Ian's Birthday, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Ian turned 12 on December 24th. He received lots of gifts. We also went to see a movie that day. He also had a party the week before with his friends. He went to the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center in Pleasant Grove. They do mock space missions for the kids. The kids all said it was the best party ever. It's reasonably priced, lasted 2.5 hours and I didn't have to stay. That is my kind of party. I can't believe that I have a 12 yr old. Very surreal.

Here is our beautiful Nativity. We have Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a shepherd, a wiseman and an angel. We even had a black sheep with Mitzi, but she's not in the photo. Perfect.

Dylan and Orion in their new PJ's Christmas morning.

Ian, Sophia, and Theron enthralled with their Santa gifts Christmas morning.

We had a nice day. I received a wii and a color printer, two things that I really wanted. Kenneth was given his 5th gun for the year. The kids mostly asked for games. Breakfast was our traditional pull-aparts, sausage, orange juice and this year we added bacon. I love me some pig. Especially considering that Christmas dinner was ham. Yummy. The day was mostly spent relaxing and playing. I spent the day reading, Kenneth was mostly on his computer, and the kids were playing their games. Then we went to my parents to give them their gifts and say hello. After that we dropped off Sophia at her cousins for a week to give her some girl time. All in all a great day. The week has pretty much carried on that pattern. For me lots of sleeping, reading and not cleaning. For Kenneth lots of sleeping, computer time and gaming time. For the kids lots of reading, gaming and playing with friends. Love it.

Theron's Test

Theron has been in Taekwondo since June. He had his first test in October and became a senior white belt. Usually you don't take another test so soon, but he was again tested this month. He did great and will be receiving his yellow belt next week. He works really hard and has shown his teacher that he is ready to keep progressing. I'm so glad that he likes it and doesn't mind going to class and doing his best.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets Review

We always go see a movie on Christmas Eve for Ian's birthday. This year he picked National Treasure. It was a fun film. A little action, a little comedy, a little romance. We had fun. Orion and Dylan did not love it so much. Orion said he was scared and I think that Dylan was just bored. I recommend this movie to anyone except 4 & 6 year olds.

I Am Legend Review

We went out with some friends after my quarantine to see I Am Legend. I thought it was a good film. It's hard to categorize it because I didn't really feel that it was a zombie movie so much as a man alone movie. The ickies were there on the edge all the time, but I didn't feel the danger from them until near the end. It was more about a man still thinking that he could save the world and finish the work he started. I was creeped out by the fact that he was alone and so you're constantly expecting something. I have heard that some people didn't like the way that it ended, but I think that it was a very appropriate ending. I liked it, I'm glad we saw it, but I wouldn't own it.

Piano Recital & Choir Concert & Christmas Program

This is the children's piano teacher, Jamie, and her other students at their piano recital.

Theron announcing what he will be playing.

Sophia announcing her selections.

Ian waiting for his dad to take the picture before he plays.

Sophia after her choir concert. I wish I could figure out how to upload video so that you could hear her sing. She had a solo in a song.

Sophia with her friends after the concert, l-r: Alle, Katelyn, and Emilyn

Orion at his Christmas program. He did a great job and made sure I was watching him the whole time by watching me the whole time.
Orion with his friends after their program. l-r: Halle, Carter, and Annabelle. Orion and Annabelle love each other. "No, Mom, I really love her."

Chicken pox or not?

The day was Wednesday Dec 5, 2007. I was sitting at the computer finishing up my morning reading. As I turned from the screen I noticed Orion scratching his neck. What was that on his neck? He had a rash of some sort. I immediately looked over his body and found more spots. I called my brother-in-law who is a Physician's Assistant. He said that I could come over and he would take a look. When I arrived at his house he said that they looked like chicken pox. Grreeaatt. We started him on anti-virals and he stayed home from school for a week. I informed all the people that he had come in contact with the few days before the rash appeared. I called the school and they sent home a letter telling all the parents that there was a case of chicken pox. Now, I have never seen the chicken pox, that I can remember. I was a very young child when I had them myself. My children have all had the immunization. I was confused by the fact that Orion wasn't acting sick, but since he had been immunized I thought it was just different. That Saturday, the 8th I noticed some spots on me, but I couldn't be sure that they weren't pimples so I just ignored them. As far as I knew you could not get the chicken pox twice, I wasn't worried. Monday morning I noticed spots on my arms. Not cool. I found out that you can get the chicken pox twice, though it is rare. I didn't feel sick at all and so I was just mostly bugged that I had to stay home. Wednesday Sophia had her Christmas concert and Kenneth was unable to attend. I wanted to go see her sing so I wore a mask to the concert. People stared at me trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Needless to say I had a whole row to myself, no one wanted to catch whatever I had. It was actually pretty funny. The next night was my book club which I had been looking so forward to attending. We were discussing Twilight and I wanted to be there. I was so sad. Friday Theron had a spot on his arm and I was just done with it. I was ready to lose my mind. I read some more about the chicken pox and just couldn't see that we had them. I went to see the Dr. that day. He said that they definitely weren't the chicken pox. He said he thought that it was Folliculitis. That's an infection of the hair follicles. All I wanted to know from the Dr was if I could go shopping with a week and a half left until Christmas. He said yes that I could go shopping, that I wasn't going to spread anything. He took a culture, but it came back negative. So I guess we don't really know what it was, but we know what it wasn't. It wasn't chicken pox.

Pelo Olympics Winners

Pelo Olympics Winners 2007!!!!
Beautiful trophy and $50 movie card.
The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Pelo Family Reunion. It was organized this year by Jared and Mychael-Ann. They will be moving next year so they took this opportunity to plan while still here. Jared proclaimed it to be the "FUN" reunion. I love me some fun. He also introduced the Pelo Family Olympics. We would get points for different activities: board games, video games, letter writing, quilting, arm wrestling, leg wrestling, bouncing and dancing. So after dinner Friday we started racking up the points. I noticed that one of my sisters seemed to be serious about these Olympics. I decided to get serious as well. I mean the trophy was beautiful, as you can see above. $50 for the movies is also great. My advantage is that I have little children who will still do what I say and she has teenagers that don't care. We had it in the bag. Another sister told me how to get the most points in the most efficient way. We had tons of fun. We played games, ate good food, quilted, talked, watched BYU beat Utah and laughed a lot. It was the "FUN" reunion. My kids were great. They really tried to do everything I asked of them. I told them that if we won we would go see the movie Enchanted on Monday for FHE. Sunday morning when all points we tallied we ended up averaging 30 points per person. We won by a large margin. It ended up only being 2 of us that turned in our points, but as I said I still have children young enough to do what I say. There were 10 families there and only 2 turned in points, but almost everyone participated in something. It was one of the funnest and most bonding experiences for our large family, I think. I am very grateful to everyone for coming and participating. The trophy has been in our living room since we got back. Unfortunately we will not have room for it as we decorated for Christmas and so all the glitter will be retired tomorrow. We will miss the copious amounts of glitter. Enchanted was really fun as well.

Dan in Real Life

This weekend, Kenneth and I went to see Dan in Real Life. It's a story about a single dad and his three daughters, a weekend with his whole family and meeting the brother's new girlfriend. Here is the trailer. http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/daninreallife/medium.html
It is rated PG-13 for innuendo. There is no language. It is funny, in the "real life is funny" way. Kenneth and I both enjoyed it. I left it feeling very grateful for my marriage and family and not looking forward to having a teenage daughter. "You are a murderer of love," Screaming daughter to father. I would recommend it. I don't think children would find it entertaining, but I think adults would.

My Music Savant

Kenneth has this amazing ability to know songs and artists. It's pretty cool. There's this station that will tell you every artist and title after the song, Kenneth can do the same thing. He can do it after the first few bars of a song, a lot of times even before the vocals start. He's amazing. Sometimes he can tell you the album name and the track number. Last night we had to go run some errands. When we got back we ended up sitting in the garage for another 1/2 hour playing Name That Tune. He has the most trouble with my oldies songs and artists: James Taylor, Howard Jones, Patsy Cline, Chicago, Bob Marley. He also has problems with my Jazz & R&B music: Harry Connick Jr., Joss Stone, Alicia Keys. He knows that he doesn't know them though, so he guesses them when in doubt. He even knows music that we don't own. You really should play with him sometime. It's fun. You too will be amazed and proud that you know my music savant.

radKids

Theron just finished his radKids training. radKids is a great program that teaches kids how to be safe. Here are some pictures of him showing off his stuff.

Theron with school friends.

Theron doing radKids stance, "Stand back you're not my dad!!!!"

Theron dressed in radKids gear, ready to show what he has learned.

Theron with radKids instructor.

Sampan Review

I don't know if any of you have been to Sampan before. We won a gift card in an auction and so we used it last night. There are a few in Utah, but we went to the one at South Town Mall. I saw on their website that they had sesame chicken. I loved the sesame chicken that I used to eat in Ohio from a restaurant there called the China Cottage. Everywhere else that I have ever eaten it has not even come close. It's been a few years since I last tried it somewhere, so I decided that this was the place. First of all the prices are really seasonable. The main course items were mostly under $10, seafood was a little more. The servings were really large. You could easily get one thing and split it. We got a dim sum platter for an appetizer as well as veggie potstickers. The potstickers were good, and Kenneth enjoyed the dim sum. Kenneth got something called Dragon and Phoenix. It has shrimp, chicken and mushrooms and is a little spicy. Kenneth enjoyed it. We both loved my sesame chicken though. It is the closest thing that I have tasted to my memory of the China Cottage. I was so very happy. They have a really large menu. It's not the kind of place that I would have thought would have very good food, but I was pleasantly surprised. So if your looking for an inexpensive, good Chinese place I do recommend Sampan.

I-Pod Shuffle

I was reading a friends blog and came across a game to play. Put your I-pod on shuffle and write down what the first ten songs are. I thought it would be fun to do and I want everyone to do it as well. Here goes.
Aldebaran - Enya: Yoga music. That's basically all I use Enya for, but it is my favorite for yoga.
You Picked Me - A Fine Frenzy: Only song that I have from this band, but I really do like this song.
Have a Very Happy Birthday - Primary Songs: Am I a mom or what?
Whispers - Jenny Jordan Frogley: Album was given to me. I otherwise don't tend to listen to LDS artists that much.
Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3 - Schubert: Song from the Enjoyment of Music CD's that Kenneth had. I do love a good classical song every once in a while, but I usually skip them.
Times Like This - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians: I love Edie. She makes me feel good.
Machete - Moby: There's always room for Moby.
The Refugee - U2: I'm more of a fan of U2 from Joshua Tree on, but I do enjoy all of it.
No One Else - Weezer: I love to crank Weezer and the kids cry and beg me to turn it down.
White Shadows - Coldplay: I love the Coldplay albums.

Well, there you are. I don't feel that is a very good representation of what I listen to, but sometimes we have stuff that we're not proud of sharing.

General Funny Photos

Orion and Dylan decided to empty my shampoo into their bath.Dylan is very flexible, or is he?

My cute little pig boy, Theron.

Halloween Photos

Here are some of our lovely Halloween Photos.
Orion the Dinosaur.
Dylan the Pirate.

Princess Sophia & Jennifer, the Queen of Hearts.

Harry Potter Theron, Punk Rocker Ian and Princess Sophia.

Concert Pictures

Here are a few pictures of our night out with the Maroneys. We went to dinner at Thaifoon and then to the Hannah Montana concert.

Me(Jennifer), Sophia, Natalie, Jenn, Katelyne at Thaifoon.All of us at the concert. Jenn, Natalie, Katelyne, Me and Sophia.

Me and Sophia at the concert.

Here are a few pictures of our night out with the Maroneys. We went to dinner at Thaifoon and then to the Hannah Montana concert.

Theron Birthday Pictures

Theron got brand new scriptures for his 8th birthday.
He also received his new scout stuff.
He had his own personal sized cake which he did share with others.
He was asking for more gifts and so I told him that I would look around my closet and see what I could find. I threw a scarf and clutch into a bag and gave it to him. He was surprised and confused when he opened it.
I then gave him the real goods. He got Diddy Kong Racing and we got another copy of Mario Kart. He's much happier about this stuff.

Adventures in Shopping for Theron's Birthday

I went shopping yesterday for Theron's birthday gifts. I had forgotten all of the special gifts that we give the kids when they turn 8. Luckily on Sunday Sophia reminded me that she got scriptures for her 8th birthday. Oops, totally forgot.
So Monday we set out first to get scout stuff. We bought a shirt and book, but they didn't have a slide. No problem, we can get one later.(I found out today that I didn't need to buy a book, but since I haven't been contacted by any of the scout people I didn't know that.) Next to Deseret Book to buy his scriptures. It was all a lot more expensive than I remembered from last time, but I just paid it. They took the books back to get engraved and I ran over to Walmart for ice cream and birthday class treats. When I got back they had not been able to do the imprinting because his middle name was too long. We decided to go with just a C. for his middle name. I waited for the books to come out. When the guy came out to give them to me he asked, "Did you mean to buy a triple and a quad?" No, I had not meant to do that, obviously. I thought I had grabbed a Bible, but had in fact grabbed a quad. Needless to say when the book is imprinted it is not returnable. They finally decided to give me 50% back. They didn't have any blue Bibles on the shelf which is probably why I wasn't very careful since the other colors all had Bibles. The imprinting guy went to the back to see if there were any blue Bibles. I called Kenneth to see if we should just keep the quad and return the triple. He thought we should return the triple, the cheaper item. The imprinter, however, had just grabbed a Bible and imprinted it so it turned out that we didn't really have a choice. Needless to say I wasn't very happy about having to pay a whole lot of money for a Bible. A whole lot of money. By this time we were almost late getting Orion to school.
When I checked the other stuff that I had bought after Orion was off I noticed that the scripture tote that I bought was $22 when I thought it was $6. I had to go volunteer at the school at that point. When I got back Dylan and I headed back down to Deseret Book. I tried to return the tote, but ran into another problem. It's too complicated to go into, but it boiled down to the fact that the cashier wasn't going to give me my full refund even though two other cashiers had explained to him why I was supposed to get the full amount back. He did end up giving me the full refund after a lot of explaining. By the end of all of this I was so tired and fed up with shopping. It's all worth it for a happy boy on his birthday, right? Right. Love, Peace, Faith, Joy.

Breathing is good.

Dylan asked to go to a friends house to play this afternoon. I said no because I had already learned this morning that the friend was sick. He was not happy about that. He tried to leave out the front door, but I stopped him. So he decided to go out the backyard. This was a little while after the first attempt so I thought he was just going to play in the backyard. 10 min later I thought I better go check and see what he was doing. He was not there. No prob. I mean, he was going to be in trouble, but I wasn't concerned. I went to all the normal places and friends houses and he was not anywhere. I was starting to freak out a little bit by this time. It had been maybe 20 min since I had last seen him by this time. One of the mom's asked if I had checked at a certain house, but I was pretty sure that Dylan had never been there. So I continued to look in all the unusual places now. The people that are home, but don't have little kids home. My next door neighbor said that he would take his baby and walk around the neighborhood. I decided to drive to Dylan's friends that don't live on our street in case he decided to walk there. No luck. I then went back to the house to see if he was there hiding or something even though I knew he hadn't come in while I was there. He wasn't hiding. I was going to drive over to the school that's just down the street to see if he had gone there to play. He has never gone anywhere that I didn't know before. I mean, he's not a wanderer. He's gone to friends before without telling me, but never somewhere that I wouldn't know where to look. I stopped at that house that I was sure he wasn't at on my way over to the school, and guess what? He was there. The mom opened the door and said, "Do you want your son." I said yes and then told her the whole story. She felt so bad. She had asked him if I knew where he was and he said yes. I guess he had gone there the week before with Orion, so he did know them. About the time that I had to start looking in the unusual places I was starting to panic. I could have become hysterical at a moments notice. I noticed that I wasn't breathing as often as I should, so I just concentrated on that. Breathing. It kept me sane until I found him. When we got home I asked him why he thought he was in trouble. He said, "Don't go." That's right, you're not supposed to go somewhere without telling mommy. Then I just broke down and told him how scared I had been and worried. He felt bad. We had a good long hug. A very different scenario than that would have happened in the days of my older children when I would have screamed and been so mad. Dylan is grounded from friends, which he was not happy about, but his mommy stayed in control, other than crying, which is a good thing. Thank goodness for breathing though. I'm a huge fan. Also, prayer, I know that helped keep me calm as well. Huge fan of prayer as well. Breathing and prayer.

Where are the cheap, perfect ellipticals?

A few years ago we were buying some exercise equipment. That was the first time I stepped on an elliptical. I thought it was evil. We bought a bike, which we ended up returning within the month. Now several years later we are looking at in-home exercise equipment again. I want something that I can use when the weather isn't nice, either too hot or too cold. I started running in the spring. I still cuss every time I run, in my head not out loud. I don't love it, but I am proud of myself for doing it. I tried the elliptical again this summer while we were on vacation because I figured that I would be stronger from the running. Well, I was stronger and it wasn't as evil and it kicked my butt. So I decided that it might be fun to have one. Now begins the process of looking for one that is really sturdy and can handle both me and Kenneth working out on it several times a week, but is cheap enough that we don't break the bank or have a heart attack buying it.
Do we go cheap and expect to have to replace it in a few years and invest in a really great warranty? Or do we pay a lot of money and have the peace of mind that we can use it to our hearts content with no worries, but we can't go out on a date for a year. It's a challenge to pay a lot of money for something that you don't really LOVE. It will be great to have something that we can use at our convenience and I do love to exercise and feel strong. Still there are a lot of other things that we could spend that money on. It's important to me though. I am one of those rare people that can work out at home and do it religiously. I would love to have something that Kenneth would use as well. When we had a treadmill he wasn't a huge fan of it, but he thinks that he would like and use an elliptical. I'm sure we will figure it out and we will find the perfect one for us. Cheap in price and perfect in quality. Love, Peace, Faith, Joy.

I'm fine, stop asking.

Since I was released from my calling I have felt a little lost. I think it is weird and I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me or think that I am not well. I am fine, it just feels different to have my life back. I just need to learn how to live this life again after a year of being away. I remember a friend of mine telling me that she was able to do a lot more when she was pres. than after she was released. I feel the same. I think that I am doing alright. My family is fed, the laundry is getting done, I am getting out of bed every day. I just don't have that firm direction yet. I am hoping to get it soon.
I know that I can handle returning to the quiet simple life of being a full-time mom. It is my favorite job. I remember so well the years of little children and diapers galore. When the children drain your every speck of energy with their needs and then you are still required to be a great wife, friend, church goer, and school helper. Even though the moms of older children want the young moms to enjoy every moment, I don't think it is physically possible. It's easy for me to look at the mother's of young children and smile knowingly, but because I have slept through the night, exercised, showered, dressed, put on make-up and eaten a meal sitting down, I can't fully appreciate what they are currently going through due to the fact that time heals all wounds.:-)
I feel a little bad for the fact that my older kids didn't get to be babied as long because of their younger siblings, but they learned some really great skills that allows them to be more self sufficient. Which is so great. I am loving the time I have now with my younger children when the older ones are at school. I am loving that my older ones are such a help with the younger ones when they are around. I am really so blessed to have this simple life.
So, I am fine. I've never been one to strive for glory or recognition. I definitely don't miss that part of the calling. I don't miss the calling at all. It's just an adjustment to my life. It's like every big change in life, whether it's graduation, a new baby, marriage, a new calling, death, illness, winning the lottery, you know whatever. It just takes time to adjust and see what needs to be done in this new life. I'm feeling more clear every day. I'm not concerned, I hope the people around me are not concerned either. I'm fine, so stop asking. Love, Peace, Faith, Joy.