TOTALLY MIA

Wow! I had not realized just how long it has been since I've posted anything. October? Serious? Sorry about that all - not that there really are too many of you out there following my news. :)

Okay, on with life. I set some goals for myself this year. I know, everyone does this and then fails, but I am determined not to fail this time. I only set a couple so that should help me stay focused!

GOAL #1 - Scrapbook!
I have been failing at this one. I am not staying up to date on what's going on with each of my kids. So I am trying something new this year. It is called PROJECT 365. That means, I am taking a photo everyday of something going on in our crazy, busy lives. Just one photo. Yes, somedays may be more, but at least one! Can you believe it? Me? Taking a photo EVERYDAY? Yep! And it's been awesome. In Microsoft Word I'm keeping a little one or two sentence journal for each day. I love this. I started January 1 and I've missed only a couple of days. So far this month, I haven't missed one day! I feel like there is less pressure to doing this. I have put the photos in a calendar layout and then created a 2nd page for my journaling (which is what each photo portrays). I update this calendar about once a week. I am so amazed that I have been able to do this. It has completely brought back my enjoyment of scrapbooking. It feels less stressful right now. I can always go back and make more pages for each child or whatever, but for now this is working.

GOAL #2 - EXERCISE
Hahahaha! I know this is a good one. Everyone makes this goal and fails. I did a little bit in January, but at the first of this month I became VERY determined. I have got to lose this weight. I'm watching my calories using a website called calorie counter. I love it! It helps me track my activity level and the calories I take in. It's been great. No, I haven't lost anything yet, but I am not giving up (I just keep telling myself that). Casey is supportive and actually does Jillian Michaels workouts with me. We bought P90X back in October. That is too difficult for me right now, but I love his Ab Ripper X and I do that workout! I love how exercise makes me feel. I feel great (sore, but good) and a lot more energy to get done with what I need to.

So there they are. My goals for this year. It's what I need to do for myself right now. Not many of us take time for ourselves, it's all about the family and their needs. However, I need to do this for ME. Yes, a little selfish, but otherwise, I can't be a good wife or mother. And that is my FOREVER GOAL! So to make sure they are happy, I need to be happy. I hope all you women out their take the time you need for yourselves, too!

Happy Birthday, Chandler - a bit belated!

Finally I am posting about birthdays! Unfortunately, I am posting Chandler's *just a bit* late. Oh well, at least I'm getting it on here. We do love this kid!


On Chandler's birthday we asked him what he would like to do. Since we weren't at home, we thought this would be a good time to do some things that we probably wouldn't have done at home. He made his list:

1st- ice skating

2nd - snowmobiling

3rd - surprise him (didn't know how we would do this one)

4th - cake and ice cream

So that morning, we went to the ice skating rink in downtown McCall. We had a very enjoyable time. Casey and I were the only adults who got out and skated, but it was a great time with our kids.

Maybe 10 minutes before we were getting ready to get off the ice, he fell. And he hit HARD! Unfortunately, he hit his face when he landed. I immediately skated over to him and saw a huge bump developing on his eyebrow. I took him to the office looking for ice. The manager got a baggie full of ice from the machine for him. We explained to him that this wasn't a great birthday gift to receive. The manager laughed and came back a little while later with an ice hockey puck. He told him that was his gift from him and they make the best ice packs. Chandler was way excited about it. This is how he ended up spending the rest of the afternoon.

He still wanted to attempt snowmobiling, but with that big of a bump, we thought it better to not try putting a helmet on top of it. He laid on the couch most of the afternoon.

Later that evening we had a great dinner and a delicious chocolate cake with melted candy kisses inside. It is the family favorite now.

Some things that he really enjoys right now are:

• Bakugan
• Soccer
• Drawing/Art
• Science
• Computer Games
• Wii
• Board games
• Reading
• Smiling
• Having Fun

Happy birthday Chandler! Sorry it wasn't the greatest, but still hope you had a fun week. We love you!

Chicken Pox

At the first of Sept. Colby had a friend come over to play. The next day his mom called to let us know he broke out with chicken pox. Of course, we thought nothing of it since my kids have had the vaccination.

On the night of Sept. 15, Chandler had some 'mosquito bites' on his back. Thinking not much of it, we put itch cream on them and called it good. The next day, I went on his class journey. I noticed he had a couple of more on his face. When I asked if they itched, he said they hurt. I asked him if we should have the doctor look at them. He said no, he was fine. That afternoon, I sent him off to scouts and then we had a Bishopric social that night. After we got home, Casey's mom came over to give me a birthday gift. I showed her his back and noticed two looked suspicious of something, maybe chicken pox. So the next morning I took him to the doc. Sure enough, classic case. However, he wasn't sick no fever of anything to make me think he actually had them. What a great mom I exposed his entire class to the chicken pox!I stopped at his school to inform his teacher (apologizing like crazy). She was completely understanding. I emailed the room mom so that she could send out a mass e-mail to the other parents. Then I had to call parents from his scouts to let them know as well. Only one mom seemed a little upset.

He got to stay home from school Thur, Fri, and Mon. He was bored only on Friday did he have homework (8 pages) to catch up on. His friend had dropped off papers Thurs. night. It was a free school vacation because he wasn't sick, felt good, but couldn't be around others.




I have since found out that Colby, Shelby and Shyann's school is having a chicken pox epidemic. They have had 27 students with chicken pox and one 6th grade teacher. In most cases the students have had one vaccination shot. The health dept. has now told the school that the children who have not had the vaccine can attend school for 9 days after being exposed and then must be out of school for 12 days. Can you imagine being the person to make the phone calls? It has hit the 5th and 6th grades the hardest. Very interesting!

Face Painting

On Tuesday, Aug. 4th, Casey had to bring up one of our Priesthood leaders. We were changing leaders for rest of the week. He was supposed to bring the 3 younger kids with him (Colby had scouts). However, when he went to pick up Bro. Argyle, his daughter and wife told Casey to leave the kids with them and they would watch them. I am grateful to them for offering to take them . My kids would have been bored with the total 3 hour drive.

The kids ended up having their faces painted while he was gone. I only received a partial text with Chandler's picture on it. I was completely amazed. Sis. Argyle said they do it with the grandkids almost all the time.

Chandler the monster

Then they added a forked tongue (painted his lip)

Shyann, the cheetah

Shelby, the Princess

Chandler also received a couple of tattoos

Thanks to the Argyle's for giving my kids an enjoyable time!

Denver Trip

The Friday I returned from Girl's Camp, we headed off to Denver. He has a brother who lives in that area and we haven't been able to visit him, yet. We finally had it planned to go in July, but realized it was when Colby was at Scout Camp. We both looked at schedules and finally his brother changed his work schedule to get off Friday (7th) and Monday (10th). He was supposed to have the following weekend off (14 & 17th), but three of our kids start school on the 17th. Even Steven and Jackie (Doug's son and his wife) were in town. She had been in the hospital with a kidney infection and is expecting a baby in October. So they stayed around until Monday night.

On Saturday, we went to the Denver zoo. Brigitte (Casey's sister-in-law) was surprised to see so many animals out and active. She said they rarely get to see certain animals. One of the baby giraffes was gallopping (if that's what giraffes do), kicking up his legs, and running around. The other baby giraffe was just watching him. It's a large zoo and has some interesting animals that I haven't really heard of. We were there about 4 hours and still didn't make it around the whole zoo. Maybe next time. That night, Doug and Casey took the kids to the swimming pool in their subdivision.

Sunday we went to their ward. It was interesting because two ladies in the Relief Society actually moved out of my old neighborhood only a few years ago. There were only 17 of us in Relief Society and 3 of us were visitors. That number included the presidency. It was a relaxing Sunday. We made s'mores in their little firepit that night.

Monday we split up. Doug and his kids, Steven, Casey, Colby, Chandler, and Shelby all went to Water World. They had a great time and would love to go next time we come. Brigitte, Jackie, Emma (Jackie's little girl), Shyann, and I went and bought some beads at Michael's and went to lunch at Olive Garden. Then we just hung out at the house. Brigitte didnt' think Shyann would enjoy Water World because she's more timid. Casey agreed after he got home, but said she would probably be up for it next year. They didn't get home from Water World until 6:00. After dinner, Steven and Jackie left for home. We stayed up until almost midnight visiting.

Tuesday morning, we took the kids to the Hammond's candy factory. Chad and Chelsea came with us. After the tour, we dropped off Chad & Chelsea, packed our gear and headed for home. We left around 1:00. On the way home we stopped at Rock Springs for Dinner and at Grand America (it has it's own exit) for ice cream and let the kids play on the playground. We didn't get home until 9:45 pm.

We had such a fun time! It was great to see them and are going to try and get over there again next summer, only this time we will spend a full week. On the way there, we hit a storm. We saw the thunder and lightning, but didnt' expect the hail. That's what hit us first. We ended up having to pause the kids movie because it was so loud and the kids couldn't hear their show. Doug said that area is usually worse for storms during the winter. They advised us not to drive to Denver from Sept. until May. Maybe we'll find cheap flights for sometime during the year.

Girl's Camp Day 4 & 5

On to Day 4. This was a more relaxing, play day for all. There was a bit of a chill on the air because of a storm that had hit during the night. It actually rained around 6:30 Wed. night, but only for a while. I ended up being woken up during the night because of some darn thunderstorms and showers. I'm too light of a sleeper (ARRGGH!).

We did a makeup game where one set of girls are blindfolded and they put make up on the girls who aren't, and then they swap. It ended up being a really great experience that I don't think us as leaders expected.

Here's a few photos of the beauties.

They did certifications this afternoon (and yesterday afternoon) so the leaders and the bishop all got to rest or nap, if they wanted. After certifications, Lisa had planned a few games. She actually had waterballoons filled on Tues. afternoon but we didn't have time or the weather didn't cooperate with us to play games until today. They did a waterballoon toss and a ball game. The ball game was a pattern... you throw it to the same person and catch from the same person. After a little while of playing with one or two balls, everyone gets a ball except two people.

Learning the game:

Once they got the hang of it, they were up for a challenge and played around the flag pole.

That evening I had put together a "fudge hike". This is where they walk along a trail and at each "station" they receive an ingredient that goes into their ziploc bag and a message about one of the YW values. As they walk station to station, they squish the ingredients together and at the end of the hike, they have made fudge. The girls really had fun doing this. Then we put together a campfire and settled in for our Testimony Meeting.

DAY 5

This is the morning we got up, packed, ate, and left. That is almost as quick as we did it, too. We had to be checked out by 11. One of my leaders that drove took home 5 others with her, she had to leave at 9. I was with her....let's get it done and clear out. The camp hosts had to do an inspection. I couldn't get a camp host to our place until 9:15 and then because one cabin was not quite finished with mopping, she returned at 9:40. We left at 9:50 and it took us an hour and half to get home. After unpacking food and vehicles, I got home at 12:30.

By 2:30 Casey, the kids, and I were on the road to Denver. We went to visit his brother and this was the only weekend that had worked for us to get there.

Girls Camp Day 3

Another great day! The girls were dreading this one a little. It was the "hike" day. The girls all have to pass it off for certification and I think the longest hike for a certification level was only 3 miles. Easy, nothing to it! I put Bishop Nicholls in charge of determining the route for our hike. He asked if 4 miles would be too much. I said, "let's do it!" I had signed us up for the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" lecture. A sister missionary came over and discussed the different plants and animals in the area. Again, this is something the girls needed for certification. What better way to do it then have the lecture and then go on the hike to see what they can remember. However, no one seemed the least bit interested in looking at the plants except trying to stay away from the stinging nettle. The trail was a bit steep in one or two places. Even I stated that the first of Adams Canyon wasn't as bad as that one hill. It was a wonderful hike! At the top of the mountain it was called "Lookout Point" and we could see almost the whole camp and Legacy Lake plus 3 other small lakes. It was a beautiful spot. We ate lunch in the shade and headed back to camp.

The group just before reaching the top!

Me & My Camp Assistants - Carol, Me, Heidi, Lisa

Looking down at the camp (not sure which site is closest).

After the hike, we surprised the girls with pedicure supplies. The girls washed their own feet because I told Heidi some of the girls would not wash other people's feet (me being one of them). So each girl washed and lotioned their feet. Then a couple of YCLs painted their toenails and I did nail stamping after. They had a great time and were so excited about the nail stamps.

A few of the girls soaking their feet.

Me"nail stamping" their toes.

This night was the Skits. A couple of the YCLs and I chose the skit and how it was to be performed. The picks were: "Old McDonald" rap style, "Little Red Riding Hood" as an Opera, "Wizard of Oz" as a Ballet, and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" Kung Fu style. They ended up being a riot. Everyone had 30 minutes to practice with their props (Carol, Heidi, Lisa and I brought the props from home).

I was in the "old mcdonald" skit. I asked Madison (one of the YCLs) to do the rapping because the rest of us had no idea how to rap. Unfortunately, she could not remember the song whatsoever. We were laughing so hard. Here are some photos from our skit. Our Farm had a "boxer" dog by Lauren (prop: sm crate), a snapping turtle by Jodie (prop: large decor clothespin), a lion by Mikayla (prop: sunflower cutout), a rattlesnake by Annesia (prop: maracas), and a mummy by Jennifer (prop: toilet paper roll).

It started out really well.

Then it became worse..... Madison completely forgot the words.

As Jennifer, the mummy, came out, the rest of us ended up just singing the song. Poor Madison. I didn't realize Old McDonald was an easy to forget song. We ended up having to sing it for her.

We all lost it when Jennifer did her mummy moan.

At the end of the night, Bishop Nicholls performed a flag burning ceremony. He had brought a flag that his bank needed to retire. I thought it would be a great experience for the girls, I'd only seen one other flag burning ceremony. Each of us went over the flag and cut the stripes, all of us took a half of a stripe. Then we stood in a circle and took turns saying what the flag represented or meant for each of us. When Bro. Argyle set the square of stars in the pit, we were all crying pretty good. It ended up being such a spiritual evening for all of us. It was an amazing experience and many girls commented that it was something that they wouldn't forget.