The Southern Reception

About three weeks ago we went to my parents' house for Mary and Gary's second wedding reception. My Dad asked Michael to be the photographer so I have lots of pictures to share.

My Mom and her 4 siblings were all together at the reception. Grandma was also there, but Grandpa was missed due to health issues.

Gary was not too happy to find out that his truck had been decorated, but his brother made sure that someone did it.

This is the result of peer pressure! The crowd was not satisfied with a polite cake sharing and egged the couple on until they were satisfied with the results.

Mom & Mary

Beautiful Kristina!

She let me do her hair. I had fun, can you tell?

Benjamin waited anxiously for them to cut the cake so he could have some.

Instead of finger sandwiches or the usual reception fair, the newlyweds decided to have a baked potato bar with real Idaho potatoes.

Randy, Gary's brother, and his daughter

Bekah was playing with the pebble decorations from one of the tables.

Mom trying to entertain her children.

Aunt Lisa made the beautiful wedding cake.

Bekah loves Aunt Mary's "princess" dress and pretty flowers.

Oh, I guess we better get this party started!

Our cousins, Jake and Blake.

This cool reflection pictures shows the spot where Gary's niece touched the cake and it had to be patched up. Everyone thought it was funny that she was so quick to get to the cake and have a taste before anyone else.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It is the end of the day o' the wearing o' the green. I saw a variety of shades of green. I even saw some people wearing blow up hats half as tall as they were. We had corn beef and cabbage for dinner, which has become a tradition in our family since I found out how much Michael likes corn beef a few years ago. Benjamin was sure to remind us to wear our green.

On a much more serious note, we lost Bekah today for a total of 5 to 10 minutes and I have never experienced anything more terrifying in my life. We were outside, Michael in the backyard working on the fence, I was in the open garage working on a project. Benjamin had asked permission to go to the neighbors and all of the sudden Bekah was gone. She was wearing her bright jacket I made her so she should have been easy to spot. We searched the pathway behind our house, the church parking lot, the empty lots past our house, the adjoining yard, and the connected yards across the street and we couldn't find her anywhere. I had just sent for the help of the Elder's Quorum Presidency (who were having a meeting tonight) when our friend, Jeff, found Bekah at the playground across the street just north of us. We live in a quiet neighborhood but the street just north of us divides our development in half is fairly busy because it is an outlet to some other towns and developments. I don't know how she was able to walk that far (a good block away) so fastly and cross that busy street all by herself safely, but I am eternally grateful for the angels that must have been watching out for her as she made her little trek. "Uncle" Jeff scooped her up and plopped her on his shoulders as he brought her to her crying mom. All Bekah did was smile real big and snuggle into Mommy's shoulder when she was returned to my arms. She gave us the scare of our life, but I have to admire her courage for wandering off so far on her and her determination to go somewhere she wanted to on her own. However, I will be watching her twice as close from now on. We are glad that she is safe and sound.

What can you buy for around $20?

Because I manage the finances in our household, I have found myself doing a lot of shopping lately for things that we need or want. I have been amazed at the variety of things I have been able to find for around $20.

• Ross: 4 brightly colored baskets to help sift and sort things from room to room around the house or 3 outfits for a toddler girl
• Deseret Industries: 3 dresses in like new condition or a self propelled treadmill that actually works or a working gazelle machine
• Costco: a case of toliet paper or a bag of frozen chicken or laundry detergent
• Walmart: enough yarn to make an afaghan or a case of diapers or a set of 300 thread count sheets (on clearance)
• Smiths: enough produce to last for two weeks (at least that is how it feels every time I buy produce)
• Albertson's: 15 boxes of cereal
• Dollar Tree: enough stocking stuffers for a family of 4 or prizes and supplies for a bridal shower
• Sears: You're kidding, right? (I did get a 100 foot garden hose for less than $20 in a liquidation, store closing sale.)
• Home Depot: a gallon of paint (if your lucky!) or 5 bags of play sand
• Girls Scouts: 5 boxes of cookies
• Gas Stations: 10 gallons of gas (I hope that lasts....)
• Thriftbooks.com: 3 books (including shipping)
• Legacy Center: 1 day, full facility admission for a family of 4 ages 3 and up
• Zoo: admission for 2 adults
• JoAnn Fabrics: 4 yards of fabric or 4 McCall patterns (when they are on sale for 1.99 each)
• Robert's Crafts: 20 x 24 picture frame (with 40% off coupon)
• Post Office: 45 stamps (by the way, the price of stamps is going up again in May to $0.44)
• Cinemark Movie Theater: evening movie for two adults and popcorn
• Krispy Kreme's: 2 dozen doughnuts, half original and half variety
• Macey's: a case of vegetables or soup or 20 cake mixes
• Payless Shoes: 3 pairs of shoes (seasonal clearance)
• TJMaxx: high end swimsuit
• Scentsy: 6 to 8 car candles or 2 room sprays

What have you been surprised you can get with $20?

Girl Scout Cookies

The only kind of door-to-door soliciting I miss knocking on my door. Thank goodness they had a table set up outside of Walmart today so I could give into temptation and buy some of these yummy, hip-widening treats! What can I say, I love Girl Scout cookies!

The LDS Church's Statement on "Big Love"

As always, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded with dignity and respect to the less than sensitive actions of HBO in relation to depicting the practices of a polygamist family in relation to the LDS Church. The LDS Church does not practice polygamy. Yes, there was a brief period in our history in which it was practiced but it is no longer an acceptable practice for current LDS Church members. It has not been for over 100 years. In a future episode of "Big Love," sacred temple ceremonies will be depicted. It is unfortunate, but it is happening.

On the LDS Church's website (www.lds.org), a video about why temples are built and a written response have been posted. I watched the video and read the article and felt immense peace about the LDS Church's response to the actions taken by HBO writers and producers. I wish I could upload the YouTube video here, but I am still developing my computer skills in that regard. I have included links below so that you can watch the video and read the article put out by the LDS Church.

To view the video click here.

To read the article click here.

Missing Wymount Moment

About once a week, when I have a lot to get done around the house, I miss living in Wymount. "Why?" I'm sure a lot of you are asking. Because I miss being able to do 5 loads of laundry in under 2 hours instead of it take almost 8 hours to do. Sure, it was a hassle to haul our laundry to the laundry mat, especially in the snow, but it sure was nice to be able to through all of our laundry in to wash at the same time and then going down ONCE to change them all to the dryer.

I love having my own washer and dryer, but some days I just want to be done with the laundry instead of feeling like I am wasting a whole day trying to clean clothes and linens. So there, I miss something about living in Wymount though I'm sure most of us don't miss much of anything about our tiny apartments and lack of air conditioning.

Pampered Chef Show

First off, I am having a Pampered Chef cooking show on March 18 at 7 p.m. at my house. I would love to have a lot of people come, but if you can't come and want to order something please see http://www.pamperedchef.biz/mandyquincy and be sure to indicate that I am the host. We will be having yummy food and my cousin, Mandy, will demonstrate how to make a yummy Pineapple Torte. Mandy is also giving rewards for those who come and bring guests, so the more the merrier.

Second off, doing shows (of any kind) give me great anxiety. For every show that I have hosted in my home I have had exactly one person show up besides myself and the person presenting the products. This happens regardless of whether I send out 2 invitations or 40 so I do not host shows often. I try to attend every party I am invited to, and if I have room in my budget I order something. I don't know why this is, but I just don't have much luck hosting parties. Thus, hosting this party is a huge leap of faith for me and I am hoping we will have a good turn out and collect a lot of orders for my cousin.

Third off, I love the smaller (and less expensive!) products Pampered Chef has to offer. The micro cookers are wonderful for cooking or defrosting vegetables in, the can opener cuts so smoothly and easily that I don't even bother with my electric can opener anymore, the cookie scoops are great for having cookies or biscuits that are even in shape and size, and we use the 2 quart batter bowl for mixing up everything from breakfast foods to meaty pie fillings to cake mixes to frosting.

Oh! And fourthly, I also love the decorator and the apple corer, slicer, peeler (which are a little more pricy) The decorator is great because it is easy to use with one hand (I found that out after I had surgery on my elbow) and you don't have a bag to try to push and squeeze the frosting out of, the tube does all of the work for you. The apple corer, slicer, peeler is great because I can have an apple read to feed to my children in seconds instead of minutes and it made canning apple pie filling a breeze. And . . . . I am a HUGE fan of their stoneware products. The stoneware cooks so evenly that I almost hate using anything else. I love the products I have and highly recommend them to anyone who wants ways to simplify and speed up the time they spend in the kitchen.

Fifthly, if this party goes well (meaning I get more than enough orders to count as a show) I just might be tempted to take a chance on a Scentsy party that my friends, Scentsy Consultants, have been trying to entice me to have. By the way, Scentsy products are fabulous! I absolutely love them and wish I could afford more all of the time.

Last but not least, I am throwing this party inspite of the economy because there are industrious people who are trying to make a living and provide people with new ways to save money by being creative with what we do to enjoy being at home more that deserve our support. Please help me overcome my anxiety challenges and support others.

Memberships are Worth It!

Now that school is not in control of all of our free time and financial resources we have found that we really enjoy getting out of the house without spending a ton of money. We do the coupon clipping thing when we go to do things, I'm still not good at doing it for grocery shopping, but we have found that buying a membership to a place we like to good to often is well worth the investment.

We have a membership to the zoo and now we look for excuses to go to the zoo instead of coming up with reasons not to go. We also have a membership to a local venue that has 3 permanent features and a variety of seasonal features that we can attend at a discount. We probably saved triple what we spent on our membership because we would go an average of once a week during the last year. It was great to have some place to go and something fun to do and know that it was already paid for.

Before, we either didn't have the financial resources or the time. Mostly it was time. Now we are realizing that there is life after going to school (which was about 20 years or so up until now) and we are looking for ways to spend our time that will continue to teach us and our children things about the world we live in. It has been an adventure!

Tax Return

Wa-Hoo! We got a tax turn this year, which means four consecutive years. Wait! Haven't we had children for four years now? I guess so. Having a tax break is one of many, many benefits of having children (inspite of all the hard work and learning that comes with raising children).

What do we do with our tax return? That is an interesting question, even for me. The first couple of years the tax return money we received went right back to the government to pay off student loans. We figured that the tax return money was the extra money we needed to live on during the year, and that was why took out the loans so the it was just a wash. The next couple of years we used the money to pay off more debts and have some vehicle repairs done. This year we are putting a fence in.

Anyway, to me a tax return is not extra money to play with, it is a way for us to stay out of debt and make minor improvements in our quality of living. When we are totally debt free, our tax return money (if we still get it at that point) will be play money, until then it has been a great way to reduce the length and cost of our necessary debts. What are you going to do with your tax return?

Story Time Pool Party

This year I was brave and I took our two children to the Story Time pool party by myself. Last year we skipped it because I was not sure I could handle two kids by myself, but I did it this year and it was a lot of fun!

I definitely got a work out treapsing for one pool to the other with my children. I was even able to convince Bekah to float on her back (with a life jacket) for a while. She also went down the kiddy slide al by herself. Benjamin was all over the pool with his life-jacket for the first while and then without it for the last bit. He was jumping off the side of the pool and wanting to go here and there and everywhere. He was a good sport about spending some time in the kiddy pool for sister. I love that we have an indoor pool here locally to use during the winter!

Bekah's Idea of Story Time

Bekah loves the songs we sing at story time, but she has a hard time sitting through the stories. While the story time ladies are reading Bekah wanders off, finds a board book to read, and plops down on the bean bag to 'read' her book. Sometimes she wanders up and down the isles of books and Mom has to chase her around. Oh well. In a few years, she will be more capable of sitting through oral stories.

Pretty Girl, Pretty Clothes

Bekah loves her dresses. She wants to wear them all of the time. We love our darling girl!

An Afternoon with Cousins

The last week of February we met two of my cousins and their children at the mall for lunch and fun. The first thing we did after lunch is ride the carousel. At first, Benjamin wanted to ride the dragon (we took a picture of it after the ride) but he changed his mind when Tyler said he wanted to ride the cat. Benjamin decided that the horse with the black hair was better than the dragon, but I forget what it was that he called it. Clown horse . . . . cowboy horse . . . . fancy horse . . . . something like that. Then we played "I Spy" while the moms did some shopping. We spotted letters and swords and colors. Bekah even 'spied' the pigeons that were sitting on the roof. At the end of our visit, we went to Dino Land where the kids had a blast running around and pretending they were dinosaurs. We had a blast!

Tyler

Benjamin and Ellie

Sam

Temple Open House

We took our children to a temple open house so they could see what a temple looks like on the inside. Before a temple is dedicated, it is open for public viewing for a period of time. After the dedication, only members who meet a certain standard of wortuness may enter. We wanted our children to have a visual picture of where Mom and Dad go when they go to the temple. It was a long trip, but the temple was beautiful.

Giraffes

The one on the left is Bekah's design.

The right one is designed by Benjamin.

The theme for the winter story time was zoo animals. One week there was a story about a giraffe that lost its spots. It is exciting to share stories about something we have seen in real life with our children. Especially, when Benjamin and Bekah have a positive role model, like the story time ladies, to learn from in addition to their parents.

Trail of Books

Benjamin loves books. He loves to look at books, be read to, pick them out at the library, stack them, store them, and make a trail across the floor with them. I call it "the path of learning" because he learns so much from the things we read together. We read an average of 20 books a week, sometimes more than once. We have even expanded our reading to the non-fiction section as well and are learning a lot about dinosaurs, the states, cooking, and art. Benjamin has even discovered Spiderman comic books and loves to check out one or two new ones whenever he can. Needless to say, we love books at our house.

Sick Girl

About ten days ago our sweet girl became really sick. In the morning she was her usual happy, bouncy self. After naps she was whiny and lethargic and wouldn't eat. The next morning she had a temperature of 102 F so I called the doctor and felt like I needed to take her in. It turns out that our sweet girl had a U.T.I. As soon as we starting giving her anibiotic she became her happy self again.

It was scary, but comforting to know that myy prompting to take her to the doctor turned out to be the best thing to do for her. We are glad she is back to full health now. Now, on to the challenges of potty training!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, we spent the day as a family. Michael took me to the dance the night before and brought us home presents from his trip, so we decided to catch up on our family time. The funny thing was that we seemed to be the only ones with that idea because we had the whole farm to ourselves. It was so deserted that we had to go inside to ask someone to come give the children pony rides.

Benjamin had to ride the black horse. Then he proceeded to tell us that he saw three black horses at "The Farm" and that he wants one for his birthday.

Bekah has finally gotten over her feelings of intimidation around horses. She was really excited to ride the horse. She even hung on all by herself the whole time.

Valentine's Dance

In January, we found out that we are also on the Stake Activities Committee as well as being Activities Co-Chairs in our ward. At our first planning meeting, we ended up with the assignment of taking care of the decorations for the Stake Valentine's Dance. Since Michael was in Pennsylvania for the week, I received the task of organizing and creating decorations. Here are some pictures of the finished product.