Soccer Season is Over

It is a bittersweet end! I really did enjoy watching Gracey play every week. Corky and I both loved seeing the improvement that was made in only a few short months. The whole team really progressed even though they were 6 years of age and younger. Gracey would score a goal at least once a game and would be SO PROUD and EXCITED! We would definitely encourage and cheer for her when she helped her teammate score a goal, but there was nothing as exciting to her as being the one to actually do the scoring!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of games! Followed by a trophy ceremony and a rap video that was shot during a recent soccer game.

Gracey is 5!

(and I am in shock!)

I really can't believe that she is getting so old. I witness it everyday and wonder where the time went. She is kind, loving, and loves to hang with the big kids. She speaks well, she is physically coordinated, and for the most part is very independent. Only when she is wanting my attention do I ever hear, "I need help!" I just can't over how fast time really goes. Or how much joy she brings to mine and Corky's lives and to the happiness of our family.

Yesterday, we had a fun day celebrating. She thought it was great when I pinned a "Birthday Girl" ribbon to her shirt first thing in the morning. She took cupcakes and a candle to her school, we got a birthday lunch from Sonic, ate it at the park while enjoying the PERFECT Arizona weather.

While we still had daylight, we gave her a birthday present. She was in need of a new bike very badly. Her current bike was what we bought for her at 3 years old. Since then, the training wheels have been taken off and she was kind of looking like a kid on a clown-bike!

Here she is after closing her eyes for a surprise, then opening them to find a handful of rocks! She said "That's not a surprise, Dad!"

Okay, here's the real thing!


Thanks to Gracey's birthday present, Emily inherited the smaller bike. She loved it. However, she started pouting about something, I don't remember what.


But she's happy again, chilling with her daddy in the back of the truck as they watched Gracey zoom back and forth.


We had a mini-birthday party for Gracey. For dinner she requested Grilled Chicken Sandwiches. After eating those, we all put on our party hats and put some candles on more cupcakes (We had SO MANY cupcakes that she frosted and decorated herself)


Oh! How we love our Gracey-Girl!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

A Christmas Carol

Even though it has been more than 5 months, I still look back on this day and just smile! It was such a fun time. Sadly, I never did get around to blogging about until now, but don't think I didn't love everything about it! I definitely did. As the old saying goes, "Better late than never!"

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In May I had heard that the "Christmas Carol Train Tour" would be coming to Williams, AZ. Williams is about 100 miles away from Kingman, near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I called a few friends to see if they wanted to make a day of it and see what it was all about. I was totally stoked for the new movie and love any chance to feel the Christmas spirit any time of the year, so we all packed up and went.

We were not disappointed. It was one of the funnest days of the year to me. We got to see the official "Christmas Carol" train, listen to carolers, see all the behind-the-scenes footage, and get a sneak peak at the new movie! It was amazing! Technology is incredible, I must say!

We were so lucky. It wasn't crowded at all. I heard that other tour stops, the line to get on the train and see all the features was more than a 2 hour wait. We walked right on. In fact, after we took the kids through, I left them with my friend so I could go on by myself to take some time to read and concentrate on all the little details that I was so interested in. It was so great!

And now for TONS of pictures!

Here are all the kids in our crew. (Except for Ryan who was in the stroller)


Outside of the train they had a snow-machine that the kids thought was so cool! Look how beautiful that train is!




These next photos are of all the things that were inside the train. We saw the suits they wore to create the computer imaging, the models of the homes and offices, replicas of the costumes, and behind-the-scene videos. It was especially fun to see Jim Carrey doing the acting in a leotard and then seeing it become a computer image. Amazing.




This was when we went into a theater room and watched the preview of the movie



We ended the day with a train ride on the GrandCanyon Express! The kids had a blast!!


As you can see, a fun time was had by all. I can't wait to have this movie in our home. It is a great message for adults and children alike, and I am hoping it will be a family favorite of ours. If this train tour was a true hint of what's to come, we are in for a real treat!

So go see this movie, "A Christmas Carol!" Even though I haven't seen the entire movie, I know I won't be disappointed. The story is already a classic and this movie is sure be a classic in it's own category.

"Ssssshhhhh!!"

Last night was a cold night. We had an extra blanket on top of our comforter and I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of Corky's sweats. I was as cozy as it comes. It felt great and I slept great. At about 4:30ish AM though, I had to re-adjust a little. Having so many layers sometimes makes that a little difficult, so I had to exert a little more effort to roll over. Enough effort that it woke me up.

Just as I was repositioning myself, I hear a "Ssssshhhhhh!"

I thought that Corky woke up from my moving around (which happens more often than not!) and I thought he was annoyed enough to "shoosh" me.

Only a second later I hear "Sssshhhhh" again. So then I thought maybe he was doing it in his sleep.

Another second and a 3rd "sssshhhh", I was getting annoyed. I roll over to ask "What's your problem?" When I hear it again and realize that I am making the noise. That is when I started laughing out loud to myself.

Who knew a couple of dry boogers from my own nose could sound like that!

StoryTime, Halloween style.

Gracey and Emily absolutely love the story time at our local library. They do it in the mornings, 3 days a week. Gracey has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursday, and we usually play at the park on Wednesday mornings with a bunch of friends, so she hasn't been in a few months. Emily and I have been going while she's at school and its been nice to do something fun with just Em, but I feel bad because I know Gracey loves it too. So we skipped the park yesterday to go to the annual "Trick or Treat in the library" day.

All the kids get to wear their costume, go to story time as usual, sing some songs, and then go trick or treating around the library. Then after all that is done, they end with a fun craft. I love that my girls get more use out of their costumes and they love that they get a jump start on their candy consumption.





Here is a video of the girls singing one of their favorite songs at the library. (its kind of long if you aren't an aunt or a grandma!) Maybe only family and close friends know that when Gracey is concentrating, her tongue is always out. Her tongue has been sticking out and moving around since she was literally only hours old. It makes us laugh constantly, but we also are trying to get her out of the habit without embarrassing her.

And I digress....

Here's the video.

Bath Time Entertainment

Moments like these warm my heart and crack me up, all at the same time!

I think Corky is a super cool dad!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

*Recipe at the bottom

Since Corky and I have been married, the Monday night before Halloween, we have had "Dinner in a Pumpkin!" We (when I saw "we," I mean "I") have carried on this tradition for 6 years in a row! I look forward to it all year. Corky likes the innards, but doesn't eat the actual pumpkin like I do. But trust me, it's so good!!

You find a pumpkin that stands pretty well on its own, but it doesn't need to be perfect. Clearly, mine isn't, but I did my best to make the lid as straight as possible. Notice the marker lines? I didn't want to cut away and mess up! Then you clean out the insides leaving a perfectly hollow pumpkin. (This is where you would paint it if you'd like. My kids would love that I am sure, but my kitchen was already a disaster....maybe next year.)



Then you fill it with the good stuff! Recipe to come.



Then you bake it and the pumpkin turns a deep orange/brown!



Then you invite your good friends over to join you in a pre-Halloween dinner, and with all the combos, you accidentally create a cute, yet simple table scape. Complete with "bone" breadsticks! (Sandra Lee would be so proud!)





And since you are celebrating Halloween, you let the kids practice wearing their costumes!!!



And now the recipe!

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Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 Medium size pumpkin, hollowed out (make sure the pumpkin will fit in your oven)
Keep the lid of the pumpkin, you bake the pumpkin with lid on
1 1/2 pound ground hamburger
3 stocks celery diced
1 small white onion diced
1 small green pepper diced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine the hamburger, celery, onion and green pepper. Brown together in a large frying pan

Add
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs brown sugar
1 4oz can sliced mushrooms drained
1 can cream of chicken
2 cups cooked rice

Combine all the ingredients together and spoon into the hollowed pumpkin

Place pumpkin in center of cookie sheet lined with parchment- You will be cooking the pumpkin with the LID ON THE PUMPKIN

Bake 1 hour @ 375- Eat the inside of the pumpkin like squash

Journal Entry (if you're interested)

Once a year, the primary children (ages 3-11) of the LDS church, put on a program dedicated to talking and singing of all the things they have learned in the last year. Yesterday at primary, I passed the kid's primary speaking parts out. Our program isn't until November 22nd, so I figured that 4 weeks out would be a good time for them to start becoming familiar with it. As I was writing this year's program, I felt that I was very careful to include every single child that is active in primary. I included plenty of parts for children who are less active, even inactive, just in case this could be an incentive for them to come to church more regularly. Another thing I watched closely for was to not give a child more than one speaking part. I wrote down all the children in primary and crossed them off the list as I wrote their part for them. Easy peasy.

I edited, I proofread, checked, and double checked. I felt the program was about as good as it was going to be.

Now to yesterday, there was a family that came to church that I hadn't seen before. I asked them right before primary, when I noticed they had primary age children, if they were new or visiting. The dad looked a little embarrassed and said they weren't new or visiting. So I asked their name, we'll call them Jane and Sara, and sure enough I recognized them from my role as an inactive family. I told them how great it was to meet them and directed the kids to their classes and sharing time.

While the children were in their lessons, I was cutting each part into little strips for the kids to take home. That is when I noticed I had written 2 parts for one of the girls in primary. We'll call her Sally. I felt a little dumb because I knew I had read and reread trying to prevent just that. So I was trying to decide which part was better for Sally when I got a pretty strong impression that one of these was suited for Jane and that I needed to send it home with her today, not just promise her a part next week. So I scribble out Sally's name and put Jane's instead. I also gave one to her little sister to take home.

And that was that. Church was over.

Last night I get a call from my friend who was substituting for Jane's class yesterday. She told me that after I had given her that speaking part, Jane leaned over and said "I hope this will be a good excuse for my parents to keep bringing me back to church!"

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As I was talking to Corky about this last night, I just was so grateful. I was grateful for my error that happened nearly 2 weeks ago. An error that I thought I had done everything to prevent. I was grateful that this family decided to come to church when they had. I was grateful that I followed my first impression to give her the speaking part. I was grateful that this girl opened up enough to her substitute teacher and spoke of her desire to be back at church. And I am grateful for my friend who called me last night to tell me about all of this. I would have never known. It renewed my desire to love and reach out to the children that I serve.

I am once again shown that there are just some things that are completely out of our hands and are meant to be, even things as little as making an error on a paper. I feel humbled and blessed and I am praying even more diligently for this family that, without knowing, were aides in reaffirming my testimony of a loving Heavenly Father.

Family Pictures and plug

Almost 2 weeks ago, my little family travelled up to St. George for a really quick weekend. As you know, Christmas is coming up and we were in desperate need of a family picture for our holiday cards, and of course our home. We haven't had an actual photo session in over a year and a half, just snapshots here and there, and my girls have changed so much. I asked my older brother Jared to take some photos for us. I am so excited for them. They turned out great, even under the circumstances. Let me tell you about those circumstances...

First of all, Emily was a nightmare. She refused to look at the camera and whined and cried the entire time. Any picture of her that doesn't have the stink-eye, is because we were bribing. You can kind of tell in the pictures that she isn't too happy and that was frustrating at the time. Now though, it is funny. That is our Emily. As much as I wanted that perfect kodak moment, it just wasn't happening and now I can see the beauty of it all and her personality perfectly.

Second, the wind. If you know me, you know I hate the wind. Enough said.

And last, because of Emily's mood, the whole photo session was done in 15 minutes. I was positive that my brother didn't get a single shot and all the efforts were a bust.

Lo and behold, that was not the case!











My brother, at Jared Madsen Photography has mainly been doing weddings the last couple of years, but is now anxious to begin adding family sessions to his schedule!! I wanted to tell about his awesome new promotion. For the month of November, he is offering 2 families, portrait sessions for the price of one. If you know another family that wants some pictures done for the upcoming holidays, Jared will schedule you both for the price of one! It's a perfect deal for saving money AND getting some new great photos.

Now that my commercial is over (what can I say? I like my brother and I wanted to plug him!) I will just say how happy I am with these pictures. I can't wait to see the rest of them.

I actually love that you can see how stubborn Emily is. No doubt we will be able to look back and think "Yep, that's Emily!" And we will be able to look at these photos and say, "Yep, that's our Gracey hamming it up!"

Hopefully though as we look back, I won't regret the heels and skinny jeans.

I bet you wish I was your visiting teacher!!

Last Monday we went to our friends house, once again, to make a mess of their kitchen and indulge in some serious sweetness! We talked the missionaries into joining us for Family Home Evening since a) it was the night before transfers and b) the taller missionary of the two had NEVER HAD A CARAMEL APPLE before! Corky asked if he was communist. He said "No, I am just from Georgia!"

It was a fun night for all and Natalie and I were able to get treats done for the ladies we each visit teach. Not without including plenty for ourselves of course.





My teeth hurt just looking at those pictures! They were so good!

Hi-Ho CherryO!

We have had the game "Hi-Ho Cherryo" for almost two years. Would you believe me if I told you that not a single (tiny) cherry is missing out of the 40 that came with it? Well, believe it.

The trick?

1) A ziplock bag. 2) An O.C.D. mother that keeps the game high, monitors the game at all times, and counts after all the playing is finished.



And just in case you are curious, this is a great game for learning to count, associating objects with counting, and developing fine motor skills! But parents beware, landing on that pesky and dog that will eat your cherries will often times make it a VERY LONG GAME!! Just ask Corky.

Bike rides.

I know that someday I will think how adorable it was when my 2, almost 3 year old could barely ride her tricycle. I am sure I will wish that I would have had more patience and not muttered so much under my breath. But let me tell you, our little walk/ride around the block today...it was death!

But I love her.

You laugh now...

You laugh now, but you will thank me later!!!

I got some lean ground beef on a really great sale so I decided I was going to pressure can most of it. (That way I wouldn't have to use up a lot of freezer space.) With that ground beef, I needed to chop up about 6-7 cups of onions. I love to chop veggies, in a weird way I find it calming and usually I am okay with onions. Today though, I had to chop so much that I couldn't escape getting teary eyed. So teary eyed that I was seeing black...and physically couldn't open my eyes at one point. I tried freezing the onions because I heard that helps, but I was too impatient.

Corky got home for lunch during all of this and suggested that I use my swimming goggles!!! What can I say? I married a genius!

It was funny and we were joking about it, but the reality is that it completely did the trick!! Who knew that swim goggles were so multi-purpose? Keep that in mind next time your eyes are burning of onion!!

Halloween Kick-Off!!

It's official, the Halloween season is here. What better way to ring in the spooky holiday than to decorate Halloween cookies!! We went to our
friends house while the the husbands were at the priesthood session. The kids decorated cookies and didn't hold back!!





What do you do after you have indulged in way too much frosting, candy, and cookies? You try to balance all of that out and get pizza of course!

Who needs a cat....

when your sister has the claws!

In a matter of 3 hours this weekend, Emily managed to bite Gracey's forearm, forehead (who bites a forehead?) and draw blood with a scratch on the cheek.

Seriously Emily, stop being mean!!

We are sad.

Our precious cat, Penny, has been gone now for 6 days! I am much more emotional than I ever anticipated being. I guess the better way to say that is I just wasn't anticipating us losing her so soon. She is only a year and half.

I let her out at about 4:00am last Saturday morning to go the bathroom. She likes to roam the backyard and neighborhood at night but is usually at the back door waiting to be let in at about 6:15 when we are eating breakfast. Saturday, we had to leave for Vegas at 7:30 and she wasn't there. I had a strange feeling, but I am also kind of a worry wart so didn't think anything more. I set her food out on the porch for when she came back. We came home that night, expecting her to be waiting for us, but she wasn't.

The first few days were the longest days for me. Any sound, any movement or shadow, I was sure would be her. I still find myself looking and hoping to see her at the back door.

We have put up fliers, made phone calls, sent emails, and Corky has gone to the animal shelter twice. We have accepted that she is probably gone for good but are so sad about it. Our neighborhood borders some acres of empty land and so my guess is that she roamed too far and may have been snatched by a coyote or something. I always knew it was a possibility but probably got too comfortable after living here for 19 months and NEVER seeing a coyote. Corky says there is a chance she just wandered too far away and couldn't find her way back and is now a stray. Or she might have been picked up by some crazy cat lady.

Luckily it has been far more traumatic and emotional for me than for my girls. They definitely miss her and mention it often, but I haven't seen any breakdowns. Not like the ones I have. The only time I have seen them cry about it is because I started crying first. As long as I can keep my brave face on in front of them, they do well. It's kind of silly really, it is a cat. Pets come and go and that is part of life, but I haven't felt so attached to an animal since my dog of 14 years passed away while I was in high school.

Want to know what I am regretting? Other than letting her out and trimming her claws the day before, is that I didn't write more about how funny of a cat she was. I took so many pictures of her but never posted them because I didn't want to seem obsessed...but I was. She was awesome!!

I have got to end this post! It makes my heart hurt.

Don't think I am weird if in the next few days I post pictures of Penny and my girls that I should have written weeks ago!

More than 6 years in the making...

*Warning: Lots of nostalgia going on here*

For the past 3 years, one of my new year's resolutions was to get all my videos onto my computer and external hard drive. I am so glad to say that the 3rd time making the resolution is finally a charm....and only about 9 months into the year.

Before I started actually putting them on the computer, I lined the videos up in their order by year, then month.



Do you see the trend? First year of marriage (far left) not so many tapes. Second year, Gracey. Gracey. Gracey. Gracey. 3rd year, slows down a little until Emily is born at the end of it. And now, 2009, I am only on my 3rd tape! I don't feel I missed much, but I am seeing that I do need to be a little better these days!

I documented what seems now to be every second of Gracey's first year. Corky was in Iraq and so all these videos include us waving to him, blowing kisses to the camera, and taping a lot of me just interacting with Gracey as a baby.

Last night, Corky and I were watching the video of Gracey being born and the 2 weeks that followed. It was just the 3 of us enjoying time together before he deployed. As we watched the video, I silently sobbed behind him. The emotion was shocking.

It was somewhat of an "out of body" experience for me. My heart ached for that young, happy couple that was anticipating the hard goodbye. They (Me and Corky) were filming each other as they took turns holding their new baby, singing to her, and praising any little movement or sound that she would make. I know I was there, but it seemed to be a lifetime ago. Who was that couple? How did they find so much joy in those few weeks with their new child when they knew the possibilities of the future?

November 2004


I cried watching because I was reminded that there was something truly divine holding us up at that time. Despite the heartache, life was wonderful....euphoric even.

Was it the postpartum hormones?

Possibly.

Was it the prayers of so many?
The pleading to Heavenly Father for Corky's safety?
The pleading for my sanity?

Definitely.

Just as Corky and I have, Gracey and Emily have both loved watching these videos. I hope that they will forever cherish them as I do.

While our lives, for the most part, have remained far less dramatic in the past few years, there is one common theme of these videos....JOY! Whether we are watching clips of Gracey being born, Emily being born, first steps, first words, soccer games, dance recitals, and solo performances in the living room....I am eternally grateful for the joy that I have in my life, and the technology that enables me to look back and actually see it.

Here is a picture I snapped of the girls watching some video as it uploads to the computer. Normally I wouldn't allow popcorn in my bedroom, let alone near my computer, but this seemed like a special occasion.

The little bruiser!

Gracey punched a boy for the first time, and I saw the whole thing happen. All I did was laugh. Like, "laugh-so-hard-I-almost-peed-my-pants" laugh. She didn't get in trouble either. You ready to nominate me for Mother of the Year yet?

Here's the story

While we were in Phoenix staying with Corky's brother and family, Gracey was out in the back playing with her cousin Blaise and his cousins. Naturally the two girls, Gracey and Alyssa, played well together while the two boys, Blaise and Braiden, were playing. While the boys were playing on the seesaw swing, somehow the girls got offended by something. The girls rushed inside and tattled something like, "the boys are being mean!" Uncle Audie (Corky's brother) sarcastically says "Punch him in the nose!!!" Gracey and Alyssa turn right around and run outside.

Everyone thought that that would be the end of that, that the girls just wanted to tattle and move on like kids do all the time. (an example being Emily always tells me that Gracey is being mean. If I only respond with "Bummer", Emily is satisfied and moves on with her life!)

It was as if Gracey and Alyssa could read each other's minds. Gracey runs to the side of the seesaw with Braiden and Alyssa runs to the side with Blaise. The girls STOP the seesaw and in the next instant, we watch Gracey CLOCK BRAIDEN IN THE NOSE!!! It wasn't a girly little smack either. It was a ball-fisted, straight back, then straight forward, square in the face, punch!

While the adults are laughing hysterically, Corky goes out and tells her that Uncle Audie was kidding and that she shouldn't hit. Like kids do, they all forget about the incident and go on playing.

It could have been worse and turn into a brawl, but it didn't....so now when Gracey can't hear us, Corky and I continue to laugh about our little one who literally packs a punch!

For a little visual effect....



Oh, if only I had it on video.

Baby Connor's weekend

Corky's brother and his wife had their 3rd baby boy, Connor, in June. Labor Day weekend was when we went down for his baby blessing! It was such a great weekend. Corky got in two rounds of FREE golf and I fit in a pedicure and hangout time with Candice.

We stayed busy all weekend doing nothing. Lots of hanging out and visiting, cleaning up after kids, holding super cute babies, and having a good time. We love hanging out with all of them and seeing family.