Valentine's Day Give-away!

WOW! This is my 100th blog entry! Give-Away time! Hopefully these fun prizes will help with a fun Valentine's Day at your home. I've included a photo of the entire prize and then took photos with the items closer. Here's what we have:

Candy: Red Vines, Strawberry Whoppers, Hershey's Kisses, heart ornament filled with mini Butterfinger and Reese's, Extra brand gum
Scrapbook Supplies: stickers, paper flowers, notecards, ribbon
Baking: Fun plate, heart shaped cookie cutters
Baby and mom: Valentine Gorilla and Valentine crocodile for baby. For mom: mittens (warm hands = warm heart) and reusable red bag (reusable = loving our planet)

Here's the scoop:
Leave a comment sharing one way we can spread love this Valentine's Day anytime from now until Friday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m.
Yes, I will pay for shipping!
No, I don't need to know you to win! (So tell your friend, sister, mom and if they win, hopefully they will share with you!)


Now the reason:
I found this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley that I love:

"When I was a little boy, we children traded paper hearts at school on Valentine's Day. At night we dropped them at the doors of our friends, stamping on the porch and then running in the dark to hide.
Almost without exception those valentines had printed on their face, "I love you." I have since come to know that love is more than a paper heart. Love is of the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it is more than the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. How rich are those who enjoy it in their associations with family, friends, church and neighbors.
I am one who believes that love, like faith, is a gift from God.
(President Gordon B. Hinckley, "And the Greatest of These is Love," Ensign, March 1984, p.3.)

Powerful thought. I encourage you to read that quote again. Sincere love is powerful.
I appreciate the association I have with you. It is through friendships that our lives are enriched. This small give-away is just one way I've chosen to share love this Valentine's Day.
Lurkers are always welcome, but it is through the written word (comments!) that friendships blossom...

President Hinckley passed away

President Gordon B. Hinckley died last night, Sunday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. at his home with his family by his side, due to causes incident to his age. He was 97 years old. I am grieving this news, yet find comfort in the plan of salvation and the fact that I know he is rejoicing once again with his precious wife. President Hinckley is the prophet who has lead this church through so much. He has built temples throughout the world, a magnificent new conference center, made numerous media appearances spreading the truth of the gospel, began the perpetual education fund. He is our childrens prophet. They know his face more so than President George W. Bush. More importantly, they have a grasp of his teachings and council. He will be greatly missed by our family as well as many worldwide.

Ladies Only Event!

Last night I got to attend a Ladies Only Event at Erin and Mary's home. They had wanted to have a get-together for their friends who enjoy crafting at their home and it was a fabulously relaxing night. There were ten of us there, although the picture only shows nine, our friend JoAnne had to leave early. We enjoyed homemade potato soup with all the toppings, delicious bread and veggies. For dessert Erin made her homemade sugar cookies that are to die for. Erin and Mary also prepared a fun craft for us to do. We applied vinyl lettering to cute clay pots that Erin had already painted red. We each brought a bag of Valentines Day candy so we got to mix it up and add it to our pot. I'm saving mine for a Valentines Day treat for James. When I got home he asked to see what it was we made but I had to tell him he would have to wait. Our hostess' even had a drawing for a cute vinyl lettering wood block with a quote about friendship and we each got to take home a darling bag filled with more yummy sugar cookies. It was great to visit with old friends and meet new people.
I had my friend Kristen try out my camera and I love this photo she took of the tulip centerpiece. She also took this cute photo of Erin's dog, Tessa. Isn't she cute.

first soccer game ever!

We just got back from Chase's "first soccer game ever!" It was a lot of fun! They play four ten-minute quarters with eight kids from each team on the field at once. We loved that the score ended up being zero to zero and all the kids had a great time. Everyone got to play all the positions, everyone got to experince throwing the ball in, corner and goal kicks, kicking off to start a quarter, running through the parent team tunnel at the end of the game. Best of all - no meltdowns from anyone! A successful and fun morning!

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet

We all had a good time at the Blue and Gold Banquet last night. Everyone went but Molly since she had a ton of homework. Reid received his Bear and the Religious Knot. Chase got to participate in the flag ceremony which he enjoyed. They both liked the process of making their cakes. Chase was given the Game-Set-Match Award for his tennis cake and Reid was given the Holiest Award for his Snoopy golf cake. They served teriyaki chicken, rice, brocolli and green beans for dinner and decorated with a Chinese New Year theme, with Chinese paper lanterns the boys had made. They also had lots of fortune cookies on the tables and paper with instructions for paper folding. A nice evening.

Michelle - do you recognize the cabinet behind Chase - it is still being loved!

This morning I cut Ryans hair - here are the before and after shots as well as all the hair that was taken off! The photos don't really show how shaggy he was! Trust me though, it was bad. I wanted to grow his hair out so he could get a real little boy haircut, but he still is not ready to get it cut professionally. Sitting still in the chair while a loud trimmer is buzzing around and scissors are close to his face are both something we need to work on.

Also going on today is the cub scout blue and gold banquet! I took the boys to a local cake decorating store and they picked out what they wanted on their cakes. Reid is going for a golfing theme and Chase choose tennis. We also have all these cute little cub scout heads. I am one to really encourage the boys to do the decorating so we'll see how they turn out.

Making Memories

Here is the Valentine Squash Book that I made at the stamp class I attended Saturday. Our demonstrator, Angela, always has a great project lined up for us and I really enjoyed the process of making this one. I still need to add photos where the cream colored squares are and then it will be complete.
The final photo is the simple but completed project of organizing our Christmas cards. I ended up just putting page protectors into a acid free three ring binder and placed the newsletter and photos in each one. I then made a title page for each year - Christmas 2004, for example. Simple, but it works just great for me. I somewhat organized the order in which the Christmas greeting are placed. Family first, then Washington state friends, then Alabama, then those that we have known from wherever but they have moved to Utah, (silly that that needs its own section but we know a lot of people that have made that move!) then Gilbert, AZ and lastly, our friends we have the blessing of living close too now. I started with grand ideas of scrapbooking an album, but this is actually just what I wanted (I just didn't know it). I don't want to take away from the message that each greeting contains.

three day weekend

I'm enjoying this hot chocolate right now...not that I'm not ready for the three day weekend to be over or anything, but...I suppose it is hard to get back into the groove after such a good weekend.
James and Austin went to a boy scout leadership training campout. They left Friday night and returned Saturday evening. I spent Friday night working on young women camp. I can spend hours pouring over the scriptures, themes and ideas for camp. I had a ycl meeting at 8 am Saturday morning that went well. We have decided that our theme this year is B.O.O.T. - Building Our Own Testimonies. The spiritual will be focused on being strong - developing your own testimony of the gospel and of Jesus Christ - and learning the skills necessary to go out there and proclaim the truth to your friends. The fun parts of camp (decorations, level names, etc.) will be focused around a army theme--teaching them to "Be all you can be." The four head ycl's continue to amaze me. They all are such awesome young women. I am excited for March when I get to meet all of the ycl's.

Saturday afternoon I went to my monthly stamp class. We made a Valentine squash book. I love the way it turned out. I will need to post a picture after I add some pictures to the inside.

James got home in time for the two of us to have a delicious dinner at Erin and Mary's home on Saturday night. Everything was very relaxing and comfortable. It is such a treat to be invited to someone else's home for dinner. They also invited the Sampson's - they are another fun couple in the ward. James and Ken both have some ties to Hurricane, Utah so that is fun conversation. A wonderful night!

I am continuing on my quest to organize. I got all my Christmas newsletters and photos into an album - that feels really great to have that done. I am currently working on our pantry. I have a walk-in pantry and it accumulates things amazingly fast. When that it does it is time for our master bedroom closet!

organizing

This morning I went through the kids' schoolwork from the last few years and got rid of a lot of stuff and put the favorites in these bins. One bin for each child. I haven't labeled them yet because I may get different bins but these will work for now. Also today I started with a pile of envelopes like this picture and took all the addresses and put them into a new address book. We have had the same address book since 1990 and it was time for a new one. The book actually held up really well but the papers inside well, not so much. My next goal is to take all the Christmas photos we received from the last few years and put them into some sort of an simple album. It will be fun to see how the children of our friends grow through the years. Do you keep the Christmas photos you receive or just save them for a time then throw them away? I'd love to hear your ideas if you do keep them.

Also - I realized that soon I will be having my 100 blog posting. wow! I really do have a lot to say. Not that it is meaningful. lol. Anyway, I will be doing a Valentines Day theme give-away so check back. I should reach 100 entries in about a week and a half. It shouldn't be too hard to win since this blog rarely even receives four comments. :)

soccer!

Here is Chase at soccer practice last night. It is so good for him to get outside and run around in the fresh air. He has so much fun playing soccer.

decorating for Valentines Day

wow- thanks for the sweet, sweet comments regarding Chase and his accomplishment of riding the big bus. I'm so touched. Maybe it is the Valentine's day love coming my way early!?! I thought I had better get a few decorations up to celebrate. I don't have very many decorations for this holiday but I do enjoy this small flag that is outside the front door and I love this little tree I bought during one of my visits to WA state. I enjoy that it can be used for any season.
Last night I went to a Stampin' Up party and made this fun card - do you know they now have rub - ons, like vinyl lettering? Oh - I am so excited to get mine. I want to put them on candles, crafty buckets, frames, scrapbook pages....So fun! I'm going to be putting them on everything.
The last picture I just had to share well, because it is new and well, Valentines red! Can you believe I got this purse for 35 cents at JCPenney! I like that is has a cell phone pouch on the outside, because if you have ever called me you know I'm probably going to miss the call since I'm still digging through my purse just to find my cell phone. James received a birthday coupon in the mail for $15 off. Not that it is the most gorgeous purse mind you, but please it was 35 cents. I'm happy.

update on my dad

Thank you so much to those of you who have emailed my privately asking about my fathers health. My dad called me tonight to say that the scan came back o.k.! They did not find anything bad - no tumors. He will proceed next with a scope, scheduled to take place Jan. 31. We are all very thankful that it is not cancer.

Autism

My dear friend Ronda sent me this link today for a wonderful video:

www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

I encourage you to take a listen. The music is wonderful and the written message is reality. If the link doesn't go through I encourage you to write down the address and type it in to be able to view.

Yesterday was a big day for Chase. We have been working up to him taking the regular school bus. We decided we would start with him just taking it home from school and remain on the special needs bus on the way to school. We knew he would have Reid to help him and the teachers walked him there and informed the bus driver. But - we forgot that Reid has band on Mondays and doesn't take the bus home. ugh. However, Chase did great! I met the bus at the bus stop to make sure he got off (a smart thing because he wouldn't have gotten off!) He enjoyed being with all the other neighbor boys. We have come a long way on our journey. I have a file (a very, very thick file) that includes the paperwork for Chase. Inside I still have the paper from when he was in kindergarten and he lost the right to ride the bus. "Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right" "Chase will not stay seated. He continually moves from seat to seat as the bus is moving" are the written words that glare at me... A mothers nightmare. I tried to explain autism to the bus driver with no luck. Awareness is key. SO-a great moment happened yesterday when he rode the bus once again successfully!

A gift for Reid

Reid received his birthday gift from Grandma Gubler, The Brackens and Sullivans! He loves his Star Wars lego set and 'cool' shirt! He received these in the mail on Saturday which was such a blessing since he gave him something to do all day. I decided to get a babysitter while James and I went with Molly to her recital so the legos kept them occupied. Reid loves that this shirt has double layer sleeves, calling that one 'cool' shirt.

Piano and vocal recital for Molly

Yesterday was the piano and vocal recital for Molly. Her teacher has mostly adults (about 20!) as students. There were about four teenagers, including Molly, and one very sweet nine year old girl. Molly was physically sick all morning, complaining about a headache and her stomach hurting - she was very nervous to say the least. She even refused to get her picture taken. When teens are nervous they do not have much of sense of humor I have discovered.
All of the adult students performed opera pieces, which were outstanding, but for us, we enjoyed the teenagers who performed various other songs (and in English). :) Molly performed Rondino for her piano selectin and When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2for her vocal choice. Another teen did a song from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the nine year old chose My Favorite Things, from The Sound of Music. These are the pieces we really enjoyed.
The recital marked the end of her private piano and vocal lessons. Now she will concentrate on her drama performance coming up at the end of January and then musical theatre will begin in February. We love that all the kids who participate in drama and musical theatre truly support each other and build strong friendships while participating in something they all enjoy.

A fun time for all

The boys all had a great time at the party! They enjoyed pizza and an ice cream birthday cake that I made with the Betty Crocker Bake and Fill set. The boys gave the cake pans to me for a gift over a year ago and I hadn't used them so it was fun getting that out and trying it out for the first time. I had hoped to have time to turn the cake into a baseball, but it took longer that I expected so that didn't happen. It wasn't hard to use at all, but somewhat time consuming since it was the first time using the pans. Truthfully, probably the real reason is because I spent my day cleaning the house, and just a small amount of time on the cake:) He had a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream - pretty yummy.
Reid really enjoyed all of his fun gifts! Lots of fun Pokemon stuff which is always a favorite with him. Also a Lacrosse set that they already played with last night and today and a Blockbuster gift card, which he is excited about going and renting a fun game or movie.
They really enjoyed mini-golf this morning. We will need to go again another day and try out some of the other attractions there. They have bumper boats and go carts the boys really want to try out.
Reid really does have a great group of buddies - they are all nice kids and we were so glad they could share in his special day.

A party!

Tonight we are having a little birthday bash for Reid to celebrate him turning 10!
He has invited three buddies over for pizza, a sleepover and mini-golf in the morning. He is growing up, insisting on no games, making mom heartbroken. :) They just want to play the Wii and watch movies tonight. Oh well! I did however make up a small treat for the boys to take home - realizing they are too old for a "goodie bag", I will call it a 'treat'. ha! Since all four of these boys are into baseball, I put together baggies filled with individually wrapped bubble gum balls. They are tied with ribbon that says, "Take me out to the ball game" and I attached a saying that says "I had a 'ball' at my party and hope you did too! Thanks for coming! Your pal, Reid" They also get a 'return ball' - it is a ball with a elastic string that when you throw it, it will come back to you. Hopefully they will like it. Have fun tonight boys!

Stop and smell the flowers

Today has been one of those days where you go in and out, in and out, it seems as if all day long...But it has been a good day nonetheless. Each time I went in and/or out I have taken the time to stop and enjoy these beautiful flowers next to our front door. My husbands cousin, Susan, gave them to us for Christmas and I am so happy that they are thriving. Yellow is one of my favorite colors so they make me really happy. Also greeting me going in and out is our dog, Violet. She is such a joy to have around. She was meant for our family, as she is pretty low maintenance. She pretty much just lies around all day on her dog bed, but when we come home she is so happy to see us - running back and forth, happy as can be!

Well, where did I go as I was in and out? I had a yummy lunch with Susan - we tried out a place new to us, but that has been around apparently forever called Gus Balone's. We will be going again soon so we can try the breakfast menu. Everything looked so good that they were bringing out of the kitchen. I also went to the dollar store and stocked up on goodies for the party favors for Reid's birthday party which is tomorrow. I also picked up the Valentine Day cards for the boys to share with their classmates - they have a great selection right now, of course for only $1. I got some fun pencils that they can tape to each V-day card.
I left another time for a trip to the grocery store. I made tacos for dinner, which the kids all like, except Chase. One more time in and out tonight as I take Reid and Austin to Target. I have a list of things to pick up there and Reid gets to pick out his birthday gift. I always spend too much at that store, but since I will be passing by those gorgeous flowers all should be alright. :)

Happy 10th Birthday Reid!

Today is Reid's tenth birthday! 1-8-98 was the day he was born and he has brought us joy ever since. Reid is such a sweet boy. He is a great helper to his brothers and his mom and dad. Reid loves all sports. He has played soccer, baseball, basketball, and touch football and enjoyed all of them. He loves all things Pokemon and Yugi-Oh. He is currently reading the Harry Potter books and enjoying them. He likes Weird Al cd's, Spongebob Squarepants and Star Wars. He likes playing outside, with legos, on the Wii and GameCube and with his friends. He loves root beer floats and chocolate with caramel. He is such a blessing to our family. We love you Reid!

An update

Well, I am happy to say that primary went great on Sunday! We have the 2-5 p.m. time slot this year for church and as we were lazily getting ready Ryan said to me, "I am so excited to go to church!" WOW! He was a little hesitant to go into the overly crowded primary room so I sat with him for a few minutes, but then he was ready for me to go. His teachers reported to me later that he did great. I haven't gotten a full report regarding Chase, but he says it was good. I will need to follow up with his teachers, but he seemed happy enough.

I talked with my mom and my dad went to the doctor today and will have some scans done on Friday, then more tests into next week...so no news yet, but we are all glad the process toward an answer has begun.

Molly had her last vocal lesson tonight. They prepped for the recital coming up on Saturday. She is almost ready to go. She has the rest of the week to prepare and we know she'll do fine.

Chase had his first soccer practice today. He was so cute the other day when he wrote on the calendar: "My first soccer game EVER!" He is playing with 7 and 8 year olds and I'm hoping it will be a good match for him. Apparently, there are three other boys and the rest of the team is girls. He seems pretty excited about it. I'm excited for him to get back to his yoga tomorrow. Due to the holidays it has been a few weeks since he has been and he is really needing it.

Here's looking forward to another day tomorrow!

Our weekend

Tomorrow the kids begin their new primary classes with new teachers so we invited Ryan and Chase's new teachers over for pizza on Friday night. Other wards we have been in have a 'meet the teacher' activity the Saturday before the first Sunday of the year. It's an activity where the kids meet their new teacher, see their new classroom and play get to know you games, but our ward does not offer that so we decided to do our own little activity and we are so happy we did!
Here are some photos of the boys with their new teachers, it was so fun to get to know them better! Chase has his eyes down in this photo but he actually is pretty happy. Both Chase and Ryan have been talking about their new teachers all weekend and we are all hoping for a smooth transition on Sunday afternoon. I am thrilled that my kids are blessed to have such great caring individuals teach them each week and feel lucky that we were able to have them in our home and get to know them better.


Today James and I attended a session at the temple and then had a yummy mexican dinner with our friends, The Petersons. It was a nice evening with friends. There is always a calm about attending a session at the temple.

I really appreciate the concern about my dads health - thank you! My brother called today to let us know that they made it home safe. We're hoping my dad can get in to the doctor Monday.

Wishing my dad good health

My parents are on their way home in their motorhome and I'm unable to reach them by phone for the last couple of days. I'm hoping that is just because they are in the middle of the desert. They are heading straight home to WA because my dad was experiencing some health problems. We are thinking it is nothing too serious, but are anxious for him to get checked out by a doctor. My prayers are with him and my mom both.
I like these photos of my dad - with our dog, Violet and my parents dog, Ditzy. Papa with Ryan at the local McDonald's. My dad, James and I with James' cousin Susan (she had James and I and my parents out for dinner before Christmas and we all had a fabulous time!) and my parents at the Gaslight, a local dinner theatre.

A fun New Years Eve!

Molly went to her first church dance last night and we were happy that she reported that she would be willing to go to another one. Whew! She had a good time! She went with a great group of young ladies and the dance was very well planned so no doubt it was a great evening for all who attended.
James and I went with the three little boys to our friends, The Peterson's. They had invited a bunch of couples over that are all about our age - it was really fun to bring in the new year with such great people. We played Apples to Apples as couples and had a good time with that.
My parents stopped by this morning and said their goodbyes. We will miss them so much. We are wishing them a safe journey home!