Harvest Fest

We had our annual Harvest Fest last Saturday and it was lots of fun. They had little tables set up with games and activities. They had a little train that they pulled behind a 4 wheeler. It was a very fun day!!

What a cutie!

I turned around and saw this! She was buckled!

Rachel loves the wind blowing in her hair.

This little train was definitely the hit of the party!

Kyler loves candy!

This is Trey's 'pleased with himself' pose.

Fall Soccer 2008

So, even though I knew that LeRoy was going to have to work every Saturday of the season I went ahead and signed Trey up for Fall Soccer and I am really glad that I did. In the spring, he never even touched the ball except for during drill. This time he really got into it! It was really fun to watch. Well, as fun as soccer in the cold can be!!

A little something special.......

LeRoy and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary in August and LeRoy bought me tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera. Tonight was the big night! I talked my mom into watching the kids. Luckily Rachel went down really easy even after having not nursed since six. She's such a good baby! I had a lovely time and LeRoy humored me. I am so glad to have a husband who tries to appreciate the things that I love! As we were walking back to the car I wanted to sing and dance. He just smiled at me as I skipped along. Once we were in the car I asked, "Doesn't it just make you want to dance?" "No," he said. I said, "Wow, that's soo weird." He laughed out loud and said something like, "Yeah, I'm the weird one." So, I took that to mean that I'm the weirdo at our house. Hey, I've embraced that! Thank you, LeRoy, for a wonderful evening.

Twilight........I am such an addict.

For those of you who don't already know, I've officially jumped on the band wagon. This would explain my lack of posts for the last four days. I'm afraid I've been a little busy trying to decide whether I am a member of Team Edward or Team Jacob. Yes, 200 pages into book 3, Eclipse, I am still undecided. Don't worry. I've still been taking pictures and my kids are still doing great things so I will have plenty to post about tomorrow or maybe later today in an attempt to prove my ability to not HAVE to read these silly books all day! Until then.........

Baby Poll!

No, I am not expecting. The thought has crossed my mind, but I always get over it quickly. However, my sister is having her first baby is January. This has caused me to stop and think about the things that a first time mother needs. So, my question for all of you out there is two parts. First, what did you buy that you wish you wouldn't have wasted your money on and what item would you not have been able to live without? I look forward to all you insight. Thanks for the help! Comment away, please!!

Wow!

I feel like that is the only word I have used in the last few days. Monday I attended my first funeral. Luckily for me, it was just to accompany someone on the piano. Definitely the way to go for a first time experience. While I wasn't overly emotional, I did feel an overwhelming reminder of what life really is about: Family! On my way home, I called my dad. I told him I loved him and we talked for a bit. As we were hanging up I said, "No dying, Dad" To which he replied, "Not planning on it." No less than 24 hours later, my mom calls to tell me he is at the doctor's office at Fairchild AFB. Needless to say, I pretty much panicked. Turns out he'd been having some chest pressure for a couple weeks which had gotten worse over the weekend. He decided he better not fool around and went to have it checked out which is totally out of his character as he is more of a 'suck it up' kind of a guy. Boy am I glad he chose not to suck it up this time! The doctor gave him some nitro glycerin and scheduled a stress test for the next day, Wednesday, at Noon. The test on Wednesday ended at three and he saw the cardiologist about 3:30. Upon looking at the results, he told my dad, "I'm not looking at the calendar, I'm looking at my watch." Dad was in the operating room at 5:30, only waiting that long for the room to become available. The blockage ranked a 4+ on a scale of 1-4. The doctor said that if he would have gone on the hunting trip he has scheduled for this weekend with his brothers, he probably wouldn't have come home. The damage from the heart attack would have been so severe that it would have been fatal. Yikes! Fortunately, my dad is otherwise pretty healthy and wasn't on at kind of medications. The surgery took less than an hour and was successful in opening up the artery. He's having to take it easy, but will be able to go back to work on Wednesday. The doctor told him no more Diet Coke. Evidently the sweetener really doesn't digest very well and was a big contributor to this problem. That sure will be a hard habit to break, though he said he's been thinking about giving it up anyway. My mom did amazingly well through the whole thing. I actually kind of worry that she might break down later. But I believe in the power of the Priesthood blessings they each received and I know that everything will be okay. Now I am just left with the thoughts of what might have been. Often times, I think of what I should have done differently to make things better or how if something else would have happened that I would have been happier with it than what actually happened. This feeling of imagining the bad things that could have happened are totally new to me. I don't really care for it. I just can't be more grateful for how things turned out. It really does help put things into perspective and make you realize that we are all mortal beings. At the same time, I am so glad to be a member of a Forever Family! I think this experience will help us all work a little harder to do ALL the things that the Lord has asked of us and not just the things that are easy and convenient. Thanks, Dad, for teaching me another life lesson!

Every now and then........

we have moments of peace and quiet. Lucky for us getting ready for bed has always been a pretty easy process at our house. I've watched many episodes of Supernanny in which this isn't the case, so I feel incredibly grateful. The other night the boys had had baths but it wasn't quite late enough for bed so we told them they had to sit and read books. I was so glad that they were able to settle down and spend some time with a good book. Moments like this make it all worth it.

Random........

My brain has been a little maxed as of late with a lot of things going on. I wanted to write down a few things for the sake of keeping record since I don't do it anywhere else. First off a conversation I heard the other day between Trey and his friend. I am not exactly sure what they were playing since I was making dinner and they were in the other room, but this is what I remember hearing. Friend asks Trey, "Hey, did that freak you out?" Trey responds, "Yeah, that fruck me out!" At first, I thought I was going to die!! Then I realized that evidently 'fruck' is the past tense of freak. So for all you English majors out there, be sure to make a note! I've been laughing about it all weekend.
Saturday was a good day. I had an Enrichment meeting in the morning. I volunteered to fill in for a friend to do the lesson. It was on a talk by Jeffrey R Holland entitled "My Words...Never Cease" It was a wonderful talk and I was grateful to be able to bare my testimony of the Book of Mormon and President Monson. I was so glad to leave with my cup feeling full. We had to go straight from there to Trey's soccer game. I couldn't find his soccer shirt, but I found one the same color so I wasn't worried about that. We got to the game and drove around the parking lot half a dozen times before we found a spot. I unloaded the boys and went around the car to get Rachel out only to realize that I had locked Rachel and the keys in the car! I have never been so sick in my whole life!! Luckily, it was a nice day. Not too hot and not too cold. LeRoy drove from the football field to unlock to door for me. The most amazing part was that she remained pretty happy the whole time right up until about two minutes before LeRoy got there. I felt very blessed about that. I ended up getting to watch about ten minutes of Trey's soccer game. He did a great job! He is becoming a good little soccer player. I am very proud of how hard he works. Next week is his last game. I sure hope I remember to bring the camera!

Let me out.....Let me out!

Poor little Rachel wants to play outside with the big boys so bad! When they are outside, she just stands at the door and 'calls' to them. Surprisingly, she doesn't cry about it. Next summer is going to be so much fun!

Words of Wisdom.......

The last few days I have been reflecting upon life and being happy. What makes some people so happy and others not. Poor people wish they were rich, but all rich people don't seem to overwhelming happy either. I found this on an old friends' blog and was convinced that this is the answer. As cheesy as it sounds, life really is as good as we make it. Though my life is totally crazy, I wouldn't have it any other way!

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string, we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... We are in charge of our ATTITUDES."

I'm a big girl now!

Little Rachel has taken up coloring! She's watched her brothers do it lots and figures it can't be too hard. I love this picture! It's like she's saying, "Do you need something, Mom?" My sweet little girl!

The perfect bread recipe for me!

Kyler has been a picky eater from the very beginner! For quite sometime the child only ate canned fruit. A friend of mine sent me home with a couple slices of homemade wheat bread one day and Kyler just loved them. I decided that I'd start making bread, after all I have 350 pounds of wheat! My mom went to a bread making class at church, which I thought was odd since she already knows how. But boy am I glad she did! She got the perfect bread recipe just for me. It makes just one small loaf. You see, I only really like homemade bread the first and maybe the second day. After that, it's easy to see why preservatives are used. Plus I just love the smell of my house on a baking day. Since it's only one loaf, it's really not a big ordeal. So, every other day or so I bake a loaf of bread and Kyler will eat it plain, as toast, or a jelly sandwich. No peanut butter, mind you. For anyone interested, here it is:

2 1/2 tsp yeast
3 T honey Combine these three ingredients and let 'poof' as Kyler calls it
1 1/8 C warm water

While waiting combine:
3 C whole wheat flour
3 T gluten
3/4 tsp salt

Add 1 T olive oil to yeast mixture. Slowly mix flour, gluten, salt into yeast. I use my Kitchenaid to do my kneading and boy is it great! I'm so glad LeRoy bought me that thing back when we were newlyweds and wealthy (relatively)! When finished kneading press out any air bubbles remaining and shape into loaf. I use a small loaf pan. Let rise about an hour or so. You can get away with a little less if you are in a hurry. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I say when you can smell it, it's probably getting close! It makes me happy just thinking of that smell!

I Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet!

I am reminded this weekend of my experience last conference in regards to President Thomas S Monson. I was not able to watch the session in which they held the solemn assembly to sustain him as the prophet. I was really sad after President Hinckley's passing and I wondered how I could possibly love another prophet as much after all he was the only prophet I had really ever known. I could barely remember the ones before. Luckily a few months before April Conference I made the decision to get satellite which allows me to record all the sessions. A few days after while Trey was at school and the little ones were sleeping, I watched the recorded session and participated in that solemn assembly. I felt a little silly as I stood and raised my hand to the square to sustain Thomas S. Monson as the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I am so grateful that I did. I was covered with an overwhelming knowledge that he was a prophet of God put here on earth to lead and guide us. Today as I listened to him speak in both sessions I was filled with an incredible love for this man. My heart was full and my eyes wept as I heard his voice and listened to his stories, which I have always loved. I look forward to reading the transcripts and developing a plan on how to implement the messages into my life. But if nothing else comes from this weekend's conference, I can honestly say that I know that President Monson is a prophet, I love him, I thank my Heavenly Father for him and I will follow him all the days of my life!

This is the life..........

the house is picked up. Well, at least the living room. The chicken is going into the crockpot. Music and the Spoken Word is almost over and Conference is coming up. I have printouts for the boys in hopes that they will watch a little. I look forward to a spiritually uplifting day! Hope you have one too!

Talk about 'bed head'!

Normally I take Rachel's hair bows out before I put her to bed, but I was too worried about waking her up in the transition from car to crib. Instead she woke up an hour later looking like this.......