And the winner is . . . .

ME!

You may have recently noticed that I added a few other blogs to my bloglist. These are people that occasionally I check out what creative projects they're doing. They have so many inspirational ideas that I decided to add them to my list to make it easier for me to find them. Well, one of them, Wendy Sue Anderson, was having a giveaway of dots and stripes paper. Who doesn't love dots??? I've been known to buy dots in several colors before or whole pads before of just dots, so this was a cross-your-fingers and make a comment. And, for the first time, I Won!

Wendy's pages are always colorful, cheerful, and darling. She uses cute little embellishments that aren't complicated, but perfectly add to her scrapbook pages. Thanks Wendy! Her blog is called just me . . . and my little world.

Anyhow, I thought, what if I did a giveaway also? I'm going to take a look at my stash so check back tomorrow and see what I've come up with, and if you're interested, maybe you can be a winner too.

With so much attention being paid to BigBuddy these past few days I thought it was time to give a little to the rest of the family.

Cowgirl, our hard-working, fun-loving, and family-centered oldest daughter is picking up furniture from her grandparents this weekend before they move. She is really sad that they are moving closer by me because she has really enjoyed having them closer to her. I understand that. I really do. If we can get her here more often it could be the best of both worlds! We have a lot of fun when she's home, but she's at that busy phase of life so that doesn't happen often enough for me. At least we can talk and text regularly. I love having her for my daughter.

MyMike. . . poor guy. He's getting a root canal this Friday, after being miserable since last Friday. On the more positive side, the company that he is working for loves him and he loves working there. It is such a good fit it was worth the move. Everyone should know that they are contributing and appreciated. Right now he is working on unmanned vehicles which I think should make the world safer for the good guys. Its nice that its not top secret and we can visit him at his office once in a while. I love this man. Part of the reason he wanted to move me here was to have less stress in my life and that has been the case. I don't teach anymore. I can send MyGirl to public schools sometimes and get a break from homeschooling. Getting old together with him is a good thing. Now if we can both stay healthy enough to enjoy it!

LittleBuddy told me today that he wants a real job. He told me he gets bored when his big brother goes to work and he would like a nicer paycheck than he's currently receiving. I thought that was cute for a twelve year old. When he gets bored he resorts to his electronics, which I've limited. But, I have to give him credit, because after we talked this morning, he went hiking with his brother and sister, then read his book for two hours. I am teaching him piano lessons again and I am looking for a good viola teacher close as well. This little guy has a lot of untapped talents. I think I need to work harder at helping him find them all. Last week he thought he'd try his hand at computer programming, and he was successful. He has a lot of fun at Scouts and with his friends. One is coming to stay with us when his parents go to Trek, and LittleBuddy can't wait!

Here is a sweet picture of MyGirl. She didn't know I was taking this photo of her at the reunion. That's a good thing. She's Anti-Photos. She went to her friend's house last Saturday. They went on a hike to the park and back. She saw a garter snake on the way and didn't freak. She's a better girl than her mother! The Pioneer Re-enactment Trek is in less than two weeks. They're going up to Rocky Ridge and Devil's Gate, where the actual handcart pioneers suffered. She was sick when our former stake went on Trek, but now she will get to leave young women's having had this opportunity. This will be a unique and truly memorable experience. Only nine groups a year are allowed into Rocky Ridge, and our stake is one, however they have to climb/hike 15 miles the first day. Rocky Ridge is mostly uphill, and its not going to be easy. The Trek Dr. came and spoke to us all last week and told the youth to take a Large gulp of water Every Five Minutes. Its going to be hot and dry and rocky and dusty! They are walking in memory of one of the pioneers who actually walked. Its been humbling to learn about that woman's life. I'll share her story later. I have been proud of MyGirl that she really hasn't complained as she's been preparing. Last week she and her big brother hiked 13 miles in a few hours and she did fine except for the sunburned top of her head. At least she'll be wearing a bonnet on the real trek. I know it will be harder to have a handcart to move besides herself, but she's strong and she's healthy. What a huge blessing that is! And she won't be doing it alone. We still have some wardrobe issues to fix, but that's tomorrow's agenda.
So, that's what's up.

Families are the best!

Every day there's something on the news that makes me want to hug them all and keep them closer. To quote one of my favorite songs, "Shower the people you love with love." Words that I need to remember always!

Yummy Things

I forgot to share these photos of the dessert MyGirl made for the Fourth. Yummy cheesecake bars with an oatmeal crust. Loved how patriotic these were, with the help of the smallest size Wilton star cookie cutter.
And, the Corn Salsa - So good, I'm including the recipe. I got this from the cookbook "Celebrate," put out by the American Cancer Society. Fresh, Healthy, and So YUMMY!

Corn, Onion, Red Pepper, White Bean, and Cilantro Salsa

1 15 oz. can white beans, rinsed

1 15 oz. can yellow corn, drained

1 large red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 large yellow onion, diced finely

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely

1 T. lime juice

1/2 T. tabasco sauce

dash of salt

Toss it all together and serve. This picture above was taken right after I put it on the table on the 4th. Fifteen minutes later, half the bowl was gone. It was that fresh and good. Everyone loved it, even LittleBuddy who doesn't like peppers. MyMike and I put it on our grilled meat for a relish. I am definitely making this again! BigBuddy likes all salsas. I wonder if they have a lot of those in Brazil? I can only think of the Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian restaurant that serves a lot of yummy marinated meat. If he has to survive on that, he definitely won't mind!

It was raining yesterday evening, so instead of our S'more Saturday Night we made Foil Dinners and baked them in the oven at 350 for an hour.

Foil Dinners -

Layer the following:

sliced onions

hamburger patties

salt, pepper, and Montreal Steak seasoning

baby carrots

sliced Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

Wrap tightly in Aluminum foil and put directly on the oven rack or outdoor grill, seams up.

Then we put the foil dinners on paper plates, and made the most of our indoor/outdoor meal. We like a squirt of Sweet Baby Ray's on top. . . .Mmmmmm! You can substitute chicken breast or pork chops for the hamburger also.

Served with fresh watermelon and cucumbers, everyone was full and happy. I liked this because MyGirl and I could put it together as a team easily and quickly, and everyone loved them.

Our Missionary

*Note the change made below - what I mistakenly wrote as Jerusalem, was an error of my too excited brain, and should actually be: Bethlehem.

I woke up this morning to BigBuddy looking out the window. "Look, Mom! They're on our side of the creek." Not one, but two, beautiful does enjoying the green grass and the water. It's going to be a good day, we both agreed.
Around 1:15 pm I checked the mail box. It's Here!!! I texted him at work, then found Cowgirl's work number, grabbed my camera, and called Mike, who had just called me. About ten minutes later, Mike was home, I was dialing my cell phone, and Bigbuddy drove into the driveway, got the keys, and went to the mailbox. LittleBuddy was with him.

It's HERE!!!
As he's opening it up, he's so excited, the envelope gets pretty ripped.

Cowgirls on the phone by his ear, as he reads out loud the words,

"going to Brazil Belem, entering the Brazilian MTC on Dec. 14, 2011."
He talks to Shaena and is so thrilled. Tears are in both our eyes. MyGirl is running around exclaiming, "I can't believe I was right. I said he'd go to Brazil. I just can't believe I was right." My dad had predicted the same thing. He then called his grandparents, his best friend back in Maryland, and texted our bishop and his favorite friend that is a girl. He really felt speechless. Happy, overjoyed, and humbled.

He is going to be a missionary! What a tremendous privilege! To be called to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and bring His message to others is a great joy and opportunity not given to everyone. In fact, the third paragraph of his letter says, "You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel." To hold oneself to this standard is not for everyone, but the blessings are great for those choose to do so, and I am very excited for the blessings that await him as a missionary. He has a new language to learn and we have a lot of things to buy and prepare, but he has his VISA, he has his CALL, and he is Willing to Serve!

So, in the past two and a half hours, this is what I have learned about Belem from the internet, either through Wikipedia or letters written by missionaries that have been posted, or by the girl from our stake who just returned from there a couple of weeks ago and spoke in our ward.

The city is named after *Bethlehem, where the Savior was born, and also after the city of Belem, in Portugal. Cowgirl gets credit there for dreaming he was going to be serving in Portugal - very close - speaking the same language, and named for a city there.

It has almost 2 million people that live there, and lately has had a large influx of skyscraper building. It is located on the 5th degree latitude from the Equator, so is considered a tropical climate and has no dry season. Belem is on the estuary of the Amazon River, that spills into the Atlantic Ocean. The mission itself takes the northern border of Brazil and goes halfway into the rainforest.

There is a big disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and the missionaries for the most part live poor, as in no warm showers for two years. The language in that area is known for being the most difficult to understand due to their extremely fast speed, slang, and accent. My boy will be calling upon the Lord regularly, I'm sure, for help. He and I had a good talk last night. When you love the Lord and trust him, it doesn't matter where you're called or what language you're speaking, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

He loves the Lord. He will love the Brazilian people. He will probably like all the food except for the cowtail soup, which the sister missionary said was chewy, and not very appetizing. He will serve with his heart, mind, and strength, and share his testimony of Jesus Christ.

I know there will be challenges and I know there will be trials, but I am thrilled he has this opportunity. I will now be developing a new love for all things Brazilian. This will be a wonderful experience for our whole family to share, as we do what we can to support him. Part of our faith is to know that we are sending him farther than we can drive if things go bad, and trusting that the Lord will provide what is needed. I shed tears of joy after his call, feeling the same emotion I did when he was born - what a privilege it is to be a mother and to now be the mother of a missionary. I will cherish this day always, for the opportunity it presents!

Fourth Fun

I knew it was going to be a good day when I saw this deer with antlers staring at me when I got up. A little while later his two friends joined him further up the hill, and stayed for about an hour.
We got up early this holiday weekend, made waffles, then headed to the high school for the bus pick-up that took us downtown. Our little town only has about a dozen square blocks, and they were expecting about 25thousand people, so we wanted to Avoid Traffic. That's usually our third major goal of all 4th of July's. #1 is to feel patriotic. #2 stay safe.
The theme was, "Liberty and Justice for All."
I loved everything about this. Sitting at an intersection, under a shady spot of trees and the community church behind me, we'd brought our camp chairs and water bottles and were ready. Everyone was dressed in red, white and blue, lots of families and teenagers and elderly and groups of friends. . . truly something for everyone. We arrived about twenty minutes before it began.
First came the children's parade - on bikes, scooters, and wagons
all decorated, with parents close-by.
These two pulled out of the line and onto our street. A second after this occurred, the hat was snatched, the boy was screaming and the girl looked as smug as a toddler can. It really was the comedy moment of the whole thing.
Music was interspersed. These teenagers were first. Sounded great! I love marching bands!
This was one of the last. He was being towed behind a truck, just playing patriotic music down the road . . . so great! Loved all his decorations too. It had that kind of home-town feel.
The fifes were part of the Civil War Reenactment unit. Didn't know there was one close by.
Then came the troops. Everyone stood and clapped and cheered so loudly. It was moving. I almost forgot to take their picture, but at least you can see their backs.
We saw all kinds of military assemblies -

Tanks,
Vets,
Subs?? MyMike looked at me somewhat shocked. We're a long ways from water, so we weren't expecting this, but it was still exciting.
Shriners carrying our flag and those of our neighbors. I took this photo for my mom, Dennis, Debbie, and Julie. You know I love you always!
There were some surprises too. . . Captain Jack? At the 4th of July parade?
He was with the Renaissance group. I was glad to see the camel. I missed it on our trip to the zoo. Now I've had my camel-fill for the year. I like camels. I don't know why, but I do.
Cowgirls, of course. Cowboys too, but this photo is in honor of you know who. Go Brunettes! Love you too always!
Our only float - a Marine!
My new favorite colors this year are orange and turquoise. A beautifully costumed Native American. So bright and neat headdress.
Our local heroes - they took the state 5A hockey championships
Old cars. Yes, there were some really old ones, and some really cool ones, but this was my favorite. I used to have a yellow one. It wasn't a convertible. I never owned a surfboard, but I looked at Mike and said, "That's what I want to drive next - in turquoise. He smiled, "First you have to find one that runs, and they're probably not selling that one." Always has to be the practical one. . . . mmph! Translating that also to mean - no chance am I fixing up an old car for you. Still, I know he loves me. He did all the clean up with the kids after our BBQ while I had nap 2.

There were over a hundred entries in this parade, but this is a good sampling. It was a lot of fun. There was a great spirit of patriotism and values. Lots of signs like "Freedom isn't free" and "Sons of liberty." I loved it all. However, it was THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. Thank goodness for the shade tree! I drank my entire liter of water, came home, ate a popsicle, went into the basement, where it is always cooler, and fell asleep on the recliner. Woke up just in time to make everything we needed for our BBQ, napped again, then went down the street to the school hill, and watched the Air Force Academy fireworks on the Left, and the Lake's fireworks on the right. We liked the Academy's best. I think next year, we'll go to where we saw the Thunderbirds and get a close-up view and avoid the 50 thousand who were in the Academy stadium. The traffic coming home will be so much better!

AND - - - Waiting still for THE CALL. Today his schedule is noon - eight, so he's coming home on his break at 4 to check. The mailman should have delivered by now. I'm letting him take it out of the mailbox. Just thinking it could be here right now - I can hardly stand it! There may be another blog post later today. I'm on my way to Costco. Got to keep busy and free from temptation (of the mailbox kind - not so good for the appetite kind) until 4!

UPDATE: Sent on the 28th according to the church website, doesn't necessarily mean its in the mail. Our bishop checked - it was just sent Today. We've waited this long. We will wait some more. If it gets here on Thursday that will be 23 days . . . long compared to everyone else we know around here, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.

Good Books

In March I started reading the Porter Rockwell Chronicles. There are four books to the series. I think I may have mentioned them before. I finished them when Littlebuddy got his braces on the end of May. In the past month, apparently I have a lot of dentist/doctor's appointments to drive to, because that's mostly when I read.

I've just finished The Undaunted, by Gerald Lund, about the Hole in the Rock pioneers. It was fun to see their story in some detail in the Ensign this month too, but nothing like reading the book. I loved it! So inspired by it! With MyGirl getting ready for Trek in three weeks, we are talking and thinking a lot about pioneers these days.

On Friday, MyGirl got her New set of braces on. Isn't that sad that she had to be just like her mother and after already wearing them for two and a half years, get a new set? I feel her pain. Hopefully these will be off earlier than mine were! So, I had to grab a new book for the hour plus appointment. I am so glad I reached for Unlikely Heroes by Ron Carter.

I met Bro. Carter when he was the guest speaker at our Stake Youth Conference, and I was assigned to "take care of him, whatever he needs." It was a lovely opportunity to pick up he and his wife every day at their hotel, introduce them before they were to speak, and spend time with them as we toured Washington D.C. with the youth, make sure they were comfortable, etc. He shared some great stories how ordinary people influenced the Revolutionary War. On the bus rides back and forth he had many stories to share with me and those sitting close enough to hear. I was a totally captive audience. I encouraged him to compile them in a book, and he did. Since that time, sadly he has passed away.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is a goldmine of inspiration and appreciation not just because of the acts of courageous human beings but, very clearly to me, is more evidence of the handiwork of a loving Heavenly Father who watches even the smallest details. When needed he takes care of what no one else can, like having the clouds cover a full moon, or sending a person in your path that you already know and trust, when you are acting as a spy trying to get confidential information to General Washington. . . seriously cool things. And, my love for George Washington continues to grow. Someday I hope to be able to thank him, inadequate as it may be. I am on page 140 and eagerly looking forward to a Tues. morning Dr. appt. to finish it.

Tomorrow our little town is having a parade and maybe fireworks. I'm excited! My first time living in a place with a hometown parade. The bishop even announced it from the pulpit, for all of us new families to know about, but we had already found out about at the hair salon. Little towns are great! The community is also holding a street fair afterwards until 3 pm. Then everyone is encouraged to go home and grill, because the fireworks start over the lake at 9:30. I can't wait!

Happy Independence Day weekend! Thank you to all those who serve our country willingly and unselfishly! You are a blessing to us all.

And, no mission call yet - 19 days and waiting. We stalked the mailman yesterday. . . "he's at the mailbox across the street, he just turned up the cul-de-sac," it was so sad when it wasn't there. Hoping for Tuesday. That will be 21 days from when we first turned it in, and a week since it was sent. We're only across the Rocky Mountains. Maybe the mailman took the scenic route??? Paddling upstream over the gorge?? Wanted to hike a fourteener with his mail pouch on his back?? We've verified the address is correct, zip, everything. Another test of patience. . . . Time to go find my book!

Happy Birthday Cowgirl!

Happy Birthday Cowgirl!

This girl has ALWAYS been able to do whatever it is she sets her mind to.

Currently she is an assistant store-manager, full-time student (making great grades), holds a church calling, has friends who love her, and is a dear daughter and sister. She made time to see us both in May AND June. Somehow she keeps it all together, and well, we just consider her pretty amazing!

She was born on the same day as her great-grandfather. He was a ranch foreman, so the fact she thinks of herself as a cowgirl should come as no surprise. She loves living out West. Its where she belongs. Part of why we came out here is to be closer to her, and we are. I don't know when we are going to see her next, but we need to get that planned soon. We miss her every day. She is a lot like her grandma Jacobs, always ready and up for something fun to do, very creative, and is a lot of fun. She always is on time, abhors being late, and is a natural leader. She's also very smart, and school comes easy. There's lots to admire about her. Not to mention that she's just beautiful.

Its a good thing when your children leave you and you see their lives become successful. She still has more goals yet to be realized, but we all know life comes at us one day at a time, and since its the girl who puts her mind to things and makes them happen, we know they will!