carson has been riding her bike a lot lately. so cute to see her out there. and usually when she goes her sisters follow. and i love when they all go outside and leave me inside. i usually lock the door and pretend i don't here them knocking. ha ha

carson has been doing really well in school lateley too. we had to switch her "teaching team" because she was having such a hard time with them. and now the difference in her teachers is amazing. carson is getting straight A's and actually likes school. ok-that's stretching it. she doesn't like school. but she likes it more than she did.

and she just got made the beehive president in church. the bishop set her apart and gave her a beautiful blessing and told how she had such an influence around everyone. and she does. she is such a sweetheart and is loving and kind to everyone and loads of fun to be around. and she's a clothes' thief. if i am ever missing something i know where to look. in fact she's wearing my skirt and i think everything else of mine in the pics...L

this picture was snapped a few days before christmas. all that haley really asked for for christmas was some barbies, and some more barbies. and since she got what she wanted my bathtub looks like the picture below every day. cuz haley likes nothing better than taking a bath. and having her barbies bathe with her.



last night i read a story that haley had written and drawn pictures for in school. it went something like this: once upon a time there was a girl named haley. there was a boy named tate. the boy named tate said 'i like you.' the next day he played over. and then they got married. the end.

so cute. i love my haley. she's my baby...L

a very simple layout. last year on our way to cali we stopped by the homes where i grew up. i took some pictures and even grabbed some cotton from the fields by my old house. i plan on doing another page to this and putting in some more specific memories.

anyway--happy sabbath...L

a few more layouts that i got done this weekend. happy monday...L

My Own Worst Enemy

look at me. i have been productive. i tell you. yesterday was such a great day for me. because it all happened. i combined work, motherhood and me into one day. and yes--it was a christmas miracle. i went to work, went grocery shopping afterwards, made a nice dinner that GASP! everyone ate, put away laundry, did the dishes, changed the air filters and some outside lights and made three digi layouts. all in a day's work people.

and speaking of work. oh my gosh. fun stuff. we have a new guy and he was outside while the assistant manager and i were eating lunch. so i notice his fly is open--the new guys', and i tell andy (the am) to tell him. of course he looks and starts laughing. now we are both laughing and new guy comes over to eat with us. he stands right in front of andy to get his food and both of us are dying laughing. so andy gets up and leaves me. i could barely talk to him. andy comes back and immediately starts laughing again and leaves. i am trying to talk to new guy but cannot keep a straight face. meanwhile andy tells our boss to tell him and he just opens the door and yells--hey dave--your fly is open and these two losers didn't tell you. talk about embarrassment. poor guy. i felt bad. i'm blaming andy for this one though.

ok--i'm leaving you with a new song for the day. check it out on itunes. i'm addicted to it. my own worst enemy--by stereophonics. love it...L

this was sent to me from someone from church in an email. i thought it was good enough to put on my blog. usually i just delete those church emails. ha ha

ARE YOU ON OVERLOAD ? PARABLE OF THE TOWELS

When my husband and I taught our children to do laundry, we started them out on the towels. Towels are easy to do: they're simple to sort, they don't have to be matched up in pairs, and they have No pockets that might be hiding nasty surprises like ballpoint pens or brown crayons or lip balm, any of which even a perfectly capable, laundry-seasoned adult can accidentally overlook in a wash cycle.


There is, however, one common mistake that my children (and even their father) tend to make with towels. They figure that as long as they can keep smashing those towels into the washing machine, they can keep adding more and more to the load.


One day I was working in the kitchen when I heard a horrendous noise emanating from the laundry room in the basement. I rushed down to check it out and found the washer groaning and rocking like a crazed cow. Quickly switching it off, I opened the lid and saw a wash of towels, crammed in so tightly I could barely pry them out. Now, I have a large-capacity machine, but it was never meant to hold fourteen, full -size bath towels!


Sure, there were fourteen towels that needed washing that day. But as nice as it would have been to be able to throw then in all at once and get it over with, the washer simply doesn't work that way. All you're doing when you try to stuff that many towels into one load is ruining both the machine and the towels. An overloaded washing machine is thrown out of balance and can't do its job properly.


I understand this principle and have explained it with infinite patience to my husband and to each of my five children in turn. But I still haven't become very adept at applying it in the larger scheme of my life. Believe me---it does apply. I'm always falling prey to notions that I can get one more thing into the load. This is probably because there is always more to accomplish than I have time or energy to do. I am a fourteen-towel woman stuck in a ten-towel-capacity life. And so I tend to operate frequently on overload.


Almost every woman I know is like this. We are really busy! We overload our days with things that truly need to be done and then drop into bed at night wondering why we feel so out of balance. We need to realize that it's better to have ten clean towels in the morning and four set aside for another day than to have fourteen not -so - clean towels and a broken machine. We're in this life for the long haul -- if we don't maintain ourselves properly, we will break down.


-- (Introduction) "Take Two Chocolates and See me in the Morning"


Remember, Moderation in ALL things! Happy New Year!

moderation in all things has always been my motto in life...L

it's been a while. i haven't had much time for much of anything. let alone blogging. but i'll put a tiny update on here. nothing earth shattering. just the same ol', same ol'. i did manage to take a few pictures at christmas. the above one is of our christmas eve outing. christmas is over. let the bells chime. totally not in the christmas mood this year. but i think the girls all enjoyed it. dallas too. it was so good to have him home. he left on new years day and there were many tears by all of us here. brianne and jeff enjoyed colorado and much to my chagrin, i mean happiness, there was no snow storm blocking their path.

my sweet haley turned 6 last month as well. and as of yesterday she has two bottom teeth missing. her first baby teeth gone. i can't believe it. we took a trip to the dollar store today thanks to the tooth fairy. our tooth fairy leaves money--not notes that their room is messy. LOL

and i became a grandma finally. thanks to my 13 year old. ha ha taylor had signed up for the baby program at school and her and her friend got their babies the night of haley's birthday. taylor loved it and named her baby estelle. i made sure i put in earplugs to sleep that night. they had to change the baby, feed it, give it attention. it was fun to watch. taylor loved it. she loves babies. i also got the results of taylor's career test from school. turns out that her most agreeable career would be that of assassin or dictator. i'm so proud. and you never know--that might come in handy later in life.

today i spent my day off with my girls. we had a great time. we went shopping and ate out and sung tunes in the car and had fun relaxing. most of my time off of work is spent with more work. laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. well, the house is a mess, the laundry is not done and we had taco bell for dinner. but more importantly i had fun with my kids and didn't worry about what wasn't getting done. this is the year i find balance in my life. time for me, time for my kids. time to let some things slide. so i might not be blogging as much or reading your blogs, but i will take time to enjoy life and be happy this year. happy 2009...L