My New Blog.

I have been wanting to do a cooking blog for a while now.  I finally decided to dive in and learn as I go.  It will include cooking, canning, food storage on a tight budget and cooking tips.  So far I have enjoyed it.  I hope that you get a chance to visit it.  The address is: http://www.dancingnthekitchen.com/.  Feel free to stop on by, leave comments, requests and pass it on to others.  I am also doing a guest post every Friday on my friend's blog at: http://www.mycouponlibrary.com/.  She has tons of great money saving ideas and links to deals.  Check her out!

Everything!

This last year has been a crazy one in my life. I'm not going to whine about all the things that have happened to me. I am however going to post about how my incredible husband has kept me grounded and mostly sane. If it wasn't for him, I would have gone off the deep end. He has been the positive one through everything and I am extremely grateful. He has taken on the full load when I was at the brink of despair and pulled me back in. I love him for all that he has done, but even more for all that he has been for me and the kids! I heard a song today written and performed by Michael Buble that to me describes my feelings about Steve. I know that it is a guy singing about a girl, but the sentiment of the song still fits.

Lyrics | Michael Buble lyrics - Everything lyrics

things I didn't know about Grandpa

I learned so new things about my Grandpa, Tom Mounts, while I was in Carnation for his funeral. I learned that he is survived by his sister, Mary June. I learned that his father died when he was 12. That he quit school at the age of 14 to provide for his mother and 2 sisters. I learned that he was born in Colorado. That he worked as a miner. That he would often bring home the less fortunate, feed, clothe them if necessary, give them all his spare money and drop them off with a bag of food to aid them on their way. I learned that he ran a mechanic shop.
There are many things that I did know already. Grandpa was a great man who practiced what he taught especially charity. I love him greatly and will miss our little visits.

Memories Of Thomas Thatcher Mounts

Thomas Thatcher Mounts, or as I more affectionately called him, Grandpa, passed away this morning. I knew it was coming because my mom called me yesterday and told me that he was in the hospital. He was the last surviving child of Melva Thatcher and John Amer Mounts.

Grandpa, or as my younger cousins called him, Grumpa, was a gruff, but loveable man. Last night as I was thinking about him, I realized that I have no pictures of him! Of course that made me cry, but then I realized that the pictures of my favorite memories are tucked safely in my heart and mind. All I had to do was close my eyes and I was back walking through a field with him, Brett, Troy and Kathy on our way to his "favorite" fishing hole on Sinkut river on the edge of the 320 (property that he and Dad farmed). I can see him standing at the edge of the river showing us how to cast our lines up river and let them float down river to tease the fish, hoping one of them would take the bait. I remember him cutting the hook out of my hand that had been stuck there when a wild lure came flying at my face. "Hold still honey, I don't want to accidentally cut you. Be quiet or you will scare all of the fish away."

I remember butchering chickens with him and how he laughed when I got chased by a headless chicken. His question to me was, "Now, who is the chicken here and who is the girl?" I got my first anatomy lesson when he showed us the developing eggs in one of the hens that we had butchered. I remember how concerned he was with making sure that the chickens felt as little pain as possible. He always told us that we needed to be kind to animals because they too were God's creations.
I remember going to his little shop at the airport house and watching him tinker on things. I thought he could fix anything broken. I remember him holding me when Mom was in the hospital and letting me cry and then calming my fears and telling me it would be alright and that she would be home soon. I remember cooking in that kitchen with him and Grandma.

I remember going to Grandpa's house out by Sinkut Mtn, walking through the door and having him pick me up and dance me across the floor. Then watching in awe as he danced around the kitchen with Grandma, during which she giggled and said, "Oh, Tommy, stop it, I have work to do."

I remember dressing out a moose with him and him teaching me the finer points of skinning an animal. Catching horses and doctoring their wounds.

I remember playing Rummy Tile with him. He would take what seemed like forever to make his move and then sit there and go, "tick, tick, tick" when it was our turn.
I remember riding horses up to Crystal Lake and stopping to pick Thimble berries or blueberries.

Grandpa and Grandma moved to Washington when I was a teenager. When ever we would visit, he would always take time and talk to me. I remember the night before my wedding when he came in and sat on the edge of the hide-a-bed and asked me if I was sure that getting married was what I wanted to do. Then he asked if I was sure it was what I was supposed to do. Grandpa told me that if my husband ever treated me bad, to let him know because he would "tan that boy's hide" amongst other things.

I think one of my favorite memories was on a visit we made to Seattle when Cameron got married. Grandpa's mind wasn't what it used to be and I had been warned that he had been pinching the kids when they got near him. No sooner had we walked through the door, then Sidnee ran up to Grandpa, climbed right up on his lap and said, "I sure love you Grandpa". He wrapped his arms around her and put his cheek against hers, squeezed her and said, "well I love you too!" He had a big smile on his face. I hadn't seen him smile like that in a long time.

The more I reflect, the more I remember. I have so many memories of Grandpa that would make this post into a short story, but I will save that for another time. So this is it for now. Until we meet again, may you have all the tamales your belly can hold! I love you, Grandpa!

Achieving balance

I am finding myself frustrated off and on as I am trying to juggle all of the comings and goings in our house with keeping the house clean and stocked with necessities. I am so tired by the end of the day that I walk but the laundry basket that is in dire need of folding and then returned to its rightful owner because I know they won't come to collect the clean laundry. I have stressed enough about it that I get headaches. I know it is possible to achieve the much needed balance in our lives that I desire. I know this because I know the Lord wants us to have balance in all things. Sometimes it is hard for me to say no to helping others because so many have helped and continue to help us at this point in our lives. I also know that we must pick and choose what we can and should do. With that said, here are some small things that I have done to start on the path to achieving not only balance in my life but for our whole household.



1. Get rid of things that we are not using. Give them to someone who needs them now. If I should need it in the future, then someone will have one that I can borrow or have.
2. Make my children responsible in helping keep the house clean. We now have a bag that has 4 daily chores in it and another that has 4 weekly chores in it. Everyday when we get home from school, each child draws a daily chore and does that chore before they change or snack. The dailies are: sweep the floor, rotate the laundry, take out the trash and unload the dishwasher. Weekly chores are: mop the floor, vacuum the living room, put all the shoes in their cubbies, and wash dirty hand prints off the walls. The dailies literally take only 3 minutes each while the weeklies take about twice as long. This is one of the best things we have done and I still don't know why we didn't think of it sooner. BTW, the kids are the ones who chose to draw rather than me assign the tasks.
3. No friends can come over during the week. We have too much going on and homework doesn't get done. They are allowed to come on Friday and Saturday if chores are done and rooms are clean.
4. Not feel guilty about telling my kids and friends no. Still very hard for me to do, but learning it is okay to tell someone that I don't have time to do something right now.
5. Play the scriptures on CD in my house while we are doing chores. It really helps keep the peace.
6. Pray often. Some days I have an all day conversation with the Lord. I know he hears me because on those really hard days, he sends me some love through a friend.
7. Be grateful by saying thank you often to the Lord and those who lighten my load. Say thank you to my kids for not fighting, for getting their homework done, for being a good example, for helping someone in need.
8. Not sweating the small stuff. The laundry will wait. It may get wrinkled in the meantime, but my kids lives won't wait. Them wanting my time and attention seems to get less every year. The 12 year old doesn't need me as much as the 5 year old, but I make sure I put down whatever I am doing and look into her eyes as she speaks to me. I do the same with all of my kids. If I happen to be busy in the kitchen, I have them come sit at the counter and talk while I do what needs to be done, making sure that I make eye contact every few seconds so they know I am paying attention. Sometimes I even make them help me while we visit.

My list is still growing and I am still trying to achieve balance in my life. It is an everyday struggle for me as I am not perfect and do not claim to be even close to perfection. I am still looking for an elusive cleaning fairy to take care of my house so that I can spend more time doing other things so if any of you has one that you will lend or give me, I promise that I will give it a good home.

Are we there yet?

Ever have one of those moments, or maybe days when you just wish you knew where life was leading you? Not mad at your current situation, just wish you knew what the plan was? I have been having a lot of those days lately. I am a planner. I don't like to leave things until the last minute or to chance. In fact I already have started Christmas lists for my kids. I really have a hard time being spontaneous or flying by the seat of my pants. Last minute schedule changes really frustrate me.
So in our current state of household affairs, I am really struggling with not know what is coming next. I actually feel very calm and know that the Lord is in control, that my husband is doing everything he can for the family and grateful that our kids are old enough for me to have the opportunity to work during the hours that they are at school. I am not angry at all or at anyone. In fact this has given us a great opportunity to draw closer to the Lord and each other, to teach our kids the difference between a want and a need and to really live by the promptings of the spirit.
Yet here I am, the planner, struggling with living in the moment and rolling with the waves of life. I don't know what tomorrow will bring because all of the plans that I made yesterday were put aside out of necessity. I don't know where I will be next month let alone next year.
It has been very interesting to be in this place where life is all up in the air, but be calm and at ease, knowing that the Lord has something in store for us, but the time for Him to let us know has not yet come to pass. We love our ward family and at the moment are content to be here and serve where we are needed.
I am so grateful for prayer and scripture that provides peace in a time of turmoil, for kids who are trying to understand and be patient, for leaders and friends who are a constant boon in this time of our life. I am grateful for obedience to principles that have been taught and for the privilege of being able to go to the temple whenever I need or want. I am especially grateful for the tender mercies that the Lord sees fit to send my way when I feel like I am about to give up and give in.

Girls Camp 2010!

The first day of camp was mainly setting up our camp. We were in tents so a lot of the girls had to be taught how to set up a tent properly. After tents were up, those who wanted to went down to the field for games. We started out with the human knot, then played missionary tag, then a water balloon fight broke out thanks to the priesthood. The girls had lots of fun.

After breakfast the next day, we were off to the confidence course. There were 4 things to do so we broke up into 4 groups. Three of the things were almost ridiculously easy, but the climbing wall was not. I think that it was the hardest thing that anyone did. It was a flat 12 foot wall with a knotted rope to climb up. With Steve at the top and Mike at the bottom, each person that tried made it up the wall with the rest of the group cheering them on. It was very intimidating, but very satisfying when you could stand at the top. It really started the bonding process. Our theme was "Be strong and have courage, for you are not alone". With all the help and cheering going on you knew that you were not alone and it definitely took courage to attempt this. I loved that the leaders did it too. We all did what we were asking the girls to do and I think that made a difference to them.

This little monkey went up this wall 4 times. I thought once was enough. I still can't believe that my daughter is old enough to go to camp.

This young lady is afraid of heights. She made it to the top. Here she is just hanging upside down to have her picture taken. It was fun to get to know her.

This is one of our girls getting off the zip line. We did this after lunch. The girls loved it. So did I. You slide down a line that is about 30 feet over the parking lot going about 100 miles per hour. All of our girls that could go on it did. I don't think that some of them would have had the courage to do it if they hadn't done the wall first. The leaders ran the zip line and it was fun to see the girls faces as they came down to the end of the line.

My daughter on the zip line. We tried to get her to flip upside down, but she couldn't quite figure out how to flip over. She went 4 times and loved it. I went 6 and have the bruises from the harness because it has to be very tight. I took a running jump off the platform and I did hang upside down every time. I loved it! We finished the evening with the bishopric bringing up Panda Express. It was so tasty. We had a testimony meeting afterwards around the camp fire. Then there were camp songs. This was my favorite day because the girls let down their walls and I got to know them better. I really started to feel connected to them.

The third day we went canoeing and hiking. I forgot how much I like to be out on the water in the canoe. There was a game of dead fish boat tag started by one of the leaders that the girls loved. Someone hit Steve in the face with it. It left fish guts on his face and when he got back to shore, one of the leaders asked him why his face was bleeding. As he was washing it off, one of the girls splashed him in the face with a huge oar full of water. He promptly grabbed her life jacket and tossed her in the water thinking that she would only land in ankle deep water. She did, but she tripped while trying to get her balance and went all in. She thought that it was pretty funny. We ate lunch and then went back to camp to get dry clothes so that we could go on our hike. Our hike was supposed to be an easy 5 mile hike. It was moderate and we found out later that it is supposed to be a day hike. We went up the mountain in 2 hours and 10 minutes and came down in 1 hour and 5 minutes. It was a beautiful hike that I would love to do again without kids. When we got back to camp, dinner was ready. I was so tired that I could hardly eat. We had crafts that night and I sat around the camp fire with my new friends until after midnight. It was a very nice evening. Every time I would think about going to bed, one of the girls would start talking to me so I stayed a little bit longer.

Now that camp is over, I feel connected to the girls and want to spend more time with them. One of the girls asked me on the way home if I still got to come to young women's with them. I told her I wasn't sure. She told me she hoped so because she liked having me around. It made me feel good and like camp was a success. There were a couple of girls who I wasn't sure if camp made any dent in their tough armor, but according to their mothers, they had a lot of fun. They have already posted pictures on facebook too. It was fun to go to Y.W. yesterday. The atmosphere was very different than it has been before when I have been in there. There was no segregation of classes, everyone was mixed together and didn't seem to want to leave each other when it was time to go to their separate classes. It felt good to see the love that they were expressing for each other. I guess that means that camp was a success.

Stay away from the dark side!

My boys recently discovered that my in laws owned all of the Star Wars movies. They have been playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii so they wanted to watch them. Saturday night we finished the 6Th movie, which for us was Attack of the Clones. We talked through the whole movie about good and evil, The Force vs. The Dark Side. The kids without much prompting from me pointed out that fear, anger and revenge lead to the dark side. We talked for about 15 minutes on the subject after the movie was over. Yesterday as we were leaving church, my 2ND child was complaining because she wanted to stay there and come home with her dad. I made her come with me anyway. She started whining and complaining on the way out and I was not in the mood to deal with it. I just turned to her and said, "don't go to the dark side! Stay away from it young Jedi!" She started telling me that I was not funny even though she had a huge grin on her face. I kept at it until she was laughing and of course it spurred another conversation on good and evil and Satan's influence that can pull us to His side, or now in our house, The Dark Side! I love it when movies can help inspire conversations and encourage teaching opportunities.

14 years!

Sunday was our 14 year anniversary. Part of me can hardly believe that we have been married that long and the rest of me feels like it seems a lot longer. We have had a lot of ups and downs, laughs and fights, but we have made it this far and keep on going. I see in the news almost every day that some famous couple is getting a divorce. Some have been married just a few years some for decades, but they all seem to act as if marriage is something to just throw away if it doesn't suit you anymore. I know that there are some real justifications for ending a marriage, but most just let go because it takes too much "work". I went into marriage knowing that it would be a lot of work, but if I gave it my all and so did my husband that the good would far out weigh the bad. I remember when I was still single that a friend of my Dad's told me to stop waiting for the knight in shining armor or the house with the white picket fence because they just didn't exist. I told him that I knew that I could have what I wanted because I had faith and knew that I was willing to work for the life that I wanted for my husband and family. I am glad to say that fourteen years later, I still believe that and that I still am working on it. We both are working on it. Life has changed recently for us and that change has made me appreciate the things that Steve has sacrificed to provide for our family. I think that he has learned to appreciate my role in our family as well. It has been humbling for both of us but a good building block for our marriage. You truly can not appreciate what someone else does until you really walk a mile in their shoes. I think that we have come to appreciate those quiet moments that are a rare occurrence more too. Life has been good to us because we have the same goals and the same desires and that is to be together through it all, to spend quality and quantity time with our children and to work hard for the future that we want. It has been a great fourteen years and here's to many times that!


1996

14 years and 4 kids later.

Summer's Here!

I have been on the count down for school to be out so that I could have the freedom to do what I want, when I want. Don't get me wrong, I feel that it was a blessing to be able to work while Steve has been trying to get his business going. I have loved working with the teenagers at Lakeview and I will miss them during the summer. I was also blessed to be asked to go back to the school this fall to work. I must admit though that I missed my little Piggy. Missed picking him up from preschool and having him talk my ear off about all the things he learned that day. Grateful that his Dad got to share in that and enjoy time with his son. Grateful that Steve got to go on field trips with his kids. I am glad that now I can pay attention to my garden, weed my strawberry bed and yes, even fold laundry and do dishes. I am anxious to have some flexibility in my schedule again. The thing that I am most excited for is to be able to cook. I have missed cooking. That is my stress release and I have really been missing it. So bring on summer!

A change!

I have been wanting to do something different with my hair. I have had long layers in it for a couple of years now and I always do the same thing with it which is nothing. It always gets pulled back in a ponytail or a clip. When I was in Oregon this past week, I thought that my sister in law's hair was cute. Steve agreed with me which I thought was funny because he generally does not like shorter haircuts on women and hers was only to about her chin. So since he agreed with me and said it would be okay if I cut mine off, I started looking at shorter hair styles. Now you need to keep in mind that I have very thick, coarse hair that has a lot of wave in it. I knew I wanted layers but also know that if it isn't done just right I can tend to look like I have a ball on my shoulders. I contacted a friend, told her what I wanted and we set an appointment. I was really nervous last night and today, but so ready for a change. I spent about 2 hours online yesterday looking at medium length hair styles, but most of the ones that I liked said that they were suited for fine and thin hair. For me that means that I would end up looking like a puff ball on steroids! I finally found a style I liked and posted it on facebook. I had a friend request a before and after picture. Following are the results of that request.

Before

Can you believe the mop that I have been carrying around. It went to the middle of my back.

After Tessa cut off 10 inches to donate to Locks of Love. Something that I always wanted to do and finally got the chance. Don't think that I was noble and planned the haircut for when my hair was long enough, it was totally by coincidence and I wouldn't have thought about it if she hadn't suggested.

Ready to get down to business. Can you see the wave in the back of my hair?

The After!

I think it is so cute and that I might just want a few more layers in it. I am going to give it a week and see if I still want more layers after I wash it and play with it myself.

Thanks to Tessa who made my day and to Karen for the inspiration and my dad who told me I was starting to look like a grandma for giving me the nerve to make such a change!

Count Your Blessings!

To try and be positive about this jobless situation going on in our home I decided to start writing doworagen the tender mercies that happen every day in our lives. It has really helped and the more I look, the more I find. Some of the blessings that I am grateful for are:
1. my family
2. my religion
3. my friends
4. others who help my children feel important too
5. vehicles that run well
6. my health
7. a roof over my head
8. a severance package
9. being able to work
10. Food storage

So when life gets you down, start counting your blessings instead of your wishes and it will lighten your load!

Now which way is up?

I am currently feeling a little upside down and backwards. We have had a major change in the last couple of days and I am feeling like I am grasping at air and been turned on my head. Steve on the other hand seems to be very calm. I, however, am having a hard time remembering who is in ultimate control of my life and this universe. I always run at full speed trying to take care of everything and everyone. I don't deal well with situations that are out of my control. I have a hard time letting others, including the Lord be in control, especially when it is my life involved.

On Thursday I was sitting on my bed folding laundry and watching a movie. Sidnee and Jaxon were home. I heard the garage door open which was really odd because I thought the kids were playing on the computer. My first thought was that Jaxon got mad at Sidnee so he was running away. (He runs away more often then I care to admit) I peeked out to see what was going on and Steve was home. Strange to say the least. I went out to see what was up and he pointed to his eyes because he was talking on his phone. He quickly got off and informed me that he had been laid off! I thought he was joking. He had been to the eye doctor and had his eyes dilated. I was thinking that they had sent him home because he couldn't see to read. When I saw all the stuff from his desk in some boxes in his car I was pretty sure that he was not joking now! My world came crumbling down on the top of my head! How were we going to pay for our home, let alone food, and all the necessities that you need to sustain life as you know it? So many things ran through my brain in a short matter of time. We really didn't get much time to talk as his phone kept ringing off the hook. Apparently the decision was made outside of Utah by someone who was just looking at numbers. His company made 7 layoffs that day across their offices in the country, so it was not like someone had it out for Steve. He got laid off, not fired, so they gave him a severance package that should last us through the end of June. What amazes me the most is how calm and sure Steve is about the whole thing. He is very positive where I am the one usually reassuring him. He is sure that there is a better job out there that he would not have found if he was still at E-Trade. I on the other hand am a bundle of stress. I am wondering what is going to happen if he doesn't find a job in this market before we run out of money. There are so many people losing jobs right now that I am really struggling with this. I know that I need to stop climbing the walls and just do what I can about the things that I can. I can clean my house. I can paint the walls. I can get ready to plant my garden. I can put more food in our food storage in case it takes longer than June to get a job. I can continue fulfilling my calling and being a part of my community. Hopefully I can figure out in the mean time, and I will emphasize the word MEAN, how to turn myself right side up!

Fantastic!

I love the little moments that you get once in a while with your children that just make your day. I got one tonight when everyone was complaining about dinner. Jaxon was the only one who was not complaining. Our conversation went like this.
Jaxon: "Mom this chicken is fantastic! That means really good, right?"
Me: " Yes Jaxon, fantastic means really good."
Jaxon: "Well I think this chicken is fantastic and they are all wrong. It is so fantastic that I would like some more please."
Me: "I am glad that you think it is fantastic and I would love to give you more."
Jaxon: "Thanks for the fantastic chicken Mom! I really like it because I am a hungry boy!"

Don't you just love it when they make your day like that. Of course by this time the other kids were giggling and decided to eat the "Fantastic Chicken" which is what I think we will call this dish from now on!

Falling down or apart?

this picture is similar to what I had to have done to me yesterday. I almost fell out of a tree in September. I caught myself with my right arm and had to hang there in order to not crush Jaxon who was playing beneath me. Needless to say, it caused some damage to my right arm. I have been having pins and needles ever since. There has also been some numbness. I let it go because I thought that it would eventually get better. When I saw some blood on my hand about a month ago and discovered that I had smashed my finger but not felt it because my hand was numb. So after a month of visiting a variety of doctors, the final verdict is that I have 2 bulging disks in my neck that are pressing down on nerves and causing the pain. Yesterday I had a cervical nerve root block done. They insert a needle through your neck to the nerve root in your spine and put a steroid in it. This is similar to a cortisone shot, but a little more of a process. They have to use an xray machine to guide a needle to the right spot. A little scary especially when they told me to hold still so that they didn't hit the main artery that is right there. The procedure wasn't as bad as I expected, but once the numbing wore off I was miserable. Today I feel like someone has jumped up and down on my neck and head. I am told that it will get better, but today I think I would rather have the pins and needles. The bad news? I have one more disk that the doctor wants to do this to.

Never, never, never land!

I got to go away for a weekend with my friend. It was just us girls. After going the back way to get to our destination, we finally arrived in Never, never, never land. My first question was, " do you hear that?" I was referring to the silence. We brought movies and games, but spent 2 days watching tv as neither of us have ours hooked up to satellite or cable. We rearranged the furniture and then spread the table with all the spread so that we wouldn't have to get up except to use the facilities.

Our rearrangement of furniture.

some of the goodies we brought.

Our version of heaven. The reason for the title, we NEVER heard anyone say MOMMY!, NEVER had to tell anyone to be quiet, and NEVER had to do anything that we didn't want to except pack up and leave. We really appreciated the husbands who made this nice little get away possible. Next time we will take them with us so that they can enjoy NEVER, NEVER, NEVER land too!

Fruits of my labors!

It is definitely the harvest season. We have been busy at our house bottling and freezing and eating whatever fresh foods we can get our hands on. In this picture are the foods we have done in the last 2 days with the exception of the peaches in the back which were done a week ago. From left to right the contenders are: back row - applesauce, strawberry jam, chicken and sliced peaches. Front row - peach jam, salsa and bread. The good news is that it all tastes very good and we haven't gotten tired of it yet. We have pears, green peppers and more tomatoes and jalapenos in our garden that we need to do. We forgot to put the tomato sauce that we made last week up here. We have also shredded a bunch of zucchini and frozen it, plus used it as filler in our taco meat. Kids had no clue it was even in there. I am wondering if I could cube it like hashbrowns and use it that way. Think the kids would ever figure it out? If anyone has any fruits or veggies that they don't have time or energy to put up, let me know and we will gladly take them off your hands.

All tuckered out!

This was what the little man looked like 10 minutes after he got home from preschool. He loves it, but I guess stretching his brain muscles makes him extra tired because he asked me if he could lay down on my bed and take a nap.

I am Freddy Freeloader!

Some of my girlfriends, well okay, most of my girlfriends are trying to eat healthier and are working out. I am into the eating healthier, just not the working out so much. Give me a volleyball, basketball, softball or futsol (yes, Amy, I do like it) game any day. That is my kind of workout. I just have so much going on that I get tired just looking at my running shoes. I do wear them to play the above mentioned games. My girlfriends are getting together for lunch to support each other in their endeavor of this healthier eating habit, but they don't do sugar! I have started reading labels and everything that I like has sugar in it, even sour cream! I am all about eating more fruits and veggies plus having smaller portions, but I like my chocolate zucchini cookies and my corn tortillas. I have been invited to join them in this new challenge, but honestly I am having commitment issues. My biggest challenge is that I am a substitute teacher and never know when I might be working which would throw everybody off, plus I am going to eat a cookie if I want or a piece of pie. I don't over do the desserts, I never have. I just don't crave desserts like most people do. I am quite happy with a nice piece of ripe fruit. I don't crave chocolate and I have always eaten pretty healthy unless you stick a cream puff in front of me, then I crumble. So needless to say I have been enjoying lunch with my girlies but haven't hosted and I am starting to feel like a freeloader. Maybe I should give in and host a lunch. Taco soup anyone or are beans off limits too?

Garett's married!

My little brother, Garett Moore got married this past Saturday. After what he thinks was years of searching, he finally found the girl of his dreams. We left Thursday to head to his wedding in Spokane, WA. We spent about 24 hours in Boise with our friends, the Hulls before heading on to Moses Lake on Friday. We took family photos on Friday since we were all there. Each family wore a color so you could tell who belonged to whom. It took a bit since there were 15 grandkids to get to smile at one time. I think that the pictures turned out really good. It has been 4 1/2 years since we took the last family photo and we have added 5 grandchildren and 2 in-laws since then. Here is our family photo. Poor little Mason has some virus and had sores in and out of his mouth. He was in so much pain as the picture shows. The only thing that didn't hurt to eat was icecream.

Our family

The Moore family - extended version

The originals


Us with our spouses


The ones that Nana and Papa really want to see
l


The next generation of the Moore Family




The only picture that I have of the bride and groom as I forgot my camera when we went to the temple. Bo gave Steve a pair of hand cuffs which he quite expertly attached to the newly weds much to their shock.

It was fun to spend time with family, but a lot of driving. We spent 29 hours in the van over 3 days. Good thing that you are worth it Garett! We love you and congratulations!