Kiva

Richard and I saw a program about micro finance on PBS a few months back and we both were so touched that we knew we wanted to get involved. Now we help people in developing countries to build profitable business and care for their families needs. We use Kiva. Check it out at kiva.org This is from their website:

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website. By enabling people to connect with and make personal loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world, Kiva is revolutionizing the fight against global poverty. You can make a direct loan of as little as $25 to an entrepreneur to purchase business-related items such as sewing machines or livestock. This can dramatically improve the life of an entrepreneur and his/her family, empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

Quirky Tag

I hope I can do this tag before I have to do some real life stuff. It's supposed to be 6 quirky things about me, I'll see how far I can get. Here goes.

1. I am addicted to Masterpiece Theatre. I know, "geek alert" I record it every week. I adore DVR.

2. I wash my dishtowels/rags with bleach separate from any of the other laundry. That is the only household chore I am particular about.

3. I never, ever read jacket covers and I hate it when someone tells me too much about a book or a movie before I read/see it.

4. I have a passionate dislike for Hooters and won't even let my husband go through the drive through to get wings. He can't even buy Hooters brand frozen wings. I am that serious.

5. I look at my food carefully and watch my fork the whole way from plate to mouth.

6. I have never had acrylic nails. I think they look nice, I just can't. It would be like my fingers couldn't breath or something, and I'd be trapped cause I couldn't get them off.

How Cute are my Kids?

Me and Rhett at the pumpkin patch. Freezin.

Landen agreed to be the astronaut after Braxton told him how cool it was.

Rhett was happy to be a pilot.

No time to Post

So I'm beginning this post with this crazy photo from 2 summers ago when our local library had a princess and pirates party. Of course when I wanted to take a picture, the kids decide to attack the unsuspecting baby. I'm posting this to show how time flies and how wonderful all the little moments are in our life The rest of this is a summary of our entire summer not in chronological order at all, but hey I had a few minutes and it's all good stuff.

Education Week at BYI a treasured summer tradition. I will always remember 2008 as the year I brought my kids suitcase and left all my clothes with them in Boise. Yes, I survived 4 days all on borrowed clothes. Those 4T jeans shorts and t-shirts didn't cut it, especially not the Diego briefs. I have been a little frazzled this year, and this was the proof. I am so excited for some routine and quiet time.

What would summer be without Cub Scout Day Camp. This is my third year in a row, as leader, what will I do next summer? Braxton, ever difficult to impress, enjoys the alchemy lecture.

July 4th, at the Ross's, this year, I'm happy to report, we didn't blow up anything, or anyone.

In July I went to Kansas City for Usborne National Convention. I do love a girl trip, we had a blast.

I set a goal to become a supervisor, and by Aug. 1st I had promoted.

When Richard told me we were getting a boat, I'll admit, I was less than thrilled, but after just one Saturday out on the lake with my family, away from electronic devices (does a fish finder count?) I am a fan. We have a great time.

Here's baby Kensley, she was at the party too, just didn't make it into the group shot.

I just think it is so cool that you can have a great party with just your cousins and your siblings. They are a great bunch of kids.

Rhett, turns 3 this summer, yeah for the pool party. One word, adorable. I can see that he will always be my baby, and my advice is, if your youngest isn't a snuggler, you better have one more.

Landen, the coolest, most uninhibited kindergartner around. This kid has no hangups or fears, rejection, separation, performance anxiety, bring it on. This is one cool kid.

First Day

We were all excited for the first day of school. Rhett packed up and walked over to school with the rest of us and after they were all settled in class, we walked home and he felt complete. He started pre-school this week and really loves it. I can't believe I am to the point where I have a few hours a week sans kids. I really need it. You can check out Rhett's first day on Nicole's Website. Poor fourth kid, I forgot to take his picture, I was just so excited to get to the mall. All is going well.

On a sad note. My best friend Lisa lost her mom this past weekend. We will be at the funeral this Saturday, sending love to the Perkes family. Life is just so fragile. Call someone you love today.

Puppy Love

Anyone who knows me will find this very hard to believe, but we now have a family dog. He is an indoor dog, which I did not realize existed until I moved out of my home town. Where I grew up, all dogs were free, as in, they didn’t cost money to purchase. They were given to you by a neighbor trying to get rid of their puppies. They also were free to roam around the whole neighborhood. No one had fences, and dogs never came in the house. It took 13 years of begging and pouting for my husband and four sons to wear me thin enough to agree to get a dog. As I knew would happen, I am the one who gets up with the dog at the crack of dawn, I am the one setting his schedule, house training and feeding him. I even pick up 75% of the poop. The boys swore they would pick up all of the poop before we got the dog. As a result, the dog loves me best, and cries when I am gone. This morning Ollie and I were having our morning nap. He wakes up between 5 and 6, so we are ready for a nap at 7:30 when Richard leaves for work. Ollie was asleep on my lap and Richard bent down to kiss me good-bye. Ollie sprung from his sleep and went into a barking fit. So my new BFF is either jealous of my husband, or trying to protect me from his romantic advances. Isn’t he cute?

Crazy Food Storage Shortage

I'm beginning to get a little concerned. Despite the fact that I have been Mormon my whole life and heard the council to get a years supply of food stored up, I have never really done it. Now things are going to heck in a hand basket and I'm really wishing I had been a little more obedient. I'm curious if other parts of the country are having such a shortage as we are here in Boise. We have had to disband our monthly dry pack canning in the ward because our cannery will only allow us to purchase 50lbs per person, per day. And they are usually out of things like wheat, and rice unless you wait in line for two hours before they open. I decided to add up the total cost for a family of 6, one year supply of only wheat, flour, rice, oatmeal, milk, sugar, salt, oil, beans. $2,200. I sure would like to put my economic stimulus check toward some dry goods, and do my part to stimulate the economy, I sure hope it works. Anybody want to go in on a wheat grinder?

The Host

Okay, I know all I ever talk about is books, but what can I say, they are my life. So I finished the new Stephenie Meyer (sadly, we are not related) "The Host." I loved it. The range of genres I enjoy nearly rivals the types of music I like. I am a huge fan of Sci-fi, and this one really delivered. I had no problem "buying" the premise of the book, and as usual, our BFF Steph, gave us captivating characters that make us laugh, and cry and fantasize. While Jared is no Edward, you can easily enjoy the chemistry in this novel. I also enjoyed the way the love triangle was resolved and unlike the "Twilight" books, we were not left hanging. I don't have an unquenchable thirst for a sequel. I do think this would make a fab movie even my husband would enjoy.

New Calling

Well, if you thought I never blogged before now, it's about to get worse. I was just called as 1st counselor in the RS pres. Sadly, I can't even find my camera to upload the pictures from the pinewood derby or the blue and gold banquet. I am having a lot of fun and enjoying my work and family, so that's the 30 second update.

The new Sense and Sensibility

Masterpiece has done it again! I loved the new Sense and Sensibility aired on PBS a few weeks ago. The actors had such chemistry. The sister bond was painfully realistic, and the tension between the lovers was crazy. I was more emotionally vested in this one than the Emma Thompson version, a must see if you missed it. It's available on Netflix, just look for the 2008 version.

I can't believe it

I am actually posting, and it has been so long I really don't know where to start. I'm sure no one reads my blog anymore anyway, and I don't blame them, seriously, over a month without one post! It is 10 minutes to 2 am so I'll be brief and say that things are going great. We are all healthy and happy and business is good. Maybe next month I'll have time to download some pictures off my camera.

We had a nice visit to Blackfoot to wish Jake well as he leaves for his mission, and can I just say, he is one amazing guy. I got a little choked up when he got up to speak Sunday and was so witty and charming, cause he's my baby brother, and it really caught me off guard to see him as a total adult, even wearing his whites. He went to the MTC this morning, hope my mom and dad are holding up. They should be proud though they raised some really fab kids.

Trip to St. George

Sadly, I have no time to blog anymore, so this will be a quick bunch of pictures from our trip to visit the Boulter's in St. George. We had a great time, the boys loved being together and Michelle and I had a great time. Blake was a saint watching the kids more than a little bit. The drive was way easier that I had imagined. It was a great trip. Landen and Rhett on the swings at the fab new park in St. George.
Korbin and Landen on the awesome playland. Note the cushiony "turf" easy on bare feet.
Ryker, Braxton and Brekkon quickly discover the dirt mountain, by the end they even had Rhett up there. Can you picture Michelle's washer after a load of clothes from seven very dirty little boys. Not pretty. I have never done so much laundry on a vacation before, if you could measure fun by the dirt level of the kids, they were off the charts.
Michelle and I doin biznas, we had a great time at her Usborne kick off party.
The boys on the playstation, only Rhett is missing from the frame, he is off to the right. It was a marvelous pack of boys.
Our hibachi chef.
Michelle and Julie, girls night at Samurai 21. I didn't get a picture of bookclub the next morning, but we discussed "Book of a Thousand Days," by Shannon Hale. Loved it.

55 words

Speed test

Book of the Week

My new favorite book of the week is: The Big Book of Fantasy Quests. It is 128 pages, and under $15! I got this one for my boys, but I adore it. The art is fantastic, and the quests are clever and fun.

I'm like a kid in a candy shop everytime a shipment of books comes. The kids love it too. We had two big boxes arrive Tuesday and I didn't open them right away. I went upstairs to tidy up, thank heavens I came back down quickly, my two boys 4 and 2 and their two cousins 5 and 2 each had their own steak knife and were sawing through the boxes. "We just really wanted to see the new books, Mom." Like mother like son.

No children or books were harmed in the story above.

Miss Austen Regrets

I was a bitter sweet movie for me. In "Regrets" I really enjoyed how witty and fun loving Jane seemed. I loved catching glimpses of the places I visited last year when I was in England on my Jane Austen trip.

It was so sad that she could never find any man to truly love, and also heartbreaking for her to die so young. At the end of the movie when Cassandra is burning letters she quotes an actual letter she, Cassandra, wrote to Fanny describing her despair at the loss of her beloved sister. The letter is on display at Chawton Cottage in Alton. I have the great joy of being able to say that I visited there and read the letter myself. As I read that letter tears poured down my face thinking about how much I loved my own sisters and how much I would miss them. I stood in the hallway and copied on a receipt that was in my purse, "I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself." Could there be a more touching tribute?

The best part of the movie for me, was remembering my feelings from my visit to Jane's Home, truly a highlight of my life.

Tending Roses

Our book club book for January was "Tending Roses" by Lisa Wingate. The best part of the book was the pearls of wisdom the Grandmother shared in her journal. Our favorite was, "The best times in my life were when the roses grew wild." We all realized that just because we might not have tons of personal time to explore our own interests and hobbies, this crazy, wild time when our children are little will be looked back on as the best time of our lives. Many of the girls were a little choked up during our touching discussion, and I think all of us were inspired to be better mothers.

Thanks to Shimber for choosing such a heartwarming book, and for her clever twist on pot pie, and the fantabulous almond shortbread.

My New Pet Project

I am so excited about this wonderful Children's Book Company I have discovered. It is Usborn Books at Home. I am so in love with their books, I have become a consultant. It's two of my favorite things, books and my kids!

Richard was quick to point out my less than stellar success as both an Avon and Pampered Chef rep., but once I convinced him how excited I am to share these books, he became his usual supportive self. In true Richard style, he made sure I ordered the biggest and best start up kit they offered.

So . . . go check out my new website at http://www.juliesbooks.com/

My featured, favorite product of the day is the multiplication wrap ups. These are way cooler than boring old flash cards. It's like a game, you can race your kids, or as a whole family all while learning the multiplication facts. It is self correcting, and a little bit addictive.

FYI

Jake got his mission call to . . . . .drumroll please . . . . .

Houston, Texas

Do they let missionaries wear cowboy boots?

My New BFF, Dr. Oz

So, funny thing. My mom got Val and I both Diet books for Christmas and Mikelle a cookbook. Hmmm, you know you have a good relationship with someone when they give you a diet book and you are happy, because they know you so well and that is just what you wanted.

Mom is aware of my commitment to getting and staying healthy in 2008, so she got me the new Dr.Oz book "You on a Diet." I read it the week after Christmas and really loved it. I like that it is so scientific and not gimmicky. I think the advice is practical and sound. The focus is not really on how much you are eating so much as eating the right foods. The goal is to control your hunger so you don't feel deprived. Now, my scale bit the dust right around January 1, so I don't know if I have lost any weight following the program, but the focus of the book is really about waist size, not weight anyway. I do feel that my muffin top is beginning to loose its fluffiness.

The whole plan is available on the website including menu plans and shopping lists, so cool and helpful, but I still recommend reading the entire book (you knew I would) even if you just get it from the Library.

Here's a quick tip from the book, "1/2 tsp. of cinnamon each day has an insulin like effect, enhancing the satiety center in your brain while also reducing blood sugar and cholesterol levels." Who knew that tons (1/2 tsp. is quite a bit in one dose) of cinnamon can make you feel satisfied. I've been putting it in my oatmeal each morning, but may start splitting it and doing 1/4 tsp. in my afternoon yogurt as well as morning oatmeal.

Check out http://www.realage.com/ for a fun test, cool tools and all the program info.

Meyer Family Top Ten of 2007

10.Rhett turns two and develops a love for cars

9.Landen starts preschool and has his first crush.

8. Richard becomes the Automotive Sales Manager at the Idaho Statesman.

7. Julie starts working at the hospital as a baby photographer.

6.The family has a blast camping a few times this summer.

5. Richard gets a new motorcycle.

4. Ryker earns his bear in scouts. (this picture is of him as a wolf, but you get the idea.)

3. Julie goes to England with her girlfriends.

2.Two new baby cousins, Deakan in June . . . .

and Kensley in December!

1. Braxton is baptized this November.