Ten on Tuesday

1. Thanksgiving - we had a very low key day. I made Chris come take a class with me at the YMCA. Which he was cursing my name the whole time. We came home and did a whole lot of nothing :) Then headed to the church and deep fried 2 turkeys for a different Branch's Thanksgiving dinner that we were invited to. I cannot tell you how much I love love love deep fried turkey. Plus I made the Oreo dirt and forgot to take it so I'm eating it all by myself  still.

2. Our night didn't end there. Chris really wanted a few things from Walmart and didn't want to go alone sooooo we found a very kind person to come watch TV for 5 hours while our kids slept. The first item we were hoping for went on sale at 10pm. so we got to the store at 8 got a ticker and were 28th in line. sat in a secluded area next to a very nice couple, and a very stinky man. . . fond memories. After we got that we attempted to wonder through the store. . . It was so over crowded etc it was terrible. I got a few other things I was looking for then off to wait in an unofficial like for item #2 that didn't get un-shrink-wrapped until12am. Needless to say I stood in line for a while but at about 11:55 I got a lot bit nervous about the ensuing crowd pf people so seeing that Chris had a good spot I went and hid behind some clothes rack. Once they dropped the tape of whatever they did it was total crazyness!!! I am so glad I moved and it will take a lot to get me out with that amount of crazy, rude, and a bunch of other things, people again. But we got the 2 big items we went for.

3. I finished up all the shopping for the kids on Saturday so I have no reason to head to the mall (i never go anyway) or other stores for a long long while. Although Costco is still a great place to go I am avoiding the temptations of the middle sections.

4. Monday I finished the top to Marian's quilt and I must say I'm really happy with how it turned out. Tomorrow will be sewing the back on adding batting and tying it. The hope to ship it off by Wed and beat all the crazy's at the post office.

5. Saturday I went on a date with Will. We went to Costco and got presents for the rest of the kids. He loved helping get things. Chris and I also sat down with him and told him about Santa. He was not surprised (are any kids? ) He loves knowing things that others do not know. He and I got some pizza (can't go wrong there) from Costco and had a nice little meal. I love being able to spend 1 on 1 time with my kids. I really need to make it more of a priority because I'm pretty sure they love it too.

6. Saturday night we all went to our (new) YMCA and went swimming. There pool is perfect for kids Jed and Jeff's age. It is not zero depth but close. They have a slide iinto about 2 feet of water. then they have 2 big floating things that they kids can climb on, get shoved off by there dad. Jed has alawys clung to us tight when he went to the pool. This time he was off roaming a few feet away on his own (but making sure we were close) and getting all wet. Loved this. plus the pool was even warm!!! even better bonus. I'm thinking when Chris and the younger 2 head to AZ at the begning of Jan the older 2 and I might be going quite a bit.

7. Sunday night Chris saw the Libirary books Will brough home from school. I think the 2 of them spent about 30 min reading about WWII airplanes. Loved seeing it and guess what I actually got a photo!!!

8. How could I forget the weather was so beautiful on Thanksgiving Chris and the kids did this!

 notice Jed's awesome pink bike :)

9. got this funny story from a friend this week. Chris and I do the same thing (collect cans that we see since we get the $.05 here but I'm not sure this would have been worth the money to me. (yes I did ask for permission before sharing but have changed names to protect the innocent)

Wanted to tell you about a discovery I made today.  I am sure that all of you know that I collect cans and bottles for recycling.  I picked up a beer can yesterday and I thought it contained snails, as they like to crawl in the tab opening and get drunk.  They usually “shake” out but these wouldn’t for some reason.  I cleaned out all the cans from my acquisition and left them to dry last night.  This morning there was a rather unpleasant smell as I went to put the dried cans and bottles in plastic bags to later take and turn in.  I shook the one can some more, filled it up with water, and shook again and low and behold out came an emaciated mouse.  Dead of course, rather thin, but all in one piece.  There was still something else in the can and again, another dead mouse finally was shaken out! The tab pull was the only hole in the can and they must have really wanted the beer to squeeze themselves into the can.  I was not very quiet during this discovery, thank goodness for the laundry tubs.

such a great story!!

10. Will has 2 loose teeth. This is huge for him because his 4 bottom teeth had to be pulled by the dentist. Needless to say he doesn't like Chris wiggling his teeth but he will let me. Sunday night he was screaming whenever Chris's hand came close to his teeth. But when I got close it was just a small whimper. Hopefully they will both come out soon and the fear that is in his head will go away.




This photo I finally found of the boys watching and singing to I am a Child of God. Love it!

favorite Chritmas songs

I love love love Christmas music. As my brother once proclaimed me the Bipolar award for Christmas songs.
Disclaimer - I have never sung, nor no anything about music except how to turn pages for the pianist :) so my views are mine alone.

Here are a few of my favorites (all of which can be found on YouTube)

1. Boney M's - Mary's Boy Child. I think I like this one so much because it brings back memories of college, Tempe, my siblings, and the Anderson's.

2. Where are you Christmas - Faith Hill. I really enjoy the message of this song. It is not about the presents it is about Love etc.

3. Far far away on Jedua's plain - my favorite Church hymn. It is not song as often as others but I just love it.

4. God rest ye Merry Gentlemen/We three kings - Barenaked ladies.  It is probally because it puts a little more upbeat note to a traditional song but doesn't ruin the song.

5. 12 days/pains of Christmas. - I think the Muppet's is my favorite for the regular version. I love the 12 pains. Plus the 12 redneck gifts by Jeff Foxworthy.

6. The Prayer - Celine Dion and Andre Bocelli

7. The little Drummer Boy - which ever version actually has the drum. Love to hear it. I was just on YouTube and discovered my favorite version is by Bing Crosby and David Bowie! who would have ever guessed. (more on the David Bowie part)

8. Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano. It makes me think of Chris. I love it.

9. Believe - Josh Groban. Just a great song with a great voice and great message.

10. My most favorite Christmas song ever is Oh Holy Night. I like those that sing it without a lot of crazy flare (think Mariah Carey) who sing it well and with a great voice. . . ie Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson etc. . . I like a great voice

I'm not entirely sure this is considered a Christmas song so I didn't want to put a non Christmas song on my list. but Amy Grant's Breath of Heaven is a great song.

I'm interested to see what your favorites are. I'm pretty sure that I will be doing a lest favorite songs at some point which will probably offend many more of you :)

Ten on Tuesday

1. To start off I created a new blog. I was thinking that I needed to focus on the positives from each day. . . since some days it is very hard to do that. So here goes my new years resolution. posting to this new blog. at least 1 thing that was a great moment of the day. the address is bestpartsoftheday.blogspot.com

I also have it on my list of blogs to the side. Feel free to look at it or not. It is mostly for me to see and be reminded that there are good parts in each day.

2. From my previous post I had a great weekend. Very few things are better than the adult session of stake conference. Check out the post below if you wanted to see my thoughts on that.

3. We have had some hacking kids lately, well mostly Annmarie and Jed. Annmarie has been fine except for at night. Jed just got it this weekend. Needless to say there is a big difference in the coughing ability of a 6yr old and a 3yr old. Thankfully Jed saw a Dr yesterday and this morning he seems to be acting normal.

4. We had parent teacher conferences last week. I love love love my kids new school. It is amazing how much Will has improved in just this short amount of time. I really enjoy both of their teachers. plus the principal remembered who I was!!!! plus the special teachers knew my kids by name. Love this school.

5. I cannot find my camera. but there is an adorable photo of Jeffrey and Jed singing along with this video.

6. Next week is Chris's last week of classes. then on to the dreaded finals. I cannot believe we are almost half way thought. He has be so wonderful and worked so hard!

7. I realized today how lucky I am to be this far along in my pregnancy and still attending the classes at my YMCA. I love the teachers who say we are doing this. . . but not Karen you are doing this. I am slowly modify more and more (mostly anything that is jumping related), and getting slower and slower with my running but hey I can make others feel good because they are not last :) it has actually been a good thing for my pride because I cannot even force myself to keep up with the others who I normal do.

8. My kids have never been cuddly so since Jed has been sick the past few days he has been so cuddly. I must say I love love love this. 

9. Those who really know me know how much I hate to do dishes. Before we moved I would wait to wash dishes until we were out of cups, or bowls or something necessary. We now have a dishwasher and I love love love how it takes about 2 minutes to empty my sink into the dishwasher. Love it!

10. Jeffrey . . .  decided he wanted to cut his own hair while I was napping. . . 

he cut it so close to his head our only option was to buzz it with no guard on. He loves his "bald" head. He says now I'm like Daddy and my hair won't grow back. I love rubbing his head, and this is much cheaper than paying 10 to 15 for a hair cut so maybe we'll keep it this way for a while :)

Wonderful weekend

We have had a great weekend.
This post is mainly so I don't forget what happened. 

We had adult session of stake conference, which is always the best. We had 2 General Authorities who came. Elder Bowen opened the last 45 min up to questions from those in the audience. first off when he was giving his talk he told us how whenever we attend any church meeting we should have a question on our minds. This includes Sunday, weekly meetings, and temple attendance. The reason for this is how will we receive revelation if we are not actively seeking it. He also told us that we must receive the Holy Ghost. That He will never force the Holy Ghost on us, we have to choose to let it into our lives.

- If we don't have questions how are we going to know when God answers them.
- Thank Heavenly Father when you hear the answer
- Revelation requires work
-Ask to know what questions to ask -  what am I not asking

some thoughts from the question and answer portion
- You will receive the Kingdom (degree of glory) that we desire
- When we do all we can then the miracle comes

a sister asked what was the most important thing to be teaching out kids
- The Proclamation to the Family has the most important stuff in it.
-The Holy Ghost will tell a Father and a Mother the same thing. If you do not receive the same answer work together until you do.

another questions asked how do you prepare good missionaries
- Teach them how to work.
-have them study preach my gospel
       - cpt 8, 9, 13

I leaned many other things as well but these are the ones I really want to remember.

Tonight we played our kids favorite game. . . hide and go seek. This is the first time in our new house and it was so much fun. Then we found some LDS card game and the kids had a blast. Then at Jed's request we played duck duck goose. such a wonderful evening. Lots of laughing and many many smile. It is nights like these that I hope to remember always.

Ten on Tuesday

 1. Did you know it snowed here on wed? My kids were in heaven!!! they were outside an hour before the bus came. Jeffrey Stayed out for even longer. Jed. . . who hates all things warm related. refused to wear pants and in the last photo you can see what happened. Later in the week I was putting the red jacket on him. He was say I hate the fat jacket. so funny!

Here Jed and Jeffrey are before I could get Jed's jacket and coat on.

 I told Annmarie to get pants on. . . this is what I get. She loves her some skirts!

Putting the boys to work :)

Jed doing what every kid does. Eating snow. notice how wet his sweat pants are? yeah he and Jeffrey took a long hot shower when they came in. 

2. I started and as of (4:40am child woke up couching and sleep during pregnancy not happening so much) this morning had all strips cur out for a quilt for Marian for Christmas. I forgot how much I enjoy doing this. I also forgot how time consuming it is. Not sure if she reads this so no photos until after Christmas.

3. I was released from my calling in the Relief Society ( ladies organization at my church) presidency. I think it had something to do with we moved out of the boundaries ;)  I really enjoyed the calling and realized how much I really do enjoy being in relief society.

4. Chris has been really busy with school and Church these past few weeks. I love to see him when playing with the kids. They love wrestling with their dad and love to be with him. I'm so thankful that I was lucky enough to marry a man who loves me and who loves all of his kids. Chris is such a wonderful man and I am so thankful for him.

5. On facebook I've been daily posting things I'm thankful for. I have been amazed at how many things I have to choose from on a daily basis. for example yesterday I noticed how my kids bus stop, is much calmer, and I love their bus driver. She greats them each by name each morning when they get on the bus. I love that!!! I cannot tell you how happy I am for my kids with this move. They are in a great school and this town is still "small" enough that it makes me think a little bit of Victor.

6. Speaking of how wonderful Chris is. On Saturday night I was starting to get a massive headache, I took Tylenol (I hate this stuff does nothing. . . only down side about pregnancy) and went to bed. I woke up with an even worse headache that last most of the day. Chris went to the store early to get me some "medicine." (aka Mt dew which I have really grown to hate!) He also got me some Chocolate milk because he knows I love it. Such a sweet sweet guy. I'm so lucky!!

7. This past week I have been reminded of a quote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." With the stuff going on in our society and our world today I have realized how true this is. It has made me think lots about how and what I should do to not good fall in my home or where I live. 

8. We got a piano! The kids are so excited. They actually have been great with it. We found it on craigslist. We don't have books yet (if you have any you don't need we'd love them!). Will keeps asking when he gets to take lessons. . . hopefully by the time we get him lessons he still wants to play.

9. After reading a friends blog I hope that I do not give of the impression that I lead a perfect life, or you think I'm trying to fool you all. I do not. All you have to do is come by my house unannounced and you will see that disaster that is my house. Or see me when my children or being. . . themselves :) I think secretly this is why I don't take many photos :) We have our challenges and many times we do not feel the need to write poor is me on my blog. 

10. Some day (in the next few weeks) I will post my list of most and least favorite songs. I will do this because on Saturday I turned on the radio and what was the first Christmas song of the season I heard? one that is not a Christmas song but they always play it as one. One I can't stand and seriously hate!!! What song is it you ask, maybe you already know because you can't stand it too!! "Same Old Lang Syne" by  Dan Fogelberg. really I can't start because this post would never end. lets just leave it at I do not like it. If you do don't hate me.

Ten on Tuesday

1.  Chris got his score on his midterm back!!! you bet I'm going to brag, He got the 2nd highest score in the class!!!! when the semester started he was all worried because he was in the class with all the smart 3rd years. I cannot tell you how proud of him I am. He works so hard to wear so many hats and we are so thankful for him!!

2. Well I went to my monthly Dr's appointment last week and found out that they want me to deliver 3 weeks early. Everything is fine, just when you have multiple c-sections there are things that happen to your body (imagine that major surgery might cause problems). I'm so glad the Dr was kind enough to sit down and talk to me about what is going to happen (Jan 17th or 18th) I will go in for an amniocentesis to check to see if the babies lungs are developed. If they are She said they would deliver the next day. She also told me the worst case scenario stuff. Which I was so grateful for so when I was on the table I didn't hear them or found out something new. Oh did I mention this is the first week of Chris's spring semester? I was wondering if I should change the baby ticker on the blog to more accurately depict when the baby will be coming :)

3. We went to the temple on Saturday. I cannot believe how long it has been. It was so nice to be there and feel peace about the things that were on my mind.

4. Yesterday it was beautiful until about 3. So Jeffrey, Jed and I got to play outside one more day before the winter weather was on it's way (today it is supposed to rain all day and snow tonight)

5. Chris and I were able to go on a date for the first time in a long time! It was so wonderful. I forget how much I really do need the alone time with him so we can just talk and get things out. I've learned that it doesn't matter if you are eating at Outback or Wendy's the important thing is just that we talk. So glad I have friends who understand how important this is to me and are willing to watch my kids.

6. We watched the game of the century, which wasn't, after we watched the choke of the century. After Saturday night I'm convinced that no kickers in college can actually kick the ball through the uprights. Then it reminded me why I don't really invest into ASU. they just cause heartbreak over and over.

7. Saturday morning. we had a LDS law school wives breakfast. We had great food but most importantly we got to talk. it is so nice to have this time!

8. Through out the week I have been reminded to not sweat the small stuff (ie wait until you know what is really the problem until you panic) and to sweat the small stuff (worry about saying prayers, reading scriptures etc) because this will have a huge impact on your future. Funny how both things are very applicable.

9. With the exception of making a quilt, I have my Christmas shopping done for all of the extended family!!! I know what I'm getting Chris, and the kids will be simple and easy. How crazy would that be to be all done before Thanksgiving!! it would be AWESOME!!!

10. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this yet but, I am so excited for Christmas. I am excited to go and see family and friends in NY. I'm so excited for my kids to get to play with cousins they have never met. The only scary thing about Christmas means that the baby is coming soon!! and we are nameless. any and all suggestions are welcome. some may be mocked but we are really stumped as to what to call numero cinco.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Chris had a huge midterm on Friday and felt pretty good with how it went. Which he usually thinks the opposite so we are excited over this.

2. Sickies. I would like to say we are done with being sick this winter. . . no more I can't take it. I forget how much it wipes you out and how long it takes to get back into life again. As of this moment Jed has a runny nose but that is always around for him. Hopefully it stays this way for a while!!

3. Paper towels - Since we moved to Iowa I stopped buy paper towels. we are on a budget, they are not really necessary. Well a month ago I bought a big pack from Costco. Oh I forgot how heaven sent they are. Who knows if I will buys more but, I have really enjoyed having them again.

4. Trunk or treat. This year we actually did 2. Friday night was at the Branch. We had a great time. Chris and the YM made 5 or 6 pinatas. This must have been the highlight of the night.. . but there was a ton of stuff to clean up. Saturday the Ward we moved into had one and we were invited. They had a carnival set up in the gym. coloring, donuts eating off a string. But my kids Favorite was a chance to play angry birds with a sling shot and the stuffed angry birds. They loved it, and we met a few new people. It was so nice. The ward had 90 kids in the primary program! we have moved into a massive ward.

5. Halloween. Well trick or treating here happens on beggars night (the night before) and you must tell a joke to get candy. Pretty cool as last year Halloween was on Sunday, but this year that meant it happened on Sunday. We did not participate. So Monday night we had a Halloween/birthday party for Annmarie. We had fun. we decorated sugar cookies, played find the ghost, and had cake and caramel apples. it was a fun quite night and guess what I forgot. . . to take photos. I am so terrible at that. The cake was a princess cake and had Belle, sleeping beauty and Cinderella on it. Annmarie loved it.

6. Tomorrow I have my gestational diabetes test. Who was the genius that scheduled the test 2 days after Halloween! needless to say all candy was thrown out of the house yesterday afternoon, but I'm pretty sure Caramel apples and sugar cookies and not too good for me to be eating either. Here is hoping that there are no issues because I was not so smart in when I set it up.

7. We now have neighbors. well since moving in we have had a few, but the family that shares the other side of our house moved in this past weekend. . . OK really Friday and 2 last things on Saturday. We know them. He is in the same year as Chris in school. The kids are so excited! plus there are more families moving in later this month with more kids. My kids will be in heaven next spring!

8. All of our photos except 3 are up. I am on a quest to find blow up quality photos of the temples we have lived by to add them to the temple wall. So far we have Las Vegas, and Mesa. We are looking for Dallas, Palmyra, Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, and Manti (chris wants this one) So if you have any good photos (people-less) that you would be willing to let us use. please let me know!

9. A goodnight sleep. I love sleep. I love to get my 8 hours plus a night. well since moving here I think most of us have eluded this necessary thing in our lives. It makes for Grumpy kids, sick kids, angry kids etc. But more importantly it makes for a really grumpy, sleepy, tired, and lazy mom. I'm hoping that the sickness has left the house that I can once again return to this blessed event that needs to happen every night.

10. Baking. I started making cookies on Sunday and have realized that a gas oven and an electric one are very different. I miss having gas but that is the worst thing I have to say about this house so maybe I should suck it up and move on :)