Christmas ! 2010

The camera was taking pictures on it's own so we got some funny pictures.



The whole family !  Usually one of the guys or one of the girls are missing so it is a big deal to have everyone together at one time!



FINALLY a new photo of Jerid!!!!!!!

Isaac and Cassie

Luke and Allison

For the last three weeks it has been this way! Not totally in a bad way just a ZOO !

biting the bullet....cutting landline and going to cell phones.

    this is my kind of phone as a kid....many hours spent on this baby!
  In fact when we moved to the boonies in the mountains of Colorado we
 had a party line....I think it had something to do with being in the Mt. because
  no, I am not that old.  Anyway...it was fun listening in on other peoples          
   conversations! ( yes I did that! ) 

   Then it was a big deal to get the push button phone...man, to
    be able to dial that fast! Awesome!

   Now, the cordless phone!  How great is that to be able to
   walk around the house, continue what ever you are doing
  while talking on the phone!  This is great except for the neck
   ache that would follow.

   Now the cell phone...we have been sharing one for 4 years now.
  The kids had to have a job and pay for there own when they wanted
  one.   Well here we goooooooo....no land line!? No sence
   in paying for both!  feels crazy!  going  total cell.  I will stick to the basic
FREE phones though! I AM a tight wad you know. Great. Next
 thing I know I will be texting like a mad woman.....then again...maybe not!
  Feels weird but this will be good....

The never ending job of dishes!

I find that if I use the dishwasher as a "drying rack" I will stay caught up better!

It is SO OLD that ya pretty much have to "wash" the dishes before you load it!

So why not wash them really good then let them dry....now I do dishes several times a day, a 

few at a time, then there is a lot less to put away before I wash some more!  Now I never have a 

sink full of dirty dishes because I hate to unload a full dishwasher!  Wish I would have thought of 

this a long time ago !  

( this in not a picture of my dishwasher....mine is too ugly to show! )

Halloween

Had fun watching Isaac, Cassie and Jerid carve pumpkins last night ! The roasted seeds were yummy too!

The Funnies

Spread the Stupidity

Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to
 the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people
 can buy cigarettes at the front.

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Only in  America .....do people
 order double cheeseburgers,
 large fries, and a diet coke.

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Only in  America ......do banks
 leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

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Only in  America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars
 in the driveway and put our
 useless junk in the garage.

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Only in America..........do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and
  buns in packages of eight.. 
 

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Only in America.....do they have drive-up ATM machines with
 Braille lettering.

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EVER WONDER ...

Why the sun lightens our hair,
but darkens our skin?

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Why can't women    put on mascara
 with their mouth closed?

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Why don't you ever see the
 headline 'Psychic Wins
 Lottery'?

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Why is 'abbreviated'
such a long word?

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Why is it that doctors call
 what they do 'practice'?

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Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

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Why is the man who invests all
 your money called a broker?

---

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

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Why isn't there mouse-flavored
 cat food?

---

Why didn't Noah swat those
 two mosquitoes?
 

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Why do they sterilize the
 needle for lethal injections?

---

You know that indestructible black
 box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane
 out of that stuff?!

---

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

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Why are they called apartments
 when they are all stuck together?

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I like this one!!!
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

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                                 If flying is so safe, why do they
                                                            call the airport, the terminal?

Marriage & Family

 As I was blog surfing I ran across this post ! I really liked it so wanted to share it with all who read my blog. As far as the video....I had never heard this song before, the words are great ! Take time to listen !    Making time for family is so important!  Dan made a huge decision to leave a pretty good paying job about 10 years ago.  He was gone all the time, so he thought it was more important to be home and be there for our kids.  It was a huge sacrifice financially and we may not have been able to give our kids everything they wanted, lots of clothes, fancy house, pay for their cell phones and buy them the fancy tennis shoes unless they pitched in....ect.  But one thing I know for sure is we gave them  "us".  It has been hard but I know we will never look back and wish we had given our kids more stuff instead of us.  Time...the time we give our families is way more important than all the stuff !



"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." --Theodore Hesburgh

"My dad told me on the day of my wedding, 'Never go in a place that you wouldn't take your wife.' -- Unknown

"What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility." --Leo Tolstoy'

"The first duty of love is to listen." --Paul Tillich

It is that time of year again!!!  I love caramel apples!! The peanut one is the best!

all I can say is: Rylee dog is spoiled rotten to the core!!

Me The JUROR

Today I went to Jury duty!  This was my first time....because of being a daycare provider I have always been able to get out of it !   This time I was secretly excited!!!  I got to get up, get nice clothes on, even put my face on!  Now that is fun for a person who stays home with little kids all day!!!  Wow.  I really need to get out more! ha!  Anyway  after arriving 25 minutes early they gave me a juror sticker.  Pretty important stuff!  Then we sat and waited....luckily I brought a book.  Then we watched a short film on what this was all about , which was very interesting being it was all new to me.  After an hour or so the gal said 6 of us would be chosen to stay.  Inside I was raising my hand saying pick-me, pick-me!!  But No. after another hour she came back to tell us what ever it was they didn't need a Jury anymore so we could all go home. Bummer !  I really was disappointed!  I really wanted to do this!  Oh-well. maybe next time! 

To Eat Healty

For a couple of years now I have been trying to drink some of my fruits and veggies by blending them up in a blender!  So most mornings I whip up some carrots, tomato, spinach, blueberries, banana, strawberries and some raspberries.  The ingredients vary but that is what was on the menu this morning.  Add a little rice milk and water to thin it down. I go in really good spurts and do this everyday and then , miss days too.  This week I was sick of it so I happened to add some Agave nectar to it.  Ahhhh did that help! Just switched the flavor up a little ....YUM!  well,,maybe not yum, but better.

Last weekend the guys went hunting....Luke didn't go but he is pretty busy and not home much.  So I rented  a chick flick !   Love when I can do that!  To actually watch a movie and cry when I need to!!! That is awesome! I chose The Last Song with Miley Cyrus ....I have heard good and bad about it but I really liked it!  Not my favorite or anything but worth seeing!
Maybe next year I will go on one of these hunting trips!  Sounds like I am missing out when I hear the stories!!  

 I did not like World History in high school.   Now it is actually very interesting!  Although I need to say I don't like the projects that go along with it.  Parents have to help a little too much.  :-)    Wish I would have studied harder when I was in school!

Prayer....it's really not that hard.

 Sometimes when I pray I have no words....and that is okay....just be still and quiet....He already knows!

You don't have to say anything. You don't have to label your needs and desires with boxes to check off. He knows them already because He knows you. He knows the sound of every cry and every laugh He knows when we are content or not.  He doesn't need us to explain, because He loves us well enough to just, know.

Sometimes when I pray I realize that I pray to Him as if He doesn't already know everything. As if I'm another customer in the long line of people who want to talk to Him.

I want to start to let Him be Him in my prayer. I want to be able to rest knowing that I don't have to work to pray, because He is in the business of  knowing already.

I just wanted to encourage you all to reach out to the God who has already filled the gaps, and embrace Him as the Father who doesn't need anything from you. You are freed from responsibility, and enabled, through grace, to be a part of the miracle.

Ahhh. Doesn't that feel nice?

Family

''

This photo was taken on Jerids 16th Birthday.  In this photo are my three guys, Jerid, Luke and Isaac, daughter-in-law, Cassie, and two of my nieces on Dan's side of the family, Addison and Caroline !   Aren't they CUTE !  Because of them we still get to put candles on the cake and they are thrilled to blow them out even though it's not even their birthday !  We get the kind that keep re-lighting and the giggles just flow out of them !  

Cheers to me! that's okay right ?!

School has started up again....I am glad to be on a schedule again!  Ahhhhh nice and quiet this morning....no kids and no daycare kids.   I have needed this morning for a while.  Just a little time alone...I am so busy taking care of everyone else I litterally forget about myself.   My tenth grader hates school.....he never has liked it very much......what a few bad experiences with rotten teachers can do to a kid.   I never liked high school either...so I really feel for him...my heart breaks as a mom to see that kids are jerks and he would rather come home for lunch than stay at school with immature kids...  But then again, I am glad that he is strong enough to not be a part of the crap that goes on there.!!!   and if that means come home at lunch time... I am glad I am here.  at  home.  so he doesn't have to come home to an empty house.!   Today is my day though....I will be gone, solitude is needed, no talking to be done, go to any store I want to window shop, go to the eye doctor to take care of me!  I will come home this afternoon REFRESHED and ready to take care of my family again..

So cheers to me today!  and I will not feel guilty about it either!  Everyone around me will love me for it!  Who knows....I may even watch Dirty Dancing today....while doing laundry of course !

M O T H E R

M odel of selflessness
O uter and inner beauty
T hankful & caring
H umble & patient
E ver gentle & kind
R eflection of Christ's love

2010 Camping

Camping !  Camping is something we have done because it doesn't cost a lot of money!  Raising our kids this is what we did for fun!  We did do one Disneyland vacation !  Now that the kids are young adults getting all of us together at the same time is a little harder.   Luke could not make our camping trip this summer because he helps lead music at church.  So here is a video of him..you will find the song he is leading at 9min. 3 sec.  Take it All is the name of it !  




Here are some photos of the camping trip with Isaac, Cassie and Jerid !

health food is not a priority camping....fried pop tarts!  Okay we did have some health food!

Jerid, Cassie & Isaac

the views were beautiful!

Jerid fishing.....not the most patient fisherman

Isaac and Cassie

this was their method of chopping wood!  ha !

Dan and I let the kids go fishing WITHOUT Wilson the little dog.  You see she loves to play fetch.  Well, that is not a good mix when you're fishing....every time you cast she thinks she is supposed to fetch it !! So Dan and I took the dogs a 4 mile hike !  WHEW !  There is not a lot of air up there!  Was sooooo fun though !

Movie Buff

I am a total movie buff.....tonight I watched Return to Snowy River.....
The Man from Snowy River and this one are one of my favorite movies.
These movies remind me of when I was in high school and my folks had a couple of horses....Goldie and Princess.


I would take them both for rides all the time...so so so many good memories!
As a kid you never know how good you had it!  I could just go for a ride any
time I felt like it.  What I would give to do that now!

Here is a picture of Goldie back in the mid 80's

here is another one of a day trip in the mountains....what a blast that was!

BBQ in Frisco

We finally had a free weekend so we went to a BBQ in Frisco, CO.  It was fun but cut a little short.
You see, when you have a teenager, with no friend or siblings with, you get a teenager that is in a hurry to get home.  I managed to get a few pictures in, but I had to tell him to just get his butt over there and laugh, so he did. I have to tell him all the time, that he will think we didn't love him much because we don't have any pictures of him!  He HATES to have his picture taken.  Dan doesn't like a crowd either.   "sigh"   Was fun anyway just to get out of town and enjoy the mountains!  Here is what I got !