Priesthood and cotton pickin'...

Last Thursday was a special day. Mark ordained Chad to be an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. He gave him a really wonderful blessing that touched my heart. It's pretty neat when you can see your kids take these big steps in their lives...especially when they are decisions they made on their own. Our good friends Missie and Hal son, Charl also became an Elder. It made it extra special to be able to do it together and share the experience with such good people. These are such good boys. I am so proud of both of them. Afterwards we had a house full of family and friends over for dinner. (like 40 people) It was so fun to visit and laugh with them. We really had a great evening. Aren't my guys so handsome?!

Ummmm...is it illegal to pick cotton from a cotton field? A few things come to mind like trespassing and theft, but I don't know.

On the other hand. Taking railroad spikes out of the train tracks on the way to the cotton fields I'm pretty positive is illegal.These dang boys are always keeping me on my toes! They are all at the park, otherwise I'd be sending them back to the tracks right now with a hammer to put them back in. Looks like they will be doing it in the dark by flash light soon. They did say that they only took ones that were really loose or ones that were already out due to vibration from the trains. I've heard trains all day so I think the track is fine.

My pictures are STILL ginormous! What the crud!!! I can't stand it!

Taking Brianna's advise with the click and drag method to reduce the size of the pictures. Seems to work, but some end up a little distorted and you can't get them all the same size. What a pain in the rear.

Halloween fun...

This year for Halloween we went to our wards "trunk or treat" party. It was so nice to be able to sit around and visit with our good friends. Mark and I bought costumes. We were planning on being the SNL Spartan Cheerleaders, but Mark decided that because we didn't have time to practice the all the goofy cheers, that we'll have to wait and do that next year. We can so do goofy so I know it would have been a lot of fun. He ended up being really late to the party, so I went out on a limb and dressed up as a biker chick since I wasn't about to run out and buy another costume. I did however break out my way cute pink leather chaps now that I can finally fit into them. It's hard to tell what's on my do-rag, but they are pink pigs flying. I told my boys that would be the answer to most questions they had for me. Question:"Mom, can I go over to Erica's house?" Answer: "When pigs fly!" LOL! I do need to be careful because they did threaten to toss some pigs in the air and count that as flying.Cole passing out candy. Cole and Cody. Don't ask! Boys are just weird! Me and my good friend Missie, whom I love and adore! I'm so glad her family moved out here. We have SO MUCH in common and we truly love their family. We clicked instantly. Plus she is my aerobics buddy with a common goal not to jiggle anymore. :o) She even said I had a cute butt with my levis and chaps on. Now THAT is a good friend! LOL! Gotta lover her! :o) One day last week aerobics was cancelled so we were good girls and walked the "loop" which from my house and back is 3 miles. Her house is a little closer though but it was a good walk.


Shannon, Me and Kathy - two of my other good friends. I do aerobics with Shannon too and she went to girls camp with me. Such a sweetie! Kathy is Stacey mom. (Chad's girlfriend) She is a sweetie too. We sure love both of their families. Just real good people!
Hunter, Chad, Stacey, Jennifer. Happy Birthday Sweet Jennifer! Don't ask what Hunter is doing...dork!

Jimmy and Shannon...they are so cute together. Fun people!Stacey, Carly,& Jennifer (sisters)Me and Miss Elizabeth. She is one of the cute young women that I dearly miss. She is daughter to Jimmy and Shannon. Missy ended up with my calling in young women's. I was thrilled because she is so much like me and I knew the girls were in good hands.

After the party we went over to the Maricopa High School homecoming football game against Globe. Just look at how gorgeous that field is! Holy Crud is it ever beautiful! I realize that we should have won the homecoming game. We were ahead for a while then lost it in the end. It was still a good game though. Hopefully we will have a better season next year. Before the game was over the high school had a fire in building 200. Lots of fire trucks and cops. Makes me sad since they just rebuilt the old school just in time for the new year. You can see the smokey haze over the field in one of the pictures. I hope the damage isn't too bad. Missies husband, Hal hung out for a little while at the game then he had to attend to police business. I'll have to find out from him just how bad the damage was.

Some of you had crafty questions that I haven't forgotten about. I'm going to call my friend and get details about the glass blocks and the nativity vinyl for you. I know there is a special technique when drilling the hole to put the lights in to keep the block from breaking. Details on next post or I will edit the bottom of this one, so keep your eyes open.

I so wish blogger would fix this ginormous picture problem. It makes my blog look ugly. Can you believe it's November already? I'm a little (lot) scared how fast the holiday's are upon us. Get this...we're still in the mid 90's here. Sure doesn't feel like fall.

Craftyness and the birthday boy...

Apparently blogger is still having big picture issues. I don't get it and I can't do anything about it. Oh well!

Has it really been a week since I've posted? My life is not only really busy, but highly stressful lately. Certainly not a good excuse, but an excuse none the less. Forgive me.

I had some vinyl cut for my kitchen above my sink. It say "No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes." I didn't apply it completely straight, but once it's down, it's down for good. I totally love it and it seems to fit this house that I'm completely out numbered by men in. Lets be honest here...has it given any of them a strong desire to do the dishes? NOPE! I'm lucky that they unloaded the groceries when I got home from the store. At least they all do their own laundry.

Saturday Mark and I spent the whole day together. We had lunch at Chili's. We always share a meal there and we shared the chocolate molten lava cake too. (which was free for his birthday) Dang, that was good! After that I went to work with him so he could finish up a flood he'd been working on. He loves it when I go to work with him. Then we did a little shopping. I love spending time with my handsome hubby! Happy Birthday honey...I love you!

We've had a crazy busy week since then. Too many things to even remember....some of which I'd rather not and others that were pretty fun. We are looking forward to our ward Halloween party. Should be a lot of fun! I hope you all have a great and safe Halloween!

I have a new love...

Beep...Beep...Beep!

Interrupting this regularly scheduled program to bring you an important commercial break. A few months ago I bought this pumice scouring bar and I haven't used it until today because I kept forgetting to buy gloves. Anyone who lives in Arizona knows we have hard water and it leaves a real ugly hard water ring in the toilets that makes it look like you never cleaned it when in fact it is and you scrubbed the heck out of it. For some reason I didn't really have this bad of a problem when we lived in Mesa, so Maricopa's water must be really icky. Look at the difference when I was half way done and it didn't take long at all. Its a flippin' miracle!The grinding sound it makes is not pleasant, but the outcome is worth it. I've been needing to clean my filthy house all week, but I've been dealing with some emotional stress lately. I can't clean when I'm sad. It just sucks the life right out of me. However I clean great when I'm mad and a few of my children (which shall remain nameless) have given me all kinds of motivation to clean like a mad woman....Grrrrr...

Pumice stone + gloves + a little elbow grease = one happy girl!

Run...don't walk to the store and get one of these bad boys! Okay...you can drive if you must. So freaking awesome! I love it! love it! love it!

I'll answer crafty questions next. Promise!

What the heck is up with blogger?...My pictures are ginormous and I can't make them small for the life of me. Oh well, I can't deal with it now.

Back to work!

Super Saturday....

This past Saturday was the day I taught the magnet board craft class at our Super Saturday at the church. All but 4 of the girls who signed up for my class were there so that wasn't too bad. People brought things to share for breakfast. Wouldn't ya know it...not one savory dish. It was a whole entire table full of yummy sweet stuff. We were all on a sugar high all morning. It didn't help that I bought chocolate for each of the tables that day. Everyone had a pretty fun time and got a lot done. Bt the time we were done there i was more than ready for some real food.
Here are a couple of the projects I got done. Well actually Chad helped me get them done being the crafty boy/assistant that I taught him to be while I taught my class. You can see him in one of the pictures above in the orange shirt. The original glass block class had only the middle one with Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus and had a plain red ribbon. I have connections and my very cool friend Allison let me buy the whole set of vinyl and I used my own sparkly ribbon. I love how it turned out!
I couldn't decide which quotes I wanted to order so I got all 4 that were offered. Sticking the vinyl on the tiles was pretty quick since Chad did all of these too. So cute!



Then I drove clear the heck out to Queen Creek to take Cody over to our good friends house because he was going to homecoming with their daughter Brooke. The theme was "Grease" I thought they looked so dang cute! Since they live an hour away and the dance didn't get over until midnight I let Cody sleep over at their house on the couch and I picked him up the next day. I know...letting a boy spend the night at a girls house doesn't exactly demonstrate my parenting skills at their finest, but I do trust the parents and everything was fine. :o)I tried to get Cole to take a picture of my legs so you could tell me if you think they look too big to wear cute zip up boots but he mostly just got the shoes....which are very cute shoes but after wearing them for 8 solid hours...not so much! Anyways...I've tried on so many stinking pairs of tall zip up boots and I can get them on but zipping them up just doesn't happen and it makes me so stinking mad! I'd also like a mid calf boot with furry edges that I can tuck jeans into....like that will ever happen. Sheesh! To me, my legs don't look that huge, but apparently only skinny girls with stick legs can wear cute boots. What a shame! If you happen to be one of those skinny girls with stick legs, please don't think I'm being mean. Just wishing I could get some cute boots for myself.

It's far too late for me to proof read tonight so you'll have to live with the many typo's this post is sure to have. Night all! :o)

birthday boy and big head...

Today is my sweet boy Brek's birthday. I sure love that boy/man and I'm proud of the husband and father he has become. I know it's not easy at such a young age, but he stepped up the the plate and took on the huge responsibility. He really has a sweet little family. He is 22 years old now! Can you even believe it? It's crazy I tell you. I went to town and took him, Brittany and the boys some lunch. It was nice to see them. Brek said it's kind of my day too since I was there and all on his actually BIRTHday all those years ago. Goofball! Dang straight I was there and by the time he was there I was exhausted and so dang happy for him to be out of my tummy. I just don't do that whole pregnancy/labor/delivery thing very well....yet I decided to do it to myself 5 times and each time it got harder. I'm not sure if I was just really strong or crazy. Lets not dwell on that question too long because I may not like the answer. I am however grateful for all of my boys...even when Cole comes to me at 8:00 at tonight and says we need to go to the store to get modeling clay for a project AND write a report on Sargon the king of Mesopotamia that is due TOMORROW! Yep! I still love him, but I'm not real fond of him right now. The good mom that I am took him to the store and helped him with it. He finally got to bed at 11:00 so I'm sure he won't be worth much as school, but at least it won't be turned in late. That's the one class he is really struggling in so he can't afford any more slip ups.

Anyways, Brek had kind of a rough day so please take a minute to wish him happy birthday. I know he'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

This is totally not the images I was looking for and the pixels are terrible. I wanted a picture of this silly doll I saw on good eats with Alton Brown on the food network a long time ago. When you squeeze it the brain get huge. Totally makes me laugh. but these pictures will do in a pinch. Ya'll remember pinky and the brain. I had to use brain because after reading all of your flattering comments on my last post I got myself a big ol' head! LOL! I just can't believe how nice everyone is and I have to say that Mark agrees with all of you. He tells me every day how good I look...which is a nice self esteem booster. It's always a good day when you receive a compliment. On days that I don't get one I can always come read your comments and give myself a big head all over again. :o) I hope you all know I'm kidding. I am deeply grateful and flattered, but I'm not the kind of girl that lets things go to her head. That whole modesty thing is deeply embedded. For those of you that felt inspired to get yourselves in shape, please share your story with me. If you are doing great or struggling I want to hear it so I can be a source of support to you because I know it's not easy. It's a daily battle for me. I had a rough day last week and dang near drove myself to Krispy Creme to buy a whole box on doughnuts that I had no intention of sharing with anyone....I'm honest! It was bad! I got over it and I didn't cave, but let me tell you that your sweet and supportive comments made a difference in my decision. Women need to be a source of support to each other.

Oh my crud! It's almost midnight and I had pictures I wanted to share but my camera battery died. Dang it! I guess that will be my next post.

Before and After(ish)...

Miss Angie over at Angieinshape has just ended round two of the get in shape challenge and she has asked for all of her participants to share their success stories and pictures. Angie will not be doing a round 3 right now because she is now expecting another baby. I am thrilled for her and her family and completely understand. However, I have yet to reach my goal so I will continue on with round 3 on my own and round 4 and 5 if necessary. I am a determined girl! The above picture is my exercise mat that I use for aerobics, my massively huge 1 1/2 pound weights. Impressive, huh?! :o) Baby steps people! The weight of my own arms is plenty heavy so even these little weights are a workout and I have lost an inch off my arms already, so they must be working. Then there is the all important 52 oz QT jug that I use to fill up daily with oh so good pepsi (sometimes twice) and now it's filled with equally good ice water and it's better for me. I can not get through aerobics without my water. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or I'm just that out of shape, but I dehydrate really fast.

I never thought I'd ever, and I mean EVER share this picture, but I surprise myself everyday. No, I'm NOT pregnant in it, but I sure do look miserable in it and I was.. Remember my baby is 12 and he took this of me back in April. I remember that day very well because I sat here and cried as I looked at it. It's still painful to look at. It's the same one I printed and put on my bathroom wall so I was forced to look at it several times a day. I'm always honest on my blog so I'm not going to sugar coat over numbers. I was 185 pounds there and even though I knew I was a great girl with lots to offer, I had serious self esteem issues. Even now I do, but I'm gaining more confidence every day and if it's possible, I'm even more outgoing.

This picture was taken today at 163 pounds. I've "released" 22 pounds so far. I try not to say "lost" because I would prefer that those pounds don't come looking for me just thinking they've been misplaced. So instead they have been released in hopes to never return. I have 18 more pounds to go to reach my goal of 145. I was a mere 105 pounds when I got married and I have no desire to be that thin again even though I was still shapely at that weight. I chose 145 pounds as my goal because I think it's a healthy weight for my age and when I go to the doctors office and step on those awful scales I don't want to be standing there as the nurse humors me by starting out at the lower weight and I have to watch her slide it all the way up before she has to move the big weight up another notch and start over. It's humiliating! Last time I just told her "No honey...you need to start and the 150 and go from there. I haven't seen the 100 in a real long time."

I'm going to be honest and tell you I don't eat healthy foods, frankly because I don't like most all of them. Salads are beautiful! Love to make them, but will NOT eat them. Gross! Life is too short not to enjoy good food, so I eat whatever I want, only smaller portions. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, which only makes me grouchy anyways. I still have a pepsi every once in a while for the same reason. I know I couldn't do this whole thing without exercise because the icky before picture is no exercise. So in 18 more pounds I hope not to jiggle anywhere and for my thighs not to touch and for my tummy to be flat! I will post another update once I get there.

Thursday is a happy day! (tomorrow) QT/QuickTrip in Maricopa is having their grand opening in the morning! Guess who will be there bright and early filling up her ginormous QT cup full of yummy ice?! ME!!! I'm so dang excited! AND my cute Kyle is a clerk there so I'll get to see him. I'm thinking I need to bring my camera. :o) I've been looking forward to Thursday for a while now and it's finally here. I've been going to QT in town twice a week and that's just not enough for my liking. Today I went and the good ice machine was down. I was devastated! The dude said he broke it on purpose because he's trying to help me over come my habit. Dang him! Little does he know I just went to another one a few miles away. Don't get between a girl and her soft ice! :o)

My baby is 12....

Cole turned 12 on Friday. I can hardly believe that my baby boy is growing up so fast. And no, he doesn't like being called my baby boy,especially sonce he's bigger than me but that's just what happens when your born last. His only request was he wanted to go bowling with our family and invite a few friends. You know a nice small scale party. Then it snowballed quickly and it turned out to be such a way fun party with lots of silliness. We reserved 3 lanes so up to 18 people could bowl. I didn't bowl because I wanted to make sure everyone else got to , plus I forgot to bring socks to town and the thought of bare feet in bowling shoes makes me shudder. Ick!Cole with Erica Mark and Cole...so cute!

Mark had all kinds of love to share. He was pure entertainment for everyone all night.
Mark got lots of strikes. I don't know how he does it since he never puts his fingers in the holes.Wrong on so many levels. :o)

Really Mark just tackled Hunter because him and Chad kept messing him up. It was pretty funny.





Anytime Cody and Brook or Cole and Erica got too chummy, Mark was there in a flash to stir up the pot. You have to keep a close eye on teenagers ya know. :o)Brek, Brittany and the boys came too. I was so glad to see them join us for some fun.Little John and his way young Grammy. :o)

Baby Mark even got to bowl with some help from the ramp and Grandpa Mark.
Mark and John loved the arcade. What boy doesn't like to drive, afterall?Cole had a really fun party. I sure do love that baby boy of mine!