Long time no blog

Hi again little blog. So sorry for neglecting you. I have taken lots of pictures and kept plenty busy. I just haven't got anything uploaded yet.

5 or so things that happened this week:

1. Brynn had her little buddies over for a sleepover and by all the giggling, I think they had a blast. The High School Musical theme and gift bag was a hit!

2. KateLyn and Ryan and their friends Chance, Hayden, Riley, and Mada went to a corn maze on Sat. afternoon. I think they had fun. The boys were insistent on finding all of the landmarks within the maze and getting their cards punched and the girls only cared about collecting dried corn and finding ladybugs. They were funny. I am glad I tried the corn maze thing, but I doubt I would do that again. It just wasn't that exciting to me. Let it be said that I shouldn't be allowed to lead kids around through a maze. My sense of direction is terrible. I should be ashamed of myself as a scout leader should really be good with a compass.

3. Sunday was pretty quiet thankfully. The kids are practicing for the Primary Sacrament meeting program. I feel badly for the brand new Primary Presidency having to put this altogether.

4.Ryan was sick for a good part of the week with strep. I clean with disinfectants, I use hand sanitizer, so WHY are my kids getting so sick already. It's really frustrating.

5. Thursday we took the cub scouts to Reed's Dairy for a field trip. Our theme for Oct. is "Down on the Farm." Yippy Skippy! It was a big effort between the three of us to get the 10 scouts around the farm without getting hurt or lost, but we did it! I think they had fun looking at the baby calves, (Zachy loved that)the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and an adorable miniature horse and her colt. Zachy has a huge coat that I call his Abominable Snowman coat. He was too unafraid of the animals and got a little too close to the fence where the baby mini colt was and it chomped down onto Z's coat. Zachy thought it was hilarious. I was just glad it was the coat he got ahold of.

We are heading to Wyoming this weekend for Tilly's baptism. Sometime's I forget her real name is Chantilly. She's Amy's 2nd and we love her tons!






Today was great because I got a surprise in the mail from my friend, Sherelle. It was a copy of the new Making Memories book, A Season of Joy. I was so excited to get it! I won it in a drawing on her blog. Thanks so much, Sherelle! You are the best! I can't wait to devour it.

Crazy for Scentsy!

Have you discovered Scentsy yet? I love this company. I have no ties to it, I just have fallen in love! They have the yummiest scents. Basically, they sell candle warmers, highly scented wax bars that you can mix and match, divine room sprays and car candles. (air fresheners) I love their stuff so much that I want to become a consultant. Sounds great except that I promised myself I would never have a home business again, I don't like selling things, and so many other reasons. I just love their stuff!

70 degrees

I guess we can disregard the picture I posted a few days ago. It was 70 degrees today! I even mowed the lawn. I don't know what to do with the thermostat anymore!

Zachy got up at 1:00 am and 3:00 am this morning and didn't go back to bed until about 6:30. I have been running slower today. I sure hope he sleeps better tonight. Speaking of sleep, I think I will get some!

My new favourite( I feel like being British tonight) website is FLYLADY. I had checked it out a few years ago but now I am trying to really follow it's principles. I am not innately an organized person. I have made great inroads the last few years but according to this website I won't ever have to spring clean again. I am trying it out. I think it's great for us right-brainers!

Happy birthday baby Brynn!

Brynn had a fun 11th birthday yesterday. We had a nice mellow party for her at home. One reason we didn't go anywhere was the fact that when we woke up I saw this out the window:



I couldn't believe it. We got 6 inches of snow yesterday!! There is still some on the ground. The kids had a great time making snowmen and throwing snowballs etc.




I am still in shock that I have an 11 year old! It doesn't seem like long ago, Brynn looked like this:



I wanted to make a fancy digi page to display her birthday pictures but my computer isn't hooked to the internet and it has photoshop on it. Oh, well. She got a bunch of junk that she wanted for her big day. We did a High School Musical theme, as the kids are all obsessed with it. She got a HSM game, a HSM watch with Zac Efron on it, an Ashley Tisdale CD, a Jonas Bros. CD, Dance Dance Revolution Game, HSM lip glosses, etc. She was in 11 yr old heaven! She kept saying she didn't want her day to end.

She doesn't like regular cake so she decided on Strawberry Shortcake. It was tasty! Her birthday menu wish was Cheddar Bacon Soup, Breadsticks, Egg Nog and Sprite(try it, it's awesome), and Strawberry Shortcake. It was pretty yummy. We tricked her and used the trick birthday candles that reignite when you blow them out. She was so confused by them. It was so funny! I should taken a video of her face when the candles would suddenly reignite!



I thoroughly enjoyed General Conference. Twice yearly our church broadcasts their semi annual conference. It is a chance to hear from church leaders and be inspired to do better in our daily lives and strengthen our relationship with our Savior. It is really inspiring.

A delightful night!

I just returned from the most fun evening! It was Bravo Club at Qwest tonight. It's their semiannual formal awards banquet. Thankfully, my friend Jenilane was there and we had too much fun. Being stone cold sober (always) we enjoy giggling at the poor souls who have had too much to drink and then try to get to the stage to accept their award, or even worse try to dance. It may be immature, but it sure is funny!

It was a nice evening altogether. I got to get my hair done, Mark and I got to get out, he won a coaching award (I stood up and cheered), and we got to visit with some cool coworkers of Mark's and their spouses. They put on a cool show at these banquets, complete with a live show of some kind. Tonight was Disco night. I still have some bad 70's tunes ringing in my ears. Man, it was loud! I used to like loud music, now I turn everything down.

My baby girl turns 11 tomorrow. Unbelievable. It's so unreal to me that we have had our Brynnie for 11 years. What a sweetie and a blessing she is to me. I don't know what I would do without her.

Have a groovy weekend!

Called to serve

Zane left for the MTC(mission training center) today. I don't dare call my mom to see how it went. Not only will he be gone for 2 years but he is my mom's baby and obviously so. He hasn't ever wanted the extra attention but he has always received it. :) Not that we all didn't have plenty of attention but Zane got bunches. I think it's been great for him to work with my uncle McKay for the last two years. Not only because McKay has been a great influence to him and they get along great, but also because McKay is my dad's youngest brother and still always gets crap for being the youngest. (even though he is about 40)

I know Z will do great. His friendly personality will endear him to the people of AZ. He had a huge meeting on Sunday. There were people to the very back of the gym. He opened his talk by saying that he took over Kendall's room when Kendall left for his mission and surprisingly, he thinks Kendall will take over his room now that he is leaving.:o (Kend is 23 and lives at home) He also said that Kendy needs to be married before he gets home and if anyone in the audience was interested to let him know. It was great. I couldn't see Kendall but I bet his face was a deep scarlet. (Kendall's girlfriends mom was in the audience too) The rest was very spiritual but he got people interested with that opener.

Today was all about scouts. I had two scout meetings and Ry had a soccer game. Those were enough outings for me for the day. Zachy doesn't adjust very well to going a lot of places. I am sure I have some fascinating stories to tell, but I can't think of them right now.

Good luck big Z! I know you will be great!

Circuses and brothers and headaches and stuff

Just a quick little update. We had a super time at the circus. I highly recommend it to anyone. Mark and I loved it as much as the kids did. Talk about some serious talent! I will post some pictures later. Zachy loved the big "kitties". (tigers)

Zane had a nice meeting Sunday. We said goodbye to him for the next two years. It's sad but so good for him. I love that kid!

I could write so much more detail like how Amy and Mark spoiled me for my birthday but that will have to wait. I have had an incapacitating headache since yesterday and it's stunting my brain. (like I can afford to lose anymore brain cells)

I have card club today at Holly's. I am looking forward to that! She's so fun! I wish this blasted headache would just go to.....somewhere else.