Aquarium and Tea Party

Well, we are on day 4! Yesterday we went to the aquarium, I always enjoy that. Miles seemed entertained, not very vocal, but wide awake. Ruby was all eyes, ears and vocal. She is very curious and really knows a lot about the fish and etc at the aquarium. I am not sure if it is from going to the aquarium so many times and that she never forgets anything or from things her parents have read to her. She is very fun to go with because she is truly into it. She wanted to see everything and was really interested in everything. When we got done, it was too fast for her, we had to go see everything again. We also played on the animal statues for quite a long time. It was a fun and loooonnnnnggggg day!

Today was my weight watcher day so it tried Steve's grand parenting skills. Before I left Ruby and I made the dough for our cookies for the tea party. I left Steve with instructions but it was too long for him. He also had to change a poopy diaper. After I got home put Miles to bed, we cut out the cookies. We sprinkled colored sugar on before we baked them, they turned out really good. While they baked and cooled we set the table and got dressed. She was Cinderella, I wanted to be Esmerelda, but Ruby said I was Snow White. She also owned the house and brought and made all the food! Interesting. It is interesting at tea parties with Ruby, she has had real tea at her house, so we have real tea. Today we had Lemon tea.We had fun, then I set about cleaning up the house.As you can see it was very sunny outside, we eventually put up one of the umbrella's so we could open our eyes! I am a very tired grandma. We are having a great time, I wish at times like this that I was a coffee drinkier, I could use a little of Lorelai's energy (if she were real) I am trying to go to bed earlier, but there are things to do.

Well, I love you all!

Day Camp and Ruby and Miles

Well, day camp couldn't have gone better! The only things we forgot were things that didn't matter like paper towels. We learned what we wanted to do better and made a running list of things to change and that we forgot. I was thrilled though with everything. I was so impressed with the men and how much they served us and their boys. We will start advertising and organizing earlier next year so we can get every boy possible. We asked all the men to do a spiritual thought with their activity at their station and they did, it was great! We also had them learn this beautiful song that was all about being a warrior today. It was great and some of the boys had it memorized. At the end of the day it was so neat, you could tell it meant more to them than it had in the morning, and that was my goal. It was great!!! If you ever have to do a stake event like that-simplify, simplify, simplify! We had hot dogs on a stick and dough for the bun. Our snacks were all done ahead and were in small snack size zip locks. We were able to go watch the boys and mingle with them because we weren't doing busy work in the kitchen part of the shelter. I was able to take pics of all of them and print them that day. I was very happy with the day! Have I already said that? :-)

Ruby and Miles are here, and once again I am reminded I am not in my 20's, 30's or even my 40's. I have also learned that I do certain things better than other things, like watch movies, make pancakes and cupcakes, cookies, sew with Ruby, tea parties,going to the aquarium, shopping, those kind of things. I also am really good at holding Miles when he wants to cuddle. Playing pretend is easier when I am at Ruby's house. I think when I am not so tired I can pretend better. We are having a great time though. I am just reminded that I am not the mom, so it's okay if they watch more TV than normal. I think that I need to focus on the things I do well, and do those, then my grand kids will remember those things and that we had fun . I think I worry too much about doing things the way their mom and dads would do it. I think I just need to make it easy for me and then I will be ultimately patient and they will be happy. Now having said all that, I have been having a good time, and so have they as you will see. We made bug cupcakes, they turned out soooo cute. Well, I love you all!!

Gratitude

Today has been a day of awakening. I have been pondering my life lately because of it's craziness, my weight gain, my lack of exercising, and my inconsistent scripture study. All of those things made me concerned about the direction my life is going. I know it started with so many days of being away from home and so many days of company. My life slowly got out of whack. I started to want to be released from my calling, I noticed my life had become centered more on the world and less on the Lord. So I started making sure I got my scriptures in, praying more sincerely, and I noticed slowly but surely I was starting to improve in all the other areas. Until today, I was sitting down and realized, I have been a pitiful martyr. I am sure not much of a surprise to my children. I have never thought of that as a possibility of an inherited weakness, but I think it is and I have it. As I wrote in my journal today I realized I have been a big martyr. I have worn it as a badge of honor almost. I realized my gratitude had all but disappeared. As I thought about Ruby and Miles coming on Sunday and staying with us for the following 9 days, I was excited and concerned about our ability to do that. I started thinking about when I took care of Tanner and Kate, and how I hardly had a minute to myself. I realized my life truly is my own. I also realized that is one of the reasons Tanner and Kate both love me so much. I was reminded powerfully in Helaman 14:30-31 that Heavenly Father said: "ye are free to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free." That really stood out to me. Freedom of choice is a God given gift. It is up to me to make my choices and be grateful for that right. When I make a choice to not murmur or use it as an opportunity to be a martyr. Instead be grateful for the opportunity and ability to perform the choice. I realized that a lot of my struggles lately have been from my lack of gratitude. I am going to try to repent and be more grateful.

I also saw a great talk on the BYU channel about discovering our gifts, developing it, then sharing it. It was great, I realized I can do much better there also. I don't want any of my gifts to be taken away. I wish Women's Conf talks were written out on the internet, but they aren't. It might be possible to download on a mp3 player though.

After that talk I realized I should share my recent experience, I am so grateful for the Lord, His love for us and the evidence of that all around me, having my own scriptures, the Ensign, the BYU channel, the Joseph Smith Manual, and so many helps throughout this life. To be able to have a modern day prophet, the list could go on forever. I have a healthy body and mind, I have great stamina (not as much as I used to have), and a wonderful family. I am blessed with all the comforts of life and then some.

My cold is slowly but surely going away, we are having a wood shed built, and buying a small generator. We are trying to be "prepared". Tomorrow is our day camp, I am excited and grateful the day is finally here. I am excited for the boys it should be a fun, spiritual and a learning experience. I am reading a book about a man that hiked the Appalachian Trail, it is entertaining and educational. Today I am trying to get ready for an 11 month little boy (Miles) to roam my house, and last minute stuff for tomorrow (packing the car and making cookies). I had all my prep for tomorrow done a few days ago, aren't you impressed. Well, I need to get busy or I will not be ready for the kiddles.

I love you all!

Tired and Sick, Tired of being sick!

I'm not very patient with being sick, but is anyone? I woke up on Friday and thought something was weird, then as I got up I realized I had a cold. The common cold. I got up and exercised, because they say if your cold isn't bad then it is better to exercise. I did my weights that day. On Saturday when I woke up I was worse and my whole body ached. Partly from my cold and partly from doing weights the day before. I look forward to the day that my weights don't make my body ache. I keep thinking that will happen, but maybe that is part of doing weights, I don't know. I'm getting better at push-ups. I hate them though! Sometimes I wonder about all this weight lifting stuff, and harder DVD, I don't love it and it makes me want to avoid it. But when I am doing it I know it is making my body stronger at a time in my life when my body would be deteriorating. Soooo I guess I will put up with the dvd because the alternative is worse! Ugh!

I watched the Republican convention a lot, and I have to say my heart has been softened towards McCain, and I love Sarah Palin. For the first time in a long time, I am actually excited by the ticket.

Fog! We have had so much fog this year, I am so tired of it. It took forever for summer to come, and then when it did, it got hot in the valley and we got fog! I wish the valley would cool down. If we don't get our beautiful fall I will be sad!

Well, I am feeling a 100% better about my calling. I wanted to be released, and to make a LONG story short, I have done some sincere praying and pondering and questioning, and have come to the conclusion that I need to stay there and look at it differently. It has taken me a whole year to realize that I am the director to the resources and the person to inspire them to the importance of good teaching and the importance of scouting. I don't have to know everything, just need to know where the answers are.

We have our day camp this coming Saturday, I am a little nervous, but know all will turn out alright. I have a few loose ends to tie up, but basically it is ready. One of the things we are doing is geocaching and have to put something back into the box at the end of the hunt. Any ideas? Ask your husbands, I'm not a boy.

Well, that's about it for my last two exciting days. I love you all and have the best family a mom could have!

Bubba Truck, and the last 2 weeks

Soooo much has happened since I last blogged, but first the latest exciting news in our family! As you can see Steve is standing in front of his new truck!!! His Forerunner, was starting to need new roters (part of the brakes) about every 2-4 months because he is towing his boat several times a week. Add that to the fact we have both wanted a pickup for quite sometime, but couldn't justify it. So this gave us a real excuse to buy one!!! We are both soooooo excited. It is a 2008 Toyota Tundra, made for towing. The men can look up all the stats on it if they want to know. It is the 4 door double cab, 5.7 liter motor. It has back seats that have as much room as the forerunner did that lift up. It has the 6 1/2 ft bed. It is cool!!! Steve calls it his Bubba truck. He says all he needs now is a gun rack and a shotgun in the back window! Right!Now starting a about a week and a half before all this. More tuna! Aaaahhhhhhhhggggggg!!! Steve promised me he wouldn't go for 2 weeks and that he would only keep 3. This is the latest batch, making the total 492 1/2 pints and 123 frozen bags!Next Megan,Greg and Amy came. It was really fun, we watched more Lost, ate cookies, and enjoyed each others company. We left on Sunday to go to Mindy Hollingsworth wedding. Here are some pics. Dad and his SibsLexie and BrentThe Bride and GroomHeidi, Brent, and ChristieGunner, Christies little boy, he fell down and didn't make it to the bride and groom he was embarrassedMindy and her Brother-in-law Jeff, Don is in Iraq.

Robin during the ceremonyMindy did a hula dance all by herself-gutsy!!Lauralee and her little EllaTim and Lauralee's Avery- Avery's best friend he will tell you is PapaYes I am really here!Christie, Jeff and GunnerHeidi and RenBrent and his beautiful fiance'All in all it was a great time. We were there just 1 day and two nights. We only got to see Ginny for about an hour. She had a family emergency, so she flew in at 11:30 pm the last night we were there.

On our way home we stopped at Jake's and Lyndsey's. Here are some pics of their fam, and house! Miles roomRuby's roomJake and Lyndsey's roomtheir bathroomtheir guest bathsome living room picsHallway-exciting I know!Kitchen and Dining roomthey painted all the walls, it is very beautiful!
Miles is standing!the famand our last time to see Megan and Greg for a long time!this one is great!

We got to see Megan and Greg for about 10 min. We stayed at Jake's for a couple of hours and then left :-( it was too fast! Then made the trek home. I am needless to say, tired. I want one week w/o going anywhere, no Tuna, and no guests. I love all the above, just need a break!

Well, I love you all, I have been thinking about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. I have wonderful parents, sibs, children, and grandchildren.