baby boomerang

Aunt Laurene called early yesterday morning. "You're coming aren't you?" Of course, of course. We made a family outing out of it (minus the 2 FSILS who had to work). The occasion of course was the premiere of the Baby Boomerang, cousin Mark's film documentary showing at the LDS film festival.

Here we are in front of the official movie poster. I made Larry & Kathy pose with me for this photo, just to prove to Jeff that we were there.

More of the fam.

Cousin Love.

Some Uncle Love.

Penee wondering where HB went to. Oh, yes he is over there hob nobbing with other film lovers.

The movie was a beautiful tribute to Uncle Charles. What a great, gentle man. After hearing so much about it when it was shown in Arizona, I was very happy to finally see it. Afterwards, we talked ld into buying us all lunch. Here Cate shows her enthusiasm for the chips and salsa.

NannyJanny

Chubby Hubby Love.

Cate waiting for her Mango Fruit Delight, er, whatever.

I love drinks with paper umbrellas, almost as much as hanging out with the people I love. Thanks 'lil fam for a great day.

Amen to the surprisingly accurate Hallmark card

Open up the card and the message reads, Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of 'you' to the world.

Totally applies, Lindsay. You are a gift to us all.

Here's a little pic (and I'm sorry it's so dusty, I must remember to wipe off the scanner) I found today in one of Mother's scrapbooks. The caption reads: Lindsay's First Piano Recital. December 23, 1981.


Do you remember this, Linds? You can barely make out Lacy off to the side. Also, note the corsages on Grandma and Linds. A very formal affair. Good times.

Happy Birthday, girl. Love you.

think I’ll patent it

Cardboard, old cans, boxes and containers. I always think, “what I can make out of this?" As has been pointed out to me many times, I know this is not normal. I know, okay? But it can not be helped. On Sunday I came up with this nifty invention – A Secret Chocolate Stash thingy. See for yourself.



An old Hersheys Cocoa container. The beauty is, it’s the perfect size. Large enough to hold some serious chocolate and yet small enough not to cause a diabetic coma. Oh, and the lid. I drilled a hole in the top and the side and attached a perky purple ribbon so I wouldn’t lose the lid. That has been a continual problem of mine in the past.

Since I want to keep my stash truly hidden and private, it’s best to use a disguise. See?



No chance now of anyone robbing me. He he he he.

This Candy Stash prompts other possibilities. Does anyone know what size drill bit it would take to drill through, oh say, some pots and pans?

On my reading list for the New Year

Where has this book been hiding all my life?



With this knowledge I will now become much more graceful.


In a few months I will be ready for my first Baton Competition. I can do it, I know I can.

New Year Ressies

I don’t make them the way I used to, but because I must sort and list and categorize, this year I will:

Live with less mote/beam sickness, less hard heart, less fear, less me.

Live with more awareness, more courage, more optimism, and a much more open heart.

That’s it. Only I know what these resolutions are code for and what they really mean as far as changes in my behavior but they all have their roots in the saying:

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Happy New Year, fam and friends.

christmas pics 2008

Best Present of 2008


Santa Baby

Christmas Obsession 2008

I finally finished the Cate’s Quiet Book on Christmas Eve. I would have done so sooner but a) I didn’t have a pattern, just made it up as I went along and b) I didn’t actually start putting it together until 2 weeks ago. Rule #1 of Quiet Book making: plan on it being very labor intensive, sort of comparable to having a baby. Seriously.

I am happy with how it turned out as I wanted it to be personalized just for Cate. I plan on making one for each of my grandchillun’s but I will start much earlier next time. When I was little my Grandma Clifford gave me one of these she purchased from a Relief Society Bazaar. I remember it to this day. This partly explains my obsession with making one.

Anyway, something that time consuming and obsession producing deserves to be documented. Here’s the cover. As Cate’s nickname is Cater bug, it’s fitting.


Can’t start too early with the colors, eh?


I actually saw this face idea on another ladies blog and liked it. The face is actually a pocket that contains all the face parts. Itsy Bitsy Spider is Cate’s favorite fingerplay right now. The Spider climbs up the spout and the rain and sun detach with Velcro.


My kids call this the creepy hair page. I bought this fake hair from All a dollar, it was on a headband as a costumey thing. I cut it up and put it to good use. The comb is attached at the top with a piece of elastic. The frog I love. Zip open his mouth to find 3 plastic finger puppets: a ladybug, a fly, and a grasshopper.


Turns out this purse is her favorite, It’s the boa thing, she loves fingering it. It also has a mirror inside. The Teddy Bear’s Picnic is my fav page. The red checked tablecloth is actually a pocket for all the picnic stuff.


Some hearts to unbutton. The door and window open to reveal a stick figure family. Who doesn’t love fishing with magnets? Each fish has a little magnet sewn inside it’s body. The pole is just a stick with a magnet attached.


Classic peek a boo. And what would a Quiet Book be without shape matching?


Peek a boo uncovered.


Some Circus finger puppets: a lion, an elephant, and a tiger. And an A.S.S. family tree. Our little mugs velcroed on. So she won’t forget who her fam is.


Another favorite page, kind of like the very hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle. And Mail a letter.


The letter I made out of an old plastic lid. I cut it up and attached a label. I love mail.


I told you this quiet book was tailor made, right? One can’t begin too young to become keyboard familiar. The note slides over the keyboard for some name the note practice. Also the whole keyboard is a pocket for other notes. The dog is special as the collar is made from an old watchband of mine.


I love this page. Inside the zipper pouch are some clothes.


Like these. And tying shoes is an important almost lost skill. Most shoes today have Velcro straps.


I think this page turned out sweet. The night nite bear snaps onto the moon and goes into his crib. See his little blankie on the next page?


That’s it, people. It’s safe to say, ‘long walk part of gift’ on this one. I loved making this.

not Christmas without some cardboard, eh?

You will recognize the cardboard Stable painted years ago when the kids were small. I can’t begin to count how many times it’s been used. The Bishop reinforced it this year with wood.

Last week Kenz and Megs helped me paint three inn fronts to add to the scenery collection. The Bishop framed some cardboard with wood and let me have at it. The only thing I forgot to add was a ‘No Vacancy’ sign. I will do that next year. But oh people that was some very lovely cardboard we painted on and the good news is the Bishop said he had access to all I wanted. Merry Christmas to me.

Liturgically gifted

Given my feeble attempts at Thanksgiving for a meaningful ‘High Worship service’, Kody graciously accepted my assignment to come up with something for our Christmas dinner Friday night. This is because everyone pronounced my previous little dinner program as lame. They didn’t like the quotes I had them read, or the statistics quoted and maybe it was all a bit much. Still, I thought my tie in to the movie Shenandoah was brilliant. And the goat in Budapest story, how can you not love that one, hmmm?

Anyway, to Kody I suggested a choral reading, perhaps. Come up with something occasion worthy, I said. Something like Mass maybe, where the worshipers repeat back stuff.

Here is what he came up with:

(Note: He cleverly intertwined every running family joke and jab into a kind of liturgical rap and the stanza “Thus we remember” we all repeated in unison. Loved it.)

The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

The snow has fallen, winter's white now covers our lands
Frozen men populate the lawn, and balls of ice fly from children's hands.
Lights like stars reflect on glass and ice,
shining like the new star, that first Christmas night.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

The old Christmas mornings, the little Walker children must be held back,
while Belle Ma enjoys symphonies and Father Sir's on his Mac.
The shrieks and squeals of the children, by the smiles of their parents are met.
Signaling that it's truly better to give, than simply to get.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

First Janzten the oldest, a grown man has become,
And every computer battle, of his has he won.
A jokester, a funster, brings us all great delight,
Giving joy unto others, as the Great One gave sight.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

Next Meghan went to Canada, with the Gospel to spread.
She came back with maple syrup, and a husband instead.
She lives her life to love and help others everyday,
While the Savior's life, prepared us a way.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

Now as parents, Kenzie and Brig are individuals to emulate,
Though they claim everyone only wants to see them when they bring Cate.
Why this would happen is not a surprise to me,
As 2,000 years ago, for a baby did 3 wise men come to see.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

When talking PC's vs Macs, Father Sir's in it to win it,
Plus, he gives us someone to talk about for a minute.
He supplies us with power to light our homes and stay warm in our beds,
While the little Baby Jesus had nowhere to lay his head.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

Belle Ma to some, Toots or just Mom to others,
No matter her desires, she always lets us have our druthers.
She's the angel of our family, bringing heaven to our home,
Sent from heaven like the Christ child, with whom we're never alone.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

This evening tonight, around the tree gather we,
as a family to love, as a family to be.
Sadly after this life, we would not be together again,
If not for that sweet baby, born in Bethlehem.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

That first Christmas night, our loving Father gave us His greatest gift,
a gift to warm our souls, and our hopes to lift.
Amid the candy and toys and football on TV,
Don't forget the gift that Jesus gave you and me.
The true meaning of Christmas, thus we remember.

birthday gals

A belated birthday shout out to this lovely hospitality queen extraordinaire. Who in the fam hasn’t slept over at Pamela’s when visiting Arizona. She truly is the hostess with the mostest. Happy B-day 2 days late.


I am posting this pic of you because it has special memories for me. The coat, do you remember? You gave it to me years later and it was my favorite. So very warm, best coat ever. I wore it everywhere for such a long time. Secretly I hoped it would make me look like you:)

Another B-day greeting to our very own latin Oprah, Lacy Lee, er Eloise. What can I say? Umm, where to begin? Let’s just say the whole family has been blessed by her example, humor, wit, and talent. Lacy gives new meaning to the word unique.

Here we are some years back in her bedroom discussing some good book, no doubt.


And here she is being taught the finer points of fishing by Grandma Ethel. As a portender of things to come, Grandma becomes disturbed when Lacy starts using the fish as puppets.

Happy birthday, ladies. Love, love you.

turkey trot

I did it in under an hour! Yup, I ran 4 miles in 56 minutes. Now you can all stop laughing, I know how slow that is. I know, people. But considering where I was when I started in August, it is kind of an achievement for me. As much as I would try I couldn’t seem to come under 63 minutes when timing myself, so I was thrilled with 56 minutes. Yeah, baby! The trick must have been Meghan slowing up at the end to run with me and push me. (Megs, can’t thank you enough)

I only had two goals: I just wanted to finish and I wanted to run the whole way, so I feel great. Not smug, mind you, as there was no smugness around yesterday. ‘Cause for all our previous A.S.S. sputtering and boasting and teasing there were no egos involved. Just everyone in the fam being incredibly supportive. Lacy and Penee yelling words of encouragement along the way, and HB, after already finishing, jogging back the running route to see where Megs and I were. I think he thought I had died along the way.

I was proud of myself and proud of everyone else, too. Thanks for all your encouragement (particularly Linds, Kenz and Megs, love you ladies)

This event has made me think about how far I’ve come and where I would like to go. That's always a good thing.

then...and now

Whew Whee. Here we are. Another anniversary.
Our secret? Keep in mind I know nothing about anyone else’s marriage. What works for them, what’s best for them, I only know this marriage.

And in this marriage I can only say our longevity and viability is due to a couple of powerful concepts/truths.

1. When you see a happy, long term marriage you are looking at a couple of really good forgivers. They forgive each other for being mortal, for being sinners, for being so, well, fallen and natural manish. Forgiveness says: I will not treat you badly because of your sins against me or your annoying habits.

2. When you see two highly incompatible people who yet manage to live in happy incompatibility you are looking at a couple of really good forbearers of strangeness. They put up with each others’ quirks, messiness, love of cardboard, money counting and immature selfishness. And sometimes the depth of immaturity can be staggering. Sort of Woody Allen-like who famously quipped,”Basically my wife was immature. I’d be at home in the bath and she’d come in and sink my boats.” Yeah, like that.

3. When you see a couple of oldyweds, 29 years, 3 kids and serious combined poundage later you are looking at two people blessed by grace. Because the Savior gets the credit when two very different and very imperfect people forge a life of faithfulness by relying on Him.

Happy Anniversary, ld. Don’t think I don’t know how lucky we are. Don’t think I don’t know how blessed I am to have married you. Thanks for all your share of the hard, rugged work of forgiving and forbearing. Love you more than air.

happy b-day to everyone's fav wedding singer

One time during a serious ‘pound on your sister’ wrestling match you choked me and I almost died. You were not concerned. I forgive you for this.

Happy Birthday, bro. I love you.

yet another reason why i love the internet

I am hard at work preparing a workshop on Family Home Evening for our RS Super Saturday/Enrichment. Oh, and we are also squeezing in a Visiting Teaching conference to boot. Megs is teaching a class on Scripture Marking Ideas and Kenz is heading up the children’s class so it will be a family affair. After searching the net I came up with quite a few good sites. Here are some of my favorite FHE resources, maybe they will prove helpful to you. With so many (tons!) of resources (some with already made ready-to-print lessons) there’s no excuse for crappy Home Evenings☺

I’ll post more from our Workshops later, if you’re interested. But bookmark these now fam.

Deseret Book offers free lessons
http://ldslivingmagazine.com/subs/show/6?page=1

FHE lessons for a whole year
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/lissa1/FHE.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/lissaannapage/FHE.html

FHE in a Jar
http://www.jennysmith.net/search-lds-clipart.php?mediaid=436

FHE cans and cards
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwwomens/booths/3.pdf
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwwomens/booths/3.htm

FHE for small children
http://www.mormonshare.com/fhe/fhe-motivators.php#smallchildren

Article on FHE
http://www.mormonshare.com/fhe/fhe-articles.php

FHE Games
http://lds.about.com/od/familyhomeeveninggames/Family_Home_Evening_Games.htm

FHE Agendas and Assignment Boards
http://www.mormonshare.com/fhe/fhe-planners.php

100 plus Quick FHE ideas
http://www.mormonshare.com/fhe/100-fhe-ideas.php

Quotes and articles regarding FHE
http://www.mormonshare.com/fhe/fhe-motivators.php

General Conference Activities and Games
http://lds.about.com/od/generalconferencegames/General_Conference_Activities_and_Games.htm

Mormon Times FHE Ideas/Resources
http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/emily_w_jensen/?id=3845

Pratt’s FHE
http://fastq.com/~jbpratt/lds/resources/index.html
http://www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/lds/fhe/lessons.html

An alphabetized by topic list
http://www.eprimary.dk/ccc_family_home_evening.htm

Family History FHE Ideas
http://www.eprimary.dk/2005/2005_nov_a/165%20Fun%20Family%20History%20Activities%20for%20Kids.htm

Seminary Ideas (ideas on teaching scriptures)
http://latter-dayvillage.com/seminaryhome.htm

FHE in a jar
http://www.eprimary.dk/2002/2002_05_b/FHE%20129%20FHE%20in%20a%20jar.htm

FHE in a jar (another one)
http://www.eprimary.dk/basis/fhe%2001%20sharlene.htm

FHE quick tips from lds.org (duh)
http://www.lds.org/familyresources/quicktips/0,15876,4006-,00.html

21 Ideas to involve young children in FHE
http://www.eprimary.dk/2002/2002_05_b/FHE%2021%20Ideas%20to%20Involve%20Young%20Children.htm

FHE lessons
http://www.familynightlessons.com/

*FHE blog w/ lessons to print out.
http://nataliesfhespot.blogspot.com/

*Another blog about FHE w/ ideas
http://fheplanner.blogspot.com/

Flannelboard stories from the Friend, includes text.
http://www.stums.org/closet/html/flannel.htm

*This lady has computer colored Flannelboard stories from the Friend and lets you just print them out. Awesome. She has put together a huge file of free FHE lessons. Sure you can get them as black line masters elsewhere, but she has used some paint type program to color them. all you need to do is print and laminate them for wonderful quick FHE folder lessons.
http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2007/11/flannel-board-stories.html

An idea sharing site
http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/

*Yet another FHE blog, fast easy lessons
http://fheinasnap.blogspot.com/

A few FHE lessons, but a lot of other good info on families.
http://whyfamilies.blogspot.com/

A great handout from a past Women’s conference. I’m basing my presentation kind of on this.
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/2008/sharing_stations/pdf/3.pdf

weird sunday

Right before the Sacrament was passed to me yesterday I felt a tap on my shoulder. A sister whispered to me that the handicap toilet in the women’s bathroom had plugged up and was close to running over and did I know where the plunger was?

I will spare you all my thoughts as I energetically plunged a smelly mess, with this sister standing over me offering instruction. “Don’t get anything on your self” she said encouragingly when the cheapo plunger turned inside out with nearly every thrust. And I appreciated her helpful and optimistic comments regarding how lucky we were that the church had toilet paper that easily disintegrated. Ugh. Shoot me now.

To add to the day's weirdness, a sister in RS had a baby that kept crying. I was teaching the lesson and slightly annoyed. I’m thinking, Sheesh, take your baby out will ‘ya? Finally after enduring many pointed stares from those around her, she gets the message and stands up. It was only when she walked directly in front of me that I noticed her baby wasn’t a baby at all but a lifesize doll. This woman brought a doll to RS. One that bawls like a real baby.

It’s days like this that make me feel like I never left Blythe.

HOOKY SPOOKY

(sung to tune Hokey Pokey)

Put your right arm in, put your right arm out, 
Put your right arm in and shake it all about

Do the Hooky Spooky and everybody shout 
"That's what it's all about! BOO!"

there really is such a thing as productive surfing

Cate went down for a nap and I have been diligently preparing my lesson for Sunday. Time for a break. Came across this site: http://mywesternfamily.com/mywesterns_hifi/webisodes.html

Apparently you watch their weekly webisodes and in return you get to print off free product coupons for their product of the week. Hmm, free food. But it’s for real. Visit their website and watch the short film then print your coupon. You can print as many times as you like, but it’s one per customer. So, come back to your local store over the course of the week and enjoy your free product coupons again and again or visit different locations. The videos are fairly amusing, pretty creative in fact.

This week the coupon is for free applesauce. Click to see what stores in your area participate in this program. (In O-town it’s Allen’s, Macey’s and Harmon’s)

I have always been fond of families from the west.

Birthday Haiku

If I am remembering right the form is 5-7-5, yes? It’s tough expressing yourself with such few syllables to work with, but I am of the opinion everyone should have a poem written in their honor. Here goes:

Happy Birthday, bird
Time makes you more endearing
Go have birthday cake

A Castle for Candy, er, I mean Sadie

Dana graciously allowed me to make some games and scenery for Sadie's Princess Birthday party. Can I just say how much I love glue and duct tape and cardboard? All week I cut and painted. See the results.

It's meant to be an interactive castle, as in note the puppet show part and the games on the backside of the walls. I think I want to move in.