Let it SNOW let it SNOW

I love the snow this year. The luge is open and uber awesome. I love to see my kids dive into the snow, roll a snowball bigger than they are. Canyon rode the luge at mock speed on a paper thin sled with perfect olympian bobsledding form. THis is an open invitation to anyone to come join us..

The real reason for my post is I love my kids to play in the snow but their stuff is EVERYWHERE!!! WET hats, gloves, boots, socks, coats. All times by six. I need all your ideas for organizing snow gear. If you just throw it in a bag it will smell like mildew. It needs to dry but not be laying out all over creation.

Brinley's baptism

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Scripture Basket

This was my biggest take home message from education week. It is actually working. We have been terrible in the past at having scripture study. The kids are loving this. I got the idea from connie sokol who you can check out here and here. It has even made bed time much quicker. This is how we do it. The first person in pajamas with teeth brushed sitting by the basket gets to choose. There are 10 or so things in the basket to choose from. The only rule is you can't do the same thing we did the night before. These are some of the things we have in the basket currently.

these are really fun story books with 3-4 heros in every book it tells the story then and asks how can you be like ... now and takes the story modern day. I love these
one scripture on a strip of paper. talk about what it means how it applies..
pictionary with scripture stories.
sing the song and look up the scriptures at the bottom, we also have a hymn book.
Listen to or watch a quick scripture story. I have a small dvd/cd player in there.



Pick a picture and tell the story..
Read one article

tell me some ideas you have. I would like to freshen up my basket every month or so. Add something new.

I'm sad to see summer leave but I couldn't live in a more beautiful neighborhood..

I have been meaning to take some fall pictures but I haven't so I stole these off my friends blog she lives two doors down and took this from her front porch. I never would have thought TOOELE would be so beautiful but I truly love it.

NAG NAG NAG

I want to stop nagging my children. I am addicted to nagging them. I wake up and my mouth just starts spewing forth all these nagging comments. I can see that without nagging they aren't going to be on time for school. When they get home, its homework, then dinner and cleanup, then scriptures then bedtime. I nag ALL DAY. I don't need to nag it is my problem. They need to know a few simple consequences to their actions and let the day roll. I can't do it. I have to do it. I have to stop nagging. Tonight gunny bag comes out once again. We have tried him before. I am going to pick up there stuff, collect it all week, and dump it in the middle of the floor Saturday morning. Each item cost 1 job. If you need it sooner It cost one dollar. I spend all day picking up their crap. I can clean the whole house so quickly if it is just picked up. I want my children to see the savior in my countenance. I know the savior would not nag all day.

My new Laundry room

Well I may end up regretting this.. but for NoW I am Loving it. I HATE LAUNDRY hate with a capital hate. My kids try to pull something out of their drawer and everything else somehow comes with it and lands on the floor. I am doing laundry and some items are still folded. I want to strangle someone.
I got this idea from the eyers. I moved all the kids dressers into the laundry room. My laundry room is fairly small. It is very tight. SO they have to go into the laundry room to get dressed. It does leave the laundry room a big fat mess. But lets be honest it was a mess before. I am in there ten times more than in the kids room so if someone ACCIDENTALLY removes all there clean clothes on the floor I see it before it gets stirred into the pot of dirty.
The BEST part about the whole thing is the entire laundry process happens in 60 square feet. So I put a tiny travel dvd player in the laundry room. I have watched two completes seasons of stuff I like. I am actually excited to do laundry. If I am still engaged in the show I try to iron or straighten up in there. I have never been so caught up on laundry. The other day I was sad because I didn't have any laundry to do. That has never happened to me. So my daughter puked in her bed and my son peed all over the bath mats. So don't worry I was right back in there.

Strict school Strict Teachers????

update. they change classes for math , science, and reading, two recesses and a lunch. That is the time they are allowed to use the bathroom so they really should have plenty of time.

My kids go to this school and I am super excited about it. They have recently become managed by APA American preparatory academy. They wear uniforms, which I love. Even though it creates tons of laundry. So this year they have REALLY stepped up the structure. The have to sit in learning position, which is feet on the floor and hands clasped on the desk. When the teacher asks a question they all respond in unison. If she asks a yes or no question they answer back with no or yes MAM.. They have seven different infractions they can be punished for. If they have to go to the bathroom they have to "pull a card" and lose five minutes of recess. If they are unprepared for the day. Or if there parents didn't sign their daily learning log the also have to pull a card. My kids are very nervous about school. They are pestering me and almost in tears if I don't sign their sheet immediately when they get home.
They are also doing some fun stuff they have cheers and chants and the teacher is constantly praising the class. The teacher asks questions and the kids respond every thirty seconds to a minute (in unison).
So the reason I am telling you all this is because there has been an unbelievable amount of drama. Parents are freaking out, there is a we hate excelsior academy page on facebook . People are threatening to not send their kids the day the budget is allotted for the year. People who know anything about APA always seem a little nervous when I tell them they are managing the school.
So all the drama makes me nervous. I have been very pleased and excited. I think all the structure is good for the kids. I am a very fun and low key mom with little to no structure. So I feel it is a good balance to my personality. I wonder what all you other moms think. Should I be nervous? Should I be listening to all the drama and figuring out the root of it all or just ignorantly bliss full??

I want this too...

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

Sister Marjorie Hinckley

I need audio Ideas

My kids go to a charter school which is 15 minutes from our house. I choose for them to go there so I can't complain. However, I am in the car 30- 120 minutes a day taking them to school and back uugghh.. It is only week two and I need some ideas. I bought a lot of talks on cd from education week but I have already blazed through about 80 dollars worth. So I need a cheaper option. ANY IDEAS??? I want it to be uplifting, informational, or even just entertaining.

Education week

I spent the week before school started at education week at byu. It is 900% worth it. you can stay in the dorms for 82 dollars for 6 nights. The entire week m-f is 62 dollars to attend a crazy amount of classes. You just have to steer clear of the bookstore or the week just quad rippled in price. Maybe some year I can manage that but not 2010. The classes begin at 830 in the morning and end at 930 at night. You sit all day and listen to the most amazing teachers and presenters ever. I missed last year and I felt a small void all year. So I am looking for a group of friends to go next year. You can attend classes from marriage, parenting, organizing, gardening, health, teachings of isiah, signs of the second coming. All presented from some of the best teachers the church has to offer. If I can tantalize your tastebuds. They televise a very small portion of the classes each year and you can find them here.

I love reality tv!!!

I am embarrassed to admit it. I won't talk about it in a crowd.. BUT I DO.. I love it.. It is the only tv I watch. I DVR biggest loser, survivor, and occasionally amazing race. I watch them while I fold laundry or cut coupons or lay there and eat popcorn.. I would love to try out for survivor some day. I think you have to be much younger and willing to be mostly naked on tv. I do have one thing going for me. I am lds reality tv loves the mormons, almost every show has at least one every season.

Why does crazy stuff happen to me???

I could post at least ten incredibly terrible embarrassing moments that you would wonder if they were true. If you actually believed you would then wonder why is she telling these things out loud. What is it about me that all these horrifying things happen. I am not sure. I am always running late and only half prepared maybe that is a recipe for disaster. The average embarrassing moment probably wouldn't even phase me.. I don't know what the deal is ANYONE,,, ANYONE???

Our newest LOVE

In september, my dad gave us a little shihtzu named chewbaca. My kids had no idea who that was. My dad gave matt a really bad time. I cant' believe your kids haven't seen star wars. So for weeks made tried to rent, buy, and borrow the star wars trilogy. Well without investigating further I threw a fit and said they were too young. I thought they would be scared. Well one day a few weeks later matt bought the original series and brought it home. I was surprised to find out they were only pg.. well we watched the first two in two days and the third the following weekend. It has been so fun my kids LOVE it. There is a star wars reference about every fifteen minutes in our house. We have every toy. We want to be star wars as a family for halloween this year. I have rededicated myself to trusting my husband..

What I worry about....

my kids being bullies at school
my belly fat
my laundry
my girls homework
If I am too mean
If I am too nice
dentist appt for my kids
my husband
If my kids are getting bullied or molested
how fast I run a mile
if my house stinks
If my kids are too involved or not enough
If my kids really have their own testimony
If I do enough service
where my phone is
If I have offended someone by my big mouthedness
my points
my sugar addiction
my shins
if I am late
my girls teachers.

Back to Blogging

Well I took a large hiatus from blogging and was facebooking most every day.. It is kind of lame. So I want to blog again.. If your blog is private reinvite me or invite me please..
I love to read someones blog when they are obviously just thinking aloud. (well typing) just baring there soul and telling you all they think,worry,dream, stress about. I feel like they let me into their world for a little while.. So my blog is going to take a more personal turn and if it makes you uncomfortable then just mind your business.

I am HOME!!!

As many of you know I left Lubbock with great hesitation. I was happy for matt to have a job he enjoyed but sad to leave. We had signed a lease to rent a house in north west tooele. While visiting our friends the bradshaws in may of 2008, we looked at a house just kiddie corner. We loved it. I was nervous about the neighborhood. It seemed a little more affluent then I was used to and it seemed an older area. Well it was ridiculously priced and we had just signed a lease. So we happily lived in our rental in a fun neighborhood with a bazillion kids. I was very pleasantly surprised by the school. Okay I am getting off track

So Christmas time comes around and the prices have dropped substantially I am getting antsy to buy. We find a house that is amazing.... Huge and fairly cheap but it was a home show house and had tons of amazing extras..

Alright a side note... Since Staley was in primary she has had all boys and one partially active girl in her class in three different wards always the same stats. So for two years I have been praying to find a ward with a really good friend for staley.

Okay so we are one and a half days away from closing on this house in a brand new development. only three other houses in the whole neighborhood. The night before we close the whole loan falls through.. I couldn't believe it I was CRUSHED.

So we were shell shocked and just finished out our lease.. two other times we look at the house by the Bradshaws. We talk the poor builder down three different times.

Well anyway the rest is history. I finally knew this house is our destiny. We had looked very seriously at ten or twenty houses and it was always this house.

I LOVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. We are encircled by the best neighbors. Today we had an impromptu bbq. After the BBQ there were 14 kids playing red rover in my backyard. I am hussling to finish so I can go beat a few other moms at a board game..

I have the best friends here. I didn't even need friends. I have 100s of amazing friends. But I know I have made lifelong support, help me when I am sick, help me raise my kids, friends. I hope to never leave. I want to grow old here and watch these kids graduate from high school.. Our ward is amazing I feel so close to everyone and we haven't even been here a year yet.