had myself and adventure today. not of the fun variety really. more of the humiliating painful kind. i was asked to do a demo of a crock pot recipe in front of a group of church women. so i had to do it not in a kitchen but out in the basketball court area. so i brought all my stuff already pretty prepared except a can of apple pie filling that had to be opened. as i am talking and opening i was tearing the last of the lid of the can off and just fling apple filling all over me. then as i get back to business of adding ingredients i look down to see the table with large drops of blood. well, i have had 2 bloody noses in the past 2 days so i am thinking i am having a nose bleed--all over my demo dessert. then i look down and realize my thumb is covered in blood and dripping A LOT!

so i kind of announce to everyone that i cut myself and run to the bathroom to wash it off and put a paper towel around it. which i do and by the time i get back and start up again the towel is bloody. so i get the dessert made and tell everyone that this will go home to my family (no blood actually got in the crock pot). but i got recollections of the snl dan ackroyd parody of julia child where he is cooking and cuts his hand off and is just gushing blood everywhere. that's kind of how i felt.

meantime--someone gives me 2 bandaids and by the time i got home those were soaked. i had at least an inch gash. thank heavens i got a tetanus shot this year! anyhoo i ask dave to take a look at it. now for the backstory--when anna got her head split open for the 2nd time the hospital gave dave the superglue they use instead of stitches. so of course the first thing dave wants to do is "glue" it. no thanks dr. evil. then he wants to sanitize it. guess again monkey boy. finally he gets the iodine package out of the first aid kit and wraps it on my thumb and covers it with 3 bandaids. i took it off tonight and washed it and replaced it with one of those bandaids with antibiotic on it. but it is sore and hurts to bend my thumb. ouch.

i am off tomorrow to scrap with my homeys. but i thought i would post some layouts i did before we left for disneyland. run, my peeps and good times were scraplifts. peace out and go buy some pumpkins for me...L

well disneyland was awesome. i have tried to load pictures twice now to no avail. but i loved having all my kiddo's together on vacation. we had a great time. no one was killed. believe me, that makes a family vacation a success. since i can't get any pictures on i though i would let you watch one of my favorite bands playing one of my new favorite songs. here are, what carson likes to call, the foo foo fighters. enjoy...L

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhnmUdmz74&mode=related&search=

I don't know how i could have forgotten my 6th daughter alyssa!! who went and moved all the way to new york (which is too far for me to ride my bike there to go and see her). she has been one of brianne's best friends since their freshman year at BYU and we have been cursed, i mean blessed, to have her in our family since then! she can cook up some good chinese food and is utterly beautiful and full of some funky spirit! I keep telling her she should marry dallas but she is one stubborn girl! plus all of my girls love her and they sat with alyssa and her "friend" (she should so marry that boy!) at brianne and jeff's wedding luncheon. i miss you alyssa!! my sweet hapa daughter!!!

in other news we are planning on going to cali for october break and all of my kids are going!!! brianne, jeff and dallas are going to hook up with us at disneyland. i haven't had all of my family together for a vacation in a long, long, time! and i am so looking forward to spending time together. just think--all 9 of us in a hotel room together for 4 days=let the fun begin...L

HAPPY DAY! i got a wedding photo posted. and all of those girls right there in that pic? they will be reunited tonight when brianne gets in! yay! a wonderful 4 days with my girls together! have a lovely weekend...L

just a few pics. first--my anna--who will be turning 8 in not too long. the first picture is of the lunch she packed herself one night. i just happened to check it to see what it contained and i was actually happy that the apple made it in that mess of junk food heaven! then the day that she picked out this outfit. i just loved her leggings with her headband and bow. and the bedtime story she told me the other night. i always hear a similar version of it but this night was over the top, even for anna. here it is: once there was a princess named david (insert anna's giggling here) and a handsome prince named dallas (more giggling) and there were three evil stepsisters named taylor, carson and haley (giggle). and there were 3 good beautiful sisters named; me, me and me! i think there is a writer in our family.

in other good news. taylor has become a vegetarian. i say good news cuz this is just one more step in my plan to having at least one child become a democrat. and we all know that the next step after becoming a vegetarian is to start voting for democrats! ha ha
of course when she first told me this last week i gently reminded her that one must actually like vegetables in order to be vegetarian. LOL
and that becoming a vegetarian doesn't mean you can survive on top ramen and flaming hot cheetos. but the best part was informing her that her ramen noodles are BEEF flavored. "but there's no MEAT in them" was her retort. and then we have her dad trying to tell her that vegetarians eat turkey and chicken because those aren't "red" meat and so therefore aren't really meat at all. can you blame me for wanting a liberal in this family?

and when my good mood returns ( i think i have one somewhere) i will post a picture of my new haircut and color. the vegetarian merely looked at me and said it looked the exact same as before, whereas the rest of the family took one look at me and reacted the same as if i had just told them that i'm adopted and i don't eat cookie dough!

live long and prosper...L

what's better than a family picnic with your dogs, a water hole and nice weather? not much. we took the kids to a watering hole complete with waterfalls up near payson for the day, brought swimsuits and food and of course the hounds--jake and max. we had sandwiches, cantaloupe, watermelon and some of the most tasty cookies i have ever made! yum.

after we ate we hiked up to the water and it took maybe a nano second for max to jump in and take off swimming. he was in his element. of course jake soon followed and they had a blast getting wet. then we went up a little further and found a great place for the girls to go in. no one would venture in so i had to go first and did a great job jumping from rock to rock until i was in the middle of the water. then carson and anna joined in. haley of course just waited for me to come and get her, which i did--we made it safely. taking her back was another story--of course i lost my footing and fell all the way in--soaking me entirely! well, that was fun. nothing like spending the day outdoors with your family. i love it.

we decided that we have been sitting inside too much and not getting out and enjoying nature and our family. too much time on the computer and watching tv. so dave and i decided that 2x a month we would each pick a place that was not too far away that we could spend a saturday enjoying some new and undiscovered (to us) place. can't wait for the next adventure--which is my choice!

good news--brianne is coming to visit! i am so excited to see my oldest baby girl! and we are having anna's 8th birthday party that weekend too. so i need to get busy and finish up my birthday invites that i started this weekend with my MAS girls--which by the way was a blast!! i had a great time seeing all of them!! ok everyone--here is the recipe for gooey butter cookies--

1/2 cup butter, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, 1 egg, 1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, 1 box of butter recipe cake mix, powdered sugar

beat butter, vanilla, egg and cream cheese until light and fluffy. mix in dry cake mix. chill for 30 minutes. preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray cookie sheet with pam. scoop a walnut sized ball of batter into a ball--roll in powdered sugar, bake 10-12 minutes. now i have a confession--i told my mas girls that i didn't like cookie dough--which horrified all of them. but i spoke too fast. i have found cookie dough heaven with this recipe. even david made me promise not to make these too often! peace out...L

just a random post of random things tonight. the above pics are of tomatoes that i grew and raspberries from my own raspberry plants. can we all say "it's a good thing" altogether now? there is nothing better than homegrown tomatoes. ok--there are a few things better but this is a family blog!

the rice Krispie cake was david's birthday cake! LOL Davids' sister had already made him a wonderful chocolate cake for him on labor day and i saw no reason to improve upon it. we had a nice dinner of chicken fajitas, guacamole, salsa and chips and beans. nothing like a good mexican dinner topped of with that favorite of mexican desserts--rice krispie squares!

i do have to say that my children have had some funny things to comment on the past week. first we began with anna--who when we called brianne on her birthday (labor day) to wish her a happy day informed brianne that the reason we weren't going to church that day is that there are no churches in california! which she told brianne i had told her. well, why do you think so many people want to live there?

then carson was lamenting the size of our family. yeah--6 children is nothing! then she mentioned a family from our old ward--the robisons--and how they had so many kids. most of their kids are grown with about 3 children apiece. so i told her that they only had one more child than we did. and that as soon as haley was grown we would have a lot more in our family (if dallas and brianne will start to get busy!). then carson replied that brianne would be dead by then. i'm like--carson--in 20 years brianne will be my age. a look of horror on her face and then she said "then you'll be dead!" thanks for the vote of confidence.

this week taylor went with the young women/young mens group to go waterskiing. they were supposed to leave at 5:30. i ended up in taylor's room that night and heard the alarm going off--taylor wouldn't budge. so i got up and turned it off to see that it was 4 a.m. later i heard her moving around and she was all out of sorts--her alarm hadn't gone off. i said--the one at 4 in the morning? yes. OK--if you know anything about taylor at all it is this--the girl is a hippie in the making. no makeup, no frills, hair is always, yes ALWAYS, straight. so she was totally stressed trying to find a tank top (the horrors kerry!) to wear over her bathing suit. this crisis necessitates an hour and a half? sometimes i forget that she is a girl--i forget what it was like to be 12 and worried about what i would wear. but it totally cracked me up that she wanted to get up at 4.

the last picture is of anna at her friend's birthday party this weekend. don't get in her way--that's all i'm saying.


have a great week and here is my recipe for wonderful salsa.

Salsa
1 can of crushed tomatoes, 2-4 jalapeno's, roasted, de-seeded and chopped, 4 tomatoes peeled and chopped, 1 bunch of cilantro washed and chopped, 1 bunch of green onions chopped, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 can of sliced black olives (which i leave out because my husband loathes olives) 2 cloves of garlic chopped, 1 lime juiced. enjoy!

why oh why at 10 at night doesn't carrot sticks or broccoli florets sound good? why does ice cream and cookies have to be the thing you want. or cheesecake. not that i have any of these things but they still sound good. and if i had them i would eat them.

i did a few layouts this week. pretty simple ones but ones that i had fun with. i love the sketch blog and i found some sketches that would work for my pictures. the picture of carson that says i love you--she was outside reading a book and i took that pic. love how engrossed she was with what she was doing. carson is a doll. thoughtful and kind and funny and some drama thrown in for good measure. i told her today that i couldn't wait for her to have kids because they would all be dressed incredibly with cool hair and some great clothes. then she said that is why she wanted me to have a baby--so she could dress and do the baby's hair all up. well, you need to talk to brianne. that is the next ubnoske clan member in line to give birth.

the other picture of haley and anna fishing just melts my heart. these pics were taken about 2 years ago when we first moved to prescott. those two are pretty close. they have there moments but they are pretty protective of each other. and they play well together. the other day anna went over to play next door with her friend natalie and she took haley with her to play. so sweet.

ok--off to find something to eat that isn't good for me...L

nothing beats a labor day weekend spent at the beach. nothing! we decided on thursday night to go to cali for the weekend, booked our hotel, found a place for the dogs to stay and drove. it was such a nice getaway. even if it was over 100 degrees. but get this--no traffic. in cali! it was lovely.

so we drove in on saturday and i found out that scrapbook oasis was only a hop from our hotel. i had emailed laura to try and hook up there with me but called and found out that they would be closed on monday. so when we arrived dave dropped me off to look around while he went and checked in. that is one fantabulous store! i loved it. i also loved seeing some layouts by some fave scrap people of mine. like jamie waters and lisa McG. very cool stuff. one day i will have to take a class there.

after that we went and ate at the el torito grill and then headed to newport beach. the girls were in heaven. we were at the jetty so the waves there hit fast and hard. loved watching all the boogie boarders attempt to ride in those humongous waves. ATTEMPT being the operative word. so the girls would head in the water and as soon as a wave hit they would run back to avoid getting soaked. this worked well for a while until haley's feet gave out and she fell down and the wave washed over her. time to go then.

the next day we went for a drive up the coast and then headed back to fashion island. after that dave took the two little ones back to the hotel and the big girls went to south coast plaza. i found the cutest little boots, and i bought the cutest little boots. i love me my boots! we went back to the hotel and i took the girls swimming. then we headed in to fullerton to eat at our fave italian restaurant--angelo and vinci's. love that place.

the next day we headed over to temecula to see debbie and dennis. dennis recently had surgery and was recovering but they had made a special labor day/early birthday for dave lunch. i'm talking crab legs, lobster, shrimp, salad, rice pilaf and homemade chocolate cake. it was divine! i wish we could have stayed longer but it was time to head home. now i am just trying to get back in the non-vacation swing of things. hope everyone had a great weekend...L

happy labor day everyone. enjoy. i'll leave you with a little sumpin' sumpin'...L

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQdhMSEqhfg

sorry--couldn't get a link up!

just a few things i have been working on. i finished all the girls skirts last week. haley and anna wears theirs all the time. next up is a skirt and an apron for me. i got 2 vintage apron patterns on ebay last week and can't wait to try one.

i have been working on layouts too. took some really fun pics last week and i am scrapping them. the one with carson and the scenic route sticker--when i was with beth at SE i saw that and just had to have it! in fact i was already through paying and made beth get it for me! so here it is beth. and also the new scenic route paper i bought. yeah--it's not pink! LOL

i hope everyone has a good week and makes a treat for their family. i am planning on making some regular rice krispies today and also a won-ton chicken salad tonight for dinner. eat, craft and be happy...L

today was one of those days that was just sweet. a very happy day. sorry kerry--don't be a tuesday hater. for kerry, tuesday is the new monday. she never has good tuesdays. so she will have to live the day through me. i was awaiting david's arrival home today from taking dallas up to Utah to get settled in, and went uptown to do a few errands. i had a bowl of roasted tomato soup at wildflower bread company and then strolled through the mall. i stopped in at barnes and noble and bought a few inspirational magazines.



i bought the people magazine because it said it had the latest fall fashions and i was curious to see what was going to be "hot" this fall and look for things that i could sew. then as i was walking out of the mall i was thinking of something i could make my kids for a treat when they came home. i thought of rice krispie squares because they are easy and good. and then i remembered this killer recipe i have for rice krispie sandwiches and stopped off at the store to buy some cereal and butterscotch chips. and since i have been reading a lot of "crafty blogs," including blogs that involve sewing and cooking, i was determined to take pictures of some of the steps of creating. so the first thing you need to make rice krispie squares are these:


and of course you need a cute apron (i got this in savannah this summer)


and then you will get these little morsels of yum:



now the funny thing is that i am not one of those moms that has a batch of warm cookies right out of the oven ready for their kids when they get home from school. so this was fun to do and my girls were so excited to see them and eat them. and it got me thinking of how much of what makes life good is the little things. just the tiny little expressions of love that we can give out daily to those around us. and how much it means to people. to see that people care about them.

OK--enough of the sappiness. last night when i couldn't sleep (big shock there) i finished a couple of layouts.




and if you look closely beth you will see i have used PINK! in my layout! so very proud of myself. and now i am going to bed. cuz it's bizness time. but i will leave you with the recipe for rice krispie sandwiches...L

Rice Krispie Sandwiches

Melt one 6 oz. package of butterscotch chips with 1/2 cup peanut butter over low heat, stirring until chips are melted. Stir melted chips into 4 cups of rice krispies and press 1/2 the mixture into an 8" square pan. chill it. then, in a double boiler, stir one 6 oz. package of chocolate chips, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of water until chocolate melts. spread over chilled krispies, top off with reserved krispies--chill and cut into tiny squares.

can't sleep again. so i thought i would let you know about humiliation week. at the school of lisa. it all started thursday when i went down to mesa. i met beth at the scrapbook store and we were following each other around looking at all sorts of stuff. i was looking for paper holders. i found one and put it in my basket. the basket i got after beth told me i needed one. right before i started dropping all my items. anyway--beth is looking at something right behind me and i spot a different paper holder/organizer. i grab it and say very loudly "whatcha think of this one versus the other one i grabbed?" and turn around to see it is not beth right behind me but someone i don't know. and she looks stunned. so i go and find beth and tell her what happened. a little snicker. then about a nanosecond later i manage to topple all the books of the shelf onto the floor. much laughter from the other side of the wall. i asked beth if she even needed to ask whom had done that. she didn't. so i manage to leave the store without further excitement. and a shout out to beth for pointing out some killer halloween scrapbook paper and challenging me to a layout duel! ha ha

after the store i go to meet some friends for a birthday lunch. we had just sat down and were getting our water when the waitress knocks my glass over and water goes everywhere--me, the present for my friend, my feet and nicole. well, it was a hot day and it was only water. and i had a good time seeing friends that i don't get to see very often. and a killer shrimp taco!

next stop is this little salon/boutique that i love in mesa. they always have cheap, fabulous skirts. so i find a few and go try them on. i am on my second skirt and i go to unzip it and the zipper pull breaks off. great. so i try to unzip the skirt. no way. i try to put the zipper pull back on. not happening. i again try to budge the zipper down.nope. finally poke my head out to tell the salesgirl my little problem. she comes over and tries to fix it and budge the zipper. nuh-uh. then she asks me if i have tried to pull it over my head. i just look at her and wonder if she has glanced at my upper body and then proceed to tell her i will try. needless to say that it is 113 degrees outside and have you ever tried on clothes when everything imaginable is melting? including me? so i am almost laughing to myself about trying to get this skirt off over my head. i have had a mammogram. i would have rather had had another one than attempting this maneuver. so i manage to get it over my ta ta's and it gets stuck right under my arm pits. lovely. now not only do i have a skirt stuck on me but everything from the waist down is blowing in the wind. so i suck everything in with all the energy i can muster and here we are, back where we started from. i stick my head out again and tell the girl that it just isn't happening. we both try to get the zipper pull on and try to force the zipper down. but no. this is where the jaws of life come in. yep, i had to be cut out of the skirt. which i decided not to buy.

now if you think that the story of accident prone/clumsy/humiliation stops there, wait. there's more. today is the day i drive the carpool. i drive wed. and fri. so i go to pick up haley from preschool. she has to be signed in and out. i am gathering all her stuff and one of her teachers comes out and asks if i have gotten everything. i have only met her once since i don't drive everyday. anyway i tell her i have gotten everything and we proceed to walk out together. she then asks me if i have signed haley out. i tell her that i did. then she asks me if i am haley's grandma. i say no, i'm her mom. then comes the mortified look and profuse apologies. i tell her it's no big deal. i mean i do have a daughter that will be 24 in a few weeks and haley is not even in kindergarten. still she felt bad. but it was funny. so funny i forgot to laugh! LOL

anyway--that is my week in a nutshell. good times. and i am starting to feel better. starting to feel like the old me again. ready to scrap and ready to start sewing. so look for some new projects from me. and a challenge from beth to use red in a layout. and no circles (since every paper i picked out in the scrapbook store had circles on it!) well, here's to good friends, a great husband and kids and zippers that work...lisa

i can't sleep. i tried to lay down and couldn't do it. dallas and his friend gage just left tonight to go to mesa. they're leaving tomorrow for rocky point. then dallas will come back on saturday and leave with david for college on sunday. i feel like he just got back from italy. how could he already be leaving again. you have kids for what, the first eighteen years or so and then they leave. and it's supposed to be like that. it's how life works. and most of the time i am fine with that. but not tonight. tonight i just want to have all my kids be with me and laugh and play and hang out and remember all the funny times we have had and what we still have ahead of us. and it makes me sad. you take care of them for a while and just when they are old enough to take care of themselves and become more like a friend--poof--they're gone.

but i am lucky--lucky to have such great kids. LUCKY! i count my blessings everyday. not one of my children have caused me that much trouble. of course they are kids--they fight, they complain about helping and sometimes drive me a little crazy--but for the most part they are so GOOD. really and truly. so i won't complain (much!) when they grow up and leave. after all i have been lucky to have a daughter graduate from college and marry in the temple. and a son that has served a full time mission and is heading off to college. so i will try to focus on the joy that that brings me and not the sadness. i will tell you that as a mom whom has grown children and young ones--it goes by pretty fast. so try to make the most of each moment that you have with your own children...L

these are my girls as they headed out to school this week. so far so good! they all seem to be liking being back at school so far. probably not as much as momma does though. Taylor is in her 2nd year of middle school, 7th grade. Carson is in her last year of elementary school, 5th grade. Anna is in 2nd grade and haley is in Pre-K three days a week. I'm in a carpool this year so i only have to drive 2 times a week. love that.

not much else to say except i have been keeping busy. i tried to upload a pic of the wedding to no avail. the files are just too big. i will have to work on finding a way.

i do have to end with a funny anna story as brianne threatened me that i better blog about this. i cut dallas' hair the other day and anna came in and asked why didn't i give him the haircut i gave dad (mohawk, last summer). dallas said that he didn't want his hair like that and anna said why not? dad did it. then i said--well dad is a crazy man and anna looked at me and said--well, you married him. that's right--i said. then anna asked me--so you like crazy men? well anna--it sure looks like it! ha ha

peace out everyone...L

so i have been busy! I started cleaning out my scrap area this week and came across some old photos that i had. the ones of haley fishing. these are around 2 years old. and when i found them i had a need to scrap them. i mean that is my baby right there--the one with the dang cute pigtails and the one whom is perfectly content sitting there fishing. that brought back some good memories. makes me sad that the baby days are over. my girls are sad too. they keep asking for a baby. i tell them that i passed the torch over to brianne. hint, hint!

not much else going on here but counting the days until school starts. only 5 more days! it's crazy to think that summer is over and fall is right around the corner. and dallas will be leaving for school soon too and i don't know what will happen after he leaves and i am left to entertain my girls all by myself again!! ok--david is here too so it's not like it's really all me. but still, we will miss dallas when he goes and i know no one wants to say goodbye all over again. too sad for me to think about.

and wedding pictures will be forthcoming because brianne is sending me the cd with the photographers pics soon. i think she said there were 1,000 images! so excited! so for all of you wanting to see pictures you will soon enough! later...L

yes, i'm back. sort of. i took a little break. from everything. no blogging, no scrapping, no sewing, no anything really. i was just tired and worn out. i still am a little but i started coming back today.

so let's see--what has happened since i have been away. my daughter got married! yay! it was a beautiful day. brianne and jeff looked so happy and i think everything went well. then they went on a cruise to the caribbean. after the wedding i went to Georgia and stayed a week with my sister. we went to savannah, antiquing, eating, watched fireworks on the 4th and then i came home with my neice paityn whom stayed two weeks with us. my girls loved having her and while she was down we went to the grand canyon, the mall and did some fun stuff. it was nice to have her here.

pictures are of my new bedding, the last layout i did (over a month ago), my neice, a man playing the sax in savannah, and the grand canyon.

yesterday carson turned 11. and that was how many girls came over for an all day/all night party. lots of fun. for her. ha ha

so today i got busy and got a lot of things taken care of that were taking over and i have finally started cleaning and organizing my scrap room.

and somewhere in there i read the last harry potter book. amazing. wonderful. i loved it. so if you were wondering why i wasn't around, there you go...L