CARLY, CARLY

Carly with her cousin Riana. Can you believe how big she is getting? Me neither. Tonight she said; "Mom, when I was old, I had wrinkles on me." Lol! Funny kid.

BUSY DAY

My day started out pretty normal but got busy fast when my friend Robin's transmission went out on her car. At that point, I started running a taxi service. Besides my taxi service, I still managed to get the laundry done and Carly's room cleaned which was a huge mess! Kids are so little; how is it they make such a humongous mess--and so quickly! I don't get it. We were supposed to have some high winds tonight but I sure never noticed them. We had warnings for them all day but they didn't show up here. Everyone here is doing fine--except for the coughing. I think the colds are getting a little better but they are not gone yet. Well, that's all for today. Not much else going on. Night all

MY BLANKET BOY

My little guy loves his blankets. He is laying on two blankets and is covered up by three blankets. He also has a special one he hangs onto while he sleeps named "BABY." When he got put in the hospital last time, the people in the ER admitting office gave him a choice between a new blanket and a stuffed animal. He chose the blanket. Yup, this is my blanket boy. Such a cutie pie. :)

JUST A COUPLE THINGS

Rob and I made it home tonight around six. We were so tired last night after driving all day that we slept in this morning until almost eleven and didn't leave our hotel until almost 12:30 p.m. It was actually a nice drive, though. We had good weather and got to spend a lot of alone time together. All in all it was a very nice day. Grandma called when we were about two hours away and told us if we would call about a half hour before we got home they would have dinner ready. That was a very nice treat. The kids were really glad to see us (for the first 15 minutes or so) and then they went back to their normal routine. Lol! Grandpa was feeling well enough to come upstairs for dinner. We had a big "around the table" dinner as a family. I always like it when we can do that. I think it just helps keeps family closer to one another. Well, Julie is giving us the T-minus countdown now to her 18th birthday. Apparently we are at T-minus 5 and counting. Oh, but whose counting? I know I'm not. Well, I'd better get some sleep so I can be ready to handle an 18 year old later this week! I'm going to need all the help I can get! Just kidding. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

We had a great day with family! We hope you did too! Sarah came with her family from Idaho and Susan brought hers from Provo. We had lots of food, watched football, played games and took naps. Then we grazed again. Most of all, we spent time together and that was the best and most important part. Dad even spent the day upstairs with us. We had three of our nieces on Rob's side here with us from Montana. Total we had 22 people here. I loved having my sister's here. The older I get the more I appreciate my relationship with them. They are my friends and I love them so much! Before they left we actually thought to get a picture together.

THIS (TWO) SHALL PASS, RIGHT?

Had a Dr. appt. this morning in my old stomping ground so I was able to have lunch with one of my dear friends. It was really nice to see her and spend time catching up. Thanks to my Mom for wrestling the little ones so I could be gone for that long. Trust me when I say that is no easy chore! I took Jonathon with me to the store tonight to pick up a couple of things and then stopped to get a pizza on the way home. Holy Tornado Batman! I don't know how it is that I forget how BAD he is when I take him in public by myself!! I've got to stop doing that until he turns ten! I won't even tell you what he did at the grocery store but at the pizza place they had to bring him back to me from the kitchen. Yes, you heard that right. I try holding him in my arms but he is one strong little bugger. And he is fast when he runs. I knew I should have named him Chase! Lol. Well, I have to get in bed so I can finish cleaning my house tomorrow before company arrives for the holiday. If you are one of the ones coming to my house for the holiday disregard the last sentence--my house is always spotless. :)

TURKEY DAY'S A COMIN'

Finished my holiday grocery shopping tonight. Couldn't believe how crowded the store was! I'm glad I had done most of my shopping earlier. We will have the whole family together for Thanksgiving. Sarah will be coming with her family from Idaho and Susan and her family will be coming also. It's always nice when we can get everyone here at the same time. Hopefully the weather will hold and there won't be any travel problems. Well, better get a cookin' cuz Turkey day's a comin'! :)

GOLDEN CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Rob and I went to Church alone today. All of the kids were still sickly so we left them at home. They have this hacking cough we don't want them to share with anyone. Julie is the latest one to get it. They all keep ping-ponging it back and forth. So far I have been really blessed not to catch it. I had a few days when I didn't feel really well and thought I was coming down with a cold but it never fully blossomed. I am so grateful. I HATE having a cold. Carly helped me make dinner tonight. We made a lovely chicken divan recipe that Grandma found on the Internet. It was really yummy. Carly was so proud of herself for helping. And she really was good about it. She followed my instructions and didn't make any messes. We made cookies for dessert and that is another story. I finally had to have Grandma get her attention onto something else so I could finish them or there would have been a big mess. With cookies she wants to get her hands into everything. And then, Jonathon wants to help too and then it becomes a free for all. Gah! It was funny though. I asked her what kind of cookies she wanted to make and she told me "the gold ones with the golden chocolate chips." It took me a minute but I realized she was talking about Oatmeal Scotchies. I thought that was a pretty clever way to describe them when she didn't know what they were called. Rob only has to work Monday and Friday this week because of the holiday. It will be nice to have him home for a few days. I actually remembered to take my Turkey out today and put it in the refrigerator to start thawing. I usually don't remember until the day before and that's never enough time. Yay for me! (So, this is your reminder, too!) Well, not much else to tell. Hope you had a great weekend. Take care.

SPANK YOU MOM!

It's snowing hard and I am so glad to be indoors. There have been a bunch of accidents this evening due to the weather. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rob walked in the door because he worked really late tonight and the weather just kept getting worse. Julie has a debate tournament in the morning and has to be there by 6:45 a.m. to meet the bus. None of us are a bit excited about that! I think Rob and I are going to arm wrestle to see who has to take her at that pre-dawn hour. (I plan to cheat.) Jonathon has decided to start spanking Mommy when he doesn't get what he wants or when he gets in trouble for something. It doesn't go over very well but he hasn't figured out yet that it isn't a really good idea. I have to say it's hard to get too mad at him for doing it sometimes because I'm laughing so hard. He's quite the little pill. He's also at the stage where he likes to hear himself scream. Why is it that two year olds like to hear themselves at that decibel level? Every two year old I've ever known loves to hear themselves scream. Oh, I do hope age two passes quickly!

CONCRETE ANYONE

It's been an interesting day. Well, sort of. Rob was up all night vomiting which meant neither of us got much sleep. We are pretty sure it was something he ate. He was doing better this morning but it made for a pretty tiring day for both of us. I did some birthday and Christmas shopping today. Julie turns 18 in a couple of weeks. Still can't believe it! Rob helped his brother Steve lay some concrete this evening and they ended up with a little too much at the end. They had to use it all before they returned the machine so Steve is now the proud owner of three wheel barrel mold shaped chunks of concrete. I hear they look lovely in his back yard. Lol! Funny thing is it wouldn't have happened he had asked Rob to figure out how much concrete he needed for his project. Instead he asked one of his friend's what he thought and the guy over figured it. Steve teases Rob mercilessly on his mathmatical exactness whenever he does a project. Then when he needs exactness he doesn't think to ask him! Oh well. Maybe his wheelbarrow shaped concrete chunks will become fashionable in the future. One never knows. Anyone in the market? Anyone? Anyone? :)

HERE YOU GO GAMA!

It feels like it's been a long day. I woke up really tired this morning. I got Carly up and in bed with me watching cartoons so I could catch a few more winks of sleep and remembered I promised to babysit for a friend who would arrive within minutes. Aaarrrggghhh! My tired body moved pretty quickly at that point! The kids had fun playing and were pretty noisy so that really woke me up. The kids are finally starting to get over their colds. Yay! I wish there was a way to keep them healthy for the whole winter. As it is we are keeping Jono in most of the time. But he still catches whatever we bring home to him. We are really hoping he outgrows this. Grandma and Grandpa are both doing really well. They have coughs but beyond that they are hanging in there. Jono gives them a run for their money like he does the rest of us. He really likes his Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma told me one morning she heard him outside the bathroom just talking to her. He just stayed there chattering to her the whole time she was in there. When she opened the door he was standing there holding her coffee cup. He just handed it to her and said; "Here you go Gama!" He is such a little character! :} Well, better get off here and get to bed! Night all.

SWINGING AND PLAYING IN THE PARK

Just thought I'd post a couple of pictures. These are from a few weeks ago believe it or not. The weather was really warm late into October. It was so nice. The first is Jonathon with sister Julie and his friend Ellie.

This second photo is Carly with some of her play friends. So cute!

THE SUNDAY POST :)

I taught Sunday School today. It ended up being kind of a hairy Sunday because Rob was going to stay home with Jono so I could teach today but then he got called in to work. So, I ended up having to have Julie stay home with the kids (Carly is still sick, too) so I could run over and teach while Rob worked. I felt bad that she had to miss Church too. Carly wanted to go really bad today, too. I just couldn't justify sending her when her cough is still so bad. If people would keep their kids home when they are sick like that I could probably let Jono go to church, but they don't so the nursery is a dangerous, germ-filled place for my little boy. I refuse to add more dangerous germs to it even if it makes my 3 year old mad at me! I made homemade bread today while Julie made some homemade vegetable beef soup. We had a really great dinner. Very tasty! Then Carly and I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Megan came by to visit and stayed for dinner tonight. The little ones were glad to see her. Grandma and Grandpa even came upstairs for dinner and part of the evening. It was quite the treat! Actually, Grandma is up here all the time, but Grandpa only comes up a few times a week these days. So, we are happy to see him any time he graces up with his presence! Lol! Well, time to get in bed and get some rest for tomorrow. Hope you are doing the same. If you are smart, you've got a pretty good headstart on me. Lol!

BOO! DID I SCARE YOU!

Better late than never, I guess. Here are some of our Halloween photos! I'll bet you didn't know Batman sings, did you? You probably didn't know his secret identity either until now. Well, now you do. I couldn't get him to leave his mask and cape on, but I also couldn't get him to put the mike down. He's actually quite the crooner!

This is our little princess. I believe this is actually a Cinderella princess dress and my little princess adored dressing up in it. Isn't she darling?

Julie wanted in on the act too! She went as a maiden--and ever a fair one is she! HAPPY LATE HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! BOO!

A NICE TRIBUTE

We went to Rob's Aunt's funeral today. It was such a nice tribute to her. She was a darling woman and so good-hearted. Not only did her family love her but her extended family and she had so many friends. It was amazing to see how many lives she touched. My friend Robin let the kids come over to her house this morning for a playdate and then Grandma and Grandpa watched them in the afternoon until we got home. At their age and stage I hate to leave them with any one person for too long. They are both in their terribles--and can be a little B-U-S-Y. That's a nice way of saying they can be a little too much for anyone! They were napping when we got home but were happy to see us when they woke up. Rob went and played volleyball tonight with a bunch of friends at the church. He really enjoyed himself and found out he can still play as well or better than the young kids! That made him happy! Julie felt pretty good about her Sterling Scholar interview but won't know the outcome until next week sometime. She said she did okay but doesn't know how she stacked up to the other four who were interviewed. I guess time will tell. In the meantime, we will say a few prayers and cross our fingers. Well, that's all the news for today folks. Take care.

IT'S COLD OUT THERE!

It's been somewhere between 32-42 degrees here today starting from early morning to late evening. A pretty good ten degree spread--even though, in my book, cold is cold! I don't know that I'm ready for it to be this cold yet but since no one is offering me a choice I guess I will just have to bundle up and bear it. Brrrrrr. Julie has her interview for Sterling Scholar tomorrow. It's a fairly prestigious scholarship for Utah seniors. She's one of only a few students in her high school who have been nominated for it. We are really proud of her. It would be great if she actually got the scholarship, but it's an honor just to be nominated for it. I've been trying to get some paperwork done this week but it's been slow going. I have a hard enough time with piles of paper without having my two and three year olds jumping through them while I'm trying to sort them. That happens a lot! Seems like the only time I can do any work on them is while they are asleep and that's not much time to accomplish anything! Why does it seem like Mom's have less hours in their days? I'd swear it's true! Lol! Well, better get myself to bed. Lots to do tomorrow!

D IS FOR DENTIST

Jono, Carly and I went to the dentist today. It was Jono's first time there and he did really well. I was really proud of him. Carly actually got her teeth cleaned. This was her second time and she really looked forward to going. I'm pretty sure it was for the prize at the end. Turns out she got several prizes. She considers the new toothbrush and toothpaste prizes as well! Also, they gave her this cool little sand timer with pink sand that tells her exactly how long to brush her teeth. She thinks that is the neatest thing in the whole world! I was really surpised at how smooth the whole visit went. We took big sister Julie with us to help since I was getting my teeth cleaned too. She is always a big help to us. Everyone is still a bit under the weather here. Doing better than before but not well. Lots of coughing still going on. So far Grandma and Grandpa haven't caught it and we are hoping they don't. Rob got home a bit early tonight and just fell in bed. Poor guy. He has a really busy week, plus we have his Aunt's viewing and funeral the next couple of days. I made a really yummy dinner tonight. I found a really good recipe on Pinterest for Sweet and Sour Chicken. I improvised a little and put it in the crockpot and then served it over rice. Everyone loved it. That always makes me happy. In case anyone wants to try it, I will print it below. It was really easy and again--YUMMY! SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN This Recipe is from the Lion House. It is so delicious, and super simple to prepare. There are two versions below--the second one is a quicker version. I actually used the second version but altered it even more by putting it in the crockpot! It worked perfect--except at the end I did need to use more cornstarch to thicken it. YOU WILL NEED: 6-8 Chicken Breasts, Soy sauce, Chicken Broth, Cornstarch, Vinegar, Ketchup Garlic Salt, Pepper, Sugar, MIX THESE INGREDIENTS INTO A MED. SIZE BOWL: 2 teaspoon garlic salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 beaten egg 4 to six tablespoons cornstarch or flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup vinegar 1 cup chicken Broth 7 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoon soy sauce 7 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt & pepper. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 1st Version: Dip chicken in beaten egg, then in cornstarch or flour. (cornstarch makes chicken crispier). Brown in hot oil. Place in baking dish. Cover with the following sauce: Mix sugar, vinegar, chicken stock, catsup, and soy sauce in medium bowl. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Turn chicken once or twice. 2nd Faster, easier version – When time is limited Same recipe as above, only eliminate frying your chicken, and add 3 large tablespoons cornstarch to the above sauce recipe. Layer raw chicken breasts in glass dish (9×13). Mix all sauce ingredients in bowl, (plus 3 TBSP corn starch) with wire wisk. Pour directly over chicken breasts. Bake uncovered at 325 for about 1 1/2 hours, or until sauce is thick and dark in color. So Easy, and so good! This dish is great for company. Leftovers are wonderful.The sauce will thicken & the color of the sauce will darken greatly. It will be similar to thick barbeque sauce. The chicken needs to be (fall apart) tender! Serve this over rice, or potatoes or on Soft flour taco shells.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

Today (Monday) was my Mom and Dad's 53rd wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that many years. It doesn't seem possible. Congrats Mom and Dad! I love you!

SUNDAY, SUNDAY . . .

All of us stayed home from church today. No one felt good. We've been sickee's all day long. However, that didn't keep Rob's work from calling him out a couple of times for emergencies. He actually wasn't on-call this weekend but was filling in today for one of his co-worker's who had a new baby and was having him blessed. I felt really bad for him because he felt a lot worse than I did and ended up working about 6 hours. Poor guy. We found out this morning that his aunt died a couple of hours after we left last night. We are grateful we were able to be with her and her family before she passed away. So, we will have a viewing and funeral later this week. I don't think Mom or Dad felt very well today, either. We didn't see much of them upstairs either. Although, Mom did come up to help me make some chicken and dumplings for dinner. Those tasted really good to a bunch of sickees. Well, not much else went on today--so I won't keep you. :)

FAMILY LOVE

Rob and I, and his brother Steve, went to visit their Aunt Dorothy today for the final time. She is eighty-two, and is a wonderfully sweet woman. She is dying of pancreatic cancer and isn't expected to make it through the night tonight. We really just got to sit with her for a bit because she was in so much pain she was heavily sedated--but we did have a sweet visit with her children. My husband and his brother have tender memories of their childhood and this darling aunt. Tonight, I am so grateful for the blessings of family. I am grateful for the opportunity to be influenced and touched by them. I feel so blessed to have them in my life and I want all of my family to know how much I love them. :)

ON THE LIST OF THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR . . .

I got a text message this afternoon from my daughter Megan that was a little alarming. It simply said: Stay away from the Walmart right now please. Gun violence threat just came in to 911. I immediately texted her back and asked her if it was in our city because she works in a different city? I got distracted before she answered me back and it was a good hour or more before I thought about it again--maybe longer. But when I did, it occurred to me that my parents had gone to vote more than two hours ago and weren't back yet. It was an early voting day so I didn't think it would be taking them that long. There isn't a whole lot else to do here so panic flashed through my brain and I feared maybe they had gone to Walmart. For a split second I wasn't sure what to do next--start calling my parents, call Megan back to get more details, start checking the TV or Internet for news. I kind of felt like someone with one foot nailed to the floor and the house set on fire! I did immediately dial Mom and Dad's phone, though--but they didn't answer. I kept dialing it over and over and letting it ring--knowing it might take a minute for them to hear it if it was in a pocket or purse. I also started texting Megan back on my cell phone. Finally, Dad answered the cell phone. I don't think I've ever been so glad to hear his voice. I couldn't get my question out fast enough. "Where are you?" Then came the worst words he's ever said. "We're at Walmart." I heard myself saying "NO, NO, NO, NO! Are you inside? He told me he was in the parking lot in the van and Mom was inside. I really felt panicked now. I told him what was going on and he told me he couldn't see any police cars and that people were coming and going like normal. He seemed really calm--so that made me feel calm. I finally got ahold of Megan and got the story she had gotten. Apparently an angry man had gone to the customer service desk and was so upset about something he told them he was coming back with a gun. Then later the store received another call from an angry customer angry they feel may be related to the first incident. That's it--those two things. I had visions of assault rifles and wounded people. I'm really so, so grateful it wasn't more than it was. There is too much anger and violence in our world already. I am going to pay more attention in the future to my text messages -- and LESS attention to them. :) Night all.

RUN OF THE MILL

Today was just kind of a normal, run of the mill day. I got the laundry done and not much else. The kids had some friends over this morning. Then Mommy spent some time picking up and cleaning. They a took a pretty good nap and I got a few things done but it never seems like enough. I've got an EGD tomorrow afternoon. I just took my last sip of water for about 14 or 15 hours. I stopped eating a good while ago but it's always fluids I miss the most. Dad didn't have a very good day today. His arms hurt him quite a bit and he just stayed in bed all day. That is fairly unusual for him for the last few weeks. He has been more up than down. I hope it was just a one day thing. Mom is doing good. Her foot is still hurting her quite a bit, though. Well, not much else to tell for today so I will get off here and get some rest. Take care all. N.

FEELING A LITTLE LIKE RAGGEDY ANN

Wow, the last couple of days I have put my body through the ringer. I had a colonoscopy today--just a follow up one as suggested to one I had a few years ago. The prep was a nightmare, though. With my last one, they gave me the pills. Did you ever get the pills? They were WONDERFUL!! Swallow a few pills, drink a ton of liquid of your choice, go a lot and show up at the doc's place. Yah, well--apparently they had to get rid of the pills because SOME PEOPLE didn't follow the directions! Geez people! What happened was people were taking the pills and not drinking enough and then suffering kidney damage. Now the pills can no longer be prescribed. So, because of those people I HAD TO DRINK THE CRUD! Said crud did not go over well with my tummy. I didn't even keep half of it down. So, unfortunately for me--I was losing it at both ends. I know, I know T.M.I. Seriously though, I threw up 13 times yesterday trying to get the crud down me. I apparently don't tolerate it well. So, just to recap-- you stop eating for almost two full days, then force a bunch of icky liquid crud down you to force a bunch of icky, not so liquid, crud out of you. Then they put you out-- and and well, you know the rest. Yah, your body feels pretty much rung out at the end. I feel a bit like a rag doll right now. Thing is, I saved all of my health stuff till the end of the year and then decided to cram it all into one week-- so on Thursday I get to have an EGD. That's a check of my throat and stomach. I'm starting to have some of the same fun swallowing issues my Dad, my aunt and my sisters have. The idea of having my throat stretched--not a fun idea. Hoping there is another way to resolve the issue that is not problematic. Boy, Oh Boy, getting older is for the birds! Fly away health issues, fly away! Lol!