It's the Great Pumpkin!

Tonight we carved pumpkins. We had a lot of fun creating masterpieces. I did my own but one of the eyes fell off. So, he's One Eyed Willie.
Maddi tried to make a peace sign by cutting the entire square out first. OOPS! Then she tried to make it into Mickey Mouse. Lauryn helped carve another face on the other side of the pumpkin.
Brilee used a pattern to make her own pumpkin. Mike just helped punch one thing out. Her's also had some gross mold on the outside. We had a bad year with pumpkins, a lot molded before they were carved. Oh well, it added to the Halloween spirit!
We ended up with some yummy seeds when it was all done.

A Primary Program to Remember

Today at church was our annual Primary Program. For those who aren't familiar with the program, it's where the children ages 4-11 do an hour long program where they give talks and sing songs they've learned through the year. Each month the children learned a new song which took a lot of practice and repetition. They've learned 8 songs and then each of them had a small talking part. I'm the chorister and have enjoyed working with them this year.
So, we load in the van and head to church. Lauryn gets out and says "my tummy hurts!" I ask the regular questions which are "do you have to use the bathroom, and are you going to throw up?" She said she wanted to use the bathroom and we headed in. We had arrived early to get things in order. She walked around then came and laid down on the bench. When it was time for the kids to go up on the stand, she didn't want to, she was not feeling good. No problem...she just laid there!
Half way through she was wanting to go up and join her friends, she said she was feeling better. She had color back in her face, I said sure...after the song. We had about 4 families sing a song called "Home" which we were involved in. We headed to the stand and on verse 2 she said she was not feeling good. She went to lay back down, we finished the song and I headed back to row 2 to sit next to her and lead the music. As I walked to the row she threw up! She was laying down so it all went on the bench, down her and on the floor. I started to scramble like a chicken with the head cut off. I grabbed her up and handed her to Mike who had no idea what the heck was happening. HE quickly walked her to the side exit on the other side of the chapel. Thankfully she didn't throw up as he carried her out.
Wonderful friends ran out to grab napkins and cleaner and then proceeded to scrape the bench clean. I was quite embarrassed and felt terrible that this had happened. My kids Don't barf in church! :-)As I sat there leading the songs, I kept getting wiffs of the bench nearby, it was SICK!
We headed home after it was over and made it 3/4 of the way before I hear a weak "mom". AHHHHHH!!!! I start yelling for the girls to help her get the bag to barf in. I'm going almost 90 trying to get to the nearest exit as she misses the bag because it had gotten to dirty to hold open. For those that know me, I'm a gagger. I don't take bad smells at ALL! In between my gags I start laughing to myself thinking "this isn't happening!" We get to a Shell station, I help her out and we walk inside with puke down the front of her and in her hair. I left the kids in the van, one was holding the seat belt so it didn't coil all the way back into the chair with goop on it, one was crying afraid that he'd get barfed on while sitting next to her,and one was feeling quite sorry for Lauryn.
We washed up as best as we could, took her dress off in the van and headed to the base to rent a rug doctor so we could clean up when we got home.
I forgot to mention that Mike had to stay after at church so he wasn't involved in the chaos. It's a good thing because he would've been flying around the van with no real purpose besides trying to keep it clean.
We've cleaned the rugs, wiped down seats and are all tucked in ready to go to bed. Who knows what this night will bring. All I know is I'm TIRED and ready for bed. Besides this minor event, the program was absolutely wonderful. The testimonies shared by these sweet children through their words and music was beautiful.
We're off to bed and will see if the sleeping beauty will awake with tummy grumbles. Heaven help us!

If it's too good to be true...IT'S NOT!

I don't even want to post this because I feel sooo terrible. Our trip to the states has gone down the drain. We were counting on the military paying for tickets because we had what we THOUGHT was a trip earned because Mike came straight from Korea to Germany with only a few days in between. Before I went public with our announcement, we'd gone into the people in charge of our "paid for trip" to make sure we were entitled to it. They all said YEP, go ahead and submit the paperwork.
Well, it turns out that there is indeed a paid for trip back to the states but it's only for Mike. We are just sad to know that soo many people including us were wrapped up emotionally on this trip.
Our option would be to travel space A on a flight that could get canceled at the last minute and end up nowhere close to Arizona. We know that flight would only get us to South Carolina or Washington State. It's hard to book a commercial flight from that point to get us to Arizona not knowing when the said flight would arrive. It's a complicated process with Space A and a lot of time is needed. If we weren't trying to cram the trip into a 2 week window, space A would be a perfect option.
We have booked 5 days in Paris to off set the wo's on our end. We'll do a day at Disneyland again and see sights we haven't seen yet including Versailles, Normandy and the countryside.
Again, we're very sorry for getting everyone's hopes up. I feel terrible and now know NEVER EVER believe what I'm told from a member in uniform unless we have paperwork in hand to prove.

Food Court Musical

I saw this on my friend Dawn's blog this morning. We have watched it over and over laughing each time at everyone's reaction.
Hope it brings a smile to your face.
CLICK HERE

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE!

Happy Birthday to Me, I turned TWENTY -THREE
I look like a monkey...and sometimes smell like one too!

Today I have had a fabulous birthday. I woke up to notes all over the house that the girls had stayed up last night making for me. I found one on our toilet flusher, mirror, milk jugs and awesome home made cards on the table.
Mike came home from Ohio yesterday and did NOT disappoint with his gifts for me. He FINALLY got it right! :-)
I had birthday lunch at the wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) Chili's restaurant. We walked around the BX, Mike picked out a birthday card for me, I read it then he put it back on the shelf. It was the best card ever!
I love my little family here, they are the best! They made my birthday this year shine!

Giving Thanks

What a wonderful world we live in today to be able to sit at home with a computer hooked up to the TV to watch General conference. We had an amazing internet connection today. Whenever we've tried to watch conference on the net in the past, the connection has always had a lag where the lips and sound didn't match. How frustrating that is to watch! Today there was not one single lag, everything was perfect!!!Every penny spent on the internet has been well worth it!
The time difference makes watching conference tricky. We catch LIVE the Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning at 6pm on those same evenings through the internet. We don't get to the other sessions as it's a bit late to stay up for. We could go down to the church building to watch the afternoon sessions on Sunday morning but we just don't make it. The sessions we watched at home were also being broadcast at the church building.
So, this post is to give thanks to technology that allows us to be spiritually fed by wonderful leaders and Prophet and to also share what I hold dear to my heart.
The girls each had packets to work on during conference. They enjoyed coloring and picking out the topic's of the talks. We will look forward to reading the talks that we missed next month in the Ensign.
I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church ordained of God on this earth. I know that our dear Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, was called of God to lead Christ's church. How wonderful it is to live in these latter days where we have a prophet to lead and guide us through modern day revelation and the teachings of Christ. We live in a world that cries out for help in the family, in our marriages and in our everyday dealings with each other...I know that through living a Christ like life, we can have strong, loving families. We can teach our children that being virtuous is good, and that they are literal Children of a Heavenly Father that loves them.
I am thankful for my Family and love them dearly. I am not always the first to show them how much I love them. But, they read this and I want them to know that I love them very much. As President Monson said "someday we'll run out of the tomorrow's". I don't want tomorrow to come without them knowing how much I appreciate what they do for me. I am thankful for being a Mom to 4 wonderful, beautiful children who love and appreciate what I do for them.
After cleaning a bedroom Friday (3 long hours...) I was graciously thanked with a note on my bed.
I am blessed with a Husband who loves me dearly. We are blessed as a family to have the Priesthood in our home because he honorably holds it.
I am thankful for the opportunity to serve those around me. It lifts my spirits and lets me see more clearly the blessings around me.
I just wanted to share these thoughts and feelings before I drifted off to sleep.