The Denson's Crazy Life!

Cutest Valentines EVER!!

2012-02-17T17:51:00.001-07:00

Look out! These two are going to be ladies-men someday!

In the meantime, they're my Valentine boys!

An OVERWHELMING two months!!

2012-01-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

Again, I can't believe how time has flown by. All the holidays are over. We're in a new year. We've hit the second semester at school. Where does it go?? Well...when you have as much going on in one household as we have the past few months, it's really easy to lose track of the days/weeks!! Sometimes that's a bad thing; sometimes it's a really good thing!

I haven't blogged or told many about the situation with my mom over the past few months. It's embarrassing, overwhelming, and intimidating just to reflect on it. However, I want to write down as brief an explanation as I can just to get it over with. Here goes...

I am the oldest of two daughters born to my mom and dad. My dad was married previously and I have an older half sister from that marriage. She hasn't been in our lives very much but my mom and younger sister have communicated with her over the years. (She and I are VERY different which doesn't make for a very close relationship.) We weren't raised in the Church but were allowed to go to Primary and YW as we wanted. About 33 years ago, I became active and married Bob in the Temple. We've been active ever since. Randie, my younger sister, was not active and married a great guy who is not a member. When they did attend church, it was the Bountiful Community Church which was great. My mom didn't attend church until about 8-9 years ago when some wonderful people fellowshipped her and helped her gain her own testimony. She went through the Temple almost 8 years ago at which time I was sealed to my parents. It was a wonderful blessing in my life!!

In 2003, Randie and her husband divorced. Randie had a really hard time dealing with it and relied heavily on my mom for emotional and financial support. Mom was retired by this time and had little income and enough savings to help her through her problems. However, Mom believed it was what she should do...Moms help their children. (She'd actually been helping Randie financially throughout her marriage but no one really knew how much until later.) Unfortunately, over the years, Randie began to expect the help more and more; even to the point of not working to earn her own way. Three years ago, Randie was evicted from her apartment for non-payment of rent so the only place she could go was to Mom's. At this same time, Mom suffered what appeared to be a stroke. Her doctor told me it was likely she would not live through it so I needed to do what I could to secure her assets (he knew Randie's situation and the desperation of it and wanted to make sure she didn't take advantage of Mom). After meeting with Mom's Bishop, I stepped in as her "financial advisor" to work through things. Because I was joint tenant on her accounts, it was easy for me to gain the information and put the security measures into place. Through this process, I found Randie had been taking advantage of Mom more than I had known. There were loans taken out in Mom's name that Randie was to repay; she didn't. There were online transactions from Mom's account; Mom had no knowledge of how to do these--Randie did. After two months of trying to get everything straightened out and Mom's recovery, she insisted (demanded would be a better term) that I give all responsibility for her financial affairs back to her. Because Randie was living with Mom, she was able to manipulate Mom's thinking to a point where I was considered the "bad guy" for taking care of her finances and Randie was the "good guy" because she was there to "take care" of Mom 24/7. That's what good daughters do, right? That's what Randie brainwashed Mom into believing. Because I refused to watch Randie take Mom down as I knew she would, I told her she could either let me help her protect her savings and money, or I would walk away; I wouldn't stand by and watch it happen. Mom chose to take care of her own affairs. I walked away as did my family because they also knew what Randie was doing.

For the next two and a half years, we had little contact with Mom. Because I was joint tenant and had full rights to her accounts, I could see the activity online. Bob and I approached her several times with concerns regarding activity (online dating services, computer repairs--Mom didn't have a computer, cell phone purchases--Mom didn't have a cell phone, etc.). Mom refused to acknowledge the evidence we presented before her and eventually moved her accounts so I couldn't see what was happening. In October 2010, I received a phone call from Adult Protective Services stating they had received a report from a financial institution regarding "elder financial abuse." They asked what I knew about Mom's situation so I told them everything. After interviewing Mom, they had to drop the report because she refused to acknowledge Randie was doing what everyone had evidence to prove. We all knew it was happening but without Mom's support, there wasn't anything anyone could legally do.

In June 2011, I received another phone call from APS stating there was yet another report filed. This time, they felt strongly we might be able to move forward...Mom had been the one to instigate the call!! She had found her medicare supplemental and prescription insurance, homeowner's insurance, and life insurance policies had all lapsed. She also realized her IRA and savings accounts had been drained as well as her bills had not been paid. With evidence from the financial institution, she realized Randie had been committing "Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult." The case worker from APS filed a police report and the process started. It took Mom until July 27 to finally come to me to tell me what was going on because she was afraid she would say "I told you so." As we talked, a peace came over me that ultimately, the situation Mom was in was NOT her fault...she'd been the victim of Elder Mental/Emotional Abuse as well as Financial Abuse. I've learned in the past few months, Randie had to make me out to be the evil one so she could accomplish all she did with Mom's accounts. She had to isolate her from anyone, especially me, that could stop her abuse. It's made it a lot easier to deal with Mom personally.They asked what I knew about Mom's situation so I told them everything. After interviewing Mom, they had to drop the report because she refused to acknowledge Randie was doing what everyone had evidence to prove. We all knew it was happening but without Mom's support, there wasn't anything anyone could legally do.

For the past few months, we've worked hard to discover all the damage and try to recover from it. We've also gone through the court process and will have final sentencing on February 15. Needless to say, it's been one of the most devastating things we've had to deal with as we've watched Mom realize what her own daughter has done to her. The blessing is we've got our Mom/Grandma/Great-Grandma back in our lives and are LOVING the relationships we're rebuilding. Hopefully after sentencing, the healing process will begin and we will be able to try to put this all behind us.

On the "upside"...we've been working hard to get ready for Zack and Kenzi's baby to arrive. Her pregnancy has been unbelievably easy...no problems at all!! However, on December 23, she went in for a regular visit and found out the baby had dropped "significantly." The Dr. gave her the shots to help develop his lungs quicker and told her she was on modified bed rest. The following Wednesday, she went in and found she'd dilated to a 2 (what he didn't tell her until the next week was she was 80% effaced!!). We started sewing MUCH faster and moved the shower from January 21 to the 7th. A week later, she was dilated to a 3 and 90%. OH. DEAR!! More sewing faster!!!!!!!!! We had a GREAT turn-out for the shower. Mallorie did a FABULOUS job of planning and carrying out the shower. It was a lot of fun and they cleaned up with getting stuff to be ready for a baby. Last Wednesday, Kenzi was dilated to a solid 3-almost a 4 and 100% effaced. Dr. Johnson said not to cough, sneeze, or go over railroad tracks. When Kenzi's mom asked about a shower they had planned in Brigham City on Saturday, he said to "bring the shower to her." Kenz felt OK so we ended up having a great shower in Brigham. Sunday, they decided to hang out at home and take it easy since she didn't feel very good. Her brother's birthday is the 16th so the whole family met at Texas Roadhouse in Riverdale to celebrate. As they were in the parking lot waiting for everyone to arrive (about 5:00pm), she thought she was having contractions. They were about 18 minutes apart and only lasted 30 seconds or so. By the time they got seated around 7:00, they were coming closer together and were lasting a bit longer. At 7:15, she grabbed her sister-in-law's hand and said, "I think my water just broke." Sure enough...sitting in a booth in the restaurant, it broke. She grabbed Zack's hand and told him...he panicked like any new Dad would. :) They decided to leave the restaurant "just in case" and headed to Layton. Zack called me at 7:20 and told me they were on their way and asked if I'd call the hospital to let them know they were coming. We were at FHE at Grandma Denson's so we announced the great news and headed home. We got to Labor and Delivery about 7:45 and were told she was at a 10 by the time they arrived and was ready to deliver. I called Kenzi's mom and told her to HURRY!!!!!!!!!!! After about three good pushes, Wyatt Zackary Denson was born at 7:58pm weighing 5lbs and 8oz. He's 20" long and looks just like his Daddy!! Long and skinny! :)

Kenzi did a GREAT job "au natural"! Everyone is fine, healthy, and VERY happy!!!

LIFE IS GREAT!!!!!

What a Humbling Experience!

2011-11-22T16:57:00.002-07:00

I've posted before about my connection and friendship with author, Jason Wright. He's such a great guy and our family has so much fun with him when he's in town, texting, Facebook-ing, etc. Last weekend when the girls and I were at Time Out for Women, there were a couple of times when three or more of us were texting him at the same time! Pretty funny!!

I teach The Seventeen Second Miracle each year in my 9th grade English classes. It's so much fun to see the kids change their perspective and start looking for ways to serve others or recognize ways they have been served in small ways. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and curl up with a Diet Coke (Lime, of course) and enjoy!!

Each week, Jason contributes an article to the Deseret News. As usual, they are inspirational, thought-provoking, and they always get me thinking about how to be a better person. (More often than not, they're pretty darn funny, too...) Anyway, today I was reading SSM with my kids and we get to Chapter 17...a personal favorite (you'll see why when you read it... :) ). I wrote on Jason's wall telling him where we were in the reading and that the kids were really enjoying it. He referred me to the email I'd automatically received about his DN article being available. In a quiet moment, I clicked on the link and began reading. HOLY COW WAS I SURPRISED!!! And humbled!!! And SHOCKED!!!!! I'm not gonna lie...it was pretty cool!!

Check it out!

WOW!! I can't believe where the time has gone!

2011-11-01T19:23:00.001-06:00

I look at blogs every day. I get so sad when they aren't updated frequently so I can "stalk" and see what's going on with other people. How in the world has four months flown by and I haven't taken the time to update our lives? Mallorie told me a long time ago I needed to do it so she'd have something to do when she's feeding Drew in the middle of the night. I. FAILED!! Now he's sleeping almost through the night every night and if he's not, he takes a quick bottle and goes right back to bed. Sorry Mal!! Bad Grandma!!

However, in my defense, the past four months have been

Amazing
Wonderful
Horrible
Stressful
Unbelievable
Exciting
You name the emotion/experience...we've had it! (Sometimes more than once!!)

There's no way to play catch up with everything and I know no one would want to read it anyway so here are a FEW brief updates:

Drew is four months old and absolutely adorable. Mal brings him to see us often which is FABULOUS!! Everyone told us how great grandkids are...now I completely understand! Here are a few quick little pictures I have on this computer...I have more on others.

Cute little booger in the Halloween t-shirt and jeans I got him.

Our little hunter in his Halloween costume. Pictures taken at Busath Photographers. He was the hunter, Mal was Little Red Riding Hood, Tom the wolf. LOVE that grin!!

Baby attacked by an alligator...that's a Florida gator BTW.

Ya...Grandpa isn't very whooped! Drew fell asleep on him while he was sitting up on the couch the other night. Bob carefully laid down on the floor and they were both out like a light. It was all we could do to get him away from old Gramps so he could go home. So fun!!

Zack, Kenzi, and their little punkin' are progressing right along. The Dr. told them in September he was 90% sure they were having a girl. We were so excited and promptly went out to buy all the pink fabric we could find along with designing all the bedding in the most adorable browns, pinks, greens, etc. Kenzi and I were having a blast working on it and had it about 80% finished. On the Thursday of UEA weekend, Kenzi's mom and I went with them for the "big" ultrasound. As we stood there watching, the tech said, "And there he is...your little boy!" WHAT???????? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING US??????? Needless to say, we asked her to check, re-check, and check again! YEP...there's absolutely no denying it! Our little Reagan is now WYATT!! (Note: we even asked her to look harder to see if there were two babies in there...) So, the cute pink stuff is boxed up for another time and we went shopping for moose, trees, and outdoorsy stuff. It's cute and we're excited to sew for a boy again. :)

Sam and Maddi keep us entertained! Sam is working at Busath almost full-time and going to Weber about 3/4 time. She keeps us laughing each day with her "Public Transportation Story of the Day" (she rides the bus and FrontRunner to Ogden and Salt Lake each day). It's SOOOO great having her home! Maddi is a hoot and keeps us on our toes with her dating and "boy drama." She's working almost full-time at Zions Bank and LOVES it!! It's so much fun to watch them together again...not so much fun to watch them fight like sisters but, at this point, the good times outweigh the bad. Thank heavens they grow up!! :)

Bob has worked a lot of overtime, went to Detroit for training, went Deer Hunting, and keeps busy working on cars. It's a never ending job but we're so grateful he can do it!

I'm through the first term of school! HALLELUJAH!! I've never felt so disconnected, unprepared, overwhelmed, you name it! I've talked to other teachers and they all say the same thing! We all think we have different reasons for it but bottom line, this is a TOUGH year!! At this point...all we can say is one down, three more to go! :P

I had sinus surgery number four the middle of September. I finally got officially "sick" (HAHAHA!!) of being sick all the time and went to my favorite ENT. He's been home from serving as Mission President for a year so I decided it was time to go see him again. Of course, he said I should have had it done sooner...the last one was 15+ years ago. At this point, I'm still not so sure I'm glad I had it done. I just can't seem to get over it! They tried to pull the "age card" on me and tell me I'm not as young as I was when it was done before...ya...thanks a lot! They also said it was incredibly extensive and would take quite a while to recover. Ya think? And...now I feel like I've got another sinus infection on top of it all. REALLY? I thought the surgery was supposed to stop that for Pete's sake! Of course, he's out of town for a week and I don't want to start with someone else until he gets back. So...here we go again! :(

There's a LOT more going on...some good...some not so great. But, in the long-run, know we're all happy, healthy, and loving each other!

Andrew is here!!

2011-07-03T17:46:00.003-06:00

Wednesday, June 29, Mal was supposed to be induced in the evening. I was going to go up and help her finish up a few things around the house before they went to the hospital. When I called to make arrangements to head up, I noticed she didn't sound too great. When I asked what she was doing, she said, "Just sitting at the hospital..." The little stink got started Tuesday night and "wanted to surprise us!" HA!! She was at a 6 and said she'd call after the nurse came to check her the next time.

Bob came home and when we couldn't get hold of her to see how things were progressing, we decided to head over to the hospital. We were totally shocked when the nurse told us she was "delivering." She'd gone from a 6 at 11:40am to delivering by 1:30.

Andrew Thomas Forbes was born at 1:50pm weighing 7lbs 15oz and was 20.5" long. He's got a full head of dark hair and is beautiful!! We couldn't be more proud of him and are thrilled to be grandparents!!

About an hour old...so incredibly alert and bright-eyed!

Yep...we're proud grandparents!

He's totally whooped!

Auntie Tusiga! (She was one of Sammi's companions in the mission...Sister Lealaogata. She's adopted herself into our family and we LOVE it!!)

Uncle Zacky and Aunt Kenzi-poo

Proud Aunt Sammi!

Aunt Maddi is in love!

Zack looks scared but not really. :)

Cute little family

So adorable!!

Fun with an Aussie!

2011-06-28T18:42:00.000-06:00

Sammi had the opportunity to be companions with a sister doing her "outbound" mission from Temple Square around Christmas time last year. Demelza Katterfeld is from Perth, Australia and served the same time Sammi was out. They became "fast friends" during their four weeks together and then we were able to meet her just before she left her mission. We instantly fell in love and looked forward to the time she could come to visit. Well...that time has come and it's been a BLAST!!!

Saturday night, we invited a bunch of the Florida Ft. Lauderdale missionaries and their families over for a BBQ. We ended up with about 40 people in our backyard and it was FABULOUS!!! There were quite a few of the RMs that we had already met but some we hadn't plus a great family I had emailed and been friends with on Facebook. It was really a lot of fun!

Bob, Zack and our nephew, Brady, grilling the grub.

(Bob was NOT wanting a picture at that moment...can you tell?)

One of about 5 platters of food going up on the deck! YUMMY!!

Kenzi and our niece, Michelle, chatting away.

Maddi & Joshy-poo

Joshy LOVES him some pasta!! :)

The GREAT Florida Ft. Lauderdale missionaries!!!

(front: Breanna Crane, Mikayla Barros, Becky Gardner, Sister Holdstock, Sammi, Demi Katterfeld, Whitney Clegg, Travis Hansen, Ben Parry)

(back: Clark Wilcox, **Mendenhall, Chaz Ricks, AJ Gubernick, **Hone, Elder Holdstock, Jaron Wardle, Ainsley Felton, **Lowder, Steve Mc**, Derek Dube)

Hmmm...Brady?

Great time visiting!

S'mores!!

Demi, Chaz, and Tyler Voorhes

Then, Monday, we took Demi and Sammi 4-wheeling up above Bountiful and Farmington. Demi hadn't been to the Utah mountains and hadn't ever been 4-wheeling. We bought the "wheelers" while Sammi was on her mission so she hadn't had a chance to ride them yet. What a BLAST!!! The weather was perfect; the scenery BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sammi & Demi in the parking lot by the "B" in Bountiful.

Bob giving Sammi riding lessons

Oh ya...she's got it! :)

Demi learning the tricks

Yep...she's got it too! :)

As high as we could go (the gates were shut). We wanted to take pictures to show Demi's mom and dad how high she went in the mountains. See the Temple between them?

SNOW!! (Demi was so excited with how close we were. We wanted to get her right to it...)

Beautiful little spring. The water was FREEZING!!

Dirty face...a sign of a GREAT time! :)

The Farmington "river"!! It was running so high and so fast!!

I love those grins!!

Farmington Fire Break parking lot

At the top of the fire break road...as far as we could go.

The gang! It was SOOOO fun!!

Demi crossing the "river"

She's getting there...slowly...

SHE DID IT!!!!

Back at the truck. We made it and everyone lived!!!

After riding, we decided Demi needed to experience a true "Davis County" delicacy...a Pace's Rainbow! YUMMY!!!!!

I'm gonna be a Grammy again!!!!

2011-06-19T20:47:00.000-06:00

Friday was Kenzi's birthday so we had a BBQ here for both our families. We grilled, had great salads, baked beans, etc., spent a lot of time visiting...really fun. A couple of hours into it, Zack decided we needed a big family picture. Weird...not normally his style but oh well. Maddi's boyfriend, Josh, was here so it was great timing to have him take the picture. We got everyone set up with Josh and Zack standing by the back of the shed getting the cameras ready. We all kept trying to get Zack to give his camera to Josh and get into the picture. He kept refusing. Even more weird. As we got all set up, Zack hollers, "OK, on three, everyone yell 'Kenzi's pregnant!'" Ya...hahaha...whatever. "No really...Kenzi's pregnant!" It slowly started sinking in and hit! FYI...they've been going through infertility, Zack's back surgery, etc. We were concerned Kenzi's cysts were back but nope...THEY'RE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!! It was a GREAT day!!!

Trying to get us posed...

"Everyone say 'Kenzi's PREGNANT!!'"

WHAT???? You're WHAT?????

BEST. NEWS. EVER!!

Finally got the shot with the "whole" family...

GRAMMY TWO TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Primer, Spray Paint, Headaches, and a Cute Deck!

2011-06-16T09:40:00.002-06:00

Five years ago this summer, we made our second excursion to Nauvoo, Farr West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Jamesport.

It was a great experience for so many reasons but one was our purchase of some furniture from a cute Amish gentleman, in Jamesport, named Jake Graber, owner of JAM Wood Products. He and his family handcraft BEAUTIFUL furniture, backyard toys, patio furniture, etc. We fell in love with his cedar glider rockers and bought two.

We only bought the chair...
wish we had the footstools!

It was quite an adventure trying to fit two huge chairs in our trailer...Bob unassembled them as much as he could and then we'd put them on the bed, couch, chair, walkway down the center, etc. When we'd stop to camp, out they'd come so we could sleep. It was pretty comical.

Anyway, the first couple of years we had them, we stained them but they really took a beating in the weather.

Then, two years ago, Bob, Sammi, Maddi, and I had the opportunity to take another trip back to St. Louis to "Sheepalooza"...a sheepdog festival where we met about 75 other sheepdogs and their owners. It was CRAZY! (But that's another story...) On the way out, we stopped in Nauvoo so Sammi could go through a session in the Nauvoo Temple and then we headed to St. Louis. Because I had to get back for the last week of school and Sammi had classes, she and I flew home while Bob, Maddi, and Charlie drove home. Of course, another stop in Jamesport was a necessity...supposedly to purchase the footstools for the glider rockers. Well, Jake being the amazing salesman he is, talked Bob into buying to two Adirondack chairs because they could "fold up flat so we could take them to the beach." (Hello...have you been to Utah??) Anyway, they came home with these two little treasures for a really great price.

They've been a fun addition but again, took a beating in the weather.

Last year, I got the wild and crazy idea to paint them really fun colors. However, Bob wasn't really big on the idea (he liked the natural wood) and we couldn't figure out how to paint them the colors I wanted with regular latex or oil-based paint. The project was postponed for yet another year and the wear and tear took its toll.

This year when I approached Bob, he was totally for it! YIPPEE!!! However, we still couldn't figure out how to paint them with latex and since we didn't have any experience with spray paint, we didn't think it would work. WRONG!!!!!! I asked our cute and INCREDIBLY creative friends, Cindy Hawkes and her adorable daughter Emily Fillerup, how they had done their crafty restoration and painting projects. They sent me to the FABULOUS website "All Things Crafty." The author is a cute mom from St. George who LOVES home-decorating but is always looking for the most inexpensive way to do it. WOW!!! What a find!!!!! I've become completely addicted to the blog and have read almost every post...some of them multiple times.

My favorite posts are her PAINTING 101 tutorials and explanations. WOW! So grateful for someone who has done all the research, experimenting, and trial-and-error then shared her wisdom with the rest of us.

So...the project began. We started with this six year old incredibly weathered Amish chair...

After Zack helped me sand it down (OK...Zack did it all...), with a little help from Kenzi's nephew Daxton,

we primed them. Brooke (All Things Thrifty) HIGHLY recommends KILZ brand primer and I can see why. It covers everything but still took 2-3 coats to completely cover the chair. An added benefit was it also seals the wood so we prevent further weathering. YAY!!

I found this at both Walmart and Home Depot. Walmart was cheaper but had a limited supply...Home Depot would price-match. (Be sure to carry your receipts with you so you can take advantage of this sweet little bonus!) If I remember correctly, it took about four cans to cover the chair and the base.

After the priming, the fun began with painting. My first wacky color was Krylon's Watermelon.

Here's a side note: DO NOT USE CHEAP, DOLLAR-A-CAN SPRAY PAINT! Brooke totally warns against using it...you don't end up saving money because you have to use so much to get the kind of coverage you want. Walmart sells Krylon; Home Depot sells Rustoleum. Different Walmart stores sell different colors. Be prepared to drive around looking for the perfect color! :) When you find it, you may want to buy an extra can or two to make sure you have enough just in case you need more and have a hard time tracking it down. It took another four cans of this to completely cover the chair. LOVE the color!!!!

Glider rocker #2 had to be the B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze! I am completely in love with this color!!

This is one I had to hunt for. When I found it, I bought out the entire supply!!! I wanted to make sure I had enough for future projects in case it's hard to find again.

The Adirondack chairs proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Since they are able to fold (to take to the beach...;) ), there were a lot more nooks and crannies to make sure we got covered. I wanted a really beautiful bright lime green but could not find anything in Krylon. As I shopped at Home Depot, I found they had Rustoleum in a fabulous Key Lime. SOLD!!

The color on this picture
doesn't do it justice.
It's MUCH "lime-ier"!! :)

Brooke really loves Krylon because of the coverage and trigger but I've found I really, really LOVE Rustoleum 2x Coverage. The trigger is nice on my finger (when you're spray painting a LOT, your index finger tends to DIE!!! (Mine is still numb in spots from two weeks ago!!) The spray pattern of Krylon is quite broad and you can adjust the nozzle horizontal or vertical. The Rustoleum has a much more narrow pattern but it's intense! Seriously, you need almost half the amount you need of Krylon!! (We used just less than 2-1/2 cans on the whole chair!!) I love, LOVE, LOVE the finished color of this one!!

Next, I wanted an orange chair (we kind of had a "theme" going on with the chairs. Mine is pink, Bob's is blue, Sammi's is lime green...of course, and Maddi's is orange...of course. The married kids think they need their own chairs too but we'll have to take another trip to Jamesport to get those--not a problem except it's not in the budget. :( I did find some at Home Depot for $30 but they aren't Amish. A decision is in my future...) I found the perfect Pumpkin Orange from Krylon and was excited to get using it.

After priming, of course, Bob and I started to paint. OH. MY. GOSH!! Can you say NIGHTMARE!!!???? The other colors had all gone on complete meaning you could instantly see the totally covered color. Not so with this one!! It went on transparent and kind of runny. We thought we had a bad can so tried another one...same deal. We kept at it and five cans later, we had only covered the top side of the chair!!!!!!!!! We gave up for a few days as we tried to figure out what to do: go buy another 4-5 cans of Krylon OR go try to find a comparable color in Rustoleum. The latter choice won out and we found almost a perfect match at Home Depot.

We switched, painted the back/under side in Rustoleum and then flipped it over and put an even cover on the top. All in all, I think we barely opened the third can! (We wanted to make sure the Krylon was completely covered...it ran quite a bit so we had to fix that.) Rustoleum was AMAZING!!!

After painting all the chairs, we decided we would put a coat or two of polyurethane on them to make sure they had the additional protection from the weather and Bob wanted to make sure there was a UV protection in them so the colors wouldn't fade over time. THAT was an expensive purchase...$50 for a gallon!! DO. NOT. BUY. A. GALLON!!!!! We now have a life-time supply of polyurethane!! :P

Of course, I couldn't stop with the chairs! After searching around the yard, I remembered I had four flower pots I bought for the weddings but never loved the colors.

Problem solved!! Spray paint!! I primed those puppies, and then decided to paint them to match the chairs.

However, I went a little off and decided I wanted to put one of the pots on the front porch with a mosquito plant in it to help keep the West Layton bird away from the door.

I wasn't prepared to put wild and wacky colors on my front porch so I found a nice, bright red for that one.

The pots have a fun design on them. I wanted that to stand out so back to ALL THINGS CRAFTY for ideas. Of course, I found one...GLAZING! I was kind of leery of doing this but figured if I didn't like it, I'd be out the money for the glaze and have to prime/paint them again. (NOTE: Brooke recommends Ralph Lauren glaze from Home Depot. They don't carry it any more...at least the Layton store...and only sell Behr or Martha Stewart. Brooke said it was super easy because they mix it for you...not any more! You have to buy the glaze and then get a sample of the color you want the glaze to be and you mix it yourself. LAME!!! But...I did it and it turned out good.) Follow Brooke's great tutorial on glazing and you won't go wrong. I really love the way these turned out!

I found another couple of OLD plastic pots that were kind of a Terra cotta color...YEP! Painted those!! (I decided not to glaze them since there wasn't the fun detail to them. Don't love them as much as the other ones but they're still fun.

After a trip to J&J Nursery, the pots are planted and ready to look fabulous on the deck with the chairs. YIPPEE!!

J&J has these little inserts called "Ups-a-Daisy" that are FABULOUS!!

They save potting soil, protect the plants from too much water pooling up in the bottom, etc. I only bought three (that's all they had in the size I needed) but I plan to add to the collection next year!

Here's the finished planter projects! I'm really quite proud of our work!!

Front porch--red with the
mosquito plant, a few
petunias and marigolds

So...how much spray paint did all this take, you ask? Here you go...providing someone didn't sneak a can into the garbage instead of adding it to my "collection."

Yes...that's right, folks...34 cans of spray paint!! Overall, I know it's cheaper and MUCH easier than using latex paint...there's no way to have gotten that into all the little close areas. The downside, the SMELL and FUMES! I've done this on the deck in the wide open backyard and still ended up with headaches. I cannot believe kids are dumb enough to "huff" this stuff on purpose for a "high." How STUPID can they get?? It's much more fun to use it for the right purpose and have a pretty deck to enjoy!

Mallorie's Busath Baby Shower

2011-06-09T07:37:00.001-06:00

Mallorie scored big again last night at the Busath Photography baby shower. The sweet ladies really planned a great time with good food, great company, and sweet presents!!

Sammi in charge of taking notes.

What a pose!

Grammy Chelle & Mommie Mal

Brittany, Robby, and Sherrie

Jamie, Kenzi, Maddi, Rita, Michelle, & Mal

Cutest books!

Cute camo/monkey outfit!

Crib quilt Sammi & I are making. As soon as we're positive on the name, we'll finish it up and Sammi will machine quilt it. It's coming together!!

Matching crib bumper pads. The crib skirt is the striped material in box pleats.

"I DIG GRANDMA!"

Can laundry be fun??

2011-06-07T12:32:00.000-06:00

When we were first married, Bob and I used a laundromat in Salt Lake off 9th East and about 4th South. To say it was a "seedy" neighborhood would be an understatement. It's interesting the kind of people who frequent laundromats...not necessarily to do laundry. So, it didn't take us long to realize we really, really, REALLY wanted our own washer and dryer. Being a poor young married couple, we scrimped and saved and went to Sears (the main appliance store back in the day). We were so proud to put our new washer in the laundry room/closet (yes...it was REALLY a closet in the hall) and the dryer in the kitchen! Doing laundry in that little apartment was interesting but at least we didn't have to be scared anymore.

Fast forward 28 years. We had the same dryer up until about two years ago. It would die; Bob would fix it. We ran each load through twice because it just couldn't get the job done in one round. I can't even count how many washers we've had in those 28 years...some freebies, some hand-me-downs for a small price, some brand new. For whatever reason, we have gone through a LOT of washers versus the two dryers! Weird!!

Ever since I saw the front loader-type, I've wanted them.

Then when I saw them in

RED...

well, it's been

LOVE

ever since!

So...we've scrimped and saved again and I finally get the washer and dryer "of my dreams"!!

These BAD BOYS will be delivered any minute and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

Maytag Maxima Washer

Maytag Maxima Dryer

Maybe...just maybe...laundry will be "FUN" and get done in a reasonable amount of time... :)

School's OUT!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-03T14:01:00.000-06:00

I've been so excited for this summer to start!

Just a few more days/weeks until the baby comes and I get to play "Grammy Chelle" for the summer!!!!!!!!

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BABY SHOWER!!

2011-05-14T22:29:00.001-06:00

WARNING: LOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG post! LOTS of pictures! :)

Today, Kenzi, Sammi, Maddi, and I gave Mallorie her first baby shower. It was a GREAT day!!

Our theme was "Mallorie's about to POP!" We centered everything on "POP" with POPcorn, LolliPOPs, POPcorn cupcakes, Oreo POPpers, and little water bottles with cute labels on them that matched the theme. It really was fun and was a total hit with those who came!!

We had six different flavors of popcorn (recipes to follow), cupcakes, homemade Oreos, and the lollipop topiary. It was really fun!

These popcorn cupcakes were a huge hit!

We set up the dining room with her big gifts and then surprised her with them.

High chair and swing from Uncle Zack and Aunt Kenzi;

stroller and car seat from Grandpa and Grammy.

Maddi made a great blindfold-er!

SURPRISE!!!

Checking out all the tunes the swing plays.

Peeking under the car seat cover.

The diaper cake has a mere 222 diapers in it!! HUGE!

First books from Grandpa and Grammy! :)

Just the beginning of the gifts!

We had a TON of guests!!!! It was great and Mal got some amazing gifts!! We have THE. BEST. FAMILY. and FRIENDS!!!

And the fun begins!!

Kenzi, Mal, Michelle, Julie Denson, Chris Cannon

So many cute outfits!! This is going to be one well-dressed baby! :)

Pack n' Play from Grandma Forbes, Great Grandma Forbes, and Nicole

Seriously, the funniest story every about "bubble wrap"...Ann Sampson called to see where Mal is registered. She wanted to make sure she got her something Mal wanted instead of something she didn't need. I told her Mal was easy to please; she'd like anything. In the background, Mal said, "Give me bubble wrap and I'll be happy!" So...Ann bought her some super cute gifts and then...BUBBLE WRAP! It was hilarious!

Great Grandma Bunn and the afghan she made for Mal.

Aunt Sherrie made a cute dinosaur quilt with minky!

Rosalie Millard and Ann Sampson...GREAT neighbors!

Great Grandma Forbes and Nicole.

Diaper bag from Aunt Maddi...(made by Mom)

Cute quilt from Aunt Joan and cousins.

Sammi and adorable Evie Monette

Aunt Chris, Kate, Great Grandma Denson

Kenzi with Evie, Maddi-Lou, and Mal

CUTE quilt Auntie Sammi made.

So adorable!!

Mal, Sammi, and cousin Megan Denson

Great Grandma Forbes, Mal, and Lillie.

(Lillie LOVES her "Mal-Mal")

WHAT A HAUL!!!!!!!!

It was so much fun! We can't wait to have him here to see him use all the stuff she got.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

POPCORN RECIPES

WHITE CHOCOLATE FRITO POPCORN

from YourHomeBasedMom

8 cups of popped popcorn

1 lb. (16 ounces) white chocolate or almond bark
2 cups Frito's, crushed
M&Ms
Pop corn according to package directions. I used 2 bags of microwave popcorn. Put popped corn and crushed Fritos into a large bowl. Make sure to get all of the unpopped kernels ("grannies") out or someone will break their tooth. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Pour melted chocolate over popcorn mixture and stir to coat completely. Pour onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with M&Ms. Allow to cool and dry.

PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN
Crafty Dr. Mom

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn or 16 cups popped popcorn (I used 2 bags of microwavable popcorn)

1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pop corn and remove any unpopped kernels. Place in a large bowl and stir in peanuts. (Jennifer pops hers in a 9X13 pan and keeps it warm in a 250 degree oven)

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, honey and corn syrup. Bring mixture to boiling, continue boiling for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not boil too long or your popcorn will be rock hard. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Immediately pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TIFFANY'S SOFT CARAMEL POPCORN
from The Girl Who Ate Everything

3 bags microwave popcorn, popped (NOTE: We used 3-1/2 to 4 bags...it wasn't as gooey as 3)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I like to use salted butter since the rest of the popcorn is so sweet)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Pop popcorn according to package directions and make sure you get rid of any unpopped kernels. Kim prefers the movie theater popcorn but it's good with really any kind of popcorn. This seems like a lot of popcorn but trust me it will get eaten! Place popcorn in a large bowl...larger than you think you will need.

In a large saucepan melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring mixture to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce to medium heat and add the can of sweetened condensed milk. With the rubber spatula, stir constantly for 5 minutes scraping the sides and especially the bottom of the pan to
prevent any burning. The longer you cook it the firmer the caramel will be. I like mine a little on the soft side so I like to cook it shy of 5 minutes...around 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Pour caramel over popcorn and stir until coated. This will take a lot of stirring to get it all incorporated. It's great warm or at room temperature. Feel free to add in M&Ms, nuts, or drizzle it with chocolate. I like it plain and classic. Enjoy!

CINNABON POPCORN
by Our Best Bites

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels or around 1 1/2 bags of microwave popcorn for me)
1 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
1 stick real butter (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 squares almond bark (about 4 oz) (NOTE: Evidently Almond Bark is "seasonal." Melting white chocolate from Winco is pretty much the same thing. It worked great for us!)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

*You can use air popped or microwave popcorn.
Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. *Use a bigger bowl than you think you need.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a 2 liter capacity microwave safe bowl. Mix well. Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture. Pour corn syrup over the top of everything. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir to combine. Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more. *If you microwave it too much your popcorn will turn out really hard.

Remove from microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda. Stir to combine. Mixture will foam and rise. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated. *STIR MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED TOO.

Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread out on a large piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil.

Melt almond bark according to package instructions. Drizzle over popcorn mixture. When almond bark is hardened and popcorn is cool, break into chunks and enjoy!

POPCORN CUPCAKES

These were so fun and pretty easy to make; just time-consuming! We made regular cupcakes (courtesy of Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla). We frosted them with Betty's Whipped Whipped Cream frosting (quite heavily). Then take miniature marshmallows and cut a cross in the top (don't go all the way through the bottom). Actually, they look a lot like molars. :) Press the marshmallows into the frosting covering the top of the cupcake. Squirt a little water on the marshmallows (we used a squirt bottle) and then shake yellow sprinkles on top. Looks just like butter on popcorn!!

My how time flies!

2011-04-01T13:21:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's April 1st already! It's supposed to hit 70 degrees today which is FABULOUS!!

Unfortunately, it's supposed to snow Sunday with a low of 48 and a high of 49 the next day...OF COURSE! IT'S SPRING BREAK...MUST HAVE SNOW!

Anyway, a bit of an update since the last post...

Sammi has been home for seven weeks! It's been amazing having her home. She's working at Busath Photography with Mal, which has been fun for both of them. She's getting reacquainted with a few friends and enjoying life.
Mal is growing and growing! Our little baby Forbes (still unnamed but they say they're getting closser to a decision) is coming right along and I'm LOVING sewing all kinds of baby stuff and picking up a few little things for him. Yesterday, she posted on Facebook that she's officially in her third trimester. So excited to be a Grammy!!
Zack and Kenzi are doing great. Zack's back continues to be a "pain" (no pun intended); he finally went to see Dr. Bean on Monday and he has a bulging disk. He's got the body of a 90 year old! It's pretty sad when you watch him walk and he's only 25!! He's out of town a lot still which is good because it means there's still work out there for him. Kenzi is still at Tanner Clinic and loves it. She lined Sammi up with the cutest guy that she works with last week. She won the prize for the best birthday present ever (she gave Clint Sammi's phone number on her birthday).
Maddi is still at Zions Bank and brings home amazingly creepy customer stories most days. I don't understand how some people (men) can think it's OK to hit on cute young girls...especially when they're old enough to be her grandpa! She's dating and loves to have FUN!!!
Bob is busy at work but enjoys a "Wingman Day" every couple of weeks (they get half a day off for meeting some production thing or other). Would be rough working for the government...
I can't believe we're two weeks into fourth term! It's been an interesting year but I can't wait for summer!!

I'll post pictures of sewing projects shortly...

Baby Burp Cloths

2011-02-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've been having fun making baby burp cloths for friends, Mal & Kenzi, and an open house at Acute Angle. They are so cute and fun to make! The BEST baby burp rags!!

It's a BOY!!!!!

2011-02-04T18:16:00.001-07:00

It's official!!

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!

(The Dr. said he'd personally come paint the bedroom pink if it comes out a girl.) :)

Ten days!

2011-01-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this journey is about over. Honestly, I never expected to have these feelings: complete excitement that Sammi's almost home (OK, OK...that one I expected!) but at the same time,complete sadness that this adventure is almost over. We have received amazing blessings as a family, individually, and as parents watching our daughter grow into a wonderfully faithful daughter of God. Bittersweet is the best or only word we can come up with to describe the past few days and the ones ahead of us. I told a friend of mine who has a son out with six months left: "Be prepared! The last two weeks are almost as hard as the first two." When she asked why, my reply was back then, you wanted them to serve but didn't want them to leave. Now, you want them home but you don't want the experience to end.

Last night, Bob and I really struggled to write our last official email. Neither of us could think of what to say. He finally figured it out and wrote one of the sweetest, most touching emails I've read. Of course, as he let me read it, I got all teary-eyed. Then after I read it and looked at him, he was all teary-eyed as well. We stood them and cried together. This morning, as Sammi and I 'chatted' during her email time, we both cried. It's been as hard for her as for us and for similar reasons. CRAZY!!

So, the final details are being taken care of. All of the jobs on the last post have been completed and we've started several other lists, crossed off the "Things to Do" and created even more lists. Now it's down to final cleaning, getting the carpets and couches cleaned, getting Charlie groomed and the other puppies bathed, finish baking, buy the rest of the food for her homecoming, get the signs put up, etc., etc., etc. It's all so exciting yet so surreal!

Ten days is not very long at all!

I'm "Nesting" again!!!

2010-12-30T15:03:00.002-07:00

I went to lunch with some of my favorite Missionary Moms on Monday. As we visited, one Mom (whose son returns from the Jacksonville Mission in May) asked me when I started the countdown. After my first completely honest answer of, "The day she left!" I revised that to about 100 days.

With the Christmas break off from school and Bob taking this week off to be home with me, we decided it would be a good time to get a lot of things done to get ready for Sammi's homecoming. Funny part is, one of the Missionary Moms equated this feeling/obsession/whatever you want to call it with

NESTING!!

As weird as that sounds, that's what I'm feeling! There are so many things I want to get done "just right" before she comes home; it feels like I'm preparing for a baby! I guess it's true though...I've given my "baby" to the Lord for eighteen months and now it's time for me to prepare to "get" her back. I want everything to be just right. Yes, I know she was here a few months ago, and believe me, she let us know what needed to be fixed, cleaned, straightened, etc. But now it's MY turn to make sure it's all good. Plus, with her homecoming needing to be inside (instead of out in the backyard like all our other big events), the house needed to be cleaned and many things need to be fixed. There will be a lot of people who I know won't judge me but I still want it "just so."

So, before the Christmas break, I started my list. It keeps growing but we're also able to cross of a few of the projects. Over the next six weeks (FROM TODAY!!!!), I hope to cross them all off so we can thoroughly enjoy her when she touches down in SLC!

My list:

1. Paint upstairs hallway. CHECK.

2. Hang new individual pictures in hallway. CHECK.

3. Paint white (which also evolved into painting the red) walls in kitchen and stairway. CHECK.

4. Hang new family pictures over stairway. CHECK.

5. Order and hang new wall words over the stairway. CHECK

6. Update Sammi's pictures on the "Mission Board". CHECK.

7. Buy new blinds for the sliding door in the kitchen.

8. Wash all walls and blinds in the living room.

9. Downstairs bathroom:

a. build wall in hallway to the bedroom. DECIDED NOT TO DO IT.

b. fix walls. CHECK.

c. fix ceiling tiles.

d. paint. CHECK.

e. buy new towels/rugs. CHECK.
f. make valance and curtains. CHECK.

10. Buy new rugs and towels for the upstairs bathroom. CHECK.

11. Clean Sammi's room and find a place for everything we've stored in there for the past 18 months. :(

OK...I'm exhausted now. I know there's more but I'll have to add to it later!

Christmas Fun!

2010-12-21T11:43:00.002-07:00

We've been really blessed to have some GREAT Christmas activities this year. There are wonderful plays/performances and the LDS Church has several programs in December that you register for their "lottery" of tickets. I've never hit the window of opportunity before and, somehow, lucked out this year!

First Presidency Devotional

First of all, we got tickets to the First Presidency Devotional!! What an AMAZING way to start the month on December 5. After a "sing-a-long" opening song with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sweet President Uchtdorf gave his talk entitled "Seeing Christmas through New Eyes."

It was absolutely delightful as he drew analogies between our vision of Christmas and the Grinch.

How cute is that??

He totally pulled it off and really opened our eyes!

The Choir sang again and then we were able to hear from President Eyring as he spoke on "The Gift of a Savior."

He's always so tender and spiritual...we LOVE him!

Another beautiful song by the Choir led into President Monson's talk, "A Bright Shining Star."

I've used quotes from this talk on our Ward Bulletin...it's AMAZING! How blessed we are to have such wonderful men to lead us in the path of righteousness. How blessed we are to be able to sit in the same room and listen to their words and feel of their AMAZING spirit! We're so grateful!!

Our seats weren't the best...Terrace Section 12...but just being there was enough.

The "set" for the stage was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

We took "the kids" with us...Maddi, her friends Allie Stevens, Andrew Palmer, and our cute nephew Randy.

Walking out of the Conference Center, it was quite foggy. The lights at Temple Square were beautiful but the Temple itself was STUNNING in the fog! The little dots of light in the picture are the flash bouncing off the mist in the air. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

The Forgotten Carols

In December 2000, I took my Mom and the three girls (ages 15, 12, and 10) to see The Forgotten Carols at Weber State University. I'd heard the music, read the book/story and loved it so I bought tickets. It was a great performance even though we were on the top row of the Dee Events Center. Several years ago, they made a DVD of a performance at Cottonwood High and it's become my tradition to watch it each year. The girls don't have the love for it that I do so I usually watch it alone. When Kenzi joined the family, we started watching it together...she attended a performance years ago and loved it!

On December 6, I got an email from Deseret Book saying there were still tickets available for the performances at Cottonwood High. I texted Kenzi and we decided at the last minute to go! What great fun!!! We love it!! Such an amazing story, BEAUTIFUL music, and it has such a great spirit throughout the play. We decided this will become our tradition even if the others don't want to go with us. Just us... (Sad I didn't get pictures of us there...next year!)

I did find this on YouTube...I LOVE this song!!!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

with David Archuleta and Michael York

The next AMAZING opportunity we had was to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with guests, David Archuleta and Michael York!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!! We only got four tickets (the max allowed) so it was quickly decided only the "girls" could go since the "boys" wouldn't appreciate it...and there weren't enough tickets for them.

Reports on the news said the Thursday concert had left many out in the cold even though they had tickets. Evidently, they figure 20% of the tickets for the free concerts go unattended so they over-"sell" tickets by 20%. Unfortunately, David Aruchuleta was a HUGE draw here locally so EVERYONE came! It was sad for those who didn't get in!! It's always recommended that you be there about 45 minutes early and must be in your seats a half hour early so they can let in the stand-by people. Well, that DID NOT work Thursday!! Friday and Saturday concerts seemed to go better (we didn't hear much on the news) but we didn't want to take any chances with Sunday morning. So...we got up at 5:30am, left the house by 6:40 and arrived in Salt Lake shortly after 7:00. We had a ticket to park about 3 blocks away, which I wasn't happy about, so we started looking on the street or for lots closer. Mallorie was going to drop us off across the street from the Conference Center and then go look for parking. Well...there were street spots open right by the gates to Temple Square, covers on the parking meters, so why not? We pulled in and parked right across the street!! SWEET!!! We found out door to enter and ended up the second group in line under the cover the building so we didn't have to stand in the rain (it rains LOTS in December in Utah!! Who knew??). When we were allowed in at 8:00, we ended up first in line at our assigned door to the auditorium! Even SWEETER!! We were able to get second row in our assigned section of Terrace 13 (NOT great but at least we were there!).

Me and my beautiful daughters!

I could not be a prouder Mom!!

They did a complete run-through of the program for Music and the Spoken Word to check for sound, timing, lighting, etc. which was fun to listen to. We could even applaud after each song which you can't do for the broadcast. After that, Lloyd Newell, the voice of the Spoken Word, talked to us, Spence Kinard, former voice for the Spoken Word talked, took a rest, etc. We also were allowed to move down closer to the stage to help fill up the seats. While we couldn't see the choir, I was excited to be that much closer to the "action." An added bonus was David Archuleta entered and exited the stage right in front of us!!

Finally, just before the broadcast started, Lloyd came out and gave us the instructions for behavior and etiquette during the broadcast. As he was talking, a guy walked up to him, whispered something in his ear, and then walked away. Lloyd said something to the effect that, "I'll finish what I was going to say in just a minute. Ladies and gentlemen, we're pleased to welcome our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson." WOW!!!! How cool he came to see the production with his daughter, Sister Ann M. Dibb!! I'm always amazed at how INSTANTLY SILENT it becomes with 21,000 people in a room when he walks in. It's absolutely AMAZING!! After President Monson sat down, Lloyd continued with his instructions and then the production began. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

The following photos are from the LDS News website.

Words can't describe the broadcast and then the "mini-concert" afterward. David Archuleta is absolutely AMAZING and then when you realize he's ONLY 19 YEARS OLD it makes it even more AMAZING!!! He's got an amazing spirit about him...one of sweetness, innocence, and a testimony of the Gospel. You can see it in his face! Michael York is one of my favorites as well. I have a DVD I show my 9th graders when we study Shakespeare of him reciting Sonnet 29, I believe, that is absolutely wonderful! He also plays Tybalt in the Franco Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet. (The kids remember him as Basil Exposition in Austin Powers...I prefer to remember him doing Shakespeare!) He told the story of the beginnings of the Tabernacle Choir and then read Luke 2. It was WONDERFUL!!! Such a GREAT accent/voice!!!

After the performances, they did some presentations and asked President Monson to come up on stage. It was so fun to see him in a relaxed atmosphere...meaning not a church meeting. Even though the Spirit was there the whole time, it was much more relaxed and "fun." It did seem odd, though, to see the Prophet applaud and be able to applaud him after he spoke! It was GREAT!!

I can't wait for the DVD and CD to come out for next Christmas so we can watch it and be able to say, "We were there!!" Three things have definitely become a new tradition at our house! (Providing we can get tickets!!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Our little peanut--Week 12

2010-12-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

We can't believe how clear we can see our little peanut! Can't wait until next month when we might be able to find out what he/she is! Can't wait to "officially" buy stuff!!!!

The BEST Thanksgiving EVER!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-28T22:26:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving was kinda weird this year since it was Zack and Mal's year with the in-laws. Bob, Maddi, and I decided to go to Bob's mom's for dinner with his siblings. It was fun to visit and laugh with everyone. We came home and waited for Mal and Tom to come over for pie. Maddi invited her friend, Andrew, to come as well so it was just the six of us (Zack and Kenzi stayed in Brigham to do the Black Friday sales). We'd been visiting for a while, had our pie, and all of a sudden, Mal and Tom got up and went outside. Mal had said she made little treat bags for her neighbors and decided she wanted to do them for family this year. She had sent Sammi's the week before with instructions to not open hers until Thanksgiving afternoon. She passed out little white gift bags with green tissue paper in them. (She apologized to Andrew for not having one for him...he said it was OK.) We all pulled the tissue paper out at the same time and screamed!!

How cool is this?!?!?!?!

I screamed, squealed, jumped up and down, you name it. I ran to her to hug her and just couldn't let go! Maddi kept saying, "You lied to me!!" (A couple of weeks ago, Mal told her smells were killing her and Maddi asked her if she was pregnant. Mal said, "No!" We excused her from lying that one time. :) ) Bob was in shock! After all the hugging, we found another little gift in there... our first picture of our baby!!

We'll find out in January what she's having but in the meantime, I'm looking for all kinds of cute stuff and bought my first material for rag blankets...one boy and one girl. I can't wait and figure whatever it is, I can put the other one away for future use.

So much to be thankful for!!!

Time is FLYING!!

2010-11-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

I honestly NEVER in a million years thought I would say this but...

TIME IS FLYING!!!!!!!

As we get older, we realize time is going quicker than it did when we were kids. (There are those times when it seems to drag still...)

1. It seems like yesterday school started...we're already two weeks into second term.

2. It's been almost three months since Sister Denson c6ame home for "Transfer #10."

3. Halloween has come and gone.

4. It's twelve days until Thanksgiving.

5. Christmas is just around the corner!

6. 2010 is less than seven weeks from changing into 2011.

7. Second Term/First Semester has about seven (school) weeks left.

8. Sister Denson will be home in 87 days!!!!!!!!

I know I'm not supposed to be counting the days...it makes time go more slowly. But there are things I want to get done before she comes home and for her Homecoming. It's a "Mom thing." Maddi keeps telling me to stop counting because the time will go slower...NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!! I was counting backwards the other day...trying to figure out perspective on how much longer we have. I was tired and evidently miscalculated because I was thinking it was the family camping trip in July. NO!!! It was August! School was starting. Sammi came home.

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!

That was seriously just a minute ago!!

I am so anxious to have her back and have our family all together again but...this whole "Missionary Mom" thing has been such an amazing experience! I really didn't think I'd be strong enough to do it...but I have. I didn't think I'd survive missing her...but I have. Looking back, I've really enjoyed it and have grown so much! We've drawn closer as a family. My sweet Maddi and I have gotten to be better friends and have had fun together. Overall, it's really been a GREAT experience!! However...as much as I've loved it,

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HER AGAIN!!

Yummy Pumpkin Bars...a sure sign of fall!

2010-10-31T16:10:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Bob and I saw an old friend/wardie, Biffy Turner. After chatting a minute, she offered us a Pumpkin Bar. Who's going to turn one of those babies down? NOT I!!

AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!!

So, in my grocery shopping adventure, I made sure to pick up a few cans of pumpkin and cream cheese. Can't go wrong with those two ingredients. {smile} The house smelled FABULOUS this morning as they were baking and they were even better tasting than I had remembered. Thank you Biffy for reminding me how much I love these little gems and Paula Deen for the great recipe!!

PUMPKIN BARS

from Paula Deen

INGREDIENTS:
Bars:

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 13x10 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Cut into bars.

To make the icing:
Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again.

Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Recipe Courtesy Patty Ronning as adapted by Paula Deen

Servings: 48 small bars or 24 larger bars
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Difficulty: Easy

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

2010-10-31T15:57:00.002-06:00

For as long as I can remember, I've loved Homemade Potato Soup! My Mom made it when I was a kid, I've made it all our married life, and my kids request it when they come over. There's just something incredibly comforting about it on a cold, blustery day or when you don't feel good. Whenever I make it, we end up with LOTS of leftovers which makes for great lunches for a while. In fact, a week ago Saturday while Bob and Zack were deer hunting, it was cold and rainy so Maddi and I whipped up a big potful. I took it to school every day for the rest of the week and shared it with other teachers. YUMMY!!

While checking out The Girl Who Ate Everything blog, I found a new variation of the old stand-by. Can we all just say FABULOUS??!! I love the added vegetables without it taking a lot of extra time to cut them up. We always add cheese, preferably "block" cheese that you cut into cubes. (Personally, I'm good with grated cheese but Bob insists on cubes of cheese in his. Silly guy!) Maddi bought "sharp" cheddar cheese last night and I was a bit concerned it was going to be too strong. NOPE! DELICIOUS!!!

Try this one...you won't be sorry!! Oh, and thanks for the picture Christy! :)

CREAMY HAM AND POTATO SOUP

from The Girl Who Ate Everything

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes

1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup carrot, diced (optional)
1 cup diced cooked ham (buy a ham steak in the deli section)
3 1/4 chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Note: I added some carrots that I had and Becky said she adds a can of corn too which would be good.

Directions:
1.Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

2.In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don't form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

4. Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.

5. Makes 6 servings

Source: adapted from Allrecipes

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

2010-10-31T15:44:00.002-06:00

First of all...This recipe is NOT from The Girl Who Ate Everything...it's from my good friend, Julie. It's absolutely AMAZING!!

BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER!!!!

We make it for birthdays, Sammi made it for the Elders in her Zone, make it for the heck of it and ESPECIALLY when you need a HUGE chocolate fix! I wish I had a picture but we've eaten it too quickly. Next time I make it, I promise a picture.

DARN GOOD CHOCOLATE CAKE

from Julie Sargent

1 box devils food cake mix

1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs beaten

½ cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350, mix cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, warm water and oil in large mixing bowl. Blend on low for 1 minute, scrape bowl and blend on medium for 2 more minutes. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 45-55 min until cake springs back when lightly touched. Place on rack to cool for 20 minutes.

Frost with favorite chocolate frosting or use this one:

Melt 5 TBSP butter with 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup milk. Boil for 1 minute. Take off heat and stir in 1 cup semi sweet (we prefer Milk) chocolate chips. Drizzle on cake.

Now is where The Girl Who Ate Everything comes in. I found the most intriguing frosting recipe on her website. I just had to try it and even though it's not chocolate, Bob and I thought it was AMAZING on Darn Good Chocolate Cake! (The pictures are from Christy's blog because, again, I don't think of taking pictures when I cook.)

THAT'S THE BEST FROSTING I'VE EVER HAD

from The Girl Who Ate Everything

5 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup granulated white sugar (not powdered sugar)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It took me around 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. You can place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools if you are in a hurry. Stir in vanilla. This mixture must be completely cooled in order for the frosting to work.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Make sure you scrape down the sides every so often so that it all gets incorporated and whipped. If it's not looking like whipped cream, keep on whipping. This frosting is great for piping. Best served the same day.

Cooking Confessions

2010-10-31T15:33:00.000-06:00

OK, I admit it...I LOVE TO COOK! However, I HATE shopping, HATE the clean-up, HATE coming home from work and doing it, etc., etc. Therefore, I rarely fix anything very spectacular. During the week, the common dialogue between Bob, Maddi, and I consists of the following:

"What's for dinner?"

"I don't know; what sounds good to you?"

"I'm not hungry."

A few minutes later:

"So...what's for dinner? It's getting late."

"Nothing; what sounds good to you?"

"I'm still not hungry...I'll get something later."

It's RIDICULOUS!!!!! We usually end up with something out of a box, running to the store where it costs WAY more than it should have...you know run in to buy milk and come out $50. later... Bob will stop at Ream's on the way home and call me. Same thing, different day. I HATE IT!

A while ago, I found the most AMAZING food blog called "The Girl Who Ate Everything." I have a friend I work with who has a sister-in-law that lives in Ft. Lauderdale (actually in Weston which is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. She was in Sammi's mission president's ward in Plantation until a couple of months ago.). Her husband plays football for the Miami Dolphins. Of course, anything related to South Florida, Ft. Lauderdale Mission, Sammi, I have to get all the info/details I possibly can! (It's a "Mom thing.") Anyway, I found Christy on Facebook and saw she has a couple of blogs...one of them being TheGirlWhoAteEverything.

Sounds intriguing, right? OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!! Here she is, a mother of three little boys, has a football playing hubby, faithful member of the Church, and absolutely adorable! She LOVES to cook and then she shares her fabulous recipes! I've spent hours perusing her blog/recipes and reading her cute commentaries.

Finally, yesterday I decided it was time to try some. HOLY COW!!!!!!! They're AMAZING!!!!!!! The thing I like best about them is they're made with "normal" ingredients...you know, stuff you have in your cupboard. Well, that is if actually go grocery shopping for more than one meal at a time. So, I made a list and headed out to the store. I've been so excited to try these recipes and honestly, the ones I've tried have NOT let me down!!

I'm going to use this as kind of a "recipe book" of my favorites so that when I want to make them again, I can just find them on here. I dare you to try them!! You won't be disappointed and please give Christy and her blog ALL the credit!!

Happy Birthday Twinners!!!

2010-10-17T22:05:00.001-06:00

WOW!! Twenty-five years ago today, we became the overwhelmed parents of the most adorable twins!

Mallorie and Zack at cousin Melissa's blessing in February 1986. They were about 3-1/2 to 4 months old here.

Now they're big, married, and AMAZING adults! We love them so much and are so incredibly proud of both of them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACK AND MAL!!!!

Family Pictures on Antelope Island

2010-10-05T22:17:00.000-06:00

Miyo Strong from Busath Photography took our family pictures on Saturday at Antelope Island. These are just a few of the AMAZING photos she got. Can't wait to see all of them on my walls! :)

Conference--October 2010

2010-10-03T08:07:00.002-06:00

We had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Saturday Morning session of General Conference. We were so excited to have secured six tickets from our Stake Presidency and Bishop. It's so amazing to be in the same room as the Prophet, Quorum of the Twelve, and other leaders of the Church.

The Conference Center prior to the session. It's BEAUTIFUL!!

Three-fourths of the family...

Bob, Michelle, Kenzi, Zack, Maddi, and Sister Denson
We missed Mal and Tom!

Sister Call (Meryl) was one of Sammi's companions in Boca Raton. They became "BFFs" while they served in the Florida Ft. Lauderdale Mission. Meryl came home in July. It's been so much fun for them to spend time together and text constantly while Sammi's been home. They're really going to miss each other but it's only for four more months...

Meryl and her cute boyfriend, Ryan Farr.

While we were hanging out on the Deseret Book Plaza after conference, we saw Alex Boye (an AMAZING singer!!) walking around. Just had to take a picture with him. He was excited to meet a Sister Missionary...he told her to get back to Florida and find some black people to baptize...we need more blacks in the Church!)

Sister Denson needed a picture with the famous author, Jason Wright. Of course, he had to be "arms length"... LOVE the look on her face!

Jason's caption on this picture on Facebook: "Oh, Jason...You're so funny! Such a delight to meet you!"

Such a great picture! It was fun for them to finally meet.

Zack and Jason have a very "special" friendship.

(Check out the look on the guy's face behind Jason! hahaha)

Jericho Road performing on the Plaza. They still sound GREAT!

It was an amazing day! So much fun to watch Conference in person at the Conference Center, meet amazingly wonderful friends afterward, and do a little "star-gazing." PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Wright...how to describe the experience?...

2010-10-03T07:52:00.000-06:00

Over the past three years, I've had the GREAT opportunity to become good friends with Jason Wright, author of Christmas Jars, Christmas Jars Reunion, Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle, The Wednesday Letters, Recovering Charles, The Cross Gardener, The James Miracle, and his newest, BEST book, The Seventeen Second Miracle. He spoke at my school on a tour in November 2007, at a fireside in our stake last November (it was AMAZING!!), and then I've seen him several times at book signings, etc. We've developed a GREAT friendship; it's been a lot of fun!!

Friday, he was the guest speaker at an assembly for our school talking about service and performing a "Seventeen Second Miracle" which can change someone's life for good. He had the kids (all 1200 of them) eating out of the palm of his hand!!

Yes...that's 1200+ students completely mesmerized!

He had them eating out of the palm of his hand!

He called these students up, spur of the moment, and asked them what they were going to do for their Seventeen Second Miracle in the next 24 hours.

He asked teachers and administrators what they had done in the past 24 hours for their "SSM." SCARY!!!

Just watchin' the show...

In addition to the assembly, he worked with the 9th grade English classes on the importance of writing in our everyday lives, the writing process, and answered questions. He was exhausted by the end of the day but it was so much fun! The kids LOVED it!!

For some of the classes, he had impromptu skits then the kids had to write what they saw. It was a GREAT lesson on 1st draft, 2nd draft, etc. In this one, Maddi & Sammi had to portray a "conflict." They are driving down the road and Sammi doesn't want to listen to Lady Gaga on the radio anymore. Maddi is adamant they're going to listen to her. It went from there...a little freaky because it was SOOOOOO reminiscent of times gone by!

FIGHTING over who gets to choose the station...the driver or the passenger...

Sammi wanted to listen to Keith Urban because he's "hot" and has a GREAT accent. The kids got such a kick out of that!! :)

My "Drama Queens"

...and "Best Friends"!!

He talked about what a first draft of a passage from Christmas Jars would have sounded like and then how he would have improved it through various drafts.

Then reading the final draft. Amazing how the process works!

He also had some kids come up and talk about the profession they'd LOVE to have as an adult. He'd give them some exotic name (this guy's was "Jehoshaphat" (or however you spell it...they called him "Phat Joe" for short...) and then gave him a beautiful, model for a wife (her name was "Roxanna" and every time her name was said, he had to do a little butt-wiggle. HILARIOUS!!). "Phat Joe" wanted to me a pro-golfer so Jason explained how he'd need to write contracts asking for sponsors. It was so effective and fun!!!!!!!! The kids really "GOT" it!

By the end of the day, Jason was absolutely exhausted but had a great time talking with the kids. I have overused the "Thank Yous" and superlative "amazing" but somehow...someday...I want to be able to express my appreciation for him coming. What a GREAT opportunity for all of us!

The BEAUTIFUL Draper Temple

2010-09-28T15:45:00.001-06:00

Our final Temple trip, while Sammi has been home, was to the Draper Temple. We invited our sweet friend, Heidi Fitzgerald, to go with us. Heidi has been such a blessing in our lives as a friend, neighbor, Relief Society President, and "other Mom" to Sammi. We had a great time at the Temple followed by lunch at Winger's and a bit of shopping. What a great blessing to live among so many Temples!!

I love the Salt Lake Temple!!

2010-09-26T15:44:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, Sammi and I took a wonderful young sister from our ward to the Salt Lake Temple. Nique is one of the most amazing young women I have ever met! She was baptized five days after her 18th birthday and lost everything for joining the church. As she began to gain it back, the promptings came to serve a mission. She debated back and forth and finally submitted her papers. She received her call to the California San Francisco/Oakland Spanish-speaking mission and will leave on November 17. We're so excited for her...she's going to be a WONDERFUL missionary!

We met Sammi's former companion, Sister Meryl Call, at the Temple. I took the girls to lunch in the cafeteria (fun experience and yummy food!) then to the 2:00 session. On Saturday, Sammi and I watched the church-produced movie, The Mountain of the Lord which details the construction of the Salt Lake Temple. It is such an amazing story of faith, perseverance, and the blessings of patience and long-suffering. Sitting in the Temple and looking at the beauty was such a blessing. Sitting next to three faithful daughters of God was even more amazing!

Afterward, we had to take the traditional pictures. I'm so grateful for these girls allowing me to spend the afternoon with them and feeling of their spirit!

Sister Call, Sister Denson, and Sister Wakefield

Mom and Sister Denson

Sister Denson and soon-to-be Sister Wakefield

Sister Meryl Call and Sister Sammi Denson

Charlie helping the boys

2010-09-23T15:45:00.032-06:00

The other night, Bob and Zack were in the garage working on the four-wheelers. Bob came running in the house and told me to get the camera and HURRY! I ran out there to find Charlie in the middle of all the work. They said Zack was laying on the floor working under the wheeler and Charlie wanted to be part of the process.

Charlie wasn't on top of Zack...he was straddling him!

As they worked, Charlie started putting his paws up on the tire. Of course, Charlie had to be VERY vocal (as usual) and kept barking at Zack. Zack's reaction..."I don't know what you want! Speak more clearly!!" Charlie did tell him LOUDER...just not clearer! :)

With no encouragement at all, Charlie then began to climb UP on the wheeler. The only thing Zack did was steady it for him so it wouldn't roll. I can't believe how much this dog LOVES to be in the middle of EVERYTHING!

That's a really BIG butt on a 4-wheeler!! :)

A fun day at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2010-09-19T21:00:00.000-06:00

Taking time off to spend with Sammi has been a great experience! My principal has been AMAZING through all of this and has supported me 120%. Last Tuesday, September 14, I took the day off to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple with Sammi and Keydi Gwynn. Keydi moved from West Jordan to Boca Raton, FL about the same time Sammi arrived there. Keydi was unbelievable in taking care of the Sister Missionaries...feeding them, driving them around, nursing them back health, etc. She found me on Facebook and would snap candid shots of Sammi and post them for me. It was GREAT!

The same week Sammi came home, Keydi and her family moved back to South Jordan. We met up with her at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, went to an endowment session, and then to lunch. It was a lot of fun to meet her and hear stories about their adventures in Boca Raton.

Keydi Gwynn and Sister Denson in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Great friends!

The sun was SOOO bright against the beautiful light-colored Temple.

It was an AMAZING view looking east toward the mountains.

This coming week...the Salt Lake Temple with Sammi and Nique Wakefield! Can't wait!!

Reflecting on an amazing few weeks...

2010-09-13T15:17:00.003-06:00

The past few weeks have been quite an amazing journey here at the Denson house. I want to "journal" it so I can remember the emotions, experiences, and blessings we've received as time goes on. Hang in there with me...if you choose...this could be long!

Thursday, August 12 was a normal "Thursday-before-school-starts" kind of day. I was puttering around the house, feeling sad that my summer days were numbered. The phone rang and when I checked caller-ID, I was a bit surprised to see "Mission Office" lit up. I answered and heard, "Sister Denson? This is Sister Welch from the Ft. Lauderdale Mission." Uh-oh...what's up with my missionary? Sister Welch stated Sammi had some knots in her back and neck and wondered if she could buy a backpack with the school sales going on to see if it would help. Well...we have NUMEROUS backpacks around here and I told her I'd just ship one of the ones we have laying around. If that didn't work, no problem, she could get another one. I quickly gathered a few things together (because you can't just send ONE thing in a missionary box!!). One item was a print-out of the email our sweet friend, Amanda Potter, had sent to Sammi and I explaining their move to Cedar City. I felt impressed that it was NOT a good idea for Sammi to be sitting in the middle of the public library reading the saddest news she could have received and bawling her eyes out in front of everyone. I added my own little tid-bit to it and headed to the post office. (She later said that when she read the letter on Saturday night, she was hurting so badly from her back and as soon as she saw the subject line, she knew was was coming. She bawled, just like I expected, but it was in the privacy of her apartment with her companion.)

Monday mornings are always the highlight of my week as I wait, somewhat impatiently, for "Email Monday." Most days, Sammi and I "chat" back and forth via email which carries me through to the next week. This Monday was the same as any other...I watch for that first email to come through indicating she's there. I was also feeling quite sad because as soon as I was finished with the emails, Bob and I were heading to Cedar City to take a trailer down for the Potter's. I was a bit weepy and knew the email with Sammi was going to be hard for that reason.

The chats seemed to be a bit few and far between, however. Finally, I got the "President's email" which is her weekly update to President Hale. (To get the full effect of what I read, check it out on Sammi's blog.) As I read and got to the final picture, I couldn't believe what was happening! What four days previously had been conveyed as "knots in her neck and back" was now "excruciating pain," "cancelled appointments," "stayed home all day," and "only relief comes from laying on the floor with ice." I quickly shot back a reply asking "What the HECK??" She replied the email told it all but that she was feeling better that day (thanks to a priesthood blessing from the Elders) and that she'd report more next week. As a Mom, I was ready to hop on the first flight to Florida to see her for myself...not an option. After a few more minutes, we signed off and headed to the next part of our sad day.

Tuesday, my last day of summer vacation, I received another call from Sister Welch. I don't remember much more of the call other than, "Pain is much, much worse," "sending her to an orthopedic surgeon," and, when I asked what in the world was going on...her reply was, "it's nothing to worry about." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? You don't say all those phrases in one sentence and then tell a mother thousands of miles away it's nothing to worry about!!!! Still, what else could I do but wait? Sammi had the information to schedule an appointment...all I could do was pray things would be OK.

That night, our home teachers, one of whom is also our Dr., came to visit. I showed Scott and Carl the email and accompanying pictures. Carl said she needed to see a General Practioner or a Physical Therapist, and NOT an orthopedic surgeon. He was convinced, looking at her pictures, that she had been carrying a bag that was too heavy and it was causing distress in her back. A few visits to the Physical Therapist and she should be fine. He also asked a list of questions, which we didn't have the answers to, and told me to get with the mission president to find the answers. OK...I could do that. It was too late to call so Bob and I crafted an email and sent it off that night.

Earlier in the evening, I was at my wits end with worry about Sammi and the situation. I found the number of a member in Boynton Beach where she was serving and called her. I needed a "Mom" to go look at her and give me the details! (Up to this point, no one had seen her...it was all handled through telephone calls!! ARGH!!) Sister Papenfuss was AMAZING!! She completely understood and dropped everything and headed to the Sisters' apartment. While she was there, she called me so I could relay questions to Sammi and get a few answers. At one point, I asked how she was feeling right then. She said she didn't want to tell me because she didn't want me to worry. Sweet but... I assured her NOT knowing was MUCH, MUCH worse than knowing!! My imagination was working overtime! She finally admitted she hurt pretty badly. I wanted to give her a hug so bad I couldn't stand it!!

At 6:45 the next morning, just as I was starting to get ready to head to school, I got a phone call from President Hale. He said he'd read the email and appreciated Carl's input but wanted to go straight to the top to figure out the problem and get it taken care of immediately! He's not a man to argue with so...he told me her appointment was for 2:00 that afternoon and he'd have someone call me with the results. I headed off to the first day of contract week at school. Needless to say, my mind and heart were in Florida!!

A while later, I got another call from Sister Welch saying President Hale had forwarded my email to her and that she'd called Sammi to tell her to cancel the Dr. appointment. WHAT??!! Are you kidding me??? It was about five minutes before she was supposed to be there and now she'd cancelled it? I told her I'd talked to President earlier in the morning and he'd INSISTED she go see the Dr. Sister Welch was confused but agreed to call Sammi right back and see if she could still make the appointment. (I later found out they were sitting in the parking lot when Sister Welch called the first time ready to go in for the visit. She was so frustrated but obedient and cancelled it and headed home. By the time they got the call to go back, they were home and couldn't get back in to the Dr. until the following day. She just cried because she was so frustrated and hurt so badly! Communication!!!!!!!!!!!) I got an email from President later in the afternoon apologizing for the confusion and assured me Sammi would be in the Dr. office on Thursday.

After some frustrating calls to the office staff regarding insurance, copays, etc., Sammi finally saw the Dr. He called me a short time later and explained she had a touch of scoliosis, had strained her back pretty severely, and needed a steroid (Prednisone), an anti-inflammatory, and to rest. Then he proceeded to ask about this ridiculous concept that she couldn't talk to me. I tried to explain but to no avail...he said it was the strangest thing he'd ever heard and was completely surprised that I "bought into it."

After a few minutes, I got another phone call from President Hale. You know something's up when your daughter's Mission President starts the conversation with, "Do you have a few minutes we can chat?" AHHHHH!!!!!! Scary!!!!!!! Long story short...the Dr. hadn't given me all his recommendations...in addition to what he told me, he was prescribing Physical Therapy three times a week for four to six weeks. President Hale indicated the Mission Department in Salt Lake would not, under any circumstances, approve that because it takes too much time out of a missionary's work schedule. He said if things didn't improve in the next few days, we'd have to talk about sending her home. My first response was "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't do that to her!!!!" I was stunned...like someone had slugged me in the stomach! He mentioned that transfers were the following week and if we had to send her home, that would be the target. After talking to him, I called Bob and was completely beside myself. We talked with Carl and our Bishop later that night who were also really upset. Carl was convinced all it would take was a few visits to the P/T and she'd be OK. After talking with them, I called President Hale again and asked more questions, received more answers, and definitely got better/more clarification. The trip home would be TEMPORARY!!!!!!! She would come here for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation and return to the mission as soon as possible. We thought it was him that was pushing for the "vacation" but found out it was Salt Lake. We felt much better about things and relayed that information to Carl and Bishop Chandler.

Friday evening, President Hale arranged a phone call from Sammi so we could talk with her, get all the details of the situation, get our "gut parent feelings" about her condition, and help make a determination for the best course of action. It was WONDERFUL to talk to her and hear the whole story. Bottom line, we all felt that we needed to do whatever would speed up her recovery and get her back to work the quickest possible way. We relayed that information to President Hale and he decided she would stay with members over the weekend with strict instructions to rest, relax, and do whatever she could to make her back feel better. By Sunday night when he called her for an update, her back was even worse and they decided he would begin the paperwork process to get her home as soon as possible. We were stunned!! As much as we wanted to see her, we never imagined this would be part of the plan! He agreed he would call the Missionary Dept. on Monday morning and then call Bob by mid-morning and let him know the plan. (Monday would also be my first day back to school...I wasn't sure how I was going to function when my head was in Florida!)

By 7:55am, President Hale had called Bob with the details: Sammi would fly out on American Airlines from Ft. Lauderdale around 10:00 on Tuesday; she'd have a layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth to give her a chance to get up, walk around, lay down if she needed, and head out on the last leg of the journey. She'd arrive here about 4:40pm. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!! It was SHOCKING to know that within a few hours, she'd be here for us to take care of...as a full-time, set apart missionary! As much as I wanted to hug her and take care of her, I wasn't sure I was really ready for it! Ready or not...here she came!

My principal was and is absolutely amazing through all of this. Ironically, he's a Bishop, his son came home from his mission for surgery and returned four weeks later, his daughter had just started her mission papers and he couldn't wait for Sammi to talk to her about missionary service, etc. He told me, very clearly, to take whatever time I needed, whenever I needed it to be here to take care of Sammi and enjoy her time with us. AMAZING!!!!! So, with that loving support, I went to school on Monday and took the rest of the week off! (Along with half day the following Monday and all day Tuesday because I was sick...I think too much stress.)

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was able to get an "Assistance Pass" from the airline so I could meet her at the gate. We didn't know what condition she would be in so I wanted to be there to help if needed. Bob and Maddi made me wait until about 4:10 before they'd let me go through security. The waiting was killing me! I made it through and went up to wait...again! As I saw the plane roll into the gate, the butterflies were unbelievable! It was strange to be that nervous to see my daughter after 13 months and two days. I honestly didn't know what to expect other than I was so excited to get my hands on her and hug her...carefully, of course. :) I had my camera in hand...ready to snap that first shot of her as she came down the ramp.

Another mom and I waited, somewhat impatiently for our daughters to come off the plane. Hers was 11 years old and traveling alone from Ft. Lauderdale. It seemed like they had to be the last ones off the plane! As I saw Sammi come around the corner, my heart literally broke. Her head was down, her face was red, eyes puffy from crying...completely heart-breaking. I put my camera away and opened my arms. She walked into them and we just cried together. I kept telling her I was so sorry but got no response. A sweet member who sat next to her had carried her bag off the plane and set it down behind us without saying anything. Finally, we started walking down the concorse. I thought maybe her back was hurting...it wasn't...just her heart. She wouldn't look at me, wouldn't talk, just walked. As we rounded the top of the escalator, I could see Maddi, Mallorie, and Bob waiting at the bottom. Maddi caught sight of us and jumped up and down, then stopped immediately. She had seen the look on Sammi's face. Sammi walked into everyone's arms, crying. It was AWFUL!! As we picked up her luggage, walked to the car, drove home, we tried to make small talk. She wouldn't have anything to do with it. I sat in the back seat on the way home watching her in the rearview mirror and my hear broke! She cried the whole way home. My thoughts: "This is going to be the longest four weeks of our lives!!"

As we pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, she fell apart. Bob and I assured her there wasn't any shame in coming home; she knew that. She just said she wasn't ready to see us, be here, and wanted, more than anything, to still be in Florida. We assured her that's what we wanted as well.

Throughout the day and the drive home, two of Sammi's former companions, Sister Karli Olson (came home in January) and Sister Meryl Call (came home in July) had been texting me. They had tried to get together to "hang out" ever since Meryl came home and just couldn't make it work. Miraculously, they were together, in Layton that very day. Coincidence? We don't think so...Heavenly Father sent these two angels to us at the perfect time! As we stood in the driveway, I presented the idea that the girls wanted to come see her but only if she wanted them to. It took her a minute and then she said, "I think I'd like that." A few minutes later, after the welcome home from the doggies, Sister Olson and Sister Call brought a bit of Ft. Lauderdale to Layton.

Sometimes, people are put into your life at exactly the right time and place. Only a loving Heavenly Father could have orchestrated such a tender mercy on Sister Denson's behalf. As soon as the girls/Sisters walked into the house, Sammi's attitude and countenance changed. They giggled, reminisced, and enjoyed each others' company. It was PERFECT!!

After dinner and visiting, we had the opportunity to visit with our dear Bishop Chandler and his counselor, Brother McBride. We heard wonderful stories and felt of their spirit as they visited with Sister Denson. Later, we were told both men told their wives and the other counselor that they were amazed at the Spirit that was in our home as they visited with Sammi; that they felt they were on sacred ground. What an amazing thing for a parent to hear! We were so excited and proud! We completely agreed!!!

At bedtime, I found Maddi in Sammi's room giggling and talking. It was just as it should be. Our home was full once again and all was well. What a blessing!

One thing Sammi shared with us Tuesday evening (August 24) was that she had asked the APs for a blessing of comfort before she left Plantation/Ft. Lauderdale. In the blessing, the Elder indicated Heavenly Father was pleased with her service, that the heavens were smiling down on her, and that Heavenly Father had need of her elsewhere at this time. WOW!!!!! As parents, Bob and I couldn't believe it! What could possibly be more important at home than her serving in Florida as a missionary? It was frightening!

On Wednesday, we met with Carl (our physician) at 8:30 and by 8:50, we were next door at the Physical Therapist's office. After an extensive exam, Chad (the P/T) determined Sammi had one leg 1/2" shorter than the other and then her pelvis was twisted which made it 1" shorter overall. That curved her lower spine to the right. Then, she carried her heavy bag on her left shoulder which curved it back to the left. The combination of the two, combined with riding a bike, walking a lot, stress of worrying about not being able to work, etc., made the muscles in her back completely freeze up. There was no way to relieve the situation without extensive physical therapy which included massage, electrical stimulation, and a lot of exercises. Chad planned out therapy three times a week with exercises to do at home on the "off days." Sammi was willing to do whatever it took to get better and back to Florida ASAP!

Initially, Sammi didn't want anyone to know she was home. She didn't want it posted on Facebook, blogs, didn't want to go to Sacrament Meeting, etc. After talking with President Hale, who said, "No...that's not the way we do it. Missioanries go to Church and partake of the Sacrament," and Bishop Chandler who said, "She's a member of the Layton 37th Ward. We pray for miracles here and we get them!" it was determined we would keep the news to a minimum but had to let some people know. After all, we would need "Sister-Sitters" for when Maddi had to go to school and I had to go to work. I sent out an email to our Relief Society Sisters who responded in true "Layton 37th Ward" fashion: an outpouring of love and support, prayers, and offers to help in any way we needed. It was amazing!! Our sweet neighbor, Trisha, loaned us her bikes so Sammi could ride them to help build up her endurance. (That was fun to ride a bike again...I felt like I was learning it all over again. Thank heavens Maddi's home to go the distance with her!)

Over the past three weeks, we have had many amazing blessings from having a full-time missionary in our home.

We've had the spirit there more than we could ever imagine.
We've seen Sammi as a "missionary" as she talked with my principal, Dave Birch, his wife, Krista, and their sweet daughter, Savannah, who has begun her mission papers. Sammi talked to them about her experiences, shared scriptures, etc. It was an unbelievable experience to see her "in action." She also shared her testimony of missionary service with our friends Brandi and Bronson Reeder.
We've seen Maddi have her best friend back to share things with and enjoy spending time with her.
We've had our "Sammi" back full of confidence and life. Prior to her mission, she was a lot of fun but this "new and improved, self-confident Sammi" is so much fun to be around!
We have seen her with former "Ft. Lauderdale" missionaries and recent converts (saw them at Temple Square one Sunday evening). So fun to spend time as a family doing wonderful things we should be doing all the time!

It's been GREAT!! We know, without a doubt, there's a reason she's here at this time. She shared with us that she had many dreams, early in her mission, that she came home, with her badge on, spent a bit of time, and then went back to Florida. We believe that was the Lord's way of preparing her for this "vacation in Utah" (as President Hale calls it).

They really do love each other!!

Beautiful girls!!

Yes...they make their parents so proud! :)

Sister Denson and her companions: Sister Denson Jr. and Sister Denson Sr.

The "girls"...so proud of all of them!

Summer Book #11--Mockingjay

2010-09-09T18:57:00.001-06:00

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

I had such high expectations for this book! I waited and waited for it to finally come out. Finally...got it and almost had to force myself to pick it up and read it. I thought there were too many characters to keep track of, it was WAY to dark (if that's possible after the other two), and the ending was quite a let-down. I was really pretty disappointed overall.

Summer Book #10--In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving

2010-08-26T11:55:00.000-06:00

In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving

by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy

One of my favorite movies in the past year has been The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. According to imdb.com, "Based on the true story of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American, Michael "Big Mike" Oher. Michael has no idea who is father is and his mother is a crack head. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne soon takes charge however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael's skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft." It's a powerful movie and I LOVE IT!

One day, wandering through Sam's Club books, I came across In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. I read the cover jacket and was intrigued. I give an autobiography/biography assignment to my 9th graders first term and thought this might be a good addition to my personal library I loan out. However, because of some other books I've purchased and wanted to add, I decided I'd better read it as a preview. WOW! What a great book!! You feel like you're in the room with Sean and Leigh Anne as they tell you their story! It's very well-written and makes you think about things you could do in your own life to take on this spirit of giving and caring for others. Sure, they're loaded beyond words (monetarily) but they weren't always in that position. Both came from VERY humble beginnings and worked their way up. Nothing was handed to them and consequently, they don't hand their children the world. It's a concept this society could really learn from to help deal with the "I'm entitled" mentality our children, and most adults, have.

I didn't finish the entire book but plan to as soon as it returns to my shelves.

Pages: 288

Taking the Potters "home"

2010-08-17T08:29:00.001-06:00

The SAD day finally arrived and it was time to help the Potters begin their new adventure. We left for Cedar City in two stuffed vehicles pulling trailers. After MANY stops to retie things down, potty breaks, lunch, etc. we made it to Amanda's parent's home. We were greeted with open arms (they're SOOOOOOO excited they're "home") and then were off to the storage sheds. When we got back, we found Amanda's youngest sister, Sami, and Kobe out riding horses. As they approached, Sami asked if I was ready for my turn. Frankly, to my own shock, I said, "YES!!" She hopped off and I climbed on (she's a pro at helping an "out-of-shape-old-lady" up on a horse!), flip-flops and all. Fortunately, it was a "slow" horse so I had to keep prodding him to go...fine with me! She walked us (Kobe and I) down the road a ways and then Kobe gave her his horse so we could go the rest of the way. It was so much fun!! Of course, Bob had to take pictures for evidence...the kids would NEVER have believed it!

Proof I did it!

Kobe is a natural!

Sami promised I could ride again next time...I'll be sure to take appropriate shoes. :)

It was really fun to be down there. The Mellings are FABULOUS at hospitality and making you feel completely welcome...so much so that we had a really , REALLY hard time leaving. They kept trying to talk us into staying, tempting me with tickets to the Shakespeare Festival, and everything but we had to leave (my last day of summer vacation is Tuesday). After many more tears, we headed out about 9:00pm and got home safe and sound but with sad hearts at 1:00am.

We'll miss you Potter family!

But we'll see you soon!!

Amazing Friends!

2010-08-13T22:57:00.002-06:00

Ten years ago this month, the sweetest little family moved into our neighborhood and into our lives. Ron and Amanda Potter and their three adorable little boys (Kobe was 2, Carsen was 1, and Tyson was 5 days) bought the house next door to us. Instantly, we became "family." Over the years, they have added two more sweeties to their family, Logan and Sydni.

We have experienced the greatest of sorrows and the most wonderful of excitements as the years have gone by. We have supported each other through thick and thin and grown closer together throughout it all...just like family.

A year or so ago, Ron followed his dream of becoming a teacher/coach. This past spring he graduated with his Masters in Education and began looking for a position. We tried so hard to find him a job in Davis District but nothing worked out. A couple of weeks ago, he accepted a position at a charter school in West Valley City but it wasn't what he wanted. Last week, he heard of a Math/Coaching position at Canyon View High School in Cedar City...where they are from originally. Much to our heartache, he was accepted on Tuesday of this week and will begin work on Monday, August 16.

That means, our beloved Potter family, will be leaving our neighborhood and ward. I feel like my own children are moving away and it hurts!! Through many tears and broken hearts, we know this is the right thing for them. Miles will not be able to mar our friendship and love for each other. We will make this work...even long distance!

We love you, Potter family!

Back: Amanda, Ron, Maddi, Bob, Tom, Zack

Front: Sydni, Logan, Tyson, Carsen, Michelle, Mallorie, Kenzi

(Their oldest son, Kobe, was spending some time with a friend. We missed him! Of course, we missed Sammi as well...she'll be SOOOOO sad when she hears this news!)

Meeting Sister Hale!!

2010-08-08T12:58:00.001-06:00

President and Sister Hale's oldest daughter, Heather, got married Friday, August 6. Unfortunately, as a Mission President, he was not able to attend but was able to go with her to the Orlando Temple. I can't imagine how hard that was for everyone...not having "Dad" there to share in the joy of the sealing and reception.

President told Sammi to make sure I knew to go to the reception so I could meet Sister Hale. I was SOOO excited!! I asked Mallorie to go with me which was really fun. None of the Missionary Moms had met her so I was really excited to show off my beautiful, sweet oldest daughter!

I rode down to Salt Lake with my great Missionary Mom friends, Becky Olson and Lanette Crane, and one of my favorite RM sisters...Karli Olson. We met two of my other BFFs, Jan Call and her RM, Meryl at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. (Evidently this is the FAVORITE place for Florida Missionaries to eat...I have to ask Sammi.) Mal met us there after work.

Sister Meryl Call and Sister Karli Olson

Returned Ft. Lauderdale Missionaries

(Sammi loves these girls!! Me, too!!)

The reception was held at LeJardin (check it out here) in Sandy. Interesting reception center to say the least but I ended up really liking it after all. There we met up with another BFFMM, Marianne Wardle and her husband Kevin. We all proceeded to head into the reception. I had heard that Sammi's FAVORITE people, President and Sister Lake, would be there...SHE LOVES THEM!!!! (See one of her funnier posts about President Lake here.) Anyway, they were right as we walked into the reception! The minute I told them I was "Sister Denson's Mom," they threw their arms around me and wouldn't let go! We talked for a long time about how much they love her and how wonderful she's doing. They absolutely could not say enough good about her! They just kept going on and on about much she's grown personally and spiritually and how much good she's doing. It was AMAZING!!!!!

After visiting with the Lakes, Mallorie and I proceeded to go through the line for Heather and Josh. What a CUTE couple!!

Wisely, they had separate reception lines for Josh's parents and Sister Hale. It was kinda funny because Sister Hale's line was almost as long as Heather and Josh's! She was so gracious and didn't rush through talking with people simply because of the length of her line. She visited with the people in front of us, said good-bye and turned and exclaimed, "I know who you are!! SISTER DENSON!!" She opened her arms and completely enveloped Mal and I in the biggest, warmest hug I've ever had. We'd step back, look at each other, and she'd pull us in again. She proceeded to cry with me over Sammi and how wonderful she is, how much they LOVE her, how much she's changed and grown, how proud we can be of her. It was one of the greatest moments I've ever had! She was WONDERFUL and it was such an incredible blessing to visit with her for a few minutes. I'm SOOOO grateful to her and President Hale for being such amazing "parents" to our Ft. Lauderdale missionaries and especially, our own Sister Denson!

The BEST hug ever!

Summer Book #9--Sold

2010-08-02T09:55:00.001-06:00

Sold by Patricia McCormick

My good friend, Kate Swain, gave this book to me at the beginning of school last year. I read the cover and wasn't very motivated to read about a 13-year old girl from Nepal being sold into prostitution. Maddi read it and really liked it although she kept saying how SAD it was. Finally, last week I picked it up as I went to SLCC to hang out with Maddi as she took a test. I was instantly hooked! Patricia McCormick wrote it in a really interesting style...I'm not sure how to even describe it. It kind of reminded me of "Out of the Dust"...not novel form but you still get the story/message. It was heart-wrenching to think things like this truly are happening in the world today. This is not some random fictional story...it REALLY happens! However, it also shows the strength of the human spirit! I highly recommend this book but also give the warning...be prepared to be heart-broken.

Pages: 272

More cute cards

2010-07-27T17:46:00.000-06:00

I made more cards for the Missionary Moms workshop and for Sammi. She said she's low on her stash so I had to make some for her too. I could handle playing like this all the time!!

I got my "Friends Never Fade" stamp set yesterday which coordinates with Greenhouse Gala designer paper. LOVE them!!! VERY classy and versatile. (I get my inspiration from others' websites! Some of my favorites are Inking Idaho, Stampin Pretty, Chic-n-Scratch, and Splitcoaststampers. They're AMAZING and I "CASE" (Copy and Stamp Everything) VERY well!! :)

Then, I got the new "In Color" ink pads and paper. Every year, I make a stash of these cards to have on hand. Usually, I stamp "Thank You" on all of them but I thought it would be fun to put different sentiments on them. LOVE these colors!!

This is actually a really pretty dark purple...my camera didn't photograph it very well.

Summer Book #8: Charlie St. Cloud

2010-07-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood

Oh my goodness!!! What a great book! I was initially attracted to this book because the movie is coming out later this week and we have a "Chick Night" planned for the girls and I to go see it. Then I started reading... First of all, I was absolutely amazed at Ben Sherwood's writing style. He's one of those writers who packs SO MUCH in a paragraph...I read a couple of them to Maddi as we were driving around one day and she was shocked! You knew so much without a lot of details, lot of words, etc., but you KNEW what was happening!! Then you go on with the story. It's incredibly intriguing and heart-wrenching. I instantly fell in love with Charlie because of his love of family and desire to remain connected to those who have passed on from this life. While it doesn't go along with my beliefs, it was a great "What if..." opportunity. Through the middle of the book, I got a bit upset because it wasn't going the way I thought it should but it DEFINITELY redeemed itself by the end. I can't wait to see the movie!! Zac Efron will make a WONDERFUL Charlie St. Cloud!! :)

Pages: 320

A fun weekend!!

2010-07-26T08:42:00.000-06:00

Saturday, Mal, Maddi, Bob, and I went up Farmington Canyon to ride the four-wheelers across to a great spot above Bountiful. Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way...guess that means we have to go again! (Darn it!!) We had a GREAT time laughing a LOT and seeing beautiful sights.

BEAUTIFUL view from the top!

Standing at the "lookout" above Centerville looking towards Bountiful.

Mal and I having fun! We laughed so hard going through some of the rough spots!!

Evidently, I wasn't the normal "Grandma driver" I usually am and kicked up a LOT of dust!!

Bob and his "uni-brow."

Maddi and Mal were quite a sight! These pictures don't show half of the dirt/dust they had on them!! (Pretty white teeth though...)

Maddi and her "beard."

Her eyes were so blood-shot from the dust, we made her put on goggles. She looks like she's gone scuba diving except it was a DIRTY pool!! :)

Taking pictures on the way down. SOOOO dirty!!!

But SOOOOO cute!!

Maddi and Mal's four-wheeler lost the gear handle that kept it in gear. NOT fun when it was getting dark!! Bob and Mal hiked back up the road hoping to find it (no luck). Our wheeler had a short in it which left us with no headlights. Fortunately, our nephew, James, and his wife, Megan, were up there in their truck and were able to follow us down acting as our "headlights." WHEW!!

BEAUTIFUL sunsets!!

*******************

Sunday, we had the opportunity to attend the homecoming for one of Sammi's companions, Sister Meryl Call. Her mom, Jan, has been such an amazing support to me as I've gone on this journey through the Missionary Moms website. When Sammi arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Sister Call was there to meet her at transfer meeting with a HUGE hug and welcome! They were able to serve together in Boca Raton and became best friends. It was hard for Sammi to say good-bye to her last week at the Sisters' Luncheon. Six more months and they'll be reunited here!! YAY!!!!!!

Serving together in Boca Raton (October 2009)

Having so much fun tracting!

Saying good-bye at the Sisters' Luncheon July 9, 2010.

Until we meet again!!

The homecoming was FABULOUS!! We got to meet a lot of Ft. Lauderdale missionaries and reunite with my great Missionary Mom friends. Such a fun day!!

A great sign says it all!!

Sister Halvorsen, Sister Salazar-Jaco (she married a Ft. Lauderdale missionary), Elder Stewart, Sister Fiala-Stewart (Ft. Lauderdale missionaries who got married), Sister Moore (served with Sammi in Boca Raton), Elder Robinson, Sister Olson (served with Sammi), and Sister Call! We also saw Elder Hirshi (Sammi's ZL when she was in Miami) and Sister Brown (served with Sammi in Miami). They were at the church but couldn't make it to the Call's.

Returned Missioanries and the Missionary Moms.

Back: Sister Halverson, Elder Stewart, Sister Fiala-Stewart, Sister Moore, Elder Robinson, Sister Olson, Sister Call, Marianne Wardle (son is in Ft. Lauderdale).

Front: Becky Olson (RMM), Beth Wilcox (son is in Ft. Lauderdale), Debbie Blair (son is in Jacksonville mission but is our fearless MM leader), Sister Salazar-Jaco, Jan Call, me.

Sister Meryl Call and Sister Karli Olson

LOVE these girls and their moms!!

Jan, Meryl, Karli, and Becky

Me, Meryl, Karli, and Maddi

We have a beautiful little hydrangea bush in our front yard. I've had a lot of complements on it this year because you don't see many of them around this area. The silk flowers are really popular but you don't see many live ones. Mal cut some and put them in a vase for me last night. I hope they last for a while!!

Fun Card Set

2010-07-21T18:26:00.002-06:00

I've been asked to teach a group of Missionary Moms how to make cards the end of August. I've been playing with several different sets trying to figure out some fun ones for them. I LOVE this new Level 1 Hostess Set found in the Stampin Up Summer Mini Catalog.

RECIPE

Stamps:

"It's the Thought" Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Paper:

Various patterns from Pattern Packs (packs varied with what I had)
Various coordinating cardstock from current and 2010 retired colors
Whisper White cardstock for all card bases

Ink:

StazOn Black (101406)
Coordinating colors to sponge the large scallop (see below for specific colors)
Stampin' Write Markers (119806)

Tools:

Big Shot (113439)
Scallop Circle #2 (113469)
Paper Piercing Tool (116631)
Mat Pack (105826)
Circle Scissor Plus (112530)
Glass Matt (112531)
1-3/4" punch 119850)
1-1/2" punch (not SU)
2" x 1-3/8" Oval Extra-Large punch

Sentiment: "it's the thought..."

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Wild Wasabi pattern paper (retired)

Tempting Turquoise card stock (102067)

Wild Wasabi card stock (108641)

Melon Mambo cardstock (115320)

Tempting Turquoise Classic Ink (100814)

Sentiment: "enjoy the journey"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Old Olive card stock (100702)

Taken with Teal pattern paper (retired)

Old Olive Classic Ink (102277)

Sentiment: "sorry i was crabby"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Tangerine Tango pattern paper (retired)

Poppy Parade card stock (119793)

Bashful Blue card stock (1105120)

Tangerine Tango card stock (111349)

Poppy Parade Classic Ink (119782)

Sentiment: "take a moment"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Real Red pattern paper (retired)

Baja Breeze card stock (111352)

Wild Wasabi card stock (108641)

Daffodil Delight card stock (119683)

Real Red card stock (102482)

Baja Breeze Classic Ink (111833)

Sentiment: "happy for you"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Pretty in Pink pattern paper (retired)

Real Red card stock (102482)

Pretty in Pink card stock (100459)

Real Red Classic Ink (103133)

Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335)

Sentiment: "...a little wiser"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

Not Quite Navy pattern paper (retired)

Crumb Cake card stock (120953)

Not Quite Navy card stock (101722)

Crumb Cake Classic Ink (121030)

Sentiment: "long time no see"

Summer Mini Level 1 Hostess Set (wood: 118656; clear: 120027)

Whisper White card stock (100730)

More Mustard pattern paper (retired)

Chocolate Chip card stock (102128)

More Mustard card stock (100946)

Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (100908)

All products (except those noted as "retired" are available for order through my website HERE.

EMAIL me with questions!

Denson Family Camping Trip

2010-07-18T15:46:00.002-06:00

Each year, Bob's family goes on a camping trip. We take turns planning, organizing, and executing the trip for everyone. It's a BIG job and one we don't look forward to doing. Guess who was in charge this year?? YEP! Bob and I!

We decided to go to the Monte Cristo campground north of Pineview Reservoir. We'd heard from friends that it's a great campground, minus the flies and mosquitoes. We scouted it out a month or so ago and decided it would be a good place for a large group, tents, trailers, and a lot of cars. The group site included a cement fire pit with benches around it, six LONG picnic tables, a grill which we could use with charcoal briquettes, water faucet, and flushy toilets! We brought up our own Camp Chiefs and dutch ovens as you needed to prepare meals.

Each family was in charge of providing a meal for the group. It worked out well and we had a lot of GREAT food! Thursday night, Dave and Joan's family made Navajo tacos. Friday breakfast, Dan and Sherrie's family made breakfast burritos with eggs, hash browns, sausage, cheese, and salsa. Lunch on Friday, Mark, Julie, John, and Angie's families brought mango chicken burritos. Dinner that night, Bob and I made sloppy joes, "trek salad" and chips. Breakfast on Saturday, Mom, Chris, and Woody brought cold cereal, muffins, and fresh fruit. Each night, a group was in charge of bringing treats for the camp fire. The first night, we had biscuits and marshmallows done in the fire. YUMMY with honey butter! Friday night, we made three dutch oven cobblers: apple, peach, and blackberry. John couldn't handle the idea of cobbler without ice cream so they went to Woodruff and bought some. FABULOUS!!

Thursday night, we set up a projector and showed a movie, Cars, on a sheet. It was really fun watching an outdoor movie.

All in all...we think it went very well and we had a lot of fun. There was a lot of relaxing done, visiting, playing cards, riding 4-wheelers/motorcycles, napping, and just plain enjoying a beautiful area (minus the mosquitoes, flies, and the incredibly rude NOISY neighbors in the next campground--who didn't stop until 12:00 the first night! Needless to say, the camp hosts had a chat with them and it was a bit better on Friday night.)

The flies and mosquitoes were bad so we set up our E-Z Up Shade and then added mesh screening to help keep the bugs out. Bob enjoyed "zapping" the bugs that made it on the inside with the battery-operated zapper. It was comfy and great for the dogs!

Nephew Randy holding his nephew, Kolter. Randy's been working in Alaska for the past three months and was excited to be home and LOVED taking care of Kolter! Such a cute uncle!!

Movie night on Thursday. It was too bad we had to set up early (before dark)...it was hard to see.

Relaxing for movie night. Reece thought it was easier to see the computer screen than watch it on the sheet. Mark and Randy relaxed in the recliners.

Bob and the puppies watching the movie.

Charlie LOVES Dad!! :)

LOVED hanging out with Kolter, Josh and Melissa's cute little boy. He was a fabulous baby throughout the whole trip. I think I heard him cry twice the entire time.

Nephew James and his little girl Evie. She loved playing with the puppies (even let Charlie kiss her a lot!).

John, Woody, and Steven trying to get the briquettes ready for the dutch oven cobblers. YUMMY!!

Mark, Mike, Melissa, and Dan playing one of the many games of "Hearts" while Julie watched. They taught me how to play the game...ya, basically, I sucked!!

Kolter hanging out in the "Big Boy" chair.

Angie did a great job of getting Kolter to sleep. (It looks like John was asleep too but he just blinked...)

Sitting around the fire Saturday morning, trying to stay warm. (Little did we know how HOT it would be when we got home!!)

Joan, Grandma Denson, Brook getting her hair braided by Becky, Mike, Lacey, Emily, Woody, Angie holding Kolter. (Josh, Tom, Bob, and Melissa in the back left of the picture.)

All in all, we had a GREAT time and are grateful we don't have to do it again for another six years!! :)

Summer Book #7: Change of Heart

2010-07-18T09:30:00.001-06:00

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

After reading My Sister's Keeper and Plain Truth, I was excited to read another Jodi Picoult book. In fact, when I bought this one at Sam's Club, I also bought The Tenth Circle. The cover of Change of Heart was intriguing and, of course, like all the other books I've read this summer, I've had a hard time putting it down. Thank heavens for a camping trip and driving! :)

I can't decide if I liked this book or not...It's got a gut-wrenching storyline that sucks you in but also is laced with a lot of religious themes that I didn't understand very well (Jewish and Catholicism), and it insinuated the death-row inmate/main character was possibly the Messiah. In true Picoult fashion, it made you consider your opinion about capital punishment, organ donation, what you would do in a crisis, as a member of a jury, etc. But...bottom-line, I really struggled with the idea that Shay Bourne could miraculously heal or perform various miracles and the parallels Picoult drew between him and the life of Christ. I thought it was too over the top and sacrilegious.

While I enjoy her books and books that make me "think," I think I need a break from heavy reading and need something more enjoyable...

I think I'll give Goose Girl by Shannon Hale a try again.

COME ON AUGUST 24!!!! (NOT because school's starting...because Mockingjay will be released!!)

Pages: 447

Missionary Moms Luncheon #3 favors

2010-07-14T15:01:00.001-06:00

Our theme this time around is alligators! We've got the cutest little poem-ish thing to give each mom about being your "purse-onal best Missionary Mom." Of course, I get to make the purses!! I found this pattern by the talented Becky Roberts here and changed them to fit out theme of Florida gators! I love the faux alligator print which was a lot easier than I thought it would be...just a bit time-consuming. Glad I have until September 25 to make 40-50 of them!

Then I found this cute alligator in a retired Stampin Up set (Wild About You) that I want to use on the purse somehow...maybe a hanging on a chain from the handles, label with "Florida Missionary Moms Luncheon" on it...something. Cute huh??

I can't wait!

Summer Book #6: Plain Truth

2010-07-10T08:46:00.002-06:00

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

I've read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and loved it. Her style of writing grabs you from the opening pages and hooks you to the very end. The books also deal with issues that leave you thinking long after the book is finished.

Plain Truth is very much this type of book. Dealing with the Amish culture is what intrigued me from the beginning (I love anything Amish...we've been to Jamesport, Missouri three times) and it certainly didn't disappoint me. I simply couldn't put the book down...Picoult has definitely got a talent for spinning a story that takes many twists and turns that are completely unexpected!

I also heard this book had been made into a movie for the Lifetime Channel with Mariska Hargitay playing Ellie. I downloaded it from iTunes and just watched it. Really good and true to the book. They left out quite a few details about Ellie that I liked from the book but they were "excess." Good show!!

Pages: 405

GREAT night at the "theater"

2010-07-07T08:38:00.001-06:00

Last night, we went to see Kaysville City's performance of Seussical the Musical. I love Dr. Seuss and have many of his books (and stuffed animals) but wasn't familiar with the play. Our cute friend, Aaron Ford (who has AMAZING talent), played The Cat in the Hat/Narrator of the show. There aren't enough adjectives and interjections to express how fabulous he was! The singing, dancing, multiple parts the Cat played, etc...Aaron was FABULOUS!!

Look how stinkin' cute he is!

PERFECT for the part!!

We LOVE you, Aaron!!!!!

July 4th Weekend fun!!

2010-07-06T13:00:00.001-06:00

Because the 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year, Kaysville decided to do their celebrations on Saturday and Layton did theirs on Monday. Consequently, it was a fun-filled weekend!!!!!!

Zack loves to take the dogs for rides on the 4-wheeler in the "Grandma Chair." Charlie was dying to go and then wasn't so sure. His big butt doesn't quite fit like it should. This picture was taken after they'd gone around the block. As soon as I snapped it, Charlie jumped off and ran beside Zack.

Demi, on the other hand, LOVES to ride with him! She sits there like she owns the world and has to be "encouraged" to get off!

Saturday, we went to the Kaysville Parade. We'd never been before and it was NUTS!!!!!!!!!! There were millions of people all vying for the candy. CRAZY!

Our cute friend and wardie, Aaron Ford, is playing The Cat in the Hat in Kaysville City's play, Seussical the Musical. He's adorable and we can't wait to go see the play Tuesday night!!

Bob's younger brother, Mark's daughter, Meagan rode in the parade with a cute dance group. (She's on the top row sixth cutie from the left.) His other daughter, Brooklyn, was in the parade as well with the Davis High cheerleaders but we missed her.

Zack and Kenzi took our 4-wheeler and rode with Tanner Clinc. They threw candy, chap stick, and Frisbees. They had a GREAT time but, again, it was NUTS!!! (I felt pretty foolish running after them taking pictures. They weren't in parades when they were little kids so I guess I get to do it for them as adults.)

After the parade, Bob and I walked around the festival for a while. There wasn't much there but it was fun to do something different and be out in the sunshine NOT working!

Saturday night, we went back to watch the fireworks. They were pretty good and were done to music. We liked that part but still thought Layton's fireworks would be better!

Sunday, we had all the kids for dinner. Maddi had found this WEIRD recipe for brownies so she fixed them for dessert. You can find the recipe here. I must say the ingredients are WEIRD but the final product is DELICIOUS!!!!!! We didn't tell anyone what was in them until they'd tasted them and found out how good they are. The pan was devoured!!

(These pictures also prove Maddi DOES know how to cook...

After dinner, we all played a new game, Wii Sports Resort. It's a riot!!! Granted you have to have additional antennas for the remotes and you need a nun-chuck for each player but it's so worth it!! We borrowed the game, antennas, and two of the nun-chucks from friends but this is definitely going on our "Wii purchase list!"

Monday, Maddi was asked to ride the float for the Layton Valley View Stake. Her missionary/boyfriend's mom, Kate, was in charge of designing and creating it. Maddi portrayed an investigator talking with two missionaries. Zack was asked to pull the float after Kate's hubby decided he was too nervous to do it (Zack LOVES to pull long trailers so he was glad to do it. An added bonus was the sweet truck he got to drive. {smile} ) They're also going to be riding in the Ogden 24th of July Parade, possibly the Bountiful Parade on July 23 and Peach Days in Brigham City. The funny part of this is transporting the float between locations...they can't go any faster than 15 mph! So, they'll have to transport it during the night. Darin is a police officer so he'll be "escorting" Zack from city to city. So funny!!

Zack driving the truck. I tried to get him to do the "Parade Wave" but this is all I got. Darin is the passenger with Kate and her assistant on the back.

Maddi and the missionaries. (Doesn't she look thrilled to be there? We were at the end of the route so she was HOT and TIRED!!)

After the parade, Bob, Kenzi, and I went to the festival to see what they had to offer while we waited for Zack and Maddi. HOLY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE!! We wandered through them and left quickly. Too many people and too hot to enjoy looking around. When we got home, we were pretty bored. We ended up going to WalMart to buy another new Wii game...WIPEOUT! We LOVE the TV show and thought the game would be fun. It's HILARIOUS!! So much like the show, complete with John, Jill, and John commentating. It's HARD though1! Definitely going to need some more practice. (One note though...after playing Wii Sports Resort with the new antenna attachments which increase the accuracy, it was HARD to play without them! We got really spoiled and also frustrated with jumping or running in a certain direction and it not responding the way we wanted.)

Monday night, we went back to watch the fireworks. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! We have NEVER seen that many people in one place in our lives!!!!! There were tens of thousands, at least!! The fireworks were AMAZING!! However, getting out of the park and parking lots really made you question if it was worth it! The fireworks lasted until about 10:25 and by 11:05, we were still sitting locked into the parking lot. Thank heavens Zack figured out a tricky way to get out of there...he followed a bunch of people...and we got out MUCH quicker! Maddi didn't get home until about 11:45 because of traffic.

It was a GREAT weekend! We really like having the 4th of July on a Sunday...it makes for a fun-packed, long weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!!!!

Charlie's visit to Busath Photographers

2010-07-01T18:05:00.020-06:00

Mallorie's boss' wife, Liz, is obsessed with Old English Sheepdogs. She had one when she was a teenager and LOVES them!! She asked Mal to have me bring Charlie out for a visit so she could get her "Sheepie fix." These are the pictures Mal took of him; Liz had one of the professionals take some for us but I can't get them to load on my computer. As soon as we get them fixed, I'll post them too.

This is Charlie when he was about 4 months old sitting on the steps.

This is Charlie on the same steps at 2 years 4 months. He's SOOOO big!!

Funny Videos!

2010-06-30T08:45:00.000-06:00

These are hilarious...not to mention TRUE!!

Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Summer Book #5: The Lucky One

2010-06-24T13:00:00.001-06:00

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I've had this book for quite a while and don't know why I haven't read it sooner. It took me a while to get into it...kind of slow in the beginning but then it took off. Nicholas Sparks continues to be one of my all-time favorite authors and I loved The Lucky One. I really liked the different points of view in the storytelling and loved the kindness of Logan and Nana's spunky personality. She was fun to learn more about.

Pages: 326

Summer Book #4: The Help

2010-06-18T09:24:00.003-06:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I had this book recommended by two good friends, Heidi and Linda, after discussing The Hunger Games series and then heard about it from several other friends afterward. While it is COMPLETELY different, it fell into the "GREAT Book" category. I am definitely expanding my usual genre of books this summer and I'm LOVING it!! The Help is funny, heart-warming, and gut-wrenching all within a few pages. Growing up in Utah in the 60s, I was oblivious to the happenings in the south; however, we had our own versions prejudice in Bountiful. My grandpa, born in 1892, referred to African Americans as "G**D***N-word" (I don't mean any offense to anyone by stating that...). My parents said they weren't prejudice, just don't bring anyone home. At Viewmont High School in the late 1970s, Tony was the only African American and he was popular!! One night when our kids were fairly small (all under 10), Bob and I were deriving home and talking about how things have changed over the years. We didn't realize the kids were listening in the back seats. I don't remember which one of them piped up and said, "We don't know any black people do we?" Bob and I looked at each other and replied, "What about Noelle, Loren, and Chase?" (An amazing family in our ward who adopted three African American children.) Their reply, "They're black??" We were so proud they hadn't even noticed there were ANY differences in anything!! I'm so grateful times have changed for the better, at least in my little corner of the world. It's amazing to me that people could and did treat other people the way they did...and got away with it!

Kathryn Stockett touched my heart and left me with another "thinker" book! I love those!!

Pages: 451