I Might Lose My Mind?!

What are you looking at you ask? This is 30 sets of mushroom soups, tomato paste, bay leaves, and recipe instructions for 30 people in our Stake to make Stew for our Pioneer Trek. (This was last week!)

Somehow communication problems and time factors made me end up cooking 10 myself (don't ask!) and 4 others were cooked by my own Visiting Teachers. I was honestly glad to cook a majority so I had time to let the meat simmer longer to tenderize before I added the vegetables. (I have to admit, after 12 hours of cooking stew you stop caring about tenderizing!)

These are now the cans and instructions in bags with carrots, potatoes, an onion and 2 lbs of beef stew. It was a major project, but so glad we cooked and froze this meal prior to leaving, so we don't have to do it on BBQ grills! We cooked 80 lbs of chicken a few weeks ago! Done & done!

The Youth are organized into 24 families. There are 8 wards in our Stake. Heres just the Gatoraid. (ok, AND peaches!) You DON'T want to see the rest of our storage room. I have to admit, it has been surreal having been handed this calling to prepare all the food for our Stake Pioneer Trek for 4 days. And then we have to cook it all!... that job should have been given to someone else after all we've been through!

Last night one of the storage trailers came and picked up all our BBQ and cooking equipment that we've been collecting. We will only have 2 of these trailers due to vehicle limits on the Desert Land and Livestock property. (6 Vehicles total.) One of the trucks will pull our refrigerated trailer with all our food. These longer trailers will hold all the Stake Youth and Leaders' tents and sleeping bags.

I demanded that Brent get a griddle from Cabbela's realizing how much we'll need these. He was so proud of his find! (Thats his proud/obnoxious face!?) He's so funny! We have a lot to do, but we are excited as well. (At least we don't have to hike the 26 miles like the youth do!) But we still have to set-up and take down camp every single day. Hello!

Isn't this romantic? Matching buckets... thats what everyone will use to put all their personal items in. (Except we are all bringing extra bags with winter coats, a change of clothes and shoes, and rain ponchos!) Brent was very disappointed in me, that out of all the coats and jackets I own that not one of them is a raincoat. I guess I don't make much of an effort to lollygag around in the rain. Think I might get that chance these next 4 days. (Heaven help us!) More pictures to come later...

Keala's Preschool Program

Last Monday the family drove to Kearn's Library because it rained (and snowed) all day and so Miss Kathryn had to move the preschool program from her backyard to an indoor facility.

Keala's class performed a show about a King whose bananas were being stolen by all the Jungle animals. They sang alot of cute jungle songs and each had their own lines to say.

Keala was both an elephant and a hippo. All the kids had their lines memorized.

There was a pool where the animals liked to hang out and sing (with their 'shades' on!)

A lot of dancing and giggles were a part of the show! But the animals learned to live in harmony with the King and they all lived happily ever after! But still had the giggles....

Keala has 7 other class members, only 2 others were girls. But I just barely met the mother's of those girls a week ago and now we're having 'playdates galore'!

Only one of the boys is in our ward, so we know him and his family pretty well. His name is Zak and Keala says "He's Hot"! (We talk about marrying him alot, but we also talk about marrying alot of other boys in the neighborhood too! Can I say my kids scare me?!)

This is Keala's room. I just thought I would show that I have given up on cleaning it. She still manages to have lots of fun playing in here every day. This morning she made a fort out of her blue tunnel... complete with blankets, pillows, and toys!

Whats that inside the tunnel? Its something dark and black and has eye balls!

Who says we ALL can't enjoy in the fun! I think Maggie is just hilarious! She fits right in with the territory!

Mom is Sooo Mean!

I don't know if its all the teasing I grew up with, (or was born with), or the people I live with today, but I played a MEAN joke on Kai this morning. We were running out into the car and he turned and looked at me and said "Mom! Its cold out here, go get my jacket!" So I ran back in the house and looked around for his jacket, but in the meantime I found our neighbor, Rachel Mackay's bright, flourescent, glowing, PINK jacket and grabbed it and ran in the car. I pulled out of the driveway and said "Kai, I couldn't find your jacket so I just grabbed Rachel's, so just wear hers, cuz you're both the same size." He simply said "No thanks mom". I was a little bummed I didn't get more of a rise out of him. So I kept pushing "Kai its cold outside, just take Rachel's jacket for today". He just calmly said no again. So I kept going until I finally pulled his green 'army' jacket hidden inside Rachel's and threw it back at him. Kai half laughed and half cried. But mom laughed loud and obnoxious (I learned that from DAD!) Kai tried to cry harder than laugh at that point, but my teasing and tickling made him finally laugh, and I got a good kick out of myself. I know. I'm a mean mom. I'm raising mean kids, blah blah blah. If any of you know my daughter, she's got us all beat. She's the boss of this house (and the neighborhood!) so we have to keep the air light around here or we'll take ourselves too seriously. Lifes too short... you gotta laugh a little sometimes!

On The Winds of Change

I was sitting at my first "Recipe Club" meeting with my BFF, Meeja, and 9 of her other friends when a 3rd grade teacher said how the Jordan School District has layed off 200 of their employees and changed a bunch of schools from 'year-round' to 'traditional'. My ears perked up, and the more she spoke, the more concerned I got for my son's school, his teachers, and the impact this will change on so many lives. So my curiosity was settled when a newsletter came home yesterday saying Kai's school is no longer year-round, but traditional. He starts school Thursday August 26th, and ends Thursday June 2nd. I am a little bummed, but more worried about how this change affects so many other people's livlihoods. Life is hard. I hope the teachers can adapt to these changes.

A Weekend to Remember

I'm not typically in the habit of feeling 'deserving' of too many things. Especially when it comes to sweet suprises... But it was 'perfect timing' this weekend when my husband suprised me with a one night's stay at the Anniversary Inn in Logan on Friday night. I have been a 'little' cranky this week with kids being 'off track' from school recently, enduring a round of crummy weather, and suffering other's short tempers while allowing them to get on my 'short temper'! I was definitely looking forward to getting away as Brent and I had planned on driving up to Logan Friday night to help Kasey move back home from college for the summer. I assumed we were staying at the 'usual' hotel that night so we could help her pack Saturday morning. But I was humbled by the suprise he kept (for weeks) as he pulled into the Anniversary Inn's parkinglot and picked up our key to the Presidential Suite! I don't deserve this man! But its -OH-so-nice to be treated like a Princess from time to time! Whats even nicer is to be able to catch up on your spouse's thoughts and aspire to what goals you have for the future and feel that sense of unity and peacefulness again as companions. I really needed that breath of fresh air - I suggest everyone get a bit of that from time to time!

Prom Night

I think he's excited for Prom!

This is the biggest smile I've seen on Austin in a long time!

We should have had a better picture of Kaylie's dress, it was the prettiest Prom dress I've ever seen! She and Austin are good friends, the whole day was one big date!

Thought I'de throw in dad and G'pa Bill. Cute family!

"WWJD"

A few months ago, Brent and I and 4 other couples spent a weekend in St. George. While the boys golfed, us girls went out for pedicures. We were all in one room where our 'technicians' were chit-chatting about their dating lives. One of the girls was bargaining with her friend why she needed her 'male' friends phone number more than another girl did and ended her argument saying "WWJD"! We all asked what that meant. She giggled and said "what would Jesus do". Never thought of using that in a proposition for a boys phone number! We all laughed out loud! So when I asked my son the other day why he gave his extra drink box away to a boy who didn't have one he said "because thats what Jesus would do"! I was pretty impressed that my 6 year old is getting the "WWJD" factor. Of course he expressed it another way one day when I told him on the way to McDonald's to stop yelling at his sister or I wouldn't buy him a treat. (And to lighten the air of my threat) I added that he needed to also say "Mom! Mom! She's the bomb!" After saying No, he was too embarrassed, I asked him why because we were the only ones in the car! And he said "Mom, because Jesus is watching!" (I tried to argue that Jesus likes when he says "mom, mom, she's the bomb!" but he didn't fall for that.) So I tried chanting "Kai, Kai, he's so fly!" He cringed and groaned with grief! (I refused to let him out of the car until he played my game!) So he finally succumbed with "Mom, Mom, she's a granade!" Hey, I'll take what I can get!