where's barbara?

text conversation with my daughter on wednesday, jan. 5th:

(mind you, she is almost 21 yrs. old. ;0))

ash: hey, i left barbara (her stuffed manatee) and my new measuring tape at home. Could you bring them friday (to add's game) please?

me: (later that night) i can't find barabara....

ash: weird. maybe i did bring her here (to school). who won the game?

me: lone peak of course. they are good.

ash: shoot.

me: let me go look again........wait for about 5 minutes......

me: you won't believe where i found her....under dad's pillow. looks like he likes her, too. =0) looks a little slobbery, too.

ash: oh my gosh. i laughed so hard. please ask him why he has her. hahaha

me: after the florida trip he has a new appreciation for manatees.

ash: hahahaha...how did she get there though?

me: maybe dad was sleep walking....i don't know

ash: oh my gosh. that seriously cracks me up. maybe he was trying to hide it because he thinks i'm too old. haha

me: no...maybe he just missed sleeping with a stuffed animal.

me, mark, and addison.......lots of laughter because she really is believing all of this!

next day.......

me: did you want me to wash babara before i bring her to you?

ash: you can wash stuffed animals!!? yes please. she's so gross. like five years of drool.

me: and several nights of dad's drool.....gross!

ash: hahaha...that still cracks me up.

me: hahahaha....me too!

same day.........(to her dad)

ash: so i hear you stole babara and have been sleeping with her.....haha

that night (thursday)..............

i wasn't going to tell ash for a couple of days to see if she posted something on her blog.....but i had to tell her......i couldn't tell if she knew we were joking or not......

call.......

me: so, i wondered if you knew we were joking about barbara

ash: moooommmmm! i totally believed you! i am glad i didn't tell my friends.....i am so embarrassed.....i am blushing 10 shades of red right now!!

me: (laughing a lot!!!) i can't believe that you believed me! i wanted to wait to tell you to see if you would blog about it.

ash: i was going to blog about it, but i didn't want the whole world to know that i sleep with a stuffed animal.

me: (still laughing) well, april fools! we couldn't wait until april to play a joke on you because you handed us a perfect opportunity to play one now. we love you!

ash: thanks a lot mom! i am still blushing!

oh my! i haven't laughed that much in a long time! i just can't believe she fell for it!

april fools in january!

love ya, ash!

happy new year!

as they say....out with the old, in with the new :0)
i'm not sure that i accomplished all that i set out to do last year, but it was a good year!

ok...so i accomplished 50% of the 2010 goals....
1 - finished my quilt for my bed....it is beautiful
2 - volunteered....i do the fun bus (i take bus load of kids to football/basketball games) at jordan high and was pta pres. (glad i'm done with that!)
3 - came to know Christ.....i participated in the most amazing class and we read and discussed jesus the christ book. i truly feel that i have grown personally and came to know christ so much more.
4 - trained for a century ride....did the "little red riding hood" ride of 80 miles....love that ride....it is held up in logan, ut and is a great ride with wonderful scenery, great ride support, and fun friends to do it with. wasn't able to do a triathlon, but am going to try again.
5 - organize my home....i made a great effort in doing this. i organized and put together a filing system that i found online. it has worked out great and i can now file things and then find them again when/if needed.



so here are my new goals......2011
1 - learn to listen and act on promptings from the spirit
2 - read the book of mormon and lesson scriptures, too
3 - train for/participate in a sporting event or two (tri/century ride/run)
4 - learn spanish (continued from last year)
5 - read/study the conference talks
6 - finish personal progress
7 - learn to be happy in the place i'm at in life
8 - save money to go on a humanitarian adventure
9 - go to the temple at least 2x a month
10 - memorize the living christ
11 - work on picture books monthly

here we go....here's to a new year and a better me!

i finally finished!

i started a year and a half ago.....
intending to finish in six months.....
had the schedule all laid out.....
about 5 pages a day - give or take a couple...
here it is, a year and a half later.....
i finished the book of mormon!
that means i finished my "virtue value" project!

things i learned.....
even though i read it instead of studied it, the spirit of the book is still there....
love to find my favorite verses and discover new favorites.....
i love the people and the prophets of old....
ether 12 is one of my favorite chapters....
moroni 7 is a close second.....

it is an amazing book every time i read it!

create.....we all can do it!

i watched this little mormon message about being creative....

president uchtdorf does a wonderful job expressing to us that we all have the ability to create something, anything, if we just try and start small...

we all have talents, we can create!

watch the video...

addison's on a roll.....

this week is "brag about addison" week.....
luck is on his side lately!

addison took the act in october and finally got his score.....
he came dancing into our room at 11 pm with laptop in hand....
put it up in our "asleep" faces and said, "LOOK!"
he got a 29 on his act test.....(last score was a 27)....
he went up in every subject except math....
way to go....we are so proud!

addison was made class president in seminary, recently.
that may not seem like that big of a deal, but it made him feel good.

addison made the varsity basketball team at jordan high!
this is his 4th year on the basketball team and of course his last being that he is a senior...
he is very excited and happy to be on the team!
go beetdiggers!

addison won the "principal's award" at jordan high
i am not sure what that means...i'm not even sure he gets any money with it, but he won it nonetheless.
he said that gave it to him in hopes that he would stop coming in and hounded them about scholarship applications and such....haha

most importantly, addison is growing in the gospel and in his testimony....
i asked him recently about where his testimony stood and he said....
"mom, i have a strong testimony. i believe in the church and the gospel. i am on a spiritual high and i know that i can always lean on the lord if i make mistakes and he will help me. i want to go on a mission and nothing (anxiety and/or girls) is going to hold me back."
now, that is music to my ears!
as a parent and a mother....that is payoff!

many blessings have come his way lately! i am grateful that heavenly father has blessed him and loves him and knows who he is. i am grateful for the many blessings that heavenly father has blessed me with....a loving family, a testimony, good health, talents, my calling in the young women's organization, loving friends, and much more. i am grateful!

birthdays......another one?

this past wednesday, november 10th, was my birthday!
yes, i know that you are shocked that i am getting older....
because, i certainly don't look it...hahaha!
i turned 45.....pretty much smack dab in the middle age of life...

it was a busy, crazy birthday....
phone call from ashley at 8:00 am, master's swimming, going to jordan high school for fun bus sign-ups, lunch with annie cheney, boundary committee meeting, young women's.....
the older you get, the more your birthday's turn into ordinary days.....
but, i do have a sweet family who make me feel loved!
when i was down at the high school, addison and a friend carried in 72 cookies from paradise bakery.....yum!
the "commons", where i was gathering sign-ups, was packed that day....
addison gathered his friends around him and everyone else joined in to sing me happy birthday!
it was very sweet!
i was told that there were 72 cookies - 1 for every year of my age.....thanks a lot, add!
we shared the cookies with kids at the school!
i thought that addison had bought the cookies with his own money....$50 worth.....
but, he and mark had planned together to do this during lunch - no wonder mark had asked what time i would be down at the school......
mark and addison are very sweet! mark is always doing something for me every year to make my birthday special....thank you!

face book is sometimes a good thing....
for example, you can go onto your wall on your birthday and see all the birthday wishes from lots of your friends.....
i never knew i had so many friends....:0)

it was a wonderful day even though it was a crazy, busy day!
onto another year.....hope it's a good one!

beehives and bacon

yesterday, we had youth baptisms at the draper temple at 7 am.....
mark went up to the churcht to see them off and asked them if they had a last request for breakfast.....
(they were coming here for waffles after the temple)
all the beehives said......bacon!
mark worried that we didn't have enough bacon for them so he sent me to the store to buy more...
all together, we had bought 4 pounds of bacon!
that should be plenty for 12 youth and some leaders, right?
waffles were made......yum!
all the bacon was cooked......yum!
well.....i have never seen beehive young women eat that much bacon before!
they had to have eaten at least 3 pounds of it!
we weren't sure that the boys would get any or the bishop!
it was amazing!
those beehive girls just crack me up.....
i love working with them......
it is such a joy to be with them every week!
yeah for beehives and bacon!