the pace of the film and take in what you don't read in dialogue, then I'm sure you will enjoy this, as much as I did.

Beautiful Day!!!........(Of Peace And Rest)

2010-02-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

Seriously? Is this what winter is going to be like this year? I don't think I remember the last time it rained here.

Anyways my point of this blog post is this...

If there ever was a day that I wanted to get things done around here, today is the day. There's just one little problem.

I can't.

I know you're tired of me whining about my stupid leg, cause I am too. Well too bad!

~~All I wanna do is have some fun~~ All I wanna do is get busy doin' stuff. Ya know?

Clean my house

Organize things

Do laundry

(OK so I'm already breaking the rule on that one)

Decorate my house

Build furniture!!!

But no. I can't.

Not yet.

I have to "keep the leg up" and wait till my appointment on Monday morning to see what the next step is.

Watch movies.

Read.

Sit with a laptop and surf the web.

BORING!

(why isn't it so boring when I actually want to do this!?)

Boo hoo

Yeah, yeah

Suze you're such a whiner!

I know.

Believe me, I know!

Outsourced ~ Review

2010-02-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

Okay so today I watched a movie that I've been wanting to watch for a while. It's called "Outsourced".

It's about a guy who finds out his job and his part of the company is being outsourced to India. So he has to go to India to train his new replacement, who's managing the call center in a little town outside of Bombay.

This story moves at a good pace and there's never a dull moment. The comedy is brilliant. I had a few "laugh out loud" moments. I loved seeing Indian culture through the eyes of an ignorant American. But I also loved seeing the Indian's understanding of American culture and all of it's craziness. All in all, this was a great movie.

****Mini Spoiler Alert!****

If you don't want to know anything about this movie, then don't read on....

The only part I didn't enjoy much was the "romance" between Todd, the main character, and Asha, one of the call center workers. I loved it and I hated it. I hated it leaving you hanging in the end. I'm the kind of person that likes to see "and they lived happily ever after", and I really hate it when movies leave you wondering about the future for the romantic couple. So that's why I hated it.

****Mini Spoiler Over****

You can safely read now....

But overall I gave it a rating of 4 1/2 out of 5. It was a funny and intriguing film that I think anyone would enjoy.

Suze & Ebert......Minus Ebert

2010-02-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

Okay so since I've been stuck with my leg up for the past week or so, it's no secret that I've been watching a plethora of movies lately. Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm not a huge fan of "Hollywood Blockbuster" films. I like them and I'll watch them, but I prefer the movies that are either made for Film Festies, Indies, or Foreign. The ones that are not your typical movies that you'd see at your local multiplex.

Anyways watching all sorts of films lately (mostly alone, mind you), I think to myself that there's got to be something out there like goodreads.com that's for movies. Well I haven't done a search, cause I really don't care, but I thought to myself, "HELLO! You've got a blog silly! Write reviews of your movies there you crazy lady!"

Okay so that really wasn't the internal dialogue I was having with myself....but it came pretty close.

So this post is about two movies I've seen in the past few days that I wanted to share with you. My rating system is simple. 1 is the movie sucked and was highly disappointing and 5 is the best rating, making it a definite MUST SEE by everyone around me. Everything else in between is as I see it.

So that being said I wanted to talk about the movie I saw this morning. It's called "Adam".

The story is about a girl who meets a man and falls in love with him. Your typical love story, except this one has an added tenderness......the man, has Asperger's Syndrome.

The love story was simple and yet, touched my heart so deeply. I was surprised at the ending and balled my eyes out, because of this one song by The Weepies, called "Can't Go Back Now".

This was a really good movie. I knew when I ordered the movie from Netflix that it starred Hugh Dancy, but I couldn't really put my finger on the actor who played Adam, cause he didn't speak with a British accent! It was about 5 minutes into it that I realized it was him. Doye!

Another surprise is that the actress who played Beth is originally from Australia, yet she did a really good job on her American accent.

The actors did a fine job at telling the story and as far as the ending goes, I didn't understand it until I listened to the song over and over again (on YouTube). Then I got it and it made me cry again. Okay I'm an even bigger dork, cause I'm tearing as a write this (still listening to the song)

It's today's favorite. Last week it was Blue Rodeo's "Bad Timing".

Anyways Adam gets 4 1/2 out of 5 from me. Good enough that I think everyone should see it.

Another movie I enjoyed was "Henry Poole Is Here"

It didn't fit the description that Netflix gave it. It marked it as a comedy and it was NOT a comedy. It was most definitely a drama. It was a little slow to begin with, but I gave it more than my standard "10 minutes to see if a movie is going to be worth it", cause it intrigued me.

It stars Luke Wilson. I love films where Hollywood actors take on a not so Hollywood roll or it's not a Hollywood film on a huge budget. I think this is where the actors shine. Well in this particular film, the Luke Wilson, who plays the main character, gets out staged by the other actors and I loved it. I'm not saying I don't like Luke Wilson. I do. But I'm saying that the supporting cast ended up shining in the spotlight probably more than the main character and that's pretty rare in a film.

Anyways this movie is about a guy who finds out he's got a terminal illness and decides to live out the rest of his days, by his miserable self, in the neighborhood that he grew up in. Well a miracle happens and as the story unfolds you see Henry gain a new life thanks to his surrounding neighbors and the faith and hope that they have in this life.

It wasn't the greatest of films, but I give it a 3 1/2 out of 5. I really did enjoy it and I'd watch it again.

Well I hope you've enjoyed my movie reviews. I plan on writing about more shows I've enjoyed in the past as well as new ones I've discovered recently, but until then I hope you'll comment and share with me your favorite non-Hollywood films that you've enjoyed or tell me if you've seen the ones I've shared with you, and share your thoughts about it.

Bloog to you'z lay-tuh!

Suze ~ The Blog Stalker

2010-02-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

I stalk quite a few blogs.

Some I find from stalking other blogs.

Most of these blogs are about crafting, sewing, DIY, cooking.

They inspire me and allow me to dream that "someday I'll do that project" or "bank that one in the idea pot".

Well about a month ago I discovered the ultimate blog.

A girl named Ana and her obsession with furniture.

***Flashback to the past.......

I took a semester (well part of a semester, cause I moved early that school year) in 10th grade of woodworking. It was something that I wanted to try and I ended up loving it. It totally freaked me out (all those power tools and their POWER) but at the same time I loved what you could create with wood. I love the smell of lumber and to this day, one of my favorite smells, is a "home store" lumber section. Anyways since my woodworking days in highschool, I always knew that one day I would do something with wood.

***Back to the future.......

Knock-Off Wood is a blog dedicated to people who dream of expensive furniture from over priced catalogues/retail stores, but can never afford it. Actually it's more of a, "why on earth would you EVER pay for something like that, when you could build it yourself", kinda blog.

The blog author, Ana, is a stay-at-home mom and with a wonderful talent for looking at a piece of furniture and being able to not only making it look exactly like the original, but also making up the plans for everyone in the world to be able to make it themselves.

She has totally inspired me to do exactly what she's done and that is create.

As soon as I'm back on my leg again, I plan on creating something that she's designed. Well at least it will be on the list of things I'm going to do.

Dan's being very supportive in this and he's ordered me some books on woodworking. What a hunk! Thanks again Lovey.

Anyways right now Ana's celebrating her 1 millionth hit on her blog. She's only been blogging for just over 100 days and her blogsite has been hit over a million times. Can we say genius?

She's giving away a $50 gift card to either Lowes or Home Depot if you leave a comment on her post.(Make sure you say that I referred you, cause if you win, then I'll get a Gift Certificate too!) Check out her site and be inspired, like I've been.

Also check back in the future for my own projects that I've built. The first one I plan on doing is this bench for my entry way. To think I was going to spend about $200 at Cost Plus World Market for one. I just couldn't justify it, but it was exactly what I wanted for my entry way and couldn't find it cheaper any where else. Well now I plan on building my own. Stay tuned!

Why Am I So Lucky?

2010-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

Hmmm.....which is better?

Going to the dentist today and being on nitrous?

or

Going to the dentist today and being on nitrous AND Percocet?

Ummm.....yeah, I agree....

NO CONTEST!

Disclaimer *I am on pain meds due to my surgery and healing. I do not abuse drugs, nor am I a drug addict. But hey, when I'm on them for good reason, there's no way I'm not going to enjoy the ride!

Who knew my kids had such a sick since of humor

2010-02-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm dropping Susan off at the dentist this morning and then going to Sultan to shoot for bit before I have to pick her up. As I'm heading out to the garage our oldest asks me "Are you going shooting today" "Yes", "What are you going to shoot", "Pumpkins." I have a dozen or so squash and pumpkins in the garage from last summer. When I come back in the house in all seriousness our youngest tells me "Daddy 'D' doesn't want to be killed" At which point she reminds me her nick name is pumpkin. Wasn't talking about you. Remember we don't shoot people blah blah. I suppose I should be glad that at least she understands that if you shoot people they die. After I come back downstairs I ask my oldest did you really think I was going to shoot you. "No" "Were you just playing with me" I asked her. "Yes" she laughs. Apparently my daughter has a very twisted since of humor.

Bored

2010-02-16T15:35:00.001-08:00

I don't know what to write other than I'm bored.

My surgery went well. Pretty much all I've done since last week is sit in bed with my leg up, watching all sorts of movies and TV shows and livin' the life.

Yeah....right.

Isn't it strange when you get to do absolutely nothing at all....all you wish to do is something?

It's seriously driving me insane.

It's total déjà vu, from 9 months ago, except with different surroundings (a different house/bedroom, etc...)

To tell you the truth it's a bit freaky that this has been officially 9 months since the drama due to my injury, began.

9 months of agony
9 months of pain
9 months of depression
9 months of discomfort
9 months of MY LIFE!......wasted

Anyways I'm just feelin' pretty crappy right now and all I know to do is blog about it.....cause it's my way of venting.

I did have my post-op with my doctor and he'll see me in another week to get the stitches out. But for now doctor's orders are to stay off my leg.

Brilliant