Tell me a story

I asked Master to tell Princess Pie a bed time story and few minutes later I hear Pie yell, "I don't want a story where Princesses get beat up!" Being the nice brother that he is he replied, "Don't worry the prince will save her in the end."

Lessons of my youth....ode to Janette

My mom has this fabulous cousin. She is vivacious and talented and.....long story short, she has a lot of admirable qualities. Once a very very long time ago I heard her say...." if you ever need your lawn mowed and your husband is not around. Put on a dress and go out and start mowing...pretty soon a neighbor will drive by and 'He' will offer to do it for you. " Thinking at the time I could NOT imagine mowing the lawn in a dress .... I would file that story away, as useful information for another time.

Last week Brian found out the day we were to leave to go camping with friends he needed to be in LA. Somehow it was decided I would follow our friends up on Thursday and Brian would come up early Friday morning. That meant hauling the kids and trailer by myself. Normally I am a 'can do' or a 'figure it out' kind of girl. When Brian gave me the list of tie downs, jack stands, and generator parts I needed to obtain before leaving I was a bit nervous. My biggest cause of concern was the generator. I have never even turned on the generator. What if I bought the wrong parts? For sure if I couldn't turn it on, I couldn't install the parts. Ta Da TOTAL RECALL I was headed to work anyway....I put on my black pencil skirt and high heels; loaded the generator in the car (with help..thanks Cass) and headed to the motorcycle shop. I put on my damsel in distress and within about 30 minutes without an appointment I had the right parts, installed, and a quick lesson on how to run the thing.... LOVES to Janette that advice!!!

Stateline

Camping with friends New Technology meets the old. It's always nice to have both
This campground is on the border of Utah and Wyoming and it was beautiful.

His first 'real' fish with a fly and a bubble

Just pretending to ride...

Honky Tonk Nashville

My company holds a national convention every year. The Location this year was Nashville TN. They give us one free night, and we headed down to Broadway..... The bands we heard were incredible.

Look like and sounded like..

could have been Rascal Flatts

Sounded like Kelly Pickler looked like Carey Underwood

This was the BEST one!
This picture is taken at the Grand ole Opry. There was a great band playing outside and everyone was enjoying the music when I heard someone say my equipment rep was up on stage with the band. Sure enough I looked and there is Buzz singing Down Home Alabama.
He ROCKED!

Blog Picture Protection

How to Protect Your Pictures props to Amber S. for linking me to this post. I did it and it works!

G0 to this website: http://www.codelifter.com/main/javascript/norightclick1.html
there is a little link above the box with the code that you can click to copy the code. On your blog, go to layout and choose to create a new gadget.
Choose an HTML/Java
Right click and paste the code in the box
In the box DELETE the part that looks like this

============================================================Script: Basic No-Right-Click ScriptFunctions: Blocks right-click on mouse and shows alert boxBrowsers: NS & IE 4.0 & later; degrades gracefullyAuthor: etLux============================================================
Put the following script in the head of your page:


Hit Save on your blog

Now when people look at your blog they can not right click on your pictures and save.
If you host through someone like flickr or photobucket, you have to make sure your pictures are marked as private, or else someone can click on your picture, go to the hosting site and download them there. (I am clueless on this part)

Lava, Lagoon and Cherry Hill

This is the highest platform at Lava Hot Springs. Min had a boy dare her to jump off it when she was 12. She hasn't been back since and thought she should try again. She persuaded bro Mark to go with her.

Notice the angle she is at....and the arm about to slap the water...

I think the poor girl is still in pain

Way to smile through the pain! It's all about the presentation!!

Bath time after Cherry Hill

We played and we played Hard! My sis and her family treked down from Oregon to meet us at the Cabin for the 4th reunion. Then back to Kaysville for Cherry Hill and Lagoon and North again to Lava Hot Springs to camp. Cousin time is the best and for having that much together time all of the siblings, out-laws, and in-laws got along and we had a great time. Thanks for coming McGraths wish you were closer!!!!

Simple things I love 24 and 25

24. Smelling sunscreen when I kiss my kids' heads
25. Cheesecake factory

Knowing what you now know...and regrets...

I had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend/co worker today that is very young and dying of cancer. He is not a Mormon nor does he believe in the 'next life' or hereafter. I asked him today, if he could go back, what he would do different in his life. His answers revolved around his wife and family and choices he made in his career. It made me think if the situation were reversed what I would say. My Mootz always said, "If you had to do 'it' all over again you would just make a brand new set of mistakes'. I believe that. No life is meant to be 'perfect' there would be no point in being here if there was. Through our conversation I realized how grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation. I think the here and now matters more when you know there is going to be a 'later'.

How do YOU spell RELIEF?

Some of you may or may not remember this product slogan (depending on age). I've been thinking a lot lately about stress and relief (not Alka Seltzer). In this crazy world it seems like everyday I hear stories of people dealing with major stressful issues, from job loss to sickness and death. Even if you aren't 'lucky' enough to have a major thing happening in your life, there are still everyday stresses of work, children, family, house-work, yard-work, church callings etc. I believe 'coping strategies' or the ability to reduce/ relieve stress is a skill, and there are some out there better at it than others. I want to be good at this and I want to teach my children to be good at this. How do YOU cope? How do YOU spell RELIEF?

What others think...

I have heard other special needs parents say how hard it is to have your child not be 'normal' act normal or sound normal when in a public place and have others stare at you or your child.Shaking beads or sitting where they shouldn't be sitting... Personally I don't care what others think. It is what it is. It doesn't change the fact that it's hard. I worry about him. Is he ok? Should I be doing something different? Should I be working with him more? More therapists? It's hard to see your child do these things. The moaning grates on your nerves, you are diapering a 6yr old and even though you know they have an extra chromosome in every part of their body you want them to be cute and act cute, you want others to see them and love them and out of respect pray their behaviors don't bother them. Usually with extra effort, time and patience we can bring him around. Because the communication is still so limited it's hard to know what he needs. Am I doing the right thing? Is he thirsty? Is he hungry? Why is he moaning or being soooo stubborn today?So we sing songs about monkeys jumpping on the bed

And we laugh and love and know we are so very blessed, beads moaning and all.

Be Careful What You Wish For....

There is a song on the radio that says, "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it all." Since I can remember I've wanted a cabin at Bear Lake. I would draw and doodle it as often as possible. Lucky for me I married someone that made that dream come true. We bought the land designed the plans and went to work, work and more work. We started in 2001 and we are still working on the place. When I was 14 at my Aunts cabin....wishing for my own...somehow the daydream didn't include all the work. However we've learned a few things along the way and made some good memories as well.

JEMCO

John Edwin McMullin Co.

John Edwin McMullin Cousins. the JEMCO Reunion. It happens every 2 years and it is awesome. We had the perfect blend of organized and unorganized activities from Family Fued to Beach Time and the JEMCO's got talent show. Thanks Coby, Mindy, Doug and Kim!

Cute Cousins


Mom and cousin Rob (showcasing his wonderous talents)

ABC Cousins (Adam Brody Cambridge)

Princess has learned to pump by herself....love that!

Rocket launching with the Ever Engineer Uncle Matt Notice the wow faces on the kids

Cousins but more like sisters

Aunt Jana and little sleepy cousin Corbin

13-23 Simple Things I love

Ok so I got a little behind on my New Years project.
13. Very small ballet shoes left on the living room floor
14. Rounding the corner to see the fridge door open but no feet on the floor which means the very small person is standing on the edge of the freezer digging for a popsicle.
15. Being able to watch Grey's Anatomy on DVd while I fold laundry
16. The Lazy River at Cherry Hill with my kids
17. Fireworks
18. The view from the porch at the cabin
19. Good running shoes
20. A clean car
21. Porch time with family
22. laptop computers
23. Showering (in my shower) after camping.

The Work and Fun factor scale

My friend, Jessica (mom of 6) says; when planning anything you have to weigh the work and fun factors. Event/ Activities score high on this scale when the fun is high and the work is low. Sometimes really fun things take a significant amount of work; this is fine as long as the fun factor is still greater. Camping is for sure high on the fun factor, buy it also has a significant work factor. I think it took an entire day to pack and I came home exhausted. My friend Ann reminded me that you 'make' memories. So 'cheers' to the work factor that creates the 'fun' and the memories.

1st Camping Trip of the Season

The Site

Princess Pie and Indy learning to fish...Yes that is a Barbie pole in her handThe fine art of Cooking Marshmellows

Master ticked that I"m taking another picutre!