Senior Pictures

I had so much fun doing senior pictures with Robin this afternoon.

Remembering Daisy

My Grandma Stanley died a couple of days before Christmas last December and she has been on my mind. I was reading again what Gabby wrote about her because I love Gabrielle's writing and what she wrote is sweet and comforting to me.

As I remember little things about her, I hope that you won't mind me sharing.

The other day I was trying to get a little boy at church to stop crying. I found a plant and made him cry into it so that the water wouldn't be wasted . . . I learned that from Grandma Stanley.

Laundry Room Makeover (part 2)

I finished the laundry room! Yea!! Doesn't it look good?

Being organizationally challenged I went to my organized friends for help. Sara gave me the best ideas. My favorite was to buy these little tags to tie to my baskets instead of the stickers that I was planning to use. Aren't they cute?

So here are my before and after pictures.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

How'd those get in there?

благодарность (that means thank you)

We had an happy treat today when Mickey Reynolds (formerly Elder Reynolds) came to our house with a package and greetings from Grandma and Grandpa Mac in Russia. He had served with them until about 3 weeks ago when he came home.

We loved hearing about his mission, the people, the places and how he is adjusting to being home; and of course we especially loved hearing about our missionaries. It was so nice.

It was fun to open our little package. This doll was my favorite. My mom had mentioned it before but I was still surprised at the Asian look of the her little face and clothes. We made quick work of the candy they sent and I squirrelled away the pretty lotion before the little girls could get it. What fun!

Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa Mac! We love you! We'll talk to you soon.

Get back to work!

I'm supposed to be getting ready for the R.S. Birthday I am in charge of tonight but I saw this on Mindi's blog and I can't stop watching it.

Luck o' the Irish

So Gloria spent the day with some friends yesterday who are staying at their vacation home nearby. I told them that when they dropped her off they should stay and have corned beef and cabbage with us.

At 6:00pm, right on time I heard Gloria come through the door with friends right behind her and then I heard her gasp.

"Mom! The house is so clean! I've never seen it this clean before! Did you clean all day?!?"

Awesome.

Do they have this one with pumpkins?

Why is making decisions so excruciating for me? Picking a new background was the worst! I picked the last one because it was one of 7 I could choose from, there weren’t that many choices and I really didn’t think I would be blogging very long anyway. But here I am coming up on two years and I really needed a change but what to do?

Do I pick another basic blogger template? BORING!! Do I get a cutsie one that looks like a scrapbook page? Not really me. How about hiring someone to design one for me? Again, not really me because I would actually have to shell out cash for that. I could try and design one on my own. I tried it . . . let us never speak of it again. So what I am left with is to pick one of the zillion free templates out on the net. To be honest this is actually the most painful option for me because now I have to start all over again with the decision making.

Argghh!!

Click click click . . .Ooo! Strawberries, that’s cute, what else is there? Click click click . . . Oooo! Blue ethereal sky! I like that one. But maybe there is a better one; I’m going to keep looking. Ooo! That one is nice . . . wait, is that the same one I just looked at? Back click, back click, back click . . . nope different ethereal sky, well, at least I’m consistent.

Half an hour later . . . click click click click . . . Oooo! Red Japanese umbrellas! I really like that, I wonder if I could get a print like that for the entry. Click over to art.com. Another half an hour later still at art.com but looking at pictures of sporting events . . . Wait! I’m looking for blog skins! Focus Rachel! Click back to Free Blog Templates R Us. Click click click . . . another half an hour goes by filled with ethereal skies and pictures of red things.

Repeat 1000 times.

Sigh!

Me “Robin, come and pick a blog for me.”

Robin (from the other room) “Pick your own, mom, I’m watching the office.”

Crap!

A couple of days later I found some cute ones. They were a little cartoonier than I normally like but I was so sick of looking. I picked one.

Me “Robin, come and tell me this one is cute.”

Robin “That’s cute mom but it doesn’t really seem like you.”

Crap!

I’m not getting up until I pick one! Click click click . . . Strawberries (yes, the same strawberries from days and days ago.) I like strawberries, I eat strawberries, I like the color of strawberries. Strawberries it is!!

Me "Pauly, I can't get this to install will you come and help me."

Pauly "Mom, you just follow the instructions."

Click click click, it’s almost installed. A quick phone call to Jared to make sure I'm not going to lose the last two years of the only journal I am keeping.

Jared “You won’t lose it.”

Me “Whew! Thanks Jared! Have fun snow caving!”

Click and save! Done!
Wait a minute! I’m not going to be happy with this in October am I?

Crap!

Spring Break, Bangs and Lady and the Tramp

A couple months ago I decided to let Sara's bangs grow out. I usually have it pinned back so that I can see those blue blue eyes. This week however is spring break and we haven't been real strict with our morning routine so she has looked like this all week . . .




Which reminds me of this . . .




I can't wait until she can hook her hair behind her ears.

High School Musical

Another thing my mom did right is that she took us to musicals, and plays and the ballet . . . well, we went to the Nutcracker but that counts right?? We went to musicals the most and I grew up loving them. The music, the costumes, the dancing . . . I LOVE IT ALL!!

My kids have grown up going to musicals and watching the movie versions. The summer we moved back to Texas that was all we watched. Sadly, I must report that West Side Story was not a favorite among the Rodgers children. When they do like one I try my best to get the soundtrack and then we listen to it in the car until we are sick of it.

I tell you all of this because we just rented HSM3 from Netflix and along with the first two, I love it! I love all three because the music is fun and original, and the dancing is really really good. Yes, I know the storylines are silly and similar but I can forgive that because 1~ their focus audience is 10 year old girls and 2~they filmed #2 in St. George so I can look at the red rocks while Gabriella and Troy kiss on the golf course. The prom number is my favorite in #3. Here is a shortened version, the introduction is in German.

Bidding A Fond Farewell to Robin's Wisdom Teeth

This is how Robin felt when we came home this morning.

. . . and on his farm he had a PIG!!

Two pigs to be exact. A friend from the branch caught a wild pig and a bunch of piglets. He gave us two of them. Paul, Dan and Pauly spent Saturday morning putting up fencing and a little shelter. The piglets were delivered about noon.

building a pig pen

We've named them Prosciutto and Kahlua.

Some things you may want to know about raising wild pigs:

~You need to de-worm them by giving them special food to eat.

~You need to feed them corn for at least 2 weeks so that they won't taste gamey.~Piglets will become tame very quickly.

~As they become tame, they become friendly and you have to work very hard not to let them become pets.

~They are very smart and in the beginning they will try very hard to escape.

~They are nocturnal.

I told Paul we should butcher one and put it in the freezer and we should have a neigborhood luau and roast the other one in an open pit. I've never done that before.

Gams

So Saturday was coronation at Lindale High School. This is an elegant, traditional night when the queen and other royalty are announced.

Some things you need to know about coronation:
~a girl is nominated by each club or team
~the girl needs an escort from that club or team
~the girl needs a fancy dress
~the escort needs to match the girl's fancy dress
~each girl is announced, she does this awesome curtsy when, if done correctly will end with the girl sitting on the floor (no lie), the escort bows and presents her with a red rose
~if you are not nominated for queen, you are a duchess
~it is a very big deal

Some things you should know about Robin's duchesshood:
~she was the Young Democrats Club duchess
~Pauly was her escort
~they called her Rachel during her introduction
~Robin did an abbreviated curtsy
~they were not supposed to do the little thing at the end, in fact all the kids were threatened with detention if anyone did anything off script
~they did not get detention
~Robin has really great legs, maybe a little too great
~Paul was gorgeous and the perfect escort
~Robin was both beautiful and lovely

For more pictures of the big night, see Robin's blog.

Laundryroom Makeover (part one)

So, I have been meaning to fix up the laundry room since the day we moved in and I finally had the time and the money and the energy to face it all at the same time.

I felt inspired after seeing these pics on Liz's blog and Jordan's blog . . .

I showed them both to Paul and the next day he put up this . . .

Man, he's great!!

I also cleaned out my sewing table and organized all my quilting and sewing projects. I am so excited to have everything in order and a plan to get everything done!! Yea Me!!


Next, I tackle these shelves. . .


They have become a catch-all for anything we don't have the time or inclination to find a place for and I am sick of it. (I have been wrestling with myself over whether or not I should post this pic. It is just so embarrassing, especially because this was taken after working on it for about an hour.)

Pacman and Mario

I know these are old. They crack me up everytime.

Sacred

Robin received her patriarchal blessing yesterday. It was one of the exquisitely beautiful experiences of my life.

Let's be honest

Our order of Thin Mints came in this week. Robin said happily, "Look, there are only 40 calories per cookie." I asked, "But does it say how many per sleeve?"