A kind service

We had some youth visitors drop in on us last night.  They were doing service for their Mutual church activity and asked what they could do around the house, so we had them vacuum, do dishes, and dust!  Thank you, Rhiannon, Lettie, Trini, Rachel, Kayla, Seth, and Josh, and to their chaperones Tara and Lee.  My baseboards, window ledges, and door trim haven't been that sparkly since we moved in 4 years ago! :)

4th Grade Clubs

Wade is a good kid. 

Before I report on birthday celebrating, I have to share something that Wade experienced this week.  Some of his friends got together and created a "Little People" club at recess, where you have a name and an "issue."  I think Wade was "Small Man" and he had "anger management issues."  There was Mini Man and Tiny Man, etc. (4th graders are smart.)  The club was going to meet a couple times a week at recess to discuss their little people.  I told Wade that it sounded fun but that he needed to be inclusive, not exclusive. 

Sure enough, the next day a kid (a really fun, nice kid) wanted in the club and was turned down by another of Wade's friends.  Feelings got hurt and Wade was a little worried about it and confused.  We talked about it a lot, practiced "what to say," and after pounding it into Wade, I finally gave it a rest.

The next day Wade reported that there was a new club, a Marvel Super Heroes Club.  He was Peter Parker, and some of his friends were The Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Captain America.  The boy who'd been turned down before was now part of the club.  I asked, "So, who started it?  Who's the president?"  Wade said he was!   I told him I was proud of him and reminded him to be inclusive, asking him what the plan was once they ran out of Marvel Super Heroes, plan for female club members, etc.

 

Ah, fourth graders are fun!

A Mystery Dinner and one heck of a soup recipe

Jason and I had a great time with our first mystery dinner experience!   Our friends the Workmans hosted the evening--it was a blast!  The "archaeological dig" in their front room was a tent!  We ate dinner and read the script inside it.  Thank goodness for the script and clues--I thought going into it that we had to make everything up and stay in character as we went--an actress I will never be, ha-ha!

 

 

Ashley R. Sonnyste and Con Iver

Jason borrowed Rhiannon's Doctor Who bowtie--he looks great!  I loved that we "matched" with the turquoise scarf and bowtie, ha-ha!

 

Fun with some good friends!

Archaeologically Speaking: It's the Pits!

Back Row: Conrad Iver, Major General E.B. Sawtedd, Hamilton MacTorr, Lester A. Fayre

Front Row: Ashley R. Sonnyste, Terra Sunder, Anne T. Ickwitee, Lady Mellissa N. Lynke

 

The first course of the dinner was this SUPER TASTY soup.  I asked for the recipe and had to post it!

Pot Sticker Soup:

 

1 T sesame oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

32 oz chicken broth (two cartons)

2 green onions, chopped

another 1 T sesame oil

1 package (15 oz) frozen pot stickers (I used 16 pot stickers, I don't know how many ounces that was)

1 package (12 oz) frozen stir-fry vegetables

 

1. Heat 1 T of sesame oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in chopped onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth, green onions, and remaining sesame oil. Bring to boil over high heat, and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Probably just pepper- it's plenty salty)

 

2. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the frozen pot stickers and stir-fry vegetables. Cook until the pot stickers float, about 8 minutes boiling.

Make it soon before you forget how good it was because it really is an easy recipe. Grab a bag of stir-fry vegetables, toasted sesame oil, and some pot stickers.

Mondays

Rhiannon does not like Mondays, poor thing.  She loves her weekends and being able to get some regular/extra sleep!  Who can blame her, when she's waking up at 5:15am or earlier every week day.  We sure love this dedicated, responsible, hard-working girl!

 

Here she is with Oscar and Samson, trying to sum up some Monday courage!

 



 

A visit to Zion National Park

We had some fun adventures this past weekend on our way to and from Page, AZ for Jason's 1/2 marathon in Lake Powell. 

 

Our Ridgecrest friends Rob and Crystal Tomlinson were also running in the race, so they invited us to join their family and make a weekend out of it.  We stayed overnight on Friday at Crystal's parents' home in St. George.  It was fun to meet her parents Mark and Cheryl--they were so outgoing and kind and made us feel welcome.  (They're leaving to the Philippines to serve a church mission in a few months, too!)

 

On Saturday we all got on the road headed for Page and were treated to a drive through Zion National Park.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  The mile-long tunnel through the mountain was fun, and then just as we exited the tunnel we pulled over and parked in this little lot right next to the start of the Canyon Overlook trail.  We were all glad we did that before the race, ha-ha!  It wasn't hard but had some tricky spots.

 

Visiting Zion National Park was a great memory!  The views were stunning and the company we were with made it even more fun!

 

 

 

 

A Movie Party

 Jason and Rhiannon closed down the pool today.  I felt bad for not being more involved in that huge project, but Wade and I were pulling off a 10th birthday party at the same time!  It has been quite a busy Columbus Day! 

 

Wade doesn't officially turn 10 for another week, but today was the best time to celebrate with friends because of upcoming weekend conflicts.  Wade had the option of inviting 10 kids, but he wanted to keep it small so he invited 5 and 4 were able to come.  Jordan, Jacob, Ben, and Nick were great party guests--we had a really good time with them.

 

Today's party was movie-themed, of course:  Iron Man 3!  We watched the movie, had movie treats, opened gifts, and ate pizza and cupcakes, too.  It was simple, fun, and easy.  PERFECTO!    

 

The movie lasts 2 hours, but the boys BARELY finished it in 3 because they kept pausing for movie break-downs and explanations, potty breaks, and food breaks.  It was hilarious!  One kid said, "Man, it's nice being able to pause it!"  I had to agree! :)

 

Iron Man 3 welcomed guests at the door

Fun sign!

Hard to tell from this picture, but that's a cardboard replica of D.U.M.-E. from the Iron Man movies

You know what's pretty amazing?  There was almost no popcorn left to pick up after these guys. 
They're good kids who don't make big messes--SCORE!

Wade was super excited for "intermission" when he could open gifts!

I love this picture of his friends watching anxiously.  Boys are fun!

Say cheese!  Oscar and Samson "watched" most of the movie with us, but they were crated
once the pizza and cupcakes came out. :)



Wade was happy, and that's what matters.  So happy this movie-lovin', all-boy son is in our family!  Happy (early) 10th Birthday, Wade-O!  We love you!

A Conference blessing

Yesterday was a rough sub job day for me.  I had a cute 2nd grade class that I'd already subbed for twice this school year. "I like them, they like me, we're a happy family," usually. 

But I had two boys in particular who cried and cried and cried that day.  Cried because their mom left in the morning.  Cried because they left their show-and-tell toy at home.  Cried because their tooth was really loose and it hurt.  Cried because their ghosts for the art project didn't look right.  No lie, I ended the 2nd art project at the end of the day because too many kids were crying about it, and then, when I told kids they could get the materials to finish the project at home, one of my criers started sobbing because a) he didn't have any scissors at home, and b) when I told him he could take the scissors home that were in his pencil box, he cried about having a hole in his backpack and what if they fell out?  Cried and cried and cried. 

Now, if I'd been smart, I would have paused everything earlier in the day and RAN to the school library for Judith Viorst's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very-Bad Day.  But I didn't.  I just kept trudging on.

I didn't handle it very well.  I just could not understand why they wouldn't stop crying when I told them to stop.  I remember distinctly announcing to the class a couple times:  "I'm going to lose it."  and "New rule, class.  You can only cry if your dog has died or you're bleeding to death."  Yes, I actually said that.  And, yes, looking back on it, I shouldn't have. 

I left a very lengthy report for the teacher at the end of the day and felt horrible, tired, and incredibly frustrated.  I complained to every member of the family.

Later that night, this came to mind:




I realized very quickly that I was pretty full of myself, that I thought I was the "bomb-diggity" of substitute teachers, when in reality I had a LOT to learn and hadn't once had the thought that day to seek help from above.

I'm grateful for that reminder.  I'm thankful I heard that talk last week and that it came so quickly to mind.  I feel better, more determined to learn from my mistakes and move forward, with God's help!

Fun picture of Wade

Wade's teacher Mrs. Keehan sent this fun pic to Jason's cell phone a few weeks ago.  Another reason why we love her and are happy Wade is in her class.

You're never too old to color



 

Just for fun--General Conference weekend photos!

 



Totally posed, but cute picture of Wade.  Can't believe he'll celebrate a decade this month!

I snuck the camera between the stairway slats to get this pic of Rhiannon. 
She was chatting on Facebook and having the time of her life, even answered a friend's questions about the Church.

This is Samson.  He is a good dog about 98% of the time.

Selfie, ha-ha!  I was sitting outside watching the dogs.

Probably up to no good, those two.  They like to eat grass, and..

don't seem too care too much when sticky weeds get stuck in their faces!

I'm not gonna lie, I like these dogs a lot. 
This was a common scene during General Conference, all of us fighting for Oscar and Samson's attention!

General Conference is over, and we all enjoyed it!  So many good talks!!!

You're never too old to color.  Wade colored Spiderman pages,

and Rhiannon colored the little activity book that we'd stashed in the 72-hour kits for years.

Conference sticky notes...

times 2.  Which was your favorite?



Emergency Prep challenges

We closed out this past week (and the month of September) in style.

--Jason is back on his feet and running again.  BAM!  He runs his first half-marathon in less than 3 weeks. 

--Wade is having a blast in 4th grade.  He's in a special advanced reading group, covering a book called Dealing With Dragons.  He loves doing athletic stuff at recess, whether it's wall ball or shooting hoops or whatever floats his boat.  And he's making some new friends, too. 

--Rhiannon is BUSY with school, classwork, yearbook, band, and piano, but she's doing a great job keeping up with everything.  I was especially proud of her yesterday when we were at the doctor's office.  We were looking into why she'd been dizzy this weekend, and so she had to get some bloodwork done.  She took it like a champ--a huge improvement over her meltdowns when she was little, ha-ha!

--I participated in a 7 Day Challenge last week online sponsored by this website:
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/,
where I worked through various emergency prep scenarios.  It was awesome.  They were:

Day 1--You've got to leave your family for a week.  Assemble ingredients and instructions for 7 QUICK, easy dinners.  (I passed, but only because I put together a LOT of pasta meals.  Need to work on variety.)

Day 2--You can only use water that you've stored today, for drinking/cooking/washing/laundry/going to the bathroom.  (I just assessed where we were at.  I'd like to get a solar shower, a mobile washer for washing clothes, more paper goods, and continue to get more water stored.  We've got 56 gallons of water stored in the garage and could use water from the hot tub and swimming pool to flush toilets.)

Day 3--Evacuation Day.  See how quickly you can evacuate from your home with your 72-hour kits, then return home and live in "shelter-mode" for the rest of the day.  (I took time that day to look at our 72-hr kits.  They were too heavy, and stuff was spread all over the house.  Also didn't have my emergency binder, with important documents, etc, ready to go.  Will be working on this one a lot.  Did NOT do the "shelter-in-place."  Maybe next year, ha-ha!)

Day 4--Gain knowledge about first aid and CPR.  Practice it. (I loved this day--I demonstrated CPR to the Cub Scouts that night!  It was good to review the info Jason and I had learned a couple years ago in a comprehensive first aid/CPR class.  Today I'm working on updating our first aid kits and throwing out expired medicine.)

Day 5--Your kitchen is off-limits today.  Practice powerless cooking for all meals and snacks.  (By this time of the week, I was getting burnt out, but I did cook oatmeal on a little camping stove for breakfast, and we grilled for dinner.  Plan to get another propane tank for the grill, and work on getting more Mountain House or freeze-dried/just-add-water meals.)

Day 6--Vegan visitors.  Make meals without any meat or dairy the whole day.  (This one was a bust. No milk?  No eggs?  Not even canned tuna? We just didn't want to do it, ha-ha!  I do plan to learn how to cook beans more and use them in meals.)

Day 7--Trucking strike, where your community won't have any food/supplies delivered for a long time.  (To do list:  I need to look critically at our long-term storage and see where we're at and work towards getting more.  We've got a little bit of everything when it comes to basics, but not large quantities!)

Instead of feeling COMPLETELY overwhelmed, I was able to take a step back and see where we need to improve and make some goals.  I especially appreciated Jason's feedback and input.  Will definitely do this challenge next year!

Oh, and I got a second blog book finished, too, covering the year 2012!  YAY!