I'm in it!

A while back I was looking at the Worldwide Ward Cookbook, and saw that my friend had submitted a few recipes. I got on-line to find out if another cookbook was in the works, and sure enough, there was! I submitted a bunch of recipes...and 3 of them were published!
I got my cookbook today... so excited!

He does not starve!

I got a sweet letter from my cute elder son today. He told me that he was very grateful that I taught him to cook because he hasn't eaten any Raman since he has been on his mission!

He says he loves to cook, and that all the

missionaries love to eat his food.

Isn't he so cute?

Popcorn Popping...

on our wild pear tree...

Macy Dog...

Before even Ollie died, Lauren was getting a new dog from her "boy friend" Preston. Macy was born March 4th, and was the runt of the litter. Macy is 1/2 long-hair dachshund, 1/4 malties, 1/4 poodle. She is so tiny, and so cute... Kids were super excited when they saw her today because I kept it a secret. I made arrangements with Preston's mom to meet her in New Boston today. Lauren & I were planning on getting her Saturday, but today was better...

and I didn't have to drive far!

She is laying next to Joey's size 8 toddlers crocs.

(Yes, Joey does have a small foot!)

Awwwwwww... sleeping while Joey is watching Diego.

What have I gotten myself into?? I like dogs to be potty-trained, and at least a year old! YIKES!!

Phantom of the Opera

This past December we went to my parents house to visit during the kids Christmas break. Lauren & Kayley mostly stayed at my brother's house in Temple. Brandon & Rebekah are excellent piano players. I mean Rebekah was asked to be 1 of 12 piano players at the RNC in Dallas this summer! Lauren got a copy, 8 pages, of the Phantom of the Opera theme (?) song. Almost every day since, she has been practicing this song, and can play the first 4 pages really good. I want to say she told me that she is trying to memorize it. Her goal is to have it all ready to play in the Ward Talent Show in December. I must say, I am quite proud of her. She also has been practicing the 2010 Youth theme, Be Strong, as well. She is playing that in Sacrament Meeting on May 16th.

A new teenager!

Kayley turned the big 1-3 on April 1st. She is now the 3rd official teenager that I have, even though only 2 live in my house! I hope this girl lives to see her 14th birthday... such a pouter she is (as she is by me as I type this... but really, she is!)

I forgot to get a picture of her on her birthday, so here

she is from yesterday, with her cousin MaKayla.

Such a beautiful daughter!

Sweet MaKayla, almost 12. We haven't seen her in a while, so I decided to get a cute picture of her. We really enjoy seeing her, and wish she lived closer!

Krissy, Lindsey, Kayley & MaKayla ready for church. Couldn't wait on Lauren, as she is never ready on time these days, it seems!

Dying Easter Eggs

I will have to admit, dying Easter eggs is not a favorite activity of mine. I always make sure that one of the Grandmas will do it. This year, Mimi got lucky to be the Grandma to do it. But really she didn't have to do a thing except boil the eggs, because 2 of her older granddaughters, Lauren & Kayley, were there to help the small grandchildren...

Colby, Rachel & LaNiece

Lauren, Krissy & Kayley

Kayley, LaNaye, Jacob, Rachel, Colby

Rachel & Joey posing... he wanted to be in that pool instead! Unfortuately no swimming happened because the weather had not been warm to make the water warm. It was way cold, and I didn't need sick kids!

Gettin' a hairs cut!

I went to Killeen 2 weekends in a row in March/April. First time it was for Spring Break, and 2nd time it was for Easter, since Shawn had to work the whole weekend anyway. After Spring Break, I tried to get Jacob in for a hairs cut because he was startin' to have a mop up there, but Kelly had no time to cut it, and he didn't want me to buzz his head like I did Joey's a few weeks back. We headed back to Killeen with no hairs cut. The Saturday before Easter, Jacob and I had to go to Walmart, so between sessions of General Conference, we headed over. Just as I pulled back in to my parents drive-way, I decided right then that Jacob needed a hairs cut at a Korean Barber Shop. So over to Ft. Hood Street we went to find Ci-Ci's. We didn't have a wait. We said we wanted a flat-top. I think the lady was thinking I was crazy snappin' pictures but he had never been to a barber, especially a good Korean barber!

She was fast, and kept moving Jacob's head back to where she put it the first time!

Look at the hose on those clippers! Let me tell ya... that was the coolest thing! The kid hardly had a piece of hair on him when the cut was over.
She spent quite a while getting that top flat...

Watch out Maverick! I think this kid is way more good lookin' then you ever dreamed of bein'!

Ollie, 2001-2010

On April 14th, our dog, Ollie... our cute dog that we've had for 7 years, died. He was Josh's dog. We wrote him a letter to tell him that he had died, and today in his email, Josh said that he was expecting it, even though he didn't want it to happen. He wasn't upset or anything. I cried when Shawn told me he had died. He was getting up there in age, and for the past few months he wasn't as frisky as he once was. He stayed around the house more, even though there was always time to trap a possom, snag a chicken or 2, or even gnaw on a deer leg...

Ollie, November 2009
Ollie and the girls... Zoie (L) and Cali, August 2009

Blogging 101

I am at my parents for Easters, and of course I have my laptop. Since my blog hasn't been updated in a while, I thought I would change the template, and put another cute one on, and so I tried deleting everything, and did this and did that, and nothing happened! I so need some serious help in Blogging 101.

On April 7th, I am getting wireless! Ok, not wireless I don't think, but Hughes Net? It's satellite... right? Anyway, it's suppose to be like super fast, so I am getting super excited! Maybe then I can figure this all out!

Yesteryear... 1984

This is me. This was the day of my first church dance in August 1984 in Fairbanks, Alaska. I am on the laptop, and found this picture of me that I must of downloaded before, and forgot about. I hope I haven't posted it already, but this is me. Age 14. Priceless!

Elder Miller

Elder Miller spent his first 6 months at the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Chubbuck, ID. He loved his companions, Elders Hernandez (from Lufkin, Tx), and Foni (from LA, I think). At the beginning of February he was transferred to Idaho Falls, Lincoln Stake. He says he covers like the whole stake, but at least 4 wards. He loves the area. He is enjoying his mission, even though he has told me that he gets excited when he says "I come home next summer!" What a goof. Here are some pictures that I have failed to post because of dial-up.

Idaho Falls, February 2010.

Elder Rasmussen and Elder Miller, Idaho Falls
Transfer Day, February 2010

Transfer Day, February 2010

In the snow, Chubbuck

Baptism Day, Elder Foni & Elder Miller

Elder Foni & Elder Miller

Guess all missionaries need to sleep sometime!

Need emails!

When I updated my new blog look, I lost some things... one being my friends blogs. I would like to add them again. This time I will save them on a seperate piece of paper with all my passwords, etc... LOL!! Please post yours on here, or send me an email: heidi718@juno.com

Also, yes. Lauren has a boyfriend. Yes, they are only 15 (well, Lauren will be 15 in a few months). No, I'm not pushing her to have a boyfriend, but I had one at 15. And he probably wasn't the best boyfriend, but I still had one, or a few, or rather many. LOL! The thing about Preston is, he lives 2 hrs away! So it's perfect! And they only see each other at church dances, and that's ONLY if I take her to a Gilmer Stake Dance. She did go to his house for the weekend a few weeks ago, but he also has a sister who is her age (a few months younger), and is also in 8th grade like Lauren, and they are good friends too. I wasn't worried. They have a good family. True, things still could happened, but I am not worried. I can't even get Lauren to hold Preston's hand! First thing I asked her after the dance... did you hold his hand? NO, MOM!! What?!?!? Come on... you can at least hold hands!! LOL!! But I am glad they aren't. They are waiting until the are 16. You know, I really have a good kid!

Sweethearts...

This is Preston. He is really such a cute kid, and Lauren really likes him. He is from the Gilmer Stake. There was a Quad-Stake Dance last night in Longview, Tx (Longview, Gilmer, Tyler & Shreveport Stakes), and I took Lauren. We went to dinner with Preston's parents & sister Jaci. We had a great time watching them, and just hanging out talking with other parents/leaders. It's so fun watching them... brings back memories!

Happy 44th Birthday Shawn!

Yep... turned the big 4-4 on the 12th! Just thought I would post a few pictures of him.

Seriously, what mother would allow their kid to look like this? Shawn (abt 16 in this pix) said he probably didn't even take a shower that day, and if you saw the original picture, you would be able to see the greasy hair! And not to shave? And then the transition glasses? Only thing I am jealous about is that he got this "reflection picture" done because when I was a kid, I always wanted to get them done!

Hair in this picture doesn't look to bad, and by this age (maybe 18?) he was already wearing contacts. But the 'stache? I guess only a mother could love it? Good thing I wasn't his mother! I would have had him shave it off! And yes, that is Shane...

Snow Day in Ashdown!

Starting Thursday (11th) about 10am, it started snowing. Because our kids didn't already have school on Friday the 12th, Valentine Parties were Thursday afternoon at the schools. By the time the kids got home from school, there was enough snow on the ground to build snowmen, make snow angels, go down the hill on the plastic trash can lids, and to have snowball fights! By Friday afternoon most of it was gone, but it was nice for the kids when it lasted!

Backyard looking out towards the lake...

Lindsey Lou Who
Kayley and Krissy!

Krissy mad that her snowman fell...

Jacob, Joey & Lauren building their snowman...

Only downside? Wet, wet, wet snow, and when the kids came in, everything was wet and muddy! Good thing for the invention of washers & dryers!

Lindsey is 6!

Can you believe it? My baby girl is 6!

Her birthday was February 2nd. We had a family party.

I made her a 3- layer chocolate-chip cake. It was so good!

Just being cute!

MLK Monday!

We celebrated MLK day by going to the Little River @ the White Cliffs area east of Ben Lomand, AR. We didn't go fishing though... We came home and had a BBQ with the missionaries.

Sisters!

Back in January, there was a Stake Activity for the youth. The 2 girls were excited to go because of the dance afterwards, even though 12 & 13 year olds were there (don't get me started on that!). Let's just say Kayley attended her last dance until she is 14.

Can you believe how much taller Lauren is? She is almost 5'8! Hope she stops growing, and that her foot grows to a 9 1/2 (currently it's size 9N), so that I can start wearing her cool shoes!

A new Sunbeam!

This is it... the last one! Our last Sunbeam ever!
Well, until the grandkids come!

And he is doing awesome! Hated it at first, but now he loves it!

Facebook won!

So I joined Facebook actively towards the end of 2008. In 2008 I posted almost 300 posts on my blog. In 2009, I think I only posted 104. I tell ya, if you want to know more about me, Facebook is the only way!

Small pictures

Before I came to Killeen to visit my parents/family, I quickly uploaded pictures to Facebook so that I could download them to the laptop after arriving. But the pictures turned out small. The one picture that was taken of Josh in 2000 (or now I'm thinking it was 2001) was already on the computer, so I'm thinking that is why that one turned out bigger? When I do blog at home and add pictures using dial-up, I select "small" pictures because it doesn't take as long (even though it's already taking 15 minutes to add 5 pictures!) to download.

Dial-up just stinks!