{Therapy}

I mentioned in my last post that Derrick and I spent a day of learning at a Love and Logic seminar. A few of you had some questions and wanted more information. That was my plan for my next post, but as you know plans sometimes change. I do plan on posting about it and some of the parenting tips they offered, but not right now. Honestly, we did really well implementing some changes around here for the first four days or so, then I had a melt down at poor Brock, which ended in tears from both of us. It was one of those mommy moments that I'm not one bit proud of, so unfortunately the Love an Logic post is going to have to wait, as I'm not feeling like I can give any parenting advice at this moment. My little meltdown along with receiving some sad news from a friend, left me in a funk..... so I spent a few days locked away in my room of crafty tools, creating.

My momma and a friend needed some cards, so I got to work.

and while I worked, I thought....
and I reflected, and I set some goals for myself. And when I finished with the cards, I moved on to yet another project that I've been putting off.
A couple of pillows for Miss Carlie's bed (I got the wrong size pillow form for the zebra pillow, so hopefully I can find one soon), along with curtains (not pictured) for our Primary Room, just in time for our Great to be Eight night that I was also in charge of, and spent a bit of time getting ready for. I still have plans for a few more pillows to go on her bed, but while I was enjoying my preferred form of therapy, a tornado, or three, mysteriously tore my house apart and I need to focus on that for a few hours.

{Weekend Excitement....}

of both the good and bad sorts!

First, the not so good.

Ooooops! Actually, oops maybe an understatement. Friday afternoon Derrick and Brock headed up the road on four-wheelers to run our dog. Well, only one four-wheeler came back. I saw them pull in, but it really didn't hit me that anything was wrong until Brock came in crying. I'm glad I knew he was ok, before I saw where he rolled, how he landed and the damage to my four-wheeler. It could have been SO much worse and I honestly don't know how he walked away from that unharmed, he was definitely being watched over and blessed that day. I get teary and sick to my stomach every time I see the pictures and think how much worse it could have been.

Yes, he did roll across all those rocks. Yes, I'm positive it's a good thing he had his helmet on. Yep, the A-arm on my bike is broken and the steel rim is trashed (who knows what else we'll find when Derrick starts to tear it down to fix it). Yea, I think it's a good thing we may just know a great ATV mechanic and I bet a certain young man is going to learn just how much time and money goes into the fixing. Yes, the four-wheeler did land on top of him, and the handlebars were sitting on a rock and the back rack was on another rock, miraculously there were no rocks in between those two, where he landed. YES, he is a very lucky boy and I'd have to agree with his Papa that he better keep saying his prayers..... I know I will! I'm feeling very blessed right now.
Now onto the good!

Saturday I got to spend the entire day with my Hubby man! First, we attended two sessions of a Love and Logic Parenting seminar. I learned so much, and left excited to try some new things (now actually applying what I've learned is going to be the challenge). In between the sessions we had a yummy lunch at Kneaders complete with a yummy fruit tart, or maybe two or ummm, six. That evening we met six of Derrick's high school friends and their wives in Provo at the Brick Oven for dinner and then hung out at Cameron's for a bit and visited. I love that these guys still try to get together now and then and that all the wives get along well too. I love to hear and laugh at all the "remember when" stories from these crazy guys (I grew up with all of them too, so I remember them back in the day) but I hope and pray our kids don't act like their dads did!?!?
Did I mention that this blissful child free day, was all made possible by my parents? They gave us the opportunity to attend the Love and Logic seminar and kept the kiddos all day too!
The highlight of the kiddos day with Gram and Papa..... Horse Rides! The kids have been begging Papa to ride Prince for awhile now and Saturday was the day. Kaleb disappeared into the house before Gram could get his picture, but he got a turn too. Somehow Gram also had the time (and patience) to make homemade rolls and cinnamon rolls with them too.

Last but not least, we got to attend my cute nephew Kaden's blessing today and then enjoyed dinner at their house after church. We spent some time visiting, and most importantly I got a little cuddle time with that adorable little man!

Do you know what the perfect ending was to our exciting weekend......

A SUNDAY AFTERNOON NAP!

{Birthday Boy Brock}

This past Saturday my Brock turned ELEVEN! Of course we couldn't just celebrate on Saturday, it had to be a weekend event!

For starters, Brock got to go to the maturation class at school with his dad ;)

(really, I have a kid that's old enough to go to that?)

Saturday afternoon we opened presents from our family. Carlie and Kaleb both went shopping at the Family Dollar (pretty much the only choice round here) and picked gifts for Brock. Carlie got him giant bubbles (I think she really just wanted them for her) and Kaleb picked a Nerf gun. Derrick and I got him a Wii game and his new Scouting books. He was excited about everything, but I could tell he was trying not to show that he was a bit disappointed. All he'd been asking for was a new baseball bat, and I could see he was a bit bummed that he didn't get it.

Until I sent Kaleb downstairs to bring up one last gift! Can you tell how excited he was?
Brock decided he wanted to go bowling and to dinner as a family, so we headed to Delta. As you can see by our scores, none of us excel at bowling, but we had fun!
Other than the coveted baseball bat, the only other thing Brock wanted was to have the entire family over, not just for cake and ice cream, but for dinner, which we did on Sunday. He even planned the menu.....
Ham
Funeral Potatoes made by Grandma Jeannie (not because he likes them, but he knew others did)
Corn
Grandma Sheri's Chocolate Oreo Pudding
Gram's Rolls -"Your rolls are good mom, but Gram's are just a little better!"
One of Aunt Lisa's famous cakes, Steelers of course
and Ice Cream
He was showered with gifts (and came away just a bit richer).
He didn't quite get out all the candles in one shot, but he tried. Most importantly he had a great weekend, surrounded by the people he loves!

{Karate Kids}

A few weeks ago, Brock and Kaleb had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake to compete in a Karate Tournament.

Derrick and I waited patiently for their turns ;)

Mr. Brock
KK

They both decided to compete in Kata's and Sparring.

It always cracks me up to see the kids with all their sparring gear on. I looks hard to walk, let alone fight. In addition to the helmet they have a mouth guard, plus feet and hand things....Yep, feet and hand things are the technical name in my world. But, despite all the gear, they get some pretty good hits and punches in.

Brock looked so serious as he listened to the instructions they were given.....

and also as he received his scores for the Kata he preformed. We had a good day and it was fun to see how much the boys had improved over the last year.

{Holy Mess of a Craft Room and a Little Project}

I keep seeing all of ya'll bloggin about your organizing ventures, and honestly, I need to be organizing, but I just wasn't feeling it. One of the worst area's in my house? My craft room/office...PATHETIC! Seriously it was embarrassing. I had to step over piles to get to my computer many times daily. Did I care? Not enough to do anything about it..... until today! Why today? A few things. First, I needed to sew up a birthday gift for one of my preschoolers, and well, you can't sew if you can't get to the machine and the chair to sit your butt down to sew. Second, third and fourth..... I had a friend call and want to borrow some punches and there was NO way I was letting her see that room, I still haven't finished Ann's Christmas banner, yes Christmas (I'm a slacker friend) and lastly I've had some requests to make and sell my banners, can't even consider that when you can't find the table to make them!

Told you it was BAD!!!

and the closet was pretty sad too!
During the process..... I think that's the first time there has been nothing on the table for years. I took out 3 full bags of garbage! Unfortunately when I clean, the mess spills out of the room into the hall, so that was one more mess that I had to deal with!

Ready for after pictures???

Yippie! You can see the floor, and the table and the computer desk! That pile next to the sewing machine is mending/projects. There are also a few projects on the stamping table.

The closet.... I still have some things to go through, but it's MUCH better!

Remember the gift I needed to sew? It was clean enough in my room that I got it done tonight! I've been making these crayon rolls for each of my preschool kids birthday's, plus the nieces and nephews too. There is a great step by step tutorial for them here. They aren't very hard (just don't look too close at my lack of sewing skills). I changed things up a bit and used a button and elastic loop closure on the last few. I thought it might be easier for little hands than tying the ribbon. I also made a little one inch card stock template (show in the top picture) to help me measure where to sew my lines easier!

I really should just move on to the next room and keep organizing/cleaning till I get the entire house done, but now that I have a clean space, I'd much rather play in the crafty room!

{Snow Much Fun}

FINALLY! I get to blog about recent events!

A few weekends ago, we headed to Beaver for our annual snowmobiling weekend...... I can officially call it an annual event since we've done it twice now, and plan to go next year too, right?

James and Kami were planning to come with us, but unfortunately they all got influenza, so they couldn't join us. We had invited our friends, the Cummings family to come and lined up 2 condos (from generous friends). Derrick took the day off on Friday, and after sleeping in a bit, we loaded up and headed down.

After unloading everything, and getting semi-settled, we decided to head out for some snowmobiling fun. We headed over to a flat area to play a bit. Derrick and I kicked the kids off to play in the snow, while we played on the sleds. I was feeling like a pretty good driver, until I made a turn and tipped the sled on it's side and sunk it! When we finally got it unstuck I jumped on with Derrick to play for a minute. I had just thought to myself how much I liked riding with my honey every once in a while, when he started carving and threw me right off the back of the sled! We headed back and I ducked to miss a branch and ended up tipping the sled over again..... I guess that's what I get for thinking I had snowmobiling skills...... 3 times in 2 hours!

Brandon and Christy and 3 of their cute kids got there that night, they left their baby with Brandon's mom. We spent Saturday playing in the snow and eating!

My cute Brock!

Kabers
Carlie Girl

Monica, Colby, Carlie, Paige, Brock, Kaleb, Derrick, Brandon, Christie, and Kyle

My man hanging out watching the sledding action!

He can only hang out for so long before he needs to move on to something else. I think he took the girls up and down the hill 30 times. I love the grins on their faces (Derrick included)....they were having some much fun!

Kaleb decided he wanted in on the fun too...... I not even sure how he stayed on!?!

Can you find Kaleb in this picture? He's way down at the bottom to the left of the truck on the mound of snow. So, the sledding hill by the condo was a pretty long hill. The kids really never made it quite all the way to the bottom. Brock kept begging me to go with him. You should all know I'm not a sporty/athletic girl, but I sucked it up and decided I better be a good mom and go with him...... next time, I'll just stick with being the mean mommy! We hopped on the tube and headed down. I guess the extra weight added speed. Somehow we ended up backwards, then we bounced off the side of the shed (with the pile of snow on the top) and dropped off a 6-7 foot drop to the ROAD! My head smacked the road, my glasses flew, Brock dropped on top of me, we broke the snow depth marker in half and we popped the tube! Laugh, come on I know you want to! Even better, there were 2 guys walking their dog.... imagine their surprise when we dropped out of nowhere!

This would be the ledge we dropped off...... someone stuck the marker stick back together. I think Brock must have cracked or broken one of my ribs when he fell on top of me..... It's been 20 days and I'm still hurting!

The Eagle Point Ski resort (formerly Elk Meadows) just opened back up this year. We decided to go check out their sledding hill. Paige, Colby and Kaleb were all sorts of excited about going and the dad's got voted into going with them!

Kaleb's first time on the lift!

Carlie and Kyle watching.

Brock decided after watching for a bit that he wanted to go too!

Brock on the lift with dad!

In the end Carlie was the only kid that didn't end up going, even little Kyle tried it. Not me..... I'm pretty sure sledding will forevermore be a spectator sport for me!

{Brandon Flowers Concert}

This post is a MUCH delayed post, but it was a super fun and much awaited night, and therefore, I must blog about it!

In August, as I was sitting at Bunko, I faintly hear a cell phone playing the Golden Girls theme song, but in all the Bunko excitement I didn't think anything of it. Until it happened again and then it hit me, "HEY, that's Ann's ring tone!" Why the heck is she calling me on a weeknight? We really usually only talk during the day when our menfolk and chillin's aren't home. As soon as we were done, I called her back, only to have her answer the phone screaming "BRANDON FLOWERS IS COMING IN CONCERT..... WE HAVE TO GO!" Yep, I agree....we must go! I didn't even consult Derrick, as soon as tickets went on sale the next day, I snatched up two for us and two for Lis and Jer. Then I waited anxiously on the phone with Ann as she waited to hear if her brother got theirs!

Fast forward to Oct. 20th, the much awaited night! SO EXCITED! It had been so long since Derrick and I had been to a concert together, I think the last one may have been Stone Temple Pilots, before Brock was born?!?

I just have to say, if you don't have this album, or haven't head it..... check it out, I personally love it. I'd also recommend the Deluxe edition, which has four bonus songs.
We met up with Ann and Chad, but they wanted to be down on the floor, and we scored seats with a great view in the balcony, right behind the VIP section! I know the private club atmosphere isn't for everyone, but I LOVED it! I felt like no matter where you were at, it would have been a great spot, it was cozy and intimate. It was nice to be able to just sit back and enjoy the show. I was excited that I got to see my friend Andrea from Santaquin, who just happens to be Brandon Flower's sister in law! Yep, true story.... the crazy thing, we've always been Killers fans, but I'd known Andrea for a few years before I even realized the connection there?!?

The set list included most of my favorites; On the Floor, Crossfire, Magdalena, a cover of Bette Davis Eyes (loved it....check it out on YouTube), Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts, Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Was It Something I Said, Hard Enough, Losing Touch (The Killers), Swallow It, Only the Young, Playing with Fire, The Clock was Tickin', and When You Were Young with Ronnie from the Killers. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute!

Really, what could be better? Enjoying some great music (not to mention eye candy) with my man, my sister and my bestest friend?