I solemnly swear

That on Saturday (or maybe Sunday) I will get pictures posted of Sarah's birthday (last Saturday), and of the kids' piano recital tomorrow. Sigh. I've been a bit under the weather so that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

100 Things I Have or Have Not Done

Copy and paste the words. Bold the things you have done... [comment if you wish...]

1. Started your own blog
   
2. Slept under the stars
   
3. Played in a band
   
4. Visited Hawaii (for our honeymoon; only visited Kauai though and I really want to go back and see more islands)
5. Watched a meteor shower
   
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
   
7. Been to Disneyland
   
8. Climbed a mountain (does the little mountain outside of West Richland count?)
   
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
    
11. Bungee jumped
    
12. Visited Paris
    
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
    
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
    
15. Adopted a child
    
16. Had food poisoning
    
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
    
18. Grown your own vegetables (when I was little; maybe I'll start again next spring)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
    
20. Slept on an overnight train
    
21. Had a pillow fight
    
22. Hitch hiked
    
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
    
25. Held a lamb
    
26. Gone skinny dipping
    
27. Run a Marathon
    
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
    
29. Seen a total eclipse
    
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
    
31. Hit a home run
    
32. Been on a cruise
    
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
    
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
    
35. Seen an Amish community
    
36. Taught yourself a new language (it was Esperanto and I was pretty good at it for a while)
    
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
    
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
    
39. Gone rock climbing
    
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
    
41. Sung karaoke
    
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
    
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
    
44. Visited Africa
    
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
    
46. Been transported in an ambulance
    
47. Had your portrait painted (in chalk at Disneyland)
    
48. Gone deep sea fishing
    
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
    
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
    
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (on honeymoon and at St. Thomas/St. John/St. Maarten on a Sea Trek cruise)
    
52. Kissed in the rain
    
53. Played in the mud
    
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
    
55. Been in a movie
    
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
    
57. Started a business
    
58. Taken a martial arts class
    
59. Visited Russia
    
60. Served at a soup kitchen
    
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
    
62. Gone whale watching
    
63. Got flowers for no reason
    
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
    
65. Gone sky diving
    
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
    
67. Bounced a check
    
68. Flown in a helicopter (on the honeymoon; scared SPITLESS too!)
    
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
    
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
    
71. Eaten Caviar (it was gross)
    
72. Pieced a quilt
    
73. Stood in Times Square
    
74. Toured the Everglades
    
75. Been fired from a job (does laid off count?)
    
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
    
77. Broken a bone
    
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
    
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
    
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
    
82. Bought a brand new car
    
83. Walked in Jerusalem
    
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (first time was when I won the "What Christmas Means to Me" essay contest. I think I was 7; then when we got married, the requisite wedding picture)
85. Read the entire Bible
    
86. Visited the White House
    
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I'm counting fish)
88. Had chickenpox
    
89. Saved someone's life
    
90. Sat on a jury
    
91. Met someone famous
    
92. Joined a book club
    
93. Lost a loved one
    
94. Had a baby
    
95. Seen the Alamo in person
    
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
    
97. Been involved in a law suit
    
98. Owned a cell phone
    
99. Been stung by a bee
    
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own (only the items, not the comments!)
     

Star Trek Movie!

In about a week, I will have my very own copy of Star Trek! Yes, I am a Trekkie. Those who've known me a long time already know this. DH and I went to see the new Star Trek movie twice over the summer, the only movie we've seen more than once in who knows how long?! The first time was opening night; we were lucky enough to have a member of Elders' Quorum at church working at a theater locally, so he arranged a late night showing for those who wanted to come. Fun fun FUN! First time I'd been to an "opening night" of a movie in a LLOOONNNGGG time! (I can't even remember the last time. It was probably either a Star Trek or a Star Wars [original trilogy] though.) I loved the new movie. Great action, great way to reinvent the franchise without losing anything of the original series or any of its sequels. *Squee!* We might have to have movie night in the bedroom (we record shows on the DVD recorder/player in the family room on Friday night) next weekend!

More cute Halloween Pics

Here are some more cute Halloween pics of the kids. The first batch is from 2001.


Here's Sarah by herself; she's almost 8 in these pictures.


And Spencer by himself. He's 4-1/2.


And here is a picture from 2002. Sarah is almost 9 and Spencer is 5-1/2. This was obviously the Toy Story year, LOL.

Halloween Past - 1997 to be exact

I have to thank Lisa S. for this one. She posted pics of her girls on Halloween past, and one of the costumes was a pumpkin. So it reminded me of the pumpkin outfit I made for Sarah when she was not quite 4. Spencer was almost 6 months old in this picture, wearing the same baby pumpkin outfit that Sarah wore when she was a baby.

Alan and the kids. Alan has much more and darker hair in this picture than he does now! What 12 years will do to you!! (Including me in that statement!)

This is what Sarah calls her "aren't I so cute?" pose. She did this pose a LOT for several years. Age: 3 years almost 11 months.


And the baby pumpkin, Spencer. Age: 6 months. Cute little turkey ... er pumpkin ... isn't he?!

(If anybody's interested, Lisa's blog is here http://donaldandlisasorensonfamily.blogspot.com/ . Check out her post from November 2 with her darling girls!)

Spencer's Halloween Costume

I think this is Shadow Link? From The Legend of Zelda video games. We don't have any, so I don't know. LOL. But he wanted to do this for Halloween so here we are. Cute kid, eh?!

Luney Lovegood

Sarah wanted to be Luna Lovegood for Halloween this year. She went to a Seminary party/dance on Friday night, and here she is all dressed up. Turned out pretty cute, I think!

The whole look (including Ravenclaw badge) ...



The craziest earrings and non-matching headband we could come up with on very short notice ...


And the shoes ... not red, but hey they ARE Converse! (And notice the purple tights ...)

Happy Fall!!

I know, it's not Halloween yet ... we're NOWHERE near ready at our house either! But I loved this background so I decided to get in the mood anyhow! I love the crispness in the air at this time of year. I love the breezy days. I love the way the trees on our street start to turn and are so beautiful. I am resolving to take MORE PICTURES of this beautiful time of year.

Spencer's first Boy Scout awards

Wednesday night was a court of honor at church, and Spencer got his first Boy Scout awards. He earned four merit badges, his Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class patches. We're very proud of our little guy! Plus he looks so darn cute in that scout uniform! Here are some pictures. The first one is Brother Shannon giving Spencer his merit badges. The second one is Brother Shannon, Spencer, me, and DH (who came in from his Webelos group for a few minutes) (pardon DH's filthy jeans. He worked hard and didn't have a clean pair to change into -- bad wife moment LOL.). Of course Spencer didn't want to pin the pins on me, but he did anyway. He also didn't want to kiss me (LOL), but I did snag a hug!

In Honor of 9/11/2001

I changed the blog background. Just for a week or so, so people who might visit won't forget. And so I don't forget, in the hecticness that is my life right now.

I love this country. What's happening to it scares me. A lot. That irritates some people, I know. Sorry. But this is my blog and my feelings and it's important to me to document them. If you're my friend, you'll understand this about me. If you don't understand, then ... the answer is pretty clear to me, anyway.

Always remember how we got complacent and what happened as a result. Always remember that people got complacent again, and we made some choices as a country that are frankly very very scary now. In time we'll be able to fix them. Pray that it's not too late. I do, every day.

Wow ...

Long time no post. Sorry about that! Been a little busy here what with vacation prep and the actual vacation. Back home now and SO glad to be! Apollo missed us terribly even though he was fed and loved by Emily (thanks Emily!). We went to Lincoln City, Oregon, for a week (8 days, actually) with the Noakes clan. Love 'em but sometimes 13 people in one house for that long is a bit much for me. Sigh.

We picked up Sarah's class schedule today. She has a full plate (see her Facebook announcement), but she'll do great. We are very proud of her!

In other news, I see the surgeon on Wednesday regarding my pesky gall bladder. I will update with the news once I get some.

And just because I want to post a pretty picture, here's one of the sunsets from the beach below the house.

My Babies are Back!

Both my babies are home now. Sarah got back Friday about 1:30 pm. She had a blast. The 4th years went on their own hike and campout and she really had fun. She was ticked off when they got back to camp because the younger girls had basically tossed everybody's stuff in the tent and then walked over it to get to their own things. Sigh. Her glasses case got broken; luckily no glasses were in it, and her gray flip flops went missing. She's cranky about those, they were her favorite. But she lived and had fun, so that's great.

Spencer got back Saturday, around 2. They said 5 pm originally, so we had canceled dinner with Gma Noakes thinking he might not be up to it. He was actually pretty bouncy and lively. Talked about the merit badges he worked on and seemed to really have a good time, eating issues aside. Said he had a couple of days where he didn't feel very good. I'm actually thinking from what he said that he might have had some heat issues like his mom. He said he had a headache and queasy stomach and just felt bad. That's what heat does to me. Plus Sarah had a bad cold the week before camp so he might have had a touch of that too. Spencer does colds like Alan does. Two days and then he's done. I hate that. Sarah and I have colds and they last eons. Anyway, he got over it and had a great time, it sounded like. He had money left over and actually did eat better than the scout leader initially thought. There was a camp store and it had snacks so Spencer spent some money on those. Not the best diet but he didn't starve. And he got three merit badges done and a couple more worked on. Pretty good I'd say!

We went to Applebee's for dinner to celebrate them being home, and they both plowed through their dinners. Then we went to McDonald's for shakes, ice cream, and a McFlurry, then came home and after showers we all watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And Spencer had popcorn and a baked potato. LOL.

And today we went to church and Spencer actually passed the sacrament again. The counselor conducting made a point of saying the deacons had been to camp and it was great to see them all there at church to pass the sacrament. Spencer did ask to go home before priesthood, though, so Alan took him home. When we got home he hadn't been to bed yet, so we made him go lie down, and he conked out. We had to wake him up at 5:45 to go to Gma Noakes's house for dinner! So the little guy must have been tired, after all.

And Just Because

And just because it just doesn't seem like a great week unless there's a new Apollo picture, here's one of him in his favorite window spot. Notice the, "I am so tired of you BUGGING me" look on his face. LOL. He has had a reprieve this week with the kids being gone. He is in for it starting Friday though! Sarah gets back first, then Spencer on Saturday.

Explanation of Wordless Wednesday

Yes, that is Alan, wearing a really trashed shirt after working on the Taurus and getting the starter changed out. Yay! I really really appreciate that he knew how to do it and we didn't have to fork over the money right now for a mechanic! He did change his shirt before eating dinner on his birthday.

The second picture is of one of my set of Rachael Ray pans. I LOVE THESE PANS! They are SO easy to use, they heat SO evenly and well, and best of all -- NOTHING STICKS to them! I made sesame chicken with a teriyaki and honey sauce, and you can see nothing stuck to the pan. Love these, love 'em, love 'em! And love that Alan told me they were at Costco and to buy them for myself for Mother's Day!

Wordless Wednesday (late!)

And they're OFF!

I now have NO children at home. For the next FOUR DAYS, then Sarah gets back from girls camp. Spencer doesn't get back until Saturday, though. Wah! I am having a hard time letting him go. I guess because he's the baby? He's never been away from home for this long and I got home from taking him to the scout leader's house and BAWLED! It didn't help that the car wouldn't start and I had to hitch a ride home from one of the other parents. Luckily she'd stayed to say goodbye to her son also. (Thanks Deena!) Alan thinks it's the starter (again), and says it's an easy fix. I hope so. I can't handle hard (or expensive) this week!

I am headed to bed as soon as I publish this post. I'm exhausted (basically NO sleep last night), and my head is threatening a full-fledged migraine. Bleck. Night all ... earplugs are going in and the nightgown is going on!

Blah Blah

I'm not having a great couple of days. I'm tired, stressed out (who knew preparing a 12 yo for his first Scout camp was such HARD WORK!?!), tired ... did I mention tired? I haven't slept very well for the past what, three nights now. I'm headed for a serious nap in a couple of minutes. Alan's home and I'm gonna crash for a bit. He and the kids can handle Papa Murphy's for dinner and then they can wake me up for Jeopardy! (maybe ... maybe I'll tell 'em to DVR it and wake me up for Eureka ... sounds good!). One thing I've accomplished is making the invites for Mom's 80th birthday celebration. I'll put one below so you can see what I've done. I have to get the envelopes addressed and mail them this weekend. One more thing!

Lavender Farm

I'd read about a lavender farm outside of Walla Walla (about an hour away) and wanted to go to it this year before all the lavender was gone. So we went today since Alan had the day off. It was very nice! It's called Blue Mountain Lavender Farm and they have a ton of lavender that you can pick, plus plants you can buy and sachets and dried lavender, all sorts of wonderful things!


After the lavender farm, we drove to Hat Rock and then to McNary Dam to see the fish running. Not any great pictures of the fish, but here's a couple of Hat Rock and one of the viewing area.

Wordless Wednesday

Spencer's Rash

And in other news, Spencer has a weird rash that broke out yesterday. He was grumpy all day, finally after his shower he came out and said he had a weird bumpy rash. I sent Alan to the store for Benadryl and cortisone cream (yeah, bent the Sabbath a bit there but we had no liquid Benadryl and Spencer can't swallow pills yet). It looks a bit better today, but here are a couple of pics of how it looked last night.

Organized Linen Closet

I love the organized linen closet! Kudos to Sarah and Spencer for doing this on Saturday for me. Kids can be GREAT when they're in a helping mood, LOL! Here's a couple pictures of the nice, organized closet. Still a lot of stuff in there, but the closet is VERY small, so we're stuck.


.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died. Wow. I am almost his age (well, give me a couple of years). Alan's older than MJ. Kind of freaky when your generation starts dying off. I have to confess, I didn't love MJ's lifestyle or personality, but his music was terrific. Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean ... too many more to mention. It's just a sad thing.

Dentist Followup

I went back to the dentist yesterday and they filled the tooth that had the root canal. Apparently the endodontist put in some packing or something, and the dentist took that out and filled it like a regular filling. I will have to get a new crown on that tooth; that crown is 7 years old and with the drilling and such will probably not last too much longer. So I went ahead and scheduled that for September, after the kids are back in school (assuming I'm not working). I really hope that I can stay home and get some home-based earning going on this summer and fall. I so do not want to go back to an office environment, but I think that's where my best money would be if I do have to go back to work. Sigh.

Apollo the patient cat

AAnd just for kicks, here's a picture of Apollo enduring the indignity of having Spencer put string around him. LOL. He's a very long-suffering cat. Ignore the weedy backyard, if you can see it. Well, now you know it's weedy even if you can't see it! Forget I said that!

Spencer left for a two-night scout camp tonight. They're going to Trout Lake, near Mount Adams. *Sniff.* First time he's been gone more than one night, and those have pretty much been to a grandma's or a friend's in town. I'm not sure how many boys are going; there were about 5-6 that I know for sure were going to be othere, including Mark, my niece's son. When we pulled up, Mark said he was claiming Spencer for his tent, because it's a two-person tent and Spencer's skinny. LOL. Here are some pictures from the packing up of the trailer at the Shannon's house. Mark is in the second picture with Spencer. The dog is the Shannon's, named Bogus. Cute, huh?

We had chicken enchiladas tonight for dinner. I found a couple of recipes that looked interesting but I didn't 100% like either of them, so I took what I thought would work from each one. Here's what I came up with, if anybody's interested.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded finely
1 can refried beans
1 pkg cream cheese
1 cup salsa

Put the above ingredients into a saucepan or frying pan, melting the cream cheese and blending together. When well-blended, put filling mixture into a 9x13 pan that has a layer of flour tortillas on the bottom. Top with more flour tortillas, grated cheese, and bake until cheese is melted, about 15-20 minutes at 350 F.

Pretty easy, huh?

Okay, I have a confession. Well, a couple. I am addicted to Fox News. There, I said it. Sue me. LOL. I love Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity. I referred to them in an email today as my Trinity. In fact, I just bought Glenn Beck's newest book, "Common Sense", that just came out TODAY! I didn't even wait to go to Costco. Bought it at Walmart.

Second confession. I love trashy novels. I said it. My favorites right now are the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). Love 'em! They are a fast read, but interesting, and I decided to start at the beginning to see how the relationship between Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke has progressed over the series, as well as how the other featured characters grow. I just really have liked this series, in spite of some rough language, and I am saying I think it's fine! I look at blogs that list all these esoteric books that the bloggers read, and I think REALLY? What ELSE have you read that you're not putting on the list because you think it's too trashy or political or whatever? There. I said it. It is that kind of day, I guess. Having a root canal will do that to you!

Here are the performances!

The kid had their piano recital today. Shirley does such a great job with her students! Sarah played Fur Elise, and Spencer played the theme from Stargate SG-1. I recorded their songs with the camera, and of course took pictures!

I think I wrote that we went to 3 Margaritas for dinner after Monday's jury duty marathon. We had a good time. Spencer sat by me (sometimes he loves his Mom), and Sarah sat with Alan. The boys are shaggy in this picture, but they did go for haircuts after dinner.

I had to report for jury duty Monday. Ick. I believe in serving and all that, but really. The juror assembly room was at least 80 degrees, and humid, and stuffy, and full of 100 or so hot, cranky people. (Me included.) I woke up with a tired headache (Alan decided to spend half the night rolling around and making the bed move like it was in an earthquake. I love him, but he can be really restless some nights and I wish for another bed for me! Sigh.), and my IBS was beginning to show signs of acting up, so it wasn't an auspicious start to the day. But after 3+ hours, getting the enviable #47 (not my age anymore), and being told to go to lunch and report back at 1 pm, I got to go home to my nice air conditioned house. I was a little bit frantic because I hadn't heard from Alan and didn't know what his work schedule was yet, so I didn't know if I had to rearrange kid pickup or not. Finally talked to him, he had run Sarah's keys up to Kamiakin for her, and Emily (bless her!) had texted her mom and made arrangements for them to give Sarah and Spencer rides home. Bless Susan! Long story short, things worked out fine. No drama after school today so Sarah and Spencer entertained themselves until I got home around 4-4:15 ish. I was hot, tired, cranky, still had a mega headache, and took an hour's nap. Alan got home and then around 6 we went to 3 Margaritas for dinner. I like that place. Family friendly, the meals are reasonably sized and priced, and best of all Spencer ate ALL of his cheese quesadilla! Proof I went to the courthouse follows.

I don't really have anything to post about. Just thought I would post for a change more than once a week/month. LOL. We're watching So You Think You Can Dance and I'm shaking my head at some of the dancing!

I did learn something new this week. I learned to put videos on my iPod Nano. Woo-HOO! Love learning new stuff like this. I refuse to let technology defeat me.

Since I got Easter pictures up, thought I'd better do Mother's Day as well. We went to Gma Noakes's house and Alan fixed lasagna for dinner. Mom went to Diane & Sam's, so after we were done at Gma Noakes's we went over to Mom's and gave her a card and hugs from the grandkids!

I haven't posted Easter pictures yet (sigh), so here they are. First off, DH and I. Aren't we handsome and gorgiferous? (LOL) Then, we have Sarah and Spencer. At least they don't act like they hate each other.

Next is a picture of Sarah and me, and then Spencer and Alan. This was just after Spencer's birthday (he turned 12), so he was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood on this day. *Sniff.* We went to Diane and Sam's for Easter dinner, and got to spend some nice time with them. We didn't do an egg hunt this year, and nobody seemed to miss it. Well, Sarah did mention it, and did a fake pout when I said she was too old for it, but other than that nobody cared much!

(You know, I really hate it when pictures don't go in the order I put them in the silly post! ARGH! The picture of Alan and I should be first, but it decided to go in second. Go figure.)

I have to confess, I didn't see ALL of General Conference. I did see 80+% of it, though, and it was wonderful. I DVR'd all the sessions, so I am going to go back and watch the talks that I missed. I am so glad that we have this opportunity to hear from our prophet and apostles and others in leadership positions in the church. The Gospel is so important, and I take it for granted so often. It's something I'm trying to resolve to be better about!

Xina from HNH Family sent this great website the other day. It lets you make "motivational posters" using your own words and photos. I made a couple for the kidlets. The site is http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php . It was fun!

I rediscovered a great site today. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/ This site tracks the construction of LDS temples worldwide. The big news is that the Vancouver British Columbia temple got its Angel Moroni yesterday. Wonderful! I had forgotten there was a temple being built in B.C. Cool.

Sarah and I had fun on the 28th attending "101 Quilts in a Day", the Kennewick East Stake's Enrichment activity. The goal was to put together at least 101 quilts for charity. At last count (that I heard), we had 138 or some astounding number. A local TV station came and shot some footage, and Sarah is on it! I'll put in the link here: http://www.kndu.com/Global/story.asp?s=9924473 . Sarah is shown in the green top and black pants at about 60 seconds into the story. You have to watch a couple of other short reports first, but we're on there. You can't see Sarah's face (darn it), but it's definitely her. Her back is to the camer and she's walking toward the back of the cultural hall. The lady that is shown sitting down and talking is in my ward and is the stake's enrichment counselor. She's a real go-getter and has coordinated our ward's charity quilt making for several years. I'm posting some pics too, just of Sarah because I had the camera (haha) and didn't want MY picture taken.

The kids brought home really good report cards again this time around. Sarah got a 3.716, if I remember correctly. Not bad for first year of high school and honors classes. Spencer got a 3.76 and got on the Principal's List for good grades in middle school. I'm very happy with them both! They are great kids and we are so blessed as parents. The small quarrels and battles we have with them could be SO much worse!

I really stink at blogging. I don't know why, I just find it difficult to find new things to say, I guess! DH went on a cleaning frenzy the past couple of Saturdays so now the countertop by the stove is nearly completely clean (nearly being better than not at all LOL), and we got a good start on the kitchen table which has masqueraded as the piling paradise for the past while. I need to make some folders for things on the table (taxes, insurance, etc.), but it's much better than before. I do appreciate it, he just drove me a bit batty and just now I had to tell him to knock it off. LOL

Happy Anniversary to us! It is our 17th anniversary today! And it is Alan's 12th baptism anniversary. He was baptized into the LDS Church on our fifth wedding anniversary. Easy for him to remember that way (and for me, too!)!