And We Are Off ....

We are off to visit Grandma & Grandpa Tippets in Star Valley, Wyoming which is just outside Jackson Hole. We will be there for just about two weeks. We are so excited to just get away and not worry about this house for a couple of weeks. We are hoping to visit with a couple companies in Utah and possibly Montana while we are out West. Hope everyone has a safe & wonderful Memorial Day. Stay tuned for our western adventures!

A Day for Splashing!

Dallin & Kenzi came over today for a few hours to splash around. We found swim suits and extra t-shirts and everyone had a great time. Here are a few shots from today. The kids had more fun with the water guns than jumping through the water sprinklers. The video at the end is so cute. All three kids were singing Families Can Be Together Forever which turned out great! Enjoy the pictures!

Kenzi ... needing a sip ... but she was so happy to have her own water gun!

Dallin & Max giving me their best water gun faces! They were so happy!

All three monkeys having a good time!

During lunch we were singing the ABC song, Families Can Be Together, I Love to See the Temple, Popcorn Popping. This video is the best of all three of them. Enjoy! We are so sad to see the Pratts moving but, we were happy to have one good play date with them! We love Dallin & Kenzi!

Patience is a Virtue ... I'm Running Out!

They say patience is a virtue. Sometimes I believe I have absolutely no patience in the world and other times I would say I can stack up with the best. Lately, my patience level has been short perhaps even to the degree where you may say, I have none! I will not necessarily blame the lack of patience on no sleep. However, I will add that stress can have some added value to having no patience. I think I am having a hard to time accepting that I have absolutely little to no control over our lives right now. So many things are unsettled and we have certainly faced our share of adversity. I really am ready to have some concrete placed back in my life. I'm ready to know if we will have a job, go back to school, live in Fairfax, Alexandria, Southern Virginia, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Iraq, Afghanistan, or Europe. At this point, will some employer just make a decision and put forth a strong offer??? Ughh enough is truly enough and my patience has run more than thin!! Is this a sign that I am losing it?

Excellent Taco Meat

I don't put recipe's on here normally but, I have to share this one that I came across on http://www.recipezaar.com/. The best part is you will most likely have all of this on hand. This will now be our recipe basic for tacos.

Serves 4 - 6
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup water

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl except water.
2. Mix well as you would in making a meat loaf.
3. Pour water into pan and add meat.
4. Stir occasionally breaking up any large chunks.
5. Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes or until done.

Very tasty! Our family loved it with all the traditional toppings. Give it a try!

The Standard Works ... in Chocolate!

One thing that I like about teaching Primary is that the lessons can be very creative! I was working on my lesson for this next week and I found this creative idea online and thought I would give it a try. Our lesson is on Nephi went back to get the brass plates, record keeping, and how we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. So, I (with some help from Max) made these little mini scriptures from Hershey Chocolates. Not too difficult and if you need instructions, just let me know. I'm not sure they'll make it home with the kids but, I will plan to hand them out at the end of primary. Last week I made a magnet out of a wooden clothes pin with each of the kids name on it. I put them on the blackboard and clip their coloring pages or handouts to them during class time. They were so excited and really wanted to take them home. I may make extra's for them this week but, overall the class is pretty good. I average 5 kids each week but could have a possible 6. It cracks me up how many times the kids can ask to get a drink or go to the bathroom. Overall, I am learning to love primary again.

Speaking of primary, my thanks goes out to Sister Nancy Skiff in our ward. She is the music chair for the primary and nursery kids. Max has been singing more and more recently and likes to pretend that he is Sister Skiff. She comes in to his nursery class each week for singing time and he loves to sing all the songs that she has been teaching them. Today, his specialty was "If you see a frowny face do not let it stay.... simply turn it upside down and smile that frown away!" Max was using his alphabet letter drawings as his faces and would turn them around. It was cracking me up! I really need to get it on video! Thanks to Sister Skiff and her creative singing techniques!

Not Just a House ....

Due to our economic challenges (i.e. no jobs...) we have been trying to sell our home. Recently we have dropped our price significantly which is discouraging but it was necessary. And, while we are losing money, disgusted with our circumstances and sad to move .... I should say we will be leaving not just a house but our home. This is the first house that Mark and I bought together and we moved here just about 4 years ago from Alexandria, VA. This home has many memories for us. This is the home, where I went in to labor with Max, this is the house we brought Max home to. This is the home, that Mark and I painted, created planting beds, put new trees in to, found turtles in our driveway, built the first snowman with Max at, flew kites at with Justin, hauled mulch, dirt, and grass around to various locations. This house has baked many loaves of bread, cookies, turkeys, and we have grilled countless hamburgers and hotdogs. We had our first garden here and canned tomatoes, peaches, salsa, green beans and jam. We have had first Christmas' here, Easters, Halloween and many other holiday's. We have had garage sales here and we have washed many cars here. We have hosted many Relief Society events here along with baby showers and BBQ's. And, so while I am anxious to sell this home so the pressure of our economic times will lift, I am sad to see our home go to another family.

Happy Mothers Day!

Spring time in our yard. Happy Mothers Day to ALL!

Max and Mark have beens suffering from spring time allergies. Here is Max wishing all his Grandmas, Aunts and friends a Happy Mothers Day .... just as the sneezing begins!

Breast Cancer Awareness

This month I have been working on a new plate that includes the pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness. I am hoping they will be out by the end of next week. I'll keep you posted.

This reminds me of the 3-Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk I did in 2002. I raised $1900 and walked from Baltimore, MD to Washington DC and it was a long 60 miles! I remember thinking that the curbs in Washington felt like rocky mountains after walking for three days. I also recall thinking that I would have made a lousy pioneer as I know the pioneers did not have the comfort of a Nike sneaker and porta pottys every 2 to 3 miles! I did meet many breast cancer survivors on the walk and heard many of their stories. It was a triumphant feeling to walk into a town and hear complete strangers tell you "thank you for walking" or "thanks for helping my sister or mom". Some other great signs along the way were, "mom, hurry home - we are out of cereal" or "save the boobies". It was a wonderful experience, one that I will never forget. I surely hope that I will never have to fight cancer of any sort but, realize that many do and my heart goes out to all.

New Calling

For the past year and half I have been serving as the Education Counselor in our Relief Society here in the Shenandoah Valley Ward. Last week I was released and called to work with the CTR 5 class in our primary. This was my first week to work with the kids in primary and teach them a lesson. I will now be teaching a lesson to the 4 - 6 year olds each week and helping them to stay reverent during sharing and singing time. While it is a new challenge, I have been reading up on some things I can do in our class room to keep them motivated, reverent and in-tune with what I am trying to teach them. At first, I was a little hesitant but, I know that the Lord will bless us as I dive in to this new calling and give it the best that I can. (PS - FYI CTR stands for Choose The Right.)

Jelly Bean Cake

Wondering what to do with all your left over jelly beans from Easter? We made a cake last week and Max was in favor of using "all" the leftover jelly beans for decorations. The best part - no one wants to eat so many beans with their cake so you pick them off and end up throwing them away. Cute cake and no calories! Of course the chocolate frosting is still delicious ... even with a jelly bean or two!

Apple Blossom Grand Parade / Circus

Our little town has over 250,000 guests come in for a little over a week to celebrate Apple Blossom. The colors for the festival are kelly green and bright pink. (You'll notice my outfit at the end!) We had a great day at the parade and then got free tickets to the circus for the early evening show. We ended up leaving early from the circus due to hunger pains but overall we had a great day. We did have an accident happen right in front of us at the parade - a crushed plastic chair collapsed on to a girls foot and she just about lost her big toe! That added a little more excitement to the parade for us but overall it was nice to sit back, relax and not be in charge of a single thing!

PS - Even the rain held off all day today!

Mark & Max riding the elephant at the circus.

Max driving the elephant!

Lots of riders on the elephant!
Elephants in the parade - they had a busy day!


Our local high school band!

The Queen & her court. The queen was Michael Landon's grandaughter.

More local high school bands.

We had two princesses floats!

Another local high school band.

Erik Estrada ... our Grand Marshall - he also showed us his pink socks!

Budweisser Clydes Dale Horses.

First float of the day.

Mom & Max - Max is holding a soft pretzel.

Max & dad ... we were ready for the parade!