A little note about being lucky...

Another blog that I came across is sponsoring a give away for a few books. I love to read, and these looked like books I'd like to own myself. These are historic romance novels, and that alone is hooking me. So go and enter this giveaway. At this location: Not Entirely British

I'm crossing my fingers that I can win these, because I'm not very lucky and haven't won too many things. Actually besides the scholarship money I was awarded when I graduated from high school (do I dare say the year?) 1996, I haven't won but one thing.

And that's because I entered a giveaway for a hip-tee, and I love it!! This lady does a lot of giveaways and chances are good you could find something you really like and win something too.


Matter of fact she's got a giveaway going on for some cool MOM shirts. Check that one out, I want one of these really bad. Anyway, hope you have a great Friday!!

How many people can you fit in my livingroom??

Okay so last Saturday we had a HUGE PARTY!!!

It took place in our backyard.

The occasion well we were celebrating an anniversary.

No not mine!

But for my mother and father in law.

They have been married now for 48 years.

So we decided to hold a gathering in their honor.

Of course, I'm not seen very often without my camera,

so I was taking pictures of lots of people,

and fun stuff going on.

We started in the backyard and finished in the livingroom.

Why the livingroom you ask?

Well because we(Chris and I) put together a video for his parents.

And I think it was well liked.

We showcased pictures from each of them as chilren,

through the teenage years and onto them dating.

Followed by their wedding,

and various pictures of family life since then.

And had invited them over on

Sunday August 16th, (my Heidi's birthday)

and took pictures of them to include in this video.

All of which was a surprise to them.

But they loved it!!

The pictures were set to music,

and we added transistions and effects to some,

and just had a lot of fun.

It really came down to the wire to get the project finished

(meaning getting it burned to a DVD).

I called my friend Eric up and asked for his help,

and sure enough before the party started he

was able to burn us two copies.

Thanks again so much!!

But we also plan on getting more copies made

and getting them to Chris's siblings so they can have copies as well.

So I decided to play with a few of the pictures I took that night and tried my hand at editing.

And how many people can I cram into my livingroom?

You can't see everyone that's in the room

but there were at least 30 in here

and a few others that didn't come in.

It was crowded, but SO MUCH FUN!!!

We sure had lots of fun with everyone over,

but we were extremely tired after they all left,

and couldn't get the kids to sleep fast enough that night.

I may have a small house,

but at least I have a decent sized yard,

and a cozy little home.

And I love BBQ's !!!

Thanks everyone for coming.

Our RELAXING Date!!!

Thursday July 30, 2009 .....

We were fortunate to have some friends watch our kids while we went on another date!! We've realized that while we've lived in Utah County for over 10 years now that we really don't know what's around. I told Chris that we needed to change that. So we drove up Provo Canyon and checked out a few parks along the way. The best part: doing this without worrying about the kids running off here and there while we're just discovering what these places had to offer. But before we drove up the canyon we had dinner at Sizzler ... one of my favorite places. To tell you the truth, when Chris met my parents back in 1998 I had graduated on my 20th birthday and we were going to dinner that night and guess where we ate? That's right Sizzler. So it's kind of sentimental to me also. Even if it wasn't the same location, the food is still the same. Good and Yummy. No pictures of dinner, but we took a few of us up in the canyon.

These two pictures were up at Vivian Park And these were taking at Canyon Glen.... (I think) I'll have to double check sometime. To end the date, we headed for our local grocery store and bought a few boxes of ice cream and went home and shared with our kids.

Dates are so needed and can be very relaxing. Time to plan another one for August since we've not been on a date yet this month. Hmm... better get calling to find a sitter.

What was the last date you went on?

Time for change....

Well I've survived the first three days of school. I managed to get my children off to school on time and even early. I'm actually thinking that this year I'm trying to make a difference in my "mothering" duties. I'm not perfect at it by any means. And if you've had chance to know me on a more personal basis, you can probably agree with me. That being said, this year I have a few new goals. Probably common sense things for you, that you might not struggle with, but as for me and my house.... well we do. (Probably not my husband really, but definitely me and my kids)

So here are my new goals or rather "old ideas" that I'm trying to implement for ME:
To be able to wake up before 7:00am and get ready for the day, and get my children to school about 10-15 minutes early. Why? So that way they aren't tardy for school. I'm NOT a morning person, so this might prove to be quite hard. So I'm praying for extra strength from my Heavenly Father to accomplish this.

When doing a load of laundry, fold the clothes up as they come out of the dryer by using the tops of the two machines as my folding tables. Then promptly put them away. Why?? Because this will prevent some major piles of laundry forming in my living room. I have a pile right now, about 3 loads worth.

The kids aren't going to have major chores until Friday after school, and Saturday mornings.... unless they don't have homework some night during the week. I'll do the dishes (mainly the washing and letting them dry) once they are dry I'll have the kids put them away -- 5 minutes tops!! With 3-4 kids helping. Why? Because I stress myself out when I try to be THE PERFECT MOM!! By having them do all this and then having ALL the homework completed by ALL three girls (that I have to sign off, and check)

I want to make it a habit once again to make it to the temple at least once a week. Why? Because I live so close to one and not too far from another... I really have no excuse at all. Plus I seem to function better with frequent trips there.

CLUTTER/JUNK needs to R.I.P away from my house. So I'm on a mission to rid myself of all the JUNK that prevents me from keeping my home well kept and organized. So I feel it will become a bigger mess just to get it dejunked, but after that I should feel lots better. Why? Well, I think a family of my size functions best with things being well organized. Once upon a long time ago, like about 11 years or so, before I was married and had kids I had my things well organized. I kept it up slightly right after I married but got extremely sick with my first child, and all that changed. It's been piling up since then, so I'm going to purge and binge all this unneeded STUFF from my dwelling. (Side note: probably best done with girls at school. I should start in their room)

Scripture Reading has been something I've struggled with on and off for the last few years. I'm not quite sure why, but I guess it's one of those things I have as a weakness. I know I should, and that I need to, but for some reason have felt unable to get to the scripture reading. So in the mornings while eating breakfast, I'll make the time to read my scriptures, and then have to work a time into the day to do it on a family basis. Maybe we should do it right before or right after dinner. Hm mm? Need to think on that a little more.

So this is just a list of a few things, but I'm sure there are lots of other things I could work on as well. But for now, these are my priorities. Everyone often asks me "How I do it?" having five kids and all, but secretly and honestly I don't do it. I'm still trying to find things that work for me and my family. I just try to take care of the needs of my children, but I'm not perfect at it. I often get frustrated with them, but have to take a step back and realize that they are just little people that don't know how to do everything, and most of the time they are just trying to have fun.

I really shouldn't get mad at them, because they all play together well, and love to be with each mostly. And they invent things to do in order to have fun. Yes, they can be sassy, disobedient, and plain stubborn, but I just try to keep my ground, and let them know that what mom says needs to be done.

We live in an incredibly small house for our family. We only have three bedrooms. I share one with my husband and the two boys are in one room on bunk beds, and the three girls are in the other room. We only have one bathroom, and I have a desk, piano and entertainment center crammed into one room. I don't have a dishwasher that does them automatically, but I do have a dryer that finally works. My carpets are absolutely disgusting but we have to make do because we can't afford to replace it right now. We have debt, that we're trying to pay off, even being on reduced hours at work, and we're also trying to put together a food storage. I sometimes yell, and get mad. But shortly after say "I'm sorry". I get frustrated, and stressed trying to get things to go just perfectly and when they don't I can't take it. But I try to gather myself together again, and try to start fresh again. But nothing can replace the love that I feel for my children and husband despite all the arguments that take place. And my children feel me with such joy and happiness when I see them getting along, or I see them doing a chore without being asked, or I hear there thoughtfulness in the prayers that they offer. I'm just average, or slightly less then that... but I try my hardest even if I fall short a lot of the time.

So here's to my trying to make some lifestyle changes that will help me become a better mother and wife and all around better person.

Pro's and Con's of summer and school

I can hardly believe that summer is over!! Well almost, tonight we have Meet the Teacher night at school and then school starts on the 19th, that's less than a week now. So here's my list of things that I love about summer....

• I get to sleep in!! This is probably my favorite part.
• No scrounging for all the school clothes and having to wash them every few days.
• No doing of the daily homework, although they are constantly reading during the summer. The whole school thing during summer kind of died out back in June when my sister in law came to visit and we'd rather spend time with her instead of doing school.
• And I can continue to read a book if I was reading when 3:00 came around instead of going to pick up the girls.
• I don't always get dressed into daytime clothes right away... sitting around in PJ's is really quite comfy some days.
• I have my children home ALL day, and the older ones help entertain the boys.
• We've ventured into letting the older two girls "babysit" the younger ones, so I haven't had to take them visiting teaching with me this summer.
• I've enjoyed all the visiting with friends, and family.
• Although we haven't taken any "Cross country vacations" this year, I still enjoy the few times we've ventured out and scoped out new places to frequent next spring and summer.
• And bedtime's have definitely been more lax during the summer... but

ALL THIS IS ABOUT TO CHANGE!!!!


and here is my list of why I like school starting again:

• The kids get to be with lots of other kids, and have some kid time.
• They have constant "activity" stuff all day. And I'm not hearing them say "I'm bored"
• They wear uniform to school, so there isn't a lot of complicated choice or contemplation involved in picking out their clothes for school. It's made rather simple.
• I enjoy them coming home and sharing with me things that they learned. Because, honestly I have forgotten a lot of things since I was in school and it's a great reminder or sometimes something I'm learning for the first time.
• They have more structure at home when school is in session. And the husband is more likely to "enforce" the bedtime, because normally in the summer he doesn't even think about bedtime. (this is definitely precious time to me)
• I have more of a routine when they are in school. And I get to leave the house daily.
• I find myself actually getting dressed first thing in the morning, so when someone wants to stop by "unannounced" I'm dressed, and not shuffling to the room to put some real clothes on instead of just being in PJ's. (by the way I welcome company.... come on over..)
  

BUT

This is why I don't like school ...

• I have to wake up before I'm ready to. I'm not really a morning person, so it's hard for me. And especially when the little 2 year old doesn't want to sleep in his bed, and it takes forever for him to fall asleep at night.... this makes for a very long night, and one extremely tired mommy in the morning. And trying to awake my children to get ready for school. I'm like the one doing all the work.
• I'm washing their school clothes like ever 2 days, because they don't have enough to last for an entire week so I only have to do that laundry once a week. And with this is the need for using socks on a daily basis once again. (you don't understand how easily socks get lost in this house... I swear their really is a sock monster that takes and eats socks)
• I have not only one child to help with homework... which is fine to help, but when you have three that you have to check everything on and sign ALL pieces of homework, it really gets hard to spread yourself between the three while trying to take care of your other household duties that take place in those 'after school' hours. Plus you have two other non-school age children that need attention too.
• We don't get to have a life in the evenings when school is in session. Because we always have homework to do, AND because the kids have to get to bed by 8pm.
• I don't like all the nitpicking of the uniforms, like the belt wearing, shirts tucked in, and the certain types of shoes. And like with slips, or robes, ---- uniforms seem to be only available during this time of the year in the stores around here. (This is another post)
• All the volunteer hours that have to be put in. (I'm heading up the yearbook this year, and really am wondering if it's too late to back out ;P)
• And there always seems to be a lack of communication between teachers and parents... mostly to do with the parent trying to contact the teacher, and not having success in reaching them.

So I think that about says it all. Is there anything I forgot....?

My New Chicken Chili .....

I was busy this evening and had to go and look at a possible new dryer for us, and wanted to have something yummy to eat when I got home. So I sort of just came up with this....

so I'm taking name suggestions now...

4 16 oz cans of Great Northern Beans
1 16 oz. can of Black beans
1-3 cans of green chili's (depending on how HOT you want it)
1 12 oz can of chicken
1 onion chopped and sauted
1 19oz can of Enchilada sauce

I added all these ingredients to the crock pot and placed on Hi for about 2 hours.

In addition to the above when I dished it into my bowl I added some shredded cheese and a little sour cream. Or omit it and have a healthier chili.

I also will add a can of corn next time, and will probably make some rice to add to it.
You could also eat it with corn chips. Just be creative.
I also think I'd add it to a tortilla shell and add the cheese and rice, that might be good too. So are you totally salivating now and want to run and make this? If you do... give me your feedback.

So I thought I'd just share this with you. It's way YUMMY!!!