My addiction 1/09

So, I have an addictive personality. My mother always warned me to stay away from any kind of addictive substances when I was growing up. She truly believes addiction is a genetic trait, and boy do we have some problems in the genealogy. So me being a "good girl" I did just that!

She never warned me of the computer though! Maybe because there was no such thing as internet, digital cameras, email, blogs and facebook! We bought a laptop last January and my husband often rues that day. I used to be just an email junkie, checking it, I don't know how many times a day, then my sister in law Stephanie introduced me to blogging. Oh boy, things really got started then, I don't follow any blogs of people I don't know, so therefor I have some control over my habit. Right? But then Claryce suggested that I sign up for FACEBOOK! Oh my, I have lost all control. I check it every spare minuet! What a time burner. And yet I love it. I have found people I have missed for years, I communicate with people I see weekly, I have made friends with people I barely knew in high school. It is amazing and somehow makes me a happier person. Now my husband on the other hand does not get it! He is wondering if his wife has turned into some kind of "voyeur" or something. He worries that I'm out there flirting with all my high school boyfriends (?), he obviously didn't' know me back then! And yet he must love me because he has not shut off the Internet! Not yet, anyway.
This is just an example of the links I have gone to. With this new addiction I spend lots of time sitting in my reclining seat on the sectional. Which has not helped my battle with the expanding waistline. In January I recommitted myself to exercising. The problem is that it interfered with my addiction to electronics. i.e the Internet and TV. So I got creative and found a way to feed the habit by bungeeing the laptop on the treadmill. It works pretty darn well and I have watched a few episodes and NCIS on it as well as done my banking and other things while working out!

But the big question is how will I deal with this addiction as time goes by???

Only time will tell.

A day in the life of Luke. 1/09

I thought I would take some pictures of my adorable two year old and some of the things we do during the day. There is nothing better than being a MOM, sometimes I probably would deny ever saying it, but most of the time it is truly wonderful.

It was defiantly not my choice to spread my children over 12 years, but in many ways it has been a great blessing in my life. After Jake went to school it was just Maddy and I for 4 years and then I was able to have Sam alone at home with me until he went to school, then we had Luke, and now we get to spend all of our time together.

This picture is suppose to be at the end but I anciently deleted it and can't figure out how to move it to the bottom.

Our weekly, and sometimes more, trip to Walmart.What a cute little fish!

We have weekly Park Playgroup with the Relief Society every week. Some weeks there are a number of people and some weeks it is me and Luke. Today was one of those days. It was a beautiful winter day at Green Vally Park.

This picture was taken in the car wash. He REALLY does not like the car wash. The loud shooting water really freaks him out!

Sam's Quilt 1-09

When I bought the fabric and started making the Quilts for Maddy and Luke's bed Sam got very jealous and wanted one too. I was able to find this fun CAR's fabric at Walmart way back in the beginning of summer and I finally finished it in Dec. He was so excited to have one of his own to snuggle up into.

What a ham!

I really enjoy making pieced quilts. No matter how well I think I have done picking out fabric and planning how it will look, I always am surprised! I have a lot more to learn about color and shading and all kinds of things along that line. But I sure do enjoy the process and I think everyone enjoys the finished projects.

Pierced Ears, Again!

When Madisyn was six or seven we let her get her ears pierced and it was a nightmare!

She wouldn't let us clean them and finally we just let it go. About a year ago she decided she wanted them done again. We told her when she was 12 she could try again. Amazingly that time came quickly. Her best friend Jessica was also ready to get hers done for the first time. So they went together with Jessica's older sisters and made a fun day of it. I'm so glad I was able to get pictures of it, thanks Jennifer and Melissa.

Oh, so cute!

Here it comes...
This would be Madisyn's worried face.
She knows it's going to hurt!
These are the nervous looks that appear as they get ready to really do it.

Snow and Tile 1/25/09

Yea!!! My Kitchen Remodel is Done.

Roger has finished the backsplash that was the last major project to be finished. He did a pretty darn good job in my humble opinion. Especially since this was his first tile project. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about starting a remodel/addition project considering the number of them I lived through growing up. (sorry Mom and Dad) But it turned out great and it actually got finished!

My appliance garage that I designed.

It is so cool! Joe, the cabinet maker, did a great job bringing my idea to life.
Finished project. The Dark Points are little metal pyramid shaped brads.
They are so cool!

It may be small but it is so much more functional!

Love it.

I had to take Roger to the airport at 5:30 this morning. I had been a little concerned about the weather, but the Internet said the rain should be clearing out so I figured we would be fine. Boy, was I surprised to walk out the door into 3 inches of snow. Funny thing is that it was snowing harder at our house than anywhere else. The further we got from the house the less snow there was. By 15 miles into Reno we were on dry roads. Our weather usually comes from the the west, Reno, but when we get snow it usually comes from the north, Pyramid Lake. Which is where it must have come since Reno was dry.

Fall 08 Pictures

I am so thrilled with the way the kids pictures turned out this last fall. Each one of them is just so good. Who says you have to pay a lot for a good picture. 2 years ago I decided school pictures were just too expensive with four kids and I was rarely happy with how they turned out anyway. So I started taking the kids to Walmart. I love that I can chose not only the back ground but the pose and and the photos. This picture of Jake cost me $4.95 for a package that was bigger than the $30.00 package that I had to buy at the school just to get an 8x10 for Grandma's wall. That's what I call a GOOD DEAL.

Jakob Age 14 9th Grade

Madisyn Age 12 7th Grade

Samuel Reese Age 6 1st Grade

Luke Age 2

December!!

I was finally able to get December caught up and posted. I'm not real thrilled with my journaling It seems like I was definitely just trying to get the basics down rather than telling the story and about how great and happy of a time it was. But I'm pleased the moment at least has been recorded.

ID for New Years 12/31/08

I can't believe I took my camera to Burley and didn't get it out once.

I even forgot to take it when we went skiing!

We got up there New Years Eve night and had a nice time staying up with Stephanie's family and Grandpa and Grandma until midnight. Then New Years Day we just layed around and had a nice relaxing day.

Friday we went skiing and had a lot of fun. We took everyone but Luke, he got to stay with Grandpa and Grandma. It was Sam and Madisyn's first time and we purposely chose Pomerell for their first time. We had heard about the Magic Carpet ride Pomerell had on their bunny hill. It was awesome. It was basically a conveyor belt that you slid onto with skis and all and rode up to the top of the hill. Since I hadn't been on skis for about 12 years I didn't bother putting mine on for a while and just rode up and walked down the hill while helping teach the two younger kids. It was a long process but they finally caught on and were enjoying themselves.

Sadly, about the time they were ready to go down a real run it started lightening and sleeting and then snowing very hard. The weather got so bad that they closed down the lifts for a while. We went in the lodge, got some food and headed to the car to eat it since the lodge was so full. After a while we decided to go ahead and head back down the mountain. It was snowing so hard that we knew the roads would be getting really bad and we had already had a really great time. Now that we know the kids can do it and like it we will take them up to Tahoe a few times without feeling like we are wasting our money.

On Saturday we went into the Twin Falls Temple and did sealing's for Grandma's family. It was a really nice time. Then later that day we took the kids out bowling. We had a lot of fun there as well.

Then Sunday it was time to head home and get ready to get back to real life. We love being able to have family to visit for the holidays.

Christmas 12/25/08

Lunch Bunch Cookie Exchange 12/18/08

In RS right now we have what we call Lunch Bunch. A bunch of gals get together at someones house and have a pot luck lunch. This month we decided to have a cookie exchange with it.

This month it was at Jenny Jones home and we had a really great time and a really great turn out.

Friends really make life a lot more fun.

e

Sam's Christmas Concert & Maddy drama 12/17/08

I only have one picture of Maddy from her play and none of Sam at his concert. Everything else was video.

They both had these presentations on the same night. Luckily, we were able to go to Sam's and then to Madisyn's afterwards.

Madisyn's was the presentation of the drama club of a play they had been working on all season.
This is Madisyn and her friend Jessica. The stuff on her face is whiskers since she was suppose to be a boy.
Sam's was his Christmas concert. It was kind of interesting in that there were no traditional Christmas or holiday songs. The theme I guess was the "four seasons" although it was difficult to follow because we couldn't hear the majority of the speaking parts. This video is typical of Sam through the whole program. I swear he only sang half of 1 song through the whole thing. What am I going to do with that boy!:)

Jake's Highschool Band Concert 12/15/08

I couldn't find my camera as I was rushing out the door for Jake's Christmas Band Concert but I thought this picture would work since Jake is a Trombone player. Just like his dad.

It was a nice concert after it got started. Somehow Jake (as well as a number of others) didn't get his info right and we as parents weren't suppose to be there until 7:30- we got there at 6:30. The stage area was busily being used as a practice ground for the cheer squads so we had to sit and wait for them to finish. It was quite chaotic and frustrating for all the parents just like us that didn't know what was going on and when we suppose to start.

But as I said, once things got started it was a nice program with the choir groups as well as the band preforming. And I was pleasantly surprised that there were a number of traditional religious songs preformed. Nice job guys.

RS Christmas Dinner 12/11/08

I am currently the the counselor over Enrichment in the Relief Society Presidency at church. This basically makes me the responsible party for the Relief Society activities. For the most part I really enjoy my calling but at times it gets to be a lot of work. As my friend Amanda told me "Shawna you can't do it all. Let other people help!" No truer words, but still not easy. Thankfully I have a great Enrichment Committee and I just need to let them do there stuff.

Anyway, our Christmas Dinner was a pretty big activity, it actually had three parts. First to gather and put together gift bags of fun stuff for a few of the older sisters in our ward and then to go out and deliver them to the sisters. We would then bring the sister back with us for the dinner if she chose to come. Then of course we had dinner. It was a lovely ham dinner with me making the ham. I used Aunt Allison's ham recipe and it was a huge hit. I had cooked a whole spiral cut ham and it was pick clean to the bone.

After dinner we had small Christmas program and our traditional ornament exchange. This is something that our ward has done at our Relief Society Christmas Dinner for a number of years and always seems to turn out to be a fun acidity. We do it white elephant style where the ornament can change hands 3 times. There were a few friendly battles going on for some of the funnest ornaments.

Although, it was a busy night that took quite a bit of prep time it was a lot of fun and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and felt the joy of the Christmas season.

Drama Class Presentaion 12/10/08

Our ward is full of very talented ladies. Amanda Burleson and her sister Lori Miller started a small playgroup/drama school this past year. This fall they had a fun little exercise class to help teach the kids various drama techniques. These pictures and videos are of the final presentation to the parents to show what the kids had learned. In Sam's group they learned a little skit about a caterpillar who crawls into a cave and likes the "big" voice he gets while at the back of the cave. He used it to scare away all of the animals. Sam was a vulture in the skit. Sam was the youngest child participating and at times it was pretty hard to keep his focus and behave but overall I think he did pretty well.

Madisyn had two presentations one was a poem with her friend Allison Burleson and the other was a compare and contrast that she had to make up on her own and present. I thought she did really well on both. I am impressed how she is learning to speak louder and clear and has lost much of her shyness.

I am not able to get any of Sam's video to upload but I was able to upload the video that was most of the parents who had to come up with a skit from a bag of various items. Our skit was me and my daughters in Mexico playing on a beach at Christmas listening to a Mariache Band sing Feliz Navida. It was pretty funny.

Tax Training 12/7-9/08

Late fall is the season that tax training starts in order to prepare for the next year tax season. This year I went to Phoenix for my NCPE seminar 11/5-7/08 and then to Las Vegas for the Tax Works software training in Dec. Then next month right after the holidays we will have an in house training that we are going to try and do via web conference over the Internet.This will be nice so I don't have to travel and leave the family after just getting back from our holiday travels.

We had a nice time in Vegas. It was Mom and Dad, myself, Tracy, Clye and Camyrn, Shurell and Kyla, and the new secretary Debbie. The one thing I really like about the Tax Works seminar is the food. Umm Umm good!

A few other memorable things; I lost the liner to my good ski coat and I got the most motion sick I think I have ever been on the shuttle to the airport. Aw the joys of travel!

The Nutcracker 12/6/08

The kids participated in the community Nutcracker Program this year. Mary Noriega from our ward teaches ballet classes and last year paired with a number of organizations in the area to start a community Nutcracker Christmas Program each year. This year there was a play group, that my kids were involved with, Tae Kwon Do kids, three dance teams from the high school as well as some belly dancers, three or four ballet groups of Mary's and professional ballet dancers from Reno. It was a really nice production and the kids had fun.

Jake, Maddy, and Sam with Mary Noriega, the organizer of the production.