Monday Morning Musings - Inspired By Sprinklers

I am lovin' today. I really am. I am just thinking about all that is good in life and am thankful for all that the Lord has blessed me with. I love being a mom and I love the blessed opportunity I have to stay at home with my kids everyday. I am so thankful for my husband who works so hard to make that possible. I love you babe!

I had a wonderful lesson in giving and kindness on Saturday. We are trying to get our sprinklers put in so we can get our grass to grow so we don't get fined by our HOA. The majority of the work on the sprinklers was done by someone we hired last year. We have decided that we are going to finish the sprinklers ourselves and there is this one place in the line where there is a leak. And Steve has tried to fix it several times, but it is in a tricky place and it keeps breaking again. Well Steve was trying to fix it again on Saturday and he was getting very frustrated. So I say to him, "Why don't you go and ask those people working on the sprinklers by the school if they will come and fix it for you and you can pay them 50 bucks to do it and get it over with."

Well, that was worth it to him, but apparently it isn't very manly to ask for help. However, if your wife asks for help that is a completely different story. I got in my car and drove down the street and stopped on the side of the road and asked the guy if he could come down and look at our leak and try to fix it. He came by and said he would be back later that afternoon and would fix it. He came back and in less than 15 minutes it was fixed! And he started to leave and I asked him how much we owed him and he was refusing to let me pay him. I was like, "No, we are paying you. We aren't just expecting you to come and fix our sprinklers for free just because some crazy lady stopped on the side of the road and asked for your help." He wouldn't let me write him a check so I gave him the only cash I had which was $19, which I had to force him to take.

After he left I was thinking, what a nice person. I mean really. To drive over to some strangers house to fix their sprinklers and to do it expecting nothing in return. When he left he said, "If you have any more problems, just stop by again." I am so thankful to him for being so kind and generous. And it has inspired me to pass it on. So this week I will be keeping my eyes open for a stranger that I can help in some way. So thank you sprinkler man for the inspiration!

Emily and I are so super-d-duper excited that our favorite summer show is on! Design Star! We are also excited for all the new episodes of Color Splash with our most fav-o-rite designer and the first ever winner of Design Star, Mr. David Bromstad. However, we are not sure how we are feeling about his move to Miami and his new crew. We loved his old crew and we are sad they aren't on any more. But we still LOVE David!

I am so sick and tired of my playroom always being a disaster. I am about ready to return to the days of the pioneers when kids were lucky if they had one toy. Really. I am so close to getting rid of every toy in the play room and letting the kids pick one toy they can keep.

Happy Monday Everybody!

Flashback Friday - Z

This post is dedicated my Zackiepooh. I said that cause I'm gonna tag this post on Facebook for all his friends to see and I want to embarrass him. Zac has been gone to Scout Camp all week long. This is the longest he has ever been away from home and the longest I have been away from him for his whole 12, almost 13 years of life. I am missing him. I dug up a couple of picture from when he was just a wee little tyke.

Yeah, I gotta cucumber on my head. Ya got a problem with that?

This was from way back in the day when it just used to be me and Z at home all day by ourselves and we used to travel the world. Or the city. It's hard to remember clear back to that time.

Taking Back The Country, One Representative At A Time

“The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”

-George Washington

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Don't forget to vote next Tuesday, June 22nd

This Friday is the last day to vote early

Monday Morning Musings - Minty Fresh

So really, it is Tuesday afternoon, but it still feels like Monday morning to me. Why does time have to go by so fast?

Summer is here and it is in full swing! Yesterday morning I sent Zac off to his first year of Scout Camp. It is really strange to think that I won't see or talk to him for a whole week. I just hope the weather co-operates and he isn't freezing and soaking wet all week.

Speaking of weather and freezing and soaking wet. So the kids and I suffered through every day last month freezing because I refused to turn the heat on in May. Last Saturday, I leave the house for a few hours and I come back home and Steve has the heat on! I could not believe it. It made me feel like all my suffering was in vain. I immediately went around and turned all the controls off. Steve was like, "What are you doing? It is freezing outside!" And it really was. But I was like, "SORRY! It's JUNE. Suck it up and put on a jacket!" The good thing about it is we haven't had to turn on our air conditioner yet this year.

I put a post on Facebook the other day that said something about trying to teach my 12 year old son how to determine if an outfit matches. And after I posted it I read through it, and as I did, I could hear my dads voice inside my head saying, "Well, that's your problem right there, boys don't wear outfits! They just wear clothes." Oh dad. You're right.

What is the deal with The Olive Garden and their stingy mint policy? I mean really. They give out Andes Mints when they bring the check, but they only give you one per person. Like they are so expensive to buy in such a huge bulk like that, they cant just give you a handful like most restaurants do. Steve and I went there not long ago and our waiter was really nice and he seemed pretty normal. Until he brought out the check, that is. He asked if we wanted dessert and we said no, just the check. So he leaned over and asked "Would you like me to bring you some extra mints with the check?" Now, some time has passed, so when I remember it in my head, he does it like this:

Waiter: leans conspiratorially over the table, places hand beside his mouth and in a hushed tone says, "You want some extra mints with the check?" Then raises and lowers eyebrows while giving patrons a knowing smile.

Then he comes back and puts the check on the table with 4 Andes Mints and says,"Here is your check. I made sure to bring you the extra mints!" Again in my head he is saying this while smiling and nodding and winking. Anyway, I'm thinking to myself, "What? Does he think we are gonna leave him and extra tip because he brought us each one extra mint? Psycho! If he keeps acting weird what I'm gonna do is tell his supervisor that he is giving out extra mints with the check and then he is gonna get put in Olive Garden Extra Mint Dealing Time Out."

Blaze Of Glory

Steve and Dave are bravin' it at the Blaze game tonight with this little group of rebels. They are so brave they are even picking up another kid when they get down there. Have fun!

Flashback/Forward Friday - It's A Small World After All

FLASHBACK:

This is a picture of my dad, Earl Snow, and a long time family friend, Don Bishop, taken several years ago by another long time family friend, Lou Goodrum. Don and my mom and dad (and Lou) all grew up in the same ward in Dallas together. Then they all grew up and had kids and we (Don's kids and my parents kids) all grew up as friends in the same stake in Dallas together. I have heard stories about Don and my mom growing up together all my life. My mom and Aunt Micky used to pick Don and his sister Cheryl up every morning for early morning seminary and after seminary they would all go to my mom's house for breakfast and then head off to Bryan Adams High School. I have also heard tale of the time Don drove my mom and Micky's car to prom and wrecked it!

FLASHFORWARD:

I live in Utah now, and there is a girl in my ward named Alicia. One day a post popped up on my facebook that Alicia had written on my friend Lily's wall. Lily is Don Bishop's daughter. So I said "HEY! How do you two know each other?" And Alicia said that she was Lily's aunt. SAY WHAT? So I proceeded to tell her that I grew up in Dallas with Lily and Alica's brother Don is a good friend of my parents. I had the opportunity to meet her mother last week at Zac's 6th grade graduation. Here is a picture of her with Alicia's son Eli and my son Zac, who are friends.

When I told her that my grandmother was Gwen Tolman, she couldn't believe it. And one of the first things she said was, "OH! They're the ones who's car Don wrecked!" She also told me that my Great Aunt June was their teacher when they first joined the LDS church and she has such fond memories of her.

What a small world we live in. It occurred to me that Zac and Eli being friends makes it 4 generations of friendship between our two families. Four generations of friendship that have jumped unknowingly across state lines.

I Hope You Don't Mind, I Hope You Don't Mind, That I Put Down In Words...

How wonderful life is, while you're in the world...

Last Thursday, Steve and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary. I am so thankful for this man, I don't really even know how to put it down in words. He makes me happy every day of my life. I mean that. He makes me happy EVERY day of my life. I don't often express to him how grateful I am for the kind of man he is. I think sometimes, in the world that we live in, with lesser men all around, I take for granted the partner I have been blessed with. He truly is a good man.

He loves me unconditionally. And he has never ever for a second given me reason to ever doubt his love or devotion to me. He is also very patient with me. More patient than I would ever be with myself.

He also loves our children and he is such a good father to them. He works so hard for his family. He owns his own business and that means he is always working. Always. Most days, he works all day and comes home and still has hours of more work to do on the computer. Some days he leaves the house for work at 7 in the morning and doesn't get home until 3 or 4 or 5 o'clock the next morning. Once, there was a whole entire year when he worked every single day (except most Sundays) including all holidays.

He has a strong testimony of Christ and of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He honors the Priesthood that he holds. He is a Valiant Husband, Father and Leader of our family.

Stephen, I love you and everything you stand for. Thank you for being the husband you are.

♥ me

See, he does love me. You can tell by the look on his face:

Monday Morning Musings - School's Out For Summer!

As the children slept in on their first official morning of summer break, they had no idea that I was downstairs planning ways to make their summer miserable. OK, really, I'm not that evil. But I was makin' plans. 'Cause I am always the woman with the plan. Dan. The three oldest slept in the playroom and this is how I found Aubrey this morning. You can't tell very well from the picture, but her feet are on the floor. She is 1/2 on the couch and 1/2 off. I don't know how she was able to sleep like that.

I let them sleep in as long as they wanted (I'm buttering them up for what is to come) and then we had "First Day of Summer Waffles" complete with celebration candles. We sang a chorus of "School's out for summer, school's out forever!" before blowing the candles out.

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you will remember my "Summer Fun" chart I make every week showing what we will be doing. It made it's first appearance on my mud room wall early this morning. After breakfast, when I told the kids it was up, they made a mad dash to see what was on it. I really wish sometimes that I could be more unstructured, and just kinda like whatever, go with the flow, mellow mamma. But that just isn't me. I have to have a plan at all times. I am one of those people that you probably wouldn't want to go on a relaxing vacation with because I operate on a schedule and I want to know exactly what we will be doing everyday so that I make sure we get everything in that I want to get in. I am not so structured that I am inflexible. This chart is just to give us an idea of what is happening. Sometimes things come up and we have to change things, or sometimes we just don't feel like doing what it says one day. But anyways, here is this weeks chart:

On Tuesday's we will be having a "Heroes In History" lesson. One week we will learn about a hero from the Scriptures, and the next week we will learn about a hero from American history.

I also revamped my "Summer Chore Charts". I have different charts for the school year. I am including it because last time I said something about chore charts I had a bunch of people wanting to know what I had on them. So here they are:

In the middle of each kids chart is a "Weekly Focus". I am rotating them for each kid. I have "Meals", "Laundry" and "Dishes". I am the kind of person who would rather have everyone clear out of the kitchen and stay outta my way when I am cooking. And I also have this thing about me being the only one who can load the dishwasher or sort clothes, because I am the only one who can do it right. But I have realized that that is not helping my kids to learn these basic life skills that I am supposed to be teaching them. So now they will be learning how to do those things, and I will be learning how to let go.

HAPPY SUMMER!

Flashback Friday - Thanksgiving In Utah

This picture was taken at Thanksgiving in 1992. The year I might have graduated from high school, if I were that old. I was living in Utah and my dad and Farrah drove up to visit me. This is what I remember about that time. It was my first holiday away from home and I was so glad that I didn't have to spend it alone. I was so excited to see some of my family again. We got our first snow about a week before they came and that was my first experience with snow. I remember being in a store and a lady that worked there just got of the phone with her husband and it was snowing where he was, but it hadn't reached us yet. I was so excited. When my dad and Farrah were on their way up, they got stuck in a snow storm and the highway was closed and they had to spend the night in a church. The three of us were so proud of ourselves for the Thanksgiving feast we made. I had fun showing them around and playing tour guide. Who knew that that would become my eternal calling, playing tour guide for anyone and everyone who comes through Salt Lake City that I know? But I love it! And no, I am not deformed in this picture. I have clear braces on my teeth. What a stupid idea. I look back at pictures of that time and I just look like I have funky mouth disease.

A Day To Remember

So, we went to bed Sunday night with plans to wake up in the morning and head for the mountains. We were going to spend all day there hiking and roasting hot dogs and just having fun. Then I woke up Monday morning with a strong feeling that I needed to make sure my kids understood exactly what Memorial Day really is for. So I got online and looked up Memorial Day programs. And low and behold, there happened to be one at the cemetery where my Father is. So I called me mum and she met us there. It was a very nice ceremony with excellent speakers. It really touched my heart to think of all those men and women and families who have and currently are making sacrifices for our country.

After we left the cemetery, we went to my mom's house and had a delicious lunch (she made brisket) with her and my sister Lauren and their neighbors, Curtis and Kami and their kids.

Then we all loaded up in the van and finally made our way up the canyon. It was a beautiful drive and we had a blast once we got there. As soon as we all got out of the van and took a look at all the pine cones strewn about, a war ensued. And some of the innocent bystanders (mom and grandma) even got pegged a few times.

We found a dangerous rushing stream nearby and decided to risk our very lives to play in it. Thankfully everyone made it through the event unharmed.

Update: Aubrey shared with me what she wrote in her journal yesterday. She gave me permission to share it here. Here are the thoughts of a seven year old about Memorial Day.

I want to write about Memorial Day. On Memorial Day we celebrate about the people that were in the war and died. And the people that were working hard for us to have a free country. They went through hard stuff.