Friday, December 19, 2008

More fun snow pictures from Las Vegas

Catching snowflakes in their mouths. Yea!!!! It is snowing!!!!





Madison and Cole (neighbor friend) playing out in the snow on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Notice how she is dressed. Light jacket, capris, no sock with shoes. She is truely a Las Vegas girl. I don't think she would have survived if we still lived in Utah.





Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Paige outside of the rainbow Library on Monday Dec. 15 with snow covering the ground.

Snowing at my house on Wednesday, December 17. More snow pictures to come when I get them from my neighbor. Madison and her friend Cole played out in the snow. I was at Target with Meghan, Paige and Parker so I missed out on taking the pictures. I will get them posted when I get the email.

What color is your hair?

I took this quiz today that I found on a friend's blog, and here are my results.



Your Hair Should Be Blonde



You are outgoing, light hearted, and a ton of fun.

You don't take life too seriously, and you do your best to charm everyone you meet.



You are very energetic. People tend to underestimate you, but you can get a lot done.

You do tend to be a bit sensitive. If someone has a bad opinion of you, it truly hurts.



You are cunning and clever. You are smart, but you aren't "book smart" or academic.

Some people may think you're superficial, but they're not seeing the whole picture.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

North Las Vegas Stake Christmas Fireside

Tonight was our Stake's Christmas fireside in which Meghan and I were honored to participate in the bell choir. Two and half months ago, we were invited to play in the bell choir. The requirements for the bell choir was to know how to read music, count music, be able to follow music, and be committed 100%. That meant no missing practises if you could help it. "How hard can it be to ring one or two bells when your note popped up," was my thought at first. After the first practise, I had very different thoughts. It was harder than I could imagine. The second practise we were given a solo piece that included mallets, plucking,and marts. My bell choir vocabulary grew over night and I began to play bells in my dreams as well. Meghan did very well being the youngest of the bell choir. She held her own and even had a couple of solos that just included her bells and chimes. Meghan played the C5 bells which was middle C, C# B5 bells which included B and B flat. She played the same notes on the chimes too. I was given C6 bells and D6 bells. These are an octove above middle C. I played the same in chimes also. The songs that we accompanied the choir and orchestra were "Away in the Manger", "Joy to the World", and "I saw three ships". We also played our bell solo "Steppin' up with Rudolph" which we split between some of the orchestra members. We played on Saturday night while orchestra members played on Sunday night. I am so glad I was able to participate. It was an experience that I will never forget. I hope in the future, I will be able to participate again. It was well worth the hard practise and dedication we had to have to perform in such a short time. Jim was very proud of us as he supported us both nights. The first night he was chasing Parker and trying to keep him in his seat, but on Sunday he was able to listen to the whole preformance since we left Paige home to babysit Parker and Madison. Thanks Paige for your help we appreciated it.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Happy 40TH Birthday

Click to play Jim's 40th
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HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!! LOVE YOU LOTS!!!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Day after Thanksgiving

Decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving has alway been our family tradition. Jim began the process by putting up the lights on the house last Saturday when we were experiencing wonderful weather here in Las Vegas. He added a couple of extras this year, including lights for the bushes and lit-garland around the windows. He was prepared so that the night of Thanksgiving our Christmas lights were ready to go as soon as the sun went down (light sensors -- yea! no more unplugging the lights in our pajamas when we go to bed). Once the excitement has started at our home you just can't stop it. Madsion was so eager to get all the Christmas decorations up that she cleaned my pot shelves in my kitchen and hallways. Paige also helped with this huge task and it was done in no time and ready to get all the decorations down out of the attic and in the right spots. Madison was the one who got Dad going on putting up the tree and beginning to place decorations. Parker and Paige also helped with the fun task of getting ALL the ornaments on the tree (finally pre-lit so stringing 10 lines doesn't take all day) in just the right places. Meghan just sat back in her teenage glory and kept saying, "IT ISN'T EVEN DECEMBER YET." She did finally come around when we turned on the radio and they were playing holiday music. Needless to say, it took the better part of Friday, but we got all the Christmas decorations up, the train around the tree, the stockings hung, nativity in place, and the advent calendar ready to count us down to CHRISTMAS. It is only 26 days away. We even went and picked up up a few gifts on Black Friday which we never really do. We have a good start to our holiday season and hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and a great start to the Christmas season. Thanks to our friends the ALLENS who invited us to Thanksgiving dinner so we would not have to eat alone. We weren't able to go to our family's, so they opened their already busy home to us as well. THANKS. We enjoyed ourselves a lot.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mt. Charleston in November

With the last two days off from school, my neighbor and I decided to take the kids (eight of them) to Mt. Charleston for a hike and enjoy cooler weather on top of it. We knew it would be about 20 degrees cooler so we prepared. We had gloves, sweatshirts, hats, food and water. We hiked for two hours up the Mary Jane Falls area but didn't get to the top to experience the cave, but we found snow to play in. It might not have been tons but it was a little that satisfied the need to play in. Take a look at our COOL pictures.
Parker climbing a tree...



Paige & her BFF Amity sitting on a log...



Meghan "posing" with Luke Celeste...



Madison staying warm in the mountains w/ gloves & scarf...




"Look, we found snow",they kept saying. They even brought a snowball down off the mountain to keep in Luke's freezer.










Saturday, November 1, 2008

Japanese Brain Test

This test will tell you if your brain is as old as your body. The site doesn't know your age, but it will tell you the age of your brain power.
The website is at the bottom. Once you get there you won't be able to read the Japanese instructions, so follow these instructions
1. Touch 'start'
2. The numbers 3 then 2 then 1 will pop up on the screen. Immediately following number 1, several numbers will flash on the screen for barely one second.
3. Memorize the numbers' position on the screen, then click the circles from the SMALLEST NUMBER TO THE BIGGEST NUMBER.
4. At the end of game, the computer will tell you in years, how old your brain is.
Sounds complicated but it's really easy. Think fast.
Http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.HTML

Halloween Day and Night

We were pretty busy Halloween day. The kids didn't have school due to NEVADA DAY (commemorates the admission of the state of Nevada into the union on October 31, 1864). So we went and picked up Meghan's friend, Emily, who just move back to Las Vegas. I needed to take the kids yearly pictures, so I decided to take the kids to the Bellagio and take a look at the gardens. It is pretty awesome. We usually go during Chritmas so it was a treat to see what they did for fall. Check out all the cool pictures I took. If you haven't ever seen the gardens at the Bellagio, it is worth the trip.







While we were there with awesome backgrounds for pictures, I took these pictures of the kids. I think they turned out great and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for professional packages. I am so glad my college education can be used for the benefit of my kids and my pocket book.











Here is what all the kids looked like Halloween night. They all looked great!!!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

OUCH!

I am sure everyone has slammed their finger in a door a least once. Well, today was my day to do that. I was annoyed at my dog for wanting to be in the house all the time today. He was scratching at the screen door way too much. So I walked over and opened the door and told him to stop and very firmly shut the sliding glass door on my pointer finger of my left hand. OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was brought to tears, and I suddenly felt like I needed my mommy.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Primary Program


Today was our annual primary program that the kids put on in sacrament meeting. Both Paige and Madison participated and did very well. Madison worked really hard to learn her part and be able to say it without help. She did great!!! Today's program was Paige's last since she will be turning 12 in May. She is excited to see next year's program from the congratation. Parker will be able to join the primary kids next year since he will be a Sunbeam. He is excited to join in next year to sing. He is definately ready to move into primary. I believe nursery is getting a bit boring for him. It is so fun to see all the kids that were in nursery last year get up and present a part in sacrament meeting in front of so many people. Everyone did an exceptional job with sing, play instruments, and saying their part. The spirit is always so strong when the children testify of their Savior.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fun Recipe

Last Saturday we were happy to have the Child's children in our home while Lindsay and Chris worked on their house around the corner. Madison and Parker were so happy to have time with friends they haven't seen in a while. They played with anything and everything. They played school and even got out the moonsand and playdough. It was about time for Hannah and Liv to go and Hannah asks, "Why I haven't you gotten the Kool-aid Playdough recipe to my mom?" Well here it is for anyone who wants a fun afternoon with your kids. Thank you Neysa, my sister, who shared this with me years ago.

Kool-aid Playdough
1 1/4 C. Flour
1/4 C. Salt
1/2 T. Cream of Tarter
1 Pkg unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 1/2 T. Oil
1 C. boiling water

Boil the water with the oil and Kool-aid. Add the salt and dissolve throughly. Add the Flour, Cream of Tarter and kneed til it is like dough. Have fun!!!!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Church was exhausting today

Jim and I have been serving in the nursery now for one year. Today was just hard. Since last week was General Conference, we didn't have any of the kids last week. Today, we had kids crying for mom and dad and not wanting to sing or do their activity. Thank goodness for the snack room. I think we got some quiet time to teach them a 2 minute lesson on prayer. By the time I got home I had to go take a nap myself.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Bubbles everywhere

What do you get when you allow children to clean up in the new jetted tub with shampoo near by? BUBBLES EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

This will be the last time they get to experience such a huge bubble bath. It took several hours for all the bubbles to go down the drain. You just have to love these little children. I just laughed inside to see only heads above the bubbles.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

How many of you are there?


HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
8
people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?



This is fun give it a try.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Mom is BORING

The other day, Parker came up to me and told me he was bored of me. I was shocked and then sad. He then continues and tells me that he wants to go to school like his sisters. So I guess he can be bored with me until I find a preschool that doesn't cost an arm and a leg here in Las Vegas. Until then.... I better find some other activities for him so he isn't so BORED!!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Getting in the groove

Now that school is underway and all the kids will have open houses for each school soon, I am beginning to get the full picture of how busy I will be this school year. However, I am hoping to still find some down time to do things I like to do such as scrapbooking (I only can hope).

Thursday, August 28, 2008

First week of school

Well, the first week of school is almost over and I am tired. Meghan is out the door in the morning by 5:40am to go to Seminary that starts at 6:00am. I then take Paige to school about 7:40am and pick up her very bbf and head up to Leid MS. I then come home and get Madison ready and out the door by 8:40am and get her to school just a bit early so she can play on the playground with her friends before the morning opening starts at 8:55am. Parker and I then come home and do errands, or think about a NAP. Just kidding. I am doing pretty good. I am just tring to set up a couple more carpools so I can subsitute teach a couple days a week and know that all my children are taken care of. No pictures of the first day of school because Meghan wasn't nearly awake for one and of course she is in HS now so Mom can't do any fun things like that. But as I recall, I haven't done that for three years with her. Teenage years have hit and Mom is only popular if she can have a cell phone. Paige was just as excited as she could be but the almost teenager still didn't like the idea of picures on the first day of school and by the time I took Madison, I just completely forgot. Life is much more busy with three kids at three different schools. I am sure I will manage but these past days have gone super quick with all the driving I am doing to and from schools.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Extreme Makeover - Bathroom Edition










Hi all...

Kendra's coaching me (Jim) on this. Funny, I'm on the computer all day, but she and Meghan are the ones who are operating in the 21st century when it comes to technology. Anyway, I wanted to post a couple of pictures showing what I working on while everyone was away in Colorado.




Earlier this year, we noticed some tiles in the shower beginning to push out from the wall and an ever growing loss of grout. In order to tear out the tile and fix the problem, we'd have to sacrifice the use of the 2nd bathroom for at least a week, probably 2. When Kendra began planning her trip and my vacation time not enough to join them, I decided to use my solitary time to fix our problem.





Well, once the tile came off, I found lots of mold, which required structural demolition. Also, our sinks were breaking and showing rust in the bowls. Of course, the new tile didn't match the tile our counter top was covered with, and the old tub just didn't look right with all the new stuff...you probably have guessed that one thing led to another and when it was all done with, the tile was replaced, the sinks and countertop was replaced, and the tub was replaced. To bring it up to today's designs, we also removed the old '80s looking mirror and bar-light over the vanity and replaced with something more stylish (the light fixture cost only $5). Since more was done than originally planned and because of some poor measuring on my part, we encountered some delays and my 2 week project turned into 3 1/2. I'm very happy with it, however. The shower is bigger and now has a light over it so it doesn't feel like you're in the dark, the tub is deeper with jacuzzi jets, the counter no longer has grout to constantly clean, and everything that was bad before has been repaired. I sure pays to work for a General Contractor some times. Kendra picked out a fantastic looking tile, too.


Happy Birthday Madison



Madison had her 7th Birthday on Monday and all she wanted to do was invite friends and play with them at a park that had a water feature. The park she choose was smaller and wasn't crowded at all. We actually had the whole park basically to ourselves. They played in the water and played games for about one hour then we went back to the house and made paper crowns, had cake, and opened presents. She had a BLAST! Life is so simple when she is happy with friends.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Apples, Apples, and more apples.





We picked 25 gallons of apples and that made a lot. I thinks this is the total count of production for the two weeks I was in Durango. We made three pies and one apple crisp. I brought home over 36 jars of jam (raspberry, strawberry and apricot), 12 quart jars of apple juice, 8 round tables of fruit leather (roll-ups), 18 pints of frozen raspberries. My dad's raspberry patch was doing very well this year. By the time we left, we had picked around 120 pints of raspberries. TONS! I also helped my mom freeze raspberries for my siblings in California, and my nephew froze some for his family in Rexburg. We also made jam for my brother. It was a busy two weeks and I think I forgot how much work I used to do in the summer when I was growing up.