Stocking Swap

My friends and I did a Stocking Swap in honor of Christmas.  Part of the rules are we have to share pictures when we open our boxes ... which I did this afternoon.  My box was from Trish, and is full of all kinds of fun Christmas things! 

This is a tea-light holder, complete with a batter-operated tea-light inside.

A card-holder with some Christmas cards inside I can send.   (I wasn't paying attention, and the card she signed for me is side-ways in front of the holder.)

An ornament with glitter on the inside and snowflake on the outside.

A pocket notebook ... Now I have a place to keep my naughty and nice lists!

The stocking was also filled with Christmas stamps and embellishments I can use.  The one little bag in the middle has a bunch of ornaments that match the cards in the card-holder.

Finally, Trish remembered that I am newly diabetic, and sent me some of my favorite desserts that I can indulge in guilt-free!

Thanks, Trish! 

Steven's lesson on cutting fresh bread

I started to slice the bread, fresh from the bread maker but was smooshing it. Steven took the knife away from me to show me how it's done. Keep in mind, he just recently completed his trek, which included wood-cutting competitions. This post could be titled, "Everything I need to know about baking bread I learned at Scout Camp."



He said, "Cutting bread is like cutting wood -- don't press down, let the knife do the work.

"If you press down while cutting wood, the saw binds and catches and makes a mess of the wood. If you press down while cutting fresh bread, you smoosh the bread and make a mess of it. You gotta trust the knife to do the job for which it was made."

It sure works for Steven ... he cut a nice, 1-inch thick even slice of steaming hot bread. You can still even see the shape of the bread pan in the outside edges. Can't get better than that!

See? Perfect! Now, where's the butter!?

The Boy With the Nipple Tattoo

DISCLAIMER: The photos in this post are borderline at best, but the story is way too funny not to share! If you know Mike at all, you can probably imagine -- this is classic Mike. :oD I'll put all the photos at the bottom so you don't have to look if you don't want to.

Kylie's BF Joel comes into my office with his iPod in hand, asking for the network key code to our wireless network, which is encrypted. I entered it in for him then asked if he'd like me to write it down for future reference. I know him well enough to know that it wouldn't do him any good, he'd just lose it; so I asked if he wanted it tattooed on the inside of his arm. His face lit up, and he asked if he could have it tattooed in a circle around his nipple. So Mike grabbed a Sharpie marker and wrote our home phone number in a circle around Joel's nipple.

Mike didn't like the way one of the numbers had turned out so he washed it off and wrote it again. Meanwhile, Kylie came in to see what was taking Joel so long. She watched for a minute, rolled her eyes, said "You're a dork" (although I'm not sure whether she was referring to Joel or Mike) and walked out.

Then Mike decided he wanted a tattoo on his nipple too, so Joel drew a face around Mike's nipple. Don't worry, Joel is 18 so it's not like Mike was doing anything kinky with a minor. It was just funny to watch Kylie's BF hold his own with Kylie's dad. Even the hairy chest didn't faze him.

Some of the pictures are a little blurry. I was laughing so hard I'm surprised they came out as good as they did.

Super Heroes

Here is today's writing assignment -- Copy the following, paste it into an email, add your answers and send it to me.

Imagine that you are a Super Hero. You can be any kind of Super Hero that you want, but you get bonus points if it’s related to Martial Arts.


1. What is your super hero name?



2. Superman has many super powers, including super-speed and x-ray vision. Spiderman shoots webs. Batman doesn’t have any special powers, but he is a good fighter and has a tool belt with lots of gadgets. What are your special skills or super powers? You may have three.






3. Superman came as a baby from Krypton. Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma radiation from one of his own experiments. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. What is your story? Where do you come from? How did you get your special skills or powers?






4. Superman wears the red and blue suit with an “S” on a shield on his chest and a red cape. Batman wears a grey suit with pointy ears on his mask and a black cape. Describe your super hero costume. How does it keep your true identity hidden?






5. Clark Kent is a journalist for the local paper. Bruce Wayne is a rich philanthropist. Describe your alter ego. How is it different from being a super hero? How does it keep your super hero identity a secret?






6. Superman has super-hearing and can hear people in trouble. Batman sees the spotlight from the police commissioner. How do you become aware of people who need your help?






7. You have just become aware of someone who needs your help. Clark Kent steps into a phone booth and steps out as Superman. Bruce Wayne slides down a hidden fire pole into the Bat Cave to transform into Batman. Bruce Banner doesn’t have any control over turning into The Incredible Hulk. How do you transform into your super hero?






8. Superman flies. Batman has the Bat Mobile. Spiderman uses his web to swing from building to building. How do you get around?






9. Superman’s big rival is Lex Luthor. Batman has to watch out for the Joker. Who is your arch nemesis, your biggest rival?






10. Superman becomes sick and weak when exposed to kryptonite. Batman is human and therefore vulnerable to illness or injury. What is your weakness?

Are You Ready for a Challenge?

I have a special challenge for you, should you choose to accept it (and I hope you do).

The idea came to me out of the blue the other night while I was praying before bed (btw, that is the classical definition for personal revelation, when a thought or idea comes from out of nowhere it is usually divinely inspired) to list 10 things I particularly love about my husband. Then I thought of things I particularly love about each of my children. Finally, and I think this is the most important part of the assignment, I decided to list 10 things I particularly love about myself.

Let me explain that last part ... In general terms we are always quick to criticize ourselves, spending way more of our mental energies on traits or habits we would like to improve (but never actually seem to). So, for a change, focus your thoughts on things that you like about yourself. I know, it's hard -- I spent more time putting together my own list than I did my husband and two children put together. But it can be done!

So here is your challenge:

Take a sheet of lined paper and write across the top, "10 Things I Love About " and add your spouse's first name. If you wish, repeat with each of your children (easier if they still live at home, more difficult if they are married or out on their own). Finally, be sure to head a sheet for yourself. I didn't even number any of mine, just put a * in front of each new item. Once you get the first two or three done, the rest should flow fairly easily. I had to go back and add "^ (or more)" in between "10 Things", because I discovered that I had trouble stopping after 10 things. There's nothing wrong with that.

For extra credit, you can take this challenge a step further and use your lists as starting points for a letter. Whether typed and printed on formal or decorative paper or handwritten onto elegant stationary, such a list has the potential to strongly and positively impact those to whom we are closest. If I can get my family to cooperate, I hope to compile master lists for everyone from everyone else's lists about each of them. I just keep thinking about my 15-year-old son, who is at the age where everyone else conspires against him, his parents' sole purpose in life is to make him miserable and don't really care about him, and he and his sister are more enemies than friends. What a difference it could make for him to read and hopefully re-read such a list from his parents and sister!

I know others have done this, it's not a totally new idea. But I know where the idea came to me from, and I feel impressed to share it. If you take the challenge leave a comment and let me know.

Catching up on 2009

I had previously set up the shell of the posts I had wanted to publish from the past summer, but never actually got to them -- until now.

Earlier this week I completed 4 whole posts, figuring they would be dated as of the date I published them.

WRONG!

They actually published as of the date I initially started them! I didn't even start them in any particular order, was just trying to get them all out there, planning to order them as I posted them. So they will be all out of order.

Please know that I am updating from the summer, and please check the archives starting in September 2009 for summer vacation photos. Any new ones I do after than, though, should show up on the top of my blog as they are supposed to.

BTW -- I finally took the plunge and joined FACEBOOK. If you haven't seen me there look me up and send me a friend request!

End of Summer Update

I got an email from an old friend tonight wondering if she had done something wrong that I hadn’t contacted her in so long, and it got me thinking – wow, I HAVE been pretty lame about keeping in touch. I don’t do MySpace or Facebook, I’ve all but left all of my Yahoo! Groups, and with my two teenagers sharing my computer and chatting with their own friends it’s so darn cumbersome to sign into the IM’s that I quit doing that months ago. I do have a blog … obviously! … but updates are extremely erratic.

I guess I started becoming anti-social early in 2007, when it was made very clear to us (for the second time in our married life we experienced thunder, lightening and a voice booming down from the Heavens saying “THOU SHALT!”) that we needed to buy a house in Casa Grande, AZ (between Phoenix and Tucson, right where I-8 branches off of I-10) and start a karate school to help pay the mortgage. We closed at the end of April, 2007 and Mike and Steven headed South while Kylie and I moved in with the in-laws in Oregon for the summer. I stayed behind to cram a year of Karate training into 6 months, and Kylie stayed with me to finish the 8th grade and go to Girls’ Camp with her friends. We joined Mike and Steven in our new home the first of August, a week before school started. But you probably already knew we had moved to AZ.

I still work for the same after-hours travel service that took over many of my previous employers’ accounts. I can’t believe I’ve been there SIX YEARS now – since September 2003, wow! I’m finally no longer on graveyard – you’d think I’d be able to sleep better now, but not so far. I’ve worked swing (until 11p or midnight during the week, 1a or 2a weekends and holidays, depending on the time of year) since last December but I often only get one night off a week and I can’t stand to turn the computer on those evenings. We did take a pay cut due to the recession and my hours were reduced to 33 per week, but I’m extremely fortunate – and grateful! – that I still have a job and hopefully the cuts won’t last too long.

I opened Kobukan Karate of Casa Grande in August 2007. I had been renting a room from the local fitness club until January of this year but didn’t have enough students to pay the rent so we converted our house’s formal dining room into a training room and I trained my handful of students from home through May. I had several full classes through the Park and Rec over the summer and had already begun making plans to go back into the fitness club this coming January, but the enrollment for my fall classes has left me re-thinking those plans. I haven’t decided what to do yet, still praying about that one.

For now I am teaching the Black Belt Academy at the new High School. It’s not a graded class or an elective … The students have 31 academies to choose from during the lunch hour; half the students go to lunch first then their academies, the other half goes to their academies first then to lunch. All of the students are required to attend an academy, and they can change academies each semester. Right now I have just over 40 Freshmen and Sophomores in my Black Belt Academy. It’s fun, even if I am not getting paid for it. There is a reason I am doing it, and one day I’ll figure it out.

My after-school classes are through the Park & Rec for the rest of the year, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3p-530p. I was supposed to have 3 classes but they had to combine two due to lack of enrollment. So far only two of my summer students have elected to continue this fall and none of my previous students (from when I trained at home) have contacted me to schedule a training time since we got back from our summer vacation. I guess I need to be making some phone calls!

I teach the CTR 7’s (kids who were born in 2002 and will therefore turn 7 at some point this calendar year) at church. I really enjoy it. We have a full class – twelve at the moment, all of whom attend at least once every month and more than half of whom come every week. Fortunately I have a partner so there are two of us (and often a member of the Primary Presidency STILL has to sit with us during Sharing Time) and we take turns teaching. I started out this year with the Sunbeam 4’s (kids who were born in 2005 and will therefore turn 4 at some point this calendar year) but didn’t really know how to manage them; after 2 or 3 weeks the Presidency decided the older class would be a better fit for me. On the one hand I feel bad that I “failed” Sunbeams, but on the other hand I am quite happy with my class – from my first week in their class I felt like I belonged there. I like to believe that the REASON I “failed” Sunbeams was so they would move me to this class because I BELONG with this class, and that otherwise I would have been just fine with the Sunbeams.

Sadly, I also frequently “fail” Visiting Teaching, another service program in our church. Theoretically, all of the women who choose to participate are divided into partnerships and assigned a handful of other women from our congregation to visit every month. Our job is to become their friends, share a short spiritual message with them in their homes, look for needs and assist them any way we can. We are basically their first line of assistance, whenever they need something they call their Visiting Teachers who either take care of that need or find someone else who can. It’s a great program, designed to ensure the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of each woman in our congregation are being met. I don’t have a partner to coordinate with, and I have only one person on my route – a gal I knew from teaching my karate classes at the fitness club who was baptized with her 9yo daughter two years ago and basically hasn’t been to church since. She lives within walking distance of my house, and yet I can’t consistently manage visiting her. I can never seem to reach her by phone, and I can’t seem to catch her at a good time when I stop by. I do pick up the newsletters for her each month, as well as any fliers or handouts that are passed around; I just don’t always get them to her. Shame on me!

So that is pretty much what is going on with me. I haven’t done any stamping (that “icky, yucky, crafty crap!”) since deciding to move. In fact, I still haven’t unpacked any of my stamp stuff. It’s all upstairs in our “crap” room and gets moved around now and again while one of the kids is looking for something specific. I keep telling myself, “One day … “ I did actually order some purple cardstock from Trish – thanks, Trish, the cardstock arrived today! – for my karate classes (each class’s attendance cards are printed on a different color of cardstock – the Dragons, preschool and kindergarten, are purple; the Ninjas, grades 1-3, are green; the Karate Kids, grades 4-7, are blue; the Black Belt Club, grades 8-12, are red; the Samurais, adults, are yellow; my Senpais, or helpers, are orange; the Black Belt Academy at Vista Grande High School, whose school colors are black and gold, are grey; and I’m planning a new class, the Sakuras, Japanese for Cherry Blossoms, for women who want to learn the techniques, socialize and get a little exercise but not necessarily to formally earn rank, which will be pink) because the local print shop doesn’t have purple cardstock and I couldn’t find what I was looking for online. OK, you can see where my attention is focused!

Michael is officiating ball games again. Right now he has football (his 3rd year) and fall baseball/softball (his 2nd year). After that is basketball (his 2nd year), and after that is spring baseball/softball (his 3rd year). It suits him, he can stay as busy as he wants and has the energy for. Between games he has transformed our back yard from a pile of dirt into a pleasant oasis. Seriously, he’s done a great job. We have a garden, fruit trees, a great deck and a couple of gazebos. If it weren’t 110 degrees outside, it would be my favorite room in the house. He takes care of his dad’s house around the corner and the neighbor’s house across the street; both are Winter Residents who choose not to stay in Casa Grande over the hot (-ter than he** summer months). We also have a couple of single, older ladies around us that frequently ask for his help with their yards or other issues around their houses. As busy as all that keeps him, he still frequently comes to the high school to help me with my Black Belt Academy, bless him!

Kylie is … you won’t believe this … driving now. Yeah. I still freak out sometimes when I go out to the garage for something and the car is gone, but it was really nice this summer when she could drive herself to early morning Cross Country practice. I’d wake up at 9a or 10a and ask if she went to practice that morning, and she’d say yes. Oh, and the orthodontist, and shopping, and YW, and pretty much where-ever she needs to go. We even “made” her go to a party last week because her brother would need a ride home from the same party (hosted by one of the Seminary teachers to give the kids an opportunity to just hang out and socialize once a month). She got her braces off in June, cut her hair, picked up her contact lenses and got her drivers’ license, all on the same day. She is quite the cutie patootie! She’s thinking now she may want to teach elementary school as a career, and her English teacher has told her that she could qualify for a scholarship for her writing ability. Yeah, I can totally picture her teaching kids and writing great things in the evenings! I think she has enough poetry to publish a book; I have actually included one in my karate Student Handbook. She enjoys running after school, even though she is having a rough start this season due to shin splints. In the fall is Cross Country and in the spring she runs the mid- to long-distances at Track.

Steven started high school this year. He goes to the new school, just blocks away from our house. So far it’s been good for him. He is in the Pifer Academy, their gifted “school within a school”. He has regular Freshman Health, but all of his other classes are either Pre-AP (honors) or AP (college-level) classes. Some of the boys from his Teacher’s quorum are in many of the same classes so he had friends going in; he’s also managed to make a few new friends – even some from my Black Belt Academy. He was quite determined to attend the school’s first football game last week (they lost 0-64), particularly to watch a couple of his friends play. He even decided to join the swim team, attending his first EVER after-school team practice this afternoon. We are quite amused by this – hmmm, Steven in a Speedo – but if he works hard and sticks with it, soon we won’t recognize our scrawny little runt of a son because he will have been replaced by a strong, broad-shouldered hunky guy. Oh, today we were talking about his musculature (specifically the fact that he has nothing on his bones but skin to keep him afloat in the water) and he quoted from a movie, “Forget a 6-pack, I have a 12-pack” (referring to the abs). I couldn’t resist telling him, “Honey, those are called RIBS.”

Since we moved here, our family has also expanded to include a ferret (Jillian) that we found on the side of the road last December and a puppy (Brandi) that we inherited from one of Mike’s brother’s girls who had gotten two puppies (sisters) that decided one day to fight over who got to be the boss and kept trying to eat each other. *sigh* And we still have the three cats we brought with us from Oregon. I wanted to put a sign on the door that says, “Beware of Dog – and Three Cats – and a Ferret – and a whole army of Dust Bunnies” but Mike thinks it reflects badly on our house-keeping skills, so I thought “Beware of Dog – and Three Cats – and a Ferret – and Two TEENAGERS” might work. Then I thought getting one of those generic “Beware of Dog” signs, crossing off “Dog” and replacing it with “Teenagers” might be easier.

There you go. My life in a nutshell. Perhaps you can see why I haven’t been as social as I may have used to have been. But I’m hoping to change that.

Summer Vacation 2009 -- Kylie's Big Day

June 17, 2009 was a HUGE day for Kylie. Here she is as we leave the house for the day. You can tell by her face how eagerly she anticipates the upcoming schedule of events.

First stop -- the ORTHODONTIST to have her BRACES REMOVED. After the prying, scratching, scraping, interminable waiting and the final molds of her teeth for her retainer came the photos. I'll only embarrass her with this one.

Then -- the DENTIST for a long-overdue exam and cleaning. No pictures, please! The orthodontics was enough!

We also ran over to the OPTOMETRIST to pick up her new CONTACT LENSES.

Next stop -- SUPERCUTS for an eagerly anticipated HAIR CUT. She's been talking about this cut for months and finally decided on the kind of cut she wants.

The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to donate to Locks of Love. But now that she's had the cut for 6 months (and 2 more trips back for trims) she's decided she really likes this length -- it suits her.

After a brief return visit to the orthodontist for a pair of invisibles to wear on our 2-week family vacation, we moved on to -- the DMV (or MVD, as they call it here) for her DRIVER'S LICENCE! Yes, Kylie is now a licensed driver.

Here is a recap -- braces off, teeth cleaned, new contacts, hair cut, and license to drive. It's no wonder she beamed so brightly I had to tell her they can see her smiling from SPACE!

Summer Vacation 2009 -- Camp!!

Summer 2009 started with Steven at a week-long Aaronic Priesthood Encampment the first week of June. Steven would be the shortest one on the end, with the pack that is taller than he is. After a whole week at camp, this is the only picture I have of him -- but he did come home with some pretty good stories!

Kylie's turn came the second week of June at Girls' Camp. While the boys went North to Mormon Lake, the girls went South outside of Tucson. She was a Junior Counselor this year and had responsibilities to help the younger girls in her unit. She's on the bottom in the green pants (is that a stack of books in her hand?!?!)

Summer Vacation 2009 -- Cody, WY

June 20 and 21, 2009 -- Days 2 and 3

As a newly licensed driver, Kylie took her turn driving. The only consolation to spending two weeks on the road with the family was knowing we had THREE licensed drivers to share the work. But if you're in a car you're stuck whether you are driving or not, so we all got tired anyway.

Fortunately we'd done a pretty good job breaking up the drive for meals and gas. We stopped somewhere on the Navajo reservation at a Burger King for lunch as saw something quite interesting in the lot next to it ...

I think we spent a good hour here exploring the different traditional dwellings and shelters before we even went inside to order.

We had to remind ourselves that the point of the trip was to explore a part of the country we hadn't seen before, not just to get to our destination. We finally arrived at Cody, WY after 1a!

Fortunately we'd planned a day in Cody before meeting up with my family in Jackson Hole. Since Mike did most of the driving, he decided to stay in our room and rest a bit while the kids and I explored Cody. Yeah, I'd go back in a heartbeat, I loved Cody!

While looking in the tourist shops, Steven was fascinated by the weapons ...

While Kylie gravitated toward the traditional clothing and jewelery.

Imagine our surprise and pleasure when we stumbled upon a formal Powwow! I sent Kylie back to the hotel for her dad (so much fun having another licensed driver!) so I could stay and soak it in.

There were tents all around the main area for the drummers, who provided the music for the dances. I believe the different groups competed just like the dancers.

As if that wasn't enough fun for a single day, after the Powwow ended we had one more site we wanted to check out -- Cody Murals. We saw the brochure at the hotel when we ate breakfast.

The story behind this is, back in the 40's the Stake President who had the church bulding built felt strongly impressed that it should have a rotunda. None of our buildings have rotundas that I know of, but that was how he felt impressed it needed to be built. Then came the impression to hire an artist to paint the dome of the rotunda.

During the interviews, one particular artist explained his vision for the ceiling and told the church leaders that if they would allow him to paint the ceiling in the rotunda, it would be his greatest work and a fitting tribute to God who had given him his artistic gifts in the first place. The artist was not LDS, however, so he spent two years studying Church history before even beginning to sketch or paint.

The end result is incredible -- you can stand in the center of the room and give the highlights of our history just by looking around the rotunda. He also included portraits and quotes from each of the Presidents of the Church up to the current one (as of 1951 when it was completed).

They have part-time missionaries who work 20 hours per week for 3 or 4 months giving tours of the rotunda and another room, telling the stories of the art and the artifacts. That's the kind of mission I want to go on when we are older!

The artwork and artifacts in the adjoining room basically pick up the story where the mural in the rotunda left off, detailing the settlement and growth of that specific region. Some of the stories are amazing! For example, the early Mormons had a reputation of finishing what they start, regardless of the difficulty. So the Mormon settlers were hired to dig a canal to bring water to another settlement. It only had to be, like, a mile and a half long but they didn't realize it would be through solid bedrock so when they neared the length of time they had been given to complete their task, they had only progressed a few feet. One of the leaders of the group sent out a heartfelt plea to the Lord for assistance in finishing the job they had been given, and a minor earthquake struck and opened up a crevass in the earth that roughly followed the course they were intending to dig for the canal.

Among the arificats in the room was a book written by Buffalo Bill Cody himself. What a treasure!!!

Yep, one day I want to apply for a part-time mission at the Cody Murals Visitors Center in Cody, WY. You just watch!

Summer Vacation 2009 -- Grand Canyon

June 19, 2009 -- Day 1

We embarked on our 2-week family vacation bright and NOT as early as we had intended, as many family vacations go. First stop on the itinerary is the Grand Canyon.

My very first impression, as I came up and over the ridge, was that this was a painting -- there was no way it could be real. My eyes and brain honestly believed it was a 2-dimensional representation on a vast canvas.

It wasn't until I'd fully crested the ridge and had gone down into the look-out area and could follow the edges of the canyon from one edge to the others that my eyes and brain could attach depth and dimension -- reality -- to the image. It was a very strange sensation!

Here is Kylie, on the edge of the lookout area at Yavapai Point.

Why take a picture of the scenery when I can take a picture of Kylie taking a picture of the scenery? This way is much more interesting!

Here, Steven and Mike are identifying and pointing out the various areas that they hiked through during Steven's scout hike about 6 weeks before. The scouts hiked down and back up again in a single day (disclaimer -- they trained for this and had an experienced leader, this is not for the novice hiker ... they actually post signs warning against trying it!)

There were actually two points that we wanted to hit, the second being the Watchtower at Desert View. We spent more time here than we should have, but not nearly as much time as we'd have liked.

The tower isn't as old as it looks. It was built in the 50's or so to look like it had been here for centuries. Even the inside looked authentic. Here you can see Steven in the lower right corner looking over at the tower.

We would have liked to have stayed there and played longer, but we still had about 8 hours of driving ahead of us. We stayed the first night in Grand Junction, CO. I would really have loved to have spent a day there too, but we were on a tight schedule and had to get moving again.