Happy March!!

There is just something about being able to decorate with green, shamrocks, and pots of gold that makes me happy!! I know that I've survived the two most dreay months of the year and the spring flowers are just waiting to burst through the ground to show their little pop of color! I'm done with black winter clothes and I'm ready for the fun spring colors. Happy March to all of you!

Happy Valentine's Day

Welcome 2010!

New Year's Eve

A few years ago, Lynn and April invited us to their house for a New Year's Eve Party. It has become a tradition that our family looks forward to each year. We hang out in our jammies, snack until we are all sick, play games, laugh, throw confetti, and ring the the new year! Thanks Godderigdes for the fun times and memories!

09.09.09

I never think much about dates like today - 09.09.09 but I was watching Good Things Utah today and they said that this will be the last single digit combination like this until 01.01.2101. Well, I'm certain I won't be around by then!

Nine Things I Did Today--
1. Cleaned the bathroom
2. Laundry
3. Cooked dinner
4. Went grocery shopping
5. Vacuumed the family room
6. Cleaned out my car
7. Watched tv
8. Held Activity Days
9. Took a nap

Nine Things I Ate Today--
1. Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
2. Glass of Milk
3. Peanut Butter Sandwich
4. Fudge Striped Cookies
5. Diet Coke
6. Cucumbers from the garden
7. Tomatoes from the garden
8. Raspberries from the garden
9. Tater Tot Casserole

Nine People I Talked To Today--
1. Mom
2. Ryan
3. Suzanne
4. Brooklyn
5. Tami
6. Sharon
7. Shalise
8. April
9. Marci

Nine Things on my To Do List--
1. Spray paint a shelve and install in the bathroom
2. Figure out my Lia Sophia order
3. Look at the case lot sale at Smith's and decide what I need
4. Return a movie to Wendy
5. Order Kody's year book for school
6. Schedule a haircut appointment
7. Plan a date with Todd
8. Decide what to get Shalise for her birthday
9. Print discount tickets off of the internet for the State Fair

Nine Things I enjoy about Fall--
1. Cool, crisp mornings
2. Fall colors
3. Fall desserts
4. Getting out my sweaters and putting away summer clothes
5. Tyler's football games
6. Not having to shave my legs as much or paint my toenails
7. Aggie basketball is just around the corner
8. Pumpkins
9. Cleaning up the garden - no more weeding!

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Birthday America!

I love this holiday.

I love the family time.

I love the Lewiston Celebration.

I love the parade.

I love the fireworks.

I love that I live in a free nation.

I love those who sacrificed for our country.

I love to see the flag flying high in the sky.

Hope you have a great holiday!

July -- seriously???

I knew that I hadn't posted for a while but I didn't realize it had been nearly a month! I love summer and all the activities that come with it. I forget how at of the sudden it's 10:00pm and I wonder what happened to the night and then I try to scramble to get a few more things done before going to bed.

We enjoyed the summer games (I'll make that a separate post tomorrow), we've gone camping once (and ended up coming home early due to a massive rain storm), we finally set up our pool and have enjoyed some swimming time, we've gone 4 wheeling, the boys both went to basketball camp, Kody has been golfing a few times, Sharon had her knee replaced, I cut my pinky finger with my new Cutco knives and probably should have had stitches, and we celebrated my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary.

We are looking forward to the 4th of July celebration in Lewiston this weekend. Todd jokes that you can't be married to someone from Lewiston and even consider going anywhere else for the 4th of July. I really look forward to going back home and visiting with who ever it there. I know that some of the events my family tolerates but I really do enjoy the hometown celebration.

Welcome Spring!

Welcome Spring!!! The last few days I've taken the time to go for a long walk outside and it has been so nice. If you haven't taken the time, do so. It will re-energize you!

I feel kinda funny posting all of these "projects" -- I feel like I'm bragging but then I remember I'm doing this blog more for myself and my family than anyone else, so bear with me.

I wanted a Spring/Easter wreath for the front door but hadn't found anything I really liked. I actually went to Tia Pan last week hoping to buy a wreath for the front door, but came out with a carton of styrofoam Easter eggs instead. I looked through a few magazines and found a picture of a square wreath. It was different than the typical round wreath and I liked the change -- so off to Hobby Lobby I went. Everything I needed was 50% off -- YEAH!! I came home and about an hour later I'd completed my Square Wreath Spring Project.

In my magazine browsing, I saw a picture of these rubber boots. As soon as I saw the picutre, I knew I had to try this. I already had everything except the rubber boots and I found them on sale at IFA. Lately, I've bought more crafty items, or things I used for crafts at IFA than you'd think possible. Maybe I should contact IFA Corporate Offices and show them what a whole new customer base they could have with a little bit of marketing!

Works in Progress

First of all - Sorry about the random picture placement - I can't figure out how to put the pictures in order and by the paragraph they are supposed to be. (Maybe I should attend Sophia's blogging class?)

Everything year about this time, I start to get antsy to do "projects". I'm not sure why this time of year, except that Tyler and Kody's sports are winding down, I'm tired of tax season and need a diversion, it's springtime but not quite warm enough really hang out outside for long periods of time. I thought I'd share a few of my projects with a promise to show the finished project as they become completed.

We have known since the beginning of February that Todd was going to have a week long mandated furlough March 9-13. I also knew a week off for Todd, when he can't be outside, could be a very long week for him. I talked him into (and yes I really did have to talk him into it, he wasn't very excited about the idea) tiling the bathroom downstairs so we could finish it off and the boys could have their own bathroom downstairs. Since this would be a "boys" bathroom, I wanted the walls tiled behind the toilet, the shower need tiled, as did the floor. I don't think either us realized what a big job this would really be. Todd was a trooper and tiled everyday - including Saturday just to get the tiling done. It looks so good and I'm so proud of him for doing it. He tells me "I'm a farmer, not a tile man." It probably wouldn't pass the tile man's perfection test but I think he did a great job. I found some Navy & White striped material to make shower curtain with. We've decided to make it our Aggie bathroom, couldn't be more fitting for our family! Go Aggies!! I'll post more pictures after the grouting is done.

The next project I've recently tackled was the "Spring" blocks. I did a ward craft group night and we did blocks that said "Luck". As I was preparing the that activity, the creative juices got flowing. I wanted to do something with "Spring" and use a spring as the "I" but I was struggling to decide how to make it all work. We were at Todd's mall, Smith and Edwards, and he found this cone shaped spring that works perfectly! I made a few sets of these blocks and cleaned Michael's out of all the letters they had. I still had a few sets t finish, without the right letters so I ran to Ogden last week and visited the Michael's there. They had all I needed except 1 "P". I was frustrated because that meant I'd have to run to Layton but all of the sudden Todd hands me a "P". I asked him where he found it because I'd taken them all of of the shelf. He said "It's an upside down "D". Todd comes up with some of the best decorating/crafting ideas. He is definitely much more left brained than I am. I wanted a "P", not an upside down "D" and would never have even thought to think outside the box. I'm grateful that Todd takes these projects on with me! I have a few more projects rolling around upstairs but we'll see how long the creativity lasts - and I'm sure that will all depend on the weather. As soon as I can get outside, I probably will!

Beautfiul Saturday Morning

It's a beautiful, sunny, Saturday morning and we just made our plans for today. I have LOVED these holidays. We have spent so much time together and enjoyed every minute of it.

Last night, we were going to stay home and watch the Utah/Alabama football game. I was browsing the internet about 6:00pm and remembered that Todd wanted to know when Sky View had a home basketball game so I went to SV's website and found out that they had a game last night at 7:00pm. Todd had just come in from the barn so he hurried and showered, we ran to Wendy's for dinner, and made it to Sky View as the National Anthem was being sung. We enjoyed the game, and our time together. When we got home, the Utah game was in the 3rd quarter so we watched the second half of that game and called it a night. As I was sitting at the basketball game during half-time, I thought about all of the hours we have spent at sporting events and wondered what we would do if we weren't a sports family. I'm sure my house could be cleaner, I'm sure Todd's Honey-Do list could be completed, I'm sure the boys could read more books, etc, etc, etc but I'm so grateful that we enjoy spending time together watching sports. I grew up watching my brothers play sports, so this is what I've know most of my life.

Tonight we are going to the movie. Because we do spend a lot of time with sports, movies aren't something we do much of at our house. So -- going to the movies is a real treat for us!!

Today, I'm trying to finish up the last few cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry items that I've put off during the holiday. This past week, we haven't gotten up before about 8:30am, rare for me, and I've enjoyed sleeping in. Since we go to 9:00am church tomorrow and school starts on Monday, our sleeping in days are over. It has been nice to be a little bit lazy but I think we are all ready to get back into our school/work routine.

The Holidays are Winding Down

Christmas was great this year! I tried to keep things a little bit low key and I think I succeeded. We had Shalise and Eric and boys, Jeff and Audrey and kids, Michelle and Reggi, and mom and dad over for Christmas Eve Dinner. It was very fun -- I guess when Todd, Eric and Reggi comment on it being fun, I can say it was really fun. I'm glad everyone came and that we were able to spend a little bit of time together. I found Christmas Family Feud on the internet -- and I'd highly recommend it to anyone. We laughed and laughed and laughed some more. The best part about the game was there were questions suited for adults to children. We just adjusted as to who's turn it was. If you're interest in the game, let me know.

For Christmas this year, I made Tyler and Kody a scrapbook of their sports. The scrapbook was a complete surprise to both of them. I spent alot of time and hours compiling everything but I did get a good start on it back in October when I went to Park City with my sisters and sister-in-laws. I think that was probably my highlight this year, just seeing them look, look, and look at those books. I've mentioned before I'm not a huge scrapbooker but this made me realize it doesn't have to be cute, fancy, or elaborate, they just like to look at the pictures.

We got the boys a wii for Christmas. It has been well worth it's money already. We have had a lot of laughs (and sore muscles) with it. Again, the boys were completely surprised. Just a day or two before Christmas Tyler asked if we were getting a wii. I told him I don't remember that being on the wish list for Santa. I could tell then he was a little disappointed so he was very happy Christmas morning.

We are going to enjoy a few more days of slowness -- no school, no sports, not much of anything really and then when January hits so does tax season! We've learned how to deal with tax season, but January - April is always interesting around our house!

Merry Christmas!

The presents are all wrapped, those that need to be delivered are delivered, the food is purchased, and mostly ready to cook, and my whole house is clean! I can now enjoy Christmas with family and friends.

We are having a Christmas Eve dinner with some of my siblings and parents tonight at our house. I'm exited! I found Christmas Family Feud on the internet so we are going to play that game, eat, watch a short Christmas DVD, and enjoy each other.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas is Here!!

The week of the whole year that I enjoy the most is here! I was feeling like I was on top of things until this weekend--

Speaking of the weekend - I had to go to SLC on Friday for some training for work. I didn't want to leave here about 6:30am so I went to Michelle on Thursday night. Had an enjoyable visit with her and then went to my class on Friday morning. From her house to my training was about 20 minutes. As the day progressed, so did the snow! By the time my meeting was out at 3:30 traffic was CRAZY. What took me 20 minutes in the morning, took me 2 1/2 HOURS Friday afternoon!! I was so worked up by the time I got back to Michelle's. After a few phone calls with Todd, I decided to stay at Michelle's another night and come home Saturday morning. Friday night was very quite. Michelle and Reggi has a Christmas party to attend so I spent the evening reading the Lewiston Cookbook. They don't have the Internet (how do they survive?) and they only have rabbit ears for their tv (how do they survive?) and since the weather was bad the tv reception was horrible. A nice quite Friday night would be a welcomed any other time of the year but not the weekend before Christmas!! I survived and got up early Saturday morning and came the rest of the way home. I have a new appreciation for being prepared if stranded in your car. I need to put a few things in our car!!

I still have some baking to do -- that's tomorrow's plans and I realized that Tyler hasn't gotten Kody's present yet so I've got to work on that as well. We have a full week of activities -- Christmas Eve at our house, Christmas night at Grandma Jack's, Sledding party on Friday, and the Thomas Party on Saturday. I just tell Todd what's on the schedule for the current day -- this is A LOT of family time for him!!

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and that you can enjoy this season with your family and friends.

The Presents are Wrapped!!

I can now relax and enjoy the rest of the Holiday season! Yesterday I found myself home alone for a few hours in between Kody's basketball games so I dropped everything and finished wrapping our Christmas presents. I still have 2 small gifts to complete but I hope to have those done in the next couple of days. I still have some baking to do but I'm hoping not to step foot inside another store, except a grocery store for a few weeks!! You all know that I LOVE Christmas, and I LOVE shopping but Christmas shopping after about Dec 10, isn't my idea of fun!

Yesterday was our first "real" snowstorm of the season. I enjoy the snow but don't really care for the cold -- can't have one without the other! Tyler, Alex, and Duncan rode the tube behind the 4 wheeler yesterday afternoon in the fresh snow. When I looked outside to find them, they were all in the snow laughing. I knew that they where having a good time.

On Friday night, we took the boys, and Randy and Shonie, with us to see the Pickleville Playhouse Santa's Christmas Party. When we went to Pickleville during the summer, the boys really liked it so we thought this would be a fun activity. It was fun, but a different fun than the summer play. To me it was more like a variety show and not so much a play. When we left I asked the boys what they thought, and they both told me they like the one at Bear Lake better. But if you are looking for a fun, enjoyable evening out, you wouldn't be disappointed.

Our week this week has very little sports, or any extra curricular activities -- we all need the break! I hope to bake, cook, and go to another Christmas concert this weekend.

Happy 11th Day of Christmas!!

Christmas Tag

Christmas Tag -- I was tagged from a friends blog, so now I tag anyone who reads this--
1. Wrapping Paper of Gift Bags? -- mostly wrapping paper but depends on the gift.
2. Real or Artificial Tree? -- I'd love a real tree but we go with artificial.
3. When do you put up the tree? -- Anytime after Halloween is fair game at our house, thus the artificial tree is a must!
4. When do you take down the tree? -- Usually January 1
5. Do you like eggnog? Not really
6. Favorite gift you received as a child? -- I'm struggling to think of one
7. Hardest person to buy for? -- My mother-in-law
8. Easiest person to buy for? -- My sisters
9. Do you have a nativity scene? -- Yes, usually the first Christmas decoration to go up, after the tree!
10. Mail or email Christmas Cards?-- Mail
11. Worst Christmas present received? -- I can't think of one
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? -- It's a Wonderful Life
13. When do you start Christmas shopping? -- Usually summer
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? -- Maybe
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? -- Homemade camels and chocolates
16. Lights on the Tree? -- what are my other options?
17. Favorite Christmas song? -- ALL
18. Travel or stay at home for Christmas? -- Stay at Home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? -- Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blixen, Vixen, Rudolf ???
20. Angel or star on top of the tree? -- I used to have a star but this year neither
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?-- We open one present on Christmas Eve -- the PJ's
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?-- Scrooges
23. Favorite Christmas Dinner? -- We are very casual on Christmas, no fancy dinner, usually finger foods. I miss my grandma's BBQ, maybe that's what I'll make this year.
24. What do I want for Christmas this year? I would like an ipod.

Happy Holidays!!

A new President - Elect, a new piano and a few other thoughts

Krazy Days! It seems like only a few days ago I posted and now it's been two weeks. A lot has happened in those two weeks -- a new President - elect, a new piano, basketball games, football games, a neighborhood Christmas Open House, Christmas decorations going up, school and work.

A New President-Elect -- Obviously late news now, but for future posterity, on Nov 4, 2008, the American people elected the first African American President. I'm proud that our nation has come this far, to set aside race and skin color, and see the individual and his policies. As far as he policies, I don't know. I think our nation is in real turmoil right now and needs a strong leader who can unite and pull people together. I think President Obama could be a fantastic thing for our nation -- or could be very scary thing for our nation. I guess we'll wait and see.

A New Piano -- As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've wanted and have been looking for a piano. For the past several months, I've looked here and there, but nothing real hard or serious. On Wednesday, Nov 5, I had this impression that I needed to look on ksl.com in the classified ads. I pushed the thought aside several times because I wasn't going to buy a piano outside of Cache Valley, simply for transportation issues. After about two hours of this feeling, I finally decided to get on the website and take a look. One of the very first ads that I saw was a piano in Lewiston. What are the chances? I called the number only to find out that it is a family friend and my brother, Jeff, is building currently building them a new house and there isn't room for the piano to be moved. I was so excited. Todd and I went and picked it up on Thursday afternoon. When we go it home, I sat and played for hours. I knew that I missed playing but I didn't realize how much I missed it until I looked at the clock and realized I'd played for over 2 hours! I'm a little rusty and the piano needs to be tuned but that will all come with time. Anyway, back to the ksl.com classified, as I looked at the posting time online I realized that was about the time I had the first impression to check the website. A tender mercy of our Heavenly Father. I hadn't prayed about a piano, but obviously my Father in Heaven knew the desires of my heart. A simple but strong testimony building experience for me.

Tyler and Kody are in full swing of basketball now, and Tyler is still playing football. Tyler was invited to play in some tournaments in SLC and Brigham City during the month of November. Six weeks ago, the idea sounded great but now that the time committment is here, we are wondering if we should have been done with football when football was over. Tyler loves football and that's what really keeps us going. I will admit I'm looking forward to being done with the basketball league in Brigham City for Kody on Tuesdays nights. I know that it's all good activities but I think we have over extended ourselves this fall. Enough said - we've made the committment and now we make things work to meet that commitment.

The inside of our house is starting to look like Christmas - and a little of the outside too! I must admit I really enjoy Christmas lights, decoration, music, entertainment, food etc. I know that people think I start way too early, but the Christmas season seems to be filled with a lot of activities and not a lot of enjoying the sights and sounds so for me and my house, I like to make the Christmas season last as long as possible. I've even got a really good start on my holiday shopping and wrapping!

This and That

Since it's been a couple of weeks since I posted, I'm going to give a quick run down of what has happened the past two weeks.

Last weekend, Oct 24-25, I went with Shalise, Audrey, Marci, Amy, Amy's sister Jess, Amy's mom and Amy's Aunt Chris scrapbooking in Park City. I was extremely nervous about going -- only because I'm not a huge scrapbooker but I went with a specific project and I was able to accomplish that project. (More details later, don't ask questions at Christmas time!) Shalise, Marci and I left about 1 on Friday afternoon, we stopped and shopped at Tia Pan. It was fun to wonder around without kids or husbands pretending that it's not boring!! We got to Park City about 5, ate dinner and then scrapbooked until 12:30 and then went back to our room and chatted until about 1:30 before we all crashed! I didn't know how much I missed "girl talk" without kids. Saturday morning we scrapbooked until about 10:30 and then we all went to the outlets and shopped. Again, we had lots of laughs and a great time. I hope that this can become an annual event.

Todd went to Wisconsin last Monday - Wednesday. I now have a greater appreciation for single moms. The boys were good but just going, going, and going without an help, or an ear to lean on was a challenge. Actually, the real challenge was sleeping at night without Todd. I've never been able to sleep when he isn't home but with the help of some prayers, I did okay. I was relieved when I saw him walk into the Ward Fall Festival. There is just something about knowing your spouse is in the same town! I'm grateful that Todd doesn't travel much for work. I'm sure you would get used to that schedule, but I'm glad I don't need to get used to it.

Aggie basketball started on Friday night. The boys choose to go to the game instead of Trick-or-Treating. In fact, I hadn't even bought any Halloween candy until Thursday, since I didn't have to worry about costumes I pretty much forgot there was even a holiday coming. Thankfully, I remembered and bought some candy just in case we got some Trick-or-Treaters. We did have about 7 or 8 kids total, so the Halloween candy was consumed by the Downs Family!

Tyler also started his basketball games on Saturday. He switched coaches and teams this year so I was somewhat apprehensive about the first game but I was quite surprised at how well they played together and seemed to mesh. Tyler actually played really well for the first game. I'm hoping that by not having a coach yelling at him from the sidelines constantly will help his self-confidence. Whether I'm ready or not, I can say that BASKETBALL season has officially begun. Our family LOVES basketball, however, we'll see how much we LOVE basketball when we start having 2 or 3 games every Saturday. When I look and the calendar for the next several months, I get really tired -- let alone trying to live that schedule. I keep telling myself that it's all good and worth it, we'll see!!

Tomorrow night, April and I are hosting a Neighborhood Holiday Open House. Our intent is to have the families on our street bring food to donate to the Food Pantry and then visit with each other for an hour. This would be in place of "neighbor" gifts at Christmas time. A few neighbors have been thrilled with the idea so we'll see how well it goes over. We have talked about doing this for a couple of years now but always seem to think of it a little too late in the holiday season. We are hoping that this could become a tradition to remove some of the stress of the holiday season.

Speaking of the holiday season, I hired some young guys to get my Christmas lights up and running this year. They look great! I don't know if I can wait until Thanksgiving night to turn them on. Todd wanted to leave them on last night while we ran into Logan so I agreed but wondered what the neighbors all thought! Todd doesn't have the patience to accomplish such a tedious task, and I don't like heights but I LOVE Christmas lights so I decided to hire it done and know that it was done right. Todd's idea of replacing a blown fuse is tin foil or a screw. Can I say FIRE HAZARD!??

I can't believe it's November, and in some ways I think the calendar is all wrong, but since the calendar really does say November, I'm starting to get excited for Christmas and the holiday season. I'm thinking of getting the Christmas trees out the end of next week. When we were at Tia Pan last weekend, all of their trees were out and I started to get excited to decorate. It is just such a huge task but I'm going to try and do a little each day and see if that makes it any easier for me. When I was at Walmart last night, the day after Halloween, they were playing Christmas music! and the Halloween candy isle had been changed to Christmas candy! The most wonderful time of the year is coming!!!

American West Heritage Center Corn Maze

This past weekend was UEA. The boys and I went with Shalise and her boys to the American West Heritage Corn Maze. We had a good time trying to find our way out of the corn maze. Thankfully, we had a map and Shalise could read the map. Tyler and Kody ran ahead of us and I had no idea where they were until Tyler called me and said they were out of the maze. I don't know how they got through so fast. Dawson and Jackson were really fun and cute. We would come to an intersection in the maze and one would say this way and the other would want to go the different way. At first we would take turns going the way the wanted too but then Shalise and I quickly realized we'd be in the maze for hours if that is what we did so we started to follow the map more closely.