Obama is my homeboy . . .

Paul brought these T-shirts home and they were waiting for the kids when they got up yesterday. They couldn't change into them fast enough. Although they had a fun day at school with lots of comments and disscusion, there were many who didn't hide their contempt or their angry opinions. Pauly was sent to the principal's office, by one of his teachers, to make sure his shirt was appropriate for school but he also got a " 'sup" from the big black guys who usually ignore him.

They came home happy.

Key Lime Pie

Another treat Mark and Robin brought when they arrived last weekend was a bunch of Key Limes. I had no idea they were so little. Although making it was a comedy of errors, (we had an allergic reaction, an unnecessary trip to the store and there was some discussion about a missing ingredient), it turned out so yummy.

We ate the pie for dessert after we had BBQ hamburgers and spent sometime outside in the almost 80 degree weather. It felt like summer.

What is it??

So for family night on Monday the little ones wanted to do a treasure hunt, mostly because the treasure is usually something really fun that we don't normally get to do. I can't do word clues like Paul does, I either make them too hard or too easy so I reached back to my childhood and Games magazine. I took pictures of familiar things around the house and yard and blew them up until they were unrecognizable. They had about 20 clues. It was a lot of fun!

Inspiring Weekend

Mark and Robin came to see us this weekend and we had such a great visit! (and no, I didn't take one picture!) On Saturday, we walked around outside the house and they gave us some great tips and suggestions for our boring yard. We went to a local "idea garden" (I didn't know there was such thing as an idea garden) to help us get inspired and then they bought us a few plants to help us get started. They downloaded a PowerPoint of the landscaping 101 class they give and Robin walked me through it. I can't wait to get going!

On Sunday they met us after church and we had a lovely afternoon eating hamburgers and the yummiest corn (which they brought from the Dallas farmer's market) and playing a little backyard baseball and looking at the prettiest pictures of their house in Canada and a National Park they had visited earlier in the day. (Mark is an excellent photographer.) It was hard to say goodbye when it was time for them to go.

Thank you for everything Mark and Robin! We love you so much!

Sister's Week on Design Mom

My sister Gabrielle has a wonderful blog called Designmom

and this week on her blog she is having sisters week.

What fun!

Spring

It is springtime here Texas!! These are the nectarine trees we planted last year.

Excellent document list

I am notoriously unorganized except for one thing. I have all our documents in order. They are in a big binder and that thing is irreplaceable. I love the peace I feel that I know where everything is and it is all in one place. I know this is boring but this book has saved my life and a great deal of misery more than once. Get yours together today . . . you'll thank me.

Keep all these things in a binder or file folder and keep that in a fireproof box.

1 Marriage certificate
2 Birth certificates for each member of the family
3 Passports for each member of the family
4 Serviceman's Group Life Insurance Policy; Other insurance policies: List of insurance companies, policy numbers, types of insurance and local business numbers
5 Previous discharge papers, all divorces, death certificates, and annulments pertaining to prior marriages
6 Immunization records
7 Adoption papers
8 Armed Forces I.D. cards for all family members
9 Citizenship papers
10 Property and automobile titles, deeds and registrations
11 Minimum of 3 copies of orders for serviceman's PCS or TDY
12 Copy of wills
13 Names, addresses and dates of all bills that are to be paid while during move or on leave
14 Report cards
15 Savings and checking and credit accounts and info with appropriate mailing envelopes
16 Minimum of 3 copies of all current Powers of Attorney
17 A minimum of 3 copies of family travel orders
18 Shipping and storage documents
19 Hold baggage documents (when moving overseas)
20 Vehicle (POV)shipping documents (when moving overseas)
21 Port call info (when moving overseas)
22 Medical Records
23 Social Security cards for everyone in the family
24 Receipts for reimbursement or for taxes from move
25 Other personal documents or records
26 Copy of all important phone numbers, addresses and email addresses (updated yearly)
27 Complete military address for service member
28 THIS LIST

Total Lunar Bummer

We had cloudy skies last night, can you believe that?!! At one point, when I was outside I saw the half eaten moon peeking through the clouds so I called everyone out. We watched for about 3 minutes but then the moon went behind the clouds again. We stayed outside for about 5 more minutes hoping it would return but no such luck. When Paul threatened to show us his partially eclipsed moon . . . it was time to go back inside.

Lunar Eclipse

There is going to be a total lunar eclipse on Wednesday night and I can't wait! I love stuff like this.

Click here for info about the eclipse in your area.

Stormy Weekend

We had lots of storms this weekend so we hunkered down and played lots of board games and watched lots of movies and hoped the power wouldn't go out. It didn't.

We watched Becoming Jane.

What a tragic, sad, unsatisfying story.

We also watched Connections which is an old A&E series that Paul and I love. This English historian, James Burke, makes connections between, for example, the discovery of penicillin and soda fountains. It is clever and funny and interesting. I was excited to see I could get it from Netflix.

Plump full of love . . .

One day when Sara and I were young teenagers, one of us discovered "I'll Build You a Rainbow". We sat in our room, on the edges of our beds and listened to the tape recording of this inspirational and untrue story. Sobbing we rewound the tape and listened again and again.

Okay, mom has got to hear this . . . We called her down to our room.

She sat and listened for a few minutes and then in her most sarcastic voice said, "UGGGHHH, let me guess, she dies and then builds him a rainbow." I was floored, I couldn't believe it! How did she know ?!? How could she see that comeing?!? Can it be that she is unmoved by this sweet story?!? Does she have no heart?! No feelings?!?

Sara is the YW president at church and took her girls (including Ruth and Zella) to The Best of EFY last weekend. She described a little of what I think my mom was feeling that day although she wasn't quite as sarcastic. But the girls LOVED it and couldn't get enough.

If you've never heard "I'll Build You a Rainbow" I have good news, just click on this site but grab a tissue first.

Valentine Boxes and Baby's Breath

We received such a fun Valentine's box from my mom the other day. It had chocolate and candy hearts and little pink heart cakes and Valentine decorations and some dish towels (of course) and some really great scissors and it was so much fun!

Getting a Valentine's box from my Grandma Stanley is one of my funnest childhood memories. The box would arrive in the mail and we go crazy waiting until everyone was home to open it. We would all gather around excitedly while dad opened the package. There was always something for each of us and it was always a surprise. It was so great! It makes me so happy that my children will have a similar memory. Thanks mom!

When I was a girl my dad always sent me and my sisters, along with our mother, flowers on Valentine's day. It was especially nice in High School when I felt alone (Robin keeps referring to Valentine's Day as Single Awareness Day, I remember feeling like that) it was so sweet to have flowers delivered to me in class. I didn't feel quite so alone.

The year my sister Jordan was born, she wasn't even a month old on Valentine's Day; Dad sent her a big bouquet of baby's breath with a big pink ribbon tied around the bottom. I loved that.

Valentines

Last week when the kids were unexpectedly out of school because of that hail storm. We needed a project. I remembered that Gabby had blogged about some cute Valentine projects last year (she has some more good ones this year too). This project was perfect for Gloria (5) and Sara (7). It took most of the morning to get do 50 flowers but we all had fun.




Thanks Gab.

Sweet Sixteen

Juanita Garcia Holden

Our dear friend and wife of our bishop in Harker Heights died very unexpectedly on Monday. Sister Holden was so good to our family during our time in Harker Heights particularly when Paul was deployed. We ate at her table, she attempted to teach me how to make tortillas and she was always ready with an encouraging word or smile when I was down. She always looked so amused when I was dragging one of the kids out of sacrament meeting, she would wink at me and remind me that I needed to calm down and not take things too seriously. All the time she was doing the same for everyone else in the ward.

We're going to her funeral today and we're sad.

A taste of summer . . .

Hands down Kahlua Pork is my favorite meal. It is so easy to make and always tastes so good to me. I'm afraid I don't make this as often as I would like because of the heafty price I have to pay on the treadmill afterward but I don't think I could ever get tired of it. A friend from Hawaii taught me how to make this when we lived at Ft. Hood the first time. The recipe is super easy.

Kalua Pork
1 Pork Roast
1-2 Cups Soy Sauce
2-3 Teaspoons Liquid Smoke
Put it all in a crock pot and let it cook while you're at church. Although the flavor cooks throughout, I turn it over about 15 minutes before I serve it for even color. Serve with rice and a big bright fruit salad. If there isn’t any good tropical fruit in season (or reasonably priced) it also tastes great with cinnamon apples (which I made Sunday).

Cinnamon Apples
2 Large Apples Cubed
1/2 Cup Red Hots
1 Cup Water
Let simmer on the stove top until apples are tender. I love the sweetness with the salty pork. The red hots turn the apples bright red; it looks so pretty and it makes me happy on the plate next to the white rice and the meat.

Try it! You'll love it!

Snow Day!!

This is hail from today's storm. These kids are each holding one hail stone. We didn't see anything this big at our house. Pauly took the pics below while it was still c oming down.

Wow! I went to pick Robin up from the gym this afternoon just as a storm hit. The wind was blowing so hard it pushed me off the road several times, I was afraid it was going to roll us. The rain was coming down so hard and fast that the windshield wipers didn't do any good at all. I stayed close behind a school bus so I could gage where I was on the road. And I've never seen hail this big before. It started out the size of a pea but kept getting bigger and bigger. The biggest we saw were as big as golf balls. It looked like someone was throwing snowballs at the windshield. It sounded like someone was thorwing rocks at us. I tried to find shelter under a tree but it didn't help so we just hurried home.

The truck and van are both have dents all over them (the truck worse than the van)but other than that we didn't have any damage, at least no structural damage to the house or the out buildings. Two of the local schools had some major damage, however so school is out tomorrow and maybe Thursday. Woo Hoo!!

Dad, The Dodgers and Sacrament Meeting

Dad loved this picture. We had a print of one similar to this (although I think that was Angel Stadium) in our family room at 810 East. I don't know if he ever got to sit where the pic was taken but he sure liked the idea of those seats.

Even though my dad's eyesight was failing, with the help of a giant monitor, he was able to continue to work on his computer. For church he prepared and printed the bulletin every week. One week, the closing song was "Improve the Shining Moments" but he typed in "Improve the Sinning Moments".

Now I can not believe the he did this on purpose but a little part of me is suspicious. I can just see him sitting alone in his office, realizing the typo and quietly chuckling to himself. I don't think he provided the bullitin very long after that.

Last week my mom told me that she and Roger were going to Los Angeles for the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers moving to LA from Brooklyn. Since then my heart has felt a little heavy. I can't seem to get my dad off my mind. I miss him.