Zoe

I was in my room this morning when I hear Shayla laughing (not always a good sign). Carter then starts yelling at Zoe. I go out in the kitchen to find this....

Notice it is flung all over!! Zoe I guess likes Carnation breakfast. Is in normal for a bird to LOVE meat??? This bird is weird. She yells if we are having meat.

Today the neighbors came to play with Shayla. I love the sounds of them play together. Their imaginations are wild! It is fun to have neighbors the same age! I didn't take any pic's.

Hard Headed Shayla!

Shayla was dressed today and all I had left to do was her hair. She was having a temper tantrum and came out of her room like this. She thinks that she is going to run errands with me like this.....I think NOT! Shayla thinks I am typing " Shayla in her beautiful dresses with her purse and matching shoes. She is going shopping with mom. Me and mom with two more questions me over by the closet."

Carter's night

Rough night.... Carter has been complaining about his bed so I took it down. He is now sleeping on the floor and this is what he looked like in the morning. Needless to say this is why my children do not sleep with me. They toss and turn all night long!!

Visiting Teaching

Today I am going to visit teach (something I have not been very good at). You visit a couple sisters in the ward and make sure they are ok and give a little thought. Well I was looking at the Ensign for a thought. I came across a talk form Elder David A. Benar "Pray Always". I thought I would read this article because this is something that we as a family are not good at. I came across this part in his talk and thought that this was something to ponder.....

Principle #2. Prayer becomes more meaningful as we express heartfelt gratitude.
During our service at Brigham Young University–Idaho, Sister Bednar and I frequently hosted General Authorities in our home. Our family learned an important lesson about meaningful prayer as we knelt to pray one evening with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Earlier in the day Sister Bednar and I had been informed about the unexpected death of a dear friend, and our immediate desire was to pray for the surviving spouse and children. As I invited my wife to offer the prayer, the member of the Twelve, unaware of the tragedy, graciously suggested that in the prayer Sister Bednar express only appreciation for blessings received and ask for nothing. His counsel was similar to Alma’s instruction to the members of the ancient Church “to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things” (Mosiah 26:39). Given the unexpected tragedy, requesting blessings for our friends initially seemed to us more urgent than expressing thanks.
Sister Bednar responded in faith to the direction she received. She thanked Heavenly Father for meaningful and memorable experiences with this dear friend. She communicated sincere gratitude for the Holy Ghost as the Comforter and for the gifts of the Spirit that enable us to face adversity and to serve others. Most importantly, she expressed appreciation for the plan of salvation, for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for His Resurrection, and for the ordinances and covenants of the restored gospel which make it possible for families to be together forever.
Our family learned from that experience a great lesson about the power of thankfulness in meaningful prayer. Because of and through that prayer, our family was blessed with inspiration about a number of issues that were pressing upon our minds and stirring in our hearts. We learned that our gratefulness for the plan of happiness and for the Savior’s mission of salvation provided needed reassurance and strengthened our confidence that all would be well with our dear friends. We also received insights concerning the things about which we should pray and appropriately ask in faith.

FHE will be on prayer tonight so I can give this thought.

My "Bucket list"

I stole this idea from Megan..

1.Don't yell in the mornings
2. Teach Carter everything about history
3. Teach Shayla to read
4. Do art/Pre-school act. on the days we don't have Pre-School
5. Have Friends
6. Have game nights and let all the kids run wild until they crash
7. Find a babysitter
8. Be sealed
9. Go to the Temple often
10. Love ALL my neighbors
11. Go herd cattle
12. Not to be afraid of the dark in the mountains
13. Plan FHE for the Year
14. Find decorations that go with dead things (cheap)
15. Budget
16. Not look at my bank account for a week
17. Be a month ahead on all my bills
18. Work on at least one of these a week
19. Prepare meals for the whole week in advance
20. Write in the "good book" every night for a month
21. Write in the "good book" for the year
22. Work out daily
23. loose 30 lbs.
24. Love myself
25. stop biting my fingernails again
26. organize
27. scrapbook a page a week
28. Clean all the pic's off the computer
29. Buy a swing for my kids
30. Go on a date without kids
31. Pay off debt
32. Buy Carter a bed
33. Finish the bonus room
34. Go to Disneyland
35. Go on a trip as a family (not camping or family reunions)
36. Go back to School
37. Work when my kids are in school
38. Spend all day at the library with my kids
39. Go shopping and not have Shayla run away or throw a fit
40. Have food storage
41. Fulfill my callings
42. Learn to weld
43. Finish my yard
44. Hang the bikes
45. Finish a deck
46. Plant a garden
47. All the Free activities I can find with my kids
48. Keep up with school in the summer
49. Go walking
50. Teach my children the true meaning of Christmas (physically)
51. Work at the soup kitchen
52. Do Charitable service
53. Visit Poverty countries and serve
54. Take my kids on a plane
55. learn to cook
56. Learn to cut hair
57. See my kids graduate
58. See my kids married
59. Teach my kids values
60. Go see the light at Temple square
61 Add to my list

I need another child

Shayla and the neighbor played really good together. Just as I was thinking "wow I think I need another 4 or 5 year old to entertain her" she hit her melting point of throwing toys and being Shayla. I interfered and told her she did not need to put ALL her toys in the living room and she was not OK with that. She did however take a NAP and that was really nice to have the one on one to finish Carter's homework.

This is what Carter looks forward to every night (if his homework is done). PlayStation with Dad (Mom is not allowed to play).

Pony's

Shayla loves pony's. My mom found her this pony outfit and she wanted me to take her pic with her b-day card from Feb.

Some Pic's

What age is to young to play dolls that are kissing?? I think I am going to have my hands full with this child!!

This is what my kids do on Sunday. I hate to admit it but they play Nick Jr. ".com"

Matt's Sunday hobby is Smoking.

This was the Monday after Halloween. We made Christmas cookies because it snowed.

What Luck!

I need some luck........ Go figure. We got flu shots on 10/16 my insurance would have covered them if I got them after 11/1/08. Now Friday I have to have a CT-Scan, my out of pocket hospital is $1500.00 and I have met $0 on this for the year. Of course I will meet my expense at the END of the year. I HATE small spaces. I do not even like it when the person behind you in line is to close to you. I have to be in the machine for 45min. Yeah......I can do it.......I can do it as long as the power does not go out!

My hate for small places probably has a lot to do with my brothers. They use to throw blankets over my head and pin me to the floor while saying...you are running out of air, the air you are breathing has no oxygen left in it...and so on. Maybe also being tied up to the doors and all your Mom says is "not around the neck guys" I have this on a tape recorded.....I can prove this.

Vote

On the way to school this morning Carter was almost in tears. He wanted to vote so bad, he doesn't think it is fair that you have to be 18. I told him that I would go and vote if that made him feel better. So I VOTED TODAY. Jen, I did this for you too. I can not believe that we are not a political family but yet we have a little boy who is. His dream vacation would be Pennsylvania.

Halloween

This year went to Orem. We ditched out on the "Trunk or Treat". Carter did not want to trick or treat at first. Once we got going he would let Shayla go to the door and then when they opened it he would run up. He was not going to waste his time. Later we went to a house in Lindon and it was so fun. We rode a train. This train was in their yard. They gave you popcorn and you watched a movie while you waited to ride the train (8 min). I didn't think it would be scary I thought it was just a little cute ride. I sweet talked Carter into riding telling him "Carter I would not put you on the train if it was scary" Well, to late. We were on the train and they put poor Shayla on the very back in a seat by herself!! So scream bloody murder the whole way because she would look behind her and the scary people were chasing the train. She would just scream and cry it was horrible not being able to get to her! No one wanted to ride the train again. It was pretty scary. They do a train at Christmas and we will go back to ride the Christmas one. The best part of all of it was it was FREE! Then after we got off the train they give you a full size candy bar. This must cost this family a fortune.