Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us!

The rolls are baked, ham is in the oven,

strawberry pretzel jello in the fridge,

cheesy potatoes prepared, and fresh

green beans ready to boil.

All of the presents are wrapped

and it's only 4:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

This is a miracle!

Good Things...

Today is Sunday. Here are the good things about my day.

Going to church. It just feels good to be where I should be with my family on a Sunday.

Watching the snow flakes fall outside my kitchen window. Magical.

Listening to Mr. Stoner teach Ben how to sweep the dining room floor. After he finished the job, Ben came to me and told me that he is now a "trained professional sweeper."

Celebrating when we heard the announcement that school is cancelled tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about that. However, I love that I don't have to make lunches! Yippy!

Matthew asked me to play Frans. He would be Hans. Here's how it went:
Matthew: "My name is Hans."
Me: "I am Frans."
Together: "We are here to pump (clap) you up!"
How many mom's get asked to repeat that with their son? I felt really special.

Staying up late because there is no school in the morning. I'm not even going to set my alarm. Heaven.

I Love Shutterfly!

 It's time to choose my free Christmas cards from Shutterfly. What a great deal. This company has made life just a little easier for me. Shutterfly has so many fun products! If you haven't ever visited their site...you should. This first item is a birthday card. What sweet little birthday girl wouldn't love having her own personalized card? Adorable!

These calendars are really fun too. My sister made one of these calendars for my parents one year for Christmas. My mom absolutely loved it. I'm sure my dad liked it too. It had pictures of all nine of their children. They took it to work and showed it off to all of their customers.(ok...maybe not all of them...but most.) 

We are getting our family picture taken in a couple of days...so these next items are some of the picture Christmas cards I have to choose from. I really like the collage designs...

I think my favorite might be the last one on the bottom. If you want to get 50 free Christmas cards go to this link now. The promotion ends on Friday, December 10th.

Cookies!

Every year my neighbor has a cookie exchange party. It really is a lot of fun to get together with some of the other women in our subdivision. The cookies that we bring are a really big deal. We have a contest and get a prize for the best cookie. I want to win! I'm asking all of my bloggy friends for help. Please tell me if you have a "winner" cookie. Of course, I would also like the recipe. I'm excited to see who responds to this!

Freebie from Shutterfly

Who wouldn't like 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly. What a great promotion! Thanks to Angelina, I've gone HERE. I can't wait to pick out my cards!

The Perfect Tree

I'm so happy that this tree is in our yard! It is the perfect Fall tree!

Cute monkey's in the tree too!

Football!!

I have never had so much fun watching flag football! Benjamin has been playing for a YMCA team for the past few months. He is fast, aggressive, and focused. He really is the athlete of the family. This is a little video of Ben making a touchdown. I wish it was easier to see. Ben is the one who runs all the way down the field! One game he scored four times for his team. The season just ended last Saturday. I'm really going to miss the games.

Leaves, Leaves, and More Leaves

 We finshed the day with 14 bags of leaves.

Today...it looks like we never bagged any.

Oh how I wish we could chop down some of our trees.

This is "Mr. Slouchy"

He just wouldn't sit up straight no matter what we did.

Happy Fall!

Our YW at the Fall Festival!

 Jess, Trey, Barrett and Lizzy contemplating the future...

Hmmm...what should I wear tomorrow?

Hmmm...do I really want to go line dancing tonight?

(They did line dance and had a blast)

 The West Hills YM and YW (at least those 14 and up)

Ben's Baptism

My baby was baptized on October 10th. I'm so proud of him for being such a good young man. We had so many great conversations leading up to his baptism. One night I was tucking him in and he said his prayer. I said, "Ben, why do you pray to someone who you can't even see?" He said, "Mom, you just gotta have faith!"

Brown Eyed Girl

This brown eyed girl would like someone to visit her blog and make a comment. Please...

It's Here!

That crisp bite in the air has arrived!

It was 48 degrees when I took kids to school this morning.

 I was really hoping for a more gradual change from

 Summer to Fall.

 But I love it! This is my favorite time of the year.

 I love the pumpkins, red leaves, bales of straw, scarecrows, and yellow chrysanthamums!

It's time for some hot soup!

Saturday Scrubbing!

It took our family 2 Saturdays to scrub

the siding on our house!

Welcome to the South.

Yes, it's gross...but everyone gets mold on their siding.

I thought we would just rent a power sprayer.

But no, no, no. Not us. We have to do things the harder way.

We made up a solution of clorox, comet, and powder laundry detergent. We bought brush scrubbers with long rods and an extention ladder.

So with our latex gloves
on our hands, and protective eyewear on our faces, we got to work. The kids scrubbed the lower section, I took the middle, and the brave Mr. Stoner climbed high on that ladder and scrubbed to the roof. Here he is...working hard. We are so glad we did it. It was a lot of work. Our house looks SO much better!

Summer Swim Team Fun!

Lauren, Matthew, and Benjamin all joined a swim team this past summer. It was so much fun for all of us. I loved that by 10 am these three kids had swam laps and burned up lots of energy!

The bonus was social time with so many friends.

I also loved the routine of practice.

No sleeping till noon every day of the summer!

This is Ben and Ben. They are good buddies.

They both wear green goggles.

Mr. Stoner....doing his best to work as a time judge.

Lauren especially loved hangin' out
with friends before, after, and during swim meets.


Matthew with all of his friends
after swim practice.
Good times!



Go Ben Go! I loved all of the cheering from
family and friends at the swim meets!

I love this picture of Daddy and daughter!

Pellegrino

This is what happens when you surprise your husband with a bottle of Pellegrino mineral water for his birthday (because he really likes it) and then he puts it in the freezer to "chill" it and then he forgets about it. Note to Mr. Stoner

You can't put a glass bottle in the freezer and forget about it.

This is what happens!

Three September Birthdays!

They are each a year older!

Benjamin turns 8 this week.

Lauren is 14 today.

And Brock is a whopping 40!

Aren't they cute!

This is a really exciting Birthday for Lauren!

Our determined age for a cell phone is 14.

She has been counting down the days.

She's been telling us for months that she is the last girl at her school to get a phone.

Making three wishes all at once!

I decided that I would only make one cake this year.

Trying to make three takes way too much energy.

Look how cute they are!They grow up so fast! I love you three!

VW Game!

Does your family play the game?

Well...mine does. Sometimes it drives me crazy!

Everytime I am driving my kids around I hear "red one" or "blue one" or "yellow one." This is followed by a punch to my arm! They are quick to spot any volkswagen! Especially Lauren. She gets me all the time. All the kids have learned that they can only tap my arm...no punching while I'm driving.

PINK ONE!

Youth Conference...a highlight of my summer

I was so happy to be a part of our

youth conference in July!

We met with 4 other stakes and had nearly 600 youth attend.

The greatest part of the conference was when our visitor,

President Elaine Dalton, arrived from Salt Lake City.

She is the General Young Women President.

It was amazing that she came to our Youth Conference.

She was so personable and spent time taking pictures

and visiting with everyone.

It was an experience that the YW will not soon forget. Here is Jessica with some of her friends, and Sister Dalton

Jessica had a great time dancing!
This is her friend Trey.

Here I am with my Stake YW Presidency and Sister Dalton

There were two dances, a service project, workshops, and games at Youth Conference.

Here is Jessica getting ready for one of the dances.

I was asked to direct a youth choir to sing the theme song

"Strong and Courageous"

It was a great experience for me.

The choir sang right before the closing testimony meeting.
The youth did a great job and really added to the spirit of the conference.

Jessica's Blog

Jessica has a blog.

She invites all of you to go see it.

Go to

www.theotherbrowneyedgirl.blogspot.com

Fun at Girls' Camp!

Last May, I got a new church assignment.

I am now the 1st counselor in the Stake YW Presidency.

All of my time from May to June was focused on Girls'Camp!

We really had a great time.

This is a pic of our presidency on the right.

The other two women were our camp directors.

We are getting ready to do our skit.

Wonder Woman Powers....ACTIVATE!

Our theme was "Superheroes"

We had access to a beautiful lake!

I stepped into my canoe with two very skilled paddlers.

The next thing I knew, we dumped the canoe!

I was fully clothed. Shoes and all.

Why should I have put on my swim suit?

I wasn't planning on getting in the lake.

That's me on the right.

Me.

Working very hard on my own craft at camp.

We placed vinyl lettering on tiles.

The letters said:

"Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God"

or

"Be Strong and of a Good Courage"

Can you see the girls' watching me?

They are wondering if I am crafty.

This goofy picture shows me dancing

with a butterfly net.

It was my skit prop.
I also wanted to show off the great

gold capes that a friend of mine made for us.

(Thanks Lori)

She made 24 of them for our YCL's!

(YCL stands for Youth Camp Leaders)

Do you like my Superhero outfit?

Lauren's Blog

Lauren has created a blog. Go see it. Leave her a comment please. It will make her day. She's funny and a pretty good writer.

www.luluchiix.blogspot.com

Amazing

It's Jessica! I'm going to get in trouble for this,

But I don't really mind in this case.

This is a necessary post.

A while back, my mom said she wishes she was amazing.

I think that is possibly the silliest thing she could say.

Because she is amazing at everything.

She has taught me all that I know.

She an expert at the stuff that never comes easily to me.

Like common sense.

She can console a child {as shown}.

She can bake perfect cookies.

Without adding wheat flour instead of white.

And then she has the patience, to help me bake 200

chocolate cookies for me to hand out to my friends.

Plus, she can drive four kids everywhere they need to go, mostly on time.

When we're late, it's usually my fault.

And she can get us fast food when necessary.

Without almost taking out the side mirror of the car.

She can make goofy faces like this and look cute.

And she really shouldn't hide her age.

She will always be beautiful to me.

And I can't drizzle a cake like that...

That is pure talent.

Oh, and that sweatshirt she's wearing?

Everytime we go on vacation, Mom works really hard.

She packs the boys' stuff,

Checks to make sure Lauren and I don't overpack,

Makes sure Dad is taken care of,

And then remembers she has to include her stuff.

Then she organizes meals, finds hotels,

Gets maps ready incase Dad takes a detour...

My mom makes Christmas possible.

She bakes the food, teaches us to be helpful,

and decorates the house to teach us about Christ's birth.

She can smile and laugh when we are being a pain in the rear end.

She will sing along to songs with Lauren and I in the kitchen when we're doing dishes.

And even though I don't mention it,

I think that's really cool.
She dances with us too.

Did I mention she comes from a family of nine?

She doesn't get to see them very often.

I bet that's hard.

But she cuts her phone calls short to serve our family.

I am continually amazed at all that she can do.

And how far she can stretch.

If she was a superhero, she'd be elastigirl.

She volunteered to give her entire life to me,

Lauren,

Matthew,

Ben,

Dad.

And she always works her hardest in everything she does.

She spends all her time doing things for other people.

And she doesn't really complain all that much.

Just moves on to the next task at hand.

I love you Mom.

And I think you are truly amazing.

Prom 2010

Here is Jessica and Elizabeth at a church sponsored "prom."

All of the youth had a great time!

The theme was

"A Night in Paris"

Mowing...

I mowed the lawn today

It took me 2.5 hours

we have a huge yard

My legs hurt

our lawn is steep in some places

my ankles are green

my hands hurt from the hard grip

I am exhausted

I also have a very happy and appreciative husband

and that made it all worth it.

Minestrone Soup

My family absolutely loves this soup. Go try it if you want.

Ingredients
4 cups water
1 (14.5 oz.) can Diced Italian Tomatoes
1 cup Beef Broth
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 celery rib, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 T onion, chopped
1 tp garlic, minced
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
½ T parsley
1 T sugar
½ lb. sausage, cooked
1 (15 oz.) can green beans
2 cups uncooked bowtie pasta

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except for the pasta. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Add bowtie pasta and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with some crusty Italian bread and enjoy!

Yay for Craigs List!

I'm so proud of my first ever Craig's List purchase! Some of you may remember that my bread maker died a while ago. I took the advice of a friend and searched for one on Craig's List. I got this baby for $15. And yes, it works. I made rolls for Easter dinner with it.



I must admit that I'm so glad Brock was with me when I went to pick this machine up. It would have been a little scary had I been all alone. I was in an unfamiliar part of town...and who knows...the seller could have been a serial killer or something. Never go alone.

Sweet 16

Happy Birthday Jessica!



Just the other day you were my newborn baby girl.
Where has all of the time gone?



You are beautiful!





My brown-eyed girl!

I love you!