Good Reads

If you loved The Work and the Glory, Children of the Promise, and the Hearts of the Children series (as I did) then I've found another series you might enjoy (as I am!): Out of Jerusalem, by H. B. Moore. As I confessed in my last post, I love historical fiction, especially LDS based series. This one obviously begins with Lehi in Jerusalem. The author has also started a prophet series of which I've read the first one--Abinadi. It was very good, I can't wait for Alma!! I also heard from a friend that there's a series out there on the life of Christ called The Kingdom and the Crown. Has anyone read those? I think I'll look into it next. Enjoy. And be sure to let me know what you think. . .

I'm IT!

Yes, this is the same one I posted on FB, so if you've seen it there, you can move on. . . but thanks for checking in. :)

1. One of my biggest priorities is getting enough sleep (for me and my children)! I am definitely NOT a night person. I love mornings and I hate to take naps.

2. I LOVE my family—immediate, extended, and in-laws! My “sisters” (6 immediate, 5 in-laws, and a few extended) are my BEST friends! I am the 4th of 10 kids and enjoy/have enjoyed every minute of the chaos.

3. I really enjoy scrapbooking when it involves girlfriends, food, and lots of goss. . .I mean chatting. :)

4. I love all sports. Racquetball, skiing, volleyball, and gymnastics are a few of my favorites! I got my secondary education degree from BYU in Physical Education (and am also qualified to teach math).

5. I love numbers. I memorize numbers easily and love working with them (hence the math endorsement mentioned above). I know most phone numbers by heart even though it’s unnecessary these days. I can’t wait for my kids to be in algebra so I can help them with their homework!

6. I am usually happy and I laugh a lot.

7. I’m living my life-long dream of being a stay-at-home-MOM! (yes, that really is all I’ve ever wanted)

8. The two years between finishing college and having kids, I worked as a software tester for a consulting company. I tested programs for Novell and what used to be First Security Bank, to make sure they wouldn’t “blow up” on 01/01/2000 (remember the big Y2K scare?).

9. Summer is all about being at the pool! I take my kids almost every day that it’s above 85 degrees. It’s really all about the sun. I don’t understand why anyone would ever go to an indoor pool; they kind of gross me out.

10. I’ve never pierced my ears. No reason, just never have.

11. I love reality shows.

12. I’m a great driver (despite what you all think or have been told). FAST ≠BAD!!

13. I really love kids. My own and others’. I like teaching them and watching them play and learn. We could all benefit from being more like kids—more forgiving, happy, innocent, loving, and willing to do anything for a piece of candy.

14. I hate laundry, love vacuuming, and get along pretty well with all the other household chores.

15. I don’t enjoy shopping for clothes, groceries, or household items, but if I have a good chunk of money to spend, I like shopping for crafty things to decorate my house. (I rotate my decorations a few times a year to match the seasons—silly, I know, but it’s fun).

16. I LOVED doing our taxes every year until Dave started his own business and we invested in some real estate—now it’s not so fun anymore.

17. I married my FHE dad from my college ward.

18. I really liked growing up in the small town of Star Valley, but I couldn’t live there as an adult. . .I have to live within 5 minutes of a 24/7 Wal-Mart (or equivalent).

19. I’m not an avid reader, but I do enjoy reading educational and uplifting books. My favorites are historical fiction—usually LDS based. Oh, but don’t get me wrong—I LOVED the Harry Potter and Twilight series too.

20. I just started a blog a couple months ago.

21. I am definitely left brain dominant.

22. I miss my dog, Spike.

23. I should be in bed (refer to #1).

24. I love getting Christmas cards (with family pictures) from my family and friends every year—but I have a feeling that won’t last much longer as we all join FB and the blogging world—no need for hard copies, right?

25. As of TODAY, I have 34 nieces and nephews (congrats Julie) with 2 more on the way!

Right or Left? That is the question!

Did you struggle through school or do any of your children? Research shows that 50% of us are left brain dominant and 50% of us are right brain dominant. Well, it's no secret that the schools are geared toward left brainers--which means that many of us were, and many of our kids are, not being taught in the best/easiest way possible. (If it's not obvious to you--just google "right brain learning" and you'll find all the info you care to know on the subject.) I am left brained and therefore excelled in school and always believed I was smart. Little did I know, the kids who got B's and C's regularly were just as smart as me, they were just having to work twice as hard in the school setting to do what came easily for me. Well, we recently found out that Mark is not just right brain dominant, but almost exclusively right brained. I've been madly researching all I can about this (hence this blog--and the absence of blogs over the past couple weeks) and have come to the conclusion that Mark will not reach his full potential (or even come close) if I leave it up to our "left brained" school system! So, what does that mean? Well. . .after much deliberation, prayers, pondering, advice, dead ends, etc. . . we've decided to homeschool Mark for a little while. Yes, you did just read HOMESCHOOL! And, yes, I've always had all the same reactions you're hearing in your heads right now (huh? ugh! weird! wacky! Nutso, etc. etc.) to people who say they homeschool or were homeschooled themselves. But after all my research, I am totally committed to our decision and I'm actually VERY excited about it. We're going to do the rest of this year (3rd grade) and possibly/probably next year (4th grade) at home (hopefully getting through the 6th grade curriculum in that time) and then re-evaluate. We'll focus on helping him learn how to adapt what he'll get in school to what he needs to learn and be able to send him back for 5th grade and beyond!!! Since this is all so new to me (and since I LOVE hearing from you guys). . .just curious what all y'alls thoughts are. . . !

Updating

So, I guess I've just been waiting for my blog to update itself . . . ?! I find myself checking it almost every day--like it might have changed or something. . . but I can't get myself to update it. Anyway, sorry. Maybe when I get a few other things finished it'll become more of a priority. But, meanwhile, thanks for updating yours--I love to read them.

Scrapbooking

So, it's no secret that I love to scrapbook. I don't know if it's even so much that I love to scrapbook as much as I love having scrapbooks for my kids (and I) to look through. THEY LOVE IT! And, I love that I can do that for them. They are my journals, as I don't keep one otherwise (well, unless I can now count this--my blog--as one! hee hee). I always make sure to journal on each layout and I'm one of those who likes to cram as many pictures as possible on each layout (you know, tasteful cramming, cropping is key). I have too many books already to be putting one picture per page! I know it's cute that way, but, c'mon! . . .is it really feasible?!

Here are a few example layouts of mine, nothing spectacular, just pictures and journaling:
Anyway, nothing extraordinary, but we LOVE them! So,now I'm on the verge of looking into digital scrapbooking, I'm just not sure I want to make that leap. If I was convinced that it was either cheaper or faster I would really consider it. Dave just got me a laptop because I've always said that I would never dream of digital scrapbooking without a laptop, but now that I have one, I'm not quite sure where to start. Any ideas? I suppose I should buy a program (I've heard Photoshop is the best) and just start playing with it (but the time I spend doing that could be used catching up on my other scrapbooks!). Anyway, I suppose either way I'll still get to invite my friends over every month or so for scrapbooking parties--and that's really what it's all about, right girls? :)

Reality TV

Are there any other junkies out there? Maybe I should be *embarrassed* to admit that I watch these shows, but it's ok if it's in the name of m-o-t-i-v-a-t-i-o-n, right? I only justify watching all of these because I work out during each episode (or I watch a second one while I cool down and fold laundry)!! I just don't know how I'm going to catch all of them anymore: Biggest Loser, American Idol, Mamma's Boys, Survivor, Bachelor, you gotta love Extreme Makeover--Home Edition, Apprentice (what happened to that anyway?) and now there's the new one, True Beauty, that looks like it's going to be hilarious! Sheesh! Now, c'mon guys, fess up--do you watch any of these? (are there any good one's I've missed?--not that I have room for any more!) How do you all choose and/or justify spending time watching these??? Or do you NOT? (be honest) :)

YOU guys!

I love, LOVE, LOVE getting your family updates and/or photos each year! Thank you, thank you to those who sent me one and hint hint to those who didn't! ;) (there's still time) I know some of you have blogs and keep them updated--and that's even AWESOMER--thanks to all of you too. (anyone can start a blog, you know) But, for those of you who do/did BOTH--wowsers, thanks to you guys the MOST! I love it!!!