treasures from my Saturday surf session

So I was doing a little web surfing and I stumbled onto this exciting news from the Twilight movie website:

I've been deep in the editing cave for the last two weeks and we were just polishing up the scene that will be on the MTV Awards Pre-Show this Sunday. They want it to be a surprise, so I can't tell you which scene it is, but wait till you see it!!!! ... Check it out this Sunday, June 1st on MTV...

FYI: I will be DVRing this show.

Here is a random picture I found while doing some surfing. I will be running a little contest to see who can offer the best caption.

pop quiz

Do you know what today is?

A) Friday

B) May 30th

C) The last day I have to work for almost three months!!!!!

D) One of my favorite days of the year

E) All of the above

Who's up for a little blog style Bakersfield reunion?

Who's invited?? YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES OF COURSE

Where?? Beale Water Spray Park Located on the corner of Palm Avenue & Oleander Avenue

When?? June 10th 11:00 A.M.-whenever

What?? BYO picnic, water fun, chit chatting, meeting kids and spouses (possibly sharing embarrassing memories and pictures)

Please come... it wouldn't be any fun without you (and you know who "you" are)

***side note*** If you are sitting there thinking, "I was always closer to ________ (fill in the blank with any of my sister's names) don't you worry they will be there too.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

Our AMAZING, SMART, FUNNY, LOVING, TENDER, SENSITIVE, PHENOMENAL, and of course COOL son is nine today. He makes us proud everyday. He is why I wanted to be a mother. Thank you for being our son.

To read more about these pictures and what Jake did for his birthday check out his blog later he has lots to report on.

indecent proposal?

Tonight I interpreted for our schools wrestling banquet. We ate okay bbq and the coaches talked non-stop for two and a half hours. By far the most interesting part of it all was when a tough looking mother (two lip rings, a dozen ear rings, eye brow piercing, tattoos, LOTS of cleavage) came up to me with a proposition. She started off by complimenting me on how "sexy" and tall I was. She then asks me if I skate (at this point I'm terrified at where this conversation is going). "Like roller skating or ice skating?" I ask. She clarifies things up for me by saying roller skating. I told her it's been like 20 or 25 years why? She then says I would be perfect for roller derby.

ROLLER DERBY!! Who knew I had an inner athlete inside of me? I'm pretty sure each roller derby team seeks out someone about 6 ft tall and shaped like a tree trunk (I knew my large stature would come in handy one day). I'm thinking my size was the only requirement to make the team (I'd be the Shaq of roller derby) but still I'M wanted on a sports team, now how many of you have been recruited to join a full contact sports team lately? I was checking out some of the underwear I mean uniforms they wear for their sport and started thinking that I'm not sure how derbyish I would look only showing skin from my knees and elbows down. I might stand out in my modest derby attire. I just thought I would share my newest opportunity with you all. Do you think it was a compliment or an insult? I'm really struggling on how I should react to this.

For all you plus sized ladies out there here are some of the bonuses to a little bulge:

1. very minimal risk for developing osteoporosis (weight bearing exercises is the best way to prevent it... ie walking/moving with excess weight)

2. no need to iron your clothes when you fill them out nicely

3. invite to join your local roller derby team and from there who knows... javelin thrower, arm wrestling, heck why stop there full on WWF style wresting, I say dream big...

my naive 9 year old

Jacob will be nine on Friday and in many ways he is very mature for his age. He is super smart in fact he found out today he was commended on his math TAKS test (it's a big deal in Texas). However sometimes he can be very naive and I love it.

While driving home from school we were stopped at a red light next to a police car. The officer had his window down and with his arm hanging out holding a cigarette. Jacob looks at him and says to me:

Jake: With a shocked voice, "Mom that police man is smoking!!"

Me: "Yeah I know Jake."

Jake: "Isn't that illegal?!?!"

Me: "No it's not illegal just yucky, people can choose to smoke after they turn 18 but we know Heavenly Father doesn't want us to."

Jake: "Does Heavenly Father want HIM to smoke?"

Me: "He knows it isn't good for him but it's very hard to quite once you have started."

Jake shakes his head back and forth with obvious disapproval and lose of respect for this officer.

FYI: My kids will call you out if they catch you doing something that they know isn't right. Believe me I know first hand.

***side note*** I used an old picture of Jake because our camera is dead. I really need to take new pics of him though because his psoriasis is like 95% gone now. It's amazing!!!

12-12-08

Is it too early to start a count down???

i feel dizzy

I normally try to avoid lots of extra curricular activities with the kids I really don't enjoy the fast paced life. I think because I do work during the week that I just want to hang out with the kids on the the weekends. I know it's practically a sin in the great state of Texas not to have your son in a million different sports but Jake has actually never been on any organized sports team. The girls don't take gymnastics or cheer leading (another big no no in Texas) we just sort of hang out as a family on weekends and that's how I like it. After our last weekend I think I have an even stronger testimony of our relaxed weekend lifestyle. Here is what we were up to over the past couple of days (you may want a pen and paper to take notes on so you can try to keep up).

THURSDAY: Jeremy, Jake and Brooke leave Amarillo at about 1:00 p.m to drive to Dallas for Jake's Dermatologist appointment on Friday. Dallas is about 5 1/2 hours away so they thought they would get there about dinner time and then check into the hotel and get plenty of rest for their day of fun in Dallas. After work I rush home to pack a small suitcase for Riley and Morgan because our very dear friends Garth and Brooke were willing to watch the other girls for me this weekend while I went on an over night field trip. Garth picked up the girls at about 4:30 leaving me kid less for the night (early Mother's Day present... is that rude?)

FRIDAY: I have to wake up at 3:30 am so I can be at my school at 4:30 am to leave for our annual Imagination Celebration in Ft. Worth. Imagination Celebration (I.C.) is a two day event for all the deaf high school and middle school age students in Texas. The kids look forward to this big trip all year long. Our local deaf education program didn't have all the money needed to pay for the big trip so my students have been working hard for a year now to save enough to cover all the costs. The big trip includes workshops, meeting famous deaf people, socializing with other deaf students, a big dance, a nice dinner and of course all the fun one can have riding in a big yellow school bus for about 6 hours (we didn't earn enough money for the nicer bus this year so we used a school one). This year I.C. had a wild west theme to it. We were on the grounds of Ft. Worth's historic Stockyards where we went around visiting experts on many different topics such as; the Civil War, spinning wool into thread, Indian dancers, early photography, and the use of camels in the south. It was interesting but a little unorganized. Lots of students using bad maps and given too much time to look at little outdoor exhibits. We all got a little bored while waiting for dinner to start so Chelsea (another interpreter) and I decided to make up dances with cheap replicas of wild west souvenirs.

While I was melting in Dallas and sweating more than I do at the gym (I think I might be skinny if I lived in Dallas) Jake was being seen by Dr. Menter who was thrilled with his progress. He really looks so much better. The meds he is on are doing their jobs. Other than his scalp and hair line he really doesn't have ANY plaque on his body. Dr. Menter wants to keep everything as is for now and then when we go back in July he might reduce Jake's MTX down to just one pill a week instead of three. After the doctor's appointment Jeremy and his crew traveled from Dallas to Lubbock to meet up with the rest of the family. Mean while in Lubbock I was talking to Brooke (my friend not my daughter... I know it's really confusing) and she was saying the girls were doing really well. Morgan had a little cold but I felt like she was in great hands since Brooke (once again friend not daughter) is a pharmacist. Riley's report was very good, I was told that Riley was being such a help. It felt so good knowing that while Jeremy and I were busy our girls were being well taken care of. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!

That night we had a nice dinner catered by Outback steakhouse followed by a dance. You have never been to a loud dance until you have been to a deaf dance. I'm talking HUGE speakers everywhere and everyone is practically hanging on them.

The kids LOVE to dance and me and the other interpreters all got into the action. My favorite part is when one of my students would turn to me and ask me, "what kind of music is being played?" Was it Mexican, rap, slow, or country? Once I would let them know what they were dancing to they would do an amazing job I was so impressed!!

This poor kid (not my student) fell asleep right as the dance was starting and didn't move from this position until it was pretty much over. He must be deaf to sleep through all that noise. Matt came with us as a staff member to help out with the boys we brought. He graduated two years ago and is now attending West Texas A&M University. We decided to go ahead and take a picture with this kid, there was a lot of sillyness going on. After the three hour dance we all loaded up in the bus and headed to the hotel where we had pizza in our hotel rooms and crashed. I was beyond tired!!!

SATURDAY: After some much needed sleep I had to get my girls up nice and early for our 6:45 am breakfast time. We ate and then got ready for the another long day at the Stockyards. We had some more workshops including Indian bead making, an amazing and emotional speech from actors who were portraying a famous Indian chief from Texas named Quanah and his white mother Cynthia Ann Parker, and line dancing. I thought Saturday went a lot better. The workshops were more interesting and fun for my students. We had box lunches and then ended the day by attending the Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. The show was really fun however I did notice a huge flaw in the planning of it. The biggest part of the show was a singing cowboy... the audience that was intended to be entertained was a deaf group.

Jeremy and Garth spent part of the morning golfing while my crazy friend Brooke decided to take all my kids and her son to a children's museum. I guess Jake was a little bored, tired and defiant because they weren't at the museum very long before Brooke came to her senses and left dropping Jake off at the golf course with his daddy. They all hung out in Lubbock until at about 4:00 then they packed up and headed back to Amarillo. We left from Dallas at about 3:30 and arrived in Amarillo at 10:30 at night. All in all I'm glad I went to Ft. Worth but I'm also glad that this event is only once a year.

SUNDAY: I had a very nice Mother's day but not exactly a work free day (isn't there some kind of rule that says you don't have to actually be a mother on Mother's day?) In Primary our presidency had decided to give the teachers a little break and allow them to go to their Relief Society or Preisthood meetings. The music people (me and Sarah, our pianist) and the presidency all stuck around and helped the kids make a lovely gift for their moms. Jeremy was on meal duty for the day and I rested up from my crazy weekend. You may ask, "What's on the agenda for next weekend???"

NOTHING which is just how I like it!

instupniac

Why am I blogging at 12:15 am??? Well I am suppose to bring a dessert to the kids school tomorrow for their big "teacher appreciation luncheon" and I wanted to make something special. I got this great idea from homegirl's blog and here I am waiting for some chocolate to to finish hardening so I can package the dang things and call it a night. Not as pretty as the demo picture but then again it's after midnight on a school night. YAWN...

Morgan makes a bff

Hey Drew whatcha got there?
Let me sit a little closer maybe you didn't hear me...

That right there... could I try just a sip?
Awww Drew you're the best!!!

After weeks (yet weeks) of trying to get Riley to let me pull out her VERY loose tooth guess who's sporting a new smile?!?!

Duh... it's me!!

I think I might have invented a new technique on pulling out an extremely overdue loose tooth. It involves a tall glass of cold water and a very confused, disoriented and wet 6 year old. I like to call it the "shock and awe". I love how at the end of a long, sweaty, tearful battle of wills Riley nervously says to me, "that didn't even hurt, I was soooo brave."

***side note*** some of you may want to take back the lovely undeserving compliments you dealt out in my last post after reading this. I would understand.

why I signed up for this job...

I thought I would briefly explain to you why in my humble opinion mother's need a special day to be recognized and remembered. We all deserve our little day of thanks and recognition because all too often we have days like this:

7:15 am- after getting ready for work I go to my daughter's room to get them ready for school and find that my wonderful 5 year old has wet her bed.

3:35 pm- I finish up work leaving my art class about 10 min early so I can avoid teenage traffic. I walk over to Brooke's classroom fully intending on signing her out and leaving campus before that before mentioned teenage traffic starts up. When I arrive to the classroom the daycare director approaches me with a stack of what appears to be checks. She then tells me that Brooke brought these checks to school and gave them out to several of her classmates. It was not discovered until a mother noticed them in her daughter's backpack. They searched all the other children's backpacks and lockers and gathered as many as they could find. What happens next is a bit fuzzy, all I remember is we are driving away and my wonderful 5 year old is looking very repentant from the back seat.

5:25 pm- While in the final stages of a two cart shopping trip to Walmart with Morgan and Brooke (and all of the drama that that involves) Brooke starts holding herself and doing the potty polka as a very young foreign girl is slowly checking me out. I see that the 20 minute check out can't be more that another 10 minutes and I ask Brooke if she could hold it. When she yells back at me NO while intently grabbing herself I decide to believe her and I point out that the bathroom is luckily no more that 15 feet away. I give her permission to run to the bathroom while I watch her the entire way. I keep my eye on the bathroom as I am loading up my second basket. I turn around to pay for everything and then haul my two carts to the restroom and call for my wonderful 5 year old to hurry up. There is no answer... I call again... nothing. I pull Morgan out of the cart and grab my purse and then walk in and check each stall. NOTHING. I find a worker walking by and ask him to check the boys bathroom... NOTHING. Now all I can think about is this horrible spammed email I had just received this week talking about a little girl that went missing in a Sam's Club and was found just 10 min later in a bathroom with half her head shaved off and stripped down to her underwear. We then get the closest manager who immediately calls in a "CODE ADAM" on her walkie talkie and then barks out a description of my little angel (in times like these bed wetting, check sharing and everything else is totally forgotten and forgiven). I know it sounds cliche but every minute felt like a small eternity. It seems like forever before someone lets the manager know that a girl matching her description had been found. The manager and I hurry to the location and sure enough there's Brooke, sucking her thumb and looking at the purses that I had just earlier told her she couldn't have.

My point is any hired hand could do your laundry, cooking, cleaning, and even your shopping. What I think truly makes a mother (or father) worthy of their own day of thanks is the time we spend worrying, praying, teaching, loving, guiding and protecting our little ones. On our drive from Walmart to Jake and Riley's after school program I started to cry a little as I thought of the four precious little children that we have been entrusted with by our Heavenly Father. I thought about how they were meant to be raised by us and how we were meant to be their parents. I was meant to be their mother. I read your blogs and I realize that everyone has wonderfully unique children but for me there are no other children in the world that I would trade my angels for (especially my wonderful 5 year old).

Happy Mother's Day to all you amazing moms out there, I think we deserve it.

the great hunter has returned victorious

After three scheduled and then cancelled turkey hunts Jeremy and Jake finally had their big hunt last Saturday. It gives me great pride to report that in Jeremy's very first wild turkey hunt ever he found success. Jeremy and Jake came home Saturday night with a butchered turkey (minus a little "clean up" work). We got two large turkey breasts and a couple of nice drumsticks out of this turkey which Jeremy plans on cooking tomorrow. I'm still not sure how I feel about eating a wild animal. I might consider it this time because in all fairness the meat just looks like meat. I think my least favorite part of hunting is me waking up the next day to make the kids breakfast and finding tiny black feathers on my counter top.... SICK!!

my prom night with Breezy

I have the opportunity to work with several different students through out the day. One of the students is a very special girl named Alyssa "Breezy" O'dell. Breezy was born with syndrome called Keratitis-ichthyosis-deafness syndrome (KIDS). KIDS is a rare and serious skin disorder that has very serious and some times fatal side effects. Breezy is deaf, mostly blind, has thick red skin that is cracked in many places, she does not have any sweat glands so over heating is always a scary possibility, she can't grow hair and she has a multitude of other health related problems. All of these heath problems are things that she has to live and deal with everyday. Breezy misses lots of school because of all the complications (mostly because of her very bad immune system and the many infections she gets). Despite all of these health problems Breezy is extremely kind, and compassionate. She always wants to know how my kids are doing specifically how Jake is doing with his psoriasis. Breezy has a very positive outlook on life and her future. She is a senior this year and has plans to do great things with her life. Breezy has a great sense of humor and like me, loves to tell a good story. Breezy is very bright and has such a thirst for knowledge. Many times I will come into class and she will already be there waiting for me. When the class stops for the day Breezy often has questions about different news stories she has been reading about that she wants to discuss with me. I have to really stay up on my current events to keep up with her. We have lots of fun talking to each other when there is free time in class.

The past month Breezy has been very focused on prom night and all of her big plans. I have heard all about her dress, hair plans, and dinner plans. Breezy was having some difficult time with finding someone who would go with her to the prom. She thought she had someone to go with and then she would come in the next day saying that it didn't work out. As the prom grew closer her escort was still a little unclear. About three days before prom was scheduled Breezy said she had an old childhood friend who had agreed to go with her. She also said her mom would be going to dinner with them and possibly be going to the prom to help be her eyes and ears. I got to thinking and decided I wanted to go to the prom with her and her friend and have to opportunity to make sure Breezy had the time of her life. Last night was the big night and we had a blast!

I was a little unsure of what I would wear for the big night. I am very much a jean, t-shirt, hoodie kind of girl. I was told by my friend Danielle that there was no way I could wear a hoodie to the prom. I didn't have much time or desire to go out and buy something more formal so I called up Danielle and checked out her options. She had a few things that might work but really didn't look right on me. I really appreciate you letting me rummage through your closet Danielle... if you are ever in the need of a t-shirt or hoodie feel free to come by and check out my collection (I'm afraid it's all I've got to offer). So last minute (like an hour and a half before I was suppose to be there) I ran to a store to try and find some top to wear with a white skirt I already had. I HATE clothes shopping by the way especially with kids and when I'm in a hurry. I ended up buying a "slightly nicer" t-shirt and I called it good. I then ran home for hair and make up Jake asked why I was getting all dressed up and I told him I was going to prom. I asked Jake if he thought I would have a chance at prom queen (I love asking him questions like this because he is just too sweet to disappoint me so he kind of tells me a white lie so not to hurt my feelings). He thought for a moment and then said, "I would say you have like a 5% chance but ONLY because you're not a student." As soon as Jeremy got home to watch the kiddos I was out the door to the civic center. When I arrived this is what I saw... who knew (I really feel sort of cheated... I would have rocked my hoodie, oh well there's always next year)

Breezy and her friend were already there as well as five more of my deaf students. They all were really nice everyone was just hunging out together talking, dancing, and eating. No one was left out and no teenage drama (which is just how I like it). Breezy was so cute, she told me to look out for some of the kids that she knew so I could point them out for her and she could say hi. We went around saying hello to everyone and taking pictures with them. Breezy really wanted to get a picture with her English teacher Mr. Paddock who is 7 feet tall. He was very obliging to her request, I thought the picture turned out really cute.

I was also able to describe some of the trashier dresses for Breezy we had fun with a little people watching. Breezy didn't sit down much she was on her feet dancing for most of the night. I took lots of pictures for her and her mother. All in all the night was a huge success. We ended the evening with dinner at IHOP and I came home at about 1 am EXHAUSTED!!

Have I mentioned before that I love my job?

Happy Birthday!!

I wanted to wish my amazing mother in-law a happy birthday from all of us. She has many wonderful qualities that makes her so special to all of us. Here is just a short list of those attributes:

1. She will ask her grand kids, "what do YOU want to do today?"...and mean it.

2. She cooks quick wonderful meals for the masses (you make it look too easy).

3. She a dutiful servant of the Lord. Even with the high prices of gas she is always at her weekly temple assignment.

4. Sews gorgeously.

5. Raised an amazing son (and 6 other wonderful children too) who I'm lucky to have as mine for eternity.

Happy Birthday Anita I sure hope you had a wonderful day, we love you dearly.

P.S. #6. Very camera shy *smile*