New Feature to my Blog

I added a new feature to my blog. You can see it just to the right of this post. If you regularly read my blog, click on the link that says "Follow this Blog" and it will add your picture. This will allow me to see who is following my blog.

A Homecoming and Family Gathering

Mike's parents spoke in church this past Sunday. Their talks were really great about how their lives have been blessed and how their testimonies have grown through their missionary service. We had several family member come into town to support them and welcome them home. Both of David's brothers and their wives and Mike's sister Teresa and her family came over from Utah. On Sunday, Pete and Eric came up from Broomfield and one of Mike's cousins who lives up in Laramie, Wy. came down with his whole family. It was so great to see some of the family that we haven't seen in long time. After church we had a big lunch together. It was over 30 people. We had Hawaiian Haystacks and was so yummy. Here are a couple of pictures from our gathering.

Kaylee's Volleyball Tournament

On Saturday, Kaylee had an Intramural Volleyball Tournament at school. She played really well even though her team lost two of their three matches. Both of the matches they lost were against girls a grade older than them. The final match was a really tight one. The final game was supposed to be over at 15 points, but neither team wanted to give up the win. They took they score back and forth until the other team won 23 to 21. It was a thriller! Here are a couple of pictures of Kaylee playing.

I found out while I was there watching that Kaylee was her team captain. She never told me that. She proved to be a great leader for her team.

During the games Kaylee had many great saves. She got a couple of digs practically off the floor and had some great tips, hits and serves. She has an awesome serve. Of course I hardly ever managed to have the camera recording when any of those things happened, but here is a quick video clip of one tip I managed to get.

I LOVE my Wii!

I just thought I would say that I LOVE my Wii!! I got my Wii and Wii Fit on Thursday. I love them and so do the kids. (Yes, I have been sharing) I worked out tonight with my fit board and it was amazing how much I feel from it. I was amazed by the yoga stretches and the fun games they have to improve balance and core strength. It is so much fun. I guess I am especially happy tonight because it calculated my Wii Fit Age at 23! I am almost 37, so it made my day!!! ( my first Wii Fit Age was 40 YIKES!)

Anyway, I love it. If anyone wants to give it a try, come on over.

Is My Time Worth Nothing? (warning rant coming)

Today I had a doctor appointment for Kyle with the ENT. My appointment was at 1:15, but they asked me to be there at 1:00 so I could do the new patient paperwork. So I showed up at 1:00 on the dot and had the paperwork done in about 5 minutes. Then I sat down to wait. We waited and waited and waited. Finally at 2:15 they came to take us back to the exam room. "The doctor will be in in a few minutes." the nurse said. So we waited patiently and then not so patiently. Kyle is only four and there was nothing to entertain him except the couple of games I have on my iPhone and really how many times can you play the same games over and over again when you're four. At 2:50, I poked my head out the door and asked how much longer it was going to be. "I have to pick up my other kids from school a little after 3:00" I said. I was told the doctor was almost done and would be in soon. So finally at 3:00 the doctor came in. He spent about 2 minutes with Kyle, sprayed some stuff up Kyle's nose and said he would be back in a few minutes. He came back again at 3:15. He ran a scope down Kyle's nose to check his vocal cords and then we talked for a few minutes about what he saw. It was 3:30 when I left the office after spending a total of about 20 minutes with the doctor. That is so frustrating. I even had to get someone else to pick up my kids and the other child I drive home on Fridays. Thankfully Mike was home today and able to do it.

So, here is my rant. I just don't understand why they make appointments if you have to sit and wait for nearly two hours to be seen. If I were 2 hours late for my appointment, they would not see me and would probably charge me for missing my appointment. Isn't my time worth something? I spent 2 hours just sitting there waiting. Heaven knows had have a list of about a hundred other things I needed to be doing or would rather be doing for that matter. What is the point really of making an appointment. I don't get it. I don't understand how things can get that far off schedule that a person has to wait that long after their scheduled appointment time to be seen. I wonder what they would say if I sent them a bill for my time. Hmmmm. UGH!!!

Anyway, Kyle is fine he has nodules on his vocal chords and apparently he has some reflux damage causing what the doc called reflux laryngitis. He will have to see a speech therapist who will attempt to help him speak at a more normal volume (he always talks loud) and he has to take some reflux medicine. We will see in a few months if there are any changes.

I didn't even know Kyle had reflux. Perhaps that may account for some of the sleep problems he has been having.

Some Pictures of Jake

Jake and I finally made it out to the park for his photo shoot today.

Here are some of his pictures.

Now I just have to go through all the kids pictures and decide which ones to print and put on the wall in frames.

Hooray for Tiffany!!!

Yes, another post about Tiffany. She has been very busy lately. I am so proud of her. Last week at school they handed out the information inviting students to run for Student Council Officers. Tiff decided she wanted to run for President. She came up with her own campaign theme and I helped her to make campaign stickers and posters based on that theme to hand out and put up at school. This is what her stickers looked like:

On her posters she added "Because Centennial Rocks" at the bottom. They were super cute!

On Monday morning she had to give a speech in front of the whole school, except the kindergarten and 1st grade (that's still about 350 kids). Over the weekend she decided what she wanted to say and I helped her type it up.

I went to school to watch her give her speech. She did a great job. She walked up to the microphone listening to and singing the song Rock Star by Hannah Montana. "I might even be a rock star, I might even be a rock star, oh hello everyone, I was just listening to my music and thinking about how lucky we are to go to such a rockin' school..."

Then she talked about what she thought she could do as President; some ideas for fun days at school. She also mentioned some of the qualities that would help her to be a good leader.

She ended up her speech by asking, "What school Rocks?" the kids said "Centennial!"

"And who's going to be a rockin' president for our rockin school?"

"Tiffany!!!" It seemed like everyone yelled it.

At the end of the day when they announced the results of the election, Tiffany was victorious. She is very excited to fill this role at her school and I am very proud of her for being brave enough to run. Way to go Tiffany!!!

Poor Kyle

I know I write often about what Kyle says, I guess it is just because he and I spend so much time together. Anyway today after we dropped the kids off at school he looked at me and said, "Mom, now we get the whole house to ourselves." He was so excited.

Now just a couple of hours later, he came to me and said, "Everything is so boring. Because I am so left out." :(

He made me feel so sad for him. "Do you feel left out because everyone else is at school?" I asked.

He said "Yes." He was so down.

I hadn't realized he was feeling left out. I guess I need to plan more fun things to do with him during the days he is home all day with me.

Anyone been to Mexico?

Mike and I are considering a trip to Mexico. Options include Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cozumel, and Mazatlan. We are mostly interested in relaxation and beaches. If anyone has been to any of these places, please leave me a comment with your thoughts or suggestions of where to go, where to stay and what to do while we are there. Thanks.

Grandpa & Grandma Sims are HOME!!!

YAY!! Grandpa and Grandma Sims arrived home last night after being gone for 20 months on a mission for our church. They have been serving in Bjorg's homeland of Norway and had a great time there. Here are a couple of pictures of their arival home. We are so glad to have them back home. They were gone a long time.




























Kari, Kaylee, Pete, Kensie, and Eric met them at the airport. (Kaylee was taking the picture)














Tiffany, Ryan, Jacob, Kyle and I blew up balloons, made a banner and surprised them at their house. It was really fun to be there when they actually got home.



















We are so happy that they are back.

Tiffany Singing...

Today Tiffany had the chance to sing at a Stake Activity Days Activity. The activity was awesome. It was based on 4 commitments the Stake Primary Presidency wants the girls

ages 8-12 to be making in their lives.

(Click on the links if you would like more information on these programs)

1-To earn their Faith in God award (This is an award given to girls in the church when they turn twelve if they have accomplished all the tasks set forth in the Faith in God Program.)

2-To earn their Young Womanhood Recognition (This award is given when Young Women between the ages of 12 and 18 fulfill all requirements set up in the Personal Progress Program. This program requires more than 70 hours of service and a number of other goals and activities in 7 different value areas. The idea is to help the Young Women to set and achieve goals in their lives and to bring them closer to the Savior.)

3-To Graduate from Seminary (Seminary is a four year scripture study program in our church. It coincides with the high school years and youth attend a 1 hour class each day where they study the scriptures. In our area this class takes place before school at 6:00 am so it takes a great deal of dedication and commitment to graduate, but a lot of kids do it.)

4-To get Married in the Temple (We believe that when you are married or Sealed in the Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints your family will be bound together for all of eternity.)

Tiffany sang as part of the Young Womanhood Recognition Award portion of the program and here is her performance as recorded by her dad.

She did an excellent job. I am so proud of her. They closed the program with this video presentation about 3 White Dresses: A Blessing Dress, Baptism Dress and Wedding Dress. Each dress symbolizes a special time in the life of a female in the church. It is really beautiful so take a minute to watch.

You can learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, if you are interested, by clicking here and here.

I'm getting a Wii

No I didn't say we are getting a Wii. Why? Because I am getting it for me!!! Okay so I may have to share a bit with the kids and the hubby, but only if they are nice to me.

So a couple of months ago when we visited my Dad and step mom, we had the chance to play on their Wii. I also got to experience the Wii Fit. I realized then that this system really was something I wanted to have.

I always thought the concept of the Wii was a great one. I love that you can be active while playing the video games. I think the video games of the world have done a lot to contribute to obesity in children. I never really wanted a game system in my house for a couple of reasons.
1) With five children, I knew the fights would be plentiful regarding who gets to play and when.
2) I hate watching kids sit in front of the TV glued to a game, being inactive
3) I personally think games like this are a waste of time (no offense to anyone who like games)

Last year for Christmas I broke down and allowed a Play Station 2 into our home. Santa brought it and the kids were thrilled. I personally would have preferred the Wii, but with all the hype they were no where to be found.

Anyway after watching and playing the Wii and seeing the Wii Fit, I decided I had to have it. Mike said if I sold some candles from the basement, (I still have quite a bit left from my former business) I could use the money and buy a Wii and Wii fit.

Tonight, I had a candle sale, and I got a little more than I need to buy the Wii, Wii Fit, a couple of games and some extra controllers. I am so excited.

Now I just have to find one :( Every where I look they are sold out. It's not even Christmas!! WalMart.com has a great bundle with the Wii Fit, but they are out of stock. I think I will just wait until they get them in, but I am so excited to get it, I don't know if I can. I can't wait to start my Wii Fit training program. Yea Me!

New Once a Month Cooking Blog

I am starting a new blog. On this blog I will concentrate on my adventures in Once a Month Cooking from here on out called OAMC. You can find this new blog here.

I hope to update frequently with ideas, recipes, and meal plans as I have them available. Please share this blog with your friends. I hope many will find it useful as I have had many people ask me about my OAMC processes.

Kyle on being handsome and kissing girls...

Tonight while Kyle was in the tub he said,

"I combed my hair so I will look handsome for the girls in my class."

"Oh really?" How else does a mother reply to such a statement.

"Yea, cuz if I'm handsome then the girls will want to kiss me."

Well alrighty then. "The girls in your class kiss you?"

"Uh huh."

"Who kisses you?"

"Well, I don't really remember their names"

I guess I will have to have a talk with Mrs. Martinez. ;) I will be helping in the class tomorrow, so maybe I will just observe.

I admit he is cute!!! But he is only 4, isn't he a little young to be thinking about the girls kissing him? Of course maybe he is just telling stories. He does seem to have an active imagination sometimes.

A Drive into the Mountains

On Sunday after church we decided to take a quick drive into the mountains. It is a great time of year for such an excursion because the air is cooler and the mountains are absolutely beautiful. We were hoping to maybe see some fall colors, but we were a bit early for that yet. Mike and Kaylee rode on the motorcycle and the rest of us went in the Suburban. It was a nice drive and we stopped at our favorite little park in the canyon. The kids played on the playground, we took a few pictures, caught a little snake and walked along the path. Here are a few pictures.The picture of me was taken by Ryan just to prove that I was there too. Look at my beautiful souvenir from Norway. I LOVE my Norwegian sweater, and I am so excited to have cool enough days that I can finally wear it! We are lucky enough to have Mike home for a few days this week. He arrived home at about 10:00 on Saturday night after having left last Sunday about 11:00 am. So he was gone last week just 13 hours short of a full week. Ugh! This week though, he will be home until Thursday then he will be back home on Friday night. Yeah! We are so happy when he is home with us.

On another note, we are also excited this week that on Friday night, Mike's parents will be returning home from their 20 month mission for our church in Norway. We have missed them so much and will be so glad to have them back home again. They only live about 3 blocks away from our new home so we are even closer to them than we were before they left. Yippee. We are so excited to have grandpa and grandma close again!!!

Eeeewwwww!!!

Today I was out doing yard work. I kept thinking I smelled something nasty and as I got to the north end of our yard it got worse. I seriously thought I could smell rotting flesh. I was working the perimeter of the yard doing the trimming. My first thought was a terrible one, I'll admit, I thought "gosh, I hope the old lady next door isn't dead in her house." The smell was terrible. Needing a break I turned back toward my house and here is what I saw...

It was a dead squirrel, decaying, full of maggots, and very disgusting!! I think the other neighbor's dog got it the other day. I remember seeing their big brown lab running full steam through my back yard a couple of days ago and didn't think anything of it until now. I think Honey got this poor little squirrel. Anyway since Mike was gone, I had to clean it up myself. It was so gross and so smelly. I nearly puked. I hope to never see anything like that again, but as gross as it was, I was happy to know it wasn't my neighbor. :)

Another BIG Cook Day!!!

Today was the third and biggest Once a Month Cook Day we have had with our group yet. We were excited to add another family so we cooked for 4 families again this time. My plan was for 20 meals per family with the hope of getting done around noon. We almost did it.

My calculations were off a bit and we were short enough chicken for one meal, so we ditched one of the dinners for this time and we will do it next time. I have adjusted my shopping list for the next time we use this menu so we should be okay.

So when all was said and done we had 19 meals for 4 families, that's 76 dinners total, and we were done and cleaned up by 12:30. I think we did great. Of course during that time each of the other moms had to leave for a bit to pick up from preschool, kindergarten or whatever. If we would not have had those interruptions I think we could have been done by noon for sure. But it's all good. Not bad for about 4 hours time.

It feels so good to have my freezer full again. Our average cost per meal was just under $8. That's pretty good for feeding families of 5-7 people. I love it. Here are the meals we prepared this time:

Chicken Squares

Easiest Beef Stew

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Shredded Beef Tacos

Meat Stuffed Shells

Zesty Italian Casserole

Pizza Pockets

Stuffed Manicotti

Easy Pleasing Meatloaf

Saucy Beef Over Rice

Simple Salisbury Steak

Tator Tot Casserole

Crunchy Oriental Pork Casserole

Southwest Pork

Pizza Chicken with Noodles

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Hawaiian Haystacks

Chicken and Rice

Chicken Hot Dish

I think we are going to get on a more regular schedule of getting together every month now. I now have 3 full months worth of menus done with shopping lists and everything. I think we will do one more and then just cycle through the 4 different menus. Yay!!!

A couple more pictures of Kaylee

Kaylee felt jipped that she didn't get more pictures taken the other day so we headed back out to the park for some more pictures of her today as well. Here are some of the best ones. There were too many great ones, it was hard to choose which ones to use. So you get to see a bunch.

Ryan and his Photo Shoot

After having his eyes dilated on Monday, Ryan's pupils were finally back to normal on Tuesday afternoon, so we decided it was his turn for some pictures. We headed out to the park and this is what we got. He got tired of having his picture taken and didn't last even as long as Kyle did. But we got some good shots.