Me..... at 30!!

Look at me.... I'm 30!!!! I feel great and look pretty good too.... if I do say so myself. {and I do}

Waaaaaaaaaay back when, I use to think that thirty was so old, and once I got there that I would be ancient. Well, well... I guess it's not so bad.

Looking back on all the things that I have done, I'm pretty proud of myself. I have a degree in CAD {computer-aided drafting}, I met an incredible man... and the amazing thing is, he took a chance and married me. {shocking I know :) } I have moved many times, I have 3 amazing boys {and another kid on the way}

I have learned a lot and made many great friends a long the way.

There is so much that I want to do in the next thirty years. I'm looking forward with so much hope and joy. I know some of the things that I have coming up in my life, but I'm more excited for all the unexpected things that are going to happen. I look forward to the learning and growing that I'll have. I know it's not going to be easy, but hey.... I made it to 30 so I can do anything!!!!

Don't peek...

This really is just for posterity.... or for blackmail, which ever comes first. Tim is really cute, and he can't quite balance yet sitting forward, so this is the next best thing.

This is the perk to being a mom.... is seeing cute things like this and knowing one day.... yes one day.... I will be thanked that I took this picture. The questions is... who will be thanking me.

RODEO

We took the boys to their first rodeo. It was a great night! It was put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and all the proceeds went to the Boy Scouts of America.

It was so fun to watch them enjoy the evening. They had a great time watching the saddle bronco, where the horse is bucking. And we say a couple really little kids riding, like a 5 year old girl doing barrel racing.


One really eventful thing that happen is that James got lost. I sent the boys to the bathroom with the husband, and I guess when they were done they all scattered. He came back with 2 boys. {2 out of 3 ain't bad...} and after looking for James for about 10 minutes... over the loud speaker I hear that James is at the announcer stand.

There was this event called wild cow milking...

This was a funny event to watch. And the boys got a kick out of seeing real cows being milked.

And then they had a Pig Scramble that was open to the all kids 8 & under. I lost James in the crowd of kids but here are Tommy and Tim running after a piggy. They tried so hard but all they came home with was tons of dirt in their shoes. James said he was one that jumped on a pig but it got away.

The husband and I have talked about starting a hobby farm once we are more settled {which will happen one day} and coming to the rodeo, for me, just reaffirmed that. Driving onto the ranch it was so pretty and open. And.... I was able to see the sun set!! I haven't seen a sun set in so long. {sad, but true} I want big and open. I want to see the sun set every night, I want to have a huge garden, and some livestock. If the boys want to ride horses I want to be able to be able to have stalls for them to clean out, I want the smell of the openness.

The rodeo was so fun and I can't wait for next year!!

5 Whole Years!

Tommy is 5... can you believe it??? I can't.

Because his birthday is the day before we leave for our vacation and we wanted Tommy to be able to play with his toys so we had his birthday over a couple of days.

Friday he got to open his presents so he had a chance to play with them before we left.

Oh, he seems like he is going to be excited.... and yes, he was happy to get a scooter.

But what this smile isn't telling you is that Tim showed Tommy where his presents were. Yes, the two of them were pretty sneaky....

And here is what he was waiting for... a gumball machine. He was really happy to get this.

And what is a birthday party without cake??? And here is Tommy's chocolate cake with blue frosting.... and the shape, he wanted? A triangle. What more can a boy want.

For dinner he wanted fruit and veggies, with cheese and crackers. It was a really yummy dinner and the husband showed the boys how he learned to eat a kiwi in New Zealand.

Tommy is a really incredible kid! I am so happy to be his mom. I have learned so much from him. He has a strong testimony of his Savior. He loves to help, and loves to be snuggled. He is passionate about everything he does... play, learn, laugh and love. He taught himself how to read and now reads so well. He loves to read the scriptures with the family. He brings so much sunshine into our family.

Happy Birthday Tommy!!! You will make a great 3..... I mean, 5 year old.

Start 'em young

Part of being a family is also doing household chores... and I believe in starting them young. While James and Tommy clean the bathrooms I have Tim wiping downs doors and door knobs.

Spreading out the work makes it easy for all. {plus, I like not having to clean the bathrooms weekly}



Just so you know.... I do a deep cleaning a couple times a month, it's just the weekly light cleaning that the boys do.

I vote NO!!!!

Raise your hand if you know what is going on at Capitol Hill.... Good, now raise your hand if you have an opinion on the health care bill.... Now raise your hand if you understand what the health care bill is about.

Fewer of you... hum.... So are you for or against it? Why?

I am trying hard to educate myself in what is going on so when things like this come up I can have an opinion that is my own. Not one that is the same as my husband {although we usually end up with the same conclusion} and not because the media told me to feel one way or the other.

So here are my thoughts on the Health Care Bill.

It's a bad idea!!! Very bad idea. Do we need reform in our health car program?? Yes we do! Is the proposed plan a good one.... NO!!! Yes, it has some good points but for the most part it's a bad thing.

Here are the things that I think are good....
*Your insurance can't drop you once you've maxed out your coverage. -This is a really good thing for those that have a terminal disease or cancer-
*Children can not be denied for having pre-existing conditions.

Ok so right now that's what I can find that is good.

Here is where I start getting nervous....

*There will be a government committee that decides what treatment/benefits you get {page 30 SEC 123} This is great huh.... someone who has never met you gets to decide what is best for your health care.... should I be insulted that I can't choose what is going to be best for me and my family??

*Any individual who does not have acceptable health care according to the government will be taxed 2.5% of income {Page 167 Lines 18-23} So if the government doesn't like what you choose, you get taxed. Sounds like I'm being forced to do something even if I don't want to.

*Any non-resident Aline will be exempt from individual taxes {Page 170, Lines 1-3} so who is going to pay??? you and me of course.

*Officers and employee's of the Govt. HC Admin. will have access to all Americana's finances and personal records {Page 195} Where is my privacy??

*It doesn't matter what specialty you have trained yourself in, all will be paid the same. {Page 241, Lines 6-8} Sounds like Socialism to me.

*Government sets the value of the doctor's profession, judgement, time ect. {Page 253, Line 10-18} DING... your time is done. I'm sorry that you can't breath... Come back tomorrow so I can see you again.

If you want to read it you can find it here.

And here is something else.... Abortion will be federally funded. That's a great way to spend our money.
This is just a bit of what is in the Health Care Bill. I don't like being forced to have to do something, and this is exactly what it is. We are going to be forced to buy the Health Care, we don't have a choice.

So.... what are your thoughts on the Bill. Do you have any?

It all needs to stay OUTSIDE!

Back in November I had the opportunity to experience a frog in the house... coming up through the toilet.... Yes, that really happen!

At this point all I can say is why me...? I LOVE nature... OUTSIDE!!! I really don't appreciate it coming into my house.

It's what actually pretty cool and really pretty.

Now this thing is another mystery. You would think that I would notice this thing coming into my house. Nope. The husband found it on the chair.

Until..... you get a good look at this guys face. I think I like these guys best outside....

Domestic, me.

I'm at it again... being domestic and all. Maybe you remember my time with the potatoes. My good friend Nicole is a fountain of knowledge so I thought I would draw from that well while she is still here.

So here is my Christmas present a shiny pressure cooker. It's so pretty, and I was so happy to get to use it.

Today was chicken. Yup, bottled chicken. I really can not believe how easy it is. It's amazing that more people don't do this with how easy it is.

I just went and got boneless skinless chicken breasts. Salted them and stuck them in the bottle. Easy huh!!

I also made some chicken soup. With carrots, and celery, and a broth along with the chicken and it was stuck in the pressure cooker with the plain chicken.

Put all the bottles in the pressure cooker with about 3 inches of water. Seal it up and start the timer. That's it!! The thing that took the longest was just waiting for the timer to go off, and then to let the pressure out.

You can do this with bone in chicken as well. Beef, yup. Veggies... that too.

I am so excited to start canning. I am going to try to do this a couple times each month.

Boy's

We were outside, and Tommy was the lucky one to catch the first lizard of the season. He had it dangled by the tail, and all the boys were looking at it. I was really hoping that the tail wouldn't pop off. So I ran into the house to grab my camera. All of a sudden I hear a scream and think, "Ok, so the tail fell off." I go back outside and asked what happen thinking it wasn't' anything too bad. Unfortunately for the lizard it was bad!! I guess Tommy dropped the lizard and in the process of trying to catch it again stepped on it. {It was really gross!}

I scooted it over to the grass just so it wouldn't get stepped on any more, and I go back to what I was doing. Next thing I know the boys are over looking at it and I hear Tommy say...

"JAMES, CAN I POKE IT NOW???"

Really this is such a boy thing to say! "Can I poke it?" Growing up I never wanted to poke any dead things.... I guess boys do.

{then James tried to pup it back up... that didn't work either}

Swappin' Love!! {and another swap!}

The wonderful Mamrazzi hosted another swap. I so look forward to these!! My {wonderful} husband always has packages coming to the house for him so it's so nice to have something come in the mail that is just for me! {Me, me, me }

I 'met' Evelyn, and instantly liked her! {Go and visit and you will love her too, she is so honest and funny!!}


I was sitting out side when the mail man pulled up and gave me the package. I opened it up and had so much fun looking at all the goodies that are Evelyn's favorite things.

She sent a movie {My Big Fat reek Wedding} because she loves movies.

A new box of crayons {a big box!!! with 64 crayons!!} {I love the smell of a new box of crayons, I'm sure the boys will help me use these}

Some scrapbook paper

A cute little star to hang up. She love's the Americana, {and so do I, we were such a good match!}

A little bag that she made, a pack of gum {apparently she is keeping the Trident company in business} Oh, there was a box of chocolates from See's. And that lasted all of 20 minutes. And because I needed to hid the evidence of any chocolate that was consumed in this house I threw away the packaging and covered it up. But it was really good... just if you wanted to know.

She sent a cute headband and some flowers that she made just in case we have a girl...{we may have been jinxed now, so we'll see}

AND on top of that all...she made this wonderful name hanging!

She researched my name, and made this beautiful hanging. I really can't tell you what this meant to me. And being pregnant I cried....

I think Evelyn and I would be great friends if we lived closer together, and through the swap I have met her.

I had so much fun shopping for Evelyn and if you want to see what I got for her go here. But really... you should say and look around, it's totally worth it.

Thank you Mamrazzi for hosting a great swap, and thank you Evelyn for making my day!!

And just incase this wasn't fun enough there is another swap that is hosted by Shortmama! Holy Moly I love swaps!! This one closes on the 17th so get on ovr there and get signed up.

There was going to be jam.

On Saturday we went to the farmers market and along with some ultra sweet grapefruits we got a flat of strawberries. In my head I saw jars of strawberry jam, and some strawberry shortcake, and to nibble on a few here and there.

That night the husband and I also went on a date with some friends. We had a great time and the boys were sound asleep when we got home.

I go to take one more look at my wonderful strawberries. And this is what I saw!!!! the whole flat was GONE!!! The boys ate the entire thing. {I didn't mention that this was a bad thing to the babysitter, but you would think that eating an entire flat would be a bad thing....}

Oh, the jam... the strawberry shortcake... the nibbling.

And Sunday afternoon as each boy made his way to the bathroom to do his business... I knew that all those thoughts of the yummy things that could be made were being flushed down the toilet... literally.

Our extreamly...

normal life.....

The husband watering our garden. We are in a rental and as much as I want some fresh veggies, I don't want to replace the grass after we dig it up. So we got the hanging gardens and we'll see how that works.

Tim watching Tommy draw with sidewalk chalk. {James took this picture}

Tommy running away. Fortunately this is no longer a common occurrence. {in Arizona, we had several neighbors bring our kids home {thankfully} then we invested in better locks and alarms.} {James took this picture}

Tim jumping with "Snakie"

In between a bunch of really cold days, there have been some beautiful ones. So we have been enjoying just being a normal... boring family and enjoying our days.

Butterscotch anyone??

I've played around with recipes while cooking before, and I've become pretty good about being able to substitute with what every I have on hand and make something pretty good.

BUT....

I never mess with the recipes that I am baking. You know, like cookies or cakes or whatever. I never know how they are going to turn out, and for some reason that freaks me out. {yes I know, another irrational fear... I should really blog about that}

So I thought I would give it a shot, and I changed up a recipe and {wait for it....} change it up just a bit. I changed out Chocolate chips, for butterscotch ones, and instead of vanilla pudding, butterscotch. I know big changes huh... but I needed to start somewhere.

I thought of posting the recipe but I can't just copy and paste, so you'll have to wait until I feel like typing it all out. They really are yummy though.

{these were the only three left after 24 hours. The family really loved them}




We had a lot of fun this week while we were homeschooling... go see what we did.

A new talent???

James LOVES my camera! And often asks to take pictures, I was going though his latest round of shots, and there were some definite good ones. I think this boy might have a budding talent.

Self Portrait shot.... look at all those cute freckles.

He took a picture of Tommy dancing crazy

I was wondering what this was of, and then I saw it.... do you??

He saw a bird way up there and took a picture of it! {Picture by James... edited by me}

See everybody.... I do exist!! {picture by James... edited by me}

Another self shot....{NO editing on this one... I love the way it came out!}

James these are really good and I'm proud of you! Your talents, your smile, your ability to see the good all around you. I love you!