Am I going crazy?

Bullock 2011

2011-12-15T06:43:00.000-08:00

I have not gotten Christmas cards out yet this year and in all reality I'm not going to. I just cannot muster up the time or umph to do it. So here is my Bullock Christmas newsletter for 2011.

The biggest news for our family is our daughter Gillian Rose. She was born in October and looks just like the rest of our clan. She's a good baby who doesn't cry too much. She seems to have a favorite in Brandis mostly I believe because he is the quietest of the family. The others adore her and want to entertain her constantly. She has a great smile that melts all our hearts.

Our other little girl Taygan is growing up well. She loves anything girly. Because she is two she likes to get into everything. Most of my day is following after her putting things away. She has turned into a huge Daddy's girl and loves to climb on him like a jungle gym. Even though she is very girly she also likes to wrestle the boys. They don't fight back so she can really take them down. She likes to dance and sing the songs she learns in nursery.

Brandis is four and he is our happy boy. He's very quiet but when he does say something you know he put a lot of thought into it. He says I love you 20 times a day and is just about the cutest boy I've ever seen. I'm really glad I didn't put him into preschool this year because I know I would miss my little buddy too much. He also likes to sing and dance.

Dougan is six and he is our reader. He reads constantly and is blasting reading levels left and right. He is also our most social. Dougan has never met a stranger, everyone is his friend. This includes girls and adults. At church people come up to me every week to tell me the funny thing Dougan said to them. I am so interested to see what he'll be when he grows up. He entertains us all with his made up songs and stories.

Eades is eight and he was baptized this year. He took it very seriously and he still does. Eades is our more thoughtful child. Lessons he learns in church and school have a great impact on him. He remembers things well and I am amazed at his ability to recall facts and stories that I know would have gone in one ear and out the other when I was that age. I call Eades my little hero because he fights injustice when he sees it. His teachers have told me that he encourages others to choose the right when they are doing something wrong.

Koen is nine and enjoys being the oldest and first to do everything. He is my right hand man. He helps me out with cooking, cleaning, laundry, gathering children and getting them ready, and he's my gopher. I appreciate him very much. He definitely makes my life easier. He also likes to read and do sports. He has a lot of talents which he's usually too shy to share with others.

I spent my year doing regular mommy stuff. This summer the kids and I enjoyed participating in the summer reading program. We also spent a week at the fair. We went everyday but Sunday. Our highlight was the reunion. It was great to see my parents, some of my siblings, and my nieces and nephews. Hopefully next time all of us can be together. I also went to girls camp this summer. I love girls camp and had a great time. My kids also had a great time with their babysitter. I was pregnant most of the year but this one was pretty easy. A sister from the ward took care of the children while I was in the hospital and even after I came home for a couple weeks. She has become such a dear friend to our family.

Tony is still working for Atlas Oil. He enjoys it and he's good at what he does. He was called into the elder's quorum presidency this year. He really likes planning activities and doing guy stuff with his friends. He's a really good dad and is the much cooler parent of our family. He likes taking the kids to movies when I need a nap, which is really brave because even I wouldn't take five kids to the movies by myself.

We've had a happy year. We're glad we moved to Huntington where we have met so many great people and the town is just awesome. We're also not too far away from all of our friends and family in Niles who we got to visit this summer. We're hoping 2012 is just as good to us. We give are love to all of you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Love, The Bullocks

My Rugs

2011-09-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

I just picked up some rugs that I ordered during the reunion. When Aunt Lorene and I were in the basement trying to pick out colors we talked about how neither one of us was good at decorating or matching things. I told her Uncle Leo could change what I had picked out to whatever would look good. She told me Saturday night that they were not the ones I had picked out and I didn't have to buy them if I didn't want to. She must be crazy. First of all they were beautiful. Secondly, Uncle Leo made it. That makes it priceless. Thirdly, he actually went above and beyond for me on this project. I wanted one large rug which is not possible on his loom so he had to make two identical rugs. She explained to me how he did it to make sure it was perfect. I felt so honored that he took all that time.

I was also able to go over to Susie's to buy a bathroom set that I had been eyeing when Emma and I stopped over there. When I came home I felt like I just won the lottery. I will only use my rugs when special company comes over but I will imagine they are in their proper places all the time.

TinCaps

2011-07-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Our family went to a TinCaps game with the scouts and the achievement girls. It was really fun, but I think everytime I go to a game they lose. I should probably stop going but it's so much fun.
Here's Taygan being excited for our team.

Here are my boys chilling out on the hill.

Tony's talking with one of his best friends there. I don't think they cared much about the game. Actually I think I was the only person in our family cheering.

Like I said. The team lost but they still had really cool fireworks afterward and because they are named after Johnny Appleseed they had an array of apple desserts. They also had a few guys called the Bad Apple Dancers who cleaned around the bases and also danced some groovy disco moves. They were so fun. We can't wait to go again this summer.

Splash Park

2011-07-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of my kids at the splash park. They all had a lot of fun. We've been having some hot hot weather here lately and just looking at these pictures makes me feel a little cooler.

Memorial Day

2011-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Our ward had a real nice Memorial Day picnic. They even had a kiddie parade. Here's Brandis working his way around the corner.

Here comes Koen.

Eades with a nice flag strapped to his bike.

Koen with a flag in his face.

Brandis still chuggin' away.

Dougan didn't want to be in the parade so another little girl used his scooter so she could be in it. The kids had a good time decorating them red white and blue and us adults loved cheering them on as they went round and round the little circle.

Marshmallow Fluff

2011-07-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple pictures of when Taygan got into some marshmallow cream.

She acted like she didn't know how it happened.

Beetle

2011-07-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago Tony and I were talking about the awesome trek that the youth from our ward were on. Suddenly we hear shrieks and screaming coming from one the other room. I figured one of the kids must have changed the channel or something and Tony asked me if that was our kids, not believing they could be making such a ruckus. We decided to check it out. There was a huge black beetle in their room. Most of the kids were terrified. Tony picked the beetle up and told all the kids they were going to touch it. Of course the older two were interested as was Taygan. Brandis reluctantly pet the beetle and Dougan wouldn't go near it. Tony put it outside and I thought that was the end.
Today the boys found the same beetle on our front porch. They decided he needed to be our pet. They brought him inside and tried to feed it. I told them he had to go out. I watched out my window as they tried to get it to eat ham, carrots, broccoli, and a cherry. I told them they needed to come inside because a storm was coming. They were concerned for their pet beetle. I said, "Let's look him up online". We googled him and I found that he is a dung beetle. I told the boys he doesn't eat any of that stuff they tried to feed him. They didn't know what dung was so I told them it was poop. They had a good laugh about it. I teased them for having held it. They no longer want it as a pet.

Blue or Pink?

2011-06-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound this morning. It was a really interesting appointment. While the tech was checking out baby we were talking a lot. She found out I grew up in Middlebury so we mostly talked about the Amish. I think she may have purposely taken longer than usual to ask a bunch of questions. I also got to see the baby in 3D image. That was a first for me. It was really interesting to see a baby like this. She said it would look a lot cooler in the third trimester but I still thought it was pretty neat. She told me right away what I would be having. She says it's a little girl. I was really excited because I wanted Taygan to grow up with a sister. I have four sisters and those are relationships like nothing else. Plus I have all the girl clothes close at hand already.

Our Weekend

2011-05-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we slept in. We hardly ever sleep in so this was a real treat. I had the kids get dressed and ready to go and we cleaned up the house a little before we left. We were on our way to Fort Wayne. We went to a new farmers market first. We bought some cinnamon rolls and an apple pie from a sweet amish woman who was a real good sales woman. She kept trying to get me to buy more. When we were leaving I almost drove off with the food on top of the car. She came and warned me before I took off. Sweet right?
Then we went to the fort. They had people from many different time periods there. There were mostly pioneers and soldiers, but they also had roman soldiers Ben Franklin, Mary Queen of Scots, some native americans, and some jesters. They shot the cannons, had an archery show, and they had a trial but we missed it.
We visited with a man who had a ton of toys. He let the kids play with them and he explained each toy. He was so cool and the boys were surprised they could actually touch and play with the stuff. We ate our cinnamon rolls because we didn't eat breakfast and we also bought some stuff from a little shop at the fort. Then we went on a tour of the actual fort.
The lady was a great tour guide and the boys loved answering her questions. I had a lot of questions and she humored me. It was so interesting. We learned a lot but it was so fun too that the boys were never bored. One of the last places we stopped at was the doctor. He had so many tools and gadgets. The room was completely silent as he talked. I think seeing the saw and the scissors on the table made my boys clam up. He had some things that I had never seen before and he knew so much about it all. He was our favorite part of the fort.
By the end of that it was 1 pm and we had planned on meeting Mysti, so we went to look for her and she came right to us. We introduced all the kids to each other. Dougan and Nick immediately linked arms and Koen, Eades and Caleb made a group and were instant friends. We walked around a little and then it started to rain. We took cover and decided when there was a break in the rain we'd run to our cars and meet at the library.
We did as planned and went to the awesome Allen County Library. The kids section there is so cool. The kids had a wonderful time and then we went upstairs to see the geneology section. Mysti said that it is the 2nd largest next to SLC. It was a very big section and a lot of people were there. I will have to go back there without kids some day. Mysti's husband Adam works there and he knows a lot about geneology. He loves it and Mysti said he could help me anytime I need it. I am so excited about that.
The boys thought Mysti was great. They kept asking about how we were related. They figured she had to be my sister because she was a lot of fun like Aunt Rachel. I found it interesting too because she did remind me a lot of Rachel throughout the day. She just really seemed to enjoy herself and having all the kids around. So we know we're going to get together again soon. We only live 20 min. away from each other. I found out Fred moved to Fort Wayne too not long ago. I don't have any plans to meet with him though.
Okay, so then we came back to Huntington and went to the store. Dougan and Brandis still had gift cards left over from their birthdays so they each got to pick out some more gifts. Then we got some groceries and finally made it home. It was a long day. We cooked some dinner and then watched the storm brewing outside. Later that evening Tony took the older two out to see some flooding, then to Wendy's for some frosties. They said it was really neat to see how much water there was.
The next day we got to take it easy in the morning because it was stake conference. We had and extra half hour to get ready, so I prepared a roast and veggies and put it in the oven. We got new counselors in many different stake presidencies and then got to hear some great talks. When we came home we had a wonderful lunch. Then we watched some Anne of Green Gables and went to bed. That's my kind of Sunday.

Getting Healthy

2011-04-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Every year around springtime I start wanting to get healthy again. A friend of mine talked me into going to a Pilate's class with her at the YMCA. We go twice a week. I figured it would be good because it's low impact and it's supposed to help your core. So I go and of course I'm the largest person in there. The instructor seems to get delight out of calling me the beginner. I like her though, she's really nice and I really don't mind when she says, "Beginners, you can just watch, advanced we're going to do the crab."
The worst part is they have two walls of mirrors. I originally positioned myself so I couldn't see me in the mirrors. Well class size has dropped and now there I am. It's almost depressing. I could fool myself in my mind that I looked like the other ladies while doing the moves but now I know exactly what I look like. Pilate's is really hard. My legs are never as high, I can't stretch as far, and why am I the only one sweating? I know it's doing something because I always feel it the next day. After class I walk one or two miles on the track upstairs. There are no mirrors so I like that part. Plus I can go as fast or as slow as I like. I'm glad I'm in the class because it makes me go to the YMCA whereas if I was just going to go walk I would probably never make it there.
I think I might have lost a little weight already but nothing noticeable where people are saying, "Hey Sarah, You're looking really good".
Then as far as food goes, I am not on a diet at all but I have noticed that I don't have much of an appetite anymore. I'm pretty sure my stomach has shrunk. I think my kids are actually out-eating me. I suppose it's not bad but hopefully I'll feel like eating again once the reunion comes up. Between the Essenhaus buffet and Aunt Lorene's I need to be able to pack it in. I'm actually going to Lorene's next Saturday. Maybe that will snap my appetite back where it used to be.

Taygan and Brandis

2011-03-08T06:52:00.000-08:00

Here are my funny littlest ones. I find them hiding in this cupboard all the time. I used to have stuff in here but Taygan kept getting in there and taking everything out, so I emptied it and now they like to play in there. I wonder where they get that from.

They also just love to get their pictures taken apparently. They decided to pose together and be silly.

They're lots of fun to spend my days with. I'm debating whether or not I want to put Brandis in preschool next year because I'm afraid Taygan and I will miss him too much.

Koen in Scouts

2011-03-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

Our ward has a very awesome scouting program. We have lots of great leaders and they go out of there way to make sure the boys have a good time. I have some pictures of the pinewood derby.

Koen did really well at the derby and got second place.

Friday night we went to a Mad Ants game. The Mad Ants are the Fort Wayne basketball team. The scouts got to hold the flags for the National Anthem before the game. Then the Mad Ant came and posed with them. During the second half of the game somebody asked if the boys would like to get a tour of the locker room. Koen and the other boys thought it was really cool to see that. I think that was Koen's favorite part. I guess he's never been in a locker room before.

We had a great time. Our team didn't win because the Reno Bighorns were just too good, but it was nice to enjoy a night out with Koen.

Brandis' Bad Hair Day

2011-03-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

Our son Brandis has wild hair. It grows fast and when he takes a nap it goes in every which direction. Here are a few photos to display his bad hair awesomeness.

Photos

2011-03-08T06:07:00.001-08:00

I got a new camera for Christmas from my brother Sam and his wife Jenny. I decided today that I need to get my photos off of it so I'll be doing various posts to show off my pictures. I'll start with our New Years celebration. We also got a chocolate fountain for Christmas so we had that and fruit and pound cake and marshmallows, plus the usual chips and stuff for our party.

We also had party hats and noise makers and streamers. We played some music and had a good time. We started our party early and then at 9 pm we acted as if it was midnight and did the poppers and danced. Then we went to bed. It was a lot of fun.

Not Fair!

2011-02-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

I know somebody who never gets headaches. This person also never has a sore back and also never experiences being sick to their stomach with worry. I wonder what it would be like to not have thoughts and worries effect your physical being. Luckily I don't get very many headaches anymore, but my neck, shoulders and back constantly have knots. I can get in such a worry that my stomach will ache and ache. My stomach will not rest until I know what to do and make a decision.
So why is this other person so lucky? Who knows, I guess maybe people like that have to suffer in other ways. One thing I do know is that suffering isn't all bad. The R.S. lesson was on sacrifice today which lead into trials and personal sufferings. I remembered there is purpose behind everything that happens to us. Maybe even the way that we each receive our trials has personal purpose for us. It gave me something to think about.

Small World

2011-01-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

As I have been getting to know people in my new ward I have found out that I have some connections with some of them. On Wednesday one of them brought a photo that she had of me from a youth conference when I was 15 yr. old. One family has a brother that was the high priest assigned to my old ward and the wife grew up with one of my college roommates. A member of our bishopric and the primary pres. who are married to each other used to live in Linz which is where I served my mission for about 5 mths. We never met but we know many of the same people. Of course some people know my dad from when the stake had larger boundaries a long time ago. Through Facebook I found out that a couple of my friends grew up here and we share friends now. I'm sure it will just keep on coming too.
One thing that the one with the photo of me said was when she showed the picture to her son after she found it. She explained how we met over 15 years ago and must have become friends. She told him that he needs to be nice to people he meets because they might just show up again years down the road. That made me laugh at first but then I really started thinking about it. What if I had left a bad impression on these connections I have? What if I would have been rude to her and she had this photo of me that she drew a mustache on and stuck pins threw the eyes? How awkward would that have been? What if my roommate thought I was crazy and now this friend in my ward is hearing all these wild stories about me and starts spreading it around? You get the point. Well, hopefully nothing like that is the case.
I have decided though that throughout the rest of my life the world will probably continue to get smaller and smaller so I need to make sure I am always keeping myself in check. I mean, if people are going to find out that they both know me, I want them to say something good about me. I don't want my name being tarnished. "Oh, Sarah Bullock, yeah she eats boogers." "Oh I remember her. Her clothes were always too tight." "She always had a filthy mouth." No Way! I want "Yeah, she was always so sweet." "That girl cracks me up." "I always wanted her to marry my brother so we could be sisters." That's the kind of stuff I want said about me.
The End

Honest Boys

2010-12-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

The elementary school where my boys attend has a life skills program. Each student is working on one life skill this entire school year. At our first parent teacher student meeting we discussed and picked which one the student would work on. In addition to that the school has a monthly life skill that they focus on. For the month of November it was truthfulness. Each teacher chose one child from their class who they felt displayed the life skill of truthfulness.
Two of my boys were bestowed the honor of receiving this award. I have Eades in the front row, the third from the right. Koen is in the back row, the third from the left. I had to use my camera phone to take a picture so the quality is not very good. I'm telling the truth though, they really did get the award.
We are so proud of them and I didn't want to buy a bunch of copies and cut out the article and mail it out, so I did this instead. Now you can all rejoice in the efforts of my children online.

Little Man, Big Boy

2010-11-26T05:09:00.000-08:00

I just can't figure that Brandis kid out. I really was about to retreat from the potty training last week before he went poo poo. After that he's gone days without any accidents. I can't believe it. I still don't trust him at night yet so I've been making him wear a pull-up. He gets so upset because he wants to wear his underwear still. It was just a week ago he was upset when I made him take a pull-up off to put underwear on. It's also funny now to hear him comment about Taygan. I hear him go up to her and say, "You stink TayTay." She would totally have a clean diaper but he just wants to be a typical big brother and tease his poor little sister because he is SO mature now. I'm not sure what finally clicked with him but I am very happy that it did. Now I just have one more in diapers and then that will be it. There are a lot of things I miss about kids growing up, but diapers I cannot foresee as being one of them. I mean, I can't imagine after Taygan is trained crying because none of my kids are in diapers anymore. Who knows though, some of those milestones have surprisingly made me weep, so I guess there's no way of telling till we get there.

Toilet Training

2010-11-21T14:24:00.001-08:00

I've had three kids go through the potty training course and graduate but my fourth boy has been giving us some trouble. I was so used to how simple it was for the others. I made a big deal about pull-ups and then showed them how to sit on the potty and flush when done and wash hands and then have a marshmallow party. It would take them awhile to get the hang of it all but one day they mastered it and we were diaper free.
This one though was just taking forever. He should have been trained long ago, but he is being stubborn. This week I was thinking about how many potty training guides say that it won't work unless your child is ready. I started thinking that maybe this one just isn't ready yet. I even mentioned it to my husband today. I was forming a plan in my head on how to deal with this prolonged training. And then my son does it. He says, I have to go poop. We go in the bathroom, he sits and he completes the task. It was totally out of the blue. Tony and I were so proud of him. Luckily the dessert was just about finished baking so we could have a proper celebration. I hope it's smooth sailing from here on out. That was one huge hurdle and now that he knows he can do it, maybe it will continue.

Koen's Nose

2010-11-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

Koen Before Surgery
Koen at hospital after surgery
Koen a few days after surgery.
A few weeks ago Koen got his nose banged at a friends house on their trampoline. It bled a lot but there was no bruising so we didn't worry about it. A little over a week later Koen's nose swelled up. It was a Tuesday and I took him to see Dr. Shah. The doctor said Koen has strep throat. I asked about the nose because that's why I was there and he just said that it was unrelated to the strep. I tried to get more info about what I should do about the nose but he wouldn't answer my questions. He prescribed an antibiotic and told us to come back in two weeks. I asked if that would help bring the swelling of the nose down and he said yes. I gave Koen the antibiotic for three more days. Nothing was changing and he was just miserable so I decided to take him to a walk in clinic because I didn't want to go back to the same doctor. The clinic took x-rays and said it wasn't broken but that he had a bad infection and needed to see an ears nose throat doctor right away.
I took him in that same day. It was Friday. The ENT doctor Dr. Reddy said he needed surgery right away. We had to wait until that evening because Koen had just eaten lunch. We went home, made phone calls to arrange baby-sitters for the next day and went to the hospital. Dr. Dumas performed the surgery and said things went fine. Because he had the bad infection for a few days the dr. was worried about the cartilage. Koen stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon and Dr. Dumas was very helpful and even funny which Koen liked. I asked him what would have happened if I would have just waited the two weeks like our dr. told us to. He said that I wouldn't have waited because Koen would have been so bad he would have ended up in the ER that weekend anyway. I asked what the damage could have been and he said it would have been BAD being as the nose is so close to the brain. Mom had already told me the same thing.
So we went home and Koen improved. We went back on Tuesday prepared for another surgery. Dr. Dumas said Koen's nose looked surprisingly good and that we didn't need to do surgery that day. He said he will still need cosmetic surgery when he is 14 or 15 years old. We teased Koen that he might have an ugly nose for awhile but he'll get it fixed before it's time to start dating.
We were supposed to see the dr. again Friday but the patient before us took so long with him and we had to get back to meet the other school kids at home that we had to reschedule for Mon. I'm really bummed too because Koen's nose isn't looking as well anymore. It doesn't have anymore infection but it is flattening and widening at the bottom. I'm thinking the doctor might still have to do that surgery he was going to do last Tuesday. He said he would just take cartilage out of his ear and put it in the nose. He said the ear won't miss it. I sort of hope that Koen can have the surgery because his nose looks so strange and he'll be able to breathe better.
So that's what's happening so far. I'll comment about what happens on Monday. And so far it looks like Koen's modeling career will be out of picture. Hardy Har Har.

Some thoughts

2010-08-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

My sister is doing something interesting on her blog where she is representing each of us with a color. As I was reading about the family in that way I realized how great of a family I come from. I remember when I was little I thought my family was so funny that we should have had a tv show. Now I see that there is more to us than just our Miller Sense of Humor. We are all so different from each other though. I mean, we do have a lot of things in common, but there is something so special about each one of us.
We each have different gifts and personalities. Now that we are all grown with our own families I can see what kind of people we really are. I was surprised with the things that my sister Emma said about me. I didn't know that she viewed me as such a positive person. It's always interesting to see how others view you. It made me take a closer look at how I view myself. So I figured I would take some time to some up the each member of my family in a few words. Maybe some of them will surprise them, and maybe not.
Dad- Brave, Smart, Righteous, and the owner of the best grin ever
Mom- Strong, Determined, Charitable, and Full of Life
Naomi- Cool, Brilliant, Talented, and a Great Example
Emma- Honest, FULL of Love, Clever, and the Best Story Teller of all Time
Rachel- Dependable, the Greatest Friend, Non-judgmental, and can come up with the best ideas just like that
Samuel- Kindest, Loyal, Uber-Friendly, and he'll give you anything and act like it's no big deal
EJ- Always brings a smile to my face, Sweet, Never gives up, and he's the coolest dancer ever
Ruth- Great Listener, Competitive in the most fun way possible, Confident, and Full of Information
I appreciate all of them for who they are. I couldn't imagine not having them just a click away. I still think we'd make a good tv show though. It might just be footage of us sitting by our computer screens laughing and crying as we read what the others have written. I would actually love to see some of my sisters sitting there laughing to themselves as they type some genius thing down and they crack themselves up. Then they get a comment laugh again, then madly type a witty reply.
What a blessing it is that we all like to write and we are computer savvy enough to keep in contact the way we do. I get updates all day long on my cell phone. It cracks me up some of the things I read. Sometimes I might be having a trying day and then I get a message of some song lyrics that we all love. I smile and feel better. I really love my family and I'm honored to be a part of it. I just want everyone to know it.

Please Vote

2010-07-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have a friend from the stake who has a daughter with special needs. The last time he came to visit my ward he told me a little more about his daughter. He said he couldn't believe my one year old daughter who was able to do so much stuff and she is just at level. His three year old can't even eat food. She is fed through a tube. So his wife is involved with this Facebook voting thing. The top two highest voted groups get the money. Right now her group is ranked number 5. They have four days to reach one of the top two positions. They are so close and that money could do so much good. The money will be used for research for the disease that the little girl has. It's called Rett Syndrome. There are thousands of girls affected by it. My friends daughter's name is Evalyn. I know the family would appreciate it so much. All you have to do is text 100842 to Pepsi (73774). We have four days. Please ask others to participate.

New Preacher

2010-07-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

I found out yesterday that cousin Jacob is a preacher. Rebecca explained to me how it came about and I thought it was so interesting. Here's how it happened. First they had sort of a secret ballot nomination thing. Everyone wrote down the name of someone they respected and who they'd like as preacher. Then they take all the names who got at least two nominations. She said some people might have gotten nine while others maybe only two, but they don't tell who got more. They ended up with about seven men. Then they took seven bibles and had one scripture note that they placed in one of the bibles. They tied all seven of them up and then laid them on a table. The seven men went one at a time and picked a book. She said they might do this by age or in some order but it doesn't have to be that way. Anyway, at the end the Bishop goes down the line and opens all the bibles. The one with the note is the new preacher.
I asked about how Jacob does at it. Rebecca says he gets up there and talks just like he would having a conversation with anybody. He uses his hands and makes all the gestures as usual. She told me that he says he would rather sit and listen to the other preachers but because this is what he's asked to do, he's going to try his best.
She then told me about once when he was teasing Aunt Elva about women in the bible. He stumped her when he asked her what the name of Noah's wife was. She was stumped then but she went home and wrote him a letter. She wrote that her name was Yessah. Noah and Yessah. Isn't she funny?

Silverhawks Game

2010-07-02T11:32:00.001-07:00

Taygan eating some hot dog.

People getting dizzy running around bats.

People running and falling over because they're so dizzy.

Taygan Cheering.

And the Pitch.

Swing batter batter swing.

Brandis taking a big bite.

Taygan being adorable.

The wind up.

Marin's Produce getting ready to race.

They start.

We were rooting for Carrot but he didn't win.

Cotton Candy

Hot Times

2010-05-31T20:50:00.001-07:00

The weather is getting warmer and warmer. We've been enjoying ourselves. We went to the zoo and saw every single animal. We went to the beach and got our toes wet and found lots of shells. We even had a water balloon fight. I should have taken pictures. It was actually really funny. Mostly Koen and Eades and I were getting each other and then Brandis would toss one at us. Then Dougan would sneak in and grab one and then throw it. He was the only one who didn't get wet. We're planning another balloon fight for their birthday party. I'm sort of not looking forward to filling all those balloons. My fingers were sore from filling the ones we used and now I'll have to triple that to have enough for the party. Ugh.
School is out. What will we do this summer. We'll have lots of fun whatever we do. I sure hope everyone has a happy summer.

Pinky

2010-05-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

My little sister I named Pinky. She is the youngest so pinky fits plus she is a little bit pink. Seriously, she has pink tones in her skin. The name is also cute and that fits her too. She and I always shared a room growing up. She knew pretty much everything about me. I am a very private person so Ruth knew more about me than my closest friends. My sister and I are a little different but I think when we're together we are magic. It's fun hanging out and I wish she lived closer. Before I was married we would go out on our days off. One week I would pay and the next time she would. It was nice having our weekly outing even though we lived together. That is just the way we were. Ruth and I loved adventures and doing things spur of the moment. One time we saw a Rally's commercial on tv. We decided we had to have some Rally burgers. We got in the car and drove 45 min. to the closest Rally Burger. It was worth it.
In high school we ate lunch together in the cafeteria. That was fun to sit with each other. We also had a club with some other members of our church who went to school with us. We did silly things and had fun doing it. She was a great little sister, not annoying like some other little sisters I would hear about. She didn't follow me around or anything. We were usually playing together anyway so she didn't have to follow me around.
She was one of the three little ones with me and my brother. We did the dancing and such. I don't know if three other siblings had as much fun as us. We really enjoyed one another's company.
When I first left home and went to college my sister and I wrote to each other frequently. Mostly we emailed. When I wrote her I didn't have to give her a log of my activities or anything like that. We could write silly things to each other that nobody else would get. It was good for me to feel like I fit when I didn't know anyone around me and I was shy. We continued to email through my second year and then when I went away on my mission she wrote me letters. Again they were mostly silly letters. We would write poems and funny things like that. If someone read the letters they would think we were weirdos but to us they made sense.
When I got back from my mission we hung out that whole summer and then went to college together. We shared a room again. It was fun. I really do wish we could live closer but sometimes I think maybe it's better if Ruth and I don't live too close. Our whole lives would become nothing but silliness all the time and everyone would think we were crazy. We get each other so well, that we would read each others minds and be way too involved in one anothers lives. So even though I miss her so much I enjoy waiting for those special moments when we can be together at reunions and such. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right? Or is it abscess makes the fart go Honda? I can't remember. I cherish the phone calls and emails. So, keep them coming. And that is my sister Pinky.
And this ladies and gentlemen concludes my blogs on my family and their nicknames. Here is the recap; Monkey Wrench, Matinee, Prank, Ipod, Hopscotch, Uncle Remus, Roulette, and Pinky

Roulette

2010-05-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

I named my younger brother Roulette. This guy is always willing to take a risk. He is also very lucky physically. He was accident prone growing up braking bones and bursting ear drums and things of this nature. His eyesight wasn't very good so I'm sure that accompanied by his active nature and willingness to try anything ended him in the emergency room a few times. He also was involved in several car accidents. Every time he was able to walk away. It always could have been worse and this boy is just good at dodging bullets. I also thought the name Roulette sounded pretty cool so it fits him.
As my younger brother we spent a lot of time together along with our younger sister. Our mom dubbed us The Three Little Ones. We were usually playing nicely and I don't remember us fighting very often. As we grew to teenagers we still liked spending time together. He was a fun kid and he was a good brother.
One summer we were in single adults together. Some of my favorite moments were spent that summer with him as we hung out with friends and really got to form a special bond between us. I think as his older sister I feel like I want to protect him from things. I also want him to know how terrific he is. It's interesting the strong feelings being an older sister can invoke in a person. Right now he's serving our country overseas. I love hearing from him and I'm happy when he's happy. I can't wait for him to come home so we can get together again.
Some things about my brother that people should know is that he is a great listener. If you need to talk to someone he is the perfect one to talk to. He is very kind and his sense of humor can always cheer you up. He also tells you how it is. I remember once during the aforementioned summer I was having a hard time with TMJ. Sometimes it was really painful and I complained. Since we spent so much time that summer I'm sure he had enough of my whining. So one day I was having a pity party and he told me to just buck up and be happy. He was right. Being in a bad mood about it wasn't helping. I respected him for saying that and it really helped my mood.
My brother is also silly. We had so much fun at college, us three little ones, being silly and goofy. We were never bored. One more thing about this guy is that he can dance. When we were in youth many of the leaders were impressed with him because he was the only guy out there busting a move. Us three little ones would just dance our little hearts out having a blast. I miss those days. I just don't move like that anymore. As an adult when I would chaperone dances for the youth many of the leaders I had back then were also in attendance. They'd come up and talk about my brother and how they needed more young men like him. They would talk about what a great dancer he was. I would think, hey, I was out there too. But it was true, he was a great example that a young man can be cool and dance at the same time. Just watch Footloose.
We also sang together a few times. I always liked those moments too. I remember once we performed a duet at church for R.S. or something. I was so nervous but he held us together. We also sang in a group for solo and ensemble and us three little ones sang together at church a couple times. He has a good voice.
So you see this is one awesome guy. Hopefully someday when he's out of the army he'll settle somewhere close to me so we can see each other now and then. For now I pray for his safe return and that he will be protected on a daily basis.

Uncle Remus

2010-04-28T11:25:00.001-07:00

I have one older brother and the nickname I gave him is Uncle Remus. Samuel is the type of person who everyone gathers around at a party to hear what story he's going to tell. He's very funny and he really knows how to tell a joke or a story. He's also very kind just like Uncle Remus. Samuel would give you the shirt off his back. He's a very good friend. I'm the type that is friends with the people who I'm around. Sam stays friends with people forever. He is good at staying in touch and getting together with old friends. I think that shows how loyal he is. He is also a great worker. His employers always love him and his fellow employees sure enjoy having him around. I love hearing tales of his workplace because Samuel can make it sound like the funniest place on earth.
Samuel has been referred to as a momma's boy. I don't think he minds that at all. They say if you want to know how a man will treat his wife look at how he treats his mother. I can see that between Samuel and his wife. He's a great husband.
Samuel has had some tough times with his health. He's had some scares, but he continues to be positive. There are some things he can't do like swimming. He can't because of a catheter he will always have. Besides keeping him from swimming it's also a pain in the neck. He has to keep it clean and drain it and all that stuff. To me I'd make a big deal out of that. But he just sees it as a part of his life and leaves it at that. His attitude is what amazes me.
One time I think about a year ago, Samuel and I got to go out to dinner with some friends. We hadn't seen each other for awhile before that, but we just could not stop laughing. Nobody else at the table got the jokes but we could not control ourselves. It was so funny and it reminded me of old times. Sometimes it's bad to get Millers together because we can get into some giggle fits especially during church. I seem to remember one patriotic Sunday and one stake conference where us four little ones really lost it. Good times.
So anyway, Uncle Remus, my brother, holds a special place in my heart. He's a good honest man who has a good reputation. He can make anyone smile, which makes him very special. I'm also lucky because he lives close to me. I'm thankful for that. If you don't him you're really missing out.

Different

2010-04-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a Time Out For Women. I was listening to one sister who told a lot of personal stories and she was really funny. As I was listening to her and listening to everyone laughing I began to feel uncomfortable. I couldn't relate to her. She was speaking as if she represented women and we should know what she was talking about. I agree she was funny but I didn't agree with what she was saying. I was talking to someone else who attended about it and they said they were right with the lady and they couldn't believe how right on she was. I felt like maybe I was just a weirdo. Then I said no I'm not. I knew that the way I feel about things though they may be different than how other women may feel, is right for me.
This realization has been on my mind. Then today at church it was reiterated. Someone came to our ward today and stole someone's purse. They then went out and spent thousands of dollars before church was even over. Luckily the sister who lost her purse cancelled her cards, made a police report, and did what she needed to. They got a picture of the woman who stole the purse from security cameras and they will probably catch her soon as they also got a picture of her license plate. Anyway, I was talking to the sister who lost the purse thinking she might need a hug or something. She didn't want one. She was angry. She said if she could get "that woman" she would. Now she won't have to pay for the items bought with her cards. She may have to buy a new purse and make new copies of keys if the purse never gets found, but that will be the extent of her inconvenience.
I was a little surprised to hear her saying how angry she was. I mean, we know the lady will most likely get caught. Police were looking in the area she was shopping and they have her plate number. I don't think she'll get away with it. I would be happy in knowing that and call it good. So again I felt out of touch. But others would be like her, and be angry that they were victimized. It's all a difference in personality. I'm not saying I'm better than her, because with as angry as she was I'm sure that she will show up at that woman's trial and sentencing and make sure justice is served. I think we need people like that.
Recently I've had some blows thrown my way but my reaction to them has been to remain calm. I know there is reason behind it. I have faith and a testimony to rely on. Others will give me advice and their opinions but I have to step back and really think about what I'm doing. I know that what they would do is not what I would do. I'm different. Perhaps this is why I am different so that I can handle stressful situations calmly. I admit there have been times when I may have gotten a little worried but now I know that everything will be fine.
It reminds me again of how special each of us our. How the trials we face are meant specifically for us. Some people can handle a very hot refiner's fire while others may need it to be very mild. I know my trials are very light compared with most others. I must keep it in perspective and realize that I am the way I am for a reason.

Hopscotch

2010-04-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had that aunt who is always having fun and actually plays with the kids? This is my sister Rachel. I called her Hopscotch because I could totally see her out enjoying a game with a bunch of kids. I also named her that because in order to play the game you must first get out there and draw the board. My sister is an artist and she enjoys drawing and using chalk and anything like that. She even does wood burning. So I liked the artist part of hopscotch as well. My sister used to live near me and we talked like everyday. We either chatted over the phone or went somewhere together or I'd be over at her house hanging out. It was nice to have family so close. She moved away though, and left me out here without a sister. So sad.
I think my favorite memories of my sister will be those years when we lived close to each other. We were always there for each other. We had a lot of things come up where we needed to depend on each other. We both had to make trips to the hospital and the other would stay with all the children. She also watched my kids so I could go to girls camp and youth conference and things like that. I probably depended on her way too much, and perhaps that is one reason she moved. I guess I'll never know the truth because she's too nice to tell me that, but I do have my suspicions.
I even had to call her and her husband sometimes to come over late at night because I thought I heard a noise. They came and checked things out for me. She also was there for me to talk to. I think it's good to have somebody who knows just about everything that's going on in your life so they know how you're doing.
Another great thing about her is she is multi-talented. She can do the arts and the crafts but she can also sing, dance, act, play instruments, write stories and poems, take photos, and make up stories right from the top of her head to tell to crying children to help them calm down. She also likes parties as much as I do and it seems like we were planning events a lot. Sometimes they were for birthdays, sometimes reunions, sometimes just for fun, sometimes for a fireside at church, and sometimes for our kids. It was fun planning parties even if sometimes we never even ended up having a party. It was fun to plan anyway. See one of us would come up with an idea and mention it to the other. Then our imaginations would start driving us and we'd feed off of each other with all these great ideas until we had a fantastic thing planned. Maybe the world just wasn't ready for our dynamic duo.
Another thing I love about her is that she genuinely loved my kids. They loved her too. She always had a fun activity for them to do at her house. She would be the perfect preschool teacher because she has all these creative ideas. I would sometimes mention them to someone else and they would say that they once had a teacher like that or an aunt or leader or something. I was lucky to have a sister like that who lived so close. I know that now she's probably doing the same thing with my other sister and my mom. They are soooo lucky.
Also if you know Rachel you know that she doesn't seem to get embarrassed very easily. She has no qualms about dressing up like a clown and going out in public. She would happily make a fool out of herself if it meant others could have a great time. This is an admiral quality to have. I think it stems from her ability to act. She knows that she's just playing a goofy character and therefore she needn't be embarrassed. None the less she's a blast to have around. Kids enjoy her as well as adults. She is just funny.
I miss singing with her. We used to sing together, her soprano and me alto. Our voices blended well together. She is a great soloist as well and I enjoyed hearing her sing by herself too. She also has a great imagination and encourages it in her children. She lets them believe in fairies and leprechauns and the like. It's fun for her kids and even for her. She basically just enjoys life and making life fun. I bet you could go up to her right now and ask her if she'd be interested in a game of hopscotch and she'd say sure. She's a great sister to have. I miss seeing her everyday but maybe someday we'll live close again. I hope so.

Ipod

2010-04-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

My second oldest sister I named Ipod. My sister is very musically talented. Growing up she hogged the piano, I mean she played the piano relentlessly. It paid off because now she can play anything. I named her Ipod because she plays music but also because ipods are cool just like her. They are sleek just like her. Teenagers like ipods and teenagers like her. She is in style. Also, because I know she listens to music a lot, I mean, she listens to a lot of music.
Emma has been a great older sister. She was called Little Mother and she helped watch me when I was little. I remember playing with her and she would tell me what part I was playing and what I should be doing. I was often Tammy and I was just a nice little girl going to school. It was fun playing school with her. She was a great make believe teacher. When Emma was growing up she had a style all her own. Her fashion sense was compared to that of Denise Huxtables. For me this meant receiving hand-me-downs that I just couldn't seem to pull off the way she could. I did my best and treasured every article of clothing.
Emma is a great story teller and when I shared a room with her it was great listening to her tales and tips. She was full of them. She seemed to know everything. When she began working she would take me to the soda fountain for sodas. I loved it. When I got a job at the same drugstore I did the same with my younger sister a few times because I enjoyed it so much.
Emma has always known who she was and she always seemed to be enjoying herself. She had a lot of friends as a result. I was four years behind Emma so as she was leaving high school and young women I was coming in. A few leaders would make comments to me about following in her footsteps. Some even said she was a hard act to follow. I never really felt like I had to try to be like her though. I did some things that she did and some things that she didn't. I never wanted to compete with her because I appreciated who she was and what she did as Emma. Not me. If there was anything that I wanted to copy her in it wasn't her talents, looks, or popularity. It was her ability to lead while having fun. If Emma was in charge, she didn't lead as a tyrant but as a friend working with us. When I applied for a job at age 16 the owner asked me if I'd be okay with having my sister be a manager over me. I said I was used to having her be over me and I actually kind of liked it. The boss lady seemed pleased with my answer and my winning Miller smile and gave me the job.
Now Emma did sometimes have the reputation for being bossy. It was funny because even though she might have been I usually enjoyed being bossed around by her. Here's a funny story about that. One evening I was watching television. Emma yelled for me from upstairs. I ran up to see what she wanted. She was on the phone which was a common occurrence. She asked me if I could get her a drink. I said sure and went and got her a drink. When I returned she noticed I forgot the ice, and told me of my mistake. I went back down for the ice. She seemed pleased and released me from my duties as sister servant. I was only downstairs for a few minutes when she was calling for me again. I ran up and saw her with drink all over the place. She told me she spilled and needed towels. I ran downstairs, got towels, and started cleaning up the mess. When all was clean, she asked me for another drink. Suddenly I realized I was getting taken advantage of and told her no. It sort of bothered me that it took me that long to realize it. She just sort of had a spell over me I guess. I wasn't angry with her though. When I think back on it now, it makes me laugh. I wonder if she remembers that and if she does she probably remembers it differently than I do. Ha ha.
Another story I remember is one year we were planning stake girls camp. Emma was in Hawaii at the time going to school and being pregnant. I missed her a lot and I knew she was going through morning sickness and was having a bit of a difficult pregnancy. Anyway, during the meeting somebody brought up Emma and how awesome she was as a leader. I remembered how much fun it was having her as my leader at camp and also just to have her around. I started to cry and everyone was wondering what was wrong with me. A friend of the family told everyone of Emma's difficulties and they all gave me the chin up smile/frown and then commented on how much they all loved her.
Emma has always had a special place in my heart. I'm not sure where the bond between us came from but it has always been there. I feel like I'm her biggest fan and she's my biggest cheerleader. I'm a very closed person and I don't usually share my feelings. Sometimes with Emma I wish I could. There are times when I'll read her blog and realize that she's not giving herself the credit she deserves. That's when I wish I could call her and tell her how wonderful she is, but I let my shyness win out and I leave a cheesy comment instead. I know that's something I need to work on but I know if I'd call her she wouldn't be able to hear anything from my high pitched overly emotional voice. It's a curse I have.
She's great because she is so kind. She gives of herself so selflessly. She makes others feel like they fit in. She's multi talented. She succeeds at whatever she put effort into. She has the gift to get others to listen and follow. She's funny as all get out. She's gorgeous inside and out. She's a terrific mother. She's a great friend. She feels everything so much stronger than most others. She's brave enough to take a chance and put herself out there. She has to put up with a lot of people who give her a hard time just because they themselves are jealous. She keeps going though, and she knows enough about herself to not let them bring her down. She's loud and she's proud. Best thing about her is she's a good sister and that's why I love her.
So, that is a bit about my second sister Emma. Though I wish we lived closer because I would love to see her everyday and have fun adventures and hear her hilarious stories I know that we can still be close over the distance. We are linked forever.

Prank

2010-04-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

I gave my oldest sister the nickname Prank. If you know her you know that she likes to play jokes and she's good at it. Now she doesn't just go around playing little gags on people here and there. She will have a target and then she will come up with a brilliant plan. She usually has cohorts to aid in carrying out the plan. The joke is played and the victim is left feeling gotten. I don't know if the ideas just come to her or if they take hours to come up with. All I know is that they are funny and unique.
Now that you know why I dubbed her Prank, let's move on to some background. Naomi was the oldest of seven kids. I viewed her as the top of the totem pole. She got to do everything first. Sometimes that was a cool thing and sometimes it was a scary thing. She handled it all well and paved the way for the rest of us. My three oldest sisters were clumped together, then a brother, and then me. So I didn't really play with them a whole lot. I do remember watching them though. I would watch them all the time just to see what they were doing. I knew I couldn't do it yet, but someday I would be able to. So it was interesting to me. I remember just watching Naomi doing her hair. She has super curly hair, so it was amazing to watch her do it. I remember her picking through it and then using White Rain mousse in it. I still love the smell of that stuff and it always reminds me of her.
She also was a talented singer and dancer. I guess I shouldn't say was. She still is. She was in choirs and the dance team, plus she would dance and sing at home. She was good enough to be in The Sound of Friends. That was a show choir in our high school. I tried out for four years to be in that choir. I never made it. So I say it was very exclusive. I enjoyed watching her be in it though. They would come to our school to perform. On one occasion they were getting ready to perform. The choir was all standing still and then they began to dance and sing. Some kids around me were freaked out because they thought my sister was a mannequin. I heard them talking about it. They were saying that she was too perfect to be real. She had awesome curly hair, very fair milky skin, she was very thin, and really pretty. I wanted to tell them that she was my sister but I didn't think they'd believe me.
When we get together nowadays, you know a game will break out. Naomi is good at games. You probably want to be on her team. Some of us talk about if our family was on a tv game show and only two or four or six people would be allowed to compete,we would have to make cuts and Naomi always was one of the contenders. She just knows stuff and she's competitive.
My sister is a good mom and wife. Her family seems so happy around each other. That's evidence that she's doing something right. She is just so well rounded. She's got the funny side, but she can also get serious and down to business. She can do anything from crafts to cooking to running a summer business. She's one of those people who you look at and wonder how they must have more hours in their day than you do. She has a family, she goes to school, she has callings at church, she was working and she's planning an internship right now, she does the family business, she works out, she keeps up with all of us via internet, and she looks good doing it all. I mean, seriously, how can somebody be so put together? Well, she is.
I think it all comes down to what kind of a person she is. She is determined. She doesn't ever think she can't do something. If she wants it, she works to get it. Maybe that bravery comes from being oldest. I don't know. Maybe her confidence comes from all her past successes. That's likely. Maybe her desire to always better herself just comes from within. I guess it doesn't matter where it all comes from but she definitely has it, whatever it is.
I know she's setting a great example for her kids, her fun awesome great kids. I mean, she's a mother of a couple teenagers and I have never seen them give her any attitude. Granted I don't get to see them very often, but still, NEVER!!! I think her kids respect her a lot.
Okay, so now that everybody knows how cool my sister is, they can see why I wish we lived CLOSER. I think if I could spend more time with her, maybe she'd begin to rub off on me. That'd be cool. Anyway, you should definitely see if she'll let you in on a prank sometime and then the fun will begin. I love her a lot and I'm glad she's the oldest. She's a good number one. I can't wait to see what she'll do next.

Matinee

2010-04-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

My mom I nicknamed Matinee. My mom loves movies. She'll watch anything from an old black and white to the newest Disney film. She watches them at home, she watches them in the theater, she watches them anywhere. I attribute my love of movies to her. Now she won't watch anything rated R or higher so she hasn't seen every movie in existence but she has seen the good ones. Also, because of her work schedule she doesn't typically go to movies at night since that is when she works, hence the Matinee.
Now about my mom. She wasn't the typical June Cleaver. I believe she has been compared more to Roseanne. Well she wasn't quite like Roseanne but she was funny and cool. Growing up the phrase "If mom ain't happy, nobody's happy" was probably accurate. Mom was not someone to mess with. Now sometimes I wasn't sure what the threat was but I know it wasn't good. Sometimes we might be sold to the indians and other times we might get our arms ripped off and beaten with them. I have never seen either of these carried out. But most of the time we tried to shape up, because we did not want to ship out.
As we got older, Mom got cooler. Our friends were becoming her friends. Mom began doing "I'm Fifty" sketches at girls camp. For me things suddenly changed from supposing to be embarrassed that my mom was around, to being proud that she was so "down with it".
Mom also was an example for us. She went to college with seven kids still at home and studied hard and got good grades. She graduated and became a nurse. We actually graduated the same year, me from high school, and her from college. She knew what we were going through with homework and assignments. She probably even had it worse. She definitely taught us the value of education and achieving goals. Another thing I remember is my mom sharing her testimony with us. Sometimes it was on a Saturday afternoon after we spent the morning cleaning and we'd sit around and she'd tell us her conversion story or share experiences with us. Other times is was as things came. Maybe she had a prayer answered or she witnessed a miracle. We all knew that she had faith and if she believed I wanted to believe. I wanted my own stories though, and I had my own experiences and I was able to recognize the hand of God through her sharing her stories.
One other thing about my mom is that she is strong. I grew up never doubting her ability to do whatever she put her mind to. If she wanted to move all the furniture in the house around, she could do it. If she was put in charge of organizing a huge event, she did it. She got things done and if something wasn't right she knew it. She'd pray, get an answer, resolve the issue and keep going. She was a wonder woman. She's still like that. Now if I ever need to do something hard, I call Mom to hear what she has to say. I respect her opinion and experience so much. I know there has been a joke that I take whatever Mom says as gospel. Now that's not entirely true but I do listen to what she says and most of the time she's right. I think I'm lucky to have someone as wise and as in tune with the spirit as she is just a phone call away. One last thing. My mom is a giver. She would do anything for me, my siblings, and our families. She just loves us that much. They say that when you add your children your love grows exponentially. That happened with Mom so now she just has so much love it's unbelievable. I have some friends who have crazy moms. When they tell me stories about things their moms are doing I am in shock. My mom is awesome. I tell them what she does, and they think it's impossible to have such a great mom. It isn't. My mom's for real. She is so not about the drama she is just a good person. I hope that someday my kids will think of me the same way that I think of my mom. That would make me very very happy because I love my mom. I love everything about her. And I'll say it again. I wish we lived closer together. It would be so awesome to have her here to do things with. I'll just have to take the emails and the phone calls, the blogs and the facebook statuses for now. I just want everyone to know I'm not happy about it. But if it's all I can get I'll take it.

Monkeywrench

2010-04-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

Some of my family members have recently done posts about other family members. I decided I should do the same. Last year I made up nicknames for everyone in my family and then had them try to guess who was who. It was a lot of fun. I dubbed my dad Monkeywrench because he can fix just about anything. Honestly, I don't think he's ever come across something he couldn't fix. Now the monkey is there because my dad has a tendency to act very goofy sometimes. Two of his idols were Heathcliff Huxtable and Earnest P. Worrell. When I was a little girl my dad even had an outfit referred to as a monkey suit.
I grew up in a small town called Middlebury. My dad also grew up there and knew just about everyone in town. As we walked around town everybody said hi to him. I took pride in knowing that my dad was a respected man. He is a good, honest, man of integrity. The funny thing is, it seemed whenever any kids were visiting he turned into a clown. It was hilarious. He also got that way if he found certain cereals in the cupboard or if we were about to have ice cream. I wish I could show a video clip of my dad's hyper antics. I don't have one though, but it's something that really needs to be seen in person. No words can describe.
Yesterday I drove by Cardinal Bus where he worked during my youth. It brought back a lot of good memories. We lived two houses down and we often went to bother him about something. I also remember calling him at work to ask questions. One time I called and asked for dad. The receptionist asked if I meant Sam. There were other dads there but ours probably got the most disturbances. He never complained about it though.
My mom sure does love my dad and she let us all know it. I remember one time she sang a song to him in front of a large audience. I'm sure he was embarrassed but he humored our mom and was a good sport about it. The girls in our family were spoiled with such an example of what a true man is that I know some of the husbands feel like they can't hold a candle. I don't think my dad feels that way though. He has always been very humble. I think that his humility might be a result of his gratitude. He has had a very blessed life.
I know that I am grateful that he was the patriarch of our family. He had a father's intuition that sometimes amazed me. He seemed to know things that I never told him. He just knew. I wish that every girl could be as lucky to have a father like him. I'm not just talking him up either. He really is that awesome. I think that since most of the people who read this blog are family I don't really need to convince anybody because you already know that.
Now I could go on and on about my dad but I don't have all day so I'll finish it up by saying I love my dad very much and I wish I could see him more often. I know we'll live close again someday and I'm just being patient until he finally moves back out here.

How it's going

2010-04-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

So here is my report for my weight loss. I have not lost a ton of weight but I have lost some. Considering I am barely exercising or dieting I think it's great. Losing weight is at least in the right direction. I just need to keep going in that direction and slowly but surely I'll be where I want to be. Oh and I did end up joining the YMCA. I go with two of my friends and we laugh at how bad we are at the routines. We still go though and we have a lot of fun. I think I should mention that while I'm writing this I'm eating strawberry pie. I saw on Dr. Oz that you should eat strawberries everyday, so I think I'm still good. I almost forgot my exciting news. I can fit into some pants that were too tight before and I have other pants that keep falling down now so I had to buy a belt. I haven't worn a belt since I've had babies. How cool is that????

Baseball

2010-03-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

There is one main reason that I signed my kids up for baseball instead of football, or soccer. The reason is Koen's shyness. I knew that if he was in one of the aforementioned he would just end up standing on the sidelines. I figured baseball was perfect because he would have his turn to play. I knew he'd be good, he just has to be forced to be good. So last year he did awesome. He really picked it up. This year he will move up to the minor leagues. They had try-outs tonight. Koen had been really nervous about it for awhile now. I wasn't really sure how they do them but I was sure he'd be okay. We are all sitting waiting for it to begin and all the families are sitting on the bleachers while the coaches are lined up against the wall. They then call Koen's name to come try-out. I had no idea they would do one at a time in front of everybody. Even worse, he was first. We hadn't played baseball since last season so he is totally unpracticed.
First they rolled him some grounders. He got all of them and threw them all back just fine. Then they started with the pop-ups. He almost got all of them, but he ended up not getting any of them. Luckily he quickly retrieved the ball and threw them in. The last pop-up he was so frazzled that he ended up throwing it way out. Then they threw another grounder. He ended on a good note. He was so embarrassed. I told him he did great. We stayed to watch three more people try-out before we snuck out. They did just as well or worse then him. That made him feel a little better. As we were pulling out of the school Koen called Tony and told him all about it. Tony gave some words of encouragement saying that he also cracks under pressure and that it didn't really matter how he did tonight because we all know that he's going to be awesome once he starts practicing again. That also made him feel better.
Okay so I learned from the experience that Koen can handle pressure fairly well. I mean it could have been disastrous. I learned that I can watch my kids do scary things without balling like a baby or passing out. I was praying for him though. I also learned that Koen might not be as shy as I thought he was. So it was a good experience all around.

Lists?

2010-03-19T07:59:00.001-07:00

In my family the girls like to make lists. I don't really write my lists out but I do make lists in my head. Sometimes I'll go through a phase where I won't write appointments down. I don't know why I do that, but everyday I kind of go through my head of any appointments that might be coming up. I usually don't have any problems as far as missing appointments but I'm sure I'm adding extra stress for absolutely no reason.
One problem I do have is with my daily tasks. I have a mental list of what needs to be done and throughout the day I keep running it in my mind. This often makes me feel overwhelmed and unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Here is an example of my list today. I need to clean the three downstairs rooms. I need to go to the store to get cool whip, heavy whipping cream, flour, sugar, wrapping paper and a box. I need to make plum cake for a dinner tonight. I need to make coconut shrimp for a friend. I want to dye my hair. I need to cut up some tomatoes for that dinner tonight. I want to take the boys swimming this afternoon. I have to go to the R.S. dinner tonight. I wanted to help the boys make some cardboard box cars tonight because they need them tomorrow and I have a lot to do tomorrow, so I don't know if there will be time. I need to take the clothes out of the dryer and switch the clothes in the washer over and maybe start another load.
While I'm constantly thinking of these things, I'm also thinking about things that I want to do that I know I can't do today but they keep running through my mind anyway. The main two are painting the living room and cleaning out the fridge. Of course I need to come on here to get out some stress. But even now, I'm thinking of all the things I need to do. I'm fairly confident it will all get done and I know what things I can cut if needed.
Maybe I should make a list on paper. I don't know if that will help. I think I might still run the things through my mind but then I'll add writing the list and checking things off the list into it. I suppose the solution is to give it a try. If I feel like it helps then I'll keep doing it. If I feel like it adds stress, then I'll stop.
As far as today. I'm done with two rooms downstairs. I already have one car made for Dougan and I'm already started with laundry. We'll see how it goes. Dougan just informed me that I need more milk. Okay, I'll add it to the list.

Amish Dinner

2010-03-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm planning another Amish dinner right now. I thought I was getting a late start because I usually like to get invites out 6 weeks in advance. I ended up getting a night scheduled with Aunt Lorene for April 24th. That gives me plenty of time. I already set up an event on Facebook and invited a ton of people from Elkhart. I am so surprised. Some have already responded that they'll go and a lot have said maybe. Plus they have been spreading the word and inviting other people to go. It's so exciting to me. This will be the biggest group that I have going. Now I wish that I didn't plan it for so far away. That's okay, because I hand out invitations to people in my ward and they take forever to RSVP.
I do an Amish dinner every 6 months. That is just the right amount of time I've found. It's usually about the time people start asking for another one. So I've been having one every April and one every October. I really enjoy hosting them. It's fun to see Aunt Lorene and Uncle Leo. It's fun to make the invitations. It's fun to eat the food and chat with friends. It's fun to see people practically having to be rolled out because they ate so much. It's nice to share a culture with others.
Now I just have to wait for about a month to see who all is coming. I can't wait to call Aunt Lorene back with a huge number. It was great talking with her when I called about a date. She said it was syrup time again. She said she had been out there all week cooking it. She called me at about 10:30 that night after just finishing for the day and she said she couldn't wait to get back out there the next day bright and early. I could hear the giddiness in her voice. It was refreshing to me to picture her out there stirring the syrup and Uncle Leo stoking the fire. We watched them do it last year. The boys thought it was pretty neat and the smell was absolutely amazing. She remembered that we saw them doing it last year. I was surprised she remembered because we just sort of stopped by to set up a date for a dinner. She sent us home with a jar. I'm not counting on that this year. But I will say that if she did give us another jar, I wouldn't mind.
So that's one thing I've been up to lately. I'll write another post after the dinner to say how it went.

Just a little stressed

2010-03-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have some things that I have wanted to blog about but I could not bring myself to sit down and write anything. I'm not even really sure why. The last few weeks have all sort of felt like a blur. I've done a lot of stuff. I made a few things for singing time in primary. I made a blanket for Taygan and one for myself and I have another one ready to be sewn. I also made a lot of leggings. I got Easter baskets and outfits for the kids. I found some great stuff at Goodwill, even a nice pair of pioneer shoes in my size. I've organized my kitchen. I've been keeping up on everyone else's blogs. I've been focusing more on homework for the boys. I've begun mousercising with the boys after school. I've been trying new recipes. I've been losing weight. I've been thinking about getting a haircut. I have been organizing a group for Time Out For Women. I've been planning a vacation for this summer. I've been helping Koen plan his baptism. I've been implementing a new reward system. I've been potty-training Brandis. I've been cooking and baking for potlucks. I've had sick kids. I think I had a bit of a meltdown a two Saturdays ago. I have basically been so busy that I don't even have time to think about anything. So instead of writing blogs about each of these things as they happened which I couldn't seem to do, I'll just clump them all together into one post. Okay, that actually helped. After I wrote all that down I had a moment of clarity. I've actually had a couple of things on my mind. Not huge worries but worries just the same. I think I've been trying to fill my time up with other things so I wouldn't have to face some things. That makes sense. See these blogging things are great. Alright, I'm done now.

Great Find

2010-02-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting a coffee table or ottoman or something in my living room that I could open and hide some toys. This week Meijer had a leather ottoman that does just that on sale for $69. I went there to buy it but I could not bring myself to pay that much. I left empty handed. Well not exactly empty. I did buy some socks and a plastic St. Patty's day hat. Anyway, I decided to go to the Goodwill store across the street to see if they had any bedding. They didn't but they did have an old trunk for $10. It was perfect. I bought it. I'm excited for Tony to come home tomorrow because I really think he's going to like it. I tell you what though, $10 feels so much better than $69.

Weight

2010-02-20T17:45:00.000-08:00

When I got married I weighed about 130 lbs. After my first child I weighed 145. After number two I was 150. After number three 160. After number four 170. After number five I'm at 180. I lost weight after each delivery but not much. Only like five lbs and these are the numbers I was stuck with. Because I was having kids like every two years I was pretty much in maternity pants all the time. I just don't have regular pants that fit. I was size 8 at marriage and now I'm a size 16. I used to go to Plato's Closet. A consignment shop for teenagers and adults. The last time I went, which was right before the family reunion last July, I saw that size 16 is as high up as they go. Even then the selection was very poor. I had a choice of five pairs or pants and only two of them were jeans. I haven't been back since. I've tried the slimming jeans but they just give me a muffin top. I've tried a cincher which was very uncomfortable and the shaper and even the spanx. Nothing can hide my gut.
So I've decided I need to stop trying to hide it and I need to get rid of it. I have never been on a diet before. I don't think I could do it. I really like food and the thought of giving things up sounds way too hard for me. I decided I'm going to do portion control and I have to start exercising. I bought Mousercise and I'm going to do that everyday with the kids. A lot of people want me to join the YMCA. I was a member before I was pregnant with Taygan. I went four days a week and I really didn't notice a difference in weight or muscle or energy or anything. I think I'll only go back if I want to sign the kids up for swim lessons or something. I'm hoping that between the almost diet and the Mousercise plus my Cupid Shuffle while cleaning will do the trick. I just don't know if I can ever get great abs though. I mean is it possible? Can skin ever go back after you lose the weight? I usually got pretty big with my babies and my stomach has been stretched way out. I just want clothes to fit me again so people won't ask me if I'm pregnant again. I can't help it I just have a huge tire of fat and skin around my belly. Sorry to be so graphic. It's true though. Well, here's hoping I will someday conquer my bulge.

Leggings

2010-02-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

I made these leggings after everyone else in the world had some. I didn't want to pay the $12 for them because I knew I would want a few pairs with different patterns and colors. So I found a website that taught me how to make them and bought some $3 socks and made these. I think they're adorable.

Sing-O-Meter

2010-02-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stuff

2010-02-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

Amazing Acres

2010-02-05T19:01:00.000-08:00

Now My Eights

2010-01-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

Today's Meme is brought to you by the number 8! It's pretty simple. If you wanna play along, just copy and paste to your own blog, changing the answers to reflect you, and viola!

8 Shows I like to watch:
1- Cake Boss
2- What not to Wear
3- Say Yes to the Dress
4- Toddlers and Tiaras
5- SYTYCD
6- Community
7-Little House on the Prairie
8- Cosby Show

8 Favorite Places I like to eat and drink:
1- Olive Garden
2- Taco Bell
3- OCB
4- Hacienda
5- Pizza Transit
6- China One
7- Chao Cajun
8- Aunt Lorene's

8 Things I look forward to:
1- Birthday parties
2- vacation
3- reunions
4- packages in the mail
5- holidays
6- going out to dinner
7- Girl's night out
8- Sundays

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1- woke up
2- ate food
3- made fruit pizza
4- made handprints of kids in plaster
5- laundry
6- cleaned house
7- went online
8- talked to people

8 things I love about winter:
1- trees are pretty with snow
2- get to wear sweaters
3- sledding
4- wearing gloves
5- possible snow days
6- woodburning stoves smell nice
7- hot drinks; cocoa, boiled custard
8- animal footprints in snow

8 things on my wish list:
1- personal assistant
2- keyboard
3- fabric
4- winter coat
5- an extra kitchen cupboard
6- phone charger for my van
7- a couch
8- new tennis shoes

8 things I am passionate about:
1- music
2- cooking
3- eating
4- planning
5- traveling
6- story telling
7- shopping
8- talking

8 words/ phrases I use most often:
1- I don't know
2- or whatever
3- anyway
4- like
5- just
6- okay
7- I mean...
8- yep

8 things I learned from the past:
1- use your time wisely
2- everything usually works out just fine
3- remain calm
4- sometimes you just need to ask
5- make up your mind to be happy
6- everyone's special but nobody is more special than anybody else
7- be honest
8- don't put metal in the microwave

8 places I would like to visit:
1- Wis Dells
2- Austria
3- Disneyworld
4- California
5- Hawaii
6- NYC
7- Chicago
8- a ghost town

8 things I want/need:
1- a break
2- chocolate cake
3- massage
4- a wardrobe that fits me
5- slippers
6- a bag/purse
7- a mop
8- family and friends

The Blankets

2010-01-30T03:58:00.001-08:00

Our ward has been asked to make blankets for people in Haiti. We were only asked to make 13 but they had to be made to certain specifications and they must be done by next Saturday. I was there yesterday for about 4 hours. I had a great time. I mostly did tying. I hated having to leave last night. We only had three quilts completed. I dreamt about it all night. Every time I close my eyes I see the blankets. I really want to go today but I can't figure out what to do with the kids. I'll probably get to go for a couple hours right before Tony goes to work but I know it's going to kill me all day to not be there. I'll probably do some calling around later this morning to give people a chance to wake up and then hopefully I can find someone who wouldn't mind taking them for a while.
Anyway, last night when I was there, I started work on a blanket that one brother had started. Of course he wasn't doing it the normal way so two sisters explained to me his method and I began working. He came back and he worked with me. Then another brother showed up and he asked what he should do. Nobody wanted to give him a job so I said he could come tie while the other brother and I threaded the blankets with yarn. I forgot to mention that the one that started the blanket was using orange thread. There wasn't enough for the whole blanket so we needed to find two more colors to go with it. The blanket itself was a grayish blue. We didn't have a lot of choices and I knew I couldn't use any reds, pinks or browns because they all clashed. I opted for a blue. Then we needed a third color. I held some colors up to it and then chose black. The brother thought that was a good idea.
As the brother began threading the black one sister began throwing a fit. She marched right over there and told him he could not use black. He told her he thought it looked nice. He was totally taking the heat for the choice. I said that I thought it looked nice too. He just kept working even with her over his shoulder shaking her head. It was so funny. The other brother seemed offended that she was telling us what to do with our quilt so for the rest of the night he kept talking about how great this quilt was looking and that the black just really made it pop. I was giggling on the inside. After we finished two sisters came to check our work. They scoured the blanket looking for mistakes. They didn't find any. It really was beautiful. Then everyone there had to admit that the black did look great even the one that threw the fit earlier.
So now you see why I want to get back there so bad. lol.

Spotlights

2010-01-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

Our ward primary decided to do spotlights this year. They had a form for all the parents to fill out for each of their children. I filled out a lot of it but some of the questions I asked the boys. They keep changing their favorite colors and favorite school subjects and things like that. So as I was asking them questions and filling out the form it tickled me some of the answers they gave me. For example, one question was; What is the child's favorite scripture story? I thought I knew Koen's but I wanted to ask anyway. I was right and it was the Joseph Smith story. Eades said he loved the story about Nephi leaving Jerusalem with his family. Dougan said his favorite was about the Holy Ghost. I wasn't sure what he was talking about so I gave him some examples of stories and we decided on Noah's ark. It was just fun getting to hear their answers. Another was favorite song. Koen decided on Smooth Criminal. He wanted Dirty Diana, but I didn't think that would be appropriate. Smooth Criminal isn't much better. I didn't even know Koen knew Dirty Diana. Eades chose Beat It, and Dougan of course was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Towards the end it asked what Christlike attributes they have. I got to write about things that I see that maybe others haven't noticed. It also struck me again how different my children are. The last question was anything that I thought they should know that they might not know already. I was filling Koen's in first so when I got to this question my first thought was his webbed toes. Then I thought how that might embarrass him because then everybody would want to see his toes and he doesn't really like a lot of attention. So I decided not to write that down. I'll let him reveal that secret on his own. But yes, it was fun getting to brag on my kids a little and I hope they aren't too embarrassed with what I wrote for them.

Kahlua Pork

2010-01-22T14:22:00.001-08:00

I decided to share this story in case some of you hadn't heard it yet.
One day when I was in the MTC I was feeling a little low. I sort of hit a wall with my section 4 memorization and I was having a hard time with the language. I was also a little homesick. I was halfway through my time at the MTC and I knew I still had another month. I think I was getting a little stir crazy. So I was sort of in a bad mood that day. At dinner while I was sitting there feeling a little sorry for myself someone walked by and a gust of wind came from nowhere and blew all the trash off of their tray and into my lap. I thought, How could it get any worse?
That night as I was kneeling and saying my prayer I was telling all my woes to the Lord. I realized that in the MTC everyday is pretty much the same. We had a very strict schedule. The only thing that changed from day to day was the menu. I asked Him if it were possible to let me have my favorite meal the next night. I loved the Kahlua pork. It was very tasty. So after my prayer I went to bed. The next day was much better. I was able to memorize more, the language was clicking and I was very happy to be in the MTC. I had forgotten my prayer from the night before. When I went to dinner that night, what should they be serving but Kahlua pork. I remembered my prayer from the night before. I was reminded of how much he cares for each and every one of us.
The more I thought about it my mind really started to get blown. I prayed for such a silly thing. I was reminded that the Lord sometimes works by small and simple means. I was also left with the question, was Kahlua pork put on the menu last minute just for me or had it been on the menu months ahead of that. Did Heavenly Father know that I would ask for it that exact night? For me it was a miracle even as ridiculous as it was to pray for a certain dinner. Why does the Lord spoil us so much? He does because He loves us.
So that is my story of Kahlua pork.

Crack

2010-01-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my younger sister yesterday. We were talking about a bunch of different things but then we started talking about appetizers. She was telling me about something she wants to make with crackers and I was telling her about a dip that I want to make for an upcoming event. I am really excited to make this dip because it is really simple but very delicious. I have one small problem though. My friends that taught me how to make it call it "crack". I don't think I can show up to a R.S. activity bringing something called "crack" or "crack dip". So I will give you the ingredients and you help me find a good name for it. Because this is for a large group I'll make a full recipe.

"Crack"
5 packages cream cheese
1 1/2 large jars salsa
1 package sausage

That's it. You serve it with chips. Now Ruth made one suggestion. "Salsage" It cracks me up. I'm sure some of you have some good ideas too. Let's hear them. I really do not want to tell everyone that it's salsage crack.

I'm surrounded

2010-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I'm just sitting down relaxing I notice that all my kids are gathered around me. I'm not even doing anything fun. I'll just be sitting there and I realize I have the baby, my 2 yr. old and my 4 yr. old on my lap and the 6 and 7 yr old will be right beside me. I love it. I know there are times when I'm trying to get things done that I want my space but for the most part I don't mind having kids crawling all over me.
I really don't know what that says about their security level or their separation anxiety or any of that. I just know that as I walk around my house I usually have two to three kids following me around.
Lately my kids are changing. Well, I guess they always are but I've really noticed it lately. I've been getting random compliments on my children. I've noticed Koen really stepping up to the plate and helping out. I've been finding time to just play with them. We had a Dance Party USA Friday night. We had glow sticks, a strobe light, a toy guitar, and the music cranked up. We were having a blast and then I realized my neighbors were watching us. I just laughed.
I really enjoy my kids. Today the primary asked me to fill out a form for the three older ones for spotlights. As I was filling them out I realized how amazing each of them really is. They are so different but they all have great qualities. I mean they are just plain cool. I'm not saying I have the best kids in the world and that this is some sort of competition. I'm just saying that I love my kids as I'm sure other's love theirs. As they go through their stages of life I find myself getting excited and emotional. Sometimes just the thought of having them go to dances or on missions or having families of their own is so overwhelming to think about. So I guess it's a little Sentimental Sunday but there you have it.

The Garlic Solution

2010-01-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

My two youngest have had earaches. I took them to the doctor and got them started on antibiotics. I also took Dougan in and he just had a bad cold. So a couple days after that Eades got an earache. It was 11 pm and Tony was at work. The other kids were all still not feeling well. I really didn't want to take all the kids to the ER because I knew it would be awful. I text messaged Tony to wake me up when he got home so I could take Eades in. I figured it would only be a few hours away and Eades would just have to wait it out. But Eades was crying and I could tell he was in obvious pain. I remembered a commercial about home remedies and it said to use a blow dryer. I put it on low medium heat. He said it helped a bit but after I stopped it hurt really bad again. I knew I couldn't just sit in the bathroom blowing into his ear for a few hours. I decided to put the internet to good use and see if there was a way to relieve the pain. I found a website that used home remedies. It said to make some garlic oil. I got out my olive oil and some minced garlic and mixed it together and put it in the microwave to heat up. I then stirred it some more and waited till it wasn't too hot anymore got rid of the garlic and got a dropper. Eades was a little scared about the whole thing but very willing to try it because his ear hurt so much. As soon as I put some of the oil in he relaxed. I massaged his ear and neck like the website said and then we drained his ear. He said it didn't hurt anymore at all. I did it again 30 min. later just because it said you might need to repeat it. He was fine. It worked. Yeah, I was so excited. Eades went back to bed and slept the rest of the night. He went all day yesterday without any problems and even another night. His ear doesn't hurt at all. I don't know why I'm so amazed by it but I sure do wish doctors could just prescribe garlic oil because it's quicker and not as torturous as thick antibiotics twice a day for five days.

Oh, why thank you.

2010-01-13T21:25:00.001-08:00

I was talking to my friend about how sometimes homemakers just don't get enough compliments. I know that sometimes I don't feel like I'm really good at anything but changing diapers and they don't really thank me for my speed do they? So I was saying for me, it's cooking. I like to cook for other people because they actually compliment me. I will go all out for a potluck or a brunch or snacks or even items for a fund raiser. I admit it's really only because I like the oohs and aahs as I walk in with my masterpiece. The friend I was talking to about this, let's call her Christy, because that's her name, said she hates cooking. She was the type who would bring a bag of chips to a potluck. I couldn't believe it. She says her husband usually does the cooking in their family. Well anyway, for me, my self-esteem is boosted anytime I get to cook for other people.
So Christy said that for her it was being a gymnastics coach. She was great at it and she finally got some recognition for her talents. We thought it was funny because we are both pretty down to earth people but yet we thrive for these compliments. Then tonight I was talking to a sister of mine, oh, let's just call her "Baby Ruth" and she was saying she just got a little self-esteem boost because her blog ideas have been being copied as of late. She felt really cool that others thought she had a good enough idea to do the same on their own blogs. She was so proud of herself in fact that she found herself bragging a little to her husband. I found that so totally something I would do.
So, I think that as sister soldiers we need to make sure we're giving each other that boost. Sometimes nobody cares how fast you can fold laundry, or how much time you put in to study for a final, or even that you manage to make it to church on time, but if we notice something we should give the praise. And when someone gives you the praise, don't do the whole "this old thing" routine. Say thank you and give yourself a pat on the back. You're remarkable. You are uber-talented. You did a bang up job. Then pay it forward and give somebody else the two-thumbs-up or two-snaps-in-a-circle and share the love.

Picky Girl

2010-01-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

I don't think I'm a picky person. I usually know what I would like and I don't mind waiting to get it. Sometimes I just don't know what I want so I'll wait until I figure it out instead of making a rash decision and being disappointed later. So the other day I was with my friend Christy. She wanted me to get a winter coat. I knew which one I wanted because I found it online. I didn't buy it when I found it because I wanted to think about it some more. I told her it was at Burlington Coat factory. One day while we were visiting she said, my girls are watching your kids and we're going to get you that coat. So we went to the store. They did not have my coat. So I did not want to get one. She said we were not leaving until I bought a coat. So I started looking at the ski type coats because the one I really want is a wool walking coat. It's a beautiful coat but not good for snow play with the kids. My friend said I could not get a ski coat because they are too hard to clean. She said I had to either get a leather coat or a wool coat. I didn't want to get a wool coat because I knew I would eventually get the one I wanted. I didn't want a leather one because I think I look weird in them. She would not drop it so I went to find a leather coat.
I hated all the leather coats plus they were like $50 and I didn't want to waste $50 on a coat that I knew I would only wear while I was visiting her. So I kept saying that I wanted a ski coat. So we walked and searched and dug through coats aimlessly. Finally she told me that I was too picky and I obviously didn't have 5 daughters. If I did then I would just say, "If it fits, get it". I couldn't believe it. I didn't think I was being picky. I thought I was trying not to waste money. So finally I found a white ski coat that I didn't hate. I didn't really love it, but I didn't hate it. So I decided to buy it, even though she was really against it. Before we got to check out her daughter called. Christy talked to her privately and then said that her daughter had a coat that I could have. Yippee! I put the coat back and didn't buy anything. I didn't really care what the coat looked like, because it was free.
So now I'm all concerned that I'm picky. I remembered when I went to buy paint. I was there for a long time trying to figure out what I wanted. Once I found what I thought I liked the sales person told me I didn't really want what I picked out. So she tried to get me to change my mind. I got frustrated and left. I went somewhere else and bought the paint. I don't really think I am picky. I think I just don't want to be wrong and waste money. I do know that before I buy anything I think about it for a long time. If I want to buy a pair of shoes I look at it for about one month before I purchase it. I think it's good that way because I only bought two pairs of shoes for myself in the last few years. It's because I ended up with what I really wanted. I once found a skirt I liked online and I went to the store to try it on. Then I thought about it. I finally bought it. Then I needed one of a different color. I went online and bought the exact same one in a different color because I knew I'd like it.
I consider myself a wise shopper. I don't want to spend money on something that I'm not 100% on. Is taking a long time to decide what you really want being picky? It's not like I only want the best or the most expensive. I just want something that's me that I won't hate every time I wear it. Do you think I'm a picky girl in denial???

My 2010 Expectations

2010-01-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm jumping on the bandwagon Ruthykins and I'm also not posting resolutions rather expectations.

1. I expect to have my van paid off in a couple of months.

2. I expect to give my kids each a nice birthday party this year.

3. I expect Koen to have a beautiful baptism this summer.

4. I expect to work on some goals such as organization, better parenting, and a healthier lifestyle.

5. I expect to try new things and go out of my comfort zone at least a couple of times this year.

6. I expect change to happen and I expect to let it gracefully.

7. I expect to have a lot of fun and make some new close friends.

8. I expect to keep in close contact with my family even if it is only through media.

9. I expect to be more honest with my feelings and more willing to share them.

10. I expect to write a lot of blogs this year.

Our Big Vacation

2010-01-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

I spoiled the kids rotten this Christmas break. First we opened presents early. We did that on Tuesday. Christmas Eve we drove to Uncle Sam's house. We had a great few days there where the boys got to play video games, make gingerbread houses, and play with two very fun dogs. Then we went to the Barclay's where they got to play laser tag, went to a big play place full of balls, went to two arcades, went to the dollar movie, went to two parties, watched a ton of movies, played Rock Band and Dance Revolutions, and some other video games, and just had a blast being with the Barclays. Spoiled huh. They really are, and I was too because there were plenty of adults to help with the kids.

Can't keep up

2009-12-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas Tuesday morning because it was Tony's day off. I hardly got any sleep the night before because I was wrapping presents and made a 2 am run to Walmart for stocking stuffers. I kept trying to clean up after the boys but I couldn't keep up with them. We had two friends stop by Tuesday who got to see all the aftermath. Tuesday evening Tony, the two youngest and I went out because the three oldest were spending the night at some friends' houses. So I still didn't get to clean up. Yesterday I had people stopping by to drop off kids and presents. One of them knocked and knocked but I was taking a nap with the youngest three while the oldest two were still gone. Koen just broke in to the basement window and then they came in and I woke up totally embarrassed. So it should be clean by now but it isn't. I am totally worn out. I have a huge headache that won't go away. It's probably from lack of sleep because I try to go to bed at a decent hour but then I just lay there totally exhausted but not able to sleep. Then I doze off only to have horrible nightmares that wake me up to where I stay up for a couple more hours. Then I wake up and take care of the boys. So why am I writing on my blog instead of cleaning? I don't know, but I guess I better get to it, huh? So here I go to clean up. Wish me luck.

Here We Come A-Caroling

2009-12-18T19:38:00.001-08:00

Tonight I went caroling with the ward choir. This was not easy for me. I had to take all my kids with me and my brakes are going out so I couldn't drive all over the place. I thought about not going but I knew the choir needed me. I ended up being the only alto there. I was also assigned to bring cookies and the cocoa mix. So I drove there, switched all the car seats over to a nice gentleman in the ward's minivan and took them with me to the assisted living home and to the nursing home where we caroled. The boys were not too bad and Taygan only got a little fussy during the singing. Afterwards we went back to church for hot chocolate and cookies. I had to switch all the car seats back to my van and then get all the kids ready to go. The choir director thanked me for coming and said that he understood it was hard for me to drag all the kids along with me. That reminds me. The brother who drove us around tonight kept saying things like, "I remember lugging children around." and "I don't think we ever had car seats in this van before." He also told me the following story.
One day his sons got into some moth balls. The mom and dad rushed them to the hospital where they gave them the charcoal. When all seemed okay they left for home. On the way home they both began to projectile vomit and had explosive diarrhea. He said it just got absolutely everywhere. So I guess things could be worse than taking your children caroling, huh?
It really wasn't that bad. I think last year was worse because we went out in below zero weather and I had to leave the kids in the van every time we went to a different house. I was frozen and the kids were bored to death. I'm glad we didn't do that again.

My Holiday Meme

2009-12-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

I think anyone who reads this has already read someone elses first so you know what I did

The last time I went caroling-is tonight with the ward choir

My favorite Drink in the winter is- boiled custard

My favorite holiday meal is- ham, cheesy potatoes, and pie

I think fruit cake- is nice to look at.

One tradition we had growing up- was singing that mistletoe song when we hung it in the doorway.

One tradition we have now- is making sugar cookies during the holiday season.

I get my Christmas tree from- the basement. We got it 3 years ago from a friend.

On Christmas Eve I/we usually- read Luke 2 to the kids.

On Christmas morning I/we wake up- early and open presents.

One special thing I make at Christmas time is- cinnamon glazed nuts.

My Favorite Christmas song is- What Child is This, but I also love Silver Bells

Every Christmas- we go to my in laws to open gifts with them.

I hang my stockings- along the bottom of the stairs.

Something I look forward to at Christmas time is- the movies.

My favorite thing about the holidays- is how people act a little nicer.

Something I want to start incorporating is- putting up a nativity scene.

Singing

2009-12-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight I sang a duet at the Stake Christmas thingy. I was sitting in the very back row near the exit and had my boys sitting on the couch in the foyer so I could keep my eyes on them. We were the second performance so I went up there and left my boys in the hall. While I was singing I saw all the boys come in to watch me. I already had a hard time not crying every time I practiced this song but then you add actually performing it and then having my boys come in like little angels following the voice of their mother I thought I was going to lose it. I stayed strong and just teared up a little and I had my voice crack only twice. After I sat down Eades came up and said, "You sang beautiful Mom. I mean, I was amazed. I didn't even know." It was so cute.

Interviews

2009-12-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't done any interviews this year with the kids. I'll start with Dougan.

Me: Do you like to go to school?

Dougan: I like it a little bit but it's a little hard playing.

Me: What do you like best about it?

Dougan: Playing and doing things.

Me: Do you like your brothers and sister?

Dougan: I like Koen Eades and Taygan but maybe not Brandis, there you go.

Me: What's your favorite thing to eat?

Dougan: Pancakes and rolls and I like to smell roses

Me: What's your favorite thing to do?

Dougan: Play buildings

Me: Do you like all these questions?

Dougan: Uh, I like them a little bit, I do, and Yes.

Me: What do you love most in the whole world?

Dougan: You

Me: Do you want me to stop asking questions?

Dougan: Yeah um, I mean no.

Me: What other question do you want me to ask?

Dougan: I want you to ask me about glow sticks

Me: Do you like glow sticks?

Dougan: Yes

Me: Okay Dougan, thank you.

Dougan: What does that say on the computer?

Me: It says, "what does that say on the computer?

That was Dougan. He really does like Brandis, he was just being silly. He's four years old and he likes to sing and dance. Dougan is really smart and he loves preschool. We love having Dougan around because he is almost always happy and he has a love to share.

The Very Exciting Day

2009-12-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

The day started with my alarm going off. I immediately went to the t.v. to see if we had school or not. School was cancelled. I wanted to go back to sleep but the boys all woke up and were ready to watch cartoons. So I decided to go to the store and get donuts and orange juice. We ate breakfast and dealt with some donut drama. Apparently a chocolate long john is way better than a caramel long john and nobody was willing to take the later. We then went on with our lazy day. The baby was taking a nap so I used my prime shower time wisely and hopped in. I got out and was blow drying my hair when I heard a great crack. I ran into the boys room to see glass shattered everywhere and two little boys standing there staring at it. I carried them both out of the way, quickly looked them over, grabbed a box and began picking up the glass. Tony then showed up with the shop vac and finished cleaning it up. It turns out Koen sat on our glass table in there and that's what broke. He felt really bad and was crying not because he was hurt but because it scared him so bad and because it was so overwhelming with all that broken glass everywhere. We calmed him down and then I started lunch for the boys. I had to go to church then to practice a duet for Saturday.
When I got back I thought my eventful day was pretty much over. After a couple hours of calm Eades runs down the stairs and tells me the toilet is leaking. I run upstairs plunge the toilet and start soaking up the water. Then I see the shop vac and get rid of all the glass that was in it and make it wet ready. I clean up all the water and wished I would have seen it before I threw blankets into the water because now I have soaking wet blankets to clean up too. As I go downstairs the boys are freaking out in the kitchen. The water was leaking through. I start grabbing paper towels and cleaning up that mess. Unfortunately it got all over my stove, my pots and pans, my blender, my baking containers, and just everywhere. Now I have a ton of things to wash.
Luckily after things calmed down a bit my sister Ruth called and I got to just relax and talk for awhile on the phone. Now it's night time and the boys are all quiet and we can go to bed. I'm kind of hoping that we don't have a snow day tomorrow after the day we had today. It's just too much excitement for me anymore.

Fun Fun Fun

2009-12-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

I was trying to think of anything fun that was happening to blog about. Again I realized how boring my life is. We're going through another round of colds again. We had a great Thanksgiving. We decorated for Christmas. Then it was back to school. I had doctors appointments today for the two youngest. We met with a new doctor who I really like. We changed insurance so I could have picked a local doctor but I couldn't get the one I wanted so I decided to stay with my old office because they are pretty good too. My usual doctor didn't have any openings so we met with someone else. I might just keep going to her now. I don't mean anything bad about my old one. He is a great doctor and very friendly but nothing was a big deal to him. The one I saw today really listened and seemed to understand my concerns. I like those kinds of doctors and teachers for that matter. Tomorrow is our ward Christmas party and then the two oldest will spend the night at a friends house. I know they'll have a lot of fun. They've been looking forward to it for weeks. Gosh, like I said, really boring, right?

Pictures

2009-11-23T17:21:00.001-08:00

I never knew how hard it was to get a decent picture of five kids. Last week I got the kids all haircuted and dressed up for Christmas pictures. It seemed every time we were able to get the boys to smile the baby was crying. We ended up with a choice of only five shots. I was fairly disappointed so I found two that I didn't hate and took those but then I scheduled another sitting with another studio. Tonight we went for round two. I didn't think we could do any worse than the first time but I was horribly wrong. This time there really weren't any that a normal person would like but I had to get one, so I chose the least horrible. Now I know why we never did Christmas pictures before. So when you get your picture of the kids and you think, huh? Just remember that it was the best one we got.

Holidays

2009-11-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

The holidays are coming and I am way excited. I am trying to get my house ready to decorate and I've been picking things up here and there at the stores to make sure I can make everything beautiful. We just had a Christmas Tree Shops go up in our area and it was really fun picking up some stuff there. So I think I have everything thing I need to make my house look Christmasy except I might want to buy more lights. I love Christmas lights. I also have all my gifts for my family. Now I just need to get my cards out but I want to wait till after Thanksgiving for that. I can't wait for caroling and all of that. I'll take pictures after everything is up and then you can even see all the painting I've done in the house. I need new curtains though. Hmmmm. I wonder if I can make new curtains by Thanksgiving. Maybe if I get some help.

I'm done with my dare.

2009-11-17T05:23:00.000-08:00

So it's been thirty days since my last blog. I've already went through a few of your blogs that I missed. Not much has happened to me this past month that would have merited writing anyway. The last couple of days though have given me something to write about. On Sunday I remembered that I had bought a pair of thinning shears. So after church I was kind of playing around with them. I wasn't very brave so I was just doing little pieces at the bottom. Then I came downstairs for awhile when I finally got the courage to really use them. I went upstairs and grabbed the scissors and grabbed a big chunk right above my chin and started cutting. Suddenly I realized I had grabbed Tony's haircutting scissors. I screamed, I cried. I was in shock. What had I just done. The boys ran upstairs to see me looking at the damage. I've been wearing my hair up in pony tails since then because I can't decide if I want to go get my hair cut really short or if I just want to always have my hair up for a year.
Yesterday morning I was getting the boys ready for school and Dougan said that my eye was red. I figured I must have been tired. I got myself and the two little ones ready to go and then we got in the van to run errands. As I looked in the rear view window I saw a big red spot in my eye. I pulled back into the driveway, got the kids out and went to WebMD. It said that I just had a burst blood vessel. It will probably go away in a few days. Today the blood is kind of spreading out so now instead of just one spot it looks more like pink eye.
Okay, so that's pretty much all the interesting stuff. Other than that I've been doing a lot more baking. I've painted some of the house, I moved the fish over to a different tank and I've done some Christmas shopping.

Internet Challenge

2009-10-16T05:16:00.001-07:00

I have been challenged to go without the internet for a whole month. I think I can do it. I will cut out facebook, this blog, email, and any games or any of that stuff. Everything else will just be on a need basis. I like to check my bank balance everyday, so I think I should still be allowed to do that. I think if I also have something that I need to look up like maybe a map or get info about something that should be allowed too. I will try my best to not use it at all. I guess I don't have to check my bank balance everyday. So today will be my last day for the month. I'll be back Nov. 17th. That means no more blogs, no more comments, no more status changes, no more emails. Since I'm starting tomorrow that means I get to still do it today, so today I will be on probably till midnight. ha ha ha.

I've challenged myself before with other things. I've done chocolate and pop. Both of those were fairly easy. I know this one will be very hard especially at the beginning. The more I think about it the more I don't want to get on the internet at all for the whole month. That way I'll feel like I really accomplished something at the end. Otherwise I might feel like I cheated a bit. I suppose if I really need something I could call somebody and have them look something up for me, right?

Okay, I'll go a month without getting on the internet. Now, I'm not doing this because I think the internet is bad. Not anymore than chocolate. I'm just doing it to get a different perspective and to prove that I am not addicted to it. After all, the internet is a very good thing. It keeps me in regular contact with my family and friends, it has a ton of information right there at my finger tips, and it keeps me organized as far as bank accounts and budget go. But I just went to an Amish dinner and we were talking about facebook and I saw my cousin and knew he probably had no idea what we were talking about. I'm going to go back to basics and I'm sure I'll be just fine. It's only a month after all. Alright I think I have talked about this enough. I feel like I'm just rambling and rambling. Maybe because I know this will be my last post for the month I'm trying to stretch it out. Okay that's it, I'll end this post.....right........NOW!!

Grow Up

2009-10-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Do you know somebody who behaves badly on a regular basis? I'm talking about adults who should know better. It could be anything from extreme gossiping, to being abrasively rude, to over indulgence with absolutely no self-control, or even saying whatever pops in their head without thought of consequence. I know a handful of people like this. Every time I witness them behaving badly I am literally shocked. I think to myself, how is it possible for an adult to handle themselves in such a manner? Did they not learn how to play nice with others as children? Is this just something that has developed over the years and has gotten way out of control?
I always think that I have to show them how crazy they are being. I almost feel like I have to cure them before they cause too much damage. Is this my responsibility though? These people are not my friends, they are not my family, they are just people I see on a regular basis. The ways that I usually think would "help" them are typically not very Christian. You know, like public ridicule or being a mirror to them and treating them the way they treat others. This is where I don't want to go. I don't want to be mean to them. Well, I kind of do honestly, but I know I'm not supposed to.
This is where I have a dilemma. Do I try to help them even if it means potentially hurting their feelings, or should I just let those who are close to them deal with it? I guess this falls in the' him without sin cast the first stone' category. I know I'm not perfect so who am I to try to fix somebody who has an obvious flaw where as most of mine or sort of hidden and private. I mean how would I feel if someone was trying to "fix" me? I really do feel bad for these people though because they are often at the center of uproar with their antics and people generally don't like them. Is it their fault that their weaknesses are so public? What do you think? Honestly what do you do when you deal with people like this?

Paul and the Fire

2009-10-13T09:04:00.001-07:00

Here's a story I didn't hear before about the fire at Uncle Leo's and Aunt Lorene's.

Paul was planning a trip to Cancun and he asked Aunt Lorene to just wash his clothes and put them on his bed so it would be easier for him to pack. That night he was at his friends house and it was getting late. The thought of going home and having to take all the clothes off his bed did not sound too appetizing so he decided to stay the night at his friends house and pack the next day. That night they had the explosion in the basement and the fire. Paul's room is in the basement and he lost absolutely everything. Aunt Lorene said the explosion was so bad that she doesn't think Paul would have survived had he been down there. She also said that they were back in their house in 7 weeks. To me that is also a miracle that a burned house was completely leveled and then a brand new house was built in 7 weeks and by friends and neighbors even.
It was interesting to hear her talk a little bit more about the fire than what she had already told me. She said that before the fire she always thought about those things she would grab if there was ever a fire. There was no time for her to grab anything and she lost almost everything. She says that she can still smell the smoke damage in the extension where she holds the dinners. I couldn't smell it though. I did see some of the black peeking out from under the white paint. I just thought I should share the story in case some of you hadn't heard it yet either.

Marshmallow Test

2009-10-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

I saw this test on YouTube where they give a kid a marshmallow and tell him he could eat it now or wait till they come back and they would give him another one so he'd have two. They then leave the kid alone in the room with the marshmallow for 15 min. while watching him in another room. Most kids waited for the second marshmallow and only a few ate it. Some wouldn't touch it, but others would lick it, pinch off a piece, smell it, smoosh it, etc. They then watched the kids over the next 18 years and the ones that displayed the self control with the marshmallow were better disciplined, smarter (probably from good study habits), and more successful. I decided to try a small experiment myself with my boys. I gave them each a piece of candy and told them the deal of one now or two later. Then I left the room. I saw Koen pop his in his mouth as I was walking away. No self control whatsoever. Big surprise. Brandis ate his of course, he's too young to get it. Eades waited a little bit and then I heard him open the wrapper and I peeked to see him chewing. Dougan was just sitting there holding his. I came back in and gave Dougan his second piece. Koen thought that wasn't fair. I explained the rules again and told him he failed. He wanted another try. Then I made them watch the YouTube video. Koen doesn't believe in it. Boy do I have my work cut out for me.

Successful Soup

2009-10-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

We had a linger longer between sessions on Sunday. I like to make wow dishes for potlucks because it's usually the only time I get compliments on my cooking. My fam. isn't too generous with their compliments you see? So I couldn't figure out what to make this time. I thought about what my favorite things to eat are. I love Olive Garden and I like to go to the soup salad and breadsticks and I always get the Zuppa Toscana. I looked for a recipe online and found one. It wasn't too hard to make so I did. I spent Sunday morning chopping potatoes and onions, boiling soup, browning sausage, you know, making soup. I also wanted to take a dessert/finger food. I made a mix of gold fish crackers, pretzels, raisins, Craisins, M&Ms, candy corn and marshmallows. It looked really festive. The soup tasted just like Olive Gardens and I heard people talking about it. *smiles* The mix was fun and people were picking at it before we were allowed to eat. I think it was an overall success and I'll have to put both in my book of recipes to use again. Even my kids liked the soup, so maybe I'll make it just for them if they start complimenting my cooking. It's not that I'm compliment hungry but when I cook for my family I hear from one that they don't like the onions, and that one doesn't like the sauce, and this one doesn't like chicken anymore. It seems like whatever dish is placed before them, someone has to complain about. So when I take it to a potluck nobody is going to complain about it because that would be rude and you only hear the good reviews which make you feel like you're not so terrible in the kitchen after all.

Nosy Neighbor

2009-10-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

The other day I came home to see my neighbors fighting. I was mostly concerned with getting my family in the house without hearing spicy words so I didn't hear what they were fighting about. About a half hour later I hear two loud bangs. I didn't think much of it because we have neighborhood kids who play with fireworks and stuff. Then my imagination started getting the better of me and I decided to just spy on the neighbors a little. I see the husband pacing in and out of the kitchen and constantly looking at the floor. I can only see his shoulders and up so I don't know what is on the floor. I decide to call Tony. He tells me to call the police. I don't want to make a false accusation especially about MURDER and all. So I call up my friend Ellen to see what she says. She says to just call the police. So while I was on the phone with the two of them, I was still spying. I see a friend of his pull up. Then I see them leave with flashlights. I didn't see what they did between these two events because I was looking up the non-emergency number online. I looked up the non-emergency number because I'm still chicken of being wrong. I know, stupid right. By now it's like an hour after the bangs were heard. Here's my conversation with the officer.
Me: Hi I'm calling about something that sounded like gun shots.
Off.: In the Superior, Huron area?
Me: Yes. Do you know what caused the shots?
Off.: No, we do not ma'am.
Me: Well my neighbors were fighting tonight, and I'm worried that he might have shot her.
Off.: The police already have a suspect ma'am, thanks for calling. Bye.
Me: Bye.

Okay, so I felt a little better that my neighbor probably didn't kill his wife but I have to keep watching his house. So I see him and his friend get back. The neighbor shakes his friends hand on the back steps and the friend leaves. Then the neighbor goes in his house and looks out his window right at my house. I jump back from the window and take a deep breath. That night I slept on the couch with both phones beside me and a bat hidden above the door frame. Nothing happened. Yesterday I had almost forget about the whole thing. Then a random thought pops into my head. What if he didn't shoot her? What if he just murdered her? So I've been watching to see if the neighbor lady is still alive, but I haven't seen her yet. Today will be the fourth day.
I also forgot to add in another little bit of history. My neighbors are fairly new. They moved in about two months ago. Their grandchildren are living with them. One of the grandson's told my sons that they have to live with their grandparents because their mom stabbed their dad to death and she's in prison. I don't know if it's true but what if it is? What if the family has a rage problem. I'll keep watching the house for now and I'll keep the doors locked and the phones close. I sure do hope I'm wrong.

Strangers

2009-10-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

The other day I was waiting in the van while Tony ran into a store. As I was sitting there I was doing some people watching. While I was looking at the people going in and out I just thought about how I didn't know any of them. These were just people from my town who happened to be in the same shopping plaza that I was in and there were so many of them. I continued thinking about this and how I could judge them or make up silly scenarios of their life stories but the fact was that I had absolutely no clue.
So then I thought about how God knows each one of them. And not just the people who were at that shopping plaza for that 10 min. But everybody whoever was, is, or will be. I think the thing that struck me the most is I can see what's special about the people I know, and I can see good in them and I can be concerned about them and it's so easy then to just forget about everybody else as if they don't matter. God does care about everybody. He cares about the people who our world says are of worth like movie stars and athletes and the rich, but he also cares about that person who drove up in the loud van with the smoke coming out of it that looks like it's going to fall apart any second.
It reminded me not to judge people and that everyone is special. Everyone, even the uneducated, lamest person has worth in this life. Nobody is a waste of space. I still can't get over the number of people that God KNOWS and LOVES. I need to spend more time looking outside my little box of friends. My sister just blogged about loving people, even strangers. Here's the link. http://emmacmiller.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-am-loving-love.html I love her post and how she is already showing her love to strangers.

Gave Brandis a Haircut

2009-09-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Brandis has curly hair so we can't cut it short or else it would stick up in every direction. We keep it a little long so it will lay down but it also grows pretty fast so he often looks like a cute little girl. I don't like taking him to get his haircut because they never get it right, it costs money and he hates it. So I decided to do it at home. Here is the result.

Today I also made a thank you card for my old counselor. Dougan and Brandis wanted to make some too so here's Brandis holding his card that he made for Dad.

We also had Uncle Sam over for dinner last night and Eades took a picture of him holding Taygan for the first time. Koen wanted to get in it too so he jumped up there just in time.

Spoiled

2009-09-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

My boys really wish they were spoiled but they're not. On Sat. I went to a woman's dinner and meeting. At the table there were a bunch of mom's. One of them was talking about how much her husband spoils their son and it will probably be worse when the baby girl learns to ask for things too. I was surprised to hear how much of a sucker this dad is. The mom said it was so bad once that he had to say no and tears welled up in his eyes. (Not the boy's eyes, the dad's eyes.) That was the only time he ever said no.
I couldn't even imagine getting my boys everything they asked for. They ask for things all the time but we're all so used to the answer being no that there usually isn't any crying or fits. There are things that they ask for that I really do wish I could get them but sometimes I just can't, things like a trip to Disney World, or a horse lol. There are probably things that they want that they just know they will never get so they don't even bother asking. But I tell you it is the best when they ask for something and you can tell they're ready for a no and I get to say yes. Oh they get so excited. The funny thing is it's usually something small like bananas at the grocery store. Or like this past Saturday when we got to go to a free festival. They thought it was cool that they all got their own little bag of cotton candy and chips and a snow cone. It was fun saying yes that day. Can we stand in line for some popcorn? YES!! ALRIGHT!!! Another great time was last Christmas. My sister sent us a sundae gift basket. It had marshmallows, sprinkles, Magic Shell, syrups, nuts, cherries, etc. The boys loved that they each got to make their own monster sundaes like three night in a row.
So what's my point. I don't get to spoil rotten, but I do get to indulge them sometimes. As a parent I want to spoil them a little. It's like I wish I could spoil them without having them turn out to be spoiled brats. Is that even possible? The way it is now is working for us and I hope that I have happy kids. I also hope that someday I could afford to give them everything they want but I won't. That would be terrific.

oh the drama

2009-09-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Koen made his first batch of brownies without my help yesterday. They turned out really great and we all praised him a lot so ten minutes ago he asked if he could make more. I told him he should try to make a cake today. So he's cracking eggs and measuring things out and Eades catches him. He starts to throw a fit that Koen made something yesterday so he should get to do it all by himself today. So I chatted with him about how Koen is older and had to wait until he was this age to do it all by himself. So Eades is distraught and starts crying and I said maybe you'll have to wait till next year when you're Koen's age. He agrees and cries some more. I am trying hard to hold back the laughter because he's being so dramatic about the whole thing.

Then Koen tells him he can help stir so they got two large spoons out and started stirring and then they each sprayed half of the cake pan. They both helped pour it into the pan and now it's time for me to put it in the oven while they both lick the spoons. So crisis averted. Everyone's happy. The best part of this little story is that I get cake in less than an hour.

The Great Exercise Plan

2009-09-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

I did not have an exercise regime whatsoever. I know how good exercise is for your body and spirit. I know that it would be good for my joints which I always seem to have a problem with and I know that it would give me the strength and energy that I need to be a mother of five. Knowing all this I still did not have any exercise routine set up. I mean it wasn't even a sporadic walk outside or anything. It was absolutely nothing. Then at the beginning of this week I saw a commercial. It said that standing is better than sitting and walking is better than standing. I kept thinking of that all day. I decided that I would do my daily routine of housework all in one big shot without sitting down. Usually I would pick up the floor then break. Then soak dishes, then break. Then do some laundry, then break. I wasn't taking long breaks but they were breaks none the less. So on Tuesday I spent three hours straight doing anything and everything that I could think of and even after I was done I did dance party USA with Brandis to burn some more calories. Then the baby woke up and I had to sit down to feed her but I tell you, I was sweating up a storm and I know that I got my heart rate up into the fat-burning zone.
I was so excited. I think I found my perfect exercise. Here I had gold this whole time and I didn't even know it. I can't believe all this time I've wasted breaking up my housework. Before, anytime I started feeling a little hot or tired I took a break. Duh, that's when I should have kept going. So anyway, it only lasted two days because today I had one boy stay home from school and then I had to go pick another one up because they were sick. That really put a halt to everything because I had to keep taking care of them and they kept waking the baby up. I know I have to keep them home tomorrow but on Monday, the plan is on again. I just wish I could weigh myself to know how much I could actually lose without adding anything extra to my day, but just rearranging it a little. By the way if I never mention this again it's because it didn't work out as well as I hope it will, but if I do mention it again that means it was a great success. Just so you know.

A Short Story

2009-09-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

I borrowed this from a friend of mine because I found it cute.

One day long long ago there was a girl who did not complain, or whine or yell. That girl was me but it was a long time ago and it was only one day.

Picture of Water

2009-09-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Let me set the stage. Dougan came up to me with a cup and some Crystal light. He asked if I would make him some. I said in a little bit but first I needed a pitcher of water. He walked away. He came back with a glass of water and my camera and asked me to take a picture. I did without realizing he thought I said I needed a picture of water not a pitcher of water. I laughed so hard.

Here are the pictures of water.

Eades' Questions

2009-09-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today Eades told me about a problem he is having. He says he does like to go to church but it's hard. He says he believes in Jesus but his problem is that he can't see Him. He thinks he should be able to see Jesus at church. He said that this is bothering him so much that it gives him a headache. We talked about it for awhile and he says he knows that he can feel the love of Jesus and that he understands that he just needs to have faith and be good because he believes.
Then he started asking me about how it feels when you die. I told him I've never died before but that it won't hurt after he dies. He also wanted to know if there are toys in Heaven. He actually bombarded me with a whole bunch of questions then. I can tell he's really been thinking about this stuff. All I can do is hope that I answer them well enough. I remember having similar questions and thoughts when I was young. I used to think that Christ walked around the chapel during prayers because we all had our eyes shut.

Self Loathing

2009-09-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a friend today who is taking a class where they have to do cognitive thinking as an assignment. She was working it out on me with thoughts that I have. Basically she was telling me that I do way to much self down talking and that I need to stop that way of thinking. I agreed with everything that she said. As we went through some of the things that I might get down on myself about she showed me how to break it down. We went through what my first thought would be and then my next and how I could control what I think to have a different reaction.
Like I said, I know that this is some smart stuff to do. It is supposed to get you to think positively about yourself and to not rip yourself apart all the time. I don't think I am too self loathing, but then I asked what she learned about negative feelings not being ALL bad. I mean, for the most part I think I'm pretty happy with myself. Then something will happen and I'll take an outside look at myself and realize that I'm not doing everything I need to be doing. That is when I will feel like a bit of a failure and a loser. I said I actually like those times because that's when I see that I have so much more to improve on. I almost need those humbling times to become better. Otherwise I would just walk around thinking I'm all that.
It didn't turn into a debate or anything but she did understand what I meant. She agreed that it can be a good thing as long as you don't wallow in self pity because you're not pretty enough or strong enough, or whatever enough. That's true. I think that from time to time I need to evaluate who I am and what I'm doing. If I don't like it, then I need to make a change. I need to make sure that I don't label myself as lazy or ugly or something like that because that would just bring me down. So I'm glad we had that little conversation this morning. I realize that I don't always criticize myself but when I do I need to make sure I make it a positive thing and not something that could spiral into a self loathing depression.
I resolve that I will take the time to consider my feelings and analyze them to make sure I am helping myself. Who knows, maybe this will be the trick to help me be the person that I want to be and perhaps I can finally overcome some of those weaknesses that I have which I feel are holding me back.

Miller Reunion 2009

2009-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here's Koen being a fireman at the kids' museum

Here's Eades being a cowboy.

Here's granddad sleeping at the museum. We wore him out.

Here's Brandis being Austrian.

This is Koen and Eades on a stagecoach.

This is Eades and Aunt Emma.

This is Eades in a coal cart.

This is the family at Lake Tahoe.

Here's Granddad on a train. This was a nice cool for the boys. They like it when the train turned around.

Some pictures

2009-09-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Taygan just looking innocent.

She really likes her saucer. She plays with toys and just bounces and watches everybody do what they do.

Here's a picture Tony took and then added a border to surprise me when I looked at my pictures on the camera. I didn't even know I could add borders with my camera.

Here's another one. I thought it looked pretty sweet.

Here's Dougan on the bus.

This is Dougan waiting on the bus.

Here's Koen standing next to our neighbors giant mushrooms. Everyday they were bigger than the last. It took about four days for them to get this big. The neighbor mowed his lawn then and now they're gone.

Here's a web that was in our back doorway. Did you know it takes a spider less than an hour to create a web? We watched this spider for 15 min. while it finished this one and then took a picture. The photo doesn't do the web justice. It was beautiful.

This is a picture Koen took. The boys posed themselves and then Koen used his photography skills. If I would have taken the picture I would have made sure Brandis was a little better clothed and that they would have all smiled a little. Oh well, at least he got them all in the shot.

Time on my Hands

2009-09-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

Dougan got on the bus for the first time today. After I shut the door I turned to see Brandis just standing there looking so singular. I got out one bowl and one spoon for him to eat breakfast. Taygan is sleeping so its just him and I. I'm realizing as I'm watching him eat that I won't have to mediate for a few hours until Dougan gets home. What will I do with all this extra time and quiet. I already finished my two knitting projects yesterday. Perhaps I should start painting the house. Maybe I can start practicing guitar again. I don't know, I guess I can do whatever I want. I am happy that when I go to the store today I'll only have Brandis and Taygan.
Dougan was so excited for school this morning he didn't mind that I woke him up in the wee hours of the morning to give him a bath because I waited too close to bedtime last night to give baths. No he didn't mind at all. In case you didn't notice I am turning this post into a Dougan's first official day of school post. Him and his brothers all got to wear a brand new pair of spiderman underwear that their grandma gave them. That's a big deal because I buy only plain white to save money. That reminds me of a funny story.
When my boys were first potty training I bought characterized underwear as an incentive. Then suddenly I changed to plain white. My boys were disappointed to say the least. I told them that their artist aunt Rachel could draw them anything they wanted on their underwear. Koen asked if he could have a butt drawn on his. Aunt Rachel said she sure could do that. We ended up not getting customized underwear and just stuck with the plain white but it sure was funny. I couldn't imagine what a teacher would have thought at bathroom time at school seeing a kid with a butt crack drawn on his underwear.
Wow this post keeps changing. Maybe I'm just so crazy because of the house being so different. Anyway. One more change of thought. I get to plan another Amish Dinner for next month. I love organizing these but this will be my shortest notice of one. I had to plan one for October but every weekend has stuff. I found that the 10th is the only night my church isn't doing something. They will be finishing up a camp-out from the night before but that night is open. I'm a little stressed about that. I designed the invite last night but now I have to buy photo paper and envelopes and print them all off and send them all off. I have less than a month!!!! I usually have everything out a month ahead of time. That way I have three weeks to find out who's going and one week to gather money. Oh well it will just have to work. Project runway right? Make It Work.

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

2009-09-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday has been my favorite day of the week for some time now. I love being around my church family and I love hearing and participating in lessons. I also like when I come home and I just get to relax. Today was another winner. We got to church on time, which we almost always do, and we got our pew. The boys were pretty good. Nobody got kicked out of class or anything. The YW were in good spirits and we had a nice little lesson. I got a new counselor today and she seems really nice.
We came home and ate bologna sandwiches which were quick and simple. Then I got to take a nap. I woke up, did some dishes, and then Eades and I made some cupcake cones. Then I picked up the downstairs while waiting for treats to bake. Tony took the three oldest for a walk so while I'm waiting for the second batch to bake I decided to get on the computer. Now my house is clean and I know I'll soon get to eat some goodies. It can't get any better than this.
Yes this was another pleasant valley Sunday.

School Has Begun

2009-09-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the third day of school. It's really quiet during the day and I can't even imagine how it will be when Dougan starts school next week. Last night I met both teachers and I met Dougan's yesterday afternoon. It was nice to meet them all and I love all of their personalities. I also saw that one of the George boys from Northridge has a boy in Eades' class. I talked to him a little too. Tony volunteered to help out in the classroom which I thought was great. The teachers did too. I think he'll go in maybe once a month or something. I volunteered to do clerical work for Eades' class at home. So I get to cut out lots of things and do stuff like that.
On Tuesday I decided to paint my kitchen finally. It just seemed like the right time with only three little kids at home. It feels good to have finally done it after 2 1/2 years. Now I want to repaint the rest of the house. We'll see how long it takes me to get around to that. I also want to make curtains and do fun stuff like that. I still don't quite have the creative homemaking gift where everything looks cute and great, but I'm trying to.
So my kids were pretty much bored this summer and I didn't have a whole lot of things planned to do. Last week a family moved in behind us with two boys a little girl and a teenage girl. I think it's so funny that now that they finally have neighbor kids to play with they have to go to school all day. So far when they come home all the kids play outside together. It's fun to see them with new friends. They're good kids too so I'm glad that they moved in.
Now I just have four more years until my youngest goes to school. I have some friends and family who have sent there youngest to school this year and I'm glad I'm not there yet. I know I would be very emotional. I wasn't bad with Koen and Eades this week. I was mostly just proud of them. I'm not sure how I'll be with Dougan next week. The school has a first day cry group, but I don't think I'll go because I'll still have Brandis and Taygan. I think I'll be fine. Maybe when Taygan goes I'll need to go to that.

My Family

2009-09-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is a blog about my kids. See they're sleeping now and I love them most when they're sleeping. They look like little angels. I'm feeling a little sentimental about them probably because school starts this week and I just put their annual marks on the wall to see how much they've grown. So I'll tell you about each of my kids and why I love them.
First there's Koen. He's 7 yrs old. He's shy like I am. He's really smart though and is always thinking about something. My favorite thing to do with Koen is to answer his questions. He has really good thoughts and he just wants to make sense of it all. He blows me away with the things he asks me about. I also love that he trusts me and thinks I have the answers. He's also a natural athlete. It's a joy to watch him pick something up quickly and excel at it. He also gets so proud of himself when he hits the ball into outfield or teaches himself to ride a bike or any physical feat that he can master. He's a really good older brother and he helps me out around the house so much.
Second is Eades. He's 6 yrs old. He is pretty social. He loves to have a good time. If you want to have fun just bring Eades into the picture. He's a real sweetheart too. He loves to give hugs and to put his arm around you when he sits right next to you. He wants to grow up fast. He often tells me about what he's going to be when he grows up and what his life is going to be like. He loves to collect things. Tony and I think it's so funny how he takes his collections so seriously. I think he'll be good with money when he grows up because he is a miser with his stuff. I love just sitting around with Eades and telling him stories. He loves to hear them over and over again.
Third is Dougan. He's 4 yrs old. He loves to talk all the time. He talks to anybody and everybody. He also loves to give compliments. He goes up to strangers all the time and tells them he likes their hair. You can tell they feel special after that. How could you not? He gives me hugs and tells me he loves me all day long. He is super friendly and loves to play with his brothers or anybody for that matter. I love how open he is. He just says whatever he's thinking or feeling. Life for him is simple and fun. I love to watch him just have a good time. He sings all day and tells stories and just loves life. If anybody is feeling sad they just need to spend time with Dougan who just gives and gives and gives love away.
Fourth is Brandis. He's 2 yrs old. He's a little clown. He performs for us all the time. He is the peacemaker in our family. Nobody fights with Brandis. They all just love him. He knows this and does whatever he can to make us all laugh. He'll dance or make faces or just do something funny. We just crack up. Brandis doesn't get in trouble very much mainly because it's just not in his nature but also because he's so dang cute that he just looks at me with those big blue eyes and I forget anything naughty that he could have done. Brandis is a happy kid and likes to play whether it's with his brothers or by himself but his favorite thing to do is to play with his baby sister. I was very surprised to see him absolutely fall in love with her. I was worried that he would be jealous, but no, he adores her. He's such a cutie.
Fifth is Taygan. She's 3 mths old. She is a very calm little baby. She doesn't cry much and when she does she is easily settled. She smiles a lot. She is such a girl and just craves any and all attention. It's fun to talk to her because she just smiles and coos. She's also a little ticklish. It's so much fun to play with her. I think she also likes to get dressed up in the pinkest outfits. Yes I'm pretty sure she does. She likes to watch Jane Austen movies with me in the middle of the night when I'm feeding her. It's just our little thing that we do together.
Okay, I may as well add Tony to this. I mean it wouldn't be right to leave him out. Tony and I love to have long conversations. We usually do this while we go for a drive with the kids and they all fall asleep and we just talk. It is one of my favorite things to do. It always surprises me that I found somebody who thinks so much the same way I do. He is much more of a romantic than I am though and he likes to bring home flowers and chocolates and things like that. I don't mind at all. He is a great dad. I love watching the boys go and do their thing with him. It's good for them. All of them. Tony is a lot more outgoing than I am. He has such an ease with people that I wish I had. It's good for me because it helps bring me out of my shell whenever he introduces me to a new friend that he has. He's also kind, strong, and very loving for all of God's children. I think he's the perfect match for me because where I'm weak he's strong and vice versa.
So that's my family that I love very much. I think it's good to step back sometimes and realize how lucky you are especially when everyone's being loud and you're late for church and you can't find someone's shoe. Yep, that's when you need to realize how blessed you truly are.

Amish Family Reunion

2009-08-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

We went to the reunion tonight and had a great time. We ended up being over an hour late because we had to wait for Tony to get home from work. When we walked in the men were all sitting at the tables and I think it was Sammy who started clapping and the others joined in. As if we made some grand entrance or something. Ernie Lorene came up and apologized that she must have given me the wrong time. I explained that we had to wait so it wasn't her fault. They still had some food out and they FORCED us to eat. Ha ha ha.
We brought some dessert which made everyone happy and it was gone in a flash. After everybody watched us eat the entertainment began. Aunt Elva had a relay game with all the adult males on one team and a bunch of grandkids on the other team. Sammy and Uncle Ernie were being smart with her while she was setting up so she made them sit at the end of the line. Everyone was hooting and hollering how funny they were being.
So the race began and they had to run across the room and grab something from a bag and put it on and run back to there team where they took the item off and handed it to the next person who put it on and then had to run to the bag and put on another article. That's why Aunt Elva made the naughty boys go to the back of the line because then they had to look the most ridiculous wearing everything.
By the end Sammy was wearing an apron, one sock, some clogs, a huge fake ear, a necklace, a tie, a hat, some sunglasses, a belt, a handkerchief, and he was carrying a bucket, a purse, a shovel, and some other things. It was really funny and all the ladies were just laughing at them. It ended up that the kids won by a nose. It was perfect. Then Jacob and a girl who I didn't recognize did a skit, and Aunt Elva and Ernie Lorene did one, and Susie, John and a boy I didn't know did a skit. I think I even saw Uncle Marvin entertaining the men at one point. If I was braver I would have done Ruth's Farley routine, but I didn't.
Then Tony talked with the men and I talked with the women and the kids played outside. On the way home the boys told me about playing outside. Some of the grandkids were kind of mean to them at first but then by the end they were friends. I guess they haven't had much chance to play with English kids at these sort of things because so far all of our cousins have stayed Amish so that's what they're used to. They came around though and my boys absolutely loved it.
I wish I could have had all the families stand in groups to find out who everybody was but I just tried as best I could to figure it out. I talked with Regina a lot. She has five boys now and she wanted to know the trick to having a girl. When I went over by Tony and Sammy they were kind of talking about the same thing so I told Sammy that Regina told me she wanted to keep trying. He then said that he had to go home right away. It was really funny. I said I was just kidding though because Regina said no such thing. She did say that she already has to do so much sewing to keep clothes on her boys that she never catches up and there is always more sewing to be done. So Sammy lucked out. He has five boys to help him with his work and Regina has zero to help her with hers. Doesn't that just sound like Sammy?
It was nice to talk with Aunt Elva, Ernie Lorene, Leo Lorene and Fern. Glen's weren't there and Nina wasn't there. Or at least I didn't see her. Marvin was there so maybe she was just where I wasn't. So I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to but it was still great to be there. If you want to know what there skits were call me. It would take forever to type them out plus you wouldn't get the inflections. But they were really cute. They asked about everybody and how our reunion went. I felt free to tell them everyone was great and that they should plan on seeing you all in two years.

Spiders II

2009-08-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

I guess some of those baby spiders that I was plagued with a while back have grown up a bit. Two days ago we found a nickel sized reddish spider in the kitchen. I caught it and threw it out in the street. It was really scary because he was quick and he liked to hide. Today Koen saw a quarter sized brown spider crawling on the floor and Koen caught it. I had to take it outside though. Again, I threw it in the street. I think the big one today crawled on Brandis last night at the dinner table. Brandis just screamed all of a sudden last night and wanted on my lap. He kept looking back at the bench and crying. Then this morning he wouldn't sit at the table to eat his breakfast. I kept looking for something but I didn't see it.
After Koen caught it I figured that's what scared him and asked if it crawled on him and he said yes and cried. Now he doesn't want to walk on the floor. He wants someone to carry him from the table to the couch and from the couch to the stairs. I guess he doesn't know that spiders can go upstairs too, because once he gets to the staircase he's fine going up and playing in his room. None of the other boys are too bothered by it. I thought they'd all get shoes and and sit on the furniture to play but that's not the case. They're all barefoot and playing and walking on the floor. Well, I am too so maybe they don't think they should be scared because I'm not acting scared. Who knows, but now I'm raising some future spider hunters for some lucky future wives.

Queen of Cheap????

2009-08-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

My sister recently posted about my fair post where she said I was the queen of cheap. I started wondering if I really was cheap. I think I do a lot of things to save money but I think it's just being smart. Here are some of the things I do to stretch a penny.
1. I buy groceries with coupons and ads. I don't even buy milk or cereal unless they're on sale. I probably save $50 a week doing this.
2. When we go to McDonald's we do not buy Happy Meals. We either get McDoubles or 10/20 piece chicken nuggets. I break the box to make two and divide them up. We also all share one drink and get free refills. If we go to Taco Bell we get the 10 taco grande meal and share one drink. We spend less than $10 when we go fast food usually.
3. I buy used kids clothes. I can't even imagine buying full price for new clothes. That would put me in the poor house. I usually don't buy clothes for myself but I did recently find a used clothing store that has adult sizes. So I bought some jeans for $10.
4. I buy laundry detergent when Meijer has their buy one get two free sale. That's right buy ONE get TWO free. That costs me $12 for enough laundry soap to last six months.
5. If I don't get my kids clothes at a consignment shop I get them from eBay where you can buy a whole box of clothes for less than $20.
6. We only go to the cheap movie theater and we watch the matinee so it's cheaper. We also bring our own snacks which I know you aren't supposed to but why pay twice as much?
7. I bake instead of buying expensive goodies.
8. I put things on the shelf at the checkout counter if I realize it was an impulse buy and I don't need it.
9. I also do without. If it's hard for me to pay THAT much, than I don't buy it.

As you can see from my fair blog and some of these. We still get to have fun. We still go out. I just don't want to pay more than I have to. I never thought of myself as cheap though. I do know that if I wasn't as frugal as I am that we would probably be staying home all the time with nothing to do but wear our one name brand pair of jeans and our one shirt and we'd be eating bread and eggs. Also, my kids don't seem to mind all this so much. I think they are just happy to be doing something. Maybe when they're older they'll think it's embarrassing. I'll just tell them to get a job.

Fair Week

2009-08-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I love going to the fair. This week is the Berrien County Youth Fair which is the one that we go to. I like it because they don't have the games there. It's just animals, rides, the commercial buildings and the FOOD! This year we had the perfect fair experience. I will now tell you the parts that made this the best fair experience yet for the Bullocks.
First we went on Monday the opening day. We got there at 6:30 am. We took our breakfast with us and we slept in the van until it was time to go walk around. We watched the tractor pull. That is Tony's main part of the fair. The boys liked it and even I got into it. We went through the commercial buildings which is so much fun. I know when I was a kid I thought it was boring but now we all love going through for some reason. We got to watch a woodcarver make a bear, a dolphin, and a bird. The boys got to go through a farmer's display where they got to gather eggs, milk a cow, pick cherries, go fishing, dig potatoes and a couple other chores. They also got to play in a corn box. It was like a sand box with buckets and shovels but it had dried corn kernels instead. They had a blast in it and it was so clean.
That was pretty much all we did on Monday. We went back Tuesday morning at 7 am. We ate breakfast in the van again and then the kids and I walked around the rides to pick out which ones we would ride later while Tony got a couple extra hours of sleep in the van. After we got Tony we ate some Korn Dog corn dogs. This is my favorite place to eat at the fair because they have the best corn dogs and breaded cheese on a stick. They also only charge $1.50 each. That is so cheap compared to all the other fair food. Oh I guess I should explain why we go so early to the fair. It's because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay the entrance fee. Tony says it's like stealing but I just don't think it makes sense to pay so much money when you could get in free by going early. I don't know if that's dishonest or not. So anyway, back to the food. We also took our own apple juice and we used drinking fountains to keep hydrated. Any way to save a couple extra bucks.
Alright, then we got to the rides. Koen and Eades were big enough to go on some of the adult rides so I went with them and Tony took the younger ones on the kiddie rides. Koen and Eades and I had so much fun. We went on the scrambler, the gondola, the the crazy dance or twister, the bumper cars, some insane ride that I thought I was going to wet my pants on, the gravitron or starship 2000, the spider, the slides, and some hang glider thingy. It was so much fun. We went on discount day so it wasn't too expensive either. It was great to go with Koen and Eades. I think it strengthened my mother/son bond with them. We literally rode until we were sick.
We met up with Tony and looked through the R.V.s and sat on the tractors. We saw a dog show. We went through the wonders of life barn. We looked at Tony's mom's picture of when she was one of the fair queens. We ate some cotton candy. We saw a ton of friends and our kids played like wild animals while we sat and talked. We stayed all day until night. Then we went on a couple more rides to see the lights. It was great.
We got home and the kids just crashed. We did everything that we wanted to do. The kids can't stop talking about it. We set the bar so high that I don't know if we'll ever be able to beat this year's fair. We'll still try though.

My Reunion Experience

2009-08-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

I went to Nevada for a week for a reunion. I decided Wednesday night when I got back from a YW activity that I should probably start packing. I packed everything up and had it ready for Tony to put in the van the next day. We woke up early and got everyone ready and headed out. We made it to the airport and Tony helped get us to the gate and saw us off. We flew there and the boys did alright for most of the flight. The last hour they started getting antsy. We arrived and granddad was at the gate to greet us.
That was the trip out. While there we had something to do everyday. We went on a train ride, had a reunion picnic complete with a talent show and games, went to an old world market where I found a beverage I had been looking for since my mission, went to a children's museum and wore gram and granddad out, went to a fiesta, went to Lake Tahoe, went to Virginia City, went to some candy stores, went to a fruit market, had some GREAT food including giant green olives, foot long hot dogs, red hot popcorn, grilled chicken and burgers, pizza, homemade root beer, a ton of candy, and chicken and noodles. We even went to Jack in the Box once. The kids and I had so much fun.
We got to play a lot of games together and even got to watch an old family favorite movie. It was fun to see the grandkids play together and it was fun to be around my parents and sisters again. I think we even had a couple of inside jokes throughout the week. It's too bad we only get together once every two years.
After the week it was time to come home. We had a one hour flight to SLC which was really fun because the plane was fairly empty and we all got to look out the windows. It was a short flight and we had fun exploring the SLC airport once we got there. Then we got on our final flight and all the boys feel asleep except for Brandis. So we had an alright flight home. Tony met us a baggage claim and he said we all grew. Well, not me, he wouldn't make that mistake. I probably did though with all that yummy food around. We had a nice drive home where I told Tony all about the trip. I don't think I left out anything.
So basically I had the time of my life and I am so thankful to my mom for staying in the hotel with me the whole week. I would have lost my sanity otherwise. I am thankful to my dad for driving me everywhere and enduring my kids fighting in the car. I'm thankful to my sisters who saw me struggling with five kids and helped out and even took some of my kids off of my hands a couple of times. A trip that could have been a total nightmare for me turned out to be fantastic. I love to be around my family and even though we are all so different and have such varying lives there is still something so Miller about us all and I love it. I can't wait until the next reunion.

It's not my cat

2009-07-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had a little kitten sitting outside our house and the boys went outside to play with her. When it was time to come back inside the kitty came in too. I let the boys feed her a piece of cheese and then we put her back outside. She sat out there meowing so the boys watched her from the window. One of them decided to let her in again. I told them I don't want that cat inside so we caught her and put her out again. Eades was fascinated by her so he kept watching out the window. She was trying to catch flies and such. Next thing I know, she's inside again. Eades got lectured about how the cat is not ours and we don't need another mouth to feed nor a litter box for babies to get into. The cat went back out. Eades continued to watch the cat. The cat was in the house again. Eades got lectured that I already explained that I don't want the cat in the house. He got put in the corner and the cat got put out. One more time Eades let that cat in. He got yelled at and put in the corner. That was the last time Eades let the cat in. He also stopped looking out the window at it.
That wasn't the end of my cat woes though. I had to spend the evening listening to the cat crying outside our kitchen door. I think I began to hate the cat. I finally went to bed. Tony got up and got ready for work. As he was leaving and opened the door the cat ran in. He thought it was funny because he didn't know about the earlier events. He decided it would be fun to put the cat on me while I was sleeping. I woke up to the cat clawing me and I screamed, "Get it out!!!" Tony still didn't get how serious I was so I screamed again more emphatically, "GET IT OUT!!!!!" By this time I'm sure I hate the cat.
The next morning I was going about my own business when there was a knock on the door. I answer to see the little neighbor girl holding the cat. She says, "I have your cat." To which I calmly reply, "It's not my cat."

That's not my name.

2009-07-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Do you think it's rude to allow somebody to call you by the wrong name without correcting them? Today a person that I knew growing up called me by my sister's name. I think normally I would have corrected her but she said it as if she was definite that she got my name right that I didn't want to embarrass her by correcting her. So I think correcting a friend or longtime acquaintance is something I would normally do. However I do not correct strangers. I let them call me just about anything. I remember working at a soda fountain in my teenage years and one old man always called me Sharon. It didn't bother me at all and it became endearing to me that he was the only person to call me Sharon. When I got married I acquired the last name Bullock. Suddenly people were accidentally calling me Sandra. At first I would correct people but I got so sick of it, I just let it happen. To this day I still answer to Sandra.
I remember I had a roommate once named Barbi. For the first two weeks I kept calling her Bambi. It was an honest mistake and she seemed patient enough. I really hoped that I wasn't offending her. I mean growing up with four sisters I was often called by the wrong name. I'm used to it, but I realize that others might not be. I also know people who hate it when you mispronounce their names. It's hard not to do that when they have a name like Christen, Kursten, Kirra, Christian, Kirsta, Christy, you get the point. People with names like these have probably always been called by a variation of their name but to me that should just make them more patient about it. I think with some it does and with others it doesn't. With me, I know I'm very patient. The problem I run into is when somebody hears a person call me the wrong name and then let's them know what my real name is and then they come up and ask why I didn't tell them they were calling me by the wrong name. I just explain I don't care what they call me, I knew they were talking to me. Somehow whenever this type of situation has occurred the person seems so offended that I allowed them to embarrass themselves. So that's why I want to know. Is it rude to let someone call you by the wrong name? What do you think?

Sarah Thinks...

2009-07-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

I love doing these. Just google (your name) thinks and then share the funny ones.

Here's some of what I got.

Sarah thinks she will be Germany's next top model.
No I don't. I know they are not looking for a 31 year old, 5'6", you don't need to know the poundage, mother of five.

Caution! Sarah thinks!
Hey, now that's just mean.

Sarah thinks we are radicals.
Yes, I think anybody who reads blogs is a radical. A radical dude or dudette!

Sarah thinks twice..uh, oh.
And I learned my lesson so watch out.

Sarah thinks we should have dinner in the dark and raise some money for earth hour.
I've had dinner in the dark before but it was because the power was out. Go Earth!

Sarah thinks even if it's keeping her toes warm it still might be a bit too...
I wish I knew what it was too...but this was in reference to the Snuggie so I'd imagine it ends in ridiculous.

Sarah thinks you are rubbish.
So drop your tea and crumpets and prepare for a Barney Rubble.

Sarah thinks being pregnant is over.
You're preaching to the choir here.

Sarah thinks she can dance.
I can mash potato and do the twist.

Sarah thinks goals are over-rated.
Whoa, somebody knows me better than I know myself.

Finish This...

2009-07-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

Copy this to play too. Just add the ending to these thoughts.
1. I've come to realize that my last kiss...was not that long ago.
2. I am listening to...Phil Collins.
3. I talk...too much around the ones I love, and not enough around the ones I don't know yet.
4. I love...pizza with green olives.
5. My best friends...like to eat at Hacienda and so do I.
6. My first real kiss...was sweet.
7. There is no...end to family.
8. Marriage...is important.
9. Somewhere, someone is thinking...where did I put my keys? That someone is me.
10. I'll always remember...playing ghosts in the graveyard.
11. The last time I really cried was because...I was watching a baby being delivered on t.v.
12. My cell phone...went away a long time ago.
13. When I wake up in the morning...I eat breakfast.
14. Before I go to bed...I check on the kids.
15. Right now I am thinking about...food.
16. Babies are...beautiful.
17. I get on Myspace...rarely.
18. Today I...won a contest.
19. Tomorrow I will...play with the children.
20. I really want to be...organized.
21. I am allergic to...nothing but kryptonite.
22. I am annoyed by...those desperate for attention.
23. One food I refuse to eat is...anything with cloves.
24. The most recent thing I've learned is...that the guy with the white hair from Between the Lions does sound effects for Garrison Keeler.
25. The number one thing on my bucket list is...to take my family to Austria.
26. Something I've always wanted to learn to do is...the trapeze.
27. I have a high tolerance for...messes.
28. I have a low tolerance for...rudeness.
29. I wish...my family all lived in the same town.
30. The one person I would happily make a fool out of myself for if I ever saw them in person...would be Audrey Hepburn.

Fourth of July

2009-07-06T16:40:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Independence Day weekend. The Barclay's came to town so we went to the beach. Here's Brandis with a watermelon face. You can see Barclays and my kids in the background.

Here's me and Taygan hanging out in the beach tent, and here's Koen being turned into a mermaid.

Here's a picture of a blister I got on my thumb from lighting sparklers. Who knew that simple little sparklers could blow-up in your hand?

We had a fun time and it was great seeing our dear friends.

We also enjoyed fireworks and had a picnic. I love this holiday. I especially love the patriotic songs that make me feel pride in our nation and a reverence for what brave ones have done for it.

Spiders!!

2009-07-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

I like spiders just as much as the next person. Ha ha ha. Normally I don't bother them and they don't bother me. I welcome a little spider in the house in hopes that he'll keep all other bugs away. This is what I'm used to, but this summer I have been overrun by spiders. It started with the one in the bathroom, then one in the kitchen. Of course we have some in the basement but who doesn't. I'm perfectly okay with these ones. I won't kill them or even bother catching them to put outside. Suddenly I've been seeing these tiny little spiders. I think, wow, a spider must have had babies. I've never seen a baby spider before and they didn't bother me at first. Last night I was working on some thank you cards. I was sitting on the floor doing some stamping when a baby spider crawled onto my card. I got him off and squished him because I didn't want him bothering me the whole time. No sooner did I kill that one that another came along. I squished him and then another. I could not believe it. Was I just in a hot bed or were our floors crawling with spiders and I only noticed because I was sitting on the floor?
I'm still not freaking out because right now they are all just the baby spiders but those little guys are going to grow up soon. I looked online to see how to get rid of them. They say that spiders don't like hot and that's why they come indoors in the summer. It also says they don't like eucalyptus or pledge. Time to go shopping.
So why do I post my pest problem? One, because I think it's strange and two, because I wanted to know if you had any suggestions, and three, because I know it would make a couple of you uneasy. You know who you are and you can thank me later.

30 ?'s about you and your spouse

2009-06-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's 30 questions about you and your spouse.
1. What are your middle names? Dougan and Rose
2. How long have you been together? married 8 yrs
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? 6 mths
4. Who asked who out? Tony asked me out
5. How old were each of you when you started dating? 23 for both of us
6. Whose siblings do/did you see the most? his
7. Do you have children together? yes, 4 boys, 1 girl
8. What about pets? one gerbil and a bunch of fish
9. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? not having much time together
10. Did you go to the same school? we both went to Ricks
11. Are you from the same home town? No, about 30 miles apart
12. Who is the smartest? me with some things, Tony with other things
13. Who is the most sensitive? this might be a tie
14. Where do you eat out most as a couple? you mean just as a couple not a family? umm N/A
15. Who has the worst temper? me
16. Who does the cooking? me
17. Who is more social? I have more desires to go out and be social but lack the skills, Tony has the skills but lacks the desire to go out
18. Who is the neat freak? Tony
19. Who is more stubborn? probably me, but I think we're pretty good at compromising where neither one of us has to be stubborn
20. Who hogs the bed? I am a heat monger
21. Who wakes up earlier? Tony wakes up around 10 pm and I wake up around 7 am
22. Where was your first date? Leonard Bernstein concert at Ricks
23. Who has the bigger family? me
24. Do you get flowers often? yes, too often, I don't know how many times I've said I prefer chocolate.
25. How do you spend Christmas? we read the Nativity story Christmas Eve and then wake up early to open presents and then go to his mom's house. Last year was the first year we opened presents at home and it was really great.
26. How long did it take to get serious? two weeks
27. Who eats more? me
28. Who does/did the laundry? me, and Tony on occasion
29. Who's better with the computer? Tony by far
30. Who drives when you are together? Tony usually
If you want to do the survey consider yourself tagged.

Park Program

2009-06-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Koen and Eades are old enough to go to the park program near our house. It's just like summer fun when I was growing up. They go on a field trip every Wednesday and swimming at the YMCA every Thursday. They like it because they get to run around and play with kids all day instead of being bored at home. I started taking them there last Monday. When I went to pick them up one of the leaders came to talk to me. She said that the park may be a little "rough" for them. She suggested that I take them to one of the other park programs in Niles. I guess they have three. I told her I would think about it.
I asked the boys and they really wanted to stay at the park by our house. I kind of wanted that too because we can just walk down there and they can actually walk down there by themselves if they have to. Otherwise I would have to wake everybody up, and load them into the van to drive them to another park. So we played it out last week at the park by our house to see if there would be any problems. Luckily there weren't any and the boys found some friends there.
So for now we're going to keep them at this park for convenience but if there are fights there with the older boys or if the kids say a swear or something we're going to have to change parks. The thing I thought was cool is that the leader could tell my boys didn't fit in. This is the first time my kids were considered the "good" ones. I know we don't live in Happy Valley and that my kids will be exposed to less desirable things such as fighting, swearing, and vulgarity but I hope that they can be strong and stay my good little boys. We talk about it a lot and they know that I expect them to be little gentlemen.
I suppose if the world around us gets to "rough" and I see it influencing the boys more than Tony and I we'll have to make some major decisions but my hope and prayer is that they'll be the ones that influence their friends to be better and that they'll remember to be gentlemen and do what's right.