Last weekend...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Meeting with Eagle Board to get project approved.

Day 1.

A "safety line" for the kids to stand behind while they wait for their rides.

That is only half of the line.

Sealing the asphalt so that the paint will stick better.

.

.

Day 2.

Koby smashed his finger in the gate first thing.

Taping...

Let the PAINting begin....

Lunch time and frozen lemonade.

Don't forget the Great lakes.


Untaping.
Almost done!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tetherball.....we will NOT be getting one of these at our house.

FIGHT after FIGHT after FIGHT.

Helpers.
DONE!!!!!

Yes, I'm smiling!!!!!

Can you see it from where you are?

.

.

One campout this weekend will finish the camping merit badge

and paperwork for the Eagle Board of Review,

then 2 boys down, 2 to go!!!!!

STATE!!

I guess he DOES get to compete at state!

He gets to be the 4th swimmer on the 400m relay with the Srs and Jrs.

His race is the very last one on Sat. evening,

so I won't find out how he did till then.

Here he is sitting in the front of the bus

with the rest of the freshmen and sophomores.

Guess who is standing...

and cutting teeth #'s 3 and 4.

Kauri's Queries

"Mom, can I lick the twister?"

.

Shhh! .....Today might be the day.....

"GOAL" = mom's height.

Guess who 1/18 stands for...

"Slide Show"...Christmas In Dixie

After the Christmas Eve party on the "D" hill.

12 SECONDS?! Are you kidding me?

How is is possible to get a "best" time by 12 seconds?

In the 100m Butterfly?

I don't know,

cause Kyson told me I didn't need to come watch him lose.

Yes, he lost the race, against all the Srs.,

but if you've ever raced, then you know that

beating your best time BY 12 SECONDS in a distance of only 100m is HUGE!

There was only 1 freshman in our region faster than him.

.

.

Then he shows me this....

That's right, his relay team took 3rd in region and received medals.

.

.

.

Okay, okay, there were only 3 teams racing,

but you didn't know that till I told you.

Solve THIS Mystery! I've had a few lately.

I lost Kyson's Zune!

I would count this as # 3 on my "2009 Sucks" list,

but keep reading.

I left 2 DS's, my purse, an inverter box, and Kyson's Zune in the car when I went to his swim meet.

The next morning, the Zune was GONE!

I had hidden everything so it couldn't be seen. I realized it had been stolen, cause I couldn't remember if I had locked my car.

After quite a bit of murmuring, whining, wailing, weeping, and knashing of teeth, I realized that I must have left it at the gym where I set it down to help Kinzie untangle some headphones.

(We were there to watch Koby do a pre-meet)

It was Sat morning and there was no way to check till Mon afternoon.

.

.

Hubby had gone through everything in the car. I had gone through everywhere in the car. I thought I had put it under my car seat, but I had LOOKED there 3 times and even stuck my hand under the seat to feel for it 3 TIMES. (It was in a case the size of a large diaper, so not an easy thing to miss).

Well, I was looking for something else in the car on Sun night, and stuck my head under my seat AGAIN.

It was right where I had put it.

HOW?!!!

Kyson laughs at me for thinking he

took it, denied it, then put it back after he saw how I freaked out when it was missing.

I am still not so sure.

Seriously, I either believe in MIRACLES, LIARS, or GHOSTS for sure.

So, What Did I Do?

So, I ended up dropping Kash off at pack night while hubby picked up Koby at gym.

Then we met at the school down the street to watch Koby present his project to the school board for approval.

Then I left to go to my bball game which the other team didn't even show up. Dumb.

When hubby got done at the school board

(stayed so Koby could fulfill one of his last requirements for his communication merit badge)

he picked up the kids at my game and picked up Kash at scouts

(we had his leaders hold most of his awards till next time)

then to the HS to pick up Kyson.

(who only swam the 100 IM, added 7 seconds to his time

AND got DQ'd for a turn he's done all season w/o getting dq'd)

AND the team didn't stop to eat afterwards.

He was not happy about any of it last night. Hopefully he'll do better today.

He does the 100 Butterfly (which is a very tiring race if you can even DO the butterfly)

and the 400 freestyle relay.

What's A Girl To Do...

Koby getting done at gymnastics and presenting a project for approval for his Eagle project.

.

Kyson region swim meet at SUU. (Freshmen compete against the Srs.-so no big hopes)

.

Kashton 2nd to last pack night. Getting a lot of awards.

.

My women's ward basketball game. (Most of my team will be at pack night.)

.

All at 7 pm tonight.

Kort's Quirks

My friend called me this morning to see if I was coming to play basketball.

Kort answered the phone and said,

"She's not here. Call her cell phone, but I don't know the number."

LOL

Kyson's schedule from yesterday:

Swim team practice 5:00 am to 6:45. Ride the bus to school.
Mom picks him up at the school at 2:45pm.
Gymnastics practice 3:00 to 5:00.
Baseball practice/clinic (pre-tryouts) 5:00-7:15pm.
Back to the gym for more practice 7:30-8:30 pm.
OK, now he can come home (has to be up for 5 am practice to do it again today.)

(I'm wiggling, because I'm dancing to "slap that", I know how much it embarrasses him.)

Kauri's Queries.....What's Your Name Again?

That's what Kauri asked me at dinner.

My name was written on my cup and she said,

"I know how to spell your name.....d a wait,

your name is spelled m o m,

I don't know how to spell that name." (that's on my cup.)

"What does that say?"

I told her.

"Why does that say Danette, your name is mom."

How weird is that when you realize that after all this time,

"mom" is not "mom", and that she has a different name altogether.

.

.

I helped her spell my name.

We ate for a few minutes, then she saw my cup again and asked,

"What's your name again?"

LOL
LOL
LOL

I Love It When My Mother-in-law Treats Us

.

.

.

Because she always treats us so well.

.

.

.

.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of this restaurant. I felt dumb taking my camera in there with all my in-laws. We were skeptical at first, but it is a very recommendable place to have someone else buying dinner for you. It's called Anasazi Steakhouse or something like that. It's pretty new-out on Sunset by Arctic Circle. Your steak comes to you browned/raw on a 7" x 7" flat lava rock heated to 700 degrees. You cook it yourself as you eat it. You cut a piece of meat off and press it against the rock and it cooks each piece in 15 seconds. So, cut 5-6 pieces and piece #1 is ready to eat by the time you cut #5 and so on. If it takes you a long time to eat a steak, your steak stays seering hot for the whole meal as the lava rock stays that hot for 45 minutes.
It was different, but if I had a choice, I'd pick it "on the rocks" every time.
It was fun to hear the Stake President brother order his steak "on the rocks."

.

.

.

.

The word of mouth must be getting around, cause the manager said he averages 45 customers on a Friday night (and that's all he had planned for,) but the Fri. night we were there, he had 145 +/- and we were there from 7pm till 8 pm. so maybe more after us. They were way short handed, but we would have sat there visiting that long anyways.

.

.

.

Then, we visited more at the house, ate root beer floats as always, told jokes,

reminisced, took pictures, and laughed till our guts were sore:

.

.

.

Brother Stan checking his zipper.

We did manage to get a few serious ones.

All 6 brothers, wives, and NO children.

The BEST way to party.

.

.

I'm Gonna Beat You Up!!!!!

.

.

.

says Kyson, age 14, to Koby his brother.

.

.

"Good luck with that," says Koby, age 12.

.

.

.

.

"Thanks for that," says mom, age 29 1/2.

.

.

Our Christmas Eve Party

This was our attempt at being entertaining.

I think it might have been more like torture.

The girls sang the verse and Kortie sang the echo of "Rudolph."

Koby is playing the drums and did a heckuva job.

He started practicing them 4 days earlier.

We took this "show" on the road, and played for

Grandmas Myrtle and Mona on Christmas day.

It might have been good that Myrtle couldn't hear very well.

So far, 2009 SUCKS!!!

In just 2 days, 2009 (or is it really 2013 in disguise) has cost me

some serious Heaven points.

I'm hoping that the bad things that come in 3's can count

the lost DS that happened 3 weeks ago. That way, my series is complete.

You must know that Y2K is REAL!!! It just came 9 years later.

It is called Z2K9 these days. Owners of Zune 30GB know

what I'm talking about, so I know none of you will understand.

ALL 30 GB's froze on New Year's Eve.

In every country! All of them.

I own 2 of them.

No big deal, wait till the battery dies and it will be "better"

after the internal clocks change to 1/1/09,

so says Microsoft.

(Something to do with a bug in the clock

and it not understanding a leap year?)

Not so with mine, another internet source told us how to fix it.

Hubby had to "pop" it open not once, but twice to

unhook the battery. Both of them.

Then, I discovered that the Program on my computer that

runs my Zune was mysteriously set to "SYNC all" instead of "manual"

like I had it on. This was right after hubby accidentally erased

ALL of the movies on the computer that we had

transferred into the Zune format.

(about 1.25 hrs. per movie and about 60 movies.)

Then, I plugged Zune in to the computer, and it deleted

every movie! every cartoon! every music video! from my Zune.

Then today, Kauri took Kortlen's 7 day old DS outside

and dropped it off the slide platform onto the concrete.

No, it doesn't work.

Yes, she sat in a timeout for hours.

1. lost DS

2. Zune freeze

3. lost all video files

4. deleted my Zune

5. dropped DS

Oh, crap! I've got 1 more thing coming to make an even 3...

I'll make a prediction for the next one:

1 I'll drop my camera or camcorder or both and they will break.

(wait, that only happens when I'm about to deliver a baby.)

so I'll change it to my treadmill will quit working.

I'll let you know.

.

Happy to you, too!

You're right Kortie isn't with us. He snuck out to bed right after

we watched Horton. He always puts himself to bed early.

Of course our teenager had a party to go to.

He had a little too much to drink, I think. Kortie is showing me the 3 tags that are

bothering him that I have to cut off.

We played Elefun.

We played Cranium, Family Fun: stand up with a

block on your forehead.
My tip: lick the block.

.

.

.

.

On a side note. We had a very intelligent teenager load

our dishwasher the other day. We checked it to see if it had

soap before we started it, and this is what we found.

That blue thing is the dishwasher soap -still in it's sealed plastic.

The lid thing was closed and everything--ready to go.

We got a kick out of it.

We won't tell you her name starts with a K and ends with an isti.

Thank you.

Grandpa Kay Decorates

He put a board over the stairs to the basement, and created

this winter wonderland indoors.

Where was I?

A week or so ago, I heard a story on the local tv news that

some "guy" went to the DI and was handing out $100 bills to everyone.

I was like, "I'm gonna go hang out at the DI and wait for him to come back."

Tonight I found out who it was, because I ran into my friend/neighbor.

and her husband. The husband,

who happens to be on my scout committee

and my right hand man for Boards of Review, works for the "guy."

The guy, who is in his late 20's or early 30's,

called 10 of his buddies to come help him and he gave them

$10,000 each,

in $100 bills to give to random people they saw.

(Hey, wait a minute, he saw me, so what gives????)

I think they each got that much, because my friend

still had $5000 in his pocket when we saw him.

Anyhow, they went around town today

and this past week handing out the money.

How would that be?

You get to see the benefits first-hand and see peoples' reactions

and be a hero, without getting poor.

People would cry when they gave them the money.

My neighbor gave a homeless guy outside of walmart $600.

What a cool thing to be a part of.

Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that this kind of thing is going on.

It makes me feel good to know that I'll get to hear some of the stories first-hand.

.

P.S. The "guy" redid the kitchen in his houseboat,

and just gave the perfectly good older cabinets away to someone.....us.

That's what Chris and Courtney are using up in our "playroom."

.

What Does Santa Carry In His Pack?

...when it's not Christmas Eve and it's not filled with presents?......

.

.

well....

.

.

.

comfy sneekers in case his bunions start hurting...

.

.

extra shirt

.

.

(he's an honorary member of the Green Bay Packers,)

.

.

it's his favorite team, since it's the closest one to his house.

extra hats in case he flies over one of the games

and just in case one blows off.....

.

his flat teddy bear he's had since he was a baby

--flat because he rolled onto it.

.

and an extra pair of

.

CLEAN underwear that

.

Mrs. Claus always packs for him.

.

.

Don't under estimate this photo.

We were late to 3 birthday parties

and missed two Christmas parties to get this shot.

And that's just the two oldest ones.

.

.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just Kidding

Gas is really $1.31 a gallon.

I think that is what I paid in college...

.

.

10 1/2 years ago.....

$1.37 !!!!

That's right!!!!

A dollar and thrirty seven cents a gallon

at Costco last night

in the SNOW!!!

.

.

.Strange times.

Guess what we did tonight?

shorts...

and

bare

feet...

shorts.....

.

Kashton

.

Koby and Kort

all done and all wet.

Look at those ROSY cheeks!!!

and

drips of snow off her eyebrows.

.

.

We got like 1-2 inches at our house, and i just got word that

SCHOOL IS CANCELLED FOR TOMORROW!!!???

just a minute,

I gotta go kick some butts of some of school board members.......

It snowed ALL day,

but not much of it stuck to the ground.

When is the weatherman right?

TODAY!!

.

.

It's SNOWING in our desert!!!!!!

When you are desperate,

you have to create your own "wind" storms.

We need most of the leaves down and gone

before we can finish decorating our yard.

.

.

Don't forget to notice the roses in the background!!!!

.

It's DECEMBER, people.

PS. Did anyone see Survivor tonight? LOVED IT!!!!!!!

One of the best episodes ever.

.

"GARLIC" on the Banister....

Here is Kashton posing with the decorating assignment he did.

He put the "garlic on the banister."

one fifty three

that's right! Over the weekend, I saw a station with gas at $1.53. (a gallon, not a quart...)

.

.

.

Also, I'm having dish netwrk problems.

Does anyone else have them and is losing the signal for any

and all local channels at any given time of the day?

They sent me a new dvr, but that didn't fix the problem.

The techs that came to my house are baffled.

The weekend Part 2: Black Friday

Me and my shopping assistant got up at 4:15. He was in the electronics line at Wmart by 4:30 while I scoped out the whereabouts of the rest of the bargains. We didn't find out till 5:15 that it was actually the wrong line. I had asked the electronics personel twice to make sure we were in the right spot for item A. Unfortunately, the manager had not gotten the word out to a certain employee who already had item A locked behind the glass around the corner.

.

.

At 5:10, I turned around to see item A being carried out by numerous people, and none of them was my assistant. The 20 people in line ahead of us were mad mad MAD!! Item A was a good deal for $22 off the regular price. We waited around to see if for some miracle, item A would soon appear. It didn't, but by 5:35, 10 of the mad people were still in line waiting. So the manager gave everyone a different item A for $30 off. But, only 1. I have 6 kids, remember.

.

.

.

So, I left my assistant waiting in line to pay for it, and I booked it over to Kmart to see if I could make it in time to get item A from them. (I didn't even check with BestBuy 'cause I knew they'd be out of EVERYTHING. Been there done that.) I made it there just as they opened their doors. However, the line was a block long. I knew if I patiently waited in the line like a good little girl, item A would be all gone. (My integrity wins every now and then.) I waited in the line and watched several bunches of people not wait. I got in there finally, and dodged in and out of the empty aisles and was surprised to see the electronics NOT packed. I was 3rd in line for item A and I got as many as I wanted. AND item A was a discount of $35 each (rang up separately) on account of me getting coupons for something free that I was going to buy anyway.

.

.

That's why I do it, right there.

Seek and conquer.

Those 3 successes made my whole day good.
I went back and picked up my handsome assistant, and we were off to more stores. We went to one store 4 times that day. We couldn't make up our minds. It was nice to be in BB when it was not packed, and they even had 6 of item A left.

But the discount was only $10, so not as good of a deal.

.

.

I always make my 8 a.m. stop at Blvd Home Furn, because they have donuts and hot chocolate. YUM!!! and a really cool toy I've heard about for years but have never seen in stores-only $7. Yes, I got 5 of them. Kauri is too young to use it.
And my kids tended each other quite well. Meaning-no casualties while we were gone.... for 12 hours. There, I said it out loud. And yes, I said 12.

.

.

P.S. If you think it's a good idea to take your young kids (6-14) shopping with you on this day, think again, I ran in to several of my kids' best friends and had to swear them to secrecy to not tell my kids what I was hauling around the store.

We had a weekend part 1.

Thursday, we caught some deals at Kmart before going to Pine Valley.

It was the smallest group of Thanksgivers that I've ever had in my entire life. There were just 23 of us (3 of 6 families). It was nice to not have to stand in line for food all day, though.

The potatoes and gravy were to DIE for. The secret spice in the gravy? Taco Seasoning.

.

.

We spent a lot of time talking video mp3 players, playing Spoons, playing Nerts (Like speed but in teams of 2.) We had 7 teams playing against each other at once. Playing pool, napping, looking through my ads getting my shopping order planned out.

We even took a short trip around the valley to the ranch.

Sullivan Sunset Ridge

just became Sullivan Sunset Resort!

No need to guess where our reunions will be held for the next while.

Craziness, just plain craziness.