What a Croc!

So my 1st grade Rory had these shoes from Target and we called them Crocs.


When she came home after school one day I noticed how nasty and dirty her feet were from wearing these shoes outside. The shoes themselves were beat up too. I had just bought her a cute pair of boots plus all her other shoes so I threw away the nasty shoes she insisted on wearing day after day. A couple kids in her class were wearing real crocs so I guessed that was her motivation. After much begging I bought her these shoes for $8 at Target instead of say real crocs which are close to $30.

She goes to school and says "Hey ****, I have new Crocs" "Those are not Crocs" "Yea huh" "No, Crocs have the name Crocs on the bottom" I walked away laughing. Really how different are they?

Rory came home and said she wanted real Crocs. "Why you have those shoes?" "Because they are not real Crocs"

Are you kidding me!! I have never been into name brand clothes as long as they are cute. She is doing this in the 1st Grade!! Eye yeye yeye. What will happen when she is a teenager? Of coarse I am not going to buy real Crocs if only to make a point.

Break my Heart

As I dropped off Rory at a birthday party I saw other moms dropping off their kids and picking up signs that the owner has in the front of his store.
One mom said "I already have mine in my yard". Everyone was gone before I even realized what I saw.
I know I live in a bubble but I had no idea that moms I knew from school would actually support No on Prop 8. My heart literally started hurting and I started to cry.
I would like to think they are intelligent women who researched the impact saying no would have on our society. From what I know of these women they are not religious. If I were not religious and would therefore not need to defend religion and if I did not care that my children were taught in school that homosexuality is normal and perfectly fine, I guess I would be fine with homosexuals getting married.
But wait, would I not care that my friends who do care would be left unprotected? Gay people already have as many rights as we do with civil unions. Would I want them to have more rights and be more a more protected group than any other in America? Would I want our society altered in ways that other states have suffered?
I would like to think Not.

Treats

I tried to make some mini candy apples with little success. The apples were too wet!

Our Gingerbread Haunted House.

I spent a lot more time with Dino Thunder Power Ranger than my black cat or cucumber with ranch waiting for the costume parade to begin.

No not the Trunk or Treat!!!

Wow! People feel really strongly about Trunk or Treats! Ours just got canceled by request from Elder Ballard because they want people more focused on the Proposition 8 campaign. Being in the Stake Primary Presidency and it is a Stake Primary activity and because I am moderator for a yahoo group with the gals in my ward (70 gals) and sent out the email with the announcement, I have received no less than 65 emails(a few letting me know they got the message) about this and have been on the phone all day. I am on top of the list about being sad but some are MAD! The kids are sad. There is always next year!

Living Greener

Don't even think for a second that I am a good person to talk about being nicer to the environment. I am a giant waster. Most of my motivation lately to be greener is related to being more frugal. I am always the pessimist and feel like my little family won't have an impact on the environment. I surely won't become a vegan to help the environment as some granolas say. Lately I have been more concerned and want to share what a waster I am and what I am doing to be better.

• I love paper towels! I love how clean and easy they are. That one will be a hard habit to break and I am not ready for that.
• I love Arrowhead water bottles! I love having them in my car and I feel like my family drinks more water because they are always available. I don't like water even from our filter after it has been in a water bottle. I love sharing them with friends when they forgot water on a hot day at the park. We often have extra kids in the car and they can have their own bottle with out me worrying about sharing germs. This one will probably be a little easier to break and is on my list to change when I get the nerve.
• I love driving fast and having the air conditioner on. I only drive the speed limit in residential areas. Will it really save me that much on gas?? I have been tracking my mpg and I have to say it is not good. My minivan is averaging 15mpg. Yuck!
• I love the ease of diapers/pull ups. I tried cloth once and it was a nightmare. Maybe things have improved in that area in the last 5 years.
• I am a consumer. Not that we have tons of money to buy much but I definitely still consume.
  

Somethings I have adopted fairly easily are

• I use reusable grocery bags as much as I can. Since I do not have to double bag diapers anymore I don't have a need for plastic bags in the house. They drive me crazy!
• Recycling here is oober easy. I just need to recheck what can be recycled in our cans and be more vigilant about catching things going in the trash and washing things out.
• I am unplugging things that are not in use. This is new as of last week. I feel good about this choice and it helps me not be obsessive checking my email when my computer is off most of the day.
• This one is gross but I was using reusable menstrual cups. If you want to know more just ask.
• I used to love having lights on all over the house at night but I am turning them off. Just enough on to keep the kids from getting scared. I use a few of the eco friendly light bulbs but could use more.
• During the summer my kids take quick showers at the pool. This puts the bill on someone else ;) and it alleviates the long showers my kids love to take.
• I am trying to drive less. I stopped going to the library 20 min away and trying to be more conscious.
• I use freecycle to keep things out of the dumps that someone else will use. I take hand me downs too.
  

What do you do to be green??

Fall

This beautiful tree is not a tree from where I live. I snagged it from a girlfriend's blog that lives in Connecticut and it made me sad for the falls we have here.
I just want to start out by saying I love living in Southern California. I love being able to go outside most days of the year and that you can plan outside events without too much worry about the weather. I love snow for 2 days and then I don't so I am glad I don't live in the snow. I love not being really poured on hard by rain often. I love not living under clouds all the time. I love that we cool down during the winter. I love that the summer gets hot enough to really enjoy the water.
When September comes I am anxious for the cool down from summer. It doesn't happen. Then October comes and I am anxious for the cool down. Once again, it hasn't come. We have had temperatures into the 90s too many days this month to be happy about.
A couple weeks ago, as I was eagerly awaiting wearing at least 3/4 sleeves, I went outside and noticed a faint smell of fire. Oh yeah, it's fire season. Crap. It is potentially time to keep the windows closed and go outside as little as possible. So much for that.
Last weekend hit and so did the winds. Oh yeah, Santa Ana winds. Crap. For those of you unfamiliar, the Santa Anas come for a couple days every week or so and blow 20-30 mph winds here. This makes the air dry, dirty and well, not pleasant creating a higher risk for fires. When we lived in Fontana the winds were 40-50mph because the wind came from the mountains right there. I was big pregnant with Simeon and could barely walk outside because the wind would resist. We would get mass anounts of tumbleweed in our back yard and were responsible for geting rid if them. I would fear for my life on the freeway because the wind felt like it was going to tip us over. Large amounts of dirt seeped through our windows. Garbage cans blew over making everyones trash fly throught the air. Its not that crazy here but still annoying. Even here we saw trees knocked down. Our normally clean street the day after the winds:

We do have leaves fall here but then comes "Spring". Here are trees nearby that lost their leaves and are already flowering beautiful pink flowers:

I love So Cal but October can take a hike!

I is for. . .

What is a good word to teach kids about I?? Preschool was at my house today and I had the letter I. I is for Icky. Since I am not room mom this year I had a small dose of creativity with his preschool.
I hid these

In here

The kids tried to help me make this goo last night which consists of cornstarch, water and food coloring. It wasn't goopy enough so I had to boil it to make it really goopy.

Here is what I heard from boys (the one girl here today did not mind)
"This is DISGUSTING! I am not touching this!"
I said
"You have to if you want the treasures"
Poke Poke Poke
And then their hands were submerged.

I had high hopes they would have played with the goo longer but I took what I got. Good Fun!

Sweet Sunday

I slept in today because days like these don't happen very often. No where to go early. No where to go at all! I came downstairs to not Roger's usual Sunday breakfast of waffles but Crepes with Banana "Foster". Yum!! It was a recipe the kids found.

We then watched conference in our pjs while playing legos. Well, with everyone but me playing legos. I couldn't help take notes. I loved the talks.

In between, Roger made us lunch from a recipe Josh found in a Friend magazine called Conference Bean Dip which was really 7 Layer Dip. Josh was certain we had to make it since it said Conference. We watched while we ate. Simeon fell asleep quickly on the makeshift beds he and Rory made in between. Could he really be comfortable on tile?

I hate to admit but Roger and I fell asleep when conference was 2/3 of the way through. I mention it though because I woke to see Josh and Rory still listening silently and using their Conference packets they wanted me to print out this morning. How awesome are they?

I asked them after what their favorite part was. Rory liked that she recognized a scripture Grandpa read to us this last FHE about Service. Yeah! she was listening at FHE and Yeah! she was listening to conference. Josh said his favorite speaker was the one that was hard to understand and he can't remember what he talked about. So Josh.

The day can't go down hill from here right? Well, we do have to have them clean up and that is never fun. What a nice day!

I had an ultrasound today. . .

to confirm the due date and I am 1 week and 2 days further along than I thought. The pregnancy test actually came back negative the week before. I had started to guess that I was a week earlier since I was sick a week earlier and am feeling better a week earlier. I hesitate to give a due date since I am always a week late. Here is the one time I will and the rest of the time I will just tell you middle of April. I am due on April 7th, my big brother's bday. Here are my kids, slightly confused at what they are looking at

I am not going to say Yes we are having a boy but I can't imagine that is the umbilical cord. Good Fun!

Wahoo!

I have been Nausea Free for a day and a half! The temptation now will be to increase my demands but I don't want to overdo it like I usually do. Wahoo to feeling better!

Dirty Toothpaste

I am guessing most moms have the same issue as I do with toothpaste. Kids can not keep a bathroom area clean when they dispense the toothpaste themselves. I use their bathroom to wash my hands and I come out stickier than when I went in. I grab the toothpaste to brush Simeon's teeth and I feel like I grabbed a big wad of gum and I can't break free. Wiping the counter and sink became one of their daily chores because I was so sick of the mess and that made it a little easier. That did not take care of the icky toothpaste on the tube itself and I was determined to find something that helped. Since my dad has been here he has been using the bathroom the mess was confined to and the kids now brush in my bathroom making the need even greater. I found the solution and it was so simple. I remembered using this kind of paste when I was younger and I wonder what took me so long.
No more squeezing the paste so hard that it won't stop coming out and then there is nothing left to do but use your toothbrush to smear it all over the sink. No more lids to put back on. They push a button, it goes on the brush and when they take their finger off. . .something closes over the hole. Magic if I do say so myself.

Quilting 101

When I started sewing Roger told me he wanted a quilt made out of sheets. I completely did not understand how to make a quilt but decided I could come up with a quilt for Roger for Christmas 2003. I sewed 3 sides together of 2 sheets then placed batting squares in 1 at a time and sewed around each batting squares making a queen size "quilt". After 3 hours my project was finished. As silly as it is this has been a nice cool blanket that we have kept under out nice, hot duvet cover and down comforter. With back light you can see my masterpiece.


A few years later I enlisted my sister in law Lena's help to teach me how to quilt. I made a little doll blanket and felt more knowledgeable. I decided to make a quilt for Rory. I copied an idea from Pottery Barn kids and started making the quilt with no pattern. It made my brain hurt. While I was making this quilt that would turn out to be smaller than twin size, we switched Rory's twin size bed for a queen. Thwarted, I almost gave up but eventually finished. It lays on her now full size bed and she loves it.

Roger started craving a quilt that would cover our now King size bed, that would be super cool and super soft. His birthday was coming up so I secretly extracted colors he liked together and found a pattern from an awesome quilter in my ward. I bought a sheet set online to be the backing of the quilt. The week of Hero camp I went to a few fabric stores and eventually found a line of fabric that was just the right colors. Off I started without knowing exactly what I was getting into nor the price that I was up against (I won't tell you how much but it was A LOT).
I only had a week till his birthday so I kept it a secret until then. I spent 3 hours almost everyday for 3 weeks on this quilt in addition to keeping my house in order and kids entertained. I sewed and sewed. After a few weeks I took it to a nearby quilter to machine quilt this 100X100 quilt. She gave it back the next day and I was sure I would be able to bind it in a week. Hah! Hah, Hah, Hah! Hand stitching took me almost another month! As of a couple days ago I am DONE!!! Not as exciting for anyone as much as for me, I know. Here are a couple notes
-I did not expect it to be so busy looking- ie- I could not see the end when I started
- "Warm and White" batting really is nice and cool
-The quilt shrunk a bit when quilted
- sheets are nice and soft but does not please the quilter
-Josh is an AWESOME ironer. Seriously awesome to not have to iron the whole thing

Here are 3 bags I made in the meantime. I really like them (especially the giraffe print)!

I realized I have not taken very many pictures of the bags I have made (cuz I have made many) so I tracked these bags down at church. I made them earlier this year.

Good Fun!

School Clothes at Last

I finally bought Rory a new outfit because I loved the boots and the whole outfit was on sale. Pretty Cute huh?

I Love to see the Temple

I finally made my way to the San Diego Temple last Tuesday with my dad. What a beautiful temple!! It made me think of the other temples I have been to.

Growing up in Houston our nearest temple was the Dallas Temple so that is where I did baptisms.

The first time I went through was at the Mnt Timanogas. I love how white and bright the Celestial Room is.


A few days later we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Honestly I really only remember feelings and people, not so much the building.

I don't think I will ever go to a temple as much as I went to the Provo Temple. This is where I stood staring at a huge painting of Simeon seeing Jesus at the temple knowing we would have a son named Simeon someday.

Roger and I took a day trip to the Manti Temple the Easter weekend before we had kids. We were the witness couple in this amazing building. This is still my favorite as far as each individual Endowment room goes.

This is Roger's home town temple. We have been able to go there a dozen times sometimes with his family. This temple is the same as the Dallas Temple.
Jordan River is where we went to do my sister Kimberly's work after she died.

We went to the LA Temple once before we moved down here for my Jenny Girl's wedding. It then became our temple for a while. Nat got married here too.

We have been to a couple weddings for my step sisters at the Oakland temple.

We participated in sealings for my grandparents at the North Carolina temple

We moved to Fontana shortly after the Redlands opened.

Hallelujah when the Newport Beach temple opened! So nice to have a temple close by. I love the mural and the walnut.

When we went to Hawaii last year we found a cute college girl to babysit so we could go to the Laie Temple.
Roger's brother recently went through the Sacramento Temple and we were able to be there for that.

Finally this summer I was able to go to the Houston Temple. I was able to help with the building of the temple but left for college before it was finished.

I am so thankful for the inspiration I recieve from any temple. They are a little peice of Heaven on Earth.