I always wondered about this...

Cash Advance Loans

I saw this little thingy on Em's blog and had it test mine too. I really have wondered about this! I have often thought to myself, "I could write this article (or letter or book...) better than this!" It makes me nuts when I see typos and poor grammar. In fact, Todd used to have me edit his papers in school because I could find mistakes. I know I don't always have the best English when I'm speaking and my excuse for that is that my brain is just working way too fast for my mouth to keep up. But when you are writing, you have so many chances to get it right, how can you get it wrong? Ergh. Now that I've started to rant, I need to calm down.

Brrrrr! Ice Storm Hits!

It is really cold! We got the second stage of the huge ice storm that landed in the middle of the country last night. We were lucky to not lose power. It was actually very cool to see - instead of the rain getting everything wet, it literally froze when it fell onto the already freezing cold ground, trees, deck, etc. Everything was so pretty! It looks like the whole world was turned upside down and dipped in melted glass. School was cancelled so today the boys and I stayed home and warm. Except Ryan - he loves to play outside no matter what the weather, so he got wet and cold from sledding and sliding on the ice. But it wasn't anything some soup and hot cocoa for lunch didn't fix. Justin picked out a recipe for Jam Thumprints and we made those for the first time. They are really tasty! Tyler took the camera out and got some great pictures of grass and bushes coated in ice. We also started reading The Candy Shop War together. We are now waiting for a decision about school for tomorrow - we would all love to have another day off!

Robots!

Tyler participated in a robot building and programming competition last week. The newspaper covered the story and Tyler was quoted! They also took tons of pictures but none of Tyler made it into the paper. Good thing I was there with my camera! Tyler & his friend Jeremy got second place in a double elimination tournament called SumoBot. The teams just had to put their bots face to face and start pushing the other one out of the circle. It got down to Tyler's bot and another one. Tyler's won 2 times, but then the other team realized their gear had fallen off, some adult said Tyler & Jeremy should be good sports and let them fix their bot and redo the match! So the boys did (I was so ticked) and after the enemy bot was fixed, of course it won. It didn't seem very fair to me. The other kids should have checked their bot before the match! Oh well, Tyler seems really happy to have gotten 2nd place and I'm proud of him for being a good smart kid. Check it out! http://cjonline.com/stories/120307/loc_222349892.shtml
I haven't posted anything in over a month! There just hasn't been anything new worth writing about. We had a good Thanksgiving here at home with some families in our ward. The boys are still doing very well in school. Todd is actually travelling to China right now. He is tired of going back and forth but hopefully the problems there are getting solved and Todd won't have to be there so much someday. I was great yesterday and then within 1 hour, BOOM! I got sick! I hate being sick! So today I never even got dressed and I just slept. I might do the same thing tomorrow! Amy tagged me awhile ago, but I'm still trying to think of 6 things my readers don't know about me. I'm just not that interesting! But I am missing you all!

Happy Halloween!

My Ryan is 11!

Today is Ryan's birthday! He got a new bike yesterday and he LOVES it. We went to the Golden Corral for dinner - Ryan chose to go there for the rolls - Yumm. Then we went to see the Blue Man Group. It was cool! We got home late and ate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. Ryan is now taller than me and he's getting very strong. He's doing really well in school and he's having a lot of fun learning to play the trombone. He's all boy. When he was a little boy, he used to always tell me he was going to be a "worker man" when he grew up and always live with me. If we ever talked about the boys leaving home and having their own families, Ryan would cry because he never wanted to leave me. I don't think that's still his plan, but he does still like to be at home. He's waayy too big to hold on my lap anymore, but he's still my baby.

Tyler is 13 Years Old!!!

Can you believe it?!? When Tyler was born, I sure couldn't imagine him ever being 13 years old! Other than making me feel old (I'm not old enough to have a teenage son!) Tyler's birthday has made me think about a lot of the great things about him. When he was about 3, we were having a quiet minute and he got really close to my face and stared at me. Then he got really excited and said, "Mom! You have Tylers in your eyes!" It was so sweet. I know he meant that he could see his reflection in my shiny eyes, but to me it means that he was a part of me and everything I did and saw and thought about. And it's still true. He's an amazing boy and I'm so proud of him. Happy Birthday Tyler-boy!

Yellowstone was fantastic!

When I started this blog, at the insistence of my lovely sisters, I told you girls that I just don't have that much to write about. And now you can see it's true! Our life here has been pretty much the same and there hasn't been any thing exciting happening. Todd came back home from China (that's a good thing) and the boys and I just keep doing what we do best. We go to school, church, practices and lessons. We work and play some on Saturdays. I have no new fun stuff to tell you about. I'm so boring!
But I promised I'd post pictures of our vacation in August so I put together a little slide show to show you all the fun we had. We would definitely go back someday! So here it is:

China's On My Mind!

Well, Todd is in China again. He just left yesterday, so I haven't gotten myself too worked up about it yet. He'll be back next Friday!

The boys' piano teacher loaned them a book about Chinese Horoscopes so we've looked up each of our birth years to see what it says about us. The Chinese use rotating lists of animals and elements to mark their years and predict a person's personality and character traits. It's kind of interesting!

Todd - 1968 - The Earth Monkey - "More interested in lending their mental dexterity to useful pursuits than to fun and games. They are interested in lifelong learning, taking evening classes and acquiring many qualifications." Hmmmmm. That does sound like Todd!

Teresa - 1971 - The Metal Dog - "Stern idealist. they are are serious and directed individuals, particularly when it comes to questions of morality and justice. Often devote themselves to worthy causes." Is this me? I'm not sure I would describe myself that way, but I guess I can see some of it.

Tyler - 1994 - The Wood Dog - "More fun loving and optimistic than other Dogs. They are open to life's experiences, willing to change their values and principles. Deeply empathetic, place fewer expectations on themselves." No. This doesn't fit Tyler at all! Especially the last part!

Ryan - 1996 - The Fire Rat - "Always on the go physically and mentally, finding it hard to slow down or even take a rest. More forthright and passionately ourspoken than other Rats and do not usually suffer from this sign's inclination toward stress and anxiety." Yes, Ryan is always on the go. And he doesn't get stressed easy. So maybe this is close.

Justin - 1999 - The Earth Hare - "Tend to be inflexible about ethics, values, and principles. They can be prudish and judgemental. They work hard for their cherished security and do not take risks." Other than saying that Justin doesn't work hard for anything, it is true that he's a little clear about what's right and wrong. He told a school friend who had said he didn't believe in God or the Bible, "Well, you're just going to be struck down and killed!" He must get his missionary confidence from Todd and his lack of tact from me.

So, obviously there's more to it, but the Chinese horoscope was only partly right about us. I wouldn't change any of our personalities though. Especially Todd and the boys - I couldn't ask for a better family!

Camping? Me? Noooooo.....!

Yes. Camping!! Ryan is less than 3 weeks from turning 11 and will no longer be able to work on Cub Scout things so we are frantically trying to get the requirements finished for his Arrow of Light. (I want that pin, darn it!)

So we went camping on Friday night. It was very cold but that helped keep the bugs away. I spent all day packing and shopping and loading up the van. After the boys got home from school we went to their soccer practices and THEN drove out to Lake Shawnee. It was already late so we raced around starting a fire and setting up the tent. (Ryan was supposed to be doing both!) Tyler had made hobo dinners and even though it was pretty dark by the time we ate, the boys all said they liked that dinner better than any other camp food they'd ever had! Then we popped a Jiffy Pop popcorn - they had never seen that before - and of course, we toasted marshmallows and made S'mores. Yummy!

It was very cold and none of us slept very well. Everytime I rolled over & looked at Justin, he was looking back at me with his eyes wide open - we finally had him get in our bed to be warmer. I was between Todd and Justin - I hate being the jelly! - and we stayed frozen in one place until about 6am. When we did get up and dressed, Todd started another fire to get us warm and Ryan and I made breakfast. Then it began to RAIN!! After more scrambling to get the tent down and all the gear in the van before it all got wet, we got to eat Ryan's scrambled eggs, bacon & hashbrowns huddled under the hatchbackdoor of our van!

Saturday was also the first day of our boys' soccer games. We thought for sure they would be washed out - but no. We had to sit in the mist/rain/cold/wind for 3 games! My toes were frozen! When we finally got to go home, we still had to unload the van, clean up the gear, and wash everything that reeked of smoke.

Justin says he didn't think I had ever been camping before! He just doesn't remember. We really did have a great time. It was a lot of work and mess, but we had a happy night together - and hopefully got Ryan a little closer to that Arrow of Light award!!

What to write about......?

It's been a couple of weeks and I look at my own blog every day. It hasn't changed! I guess I'm the one who has to write new posts, but nothing really exciting has happened lately.

The boys are still going to school. Tyler and Justin started soccer practices and their 1st games are this Saturday. Todd is working very long hours and when he's not at work, he's doing bishopy things. The crunch at work should settle down in a couple of months. I'm still walking on the treadmill most days and then I do laundry and dishes and other housey stuff. And I'm still practicing the organ almost every day. I'm getting better, too! I wish we could sing the same songs every Sunday though, because it's hard to learn 3-4 new ones every week!

Todd went to China and came back. He has 2 more trips scheduled in the next 2 months and although I try to be cheerful and supportive, I'm not looking forward to him going. China is just so far away! It was really hard to contact Todd because of the time difference and he was always working. The boys were good for me, but we all missed Todd. It's just not fun to be the ones at home!

One night when Todd was gone, I was in my bed and the whole house was quiet, but I could hear voices. I thought it was the neighbors but it didn't stop. It wasn't them. I thought the TV or radio was on so I checked and they were off. I walked around my room and listened and listened, trying to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from. After 10 minutes, I still couldn't figure it out and it was starting to creep me out. I went back to my bed and realized that the noise was coming from my weather radio - which was completely turned off! I tried to change the channel and turned the volume way down but I could still hear it. So I unplugged the whole thing!

Then last week, I stayed up late and I could hear the wind pick up and then heavy rain. I couldn't sleep because I knew I had unplugged the weather radio! Then the tornado sirens went off! I got Todd and the boys up and we raced downstairs (except for Tyler, who stopped to change his clothes!). We watched the news and there was a huge thunderstorm right on top of us but the weather guy didn't say anything about a tornado! After a few minutes, he said he was hearing reports of the tornado sirens going off but he didn't know why! I guess someone in the weather service office got jumpy and hit the switch. It was a very stressful drill, but it was good practice for our family. We learned that it takes longer than you'd think to wake everybody up and get downstairs. And Tyler learned that it's ok to respond to a weather emergency in your pajamas!

By the way, Tyler has started a new blog for the boys. I put the link to it on my list. So far, he hasn't written much, but he was very excited to get it going.

This is Tyler!

Hey! I wanted to try out mom's blog. This is really cool! School's been going well so far. It's really different from elementary school. I really like it! I like my science teacher best.
I get home before Ryan and Justin do. That way, I get my homework done before they even get home! I also get to stay up a little later. Actually, Ryan and Justin are already in bed right now. Even though Middle school is cool, I still can't wait for summer vacation. It'll be a while though...

End of AUGUST?!?!?

I can't believe the month is over! There's only 4 months left in 2007! Who put the calendar on hyper speed?

We are all staying busy here in Topeka. The boys are really enjoying school. They are also busy with piano and trombone lessons, scouts, and starting Saturday, soccer practices and games. Todd is super busy with work and church stuff. And I'm just sleeping in and taking naps according to my children!

Actually, I've been trying to finish some projects (see the quilt I make for Ben & Leslie's baby Sara!)and spending some time developing my talents. I'm filling in playing the organ for sacrament meetings for a month or two so that means I have to practice a lot. I am still not very good, but I am starting to enjoy it! I bought some new organ music to start working on tomorrow and I'm trying to justify buying some organ shoes. I think part of my fascination with new hobbies and projects is collecting all the new equipment and gadgets. (Think scrapbooking, cooking, quilting...) But I hope I'll be able to keep up the organ playing!

Tomorrow is Todd's 39th birthday!!! How did I get to be old enough to be married to a 39-year-old?! Actually, it doesn't seems that old now that I'm getting close too!
We will wait for him to open presents after school and work, then Todd & I are going out for dinner (maybe his favorite - Outback Steakhouse) then bring home dessert and share with the boys. Not very wild, but that's the kind of birthday Todd likes.

I still need to post some pictures so maybe I'll get to that this weekend....

Check out my Slide Show!

This is our new retaining wall and patio. There are captions for the pictures but you have to click then hover over each one to see them.

FINALLY!....

OK, OK!! I know it's been weeks since I last posted anything and you might think that means there just hasn't been anything going on worth writing about and Kansas must be sooo boring. You would be wrong. We have been ssooooo busy! We got back from our vacation and the kids went back to school. Todd went to China (he's still there) and I've been practicing my fingers and toes off on the organ so I can play for church. So I haven't forgotten about all my fans who read my blog every day, I just haven't had the energy at the end of the day to get into it. I have tons of pictures and I will post them later. I just had to get a little post up tonight because I have other projects to work on but I'm feeling too guilty about not doing this to even start on the other stuff!! What does that say about me? I know, I'm sick.
Anyway, we are all OK, we're glad to be back into a half-normal routine, we're missing Todd, and we're trying to catch up with regular life after having a blast all summer long!

And We're Off!

After talking about it all summer, we are finally leaving for our family vacation early in the morning. We have planned a bunch of fun things and I will write all about it when we get back. I don't think I'll have access to a computer or the time to update my blog while we're gone, but I will keep track of all the fun times so I can give a full report.
Other than trying to get all the packing done today, and doing the laundry, and cleaning the house, I took the boys to their schools for Enrollment. Tyler was so excited to find out his Middle School class schedule and get his locker assignment. We practiced and practiced opening the combination lock so he won't have any problems when school starts. The kids are put into 4 "teams" to rotate through their classes so all the 7th graders were very anxious about whether they would know anyone on their team. Ryan and Justin won't find out about their classes until we get back. And then 2 days later...school starts!
I'm really excited about this trip. Todd is happy to get away from work for a while and see some really pretty parts of the country. The boys are kind of wishing they could just stay home and veg until school starts. I'll let you know how it goes!

We're Just Wild About HARRY!

Tonight was the Barnes & Noble Harry Potter Party to mark the release of the 7th and final book in the series. Tyler & Ryan love Harry Potter but they're in California and missed the party this time. Since I'm a huge fan too, I made Justin and Todd go with me. This morning, we got up early to stand in line for wristbands that determined our place in line to buy the book. We heard people talking about there being so many people that there would be huge lines of people outside the store waiting to get in, so we went right at 7pm. There were some fun activities for kids - Justin did really well at Harry Potter Scene-It. We also tried the coffee shop's concoctions called Wizard's Sangria, Butterbeer, and Skelegro. Justin also bought some Every Flavor Beans and kept feeding them to Todd. Todd kept eating them! Gross.

So, after 5 hours of waiting around, we finally got in line! It was pretty exciting! Todd got separated from Justin and me but we found each other again just before checking out. Justin had also just hit his limit - he was so tired! They are so good to humor me!

Tyler is giving me fits about this book - he insists that we read it together the first time because that's how we read all the others. I think that's nice, but I want to read it now! But I won't. I promised the boys that I would wait until they come home from California and we'd read it together. Todd can't understand why we spent the whole night standing around with a bunch of weird people we don't know, buying a book 15 minutes after it goes on sale, if we're not even going to read it for another 10 days! I know, I'm nuts. But I love Harry Potter! I'm sad that this is the last book, but tonight was a fun reminder of all stuff I like about the books.
Hope you all have fun reading it too - JUST DON'T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS!!!

I did it! I did it!

Hey! I did it! After spending hours last night trying to get this thing going and not having any success, I tried a different tack this morning and it seems to be working. I'll need to learn more about how this works but today I will start easy. This is my first blog ever. I needed Tammy's and Amy's needling and wheedling to push me into this new era of Internet communication. I just hope it won't replace our phone calls and emails. (I thought I was high tech with that!) So, this is for you girls!

Yesterday was a bummer. We took Tyler and Ryan to the airport along with Amy's family and Tammy and Cody. They all went back to California. The boys will be gone for 2 whole weeks! We had everyone out here for the 4th of July and Justin's 8th Birthday and Baptism. There were 19 people here at some point so now that it's just me and Justin here now is kind of weird. The house is very quiet and we don't have anything scheduled for today. We are just going to relax and enjoy the calm.

We had a really great time with everyone here and we really appreicate all the effort it took for you all to come. All I can say is "THANKS!!". I had been looking forward to our getting together for months and months and now it seems unreal that it's actually over! I am so blessed to have a family that likes being together and gets along so well. (Living in 1 house together for 2 weeks and wishing you could stay longer is proof of that!) Tammy and Amy have blogged some of the highlights of their Kansas time, so I'll just say that I think Brooke's idea of coming back for her 8th birthday is a great one - but you all don't have to wait that long! You can come back anytime!

Justin is sad that he didn't get to go to California like Tyler and Ryan. I'm just not ready to send him off on his own yet. He thinks it's so unfair!We talked to the boys last night and they sounded tired from traveling all day, but happy. Tyler spent 2 weeks with Cody last summer so I know he will be OK, but this is new for Ryan and I'm pretty sure he's going to get a little homesick. Tammy will take care of them so I'll try not to worry about it too much.