♥ Families Are Forever ♥: October 2008

10/28/08

10/27/08

Sunday Dinner with friends

We've been friends with Melissa and Ryan now for 7 years or so. Tom and Ryan were in the same program at BYU and have the same sense of humor! I used to babysit Abby and Miranda and try to see Melissa whenever she's not working 80+ hours a week! We had a fun time at their house last night and I asked Melissa to take some pictures for me...

Sydney and Abby

Summer and Miranda

Ryan and Tom

Melissa and Sally

And out of their generosity they let me borrow a camera until I find mine OR get a new one for Christmas? Thanks guys! You have saved me! :) And all the other people I have been begging to be my photographers! (Matt- I'm still waiting for some pictures from your trip here! AND Emma- I need some of Zack in St. George!)

10/25/08

Funny

10/24 I got home from school with the girls (Zack is in St. George with my parents lucky boy!) and I go to unlock the front door and jump back suddenly. Guess what was sitting there? A huge, hairy, nasty, evil, butt ugly spider! (Sorry Terri but I am a true arachnophobe!) Want to guess how long it took me to get rid of it? Too long! We were all throwing things at it to get it to move off the door, we were all screaming every time it moved. It must've been a sight to see all of us on my porch making noise for 15 minutes!

I can give myself a 2 inch needle every day but I can't get rid of a spider! What's wrong with me? If I had my camera I would've taken a picture...I do NOT enjoy blogging as much without pictures!

Savannah was the one who finally saved the day with a branch! I am a big baby! :) And I couldn't go use another door because the every time I went through the front door I would wonder where the monster was! It had to go.

When I was growing up it was a joke how I screamed like I had just gotten seriously hurt only to find out it was just a spider.

So I just took a 5 minute break to get Summer a drink, and I opened the back door to throw something into the recycling bin...and yelled! There was another spider right near my head!!! They must be out to get me now! I am not kidding! OK, I'm done, no more talk of spiders! It gives me the hee-bee-jee-bees!!!!

10/23/08

Not my favorite thing...

Things usually happen in 3's...

1. Tom got in a car wreck, not his fault, a lady ran into him while he was stopped. He's ok but in typical guy fashion he won't go to the doctor! He says he's fine, only whip lash and his back hurts!!! When he called to tell me about the accident I didn't believe him, because he always tricks me like this, he's a jokester! He started by telling me he was in the hospital and they had to amputate his hand or something so of course I didn't believe him, I can't remember how long it took him to convince me he wasn't playing a joke! Maybe when he started telling me details, I kept saying, "Are you seroious?!" and "Please don't joke." His car has to be in the shop for a few days, the officer tied the bumper up with some sort of police tape. The rental car is a minivan and I got to drive it to work today, heaven! I gave him grief all last night about going to the doctor, to no avail. Instead I had to give him a long massage. I was so tired I fell asleep while I was massaging his legs!!!

2. Another not so fun event happened yesterday when one of my students threw away an orthopedic fork (worth $50) with his lunch. Nobody realized it soon enough so when we finally did the only thing to do was go through the entire schools' lunch trash bags (1,200 students)! 11 bags! Huge bags full of garbage and of course the lunch was tacos...nothing like cholcolate milk and salsa goop! I still have to repress the gag reflex as I think about it. Myself and my awesome assistant principal, went through the trash for 30 minutes! I had gloves on but still got trash juice all over my clothes. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!!! And the worst part is, after all that, we never found the fork!!!

3. I'm just waiting for it! :)

A good thing is the weight off my head thanks to chopping 6 inches off! Thanks Gina! Here's a picture off my laptop...

10/21/08

Simple Pleasures

Today while driving home from school, we (the kids and I), were all singing along to music, one of my favorite things.

A few weeks ago I downloaded the Mamma Mia soundtrack and would listen to it in the car, A LOT, Sydney said, "Mom! I hate Mamma Mia! Why do we have to listen to it all the time?!" I laughed, and Tom was proud of her (he's NOT a fan of musicals).

So today I asked Sydney what she wanted to listen to and she said, "Mamma Mia! I love Mamma Mia!" Ah, that's my girl!!! (Tom is cringing right now as he reads this!)

This made me think of some of my favorite things and simple joys in life and I wanted to make a list. Not in any particular order...just things I heart;

Singing in the car with all my kids!

Music in general, LOVE it!

Crisp fall days with the bright blue sky against the fall colored mountains

Going in the mountains with the family

Going to church

Hearing the primary children sing "If the Savior stood beside me..."

Temples and temple grounds, always beautiful and peaceful

Watching my kids sleep

Hearing my kids pray

New baby smell, well anything to do with babies!

Watching slides with the family

Cuddling with my honey

Sitting down for family dinner and talking about our days

Holiday decorations

Fabric, buying it & sewing something

Watching Tom rough house with the kids, and hearing all the giggling/screaming

Teaching my special needs students (I love them!)

Watching the stars (I never knew how full the sky could be...being from NJ and all)

Hearing from friends, new and old, which is one reason I love blogging

Cows

Listening to my girls play piano

Watching the kids play soccer (even though I am grateful for the break)

When Tom gets home!!!!

Naps (what a joke now...I never get one!)

Scrapbooks

My camera (sob...)

New hair cuts (which I have now but since I don't have a camera you'll have to wait...)

Hugs

Letters and packages from grandparents

Extended family gatherings

Shopping in craft stores (just window shopping for now)

A full fridge and pantry

British chocolate and candy

Comments on my blog

A clean/organized house

De-junking spaces

Reading a good book

Family home evening

Cooking with the kids

Reading Tom's writings

Seeing Tom's art

Getting notes and art from the kids

New shoes/clothes at the beginning of each school year

Christmas Eve

Morning b-day donuts

A lazy morning and all the kids pile into bed with us

Making someone a meal for surprise

Random acts of kindness (I have been the recipient and the one giving, try it, it will make your day, example- in a drive through, pay for the person behind you in line)

I could keep going but I have to put my kids in bed. :) Happy thoughts.

10/17/08

A Letter

Dearest Tommy,

Please have mercy and get me a new camera!

I am dying!

I know I'm dramatic but this is a HUGE part of documenting my life! How can I do it without a camera?

I took Savannah's advice (sweet girl!) and prayed to find it. I have not found it yet. I believe prayers are answered but in this case I think my camera was stolen. There's no other explanation!

I know it's not an easy decision, because you love to get me things I am "desperate" for and there are other factors at play here, like cha-ching, but what is to be done?

Thanks for listening to my whining. I love you!

Love,

Sally

10/12/08

Insanity....

is losing your camera!!!! I am dying! I can't find it anywhere! That thing is like a third hand to me, glued to me almost everywhere I go, just ask Tom, he hates it! :) Maybe he hid it somewhere? Haha. But if I don't find it soon I will have to beg for a new one! Early Christmas present? Not that I have too much time to blog anymore, but I am going through withdrawals! I feel like I am not journaling if I don't have pictures, like when we put up the Halloween decorations...no pictures. Like when it snowed and the kids were super excited...no pictures.

I seriously don't know how long I can live like this.

10/5/08

Conference Weekend

General Conference is a worldwide meeting that happens twice a year in October and April where the leaders of the church speak to all the members. I'm sad it's over. What a spiritual feast! It filled my soul. And can I tell you how much I love watching it in my own home, with DVR, so we can stop, rewind, and listen to things again! Tom and I like to take notes during the talks and write down impressions we get, so we don't forget to ACT on the promptings we received! It's hard to write when you have a little child on your lap, but I'm not complaining, I love that Summer stayed on my lap for most of the conference! I kissed her a lot! If you would like to read what the leaders of the church said to the world wide church you can read it HERE . I know these men and women are inspired, called of God, and love all of us. Tom and I watched a special TV program on our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and we kept saying, "He's such a great man!" He truly loves the Lord and all people!

I am so thankful for the missionaries who taught my parents in England more than 40 years ago and for my parents who accepted the gospel and made me who I am today. I don't like to think about how my life might be if that event never happened. I hope I would have accepted the Savior regardless. I am just happy to have Him in my life and the knowledge that He calls prophets in our day just like He did in the past. It makes all the difference and I can't imagine going through life and trials without Him.

I will continue this thought later, right now my 4 little ones are running crazy through the house, jumping off the furniture, chasing each other, and screaming. Time to bring order to my house! :)

10/4/08

Milestones

My girls have been begging for their ears to be pierced for a LONG time. I always said they could get them done when they asked AND could take care of them. So today when Tom was at Priesthood session of conference, I took the kids to the mall. It actually wasn't that bad taking all the kids by myself, no disasters, just Summer stood on her chair in the food court and fell off, she's ok. :)

Savannah "Before" she was really nervous!

Sydney "Before" she wasn't nervous until it was her turn

Poor baby, she was so scared, she squeezed my hand the whole time

First one done!

Look at her face! I love it!

She's so happy!

The lady cleaned them after and Savannah didn't like that

Sydney's turn!

She's trying to be brave

She picked out a "prize" for being brave

One side done and she is NOT happy...

She's not sure about this...it hurt more than she thought!

Trying to smile

Checking it out, can't quite be excited about it because she's focusing on the pain...

Playing hooky

Friday 10/3 - Tom and I both took a half day off from work and decided we wanted to play with the kids. We went to the aquarium,to an awesome place in Walsburg (up by Deer Creek reservoir), and watched IGOR (review at the end). All in all a fun day!

Off some dirt road in Walsburg, such a pretty place, it had gorgeous colored leaves everywhere and a stream.

I love my Vanna, she has always been "huggy"

Tom found this really cool place to get breakfast burritos in Walsburg, thanks for my new addiction honey! They were AWESOME! Just as good as Chili Works in Los Alamos! Yum!

Igor...don't waste your money! We did not like it and neither did the kids. The first thing Sydney said was, "That movie was immodest and they said bad words." Yeah, supposed to be a kid movie!? The women had dresses that showed too much and they took the Lord's name in vain many times. We were pretty upset but we all talked about the things that weren't good during and after the movie.

Soccer Finale

I am so relieved that my second job, soccer, is over!! It was fun to watch the kids but hard to be going 100 miles an hour ALL the time!

Vanna

Whitney and Savannah

Savannah and her coach

The stars

Zack

Sydney

Savannah

BIG SIGH, can we go to a normal schedule now?

Silver Lake

Last Sunday we went up to the mountains (shocker) with Becky & James. It was so gorgeous!! We haven't been to silver lake since Savannah was a baby, and we also saw a moose that time...too close for comfort!

Take your breath away mountains!