My mural.

instructions is up on my blog that I use for linking to Pinterest:


http://halloweenjunkie.blogspot.com/2013/12/garage-mural.html

in case you are wanting to make one for yourself.

LOL

Kashton won't get up at 4:30 a.m.

on Christmas morning ever ever again.

He and Kort woke up all the kids and Kams who was sleeping in my room, therefore,

they woke up ME at 5 a.m.! ! ! !

 I went back to sleep till Hubby woke me up at 7 a.m.

I was ticked, sooooo. . . . 

Kash and Kort got to skip a turn the first round, and Kash got to go dead last for the rest of the rounds.

Here is what Kash thinks is his #1 gift is in.

He watched Kinz open a biggish box and find a smallish box inside.

So, he picked out a big box from Santa, hoping, hoping, hoping. . . .

This is what he found! !  !

and this little thing. . . . .

He finally got one! He has been waiting for 3 or 4 years for one.

He had one really big box that he wanted to open worse than anything, but since he

woke up all the kids at 5 a.m, I made him

save it till LAST!

Here he is trying to hurry up the process and passing out all the kids' gifts

so they can get them all opened.

LOL

Drum Roll PLEASE ! ! ! !

Inspirational quotes and or pics in each of those pockets.

Happy Happy Day For This Kid ! ! ! ! !

Kyson hauls A

on the schools website, 5th picture down:

http://www.utahstateaggies.com/school-bio/ust-romneystadium.html

Sweet!

The 2 hour layover

turned into a 6 hourish layover.

They made it to their hotel at 5:30 a.m. Utah time.

So a 2 hour flight ended up taking 24 hours to get them there.

Don't feel too bad for them, though. The ocean is half a block from their hotel.

Too much snow in Logan for the plane to land

this morning, so it had to land in Ogden.

They had to postpone their departure to San Diego till tonight at 6:00.

Update: They had to be bussed to SLC airport, then had at least a 2 hour layover.

A 2nd flight in 2 weeks.

Kyson does not remember flying on a plane before. He was too young.

He has been to Walt Disney World, Mount Everest, Puerto Vallarta, among other places.(I used to work at Skywest when I was newly married and got lots of free flights.)

A little over a week ago, the USU cheer squad got to fly home from the football game in Fresno.
The football team's chartered plane was replaced with a bigger plane than they had ordered, so the cheer team got to fly home on it with them. It's a good thing, too, cause the snowfall in my town that they had to pass through that night of returning would have had them stuck in the gorge for 6 hours after already travelling for 9. Plus another 6 hours from here to get to Logan.

Kyson loved flying. LOVED it.

They lost the game in Fresno which put them in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on the 26th of Dec.so no Kyson for us for Christmas.

Instead of driving to SD, they get to fly with the football team. They fly out on Sunday morning.
They will be there till after the game on Thursday night.

He is pretty excited. The U is paying for their whole stay, and they are also taking them to the SD Zoo and to Sea World while they are there. Not a bad exchange for missing Christmas with the Fam.

If the football team had won the game against Fresno St. (which was super close to going into overtime,) USU would have played in the bowl game today, and we would have had Kys with us on Christmas Eve and morning.

I am excited for these adventures this cheer leader life provides him in college. I am thankful for how much of his school is paid for by doing it.

He is planning to put mission papers in in January and the goal is to beat the "high school rush" at the MTC, and to be out of there before high school gets out.

Right now, I am hoping the 4 inches of snow Logan got today does not stop their flight in the morning. It is supposed to start up again by the time they leave at 8 a.m.

Okay, Here it is!

It does not look as cool as it was in my mind.

It is not as cool as the one I copied on Pinterest.

But, it's done.

Hopefully, the spotlight will light it all up tonight.

Hopefully, now I can start to enjoy the season. . . .

I wonder if people that live around snow do stuff like this?

My lack of patience is torturous!

I am working on a house display for Christmas.
It's almost done.
At least that's what I thought a few days ago.
And a few days before that.
And a few days before that.

I just want it to be DONE!

And now there's only 1 week till Christmas.

I was sick Yesterday and the day before that and couldn't work on it.

Part of it is up, but it won't look right till it's all done.

I've decided I will take next year off of doing these big projects.

Sigh.

Back to my glueing!

Freeway message from the Beaver High Cheerleaders.

I saw this as we passed and wished I had a picture.
I just found this on the facebook of my son's cheer coach.




It made me so excited to see this, that I couldn't sleep anymore, and I had to drive so that I could watch for more.

There was a paper banner up at MM 280 ish cheering on Pine View. I don't know who is responsible for it.

This sign was made by poking cups through the fence.

T Day

was by ourselves this year.

That's the first time in 46 years we have not been at a Grandma's house 

or at a mom's house

or with extended family of some sort. 

It was so much easier than people make it sound:

Each of my kids listed two dinner items that they wanted on the menu.

Then,

I had each kid pick the two items on the list that he or she was going to 

be in charge of making for the dinner.

We started by having everyone peel 4 or 5 potatoes.

It was also the first time I have ever used

yellow potatoes. 

I wasn't even sure what they'd taste like, but the farmer said they'd be yummy.

Kinzie chose to do the potatoes and gravy.

We bought packets of gravy mix and it was so good and

so easy.

Hubby chose to do the salad.

HA!

We bought a premix at Costco. 

We

are

smart

like that.

Kashton made the Stovetop stuffing.

It's our family's favorite.

He

also made the 

cottage cheese jello

(cherry jello with cottage cheese that comes with pineapples in it and of course wool whip.)

no picture of the jello, sorry.

Koby made the rolls.

Rhodes Rolls.

HA!

cause we are smart enough to know how.

He also made the green bean casserole.

You can tell how good it was.

There was none left

to take pictures of.

I chose to make the pumpkin pie!

HA!

cause I am smart enough to know that it's cheaper to buy a pie at Costco

than it is to buy the ingredients,

and it tastes even better.

I was also in charge of the ham,

so I pulled it out of the

freezer a couple of days ahead of time.

: )

Kort is the beginner, so he made just the banana cream pie.

Voila,

here we are again!

SQUEAT ! ! ! !

Our dear little Kyson got to spend Tday in Bountiful with

his sweetie and her family.

He didn't have a very long break.

He made my day.

I won't take my kids shopping with me cause it is such a pain in the rear!

So, when I saw this group of people shopping, I thought, "kudos to you for what you had to go through just to get them in the car or van or whatever, then to get them out, then to push them around the store so they can get some extra curricular activity in their lives."

None of the group were looking around.

No one else in the store was looking at them. Everyone was looking past them.

I was curious. I tried to catch eye contact with one of the escorts. She was all business.

So, I looked straight at the man being escorted.

My intent was to greet him with a smile and make his day. It seemed no one else would...

His head was cocked sideways, his arms stiff and twisted up by his chest, his tongue was hanging partially out of his mouth, he didn't seem to know where he was let alone know he was anywhere other than at home. He was the third in a line of 3 wheelchairs being escorted through the store.

But, the most amazing thing happened:

He looked up at me just as they were about to pass me.
I was already smiling at him hoping I could make his day with a greeting,
but just as I said my smiley "hi" greeting to him,
he smiled back at me like I was a long lost friend, and he totally made MY day! ! !

And then he was gone, escorted away by his caregivers who knew nothing of our exchange.

Move the trees. . .

Kams: Mom where is my wand?

Me: It's out front in the graveyard. We'll go get it once the sun is shining- when it warms up.

Kams: The sun is shining.

Me: The sun is NOT shining out front. The trees are blocking the sun.

Kams: We should MOVE the trees.

Burglary Report

I came home from church last week to thwart a burglary! ! !

Yep, you read that right! !

Kams had croup, but we went to Sacrament Mtg. to listen to Kashton give a talk.

When he was done, Hubby handed me the keys and told me to take her home. But, I wanted to listen to the last speaker, cause he is a friend. So, I stalled for 15 minutes.

At 9:55, I pulled into my driveway to find two strange men getting out of an older dark green 4-door car that was parked in my driveway in front of my garage!

The passenger was out of the car, the passenger car door was open, and he was standing next to it. The driver was still sitting in the car.

The car was on the driver's side of my car, so it was easy for me to ask the passenger questions.

Can I help you?

He asked me if this was Sara's house.

I said no it wasn't, and asked him why he would think someone named Sara would live in this house.

He said he was told that Sara lived somewhere around here, so they were going around asking people for her house.

I thought, "yeah, right, liar." as I was scoping out the inside of their car to make sure they didn't have a gun. I remained in my car with the door between us, but my 4 yr old was climbing out of her door during this exchange.

I asked him what made him think Sara lived in this area.

He said she lived by his uncle.

I asked what his uncle's name was.

He paused for close to 3 seconds, like he was thinking, then told me his uncle's name was Ryan. No last name, just Ryan.

I just wanted them gone, so I politely told them I didn't know anyone named Ryan.

The passenger got back in the car, and they drove away. I watched them drive down the street 2 blocks and turn off of my street.

At this point, they made liars out of themselves, cause they didn't stop to ask any of my neighbors where Sara lived which is what they said they doing in the first place.

I took down their license plate #. 

377 XFE

It was a dark green 4 door sedan. I am not good with makes, but it looked sort of like a Pontiac or a Buick. The passenger door mirror was taped on pretty securely with black duct tape.

The driver looked like white male, early 20's, short, black hair that was spiked a bit. Small gauges in his ear lobes: maybe 1/4 inch ones, several facial piercings: eyebrow, ear lobes, and maybe lip and/or nose.

The passenger looked like white male, early 20's, short, blonde hair, could have been spiked or gelled, several facial piercings, and ear piercings.

Hubby urged me to call the police, but it seemed trivial to me to call the police and tell them two guys were sitting in my driveway. . . .. .

By Tuesday night, a friend had posted on fb about an acquaintance getting burglarized while their family was at church between 10:30 and 12:30 in the morning.

I commented that I had taken down the license plate number and to have her friend call me for it.

The victim did call me and couldn't believe it when I told her it was and older dark green car. People who drove a car like that had done the stone work on their new house. They have lived in their house for only 3 months.

She told me where she lives and we were both shocked to find out that it was the very next subdivision down the street from my subdivision.

We were both shocked to find that they left my house at 10 am, and her house was burglarized at 10:30 am. The burglars took everything of value: tvs, jewelry, computers, etc. Their computer had every picture of their kids on it: first steps, first words, birthdays, all of it. They had no backups.

She described the rock work installers to me and they fit the description only sort of.

The guys working on her house were in their 30's and had tattoos and lots of facial piercings including pretty large gauges in their earlobes.

The guys in my driveway were in their 20's and had lots of facial piercings including very small gauges in the earlobes. I hadn't noticed any tattoos. (I was looking for guns and at their faces.) Their hair was clean cut: one had black hair and mustache with squinty eyes, the other one had blonde hair and looked like the "boy next door".

The cops said they didn't have enough evidence from my police report, so they would not be getting a warrant to search this car. The cop also mentioned that since my house and the victim's house were so far apart that these crimes were not necessarily related. 

Kidding me?! !

True, the house is 1 mile south of mine, BUT it is the very next subdivision after you pass mine. We are nearly next door neighbors in this part of town.

My neighbor in a cul de sac 2 doors down from me told me one of her friends on a walk saw a dark green car driving down the main road, slam on the brakes, someone jumped out of the car, went over to the wall that was parallel to the road and jumped up to look over it. He then got back in the car and they peeled off and around the block. The friend crossed through the properties to see where the car went and found that they had stopped in this cul de sac of my neighbor. They had gotten out of the car, were looking around, but got back in the car and left as this man was walking toward the car. This happened 3 weeks prior to my encounter.

(No mention of this to any of us neighbors. Not even the neighbors in the cul de sac had heard about it.)

Yesterday at church, a neighbor told me that a house 1 mile south and 1 mile east of my house got burglarized while they were at church. Everything was taken. 

The one thing I know that my house has in common with last weeks victims is that our driveway is long and goes to the back of our house. A burglar could park there and empty our house into a truck without being seen or watched by neighbors.

My kids seem to think locking the doors will make us be okay. I stress to them that the burglars would not care about anything and would break a window in a second if they found the house was empty.

The victim's house was locked, but the burglars gained easy access through the sliding door in the back.

By the way, as I got to my front door and praying that it was locked to ease my mind, I found it UNLOCKED.

We are "lockers". We lock everything, every time. Just not when a burglar is gonna show up.

My timing is unexplainable.

If I had gone home earlier, it might have turned into a home invasion? or if not, I may not have dared to follow them to their car and may not have gotten the license plate number.

If I had gotten home 30 seconds later, I could have walked in on the burglary in progress. Holy Cow!

The Tar. . . .

Kamarie comes in to ask me, "Is Kash the mom?"

Me, "no"

Kams:  can he give spankins?

Me:  no,    why does he want to give you a spankin?

Kams:  he said if i put the pencil in the tar...

Me: what's a tar?

Kams: a tar . . . . . .

Me: what's a tar?

Kams:  a TAR! . . . .

Me:  a door. . . . . ?

Kams: no a tar. . . .

Me: a car. . . . ?

Kams:  no a tar

Me: (out of ideas) whats a tar?

She gives me a big grin then she says, "theres a bottom" . . . . . .with her hand out
"and theres a top" . . . . . . .with her hand out up high
"and there's a long part with striiiiiings. . . . . ."

Me: a guitar? ??   OOOOH, a guitar!

Me: yes, if you put a pencil in his guitar, I will give you a spankin.

hahaha

ELEVEN ! ! ! ! !

I wished him a happy as he was leaving for school, and he was glad someone remembered it was his day.

New fence and pillar

Pillar is not quite done, t will have a "beware" going down the front of it.

I will do it next year. . .: )

Ghost in a tree

Food Storage Soup and old honey

I have a few cases of healthy selects soup that no one in my family cares for.

I figured out how to get rid of them!

I added broccoli and sauteed onions and velveeta cheese. They thought they were eating the original "poop soup" with added noodles and rice.

I had a lone can of chicken noodle soup and threw that in as well. (no one eats much canned soup at my house. I don't understand. . . I grew up on canned soup.)


Old Honey.

It is too expensive to throw away!

I made it into peanut butter balls.

1/2 cup honey
1 cup p.b.
2 cups powdered sugar

mix it all together.

There's a lot of variations, but I didn't want to use too many ingredients in case the kiddos wouldn't eat it. Kams is a total fan!


One year, Kyson's qt. of honey crystallized just sitting in his pantry in Logan. He gave it back to me cause he didn't know what to do with it. I stuck the whole bottle in a pan of water and let it warm up on the stove kind of like when you warm a baby's bottle. That makes it runny again.

FOOOUUUUR more days of Cub Scouts!

Pack night tonight.

Kort got the last 3 of his Webelos badges. We always get the craftsman last. Procrastination at it's finest.

The "all 20" certificate and the "all 20" for funsies patch.

He got the "conservation award" and the "leave no trace" patches.

Then, we scurried off to "Senior Night" for Koby and the football game.

We had already had the little girls to jr. cheer clinic practice, and shopped at Costco before pack night.

We had to take the whole fam to the game. If we weren't nutso before, we are now! Man, my kids like to pick at each other!

Kort has a GREAT Web. leader. We will miss him being in his scout group. I'd pray for him to move up with Kort if I thought it would do any good!

On second thought, I will pray for him to not move up with him, then it just might happen ;)


I am not looking forward to NOT having any more cub scouts.

Halloween Fence and Poop Soup

Been a little busy lately. I got a wild hair last year that I wanted to make a new cemetery fence.
The one I made years and years ago is brittle and falling apart.

I bought a lot of the materials last year, but didn't intend to do anything about it till this year.

I thought a couple of bucks for pipe and a couple of bucks for boards and a buck for paint and several bucks for fence toppers and this should be a good inexpensive project.

Wrong.

It was a couple of bucks for each of those things, but I needed several of each of those things, so this is not a cheap project by any means.

I am still putting it together, so I hope to have pictures soon.

I need to get rid of some old cans of stuff from my food storage, so I made some soup.

Most people would call it Taco Soup, but listen to what is in it...
cans of corn
yep,
cans of beans,
yep,
lots of corn and lots of beans = Poop Soup
Yay!

My daughter asked me last night if I could make their favorite "poop soup", the original one.

That one is cheese broccoli soup.
Broccoli makes us go every time. : )

I used to call that one poop soup, but now the taco soup is the "new" poop soup.

I like to add a touch of lime juice and some sour cream to mine. Hubby won't touch it if is tastes like a can, even if I take out a bunch for him before I put in the beans.

Food Storage

I am so glad my kids don't know what "fresh" Kraft mac n cheese tastes like. Shhh! I still have a case of it. They eat it as long as I am the one who cooks it.

And forget eating or serving anything from a can past the exp. date, 'cause certain people in my family are sensitive to the flavor of the can.

Did you know you can make muddy buddies out of stale (and I'm talking stinky stale) Chex cereal and you can't even taste the nastiness of the stinky stale Chex?

I can never volunteer to take cookies to anyone, cause we don't use flour fast enough to have fresh "on hand."

I bought a bunch of Powerade's at a good price, but feel like a terrible person feeding them to my kids, cause they are full of high fructose corn syrup!

I don't even know what is in that white container in my garage. It could be rice or it could be something else? If it is rice, then I feel guilty feeding it to my family when I know white rice is not good for you like brown rice is.

We go through a lot of cans of pineapple, but I don't know what I was thinking buying THAT many cases of it years ago.

Olives, now there was a smart smart stock up purchase. Kyson opens a can of olives and there's his lunch right there.

Hamburger Helper: if you have the one with taco chips, don't add the taco chips if it is past the exp. date. Just Sayin'

I could build a church with the food/money I have thrown away in the sake of being a good/obedient Mormon!

Kashton and Yankee Doodle Canyon

in a second. . . .

but, first. .. . . . . . .

Kort. Cutest Goalie On The Planet! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Thankful for some friends with a really nice camera. . . . . and my email address ; )