One more Christmas decoration

I always put garland on my railing, then colored lights (as per my children's' request), a few of those little decorations you get at Michael's or Joann's, and then the stockings. I've had everything inside to put those things up since I decorated my Christmas tree a week and a half ago. And for a week and a half I've been looking at those decorations and cursing myself for bringing them inside this year. I couldn't possibly fit one more thing into my schedule last week with the program prep and clean-up so I finally got to it today. My kids were very happy... and relieved. They thought that if I didn't get the stockings up that Santa would forget about them and not fill them this year. Mom saves the day, yet again! Crisis averted! (I know it's not much, but I guess that it means a lot to my kids to have it up. I guess I'll have to remember that.)

For some reason you can't see the colorful lights here. I promise they're there!

These are the little decorations I was talking about. Anyone know what they're called?Stockings. There are 3 more, but because of the hallway angle I can't get them all into 1 photo. Sorry!)
Gotta run. Cole's in my kitchen snagging leftovers. Stinking dog! He always eats my cooking. He won't eat just anything. He's picky. He once put his front paws on the counter, reached all the way to where my hot, fresh loaf of bread was sitting at the very back of the counter by the wall, carried it off and ate it all while I went to the restroom. I wasn't gone more than 2 minutes. He still tries. He also loves chocolate, peanut butter and meat.

Smokey and Cole trying to figure out how to get the food that I just put out of their reach.

Cole's old (almost 12) so he gave up after a few moments. Smokey's a lot younger and craftier so he thought about it for a while longer. Looking at these pictures I can see that he really needs a bath.

Sharp Dressed Kid

Drew got new church clothes this week because he's started outgrowing everything. He chose out his new outfit and was excited to show it off. It's a little bit, but the next size down was not going to last long.

Ward Christmas Party- A Night in Bethlehem

It is finally done. Our committee put in HOURS and hours of work. It turned out so well. We did "A Night in Bethlehem". Our wonderful leader, Kristen Seare, helped keep us all motivated and working well together. She has such a positive, upbeat personality that it keeps everyone motivated to do their best. Thank you Kristen! Shanna Johnson, also on our committee, did so much. We've been working on this activity since early September. When we started Shanna was just barely pregnant and so sick. She fought through it and really did so much to keep going. She helped round up people for parts and help. She's so sweet. I don't know how anyone could ever tell her no. Kaleen Godfrey, who is also on our committee, was kind enough to play the prelude music and all the congregational Christmas songs for the evening.
We started in the chapel to have an opening prayer, bless the food and give instructions on how the night would progress. We started off with Tyson Cook, the 2nd counselor in our bishopric, conduction. Julian Hawks, 1st counselor in our ward's bishopric said the opening prayer. Then we had a men's quartet made up of Matt DelBianco, Dave Sorenson, Mike McGuire and Floyd Godfrey sing "Come Thou Fount" and were accompanied by me... but only in certain parts. There were 3 key changes in the song so I just played a few measures at the beginning of each key change. Otherwise they sang a capella. They sounded awesome. Dave hadn't heard the song before our practice the night before, but he totally learned it, and did an awesome job.
After Tyson gave everyone the instructions he started dismissing rows of people so that they could go to Bethlehem and eat their dinner. We had several Inn Keepers at Pita's Inn (pita bread with chili and cheese), Fruit Market (fresh fruit), the Bishop's Winery (water and hot apple cider) and the Sweet Shop/Bakery Shop (desserts).
Here are the people who performed:
Derek Rudd and his sons Taylor and Conner were our tax collectors
Cole Greer filled in at the last minute as our Census Taker
Brad Cottle filled in last minute as our Centurion Guard- he got things started for us, and didn't even get his lines until a few minutes before the program
Gene Daniel was the Inn Keeper for the Manger
Kjell Anderson was our narrator
Matt Del Bianco sang "O Holy Night" and was accompanied by Chanda Evans
Brady Hall was our Angel Gabriel
Elena Yeager sang "Mary's Lullaby" and was accompanied by Martha Bigler
Michelle and Dave Sorenson were Mary and Joseph; their baby Christian was our Baby Jesus
The YM and their leaders were shepherds and sang "A Shepherd's Carol"
Our wise men were Joe Hernandez, Joe Zezulka and Dan Engel
Matt DelBianco, Floyd Godfrey, Tyson Cook, Rob Pickles, John Bigler, Spencer Lamoreaux, Mike McGuire sang "We Three Kings" and were accompanied by me (There may have been 1 or 2 other men, but I can't remember!)
The YW and their leaders were angels and sang "Picture a Christmas" and were accompanied by Kelli Broadbent
Here are a few pictures from the night... For those of you in my ward I can make you a CD with all the pictures if you want. Just let me know! I have 85+ pictures that my mom took.

The Pillions- Kendrick, Anderson, Clayton, Garrett and Cydnie

The Sorensons- Christian, Michelle, Taylor and Dave

Kristen Seare, Rob Pickles, Mike Jensen and Shanna Johnson

Joe Hernandez, Debbie McGuire, Scott Braodbent, Gaby, Taya and Brian Washburn

The Lines- Lily, Lucy, baby, Emily, Hudson and Troy

Julie and Gene Daniel

Sybil and Kjell Anderson

Tanner and Brady Hall

Me at the Sweet Shop

Chloe Seare and Natalie

Kiddos hair cuts! Yay!

The kids all got their hair cuts on Wednesday. My friend Jessi came over and did it. They all looked great when they were done. Justin, of course, hates his hair cut, but that's okay. I think it looks awesome.
Trevor likes his hair cut, but he thinks that he needs to stop wearing glasses. And he doesn't think he needs to do his hair anymore. But he wants to get a buzz over Christmas break. Why would he want to get rid of this cute haircut?!
Natalie is trying to grow her hair long again. We keep getting the layers in it, though, because her hair is wavy, and without the layers within just a few minutes it looks like we didn't brush it. So this really works well for her hair.
Drew Dog really likes his hair, but he would not let me get a picture of him being serious. He thought he was so funny. The other pictures were of him sticking his tongue out at me and making google eyes. So funny.
Now that everyone has haircuts we're going to get our Christmas pictures taken this weekend. FINALLY! I am so excited!

Cover up and a cut

I also have a few stray gray hairs. The odds are not in my favor. My dad was totally gray before he was 30, and white by 50. (He says that I contributed to that, but whatever. I wouldn't do that.) I noticed a few grays trying to make their way into my dark hair so I had my good friend Jessi over to help me get rid of them. Then I decided that I also had to chop it a bit because it's just not cooperating with me. Here are the results. You can tell me if you like it. If not you are welcome to NOT let me know. I already get enough honesty from Trevor. (Such as, "Mom, you have lost a lot of weight, but you still have A LOT left to lose. Especially from your arms, your legs, your stomach, your butt..." He would have continued, but I made a move towards him, and I think he decided he valued his head on his neck...

Okay so I obviously I need to work on curling all of the hair, but it's a change for the better.

Decorating the House for Christmas

Kent, the kids and I decorated the house for Christmas today. Kent and the boys put lights up on the house, Natalie helped me decorate the Christmas tree and Drew loved watching it all. I haven't completed everything, but here are the pictures of what I have finished. I'll finish the rest of the decorations in a bit and post those too. I'm so excited! I love Christmas!

Ward Christmas party

I'm on the ward activities committee, and we're preparing "A Night in Bethlehem" for our Christmas party. Recently Shanna and I got together with her sister to sew 120 bags that will hold the gold coins that Kristen made. We decided over the weekend that we needed to make more bags, so I sewed them last night and this morning. I think that we're up to 160+. They're everywhere! Then I also sewed the covers for the canopies yesterday afternoon and night. I'm so glad Kristen and Shanna came over to measure and cut them. Some of them were 24' long, and really that's not so easy to measure when you're by yourself and have a bad back. And now they're finally done! Yea!

We also had our dress rehearsal on Saturday. It went pretty well. I feel that we have the right people doing the right parts and singing the right songs. I think it's going to be so awesome. I ended up subbing on the piano for the men's choir, and now I get to play for them. The song they're singing is "We Three Kings." It's TTBB, and it sounded awesome with the 5 men that made it to the rehearsal. I think it will sound even better when we get the entire group together.

Now I think we only have a few things to take care of before we go down on Friday to set everything up and have the program. I hope things go smoothly and that everyone feels the spirit we're trying to convey with this program. Wish us luck!

Twilight Movie! Loved it!

We saw it tonight! I loved it! I know they had to cut a lot out to make the movie, but I would LOVE to see the entire book played out. I don't think I'll ever get Kent to read the books, but I might be able to get him to see the movie. He wouldn't really understand it without reading the book so maybe that will help convince him that it's time to read the book! Loved it! So excited, but so sleepy. It's almost 3 a.m. and I have to get up to at least pick the little kids up from preschool in the morning.

I went with my sister Katie and Jenn DeTemple. We saw Julianne Ackley, Kristen Rayburn, Mrs. Rumore (she was a 4th/5th grade teacher at the kids' school until May), and several other people from church, school and various other places. I am definitely going to buy the DVD when it comes out. And I think I'm going to have to read the series again. And probably go see the movie again.

I wore my Team Edward shirt tonight. While I was talking to some of my friends in another theater when a flash snapped. I looked up and saw this girl aiming her camera at my chest. I momentarily forgot that I was wearing a Twilight shirt because I instantly felt a little strange about having someone taking a picture of my chest. But then I realized that she was taking a picture of the shirt so I was okay. (But still... a little warning would have been nice. It caught me off guard!) Julianne made my second shirt. I'll wear it soon and post the picture here. It's done in glitter paint (stuff... I'm not up on the lingo), and says OCD Obsessive Cullen Disorder. It's really cute.

Here are the pics from tonight. Katie and I are in the first one, and the second one is the best shot I could get of myself in the shirt. Jenn decided against being photographed...

Justin's got braces!

We have a new metal mouth in our house! And I'm happy to say it's not me! Here's Justin before. He's giving me his best "CHEESE" smile... (I thought he outgrew this when he was 5, but I guess not...)
Here he is during the procedure. Now he's a big scaredy cat! I did get some up close and personal pictures, but I know that some people are grossed out by that so I chose one that wasn't so close.

Here he is after the braces were put on, and before the pain set in. I warned him, but he didn't believe me. I love it when that happens. I hope that it makes him think, "Gee, maybe my mom does know something. Maybe she is smart." Is that wishful thinking? Even if it is wishful thinking, is it wrong of me to still hope that he thinks that? Now, if I can only convince him that he would look better with shorter hair. Oh, it's killing me...

My new crafting blog

Just wanted to direct your attention to my new crafting blog http://craftingwithmaryann.blogspot.com/. My sisters and one of my good friends are contributors to it. I'm super busy right now with the Christmas program for church, but I am going to do some projects soon and I'll post those. Hopefully you can get some ideas. My sister just posted 2 great pie recipes with pictures. They're perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have a few projects that I never uploaded anywhere so maybe I'll put those up so it doesn't look like I've been slacking!

I love finding a great deal!

During a meeting today my friend Shanna told me about a great deal her sister found at Walmart earlier. She came across HUGE discounts in the girls' clothing area. Things were marked down to $1, $3 and $5. I had to go there after the meeting so I decided to check it out while I was there. Natalie, being the only girl, doesn't get hand-me-downs so I love finding a great deal. We found her a pair of Hannah Montana t-shirts for $3 (down from $10), a pair of HM denim capris and a matching gold belt for $5 (down from $16.92) and 2 beaded v-neck t-shirts (1 black and 1 white) for $3 each (down from $6).
On the chance they had made similar markdowns in the boys' department we went there. Drew is finally tall enough that we can get the XS and size 4/5 from that area. We found a long sleeve light-up skull t-shirt for Drew for $2 (down from $9), and a pair of denim shorts for him for $3 (down from $10.93). I think he's going to wear the shirt every day for a week if he can get away with it.
In total I spent $19 and saved $39.85- almost 68%. Yea!

Blogger issues?

For some reason when I switched to private some of you weren't able to leave comments any more. I think I have it fixed. Can someone that was having problems please try posting again to see if the problem is fixed? Thanks.

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My busy day/week

I am on our ward's activity committee, and this is a busy time for us. We are in the process of planning and preparing for our Christmas party. In recent years we have had a family that sang and had large puppets and ward breakfasts with visits from Santa. This year we really felt like we should have a more spiritual theme. We looked and looked and finally found an idea that we really liked called "A Night in Bethlehem."
I got the script from another website, and have used it as a basis for our program. We decided to use more musical numbers from groups and individuals. We also changed some of the songs to fit what we felt would better suit the program. We had to change the location from a local farm to the church building because so many people in our ward have asthma that the dust from the farm was going to prevent many people from attending.
This week the committee will be meeting almost every day. We met today to figure out exactly what needed to be done and to plan when we could do it. Tomorrow we're going to start making the signs for the "city" of Bethlehem, and for the bags to hold the "money" for each family. Thursday we're going to sew the bags, and hopefully assemble them. Then on Friday... well I can't even remember.
On Wednesday the other committee members are meeting. I cannot meet that day because I'm serving in my other calling at the cannery. I'm not canning anything for myself, but because I am the canning specialist I have to be there. I don't know what I'm going to do as this is the first time I will have gone since being put in this calling and with the new FDA regulations in place. I have no idea what to expect. Everyone has to can their own items, and no one can leave until it's all done. I guess I'll bring a book?? Am I allowed to do that? I have no idea. I guess I'll find out on Wednesday.
Well I need to take a break. I haven't eaten dinner yet because I spent the last 2 1/2 hours cleaning up the mess Natalie, Drew and their friends made today. I should have taken pictures, but it was so messy I couldn't make myself leave until I was done. I could barely get into Natalie's room because it was SO messy.

Every single item of clothing was taken out of her closet, and at least 2/3 of those no longer on the hangers! Underwear and her dress up clothes were scattered throughout the room as well. As we got that all picked up I saw that all of her regular shoes and Disney Princess dress up shoes (about 8 pairs) were scattered throughout her bedroom and closet. I don't know how she was even able to find her dance clothes in all that mess! Once all the clothes were picked up we were able to get the blankets and pillows put back on her bed, and then start picking up the toys. We made several trips to the game room to put the toys away. We also got toys from Drew's room to take back there. While we were there I found that there were about 30 children's books on the ground. Oh my!
After we got the toys put back and the bedrooms decluttered I had to put the books back. I decided that I needed to do some reorganizing because the 2 bottom shelves were in complete disarray. It's finally done, and I hope this new system will make it less prone to mess.
I sure hope so because this is how I feel right now.

...And hungry... Time for dinner!

My Meeting with John McCain

At the urging of Justin I am posting this. This was November of 1993 when I went to Washington, D.C. with some people from my high school for a yearbook competition. We went to Arlington National Cemetery, many of the memorials in the D.C. area, and on a tour of the White House. One of the people we met was John McCain. He was very friendly and spoke with us for several minutes, and mailed all of us an autographed photograph.

Thanksgiving Decorations

These are my Thanksgiving decorations this year.

Oh how soon I forget!

Holy cow! My mouth is so sore! I went to the orthodontist today to get my retainers, and I forgot how sore they make your mouth! (Think E.T. when he says, "Ouch.")

I'm sure that they won't bother me for long but in the meantime I plan to have plenty of cold drinks, Popsicles and other frozen treats.

But you have to check out my totally cool new nighttime retainer! Pretty neat!

Can you tell I like the Denver Broncos?

Twilight is coming!

I am so excited for November 21st when the new Twilight movie is released. I'm going to the midnight showing with a bunch of girlfriends that night. We already have our tickets! Is anyone else going? BTW, do you like my new Bella Swan-inspired background?

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Here's the Chili Recipe from Halloween

I can't claim this recipe as my own. I made some very slight alterations which I have noted on the recipe. I made it again last night for dinner and everyone had at least one serving. We're having it again tomorrow, and the kids are excited about that.

Weight Watchers Chili

1 ½ lbs. Ground beef or turkey (I use turkey because it saves on fat and calories.)
Diced onions
Chopped celery or green pepper (I used 1/2 green pepper each time.)
2 cans stewed diced tomatoes (I used the ones that said chili ready on it.)
1 can Rotel Tomatoes (I just used an extra can of tomatoes.)
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can whole corn
1 pkg. Taco seasoning
1 pkg. Ranch dressing (dry mix)
1 ½ cups water
Chili powder to taste

*Cook meat and onions together in a frying pan. I then put this in my crock pot and add all the other ingredients. I let it cook on low all day and serve. You can add a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese and/or green onions to make it even better!

Braces are off!

Here's a before picture Kent took on Monday morning just before I got my braces off. (I am not a morning person, hence the sleepy eyes.) Here's the picture I took with my cell phone.

Here I am after getting some sleep. Why did I do my hair like this? Oh yeah... growing out the bangs. I'm sure some of you can relate to that!

Here are the before and after pictures they gave me. Even if my teeth didn't look better I look better. 25-30 pounds makes a HUGE difference! I just wish they'd let you fix your hair after lying down! My hair looked okay when we started, but was totally flat when we were done.

Election 2008 Thoughts

Disclaimer- I was a Poli Sci Major in college so if you aren't interested in politics you can skip this post!

Before reading this post click on this link about Joe Biden's comments on Oct. 19, 2008 in Seattle, Washington. Then click here to see Barack Obama's stand on the issues.

I am sick over the results of the presidential election! I am amazed that so many people were wooed by this man. I agree that he is a dynamic speaker. However, I totally disagree with his stand on so many issues. I don't want to pay even more towards a broken welfare system, and give even more concessions away. If I didn't feel overtaxed already I certainly will soon. I feel like he and Biden (who is so liberal) will completely change the look and feel of our country for the worse. Bad, bad, bad feelings when I think about the future of our country. I won't add any more of my thoughts, but I truly fear for the future of our country.

On a better note Prop. 102 passed! What a relief. I know that it was only because of all of the prayers, hard work of volunteers at the phone banks, the signs everywhere and bumper stickers that this passed. Thank Heaven!

We also get to keep Joe Arpaio as sheriff! I don't necessarily agree with all of his tactics, but he has done so much to uphold the laws- even the unpopular ones. He took away porn, cable t.v. and other excessive comforts from the inmates (see Tent City). He enforces the immigrations laws, and although I don't agree with his tactics, he does get very good results. I don't have a problem with someone living in the United States as long as they do it legally!

I hope that however you voted that you exercised your right to vote. I think it's so important to participate in the democratic process- even when things don't always go the way I want. It was only 89 years ago that women were not allowed to vote in this country. There are still some countries that don't allow women to vote. Because we are given this right here we should exercise it when presented with the opportunity!

Halloween Pictures

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a busy day for our family!
First I drove Natalie, Trevor and Justin to school. Then I came home to eat breakfast and get ready for the next party. While I was eating I booted up the computer. Good thing I did. There was an e-mail from her teacher saying that she did want me to come to class and bring a craft for the class to do. Yikes! I had to figure out what I was going to do (I had an idea in mind, but I needed to decide if it was age-appropriate for her class), then cut everything out and get the supplies together. I finally decided on a 3" black spider with a 5" pumpkin that would act as a great background. Thank goodness for my Cricut! I was able to cut out 20 spiders and 20 pumpkins in just a few minutes. Then I also had to get dinner in the crock pot. My sister Katie, her daughter Melia and my mom were going to come to our house to eat and then trick-or-treat with us that night. I was making chili, which I hate, but I found this recipe that I LOVE! So that's what we were going to eat. I love crock pots too. I was almost ready by 9, which is when Drew's preschool's Halloween party was starting so things looked good.
Drew did not get up until 9:05, but since everyone has been getting sick I let him sleep in. (It also allowed me to get those things ready.) He ate breakfast and then had to figure out which costume to wear. He decided to be Buzz Lightyear. He didn't want to wear anything under this costume, and he wouldn't change his undies, so you could totally see them through the costume. At that point I just didn't care! By the time we left we were almost 45 minutes late, and it was almost time for me to go to Natalie's class. He missed the class Halloween pictures and a few of the activities, but he was still excited to be there, and didn't care that I was had to go to Natalie's class. I was able to stay for a few minutes before I left.
When I got to Natalie's class I had the kids color the pumpkin stems green, then glue the spider to the pumpkin. Then they could either draw a face on the spider or have one of the parents put glue and glitter to make a face. It went really smoothly, and they all seemed to like what they made. We finished a few minutes before class ended so I got the car and picked Natalie up.
Kent was home when we got there. This made me so happy! Drew was going to a birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza from 12-2, and I was supposed to help in Trevor's class for his Halloween party at 2. Kent was going to try to get off work at 1 so he could meet me at PPP at 1:30 so I could leave in time to get back to the school to help out in his class. His being home worked out better for me because he could take the kids to the party and stay there, and I wouldn't have to rush to get everything done. With this working out with Kent, all I had to do was wrap the gift and have Drew change out of his costume into his clothes. And since PPP has free WiFi Kent took Natalie to let her play and he was able to work.
Shortly after they left I went back to the school to help out with Trevor's class Halloween party. It was insane! The kids had already partaken of massive amounts of sugar judging by how hyper they were. I don't know what I really did to help... other than crowd control. I led the kids to throw their trash away too, but I don't know... it didn't seem like much!
When we were done I drove Justin and Trevor back and cleaned. Kent's dad, my mom, sister Katie, and her daughter Melia were coming over and we had a ton to clean. Around 5 they all arrived, and we ate the chili I made and the cornbread my mom made. It was pretty good! We don't even like chili, but it was a HUGE batch, and it was gone within the following 24 hours.
My back was hurting so bad from all my running around so I volunteered to stay home with my mom and pass out candy. It felt so nice outside that we decided to move chairs and some decorations out to the driveway to pass out the candy. We had a lot of fun seeing all the fun costumes and visiting with everyone who came by. Kent took our kids trick or treating, and Katie and Melia went with them. They got a bunch of candy, and had a lot of fun. As the trick or treaters started fading in numbers some of my neighbors came over and we talked in the front while our kids played together. Katie's boyfriend John also came over. Before I went inside I took down all of the Halloween decorations inside and outside and put up all of my Thanksgiving decorations. I suppose I should take pictures and post them, but that will have to be at another time!

Girls' Pedis

Natalie had to go to the ER yet again so she and I got to go for pedicures again. She said that we weren't allowed to match so I got a zebra pattern, and she got a flower on her big toes and glitter on all the rest. She was quite pleased with the results. She has a follow-up appointment tomorrow with another specialist to see if we can finally get to the bottom of her problems.