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.