Hey Army Dude

I bet you can hardly see Jacob in this picture... because he is covered in camouflage. ya, that marker on his face is his homemade war paint to cover his face. he goes upstairs everyday and puts marker on his face. sometimes it's circles, like glasses, around his eyes. other times it's these random marks. this kids makes me laugh, seriously!
yummy french onion soup with a crouton of melted smoked gouda and parmessan cheese. that'll warm ya up anyday!
a beautiful sunset from our backyard, i love the colors! Random pictures for a random Thanksgiving Eve. we're going Christmas shopping tonight, Thanksgiving Eve is super-duper quiet and we'll be done with the family gifts in 2 hours.

i love food
i love my family
i love shopping

That's what is so great about thanksgiving, you combined both of them together and bam! good times! the shopping part usually comes in when the girls are feeling restless and we're ready to find a good deal, like 4:30 pm this thursday.

i'm making the rolls for thanksgiving. i have a recipe that i received from caroline boster when i was a laurel in church, mannnnnny years ago! it's a simple recipe, but it makes me think of nyssa, oregon and all the wonderful people who shaped my blessed life.

i bought a turkey at win-co, and he is a beast all 14.7 lbs of him. but he was only $6.48. how could i turn that down? i couldn't even fit it in my side by side freezer, what was i thinking! thank goodness for my good friend melissa. she is the only person i know who has only 2 things in her outside freezer. my mom had two extra freezer's growing up. the one in the hallway always had a 5 gallon bucket of schwan's ice cream in it.... yummy! what a treat after working in the fields weeding or a hot day jumping on the trampoline.

so back to the turkey, my mom is going to cook the beast up and we will all be full of turkey for 3 more weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving, happy family, happy food, and happy shopping!

Dinosaur Attack!!!!

This is the dinosaur video Jacob made for the PTA reflections program. The kids had a great time with the different categories. They had photography, painting, film, Jacob performed an awesome dance, and Madeline composed a piano song. Everyday last week, when they got off the school bus, they rushed in to what the next cool "art" project was. It was great to have a break from the norm.

Enjoy!

keep it simple

i don't believe in patterns! i remember "learning" how to sew growing up. i took a 4-h class and really enjoyed the sewing part but not the pattern part. maybe i just don't like someone telling me what to do! that's probably most of it... i always like to twick things tonya's way.

i remember trying to sew a swimsuit (who makes their own swimsuit???) my mom was outside scrapping the house to paint it. i needed her help to follow this *&#*&?@ pattern! but she was too busy so i made the swimsuit my way, which was partly inside out.

i have NEVER bought a pattern for sewing i just make things up, curtains, bedspread, doll clothes, temple bag ( mytagbag.com ) so i'm a creative free spirit. by the way i cook the same way i sew, almost, i look at recipes for ideas ;)

Reminiscing past days!

I love sunshine days! Here is a picture of Cynthia and Jacob. Jacob was about 3 years old, oh so cute! You can see the love for life that is in those adorable blue eyes.

Last night for Family Home Evening, we watched home movies from 2005. It was great to see the kids really enjoy Christmas. They opened each gift with enthusiasm and played with the toy before moving on to the next one. I miss those years!

Today, as I was eating lunch at the kitchen table, I could feel the warmth of sunshine on my back and was reminded of the days at Ricks. One fall day, I came home to Dorm #4, room 112 for lunch. The dorm was quiet and the sunshine was filtering through the window. I thought, I should study but hey why not lay here in the sun and take a nap. So, that is what I did.

Oh, it felt so good to feel the sunshine on my face. If I had let that moment go, do you think I would now be writing about studying for a certain class. Nope, don't even remember what class I had. Savor the moments, because in those moments if we live them, then we have the memories of past warm days.

I Believe

"I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond;

that character — not wealth or power or position— is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.” John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Hot Cocoa

Jacob.. Mom I realllllly want some hot cocoa. I'm cold!
Mom... Jacob it's 30 degrees outside and you have shorts on, could that be why you are cold?
Jacob.. maybe Mom, but I still want hot cocoa!
Mom.. okay Jacob but I need 3 kisses to give me enough power to make some!
Jacob... kiss, kiss, kiss okay mom their ya go, hey when it's snowing outside can we have hot cocoa again?
Mom... yes!

The Mini Rock Stars Video

My kids rock on!!

Pillowblanket

It's not a typo, these are known as pillowblanket because they are inseparable. I sewed and crocheted the blanket when I saw the ultrasound and saw that I was carrying a sweet boy. This blanket has been loved to death! It has holes in it but still it goes on, and on, and on being loved by a boy!

My kids are rednecks!

Okay, here is something you probably didn't know about me. .. my kids are rednecks. It happens when you are raised on a farm and your kids go and visit your parents who live on a farm.

Like the outhouse, did you notice it in the picture behind Jacob. That is for him... the kid will find a tree, bush, or just dirt if he didn't plan enough time to make it to the bathroom. Although, my parents live in a cute cottage with only 1 bathroom does create a little craziness.

Okay, back to the redneck story. We found my brother, Jason's, old BB gun. I remember using it to shot random things around the farm. Well, Jacob is loving this fun. He will shot the fence post or a tin can. Jacob wanted to see Grandpa Owen's skills so.... Jacob throws a old zuccini in the sky high and far away from his cute body and Grandpa shots it. At least Jacob thinks he shots it because when it hits the ground Jacob exclaims "Grandpa, you shot it to smithereens!!!!" well, i don't know where smithereens is but the zucinni just gets beat up from hitting the ground. It is the funniest thing, my dad and I almost need to use the outhouse because we are laughing so hard.

Ya know your a redneck when!

I'll tell you tomorrow what the picture is about with my Dad and Jacob. Let's just say "redneck hunting".

I Love Onions!

I love ONIONS! My dad is proud to know that. As a kid, however, I was not so fond of onions. Probably because we spent hours weeding them. At 6 a.m., on a beautiful summer morning, my sisters and I would hear a call up the stairs, "girls!" "Girls! It's time to get up! "

mom would always fix an amazing breakfast. the smell of bacon was my weakness. once i ate a whole package of bacon, all by myself! so we could get a hearty breakfast of pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, orange juice, and eggs (i didn't like eggs growing up).

With our tummies full, we were off to the fields for a couple hours. Make sure you have your water jug, because the ditch water was not as tasty as it looked. My sisters and I would spend a lot of the weeding time talking about what we would buy with our hard earned money. although, at $2 an hour for weeding it would take a while to buy many clothes. it was always a treat, to go to town and look at the "farm store" where we could put clothes on lay-away and slowly make payments for our clothes. it was an awesome day, when we had our final payment and we could take the much anticipated clothes home.

maybe next year I should loan my kids out to work on a farm out by my parents. jacob saved up some money last spring for a much anticipated Lego claw tank. so maybe he gets the idea of delayed gratification.

The Hats Win

Our family had a great time visiting everyone in Utah. Denise is showing us her best face.
Denise, Andrea, Tonya, and the Mother!
Stephen was showing off some of his music skills at Andrea's house. There was a play off on the piano between, Andrea, Denise, and Stephen. Denise and Stephen had the same number of years of piano lessons, but I think Stephen edged her out by a little bit.

At Utah last weekend, we visited at Andrea's house. Mom and Dad decided to get in the "dress-up" spirit and and be part of the "force". Dad's hat fits him well.

A Sunshine Day Among the Clouds

Okay, I'm trying to think happy thoughts with the disappointment of yesterday's Presidential outcome. John McCain was so gracious, wow, more than I would be. I will pray even more for America!

I'm excited that Prop 8 in California ( http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/05/voters-decide-hot-button-issues-nationwide/ ) looks like it will pass! Ya, traditional marriage is still alive and well.

Who is that cute girl in the beautiful trees. Madeline has always been a climber and has never met a tree that she hasn't tried to climb. I feel so blessed to have children and for them to daily remind me of the beauty and wonder that is all around if we can but see. I love America!!!



****If you will add your e-mail address to the comments, I am going to have my blog private. I have debated this from the beginning and my sister Denise helped convince me.

love to all!

The Gymnastics Queen

Madeline has been working on her backwalk-overs for several months. I am constantly hearing banging in the living room as she works on her skills.
Here she is kicking over. Look at that face of determination!!!
I did it! Ya! It is a hard one to master. Congratulations, Madeline!

Drum roll, please ! And the crown goes to.... Mrs. Idaho Spud!!!

Who is this masked man with the big hair! It's bird, it's a farm, it's SPUDDY BUDDY! You all know the Idaho mascot, right?

I was working at the LDS cannery last week and debating about who to dress up for Halloween. I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Stephen is always a good sport and we find a duo to dress up like! Napolian and Deb, mr and mrs nerd, Luke and Liah Skywalker, so this year I was Mrs. Idaho Spud.

We are a jubbled family with a mouse, robot, spuddy, and a Mrs.

PARTY ON DUDE!!

We had a great weekend visiting both of our families in Utah. Jacob was a transformer, but not just any Transformer, THE transformer! I didn't know there was a big difference between them.

My siblings and I would watch the cartoon with the catchy song "Transformers, more than meets the eye, Transformers, robots in disguise!" Well, sweet Cyn informs me that this is the mother of all transformers! I can't even remember the TRANSFORMERS name, shows you how much I know!




Here is the whole Stoddard group. Fun times!

Madeline as Despereaux ,(trailer for the cutest movie http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1276942080/tt0420238 Landon as a clone dude from Star Wars, and Brendon is a far out hippie!