Molina's Library of Time

Photoshop Class

2011-04-23T10:20:00.003-07:00

I know it has been a LONG time since I blogged. Not a lot has been happening, just school and work. Christian and I are taking a Photoshop class together on Wednesday nights. It's been fun. I've been learning a lot and Christian has been amazing with his pictures. Here are a couple of my mid-term projects I did. Now I am working on my finals.

How many of you recognize yourself in the picture above?

Isn't it really neat all the places Christian got to graduate from?

Rest of the News

2010-10-22T16:54:00.002-07:00

Now to catch you up on the rest of the news.

Christian got a job about a month ago. He is working at the Safeway that just opened up today in Estrella Mountain Ranch. He is enjoying it and comes home and tells me all about it. There was a preview last night that we went to (Christian worked up until the preview so I had to pick him up). It took a long time because it was jam packed with people. We shopped, had samples, and talked with Mom and Dad. It took us over two hours to finish up, but it was fun.

The same day that Christian got his job, I was asked to teach an NAU class this Spring. So I spend all of last week preparing my syllabus for Modern Language Arts Instruction. I start teaching in January. I am excited about teaching this class. Hopefully enough people sign up for it so it isn't cancelled.

This week (I'm on Fall Break) I've spent time cooking freezer meals, cleaning my house and back yard, and spending a little time relaxing. I start back at school on Monday - not sure if I'm ready to go back, but back I go.

Now you are all caught up on our news. Talk to you soon - not four months next time :)

Christian is 18

2010-10-22T16:23:00.008-07:00

Christian has turned 18. I can't believe that he is officially an adult now. In celebration of his birthday I have posted some of my favorite pictures of him.

Christian will probably be upset with me for posting the following picture. It was in Old Tucson and he was extremely embarrassed. The older can-can lady was flirting with him and saying she was going to keep him.

I love this picture of Christian reading a comic book with his Grandpa :)

Here Christian is showing off his dirty feet. This was his first Grandfather/Son Campout.

Christian loved his Aunt Cheryl and copied her a lot. Guess it comes from living with her for so many years. This is at Cheryl's highs school graduation.

Christian would always fall asleep in the weirest places. I would put him to bed in his bed, but I always had to find him before I went to bed so I could put him back in his bed. He always went to sleep with Goofy - it was one of his favorite stuffed 'animals'.

Christian played with Cheryl's friends. In fact he thought they came to see him, not Cheryl. In fact for his 3rd birthday, all of the guest, except his cousin Hannah, were 16 and 17 year olds.

Christian still remembers Foo-Foo (Cheryl's rabbit).

I love this picture of him. I still have the outfit too :)

He loved playing in the clothes hamper :)

Here he is again - asleep under my bed. I had a hard time finding him this time as his pillow is against a bookcase and there isn't much room between it and my bed.

24th of July parade. Several us of traded off saving our spot all through the night. It was a fun day.

Great impersonation of a turkey, Christian!

Halloween costume last year. You'll have to ask him who he was - I forget :(

18th birthday!!!!!

Eagle Scout

2010-10-22T16:00:00.003-07:00

Christian passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of him. Here are some pictures of his Eagle Scout project. His project was to place yellow circles around all the doors, put up room numbers on the playground, bus numbers by the busses, reserved parking spots, paint two playground tables, and paint two four squares. This was a couple of days of painting.

Christian had a lot of help show up - especially on the second day. Thanks to everyone for helping with his project.

The Rest of the Summer

2010-10-22T15:46:00.003-07:00

After the Family Reunion, we spent some time relaxing at Aunt Barbara's. Barbara was gone for a while and her dog was very upset and barking. Mom was able to quiet him down. Then it was Dad's turn - no luck - kept barking. I tried - again no luck. Mom had to go outside and sit with him to keep him quiet until Barbara came back. Here are some pictures of them together. He kept scooting closer and closer to Mom - almost pushed her off the step :)

The following day we went to Yellowstone Park. It was a very long, but enjoyable day.

Then I went to spend some time with Cheryl. We went to see Eclipse, hung out, talked, and went to Lagoon. That was fun. The Gibsons convinced me to go on the roller coaster, Wicked (didn't take much convincing to be honest). It was fun. The second time my cell phone fell out of my pocket. I'm sure it smashed into a million pieces because they never found it :(

Everyone went back to the house for dinner and then Cheryl and I returned by ourselves (mostly to see if they had found my cell). No such luck, so instead Cheryl convinced me to ride all the rides I didn't want to ride. I don't know how she does it, but she did. Of course I screamed at her on a lot of them :)

Then it was back home and to work a week later. It was a fun, but short summer.

Family Reunion - Really LATE!

2010-10-22T12:18:00.005-07:00

I know I am really late on posting this blog. I wanted to wait until I got everyone's pictures since I didn't take very many. Then when I got the pictures I was involved heavily with school and preparing for my college class (more on that later), etc. But better late than never.

Our family reunion this last July was so much fun (I do have to say so even if I was in charge). It went off much better than I thought it would. Having planned all this sight unseen of Three Peaks Lodge and not knowing the area very well, I was a little nervous about it. I had looked online extensively for activities to do. The main thing I wanted was a lodge with enough room that we wouldn't be stepping all over each other -- with lots of activities to do inside and outside. Three Peaks Lodge delivered this. So glad we got it.

Mom, Dad, Christian, and I arrived in Rigby, Idaho a couple of days before the reuion so that I could take a look around at everything I had planned - so I would know directions, etc. to all of the places. Also, I needed to get all the groceries and other things we needed. Let me tell you - that was a chore in and of itself. Try planning food for 30+ people when you are use to just 2. Not easy:) And then try 90 people for one meal on Sunday. But we did it :)

Friday - July 9th - Arrive at Three Peaks Lodge to see that it was better than I thought it would be. Tons of rooms, lots of space, ping pong, pool, shuffleboard, air hockey (without the air), rock climbing wall, slides, blocks, bikes, tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball, horseshoes, playground, hot tub, etc. Lots of activites to keep us busy (when it wasn't raining or blowing wind).
Have two hours to get everything set up before people start arriving. Our Hall of Fame with the movie rooms - do you remember which room was yours? I know quite a few kids who had fun figuring this out - even some adults too!

I loved the shirts that Cheryl designed!!!! I have people even now saying how much they like the shirt when I wear it around town.

I think my favorite part of Friday was the late night game played by Laura, Jonathan, David, Cindy, and I. Scooters are a blast :) Too bad we got a little loud and were found out by Grandma and then the teenagers. What a blast!

Saturday - the rest of the family arrived around noon and the reunion officially started - yeah!
Softball

Tag was a blast, but everyone was running around so much that no pictures were taken :(

Volleyball - the Eggs vs. the Dinosaurs

That evening we had dodgeball out on the tennis court -- with the wind blowing. My favorite part was Addie going and getting the balls from the other team to give to us. She even got some of hte other girls to help her as well :)

Late night games, talking, and sneaking out to the hot tub were also favorites.

Sunday - some of my favorites were getting tangled up in a family web...

family remix songs...Livingstons even put dance moves to theirs...

Sunday night was fun with the Back to the Future IV preview and Donald Duck cartoons before the video showing of Back to the Future - with concessions of course :)

Monday -- some of my favorites were seeing the Berry van piled with intertubes, then having a line of cars heading to the river...

tubing down the Snake River (even though my bottom kept scraping the bottom of the river)...

Tuesday -- some of my favorites were playing laser tag...

I played and played and played - got hit a lot, but my favorite game was were I was a sniper from the ramp and kept hitting people :) The first game with almost everyone playing was a lot of fun too :)

The Oscars was a blast! Mom and I had a lot of fun putting together the video - pretty sure some of those videos/snapshots were surprises for the family. Hopefully Cheryl still loves Donald Duck :))))))))

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did at the family reunion and I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it so special. I love you all.

Graduation

2010-05-29T12:59:00.006-07:00

Christian graduated on Wednesday, May 19th. I took a half day off of work. When I got home, Christian was still asleep. So I fixed waffles and we had breakfast/lunch together. Then it was time to get ready and off to graduation we went. When we got in the car, I remembered that we forgot Christian cap and gown! Luckily we remembered before we got to the stadium. All the way there Christian was worried that we would get there late and he wouldn't be able to graduate. But he did. Here are a lot of pictures from graduation:

Christian liked it that his cap matched the inside of his new suit.

Grandma wanted a picture of Christian throwing his hat in the air.

Trevor came to Christian's graduation. Besides being a close family friend, he is also one of Christian's church and Scout leaders. He started Christian in 11 year old Scouts and he now once again with him as a Venture Scout.

After graduation ceremony we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill. Christian got his present then - an iPod. He was surprised and liked that it had more storage than mine:)

Once we got back to Mom and Dad's, Mom wanted to take pictures - a lot of pictures!

This is my favorite one of Christian.

I like this one too!

After all the pictures, it was time to relax. We all changed and then watched a video I had made for Christian. It was his life from birth to now. He remembered quite a few of the pictures and talked about the memories. I loved it.

Then it was homemade ice cream and cookie time while we watched North Avenue Irregulars (Christian didn't think he'd like it, but he did and was laughing through the whole movie) and Avatar.

After Avatar, I went to bed as it was 12:30 am (Dad had gone to bed after North Avenue Irregulars). I think Mom went to bed too. Christian stayed up and watched other movies and just played and enjoyed his freeedom from high school. He told me the next morning that he finally went to bed when I got up at 6:30. What a night!

Seminary Graduation

2010-05-29T12:33:00.003-07:00

Seminary graduation was Sunday, May 16th. It was a nice, small ceremony at our stake center. Afterwards, we took some pictures at our house. Here are some of my favorites.

This is a friend of ours, Matt.

Christian's Senior Pictures

2010-04-18T16:44:00.013-07:00

Christian got his Senior pictures done. Here are some of my favorites:

Christian says this one reminds him of Smallville.

Christian wanted a picture with the back of his tennis practice shirt.

I love Christian's little half smile. I am glad the photographer got him smiling it. I can't believe he has grown up and is graduating in little over a month. He's my baby - grew up too fast!

We even got some family pictures too.

I got Christian to smile for this one.

This is probably my favorite one of us.

This one was taken when Christian was trying to tip me over his shoulder into the sand. He did it too.

White Tanks Waterfall Hike

2010-04-04T19:06:00.006-07:00

Getting ready for our hike to the waterfall in White Tanks Mountain.
Mom was taking lots of pictures of the flowers in the desert. She said she needed to show people that the desert was beautiful.

Christian was determined to bring his canteen on this hike. He didn't for his practice hike in White Tanks earlier that week and he regretted it. This time he brought it and didn't really need it.

Christian and Mom went on ahead while I walked with Dad. Mom is at the top. She made it!

Christian decided to hide from us - too bad; I found him.

In order to get to the waterfall, you need to cross the stream on the rocks. Here is Dad trying it. He looks a little wobbly - watch out:)

He made it across the tricky part and got turned around on the last rock. Down he went! The other people were worried about him, but we were just laughing (including Dad).

"I made it!" he said.

Christian came around the other side of the stream through a tiny hole. He said I could have made it if I tried. (I climbed over the rock on the side of this picture.)

The waterfall - we were glad it had water.

After seeing three girls go across the pool to climb up the rocks, Christian decided to do it too. (There was second pool higher up that you couldn't see.)

There he goes.

He got up there - so did the girls.

The waterfall is behind Christian and the second pool is off to his side. He could see it but we couldn't.

When Christian got down he decided he wouldn't even try not to get wet and just went all the way in.

Since Christian was already wet, we made him help Dad across the rocks so he wouldn't fall down again. Christian even helped another lady across as well. What a gentleman!

Mom decided to try my way. She went over the rock I did on my way to the waterfall.

I tried Christian's way - through this small rock. Mom thought I was crazy and would get stuck. I didn't. I made it through the rocks :0)

The hike was enjoyable. That night we all went up by the lake and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakual. It was fun. Then we found out it was a double feature with New Moon. Dad decided he didn't want to see it (it was already after 9:00). Mom and Christian ran home (in the car) and got more treats, more blankets (it was cold), and Mom got into longer pants. Then we watched New Moon. We got home after 11:00 after having a wonderful day and Spring Break.

Read the next post for more info about our Spring Break.

Sonoran Desert Museum

2010-04-04T17:23:00.009-07:00

Later in the week we went to the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. I made sure to put sunscreen on before I left this time. Christian wanted to visit the caves first. Mom, Christian, and I tried the steep route, while Dad stayed on the safe route. It was cool.
At the end Dad went up a little ways so we could take some pictures with him in them.

Christian and Mom are trying to get her camera to work and they had to bend over the small lights to even see the camera.

In the caves was a bat exhibit. These are what our ears would look like if we were bats. Boy could you hear the sounds!

Obviously, Christian did not want his picture taken. (Actually I made him take the picture twice.)

There were little animal statues all over the museum. Here is Mom posing with an owl.

Dad had to take a break while Mom went back tot he car to get him a snack. He needed to eat about every hour or he ended up exhausted. Christian tried his hand at drawing a cactus. He did pretty good with it...then he turned it into a pineapple :)

This is a teddy bear cactus. I had to take a picture of it since the Kindergarteners, first graders, and I were wondering what a teddy bear cactus would look like when I was reading G is for Grand Canyon to them.

An otter. One of my favorite animals :) I remember learning how to swim by watching an otter.

I don't remember what Christian is doing here, but it's a cool picture :)

This bighorn sheep was posing for us, so I had to take a picture of it.

Taking a break at the tortoise exhibit.

Doesn't he look like a tortoise?

Inside the bird exhibit. We saw some cool birds, but don't know the names of most of them.

Next was the hummingbirds. I love hummingbirds and so does Mom. It helps that we see hummingbirds in our yards...but I don't have any nests yet and Mom does :(

Eating lunch at the car since there are no picnic tables around the entrance. We didn't want to drive to the picnic tables....we would have lost our great parking space.

After lunch we went to see the Birds of Prey Flight. Dad decided to wait at the entrance since it was a walk to where the flight was going to be. These hawks were amazing. They flew two feet above our heads. (The announcer had asked us not to put our hands up or place our children on our shoulders...now we know why.)

Four hawks ended up flying above us. I got this fabulous picture just as one of them left its perch.

After we left the Sonoran Desert Museum, we went to Gammy's grave. Mom wanted to get some pictures of her parents' graves. Then the long drive home. And guess what??? I got lobster red sunburned...and I had sunscreen on this time. I should know - I always get sunburned :(

Read the next post to hear about the Civil War Reinactment!

Civil War Reinactment

2010-04-04T16:47:00.006-07:00

During Spring Break, Mom, Dad, Christian, and I saw a Civil War Reinactment. It was pretty neat. When we got there we saw a cannon demonstration. They told us how the cannons were fired and fired off several shots.
We found a good spot to set up our chairs to watch the battles. Dad read the about the battles while Mom and I found good pictures to take.

The first battle was pretty boring at first. It was just teh scouts moving up and taking shots every once in a while. Although, the rebels were really funny with their shouts at the northerns.

These rebel scouts were right in front of us. That's how we heard their ribbing of the other soldiers very well.

It started to get interesting when they started to 'die'. Many of the soldiers make sure they landed 'softly' with their hats over their eyes :)

When the battle was over, the narrator said "resurrection" and everyone came back to life. Here is a picture of them doing it.

Mom brought a picnic lunch. It was delicious.

Christian decided to try on my hat. What do you think? Doesn't he look pretty????

After we ate lunch, we wandered around the exhibits.

This Union soldier was showing us how they cleaned their guns.

When we got back to our seats, Mom took Dad's chair since it was starting to break. Well.....it didn't last long - about one second before Mom landed on the ground.

A lot more people came before the second battle. We even saw a couple of television cameras. We heard that this year was probably the last year for the reinactment due to the park probably closing down because of the budget cuts :(

A lot of the time the cannons would shot out these smoke rings. Cool, huh?

Second battle started. Here is the rebel flag holder - he got shot and was dragging himself to cover while keeping the flag up. One of the southern leader got shot and kept telling everyone what to do from the ground.

Here is a Union soldier who didn't get his hat on his face. Kept his arm up instead :)

We left after the second battle (didn't stay for the third). On the way out Christian wanted to get an old fashioned root beer bottle to keep as a memento. Take a look at the sign under the keg.

It was a blast. Unfortunately I forgot my sunscreen. Yep...I ended up sunburned :(

Life Scout

2010-02-27T15:09:00.003-07:00

Christian advanced to Life Scout this Wednesday at the stake court of honor. He also walked away with 8 merit badges. Now he is going to start on his Eagle Scout project. He also has 3-4 merit badges to finish up.

Christian wanted to be funny:)

He was awarded merit badges for Geneology, Art, Family Life, Communication, Lifesaving, Computers, Music, Citizenship in the Community, and Music.

Sunday Check In

2010-02-07T17:50:00.002-07:00

All right. I have nothing big to report - and no pictures either. I did find out what kind of bird made my nest though. It is a cactus wren. I found out by reading a book to my school kids. I brought an author to my library on Thursday (and she was really good - one of the best we've had). In her book G is for Grand Canyon it shows the cactus wren's nest and what do you know? It looked just like mine. I didn't know they made nests outside of cactus though.

Yesterday was Christian free. He left at 4:15 am to go snowboarding with the young men in our ward. He enjoyed himself although he couldn't feel his feet after a while (he had too small of shoes). He came home at dinner with stories to tell.

Now I am home relaxing after church. We have church at 8 am now (due to singles ward meeting in our chapel). So....that makes an early morning for all of us. Hopefully in the summer it will be easier as it won't be so cold then. It is still chilly in the morning and I don't want to get out of my warm covers. Everybody else must think the same thing since no one shows up until right before it starts. (Before most people were there 15-30 minutes early.)

Hope everyone is having a nice, calm, relaxing Sunday too :))))

Bird Nest

2010-01-24T17:24:00.005-07:00

A few months ago I found a unique bird's nest in the oak tree in my front yard. Instead of having a top, there was a hole on the side of the nest. Although I looked for the owner, I never saw the bird the nest belonged to. Here is a picture of the nest.

Then, on Thursday night when I came home I found the bird's nest on my driveway. (Luckily to the side so I didn't drive over it.) I decided I should look to see if it had any eggs so I could try to save it. As I turned the nest slightly to look in it...a bird fly out and almost into my face. It happened so fast I didn't even get a good look at the bird :( I never could find the opening in the nest, so I moved it over by my lantana plants and hoped the bird would come back to protect any eggs there might have been. Christian was sure the next would get destroyed by the storm. Luckily, it survived. You can see a picture of where it is now below.

Christmas

2009-12-26T08:38:00.003-07:00

Christmas started off as usual with an appetizer dinner with my parents. We learn every year not to make as much, so we kept it simple -- we still had lots of leftovers!
After dinner we played games until Courtney and Daniel came home. Then came the unusual part -- since I was taking Mom and Dad to the airport early Christmas morning (6:00), we decided to have Christmas on Christmas Eve.

It looks like Christian is really enjoying his stocking -- really he is, he just doesn't like his picture being taken.

Courtney and Daniel joined us Christmas Eve. They opened their presents to each other. We figured out that they were going to have four Christmases this year -- ours, Daniel's parents on Christmas Day, Christmas with Cheryl and Maria, and then there were presents sent to their house. What a haul!

Here Dad, Courtney, and Daniel are opening up a present from me. I had them open it together since it was the same gift -- a recipe book of famous restaurant recipes -- like Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen, etc. Mom liked it since she saw mine and wanted to copy the Olive Garden soup recipes. I told her she could get them later.

This is Christian and my Christmas presents. I love the quilt stuff Mom got me - I'll get to make some pretty quilts now. (I've already got my next three projects planned.) I enjoyed all my presents - and some of them were even a surprise (not ones I suggested).

Christmas morning after I got Mom and Dad to the airport and Christian and I slept some more (we didn't got to bed until 1 or 2 and got up at 5), Christian informed me that I need to get a better hiding place for Christmas presents as he knew most of the ones he got. Spoil sport! I told him to quit looking and next year they would be wrapped and under the tree before he got home from college:) That will stop him.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas. It was an unusual one for us - but very merry :))))))

Mural in My Library

2009-11-08T22:10:00.004-07:00

I had an exciting last half of the week. On Thursday, Larry's sister started a mural on my school library wall. I have wanted to have one for many years. It is a beanstalk. From the trailing tendrils I would hang book covers for themes I am covering. Karen said she would do it and she did a wonderful job.

This is a very BIG beanstalk. It starts at the bottom of one wall with Jack trying to chop it down. Then it winds its way down that wall and a second one to disappear through the clouds and the ceiling at the corner. Coming down the beanstalk where it disappears is the giant's foot.

It took Karen three VERY LONG days to do it -- with Larry helping out for a lot of it. I can't thank them enough for such a beautiful job.

Karen working on the beanstalk and clouds on the second wall.

The beginning of the beanstalk with Jack -- he has his tongue sticking out and such an intense expression on his face.

Can you find Frog and Toad's lost button in this picture?

Where's the pigeon?

Find Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge's football and Cinderella's glass slipper.

There is a pot of gold that I will use around St. Patrick's day.

Can you find a mitten shaped cloud? It is from It Looks Like Spilt Milk.

The giant's foot with Zeus's lightning bolt from The Lightning Thief.

Karen said she would add more characters and objects from other stories into the beanstalk throughout the year as she could. I can't wait for the kids to see it tomorrow. A lot of them having been in the library several times a day to see the progress Karen was making on the beanstalk.

Halloween

2009-11-08T22:07:00.003-07:00

Christian's high school held a Trunk or Treat for the neighborhood kids. Christian dressed up as a young Albert Einstein. My car was used as the trunk. I told Christian to get pictures - of the trunk and him dressed up. Like a normal teenager, he forgot. Luckily, I snapped one picture right before he drove off.

Fall Break

2009-10-18T21:08:00.004-07:00

I spent part of my Fall Break in Palm Springs with Mom and Dad. The condo was beautiful. We spent time playing games, watching movies, swimming, reading, and seeing what Palm Springs had to offer. It was a very relaxing time - totally enjoyable. Here is the kitchen in Mom and Dad's condo -- Christian and I had a connecting condo -- that made up the two bedroom condo.

One day we went swimming. Dad found this big turtle floaty and tried to get on it. It was hilarious to watch him jump and try to get on and then fall off again. After Dad got tired of trying, Christian tried his hand at it.

Check out the wings on Christian and Dad. They BOTH need a haircut :)

Thursday night we went to the street fair. It was amazing. This guy is spray painting pictures. It was so cool to watch. He could do a complete picture in about 10-15 minutes. I ended up getting one picture that is going in my living room. Christian really enjoyed seeing the different techniques the guy used.

Here are some of his pictures.

On Saturday Maria and family came out to spend the day with us. We went swimming where Stan came up with a game for us to play in the pool -- Wimp Ball. It is like volleyball except the ball is out if it goes beyond the farthest player or to the side of the farthest player. So we all bunched up close to the ball would go out. Also we could hit the ball as many times as we wanted - we even caught it and threw it back. It was a blast!

Callie and Sierra liked Mom and Dad's bathtub -- it was huge and it had a waterfall faucet. They had to get in and try it out. (I liked it too, but I didn't get to try it :()

A lot of the rest of my break was spent fixing up my yard (it REALLY needed to be mowed), making thank you cards and working on Christian's graduation quilt. Mom helped me finish up the top and get it on frames. Then she showed me how to quilt it. It hasn't been bad - I've actually enjoyed quilting it. Now I just have to keep it up once I go back to school tomorrow :) (That is why I gave myself a lot of time to finish it.)

This is what his quilt looks like. I think it is going to be a great quilt for him to have for college.

Weekend with Maria

2009-10-03T16:25:00.005-07:00

Okay -- I'm going back in time. A few weeks ago Christian and I went to spend the weekend with Maria and family. We had a lot of fun playing Nerts, getting pedicures, and going ice blocking.
Christian and Callie loved playing together - whether it was on the computer or the Playstation. Sierra joined them from time to time.

The dishwasher had problems. Water kept running out the bottom of it. Poor Stan got soaked:-( I got a lot of interesting pictures of the situation - unfortunately Maria deleted some of them since she didn't want me to hold them over her at a later date. (I just said I wouldn't post them, not talk about them, Maria.)

Sierra had her hands full. Way to use your brain - or rather your feet!

I got a lot of fun pictures ice blocking. Christian was the dare devil of the group and kept trying different ways to go down the hill. Most of the time I spent it on the ground, not the ice :)

What an interesting picture Stan.

With Christian's example, Callie did a little experimenting as well.

I love this picture of Sierra. She looks so beautiful in it. She was right below me when I took the picture.

Safford Trip

2009-10-03T16:06:00.006-07:00

I sure felt weird to go back to Safford. So many things had changed, but a lot had stayed the same. We drove by our old house to see it.

This is Christian standing next to the tree he planted at the court house just a couple of weeks before we moved to California. That was when he was in the fourth grade. My how things have changed.

When I went to Safford last weekend, Christian and I took pictures of the new temple being built. I can't wait for it to be built so I can take Christian to the open house. They just put up the angel the week before.

20th High School Reunion

2009-10-03T15:50:00.005-07:00

Last weekend I went to my 20th high school reunion in Safford. It was great to see everyone again. I just wish that I had looked at my yearbook before I went to I recognized them better. Here are a few pictures from the reunion. You can see all of them on my facebook page.

Kerry and I Saturday night. Kerry helped put together the whole reunion.

Melissa and Kerry getting down.

Everyone dancing Saturday night.

Roxann, Melissa, and I at Branding Iron Saturday night.

Chistian and I. Christian hated me taking these pictures. Of course, he hates any picture being taken of him.

Christian is leaning against a locker in Senior hall. It's interesting to see lockers still in a high school. They aren't in many anymore.

Roxann, Melissa, and I Saturday morning at the high school.

Everyone on Saturday morning at the high school. We watched a slide show of our class. By did we think we were hot back then - big hair and everything.

The reunion was a lot fun. Can't wait for another one.

Back at Work

2009-07-25T20:02:00.003-07:00

I am back at work now. Actually I've been back for a week. It has actually been a light week since most I have been waiting for most of my textbook adoption to come in.

One more week until the kids come and Christian starts school. A Senior -- it is going to be a big year for him.

Leaving Hawaii

2009-07-06T12:03:00.003-07:00

We were sad to leave Hawaii. We wondered around the World Marketplace and surrounding area Monday morning. Then we went back to the hotel for about a half hour before we left for the airport.

Christian relaxing away the time.
We took a limo ride back to the airport. It wasn't much more than another ride so why not?

We were finally at the airport and ready to go back home :( We had had a vacation to remember.

Driving Around Hawaii

2009-07-06T11:04:00.008-07:00

On Sunday we rented a car and drove around the island. First we planned on going to church. Unfortunately, it took over an hour to get the car so we only got to 20 minutes of church.

This is the church we attended. It was beautiful. It is called a tabernacle. It had a courtyard full of flowers. The chapel had four doors on each side and one more in the back.

We stopped at the Dole Plantation.

Here are baby pineapples. They were tiny.

I never knew that pineapples were different colors -- here are some red ones.

The Dole Plantation boasts of the world's largest maze in 2001 (don't know if one has beat it yet). Christian wanted to go in. There were eight booths that you find and copy the design in the booth on your paper. It was difficult, even with the map showing where the booths were. We were in there an hour. Unfortunately, we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures of it :)

We took the train ride at the plantation. At the turn around point they had a garden with the plants in the shape of a pineapple.

These are chocolate pods. I that it was interesting. Didn't know they got so big.

After the Dole Plantation we continued driving around the island. We stopped at Waimea Valley where they was suppose to be a waterfall. It was about a half hour gentle hike up to the waterfall. Here are some pictures from the hike.

There was a peacock just sitting on the fence by the enterance.

I had to take a picture of the river -- it reminded me of Arizona rivers. No water!

Check out the roots growing down from the tree. The bigger one has reached the ground and grown into the ground.

I've heard of vines growing in trees, but not plants. I can't tell how these plants grow in the tree without the roots being in the ground. Any suggestions on how it does it?

Look closely at the picture above. Do you see the brown rocks all over the grass? They aren't rocks - they are tiny birds. We saw them all over the place. I didn't realize that they were birds until a couple of them flew to another part of the grass.

Here is the waterfall. The lifeguards said that it wasn't very big right now - they hadn't had any rain in three months. I guess that is their defination of a drought. They said that the waterfall is generally a lot bigger.

Christian was getting tired of posing for pictures by this time.

There were a lot of beautiful flowers all over the place. I just had to take pictures of some of them.

Look at these vines! I couldn't believe the curtain of vines hanging down from the tree branch.

Right before we finished our hike back down, we saw this mother peacock with her three baby peacocks. The mother kept digging at the ground. She was finding food for her babies.

These balls of something on the tree were very weird. I wish I knew what they were.

After Waimea Valley we went to the temple. I was surprised to find the Visitor Center open.

There were beautiful flowers planted along the pond in front of the temple.

This is the Christus in the Visitor's Center.

Look under the tree and you will see a strip of beach. It is only about 5 feet of beach. That is normal for most of the beaches in Hawaii.

This is Turtle Island. Gillian's Island was filmed on it. It is also the place where one of the bases is located that was bombed along with Pearl Harbor.

I know this picture is a little blurry - Christian took it from the moving car. Look at the deep ridges in the mountains. During the rainy season those ridges are waterfalls -- all of them. I would love to see that!

Pearl Harbor

2009-07-06T10:44:00.006-07:00

On our first day in Hawaii we went to Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri.

I love this picture of the Arizona monument from the bow of the USS Missouri.

This is the spot where they signed the treaty for the end of WWII.

Leis are placed at the Arizona memorial. One interesting thing is that some of the survivors choose to be buried at the Arizona memorial with their shipmates.

This is the flag flying above the memorial.

This is the monument at Punchbowl national cemetary. People can only drive through, you can't get out anymore.

This is a tomb for an unknown soldier. All the tombstones are flat like this one.

This is the view of Wakiki from the top of the Punchbowl.

Polynesian Cultural Center

2009-07-05T18:25:00.006-07:00

On Friday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The guide on the bus was great. He showed us a lot of places that were used in movies...my favorite one was Turtle Island where they shot Gillian's Island. Once we got to the Polynesian Cultural Center we went to the villages...New Zealand first. We played some games before the performances started.

Here is the stick game. Christian wanted to make a haku face for the picture.

Christian liked this game. Another guy would call out front, back, left, or right and we would go that direction without stepping on the sticks. The first guy to step wrong or on the sticks lost. I did fine during the practice, but when we started the game I lost on the second call.

This was the Samoan performer. He kept posing during his presentation. Here he is making fire.

This is a New Zealand performer doing the poi balls. When Christian was trying the pois earlier, he showed him some tricks as well. Another performer said that I should perform with them since I did them so well.

Fiji dancers

Christian is playing a Fiji drum. It was interesting to keep changing the beat between four rhythms.

Before the canoe pageant these students came by selling ice cream. Christian and I played war while waiting for the pageant to start.

New Zealand canoe

Samoa canoe

Tahati canoe

In Tonga it was a lot of fun. The guys on the drums were hilarious.

Christian loved watching the Tahitian dances - especially the fast hip shaking lady dances:) I learned how to do the dance

and Christian video taped it (but I can't get it to load, I'll try again later). During the video Christian did a typical guy thing. When it came to the part where we were suppose to move out hips very fast, Christian put the camera on the instructor so he could see her hips instead of mine. Then he panned back to me. Hilarious:)

Here Christian is trying to learn a Tahatian dance.

Christian got a tattoo at one of the villages. Here he is showing it off.

Here we are ready for our luau. I was excited to attend one -- it is one of the things I wanted to do.

They are unwrapping the pig. They wrapped it in banana leafs, burlap bags, and then plastic. The men who unwrap the pig are generally considered very brave as the heat is unreal. We could even feel it away from the pit. You can see the steam rising up.

Here is the pig before they carved it.

The purple roll is a taro roll. It's actually pretty good. I liked them. They are a sweet roll kind of like a potato roll.Christian and I both had a smoothie. Mine was strawberry and his was pina colada. They were served in these cool hollowed out pineapples.

After the luau we went to the Horizons show. It was spectacular. We show a lot of dances, but since we weren't able to use a flash I didn't get many pictures.
The Tongans were great with their drums. They were going soooo fast.

The fire dancers were amazing!!! Again, I couldn't get the video to load. I'll try again another time.

Wreck Dive

2009-07-05T18:04:00.004-07:00

Here are the pictures from our wreck dive. I really loved it. We were down 105 feet and the visibility was 40-50 feet. I can't wait to do it again.

This is a sea turtle that swam around our boat for a while.

This is an eel we saw.

Check out the octopus under the stairs.

Check out the teeth on the eel!

Look closely at this picture -- there is a frogfish in all that coral. It is the big green thing. I also got a picture from the other side -- you can't even see the frogfish from that side!

Hawaii Scuba Dives

2009-06-18T18:04:00.006-07:00

Christian and I did a total of four dives in Hawaii. Two at 40 feet - Turtle Canyon and Koko Crater, a wreck dive at 105 feet - Sea Tiger, and one at 60 feet - Deep Pipe. I got to use my brother's camera. I took some great pictures on the first three dives, but the battery ran out for the fourth so I have no pictures of Deep Pipe where there was tons and tons of coral; you couldn't even see the bottom.

Here are pictures from Koko Crater - our second dive (I can't put the pictures in order since I can't get the blog to let me arrange the photos): Look closely in the coral and you'll see a couple of fish.

Here are some of the pictures of Turtle Canyon:

Check out the octopus :) When he was first caught, he shot out a lot of black ink. I touched him; he was slimy and his arm suckers caught my fingers.

This is the first of the three turles we saw at Turtle Canyon. They were huge!

I've got to go so I'll post my third dive pictures -- the wreck dive later tonight or tomorrow. Check back in to see them.

Game Night

2009-06-06T13:07:00.003-07:00

I had a game night with some friends last night. It was a lot of fun. We played Scum, but we had so many people playing we started to forget the order we were to sit in...so we got cards to help us remember. Then we stuck the cards on our forheads. Here are some pictures of us.

I just love the faces they made. Just so you know (those of you who left early) I FINALLY got to be president - twice! Of course the second time we stopped playing. That was my best game -- triples of 2, 3, Jacks, and Kings and doubles of 4 and 10. I had gotten rid of most of my cards in two hands.

See ya next time!

English Tea

2009-06-06T12:47:00.005-07:00

On Friday a bunch of us librarians got together and went to an authentic English Tea. It was fun to get together and just relax on our first day of summer. There was a trunk full of hats and all of us put one on while we ate. We had little tea sandwiches, delicious scones, and petit fours. I had lemonade and the rest had different teas. Here are some pictures of us in our hats.

Here we all are in our hats.

This is Kelly (in the blue shirt and cream hat). She was my library assistant, but she was cut due to the budget. Luckily she will still be at our school, but I will miss her in the library.

Trying to decide which hat we wanted.

Advanced Scuba Diving Certification

2009-05-26T19:13:00.007-07:00

Christian and I got our advanced scuba diving certification this last weekend. We took the class with David and Cindy. I was a little nervous since we would be doing a deep dive and I am not the best scuba diver. It always takes me a little while to get acclimatized to wearing the mask and breathing through my mouth. But the scuba instructor was very good. He taught me a trick to help me descend and ascend better. That helped me feel more in control so I didn't have trouble clearing my ears as much. (That is where you plug your nose and blow so it releases the pressure in your ears.) Since I could clear my ears easier and less frequently, my mask wouldn't fill up as often. So...I didn't have to try to do three things as once and start to panic a little. Thus, I enjoyed scuba diving a lot more than I ever have before.

Here are some pictures of all of us. Of course they are only the ones of us on land. You will have to wait for the underwater ones until I get Christian's film developed.

Our scuba instructor, Andy (he's English). He is giving us our first lesson before the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive.

Christian is putting a tank on his BCD.

David is helping Cindy out of her wetsuit. They can be difficult at times.

Christian is checking his underwater camera before he goes into the lake.

You have to make sure that you drink a lot of water. On our very first scuba dive a year ago we didn't bring any water. We learned really fast to make sure to bring some so you don't become overheated or dehydrated.

One of the chairs was a wobbly one. I almost fell in it a couple of times. Unfortunately, Cindy really did fall. And she got wedged between the fallen chair and another chair someone was sitting in. She could not get up no matter what. Finally Jim got out of his chair and helped Cindy get up. Christian took a picture of it.

After our last scuba dive, Christian and I went to David and Cindy's house for dinner and games. We played several games and during one of the games, David brought out some hats for us to wear.

Christian didn't mind wearing this hat -- that surprised me. He kept bonking the hat back and forth.

It looks like Christian is backing away from Merlin...and he is :)))

Christian retaliated on Merlin - he ended up upside down.

The game night was filled with laughter :)))

New Car

2009-05-26T18:48:00.003-07:00

I finally got a new car last Friday night. It is a Honda Fit. It is classifies as a subcompact, but there is a lot of room inside, so I don't think it is a subcompact. Unfortunately you can't see the color really well -- it is a dark purple.

The car looks dirty because I drove it to Lake Pleasant for scuba diving lessons. Its smaller than my CR-V, but it gets great mileage!

Weigh in on the Car I Should Get

2009-05-18T18:22:00.003-07:00

I'm down to two cars right now (of course that could change tomorrow). Weigh in on which one you think I should get:

Scion xB

Honda Fit

I see advantages and disadvantages to both. Now I want your opinions. We'll see if this generates as many comments as my last car post. Sorry Sierra and Callie, no black convertable or lime green lambourgini. And Mom, no ice cream truck!

Mother's Day

2009-05-14T17:00:00.004-07:00

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mothers, especially mine (and my sisters of course)! My son helped in a surprise for me -- on Saturday. When I came home from test driving cars with my dad, I found the top on my rolltop desk down. Under it were roses in a vase, a corsage, and a bag of candies. When I asked Christian how he pulled it off, he said he only helped. Someone from the ward had delivered them and said that they were donated by someone in the ward. I loved it. It's been a long time since I got flowers from anyone, especially anyone besides my parents. So whoever sent them - thank you, thank you, thank you!

Then on Sunday Christian cooked me biscuits and gravy for breakfast. And he didn't do a bad job either :) He also wouldn't let me make dinner. It was nice to have a break from cooking.

Thanks Christian!!!! I love you!

New Car

2009-05-06T17:53:00.002-07:00

I heard from my insurance company and they say my car is a total loss. Translation...it costs too much money to repair versus what they think my car is worth. So, I am now looking for a new car. It will take about a week to get all the paperwork done. I have started looking at cars to see what I might get. (Of course I might just get the exact same thing I have now.) But I thought I'd get your opinions. What kind of car do you see me in?

A Call You Don't Want to Get

2009-04-28T16:59:00.003-07:00

Monday night just after 6:00 pm I got a call you never want to get as a parent --"Mom, I just got hit." Christian was in an accident by our Target. I raced to the scene to make sure he was okay. Luckily, he walked away with just bruises and few scrapes. I am soooooo thankful for it. My car was not so lucky. Both doors on the driver's side was mangled so they wouldn't open and the rear passanger tire was blown and the rim was destroyed. I figure the car slid and blew the tire. The side curtain airbags deployed. I figure that was really lucky or Christian probably would have hit the side windows. As it is he has an airbag burn -- kind of like a rug burn but it lasts longer. I never knew you could get airbag burns. My insurance said the chemicals in the airbags can burn you, but the fireman said he probably got the burns from the force of the deployment.

I just got the car towed to be fixed this afternoon. And dealt with all the insurance. All the fun stuff. This is all after staying up until 1:30 this morning so I could check on Christian every couple of hours and change his ice pack. Then I was up at the normal 5:00 this morning. Needless to say, I TIRED!!!! It is going to be early to bed tonight.

Dad's Birthday

2009-04-26T09:45:00.005-07:00

Last night we had a barbeque to celebrate Dad's birthday. David's family joined us. Dad decided to lead the singing of his birthday song. Mom made Italian Cream cake. Yummy :)

Mom also brought over all the ice cream she didn't want in her freezer. And of course she left it in my freezer. I guess Christian will have to eat it since I'm still losing weight. Ice cream is not too good for that.

David starting tickling Charity all over the house. I got some good pictures of it.

After dinner the adults and Charity planned Power Yahtzee, one of Dad's new games. The kids were playing video games. Charity and Mom were listening to Charity's music throughout the game.

David started a pen war with me and we both ended up with inked up arms. Of course David escalated it a marker and I had to retaliate. We had fun, but now we have to get rid of the pen and marker before church today.

It was a good night all around!

Birds

2009-04-19T17:59:00.003-07:00

I now hear birds in my backyard all the time. I love it! I watch the birds all over my yard. They are in my jacaranda tree, my bird feeder, my lawn, my pation, and even on my swing on occasion. I've tried catching a picture of when I have 15-20 birds out there, but they all fly away whenever I get close. But I have some pictures to show you. Hopefully I'll get a picture of my hummingbird soon. He likes my honeysuckle, lavender, and sage.

This is one of the birds that I see all the time. Does anyone know what kind of bird it is?

Christian's Quilt

2009-03-30T20:48:00.003-07:00

A few years ago I bought some material to make a quilt for Christian. My goal was to finish it by Christian's high school graduation. I just started it last week...so it is a good idea since I will probably need all that time to finish it. I've gotten about half way through the stars, then I just have to do the edging. Finally comes the hard part...the quilting. So here is a sneak peek at his quilt.

Sick and Better Again

2009-03-18T18:15:00.003-07:00

I have been soooo sick for the last week and a half. I must of had the flu or something besides my cough because it lingered for a long time. Finally last Monday I started to feel a little better. I am better now, but still not 100%. Being sick on your Spring Break is not a good idea -- don't try it :(

Christian's First Win

2009-03-18T18:11:00.002-07:00

Christian won his first tennis match!!!! Yeah! Unfortunately, I was at Parent/Teacher Conferences and was unable to see the match. It was his doubles match with a score of 8-6. I am so proud of him. Right now we are on Spring Break and I'll try to get some video of his next game on Tuesday.

Tennis

2009-03-01T19:39:00.002-07:00

Christian is on the tennis team. He has been learning the sport and getting better each game. In his last match he had an excellent double game. Unfortunately he lost but only barely. It ended with a score of 7 to 9. They had to go an extra game because they were that close. I'm really proud of him. Here are some pictures of him at the last match.

Way to go Christian! Keep it up!

Enjoying the Outdoors

2009-02-16T19:41:00.002-07:00

I've been enjoying my backyard. It seems that I spend at least an hour outside on my porch swing reading my book. I've seen several birds and even a hummingbird. I'm getting my animals in my yard. I'm so excited about that.

I invited my folks to have a barbeque in my backyard tonight. We had grilled lemonade chicken, fresh bread, salad, and grilled carrots. The grilled carrots didn't turn out too well, but the lemonade chicken was good.

Update on Christian

2009-02-08T19:19:00.003-07:00

Christian went to his cardiologist appointment on Friday. Luckily it was good news. Nothing is wrong with his heart. We are working on the fainting and it should go away soon. As a reward we went to see the new movie "Push". It was good. I liked it.

The other day Christian was bored. He came into my room and told me that he misses 'the kids'. In other words -- Brayden, Cambrie, and Addie. He said he always finds something to keep himself and them occupied. (He wouldn't go for anything I suggested...he just wanted to play with the kids.) Cheryl, say hi to them for Christian and tell them he misses them.

Landscaping Projects

2009-02-08T18:54:00.004-07:00

I must be interested in doing projects since I did more yesterday. I decided I wanted more plants in my back yard. So my parents and I went to a nursery and got a bunch of plants. Of course I got more than they did. I'm glad they came as my Mom really knows plants - Dad too.

My new lime tree. I got a lime tree to replace the peach tree that died.

We planted oleander bushes down the side of the house so I have something pretty to look at out the windows of my living room and kitchen.

A pretty peach hibicus plant went against the wall between my bedroom windows. It needed something there.

There is honeysuckle on the wall. White lantana and lavendar near the grasss and a new sage bush in between. I want to get a bird bath to put in there as well. Hopefully these plants will bring birds and butterflies to my backyard.

I got my lilies! Lilies are my favorite plants but they don't last in the heat. The nursery guy said that these rain lilies should work if they are in the shade under a tree. Hopefully they do last as I would like to keep my lilies. There are also orange flowers that I don't remember the name of -- Mom suggested them.

Lastly, we planted a red yucca in the front yard. This spot is the 'danger zone'. No plant has ever survived there. I've tried several -- lantana, bush morning glory, ruella. Hopefully, this plant fares better.

Another good thing -- I learned how to add an emitter to the water line. Thanks Dad! Now I can do it all by myself. Of course Christian learned too and he can help me.

Day of Little Projects

2009-02-01T17:55:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I did a lot of little projects that needed to get done -- of course all those little projects ended up taking most of the day. My new washer and dryer finally came -- yeah! That meant I ended up doing lots of laundry that had piled up.

List of little projects:

Mirror put above piano

Shelf put up in garage

Masks hung in hallway

New fan in Christian's room (Christian burned out his old one --Dad ended up switching the fan and light switches. When Christian goes to turn on the lights, he gets the fan instead.)

Trees pruned (thanks Mom!)

New patio table and chairs set up (thanks Cheryl -- I've claimed them for now)

Bird feeder up on back patio

Fun Week :(

2009-01-25T09:45:00.002-07:00

This week has been an interesting one. First, on Wednesday I started my first class that I am teaching to my fellow teachers. It is a three week course and I have been a little stressed out about it.

Then on Thursday I got a call from Christian's school. He was feeling light-headed and was afraid he would pass out. So I had to arrange to leave school and pick him up. He went right to bed and after a few hours he seemed okay. I then had to leave to go to the dentist to check on a crack in a filling they had done a few months ago. They decided it would be better to go with a full crown then replace the filling. So...my mouth was killing me all day and part of Friday as well.

Since Christian hadn't felt good on Thursday and he had almost passed out at church a couple of weeks ago, I decided to have a doctor check him out to be on the safe side. They did a EKG on him and drew blood (of course he passed out when they took the blood). The doctor said Christian had a heart arrhythmia. He ordered a chest x-ray and told me to take him to a heart specialist at Phoenix Children's Hospital. What a thing to hear. It concerns me especially with my father's heart condition. I will be calling on Monday to make an appointment. Hopefully it is not something too big. And out life can go back to normal.

Back to School

2009-01-10T14:40:00.003-07:00

I have survived the first week back at school. The first two days were HECTIC! We had a lot of students in the library all the time. Friday I spent all day teaching lessons teachers had signed up for. After one of them my principal came in and said that he had to have the lesson I just taught so he could send it out the other teachers. It's nice to get validation for what you do.

Moving Cheryl to Utah

2009-01-10T14:13:00.006-07:00

I got to help Cheryl move to Utah. I was glad to do it as it let me see her house and help her get settled. We spent several days there helping organize and decorate her house.

Addie wanted to help too.

Of course we did take a little time to enjoy ourselves. Brayden decided he could get the games from the closet really easy -- he just climbed.
Ben and the kids got into a snowball fight. Brayden thinks he and Christian won against Ben -- I think it just became a free-for-all.

Brayden loves the snow. He built snowmen until they lost their heads (with a little help from Addie), then he decided he would make it into a snow wall for the next snowball fight.
On the last night we played games. It was a lot of fun and would have to make it last until we saw each other again.

Farewell to Cheryl

2008-12-28T18:51:00.003-07:00

A bunch of us got together to saw goodbye to Cheryl. We met at Red Robin and ate and talked for several hours. Here are some pictures of some of us:

Of course on the way home, I had a little accident. Just before I turn onto my street, a dog ran out in front of my car. Even stomping on my brakes I was unable to avoid hitting him. Luckily (for him), he got up and walked away unhurt. Unfortunately (for me), I got a huge dent in my front bumper. What a bummer :(

Couch Pillows

2008-12-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to find good pillows for my couch and I have had to take a lot of pillows back to stores. I think I have found the right ones. Tell me if you like them.

Christmas

2008-12-28T18:12:00.006-07:00

Christmas Eve was spent at my house with what is becoming a tradition -- an appetizer dinner. When it is just Christian, my parents, and I, we have had a dinner made of appetizers and then play games. I actually had a lot of fun making all the appetizers for the dinner. Dad enjoyed the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. Christian listened to his music while playing since he has decided he doesn't like Christmas music.

Christmas morning was nice and slow. It was just Christian and me. Christian had a couple of surprises. The first one was when he opened his Playstation 2. He got a wonderous expression on his face and said "I didn't expect this. You told me a wouldn't get it." Then he opened the last present and exclaimed, "I wrapped this -- I wrapped my own Christmas present." This is what happened. I went shopping with Cheryl. When I got home I honked the car horn for Christian to help bring in the bags like usual -- forgetting there were Christmas presents in it. Of course, Christian saw the PS2 games. So...I had him wrap the PS2 games for the Livingston kids. I even took the presents to be mailed. Then I switched the tags and placed it under the tree with Christian none the wiser. It made for a priceless moment.

Then we just played and watched movies for a while. Around three we went out to my folks house. We watched Kung Fu Panda, one of Christian's new movies. It was actually pretty good. Right when it was over, Cheryl's family got there. We had dinner and then unwrapped more presents.

I had fun 'spoiling' Cheryl's kids. I had to get Addie some Strawberry Milk mix. She loves to come to my house and drink strawberry milk -- she only gets it at my house. So I had to make sure she had strawberry milk in her new house.

One of the best moments was when Brayden and Cambrie opened a waffle iron my parents got the whole family. They both got very excited and then Cambrie lifted it over her head like it was a trophy. It was awesome. Also, Santa left a letter for the Gibsons saying he had gotten a little confused about where to leave presents --their Tolleson house, Aunt Tanya's house, their Farmington house, or Ben's family's house in Saint David -- therefore he had left a bag of presents in Grandma house in a closet since they would be there sometime. The kids had to go around to all the closets to find Santa's bag.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. I hope everyone else's Christmas was merry as well.

My CPAP Machine

2008-12-28T18:02:00.003-07:00

I finally got my CPAP machine the week before Christmas. Boy do I feel different. I am finally able to start taking an interest in things again -- things like cooking, having parties, singing, etc. It is great to finally have energy again :)

When I saw my doctor before I got my machine I found out that I was having 130 apeanas an hour. Plus, I had no deep sleep or REM sleep and I was not getting enough oxygen. No wonder I was so tired and had trouble breathing.

This is what my machine looks like. The clear mask goes over my nose. I have to breathe through my nose and basically sleep on my back since my mask likes to leak slightly when I go on my side. But I love it because it lets me sleep :)

Setting Up for Christmas

2008-12-15T17:13:00.003-07:00

Cheryl and her kids moved into my house once Ben moved up to Utah. It has been nice. Here are some pictures of all of us decorating for Christmas. I had gotten a new tree a couple of weeks ago -- a prelit one, yeah!

Here is our snowman display -- a winter wonderland.

Cambrie and Addie enjoyed my Christmas animals that sing and dance.

Thanksgiving and Christmas in One Weekend

2008-12-06T14:00:00.013-07:00

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. We all went to my parents' house just like always. My sister from California had a close call of not coming -- they had all been sick with the flu. Luckily, they got better and were able to come. The cousins all enjoyed playing with each other.

Christian decided to practice tennis on my folks' back porch.

After dinner came the fun part -- at least for me. Looking at the ads for Black Friday. My sister Cheryl and I always go together. That is something that I am going to miss when she moves. Hopefully she'll come back for Thanksgiving and we can still shop.

Cheryl and I were up at 4:30 and done with WalMart and Target by 6:30. We separated then. My favorite purchase was my new washer and dryer. Sears had a great deal on the pair where I basically paid for the washer and got the dryer thrown in. Unfortunately, it was such a great deal that a lot of other people also got it and I won't get mine until the end of January :(

Friday afternoon all of us girls got together and went to see the new movie, Twilight. It was very good. I'm glad I read the book first because then I got some of the parts that others might not of.

Saturday was our annual Christmas Family Get Together. We had pizza, salad, and a Chocolate Extravaganza. (Everyone brought one chocolate item to share.) Before eating we had a remote control car race and shot off rockets. (We did this last year and loved it...so we did it again.)

Mom and Dad didn't drive the cars very well.

Addie is such a cutie :)

Sierra, Addie, and Maria.

After dinner and our Chocolate Extravaganza we had skits. Each family had to include a famous quote and a character from a fairy tale, movie, etc. They were really cute.

We ended the night with hot chocolate, popcorn, and the movie 'Elf' on my parents' back porch.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T10:50:00.010-07:00

A time for thanks. I decided to steal my mother's idea and list what I am thankful for. First, I have all the usual things that I am thankful for:

The gospel -- I get a lot of strength by living the gospel. Plus, I have a whole extended family through the ward that cares about me and my son.

My family -- My wonderful son is the most important person in my life. He brings such joy in my life as I watch him grow up and find his way in life.

My sisters -- I have three wonderful sisters. I love to spend time with them. We have such wonderful talks and enjoy spending time together. I love having my youngest sister right down the street from me -- at least for a few more days until she moves to Utah :(
My brother -- My brother and I were the best of friends as we were growing up. I loved spending time with his friends rather than mine -- at least that's what I remember.
My neices and nephews -- I love to spend time with my nieces and nephews. I tell them stories, play games with them, talk about books, and spoil them rotten when I can. (The picture is only a few of them -- I have 20.)
My house -- I have enjoyed decorating my house and finding the best place to put everything.
My yard -- I finally got my backyard landscaped and I love it.
My job -- I am so thankful to have a job that I love doing. I enjoy children's literature and helping students come to love it too.

Now time for all the little things I am thankful for:

low cost of gas right now
soft ice cream
a night sky full of stars
soft green grass to lay on
all the colors, especially purple
sweet smelling flowers
new books -- especially ones you can't put down
smiles
hugs
chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate
dishwashers...so I don't have to wash dishes by hand
coupons
Chuck, 24, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Stargate Atlantis, Numbers
Friends, Lois and Clark, Beauty and the Beast, Star Trek Voyager, MASH
soft pillows
warm blankets for cold rainy days
a porch swing
a cool car that I can put a lot of stuff in
holidays where I don't have to go to school

Okay -- I'll stop listing things so I can go have fun with my family.

Sleep Test

2008-11-15T14:01:00.002-07:00

Last night I had my sleep test. Talk about an experience! Once I get there and answer a bunch of questions (in my nightgown no less), I then get hooked up everwhere. They put sensors on my legs and chest. But the really fun place is all over my face and hair. And then they tape the wires down. I also got two sensors in/around my nose -- one to test the air pressure and the other to test the air temperature. Finally, the REALLY fun part. I move to the bed and try to lay down on it with all the wires and not get tripped up.

I read for about 15 minutes and then tried to sleep. It seemed like I just couldn't get to sleep. They asked that I sleep on my back since the apenas are stronger then. I don't like sleeping on my back :( Finally I turn to my side and try -- that doesn't work so I go back to laying on my back. After several of this back and forth and I know it has been a while, the technician comes in. When I said hello he told me that I had sleep apena and he processed to hook me up to a CPAP machine. I found out it was already 12:30.

A hose is connected to the machine and a nose mask. The mask goes over my nose and I am told to breathe only through my nose. Talk about panic! It felt a little like it does when I put my mask on to scuba dive. I knew this was going to be difficult. Sure enough, I start to cough and find it hard to breathe. I had to take deep breathes and calm down. Then I could breathe better and fell asleep. Next thing I remember the technician was waking my up again and it was 7:00. It turns out that I was waking up about every 45 seconds. No wonder it seemed like I never went to sleep.

Now I just have to wait to talk to the doctor on the 1st and then maybe all this tiredness will start to go away. I am just soooo happy to finally know what has caused my extreme tiredness for the last year or so.

Freezer Meltdown

2008-11-11T20:57:00.003-07:00

My freezer went on the fritz a few days ago. Luckily we were able to save almost everything -- only lost the ice cream :( and the juices. So I spent today shopping for a new freezer. Thanks Mom for helping!

Coupons Galore

2008-11-02T18:54:00.003-07:00

Today I got my first set of coupons from Sunday's papers. I have seen what Cheryl has done with her coupons and decided that I need to give it a try. Soooo...I have started getting the Sunday paper. (By the way, Maria the Zits cartoon was awesome and reminded me of Christian and I.)

I will have to see what will happen with all my coupon savings. Hopefully, I do as well as Cheryl. Although I am sure it will take a few weeks to really start saving since I have to get a bunch of coupons first.

Night in the ER

2008-11-01T18:47:00.003-07:00

Last night was an interesting one. My mom has been watching Cheryl's kids while Cheryl and Ben were on vacation. Well, I get a call around 5:30 from my Mom saying that she thinks Addie has broken her collarbone. Thus started our adventure.

Christian and I quickly got to Cheryl's house. Christian stayed with Brayden and Cambrie and Mom and I took Addie to Good Night Pediatrics. They were afraid she might have dislocated her shoulder and sent us to Banner Thunderbird.

Poor Addie was crying because her shoulder hurt soooo much. But she was also pretty brave. When she was able to lay still she would be okay. The doctors and nurses were all so careful with her -- they didn't want to hurt her more than she already was. It ended up that she had broken her clavacle. They wrapped her shoulder up and put her arm in a sling (one with different color bears on it). She also got a soft polar bear to keep. Then we were finally able to take her home -- at 10:30.

Poor Cheryl had to deal with all of this long distance through phone calls. Addie was very glad to see her mom and dad this morning. Cheryl and Ben were glad to see her too.

Practice Date

2008-10-26T17:41:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Christian took me on his practice date. This is where I check to see if he knows how to treat a girl on a date. He had to ring the doorbell and wait while I finished putting my jewelry on. Too bad I didn't have my dad here to question him. He would have LOVED that :)

We went to see the movie 'City of Ember'. He even bought me popcorn. Good job Christian :) When he was all done with the practice date, he told me it was the most embarrassing moment of his life. Of course if he knew I was telling everyone about this, he wouldn't be too happy with me. But I think it is cute.

Getting on Board

2008-10-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone I know is doing a blog, so I guess I will get on board. I will warn everyone that I won't post everyday, but I'll try to post at least weekly. See you soon :)