Evers Family Christmas Party

We got together with my family on the Saturday after Christmas. We got the yummy tri-tip for dinner along with all of the fixings. It was fun to be together and even more special because Dad and Mom leave on their mission in a few weeks and won't be here for next Christmas. Their wish is for us kids to stay close and do things together while they are gone and I think it will be fun to plan and do things with my brothers and sister this next year. Heidi and my mom got all of the boys and Kaitlin t-shirts that said "git er done" on them. This has kind of been our family motto since dad had his surgery over a year ago.

After dinner Travis and Sean played the guitar for us and Kaitlin and Tyler sang a hot cup of cocoa song for us. It was fun to be together with family and fun that mom and dad almost have their dining room done for us to eat in. We ate in it even though it isn't quite finished.

Christmas Day

Travis only put 3 things on his list this year, he wanted Guitar Hero World Tour (didn't get it) Iron Man DVD, and a new black accoustic/electric guitar like his dads. I told Sean he was going to have to buy the guitar, because I know nothing about what is good or not. Luckily he found a Washburn guitar with an electric pick up on Ebay that had only been played 1/2 a dozen times and came with 2 extra sets of strings, and a hard case. The guitars he had looked at that were similar in the stores were $500-$800. He was able to pick this one up for $220 with shipping included. I was a little worried because it took like 3 weeks to get here and I was worried it wasn't ever going to arrive and then what would we do since it was the only thing Travis was getting? But it arrived in time and it was beautiful, not a scratch or a fingerprint on it. Travis was so excited when he opened it up and he and Sean sat and played guitar together almost all day on Christmas day. It was so fun to listen to them. Most of my pictures are with his hand in his face blocking the photo shot, but I did happen to get this one.

Tyrel only wanted snow toys for the January campout at the Haskell's cabin for scouts, so he did his own shopping on Amazon and got himself a snowboard and a snow scooter. He is loving his snow scooter. I don't have his pictures scrapped yet, but here is a photo without a layout.

Trevin wanted Indiana Jones Legos and an Eagles helmet. We opted for a real helmet so he could have as a keepsake instead of a cheap plastic imitation. He spent all morning putting his Lego set together according to the instruction booklet. All of the boys have really enjoyed Legos and it was fun to see him do it by himself.

Sick on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, all was going well. I had some extra time in the afternoon and since I didn't get pumpkin break made and gifted to my neighbors, I decided I should at least make some for Sean and Travis' home teaching families, so I made some pumpkin bread and while Sean and the boys were delivering, I threw together some chicken enchiladas for dinner.

After dinner we cleaned up the mess and I sent Sean downstairs to get the boys so we could open our Christmas Eve gifts and read the Christmas story from the Bible. All of the sudden I got the worst abdominal cramps I had ever had. I was in pain worse than I remember when I was in labor. I was sweating and shaking and doubled over in pain. Tyrel had been sick with the stomach flu a few days before, so I thought maybe that was it, but I seriously was in so much pain I thought an epidural would be great. I began to wonder if maybe my appendix had burst or something. It was absolutely awful!

I had Sean help me into bed and told him I didn't think I could stand it and that I needed a blessing. He was at a loss as to who to call on Christmas Eve. He tried his dad and got no answer, so he tried his brother Todd. Todd asked if we could wait until they had put their kids to bed and I said "No, keep trying the neighbors." Thankfully, Todd said he could come up. I felt really bad taking him away from the family on Christmas Eve, but I seriously thought it was something really serious.

While we were waiting I told Sean where the stocking stuffers were hidden and where the "Santa" presents were so he could get them out. We had the kids come in to our room and sit on the floor to open their Christmas Eve pajamas.

He came, they gave me a blessing, Sean walked Todd to his car and by the time he got back to me I was totally fine. I ended up getting up and finishing off the Christmas stuff like I had planned. I'm so thankful for the power of the Priesthood.

Nielsen Christmas Party

We decided for the first time ever to have a Nielsen Family Christmas party this year. It was at our house and we decided to have dinner and then to re-enact the Nativity because Sean's family grew up doing that.

We had spaghetti, salad, rolls, and dessert and then proceeded to get all of the "actors" in costume. After finding enough bath towels, we proceeded to the living room for Grandpa LaMarr to read the story while we sang and had the kids re-enact the story. My kids are so much older than the rest, it looked like we had giant wisemen. Trevin and Alexis were Joseph and Mary and we had a couple of little rabbits instead of sheep, but it was cute! Travis and Tyrel tried their hardest to stay out of camera range.

This is a picture of Diane and LaMarr in front of our tree.

This was a fun family tradition that I hope we can continue.

Constructing the Houses

Our gingerbread house activity was a little strange this year. Travis and Tyrel wanted to make their houses so they could eat them and Trevin has 2 teachers so he had to make two houses (he doesn't get to eat one). I had some leftover dough, so while we constructed the houses, we had Sean roll out the dough and then Travis and Tyrel cut into cookies and baked. They put them in the oven and didn't set the timer until a few minutes later. I didn't pay attention and they had set it for the full time after they had already been in there for 3 or 4 minutes. So, needless to say, our cookies were a little overbaked. They insisted they were not burnt and tried them, we had boys spitting and spewing and looking for a sink and some thing to drink. It was kind of funny!

Trevin got both of his houses made and delivered to his teachers. Didn't he do a great job? This is Mrs. McKee with her house.

This is Mrs. Turner and her house. I went to high school with her and her husband and all three of my boys have had her as a 4th grade teacher. She was so excited to get her house because she has kept the houses the other boys made and she said her kids have picked most of the candy off of them, so she was excited for a new pretty house.

Scrooge and Jacob Marley

Trevin came home from school all excited because his school class was going to do a program where they acted out Dickens "A Christmas Carol". I asked him if he had a part and he said he was going to be Jacob Marley. I assumed the teacher would be narrating and they would just walk around the stage for their parts, but I asked him if he had any lines and he said, "Mom, I have a whole scene!" It was so cute. So every evening while I was makng dinner, he and I would run lines while I cooked. It is all he talked about for two or three weeks.

They did the play in their classroom and had scenery and costumes and everything. Scrooge did very well at being grouchy (can you see the scowl on his face) and Trevin remembered all of his lines and did a great job as Marley. Don't you love his chains? The little girl in Trevin's class that was the ghost of Christmas present was hilarious. She kept waving her wand and twirling around in her dress and she even talked with a British accent. It was so funny! They all did a great job and Trevin was excited that both sets of his grandparents could be there. He made Grandpa LaMarr (the actor) very proud!

Christmas Guitar Concert

We got to enjoy a Christmas concert at the Jr. High. It included the choir, orchestra and guitar class. We had quite a few kids we knew from our ward in the choir and there are three boys from our ward in Travis' guitar class. The guitarists played Silent Night, Jingle Bells, O Come O Come Emmanuel and What Child is This. After everyone finished their parts, they all played and sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas together. I'm so proud of Travis and all that he has learned this year in his guitar class. He loves it and I love listening to him play while I make dinner in the evenings.

Sub For Santa Translation

My wonderful brother in law Ken was able to translate our Thank You cards from our Sub for Santa Family. Thanks Ken

Translation:

For Santa Clause
From Daniela
Thank you
For bringing me
Shoes

For Santa Clause
From Daniela
Thank you for the toys and I hope
That you have a merry Christmas

For Santa Clause
From Alfredo
Thank you for the toys and I hope
That you have a merry Christmas

Sub For Santa

I had to share the neat experience we had with Sub For Santa this year. This is a tradition we have every year. For the past 8 or 9 years we have gone through the United Way sub for Santa program because I like the way they screen the families and have them go to classes on how to interview for a job, how to prepare a resume, etc, to help them get back on the right track so they don't need Sub for Santa the next year hopefully. They also have very specific rules so that each family is treated fairly, 2 clothing items, 2 toys and a book (I am a proponent of reading, so I especially like the book part). Then, they suggest you sponsor more families if your budget allows instead of just buying more extra stuff for the family you got. We try to get a larger family (5-6 kids) because we have always budgeted the money to do so.

With the lack of work this past year at our household, we almost didn't do it, but Sean and I discussed it and still thought we should do it because we wanted to continue the tradition and also show the boys that even though we don't have a lot of money this year, we are still better off than a lot of people. Also, my Young Women had helped with that baby blanket with my lesson a couple of months ago, and sub for santa is where they wanted the blanket to be given. When I requested our family this year, I specifically asked for a family with a baby boy and 2 children max. The guy on the phone didn't think I could request something that specific but took the information anyway. I received our sponsor family and it was a woman that is recently separated from her husband with a 2 month old baby boy and a little girl that is 6. Perfect!!! One problem, they don't speak English very well and we don't speak Spanish very well (okay, we don't speak Spanish at all). I was very impressed with the list of things they asked for. Lots of times we get lists with very specific, sometimes large ticket items on it and it is hard to find the stuff. I could sense the humility in this family as I read the list, clothes, snowboots, coat, nursery rhyme book, Barbie. I guess a baby can't really need any big ticket items, but I was still impressed.

Monday for family night we took our list and the blanket made by my young women and this year I handed the list to the boys and had them make all of the decisions. It was kind of fun to see what they put together. We got a full outfit for the baby (pants, shirt, jacket, socks, and shoes) and also a pair of pajamas. They picked out a little spinning toy and we got a board book for him to go along with the fleece blanket. For the little girl we got a Sleeping Beauty princess Barbie, a princess microphone and play cell phone. Sean picked out a Disney princess activity/story book and the boys picked out the cutest pair of jeans with a silver sparkly belt and a pink long sleeved shirt with sequins on it. I should have taken a picture because it was the cutest outfit. The only disappointment was that we couldn't find princess or pink boots in her size so we had to get black ones but I'm sure she won't mind, I'm sure that warmth is more important and they looked like really warm boots.

We transferred the stuff to two white garbage bags when we got to the car and I called and told her we were on our way to the house. She is living in the basement with either a friend or relative but met us upstairs at the main door. The boys carried in the bags and we presented them to her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled with her English to tell us thank you and that she didn't know what she would have done without us to get gifts for her babies as she had no money. You could really feel how grateful and humbled she was by this experience and it really made an impact on all of us. She gave us these cards that they had made and apologized for them being in Spanish. We assured her it was okay and she broke down again and gave all of us hugs. Here are our cards. I think we figured out the main gist of what she was saying, but if anyone can translate for us, that would be great.

I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and do it this year because this was one of our greatest Sub for Santa experiences and I know it made a great impact on the boys.

Getting Ready for Christmas

So are you sick of posts from me today yet? So much has happened that I haven't had a chance to blog about so sorry. You don't have to read it all if you don't want to but since this is my journal, I had to add it all.

Are you ready for Christmas? I think we are close. The tree is decorated and Sean even volunteered to hang lights on the trees out front (that has never happened before). I didn't get out all of my decorations this year because I think it looks too cluttery if I get it all out. So we just got out the tree, wreath, stockings and hangar, nativity, and put garland around the stair bannister. Trevin pulled out a couple more things to put in the basement, but it should be easy cleanup after Christmas is over.

I sent out all of my Christmas cards and my gift for my grandparents.

We made our gingerbread houses and delivered to Trevin's teachers.

I got my 2 major projects done and back from the publisher.

I got almost everything wrapped this weekend, but I ran out of paper, so I have a few to finish up today.

We got the stocking stuffers bought and Travis' gift finally arrived (we were getting worried because he is really only getting 1 thing and it took over a month to get here) I was afraid it was lost in the mail.

We are doing our sub for Santa family gift shopping and delivery tonight.

I still have to do neighbor gifts and our Ward party is Saturday morning.

We are close!

Still in YW

I got a new calling! Our YW president just got her mission call with her husband to go to Boston, Massachusetts (they go into the MTC the same day as my parents). So, they released the YW presidency yesterday at church and I am moving from Mia Maid advisor to 1st counselor in the presidency, so I will still be with my Mia Maids that I love! I am so excited to be working with the new president. She will be great!

Cleveland Rocks!

Isn't there a song called that? Anyway, my parents got their mission call to do Records Preservation in Cleveland, Ohio. They go to the MTC on January 19th. I'm so proud of them for making this decision and being such a great example to our boys. Actually, they have been in touch with the guy over the records preservation and he said they need them worse in Montreal, Canada, so they may be changing but don't know for sure yet. We are all so excited for them (except Tyrel, he is afraid that they will come back as Cleveland Browns or Cincinnati Bengals fans which are the two teams he can't stand since he is a Steelers fan and they are the rival team for the Steelers, but he will get over it.) It's not like they are Steelers fans anyway.

We love you Dad and Mom!

Women in Christ's Life

We had our Enrichment Christmas party the other night. Sorry no pictures, but we had a great dinner of chicken with cherry sauce, rice pilaf, a wonderful salad, rolls, and a frozen peppermint ice cream dessert. The tables were decorated with nativities of various people in the ward. Then after we ate, we went to the relief society room that they had decorated with lighted pine trees and there were 6 women from our ward dressed like they were from the days of Christ. They had Christmas songs playing in the background and each of the women had a part where they talked about how their lives were influenced by Christ. There was Elizabeth (mother of John the baptist, cousin of Mary), Mary's mother, Joseph's mother, the Innkeeper's wife, the shepherds wife, and of course Mary. It was a beautiful program and really helped remind us of the real reason we celebrate this Christmas season.

Night of Excellence

We had our Young Women Night of Excellence a couple of weeks ago. We had a yummy dinner of pork chops cooked with salsa, maple syrup, and cheese. I know, I didn't think it sounded good either, but they were actually one of my favorite ways of having pork chops that I remember. They were really really good. I need to remember to ask Ashley for the recipe. One of our Young Women prepared all of the pork chops. Along with that we had salad, baked potatoes, and cheesecake for dessert. The theme was "Stand in Holy Places" and it revolved around being worthy now to hold a temple recommend. We had Carly Johnson talk and she did an excellent job. Then the Bishop said a few words and then we took pictures of all the girls blowing kisses to the bishop seated in the center. Sorry the lighting is a little bright at the bottom. I also took pictures of all of the girls with their parents. It was a lovely evening. This is just a "funny face" shot of all the girls.

Evers Family Photos

We had a family photo shoot at Thanksgiving with my family. It has taken me a while to get all of the photos edited and in layouts, but here they all are. I thought there were some cute one's. I especially love the one of Heidi, me and our Dad. The only one I didn't like was the one of Sean and I with his Steelers jacket on. The yellow just didn't go with the rest and the ones we took without the jacket all look goofy. Oh well, I think I have mentioned before that it is impossible to get all good pictures. The one regret I have is that we didn't get a picture of Jaron by himself. What was the photographer thinking? (LOL, that was me)

YM/YW Pinewood Derby

Here are some pictures from the YM/YW pinewood derby that we had after the regular scout pinewood derby. There were no rules except that you had to get your car done in 45 minutes. Each class made 2 cars and then we raced. Travis' car (that he made with Frank and Jacob) won the heat for the Teachers quorum, but their car's "hair" kept getting caught in the wheels for the final heat so they were beat by the Laurel's.

Here are all of the cars starting from the left and going right - Beehives, Mia Maids, Laurels, Deacons, Teachers, Priests.

This is the car Travis helped make. The hair was to cover up all of the Quarters they had to give it some weight.

County Fair

And you thought the Fairs were over for the year right?!

Every year for 4th grade, when they learn about the counties in Utah, they have the 4th graders pick a county. Then they have to learn about it and do a display about the population, sights to see, thing to do, economy, etc. All of my boy's have picked Uintah County because it is one of our favorite places to visit and recreate in. They have all done their own projects though. This is Trevin with his project. They let all of the classes come through to see their displays and the parents get to come in too. It is kind of fun. This is my last county fair project to help with though. Now just a few science fair projects left. They grow up too fast!

Trevin also was learning about Land Forms in social studies a couple of weeks ago. They were each assigned a land or water form like cliff, peninsula, ocean, river, canyon, etc.... You get the idea Anyway they were supposed to make a 3D reprepsentation of their land form. Trevin had Penninsula so we started out with making it from clay and I forgot to add the food coloring to the salt dough and while I was frantically looking for it, it overcooked. Not a good thing by the way. So we went to plan B which turned out to be much better anyway. We made it from cake and then the class got to eat it. Here is a picture of his land form with a blue frosting ocean around it. Sorry it isn't scrapped all cutsie, but I haven't got around to this one yet. Please ignore the crumbs and fingerprints all over my counter!

Christmas Blog Decorations

I know, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but I had some time today so I wanted to update my blog to look a little more festive so I changed the layout and changed my playlist to Christmas tunes. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving holiday! Someday I'm going to learn how to do my own blog layouts.

Naughty or Nice

I had a friend send me this and it was kinda fun. You can do your own after you link to mine.
Travis
Tyrel
Trevin

Invitations

I had to share this cute invitation. We are having our YW Evening in Excellence in a week and a half and I was in charge of the invitations. We have two girls that are over all of the planning so they can count as one of their projects so they have picked the colors, food, helped with theme and decorating ideas, and asked the speakers and planned the musical number. Anyway, they picked light blue and light green and our theme is "Stand in Holy Places". Speakers are speaking on being worthy to hold a temple recommend and go to the temple. The young men are dressing up to serve dinner to the girls and their parents and I'm also in charge of taking pictures of the girls with their parents. It should be fun. Anyway, they both came over last night and we mass produced and whipped out 40 of these beauties in 2 1/2 hours. Glad that is done. Sorry the scan isn't so great but you get the idea.

The Race is On

I feel like I've been a little neglectful to this blog lately, but work has been busy, which is good since the company Sean was working with since IndyMac got taken over by the feds just downsized. He has a couple of things going, so hopefully we will have more money coming in soon. We are getting by though.

Trevin had his Pinewood Derby last week, so he and Sean were busy building the car. He took first place in his Bear den and 3rd overall. His car was very shiny black and I cut a Philadelphia Eagles logo out of sparkly silver to put on the front of his car. He loved it.

Since the track was already set up, for YM/YW activity, we got some extra cars and gave them 45 minutes to decorate their cars (we had 2 for each class for a total of 12 cars) and then they had a race also. It was a hoot. I'll have to post pictures from the cars they decorated when I get them scrapped. There were some funny ones.

Our YW Evening of Excellence is coming up the week after Thanksgiving and I'm in charge of the invitations which have to be done to pass out on Sunday, so that is on my agenda today since I finally got my Christmas project done last week.

I'm excited to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. Sean, Travis and Tyrel went down a couple of weekends ago to help my parents with getting the dining room finished. Trevin got sick that day, so he and I stayed at home. My parents have their mission papers sent in and are just waiting for their call now. It is so exciting!

What year is it anyway????

I thought I was doing so good. I got my major Christmas project finally finished and sent off to be published and then I got this cute kit for one of the creative teams I am on for digital scrapping that I thought would make a way cute photo Christmas card, so I made it and sent it to WalMart to get printed. I picked them up yesterday and was ready to stuff them in envelopes when I noticed that I had put 2006 on them instead of 2008. What a dork.!? Luckily they were only 9 cents each (yes I'm a cheapo this year, that is what happens when your husband hasn't really had a job for the last few months and the mortgage industry that I process for is crappy right now). Anyway, I had to send them to get printed with the correct date again today.

Happy Birthday To YOU!

I had this ready and saved as a draft and totally forgot to post it. I have been really busy this week, not that that is a good excuse, but it is the one I have. So, sorry Mom! Hope you had a great birthday! We love you and are grateful for all that you do for us!

Tagged

I got tagged by my good friend Kara, so here goes......

Tagged Lucky 7's and Crazy 8's

7 Things I Can Do...

1-Scrapbook – I love it, paper or digital, it doesn’t matter to me.

2-Cook – my hubby and kids think I’m the greatest cook in the world and I love doing it, thanks mom for teaching me how.

3-Organize – most of the time I am fairly organized, I sometimes don’t deal well with spontaneity or last minute changes

4-Read – loved it in high school and college and then didn’t read for a while until I picked it up again with book club a few years ago

5- Blog

6- Balance a checkbook – I was amazed when I worked at the bank the number of people with no clue.

7- Take pretty good photos

7 Things I Cannot Do...

1- Play musical instruments or sing – I have no talent in this area even after years of choir, piano lessons and violin lessons. Luckily my boys take after their dad in his area and not me. But, I can play Guitar Hero on the medium level, does that count?

2- Cut my boys hair – but I am determined to learn how

3- Make that sound that photographers make with their tongue to get little kids to smile and laugh

4- Whistle

5- Make meringue that works like my grandma’s

6- Afford to fill my car with gas anymore

7- Wiggle my ears

7 Things That Attracted me to Sean (to those I'm tagging, change this to your spouse, boyfriend or what you look for in a guy)

1- That he could dance and that he likes to dance

2- Him playing the guitar and singing to me while I cooked him dinner

3- His cute dimples

4- The way he looked in Wranglers and a cowboy hat

5- That he has a testimony and honors his priesthood

6- That he wanted to take me to the temple

7- That he treats me well

7 Things I say Most Often...

1- “Be good, have fun, I love you.” As my kids are leaving to go somewhere.

2- “Did you brush your teeth?”

3- “Get your dirty clothes and hangers up here NOW!”

4- “Used to could” I guess I’m a Redneck

5- “Do you have any homework? And Did you turn it in?”

6- "How was your day?"

7 - "Did you comb your hair?"

7 Favorite Foods...

1- Mexican Food

2- Cheese

3- Homemade bread and rolls

4- Cheese (oh did I already say that?)

5- BBQ’d meat (chicken, steak, pork, etc.)

6- Popcorn (does that count as a food?)

7- Cheese (yes, I admit it, I am a cheesaholic)

CRAZY 8'S
8 TV Shows I Like To Watch...

1- The Amazing Race

2- Survivor

3- CSI (I don’t care which, Las Vegas, Miami, New York)

4– Eleventh Hour

5– BYU football

6– Steelers football

I think that is all that I really watch

8 Things That Happened Yesterday...

1-I got some of my Christmas projects done

2-I went walking in the freezing cold with my neighbor

3-I got our family pictures ready to get printed

4-I watched the Utah vs. TCU football game

5-I made deer steak for dinner.

6-I talked to almost all of my sisters in law on the phone

7- I processed some loans

8- I got to bed before 10:00

8 Favorite Places To Eat...

1-Mi Rancherito – or the sauce place as we call it

2-Bajio – I crave the Chicken Green Chile Salad sometimes

3-Ruby River- Sean and I love to go there for our birthdays and anniversary

4-My house

5-Tepanyaki’s – my kids always choose to go there for dinner if they all get straight A’s on their report cards

6-PF Changs

7-Macaroni Grill – Sean doesn’t really like Italian, but I get to go there every once in a while.

8- Arbys as long as it isn’t the one in Payson

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...

1- teaching a digital scrapbooking class to friends and neighbors

2- getting my Christmas project finished

3- going to my parents house this weekend

4- Thanksgiving

5- Christmas

6- Going out to dinner with my husband tonight

7- The boys cooking their own dinner tonight

8- Finishing this post, it is taking me forever and I don’t have time for it today.

8 Things On My Wish List...

1- to get my house paid off

2- to get all of my boys on missions and married in the temple

3- to go on a mission when I’m old with Sean

4- to be able to travel more

5- that we will continue to be healthy
Stumped on this one too. I’ll have to post later.

8 People I Tag...

1-Heidi

2-Katie

3-Lisa

4-Haylee

5-Sharlynn

6-Kristi

7-Traci

Scrap, Scrap, Scrap

Hi all! I haven't scrapped my Halloween pictures yet, I'll try to get to them some time this week, but I have been scrapping a lot. Here are some of my layouts from this week in case you don't frequent my other blog. Some of these haven't been posted there yet, so Shhh, keep it a secret. I am on 3 different creative teams now for different digital designers which means they have a select group of people that do layouts with their kits to promote their sites and stores and help with advertising. It has been a lot of fun for me and forced me to get some of my older pictures scrapped as well as keep up on my current photos because I have to do at least 3 layouts per week.

This is from last year at Thanksgiving when I was in charge of pies, I made pumpkin and apple cream and then I had the boys each make a pie.

This one is from Christmas day sledding at the golf course last year on their new sleds.

This is a picture I took of cute little Whitney last Spring at Troy and Lisa's wedding reception.

This is a picture of Troy and Lisa from their wedding in April.

This is a picture Tyrel took of Sharlynn at Troy and Lisa's wedding reception.

This is a layout I did of Travis on the first day of school. I also did the same layout for Tyrel and Trevin, just had to change the one picture. That is one of the great things about digital. You don't have to do the same thing over and over again, just use the same layout, different picture.

This is a picture of Trevin and his friend Brady from 1st grade. Their teacher sent it to me a year or so later, so I had never printed it out to scrap, so I did it digitally when I happened upon the picture on my hard drive.

This one is from Mother's Day this last year. I always get a picture of me and the boys on Mother's Day and also take one of Sean and the boys on Father's Day.

This is from a Richardson Family Reunion a couple of years ago. The favorite activity of the boys is to build a fort every year. This is one of the better forts they have come up with. It had a door with hinges (yarn) and furniture (stumps) on the inside.

One of our friends got us free tickets to the Styx concert in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. This is the crappy picture I got of the band and a picture of Sean and I at the restaurant we ate at before the concert.

This is from one of Trevin's flag football games a couple of weeks ago.

This is Trevin with the gingerbread house he made and gave to his teacher. This is a family traditiion that my family did when we were younger and my kids have made gingerbread houses for all of their elementary school teachers every year.

Are you bored yet? This is the last one. This is of Travis and my parents a few years back when they took him on a trip to Colorado. This is a mine they visited. They take each of the grandchildren on a trip when they turn 12.

I'm going to be teaching a digital scrapbooking class in January and I emailed many of you who I have emails for, but if you are interested, let me know by sending me an email to lori@loaner.net and I will put you on my list. It doesn't matter where you live, because it will be an online class with a week to complete each assignment so you can work at your own pace. You will need internet access and you will also need Photoshop Elements 6 or above, or Photoshop 6 or above, or Photoshop CS2 or above. I don't think versions before that will support what we will be doing. It is free, so let me know this month if you are interested. It is really fun!

Guitar Concert

Here is one of the songs Travis played at the guitar concert. He'll be mad at me for posting this, but what is a mom for if not to embarass her children?


We love you Travis!

The boy on Travis' right is Tyler Hendricksen from our ward and the boy that you can just see his eyeballs and top of his head is Brad Badders from our ward. They are both in Travis' guitar class. This is the first of two songs they played but the other one was just strumming and they played the CD of the song along with it so you couldn't hear the guitar part very well. I missed the concert because I was in charge of the YW/YM combined activity that night so Sean went and taped it and then my wonderful neighbor Brother Moody helped me get it off the camera and on to a DVD which Sean then converted to the correct type and we finally got it uploaded to YouTube after a week. Our activity was pretty fun. We did an Amazing Race in the church. The teams had to look up a scripture reference that led them to some place in the building where they got a puzzle piece and their next clue. We had a team that thought it would be fun move the clues though, so it kind of ended up being frustrating for some of the teams. We will have to make sure we send an adult with the deacons next time. If anyone is interested, I can email you the rules and the scripture references we used.

We got a lot accomplished this weekend. I finally cut out a vinyl sticker for the window of my car. I've been wanting to do it for a long time but couldn't come up with what I wanted. I'll have to take a picture and show you one of these days.

We participated in the citywide emergency drill. We were the "mystery family" in our neighborhood and we had to pretend someone died at our house. So we hung out our black paper and then when they came to check on us we told them that Tyrel had died so they radioed in and sent the Bishop to "grief counsel" us.

Carolyn called me about the 40 lb box of chicken at Macey's for a great deal. I think everyone else in the family that got a box is canning theirs, but Tyrel and I divided, vacuum sealed and froze ours. Sean got the deer that our neigbors gave us butchered, wrapped, and put in the freezer, so we are full of meat now. I also finally filled our 50 gallon water barrels with water. We have had them since Y2K I think, but have never filled them. I feel much better now that they are full of water. We watched the BYU game some time in the middle of all the meat packing and Saturday chores and grief counseling.

Sunday we had the monthly birthday dinner and a farewell party for Sharlynn at our house. Sharlynn is moving to California this morning. We will miss her! I made two cakes that were so yummy! You really have to try them. The chocolate zucchini cake recipe is here and the orange zucchini cake recipe is here. Some of the chocoholics actually liked the orange cake. It was amazing. My friend Kara has tons of great recipes on her blog, so try them all!

Tyrel and the camera

The other night at Trevin's football game, it was a little chilly. I always have the huge levi quilt Diane made us in the back of my car for just such occasions. Tyrel had come with me because he wanted to ride his Ripstick at the ball parks while Sean and Travis went to Travis' guitar concert. I hate when we have to split up like that! Anyway, Tyrel ended up getting cold so he wanted to sit on my lap and curl up in the blanket with me. But I hadn't got any pictures of Trevin playing, so I said "If you are going to sit in my lap, you are going to need to take pictures." He was excited about that but I later learned it was not a good idea. We were facing the sun, so I told him to wait and take pictures when they were down on one end or the other of the field so he wouldn't get the glare. He didn't remember that so we have lots of pictures that may have been good, but you can only see sun glare. I also told him to hold it part way down to focus and then all the way down to take the picture. So, he didn't do that either. We have lots of pictures that the playground in the background is clear as a bell but the people on the field are a blur. I should have been clued in when he said, "Oh, I got a really good one, it looks like he is going really fast!" I did end up with a few though and I did this cool layout where you overlay the photo on the paper, so take a close look at this one and you can see the kids lined up on the line in the background of the blue paper.

I also did a heritage layout of my great grandmother, who I already blogged about here, and I thought it was really pretty so I'm sharing it also.

My last share is a layout I did with a picture of the boys from Christmas a few years ago. I have been playing with PhotoShop so I learned how to do this. They are all the same picture but the first one is in full color, the 2nd one is in black and white with just the hats in red (my neighbor told me the easy way to do this, thanks Kelly), and the last one is full B&W. This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys together.

I've spent the last 5 days bottling tomatoes and salsa. They all sealed, yeah for me! But now my kitchen is a mess! Guess you know what I'll be doing today. Plus we are out of bread, so I think I will make some today, plus we have a couple of zucchini left, so I may make that yummy zucchini cake I talked about on my other blog. Maybe I won't bother cleaning the kitchen since it looks like I'll just make a huge disaster mess baking. I know..... I'll clean it tonight.

Remember

I wanted to post this layout I did of my grandfather. I just posted it on my other blog and thought I would share it here too. If any of my cousins or family members want the full resolution copy to print, send me an email and I'll get it to you. It is 12 x 12 but you can resize to 8 x 8 or 6 x 6 if you want. My email is lori@loaner.net. I thought it turned out good. I have always loved this photo of him and it was fun to change it to sepia and scrap it for my book.

Unfortunately he passed away at a young age, so many of my cousins probably don't have a lot of memories of him. Fortunately, I am the oldest cousin and I got the chance with my brother Brett to go stay with them for a few weeks every summer and help out with the ranch. It seems like they were at a different ranch house often so it was always a new adventure. I had two favorite places. The first was when they were "down the river" working on a ranch toward Rangely. The house they were in was a log home and it seems like they were there quite a few years. The yard was huge (at least it seemed like it to me but I was little, so maybe it wasn't) and it had huge shade trees and a big window in the front. My sister Heidi was afraid of the dogs, so she would just sit inside in front of that window most of the time. I loved riding the motorcycle with him to go irrigate and love the pictures I have of me and him on the motorcycle. Maybe I'll have to scrap them next! They had tons of little hills around them and we (me and the boys) would go chase and catch lizards for hours on end. They also had a little camp trailer that I don't think belonged to them, but we were allowed to play in it. It was stocked with dishes and blankets and had cute (probably mustard yellow or olive green or burnt orange) curtains in the windows (yeah probably not so cute, but it was the 70s so it was okay). So it was our "house" and I loved being the mom even back then. I also had my first experience helping herd cows when they lived here. We rode I think it was either 5 miles or 15 miles, but it seemed like 500 to my poor behind side. It seems like I couldn't walk for a month after that.

I also remember spending hours listening to my mom and aunts old records on the record player there and dancing around the room. I'm sure some of you are clueless as to what a record is so I'll explain. It is what we listened to music on. They are made of black vinyl and are like a 12" flat disk with a hole in the middle. It was placed on a turntable and an arm with a small needle at the end was placed on it and music came out! So, sort of like a CD if you haven't got the full picture by now. You will laugh, but my favorite records were "The Singing Nun" and Petula Clark who sang a song called "Down Town". And my all time favorite was a song called "Go Little Honda" by the Hondelles. Too funny! I still have the Hondelle song on my I-Tunes playlist.

My other favorite place they lived was when they lived in the trailer at Don Ward's ranch. I remember getting bucked off a horse for my first time there (it was okay because Grant caught me and I never hit the ground), branding calves and getting to ride them as they were letting them up from branding (oh the abuse to those poor baby calves). I also remember catching horny toads and my favorite part was grandma fixing lunch and lemonade and me and Brett getting to trek across the field to take it to papa and eating lunch with him. They had a little dog named Ginger at this time and we used to feed her PopRocks and watch her go crazy as they crackled on her tongue. They also had a potato cellar and it was fun and scary to go in there to get vegetables. Don Ward had a big rectangle trampoline that he would let us jump on also. That was my first trampoline experience and I actually got pretty good.

Okay, last memory for today. Papa always called any meat he was eating "skunk meat". It seems like he would always eat after us because he was always out doing chores. So,we would eat roast and potatoes, or chicken and potatoes, or meatloaf and potatoes, or steak and potatoes, you get the idea., it was always meat and potaoes, never anything like spaghetti, or tacos. But it was okay, I am a meat and potatoes kind of gal. Anyway, we would eat and then I would sit by him as he ate and he would always compliment grandma on the Skunk Meat. I would look at his plate and think, wow that looks just like the meatloaf or chicken or whatever we had, is grandma feeding us skunk meat at every meal? Too funny!

This is a tag that is worth it!

YES ON PROPOSITION 8 in CaliforniaYou've been tagged. PLEASE READ THIS no matter what state you live in. Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt children. If gay marriage remains legal, public schools will put it on equal footing with traditional marriage. Children will likely receive “age appropriate” information about sexual relations within heterosexual and homosexual marriages.Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt churches. The court’s decision will inevitably lead to conflicts with religious liberty and free speech rights. Society will become more and more hostile to traditional beliefs about marriage and family. Over time, greater acceptance of nontraditional marriage will be demanded of all people. This could impact the ability of any religion to teach and practice its beliefs. Including adoption agencies.A YES vote will not hurt gays. In California, the law provides for marriage-related benefits to be given to civil unions and domestic partnerships. Proposition 8 does not diminish these benefits.For your information:On Friday, October 10th, 2008 a first-grade class took a field trip to witness a lesbian wedding in California. Click Here for the article from the San Francisco Chronicle.A father in Massachusetts was frustrated when his kindergartner was taught about homosexuality at school by the teachers. He insisted he be notified in the future before such things were discussed so he could pull his boy out of school. He was taken to jail. Click Here for the story.

A Catholic adoption agency In the UK closed their doors because of the Government's new homosexual equality laws. The Equality Act forbids discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation. The law was forced through Parliament last year despite past Prime Minister Tony Blair's recommendation that Catholic adoption agencies be exempted from the rules. Click Here for more info. Earlier this month judges in Connecticut overturned the state law (just as the judges in California did) to legalized gay marriage. This is not just an issue in California. We voted years ago to keep traditional marriage as the only marriage recognized in the state of California, 4 judges overturned our vote…and we need to fight back. That is what this Proposition is about. This is happening everywhere and the leaders of the church and others have warned that the outcome of California’s vote will affect the way the other states vote. So PLEASE…even if you don’t live in California, put this on your blog or email this on. The Internet knows no state line. You know contacts in California that I don’t…and so do your friends. Please pass this on as it could eventually have an effect on everyone!

"Occasionally discouragement may darken our pathway; frustration may be a constant companion. In our ears there may sound the sophistry of Satan as he whispers, "You cannot save the world; your small efforts are meaningless. You haven't time to be concerned for others." Trusting in the Lord, let us turn our heads from such falsehoods and make certain our feet are firmly planted in the path of service and our hearts and souls dedicated to follow the example of the Lord." --Thomas S. Monson

Click Here for excerpts from the Broadcast given by Elders M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook and L. Whitney Clayton.A good resource mentioned in the broadcast: http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

October 20th: Last day to apply for an absentee ballot if voting out of state. Click Here to get one.October 27th: Last day to apply for “Vote by Mail” Click Here for info.November 4th: Election day. Polls close at 8:00pm. Vote by mail must be received by this time and can be hand delivered if necessary.

YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED...Here's what you do:In the broadcast we were asked to "go viral on our blogs, etc" by Elder Ballard. This is my way of going viral. If you feel this is an important issue I ask that you copy and paste this post...and post it on your blog. PLEASE keep it at the top of your blog through November 4th. which you can adjust each time you post under the "edit post" option. The Internet knows NO STATE LINE. You know contacts in California that I do not...as do your friends and their friends...and so on. Please do this. If not for your own children and the effect it could have on them some day...for mine! After you have posted this...email this to your contacts and TAG all your blogging buddies to do the same. THANK YOU!

Designer in Training

I applied and made a Designer in Training team for digital scrapbooking. I have become really addicted to it. We had our first kit assignment and I got mine done. There are also some other parts that are really cute made by other designers! I had to share this layout I did with my part of the kit. It was from a family photo shoot a couple of years ago where we only got one family photo with everyone cooperating and then I couldn't get Sean to cooperate for a couple shot either. Sometimes it is impossible. I really need to learn Photoshop better so I can fix closed eyes and non-smilers! Anyway, if you like this layout and are into digital scrapbooking, you can go to my scrapping blog and get the download link for this page that is already done, you just have to add your own pictures and journaling. The flowered paper was my favorite part of the kit I made, so even though I have all boys, I just had to use it!

Conference Weekend - this and that

I just loved Conference this last weekend! I added President Monson's quote from the Sunday afternoon session to the title box in my blog because it fit with my new blog name perfectly. I loved it. My favorite speakers all spoke on Saturday, Holland, Perry, Uchtdorf, and Wirthlin and I really like President Monson's talk on Sunday. Actually, I thought it was all pretty good. It made me feel good!

Sharlynn and Traci made it up to scrapbook with me on Saturday. I got 18 pages done on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. We ate homemade chicken noodle soup on Saturday and Shar brought yummy rolls rolls to die for! She is the best roll maker in the family I believe. On Sunday between sessions we went down to Diane and LaMarr's for conference casserole and juice. It's the tradition!

Also, I made it on to a creative team for digital scrapbooking and on to a team of designers in training for digital scrapbooking. I'm excited to create and learn!

Soccer is over for both Tyrel and Trevin. Trevin's team finally scored a goal in their last game. They didn't win a single game, but they were all very close. I think the teams were pretty well balanced this year. Tyrel's team won all of their games except for one. They had a re-match with the Genola team that they had a tough time with but won the first time. At the re-match, they lost 2-3 but Genola had like five substitutes and we had none, so our kids were exhausted plus we were missing the two Brockbank boys who were our best players. I thought they did really well though, it was an exciting game. Tyrel is excited to try out for the high school team next year. Now we are down to just Trevin playing flag football and waiting for basketball drafts and tryouts to take place. So, life should slow down a little bit.

Recipe Project #2

Remember a couple of months ago when I put in my Great Grandma's doughnut recipe? Well, it has been a while since I had a chance to make a page, but I got one done today for my Grandma Richardson. She is my grandma on my mother's side, and I already did a post about her here. I loved this picture my aunt sent me of her on the little trike. The recipe in my other post was for her macaroni and milk but the original recipe I had in the recipe book I made in high school was for chicken and noodles, so I put both on the recipe card. For those of you who are interested in the chicken and noodle recipe, here it is.

Boil three chicken breasts until tender (Iuse the boneless skinless kind, I believe she probably used a whole chicken and then deboned it). Shred chicken and keep broth to make 6 quarts of liquid. Add salt, pepper, and chicken bullion to flavor.

Noodles:

4 eggs

1 tsp. salt

enough flour to make a thick paste

Mix together with a fork and then knead flour in to it until stiff like pie dough. On a heavily floured surface, roll dough until it is paper thin. Cut into 3" wide strips. Place strips on top of each other and cut into 1/2" strips. Separate noodles with fingers. Place on wax paper to dry for 30 minutes. Place in boiling broth, stir as putting noodles in. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add more liquid if it becomes too thick. Serve over mashed potatoes. **Note - I roll out my dough and then just cut into noodles with a pizza cutter, it is much faster. This is one of the meals I requested for my birthday dinner a lot while I was growing up. My kids love it and it is cheap inexpensive and easy to make.