Only have time for a few pictures

Little Chef

Rhett is really growing up. He loves to help me in the kitchen. He calls it making. He is the best maker. He can even make his own sandwich without any help.

Cute little Cart

My parents got me this cute little cart for Christmas. It is perfect to hold lots of my books. I love it. Thanks mom and dad.

I finally got Cabinet Pulls!

For the first time in my married life, I finally have cabinet pulls! Thanks to my dad for putting them up. They really dress up those builder-basic cabinets. I really want to paint the cabinets a nice ivory, with maybe a stain or glaze over them. Richard is so against the idea, that it is most likely not to happen. With our house value in the dumper, the probability is that we will grow old and gray in this house. So maybe he will soften with time.

Okay, If you want to laugh your pants off . . .

Go read Michelle's latest blog post. Seriously!

Hello!

So, I am the worst blogger ever, but if you want to see what I am up to, go check out my sister's blogs. On the sidebar, Val and Mikelle. They are much more organized and up to date than I am. You can even see pictures of me and my family. Thanks, Guys for enabling me to be such a slacker.

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.