Help!

Life around the gas pumps have been crazy the last couple of weeks in Atlanta. We are having a gas shortage right now because the pipelines in Texas have not been pumping at full capacity because of the recent hurricanes. We have been very careful about keeping our cars filled and not letting them get down past a half a tank. Gas stations have been OUT of gas. You drive around looking and there will be five or six along the same stretch of highway that are just plain out of gas. When you find a station that does have gas you are usually waiting in super long lines to fill up. It's been big news here. They canceled Scouts and Young Women's this week because of the gas shortage. They also canceled fast offering collections last Sunday. People are telecommuting this week. The news says we should be back to normal by the end of the week. I sure hope so because this is stressing me out! I have taken my gas supply for granted. I now have a new appreciation for how dependent we are on gas. Happiness is a full tank of gas!

Happy Birthday, Landon!

Landon is 10 months old in this sweet picture.

Happy Birthday to our Landon! He is 14 years old today. What a special guy he is. We love having him in our home because he is a great brother and son. He takes great care of Easton and Dallin loves laughing at his random, goofey jokes and comments. He is helpful and kind(most of the time). Landon is a great student, reliable, responsible, plays the piano very well, and just loves life. He is a good friend to all and respectful. We are grateful that Heavenly Father sent him to our home--You're awesome Landon! Have a great year being 14.

My Cute Little Baby Boy

Hey everyone! My cute little baby boy is 16 years old today (September 26, 2008). He is one awesome guy. I am proud of him and love having him around the house. He loves singing(all over the house and especially in the shower), loves Cross Country, he is starting to love studying(doing good this year), loves his family, and loves life. Dallin tells me he loves me every morning when I drop him off for seminary and he always tells me thank you--what 16 year does that? He's a good guy and we love him. Have a happy day and year. We look forward seeing you grow into the young man that our Heavenly Father wants you to be.

Loss of a Friend

Yesterday I lost a good friend that has been in my life since 1968. My beautiful Wurlizter piano was sold to a friend and taken from my home. I played it one last time before the movers came and the feelings and memories of time spent with my friend came flooding in like a broken dam. I can't even count the hours that have been spent happily creating music and enjoying our time together.

It wasn't always a great relationship, there were some rocky times when I just didn't want to be together. It was not pleasant when I was forced to practice and had to sit for what seemed like hours. I would cry. I would sit and sit and sit without playing a note. There were many frustrating moments that we had together when I just couldn't master a piece or memorize a required song. Tears and pounding on the keys. Play it again! Count! Play softer. Practice!

Our friendship grew and strengthened through the years. When I was in Primary I was the Primary pianist and had to practice through the songbook a bazillion times. As a teenager we spent hours together with seminary songs, church music and hymns. Pop songs were fun to play as well. It was cool to be able to play songs that my friends recognized. Quitting lessons in 9th grade was very traumatic and I wasn't sure how it would affect our relationship. I broke down and cried in my last lesson.

After I was married we were separted for a time. I would play it when we would go to Mom and Dad's for Sunday dinner. When Stephen and I were financially able we purchased my childhood friend and have had it with us through our many moves. My brothers still talk about how many times they have moved that piano and I'll never forget seeing it sitting outside at the bottom of our new apartment stairs in a snowstorm because our apartment door was locked. Oh the good times we've had! Ashton, Dallin, Landon and even Easton for a short time have learned to play and have practiced on this piano. It has touched all of our lives.

We have stayed together through it all. I still love the piano and use my talents often from playing in church to accompanying various musical numbers. I have enjoyed playing for Ashton and Dallin when they sing. I teach piano lessons now and feel like I have come full circle with my piano. I still sit and play just for fun--it's great to bring music into my home. Thanks to my piano for the memories and all the good times we've shared. I hope the new family that my piano is going to will be able to develop the same love, respect and admiration that I have had for my friend through all these years together. You will be missed, my friend.

A Little Obsession

Those who know me well know that I love fall and I love pumpkins. I have been collecting cool, unusual pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns for many years. I try to ( and I always succeed!) pick up a new decorative pumpkin every year. It's fun to look around as the fall decorations come out and try to identify the most unique pumpkin. I thought I'd share my passion this year for those who live far away and haven't seen my growing collection. These pumpkins are all over my home--next week I will add the Jack-O-Lanterns to the mix. My piano students love walking around the house looking for every pumpkin and counting them. I didn't put them all out this year because we are moving and I just couldn't deal with it all.

These are the newest additions to the collection. My good friend gave me one of these for my birthday (thanks!) and then I found the others at a store. I just had to have them to complete the set.

This is another birthday gift. My friends always know what to get me, I'm glad I have a fall birthday.


I made these cute little guys a few years ago, back when I had extra time.

Awesome race

Dallin had yet another Cross Country race this past Saturday morning, posting his best time ever! 18:18 is now his new personal record(PR). It was a beautiful fall morning with a crispness in the air. I'm sure the cool, non-humid air helped the runners achieve better times. The race was at River Green, a place I love because it's flat, open and you are able to see the racers at a lot of different places throughout the race. We enjoy watching Dallin run and see him grow in this sport.

Dallin walks through the finish area, his finishing race number in his hand.
Stephen's Dad was able to come and watch Dallin this time.
Dallin, you are one awesome dude! Keep working hard and we will see you at the next race.

Life is sweet

The other day after Easton got off the bus I noticed that he didn't come in the house to greet me. On futher investigation outside, I discovered that he was playing on the new rope swing that had been rigged in our large oak tree in the front yard. Time stood still for me as I sat on the lawn and watched my youngest enjoying a quiet moment to himself. It just doesn't get much better--the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the temperature was perfect, and my little boy was blissfully content. A perfect moment.

Suwanee Days

Every year our little town of Suwanee has an event called Suwanee Days, a celebration of our great city. This year was the 25th anniversary of Suwanee Days, we having particitpated in 11 of those years. The kids love going to the parade and then off to the park where vendors and crafters have booths set up to present and sell their cool stuff. We had a beautiful, sunny Saturday to enjoy some family time together.

The boys waiting patiently for the 10am parade to start. They love this because the people in the parade always throw candy to the kids. We have learned to come prepared with bags to hold the candy because they end up with so much candy, it's like Halloween.
They have a kiddie section set up with a bazillion jumpy, sliding things. Easton and Landon love this part. I find a shady place to sit and watch people while Landon takes Easton to all the activites. Landon did comment this year that Suwanee Days was funner when he was little. I guess he is growing up.
All my boys in front of some real racer-dude's car. I don't know who the racer was, but his car was sure cool.

It's too clean!

My house is too clean. I know what you're thinking--how can a house be too clean? Well, as most of you know we are moving to Birmingham (that's the first time I've typed that and it is not an easy word to type) and have been trying to get the house ready to sell. I have been working like a crazy woman everyday to spiffy up the place. I like to consider myself a clean and neat person, but I 've realized through this house preparation process that I am NOT.

As you begin to assess the damage in your house, it becomes a realization very quickly that it's in sad shape. Stuff that I've allowed myself to tolerate and live with is just not acceptable to the potential house-buying customer. Holes in walls, nicks and chipped paint, cracks in both front doors, holes in the walls in bathrooms from water damage, leftover painting mistakes on ceilings from earlier painting projects, random spots on carpet, cracked caulking infested with mold, nasty, torn shower curtains, dirty windows, spider webs in all corners of the house (which I never noticed!), a broken blind where Easton's beloved pet rat chewed through the strings, peeling wallpaper, dead lightbulbs, unorganized closets, basements, and garages-the list goes on and on. My eyes are seeing things that I just didn't see a month and a half ago. And I wish they didn't. I am now an obesessive compulsive person about the cleanliness of the house and it's driving me crazy. I don't like it one little bit.

I can't wait to be done with the house-selling process and get back to normal. I can't LIVE in a clean house. So for those of you having clean house envy I say enjoy the moment, look around your house, leave those dirty dishes in the sink and go out and have some fun. Those dishes will be there when you get back!

Go team!

I just had to mention one little thing.....Go Cougars!!!! We ordered the Mountain channel this year to watch BYU football and are really enjoying it. Today's game was awesome. I didn't expect it to be such a high scoring game..too cool. It's fun to see some winning going on. All I have to say is WOOHOO!

More work done

I have more home improvement projects to report on. This post is mostly for immediate family because they (Janelle and Ashton) want to see the changes that are going on here so the rest of you don't have to look if this bores you! Wednesday I painted the upstairs hallway along with the trim that was finished earlier in the week and I started the tile in the boys bathroom around the shower to fix the water leakage problem. Thursday the tile was caulked and I started filling in holes and dings in the boys' bedrooms. Friday I painted Easton's room. Today I painted the boys bathroom. Wow! What a difference a little paint makes. Now that I've bored you to death with my update, carry on with what you were doing.
The boys' new, classy bathroom. Why didn't I do this a long time ago? Notice the tile edge sticking out from the shower curtain.Little Easton is sound asleep in his little bed. Do you like the paint color? When Easton got home from school on Friday he sat on his bed and cried. He was so sad that his pastel yellow room was gone. He just couldn't understand why I had to paint his room because he liked it just the way it was. He's my child that just doesn't deal well with change.

Just Do it!

When school started again I made the goal to do some home improvement projects that have needed to be done for a very long time. It's really out of character for me to let projects go undone for so long, but my life has been crazy busy. So, I made a list a mile long of things that needed to be done in all parts of the house. I am happy to report that we have made progress and slowly but surely things are looking up in this house. The painting of my room was a large undertaking, but I conquered it!

Next I plunged into the cleaning and fixing up of Ashton's bathroom. With Ashton at college it made sense to go after that one. It was ridiculously dirty (I don't know how I let her get away with that!) and I spent quite a few hours cleaning, polishing, and spiffing up. After cleaning there was the problem of stained, old caulking and some rather unsightly holes in the walls where water had leaked out of the bathtub/shower and did some damage. I had already fixed water damage in these same areas before and knew that mudding and painting wasn't going to solve the problem. I decided that a border of tile around the shower area should take care of it. I'm happy to report that the tiles are in place, grouting is finishing and the tub has new caulking. It looks so new and spiffy! Glad that one is over.

Yesterday's project consisted of completing some trim work that my Dad started a year ago when he came for a visit. I have a hallway that has a few angles in it. My laundry baskets were really damaging three of the corners in the hallway. He put this cool, wooden decorative trim up to protect the corners. Well, I never finished what he started. I used the saw and miter box to cut small pieces of the trim to finish going all the way up to the ceiling. I caulked the seams and poked the nails in with the nail poker thing and puttied the nail holes. Easton was happy to help me sand the nail holes. We are officially ready for a new coat of paint in the hallway. I'll keep you posted on that one. This morning while Easton was waiting for the bus we filled in the dings and cracks in the hallway and will sand later today.

Dallin and Landon's bathroom is also in the process of getting a new row of tile around their shower because they are having the same leaking problem the Ashton had. I put the tile up last night and will be caulking today.

Slowly and surely progress is being made. It's amazing how much work can be accomplished when you stay home every once in a while and you put your mind to it. Oh, I also tiled the window seal(sp) in my bathroom last night because the paint had water damage. Thanks for reading--I know this was rather boring and long, but this is part of my daily life that I am trying to preserve for future generations. I'm sure they will all appreciate my hard work and be so impressed with their great, great, great Grandma in 100 years. It is pretty amazing!

This is the trimwork that I did with the help of Dad. It's ready to be painted now.

Notice the beautiful tile border around the shower and the new,white caulking around the tub. I did find this really cool tool at Lowes that helped smooth out the bead of caulking, much better and less messy than using your finger.

Peach Cobbler

For our Sunday dessert today I made an old-time favorite recipe. We had my Grandma's Peach Cobbler. It's not your typical cobbler, it's a whole peach cooked in a yummy nutmeg sauce with piecrust covering the top. I remember having this a lot as a child. The peach would be super hot so we would take the hot pit out to cool it off before we could eat it. The warm, sweet sauce really added to the great flavor. I think this was the first time Landon and Easton have enjoyed this dessert. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Combine:

1 1/2 c sugar

2 TBSP flour

Add:

2 C water

1 pinch salt

Cook and stir til mixture is clear.

Add:

2TBSP butter

1 tsp nutmeg

Place peeled, whole peaches in deep cooking dish. Pour sauce over peaches. Cover entire dish with prepared piecrust of your choice, leaving some hanging over sides. Cut a few slits in crust for steam. Cook 375 for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Run Dallin Run

This was the scene at the start of Dallin's race this past Saturday. It was at Berry College in Rome, GA. There were so many teams participating it was ridiculous! When the starting gun went off it was crazy. The runners just start cruising and push each other to get a good spot. Some even get knocked over and stepped on--brutal!
A shot of Dallin after the race. It was a hot, humid morning and the race was intense. Most of the boys had slower times because of the difficulty of the course and the weather. Dallin got to try out his new running spikes and was able to report that it did make a difference.
Dallin is running with his team doing their cool down run. I love this sport. The kids are just amazing to me. It's a very difficult sport that requires a lot of athleticism, but also mind control. You have to convince yourself to keep going even though your body is telling you to stop.

Here's a shot of the race just as it was starting. The other clip is of Dallin cruising during the race.

A birthday celebration for me

Happy Birthday to me, last Monday, September 1. It seems kind of funny to post about yourself, but if I don't who will? Hope you enjoy my day in pictures.

My cute boys set their alarms, waking up at 7:30 on a school holiday to make me a fabulous french toast breakfast. The presentation was fabulous and it was a great way to start my day. Yum!

Stephen treated me to my own private cup of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie icecream. That is the best stuff, my favorite flavor.
Gene and Sandra, Stephen's parents came over and delivered one of Sandra's famous cakes. It's a tradition that she makes cakes for everyone on their birthdays. She always calls ahead and asks which of her cakes you want. I picked her Apple cake with Cream cheese icing, it's my favorite. I also like her lemon cake.
And the food continues! I've decided that birthdays are just really an excuse to eat yourself into oblivion. Stephen grilled steak and shrimp for dinner. It was fabulous along with a great spinach salad and rolls. After my day of eating I was definitely full.

A look at my awesome cook. He always makes a great steak. Thanks Stephen!

Notice the special candles? Well, of course we didn't have 43 candles in the candle drawer so we used the 4 for the tens and 3 candles for the ones. Very creative, don't you think?

Mmmmmmm...gotta love that homemade cream cheese frosting

My present.....new Asics Gel Kayanos! My favorite running shoe. Even though I don't run anymore I just love how they make my feet feel. They're great at the gym on the treadmill, eliptical, or stairmaster. I have happy feet, thanks!