Merry Christmas!!!

I thought that THAT greeting would not only be appropriate for today, but it's much more interesting than that of UPDATE which I desperately need to do.

Where to start. Last I left my review of my exciting life, I was at the Twilight movie. The next day we were on our way to Utah and turkey with some homemade pumpkin pie. Lucky us!
We got to SLC on Friday evening and stayed at the Red Lion Hotel which was really nice and a great deal. Love it when that happens. We stayed there from Friday night to Wednesday afternoon. On that Saturday, Mike, Tyler and Jeremy went with Uncle Nate to be a part of the U of U slaughter of the BYU football team. The score of 48-24 all I can say as at least BYU has the gospel. :) Just kidding. But Mike is a U of U alumni and Tyler has a great desire to be one as well. I wouldn't be bragging too much if I were them, you should have seen the way Mike was dressed. He can't even have the excuse that he was dressed for warmth. It was slightly hilarious to all of us who beheld him.

Mykie, Brigam and I just went shopping which was very fun. I love Tai-Pan. Not that is not oriental cuisine. It is a great home decorating place that sells nice looking stuff for cheap. We enjoyed ourselves.

We went and visited Uncle David at his work. That was all we saw of the Anderson Family and that makes me sad. There is never enough time to do everything that you want to do.

On Sunday, we went to Music and the Spoken Word in the tabernacle on Temple Square with Nate and his wife, Amber and her parents. I lived in Utah for many years and NEVER went to this. Man, I had been missing out. The whole Mormon Tab was there and a full symphony. I had always heard that the tabernacle was set up specifically to get awesome sound, they weren't a kiddin! That place was so full of music that it felt like it was a part of me. Everyone enjoyed it - Brigam even got to go in and take in the experience. What was even better is that the message they gave was the perfect thing I was looking for for the message I wanted to give back at the RS Progressive Dinner that was in a couple of weeks. How easy the Lord made it for me. I'll talk about that later.

After the fantastic performance, we were invited over to Amber's parents house for a great breakfast. This is where Brigam found a new friend. Amber's mom took him under her wing and he was nice and cozy there. She took him to Wheeler Farm twice and played games with him. He was in "attention getting" heaven.

Sunday night we were able to travel down to Camie's house and see Mom and Dad, Alex and Sunny and Nate and Amber. We played some way silly games and had a great time.

Monday held more shopping for me and Mykie along with Brigam. Who, by the way, hates to shop now. What happened to my cute little guy who loved to find me specific colors of clothes. Is he turning into a "man-child"? I guess some things don't last forever.

Tuesday afternoon we went to visit Roxsan and her family. It was so fun to see her newest addition, Nathan. Mykie was in baby heaven. Her kids are so cute and getting so big! I still can't believe that you didn't answer my knock from the day before! Shame on you! That better be NO indication of our friendship!

Tuesday evening brought us to Austin and Becky Heywood's home (sidebar: I used to work for Austin when I lived in Utah. He has always been a great boss and an even better friend) where the manly men went outside to "fry us up a turkey" and the girls sat inside. It was great getting to know Becky better and their two adorable daughters, Zella and Lily. The turkey was delicious and the company great! I even got to see Chris who I worked with so many years before with Austin. He's getting married and I am so excited for him. It was great to see pictures of Austin's other kids and of Chris' son who have (of course) grown. All of our kids are so old now, it's amazing that I have stayed 28 all this time. Kudos to me!

On Wednesday, we left our hotel digs and headed up Ogden Canyon to the beautiful cabin/house we were staying in for Thanksgiving along with 26 others - Mom and Dad Nelson, Matt's family, Camie's family, Nate and Amber, Alex and Sunny and Joe and Chelsie - the newest Nelson in our family. Chelsie and Joe recently got married and I LOVE HER! She is perfect for the Joe and for the whole Nelson family.
Thursday was Turkey Day and it was delicious. Mom, Dad and Camie really pulled off Thanksgiving Dinner. There was plenty of food and it was yummy! The homemade pumpkin pie was yummy. I was even debating having a second piece, but then one of the nieces sneezed on the pies and that ended that debate for me. All in all I lost 4 lbs on the trip. I am sure that I lost some water weight, but I was happy to step on the scale none the less.

Here's some of the family. It was LARGE!

Mike spent most of the vacation playing racquetball with his brothers. He had a great time. I got a couple of books read and time in with family that I love, the kids got plenty of cousin time in.

Including Tyler. When he wasn't texting/talking to Paige (What? You haven't heard of Paige? Well, read on), he was spending time with this little guy.

This is Cameron (who's name goes along perfectly with his siblings, Kelsey, Kaylee, Corbin and Kendra.) He's a cutie.

On Friday night we all got together and played Celestial Companions. That was fun and revealing. Then we had a Nelson Therapy Session. I won't say too much about that except that I am glad that in the 19 years I have been in Mike's family we have NEVER had a Nelson Therapy Session like that and I hope to never have one again. Mike left the session feeling better about situations, I just left mad. I wasn't mad to begin with, so you can guess what happened after that.

Saturday we headed home. It was a great trip including the gas prices we had to pay. On our way down to Utah, the prices were smaller and smaller. It was nice.

Now I was in Badger Mountain Bazaar mode. I only had a week to prepare. I thought I was completely ready, but I can always find something else to do. I worked on stuff up until the day of the Bazaar a week later. Mykie even got into it by making these cute reindeer candy canes. She did a good job. Back to me, I did really well at the Bazaar earning enough to buy Mike and I our Christmas gift without having to dive into our Christmas savings. I won't spoil the surprise for you. I'll let you know what it was tomorrow!

The Bazaar was great. I got to see so many of my friends - especially from Pasco. You all made me feel so missed, loved and grateful to have friends like you. Mykalyn didn't attend the bazaar with me this year. Something she reminds me of on an almost daily basis. Pam spent both bazaar days with me and that was fun! We rarely get time to just sit and talk together without being interrupted by a child or a kickboxing move. It was great. Thanks Pam!

After the bazaar and putting it all away, I was ready to "Christmas" up my life, but Mike didn't get the tree out. The kids and I could hardly stand it, so we took matters into our own hands and about two weeks ago, we dove into the garage ourselves and pulled out every box that hinted it held Christmas decorations. We put up the tree, put lights on it (it doesn't glow like two years ago. I left off about 400 lights this year;), decorated it and like magic - our house was "Christmas". I think that Santa comes for Mike every year. He didn't have to dig for Christmas stuff, decorate, buy, wrap and mail gifts or sign 1 Christmas card. The problem is that I am not patient. I want to get it done and not leave it for Christmas Eve when I know that I will be too tired to stay up until 4am only to be woken at 5am. Mike is a lucky man, 'nuf said.

The next activity was our Christmas Progressive Dinner with the RS. The theme I chose was "It's a Wonderful Life". Fitting, isn't it? We started out at the church with hot cider and then went to our first house where we had squash soup, cheese and rolls. Delish! For my little presentation, we watched Luke II while listening to Amy Grant sing "Mary's Lullaby". Those two things fit perfectly. Thanks Pam! After that I shared a scripture about Mary and how she "kept all these things in her heart." Meaning (to me) journal entry time. Then we went to the next house where we had our main course. It was good eats. There I shared a Nelson Newsletter entry from Mom Nelson about her release as Stake RS president and her testimony of RS. It was fitting. I talked about how important it was to me to read of her thoughts and testimony. At the last house was dessert. The house was gorgeous. The Morgan's had just participated in a charity called the Parade of Lights for Christmas (or something like that). Their home was all decked out with Christmas trees and decorations in every room. My favorite one was the big, bushy tree that rotated. It had 8x10 framed pictures on it of all of their family Christmas photos all over it. It was so ingenious! I loved it.

This is where I finished my little talking about "It's a Wonderful Life." The theme of the Music and the Spoken Word was gratitude. The Mormon Tab sang a song called, "Count your blessings instead of sheep" it was beautiful and fitting. So I had my friend, Donna Murphy, come sing it acapella for us. It was great. Then this is what I shared with the sisters:

A few years ago, two researchers conducted what they called the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness. They found through science what most of us know intuitively: gratitude makes people happy.
For the study, several hundred people were divided into three groups and asked to keep diaries. The first group listed the day’s events in their diaries, the second group recorded any unpleasant experiences they had during the day, and the last group made a daily list of things they were grateful for.
The researchers found that the simple act of taking time each day to count your blessings makes a person more enthusiastic, determined, optimistic, and energetic. Those who expressed gratitude experienced less depression and stress, exercised more regularly, and made more progress toward personal goals. Researchers even noted a relationship between feeling grateful and feeling loved, and they observed how gratitude inspires acts of kindness and compassion.1
Remarkable, isn’t it? All this from daily gratitude and thanksgiving.
Of course, the best way to discover the benefits of gratitude is not by observing them in an academic study but by experiencing the miracle for ourselves: When we daily count our blessings, we feel better about life, even in the midst of adversity; we garner a strength of character and largeness of soul that will help us through hard times; and we see life as basically good, despite its challenges and heartaches.
Gratitude does not need to be reserved for holidays and special events. Every day is filled with miracles and blessings. If we open our hearts and look, we’ll find reasons for gratitude and thanksgiving each day, all around us.

Then I gave out the journals that the RS board made (with big thanks to Autumn Fullmer and Andrea Smithee and the Utah help of Alex and Sunny and a little Joe). My whole point was that our lives are special and unique and if we take the time to write our experiences down, it doesn't only help us, but it helps others. All in all, it was a good night.

The snow fall really made it feel like Christmas. It started on the night of our annual attending of the Nutcracker ballet. This was the first year that Brigam went. I think he enjoyed it. I had Mykie, Jeremy and Brigam with me. We went with Brenda Weide and her boys - Cooper, Travis and Jax. It was fun. When we got out, it was snowing. Ever the gentleman, Jeremy put his arm around me to "protect" me from the flying flakes and directed me to the car. He's so cool! Mike has been busy shoveling, shoveling (so I'll forgive the non-participating-in-Christmas-prep stuff). Here's some shots of the snow. Jeremy enjoyed finding all the icicles he could. This one is about as tall as him.

So about Tyler being a boyfriend to his girlfriend Paige. They have been dating for about a month or so now. She is a really cute girl that is a Sophomore at Pasco High. Sorry, no pictures. Tyler and a bunch of friends were over here a couple of weeks ago having a gingerbread house building contest. I asked him if it was a "Kodak Moment", but he said no. I will try to get one sometime.

She and Tyler went snowboarding with Mike, Mykie and the Scouts last Monday. Tyler and Mike went snowboarding the Friday before. They are loving the snow!

Our Christmas cards got out late this year because we didn't get our family picture taken until late. I thought I would share them with you here. They turned out pretty well. I can't believe that they have grown so much! The family is really so much fun to have.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday to you! I miss her tons. She is still in Mongolia for another 8 or so months. It will be great to have them both back. I am so grateful that the package that I sent a month ago got there. It was their Christmas you know. And I felt that dad really needed some American junk food. He told me that it hit the spot.

Well, Merry Christmas! How exciting that the season is on us again. I love the feelings that you have this time of year - even perfect strangers are nice. They don't think you're weird, they just actually smile back. It's great.

And like I said before, "It's A Wonderful Life!"

Twilight

OK, I was like a million other people (mostly teenagers staying up WAY past their bedtime) and saw the midnight showing of Twilight.

My movie review is that I liked it. It was pretty true to the book, but my only complaint is that the actors were not "so beautiful, you wouldn't believe it." I mean, really Edward, with the eyebrows? What's up with that. Looked like unibrow with the middle taken out of it.

I loved the actresses. I thought Bella was perfect.

I went with several girlfriends and we had a great time waiting the hour or so the movie started. I think that I left at 10:30 and got home at 2:30. I stayed awake for the movie which surprised me because I have been getting up so early lately and been beat by 7:00 pm.

If you have read the book, go see the movie. I don't think you will be disappointed. If you haven't read it, you'll want to if you are looking to get lost in a fictional book that takes you back to high school days.

All in all - a very good job!

Thanks for going Pam, Shelly and Shelly and Shelly's sister in law (Tara?). And Ashley - THANK YOU for saving us seats so we didn't have to be at the theater at 7:00 pm waiting for the midnight movie!

The Monthly Report

Wow, it has almost been a month since I last updated this blog. Wow. That is all I can say. I feel like a slacker, but know that I have been busy, busy, busy! Don't you love this picture? This is Pam's costumed interpretation of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". I think it was AWESOME. We had a great Halloween with too much candy. Mike and I actually had the house to ourselves as all our kids spend the spooky night at friends houses. And not a trick or treater in sight. We went to the church for the carnival and the trunk or treat and that was Halloween night for us.

I had a bazaar that I did at a girlfriend's house in last week (mid Nov), so after Mykie's birthday report, I was really busy getting ready for that. I did pretty well, but I do have my BIG one coming up the first week of December at the Badgar Mtn Bazaar. That one is always successful and this year I am in the coveted gym with my booth. I also have a few new display racks that Bishop LaDow and his brother helped me create. I will have to photo shoot it and share the pics. Hopefully, NOT waiting until the 1st of January to be displayed here.

The first report was that we attended Tyler's last game as a high schooler. Our last "Under the Friday Night Lights" with him.

Our trip wasn't without some hardship. On the way to the game (in which we gave ourselves PLENTY of time to get there) the Pathfinder got a flat tire. It was completely flat. We ran over something huge and menacing. It was taking forever. When we finally got the jack out, we realized that the jack was not big enough to lift up the Pathfinder to get an inflated tire back on the car. If that super nice trooper hadn't stopped by with his 2 1/2 ton jack, we wouldn't have made it to the game.

The Pasco Bulldogs made it to the playoffs and were going against Ferris High School in Spokane. We made it in time to see that Pasco was ahead 7 to 0, but that didn't last long. Pasco really died in the end. I was a little disappointed to see that Tyler and other Senior players didn't play a lot especially when the score had Ferris HS at 20 points ahead and NO WAY to come back, but I am not a coach so I am sure that there was some reason for him not playing my baby like he should have.

It was funny, because as Mike and I were walking in, a girl walked past us in a Pasco jersey and for some reason it was really working on my mind why I was even thinking so much about it when it hit me - the jersey number she was wearing was number 17. That would be Tyler's number. Now my interest was peaked. Who was this cute gal wearing my son's other jersey?

I did not know. All I got was this picture of her waiting with her mom for the boys after the game. The mystery gets solved later, but I'll leave you hanging for now.

After the game, we were waiting for Tyler to come out of the locker room. We were headed to a hotel for the evening and needed to pick him up. A little side note so you all don't think I am so callous, a few days before Tyler was talking about this game. He said that he liked football and the fact that they were in the playoffs, but he wasn't looking forward to 5 more weeks of it. So I thought when this game ended like it did, he'd be a little relieved. When he finally emerged from the building, he was being hugged left and right. Watching him, I called him on his cell phone to let him know where we were parked. My conversation was like this, "Hey, when you're done with your little hugfest, we're parked to the right of you." He answers, "OK" in a cracked voice. My boy was sad and I didn't even realize it. I think that the thought of football being over was hitting him. He's been at it for 10 years of his life. We spent the next hour reminiscing about his football days with him and him asking Mike about his football days. It was a good night, but kind of emotional.

Here are the only videos I got of Tyler's last game. Lame coaching, but again, whatever!

But back to that mystery gal in Tyler's jersey. Her name is Paige and she and Tyler are (as of this week) officially dating. She is so dang cute. She came over yesterday and it was the first time we have gotten to speak to her face to face. I am glad that Tyler is dating a little more. More about her later, I am sure.

Mykie, by turning twelve, is now in Young Women's. She enjoyed her first mutual ( I think that's the WAY OLD Word for it) and since then. The bishop announced her graduation from Primary to YW at the pulpit a couple of weeks ago. There was where she was able to say her favorite article of faith. She originally told me that she was going to do number 13, but then Sunday morning told me she was going to do number 2. I told her that she could do better than that since she had easily passed them all off in Primary at least twice. She decided to do number 13.

So she gets up there and starts

"We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost,"

to which I am thinking, "Really, Mykie, number 1? I think you could do better than that." but sat there with a huge, proud grin on my face. But she didn't stop there. She continued,

"Indeed we may say that we follow the abmonition of Paul. We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Then she gave a little smile (which can stop traffic) and left to sit back down with us. Not realizing why there were little grins all around her, she looked a bit confused. Mike set her straight bringing her new version of the A of F into focus and she rolled her eyes and started giggling. She is such a good sport. We refer to her A of F as number 1.13. She's awesome.

By the way, the house in Kennewick is a no go. We're not buying it because the owner was a little difficult to deal with and we were afraid that we were going to spend lots of moolah to inspect and appraise it and still have renters in there after we owned it. We walked away. I emailed the mortgage co that is foreclosing on the property telling them that we were still so willing to buy it, but not until the renters were out. I think we are out of luck though. I'll keep you posted.

Many of you have invited me to be your friend on Facebook. I accepted the invite, but haven't been on there much. I have enough trouble trying to get on this blog on a regular basis! I don't know how I'd add Facebook. We'll have to see how it goes.

I don't have much to report on Jeremy or Brigam. They are waiting patiently for wresting season to begin. Not until January though. Oh, I guess I do have something to report. I went to Brigam's PT conference and it was WONDERFUL. She told me that Brigam is trying really hard and she appreciates him. He is above grade level for reading (at a 3.2) and is working hard to understand math and make his writing a little more legible. I was so happy to hear this report I almost teared up during the conference. I told her how pleased I was with her as a teacher. I told her that Brigam had a terrible year last year in school. I told her that he was a preemie, has lost no teeth and that his birthday is in July so he is really young. She totally understood and knows where he should be and is proud of his effort. Great job Brigam and his teacher! This year is already 150% better than last year.

Well, we are off. I won't be posting for a week or so (unless I get my hands on someone's laptop). You all enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday as we will. I will give an update as soon as humanly possible when I get back. Bear in mind that I do have a Bazaar on Dec 5th and 6th, so if you want to come see my beautiful face, come out to Badger Mtn Ele!

And if you need vinyl, contact me before Dec 10th. That will be my last day to take any orders for Christmas delivery!

The Birthday Party and Football Report

Mykie's party was a hit. She had a lot of fun eating, playing on the tramp, watching Matilda, opening gifts and did I say eating? She had 7 friends come over and then two spent the night (the red headed Shayla and the dark haired Madison, such great girls!)

Mykie loved her gifts. This was a shot of her face as she saw what Grama and Grampa Anderson sent her (she is saving her money for an Ipod, so she was thrilled with the cash as you can see on her face.)

This is her reading the cute as heck card from Grama and Grampa Nelson. She was so surprised with all the cute things that Grama put into her box. By the way, Grama, Mykie thinks you tape REALLY securely!

The party ended at 7:00. Mike and I had to be at the Football Field at 7:00 so Travis' mom came and stayed with the kids until their parents picked them up so we could get to Tyler's game on time.

We had a great game last night at Pasco. At the very beginning, before the game even started, the school wanted to honor the parents of the Senior Football Players. So Mike and I (along with several other parents) went down to the field to be greeted by our Senior.

Yes, that blur is his arm coming in for the "huggin' o' the mom" along with the giving of a white rose. So sweet, huh? Before you get too excited, just remember the whole thing wasn't his idea, but at least he was willing to do it with a smile on his face!

The line-up. So fun!

Tyler's team went against Kennewick. They did a great job coming out with 3 or 4 touchdowns before Kennewick put any points on the board. It was a very hard hitting game. That's when I am glad that Tyler is on the defense. Then he is doing the hitting and not so much getting hit. Anyway, the points that Kennewick got came from a perfectly thrown ball to a Kennewick player that Tyler was covering. Tyler felt terrible, I'm sure. But like I said, the ball was perfectly thrown right over his head and into the offence's hands.

The play that made up for it was Tyler's punt return. It was amazing! Here is a 15 second clip of it:

OK, so Jeremy and I were going to go hunt down that #79 because he was just SO RUDE! I mean, you can tackle him and stop Tyler's forward progression, but let's not get nasty! But Mike wouldn't let me.

So another great night under the Friday Night Lights. We only have a few of them left, then I will have to wait for Jeremy's 9th grade team next year. First there's wrestling, but that's another post people!

Some Ketchup Please - - - - I mean Catch-Up Please!

I have been amiss in keeping current with my blog this month. In my defense I have been quite busy. First, we had to deal with Tyler’s Senior pictures. I have a hard time coming up with the $100s of dollars we’d need to do his pictures professionally. I'm sorry, but I have 4 children on of which is a senior and thus is costly just by himself. Tyler and I went out a couple of weeks ago with a few wardrobe pieces and looked for places to photograph the child. We ended up in 4 different places and took over 80 pictures. This was, at first, excruciating for Tyler; but then he got into it and was happy to smile. The picture he finally choose for the yearbook and his senior picture was actually in the first 15 shots that we took.
Then, I contacted my Pro-Photo Friend, LeeAnn, emailed the ‘best of the best’ to her and she “fixed” the shots for us. She brightened the whole shot and took out some of that pesky teenage acne that seems to plague our home. Here’s a couple of shots of the boy.

Isn’t he so cute? I think so! Thank you, thank you Lee!!!

Then Tyler went to Homecoming with Carmen, Dirk and his date and a group of about 30 kids. They had a great time. They started with photos at Carmen’s house then they went to Outback Steakhouse, to the dance (where I am sure that Tyler showed off some of his “Hitch” moves) and the night ended (somewhat into the morning) at a party that the Homecoming Queen threw at her home. I think her name was Morgan. All and all, he had a great time. The only hiccup was that Mike and I told Tyler that we would pay for dinner and tickets to the dance, but the dance is pretty formal. Tyler wanted to wear a tuxedo, but the rental on those things run about $70. That meant no dinner. Tyler did the next best thing, he had me go to a local “specialty shop” and find him a new suit. I did find one that almost fit him perfectly (thank goodness my mom taught me how to hem).. What was even better is that it was gray (the color he wanted) with little light purple pinstripes in it. We couldn’t ask for a better suit. All and all the suit cost about $20. The rental on the vest and tie was more expensive than the suit. It looks great on him.

See?
Here’s a shot of the group of guys that went to Homecoming. And here is the professional shot of he and his friend that is a girl, Carmen. Friend that is a Girl I said!!!

Isn’t she so cute?
Last week’s football report held something new. Tyler was put in as the punt returner after the regular guy was sick and the first replacement fumbled the ball. This action made Mike’s stomach turn into knots. Tyler went out there three times and Mike was as nervous as he could be sitting next to me. After the first one that Tyler had no problem catching and running for a gain of 10 yards, Mike was still a bundle of nerves for the next punt return. After voicing his concerns for a bit, he told me that he prayed before the last one Tyler did. I suggested that he do that again. Again Tyler caught it and ran it for about a 10 yard gain. The third one that came to him was about 10 yards short, so he didn’t have to catch it. All in all, he did a great job. It sounds like the job is his from now on. I think that he LOVES to have the ball in his hands again. The coaches want him to fair catch the ball, but Tyler just loves the feeling of running towards that end zone with the ball safely tucked away in the crook of his arm.

Jeremy’s football season has ended as well. They played their last game “under the lights” on a Wednesday on the turf at Lampson Stadium. They played against Park Middle School. All the scoring was done the first half. Park did their scoring with a touchdown and a 2 point extra kick. They get two points for their “extra point” kicks in middle school. Highlands also got a 6 point touchdown, but missed their extra point. There were no more points put on the board for either team after that so Highlands lost 6-8 against Park. The biggest thrill for Jeremy was to look up in the stands and see his Big Bro Ty watching the game. He told all his friends that his big brother was at the game and pointed him out to all of them. He treats Tyler like he is a celebrity. It makes him feel so important when Tyler can (and will) make it to his games.

Jeremy loved playing football this year. He has some great practices and some great tackles in the games. It is my secret hope that he actually goes out for receiver next year. I think he would enjoy having the ball in his hands, but then, I’m just the mom so I could be way off base here.
He’s looking forward to wrestling this next year for school and for Mat Rattlers with Brigam. This will be Brigam’s first year wrestling and Jeremy’s last year wrestling with Mat Rattlers. The wresting reports will begin in January. I am sure that you are looking forward to those. I am.

Mykie is celebrating her 12th birthday today! Her actual birthday is next week, but we couldn’t work in the party/sleepover on Halloween weekend. She is having about 7 kids come over this afternoon. Then most of them will leave and 2 girls will stay for a sleepover and Tyler’s football game. She’s planned her party all by herself. I’ve been here for support (and a little cash for treats and, of course, the making of the cake shaped like a HUGE cupcake). I will be interested to see how it will turn out. I’ll let you know complete with pictures!

Brigam is loving school. Yes, you read right. He loves school. I had to write a thank you letter to his teacher because she has made such a huge difference in his feelings about school. He loves math. He even makes up his own worksheets for extra math practice for himself. It’s so cute. He also wants to do his math in pen I am not sure why he does this. Jeremy does it as well. Something with the challenge of getting it right the first time because they can’t erase it. Maybe.
His reading is so improving as well. Last year he was still reading kindergarten stuff in first grade. But this year he is reading on grade level and doing really well. In fact, he brought home a book that was a fourth grade level and was reading it so well. Words I was surprised he knew. Jeremy even noticed and said, “Man Brigam, you read really good.” You should have seen the look on Brigam’s face when Big Bro Jer gave him that compliment. Good job Jeremy!

Mike attended the funeral of a co-worker’s son yesterday. It was a difficult funeral as the boy died after being hit by a drunk driver. He and 3 others were traveling home and pulled over to the side of the road. They think that maybe they were changing drivers. As they were sitting there, a drunk driver hit them from behind at full speed. All four people in the car died. The drunk driver did not. This is the 5th DUI that was issued to this drunk driver. I don’t understand why he still has a license. What is up with that? Mike said that hardest part of the funeral was when the brother of the deceased got up to say the opening prayer and couldn’t do it because he was so emotional. Eventually the Father got up and said the prayer for him. What a difficult thing for all those families to go through.

I have been busy getting ready for two craft shows. One in November here in Kennewick and one in Richland at Badger Mtn. Elementary the first week in December. I have painted boards EVERYWHERE! On the washer and dryer, on the fridge, on the counter, on the craft table, on the dining room table and I have stuff loaded on the floor under the craft table. Thank goodness Mike is understanding. He did request a little counter space for Thursday morning so he could prepare his lunch and eat breakfast. I tried to comply. I just need to get stuff organized and Mike needs to help me on a display. Soon it will be upon me – I’ve got to get going!

I am off to get ready for Mykie's party! Party on!!!

You put WHAT on your face???

Today was a learning day for Jeremy. He went with me to go get all of his hairs cut by Sonja Knight. I was getting my hairs cut as well, but I needed something more.

As I have been looking closely at my beautiful face in the mirror, I have been noticing something there that I don't want to see. They are long, dark and stubborn and I just don't want to see them anymore. They mostly reside on my upper lip or in my brow line. I have my little ways to get rid of the unwanted growth and Sonja helps me.

Waxing

Yes, it's uncomfortable (not like you need an epidural or anything), but the end result is fabulous. Jeremy was the lucky child to see me taking such good care of myself.

I didn't scream or even let a small tear roll down my cheek, but Jeremy still thought it was crazy. It didn't take too much (just a comment about a "unibrow" Jeremy was supporting) and Jeremy was in the chair, head tipped back ready for his "treatment. As soon as she put it on Jeremy screamed like a little girl, then came the rub and rip - that was entertaining! Then he jumped up and looked in the mirror only to see a big red spot right between his brows. He wasn't too impressed and continued to whine about the sheer pain of it all. Even as we were leaving her house, he was still saying how excruciating it was and Sonja had to open the door and tell him that he was the biggest baby!!!!

But after a little while in the car and with him looking in the mirror, Jeremy said, "I need to get the rest of my eyebrows done." I said, "I can't wait to tell your dad!"

Beauty pinches!

The Birthday Girl Speaks

I had a terrific anniversary of my 28th birth year yesterday. Thank you to all who sent me well wishes!

I started the day at about 6:00 am when I have to get the precious angels up and at 'em for school time. I was greeted with a birthday message from my sweet hubby written on our bathroom mirror in my favorite lipstick color. Hopefully, I will be getting a new tube of lipstick for my birthday.

Next, Mykie gave me birthday love hugs and a cute I love you card she made herself along with some sun catchers she made.

Brigam gave me a magnificent framed piece of art that he himself made. He's really quite the artist in an abstract sort of way.

Birthday wishes were given by all my precious ones as they left for their institutes of higher learning for the day.

Then I went into work. Yes, I said work, what else would I do by myself on my birthday - stay home and eat bon bons on the couch all day? Really, does that sound like me? I did go to work and there waiting for me were balloons blown up from a co-worker from the night before. Peggy was also there blowing up balloons a being a bit upset because I spoiled her surprise by coming into work a little early! SORRY! But she gave me the coolest singing card with the song, "Do You Believe in Magic" which I thought was so cool because I had never gotten a singing card before, the cutest feet covers, some WW items worth less than 2 points each, and my very own birthday/princess crown. I was so excited about the crown and I was not afraid to wear it. Peggy knew that I was going to kickboxing as well and challenged me (or actually told me) that I was to wear it during class as well. I have no problem with that. It's my birthday and EVERYONE should be celebrating it and me!!!!!

So I wore it to class where I think it brought much giggles to my fellow kickers. The great thing about that class was that as my birthday gift, Tina (one of the instructors) played my favorite kickboxing song and told me to come on stage with her to do the routine! I was a little hesitant, but went up there and loved it!!! I just don't know how they get the routines into their heads and can talk to the class at the same time. I am breathless when I am doing it!!!

After that, I went back to work (thanks Sylvia for letting me break for my class) and enjoyed the rest of my day in my birthday crown.

When I got home, I took a nap (it was my birthday) and got up to attend Jeremy's game. This is the only picture I have of him. If you look closely you can see his cleat there in the middle of the shot. I would have had many more pictures in action, but to do that, your kid has to be in on the action. His coach didn't even play him for almost the entire game. He was put in at the end with only seconds left, the other team ahead by a touchdown and they (the opposition) had the ball. He was there for 3 downs where Enterprise's quarterback just kneed the ball 3 times. And on the sidelines his "super great wonderful coach" was yelling, "Number 41, get that ball!" (Jeremy being #41). Fat chance of that happening. Maybe they wouldn't have lost if they put Jeremy in MUCH earlier. But I digress from my lovely birthday.

After we came home and dropped the kids off, Mike took me to Olive Garden. We don't take the kids to Olive Garden because I can't stand to see the bill come after the kids have ordered pizza or spaghetti and they don't like the taste of it because it doesn't taste like moms so it is a big pile of waste on their plates. To spare the bad feelings that this would bring on - we left them home.

After a delicious dinner, Mike and I went to Dairy Queen to get an ice Cream cake to take home to the kids to celebrate my anniversary birthday. There were so many cakes to choose from. I love Oreo, and they had a chocolate lovers, what I really wanted was the Strawberry Cheesecake Cake, but I knew the kids would HATE that and I thought that I had left them out of the celebration enough so I went with one everyone would like. A regular ice cream cake with a picture of .........

Hannah Montana!

This one I knew everyone would love. Tyler thinks that Hannah is really pleasant to look at (he doesn't think Miley Cyrus is cute. I told him that he is missing the whole plot of the show), Jeremy uses many Hannah Montana episodes watched in a row to calm him down after watching a scary movie, Mykie giggles as she watches her show and Brigam loves ice cream cake so I knew that we had a winner.

In fact, Brigam and Jeremy show you just how lovely they think she is "Quick!! Take the picture before those kids make kissy lip marks in it!!!"

By the way, isn't my crown so cute??? As you can see from the background, one of my birthday presents WASN'T that someone did their dishes and cleaned up the kitchen on time. Thank goodness I could crop the rest of that photo out so you don't see what else wasn't done! And from that shot, we can clearly see that my hair and make-up people had already taken off for the evening.

After Tyler got home from his football dinner, he and Jeremy went out shopping (normal for a man child - the delay of the birthday gift purchase). Jeremy came back with a package of Oreos and introduced me to "Milk and Cookies" using an Oreo and real milk. Usually I eat my Oreos with water. No, I don't dip them in it, I just don't like soggy Oreos. I had two and they weren't too bad.

Tyler gave me a bag of my favorite candy bars (I did tell them both I couldn't eat anything that they bought. Don't give me food. Someday they will listen to me) and a card that said "You're almost TOO good to me! on the front. You open it up and it says, "Not that I'm complaining." and plays the song "Your Unbelievable". Yes, that was from my 17 year old son who signed the card "LOVE, TYLER" I'm so lucky. Two musical cards in one celebration!!!

I had a great birthday. Thanks again for all the well wishes.