Rock n' Roll

Zachery, Savannah, & I were playing Tibbar's Apple Race together. Zachery rolled the die and got a song bird and an optional rule to the game says "humm a song while you skip your turn. I told Zachery to sing "Lalalalala" and he said "No, I want to sing, Rock n' Roll" It sure made me laugh. Every time he rolled a song bird he sang "rock n' roll, rock n' roll, rock n' roll" Love, that kid!

Why I have been MIA

So I haven't been a very good about keeping a family journal and I want to do better. Life has been VERY busy!!!! I am going to try it all again, just might not get to the pictures as quickly as before.

So what have I been doing???? Being mom and many other things. Here is a look into my recent morning.

6:20 am - said goodbye to family that was in town for RJ's baptism.
6:30 am - Jared takes extended family to airport and then heads to work
6:45 am - comforted my sad boy who hates goodbyes with a passion.
7:00 am - took a much needed shower (hadn't gotten one since Friday night)
7:05 am - was interrupted by my two year old telling me he peed on the floor downstairs
7:15 am - got dressed, changed two year old and his sheets (they were wet as well)
7:25 am - quickly combed threw my hair and then got all three kids a bowl of cereal
7:30 am - cleaned up pee on carpet
7:32 am - told the two older kids to get dressed for school
7:35 am - finished cleaning the carpet
7:40 am - pour a bowl of cereal for myself
7:45 am - was told to come quick because two year old was throwing up
7:46 am - catching throw up in towel that was laying close by
7:50 am - rushing said two year old to bathroom to finish his job
7:55 am - remind two older kids to get dressed for school while filling up the bath water
8:00 am - two year old in bath, kids FINALLY getting dressed, I'm cleaning up throw up.
8:10 am - Start brushing daughters hair
8:12 am - Stop brushing hair and go up stairs to tell son to stop splashing bath water on the floor
8:13 am - resume brushing hair
8:15 am - stop brushing hair to answer door (we take a neighbor boy to school every Monday and Wednesday)
8:17 am - get child out of bath tub and dressed
8:22 am - put daughter's hair in pony tail
8:24 am - call another neighbor and ask if the kids can walk to school with them (Thank goodness for neighbors)
8:25 am - throw together a quick lunch for the kids
8:30 am - help get shoes and coats on, send kids out the back door
8:31 am - breath again
8:33 am - clean up cereal bowls
8:36 am - put my hair in pony tail and sink into the computer chair
8:40 am - remember that I still haven't put all the soiled clothes and towels in the laundry, sigh and push it off for a latter.

Wow ... What a morning. Other then the busy life of a wife and mother, I have been the kids taxi driver. Savannah has been taking ballet once a week and she goes to girl scouts every other week. I am the assistant leader for her troop and am required to be there for every meeting. RJ is taking violin lessons just before school on Tuesday and Friday mornings so those mornings are a little more hazy as too the fact that we all have to be ready and out the door before 8:15. RJ is just about to start cub scouts which he is most excited about. He has been looking forward to this adventure since he was three. His first den meeting is this Wednesday.

Monday mornings I usually drop Zachery off at a friends house and I volunteer at the school library. But as mentioned above, circumstance aren't allowing me to do that today. And I am grateful for the break. We had family visiting for RJ's Baptism this past weekend and I can use the down time today to get the extra laundry and things done.

I am also the cookie mom for Savannah's daisy troop. It has been a busy month with cookie sales and booths to keep track of. We still have one more month till that adventure is over.

We bought a membership to the YMCA last summer, I try to get there a couple times a week but things keep popping up. My pants started to get too tight over the holiday season and I am still struggling to get them buttoned up. Too many girl scout cookies.

I am also the second consular in the Relief Society and have had many more responsibilities added to my plate from that calling. But I very much enjoy it.

I am still a layout artist for Scrap Girls. Our assignments were cut in half so I am not too bogged down with that, anymore. I still love creating digital scrapbook pages, they are my outlet from a busy day or busy week. It is my time to relax and unwind.

And in November I did something I told myself I won't do. I signed up for another party planning company. I LOVED SimplyFun and stepped away from it because I spent more money then I made and I honestly didn't have the time for it. I said if I ever did it again I would return back to SimplyFun, but I honestly didn't think I would look that direction for a long time since party's really weren't my thing. However, I was reintroduced to Heritage Makers and I knew I wanted to print with them. None of my digital layouts had been printed, I create books and calendars every year and I am always looking for the cheapest, high quality, and creative way to do that. Also I have always wanted to help people learn how to organize and create with their digital pictures. Heritage Makers had all that and more and so I signed up. I am enjoying what I am creating and printing, I don't have as much time as I like for the business side of it but I try.

So in a nut shell that is why I have been MIA from the blogging world. I want to come back as it is an easy way to document our families day to day life and keep better in touch with family so I am going to try and make a better effort at it.

Though my life can be hectic at times, I try to keep my proprieties in order. I strive to keep
family and my personal relationship with my Heavenly Father my top priority and I have learned that as I do that my other activities seems to fall into place and I am much happier and less stressed. Some days I don't get to the cleaning and my much desired hobby or the book I wanted to read gets pushed aside but as I focus on the important I seem to find a little time here and there for the wants.

I am enjoying life and am happy to be me!

RJ's Star War's Story

RJ wrote this story all by himself. He worked on it over 2 days. Pretty neat imagination.




If you couldn't read it here it is:

Episode VII

Skeletons vs. Ninjas and Jedi’s

Once upon a time there were two brothers named, Wu and Garmandon. Garmandon became evil and wanted to take over the world and fell to the underworld. One day, five ninjas named Kia, Cole, Zane, Jay and Nya came to fight Garmandon and save the world. Meanwhile, in outer space Luke and R2-D2 have discovered a new planet called Elexagon. The ninjas were on there as well looking for Garmandon. Luke spotted a skeleton from Garmandon's army, named Bonzi. Luke comes up while the ninjas run and ka-pow they kill the skeleton. Luke and the ninjas became best friends and taught each other their special moves. One day Garmandon came out of the underworld all the Jedi’s and skeletons had a big fight. Garmandon tried to escape but the ninjas spotted him; they ran as fast as they could to the fire temple as Yoda followed. Krrrr! The powerful Garmandon shocks the ninjas. Will Garmandon take over the world or will Yoda jump out and kill Garmandon? Find out in this awesome episode.

Day 5 - Rome, Italy

FINALLY!!! My last Rome posting! Here it is November and I am finally finishing up posting the pictures from our trip. Unfortunately, as I was looking through the photos, I couldn't remember all the details. Someday I will get better and write in a journal as I travel. Someday ...


Thursday, March 24th

Jared's conference was over and the first thing we did during our last day in Rome was take a tour of the Vatican. The picture below is of me and Flat Stanley at the back entrance of the Vatican Museum.

The Vatican Museum was full of lots of art and sculptures and other historic things to look at. We didn't see it all. There was so much to see. Our first stop was to the Sistine Chapel. And boy was that incredible. We wanted to get there first because we heard the tourists pour in and it gets packed. We heard correctly. We did get there before the crowds and we were able to sit and really enjoy the paintings. No photography was allowed in the chapel, but is was so beautiful! The paintings, especially the ceiling looked 3D, it was neat. I couldn't believe that those paintings were Michelangelo's first painting and he was forced to paint them! They were incredible! After the Sistine Chapel we walked through some other rooms full of paintings by Raphael. And saw some other things in the museum. Below is just a few pictures from the Vatican.

The Pope's carriage back in the day .

There was an interesting story behind this statue but I can't recall it.
:(

The stair case to exist the museum:

Next we had lunch. I had the famous no sauce pizza we heard so much about. It was really good. Just mozzarella cheese and zucchini.

We drank with just about every meal. They drink a lot of coke in Europe, I have never been a coke fan but I craved it when we got back tot he States and our coke just isn't the same as Europe's coke!

The Vatican's Guards

In front of St. Peter's Basilica.

This was our next stop, we went inside and walked around the chapel. We however did not go up into the dome or down into the catacombs. Maybe next time :)
The roads and walkways in Rome are mostly stone and the unevenness of it killed my back. It ached before noon each day, so the thought of climbing all the stairs to the dome was not appealing and we were short in Euros by the last day anyway.

Inside the Basilica:

A crystal coffin of one of the Popes

St. Peter with the Keys to the Kingdom

This is the lists of Popes showing their line of authority dating back to St. Peter, the apostle. I found it interesting that there were a lot of gaps with years of no Popes.

This was an interesting find:

Next we walked the cobblestone streets through the heart of Rome.

We had some really yummy gelato in this ally.
Getting some water from a Roman drinking fountain. So pure and good!

The Pantheon:

It was really neat inside! Jared loved the architect of this round building with no ceiling. The floor has a small slop to it and there are drains to catch all the rain water. Very cool.

Tomb of the first king of Italy . There is always an Italian guard guarding this tomb.

Tomb of Raphael


And finally we made it to the St. Peter in Vincoli (in Chains) Basilica

These are the supposed chains that bound Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem:

Also housed in this church is Michelangelo's famous Moses Sculpture:

Finally that evening we ate, for the second time, at a little restaurant near our hotel with some of Jared's friends from Belgium. We enjoyed catching with them and the Bruschetta at the restaurant was to die for !!! That is all I wanted to eat. They had this garlic olive oil dip with red pepper flakes. It was so yummy!
We loved how this family owned restaurant did their checks. Once we were ready to leave the waiter recalled what we all ordered and wrote down the prices on the table cloth, then added it up. And some to the figures were written different then we write in the USA. It was fun and different.

So when I went with Jared to France and Belgium back in 2008 he was given a spontaneous interview and we went into the process of moving to Belgium as a temporary assignment. That fell through at the last minute mostly from miss communication. However those steps lead us to Virginia and we know each step was directed by the hand of the Lord. It was an interesting time in our life.

During this dinner with foreign friends, Jared was offered the chance to apply to a Belgium job again. His friend is a manger and very much wanted Jared on his team. And Jared really wants to live in Europe for a period of time. He loved his experience in Belgium and wouldn't mind one day working there. So we went into a whirlwind of thought processing as we contemplated taking a job and moving to Belgium once again. March and April gave us an emotional workout. We wanted to go to Europe, but was it right? We loved Virgina and we hadn't been here very long. Jared processed with the application and to my relief it failed quickly. He didn't have enough schooling for the position. His Belgium friend was going to try and break a few rules but we said no. The timing just wasn't right.

I joked with Jared afterwards that I will be a little bit apprehensive about travel to Europe with him again. Both times I went it resulted in a job opportunity. :)

So that is all of our Rome trip. It was a fun place to visit and I would do it again. I hope to see all of Italy some day. I loved the little bit we did see.

Halloween Song

So the other day the kids were singing Jingle Bells. I tired to chime in by changing the words to a more Fall theme, but it wasn't coming together right. RJ took over and let his creative juices flow. After perfecting it a few times he came up with this cleaver rhyme to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Halloween, Halloween, Is the best time ever.

Jumping in the leaves is fun, But a scare is so much better.