Remembering

My kids were 7,5,4 & 1 when 9/11 happened. I was glued to the TV for days and days. We drove to the capital and around where they had make-shift memorials. I didn't realize how much the kids were paying attention while they played until they started being really scared and praying every night that the bad guys wouldn't be able to get to them. I only watched after that when the kids were in bed or away for some reason. I became a news junky and would miss sleep watching the news.
My kids started everyday at 9:11 when they noticed the clock and just let out one big scream and say it's 9/11. They only do it if they happen to notice and then once they got older stopped. Carson who was 1 at the time still kept doing it and eventually Heber. This morning I brought all the kids around the computer and we went on Utube and watched a few tributes and some news clips of 9/11 and were able to talk about it.
Luckily the older ones don't really remember the terror and the things that they remember aren't as scary as they had once been. Carson watched with interest, but said that he knew some things about it. BJ was surprised at how many people have told him that George Bush hired the terrorist to do that so he could go to war. Taft and Ammon have watched a lot about it at school and so were really aware but amazed at some of the pictures.
Heber was most surprising of all. He just said "Is this really why I scream 9/11 everyday? I didn't know anything so horrible could happen in America and I'm so glad I never lived in New York even though I wanted to when I was a kid" (He is 7 and in my mind still very much a kid). I'm really glad we had the opportunity to talk about it, set some things straight and remember all those who were sacrificed and lost.
It's hard to believe it has been 9 years. Thinking of all that was lost and all those whose lives were changed.
I'm grateful for the hero's that day that while others were leaving they were heading up the towers and those on the plane in Pennsylvania.
I'll always remember and am very grateful for the country that I love.

Carson's 10th Birthday

Carson is 10!! I've been terrible at blogging and doing anything scrap-booky or record wise. We are finishing our basement and I've been putting all my focus on that.
Carson had a great day. He wanted a penguin cake.

Not sure why, he kept going back and forth on different animals, but he loves to do penguin dives (He puts his arms straight down to his side and jumps straight up and then down into to water. He has had years of practice and is pretty good. So penguins have become one of his favorite animal). I had no idea how to make one and it turned out to look more like an owl because I couldn't find my black food coloring and had chocolate frosting. He was happy with it so I guess that is all that matters.
 

Now that the kids are getting older it is harder to think of more things about them but here goes.
10 things I love about Carson


1. Carson loves his family.

2. Carson knows how to laugh. Sometimes I think he practices because he likes to do goofy laughs.


3. Carson loves his friends. He has a lot of friends, but has the ability to make friends anywhere he goes.

4. He doesn't really like video games. I think this is a good thing. Sometimes it is a hard thing because everyone else does.

5. He loves, loves, loves the outdoors. He can play with a stick outside and be happy. He will be outside almost every chance he gets.

6. As mentioned about he doesn't like video games and loves to be outside and so he can entertain himself for hours. I think that he can make himself satisfied with anything.

7. He has a strong testimony of the church. He loves the Joseph Smith story. One of the most powerful times I ever heard the story of Joseph Smith was when Carson was only 3 or 4 and he heard the story in primary. He was telling me as we were driving to the store and Heber was asleep. The spirit was so strong and he told it with such conviction you couldn't help but to know it was true just by listening to him.

8. He is a perfectionist. This is a good-bad thing. He really tries to make things just right. This is nice once he gets done, but sometimes he takes so long getting there. He struggles in school a little, but not from knowledge and ability, but he has to have everything just perfect. He probably uses more eraser then lead.

9. He is considerate. We eat at the park for lunch a lot of times during the summer. It is free for kids. I usually don't eat at the park. I will either eat before or after. They are really strict about adults not eating the free lunch, but Carson has such a hard time with me not eating. He constantly tries to sneak me food. I've gotten so I always bring something and eat it there so that it doesn't upset him so much.

10. He is such a blessing to our family. He loves his family and I love being his mom. I love when he has been to an activity or field trip because he will come home and tell me everything he did.
I LOVE YOU CARSON!!

4 things Tag...
Judy tagged me along time ago. I am terrible at blogging even though I love to see when others blog. I'm never sure if I just share WAY too much or what I say is going to sound terrible and dumb. I don't like putting myself out there, but do way too often.
So, here's my tag of 4 things.

4 shows I like to watch:
* SURVIVOR, I am a nut. I love this show. one of the few arguments Bill and I have ever had aside from how many kids we should have is when he said I just couldn't make it on Survivor. I really couldn't now, my health isn't good enough, but when he said that I so could have!!! I even filled out the application, but never sent it in. My boys would have loved it. My family I grew up in would have hated it because I sure I would have embarrassed them to the hilt. I'm sure I'm embarrassing them just admitting that I would have done Survivor.
* American Idol, I casually watch this. It is usually on when Bill has bishopric meetings and the kids have scouts and young men's. So I get my pictures out and work on scrap-booking or read a book while it is on.
* Some soaps, but I am very casual about this. I make myself nervous being the only one home and so I usually have the TV on for noise and I rarely even notice it is on, but it is amazing no matter how long it has been since I see one it is like I never missed anything. Makes you realize what utter trash it is. I probably wouldn't even say that I watch them.
* News stations That's not a show either and I'm not sure it counts. Especially lately. I can't stand how it is no matter what station it is. There is constant corruption and bickering that I don't even know why I watch because it usually upsets me. I want to be able to know what is going on and keep challenging my mind, but it has gotten so I would just rather not even have it on.

4 things I'm passionate about:

* My husband
* My kids
* Scrap-booking and crafts
* Organizing, which sounds good, but is not. I'm not organized and keep thinking I need to do one more thing and so this is a huge detriment. It really should be thrown out, because it makes me feel like such a failure. It's still there though.

4 phrases I say a lot:

* Holy moly
* Good garbage
* Curses
* get your can in the van or get your can outta the van

4 things I have learned from the past:

* Just enjoy and try not to make everything perfect. You will miss your life if you are always trying to make everything just right to be able to do things.
* Enjoy the kids, even if the house is a mess or you have something more important. They are little for such a short time and you can't get that time back. Kind-of like the first one, huh?
* It is better to say sorry, then I told you so. Even if you were right.
* All you need is love. Corny but true. Love of your famiy, friends, God, church members, country.

4 places I would like to go:

* Church history tour
* England
* California trip with the kids
* Statue of Liberty, Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial.

4 things I did yesterday (This is going to sound a lot different then everyday since it was Mothers day):

* Got to eat a yummy breakfast that I didn't make
* Got to drive with Bill to church
* Got to eat a yummy dinner and desert that I didn't make
* Spent time with some of my best friends preparing Mothers day for all the ladies in the ward.


4 things I'm looking forward to:


* A finished house
* A room for all the paperwork, scrap-book stuff and sewing
* Getting away for our anniversary, we celebrated our 20th a few years ago and haven't been able to get away for about 3 years. Hopefully this year!!
* Getting caught up on scrap-booking


4 things on my wish list: (I really already answered this on what I look forward too, so this will be a big wish)

* To get out of debt
* To be more healthy and loose weight
* To not be behind, it seems like I rush everything and have to do things last minute because I'm not prepared)
* Kitchen cupboards and more counter space.

4 people I tag:

(I'm not sure how to tag, or even how to do it. I wont tag Judy because I got this from her. I don't really know that many who even do a blog.)

* Andrea
* Jeanna
* Carolee
* Diana

What's for dinner . . .

Moms worst question EVER . . . what's for dinner. I hate that question. The worst time to be asked that question, while we are eating lunch. For cripes sake we aren't even done with one meal. Anyway last night for FHE (Family Home Evening) I asked everyone to come prepared with 10 meals that don't have to be their favorite, but just meals that they would complain about. They all took me seriously, I've given assignments before only to be blown off, but this they did. We had a great time going around the table and talking about things and memories we had of different meal and it actually turned out pretty good.

Ammon of course had to put down funny (and disgusting things like haggis . . . which he has never had and I'm sure there would be complaining that night). Plus he had much more then 20.

Taft is my pickiest and so he had a hard time finishing his list but few things surprised me. Mostly eggs with sausage, eggs with bacon, eggs with ham . . . he does like eggs.

BJ didn't have a problem, but none of his were easy meals.

Carson had a hard time and every time someone mentioned something he wanted it added to his list, including haggis. I should make that just to show them, huh?

Heber wouldn't let anyone help him and had to write his list out. I thought it was funny so here it is along with interpretations . . .

1. Pot sticker's!!! (he wanted to make sure I added the explanation points)
2. spinich with breead or noodlis (spinach artichoke dip & chicken ravioli with spinach)
3. Ravelee (Ravioli)
4. hot wings (Chicken tenders with Wingers sauce)
5. nochoos (Nachos)
6. spoogety (Spaghetti)
7. spoogety tocos (Spaghetti tacos - - whatever they might me, who knows)
8. toco salid with doreetos (Taco salad with Doritos)
9. doreetos (He must like Doritos)
10. sheepperd pie (that was close)
11. hot wings (He must like what he likes)
12. kafaereeeo (This one took me a minute . . . Cafe Rio)

Bill's list was in the form of an email. He started keeping track, mostly because of the complaining especially from Taft that we had spaghetti madness every other night. I know it was to help, but every once in a while when that is the most hated question, I hate to hear we have had that 3.5 times in last month. He actually doesn't say that.

My goal is to have a menu a month in advance, we will see. I'm not making that menu public, they can still wait to see when it hits the table. I can only take so much complaining, I'm not going to hear about it a month in advance.

I don't do too bad when I know in advance what I'm going to make, then if I change my mind last minute it is a conscious decision not a thrown together mad house.

Heber's 7th Birthday

Happy Birthday Heber!!
I can't believe Heber (my baby) is 7


He REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted a horse cake because Horse and Heber both start with his favorite letter H







7 things about Heber (idea copied from Judy)


First, he makes friends easily and loves his friends. His brothers are some of his best friends (most of the time).

Second, he loves his family and is quick to show his love.





Third, along with that passion he also shows every emotion. Sometimes a little too honest and a little too quick to share every thought that pops in his head. That little wall that most people have in their head to stop every thought, yeah, he doesn't have that.




Fourth, he enjoys to laugh. He always has. His laugh is infectious and not always at the appropriate time.




Fifth, He is his own man. He is sure he can do everything everyone else does. Sometimes this is good, sometimes when he decides he can just do what he wants and we have no idea where he is. He likes to roam the neighborhood so I have to keep a close eye on him.




6th, he is a smart boy. He loves reading and reads everything. I'm amazed when we read the Book of Mormon and some of the hard words that he just seems to know more then read. He is excited to get baptized next year. Wow, I'm not sure I'm ready to have my whole family old enough to be baptized.

The 7th thing I love about Heber is how happy we are to have him in our family. I describe him as my cherry on top. I always felt like I just had one more baby to come and really felt strongly that I needed him to be in our family. I had to do some heavy duty talking to get Bill to agree, in fact Bill named him Heber (a name I wouldn't have picked but it was part of the wheelin' and dealin'). So if my life is a banana split Heber is the cherry on top.
I love, love, love being Heber's mom!!

Try'n to impress the ladies . . .

Today was clean the messy pig sty of a bedroom no matter what . . . Carson and Heber have disappeared outside, in the TV room, around the block . . . lather, rinse, repeat . . .
We have nothing to show for it. I gave up and started working on our schedule/family home evening chart and heard them up in the bathroom talking about the great hair-do's they were going to do "try'n to impress the ladies". Here is what they came up with . . .


Heber seemed so surprised that I would know what that means. So ladies? Does that do it for you?

Christmas in June

This year for Christmas I finally broke Bill down and got a trampoline. I had always wanted one. We finally got one but it wasn't until a month or two before I got married. Bill has always worried about injuries and still does (I'm sure there is an "I told you so" with the first injury coming).

Well we didn't have a place for it so we told the kids as soon as the weather broke we would finally finish the south side of our house so that we could put the tramp up. With the weather so weird this year and other things we didn't get the sod until may and had to wait a whole month to put the trampoline up.

Luckily Heber is really good at math and has really grasped the concept of time and dates so we didn't have the question everyday of "is it today".

And if we did it was from the other kids and Heber would inform them "no today is Monday June 1st, we can't put it up until June 15th, which is a Monday. In 2 weeks, which is 14 days. Unless you don't count today then it is 13 or if you don't count the 15th either then it is 12, but lets just count all the days and it is 14 days, 2 weeks". You get the picture so it has been a count down.

Well D-day came, or I should say T-day. We had a really bad stomach flu last week, Carson missed all week at school. It wasn't really a throw up stomach flu, just intense stomach pains, leg aches, a really bad headache and fever. Most of us had it last week, well T-day came and it hit Bill really bad at work so he wasn't thinking we would be able to do it. Ammon's England research paper was also due and since he had been sick last week and so had I we weren't completely prepared. All that being said it didn't look like T-day would happen.

Bill and the 3 oldest had to go and collect the flags from the neighborhood for flag day so I decided Carson, Heber and I would have the tramp set up by the time they got home.Once we got it out and organized in our little piles and began we were making good time.



Carson and Heber were getting along so well and were great helpers, then I hit step 4 in the instructions . . . You need 3 adults in good shape to set this up to avoid injury or death and to make it possible. Well we only had 1 adult in lousy shape and 2 little kids. We waited and waited and waited until Bill and the teens got home.
So here is my math 3 adults in good shape = 2 adults in bad shape, 3 teenagers in good shape and 2 little kids to cheer us on and hand us things.


This is my favorite picture . . .







WE DID IT!!

It was a little rough going for a while and with Bill so sick he had to rest part way through, but by that time we had figured it out and made good time. We didn't really realize there were so many different sizes of trampolines and got the biggest Walmart had and were disappointed at how small it was, but they kids have had a great time. They jumped until after dark last night and BJ, Carson and Heber were out at 7am this morning jumping. Taft slept in, he has hit the tired teen stage.

And Ammon reluctantly finished typing up his research paper and putting it all together (he was only 2 or 3 minutes late).



All in all a pretty great Family Home Evening. I forgot to mention BJ was the lesson so he did the lesson while we put up the tramp and Ammon finished up his report.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

PS: My friend brought by a belated Birthday gift, not only the best lemon square ever made, but the best desert . . . (and the recipe).

Here is some of the fun . . .