Autumn Catch-Up, Part 3

Grammy and Grand (my mom and dad) came for Joe's baptism. We were all very happy to see them. At one point during the visit, Grammy made a comment about us coming to visit them and spend the night at their house. I didn't think anything of it...until Monday morning. Cakes had his backpack stuffed full of underwear, socks, pajamas, shirts, shorts, and shoes. He even packed his toothbrush! He had interpreted Grammy's comment as a personal invitation to spend the night with her. He was sure that she was coming to pick him up soon. I tried explaining to him that she was not coming to get him today. After thinking it over, he decided to carry the backpack with him so he would be ready when Grammy came.

Cakes checking the mail, Jim right behind 

Autumn-time in our town means the arrival of Hot Air Balloons! Our town has an annual balloon festival. The skies before and after are filled with hot air balloons getting ready for the festival. It is a beautiful sight to behold.

Lone hot air balloon 

I have been teaching preschool in my home for the past few months. My students were Cakes, Miss S, and two neighborhood boys--T & D. I threw a little party for them a few days before Halloween. Unfortunately, D was sick! His mom left a message saying he had been throwing up. I thought he had the flu. His mom told me later that he had been to his brother's Halloween party the night before and got a ton of candy which he promptly sat down and ate...ALL OF IT! That's why he was sick! Hahaha! Poor guy. What a terrible way to learn the valuable lesson of Moderation in All Things.


Here are the kids who weren't sick. They wore costumes, ate cupcakes, played, told spooky stories, and generally had a good time.

 Miss Nita: princess vampire, T: Tigger, Cakes: ninja, Jim waiting

patiently for his cupcake while his mom takes a picture

Rose, Anne, Joe, Prof. X, and Miss S are members of 4-H. This is my kids second year in and Prof. X and Miss S's first year. Members of 4-H are required to do so many hours of service each year in order to qualify for fair. This year we opted to do "Trick-or-Treat-So-Others-Can-Eat". I'm a certified 4-H leader (only took a year to get my paperwork finished.  Grrr.) so I organized the service project around my schedule and my home. It was great! So convenient. :) 

In addition to my kids, about eight other kids showed up. On the last Tuesday of October, we passed out flyers detailing the food drive. On the following Saturday, we went door to door collecting food. We ended up getting a few hundred pounds of dry and canned food donated. Rose and I took all the food the our town's community food bank. 

 4-H members, with Cakes & Miss Nita improperly using their pillowcases.

Part of the haul. The truck bed was filled by the time we were done.

Thanks to everyone in our neighborhood for donating so generously!!

And then it was Officially Halloween!! The kids were allowed to wear their costumes to school. They were so excited! Look at all that red. The kids did not plan that. Just a happy coincidence. 

Anne: Devil girl, Prof. X: Red Ninja, Rose: Red Riding Hood 

Poor Joe threw up the night before. He had to stay home and miss his class party. I thought he would be really bummed. That sicko didn't even mind! The thought of eating candy made him want to die!

Joe chilling out on the couch. Happy to watch cartoons and NOT eat candy. 

That night we had a party. On Sunday the kids and I hand delivered invites to the neighbors on our adjoining streets. We invited them to our house for hot dogs and chili. When we lived in Mesa, our neighborhoods used to have block parties. In the first neighborhood we lived in (remember--we lived in two different houses in Mesa. A small 3-bedroom then we upgraded to a small 4-bedroom.) one neighbor would have a hot dog roast on Halloween. Every one in the neighborhood was invited to come to his front yard and eat. Lots of neighbors stopped by to eat and visit. It was wonderful! In our second Mesa neighborhood our street had a block party once a year. We counted it as our neighborhood watch party. Since our house was in the middle of the street, our driveway became the home of the party for three years. It was wonderful!!! It was a chance for neighbors to get to know one another. I knew every neighbor on that street and they knew me. It makes a difference!! There is a certain bond that develops when neighbors know each other. They start to care for and watch out for each other. Lend helping hands and so on.


Hubby and I were hoping to cultivate a neighborhood bond on our new streets. We have lived here for three years and have yet to see some of the neighbors. Wanting to remedy the situation, we invited the neighbors for dinner Halloween night. We had hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mustard, relish, jalapenos, diced onions, chili with beans, potato salad, lemonade, and water bottles. Basically, we had a ton of yummy Halloween food!!


Joe wanted to see the neighbors. We donned his transformer costume and hung out in the front yard. I managed to get Jim's D.J. Lance costume on, but the boy hated it! Not that he has anything against D.J. Lance. Jim loves that guy! Jim's problem is with changing clothes in general. He does not like the transition from one outfit to the next. It is kind of funny and kind of annoying at the same time. By the end of the evening, Jim did not want to take the costume off. 

Jim and Joe waiting for neighbors to arrive.

Rose, Joe, Anne, neighbor M, Miss Nita, Cakes, & Hubby

waiting for the hot dogs to finish on the grill.

Cakes helping pull the cooler to the drinks table while Hubby grills hot dogs.

Hubby grilling up a ton of hot dogs.

Rose's dear friend Sarah and Prof. X

Miss Nita and Cakes chowing down

Neighbor M showing her empty basket

Neighbor boys coming to chow down.

Considering this was our first attempt at throwing a neighborhood block party, I think we did alright. Some neighbors were vary wary of us. Others could not quite believe that we weren't charging for the hot dogs. There are a few things that we will do differently next year. But overall, it was a good event! We met several neighbors and had a great time eating and visiting, which is exactly what we wanted! :)

Moving on from Halloween...

Cakes has been in that weird transition phase for about a year where he doesn't want naps, but still kind of needs them some days. It has been hectic at times. It has also been hilarious at times. Cakes will insist that he is not tired, but then I will find him conked out in the funkiest positions. One example is him snoozing at Joe's baptism. Here is another zany position. I'm including both shots to give the full effect. I sure love this little boy!

Autumn Catch-Up, Part 1

Autumn is drawing to a close and I am feeling motivated to catch-up this blog.  So be prepared for picture overload in:

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Blast Off!!!

 Prof. X guarding the tubes

Hubby has wanted to do a "float down" on the Colorado River since we moved to town in 2008. We go to the river frequently to play and swim, but never just float down. It took a bit of work for Hubby to convince me that all ten members of our family should participate. 

A gal from Hubby's office loaned us a bunch of tubes. We went the last Friday of September, leaving as soon as Hubby got home from work. 

Joe, Miss Nita, Prof. X, Anne (love that pose!) & Cakes 

Long story short: It is a dumb idea to start a float down at 6:30 pm with kids who are afraid of the dark. Factor in that water gets colder as it gets darker and that river-bank-trees look super-spooky in the moonlight and yeah...it was not the best idea. :(  

But look how happy we were to start. Haha!

 Missionaries scarfing lunch

We signed up to feed the missionaries on the Saturday of General Conference. They asked if they could come for lunch instead. We said sure. We decided to make fancy sandwiches. Saturday morning the missionaries called, asking if they could bring another pair with them. We said sure. They called back a few minutes later, could they bring another pair? Sure! we said. We ended up with eight missionaries for lunch. It was hilarious! I jokingly told them they were lucky we are used to feeding so many people. The Sisters gave us this note of apology.  Hilarious!!!

Autumn brought new bikes for a few family members. Since I broke my tailbone twice in the last few years, I had decided not to ride a bike again. I gave my fantastic bike to Rose as soon as she was tall enough to ride it. She was thrilled to get that bike. She has been eyeing it since she was six! I have been happily walking since. 


Hubby decided a year ago that I needed to get over it and start riding again. I told him the desire to not ride a bike ever again was not out of fear. This was not a "fall off the horse and get right back on" situation. It was a physical thing. My tailbone did not like me riding a bike. 


Well, we celebrated out 14th anniversary this year and Hubby bought me a bike. He justified it by the fact that I was finally able to sit through our whole church meeting without my tailbone dying. He said that proved my rump was healed. :P~~ to him!  Haha! It is a very pretty bike though and it begged me to ride it and you can't tell a bike that is begging you to ride it that you will not, in fact, be riding it because that will make your pretty new bike cry. True story. The bike cried until I rode it. And it turns out Hubby was right. My tailbone is doing better. Of course, the padded seat helped quite a bit.


Hubby took us to the park for a family bike ride at the conclusion of General Conference. 

Miss S, Miss Nita, and Me! 

Anne has grown several inches over the last year and a half. Her old bike was a few sizes to small for her. She was thrilled to pick out her a new bike. She chose a beach cruiser. FUN!

Anne cruising around on her new bike

Joe's bike was too small too! It is crazy how much my kids have been growing lately. They have all experienced amazing growth spurts this year.

Joe posing on his new bike 

After riding bikes, we played! 

Jim enjoying the swings. He insisted on sitting in this giant swing. He was quite offended when Hubby placed him in a baby swing. Goofy kid. :) 

Cakes and Joe posing on top of a giant rock 

Jim trying to fly a plane 

Prof. X, Miss Nita, & Anne trying to see who barfs first 

Our ward had a kickball-picnic party in early October. One of the ward buildings in town has a softball field, so we headed down there for an evening of fun. There were several families who came to participate. 

Anne climbing an outfield tree 

Running for the ball 

The very next day, Joe turned EIGHT!!! How exciting! Since we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this meant two things for the dear boy...Baptism & Cub Scouts.  Hooray!

Joe-It's Great to be Eight! 

Close up of my darling boy 

On your birthday you get to pick your favorite foods for breakfast, dinner, and dessert. These were Joe's requests:


Breakfast = French toast, sausage, milk
Dinner = Green chili chicken enchiladas, salad, refried beans
Dessert = Cheesecake and sherbert


The dessert choice was hilarious. Joe is expanding his horizons and trying new things. Instead of choosing his favorite dessert, he chose cheesecake and sherbert because he had never had them before! He told me he wanted to start out this year trying new things. That's fine by me. I l-o-v-e cheesecake!

Joe's birthday dessert 

The following Wednesday, Joe started Cub Scouts. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I adore the Cub Scout program. It is one of my favorite places to serve, if not THE favorite.  I am so excited that my little guy gets to participate in this great program. 


I couldn't decide which picture of my boy in his uniform I liked better, so I put them both in. Mother's prerogative. ;)

Joe in his spiffy uniform   

This picture makes me happy and sad at the same time!

Happy because look how adorable my boy is.

Sad because look how big he has gotten! My little boy is growing up so fast!!!

And as you may have noticed, Joe got braces. Anne got some too. That's right people...I have two kids in braces at the same time. 

Joe started out with spacers to make room for an RPI. Rose had one when she was about his age, but that orthodontist called it "an appliance".

Joe's Spacey Smile

An inside peak at his spacers

The orthodontist only kept the RPI in for a few weeks. Then he put braces on my boy. He is using the Damon System which uses wires and braces to stretch and reform the mouth in a more natural way. I watched a video on the process. It is quite amazing! I'm sure glad that my kids won't have to go through an orthodontic ordeal like their Dad did. For a look at Joe in his braces, see the above Cub Scout pictures.

The orthodontist started Anne out with braces. He's using the Damon System with her too. Poor Anne's teeth are trying to grow in sideways (facing her tongue) instead of straight down. The orthodontist started with braces on the upper teeth only. He is going to add lower braces in a couple of weeks.

Head shot of Anne's braces

 Close-up of Anne's braces

See how her teeth are turning in? Our lovely orthodontist is going to fix that.

Look for Autumn Catch-Up, Part 2 in the near future. :)

Regular Visiting Teaching

I got a new visiting teaching route this month. I have a new companion and new gals to visit. Of the three gals assigned, two had phone numbers listed. Of those numbers, one actually worked. I left a message for that sister. Didn't hear back.


I searched for phone numbers for the other two sisters, but came up empty handed.


So...My new companion and I decided to do scouting visits.


I typed up the message for the month, put a nice "Hello" message at the top along with mine and my companion's phone numbers, and printed it on bright green paper. Bright green paper is lots easier to see than plain old white paper. I figured if no one was home, I'd tape the message to their front door. And once I knew where they lived, I could come back at different times to try and meet each sister.


My new companion picked me up about 9:15 this morning. We stopped at a bakery on our way out and bought a cinnamon roll far each lady. Why? Because Baked Goodies have magical, mystical powers. Some gals do not like surprise visits from church ladies. Some gals find it rude and decide that they do not like you and will never like you and further more they now do not like the church even more. BUT, if those church ladies come to a gal's house bearing baked goodies, they are usually forgiven for their surprise attack and welcomed into the gal's home. As I said, baked goodies are magic!


We got to the first gal's house and had quite an eye-opening experience. I won't go into the details here for obvious reasons. (In case you don't know what the obvious reason is, I will spell it out for you...p-r-i-v-a-c-y.) The thing I will share here is that this gal seems to not have had visiting teachers for YEARS.


The second gal we visited wasn't home. As I was debating whether to tape my message to her garage door or stick it under the windshield wiper of her guy's work truck, a neighbor came to see what we were doing. I explained that I was looking for the gal. He informed me that the truck was his. He was parking it at her house to make it look like someone was still living there. The gal herself had moved out several months earlier. She was now living in a town four hours away. 


This gal had only been baptized a year earlier. She should have had super-visiting teachers coming to see her for a year after her baptism to help her with the transition. I don't know what happened there. What I do know is that she has been gone for several months and her visiting teachers failed to report that. Which most likely means that her visiting teachers were not visiting her.


I couldn't believe that these two gals, who so obviously needed the love and support of visiting teachers, were passed over. I expressed my disappointment to my companion. She told me that she really hadn't had visiting teachers the whole time she has lived in this town either. She told me there was one lady who came to see her every so often (not the regular monthly visiting teaching), but that lady (I know for a fact) moved out of our ward over a year ago. This means that my companion hasn't had visiting teachers for over a year! And she is another one who could have really used the love and support of a visiting teacher.

We got to the third gal's house at that point. She was home and invited us in. We had a nice visit. She was so happy to have us in her home. And she was glad to see the treat, but even more excited to see the little handout I had made with our phone numbers on it. She seemed delighted when we told her to call us anytime she needed help.

Since returning home, I have been thinking long and hard about visiting teaching in my life. I try so hard to visit my ladies. I have since I was eighteen years old and was first given the calling of visiting teacher.

The first two years I lived in this ward, I had the same companion, Sister S. She and I tried to do an in-home visit every month. Sister S was kind of shy, so I was the one who usually made the appointments. If the gals we visited weren't available for an in-home visit, I asked them when was a good time for me to call back and just chat. I let them know that I was interested in them and their lives.


Sister S and I had one gal who just wouldn't commit to visits, so we surprise visited her more often than not, bearing baked goodies of course! We would only stay for a few minutes, but we CAME! We did our best to show her that she was important to us.

My companion was moved to a different route during the third year. I was on my own for a few months, but continued to contact my sisters every month. Now there were a couple of times when I was only able to call them because our schedules were crazy, but I contacted them one way or another every month! I can't same the same of the gals who were assigned to visit me. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times a visiting teacher has actually come to my home to visit me or purposely called to visit with me. This is kind of sad considering that I have lived in this same ward for three years. I'm not writing this because I'm mad or feel left out or anything. I know life gets busy. I'm not trying to judge.

I just wonder...what has become of Visiting Teaching?


And what will become of the women who are forgotten and overlooked in my little town?

Ummmm.....Sorry??

Driving home from swim team with all the kids in the car, Anne starts yelling:

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"There's a dead guy in the road back there. A dead guy! Mom, Mom! We have to call someone. There's a dead guy. A dead guy!"

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At first we thought she was trying to prank us. She insisted she did see a guy lying in the road. So I flipped a U and headed back. Sure enough, there was a guy lying in the road who looked to be dead.

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He was passed out in a gutter with his bicycle halfway across his body. He looked like he'd biffed it while riding his bike and maybe knocked himself out. Another man in a red car had arrived just seconds before us. We both pulled over to park. While I instructed Rose to keep the air conditioner on and the doors locked, the red car man started to assess the guy. The guy was non-responsive. The red car man shouted for me to call 911. I grabbed my cell and hastily put in the call. The red car man kept trying to talk to the guy, using both English and Spanish. Spanish seemed to do the trick. The guy finally opened his eyes. The red car man told the guy, in Spanish, to lie still, we had called 911, and help was on the way.

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The guy freaked!

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He tried to sit up, but could only get his head off the ground. He tried to tell the red car man and I, in Spanish, that he was alright and to not call 911. Ummm....Sorry, but I already called. Meanwhile another car stopped to help. The lady passenger called through her window telling the red car man, in Spanish, that she had called 911.

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The guy freaked more!

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He dragged his body into a sitting position, staggered to his feet, picked up his bike, and started hobbling away. The red car man and I stared after him. As we heard the sirens drawing close, it occurred to the red car man that this guy might be an illegal immigrant. The red car man started feeling really bad, thinking he might be responsible for this guy getting deported. I started feeling bad too. We were just trying to help the guy, trying to make sure he wasn't dead or hurt. We weren't trying to turn him into to Border Patrol.

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Just then the emergency crew arrived: first a police car, followed by a fire truck and two ambulances. Yowser! The man had gotten pretty far down the road, but the policeman** tracked him down. I saw the policeman start talking to the guy, checking him out. A couple minutes later the EMT's arrived and took over the guy's assessment. The policeman then turned to red car man and I to get our stories.

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We told him what we saw. The red car man then voiced his concern that the man might deny help because he didn't have his papers on him and was afraid of being arrested and deported. The policeman chuckled. He informed us that immigration status wasn't the problem. The problem was the guy's alcohol intake. The guy had been passed out DRUNK!

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Ummmm.... Sorry guy. You were lying in the road, completely unresponsive. We thought you were seriously injured or dead-dead. We didn't realize you were dead drunk.

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Hope you feel better soon. Although I'm sure the blaring sirens are doing nothing to help with that...

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**Funny thing, I had just seen the responding policeman that morning at the county sheriff's office. He was dropping of some papers while I was getting my fingerprints for my clearance renewal card. He remembered seeing me too. Haha! I love living in a small town. :)

The Grass is Not Always Greener...

Yesterday was not a fabulous day for my little pregnant self.

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I had a severe headache that turned my whole face into a big grimacing mess. I could only look down. If I looked up at anyone, the headache shot down my neck.

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Braxton-Hicks contractions decided to kick things up a notch. They came on full-force, lasting anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Of course everyone knows that Braxton's are just fake contractions and so don't really hurt. Ummm...I think my Braxton's forgot.

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Yesterday was Sunday. Sunday means church. I thought I could make it. I thought that if I just got up and got going I would feel better.

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I was wrong. I just barely muddled through.

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After copying the ward bulletin, the headache hit so hard that I started to tear up. I quickly made my way to the bathroom so no one would see me crying.

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One sister caught me. She asked how I was doing. I gave her my best grimace/smile, told her I was fine, and ducked into the bathroom. The dear woman, who is a trained massage therapist, waited for me outside the bathroom. She firmly told me to follow her, sit down, and relax. She then proceeded to massage my scalp for a few minutes. Not enough to end the headache, but enough to take away the biting edge. It was lovely. More lovely was the fact that she actually took the time to help me. That thought gave me great comfort.

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Later on in Primary I laughed at my silly self while watching another dear sister wrestle with the Sunbeam class. She wasn't their regular teacher. She was a member of the Primary Presidency pinch-hitting when the regular teacher didn't show up.

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(I have to mention...She was dressed to the nines! Every time she got up to chase another Sunbeam down, the seamstress in me marvelled at how beautifully her skirt flared, swirled, and flowed behind her and how well the dress suited her frame.)

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When I first moved from nursery to teaching primary, I thought it would make sense to move me up with the Sunbeam class. After all, I had just taught them for a year. They knew me and I knew them. I thought we would get along swimmingly.

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Sitting in the back of the room with my CTR 7 class who sat reverently, answered respectfully, and payed attention throughout the sharing time, I thanked my Heavenly Father that a wise Primary President put me where she did. As my head pounded and my uterus contracted, I watched as the Sunbeams put their poor substitute through her paces. I was amazed at her fortitude and so glad that it Wasn't Me dealing with those energetic children of God!!

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At the end of church, I rounded up the kids. We were just missing Hubby and Mr. J. After waiting a few minutes, I trudged back into church to see if Hubby was trying to find kids I'd already secured. Nope. He was sitting in his missionary correlation meeting. The same meeting he attends every Sunday after church. In my misery, I had completely forgotten about it. But the dear man took one look at my miserable state, excused himself from the meeting, and drove us all home. I've known men who are not so compassionate as this. I'm grateful my husband IS!

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Once home, I needed to eat something and go to bed. Rose, Anne, and Joe jumped right in cleaning up the kitchen, making lunch, and getting potatoes washed for dinner. Hubby got Cakes and Mr. J changed and settled. It was wonderful! Of course, I still felt horrible, but my heart was light and happy.

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The grass in my yard is very green. Very green indeed! :)