Super Saturday

Today was my ward's annual super Saturday. Which they called Relief Society Day Camp. This is a time for the gals in the ward to leave little ones and hubbies behind, and enjoy doing crafts, eating good food, and taking interesting fun classes, and mostly enjoy visiting with other ladies. It was so much fun! One of my favorite classes was one about making caramel. I can't eat too much of the stuff as it hurts my teeth, but Allen LOVES it. I was so excited that my mom agreed to come with me this time. She was so cute! One of her old friends is in my ward: Alice Ferguson, and Alice told me to tell Mom, she had to come. So, she came! I was so glad, Mom really need a fun day off. They had a blast sitting around chatting and working on decal blocks... Mom did mine, didn't it turn out cute? Mom also did a Christmas traditions book for me too. She did that for me while I worked on super cute apron

It's it cute?

A big shot out to all the ladies that put together this fun Saturday! Amy Rhodes for the cute aprons and help. I had a blast hanging up with you too. Amy Sanoja for the blocks! So cute! And all the other ladies: Thanks a bunch! This was just what I needed. I spent Friday feeling just a little blue. I don't know why, I just did. A BIG thank you to my incredible hubby for taking the kids today! They had so much fun. He took them to the Cenntial Hills Harvest Festival. Riley jumped in a jumping house and got to climb in a firetruck. Allen took such good care of them!

Thanks honey for giving me a day off!

Clean Hands

Motherhood has been an interesting adventure for me. There are days were I wonder what on earth I was thinking when we decided to have kids. Other days, I can't imagine life without them. It's most days that I feel that way. I love being a mom. Seeing how much they learn each day, and getting to be apart of it, is glorious! In everyone life testimony wanes and waxes for me the last few years I have struggled to feel my testimony. Perhaps it's the lack of sleep, I'm not sure. So, I've been trying to implement some of the things that we've be instructed to do in our families. We have started doing family home evening every Monday. Some weeks go better than others, but we've been very good about keeping at it. Tonight I had Allen read a scripture to us before we had family prayer. He chose Psalms 24:1-4, which states He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. It was so cute, when Allen read clean hands he asked Riley if he had clean hands, Riley looked at his hands, smiled and nodded. It made my heart warm. He was so proud of his clean hands. I've also been trying to teach Riley some of the primary songs he will need to learn for next year's primary program. It totally blows my mind that he goes into Sunbeams in January! Riley's favorite song is Families can be Together Forever. He asks us to sing it before he goes to bed. I know that singing these songs helps me to feel the spirit better, and I think he does too. I love how things sometimes are placed in your path to help your testimony grow.

Riley's New Pets

Well this week we have been studying about the letter F. Fish start with the letter F, so the lessons have been mostly about fish. You can't talk about fish, without any fish... so we are now the proud owners of two little gold fish. Riley calls them goldies. This has been such an adventure... stupid fish keep dying! UGH. We got the fish on Monday and Wednesday morning Riley came in to tell me his fish was died! I didn't believe him at first, but sure enough, the little gold fish was gone... we returned it to PetSmart and got another gold one. That night, our new little goldie was floating... so back to PetSmart we went yesterday. So far, this new goldie is doing fine! The gals at the store were very nice. They asked if we had treated the water, and let the fish set in the bag in the fish tank... the water I used was well water,and I did let the fish sit... Then the gal told me that they have been having some trouble with their tanks. So maybe it wasn't me.. who know, fish are delicate little things!

So, anyway: Fish are Friends, not Food! F, F, F!

Mars Attacks

I am pleased to announce the newest member of our family: Mars. This is my brother Soren's new baby. Mars is a 6 week old golden retriever puppy. He's super cute and cuddly. Mars will get to be about 60-80 pounds when he grows up! That's a big dog, but they have a sweet temperament, and are very loyal. Riley is very taken with this new family member! He thinks Mars is sweet... as do we all!

One CRAZY Friday, One COLD Saturday!

This past Friday was completely crazy for us. We are often busy, but seldom are we so overbooked. In the morning the kids and I went with our ward's playgroup to the Gilcrease Orchard's pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch was so much fun! You could get 3 pumpkins per car, so I let Riley pick out ours. He ran all over trying to find the perfect ones! I think he picked up at least 10 before finding the ones that were just right! The one he finally picked for himself we had to pull of the vine, which he tried to do all by himself! He's getting to be very independent. He did finally find the 3 that were just right... and I just had to get pictures with the kids with them.Riley was also excited to see his friends: Ashlin and Laura. He talks about these two girls all the time, they are his nursery friends... he doesn't like the boys, they cry too much! This particular comment made me laugh so hard! This weekend was also Allen's 10 year class reunion. This event was important to Allen, he actually liked some of the people he went to school with, so I decided we need to make the effort to attend some of the festivities. We decided to go to the family tailgate party and the football game. We ran into Rachel and Hannah at the park where the tailgate was being held, and so Riley had fun hanging with his cousin while we visited. It was so windy, and COLD! Holy cow! We have had a sudden change in our weather! I was super glad that I had brought sweaters for the kids, they really needed them. The game was pretty fun, even if it was REALLY cold. Emmaline was really cute through the first quarter. She clapped whenever the players on the field moved. We might get a football fan yet...Who knows! Then she decided she had had enough. She started fussing, not that anyone could hear... it was pretty noisy. We were able to get to meet "Bobby the Bengal" who is Bonanza High School's mascot. And Bonanza beat Durango, 34-6! WOW! Things seems to have changed a lot since 1998, when Bishop Gorman spanked Bonanza 42-0 at Bonanza's Homecoming, and BHS later went something like 0-12.Additionally, there was a party for the law school thrown by Allen's employer last summer which he felt he needed to make an appearance at. So after half time, we dropped the kiddos off at Allen's parents place (about 30 seconds from the game) and drove down to the party.... The party was, hum, interesting! It was a loud drunk fest, if you were to ask me... but I got to meet some of Allen's classmates, and some of the people he used to work for. We also got new t-shirts which are really fun... so it made the excursion almost worth it. It was a lot of fun just to be grown ups for awhile, not "MOMMY and DADDY". I have to admit, though, that my world usually consists of two little voices. The sound never really stops, but it's what I've gotten used to. I felt after leaving the party that I was on "grump overload"... not so used to dealing with adults and there weirdness anymore. We picked up the kids at about 10:30...They had both refused to go to sleep... sigh! But they didn't make it home. Allen and I stopped at In & Out for a quick bite; I was starving! I was so glad to get home! We took a shower and went to bed. What a day! Of course, we had Riley's soccer game the next morning at 8am... We almost didn't make it! After such a late night, no one wanted to get up! Allen and I woke up at 7:30, about the time we were supposed to be in the car and on our way. We rushed around getting everyone up and dressed. We made it to the game, about 5-6 minutes late. Not too bad. It was SO cold... Riley was not sure he really wanted to play! But once he got into it, I think he enjoyed it. We spent most of the day inside, trying to get Emma to take a nap... she just wasn't interested. I eventually went over to my parents' house to help Mya go through the storage room. They are planing on using it as a baby room, so it needs to be cleaned out. She had asked from my help going through some of the things Allen and I had left. Riley enjoyed digging outside in the dirt piles! He loves digging and moving rocks! I can't believe we have survived this crazy weekend. I also can't believe we've had an almost 40 degree drop in temperature in just a few day! Wasn't prepared for that! Now if my car window would just roll up...

Park Time

The yesterday I decided that I was going to be a good mommy. The day before I was really bad mommy, I was super cranky! I'm sure most mom's can relate, I was just sick of the house, the kids, my headache (which has been going on for almost a month), my car (in which the AC is still broken, and the passenger side window is stuck down), and life in general. I snapped at Riley, I yelled at Emmaline, I kicked the dogs out. Well, I decided that night I was going to be a better mommy, I was going to do something Riley and Emma liked. So, after a quick trip to the store, I packed up a picnic lunch. I then loaded the kids up, and drove us the park. I made a commitment to myself that I would let Riley and Emmaline play without a time marker in my head. They had so much fun! Riley made a new friend who ran all over the park with him. Emma had a blast exploring until the pavement got too hot! We stayed for 2 1/2 hours! I decided it was time to go home when Emmaline was getting red...poor thing is as fair as her daddy!

What Strange Things You Learn as a Parent

OK, during the last week we have learned some very interesting things. Riley has discovered the joys of coloring outside the line... meaning, he has discovered that crayons, markers, and pencils work on things other than paper. UGH! He has written in pencil all over the wall, colored the front door yellow, and made an interesting design using ink pen on the couch. Well, as you can imagine, we have done a little research on how to remove such artistic endeavors from our home. I am happy to report that we have successfully removed all of the marks! Here's how we did it:

• For the pencil on the wall: Warm soapy water seemed to do the trick. We had Riley scrub it off. I think we are lucky that he used pencil and not pen on the walls.

• For the sunshiny door: a hot blow dryer and warm soapy water. This was amazing. You use the blow dryer to heat up the wax, then scrub it off with a damp sponge. I was thrilled. We again made Riley scrub!

• Finally, the pen on our microfiber couch: Hand sanitizer and a clean white shop towel. You put the Hand Sanitizer on the towel and scrub. I was shocked to see the pen marks come off. It takes a little elbow grease, but it does come off! The couch was saved!!!

I love the Internet!

Riley's First Soccer Game

Riley played in his first soccer game on Saturday. He's team is called: Sandlot. It was a perfect day for playing! We were almost late. All week the kids have been getting up at around 7, but on Saturday, Emma got up at 7:55 and we needed to be at the game at 8:45... and Riley wasn't even up yet! It was amazing, but we had everyone dressed and in the car in just over 15 minutes. We made it to the game site, right on time. Thankfully the previous game had gone over, so we were alright! We had told Riley that his grandma Peterson was going to be there. So, he started searching the crowd for her. She wasn't there yet. He started to cry! Please keep in mind, his only been up for about 30 minutes, and he is usually the one to wake everyone up, not the other way around. Grandma was running late too! As soon as she showed up, he was all smiles. The game was so cute! The kids ran as a little clump after the ball, with coaches and parent chasing the kids. The parents and coaches are trying to help the little ones figure out which way they are supposed to go! It's really funny! One of the parents for half time, brought oranges for the team to eat. Riley was so happy, after all he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. It was such a fun game to watch! We have games every Saturday morning at Sandstone Ridge Park's Soccer Field. It's located at 1661 W. Hammer Lane if anyone wants to come down. The games are at 8 or 8:45. Let us know if you want to come, and we will tell you which time we have that week. It was so fun to watch Riley run all over the field! He was really cute.

Go Sandlot!

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Dino Days

This week we studied about Dinosaurs. We had a blast! We enjoyed the visit to the museum, and then we grew a dinosaur, read books about dinos, made a dino fossil, and ended the week with a dino party! We invited Weldon and his mommy Mary Lynn and Hannah and her mommy Rachel. It was fun. Riley and I spent the morning getting things ready. We drew dinosaur footprints on the sidewalk leading up to the front door, and we taped down our big paper footprint to the front room floor. When everyone arrived we sang songs and read some books about, you guessed it DINOSAURS! One of the books was called Digging for Dinosaurs. It talked about how the fossils are found and what happens to them. I then lead the kids outside to the sandbox to hunt for dinosaurs. I gave each of them a paint brush and they had to brush away the sand to locate the buried dinos. They liked it so much, we had to rebury the dinos and do it again... and again :)Then we went inside to try to break open the fossil Riley and I had made on Monday... I couldn't get it to break open, but everyone got a chance to use the hammer. They were so intense trying not to hit my fingers... I appreciated that. The next activity was to put pills into the water. When these pills get wet, foam dinos appear. It's pretty cool. I've done this with barn animals, ocean animals, and horses. That's when the kids got their first look at our ever growing dinosaur! I got it at the museum last week. It was about the size of my cell phone... but boy did it grow! I was impressed, it ended up being about the size of a small cat. Then, while I was getting lunch, I set the kids up with an art project. They got to color dinosaur pieces and make a toilet paper roll tub dinosaur. It was cute. Now, for lunch the kids had dinosaur chicken nuggets, grapes, raisins, and celery with peanut butter. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out! After lunch, we hatched a dino egg. I bought it at Walmart, and it turned out so cool! You put the egg in water and it starts to fuzz, like bath balls. When the egg is completely dissolved, you have dino parts to put together. Each kid had a couple of parts, and helped make a dino. We then did the volcano that Riley and I had built. This was our dinosaur habitat. Riley loves this word: HABITAT. He has been asking everyone where there habitat is. The kids LOVED seeing the volcano blow! We had to blow up the volcano about 2-3 times! We finished the party with a final book called: Gorgonzola: a Very Stinkysaurus! It is a super funny book about a dino who doesn't know that he stinks! A little birdie helps him learn about good hygiene. All in all, I hope everyone had fun! I know Riley, Emmaline, and I did.

ROAR!

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Cars

Ok, this is going to be a bit of a whinny post... but if I can't whine here, where can I? Have you ever noticed that if one thing breaks down, everything else seems to follow suit? A couple of weeks ago, we decided Allen's car just couldn't make it much longer without new tires. We hadn't replaced the tires in about 5 years, and they were balding. Then two Thursdays ago, the car died. Allen was on his way to school, and had just gotten off the freeway at Flamingo when it happened. He was sitting at the red light, and the car died. The lady behind him wasn't looking to see if he went when the light turned green, and she ran into him. It wasn't too serious, the bumper is a little banged up, and her license plate screw is in our bumper now. Allen's car has been overheating for a long time. We think we get the problem solved, then it will overheat again. Well, with Allen having to drive so far for school, we have to have the second car... we took the car to the mechanics, and $450 later, Allen's car works great. Please keep in mind that we are living an a fixed income, which we recieved at the begining of the school year, and that $400 is our food budget for a month...UGH! *SIGH* Like I said, when one thing breaks, everything seems to. Yesterday, the ac in the van died!!!UGH! My car's broken. I so sad :( I'm not sure what we are going to do... it's too hot in Vegas not to have AC. The back windows don't roll down, so it's just the front windows left to cool the car.. and our car is dark! *sigh* More money we don't have... so agrevating!

WHY CAN'T THINGS JUST WORK!!!!!