ORGANIZED CHAOS AND DING DONG, WRESTLING SEASON IS OVER!

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So here is what we spent this Saturday doing. It started with Tim's alarm not going off at 4:15 AM. Fortunately, Bailey needed to go out at 5:15 so when Tim let her out, he realized we were an hour late getting up and Brandon missed his carpool to Cottonwood for the Freshman State Wrestling Tournament. Had she not woken us, we may have still been snoozing way past too late to get him there. We had planned to go all along, but our plan had been to go later since they did not start the wrestling until 10:00 AM. But he had to get registered no later than 8 AM and since the tournament was two hours away and since he missed his ride, off we were in the car, with MY hair gone wild. (no time for fixing) It was tense moments as we drove, hoping we would make it in time for registration. Whew, we did it!
All that tension must have been good for him. He was able to win all his matches, pinning two of his opponents, and took first place in his weight bracket for the Freshman "state" tournament!
And his friend Gideon placed third so there were congratulations all around!
And now the season is over for another year.
Anyone as excited as me?

The Roll of the Dice and then a Prize!

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Bunco is a silly, skill-less game, but a whole lot of fun!

I used to belong to a Bunco group. You have to commit for a year. There are twelve players and so we played once a month, and each player took a turn to host the Bunco party at their house. We were responsible for serving a meal along with our game.

Our old year ended in September and when the new year came along, I bowed out of the commitment. Not because it was not a whole lot of fun, just because I thought I was going to start school. So, while I have not done that yet, I did put myself on the substitute list and yesterday they asked me to sub!

So I rejoined my former players and had a ball playing again last night.

That is where the brainlessness of the game comes in. Aside from needing to know how to keep count, this game of chance rather than skill allows you much more time to talk, laugh, and be silly. And silly we were! It is fun to be in that kind of atmosphere with fellow ward sisters. Their fun side is exposed. And so last night I won the most games and won this amazing prize.



And Leann was jealous because all she won were a pair of movie tickets when she could have had so much more fun with an animal fur robe! What a diva I am, don't you think?

Christmas Eve

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On the Eve of Christmas we celebrated our time with a huge dinner, with way too much food and lots of good friends. The day was busy, and chilly, and feeling a lot like Christmas. There was the hustle and bustle of working and food preparation, and worrying that the roast would be overdone, or underdone, or how the gravy would turn out. But it all came together and we enjoyed the feast, and the desserts, and the great company. Thanks to the Wightmans and Helferstays for helping us celebrate and ring in Christmas! PREPARATIONS



CELEBRATIONS





Afterwards, as is traditional in our family, we share our gifts we have each thoughtfully planned for each other and enjoy guessing what is wrapped in each box. Cameron is the champ at guessing and has a pretty high guessing percentage! And finally everyone is old enough to keep quiet their surprise until that night. So we all enjoy the suspense and excitement that comes along.























But we laugh as each of us opens a gift from Brandon he announces the great bargains he got on his gifts by announcing what he paid! It was hilarious if you were there! And it was so like Brandon to feel the need to share with us his thriftiness. And yet, he managed to select a perfect gift for each of us! And, in case you were wondering what was in the packaged that was labeled To Mein Mutter: Aus Dein Son: here it is!

Happy Be-lated Birthday, Shannon!!!

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This video is my apology for being late in remembering your birthday, Shannon. Hope it was a good one!





Old Friends.........

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Yesterday some old college friends dropped by for a visit. They live in St Louis but happened to be in Phoenix for the weekend. I was glad we were on their list of places to see and visit while they were in town. Isn't it funny how you can go years without seeing people, but when they are good friends, and you get along well, you can just pick up where you left off? And, you don't have to spend your time living in the past reminiscing. You can just talk about life and how things are today!
Where was my camera? Well, it was sitting in the drawer in my kitchen the whole time they visited and it was not until they walked out the door that I realized we were having such a good time that I did not think about this blog once! Therefore, I did not think to pull out the camera and take a picture.
So, you will have to trust me that Chris and Kim dropped in for a visit and the visit was good! And no one mentioned the few pounds we have all put on.
May your landing be safe today and you find your 4 children well when you return home!

Twilight at the Breaking of Dawn

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Okay, so it was not quite as early as the breaking dawn when some friends and I went to see the new Twilight movie but we did go see it this morning. At 10:20 AM. I have never gone to see a movie that early but I am not knocking it. I mean, a movie before noon is only $5! Wow, like Loretta's gas prices from 1981 which you can see here on her Nov 21 & 28, 2008 post, we are practically seeing movie prices nearer that decade too at $5. This, by the way, is the ONLY picture I took during the time we were in the theater, unlike a certain girl in this group, who shall remain nameless for fear of legalities, who tried hard to get a picture of Edward during the movie. I am not sure if she captured that before security from the theater came and told her a thing or two. I am not sure what was said as I was listening to the movie and sitting on the complete opposite side from her! She will probably be telling you a little bit about it here, never mind, I don't know if she is going to post this or not so stay tuned.

Oh, did you want to know about the movie? The movie that is making a very, very successful and rich author even more successful and rich? Well, to tell you the truth, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. I have read all the books. But, I really was not "getting" the rage behind them. They were OK, but not all that interesting. I mean, vampires? I have heard there is a whole genre of vampire books and fans out there. I have never been one of them. I was surprised to hear that anyone at all was! So, I guess I don't get out much. Never-the-less, given this particular author is from Phoenix, perhaps she got a lot of extra press around here and therefore I was sucked (get it???) into the whole trilogy + 1 (what do you call a group of books that are more than a trilogy?) and read them all. I am sure Stephanie Myer is thanking me about now as I contributed $2 to her fortune since I learned she makes $.50 on each book sold.

So, I actually did like the movie, as far as it goes. It has not created in me a Twilight series maniac or anything, but I was sufficiently entertained. I liked the music and I liked the stylistic way the movie was portrayed. But, I must say, as much as I miss rain here in the desert, I sure think it is way too muddy and rainy in Forks, WA.

Another Post for Judy.........

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I couldn't go without telling Judy thanks for being a good sport and for reading the part about sending me a new picture, which she had her son Dennis take of her just to email for my blog! If you don't know what I am talking about, see Nov 12. Judy wanted the world to know that she was 12 years wearing nothing but Catholic school uniforms and did not know how to dress but I am here to tell you that she, Paula (her cousin), and I worked at an amazing department store, Famous-Barr, which offered an amazing employee discount, and so we were really very well dressed! She is crazy. We had way too much fun getting to know the people in the departments we liked to shop in so that they would hold clothes for us we wanted to buy during the deep discount days! Woo hoo. But, of course, Judy did not always spend her time shopping since she liked spending much more of it flirting with the boys on the dock! Hey Judy, don't you just miss a store like Famous-Barr??? (Macy's bought them out, not the same!)
Judy says I have too much free time. Maybe so. Today was not one of those days and yet I posted twice in one day! I got up, got Brandon off to school. Went to work. Came home, checked email, walked and hour on the treadmill, took Brandon to a 3:30 doctor appointment that we did not get out of until 5:00. Then I ran a meal to a friend's house who has been out of town nearly two weeks caring for her father-in-law as his wife just passed away 10 days ago or so. She was zapped and needed a break. And she kindly brought me a meal a few weeks ago when I was zapped. What a lifesaver someone else making a meal for you can be! Thank you Pam!

And Judy, I know if we were closer to each other, I would bring you a meal with all my extra time! Love Ya!

JUDY, JUDY, JUDY...............

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Ha! I got a chain letter today. From the aforementioned name above! Thanks, Judy! I HATE chain letters. I bet you do too but since someone did it to you, you had to pay it forward, right?? Well, a side note in your letter said you wanted me to blog about them. So here I am and I am dedicating this post to you, my dear North Carolina friend. To top it off, the chain letter has a lottery ticket in it. I mean, what the heck does a non-gambling Mormon do with a lottery ticket, or the request to purchase six more? Yikes! I will send it back to Judy and I hope it is a winner! I might regret it forever and ever if it is, but, alas, I don't do lottery. Thanks anyway. Sounds like you could have fun with it. Judy, my dear Catholic friend from high school and college days never met a Mormon until she met me! Ha, until then, I do believe her upbringing may have given her the impression of horns and pitchforks or some such thing. She told me, when she met me, that she thought EVERYONE was Catholic. Well, St. Louis might give you that impression, right? But, it doesn't matter, we learned that we had a great time together and Judy made me laugh, all the time, and she can sing and makes one mean Lucy from the peanuts characters! And something everyone should know about Judy is that when she finds an item of clothing she likes, really, really likes, she buys one in every color! She always has had cute clothes, and lots of them. Thank you Famous Barr!
My scanner does not work and Judy lives so very far away. She has been all over this country, living from coast to coast, and all I get is a chain letter!!!! Just kidding, so since my scanner does not work, I took a picture of a picture and we all know how great that works out. So Judy, if you don't like the pics I posted, please, please, email me a new one! But here she is, my dear friend Judy. If any of you want an address to send a chain letter to................... Judy 25 years ago, and now with her hubby Dennis.

THE FUNNIEST OF COINCIDENCES...

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Okay so my friend Loretta just got her blog up and running. Congratulations Loretta! Check out her blog down below. But, I wanted to tell you about the funniest of coincidences we share with each other. Sorry, Loretta, I beat you to this story~

So I met Loretta back when we both lived in MO. Now neither of us do and we could have been two ships passing in the night if it were not for my mom, who told me she knew of a girl in her ward that she thought I would really enjoy getting to know. So, one day after the birth of my second child and her third, we were introduced and the rest is history! So, Loretta, I guess this means we have known each other about 18 years! Wow!

Anyway, upon getting to know each other, we realized we had some amazing things in common:

Her first child was a boy, born before Tim and I had started our family. But, our first child was born a few months after her second and both were boys. They were in the same grade of school together. Our next children, her third and my second were born within two weeks of each other. This is when we met so her second and third were instant friends with my first and second! Then, amazingly, we started discovering this crazy phenomenon, like that we are both left handed. Both of our husbands are named Tim and both are computer geeks of sorts, (and I mean that in a very good way!), and by the time we discovered we were pregnant again, we found that her fourth and my third had the very same due date!!!!!! ( I beat her to delivery by three days as I was two days early and she was one day late!) Now it was getting quite freaky. Her husband Tim and I share the same birthday and my husband Tim and she share the same birthday. Our only sisters each share the same birthday as well!!!

Loretta, the brave woman that she is, went on to have two more children and got two girls out of the deal! Great job. It has often made me wonder what would have happened should be have gone on to have more ourselves, hmmm..............

We have had many a laugh about that and as our years have progressed have shared very parallel lives.................It has kept us laughing and crying together often. I only wish we lived closer so we could take a picture of the two of us together. Hey, Loretta, do you have one and could email me?? :)

RHEA, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!

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Okay, so I am finding myself posting on a blog, though I highly resisted doing this. It is hard for me to come up with what to write that would interest anyone. But, for you, Rhea, I have decided to give it a try. This may be my one and only post. We will see how inhibited I feel about it all!!! ha ha ha

I am only just learning about the fancy things that can be put on here so don't laugh to hard at how amatuerish it all looks. Those of us that are out of our 20's and 30's are waaaaay behind on these sorts of things. Sigh..................