June 24, 2009

That's the day & here's the place:

Congratulations Ryan!!!

Mission Song

We strive not for glory, we strive not for fame
We’re serving in Arkansas with only one aim
The Priesthood of God with which others we bless
The most glorious honor that man can posses

Yes!

We follow the Prophet, we teach of the Lord
We testify daily of His church restored
A million will join us; it’s the end of the drought
We’re called to the harvest; it’s the day of the South!

Though we’re far from perfect, our God is our King
For Him we will work now, to Him we will sing
We work for our Father, and this is our goal
The salvation of thousands, the saving of souls

Yes!

We follow the Prophet, we teach of the Lord
We testify daily of His church restored
A million will join us; it’s the end of the drought
We’re called to the harvest; it’s the day of the South!

Contest Results:

And the winner is. . . Lacy! She guessed Texas which is one of the six states bordering Arkansas. Lacy, let me know which restaurant you choose for your gift card.

A Llama Sneezed On Me!

An interview with Evan

Our homeschool boys' group read
Where the Red Fern Grows
and they've been doing some fun activities to go along with it.
I didn't go with them today, but I got the scoop afterwards!

Mom: So what did you do today?
Evan: I went to the Peters' farm!

What was it like?
Fun and dusty and poopy

What animals did they have?
Llamas, goats, chickens, roosters, peacocks, turkeys, pigs, turtles, tortoises, dogs and cats

Did you get to try anything new?
I got to milk a goat, ride a llama, gather eggs and feed carnivorous chickens, frolic with the pigs, and pluck two peacock feathers.

What was the best part?
I'm going to have to say milking the goat. That was at the top of my list. You don't just pull. You have to grab and then squeeze.

How do you keep the goat still while you milk it?
There's a metal thing they stand on. You put its head through some bars and that keeps it from moving, but it can still kick. It kicked over the full pot of milk, so we didn't get to drink it. But they had more milk in the house.

What does goat milk taste like?
It's different from regular milk. Well I'm used to drinking fat free milk, so it is more creamy. It's good. We even made goat cheese. You get a gallon of milk and heat it to 180 degrees. Then you add 1/4 - 1/2 cup vinegar. That makes it turn yellow. Then you use a special strainer and the curd separates from the whey. When it's drained a bunch, it turns into cheese.

Did you try the goat cheese?
It was pretty good; I enjoyed it.

What else did you like?
My second favorite thing was riding the llama. I just hopped up on it. One thing that was pretty scary was that I almost fell off into a pile of llama poop. There were some places where the poop was so deep that if you stepped into it, it would be up to your ankles. I even got sneezed on by a llama!

What was that like?
Wet and a little bit slimy. It wasn't green--don't worry.

What else did you do?
Oh boy, when I was trying to put a collar on the little goat it was kind of scary. The goats were jumping up on the fence and then trying to charge me. Getting the peacock feather was really cool too. You grabbed a feather and held on. The peacock would flap and flap, but you had to keep holding on. Finally the feather would come out. There's even blood on the end of my white feather! I love the color of my other feather. I'm going to call it "peacock green"

Mom, can I go there sometime again? They always have fresh eggs. You just go out and grab some eggs, wash them off and you've got your breakfast! I think we should get some animals. But they said llama food's expensive so maybe we shouldn't get a llama. How about just a few peacocks? Please?!

Time for bed Evan!
(Special thanks to the Peters & to Lisa, Michelle & Angel who planned the fun and transported all 13 boys.)

What to do??

Recently we were talking to a young couple. They mentioned how hard it is to find something to do on the weekend.

Later, Marianne asked me, "What did they mean about "finding something to do?"

Our weekends seem to be jam packed with chores, sports, babysitting, church services & activities, family time and other commitments. Marianne couldn't even conceive what it would be like to have a weekend that wasn't full of "have to's".

Are you in the
"What to do?"
or
"Have to!"
stage of life?

Either way I hope you'll find time to come see . . .

Two Gentlemen of Verona
March 20, 21, 27 & 28
7:00 PM
North County Church of Christ
130 Woodward Ave., Escondido, CA 92025
Tickets: $5 per person/$20 per family

It's a very funny Shakespeare production
by some amazing kids!
They've studied and performed more Shakespeare than most of us ever will.

Best of all, since it's only an hour or so,
it won't cut into all those items on your weekend "to do" list.

Here's the old version:


And here's the up-to-date cooool version!

Aaron stars as Proteus--a charming guy who cheats on his girlfriend with his best friend's girl! He manages to get his best friend out of the way by having him banished to the woods.

Shocking I know!

You won't want to miss it. You might even want to put it on your "have to" list!

Coooool

I'll be the first to admit it. . . I'm not very cool. I have lots of good qualities, but coolness is not among them. I've never read Twilight and I'm not even on Facebook. Can you believe it?!

See, I thought I was being so original with a contest to guess Ryan's mission call. Then I find out that everyone does that on Facebook, AND they all offer prizes of much more than $10. Oh well.

Instead of being cool, I surround myself with cool people. . . like you!

Some of the coolest people I know have birthdays in March.

Ryan 3/12

Here is my handsome son looking like something out of GQ
He turns 19 today!!!

(If I was cooler I could come up with a more trendy magazine, but alas, I'm not. I also wouldn't use words like "alas")

Evan 3/2

He is so cool that he has trained his mother not to use the word "cute" when referring to him or anything related to him. Doesn't he look cool as a skier?!

Lacy 3/11

My cool sister-in-law, who is married to my cool brother and has the cutest 1 year-old on earth. (Evan says it's okay to call babies "cute") Be sure to check out Lacy's very cool blog:
Funtalia

Cammi 3/19

My coolest almost 5-year-old niece doesn't know how to spell "cool" but sure can pull it off! She loves to pose for pictures, look cute and be in charge.

Jennifer 3/20
She is another one of my cool nieces, this time from John's side of the family. Here is a peek into her studio. She is a real, live professional artist. In other words, she actually gets paid for her amazing work. You can check out her portfolio HERE

Jenny 3/21
Jenny has been cool every since she was born. Trust me, I've known her that long! You can tell she is a cool mom by the sunglasses. Cool people always seem to be wearing sunglasses, don't they?! She doesn't actually own an iphone, but she REALLY wants one, so that should count for something. Her dreams are much cooler than mine. You can read about them Here and Here

Brad 3/25
Sadly, I couldn't find an actual picture of my cool nephew Brad (again from John's side) on my computer, BUT I did find this picture of the cool view from Brad's house! And he'd better enjoy it because he won't have this view forever. He's getting married and will have his own view, although I'm sure his parents will still share. After all, he is wonderful pianist and always does the dishes without being asked. His wife-to-be is one lucky girl!

Denise 3/27

The original cool sister-in-law. She can cook or quilt or sew anything cool with lightning fast speed. She takes cool pictures, wears cool jewelry and like most cool people has an iphone.

Dallin 3/30
Last, but not least is my cool nephew (finally on MY side!). He has more energy than my whole family put together and can talk faster than Denise can craft! He is turning 8 and that's one of the coolest birthdays of all because he will get baptized.

Happy Birthday to all of the COOL people in my life!

Where In The World?

Tonight Ryan officially submitted his mission papers! In honor of that event, I've decided to have a contest. The winner will receive a $10 gift card to Ryan's favorite place to eat--In N Out!

Here are the rules:
Leave a comment with your best guess as to where Ryan will be called to serve.
One guess per person.
You need to name a specific country or a state in the U.S.

Even if you don't usually comment (and you know who you are) please make a guess. It will make Ryan and his Mom soooo happy! Besides, you might even win something!

Counting My Blessings

Well, maybe not ALL of them. Why don't I just start with 10 of the many blessings I have received this week. . .

1. John started his new job!!
2. He gets his company car next week so all 3 of the drivers at our house won't have to share one van.

3. Evan got his Arrow of Light award and became a Boy Scout.
4. He also won 3rd place in his last Pinewood Derby.

5. Marianne begged me to get up early last Sunday so we could get a good seat for Stake Conference. You can read more on her blog.
6. I got to watch my kids meet Elder L. Tom Perry and shake his hand.
7. Aaron promised an apostle of the Lord that he is preparing to serve a mission.
8. Ryan had his interview with his bishop at BYUI and will submit his mission papers soon.

9. I finished two very uplifting and inspiring books this week: Three Cups of Tea and In His Steps.
10. Evan & I got to see a Civil War battle re-enactment and hear Abraham Lincoln recite his Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address. I love Lincoln!

Pay It Forward + 2 free DVDs!

Okay, I am hesitant to do this, but how can I miss out the chance to receive a handmade gift from my friend Kim?! She is one of the most creative people I know. Besides, I already received a great blog-giveaway from my cousin Kristin, so I feel like it's my turn. Thankfully, I have my very creative, crafty daughter Marianne to help me out, so we're doing this as a team! Here you go . . .

PAY IT FORWARD!
How it works: The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.

The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions). Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy!

Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify. Good luck!

And if you're looking for even more FREE stuff, check out this offer from Living Scriptures. Even the shipping is free! You'll get:

Journey to the Promised Land Animated Book of Mormon DVD
The Trek West "Docudrama" DVD
A 48-Page Family Home Evening Activity Book
8 Animated Book of Mormon character magnets.