Candid Shots

My kids are funny.  They say funny things...they do funny things.  Here are my two cute owls...a friend of ours made them these hats for them and they are forever in love Macey even sleeps with hers on.  Don't worry I remove it after she falls asleep.

Then there is Buddy.  Dear sweet Buddy.  Yes that is a cracker with divinity on it.  His two favorite loves in life crackers and candy.

And last but not least ever since Macey saw a friend of mine carrying around Baby Logan in a carrier she is obsessed with finding ways to carry her baby just like my friend.  At first she was using my pilate bands which ingeniously she figured out how to tie it around her so her baby would fit.  Now we've graduated to my extra cut fabric.

Goal Review

It's getting close to that time of the year where people make their new year resolutions (don't worry I'm not skipping over Christmas).  I made my list at the beginning of the year but I didn't share them with you my blog readers.  I did that on purpose so I wasn't held to any standard of being guilted for not doing any of them.  Instead I'm celebrating the ones I actually did accomplish and I will finally share them with you.  Some of them I had posted on previous blog posts so sorry if there is any repeats.  I have pics for a few but for the rest hopefully I'll be able to write a little about them.

First...

1.  One of my goals was just to get my twin 7 year quilt top just quilted.  I even did one better I even did the binding!  It truly is a miracle.  I can't tell you what a relief it was to be able to cross that one off my list

2.  Finish Maryn's Lullaby Book.  I had finished earlier in the year and I actually got the thing printed off.  The kids love these books.  I'm tempted to buy another set because they use them so much just so I can preserve the originals.

3.  Get window coverings for the kitchen, play room and Buddy's room.  And I went a step further and got a set of curtains for the family room upstairs.

4.  A few summers ago I had my niece stay with me and we had a lovely time.  I purposely took pictures of all the temples we visited and there was a lot because I knew I wanted to do something for her.  I was able to make a book for her.  Unfortunately I don't have pics of that one.

5.  Finish Baby Blankie for friend in Idaho.  I'm a little behind what can I say her son was pretty old by the time he got it but I got it finished.

6.  Make Tiger letters for a young woman in my ward.  These turned out awesome...again no pics.  There was this young girl who her Dad just rocks and he surprised his oldest daughter by working like a madman and painted her room her favorite colors and her Mom decorated it in Tigers.  I made Tiger letters for her name just because.

7.  Exercise to prepare for surgery...well the surgery hasn't happened and I'm holding off but I kept my end of the bargain my exercising and I'm proud of myself because this can be difficult and tiring to do day in and day out.  I'm not always on the ball but I've kept with it and haven't let myself go more than 7 days at a time without getting back on track.

8.  Do something Amazing.  I wrote this down because I was feeling very low at the time I was making my list and felt like I couldn't change things at that point in time where I was at but I didn't expect to actually to fulfill it.  I wrote 2 songs this year.  I wish to be able to share them with you sometime.  Hopefully sooner than later.  I hope to even write more and when I get enough I'm going to record them in a studio and give them to my children.

So, there is my list!  Now for the rest of the list...well I'm going to roll those over into the New Year...probably add on quite a few.  I keep my list out so I can have something to work towards because sometimes I feel like I'm treading water in the same place but if I can look back at what I've done it gives me a little confidence that I'm moving forward somewhat.

Happy Phone Call

I got a happy phone call last night that I'm sad that I missed because it was my brother.  Now I was expecting him to call today with news that there was a new baby girl in the family but SURPRISE to me the baby was a day earlier then I originally thought.  I'm SOOO excited for them and the reason why your new Auntie missed your call because I was in the basement working on your gift!  Shhhh don't tell your Mommy and Daddy but it's going to be so cute!  I'm only done with half so hopefully I can finish the rest quickly.  I've decided working with ladybugs are a lot of fun and they are growing on me.  So happy for my new darling niece Holly Noel....hopefully I spelled that right.  This is one of those days where I wish I had facebook because they posted all their pictures of her for the whole world to see except me.  I wish I could be there to hold you...I send you all my love from Utah.

Right Place, Right Time

This weekend I had the rare chance to go to the mall...by myself.  And WOW I felt out of place.  Go back 13 years I probably would have paid better attention to what I wore and actually did my hair but my mission was to get Christmas dresses and get out.  Even if it meant I hadn't showered for the day, had no make up on and looked kind of like a frumpy mom.  I know I've let myself go but that has nothing to do with the story.

Anyway, I go to the mall and I am just not finding anything in jcp and I always find my dresses there.  Everything was really picked over after Black Friday.  So I ventured out to the other half of the mall and as I was walking for some reason I kept passing this young gentleman over and over again.  I love to people watch and for some reason something seemed different about this guy.  As I was making my way down the mall I passed him about 4 times in a 20 minute period and by this time I had made the full circle of the mall still coming up empty handed.  What struck me as odd was this guy was walking  back and forth while holding this little pink jacket but no little kids were around.  Matt called me at that time and asked me if I had gotten lost and I said no I'm just making my way back to the car when at that moment I turned and decided to see what boots they had a famous footwear.  When I walked into the store I tried not to overhear a conversation but listened in anyways.  Two little girls were found and at that moment they were calling security.  I know first hand what it feels like to lose your kid in the mall.  It's the most heart wrenching, gut dropping feeling and in the meanwhile of trying to find them you will think of every possibility of what could have happened to them and most of them are not good.

So, I preceded to making something that probably wasn't my business, my business.  I went to the store employee that had the children and asked if I could talk to the girls because there was a man walking back and forth.  I asked the little girl, probably about Macey's age, if her Daddy was wearing a white jacket and she said yes.  Then I asked her if she was wearing a pink jacket today and she said yes.  I told the employee that I would be back I think I know who her Dad is.  I quickly left the store and as I turned out of the store I saw the guy.  He just turned in the opposite direction so I started running to catch up to him.  It was obvious now to me he looking for something or someone.  I finally caught up to him and was wondering what to say and I just called out "Sir, are you looking for your children?"  He stopped dead in his tracks and gasped YES and I told him I know where they are.  He had tears in his eyes and you could see relief over his face as we quickly walked back and he said he had alerted security but had been searching for them for 20 minutes but his phone wasn't working to receive the call if they had found them.  I walked him back half way with him until I could see the kids and he ran to them.  I made sure he got to them and I walked away.  I can't help feeling I was in the right place and the right time.  I'm sure eventually he would've been united with them but maybe the ordeal would've been longer.  At least I was able to shorten that time of his worry.

I had just recently changed my prayers as of late asking to let me be of more help to those around me and I have noticed that more than one opportunity has come up.  It's nothing earth changing, just little things.  It strengthens my faith that maybe he really is listening to my prayers and he hasn't abandoned me as sometimes I feel.  It's been a very lonely road these past couple years and maybe he was waiting for me to be available again to help others out.

Conversation with a 4 year old

I had just put Buddy down and called for Macey to come up stairs.  I know she doesn't like to be alone when I shower so I was calling her upstairs to let her know I was going to shower and code for bring your toys up to my room.  When she got to the top of the stairs this is how our conversation went:

Mommy:  Macey I'm going to take a super quick shower what are you going to do?

Macey:  Uh, babysit myself!

Mommy:  Okay, how are you going to do that?

Macey:  Well, don't answer the door or look out the window if anybody knocks on it.

Okay, I can't argue with that!  I'm thinking when she gets older she is going to out smart me on any conversations we have.

Mom's Celebration

Saturday night was Mom Murdock's birthday.  We were thankfully able to make it up to Clifton where we joined 4 other families out of the 9 to honor Mom.  We had a wonderful dinner, good conversation, a little bit of sledding and to top the night off we let go lanterns in the cemetery.  It was very beautiful and inspiring.  Matt's sister Sophie got married not too long ago and had these huge lanterns like the ones in Tangled and we decorated and put messages on them for Mom letting her know that we are always thinking of her.  They soared so high and were so beautiful against the dark starry night.  Even though she has been gone since March she still continues to bring us together.  We miss you and love you Mom!  

That time of year

It is that time of year again for me.  Why do love this time of year you ask?  Because I get the chance to play Christmas music and people have to listen if they like it or not.  Today I got to sign up at Macey's to play their grand piano.  You'll choke but I waited about 45 minutes in line to sign up.  I could've signed up at a killer spot on Christmas Eve but decided to leave that for my family since Daddy would probably be home that day but I got times on their open house and the Saturday before Christmas which I have NEVER gotten.  I'm excited to go back and sign up for more times after Thanksgiving.  To make it fair they only let you sign up for 2 hours.  I also found out if I wanted to go to Sandy they have sign ups there too.  We'll see.  I have so much fun doing it and love to hear the people walking by humming to the tunes I play.  Also, when I was on my way out a kind older man got my cart for me and put it away before he went into the store.  He saw I had my hands full with my two hyper kids.  I like going there because the people are so kind.  I still think it would be fun to have a flash singing mob...random shoppers all of sudden bust out in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer then they disperse to do their shopping.

Minnie Mouse and Strawberry Shortcake

Both my girls love to play dress up.  They knew what they wanted to be for Halloween for over a year and let me know often.  I had no idea how I was going to pull either of these costumes off and I didn't want to spend the $25-$35 plus for each of the costumes that never seem worth the asking price.  I set out to find a pattern of some sort for Strawberry Shortcake and found a blog here that was perfect.  I had to make some modifications.  I could not find a visor to save my life so I used a hat and cut and sewed it back together to fit her little head.  Also, on the leggings I used a pair of her old tights that had a hole in it.  Sewed the hole up and painted stripes on them.  Macey stayed by my side watching the creation as it came together and could hardly contain herself.  She is absolutely in love with her costume!

Now Maryn's costume was a little more difficult because I did not have a pattern specifically for the Minnie Mouse Costume so I took a dress pattern from Simplicity and made it to look like the classic Minnie Mouse. She has wanted to be Minnie Mouse ever since her friend was Minnie a few years back. I learned a lot from making this dress and it's fun to see her twirl around in her fluffy skirt. My favorite part of this whole dress was the petticoat skirt underneath. And this is not your fall apart costume you paid twenty bucks from the store. I actually may take this pattern and make their Christmas dresses because the cost of the dress ended up being just around $18. And there are a lot of ways you can modify the design.

For the ears I re-purposed a head band that was used in years past as kitty ears.  I love it when you can use old things to create new cool stuff!  I un-stitched the sides to round out the ears and hand sewed it back together then made a bow for the front.  Super glued the bow to the ears so they weren't floppy.  Thanks to hubby for the idea because I was stumped on what to do and was ready just to pay $15 dollars for a pair of ears I saw in the store even though it was a pink bow.  He has patiently allowed me to work on these dresses so I can get happy faces like the ones below.  Why do I beat myself up making things like this?  I hope that I can make my kids childhood memories magical when they look back.  For that purpose is why I do this.  

   

The Cocoa Bandit

A few weeks back Macey came running downstairs  letting me know that Mason had gotten into the Chocolate.  I was thinking Chocolate Chips...no big deal.  So I casually walked up stairs and Macey pointed out the obvious and said, "See Mommy, he got into the chocolate".  And oh yes he got into the chocolate but it wasn't the chocolate chips.  There was baking cocoa everywhere!  And this was a container that I had just bought so it was full to the brim.  There was cocoa piled in the pantry.  There was cocoa footprints and hand prints leading out of the kitchen.  I followed the trail upstairs where I found Buddy sitting in the bathroom sink trying to wash himself off.  For days I was finding little hand and foot prints where he had ventured through the house.  When I thought I had gotten everything cleaned the next day Matt was in the bathroom and said please tell me that is chocolate on the toilet handle.  I could fortunately say yes that it was indeed chocolate.

I of course had to document the occasion so I grabbed the camera.  The pictures don't do the mess justice.

You can see his face is splotched with cocoa.  I told him to looked ashamed and this is what he gave me below.

And this is him proud of his handy work.

  Boys are really hard to keep up with!

Still Alive

Hello everyone!  I'm still alive, I promise.  I have been SOOO busy.  I really do not enjoy cramming my day full of stuff but I've had no other choice.  Hopefully after tomorrow I can show you what I've been doing for the past month or so.  I just have to do a few finishing touches involving a glue gun, needle and thread and I think I can call this project done!  I still need to write about Macers first friend birthday party too.  Here's crossing my fingers to be finished for tomorrow...just in time for the Halloween Carnival.

Box Elder Bugs

If you live in Idaho or Utah you know what a box elder bug is or would rather not be associated with them.  Even though they are relatively harmless...they are creepy little bugs.  They had a news story on KSL and I commented on it and come to find out later my comment was on NBC News.  I thought is was kind of funny because it was a pointless comment but it showed up with a handful of other commentors on the national news site here.  Mine was the comment about driving in the car and yes it did happen where I was driving and I looked on the dash and something just didn't look right.  When it moved I freaked out and found the nearest place to pull over.  Remember that scene in Black Sheep when they go out screaming out of the cop car screaming BEES.  Yah, that was me flailing around!

In Mason's Words

We have been struggling with Buddy's speech.  At his 2 year check up it's just what you want to hear that your son is behind in his speech.  Tell us something we didn't know.  Because of his non-expressive speech not being present we have battled with being able to understand him.  I was starting to worry that maybe there was something wrong but then he tries to say his words.  You ask him to say please and he says Plea then you try to get him to say the second half SE and he'll do it separately just not together.  He's only 2 and he'll come up to shirts I'm wearing and perfectly tell me which letters are on my shirt but the kid won't piece two words together or one for that matter.  Yesterday, we were celebrating sissy's birthday party and it was during his naptime and he knew that we were having fun downstairs with all of sissy's friends and he wanted to be apart of it.  We finally let the boy out and during the cupcake time he was anxiously trying to find a place to sit running back and forth and I asked him if he wanted a cupcake.  In his best monotone little voice he said his first sentence "I EAT CAKE"  I guess I just needed something that he liked to have something to talk about.

Public Gaffe

Have you ever said something in public and wish you hadn't.  It leaves your mouth and you can't get it back and then your doomed.  Well, I had one of those moments today.  I said something out loud and I should've just kept my little yapper shut and I think I probably offended 90% of the people around me and made an idiot of myself(something I so desperately try to avoid at all costs).  The reasons for saying what I did had nothing to do with what I was feeling at the moment it just came out in frustration.  So, after a few minutes I quietly excused myself and left the situation.  Who knows what people are thinking of me and by my little outburst I probably won't be making any new friends any time soon.  It wasn't meant to target any group by any means and if anyone knows even an ounce about me they know that I would never intentionally do something or seek out to hurt anyone's feelings.  Matt, in all his wisdom, said to me you don't give an offense, someone only takes it...or something like that meaning people can choose or not to take offense to something.  He on the other hand just laughed at me when I told him what happened.  I'm glad I'm at least loved by someone and he can at least find the humor in it.  That being said I think I'll hole myself up in my house this week and drown myself in projects that I have created for myself.  Be grateful for the friends that I have that understand me and don't judge me in anyway.  I think I'm losing it...you know how the older people get the less censored their comments are...well, maybe I've just sped up the process and living my golden years a little earlier.

New do

Maryn for the last few years has been growing her hair out.  It was ridiculously long!!!  You can see in her first day of school picture exactly how long. It was fun braiding it but was getting frustrating brushing through it.  We measured her hair and she had enough so we set out to get it cut.  After some research we found a non-profit program through Pantene that we are going to support because I like their goals of what they want to do with the hair.  Plus, I guess Locks of Love is a profit organization now so we want to support the non-profit sector.  We ended up cutting off 11 inches even though the place we're donating too only needs 8 inches.   This was the finish look!  Next up is little Macers...we still have a little while to go but we'll get there.

Making a tradition of...

Well, this weekend didn't go as originally planned.  Remember the series of 3 weddings.  This weekend we were supposed to be in Albion, ID at this cool place called the Albion Campus Retreat.  We were supposed to be there for our family camp slash big wedding on Saturday night.  I kind of had to screw things up though because this week I hadn't been feeling well and Thursday night is when I crashed...literally crashed on my pillow at about 8:00 and didn't wake up until noon the next day.  I remember vaguely my husband asking me if he needed to take the day off work and then I was out again.  I decided if I had any chance of going this weekend I better be seen.  I suspected I knew what it was but my other half was doubtful.  Guess who won that argument...ME!  Yeah, I'm a little happy about it because it's nice to be right every once in a while.  Not happy though that I'm missing out to be with family. Turned out I have strep and it's kicking my butt.  I haven't had this since I was a little girl barely old enough to remember.  I'm in my fourth day and finally can sit up in bed and stand up straight for at least 15 minutes before I get too tired and have to lay down again.  So hubby is taking care of me and he made the comment that I better get well soon because it's exhausting making 3 meals a day and trying to run the house.  At least I'll get a little empathy until he goes back to work.  And to boot it's my birthday today.  My husband and I are making a tradition of one of us or both of us being sick on our birthday.  Lousy tradition if you ask me...something we will definitely have to break somehow.  So if you're racking your brain...Oh what should I get Deb for her birthday?...just leave a can of chicken noodle soup with a ribbon wrapped around the top and leave it on the doorstep with happy thoughts to get better soon.

I also declare that there should be a national natural beauty day where not one single woman in the world wears makeup and show their natural beauty to the world.  But, everyone would have to participate or else it wouldn't be fair.  I haven't worn any make up since Thursday and it's been kind of nice.

Look at the Happy Couple

My baby brother finally took the plunge and look at how happy he is!  Like how his lips are glistening with her lipstick.  I thought it was funny!

I didn't get that many pictures.  We were melting from the 100 degree weather and there were so many people it was hard to get up close.  It was a wonderful ceremony and I still can't believe I used to change this kids diapers.  I'm glad he found someone to share his life with.  Man was not meant to live alone that's for sure!  Something kind of cool...I walked into the the sealing room and there sitting was my Murdock Family. My nephew is getting married next week in the Logan Temple and his fiance got her endowments out in the Sacramento Temple.  I love my Murdock Family.  Dad would've stole me if it wasn't for the fact I had to stay for pics.

They had a lovely reception.  It was an outdoor picnic theme on this incredible ranch.  It's a family that rents out their place.  They had croquet and other outdoor lawn games.  I didn't know a lot of people so I kind of just kept out of the way.  But it was a beautiful night.

Now I can officially say that I've been to California.  I won't go into the details about computer failure on the plane and waiting on the tarmac for an hour, almost not having a place to stay because the hotel thing fell through or the fact that I terribly missed my husband but it was a good little get away.  Also, going to six flags was just a little bit awesome just for the fact that I LOVE roller coasters!

Here's some other random pics of the temple.  Tried like mad to get one to make one of my wall hangings.  I have one that I liked and I may try to manipulate it to make it work so I can make a memory gift for my brother.  Did not see the lamp post there and could not see it in the view finder because it was so bright outside. It was a little washed out too(so not a photographer) but I think with all the changes I was going to make with it...it would work out in my favor.  Or if anyone else has a killer pic of the Sacramento Temple let me know!  There was a truck in the way of the first one so I couldn't get it to where I like it plus the tons of people that were going in and out of the temple.  The flowers were AMAZING though!

You'll never guess

If I was to give you a couple of guesses on what I purchased for myself today I bet you'd never guess.  I don't buy stuff for myself that often so this is a HUGE stretch for me.  At first thought you would think...kitchen appliance.  That would've been a safe guess, but no.  Then again you would've said maybe a craft thing or fabric, safe guess too, but no.

I bought myself a purse/handbag.

I KNOW...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!  My husband said I need to be careful because I'm turning feminine. When I told him on the phone he went dead silent.  Earlier in the week I said don't laugh but I think I want to buy a purse...he about choked.  I'm just so full of surprises.  I'm not sure why I resist feminine things but it's awkward for me always playing sports.  It took me until college to finally wear make up.  I figure if I've carried a diaper bag around for 7 years I can carry a purse...ya know, lets just call it a hand bag...I like that better.  I needed something I could put my cell phone, wallet and flying info in for my upcoming trip and carrying a diaper bag around with no kids wouldn't be that classy.  I'm just sayin'.  I went for simple, compact and not bulky with a wide strap.  Sorry, too lazy to snap a pic but I like it.  I think it will work quite nice.  Now I'm on the hunt for some 'saxey' black high heels that are not too high but comfortable.  Is there such a thing as comfortable high heels, there's an oxymoron for you.  I've been searching for a while but haven't been able to come up with anything.  So, if you know of a good place let me know. 

Three Weeks, Three Weddings

Our summer is not slowing down but doing the exact opposite.  I've said before that I'm not one to pile a whole bunch of stuff into a week but we're coming down to the wire for the end of summer.  School starts in 3 weeks and beginning this weekend will be a marathon of weddings to attend.  There was actually a fourth but our family just couldn't do it.  I'm trying to contain my excitement because there is a bit of anxiousness intertwined with it but I'll be going to California to see my baby brother get married.  I've always wanted to go to California and here is my chance.  The next week Logan, Utah/Franklin, ID then the week after that we had family camp moved to Labor Day Weekend so Matt's sister could have the whole family there for her wedding.  It's at an old school school building that was converted to a resort.  It looks like a fun place.  Hopefully all will go as planned.  The girls are excited and Buddy is just Buddy...he goes with the flow.  Hopefully I'll have some good pics after this month is over.

Both Macey and Maryn passed their first level of swim lessons and we were able to squeeze in 2 more weeks.  Hopefully they will do their best and continue to get better.  I love watching them get better at something.  It also helps that someone else is teaching them.  They listen so much better to other people.  I've learned a ton too...I think I'm going to sign myself up for swim lessons.  It's better late then never, right?!?!

My little garden is producing like mad.  I so wish that I had a garden plot that was 15 times bigger but I make do with what I have.  I'm sad my butternut squash didn't make it and there were some things that started growing in my garden that I'm pretty sure that I didn't plant but we'll take it and make use of it.  Someone gave me a really good idea to plant marigolds outlining my garden to keep out the critters and not only has it helped keep the gopher dudes out it is so beautiful and adds so much color to our backyard.  And BOY do those flowers bloom like crazy!  I'll have to try to get a pic of it...I made sure to get Matt's favorite color orange and in the mix was a rogue yellow flower.  It's right in the middle dividing the garden so it looks pretty cool.  I planted from seed and it's so amazing to watch something grow from nothing to something wonderful.

This is kind of a random post but something that made me chuckle the other day Maryn was asking me how long I was going to live.  There has been a lot of death in our family and a lot of questions from my children.  We have been trying our best to educate them and give them the tools needed to mourn and get through these things.  Of course their first initial response is if our loved ones can die you can die too so that's been in the fore front of Maryn's thoughts.  I let her know I would be here as long as God would allow me to be here.  Then she asked me how long I was going to be her Mom.  I said, "Oh, you're stuck with me forever but I'll be here as long as you guys still need me."  Then she asked again, then how long will that be?  At that point Macey piped in and said, "YEA, we get to buy a new mommy!"  Funny but kind of not funny.  It made me laugh.  

Photo Book

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What's in a name?

So, what's in a name anyway?  EVERYTHING

Matt and I were talking a while back and we wanted our last name to stand for something.  To give our children a sense of worth and pride for who they are.  So many times we get labeled on who we are and we believe it.  For some reason we only remember the negative things that bring us down.  We carry around baggage associated with our namesake and we perpetuate the mistakes.  We hold on to who we were or what we think we are.  We don't believe we can change because eventually we will repeat the past from what we've always believed of ourselves.

We decided to make a family plaque.  We had a Family Home Evening to talk about what our family stood for and the kids helped us brainstorm and we talked about why these words were so important.  We're hanging it in a place so everyday when our children leave the house and when they come home they will see their last name and the words that represent us and what we want to stand for.

How girls fix things

Today Maryn was downstairs with Buddy playing and after a little while emerged with a working toy truck that had been broken for a better part of the year.  In my astonishment I asked how in the world did you get it working again?  Maryn told me first she stepped on it then, oh yeah, I threw it and it just started working after that.  Hmmm.  Well, there you go, that's how girls get things to work.  So next time if something is not working just hit it and throw it around a couple times and that will probably be good enough.

Speedracer, Birthday and more

I'm not a person who can pack a lot into one day little alone one week.  I used to be that way but as you get older you realize that you get exhausted so much more easily. But, I've been trying to give the kids a good summer.  We've been trying to make it to our playgroups and joining our hiking moms in our neighborhood.  We've made multiple trips to the park(not without Matt of course).  We've been enjoying the hot weather by creating a make shift water slide in our back yard. The girls have been in swim lessons and they seem to be enjoying it. They are getting more confident being in the water and hopefully they will get a love of swimming.

Macey is officially apart of the biking club. She rode from our house all the way down to the park on her own plus around the park circle about 5 times then back to the house. I always wonder with each child how fast they'll be able to pick things up. I've noticed with Macey that she is a really fast learner but she works hard too to get good at it. She gets frustrated when she can't do something but her first inclination is not to quit.

Daddy had his birthday last weekend. It was on a Sunday and we had Grandpa with us. We took Daddy out to dinner the night before to celebrate. Matt's favorite cake is carrot cake. And you know me, go big or go home, so I made him the ultimate skyscraper carrot cake cheesecake. Maryn decided it was his birthday all week long so they have been celebrating every day since Sunday. I think that girl is going to become a party planner. She made a homemade pin the tail on the donkey game and made invitations for everyone in the family.

Buddy is still being buddy. He got kicked out of nursery a few weeks back so Matt and I have had to be alternating bouncers in nursery. He mostly gets in trouble because he's clumsy and knocks kids over then finds it funny so does it on purpose. Or one time he saw a group of kids trying to pop bubbles so what does my kid do? He pretends he's a bowling ball and runs into them and knocks them all over. My kid is all boy except he was carrying a girlfriend around the other day(mermaid barbie) and wouldn't let anyone touch her.

I'll leave you with some other random pics over the last few months. Still trucking along on my 7 year blanket. I'm 90% done. Got the binding sewn on and just need to hand stitch the thing down. I won't know what to do with myself after having that done. And believe it or not this is the first time I've ever done binding I've quilted for 8 years now and always have found a way around it. I had a rough idea how to do it and practiced on a small project years ago but had serious holes in my memory. Thank goodness for youtube.

New Scrapbooking Site and projects

I finally got my software updated.  My hubby got a sweet deal from work for a faster computer and gave it to me because he noticed I would have to wait sometimes up to a minute for some of my stuff to load.  The new computer has been great but what was not great I couldn't transfer my Digital Scrapbook artist program on it.  The kids put one little gouge in the disk and that was it.  To replace it would cost money so we just decided to get the upgrade for a few bucks more.  I've been enjoying it thoroughly and haven't had to learn the system because it is so similar to the old program.  Anyhow, there is an option where you can post your completed projects on daisytrail.com.  You have your profile and account and people can comment.  Did you know there is a huge community of digital scrappers out there?  It's the coolest thing ever!!!  I only had put up 1 project page yesterday and have already gotten 5 comments...did I ever tell you that I LOVE comments.  It's been fun viewing other people's work and getting fun ideas to experiment with.  If you want to view my stuff the website is daisytrail.com and my name is Missdeb...you have to sign up for an account unfortunately but if you're a scrapper you won't regret it.

I finished a major project last week that will be posted to view after July 30th on the blog.  I have a list of projects that I had put aside over the years and darn it they will be finished by the end of this year.  I think hubby is happy because I'm wrapping up all these projects that have been hanging around.  One being the infamous unfinished blanket that's been hiding out in my closet for the last 7 years.  I'm 45% finished with the quilting which is HUGE.  I feel a big push to wrap up all my projects before I start too many new ones.  Do you like how I didn't say before I start "any".  Ya like that is going to happen.  I know myself all too well.  I just feel like I'm running out of time.  Time is a funny thing when you get older.  I think it starts picking up speed.

Here are a few pages down below I finished in the last few days.  It's for Macey's first year scrapbook.  That's next on the ticket.  Each kid gets there first year scrap-booked.  Maryn's is pretty much done.  Hers is a hybrid of both digital and paper scrapping.  I just need to print off the remaining digital ones I finished and get everything assembled in one place.  I think I'm a little obsessed with my crafting.  Next week I'll be helping out a friend with truffles for her daughter's wedding.  I feel old because the daughter was one of my young women not more than a few years ago but I'm so happy for her.  Here's to happy crafting!!!

Angry Toe

Do you see this sweet girl?

We took her to the doctor today.  She is not sick but she has a raging "angry toe" as she calls it.  I haven't been able to heal it so we were hoping the doc would be able to help us out.  Well, we didn't get a Dr. but NP and he said there was nothing to remove(I still think there is a fragment somewhere) if he would've done some investigation.  He barely looked at it.  Something surely not right.  So she is on antibiotics to see if we can at least get rid of the infection and get the swelling down.  On the way to the office out of no where she said, "Seriously, I'm going to saw off my toe because it hurts so bad."  I didn't even know she knew what a saw was little alone the purpose of it.

Our July 4th

Sorry guys no pics but we had a lot of fun on our July 4th.  This is the first year that we were not in Clifton in the whole 10 years of marriage.  Family Camp got moved to Labor Day Weekend because Matt's sister is getting married.  Instead, we were invited to our friend's for a BBQ.  They have a cul de sac and the circle is pretty much a play land the whole time.  There was water toys out for the for kids and I saw a new side of Maryn that I hadn't seen before.  They had these water soaker toys and she was taunting all the boys.  That girl is a tom boy and was playing the whole time with the big boys.  Her and bishop got into it and both of them were drenched with in a few minutes.  She even had the guts to pop water balloons over the adults heads.  It was funny to watch.  Wishing now I would've at least video taped it.  I didn't have Macey in her bathing suit because of her angry toe but she ended up getting drenched and was right a long side Maryn in all her mischief.  Mason kept walking around finding anyone with food and backing into them to sit down and mooch off of them.  He also was trying to catch all the puppies that were around.  He ended up getting tackled by one of them which was funny.  He was pinned and got licked to death.  The big boys had a balloon launcher and bishop, his son and my husband decided to launch balloons.  Soon their balloon launching turned on the group.  When Matt's back was turned I chucked a balloon and nailed him directly in the back except it didn't break.  I hurried and sat down and everyone put their head down.  I was for sure I was a goner.  He didn't do anything.  Come to find out later that night he told me his back was hurting because someone had pegged him with a water balloon.  I told him I was sorry and he was for sure that couldn't have been me that threw the balloon.  There was a firework ban on our area because we are so close to the mountain so we just had some ground displays which was great for the younger kids.  We got to enjoy great conversation and delicious food!  Thanks again Meg!!!

Park Altercation

You're at the park with your family and there are some teenagers across the way.  You see one of them all of a sudden kick over a garbage can and junk flies all over the ground.  You wait a moment thinking they will pick it up but does nothing.  What would you do?

Me being a rule follower got up and approached the teens.  I told them please don't disrespect our park.  I let them know we had waited a long time for this park to be here and if we disrespect it...it will go to trash.  So, I try to make eye contact with the girl that did it and asked her to please pick it up.  She wouldn't budge.   She gave me some lame excuse it was too heavy to pick up so I told her I would help her.  Then she said I don't want to touch that crap.  Well, then you shouldn't have kicked it over in the first place.  The teens started making comments at me(I won't even repeat what they were saying) and I told them if they show this much disrespect to their mother I feel so sad for her.  I looked up and saw the obnoxious kid that was yelling at his brothers and sister the whole time we were there and he was recording me on his phone.  I said, go ahead and put this on youtube so everyone can see how disrespectful you've been.  I asked whatever happened to respecting your elders.  I think they misunderstood the English I was using because while I was walking away one of the kids said you are so Mormon and they made a comment about me being their Mom and that they didn't need one in the park.  Great, disrespectful and uneducated.  Elder is used to refer to someone whose age is older than you. Then they proceeded to say anything they could about Mormons and attacking me as a mother.  All the snarky comments they were making really didn't matter until they attacked my religion and me being a mother.  It takes a lot to make me cry but you don't attack the two things that are important in my life.  I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me upset so I walked away and waited until I got home.  They didn't even know me.  I have lived all over the place and have NEVER had my religion made fun of, ridiculed or attacked.  Why then is Utah the first place?  I know I shouldn't let those punk teenagers get to me but it hurt.  I have never in my life been so disrespected by someone younger than me.  I couldn't just stand by and let someone deface the park that I bring my children to.  What would you have done??  Do you just turn a blind eye or do you take a stand?  After the altercation was all over the obnoxious kid proceeded to video tape my family and I the whole time.  I'll probably be the witchy woman in the park youtube sensation.  They were making comments about me the whole time and Matt gave them a "hey" to lay off my wife.  We couldn't say much because he was recording us the whole time we were there.  Talk about invasion of privacy.  In fact after we got the kids home, Matt went back down to the park.  He wanted to see where the video kid lived so he could talk to their parents.  Unfortunately, usually when you get kids that are like that the parents haven't taught them the principle of respect.  What has happened to our society where respect is non-existent?  This experience upset me so much.  You know these kind of things you play over and over in your head and when I got home I realized I knew one of the girls who was the older sister of one of Maryn's classmates.  At least I remember her saying that she didn't want to be around those guys anymore.  Still not speaking up is just as bad as participating.  I am not one for confrontation so for me to have to endure this brought up a lot of old feelings of when I was a kid.  I was always the one that stood up for people that no one else would dare because it would be social suicide.  I had to put up with this as a kid I don't need this as an adult.

So, Matt just got back and found the kid near a group of people near a house and asked if his parents were there.  When the kid saw Matt his face went white and he booked it out of there.  Come to find out they knew the kid and they said good luck trying to talk to his Dad, which we figured was the case.  Turns out Matt talked to his Scout Leader.  Matt didn't want to cause trouble but the Scout Leader said he would talk to him.  If there is anything that I can teach my kids is to be good people and respectful.  

One more page

Sorry for the lack of blogging...sometimes I wonder if people even read this.  I've been ridiculously busy on a project.  I'm known for not completely finished projects and leaving them for a while.  Eventually they do get done but you never when that will be.  I started a project for a family member and I have one page left to design and I will be done with the designing process end of it.  I have a deadline and it was this week.  In a way you can say it's genealogy but it will be a keepsake forever.  I'm printing one off for myself too.  Matt has to help me with the last phase of this project and hopefully I can get it off to print and back in a good amount of time to give to our family member.  I do promise I will share a portion of it with you but it will have to wait until August until I can do that.  I'm not good at keeping presents a secret either but this one I got to hold off on.

I have a lot of pics of the kids from the last few weeks and some milestones met.  One being Macey can ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels.  Yep, she's only 3...very cool huh?!?!  And my big girl Maryn is officially out of school and going to be a second grader.  Buddy is still buddy...he's as rambunctious as ever.  Time has been elusive lately and reality has been a little hard to grasp but I hope to be able to give my kids a good summer with happy memories.

Dream with me for a moment

I'm cooking dinner...yah I know I shouldn't be blogging but I have to wait until my timer goes off and I could be and should be probably putting away the dishes but I'm dreaming instead.  I was just thinking about Thanksgiving dinner and how nice it would be to have a double oven when I'm cooking.  So in my dream kitchen there will be:

A double oven
A brick oven for our friday night pizza's!
A center island with bar stools at it so I can talk to the kids
A bread cupboard
One of those baker walk in closets
Granite Countertops
Crown molding on the cabinets

Oh, that's all I have time to dream about my timer's up.  What's for dinner you ask?  Trying out a new method for Chicken and Dumplings.

Tickets, Please!

I have been kind of down lately because my kids...well to put it plainly they are running over me with a Monster Truck and not even looking back in the rear view mirror.  I've been stuck in the tread of the tire not able to pry myself loose and I keep getting run over and over and over again.  Okay joking aside it hasn't been to pleasant here.  My sweet husband even though every day he's very hesitant to ask, how was your day honey, he has patiently listened.  I was at a loss on what to do.  He kind of bounced some ideas with a guy at work and he gave some suggestions to what might help.  They are things that we have tried before but with a twist so we decided to try it out.  We started a ticket system for good behavior and finishing their choirs and responsibilities.  So far so good.  The girls have a routine in the morning and a routine at nighttime.  Usually they are given 15 minutes at night to do their routine and if they finish they get story time.  This worked for a while then they got relaxed and didn't care resulting in constant badgering from me for them to get things done and them pushing back as hard as they could.  After we implemented the ticket system they were done in 10 minutes flat and I found them actually helping each other instead of fighting.  UGH I HATE FIGHTING!!!  This morning before I even had breakfast finished I looked down stairs to see if the girls were up and they already had their beds made and they were dressed with their hair brushed and working on brushing their teeth.  It was so refreshing not having to repeat 50 times please get dressed, get your shoes on, where are your socks?

Tickets are worth equivalent about 10 cents each.  That's just for us to determine what things cost in the prize basket.  I didn't want worthless knick knacks all over the house so we have things in there that they can work towards like movie night with Dad, coloring books, overpriced popsicles, popcorn, bright pink nail polish, chapstick...ya know things that kids love.  So each of these things are worth a certain amount of tickets.  They can either save up their tickets to get the higher priced items or redeem them every family night where we assess where they are at and to see what we can improve on.  I'm hoping if they want the more expensive ones they can learn to save up.  I'm crossing my fingers.  My 7 year old blows every penny she gets.  So every Monday we'll see where the kids are and hopefully the fighting, bickering, bad attitudes and me being a M.O.M (mean old Mom) will lessen dramatically.  Matt made a little jar holder for each of the kids.  Wish us luck! 

Memorial Day Pictures

I wrote a little about our Memorial Day Weekend and here are the pics.  We did get to visit Mom's gravesite.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of people honoring their loved ones that have passed.  One thing that made me smile was Matt's Uncle is also buried near by, his name was Papa Jay.  He owned the little convenience store in town that makes the best jerky hands down.  One of his family members put a piece of jerky, pepsi and a shell casing near his headstone.  This is the same Uncle that told Matt when he got home from his mission first he needed to grab himself a pepsi then grab himself a girl and make out like crazy until your lips are numb.  Papa Jay was one of a kind.

The kittens also got a lot of love.  Grandpa called and said that the momma cat had moved all of her kittens up to the deck into the barbecue and was teaching them how to eat real food and lap up milk.  Dad pretends to not like cats but he spoils those kitties.