Sunrise in Arizona

I have wanted to blog these pictures for a while now. You can see the date on them was from January.
These are pictures of a sunrise atop South Mountain here in Arizona.
BEAUTIFUL!

My mom's surprise birthday

Yes- I'm a little late in posting. Her birthday was February 18th and her party was the 21st.

We decided for her "forever 30" birthday party we had to make it a surprise. We had a great time!

All of you who were there made it wonderful! Thank you for loving her too.

Here is a video we caught. Way to keep her preoccupied Tyler!

We had 40 people smashed into my kitchen area anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Amy Scott made that beautiful cake and my word was it delicious! She sells her goods, you know! Just call her up and order. (for privacy I won't publish that phone number but if you're interested please let me know!) I'm not kidding, guys! It was fabulous!

Full of it!

I'm full of thoughts today.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs to stalk (she's a writer with all sorts of interesting things to read about) and read this. It's blog gossip because I'm telling you something about what she said about something she read.

But I loved it!

Ernest Hemingway:
"Sometimes when I was starting a new story and could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”-Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

The truest sentence that I know:
Today my sky is blue.

What's yours?

I am a Mormon girl through and through

I'm sure you've all read or heard about HBO's show, "Big Love" and the controversial edition in which they claim they will have camera's taken into the temple.

I was reading the church's official statement that came out a few days ago. You can read it here: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

I love this direction. When the attacks seem so personal toward something we hold so dear I think it's easy to fall into being offended but I love this statement: "As Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have both said recently, when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness."

Nothing reveals true character more than through conflict resolution. The church's message is to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. So they may say awful things about us, they may unrightfully judge, mock and scorn. Living true to our testimonies our response must be made in peace, not in returning an eye for an eye but love. It's the hardest thing, isn't it? To be given such offenses and return love. That is the Lord's way. That is the right way.

This is why you're fat

I was blog stalking today and found this site. It's well worth a minute. Actually, I think Geoff would LOVE having some of these meals! http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/

This picture is just a teaser! (to visit the website-not to make your own oreo mountain)

And to think all this time I thought it was the girl scout cookies!

I've really got to lay off the pork brains in milk gravy!

Sewer fishing

Oh Caleb! He had our entire house wired with fishing line. Everywhere you went you got entangled in fishing line. Even in the middle of the night when I had to get up to go poddy I tripped all over the fishing line. It was making me crazy! My cupboards had fishing line hanging out, the pictures on my wall had fishing line tangled around them, the front door was wired with fishing line so that when you came through the front door a dining chair would fall over. It was even outside! Tied all through the trees from here to there---EVERYWHERE!
Fishing line everywhere. But this one took the cake.

I went in to use the downstairs bathroom and this is what I found. He had tied fishing line to the handle of the toilet. I looked down to wonder where the other end was. It was not in sight.

Did you know that if you tie one end of fishing line to the flushing handle then flush the line down the toilet you can let that end go as far as it can and then you can retrieve the line and pull up treasure?

It's called sewer fishing.....a new sport Caleb invented!

Girl Scout conspiracy

Watch out! The girls scouts are out to get anybody they can. That's right. You see them at the grocery store, at the school's health and wellness night, in front of the bank, in front of your favorite restaurant, on the side of the road and my favorite..... my front door!

I'm sending out a warning to all my friends. JUST SAY NO! If you don't you'll be like me.
One sleeve of cookies after the other, box after box after box. There's NO STOPPING!!! They've got me, guys. I can't stop! The bliss of package after package of thin mints is too much. I don't have the will power to stop and frankly don't want to. I buy a couple of boxes here and there thinking I've got it under control, eat them as fast as I get them and then I'm on the lookout for the girls in the green uniform for my next "fix".

The other day I had a whole box sitting on my desk. The next morning I came in to find it was completely empty! Oh boy did Caleb get in so much trouble. The words of an addict..."don't you even think about putting one finger on my cookies". Oh it's bad! The real trouble is that I realized how quickly I eat a box. One whole box to myself in about 15 minutes.
Surely Caleb ate that whole box......DIDN'T HE???? It couldn't have been me!

Beware friends! They'll get you too!

Happy Anniversary!

Today my brother Kevin and sister-in-law, Kristyn celebrate their anniversary.
I hope you have a wonderful day!

Yesterday

OH how I wish I was more eloquent to describe to you what I felt yesterday.

There often comes into our hearts (when we let it) this grand sense of peace and I felt that yesterday.

Earlier in the day I received the kindest email from one of my friends and I won't tell you that her name was Laurel and she's in my ward. It's amazing to me what kind words do for somebody. They bring smiles to faces and love into the heart. Oh the power!

My kids came home from school, well 3 of them. Wes gets home later. I love that part of the day. They are always excited to tell me about this or that- always all 3 of them at the same time too, I might add. Anyway- they got their homework done quickly and headed off to the park. I decided to join them.

This may seem silly but it was so enjoyable. I chatted with another friend, whom I greatly admire and I won't mention that her name is Rachelle and she's in my ward also. I'm awed by her. What a great mom. What a great friend. What a great example. After she left I picked a spot in the grass to sit and soak in the sun. It was almost sunset. It was about 75 degrees, barely any wind blowing and I noticed how beautiful the sun looks on the trees just before sunset. It's that amber color that jumps right out. Looking up into the sky I saw 2 planes, quite far from each other, but they made those white tails that linger in the sky after them. There were a few clouds scattered here and there- the kind that aren't big and fluffy- the ones that are a hint of cloud- the skinny kind.
I heard my kids in the distance laughing with each other and I remembered the kind note sent to me through email and I sat and smiled and smiled and smiled.

It was a deep sense of peace.

Scouts

Tonight Tyler had a blue and gold banquet for scouts. There was a pie making contest althought they didn't give out any awards. Geoff and Tyler made a strawberry pie together. Way to go, guys!

Here is Tyler eating his yummy pie! It was pretty darn good.

Lunch for today was....

leftover birthday cake from my mom's surprise party that Amy Scott made, (IT WAS OH SO YUMMY!)
and to be healthy I threw down some V8 juice.

Queen Creek Stake Women's Conference

We've been working really hard to pull together our first stake women's conference. It's going to be so much fun! Please mark your calendars if you haven't already.
Here are some details:

Queen Creek Stake Women's Conference

"Encircled in His Love"

Saturday, February 21st from 9am till noon

We will have 2 guest speakers, President Clark from the Mesa Temple and sister Nielsen.
I know you are familiar with the temple president. It will be wonderful to hear from him.
Sister Nielsen is the mother of Christian Nielsen. He and his wife, Stephanie (aka nienie) were in a plane crash and survived this past summer.

We will also have 3 mini classes:
Creating a celestial environment in the home
Live simply, laugh often, love deeply
Mothers and daughters

We will also be serving you lunch and dessert!
You just can't miss this- it will be WONDERFUL!

One more Christmas post

I tried and tried to find something for Geoff for Christmas. He's nearly impossible to shop for. With a little help from Ebay and other online retailers I came up with a few things.

He's always in need of shirts. He says he needs shirts that are a little more than plain t-shirts. You know, to appraise in. It's best to make a good first impression. Well, take this one for example.
And I think these pants may be the perfect shade of plum. These match the shirt.

These sweet shoes may be slightly too fancy for him but maybe not for date night. I checked to see what sizes were available. They definately have his size. After all, Geoff IS my star studded hero.Heaven knows he needs a new swimsuit. I found this one. The only problem I see is that Geoff really likes to put his keys in his pockets. I can't see any pockets on this swimsuit.



Or even this one would do. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (cat sound) rrrrrrrrrrrrr (more cat sound)
But he's not much of a "tassels" (or whatever the heck you want to call them) kind of guy.

After being a little discouraged about trying to find an outfit I settled on a fun, snuggly pet. The kids are just begging us for another puppy! I searched and searched to find the best one for our family. You know, one that we could easily get rid of. We've had several puppies. They grow up and get un-cute and we get rid of them. Here's what I found. This might cure the kids of ever wanting another puppy again!


After so much stress about finding the right gift I gave up. Geoff ended up with one of these for Christmas....... (a big one!)

My favorite person

I love him. I love him. I love him.

The other day I was feeling blue. Geoff and I were sitting in the office and I told him I really wanted to run away and hide out in some big huge city like New York so that I could get lost. I could just wake up and watch people all day and not have a care in the world. I just wanted to run away. Just for a little while. Where nobody could find me.

A few minutes later on his way out the door he took my face in his hands and said, "I'd be lost without you."

He melts my heart. I don't tell him often enough. Whatever have I done so right to have him in my life???

The good days

Yeah- I've got to take a minute and count the good days. Let me tell you about my day last Saturday. It was one of the best I've had in a long time.

6am: wake up and leave for South Mountain with mom and Jodi
7:15: arrive at South Mountain and hike to the top. What a beautiful view! You can see the entire valley. We got to watch the sunrise.
9:30am: home just in time to eat some breakfast and take a shower
11:30am: Pick up Jodi, Stacey and Katie for lunch and window shopping
3:30pm: home for a nap
6:00pm: out the door with Geoff, Wes, Ash, Ty and Caleb to see the zoo lights (Thank you, Sunny!)
10:00pm: home. Watch a little t.v. with Geoff
midnight: snuggle in my cozy bed but not before giving thanks for such a wonderful day!!!!!!!

The best part of that day was no worries. none. zippo. nada. Not even to clean the house.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade?

After my last post I decided that I had better give some thanks for what I DO have!
If every earthly possession was taken away from me here is what I'd be down to:
The gospel
My testimony of the gospel
My marriage
My children

My greatest blessings ever.

There were some good things that happened in 2008. I have had many humbling experiences and so I relied on the Lord and my testimony heavily which strengthened my relationship with Him.
My marriage has been strengthened and we have a stronger resolve to do the things that will keep us together forever in love.
We have strengthened relationships with our children.
We have felt love and support from others who have been so willing to help.
I have a greater desire to reach out to others who may need my help because I have been a recipient of needed support and I know how appreciated it is.
I have a greater desire/need to live simply, laugh often and love deeper.

The past year has helped me see through so much of the world right to what matters the most; my testimony of the gospel, my relationship with the Lord and my family.

My thoughts of the year 2008

(warning: This post is rated pg-13 for mild profanity)

Dear Year 2008:

I am so glad to be over with you! I will never have you in my life again. You brought me nothing but heartache, trials, pain, tears, unhappiness, sadness and stress.
You put me through so much that I never want to be reminded of you again! I've found 2009 and he promises to be good to me.
You can take all the pain and torment and you can go to hell.
That's right....go to hell!!!

p.s. that was me spitting in your face on New Year's Eve!

All I want for Christmas is...

A BIG, HUGE, RED WATERMELON!!!
And that's what Ashlyn got.
Believe it or don't but she ate this entire melon to herself minus a couple of bites for mom and dad.
This girl LOVES watermelon. Her room is even pink and green. She paints her nails pink and green.

A little accident

We had a great time taking the kids sledding behind the car......for a while.



You can see the frost on their faces!


Until we had a little accident. Wes and his friend were sledding behind the car side by side both on sleds and the car came to a stopping point but Wes wasn't looking at where he was in relation to the tow hitch on the back. He was busy watching his friend beside him. He didn't stop and ran straight into the tow bar and chipped several teeth, got a bloody nose and a bruised face to prove it.

It's a good thing he got some sweet friend lovin'! Actually they will both die when they see this picture!

A peek at our Christmas morning

Moving on to....

Christmas!

We made the trek to the cabin again. We left our house December 23rd for the mountains. The roads were pretty good until we hit Showlow. From Showlow to Springerville we traveled about 20 miles per hour on iced-over scary roads. I was driving and we were towing a trailer. It was a bit nerve wracking.

We got into Alpine at about 10pm and headed down the lane to our cabin. We got about 1/8 mile away and up ahead on the road were 2 trucks stuck in the snow right in the middle of the road and there was no way around them!

I thought about making the small hike to the cabin without the car but all of our belongings and overnight bags were in the back of the trailer all covered up. I thought about hiking without our things for the night but the kids had shorts on and I had slip-on shoes. All of our snow boots and gear were in the cabin.

We decided to turn around and got stuck in the snow trying to. One of the neighbors kindly came out to help us in 7 degree weather with the wind blowing something awful.

Driving back into the town of Alpine we realized that all the hotel parking lots were snowed-in and we couldn't even get in. We had no place to park. We did manage to find a hotel that would take us and with a good running start we got the car through the snowed-in parking lot.

The next morning our good friends and rescuers, Dan Nicolds and Dan Adair, came to give us some chains for the tires. I forgot to mention that we spent at least an hour in Showlow trying to find chains for our tires. Every place we checked was sold out! Dan and Dan even tracked down the snow plower guy and asked him to clear the road to the cabin. We made it!

Gotta go back in time.....

To December 14th. (OK! to be honest, it was Dec. 12th, the party that is, not his birthday. Just wanted to put out that honesty because Melissa will check the dates on my pictures and see that, in fact, it was NOT the 14th but the 12th)

This was the day of Tyler's 9th birthday. Here are a few high/lowlights.

We had a big balloon fight.....

Some male bonding time......
A game of wrap the mummy....

a fun toilet paper fight...

and, of course, presents!

We also had a special birthday dinner with nonny and poppy. Growing up, every year for our birthday my mom fixed our favorite meal and we got the red "You Are Special Today" plate. It is a tradition I love. A couple of years ago for Christmas my mom gave me "THE" plate so now I can carry on tradition!


ok- correction. Jodi made a comment making sure I knew that I didn't get THE plate. My mom got us all A plate that looks exactly like hers, my mom's that is. Didn't mean to make it sound like I got the actual plate.

correction for Jodi- I AM THAT SPECIAL AND DON'T FORGET IT!

How do we get red potatoes?

"Well......they just spray paint them!"

wise words from Tyler Brady