Some days don't you just feel like this little guy? But then it's so nice to find you have a friend!

May Day! May Day!

I can't believe it is May already! I loved April and Conference and Easter and no plays and NO CAR PROBLEMS (wow!) and green grass and sunshine and fresh air and...

So, anyway, I am looking forward to spring. Anyone seen it yet?

Maddie opens her last High School show on Tuesday. She is the Stepmother in "Cinderella". I am frantically trying to make her a dress that they told me about last week.

Meg got her Associates Degree from Weber last week. Good job, Meg! President Monson was also there! He got an Honorary Degree from Weber State and then he was the keynote speaker. It was kinda like Conference only we got to applaud when he finished speaking.

Hunter is looking forward to 5 field trips this last month of Elementary School! He has been very busy helping his friends finish their Eagle projects and he is planning on finishing his by Christmas. I am so glad he likes Scouts. He has learned a lot of great things and he is a wonderful son!

Jeff was nominated "Teacher of the Year" for his school. He was quite embarrassed about that since it is his first year teaching...we all now he is a great teacher and his class room is always full of kids before and after school. Those kids need him and I am sure they appreciate his sense of humor and compassion, especially those kids who need a positive male role model.

I have been busy with work and Primary. I was able to help a lady in our ward who needed a LOT of help in her home. I worked with 8 other ladies in our ward who I have known for at least 5 years. These women are hard workers and I am thankful that I can learn from them. I have a wonderful ward and great neighbors.

I also had good visits with my sisters. (I love you so much.) I can't imagine my life without you.

To wrap up April:

Happy Easter week!

(...and do you know how excited I am to listen to Conference next weekend!)



(I know I have put these guys up before, but they are still my favorites. They make me giggle every time I see them!)

Did you know?

Last night Hunter and I were watching a show about World War II. Veterans of the War were interviewed and they shared some amazing stories I had never heard before. Did you know that the USA had a ghost army? Check out this website for more information and pictures. www.ghostarmy.org





"Soldiers" used inflatable jeeps and tanks to make the Germans think there were more troops, etc than we actually had! Seen from the air were also the "tracks" made by all the trucks a other vehicles. They also changed insignia on jackets, etc to "be" a completely different troop! There was a photo of a "soldier" holding a "Jeep" over his head. I can't find it yet but will keep looking.

Women pilots became training mission pilots. They would fly their planes over the training soldiers and buzz them or drop poisons or bombs. The women were not considered members of the military and their families could not display the star banner in their windows for these women. If a woman died at work, the government did not pay to have her body sent home. That was the responsibility of the family. These women were not considered veterans of war until the 1970's (I think)

One man interviewed was an American of Japanese descent. Before he went to war his mother said to him, "Die if you must, but do not bring dishonor to your country or your family"!

These men and women who sacrificed their youth, time, safety and lives for ours are our true heroes. I am so thankful for them and their examples to us of true patriotism. I hope my family knows how much I love the United States of America and what it was founded on...FAITH in GOD and LOVE of LIBERTY.

God bless our Troops and God bless America!

I ♥ chocolate...and things that are funny!

For a good time, call the Nestle hot line:

1-800-295-0051

When asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile. Keep listening and press 4. Then take your pick. I have only listened to options 3 and 7 so far...cracked me up!

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥

Happy ♥ day! (So, I am in ♥ with this new little ♥! I just discovered how to make it! Cool, eh?)

Anyway, I ♥ you all. Have a ♥WONDERFUL♥ weekend!

THE best Super Bowl Commercial EVER!

My son...

Today we were a bit late for school. We pulled up and all of Hunter's class was still lined up at the door. Oh, good. You aren't late! I said. But there is a note on the door. Maybe it is from your teacher...

No, mom. That's my note. I drew it. It has claw marks on it and it says PORTAL TO INSANITY. My teacher says if I do another one and color it, she will give me 15 extra points on my spelling packet.

I don't think that has anything to do with spelling, I foolishly said.

Yes, it does! I had to spell PORTAL-TO-INSANITY.

Jeff and his Amazing Adventure with Knock-Out Drugs!

Jeff's family has been doing the rounds for colonoscopies. Jeff got insurance and lined up a "check it out" date for December 28.

Anyway, I sat next to him as he was coming out of the anesthesia...if you know Jeff at all, you know he talks about EVERYTHING!

I grabbed my notepad and started scribbling away...

He reminded me about Maddie just having an upper scope and she was put out. When she came to, she was telling him LOTS of things...rule number one: NEVER tell Dad anything...

So, Jeff was telling me about Maddie and how she told him who she liked. I asked him who he liked and he said, "My list is in my wallet."

REALLY

He told me he had a secret Swiss Bank Account with $700,000 in it. I asked him what is the account #. "5-niner-pi-infinity."

NINER

He asked me if the doctor found anything. I said nope. You are as clean as a whistle. "They didn't find the legos I lost as a boy?"

Later, he asked me the same thing. I said they didn't find anything. "What did they do? Go to my brain cavity?"

BRAIN CAVITY

I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

The girls thought I made this whole thing up...Seriously, have you ever heard me say "brain cavity" OR "niner"? Have you? I rest my case.

Jeff's tests came back great. Nothing to worry about there.

He told me later (having NO recollection of any of our conversation) to check in his wallet for his list...

1. subway card
2. autozone card
3. quizno's card
4. blood donor card
5. Famous Dave's gift card
6. family emergency evacuation card
7. temple recommend
8. movie punch pass

I think he may have wanted pictures of his family for his wallet...Maybe that's what I will get him for Valentine's Day!

A December Do-Over...

Seriously, I can't believe it is January. I didn't get to enjoy my December and Christmas and school break the way I had in the past. Let me 'splain...

1. Maddie was still sick and we spent at least one day a week in the doctor's office and I DO MEAN a whole day...

2. I tried to do catch up on the other days of the week for work, Primary, the house, Meg and Hunter, Jeff...

3. Meg finally got tired of waiting and put up Christmas sometime around the middle of the month (with a miniscule amount of help from Mad & Bud)...



4. Spent one day on the phone calling surgeons to see if they could help us over Christmas Break...they only wanted to see her and charge another office visit and then do surgery in January...

5. Spent one morning on the phone with the insurance company filing complaints against the 2 doctors that were "helping" Mad by putting her surgery out until January...

6. Happy note: the insurance lady called her own surgeon and got us an appointment for the next morning...the 23rd of December...and had us penciled in for surgery on Christmas Eve...



7. The insurance lady even came to the hospital to visit us on surgery day... :0

8. I hurried to finish shopping and wrapping on the 22nd...

9. Jeff had a wonderful little procedure done on December 28 which leads me to another story I will post next...

10. Meg started her next show "The Fantasticks" on New Year's Eve...(rehearsals almost every night in December...)

11. Mad is recovering very nicely. She went back to school this week and did NOT miss one single day!



12. I tried to get all of Primary ready for the new year with new classes, teachers, rooms, schedules...there are more than 100 kids and more than 35 teachers...the first activity of the year was on Jan 2 and we thought it went well...most of the kids came and most of the teachers came...we kept it just about an hour...I couldn't have done it without my awesome counselors...

13. I called to cancel Mad's surgery that was supposed to be on the 7th of January and the person asked if I wanted to reschedule...I laughed and hung up...

I did have a wonderful day on Christmas. We had a little Christmas that morning and then made our annual family breakfast...breakfast quiche, juice and fruit...the Moores came up and then we spent the afternoon with Moores and Godwins and the Andersons were even able to come down. I love to be with our families and I guess I don't really need a Christmas day do-over...I look forward to next year and no one being sick!

I Caught Him!

We always leave cookies and milk for Santa. His cup is always dry in the morning like maybe he licked it clean. "He must be extra thirsty" I thought. Maybe the kids weren't leaving enough milk for poor old Santa.

I decided to try an experiment...I set the camera on the cupboard next to the stove. I put a motion detector on it so it would turn on when a light came on.

Christmas morning this is what I found on my camera...!

This one's for Jeff

I love Thanksgiving. My kids have a five day weekend and we get to be with family. We usually put up the Christmas tree sometime that weekend and eat leftover turkey and pie. Speaking of food...Jeff is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Dessert for him would be another helping of turkey. He sent me this picture so now I know for sure what his thoughts are on pumpking pie!

Thanksgiving...

I love(d) to listen to President Hinckley. I found this video and thought it might be great to share with you for Thanksgiving. It's a beautiful story. Happy Grateful Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for. For starters:

1. my family and friends. I love you all so much.
2. my ward family and the blessings of being in Church.
3. my home and job. Jeff's job, too.
4. insurance. uh, yea, insurance. (ER visit last week was $5200!)
5. scholarship money...Meg can go to college on her scholarship and today Maddie just got a scholarship to Weber!
6. humor. Someone is always telling a joke or in some way making us laugh. Meg has even made us laugh out loud a time or two. Good job, Meg! Hunter keeps us smiling while he recites old Bill Cosby stuff. "Hey, hey, hey!"

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. It is here and I am so excited!

Tantrum, Anyone?

Maddie and I were at the Walmart. She said to me, "If I am a good girl, will you buy me something? If you don't then I will have a tanrtum. I learned about those in psycology today."

"That would be kinda fun to see," I said.

We walked on and I asked her, "Are you going to do it in the nylons aisle or the deodorant aisle? I just want to know so I can get my camera ready."

"It will be a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing," she said.

Well, I forgot and bought her a little pair of booties. DANG IT!

My camera will be ready the next time we go out, though, I promise. You-Tube, here we come!

Vote Today...

and don't forget to take your ID.

Sunday Sweet

Happy Halloween!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

My sister, Crystl

This is my sister Crystl (as Medusa last Halloween) and her son, William. She just turned --! (put the numbers in, if you want to, Crystl!) Happy Birthday!

I was almost twelve when she was born and I remember that day. I had to go to school but I wanted to go up to the hospital. Oh, well. I told everyone that my mom was having my baby sister that day. It was before the time we could find out what the baby would be so everyone thought I meant that mom had had my sister already. No, I said, she hasn't had her yet. Then how do you know it's a girl? they wanted to know.

I am the oldest of 7 kids. Then a brother, then a sister, then brother, then sister, then brother...so, of course, the next one HAD to be a girl! Or, HE would be in trouble when he got here!

I got home from school and Dad confirmed I had a new sister. She was so little and pretty. And HOLY COW! Hair as red and orange as the sunset! None of us had her hair color. It's beautiful!

Crystl was my little baby and I loved to share her with the Young Women in our ward. My little brother Alan was also a favorite playmate for my friends, too. I took my little friends all over the neighborhood and played house with Tami and Judy and Cindy.

When she was little, she loved to wear her cute little swim suit. She slept in them, played in them and went visiting in them. She also loved to wear dresses. Twirling her skirts was one of her favorite things to do!

One day she snuck away from me and tried to go see the kittens in the yard. I ran after her to catch her before she got to the electric fence. I got to her just as she grabbed the wire and started screaming. I grabbed her around the waist and couldn't let go. I must have pulled on her as I grabbed her because we flew back into the dirt and grass and lay there shaking and crying. Sheesh, girl!

We were swimming at the creek and she wanted to get to the other side to play with the other kids. I carried her on my back and fell into a hole. We both went under the water and Crystl panicked. She climbed to the top of my head and held on for dear life. I hit the bottom of the creek and pushed up, trying to pull her off of me so I could push her to the edge of the water. She was holding on so tight I couldn't move her. We went down again and I thought we were going to drown. I know someone was there to help me. I was able to yank her off me and push up to the surface at an angle. That push got us to the other side to play.

Crystl loved to do whatever everyone was doing. She was also very good at entertaining herself for hours. Mom would take her to college when she had no one to watch her. Crys was very quiet and would sit for the whole class without making a sound.

Crystl loves, among many other things, to sing, knit (did you see the witch socks she made me?), have kids, make really amazing scrapbooks (she even made some for her cats!), go camping and spend time with her family.

She is crazy about musicals and will come see all the nieces and nephews perform even if they only have a tiny part! What a nice Aunt.

I love Crystl and am so glad she was not a boy! Happy Birthday! Love you.

This one is for Ky...