Happy Halloween!

The kids had today out of school, and let me just say kids home all day anxiously waiting for trick or treating is NOT a good thing!  We moved some furniture, carved pumpkins, and cleaned out the garden.  I tried to keep them busy, it was that or cause serious bodily harm.  We made the cute little mummies pictured here (except ours weren't as perfectly cute!). 

The trick or treaters started suddenly, and with a vengeance.  I was not prepared.  We were getting trick or treaters ready, melting carmel for caramel apples, and cleaning up from dinner when WHAM 20 kids were at the door.

I did not get good pictures in the midst of the bedlam, but here are a few a snapped in a hurry.  Thane was a professional snowboarder he even made himself a snowboard to carry.  His buddies were in that first wave of trick or treaters and he dashed out the door with them before I could grab a picture.  Here he is with his haul-251 pieces of candy + 1 mini size tube of toothpaste + 1 mini gin rummy game= winner of who gathered the most candy in the house for Halloween 2011.

 Tate was a mad scientist, he carried a glowing jar full of eyeballs as a prop. Quinn was a mummy, yes I crossed one of those lines I swore as a young mom I'd never cross....my teenagers went trick or treating.  Frankly I just felt bad for them.  They had nowhere to go and nothing to do, and Quinn volunteered to take Sage around the neighborhood.  She was so excited I couldn't bear to say no.  And how do I tell Tate no when Quinn is older & he's going? So off they went.  Another young mom rule I broke this year? Sage wore the same costume...she wanted to be Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter, but was not easily satisfied with the costume options we came up with, so she went with Rose Wilder (Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter...just in case you wondered!)

The candy haul- sorry about the glare, where did my photo editor on Blogger go? 

Getting ready to trade, an honored tradition

Hope you all had a spooky, wonderfully sweet Halloween!

Memorizing Scriptures

image found here

I've long loved the idea of memorizing scriptures, I have a few I've committed to memory, but not nearly what I'd like.  When my kids were really little I made fun rebus style posters and we'd work on memorizing them together, as they got older it got harder and I forgot how much I wanted that for them. There's just something about a scripture committed to memory that's different.  It pops up just when you need it most, and often when you least expect it.

With Kiefer so close to leaving for college, quickly followed by mission I've had this more on my mind than ever.  Then came conference and Elder Hales talk "The Power of Scripture".

I felt so nudged I could not continue to only think, but knew I must act.  So my little brain began to brew a plan.  The family was not on board.  "It's too hard"   "I already have to do it for Seminary"  "Impossible!"  were the reactions I got.

So I went back to the drawing board.  And then we went to church on Sunday....and got a challenge from our Stake President to memorize D & C 121:34-46 as families!  Ha!  No way they could argue with me now, I had them right where I wanted them.  It made me smile.

So far it's slow going, we have one child who is having a real challenge memorizing, which surprised me.  I'm glad to have a realization now of how difficult memorization is for them, it will make me more patient with school work in the future (I hope).  Be we are working on it, and I've been scouring the net for ideas on memorizing scriptures in an effort to help us.

Just in case you are joining the memorization wagon here are a few of my favorite sites:

*Also-there is an app published by the Church to help youth memorize Scripture Mastery Scriptures, look for it on your smart phone/iTouch.  It's really cool!  Or go here and see all the apps the Church has created. Technology is amazing!

The Church also has created a webiste for helping kids in Seminary, it has games dedicated to helping kids with Scripture Mastery, most of the scriptures I want to work on in the future fall into this category, so it's helpful even when you aren't in Seminary.  Check it out here

The Red Headed Hostess Blog-LOVE this site! She is a full time Seminary teacher (soon to be full time mom!) and has great ideas for understanding and teaching the scriptures.  When you go to her site for the first time take a look at the right hand side of the site and you'll see different topics, check them out when you have time, but right now look at "Scripture Study" link...you'll be glad you did,  I promise!

LDS Scripture Tools is a really cool site that helps you create memorization tools for anything you want to memorize.  Loving this for our assignment from the Stake Presidency! It also has handy calculators for making scripture reading plans-like finishing the Book Of Mormon before Christmas, or over a summer.  Let it do the work for you!

If you have any tips please share!

Life Around Here

Is just rushing by in a haze of business, but nothing very important, earth-shattering or crazy to inspire a post.  I'm working on the phones 4 days a week, 6 hours a shift.  And it is crazy.  People are odd.  Very. Very. Odd.  

I just shake my head at some of the questions I get asked.  I've had a very angry customers, but thankfully I was able to defuse them, and we seemed to end the calls on good terms.  

Yesterday was insane with the tropical storm Rina headed toward Cancun 

(by the way don't go to Google and type in "Rina" thinking this would be the only result you'd get in an image search...it's not...even with "safe search on" and a filter...shudder...just type in "Hurricane Rina" and you'll be much better off)

Lots of vacationers + tropical storm = HUGE rush out of Cancun and crazy worried travelers.  One girl sitting by me ended up in tears.  I am glad I only got nervous travelers, not mean ones.

I actually have fun on the phone at least 80% of the time, people are hilarious, and I like having problems to solve.  I think it will be sooo much better to be working from home, and during the day when the kids are gone anyways.  I don't love that I have to work until 7 two nights a week, especially working almost an hour away.  But only 3 more working days at the Center!! Then I'll be talking to folks from the comfort of my slippers and cozy chair.  Love that idea!

It's getting cold here, it actually snowed a couple inches while I was at work a couple of weeks ago, thankfully it was a one time thing.  This is the only snapshot I got, while I  was running to my car on my lunch break from class.  It ended up snowing more than two inches, and it was so stinking cold!  I don't think I've fully acclimated back to the cold climate yet.  I'm cold now, and it's been in the low 70s and high 60s.  But the mornings are in the 40s-today it was actually 31 when I got up, and 62 in the house (no heater yet).  Kids thought they were going to freeze to death during scriptures, Jeff says we have to turn on the heater tonight.  It's supposed to get into the 20s tonight....brrr!

Kiefer and Quinn wrap up their season at Lagoon this weekend, Quinn spent his shift last weekend cleaning all the catering equipment, he wasn't thrilled-but he said it was pretty fun working together.  Kiefer has loved working the rides, and has been working a ton, so he will be sad to see the $$ end.  Tough job market right now, he hasn't been able to find another job, but I'm hoping with the holiday season almost here he will soon.  

Kiefer is working on college applications, and scholarship papers and it's just enough to drive a mom crazy.  It's insane to think about, so mostly I try to avoid the reality.  Quinn just started driving with the instructor in Drivers Ed, and that is great, except he now thinks HE is the instructor when I am driving.  Not so great.

Tate is incredibly happy that he'll be turning 14 this weekend, Jeff is incredibly happy to not have a Deacon to go on monthly campouts with for the first time in 5 years.  He only has a break until February, but he's gladly taking what he can get-especially with winter coming on.  He's not a huge fan of snow campouts unless they involve Mel's cabin!

Thane and Sage are just loving life.  They have so many friends and fun things to do, I love how happy they are, it's a tender mercy.  Thane is counting down the months until he is 12-3 1/2 now to be precise.  Love that he is so excited for it.  What he's not excited for? The Bishop here always has the kids quote an Article of Faith when they turn 12 in Sacrament Meeting, he's dreading that.  

That's all I can think of now, life is really just rolling along, no big bumps and no big excitement, just whizzing by with all of the daily tasks that need to be done.  I'm thankful Super Saturday is over (I did a class on 72 hour kits-not my favorite thing to do, I must say! It was insane to get all the little things for that many people. I never fully appreciated all the work that goes into that beloved day until this year.)

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet When the wind comes right behind the rain.

**Wrote this post this summer and just saw I've never posted it...silly!**

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet

When the wind comes right behind the rain.

Thane and Sage pushing a younger cousin on the tire swing

Jeff's family moved from California to Oklahoma not long after we were married.  Over the years they've moved a bit, but always loved Oklahoma.  Several years ago work took them back to Oklahoma, and they purchased about 30 acres with barns, a creek, and lots of wide open space.  Over time a few of his siblings have settled there as well, raising their families and living life.

This summer we were looking at pictures one of our sister in laws posted on Facebook, and we realized how long it's been since we made the trek back East.  Years in fact.  And it just hit us, this could be it.  Kiefer is a Senior, he may choose to head out to college soon after graduation.  We may not get the chance to take the whole family again.  We have nieces and nephews growing up without knowing us, our children have cousins they've never met.  We made a few calculations and decided to hit the road.  

It was a long drive, to maximize  the time we would be able to spend with family we decided to make the 19 hour trip straight-ugh! It was long and tiring, but worth it to be able to spend more time actually hanging out with family.

Oklahoma summers are not my favorite, in fact I detest them (we lived there several times over the years).  The humidity just sucks the life out of me, ick!  But we didn't have much choice, it was now or never.

Typically it rains 6 days a week in the late afternoon or evening, and then the storm rolls through and leaves the air steamy and thick.  This year Oklahoma is in the midst of the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, so it was brown and dry.  

 

Somehow though we brought the rains with us, and it rained EVERY day we were out there. What are the chances?  So we missed out on riding horses, which the kids were bummed about, but we managed to fit in some other fun activities during the dry times.

Swinging on the big tree that was struck by lightening earlier this year-forcing my in laws into the 21st century of electronics! Yea for new TVs, computers, and telephones!  Golf practice and driving contest with uncles and cousins.  Soccer games and football games, and helping Papa work with the horses and move fences and mow the pasture and lawns.  

Done Training

This is our class from training, such a fun group of people.  Our trainer is Claudia, kneeling on the far left-in the white shirt.  She is amazing, and so much fun!  Today we start on the phones, with REAL LIVE customers, I am scared.  I wish I could have all of you call me and let me practice with you!

Wish me luck!

What's for Dinner?

Here are a few of our recent favorites...

Apricot Glazed Chicken

I had some chicken tenders I bought by mistake and needed to use up, so I tried this recipe.  So-so, I'm just not that great at breading things.  My breading always falls off...any  tips?  The glaze was yummy, but would have been incredible with a crunchy breading.

Fauxtisserie Chicken

So insanely juicy and tender, it was crazy! I put it in the crock pot before I left the house in the morning, and when we were ready for dinner I just put it on a plate,  and it was soooo good.  I used the leftovers to make homemade chicken noodle soup.  Again?  YES!!!

Those are the only new  dishes we tried this week, here's what's on the menu plan for this next week-supposed to start getting chilly, and I'm still working every day, so Crock Pots are big on the agenda:

Minestrone Soup
Going to use a combination of this recipe for the crock pot and Jenny's recipe from the Cookbook...yummy!

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

Crock Pot Potato Soup

Found this one on Pintrest, thanks Karen!  What, you don't Pin?  Come join me! It's so fun, and a great source for ideas. If you need an invite just let me know, I'd love to send you one.

Surprise!

 

This weekend I had a really big surprise realization.  I miss teaching the Gospel.  I mean I really, really, miss teaching.

A random thought flit across my brain during a song, wondering which talks would be the topics of our next several lessons, and I felt giddy at the idea of preparing those lessons.  Then complete sadness when I realized I wouldn't be doing any teaching.

I would NEVER have thought I'd miss standing in front of a group of women and teaching a class, but I really do.  It's so odd.  I miss the intense study, focus, and learning that comes as a result of preparing to teach a class.  I miss that the most.  And, yes, I could study with serious intensity on my own, but somehow it's not the same.  I still read the talks, and I still take notes during Conference, and in my Ensign.  It's just not the same.

And, because we're all friends, I'll even admit I miss the actual teaching part.  I grew to love when I could see understanding click into place, or when a Sister in the class would nod her head in acknowledgement of the truths being shared.  I loved the vantage point of standing in front and seeing all that knowledge and learning soak in.

I don't miss the nerves, or the butterflies, or the anxiety...that will never change, I'm sure.  But I do miss the learning, the sisterhood, and the love of the words of our Apostles and Prophet that came from my time teaching.

Who'd a thought? I never ever would have dreamed that my biggest fear would become a blessing I dearly miss.  Maybe one day I'll get to enjoy something similar again, until then....I will study and learn on my own, and be ever thankful for the opportunity I had to learn to love something I feared so fiercely.