Thanks!!

Well, after reading every ones opinions and talking to Steve, I think I will wait till after Christmas, look around and pick something that really jumps out and grabs me. Two things that people said grabbed me, Emily said trust my gut, Amy reminded me I have spent more on a suit than the total price of the dishes. I probably shouldn't admit that, but it made me think. So I'll probably focus on Christmas and all the things I need to do and start looking after Christmas.

Tomorrow I am doing the craziest thing. I am getting up early and driving to Portland to meet up with a Terese Engstrom to watch a very famous Tennis Match,the Davis Cup. Now for those of you that know me well, know I don't know anything about tennis and the 200.00 ticket (for me free) is being totally wasted. But Terese wanted company and I haven't seen her in over a year. So its time, life is short, she said we could talk all day. So I guess you don't have to be totally silent at one of those things. I'll let you know. Tomorrow night if its not to late I'll start name dropping!! HA, HA! It's good to have new experiences! I'm laughing.

I'm hoping to find an artificial tree on the way up or back. This Bred and born Oregonian is finally getting a fake tree. I guess turning 51 means I am either getting old, or just tired of fighting with my husband about the Christmas tree every year. Seeing Rebeccas and how pretty it was made me think it was time, also, I don't like to admit it, but seeing my brothers last year made me think it wouldn't be such a betrayal to my heritage. I'm laughing , but I'm half serious. Well, morning is going to come way too early so I better hit the hay. One other thing, I ordered some really beautiful garlands and a wreath from Costco, and one of the garlands and the wreath showed up today, just 3 days after I ordered it!!! But the catch is I ordered 4 garlands, only one showed up! I hope the others come tomorrow. They are really beautiful, Steve said he liked the old ones better!! My daughters would tell you that is crazy! I'll take and blog pics when they all get here! Love you all!

Opinions?

Williams-Sonoma | Catalog: "Everyday Restaurant Dinnerware, 24-Piece Set Internet/Catalog Only Restaurants often serve meals on porcelain dinnerware like this because the ultrawhite finish shows off the color and texture of foods. The pieces are made to withstand rigorous restaurant use, so they’re sure to hold up in your home. Whether you are preparing an elegant soup or main dish of pasta for guests, this dinnerware is versatile enough for both casual and formal meals. Also suitable for indoor and outdoor dining, our well-priced pieces are great to have on hand when you’re hosting a large group for a barbecue or buffet. Microwavable; oven and dishwasher safe. A place setting includes a 9 1/2' dinner plate, 7 1/4' salad plate, 9' soup/pasta bowl and 12-oz.-cap. mug. Six 4-piece place settings. A Williams-Sonoma exclusive."

I have never bought china. My mom gave me her old china when I lived in town. I had a beautiful place to display it. Then we moved out here and I had no place to display it and I haven't got near the cupboard space that I had at the other house. My pantry and much of my kitchen extras are out in the garage and in my laundry room. So I gave all my mom's china to Rebecca.
Sooooo, I have been thinking if I got some nice porcelain dishes that were plain I could dress them up or down depending on how I set the table and what I used with it. I would get rid of my dishes I have had forever and just have the ones above. I am looking at the set above from Williams and Sonoma. The thing I like about them is that they seem durable ( a must for me) , they are oven proof, dishwasher safe, and microwave safe. How cool is that. And they seem reasonable. I also trust Williams Sonoma. So what do you think? I have two opinions I want, first what do you think in general and how many do you think I should get. I am thinking about getting two sets, that would give me 12 of everything. Then maybe another set of plates that would give me 18 plates, and adding 8 of the coolest bowls, also oven proof and etc.

Then maybe 6 cereal bowls
So what do you think? Okay I couldn't sleep and got back up and looked at crate and barrel. They have a set that is similar it is 20.00 cheaper, and the dishes are bigger, but it has two less plate settings. So about the same price so I am rethinking and will probably drive myself nuts. This particular set doesn't have all the cool add ons, but maybe I could order those from Williams and Sonoma, ahhhhh!!! I tried to paste the pic and it wouldn't let me. So here is the link.
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=30&f=1667
Look at the pure porcelain one also, it is more oven safe and appears to have more serving pieces. I know you can't make up my mind for me, it is just that the plates for the set at WS is not very big.

I'm Back" b-day pics, Thanksgiving, Enchanted

I was at Rebecca's and am finally blogging again. We left last Monday and came home last night. I helped Rebecca do a blog, so you need to check hers out.

I have much catching up to do, sooo I will probably blog many pics. I don't think I will let myself go this long w/o blogging, I miss too much and it makes for a very long blog!

A few weeks ago Jake and I were talking and he read this book on how people at a young age learn to where "masks" and in the process learn to hide their emotions. We need these facial expressions that are dramatic to do something in our brain. I can't remember what it did, but it was important. So they have these exercises you can do to open up these passages in your brain. After looking at these pics I don't think Amy or I need to do the exercises!


























































Sweet little Miles! He is about 1 month old here. (Jake's son)

Amy made these spring napkins for me aren't they pretty?! I love to use cloth napkins on a daily basis, I needed some spring ones.

Steve and baby Miles!

Me and Ruby and baby Miles!

Amy made these burp cloths for Lyndsey. I didn't know they made such "hip" flannel. I think it has been too long since I cased out the flannel!

Cute Ruby

Well, we got to the Leslie's and we had soooo much fun. The first day, Rebecca and I went to Danielle's to pick her up. Her apt is so cute! I love all her hand made things. We then went out to lunch at this cute place, had fresh squeezed lemonade, sandwiches, cinnamon and cheese pretzels, and Florence chocolates. Which I didn't appreciate enough! I ate them too quickly. We then went back to Firth, picked up the s from school and went home to play!
One of the things I did was their nails. Danielle reminded me that, that was one of her favorite things I did at Christmas for her. I did a Rudolf , a Christmas Tree, a Snowman, a star, and a sleigh on Anna's. On Aliese's, I did holly and a poinsettia. I did both hands of course. I only did
Christmas trees on my ring fingers.

On Wednesday we started Thanksgiving dinner. We spent a good share of the day making treats. You can tell what is important to us!!
Here's beautiful Danielle making apple pie.

It turned out gorgeous! Rebecca kept saying it looked like Martha Stewart
Gracie was very helpful!!!

Aliese was right in there helping in her apron. She pointed out that I didn't have one on. I usually do.

Beautiful Rebecca, she planned everything we just did what we were told! I am very good at that! :-)

Wednesday about 10:00 pm I asked Rebecca where the pan was that she was cooking the turkey in. Sadly had forgotten about that. So in the car Rebecca, Danielle and I went to Walmart. What would we do w/o walmart!? While we were there, we fell in love with these pajamas and decided it would be fun to have matching pj's. Aren't we cute?!!!!!

Yea it's finally here!! Thanksgiving Day. The you don't recognize is Darin's sister. She was with us because her parents are on a mission. This is the view w/o me, the next is w/ me!


This was the food table. It is strange, we cooked like crazy and this doesn't look like much food. But it is I promise! Here are the desserts, I think we had as many desserts as we had main dishes and side dishes! hmmmm..... what is that all about?

After dinner time.


After dinner Clay and Darin played computer games together

Then we decorated the Christmas Tree.




I love this pic!!

I think they were excited, what do you think?

We're getting tired!

We wore Clay out!

If you are wondering where Steve is, he was very much there. He lived in Rebecca's basemant making her a cold strorage room. He worked long hours and the finished product was awesome!! I feel really badly that I didn't get a pic of it and him. The rest of the time he was watching TV, (not much though) and I didn't think to go down and take a pic! Shame on me!
The last day we were there we went to Enchanted. It was really fun, I reccomend it highly.
We had a great Thanksgiving, hope yours was great also!

No Time

Well, I have wanted to blog so badly!! I have been a sewing maniac. I have been trying to get the Leslie presents made before we leave to their house on Monday. I have too big of ideas. I know that was bad grammar. I have had so many things I want to share. I have read some great things. First I have decided James in the New Testament is one of my favorite people in the New Testament. Every word in that book is profound. I decided if I read that short book once a week it would get me centered. It is amazing. I want to post all the b-day pics, but I haven't had time. I can't remember what else I wanted to share. Well, I need to go sew, boo hoo! I actually love to sew, I just don't like being under pressure. When I am doing something like I am doing it is hard to remind myself that I am making something for little girls. My vanity and creativity gets the best of me. Oh well. I can't post what I am working on until after Christmas. But I will for sure because they are really fun! Well, I need to quit! Love to you all! Thanks to all of you who comment, it makes me feel really good.

Potatoes

This afternoon Steve brought home some yummy crab, and I decided to make french fries with my new Cuisinart french fry blade. So out to the garden I went to dig the last of the potatoes, hoping I would find some big enough to make fries with. I noticed that some of the potatoes were starting to grow. I decided I would dig all the potatoes. I kept digging and digging and I ended up digging 45 lbs of potatoes. Needless to say I found some big enough. I thought I had dug more than I had obviously. If you are wondering if the potatoes are purple, they are. They produce really well and taste a lot like red potatoes.

The crab was good, but the crabbing isn't so good. Steve the Crab King has come home skunked more than once. Today he got 8, and there was two of them in the boat. There was only one big one. He said someone else at the dock had only caught 2. He said he has never seen so many boats in the bay at this time of the year. Oh well, it hasn't been a crab/salmon year. You can't have everything.

My fingernails have still been doing good. I have worried about them because when I go out to the garden and put on my gloves, dirt still gets in my gloves. Today I grabbed a pair of gloves that were in the garage. They were stretchy on the back and leather on the palm. They have a strap around the wrist so you can cinch it up. After digging all those potatoes, not one speck of dirt got in my gloves. I was pretty excited about that. I am hoping I can find a few more pairs of them. They are my new best friend!!!

These are my fries! I need to cook them longer. I think they would be better if they were deep fried, I oven baked them.

Well, I decided I have truly watched Gilmore s a lot. I was watching the first season today on DVD while I was cleaning the crabs. When the music started for this one scene I knew it was a first snow scene. I looked up and sure enough it was. That is pitiful, or I am just amazing. You know which one I want to be, but I'm afraid that probably isn't the one I am. :-)

I wish I could say my day today was like yesterday, but I didn't start out right and never seemed to get it back together!! It's like they say you have to lay a good foundation or the building will not stand! I remember in the temple one day watching the creation scenes and thought about how each thing that was created was necessary before the next step could survive. I thought, if we are to learn from the temple, the lesson for me is that there is an order to the way things should go. If we don't follow that order things can't work right, because some things need to be built upon the next. I'm 51 years old, do you think I will get that someday!!!?? I hope so. :-)

Well, love you all!! Hope you all had a good day.

Great Day!

Yesterday started out as one of those amazing days. Then I got distracted and spent all day trying to clean up a mess instead of doing what I really wanted to do. I felt the Spirit tell me to go out to my greenhouse, but I thought I had to clean up the mess I had made. When we cleaned the garage, some things came into the house. They had finally made me crazy so I started to put them away. Well the only way to do that was to displace some other things. Before I knew it I had stuff all over the table and counters. The more I tried to figure things out the more upset I became. Finally I just took a lot of it up to Danielle's old room and stuffed it. I then went into my room and ate all the weight watcher treats I could find. I was so disgusted with myself and was very discouraged as I went to bed. I had spent Saturday morning making the perfect schedule (scary I know) I got up at 6am like I planned, exercised, ate, and then read my scriptures. I had a great scripture study time. I was a little behind, but trying not to focus on time and just the order of things to do. Well, thats when it all started to go bad.

So this morning I woke up at 6 still discouraged, exercised, ate breakfast, started laundry. I then went in to read my scriptures. After 2 chapters for the SS lesson, I was still not feeling good. So I stared at my scriptures and heard in my mind something our SS teacher said about doing this worksheet she had prepared. I thought well, I will do that, I recognized it was the spirit bringing to my remembrance what she said. I took the worksheet and started doing it. Before I knew it tears were running down my cheeks and I felt so close to the Saviour and so grateful for everything. That of course made me feel so loved by my Father in Heaven and the Saviour.

I felt the spirit say about half way through the sheet, to stop and go start on the rest of my day. I got up and worked on my list and got a little distracted, but mostly listened to the spirit. I found a way to store my tuna jars, empty and full, that had become a growing nightmare. I actually made some boxes for the empty jars that had no box and then it became clear to me how to rotate the empty ones and full ones. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I know the spirit was guiding me. I then went out to my greenhouse came in after a little while, ate lunch, then worked on my church calling. I then took my shower, made a dish for our Weight Watcher potluck, and went to the potluck. I feel so good inside now. I know I did what the spirit wanted me to. I think the key is to have a plan, but let the spirit tell me what is most important on that list. I think I will always do the first three things on my list, exercise, eat with Steve, and then read my scriptures. After that I think it will vary. I have been reminded that you have to take breaks and do some things just for recreations sake. During lunch I watched part of a Gilmore s DVD and felt really good about that. I have really been affected by Elder Oaks talk on Good, Better, Best. Yesterday I didn't even do the good stuff by evening. Tonight when I got home, I thought about getting out my church stuff again( I have to train a new Primary Counselor on Scouting this weekend, I knew nothing about scouting) but I felt the spirit say no. Interesting huh? I think I am just supposed to free my mind and relax. I think I will read Les Mis.

Anyway it was also gorgeous outside today, the ocean was so flat Steve and I felt like we could have taken a canoe out on the beach and rowed out to sea. I studied my church stuff on the deck, it was nice!

Well, that was my great day!

Epiphany, Humanitarian Aid, Ever Changing weather, and Confession

Epiphany:

For those of my daughters that skim, I would really like you to read this part. (anyone else is welcome to read also) Yesterday I was pondering on my fast for today. It was early in the day I was getting ready to study my scriptures. I usually don't think about my fast that early in the day, but it was on my mind. I gathered my scriptures and realized I had already read the Sunday School lesson scrips, so I thought what shall I read. Goodie, the Book of Mormon. One of the frustrations of scriptures is that we are supposed to read the SS lesson, and some prophets say we should be always reading the Book of Mormon, plus we are supposed to read the Priesthood/RS lesson. I have found great value in reading all of the above before Sunday, so I read the BoM on the days I don't read the Sunday lessons requirements. I opened up to the last place I was reading hoping it would shed some light on my fast. It did that and more so. Mosiah 23 and 24 are about Alma and his people, their escape from the wicked Nephites, to their capture from the wicked Lamenites, and to their eventual freedom. I realized in my reading something I knew, but not as deeply and clearly as I learned yesterday. Heavenly Father has a tailor made plan for us. He knows us so very well, and knows what will teach us what we need to know. For some odd reason we learn best through trials. Because of our different personalities, which I firmly believe we came down here with, He has to give us different trials and challenges. Some of us hide ours pretty well, and should. Some trials are obvious to all around us. No matter what kind they are, I have learned through having 6 children and thankfully being close to them and from my own life, that we all have trials and challenges. It may look like others have a trouble free carefree life made in the shade, but I will guarantee you that is not the case. So back to my scrip study. Alma's people were very righteous, they did nothing bad that caused them the need to be humbled and go to the Lord, they were already that kind of a people. Yet the Lord allowed them to be captured and become prisoners of the Lamanites, and be tormented by the wicked Nephites that had joined the Lamenites. They cried unto the Lord and he eventually lifted the weight of their burdens, but he did not take them away. He took away the pain, and gave them the energy to do what they needed to do, but did NOT take them away. The people bore their afflictions with cheerful attitudes and were grateful the Lord had given them strength to bear their burdens. Soo to make a long story short, we are not going to get out of trials no matter how righteous we are, the challenge is to learn what Heavenly Father wants us to learn, and to learn to bear them cheerfully. Not an easy task, but none the less the more painless route to take. Today I was reading Elder Holland's talk on the "Tongue of Angels" and he said he never knew a situation that was so bad that whining made it easier. I loved that! I'm a good whiner,and mummerer. I realized that true happiness comes from realizing Heavenly Father loves us, the Lord atoned for our sins and therefore can strengthen us if we will ask and let him. If we will humble ourselves and do all we can with cheerful hearts having faith that Heavenly Father is very aware of our trials we will be able to bear them and learn great things from them. And we will also be able to become grateful for them, for they will make us more like the Saviour who bore all things. Heavy I know but a lesson if you could learn now would save you a lot of pain and wasted time in your life. I know that grief is real and necessary to go through. I just know if we will trust the Lord and ask him to teach us and heal us it won't take as long and we will be so much happier. I have suffered so much longer than is necessary in this life and caused others to suffer with me because I was stubborn and didn't trust the Lord. I hope you will read Mosiah 23 and 24 and think about you trials, and then read Elder Hollands talk in the May 07 Ensign. By the way that is not my confession this has been my Epiphany. The confession is yet to come!

Humanitarian Aid:
Today in RS, they had some blocks they needed sewn together for quilts. I looked over at them and thought about my talents and my ability to sew very quickly, and thought I would be a very ungrateful servant if I didn't take one of the quilts. So here is the one I put together this afternoon while watching the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. (now you know I don't just watch religious shows on the sabbath, still not the confession, I bet you're starting to wonder what it isss?)
It is just top, I don't know who will put it together, its pretty huh?

Ever Changing Weather on the Coast:
When we first decided to move to the coast, Bob and Judy Line happened to visit our ward one Sunday. I asked them why I should move to the beach. I asked them both separately, and the first thing out of both of their mouths was, "the weather". They said the loved the ever changing weather. That their was more sun and a nice moderate temperature, never too cold or too hot. I have found that to be true!! I love the weather here. It is ever changing from hour to hour, day to day. One of the hardest things about living here is not wanting to constantly take pics of the ocean. It is so beautiful no matter what the weather. I have a whole folder full of pics of the ocean out my back door. Here are just a few, hope you enjoy them.
Yesterday

These two were this morning


Today at 5:00

Some random days







These amazing sunset pics are much more common than you would think, but nonetheless never taken for granted. I almost always take time to stare! Last but not least the many colors one.


Well, it is time for the Confession:
I wrote a pretty arrogant hypocritical assessment of the Vampire books. While some of the things I said I do still feel, I have to admit, I miss the vampires and werewolves, and have had a hard time not thinking about them. I have thought a lot about Bella and agree with Danielle she is pretty realistic of her age. Also I think the reason she irritated me at times is because I like her react before I think (hence this confession) I consider this a weakness of mine and therefore am probably not very patient with others with the same weakness. Even though it can be a strength, it far to often comes around to bite me in the rear! I also love a good romance and I have to admit, it is a pretty powerful romance. It was a bit repetitive, I felt she leaned on the romance to keep it going too much, but it was nonetheless pretty powerful. All in all, I enjoyed them and am looking forward to the next book. Now wasn't' that big of me? HAA HAAA!