Lists

I'm a list person. I may have blogged about this before. I'm NOT productive at all without a list. I write lists on all kinds of things... notepads, sticky notes, spiral notebooks... you get the idea. I can't really go to bed at night until I've made a list for the next day.

Here's what was on my "to do" list today:

*scripture study/prayers (pathetic that I must write this down, but it helps)
*return movies to Library
*sync phone
*spinning class at 9 a.m.
*Wal-mart
*Sprouts
*drop off donation bags (they have been in my car for several days)
*make RS appt for tomorrow
*visiting teaching changes for September
*clean guest room
*change a/c filters
*sweep kitchen floor

Everything is done, except the filters, the kitchen floor and the guest room. Well, and the library movies, but I'm trying to save gas, so I will return those when I pick up Taylor from swim practice, since it's on the way. Oh, and since I forgot my "list" when I went to Walmart, I will have to return at some point later today to make sure I buy 3 more things that I must have tonight. (See? I'm lost without my list...)

And speaking of Wal-mart, when I was checking out today, I overheard two cashiers talking excitedly about their "bonuses"... seriously??? Maybe I should go get a job at Wal-mart, because who is giving out bonuses right now? Say whatever you want about the mega-store, but they know how to work it, good economy or bad. You just can't argue that point.

Okay, blogging break over, now back to my list...

Giveaway... (not mine....)

Click on the photo below to find out how to be entered into the weekly drawing for one of these!



Or one of these....


Or even one of these....

Uncle Sam Wants YOU!

Ian's 9th birthday party! He turned nine a month ago, but when your birthday is the week before school starts, we've learned the hard way that it isn't a good time to plan a party!
Crazy cool, carboard soldier, huh? I borrowed him from the local Army Recruitment Office, and even though I was nervous as heck to go in and ask for party props, the officer who helped me out was the nicest guy you've ever met. He even sent me home with free t-shirts and hats and other fun goodies for the birthday boy and his siblings! (We didn't get to keep the soldiers...)

We made a chocolate cake with a few extra "pieces" mounded on top for a hill, then ground up chocolate graham crackers and animal cookies for the dirt topping. Taylor saw me trying to arrange the battle scene on the top of the cake, and promptly pushed me out the way so it could be done properly. I guess I didn't have the right battle scene skills...

Our good friend who is in the Marines, Aaron Wolfley, came over and did a "mini boot camp" with the boys. As you can see, they aren't all taking him very seriously. When he threatened to smash Ian's birthday cake to bits if he didn't do a good push-up, that got Ian moving in the right direction.

Once they finished boot camp, they swam and jumped on th trampoline.

Then we took them back out front for a water balloon fight using "water bomb grenades". They had a blast, but wished I'd filled up more. I thought 100 would be enough... 200 would have been better!

Then back inside for cake, ice cream and presents...

I was so relieved when this party was over! Of course, Ian is already planning his 10th birthday party...

On This Blog, EVERY Vote Counts.

We need your help. We have a dilemma and can't come to an agreement on what to do.

One month ago, a storm blew through and damaged a tree in our front yard. It was a total bummer because literally 48 hours prior to this storm, we painstakingly trimmed all our trees in order to prevent such a problem. We cut, chainsawed and rented a u-haul trailer to take it all to the dump. And then this happened:

So, we cut off the downed branches and hauled them into the side yard, where they have sat for the last month. We need to haul them to the dump, but haven't done it yet because we can't decide what to do with the rest of the tree.

At first we decided just to cut it down and replace it. We don't even like this tree. It's grown in a way to make it impossible to trim properly, and it's thorny. VERY thorny. If I had any idea the beating I would be taking to trim this tree, it would have NEVER been planted in my yard.

So, it hasn't been cut down yet for a couple of reasons.
One - we just haven't had the free time to tackle the project.
Two- the HOA (suprisingly) hasn't pitched a fit about it yet.
Three- cutting down a tree also means, grinding the stump, getting it out and preparing the ground to replant a new tree (because according to the HOA we must have two trees in my front yard... a house with only one tree just doesn't cut the mustard around here.)
Four - it's freaking hot outside, and I don't want to tackle this project in the heat if I don't absolutely have to.

Now that it's been a whole month, I'm tempted to just leave it be and let it grow back. Even though I hate this tree, I'm too lazy to deal with taking it out. Eric really wants to get it out. We go back and forth about it all the time.

So, I'm putting this to a "blog reader vote"... should I hold my ground and continue in laziness because in 3-6 months, it will look like a normal tree again, or should I just deal with it and be rid of it once and for all?

Please leave a comment with your vote - any opinion will be welcome. Heaven knows I can't seem to make up my mind!

Since Phoenix has been entirely devoid of thunderstorms this summer...

This is a really cool video! I promise if you were born anytime before 1980, you will be singing along! Enjoy!

Conversations with a Four Year Old

A few days ago:

Me: Brayden, sounds like you need a tissue. Do you need to blow your nose?
Brayden: Yes, I have a booger problem.

This morning:

B: I want to be first at the gym today. (He likes to be the first kid to check in at the kids club.)
M: We aren't going to go to the gym today. We still have colds, but hopefully we'll go tomorrow.
B: What?
M: You know, your "booger" problem? You still have a little bit.
B: But mom, I'm using my nose as a vacuum cleaner... [insert loud sniffing here]... see?

If only it were that easy...

High School ain't what it used to be...

This week, I got just a tiny taste of what it's like to be a Freshman again. Of course, I wasn't your traditional freshman, since my Jr. High was a 7-9 school and High school was 10-12. But that's beside the point....

Tuesday night, I headed over to the High School for the annual Open House. I walked through each of Taylor's classes and sat through 10 minutes of teachers trying to cram in every bit of information they think the parents need to know in 10 minutes or less. In less than 10 minutes time with each teacher, I could read whether or not they were a great teacher. Most were. One or two, however... well, let's just say that they didn't impress me with their presentation that lasted less than half of their allotted time. Then we all just sat there and stared at the ceiling for 5 minutes. It's not like the parents of most Freshman, know what the good questions are to ask. And if they can't think of 10 minutes worth of important material for the parents, how on earth are they keeping 30 14 year olds interested? But, most of the teachers were FANTASTIC and he even has 2 full time teachers in his math and English classes. How do they manage that with the current budget crisis?

There were some interesting things that have changed in high school in the last 20 years.

Like, the absence of lockers. There isn't a single locker in the hallways. Your backpack is now your locker. You get textbooks to bring home and keep at home and the teachers keep one set in the classroom for students to use and that's it. You have to carry everything around with you all day long! It seems weird to me, and just a touch unfair. Having a locker in high school seems like an important right of passage. I guess, lockers can also breed trouble, too. It's sad that a few must ruin it for everyone.

And the cafeteria. Holy Cow! The top left photo gives you a peek into the cafeteria. It's like a mini food court at a mall. The food is good and you have TONS of options. Probably a good thing since it's a closed campus. No running down the road to grab Taco Bell on your lunch break. And since there are 3,000 kids in this school, there are 3 lunches. A, B and C... Taylor has A lunch, which means he eats at 10:15 a.m. Crazy, huh?

And the schedule. They have this thing they call the "block" schedule. Remember two times a year, during Finals week for each semester, you would have a extended schedule. One day would be 1, 3, 5 periods, 2 hours each. The next day would be 2, 4, 6, 2 hours each. Well, these guys get that every week on Thursday and Friday. It's probably really great for science labs, but I could see it getting really boring in history and other lecture based classes.

Another thing I'm loving about our schools is how technology has made it easy to contact the teachers and check grades. Each of my kids has a student id and a password that I can use to check grades on a website called STI anytime I want... day or night. I can even click on each class and see exactly what scores my child got on any given assignment. How freakin' cool is that? And I love email and websites. A lot of the teachers have their own websites where you can go to check homework assingments and project info. The newer textbooks also have online resources you can use to study, get extra explanations and even play games to practice concepts. And any time I have question, the teacher is just an email away. LOVE it!

Maybe I'm the exception the rule, but I don't ever remember having after school detention in high school. Here ASD seems to be a normal way of life. Maybe it's just the teachers trying to scare the you-know-what out of the kids and their parents, but you should see the list of infractions that will send you to ASD. I don't know how any normal kid will make it through unscathed. It just seems impossible.

Another unique thing to us Californians is Release-Time Seminary. Our church provides a religion class that's offered to all high school students, each year as they advance through high school. Each year, the curriculum focuses on a different book of scripture. This year, the focus is on the Book of Mormon. By the time Taylor graduates from High School, he'll study the Book of Mormon, the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants. In areas where the LDS population is less dense (pretty much anywhere outside of UT, ID or AZ) Seminary Students go to "early morning" seminary at the local church building. Parents get up and drive them over to the church, and then parents and teens carpool or walk to the high school just in time to start their first class. Here, in AZ, we have release-time. There is a dedicated building across the street from the high school and the kids walk across the street to their seminary class just as they would walk across campus to go to PE or Woodshop or whatever. The only problem with this, is that the district doesn't count release-time religion classes as an elective, so the kids usually have to make up extra classes to get enough credits to graduate. Thus, the best and most convenient option is to take a zero hour elective.

One unique thing our school does that I'm really excited about is "The Academies". It's a sports program that integrates their sports training into their every day class schedule. Several sports have academies in our school, including swimming, golf, tennis, softball, volleyball and soccer. Anyone in school can sign up for the academies, and it's like having a double long PE class in the beginning or middle of the day. Taylor is doing the Swim Academy this year. So, he goes to 1st and 2nd period with the swim coach. They do various workouts, including swimming, technique work, weight training and running. You can do the swim academy even if you aren't planning to join the swim team.

Taylor however, has joined the swim team, so his day is incredibly long and tiring. He gets dropped off for school at 6:20 a.m. just in time for zero hour at 6:30. Then he goes to swim academy for two periods. Then, he completes the rest of his school day, getting done at 3:10. Swim team practice starts at 3:30 and goes until 5:30. When I pick that boy up at the end of the day, he's exhausted and starving. One night this week, he ate 3 different dinners in two hours. But, he has had no time for facebook, video games or goofing off... so that's a good thing, right?

On the whole, however, I must say I was impressed. The school is huge, well equipped and easy to navigate. I didn't even need a map to get around. And, if I did get lost, there were about 200 student volunteers hanging out in the hallways helping people find where they needed to go. I even had 2-3 teachers offer assistance. Everyone was friendly and helpful and it made me feel a whole lot better about sending my baby off to this place for 11 hours every single day!

Eighteen years ago...

It was 1991. I was getting ready to go off to college. I was only 17 - wouldn't turn 18 until two months in to the fall semester. But I was SOOO ready to leave home.

As a good Mormon girl does, I applied to both Ricks College and BYU. I wanted to go to school out of state and church schools were my only option because of the cheaper tuition. I got accepted to both schools and had to decide where to go. My mom had gone to Ricks for a semester and loved it.... my dad had gone to BYU for a semester, too. I'm sure I could have gone either route and loved it. But in the end, Ricks won the contest, mostly because they offered me an academic scholarship and BYU did not. The lure of free tuition was more than I (or my dad) could turn down!

Here is me and my roommates: Amanda, Payslie, Julie and me!

Family Home Evening Groups... seriously, who let me leave the house with that **cough, cough** sweater on???

More FHE fun... I wish I could remember where this was... I really have no idea!

It wasn't until I went to college that I learned to eat many things I wouldn't eat at home. Mustard was one I remember very clearly... why mustard, who knows... I also learned to eat pringles on deli sandwiches and Julie taught me how to make the best cinnamon rolls ever. Amanda taught me to make Sweet and Sour Chicken and Payslie taught me how to fry things in ground up cornflakes! And one day, I'll tell Pays how I botched her Refrigerator Roll recipe...

First snow... AWESOME!!!! Us California girls loved the snow, while everyone else just put up with it.

Me on my 18th birthday... mom and dad sent money, which I spent on new scriptures, a planner (daytimer, remember those????), and a Ricks sweatshirt. Check out all the snow... my roommates took me to Wendy's for dinner and we made snow angels out in the courtyard.

The focus of social life in the winter at Ricks was all about Dances. Here's a picture of Payslie with a brilliant idea she came up with to ask a FHE brother to a dance...

And the next day, we woke up to this on our front porch... see, guys can be creative, too!

I decided to do this post, because just this week, I found Payslie and Julie on Facebook. Yeah, I know, I like FB a lot more now than I used to.... I haven't been in touch with really either of them since I got married and now, all these years later, I totally regret that!

So, here's to you ladies... in tribute of a fantastic, fun, silly and rewarding Freshman year at College! I'll never forget it!

Birthdays and Bedpans

My dad just turned 60 years old. He's one healthy guy. He's never been admitted to the hospital, never had morphine, never been under anesthesia, never had surgery... you get the idea. He exercises religiously and even in the last 10 years has curbed some of his more unhealthy eating habits (like eating himself sick at Casino Buffets...)

So imagine our shock, when on Ian's birthday, he was sick enough to agree to get checked out in the Emergency Room. Five hours, a blood sample, urine sample and CT scan later, the docs confirmed he did indeed have Appendicitis. He was checked into a room upstairs to await surgery.

Seven hours later, he was in the OR getting his appendix out. Just 2 days before he turned 60. He went through with flying colors, had fantastic nurses and a room at the hospital that was palatial. All in all, a great experience. But he was antsy to get back to the family! He was on vacation, right?

He got discharged with record speed the next day and came home to celebrate his birthday. Swimming was now out... going for a long run was now out... but he wasn't going to give up eating his Chocolate Cake for anything!

We ended up going to see G-Force 3D at the mall and even though we got there 30 minutes early, we still had to sit on the 3rd row! We relaxed that afternoon, so that we could take dad to Joe's Real BBQ for dinner. He splurged on the free birthday meal, the pulled pork sandwich, which is what he wanted anyway! Then we took him to Bass Pro Shop and the kids chipped in to buy him a nice set of binoculars to take on their Alaskan Cruise, which leaves in less than 2 weeks!

All the birthday boys with summer birthdays got to share the cake with Grandpa! We had no where near the right number of candles, so we just used the cute ones!

Grandpa even got help blowing the candles out... we didn't want him to strain himself too much!

Happy Birthday Dad!

A Belated Post about Ian

On Tuesday, July 21st (two weeks ago... sigh....) Ian turned NINE years old! We were lucky enough to have my parents in town along with my brother and his family. This was a first time visit for Adam and Delia, so we made the most of it!!!

My nephew Ben has a birthday in August, so we were celebrating for him as well! These two loved having a joint party for the two of them. We got everyone up and went straight to presents... we don't wait around here. Our kids get to open their presents as soon as everyone is out of bed. (This works really well because then they get to spend the rest of the day playing with thier new gifts!)

This child however, wasn't so excited about Ian's birthday. Well, he was, until he realized that we weren't going to celebrate his birthday AGAIN. He truly believes that he's deserving of 5 birthdays a year. Thank goodness I had a leftover gift from his birthday that he never got. It did soften the blow a little bit...

This was the big one for this year... MarioKart. We'd spent a lot of time playing it up in Idaho at Matt and Becca's house and Ian really wanted it! It's actually a REALLY fun game, even for grown-ups... if you have a Wii, then this is a must-have game!

Since Ian was just under 5 years old when we left the great state of California, he had no quams about changing sides when he started school. He's a tried and true Diamondbacks fan. It's all well and good until they play the Giants!

For Ian's birthday, I made Butterballs for breakfast, we went to Peter Piper Pizza for lunch, then hit the wave pool in the afternoon. Back to the house for dinner (chicken nuggets and burgers) and Eric's awesome chocolate shakes for dessert.

I'm glad we did all the important stuff early in the day, because my dad developed Appendicitis that afternoon and I spent the evening with him in the ER. But that's the subject of a whole different blog post...