Our Family Motto?

Perhaps you remember that some time,

a long time ago,

we started a "family tradition"

of going out to breakfast on patriotic holidays.

At least that's how the story goes.

Well, this morning

when I asked the hubby

what he was going to make me for breakfast

he replied, "IHOP".

I voted for Village Inn.

I knew from past experience

that the other members of the family

needed to be invited.

Luckily, for our bank account,

the majority of our family

were out of town today

so we were a small family of four.

I haven't been to Village Inn in a long time

and they had done some redecorating.

I actually thought it was fun.

We were seated right next to this wall.

I'm thinking this is the perfect decoration

for my dining room

since it very easily could be our family motto.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you had a Happy Fourth

enjoying your own family traditions.

Today I am grateful that

I have friends and family to barbecue and celebrate the 4th with. Even though we are getting less and less festive as the years go by. No one took a single photo and we all wimped out on going somewhere to watch the fireworks. Fireworks lose their appeal for me when it is HOT.

I wasn't the grandma having a nervous breakdown every time a little boy stayed under the water a little too long in the pool.

my hubby cleaned the family room to make up for not making me breakfast.

Some Zerberts For Your Enjoyment

A few summers ago my children spent some of their free time watching all the seasons of "The Cosby Show". One of the things that came from this activity was a new family word - Zerbert. According to urbandictionary.com a zerbert is a sloppy kiss where you blow, making a farting sound (previously referred to in our family as a raspberrry).

This word was first introduced on "The Cosby Show", (Season 2, Episode 11). In the episode, Vanessa was practicing for a spelling test, and Rudy kept interrupting, asking what a series of nonsense letters spelled. The following, including spelling, is taken from the subtitles as transmitted.

Rudy: Vanessa, what does "Q-N-G-H" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing. Give me another word.

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing!

Rudy: How come when you spell it's a word and when I spell it it's nothing?

Vanessa: Dad, I'm studying very hard for the spelling test, and she keeps asking dumb questions.

Cliff: I don't think anybody asks dumb questions. What's your problem?

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Cliff: "Z-R-B-T-T" spell? Uh... That's zurbitt. Zurbitt... uh.. You know what I think a zurbitt is? I just remembered. A zurbitt is this:(makes zrbtt on Rudy's cheek.)

As you can see, our family spelling and pronounciation may be a little bit off, but we all enjoy a good ZRBTT, zirbitt, or zerbert every now and then.

Today the youngest son shared some exceptional zerberts with his cousin's baby. Just looking at these pictures makes me want to giggle.




Who wouldn't want to zerbert those sweet little cheeks?

Father Lehi and the Tree of Life

I ran across this video and felt it was a wonderful Father's Day tribute. Back when this Lehi (the artist) was just a preschooler, his father was the "father" of the BYU Lamanite singles ward and my hubby served as his counselor in the bishopric when we were first married. We learned a lot from Bishop Sanchez and he has been a great example of a righteous father, not only to his own children, but to many, many other individuals over the years.



The other day when I went to the temple, I was impressed with the beautiful sunflowers they have planted this year. They give the temple a very different look, a somewhat masculine appearance. I decided that I would like to go to the temple on Father's day and take some pictures of my kids with their father and the sunflowers. By the time we finished Father's day dinner (and dessert) with the very extended family it was almost too dark for picture taking but we still managed to get a few good ones. We missed the youngest daughter, who still maintains that she is the very best Father's day present her dad ever received. She was born 22 years ago yesterday, on Father's Day. Just imagine her cute, smiling face right there with the rest of them.


My children are very fortunate to have the wonderful, supportive father that they were blessed with. He is a good example to all of us, but especially to his sons. I hope they grow up to be righteous fathers just like their dad.



Today I am thankful for

the father of my children.
cooperative family members.
Pima tacos and banana splits.

How We Celebrate

Today was the hubby's birthday. He is now a year older than he was yesterday. It is our family tradition to go out to dinner to celebrate some one's birthday and the birthday boy (or girl) gets to choose where we go. The hubby chose to visit the Golden Corral buffet. We all got lots to eat except the grandson. He kept trying to get Grandpa to share

but finally he just had to resort to eating the table.

After dinner we hung out in the parking lot opening gifts, visiting, taking pictures and entertaining the other restaurant patrons.

Once again the son-in-law had to go to class instead of party. I guess that's what he gets for taking a class on Monday night.

It may not sound very exciting to you, but it's how we like to celebrate and I enjoyed myself immensely.

Today I am grateful for

MY HUSBAND! I am so lucky to be married to the most wonderful man in the world and I'm looking forward to celebrating a lot more birthdays with him.

Surprise sales at JC Penney that made the birthday gifts a real bargain.
beautiful spring evenings in Arizona.

Family Night Farewell Picnic

Tonight we all enjoyed a picnic at the park in honor of the youngest daughter leaving the big city to return to small town Idaho. It was such a pretty spring evening and we had fun just hanging out together.

We ate lots of yummy food

and played on the swings.

The youngest daughter thought it would be fun to drink out of the doggy drinking fountain.

Perhaps that's how they do it in the country. I thought it was kind of gross though.

We attempted a group photo on the slide before we left. We laughed and laughed and laughed and took lots of funny shots, but this was the best pose we ended up with. The son-in-law had a class tonight so he didn't get to join us and the extra is the former roommate who is still occasionally a member of our family.

We are going to miss you youngest daughter. Don't have too much fun without us.

Today I am grateful for

a daughter who organized our family picnic.
laughter.
my family.

A Simple Insight

The Primary president that I work with at church has 2 small daughters and a husband that works nights, so she has a lot to do before church at 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings. Because of this, I volunteered to attend the 7:30 AM monthly Ward Council meeting whenever she needs me to. She thinks I am being generous, but little does she know, I actually enjoy these meetings. I don't necessarily enjoy the meetings, but I love the opportunity that my attendance gives me to listen to someone share one of their favorite scriptures and then to join in a brief discussion with a group of adults about what it means to us. Group, adult, spiritual interaction is something that seems to be sorely lacking in my life at the moment.

The scripture that was shared this morning was taken from chapter 3 in the book of
Jacob in the Book of Mormon and the part we discussed was found in verse 7.

"Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children..."

There it is in a nutshell. Think what a different world this would be if we all just did this each day in our homes.

I have been reading a book entitled "Today I Will - A Year of Quotes, Notes and Promises to Myself" by Eileen & Jerry Spinelli. It is a book that takes a quote from a book written for children or young adults and then expounds on the quote and offers a challenge or focus for the day. Today the quote referred to a family death and there was not a specific challenge but more of a thought.

"There is no specific instruction for today. Simply this: A heartening confirmation that my relationships with others are the most and the best of my earthly experience. And a reminder that the time I share with my family and friends is something to be celebrated and lived to the fullest."

I thought it was a fitting summation of my thoughts today.

Today I am grateful for

an obedient son who is willing to accept church responsibility.
a flashback cuddle session with one of my favorite 2 year olds.
a sweet musical number in sacrament meeting and a non member husband and father who came to hear it and was touched by the spirit.

Family Relations

I have been wondering about something. It has to do with extended family and how I refer to them. I have noticed that when I talk about our (my husbands and my) relatives I seem to believe in segregation. For instance, I usually refer to our nieces as "my niece" (of which there is only one) or "my hubby's niece" (of which there are many) instead of just saying our niece. I'm trying to decide why I make this differentiation. When I think of my aunts and uncles, I feel equally related to both of them - the one I am actually related to by blood as well as the one I am related to by marriage. They are both my Aunt and/or Uncle regardless of the official relationship and I consider myself their niece, not her niece or his niece. When I designate "mine" or "his" does it sound like I value one relative over the other? I really don't think I do, but I kind of think it sounds like it. I do think when you just say our _____ that it can sometimes be confusing. Quite a few years ago there was a young man in our ward who had just returned from his mission. One of my nephews was serving in this same mission and my husband struck up a conversation with this RM. He said, "I have a nephew that is in the same mission you just got home from. His name is Elder ______. Did you know him?" This young man looked at my husband and then looked at him again and said, "I knew an Elder ________, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't your nephew." You see this nephew is quite fair and probably the blondest nephew I have, and the elder could see that my hubby was obviously Native American. My husband laughed and said, "Actually he's my wife's nephew" which helped to clear things up and they decided that yes, it was the same person. It's obvious that my husband is more inclusive than I am, but he ended up having to differentiate anyway, so perhaps he should have just done it in the beginning.
So, I am curious. How do you refer to the relatives you have acquired through marriage? Do you lump everyone into the "our" category or do you separate them into "your ____" and "my ______"? Do you think there is a right way or a wrong way to do it or does it really not matter? Does the distance of the relationship make a difference in what you say? Take for instance, do you say my brother and his brother but refer to the nieces, nephews and cousins as our? In some relationships we have the option of using the ending in-law as in brother-in-law or mother-in-law. but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone referring to someone as their nephew-in-law or their cousin-in-law. Is anyone out there an etiquette expert? Is there some official, written guideline that I need to refer to? And what about the wives of my nephews? Are they now my nieces or our nieces or no nieces at all? Sometimes life can get very complicated.

Good Night

We have Sunday Dinner with the in-laws quite a few Sundays during the month. Sometimes I am content to sit there for hours and visit and some weeks I am ready to eat and go home. Tonight was one of those very pleasant evenings where I was happy to sit and relax and just enjoy my family. All of our kids came and it seemed like they were each in a sociable mood and quite good company.


The youngest son entertained the littlest cousins (and next generation cousins) with horsey rides.


We all enjoyed watching him try to run and keep his pants up at the same time. I also think the flower behind his ear is a nice touch.

We had birthday cake for the youngest son and the roommate.


I think I should have paid better attention during our cake decorating classes. My cakes leave a little bit to be desired and yes, this son also chose cherry chip cake with cherry frosting. Not too masculine, but a delicious choice.


The son has done a good job of stretching out his birthday celebration this year. He gets to open a present a day. You know what they say about kids - they usually enjoy the wrapping as much as the gift.
Today I am thankful for

cooler weather.
sons who harmonize in the van.
watermelon.
the fact that the 2 inches on water on the bathroom floor came from the toilet tank and not the toilet bowl.

One year ago today - Died and gone to Heaven, Baby Blankie has seen better days

Seventeen

Why does 17 sound so much older to me than 16?

Tonight we went out to eat to celebrate the youngest son's birthday. We went to Cafe Laguna for Indian Tacos and they were good. They had a soccer match showing on the TV so we hung around for a while watching it.

I think the restaurant workers were happy to see us go.
This picture reminds me of the cell phone commercial where the people represent the bars - shortest to tallest, almost.

And yup, I was there too!

Today I am thankful for

excuses to eat out with my family.
the safe arrival home of my son. He was in one piece and his scout pants were too.
any day in June that is cooler than 100.

One year ago today - Toe Surgery, National Doughnut Day!

Tongue Rolling

My kids like to make fun of me because I can't roll my tongue (bring the sides up toward the middle - see the son's example below).

They like to have me try to do it and then all laugh because I can't. I think it was in a biology class in college where I first learned that this is a hereditary trait. (There is some question as to whether or not this is true, but true or not it's fun to see who can and can't do it.) We traced my inability to perform this supposedly simple trick to my Grandma Christiansen on my mom's side. She couldn't do it either. We would both try and try. It just doesn't happen. Since this is a recessive trait, there has to be someone on my dad's side who couldn't do it as well. We never discovered who that was.

My kids like to show off their tongue rolling ability. Even the son-in-law was trying to get into the act.

So, can you roll your tongue?

Thoughts from Sacrament Meeting

Today we attended sacrament meeting in the Papago ward where the hubby had the opportunity to confirm his great-niece and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. For some reason as he said to her "receive the Holy Ghost" the words really hit me. What a great blessing I have to be able to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost in my life. I wonder, do I make an effort each day to "receive" him and all the blessings that he can bring to me? Often I take this gift for granted or fail to conduct myself in the way necessary to be influenced by him. I need to make having the spirit with me a priority each day. (I thought it was interesting that one year ago today I was also pondering on the importance of the Holy Ghost).

The talks in the meeting today were on charity. Two of the speakers were young men and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on charity and the individuals in their lives who are charitable. The last talk was about gossip and how charity is the cure for gossip. As members of the church, we are in a battle with Satan. All of the other members of the church (and a lot of other individuals) are fighting on our side in this battle. When we gossip about or bash others we are weakening our own defenses. Her analogy made me think about the concept of "friendly fire". In a war sometimes people are injured or killed by weapons being fired by their own comrades. I have always thought that "friendly fire" was a bad choice of words for this situation. How can something that hurts you ever be considered friendly? I think too many of us today are involved in way too many incidents of "friendly fire". We think it is funny or harmless to make sarcastic or derogatory comments about other people in the name of entertainment. I see this a lot with today's youth, but they are definitely not the only ones who have a problem with this. I like to think that I have a quick wit. Sarcasm is one of my specialties. I like to be funny, but sometimes I find myself aiming my humor gun at people. Something that I have always taught my children not to do as in "You don't point guns at people!". I need to think about what I say, even just to be funny, and who my "friendly fire" might hit and what damage it might cause.

Today I am grateful for

opportunities for my children to give service.
a husband, son, and son-in-law who hold the priesthood and are worthy to participate in priesthood ordinances.
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
dinner as a family (minus one).

One year ago today - Potluck at the Park, An Interesting Source for Inspiration.

Yasmine's Baptism

Today we attended the baptism of our great niece, Yasmine. She is the daughter of our niece, Sylvia, who passed away about a year ago. The missionaries have been teaching her and she decided she was ready to be baptised. We are proud of her for making this important decision. Her uncle baptised her. Her dad and the elders (or part of the elders) are in the picture also.

This is her with her brother and sisters and her Auntie (that they live with).

These are some of her cousins at the baptism.

My oldest son gave the talk on baptism and my oldest daughter gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. They both did a great job. The daughter got a little emotional while she was speaking. When she was finished, her cousin, the smallest one in the picture above, climbed on her lap and asked her why she was crying while she was talking. She told her it was because she was scared. I personally think it was because she felt the spirit or perhaps because she is pregnant. This cousin was really concerned about the tears and kept asking my daughter questions about her emotions.

After the baptism we went to my sister-in-law's house to eat dinner. This same cousin sat down by my youngest daughter and rather than calling her by her name kept referring to her as "the one who didn't cry". It was pretty funny. She also told us some other funny things that aren't very blog appropriate. We enjoyed her entertainment.

Today I am grateful for

dinner cooked by someone else.

baptisms and the spirit that I feel during them.

the support and love of an extended family.

One year ago today - Has anyone seen my son?

Birthday Boy

Today was the oldest boy's 23rd birthday. I don't know how my kids can be getting so old. He had planned to go out to Cafe Laguna for Indian Tacos to celebrate, but since his Auntie made those last night he decided he would rather eat at his old favorite "Mi Amigos". We were sure to tell them that it was his birthday so he could wear the sombero and be serenaded.

It was a fun meal with our "family", but our family is getting too big to go out to eat together very often.

This son was my only child to be born before his due date. He wasn't suppose to arrive until April 4th, but for some reason he really wanted to celebrate his birthday every year on April Fool's Day and hurried to get out. I was glad he came when he did since he was also my largest baby, weighing in at an even 9 pounds.

After dinner we came back to the house and opened gifts. I had bought him some new Jeans online and decided to even pay the extra money to have them hemmed. When he opened the package to check them out he found the extra material from the legs stuck in one of the pockets. He decided it would work as a headband and modeled for us.


Looking at how even that strip of fabric is cut, I could have probably done as good a job of hemming the pants as they did.

Today I am thankful for

a son who sets aside 15 minutes to talk to me every morning.
family and friends to celebrate with.
money.

Pima Tacos

This morning I got a phone call from my sister-in-law inviting our family to her house for dinner. About a year ago one of our nieces committed suicide leaving behind 4 children between the ages of 11 and 2. She had kind of distanced herself from the family and her children a few months prior to her death and the children, along with the father of the 2 youngest, were living with this sister-in-law when this all transpired. The father of the 2nd child eventually decided he wanted his daughter (who is 10 now) to come and live with him. She wasn't excited to be separated from her siblings and this turned out to not be a very positive situation in a lot of ways. This sister-in-law went to court to get custody of this child and today she came back home. She loves Pima Tacos and so we welcomed her back with food.

My oldest sister-in-law showing off her popover patting skills.

The hubby can cook with one hand in his pocket.

The kids waiting patiently to partake.

Today I am thankful for

dinner cooked by someone else.
my vacuum.
relatives who work hard to make life better for the kids we care about.
the chance to watch things grow in the fields around my in-laws homes. Right now it's a crop of wheat.

Water Fight

This afternoon I was attending a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters when I got a phone call from my youngest child. He wanted to know what had happened to the big bag of water balloons we had. I told him where they were and thought "water balloons sound like fun on a warm March day."
By the time I arrived home though they had tossed all the balloons and moved on to buckets and hoses. The sons, the daughter and the roommates all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It's hard to believe that it's still cold in a lot of the USA right now. I love Tempe, Arizona in March!!

Today I am thankful for

children that enjoy doing things together.

happy occasions to celebrate with my friends.

opportunities to sleep in.

The Deal

We have a problem in our family with the kind of words we use and the tone of voice we speak with. It has gotten to the point where pretty much at least half of the stuff that comes out of my mouth or my son's mouths seems to be sarcastic, facetious, unkind, impolite, contentious or just plan mean. I have been thinking for a while that we need to do something to change this, but I wasn't really sure how to help us stop. Today while the youngest son and I were waiting for his last (hopefully) visit with the oral surgeon he made a smart remark and I said, "I think you should see if you can go for a whole week without being sarcastic." His response was "What will you give me?" I told him I would kiss him on the forehead. That definitely wasn't going to cut it. "Will you buy me a car?" "Uh, No." "Will you let me get my driver's license?" "Nope." "If I go for a month without being sarcastic will you let me get my license?" I had to think about this one for a minute. First of all, the way things are in our home at the moment I would say the chances of him going for a month without being sarcastic are less than zero. Probably like a negative 50 at least. And that is not being sarcastic. That is the genuine truth. However, I could really enjoy an entire month of honest, polite responses coming out of this son's mouth. I was thinking it might actually be worth it. I wasn't going to give in too easily though so I upped the ante. "If you can go for a month without saying anything sarcastic, rude, or mean to any member of our family I will let you get your license." "This is going to be easy!" He was immediately checking his calendar in his phone to figure out what day of the week April 23rd was and entering a note that he was getting his driver's license on that day.
On the way home we stopped at Circle K so I could buy the son an ICEE in honor of his one year anniversary of giving up soda. He hasn't intentionally drunk any type of carbonated beverage since March 23, 2008. (He was tricked into drinking soda when he partook of the wedding punch at his sister's wedding reception last April before he was informed that one of the main ingredients happened to be 7up.) He went into the store to make his purchase and I waited in the car. When he came out I remarked "You smell like coffee. Have you been drinking coffee?" He quickly retorted, "All day, every day." I looked at him and he whacked himself on the knee. He pulled out his phone and changed his note. "On Friday, April 24 on I going to get my driver's license." Since then he has done quite well and I am thoroughly enjoying this welcome break from his wicked words. Now I just need to work on myself and his brother. Stay tuned to see how this episode of "Let's Make a Deal" turns out.

Today I am thankful for

a visiting teaching companion that makes the appointments.
a son that took out the trash without complaining and even gathered up the palm tree litter left by last night's windstorm without even being asked.
a husband that goes to the grocery store.
the last trip to the oral surgeon (I hope).

Draper Temple Open House

My sister was nice enough to take me to the Draper Utah Temple Openhouse on our way to the airport today. This was her second trip in two days, since she did the same thing for my other sister when she arrived in Salt Lake yesterday. In case I haven't said it before, "I love the temple." It was fun today to take the tour and see all the little touches that make this temple unique in it's own way. The best part of the visit though was watching as parents got down on their children's level and talked to them about what they liked and how they were feeling. It is a blessing for children to have the opportunity to be in the temple and experience the spirit that is present there. Hopefully they will remember their time spent there and have a strong desire to return when they are older.

Today I am thankful for

a sister to drive me to the airport.
another sister to come and stay with my mom.
a chance to have all the girls in the family together for a day.

EFY registration

This morning one of my friends, who is also the mother of one of my youngest son's friends, called around 8:00 and asked if my son had talked to me about going to EFY. Especially For Youth is a week long program sponsored by the church with social activities, spiritual classes, and lots of fun for teenagers. There are many different sessions in many different locations. She said she was trying to get a group of boys together to go to the session that was being held in Ogden, Utah the second week in July. Of course I had heard nothing about this from my son, but in his defense he was in Arizona and I was in Utah. I have always thought it would be wonderful for my kids to go to EFY, but it wasn't financially an option at times and other times they really weren't interested. I told her that it sounded fun to me and I would see if I could register him. Registration started this morning at 9:00 AM.
I texted the son to make sure this was something he wanted to do and he seemed excited so at 9:00 I attempted to sign on to the website and register him. At first the website wouldn't even open and then after trying for about 15 minutes I got on to the website and was greeted with the message that basically everyone else was trying to register their child for EFY and there would be a "wait in line". That was to be expected, so I waited.
Our mother/daughter plan for this morning was to go to the back and get all of the daughters authorized on my mom's bank accounts before she had to go to physical therapy at 11:00. I was patiently waiting for my turn to register and everyone else was patiently waiting for me to be ready to go to the bank. Finally just before 10:00 I said let's just go. I left the computer on and thought maybe we'd be back before my turn popped up.
The bank took quite a while and we dropped my mom off at her appointment and went home to find the computer looking just like we had left it. What we didn't know was if my turn in line had come and gone or if I was still waiting for a turn. I didn't want to close the page in case the line was really that long and it was going to let me on any second, but I wasn't sure so I opened the same page in a new window too and waited to see what happened.
My sister who arrived yesterday had come with the assignment from her family at home to buy a web cam for my mom's computer and set her up with a SKYPE account so they could make video phone calls to her and she could see them and their families and they could see how she was doing. She bought the camera on the way to mom's house yesterday so while we were waiting for the EFY Website to let me in we decided to set up everything and see if we could get it to work. I was a little bored sitting by the computer watching the 2 screens count from 60 down to 0 over and over again so I starting trying out some of the fun photo effects that came with the camera.
This is me trying to look nice in case someone calls.

Here's the rainbow effect. Do you think green makes my skin look a little purple?


This fishbowl effect was my favorite. It made us all laugh and laugh, which by the way is a very healthy thing to do.

We decided that when my mom feels sad and discouraged she can just get on the computer and make faces at herself and that can't help but make her feel better. When my mom came home she said this picture looked just like her. I always thought I looked like my dad.
I decided we needed to document the three sisters being together so we took our picture too.

We have all spent quite a bit of time with mom recently but we haven't had the chance to be here at the same time. It was fun to get to be together and watch movies and laugh and catch up on life. I am lucky to have such nice sisters.
My mom and the sister that was staying left to go to my mom's club luncheon just before 1:00 and my other sister and I tried to decide how long we should hang out to get the son registered. Finally she decided she would call her roommate and have her turn her computer on and check it for us every now and then. As soon as the roommate came on the phone, the registration page FINALLY popped on. Hooray! When I got to the part where I actually had to commit and pay the money for the week I vacillated for a moment if this was really such a good idea (the price had gone up from years ago when I had considered trying to get my other children to EFY, but I decided it would be a good experience for the boy. Hopefully he'll still be friends with all these guys by the time July rolls around. Maybe that's not as big a problem with boys as it is with girls.