January 31st

Tonight we went to Chik-fil-A for a benefit for one of the football players at Chase and MiCayla's school who had a stroke. There were quite a few people in attendance, but best of all we got to have food we really like.

Today was a birthday of a less-active sister that I visit teach. Every time I go to her house someone tells me she is sleeping or they just don't answer the door. I have found the only way to communicate with her is through the mail. So I pulled this card together (it was from a kit some company sent me and all I had to do was put it together how I wanted). It was quick and easy and didn't turn out too bad.

January 30th

Today is Mauren's 30th birthday. I'm not sure how she can be 30 when I don't feel a day over 40, but she is. Happy Birthday Mauren!!!!! This is last years picture, but since I used the picture of her this year on yesterday's blog I thought I would use last years so we can she how she has changed.

January 29th

Tomorrow is Mauren's 30th birthday so she decided to throw herself a party at our house. So I spent most of the day cleaning, making food for the party, etc. so that she could have a great time. Many of her friends came to celebrate with her.It's game time. I'm not sure what they were playing because I was in my bedroom, but I could certainly hear them laughing. Laughing, that's a good sign of fun - right?

January 28th

Tonight was the final big rival final game of the season against Magnolia. Chase was at home and they lost by 9 points. MiCayla was away and they got creamed, but MiCayla was high point scorer again.

Magnolia girls varsity had an incredible night. I think everyone on their team was on fire, and no one one our team could do anything. One girl was so intimidated on our team that she didn't even shot the ball and she plays under the basket and is suppose to be shooting. Magnolia could win the district this year and they should. Most of the girls on their team have such a passion for the game and play AAU ball year round. Good-Luck Magnolia High!

January 27th

Some days I am really desperate for pictures to add to the blog. So here is MiCayla working on a project for her English class. The only thing I did today was clean, exercise and attend a girls camp meeting (I guess I could have taken pictures of that).

January 26th

Today I went to the temple, ran my errands to Sams and Costco. While I was out running around I decided that I needed a haircut. So I called and made an appointment. I was trying to make it a little different by adding more layers and shorter. I got more layers, but she didn't want to go any shorter because she wanted to make sure I liked more layers before she cut it shorter. I had lots of compliments on it at mutual tonight, but it really isn't much different than what I had (just a little straighter than I usually wear it). My hair dresser said it is more trendy--so now I'm trendy!

I also helped decorate the basketball girls locker room today, but of course, I didn't take my camera so instead you get a picture of me.

January 25th

Tonight was basketball against Northbrook. MiCayla's game was at home. We one 52 - 20. We started out really bad, so it was good that we came back and won this game since I think they are the last place team in our district.

January 24th

Tonight we attend Magnolia High School's performance of "Oz" for FHE. It was quite good however I did prefer the one they did last year of Cinderella, but this rated right up there. Unfortunately our schools performances are not anywhere as good as Magnolia Highs (our rival school), but I'm not too picky.We (take that term lightly--it should read Tom) had grown a spaghetti squash in the garden. It has been sitting in our pantry for about a month. I have never cooked a spaghetti squash but decided today was the day. It was quite easy (I did it in the microwave and pretty good and really filling. We just put some parmesan and salt and pepper on it.

January 23rd

Memory:

Last year our dog Jesse found a little fawn in our back yard. She sniffed at her a bit and then left, but the fawn followed her thinking she was her mother I guess. Tom finally had to pick it up and carry it over to the wooded area so that she would leave Jesse alone.

January 22nd

Today the girls basketball team had a free throw fundraiser. You paid $150 to put 3 people together to see who could make the most baskets as a team out of 100. This team which included MiCayla won with 80 baskets. Ms. Doyle (in black) had paid for them to participate. However, they did not get the big prize because they had two girls from the basketball team (they were suppose to have one, but not two) as part of the threesome. The team that won actually had 72 baskets. They had fun doing it anyway and still received certificates for their hard work.

January 21st

Well it was another basketball night against Montgomery. Unfortunately we got creamed in both games, but MiCayla was high point scorer in her game. Look that determination on her face.Chase working hard to get to the basket.

January 20th

So we decided that we eat a lot of yogurt at our house, but it either has high fat or lots of artificial sweetners. So we decided to invest in a yogurt maker. Today was our first try. It only takes milk and a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt to get started (actually if you use skim milk then you need to add non-fat powder milk) that's cheap in my book. The only draw back is it does take about 15 minutes to prepare the milk and then it cooks in the little machine for 10 hours. You can add any flavor you want to each individual cup and honey if you want a sweeter taste. We'll see how it goes. I'm sure it will take a little bit of trial and error until I am satisfied since I am not a big yogurt eater (I do love the yogurt parfaits at McDonalds though).

January 19th

Every Wednesday I try to go to the temple. Since Mauren has a week off between jobs I invited her to join me (It has been a long time since we were able to go together). I had stopped at the hospital to see Velma Hughes (a sister I visit teach) and almost didn't leave in time to make it, but since I am a quick dresser I did fine. It was great to spend some time with Mauren.

Mauren said she hoped my eyes weren't closed since it was too hard to see in the small window of the camera to be certain, but either I was on the way to closing them or opening them or there was lots of sun in my eyes.

Tuesday, Jan. 18th

It was another basketball night. Last night we played Brenham. Chase's team was in Brenham and lost by 25 points. MiCayla was at home. They took it into overtime but in the end we lost by 12 points. We had 3 of our strong players fouled out in the 4th qtr. or the very beginning of overtime. That left MiCayla to play point, something she rarely does, and she was already struggling. The coach made her feel like the game was all up to her (she really seems to like to put her down) so MiCayla felt like it was all her fault that they lost, but it wasn't. There was so much going on on the floor and the refs not calling most of it. MiCayla went in for a layup and got slapped hard across the face and no foul called. Then the coach gets mad at her when she doesn't want to charge in again.

Such is life and the experiences that go with having a new coach that doesn't understand the tenderness of these impressionable girl's hearts. I told her this is in the past, it doesn't do any good to be angry because it just let's Satan in the door. She just needs to calm down, and reflect what she could learn from it.

It is sometimes difficult being the parent because you want the best for your child, but at the same time you want to understand that life is not always easy and that they need to learn from these hard times. I find I have spent a lot more time praying for them this basketball season than anytime before.

Monday, Jan. 17th

Someone told me that on a 365 day blog that you can include memories if you don't have a picture for that day. Since there wasn't much to take pictures of (I guess I could have taken a picture of my clean bathrooms).

Tom, myself and Ogles went on a Mediterranean cruise last May/June. Barcelona was where we flew into and got on a our cruise ship to see the rest. We were able to spend a full day walking around Barcelona and seeing some sites. There was so much more I wish we could have seen (like what is that big rocket looking thing in the middle of the picture?), but we are grateful for what we did get to see.

Memory: Barcelona, Spain

Sunday, Jan. 16th

Sundays are always hard days to come up with a picture. It's not like I'm going to take a picture of going to church. So here it is: rain. That's right--it has rained most of the day, so I took a picture of the wet driveway--exciting just like my life is on a Sunday, but I prefer it that way.This is the other fun and exciting thing going for today. MiCayla is reading "Kite Runner" for school. Me on the other hand, I went to church, to choir and then sat down with the kids and watched the final episode of Hannah Montana forever. How will we ever survive with out Hannah Montana? Hope everyone had a great day!

Saturday, Jan. 15th

Today was a nice easy Saturday. Nothing pressing to get done. Tyson and Chelsea brought the girls out to see grandpa and grandma. They are always telling their parents that they need to come see us even though we had seen them on Wednesday night for about 10 minutes. They are sweet little girls with lots of energy. Kaitlyn (the one in the pink) has been sick with RSV. Usually she is smiling lots, but since she isn't feeling so great we didn't get a smile in this picture.

Friday, January 14th

Today Tyson started putting the shingles on the roof of the barn. Isn't that just so exciting? It is to my husband.

The pool cleaner is always spraying the back windows and since it is a salt pool it leaves the windows a mess. So since my husband wanted to see the barn more clearly so he decided to clean the windows (I had just cleaned them less than a month ago, but I appreciate his excitement to do it again). He didn't realize it was so hard to get the salt off the windows. I feel so much more appreciated now.


It's Friday and of course that means basketball. Chase was playing in Waller, so we only got to see about 30 minutes of his game. They won. MiCayla was at home playing Waller. She had a great game and we won by 5. It is always more peaceful around home when they win and play good.

January 13, 2011

I really do not enjoy the cold! My husband and I had this discussion tonight about the cold. We both grew up in Idaho and thought we didn't mind the cold, but after living in the Texas for almost 30 years, we have decided that we prefer the heat over the cold. I just can't seem to get warm for more than short periods of time. Then with the cold comes itchy, dry skin. No fun!

Since it was so cold outside (cold is relative to some of you --in the 30's) again today I asked my husband to take the picture of HIS barn expansion project so I didn't have to go out in it.

He is so excited and loving how it is coming out that he didn't mind so much walking out to take the pictures for me.

Back view.
Front view. The walls on the wings were added today.

Wednesday, Jan. 12th

Tonight for young women's we did Faith Factor (aka Fear Factor). The girls seemed to have a good time. They were divided into 3 teams. She would ask a question, the team with the right answer first got 10 points and the other 2 teams had to participate in some of following activities in picture and the winning team would get 5 points.

This portion is digging in the dirt (ground up Oreos) to find the green gummy worm.This activity they were doing charades--trying to guess the name--King Benjamin.
This round they were eating baby food--pears and peas. They said the pears were ok (which was 5 points) but the peas (10 point value) were bad. Sarah (in the brown) managed to eat both jars and was awarded 15 points for her efforts.
This one they were licking whipping cream off the plate. Whoever got the most in 30 second won.
Here one more days progress on the barn. My husband is so excited for it--he is like a little kid at Christmas.

Tuesday, Jan. 11th

Of course, being Tuesday, we had basketball tonight. Chase's team won by 2 and MiCayla's team won by like 39. Since Chase was playing at home we attended his game. We attend MiCayla's on Friday since she'll be at home. It works out really well for us that we attend the home games because we were able to buy season tickets to save a little money. When we go to another school we have to pay.

So today when I got in my car I thought it was starting to have this funny smell. I went and worked out and then I went to buy groceries. I get into the back of my car to get out my reusable bags and I notice something in the cooler bags I keep in the car. There was a large package of ground beef (fortunately inside another plastic bag that the store provides for such things so they don't leak) that I had bought last Wednesday at Sams. I wanted to cry. Apparently when we unloaded the car last Wednesday, it got left inside. I guess it hadn't stunk until now because it has been soooo cold outside, but there went $13 down the drain. I guess I learned the hard way to make sure I double check everything.

This is the lastest update of our barn expansion. It is certainly a lot larger than I thought it would be.

January 10th

My morning started at 4:15 a.m. since MiCayla had to be at basketball practice and ready to go by 5:30. I was so tired because I kept waking up during the night and it didn't help that thinking about this blog caused me to lose sleep so after Chase left for seminary I went back to bed for an hour. My day was spent exercising, cleaning bathrooms, paying bills and just general clean up around the house and I even found time to sneak in some reading. It was really cold outside, but I did take a moment to run out back and take a picture of the progress going on with the barn expansion.

January 9th

I realized during the middle of the night that I had forgot to do my blog for Sunday. So the best picture I could come up with was a picture of our fire. It was cold and after church I spent quite a bit of time in front of the fire reading. On Sunday, there isn't much else for me to take pictures of so you may see more of the same.

January 8th

Today we had a man come to grind up pine stumps in our back area where the barn expansion is taking place. We ended up having 62 that needed to be done. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but things have been really cleared out and the stumps are gone. There is plenty of room now to build a nice fire ring with benches. I'm sad to see all the trees gone, but at the same time it will help the yard look tidier with the expansion. The fire keeps on smoldering after two days. As you can see there is still plenty there to burn.

More Basketball

Another Friday night, and more basketball games. Chase and MiCayla both had games tonight against Stratford. Since Chase had the home game we attended his. Unfortunately both lost. Chase's team by 7. MiCayla's team lost by 1 in double overtime. I guess it was a pretty one-sided game by the refs, but that happens occasionally. She'll get over it and more on to the next game on Tuesday. In this picture Chase is going up for the shot. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether he made it or not.

Just another day

It is pretty sad that the only pictures I have for today is of our of crushed concrete. I wasn't feeling real good today. In fact, I took a nap this morning and then again in the afternoon (which I never do). I guess I could of had my husband take a picture of me sleeping. (Speaking of sleeping-- it is 7:15 and my husband is sound asleep on the couch--I think he has been hanging out to much with me). But what can I say--when you don't feel good, you don't feel good. I hope to be back on the mend tomorrow and get to the gym to work out. I at least got my laundry done and my bedroom cleaned up, but that really wasn't that much

As part of our barn expansion we had 2 truck loads of crushed concrete brought in so that we don't get stuck in the mud we drive back there . There will be 2 additional truck loads when the cover is done on the back to put underneath instead of concrete. Thanks you Tom for modeling for us.

Another full day

Well I finally did it! I cleaned my craft room! At some point, when I have a little more time (never) I will go through and organize it. I try to do it once a year, but time has got away from me once again. He does look a lot better now though, so I feel like I can now start a project and make another mess. Such is life. I have a huge list of things I want to do, but seem to have a hard time finding the time. I just need to sleep less and craft more!
My husband and I had talked about doing a small project to the barn to add a little more covered area. However, the project was started earlier than planned and, of course, is becoming much bigger that I thought it would be. Our son Tyson is a builder and work is slow right now, so that is another reason we are doing this project early. I will try to keep you updated as work progresses.

Basketball, Basketball, Basketball

Tonight Chase and MiCayla played our big rival, Magnolia High. (We are Magnolia West). We caught most of Chase's game first and then went to MiCayla's and arrived just as it was starting. (There are benefits to having both games in the same small town). We lost both games, but they both played well.

Sorry to say that I didn't make it to cleaning my craft room today. To many other things came up like getting to spend a little time with 4 of my granddaughters (Yeah) and also cleaning bathrooms (Yuck) and fixing my bathroom sink so that it would drain properly. But I thought I would share a picture of the molten chocolate cakes we made for FHE tonight.

During the holidays my craft room became a junk room. It is the room where everything is just put when we are in a hurry and I have to come back and clean it later. Tomorrow my goal is to organize this place so it is usable again. My only problem is I do so many different crafts and there is not enough room to put everything, but I know that it can and will look better than this. Hopefully the picture tomorrow will show a somewhat cleaner, workable space.

New Years Day

We decided to play Xbox 360 Kinect for an activity tonight. It was Chase and MiCayla against Tom and I. Tom and I won one round and Chase and MiCayla won the other. Not bad for parents in their 50's.