Conversations

Marissa: Can I go buy a dress, I only have 3 outfits for church.

Me: I have one black skirt that I have been wearing for the last 4 years every Sunday.

Marissa: Well, I am not saying your old, but older people don't care about their appearance or styles. They pretty much wear the same thing all the time anyway.

Me: What? We do too care about how we look. Believe me, if I had 10 different outfits, I would wear them.

Marissa: Well it is more important for teenagers to have different clothes to wear because we are conscious about style and how we look.

*Sigh* *BIG SIGH* You know, I just had a revelation.......the reason all the "old" people wear the same clothes is because they are sacrifing their own fashion statement and needs and are buying clothes for their children.

Specialties?

Almost all of us at our house like to work in the kitchen!
While I was doing dishes (and making an apple crumble), I was pondering (ha!) on what each person in our family likes to make or bake in the kitchen.

Pat - "Salsa man." I will get to that in a minute! He likes to make a lot of different things, namely anything with meat. In the summertime when the time for grilling comes along, he will go to town on grilling all kinds of meat, some of which we will eat for dinner that night and the rest for freezing to savor later. I will also call him our "salsa" man. Last year with our garden produce we decided to try our hand at making salsa. We made some fresh salsa (which I helped with and it was pretty darn good) and some cooked salsa which we then froze in quart baggies. Depending on who you ask, he might have gone over board. We still have 12 quart bags of salsa in the freezer!!

Cindy - "chocolate girl." I love to make all kinds of desserts with chocolate.....cookies, cakes, scones, brownies, etc. I also like baking anything in general. I take after my mom who loves baking!! I also like making pies! When my mom realized that when I was a teenager I had the pie making stuff down, she refused to make any at that point and I became the family pie baker forever more! I still have that job today for family gatherings!

I have this secret dream (its not a secret anymore) of wanting to have my own Bake Shoppe. (I can hear the guffaws already, I know, I need to perfect my cake decorating)! I would take great joy in making sugar cookies, cakes, brownies, and all kinds of delectable sweets like things you see in magazines!

Ether - He is our "cookie man." He just absolutely loves to make chocolate chip cookies. Got a craving for chocolate chip cookies, or just chocolate, all you had to do was ask Ether and he would whip up a batch in no time!

Marikita - I think she missed out on the cooking gene somewhere! I don't recall her EVER making anything in the kitchen. She just has no interest in creating anything in the kitchen. That's okay, she is talented in so many other areas! She will be famous or rich, or both someday and she will probalby hire a cook anyway!

Marissa - "Apple crumble girl."- When it comes to making desserts, Marissa almost always hands down, will make an apple crumble and she does a dang good job at it. She takes pride in what she makes and you cannot hurry her along. She also loves making sugar cookies and is talented at decorating them! She is also 2nd in line when it comes to making choc chip cookies.

Gretchen and Hannah - They are just getting the hang of cookie making! It is funny, their favorite part of baking is cracking the egg! They will stick to the task of the making and take off when it is time for the baking! I am left holding the bowl!

SPRING

I am so happy that Spring is almost here!! Yipee!! Spring is really my favorite season! I love all the other seasons too, but there is just something about spring that makes you feel alive and renewed.

About 8:00 this morning I could hear the birds singing outside my bedroom window. No, I wasn't sleeping, I was working, but I wished I were still sleeping! I just absolutely love hearing the birds sing and it really gives me joy! I guess I am weird, but I never get tired of hearing the birds chirping and singing. When the weather is warmer and we start opening the windows, Pat will get frustated when he is awakened by the song of the birds and he wants me to close the window, but I just want to lay there and listen! Growing up on a farm might have something to do with it! We didn't have air conditioning in our old farm house and so the windows were our source of cool air! I would wake up every morning to the birds singing and the sun shining.

Hearing the birds sing their song reminds me that spring is on its way, that the earth will be renewed with fresh green color in the grass and the trees, flowers with their abundant rainbow of colors and fresh, wonderful air. Out with the old , in with the new!

Spring also reminds me of Christ's sacrifice for us and that through Him and His Atonement, we can purge out sin, be renewed, and live with bright hope for this life and eternal life.

Happy Spring !!

Melancholy

I know I have posted something similar to what I am going to say, but I am going to say it again.

I have decided that watching kids grow up is hard on my heart. Even as I rejoice with kids on each new step of life’s adventure, my heart has pangs watching them go. As you all know, our oldest Ether, now 20 years old is serving a mission in Colombia, South America and he is doing great! Our 18 year old daughter Marikita is in her Freshman year at college and doing great! Marissa is a Junior and oh too soon will be a senior in 5 months! Sigh. Just when they were getting all civilized and are so danged fun to be around…....I wish I could tell all my friends how to prepare for the days when the kids start leaving the house. When all the kids were little I remember people older than me saying "they grow up so fast." I kept thinking, oh...that is a long time away! How do parents survive all this growing up, anyway..? Realizing how fast kids grow up makes me want to hug everyone more.

Captivated

I just found a website about the new movie about the Young Victoria, Queen Victoria. I am just captivated by the pictures, the costumes, and the story. I guess I am too much of a romantic at heart. I think I would have loved to live in this time era. Although they had their share of different kinds of trials, it was such a time of innocence and romanticism. I love the way they spoke, the clothing, courting customs, I love it all! I think that is why I love to watch Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen as well as anything she has written.
Check out this website, it is so entertaining!!!
http://www.theyoungvictoriamovie.com/

Pictures from the Past

I just absolutely love this picture! I sure do miss those days when they were little babes! Aren't they so cute?!!! I never used to believe people when they told me "kids grow up fast." It is so true. Now that these two babes of mine have left the nest, I can't tell you how unprepared I was for their absence in our home. I miss you Ether and Kita!

Ready for church! Arent' they so cute!

This is outside the courthouse after Pat legally adopted Ether, Marikita, and Marissa! As you can tell, Gretchen is about ready to join our family!!

I goofed

Somehow the pictures below got spaced further and further apart the farther you scroll down! Whoops!

I will be posting pictures soon from Ether's concert last year and our family trip to Utah when we took Ether to the MTC!!