Sugar High

On the radio today, I heard a commercial for McDonalds. It was a man talking about how he hadn't found his morning. Well, I couldn't find my morning today, either. I snoozed the alarm more than normal, I was late getting Kate to school and when I checked my email, I realized that my daughter had sent a massive chain letter out to some of my friends from high school and acquaintances. It starts out by asking, "Who are you crushing on?" It asks several, similar questions before you realize that it's a chain letter. Well, I immediately sent out another email letting everyone know that it was a mistake. Troy called shortly after and was a little courious as to why I was asking such questions to professionals at their places of work. It must have been the sugar high from the day before.

I turned another year older, yesterday. Friends stopped by to greet and spoil me and I had three delicious cakes and lots of chocolate by the end of the day. I indulged right away and haven't stopped since. Of course, we all had to try a little of everything! My wonderful husband made dinner and my kids cleaned up. It was great!

Kate made me this card. I love it! She is much more artistic than I ever was. She also debated with her dad about who deserved more time with mom. Dad said that he didn't get to see me all day but, Kate came right back and said, "but you were with mom way before I was in her tummy!" It was unanimous, she was the winner!

Maestro Please

Alex started 6th grade band this year and really enjoys it. Austin and Alex took piano a couple of years ago and decided to play the trumpet because they use the same notes. Austin started in 6th grade too. He has been playing for 3 years and will often make practice a priority when he hears his sister playing something difficult. The casual competition has been good for both of them. He also just started Jazz Band and does well in that. It is fun to go to their concerts and hear their progress. Austin likes to sit at the piano and figure out the notes to songs he likes. At his last band concert they played an assortment of arrangements and ended with one of my favorite 80's songs, "The Final Countdown." The trumpet section came up to the front and belted out the beginning and the rest of the band followed suit. It was fun.

Troy took piano lessons when he was young and enjoys sitting down and playing a song or two. I love to hear his renditions of "Heart and Soul." We always get up and dance! When I was pregnant with Luke, I took piano lessons (for about a year). However, what I have always wanted to learn to play is the drums. I almost took lessons in college but took voice instead (should have taken the drum lessons). Even though I realized that singing was not one of my natural talents I did gain a great appreciation for music and for people who stick with it. I hope my children decide to continue with it. There is nothing wrong with living vicariously through your children right?

Sunday Night at the Movies

Every Sunday night, Masterpiece Theatre, on PBS has been playing a Jane Austen Movie.
Pride and Prejudice just finished last night. This has been a time for me to have to my own since the kids are in bed and my husband is not into "Chick Flicks." Like all men, he is an action, thriller, blood and guts connoisseur. He will watch an occassional drama or romantic comedy with me but hours and hours of courting and intellectual banter does not turn him on. We did however, have a conversation about what it would be like to live in that era. First of all, no braces, not good, not good at all! Secondly, no hair dryers, hair spray, etc. Frizzy hair, not so cute! Thirdly, no epidurals. Those have been priceless to me. On the other hand, gardening, going to
balls, reading, and having servants, doesn't sound too shabby. What about first impressions? How I loathed Mr. Darcy's arrogance right along with Lizzie and would have struggled being cordial with him as well. There have been times when I have been wrong about people, too. Sometimes I am very slow to figure people out, if I do at all. That could be good or bad, I suppose. My husband and I had no interest in each other when we first met. He looked a little too serious and boring to me and he thought I was just another one of his friends groupies - WRONG! In the first few minutes of a movie, Troy will have the characters and plot sized up, whereas, I need it to unfold before my eyes.

Yesterday...

after talking to an old friend, I got a little homesick. Don't get me wrong, I really am enjoying where we are at now and am grateful for our new friends, community, ward, etc. I feel very blessed. However, every once in awhile, I miss old friends, the mountains, evergreens, and rainbows.


This is Nestle Farms as in Nestle Chocolate morsels. This is where the company used to have a dairy and operate. Now they just hold conferences and training here. We got to take a tour of the grounds and it is just beautiful! It is located on a two-way road and one of only a couple routes out of Carnation.


More of Nestle's. This was my favorite route to Redmond. During our last days in Carnation, I drove up here and took these pictures. I love the trees!


Here is Alexis at a bus stop right off of I-90 (Fall City exit). Her second grade class painted self-portraits and they transferred them here. She was very excited to see it whenever we passed by. Carnation Elementary is very into Art.


Here are the girls at our house on Easter Day, our last in Carnation. Troy and the kids had planted several tulips and bulbs in the fall, for mothers day! I love flowers. This is where my love of gardening took root!

Thanks for the memories Carnation!

Ahhhhh!

You've gotta love a smile that is so BIG it looks like a scream! I ran across these pictures today and they made me laugh. I heard a talk on Sunday by a very smart, young woman that said something like: everytime you smile your body releases endorphins that make you happy. (I think I worded that right?) Anyway, I thought that was cool.

Gotcha!

This morning, Troy and Austin left for a conference which goes until noon. Well, an hour later I started to cook breakfast for the rest of us. I was in the kitchen, all by myself, when suddenly I felt a very soft touch on my shoulder. Out of my peripheral vision I could see the figure of a man, a dark man, and I jumped and screamed as loud as I could. It was Troy! (Thank goodness it was him.) He got the biggest kick out of it! He is too funny. You see, he's always trying to get away with this. (The knuckles on his toes always give hime away though.) When Troy comes home from work I almost never know exactly when he has arrived. He tries to see how long it will take me to figure out where he is. I have to say that I do catch him most of the time and it is hilarious to see him try to become part of the wall or blend into the furniture. It cracks me up to see how he will contort his body to be camouflaged. Shapeshifters have nothing on him! You can imagine what he's like after watching Mission Impossible, Bond or any of the Bourne movies. If he were to be granted his dream job I'm sure it would be something like Arnold Schwartzenager in "True Lies," secret agent man by day, husband and father by night!

Mmm, Mmm Good!

My husband and I exchanged cards and I got this oh so special button to wear all day! Aren't I lucky? I even got to show it off when we went out that night for dinner. Everyone looked pretty envious! Ha! Ha!


Monday night we had a Valentine's FHE on "Love," courtesy of LDS Living. Our activity was to write a good deed that somebody had done for us on a cut-out heart and tape it up. After reminding our children that it could be something simple, we went to writing. Through the week we have added to them.
Yesterday, when I was in my bathroom, getting ready, Kate was busy in my room. I tried to open the door and she quickly told me to stay out because she was doing something important! When she was finished, she showed me that she had made my bed. It was done very well, too! It was exciting to see her so thrilled about it.


Ellie helped me make sugar cookies for Luke's class. By the time we got finished with the batter we were too full to eat the cookies. But, of course we had some of those too!







Yum! Yum!











Dad surprised the kids with a valentine pizza!

Guess Who I Am?

My sister and I were invited to a dress-up (like an adult) party. I am wearing a dress that my mom used to wear and Stacy is wearing our older sister's dress. Yes, it was the 70's!

Here is Monique and Alexis on "Dress like a Princess Day" at the middle school. I was impressed that they decided to do it. Don't they look like princesses?

We have a plethura of dress-up's at our house, in fact, probably too many. The kids love changing costumes and being different super heroes, princesses, etc. A couple of days ago the girls were playing with some friends and came out of the playroom with these costumes on. They were having so much fun. I had to laugh when Ellie stuck the pioneer bonnet on backwards! I thought about trying to change it around but she was too delighted with how it was!

A Favorite Quote

(Shannon, Mom and Stacy during our girls only weekend in California.)

I can't sleep. Here is one of my favorite quotes that inspires me daily. It is by Elder Marvin J. Ashton from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."

Today is my mother's birthday. She has always been and still is such a great example to me. Through the years I have seen her act and speak in a charitable way and I have always looked up to her. Thanks mom for being who you are and for teaching by example. I love you!

FYI "The Mormons"

PBS and/or KSPS is doing a story on "The Mormons" tonight at 9:00 p.m. The previews show the temple, a couple, missionaries, etc. but they don't mention interviewing anyone so I don't know how fact oriented it will be, etc. I just thought I would let people know because I would be interested.

Bedtime

For me, some of the most hectic yet most endearing moments occur during bedtime. My kids have a very hard time getting up in the morning so if I don't stick with the schedule they really drag the next day (and so do I). I also like to have enough time to read stories, sing a song, snuggle and just visit. Austin has outgrown most of that but he has added goofing around with his sister (they are just enjoying each others company), Alexis likes to visit and snuggle, Luke and Kate like all of the above and Ellie likes to stay up as late as possible.

Sometimes Kate will hum herself to sleep. It is the sweetest thing. Saturday night Kate sang me a song that she made up as she went. It went like this:

There were five balloons.
One was rainbow colored, one wasn't, one was rainbow colored, one wasn't.
Then they got away!
Then they went to the store and got five more balloons.
One was rainbow colored, one wasn't, one was rainbow colored, one wasn't.
They were going to have a par-r-ty, a par-r-t-y, a par-r-t-y.
And get lots of party stuff and a cake.
They got their car and drived under and over the great, big tree.
Then they were at the par-r-r-t-y!

(The next morning she added the following:)

Then they stopped in front of the car.
They went up on the tree
and then went in the house
and had a par-r-t-y at the friends house.
Their mom and dad picked them up
and they had a good time.

The end!

I love when bedtime brings such special gifts!


When I was young and sharing a room with my siblings, my dad would go to sleep at 9:00 every night, unless of course we kept him up by giggling too much. This would end up with him checking on us and upon looking in the room, suddenly finding us fast asleep or hiding in the closet.

Most of my siblings had an ongoing problem with wetting the bed. So, my parents were taken in with a product that was promised to help stop these accurances. Here is how it worked: a floodlight was placed up above the head and a mat with a pillowcase covering it would be placed underneath the victim. When the mat got wet, the light would turn on and a buzzer would go off. This was not a quiet buzzer either, it was the kind that could wake the dead. Of course, it had to be. But, sharing a room with two sisters, two spotlights and two buzzers, it often made bedtime a crazy and very entertaining time. We laughed about it then and we laugh about it now. I also have to say that it worked! In the long run we got much better sleep! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Love For????

Can you say,"Christmas Story?" Yes, because of her love of being pulled around for hours, this is what we are resolved to. Luke will string a rope through one of our sleds and pull her around like she's the queen of sheba. She wasn't going to be left out of sledding down the hills with the bigger kids either. I am amazed at how much children can withstand the cold. I love to sled and have my fun but, I'm ready to come in after awhile. Ellie definately has a love for the outdoors whatever the weather may be.



I have a love for music especially when I'm working out and I need extra motivation. What did we do before ipods? I also love technology! Remember big, stereo consoles that doubled as furniture with 8-track tapes and phonographs? We had one in our house. What about boom boxes and walk-man's? In my college days, walk-man's were new. I remember having a friend that was somewhat well-off, (they were not mainstream yet, ha ha) who walked around campus with his ear plugs in. Yes, there's nothing like a tiny piece of technology with countless hours of songs and listening fulfillment to enjoy. You can even connect it to little speakers in your home for all to hear if you so desire. I love it!

Questions

I saw this on a blog or two and thought that it looked fun.

10 years ago: I was pregnant with Luke, lived at my in-laws (while they were on their mission), in Primary, vacationed in Europe with my husband

5 things on my list of things to do today: make cub scout lists, exercise, laundry, check my kids assignments on-line, call Carrie

Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire: go on a Carribbean Cruise of course, travel, finish decorating my house, buy a plethura of socks (so they never wear out) Ha! Ha!, buy a Car Wash (the drive-through kind), treat family, friends and complete strangers, donations

3 of my bad habits: 1. Procrastination 2. Procrastination 3. Procrastination

Places I have lived: California, Utah, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho

Jobs I have had: receptionist, transcriptionist, preschool teacher, weighed tomato trucks, gymnastics coach, mowed lawns

Things most people don't know about me: I had buck-teeth as a kid (thank goodness for braces), I love to dance, I sing to the radio (all the time and as loud as my kids can stand it), and I love to watch "I Love Lucy" episodes.

President Hinckley's Funeral

I will always remember President Hinckley as seeming so personable and witty yet very spiritual and dedicated.


President Hinckley's funeral was a very touching, emotional farewell. He was remembered in many ways, including his charm, humor, service, dedication, optimism and leadership. His daughter said, "He wore out his life" in service. What a great way to be remembered.

Pinewood Derby

Last night was the Pinewood Derby! It was a crowded arena full of spectators. Dads and boys alike were anxious to see the other competitors and start the races. The cars were adorned in vibrant colors and design from the Red Baron, a Shark, and many roadsters to a pin-striped car with a driver. As each car took its mark and the whistle blew, the crowd roared in anticipation. Many cars raced down the track in high hopes. But alas, it was the top three that endured the strenuous workout. With a lot of luck and a little bit of dad know-how Luke was able to get in the top three with his cousin Thatcher at second and his friend Tanner taking first. What a night! All in all it was just fun to be there and enjoy the great sportsmanship, Right Dads?