My Kind of Graffiti

We are painting my daughter's room and moved her bed, and found this lovely message.

Isn't it funny that kids will sign their name to their artwork, making it easy to find and punish the culprit. Of course how can you get mad at this.

Here is another picture found in my youngest boys room, because he wanted to turn his closet into an office. He did so by simply labeling it as such.

And finally my favorite recent secret message was found when I was ripping out my kitchen tile. Before demolition I allowed the kids to write on the floor and my five year old wrote me a note. In case you can't read it it says Mom I love you but why are you taking out the tile. Very good question.

A Day To Remember

I had a good day today. Why?, because I got to hear an apostle of God bare his testimony of our savior Jesus Christ.Elder L. Tom Perry spoke at Women's Conference. It was an interesting talk, in a nutshell he challenged us to strengthen the image of the church and have the courage to bring the church out of obscurity. I was only able to attend for one day, but enjoyed it very much. I am already looking forward to Education Week.

Book Review

I love to read, it is one of my favorite things to do. There is nothing better than taking a break from the world and immersing yourself in a good book. I have to tell you about a book I read that I highly recommend, it's titled The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne. My 11 year old actually brought it home from school to read. You may remember if from a movie that came out last year. It is a young adult book and an easy read. It is a story about two boys, one a prisoner in a concentration camp one the father of a Nazi prison leader. It was a beautifully written and poignant story. The author said he felt that the best way to write about such a controversial subject was from the point of view of an innocent child. The ending is sad, yes but done in such a simple, meaningful way. Please read it and have your kids read it. It would make for a great conversation about a too often forgotten subject. Along the same subject, if you are not familiar with Goodreads.com check it out. It is a great way to see what other people are reading and what they thought about it, as well a keep track of books you want to read. You never have to go to the library without a recommendation again.

More vacation pictures.



We don't know how to have fun !


The flowers were almost as eyecatching as him.



They fit right into the California scene.

They kind of look alike.




Pure happiness.







Love long car rides, they did pretty good.

Spring Break Fun

We had a great family vacation. It really went much better than I expected. We spent the week in a condo near San Diego, just off the beach. I admit I was worried, it's hard to plan things that teenagers and 5 year olds will enjoy. We left Friday and got to Vegas, then got to our condo Saturday afternoon. Spent a few days on the beach, enjoying the sun. Monday we went to Seaworld, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Disneyland. #5 hasn't been to Disneyland and #4 was a baby. So we really wanted to take them. The funny thing is they did not have a typical Disneyland experience. I am embarrassed to admit we really only went on very few kiddie rides. Most of are time was spent riding Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror. I don't think they even realized that they had the option of not going on them. Luckily my youngest was just tall enough. They did get kind of scared the first time on tower of terror but was asking to go on it after that. Space Mountain was the absolute favorite. Love the FastPass We had a three day pass, but two days was enough. I love Disney but the walking is a killer. The rest of the time we relaxed on the beach and saw some sights in San Diego. The older kids were great, they tried really hard to be positive and thankful. We got some really good time together, something we really needed, plus no emergency room visits - always nice. I was very aware that there will not be many opportunities that all seven of us will be together, I just wish it didn't cost so much.

Frequent Flyer Progam

So do they have a frequent flyer discounts for emergency room visits, because if they do, sign me up. I long suspected that we have our local instacare at a greater frequency that than the average family. This week my suspicions were confirmed. Twice we made late night visits, two visits within 3 days. That may just seem like a just a run of bad luck, but as I contemplated I realized that this was my 5th visit in 3 months. That seems like a lot, in fact I was actually concerned that I might actually start getting questioned from child protective services. We do seem to spread the bad luck around though, all my children are clumsy/unlucky, and my husband also is missing the "I probably shouldn't do this" gene. I remember once I was in the emergency room while my husband was getting stitches and my neighbor called saying he was bringing in one of my children so just stay were I was. Two totally seperate injuries on the same day, that just shouldn't happen. Maybe our last family vacation will give you a better idea of what I have to deal with. We were staying in a kind of remote little mexican town, that had a nice hotel resort but not much else. About the second night we were there my oldest son slipped at the pool and cracked his head open. It was late, we found a local pharmacia and got some supplies and super glue and glued it up. Two days later, my youngest son did almost the exact same thing, but worse. This time we found a little medical clinic, where we gave them pesos and they had someone who we hope was a doctor stitch him up. It was quite an interesting experience. After that I threatened the kids with severe bodily injury if any of them got hurt again. The last night we were there my husband took the kids out for some fun, that fun apparently included mexican fireworks. Can you guess the rest. Yes, don't trust the fuses on cheap fireworks, one firecracker exploded in my husbands hand. He dropped the kids off and went back to the medical clinic and got it bandaged up, he didn't even let me see it. We left for home the next morning, he was in a lot of pain for the 14 hour drive home. When home he went to the emergency room and they sent him up to the burn clinic . His fingers were black and he had to have the skin scraped off. OUCH. Followed with weeks of special skin treatement. So yes we had a fun packed week. But I digress, this week we were lucky only a severly sprained wrist from doing a back hand spring, and a severly sprained ankle from volleyball practice. (He shouldn't have even been at volleyball practice because he had his wisdom teeth taken out the day before, but that is another story.) The picture is from two weeks ago, my middle son slid into second base at school during a kickball game and ripped up his knee on the screw holding the base in place. That was a good 40 stitches wound. The funny thing is when he slid they threw the ball at him and missed him so he got up and ran home with a mangled knee. I love my kids but sometimes I wonder if I can survived them. I do know that Heavenly Father sent them to me because there probably aren't very many other mothers who would survive it.

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get me Down

It is sunday night and I am sitting here dreading tomorrow. Why do I hate mondays so much, what is it that makes that day so much worse than the others? Well here is what I did last Monday, maybe you can understand.

7:00 am Try to get the teenagers out of bed, they aren't moving because they stayed up too late because they took a nap on Sunday afternoon.

7:15 take #1 to HS (can't wait till he can drive himself)

7:45 take junior high carpool

8:00 get other kids out off bed. My kids have always been good sleepers, not something that is so great when they reach school age.

8:45 Take last 3 to school. (How do shoes get lost over the weekend.)

9:00 start a load of dishes I swear I did the dishes on Sunday, but there is a whole load in the sink. I quess I shouldn't make big desserts on Sunday night (who am I kidding, that's not going away). Get a load of laundry started. Where did all these dirty clothes come from. Sure the kids may have cleaned there rooms Saturday, but they just threw everything in the laundry room.

10:00 got to #5's class and swap out books for home reading.

10:15 go to #4's class and listen to the same 3 kids read out loud to you.

11:00 go to # 3 class and wonder why anyone would want to teach 5th grade.

Note to self: no volunteering next year.

11:30 time to pick up the kindergartener, didn't I just send him.

What's for lunch,? Cheese bread because I haven't been to the store since forever and the kids ate everything that was edible over the weekend.

12:00 Why is this house so messy, what is it about Sundays that makes everyone turn into absolute pigs. Keep working on that laundry room.

1:15 #1 calls and needs a ride home from school. I HATE EARLY OUT DAYS!!

1:45 pick up jr. high carpool.

2:00 listens to complaints about how there is nothing for afterschool snack (didn't they just eat lunch)

2:30 Pick up 3 & 4 from school.

2:45 Take #2 to piano lessons, we are late because she is trying to practice her songs one last time, something she hasn't done all week.

3:15 pick her up, then try to make some attempt to get the kids to do there afterschool chores(but my hearts not really in it so they disappear the first second they can.)

4:00 Take #2 to volleyball practice.

More laundry, pile it one the bed - I might fold it later.

5:00 Take #3 to bb game 30 min away (He can't even play, he has 30 stitches in his knee, so at least I don't have to stay and watch)

Make dinner, feed kids, start homework. DH and #2 get home about 7:30.

8:00 make some lame attempt at a Family Home Evening that ends with me yelling at everyone and generally being onery.

8:30 I don't care if your not tired, GO TO BED.

9:oo time to start on the 6 loads of laundry on my bed, at least I have a 24 recorded to watch while i fold.

Tomorrow I get to do it all over again.

Kitchen Floor (Part 2)

I am finally done. Hallelujah!

It was a lot of work, and hard to live without a fully functional kitchen. I don't know how I would do with a complete remodel. It was worth it and I think it looks great, a big difference. It took a long time to grout it, but I think I did a pretty good job. Because of the varying thickness and all the nooks and grooves, it was a bit tricky. I had to seal the stone before the grout so the grout would clean off the surface. The grouting part went fairly smooth, but it took forever to clean it up. I had to go over it about 3-4 times, on my hands and knees with a scrub brush and a flat screw driver getting each tile clean and grout free, before I sealed it one last time ( I used aquamix enrich and seal for future reference) I had to do this in sections so that we could at least walk on part of it. It was also best done after kids were in bed, so I have a had more than a few late nights. The stove and dishwasher are back in place (how I missed that), but the fridge is still sitting in my entryway. Hope we don't scratch the floor up putting it back. I still need to reinstall my built-in bench and my baseboard. It has only been two weeks but seems like longer. Now I have to think about the missing tile in my entryway and get ready to lay the hardwood. Which I think I will attempt to install myself. My husband thinks I am crazy, but is glad he doesn't have to do anything. If I waited for him to get involved it would absolutely never happen.

Today I hired a Stripper!

Not exactly what you had in mind right. I am finally getting to replace my kitchen tile. This is something I have wanted to do since I moved into this house 8 years ago. The light gray, almost white tile has been hard to keep clean, and just overall ugly. Many a bad thought have been thrown at this floor over the years, but none so much as today. That tile would not come up, that soon became evident after a quick shot with my hammer and chisel. So I went out and rented a floor stripper. This had a large sharp blade that hammered against the tile. Did it work not really, so I took it back and rented a power chisel. This was a big chisel powered by a large air compressor. This did a better job of getting up the tile, though very slowly. The problem lay in trying to get up the existing mortar and wire mesh. I was told I needed to get down to the wood subfloor. And so I tried. A friend of my brothers was going to come help on Saturday, so I worked two days on my own trying to get the tile up. By Saturday I knew the mortar was not coming up. In fact my tile guy said he had never seen tile so hard to get up. So we resolved to leave it on and level it off with another layer of mortar. That took up Saturday. The next day my brother's friend came back with a buddy and got it laid. They did a good job and I was glad not to have to do it all by myself. Especially now that I know how much work I had left. So part two of the floor saga later.

Creamy Dreams

Last week my DH, #1, #2 and I played in a coed volleyball tournament. It was pretty cool to be able to play with my kids at that high of a level. They are getting good. We won the tourney and got a gift certificate to a restaurant. Saturday night we decide to use it. We were just finishing stuffing our faces with yummy barbecue when I looked over at #5. He was staring off into space with a squirley little smile on his face. I leaned over and whispered in his ear "what are you thinking about" He looked at me intently and solemnly answered, "Cream of Wheat".

Humpty Dumpty's Funeral

At Humpty Dumpty's Funeral,

the loss was felt by all,

and everyone was schocked to learn

of Humpty's fatal fall.

They held the funeral in a church.

The guests were all quite sad.

They had to close the casket up

'cause Humpty looked so bad.

The king's best men and horses

couldn't patch old Humpty's crack.

Prince Charming even kissed him,

but he couldn't bring him back.

And Simple Simon sat and sulked.

The blow to him was bitter.

The woman in the shoe stayed home.

(She couldn't find a sitter.)

And Mary had a little lamb

to cuddle as she cried,

but Old MacDonald smelled so gross

he had to stay outside.

The Seven Dwarfs attended too,

and even Happy wept,

but Rip Van Winkle never showed -

he must have overslept.

So Jack and Jill went up the hill

in hopes of fetching him.

Two famous brothers did show up,

and boy, did they look Grimm.

The sevice was expensive -

they sent Old King Cole the bill.

The Wicked Witch came only

for the reading of the will.

The wall is now off-limits,

and to climb it is a crime.

It's hoped that no more foolish eggs

will go before their time.

Though Humpty was a real good egg,

his future had been spoiled.

As Mother Goose so sadly said,

"He should have been hard boiled."

Blaine and Hardy VanRy

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from weevils!!

I have not spent the last few days as I have planned. I noticed a while back that I had a few moths in my pantry. This unfortunately was not the first time. Last fall I found the same thing. I think the nasty little weevils came from some rice I had bought. Remember when there was no rice to be found in the stores, well I bought a big bag of offbrand rice and put it in my pantry. Later my kids got into it when they were making rice heat bags. Anyway I had a infestation. I threw almost everything away and cleaned out the the shelves. But alas, they returned. I only saw a few of the moths, but I knew there were more where they came from. I was so irritated. So monday morning I started throwing things away again. Away went the pancake mix, cream of wheat, bags of pasta, flour, rice and anything else I suspected. The only thing I am trying to save is a 50 pound bag of powdered milk that I have been meaning to can. I am not throwing that away. I dont see any signs of bugs but I am going to put it in the freezer for a few days just in case. Once I got everything cleaned out and wiped down I decided to paint. After a fresh coat I went to the store to get new shelf liner; Thus ended the first day. My kitchen was a disaster. all the canned good were out on the counter and kitchen appliances were all over the floor. I was mad at wasting so much time on this stupid project. So I laid shelf liner, went back to the store to get some new airtight containers. And started putting everything back. I had flour, rice and sugar stored in large buckets. After throwing the food away I began scrubbing the buckets, on the bottoms in the crevices I found those nasty larvae. How gross! I got everything put back in and boy did it look good. Don't you think? But after loading everything back I took another close look and dang it I didn't see two little worms crawling along the ceiling. Uggh!! are you kidding me. I guess they were hiding in the cracks of the selves and didn't like the paint. Since then I have done some research and have learned that they are very, very hard to get rid of. I will be extremely mad if they come back, but not really surprised. Two days of my life, wasted fighting little weevil bugs. No wonder I never feel like I accomplish anything.

Happy Valentine's Day

My Dh and I had a great valentine's day. We stayed the night at a good friends cabin. It is a beautiful cabin. We so needed a night away, I have to confess it hasn't been the best winter for the two of us, but we are resolved to do/be better. We had such a great time doing mostly nothing. We had the best meal ever, it consisted of: Steak with sauteed mushrooms, king crab legs, lobster tail, asiago cheese bread, and sushi. For dessert we mad chocolate covered strawberries with really expensive dark chocolate. They were delicious. We then watched a great movie and enjoyed each others company. We slept in the next morning, made delicious omelets and hurried home in time to take the kids to church. This was the first time we left the kids all night by themselves with the older ones in charge. We had grandma check in on them, but they were on there own. They did great, the house was a mess, but totally worth it to get away. I love you, babe Happy Valentine's Day.

Dash 1, Dash 2, Dash 3, Dash 4.....

Mom how many kids are you allowed to have?

As many as you want, I guess.

I am going to have ten hundred.

And I am going to name them all

Dash.

Mom do you have a marijuana pipe I can take to school?

Okay, that's not exactly what my son asked, but close. Tomorrow is the fifth grade wax museum, the students pick a famous person to dress up as and then repeat a memorized speech of their accomplishments. My son choose Michael Phelps. So, do you think sending him with a bong is a little too much.

Finger Foods

Yum, don't you love Super Bowl Food. This years theme foods eaten with your fingers.

Chicken Fingers
Potstickers
Mini Eggrolls
Chips and Salsa
Shrimp
Taquitos
Cut up fruit
Pizza Rolls
Lil Smokies

It was fun to cook and fun to eat. We even had 6 different types of dipping sauce. For dessert, I made the best cheesecake ever (which we ate with a spoon). To top it all off the game was great.

Love It/Hate It

Sometimes (perhaps even most of the time) I love to run. It is a very empowering thing to do. To feel physically strong, if even for a minute, is a very powerful and pleasurable emotion. Maybe its just because its such a fleeting thing for a women. Conquering a hill or finishing that last mile when I really just want to stop makes me feel strong. I find it so hard to be good at anything lately, nothing I do seems to get my full attention or effort. In the best situation I usually leave something knowing I could have done it just a little better. Being a mother is most often a thankless job, being a mother of teenagers can be discouraging and defeating. I have no allusions of what I am capable of, but when things get hard I ache to just have one thing I can fall back on, one thing I know I can suceed at. When I was training for my marathon in 2007 one of the most unexpected benefits in the whole process was what a confidence booster it was. I suppose you could get hung up on your times or find other ways to be critical of yourself, but I was always so amazed at what I was doing. Most people have no concept of what it is like to run more than 5 miles, much less 15, 20 of 26, and it was dang fun to know that I could do it and that I was doing it. But running can be a huge confidence killer, as it was today. The 6 miles I tried to plug out were endless. I felt fat, slow and old. Last weeks 6 made me feel strong and that I was finally overcoming these stupid injuries. What is the difference between the two, self pity, high expectations or simply hormones. I'm not sure, but I do know that after last weeks run I came home ate a healthy salad, skipped dessert and felt in control. Today my after run meal was chips and salsa, and pizza. Haven't yet decided on a dessert but it will be a good one. Its been a bad week, can't expect if not to effect other areas of my life but still I run to feel strong and in control. If I want to feel fat and old I will stay home and watch tv.

How Firm a Foundation

One of my most favorite hymns has always been How Firm a Foundation. I particularly love the third verse.

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

I have often repeated these words, and felt the comfort they bring. The other night while attending a church meeting, I out of boredom thumbed through a hymn book and began to focus on the other verses.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!


Oh, how I was reminded that the waters will be deep, but they will not overflow. For some reason the idea of a refiner's fire was so on point for me. I have to remember that as painful as it seems right now, that the end product will be beautiful.

Oh How I Miss Those Days!

There is something that has always bothered me. When someone older, and supposedly much wiser tells me how much I will miss these days and to enjoy it while you can. These days meaning when all your children are home, little ones to love and mold and shape. Days filled with laughter, love, companionship. Maybe that is true, but what about days filled with this.


This is what most of my days are filled with, laundry, laundry and more laundry. Throw in some dishes, plugged toilets, back talking teenagers, and sibling fighting. That pretty much sums up a typical day. I can not really believe that I will really, really miss all that. Is the mind such that it really allows you to look back on years past and remember only the good. I hope so, I don't want to be a bitter old women in the rest home reminiscing about the days when I had to fold laundry all the time. I try hard not to resent, all that I have to do, I know it comes with the territory, and that it will get easier. That is what I look forward and I will not say to my children enjoy it while you can it will soon be gone. I will say enjoy it now so you will be able to enjoy it even more later.(p.s. these clothes were all clean and I did get them folded and put away before bedtime).

A Perfect Faith

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matt 19:14.
I was reminded of a very important principle last night. My youngest child had been begging all night for an ice cream sandwich. I finally told him that he could have one if he found his baggy book (home reading books that are sent home in a ziploc), which we had been unable to find the previous few days. He spent a few minutes looking in his room, and then came running in with a huge smile on his face a proudly announced " I know how I can find it, I will say a prayer. Oh the look of joy on his face as then he folded his arms and quickly said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for helping him find the book, I had to remind him that he hadn't asked for help yet. While he's praying I am praying/begging Heavenly Father to let him find the book, dreading how to explain to him how some prayers are not always answered in the way we would like. After saying amen he, turns to me and says maybe Heavenly Father will put the book on the bed so that I can find it. I explain to him we have to work to have our prayers answered so we need to keep looking. He runs back to his room and I follow, thinking that I had better help him. We start to look in the usual places, places we had already looked. Not more than a minute passed before he exlaims proudly, I FOUND IT! How could I have doubted that his perfect faith would be rewarded, and that his Heavenly Father knows and loves him.
I can see the contrast between his faith and mine, and am resolved to do better, to trust Him more, to believe in Him more, to feel of His love more.

Why I love this little guy?

There are so many reasons I love this my youngest of my offspring. To me he is a perfect example of how to give and receive love. One recent experience sums up his sweetness. When we were in Arizona recently we got to sleep in the same bed. As I was tucking him in we were having some serious snuggle time. I asked him what the best part of his day was. He had just spent a day, playing with cousins, eating milkshakes, playing at the park and swimming in grandmas pool to name only a few of the busy days adventures. Without even a pause, he answered "The best part of my day is snuggling with you." If that wasn't enough to melt my heart, the very next morning I heard him tell his cousin in a very serious voice, "I have a girlfriend!. Then after a short pause I heard him whisper, "It's my Mom, I love her soo much!