Ladies And Gentlemen - It Is My Pleasure To Bring You The Return Of MONDAAAAY....MORNINNNNNG.....MUUUUSINNNNGS!

So, being the fabulous wife I am, I surprised my husband with tickets to see Glenn Beck live on his Christmas Sweater tour. It was so good and we had such a nice time. It was our first date since August, if you don't count all those long "date nights" we spent working on the house. After the program ended Steve and I high tailed it out of there and practically ran to our car, trying to avoid the traffic. We did great. We got in the car in record time. I looked at the clock on the dashboard as soon as Steve turned the car on. It said 10:02 PM. We pulled out of the parking space and drove about 5 feet. Then we stopped and didn't touch the gas pedal again until the clock on the dash read 10:36. At which time we were able to slowly nudge our way out of the parking lot. All I have to say is, if you are going to design a parking lot that big, you should have more than 1 exit. Seriously.

I am trying to talk Steve into going before Congress and saying something along these lines, "I am here on behalf of all Concrete Stainers, and I was wondering, since our economy is in the crapper, umm, could I get some money from the government, which government I know wasn't set up for this purpose and all, but uhhh, well (this is where they whiny 5 year old voice comes in) you gave the banks some money and it's not fair if you don't give the concrete stainers money too and so, well, if you don't give me money too, then I won't play with you anymore!" (huff, puff, arms fold across chest and right foot stomps). I think it's ridiculous what our government is turning into. I can't even watch the "news" anymore.

Steve and two of his friends do this thing every week where they each make their picks of who they think will win the football games. It is some very serious thinking they do before they make their selections. Which players are out this week, this team has won this many games, blah, blah, blah. So I thought it would be fun for me to make my picks too. This is how I do it. I don't like to be biased by others choices so I don't look at the paper. Steve calls out the teams playing and it takes me about 1/2 a second to tell him who I think will win. I, with my vast knowledge about football, couldn't even tell ya what team I picked to win 10 seconds after I picked them. Well, HA! HA! I always come within a point or two of the person who won their little boy game thing. Steve hasn't let me make my picks the last few weeks. Hmmmm, I wonder why that is?

I am not a foofy person. I never have been. Just ask my mother, who tried for my entire growing up years to make me that way. I just don't like foof. And I like to just get things done the easiest and fastest way possible. When it comes to my children's hair, it's no different. No foof, easy, fast. That is why I have shaved Zac bald for most of his life. And that is why I cut my girls hair short. But now, for some reason, my kids all feel like expressing their individuality and they won't let me do what I wanna do when it comes to their hair. They have all refused haircuts for months now. Finally on Saturday Steve and I told Zac that either I was going to shave him bald or I would take him somewhere to get his hair cut. We went and got it cut and he looks very handsome, indeed. Well for the past 2 days Aubrey has been begging me to braid her hair. So I broke down this morning. After receiving a tutorial from this blog, I mustered up as much courage as I could, armed myself with elastics, a spray bottle and a comb, and went to work. How bad of a mom would you think I am if I told you this is the first time I have braided one of my girls hair? Well, it was. And it was actually kind of fun. Here is the finished product.

I thought I would throw in a few more pictures of the house. This is the living room. In our old house, we had to bend the top of this Christmas tree over so it would fit and there was no room for the angel on top. It looks a little small for this house.

This is taken standing where the Christmas tree is and looking the other direction. We still need to paint the big steel beam. We just can't agree on what color to paint it. Steve thinks fire engine red, I think black lacquer or metallic silver to match the railing. What do you think?

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

I told you I had more pictures. My sister Farrah and her husband Bart and their two boys, Gabe and Matt, came to visit us for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed spending time with them, and their trip ended all too soon. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving day.

Matt and Addison. There is only a months difference in their age. They gave each other a taste of their own medicine everytime they were together. Farrah and I, at one time, considered locking the two of them in a room together and seeing which one came out victorious. This is a picture of Addy trying to hug Matt. He would have none of that.

My sister Lauren. This is the only picture I have of her from the front because she ran away from me everytime I tried to take her picture. I should teach her a lesson and post some of those pictures. However, I am feeling rather nice this morning so I won't.

Allyson (that would be me) and Steve


Beano, Sara, Sam and Bart watching the uhhhh.....who was that that was playing......oh yeah, watching the Cowboys game. Sadly from home this time.

Gabe and Zac completely ignoring me.

Emily and Aubrey playing Stratego.

Aubrey drinking orange cream soda and telling Emily that it was a 2 that she attacked.

Me Mum

Farrah and Matt

Please Pass The Catch Up

So, I have been absent from the blogging world for a few weeks now. But I think I am back. Maybe. We'll see. A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We finished our house (mostly). We moved in. We unpacked (a little). We still have about 100 small things that still need to be finished on the house, but they are small and we are loving living in our new home. Here are some of the things that we have done in the last few weeks.

5 days later......

So........started that there post on Sunday and that's as far as I made it. Man. It has been a week. And it isn't over yet. We have had something major every day/night this week.




Here's the low down. In house. Love it. Love it so much don't mind living in construction. No. I don't have everything unpacked. So please stop asking me that. I know I might have led some of you to believe that I am superwoman. I'm sorry. I'm not. Ahhhh.....OK, maybe I am. We moved in. Two days later my sister and her family came to visit from the Big D. Thought we should spend some time with them. Thanksgiving. Set up/decorated 2 Christmas Trees. Something major every dang day. Still working on actually finishing the house. I MIGHT finish unpacking after Christmas. We'll see.


Right now. I'm about to give you some pretty major picture overload. You know you want it. Here it is:



Zac, AKA: JFK at his school Wax Museum project

Zac and his friend Garrett as who knows what for Halloween

Aubrey as a Vampire

Addy, AKA: Funshine Bear

Witchy Woman Emily

One day I put all the girls hair in pig tails. Zac didn't want to be left out.

Steve and I putting the back splash in the kitchen. I'm not in the picture because Zac was there and I told him to take a picture of us working minus my butt. So naturally he would only take a picture with the focal point being my unnaturally large behind. I'm not posting any of those. You're welcome.

Bart and Gabe riding ATV's around our house the day before Thanksgiving.

Sam

Gabe

The whole sha-bang-a-lang gang

Everyone has been wanting pictures of the house. It has been in an unpostable state until recently. Here are a few. First, this is the view out of my bedroom window.

Last night, for some reason, I felt the need to have a dinner party. Here is the lovely table I set.

My Cousin Kathy is in town for the weekend. We went to breakfast with her and my mom and my Aunt Verdene this morning.

Had enough? Too bad. There are more pictures to come. They just needed their own post. It will have to wait though. Off to the next major event........Dang. I guess I should make dinner first. Sigh......

Where'd She Go?

no.

time.

to.

blog.

killing.

selves.

trying.

to.

finish.

house.

be.

back.

soon.

i.

hope.

Advice For The Drummer: Cut Your Hair, Put On A Shirt

FYI: This is a very annoying song to have stuck in your head for more than 15 minutes. I'm going on day 3. Hoooooooold myyyyyyyyyyy haaaaaand, hooooooold myyyyyyyyyyy haaaaand.

Update: I didn't realize this song was 13 years old (where does the time go Hootie?). Sorry for the title drummer. I probably thought you were hot back then.

Flashback Friday - Left Of Center

Back row: Katy & nick

Middle row: Earl, Kay, Lauren, Sue, Jessica, Jim

Front row: Kristy, Allyson, Sam, Farrah, Jim

This is a picture of our family with our dear friends, the Hastings.

I am guessing that this picture was taken sometime in the early 90's. Click here to fast forward several years.

*If you are wondering what my title has to do with anything, well, I am in a hurry because Steve is waiting for me to start the movie "Get Smart" (I couldn't leave you hangin' 2 weeks in a row without a flashback). I couldn't come up with a title and since the picture is a little off center to the left, well, I amaze myself at my creativity.

Update (the next morning): If you haven't seen Get Smart, don't bother. 15 minutes into it I said, "Isn't this movie supposed to be funny?", 45 minutes into it I just gave up and went to sleep.

My Prayer: One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All

Last night Emily asked if she could stay up to watch the 10:00 news so she could see who won the election. I said, "Emily, there is no way they are gonna know by 10:00 who won". Well, I guess I was wrong. I was so tired last night I feel asleep at like 8:30 watching the coverage. I woke up about 30 minutes later when my phone rang. It was my sister Lauren calling to tell me that Obama won. I was so dazed and confused. I was like, "What? How do you know? What time is it?" I looked at the TV and sure enough, people were cheering and celebrating. I did feel a little cheated because at that point my vote hadn't even been counted yet. But oh well. Apparently my little old vote wasn't necessary.

As you might know....I did not vote for Obama. I voted for John McCain. I had my reasons. You know what they are. But it's OK. I am so very thankful that I live in the United States of America. I am grateful for the experience I had to lend my support to the person I felt was the best candidate. I am so thankful that I was able to go yesterday and cast my vote for who I wanted to serve as President of my country. We can't all be winners all the time.

Barack Hussein Obama was chosen as the 44th President of our country. Although his opinions differ from mine, I will give him the respect and honor that are rightfully his as leader of our free nation. I will pray for him. I will pray that he can make the decisions and do what needs to be done to keep our country free, safe and prosperous.

I hope he will be the kind of president he said he would be. I hope he will do what is best for our country. I hope he will walk the middle line and bring a little love to the two parties. I hope I was wrong. I really do.

Although the outcome of the election last night was not as I had hoped, I couldn't help but thrill a little at watching history being made. This has been a unprecedentedly historic election. We almost had a woman candidate for the presidency. We did have a woman vice presidential candidate. And we elected a black man to the office of The President of the United States of America. No matter what my feelings are for Obama's politics, I can't help but be excited at the strides our country has made since the time of my mothers childhood, when she and Obama would not have been allowed to take a drink from the same drinking fountain.

There was a part of me last night that was just relieved. Relieved that the whole thing was finally over. It has kind of been a ugly path to get here. Ugly, but I think necessary. I think it was important that both sides were able to have their feelings and opinions heard. But I hope now we can all just be quite. Just take a deep breath and be still and enjoy a peaceful holiday season with the ones we love and hold dear.

You Vitriolic, Patriotic, Slam, Fight, Bright Light, Feeling Pretty Psyched

This song has been stuck in my head for several days now. It probably has something to do with the fact that Sam has been singing it for several days now. You know, in honor of the election and all tomorrow. I think it's fitting.

So I am so excited/scared/butterfly-ie in the stomach/can't sleep kind of being right now. Wahhhhhh! Tomorrow we will find out who our next President will be. Maybe. It could/probably will be contested. Hmmm.....we will see.....I am gonna be glued to my TV all day and night. I just know it. I can hardly sit still right now as it is. Wahhhhhh! When I get hyper like this at night I get kind of annoying. Just ask Steve.

Anyway, I just wanted to say......blobitty blobitty blooo. I don't really know why I wanted to say that. I just did. So.....go to sleep now so you can get out and vote (for J Mc C) tomorrow. Yeah. It's like so exciting. Are you so excited? Cause I'm so excited. I'm so excited.....and I just can't hide it......

They Kept Me In Stitches

When I woke up last Thursday, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Just a plain old regular Thursday. Nothing made me say, "Hmmm, I think today feels like a stitches day". But let me tell ya. It turned out to be a pretty good day for getting stitched up.

My brother Sam went over to my new house to help work on it. I had him busy, up on a ladder scraping away at a beam that I needed clean so I could paint it. He sat the scraper on top of the ladder and climbed down. He went to move the ladder a while later and forgot that the scraper was sitting on top. It fell and cut a huge gash in his chin. I took one look at it and knew it was going to need stitches. I got in the car and drove him to the ER to get fixed up. He had to have seven stitches.

A few hours later, we were all exhausted and at my mothers house getting ready for bed. I took Addy in her room and when I turned my back to get her PJ's out, she took off out the door. She really was in no mood to go to bed. She didn't get very far before I heard a thunk and then she started crying. I went out of her room to pick her up. She was still down on her hands and knees and her back was too me. I picked her up and was loving her all better. I still hadn't seen her face at this point. I laid her down to change her clothes and that is when I saw that her entire face was covered in blood. She had a huge gash on her forehead. Apparently when she fell, she fell and hit her noggin on the corner baseboard. So Steve and I raced off to the hospital and my sweet little Addy had to have seven stitches also.

Her visit took a LOT longer than Sam's. When I took Sam we were only there for an hour. Apparently everyone gets hurt at night for some reason and they were much busier the second time around. We were there about three hours. I hated the part when they were sewing her up because they had to wrap her up in a sheet to restrain her. I am sure she will now be afflicted with claustrophobia for the rest of her life. She had the same nurse and doctor as Sam did. Luckily they didn't call the police or psych on me for brother/child abuse. They did, however, call the police and psych for the crazy lady across the hall. Yeah, at least we had some entertainment while we were waiting.

Out of the seven stitches, she now has four left. I don't know if she has picked them out or if they come out when she plays or sleeps and rubs her head against something. Hopefully the last four will hold long enough to get the job done.

Anyhoo, I have pretty much had my fill of the ER for the time being. Except for the ER on NBC, of course, which I kinda missed last week due to the fact that I was experiencing my own real life ER. Only this one wasn't as exciting. I am making everyone be extra careful in everything they do now. Hopefully we can avoid a return trip to the ER for a while.

Just Some Stuff I Thought Was Interesting - Verrryyyy In-ta-rresting (said while bringing my hands in front of me and rolling my fingers together)

“I have talked face to face with the godless communist leaders. It may surprise you to learn that I was host to Mr. Kruschev for a half day when he visited the United States, not that I’m proud of it. I opposed his coming then, and I still feel it was a mistake to welcome this atheistic murderer as a state visitor. But, according to President Eisenhower, Kruschev had expressed a desire to learn something of American Agriculture — and after seeing Russian agriculture I can understand why. As we talked face to face, he indicated that my grandchildren would live under communism. After assuring him that I expected to do all in my power to assure that his and all other grandchildren will live under freedom he arrogantly declaired in substance:

“ ‘You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.’

“And they’re ahead of schedule in their devilish scheme.”

(Ezra Taft Benson “Our Immediate Responsibility.” Devotional Address at Brigham Young University. circa 1968.”) [access the audio file on this page.]

"If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers - normally good Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free - Americans who have been lulled away into a false security." (April 1968, General Conference Report)

"If the Gentiles on this land reject the word of God and conspire to overthrow liberty and the Constitution, their doom is fixed, and they 'shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant' (1 Nephi 14:6; 3 Nephi 21:11, 14, 21; D&C 84:114-115, 117). (God Family, Country, p. 345.) (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson p. 618-119.)