Sunday, September 28, 2008

pumpkin pancakes

I had the best pumpkin pancakes yesterday at IHOP. Does anyone have a good recipe for pumpkin pancakes? I am starting to really get in to the fall season. I am wanting to bake and be very domestic. This is the time of the year that I love to be home to really relish family and friends. I love this time of the year.
I have tried to start this post 3-4 times. I kept getting interupted and putting it off. Now that it is starting to cool off, if the low 100's is cooling off, I have been spending more time outside in the yard. I love yard work and regard it as my therapy. We have laughed so many times this year at my two little trees that dad brought me. Dad brought me these seedlings last fall and they were about 24" tall. Then during the winter they dropped all there leaves and looked like two twigs stuck in the ground. As you can see they have grown immensly. My neighbor gets a good laugh about it also. He has asked me several times about my incredible growing twigs. It will be amazing to see how they grow next year. I also have looked back and try to imagine how my yard will look in 5-10 years when everything is mature. I hope the neighborhood doesnt go to the trash and I am still here to witness that. I have loved working in this yard and finally think it is where I want it. This last week I took some time off. I had originally planned on going to swiss days in St. George, but it took me so long to get over being home sick for the place that I decided not to go so soon. I miss it so much when I leave. I spent it with the kids. I went to "shadow a student" with Stephen. I went last year and had a great time. It was fun to see the friends he associates with and meet his teachers. I loved watching him in band, and particularly jazz band. I got a little emotional when they started to play. They sound so good and I was so proud of where he is at and how far he has come. I was excited about his band too, although it wasnt nearly as impressive as jazz band. It was fun to see how much he has improved, and I really have loved his teacher. I think she really makes a difference with the kids. I know mom will love seeing how much he has improved. It was fun to share our last year with her in such an intimate setting. Mom, you would have been so proud.
It was cute on friday. Both the girls came downstairs after getting ready for school and took one look at each other and couldnt believe it. They dressed in exactly the same outfits and had done their hair the same. They got the biggest kick out of being twins. Also, after school we were swimming and Sarah looked up and said, "hey mom look at my olympic dive." It was great to see what she took away from the olympics. The funny way the divers grab their legs.

It has been a great couple of days. It is hard to think about getting back into the swing of things to start a new week. It is so much fun to be home with the kids. Things run so much more smoothly. I dont know how I thought it would be fun and relaxing. There was so much to do, I really didnt get time to sit and read or relax. I had hoped to finish the host, get to the gym everyday, get caught up on my dvr list, and spend some much needed "me" time. I did get a little further in my book, thankyou Jackie, I am still plugging away. It is getting better. I only got to the gym once, I justified because I figured I was getting my workout at home. I watched one episode of bones and house, I still have multiple to get caught up on, and sadly really didnt get any "me" time. I guess my me time was spent in the yard doing therapy.
I am really looking forward to conference this next weekend. I love to spend the weekend eating and watching tv in my pajamas. Mom and Dad really did a good job enstilling a love for that in me. I count that as the best birthday present I could get. Every year I have a great excuse to stay in my pj's all day and do very little. Love it. I am glad that this year I will get to have the girls on Sunday, for my b-day, to watch conference. I hope they will always keep this as a priority and learn to love it as much as I do. I know they dont get the same exposure over at their dads. The priorities are just not the same.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Another great week

Yes, we had another great week. It is hard to know that all my weeks will not be this good. The kids have done such a great job getting their chores and homework done. I am really proud of them. Cant it always stay this good? They have been wonderful about taking resposibility upon themselves and following through.
I took the kids to the ground breaking party for the gym by my house. It was mostly for Stephen, he was meeting a couple of his friends there. You know I am pretty sure he thinks he is 19. Anyway, we were there and one of the trainers came up to talk to me. He called me by name, which initially I was impressed, but as we talked he asked why I hadnt been comming. I explained about my lack of time. He must have figured I was feeding him a line because the basic gist was that I would either be there or not and there are millions of other fat people in the world that have the same excuse. Creep. Anyway, my goal for the next couple of weeks is to try to get it back into my schedule. If I cant I will just have to wait till Feb. when the big one opens and I can go 24 hrs. a day. Ha wont he be surprised when I am there at 4 am or 10 pm. ;)
I finally had the talk with the gal that does my hair. WHAT TO DO WHEN THE GRAY HAIRS TAKE OVER. I havent been in to her in about 4-5 months. I think she get a little miffed because my roots get so grown out, again no time. But she agreed that my gray hair is gaining speed, she says bad genetics and to much stress. Thankyou dad, and grandma for the genes, and I dont see any let up in the stress department any time soon. We figured that with highlights, and low lights I will buy myself some time. I decided that 38 was probably to young to be so gray. It is pretty bad when the girls that I work with that are 50+ are less gray than I am, or the doctors greet me with "wow, Linna you are really going gray." Maybe they wouldnt notice if I was a little taller and the top of my head wasnt the first thing they saw. Maybe that is a possible solution, grow a little. ha ha ha
I started the book "Host" by Stephenie Meyer. I loved her "twilight" series. I have been promised that this is just as good. I have to say, it is hard to get into and a little weird. I have read everything from the twilight series, even the manuscript. I have really enjoyed her imagination. It is nice to sit and be entertained and escape to somewhere else for a while.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

We made it. whew.

Mom and Dad left a week ago. I was a little apprehensive at first. As the week went by I had moments of anxiety and many moments of peace. I couldnt believe it. We had great week. The kids were wonderful. We only had one day when things went a little haywire. We rectified the situation and moved on. I am so proud of the kids. They handled the week perfectly. This week we are going to try to do better at getting chores done. We missed a few things, and I got them caught up this weekend. I can see how if they will really rise up to the challenge things will really run smoothly in the next couple of weeks. I am sure we will have weeks when things dont go so smoothly but I hope that we will always be able to get back on track and continue moving forward.
I was amazed this week at the passion, emotion and controversy that the political scene has brought on. Truly we must be in a battle of good and evil. There has sure been a lot of talk about proposition 102, or the marriage proposition. I spent the day reflecting on my personal committment to this issue. It is hard because I think that my initial response is to not rock the boat. I have a couple of friends that are gay and would like to have the same priviledge as we do. It is hard since my marriage turned out so badly. I did decide that marriage is of God, not that I ever questioned that, and trying to get it through alternative means is the adversary distorting our views. I love these people and they are wonderful individuals that offer a lot of good, but what they are doing is wrong. I would hope that someday I am able to find someone that loves the gospel and really magnifies the priesthood that will give me another opportunity to fulfill the marriage covenant the way it was meant to be. I have, and will continue to try to represent the gospel in a way that is pleasing to my savior. I am convinced that it is now that we have to be strong and secure in our morals and we can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch. Now is the time to step up and take firm stands on what we believe in and not compromise anything. I think the strong show of emotion is another indicator as to how important the issues are. I enjoyed Jackies blog about the election. I was amazed at the emotion it sparked. I was thrilled with the conviction. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. I finally have some hope back as to the direction our futures may take.
I got a much needed camera this week. It was fun to play with. I took it to work hoping to figure it out. As you can see, I have a very exciting job. It seems everyone else had time to play with it. I still need to sit down and read the manual
so that I know how it works and can use it.

Yes, I got the spoiler on my car. It seems I love it more all the time. I got to fill it up with gas. WOW. I was actually giddy at the pump. I figured that I got about 22-23 mpg. What a change over 14mpg. It was almost fun to fill it up.
Stephen and I spent the weekend getting the yard into shape and revamping our relationship. It has been an interesting couple of months. He is definately exercising his adolescence. This is going to take some getting used to. I have to change the way I do everything it seems. He is much more direct in his tactics of trying to get "His" way. I am relying on my Love and Logic more each day. The girls went with their dad for the weekend. I have missed them. I cant wait for them to get home to see how their activity days stake event went. I miss sharing their activities. It is hard to let them go, but I know it is a good exercise for life. It seems I learn more each day than they do. I hope someday we will all look back and be grateful for what we have learned through all these experiences.