Happy, Happy Birthday Isaac Dear!

I knew this day would come, but not this fast. Isaac turned 12 today. He will receive the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. I am so excited for him. Here is my top 10 of why I love him!

10. He has a great smile

9. He is compassionate

8. He uses words like, conflict and incident to describe a situation with a teacher and a rubberband. (someone flipped a rubber band and it hit a teacher Isaac and another boy were the suspects although Isaac swears it wasn't him needless to say apologies were made)

7. He is a very giving person

6. He is self confident

5. He prays when he is nervous or upset about something

4. He holds doors open for me and asks if he can carry things

3. He likes to make people happy

2. He is a peacemaker

1. He is always concerned for others

How lucky I am to have such a great son!

Fun new pics and a turkey too!

We came down to SLC to have Thanksgiving with Jackson's family this year, there was tons of yummy food and fun conversation. We went to Auntie's and Uncle Jake's and had pie and introduced the kids to our favorite Christmas movie "A Christmas Story." Last year Bennett asked for a BB gun and we kept teasing him by saying "You'll shoot your eye out!" So he finally understood why we kept saying it. On Saturday we went to Wheeler Farm for Ferguson Family Fotos, (Jackson's brother leaves for his mission to Edmonton in the next couple of weeks) The pictures turned out great! Go to http://photographybydmc.blogspot.com click on november in the sidebar, the email account is kendyann@yahoo.com to see more. (and yes that's me with the new do)

You know you live in a small town news market when........
One of the things I miss most about SLC is the news. You never appreciate something until you don't have it. I actually revel at the news when I'm in SLC. Here are the top 10 reasons why.

10. One night they were talking about a new addition to the zoo while showing footage, later in the broadcast they had to apologize because apparently the footage was of another zoo.

9. The news anchor pronounced the word emeritus totally wrong.

8. They were reporting on the record snow we had and how it was good for the ski industry, the footage they used was of deer munching on hay. (A story they had reported on the week before, talking about having to provide extra food for the deer)

7. The grainy picture

6. The up close shot. One reporter always has the camera really close up on her anytime she makes a report.

5. One channel actually reports for fox news and abc news

4. Personal commentaries. One news anchor whipped out the National Geographic and said she noticed it in the check out lane and there were some great articles in it.

3. Using the same mug shot of a guy for two different stories and not recognizing it.

2. Great hairdos and make up

1. One of last nights top stories was that a woman had her purse snatched out of her grocery basket while loading groceries in Twin Falls (2 hours away!) and to think the same thing happened to me in a Sam's Club parking lot in Midvale. I can't believe I didn't call the news about it!!!Silly me!

My Garage and other thoughts

Our garage has been quite the eyesore the last couple of months. All the stuff we used for trek along with many camping trips somehow ended up on our garage floor. We've been shoving it aside for the last couple of months and every so often, I would mention to Jackson we really need to get some shelving up. Last Saturday I came home from doing primary stuff and found my sweet husband putting up shelves. Can I tell you how happy it made me! I sat outside in the garage for a minute, just reveling in how nice it was to have a clean garage. Next will be my storage room, but I'll give him a little breather first
The other thing that has been on my mind lately is all the picketing going on around the temples and churches. I know it's a volatile subject,(prop. 8) but I was reading the conference talks and came across Elder Hales talk "Christian courage: The price of Discipleship." It really helped to give me perspective and made me realize how lucky we are to have apostles and prophets to help us remember what is most important. It's a great talk that helped me to not want to "put up my dukes" and get caught up in what is happening on the news and close to home.

Halloween and other important stuff

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile so please excuse this lengthy post as I catch you up...

First- Everyone should have an Auntie and Uncle Jake!

Auntie sent me home with a goodie bag for my kids for Halloween, (below) how lucky they are to have such a great Auntie and Uncle who throws them pirate parties, takes them to any resturant for their b-days and showers them with love everytime they seem them. Lucky Ducks!

Second- Being Jared's room mother means I am in charge of the Halloween party for his class. Basically I did the same thing as I did last year, (why mess with something that really works)

So I put the haunted house up, where the kids go in to retrieve a bag of candy, guess how many gumballs are in the container, and get a couple of prizes. The games consisted of Fear Factor, where kids had to choose from, larva, skin, boogers, or lizard eyes. They also made a fun ghost and drank homemade rootbeer (5 lbs. of sugar!) and rice krispie treats.

Third- Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without my spook alley on the porch. The weather threatened for a moment and I didn't know if we would be able to do it, but it calmed down quick enough for us to be able to do it.

Here are the pics.....

Potions table in the spook alley

Fear Factor
Gifts from Auntie
Pumpkins we carved
Skeleton Collection

The Spooks are out......

On Monday we carved our pumpkins, (you'll have to wait until Halloween to see what we did) and tonight was the annual Halloween Party put on by the youth in our ward. We had a fishing pond, face painting, creepy feely, cake walk, and bean bag toss. We go to the old YW's Presidents house. They have a big shed that is decorated and build a big bonfire out front. It's a really fun night. Jackson is in Las Vegas so wasn't able to make it (he had to pick lighting out for the buildings).

So the spooks are coming out in other places too. A couple of weeks ago I walked into work and my manager said, "Wow, people from Rexburg are really interesting." I asked him why and he told me they had a guy from Rexburg pull up to the curb, start running for the terminal, someone yelled at him he couldn't leave is Cadillac Escalade parked there. He threw them the keys and said take it, I'm leaving the country, they're after me! He then ran to the ticket counter and asked to be booked on the next flight out, he kept repeating "They're after me." My co workers decided it would be prudent to call the police in. He ended up missing the flight, but after the officers said he was o.k. to travel, they booked him on the next flight and he headed out of the country. Last week I was talking to Jackson about some of the things that have gone wrong while building this auditorium ( a guy was killed when a car hit him, another was arrested in a drug bust) Jackson procedes to tell me it doesn't end there. Last week one of the guys on the project was arrested by the police because he had a gun out in front of his house and yelling "Their going to get me!" I couldn't help but start laughing. Then asked Jackson "Does he happen to drive an Escalade?" He found out the next day he did drive an Escalade and had just called from out of the country to turn his business over to a co-worker. Like I said, the spooks are coming out!

Two Words

Primary President

So much for thinking I wasn't going to keep busy! Today I was sustained as the new Primary president of our ward. Talk about a humbling experience. I'm a little nervous considering the last time I was in Primary was 11 yrs ago when Jackson and I were teachers. Even though I feel very under qualified, Heavenly Father has really given me peace of heart and mind. There is an article in this month's ensign with the quote. "The Lord can draw a straight line with even the most crooked of sticks." How comforting it is to know that he will qualify us for doing His work. I was able to call some amazing women for counselors and think we will be able to make a difference in the lives of these children. (Even if they are easily distracted and asking questions like "what's your name.")

Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures...
So as I mentioned before, when I was released from my calling in Young Women's I got a little nervous at what would keep me busy. PTO (same as PTA) sign ups were happening at that time so I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to get involved with the kids schools. I guess I went a little overboard (as usual), I signed up to be Jared's room mother, Isaac's school Value Representative (more work then I planned) and to help with the school Halloween Carnival. So last night was the school carnival. I planned to help with the Spook Alley and after agreeing to be room mom, found out I had to set up a game in Jared's teachers room. I figured with Jackson's help it would be o.k. Only to find out Isaac's scout leaders had chosen the same night to have their campout and Jackson had to go. So I had 3 hours to decorate two rooms and get the kids and myself dressed up in our costumes. Again a little overboard! So let me just say I did bring my camera to take pictures but of course found no time to actually take some. The teacher room turned out good. I did monster operation, where I took a Scarecrow made out of garbage sacks (refer to last years pictures) laid it out on the table, then put canisters underneath and cut holes in the sacks so kids could stick their hands through and feel the various things. I did latex gloves filled with jello for the hands, wet spaghetti for the intestines, a tomato with the skin off for the heart, aqua gems for the brains and frozen green olives for the toes. I guess it was a pretty big hit. They had college students running the games. I was busy at the spook alley taking tickets and trying to explain to parents that if they didn't want the monsters to jump out they could take a "good fairy" with them. Which was a good idea, there were so many people I found myself having to shout and doing crowd control. My poor boys had to go off on their own to play the games, but what do you do? So by the end of the night I was completely exhausted, which led me to do something I couldn't help but do. I've been off of "the juice" (diet coke) for two months now which has been really good for me, but I couldn't help taking the kids to the good old Burger King and picking up a big Diet Coke and kids meals for them. Oh well, like I say "Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures." By the way Ben was Indiana Jones and Jared was Anikin Skywalker (we still use the costume mom) and I went as a pirate princess with my mickey mouse hat. I'll post pictures next Tuesday we have a Primary halloween party.

I'm officially an Idahonian

Yes, it's official. I went Potatato harvesting and had a great time! I didn't know there could be such satisfaction in digging for potatoes.

Treasure Hunt

In reading some blogs I have found that many peope were touched by President Monson's talk "Enjoy the Journey." I've been struggling lately (i think every woman does) with feeling overwhelmed and running around trying to get things done. I have heard quite a bit of councel lately to "slow down" and enjoy the moments. Monday, I had decided to take time to clean my house. Not such a great idea with three boys and their friends running around. I would clean one room and then come back to find it a mess again. I had just cleaned the kitchen and came in to find cereal all over the table, and certain items spread out. Automatically I found myself starting to get frustrated and upset, but then the words, "They won't be little for long," came into my head, so instead of getting upset, I decided to go on a little "treasure hunt" with my camera, so when they are long gone from the house I could remember those "little messes."

Cereal, a ball, and sucker
Found a trail of these candy corns down the stairs' I guess they missed the memo on no food downstairs

A Few Things.......Our Disneyland trip was a much needed vacation. We joined two of my sisters and families and went on a quest to find the shortest line and anywhere with air conditioning. Although now I am finding I'm missing the heat since it's been 27 DEGREES here! We enjoyed our favorite ride, Pirates of the Carribean, along with the Haunted Holiday Mansion. We stopped by the Teacups (it was quite amusing watching the kids try and walk afterwards) and Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror and cooled off at Splash Mountain. Getting cooled off at Splash Mountain took a moment though, we found ourselves stuck in "the laughing place" for about 20 minutes. You know something has gone awry when the lights come on. We were the third ones in line to go up and had to be escorted out, what could you do but laugh? They did give us some fast passes to come back when it was operating again. We stopped and said "hi" to Jack the Skeleton and Sally, Mickey and Minnie and literally chased after Captain Jack Sparrow. We enjoyed munching on Power Packs (string cheese,yogurt,apples and a drink with color changing straw) candied apples, lollipops and cotton candy.) The highlight was my sister's friends being in the right place at the right time, they got us some Dream Fast Passes which has tabs with different rides and you can go through the fast pass line with them, that rocked!

Some things overheard on this trip:

"Would you like me to take your picture" (Lara)

"Please don't step on the animation" (Guy helping us out of our log)

"I like Ben'" (Lulu,said with a sheepish grin, she wouldn't hold anyone else's hand)

"Can I have a stuffed animal?" (Jared, about a million, trillion times)

"Let just stay here one more minute" (Auntie, staking out for Dream Fast Passes)

"I'm done" (Uncle Jake)

"I'm married to Mark" (Adam after waiting for Lara to finish another conversation with complete stangers)

"Daniel Boone!!!" (Libby, trying to get auntie and Lara to get a move on while talking to more strangers) FYI: Daniel Boone is what our Aunt and Uncle would yell if they were in a crowd and couldn't find one of their kids. At one time they were visiting with my cousin in New York and were in Soho when one of them got lost. They started yelling at the top of their lungs "Daniel Boone" much to the emabarrassment of my cousin.

Tea Cups with the Uncles
Thunder Mountain
Escaping the Laughing Place
Lara's in the white shirt
In line for the Matterhorn


Getting Buggy

Lara after terrorizing kids on the bumper cars
Auntie and Jake
Silouhettes we had done

(the lady did them free handed)
Adam with the Dream Fast Passes

Off the Air.......
Programming has been interrupted for some much needed R & R with Mickey and Minnie.

Who Knew This

Plus This

Could Equal This

Yep, it's that time of year again, Potato Harvest. The kids get out of school for a week and a half. So, instead of going and picking potatoes, we go on vacation! We're heading back to Disneyland this year along with my two sisters. The boys have never been to California Disney (Except for Bennett but just for a minute) so it will be fun to take them on rides they haven't really been on.

My sister Lara tagged me for telling what some of my quirks are, so here it goes,

I've used this one before, but I'll tell you again, I don't like it when people sneeze more then two times, it just puts everything off.

I have to have the cupboard and pantry doors shut. If they are open I immediately have to go shut them.

I'm an organize freak, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a clean freak, just that things have to be structured in my head. For example I plan way ahead on how I will get off the exit on a freeway.

I have to have my blinds open.

At work I hate it when people come up through the exit even though there is no line. (I think it goes against my organized theory)

I'm sure there are more but I can't think of any now.

It FINALLY came out!

I am speaking of Jared's tooth. He has had a loose tooth for over a month now, so long that the other tooth was actually already coming in. Every time I would go to try and pull it out, I would have to threaten him to stay still, but could never get a good hold. Finally today I told him it HAD to come out. This is his first tooth that he has lost (my kids don't lose teeth very easily)even though he is in 2nd grade. So he was a little nervous about it. Today I had to bribe him to open his mouth and let me take a peek. Luckily I move quick, I reached in and snapped it out before he knew what happened. Poor kid, will he ever trust me again? In the end, he was happy to finally have it out so he could collect from the tooth fairy.

The Invitation

On Thursday mornings I have been going to Jared's class to help his teacher with odds and ends. I did this for Bennett's teacher last year, so I told Jared this would be his year. After I was finished last week, the kid's had left to go to lunch, I went by the luchroom to say goodbye. I told him to have a good day and started to leave. He then piped up, "Mom you know you can have lunch with me." his neighbor affirmed this, "Yeah you can, and it doesn't cost much." Jared then asked me to have lunch with him. I felt bad but had other things on my agenda for that day, so asked if I could join him the next week. So today when I came he asked if I was going to have lunch. I told him yes, and his bright blue eyes lit up and smiled that smile of his. As he trumped off to lunch, having been chosen the leader of the line that day, I called to him to save me a seat as I finished what I was doing. I came in and noticed him shewing the other kids away from "my seat." The menu consisted of lasagna, salad, roll, and for dessert curious george fruit snacks. (Ah the memories) The conversation consisted of what would be played at recess, and what items on the tray they didn't deem as edible. (I had brought my camera, but when I turned it on, I got the dreaded, change battery pack.) Tonight we went to pack meeting. Bennett was getting his Wolf badge, it was hard not to compare the things I would do for Pack meeting when I was Committee Chair and the things they did now. I haven't been able to go to Pack meetings because of my commute to Salt Lake. My beloved Book Club was meeting tonight in Salt Lake (we've been going for 5 years) but knew how important to Ben it was that I be there. After Pack Meeting I was invited to Bunco, so I was still able to get some girl time in anyways.

The Nature Club

Every day Jared comes home breathless (from riding his bike home fast) "Can I go play?"
"Do you have homework?" is my response. This usually leads to some negotiations. "Can't I do it later?" (him) "How about one page now and one before dinner?" (me) little pout "O.k. why not all of it right now." (me) "o.k. I'll do it" This is because he always wants to go meet up with his buddies at the Nature Club(which used to be the Book Club). This is a tree that is located at the church at the top of our street. It is called the Nature Club because they like to make things like slingshots, but it has to be done all out of nature. I asked if I could come by and check the place out today. I was shown favorite spots to sit, the best swinging off a branch area, and cubby holes they stash their treasures. I was just informed that the current project is collecting fallen branches to make a raft next week. I'll let you know how the maiden voyage goes.



Bennett in his favorite spot

Today I put the finishing touches on my Halloween decorations, I also got some "good mail"
My mom and dad sent a beautiful carved witch and cat, and my sister sent a witch barbie doll. This is all to celebrate that it's witches time again. In the past we have been able to get together and attend Gardner Villiages "Witches Night" but again this year we won't be able to make it. So last year some sent Witches packages, and the tradition continues this year. Can't wait for the other witches to get what Jenn and I sent. I'll share it once everyone has gotten it. Here's some pictures of my decor this year.
I love the bats!
Good mail from my parents
good mail from my sister

Goings on and other trifle information

Holy cow can you believe I'm actually blogging again? I don't know what's wrong with me! Just thought I would share how happy I am that it is Friday (o.k. Tuesday, but in my work world it's Friday)
and "I'm leavn' on a jet plane" back to my family. We have been having so much fun together lately. Things are crazy as usual and I do have my mommy meltdowns still but life is so good and hey my favorite month is just around the corner. I actually almost cried when I had to leave Sunday night for my commute to work in SLC. I think I need to go on a trip to remind myself why I do what I do. Thank goodness Disney is only two weeks away! Maybe I can sneak in a side trip to Seattle. Boys update: Ben and Jared are currently playing in the flag football league, they look so cute in their jerseys. Isaac opted out of sports this year, but I think we will hopefully start him in swimming soon. Libby update: I was released from YW's a couple of weeks ago and in a moment of sheer panic (what to do with my time?) I volunteered to be Jared's room mother and at Isaac's middle school (yes he is in middle school here) I volunteered to be in charge of their value treat days (which of course is turning out to be more demanding then initially led to believe) but I love going to their school and hearing the whispered "That's my mom" and then the pointing finger and the giggle (o.k. that's jared, Isaac just smiles and says hi to me) Oh I also got a gym membership for my b-day, and am a new avid lover of SPINNING! Yep Katie the bug has bitten me too. Which means as usual people are trying to get a hold of me and only get my voicemail which leaves them constantly saying, "you are so busy" "Yes, yes I am and it makes me happy!"(most of the time)

TRUE COLORS

Last weekend I went to a great class that my Relief Society had. A friend of mine, sister teaches about how you can have a closer family and be more charitable by understanding each other. She calls it, "Family Color Works" basically the concept isn't new. We've all heard at one point in time "What color are you?" It's a little different then times past. She says that by knowing what a persons color is (or personality) as well as whether they are an introvert or extrovert, you can be more understanding and charitable (not get so impatient with them, instead you can say "Oh I understand why you are acting this way) She taught a section on how to determine what color you are and then how to determine what color your kids are, so you can try to be a better parent,spouse,friend, etc. I found it really interesting. She also taught how to deal with the "stressors" that come with each color type. For example, I found Jared was an Orange. One thing that will stress a person who is orange out is a time limit. They like their freedom and if you give them a time limit, it doesn't go so well. Jackson likes to call out time limits especially when getting ready for bed and Jared always melts into tears. Poor guy. So now we know we need (and when I say we I mean Jackson) to handle it a different way. Go to www.familycolorworks.com to determine what you are. (if you are an introvert be aware that your first color is usually the color you hide, the second color is the one you exhibit.) On this website it is for determining 10 and up. For kids she has a little bit different method, but you can still figure it out from this info. I found I have a very colorful family:
I am a blue/gold extrovert
I'm still working on Jackson I think he is a green/orange
Isaac is a blue/orange extrovert
Bennett is a gold (boy is he a gold!) green/ introvert
Jared is an orange/blue extrovert

One thing she did advise us is to be very careful about determining someone elses color. Just because someone shows traits doesn't mean there motives match the color.
Happy color hunting!

The Boys Are Back in Town...

Last weekend our house was full once again. This time it was filled with lots of boys. We had the first annual Boys Weekend. My parents came in from Seattle and on their way they stopped and picked up one of the grandsons in Boise, I brought up another one from Salt Lake to meet up with our three boys. (their are two more but they are still to young) Papa took them all to get fishing gear so they could try their hand at fishing. I haven't been fishing for a while, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Although most of my time was spent getting worms on the hook and fixing fishing line, but it was well worth the hard work, especially when we started catching the fish. Papa and grandma also took the boys to a movie and Uncle Jackson took them to the splash park. Uncle Adam flew in as well and went fly fishing with papa. Things overheard during this weekend,

"I'm not supposed to be putting worms on a hook" grandma

Some people think I'm strange because I remember things." Kp

"I'm never going to catch a fish!" bennett

"It's not called catch a fish, it's called fishing" papa

"I caught another one" cade

"Mom take a picture of me, this way" Jared

"We had a good day" Uncle Adam

"oh man!" Isaac

Adventure to Yellowstone


We knew at some point we would be going to Yellowstone (especially since we're only 1 1/2 hours away) so over the 24th Jackson's family decided to gather the whole family (21 people total) to our house. Luckily we have enough room to accomodate everyone. (I had a friend ask how I was fitting everyone into my house) We had a fun night of fireworks and then headed out to Yellowstone the next day. I haven't been there since I think I was 6, so I have some memories but (mostly steam and things that were yellow). We really had a great together. Jackson's sister-in-law and brother booked a great camp spot right off the Madiosn River for to stay. It was really beautiful with all the different wildflowers and river.


Highlights:

* yummy conference mix (swedish fish, goldfish,pretzels,nuts and skittles)
(got it's name because we have it a conference)
*Bennett complaining that "Old Faithful" was NEVER going to blow and us telling him he was right that today was the day "Old Faithful" wouldn't be faithful. (later when asked what his favorite part was, he said Old Faithful)
*The Bison we saw walking down the highway as if he was just another car. He passed right by us. (There was a man on a motorcycle behind him trying to decide whether to pass or not)
*Having icecream at Mooseberry's
*Wildflowers everywhere
*The amazing colors


Lowlights:
*Our poor niece who had a high fever for most of the trip
*Libby getting grumpy because of low bloodsugar
*The smell and heat from the pools
*The trip didn't last long enough