a POOPY day

So as I was going through my friends blogs I came across one of an old friend. We knew each other before we were married. She, her fiance, her brother, their good friend and my old district leader, and I were all in the same ward in Provo. She was even at my first bridal shower. Anyway, last fall I saw them at the soccer field. Crazy! That this couple would end up in Fallon of all places. She's no longer here but I checked out her blog anyway, to see what she's been up to. Along in there she was sharing a story about poop, that I just kind of skimmed through - I didn't even feel bad for her situation - I think all mothers have gone through them, including me. About two minutes later, this is what I hear from the bathroom, "Mom, Sarah just pooped in the tub!!" What!? I thought we were past that. The kids were having fun and I wasn't paying attention. The were out of the tub, lickety-split, and I was in charge of clean-up, of course. I don't need to tell you, though, that if the kids were having fun in the tub it means there were lots of toys in there, too. They came out first, and into the sink for later clean-up. Well, the later ended up being when it was time for brushing teeth and I remembered they were there. I took all the toys out and before I could clean out the sink I hear Ben telling Sarah, "don't touch that -it's poop." I rush back into the bathroom to find her scrubbing the sink with her little pink toothbrush! I'm going to go back and read that blog thoroughly, and remember that there are others out there who WILL empathize with me!
She also always ended her blog posts with 3 good things. It was such an uplifting thing even on her disappointing days - I'm sure it helped her count her blessings, too. I don't thing she would mind if I borrowed from her. So here are mine for today:

good things:
1) soap!
2) big brothers
3) bedtime

Book Tag

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

Book: Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions
"He doesn't even know the meaning of the word."

I was hoping this would be some profound statement. I even thought about cheating. But, it is what it is. It was in answer to a question about teaching our children self-discipline. Although I had a cute quote once - I don't remember it perfectly now - A child was asked about his willingness to do something hard (I think)- he said "I told myself to do it and then I obeyed myself." If we were all so obedient to ourselves!
So, I'm not tagging anyone this time around. If you'd like to do it, let me know so I can read your profound sentence, too!

My hair

When I was a teenager (and probably even later on) my little sister, Susan, would brush my hair. Sometimes because I begged her to. It's something I've always loved and my husband used to do it for me, too. Well, yesterday I had gotten out of the shower, ran a comb through my hair and sat on the couch with the kids. A minute later, Sarah went and got my brush from the bathroom and started brushing my hair. She would say, "Oh pretty hair. See the curls." It wasn't feeling too good, she brushed pretty hard, so I wiggled a bit. She said, "hold still." Which is what I say to her quite often when doing her hair. Just for fun I wiggled more. After a while I asked her to do it softer. That's when she decided to quit. It was a rare and sweet moment.

If I had a million dollars - tag

Five Things I was doing 10 years ago:

1- Tracting

2- Getting to know my new companion

3- re-learning how to be a senior companion

4- Probably district and zone meetings

5- Teaching someone the gospel of Jesus Christ



Five things on my to-do list today:

1- Go to the Library

2- Clean the bathroom

3- Clean living room floor

4- Put down rug in living room

5- Make dinner



Five snacks that I enjoy:

1- apples

2- smoothies

3- graham crackers

4- cheese

5- ice cream



Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1- Buy a bigger house

2- Pay off all our debts and all our families debts.

3- Help Janet and Levi adopt

4- Get an eliptical machine and anything else that would help me lose weight.

5- Travel the world



Five places I have lived:

1- Fallon, Nevada

2- Enid, Oklahoma

3- Orem, Utah

4- Rexburg, Idaho

5- Smith Valley, Nevada



Five Jobs I have had:

1- Burger King cashier

2- custodian

3- data entry operator

4- telemarketer

5- inventory clerk



Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Five people I tag:

1- Kim S.

2- Jen A.

3- Raylynn

4- Teri

5- Susan

Last Days!

That got your attention, didn't it! I just meant our last few days -what we've been up to. Kannon had friday off for Halloween. Just kidding - it was Nevada Day. He had a whole list of things he wanted to do. I showered, voted, and sat at Les Schwab for 1 1/2 hours while they rotated our tires. I also managed to rake the few leaves in our yard into a pile for the kids to play in. They didn't enjoy them as much as I thought they would. But it lasted for a few minutes.

We went to Winnemucca that afternoon. We did the trunk-or-treat with the cousins and spent the night with them. The kids had a hard time going to sleep, but we enjoyed playing Hokie-5 (kind of like Nertz, for those of you we used to play with!). On Saturday, Kannon and our brother-in-law went about 35 miles away to cut down wood for the winter. We'd borrowed my cousins dump trailer and they got a full load. I spent the day visiting and fussing over the kids. I had a harder time dealing with 6 children in one place. Lots of fighting, tattling, getting hurt, crying, hitting, etc. We also went to Kate's last soccer game and it started to rain just as we were leaving. We were really blessed, the guys got home just as the rain started, too. It rained on us all the way home - this was our view. I'm so grateful for the rain. We need it so bad this year.

"Christmas is coming. . . .

. . . the goose is getting fat,
Won't you please put a penny
in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny,
then God bless you!"

This cute rhyme runs through my head often (and sometimes out my lips) this time of year.

I may be a bit premature, but I don't care. Yesterday I listened to Christmas music on Pandora radio. I also went to Walmart and discovered that they are all decked out for Christmas. AND, I saw my first Christmas commercial. So, I guess I'm not the only one excited! Plus, I don't have a lot of decorations for Thanksgiving, so it's almost like a let-down to take down the Halloween. I'm looking forward to putting up Christmas. It's fun to really discover what I like - I weed out every year. Just 50 more days.

Oh, yeah. And I've been putting off building a fire all day. It's been cold. I'm wearing a jacket and socks - my real winter wear. I think I knew in the back of my mind that if I built a fire, I'd be building fires for months. I'm the fire-builder in the family, usually because I'm the one home in the a.m. to do it. But, can you believe we've been able to go this long without one!? So, I finally gave in and built one about an hour ago. Now, we'll be nice and cozy.

By the way, that is our new hearth that Kannon and I built. He built the wood part, we worked together on the tiling. We're pretty happy with it.

Halloween activities.

We carved our pumpkins for FHE last week. I invited our neighbors to come play with us - they ended up just having an apple crumb with us instead. I scooped both kids guts for them. Ben wanted to use these lite-bright type of pins and poked them in his pumpkin for a bat design. Sarah wanted a sad face, so I carved hers. I tried this cat and jack-o-lantern design. Next year I'm getting a little one like Sarah's. It was so much easier to scrape and carve!

The picture of Kannon's finished pumpkin didn't turn out. Here he is working on it.

Our pumpkins lit up, Kannon wasn't finished yet. You can barely see Ben's on the right. I don't think we'll use those again, unless we really scrape down the side.

Ready for the Ward Halloween Party. Me as the Princess Fiona, Kannon is an outlaw, Ben = Batman, and Sarah is our little princess.

We really enjoyed the party. Eating chili and cornbread - we were last years winner of the chili contest. The kids participated in the parade and then joined in the fun games and activities.

Sarah decorated a pumpkin cookie. She was concentrating really hard, hence the tongue!

Kannon was in charge of the golf game. Not really sure what they did. Just get the ball in the hole, I guess, and win a prize.

Here's Ben on the bean bag toss. Both he and Sarah did really well with this game. There was also a cake walk and fish pond.

After all that we had a trunk or treat. Kannon handed out the candy while I took Sarah around. Ben took off with one of his friends. When we were done, Sarah sat with Daddy and I loaded the car up with our stuff.

I had Ben take a close-up for me. Oh yeah! I won the adult costume contest! I felt like I earned it. That took a lot of guts for me to go with a green face.

We went to Winnemucca on Halloween Eve. We stayed with Kannon's sister and family. This is the kids before their trunk or treat.

Stetson, the cowboy- Ben - Sarah - Kate, another princess - and Quade, the horse.

I know this is blurry, but I kind of liked the effect of movement. Sarah, Kate and Ben.

After they got their candy, Quade and Sarah parked on the grass and dug into their bags! They also each had a doughnut in one hand!

Kannon and Sarah almost ready to go.

So, we have tons of candy. Ben is much more interested in it than Sarah. I'm definitely doing the pay for candy thing next year. I don't like having it around to tempt me either. At least there wasn't too much chocolate!

Sarah's first party!

Sarah was invited to her first birthday party last week. Eliza turned 2 and had a fairy princess party. It was fun to help Sarah dress up. Because I was running late that morning I grabbed a quick gift for her to take.


They ate star-shaped pb&j, with mickey mouse cheese, and grapes. This is what Ben created with his - a smiley face!


We helped the girls make fairy wands (so cute!) and put stickers on crowns. They watched Eliza open her presents - some of the girls had a hard time with that. Sarah did really well. No tears!

They enjoyed their individual cupcakes and then we went home. It was a good time.

I just wanted to share what this little girl has been up to. Her personality is so developing. She is the best pouter. It makes me laugh. She hates to be teased, but loves teasing. So, I'm often hearing screaming from one of my children. Almost every morning she comes and gets in bed with me. Sometimes it's early enough that we go back to sleep. Other times she brings me a story to read. I often hear her in the living room turning pages to books. She is not as good a sleeper as Benjamin was/is. Once we got him on a schedule I could always expect him to take a 2-4 hour nap each afternoon and sleep through the night. Sarah, on the other hand, fights naps and if she does go to sleep, is only down for about an hour. At night Benjamin falls right to sleep. Sometimes, it's an hour later before Sarah is asleep. Sometimes she keeps coming out, other times she just plays in her room. One morning she woke up with her Sunday shoes on. She told me she slept in them.

She isn't shy - talks to strangers and everything! Loves going to nursery and is finally staying in the chapel for the whole sacrament meeting! I just started her in underpants yesterday. Everytime we'd go potty somewhere, she'd go to. (ex. Walmart) And for a few days, when I'd try to change her, she'd be dry and go on the toilet. Plus, her diapers were rubbing on the sides of her back, making a sore, red, dry spot. So, we put them on yesterday and she did pretty good. She had two accidents. One so far today. I think it will take awhile to get the pooping part down. That's where we have our problems. She loves a book I got at Saver's about Hannah and the potty. So, we say "just like Hannah," quite often.

She sometimes talks in a high-pitched voice. Janet calls her a munchkin. Especially when she's playing. She also likes to talk like a baby - saying "goo-goo gaa-gaa". And every once in awhile, when she's frustrated she says, "argh." Just like that. She got it from me.

Here are some other fun things she's said lately:

"I want to go to High School."

"Try again, mom, try again."

"One-a-time, tsk, a little mouse, tsk, ran away. The end."

"Close the phone." when I was talking to someone and she wanted me.

"I need toilet wiper." aka toilet paper!

"This is the Prophet, Mama!" when Music and the Spoken Word was on.

whiny voice "My bed's all curly!" It was messy and she wanted the blankets straightened.

holding her Book of Mormon "Alma ran away with the kids. The end." (what's with all the running away?)

"I'm not Velma, I'm a princess!" to Benjamin when he said "come on, Velma" - I guess they were playing with 2 different ideas in mind!

Oh how I love my little munchkin who is a tween at heart!

Kannon's Thirty!!

My beloved husband turned 30 just over a week ago. About a month before he started to mention it, maybe a little apprehensive about being 30. He's the oldest in his family, so I think it was a big deal to him. We decided to make it a big deal, too. We started off with giving him 20 things to celebrate his 20's. We did that by starting 20 days before his birthday and giving him things that we thought he'd like. This is what I can remember: chocolate milk, powdered mini donuts, pack of gum, bath with bubbles and a pillow, pictures the kids drew, a candy bar, our hands traced with a quote from President Monson about hands, sang "Daddy's Homecoming", (if I remember any more I'll add them.) I think he enjoyed that.

Then I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. It was hard to keep it a surprise. He kept planning things for that weekend, and then changing his mind. Luckily the day stayed open and I didn't have to spill the beans. I sent and delivered invites to some of our friends. I planned the snacks - things I thought he'd like, plus some things I just wanted to try. I made the pumpkin coconut bread 2 days before and hid them on the porch. I made the 7-layer dip and cheesecake cookie cups the day before and stored them at some of the invitees, then they brought them to the party. Thank you! I hid the soda under a pile of clothes in my room and the chips on the back porch by the piano and sewing machine (a place I felt was pretty safe from his eyes!) I was even able to go to the florist while Kannon was at the soccer games, to get balloons. I hid those in the kids closet. A couple of days before the party I finally came up with the right plan of attack. I called his home teaching companion and asked him to have Kannon go home teaching at 6pm that night. While they were gone I put everything out and our guests arrived. We even had a plan for his companion, K, to come to the door with him. Kannon noticed a few cars parked around but still didn't figure it out until he got to the door. Then he wondered why the lights were off. That's where we goofed, I guess.

Eating and playing Apples to Apples. Kannon has wanted that game for a long time, so we bought it for him as his only birthday present. Our wonderful friends had the same thought and brought him that game, too. We all played (except for a couple, including Kannon, who chose to visit). And guess who won! Me!

I thought it went really well. It was fun, not too crowded, though in our house it was close. I was soooo tired by the end of the night, mentally as well as physically. (Ya know I had to clean house really good, too, those last couple of days!)

This is the actual surprise part of the party!

Granola Recipe

We love granola - I always have - But, who can afford to buy it!? When we were first married my mother-in-law gave us a great recipe. I don't make it very often, but we go through it pretty quick when I do. And most of the ingredients can be found in your food storage.

13 cups Rolled Oats - we prefer the quick, I think you can use either.

The big round containers have just a smidge more than you need.

1 pkg. shredded coconut - I probably use 1/2

1 cup dry milk powder

3 cups chopped nuts (any kind)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 tsp. vanilla

Mix together first 4 ingredients in very big bowl. Cook rest of ingredients in a saucepan over medium/high heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well. Spread on 2 large cookie sheets. Cook in 350* oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring once or twice. I usually cook for 10 minutes, stir and switch shelves (move the bottom to the top, etc.). Then another 10 minutes, stir and use my judgement on more time or not. They should be turning golden brown.
I guess more than stirring, it's kind of flipping it over, hence the spatula in this picture. There's just not enough room on the sheet to stir without spilling.

Then we just keep it in a large tupperware container and enjoy! I like mine with milk. Kannon takes his in a cup and eats it on his way to work. He likes the big chunks and so I have to make sure I don't crumble them all when I'm stirring.

Hope you all enjoy this as much as we do! Do you have a great recipe that would save us money? Share it as a comment or on your blog.

Thanksgiving Activities from Sugardoodle!

I know I'm behind on a few posts, but I wanted to get this up before it's too late. On the side of my blog I have a list of blogs I like to visit. I found this Thanksgiving activity list on Sugar Doodle. I really want to do this with my kids. Wish I hadn't missed the first few days!

We are thankful for our teeth.
Give mom and dad some of our Halloween candy in exchange for a gift.

We are thankful for our legs.
Go outside and run and jump!

We are thankful for our cousins.
Call or write a letter to one of our cousins.

We are thankful for our kitchen.
Cook or bake something fun together in the kitchen.

We are thankful for good food.
Go to the grocery store and pick out a food that you haven’t tried yet.

We are thankful for Turkeys!
Art Project: Make paper turkeys.

We are kind to others.
Think of something fun to give someone in the neighborhood.

We are thankful for Daddy.
Do something nice for daddy and be extra nice to him all day!

We are thankful for Mommy.
Do something nice for mommy and be extra nice to her all day!

We are thankful for the seasons. Go out and rake leaves together.

We are thankful for our brother.
Do something nice for (name) and be extra nice to him all day!

We are thankful for sister.
Do something nice for (name) and be extra nice to her all day!

We are thankful for our house.
Play a cleaning game.

We are thankful for each other.
Play a game together.

We are thankful for our hands.
Art Project: Finger painting.

We are thankful for our eyes.
Watch a special Thanksgiving show together.

We are thankful for our ears.
Play some fun music.

We are thankful for books.
Go to the library and pick out some Thanksgiving books.

We are thankful for pies.
Go to Marie Calendars (or some other place) and get some pies to deliver to people.

We are thankful for our grandparents.
Call grandma and grandpa and tell them "I love you"!

We are thankful for Heavenly Father.
Go on a nature walk and notice all of Heavenly Father’s creations.

We are thankful for our friends.
Make a special visit to some friends.

We are thankful for the computer.
Send an email to someone we love. Send them some pictures of us.

We are thankful for all of our toys.
Take some of the toys we haven’t been playing with to Goodwill to give to other kids.

We are thankful for our car.
Go on a special outing to the Children’s Museum, or other destination.