Sunny Side Up

Pickle what?

2012-02-05T17:45:00.004-07:00

For Christmas, from Grandma Brown, the boys received a Pickle Ball set. When I told Grandma that the boys would like a Pickle Ball set, she was like.... "A Pickle what?"

Well Grandma came through! We set out recently for our first pickle ball excursion.

And what a blast!!!

The rules are similar to tennis and table tennis. Serve the ball corner to corner, one bounce inside the square, and you can only get a point if you serve. We only have 2 pickle ball paddles so the younger two played with the tennis rackets while the rest of us took turns playing.

Luke and I played the first game. The game is suppose to go to 11 points and you win by 2. But, it soon became apparent that we needed to play only to 7 points since we weren't gaining any points.

We had a great time and plan to go out again this week.
And that has nothing to do with me winning the first game. :)

Another milestone...

2012-01-23T22:47:00.002-07:00

Notice anything different with Ben's super cute smile?
Oh yes. He "officially" is becoming one of the big kids as he has lost his first tooth.
Yeah Ben!!

1000 Thank You's

2012-01-05T20:31:00.009-07:00

Consider this an invitation to join me with my New Year's resolution..wait..I hate resolutions. A friend of mine recently said "If it wasn't worth your time to do it two weeks ago then it probably isn't now."

I guess this isn't a resolution...more like a life style change.

This past year I have had some unique experiences for me. One of them was the "Time out For Women" that Deseret Book produces every year. All of the speakers spoke a lot of truth and touched me greatly, but two of them really spoke to my soul.

One was Mariama Kallon. She grew up in a war torn country, was the victim and was a witness to horrid war crime, and then became a member of the LDS church. She served a faithful mission and then immigrated to the USA. She has been through so much and yet, she is happy, confident and inspiring. All three are my goals in life. How do I get there?

Hillary Weeks was also at the event. She told about an experience she had where she used a "clicker"..or counter..to count all of her good thoughts that she had in a week. She spoke about the profound change in heart and mind that this brought about her. People everywhere had a clicker in their hand and were counting their good thoughts. She had about 1000 good thoughts in a week. It intrigued me..do I have that many?

She also sang a song that has become a mantra for me. I'm sure she wrote it just for me. It is titled Beautiful Heartbreak. It describes the pain that I have tucked away that comes growling out every once in a while. It describes the heartache that I feel when I think about the assault. I feel the heartbreak part easily..but do I feel the beautiful part? That is very difficult for me.

I was pondering these moments for weeks. Trying to figure out a way to incorporate them into ME.

I was perplexed on what I needed to do. I need to be better..I want to be a better person. I think I am doing ok..but ok isn't where I want to be.

At Thanksgiving I received my answer of what I needed to do.

I was reading my friend's blog (Hi Besty! ). She wrote a list of 100 things that she was grateful. Wow I thought. That is super cool. As I pondered her post I knew it was connected to the heart's change that I was looking for.

I recently read an article by Pres. Thomas S. Monson. It is about gratitude, and how if we have a grateful heart then we "unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love." (Its an amazing talk, go read it!)

I figured it out. I needed to be more grateful. I needed to be grateful for everything, always. When I made this realization, I suddenly became very aware of ungrateful attitude I often had.

I desire a grateful heart. A grateful heart will bring healing, joy, confidence, and peace.

This year is the year that I learn to be grateful.

For Christmas I made a few plaques for a couple of friends to join me on my "grateful journey" this year. (Write on them with and erasable marker..changing it as they see fit.)

My goal is to everyday write three items of gratitude on my grateful poster. Something that I am grateful for in my spiritual life, my home life, and in the world surrounding me. By the year's end I want to have more then 1000 things that I am grateful for.

I know many people use gratitude journals, and I think that's fantastic. But here's my thing..I want to remind myself every time I am in my bedroom of all that I am grateful for. I don't want to forget! I seriously am like Dory the fish in Finding Nemo..I forget things very easily! When I have bad days, and I get crazy depressed, I want to have a visual reminder of how blessed I am. I am so blessed to have the gospel, my family, and this world to live in. I need to see it.

Why am I sharing this on my blog? Seem a little ostentatious? That,s not my intent...I share to keep myself in check. If its a secret, then I will easily find excuses to not fulfill my goal. I will be posting a small update, hopefully monthly, to help keep myself on task.

I've only been writing on my gratitude poster for 5 days now and it isn't to difficult so far. It is nice to already be thinking of things that I want to put on the poster tomorrow. Maybe this will change this heart after all.

What are you thankful for?

I invite you to keep a gratitude journal/poster/paper this year. Learn the blessings of being grateful with me.

Christmas eve and day

2012-01-01T20:19:00.005-07:00

On Christmas Eve we attend the community Christmas Program. Traditionally it is done by the city royalty. This year it was great!

The only thing missing was the reading of the Christmas story from the book of Luke. I don't know if it was an oversight, but it was notably missing.

Also missing was a smile from Mark when he went and saw the big red guy.

All smiles in their Christmas pj's!

Since it was Sunday, we attended church before opening gifts. I absolutly love having church on Christmas morning. I really wish that we would have church every year on Christmas like a lot of other religions do. Usually we sing just about every Christmas song you can think of, but my massive Christmas song book somehow ended up packed and placed into storage. so there is stayed.

The kids (and big kids) were all smiles on Christmas day.

This just says James ALL over it.

Luke has wanted this flag for as long as I can remember.

See the little fuseball table???? Oh yes it is much fun!

Ben with his slightly-to-big-jacket-thats-really-warm-and-cozy.

Cory and his porta-potty...hee hee hee

No pictures of me (oh darn!) but I was ELATED when my hubby got me a cheese making kit. YES! If the world ends in 2012, I will still have my cheese.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and the New Year is looking good!

Christmas Traditions..part three

2012-01-01T19:24:00.004-07:00

Luke is enrolled in the choir at his private school. He loves to sing.
This post is mostly for the relatives that wanted to come, but were unable to. Everyone else is just lucky. :-D

Luke is a gifted singer, as are ALL of my handsome boys.

Every Christmas the commonwealth choir has their Christmas Concert. In the past it has been held in various churches and community centers, but not this year.

His choir teacher is very talented. The commonwealth is very lucky to have her involved. She planned this special concert over a year ago to be held in the Tabernacle in St.George. Only a few choirs are given this opportunity, especially at Christmas time, but she pulled it off.

Luke has a solo at 2:56. :-)

Proud Grandma Sutton.

Even Cory got to come to this one!!

Cousin Mia Celeste and Conner with James. They were rocken out during the concert..in a good way.

Luke and one of his good friends Zach.

I love the choir! I can't want to see what they are able to accomplish this next semester.

Christmas Traditions ...part two

2011-12-29T15:41:00.004-07:00

Ok pardon the Christmas posts...after Christmas. Oh well.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is driving around looking at all of the Christmas lights. We usually do this on several outings. We love to drive around town and the town next door "judging" which ones are best. Here are a couple of our favorite..

This house had displays in their windows and all sorts of light displays. Winner! We loved it!

Our FAVORITE place to go look is at "the music house" as my kids have named it. Each year they place tons of lights and then synch it to music that we listen to on the radio. Each year seems to be better then the last. What I love most about the music house is the sheer delight in my little ones. They really think its magical. Mark cries out "CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!"repeatably and is just so excited about the lights. Ben still thinks it is magical as well. He will do just about anything to go and see the music house. The older two still enjoy the house, but they spend most of their time trying to figure out how it works and patterns with the lights. It amuses me. I still think the lights are magical. I look forward to my cup of hot chocolate and watching the twinkling lights in the dark sky.

Enjoy the lights...not just my kids arguing. :-) Mark is cute, when the bell rings, he declares "Ding! Ding!!" Ahh so cute!

I have always wanted to have my house lit up at Christmas time. However, I seem to find many more things to do. I am so grateful for those who put the lights on just for me and my kids to enjoy. Thanks!!!

At the temple..a poor picture but we had a great time.

Christmas Traditions...part one

2011-12-18T21:47:00.004-07:00

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is decorating gingerbread/graham cracker houses. The kids love any excuse to play with their food AND have it be candy they are playing with. Who wouldn't love that?!

The kids LOVE finding different ways to creatively place THE MOST candy on their "house". They they throughly enjoy eating their houses in the following days/the next day. --I am not a candy police, if they want to eat all of their candy in one day so be it. Its their tummy.--The older ones have learned this lesson and are pretty good with not eating it all in one setting.

Mark loved this tradition. After giving him his bowl of melted chocolate (aka the glue) and his cup of candy, he promptly dumped all of his candy into his bowl and declared "DONE!...Now I eat it!"

Ben had the most stress. His house tumbled over twice. Thank goodness Luke has had experience in this area of repairing the graham crackers and was able to save the day!! This insured a happy Ben at the end of the evening.

James is a skilled candy stacker. No cracker is unable to hold his placement of carefully balanced candy. If the world ends and grahm cracker houses must be built to save the world, James will be there and see it through to the end. No cracker is to small nor any amout of candy to many to accomplish his task.

Luke enjoys this creative process and is starting to venture out into the more functional, decorative realm of cracker houses. He is adding doors, different levels, and even gumdrop people.

As for me and my house? Well..I skip the graham crackers and just stick with chocolate houses.

Fall pictures

2011-11-04T22:35:00.017-06:00

Recently I begged and pleaded for a couple of friends of mine to take some pictures of my growing boys. My super awesome friends have much better picture taking skills then I do on my little ipod. Thank you amazing ladies!!

I inherited a whole bunch of large frames from a neighbor, that I wanted to use for the pictures and we went and bought A LOT of pumpkins for it. The largest pumpkin weighed in at 43 pounds and it was a BUGGER to get around. That is why I have boys though, I haven't had to life anything that heavy in a long time.

I am trying to create a Christmas card that I will pretend to mail out. I have the last 2 years of Christmas cards in my drawer collecting dust. In all of the cleaning for selling the house, you would think that I would have tossed them out, but nope, I still have them. Maybe I'll mail all three this year and everyone can see them grow up all at once.

Mark was fussy unless I let him hold my cell phone. I should have known that it would have caused a few problems.

But anyway...

Here are a few of the cute moments caught during our photo shoot.

I wonder if mom will notice if I answer just this one call...

James kinda looks like he should be on a psycho thriller movie...scary!

What do you want us to do with these frames Mom? You're weird!

Maybe this pumpkin will keep me warm!

Just let me answer this last text!

I've GOT to tell Brynlee about that bug on Ben's nose that he's trying to get off with his mouth. Some people are so immature.

James! Don't touch my phone!

What? We're going the wrong way?

Muuah!! For the cute girl across the room. Yeah I'm talking to you!

It was so much fun to get their pictures taken! I am so greatful to those who have more picture taking skills who share them with me!!

Retreat retreat!!

2011-10-24T18:48:00.007-06:00

Last year my sister and I organized and created the Southern Utah Fall Mom retreat. This year I WAS NOT going to do it. I was NEVER going to do all of that work again. It was insane.

Never say never. I should know that by now.

In August several people emailed me and then I was even cornered in a meeting about the need to do another retreat. All in one day.

HA! Nothing was going to change my mind. I had already learned so much at the last retreat that I didn't think that I could possibly recreate such a wonderful experience.

I didn't want to dismiss those around me who pleaded with me to organize another retreat, so I told everyone that I would pray about it. (I knew God was in my corner on this one....I felt safe..lol..)

HA! --ok that laugh was more of a thats-what-you-think-laugh.

As I prayed, the prompting came to me that there were experiences that need to occur for some moms, and I had the skills and knowledge that would bring this about. I learned that it wouldn't be the overwhelming growing experience for me, but that it was something that would be incredibly fulfilling as I serve moms who need this.

So...we did it!

Katy and I then plunged forward in rushing a plan for it. We sent out registration and began brainstorming a fantastic weekend. The theme that we planned around was LiberMom:Mother's Who Know.

But when the time came for the retreat, Katy had some family things come up and we both knew that she needed to stay home.

I was heartbroken!! A big motivator for me to organize the retreat was so that I could hang out with my cool sister. I knew it was the right thing for her to do, but it was still difficult for me.

Chicken Caesar salad...yumm yumm!!

The retreat was spectacular. It is always so refreshing to go up to the mountains and just BE. The speakers were guided by the spirit and spoke what was needed.

Heather giving her presentation.

It was not the life defining like last year, but I felt so fulfilled as I watched the other moms learn and grow. It gave me more of a desire to plan one for next year then I have ever felt. I am already thinking of ways to make next years retreat even more empowering to these amazing mothers. So I guess it was defining for me...just in a different way.

Funny, although it was geared for "homeschool" moms...homeschooling never really came up. It was mostly about having the relationships that you need to have with your children so that they will trust you enough to teach them. I think that is a universal principle. If you have a great relationship with your children, you can guide them to be strong sons and daughters of God.

Emily Clawson was our evening speaker. She was fantastic in following the spirit. It was funny how we were in sync so much. We had both planned to cover certain topics in our talks, it was great!! She took us on a vision walk, I am still processing what I learned. The big thing I learned was that I have a tendency to focus on my negative aspects and it is a distraction from the path that God has for me. It is keeping me from reaching my potential.

Shauna Bird Dunn..she has an AMAZING signature! It is a work of art. A very creative person. She is so creative in her presentations, and yet it still speaks right to your heart. Some truths are right in front of you and yet we seem to not see them. My strengths will help me overcome my weaknesses.

It was so delightful to meet so many wonderful women! There are some seriously awesome homeschooling moms out there! They are a serious inspiration to me!!

Heather Poll...what an amazing, genuine person. I am so blessed to know her. When she talks to you, she looks into your soul. She spills love right out of her eyes for everyone. This was taken about a half hour before we left, we had been cleaning up and I look a little haggled..lol..oh well.

She taught some wonderful things about being a great wife. How a "natural wife" is an enemy to God and how not to be a "natural wife." What kind of attitudes are not helping my marriage and some of the differences between men and women. It really brought a fresh perspective to me that I really needed. I really feel my marriage will be blessed.

We were up WAY to late. I think this was about 2:30 in the morning....we took a brief nap and were up and going at 6:30 to get breakfast ready. Crazy fun!!

The fantastic ladies that sweat right along side of me. LOVE these gals!

I am very grateful for this opportunity to have to do this. What a blessing it has been. Next year will be even better. We had a great pow-wow on the way home to make it even better.

If Katy will be there it will be better. That's all I need. Love you Katy!

What can happen in a week...

2011-10-16T16:01:00.006-06:00

A lot has happened this past week.

Almost 2 weeks ago I was helping clean out a house. The widower had finally passed away after living a rich, full life. A bittersweet reunion for the family as they clean out his house and go through his things. A project that must have been difficult on many levels.

As I helped sort books and gather picture frames that they were letting me have, it came up that they would be selling the house. I didn't think anything of it because it was a nice house that I had assumed that it was out of my price range. But, it turns out that it was indeed in our price range.

In the next few days we pondered and prayed and met with a realtor. In order to be able to purchase that house we had to sell this house.

Then we scurried to clean out the house to make it more sellable.

If you live somewhere for 10 years...one collects a lot of STUFF. And believe it or not, thankfully during the summer we did a huge purge.

Honestly, I was AMAZED at how quickly the stuff became just that....STUFF that really didn't mean anything.

Everyone had to help.

I think there is a little excitement with the prospect of living is a larger house. This little 1000 feet feels a little cramped...or rather..cozy at times.

I don't know if we will be able to purchase the house. Seriously, we feel that it is completely in the Lord's hands whether or not we get it. To sell our house before anyone buys that house is a stretch since it is an amazing house. If it happens...great! If not, then there will be something else out there for our family.

But for now the house is looking pretty nice!!

P.S. my blog...I can do a p.s. if I want.

I was going stop the blog post..but it really seamed superfluous.

I know a lot can change in a week. For us, this is a really simple change. I have a friend, who's brother in law tragically passed away this last week. He left behind a tiny brand new baby and sweet wife. Last Sunday my friend and I were joking together about the prospect of the house we had our eye on. And then this week I pondered how she was doing. Yesterday was his funeral, this week will be a different change for them. Their life will never be the same. My thoughts are with them. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. Life is always to short.

RAINN day 2011

2011-09-29T18:50:00.007-06:00

RAINN day was last week.

I have been delaying posting about it. On purpose.

RAINN stands for Rape, Assault, Incest, National Network. It is a national support group for those who have been raped etc. The website for more information is here.

To tell you the truth, RAINN day was a very difficult day for me. I am still processing the feelings that came up. Forgive me if I am too honest for you on this post. If you can't handle this topic...well...that's probably part of the problem.

Cory talking to the local media. See the report here.

Its been 16 years since I was sexually assaulted back in college.
The first three years I told one person and made that person swear not to tell anyone. I then, believe it or not, convinced myself that it didn't happen. Its hard for me to believe that I actually felt I had "forgotten" it. Looking back there were so many signs and signals that I was giving off.
This is me a couple of months later..I changed everything about me. My hair. How I dressed. Everything. Because I had convinced myself that it didn't happen, I repressed it, I didn't know why I felt so driven to change myself. Now I understand.

Last year I left RAINN day feeling empowered. I felt my burden had been lifted. I felt as if I was on the right track doing the right things.

On the lawn was a percentage of the students at Dixie College that, according to National Statisitcs, have been or will be raped or assaulted in their lifetime.

This year I felt trapped inside my own anxiety. I couldn't speak. At all. I couldn't talk to the students, I opted out of speaking to the press, and I couldn't even say a word as we passed out ribbons. Nothing. Nada. Silent. Just like "he" would have preferred. He threatened me if I ever spoke out about it. This year I felt like I let him win.

Fail.

I found myself contemplating my feelings as we walked around and handed out ribbons. Why was I feeling this much anxiety? Why couldn't I get the stress under control? Why couldn't I release it like I have so many times?

Was I doing something wrong?

Was I not suppose to do this anymore?

I had never questioned myself on whether or not I should be a voice for sexual assault victims. I always knew that it was part of my path in life. That it was something I needed to do. Did I not need to do it anymore? Life is SO much easier when I don't have it on my mind. Or when I am not surrounded by people who are telling their stories of survival. Or when I don't have to dwell on the fact that in Utah 1 in 4 girls will be sexually assaulted or raped.

I don't have this much anxiety all of the time. Recently is has only been when certain things have triggered it. Like RAINN day. It is all encompassing. It is a real feeling, not something that I pretend or imagine. The only way I can describe the anxiety on these bad days would be to imagine a loved one and then think of how you would feel if you thought something was wrong. That their safely was in danger but you didn't know. That is almost how I feel. It makes me sick to my stomach, my heart beats really fast, my body freezes up, its hard to think, and I could puke. (lovely thought I know!)

I am so grateful that I don't have that many bad days anymore. There was a time that I would feel this way for days and days. I would stay on my bed frozen. Afraid. Distressed that "he" would find out that I had told someone. Discouraged that I would always feel that way. Panicked that I couldn't get the images out of my head. The smell of his cologne. That cold knife. I hate that knife.

Looking back on RAINN day I can see how I was allowing myself to slip in an unempowered state. I didn't allow myself to speak my story, which strangely enough really helps me. I didn't prepare my mind by running in my head the things that I would be saying. I had been having a lot of really good days and I didn't think I would be affected. I assumed that I wouldn't have any problems. Which, of course, was absurd.

It took me days to get over the RAINN day funk. I am still processing the questions that came up. I've never considered it a choice I needed to make. I don't have to do this. I don't have to speak out for raped victims. It doesn't have to be my voice.

The day after RAINN day I attended a constitutional rally of sorts. It was held at our local commonwealth that Luke attends. Funny thought, the only things I was hearing all evening was "The hard things can be the great things..."the hard things are worth it".."if we don't do the difficult things then who will?" and all sorts of other inspiring words. It didn't give me comfort. It was as if the Lord was sending me all of these little tender mercies to help my confused heart but it just made me want to cry instead.

My saga continues. In my heart I know I need to be an active voice in the fight against sexuall assault. I have so many things I want to say. Things that I can hear myself saying to the youth about it.

I can't have fear in the way anymore. I have no room for fear with what my Heavenly Father wants me to accomplish in my life.

Find the courage.

Find my voice.

>deep breath<

Don't be afraid.

Frugal Smiles

2011-09-10T22:34:00.004-06:00

Everybody knows that I am "creative in my frugality." (Thank you Janine Bolon I will be forever in your debt for that phrase...LOVE IT!)

Ever since the boys traveled up to Idaho and spent a week with their Grandpa (who is a REAL cowboy according to James...even though Grandpa no longer has cows or rides horses..no matter) James has desired a REAL cowboy hat. Like Grandpas. Whenever we would go to IFA to purchase chicken feed, James would just about purr over the hats. He would pet them, try them on, and linger at the hat rack for FAR to long. Knowing that the prices of the hats were well above our range of available funds, he knew that it would be a while before he was able to have "His hat."

We started looking at other options. When we would go to yard sales and to the Deseret Industries he would look for a hat. Usually they would still be to expensive or to small.

Insert James's sad face that is so hard for mom to see.

Well, after a few months of searching, while I was pursuing the used books at the DI, I noticed a cowboy hat in the baseball caps-not where they are usually kept. After close inspection, I knew James would love the hat.

And he did!!! The smiles lasted for days as he wore his hat whenever he was awake. Granted its only been a couple of weeks since we purchased it, but he still wears it all the time.

The best part? Well besides James' huge grin, it was the price of $1.50.
Yee-Haw!

Chicken Whisperer part 2

2011-08-27T17:47:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, my little Ben loves the chickens. He has daily conversations with the chickens and just adores them.

Recently Ben came home from church excited to tell me about what he had learned that day. We had two chickens that had sadly died tragically in the weeks before. Ben was greatly affected by the death of these two birds. When we were sitting on the swing in the yard that Sunday evening, he said "Mom, those two chickens are up with Jesus. Jesus is taking care of them now. That is what my teacher told me." Ah how sweet. I don't know the situation with the souls of our chickens, but if that is how Ben feels, then maybe it is. Ben was very content and happy with the thought.

About four days later Ben comes running into the house. He was so excited to show me a frog that he had found. It was a large frog that I encouraged him to keep outside so that it could eat lots of bugs and be a happy frog. I warned Ben to not let it loose near the chickens since the chickens would peck it and it would die. Ben said he would be careful and guard the little frog from the chickens.

A few hours later he comes running in the house in full tears and a complete panic.

"MOM!!! The chickens ate my frog! The chickens ate my frog!!!"

Oh my. What do you say to a little boy who loves his chickens and loves his frog that is now gone.
While I comforted Ben, I sent the older boys outside and they discovered that there was no evidence of the frog being in the chicken coop. And trust me, there would have been evidence of a frog attack. But there was not a trace of any fowl activity. (sorry bad joke...couldn't help myself...Cory would be proud.)

"Ben" I started "I think the frog hopped away and is hiding. I think he will be ok"

"No. He's gone." His face was so forlorn. So solemn. "Mom, I need to talk to Jesus about this. Right now!" And before I could encourage him to go and kneel by his bed, he had dropped to his knees in fervent prayer. So I quietly left the room and left him to his prayer.

After a long moment later he came into my room. He was once again full of peace and he had a small smile on his face.

"Mom, Jesus will send me another frog to play with. It will be ok." I was so relieved that he was once again my happy Ben.

"Oh how nice Ben! I bet a frog will come out this evening when it cools down outside."
"Yeah probably."
"And your frog is probably with Jesus just like your teacher said. "

It was at that instant that a huge panic came over his face.

"BUT MOM!! THOSE OTHER TWO CHICKENS WILL PECK AT IT!!!!!"

It was all I could do to not laugh. Thankfully I convinced him that Jesus probably had a pocket to keep his frog safe and that it really would be ok.

That evening a frog arrived for Ben to play with..it looked a lot like the last frog he had. Ben still loves the chickens. And I am so thankful that my little boy's prayers are important enough that the guy upstairs will answer them and bring my little Ben the peace he needs.

The Chicken Whisperer

2011-08-15T22:31:00.005-06:00

Meet the newest inhabitants to our little plot of land... YES it CHICKENS!!

Or as Mark calls them "Chee-eeens!!"

Some friends of Cory were unable to have their chickens any more, and so we happily adopted them. We also purchased a few from a friend who had raised them from egg.

It was quite a challenge to get the chickens here, and their coop, but it has been very worth it. The boys have had some great learning experiences with them. It took us about a month to get the chicken coop (yes that is my old garden!!...so glad its getting some use!) how we wanted it to be. First the sides weren't to high and the chickens kept flying over it....which is NOT helpful in keeping the neighborhood dogs OUT of our yard. So we made the walls higher and then added a wire roof. The boys are also in charge of cleaning the coop. It could be their new favorite job!!..ok maybe not.

The boys LOVE getting the eggs. Its like an Easter Egg hunt every day!! The nine chickens are producing about 7 eggs a day, and the kids are loving them! We have been known to have scrambled eggs for breakfast AND dinner--ok that only happened when the older boys went backpacking but it was GREAT! Mark and Ben were in egg heaven!

Ben has discovered a special gift with the chickens. He has become their Chicken Whisperer. When he comes out to the coop, he calls the chickens "Come'ere my little chickens!" and then he tells them stories, tells them what good chickens they are, and tells them to lay eggs like a good chicken. He hasn't always been this way, at first he terrified the chickens....and was partially responsible for the death of one chicken. But, alas, he has changed his ways and has started to love the chickens. When ever a dog comes into the yard he is the protector and runs out to tell the dog to "Leave now!"

The chickens love him in return. They follow him around the coop as if he has a special treat for them. Which he does many times of course.

Who knew chickens could bring out Ben's soft side! Yeah Ben!

Backpacking Adventure!

2011-08-01T10:49:00.010-06:00

.
James and his backpack! Yeah James!!

Recently Cory took Luke and James on their first backpacking trip. Last spring at the TJed Forum we listened to Nels Jensen spoke about the power of an outdoor adventure and so we decided to give it a whirl. But I pretty much chickened out on going. Yep..I am a big CHICKEN! I did go camping this year and that was a big step for me. I do love camping, but its been a while since we've gone. Having little kidos in an uncontained amount of area is really intimidating to me. Our house is only 1000 feet--so there is only so many places they can hide. Unlike the wide open spaces of the mountains, there are many many places that they can get to much faster then me! But I digress....

On a brief rest on their way up the mountain.

When Cory was younger, his Dad took him on a backpacking trip in the mountains east of Fillmore. There is a story from Cory's uncle about gold buried in the mountains just east of Fillmore. Legend has it that some Spaniards hid some old gold coins in a cave while they were fleeing from some Englishmen. Because the gold was cursed, when they went back to retrieve it, they couldn't locate it. Later some kids found some gold coins in a cave, they brought a few gold coins to show their parents but when they went back to the cave, they couldn't locate it. (Ok the cursed part is debatable but it sounds like something Uncle Lawrence would say, the story changes a little with time.) In the story, Uncle Lawrence Oliphant went with his two buddies to locate the gold. The three of them went down some shafts they believed to be close to the gold, however the machine that was there to refresh the air malfunctioned and they quickly ran out of air. Two of them were able to get out of the mine -however they do not remember how they got out. They just found themselves at the top of the mine passed out. Their third friend died in the mine and it was days before they were able to retrieve him.

When Cory's dad -Alan took him to locate the same gold. They found some old mines but when they saw the cave they believed to be THE CAVE, Alan ended up twisting his ankle and they were unable to continue. So they were unable to reach the gold also.

Now to me, the mine is sounding like the NOT the best place to hang out.

But off they went!

For three days they backpacked, explored, and camped. They found a nice little campground that I believe would be for horses. It was set up with picnic tables, fire pit, chopped wood, benches, and it was near the river! To fun! They even used the little portable cooking tuna cans that they made a week or so prior to cook their pancakes. Since they used old candles, they said that the pancakes had a distinct flowery smell.

The amazing pocket chair. What more can be said.

Here is James pumping water from the river for drinking. It was a wee amount of work..lol..

Gotta love MREs!

THE campsite.

With all of the exploring they did not find the mines. Cory thinks they were over a mountain to far. But they hiked some grand mountains and had some spectacular views!
Cory said it best..."We had a great time."

Pick-a-little-talk-a-little

2011-07-27T20:35:00.005-06:00

When we bought our house ten years ago, I was elated to have a variety of fruit trees. We had a plum, 3 peach, apple, necterine, and we planted a pomegranite bush. Two of the peach trees (including the white peach tree) was infested in bugs and only lived for a year. We ended up burning the trees out and putting the garden in that area. The necterine has been a weak tree and has refused to produce anything of worth and the pomegranite, although 5 years old, it has yet to grow any bigger. The apple tree also only produces a handful of blossoms and apples. Each year I say that I'm going to take out the necterine tree, but the blossems are so bright pink and pretty, that I just can't do it. I keep praying for the apple and pomegranite to step it up, or they are going to end up in the fire pit as well.

All of that sounds really sad!!

Thankfully the plum tree and peach tree have made up for the lack of success with the other trees.

This past weekend was picking time! Luke and James were priveliged enough to pick ALL of the fruit. My boys are so great to help me with the canning. Last month we picked 50 pounds of cherries at a local farm and my boys pitted them all!!! Now we all enjoy our fabulous cherry pie filling.

But first, another side story. When James was 3 we had lived in the house for about a year and a half. I peaked out the window one day and saw his little feet dangling off of the roof! I come out and ask him what in the world was he doing!? He replied that he was getting his toy.

So you can imagine how I *laughed* when I came outside and saw James sitting on the roof picking the plums. >sigh< He was even in the same place.

So they picked and picked and picked!! And picked me 46 pounds of plums!!! It was AWESOME! I was so delighted! James then became out official plum cutter and Luke set off to pick the peaches.--He ended up picking almost 20 luscious pounds!

The next day we were able to make 37 pints of plum jam, peach jam and peach-plum jam-plus we froze some peaches. The jam even turned out nice!! (Unlike my last batch of raspberry jam that I over cooked and is so thick that you can't even spread it...such a waste of raspberries. ) We had a great time together! We listened to The Beyonders and had some great conversations about just about everything as we cut, blanched, mashed, sanitized, bottled, and more. Great memories...at least for me anyway.

If the world ends, I will have enough jam to trade for ANYTHING! I do wish that we could bottle when it wasn't so blasting hot. Seriously! Its 108* outside and I have all of my stove burners on high! I am so thankful for fans! We did save enough plums to snack on (although, after all the plum work, none of us are really in the mood to eat any.)

Apples are next. I can't wait!! Even though I end up purchasing apples from local farmers, I love making applesauce and pie filling with my boys. Ohh and I can't wait for pomegranates!! If anyone knows of any bright red pomegranate bushes (the super sour pomegranates) that I can pick in late Sept. or so, I will happily come and pick them (I will bring my boys too) and then we will bring you some pomegranate jelly! BEST JELLY EVER!

I feel very fulfilled when I do my various bottling. It is a great feeling to do this work with my family. Hooray for work!

Camping project

2011-07-10T19:05:00.004-06:00

July is the month designated for campouts it seems like. Both James and Luke have scout troup campouts and then Cory is taking them on a backpacking trip in Fillmore.

The boys LOVE camping and are very excited to go for a few days in the mountain with just "the guys."

To prepare for their campout they are making portable fuel cans. This way they will be able to cook their food no matter where they are. The left overs we will put in our 72 hour kids.

They are super easy to make.

You need empty tuna, clean, tuna cans (or that size anyway)
cardboard, and wax -we use old candles.

Take your cardboard and cut it into a one inch long strip, coil it up tights and place it in the can.-this is your wick Pull the center of the wick out a few inches so that you can light it easily. Then melt your old candles or you can use paraffin wax from the grocery store. Pour the wax, but not the end of the wick that is sticking out, and starting from the center spiral around until you reach the outside of the can. Let the wax completely cool and then you're set!

They work just like a sterno can but cheaper. They would be great to have on hand in case of an emergency

Happy camping boys!!
I will be doing my OWN projects while you're gone!!! bwaahaahaa!!

Luke's smile!

2011-07-07T10:23:00.003-06:00

Luke has an amazing smile!
I love love LOVE his smile. However, it has always been a challenge for him to smile. He has had challenges with his teeth for the past 5 years.

For starters his front baby teeth never came out. When he was 10 they were pulled out so that his adult teeth could come in....which they never did. He had no two front teeth for more than 2 years. He never complained and was so positive about it.

When he was 12 he had braces put on when one front tooth was finally starting to come down.

*WARNING IF YOU'RE SQUEEMISH**

He then had his front teeth cut out of his gums and forced down. Luke was so nervous for this to happen, but he did great! I think he was just so happy to FINALLY have front teeth.

For two years I didn't even have to remind him more than twice to wear his elastics!--ok maybe it was because every time I asked him and he didn't have them on, he had to pay me $5 but I digress....

So now, after 2 years of braces, Luke has a BEAUTIFUL smile! It was worth every penny for the confidence of his smile.

His teeth worries aren't done yet since it was discovered when the braces were put on, that he has a third set of front teeth and his adult molars are growing in sideways and are jammed into his other teeth. But those worries are for another day because today Luke is to SMILE!

Me? A guest blogger?

2011-07-01T17:44:00.003-06:00

Recently I was asked to be a guest blogger at one of my favorite homeschooling sites. To say I was SHOCKED! is an understatement. I had the thoughts going through my head of "What in the world could I say about teaching science that would be beneficial to anyone!...Isn't everyone doing this already?" It was a lot of fun to rack my brain and to figure out how I had taught science to my boys, especially since I did very poorly in my science classes when I was young. I figured out that I was using the same process that I use with reading.

And holy cow, guest blogging is STRESSFUL!! At least it was my first time! Yikes! I tend to over-analyze..well..just about everything, and this wasn't any different. I even drempt about this stinking paper! Ha! But like everything else, the first time was the hardest and I think I might write another one for her. :-D

Thank you for this experience Mary Ann!
Happy day!!

Go check me out over at:
The Home-School Coach!!!

Little Britches Simulation

2011-06-27T22:32:00.006-06:00

Full moon over the Teton Mountains with storm clouds. I love Idaho!

"If (a man) tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn't do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth."

If you have ever read the book Little Britches:Father and I were Ranchers by Ralph Moody, then you will be familiar with the character house. My favorite part of the book! If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it.

It isn't a book that will leave you riveted like a lot of popular books. No vampires or zombies, no corrupt politicians, no drugs, no scandals and YES it is a great book! It is a simple story about a boy, Ralph, and him coming of age with his Father. They live during hard times on a farm in Colorado. In short, they work hard, work together, and find lots of life's lessons everyday. Little Britches is similar to "Little House on the Prairie" but for boys.

I am blessed with some fabulous parents that live on some acreage in Idaho. It is beautiful farm land that I would LOVE to live at. My Dad asked if he could have my boys for a week to do some "farm work." I almost jumped out of my skin with excitement!! Their own Little Britches simulation!

I have great memories of my childhood digging fence posts, branding cows, birthing (well helping) cows, feeding cows and riding in the tractor. I remember staying outside until the stars came out, helping in the garden, and more cow care. At the time I wasn't a fan. I drempt of living in the city with lots of people and a large variety of things to do. However, now I dream of living that kind of life again.

Feeding the calves when I was about 7. I can still smell the milk. And don't feed the calves with your good shoes!! Lessons that I understand now.

When the opportunity for my boys to have a slice of that experience I was ecstatic! My dad is so much like Charles Moody. He is gentle, patient, and knows how to teach boys. Granted, after a while with the kids he is ready for a break....just like me. I couldn't ask for a better Grandpa for my kids.

James giving me a ride on the four wheeler to see "their fence."

So off Luke and James go to Grandpa's house to work on the farm. And I missed them so much!
When we arrived in Idaho a week later, there was a noticeable change in my boys. They were so excited to take me to the fence that they had worked so hard to make. Both boys talked about what a great feeling of accomplishment they felt. They showed me their blisters, their working gloves (that they still use!) and their newly acquired farmers' tan. Their visual representation of their sweat was PRICELESS!!

I have learned a few lessons about my boys with this experience. First, the importance of hard work for my boys. Hard, physical work. Next, they really love the feeling of accomplishment and being able to SEE what they have done. And finally, they love the creating process that is found in a farm setting.

Once I figured out those 3 lessons I have really tried to incorporate them more into our family and the experience has been very powerful. But I'll write about that next time.

Did I mention that they have the best places to play hide and seek? Just ask Mark.

Who's that?!?!

2011-06-26T15:24:00.006-06:00

While we were driving to Salt Lake City we noticed a billboard with someone familiar on it...

You can click on the picture for a closer look, but we thought it was an uncannily resemblance to our Ben!!

Time for camping!

2011-06-15T00:23:00.007-06:00

We recently took our first camping adventure as a family. The boys go so much more with their scout group, so it was nice to have the family all together in nature.

Luke is in that be tree right next to Cory's head....somewhere. I could see him when I took the picture, but I don't see him now. The arrow is pointing to him, you may need a magnifying glass to actually see him.

Yes its a picture of me..Ben was on camera duty. I love camping! Being in nature rejuvenates me and I love it! Next time that we go camping I want to be further away from everyone else. We had to be much to friendly with everyone.

Mark was OBSESSED with getting into the van. He wanted to open the doors and climb inside his own little playpen. It drove Cory NUTS!

The boys got some good time on their blow dart guns. No worries, the squirrels were quite safe.

Luke was sawing wood...a lot...it was good for him. Even if we ended up leaving a lot of the wood there for the next camper.

James was STOKED about carving up some wood. We started a nice large stick to make into a large spoon for our 5 gallon cooler.

We tried to make cookies in a solar oven but it wasn't sunny enough. We ended up cooking them over the fire..they were....ashy.

And James is awesome.

Love being with my family.

99

2011-05-19T21:42:00.003-06:00

Recently at church in Sunday School we had a lesson with parables. I LOVE parables! I look for them all the time. I even write my own parables with lessons that I have learned in my life. (Someday I will have to share my parable about the quilt that I never finished because I kept doing it wrong…it was very profound for me. ..seriously, a quilt!)

I have often thought about the parable of the Shepherd and the 99. That the shepherd will go after the wandering sheep that has lost its way. It always bothered me. Why go after the stupid sheep that obviously weren’t smart enough to stay where it was suppose to. Survival of the fittest right?!? Those other sheep that did what they were told deserved to be with the Shepherd. Right?

My favorite parable EVER is of the prodigal son. I think that is why I love the story of A Christmas Carol, the story is a beautiful example of it never being to late to see the goodness in others. I can’t wait for the holiday season so that I can watch my various selections of the film A Christmas Carol. I pretty much watch one just about everyday. Plus we read it together and I listen to it on audio. Yep..I love that story…

The other day we were watching and episode of BBC’s Planet Earth and these two parables came face to face with me. Yep, I was getting inspiration while watching the animals in the grassland. Its never conventional for me is it?!

The particular part was about this massive migration of caribou (I call them Santa’s reindeer but apparently they are different). A wolf was also looking for some dinner. The herd was the obvious place to find its next meal. The wolf proceeded to go after a deer/caribou. The narrator then proceeded to talk about how the wolf wanted to get one of the weaker deer/caribous separated from the herd because it would be easier to conquer without the protection of the others.

DING DING DING! Did you get that?

When we are away from the herd, we are weaker and more likely to get ourselves caught by a wolf, or by Satan at least. Satan is trying to get us away from the herd since we will not be as safe and will most likely fall.

I love this picture. When a lamb wanders off, the shepherd will go anywhere to save it. They are the ones that are found in the most danger.

So if we are the deer, and Satan is the wolf, then what is the herd in the parable? Well…if could be family, or church but ultimately I believe it is the Savior. Can we be any safer in the Shepherd’s arms?

Which brought me to the original parable. I felt as if water was being splashed on my face when I realized that the Savior was going after the lost sheep and leaving the herd because that was when the lamb was in the most danger.

(I wish you could hear the bells going off in my head…you don’t get quite the same effect reading them....)

WHAM!

That was when I realized that I am the lost sheep. I have never placed myself in that position of the parable. I always assumed that the Savior was going after the "big time" sinners. Not so much the ones that were trying to follow him. ( I have SO much to learn.)

I am the prodigal child that the savior has gone out to save. I am Ebenezer who has only realized partially of what I have been blind to. The Savior will continue to rescue me to the safety of the herd and I will do my best to not to wiggle out of his arms. I still need saved from my sins. My shepherd will save me.

Not only that, but he is doing the same for you. He is doing it for all of us. He is waiting to hold us in his arms and carry us to safety if we just let him.

I wonder what I’ll learn next week in Sunday School….

Why I hate Mother's day.

2011-05-08T23:32:00.005-06:00

Ahh Mother’s Day. The day that everyone takes a moment to say wonderful beautiful things about their mom. Today on facebook I saw the following comments

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms out there!!!”

Happy Mothers Day to all you beautiful Mothers!

☼ ♥ If you have an amazing MOTHER, put this as your status♥ ☼

(Let it be said that although I did not make a similar post, I love my mom TONS! She is amazing!)! It is obvious that people love their mothers’ and love mother’s day. Mother’s love the breakfast in bed with the freshly squeezed juice, the homemade card, the house delightfully clean with not a dirty dish in sight . All mothers love spending the day relaxing in the sun, reading a favorite book, not changing any diapers, and their feet are massaged all day long. Ahhh…I love those days.

Actually, today I confessed something to Cory. I hate Mother’s day. Well “hate” may be a too strong of a word. Perhaps its just a bitter feeling that I have. Why do I feel this way?? I think I figured it out.

For years I have dreaded mother’s day. When it was approaching, the advertising would drive me insane! In my pre-mom years, I was a florist. Mother’s day was THE MOTHER of flower days. The people would call and have us select, arrange, and deliver their vases of love to their mothers. Some of them would comment about the obligation of doing something for their mother, others would specifically have flowers sent to their mother so that they wouldn’t have to approach or call them themselves. Gah. It wasn’t always a loving atmosphere. Now, the day has become so hyped up that I don’t know how any mom can survive the day without a myriad of guilt for expecting but not receiving THE perfect Hallmark day as described above.

Oh wait. You didn’t have a foot massage all day either? Were you one of the lucky mom’s that didn’t have to wash the dishes tonight? Did this lack of a perfect day for such a hard working mom, such as yourself, cause any tension in the household?

THAT is why I don’t like Mother’s day. Those feelings do nothing to improve the relationships in any family.

Mother’s day was created by a few different people. One was Julia Howe, she was a pacifist that wanted to organize the mothers to stop war. The other one was Ann Jarvis who wanted to organize the mothers to improve sanitary and health conditions. Interestingly, Ann’s daughter Anna, was the one who was able to make it an official holiday. Then, later in life, she became its biggest opponent saying that it had become to commercialized and just a reason to sell cards. She even said she regretted lobbying for the holiday.

Then, the kingpin himself, Pres. Wilson declared it a holiday in 1914. When I learned that President Wilson was behind mother’s day I KNEW there was something wrong with it. Pres. Wilson did so much against the constitution that anything he touched with his signature had the prowess of destroying the country someday. A little to strong of an opinion? Umm…nope. So what was his motivation behind mother’s day? Some sources say that he originally declared Mother’s Day to recognize the mother’s whose sons were lost at war. Perhaps that was his motivation. I really don’t know. His wife had been sick at the time and passed away shortly after the declaration, perhaps that was his motivation. I do know that all of the other policy he passed and declared, have been under the view that "the U.S. Constitution prevents the government from meeting the country's needs by enumerating rights that the government may not infringe." ... in other words, you are not smart enough to make the decisions to take care of yourself, you need the government to do that for you and the constitution is in the way! (Sorry everyone! This was not suppose to be a rant on Pres. Wison.) I’m just saying, that according to the pattern he had set with his other policies, there is a good chance that he used the same motivation with this one. Was he saying that we don’t appreciate our mothers and so we need a gov’t holiday to do it? idk…do you appreciate your mom on other days besides the one issued by the gov’t?

Today for mother’s day I was not home with my kids. We were at my sister’s house far far away enjoying their company and my parents. It was a blast!! Her home is always one of my favorite places to go. As we were there, I don’t think any of my kids remembered it was Mother’s day as none of them said anything to me concerning it. They were having fun with their cousins and then they were being whisked off to my parents farm for a week.

I was sitting in church trying to justify myself for being grumpy over the lack of Mother’s day spirit around me. Where were the trumpets as I walked? Where were the cascades of flower petals that shouted to the world how great of a mother I am? Where is the chocolate, the fancy dinners, and the shouts of praise from my family??? As I was pondering, a great realization came over me. My boys and my husband have made me breakfast in bed at least once a month over the past year. They have massaged my feet endless times. They have made me homemade cards that tell me how much they love me. They have given me the best hugs. They have even washed the dishes without being told. So why would I be upset if it didn’t happen today? Does that mean that they love me less? Heck no. Why do I need a government holiday to dictate when my boys can express their love for their mom and why do I need commercials to tell me how my boys can express their love???

Is it nice to be remembered and recognized on Mother’s day? Of course, but that doesn’t define the only time that we should remember our mothers. I have been wondering how it would be different without a holiday for mothers. Would it be like when we take care of the sick and afflicted? When they need something, we help them, take care of their needs, and not wait to be told when and how to do it?

On Christmas we think of the Savior and his life, is this the only day we think of him? If it is, then you are missing out on so many blessings. It is the same with Mother’s day. If you only think of doing nice things for your mom on mother’s day, or are just facebooking your Mother’s day message to her, you are missing out.

Is this an entry of a embittered mom who didn’t get all she wanted for Mother’s day? Ha! No way! I am one of the lucky ones who get bits and pieces of Mother’s day all throughout the year.

Twelfth Night

2011-04-17T12:13:00.003-06:00

Cast picture.

For the past two year I have been a mentor for the local commonwealth. I have loved it! I have grown so much as a person and have probably learned more than the scholars. As the cherry on top of our two semesters of studying Shakespeare, we performed the play Twelfth Night.(yes that was an interesting play to edit to an appropriate script!!!) You may remember that last year we performed Comedy of Errors. What an experience!! I love watching professionals perform Shakespeare, but there is something magical when 12 and 13 year olds perform and understand it. They did such a great job!

Malvolio with his yellow stocking in confinement for going crazy!

Luke was Duke Orsinio.
Which thankfully, although a main character, was a lot smaller than last year's play.

When the Duke decides to love Viola who has been secretly serving him as a man.

Luke's studies have increased a lot this year and a larger part might have been a detriment. Luke had to play the romantic role. And although he didn't have as many lines, it was a BIG STRETCH for him to act romantic and in love.

The Duke Orsinio expressing his love for Olivia!!

It was very interesting to cast the play. I was the director and a good friend of mine, Kalleen, was the producer. When we sat down after auditions, we immediately felt the weight of the play. We have been trained that the play isn't about the "play." Its about the scholars experience. They learn and grow so much and those things are more important than the performance of the play. I love watching the scholars' self esteem grow and their confidence soar!! One of the students who received a larger part was so overwhelmed. He struggled memorizing the 13 line soliloquy in the previous semester. He was faced with memorizing well over 100 lines. He struggled at first, but then something clicked and the lines just flowed out of him. When it was time for opening night, he was nervous but he did great! Each performance after that he did better and better. It was very inspiring to me. To watch him dig deep and find the courage to take the part and not to quit was so great! What a great example to me of "doing hard things."

The Duke Orsinio looking for Olivia, he solicits Feste's help to fetch her from the house.

Several other students would hardly whisper in class. At first I didn't even think they would go on stage! But they did! And they said their lines and gave a great big smile after conquering this fear in them.

BIG thanks for those who came and watched!! It meant so much!! Especially my sister who traveled so far to watch with her Key of Liberty class. Katy you're the best!!

Sigh. But now it is over. Sniff. And I am not mentoring the class next year as I have other things I need to focus on. Sniff sniff. I will miss these amazing scholars!!! I know I will see them at times, but it won't be the same. I am not the same as I was when I began mentoring. I am changed. What a great feeling!

I am anxious to discover our next adventure! I'll let you know what it is....as soon as i figure it out. :-)

Happy day!

First 5k

2011-03-31T00:09:00.005-06:00

I know that I am not a skinny chick (well yet anyway.) I have struggled with my fluffy volume of a body for the last half of my life. When I was in high school I was in the school beauty pagent "Jr.Miss." At the time I didn't think I was FAT, I had self doubts about myself but overall I thought I was ok. Well, the gal that was doing the costumes told me that I was to fat for the outfits that they had selected for one of the numbers. That they were going to have to take two costumes and sew them together to make the one costume for me. I'm sure she meant well when she told me these things, but it didn't help my self talk. It obviously made an impact on me since I still remember it so vividly. I even remember were we were when we had the conversation. However, I didn't really start gaining a lot of weight until I opened up about the assault a few years later. Food then became (and still is) a drug to me.

This is me at the Jr.Miss pageant thing. My mom made that dress! I loved it!

So it may be a little random that I decided to run my first 5k for my 35th birthday. I wanted to do something memorable that I had never done before and this is what I thought would be fun...lol..I have so much to learn....

Ok granted I did not run the entire thing, I think I ran about half of it and quickly walked the rest. The race was sponsored by the Biggest Loser show .I love Biggest Loser! I tend to watch it with a big bag of chocolate as I lay on my bed. I know I know...not the inspiration that the show really intended. I did not prepare as much as I wanted to. I have a bazillion excuses for why I didn't run as much as I should have, but they are all excuses. I let other things become a priority for the hard work necessary to run the complete 5k. I hope to try again in November.

When the race started there was a lot of energy! It felt like electricity was pulsing through the crowd. It was wet, cold, windy, and not very pleasant conditions for running a 5k, but that didn't stop the crowd from getting really excited.

If you look closely you can see all of the former contestants. The one in pink is Sarah Nitta and she still in the competition. I met her briefly after the race and she was so sweet and nice. She looked great!

Note to self: I naively assumed that since we were all going to be running a race, exercising, and getting all sweaty (in the rain no less!)that people would be dressed comfortably and most likely what one would exercise in. Nope. WRONG! Please remember that I have never participated in a race nor have I ever watched a race so I had no idea what I was getting into. The people were completely decked out! Some had tutus on, some had crazy hair, I ran behind a gal for a while that had this bright pink jacket with tons of sequins on it that said "Think Pink!" It was insane!! I showed up very low key, very little make-up, no costume, and ready to go!...I did not realize that the 5k was an excuse to party with your exercising buddies. Too fun!

The most profound moment during the race was when I saw my family waiting for me at the top of the hill. They jumped up and down, cheered, and gave me a boost of happy energy. As soon as I saw them I immediately started running again even though I thought I had ran the last little bit out of me. My family got me through the most difficult part of the race, when I wanted to walk-really-really-slow-to-the-car-in-the-parking-lot-that-we-were-running-in, they were there to remind me what my goal was.

Cory joined me for the last lap of the race. He had Mark in his arms and was walking...while I was running. I guess I'm not that fast of a runner..lol..but I loved having him with me while I bobbed along. Maybe I can get him to run with me in November (or maybe I can get that old man from the race who was pushing his wife in a wheelchair and sailed past me.....no really that happened.)

There were some of the Biggest Loser previous cast there running with us. They gave us all high 5's and yelled "you can do it!" whenever they would run past us. I was able to get Ada's and Adam's autograph on my wet shirt (very awkward moment....please sign my wet sweaty shirt!!).

Anyway, I had a blast and I hope to do something like this again. My journey with my weight continues. I know my family will be there for me when I feel like I can't reach my goals or want to quit, just like they were there for me at the race.
Thanks everyone!
Have a happy day!

THIS AND THAT

2011-03-22T13:07:00.005-06:00

Yes you guessed it!! It is time to play blog-catch-up-with-a-modge-podge-of-pictures!!!! Hooray!!

Silly Ben on a car ride with his dad and Grandpa Sutton. He loves being silly!!

This past weekend Cory, Luke and myself went to the TJED forum. I LOVE going to it each year. As one who teaches at home, I love attending and being around people who do the same thing. It is very empowering for me. I loved catching up with friends that I hadn't seen in a while and I loved soaking in the knowledge that was given. My favorite classes were about how to teach history and then another one about physics and science. Very cool stuff!!

The opening speaker was the CEO of the Arbinger institute. If you haven't ever read their books, I HIGHLY recommend all of them. (Their website has many articles that are available for free to download and read.) We arrived nice and early so we could sit in the front. It was so worth it! I had heard the principles taught before, but after a while, I started receiving some nice personal insights.

These are the kids that we were able to hang out with! Nate, Luke and Emma were a blast! Emma drove up with us and Nate joined us there.

Cory, Luke and myself gave a presentation to the love of learner's center. We did all sorts of fun science things with a balloon. Luke did his famous display of putting a balloon in fire without having it pop, and stabbing a skewer inside a balloon without it popping. I did some static electricity experiments with a soda can and made all of their hair (and mine) stand on end. Then Cory stood on top of a bunch of balloons without them popping. The kids were SO attentive! Most kids start losing their interest after about 10-15 minutes, but these kids were focused and engaged for the full hour we were there. I was so impressed!!

This is before we started, they were a little excited. There was a lot of energy in that room!

This is the day after we got home. I love this picture! Mark LOVES his Dad and runs up to him whenever Dad comes home.

Spring is here!!! I love spring!! I don't like the allergies that my kids and that Cory gets. It almost wipes them out!

This is in Toquerville. We were driving down the road with I snapped the picture. I really like how it turned out.

This is my plum tree. Thankfully when it snowed the other day I didn't loose my blossoms! I was SO worried!

This concludes this edition of blog-whatever-you-want!!!
Have a great day everyone!

Birthday happenings

2011-03-13T18:48:00.009-06:00

My birthday was a few weeks ago but I had so much fun with my family that I wanted to show off their awesomeness. Besides that...how often do you get to go to Chuckie Cheese as an adult for your pre-birthday!

My OLDER sister.

Anna is a fierce competitor! I had no idea! And she won everything without making us feel like the losers we are! Woo Anna!

Mark on the Barney train..he liked it way to much.

Ray and Anna...can you tell we are all related???

With my Dad..Love you Dad!

On the way to Vegas, where the family was gathering, it was snowing here and as we passed through the gorge, the snow clouds were low and very lovely. Needless to say when we arrived at Vegas, it was sunny and warm!!

That night we enjoyed cake for me and my dad, and we had fun with the plethora of sparklers that my brother had collected. My brother is a conductor for a symphony and had them perform my FAVORITE song at their concert that night. How lucky am I?!?!?!

On my actual birthday, we went hiking up and Zion. We even saw some wild turkeys.

Then Cory made me my FAVORITE treat-jalapeno poppers! Ohhhh they are so good!!!
Thanks hun! It was a great way to celebrate becoming middle aged. :)

Something fun in the mail!

2011-03-08T11:23:00.004-07:00

In December Cory took his last final at Dixie State College. He turned in his last paper in, had one last argument with his professors, and drove away. It doesn't seem that long ago that he finished his associates degree, but at the same time it has seemed like FOREVER ago when he started. I have loved watching Cory learn and grow at school. He would question his professors and write papers about unconventional topics. When he questioned the righteousness public school system in a debate class my heart soared with pride!! Of course he had to defend the public schools and that was eye opening as well..lol.. When he did an observation in our local commonwealth (not a public school by the way...) it became obvious that his professor did not have the same point of view with Cory. I loved being there as Cory discovered what he believed from his professors and what he did not. How he would study in depth on a topic that would come up even though there was no paper due or assignment about the specific topic. I love how he would analyze the different points of views taught and loved a great discussion in class and with fellow classmates. I loved it that, even when he was a senior, he would still ask me to check over his papers. I only have an associates and he was studying things way out of my league.

Cory received his bachelor's degree in the mail and I drove it up to him at work. He worked so hard for it!! He earned about an overall 3.87 GPA (might be a little higher..I don't remember...) and was the student of the semester.

Way to go hun!!! I am so thrilled for your success in school!! To think, 5 years ago you were overwhelmed in math class and nervous to turn in your first paper. Now you have aced statistics, algebra, and turned in who knows how many hundreds of pages of papers.

What a great adventure this has been!! I am so excited for the next one!! Love you!

"Teen Dating Violence. It Happens in Utah" Press Conference

2011-02-14T23:41:00.003-07:00

Last fall when Cory and I did RAINN day I thought it was the hardest thing I had ever done or could ever do. Well, today I felt like I had a day where I stretched and grew! Today I was a participant in the press conference as the booklet "Teen Dating Violence. It Happens in Utah" was released. I was incredibly nervous. Cory and I went up a day early so I could relax and get ready for it...lol..yeah that didn't happen. I had myself so wound up and I had anxiety to almost put myself into a panic attack. It was insane! Thankfully I have a very patient husband who helped me calm down and was there whenever I needed him. Just before the press conference I was able to spend some time with one of my favorite Shakespeare friends (Hi Andrea!!) and it really helped me calm my nerves. (Nothing like talking about gory MacBeth to calm me down! ha! It was great!)

The gals that organized it were great. They were so king and considerate. They went out of their way to help us feel comfortable. Even while I was boo-hooing as I spoke, they quickly grabbed me some tissues. I was so glad to have met them. I could really tell that they genuinely cared about the issue and for Sara (the other gal that spoke) myself and the others that had their stories in the booklet. Thank you Katie McMinn and your helper. :-)

Ok about the picture below. Sara was the 16 year old girl that went before me. I was doing really good right until she started speaking. She talked about the nightmares that she has, about the triggers she has, about not feeling safe and it really struck me how similar our healing process has been. It really struck a chord with me and I had a hard time keeping my emotions in check. I promised myself that I would stay emotionally present and not check out. ( If I "checked out" I would have read my statement like I was reading any other paper, I would not feel connected to me, almost as if it happened to someone else. Make sense?) I knew I would be able to give my message well since I had practices it extensively (at least it felt like extensively) but when I heard Sara it brought a big rush of emotion that I was unprepared for. I knew what she had gone through and how hard it was. My heart aches for her. She will have some hard days, but she is strong and can do anything. Her abuse happened only 2 years ago and she has come so far already! She is definitely one of my heros.

In case you missed it and would like to see the press conference, here is some links to choose from.
KSL story with video -there is a link to a video of my entire statement on this page as well as the news report...I haven't figure out how to post the video directly here. Carole Mikita was very nice. While I was speaking I could feel her strength and knew that she cared about the issue. However, the stats at the beginning of her story don't jive with what I am familiar with. The national stat I am aware of is 10% teens have been physically hurt in the last year. In Utah is 1 in 5 (20%). I think I am going to have to find some updated stats.

Deseret News Article -it has that LOVERLY picture from above.

FOX news story with video -I am not featured here, but it is still a really good story.

Teen Violence Booklet with my story published in it. This is the online version. My story is on page 8-9.

Along with my sweetie Cory, my mom and my cousin Celeste came to support me. My Aunt Nancy also came by. It meant so much! I know that it has not been easy for my loved ones and friends to watch me go through the healing process and for them to go through it as well. Their strength has carried me when I didn't think I could walk. All of the kind comments, emails, texts, phone calls strengthened my courage and my determination to overcome this nightmare. My earthly angels were everywhere. What a blessing. Thanks everyone.

Hiking in Zion in the winter

2011-02-11T17:50:00.004-07:00

I should be packing for our upcoming trip to Salt Lake City..but I'm not. I am distracting myself once again. Woo hoo! But give me some credit, I'm blogging instead of reading that book over there that is SCREAMING my name. :-D

I LOVE living near Zion National Park. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. Recently we went for a small hike up to Emerald Pool to get the boys' wiggles out. The weather has been beautiful and in the upper 50's..a lovely time to go for a hike. However I forget that Zion gets very little sunshine in the wintertime. Because of the high mountains, it is mostly in the shade (especially where we were!). In the summer at Zion has a lot of shade as well, but it sure doesn't seem as cold.

James with the icicles.-They were huge!!

Ben wanted to make sure we were looking for lizards...didn't see any. I wonder where they are...hhhmm.... PERHAPS SOMEPLACE WARM!

Ben really did say "I'm king of the world!!!"...which everyone knows is true.

Mark had fun too, even if he was stuck in a stroller for most of it.

Ok I really have to go pack now....after I read a couple more chapters..hee hee hee...
Have a great weekend everyone!

Random thoughts...

2011-02-08T00:33:00.002-07:00

Its late and I should be in bed. But I'm not. I'm semi-awake and trying to sort out my thoughts.

The news conference is a week from today and I am already feeling a lot of anxiety about it. I'm not scared about talking about what happened, I am more nervous about WHAT to say. I don't want to say the wrong thing. How do I sum up 15 years of healing in 5 minutes? I don't think my finger nails can handle this much longer.

I also wanted to share an experience that I had this last week at commonwealth. (That is where I teach my Shakespeare class. Shakespeare is one of many classes taught there.) I was asked to participate in a simulation for the Hero class. ( A simulation is a tool that we use at the commonwealth to help the scholars go through stressful situations while being in a safe setting. They learn how to think on their toes and they learn how to make really hard decisions at the same time. )

The class was studying Pearl Harbor and their mentors planned a simulation surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor. James came with me to help.

I was given a name and a situation that I was in. The scholars had to come and rescue me. My injury was shrapnel in my leg -so I couldn't walk very easily- and my eyes had been injured so that I couldn't see. (I even closed my eyes the whole time!)

The scholars quickly found me and assessed the situation. They had a difficult time deciding what to do. The girl that was in charge was not comfortable being in charge. She would much rather follow orders than give orders. I can relate to that..when I was younger I never wanted to appear "mean" or "confrontational" --who does anyway? I always associated the one "in charge and giving orders" to being "mean." I would think "What if I made the wrong choice? What if I look stupid? And I always thought others could do it better." (Wow did you follow all of those quotes?!) The gal that was in charge, she has it in her to make the tough calls, she just doesn't know it yet. She will be a powerful leader someday.

The time came when the scholars realized that they had to move me. Physically move me. Quite a ways. At first, we tried to hobble down the hall. Since my right leg was injured, I relied on my left leg, which isn't my strong leg. My hopping was more like dragging and it wasn't going very well. Each time they tried to set me down "nicely" I would fall to the ground since my left leg is a wimp. So there I was, crumpled on the floor of the hallway with the time running out to get me to safety.

That's when things got a little....out of my control.

The group knew they needed to move me. I was going into shock (a simulated shock!) and so I wasn't able to help much anymore. The next thing I knew, the group announce, "Everyone grab her, lets pick her up." At that moment I was ready to jump up and say "I'm healed! Its a miracle!!" But I listened to that small voice and didn't say anything.

I am not a twiggy shaped gal. I am more of a 230lb bowling ball shape. When the scholars literally lifted me up there I was a wee bit overcome. I was a little freaked out, a little scared, and felt awholelotta awe for the youth. They proceeded to carry me to safety.

As the group was heaving me to safety I had a couple of thoughts going through my head. (Besides OH MY HECK!) The thought of how we, as adults and parents, are literally trusting our children-the youth- to get us to safety in the future. To get our country to safety. We have to teach them the principles that they will need so that they can make the difficult decisions. They are the ones that will be leaders when I am gray (more gray) in fifteen to twenty short years.

The youth these days are amazing and I totally trust them.

It was a great experience, I am so glad I was able to be part of it. :-)

Oh...and I hope you never have to have a root canal. Nuff said there.

The next step in my journey...

2011-01-25T18:39:00.004-07:00

My biggest defining moment was when I was sexually assaulted back in college. I have posted about this several times. I do this not for your benifit..sorry..I do it for my healing journey. For some reason, when I share my story, I feel better. Thats just how I am.

The next part of my journey has begun. Last fall at the RAINN Day at Dixie College I was asked to write my story. Today I was contacted to tell me that my story will be published in a booklet for Victims of Dating Violence. It will be released at a press conference for the public and media. I have been asked to come and participate at it and to answer questions to the press.

I am very excited, thrilled, happy, scared to death, terrified, and amazed to be part of this. I know that it will be a great step in my healing journey. The inside of me feels like great big dragons are flying around in my tummy...enough that it makes me want to puke! In the same thought I am elated and frantic. But mostly content that I have made it this far.

Thank you everyone for all of your love and support with this journey. It is not possible to heal from this without all of you. Thanks everyone!

Christmas in Idaho!! part 3...Sleigh Ride

2011-01-16T17:45:00.007-07:00

While we were in Idaho we were DELIGHTED to have a sleigh ride. The horses were beautiful and they even had santa bells on them. We jingled all the way! It was just like out of a story book. It was overcast, slightly snowing, not to cold, and we loved it!! We laughed, sang, Luke tumbled off and we all had a wonderful time.

Big thanks to the Miller family who graciously gave us the ride. I grew up with the Millers and their son was in my first primary class that I taught, he was even was one of the servers at my wedding reception (he is now married! He and his wife were there to help his dad on the sleigh ride....yep...feeling old).

My kids still talk about the sleigh ride. It is a memory they will always treasure.

Cooking lessons with James

2011-01-11T18:17:00.002-07:00

James LOVES to cook. LOVES it! He is always asking to cook. He is always willing to help me in the kitchen and on Sunday I used that to my advantage. I egg rolls and fried rice. Since I am annoyingly frugal, we now make our own and I love them! I took this opportunity for James to learn how to make the egg rolls-so that I could do other things and still have egg rolls!! Such an evil plan.

James diced all of the cabbage and onions, shredded the carrots, and we had some sausage so he cooked that up for it too. I did add the seasoning but that's ok.

James cooked it all up!

I rolled up three. Then he declared that he could do it so let him! So I did. And he did better then me. Seriously, you can't tell which ones I did (and I've been making them for years.)

Wow James your hair is actually combed!!! Everyone remember this day, I don't know when this will happen again.

The egg-rolls were fantastic! I look forward to James making them again!

Soap in the Microwave

2011-01-08T17:46:00.002-07:00

James was on a science experiment kick today that involved the microwave. First he started exploding marshmallows in it and then moved to soap.

Quickly adding "clean the microwave" to my to do list.

My house now smells like IVORY soap...a lot.

Christmas in Idaho!! part 2....SNOW!!!

2011-01-05T21:41:00.006-07:00

When we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house the kids were in HEAVEN!! It was dark already, but they wanted to go play in the snow right when we opened the doors. Since all of their snow clothes were still packed, we convinced the boys to wait until morning.

The view outside the kitchen window. Check out all of those footprints! The snow was well played with.

Well, as soon as they could, James, Luke and Ben started playing almost nonstop in the snow. They build snow caves, tunnels, went sledding with their Uncle Ray, and then with the largest smiles on their face, they would come inside and drink hot chocolate next to the fire. They were in heaven! Especially after the next post you will understand their snowy happiness. :-)

The view out of the kitchen window. I love the snow slopping off of the roof. I don't see that much anymore living in the desert.

The Teton Mountains in the horizon...one of my favorite views of Idaho.

Luke with his snow cave.

James BEGGED his Uncle Dustin to bury him in the snow. He LOVED it! He also said he was quite warm.

James and Tommy shoveling snow just for fun.-weird kids!

And it was cold!! This was in the middle of the day, I took this picture right after my dad said "Oh it feels good! Such a nice day!" (The following week it was about 0* in the middle of the week. )

Christmas in Idaho!! part 1..Air Force Museum

2011-01-05T18:31:00.006-07:00

This, for Christmas, year we parted from tradition and ventured up to my homeland of Idaho. To get there, it is a lovely 10 hour drive. The week before we left, the weather has been on the wet side, so we were nervous about the drive. Thankfully, it dried out the day we left. However, it left in its path, a blanket of fog everywhere! It was so thick that at times we were driving pretty slow.

Halfway to Idaho we stopped at the Air Force Museum. (We briefly stopped last time but it closed soon after we had arrived.)

In the van we were listening to a story called A Distant Prayer by Jerry Borrowman and Joseph Banks. It is the true story of Joseph Banks in World War II. It is a life changing story that I highly recommend. In it, Joseph Bank's aircraft is shot up. The detail in the book was so interesting, that the boys really wanted to see a B-17.

Well, the Air Force museum had it! (James was/is obsessed with that bright orange hat...he wears it A LOT) It was really interesting to place the plane into the story. It made the story more real to me.

The boys loved being at the museum! We were there almost two hours looking at all of the planes etc. At the end we all were able to get a smashed penny with an airplane embossed on it--we love getting those!

Adventures in rug making.

2011-01-02T14:40:00.006-07:00

This year, for my sisters and moms I made rugs. Yep! Rugs. I know it sounds kinda drab but I was so excited to make them. I saw them being made at our local Peach Days last fall and I really wanted one for myself. So, in order to justify myself purchasing a loom, I decided to make one for my sisters and moms. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!!!

The loom itself would be fairly simple to make. It was made of 1x4s then there were nails 1" apart. Cory could have easily made one, but it was nice to just be able to pick it up all done.

The rugs were much more labor intensive then I had planned. Its a good thing I am pretty much anti-social. :-D I worked on them for about 4 hours a day and I would finish after about a week. I used 3 sheets for the "weft"-that's the fabric that goes left to right. And about 5 yars of fabric for the "warp." We would roll the warp into a giant ball. (Which instantly became a toy.) My boys and hubby were my official fabric rippers and I would scour the DI for sheets and large pieces of fabric to use. The process is called "twining." This website I referred to many times. It has great visuals. I also used the book Twined Rag Rugs from the library.

I loved making the rugs! I ended up making six rugs in two months. It was insanity! However, I did get to watch A Christmas Carol (my FAVORITE Christmas show!!) multiple times. I hope everyone who received one loves them like I do.

If anyone would like to learn how to twine...come on over!

Now to make one for me!!

2005 and 2010 Southern Utah Flood

2010-12-29T21:33:00.004-07:00

About five years ago Southern Utah had its "100 year flood" and it wiped out 30 homes and even killed one person. (Side note...100 year flood means that each year there is a 1% chance of having it flood that large. Not that it only happens once every 100 years.) It was devastating. To watch the houses be washed away was so sad. That year we had 9 inches of rain and snow in about 3 days. My house is less than a quarter of a mile from the canyon that holds the river-so about a half of a mile to the river. I remember talking on the phone with my Grandma Hanson that day and she asked what that background noise was-well it was the roar of the river. Usually the river is a low, muddy, slow moving river. But dump in an excessive amount of precipitation, and it becomes a beast.

Here are some pictures that I took from our FIRST 100 year flood.

This is in Toquerville, (about 5 miles from my home) the river split and washed over the road. The road eventually had to be replaced.

In Toquerville looking to the west of where the water washed over the road.

This bridge was eventually washed out and replaced with a much nicer concrete bridge.

My boys, and a friend, standing above the canyon.

This is what they were standing in front of. The river that is usually about 10-15 feet wide and just a few feet deep, split.-Do you see that tree in the middle of the river on the left hand side...usually it was not in water.

December 21, 2010

This was in Santa Clara. After the flood of 2005, the banks were built up....way way way up. Whenever we would drive over the bride, we would almost laugh at the over zealous engenieers who designed such huge wash-ways. They looked completely overdone. However, as you can see in this picture and the one underneath, they are full! These two pictures were taken a day before it was the fullest. The next day, the water was almost touching the bridge.

At the Touquerville park. Because the sides were build up so high, the road was not washed out again.

By the Toquerville park.

At the LaVerkin edge.

For this picture, I was in the same spot as the picture above. The river was noticeably higher this year. I read one report that said that more than 18 inches of rain fell in the four-five days. Much more than the 8 inches in 2005. There were more calls to sandbag this year. However, since southern Utah learned their lesson five years ago and prepared for the worst, the damage was minimal. It could have been so much worse.

I have learned so many lessons from the flood. The need to prepare for the worst, but to expect the best comes to mind. I may never need the several hundred pounds of wheat that is stored under my bed, but if I do....I have it.

Wise man said......If ye are prepared...ye shall not fear.

I pledge response video

2010-12-13T23:24:00.002-07:00

In Luke's Key of Liberty class, they discussed a popular video that came out earlier this year that featured many popular actors and Hollywood type people that pledged their lives to different things. Luke's class made a response video and here it is!

If the above video doesn't work, here is a link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-W6RUVCOE

I am so impressed with the youth these days. Many of the kids in Luke's Key of Liberty class completed the memorizing of the Declaration of Independence (I still need to post that video...) and in the Shakespeare class almost all of the kids chose to complete 17 or more plays. (And these are the 12-13year olds...you should see the 15 year olds!! )

Not only that, but on Sundays I am always impressed with the depth of the talks given by the youth in our ward. These kids are powerful and are capable of doing great things. I am excited to see what they do next!

A great day!

2010-12-07T21:43:00.005-07:00

Lately I feel that my blog has turned into a brag. But nobody reads my blog any way
so OH WELL! :-)
Today my brag is about my husband again. He was honored today for being the Student of the Semester in the Integrated Studies Department. They recognized him for the work he did with RAINN day, his research project, good grades, and all that jazz. This is a huge honor and I am so thrilled for him. He has been blessed with great teachers and fabulous study habits these past five years.

Cory and his professor that presented him with the award.

Well here you can watch for yourself!!

Way to go hun!! You have worked so hard in school! Love ya!

Happy Birthday James!

2010-12-05T17:37:00.006-07:00

My James recently turned 11. A few words that would describe James is....sunshine, random, sly, sincere, mischievous, determine, and fun.

I love my James!

James's birthday was recent and we had a lot of fun celebrating!
He was able to spend the night at Grandma Sutton's house and she spoiled him with his favorite breakfast of German Pancakes. MMmmmmm...
Then we traveled to Jumping Jacks and what a fun time! I wasn't to impressed with Jumping Jacks, but the kids loved it. By the time we left they were dripping with sweat.

That night we went to the Winterfest and the boys were able to be on a float with some friends. I think the light parade is one of the better things about where we live. It is a unique experience that we love. Having the cars all decked out in Christmas lights is so much fun!

Picture of the day

2010-11-27T16:16:00.003-07:00

Mark LOVES his binki. LOVES them. I think we may need to do an inervention soon though because one binki doesn't seem to be enough anymore. Now he has to have a binki in his mouth AND one in his hand as well. If he spies a third binki in the course of the day, he becomes obsessed with that one too. For a while I was confiscating them and putting them on my dresser--trying the whole out of sight out of mind. Well, one day he saw them. He REALLY wanted them. So much ,that he ended up dumping out my garbage can in my room to be able to turn over the can, stand on it, and grab the plethora of binkis taking refuge on the dresser.
Before we knew it, he had three shoved in his mouth and one in his hand. With a little help from Cory, he was able to enjoy-for the first time-four binkis in his mouth at the SAME time.

I know I know...so exciting..

Mark will be 2 in January, so he really does not need a binki anymore and I DREAD the day we decide to wean him off of it. But he's my baby, and I think I am trying to keep him my little baby as long as possible. I love my Mark!

I am thankful for....

2010-11-27T01:16:00.007-07:00

There are so many things that I am grateful for. I could never name them all..lol..

This week with my boys, we are doing a thankful jar as described in the Friend magazine this month. It has been a fun blessing for all of us. I love watching the boys come up with all sorts of random things that they are thankful for.

As I have pondered recently about what I am most thankful for I have come up with the usual....family, home, great mentors, friends, blah blah blah... There is so much more that I am thankful for. Deeper stuff ya know. The stuff that lies underneath that layer of your heart that gives meaning to the family, great mentors, friends and all of that blah blah blah.

Like depression. (Did you see that coming? Yeah me neither...)

It isn't a secret that I struggle with depression. As weird as this sounds, I can be thankful for these bouts of depression (within reason..lol..) It helps me really appreciate and love those days that I am happy and love life. The days that I have peace, that I smile easily, and the world is full of opportunities, full of love, full of acceptance. I am thankful for the sunny days. I am thankful that I have many more sunny days then black days.

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Thomas Paine

And faith.

"Faith fuels hope... As it flows freely, our perspective changes; our vision becomes clearer. We begin to look for the best, not the worst, in life and in others. We gain a deeper sense of life's purpose and meaning. Despair gives way to joy." David Baxter

For me, faith is interconnected to hope. I have faith and hope that I will be able to raise my four amazing boys to be men of courage, valor, strength, and character. I have faith and hope that I will be guided to the mentors that we need that will help accomplish our family vision of being an eternal family. Everyone knows that raising children nowadays is difficult. Having faith in the eternal plan and knowing that we can be together forever as a family gets is through the hard times (like my dark days) and even strengthens our relationships.

"Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. Your faith can guide you to those correct choices." Richard G. Scott

Last year for our family vacation we decided to hike Delicate Arch in Moab. Now, for those that know me, you know that I am NOT an avid hiker. Not at ALL. It was probably the most difficult hike I have ever been on and it was only a couple of miles...with a fairly good incline. But we did it! And we did it as a FAMILY! We pulled and pushed each other (ok really it was just me that needed pushed and pulled..lol..) we constantly gave encouragement and we were all excited together once we arrived at our goal. This difficult experience was a great builder for our family. To work together at something HARD infused a sense of WE CAN DO IT among us. The boys still talk about it and how awesome it was to finish as a family.

That is what faith does for me. When life is painful-whether it is my depression or some other trivial thing- having faith that the difficult times will make me/us stronger. It will.

"when was anything really worthwhile easy?" Richard G. Scott

And I haven't even scratched the dust on the surface of what I am thankful for! I could go on and on about prayer, how it has given me such a beautiful testimony of eternal families, of the realness of my Savior and the personal knowledge that he has of me. But alas, I will expound on that another time. :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving with those you love. What else is everyone thankful for--that isn't a typical seasonal gratitude

I need picture help!!!

2010-11-09T15:15:00.005-07:00

I have loved everyone's beautiful fall pictures with their kids. I just love the fall leaves. So, being greatly inspired, I took the kids out to try to take some pictures.

It started out semi-bad....

and just progressively got worse.....

And I gave up.

Maybe we will try again....someday.

Happy Halloween...and stuff

2010-11-03T12:28:00.005-06:00

Happy Halloween everyone! I am a couple of days late but here are a few pictures from halloween and such.
To start our Halloween fun we always go to the corn maze. The kids and Cory love going and getting lost. I, however, like it for the first 1o minutes and then I don't like being lost! I really like knowing where I am all the time. We went with the homeschool group and had a great time!

I was made for the farm life. :-) Well, in my dreams anyway. I love the atmosphere of the georgic lifestyle. The open spaces...the animals...the gardens.....in my dreams I can do it all! Not so much in reality, but I like to think that someday I will have the self mastery to do all of that.

For Halloween we partied with the ward trunk or treat and then came back and watched Ghostbusters. The kids had never seen it before and thought it was a hoot. It scared the bageebees out of me when I was younger, but I found it mostly amusing now.

Luke dressed up like a Jedi again, his costume I think has finally been outgrown. James was King Arthor, Ben was a horsee (not a horse, but a horsee, I guess there is a big difference.) Mark was a giraffe but I forgot to get a picture of him. -so here is one just as fun.

All in all, I love fall! It gets me excited to start on Christmas. I know Thanksgiving is in the middle, but really, Christmas is the season that I LOVE. I am already making gifts and trying to find new Christmas music for my ipod(any suggestions for some great Christmas music??)

Beauty and the Beast

2010-10-30T21:30:00.004-06:00

I wasn't going to blog about this, but I am feeling particularly grateful for Cory. He has been so patient with me lately. RAINN day really did a wringer on me, and the recovery has been intense at moments. But he has been nothing but great for me.

Earlier this month he asked me to homecoming at the college. He is a senior at Dixie and is getting to graduate in a few weeks (WOO HOO!!)

Remember way way WAY back in high school when you asked someone to a dance and you would do it in a silly way. Well, for one of the dances back in High school he asked me to homecoming. He filled up my bedroom with a bunch of balloons with puzzle pieces in them. Then I had to pop the balloons and put the puzzle together. (and yes...I STILL have that puzzle..) When I came home from Shakespeare class earlier this month and walked into my bathroom imagine the squeal I gave as balloons came toppling on me. He had once again filled the balloons with puzzle pieces for me to put together. And he asked me to go to the homecoming ball. Ahhh sweet I know!!!

And of course I said YES!!

We had such a good time! We went to the Gala and had a lovely dinner of chicken cordon bleu. Then we danced the night away! The theme for the dance was "Tale as old as Time" from the movie Beauty and the Beast. The first part of the dance was for the dance majors. --well it seemed like it anyway. It was 50's music and big band music. Everyone there knew how to do the jitterbug and the swing. They looked great! I felt just slightly intimidated. At one time in my life I knew how to do the fun dances, but those days were a LONG time ago. My feet got a little tangled up..lol...but it was great! After the first hour they had a DJ come and provide the music --of which I recognized NONE of the songs. But it was still fun!
We doubled with Cory's sister and Ken-they were so fun!

After we were done dancing, (like at about 10) we decided that we were beat and were going to head home. I know, big time partiers. we went out to the fountain and became true REBELS and kissed in the pond. -The water was really really cold.

It was a night to remember! My hubby spoiled me and pampered me. I loved it!
Thank you Cory for such a memorable evening!
I love ya!

Yeah James!!

2010-10-30T21:09:00.004-06:00

This last week in scouts James recieved his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. He has worked so hard for these awards. He has alwasys loved scouts, and thankfully he has had some great scout leaders that have been very patient with him. His leaders wanted to do something very special for him so that he would always remember his arrow of light, so they flipped him upside down and congratulated him. He laughed so hard! He loved it! It fitted James just perfectly. He is such a physical kid that doing something physical to help is right on his level.

Way to go James! We love you!

Random events aka lots of pictures

2010-10-07T21:35:00.007-06:00

For the last few months there have been several things that have happened that I have wanted to blog about. But since my life has been insane, I am now creating a modge podge of a post with everything that I wanted to blog about...but procrastinated until now. :-D

Ben camping with his dad for Fathers and Sons outing...he got really dirty.

This is at Cory's work. We love to go visit him and have him take us for rides in his golf cart.

Cory and Luke were able to participate in the CERT training locally. This is Luke with his practice bandage eye.

Luke and I went to the Shakespeare festival and watched Merchant of Venice. We saw the green show too. Luke spoiled me! He bought me a treat every time he turned his head! We had a great time!

We went to Dixie's first day of school hoora thing.
Ben was able to shoot Osama with an air soft gun.....

James, Luke and Cory were able to climb the rock wall....

And Ben loved his sucker, snow cone and cotton candy. Yummy!

Cory tried a fro-hawk....it wasn't him..lol..

The Brown reuion was held in Nevada this year. We went camping....

...at a condo in Vegas. My kind of camping!!!

We also spent a day at circus circus. It was great to see my family again.

Luke earned 14 merit badges this summer. He is earning his Life in November. Then he only has 5 merit badges and an eagle project to go! CRAZYNESS!

I took my awsome scouts to the 100 year event. The day was CRAZY! At the end, we watched a spectacular fire work show and listened to some great speakers. But this was the view in front of me the whole evening! It drove me nuts..lol..I just wanted to reach up and POP it.

Cory went with the Boy scouts in the morning. Luke and his friend Jimmy were able to participate with the ham-radio call to the space station. They even got to talk to the astronauts! They loved it!

Luke finished the Shakespeare Race again this year. He read/watched/ or listened to 17 plays. The rules were a little stricter, so it took him 2 weeks to do it this time. Good job Luke!

Southern Utah TJed Mom Fall Retreat

2010-09-28T10:52:00.007-06:00

The leaves were changing and were so beautiful!

The cabin was amazing!! Its for sale if anyone is interested--only for $1.15 million
Remember a few months ago when I posted about wanting to do a mom retreat? Well, this last weekend was the retreat.

Nikki-one of my favorite people ever!

The cabin had a loft upstairs, bedrooms downstairs and a fabulous kitchen. We couldn't have asked for a nicer place.
Organizing the retreat was a lot of fun (since I got to plan it with my sister!) but it was an insane amount of work. I think I was unprepared for the amount of work that transpired. I haven't decided if I will plan one for next year, but if I do, this year was a good prep year for it..lol..

There was a lot of food! It was all good!
When I started this whole thing I really felt that it was a "saygobedo." --A say-go-be-do is that little voice that you hear in your head and you immediately follow it. You either say it, go to it, be it, or do it. It is a powerful concept that can truly change your life. In my religion-LDS- it is often called following the spirit.

The sunrise was so peaceful. I couldn't get enough of it!

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in "following the spirit" and questioning whether or not it is the spirit. I think saygobedo has taken the pressure of making sure it is the spirit etc, and I just do it. This entire process was FULL of saygobedo.

Visiting at night.

The famed Chris Bowler came and gave us a personal concert. Wow! What talent!

Sunrise with Amy and Misty.-two angels of mine! Thanks girls for all of your help!
The presenters were amazing! Diann and Jodi presented an entire evening about fulfilling our mission in life. We did a vision walk about missions and explored what finding our mission looks like. It was a transformational experience. At one time Diann was talking about that conformational feeling that you will get, and immediately the thought came to me that I had experienced this the day before at the day of RAINN. This was very nerve wracking to me. The feelings that I went through on RAINN day were very difficult. I felt great and very empowered, that afterwords I found myself questioning myself if I would really be able to do it again. Could I really speak with such boldness again???? This confirmation that I felt at the retreat I had to write down right away, because I don't think I would be able to believe myself later about it.

That night I had the pleasure with talking to so many phenomenal women. Women whose lives were so interesting. They are very powerful women who have the power to change the world. --many of them already are!

BrYan and Nikki
We discussed the book Little Men. It was one of the best colloquiums that I have ever participated in. The depth of that book is unmeasurable! As one of the ladies said...."Dr.Demille just copied this book and called it TJEd!" Although he didn't, you can certainly see examples of almost every principle and step that is discussed in his book.

Wonder woman even paid us a visit. I don't think anyone will forget that!

Shaunna Dunn as Wonder Woman. You were so awesome Shaunna!!

-- my husband is SO jealous!

We were guided through scholar phase with Amy and Kami Mitchell again helped me become a better person.

Amy presenting about scholar phase.

We also ate pretty well too..lol...

I am so blessed to have had this experience. The adversary was certainly working against me. Several times the past couple of months I almost cancelled for one reason or another. I kept going back to that moment of saygobedo and how I had decided to do it, so I just kept pressing forward.

Jo Deann and Mari

One of the obvious moments of saygobedo was with dinner. Katy was bringing the rice, she had car trouble and was arriving late. (my van also had problems and we ended up having someone drive me up too!) So, that morning when I was packing up I had the distinct impression that I needed to bring rice. I immediately said to myself that Katy was bringing it and so I didn't need to worry about it. Not only that, I only had brown rice and not everyone likes brown rice (although it is delicious!) So I didn't bring it. So, when it became obvious that Katy was running late and we would need to buy rice, we ended up paying $3 for a pound of rice.--we needed 4 pounds. Yikes! What was funny was one gal admitted that she told us that she felt that she needed to bring rice. Then later that night another gal said that she also felt she should have brought rice. Although the rice was not a big deal, it was just an example to me that the Lord was watching over us and wanted this retreat to go well.

Thank you everyone for coming! I wanted to help my TJEd community and ended up changing myself.

Love you Katy!--next time we need mom and Anna there!

RAINN day

2010-09-25T20:55:00.002-06:00

This past week has been so full of life changing experiences. Cory organized a day of RAINN for his senior project. It was quite a project!!! I was able to share with others my story to raise awareness for sexual assault.

That morning I was incredibly nervous. I had to take a moment to get myself together and decide if I was really going to be able to do it. Well, after a few moments of wanting to puke, I was able to fully participate in the events. I talked to news reporters and had a microphone in my face. It was a surreal experience. I was so thankful that I was able to go through this crazy day. At the beginning of the day I felt alone, but I soon found myself surrounded by incredible people who were able to love like few other people I know.

I think this was defiantly a day that really showed myself how far I have come. Just a few years ago I was unable to talk about the incident with anyone else but family. But I found myself talking about it to strangers. It is a miracle to me.

I have received so much support from people. The supportive comments are what really help survivors. Thank you hun for all of your love and support!! Its been a crazy journey!! Can't wait to see what we do next.

Here is the story from the Spectrum.

ST. GEORGE - The sun had set one particular night 15-years-ago in Rexburg, Idaho, and Bonita Sutton, who was attending Ricks College, was walking home after class. "A man jumped out of the bushes and proceeded to walk me home," Sutton said. "He tried to get me to come home with him and I said 'no.' He continued to make advances toward me - I made it very clear I wasn't interested." http://www.thespectrum.com/section/VideoNetwork?bctid=616516472001">Video:RAINN at Dixie State

It was at that point, Bonita Sutton's life changed forever.

"He (perpetrator) shoved me to the ground, had a knife at my throat - and proceeded to rape me," she said.

After the attack, Sutton walked home. She said she told only one person and made them promise not to tell anyone.

Life continued on like nothing happened. Bonita Sutton got married a year and half later and started a family.

"(I) convinced myself that it didn't happen - I repressed it until three years later (after the rape)," she said.

As a returning student, Cory, Bonita Sutton's husband, is working to bring awareness of sexual assault to the Dixie State College campus.

On Thursday Cory Sutton brought RAINN Day to campus. RAINN is rape, abuse, incest national network. As an integrated studies major in communication and psychology, Cory Sutton took on bringing the awareness event to DSC as a senior project.

"They (sexual assault victims) need to know there are people out there who are willing to give support in the healing process," Cory Sutton said.

With sexual assault impacting him personally in his life, Cory Sutton, strongly believes in educating people about sexual assault and providing information on services available to victims.

Bonita Sutton said there were times during her healing process she couldn't talk about her attack.

"I went through some really dark days where I thought I wasn't going to survive," she said. "I've been blessed to have a good husband and family that love and support me."

(2 of 2)

Without them, Bonita Sutton said, she wouldn't have made it through those dark days in her life.

As students walked down the Diagonal Thursday they were presented with teal ribbons and information about RAINN and sexual assault. The DOVE Center was there along with a representative from the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

According to the RAINN website, rainn.org, the national statistic is that one in six women and one in 33 men will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. Cory Sutton brought those numbers to life with 800 teal ribbons placed on stakes in the grass - a representation of how many students may have been assaulted according to national statistics.

"Most college girls don't report it (sexual assault)," Bonita Sutton said.

Although DSC hasn't had a reported sexual assault, many don't believe it's immune to it.

"I think one rape a year is a problem," Bonita Sutton said.

Holly Malnar, case and program manager for the DOVE Center, was at the event providing information on what sexual assault is and where to get help if it occurs.

"I think awareness is the key to this whole issue - awareness that the way a woman dresses or acts doesn't make her responsible for her assault," she said. "There's not enough awareness out there that make women (know) it's not their fault."

Alana J. Kindness, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said it's important for students to have an opportunity to talk about the issue - to ask questions and recognize sexual assault does happen and it is a part of communities.

"No one deserves to be sexually assaulted," Kindness said. "As a community we need to support each other and take away the shame."

There are many things, Kindness said, people and survivors can do to help survivors of sexual assault.

"The more people talk about it the safer people will feel," she said. "It's their (victims) fear of what other people will say, why they don't report."

Zero reports, Kindness said, gives a community or college campus a false sense of security.

If someone has been sexually assaulted the DOVE Center is available to assist. To contact the center call 628-1204. The center also offers a Rape and Sexual Assault support group Tuesdays from 5 to 6 p.m.

Contact the center for more information on the support group.

Without them, Bonita Sutton said, she wouldn't have made it through those dark days in her life.

"Most college girls don't report it (sexual assault)," Bonita Sutton said.

Although DSC hasn't had a reported sexual assault, many don't believe it's immune to it.

"I think one rape a year is a problem," Bonita Sutton said.

Holly Malnar, case and program manager for the DOVE Center, was at the event providing information on what sexual assault is and where to get help if it occurs.

"No one deserves to be sexually assaulted," Kindness said. "As a community we need to support each other and take away the shame."

There are many things, Kindness said, people and survivors can do to help survivors of sexual assault.

"The more people talk about it the safer people will feel," she said. "It's their (victims) fear of what other people will say, why they don't report."

Zero reports, Kindness said, gives a community or college campus a false sense of security.

Contact the center for more information on the support group.

Dixie State College has no reported sexual assaults last year. Although the reports aren’t there, campus police aren’t naïve to the fact the attacks don’t happen. National statistics show one in six women and one in 33 men are sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, it reports:

• 44 percent of victims raped by a steady boyfriend or spouse report the assault – 77 percent of victims raped by a stranger report.

• 50 percent of dating violence victims report the violence to someone else: 88 percent report the violence to a friend and 20 percent report to law enforcement.

• 32 percent of students report dating violence by a previous partner and 21 percent report violence by a current partner.

• 39-54 percent of dating violence victims remain in physically abusive relationships.

• 12 percent of completed rapes, 35 percent of attempted rapes and 22 percent of threatened rapes occur on a date.

• 60 percent of acquaintance rapes on college campuses occur in casual or steady dating relationships.

• An estimated 5 percent of college women experience a completed or attempted rape in a given year.

• 51 percent of college males admit perpetrating one or more sexual assault incidents during college.

The DOVE Center is available to women who are victims of domestic and sexual violence. If you need information or help contact them at 628-1204. The center also has a rape and sexual assault support group on Tuesdays 5 to 6 p.m. For more information on the support group call the center.

RAINN Day at Dixie State College campus gave tips on how to better help those who've been a victim of sexual assault. Some ideas were:

-Openly support surviviors of sexual assault.

-Be comfortable in talking about sexual assault.

-Know what consent means.

-Take away the shame of sexual assault.

Information and discussion is key to preventing a sexual assault.

On college campuses many students date. When dating someone talk about what your expectations are in a relationship.

The power of prayer and email

2010-09-16T22:05:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had a prayer answered through someone else? I mean, something totally and completely unrelated to what was actually happening around you and then out of the blue-a different prayer was answered.

I had this experience this week and I wanted to share it.

Some of you may know the difficulties I have in September. It was in September that I was attacked and raped when I was in college. --Even typing it out it still brings me a flutter of anxiety. For the last few years September has been pretty mild. There have been moments of anxiety and panic but, really, it has been mild. In the past I would be practically paralyzed with fear and anxiety. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband, family, and friends who have helped me get past these dark days.

This year was a little different. This year I am helping my husband prepare for his senior project which is a day of awareness for sexual assault victims. So, as you can imagine, this has brought all sorts of healing opportunities for me...lol..

The other morning was a particular difficult morning (it was "the day" that it happened). I was finding myself giving into the anxiety and the desire to stay in bed. It felt like a dark, heavy weight pressing on me. I had so much to accomplish that day and I was caving into the negative feelings. Cory was at school and I couldn't get myself to call anyone. I felt I was on my own to deal with this. Thankfully it wasn't so bad that I felt I could still pray.

Sometimes prayer to me is like breakfast. My day goes so much better when I pray in the morning. Well, that particular morning it was all I could do to plead to my Heavenly Father to not forget me that day. I didn't need a big sign from the heaven, the walls of Jericho didn't need to come down for me (there have been times when I did need that, but that is a different story), I just needed to be reminded of the peace that I had felt in the past, so that I would remember that I could get through this day.

Well. I stayed in bed. I decided to check my email since I was expecting some emails for various reasons. I grabbed my itouch and promptly got back into bed.

I recieved an email from a gal that I have only met once or twice. She is a leader in the homeschooling world and was replying to me about something completely unrelated. I have never shared with her my story. So I was a little taken back when her email felt so direct. This is part of what she said: "I hope you will see and feel how you have grown and benefited from this experience. I understand that it is painful and hard....For me, I am certain that every time I step out and work to create something bigger than myself it feels hard and painful and many times I cry out and wonder why in the world I do it. Always there come a moment when the Spirit consoles me and shows me that it was worth it. I am praying that you will have this as well."

For me, it was just what I needed. It was a reminder of how far I have come. I made it through the day with minimal anxiety and today I feel like myself again.

I am so grateful for those in my life who follow the spirit daily. Sometimes we forget how much our obedience to the spirit can bless others. It can be easy to get wound up in how much it can bless our own life.

New pet

2010-09-05T22:37:00.003-06:00

A warning....this post is not for the squeamish...Keri/Tara/Grandpa Sutton... you've been warned.

So the boys have found a new pet. No its not the many frogs that have come out lately or even a cute little snake. Nope. Guess again.

I tried to figure out what kind of spider it is, but I can only take looking at so many up close pictures of spiders. I feel all creepy crawly just thinking about it. I think it is just a basic garden spider. They eat lots of bugs (see the video below) and are not poisonous to humans.

Not only are the boys watching this new spider everyday, they have started to assist in the bug catching.

Our life is so exciting!!!

I Like Mike!

2010-08-14T18:01:00.003-06:00

Today at the Washington County Fair I was excited to meet senate candidate Mike Lee. I have been a fan of his for a while. I love his conservative principles. He really seems like the real deal. --Not someone who will say all of the right things and then abandon it as soon as they are elected. I am anxious to see how he is in Washington DC and yet not be a part of DC. I have extremely high expectations for him. I almost shied away when we approached him, so thank goodness for Cory not letting me back out! I had questions I wanted to ask him, but of course my mind went BLANK! (really wanted to get his signature --not autograph--to see what he was really like...lol..)

Yeah Mike!

The rollercoaster of emotions

2010-07-19T18:00:00.003-06:00

For the last two weeks I have been experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. Pick an emotion...any emotion and I can guarantee that I felt it. I am now exhausted from all of the ups and downs but at last I am finding myself at peace. This post may be to much info for some...you've been warned.

For starters, I was released from my church calling of primary president. I knew this day was coming. For the last couple of months I have been expecting it. For the last three years I have loved serving in the children of the ward and the primary workers. I did my best and let the children have my heart. When I was released, I once thought I would be skipping around and shouting hooray!!! However, an unexpected feeling of loss overcame me. I know it is the right time for this release and that the new presidency will be wonderful in there, but the loss was very real and tangible. There were so many things I wanted to do and accomplish in primary that I wasn't able to do. It took about a week to even be able to talk about being released without having a rush of emotions. Being the president of primary has really strengthened my testimony of the gospel. My favorite memories while serving are the times when the spirit would tell me to do things out of the blue and the blessings that would come from following the spirit. Either going to see a teacher or leader who was struggling or calling people to certain positions, the spirit was different than I had ever experienced. My favorite favorite memory from primary didn't even happen in primary. The ward was doing a service project at a widow's home. I had had several bad days and I wasn't doing very well. My self talk had been especially negative and it was really wearing on me. While I was raking the weeds and pondering my self pity I looked up and noticed that about a dozen kids ages 8 and younger had gathered around me to work. "Come work with Sister Sutton!" they called to their friends. It made my heart burst with happiness and helped me get over my downward slump that I had found myself in. I will always love primary, it will hold a special place in my heart. I am so excited for the new presidency to see what wonderful things they will do.

That same week I went to Salt Lake City for my LEMI training for the Shakespeare class that I teach at the Washington County Commonwealth. As part of the experience, we put on a Shakespeare play. Last year, I ..well...didn't do very well in the play. I..sorta..kinda..had a breakdown backstage just before I was to go on. Last year my part was very small, I was the lion in Midsummer's Night Dream. I wasn't afraid of going in front of people to perform, I was unable to memorize my lines. As much as I practiced, the lines wouldn't stick in my head. I started sobbing and my mentor had to grab me by the shoulders and tell me it was going to be ok!-which it was..lol.. Everyone else had their lines memorized except for me. I had a little index card with my lines written on them. I felt a weakness exposed naked to the world! It was the hardest thing I have ever done! So when I went back to training this year I was determined to have a better experience. I was hoping that nobody would remember my part last year. But alas, they all remembered. In fact one gal told me that she was taking Shakespeare BECAUSE of me last year. Umm....I know Shakespeare can be moving but I wasn't exactly crying onstage because I was being moved my Shakespeare. It was freaking hard! Well, this year I did better. My part was a little bigger as I was Sexton from Much Ado About Nothing. This year they allowed everyone take their scripts up (only a few did) so I had my script up there but I didn't need it. I was calm and knew I could do it. When the play was done, I sat in my seat and quietly cried (yes I cry A LOT!--just ask my husband..lol..) as I felt redeemed from the past. But it was more than that. Have you ever had a weakness exposed to you and over come it? It has been a very powerful experience. To overcome a challenge and to get that feeling of "if I can do that...I can do just about anything!!" is very empowering. This year, Shakespeare class will be so much better in so many ways. I am so excited for it!

When I came home from training, I was officially released in church. I cried more! But that night we found out that our friend and home teacher for many years had ended his life. We were devastated! He came and visited us regularly. He loved to talk about his family. He was so proud of his sons in the army, another son that was on a mission, and his beautiful daughters. He talked about them every chance he had. He loved his family. He always greeted us with a smile and always asked if there was anything he could do for us. He came over for blessings when we were sick and would bring us his extra Sunday papers after his delivery route. He helped bless my two youngest boys in church when they were babies and our youngest even shares his name. At first I was very angry at him. Very very angry. But it makes me sad to think that he was in such pain and didn't feel he could reach out to anyone. To feel that there is no other way to cope with life other than to end it, is a very painful feeling. I think most people have felt those kinds of feelings to an extent. Depression is a very lonely, painful path. And if anyone is on that path and is wondering if there really is anyone out there who cares, THERE IS! If you can't find anyone when you need them, know that God loves you and wants you to be happy. This life can have some terrible trials, but he will always be there. The pain is only for a moment in our life. You can get through it. The day he passed away he came over to our home and delivered his extra Sunday papers. He was happy, smiley and kind like he always is. Whatever his struggles were, I hope he is at peace. He was loved by many and will be missed.

While Cory was at the funeral, I was able to take James with me to Salt Lake City for a day and to watch my sister's family seal their youngest daughter to their family. It was such a beautiful experience. The blessings of the temple are so real. The peace there is so real. All of my siblings and their spouses were there, so the only one missing in the temple was Cory. I am so blessed with such a supportive family. It is hard living far away from all of them, so when we are able to get together it is so great. On Sunday we all traveled back to Provo to see Ray's newest baby blessed. I love my family.

As you can tell, the last couple of weeks have been full of ups and downs. But I think it comes down to live and love in the moment. Love your family and never take them for granted.

Yellowstone National Park

2010-07-01T12:49:00.010-06:00

On our way to Yellowstone we stopped in a place that is really quite amazing. It is called Quake Lake. Back in 1959 a 7.5 earthquak e shook the Yellowstone area. It was in the middle of the night and as you can imagine, things became crazy. The side of the mountain literally fell down burying dozens of people and damning up the Madison River. This formed Quake Lake. You see those two big boulders above the tour bus?--those boulders are monuments to those who died in the earthquake..get this..they were originally on the other side of the ravine at the top of the mountain (that mountain that is behind Luke and James). It is quite the geological wonder.

For two days our family drove and drove and drove through Yellowstone Nationall Park. Did I mention we did a lot of driving?? We didn't even get to see a third of the park..it is so ginormous!

It is bigger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. It was often 20 miles between sites. But for me, it was a beautiful relaxing drive with my family--even when we were stuck on the road for an hour waiting for the road construction to let us through, or even when the cars would get in a long line as they looked at wildlife (YES people it is ANOTHER deer!! Keep moving keep moving!!).

Moms will appreciate this....toward the end of the trip Mark wanted an apple just like his brothers. After much trepidation, we finally gave him one and stared at him while he ate it. Well, he commenced with taking a bite, chewing it, and then spitting it out onto himself. It was great entertainment...really...at the next stop we had to shake him off and clean out the car seat since there was sticky apple everywhere!

Black Bear- it was a good hundred yards away but you could clearly see it.

Bison right outside the car..like 4 feet away..crazy!!

At Mammoth Springs

We traveled through the waterfall loop to look at all of the waterfalls. They were so beautiful!

Dustin with his little bunch. He came straight from two weeks of military training. He is scheduled to be deployed in the next year.

Yes that is SNOW! There was actually quite a bit of it in the mountain areas.

It was our anniversary this day! Love you sweety!

Old Faithful...we were there the night before at dusk and I think that we were the only ones there!! The kids said "Well whats the big deal! Nobody is here to watch it but us!" Well the next day when we saw it at lunchtime, the crowd was greatly improved. Old Faithful was 20 minutes late and spouted off for a shorter amount of time than usual. The night before it performed much more satisfactorily.

Geyser country

Yes that water is HOT! Just ask Ben.

We wanted to pour a bucket of water and see which way the water poured down the mountain..but we were out of buckets and didn't have much water.

Chester

2010-06-30T21:19:00.005-06:00

I grew up in the quaint little area called Chester. It is located off the Fall River halfway between St.Anthony and Ashton, Idaho. I lived in the same house for all of my upbringing...attended the same ward...had the same kids in almost all of my school classes...etc. Move-ins into our ward was almost unheard of. I only remember a few familes ever moving into the area or moving out of the area. It isn't like that now. When I went to my old ward I only recognized about half of the people there. A lot of the folks I knew growing up have passed away. Some were still there, it was good to see them again.
Here are a few pictures of around the farm with the kids.

Grandma gave Luke some bubbles for his birthday and it was a big hit! They played with them for hours!!

James and Luke both enjoyed many trips on the four wheeler. They have been talking about riding the four wheeler for months and months. It is one of their favorite things to do up on Grandpa's farm.

Ben was not allowed to drive the four wheeler so he settled for "driving" the lawn mower. Grandpa still had the key thank goodness.

And finally, here is James in the swing. The swing was one of my favorite things growing up. My dad would push us so high in it. It was awesome! Here is a picture of me when I was about James' age being pushed by my dad.

Big Springs

2010-06-29T16:04:00.004-06:00

While in Idaho we went to Big Springs. Big Springs is on the way to Yellowstone next to Mack's Inn in Island Park. It is the beginning of the Fall River. It literally comes right out of the mountain. It is really beautiful to see. The water is so clear. When I was young we would go there and feed the fish. The fish would be there by the hundreds. A ton of fish would gather underneath the bridge and we would throw pieces of bread at them. I remember doing this with my Grandma Brown, she would take us there on days that we would go for a drive. I remember we would pretend to be driving to Arizona to visit my cousins and she would take me to different places and Big Springs would be one of them. There aren't as many fish any more. I don't know why..maybe it was to early in the year. But we took the kids and fed the fish...and the seagulls and the muskrat. :-) While there we also donated blood to the mosquito blood drive..apparently they were having one and we were unaware of it until we got there. My Grandma would joke about the mosquito being the Idaho State bird. Good times good times.....

Hansen Home

2010-06-26T23:00:00.005-06:00

On our recent jaunt to Idaho we stopped by my Grandma Brown's home that she grew up in. Her name was Neva Juneta Hansen Brown. She grew up in a quaint town called Ashton, just outside of Island Park, Idaho.

Her mother, Anna Katinka Rassmusen, was raised in Denmark and immigrated to the US. She joined the LDS church against her family's wishes when she was a teenager. She left Denmark for her new religon and never saw her family again. They corresponded through letters, but she was never able to be with them again. (Years and years later, my Grandma, Neva, was able to go back to Denmark and meet her family.)

Anna Katinka married Alma Hansen and they settled in Ashton where my Grandma was raised. Sadly, every week that I went to church we passed this little house and I didn't know it was where my Grandma was raised. My older sister remembers going there when we were younger and gathering holly hock starts, but I don't remember it. But, now I know. The house is pretty run down now. I was amazed at how small it was! I have been known to complain about the size of MY house, that house was about the size of my living room. It was one story with a front room with cooking stove (the stove was still there) and a back room. That was it! Anyway, here are some pictures of this quaint little house that is in my family history.

Grandpa's farm

2010-06-24T19:46:00.005-06:00

We recently returned home from Idaho and visiting my family. The next few posts will show the variety of activities we did. I miss Idaho. Well..except for the mosquitoes.

This was the view from the back porch. Those are the Grand Tetons. They are covered in SO much snow! I have never seen them so white in this late in the year.

Oh the cows....such memories....these cows aren't my Dad's anymore though. He sold his cows and now rents out his land to others. At church on Sunday, the high councilman talked about the different personalities of cows and how they raise their young. I'm not kidding!

Sweet Orissa! She is my niece and such a sweety! She loves posing for pictures. Dad's liliac bushes had just burst open and the smell was intoxicating! I loved it! The lilac bushes in the area are huge...it must be a status symball or something. Many of the bushes were taller than the houses they were next to. There were so many of them that when you went outside, the air smelled like lilacs.

This is the shed that we filled with chopped wood for the winter. We would go and gather wood from the forest or Dad would have some delivered. Then we would chop (ok dad would chop--we would have cut our leg off) and we would gather and stack it in rows as tall as we could. Then Dad had to restack it since we could never could quite get it tall and tight.
These are some massive old tractor tires. If you would like to see the rims to one of the them, feel free to come and see my fire pit. :-)

Filling up the cupboards again!

2010-06-15T12:53:00.003-06:00

So I have been a big time slacker and not doing the sales and coupons like I did for so long. I know I'm suck a slacker! But I was a little burned out with cutting and shopping with four boys trotting after me. It really was wearing me out. Then the other day Cory exclaimed that our house was looking a little sparse on the groceries. The cupboards weren't bare, but they would be soon! He asked if I had been spending less on groceries, and no I haven't. I have been using the same budget but just buying what I needed when I needed it. I really didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it looks like it did. So, yesterday I prepped and then I took James with me at the crack of dawn to go exploring in the grocery stores. James was great! He carried all my groceries while I ran around.
Here are a few of the savings.....
7 packages of pamper diaper wipes .57 each
10 goldfish packages $1 each
6 packages-24 rolls of toilet paper in each $3 each
12 bottles of barbecue sauce at .60 each
12 packages of denteen gum .27 each
4 boxes of planter granola bars $1.25 each

lots of cereal
lots of crackers
lots of chips
I didn't purchase any perishables since I love getting my Bountiful Basket and that provides almost all the fresh I need. This was a stock the pantry shopping trip! Which it did nicely. :-)

Before sales and coupons: $500
Amount of sales and coupon discounts: $336.95
Total out of pocket: $162

Sadly, in all of James's exuberance, he lost our ziplock bag full of misc. coupons. So if anyone finds it, treat them nicely. There were some nice coupons in it that deserve to be treated nicely!

Weekend away

2010-06-06T21:38:00.006-06:00

For Memorial Day we were suppose to have a blast at my sister's house with her kids. The guys were going to take the boys hiking while Katy and I went to a mom's retreat.

Well, Luke came down with strep throat just before we were suppose to go. So...I just went! It was really odd to travel that far by myself. But with a little help from Michael Buble and Glenn Beck, my Itouch and I took off and arrived at Sundance just fine! Oh and Happy Birthday Katy!! hee hee hee...

my fabulous sister Katy! Happy birthday Katy!

Katy and I went to a TJed retreat for moms. TJed are the principles that I use to base our home around. You can read about it here. Or you can read this book.

The retreat was amazing. Although it was geared towards homechooling moms, it was really things that every mom would benefit from. I had some great "Ah-ha" moments and some big "saygobedo's" that I am pursuing. Woo!

One thing that I LOVED reading was this: Parenting Pyramid from the Arbiger Institute. It has some profound insights to parenting. I have read it before, but this time I learned new things from it. I recommend it to everyone!! :-)

A few more notes...
*Help things go right.
*Our first job as a mom is to heal, build and nourish relationships.
*Kids won't learn from you if they don't like you!

(I am not a very good self portrait taker...Jenn I need some lessons!!)

*Effective teaching depends on the quality of the relationship.--without a good relationshiop, you cannot teach effectively.
*Quality of the relationships in the family is largley dependant on the relationship with our spouse.
*Our personal way of "being' directly effects the rest of the family.
*It is not enough to do your best, you have to learn what to do and THEN do your best.
*Look beautiful as often as you can--men (including husbands) are very visual.
*don't expect your husband to fullfill all of your conversational needs (I am laughing that I wrote that down!! Pretty obvious I know..lol..)
***The ONLY mortal that I will make covenants with is my husband.--I liked that one! :-)
*Read to teach, write to learn.
*Are you happy with the feeling in your home?-Focus on the feeling of your home. The feeling of the moment.

view from the front door...it was lovely!

**Don't let ANYTHING bug you! It is a choice! (as I type this my 4 year old is having a royal fit over going to bed..lol..and I'm not bugged...really...not yet....well maybe a minute....one second while I get this kid to bed!!!! AAHHH!!!)
*The children in your home is sacred.
*I need to host a southern Utah TJed retreat. hahaha..no joke...I am trying to find a place to host a one night getaway for about 40 moms in late September....any one have any ideas?????? (And yes I am crazy thank you very much!!)

Anyway, I have many more notes and personal insights. One of my favorite speakers was there. You might remember me posting about a family that took in some troubled teenagers for a week for a BBC program. That family was Nicholeen Peck's family. She has given me some transformational knowledge that has truly helped my family. She has given me vision and goals for my family and I will forever be greatful to her. She has a book out now too!! So everyone who is struggling with your kids...this is the book for you!!! She also has a blog HERE and an email letter that sends out great information as well.

--this is in day two with Nicholeen...I was not looking so bouncy as day one..lol..

And since she will probably never see this, I'll divulge this information..lol.. For those of you who know me, you know that I love to do handwriting analysis--I can read quite a few things from a signature. Well, I asked to see Nicholeen's signature (not an autograph..autographs are different!). Her signature was so in line with what she taught. She didn't have any temper ticks, she thinks a lot before she speaks, her husband is the leader in her home and she if very humble. I dare say that she has a better relationship with her family (her parents etc.) than her husbands. (But don't we all..lol...) I could say more, but I don't want to bore you...if you're still reading THAT in itself if a miracle!! Love you Nicholeen!! :-)

I had such a wonderful time with my sister. I MISS my family and it was so nice to spend a couple of days with her. I love you Katy!!! :-)
I came home really refreshed for my family. I haven't really been in a happy place lately and this really jump started my batteries. I am so blessed to have a husband who will support me to go to this retreat! He had a blast with the kids and the house was even CLEAN when I came home!! Cory you are the BEST! I love you!!

It was a great weekend. Now to read the dozen books I bought!

Home-schooling James

2010-05-31T17:09:00.002-06:00

First a little history.....

I have always home-schooled my kids. They are not part of the school system, so to judge them by the school system is counter productive. They are what they are, a work in progress...trying to learn the skills and abilities that they will need for their mission in life.

That being said......

My James has never been one who has enjoyed reading. He is 10. In the past he has declared his ultimate hatred for reading. He has said that he doesn't need to read since there is a movie for everything anyway. It has been very discouraging for me for James refuse to read. All of his friends were reading and kids said mean things to him about his lack of reading skills. It was very, very painful for me to watch James go through this. I have prayed A LOT and cried frequently over his "hate of reading."

So...what was this home-schooling mom to do?!?! I was very tempted to force it on him. "You WILL sit down and do your reading before you do anything!!" But forcing this skill upon him was not what I wanted to accomplish. I knew I could force him to SIT DOWN and DO IT OR ELSE but I didn't want him to just do it. I wanted him to realize how important reading was and to choose to read and to love reading. Whenever I am "forced" to do something, without it being my choice, I resent doing it. The scriptures even say that if we serve with an ungrateful heart that we might as well not serve at all!! In the scriptures it says that it is our choice whether or not we do something...whether we are righteous or wicked. There are consequences for whatever choice we make, but it is ultimately our decision whether or not we go to church, read our scriptures, say our prayers, and I believe that this even applies to the more worldly things such as reading, writing, playing musical instruments, even relationships that we have with others-- it must be our choice. Things forced upon us or without it really being our choice, the results are short term and a testimony is not gained. It reminds me of trying to feed a baby baby-food. I can open the jar, spoon the food, and present it to the baby but it is still up to the baby to open his mouth and even then he can spit it out.

Agency to choose to learn is agency to choose to learn. It isn't the agency to choose to learn...except when I say so. (Although that would certainly be much easier.) HOWEVER, I really do want my kids to read and learn everything that they will possibly need to succeed in life..so how do I do it?? It is a process that I could talk and talk and talk about..lol...but with James and his reading it has been a lot of me reading to him. We have read A LOT of books together. And for some reason there is always something that I need to do when we get to an exciting part. I love it when the kids just beg "One more chapter PLEASE??" (I have learned these skills through THIS book and its principles. ) Anyway, for years James and I have done our reading together. I would ask him if he would want to read and he would usually reply "no thanks mom" I would say "ok" and then I would read to him. During the last year though I have caught him secretly reading..lol..he would be reading the comics page in the newspaper or the signs on the side of the road. It gave me hope!!

About 6 weeks ago his brother checked out an A-Z book from the library. I don't think Luke was interested in reading it, it was just another book that he had grabbed. Well, James snuck it into his room when they went to go to bed and quietly began reading it. That night I didn't make them turn the lights off on time, I let them stay up and quietly read. Well, the next day James came bounding into my room..."MOM!!! I finished this book!! Can we go get another one??" And while I wanted to jump up and down and scream "YES!!" I restrained myself and said "You bet! Lets go!" Well, he kept reading and reading...finishing a book every day or two. About 2 weeks ago he came up to me and said "Mom I love reading so much!!" and again I had to restrain myself and I simply said "Me too. I love reading too!! "--then he was able to revel in that awesome moment of self-pride in what he was able to do. I was one happy mama!

Homeschooling is not easy. If I ever tell you it is, I am LYING! HOWEVER, if you ever tell me that you couldn't do it, then you are lying too. Ok I guess that sounds a little harsh..lol..but seriously, if I can do this, than anyone can. If that still small voice spoke to your heart and told you to do this, you would. Just like if that same spirit told me to put my kids in public school I would.--at least I would like to think I would.

A few days ago James finished his A-Z Mystery series. He counted up the pages that he read and it totaled at about 2040. I am so happy for James and for the love of learning he is experiencing. He is thirsty for learning and experimenting.

I know that everyone's path in life is different and that home-schooling isn't for everyone. God has a path for everyone, none of which are the same. This is just the path that he has presented to me.

Way to go James!! I love you!!

Look who's 4!!

2010-05-24T14:32:00.002-06:00

He loves his new Tonka truck!!

We made his cake together...it was chocolate cake with oreos on top and yellow sprinkles! Ben picked it all out all by himself.

We made root beer, grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob, and had fresh watermelon. MMMMmmmmm!!

My BEN is now officially 4 !

I love you Ben! :-)

The trapezoid delema.

2010-05-07T11:11:00.009-06:00

My sisters "lovingly" refer to me as "crafty." So when a few months ago a good friend of mine gave me a handmade washcloth. I loved it! And I wanted to make some too. How hard can it be? right?

-this is the one my friend gave me. See how nice and squarish it is!!

My mom can crochet one of these babies in just an hour or so. They are my favorite washcloths and I really wanted to make some myself. I am not an expert crochet expert, but I can chain, single chain and double chain. What else would I possibly need to know???? So, I set out to find a simple pattern. My first attempt went fairly well.

It was recognizable as a square washcloth and I was feeling pretty good about myself. :-D Pin a badge on me! Well..maybe not to fast with that pin. My second washcloth and several afterwards were..well..not exactly square.

In fact, I would classify them as a trapezoid but that would be a disservice to the adjacent angels theorem for trapezoids. With my ego freshly popped, I set out to try again...and again...and again...and again.

All of them were lacking the proper 90* angles and straight edges to have it look "squarish."

I attempted the circle washcloths and they turned out..ok...but it was the square ones that were the desire of my heart.

I thought about them incessantly, looked up patterns for hours.

After many many many more tries, I have finally made a couple that were acceptable, although still not square.

Needless to say, I have not given any as a gift--who would want a trapezoid washcloth anyway???? Maybe my sisters??? :-D

A Comedy of Errors!!!

2010-04-20T18:54:00.004-06:00

Oh we had so much fun!! Everyone in the cast did a superlative job! Luke really practiced hard and did great. He learned all of his lines and blocking. And a big thank you for Katy!! To have my sister drive 5 hours with her 5 kids to come see our little production really meant a lot. But I must confess, I am relived that it is done. For the past six weeks my life has been this play. I have been on the phone constantly with parents and the scholars as we did this thing. I've never directed before, so I read a whole lot of books about putting on a play. It will be nice to put my head to rest and do some things focused here at home. My reading list for the summer is really long. Shakespeare will be wrapping up and it won't start again until August. Cory isn't taking any classes this summer and so I want to camp camp camp!! Yeah summer break!

shameless plug...

2010-04-06T18:31:00.002-06:00

For the last month I have been directing a play for my Shakespeare Conquest class. These 20 kids ages 12-14 have been studying Shakespeare since August when the class started. It is a class offered through the Washington County Commonwealth . I have been one of the two mentors for the class this last year and I am so amazed at the greatness of the scholars that I have been able to witness. Only a few of the kids had taken the class before and were familiar with Shakespeare, for the rest of them it has been their first exposer to Shakespeare. For our "final" this semester, we are performing "The Comedy of Errors." It is one of Shakespeare's first plays and it is one of my favorite. No betrayal, no murders, and a happy ending!! Luke is the part of Dromio of Syracuse and he is having so much fun.

We are doing the play as pirates and I want to invite everyone to come!! It is only $2 a person or $12 a family. Performances are April 14, 15, 16 at 7:00 pm with a matinee on Friday at 2pm. So, come dressed as a pirate and set sail with us!!

This scene is so hilarious! Luke is suppose to jump on the chair..and well...missed...to funny!!

Anyway, if anyone would like tickets, just ask!! Luke will probably be asking you anyway..lol..

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T21:25:00.002-06:00

May your Easter be filled with the love of our Savior. Without Easter, there would be no Christmas.

Springtime!

2010-03-24T23:46:00.006-06:00

Spring has come and we are loving it! We snuck outside today to try to take a few pictures of the boys. We had some fun playing down by the river bank. Luke has been enveloped in the new Fablehaven book so it was all we could do to get his nose out of the book. Thankfully, he put the book down for a few minutes. He just finished the book so I am sure life will now go back to some sort of normalcy. We had a fun time. Love my boys!

This week....

2010-02-26T20:32:00.003-07:00

This week Mark took his first steps!! He is getting so big. After he started trying, we grabbed the camara and tried to record a bit of it. Mark is so excited to get a cracker from James and James forget to give it to him! Be sure to notice Marks' reaction.

Also...

James made brownies. You'll have to interpret this sign he put on them...hhmm...

Happy Birthday Mark!

2010-02-10T13:47:00.003-07:00

Mark's first birthday was a couple of weeks ago. The day was celebrated at a minimum but it was still fun. Mark DID NOT like the cake--imagine that! He did however enjoy the plate the cake was placed on.
I love you Mark!! What a great year it has been!!

Too late parody.....

2010-02-04T23:19:00.004-07:00

Love this parody. I love my country and the freedom we enjoy. Freedom isn't free. Its like the parable of the talents. If you hide it and do nothing to keep it, you will loose it.

100 day challenge update

2010-01-24T22:24:00.003-07:00

Time to update on the 100 day Book of Mormon challenge. I am almost on track/caught up. I tend to get a little behind on my INSANE days but on other days I try to read extra. I am suppose to be finishing Omni but I am at the end of Jacob. Jacob 5 is my FAVORITE section in the scriptures to read. Every time I read the Book of Mormon I look forward to Jacob 5. I sing about Jacob 5 when I am almost there. I know I'm silly but I just LOVE that chapter. It is all about olive trees, pruning and grafting etc. Well....I studied pruning and grafting in college YEARS AGO. The first time I read Jacob 5 after I had studied it in college my eyes were about the size of a dinner plate. Knowing how difficult it is to graft anything and the exactness of pruning olive trees not to mention the importance of digging about the earth has really strengthened my testimony of the scriptures. The care that the master of the vineyard gives to the olive trees is so caring. When most gardeners would have torched the place and started over.--to me rotting trees are a good sign to give up. Not to mention how SLOW olive trees grow and how LONG they live. They are really a generational crop. Anyway... I love Jacob 5.

A funny thing happened this time I was reading. The Isaiah chapters throughout 2 Nephi have ALWAYS been a struggle for me. It was always one of those sections that I just drag my feet through so I could enjoy the rest of the book. Until this time. This last year I have been reading quite a bit of Shakespeare for my Shakespeare class that I teach. When I was asked to teach the class a year ago I had only read one Shakespeare play way way way back in high school...I don't even remember which play it was--I think it was Romeo and Juliet (stupid teenagers! can't they obey anyone?!?!). Well after I agreed to teach the class I began to read a lot of Shakespeare... A LOT! One of the challenges for the kids is to read/watch/listen to 17 plays and so I knew that I had to dive in! Reading all of this Shakespeare has done something to me...I have found this love for the Shakespeare language. It is enchanting to me. How the language has so many levels...its so poetic..so beautiful..well I love it. Well the writing styles of Isaiah and Shakespeare are very similar to me. So when I started reading the Isaiah I was immediately in my comfort zone of Shakespeare. I still don't understand all of the symbolism but I certainly get more of it. I never knew that learning Shakespeare would bless my scripture study so much. After I finish this Book of Mormon challenge I really want to learn more about Isaiah and his writings. If Joseph Smith said it was his favorite thing to study, its got to have some good stuff in there that I NEED.
Anyhoo...there you have it!
Happy Day!

For those who love Twilight....

2010-01-22T19:56:00.002-07:00

My dislike of Twilight is no secret. But I'm not here to talk about the books and what I don't like with them. I am taking this opportunity to post a video that I found hilarious. I have heard many men mention this problem with their wife...although not this extreme..lol.. Its a fun video that was filmed here locally. So have a good laugh!

Book of Mormon Challenge

2010-01-06T21:29:00.002-07:00

Our Stake leaders have challenged our youth to read the Book of Mormon in its entirety in the first 100 days of the year.--That's about April 10th I believe. Luke is all fired up about it and asked me to read it with him. Since this is the first of the year, (and my scripture study really needs a kick in the pants) I told him I would. So far we are on top of it....of course we're only 6 days in..lol.. I remember when Pres. Hinckley challenged the church to read the Book of Mormon in four months, so this challenge is a few days shorter. I am very excited to really focus my reading. The last few months I have been reading a lot, but it has been a lot of Shakespeare and political stuff that I have been reading. Sadly, my scripture study has not been as enthusiastic as I wish it was...I am sure this will jump start it.

Who else is going to do this with me?!?!? I need some people to help keep tabs on me and others that I can pester also. :-)

ANYONE????

Christmas time is here!!

2009-12-26T13:24:00.007-07:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was quiet and uneventful. Very nice. The few days before, Mark had a blister of some sort on his gums so we (Mark and I) were up all night crying. Well..Mark did MOST of the crying anyway. I felt so bad for him. He couldn't suck on his pacifier or bottle and wouldn't even close his mouth. Poor guy! This morning his sore is gone and he is acting like his cute curious self. Hooray!

On Christmas Eve we went to the City Christmas program. It was very nice this year. Sometimes the program is on the weak side, but this year they really did a good job involving the community with an enjoyable program. We then sang songs as we looked at the lights around town. We came home and settled in for the evening. Of course, it was a very long evening as I ended up driving Mark around at about 2am to see if I could get him to sleep. It worked until I brought him home again, then he started crying again. The next morning was delightful to watch the boys open their gifts! The living room became a sea of wrapping paper. Later I had the perfect nap and the boys and I had a lazy Christmas afternoon together.

The best moment of Christmas!!

Lights in LaVerkin. That deer is hung up in the tree by his hind legs. A red string of lights is around his neck and drapes to the ground. What a hoot!! A true LaVerkin resident!!

Ben was very enthusiastic with his gifts. Using every body part available to open the presents.

The stocking that Cory won at his work Christmas party. The kids were really hoping that Santa would fill it.

The making of the candy houses a few days before. I would call them gingerbread houses but I have never made gingerbread and I've been to lazy to learn...so they are grahm crackers covered in candy trying to resemble a house.

Confessions of a Christmas tree Nazi.

2009-12-21T23:05:00.005-07:00

Ok Nazi may be a little strong to describe how I am with my Christmas Tree. Well..with any Christmas tree. Years ago I was paid to make Christmas Trees look fabulous. We did trees for the Festival of Trees and we did pieces for the Governor’s mansion. We started the weekend after Labor Day and decorated Christmas trees that filled the store. I remember doing one tree that we did a twelve foot tree with peacock feathers, copper, and lime green. It took three days for the team to get all the lights on! It sold for more than $1200--they were insane I swear! Tons of handmade ornaments, fabric, beads and ribbon. It was my dream job.And it was YEARS ago.

Christmas 2005--not the best picture but you can almost see my insanity wrapped under the tree.

After I started having kids and doing the mom thing, I haven’t actively decorated trees much. That is…except for mine. For the last dozen years or so I have been so uptight about the Christmas tree. I had to have the G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S tree that looked like it came out of a store. This was a great fulfillment for myself. To have something that I felt I was actually good at…I was good at decorating trees. So I was going to do it WELL. The tree may have looked beautiful, and I spent many hours at night looking at the perfect white lights reflecting off of the various snowflakes and icicles. After a few years, the pretty ornaments were getting broke and the kids stopped asking to help set up the tree. (my husband wouldn't even be in the same room while we [aka "I"] decorated the tree. Last year it hit me pretty hard how much the kids didn’t like the tree. They wanted to be apart of the Christmas tradition of the tree and I had owned it completely.

So, perhaps it was because I was 8 months pregnant last Christmas, but I tossed out all of my pretties. The DI received a large amount of décor that year. When this year came around, it suddenly struck me, in October, that I didn’t have anything to put on my tree! Immediately the Christmas Nazi was in full swing planning colors and designs. But, thankfully, that quiet voice in my head directed me in a different direction. My boys and I have had fun putting together a quaint tree that they love. We made all of the ornaments (still working on some!) and James made a wicked long chain for the tree. When I told the kids that they could put anything on the tree that they made, they were at first very skeptical, but in the end they were delighted. We have had so much fun with the tree. We found bubble lights like I had in my childhood and I even put on colored lights—the first time EVER in my marriage. The ornaments are fun, non-breakable, and we made them all. :--)It is not glamorous, not fancy, not even color-coordinated but my boys love it and I love my boys. I love it too. I have loved sharing this experience with my boys.

And yes that is a ring of 5 gallon buckets of my food storage surrounding my tree with green fabric covering them...I still don't want the baby pulling down the tree..lol.

A year of grocery savings

2009-12-19T20:50:00.003-07:00

It has been about a year and a half that I have been serious about saving money on groceries. I have spent less on groceries than I ever imagined I would have. The past 6 months I have focused more on finding deals on fresh food and non-processed food.
This week we went to Smiths to do a little shopping. Albies deals have been a big THUMBS DOWN lately. So sad since I love Albertsons so much more than Smiths. At the bottom of the receipt there is a spot where they print your yearly savings. I was delighted when I read "Savings to date: $1007.38"!! Smiths isn't my main shopping store so I was so thrilled to see that I had saved this much. Granted, I would probably never spend full price for almost anything so I doubt I would ever spent that extra $1000 at Smiths, however it is a nice visual of the effort of saving money.
Happy Frugal Holidays!

Visiting Santa

2009-12-12T23:07:00.004-07:00

Last night was our Ward Christmas party. The theme was The Polar Express! We had a great breakfast followed by a little skit. We even wore our pajamas--mine were my favorite ones, that glow in the dark. So exciting I know. Then Santa and Mrs. Clause came for a visit.Mark wasn't falling for the big red guy in the fluffy suit. He wanted nothing to do with him! Sorry Santa!

Ben LOVED it! He talked up a storm! This is the first year when Ben will really understand Christmas and the excitement of it.
James and Luke wanted the candy. And that meant they had to sit on his lap. They hammed it up quite nicely..lol..

The kids had a lot of fun and it was nice to visit with friends from the ward. We are blessed to live in a ward that is very caring for each other. I think of when I had Mark earlier this year and how the ward brought me meals for a few days afterwards, but then gals kept calling and bringing me food. And since I never turn down food, I happily accepted it. I didn't have to cook for over a week. I felt so blessed. Anyhoo, it was nice to share some of the holiday season with them at Christmas time.

Here is the little skit that was performed. (Sorry it cuts out at the end...outta space at YouTube.) Luke had one of the parts and was SO excited for it. He really enjoyed being on stage. When he was singing I was so shocked! I knew he could sing..but I didn't know he has such a nice clear voice. It would be nice to get him some lessons someday.