Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!

In our house, even if you ARE a skeleton, you have to sit like a lady or gentleman!
I think one of my kids did this...or it was in storage in that shape and can't move out of it!


 This Halloween was a blur.  I didn't get any pictures of the kids in their costumes because we were too busy cleaning up the sewer water that had backed up into our furnace room...and Jay's room (something that I can't solve with bleach!) and paying a huge amount of money to have a root ball from our very root-filled yard cut out of the sewer line.

Lovely, it was just lovely!

But we did carve pumpkins.  Outside because the weather was BE-Utiful...and because my house stinks like, excuse the language...crap!

Katie Jane's BTR pumpkin---Big Time Rush, don't you know!!, Lauren's rendition of SpongeBob although it looks a little more like Sandy, Jay's pumpkin had the flu, and Emma's was just a good 'ole pumpkin, because that's all the patience and creativity I had and her instructions were just one tooth on the bottom.  Done.

I wasn't about to let Emma carve her pumpkin with the sheet rock knife I was using.

Willie wasn't interested in what was coming out of Jay's pumpkin, although had it been real, he probably would have been licking it up.  That's such a gross thought!

 
And the obligatory picture of the dog!  As mangy as he looks.


 These are what I like Halloween for.  My kids hate carving pumpkins because I make them collect every last seed.


Besides the Trunk-or-Treat at the church, Emma didn't want to trick or treat so we went to Grandma Strongs and stopped by a friends house on the way home.  Lauren was at a party, Jay was at a friends and Katie was waiting at home for her friends to come by.

This is what happens when your kids get older and all the fizzle fizzes out of the holidays!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because it didn't want to get "canned"!  HA! 

Sorry, it was the funniest thing I could think of to make up for the day we spent a few Saturdays ago with 1000 pounds, if not more, of chicken.  I still have the cooked chicken smell coming out of my pores and I thought I was smelling something cooking while I slept, but when I woke up I realized that I had not been roasting something...it was all in my head.  Literally!  At least the smell.

My mom is thinking ahead and wanted us girls to get together and can chicken with a group of women in her neighborhood for our Christmas Present. That sentence probably only makes sense to me and my sisters.

Little did we realize what canning chicken would entail.  Let's just say, that my sister-in-law, Kristy walked away from the activity with features resembling a chicken she was there so long.

Let's also say, that we started at about 9 in the morning and me, Kristy and a couple other ladies...one being the owner of the garage all the chicken was cooking in...didn't finish until after 10 that night.  We had to run here and there and take care of our families for little bits of time, but for the most part...Us and chicken.  Everyone left after the chicken was all cut up and put in jars, but they didn't realize that 13 pressure cookers and over 900 pints of chicken takes HOURS and HOURS to finish cooking with constant watch of the pressure cookers.

I now know that...and so does Kristy.

Lauren came along to help as part of her 10 hour "knowledge" project for her Young Women's group.

I love the look on her face.  You want me to do what?  Lauren was so awesome.  She wasn't ever squeamish and never hesitated to get right in there and cut the fat!!  She had no idea what she was getting herself into. 

None of this could have happened if we had not had any jars to use.  So, in order to acquire all the jars we would need to can 280 pounds of chicken for our family---all my bros and sis's and parents---we decided to empty out my parents food storage in their basement.  Good way to save some money, right?  We could have MADE money selling the fermented jars of juice and fruit that were in my parent's basement.

The earliest jars I could find were dated 1976.  A lot were 1983.  I know.  Some of the "food", if you could call it that anymore, had eaten it's way through the metal lids!  And we emptied probably more than 250 OLD jars of food...into buckets...which had to be carried to the garden...because my parents are on a septic tank...washed out...and sanitized.  My parents are bootleggers!!!

Sorry mom, but I think next year we should have a girls day of shopping and go to Costco and buy chicken already in cans, even though it tastes like tuna.

I made chicken noodle soup last night with one of our bottles of chicken.  No tuna taste.

And we could survive for at least 30 days on the chicken we have in storage...so in the end, I guess it was almost worth it!

Some things I'm loving...and some things I'm hating, or disliking to sound a little more positive!

DIS-liking the laundry!  Have I complained enough about laundry? 

I took this picture, like, 2 weeks ago...and even though it's not the same load of towels, my couch still looks exactly like this.  Except the pink towel buried on the bottom is on the top of the pile now on my couch.
The continuous cycle.  My life feels so unglamorous.  But what mom has a glamorous life? 
Sometimes when I wear my favorite lip gloss I can feel glamorous!  For like, 2 seconds! 

Liking my new sign.  Me and my sis Holly saw this and laughed our way through the rest of the store.  For those not in the "know"...it's a take on the saying, "Return with Honor" that a lot of LDS families have on, over or near their doors. 

It's something we take very seriously in my family!  Leaving the gym in the morning when I go with my little sis Holly...it's a must to stop at Crest across the street.  I even heard my sister Beckie ordering a diet coke on her way to take her kids to school one morning when her daughter accidentally pocket dialed me. 

It's never too early!
So much liking our driveway extension!

It's been Will's dream to do this for a long time now.  Not only because he has to shoot the hole every time he backs out of the driveway, but now we have a place for Jay to park...if and when we decide to let him drive!

  We were warned to buy extra fence posts while they were on sale!

VERY much liking the colors in my yard. 

VERY much NOT liking the leaves in my yard!

After two days of waiting for the concrete truck (irritating at the time, but glad in the end when we they gave us a discount!!), and just before all the leaves were brutally blown off the trees, Will finished the driveway...which he still continues to commend himself on.


So much Loving the job Will did on the driveway!

This pretty much sums up how my life is going lately....

Just about everything in my life feels like it's falling apart...all you women and moms know how it happens sometimes...and this just adds the cherry on top!  Like I needed this today!  Good thing I just washed my tub and bought a brand new WHITE shower curtain and finished washing and drying all the towels.

The remains of our Sunday dinner...the rib bones we so generously let Willie take outside, which he obviously buried for later.

Crap.

It's time to Par-TAY! Lauren turned 12! Can you believe it? I sure can't!

There might be too many explanation points in that title, but...

My beautiful Lauren turned 12 on Saturday.  You know how some kids are ready and some kids are definitely not ready to get older?  Well,  Lauren is ready.  I am not.  She' still my innocent, sweet, thoughtful, caring, non-judgmental, affectionate baby girl with an awesome giggle...those are surely not teenager attributes, so this age of 12 just doesn't fit her yet!



I'm not ready for my kids to grow up!  I've been looking at pictures and videos of my kids when they were babies and little with their squeaky, high-pitched voices and it honestly almost...ALMOST, but not really, makes me baby hungry.  The baby lotion I use in the morning also gives me the same twinge.

Lauren was the best baby---thank heavens---and I know she's not going to stay angelically kind to her mom for much longer, but I sure do love her.  And I'm so proud of how kind she is to others and how she has a genuine interest in everyone elses' well being.  She's still my planner and idea giver.  There's never a Monday night that goes by that Lauren doesn't already have a FHE lesson prepared---scripture references and everything, and an activity, and for sure the dessert!

Twelve is a big deal.  I tried to make it special for her.  But, per normal my intentions and my follow through just don't quite compare!

So Lauren decided, along with the help of a friend, to throw a birthday party for herself...without any help from her mother.  That includes, making the invitations, planning the activities...including food to be served, planning the decorations, and ultimately delivering the invitations...all without my knowledge until the day before the planned party.

Imagine my surprise when she told me they were "planning" on having a shaving cream fight outside.

Um.  No.

Everything worked out, when she finally got the nerve to tell me what she had done and her excuse was...she forgot to tell me.  A couple of my kids have decided that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

As was this case.  Which makes me feel kind of bad because she obviously wanted to have the party really bad, but I think it was more like...her friend wanted her to have a party really bad and so the two of them, and their party-planning brains, and their birthday-card invitation craft skills went to town.

I am not a messy-party mom.  I don't even like parties.  Mostly because I'm not a good entertainer.  I want structure, obedience and cleanliness.  All of those things never happen at parties.  But as long as they did it outside, I let them have a "pie-eating" contest with pudding.  Much better idea than the shaving cream contest Lauren was wishing for.  Because of the sugar, of course!!

It was less of a contest and more of pudding eating.  As messy as they could get---the better.
For them.

 

The latest and greatest little things...that are ALL OVER MY FLOOR!!

But that's what makes kids love them, I guess!

It's time to accessorize!!

Happy Birthday Lauren, my YOUNG WOMAN!!

We love you so much!

I have no idea how to "Title" this post. The pictures will have to tell the story

A very sobering experience.

I pulled into the parking lot which was surrounded by men and women (they're the Patriot Guard Riders...they'll do this for any soldier, anywhere.  Will didn't like the idea at first, but after attending the first soldiers' funeral and seeing these patriotic citizens in action...he wants these guys to drive his body to the cemetery---that's somewhat a sad thought) completely decked out in biker/leather garb.  Each holding an American flag and standing totally still and lining the entrance to the mortuary.

All ideas of holding it together were lost at that point.  Meeting Matt's family, who have become part of mine, was an honor and so humbling.  What do you say? 

 

 

 

It was a funeral unlike any other I've ever been to.  For example, they played the song "Vogue" by Madonna during the funeral...very original, yet it fit who Matt was---you had to be there.

I still get a lump in my throat when I look at these pictures and when I think about the service and the ceremony at the cemetery.  I just totally can't imagine how anyone can handle a life lesson like this---on so many, many levels.  I had to stop taking pictures after this last one because I had tears running down my face so fast and I couldn't find the tissues I'd stashed in my camera bag. 

Heavenly Father is so awesome---He gave us skin that absorbs.  To a point.

I was in total awe of Will.  Of course I was.

Two side notes...yes, I was taking pictures as I was driving in the funeral procession.  I didn't have to worry about stopping for any red lights or anything and it was such a neat sight, so...
and I do realize that one of the Patriot Riders is resting his hand down the pack of his pants in one of the pictures.  They'd been standing for a long, long time.  Didn't catch that until just a minute ago. 

Things like this...make it worth it!

What a sweetheart!

My little Citizen!

Emma's my latest "Citizen of the Month".  I'm not quite sure what being chosen citizen of the month entails, but I sure do think Emma is wonderful and she surely deserved it.  I thought that no other child of mine could be as full of energy and facial expressions as much as Jay and Lauren...but Emma beats them.  Hands down.

Trying to take pictures at the very back of a florescent light infused room makes almost every picture a failure.  It's more likely user error, though.

Will has been so busy with work...you really don't need me to add another link about the Wagstaff family, do you?...so she was so, so happy when Will was able, at the last minute, to show up an see her get her award!

I like standing next to a gorgeous man in uniform!

Yea citizen EMMA!

One last smelly trip to Utah Lake...with lots of blood loss!

All summer, and I mean ALL summer my dad has been trying to get his boat to work properly.  He has put so much money into it and just can't seem to give up on it.  (I know, Ryan...he's still attached to it.  We just need to be a little more patient with him)  He towed the big, honking thing all the way to Lake Powell where he launched it in the water, drove it to the dock, then put it back on the trailer and there it sat in the parking lot for 4 days while we played on the water in the other boats.

Last week he thought he FINALLY had it figured out, and Will just happened to be home to help him take it to the lake and give it a try.  Will's body was home, but his brain was somewhere else working and his head was attached to a phone almost the entire time, but I was glad he was there because that saved me from having to back the boat into the water.  Shwooo!

This is what I look like at 39, kiddos.  Just so you know what you have to look forward to!  This picture helped me to decide that my hair needed to be short again.  I was going for this look...but it's just not happening.  I'll stick with what I know.

Upon opening the doors to the truck, we were met by swarms of mosquitoes.  SWARMS!  I instantly had 5 bites and it leaves me to wonder: HOW those blasted mosquitoes know where to bite in the most annoyingly itchy places?  Why?  My hands were also covered in Emma's blood from squishing the useless bugs on Emma's legs as they tried to bite her.

We've had a couple of sleepless nights over those mosquito bites.  Lots of potions.  No sleep.

My dad got the boat to cruising speed.  It was great and he was, obviously, very happy.

The girls were glad because the mosquitoes were gone.  For only a moment.
My dad was happy until we got right outside the harbor and his oil gauge dropped and we lost all power.  Thank heavens for good Samaritans and ski ropes.

I'm sure Will would have jumped out of the boat and swam with a rope and pulled us in, but he was on the phone for the entire test ride...work stuff.  Someone towed us in and we tried to coast into the shore, but the wind wasn't totally cooperating, so we began to coast into another boat.

That whole situation ended in a woman on another boat falling into the water trying to keep our two boats apart...the horror, seriously, the horror.  That was the only time in my life when I felt like my arms were as skinny as toothpicks---trying to lift an elephant :/ she wasn't that big, it was just an impossible task, as much as I tried---Then to add to that, some old guys fishing off the ramp had to wade out into waist deep water and guide us in.

All of this happened and I was the one who got lifted off the boat and carried on Will's shoulders to the shore as Princessly as ever.  I hope that poor soaking wet lady didn't see that spoiled rotten moment.  Will knows how much I hate that water.  In the end...I ended up getting wet too.

My dad wished for a stick of dynamite.

No, Ryan...you may not give him one.

And the boat's back at the marine...they're trying something else.  I think we'll wait until next summer to test it and make sure all memories of this last time are safely put away.

I'm so thankful!!

The last week or so has been a roller coaster of emotions around here.  But the emotions we've felt are absolutely nothing compared to what the Wagstaff family is feeling.

Last Tuesday morning, Will was notified that he was to be the CAO - another Army acronym... of course - Casualty Assistance Officer for Matthew Wagstaff's parents who live in Orem.  Matthew was killed in Afghanistan on the 21st and Will has had the privilege to be with his parents and support them in anything that they need.  Travel to and from the airport, visits to mortuaries, funeral arrangements, answering questions...anything and everything...and I've been more than happy to lose a little of Will's time around our house so that the Wagstaff's can feel supported.

When I think about it, my heart just sinks.  I can't get out of my head how close my family could have come to needing a CAO.  Will cringes when he thinks about the helicopter missions he went on in the old, very old, very very old and horribly maintained helicopters that the Afghani's flew.  No one is exempt.  And no matter how hard and often we pray in our home and ask that the soldiers are kept safe...life still teaches really hard lessons.

So many things in this life are so trivial.  They don't matter.  It's hard to have patience with people and their temper tantrums (me included) about things that don't matter.  I realize the line at Walmart can be very long and annoying, and finding the perfect fabric for curtains and pillows is frustrating,  and losing all your songs somewhere on itunes can make one hysterical, but does it REALLY matter?

Life lessons like this really teach me what matters, and what doesn't.

One of the things the family asked of Will was to take pictures of the Veteran's cemetery at Camp Williams so that Matthew Wagstaff's wife could get an idea of what the cemetery looked like.

So Will took me on a date to the cemetery so I could take pictures for him to give to the family. 

 

This is where the burial of Matthew Wagstaff will be tomorrow.  I'll be there to support Will as he continues his job and ultimately, the Wagstaff family...with my umbrella as it is supposed to be horrible wet, windy weather.

But wet, wind blown hair REALLY doesn't matter, does it?