Feeling a little down

Tanner came home yesterday feeling a little down in the dumps because he didn't win the election for student council representative for his class. He practiced several times a great speech that he wrote himself and left for school feeling pretty confidant. (To be honest; I thought he would make it.) He came home the saddest that I've ever seen him. He felt like he must have no friends and that no one likes him. I reassured him that he's a great, likable, fun, smart, cute kid. Plus, it's hard when 15 kids out of 23 in the class run. That really spreads out the votes, even when you can vote for more than one. He came home today feeling better and like his old self. He just needs some extra loves for a while.

Almost 40 and in denial

Here's some pictures of Jerel's birthday. He turned 39 and is in denial that he's almost 40. As one of his friends, Matt, puts it "He's as close to it as he's going to get--without actually being there." In the pictures you can see Jerel looking for his gifts during our family's traditional "hot and cold" gift finding game. (Jerel started this tradition because he didn't want to wrap gifts for me one birthday.) And he loves his new shirt! He can't wait for someone to come up and tell him it's spelled wrong.


Look, there's so many candles it took 3 people to light them all. The next few pictures made me laugh so hard. Jerel looked so funny in this picture when I took it. He was actually directing us while we were all singing "Happy Birthday."

Now he's singing "Happy Birthday to me" with us. Hey, that's a lot of fire going on. Can you help me blow all these out?

Camille Could Be A Celebrity!!

We might not have it all together, but together we have it all!

I recently visited a friend's blog and she used this quote on her title. What a great quote:

"We might not have it all together, but together we have it all!"

When it comes to family, this is so true.

Just like a scorpion

I told Trevor this morning, "Do you know how cute you are? I just love you."
Trevor replied, "Mmm, hmmm. I know."
I asked him, "How do you know?"
And wise beyond his years, he replied, "I just know--just like a scorpion knows how to sting ya."

(Another cute note, Trevor found out that Mrs. Dill's friends call her Mary. "Isn't that cool!" lol Mrs. Dill is his kindergarten teacher.)

The countdown begins . . .

It looks like Chase will get his braces off in about 3 weeks. He will then be wearing retainers, but he's okay with that. He should have and could have had them off months ago if he would have just worn his rubber bands. But after some gentle persuasion from mom and dad--okay it was forceful--he got serious about it. (We took away his cell phone so he knew I meant business.) But now Chase is being rewarded for his obedience. I really don't know why he complained about the rubber bands so much. At least he didn't have to wear a bionator like Aunt Lindy (is that how you spell it). lol

One down, and now one more to add. Tanner has started the process of getting a palette expander put in his mouth. He has permanent teeth coming in on top of other permanent teeth so we need to get on it right away. Oh, the never ending saga of braces--will it ever end. All I can say is . . . stop the madness!

"Look, I'm a cooker!"

A few weeks ago, Trevor came up to me one night and asked, "Mom, I need to learn how to cook so I can be a cooker." So I taught him how to make a sandwich. He was very proud of himself and exclaimed, "Look, I'm a cooker!"

Brotherly love and Mr. Imagination

Tanner is such a good brother and friend to Trevor. I just ran across this photo of them getting off the bus on the first day of school and had to share it. Trevor just loves his older brother, Tanner, and wants to do whatever he is doing.

I also had to share Tanner's latest invention. He truly has an imagination that could rival anyone. He has been like this since he was tiny and dressing up in different characters. When he was about 18 months old he wanted to wear goggles 24/7, and it was so funny when they would get all fogged up, but he would never take them off. We would often see him sporting a cape, wearing a handmade mustache, or carrying a sword around--sometimes all three. Usually his costumes would revolve around whatever movie he was watching. One time he was watching "The Robe" with Grandpa Doug. Next thing you know, he is wearing a gladiator helmet, carrying a sword and wearing his red Superman cape. (Apparently he needed to be a Roman soldier in order to watch the movie.) One time he actually made a lizard's tale for himself out of newspaper and masking tape, and he wore it all day. Trevor has now carried on the tradition of that a little bit and often is seen carrying a sword, etc.

Well, Tanner's latest invention was a strobe light/reading light for his fort that he made with Trevor on the bottom bunk. Notice how he attached the flashlight with rubber bands that can also cause the light to twist--hence the strobe effect. Also, take note of where he put his pencil. Trevor also took part in all this planning and building as he--wants to be just like Tanner.

My chance to retreat

Last weekend the Relief Society had a retreat in Pinedale, AZ. We were lucky enough to stay in someone's cabin. Now these people's version of a "cabin" is my version of a "dream home." I posted a few pictures to get an idea. There is a huge great room/kitchen/eating area, 6 bedrooms, 2 bunk rooms, 4 bathrooms, a TV/movie room complete with 3 couches and "movie seats", and a game room including a pool table. It even has a central vacuuming system. It sleeps 27 people I believe--all on beds. Plus there are cribs, toddler beds, etc. It was a BEAUTIFUL place. We had a great time playing games, talking, eating, staying up late, getting spa treatments, listening to speakers, making crafts and going on a photo/nature walk.

Check out the picture of the kitchen!! I love what they built into the end of the counter. It's a bunch of candy behind glass with a sign in red letters above it that says, "In case of emergency break glass." Yes, it's real candy. What a cute idea!

I loved the photo/nature walk. We have 2 women in our ward that are fabulous photographers. You remember Mary who took our family photos at Thanksgiving--she's one of them. Anyways, they taught me all sorts of stuff. Check out my picture of the "cabin" we stayed in. See how I framed it with the bars of the wrought iron fence. Also, I love the picture I took of the sunflowers. I like how the flowers are clear and the barn in the background is slightly blurry.

A less active lady from our ward came and did spa treatments on all of us. It was great that we could get her to come out and meet a few of us sisters in such a fun way. What a nice thing for her to do. You can see me in the picture getting my lips treated for dryness and getting softened. (Won't Jerel be glad to see me!)
We had a great lesson on President Holland's talk about speaking with the tongues of angels. This was one of Jerel's favorite talks (and mine too). Amy (you can see her in the picture with me) did a wonderful job speaking. I really felt the spirit and had a renewed goal to be a better person. I liked how she began her talk. She started by reading great quotes from many different people. We had to guess who said them all. There were quotes from past presidents, prophets and even people in our own ward. She then asked us to think about what quotes people would remember us by. How will people remember me? Another great point that was brought up was how we are representing the Lord to our children by what we say. When you call a repair place, for example, your first impression is based on the person who answers the phone. Depending on their knowledge and how you are treated, you then decide whether you want to use that repairman. That person is representing the company. So how am I representing my Heavenly Father to my kids. Do they think that He will be harsh and impatient with the mistakes they make because they see me act that way? Or will they see great love? Just a few thoughts--as I said, I left feeling committed to being a better person.

What a great weekend!

Pretty enough to eat

Here's my latest cake I made in my most recent Wilton class. I LOVE this cake. It's all decorated with fondant. But the best part is the cake itself. I made a chocolate cake with a filling of chocolate chips and raspberry cream cheese frosting. I am taking this class with my good friend Stephanie. This is the third Wilton class we have taken together. I just love going to these classes and working with her. She's all about how it tastes and loves to dream up fabulous fillings for her cakes. She inspired me to make this one taste as good as it looks. She's a great cook and has become my "cooking hotline" whenever I have a question.

I'll come back!

Well, school started last week on the 13th, and I am not sure I'm ready to be home by myself yet. Chase is in 8th grade, Jordan is in 7th grade, Tanner is in 4th grade, and Trevor is in Kindergarten ALL DAY!! I really miss my kids when they are gone. In the past I have been known to drive up to the school during the day to see if I can see them at recess, etc. Jerel says it feels like I'm doing surveillance on the school.

About a month ago I got emotional and told Trevor, "You're too little to go to school all day." He got really sad and said, "Okay, I guess I can't go to school then; I'm too little." I quickly corrected myself and told him that even though he was big enough to go to school, I wasn't ready for him to be gone all day, and I was going to miss him. I got tearful about it and Trevor responded, "I'll come back!" So cute! Then Chase had to chime in with "Oh, yeah, like mom was all upset like this when I went to school for the first time." Jerel assured him that I was very emotional his first day too and did my share of "surveillance" on the school for him too. lol

I made sure I made them their favorite breakfast--monkey bread--to start out the day. Everyone seems to be doing really well (except for Tanner's bout of strep throat for two days.) Poor guy. I guess Heavenly Father wanted to let me have someone home for just a few more days. :) Tanner thinks he wants to run for student council or class president. Jordan realized that getting to class on time and finding his classrooms wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. He was very nervous to start Junior High. I'm sure all the girls are glad that Chase is back to school. He has quite a following of girls that call, text, toilet paper, etc.

The week before school started the junior high had an open house. Jordan, Chase and I went up to get Jordan acquainted with the campus and his teachers. Jordan wanted Chase to go too and share his experience/knowledge. (It's good to have an older brother at times.) Well, while we were up there, Chase got reacquainted with some of his "fan club." I teased him later as we walked away saying, "I bet those girls are all twitter-pated now and thinking how cute you are and oh, my goodness, Chase came and talked to us." After spending an hour or so, Jordan still felt very nervous about knowing where everything was and finding all his classes. When he came home the first day he said, "It wasn't as hard as I thought." Chase chimed in from the kitchen, "I told you." Spoken like a true big brother.

On Tuesday after Trevor got home from school I asked him what they worked on. After his response I asked if they worked on letters and numbers. He responded, very matter of factly too, "Mom, they don't do letters and numbers. I've been there two days. I'm serious--no, letters and numbers." I guess he felt like a pro after only two days. Here's pictures of them on the first day. One cute note. A few days before school started, Trevor went to school to a "Hello Party" to meet his new teacher. I asked him later what he thought of her and he said, "She's beautiful." Isn't that so sweet.

Here's a few more of my "surveillance pictures" from the first day!

I just love this picture. His backpack looks soo big.

Trevor lining up--see his beautiful teacher!

Tanner getting ready and organized.

Waiting for the bus and looking VERY cool.

If you're a "So You Think You Can Dance" fan, you'll LOVE this!

My brother-in-law, Shad, was looking at past audition clips from "So You Think You Can Dance" and found this. Thought you all might be interested. I'm so glad he found it--I'm such a fan of the show! Shad, thanks so much for just being you! To see, click on the link below:

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/252088

Stay tuned!!

Okay, I have had a ton going on in the last few weeks. Now that I have a few moments this week, I'm going to try to update you on a ton of stuff. So keep checking back--I have about 10 blog posts in my head right now that I need to update you all on.