Some Thoughts

For some reason I have not been in the blogging mood this week. It does not help that I finally picked up the second book in the Twilight series and I am in the middle of it and can not put it down. Mitchell is reading it also so we each read for an hour or so, then we give the book to the other person to let them catch up. It stinks to read along side him because he says things that I do not want to hear or he is like "Oh No!" or "I can't believe Bella did that." For now I am about 30 pages ahead of him so I plan on keeping it that way.

Anyways, with the recent talk on the news of the hurricanes in the east I begin to think about if something like this happened to my family right now. What if I had one day to flee from my home? Would I be ready? What would I bring? Just think about all of the many things that the people in New Orleans are leaving behind just so they can get out of harms way.

This is why we have been told for years to do 72 hour kits and have a year supply of food storage. Growing up my parents always had a huge garbage can with our 72 hour kit inside that was always ready to throw into the car if we needed to leave for some reason. They also had water that they put in 2 liter bottles ready just incase we did not have water for a couple of days.

I do not have anything like that for my family. I have so many excuses that I do not even want to start. My house is to small to hold food storage, I don't have the money to get food storage, I do not know where to start, I don't have the need to do it right now. So many excuses that are going to hit me hard one of these days, unless I do something about it.

I think that the first place that I will start is with my bank account. I need to make sure that I have a supply of money, just incase something happens with the economy and we do not get any contracting jobs for a couple of weeks. I heard once that like 80% of people are a week away from homelessness. This means that if they lose their job, they will not have any extra money to live off of. This is practically my husband and I. We have been concentrating on getting our bills payed off so we can start saving, but I am going to change that and start saving, then pay extra to the bills once we get our savings up.

Next, gas is a big thing also. If something happened to my family is my car prepared to get me out of harms way? Not usually. I run on half a tank so often that I would not make it very far if something happened and we needed to flee and the gas stations all closed, or the prices were extremely high due to demand or the lines were to long. I need to check into the safety of storing gas, but I know I need at least something saved just incase.

These all are things that I am personally going to work on this year. I will start with baby steps until I finally get all that I need to survive on. Thank goodness for all of the great articles and blogs on how to begin or I would be totally lost!

After I wrote this I checked my email and this is what I found, a great article about your 72 hour kits if you are not at home when disaster strikes. It talks about a kit for your child at school. I am so glad that my daughters school has these prepared for our children incase of an emergency. I put a game in their kit along with a family picture. It is scary to think that something might happen at the school, but it can so it is better to be prepared then not.
http://www.ldslivingmagazine.com/articles/show/1664

One Year From Now

For the past four years I have had a secret goal that I have wanted to achieve, but have been too scared to do. This goal has been to run in the Largest Running Relay Race in the World, the Mother of All Relays, The Nike Hood to Coast Relay. The race stretches 197 miles near the base of Oregon's majestic Mt. Hood down to the beautiful Pacific Ocean beach in Seaside, Oregon.

My sister Heather, her husband Paul and my brother Jared just finished this years race. Heather called me the other day to ask if Mitchell and I wanted to do it next year with her (she has asked the past four years and I have always declined). Of course I declined this year also. I hung up the phone and did not think anything else about it, until I saw a picture of myself.

In high school I was real skinny. I was on the soccer team so I was running every day and was physically in great shape. This all changed once I got pregnant and my body has not been anywhere near the condition as it was 10 years ago. I have not had a family photo take in 9 years, due to the fact that I have no want to pay money for a picture that I am going to criticize. This is why I only get pictures of my girls instead.

While in Utah I had a picture taken with my sister Tricia. For some reason seeing me next to her made me realize that I have to lose weight. She is my ideal weight so I see how much I need to lose. I have been in denial for so many years thinking that I can squeeze my way into my clothes or I can suck in my stomach, but when you reach a certain weight, there is no squeezing that will hide your unwanted fat anymore. I cherish this picture because I treasure the moments I had with my sister, yet I treasure it as the last picture that was taken of me at my heighest weight ever.

What I am going to do about it!?!

I called my sister, Heather, and told her that my husband and I will be participating in Hood to Coast next year (Mitchell was on the first team with them years ago but he was kicked off). I am so excited about it. I have a full year to train. I will start using my gym membership again and there is NO WAY that I will not lose weight. I am really excited to train with Mitchell. He is so good at helping me out with what I need help with so he will be a great motivator.

So, over the next 12 months I am going to have to do a lot. If I ran on the treadmill right now, I would not be able to run more than 2 minutes. I did not write 2 miles, I wrote MINUTES! So, my goal is to get up to running a mile straight by October 31st.

I look forward to blogging about my progress and writing my thoughts about what is happening. I am so excited to see what I can accomplish in a year. :) I will surely keep everyone posted.

Hood to Coast Here We Come!

Bows, Bows and more Bows

While I was in Utah, my sister Tricia and I were able to enjoy a couple of hours alone. We could have gone to a movie or out to dinner, but I chose to go to The Quilted Bear. It is a store that has a ton of booths with hand made crafts and such. The cute bows caught my eye but then once I noticed the price of $5.00 a piece I thought I can make them for cheaper than that; so I did.

The girls and I have been busy looking on the internet finding sites that show how to make cute girl bows. I then ran to JoAnn Fabrics (WalMart would have been cheaper but the closest one to me is 20 minutes away) and bought the supplies. We had a great time.

Here is what became of our fun day of bow making.
I absolutely love these bows. We made about 8 different colors and sizes of them. I can't wait to see them in my girls hair.

Hailey chose this ribbon and was able to help me make these bows.

You can not tell in the picture, but these are large bows, so you only would use one on your head. They are easier to make then I thought. There are step by step instructions on this website: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pinwheel-Hairbow/ You will also find the instructions for the top curly bow on this site also.

Who can not use white bows?

Ashley made these, pretty cute!

Lindsay's bow turned out really cute also. You take a pony tail holder and tie ribbons to it to cover the pony tail and then voila, you are done. Really cute and simple. Hailey calls this her ballerina bow.

We ended up making 22 different hair clips so we better be set for quite some time. I bet that at least one will end up in the lost and found at the school. We shall see.

Also while I was out with Tricia we began talking about cooking and what different meals we like to cook for our families that are easy. I think I am in a cooking rut and need some help. If you have a simple recipe, please share it with me on my comments. My family will love you for it and so will I. :o)

Utah Trip

I decided that since we moved from Utah the only times we have returned are either for a wedding or for a funeral so it was about time that we return for some fun! Since Mitchell had to work the first half of the week, and he would be flying to Oklahoma to visit with his grandparents the second half of the week, I needed a copilot so we took my niece Rebekah.

Twin Falls Temple Open House

On our way we were able to stop at the Open House for a new Temple that was to be dedicated. What an amazing experience to have with your children to walk into the temple with them. It was fun to answer their questions and to see their expression on their face as they went through the gorgeous rooms. What a fun start to our vacation.

Rebekah, Ashley, Lindsay and Hailey in front of the Twin Falls, Idaho LDS Temple.

My sweet girls.

NEXT STOP...LAGOON

After arriving at my sister, Tricia's, house we went to Lagoon. As a child I have wonderful memories of going to Lagoon with my family and relatives. If I were to do it all over again I would not bring Hailey because she was too small for so many rides, but we still had a blast. My sister Allyson and her husband Dallin and my niece Camille and Rebekah all joined us.

Rebekah and Hailey on Puff the Magic Dragon. This was the only time that Hailey would go on this ride, she did not like how fast it was. It was one of Ashley's favorites.

Camille, Ashley and Rebekah on my favorite ride. Hailey would not go on it with me so I was not able to go on it this year.

Lindsay and Ashley on the Odysea, a brand new ride.

WATCH OUT! Lindsay and Hailey are driving? Scary thought.

I was really proud of Lindsay and Ashley. Lindsay went on Colossus which is a roller coaster that went upside down. She really enjoyed it and wanted to go on it again. Ashley also enjoyed scary rides like Mouse Trap. She wanted to go on Jet Star II but she was an inch too short. We ended the day with a cotton candy, funnel cake and churro's. YUMMY!

DUCK PARK

We went with Tricia's family to a fun park with ducks in Murray for a picnic.

Beware: Do not feed the ducks unless you want a hundred of them begging at your feet. This is how Hailey decided it was best to feed them. Good idea Hailey.

The whole gang. Parker (or Carter I never figured out which was which the whole week I was there. What a bad aunt I am. They are twins if you did not know.) anyways, he kept hiding from the camera. He is behind Ashley.

A rare picture of me in front of the camera.

CANDY ANYONE?

I do not think that I can return to Utah without going on the Sweets Candy Factory tour again. It was amazing. You get to walk through the factory as they are making the candy and you even get to sample quite a bit of candy.

One of my favorite shows is Unwrapped on the Food Network where they go into factories and show you how they make most of the stuff you buy in the store. It was a treat to see it first hand.

We all had to wear these silly hair nets. The kids got a good laugh out of it.

JORDANELLE WAVE RUNNERS

I have to say that the highlight of our trip was not something that was planned until the day before we went. Every year Tricia and her family try to go to the Jordanelle Resorvior and rent a wave runner and they invited us to come along. I was a chicken the first time I went on it, but once you got the hang of it, it was really fun. I even drove it twice.

(Ashley, Tanner and Byron)

Ashley liked it, but decided that she did not want to go on it again. She thought that playing in the water was a lot more fun. Luckily the water was really warm.

Lindsay, Parker (at least Lindsay thinks so) and Tricia. Lindsay absolutely loved being on the wave runner. She is my adventuresome spirit. She also loved swimming off the dock.

Hailey stuck to the shore. She enjoyed playing in the sand, splashing in the water and collecting interseting rocks.

GRAVESITES

A very important part of my trip was to see each of my grandparents gravesites. Here is my Grandpa and Grandma Adamson's grave. I wish that I bought some flowers because it looked pretty bare. They are two very special people.

I wish that I planned better and went to see my brother Troy's grave. My girls asked to go the day we left and we were already an hour past his grave. I will be sure to go there next time.

I was not going to go to another grave without flowers so we went to Harmons and got flowers to place on my Grandpa and Grandma Darley's grave. The balloons were because my daughters got them while in Harmons and they decided to place them on the graveside also. I told this to my mom and she told me that Harmons is the place that my grandparents used to shop so I guess it was not that tacky to have Harmons balloons there.

ALLYSON"S HOUSE

My youngest sister, Allyson, also lives in Utah so we were able to spend the night at her home. My girls had a blast with their two kids, Myles and Rose. She was nice and let my girls help her make homemade pizza. It was really good. She is such a good cook and knows a lot of easy recipies.

Myles and Hailey played with this Uno game for about an hour. Myles laughed his head off each time the game spit out cards.

Rose and Lindsay. Lindsay is great with kids. They tend to flock to her and I can not figure out why. I think it is because she will give them their space when needed. Rose looks identical to Allyson when she was that age.

HOGLE ZOO

I remember two things from my childhood about Hogle Zoo, the wax figures that you could buy (which are gone now) and this drinking fountain.

If we had one of those in our home, my kids would never get dehydrated. Hailey loved drinking out of the lions mouth.

Most of the gang at the zoo.

We had such a wonderful trip thanks to our great hosts Tricia, Byron, Allyson and Dallin. It is always fun to watch the cousins all play together.

OUR DRIVE HOME

I dreaded the drive home all week because the kids had nothing to be excited about so I decided to get a hotel with a swimming pool. We arrived at our hotel at 6:00 so we swam for three hours. It was well worth it because we had an exceptional night sleep.

Another "bribe" so that the kids would be good is a restaurant called Sumpters Junction in Baker City, Oregon. There is a small model train that drives by your table every 2 minutes or so. Every kid in the restaurant would scream as it drove by.

(Ashley, Lindsay, Hailey and Rebekah in front of part of the model train)

WHEW! Can you believe we did all of that in one week. Amazing, I know. My head is still spinning.

It was such a nice and relaxing trip, but it is also nice to be home so that I can sleep in my own bed tonight.

National Night Out 2008

Every year I am required to put on a social gathering for our residents. Since National Night Out is a date that is set in stone, that is when I choose to do our gathering. The local sheriffs office try to go to all of the community parties so I made a personal invite this year so that they would be sure to come to ours, they did not disappoint.

Dollar Tree had a huge sale on Luau supplies so we decided to have a luau theme. I went overboard buying stuff. It was all just to fun to not buy. I have so much left over that Ashley wants a luau for her birthday in a month, I am not going to complain.

McGruff came to visit the kids. As soon as Hailey saw McGruff she started screaming and ran over to me and would not let go. Mitchell grabbed her and took her around the corner until McGruff left. For some reason she was TERRIFIED to say the least. She did the same last year, and also when we went to Chuck E Cheese and she saw Chuck E. Someone commented that she would not do well at Disneyland. We are going to Lagoon in a week, I am sure there are no characters there, at least I am pretty sure.

I hope this is not a picture of what is yet to come. :) Ashley is in the sheriff's car with her friend from school.

We had 5 different cop cars including a K-9 dog. Here the Sheriff was talking with our residents. They usually come with some fun things for the kids. This year they had frisbees, pencils, magnets, first aid kits and balloons.

Oriental Trading Company is such a fun place to buy stuff for parties. I got a lot of prizes and games that had to do with our theme.

I also got this giant volleyball from Oriental Trading Company and the kids had a blast.

My Luau girl, Hailey and her parrot.

I was, finally, able to sit down to eat some of the delicious dinner. We always have a potluck so there is a huge variety of different kinds of food to eat. This year, for some reason, my favorite food were bite sized tuna fish sandwichs that someone brought. They were SOOO good.

It was a great night. I am so glad that I do not have to worry about it for a year because it takes a lot of time, planning and shopping to get ready for it. Hopefully, next year will be as good as this one!