Survivor 2010 ~ Alfia Island

Survivor 2010 ~ Alfia Island kicked off in style this year.  Located in the wilds of Grandma Joan's backyard in the desolate wasteland of Lehi, Utah,  three intrepid souls braved Hurricane Millie, Tornado Toby and dangerous chalk wounds.  These hardy souls existed on local delicacies such as twigs, grass, a few flowers known from the genus species "Don't~tell~grandma~we~picked~her~petunias" and rocks wrapped in leaves and baked in the sun.  They built shelters using the wide foliage of the "golf~us~umbrella" plant and even adopted a little UT native boy they found running around.  Below are a few pictures that our camera woman was able to snap while braving great danger of drowning from the merciless powers of Hurricane Millie and Tornado Toby. Enjoy......



The girls make quick work of building a shelter.

Yum baked rocks anyone?



Apparently the natives of Lehi Utah are stinkin' adorable.

Lissie grinds down the "dangerous" chalk to render it powerless (and messy)

Danger from above!  Millie has defected to become "Hurricane Millie" and brought along her buddy "Tornado Toby".

This what happened to the poor souls who didn't listen to the weather warnings. Let's take a moment of silence please......

Let's hear it for the winners of Survivor 2010 ~ Alfia's Island!

I seriously LOVE the imagination of kids!  We can learn so much from them.  Chalk, leaves and Grandma's golf umbrellas led to hours of fun cousin playtime. 

Someday...

Someday I will go on my dream retreat which is here http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/  The scenery is gorgeous, the food looks divine, the projects are right up my alley and I love how they have decorated everything.  It is my little "happy place" online.  I pore over their website to see the projects and dream about going.  The catch?  Happy places don't come cheap.  This retreat whistles in to the tune of about $1200. Yes you read that right.  :-)  So for now, it is filed under a someday.  Go check it out anyway though, we all need happy places. 

I must, I must, I must decrease my butt!

It is exercise alone that supports the spirits,
and keeps the mind in vigor. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Fizzbert to Cicero! What was that guy thinking? Did he need a hobby? I have to say that I can think of the many things that lift my spirits ~ and working out on the weight machines is not one of them!

When I was younger, I was very thin, loved to run, could eat like a horse, still had a 21 inch waist.

Grew a little older, had kids, health issues and gradually my weight started to increase. Still, I thought to myself, “well, I don’t like my stomach muscles because after 4 c-sections and two other surgeries, they were basically mush, however I can live with it, if I have to.”

My butt, I can honestly say I didn’t worry about, not because I thought it was a toned thing of beauty, I just decided it was everyone else’s problem because they could see it and I couldn’t. :-) Now, as I get older I find things happening, like the fact my butt is indeed my problem, somewhere along the line, it started to creep its way around my hips one calorie at a time until I do notice it and I am not happy about it!

Since, for some strange reason, whining and thinking about exercising didn’t seem to be melting anything off of my body, I’ve started to work out.


One of my problems was that I don’t know how to exercise. Never did, I didn’t have a weight problem, did the sports I liked, but like many thin, young people, I didn’t have a good idea of whole body health.


Enter Prudie at the Y. Our YMCA does a free 8 week program several times a year. You go and work with a personal trainer two times a week and learn how to use the machines, how to exercise for your fitness level and how to gradually increase what you are able to do. During this time you have a Y card and can go as many times as you want outside of class. If you complete their program of 16 classes, you can join the Y without the initial start up fee. Very cool.

This humorous kicker? For me the only class I can fit in is the one at 5:30 in the morning. Yep me, confirmed card-carrying member of the night owls club, is getting my hiney out of bed, driving to the Y and working out. At first, I could only make it the two days, but I have been gradually increasing amount that I have been going, and working out at home when Shon has the car out of town.

You know what? I hate to admit it that Cicero might be right, I am kind of starting to like this exercise thing….Who would have thought?

Hi there!

*While taking a break from blogging recently, I took the opportunity to update my blog. I have decided that one blog will cover everything. :-) After all, family, scrapping, creating, reading, photos...they are all part of my life!


*Thanks to everyone who kept emailing wondering if I was going to blog again. It would be so fun to meet some of you!


*The buttons below the header will keep everything organized (and we know how happy that makes me!) That way if all you want to see is tutorials, you can hit that button and not read the rest of the "scraps" that make up my life.


*I had to share these pictures of our winter visitors. They are so cute and not the least bit shy. We are never sure who is going to be in our backyard! It takes every ounce of persuasion to make sure that the kids don't feed them!

Where does the time go?

Good to be back blogging again! It has been so crazy lately. I am a little loopy while writing this post, just stayed up all night to finish some wooden advent calendars that a friend ordered for Christmas gifts. I love these, I designed them for a class a while back and everytime someone sees mine, I end up making more. Good thing for me, because they are fun to make and how many do I need anyway! There is something about crafting all night long that is just fun! I got in some comfy pj's, brought down a treat or two and some DVD's. Lit a candle and just sat for a little while. It was so quiet. I surveyed my little domain. LOVE IT! That was the calm before the crafting storm! The night flew by, I watched all of my old favorites, then threw in some Monk. Watched it for a couple of episodes, decided that the whole OCD thing was a little to close to home. :-) I am proud to say that unlike Monk, I can carry my own antibacterial wipes, no Sharona for me. All in all, it was a great night, one that was badly needed.

Distance

I know that we are supposed to be here for a reason and we really love Montana. However sometimes with choices come growing pains and one of those for us is the distance we are from our families. People still love each other, but you start to grow apart. Pretty soon, you become a little more like strangers, instead of the intimate friends you once were. I have seen it happen in our family and it makes me sad. I guess that it is the natural way that life goes, when you aren't hanging out together with those people anymore. It is life, and you deal with it, but it does make you feel isolated.
I am so glad that it hasn't happened with my sister. We can pick up right where we left off. She and I have been such close friends all of our lives, even including the times that I convinced her she was adopted because we found her in the alley behind our apartment building. I know it is a trite phrase, but we have been though a lot together, and just come out of it closer than ever. She has her birthday this week, and I can't believe that she is all grown up. I am glad that at least she has stayed close to us. Happy Birthday Sis!

Good Bye

Photo courtesy of smartkids

Good bye old friends...

This almost killed me. I had no inkling of how difficult it would be to go through our children's books. We are firm believers in "pay it forward" and decided to go through our books and donate the ones that the kids had outgrown to our school. We have several teachers barely out of college and thought it might help them build their classroom libraries. They were excited, the kids were excited and I was...until we started. It was hard. Every book we picked up, seemed to have memories attached to it. Of course we kept the favorites, and most of the hardback books. We definitely were not left with a dearth of books, given that we have so many that we have broken more than one bookshelf. :-) But still, slow death by papercuts....

We are readers. My kids love to curl up together and read. We like to pick quirky books to read together as a family,and we all have our own favorites. We try to keep one night a week in the winter put aside when all we do is read our books, the kids and I in the same room, everyone sharing a bowl of popcorn and excerpts from our current reads.

I know all of that will continue. But still...It killed a little part of me.

I know that we kept the kid's favorite books.

I know it was a good thing to do, and hopefully teaches my kids the principle of giving to others.

I know that other little children will enjoy those books and hopefully catch the love of reading.

But still...somehow, super-imposed over that humble little box of books were visions of my chubby babies sitting in my lap learning to read those books. Time moves so quickly. Good bye old friends....

.

Simple Pleasures

Sometimes life hands us simple pleasures unexpectedly. Like little gifts we open them and with childlike unabashed happiness...and just plain enjoy them. With Shon-O's new job, he travels the Eastern Montana district weekly. Every couple of weeks, he needs to spend the night up there. We went into the job knowing that. What we didn't know is that his boss encourages him to take me with him sometimes. GIFT! How fun is that? Even better, since it it a work trip, lodging and food is covered. GIFT! We are close enough that we don't have to worry about the kiddos, GIFT! We have great friends and relatives in town who think it is fun to have them for the night, GIFT! Recently, I went with my cute guy to Glendive and Sydney. Guess what? There were several more gifts! I have a handsome man, with arms long enough to take this photo, GIFT!

Beautiful scenery, with that huge Montana blue sky. The building on the right was a really cool old church with weathered boards. I wonder what life stories happened inside? Hmm...firmly placed under, GIFT!

Quirky things you see at gas stations. Glendive had tonnes of things about dinosaurs and a huge dinosaur museum. Apparently someone had a sick (but funny) sense of humor and altered this statue. Laughter, GIFT!

We went to the first annual Tomato festival. It was held in the community center. There was a band, and tables set up with taste tests for all things tomato. (Surprise!) Salsa, sauces, juice and desserts. Who knew? There were also lots of homemade treats and crafts for sale. Sweet and simple fun, GIFT!

Why the key? First off, who sees this kind of key in a motel anymore? It was a clean, simple motel with the most comfortable bed. While Shon-O saw his people, I stayed in the room and....did NOTHING! I worked on some cards, watched mindless TV, and took a long shower. While I wouldn't want it to be my life, sometimes it is just nice to know that your family is happy, your hubby is doing what he loves, and I was just able to sit and relax, GIFT! I will probably go with him every other month, unless he needs me to teach at one of his trainings. Look around you, and it is amazing how many gifts pop out at you.

Paparazzi

What to do in the car during those long hot rides? On a recent trip to Cowley Wyoming we played a rousing round of a little game mama likes to call "Paparazzi!" I think that they won this round. I have to be a little bit quicker with my picture takin' finger. Next time my pretties...I will win! :-) Toby impersonating the headless horseman

Alex as a rock head

Shon~O couldn't move since his hands needed to be on the wheel. I love a sitting duck target.

Joey is too quick for me....

Lissie impersonates a human pretzel in order to avoid her picture.

Let's see, practice now, 1...2...3..CLICK! Gotcha!

A Scout is...

A while back in my "Back to Blogland post, I had mentioned the following item with the promise of more information to follow.

4) Many hours of prayer, and discussions, leading to my sweet hubbie following a dream, which means a location change for us ~ More to follow.

It has been a crazy couple of months, after 15 years in the heavy haul trucking industry as a sales broker, thanks to the recession my husband had the opportunity to change his job.

Security is never easy to give up. Never. However, sometimes we take a leap of faith and sometimes we are pushed into it. Regardless of the way we move into it, change can be brilliant.

I hated to be obscure in the blogland post, but we had applied for a job and were waiting to see whether or not Shon was chosen for the post. It was hard to do, because at the time we thought it might entail us moving. We decided to go for it though and were blessed in a way that we didn't expect. The original job was in Missoula, and midway through the process, they asked if we would be willing to stay in Billings. After deep consideration that took all of 2 seconds, our answer was YES! So the process went on, paperwork, background checks, verbal interviews, written tests and finally....(although to give them credit it all moved pretty fast) we found out.....

Drum roll please......Ta da! Shon is the newest District Executive for the Billings Montana Office. What does that mean? I have no idea! Loll! I don't know his exact duties at the moment, but I do know that my husband embodies all that is good about scouting and I am so proud of him. It isn't often we get to live our dream and get paid to do so! Congratulations Honey!

Worth Dying For...

A wise lady named Eleanor Roosevelt once said,

"Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer was I worth dying for?"

A young Sgt. named Terry Lynch was buried yesterday. Only 22, he freely gave his life on June 29 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan when an "improvised explosive device" exploded near his vehicle. Do I know him personally? No. Although I was impressed by the number of medals he had earned in his young (and short life) None of those things moved me to blog. No, when I read about his death, the thought that struck me, was, here was this young hero, who by all accounts was very loved by both his friends and the men that followed him. A hero described by terms such as
"young man who was as serious about serving his country as he was playful and fun-loving in spirit."

"All-American boy"

"Hardworking. Playful. Trustworthy. Sincere. Outgoing. Dedicated."

"loved cars, grease, dirt, firecrackers, paint ball and mischief"

"I wanted to give back to my country," he said in explaining his decision join the Army."

"determination" and "dedication to his country"

Wow, that is pretty humbling. He had already served two tours of duty. He was only 7 years older than my Alex when he died.

After his funeral, the community was invited to be part of a flag processional that would line the streets all the way from the church the funeral was held at to the cemetery. My three younger kids and I went down with some of our big flags to participate. Alex unfortunately wasn't able to go do to health.

I was so proud of my kids, standing tall, my boys wearing their scout uniforms straight backs saluting the cars in the funeral procession. I saw the faces of his honor guard. I saw them salute my boys back. And I saw those men with tears rolling down their faces while smiling to see my children. I took this picture before it started, somehow, it didn't seem right to cheapen the moment and take them during.

Why am I blogging this? I am not really sure except that the poignancy of seeing my children standing there holding the flags so proudly touched me very deeply. I truly hope that I can be someone worth Sgt Terry Lynch's sacrifice.

Dreams of Daring Do....

Remember when you were a child and your imagination was so vivid that daily life paled in comparison? With distant vision, you left behind the myriad mundane chores that filled your day and created a world, indeed many worlds, peopled with adventure, boldness, color and EXCITEMENT!
*Your bed became a covered wagon with the help of a sheet..(really, who needs them under blankets when they have so much potential!)
*Crackers became the manna that explorers live on...
*A closet was not a place to store clothing and other sundry items, but instead it was a time capsule, a hide out, a rocket into outer space...
*Outdated clothing, carelessly discarded by the older (unimaginative) set, became anything you needed, evening dress clothes, tawdry threads weakly glimmering, shine once again as ballgowns, pirate plunder and medieval finery...
*Cardboard, not a earthly and humble carrier of objects, but instead, the material of castles and playhouses, walls and sleds...

How do you build a dream? A few recovered boards, a few brand new boards, a plan and the imagination of a little boy....

Toby turned nine in June (gasp, my heart just skipped a beat...my baby NINE!) We mulled over many things that we could give him. He is a sweet but quirky child. (Go quirks! They add strength to your character!) Although he gets along with everyone I know and plays well in many different forums, other than basketball, he just doesn't care about many of the things that other little boys do. He already has a hoop...so we were stumped until we thought about how much he loves pirates...and since every little boy needs a place to build imaginary empires, sail through the seas and have adventures beyond measure, that made us think...put them together and you have our birthday hide out designed just for Toby!

Back to Blogland....

Whew, I am not sure about everyone else, but in our house, summer does not gently creep into our lives. It smacks us upside the head and says triumphantly "Baby, I'm Back!!!!"

Don't get me wrong, we love summer. May and June are just psycho months. Here is our life in a nutshell,
1)We went to Utah for Mother's day~more to follow
2)Cub Scout Day Camp preparations including, paperwork, set up, painting a 20 foot long pirate ship, day camp itself, take down, more paperwork ~ more to follow
3) Some fun and cool crafts squeezed in here and there including, cards, jewelery, canvases, and a fun mannequin that my s-i-l Colett gave me. (No C, it didn't end up with Lissie lol) ~more to follow
4) Many hours of prayer, and discussions, leading to my sweet hubbie following a dream, which means a location change for us ~ More to follow.
5)Challenges and fun with my church calling.
6)Building a pirate fort for my 9yr old's birthday ~ more to follow.
7)Looking up the meaning of sleep, since we aren't getting any! :-)

One of the projects I have been working on was sparked by one of my best friends Wendi. She showed me a site where words are spelled out by architectural elements. I am trying to spell out Ostler. Here are the letters I have so far. Not loving the T, any ideas?...Everything else my friends will have to follow in further posts. Happy Summer!

Disturbing signs....

In my head, I am not turning 38. When I think about age (which is rarely) I still feel like a young adult. However, reality can be cruel and truth can be brutal as I am reminded in small ways of getting older...wrinkles around my eyes, being "creaky" from arthritis when our weather changes, having a son old enough to drive and being called Ma'am. Sometimes, these reminders can be funny as well as brutal. I walked into my bedroom the other day and found these two items sitting side by side on the table under my window. (Thanks again for those cute curtains as a housewarming Colett...Love them!)

Hmm...sometimes looking good needs a little more help than just foundation! Made me laugh. We are fixing up our bedroom and I hadn't put everything back in the garage yet.

Gettin' it done...Joey style!

I wonder what it is about 12 year old boys that makes their rooms so incredibly toxic?
*I know that my sweet child bathes...and when forced to he even uses soap!
*I know he wears clean clothes, I have learned from having an older son, to make sure to inspect his feet, and to reiterate that clean clothing means clean socks too. Socks were not designed to be worn until they can stand alone and aloof from the world~driving the rest of us away from their previously white cotton goodness by the rank scent emanating from them. *Bedding is changed and washed often ~ probably even more often than most bedding because of his asthma.

All of that being said, I want to let you in on a little truth.....

Boy's rooms are SCARY!

There are little bits of wire, string and tape. Creations line the dresser, items are stuck up on the board. Little collections, precious to the mind of a 12 year old, dot the room, roosting in odd places, an open drawer, on the desk, under the bed...clothing slips unheeded from hangers to puddle on the closet floor. When encouraged to hang these back up, it provokes a stare and an eyeroll when your son thinks you aren't looking. Written on his expression you can read his thoughts like a book...really mom! Only the mindless masses hang their clothes, I want to be an original!

It is amazing how many things there are, washers, crazy glue, clay, pencils that are worn to the nib...the silly eraser on the end is longer than the wood. Encouraging a 12 year old to throw these out provokes a wounded look and the timeless protest, "I have plans for that! It is part of a _______!" (fill in the blank)

I was unsure if I was making any progress convincing my son that he needed to clean his room before it was deemed unsafe for human habitation. Apparently he came around to my way of thinking. I sent him in to clean his room the other day. He called out that he needed to prepare first. Here is what he had in mind......A helmet, safety glasses, gloves and a mask....I think I agree!

Picture Challenge

A while back my mother in law challenged several of us to go to our 6th folder on our computer and pick out the 6th photo. I was wondering what kind of photo it would be and assumed it would be one of the kids.
I was pleased and surprised to see that it was one of one of my favorite men! I love this picture of Shon. I think that he is a hottie and even after almost 16 years of marriage, he can make my heart beat faster just by smiling at me like that. He has the most beautiful eyes (sorry honey if that isn't a manly enough word). His cheekbones would make any model green with envy and I love that his hands are in the picture.
They are the most perfect hands in the world. His hands are large, when I hold mine up against his, my fingers barely reach the end of his palm. His fingers are long and slender...but very strong. I love that they are the hands of a working man, calloused, scarred and tough, yet they have a gentle touch when needed. I have watched Shon use his hands to build things for our family, fix our cars, work in our garden to grow food, play ball with his sons, make crafts with his daughter, fashion costumes and props for Scout Camp, rest on a young man's shoulder while he was giving him counsel, play computer games with our children, bless others, fold reverently in prayer, cradle babies and tenderly touch my face when he kisses me.
I think that Shon is pretty amazing! He is my best friend and I couldn't ask for a better husband. Oh, there is one other thing in this picture that I love...You can't see it though because he is sitting on it! I think that Shon has the cutest little booty...but I didn't think you wanted to see a picture of it. :-)

Toby loves to play basketball. Whenever the weather permits, he is out there. After school, I forget and start to pull into the driveway, he asks me to move the car so he can "shoot some hoops". He is really good too, easily sinking 7 out of 10 shots.

New Beginnings

On Wednesday, we had another milestone in our lives. In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) our children leave primary at the age of 12 and enter either the young women's or young men's organization. Each year in YW, there is a ceremony called New Beginnings that helps welcome the girls who are turning 12 and spotlights the girls already in the program. Shon had scouts with the boys, so I went with Lissie. We enjoyed a wonderful program, and I watched with bemusement as my little girl grew up before my eyes. She was easily the tiniest one there, even with among the other 11yr olds. The older girls were so welcoming and Lissie was perfectly comfortable with them. Her YW leader is Sister Myrna Hammer, we have worked with her in other callings and she is so nice, I know Lissie is in great hands.

Modern technology, latter day miracles

This last year has been a difficult one in part because of our two oldest son's health problems. Joey has had severe asthma since he was a toddler, resulting in over 20 hospital stays, some of which have included numerous days in ICU. Thank goodness we live in a time where we are able to have many of the machines used for treatment in our home. Alex's health troubles are a year old. He has ulcerative colitis, a very painful condition that results in brutal bleeding ulcers in his entire digestive tract. He is one of the small section of people that get it when they go into puberty and the body starts to grow and change. Every time he has a growth spurt, it sets it off. He gets horrible cramps, throws up and when it is severe he bleeds internally. He can't eat many foods and has lost a great deal of weight. Our goal is to get him through the next several years of growth. When he gets out of puberty, things should level out and he can lead a more normal life.


As a result of all of this, both boys miss school. I have been able to tutor them thus far, and they have great attitudes, but they are both getting to the age where I can't help with their math. Joey will have missed a month of school, both due to being sick (with reactive airway disease, he can get pneumonia in about 36 hours from a bug that will cause us a minor chest cold) and the fact that they decided to paint his ENTIRE school in February, yes February in Montana....hmmm....who thought that was a good idea? Needless to go into detail, but he reacts very badly to the fumes and can not be around them. Alex has been too weak and ill to be able to cope in a regular school setting. We also run into the problem that two of the medicines used to control his disease, compromise his immune system. Due to his illness, we have had to pull him from school for the entire spring semester. So, all in all, things in that aspect are kind of sucky. It makes me angry that I can't make things easier for my kids. I know that I can't get depressed about it, they mirror my attitude when it comes to their illnesses. Sooooooo........


I decided to try and look for silver linings and found a huge one. Alex works with tutors everyday. The Skyview high school set it up. Two teachers work with him, the goal is to keep him caught up so that when he is well enough he will be able to stay in the same grade as all of his friends. Strangely enough, his tutors are men that were a teacher and the vice-principal when Shon was up at Skyview 20 years ago. Small world! Here is Alex with one of them.



Joey's school set up UVOO. I don't know what it stands for, maybe hallelujah I don't have to teach math!! Well, maybe those initials don't add up. :-) It is a web cam that links Joey to his classroom. I still teach his other classes, but twice a day he logs in, and can interact with his class and teachers.

The right side of the screen is what Joey's friends see, and the kids on the left are some of the one in his group. There is no lag time and they can adjust the volume or tilt the screen for ease. Wow! Miracles come in every shape and size!