The Steinhour Family

Pneumonia and Strep throat and fevers OH MY!

2011-02-11T22:17:00.003-05:00

Dylan has been in the hospital since late Tuesday night. He was having a 8 day fever cycle, which isn't uncommon for him, but he started coughing. Off to the doctor we went to make sure there wasn't something else and BAM - pneumonia and strep and fever. Our pediatrician gave him 2 shots in the office and sent us home with other meds. The next day he was not better and off we went to the hospital.

He has "significant pneumonia" in his right lower lobe. Thankfully no fluid in his lungs, but he can't shake the fevers. Of course with his history of fevers they aren't sure if it's that or the pneumonia, but they certainly aren't sending him home with 103 degree fevers.

He's entertaining himself with coloring, legos, hot wheels, tv, itouch, and air hockey.

Thursday morning we were up early for our doctors visitations. He noticed I was moving slowly and said, "I'm sorry your back hurts mom." Oh don't worry about me, I say. We just need you to get better. "But I don't want your back to hurt." Such a sweet boy! Seriously though - they put me on a mat that is slightly better than the floor! Even with the egg crate and blanket I brought in I can still feel the hard window seat they have us sleep on.

Keep him in your prayers!

A better way to camp

2011-02-11T22:06:00.003-05:00

Our NEW camper! A 2008 Passport travel trailer that can sleep 9.

We picked it up and spent the night getting used to it. We wanted to try all the gadgets so we knew they worked and that we could work them. We made pizzas, but the oven would never light...so we had stove top pizzas. Oven still not working we made microwave sugar cookies for dessert. Thankfully the stove top worked so for breakfast was pancakes, eggs, and sausage. It was a rainy night and day so we stayed inside played board games and cleaned it from top to bottom.

I think fun family memories are in the making!

New Year....new callings

2011-01-15T22:25:00.003-05:00

The energy is flowing in our house! Neal and I both got new callings in December and January. Neal was called to Provident Living. He'll do a great job! He has been inspired for a few years now on helping our family be self sufficient and reliant and LOVES to talk about it and encourage others. I know he'll do a great job inspiring others!

I was just called at the Stake Young Women's 2nd counselor. The theme this year for the youth is the 13th article of faith. So as my calling was sustained, my inspiration flowed. We started Ward Conferences already so I had a lot to get done my first week - meetings, lesson, and something cute for the girls. I came up with these cute blocks (with inspiration from other bloggers) to help the girls have a visual reminder of the theme. Now to making 130 or more of them. Fingers get to crafting!

Goodbye house that never was

2010-10-12T21:41:00.002-04:00

It's been an interesting few months! We thought we were buying a house - lovely, large and full of land. But there are different plans for us.

Long story long, but still shorter than the whole story!

We were set to close at the end of August. The day before closing, we were told of a survey/title issue that concerned our financial institution. They allowed us to "rent" during the month of September because the issue would be resolved, quickly (well at least in a 30 day time frame). The kids were in school and I was driving 15 miles one way to get them there so it was nice to go ahead and move in. Nearing the 30 day mark we were informed about a form call "Indemnification with under taking" that they wanted us to sign to proceed with closing. We decided to consult an attorney. He said don't sign it. We would be taking on the risk of the title which currently means ... a land locked house that needs access (aka purchasing land from others) and we would be releasing them from the house. Sounded too risky on such a large purchase.

No tears were shed! We know Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Right now we are sitting in boxes at our old house (which thankfully had not sold!) Fasting and Temple attendance in the works.

My biggest frustrations...

1) Driving the kids to and fro - which will stop at the end of the 9 weeks and I'll have to transfer them to our home school.

2) Living out of boxes b/c I can't find anything!

3) Losing money on a house we don't own!

First Day of School

2010-09-24T16:42:00.003-04:00

Eli started 3rd grade on Monday, August 23rd at Hickory Creek Elementary. This is a new school for him because of our new house. He's had a great month getting to know new friends at school and church. His favorite part of school continues to be lunch, playing outside, and resources (ie art, music, pe).

He started scouts at church now that he is eight. He gets to go with Zach. It's great to have a cousin to hang out with.

Dylan started Kindergarten on Wednesday, August 25th at Hickory Creek Elementary. They do staggered start so the Kindergartner's can get use to school in small groups. Friday, August 27th everyone in his class was there. He loves going to school. He has made friends in his class and on the bus. His favorite part of school is playing on the playground and eating lunch (typical boy things to like) I know he also likes art and computer lab. He's already at some hot lava episodes but tried to go to school sick. He lasted for a few hours and then I went to get him. He doesn't want to miss school.

They also joined an after school Lego group. They get to go for 8 weeks and build motorized Lego's. They've built a dragster car and sailboat so far. A definite highlight of their week. First because they LOVE Lego's. Second because they often beg me to let them go to extended day. They think its a party or something. "Mom when are you gonna work so I can go to extended day?" So they think they are part of extended day once a week for an hour.

Morgan and I stay pretty busy. We volunteer in both of the boys classrooms on Tuesday. Plus lots of other times they might need us. We've been unpacking our house. Buying new things for our house. We've been cleaning the other house (still hoping to get it sold!) We are hoping to go to a mommy and me class after Christmas. It's fun to have girl time together.

Eight is Great!

2010-08-14T21:24:00.004-04:00

Eli Neal Steinhour

Baptism Day

Eli was so excited to be baptized. We arrived early to help with chair set up and to make sure the water would be in the font.

Eli and dad in their baptism clothes. We a proud moment. Our first child getting baptized.

My sweet Eli. He was especially concerned with his outfit. He wanted to look like dad. Dark pants, red tie, jacket, and belt.

Grandpa Doug and Eli. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Rick and Eli.

We've been spending time during FHE to prepare Eli for baptism. A few weeks before we helped him decide on his program. Austin was the chorister, Amy and Grandma JC prayed, Renea spoke on baptism, Ethan spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we sang When Jesus Christ was Baptized as a family, Neal baptized and confirmed him, Grandpa Doug and Rick were witnesses, and they along with Granpa JC, Bryan, Matt, and Brother Shannon helped with the confirmation. What a wonderful experience!

Disney Cruise Day 4 Day at Sea & Happy Birthday Morgan!

2010-08-14T21:11:00.003-04:00

Day 4 was spent out at sea. We slept in, went swimming, had lunch at Palo's (the adult only restaurant), watched a movie, played in the kids area, and relaxed.

Dinner was at Triton's - PERFECT for our Ariel loving princess and her 3rd birthday!

The boys watching us float in the water.

Morgan loved all her presents. They were all either princess themed or Ariel themed. Pj's, hair glitter (which dad and grandpa happily let her put in their hair), picture frame, mini doll, towel, sunglasses...she made out!

Our sweet girl enjoying her yummy cake. She devoured it.

The sunset on our last night at sea!

We had such a wonderful time on this vacation. A good mix of family fun and adult time and playing and relaxing.

Disney Cruise Day 3 Castaway Cay & Happy Birthday Eli!

2010-08-13T18:07:00.004-04:00

Day 3 we spent on Disney's Castaway Cay Island. They have done a fabulous job. This is the actual pirate ship from Pirates in the Caribbean (the ghost ship, but I can't remember the name right now.)

Seriously pretty! This picture is our screen saver right now.

Our own Little Mermaid!

My mom and dad with Morgan on the other side of the beach. Disney owns the whole island which is only like 3 miles long.

We took a bike ride. It was really fun! Morgan rode with Neal and each of the boys had their own bikes. Even my parents enjoyed it. It poured rain on us, but it made it not so hot!

Scuttle Island. A slide and play area you have to swim to. Of course we didn't get to go down the slide. We tried but it rained a lot this day and we kept having to get out of the water.

Eli's 8th Birthday! He opened presents at dinner. He got a Lego game which he wanted to play right then. But I was mean and wouldn't let him open them until he got off the boat. He also got a movie, clothes, spongebob game, and game boy game.

Neal's FAVORITE drink. A virgin mojito. He had it every night.

Eli's yummy birthday cake.

That night was Pirates IN the Caribbean party. They had a dance party that Captain hook and his pirates took over until pirate Mickey saved the day. Then came the fireworks. Disney is the only cruise ship to do fireworks at sea!

Disney Cruise Day 2 Bahamas

2010-08-12T17:37:00.003-04:00

We woke up in the Bahamas. Neal and I have been before, but my parents had not. So we got off the boat first thing. The ocean was beautiful. We weren't off the boat very long. Neal and I enjoyed a couples massage while the kids played in the Oceaneers club. Of course there was swimming and relaxing. My parents toured the boat and relaxed. We watched a show after dinner. They put on great shows. The first night was The Golden Mickeys. The second night was Toy Story the Musical.

The port was decorated nicely. I thought the water was such a pretty color!

Dylan at dinner. He had his face painted with Mickey Mouse during his play time.

Eli's face paint was of the Disney Wonder.

Morgan's friend. She met him during lunch when my parents took her until she was ready to play. He was also at our dinner service. He took care of her.

My dad is "the king of the world." We were still in port. You can see another ship behind him. The Disney ship was the largest ship in port. And I believe the nicest!

Disney Cruise Day 1

2010-08-10T23:04:00.005-04:00

Disney cruise line was running a Florida residents special and we couldn't resist! My parents joined us on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas and Castaway Cay (pronounced Key and it's Disney's personal island). The ship was the Disney Wonder with Ariel has the main dining room/entry theme. Disney does a wonderful job at cruises! We had a blast!

My parents in the entry way with the beautiful glass sculpture behind them.

This is the Mickey Pool. It was only 3 feet deep at the deepest part. They had Mickey ear pools and the Mickey Glove slide. This was their favorite of the 3 pools.

In the entrance lobby of the ship. Ariel's statue. Morgan loved that she got to be on Ariel's ship. Everything on the boat was beautiful and clean.

Disney does a rotation dinner. You have the same servers each night, but you eat at 3 different restaurants. Each has a special theme and dinner menu. And for the fourth night they do a Pirates IN the Caribbean dinner menu for everyone on the boat. Animator's Palate was our first meal. A black and white themed dinner that changed colors as the meal went on. Neal said his steak was the best steak he has ever had. Disney has an Oceaneers Club which allows for kids to play and have fun while the parents get to play and have fun. It's almost an entire floor of the boat. They have a play ground, dance parties, crafts, food making, computers, movies, character meet and greets, and tons more. The kids really liked it. (And so did Neal and I!)

Neal and I played Match your Mate on the first night. We were selected because we did a robot dance together. It was a lot harder to play than I thought! We only got 2 points out of 6 points. But we had a fun time playing and won a trip to the ship spa and a bracelet.

New House

2010-07-26T09:09:00.004-04:00

We are moving! We'll be in our new home by the end of August (just in time for school). It's on 2.5 acres and has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Now if we can just get our house sold!

The New Big Girl Hair Cut & Updates

2010-07-14T19:36:00.003-04:00

When did my baby turn into a big girl! I'm not ready for this! She got a haircut like a REAL BIG GIRL haircut...not just trimming of the baby hair. She loves visiting my cousin Lindsey who cuts our hair. After her cut, I got mine cut - matching of course. Although I haven't been that blond since college. She walked around singing "You're beautiful, it's true!" and saying "Do you like my new hair?"

We got our house projects done. (I can't find my camera cord that uploads to the computer.) The house looks great and then we promptly decided to put it on the market. Neal is ready to move out of an HOA community and onto land - anything bigger than 1 acre and smaller than 10. We have our eyes on something...let's pray this house sells! I mean it looks fabulous so it should sell pretty quick!

Summer has been great so far. Swimming, swim lessons, movies, spend the nights, farmers market, helping grandma and grandpa, whatever comes up that day is fine with us. It's great to have lazy summer days.

Vacation time is coming soon. We are going on a Disney cruise at the end of July. We will be on the boat for Eli and Morgan's birthday. Everyone is excited about it!

The picture tells the story

2010-03-29T22:02:00.007-04:00

This pictures sums up the weekend. But I have to tell you the whole story which started in January!

We decided (you know when I say we - I mean I told Neal what I decided and he went along with it)...so WE decided it was time to update our flooring. Our house is 12 years old and we've lived in it for 6 years. $$$$ Income Tax Money getting spent $$$$

Needless to say the carpet has seen better days. But in order to get new carpet we have to remove the current boring brown tile and put in some fabulous green/gray tile (that we bought 5 years ago). So at the end of February we rented a hammer drill and ripped out the tile from the kitchen and entry way. Then we waited. We are busy people you know! My feet got so dry from the concrete I had to wear slippers. Two Saturdays into March Neal starts laying tile. Of course you have to move the stove and refrigerator out to tile....note big hole in kitchen. The fridge is currently sitting in my dining room.

This weekend we were determined to finish cutting and laying tile so we could grout during the week. (Did I tell you that I went ahead and ordered the carpet so that I could gently push my husband along?) So mid-afternoon he finished cutting all the tile. BUT I wanted to kids bathroom done also and I persuade Neal to get started on that area as well. He and Eli head in there to start tearing out baseboard and the toilet. Next thing I see is Eli running like mad and Neal screaming for me. The baseboard jerked up and hit the pipe which broke off in the wall and was spewing everywhere. Neal tells me to go turn off the water at the road. Apparently I spun around in circles. I have no clue what to do and I'm trying to decide....do I pretend and go away for a minute or do I tell him I have not idea what he is talking about.

The water was pouring out for well over 3 minutes! It was EVERYWHERE. Down the hall and into all the rooms that share a wall with the bathroom. AMAZING! I have never seen a pipe break or water get everywhere. So our attention went from tiling to cutting out carpet, soaking up water, and moving stuff so it wouldn't get wet or ruined. My house is a crazy, CRAZY mess! Bare floors, unglued tile, dirty carpet, and stuff everywhere from rooms and closets that got soaked.

And we broke several things in the process including the lamp at the beginning of the post.

Oh the JOYS of owning a home!

Happy 5th Birthday, Dylan!

2010-02-24T07:53:00.004-05:00

Today - cupcakes during lunch at school; pick dinner; open presents; eat a yummy dessert

Saturday - Monster Jam! This is our 3rd year going. The boys absolutely love it and look forward to it every year.

Sunday - dinner at Grandma Pam and Grandpa Rick's house; more presents; more cake & ice cream

We love Dylan! He's happy, fun, and super smart. He loves Lego's, video games, and Monster Jam. Happy Birthday!

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!!!

2010-02-23T07:49:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if this is suppose to be the joys of motherhood or the pains of motherhood!

Morgan is, by far, my most mischievous child. Yesterday she was in rare form with her non-stop craziness.

But the piece DE resistance - she decided to drop her paints and do #2 on the back porch. I have no idea why! And to top it off it was right when I had to leave to get Dylan from Pre-K so I had to leave the mess for later. I quickly wiped her down and ran out the door.

I asked her why and she said "boys" - I promise the boys have never done this AND she know to blame them (but both were at school.)

Are you sad that there are no pictures?

Arnold Sandwich Thins PARTY

2010-02-21T22:49:00.002-05:00

My couponing and crazy blog hopping is paying off. Not only do I get GREAT deals on groceries and household items, but I get to find out about great offers online.

I signed up for a online party group at www.houseparty.com which invites you to participate in sampling food products or household items for free by hosting a party. There's always something good to sign up for! And I was accepted for the Arnold Sandwich Thins Party. So this coming weekend for Dylan's birthday we will be enjoying these yummy sandwich thins.

I've had them before because they are only 1 weight watchers point. They are delicious!

So if you get to come to the party - your tummy's will be happy and full! If you don't get to come sign up for other parties at house party and go try some Arnold Sandwich Thins -they really are yummy!

Keeping the spirit alive!

2010-01-20T13:16:00.004-05:00

It's never to late for Christmas photos! I'm amazed sometimes at how slow and fast life moves. There are certainly days that seem like they will never end. There are days (and sometimes weeks) that go by so fast that it was a blur. Certainly once you look back it always went way to fast!

I am most thankful that my dad's health as improved. The week of Christmas was a touch and go situation. He was at the doctor/hospital everyday. On Christmas Eve he got a plasma donation which saved his life! (I'm not exaggerating here - the doctor's said if he did not get that plasma before Christmas he might not make it through the weekend) Scary stuff! But he sat in the hospital most of Christmas Eve and thankfully came home in enough time to enjoy the festivities!

IF YOU HAVE NOT DONATED BLOOD OR PLASMA BEFORE PLEASE GO AND DO IT. BLOOD IS LIFE AND YOU CAN HELP SAVE LIVES!

Christmas was great this year. The kids are old enough to enjoy finding gifts for each other and appreciate them once they are opened. We did our traditional Christmas Eve breakfast with the Alder's. Christmas Eve night at Grandma & Grandpa J.C. house. Christmas breakfast with the Steinhour's. And Christmas evening at Grandpa Rick and Grandma Pam's house. It's a busy 2 days, but completely enjoyable and filled with love.

Eli was thoughtful and looked forward to the surprise!

Dylan can't keep a secret yet.

Morgan was into opening and playing with her new presents.

During the break we took the kids to ICE in Orlando. It's ice sculptures and slide experience that they keep at 9 degrees. Thankfully they provide parka's because no one in Florida has anything that would keep them warm enough. We thought the kids would really enjoy it, but instead it was too cold. They wanted to leave within the first 5 minutes. We made them stick it out though. I liked it!

I didn't get my Christmas news letter out this year. Sorry for that but you all know where to contact me!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Camping

2009-12-04T19:08:00.002-05:00

We headed out to the farm to camp a few weeks ago. Of course we picked the coldest night so far this year. Seriously COLD!

We got there in enough time to set up our fire and get unpacked. We ate hot dogs and made smores.

I know they've had smores before (well maybe not Morgan), but it had been a while and they were a little reluctant to have some. But of course once you taste a smore there is no going back!

Morgan and mom by the fire. The scariest part to me! I was to worried someone was going to fall into the fire to enjoy the fire.

Dad and the kiddos just before we started cooking our dinner. Fire roasted hot dogs! The kids smoked theirs black - yuck! Mine was perfectly yummy. Seriously hot dogs are the best when cooked over a fire.

We slept in the barn that is being built. I got the comfy blow up bed with Eli and Morgan. Dad and Dylan slept on the floor. The kids slept fine, but mom and dad were too worried about getting cold or rolling off. Plus the ground wasn't all that comfy for Neal (he's getting old - old people don't belong on the ground.) And while the blow up bed was better than the ground, sleeping with 2 children that cling to your side wasn't the best night of sleep either. Thanks for taking the ground Neal!

Rick's Warriors

2009-11-21T21:31:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago our family participated in Light the Night. It's the annual donation drive for Leukemia and Lymphoma Cancer's. Our team was able to collect $1500 in donations. The donations help patients with resource information and groups and co-payment for some of the procedures. It was a great way to rally together to support our dad! Thank you to everyone who donated.

Here is a group photo. Some of us were missing. It was crazy at the venue and we couldn't get around the crowds to get a picture of everyone.
Family picture - with orange glow sticks on. Orange is the color for Leukemia.

Lisa, Jennifer and Devon waiting for the walk to start. We all carried red balloons to show our support for a loved one with Leukemia. Our shirts were designed by Erin - stick grand kids surrounding grandpa with orange ribbons. It was nominated as one of the top 3 family shirts.

My dad and mom! We walked to show our support. Dad was diagnosed 4 years ago. He just finished chemotherapy and is currently on a double shot treatment plan. My boys say during prays, "bless that grandpa's cancer will make him feel better." He's sick, but not so sick that it heavily effects his daily life (tired and achey, but not bed ridden.) So his health is a blessing, but we continue to pray for a cure!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T23:03:00.004-05:00

Lots of fun stuff for Halloween this year. Dylan's circus party. Eli's fall party. Cookie making. The Pumpkin Patch. The ward party. And Halloween (sweet candy goodness!) We were so busy that we bought a pumpkin, but never carved it. (Pretty sad!)

Halloween night. Neal has dressed up as Frank N. Steinhour for the past 7 years. Morgan was not a fan! "You scary daddy! " If you show her a picture/toy/decoration of a Frankenstein she always says, "that's daddy, Frankensteinhour"
The trick or treating group. Ethan did a spook alley at his house. He is that bush looking thing on the left. Eli is Peter Pan. Riley is a stick figure boy. Lisa is a ballerina teacher. Austin is a whoopie cushion. Emma is a stick figure girl. Dylan is Buzz Lightyear. Morgan is a ballerina.

Before dinner on Halloween. We had pizza and fries - yummy!

This was the night of our ward party. Morgan has several costume choices thanks to good hand me downs. She went as Tinker belle to the ward party.

Eli at the pumpkin patch. He was in love with the warty pumpkins. We read a book every year about Frankenstein Jr. who wants to carve a pumpkin and he carves one that has bumps on it to look like his dad. I know he wanted to do something like that.

Morgan had a good time running through the pumpkin patch. She found lots of pumpkins that were a perfect size for her.

Dylan's pumpkin patch picture. He had more fun riding on the rocking horse and other toys they had around the patch. But at least he took his yearly picture for me!

Happy Halloween. Hopefully next year we can carve a pumpkin.

Happy Circus Show Day!

2009-10-28T22:07:00.004-04:00

Dylan had a circus show today (instead of a Halloween party). It was just what you would expect from 3, 4, & 5 year old kdis! They got to pick their character - clown, cowboy, lion, lion tamer, tight rope walker, or strongman.

I had to convince Dylan to be a strongman. It was the costume I had and I didn't want to make/buy anything else.

He marched around showing off his muscles. He picked up heavy weights and lifted them over his head. He even did it one handed. Then he and some of the other strong men picked up a car. I mean he was seriously SO strong! And smiled the whole time.

Morgan and I waved and smiled and blew kisses. After the show he said, "mom why did you keep waving at me?" Mom, "Well, I wasn't sure you could see me with all the other moms there." Dylan, "Oh" Mom, "Why, should I not wave and blow kisses?" (sad that it might already be coming to that!) Dylan, "No, your my mom!" Yes he doesn't care yet if I show affection to him in public. I hope that lasts for a long time!

He happens to have a friend from his Sunbeam class in his school class. She was a tightrope walker. Brenna loves tutu's - well anything girly according to her mom. She's a really cute girl! (The one in the black leotard.)

Happy (can't say Halloween so we'll have a) Circus Show Day!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-10-19T23:00:00.005-04:00

11 years and counting! This year we tried a Brazilian themed restaurant. Meat on a skewer which they cut right at your table. It was really yummy! We followed dinner up with a movie and ice cream. It's always nice to have a quite night out with my hubby. I love you!

This is a picture from my dad's 60th bday party (which I never posted pictures of.)

Neal and I in Arizona.

Does Crazy Even Describe It?

2009-10-12T20:41:00.002-04:00

Life is generally busy. I accept that and usually do well with it. But lately it seems like little to no time for the fun things in life.

Sick kids and lots of doctors appt. Trying to start a vinyl crafting company. A busy Relief Society calling. A husband with a new position and in need of more hours than available in the day. My sweet potty training baby girl who does not like to poop on the toilet. A father in law who needs support. A dad and mom who also need support. I think the list could go on and on.

Just wanted to let everyone know I think about you. I want to blog. I love reading everyone elses blogs. And hopefully the holidays will bring more craziness and fun to our busy life.

Keep in touch!

Dylan's first day of school

2009-09-13T23:06:00.002-04:00

Dylan started VPK - a free preschool program Florida offers. You can pick your school and kids go for 15 hours a week preparing for Kindergarten. Dylan is at Precious Promises Preschool. (Eli went there for his preschool program too). It's a Christian church that participates in the state program, so they can do Bible stories and learn the alphabet. He goes MWF 9-2:15.

So what did Dylan think about school?

"I like the delicious drink you gave me in my lunch. And I like the playground. The sand box is fun."

Good Luck Dylan! I hope you learn to love learning.

Goodbye Grandma Karen

2009-09-13T22:33:00.006-04:00

Neal's step mother passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 30th from a brain aneurysm. (A side not: I hate the word "step mom" because it sounds so Cinderella and her evil stepmom-ish. )Karen was a blessing to Neal and then later mine and our children's lives. They married when Neal was 10 and she became a great influence in his life. She was a wonderful mother-in-law. She had such wonderful talent - woodworking, painting, cooking, organizing, decorating. And she constantly served. I enjoyed attending many church meeting with her including most recently one where Sis. Beck visited us here and Florida. We had such a good time being together and learning from a wonderful leader. I am thankful for the things she left behind -her wood art will always be a treasure, her recipes which she willing gave me before she left Florida, and her tamales (we were the lucky recipients of all the tamales they had in her freezer before they left Florida in May -yummy!) I knew she had a testimony of the gospel and tried her best to serve others. As a final opportunity to serve she donated her organs which helped 60-70 people.

The funeral was very healing and I am thankful I was able to attend. I was able to participate in making the casket (sanding it and cleaning the work area) as well as dressing her for burial.

One of the last photos we have of us attending the Monster Jam Festival together (it's not the best photo of her, but my computer crashed and I can't find very many of any of my photos from the past - Darn technology. Thankfully I have a cute one of her with Doug & Eli hanging on our hall wall already - a sweet reminder of Karen in our lives!)

Until we meet again!

Eli's First Day of 2nd Grade

2009-08-26T13:51:00.003-04:00

Monday Eli started 2nd grade at Bartram Springs Elementary.

This year we started at a brand new school. They had a ribbon cutting the week before school started, which we attended. Big ribbon, long speakers, and hot weather. The best part was the cake afterwards. But this will be our school for the next 13 years so I thought I should take the kids and let them be part of the history.

Eli in front of his classroom. Only a few of the students from his old school were transfered to this school. He only knows one little girl in his class, but he's seen several on the playground.

Eli at his desk. It won't be good for his talking! First day highlights: the playground has a telescope, I sat at a red table which was right next to a green table (his favorite color) for lunch, your note made people laugh at me (really in 2nd grade they already laugh if mom puts a note in his lunch box :-(, how come you won't let me walk home (from the bus stop - it isn't a far walk at all - but I have 2 concerns 1. it drops him off at a main road where people drive 60 miles and hour 2. Eli would come home by way of every house, swing set, free food, interesting animal...well you get the point.)

Best Wishes Eli!

Three Things...

2009-08-24T13:33:00.005-04:00

I asked Eli what he'd like to do before school starts. Go to the beach, go to work with dad, and go bowling.

We went to the beach. They had a great time. Morgan has NO fear of the water so after 2 hours of trying to keep her from drowning, Eli wanting to go deeper and deeper, and Dylan hanging onto me, we wrapped up our beach trip.

The boys got to go spend half a day with Neal at work. They really like going, although this time he couldn't spend as much time with them due to his recent job change.

Finally, bowling. We meet up with lots of family members to enjoy our finally must do thing before summer ends. The boys tied at 80 and I beat them by one whole point.

Eli will start 2nd grade and Dylan will be in the VPK preschool program 3 days a week.

Vivid Vinyl

2009-08-16T17:25:00.004-04:00

I started a company....Vivid Vinyl.

Vinyl is the newest home decorating craze.

Visit my website for ideas and pricing. They make great presents and cute home decorations.
I can also make signs, banners, car decals, etc. You name it - vinyl probably does it.

Pass the word on to your friends and family and church members (especially for Super Craft Saturday!)

Thanks for supporting my new adventure!

http://www.vividvinyl.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my creations:

Established Name Frame

Frame with Moments to Remember phrase

Turtle, Turtle, Turtle

2009-08-16T17:19:00.003-04:00

I LOVE turtles. I don't know why, but I do. Mind you I have never had a pet turtle, but decorative turtles over floweth in my home.

So Neal found a turtle in the garage this week. He opened it up, then came back inside for a minute, then went back out and there he was...

Our nice neighbor helped Neal get him out of the garage. He got stuck underneath Neal's muffler pipe. (Oh and by help I mean he pretty much got it out...Neal was dressed for work and didn't really want to get him out, so thankfully Brian was on vacation and could help.)

He took the turtle to the pond in our neighborhood. I guess he was attracted to our green house, but no pets allowed here!

Happy Birthday Eli & Morgan!

2009-08-06T21:41:00.004-04:00

Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays! From my birthday on July 17th until my dad's and aunt's birthday on August 4th there are 10 birthdays. It's Christmas in July/August y'all!

We went to Ollie Koala's for Eli's birthday. He turned 7 - yikes I can't believe how fast time flies!

He opened his presents in the morning.

At Ollie Koala's. Pizza, games, and jungle gyms for everyone!

Eli enjoyed yummy shaved ice for his birthday celebration!

We had dinner and cake for Morgan's birthday. She turned 2 - yikes the terrible two's (which started the day before her birthday).
Opening presents. She loves babies and kitty's right now.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

She blew each candle out separately.

Vacations are fun!

2009-07-20T22:53:00.004-04:00

We love vacations. It's a great time to relax, enjoy time together, and make memories. This year we went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee. We spent several days at Dollywood & Splash Country. They are nice parks, kid friendly, and a good price.

We visited several other attractions like a wall maze, the Ripley's Aquarium, and Wonderworks.

We had my birthday dinner at Dixie Stampede. It was fun! They feed us yummy food with no utensils while you watch a show with horses and other animals. Worth the money.

We are never accident free! Morgan got hooked when we went fishing - thankfully it wasn't serious. Then when we went mini-golfing she walked into Dylan "Tiger Woods" back swing and got a serious bruise on her eye.

The boys really enjoyed the mini golf.

Eli was big enough to ride all of the rides at Dollywood. His favorite was the flying disc - which is similar to a rocking ship, but with a new twist. He did not, however, try the upside down roller coaster. Dylan was sad several times because he was just 1/2 inch too small for most of the big rides. He did get to ride the big water raft ride and he loved seeing who would get the most wet. Morgan's favorite ride was the carousal. She squealed with delight when it started. She also really liked the lemon cups aka tea cups. She liked to spin around and dad would get it going fast!

I love family vacations!

(Now I need to get the scrapbook done)

Ouch!

2009-07-02T00:07:00.004-04:00

We had out first emergency room visit. Dylan had to get stitches. He pulled a giant pirate ship off the table onto his face. 6 1/2 hours later he has 5 stitches. The longest part of the wait was my fault. While we were waiting in the lobby we had some Doritos and Mountain Dew. Because the cut was so close to his eye, they needed to sedate him....so we had to wait 3 hours for the food to settle. A little bit much for 6 Doritos and a sip of Mountain Dew, but I can't tell the doctors how to do their job.

He was very brave! When he saw the stitches he said, "cool!"

I handled it pretty well. Neal's out of town. Shelly came to watch the kids. Renea came up to the hospital after we had been there a little while. Neal, Grandma, Grandpa, Amy, and Erin called to check in on us. I did cry when they started the medicine and stitches. The medicine they used put him in more of a twilight state then knock out asleep state. So his eyes were open, but he didn't know what was going on and he doesn't remember anything. It was emotional watching all of it.

Tornado

2009-06-30T13:54:00.004-04:00

Right around 5:00 p.m. on Friday we had a sever weather alert break through the PBS cartoon. I changed the channel to get a better idea of what was going on. On the screen was a water spout. The boys FREAKED OUT! I explained that it wasn't near us, but it was near dad's work. We called Neal and told him - he didn't even know about it. He went to look out his window and saw the water spout in the river pretty close to his office. The water spout was upgraded to a low grade tornado, but didn't do any damage.

So every since then I've had to hear everything tornado - bad dreams, Batman and Spider man getting destroyed by a tornado, is there going to be a tornado today mom....it seems to have scared them just a bit.

Pretty amazing pictures taken by someone Lisa knows at her office.

Neal's Garden

2009-06-10T14:11:00.004-04:00

Neal wanted to try a garden this year. He built several planter boxes and tons of seeds. Thus far we've had tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, squash, blueberries, strawberries, and a bell pepper. We have carrots, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkin, red peppers, onions, and probably some more that I can't remember.

He really enjoys it! And it's been an interesting experiment to see if we have a green thumb (we, meaning Neal, cause I know I don't.)

Rainy Day Play

2009-06-10T13:58:00.004-04:00

It's been raining a lot lately. I know...it's Florida and it rains everyday in the summer...but it seems to be early this year and it happens everyday. Last week it was for 8 days straight with no stopping.
So the boys played in the rain while Morgan napped. Splishing and splashing was the name of the game. They let their sand buckets fill with water to see how much it rained while they played (which I thought looked like a lot, but I didn't measure it.) They also let their crocks float down the gutters.

They had a great time (and we had to come in and out depending on thunder and lightning.)

Crafty time

2009-05-27T22:24:00.003-04:00

I've been in a crafting mood. I made another present for my cousin who is getting married tomorrow in the Orlando Temple.

It's been fun being creative! (Thanks Barbie for your input!)

What do you think?

2009-05-13T15:39:00.003-04:00

Not the finished product...but I made it for my cousins shower - it's a towel cake. I think it's pretty cute!

Hoppy Easter!

2009-05-13T08:50:00.004-04:00

Easter has come and gone, but here are some pictures that will hopefully make you smile!

Sunday best!

We has a brunch and egg hunt with the Steinhours on Saturday.

Sunday we had linner and an egg hunt with the Alders.

What happpens in Vegas....

2009-05-13T08:32:00.004-04:00

We had a great time in Vegas for Neal's 30th Birthday. To my surprise I liked gambling (well kinda - I hate losing, but I never played enough to feel too awful about it!) We won some, we lost some, but overall we broke even. The game we played most often was the Roullette table. It was FUN! I played with $40 and got up to $80 in about 2 or 3 rolls - my best game!. Neal started with $40 and got up to $300 or so during his best game.

The hotels and the shopping took up most of our time. Our vote for prettiest hotel was the Wynn hotel. That is what every hotel should look like! We took a gondola ride, saw almost all of the free shows at each hotel (watched the Bellagio water show several times), and enjoyed time with each other. We stayed at the Excalibur, which was in a good spot and decent for a hotel.

We got to see the Blue Man Group. The show was AWESOME! They keep you entertained the entire 2 1/2 hours there. Plus they do some things to include the audience which is always exciting!

We did the Hoover Dam tour. Interesting! Did you know that the concrete has not completely cured yet? It could take over 100 years and possible 1,000 years for the concrete to completely cure because of the thickness of it.

Our good friend Clint met us there and showed us the ropes. He's a Vegas regular! We got to eat at In and Out Burger, Taco Time, Jack in the Box, and some of his other favorites on the strip.

Thanks again to Erin & Charles for helping with the kids! We had a wonderful birthday celebration in Vegas!

Happy Birthday Neal!

2009-04-09T21:55:00.005-04:00

30...30...30...30...30...30...30...30

Oh no Neal is the BIG 3-0! You finally caught up to me, old man!

Don't worry with age comes...bills, responsibilities and grey hair.

No murder mystery dinner - instead Neal and I are sneaking away next weekend to Vegas. (Thanks to wonderful sisters who love to watch our children for us :-)

Top 3 things I love about Neal:

1. His sense of humor.

2. His intelligence.

3. Being his best friend.

(Oh and I love the gray hair!)

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Monster Jam!

2009-03-29T20:27:00.005-04:00

About a month ago we went to Monster Jam. The boys LOVE monster trucks. We have acquired nearly all of the hot wheel monster trucks. Even Morgan plays with them.

This year instead of buying tickets, we waited to see if we could get free tickets at a meet and greet the day before - we scored!

Here's who went: Devon, Neal, Eli, Dylan, Grandpa Rick, Grandma Pam, Renea, Erin, Charles, Zach, Ethan, Riley, Grandpa Doug, Grandma Karen, and Jen.

Monster Jam is a very entertaining event. They play into the crowds and make sure no one goes home sorry they spend (or in our case didn't spend :-) money on tickets.

We took up nearly a whole row, but our seats were in two separate rows.

Eli at the start of the show.

Dylan and mom having fun at monster jam!

The Steinhour's happy to experience the thrill of monster jam.

Dad, Eli, and Dylan...father/son bonding time.

Counting My Blessings for today

2009-03-13T16:05:00.004-04:00

1. Watching the kids eyes sparkle and hearing them laugh as they blow and catch bubbles.

2. Lying in the grass and watching sharks, jellyfish, and ice cream float by.

3. The weather. Is there a place were the weather is always 78 with a slight cool breeze...perfect for shorts and enjoying outside? If there is..."I want to go to there!"

4. Saving money...another great savings day for me. (more on that later...if I get to it)

5. Eating peanut butter M&M (one of my favorite!)

6. Pictures. They make me smile. This is one of Neal as a little boy...Eli is a spit'n image, but you can see some of Dylan and Morgan in this picture!

Now...count your many blessings!

Not to toot my own horn...

2009-02-27T12:46:00.002-05:00

but I'm gonna! Coupon update. Here is my year to date savings at Publix. This is the store I shop at 90% of the time...I do hit up CVS every week, but it's a lot harder to track my savings b/c of the way their receipt reads. I also go to Target, Wallie world, and BJ's every so often to get things that don't go on sale or to check prices on expiring coupons that I'd like to use.

As of today (remember just Publix here):

Merchandise Total: $899.35
Out of Pocket: $372.53
Saved: $526.82
That's 59% savings on my groceries so far this year!

It's so good to have most of the food we use regularly on hand plus some. We easily have 1 1/2 - 2 months worth of food in the house and our goal is to have 4 months. I generally spend $150 every 2 1/2 weeks - including diapers and baby stuff I still need.

Sorry for those of you who don't live in J-ville. You can still use coupons and I'm sure there are sites out there that will help you. Just start using Internet and newspaper coupons.

Today's shopping trip was the best in a while:

Merchandise Total: $124.54
OOP: $35.82
Saved: $88.72
Percentage: 72% savings today!

And here's what I got: 2 Lysol All Purpose; 2 Spray and Wash land detergent; 4 Yoplait kids yogurt; 1 ice cream; 2 24oz bags of frozen broccoli; 6 poptarts; 2 Kraft deluxe mac and cheese; 2 Life cereal; 2 betty crocker brownie mixes; 4 Muellers spaghetti; 3 Air filters for AC; 1 Tropicana OJ; 6 8oz Kraft shredded cheese; 1 Electrosal dish det; grapes; onions; strawberries; milk; sour cream.

COUPONING IS WONDERFUL!

"It's not a fun party without cake!"

2009-02-25T08:20:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Dylan! He turned 4 yesterday! We've been celebrating all weekend. Yesterday we had ice cream to celebrate and Dylan says, "Where's the cake? It's not a fun party without cake!" I agree, but we had eaten cake Saturday for a friends party, Sunday for Dylan's family party, Monday for his friend party...and I just didn't want to make another cake.

Sunday we had family over. Dylan's party was.....Pirate themed (he didn't get a pirate party last year when the rest of us had our pirate party.)

The top 3 things Dylan wanted this year:
1. Orange Monster Truck
2. Orange Underwear
3. Orange Shirt
*The monster truck could not be found!

Thanks everyone for all the nice presents!

Monday was our mom swap day, which also happened to be my turn so we just had a small party with some of his primary friends. There are 12 Sunbeam age kids and they all partied at another party on Saturday, so instead of a party with everyone we used the mom swap time as his party.

Then yesterday we did stuff Dylan wanted to do...Hardee's for breakfast, Target to spend his birthday money, and dinner at Moe's.

I know he had a great birthday! He keeps asking me (as I type this) if it's his birthday today and if he's 4.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Dylan!

She walks in them better than I do!

2009-02-09T22:48:00.003-05:00

Morgan loves shoes! It's a girl thing! She got some play shoes for Christmas which she loves wearing around the house. But...shoes are shoes and she'll wear dad's, Eli's, Dylan's, and any shoe she finds at Chick-fila not in a cubby. (I've actually had to wrestle a pair of pink rubber boots from her once.)

She's wearing my shoes and her feet fit perfectly in the toe part...that girl can walk better in those shoes then I can.

Your Vote Counts!

2009-02-06T12:27:00.008-05:00

So, I need your help....vote for one picture of Morgan and one picture of Dylan.

I know I'm a little bias, but I do think I have the most adorable kids! So I saw an add for a baby contest and the winner gets a college scholarship, so it's worth at least an entrance photo! How hard could taking a photo of them be? Dylan was great, smile and ham it up for the camera. Morgan, however, had a different approach. The first few pictures she'd look up and smile, then she started running from me. For weeks now I've been trying to take a picture of each of them. Seriously, she runs when she sees the camera. She refuses to look up and she runs. It actually makes me laugh.

Remember - one picture of each! I must submit the pictures next week.

Thanks!

Dylan #1

Dylan #2

Dylan #3

Dylan #4

Morgan #1

Morgan #2

Morgan #3

Morgan #4

It's a plague...

2009-01-26T15:41:00.003-05:00

and we are on day 10. The kids have been sick again - you know the not fun stuff that comes out from both ends! (We had just cleaned our carpets from the bout in December)

And today, I have felt icky all day and have a huge lump in my throat that just won't go away.

Seriously my friend suggested we move out of our house. We have been sick every month since October and all have lasted for 10+ days.

Keep us in your prayers!

Such a girl!

2009-01-13T17:42:00.003-05:00

Having a girl is so different from the boys. They came out making boy noises...she came out kissing babies and loving shoes. So I was cleaning my bathroom and Morgan got into my nail polish bag. I was curious....she loved it! She sat still, smiled, wiggled her toes, and laughed.

Pretty toes Morgan!

Still pretty!

Checking them out.

Morgan is happy!

Still Couponing

2009-01-13T14:34:00.004-05:00

and LOVING IT! We've increased our pantry food storage by nearly 1 month plus we have at least 6 months, some even a year's worth on our hygiene products. THANKS KENDRA FOR TEACHING ME TO BE BETTER WITH COUPONS. I've always used coupons, but Kendra took it to a whole 'nother level!

So today I did a trip to Food Lion and saved 77%!

I got:
5 boxes of cereal (which keeps 6 months to a year)
2 boxes of powdered Gatorade (which keeps until 2010)
2 Gillette men's razors
2 Gillette men's shampoo

Retail Total: 61.26
Total Out of Pocket: 14.08
Savings: 77%

Yea me....our 2009 goal is to get at least 3 months of pantry food and 6 months of food storage (canned/jarred) food. And I'll use my normal grocery budget to do it. (Well we might splurge some with our income tax for Bishop's storehouse stuff).

Wish us luck...and let me know if you want to learn some mad coupon skilz!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T22:30:00.002-05:00

Top 10 things that made us SMILE in 2008!

10. Neal still has a job
Which we are thankful for everyday
9. The Monster Jam Truck Show
The boys could fit in the rim of the tires
8. Devon's 30th Birthday Party - Pirate themed murder mystery dinner
Neal is next - aarrgghh
7. Singing together as a family
Eli's favorite "Listen to the still small voice" Dylan's favorite "I am a child of God"
6. Morgan's first ear surgery and recovery went smoothly
Children seem to handle those kinds of things better than adults
5. Food Storage - it's fun, REALLY!
Canned meats, water storage, and basic staples
4. Listening for what our kids will say or ask for in their prayers
To get an E at school, for the United States, and to live Happily Ever After
3. Watching our kids snuggle with each other
The boys gently hug Morgan while she softly rubs their heads
2. Family vacation in the RV - especially the mouse experience
Charlotte and Boone North Carolina
1. Celebrating 10 WONDERFUL years of marriage in New York City
We look forward to the next 10

Santa was very good to us!

2008-12-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

Christmas was wonderful! Oh and warm - yes shorts and sandals and palm trees for Florida this year. (The pictures are all from Christmas morning at our house.)
Christmas Eve we have a tradition we started years ago with my Grandma Alder....breakfast with the Alder family. Nineteen of us gathered bright and early - 7:30 a.m. to meet for breakfast (unfortunately a few had to head off to work so we meet early so no one is left out.) I think it's something we all love to do. It's tradition!
Christmas Eve night we gather with the Chandler's (my mom's family) and exchange gifts and play a fun and lively game of White Elephant gift. Bring a nice $35 gift and leave with a nice $35 gift (hopefully!) The gift can be stolen 2 times before it's frozen. I won a $25 Publix gift card and a $500 gift certificate for $25 at Publix every month for the next 18 months. I think I lucked out on that one. Neal got a cool small indoor remote control helicopter.
Christmas morning we started in our own home. Our tradition is 5 presents - Santa brings one, dad, mom, and the 2 siblings give one. It keeps it simple and not overwhelming. I really like the tradition we started. It makes you think long and hard about what the one gift will be.
Christmas brunch is spent with the Steinhour's. We gather together - all 33+ (10-12 adults and 21+ kids under the ago of 15..give or take a few depending on who's in town). It's actually pretty mellow. The kids get along very well. We exchange a few small presents and just spend time visiting with each other.

Christmas afternoon is spent with Grandma and Grandpa Alder followed by linner with the Chandler's. All 19 of us gather again and exchange gifts.

I love Christmas. I love how it makes people smile. I love how it makes people forgive. I love how the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Christ (thanks Pres. Monson for that thought.) I really do wish there was a way to bottle up the feelings of Christmas and hand it to people throughout the year to remind them of how wonderful it is.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Tree

2008-12-15T23:03:00.003-05:00

I know a little slow on getting pictures uploaded, but here's our Christmas tree. Notice the sparse decorations in some areas and a high concentration of decorations in others. Nope I don't change it....it's what the kids did. One day I might have a designer tree, but not in the next 10 years (at least).

Our Family Nativity

2008-12-15T22:51:00.004-05:00

For FHE tonight we painted a nativity. First we went over the story (briefly) and made sure they knew the main people. Eli knew most of the story! I'm always amazed when they actually know stuff that I swear they never listen too!

I actually really love nativity sets - I semi- collect them(this is probably an unknown fact to some people.) Currently there are 6 variations of the nativity set up around my house.

The boys painted 4 pieces each while Neal and I did 2 each and Morgan pretended to paint or bumped into dad and mom while they painted.

Enjoy the pictures of our newest nativity collection. Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

2008-12-06T22:02:00.003-05:00

By the Pointer Sisters (the best version EVER.) That's the boys favorite song right now. Even Morgan gets into it by dancing in her car seat. It's the first song we hear when we get in the car and we usually listen to it several times in a row and definitely more than once in a car trip. My favorite song this year is Josh Grobin and Brian McKnight singing Angels we have heard on high. It's a beautiful version of a pretty song.

The holidays are in full swing. We started listening to Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving. We put up our lights on the house Thanksgiving weekend. And for FHE on Monday we bought our tree. The next night we hung our decorations. I love letting the kids do most of the decorating. All the ornaments get clumped together and are usually low. I don't like to change it - it's what they did and when I see 4 ornaments on one tiny branch it makes me smile. I do, however, add some ornaments to the top, ribbon, and ting, ting once they get done.

Merry Christmas! May you not be too rushed to enjoy it!

$0.84 for 36 batteries and some other stuff

2008-11-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

So I'm trying really hard to buy things I need, could use in food/life storage, and use coupons.

Recently I went to Publix (our grocery store in town) and got $102 worth of groceries for $22. I felt pretty good about that! I still have times when I walk out spending more than I should, but in general I'm getting the hang of it.

Today....

36 batteries (AA & AAA)
2 men's deo
2 candy bars
1 BC Powder

.84 cents out of pocket.

Seriously! I know it's hard to imagine if you aren't into the couponing and CVS deals. But I promise I handed them $1 and got change. AND they gave me $19 to come back and spend with them.

Try it out - you might get good deals for an unbelievable price!

Conversation with the hair dresser

2008-11-17T22:24:00.004-05:00

I love my kids. I'm trying to be better about stopping and taking a minute to watch them and enjoy them - the dishes, laundry, and all the other millions of distractions can wait. I only have them at this moment in their life right now - no redo - so enjoy the moments.

So...haircut time. Eli and Dylan sit down to get haircuts at the same time. Morgan is so interested in what they are doing to her brothers - she stops and stares and calls out "EY" which is about the only word she knows - almost everything is "EY", which Dylan graciously accepts. So she staring, Dylan is smiling from ear to ear and occasionally laughs because it tickles. Eli is so big now he tries to talk with the hair cut lady. "I'm Eli and that's my brother Dylan. I tried to cut my hair. " (Yep, during school - snipped a chunk right off the front). "My dad cut my hair and he cut my ear. It still hurts." (Okay he did try and straighten out the front so it wasn't so off. And then when he was probably 3 or 4 Neal cut his hair and nicked his ear. It's funny that he remembers that.) I laugh and say, no it doesn't. "I like playing Lego Batman and that other kid" (He means Robin) "Dylan you are doing so good." Dylan says smiling, "Yeah I know!" "On Batman Lego's there are good guys and bad guys and the bad guy Joker can shock people and make their skeleton show." (The haircut lady is saying an occasional oh and yes) . Morgan has now found a seat across from the boys and it watching and calling out "EY". Eli continues on nearly the entire time he's getting his hair cut. It made me smile. One of my favorite mom moments is to watch them do something that shows their personality and how their brain works. Thank you hair cut lady for enduring the Lego Batman stories.

The Big Apple - Perfect for our 10 years Anniversary!

2008-11-16T22:12:00.013-05:00

A month later...better late than never.

We wanted to have as much time as possible so we left J-vill at 6:30 a.m. and got into New York by 9:30 a.m. However, our shuttle service did not get us to our hotel until almost 12:00. Let me just say, driving rules in NY are nothing like everywhere else I've been. Blinkers don't exist, the white lines on the roads are merely suggestions, and brakes are only used when necessary. It was scary yet fun!

Day 1: We checked in. Our hotel was the Marriott Marquis in Times Square so it was fun to be right in the middle of it all. Times square isn't really all that big - it's just tons of advertising and famous stores squished into about 3 blocks. Neal surprised me with bouquet of 10 beautiful roses.

We did the Broadway/downtown double decker bus tour of NYC. It was fun to see all the famous sites and getting the background info on them.
For the evening events we tried to get into see a Broadway play. We heard that you should just buy your tickets at the TKTS booth. Remember I decided to wing this trip. We really wanted to see Wicked, but tickets were $115 each so I thought any play will do, let's just wing it. Well the TKTS booth was INSANE - long and nothing really good to see. I had also heard if you go to the theater then you might get seats directly from them. Off we went to the Gershwin Theater where Wicked is produced. We got there just as they were nearing the end of a lottery for the front row seats - 20 seats total would be sold by lottery. We patiently waited and lost. I was walking away, but Neal starting talking it up with people who won and one couple graciously sold us their tickets - $26.50 each - front row center! It was awesome (the price and the play!).

We had enough time after the lottery to grab some dinner. That is Neal's dinner - Pastrami on Rye. The food in NY was great - we didn't eat anything we could eat here in J-ville. But one thing I didn't plan for was the cost. We never ate for less than $65 - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Seriously EXPENSIVE.

Day 2: We did the NBC/30 Rock tour which was cool. We saw the sets for MSNBC and Saturday Night Live. Neal was the helper out of the audience and practiced using a teleprompter. We also did the Rockerfeller art tour. The view from the observation deck was wonderful.

Oh we ran into George Clooney. He asked me to marry him to which I of course responded - I'm a happily married woman. The wax museum was a little creepy! Neal would stand still and then start talking when someone else came by him. It was quite funny!

Then we had a romatic dinner at Tavern on the Green on our anniversary night. The ambiance was nice. Afterward we headed to Serendipity a restaurant made famous from the same name movie. We both picked a yummy dessert and enjoyed the eclectic nature of the store. Neal surprised me after dinner with a "proposal" with a love letter tucked inside a ring box. (For those not aware, I lost my wedding ring on a trip to SLC and was lucky to get an early 10 year upgrade, which is beautiful!) At Serendipity he put a bride and groom on my ice cream. Such a romantic guy!
Day3: We went and did a session together in the New York Temple. We try really hard to visit Temples when we are on vacation together. And one day we'll have an RV and just travel around the US visiting all the Temples. We had lunch right near the Temple and Neal ate a quail egg and prosciutto pizza (different for sure!)

Thus far the weather had been a nice and tolerable mid to high 70s. But one this day the high was going to be in the 50s. We did bring jackets - but Florida jackets aren't that heavy - especially when riding a double decker bus, in a dress and heels with no hose on. We were freezing, but making the most out of our bus tour of upper Manhattan/Harlem/Central Park. My toes were so frozen when we got to the stop closest to our hotel it felt like I was walking on nails.

Once we changed out of Sunday clothes we headed back on the bus and stopped to check out Canal Street. Canal street is where you go to buy fake purses. It was an experience. We got dropped off around 5:00 p.m. and were told to get back by 6:00 for the last bus. I did get me a Coach and Kate Spade purse in that quick time frame. After dinner, we went to the Empire State Building to see the city at night. It was FREEZING. And everyone up there goes up there to make out. So we didn't stay to long.
Day 4: We had most of the day to finish up things we didn't do yet. Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Grand Central Station, shopping. The Statue of Liberty was smaller than I thought it would be. Ground Zero is now built up to the street level and there is so much construction that barricades and fences cover up anything you might be able to see. I am drawn to it due to my connections with Sept 11th, but until they complete the memorial, it was nothing more than a construction site covered by fencing. We did see some of the make shift memorials on our bus tour. Grand Central Station is grand. We rode the subway a lot this day b/c our bus pass was only for 3 days. It was interesting trying to navigate the rail system and then to actually find the Grand Central Station seen in movies was another challenge. But the architecture and lighting was beautiful.
We had a wonderful time. We love spending time together. We did lots of fun things, but we didn't even do 1/10th of what NY has to offer. But we got the basics covered and enjoyed our anniversary together. All I have to say is....

TSO wishes you a Merry Christmas!

2008-11-14T15:42:00.004-05:00

Try really hard not to be jealous - Neal and I went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra on Wednesday night. Our nephew really wanted to see them b/c he likes their famous Cannon D Christmas song. You might not be immediately familiar with TSO, but they are famous for making classical and Christmas music with electric guitars and an orchestra. (Usually during the holidays you see an email or U-tube clip where a man has synchronized his house Christmas lights to music - well that is TSO).

They put on a Christmas program during the first half of the show - a heart warming story mixed with their version of famous Christmas songs and a totally awesome light show - seriously the light show alone is worth the cost of the tickets. Then the second half is classical and TSO famous Christmas songs with drum, violin, and guitar solo's. We had a fun time. Best of all it starts the holiday season. Neal and I bust out our Christmas music on Thanksgiving day, which is right around the corner.

4th and 4th

2008-11-12T12:54:00.005-05:00

If you'd like to do a random fun post - go into your photo area open the fourth folder and the fourth picture and post it.

This was our pumpkin craft project at Micheal's this year. Eli is my number 1. He's a great big brother who (most of the time) is gentle and sweet with Dylan and Morgan. When he does accidentally hurt them, he cries right along with them. He loves Lego's. His favorite church song is Listen to the still small voice. He's left handed. He loves to help dad build things or fix things. He's a hard worker. When we were talking about voting for the next President he and Dylan wanted Pres. Monson and Jesus to be the President. We love our sweet Eli!

Sick, Sick, and more sick

2008-10-28T22:53:00.002-04:00

I've been up to my elbows in throw up and poop. I know so glamorous! My kids starting getting sick the week that I was leaving for New York and haven't gotten better yet! Everyone has been through it (including Neal and I on a much milder level). And Eli just isn't getting better - he started on Oct. 16th and was still throwing up last night - Oct. 27th. Today we were accident free and I AM SENDING ELI TO SCHOOL.

I have a very funny - "I'm so glad I'm a mom" story that shouldn't be told in writing, but if you'd like to hear a pretty humorous story about poop, carrots, a vile the size of a dime, and why any other person in the world would be getting paid $30+ dollars and hour to do what I did - give me a call. Seriously, only mothers get these kind of unpaid experiences and laugh about them (note some sarcasm in my comment - no really I love being a mom - but elbow deep in poop is not my most favorite part of being a mom - oh well that's life - move one.)

And to top it off....the computer continues to be on the fritz so I can't upload any pictures of New York. But I will, I promise (Neal sorry I keep messing up the computer) :-)

I've been Tagged

2008-10-21T21:14:00.002-04:00

So I'm suppose to answer these questions on my blog. Enjoy!

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago.
1. Getting married - Oct. 17th, 1998
2. Getting back from my honeymoon.
3. Moving into an apartment
4. Doing temp work
5. Opening present from my wedding

5 things on my to do list today
1. Clean
2. Do laundry
3. Pay bills
4. Gather coupons to go shopping
5. Catch up on blogs

5 snacks I love
1. Salsa and chips
2. Oatmeal cookies (homemade only)
3. Butterfingers
4. Ice cream
5. Pickles

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire
1. Travel
2. Build a new house (a modest mansion - 3200 sq. ft.)
3. Help family
4. Let Neal start up his own business
5. Buy a new car

5 places I've lived.
1. J-ville
2. Rexburg
3. Salt Lake
4. Tallahassee
5. J-ville again

5 jobs I've had
1. Winn Dixie cashier
2. Airport Communications Dept.
3. Event Planner
4. Truffles
5. Mom

5 People I tag! (sorry)
1. Barbie
2. Erica
3. Tara
4. Heather
5. Anyone who wants to do it!

New York here we come!

2008-10-12T20:30:00.002-04:00

This week Neal and I will celebrate our 10th Anniversary in New York City! Yeah! It's been over a year worth of planning and saving. My sisters have been volunteered to watch the kids while we're gone (Thanks girls!) Friday night we have plans to eat at Tavern on the Green...which I made reservations for 3 months ago. Other than that we have no definite plans - which is so unlike me. Well, I did buy the New York Pass which just pre-pays you to get into all the stuff in NYC. Other than that we'll just go where the crowds push us.

Happy Anniversary Neal! I love you!

Can I do a craft?

2008-10-12T20:25:00.003-04:00

Dylan is my artist. The first thing I hear from him the morning is, "Mom can I do a craft?" And he no longer considers coloring or painting a craft. And he doesn't stop asking until I sit down and do a craft with him. We've done sand art, stain glass (kid style), decorated Halloween pieces, hats, foam projects....my art supplies are low and my brain hurts from coming up with stuff. Saturday we took Eli and Dylan to Michael's to do a Pumpkin decorating class. They loved it. Now how am I going to top the pumpkin craft? Any cheap ideas would be appreciated.

Shelly's family, Amy, Grandma JC, and Renea showed up to craft and watch.

Mad Coupon Skills to the extreme

2008-09-30T16:02:00.003-04:00

I love using coupons, always have, always will. Neal swears if we won the lottery I'd still use coupons and to that I say - heck yeah! I love it when I get something that is worth $10 for $2. Well I was recently introduced to some serious, whole 'nother level, couponing by a friend at church. She has figured out how to use coupons and CVS discounts and store credit/cash. So I've been trying for a few weeks now to get over to her house and learn these skills.

Here's my first attempt. I got $30.47 worth of stuff for 7.68 - that's a 75% savings.

Then I went to Publix and got $166.01 worth of stuff for $96.43 - that's a 52% savings .

And I'm not even that good. I know people who save 79% and 82%. I'm working really hard on learning how to get better!

Check out her site http://www.couponladiesskills.blogspot.com/

Halloween Fun!

2008-09-15T20:27:00.003-04:00

I know a little early....but here's what happened. I was trying to distract Dylan and I mentioned, "hey we should get up in the attic and get our Halloween decorations." Two days later, I could not longer hold him off. So today we started to decorate. He tried on a few costumes and took the following pictures (he's my artist - if I leave the camera down he'll take pictures of everything and nothing - thank goodness it's digital and I can hit the delete button.)

So, bust out your Halloween decorations - once Halloween hits, the rest of the fun filled holidays arrive quickly.

P.S. This year we are doing a pirate themed Halloween not the Frank N. Steinhour theme from the past 6 years. I know, why mess with tradition, but Neal made everyone (except Morgan) costumes and we have tons of decorations, so it's time to move on. Arrrggghhh!

Plastic Surgery for a One Year Old

2008-09-15T20:07:00.004-04:00

Sounds funny - but I suppose technically that's what she had - Otoplasty. Her check up went well. He says there's still swelling, plus the stitches could take up to a month to dissolve. I'll be honest - it's not as pretty as I was hoping, but Neal keeps reminding me there is at least one more surgery to go. I guess for plastic surgery I was hoping for a nearly normal looking ear. The fact is the ear is smaller and we are hoping with this surgery that the cartilage has become unrestricted and can now grow better. He had to add skin to the top of the ear which made it thicker than a normal ear. Plus it's still quite red. Here's hoping to long hair soon. Besides she is beautiful!

Surgery Success

2008-08-29T22:45:00.005-04:00

We are home and Morgan is doing GREAT! She was happy and calm the entire time. We can definitely count our blessings. There were some mishaps along the way. First, the hospital didn't call to confirm her surgery, to which I called and was told she was not scheduled. Forty-five minutes later they confirmed her for a later time. We meet with everyone prior to the surgery. The doctor went over what he thought might happen and said we would head home once she felt well post-op/recovery. The nurse gave her some "happy medicine" to chill her out. Then, as they were about to take her, the nurse realized the doctor didn't mark her ear. Twenty minutes or more later, plus lots of nurses grumbling and complaining that the doctor had to follow the procedures and policies, our doctor came back to mark her ear. The nurses weren't overly kind to the doctor. Neal let it be known that he wasn't happy with the nurses for making our doctor mad just before he was about to preform surgery on our one year old daughter.

The surgery was just about 2 hours long. Everything went well, but it ended up being more extensive than our doctor thought so Morgan and I had a spend the night at Wolfson's Hospital. Which then turned into an all Friday affair too, because the doctor didn't make it to us until after all of his surgeries today.

She really was happy and calm 95% of the time. She didn't really like it when the nurses or doctors wanted to check her ear. The stitches are all dissolvable, but could take up to a month to dissolve. She has to wear the headgear you'll see in pictures for a few weeks (especially since she favors lying on that ear). And then in a few years we'll have at least one more surgery.

She's sleeping soundly and snuggling with dad now. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers. You can definitely still pray for her because she has a few weeks of solid recovery time to make sure her ear heals well.

Weathering the storm by preparing

2008-08-22T13:05:00.002-04:00

So Tropical Storm Fay has been hanging over Florida for 3 days now. For those family and friends not in Florida - don't worry we are all OK! I've lived in Florida my entire life and Jacksonville has been blessed to NEVER have a direct hit from a hurricane. Basically it's a really bad thunder storm that lasts for days and days and days. Except there usually isn't any lighting or thunder - just high winds and rain and rain and rain. The city has cancelled school and work since Wednesday. So what do you do when you shouldn't really go outside (although we have a little bit)...work on your food storage.

We are on a huge food storage kick right now. Tuesday night, right after they announced the city was closing down, I wanted to try to make jar bread for food storage. In order to make it, you must use Knox gelatin, not eggs, to allow for a longer shelf life. I headed for the store which was already a mad house. I thought people might not be out until the next day, but sure enough there was a million people there, no buggy's (shopping carts) to be found, and everyone loading up on water, non-perishable food, and batteries. Seriously is this the first hurricane season all of my neighbors have been through? Don't they know this can and usually does happen at least once during the hurricane season. So I go to get my Knox gel and got out as quickly as I can.

I make the banana jar bread. Next we make 7 quarts of cooked beef. And I've been working on getting my recipes fine tuned. My calling is 2nd counselor in Relief Society which puts me over food storage and our Bishop has asked each family to get 3 months supply of food by September 2nd. Neal and I have made that goal with Bishop's storehouse food BUT I came across a DVD from a Sis. DeWitt out of Arizona that put a whole new, easy, and dare I say, fun way to get prepared with a one year supply of food. Let me know if you want a copy - you can't download it anymore from the Internet.

I hope everyone else is having nice weather....at least let Florida inspire you to prepare and get your food storage started!

First Day of School

2008-08-18T12:17:00.000-04:00

Today was Eli's first day of 1st Grade. Thankfully he still has a love for school - hopped right out of bed, showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was ready to head to school. He asked me if he could walk home from the bus stop by himself and I fibbed and said they don't let 1st graders walk home by themselves and we'll talk about it when he's 10. His picture makes me laugh! The shirt is too big, but he insisted on wearing it tucked in. I can't wait until the bus gets here in a few hours. Update: The bus was nearly 50 mins late. And Dylan couldn't wait for Eli to get home. "When is the bus coming? I want to play with Eli," he'd ask every 3 mins. And Eli's favorite part of the day......the playground. He got to upgrade from the Kindergarten playground to the regular playground. "It's big and fun. I tried to go across the monkey bars, but it was too hard."

AARRGGHH - We won!

2008-08-12T16:30:00.001-04:00

The company we purchased the pirate murder mystery dinner from has a contest for party of the month. WE WON! Which means we get a free mystery dinner party. Neal's 30th birthday is in April so everyone start getting excited for another night of murder and mystery!

Check out the pictures on their website: http://www.nightofmystery.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=15

Surgery Date Set

2008-08-10T21:43:00.000-04:00

Morgan is set to have her first of at least two ear surgeries on August 28th. For those who don't know she was born with a birth defect on her right ear. It was real scary when I first had her because I could only hear a little bit about what they were saying, but thankfully it was only a "cosmetic" defect, no hearing loss, kidney or heart problems. The surgery will last about 2-3 hours. Keep her in your prayers these next few weeks. It's always scary to put your tiny baby into the hospital, especially for major surgery.

Happy 1st Birthday Morgan!

2008-08-02T22:17:00.000-04:00

I'll try not to get all emotional, but my baby turned 1 today. She woke up so happy this morning. That's not unusual, but generally she's ready to have a bottle. But she was just being pleasant and talking like she knew today was a special day. We went shopping for a little while - that's what girls want to do on their birthday! Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and cake. Tradition in my family is to let the baby play in the cake. It's really quite fun to watch. We placed the cake in front of her and she dug her fist right in. She just enjoyed every piece of her cake.

Happy Birthday Morgan. Grandma bought her a princess crown, but she wasn't interested in wearing the crown or this hat. Most of the pictures came out blurry.
Singing to Morgan.

Right away she put both hands into the cake and double fisted it. I can't blame her it was yummy cake!

Seriously, she was all about eating that cake.

The last picture taken before she was put into the sink for a bath. She did eat a lot of it, but she wasn't too messy. I only had to clean up the high chair and her. (I've had to clean blinds and walls in years past.)

Happy 6th Birthday Eli!

2008-08-02T22:01:00.000-04:00

The pirate theme continues on. Eli had a pirate themed 6th birthday party Friday night. It's amazes me how much time flies as you get older!

As a note of interest....between my birthday (July 17th) and my dad's birthday (Aug. 4th) there are 15 birthdays between my family and Neal's family, that's 15 birthdays in 19 days. That's a lot of cake. Dylan and Eli in their pirate costumes (that dad made).

We played games like pass the coconut, walk the plank, pin the hook on the captain, and had a treasure hunt of course.

Eli enjoying his scurvy dogs and shark's blood drink.

Captain Eli helping decipher the treasure map. It ended with a pirate pinata to hit. It was crazy! Thankfully Neal was the one holding the pinata not me. We were inside and there was nothing to hang it on except Neal's arm. I don't think I'll do a pinata again. Thankfully no one was injured.

Dylan playing pin the hook on the captain. He wanted to play with the big kids, but was really emotional (OK he down right had a melt down) when he couldn't keep up with them.

We had a family party on Saturday night during Morgan's first birthday party. Thanks to everyone for all the fun toys!

Devon Turned 30!!!!!

2008-07-29T11:11:00.000-04:00

Devon turned 30 so we threw a party, a Pirate Murder Mystery Dinner party. 40 grown adults dressed as pirates...what a hoot!

Devon & Neal all dressed up the our pirate costumes. P.S. Neal learned to sew just for this and made his complete costume and Devon's vest and pants .

A murder mystery dinner means someone has to die!

A pirates life for we!

From the left to right...Aunt Wendy, Aunt Renea, and her mom in their best pirate dress.

A couple of real wenches...Lisa on the left, Lindsey on the right.

The bounty of food...arrr tis be treasure fer me belly

Phil, Renea, and Pam with a case of scurvy...arg!

Tis be Neal and Lindsey hornswagglin

There are many more pictures, but all was fun and had a great turn out.
You can check out the site were we purchased the party and see even more pictures http://www.nightofmystery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=876#876
Happy Birthday Devon...ARR!!

Welcome to our Blog!

2008-07-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

We look forward to sharing stories and experiences with friends and family. Many of you have shared these experiences with us and can also use this Blog to remember those times. We will try to keep up with our ever-changing active lives. Be a positive example and remember that we are all children of God.