All posts from Elegant WordArt 2

OK, to preface this, I have a TON TON TON of pics to share. So, if you don't really wanna see my fun and exciting camping trip, just scroll to the bottom. But I'm sure that you all wanna see my pics. Right? Right? hehehe.So just to bug Hilary, these photos are NOT in order. At all. Just put them on here randomly. OK, so I'd really like for it to be in order, but it's just not gonna happen. I don't have all night, you know - hehehe.We left for Ruidoso on Thursday night at around 7 0r 8pm, and met up with Paul and Hilary on the way out of town. We stopped in Alamogordo for gas, then pushed along. We finally made it to our "dispersed camping" spot at around 11pm. It was pretty late. And dark. Yeah, dispersed camping means that you just pick a spot in the forest and camp there. No running water. No bathrooms or outhouses. Just a spot in the woods. It's amazing that we found somewhere in the dark. hehehe. It was actually a pretty good location.We pitched our tents, got the kids into bed, unloaded a little bit, then went to sleep. It was past midnight when we finally fell asleep.The next morning, we cooked fried egg sandwiches for everyone, and had banana muffins for breakfast. After getting it all cleaned up, Brent headed into town because the truck was having issues. He feared that it was the rear end that we'd just had fixed. Sigh.Hilary and I headed into town to pick up a few last minute things at Walmart. We took Jimmy with us, but left Joe at camp because he'd already gone to the creek, waded, fallen in, and was filthy. He was supposed to sit in a chair in the sunshine and dry. Paul was gonna be in charge of the 7 other kids.We drove in to Walmart, and got quite a bit of supplies. All the kids needed rubber boots. Because of the creek and mud and junk. It was pretty wet up there. Soggy too. Did I mention that there was snow on the ground in places. We FROZE! It was almost 100 in El Paso, and about 50 in the mountains. Quite a difference.Of course, there were no warm weather clothes at Walmart. Only summer junk. So that wasn't helpful. We did buy a toilet seat. We were gonna have Paul attach it to a broken camp chair with duct tape and 550 cord. Yeah, it was gonna be awesome.So after getting our stuff, we headed to Sonic for a Diet Dr Pepper, and headed back to camp. It was a 45 minute drive each direction, so we'd been gone for about 3 hours. On the way back, it started to rain. We hoped that it hadn't rained at camp. Poor Paul.We pull into camp, and it's TRASHED with water. Apparently, it rained the whole time we were gone, and hailed for a good 45 minutes. EVERYTHING was wet. Tents, sleeping bags, children, supplies, all of it. Paul was not a happy camper. Poor little Joe was FREEZING. First thing, I changed him into new clothes. Which was hard, since the tents all got rained out. Luckily, I'd put all their clothes into Walmart bags, so most of them were dry. And because Jimmy had missed all the rain out fun, he decided to fall in the creek. So I had to change him too. And we put rubber boots on everyone.Paul and the kids got to work on the toilet seat, and I strung up all the rope I could find between trees, and make clothes lines. We had TONS AND TONS of clothes to hang up. And sleeping bags. And pillows. It looked like we'd been camping for weeks, not just a day. LOL.Eventually, the sun came out, dried things out a tiny bit, then it rained and hailed again. Sigh. It was on and off raining the rest of the day. We did manage to stay mostly dry, though. And got the tents mopped up.Brent came back around dinner time. $600 for a new read end, but the truck was fixed. Sigh. He's gonna go talk to the guys who fixed it the first time, and see what they can do to give us some $$$ back.We cooked Chili for dinner. And Chocolate Cherry cake. Mmmm, smelled good. I was good, though, and stayed on my diet the entire time.Next day, we all went into town, and went to Lincoln, New Mexico. It was a Billy the Kid site, or something like that. We left after lunch, and stopped by Walmart first. To get a few things. And we bought some wood. And by the time we got to Lincoln NM, the touristy places were closing in an hour. So we walked real fast, and saw a few of the shops and museum places, then headed back home.We had foil dinners for dinner, which turned out pretty yummy :) The kids had s'mores for dessert. Tasty! After the kids went to bed, Hilary and I stood around in the fire pit (because it was warmer near the coals) and took silly pictures of ourselves. Because that's what people do who are fun and don't drink, apparently. ROFL! Can you imagine us WITH alcohol? hehehe.Next day was Sunday. The girls went into town, and the boys went on a hike. Brent told an Indian story of the Piasa Bird around the campfire that evening, and played guitar songs for the kids. The grown ups stayed up late and chatted, and then Monday, we broke camp and headed back to El Paso.We left at around 4pm, and got to Alamorgordo at 5pm. We went to dinner as a group at Applebees. Yeah, our waitress was awful. She messed up on the drinks order, and it took us over an hour to get our food. And she didn't get Brents order right, and messed up on Hilarys girls food. In fact, after and hour and a half, one of her girls STILL didn't have her food. We eventually called the manager over. He ended up cutting our bill in half, which was supposed to be separate orders, but she messed that up too, and put it all together. So, instead of $120 for 12 people, it was $60 for 12 people. I guess it worked out. We stopped at the gas station for gas, then headed home again.We got back late, unloaded, showered, and headed to bed. All in all, it was a VERY fun trip. I'm SO glad that Hilary and her family came with us. Girl, I'll camp with you guys again ANYTIME! hehehe.OK, on to the pictures. Again, no particular order.This was in Ruidoso, on our way to Lincoln. We stopped and let the kids pose with themIn Lincoln, there was this circular 3 story building used as a fort of sorts. And in one of the shops, this lady was showing the kids how to spin wool.Hilary and IOne of the museums, of a store. It was about 75% authentic stuff, from the store, back in the 1800's.Jim, Nathan, Tom, and EmeEh?On the way back home, we stopped at this Pistachio farm to get our pics taken with the Worlds Largest Pistachio. Funny, huh?Nouhan FamilyMe and Jannie and Hilary, at the museums, astonished by something - heheheMegan (11), Tom (10), Nathan (13), and Emeline (8)The group, on the Lincoln Courthouse museum steps. Make a funny face, everyone!OK, now look bored!And the lady took a pic of ALL of usAnd what good is a camera without a funny pic of me?Eme and I and Jimmy one evening at campBrent and Jimmy at Applebees (see, I told you they weren't in order)Me sporting my new hat BEFORE we left on our camping trip on ThursdayEme and Jannie and Megan in townStopping at Sonic with our RT 44 Diet Dr Peppers. Yeah, we were trying to give Sexy faces. It's amazing that we both found men to marry and had children, if this is our sexy face - hehehe.Joe and Hilary and Paul at Applebees. It was them, and Brent and Jimmy and I at one booth, then ALL of the other kids at another booth.Hilary taking a pic while driving, almost dropping her Diet Dr Pepper (DDP), which would have been VERY bad...Kids at the kid booth at ApplebeesHilary gropeing the wooden Indian... hehehe.The boys on their hike. Drove to the top of the mountain then walked around a little bit. Paul is still on crutches, so he stayed in the truck with a sleeping Jimmy :)We ended up with Sonic every day of our campout. So here's me with my "love" one of the days...And Hilary and I at the drive up.... again!So here's some pics for that night we stood in the fire pit to keep warm and took goofy pics. This is an angry face :)Surprised?So we both do thins thing were we curl our lips under, expose our teeth, and pretend we have no lips. I know, we're both freaks. Who knew there were 2 of us in the world?Me with my pizza dough. Making Dutch Oven pizzas.Brent and Tom making fireSo Paul and the kids made us an AWESOME toilet seat, but you could TOTALLY see peoples white butts when the used it, even though it was in the bushes. SO, Hilary and I strung up this tarp for some privacy. Me, modeling the new bathroom. hehehe.My dutch oven pizza. I cooked the whole time, and it was SO much fun. I just love cooking at camp. Really, I do. Especially when someone else cleans up - hehehe.Nathan and Brent with the Cherry Chocolate cakeThe boys wee totally on a "can we light our farts on fire" kick the WHOLE weekend. hehehe.I leaned over to Hilary like this, and said, "If I do this, do I look skinnier?" She had to get a pic....Brent working on the fireCheck out the massive clothesline in the background...Me cooking sausage, onions, hamburger, and bacon for the chili. Don't I look tired? This is the same day as the rain, hail, and laundry hanging :)Hilary and Jimmy (child never looks at the camera, it seems)It sure was a pretty spot, even if it was wet.Jannie, Emeline, and JoeMe, faking being oblivious to the face that little boys are behind me.ROFL!Check out how wet the ground it....So after getting ditched with 7 children in a rain and hail storm, Paul decided to take the older boys and drive into town. Here are the little boys and the girls playing games under the canopy in the rain. It only hailed on us for a minute, but rained on and off.While Hilary and I and JImmy were in town, Nathan, Tom, and Jake were playing with the Aeroboe (or however you say it - some kind of frisbee thingy), and got it stuck in the tree. Hilary had Eme go try and shake it to see if she could get it to fall down. Poor, gullible Eme...This is an actually somewhat normal pic of Hilary and I - ha!Jimmy and IAll the laundry and wet thingsHere's our finished product toilet, complete with pit toilet underneath and wet wipes.Hilary taking it for a test drive - heheheNathan digging the hole.The kids. We had 8 kids on this campout. Nathan (13), Jake (12), Megan (11), Tom (10), Jannie (9), Eme (8), Joe (6), Jim (4)The kids are showing us all the finished toilet. Beautiful, isn't itMe, still hanging stuff upPaul in the chair that's destined to be the "potty seat"Jacob in the toilet seatJannie in the toilet seat. New, by the way.Nathan in the toilet satPaul was quite the trooper to come camping, primitive, none the less, on crutches!Here's Paul and Hilary's tent after the giant rain stormCheck out the size of the hail. Hail!Not a happy camper! Hilary right after we got back and found camp SOAKING WETEeewww, it's all wet!Trying to clean upAt Sonic, once again :)This was funny. On the way into Camp, Jannie noticed this sign, and was like "We have to fight bears?????". So we just had to get a pic for her - hehehe.Coming into RuidosoMe playing with Hilary's camera on a trip into townHilary and I both agreed that we would NEVER EVER live in a house on stilts on the side of a mountain...Looking normal, for onceSnow on the side of the road when we first got there. Yeah, not so cool....Tom at campMe in the smoke at the campfire. My bandanna was very helpful - heheheThis child was filthy the entire weekend. hehehe.The girls and the indianMe gropeing the indianEme in townBrent playing campfire songs one nightJoe hiding from the cameraJannie and HilaryJoe and I and Hilary in my glasses - heheheAnother funny face picThe group from the 2nd story of the Courthouse museum in Lincoln NMLook bored...Big smile!I thought this one was cute of Megan and JoeNathan behind bars in the CourthouseMe and 8 kids at Walmart. Yeah, it was too much for the dads, so they sent the kids and the moms to the vehicles. Yeah, the moms put the kids in the vehicles, and stood outside and chatted. Smart moms :)When we drove to LIncoln, Paul and Hilary took Nathan and Tom and Joe, and Brent and I took Joe, Jim, Eme, Megan, and Jannie.Jimmy and I at campNathan, in the Kitchen, with a StickJannie and PaulYes, I know I'm strange :)so the day after the huge rain incident, Joe falls in the creek and gets all nasty. And to teach him to stay away from the creek, we make him sit in his underware in the sun to dry. He got this blanket to keep warm. And covered. But he didn't got off an play in the creek anymore, that's for sure. Another Sonic runJoe and Nathan when the boys went to the top of the mountainMe at happy hourSo, there were a BUTTLOAD of pictures. Hope you enjoyed my camping trip. I sure know I did :)When we got home, I took a shower and washed my hair 3 times, trying to get the smoke smell out. Tuesday morning, I got up at 7am, got the kids ready for school, off to the bus, and vegged. Jake too. He finished up school last Thursday. So we just had a lazy morning.I took a shower at about 10:30, and got all clean and girly. I printed out my shopping list, looked at the bills, and read for a bit. At 11:30am, Hilary and I went grocery shopping.We went to the commissary, then brought my food back here, and put her freezer/regridgerator itmes in my outside fridge, then headed to Sam's Club. I got crackers and milk, and she got a few things.Next, it was on to Walmart. I got a few things, she got a few things, then we headed home. We did stop at Sonic, and used our Free coupons again. See, last time when they gave us regular Doctor Pepper instead of diet, the dude gave us free coupons. This is the 2nd time we've used them - hehehe. He keeps letting us keep them. Thanks, Sonic Dude! We love ya!She dropped me off at home, and I did more laundry. 7 load total, today. I put away all the groceries, and cleaned up a bit. Jacob had an appointment at 4pm for a physical. We were home by 5pm. He's all good and healthy. 5'5" and 173 lbs at 12 years old. The doctor said he'd probably his a major growth spurt at 13 or 14. Like the kid isn't already tall enough as it is. hehehe. He's grown 2 inches in the past 4 months.I started on dinner, and read for a bit longer. I took a bath at 6:30pm, soaking for a while. At 7:30pm, Brent came home.After the kids were in bed, Brent and I headed out to the mall to get his vitamins. We headed over to Academy sports after that, so he could get some baseball gear. His Battery has a team, and he needed a red baseball belt, and red socks. I found a super cute pair of flip flops, and got a pair for Hilary and I. Navy blue. We love flip flops - hehehe.We stopped by Brents battery on the way home so he could email something home, then went home. He worked on his slides, and I uploaded pic after pic to this post. It's 1:03 right now, and I'm sleepy. Off to take out my contacts and go to sleep.I had a request from Judy for something that would work with preschool graduation. I figured that conGRADulations would work! Hopefully it will :) And all of us with kids in school can use it for "last day of school' pics, or something like that, right. Which reminds me, I need to take a pic of my kids some time this week....Click on the link below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

Well, if you're reading this, then I'm not home in time to blog. You know how camping is - hehehe. It's a lot of work for the fun that you have, you know. :) We probably got home late, and I'm too tired to blog and such, so I'm hosting this now :)Enjoy! I'm sure I'll get something fun and exciting on her soon :)Well, it's LDS Blog Train time again! Click on the link below to go to my account to download the ZIP file, and leave some love if you like my work.4sharedbox.netClick HERE to go to Craft With Me 's website for your next stop in the LDS blog train :)

So it's Monday, and Memorial Day here in the US. I'm still camping. Or at least I think I am on Wednesday night. hehehe. Pre-publishing is pretty boring, isn't it. Maybe I'll be lucky, and have had some wi-fi up in the mountains. Maybe. Please!!! WAAAAA! hehehe. I'll be home soon, girls. Don't miss me too much :)Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! 4shared box.net

Happy Sunday to you all. Me? Well, I'm still camping. And no, we're not coming in to go to church. If we had bathrooms near, with showering facilities, then yeah, we'd probably come in. But after having not showered since Thursday, AND being outside, AND smelling like bug spray, AND having to get kids presentable, yeah, not gonna happen. We'll read some scriptures and have a little "Family Home Evening" type lesson around the campfire :) Shhhh, don't tell!Still pre-publishing. Still Wednesday night. Still boring to read this, I'm sure....Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! 4shared box.net

Awww, Saturday. Still camping. I think. I don't know. It's Wednesday night, and I'm pre-publishing still. I'm assuming that I'm having a GRAND time. Hilary's family is coming with us, so we ought to be having a great time, sitting around the campfire and watching other people eat SUPER delicious food.....Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! 4shared box.net

K, I should be waking up in the forest, right about now. Hopefully our first night of camping went well. I don't know, I'm pre-publishing, so I can only hope :) Lets hope that it doesn't rain. And that it's not too hot. And that the bugs leave me and my kids alone. And that no bears find me. And that we've got a good campsite. And that there's water nearby. Yeah, that's a lot of hoping, right? hehehe.Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! 4shared box.net

Howdy, girls! Another day done :) Tomorrow is my campout, and I'm part way done. Just part way...Woke up at regular time, and got kids ready for the bus. Unfortunately, because of our football/shopping excursion last night, Joe didn't get his homework done, so we worked on it this morning. He didn't quite get it all finished, but most of the way. I sent him off to the bus with his crayons.I did some computer stuff for a while, and then Brent came back from PT, and wanted me to help him load the trailer for the trip. We got all of the camping junk out, and loaded up. Now, lets just hope that it doesn't rain :)After he got showered, and left for work, Laurie stopped by to say hi. She'd been on a walk with her son, Rowan, and stopped in to see how we were doing. She stayed for about 30 minutes, then headed home. We'd made plans to go shopping later.Then I realized that I'd told Brent that I was gonna be home for lunch, so I texted her back to say that it would have to be after 1pm. So we decided to just do it another day.I spent a good hunk of the morning reading. Cause I LOVE to read, but usually don't give myself time to do it. I was reading a few of my favorite fan fic's, which had been updated recently. I have 2 books from Hilary that I really need to start. I just with fanfic, it's short. Books are super long, and take more attention. I'll get to it. I know I will eventually :)So Brent came home at 11:30-1pm, and we had lunch, and chatted and he went back to work. I read some more, and texted Hilary, and had an enjoyable afternoon. Jake went to the pool from 1-2pm, and had a fun time there, I guess. Once kids are 12, they can go to the pool by themselves. It's good exercise, you know :)I spent some time working on the Cub Scout pack meeting, getting the agenda and the plans all ironed out, and figuring out what we needed.At 2:30pm, Hilary got off work, and she and I headed out to the store to find some supplies for the Pack meeting. One of the things we were gonna do was to take pics of the kids, and decorate picture frames to put their pictures in. I found some foam picture frames at the Dollar Tree. 8 in a pack for a dollar. And some stickers to decorate it. Should work pretty good.I also found a Hawaiian flower bra type thing that looks pretty interesting - hehehe. Next, we headed to Walmart to look for M&M's for another game. Yeah, I ended up buying Skittles because they were cheaper, and would work just the same.After Walmart, we swung by Sonic, and got our drinks. And the dude who gave us NON diet yesterday remembered us, and said to keep the free coupons for another day. SCORE! Free drinks again!Next, we swung by Bassett Center to pre-purchase our Eclipse tickets. Because our friend Jessi said to get them there, that we could hang in the mall before the movie started instead of the other theaters, which make you stand outside. So we go in, and the chicke was like, yea, we're not getting Eclipse. WHAAAAAAAT? Seriously? Well, then we'll just have to go someplace else. So we drive over to Carmike by the Transmountain Walmart. You know that we named some of the Walmarts, right? We've got the Jaurez Walmart, that's closest to my house. It's has TONS of cars in the parking lot with mexico plates. Then there's the Pirate Walmart, because it's on Yarrrrrrrborogh. hehehe. The Transmountain Walmart because it sits on Transmountain road, and the East Side and West Side walmart. Helps to keep track of them, right?Anyway, we bought tickets for me, Hilary, Karin, and Laurie. We texted Andrea to see if she wanted us to buy her a ticket, but she said that she'd just picked up her kids from school, and she wasn't gonna make it. Huh? Whatever. I guess she wasn't going.The tickets were for the midnight showing on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. SO excited. We decided to go to dinner first, then bring games and such and just wait in line for hours. With that group, it should be a TON of fun.We texted a bunch of other people on the way home, and told them that they should go get tickets too, that there were 80 left, if they wanted to see it at the same time as us. A few people responded that they wanted to go. Jessi went and bought tickets for her and her friend, and she picked up some for Leslie and her daughter. Terri wants to go too. Should be a fun group of girls!Hilary dropped me off at my house, and I baked some cupcakes for the pack meeting. And got some other stuff ready. Eme helped my baggie up the skittles. 15 to a baggie. She was happy to help. At one point, I had 8 boys and a girl in my house. Leslie's kids and the backyard neighbor boys were over to play. You'd have thought that it would have been super crazy, but with friends to play, the kids were really pretty good. But it was quite the houseful.I'd been feeling a bit caffeine deprived during the day, and finally broke down and took a migraine pill around 5pm. I took the generic one, and I don't think they work as well. It's starting to wear off (midnight), but maybe I just need another one. I cooked hot dogs for the boys, and my head hurt too bad to make something for myself. Hilary texted and said that she was cooking extra for me, and was gonna bring it to the pack meeting. What a sweetheart! Love ya, girl!We got to the pack meeting at about 6:45pm, and got all set up. We did the gathering activity at 7pm, and then started officially at 7:20pm. It got over at 8pm, and I was home by 8:30pm. Yeah, it was a whirlwind of a night. Laurie and Hilary and I figured out why Andrea had said no so weirdly. She thought that the movie was TONIGHT. hehehe. Obviously she's not up with the Twilight happenings. hehehe. She asked Hilary to stop on the way home and get her a ticket, since Hilary lives in that direction. She said that she would. Yeah!!! Andrea is coming to the movies with us :) It's been SOOO long since she's done anything with the group :)I dropped Leslie's tickets off at her house along with her boys after scouts, and went home. Brent was there. He put the kids to bed, and I changed into my jammies. Eventually, I sat down to blog and design. Pre-publishing is a pain in the butt. Usually, I just do for the next day, and 1 wordart. Well, I had 5 days to do. So I had 5 wordarts, and 5 days to post. Yeah, it took FOREVER. BUT, I'm finally at the end of it. We're leaving tomorrow for our campout. We won't be back until Monday some time. But it should be a TON of fun :) I'm looking forward to it. Tomorrow, I need to pack everyone's clothes, and back banana muffins, and biscuits, and cornbread muffins, and organize all the food. Yeah, and have it done by 5pm. I'm gonna be tired before we even leave on this trip, I'm afraid.Well, If I go to be now, I'll get 7 hours. SO, off I go, to sleep :) Night, digiscrapping world :)Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

Well, another day down :) 7am felt pretty early this morning - hehehe. I got the kids ready and out the door, and sat down with Breakfast and my computer. I spent a few hours online. Designing. Housekeeping. Working on store projects. Around 10:30am, Hilary came over. Yeah, I was still lovely. Stripped socks. Coca Cola sweats. T-shirt. Zip up hoodie. Glasses. Messy hair. Yeah, I was real hot. hehehe. She stayed until Brent got home for lunch, then went home to meet Paul.So this was me last night, when I took a pic of myself right before I went to bed. Yeah, I coudln't have looked too much different this morning. LOL! Thanks, Hilary, for still being my friend....I ate with Brent and the kids, then hopped in the shower. Yeah, I felt prettier after the shower - hehehe. After lunchtime, around 2pm, Hilary came over, and we went grocery shopping for our Camping trip. When she was over earlier, we'd made out a menu, and a shopping list, so we went to buy the stuff.First, we hit Walmart. We got some of the stuff there, then headed to Sonic. Yeah, our Happy Hour sodas tasted a bit off, so we told the dude that it must be flat or something, because our Diet Dr Peppers tasted weird. Yeah, that's because they're not diet, he said. So he traded them out for Diets, AND gave us free coupons for next time. Sa-weet!!! Gotta love Sonic.Next, we headed to the Commissary. She'd bought the stuff at Walmart, which was about $35, and I got the stuff at the Commissary, which was about $35. Worked out perfectly :) We're eating together for the campout. We got stuff for hot dogs, chili, baked beans, foil dinners, pancakes, sausage & eggs, french toast, chicken stew, and a few other meals. Along with Smores and Cherry Chocolate cake and Pineapple Upside down cake. Yeah, we're gonna eat well this weekend. WELL, they're gonna eat well this weekend. Hilary and I are on a diet. Sigh. I can smell it, right?Check out this 5lb bag of peanuts we found, for around $5. Not too shabby, eh?Came back home, put the stuff away, cooked dinner, ate on the back porch with the kids, did some laundry, and got Tom ready for football equipment turn ins, and took the other kids up to the pool. Brent said that he was gonna take Tom. We hung at the pool till about 7pm, then headed home.We pulled up at the same time as Brent. Huh? Apparently, when he texted earlier, he'd meant that I was supposed to take Tom to football. Dang, didn't read that. So we all changed from the pool, and loaded up in the truck, and we all went to the football field. It was over, but coach was still there, along with a few other people. The team had signed a photo and had it framed for all the coaches, along with a plaque. Brent got one of each. And Tom got a participation trophy. It was pretty cool.After that, we all loaded back up, and headed to Big 5 Sports. Brent needed some baseball pants for morning PT. He's on the battery baseball team (which plays in the AM PT slot), and he'd nastified his leg from just wearing shorts and sliding. So the baseball pants were in order.OMGosh, I remember why I leave most or all of the kids home when shopping. DANG, there's a lot of them. And they weren't really being bad, there was just so many of them, that milling around in a sporting good store for 15 minutes while Brent tired on pants was PAINFUL. Yeah, I was super on edge by the time we left.We got home, and the little boys had fallen asleep in the truck. I'm gonna have to have Joe do his homework when he wakes up in the morning. We put the kids to bed, then he sat down to do some work on his computer, and I started blogging. It's 9:24pm right now, and I'm tired. I think I may be turning in early tonight.Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

OK, I downloaded some pics from my camera today, and here's what I had :) A few days back (yeah, can't remember at all), I found Joe sleeping on the couch like this - hehehe. Poor kid was TIRED after school :)And these are from Saturday at Tom's game. Team and Individual pictures. Isn't he handsome! I just LOVE this pic of my boys :) Hi there :) It's 8:35pm, and I'm blogging and watching Seven Pounds. Ever watch that movie? I found it very thought provoking. Really makes you think about choices and accountability and such. GREAT movie, I think. I know that some people think that you have to agree with a decision that someone makes to gain anything from a movie, but I think that the way that the choice was presented as food enough for thought for me. Would I do what he did? No. Could I learn something from his decision? Yes.Anyway, my "hi" went a little far afield. hehehe. So I woke up at 7am, got the kids dressed and ready and off to the bus. I did the bills, then got my shopping list together. By 9am, I was ready for the commissary. I did the weekly grocery shopping, then headed to Walmart, because their 24 pack of Diet Dr Pepper and Coke Zero were on sale for $5.00. And I won't pay more than $2.50 per 12 pack. Because that's just TOO much to pay :)I had been kicking around the idea of buying a Slip N Slide for the summer, and decided to look at Walmart. $25.00. Yeah, that was too much to pay. I could have sworn that I saw it someplace else for $10. I just couldn't remember where.I drove to Big Lots, and looked around there. Yeah, no $10 Slip N Slide. So I drove home, and saw a FAmily Dollar, and stopped there. Score! $10 Slip N Slide. It also came with a little floatie raftie thingy. Pretty cool.So I drove home, Jake helped me get the groceries put away, and we put put the Slip N Slide. Jimmy played on it for a while, then we put it away. The grass was SOAKED, but it was all gone in an hour. El Paso is SO dry :)We got the house a little bit cleaner. Brent came home at lunch time, and we hung for a while. I designed for a while, getting 3 WordArt packs done.At 3:45pm, we started the coals, and then went to the park. Hilary was there and I was there, but no one else showed up. So we came back to my house. I had been marinading some chicken, and put it on the grill. Drumsticks and a few breasts. I just love chicken.Hilary and I hung in the backyard until 5pm, then she and her kids went to the pool, my kids and I ate some chicken, then we followed on up. With Leslie's kids. We were only at the pool for an hour. There were little kids ALL around and it was just WAY too much for me. Some days I can handle chaos, and other days I can't. My little kids were not playing nicely with other little kids (both parties fault), and I just wasn't dealing well. So I decided to head home before I caused a scene - hehehe.I dropped the neighbor kids off at their house, and made mine clean for about an hour. And the house looked MUCH better after that. Joe started on his homework, and I put Jimmy to bed at 7pm. Actually, I gave him the choice of cleaning his room or going right to bed. So he laid down to go to bed. hehehe.At 7pm, Hilary and I went to Sam's Club, and got a few things. While I grocery shop every week, she buys as she needs. Just different shopping methods. I got some Saltine crackers :) They're cheaper at Sam's. After Sam's, we stopped by Sonic, and got a few Rt 44's. Mmmmm, it was very good :)Back home, she picked up her daughter (who didn't wanna go to Sam's so stayed to play with my kids), she went home, and I sent my kids off to bed. Well, the one's that weren't already in bed. Joe and Jim were already in bed.So, it's now almost 9pm. Yeah, I've been watching the movie a little more than blogging. hehehe. I can remember trying SO hard to figure out what the movie was about the 1st time through. You look at it a whole different way the 2nd time through.Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

Hi all! I uploaded my photos from yesterday, and here they are! Here's one of Jake and I at the Primary activity :)And here's some from the restaurant. First, here's my food :) I decided that since I'm on my diet now, I don't need a fancy salad. Because by the time I take off all the parts that I can't eat, I'd be paying over $10 for lettuce and chicken. A little bit of chicken. SO, I found an option on the menu for chicken, no oil or butter. Mmmmm, it was SO tender and good. I just took off the skin, and ate the whole thing. Yeah, probably a bigger portion size, but it was yummy :) And I had a side salad, and substituted the baked potato for steamed veggies.Here's Laurie's sister, and Laurie. Our waiter or the cooks or SOMEONE forgot to bring Laurie her dinner, so we all had ours, and not her, and eventually the waiter came back to check on us, and saw she didn't have anything, so he gave her free dessert. He was trying to make it better :)Laurie blowing out her candle - heheheFunny girls - heheheShe got a gift card from Barnes and NoblesHilary was like, lets make sexy faces. Yeah, I don't know what I was doing. Maybe I needs to work on my sexy face - hehehe. It's amazing I have 5 kids, right?Laurie with her CUTE little bag from Karin (she made it). Um, Karin, my b-day is in December, hon....Laurie and her "unmentionables" from Hilary. She also got her some Victoria Secret lotion.And this one is from me :)Here we go, this one is more sexy, but I'm kinda ghost-like - heheheAnd me in the bathroom. Hilary and I went in there, and I see this camera come UNDER the stall. ROFL! At least it was just my knees!Karin and I and Hilary. Aren't we cute!hehehe, Leslie is funny :)Hilary and I ;)Sexy faces again :)There ya go - funny pics from Girls Night Out!So today was Sunday, and it was a good day. I was up at 7:10am, getting ready for church, and sharing time and singing time, and getting kids ready, and folding some laundry before we left. Because the little boys' Sunday clothes were somewhere in the pile. hehehe. Folding out of necessity. ha!Left for church at 8:35am, and got there in time to get my new spot. Sacrament meeting was good. I did notice Brent dozing a few times on the stand, though. hehehe. Some Sundays are harder to stay awake than others, I guess. LOL. Jimmy noticed, and was like, "Look mom, Dad's sleeping. Oh look, Sammy's daddy is sleeping too". Well, at least it wasn't just Brent - ROFL!Primary went in a blur. We played the "football" game, and another game where the kids filled in the blanks of a song we were working on, then helped to assemble a Mr. Potato Head toy. Yeah, you'd have thought they'd never seen a Mr. Potato head before - hehehe. At least they liked it :)Anyway, I had both sharing and singing time, so it all kinda blurred together in my mind. hehe. We gathered together our stuff, and headed out to the truck. I got the kids some food when we got home, and at my lunch, then set the kids up for "quiet reading time" in their rooms, and I took a nap. A LONG nap. Brent came home at some point. Cause I heard him in the living room. And I swear that I heard the kids talking about eating Lemon Bars, and splitting them equally. Yeah, I think I was dreaming about that part, though - ROFL!I woke up at around 4pm. SO nice to get a long nap. We watched Pearl Harbor as a family movie. Yeah, Joe was disgusted by all the kissing, so we turned the channel if it was TOO kissy - hehehe.I didn't remember so much bad language in it last time I watched it. I found myself muting it quite a bit. Dumb potty mouths. Joe wanted to know if it was a true story, so we had a conversation with the kids about WWII.We cooked dinner, watched some Doctor Who, then put kids to bed. Brent went to bed before 9pm, and I sat down to organize my files on the computer, and blog. And I popped Big Fish into the DVD player. It's very strange, but seems to be a pretty good movie.So that was my day. Good Sunday. Any Sunday that has a super long nap is a good Sunday in my book. LOL :)Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

Hey girls! It's me again :) Did you all have a fantabulous Saturday?I got up at 7am, then slept back in until 7:30am. hehehe. I got up, got ready, and started madly preparing for my part in the primary activity. I was loading the truck and gathering what I needed, and making lists of the things that I still needed to do.I took Jake and Eme and Joe and Jim to the activity, and Brent took Tom to his last game. The kids and I swung by the Commissary and bought frosting and mints. The last 2 things I needed for my project.We got to the church, and brought all of our stuff inside. I'd brought a TON of fabric so we could dress up in "Jesus' time clothes". Eme was convinced she could wear her civil war clothes, and I kept telling her, Wrong Time Period. hehehe.We set up tables for my room, and the CD player, and all the supplies, and got it all organized. It looked pretty good when we were done. Then we all got into costume.Kids started showing up at 10ish, and we started going to stations at 10:15pm. It really went quite smoothly. We had a family with each group of kids (5 groups), to be in charge. The groups were about 6-10 kids.My station was about the birth of the Savior. We talked about his birth, and where, and when, and such, then made the Nativity scene on a plate with frosting, cookies, and candies. It was easy enough for even the little kids to do. And it took the entire 12 minutes that we had, then they'd leave, and the next group would come in.The activity was over by 11:30, and we cleaned up for about 30 minutes, then it was time to go home. I fixed lunch for the kids, and we put all the stuff away that we'd taken. Brent and Tom got home around that time.I worked on my Sharing/Singing time lesson for tomorrow a bit. I'm gonna do the football game again, but this time with the 5th Article of Faith song. And then do another song where the kids fill in the blanks for the words of the song, and for every 3 words they fill in, they get to put a part on Mr. Potato head. Of course, that means that I must find a Mr. Potato Head - hehehe. Oh Wal-Mart.....The kids had fun playing during the afternoon. Jake and Tom played with Leslie's kids, and Joe and Eme played on Starfall (educational computer site). Jimmy kinda floated between the 2 of them.I finally got in the shower at about 4pm, and got ready. It's Laurie's b-day, and the girls and I are taking her out. Dinner and a movie. Should be a good time. Hilary's gonna be her any time to pick me up. I'll try and pop back on here after the movie and blog some more. Woohoo :)Yeah, it's after midnight, and I'm not blogging anymore - hehehe. I did take a TON of pics, and had a great time, so I"ll have to blog about that tomorrow :)Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!4sharedbox.net

Busy day today. Sonic, more shopping for Lauries b-day, Sam's, Hobby Lobby, Sonic again, dinner (BBQ pork (chicken for me) and corn on the cob on the grill), date game night at a friends house. Busy, busy, busy. Tomorrow ought to be just as busy :) hehehe.Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.4sharedbox.net