Sixes Tag

My SIL Gina tagged me and here is the game...find your 6th picture in your 6th picture file... Here is mine.

It's actually the 6th picture in the 6th file of the 6th file.... This is a goofy picture of Felicity taken last year at the end of January or the beginning of February. The stake primary wanted pictures of the kids getting baptized that month to put in the program, so we had a little photo shoot with Felicity. It was only a year-and-a-half ago, but she has grown up so much since then! She is such a smart, witty, amusing girl and a great helper to her Mom!

Just a note

It has been another busy week and Sunday. The weather has warmed up this week and we enjoyed going to a couple of parks on Saturday to play - without jackets even. Shawn and I got the girls a Little Caesar's pizza for dinner Saturday and then I took him out to dinner to celebrate his new position at work - he was elected and voted in as President of the Board of Directors of their company. He was also asked awhile ago to be a board member of the Idaho Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. I am so proud of him! He is a great worker and really does well when there is a problem that needs to be solved.

Today our choir sang (Peace Like a River) and Shawn had to give a talk in sacrament meeting on abuse. We also had our "fifth Sunday" combined meeting which also covered abuse. He did a great job on his talk and the choir number and the other speaker complemented the theme also. Our family and another family were asked to sing one of the songs for the Primary program, so we also went into primary to practice that.

After church Shawn and I played games while the girls had some quiet time and then our new home teacher came with his wife. Then we had our family home evening and Felicity prepared the lesson on Queen Esther all by herself. She did a great job researching her story in the scripture readers, a Bible Q&A coloring book we have and of course the scriptures. She even found a coloring page online for her sisters to color and made a Power Point presentation for us. She is a smart little cookie and loves to put things like this together.

Hope you are all enjoying autumn!

Lauri A to Z

I was tagged by Heather, so here goes...

A-Attached or Single: Attached - and happily so!
B-Best Friend: Hubby (and others around the country)
C-Cake or Pie: Pie if it's with ice cream
D-Day: Um, not sure what this means... my days vary, each is different
E-Essential Item: jeans
F-Favorite Color: yellow
G-Gummi bears or gummi worms: Gummi bears
H-Hometown: Boise,ID
I-Indulgences: Reading all day
J-January or July: Neither, too hot or too cold
K-Kids: 3 amazing girls
L-Life is incomplete without: My family
M-Marriage Date: July 18, 1997
N-Number of Siblings: 2 brothers
O-Oranges or Apples: oranges
P-Phobias or Fears: Roller Coasters something about plummeting to the earth...
Q-Quote: "You must chill! I have hidden your keys!"
R-Reason to Smile: When my kids say or do something funny
S-Season: Fall
T-Tag: Holly, Becky, Melissa, Tamlynn, Gina
U-Unknown fact about me: If I told you it wouldn't be unknown
V-Vacation destination of choice: a cruise, the coast, Europe...
W-Worst Habit: Yelling at my kids too much
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Umm... ultrasounds?
Y-your favorite food: Pizza, brownies, popcorn
Z-Zodiac Sign: Aquarius, but I have no idea what that means.

A Good Day

We had a good day. Slept in, had breakfast and then Shawn and I went grocery shopping. We came home and had lunch and then went and saw Wall-E all together. It was a cold, snowy day, so when we got home we all just hung out and did our own thing for awhile, then the girls had baths, a simple dinner and bedtime stuff. I think Shawn and I will play games since we have been watching T.V. most of the evening. Oh, and yes, you heard that right - snow here. I hear it was in Boise too.

More Applesauce

I spent today making applesauce - all day - 9 am until 6 pm (with breaks to have a snack, eat lunch and to take the girls to the dentist). I used all 4 boxes of apples that were left and made 22 bottles (quarts?). Add that to the 11 I made before and I have 33 quarts of applesauce I made all by my own little self. I combined the Red Delicious apples Shawn's parents brought with the 3 boxes of Jonathan apples we picked and they made a pretty pinkish applesauce. I used up all but 1 of my quart jars and I am so glad it's done!

Here's a picture of my kitchen in process and the finished product!

Stylin' Girls

Here is a pic of my funny girls. They think it is stylish to wear their undershirts on the outside. Actually, they got a little style guide in a magazine, and it's supposed to be tank tops over t-shirts, but since I don't buy tank tops, it's undershirts for them. Oh, and they all have to match! Lydia couldn't find her brown pants though.

Advice on apples?

It's IEA and the kids are out of school for two days. Felicity and Lydia are both grounded today, and I'm beginning to wonder, "Who was I punishing here?" Evie has a friend over and they're playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos which has to be the loudest game ever created by Milton Bradley, Hasbro or any other of the game gurus.

So, I still have 3 boxes of apples to deal with, and frankly, I'm applesauced out. (How did you do over 40 jars Becky?) Does anyone have any other yummy recipes for apples? Especially canning, drying, etc. Please send me your suggestions! Tell you what, if you send one and I use it, I will send you a prize. I don't know what, but you'll like it, because who doesn't like prizes or getting something in the mail, right?

Hope you are all enjoying your week or your early weekend if you're kids are out like me. I have to remove myself from the hippos now.

I can't believe it's October already!

Happy Birthday Bryan!!
Here is a summary of the last week of Septmeber.
Our ward choir sang in sacrament meeting and sounded awesome! It’s been awhile since we sounded that good. We have a few new members that are great and that music workshop paid off. I had one day with absolutely nothing on the calendar, so I really enjoyed it and “took a nap” until Evie came home from school. I got my hair cut. Shawn and I helped out at school again. The girls had dance and tumbling. Shawn went on a scout campout. Evie went to another friend’s birthday party. I watched the RS broadcast at home.

I substituted in primary for the chorister. Shawn went to another stake music meeting, this time about the Christmas program. We picked apples for Family Home Evening. A couple in our ward has an 80 tree orchard in their backyard and let us just come pick. I made 11 quarts of applesauce with two boxes of golden delicious apples. I still have 3 boxes of Jonathan apples to do something with.

Wrapping up September

Here is a summary of our penultimate week of September.

Shawn gave the Elder’s Quorum lesson and attended a Stake music workshop that has helped him grow as a ward choir conductor.. I substituted for the school librarian one day and it wiped me out! I am NOT ready to go back to work full-time. I went to the substitute orientation at the school district office. I went to book group and we picked all our books for the upcoming year. Felicity ran a half mile for PE. The girls had picture day, but I didn’t order any because I rarely like them. The girls all went to their dance and tumbling classes. Shawn and I volunteered at school. Evie went to a friend’s birthday party. Shawn attended the Idaho Association of Marriage and Family Therapists conference in Boise. While Shawn was gone I painted a chair black, cleaned the house, rearranged and organized Lydia’s room, painted a mirror purple (for Lydia’s room), unpacked all the games I had packed when we were moving, had a girl party where we watched Camp Rock, ate popcorn and painted nails, and enjoyed a good thunderstorm.

During the thunderstorm Lydia said, “Thunder and lightning give me anxiety.” I guess that’s what you get from the daughter of a mental health professional. I thought it was pretty funny.