Where the Fun Never Ends

jared and Kamryn driving Goofy's car in Toon Town.

They thought this cake and balloons were real and were for their birthday.


jared loved the pirates ride, especially when we ended up in the pirate store.

More Disney Magic

To meet any of the characters at the park you have to stand in line of course. Mickey is the only one we stood in line for and this is why. Kamryn was too shy to talk to Mickey or be good for a picture. So we didn't get to see any of the other characters this time around. We did see them all in the parade and that was fun for the kids.

Thank goodness Kamryn was happy in a picture sometimes.


I can't believe I actually went on this ride. i don't do spinning rides but the kids wanted to go on the tea cups. So I just kept my eyes on Jared's shirt. The kids loved it.

I survived.

Jared is wearing a birthday badge that he got when we bought our tickets. He and Kamryn got in free since it was their birthday. He wore his badge all day and it was fun having the Disney cast members always tell him happy birthday by name when we walked on the rides. kamryn also got a badge but only had it on for about 5 minutes and then I put it on my pack.

Fun at the Park

The kids were excited to go on all the rides.

Kamryn loved the carousel. Before that we'd been on the Snow White ride and that was too scary for her - it was dark and there was a bad lady there.

Jared didn't get quite as scared on the rides as Kamryn did but he was nervous on some of the darker ones. He also loved the carousel.

Kamryn, Paul and Jared

On the way to Disneyland

Jared and Kamryn were so excited to go to Disneyland. We had them go to bed early (early for us was 9:00 pm) because we had to get them up at 5:30 am. They had a really hard time settling down and were so excited that they didn't go to sleep until about 11. They had already decided that they wanted to go on the plane in their jammies so that made it easier in the morning.

Luckily the flight wasn't full so we each had a row. And it was great that Jared and Kamryn each got a seat by the window.


Kamryn really wasn't too unhappy. She just doesn't like her picture taken.
They were both great on the plane. Although even on a short plane ride Kamryn asked a couple of times if we were almost there.
They also wanted to know if the plane was going to take us to Disneyland. We explained to them that we would land at the airport and then rent a car to drive to Disneyland.



We actually ended up renting a van which was really nice to have all that space. Kamryn had fun riding in the back all by herself.

We picked up Disneyland brochures at the car rental place which was fun for the kids to check out while we were driving there.

Presents

Jared got this killer whale swim toy from Paul's parents. He loved it.

Kamryn modeling her new birthday jammies.

Jared showing off his birthday pjs.

Kamryn got a cute little "hello kitty" castle from her grandparents but there is no picture to show because Kamryn REALLY doesn't like her picture taken. Justin, Brooke and Taylor gave the kids the Disney edition of the game Memory, which is a favorite game right now.

My parents gave Jared and Kamryn spending money.

The big present that Paul and I gave them was to take them to Disneyland on their actual birthday. They were very excited to go to Disneyland, even though I don't think they really knew what that meant.

Party Time

Kamryn with her princess cupcakes.

Jared with his spiderman cupcakes.

With boy/girl twins it makes for interesting birthday celebrations. Even if I wanted to do one cake or theme it would be impossible. But I'm always going to try to follow my BIL's advice and have separate cakes for the twins on their birthdays. This year it was a small family gathering to celebrate so we did cupcakes. That worked out really well for making what the kids wanted. Jared is all boy and wanted spiderman. And Kamryn is all girl and wanted a princess cake. Thank goodness for Zurchers.

Happy Birthday to my 4 Year Olds

Kamryn and Jared with their birthday balloons showing

how old they are now.

It's going to take several posts to cover the birthday celebration for Jared and Kamryn this year.

It all started on Monday evening when we celebrated their birthday at home with our family and grandparents. Jared and Kamryn were very excited for their party. They loved the balloons, presents, and cupcakes.

Mother's Day

Today was a great mother's day.
First of all, I got to sleep in until 9:15!
Then everyone got up and got ready without any problems. We were ready early enough that we got to walk to church. It was a beautiful day. I really enjoy walking to church with my kids. Its a good time to talk to them. I just wish Paul could walk with us.
It was fun to watch jared and Taylor go up with the primary kids to sing to us mothers. Kamryn wouldn't go up. She's just too shy these days.
After church I made dinner - what I wanted. i've decided it's just easier to have a nice dinner on mother's day if I decide what I want and then make it. And I would rather make it and then have someone else clean it up. We had meatloaf, roasted potatoes, and squash. Then some brownies later for dessert.
We went to visit at Paul's parents and then to my parents. It was just a relaxing, kick-back day. My kids gave me a new phone for my bedroom and Brooke got me a movie. And my mom gave me some money which I will use on an upcoming trip.

Girl Friend Getaway

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go with 2 girlfriends to Women's Conference at BYU and then on to St George.
Women's conference was great. We enjoyed the classes, esp the one with Ruth Todd. We decided this should become an annual tradition but go to both days of the conference and get a hotel in Provo and enjoy a short getaway. I even met Rachelle from this famous blog. I also met up with my friend Paige and we were able to go to a couple of classes together.
We finally left Provo around 8:30 at night for St George. That is a short drive when you're with friends and you have lots to talk about. We got to Desiree's house around midnight and proceeded to stay up until sometime after 2:00 talking some more.
On Friday we went to look at the model homes in Coral Canyon. It's always fun to dream. We did some shopping and even saw the Butler family from our ward while we were out. We went to dinner at Red Robin and then went home and watched a couple of movies.
On Saturday we went to see a TERRIBLE MOVIE! DO NOT GO SEE IT!! We were excited to see Matthew Macaughnahey's new movie and we were so disappointed. We should have left it was that bad. We went home and watched Bride Wars which was much better.
It was so great to hang out with great friends, sleep in and just relax.

Mini Minnie Pearl

New Callings

Paul and I have both received callings in our recently reorganized, boundary changed ward. At the end of March we had a special fast and testimony meeting to hear about major changes in our stake. Our ward as we knew it was split in half. One half (the side we don't live on) was combined with the 4th ward. The half we live on was combined with the 10th ward and part of the 1st ward. We will continue to be called the 5th ward and we continue in the building we had been meeting at and get to keep the 11:00 time (YEAH).
The next Sunday after the split was General Conference so that gave the bishop's time to figure out how to combine these new wards. Our bishop, Harold Hinckley, did his best to meet with most of the families that were new to him. Our family met with him on Sunday and had a nice little chat. He asked us to tell him our family history in a couple of minutes. I've known the bishop for a long time because he was in my ward when I was a teenager. 20 years ago they took his street out of our ward to make a new ward. And now we're back together.
On Tuesday morning I got a call from the stake executive secretary saying that paul and i needed to meet with President Arnell, a counselor to the stake president. We figured that paul was going to stay on as Executive Secretary to the bishop.
WRONG!!
Paul was asked to be the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. Just what his very busy life needed. But he accepted the call and is glad to serve with this bishopric. He has enjoyed meeting people in this new ward. The hardest part about this calling is having him sit on the stand and not with our family.

Paul, Bishop Hinckley, Dan Hodgson

Paul is scrunching down so he's the same height as the others.

5th Ward Bishopric

(Paul at regular height)

Paul came home from a very long bishopric meeting on Wed night. There is a lot to do in this new ward to get it organized. Our ward in the combining of 3 wards had 2 RS pres, 2 primary pres, 3 YW pres plus 2 complete presidencies and advisors, 2 YM presidencies minus one president and lots more duplications on callings. So the bishopric have had a big job getting this all sorted out.

When paul got home he said the bishop had a calling for me. I asked him if the bishop was going to talk to me and he said he was supposed to do that. I told him that was bad because I could say no to my own husband. So I received a new calling from the bishopric at 11:00 at night.

Today I was sustained as the Ward Newsletter Editor. I was glad to accept this calling although I am very intimidated by the whole computer part of it. I had even mentioned to my friends that I would love to be a REPORTER for the newsletter just not not the EDITOR. Oh well, I'll figure it out. Now the big challenge is they want an edition out for next Sunday! Yikes!! And I leave to go out of town Thursday morning so I have to have it done and printed by Wed night. Wish me luck!

Using up my Luck

Brooke and I have been trying to get tickets to Wicked in the lottery they have before the show. This is common in NYC and they are also doing it here. For every show they have a lottery to sell 10 pairs of tickets, each ticket is $25. We have gone down there 3 times and haven't won yet. We even take Jared and Kamryn with us so they can put their names in to help us have more names in our favor. I've decided we aren't winning because my name is getting drawn in other things and it is using up all my luck.
The other day my name was drawn on a radio station contest and Paige won a basket of stuff for me. She's my friend that is always winning stuff on the radio. She told me to enter this contest on KOSY through Facebook and then she listens for my name and calls in and wins. So winning that used up some of my luck.
Recently, the Canyons School District sent home a note about forming a Task Force committee to study enrollment, calendering and other important issues for the new school district. Each school in the district will have one parent to represent them on the committee and the way onto the committee would be by lottery drawing of a name from parents who submitted that they were interested. You could submit your name to each school that your kids go to so I submitted my name 3 times - one for elementary, one for middle and one for high school. I was interested in the committee and figured if I got drawn good, if I didn't get drawn it would be a relief.
Well, I just found out today that I was selected to be on the committee. I am actually intrigued by the whole thing and hope it isn't too overwhelming. The first meeting is next week. So that lottery drawing of my name used up more of my luck. Hopefully Brooke has enough for both of us and one of these times that we go downtown we'll get Wicked tickets.

Brooke's Team

This is Brooke's volleyball team this year. She's playing for Mt Olympus, a small club. They are a great group of girls and Danielle is an awesome coach.

They played at "the Gym" up in Ogden today. it's a new facility and it is AWESOME!!

They had a rough start this morning but ended the day on an upswing and won their bracket in the tournament.

Deep Question

The other day I was at my sister's house just hanging out. Her sons (my nephews) were eating lunch. Jake who is 6 and in kindergarten, has a photographic memory. He is amazing at reading already and just so smart. He was eating away and then looks up and says to me,
"Lisa, Do you know Jesus?"
The question made me stop. I really didn't know how to answer him. I'm still thinking about it.
His mom asked him if he knew Jesus and with absolutely no hesitation said "yes"
The faith and knowledge of a child is amazing.

Easter Sunday Photos

We were ready for church early since Jared and Kamryn got up before eight. Since we had some extra time I convinced my kids to let me take some Easter pictures. The older boys didn't even remember it was Easter until I said something Easter pictures. They couldn't figure out why I was taking pictures.

Taylor (11), Jared (almost 4), Justin (16)

My handsome boys

My cute girls

Kamryn (almost 4), Brooke (almost 15)

Kamryn and Jared

Jared and Kamryn

It is almost impossible to get a good picture of both them together.

My wonderfully, awesome kids

Spirit of the Marathon

My friend loaned me a DVD of "Spirit of the Marathon". I watched it tonight and it was very good. A little too inspiring - as in it made me think about running another marathon. I know it won't be this year but it may happen in the next few years. I'd really like to run a 1/2 marathon this year. My biggest problem right now is I've got 2 blisters - one on each pinky toe. I could feel them coming on and didn't do anything about it. DUMB! DUMB!

So Sad

Early this evening I went to the viewing for Dan Howells. He was such a great example and friend to everyone who knew him. It was certainly evident how many lives he touched because the viewing was packed. The line to talk to the family members wound all over the church building. People have come up from Tucson where Dan and his wife Amy lived for several years. I went to high school and both of them and they are both such good, good people. I knew before I even got there that I would really have a hard time talking to Amy. I knew she would be the one comforting everyone. And I was right. She is such a strong person and so amazing. The greatest thing was their daughter Kathryn, who was in the accident with her dad, was standing right there with her mom and was so strong for everyone. She had a lot of cuts and abrasions on her face but she was smiling and hugging everyone who came through the line. It was so touching. I wish I could make it to the funeral tomorrow. It's going to be a beautiful meeting. My thoughts and prayers are with the whole family.

BTW

By the way, the Denver thing was a little April Fool's joke. Although I suppose anything is possible in Paul's business these days.

Wild Wednesday

Jared and Kamryn got to go back to preschool today. They go to Brighton High school's preschool program. The preschool is run by the h.s. students. When the trimesters change the preschoolers don't have school for 3 weeks. Only this time the break was more like a month. It was nice to have a little bit of a break but 4 weeks was a long time off. Jared and Kamryn were very excited to go back to school and Jared was even up early (one problem of being out for so long is they got on a terrible sleeping schedule). They were both so cute when they got home and showed me everything from their backpacks that they did at school.
After lunch we went over to Desiree's house so I could help her send some pictures to Costco online to get developed. The kids played and watched a movie while we worked on the computer and had a little facebook lesson.
Young Women's was very interesting tonight. This was our first night with the newly combined ward. We have a total of 21 YW now and most of them were there tonight. And then there are 2 complete presidencies plus another president and 2nd counselor from the 3rd ward that was added into our ward (a group of apartments near our ward building). The YW room was full of people. We did some fun get to know you games and the girls all seemed to be having a good time. But looks can be disguised. At the end of the night, I asked 2 of the girls from our original ward if they had fun and they looked at me like they were going to cry and one of them said,
"I would trade all of these girls to have our own girls back."
It's going to take a long time to really make this work.
Paul flew to Denver today for an interview for a new project his group is bidding on. Then he had to drive up to Torrington WY to check on a new project he is starting up there. If he gets the new project it looks like we may be moving to Denver for awhile. With all of the upheaval of the ward changes I would actually be okay with it.

Tuesday's Tidbits

Some funny things that the twins have said and done today and the last couple of days:

Monday night I was reading Jared and Kamryn their story. For their book that night they picked to look at their newborn scrapbook. When we were looking at the page with the ultrasound pictures on it I told them that was when I found out i had 2 babies in my tummy and I was so excited. Jared looked up at me very seriously and said,
"Did you eat us?"
I told him no.
He said, "How did we get there?"
Definitely did not want to have that conversation with a 3 year old. So I told him Heavenly Father put them there and he seemed satisfied with that answer.

Today we were at my sister's house as usual. The kids watched the new movie BOLT. It was the first time J & K had seen it. They were mesmerized. (Guess I'll have to get that one).
On the way home Jared said
"I want to get a pet."
I asked him where he would get a pet. He said the pet store. I asked him what kind of pet he would get. He said,
"a kitty." I told him we couldn't do that because i am allergic to them and kitties make me sick.
Then Jared said he would get a toy kitty. I told him that we already have lots of toy kitties and puppies and then suggested that they could make their own pet store and get some pets.
And that is exactly what they did and had a great time playing with their "new" pets. They even took them with us on a couple of visits to friends houses this evening,

Tragic News Today

It's been a day with too much tragic news.
The first bit is no one I know personally but still so tragic. Paul's co-worker's wife is due with a baby any day. Her parents live in Colorado and have been in town waiting for the baby to arrive. They received a phone call yesterday that their home in CO burned to the ground! Their 20 year old son had been frying with grease and fell asleep and left the burner on. So sad. Our lesson in FHE centered around that and how we all need to be safe and be careful. And to go along with that what we would miss if our home burned down and we weren't here to get things out. Those thoughts just stress me out.
The second bit seems even more tragic because it is people I know personally. I received a message on Facebook that a friend from HS, Dan Howells, was killed this morning in a car accident near Kamas. Their is a brief report in the Tribune about it. He is married to Amy Erekson, who I also went to HS with and they have 6 children. i just couldn't believe it when I read it. he's a seminary teacher and wonderful guy. I just don't know how you go on when something like that happens. i guess the lesson to learn is just hold your family close and appreciate every minute with them.

Saddest Sunday

It's so late and I'm tired so I will have to write more in detail tomorrow about the events of the day. This is the bottom line - the 5th ward as I've known it for most of my life and have really loved it for the last almost 10 years is no more. It is so sad but luckily I've had this whole week to prepare for that but it was still a hard day. The worst part was seeing our YW so broken hearted and in tears.
I do have hope that our new ward will be a good one and that we'll recover in time. And I know i will continue to be friends with those people who I love and care about that are in my ward family.

Yesterday

I'm not sure I've remembered to post on a Saturday this whole month. They are always long and busy days and I'm exhausted by the time I hit the pillow and I just forget.
Yesterday I was up early to go to Brooke's volleyball tournament. Her team was playing at IVA, which is nice because it's the closest facility they can play at but it's also the nosiest and craziest. Her coach couldn't be there because she was playing in her own tournament up at the U. So one of the player's dad was going to coach and I was going to act as the asst coach so that I could ref. Me? Ref at real volleyball? Crazy! But once I admitted to Danielle that I had referred for church ball she said I could do it.
The day didn't start off well when one of the teams for our pool didn't show up. Which meant we would finish way earlier than any other pool and sit around for hours. That's never good. Brooke's team is very inconsisten and it's a major rollercoaster ride with them. They lost their first set 24-26 (we should have won but Brooke's serve hit the net short on our game point and then the other team went ahead and won) but then won the second set 25 -7 (one of our players served 17 straight points). In regular tournament play it's best 2 out of 3 so we went to a third game and our team lost 10-15. The whole day went like that. Up and down, win and lose. Unfortunately our team just can't finish it off. In our first match in the tournament, we won the first set and then went and lost the 2nd and 3rd sets. It's so sad and hard.
Luckily the day ended on an up note. We met our good friends, Matt and Stacie, at the Red Iguana for dinner. It was great to visit with them and enjoy good food.
When we got home Paul and I had to go over and clean the church. It was pretty depressing walking around the building thinking about what was going to happen in the morning. I thought I was getting prepared for the changes but I'm not really and it's going to be a very sad day.
After we were done cleaning the church we finished watching Pride and Prejudice with our kids. It was fun to all sit on our new couch together. Justin said he liked that movie better Quantum Solace.

Frustrating Friday

I spent most of the day frustrated with my laptop and Turbo Taxes. I've never had trouble with Turbo Tax in the past but this year it's been a nightmare. I'm on my 2nd disc of the program. The first one I had would never load so I finally exchanged it yesterday. It loaded up and I started on the taxes but this morning when I went to work on them again the program said it was missing some registry thing and i would have to reload the program. What a nightmare. Finally after many hours I have our initial taxes done. At least we're getting a refund, at this point. But things may change when I finish them up and enter the last few items.
I did have fun hanging out with Julianne today. We did some errands together and then went to Cafe Rio for lunch. I hadn't been there in a super long time. It was so good. She'd just been to the dentist for some fillings to be done and she really struggled eating her lunch. It was kind of funny but I did feel bad for her. I've been there way too many times.
Tonight we watched "Quantum of Solace" with Justin and Brooke. I liked it more than I thought I would, I went in with really low expectations. I definitely like the Bourne series a lot more.

Thursday

Today was just a pretty regular day. Brooke went to school for the first time this week. She's been home all week with walking pneumonia. It will be the only day she goes because there is no school for her tomorrow since it is the end of the quarter.
Kamryn and Jared's friends came over to play. When their mom, Jenny, got back we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and met Desiree there and her kids. It's kind of crazy to go their with kids but it works out okay.
After lunch I ran down to Sam's Club with the kids. I had to exchange the Turbo Tax program I bought. The first disk would never load and now the new has loaded onto my computer so I can get to work on our taxes. I did start on them but have to do info gathering before I can go any further.
I went to watch Brooke at volleyball practice. I wanted to keep an eye on her since she's been sick all week. She did okay. They have a tournament this Sat so hopefully she'll be up to playing all day. Her coach won't be at the tournament so I may have to ref for her. let's hope it doesn't come to that.
In the evening I went VT to my 3rd lady this week. I'm a really terrible VT but I do try to get in a home visit at least once a quarter. We had a nice visit and she updated me on her grandkids. She has boy/girl twin grandkids who are 2 and live in Denver.
After visiting her I stopped to hang out with Julianne for a bit. We had a great time talking. Thank goodness for good friends in this world.

Wonderful Wednesday

It really has been a wonderful day. I spent some of it visiting teaching. I really do terribly with that calling but always mean to do better. I visited two of my ladies today - real visits not just dropping by cookies. And it was so fun to talk to each of them and visit and catch up. It makes me want to go every month and really talk.
After the kids were home from school I went to get a treat with Leslie. It was fun to talk to her. We talked a lot about food storage of all crazy topics.
Tonight I went to a "meeting" with the YW presidency. I forgot to tape Idol. Oh well.

Tuesday

This morning I took Jared and Kamryn for their regular check up at the dentist. They love going to the dentist. He is very nice and has the coolest office ever. they were both very good and passed with flying colors.
After their appt., we went to Paul's work and took him his lunch he forgot. Then we met up with Susan and her kids at Target for lunch.
Kamryn learned how to do cartwheels at dance today. It was so cute watching her teacher help her do them.
Tonight we didn't get to watch American Idol, thanks to the President. At least we got to watch the tape of Amazing Race.

Catching Up

This is exactly what happens to me in traditional journal writing - I miss a day or two or 3 and then get behind and it's too hard to catch up so I don't.
Saturday was a good day. We went to taylor's soccer game and watched his team fight hard in the wind to try and win but ended up losing by 1 goal. Taylor played hard the whole time he was in and almost scored. Justin's team had a bye so we only had one game for the day!
I met Paige and Michelle for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. YUM!! I was pig and ate my whole delicious lunch (CA Cheesesteak Sandwich with Fries) and my whole piece of cheesecake (Raspberry Lemon, one of my favorites). I very much enjoyed hanging out with these wonderful ladies and missed our other friends who couldn't make it. Michelle and I ended up going over to the mall and looked around at the sale at Macy's. I found some cute brown shoes and a sweater for spring - both for $17!
At night our family went to the Stake Family Fun Fest. It was basically like a school carnival - bounce house, games and entertainment. Jared and Kamryn loved the cupcake walk and the candy prizes they got from playing the games. I got roped into being in our ward's little "skit." We did our version of Hee Haw. It's amazing how much of fool you can be made into.
Sunday was our ward conference. I went to the morning meeting with our YW presidency and the Stake YW presidency. It was a great meeting and full of the spirit. It was very satisfying to let the stake know that we are doing all that they are asking us to and having all of the meetings we are supposed to have.
At the beginning of our sacrament meeting the bishop read a letter stating that we would be having a special Fast and Testimony meeting next Sunday at 10:30. It would only be the one meeting for an hour and we would be combined with 2 other wards in the stake for the meeting. That was all we were told in the letter. I knew immediately that the meeting was going to be about changing ward boundaries and combining wards in the stake. I just hope that they would leave our ward intact and just add to our ward. My worst fear is that they will split our ward. We are a strong ward and everyone loves our ward and we get along great and our youth are good friends. Why do they have to split the strong?????? I don't know what is really going to happen but that is what I am very afraid they are going to do. It was hard to concentrate on the rest of the meeting but the bishop gave a great talk that helped to distract from the news for a little while.
The rest of the afternoon Paul and I spent speculating about the changes and what the letter meant. We watched my friends' 3 youngest kids while she went to the temple dedication with her older children. In the evening we went to visit his parents.
I woke up Monday morning after having dreams about getting on an airplane with Paul that we knew was going to crash. I related that to thinking about the changes at church.
I did the laundry and then went swimming with the Martins and the Hammonds. It's a great activity that we dread. Isn't that funny? While we're there it's great but getting ready to go and then getting dressed after and going out in the cold is not fun.
For FHE we just hung out with our older kids and talked about lots of different things. It was fun.

Friday

I enjoyed going for a walk with jared and kamryn today. the weather was gorgeous - perfect!! we walked over to my parents and stayed long enough for Jared and Kamryn to have a snack. then we walked over to the playground. those two had great fun turning that playground into a ship and they had a bridge to go under and all sorts of fun pretending.
after our walk we went to visit Paul's parents. on the way home we stopped at the grocery store for a few things. Jared and Kamryn are usually pretty good at the store but this time they fought over who was going to push the cart and then they wanted to get treats in the check out lane. It's so much easier to go without them.
tonight was the elementary school's fundraiser program. this year each grade did a dance. Taylor's grade did a dance to a song from "high school musical." Taylor was in the back and I think he was glad about that. He didn't really like learning the dance. He said he'd rather sing any song than dance. we all liked the 4th grade's dance the best. the fundraiser part of the evening was auctioning off baskets that each class put together and donated to the event. We were the high bidders on a hair care basket. Taylor's class did a "Utah" basket and it raised $375.

Thursday

This morning I dropped off Jared and Kamryn to play with their friends Josh and Leah. While they played I went over to Julianne's and we worked on invites for New Beginnings. When we were done with that I went back to the Hammonds and we walked over to the park together and had a picnic and played outside. It was great weather although it could have been a little warmer.
After we got back from the park Justin came home from school with Mackenzie and Hillary, 2 YW his age in our ward. It was fun to hang out with them for a little bit.
then I ran to Walmart for chips to go with dinner and picked up some craft stuff for a school project Brooke was working on. When I got home the kids went with me to deliver a birthday present to my friend leslie. After we got back Kamryn was having fun running around the house and ringing the doorbell and after we let her in she would go out the sliding door and go ring the doorbell again.
Unfortunately, the 3rd time she did this she fell.
This is what her face looked like after she had a bath and i got her cleaned up. It's so sad. She looks like she got in a fight.
I went to book club tonight at Tess' house. We had a great discussion about the book, "Undiscovered Country" and we also had some heated discussions about visiting teaching. i love book club and talking with these ladies. We all talked about how book club is a sacred night and we don't miss it if at all possible.

Wednesday

We went swimming with Desiree and her kids today. We spent more time in the specialty pool than the splash zone today. Kamryn had fun swimming with goggles on.
After swimming the kids and i went down to the library. They love going there and picking out a book to check out. Jared always gets a dinosaur book and Kamryn always gets a princess book.
For combined YM/YW mutual tonight we went down to the church history museum for a special pioneer trek tour. The guides did a great job with the tour and it was very interesting and the perfect length. After the tour they showed us the video "Only a Stonecutter." It's an excellent video and very insprirational. On the way home I stopped at Wendy's with the kids in my car for a little treat. When I got home I watched the results show for Idol. Now I'm going to bed.

Tuesday

I managed to get up at 4:50 am this morning so I could go to muscle up with Jenny. I'm always glad I've gotten up when the class is over. I was very careful with my shoulder during the class and then when I got home and woke up Paul I messed up my shoulder just shaking him awake. What a pain.
I had planned to finish up my tablecloth project this morning but got sucked into watching an episode of ER on the internet. Paige's post about ER made me sad that I haven't been keeping up with the final season. So I'm catching up. I love that they are bringing back the original cast.
After getting Jared and Kamryn some breakfast and they got dressed we headed out to my sister's house. We usually hang out there for the day - before and after Kamryn's dance lesson. Today my sister and I worked on my mom's poster for our stake family fun fest. My sister did a great job on it and my mom's poster will be the best one there.
Jared said some funny things while we were there. He was playing with the big box of barbies. He had a "ken" doll and said "I'm looking for something for him to marry." I told him it was someone. Then he picked up another "ken" and said "he will marry him" Oh no. I told him boys do not marry boys. Boys only marry girls.
In the late afternoon we had a YW presidency meeting. We only have them once a month and they usually last for about 2 hours. We had a lot to plan this time - new beginnings, a fundraiser dinner/activity for pioneer trek, upcoming activities and lessons for the next couple of months.
After dinner we were watching Idol when the doorbell rang and it was the bishop and the ward clerk. We let them in our very messy living room - Jared and Kamryn had just destroyed it while we were eating dinner. Embarrassing! We visited for awhile and then they got to the point. To be continued ...
After Idol was over I went to pick up Brooke from volleyball. Her team was playing a practice game against the other team from the club. It was fun to watch them play. I never get sick of volleyball.

Laundry Day

It was the typical Monday - laundry and ironing took up most of the day.
The best part of the day was going on a walk with jared and Kamryn. It was beautiful outside although it was a bit windy. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood and delivered pictures to several friends in our ward. We stopped at the Wallaces for awhile. jared and kamryn are pretty comfortable there - they walked right in and went straight downstairs to the playroom.
For FHE, we followed up on the theme from Sacrament Meeting yesterday - self-reliance.
Really not too much to report but it was a good day.

The Weekend

Friday night I stayed up until almost 2:00 sewing and then had to get up at 8:00 Saturday morning to wake up Taylor so he could get ready for his 9:00 am soccer game. I also had to wake up Paul and Justin so they could move the hide-a-bed couch from downstairs to upstairs so we could make room for the new leather recliner couch that was being delivered that morning. We were a little late to Taylor's game but didn't miss too much. It wasn't as cold as I'd expected it to be but I did have on 3 layers under my coat. At least it was sunny. Taylor had a couple of good shots on goal but the keeper was able to stop the ball. Too bad. taylor's team lost and he was pretty bummed about it. We went right from Taylor's game to Justin's game. Luckily he plays on the big field with bleachers so we got to sit on those metal bleachers and warm up in the sun. Justin plays on the U-19 co-ed team. This level really is just playing for fun and the kids seem to have a good time. Justin's team also lost but he didn't seem to care.
After soccer I did a run to Sam's club and then made a salad for the temple dinner and also made dinner for my kids to have while we were gone.
At about 3:00 we picked up the Wallaces and went to the SL Temple. We were on the biggest session I've ever been on and it lasted for 2 1/2 hours. Afterwards we met at Jenny and Ryan's house for dinner. It was fun to visit with other couples in the ward.
When we got home I was supposed to finish up sewing my apron but the boys were watching Lord of the Rings and I couldn't stand the thought of working in my sewing area and having to listen to that movie so i went to bed.
This morning I got up early so I could work on finishing my apron. I got the family up and got Jared and Kamryn bathed and ready for church. After church I finished up getting ready for our pioneer trek fireside. they had asked all the "ma's and pa's" to come dressed in our pioneer clothes. It was fun to see how everyone was dressed for it. Hopefully all of the youth will be excited to go on trek. I am.
After the fireside we went to pick up taylor, Jared and Kamryn at my parents and stayed and visited for awhile. Then we came home and read scriptures and had family prayer. Now it's off to bed. YEAH!!

Friday

I finally got back to the exercise thing this morning. I went with Desiree and Jenny. It was good to get up and get moving.
I took Jared and Kamryn with me to the fabric store. That was "fun." They were actually pretty good. Kamryn loved all the pretty material and wants all of it for dresses. She loved looking at the patterns for the princess costumes. Jared liked all the BOY costumes. I had to find a pattern for an apron for pioneer trek. I also got some more material for that apron.
Next we met my sister at the mall. She was having Katie's pictures taken. They turned out really cute. On the way home I gave into the twins and stopped at McDonalds so they could have some fries and play in the play place.
When Paul got home from work we took a little scenic drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to take Taylor's friend home. He lives up there by the Donut Falls turnoff. I cannot imagine driving up and down that canyon every day. After we got back we went over to my parents so Paul could watch the MWC basketball games. I worked on making my trek apron and Jared and Kamryn had fun with their grandma. They really love playing at her house and doing crafts with her. It's so great that we live so close and can hang out frequently at their house.

Thursday

It was a good day. I spent some time reading this morning for book club. I started the book yesterday and ended up finishing later in the afternoon today. It was called "Undiscovered Country" and I liked it.
I really enjoyed having friends over today for a play date and lunch. It was great to sit and visit with friends while the kids played together.
I went a little early to watch Brooke at volleyball practice. Her coach is Danielle Killpack from the U volleyball team. For this practice, Danielle brought her friend Keisha who is also on the Utah team. At the end of the practice Danielle and Keisha were showing the girls how they hit and man do they hit. Brooke actually had a dig against Keisha and said that was the hardest ball she's ever had hit her arms. Then the team divided up and played a short scrimmage game with Danielle and Keisha playing with them. It was really fun to watch.

Wednesday

I was a super bum today and went back to bed after taking Justin to school and didn't wake up until Jared and Kamryn came in my room at 9:22! So much for getting anything done this morning.
At 11:00 we headed over to the rec center for our weekly swim date with friends. I was able to read for a little while Jared and Kamryn played in the water. Then our friends got there and I enjoyed visiting with the moms while the kids played. We eventually ventured out of the splash zone into the specialty pool and I helped both the kids practice swimming.
On our way home from swimming we stopped at the grocery store to get the rest of the ingredients I needed to make Cafe Rio salad with pork. I did the pork in the crock pot and even made the rice and the creamy tomatillo dressing. It was so good. Lots of work but worth it occasionally.
We attended Brenon Butler's Eagle Court of Honor together as a family tonight. When Brenon was putting his mom's eagle bandana on his mom I told Justin I want one of those. His smart remark was "Hopefully Taylor gets his eagle then." Justin will be getting his eagle whether he likes it or not. He's way too close to not finish.
After the court of honor we had a class activity for YW. We made scrapbook pages for a yw history/scrapbook we're making for New Beginnings. Then we played "scriptionary" and had treats. We were home by 8:00 to watch the results show of Idol. I was sad to see Jorge go.
After Idol I ran over to Julianne's house to take her some of the Rio dressing and rice and ended up hanging out for awhile. I love chatting with her and her fmaily.

Tuesday

I think I'll do today's report in list form:

• slept in instead of going to muscle up
• spent the day at my sister's
• watched Kamryn at dance lessons
• went shopping at Kohl's with my sister and our kids
• found very cute decor for upstairs main bathroom
• Kamryn picked out her Easter dress
• Jared yelled at me when I asked him if he liked the pink dress shirt I was holding up
• stopped at the DI again on the way home and found pants for Paul and Justin for trek
• made a great dinner for the family
• watched Idol - liked the Michael Jackson theme
• took Brooke to volleyball practice
• went to Justin's region church basketball game. Justin played great and made some awesome shots. at half time his team was disqualified because they had 2 high school players playing on their team.
• came home and watched the rest of Idol.
• Enjoyed "chatting" with one of my YW in Phoenix

Funny conversation between Jared and Kamryn tonight on the way home from basketball:
Kamryn to Jared "are you a boy or am I a boy?"
Jared "I'm a boy"
Kamryn "okay, then I'm a girl"

It just cracked me up.

Monday, Monday

Hey, that's a great song.
So it's been a whole week since I started this journal kind of blog entries.
Today was laundry day again. It was a record day - all of the laundry was finished and put away by 5:00 pm. That is a miracle around here. It helped that I stayed home for most of the day.
Brooke was sick during the night - either food poisoning or stomach flu. She was up in the night sick in the bathroom and just hearing her made me feel a little sick. Kids throwing up is one of my greatest challenges as a mother. Luckily Paul went in and checked on her. I worried about her the rest of the night. She ate some jam at dinner that was bottled from the church cannery that was 9 years old and I think it was bad. I checked other jars and several jars were not sealed and popped when I touched them. Yuck. We'll never eat any of that jam now.
I did manage to get up early and go exercise with jenny. There weren't any treadmills together so we didn't get to chat and catch up on each other's weekends. There was one good thing in that I put on my ipod and listened to great music and managed to run 3 miles. That was the best run i've had in weeks. It felt good and was inspiring to get back to being serious about exercise.
In the afternoon while I was folding laundry i watched Steel Magnolias with Brooke. She had never seen it. i love that movie. It was one of the first movies I went to when I came home from my mission. I still remember sitting with my sister in the theater bawling my eyes out during the funeral scene and then in the next moment laugher my guts out when claree puts "wheezer" in front of her for m'lynn to hit. Well, it hasn't changed a bit - I was still bawling and then laughing a moment later. It's even more tender now that i have a teenage daughter and think about how i would be devastated if I lost her. It was nice to spend that time with Brooke.
After we finished the movie i went out in the snow and did some food storage stock up shopping.
For Family night, we tried to play a version of sorry with Jared and Kamryn. Didn't work at all. Brooke read us a great story given to her by one of guest speakers in YW yesterday. And then we read a super long section in D & C 84. There are some very beautiful and comforting verses in that section.

Sunday

It was the start of daylights savings time today. Lucky for us we have later church this year - not until 11:00. One funny thing that happened in connection with the time change was one of the youth speakers for sacrament meeting wasn't there at the start of the meeting. She still wasn't there when she was supposed to speak. I went out and called the family and they didn't remember about the time change. Amazingly the whole family made it to church about 10 minutes later and the young woman went ahead and gave her talk and did a great job.
Jared and Kamryn had their first chance to participate in closing exercises in Primary today. Jared said the scripture with Paul's help (D & C 88:119). Paul tried to help Kamryn say the closing prayer but she was just too shy to do it.
After church we went to visit both sets of grandparents. While we were at my parents we watched my dad's tape of Amazing Race from last Sunday. Its the only TV show i watch besides American Idol. I would love to be on that show and be able to travel around the world.
After dinner we watched the current episode of the race and then read scriptures together. Now it's off to bed and get some sleep and have to get up early to start another week.

Sad Saturday

It was a sad day for Brooke's team. They did great last night and ended up as the 1st place team for their placing this morning. Which means they played other 1st and 2nd place teams today and had a hard time. It was a rough day for the team and the parents. We were there from 9 am to 6 pm today. For the first time this season Brooke's team lost in the first round of the tournament. bummer! The good thing is Brooke's playing and confidence have really improved this year and I love watching her play. She served 9 times in a row today and had 3 aces during that run of serves. it's also so much fun watching her hit. She's really starting to do great playing at the neat.
Tonight we're watching As Good as It Gets for our date. And luckily we have 11:00 church so we don't have to get up early since daylight savings time starts tomorrow.

Fun Friday

None of my kids had school today so I told my exercise buddies I was taking the day off and sleeping in. The only problem was Paul still had to get up early and go to work. So I woke up at 7:15 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up and did a little on the computer and then went back to sleep on the couch by the fire until 9:00.
I went to lunch with my YW friends. It was great to chat and catch up.
Then I took Brooke and some of her teammates up to Kaysville for their Volleyball tournament. It was a reseeding tournament so they do pool play tonight and also tomorrow morning. The team kind of had a hard time and mostly beat themselves. They won 4 games out of 6 and ended up in 2nd place in their pool tonight. That puts them playing at IVA tomorrow - not a great facility but at least it's in the valley. Brooke had a rough start at the beginning of play but pulled out to play great the rest of the night. She only missed one serve and had so many awesome hits! YEAH!!
Now I'm off to bed so we can do it all again tomorrow.

Yesterday

Thursday was a busy day and by the end of it I was so tired I couldn't do anything more than fall into bed. That is my problem with a real, write in a journal habit. I try to do it at night and I'm too tired so I don't do it and I keep not doing it and get so far behind in writing that it's too hard to get started again.
Thursday morning I went to volunteer in Taylor's 5th grade class. His teacher is very organized and many times doesn't have anything for me to do. This time she just had me sort the kids assignments and put them in their take home folders. I was only there about 15 minutes. But it was long enough to talk to his teacher and apologize for totally spacing Taylor's conference the day before and luckily she had some open spots for later that afternoon.
While I was at the school, Jared and Kamryn played at their friends' house - Josh and Leah. I trade each week with their mom, Jenny. One week the kids go to her house and the next week her kids come to my house. It works out great and the kids always have fun playing.
After I picked the kids up we headed over to another friends' house - the Roberts for a playdate with lots of kids while the mom's made hair bows. I preferred to help watch the little kids and have Jenny make hair bows for Kamryn. Worked out perfectly. It was fun to get together and craft and chat.
Taylor and I managed to remember his new parent teacher conference. His teacher "sang" his praises. She's the first teacher that has really figured him out and he's in 5th grade. Thank goodness for her. After his conference we went to the book fair and picked up "Purplicious", a follow-up to the great book "Pinkilicious".
I took Brooke and Katelyn to volleyball practice and stayed and watched and helped the coach for a little bit. Then I went to watch Justin's church 1st round regional basketball game. It was a very close game the entire time but his team ended up winning by 3 in the last minute. It was pretty exciting.
To end up the night, we went to my parents to watch the taping of Idol from the wildcard night. It's quite an interesting mix in the top 13 this year.

Court of Honor Photos

Taylor receiving his 1st class rank advancement.

Me, receiving my mother's pin from Taylor.

Troop 781
What a great looking troop!

Wednesday

This morning I had a little time to work on my sewing project. I sewed the stop border on the tablecloth and that is really what makes this project pop. The crazy thing I did concerning this project was to get up last night at 3:00 to check a big on Ebay for a bag of buttons. They were from a seller in Australia, hence the crazy ending bid time. Sadly (or probably more a good thing) I didn't win those buttons (and will save myself some major shipping charges) but I did win three other auctions of buttons today. Yea!
After the twins woke up I ran Taylor down to the orthodontist to get a wire clipped that was poking him in the side of the mouth and making a big sore. I then checked him into school, got Jared and Kamryn fed and dressed and went to visit Paul's mom. She loves having them come over. The first thing they do now when they get there is ask her for carmels. It's her little treat for them. I have to limit them to two, one for each hand, or they would eat the whole bowl.
The main activity today was to go to the Draper Temple Open House with Jared and Kamryn and my parents. (I wanted Taylor to come with us but he didn't want to miss PE today). It was a great experience and fun to just take the younger kids. Also nice to have my parents along to help out with the kids. It was very spiritual to be in the temple with these little 3 year olds and explain so much about the temple to them. They loved the beautiful chandeliers.
After the tour my dad took us to Chuck-a-Rama for lunch. That is a very bad place for me to go (I have no self control) and a great place for Jared and Kamryn - they are free and can eat whatever they like and don't have to wait for it. When we were finished eating Jared said he wanted to go home and have lunch!
For Young Women's tonight one of our mia maids had organized a book drive for a PPP. We have 2 deaf girls in our ward and the deaf school needs books, all kinds and all levels. So the girls handed out fliers at church on Sunday and then delivered fliers around the rest of the neighborhood explaining what we needed. We picked up several boxes of books tonight and we know we will be getting a lot more in the next week. It was a great project and the girls seemed to really enjoy it (it would also make a great eagle scout project).
I missed taping Idol but my parents taped it for me. they did tell me who made it and who's in the wild card show tomorrow night.
One of the other things I'm doing right now is catching up on reading the New Era. I try to read while I'm eating. I really enjoy it (the New Era is more on my level) and i'm trying to get my teenagers to read it more.
That's my day.

Dance Day

Tuesdays are dance day for me and the little kids. Kamryn takes dance lessons from the greatest teacher, Miss Liz. Liz and I have been friends forever - since we were both in the married student ward at the U. We were in a Primary presidency together and had our first babies about 6 months apart. Anyway, it's so great that Kamryn can take dance lessons from her. The only problem is that Liz lives about 20 minutes away in West Jordan. Luckily her house is just a couple of streets over from my sister's house. So on Tuesdays we spend the day hanging at her house and Kamryn gets to go to dance lessons.
Before we went to my sister's house I had to work on sewing this tablecloth. I"m a little obsessed with the project right now. I much prefer piecing work to sewing clothes, both of which I've done in the last week. I have a hard time stopping on a quilting/sewing project and so left for my sister's house much later than usual.
After Kamryn's lesson, my sister and I and our youngest kids (2 each) went to Arby's for lunch. It was so good! I stayed at my sister's house much later than usual and didn't leave until about 5:30. On the way home I stopped at the DI hoping to find some buttons for my project. I didn't find buttons but I found a lot of other things. Jared and Kamryn have now found a new favorite store. I let them each pick out a "new" toy and they were thrilled. I found pioneer clothes for me, Brooke, Justin and Paul. We are all going on Pioneer trek this summer and Paul and I have to be outfitted by March 15 for the kickoff fireside.
I made it home just in time to watch Idol. We don't have cable and therefore don't have DVR so we have to watch TV the old-fashioned way. Idol seemed to just torture me tonight. I really look forward to watching it but tonight seemed to just drag - until the end. The last 2 singers really made it worth watching and I really hope they both go through.
So that's my Tuesday.

Daily Updates

I had an idea for March for my blog to post what we did each day. So that when I'm older and can't remember anything I can read these posts and be reminded of how my life was in my early 40s.

On Sunday, it was Fast Sunday and my family usually gets together for dinner at my parents house. We had an Italian theme for dinner and had lasagna, breadsticks and yummy salads. After dinner all of the adults enjoyed visiting in the living room while all of the kids played together downstairs. It was a very nice evening.

On Monday, I got up early to go exercise at the rec center. I walked/ran on the treadmill for 50 minutes. Before I left I started the day's big activity - laundry. Yuck! Monday is always my big laundry day and I wash all of the clothes that day for the week.
At 11:30, we went swimming at the Splash Zone at the rec center. We try to go every Monday but have yet to go 2 weeks in a row. It was even more fun this time because there were 3 other families that joined us from our ward. It's worth going when I watch Jared and Kamryn having so much fun playing in the water with their friends. Kamryn is a real dare-devil and goes down the big slide by herself. She's also a pretty good swimmer and was actually swimming around on her back and kicking all on her own.
After swimming, I worked on a new sewing project. I am making a cute summery tablecloth. I saw the pattern in a magazine I borrowed from a friend and I went out last week and bought enough fabric to make 3 tablecloths. I get in trouble when I go in fabric stores. While I was sewing these patchwork squares together Jared and Kamryn were very interested in what I was doing and were both standing right next to me at my machine. It was fun (for a little while) to have them ask me what I was doing and want to help.
In the evening we had FHE. Lately I've been trying to gear the lessons to Jared and Kamryn. So I read the story of David and Goliath and my older kids totally laughed at me when I did the voice for Goliath. But that's okay because the twins loved it. After our "lesson" we played Duck, Duck, Goose and hide-n-seek. It was great to watch how much Jared and Kamryn love playing those games and we all actually have fun with them. I told Justin it reminds me of when he and Brooke were little and we did the same thing for FHE so he can kind of picture what life was like when he was 3.
Before we have family prayer at night we read the scriptures together. Right now we are reading the Doctrine and Covenants. We finished reading section 76 last night. Many nights after we read we end up having some good discussions with our older kids. It's hard because sometimes it's late and I'm tired but if they want to talk then we talk.
This has ended up being a much longer post than I thought it would be. I guess it was a good 2 days.

Volleyball

I spent all day Saturday in a converted warehouse that the IVA uses for volleyball tournaments. It's the noisiest place - 11 courts with games being played on all of them at the same time, but it's in the Salt Lake valley so it's close and convenient to go to the tournaments.
I love volleyball. I love watching the game and could (and do) watch it all day. I hate to miss any games that Brooke's team plays.
Her team did so well at their last tournament in Park City (at the nicest high school I've ever seen) that they moved up a division. So this tournament was a little tougher. The won 1 out of 3 matches in pool play in the morning. But then took 1st place in the silver division of the tournament. It's so much fun watching Brooke play this year. And her team. They are a great group of girls and get along really well and play well together. The level of play is so much higher than Brooke's team last year. They all know their positions and where they need to be at the right time. Their tournament games were all close and I was so nervous watching their first tournament game. They won the first set 25 - 19 and the second set 25 - 14. In the second set, Brooke's team was behind 8 - 9 when Brooke started serving. She served 9 straight points (a record for her personally and a record for the team that day) to give them a big lead. It was so exciting.
For the championship match of the tournament, Brooke's team ended up playing the same team they played and lost to in the championship match of the last tournament. Brooke's team played really hard and won the first set 28-26 and then won the second set 25-22.
It was a great day and I was so proud of Brooke and her team for working so hard together.

Stroke update

It is Wednesday morning and I am at the hospital with John (Paul's dad). He is doing very well and is scheduled to go home today. We are just waiting for a visit from the doctor to get clearance to go home. He makes a lot of progress every day and is wondering when he will be able to drive. We are thankful for his rapid recovery and for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Stroke

The phone rang this morning at 8:22 and I knew it couldn't be good. It was our stake conference today and there really wasn't any reason for someone to be calling that early on a Sunday morning. I answered the phone and it was Paul's mom and she said she thought his dad was having or had a stroke. Paul talked to her and determined he was coherent and he wanted a priesthood blessing and didn't want anyone to call 911. So we hustled down to their house (luckily they only live about 5 minutes away) and called a neighbor to help with the blessing. Then we took him to Intermountain Medical Center ER. Luckily it wasn't busy at all when we walked in and they got him right back into a room. After hearing the first two symptoms - his left hand was numb and he had a bad headache on his right side they called in the the Acute Stroke Response Team. We even heard them paging the team to his room several times. They had over 10 people in his room immediately working on him and then off to a CT scan within 15 minutes. The scan showed a blood clot in his brain on the right side and they were able to get ATP started right away. It was great news to hear that they had found things so quickly. I was so impressed with the neuro team, especially the neurologist and the nurse practitioner that worked with us. Paul's dad is an emotional patient and cries a lot and that is such a hard thing to see. Paul does a great job with his parents and remains very calm and composed in these stressful situations. We spent several hours at the hospital taking turns being in the room with John and waiting in the waiting room.
All while this was going on our kids went to stake conference on their own. Brooke got everybody up and dressed and off to church. Luckily Justin could drive them to the stake center. I was so impressed with all of them. It made me so proud of them. What great kids!!
At the end of the day Paul said his dad wasn't doing too well - emotionally but seemed okay physically. He has to lay flat and still for 24 hours so that will be the worst of it, we think.

Delicious Dinner

So I made dinner last night. I was on a real streak a couple of weeks ago and made dinner 10 nights in a row! Major record for me!! Then the last two weeks were very hit and miss - mostly due to busy schedules and not everyone being home for dinner. So last night I made dinner again - new recipe that I got from my sister. She got it here. It was delicious! I loved it! About 1/2 the family liked it. Brooke doesn't like this kind of food and the twins didn't really like it but they ate it. I would definitely make it again but it won't be a weekly thing - too much prep.

Thai Chicken and Sesame Noodles

What You Need

1 env. GOOD SEASONS Asian Sesame Dressing Mix, prepared as directed on envelope

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

2 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter

2 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 lb. thin spaghetti, cooked, drained

1 cup shredded carrots

4 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Make It

MIX dressing and soy sauce. Pour 1/3 cup over chicken in bowl; toss to coat. Refrigerate 1 hour to marinate. Meanwhile, mix remaining dressing mixture, peanut butter, honey and crushed red pepper.

TRANSFER chicken and marinade to skillet; cook and stir on medium-high heat 8 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Place in large bowl. Add spaghetti, peanut butter mixture and all remaining ingredients; mix lightly.

*****
I tweaked the recipe a little bit - here are the changes I made:
I used linguini instead of spaghetti.
I added 1/2 red pepper chopped. Then I sauteed the red pepper and the green onions in a little olive oil before I added them to the whole mixture.
I used Ken's Steakhouse Asian Sesame dressing (lite) instead of the envelope of dressing.
I used all the cilantro called for and it was too much. I would cut it in half.

A little update

I went in for my follow up mammogram yesterday. There was a little "hot spot" they were concerned about. So I got squished again - only much more so and pretty painful. The tech told me not to breathe which was okay because I couldn't anyway. Luckily a radiologist looked at the films right then and I was cleared with no problems or worries and told to come back next year for my regular mammogram. Yeah!
Now to everyone out there who hasn't had their baseline mammogram done - GET IT DONE!! (you know who I mean)

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Kamryn

Jared

My cute little sunbeams.
They started going to Primary in January but it's taken me this long to get pictures of them at church. Since just before Christmas Jared has insisted on wearing a tie to church. He wants to be like his brothers and dad. He looks so handsome. And Kamryn always loves wearing a dress - it's just hard to decide which dress.
They love Primary and have 2 great teachers. After church today they were both telling us about the holy ghost. Kamryn told us how he whispers to us. And then when we were cleaning up dinner Jared was in the living room singing "Follow the Prophets". It was so cute.

Jared

Brooke recently took this picture of Jared. I love it. He's such a fun, sweet, and crazy guy.

Once there was a snowman

Kamryn building her own little snowman.

Josh and Kamryn had a great time building their own snowmen.


Our friends, Josh and Leah, came over with their mom, Jenny, for a playdate. It was so nice and sunny outside that the kids wanted to go play out there. The kids tromped around in the snow and even got up on the trampoline. Then Jenny helped Josh and Kamryn build a snowman. By this time Jared had gone back inside because he was cold. It was great to be outside and thanks to the Hammonds for playing with us.

Talk about stress

Talk about a stressful situation -
I was driving down the canyon this morning from our cabin to take Jared and Kamryn to preschool. It was snowing pretty hard and there was about 4 inches of snow on the road. I was taking it pretty slow and still started sliding near Solitude. Right after sliding and getting back on the road my phone rang and I didn't recognize the number so I answered it and it was someone calling from Intermountain Medical Center saying they wanted me to come back in for a follow-up mammogram. I was just in on Monday for my routine yearly mammogram and the radiologist has noticed some differences from last year to this year. Great. Just cut them off now.

I did it!

I did it - I broke out of my reading slump, finally.
I was up at the cabin for the last couple of days with Jared and Kamryn and Susan and her kids. I read two books while I was up there. First I read, The Wednesday Letters, which I enjoyed. Then I read our book club book, The Shape of Mercy, which was very good.
My problem with reading is I am compulsive about it and just want to read the book until I've finished it and in the process I neglect everything else.