Weeds, Bunny, & More Golf! 5/31/2009

We have many building lots that are all for sale-all but this one. This is MY lot. It is a half acre lot that looks into the canyon then up to the golf course with mountains surrounding us in every direction. I can't wait to have a house on it and be able to wake up every morning sit on my deck and watch the sunrise over the beautiful mountains. At first slowly peeking over the mountain top, then touching everything in its path lighting up the beautiful colors of the earth. Bright blue sky, red rock mountains and canyon, purple Pine Valley, green golf course, and the colors of the beautiful sunrise-does it get any better? Yes, it actually does! There will never be a home behind us to block this beauty!
So, until we can get out of the home we are in I will continue to be grateful to actually have a home but still daydream of the lot just a block away. It is amazing how this house is SURROUNDED by homes making me feel so claustrophobic, doesn't have a view whatsoever, and ZERO yard but just one block away there is a peaceful, unobstructed view lot that will have a huge yard just waiting for me to put a beautiful home on it to enjoy the beauty it offers!
After pulling weeds we went to visit Grandpa Milne. The kids love seeing the wild bunnies, playing on the swing, or just walking in his huge backyard seeing what treasures they can find! Koda hollered at me to come over to him and said watch this. "Here bunny bunny" he said patting his legs. The little bunny came running up to him and let him pet her! Animals must be able to sense his tender heart!
I decided to take the kids back to Red Hills on Friday to golf with each other. We all walked 9 holes and loved every second of it! I sound like a broken record, but is there any question why I think this is one of the most beautiful places in southern Utah? Our wedding pictures were even taken here (*gasp* almost TEN years ago) and I never get sick of being there!

Red Hills Tournament 5/27/2009

JAG season is here again-it is a VERY stressful time for me. I think my kids stay so calm because I get nervous enough for them all! My stomach is still in knots hours after the tournament!



We (when I say we, I really mean I) did not feel that Bailia would be ready to play in a tournament. I didn't think that it would hold her attention, or that she would stay focused enough to play through the entire tournament. Sometimes I am totally fine being wrong-today was one of those times! Bailia went and played her little heart out-I about fell over when they wrote the scores on the board and announced that she took first place! Way to go Sis!
The few holes that I could see Jaden on I was almost positive that he wouldn't even place, it was a pretty rough game for him today. But once again I was wrong. When Sis and I got to the last hole J and Adam were sitting at the top of the hill watching Sis. When I looked up at Jaden there he stood holding a trophy and one finger up, mouthing that he had taken 1st place!! My kids NEVER cease to amaze me!
Koda was such a trooper today. Walking the entire round of golf in the nice summer sun without a complaint! Drinking an entire bottle of Gatorade within the first two holes had him rushing to the bushes for relief!
Thanks Grandpa Gary for helping me with Sis while A helped Jdog!
We of course had to go out to lunch to celebrate-kids choice- Paula's!

This, That, and The Other..5/24/2009

It is so hard to believe that the school year has come to an end! This past school year has been the fastest year EVER! It seems like I just took pictures outside on the first day of school, and now it is officially SUMMER BREAK! When the kids are asked if they are glad school is out they respond with "kind of" ~I am so glad they love school and learning! When I dropped the kids off on Friday morning for their last day of school Jaden looks over at me and says can you believe at 1:15 I will officially be a fourth grader? How in the world did the little boy I rocked to sleep turn into a FOURTH grader?!?!


After school on Friday I took the kids to the Days of Camelot. It wasn't at ALL what we were expecting, but the kids still enjoyed themselves! They each especially liked getting a tattoo!


tAfter the Days of Camelot we came home and I had a blaring headache. I had dropped J off with Adam to golf and I told the two little kidlets that I needed them to be as quiet as they could be so I could lay down for a minute. Bailia went into full mom mode and made her and Koda a bowl of Spaghetti O's, took it outside and ate it on the tramp. It is funny that I told them to be quiet~and they actually were~ which made me get up to check on them since they were being SO quiet-so much for trying to lay down! =)

I found a great set of curlers that actually curl, and holds the curl in Bailia's THICK, straight hair! Sis loved having her hair curly!


We took the kids to the range again yesterday-it is going to be so much fun in a couple of years when Koda is old enough to golf and we can all go as a family! I love that they all have an interest in golfing since it is a sport that they can play throughout their entire life!
Koda and I went for a walk the other day and oddly enough I had my camera with me (weird I know) and we saw a momma duck with her babies!
When I went to Karen's (my massage therapist) a few days ago her dog-who's name is also Koda-had the BIGGEST smile on his face! I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Sometimes when I get a lesson ready for church everything comes together SO effortly, and goes according to plan. This week happened to be one of those weeks! My sister told me I need to start documenting my ideas so if I ever need to come up with something I will have it all together-not a bad idea I told her since I seem to forget EVERYTHING!! So here is this weeks lesson idea. The lesson topic was about being able to recognize good and evil. So I made a batch of chocalate chip cookies, but saved enough dough to make a dozen "evil" cookies. I put everything from jerky, and lemon pepper, to too much salt in the cookies. I then put the Evil cookies in colorful pretty bags, and the good cookies in plain brown bags. In class I placed the bags all in a row on the table and told the kids they could each choose one gift.
Everybody but one child chose a colorful bag-which is EXACTLY what I wanted to have happen. I told them to take the cookies out and with each "evil" cookie I compared it to something bad. Like the cookie with pasta in it the kids knew that it wasn't going to be good, just like they know stealing isn't good. But the cookie with too much salt which actually looked like a really good cookie, but when tasted they knew it was bad. Which was compared to trying to be better than everyone else, instead of doing our very best. Which can look like the same thing, but isn't.
I tried to teach them that evil (satan) tries to make things LOOK good like putting a burnt cookie in a pretty bag and trying to convince you that it is actually good. Where good (Heavenly Father) doesn't have to sugar coat things-good is good- period. It seems like the kids "got it" I always hope that they do!

That's a spicy Meat-a-Ball! YUM!

I made meatballs for dinner last night and everyone LOVED it-so I thought I would share the recipe!

For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 1/4 cups ritz smashed into crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 extra-large egg, beaten
3/4 cup warm water
Vegetable oil
Olive oil
Make the meatballs: Place the ground meats, smashed ritz, Parmesan, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have about 24 meatballs-give or take.
Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate and cover with paper towels.
Heat your favorite homemade or jarred red sauce in a large skillet. Place your browned meatballs into the sauce-cover and finishing cooking meatballs in the sauce on low heat for 20-30 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta! YUM!

The Days of our lives...5/17/2009

My sister invited us to go with her and Jaxon to the Hidden Valley water park. What a NICE park! There were a lot of people there-but it didn't feel crowded! The kids had so much fun-you can tell that they are ready for summer break! They are on the countdown-only five days to go!



We took the kids to the most BEAUTIFUL place in town-Red Hills Golf Course-to hit range balls. What a perfect night-the weather was great, the kids had fun, and mom and dad relaxed while watching the kids hit!
We have a bat (I am sure it is not the same bat every year-but hey you never know) that comes to our front porch every summer to hang out for WEEKS at a time! The kids were so excited to see him show up again yesterday! Everytime I see him the girls camp song The Cat Came Back pops into my head and I sing Oh, the bat came back-we thought he was a gonner....
Another grocery round that consisted of 3 boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch, 2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 4 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 2 boxes of Frosted Flakes, 2 boxes of Rice Krispies, 2 boxes of brownie mix, 1 tub of frosting, 2 packs of Kraft cheese, 1 box of fruit roll-ups, 2 packs of Ball Park beef hot dogs, 1 box of Mini Wheats, 2 boxes of Gogurt, 2 4packs of Yoplait, and 2 boxes of cream Cheese. Total before sales and coupons $124.76 AFTER $21.37
Koda and I took Harley out on the 4-wheeler. I could not believe how bad the bugs were! Coop's entire body was covered with little gnats that would follow us everywhere! We finally figured out that if we walked and ate at the same time they wouldn't bother us as much. We ate as fast as we could and then ran Harley as fast as she could go to give her some good exercise-by the time we were ready to turn around she was so tired that she rode on the 4wheeler the rest of the time!
Bailia had to do one last report for second grade, an animal report. The kids were able to do their report on any animal they wanted, Bailia chose to do her report on dogs. She started off by saying the reason she chose to do her report on dogs is because she loves her dog so much! She did a great job-writing her report all by herself- without any help!

Mrs. T is a great teacher and loves the kids SO much! I love to watch her interact with the kids! After a few of the kids had read their reports they were getting a little restless so she got up and did a little hokey pokey with them! All of the kids especially loved the "put your bottom in" part!

Grocery Game! 5/11/2009

I haven't posted a shopping trip for a while-here is a little grocery run tonight.
3 packs of Danimal Yogurts, 4 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, 3 boxes of the family size Wheat Thins, 1 bag of Ritz Chips, 2 boxes Dryers fruit bars, 1 box of Penne Pasta, and 1 one jar of pasta sauce. Total before sales and coupons $50.91 I paid a whopping $6.73 and $4.24 of that total was for the Popsicles!

Mother's Day 5/10/2009

Since A had to go out of town today just as we left for church I was on my own for Mother's Day-we went out to Zion last year for Mother's Day, so I decided why not start a yearly tradition! We all love the Pizza Noodle and always visit the elk after we eat. Even with a few of Bailia's meltdowns I am still glad we went! Yes the bottom right picture is Koda with a bloody nose-maybe that will teach you to mess with your sister? Probably not!
The boys kept trying to get #5 to kiss Bailia-he got pretty close but she played hard to get! Thank goodness I don't think he has brushed his teeth in ages!
#5 seemed to have an overactive tounge-every other picture I took he had his tounge hanging out! Koda thought the slober was a bit disgusting, and so he left the feeding to J and Sis!
Jaden got a little more than he bargained for with this pretty lady! All of the kids had fed her, but she kept staring at Jdog. I told him to give her some more food and she started to paw at him. So he gave her another handful of food and she tried getting his whole arm in her mouth! She only acted strange around Jaden so I told him that she must have a crush on him! He didn't find it funny until the pain from her love nibble went away!
The flowers by the elk farm were BEAUTIFUL today! Bright yellows, reds, and oranges popping everywhere-I wish I had a flower graden half as nice!
Pizza Noodle is ALWAYS a great choice-you have no choice but to overeat, and I love it! Happy Mother's day to all of the special ladies out there! Weather you are my mom, my second mom, my sister, my friend, or a casual aquantince, there is something in each of you that I admire. Happy Mother's Day EVERYDAY!

Pancakes, Pajamas, and Prophets! 5/9/2009

Today our ward had a primary activity day. With LOADS of pancakes, everyone in their pajamas, and they learned about the Prophets! They also made DARLING hot pads with their hand prints on them ~ I will NEVER use them since I love things that have my kids hand prints on them, so these are being put in a safe place! My kids had such a good time-I am glad I am in the primary so that I can share days like today with my kids!

Cotton Days, Swimming, and G-pa's! 5/8/2009

Cotton Days is here once again! Every year the 2nd grade takes a field trip to the annual Cotton Days in Washington. Cooper and I met the bus at the park and helped out with Bailia's class.
He LOVES being able to go on the kids' fun activities! They had seven or eight different stations to go to and learn about different things. From tractors to ice cream-the kids all had a great time!
One station they were taught about cotton. Each of the kids were handed a little bit of cotton and they were supposed to try and find a cotton seed-Bailia was happy that she found one!
Playing on the play ground, looking at all of the tractors, planting seeds, and much more. This is a field trip that every kid (young and old) enjoys!
Bailia brought home a Mother's day present from school on Friday and said, Happy Mother's Day! She wanted me to open it immediately~I wonder where her impatience comes from? Inside was the cutest letter, It read...
Mom, I love you because...you pay our bills so we can live in a nice home. You let us go fun places. You pay a lot of money so we can play fun things, like soccer. I really love you because you are the best mom in the whole entire world. Love Bailia
Friday afternoon Jen and I took full advantage of the hotel pool where mom and dad were staying. With temperatures in the mid to upper nineties already, we needed to COOL off! The kids swam FOREVER!
If anyone has ever wondered what happens to skin after swimming for four hours-your search is over! The kids were in the water for SO long, that even the tops of their hands were wrinkled!
Last night after going to Outback with the family we stopped by Grandpa Milne's house. He had wanted to give Jaden a little something for doing so well at the science fair-Thanks Grandpa! The kids always have such a good time there. They love finding treasures in the ditch, and out in the back yard, and trying to bribe the bunnies to play with them using carrots and nuts!

District Science Fair! Beautiful Flowers! 5/7/2009

We left this morning just after 8:00 to get Bailia to school so we could make it to the college to set up for the District Science Fair. Watching Jaden set his project up I asked him if he was nervous-no he said just really excited! As I have said before, if I could have half of the confidence that my kids have~I would be doing great!

They kicked all of the parents out at 9:30 for the official judging to be done. We were allowed to pick our kids up at 11:30 and didn't have to be back until 1:30. Jaden picked Pasta Factory for lunch-on our way in J found a penny and said MOM I found a lucky penny now I know I am going to win! Koda picked Judds for an ice cream dessert! YUMMY!Watching Jaden during the award ceremony was VERY nerve racking! I looked over at him when they started reading the third grade awards~he had his fingers crossed on both hands and his eyes closed~they finished reading the third grade and his name wasn't called. The look of disappointment on his face when he opened his eyes broke my heart! It's ok you did great I told him as he gave me a weak smile.
Then they finished reading all of the grades and said we have one final award-The Carma Lang award. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention and then I heard the person winning Best in Fair is a third grader! I looked over at Jaden and his fingers suddenly crossed again! The announcer says the title of the winning project is How do different (Jaden getting a HUGE grin on his face) drinks affect our teeth-by Jaden Milne!
Mrs. Dufrense runs over excitedly and tells Jaden how happy she is for him. She went on to tell him for him to win Best in Fair out of 120 kids from kindergarten to fifth grade is AMAZING! It started to hit me then that he had won first place all around, and I of course started to cry-why is it when you get the title of "Momma" everything makes you cry?!?
He won a beautiful plaque, a $100 Zion savings bond, and $100 DSC scholarship! Way to go big dog! All of the hard work paid off! We are SO proud of you!
Thanks Sweet A for starting my Mother's Day off with a bang! The Flowers are absolutly BEAUTIFUL!!!