Oh To Be A Poole

Erik's 12th Birthday!!

2011-02-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

So it has been a great birthday for Erik! He was ordained a deacon and also went to the coast with some friends to celebrate!! Here are some pics from each event!!

Erik's Broken Arm

2011-02-01T13:41:00.001-08:00

Well it has finally happened. We have our first broken bone!! He was skateboarding with our puppy Tank and there was a stray dog...and so as anyone can guess. Visuals I am sure are going through all of your minds!! So here are the pics!!

Fall!!

2010-10-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

I thought I would write a few things that have gone on since August...it is life changing for us. We visited Texas in July and while there found out some interesting information about my cousins newest grandson. He asked us to call a social worker for the Chickasaw Nation about him. We found out he was currently in foster care and that the parents were having issues with following through with the judges orders to work on a program to have him returned to them, and that their rights were being terminated. The mother had lost three of her older children and they were adopted by her aunt. The father this was his first child, so the judge was giving them both a chance to see if they could make it work. The social worker informed us at this time that they were looking for a family member to be able to take the child that fit the requirements under regulations of the tribe. Well we have him now. His name is Lewis Gage Teves Poole, so here is our newest member of our family!!

Egg Sandwich

2010-08-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, just a funny for the day. We were sitting watching Sponge Bob Square Pants, and Danny says I want an egg sandwich. (We had them for dinner last night) So I said sure, he goes into the kitchen and a couple seconds later comes back with two pieces of bread with a lump in it. I am looking at this sandwich and thinking why did he glob it all in the middle...then looking at it a little closer...why is it shaped like that...Danny let me see your sandwich...HaHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Yeah the kid put a raw egg in between two pieces of bread. Well mom it is an EGG sandwich!!

We are in TEXAS!!

2010-07-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well from the last post things are still interesting. Summer is going to be SHORT this year but jam packed full of fun. We just finish Cub Scout Day camp and it was a blast. I can't thank Anna Myers enough for stepping up to the plate and helping out. Also my wonderful Husband for being so patient with me and my new JOB as it were for the last month, and then my poor kiddos. Big kudos to Erin for helping take care of Mike during day camp because he was not feeling so well. He did finally get to go the last day and be a TIGER CUB!! His biggest dream!! (As a real 7 year old now!) Yup he is officially 7! He had his requested birthday party at Aunt Alene's from January. Such a cute kid.

We are in Texas visiting everyone here. I drove out with my cousin and we made several stops along the way. We got to visit with Taryn and see her beautiful new engagement ring. YUP, that is right folks, Taryn is gettin' hitched!! Nate asked her at the end of May and the date is going to probably be May 28, 2010...Yippeeee!!! I am so excited. We then pulled into the Arney's home in Weatherford, OK and hung out by the gorgeous coy pond, Bill built. It was so peaceful. We then headed down to my other cousin's house in Ada, OK and hung out with his kids and grandchildren. (they are so cute.) And left his brother there with him to stay the week to visit. The kids and I then headed to Little Elm, TX. Yeah!!

Then on Saturday, Marcy, Tara and I headed up to Kansas, to drop Tara off at Heathers and have a Lia Sophia Party there. HOLY COW, the party was good, but the fondue that Heather put together, YUM!!! Then Marcy and I took off in the morning and headed up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for our Lia Sophia Conference. Breakfast at Pandera's never again just ask Marcy. Anywho back to Milwaukee...OH WOW!! So much fun. Kami I owe ya big time for making sure I went, it was soo worth it. We had so much fun, pictures will follow. We headed home, stopped at Heather's for a minute and had some awesome chicken sandwiches. Laughed pretty much the entire way home, yeah so entertaining. So now we are back in Texas to enjoy the 4th, and some great times with the fam! Can't wait to update with the rest.

Oh how time flys

2010-03-26T09:45:00.001-07:00

I did not realize that it has been THREE MONTHS since I last posted. We are just havin' way to much FUN!! Things have been really good, and can't wait for spring break this next week. We are going camping at the coastal redwoods, which happen to be the tallest redwoods, the fatest are up in sequoia national park. Updates on everything: Matt got to drive his DREAM car...so yes he will probably be getting one soon...heaven help me!! I had a mini stroke on Feb 24th, cause by a migraine, and the doctors also think stress. It has been an interesting recovery which is still ongoing. I also started a new business LIA SOPHIA in January. Really excited about it! Jewelry is so much fun! Erin got new glasses this last week finally, and played basketball on the church team. AND holy cow is she good and has very natural talent!! Erik recieved his Arrow of Light and graduated (crossed over) for scouts, which Grandma Poole was able to be here for that thanks to my little incident. Michael is doing great in school and also recieved the Student of the Month for Tipton Elementary (which is huge)and gearing up for baseball. Totally practicing everyday!! Daniel is having so much fun in school and is excelling. He is still hooked on transformers and is a daily question of when he is going to get more. We have a new guest in our house, my cousin Scott has kinda moved in with us and helping me out with things. It is kinda funny how that all worked out. But our main project right now is a 1973 trailer that we bought from my cousin Rachels boyfriend Ken. We absolutely love it! It needed some repairs and updating so it has become quite a fun little project. Can't wait to be able to use it!! Thanks again Ken you are soooo cool! Also we are working on the house to get it ready to sell here in CA, our current project is the back patio!! Yeah!

Gingerbread Houses and Texas

2009-12-15T03:38:00.000-08:00

Well it is definately that time of the year and I have done 4 gingerbread houses this year. Olivia would be proud. I even invented a mission of Santa Barbra this year!!! Wow what a project. In between all of this we are also heading out to Texas to spend Christmas with Matt's family and stop by and see my little sis in New Mexico. So of course all things must happen at once...Van needs repairs, work parties, (which I will be done after Thursday Yipee!!) Couldn't afford to work ha ha!!! That is California for ya! Cub Scouts, YW, running here and running there. Helping the kids get things ready for presents...and the list goes on. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love Christmas, and love the the music. Can't wait to get our new Christmas book too. Any suggestions?? Well I am of to finish icing the missiona and get to BED!!

Getting ready for Christmas and 101 Post!

2009-11-29T01:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast the end of the year is coming up!! We had an awesome Thanksgiving this year. We have been celebrating for 3 days straight!!! Invited the Perkins family over and we did't finish dinner, so we invited them over the next night and still didn't finish, and so we invited them over, and finally ate the pies!!! So I think we did good. We wanted the Schelers to come over too, but they were in Sanger. The kids really missed having them over.

My parents and Carrie went to New Mexico, to visit my other sister in her new home and met her boyfriend and family for Thanksgiving. They got back tonight about 11:30. Sounded like they had a really good time. Mom got to pick up a lot of stuff for her class about Native Americans.

Well I am getting the gingerbread dough ready for the houses, it should be pretty cool and I will definately post pics as I am working on them. In the class that I am working in we are also doing the Polar Express, so I am working on the class room board for that. It looks really cool in my mind. But I think the mission style gingerbread house will look really neat too.

I am off to bed and can't wait to start packing for Texas!!! whoa whooooo!!!

Seeing New Moon

2009-11-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah!!! It was soo good. Matt and I went and he actually enjoyed it! Loved it and can't wait till the next movie!! Thanks sweetie for the night out!

Life starting to smooth out a little

2009-10-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well things are definitely starting to smooth out. We had a great Halloween. Erin, was nurse, Erik was a box of popcorn, Mike was Optimus Prime, and Danny was Bumblebee. We went to the school carnival, which was really good. Erin was two cakes at the cakewalk and the boys won lots of candy. On Wednesday the church put on a trunk or treat, which had an awesome turn out. Love those, where the kids can have lots of activities, and get candy all at once. What more can you ask for? Well Matt will be taking off to Houston for a few days and he gets to go see his family out in Texas, yeah soooooo jealous!! Can't WAIT for Christmas!!

Erin Home and Much Better~

2009-09-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

We are so glad to have our little Erin back. She got her port taken out on Monday and has progressively gotten soooo much better since then. She will be returning back to school on Monday, and we are going to have to figure out how to catch her up through 6 weeks of school that she has missed. Yikes that is so much!

Erik also had his post op on Thursday down in UCLA and his eye surgery was a great success the doctor said. He now has a 4% difference between the two eyes which has been a night a day difference for him. He did have some adjustments that felt wierd trying, but after a couple of days it felt natural. Now he does have issues still when he is tired but it isn't as bad as it was. So everything is going better. YEAH!!

Erin back in the Hospital

2009-09-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well poor little Erin is back in the hospital. She got an infection from her appendectomy that she had on the 17th. So now she shares the date of her cousins appendectomy to years ago. She was admitted yesterday and the doctor wants to make sure he gets all of the gunk out! So keep her in your prayers. Thanks.

Danny Lost his first tooth

2009-09-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

As of Monday, September 7th, Danny is toofless on the bottom left. He was soooo excited after he realized that he actually lost it and it was ok that it happened. Now you might wonder why it took so long to get excited about it...well of course there is a story. How could it not be an event and part of our lives!!???!!!

We had some of our friends kids over for the night for labor day weekend, and my parents came over for breakfast (family tradition). Breakfast was pancakes, eggs, and linguesa (Portuguese sausage). Well we were done eating and went out front to enjoy the day and Matt and I were talking to my parents and the kids were playing around the inside of the house and out back. All of the sudden the little girl staying with us, who is Danny's age, comes out screaming, "Danny's bleeding!" Now as most of you who know us we don't over react to much anymore, if we don't hear blood curdling screams of pain. And plus, our little friend, tends to panic when she sees blood. So we calming ask her is Danny hurt, and she said, "Yes, he is bleeding from his mouth, he bit a pancake and is bleeding." I am thinking he must have fallen, while eating a pancake and busted his lip or bit his lip while eating it. So we go inside to check it out and Danny meets us at the front door with some blood on his lip and in his mouth. Matt bends down and starts checking things out and asking Danny what happened. Danny says pretty much the same thing as our guest and Matt looks at me and says his gums are bleeding around his tooth. He has knocked most of the tooth out by the root.

So with this discovery we go into the room to check out THIS pancake. Well nothing seems to be overly hard, and there is nothing hard in. So I take Danny into the bathroom to clean up his mouth and assess the actual damage and what can we do. Well as I am rinsing I notice something and call Matt into the bathroom with Danny and me. I said I don't think we can save the tooth, it is broken at the root, but I don't think he broke it, because behind it is a NEW TOOTH!! It was loose and the pancake dislodged it from the other baby teeth supporting it. So we pulled it out the rest of the way, and Danny went from a panic giggle to pure joy of realizing the Tooth Fairy was coming!

Now Mike who is older and has not lost a tooth becomes quite upset and jealous about Danny loosing a tooth before him. So we had to do a lot of consoling and telling him he will loose his soon enough and checking EVERY single one of his teeth to see if he had any loose teeth. Also for my nieces and nephews who know I seek out loose teeth to pull, will know how much of a shock this story is that Danny literally lost his tooth eating a pancake! Well that was our fun event for Labor Day weekend! Hope you had a good laugh, we sure did!

Erin's stomach ache

2009-08-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well if you haven't heard, we had some excitement that started on Saturday, with little Miss Erin. She was complaining that her stomach hurt all the way across. We thought it was growing pains or just nervous about something. On Sunday she was continued complaining about it, but it wasn't bad, it just hurt. So she went to church, had dinner, and got ready for school the next day. She gets up on Monday, and says her stomach is still hurting, but she didn't have a fever so we sent her to school. She didn't eat breakfast because she wasn't hungry. I get a call about 10 from the school. Erin is in the office complaining of a stomach ache. Me responding, Erin needs to stay at school, she is probably hungry, or growing, so just get through it and suck it up. At 1 the school calls again, Erin didn't eat lunch because her stomach hurts and can you come pick her up. I am pretty upset with her as I am heading to school and leaving with her. I bring her home and tell her if you are really sick you need to lie down and take a nap. So I give her some Tylenol and she goes and takes a nap. I leave to go pick up the boys at 3 and come home around 3:45. She wakes up and I ask her how she is feeling and check her head to see if she has a fever. She doesn't, so I proceed to let her know, You don't have a fever, so you if you don't get better fast we are going to have to take you to the doctor and they will have to draw your blood. Erin, who is deathly afraid of needles says, I don't care I want to get rid of this pain. I knew something was really wrong when she said that. I called the doctor and met Matt down in Bakersfield for a 6 o'clock appointment for Erin. I left to head back up to Visalia for a meeting dropping the boys off at Grandmas for her to watch them while I attend my scout meeting . Matt and I start texting while they are visiting the Doctor. He texts me saying that she is behind on her immunizations and so they will update those with 5 shots. They get the blood work back and the white blood cell count is normal and they think she might have the flu. (Didn't make since to me due to the fact that she has had the symptoms since Saturday, and no body aches, or fever, and no throwing up or cold.) So anyhow they finish up 5 shots later and still in pain, with instructions if she starts throwing up or the pain gets worse to call them. I get back from my meeting with the boys about 10:30 and Erin and Matt come home probably about 15 minutes later. We put the boys to bed, and have Erin take a bath to relax. And put her to bed and head of to bed ourselves. About 30 minutes after that, Erin is in tears, screaming about her side hurting. We told her to take another bath and gave her some Motrin this time. She ended up taking probably 6 baths and staying up pretty much all night and finally threw up her dinner around 5 a.m. and she finally falls asleep. We get the boys up around 7 to get them ready for school. Matt then calls the experts on what we think might be wrong, the Mechams. I take the boys to school and come back. Matt just finished talking to Bryon and Marcy and thinks Erin is having an appendicitis. We call the Nurse line to update them and they start to ask her some questions and have her jump, I didn't know while Matt was talking to Marcy, she had Erin do the same thing and she doubled over in pain and was bawling a few minutes before I came home. Well same thing happened when she hopped and the nurse said take her to the ER. So we got ready and headed down to Bakersfield, switching out vehicles with my mom so we would have some AC and followed Matt in his truck just in case that wasn't it, and he would be able to go to work and we could come home. We got there about 10:00 and it all began. They did a CT scan and found her appendix to be inflamed possible rupture. We had to wait for the surgeon till 5 when he got through with his scheduled surgery's. By 6 pm she was scheduled for surgery at 9 pm with 5 doses of morphine from the time we got there till surgery! Luckily, (thank you for all of the prayers for this one) An attendant for another surgery was late, so they bumped Erin up to 7 for her surgery. As they were taking it out if fell apart, the doctor said she was very lucky, if she had waited till the later time it would have been a lot worse, because it would have been a full appendectomy instead of laproscopy. She went through the surgery well but afterwards she had a fever. They still don't know what was causing it but they started her on antibiotics and we were able to come home Thursday night. So Erin is home recovering for the next two weeks before she can go back to school and that also means she doesn't get to try out for volleyball. (I think I am more upset about that than she is, but she is still upset about it) So keep praying for her, she is doing well and recovering.

Summer's End!

2009-08-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

Yup Summer has come to a close around the Poole household. The kids started school on the 12th of August!! Yup, lovely California! The state government can even now mess up summer vacation!! LOL This summer has been very eventful to say the least. Updates on some of the latest, Erik's eye surgery went REALLY well. We were very entertained when he was coming out of anesthesia from some other patients and parents around us. But it was very quick and he has hated us this entire last week and a half because he can't do anything...literally. He is very lucky he is going to school! But he should be back in full form by this Thursday. The pics are of him after surgery. He just looks so cute! We had to take him back down to UCLA for his post op on the first day of school, so he went for an hour then we left. The doctor laughed at us when we asked him for a excuse note for school. He said are you kidding, what are they thinking starting school so early!?! But he said everything looks really good. We have to go back in 5 weeks to see if his muscles have strengthened correctly. Yuppie road trip!

We are still waiting to hear from the doctor about Danny. It will be interesting, we have some parenting classes that will be coming up soon that Matt and I are to attend. Erin and Mike are doing better!! So hoping to keep everything going. We are still working out some of the kinks with things.

Now all of the kids are in school, are biggest concern was with Danny. Thankfully he is loving school, which is such a relief. He and Mike just love walking to class together. Mike loves his new teacher, he said she is tall and must be the boss. (now I know why the kid doesn't listen to me, I am not tall enough!) The good news is his teacher from last year came in to observe him for an afternoon and said he is doing a 100% better. :) Erin is enjoying the class switches and having new teachers every period. Erik is still trying to adjust, because of his surgery, so he hopes everything will be so much better when he can go out to recess with his classmates. He says his teacher is ok. (lol)

Demo and remodeling is going slower than I hoped. Hopefully with things slowing down a little we can get this project moving just a little faster!!!! But the kids are making sure we have to remove certain things (ugh)! So their work has already begun. LOL

Erin is 12!

2009-07-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

My first thought is wow what a neat girl I have, and gee the second is when did we grow up enough to have a 12 year old!!?? Well for her birthday she was able to visit Disneyland. And we will celebrate her birthday on Sunday when Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Carrie get back from visiting Great G & G Escriva on Sunday. So until then a list of 12 awesome things about Erin:

1. First Born!
2. Born in Texas (only a few are blessed with that honor)
3. Has beautiful blond CURLY hair
4. Eyes that change from blue to hazel (like her aunt)
5. Loves Horses, and any animal really, but horses first
6. Wants to be a Veterinarian
7. Loves to listen to all kinds of music
8. Can sing and plays the piano
9. Enjoys LONG showers
10. Loves all of her family (and we love her too!)
11. Can't wait to be a true TEEN!
12. Loves playing games

She is really excited about turning twelve though for some of its benefits: She now gets to have real babysitting jobs, gets to go to the temple w/ her dad for the 1st time to do baptisms for the dead, gets her own cell phone, can wear SOME makeup, can go to YW's now, and she also got to go to camp. So she is lovin' it! Happy 12th Birthday Sweet Pea!

Yes I am alive

2009-07-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

It took a few days to recuperate but it was such a wonderful time, busy and just getting geared up for the rest of the summer! Have fun and thanks everyone who we saw and visited! Miss all of you.

Post #6 Girls camp

2009-07-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yup Erin and I went to girls camp together which was so much fun. Oh the pranks, the sleepless nights, the wonderful food, the awesome girls, the mountain air, the mud fights, the spiritual devotionals, the crazy camp skits, and even crazier songs, the clean awards, great crafts, fun activities, my daughter getting over her fear of heights somewhat, the belches and excess gas, the new camp name (Roadrunner), the testimony meeting, new friends, old friends reacquainted, Phase 10, cramming 17 girls in a small space, the meds, the warm fuzzies! The memories are wonderful and we only had one ER visit at the end of camp which turned out well after surgery. She is recovering well and grateful for all of her hard work and so glad she made it through the week before it happened. We had a blast! and we are definitely BELIEVERS!! And a special thank you to Anita!

Post #5 St. George, UT

2009-07-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

So on our way back from the visit/funeral in Midville, we had another family event to attend. We arrived in St. George to visit my cousins and celebrate the 4th of July with them and bless Karli and Kevin's baby boy. We had a great time visiting. My mom and dad meet us there late Saturday so they went and hung out with Aunt Judy and Uncle Al. We hung out with Kasi and her two kids Dax and Gracie and went to the fireworks there in St. George. After the fire works the kids got to go to the firestaion where Kasi's husband Vince works. He is a fireman and of course the boys LOVED it. But it really paid off on Sunday after the blessing when Vince had to take Matt to the ER. His leg was getting really bad and swelling up. So he was able to get in and out in record time. Tons of Antibiotics and prescriptions. We had dinner at Aunt Judy's after the blessing (which my garden provided the corn on the cob and the watermelon :)) Yeah! So then we left there for another party to celebrate Vince and Dax's birthday's. They had it at a park with a water playground in it. It was a lot of fun. We then went back to the hotel and let the boys go swimming with their cousins till we took off. The boys stayed with my parents because they were staying an extra day and we had to get back because Erin and I were taking off to girls camps and Matt had to go to San Francisco. We got back around 3:30 in the morning. Which leads into the 6th and final post.

Post #4 Utah

2009-07-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

After the doctors appointment we were planning to go camping up in Grants Grove, but we found out some sad news from Utah. Matt's grandfather had a serious stroke. So the whole family headed to Midville, Utah. He passed away a few days after the stroke. It was really hard on the whole family. The funeral and viewing were wonderful. I learned so much more about this wonderful man through this experience. I can totally understand living up to a name. The funeral was beautiful and very touching, he served in the Navy and they had a 21 gun salute and a bugle playing taps. It was a great tribute. During that week together we also had a wonderful time getting to know the other relatives and also visiting the Rufs and Meachams. We had the privilege of also attending the Oquirrh (pronounced oker) Temple Open House. My kids loved it! I am so glad they can't wait to go to the temple! We have pictures but they are on Matt's camera. So I will post them as soon as I can get the camera from him. We also visited This is the Place monument, which was fun and interesting. The kids got to ride a really cool train and ride ponies. The only bad thing that happened is that Matt got an skin infection on his leg. We thought it was poison oak at first, but it turned out to be cellulites or something like that because they are not totally sure what it is. Needless to say it is painful and is taking a long time to get over.

Post #3 Drs. Appointments

2009-07-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

This was kind of a hard week and a good week for me, the kids had drs. appointments to put them on medicine for ADD. Which was Mike and Erin. They are both doing really good with it. But the hard part came when Danny was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome. It explains a whole gamma a things, and it helps with how much more we need to be aware of him. He is very high functioning and is still social and shows emotions (even though they are not at the right times) but the emotions are real which is good. He still has more testing to go through which will happen at the end of July. We will keep everyone updated!

Post # 2 Day Camp and Turk Station

2009-07-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

This week was crazy and fun. The scouts had a great time, and the weather was pretty nice which helped out a lot. So the boys learned so many different things. They absolutely love the nature hike, which included skeletons(hello boys yeah!) I was quite concerned about day camp and volunteered to help out for next year. I can't wait. Erin went to Turk station and got 4th in Archery. I am so proud of her! She had a really good time she said. Erik also went to WEEBLOREE which was so cool for him. He went with the Huffackers (such an awesome family) Love them! Had an absolute blast and we taught them how to geocache! I think they are hooked!

First post of 6

2009-07-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Ok it has been a CRAZY month! SOOOOO much has happened. Well lets start with Fathers Day weekend. I went to Oxnard to visit my friend Tara who flew in from TEXAS, to drop off her nephew Austin. And spent an amazing weekend with her family! We stayed at her friend Ann's house (thank you so much!) (who I definitely want to come decorate my house too!)(and has an awesome family) It was really crowded at her parents place with everyone else there. And then to top it off her parents refrigerator died! But luckily they have several friends in the area so food was spread around till Sunday! I tried to help with her photo shoots (by the way she is an awesome photographer) And then we went to the beach and had some FANTABULOUS food at Andrea's. YUM I am still drooling thinking about it! We then went to a birthday party/welcome home/ father's day party. More good food. We also stopped and got some great roadside farmers market. Yum again! And then I headed home to celebrate fathers day with Matt and the kids. Which I got several phone calls about how great a dad he is from members in the ward. (Already knew that but it was great to hear it from others)

Side note: I had to make a few corrections with some names (thanks Tara) The house we stayed at was Ann's, not Amy's and I guess I was thinking of mexican food because I put Angelina's instead of Andrea's. Any who. It is corrected now and thank you! I am just so glad I didn't have to recite every one's name that I met while I was there. I can remember a few, but it was crazy fun so I forgot who some of them were.

Mike made it to 6!!

2009-06-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

Yup he lives to turn another year older! Our big Mike turned 6 and we will be celebrating his birthday for a few days. On his birthday we did some geocaching and letterboxing which he absolutely loves. And kept asking when we were going to celebrate it! So to Our Mike his own personal shots he took of himself.

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This year he loved doing so many things. He started kindergarten, played baseball (new love) caught his first fish. Found out he LOVES camping and riding bikes!! Still adores his John Deere boots, and being such a BOY! We are so proud of him and love him. Happy Birthday Mike!

Oh by golly what have I gotten myself into

2009-06-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

We came home from a quick visit to TX and found that our garden has absolutely exploded. See the pictures!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Having a lot of fun harvesting, and counting stuff that is ripening!

Camping

2009-05-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well sorry I haven't posted in a LONG while, but we have been quite busy. We went camping over the Memorial Day weekend with the Schelers and had an absolute blast. We saw a bear (for real) and Michael caught his first fish and ate it!! The kids loved climbing the tree stumps and running around the camp ground exploring. The Sequoia trees were amazing and we are planning to go back real soon.

The weekend prior the boys went on the Father/Son camp out at Success Lake. They were suppose to remove boulders from a campsite for a service project. Matt came up with an idea to help move the boulders along by using a TREBECHET and built one after getting permission from the park rangers. Well when he brought it up, they said it was to big and were concerned about the safety of people fishing in the lake (LOL) so they couldn't use it. :(. But they did have a good time canoeing and the usual camp stuff. Us girls did a half sleep over at the church, watching Chitti Chitti Bang Bang, painting nails, banana splits, and making cards. We had a really good time.

My garden is doing FABULOUS!! We have had lettuce so far. Corn is doing great, tons of green tomatoes. The pumpkins, beans, okra, strawberries, popcorn, peppers, garlic and zucchini are doing great. We should start harvesting soon!! I am soooo excited.

The kids have been doing great in school. Erik just finished his mission 3D rendition of the San Carlos Carmelo. It looked really good. Erin finished her reading project on Esperanza which was really cool. Michael got his first 100% on his spelling test and is so proud of it!

We also have pictures that are posted below of the kids and Grandpa Teves at the Antique Farm Show. They got to ride on the back of a small scale train. They had so many different things to look at and had an absolute blast. Matt and I worked on the signs at the ball park in Pixley. I must say they really look pretty good and we are almost done with them.

Erik also performed in his first Piano recital and did really well. Erin is also taking lessons but didn't feel comfortable enough to play yet. Baseball and Softball is going well for Michael, Erin and Erik. They have a few games left. I will post those pics as soon I get them scanned in.

I am having some issues down loading pics right now, so look for an update on the pics, especially the ones from the Garden, Antique Farm Show, and Camping.

Summer is coming up and can't wait!

Spring Fever

2009-04-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

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Ok just to warn you this is going to be a long post, because soooo much has happened the last two weeks! Nothing really prior to that, except an update on the dishwasher, DISH HEAVEN!! Man that is one invention I am very grateful for!

We first have a cousins birthday to celebrate which is Conner. He is now a big 3 and is quite a neat guy! Happy Birthday Conner!

Starting the weekend of conference we made some plans to go up to the mountains to camp out and watch it on satellite, well it turned out it was going to be VERY cold and snowing, so we decided to camp out in their back yard. We had a total blast and enjoyed being with them. We helped chop up an old fence for LeAnne to use for vinyl signs, which turned out really cute, for a craft sale on Saturday. We also made a movie screen for outside shows, (which we are thrilled about and going to use quite often) The kids got along great and played all three days together wonderfully. We also got quite a laugh we were catching up on old times and I was looking at the scrapbooks and was looking at the engagement pictures that they had taken for their wedding 13 years ago. She went to get the scrapbook with the invites in it and low and behold there was my invitation (right on top) no joke. We died laughing. What are the odds?? We only had one mishap for the weekend...poor Danny got bit by Chance (sp). We took him to the ER (which was horrible we had to wait FOREVER!!) He ended up with two black eyes, his face was quite swollen and a puncture wound on the left side of his nose and a scratch under his eye and antibiotics. Chance was quarantined for 10 days. The poor dog, is older and has a depth perception problem and was startled by Danny, it was a total accident. Both are doing well.

Well that started are Spring break...so awe to sleeping in! I went down to Bakersfield for a Doctors appointment on Monday, Forgot Piano lessons on Tuesday. But remembered Baseball practice, that they didn't have... LOL but we were able to work on the signs for the back fence. Matt and I with several of the girls softball team, along with Robert, Sam, Kamela, and Samantha's mom are painting and stenciling and outlining for the season. We are also helping with the general clean up of the field. Now the funny thing is this is the field my father helped build when he was a child so this has a lot more meaning to it. It was the field he spent several hours on playing his favorite sport. Talk about making grandpa proud that all of his grand kids are playing ball on His field. Well while working on the signs we were talking about drive in theaters and how it is such a shame that they are all gone here in the valley, and came up with the idea of using the screen we just made and having a BBQ and having a double feature after Erik's teams scrimmage on Thursday! We had an absolute blast! What even made it better is that we had gone to the coast for the day to go see Grandpa and Hearst Castle (explanation in a minute) and Grandpa got to come home and watch the scrimmage too!

So that was Tuesday and Wednesday we hung out and worked on the garden, it was great no Webelos, Activity Days, Gymnastics, etc. Ahhhhh! So we were also able to get ready to go the next day to the coast. We took Grandma with us and headed over to met up with Grandpa. We totally enjoyed the beautiful drive over seeing all of the grapevines and Spanish Moss filled trees. After picking up Grandpa we headed over to San Clemente to visit Hearst Castle. Wow what a beautiful place, see pictures. There was sooo much to see, and we didn't even see half of it. We headed back to make it to Erik's scrimmage (event above)and were a little bit late!

Then Friday came and oh what a day to remember! It was Daniel's 5th Birthday! Yup my baby is 5 and he has been going on about his birthday for months, so fun to be young! We had a little get together with the Wilcox's and opened presents and had a Transformer cake and watched Marley & Me. My sweet little boy is now 5 (it is unbelievable that he made it to that age and those that know my son are probably dying laughing at that statement) We had planned to go to the snow for his birthday that day but it was bad weather so we planned to go on Saturday. David Jr. stayed the night for fun and ended up going with us to the Primary Activity and to the Snow on Saturday.

So Saturday, in true Poole form, we were suppose to be at the Activity at 9:00, we got there at 10 just in time to drop off the goodies at the Fire station and play a little at the park. Which was a perfect spring morning of about 55-60 degrees. Then we drove about an hour east and we were playing in the snow, where it was snowing! Yup just an hour. The great benefits of living in CA. The coast 2 hours away, snow an 1 away from our house. It was so much fun throwing snowballs around and getting shots with bluebonnets. On the way back down we stopped in for a treat at Reimer's candy store. Ice Cream!! LOL, kids are totally soaked from the snow and cold, and what do we go and get. It was so fun! After making it back down to the valley we dropped David off and went shopping for Easter. While shopping dad called and asked us to stop by Carrie's to see the project they had been working on. Shelves in the office, they turned out really good. Then they took Erin and Erik with them to the movies to watch Monsters vs. Aliens. Matt, me and the boys went up to Visalia and picked up the airbrush system Matt had been looking at to help with the sign project. Those signs are going to be really neat looking.

Well when we got home we started prepping for Easter Sunday. We have several traditions that we do to make Easter so meaningful. We make Easter Cookies and talk about the death and resurrection of Christ, and die the eggs for egg wars. We also have a tradition instead of an Easter Egg hunt, the Easter Bunny has a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Easter baskets. That Bunny is quite creative let me tell you. We got up Sunday and got ready for church. Had a wonderful Sabbath morning except Matt's truck wouldn't start, so that was kind of frustrating, so we missed half of sacrament. But primary and Matt's class went really well. We then headed over to Aunt Carrie's to let them change and pick up the gifts for Danny's birthday and Easter dinner stuff. And then the entertainment began! Matt came home instead of going over to Aunt Carrie's to get things started for lunch and make sure the Easter Bunny had come. The kids found a note on the door from the Easter Bunny with a basket and pencil. They had an absolute blast figuring out all of the clues and it was nice having Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Carrie here, with Aunt TT on the phone watching it all. Then the egg wars began! Danny ended up the WINNER! Lunch was so yummy! Then we celebrated Danny's birthday, boy this kid totally made out with some cool toys. Mom and Dad also got gifts for the kids and us for Easter, and Aunt Carrie totally scored with the kids with some See's chocolate bunnies. Matt got some really cool books on how to make some neat toys, and I got a cookbook with probably the most fabulous recipes in it. Can't wait to try them ALL!!

Well now that you are all caught up! and totally exhausted from reading this, go relax and have some of your kids Easter candy to get your energy back to make it through the rest of the day. Enjoy the pictures.

The start of it all

2009-03-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

When we put our sod in we left a large area to start our "Garden" So it is offical, we planted stuff this weekend and the waiting game now begins!! I will update with a series of photos that looks cool from begining to at least some green.

We had a really fun weekend with lots of people over. Not all at once though. But is was a fun weekend with a bunch of laughs.

We also just got a dishwasher, because I really hate doing dishes by hand. (SO LAZY) Anyhow here is a picture of it.

Sickies at the Pooles

2009-03-04T12:54:00.000-08:00

Before I get started on the explanation of the title, I was laying in bed I remembered that is was my brother-in-laws birthday. Happy Birthday Scott, I hope you had a great day!

Well the crud hit our house again, poor Erik was the first victim, Erin was the second victim, Michael was next. Poor thing threw up so hard he busted the blood vessels in his face and eyes.

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Daddy was next with the headaches and upset stomach and took a sick day Monday. And has a left over cough that is horrible. Then Danny and I were next with fevers and achyness that started yesterday. Danny came up to me this morning and said he was on fire and needed bubble gum medicine. Poor thing. Anyhow we are starting to get better but it will take some time, hopefully.

Gophers, Ticks, and Garden Stuff

2009-02-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well with putting the new lawn in the ticks decided to attack the poor dog, since we removed their home, but we hope that with some 7 dust, tick shampoo, and the stuff that you apply on the back of the neck and that they no longer have a home they will totally disappear. Now onto the gophers, we had a plant that they absolutely loved called Melba (sp) and there is some of it left in the garden area, so they have been digging some holes. So before they get to the new sod we got some stuff to get rid of them. We need to make sure they are gone before we start planting our garden here in the next couple of weeks. Or the garden will be full of very healthy gophers! It is going to be fun having a garden. The kids are so excited! Well

Fun Valentines

2009-02-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Matt and I had a really neat date on Valentines and hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day. We went to a Hibachi Grill, and to my total shock Matt actually tried some Sushi and Liked It!! So Val and Lucy, We can totally go to the Sushi Bars now!!!!! I am so excited! If you have never been to a Hibachi Grill you sit with other couples around a grill while the chef cooks in front of you, dazzling his guest with wonderful tricks. We had a very nice evening and met a wonderful couple from Lemore. We also went out for my favorite place for ice cream at Cold Stone, YUM!
Well hope everyone had a Fun Loving Valentines Day!

First project

2009-02-19T10:15:00.000-08:00

We did our first remodeling project this last weekend and it looks so different, we dry walled the garage. Enjoy the before and after shots!

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Extreme Sod Makeover!

2009-02-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

Let's just say that the guys who lay sod for a living have a whole new level of respect from me! I see it every week on Extreme Home Makeover, when they redo these yards, and now have even higher regards to those who lay sod in cold weather, rain, and heat.
The story goes as follows:
After the Farm Show this last week,we found out that some of the exhibitors sell the sod that they had on the site of their displays. My parents backyard has not had grass on it for at least 15 years because they had leveled it and hadn't re seeded it. So as one of our remodel projects was to landscape the back yard. So I asked around what happens to the sod. Well it turned out it is brought in by different people, and we found one guy and asked him about it and he sold us some that would fill a little over half of the yard, and we thought we would seed after that. The problem is some people tend to walk off with it we were warned so on a rainy Friday my dad and I loaded up just a couple of 6 foot rolls of sod while it was raining. We didn't realize how heavy sod becomes when it is wet (LOL) So any how we decided that we would have to come back the next day (Saturday) and start rolling up the sod and put it in Matt's truck and make several loads. Which was great because it wasn't raining. We had a friend watching the kids, thank heavens, so that we could work and travel back and forth to Tulare.
We got started and learned a few things like if you cut it in small rolls it is easier to handle, and a sharp knife if very great tool. You can't leave it rolled up to long or it rots. So in all of this learning process we learned that we have to work quickly and get all of the sod laid out again. We also found out that we could leave the sod laid out, until we were ready to lay it down, but we still had to hurry, because we didn't want anyone taking the sod we bought.
So back to the story, the stuff we bought we knew would not fill the back yard because it is 75 x 150 and the site only had about 75 x 25. So we came home with the first load and started prepping the ground by rototilling it to get rid of the weeds, and smoothing it out (that took a little bit to figure out too) and that way when we brought the next load home we would be done and we would have a nice section of grass, with the thought of seeding the rest of the yard.
WELLLLL...it didn't quite end up that way. On our next trip back after laying the first load, the site a couple of sections down from where we bought our first sod, we saw several pallets of the same grass and asked if it was for sale also, because wouldn't it be great to just do the whole back yard it would be so much easier and look great. Of course it was, so we made a deal with them and ended up buying 26 pallets of sod!!!!! Now as I mentioned before the sod rots faster if it is folded or rolled up (like in 24 hours) so now we were under the gun. 1. because of the sod needing to be laid as quickly as possible. 2. The farm show grounds closed at 6 and would not be open till Monday (way passed the 24 hour time frame for the sod) and it was 2:00 and we had to hurry. Urgent calls were made to my father to get trailers and trucks so that we could have the fork lifts to put the sod on them. Calls to my mom and sister to help with babysitting, because we promised to have the babysitter home by 5. It worked out, great thanks to all of their help.
We were able to get a large tractor trailer, and my dad's work truck to pull that one. And then my dad's old blue truck (nicknamed mator by my kid's) and the trailer for the sprayrigs we used to haul on it. So now properly equipped we headed back up to Tulare and loaded up the pallets on the trailers. There was so much grass we literally had to drive 25 miles an hour home because they were soooo heavy (not recommended) When the fork lift put the first two pallets on the small trailer I swear you could hear the truck moan!! Your killin' me!
Well as you guessed we figured out that we needed a little more help now because we had a heck of a lot more sod to lay in a short amount of time and also had to prep some more ground. We called in some awesome re-enforcements, and learned a few more things about laying sod from them. We also called my dad in for one more favor, to borrow a fork lift, because after seeing how much sod there was and how many trips we would be making from the front yard to the back with a truck, we got scared! These pieces were sooo heavy because of the rain.

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We finished it finally! Took four days to do it,(we were able to do that because we left the other sod we bought on sight laid out on the ground and picked it up when we were ready) a lot of sore muscles, great memories and ended up with more than we needed and ended up doing our friends yard too that had helped us lay our backyard. It was a lot of sod! It is a very hard job, but oh so worth it. The pictures are before and after. The spot where the cars are right now is going to be a RV cement parking, and the L shape is my new garden area.
But like I said, I have a whole new appreciation for sod laying guys!!

Farm Show, Tulare Ca

2009-02-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

We are gearing up for the Farm Show which is next week and it is going to be really fun too, because the webelos are going for an hour one day and then we are going to the Tractor pull after that. It is really cool. You can look it up under www.worldagexpo.com It is an awsome farming trade show.

What a whirlwind!

2009-01-21T15:19:00.001-08:00

Well life has up'd it a notch around here and things are blowin' and goin'. The business in Texas has come to life and it is thrilling to see that happen for Uncle Bryon, Mom and Dad. It is going to be so neat to watch it grow. The home health care business is quite a niche for Bryon and I think he will do great in it.

What has been going on around here is that we have been given some callings and it has become quite adventurous for Matt and I. Matt is the new Cub Master and I am the Webelos Den leader. Sue one of my great friends in Texas was the Webelos and always came up with such awesome ideas and Val (Matt's other brother) was the Cub Master so we really now totally thank you guys for all of the stuff you did!!!

We have the pinewood derby coming up and getting ALL of the cars ready for that. We will post pics as soon after the event. It is unbelievable how involved the event is and hopefully a lot of people show up!! The other thing that is unbelievable is the amount of classes and training you have to go through, but it is really good.

I also have another calling which is right up my alley, enrichment activities chair. Love planning events and activities so hopefully I do good at this. So this is a long enough updates. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Texas Christmas

2009-01-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Well we are getting ready to leave tomorrow back to "sunny" California. We were hoping for a "White" or at least "Cold" Christmas here. Ha Ha Ha! It ended up being summer weather with a warm 75 degree day on Christmas and a thunderstorm a few days later and then nice warm breezes till today!! Only in Texas right?
Christmas was wonderful, we had a great spiritual Christmas and fun opening gifts and watching the kids reaction to everything. I love this holiday for so many reasons and enjoy looking forward to it all year. (I even play music during the year just to boost my spirits)

We did a lot of things and one of the highlights was a surprise Birthday/Anniversary Party for Grandma and Grandpa Poole on Friday night. It was quite an event trying to keep it a secret, even up to the last minute trying to figure out how to get Grandma there dressed up. The ploy was a temple trip with all of the adults. It was a brilliant plan...and Matt made it more believable (with his sisters and sister-in-law giving him looks that could kill) when he realized that our recommends expired on the 31st of December and we had only gotten one half of our interviews done with the bishop and we were missing the signature from the stake president. (I was laying down at the time because I had a headache so I am only envisioning this conversation) But things were remedied with some supposed phone calls to our stake president, ha ha ha. Then another kink in the plan came the next night trying to get Matt and Dad back in time to go to the "temple", because of our silly tv from the van, trying to get it fixed before we left on Saturday. They finally had to just leave, and they barely made it back in time. Well needless to say it went off beautifully. Grandma was totally surprised!Marcus, Anna, and Marie made some great food for the party (Michael particularly like the flower sandwiches, he ate 5 of them!) Marcy finished an awesome slide show of the last 40 years and had that playing during the party. We had a replica of the cake and flowers made for them. The cake topper was the original from the wedding cake so that was totally fun to do. We had a great time.

The kids and I also made a quick visit to Oklahoma on Saturday. We weren't able to see everyone like I had hoped. We just didn't have the time. I hope this summer we can get to see everyone and spend some time hanging out there. I am glad we did get to see Titia and her family. We had a really good visit and I think Mike and Dan got their Erin Elzeabet fix and Tyler fix, and Steph got her Mike fix. LOL! We drove through town and reminisced and looked at the Christmas lights on the main street. Stopped by Kaja's for a brief moment and then had to head back to Texas. We met up with the Brooks in Moore and drove home with them. We brought home some of the cold weather with us that was blowing in (yeah)

We got to also visit with our dog Gabbie. She is doing great, and has adapted VERY well to her new owner Terri, which is Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor. So every time we come to visit we get to see her too. We really miss her, but she absolutely loves playing with all of the other dogs and is totally spoiled rotten!

Well we will be off tomorrow back to California pending anymore technical delays (TV issues)!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Pretty much moved in

2008-12-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well last week I unpacked the final box in our latest move. We fit quite well, with a little room to spare. That is because we have our office furniture, the boys train table, my rocker and about 15 boxes in storage which should come out as soon as we finish a few of the remodeling projects here. We still have to put the shelves into place and put up our camping stuff and Matt's tools. That is a task for this weekend. We started some remodeling, but hit a snag when I messed with the main breaker of the house, and found out there was too much stuff on the breaker we were adding the plugs to, to put up the Christmas lights. So as you can see we are excited to be able to start this project and hopefully when we get the new main in things will go a little better. LOL.

We are getting ready for our trip next week and hoping the weather will cooperate with us next week. The kids have been on foggy delay schedule or school canceled due to the fog all week long. It has been soooooo nice to sleep in a little. It has been fun to watch the kids look out side to see how much the visibility is. We usually start out in the morning barely able to see across the street, and by the afternoon we can see about 2 blocks and then night fall it starts to come back in.

On Tuesday was Erin and Erik's Christmas Choir Concert and pictures. They did really well and sang great. The kids looked like they were having so much fun too. The kids were also able to visit their old classes and teachers. Erik came up with a great idea of becoming the class pen pal, so it is going to be really neat to keep up with his class.

Both Matt and I have new callings in our ward and we will be spending a lot more time together. Matt is the Cub Master and I am the Webelos leader. Erik is almost done with his Bear and should have that before his birthday. He really loves being a cubscout. We are waiting till we get back to sign him up for gymnastics in Visalia because we are going to be gone for till then. He is thrilled to have another boy in his primary class that does gymnastics too. They are always doing tricks together. Erin is really enjoying Achievement Day's and has also signed up to play basketball at school. Mike is thrilled to be going to all day kindergarten. He feels like a big kid now. Danny is absolutely loving it at home all by himself and in January he is starting speech once a week.

Sorry this is a long one but I haven't blogged in forever and just wanted to catch everyone up on the goings on around here. So I will stop here and probably add more tomorrow to catch up on more things going on. :)

Funny thing

2008-11-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

Tried this out on a friends blog tonight while reading through some of the updates before my computer is shut off for a few days for the move and trying to get internet again. So any how here it is. Have fun with it if you try it.

You Belong in 1976

Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Weekend Getaway

2008-11-10T14:11:00.001-08:00

Well Matt totally surprised me by taking me with him to Oregon for a trip he had to take. We drove up and back pretty much, so it was really quick. The drive up is absolutely gorgeous and there was snow!! So we stopped on the side of one of the lease roads and took a picture. Mt. Shasta was covered with snow and was breath taking. We were able to stop on the way back home and see my grandparents for the night. We went to dinner together in Drain, OR at a great Mexican restaurant. It was nice to see "Rain" (lol) while we were there. Matt's cousin's are living in Oregon too and we tried to catch up with them, but it didn't work out on such a short notice, but it was so nice to talk to them and catch up a little. Hopefully next time. My kids stayed with my mom and dad, and from the sounds of all of the commotion on the way home last night they had a great time!! I am sure we will hear the rest of the adventures when they get home from school.

Happy Birthday Matt and Bob

2008-11-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish both my husband and father-in-law a very Happy Birthday. Matt's is on the 2nd and Dad's on the 5th. I am so glad to have both in my life and hope to share many more wonderful memorable years with them! Oh and a side note, glad you are as old as I am now Matt! Love ya!!!

Halloween

2008-11-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

This involved a few days of celebration. So costumes this year were actually finished before 8 on Halloween which is my usual tradition. This time they were done Wednesday at 4! I was so proud of myself, a new record of accomplishment!!

Erik was the silver surfer, Erin a lady bug, Mike a racecar driver, and Danny was Bumblebee from transformers (he didn't want the actual costume, he wanted the p.j.'s so it worked for me!!)lol

We also went to Visalia on Halloween and went through a corn maze! It was really cool. They have done this since 2000 and each year they do a different maze design. This year it was the Dragon Slayer and it had a bridge in the middle and concession stands and 12 different checkin places. We kept missing them and it was sooooo easy to get lost. But lots of fun. The younger two kinda got bored walking around because there was nothing to see but corn. Oh and by the way the corn stalks were over 12 feet tall, so Matt couldn't cheat for us and find out where we were.

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Picture Tag

2008-11-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

My missionary companion tagged me with a picture one, so five of my friends are going to have fun with me!!! You go to one of your picture files, go to the 6th file open it and go to the 6th picture and explain what is going on in that picture. Well here is mine and I tag...

Monette
Tara
Heather
Shawnel
Anna

This one was taken in our home in Oklahoma. Mike and Nikki were taking a ride around on the John Deere. I can't help but think of the song, "She thinks my tractors Sexy" sorry. We really miss all of our friends there and so enjoy seeing the pictures and bringing back wonderful memories!

Missing Church

2008-10-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how out of the loop I feel right now. We have missed church for the last month due to sickness, being out of town, conference, sickness, company stuff, sickness, and did I mention sickness. The rest of the week I have been stuck at home, till last week, because our van broke down. (I am currently driving my parents car that they weren't using nicknamed the grey ghost, until the van is fixed). Matt was out of town this last week and the kids had half days so we just kinda stuck around the house.

Started packing too. More updates on that as they come.

Fun Tag

2008-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

If I had a million dollars, I'd be rich!

Five Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1- Taking care of a 1 year old
2- Working at TPN
3- Almost celebrating 2 years of marriage
4- Buying our Truck
5- Getting ready for Halloween

Five things on my to-do list today:
1- Finish the laundry
2- Call people to bring meals next week
3- Find boxes to move
4- Read Valarie's book/edit
5- Watch my kids like a hawk

Five snacks that I enjoy:
1- Dove's chocolates
2- Charleston chew's (vanilla mini's)
3- Cheesecake
4- Avacados
5- Carrots

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1- Buy a house (one with a craft room just for me)and land for the family/friends
2- Pay for my kids education
3- Pay off my debt
4- Pay someone to mow my lawn
5- Buy a more economical car

Five places I have lived:
1- Tipton, CA
2- Provo, UT
3- Argentina
4- little Elm, Providence Village, TX
5- Weatherford, Oklahoma

Five Jobs I have had:
1- Farmer
2- Hardware Store
3- Executive Secretary
4- PIEMS Clerk, Receptionist
5- Home Health Care Assistant

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

I tag:
Jessica
Danielle
Anna
Matt
Cynthia

Family Traits

2008-10-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well we just got back from a wonderful trip from Texas to bless our newest member of the family James. We had such a great time, and it also gave us the opportunity to do a few other neat things. We were able to totally surprise one of my closest friends for her birthday...and I mean a total surprise. Which Marcy, Bryon, Charlie, Val, and Valarie, Marie and Scott were such keys in that event. We had such a great time with everyone who came. I have to add that the PTA group was a hoot, and so glad to finally meet them. It was really nice to catch up with Candy (sorry about your daughter getting sick, but glad she is ok now) and Cynthia, and Tom, the Lawsons. The only thing is that Shannon's baby shower was the same night and would have loved to gone to that too, but I did get to see her the next day. We were also able to get some family pictures done, have Thanksgiving (YUM), great pies thanks to Adam and The Pooles, and double kudos for the Fudge Anna. We celebrated birthday's which is so weird because the babies are turning 5!!!! Hello, that is soooo old. And the new babies are almost 2!!! They are growing up so fast. It was so nice to see Marcus and Anna. It is so hard for them to be there now and us to be gone...but it will work out. What was interesting is to see all of the cousins together again and notice how freakish it is that they all look alike!! I did that look-a-like meter thing a couple of months ago and it would be interesting to see how much the kids look like each other. There is an on going joke about how the kids "looks" got mixed up and how each couple should have different kids. It was fun to be there. I also got to catch up with some of my old co-workers and see our dog Gabbie, that we gave to our old neighbor who has absolutely spoiled her rotten. We are sooo glad she is happy and well.

Side note, my picture thingy isn't working so I will post pictures as soon as I figure out what went wrong. I think it was because I was trying to send them too. But any who, I will post them post haste.

Danny Boy take II

2008-10-08T00:40:00.000-07:00

Ok if any of you read my post a from Monday, let me say this is a total repeat! Instead though he startled me by coming in our room and saying, "Mommy my tummy is growling" (he ate 5 tacos for dinner! He should be STUFFED!) So me being in a half dazed state, asked why is your tummy growling. He said, "Because it needs food." Matt and I just busted up laughing! So in the video is the after math of being woken up AGAIN and finding the living room light on and him sitting on the floor playing. So we took the chance for blackmail purposes and possible future advantages for his possible future wife to be aware of certain tendencies he had as a child. LOL

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Ode to Texas

2008-10-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

Oh we are packing, happily packing, washing load upon load, socks all matched, shoes which ones do we need, church, sneakers, sandals. Two days away, two days away, off we will be on the plane, no liquids in the purse, so pack in baggies, don't want the worst. Five days of stay, holy cow the clothes and those dear suit cases will pay. The plans we have made, to visit family and friends, blessing a baby and play. We have been counting down the days to go back to Texas and oh we can't wait, two more days, two more days!

My Aunt Trish

2008-10-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Trish is the Mayor of Coalinga and was interviewed a few weeks ago and was on the local news. Thought it was really cool and I would post it!

http://www.kmph.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=2941946&h1=Mayor%20Monday%3A%20Coalinga%20Mayor%20Trish%20Hill&vt1=v&at1=Promotion 1&d1=465500&LaunchPageAdTag=Search Results&activePane=info&rnd=36401277

Oh Danny Boy!

2008-10-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

If any one knows my kids, they know how wild and crazy they are. Yesterday was a prime Danny Boy day.

After I took the first pictures, I thought oh how cute these would be, of him trying to see what his brother Erik was doing next door. And getting stuck on the pole he was climbing on. But then when I caught him last night at 12 sneaking into the fridge for a "midnight" snack, a song came to my mind, I get knocked down, but I get up again, nothin's gonna get me down, chorus, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, (couldn't think of the group right away) but in the blur of midnight dust my mind changed the words. We put you down, but he gets up again, nothin's gonna keep him down, Oh Danny boy, Danny boy...

So I decided to download the music and pay tribute to the BOY!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is a combo post

2008-10-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

I just got some batteries for my camera and was able to down load a few photos so this is going to be a combo explanation of things.
The first picture is of a shot we got driving to go see Matt at work. They were just trotting along. It was funny to hear Danny holler as they went by his window, Look mommy my size horses!! Mommy my size. I need one my size.

And Erik's new glasses...

The first is a series of photos from the Tulare County Fair. The kids and I took a ride on the BIG Ferris wheel and the shots are from the top of it looking out over the fair and down at Grandpa Voa Teves and Matt. The shot of me is actually working a ban saw trying to cut out a dove (LOL) It looked more like a warped bunny rabbit. The kids on the rides at the fair, the free fall one is the best. And yes if you think the kids on the dragon ride look bored, it is because they were, wouldn't you after 10 minutes on that ride (NO JOKE 10 minutes!!) Then of course the animals and a huge pig, and the boys on a John Deere.

After that is the night Matt and I went to the temple and Alex came over to babysit for us, and Erin found the camera. Little does she know what blackmail purposes this has for future use! Whaaaahhahaha (that was definitely an evil laugh)

Then our FHE of traditions in the family, and the importance of passing them on. Yum I love FHE's with this kind of kick!! Of course there was also the tradition of the proper cooking technique, proper snitching technique, and eating of them too. We taught them well!!! So proud of ourselves!

The last part is my birthday gift and the dinosaur outing, I went through the pics and got the best ones I could. My sister downloaded a few more pics and I have to post them also along with the day at my Aunt Ali's, so be looking for them.

Have fun watching!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Being sick sucks

2008-10-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah for the last week we have been dealing with the crud of colds, sinus stuff, and throwing up. Oh so much fun. I am just ready for getting over all of this!

Fun night with the "M" Kids

2008-09-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

We had the privilege of have three of the Montgomery kids stay the night at our house on Friday. My kids had an absolute blast! They live around the block from us and it was the first time they got to come over. My kids have been begging for days to have them come over, so it was really cool when they got to stay the night too. They went swimming first (yup can still do that here in CA, because it is so stinkin' hot still) and then came in and realized that they forgot clothes to change into. So Matt piled all of the kids into the truck and went and got the stuff and the all night party was on!! They played, watched movies and goofed off. We finally got them bedded down, Girls in Erin's room all with stuffed horses to sleep with (found out they loved horses just as much as Erin) and the older boys camped out under Erik's bed (who knows why) and the little guys on the bunks. (They actually feel asleep) Morning was more swimming, cartoons and yellow and blue pancakes by request from Kate (such a cutie, who just turned a big 6!)! We walked them home around 10, which I'm sure was so funny to see, and entourage of 7 kids and me carryinging different sleep over things. We had a blast, and were all sad to send them home and can't wait for them to come and play again.

TILT! and A Great Time

2008-09-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

Ok if anyone has ever played a pinball machine, they know what this means. You shake the machine, it messes it up and Tilts on ya. Well I tilted my nervous system yesterday, and put myself on my butt. My Aunt Ali invited us and my parents and sister to Goshen to eat and hang out for the day. We had an absolute blast! Lunch/Dinner was some fantastic ribs and my moms broccoli and cauliflower salad, homemade peach cobbler and ice cream, it was sooo good, yum. So back to the story, well my cousin Lil' Gene went to take me to see a Belgium horse that the neighbors owned. (Beautiful horse by the way) Any how the neighbor came out and came to introduce herself and as she approached the fence, she caught the electric wire and zapped herself. Now if anyone has been around electric fences, ya have to just watch out for them. Nothing big just shocks ya. Well as we were talking the puppy came over and I bent over to pet the little guy and the top of my head caught the electric wire and knocked me on my butt. I didn't even know what hit me, because it didn't hurt and I didn't think I was even close to it. I just thought I had lost my footing. But after a few seconds realized what had happened, (probably from the roars of laughter from my cousin, Erin, and the neighbor asking if I was ok. It was one of the jokes for the rest of the afternoon. We had several and made some really good memories. I am sure Ron, Ali and Lil' Gene are going to be laughin' for days. The kids got to ride the horses, a peddled go cart, with a trailer to pull everyone else,(we have got to get one of those) Jonathan and Erik riding Johnathan's dirt bike, the kids testing the hot wires with their hands (lol) and Danny sweeping everywhere, playing with the puppies and dogs. They were soooo dirty and wore out when we were done. We had to make a pit stop @ walmart and grab some pj's and take baths and Grandma and Grandpa Teves house. The water was Dark Brown from washing them off in the shower. After we left, I think we made it down the block before everyone was out!

So thanks Aunt Ali, Uncle Ron, Lil' Gene and Jonathan for an AWESOME day, and mom and dad for the shower to clean up.

Cynthia and Danielle

2008-09-26T15:22:00.001-07:00

Ok you guys posted on my blog and I am blog finding illiterate, how did you guys find me??? I can never figure it out except from going to someone elses post. So can anyone tell me how to do this!!?? So cool to hear from the both of you, and can't wait to read up on all of the happenings!!! Thanks you guys are now both listed!

Another birtday done gone

2008-09-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Yup I am officially one year older that Matt (even though he will be the same age in a month) but it is the number that counts to him right now. My parents to us to Fresno to watch "Walking with the dinosaurs" www.dinosaurlive.com It was really cool, the kids absolutely LOVED it. We had a picnic in the parking lot and my cake was Ding Dongs. Yum. So Mike and Dan came home with a Brachiosaurus and a T-Rex. And Erin and Erik got these cool 3-D posters. I was going to post some pictures but they came out really dark and when you try to lighten them they look weird. So make sure you look at the video, because that is what they really looked like and it was soo cool. We had a really good time and if anyone has the chance to go I would highly recommend it.

Matt and went to the L.A. temple on Friday it was really nice. It was kind of fun being back there after oh I think 15 years. I forgot how big it was. They are renovating the Visitors Center so we weren't able to go there, which would have been cool too.

I almost forgot, last Sunday was the Primary program and the kids did really well. They had to do it twice, once for our ward and then for the singles ward. My parents and sister Carrie came. Danny didn't do his part the first go around but he did it the second time. They really had a good time. I think the theme was Following the Example of Jesus Christ. Not sure, but that was what came across to me the most.

Well enough of a catch up and sorry about the no pictures but they really did come out bad. To dark and no flash, I need to learn to be a better photographer.

Deep Sea Fishing

2008-09-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a busy week and I have to start my blog off with an explanation of the title. Erin, Erik and Matt went deep sea fishing with my Dad and the Lions Club in Pixley. They stayed Friday night in San Louis Obispo, and met the boat on Saturday in Morro Bay at 7 in the morning and took a three hour trip out to sea. Erin caught 6, Erik caught 9, Matt caught 3, Dad caught 7 fish. Everyone did ok on the way out, but once the boat stopped, Matt got sick. He really wanted a Jesus complex and walk on water back to shore, he even contemplated swimming back! You know Matt is sick when... Any how they learned the ins and outs of quick filleting fish and it is amazing how small a huge fish become without all of its stuff. The ship staff also cooked up some of the fish (which Matt was no where near) and Erin actually tried some and liked it. So yes a miracle did happen, just not the one Matt wanted in both cases. LOL. Matt was happy when they started back to land, and they even let Erik drive the boat. Erik said the instruments were really cool, because part of the GPS system also showed where the fish were. They had a great time.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I and the little guys hung out for the day with a friend here in Bakersfield. She showed us some cool places that I will probably have to ban myself from because there was sooooo many cute things I wanted. We also went to the church for the annual service project, and worked on blankets. The boys created 4 ink drawing squares, 2 shaving cream squared, tied a quilt, and went back to my friends house and finished a blanket she had cut out. She also has a business on ETSY.com where she has a few products. One is a flannel cone that you use on baby boys so they don't sprinkle on you. Man could I have used that when my boys were little. So if you need some let me know and I will get you the link to order. They come in so many designs and are sooo cute. She also does burp rags and toys. I got to make a couple in the process of helping. Long story short had a GREAT day.

Well we have a new member in our family that is now wearing glasses as of yesterday. He looks so cute in them. He doesn't have to wear them except when he is reading to keep his eyes lined up. We found out he has CVIN palsy, which is a damaged nerve in the brain stem that is suppose to keep your eye muscles in horizontal line. It was miss diagnosed as torticules as a baby, but the nice thing is they can teach him to line up his eyes. So this is a picture of the big guy in glasses.

Well that is it for now, off to bed.

Volunteering

2008-09-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a really fun day for me and Danny. We went and volunteered in Eriks class. It was soo much fun. What was funny was that all of the kids said Erik and Danny don't look like me. LOL, so even more proof that the kids are Matt's! We painted and played Heads up 7up, which I haven't played since oh 7th grade on a rainy day in CA when we couldn't go outside (which is rare)! But it was fun.

Erin also went to Achievement Day's for the first time here. They took the summer off and so this is the "End of Summer" bash for them. She was just excited to get to go play with some friends!

Mike rode the bus today and I think the kids are going to ride from here on out. They get off a block from the house and they can all walk home together, except for Wednesdays, which they will get home at different times. He felt like such a big boy riding the bus!! I will have to take some pictures.

This weekend we are going to go pick grapes at the church farm in Fresno and on Saturday Matt, Erin, and Erik are going to Monteray to go Deep Sea Fishing with Grandpa Teves. It will be neat to see the pictures. Me and the little boys are going to be doing some Proposition 8 calls. Most of the ward is going to be walking with other denominational churches on the 6th. We also have the "Linus Project" that evening finishing up the quilts for the community.

Things are getting busy, but we are still thoroughly enjoying our pool on a daily basis. High was 101!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Marcus

2008-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give a special post to my brother-in-law Marcus for his birthday. Just to let you know he is quite a guy and I am so glad to be his sister-in-law. He is such a neat guy and we really miss him and it is so sad that we won't be in Texas to celebrate it with him and the family. We hope you have a great Labor Day/Birthday breakfast and we will be thinking of you on this special day!

Good News

2008-08-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

This last week Erin and Erik both had try outs for choir and made it. They both had to audition and Erik had a slim to none chance of getting in, because they usually don't have room for 4th graders, because the 5th and 6th graders get priority. Also they usually have the choir set before the end of the school year. So it was a pretty big deal for both of them to make it and it was also really good for Erin who is quite shy in front of crowds. I am really proud of them both.

So be ready for some choir pictures this year!! I will be taking pictures of Erik at his gymnastics class here soon and be able to post them.

I am also excited about the good news of the VP candidate for McCain, Sarah Palin. She is quite a fireball and has a great head on her shoulders and also a really good heart. Having never heard of her before I went on line and starting looking things up and reading about her. She is absolutely amazing. Mother of 5, the last was born with Down Syndrome. Her comments and feelings to family and friends was such a joy to read. REALITY!!!! She loves life, her family, America and its people, its freedoms, and so much more. And believe it or not I got that all from the media. I can't wait to find out more about her. She seems like such a great role model and has nothing to hide. The only thing they critize her for is inexperiance, but her short track record is exceptional!! I am now getting more excited about this upcoming election! Great choice McCain!!!

What's in a name

2008-08-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Melanie a friend of mine from OK, sent this to me. I put my married name in first and my maiden name next. My married name there are 77 more people in the US that has my same name. I happen to know of one who lives in Houston, (we got each others e-mails for a while. It was funny.) My maiden name, Yup only one! I am so cool! Try it out and tell me how many there are of you with the same names. I am going to do my kids and Hubby next. It ought to be fun.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Moving Trip from OK to CA

2008-08-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

Ok this is so strange and I don't know how I have missed this for so long, but here are the pictures from the driving trip from Weatherford, Ok to Bakersfield, CA. These also include the shots of the damage done during the storm the day before we left at the Arney's house when Erik was staying there. It was eventful and interesting to see what a tornado does. The amazing thing is that no one heard it in the house, the neighbor's saw it though. The hail that was coming down drowned out the noise. No one was hurt thankfully. Poor Titia and Steph didn't find out about it until they got home from girls camp, it was quite an emotional shock.

The other cool thing was being able to see my sis. and her new place. Santa Fe is VERY unique. I am glad we got to spend the day with her and see where she works. We also got to eat out at this really good restaurant there. They had PURPLE chips which the kids thought was so funny. I am still surprised they ate them. We got to also celebrate Mikes birthday there too. I don't know where the shots are of him opening his presents are, but he got a cool Lightin' McQueen drag race set. He loves it and so does Danny. They both have cars (smart move by Aunt T.T. no fighting) and love to race Mater and McQueen. Well enjoy the show!

Happenin's of the Weekend

2008-08-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well we have had an eventful weekend. On Saturday the kids had the primary party and had a really good time. Matt on the other hand got to help one of his guys move. We also had our neighbors kids stay the night, which was really fun. I also had to give a talk on Sunday about Recognizing our Divine Nature which is attached if you want to read it. My folks and my sister Carrie came over on Sunday too, to have dinner and watch the closing ceremonies from the 2008 summer Olympics. It was a busy but fun weekend.

Disney pictures finally

2008-08-22T17:08:00.001-07:00

OK so as you know Matt had the camera from Disneyland and I kept forgetting to ask him for it. Well I finally got it and downloaded them. By know means is it as good as Tara's blog pictures of our trip. We were just so glad to be able to go with them and have such a good time. So take a glance once again at the Disneyland post and also stop by Tara's blog, between the both of us I think it is a real complete picture of the day. Her link is on my blog list. My favorite picture I think is when Nathan is eating the lemon ice Charlie was giving him and making those great faces. It also reminded me about Charlies water trick at the fountain, with an unsuspected victims trying to get a drink. Great times and I can't wait to go again. Also in the mix of the picture is Matt's trip to Oxnard to see the Cowboys at Training camp. He was so glad to get a whiff of Texas!!

First day of School

2008-08-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well school has begun as of August 18th. It has been quite an adjustment getting used to the way things are done here in Cali. So I am going to vent a little. Sorry, but this has been very frustrating and I don't understand why it is done this way. First thing is we didn't find out who the kids teachers were until Friday MORNING. Which to me was odd because to meet the teacher you had to be there from 9-10 a.m. Now I don't know many people here yet, but guessing by how much houses are and the cost of living is, not to many folks are available from 9-10 a.m. due to oh I don't know WORKING!!! (Some districts don't even allow the students to know who the teacher is till they get to school on the first day!) Matt had to take some time off because we had already scheduled a Dr's. appointment for Erik a month prior (which we would have changed if we had known about the class thing, explanation later.) So Matt took Erin,Mike and Dan to school to find out who the new teachers were and where the classes are. That went well till we found out we needed to buy supplies for each one of the kids!!!! Now in Texas this is normal and we get the lists 1 month prior to school beginning. So we are usually prepared for it and have budgeted for it. This was the WEEKEND prior to school beginning, so EVERY Parent and Child was AT Walmart, Target, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Office Depot, Office Max trying to get last minute supplies now required to start school on Monday. (Normally you just bring a backpack and maybe some fun pencils and stuff, the rest is suppose to be provided, at least that is what we were told, and reaffirmed by my mother and sister who are both teachers here.) Anyhow we get that all taken care of, and the first day begins. YIPPEE! Now all summer long we have been watching the website for the district to post a calendar for the school year that lists holiday's, 1/2 days and policies for late start days. Well we finally found it! It was under the student handbook policies, which came home on the first day of school. It informed us to look at the website and sign the last page and send back. Well when reading through in PDF file of the handbook low and behold, there was the district school calendar.(It didn't have the individual school events though,but still it was a calendar) Man and I thought it would be under the CALENDAR link?? Well as I was reading this wonderful piece of information, I looked at the daily schedule of release times. It looked odd so I looked a little closer and realized that each of the grades have a different release times and on Wednesdays 3-6 grades get out at 2 instead of 3. The 1-2 get out at 2 everyday and the Kindergarten afternoon classes get out at 3 everyday. And if they do a half day the afternoon and morning kindergarten classes are combined!! So if you were able to catch all of that, if you have more than one child going to school, say 3-4 kids, you could possibly being dropping off and picking up kids 3-4 times a day. Don't even get me started on the Middle School and High School!! So yes in my mind I did a rush calculation, I go to the school three times a day (this would be really bad if I drove on my gas mileage!) back and forth, and next year depending on if Danny goes to a.m. or p.m. kindergarten I will be at 2 different schools 6 times a day!!! There is one poor lady here who has 5 kids and has to pick up each of her 4 that go to school every hour from 1 to 3! Now mind you she dropped 3 off at 8, then her kindergartner off at 11:35 and has to be back at one to pick up the 1st grader. Then on Wednesdays it changes because of who gets picked up at 2 because of early release! And if you had just moved into the district from out of state, you think the office staff would have thought, we should give a start and release schedule to parents of newly enrolled children. If I hadn't looked at the handbook, (like I usually do because it is usually about discipline, attendance policies, and Internet use, the district calendar is in it, but we also receive the district calendar in the registration papers.) I would have never thougt to look there for the calendar or the early release. Oh and by the way I did ask the office staff about the calendar when I registered the kids and they said they had not updated it yet and it will be available before school started. So don't think I didn't ask.

Oh yeah before I forget about the explanation of why we didn't know when meet the teacher was, is because they didn't know when it was going to be when I went back on the 8th of August to turn in Mikes updated shot record, and there was NO calendar with events to let people know when things are going to happen.(I asked again about the calendar and it wasn't finished yet.) They did finally post something on the Marque on Tuesday, but obviously to late to change the Dr. appointment, because it would be another month before we could get him in again (I asked, just in case) and he needed to get these tests done asap.

So are you confused yet? Welcome to California, and ya wonder why they are having so much trouble understanding anything? No school district is perfect and I know that, but good grief can we have a set schedule of school hours that are from 8:00-3:00, Kindergarten - 8th grade, And high school 7:30-2:30. That way we could save on gas, time, and money? And have calendars available, so parents can be informed of pertinent information. OK done venting.

The kids are glad to be back in school and all of them love their teachers. They are starting to get used to the schedule. Erin has Mr. Kramer, who she says is really funny, and loves teaching. She is sitting in the back of the class and is glad to have a friend from church in her class. Erik has Mrs. Prickett, and Erik says she gives the best hugs. She is very aware of her students and Erik said by the first hour she had every one's names memorized and could name something they liked. (Great memory there is 24 in the class) Michael's teacher is Mrs. Maitia, and boy does she have it together. Michael says his favorite time is the Clifford reading time and playing on the bikes outside. Danny and I are enjoying the POOL :)!! We have also gotten to know the crossing guard Jerry. Him and Danny talk while we wait for the kids to get out of school. Danny just loves playing in the dirt at his feet and telling him stories of Transformers, Superman, and The Sword in the Stone. Jerry just keeps asking him questions and Danny will talk his ear off.

Well it is late. So off to bed, sorry about the long post, but it was nice to get that off my mind!!

Poole Look-alike Meter

2008-08-09T16:43:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Ancestory

Poole Look-alike Meter

2008-08-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Poole Look-alike Meter

2008-08-09T15:55:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Poole Look-alike Meter

2008-08-09T15:48:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

More Pictures from Oregon

2008-08-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

As I stated in my last blog I got my camera two days into our trip in Oregon, so I didn't get pictures of the lighthouse that we visited on the coast and the first day of activities at Great Grandma and Grandpa Escriva's house. Well my parents stopped by for dinner and brought their camera so I was able to down load the other pictures. Hope you enjoy them. They are of the kids playing in a compost ball, oiling the boards for the trailer, trimming grass around the trees before the mowing, and the Umpqua light house, which is stunning. The glass and brass are impeccable and so beautiful.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My sister Carrie also just got back from a trip in Japan, and two weeks prior to that a trip from Mexico. She has several beautiful pictures of both countries and neat stories from each. I am so glad she got to go. She brought back many souvenirs and memories.

Oh and I forgot to add if you don't see Matt in any of the pictures it is because he took a trip to Texas for a managers meeting. So he spent part of the weekend at home then drove down to Houston for the meeting. We really missed him, but glad he was able to go home for a bit. Can't wait to see everyone. And especially Marcus, Anna, Conner, and James who are moving there next week!!!! It will be so cool!

WATCH THE OLYMPICS!

My new camera

2008-08-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so I finally broke down and bought a new camera. It is so frustrating blogging and not having photos of the events that we are experiencing. We were up in Oregon visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Escriva for the weekend to celebrate her 80th birthday and my parents were the only one who had a camera. So I drove into walmart the second day we were there and got an Olympus camera. It is nice because it is smaller that my other one and does everything it did, and this one has video w/sound on it. YEAH! So the wonderful weekend has photos and video of all of the fun things we did. My grandparents live on 10 acres in southern Oregon. So tractors were involved, my boys and there grandpa Teves got to mow the orchard and vinard and old corn patch. Erin, didn't want to, so she worked on the porch and staining the boards for the the new floor in the trailer. We got to sleep outside the three days we were there and enjoyed the beautiful stars, deer, owls and the bats. Yup, I said bats. They would come out at dusk to eat the insects. It was cool to watch. The first night, Danny was so curious about all of the noises. And kept asking what's that? Well I thought he had FINALLY fallin' asleep, because he had quit asking, and then I heard the deer coming through the back yard. Well so did he and in a very loud voice asked What's that? The deer bolted and it was pretty loud so it startled him and he sat up. I then replied,It was the deer, Danny. He said, oh and laid back down and was fast asleep. The deer didn't come back around the whole time we were there. (Good news for G.Grandpa's tomatoes)
The kids did have a lot of fun pulling each other around in the carts. Grandpa Teves had to do some minor repairs on them before we left. The other thing they had fun with was a compost ball. It was empty and they could crawl through the hole and roll each other around. Talk about funny!
While there we went to the coast to visit the Umpqua Lighthouse and go to Mo's to have some wonderful clam chowder. My younger two absolutely loved the chowder (two points for me on the fish food side) the other two wouldn't even try it. It was a cool day too, so the clam chowder totally hit the spot. We picked up a couple of souvenirs at the lighthouse gift shop, one of which was a 3D light house puzzle which the kids and I put together when we got back from the coast. It was so much fun. The coast was beautiful. The kids all want to go back, I hope our next coastal visit is Pismo.
Uncle Tim and Terry came to visit with Aaron, Rachel, Angie and Sam. It was also Aaron's birthday, (him and grandma share the same birthday) We had a really good visit with them and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousin Samantha. She is such a cutie and had the most beautiful curly hair.
On our way back home we took a detour to the Oregon Vortex and Mystery House. It was soo cool. A lot of optical illusions, but there is a phenomenon there that creates the appearance of becoming shorter as you go towards magnetic north. You can look it up on www.orgonvortex.com. The pictures are mixed in, but you can definitely see which ones are from there.
Our next stop was at my Uncle Donald's and Aunt Bernadine's. We had such a good time with them. We got there pretty late in the evening and my older two walked in a fell asleep on the couches. It was so cute. But the next day was filled with adventures, great conversations, and wonderful food. My kids made friends with the little boy Montana down the street and played the rest of the afternoon with him. We had a wonderful day with them and Dan, and are looking forward to there visit in October when Uncle Donald will be here for his high school reunion.
On our way home from there we took a detour and traveled around Mount Lassen and got pictures of the active volcano. It smelled like rotten eggs, but it was soo cool to see the activity. The boys thought it was awesome.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All and all it was a great trip and I know the kids will remember well.

Happy Birthday Erin

2008-08-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Erin's 11th birthday this year in Ventura, CA. She wanted to go to the beach for the day. We had a wonderful time and the kids played in the ocean for hours. Mike and Dan stayed pretty much in the sand and Erin and Erik ventured out and jumped the waves. (it was amazing how much sand and seaweed can get into a bathing suit) We then took a walk on the historical pier. It was so beautiful and we had such a great time. My sister has all of the picture though so as soon as she gets back from Japan I will get some to post here of the days events.

Our trip to Disney

2008-07-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time, and after a few days my kids are willing to go back. (They had sore feet and were hot and tired when we asked them and they weren’t so sure) We told them there was so much more to see and they got excited again. We had some eventful moments and enjoyed the day with the Brooks! The first event was the drive from Bakersfield to Anaheim, holy cow so many freeways and so many people. Of course the normal, “When are we going to get there?” from some VERY excited kids in the back seats. We finally got there and called the Brooks to arrange our meeting point. We loaded up the water bottles and sandwiches for lunch, tethered the Danster so he wouldn’t wander off. And off to the first ride, the tram to the front gates from the parking lot. On the way to the tram the backpack with the waters in it started leaking on Matt’s backside, the ice had already started melting and we had only been walking 30 seconds (LOLOL) but it kept him cool. We loaded up on the tram and took the short ride over to the front gates. First things first when we got off, Bathroom stop. We walked through the large Disney store outside the gates, which proved quite difficult with all of the wonderful things to purchase. Cars, Princesses, Pirates, oh my. Oh yeah you know exactly what I am talking about. (Yeah I was doing the same thing, it is just to cool not to slow down and look even if all of your bladders are about to explode. Going to the bathroom didn’t seem to be a priority for the moment.) Well we made it finally and headed to the gate to meet up finally with the Brooks at the stroller rental place. I handed out the autograph books that the kids and I made for anticipation of meeting some Disney characters and getting their autographs. Maps in hand we were off to the lockers on Main street to drop of the bags till lunch, (which is a really cool place) and we were off to enjoy Disneyland. We headed to the rides first. It worked out pretty well with Adult to kid ratio and swapping for rides. We did have a few scary moments. The first was when Emi, got separated from us in one of the lines. Tara found her quite quickly, thanks to some mindful adults who realized she was lost, (many thanks to those kind people again, whoever you are.) Emi was quite a trooper, even though she was very scared. Mike had to ride Space Mountain by himself, when Matt couldn’t fit in the cars because he was to tall. He got out and turned around to get Mike out of the car but the ride took off. Yeah Matt freaked out. Mike did ok and was quite calm till he got off the ride and Matt asked how he did, he hugged his daddy and buried his head in his chest and cried a little. But if you look at the picture, Mike was the only one smiling out of all of the kids!! Yeah that is when I saw it and freaked out, but he did ok! He is such a big boy! But I was glad to hear what had happened and that he was safe. We got through tomorrow land, and some of Main Street, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and a few others. As the day went on we started to realize that we had only seen one Disney character, Buz Lightyear and didn’t get his autograph because he was walking to do a performance and we didn’t want to stop him. It was so funny that we didn’t see any Disney Characters. But we also didn't go to toontown where they usually hang out. Since we did go to Disney partly to celebrate Erin's birthday, we headed over to the Town Hall to get her birthday button. And did some quick shopping (and I mean quick, I wish we had more time to wander through the shops, but the boys don't allow that to happen very well,) before going to see the fireworks show by the Princess castle. The Fireworks that night were absolutely stunning!! I think when we go again we’ll go to the front of round about. The trees were blocking some of the fireworks. But, that did not take away from all of the ohhs and ahhs we heard. As a mom that was the coolest feeling to watch my kiddos enjoy something so unique. We really had a good time and can’t wait to go back to see more (it is unbelievable how much there is to see.) Plus since we have empty autographs books we definitely need to go back. Sorry it is a long post, but like Disneyland there is so much to do, say, and see! Till next time!

Memory Game

2008-07-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

This was on a friend's blogs and it looked fun, so here goes - Here is a fun little game... Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

The Circus

2008-07-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

On Saturday my parents took us to the circus in Fresno. We had a really good time and recommend it if it ever comes by. The coolest thing was the motorcycle ball of death or something like that. They fit 7 motorcycles in that thing!!! My other favorite was the elephants of course.
They are so neat. The little boys just loved staring at everything. Erin's was the trick horse riders (of course), Erik loved the acrobats. We had a really good time and of course went to a CA icon for milkshakes at In n Out. To my family in TX I actually had the malt one and liked it! So I maybe converting slowing. LOL. We are getting ready for Disney tomorrow and I will have photos!!!

In Honor of Disneyland

2008-07-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

How funny and what a coincident that we are going to Disneyland next week and I found this post on Kaja's blog page. So of course I had to do it. It turns out that I am Mulan. Probably one of my favorite princesses for lots of reasons. So anyhow, try it out and I thought you might enjoy it.

And here is another fun one I found on her blog. Yes there is one for husbands too!!

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!

California Sunnin'

2008-07-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well I would have pictures to post except my camera is still on the blitz and will not read any of the memory cards to take pictures! UGGGGHHH any suggestions???? So we are unpacked now and are now working on settling in.

Our ward is really friendly. The funny thing is it is only 2 square miles!! We are so used to wards that cover counties and cities, not blocks. Talk about saving on gas!!! It is so weird having so many members so close (almost claustrophobic) lol. But it is a pleasant change to be so close to everything.

We had my parents over for Sunday dinner, with a friend of theirs from Wisconsin. It was really nice. We also had our family web chat too on Sunday. It was really interesting to have everyone in the same time zone!!

Our next adventure is in a couple of weeks...we are going to Disneyland for Erin's birthday!! So I am trying to be a good mom and get the autograph books together like Aunt Marcy did when they went to Disneyworld last year. We are going with the Brooks from TX who are coming out to visit family here in CA. It just worked out that we could go together. (Actually we just invited ourselves, so that maybe some TX dust would rub off and we could feel at home for just a minute :) )

We sure do miss everyone. I am just so glad that we have the Internet!!! I can't tell you how lost I was without it. So anyhow, I need to get lunch fixed. So off for now

Update Update!!

2008-07-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ok yeah I have had nooooo internet to speak of since moving here in California, so it has been driving me NUTS! We are here, and I now have internet! We have pretty much unpacked and are now starting to settle in. The kiddos are enjoying the pool everyday and turning brown and blond. (True California style) My camera is on the fritz so I haven't been able to take any pictures. I hope to get one asap to fix this issue.

Well I have to go we have 4th of July to Celebrate. I will post more later. Have a Happy 4th of July!!

What a Friday!!

2008-05-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Just to start out, today was the first day of SUMMMER for my kids! They are officially out of school. I am so excited for summer, sorry I like having them around and it is so cool to sleep in again! So we had our Doctors appointments today and we had Mike's hearing rechecked and it turned out to be perfect. He has no hearing loss!!! :) Now the listening part...totally failed, but of course what 4 year old do you know that listens???

So after the Doctors we went to Foss Lake with the Arney's. Now I have no pictures of this yet to post, because my camera was not accepting the digital memory card (yeah not so happy about that). But Latitia took a bunch so I will be stealing them off of her blog as soon as she posts them. Poor women has had invasion of the POOLES! She is watching our dog during the next week while we are in Texas and California. I want everyone to know this women is a true SAINT!!

Matt made it in to Texas this evening and we will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. The kids are really excited to see their dad after 2 1/2 weeks of not seeing him. They are going to stay with family, while Matt and I finish up some of the loose ends before our move. We will also be celebrating my parents birthdays next week even though my mothers is today. It will be fun because all of the GIRLS will be home. I am really excited to see my sister Taryn. Let ya know how it goes. I hope to also be able to visit with some friends in TX before we make the CA move.

Well I got tagged by Anna, so here it goes:
How to play this game of tag:
-Post these rules to your blog.
-List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random surprising facts about yourself.
-Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

My Joys
-My wonderful husband, my family, and my friends

My Fears
-Losing my husband and children, my dog biting someone or running away, house cleaning

My Goals
-Learn to house clean, finish my book, loose weight,take some fun classes

Current Obsessions/Collections
-Learning how to manage money, cards/stamps/crafty stuff, blogging

Surprising facts about myself
-I love IMing, The comics are my favorite part of a newspaper, I can totally space out watching TV

I am tagging, Tara, Kaja, Latitia, Mindy, and Marcus

Have fun!!

California or Bust!

2008-05-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks but we have had a big change in our family. Matt has been given a promotion, which is really good and also gave us the opportunity to move to Bakersfield, CA. Yes that is correct our family is moving again. We have quite enjoyed our short stay in Weatherford, OK and are sad to be leaving such a wonderful place. We have made some really good friends here and can't wait to come back. We found a home and are moving the middle of June. Matt is out there already and staying in a hotel. We sure do miss him and can't wait to see him again. And I really mean see him again. He is working "NORMAL" hours again and has weekends off. It is going to be interesting having him around again. The last two years have been pretty much, just me and the kids. He did have days off but they were far and few between. So this is going to be a nice change. I think the biggest one is for the kids. They won't have any cousins around in CA just my parents and sister. So I am sure they are going to get some serious attention. Also my grandparents and aunts and uncles are all still in the area and everyone is quite excited on my side. (Not so much on Matt's side but they have had us for the this long, so it is time to share, lol) We don't know how long it will be but for now it will work. Let's just hope it is longer than 6 months...I just barely was getting used to everything. It is going to be really hard to leave, but I am so glad we have computers to communicate and keep in close contact.

Savor the Oreo's

2008-05-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

If anyone knows me, my one weakness is oreo's and cold milk. Well I guess it has been passed on...Mike my third child has my same knack for an oreo attack. It was Tuesday night and I had gone to Walmart to pick up his snack for his class the next day, which was right next to the OREO's, so I grabbed a bag. Can't forget the milk so grabbed a gallon too. Brought everything home and put Mike's class snack in the snack bucket for the next day and set the oreo's and milk on the table in the dinning (DUMB move on my part because I can't see in there from the kitchen) for after dinner and started making dinner. Well about five or so minutes later, I go into the dinning room and the milk is gone and the oreo's have been opened and a whole row of oreo's are gone. I yelled at Erin and Erik why they took the oreo's and that they needed to wait till after dinner. Erin and Erik started complaining that they didn't have the oreo's and why they hadn't gotten any. Danny was sitting in the living room and so I know he didn't have them, but Mike was no where to be found, until I heard a sound from the garage. I went to the garage and opened the door and found Mike with the gallon of milk opened, a cup full of milk and two oreo's left!!!! His milk was almost black, but you could tell he savored everyone of those oreo's in complete peace! He smiled at me with black teeth, it was just to cute, all I could do was laugh and asked him if they were good? He shook his head yes! (To bad he threw them all up later that night, couldn't handle his cookies!!lol) He is just so cute, and now I have some competition.

Bowling Night/End of School year programs

2008-05-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

My kids have become quite fanatics of bowling while living here in Weatherford, thanks to free passes. We took the Brooks and Cardenas families while they were here and have gone several times since. Erin and Mike's classes went a few times on a field trips. So they have really become quite the "Experts" as a matter of fact Erin beat everyone (even me) last night. Pictures to prove it too. Mikes is the first score,Erin's is second,Erik's third, and mine last! They are doing soooo well!

Erin and Mike also had there end of school year programs which were really cute and well done. Erin's classes had several that performed piano and violin solo's and duets. (Erin didn't want to this year because it scared her, and don't blame her either)But she did sing really well and they had a great time.

Mike was quite entertaining! Nothing like a bunch of 4-5 year olds on stage. They say the funniest things. At the end of one of the songs the singer growled and it sounded like a loud burp and a little girl said,"That's what my daddy sounds like!" All of the adults just died laughing. They were all so cute! Then Mikes class had a half sleep over at the school where they played games had pizza and took their sleeping bags to each of the classrooms and watched movies. He has so much fun!

Erik's stuff is this week so I will update on that.

Third post of the day! Kid Tag

2008-04-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

I just got through reading through my favorite blogs and got to Anna's, my sister-in-laws blog and we got tagged to write 5 interesting things about my kids that someone might not know about. So here it goes:

Erin:
1. Has the loudest clap I have ever heard!
2. She can run REALLY fast
3. Is a night owl
4. Loves to cook
5. Is a horse fanatic and wants to be a Vet

Erik:
1. Loves Gymnastics and Soccer
2. Enjoys messing with Uncle Bryon by dressing up
3. John Deere Green is the color of his blood
4. Has a talent for drawing
5. Holds the record for being the biggest baby in the family at 9lbs 6ozs

Mike:
1. Nascar fan and loves to sit with his daddy and watch Jimmy Johnson win
2. His blood is also John Deere green
3. He loves to scream like a girl at the top of his lungs (which is really loud by the way)and says he is whistling.
4. LOVES Superman! Everything on his cups, sandwiches, birthday cakes has to be the Superman symbol
5. Is his daddy's shadow

Danny:
1. TRAINS, TRAINS, TRAINS
2. sings Life is a Highway (it is so cute)
3. Dirt is his 2nd favorite toy
4. Can sign several things, especially the word train
5. Land Before Time, Cars and Transformers are his favorite movies and Bumble Bee is his favorite character

This was really fun and neat to do. So who to tag, I think I will tag Kaja Sample and her two kiddos, Rene and Henry! Have a wonderful day and can't wait to read about them.

Wild and Crazy Saturday

2008-04-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

We had the Stephanie and Erin Elizabeth (to know the difference between my Erin) (and is pronounced Erininzbeth by Mike just to let you know) over Friday night and Saturday. Matt had the day off and after the soccer games Matt and I were to go into OKcity and go to the temple (which got nixed because the temple closed at 3 and my Erin's last soccer game was at three) So Matt and I decided to stay home and just have fun (AKA the NBA playoffs were on)So for starters during the break in between soccer games we decided to work on the sprinkler system. Which worked out pretty well, except getting a little wet. We only have a couple of things to fix. So after that we left for the soccer games which was really fun. Erik's team won and Erin's team lost by one. The records are for Erin's team 4 wins/5 losses. Erik's team 8 wins/1 loss. They are really enjoying playing and making so many new friends. So after the games we went back home to wait for Latitia and Tyler to come over. (Latitia was going to help Steph watch our kids while her son got ready for Prom here in Weatherford after his track meet, while we went to the Temple, but that didn't work out as explained above.) They live in Custer City and the Prom was here and so was his date Eva. So our house became the go between which was SOOO cool. Well when they came they had an extra with them (Kelsey) and all of them were kinda pink from the sun. As the evening wore on poor Latitia became VERY RED!!!
But during the time from Tyler getting ready to go the girls, kids, daddy, me and Latitia put the front flower bed back together. Well some of us did, some of us thought an all out Dirt fight would be so much better. Nothing like black teeth! Steph's and Kelsey had to go take showers there was so much dirt on them and in their mouths (yuck) It was really funny and the people driving by were just laughing. So just as we were finishing up Eva drove up with her mom looking absolutely gorgeous. Tyler was looking dashing when we came in. They made such a cute couple. We took a few 1000 pics!! Then they drove them over to SWOSU to watch the prom parade. (Another neat thing they do here in Weatherford) They set up bleachers to the entrance of prom and roll out the red carpet and the parents or friends of the attendees get to watch everyone go in. And they announce you as you get out of your vehicles. Cool or what?!? Then after Prom they have a Prom party from 1-4 a.m. They have everyone go home and change and have events all night for them and prises, including two cars. It was busy but boy we had a lot of fun. One bit of bad news though, because I MADE Matt work in the front yard it jinxed the Mavericks and they lost to New Orleans. Sorry babe and hope the next game they will win.

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They're not broken! They Hatched!

2008-04-23T06:29:00.000-07:00

Danny came in the laundry room just after I hung up some clothes on the line and announced, "They're not broken! They Hatched! Come see mommy, they Hatched, not broken! Ok at this point my mind is going a million miles a minute, what did he get into that he would say this. Well he grabbed my hand and I followed him through the house to Erin's room where he pointed to about a dozen broken eggs and a few hard boiled eggs left over from dinner the night before. I had a huge smile on my face, and he was just as proud as could be. "See mommy, not broken, Hatched, Littlefoot hatched." (Land Before Time reference) I just laughed and said good job. Of course Gabbie had to come and "INVESTIGATE" what was going on too. I told him to start cleaning up the hatched eggs while I went and got the camera. It was just to cute to not document. LOL!!

Are they Twins?

2008-04-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well it is now that time of the year where both of the boys are the same age. It is so much fun to reply that they are 4 when people ask how old they are. "Oh are they twins?" I smile and reply no they are 10 months apart, that usually is where I get the best reactions! Hey just think of my reaction when Matt and I found out!!! Any how just a funny for the day. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying today!

Well Checkups

2008-04-12T14:05:00.001-07:00

The little guys went in for checkups yesterday and boy do we have some big boys! Mike weighed in at a whopping 61 lbs and 3ft 8 in and Danny weighed in at 48 lbs and 3 ft 3 in. Everyone thought they were twins. I couldn't believe the height difference between the two. It looks less than that. But they also had their shots and they were very brave (cried a little) colorful band aides helped out tons! (smart person who ever thought of that!) They also had hearing and vision tests. They both passed the vision, and Danny passed his hearing, but Mike failed it. Turns out he has hearing loss in both ears (explains a lot lol) They set the base this time and we have to go back in three months to get another test done. We will be sent to the specialist after that either way to see what we need to do next. He asked us to get a family history to see if it ran on either side of the family, (Selective hearing didn't count, lol, which is what I have and my other kids have especially when it comes to chores!) But no one does, so I will relay that to the Doctor on Monday and ask a few more questions now that I have had time to think about it. I was kind of in shock, because Danny would be the most likely, because he was so delayed in talking. But we still think that has a lot to do with Mike talking for him. I did ask if it was caused by possible ear infections(which he only had 1)or if he had an infection now. He said no because there is no scaring or infection now. I also asked what does he have problems hearing and he said low/deep voices or whispers. I am sure we will find out more information in the next few weeks. He is still Mike and nothing has changed.

Well after the doctors visit, we sorta went on a unexpected detour to TEXAS! We were in Elk City which is about 30 miles East of the Texas border and to get home I needed to EAST on 40. Well I went WEST and it all looks the same (no mountains CA gal can't figure out which way to go without looking at the sun) and I was just driving along and passed a small town and since I am not really familiar with OK yet I just assumed it was the one we passed going into Elk City from home. Well about 3 miles later the sign said "WELCOME TO TEXAS" I was talking to my Dad on the phone and said dad I am in Texas, I went the wrong way! I'm not suppose to be in Texas! Well I had to drive another 10 miles before I could turn back around. There wasn't another exit till then (I about went across the median just to turn around)! There is absolutely nothing between here and there! So we got turned back around laughed a lot, and I am sure I will never live this one down. I told Matt I needed to borrow his dashboard girlfriend who always tells him what to do. The kids have nick named her Carmen, because Danny couldn't say Garmen. But I tease Matt about it all of the time. At least I don't boss him around as much as she does! LOL. I think Jeff Foxworthy does a skit on that. It is really funny. But back to the detour, I think it was the van going on autodrive back to Texas, just a funny thing in the day and life of me. DUH!!

Also speaking of Texas we just spent last weekend down there enjoying General Conference and Nascar Racing, and Daniel's 4th birthday with the family. It was an awesome weekend. Had several favorite talks and can't wait to get the Ensign to read all of them over again. It was really neat during the first session to sustain the new Prophet and councilors and the 12 and 70's. I just hope my kids remember it. I was a wonderful feeling. It was so good to see the family and visit. It was hard to leave, my kids are still sad about it and talking about it. Danny got some really cool presents for his birthday, pictures posted below. He opened up his present from my parents on his birthday, it is really cool car mat. I am going to have to get a few more. I think the helicopter, car mat and Lightin' McQueen shorts are the fav's. He is such a funny boy. We are doing his birthday here as a family tomorrow when Matt is back. I will post more pics then.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Soccer is going good for the kids. Mike's team still follows the ball the entire game no matter where it goes. (Really funny to watch) Erik's team lost this morning, but won this afternoon. Erin's team won this morning and her afternoon game was canceled. So it was nice to have the afternoon. We had some of their friends stay the night last night so it was fun to have them along too.

It has been a busy week and we are having a lot of fun and enjoying life. Love to hear how everyone is doing too.

April Fool's dinner

2008-04-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine (Tara) sent me some really cool ideas for a great April Fool's dinner. My kids absolutely were in shock. Erik's face was the best when he tried the peas (which are his favorite veggies) It was really funny when Erin did her normal pouting routine about having to eat the peas and carrots (aka flavored tootsie rolls). It was great when she tried them and said hey these aren't peas, they are really good! LOL. She of course asked for extra gravy on her mashed potatoes and meat loaf (aka ice cream and cocoa rice crispes w/ carmel as the gravy) They had no idea. Erik was even asking for extra chocolate pie (aka meat loaf w/ pink mashed potatoes as the icing). Then I asked if they wanted water (aka invisible koolaide) Oh Matt and I got the biggest kick when they started eating stuff!!! So what was dinner was actually dessert and dessert was dinner. They loved it! Thanks Tara!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Also we had Michaels first soccer game yesterday and it was so cute to see the kids in mass try to kick the ball around the little field. Then watch all of them lose interest about 2/3 way through the game. It was so funny the kids would just run off the field to visit with their parents. Or go get a drink or a snack. Matt was able to come see the game so we got some cute pics of the guys. We did learn one thing you need a jacket around here at night, the wind seems to always pick up in the evening and it gets cold.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

fun typing test

2008-03-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah I suck! I am really slow but here you try and see if you can do a whole lot better than me.

52 words

Speedtest

Offical Soccer Mom

2008-03-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well it is official, I am a soccer mom. It is so interesting the all of the planning that goes into being one. Making sure everyone gets to practice, games, and keeping up with all of the other stuff. Then Saturday...holy cow. When I signed the kids up I thought it would be all intercollegiate, I didn't realize it was a traveling team!!! So each of the kids are in different cities at different times. Michael's games are a little easier because they are all at a specific time, but on different days of the week, so once again coordinating rides, schedules and snacks. They are having fun, which is what it is all about.

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Stats from Saturdays game:

Erik's first game they won 7-0 and Erik made one goal. He played all of the different positions. Second game they won 7-4, and Erik made one goal for the other team. LOL, he was playing goalie and was backing up to kick the ball and he stepped over the line before kicking the ball with out realizing it. Poor guy didn't have a clue what he did wrong (neither did anyone else till the ref explained it) But they did play really well and had a blast.

Erin's first game they lost 1-3, but they played really well. The girls had so much fun just learning how to play. Her second game was cancelled, but rescheduled for this Tuesday.

Mike's first game is tonight!! How he has been carrying on you would think he is having a HUGE game...professional soccer championship (he refused to take his new soccer cleats on Saturday and wore his jersey all weekend) I had to bribe him to get it off him to wash it for tonight. LOL

The slide show also has some really good friends of our from Colorado that used to live in Little Elm. They are such an awesome family and we were so glad that they were able to stop by and see us. We ate lunch at Braums and headed out to lake Hefner for the kids to get all of that EXTRA energy out. It was really windy so it was cold, which the day before it was upper 80's so quite a contrast. We got some really cute shots of them. And Conner took some really good pics of us older kids!! They moved up to Colorado about 2 years ago so it was really neat to see the younger two. They are such cuties and have sure grown a lot since we last saw them.

April Fool's is tomorrow and thanks to Tara I have a great plan in place for tricky meals tomorrow. It should be fun and I promise to take pictures of it. By the way some of our family pictures that Tara took are on her blog at usoverhere.typepad.com. I should be picking up the disk this weekend so I will be able to add some of the others that were not posted. Yeah and don't laugh at the one of me upside down...I was having fun...and Tara did it too, she just didn't post it. Hmmm I wonder why.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We also had some fun weather last night while the Arney's were over for dinner. We had hail the size of quarters and lots of it. The pictures turned out really cool. So if you are wondering that is why I have two slide shows this time. Enjoy.

Easter Egg Wars

2008-03-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

We had a really great Easter this year. We had some friends visit from Texas and really enjoyed the fun commercial side of Easter and the spiritual side. We did so many things and really enjoyed each others company.

They came Friday around noon so the first field trip was off to Carl's Jr's. YUMMMM! We went to the park afterwards and enjoyed doing silly stuff. Matt was actually off for the weekend so it was so much fun being all together. We then went BOWLING!!! Yup and Tara kicked our butts to the curb!! She has picture proof of this...I didn't bring my camera. The "Big" kids had their own lane and had a great game too. Danny and I took a sliding trip down the lane and ate wood! Man I totally forgot how slick those lanes are. It was totally funny, just ask the ones laughing at us!

Saturday-We had easter themed breakfast with multi colored pancakes. Forgot to take pictures again (of course) but they were pink, yellow, green, and blue. They really turned out really cute. We took family pictures and did an Easter Egg hunt at a local church. Our friends oldest daughter actually one a big prize of a digital camera (funny since her mom is a photographer). The kids were so cute finding eggs and they all did really well. Lots of candy, which adds sooooooooo much energy to a house full of 9 kids!! After pictures we went to CJ's again and it was so good! I can't get enough of the place and glad they feel the same way, I guess it just runs in the CA girls blood. LOL. For dinner we hit an awesome place called Jiggs for dinner. The meat just melts in your mouth. My dad's deep pit now has some real competition. We decorated eggs after dinner, Tara is going to have to post those pictures, but I guess you can get an idea of what they ended up as from the pictures. But she has the actual process. For dessert Tara made an awesome cookie, sour cream, cream cheese, strawberry, mandarin orange, and chocolate dessert, oh so fat and full after dinner!! We then made the Easter cookies with the kids (which didn't turn out very well, they were flat, but hollow, so it kind of worked, didn't mix it long enough, the guys were complaining about the noise)

Sunday was the best. We went to church, and really enjoyed the talks and lessons. I did my lesson for my kids on the 12 Easter Egg Story, thanks Aunt Marcy for getting me the info again. I still can't find my other one...but it was really fun teaching the lesson. The older kids really enjoyed going on a actual "Easter Egg Hunt". Even when they are teenagers it helped to have something different on the story of Easter. They gave beautiful testimonies of their faith in Christ at the end. We came home after church and the Easter Bunny left a note for the kids for an Treasure Hunt for their Easter Baskets. So watching all 8 run around the house trying to figure out the clues was really cute. (Tara and I stayed up till 3 helping the Easter Bunny, we were wiped out the next day. LOL) Egg Wars began after that. Tara ended up the winner with the "Rock" we had some really good competitors this year. I think Resa's lasted the longest and finally fell to the "Jimmy Johnson" egg of Erik. It was pretty fun. The egg sauce sandwiches were so good. Dinner was later on and we relaxed. They took off around 8. It was sad to see them go, but we had so much fun and enjoyed every minute this weekend.

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Kids at play

2008-03-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

My kiddos have been taking advantage of the days in between the rain and cold by going out side and playing baseball. It is so much fun (until someone hits someone with the bat, we've had some pretty good goose eggs!) They have learned to be careful with them, thank heavens!

Danny is still obsessed with trains. He had put this one together pretty much by himself and was running it. Now if anyone knows anything about trains you have to be very precise about putting the train on the track so that it will run. For a 3 year old, it is amazing to watch him work. He concentrates very well, even though it is on just this one thing. LOL. So enjoy the pictures!

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Spring FEVER!!

2008-03-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Boy spring is just around the corner and things have started blooming around here already. With the kids being out for spring break it just adds to the FEVER. So we cleaned out the garage and washed the windows, which turned out to be such a bigger job than I thought. The windows had a film on them and I actually had to use Comet to get them clean.

We are starting our garden which we as a family have turned it into a community garden so that we don't have any wasted and with the cost of produce lately it will be quite nice to have some. I just hope it will turn out?? First time gardening in OK and I didn't have to much success in TX because the yard was so small and it planting in the flower beds was hard to plan.

We have had friends over for the last few nights, (can you say black bags under the eyes...). The slumber parties are so much fun for the kids. They play such funny games and the food these guys eat!!!! Taking them over to the YMCA helps with the chaos...swimming for a few hours helps calm them down so they actually go to sleep around 1 or 2 at the latest. They loved the neon green eggs and pancakes we made for St. Patricks day...sorry no pictures. I didn't even think about it, I am so bad at that.

But I did get pictures of the Easter Egg hunt we did in Foss, OK. Talk about GORGEOUS area! We are going to camping there for our ward camp out. The kids had so much fun. This was Danny's first Egg Hunt, because we usually hunt for candy at Grandma and Bapa's. He was giving his away to the kids around him. LOL. But he caught on pretty quickly though. All of the kids had a great time. It was really neat how they had it set up, and to start they had a count down with a huge horn going off! It was over in like 1 minute! And lots of goodies. We have another two this weekend!!!

The nice the thing is that Matt will be off this weekend! Yeah me! We are suppose to have friends come up this weekend and it will we be fun to do all of the Easter activities with them. The kids are so excited to set up the tent, they were suppose to be here last weekend, but things came up (like Matt going out of town) that we had to change it to this weekend. So it really worked out really well. Can't wait!

We also had book club last night. We read Temple Worship. It was a very deep book. I am sure as most of us pointed out several times that we are going to be reading this book several times over. It was just nice to hang around the kitchen and get our gab on and eat cheesecake! Yumm!

Well off to play with the kids. Enjoy and can't wait to hear from all of you!

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My first 5K!

2008-03-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well I did it. My first 5K. Tough enough Relay for Life, for cancer. Ok I didn't run it, I walked most of it, jogged a few blocks, but it was soooooo cold that I couldn't get warmed up (18 degrees). But it was fun and next time I should be ready to jog the whole thing. I will be done with my training with couch to 5K in 9 weeks. I am only in my 6th week, where my workout is a walking warm up of 5 min and jogging for 20 min. It has been a lot of work so far and really hard, but fun too. I do like the races I can participate in that the proceeds go to cancer or leukemia. There are teams that I am signing up for in the next races. I can't wait!!

Erin also made the newspaper and I am trying to find the link to it so as soon as I do I will post it. Her class did a science fair and they did a really good job and made the front page!! I am really proud of her.

Well got to get dinner on before the family chat tonight.

My first slide show!!

2008-03-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

Trying to get ONE Shot of the Hats

This is my first so it is not perfect. Hopefully I will get better.

Pictures I Promised

2008-03-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Gabbie our puppy

Mother's Day Cards

Mike and his John Deere Boots. By the way that is a size 2 on that kids feet (Same size as Erik who is 5 years older that he is!!!) Yeah we are going to have some big boys (Everything in Texas is BIG)!!

It was really cold on Monday and it was Dr. Suess's Birthday so it was a perfect day for their hats that Aunt Trish made for them for Christmas. They turned out so cute and the love wearing them. Especially Dan, he loves the feeling of it on his ears.

Weekend Excitement

2008-03-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, Matt was gone till Wednesday and so it has been pretty interesting without him here. We had a lot of activities to keep us busy (keeping the boys out of trouble) so it was a little easier to manage things. A lot of people are like that here so everyone really understands. It is just part of the business.

But this weekend was interesting, we found out some friends of ours from Little Elm had moved here in August! Well they just had their third baby on Thursday and her parents are up for the week and her sisters came up for the weekend so we went out to dinner with them on Friday. We had such a great time with them and were so glad to have them over for a nice visit.

So now that they know where we are and we know where they are I am sure there are going to be a few more visits. Plus her husband works in the same business so it will be easy for us to get together.

We are reading a new book for the month of March which I am really excited about on Temples. It is amazing that I am reading a lot more. I have also got a bunch of books checked out right now from our awesome library (it is so huge) on gardening. We are going to try to do a community garden in our backyard. (Lots of planning so we will see how it goes.)

Card swap went really well. I need to take pictures and get them posted. We had a really good time and we have a few new members. It is taking a while to get it going but I know it will be in full swing soon. I am so sad though in a couple of weeks is a weekend get a way in Canton that I really wanted to go to, but with stuff going on I can't come down. But to make up for a couple days before that we have some friends coming to visit. We are so excited and Erin is so thrilled to have one of her best friends here.

Believe it or not it is going to snow tomorrow! We have wind gusts right now between 40 to 60 mph. There were several tornado warning/watches just to the East of us. But the crazy thing about it is that it was 75 degrees here this morning!!! It is unreal! So hopefully I can post the kids in their hats that Aunt Trish made them for Christmas. I accidently erased them off the camera and need to reado them and send them off. It will be really cool and authentic if I take them tomorrow in the snow.

This Saturday is the RACE. I am excited and nerveous. This one I am not Running in, just walking and jogging. I hope by December I will be prepared to run the 5K down in Texas that my friend Mindy told me about. Her son and husband are suppose to be in it to. We have been doing walks for the last 3 years now here and there. It will be neat to compete. This one is for cancer. The others we will probably be racing/walking for Relay for Life under Turtle Girls. If any of you who read would like to donate let me know and I will get you the info.

The kids are doing their jump a thon this week for heart awareness. They are so excited and have gone around the neighborhood collecting donations. It is fun to watch them practice at home.

By the way the basketball hoop and basketball that we got Erik for his birthday, now belong to Danny, just ask him. He loves to play with Erik and it is so fun to watch them play together. I can't wait to get some pictures of them playing. Danny is so funny when the kids are at school he will go grab the ball and just sit on the couch with it and watch cartoons, then go out and play for a bit then come back in with the ball and sit and go back out. It is so funny.

Other news for any of you who know my boys they love John Deere anything. Well on Thursday Mike got his first pair of John Deere boots. (he grew out of his other boots, which danny has taken full position of). You would have thought that he had died and gone to heaven. He called his dad first, then Voa Teves. I don't think either one of them understood a word he was saying because he was talking so fast. But I think they got the gist that he got John Deere boots. I will also have to get a shot of them too.

Boy I have a lot of pictures to take. Anyhow it is getting late and I will get the pictures on probably tomorrow.

A Good Man Lost

2008-02-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

My dad called last week to tell of some very sad news. A family that we became close to when I was a child lost a second child on the 8th of Feburary, in Iraq fighting for the freedom of others and the continued freedom and safety of ours. His name is Timothy Martin. I knew him as Tim a quite child, but very smart and observant. My sister Carrie was one of the older daughters best friends before she passed away of Luekemia in 1990. Bryna was a very remarkable young women, she had the strength of her father and the sweetness of her mother. Tim and his other sister Alisa were very close and depended on each other very much. Growing up in the country does that to you in a way because there is really no one else to play with. Lucy and Tony were very quite and reserved people, but were always so kind and our family loved being around them. My fondest memory is going to their home and walking in and smelling the sweet smell of bread or fresh milk. Lucy's yard was full of rose bushes and I loved looking at the different flowers. After the passing of Bryna it was my Senior year in High School and I didn't see much of the family. My parents still kept in close contact with them. I hadn't heard much about them and didn't know who was doing what. So when my dad told me the news I was shocked. Tim was in my mind still a boy running around in the back yard. It triggers so many emotions at once and my heart goes to Tony and Lucy. I am proud of Tim and I know he is catching up with Bryna now. I am sorry for their loss from the pain of lossing another child. There are several articles about him in the news papers from home. He touched many lives and will always be remembered.
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802210312
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802200339
http://www.recorderonline.com/news/martin_34780___article.html/sgt_church.html
http://www.recorderonline.com/news/martin_34805___article.html/sgt_life.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/411552.html#morephotos

Interesting

2008-02-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

We have had some really interesting weather the last few days as you can see by the pictures. The ice is from Saturday and the sunsets with the windmills are from today. Absolutely gorgeous outside. Sunday was cold also.

This has been quite and eventful weekend. We had our Valentine's dinner/movie party on Saturday which was really nice. Matt brought me a card and No Reservations for Valentines, which is such a good movie. Cooking, kissing and a happy ending what more could you ask for. I gave him his gift a week ago, because I was so impatient and I had to give it to him. I just couldn't wait. I know silly but it was still fun. The kiddos got a special valentine's treat from their cousin Conner and Aunt Anna, Uncle Marcus, Bevo and Hemi. They about died from the sugar high, but you know they LOVED it. We also received calls from the Grandparents with Valentine's wishes too. It is sooo nice to have phones and internet today. It is so nice to be able to be in contact with them in an istant.

On Sunday Matt and I gave talks in church. My topic was gratitude and his was on tithing. I also had my class to teach and made them journals which turned out really cute thanks from ideas from splitcoast stampers website. Love that place. The kids really loved them. It is so nice having a class of 4! The opening NASCAR race at Daytona was also on Sunday. I watched the opening ceremonies and the first few laps then sleep deprevation kicked in and I had to go take a nap. Newman one and bet out Tony on the last lap (YEAH) I still haven't decided who I am going to cheer for this year since I have been banned from cheering for Denny Hamlin. I like both Jimmy Johnson, and Jeff Gordon, but those have been really over run in our families, so I was leaning more toward Casey Mears. He is from Bakersfield, CA near where I grew up and he is in the permitable cheering crew of Hendrick motorsports. We'll see. I will probably watch a few more races to decide.

And talking about races, I have my race in a couple of weeks which I am really nervous about. I am on week 5 of my training and boy is it tough. I will only be in the middle of week seven of training when it is suppose to happen so I am going to do the required part and walk the rest. They warned us not to go any faster in the program (like I could) so I am readily taking the advice. I have a couple more towards the end of summer that I will hopefully be more prepared for (and lighter). It is nice just to have the challange to keep me motivated.

The kids didn't have school today and so they played a lot outside and enjoyed sleeping in this morning. FHE was fun too. The lesson was on lying, big topic around our house. Everything is that someone else did it. But it will get better hopefully fingers crossed. We went to piano and both are doing well. The little boys so enjoy going there just to play. I have a few pictures of that too.

Well before I forget last week I was tagged by one of my friends (thanks Mindy) to share my middle name and words that start with the letters that describe me so here it goes:
Shereen

S-Social Butterfly-I love talking to people and it is fun finding all kinds of neat stuff out about people
H-Happy-It is so much better to be happy.
E-Entertaining-just ask my bunko buddies, who I miss very much.
R-Reader-I love reading books
E-Energetic-I can be this most of the time especially if I am doing something fun.
E-Enough with the E's already
N-Naps- I so much enjoy my Sunday cat naps! I know that contradicts the energetic, but my body has to catch up some time.

So to tag someone else it would have to be my sister-in-law Anna! Go for it!

Well I am tired!!! So off to bed.

Valentines Day

2008-02-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

Well today is definatly an interesting one. Matt was gone by 4:30 this morning, mind you he came home at 12:30 last night. Erik started throwing up around 1:30. I am trying to finish my talk for Sunday, planning the Valentine's Ward Party Dinner/Movie,Lesson for Sunday school and Missionaries coming on Friday and Matt leaving for 2 weeks on Monday to Arkansas :(. Thank heavens I have really good help with the Valentine's party. And everything else will fall into place. Erin and I went to the doctor yesterday in OKC and totally got lost!! I haven't told Matt, but we took the loop around OKC and finally called and got directions. But it went well and we went to Hobby Lobby afterwards (such a candy store for me, oh I could spend sooooo much money there) It was fun hanging out with Erin. The kids all made hand made valentine's for their classmates and we finished those last night. We started them on Monday at FHE and went to Ms. Mary's to cut out the die's for it from sizzix's design's. (Yeah one more thing I want to get from Hobby Lobby) I took Erik's into school for him (he was so sad to miss the party) Michael's class did a cool thing instead of having a party for the class they went to the nursing home and had valentine's with them. They go once a month to read with them, but they decided to do it a week early and celebrate! Matt and I will celebrate on Saturday (hopefully) at the dinner. We had our first date on Saturday last week with Nick and Kendra. Oh they were so much fun! We had a really good time at dinner. The movie was horrible!!! But we still had a great time. Well I have to get some things done, can't be on the computer all day.

Saturday is a special day!!!

2008-02-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah I finally got to sleep in!!! Saturday's are awsome. Well I got up and did my routine and the others got up here and there. We had some friends of Erik and Erin stay the night after a busy day yesterday. LaTitia came over and helped me with some of the candy making for the Valentines dinner/movie night next Saturday. Michelle and I took a trip to walli world till midnight and got all of the stuff for the centerpieces, we are having to be quite creative. I will post pictures of them after the dinner. I still have to put together the temple slide show and those attending still have to vote on the movie to watch. I can't wait. We are having BBQ!!! Yumm.

The weather here has been nice and the kids have been playing outside the last couple of days and Danny came in yesterday and was covered in dirt from head to toe and it was caked on his feet. LOL it was so cute. Even the dirt on his nose and hands took forever to clean off. He is such a boy! Mike, Erik and Erin are doing really good in school and having fun with all of their activities. Erik also got a new recorder from school and absolutely loves it (driving me nuts though the ears can only handle so much) But it is nice to hear him want to practice.

Another thing going on is some one thought of reading the BOM in 97 days in honor of President Hinckley who passed away 2 weeks ago. It started Feb 4 and is ending in May. I took the challange and if anyone else does here is the link http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/index.php?newUser=true. Another thing is a story about the song that was sung at his funeral. It was quite moving and I really enjoy hearing the story behind the music, it makes it so much more meaningful. Here is the link to it if you would like to read it. http://68.142.200.12/us.f350.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?mid=1_1094_AM9Ev9EAAQBQR6xyJwBlS2rO3oU&fid=Inbox&pid=2.1&tnef=&clean=0&redirectURL=http%3A%2F%2Fus.mg1.mail.yahoo.com%2Fdc%2Fvirusresults.html%3Ffrom%3Ddownload_response%26ui%3Diframe%26YY%3D1202585416155%26&cred=tbTfngt9SMwObp.JkXIasi0l.mAQsVe7u0grjUVsTh7hf7JTLiSOWuO60R4qYuIbsZw8yOyPLVTPZtyJ6LwIeoSdj1LbrzwBeco.ONOSQbZNfZA-&ts=1202585419&partner=ymail&sig=AHlylmfWmtgGFplgmF9IyQ--

I am trying to figure out how to add the pdf file of the music. But the song is called What Is This Thing That Men Call Death. So if any one who reads my blogs knows how to do this let me know. Thanks