Cloward Capers

Cleaning day

2012-02-12T08:33:00.001-07:00

I generally hate cleaning day at our house: the fighting, not getting things done, not getting things done well, and the list could go on! Now I am a firm believer in playing (you should see my calendar sometimes), but I am also a firm believer in getting the things done that you have to do so that you can do the things you want to do. I keep telling the kids to get their jobs done well and quickly so they can play - but most weeks it ends up with mom mad because no one else cares to get things done quickly and well. Really my kids are all old enough to do things well! This week was different. We still had some - go back and do it again - and then go do that again because it still isn't done well. But I turned the music on in the kitchen as loud as it would go, so you could hear it throughout the whole house. Guess what, there wasn't fighting, or I couldn't hear it! I loved it. Maybe like so many other things in my life, it is me and my attitude that makes the difference. :)

If you tell one lie...

2012-02-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

One thing I hate more than anything is people lying to me. Especially my kids. Well this week one of my kids lied to me. I was NOT happy. It was Monday morning before school and I let them know I was not happy with them. If they had just been honest, I simply would have asked them to go finish what they were asked to do. But, lying made it so there was big trouble, and the loss of an after school activity that day.

Well, after all the kids were in school, I really prayed about how to handle the situation. This is a good kid that made a bad choice (they also told me they wouldn't have lied to their dad which made me even more upset)! I really wanted to know what my Father in Heaven would have me do. So I prayed and read the Friend and Ensign to see if they had any good ideas for me. There was a great story in the Friend about lying and it reminded me of when another child had a problem with lying. I remember having the same feelings as this day and that I had happened to read the account of Korihor in the Book of Mormon. Korihor was a liar and it tells his story of what happened to him through his lies. I felt so strongly that I needed to share those same scriptures with my child.

Side note - I had also been praying about what to do about Missy for dance. There is a class on Monday nights that would really be the best class for her, but it would really ruin our ability to have Family Home Evening. Another article I read talked about holding fast to that precious family time and not letting anything get in the way. Another answer to my prayers. The Lord will bless us and her by keeping that night sacred.

On with the story. When this child got home from school, I sat them down and we talked about the story of Korihor. We read from the scriptures and learned how lying is choosing Satan and truth telling is choosing Jesus. The most powerful part of the scriptures we read come at the very end of Alma 30 and it says: "And thus we see the end of him who ^aperverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not ^bsupport his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to^chell."

Now I was not saying my child was going to hell, but I was trying to teach them that when we follow that path, that is where it eventually will lead us. BUT, the Lord provided the most beautiful thing for us - a Savior through Him we have the gift of repentance! We had just discussed as a family the day before what the steps of repentance are:

1. Know you did something wrong and feel remorse
2. Confess our sins to God
3. Ask forgiveness
4. Make amends
5. Don't do it again

As we talked about all these things, I saw true remorse in my child's eyes. We prayed together as this child asked for forgiveness from God, then asked it from me. This child wanted to do better. I had felt so strongly that if I saw that remorse and true repentance, that I should give the child back their after school activity. So that is what I did. About 2 minutes after we finished our conversation, I received a phone call asking me to help with this after school activity, otherwise it was going to have to be canceled or postponed for the rest of the children.

Busy Weekend - with No Pictures :(

2012-02-07T09:39:00.001-07:00

We had such a great, fun, super busy weekend - but sadly I forgot my camera at everything!!!!

Friday:

Friday night the girls had their first performance in "Pointe-Counterpointe". This is my favorite show because it is just the performing companies that get to participate - so it is really good - and I get to be just MOM! My girls did AMAZING!!! I loved to watch them. They both had solos this year and it was fun to see them both shine doing something they love so much. It was a painful experience for Missy - but she still did a great job. Before any of that happened, I had to get them ready with food and such to spend from 2:15-10:30 PM there. After I had that ready it was games with my friends day (which I only got to play one - but it was still something!). Then I headed to the schools to pick up all the children and head to rehearsal. After I dropped the girls off at dress rehearsal, I headed to Lisa's to drop Scotty and Alli off for Katie's Birthday party. Then I headed home instead of running errands to sit in the tub and read a book - totally uninterrupted! HEAVENLY! I picked up Missy's friend and we headed to the show that night (which I have already said was AMAZING)!

Saturday:

We got up late then did jobs and got the girls ready to go their performances again. Then I got myself ready and dropped off tickets to my cousin and then picked up the girls' YW advisor who was so kind to come - then headed to the show to meet Corry's sister who was also kind enough to come. We watched the matinee, then headed home where Corry and Scotty had been hard at work making his pinewood derby car. Then they all showered and got ready to go to the evening performance - which was my favorite! The girls did great in everyone and it was so much fun to be there for all of them. Corry's sister was so awesome and drove all the way from Vernal to come watch them perform and Corry's parents came too. We grabbed some food on the way home and finally went to bed about 11:30 PM.

Sunday:

We got up early and headed to Taylorsville for my cousin Dave's baby's blessing. After breakfast at their house, we headed to Grandma Seeley's for a visit and then back to our ward for the last two hours of church. After we got home and changed, we studied scriptures and headed to Corry's parents to watch the Super Bowl and eat delicious food. Corry made his divine Middle Eastern food and we ate lots of Hummus! Mmmmmmm! My tummy was very happy. We finally made it home around 9 PM - exhausted and not ready for Monday!

I just realized I took pictures on my phone - not great photos, but it is something!

Poor Kid

2012-02-07T09:03:00.003-07:00

Poor Missy - this is what she is dealing with right now. My knees didn't start hurting until I was a month away from 30. Poor kid is 14 and dealing with it! Love when she pushes through and succeeds anyway - despite the difficulty.

Sledding...Finally!

2012-02-03T07:06:00.001-07:00

Alli has prayed, since the middle of December, for snow. She has also prayed that everyone else will remember to pray for snow too! She has been dying to go sledding!

One day lasst week it finally snowed enough to go sledding. So when she got home from school I was all excited to tell her she could go put on her snow clothes to go sledding. She looked at me and said, "I don't really want to go right now." To which I replied, "You are going!!!!"

You can tell in the pictures that there really wasn't much snow, but it was enough for sledding and it was the first time all year! And I might be the only time all year!)

She had a great time when I finally convinced her to go! Thank heavens for a great big brother to go with her!

Fuzzy's Cell

2012-02-02T20:46:00.002-07:00

Fuzzy had to make an edible cell for science homework, so she killed two birds with one stone and made me a birthday cake as well. Awesome! Love edible school projects!

My Birthday

2012-01-30T16:45:00.005-07:00

I had such a great time for my birthday - here's the lowdown.....

The day before, these cuties picked me up to go to lunch and shopping! It is always so much fun to shop with these ladies!!! One time we were in New York and Company - in the dressing rooms trying on - when this lady asked us to help her pick out an outfit too because her girlfriends weren't there with her and she was going to her high school reunion. We always have a blast and I know I can count on them to be honest with me! I love that and we find some awesome deals when we go! I got a super cute purple cardigan ($15), a GORGEOUS grey peacoat ($20), sunglasses ($3), necklace ($3) (a few things for my girlies - but at a really good price), pair of heels ($8) (which apparently break Utah state law because they are over 2.5 inches tall), and a pair of tennis shoes ($8) - all for $57. We had a wonderful time! Love these ladies in my life!

That night we picked up Fuzzy early from dance and headed to the Chinese buffet for some Mongolian Barbecue. It was kind of a bummer! There was someone before me that had put hot sauce on their Mongolian BBQ and so mine turned out SUPER SPICY!!!! I got a new one after I ate a few bites, but my mouth was already on fire!

The next morning we had donuts and chocolate milk and headed to the pool for some swimming. We had a fun time, then headed home to go to Scotty's basketball game. Pizza and America's Funniest Videos was for lunch then I had LOTS of visitors come over (OK two, but that is lots to me). Love having a Saturday Birthday to spend the day with my family!!!! Lisa and my cousins, Julie and Taylor, came for a visit. Between the phone calls from family and friends, treats dropped off at the door, and facebook messages, I felt totally loved. Thanks everyone!

Corry headed off to the Stake Center for Stake Priesthood Leadership Meeting later that afternoon, then he and I headed to the adult session of Conference that night. Really what better way to spend my b-day than with 300 or so of my closest friends listening to great speakers! I also got lots of hugs and happy birthday wishes. :)

After that Corry and I headed to grab some quick dinner and run to the grocery store for Corry to cook me a special birthday meal the next day (stuffed chicken - delicious) with our good friend. Well, we headed to Costa Vida - they made our meals and then we went to pay....

I hadn't grabbed my purse because I wasn't driving and I figured Corry had his wallet. He didn't! HAHAHAHAHA

I laughed so hard (I think Corry was more embarrassed)! We told them we would have to go home really fast and grab our wallets. They thought that was silly because by the time we got back our food would be cold. So they told us to sit and eat, then get our wallets and come back to pay them.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

We couldn't believe how wonderful they were to us! So, we ate REALLY fast and then hurried home and back to pay them - with a very generous tip!

Great day and great memories!

Then the next day Julane came for a visit and brought me a gift....

Abish - the first book. Remember I had posted about really liking this book , but realized it was a sequel? Well I had told Julane about that the week before and she had already gotten me the first book! HAHAHAHA again! So funny and a great gift!

Then a few days later, my sis took me to lunch at Chili's. SO FUN! We went there to get the sweet corn chowder... they don't make it anymore!!!! :((((( Still fun lunch with my sis and great chips and salsa! Almost as good as Macayos!

Then (it is the birthday that never ends) a few days later my crazy friends brought me to lunch at Jamie's house. It was my National Day Birthday Party:

National Hugging Day

I got lots of hugs

National Squirrel Appreciation Day

...because squirrels and humans have a lot of interaction, but not a lot of appreciation. They gave me "Scardey Squirrel Has a Birthday Party"

National Compliment Day

I got 5 compliments from each of them written in a book

National Measure your Feet Day

We measured our feet - then measured our friends' feet for extra fun - plus I got a gift certificate to go buy shoes, not that I know my correct size

and finally National Pie Day

We ate pie and I got a pie and tarts cookbook (DELICIOUS!!!)

Thanks to everyone for making my day special!

Scary Day for the Neighbors

2012-01-27T08:12:00.003-07:00

I took a bunch of pictures, but this is the only one that came in from my card. SAD!!!

Anyway my neighbors across the street came over one afternoon, just before the kids got home from school, to ask for a phone book. They didn't want to call 911 and have the firetruck come (can you tell that didn't work), they just wanted to call the fire department and find out what to do. Their 14 year old son had left his electric blanket on all day in his room in the basement. It had smoldered all day and their basement was filled with smoke. (They found out what it was because she ran into the smoke filled room to find the cause - probably not the best idea.) Luckily it was a BEAUTIFUL January afternoon, so they just opened all the windows. Anyway, after she called the fire department, the ambulance and fire truck came, complete with sirens on, just after all the kids had come home from school. It was a good show and luckily nothing was really damaged (other than the electric blanket and a spot on the floor where it sat). Their house was pretty smokey for a few days, but thanks to their 18 year olds son's prompting to go home instead of where he was supposed to be going, nothing major happened. And my kids got to see a firetruck in front of the house. They thought that was AWESOME!!!

First Family Active Activity for the Year

2012-01-26T21:13:00.001-07:00

For our first activity, Scotty wanted to play basketball. We were scheduled to help clean our church building and decided to stay for a game of basketball after. We had so much fun together running up and down the court - girls agains boys! Hehehe! It was a little heavy on the girl side, but what we girls had in numbers, Corry had in height, so it all worked out!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2012-01-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today is my Birthday! So, I thought I would write a little about a few of my favorite things today!

Number one has to be this handsome guy right here! I am married to my best friend. He is definitely my favorite thing! I love that he makes me laugh everyday. I love that he works so hard for our family. I love that he loves me - despite my shortcomings - he would probably say because of my shortcomings. He truly makes me happy!

Then there are these cuties! I sure love being their mom. They cause me the greatest joy and the greatest heartache (sometimes all in the same hour). I love that I get to be with them, take them places as well as learn and grow along with them!

These people are the people that helped me be the person I am. They are definitely high on the favorite things list! I love who they are, who they try to be, what they taught me, how they continue to teach me, how they love me and love my children and husband. I love their strength and I love to see how they handle adversity - kinda like me. A little stressed sometimes, a little gloomy sometimes, but always coming out strong in the end with faith in Christ.

I love all the wonderful girlfriends in my life! I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful women. I laugh with you, I cry with you, I pray with you and mostly I just love you! (There are so many other wonderful women in my life I couldn't find pictures of - I love you too!!!!)

These are my crazy friends that I laugh A LOT with. I love who they are and I love their strength! I love that at one moment we can go on a stealth mission - get caught playing fugitive by the police - and the next minute we are sharing our testimonies. They bring light and laughter to my life!

These are the women I laugh and cry with the most. They are always there for me - during my emotional breakdowns. They are usually the first I tell about my joys and my pains. I dearly love these women!

Hahahaha!!! I love this picture!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this curling wand! It takes my hair from straight to curly in 10 minutes! I know because I timed it yesterday when I took the second picture! BTW the second one in my official birthday picture for 2012!

I love to shop for clothes! These are some of my favorites stores. Modbod, they usually have a 20% off coupon I can use and when I forget it - they give it to me anyway!!!! Plus $10-15 swim separates! I love BellaElla too because of all their sales and coupons. And it is right by my house! New York and Company is fabulous for pants (and other things) because they have TALLS from 0-20ish they have petite, average and talls in all sizes. They are expensive, but they have coupons and good sales! Most of my pants come from that store. LOVE them! Plus I just got cute things there yesterday when I went shopping with Mindy and Wendi for my birthday!

I LOVE to play games! I don't get to do this NEARLY enough in my life, but I love to play most any game. I even play trivia games and have fun even though I am terrible! I don't retain stuff like that well! These are a few of my favorites to play.

I LOVE food, especially bread, but I have to say that stuffed shells might be my all-time favorite meal (homemade of course), but my favorite bread had to be Macaroni Grill's bread. I LOVE it and wish I knew how to make it! Plus I cannot forget in my list of favorites, the best donut ever!!! Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Creme Filled - YUMMY!

I absolutely LOVE to watch Food Network and HGTV. Love most all their shows. I can't even pick any favorites!

My favorite other shows are Castle, Psych and White Collar. Although I can't watch them without Corry - especially Castle because sometimes it creeps me out!

I love BYU - what it stands for, the sports, the education. Like anything else in life, it isn't perfect, but I love it. I loved my years there - who I became there. Go Cougars!

I love teaching dance, watching my girls dance, and I love to dance! I love being with my daughters and having something to really connect with them on. I have loved being with Alli teaching her. I have loved having Missy and Fuzzy teach with me. I love having something to keep me busy (although at times it is too busy) now that my kids are all in school. I love the little girls I get to teach. I love their hugs and feeling like I am making a difference in their lives when I tell them what I liked about them that day! I love to be backstage when my girls come off to hug them. I love being a ballet mom!

I love vacations and all things water related! I love to sit on the beach, swim in the water, watch others playing in the water, boating, skiing - all things water related!

I just love to travel around the world and see all the wonders man and God created. I truly love my home, but I LOVE to go see other places and then come back to my home! (BTW that is my mom on the slide!)

I love my extended family.

I love the family I grew up with. I had a great childhood.

I love stealth operations and doing crazy things like a stealth baby shower - complete with head coverings and a cloak!

I love the temple. Love that I am close to the temple and can go almost every week. I love the mountains I live by. I love to see them, I love to hike them, I love to be in the beauty of the canyons. I live in a beautiful place!

I love looking at houses! One day I would love a new house, but I will probably like looking then too, because I love to see different floor plans, different styles and what people can come up with new and creative!

And lastly for today, I love crafts and cooking. I love to make things with my hands and see with my eyes that I accomplished something and that it has beauty - maybe not always beauty in looks, but beauty in taste or beauty in accomplishment!

Interesting Book

2012-01-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I read an interesting book the last couple of days (no staying up until 5 am this time though). It is a loosely historical fiction about Abish from the Book of Mormon and the people of Ammon - all their joys and sorrows. It was so interesting to me because it was so much about being a mother and all the joys and sorrows I experience too! I have had way too much sorrow lately and it was nice to read about another mother, although fictitious, she mirrored my thoughts and feelings so it can't be too far off right?

I have often times been obsessed by wanting to know what it was and how the Mothers of the Stripling Warriors taught their sons. Why wasn't there a list in the Book of Mormon about what they taught, when they taught it and how they taught it? I have read and reread the verses about it as well as read talks on the subject several times. This gave me such insights that I haven't gotten anywhere else - even if it was fictitious. The conclusion I came to was that they were mothers just like me!!!! They tried, failed, tried again and always included their Father in Heaven in their everyday discussions with their children. Sometimes they got down, sometimes they got angry, but I think what I learned is that they continued to seek guidance and ask forgiveness when they made mistakes. I think I have always put them up as perfect mothers. Maybe they were, but I am guessing they weren't. They just didn't give up. In the end what they had was faith and hope. Faith that the Savior would come and they would be together forever and hope that somehow everything would work out.

I was reading a blog series about one word resolutions for the year, and I think I found mine.

Hope

Another Cake by Missy

2012-01-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

Missy made another cake for one of her best friends (and cousin), Haley, for her birthday. Haley's birthday happened to be on a Friday which meant that we had to make the cake on Thursday - our craziest day of the week. Missy ended up having about 1 hour and 20 minutes to work the fondant, color it, roll it out, cut it and then place it on the cake. Let's just say she did a GREAT fast job! We wish we could have cleaned up the colored fondant a little to get the sugar off it from rolling it out, but I think she did great! She loved it and I think Haley liked it, although she only got a tiny little piece and Missy never even got a picture of Haley with her cake. :(

Why Don't They Think We Mean It?

2012-01-15T15:09:00.003-07:00

Seriously! When we tell our kids something, why don't they think we mean it? ...until we loose it with them. I hate that. I think that was part of my problem through December and the first part of January. Mostly I do well with Corry traveling, when he is home working long hours and fulfilling his church work, but sometimes I feel like it is all too much. Add to that pms, the kids not listening, and feeling like I was doing everything at the house by myself - led to an emotional breakdown by me. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that has those. Everyone else is strong all the time - I know that is not true, but when you don't see it from others...

Anyway, things have been better the last week - mostly. I think partly because I was able to let it all go. Partly because thing have been better. And partly because life goes on and it has to be OK. You just have to get back up and keep trying.

That is where I am.

A New Year 2012

2012-01-12T15:25:00.002-07:00

I am all about New Years Resolutions. I think it is a great time to reevaluate and try to improve myself. So first, update on last years goals:

I always like to base my goals on the scripture in Luke 2:52, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

Wisdom - read more non fiction books - I read 3 I believe. That is more than I read before!
Stature - Work on maintaining the weight loss I had and strengthen my core. I have only put on between 5-7 pounds since I lost the 25 at the end of 2010. I think that is pretty good!!! Also I have tried to work on sit-ups more often. I haven't seen much improvement, but I am still trying.
Favor with God - Learn more about the law of the fast and practice it more. I found some YW Personal Progress Goals on this and fulfilled the requirements. I think the Lord helped me with this one because he gave me plenty of things to fast for. I am still not very good at it, but at least I improved in that area.
Favor with Man - I honestly can't remember what I was doing for this one. :( Hopefully I made some improvements!

Now on to my 2012 Goals:

Wisdom - I want to learn more about gardening this year. I love having fresh veggies and flowers and have had a lot of luck and success. Now I want to learn more and do better!
Stature - Continue to strengthen my core and be active as much as possible. One thing I am doing with this is I have a fitness jar. Every time I workout, I put $1 in the jar. When I get to $100 I get to go shopping. Teaching dance helps with this, but it would take me a long time to get to $100 just working out twice a week (almost a whole year!!!). I already have a bunch of money in there - it helped the day I ran on the treadmill, taught dance for 1.5 hours, then played tennis later that day with a friend! $3 on one day! This will also helping with my unwritten budgeting goal because I don't get to buy anything for myself until I earn this money!
Favor with God - I decided the thing I needed most in this area is to be more grateful. Psalms 100:4 says, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." I have thought about that a lot. I have been given so much. One quote I found on pinterest says something to the effect of, "What if you only had what you thanked God for the night before?" So I have started a "gratitude to my Father in Heaven" blog journal called www.365daysofmerfysgratitude.blogspot.com. There is a link to it on my sidebar. I want to be happier and I know that when I see all that I have been blessed with I am happier.
Favor with Man - I think in this area I want to improve most with my family. I want to dedicate at least 10 minutes to each of my kids and my husband a day. I know that doesn't sound like a lot - but it is! It is so hard to find one on one time. But often I have it and don't make the best use of it. I want to do better there!

While I am at it, we decided to do family goals this year, so here are the Cloward Family Goals 2012:

Wisdom - Learn more about growing our own food year round and build a green house.
Stature - Have at least 2 active family activities a month - taking turns who picks our activity
Favor with God - be better about our Sunday scripture study. We read everyday, but Sundays we have a little more time to study and that doesn't always happen - we want to do it every week. After all, we are hoping to finish the Old Testament sometime (we started this Sunday study, including reading the study manual, last January and we are only to Genesis 50 for this week - one it takes awhile and two, sometimes we miss).
Favor with Man - Get to know new people by inviting new families, or families we haven't had over for awhile, to dinner at least twice a month.

One more for 2011

2012-01-09T21:42:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to write about my favorite day of break!! Friday! We got up slowish and then watched the BYU bowl game and we won! I love watching my cougars! I think college football is so much fun to watch, more fun when your team wins, but still love the game! After that we headed to the tennis courts to play tennis with our friends! It was an awesome day! We finished it off with pizza and movie night! We don't have nearly enough of those. Plus I love Papa Murphy's vegi-delight pizza and we got to watch "Dolphin Tale", which I loved. How could I forget such a great day?

New Years Eve

2012-01-08T15:01:00.005-07:00

My really lame, not very fun new years... OK, it wasn't that bad, but I did spend new years away from Corry for the first time since 1993 (I didn't even know him then). We were engaged in 1994 and spent New Years Eve in the Bahamas with his dad and sister watching Junkanoo on the roof top of a friends building. Since then we have spent New Years Eve with my parents several times, the Olsens and the Averys several times; with the Austins several times, with the Johnsons several times, and with the Cloward family several times, but not this year. This year we were all divided. Corry's band (The Buzztones) were invited to play the last set from 11-midnight at First Night SLC 2011. That is super cool and a really great honor and we were so excited to go and listen as a family (minus Missy that was going to the New Years Eve Stake Dance for the first time). But, Scotty and Alli were fighting tons and I didn't think I wanted to deal with drama up there from 10-midnight, then not get home until 1 AM, then deal with all the drama the next day because they were all tired... plus Scotty was up the night before with a stomach ache and we just didn't think it was a good idea to take them up. So, Fuzzy went up with Corry and I stayed home and put Scotty and Alli to bed about 10 PM after watching some crazy Youtube videos (there are some really funny and amazingly talented kids out there).

Here are the pictures from Corry and Fuzzy's fun New Years Eve date (kinda fun - Fuzzy just sat there most of the night - but they did get to go to the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and see the view from up there). Thanks for the pictures Jamie.

Like I said, I put Scotty and Alli to bed at 10 ish, then started reading a book about 10:30 PM. Now you have to understand that me and books have a love hate relationship. I LOVE books, but I HATE to put them down. So....I didn't put it down.....until 5 AM when I finished. It was a good book and really intense. The book is called "I'll Find You" and it is about a little 5 year old that gets abducted from his front lawn while his 5 year old best friend watches in horror. Let me just say that I had EVERY intention of picking Missy up at the dance which is all of 1/2 mile away from my house. Leaving the little ones asleep - I would be back in less than 5. Well, I was reading a book about a child being ABDUCTED - there were a bunch of crazies out in the streets - and I was NOT leaving my little ones alone. So I asked Missy to find a ride home! THANK YOU THANK YOU to Kenzie's parents for bringing her home!!!! I just want to say that the next day I got up, went to church, taught music in primary and came home, played with the kiddos, read scriptures, watched a movie and only had about a 15 minute nap all day!!!! (and I wasn't that grumpy)

Fun with Hair

2012-01-06T09:58:00.001-07:00

We decided to try some more fun things with hair, including the sock bun curling method. Here are the results:

Missy's didn't turn out as well - I think because of the layers

Alli's hair

Fuzzy's hair

Fuzzy's hair definitely turned out the best. I want to try again and use a few new tricks I have read about online. I will show the next results...

Piano

2012-01-06T09:35:00.003-07:00

OK, so the story behind the late to the piano recital story. I thought it started at 6:30 PM, not 6:15 PM! OOPS!!! Anyway, we were just home playing games and then got ready, but I decided to mess around with some fun hair styles I had found on pinterest so the girls hair looked cute from the back, so we were even a little more late because of that. Anyway, I never got pictures of the back of their heads, we got there and had missed Scotty and Alli's performances and Fuzzy was up next, so we stood outside in the doorway, watching them go up and perform a little out of breath. I never got my video camera or regular camera out until it was all over. They all did great though with Missy having the honor of going last. It has been so much fun to see her and her friends go from Alli's level to the levels they are at now. I love to hear my kiddos play!

So, after it was all over, we got a picture of them together - when Trina stepped in front of the camera! Hahahah!

My little piano virtuosos!

Doin' a Whole Lot of Nothin'

2012-01-06T09:32:00.001-07:00

Santa brought me a juicer for Christmas plus a stocking full of fruit and veggies to juice. Corry had a great time trying all sorts of combinations.

Monday - Corry had to go coach the YM basketball game first off. We put a few things away and were just pretty lazy. Then we played games that day and I finally got to watch my all-time fav Christmas movie, "White Christmas" - hooray! Not that we had a white Christmas, but I love that movie! My favorite part of all the holiday season came that night. I have always wanted that tradition of singing Christmas songs around the piano - but sadly I can't play and Corry can't play that well, so we have never done it, until this year. Missy has gotten quite good at the piano and has especially been working on the hymns. In primary we had done something similar, but this is what we did for family night. I loved it and ama excited to keep this tradition going. Anyway, we read Luke 2 and inserted these songs in the right places in the story:

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Joy to the World

Angels We have Heard on High

Away in the Manger

It came upon the Midnight Clear

Silent Night

Tuesday - we went to Heather Oates' wedding (one of my old Beehives) in the Draper temple, then spent the rest of the day with Cassie and her family. We had such a great time and I forgot my camera to show it! We played at her house and then headed to Provo to watch the BYU Men's Basketball Game. It was a great day!

Wednesday - Kelsey and Kylee had slept over so we hauled them with us to play kickball with our neighbors. We had such a great time and it was SOOOO warm outside everyone was removing layers. My friend Jill invited us and the way she put it was, if we can't all go sledding together this year, we might as well enjoy the warm outdoors and do something like kickball! We had a blast. Corry and Alli had a special daddy daughter date for lunch while the rest of us showered, ate lunch and were rather lazy. Then we headed to take the girls home and headed back to Provo to spend more time with the Cloward family - especially Jana and her family before they headed off the next day. The cousins played hard and we headed home, happy and tired.

Thursday - Miss had a rehearsal and it was finally time to decorate our gingerbread house. Then we played some Wii games and headed to the kids' piano recital - late. I think that is how we were rolling this break! After dinner at Iceburg and a little recon stealth mission, it was home to bed.

We also made carmel that we have been eating on for over a week now! Corry and I decided we should really make it every few months. Homemade carmel is just delicious!!!

The stealth mission: So some of our friends have NOT figured out that after a white elephant party, YOU are responsible to TAKE whatever gift you got HOME with YOU!!! We have found stuff hidden all over our house for years! Well, this year, someone brought a hula monkey, similar to the one on the right, and left it on our patio, so when we opened our curtains the next morning, there it was! So the kids and I just returned her to her rightful owners, along with all the other left over presents we found! Hahahah! Alli was so funny in the car on the way over, "What if I can't be quiet?" Me - "then don't go up." So Alli stayed in the get away van with me (BTW we were in full stealth mode with the lights off inside and outside of the car, Missy had climbed to the back so we could use the now much quieter and fixed ($800 later) sliding door on the van). Then as soon as everyone was in the car and we were driving away, you should have heard the giggle she let out! The monkey has since been returned to us since Jamie left it on the top of my car after dance. But not to worry, hula monkey has once again returned to her rightful owners! :)

Christmas Morning

2012-01-05T17:42:00.003-07:00

The papered in children (and Joey)

I didn't have y camera ready so I made them go back and come in slower

The family picture before chaos ensued

While Corry was in China, a guy he is working for there saw a picture of his family and sent home all these hats and stuffed animals for the kids

Scotty and Dallin got these remote controlled helicopters and spent most of the day flying them

Alli got this bedazzler from Grammy and Grandpa Chauncey

The kids all got Corry a Cougar Pillow Pet. They were so excited to give it to him!

That was about all the pictures I took during the opening. I wanted to be apart, not behind the camera and miss it all. Corry gave me a box of googly eyes that spelled out lasik. I gotta say I am a little nervous, but it would be nice to see! The best gift I got came from Fuzzy. She was asking my what I wanted for Christmas and I told her there was nothing I really wanted or needed. The best gift I could ever get is to have my kids all have testimonies of the Savior and be strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, she wrote her testimony, printed it out and framed it for me. That is truly the best gift I could ever receive! I was crying when I opened it and didn't read it until later that day because I couldn't control my emotions without actually reading it. (It got Grandma crying too.) My favorite thing we gave this year was Hale Center Theater tickets to the kids and Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to take them all to a play!

After presents, there was a little time for playing and breakfast before church started

Corry even got in a little nap

After church Maren, Jana, mom and Corry started a puzzle. It took us until 8 PM to finish it and then we finally headed home

Scotty all ready to head out the door

It ended up being a great Christmas Eve and Christmas day! Thanks Clowards for a fun Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-03T13:47:00.001-07:00

I just have to start off the real Christmas posts by saying what a grump I was this Christmas. Part of it had to do with not feeling great, but most of it had to do with wanting time with my little family. Corry was gone most of the month, the kids were busy with all their activities and parties (I planned the kids' parties while Corry was at work and while he was playing with his band one night so it wouldn't interfere with family time). On December 23rd, at 8:30 PM, it was the first time we sat down as a family and ate dinner together and then spent time together all month. I was a little miffed that night anyway about having to go out Christmas shopping (I don't do last minute Christmas shopping and because of some circumstances, I had to shop last minute Friday night and Saturday morning). I wasn't happy about not going to our ward on Christmas Sunday, I wanted to be there and be with my primary children singing and I wanted to sing in the choir. I just wanted some my family time. I think I have had a little depression all month and have been fighting it the best I could. But, sometimes those feelings creep in and no matter how good of a life I am trying to live, they take over me a bit. That is how I was feeling this Christmas. Just blah. Scotty and Alli fighting almost constantly at home didn't help the situation, Fuzzy's being a bit of a slob, and Missy's really rude to her family teenage orneriness didn't help, but neither did my depression. I tried so hard to make some happy memories and I am not sure I was very successful this year. After our Dec 23rd night as a family and a good Christmas movie, I did feel much more Christmassy!

But I have to say, that once we got with the extended family, we had a lot of fun. Thank heavens the fighting stopped. Alli was really pretty good all Christmas Eve and Day. It was fun to see all the cousins having such a good time together.

One of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions, is to go deliver Christmas gifts to neighbors and to the extended family. We almost always get a great visit in with Julie and her family, Dave and Jan, and Colleen and Eddie. I love visiting family - it always makes me feel Christmassy!

After that we headed off to the Clowards for Christmas Eve dinner and fun

Then it was time to start the Christmas play. The kids were a little out of control, but they actually behaved pretty well for the actual play part.

Scotty the Eeyore donkey, Fuzzy as Mary and Mason as Joseph

The wild barn animals

Missy, Sophie, and Katie were shepards with the cutest little Aubrey lamb

Alli wanted to be the angel this year

Then there was Fate, Calvin and Magnus as the Wise Men

The whole cast in the end. I think the animal costumes are getting a bit small for these bigger boys

Then it was time to open the cousins presents:

Alli got this box of beads from the Padovichs

Scotty got a blow gun from the Clawsons

Fuzzy got a cute brown hat (which I will probably steal) and a cute brown top from the Peppers

And Missy got this cute bracelet from the Barragers

Alli loves hanging out with Liz and Cecil

Then all the big boys got headlamp hats

All the big girls got kitchen scrubbers

Then grandpa gave all the kids Chase and older pocket knives and then wondered why all his boxes got ripped apart - uhhh - you gave 6 8-11 year old boys pockets knives and then set them loose in your house. I think you should be grateful they only went to town on the cardboard and the rest of the house was in tact!

After that there was a little chaos with all the kids running around, shooting their blow guns and such. They did have a great time together though. This is my favorite part about living close to family. The cousins know each other and love being together.

Aubrey loved doing Missy and Fuzzy's hair

Fuzzy had fun playing on Chance's new guitar shirt

Maren and Chad came back from Chad's family and Chad needed his picture taken with his hat too.

Then it was time for jammies (after everyone else left and things semi-quieted down)

Then the pj fashion show began

FINALLY it was time for bed!!!! I think it was the latest night yet because we didn't have much to do after the kids went down and we still didn't go to bed until midnight!

So the children were nestled on snug in their beds...

Sleep tight little ones....

Cloward H2O Christmas Party 2011

2012-01-03T09:06:00.003-07:00

The office party was a little different this year. There were a ton of new people I had never met before which was kinda weird, but it was fun to get to know them. We ate, had our traditional White Elephant exchange and then they pulled out the Kinex and started playing games on that. We had a great time, but Jon was by far the most fun to watch.

I was disappointed because I wasn't being read by the machine and by the time I figured it out, there wasn't much of the game left, but I still got three stars for being off the radar for 1/2 of the song. It would have been fun to do it again and see what I would have gotten.

Corry and Allen didn't want to dance, but they did play this fun rafting game

I think the funniest present of the night was one wrapped in design plans from the office. I didn't pick it because I figured anything that came from the office couldn't be good. It actually was!!! Corry had been gone for about the first 3 weeks of December. Well, many of the companies that work with them send gifts to him for Christmas. Inside this box was one of those gift baskets with most of the treats inside already eaten! Hahaha! They included the packing slip that said it was for Corry and reminded him he shouldn't be gone so much in December next year. I laughed so hard at that one! It was a great gift - and I stole for it. I kept it for a good long time and then Corry had to say - you all know that it is alright to steal that from my wife right? What???? Right after that it was stolen from me. :( I think some of the newer people really were too scared to steal it from the boss' wife. Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

Letters to Santa

2012-01-03T08:59:00.003-07:00

I love Macy's big red mail box to put your letters to Santa in! I have taken Alli and Scotty there the last couple of years and this time it worked out to take the girls with us too. We happened upon watching the Dear Virginia movie where the little girl asks the Washington Post about the existence of Santa. It was so cute and there are pictures of the cute kiddos from that all around my kids loved.

Kids Christmas Parties

2012-01-03T08:55:00.002-07:00

I love having parties. I love having the kids' friends over - this day I was a little crazy. Al 4 kids had a Christmas Party with a few of their friends. We played Minute to Win-it Games and had a lot of fun.

Then we played the candy bar dice game. We have a bunch of candy in the circle, the kids roll a dice that lets them take a piece, trade bags, guess a treat in someone else's bag and so forth. It is always more fun to have a treat everyone wants, so I bought a couple of cotton candy buckets. They were the hit of the party, but one child in the end was not happy he didn't end up with the cotton candy. He was throwing a fit about it and so Scotty gave him his cotton candy all on his own. I was so proud of him for choosing to make someone else happy. (The mom in me was going to tell the kid to buck up and deal with it. That is how the game is played.) Anyway, I went out that afternoon and bought Scotty 2 cotton candy buckets of his own. Way to go Scotty! What a nice kid!

Later that night the girls had their parties. It was a good chance for me to get to meet some of Fuzzy's new friends. This starting junior high thing and making new friends I don't know drives me a little crazy, although I hardly got to know them. Anyway, the girls' parties were fun too, but I don't like feeling more and more out of the picture. I mean I understand and I let them have their space with friends when they come, but I didn't love that they (or their friends) didn't help with dishes cleanup. Missy's other group of friends almost always volunteers to help. They also barely talked to me which I didn't love either. Missy's other friends are always including me in conversations when I am around and it makes it so much easier to give them their space because I love those girls as if they were my own. Anyway, it was an awkward mom moment and I didn't love it, but the girls were happy so it was all good.

The Nutcracker

2012-01-03T08:20:00.003-07:00

I took the girls for our annual GNO to the Nutcracker ballet. I LOVE the Nutcracker and I love going with my girls. Unfortunately something did not agree with my stomach that night (which actually happens all too frequently lately) and I spent the night feeling awful. YUCK!! It was still fun though and especially fun to sit by Fuzzy this year as she realized the difficulty of what the dancers were doing. It is a whole new experience to go when you understand the skill level and the time and effort involved. I love this tradition I have with my girls and Corry loves that I take them and he doesn't have to take me.

New Christmas Clothes

2012-01-02T10:38:00.003-07:00

The Sunday before Christmas we all donned our new Christmas clothes. We weren't going to our ward on Christmas day and I knew we wouldn't want to get on cute Christmas morning for a picture, so we did it the week before. We missed Corry though, he was still in China. We sent out his new tie anyway so he was apart.

Alli's cute $6 dress from DownEast (+ an $8 cardi from Children's place)

Fuzzy's cute $6.50 dress from Old Navy - I looked for a cute cardi that was colorful, but never found one. I liked her pop of red with it though!

Missy's cute $14 dress from Old Navy. She LOVES purple and I was so excited to find this short dress that is long enough for her!

Scotty's cute $10 sweater and $8 pants from Children's Place

My cute $6.50 twinner dress with Fuzzy from Old Navy (not that you can see any of it - but I love it)

Ward Party

2011-12-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

What started off as volunteering to help out with the Ward Christmas party somehow tuned into being in charge of it. I was a little stressed over the food and the budget. Feeding 300 people on a $400 budget for everything was a little tricky. It all turned out well though and everyone had enough to eat, which was the important part.

Then it was onto the entertainment. Calvin and Angie were our hosts of the show then every organization participated with some act.

The primary did a sing along (which I forgot to bring all the words for and had to run home and print them before it started). One song they wanted to do was Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, because they wanted to dance, but none of them danced, so I had to hop on stage and try to get them to dance. At least I had fun!

This is how Alli watched most of the show

Fuzzy's group did grandma got run over by a reindeer

I love these people I get to be around every week and work with on a regular basis

Missy's group did the 12 days after Christmas

Then I had helped Angie teach the Teachers and Priests a synchronized swimming routine to the Nutcracker. It was the hit of the party (check out my facebook for the video). Everyone loved it so much that they did it twice!

We finished the party off with the women singing Mary's Lullaby to send everyone off with the true meaning of Christmas. Phew I was tired after! The kids and I had been at the church at 11 to set up and didn't leave until almost 4. They were troopers helping so long, although they did become the kids running in the halls a few times since they had no parental supervision the whole party. It turned out great and then I was tired!

School Parties for Scotty and Alli

2011-12-29T13:49:00.002-07:00

Finally it was the last day of school and I got so lucky that Alli's Christmas party was in the morning and Scotty's was in the afternoon, so I got to help with both!

Alli's class had a Polar Express Party which was so fun to help with. Her teacher, Miss Hull, is super cute with all the kids and had even organized the whole party, I just had to show up.

Love my little All!

Her whole class

I have found that I get better group pictures if I tell the kids they get to do a few crazy pictures. It sure worked with this class. Alli LOVES to do crazy ones. Not sure if the boy next to her loves her being crazy to him though!

Then it was up to help Cassie wrap some presents since she had hurt her back. We had a great time, then I headed back to school for Scotty's party. They just played a bunch of different games. I loved that - of course I love games, but it was super fun to just play and visit and not have to be quiet and listen for an hour!

I just love Scotty's teacher, Miss Hafen, a lot too. She is super organized and has been a great teacher for Scotty this year. I love my kids' school.

Finally it was time to go home with more than 2 whole weeks off! Whoot whoot!!

Alli's Day

2011-12-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Alli does a lot of watching all the others do things and finally it was her day. Her dance and 1st Grade Sing happened to be on the same day, so we called it our Alli day. She loved it! First she danced in our ballet class!

With her best friend Audrey - love that girl and love that she finally has found a really good friend at school to play with.

Our whole super cute class! I Love these cute little girls! Alli isn't sure how much she loves ballet. She dances constantly around the house, but she kinda doesn't like the structure and the discipline that are in a ballet class very much (and I am fun too, so it isn't all structured), but I am keeping her in there anyway because she NEEDS those particular skills in her life and she is always coming up to me showing me some dance move and asking if it is beautiful. I just think she needs a new teacher next year!

Then it was off to the 1st grade sing after a quick dinner (for once I remembered to put something in the crock-pot!!!) Alli LOVES to sing. She is almost constantly singing around the house all sorts of songs. Primary songs are my favorite (actually singing Phantom songs is pretty cute too) but she sings as she does almost every task. I love that she loves it and it makes her so happy.

My beautiful little Alli amongst all the other cuties in her class! (Sadly Audrey is not in her class)

Christmas Party!

2011-12-23T19:06:00.003-07:00

Because of our trip, we were a bit slow getting the Christmas tree up, in fact we really never got the kids tree up with their new ornaments for the year. This year I had found a tuba ornament for Corry and he thought it was awesome! Anyway the day of our annual Christmas party I told Corry I really did not want to be jumping in the shower 30 minutes before the party starts this year. But, we had to clean, take halloween decorations down, put Christmas decorations up, move furniture and clean again behind all the couches we moved, and make our food for the party (actually Missy made it for us and it was delicious). (Plus we had Christmas in the Grove rehearsal for 3 hours that day too.) It all got done, and I got in the shower 40 minutes before the party started. Corry thought that was success - I was hoping for a little more time, but I guess it didn't matter because there are no pictures of me there anyway.

Anyway, this year we added an ugly Christmas sweater contest to our party. Here are some of the participants:

The Goodmans were hilarious showing up in the ugliest sweaters they could find - U of U apparel!!! HAHAHA!!!!!

Corry wasn't really a participant, but I like his Peanuts shirt!

So we all entered in our favorite ugly sweater. It was a close call, but the Skarda's took it by 1 vote and won the coveted Savers $10 gift card prize!

The sad Phelons - one vote away from the win!

Then it was time for the presents

As the winner of the sweater contest, Chris got to be the first to pick and he was so excited for this ball!

He was even more excited after he opened it

There was much to be coveted at the party like this lamp and we always have to plug stuff in to see if they work

My favorite gift of the night had to be the Shave with Me Barbie. Hahaha!!!!

Bishop didn't get underwear this year, but Charles tried them on for us!

The time machine made and appearance, but it was quickly stolen and frozen.

Pete became our official present opener. It started with the Alien head salt and pepper shakers

Then it was the talking Christmas tree

Then the ginormous rainbow trout

Then the talking/dancing moose

Finally it was someone else's turn to open a present

The horns finally made it back to the party

Finally Manda got the ultimate gift, a gift for someone special. Hahaha!! I laughed so hard at that one!

Kris' gift was a little gross - PB and J in a can. The look on Kerrie's face in the next picture shows the grossness so well:

Great night with great friends. I always laugh so hard at this party and then Corry and I always feel bad wondering who we left out or forgot to invite. We never want to make anyone feel bad, but at some point there has to be a limit. It is a little bitter sweet every year we do it.

A Wrapped up Warm Kind of Special Christmas

2011-12-23T14:15:00.002-07:00

Every year since Miss was a little tiny girl, we have gone to an angel tree and picked a few children's names off of the tree to get Christmas gifts for. The kids have earned their own money to pay for the gifts. Well the last couple years I have been a little annoyed with the requests on the tree - wii and ds games, ipods and other expensive items and clothing requests. I really wanted to help needy children, but how did they have things that my own kids didn't have because I thought they were too expensive for them? I really wanted my kids to help kids that were really in need. So this year I found a group that puts together blankets, hygiene kits and other things for truly needy children. We talked and decided we would rather do that. So, the kids earned their money, we went to the store and they each bought 3 fleece pieces of fabric to cut and tie for the children. It was an awesome project, but because of my trip to Hawaii, we bought the material later than I had hoped and then ended up finishing most of them up late the night before they were due. I sure loved spending our time and money on this instead of some of the other things we have done.

Christmas Choir Concert

2011-12-23T14:13:00.001-07:00

The girls' choir concerts were great. We started with Fuzzy's 7th grade concert. She has loved this class and is changing her schedule to be able to be in choir next semester too. She is in the center in a green dress.

Missy loves choir too. This is her second year and she has really loved being a part of this group. She has made great friends in choir and just loves to sing. She has even gotten to play piano for sectionals and she loves that too. She is in the back row second from the left (nest to her cousin Haley).

After each of the advanced groups performed, they all come on stage together for a large group number! Boy was it crowded there. There are so many students and parents that the auditorium really can't accommodate everyone, so they asked the children to give up their seats and sit on the floor in the front. We sent Alli and Fuzzy up and Alli ended up almost on the stage. I guess it was cute that she loved it so much (that is what other people tell me) but I was so not happy with her. Not the being up on stage that far, but she was loud too. And there was nothing I could do about it. Eventually we got her to come back and sit with us. Missy is about a third of the way in on the left top row.

I love music and watching my kids perform.

Scotty's pretzel man

2011-12-23T14:09:00.002-07:00

Scotty just loves cub scouts! He is such a happy kid that loves just about everything, but I think Scouts is just about his favorite part of the week. One day they made these chocolate dipped pretzels and he thought they were the greatest thing ever!

Hawaiian Getaway - Day 5

2011-12-22T09:25:00.002-07:00

Our last day was probably my favorite. We headed out to Pearl Harbor first thing in the morning. I could have spent a whole lot more time there. Our tickets to go out the ship weren't for a couple hours, so we bought tickets to go tour the USS Missouri while we waited.

The Missouri was the ship that the Japanese signed their surrendered on to end World War II. It now sits nose to nose with the USS Arizona to watch over it as the grave of all those men entombed in the ship.

These are some pretty powerful guns! I can't remember all the details now, but they pack a punch!

This ship was also used in Desert Storm. This marks where they fired this gun and how many rounds they fired there. (She served in WW II, Vietnam and in Desert Storm before she was taken out of commission.)

The enormous bullets they shoot

This plaque sits in the deck flooring in the spot the table stood for the signing of the surrender. General McCarthur did a few things to make the surrender more significant. First of all the Japanese did not want to officially surrender. They wanted the war to end, but did not want to have the shame of surrendering. General McCarthur knew this and was concerned for the safety of himself and those on the ship at the time of the surrender. Who knew what the Japanese would do on board the ship. So, to intimidate them, he lined all his 6 foot plus seaman along the aisles they would walk through. He had them facing their backs to Japan to sign the surrender. Also, the Japanese delegation arrived late and he did not want to wait for them, he wanted them to wait for him, so he went back to his quarters until they were all there for a few minutes before he walked out. His speech was touching about working together to rebuild. The ceremony was very brief. After it was over, the Japanese delegation left the ship and one of the commanders was arrested immediately following the ceremony, charged with war crimes and spent his last days in prison. All the other military delegates were also later arrested and incarcerated or sentenced to death for their war crimes.

The flag that flew that day

Replicas of the documents signed

The Japanese had their trained kamikaze pilots that would crash their planes into the ships. The Missouri was hit, but it wasn't hit until after the pilot had been shot and killed, so the impact was not as bad as it could have been. (you can still see the indention on the ship) In the picture below if you look close you can see the plane.

They recovered the pilots body and wanted to toss him into the ocean. The commanding officer of the ship told them absolutely not! He was a soldier, just as they were. He deserved a proper burial. I know things were not often humane in wartime, but I am so glad that this captain on this ship was at that time. After all this kid had just tried to kill all of them, but he was given a proper burial at sea, including some of the men of the Missouri staying up all night to sew together scraps of material to make a Japanese flag.

It was an amazing experience on that ship. We wandered around after that to see the rest of the ship.

The mess hall:

Erica trying to fire one of the guns

After we left the Missouri, we waited to get on the boat to take us to the USS Arizona Memorial sight. This was the landscaping while we waited. Hawaii is just beautiful!

Once we watched a movie about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, we got on a boat to take us to the memorial.

The map of the ship

The parts still sticking up out of the water

The names of all the men who died

It was a truly humbling almost spiritual experience at Pearl Harbor that day. Much like going to Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

I would much rather go to Maui over Oahu any day, but to go and experience this is worth it completely!

After all that - it was time to head to the football game - the whole reason we went on the trip!!!

Than and Erica outside the stadium!

Me and Corry - I was a little nervous walking across the huge parking lot of Hawaiian tailgaters, but they truly had the Aloha spirit - even for their football rivals!

So cool! I seriously LOVE college football (when you can take all the lame rivalry meanness out of it!)

I may not have gotten a picture with Chad Lewis, but I did get one of him at the game!

One thing fun about watching the games this year has been watching #7 Preston Hadley who grew up in our neighborhood. He did a fireside in our stake before football season started and I have a lot of respect for him and how hard he has worked to get where he is. It was fun to see him succeed this year! (That is him taking down the receiver)

It was fun to watch Riley Nelson (#13) play too. Half the time we would sit there and go "What are you doing????" but then miraculously it would work out. He is fun to watch because he takes so many risks!

Me and Erica (like our matching cute earrings?)

After the game we went down to try to see some of the players (I also didn't get to meet Ty Detmer and wanted to try to do that)

Corry and I had a GREAT time, although it almost wasn't a long enough trip, but it was what we could do, so we did it! I loved having 5 whole days with him. Our time is so precious and rare together these days, it was wonderful to be together.

Hawaiian Getaway - Day 4

2011-12-22T08:30:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I took one picture the whole next day!!! Erica and I did a little shopping the next morning, then we headed to the beach. Lunch at the farmers market, again, then we headed to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. Than and Erica go there first and the annoying security guard would not let us in their group to watch the "don't disturb the wild-life" video. LAME!!! Anyway, by then it was overcast and cold again, but we snorkeled anyway. I think the turtles were my favorite part. I would have loved to go there before it became such a popular place to visit. It really was quite beautiful, just too crowded.

We ended our night at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. DELICIOUS!!! I love that place!

Hawaiian Getaway - Day 3

2011-12-20T15:42:00.003-07:00

The next day we headed to the Laie Temple. I curled my hair because the weather report said all sunshine and happiness all day in Laie. Do you see the clouds????? (You can also see that my hair is already flat.)

We had a wonderful time at the temple. I love to go and it was even better that Corry and I could go together!

After the temple we found a fun place for lunch and headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I love this place and wish we would have spent a couple days there. We headed to the island of Samoa first and laughed so hard!

Corry tried to make fire. He made smoke!

We sat down to watch the canal parade and got DUMPED on. I was so soaked after that! Luckily I had packed my hat and ran to the car to get it. So much for doing my hair!

We headed back to Samoa to eat the food they had cooked. It was actually pretty good, just a little bland.

Afte that Than and Erica made it! Hooray for good friends to travel with. I had missed hanging out with Erica. I just love being around her!

When we visited Tahiti, they taught us to dance then told us they were going to pick some people from the audience to dance with them. Corry was on the aisle and begged us to trade with him, and sure enough, he was picked to dance. HE HATES DANCING!!! He was a good sport and did it though!

After that we tried our hand at spear throwing. Erica was the best of all of us!

Later we had dinner and just sat and talked for a long time. When we came out of dinner, Corry had to do his scary face in the floor lights.

The last part of the night was the show and of course delicious ice cream. What a great day!

Hawaiian Getaway - Day 1 and 2

2011-12-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Back in August, while we were at Lake Powell, I got a text from Erica saying we are holding your football tickets to the BYU vs Hawaii game. We need to know in the next couple of minutes if you are coming. AHHH!! Corry and I usually don't make those kinds of decisions very fast, but we looked at each other and said, why not! Between my mom's cancer treatments, Corry's dad's health, and the girls' Christmas dance performances, I almost canceled twice on them. After talking to my cousin who lost her husband, she told me to go! So we did. Between Corry's travel schedule, late nights at work and being the Young Men's President, we have not had much time together lately.

Anyway - off we went. We used miles to fly and had a layover in LA. Well, our plane was delayed in SLC, so because Corry is a Diamond Medallion flier, they bumped us to the non-stop flight. Best thing ever! Partly because of the non-stop flight, but mostly because I was sitting right next to Tom Holmoe, BYU's athletic director. He was so friendly and fun to talk to about all things BYU - Not to worry my BYU lady fans - I mentioned how much I disliked the fact they took away the Women's football clinic. He told me that was good feedback and the coaches just thought it was too much at the start of the season, so maybe they could add it in in the spring. I sure hope so! It got even better after that - I was sitting a row ahead of Chad Lewis - my all-time favorite BYU football player!!!!! I got to meet him and talk to him for a bit, but I didn't pull out my camera, I would never want to be someone famous and loose my privacy, so I figured I wouldn't ask for a picture.

We finally got to Oahu, tired but happy. Sadly ginormica's little sister came to visit me that week - so much for looking good in Hawaii! We walked around looking for someplace to eat and ended up at this yucky Chinese place. After we ate, we walked some more and found a farmers market the other direction with FABULOUS food. We ate there most of the rest of the trip.

The next day, after breakfast and a little beach time, we headed out to the Dole Plantation

Corry getting his geek on figuring out why the water was so gross

After walking around for awhile, we headed back for some deliciousness. Corry opted for the pineapple ice cream,

while I went for the pineapple/coconut turnover = Delicious!!!

After the Dole Plantation, we headed around the island and came to Waimea Falls. We decided not to pay the entrance fee, but just walked around the beautiful grounds.

We thought it was so funny that there were plants growing in their gutters!

I can't remember the story of this, Corry will have to fill me in, but it is an ancient burial ground or something and they asked you not to walk there.

After that we ended up at Shark's Cove wear we did a little snorkeling. We debated about actually getting in all the way because it started raining on us and it was a bit cold, but decided rain or not we were going to get wet. I am glad we did! I loved it. The only down side was that there was a pretty strong current and I was pushed into the rocks a few times and came out pretty bruised. We didn't bring our camera in so this is after we changed back. Oh, by the way, it was a pink shirt day for Grammy that day. We wore them all around the island and got a lot of comments. My favorite was, "are you newlyweds because you are dressing alike?"

We kept heading around the island and found this beautiful beach

and a chicken tethered to a tree!

Great first day in Hawaii!

Toilet Papering the Hillhouses

2011-12-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

The night before Thanksgiving, we had some friends over for a Settler's of Catan tournament. Corry and Mel have an interesting relationship when it comes to playing games. Well after a night of fun (and I think all couples going home still friends), Mel made a comment about Corry not hating her and toilet-papering her house or something. Well, Corry being who he is, had to tp her house. But first we had to make sure they were home so he could get caught. It was so funny! I love the look on Mel's face when she came outside!

Aunt May's Funeral and Peterson Renunion

2011-12-20T08:55:00.004-07:00

When I was a little girl, my Grandma and Grandpa Peterson lived next door to grandma's sister's family, May and Dee Croft. We had great memories playing at their house and with our cousins our age. Aunt may passed away and we had a chance to go to her funeral and my dad was able to come up for it as well. We had a wonderful time with Grandpa and enjoyed seeing our cousins again. It had been too long as it so often is. You can read her obituary here.

Julie and I had planned another Peterson get together for the same day as the funeral, so we were able to do that right after the funeral. I sure love my family and love that my cousin Jenny was able to come with her cute family. It had been a long time since I had see her.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-12-19T09:45:00.001-07:00

Cassie had this brilliant idea for Thanksgiving that we all wear our sweats. I loved it but I think we are the only two that embraced the new tradition!

We had great food (and too much of it)

But most of all we laughed and laughed

The best part was playing games with Alex. I don't think I have laughed that hard for a long time. Thanks for the fun Astle family!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

2011-12-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Corry found this email that had an egg standing next to a Thanksgiving turkey - he had to make one to take to Cassie's house! Here he is with his finished egg. I just have to say that getting Corry to really smile in pictures is TOUGH!!! But when he is really pleased with himself, he smiles a real smile - like so:

He has had many names - Eggmond, Eggburt, Eggward (Kori wanted to draw abs on him if he was named Eggward - she is a Twilight fan). My favorite was Eggburt, so that is what I will call him:

While Corry made Eggburt, the kids and I made these:

We also made 72 rolls - yes it was just Cassie's family and ours - but lets face is, we like bread a lot! Plus we were eating leftovers Friday night too and you have to have homemade rolls to put the turkey on!

Thanksgiving craft

2011-12-18T12:48:00.001-07:00

I found this super cute Thanksgiving craft that I did for my visiting teachers, my sister and the kids' teachers. I got it from here and they turned out great!

Scotty's Thanksgiving Play

2011-12-17T08:21:00.001-07:00

Scotty has an awesome teacher this year and she let all the kids put together these First Thanksgiving plays. The kids did it all including the scenery and costumes. One of Scotty's friends came over on a Saturday and stayed for about 5 hours making a giant Mayflower poster (they taped together multiple poster boards to do it)! They did a wonderful job!

Scotty was Squanto, teaching the pilgrims how to plant:

Missy and Fuzzy wanted to see it and it was during their flex and lunch times so I went ahead and checked them out of school to see it. I love that they wanted to be there (or they wanted to get out of school)!

I think Alli took this picture - she is learning!

Scotty with his teacher Miss Hafen

Love the things my kids learn in school - especially when they do it in a way that it will stay with them for a long time!

Scotty's Football Party

2011-12-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

So for Scotty's birthday party this year, we kicked around a bunch of ideas, but what he settled on was a football party. He wanted to just play a game of football in the backyard with his friends. I had a lot of fun finding treats to make for his party. First he came up with the idea of using smurf cereal for rice crispy treats. Then he wanted to have them shaped like jerseys with numbers on them. This is what we ended up with:

He was so excited and had this big grin on his face!

As soon as the boys started showing up, the wrestling began:

Then I found this great idea for an apple made into a football helmet and football shaped sandwiches. Instead of making all of them, I decided to let the boys make them themselves. They had a great time! While they were making them, the girls and I made them their sandwiches and cut them out in the shape of footballs.

After lunch it was time for football shaped oreos and the rice crispy treats:

Finally they got all their snow clothes on and went out to play some football. Notice the one pink jacket, that is Aspen. The only girl he invited because he knew she would like to play football with the boys. Love that cute girl!

This party was about 15 minutes too long. We had a great time, but then tempers started to flair and the kids that didn't come prepared for the cold were really cold. Timing of parties is really hard for me. Sometimes they aren't quite long enough, and sometimes they are too long. Overall it was a really fun party and my boy had a big grin on his face most of the time! Success!

Trip to Arizona

2011-12-14T06:33:00.002-07:00

I had a wonderful chance to go spend a week with my parents when mom had a chemo treatment. It was a wonderful blessing in my life to get to go. My parents have spent my while life caring for me, nurturing me and helping me through hard things. I loved having a chance to pay some of that back.

Chemo is an evil most wonderful thing! It was amazing to watch my mom go from being vibrant, active, feeling mostly ok to barely able to walk down the street and back. She is amazingly strong and full of faith and it was so wonderful to see that in action.

It was also great to take her to her appointments (didn't love parking the car in the garage though!!!) to see what she meant when she would tell me what they were doing. Know when she tells me something, I have seen it and understand better.

Isn't she beautiful???!!!!

It was also really cute to see my dad care for her. He adores my mom and tries to do things that will make her happy. Like this dinner he prepared for her - VERY rare London Broil. My mom loves rare meet and my dad likes his cooked. Sweet to see he would cook it that way for her and eat it too! Also see the smile on his face, he was pretty proud of himself that he was able to do that for her!

As I am writing this now, she has only one more major chemo treatment left in less than a week. Hooray!!!

Communication

2011-12-11T00:45:00.001-07:00

So we just had our always amazingly fun Christmas party today. First though, there was taking Fuzzy's carpool to dance at 7:15 am, putting up the Christmas decorations, cleaning the house, Christmas in the Grove choir rehearsal, making food for the party (OK I assigned that to Missy!), and against all my good intentions, finally getting in the shower 30 minutes before the guests are supposed to start arriving. (deep tired happy sigh) Add to that Corry leaving for China tonight on a flight at 12:50 am, which I volunteered to drive him to (why you may ask - because my car needs to go in the shop and better to take it in when I have a car to get around in and 45 more minutes with my husband.) That was a really long way to say I had the best time taking Corry to the airport.

We got into a really good discussion about what makes marriage work. I think it all boils down to communication. At the root of every problem is poor communication (we did decide there are some just really evil awful people out there where the root problem is more than lack of Communication). You think about the major relationship problems:1 - finances. If you and your spouse taked about it more, made decisions together, then helped each other stay on the same page, things would be better. Finances may not improve, but the marriage would. We learned this hard lesson early in our marriage when we got in a bit of financial trouble. 2 - porn, unfaithfulness, etc. With early communication and honesty those problems can be overcome and stopped (if you choose to). There was a great documentary between general conference sessions about families dealing with porn addictions and some of the residual problems from such addictions. The main thing I got out of it was how important communication was. For many of them, the husband had been hiding it for years and the wives knew something wasn't right in their marriage, but weren't quite sure what exactly. Most of them were working through it, but how much easier would the problem have been to deal with if it hadn't been going on for years.

Then we decided that sometimes good communication is knowing when NOT to say something too (this is probably my biggest problem!!!).

As I am recording this now I think I will have to add that with that communication, there has to be a desire on both sides to make it work and honesty. As long as we are both actively working on our marriage together with good communication, then there is a happy marriage.

Anyway, I have a happy marriage. It has ups and downs, but we both want it to work and are both activey working on it. Love you Corry and thanks for a great 45 minute date!

Blogger

2011-12-07T17:10:00.001-07:00

So many things have happened since my last post, but I haven't had much time to post and I am still trying to figure out what to do about not having any more room for photos! Maybe I should have been more careful all along about how many I posted! Anyway, any ideas. I don't really want to pay for more space because I have to keep paying every year, but that might be what I end up doing! I sure want to keep posting as many pictures as I want though. This is for my posterity and for me to look back on and I love looking back at all the pictures!

Random thought for the day...

2011-11-28T19:35:00.001-07:00

So I have decided... Every Monday should be followed by a Tuesday flight to Hawaii! I can't believe it is finally here! We have been so busy we haven't had much time to get excited about it, but it is here! We leave in the morning. It isn't convenient, but it is when we are going, so we will have a great time! Hopefully I wont forget my camera so I will have lots of pictures to post. (if I can ever figure out how to load pictures again)

Scotty's Birthday

2011-11-13T21:44:00.001-07:00

On this my only son's 9th birthday, I lay in bed hundreds of miles away and love him for his kindness. I asked him how he felt about me going to help his Grammy, my mom, over his birthday. He really thought about it and said that he would like to share his birthday with his Grammy. I am blessed. Blessed to have this son, and blessed to spend this week in the service of my parents, especially my mom. I am truly blessed to be surroundd by great family and friends that helped me pull it off. Maybe there was a reason Scotty and Grammy were both born in the month of thankfulness and gratitude. I love you my son for being willing to share! Happy 9th birthday from Grammy's house!

Grandma J's Funeral

2011-11-08T13:31:00.001-07:00

Corry's Grandma (Ila Jorgensen) was one of the most wonderful people I knew. She always had this beautiful smile on her face and you always knew you were loved. I loved her laugh and the way she made me feel. She will truly be missed.

The day of her funeral we all gathered in Gunnison to say goodbye.

My beautiful Alli

We had LOTS of babies to hold and it was so much fun to have most of the family together (we were just missing Krista, her kids, and Dewey). We especially loved meeting this little guy, Ben. He has the softest little head!

My family - too bad it is snowing and the curl completely came out of my hair on the 1.5 hour drive!

I love these crazies!

Fuzzy had a great time hanging out with Camrie and Ryley

The funeral was nice and the interment was cold, but it was still a lovely day to spend with family.

All the Cloward kids - except Liz - she had to leave after the interment

Love these weirdoes!

This is the first time in they can't remember how long that all the cousins got together. That is pretty great that they all made the trip to be in Gunnison!

Back row: Tyler, Ben, Linda, Steve, Corry, Bryan, Angalee
Middle Row: Jeannie, Lisa, Jaylene, Amie, Sheri, Lori, Molly, Michelle, Lori
Front Row: Leanne, Tammy, Jana, Maren, Rob, Paul

Corry had to speak at the funeral and share his brothers and sisters memories of their grandma. Here is most of what he said:

Grandma J's funeral

You guys at the funeral home are amazing. I never would have believed you could get a heart that big to fit into a box that small.

Grandma set the standard for grandmothers, nobody in the world could ever top her. When you went to her house, you knew you were loved.

Grandma was a quilter. She always had a quilt on and every one of us learned to tie quilts in her living room and then down at the Senior Citizens Center. She made beautiful quilts. Rob still has the quilt she gave him for his 8th birthday. But the most beautiful quilt she ever made is the tapestry of memories she tied around all of our hearts.

Grandma was always the life of the party. Just being around her was fun. She was always happy and had a smile and a laugh. Her life was a celebration She never threw wild parties with loud music. In fact, the only music she ever seemed to listen to were KMTI Radio and the Lawrence Welk Show. Not exactly toe tapping stuff. Grandma's parties were far better than that.

When you went to Grandma's, the first thing you learned was that there was a toy closet. As a toddler you learned the joys of the little plastic dog you got to put together, the shape ball, and the phone with the eyes that went up and down. As you grew, you learned the thrill of the two little ball toss baskets. We'd hit the bottoms of those things and the little ball would go shooting across the room. She never seemed to grow tired of getting up on a chair to get the ball out of the light fixture, though I'm sure this game must have been a key part of the decision to finally change that fixture out eventually.   We always loved to play "store" at Grandma's house. We would take all the money from the Payday game and set up shop on the footrest of grandpa's recliner. We were all budding entrepreneurs and Grandma had an endless supply of merchandise for us to sell at the little store on the chair. We Would also draw and play school on the chalkboard in the kitchen. Tinkertoys were invented specifically for Grandma's house.

Of course being kids we couldn't always just play quietly. I'm sure we drove her nuts playing with the dimmer switch. We didn't have one of those at home and it was a pretty cool device. Its still hard to believe we learned about technology at Grandma's house We loved to climb up the door frame between the living room and the kitchen. And we lays hid between the front door and the screen door. We would go out on the swing and have contests to see who could swing highest. Grandma would inevitably come out and say, "you be careful, you kids!".

As the number of grand kids grew, Grandma would sometimes get confused. Tyler and Ben would get into mischief and Grandma would start the roll call, "Corry, Rob, Brian, ...whoever you are, you kids get down from there!". It must be a genetic trait because mom does it too.

The quieter times were always wonderful. The coveted spot in the house was sitting in front of the living room vent. We often had to fight King the cat for that spot. Grandma would often read to us. The little engine that could, the three little pigs, and of course the three little kittens were staples of our childhood.   We always craved pie after she would read that one.

Speaking of pie, grandma was a culinary genius. Her apple pipe with homemade apple sauce and red hots is the stuff of legends. Her meals were never elaborate, but they were always fabulous. Gram burger patties, mashed potatoes and creamed cabbage is still the best meal in the world. And who will ever forget Carmel dumplings with whipped cream! Grandma's kitchen was the center of the universe. She was always in there. The cookie jar was always full of ginger snaps or some other bit of chewy goodness. Her rolls and bread were in never ending supply. And the push button toaster will live in our hearts forever. Grandma always kept her spoons in a little cup in the middle of the table. Most of us grew up thinking that the only purpose a melon baller had was for eating ice cream. And there was always ice cream. Ice cream sandwiches, push ups, and vanilla cones were always in the freezer in the west room. The Schwann man definitely knew to stop at grandmas!

Every once in a while, Grandma would cook something a little different. There was that one time we went fishing and Lisa caught a freshwater clam. We brought it to grandma's and Lisa just knew she would make it into clam chowder for her. Sure enough, we had clam chowder. Fortunately that stinky little clam never made it into the pot.

Miracles happened in Grandma's kitchen. It remains the only place on earth where kids would fight over who got to stand on the little wood stool and wash dishes.

Grandma was always helping people and we learned to serve with her. Mrs Duffin was a sweet, somewhat plump lady that lived across the street. I'm sure a good deal of her plumpness was due to grandma constantly taking things to her. We never missed out on those visits with her.

Sleepovers at Grandma's was always a treat. The girls would always get to pick a nightgown from Grandma's pajama drawer. We would sleep in the lumpy old couch bed and listen to the old clock. That thing had the loudest tick and it would chime every hour. And in the morning we would always get ebelskievers. There's not a single one of us that can spell that, but we all love those little pancake balls dipped in sugar.

Sometimes a bath was part of the routine. Grandma's tub was where we all discovered the magic of the pee cup. It was a little plastic cup with a little hole melted in the side. We would fill it up and let it pee on us. It s a weird memory but one that every single one of us treasures.

We loved things like riding in the old green car and getting the little roll of life savers from the bank, visiting her at the grocery store and later at the hospital where she worked - though it was always hard to keep quiet at the hospital.

Other great memories include:
- Sitting by her on the front of the houseboat as we cruised down the channel at Lake Powell
- the rose on her nose after a trip to the dermatologist. She wore that like a queen.
- The trip to Hawaii where she wore a plastic bag on her head all day because she didn't want to mess up her hairdo in the huge rainstorm. That night we went to a Japanese restaurant and we all looked like drowned rats, except Grandma whose hair looked perfect. We also learned to hula with her at the Polynesian cultural center. Grandma can really shake it.
- riding snowmobiles at Dalley's farm. grandma is a bit of a speed demon!
- riding four wheelers at the reunion up in Hannah
- she always watched the ten o'clock news until the weather was over. Maren was in high school when she learned there was more news after the weather.
- she always pulled the shades down in the living room every night and they were right back up in the morning.
- picking asparagus by the irrigation ditches.
- grandma gave me my very first golf lesson. How cool is that?
- Jana and Maren got chicken pox and got to stay with Grandma while everyone else went to Lake Powell. She took such good care of them and they never felt like they missed out.
- hanging laundry outside and running to get it in if the rainier wind picked up.
- rhubarb and sunflowers in her garden
- I still don't know what an old scalawag is, but I know I am one and it must be a good thing because it came from Grandma.

No matter what, you always felt loved.

Her greatest gift to us was raising our parents in the church.

Probably the greatest memory is that she would always stand on her porch as we drove away and wave until we were out of sight. We knew we were loved. So grandma, today we wave goodbye to you. Keep the pie warm and the oven light on until we get to see you again. We love you.

November Birthdays

2011-11-08T13:01:00.001-07:00

What started out as a quiet birthday dinner for Scotty and Maren (Chad had to work and it was her actual birthday) turned into a family dinner with everyone coming in town for Grandma J's funeral.

Scotty couldn't wait to show his erector set to his cousins

Scotty, Chase and Mason

Happy Birthday to Maren! (with Jack and Ryan)

Let the chaos begin... Scotty wanted smoked turkey, rice (it turned out yucky), salad, Rhodes rolls dipped in butter and seasonings (can you believe I couldn't find Rhodes rolls or any knock offs so Missy made bread instead). Matt likes broccoli and it was his b-day 2 days before Scotty's, so we made some broccoli.

Scotty wanted rootbeer floats for his dessert, Maren brought a DELICIOUS banana bread cake, and Lori brought brownies for Matt. Happy Birthday to Maren, Matt and Scotty! We then sang the world's WORST rendition I have ever heard of Happy Birthday. Now I have to let you know that we ALWAYS sing happy birthday bad, but this one was the WORST by far.

I love to see the cousins having so much fun together!

It was a houseful (made me want that 7000 square foot house again) but I loved the memories made that night. Sadly my sis and her family couldn't make it, then we would have had another birthday to celebrate!

Scotty's Happy Un-Birthday

2011-11-08T12:50:00.002-07:00

Since Scotty gave up me being home on his birthday, we celebrated a week early.

Here is my handsome 9 year old!

Opening the presents - no breakfast because it was fast Sunday. We did that the next day - it was the birthday that never ended!

Corry and I gave him an erector set this year and he was so excited. he LOVES to build and loves that there were real tools and he could make robotic things with it too. Way to go dad! Great gift idea!

Nine things that describe Scotty:

Good Friend - I hear that from his friends over and over again
Hassler - he LOVES to hassle his family (probably Missy in particular)
Story Teller - He LOVES to tell you a story and he gets so animated when he does - Love it!
Builder - this was a perfect gift for Scotty because he LOVES to build things with whatever is around
Hard-worker - at least when it comes to something he really cares about
Funny - he loves to tell jokes and laugh
Thinker - I love to see how his mind works. He really thinks about things we tell him and tries to understand
Loving - Most of the time he is kind and loving to the family - he has developed a little temper that we are working on overcoming, but I love when he comes and sits on my lap and just holds tight
Tender - Scotty LOVES babies and little kids. He loves to make them laugh and play with them. A quality not all boys have. In fact one way his temper comes out is when the girls steal the attention of the little ones. He just loves being around them. He will make a great daddy one day!

I love you my Scotty! Happy almost 9th birthday!

Pioneer Legacy

2011-11-07T20:26:00.003-07:00

The day after Halloween we had a much needed distraction. Missy found out she didn't make the school musical - so sad. She REALLY wanted to be in it. I was heart broken for her too. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes again. Corry's sweet Grandmother also passed away. We really needed to go and participate in this show.

I love this show (Pioneer Legacy) because it tells of a real family's journey to Utah and the loss of their baby along the way, their struggles and finally their finding joy again. I guess I just really relate to the story. Sometimes life is really HARD. Sometimes I struggle with internal turmoil that affects my family, but eventually I come back to the peace my religion (I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) brings me.

All the kids got to be in it this year and I didn't have to! HURRAY! I am more of a teacher, backstage type person than performer.

Scotty and Fuzzy were part of a family and ended up being on stage most of the show.

Missy was in backstage most of the time doing homework, but I think this was a great distraction for her. Especially spending time with these cuties! Plus she got a text from a cute friend of hers that really helped her deal with things. WHen you feel like you need to tell someone you love them or that they are of great worth, even when the world seems to put them down, TELL THEM! Love you McKenna for loving my daughter enough to tell her!

Again - I actually am at things and here is a photo to prove it this time!

Love these girlies of mine!

Cloward Family Halloween Party

2011-11-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Mrn and Chad hosted the party this year and did a FANTASTIC job! They may have earned themselves hosting privileges forever!

Fuzzy with Emily

Chad the "cereal killer" LOL! Great costume Chad!

They had all the kids start out by making ghosts (my kids now use them to swing around and hit each other)

Then we headed outside to play a game of mummy wrap

I love this time my kids have to spend time with their cousins

Donut on a string is always a MUST!!!

Scotty the BYU football player holding Emily the BYU football!

Small group this year and we missed all the cousins that weren't there

12 living cousins weren't there :(

Maren and Chad are also master pumpkin carvers

And then there was dinner. They went ALL OUT!!!

worms in the ice cubes

skull ice

This Frankenstein was my FAVORITE thing of the day. So stinkin' cute!

All the fixin's for great sandwhiches

Lots of happy monsters

Then Maren had all these bags ready of gross things for the kids to feel... ewwwww

I really was there - and at one point dressed up

After that it was the annual draw for Christmas names. I got to be the play by play announcer to Sta on the phone. Loads of fun!

You know this is what it is all about. We don't always agree or get along. Sometimes there are hurt feelings, but family is where it is at! I love building memories and boy do my kids have memories of these parties!

Thanks Mrn and Chad for hosting a GREAT Halloween party. You guys are awesome!

Dinner and Trick-or-Treating

2011-11-07T20:15:00.004-07:00

I decided to have a little fun with dinner. First I made these deviled eggs. My egg shells did NOT come off well, so they didn't turn out as cute as I wanted, but they were still fun!

I also made this soup - supper yummy. It was a yam and carrot soup. It was lots of fun!

The gang getting ready to go out for some candy!

Missy was going with some friends, but Haley came over early to hang with Miss for awhile. They are pretty funny!

I love good friends! I don't have any pictures of Fuzzy from that night. I kept waiting to take pictures of her when her friends showed up, she was having a party, but no one came. I take that back, one showed up at 8:30 PM but by then Fuzzy had taken off to trick or treat with some of her other friends. I was a sad mamma, but Fuzzy seemed to be OK. I love how that girl lets things roll off her back, but sometimes I worry she just holds it all in.

Scotty with all his loot after !

Overall good night! I love the trick or treating part of Halloween and the donuts and hot chocolate at the Wrights house to end the night. Good times!

School Halloween Parties

2011-11-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is helping at my kids school (although I just had a terrifying dream last night that they asked me to come and teach a half day at the school for the rest of the year - let's just say I didn't sleep well). The school Halloween parade is always fun because you get to see all the costumes and some people are soooo creative!

The kids walk by so quickly it is hard to get a good picture!

Scotty as a football player...

Alli as Bethany Hamilton, before her arm was bit off...

I got to help in Scotty's class with their party. First I had them in teams of 3 wrapping a mummy. Scotty's mummy was the tightest best wrapped mummy, but they weren't as fast as some other teams.

Love this cute boy!

Then they had to eat a donut off the string. Let's just say they were all covered in glaze! So much fun and nothing a quick trip to the bathroom can't fix!

While they were reading a story, I took a quick trip to Alli's class to get a picture. They are so cute!!!

Alli with her cute teacher

Back to Scotty's class for some pictures

Last Part of Vacation - BYU

2011-11-03T20:30:00.001-06:00

We finished up our vacation with a BYU football game. Go Cougars!

We played Idaho State University and really killed them. After the 3rd quarter the score was 48-3 and I started to pack up to leave. Scotty was NOT happy about it! He is a true Cougar Fan that wants to stay for the whole game, but I gotta say I was tired after all the playing we did and it was HOT that day. So we went home and I went to bed early! Ahhh relaxing after a vacation!

Halloween Party at Grandma's

2011-11-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

After our fun day with the Austins, they headed home and we took off to the Halloween party at Grandma Seeley's care center. We had dinner with her and she was excited to see us, but a little agitated with all the people around. Alli loves going to visit grandma!

I think we were one of the only families that ALL dressed up, so we won the costume contest and got a gift card to Subway! Yippee!

We figured it was great to bring Emily along with us because Grandma would really know if she was supposed to be there or not!

Emily wants to come back with us next year too! We really had a good time, but when we were getting ready to leave, I told grandma that we were going to leave. She looked at me and said, "That is probably a good idea!" She made a bunch of "those children should not be doing that" comments too that night, she told Fuzzy that she had a lot of giggles in her, and she did NOT want to eat her food, but we love our grandma and had a fun time with her.

Where not to go for lunch!

2011-11-03T18:07:00.001-06:00

So after more swimming and game playing, we headed to lunch to THE SLOWEST PLACE EVER!!!! We went to Ruby Tuesday in Park City. It was about an hour before they seated us and about an hour after that that everyone got their food (thank goodness I got the salad bar - I was HUNGRY!!!) Anyway, while we waited I took more pictures!

These three boys are so stinkin cute together. I love that having three of them is not awkward and they don't leave one out. They are just best buddies and I LOVE that!

While those three are best buddies these girls are best friends too! Lucky for them to grow up next door! Doesn't Kennadie have the most beautiful eyes!

This is really what they are like - not the angelic faces in the picture above!

One night on our trip we watched the Disney version of Robin Hood. This is Scotty's impersonation of Prince John, "Mommy!"

More Miss and Emily

Scotty climbing on the wall I asked him not to... but they were so bored waiting! We did end up getting free red velvet cupcakes, which was nice, but I still probably won't go back there.

Dance Photo Shoot

2011-11-02T08:19:00.001-06:00

One of the things Missy and Emily wanted to do was a dance photo shoot. Emily is a dancer too and they thought it would be fun to take pictures. SO I sent them off with my camera and here is what they got. Isn't Missy beautiful and and amazing dancer????!!!!

Park City Vaca Continued!

2011-11-02T07:56:00.002-06:00

After another day of dance, appointments, homework and such, it was time to head back up to the condo, this time without daddy, but with our next door neighbors, the Austins. We sure love them. They have been there for us for almost our entire married lives. They are true friends that no matter what are by your side. Everyone should be lucky enough to have friends like them! We went straight to the pool when we got there at 9:30 PM, then played games and watched movies. Next thing we knew it was 1 AM!!! I NEVER let my kids stay up that late. The time flew!

The next morning we hit the pool again. Honestly it was so warm that day that we were just hanging out by the pool (it was heated) in our swimming suits and were totally fine! SUre wish our pool stayed open longer!

Since Missy was the one that asked if they could invite friends to come and the Austins don't have a friend her age, I went ahead and let her invite a friend. I had a hard time with this decision because we don't do sleepovers in our family. But I went ahead and let her do it to see how things went. The family dynamic was definitely a little off for the weekend, but we still had a good time.

Look how great Wendi looks with no shower - no make-up. Maybe I should have brushed my hair or something!

Dallin's Birthday

2011-10-31T18:42:00.001-06:00

So it is really interesting how our family relationships have really changed over the past two years. We used to get together all the time and not it is so rare. Partly because we are all busy and partly because some family members don't want to do much with family. At any rate I so cherish the time we have together. This night, the kids had a bunch of stuff going on, but we cancelled most of it so that we could spend the time with the family. Sometimes family is not very convenient, but I always love it!!!

I had been Dallin's birthday the week before so that was the reason for the celebration this time.

Scotty and Chase always have a great time together!

I always love to hassle Dallin! Not a great picture though!

This one is much better - you know I really should do my hair more often, or wear a hat...

Alli and Katie also always have fun together. It hasn't always been that way, but since they started school, they are great friends.

Fuzzy is so great with all the kids. She is great to go play with them - really play with them!

Calvin is always good for a scare!

Gross Al!

Time to light the candles - oh wait, I can remember if we forgot candles or matches. Wither way we had fun pretending!

All the cute boys - except Jack and Ryan

Jack was about pictured out!

All the cute girlies

OK, crazy girlies!

Doesn't Maren look beautiful?!!!!

All the big people

Jana and I are going to get you!

The kids all headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's in the back of Joey's truck

Great night - I miss this happening more often and with more cousins!

My amazingly sweet husband

2011-10-29T09:50:00.001-06:00

So Corry had to go to Dubai for a week and miss out on all the rest of the fun with the kids. :( Anyway, he has decided that the best thing to do with lipstick is to use it to write on my mirror - notes before he leaves town. This is his latest creation he made before he left. He is super talented, don't you think!