Book covers and dishes

Hi everybody, I know it has been a while but I guess I had the winter doldrums. I have been promising my mom that I would show her what she got me for my birthday, clear back in January so here it is. I have been trying to lose some weight and joined weight watchers after much pleading by my daughters who are enjoying success with the program. I had been wanting some new plates/dishes and had been looking for a smaller plate to eat on since that is one of the recommendations from most weight loss sites. Anyway I found these dishes and really liked the butterflies. I like to think of myself as a butterfly flying free after years of being a caterpillar. LOL So here's a pic of my new dish set.





I also wanted to show this easy but cute craft I did to give to my visiting teaching ladies. This month the lesson is on strengthening our faith through personal scripture study. I found a tutorial on how to make these book covers on a blog called U-Create at (http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com) (I tried to make this a link but I can't seem to do it. It inserts it in my copy but doesn't put it in the finished post so I guess you'll have to manually enter it) They were quick and turned out really cute. You just pick whatever scrapbook paper you like and a paperback Book of Mormon (or any book) and before you know it this is what you have.



Aimee and family are coming next week for spring break, I can't wait. All of my grandchildren are getting so big, Bailey is 20 and Isabelle will be 17 this month! Jonathan Robert (my youngest is 3 and is "Not a Baby!"). I'll try and post again sooner and share some pictures from their visit

Silliness with the Halloween candy

Last night at our Sunday family dinner, Susie and I played with the left over halloween candy. One of the candys I purchased to hand out this Halloween were these whistle pops. The results was the silliness that follows. Just a glimpse into life at the Sunday dinners.

Also since I posted twice today be sure and check the previous post with the winners of the Halloween literary contest winners revealed!

Del is head-over-heels excited about winning October's contest.


Chris James also won for his creative entry, way to go!



It's official! Del won for the best entry in the Halloween literary contest, and Chris James won the all entry drawing. Thanks for entering. It is so much fun to read your entries!!! You can read all of them by view the comments on the last post. Monica had some cute Cookie monster stories and Susie entered a cute poem too. I am thinking of a new contest, probably something related to Thanksgiving or gratitude and will let you know soon what it will be.

Here's Del's entry:

The Day of The Dead
and past Halloweens,
The best years are gone
and never more seen.

I've fond memories
of the Good Ol' Days,
Far more simple TIMEs,
free and CARELESS ways.

HYPERVENTILATE,
racing door to door.
Fill my pillow case,
always wanting more!

Witch with black nails from
CUTICLE to tip,
Dark GREEN PASTA hair,
fat mole on her lip.

Zombie, SKATEBOARDer,
HUFFALUMP, and ghost.
Look! COOKIE MONSTER,
he scares me the most!

At home with my Queen
and three little ogres,
I fall asleep smiling
in my FOUR-POSTER,
Dreaming of Harleys
and '32 roadsters.

A SMART man knows while
simple times are past,
The memories made
then will always last.

When the Day of The Dead
dawns in my hallowed den,
I may not be as
young as I was then.
Remember these words
and I'll find my Zen;

When Mister Owl speaks,
yes, the whole world stops.
"Only three LICKS kill
a Tootsie-roll Pop."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

And here is Chris's

The old gray mare let out a snort,
With the echo of the rifle’s report.
The air was crisp, the night was dark,
The hunter’s aim had missed the mark.

In the woods a flash of something GREEN,
This was no place to be on Halloween.
Undaunted, the men knew this was the night
The mysterious HEFFALUMP would be alight.

The group pressed on for a while,
Like a manicurist pushes a CUTICLE file.
The Heffalump was dangerous and SMART,
But the men smelt his silent but deadly fart.

The chase was on as they galloped to the stream,
Till the horses’ started at a blood-curdling scream.
Big Bird had been CARELESS and gone on alone,
Now he lay on the ground like a big yellow stone.

His insides looked like PASTA,
And Elmo just lost it.
While Oscar drank one for him and his homie,
This is where our poem gets corny.

Bert and Ernie beat a quick retreat
Back to Sesame Street.
Only one dared remain,
COOKIE MONSTER was his name.

Cookie splashed into the stream,
Like a chocolate chip dream.
This ball of blue fury
Had a Heffalump to LICK and bury.

The Heffalump was big like a FOUR-POSTER bed,
With SKATEBOARD wheels weaved in his dreads.
Cookie charged on, till the beast did HYPERVENTILATE,
He knew this was the TIME, he must not be late.

He reached for his chips ahoy,
And smacked that macadamia nut
Upside his pistachio.

Then he followed it up with some milk in a glass,
And that’s how he kicked the Heffalump’s ____.

Another Contest

(Just a fun picture to ask "What are you going to be this Halloween?")

Hi all, I'm finally going to start the next contest. So here is the contest. Write a halloween story/poem/essay/whatever using the following dozen words somewhere in the story (which were collected from those family members present at the last contest drawing and by opening a book and blindly placing my finger on a word).

Cookie Monster, cuticle, lick, hyperventilate, green, smart, Heffalump, four-poster, skateboard, time, pasta, careless

Hope you have fun, the entries will be judged on Oct 31st with the 20 dollar prize going to the one I judge to be the cleverest. "ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" (wicked witch laugh)

New contest.

Sorry I have taken so long to post a new contest but here it is for your creative perusal. It is a multi-parter and I will draw for the winner(s) as I just couldn't decide last time who was the most creative because they all were!!! So let the creative juices flow!!!

1. (Monica's suggestion) Decribe yourself through the medium of alliteration.

2. Fill in the blanks "It was so_____________ that____________________!!

3. List what you believe to be the five most beautiful words in the English language.


Have fun and help your little ones have fun. Contest will end September 26th and I will draw the winner at Sunday dinner on the 27th.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

THE CONTEST WINNERS!!

Hi, had Sunday Chicken Noodle and dumpling dinner yesterday and picked the winners of the writing contest. We enjoyed our evening, I played Apples to Apples for the first time and we watched old family videos that George and Nancy put onto a DVD for me. How fun to see my beautiful family from the "other side". When it was happening, I was so often overwhelmed, I'm sure I didn't enjoy and love them up enough. Now seeing my little babies all still lap sized I just wanted to grab them up and smother them with kisses, even (maybe especially) Scott who was pouting with his back to the camera the entire way through one of the videos, (I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, I'm sorry you struggled so with being a middle child, but you are my first born son and will always be special!)

Trying to judge the contest was especially difficult, All the entries were fun and since I LOVE you all, I wanted everyone to win. I wasn't a very good judge--I couldn't narrow it down so I declared a tie between Del and Monica. The Random drawing was won by Grace. And I awarded Holly a gift for her outstanding writing even though it wasn't really what the contest was about. I LOVED READING EVERYONE'S ENTRY AND THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL SO CREATIVE! We must strive to do something creative everyday! To that goal, I am going to have another contest, but I have to decide on the details, it will probably be writing of some sort again but not necessarily. (I love Monica's picture gallery where they took one theme (light houses) or one object (flower in vase) and had everyone draw it.) So watch for the details to come soon, maybe even today.

The winning entries were:

DEL"S:

1.) With a voice hoarse from screaming, and fingernails caked with earth from clawing the ground, Earl spies the sign that reads; 'PLEASE DO NOT annoy, torment, pester, plague, molest, worry, badger, harry, harass, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiet, grate, beset, tease, nettle, tantalize, or ruffle the animals' and realizes that dangling the corndog in front of the alligator was not the greatest idea for a good time.

2.) It has been commonly accepted for centuries that they numbered twelve, so the shockwaves are still being felt throughout the world as we find more proof of the thirteenth and fourteenth apostles, Rick and Bill, the Twins of Pagreha.

MONICA'S:

1.) I hate the saying home is where the heart is, since I don't have one thought the scarecrow.

2.) "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he love me not" Carrie always thought she would love to come back as a flower until she bloomed and was carelessly destroyed on a young girl's whim.

The random drawing winner-Grace:

(Grace's story. Age 4(Her words exactly) I think it's cute how many (and)s she uses.)

There was a pretty princess and a prince and a witch, and the evil witch put the princess in the castle, and the witch was able to dance with the prince, and the witch's friends were Jealous. Her friends noticed that she put the princess in the castle and they saved the princess. Than the princess was able to dance with the prince, and they lived happily ever after.

Special award for outstanding writing: HOLLY

The nurse had a tear on her cheek as she brought her in to me, all bundled in pink.The nurse was like a saint to me during the 16 hours of hard labor full of complications. The baby had showed signs of stress. And now here she was being placed in my arms. "Oh," startled as I looked at her for the first time, "she's so beautiful." I didn't expect her to look like an angel! Oh her hair! Her dark, full head of hair and her creamy completion makes a beautiful contrast to her dark hair. She's so perfect. I adored her precious lips, and smelled her perfect new baby smell as I cradled her in my arms. Her skin felt so soft and I counted her cute tiny toes and fingers!"She looks just like she's sleeping." I whispered, I didn't expect that. Well, they told me she would, but Oh, I can almost imagine her breathing, as I looked at her perfect angelic baby face and chest. "Oh God, please, please." I started to cry out. My very soul started to quiver in grief. "This precious baby. My miracle baby. I can't, How can I live without her? God Please!" was my cry into the night as the realization of death hit me. Like a tumbling mountain rolling over me crushing my soul as each stone laid their heavy weight upon the pile leaving me... breathless.

End of the contest and some pictures from trip.

Here's a picture of Alex, isn't she turning into a beautiful young woman!!


Her body is changing as she blossoms into a stinky preteen LOL :)


She had alot of fun taking pictures, but I think she makes the best picture.


On our way to Mount Rainer we found this fun HOBO INN made out of old train cars. Alex took this picture and it is one of my favorites


The next day we went into Seattle to the Pike Marketplace here's a picture of one of the many many wares available there


There were lots of fish and shellfish


There was a giant brass piggy bank--


And several street performers, The guy down at the end of the sidewalk, played his guitar behind his head and while he was hula-hooping


Saturday Scott took Dad down to the pier to fish and crab. Unfortunately all they caught were a few undersized Crabs, but it was fun.


Thanks Scott and Kim! (FYI Josh was in Montana with his other Grandparents)


Here's my pretty MaMa. Pretty spry for an almost 79 year old!

Kim has posted more pictures of our trip to visit them on her blog so check them out at http://kimnscottonthespot.blogspot.com/ (you can click on their link in my sidebar)

Thanks everyone for your creative entries. I am having a hard time choosing the winners I am in my usual Saturday slump (I work every Friday night and then end up laying around all day Saturday) But hopefully my brain will be in tip-top condition tomorrow for the final judging and I will let you know tomorrow who is taking home the prizes..

Aguilars!!! Where are your entries??? Love you all

clarification of contest

After talking with a couple of my daughters I have decided to clarify this contest. The $20 prize will go to the person with the most creative entry as judged by myself and whoever else I consult. As further incentive I will have a random drawing prize of all the remaining entrys as I want to encourge lots of entrys and not to discourage anyone who is not feeling too creative. I am going on vacation next week and it has been requested that I give you all plenty of time to enter so the contest will end July 31,2009 after I get back. You can enter as many times as you want and each entry will be considered for the judged prize. However, the random drawing will be limited to one per person who entered. (you must enter at least once to be in the drawing). I had fun writing my creative sentence and I know you and your family will have fun too. This could generate alot of laughs as a family home evening activity. Try looking through magazines at pictures as a way to get started, as I did with the picture Dennis posted. Have your young non-literate children tell you a story about a picture etc. HAVE FUN! This is just a little activity to keep the brain cells humming over the long summer.

Please check the previous post, July 4th, and read the comments, Holly has already posted two outstanding entries. Don't let this easy money pass you up.

A fun literary contest

The Bulwer-Lytton Awards For 2009
http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2009.htm

I found a reference to a fun and funny literary award and found these outlandish story first liners that were submitted for this years' contest of the Bulwer-Lytton Awards (named, if you don't know, for the guy who wrote the line that Snoopy always used: "It was a dark and stormy night."). I'm thinking it would be fun to try and write our own quirky, fictitious, adjective filled, tangential, irrelevant "opening sentences". So I thought we could have our own little contest, with a $20 gift card for a prize. I want everyone (especially all of my grandkids so mom's and dad's help them out)to submit something. Put on your thinking caps, sharpen your pencils or exercise your typing finger and start writing. Anyway here are a few of my favorites from the real contest, You can read more by going to the link above.

From the miscellaneous section:

1.There were earthquakes in this land, terrible tsunamis that swirled flooding torrents of water throughout, and constant near-blizzard conditions, and not for the first time, Horatio Jones wished he did not live inside a snow globe.
Rich Buley-Neumar
Amityville, NY

Adventure:
1.Runner-Up

In a flurry of flame and fur, fangs and wicker, thus ended the world's first and only hot air baboon ride.
Tony Alfieri
Los Angeles, CA

Detective:
1.Winner: Detective

She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida - the pink ones, not the white ones - except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn't wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren't.
Eric Rice
Sun Prairie, WI

1. Winner: Fantasy Fiction

A quest is not to be undertaken lightly--or at all!--pondered Hlothgar, Thrag of the Western Boglands, son of Glothar, nephew of Garthol, known far and wide as Skull Dunker, as he wielded his chesty stallion Hralgoth through the ever-darkening Thlargwood, beyond which, if he survived its horrors and if Hroglath the royal spittle reader spoke true, his destiny awaited--all this though his years numbered but fourteen.
Stuart Greenman
Seattle, WA

2. Runner-Up

Towards the dragon's lair the fellowship marched -- a noble human prince, a fair elf, a surly dwarf, and a disheveled copyright attorney who was frantically trying to find a way to differentiate this story from "Lord of the Rings."
Andrew Manoske
Foster City, CA

a "dishonorable" mention:

She expected a beautiful morning after the previous night's hard rain but instead stepped out her door to a horrible vision of drowned earthworms covering the walkway -- their bodies curled and swirled like limp confetti after a party crashed by firefighters.
Rita Hammett
Boca Raton, Florida


To get us all started, here's an offering from me, inspired by Dennis' 4th of July pics and comments on facebook.




She quickly and flirtatiously climbed on top of the bright red, gaily wrapped tower, her unruly perpetually bad hair day blond tresses flowed out from under the not so attractive broad brimmed Panama hat, a remnant of a spring break weekend from her distant but not forgotten past (well mostly forgotten except for the hat) she wondered curiously what that green rope like thing sticking up was as she surrounded it with her long unbending legs and giggled nervously as the flickering flame approached--unaware (like the blond she was) that she had mounted the Fourth of July finale firecrackers!

Happy Birthday USA

I know I haven't blogged in a long time so I apologize, I just got home from work and of course sat down at the computer with my breakfast (raisin bread and milk) and after purusing the days news etc on yahoo home page---here I am.

I am off work until next Wednesday night then I work 6 of the following 7 days (my choice) so I can go on vacation the following Wednesday. I will be driving up to Idaho to visit my mom and should get there on Thursday the 16th. I will stay there until the next Tuesday when we will drive to Nampa/Boise and visit his brother for the evening and then fly out Wednesday am to Seattle to visit with Scott and Kim for a few days. We will fly back to Boise on Monday am and start for home and then back to work on Wednesday the 29th. I am ready for a vacation as I am sure you all are too.

I colored my hair back to brown. Orginally, I was shocked by my blond hair when Susie last colored it--prior to her wedding over a year ago, but afterwards I was worried that by going back to brown I would be losing some of the "lightness" in my countenance but I really like it, and like one of my children said "there's my mama" I thought "there's Deanna!" I tried to take a picture of my hair but the pic at the beginning is about all I can get in, cause my arm is too short to get any farther back and I don't know how to set the timer LOL

This picture really shows how red my face is because of the rosacea! I didn't try to warm the picture up like I did with the first one.



I just took almost all of the color out of this one just to get rid of the red!!but sadly it really accents my wrinkles!!

I guess I posted these pictures because I read a photo tip once which was "Mom get in the picture!" We mom's mostly don't like getting our pictures taken "too fat" "no makeup" "hair not done" etc. etc. but our kids see us everyday and they know how we look and they would like to see us in pictures sometimes so here I am--warts and all.


I still really like my new Washer and dryer. I am waiting for my new utility bills to see how it affected my gas and electric bills.

I'm hoping to go see the musical "Wicked" this week, I haven't bought a ticket yet but I plan on just driving over there one of these evenings and seeing it. They have a $25 lottery for some decent unsold seats just before showtime and failing that I'm pretty sure I can still get a balcony seat at the door.

New washer and dryer

Hi,on Monday my washer decided it didn't like to spin fast anymore. I'm sure it probably could be fixed but trying to get anything fixed around here takes forever or else I have to hire some one to do it. Anyhows that's what I told myself when I started shopping on craigslist for a replacement. I spent all day hunting and calling eventually going out to see a couple but the ad that caught my eye was for a 1 year old set that had been only used for 6 months by a snow bird couple. I was hesitant because it is a brand popular in New Zealand but not well known here--Fisher and Paykel. It is an energy efficient set which works alot like the front loaders but is still a top loader. The dryer is also a top loader as well and has cool features like every four minutes it reverses itself to untangle the clothes. And because the washer spins so fast the clothes are dryer when they go into the dryer it drys faster. It is a gas dryer and I have always used electric, currently considering the cost of electricity and the fact that I am on one of those saver rates where the cost of the electric is like 5 times higher from 9am to 9pm I really started to consider switching to gas. I have gas in my laundry room but the line for the dryer is on the opposite wall so I never considered switching because I thought the cost to bring it over to the dryer would be prohibitive. But after talking to Brian and Dennis I was convinced that connecting to my existing gas waterheater line (already right next to the dryer) would be easy so I agreed to switch and I am excited about the possible savings. I have just finished my first load and I was blown away by how soft and fluffy and unwrinkled the towels came out. It said you could probably forgo fabric softener and I think I could! Anyways, before buying I tried to find reviews etc online about this brand and what I read online is that when they work, everyone loves them but that repairing them is an expensive nightmare of getting parts and qualified service people. So I don't think that I would have bought this brand if I were buying them new, but since I am getting a great deal on them I decided to go ahead and try them out. Brian and Allen came over to go and pick them up for me and install them. Thanks guys!! Now, after buying new living room, kitchen and laundry room furniture/appliances I need so much crap hauled away out of my house and back yard it is unbelievable. And most of it is big 2 person items so I can't do it on my own. The city cleaned the alley 2 weeks ago, but everybody was busy with their own lives and activities so I couldn't get any help to move the stuff out and I was working etc. so a bunch of stuff that could have gone didn't. Now it continues to pile up :(
Here's a pic of my new washer and dryer, I had never seen a toploading dryer before, it's kind cool but I'm going to miss the "counter" space on top where I piled the towels and set the laundry soap. I should have taken a picture of the insides cause that's where they look so different, but I'm washing and drying at the moment and the lids lock shut. I just went to change the laundry but the dryer lid is still locked until it cools down. I realize that a locking lid could be a potential problem if you wanted to get something out or toss one more thing in. I will have to read the manual! LOL

Fun family day

Susie and Micah got us all together today on a hiking/swimming/fishing trip up to West Clear Creek. Holly and family had not ever been there. Monica and Del and kids and Brian and I drove up there this morning and had a wonderful picnic, hike and swim. I really like to go here because its an easy hike. (No mountains to climb) plus depending on where you stop along the creek, you can swing on a rope swing out into the water, shoot through a rock slide, swim in a pond or cliff jump. The rope swing spot is so popular we don't usually stop there because of the number of people, Our favorite spot is the rock slide. We set up there for our picnic and the big kids and some of the adults made forays to the other spots. It was a nice day, sunshine interspersed with fast moving treatening clouds at times. At three o'clock a dark bank of clouds threatened so we decided to pack up and head home. Here are a few pics and hopefully a video. I didn't take many pics but Monica and Holly took many more so I hope to get their SD cards downloaded to my computer soon too.

Denver and Dillon
Monica and Grace Charity on the rock by the water slide/shoot that the kids play in---OK OK even I shot the slide. Jonathan Robert was fearless from the beginning. He'd shoot the slide run around and leap right back in until he was too cold to stay in anylonger Micah and Susie with their new dog Buddy at Sunset Point

Mother's Day

dessert!!!


A pcture of seven of my children and most of their (maternal) first cousins
front row Katie, Marissa, Emily and Sarah 2nd row: Scott, Clint, Allen, Susie, Holly, Danelle, Melissa, Joanna, Amber, Brian and Monica, Back (stabbers): Eric, Sean, Nick and (little) Chris.


My beautiful daughters L>R Monica, Aimee, Danelle, Susie,and Holly!

Just thought I would share some thoughts about being a mother on this official day of honoring mothers. I have willingly traveled into the "valley of the shadow of death" seven times. (I have eight children but I didn't know what I was doing the first time!!) I was pregnant or nursing approximately 16.5 years of my life! Yet now that all eight of my offspring are grown--that time, which seemed so eternal when I was in the midst of it, is now fading to a distant memory. My role as mother is different now, no more knee deep piles of laundry; no more hours in the car chauffering; no bed that started out with just me and the baby and ended up with me and every child under the age of 12; and no more do I lecture, beg, or even scream in utter frustration. But no more do I get to cuddle, caress, comfort and console the child who was bruised by life; delight in childish pictures, stories or dances presented so proudly, or rock to sleep even that child whose legs hang off over the arm of the rocking chair and who tested my strength to carry them to bed. Yes, life is definately different. My time is pretty much my own, (except that time devoted to providing for myself) I have boxes and cupboards full off materials, yarn, craft and sewing projects etc that I have collected over the years with the thought of someday--and they do call to me from time to time--but mostly I am just still, content to listen to the silence. I know that I need to get moving and reinvent myself. I have to decide who I am going to be now that there are no overwhelming pressing demands on my time, and my children are independent. I realize that I have had to disconnect myself from many people and dreams over the years, first from my immediate family when I married and moved to Arizona, My children barely knew their grandparents or aunts and uncles. My younger brothers and sisters grew up without me around and married and moved on with their lives and we saw each other every year or two for a couple of days. My husband took a job that kept him out of town for most of the first 25 years of our life, and took up early in our life with his best friends "Coors and TV" so even when he was home he wasn't home. So my kids were my life! and they weren't perfect! (beautiful yes, perfect no) My time and activity were spent with them, I didn't cultivate friends, (its hard to be LDS and not have the perfect LDS family) Marvin wouldn't socialize and with eight children it was too expensive to go out anywhere so my sphere has been my children. Then the separation, one by one with my children as they matured and started their own lives. Now today, my children are my best friends, but now they are busy and overwhelmed and I just nod my head and remember (been there and done that). So motherhood is different for me now and I imagine it will change again when my children are also freed from the day to day business that accompanies raising a family. I guess what I most need to do is to reconnect with some of the people I let slip away during all those years of child rearing and refocus on relationships and not just the getting from day to day frenzy of the past. I know I need to start with my own mother, who is, as is the way of the world, getting older and thus my time with her is shortening and uncertain. So, I guess this Mother's Day I will start by making a commitment to call or write to my mother at least once a week this year. To try and be more open in sharing my life with her, (not just the good parts) When you try to hide things even if you are trying to protect others it makes it hard to be close. Now I can't even remember all the things I tried not to share with my mother either from embarrasment or to protect my pride or thinking it better that she enjoy her beliefs that all was well in Zion. It seems so silly because now I don't have a close relationship with her because I shut her out of those many years of trying teenagehood of my children. So mom get ready to hear from me more often, I want you to know me and I want to get to know you too. Love...

Cinco de Mayo and more wedding pics

Had all the kids and grandkids who live here in Phoenix over for dinner last night. I usually do Sunday dinner every other Sunday (on the Sunday I don't work) but for the last couple we have gone over to Holly's new house so Susie called me Monday and asked if we couldn't have dinner here because she felt like she hadn't been to my house in 'forever'. So we gathered to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I made two huge pots of Pozole (way too much as it turned out) Pozole is a bland pork (or chicken) soup with hominy and then numerous dishes of add ins (onions, avacados, lime juice, chili powder, oregano, eggs, tortillas, cilantro etc.) are placed on the table so each person can create their own spicy luscious bowl of soup. I also served cucumbers, mangos, and jicama spritzed with lime juice and chili salt, and an orange-mango juice drink and for dessert we had strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. I had found some really fun dishes last Saturday and then bought some more colorful bowls and placemates so it all looked fun. I downloaded some upbeat mariachi music to add to the ambience. Marvin complained but he was overruled so it played on during dinner.

After dinner, the men watched sports and talked, Allen plays fantasy sports and Micah joined into his group so he was busy creating his team etc. The women went into the front room to talk and Susie couldn't wait to play with the new organ and create a masterpiece. Morgan joined in and the two of them created some interesting music together!

I watched some of Dancing With The Stars and couldn't believe that they voted little Kim off, she is SOOOOOO much better at dancing than Ty but of course Ty does have a very likable charm but he is just so stiff just not fluid at all.

For you DWTS fans did you know that Derek Hough and Mark Ballas have a band and they released an album in March? I didn't so I guess I really wasn't much of a fan but anyway it is the Ballas Hough Band (BHB). Interesting trivia I also found out was that Derek and Julianne went to London when Derek was 13 and Julianne was 10 to train and live with Mark's parents Corky and Shirley Ballas. They lived with them for a number of years training and going to an academy for the arts I suppose like Julliard here in the USA.

Allen spent the night as he needs a ride to do some errands, his car still won't pass emissions, he needs to fix another part, but he has been layed off for about a month and had only worked part time the months before so he's pretty strapped! He is going all "Joachim Phoenix" on me and has grown this full beard. Its the rough scruffy neck hair that looks so bad to me, I don't know if I've convinced him to at least shave the neck yet. It makes him look so much older (and not better in my opinion) Here's a picture from a week ago.

Susie got some more of her wedding pictures so thought I would post a couple more in honor of her upcoming 1 year anniversery. I've tried twice to add more pics than these but it failed both times so I will just publish these at this time.

I have a new musical instrument!

I have been wanting to get an organ to practice and learn how to play the bass pedals on for a long time and have been checking out Craigslist for months. I wanted to wait until Holly and family were in their own home and I had more room but I had been to see several but had not made any decision. Last Friday this beautiful and fairly new organ was posted and I called right away and then after work in the morning I went and saw and bought it. It is a Roland AT80R Atelier it has a fantastic range of sounds/musical instruments and since the lower keyboard is a 76 note keyboard you can set it for piano, set initial touch and since it even has a sustain pedal you can play most piano pieces on it too. It is electronic so I can wear headphones and practice anytime I want without bothering Marvin or his TV watching. There are several You-tube videos of people playing fantastic arrangements which sound like a whole orchestra playing. I won't be doing that anytime soon, it is rather overwhelming but it's going to be fun. It has a floppy disk so you can record your compositions, a microphone so you can sing along and can be connected to other Midi devices or a computer if you know how to do that sort of thing. This is not the "church" organ I was looking for but I think it will do and I will enjoy it.

I also finally recieved my replacement computer. After trying to give me a downgraded basic computer as a replacement, they came through with another Acer with 640gb harddrive so it is a bit better than my orginal 500gb one. So now I just need to get everything reloaded and up and running.

I reloaded the Zune software Friday and then Saturday -which, (for those of you who don't know) is the mother of all yardsale weekends here in Phoenix. I stopped at one close to work where the man worked in the music industry and was selling a box of CD's for a dollar many had not even been open. I was able to find 20+ most of which were ones I had previously downloaded from Zune (but don't own) so was excited about owning. (Neko Case, Adele, Oren Lavie, Sting, Yael Naim, Five for Fighting, Enya, Indigo girls, Great Lake Swimmers and more. So I had fun ripping them to my computer but I was interrupted before syncing to my Zune by the smell of smoke! So I'll probably do that next when I am done with this post.

I have to work again tonight so I think I'll sign off today and will try and post again this week. Love you all.

GIve a man a blow torch......

This is a cautionary tale. If you give your man an incinderary device he will not use is "as directed" While the weed burner Marvin begged for over a month to recieve advises "there is no need to actually set the weed on fire but just to steam it and it will die. Marvin believes in a scorched earth policy. after steaming the weeds and overgrown patches of grass last week. He had to make sure they were dead by going over them again in the middle of the week, and then to reach his final scorched earth policy, he went out again Saturday morning to give everything another blast and in the process set the house on fire!! He did not notice it immediately, it was only hours later when I kept insisting that I smelled something burning did we discover that a corner post of the house was smoldering. We managed to get it all out but I worried for a long time about reports of a fire smoldering for days before breaking out in actual fire. I even got up twice during the night to check for smoke or warmness on the wall. I'm not sure whether the post will need to be replaced or if it is still intact enough to maintain its integrity, but I'll have Brian check it out when he gets back from his weekend fishing in Yuma.

I had a wonderful time with my children and grandchildren during spring break. Danelle and family and Aimee and family came from Texas so only Scott and his family were missing. The sisters had a great time reminiscing and all laughed long and cleansingly hard. We had a cornbeef and cabbage feast with huge reuben sandwiches for dessert (only the men could consume those!) The kids went hunting for the leprecauns gold (instead of an easter egg hunt) since this is when they were here. After visiting several parks and finding gold bags full of candy and scattering a few pennies in return for the leprecauns to find (so they will be sure to come back next year) we returned back to our own park across the street for a family soccer game and then another feast. This one the Cafe Rio pulled pork salad a recipe that Marilyn had posted on her blog. It was a big hit except the diehard mexican food lovers (Vince and Dennis) stated that while it was delicious, it was NOT "mexican" food despite the tortilla and the Rio in the name. We finished up the evening playing Scattagories. The cousins also had a great time reconnecting. Both Vince and Dennis are considering moving back to the Phoenix area which would be great! But of course there are a multiplicity of other factors that would have to be considered before making that decision.

Holly and Jonathan will finally be closing and recieving the keys to their new house this week possibly by Tuesday or Wednesday! Finally the underwriting is finished and the papers are at the title company. They are so excited and ready for this move. We will miss them a lot. Especially Marvin, he is so attached to the kids and especially Jonathan Robert. He loves playing with him and at 2 and 1/2 JR is delightfully fun to play with. Even his mess making skills are developing. Last week, Marvin laughingly tells me that JR had crushed a pack of crackers and scattered them on the floor. Holly was admonishing him as she got out the vacuum and was vacuuming up the layer of cracker crumbs. Jonathan Robert thought she was enjoying herself so much (he loves to vacuum) that he went and got another pack and was following behind her, crushing and tossing more cracker bits in the wake of her clean sweep.

I have another incentive to get on the bandwagon and lose weight. My work company (Hospice of the Valley) is sponsoring a "Biggest Loser" contest. Which will have cash bonuses and prizes for losing weight. While these prizes pale in comparison to the TV shows booty, it should be fun! and any incentive to get on and stay on a healthier lifestyle is welcome. Weigh in is tomorrow. The contest runs in four 12 week sessions--so for an entire year. Bonuses of ten dollars per each 10 pounds and a $200 prize winner each session are offered. I am getting out that book I started in January (Danelle gave me an LDS focused 12 step book "He Did Deliver Me From Bondage" by Colleen C. Harrison) which Danelle, I and Aimee were going to work on it together but everyday life got in the way and we didn't manage to hammer down all the details of our meetings---so as usual, I didn't follow through with reading and working through the steps. So here's a big breath :0 as I open it and dive in again. I want to learn to love walking and exercise! I want to find love and comfort in something other than food. I want to be (and look like) an active, fit person

Denver (my brother) has scanned in pages of my grandmother's book so that instead of taking all the time to type it into the computer, I can just proof read and correct the mistakes that the software translator might create when it reads the scanned pages and translates it to a word document. It will be much faster and I plan to do quite a few pages today so look for a new post this evening in the ACROSS THE YEARS link at the top right of my blog.

We have really been having some beautiful weather here in Phoenix!! This is the time we all love and the reason why we put up with the LOOOONG hot summer!

I'm going to close and get started on something else so--until we meet again, may God be with you!

March 12

I am so excited. Aimee called this morning and they have changed their minds and will be coming for spring break next week. Danelle and Vincente and family are also coming so its going to be wonderful. Both families should arrive this Sat evening unless plans change. Danelle started a new blog yesterday and I imagine she sent everyone who read my post the email with her address but just in case I will list it here: http://www.lafamiliaaguilar.blogspot.com Can't wait to see pictures and here about the day to day family dealings. I have to go now but just wanted to let you know what's going on here.

Scott in hospital

Scott called and he has appendicitis and is in the hospital. They have called a surgeon in but Scott doesn't know yet when the surgery will be---Today or Tomorrow. If you need a number or address let me know and I'll give it to you.

Sunday night addendum: Scott had laproscopic surgery this afternoon and was already home tonight. He says he's doing well but I worry that he will overdo and be sorry later!

a few more pics of Susie and Micah

A couple more of the photographers posted a couple of pics from the Sedona photoshoot last month so here are a couple more pics of Susie and Micah