Moments with my Mom

I can never let this day pass without being reminded that my mom is no longer here to celebrate with. However, a birthday is about happy thoughts, so happy thoughts it will be. Here are a couple of my favorite memories of my mom.

My mom made the most fabulous chicken noodle soup, homemade noodles and all. Whenever I make it I think of her. She always made it after Thanksgiving. I always remember thinking that she always was making to much, but rarely was there a time when there was leftovers.

As a teenager, when I would come home late at night she would stay up and we would have a midnight snack of chips and salsa followed up with a side order of chocolate chips. Yum...brings back so many memories!

When I was in high school me and one of my friends used to go walking at the college track at 5:30 every morning. Then my mom and her friend joined us. I loved walking with her. She used to help us study for tests and visit with us in those early morning hours as we walked. I really miss doing that.

I loved to feel her faith, if that makes sense. She was a believer in every sense of the word. She spoke of Christ, testified of Christ and had faith in Christ. She showed it by her words and deeds everyday of her life.

I am grateful everyday to be her daughter. Thank heavens we are an eternal family. I get all excited thinking about the day we will be together again. It will be amazing!

Twonce

I know what in the heck does "twonce" mean? Let me explain.

We were asking the kids to give us a report on President Monson's morning session conference talk. Hope got all excited and said "He talked about me". Actually, he did talk a bit about having "hope". Then one of the kids said, "How many times did he talk about you?" She replied, "Twonce". Is that once or almost twice? We have teased her about it a lot and tried to throw her off, but she insists that President Monson talked about her "twonce".

Creating my Bucket List

We had a great enrichment night in our ward last week. It was all about family history....kind of. We had different people come and talk about creative ways they are doing family history. One of my favorites is a sister in our ward who over the years has created her "Bucket List"...all of the things she wants to do before she kicks the bucket. Anyway, she has set goals and has them numbered in a special journal and as she completes them she writes about it in her journal and what she has learned from it. She also buys a little charm to add to her charm bracelet to represent each goal. Then when her kids see her wearing it they ask her what she had to do to earn that charm.

For example, she always wondered what it would be like to be a fanatic about something, like those crazy people that dress up like Star Wars people and go to the movie all decked out. Well, when Twilight came along she decided this was her chance to become a fanatic. She is very reserved and this is way out of her character, but she went to the late night premier of the book releases and movies. She knows everything about Twilight. What she did realize was that she had never read the Book of Mormon with that same zeal. She now reads the Book of Mormon in a different way.

So I am on my way to creating my "Bucket List". However, I am a woman with little imagination. Share with me what you would put on your "Bucket List".

Seriously 14!

I can't believe it, Kimball turns 14 today. I look back and can't believe how fast the time has gone. He has always been such a cute kid. He is growing into a fine young man. He is a great big brother, and babysits for me a lot. He is fun to be around and has become quite the joker. His response to everything is "Sure, I guess" or "I'd say so". Sometimes these little comments get me a little crazy, but they just fit his personality. Kimball loves basketball, watching the Jazz, buying new shoes, running, and spending time with friends. He is working towards his eagle scout award and only has the project left. We love Kimball and he is a great example to his brothers and sisters.



Always a mischievous smile on his face!




This picture of the boys together makes me happy! Kimball really isn't being serious, its all part of the act.

Happy Birthday Hopey!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hope! I can't believe that three years ago today our little princess was born. She has kept us hopping ever since. She has become a very busy girl. She has taken voice lessons from her sister, she can sing like no one else. In fact, she frequently puts on concerts when requested. She loves friends, dress-ups, babies, and polly pockets especially the princess ones. She loves string cheese, popsicles, and chewing on ice cubes. She loves being with family and friends. If you ask her about who is in her family she says, "Mom, Dad, Nick, Kate, Sophia, and Brother". Kimball is affectionately known as Brother, he really is her favorite. I can't imagine our lives without our little princess. Happy Birthday Hopey!

Cousin Camp 2010

Remember a few months ago when I posted "Visions of Cousin Camp Danced in My Head". Well, last week visions of cousin camp danced right in my living room with the help of my sister Heidi and Grandma Gerri. We really had so much fun. Who wouldn't with 15 kids between the ages of 7 and 11, wink wink. They were so well behaved. I am just hoping they had as much fun as I did. Here are a few pictures to show you some of the things we did. They are kind of in random order, but here are some of my favorites!


Feeding 15 hungry kids turned out to be no small chore! In this picture they are making fruit kabobs.


Tyler and the other boys had fun hanging out on the bikes and ripsticks.


One tired grandma and must I add, a very good sport!


We did sand art, they made bracelets, little castles and necklaces.


We also made candy lei's. I am not sure any of them got home, but it sure was yummy!


These kids have the best parents EVER, they are reading letters that their parents left for them.



The girls tied water balloons on their flip flops and had manicures and pedicures, yes, they loved it!


It is amazing that these four girls survived those eleven boys!


All dressed up after the relay races because it was so fun!


The water slide was the best attraction!


Josh on the climbing wall at the park. We visited a couple of parks and even ate breakfast at this park. We did a scavenger hunt here, played soccer, and frisbee.


All the kids at the Air Force Museum, we even got to go into one of the helicopters!


Roasting marshmallows for smores was a huge hit. It was a momentous occasion, that is the day Levi invented the "Rake Roaster". We cleaned off a rake and roasted 7 at one time. It was brilliant!


We went to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".


For the talent show, Nick rode his unicycle.



Kate did gymnastics for her talent. We had some other interesting talents such as creations, artwork, musical solos, paper airplane demos, and a personal favorite ... whip cracking!!! Yes, not everyone can do this you know!


We decorated pillowcases and they did a great job.


At the Castle Park there was a stream down below and of course the boys wanted to go check things out!

These are just a few of the memories we made last week. One of the other favorite moments that I don't have a picture for is our visit to Grandma Sandalls. The kids asked her how she survived as a little girl without game systems and tv's, somehow she managed! Thanks to all the great parents of these kids, I couldn't have cousin camp without them!

My Bountiful Baskets....

Someone in my ward told me about Bountiful Baskets. It is a produce co-op. You purchase online and choose a location to pick up at. There are locations all over Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and Washington. This is what was in my basket today. There were 6 ears of corn, 2 large tomatoes, 1 bunch of bananas, 1 romaine lettuce, 10 little heads bok choy (I have no idea what to do with them), 1 small carton blackberries, 1 honeydew, 8 gala apples, 1 bag grapes, 6 potatoes, 4 red peppers and 8 small peaches. An amazing value for just $15.00 plus a $1.50 handling fee. It is so simple and delicious.

*When you get something you don't know what to do with get on Bountiful Baskets and people post recipes for unusual things.