My Secret is Out!!!

For months I have had a secret. All my friends in Utah have known and Sarah from Maine knew, but that was it. I surprised my friends from Maine last Wednesday by showing up for CKU in Stamford, Connecticut.

They got to the hotel about 9:30 pm and knocked on the door and I answered it. Kim was the first one to see me and she just stared at me and then started to yell, "what are you doing here?...Oh my GOSH!!!" Melanie was in the hall saying, "I knew she would be here...I just had a feeling." It was awesome. They were so happy to see me.

I had a great time at CKU. The best part for me was just the time I spent with my Maine Girls. We also got to be in the audience while they broadcast a QVC show. That us sitting in the audience in the picture. From left to right: Melanie, Kathy, Michele, Sarah, Kim and me. I think we were in some of the audience shots. It was all fun. I took lots of great classes and made some cool projects, but the coolest thing that happened was the last night we were there. I had entered the fall album cover that I made, and posted here a few weeks ago, in their album cover contest. I did not think I was going to win. BUT I DID!!! A big box full of product. I was tickled pink. ThenI had also entered a few cards into the teacher appreciation contest and got an honorable mention for the card I had made for Sweetwater Paper. I got a $50.00 gift certificate for that. Another really cool thing happened on the way to the airport. I had to catch a shuttle at 5:00am in the morning and got to ride with Stacy Julian the editor-in-chief of Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. She is just such a neat person and it was fun to have a one on one conversation with her. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met.

As usual I got VERY little sleep and was completely exhausted when I got home yesterday afternoon. It will probably take this whole week to get over all the "fun" I had last week.

Best Friends Forever

On Friday of last weekend, Belle and I drove to Kittery, Maine to visit with my friend Kim and her daughter Lucy. Lucy and Belle have been writing to eachother since we moved to Utah. Belle and I left Rhode Island about 8:00 am and as we drove North on the 95, I introduced Belle to Aretha Franklin, Jim Croce, and the Supremes. We bopped and danced our way to Maine. It was so neat to watch as the two girls saw eachother after a whole year. They were obviously very excited to see eachother and it seemed they just picked up where they left off last October. We walked around all the outlets and even hit some great deals. The Children's Place had a great sale going on so I purchased some clothes for all my kids. Belle and Lucy giggled, played and talked. Kim filled me in on all the Augusta talk. It was sad when 3:00 o'clock rolled around and I knew we would have to leave. Belle and Lucy huggged. We took some parting pictures and then waved good-bye as we drove away from the McDonald's where we had initially met. Kim and I both hope that we can keep this beautiful friendship between these two girls alive as they grow and mature during these upcoming years. We even joked a little about...wouldn't it be neat if the two girls were roommates at BYU.

Sassafras Ledge

While we were in Rhode Island, Steve's parents took us to a place they named Sassafras Ledge. When Steve was little his parents would take the kids there and have picnics and roast marshmallows. They would climb up the side of a rock hill. It is also the place that Scott and Steve camped alone for the first time. Steve's Mom packed us hot dogs to roast over the fire. The kids helped gather sticks to start the fire. After we were done roasting our hot dogs and eating our fig newtons, the kids wanted to climb the ledge. As one kid would climb up the wall, Steve would follow behind and make sure they made it all the way up. Steve's Dad told me how he would do the same thing when his kids were little. It was almost like a gauntlet was being passed from one father to another. When all the climbing was done, we put out our fire, packed up our food, and headed back to where we parked the car. It was a fun outing that I think we will all remember for sometime.
Another, "blog worthy", thing that happened while we were in Rhode Island is Steve's mom taught us a game, Michigan Rummy, that she would play with her kids. It took Steve and Mom a few minutes to remember exactly how the game went, but once that was accomplished we had a fun time. Belle caught on fairly quickly. Katie and Becky had a hard time identifying the different suits. Once the kids were tired of playing, I suggested we play with out them. Mom and Steve were up for it. We began to deal out the cards when Dad walked in and asked if we were playing again. Now let me explain...Steve's Dad NEVER plays cards. We invited him in and he accepted. That was very cool and I think, just between you and me, he actually had a good time.

Our Pilots in Training

Well, we are home from our vacation to Rhode Island. Let me start by saying we all had a great time.

We left last Monday at 10:00 am from Salt Lake City. We were lucky to get a nonstop flight to Bosotn. I loved not having to rush off to another plane. The kids had a fabulous time too. As we board our plane the flight attendants allowed the children to peek into the cockpit and say hi to the pilots. They all thought that was really cool. There biggest observation was that there were so many buttons. The flight went well and took us about 4 1/2 hours. Then we landed in Boston and it took us almost 3 hours to get out of Boston and to Steve's parent's home. Just in time to have dinner and goto bed.

We did lots of fun stuff and I will share more tomorrow.

Kindergarten Halloween Party

I just got home with some of the pictures from Katie and Becky's Kindergarten Halloween party. They were so cute. I loved seeing all the children's costumes. There were a few ninjas, spiderman, Anikan and Darth Vader. A Fish, 3 Snow Whites, Rapunzel. The best part of all the costumes is that the children are so excited and into the holiday. They played games, did crafts, and decorated cookies.

Katie and Becky stored all their goodies ion their backpakcs for the trip to Rhode Island to visit Papa and Grandma.

I will post more Halloween pictures after the 25th. That is when our ward is doing trunk-0-treating. Theta will give me an opportunity to take pictures of all the kids in their costumes.

It Feels Like Fall

It has begun to feel like fall. We have the straw bales and corn stalks decorating the front of our house, but the other day I looked out our front window and noticed that the scrawny maple tree had changed colors and was this vibrant red. It made me think of the falls I had experienced in Maine. I was inspired to make an album to scrap my fall pictures and memories. I love this time of year. This is my favorite season.

* HOT COCOA
* SNUGGLING IN A BLANKET
* FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE
* WARM COLORS, orange, yellow, rust
* REMEMBERING WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR

The children go off track for 4 weeks beginning this morning. So I have spent the last 2 days assisting with class "Harvest" parties. I am so grateful for Steve's job and his willingness to allow me to stay home with the children. It has been so important to me that I get those opportunities to be in the classroom. Katie and Becky were allowed to wear their costumes to class yesterday. Katie was a Cowgirl and Becky was a Bobby Soxer. My friend Lucy said that the girls had been over to play with her daughter and she had asked the girls what they were going to be for Halloween a few weeks ago. Katie said she would be a cowgirl, but Becky's answer was less clear..."I am going to be a french girl", Lucy thought maybe she was going to be a Can-Can dancer. She asked Becky what she was wear..."I am wearing a scarf on my neck, my hair in a ponytail, and a skirt with a "french" poodle." Too funny.

Good Ending to a Busy Week

I know it is has been a while since I have posted to my blog. This week was just crazy. It seemed like there was just something going on all the time. I was so grateful to wake up this morning and know it was Sunday. Last week was conference and I listened to most of it. And I do enjoying listening to the Prophet and the other Apostles, but I really like being at church and receiving the sacrament. We had the Stake Primary Presidency in our Sharing Time this morning. I know Stacy, the President, was a little nervous, but it things flowed very smoothly. The children really were well behaved and participated well. Sacrament meeting was testimony meeting. I always love hearing people bare their testimonies. Then we came home and I put a quiche in the oven and read a little until it was time to put supper on the table.

I finally got my hair done this week. My color needed it. I was beginning to look very mousy. I also got the layers cut back in. Steve likes it. Oh yeah! I have bangs again. I had worked so hard for the past year or so and I decided to go ahead and cut them back in. Steve actually said he prefers me with bangs. I never knew. I think it looks real cute. I would take a picture and post it, BUT our digital camera is on the fritz. We spent part of yesterday looking a digis and trying to decide what we want. I think that is what we will be giving each other for Christmas.

So, on Tuesday I went to "My Girlfriend's Kitchen". For those who have never heard of it...it is a store that you go to and assemble meals to bring home and freeze to eat at a later time. Some of my friends from the neighborhood went in September when I was in Yosemite, but they seemed to like it and thought the food was good. It took about 2 hours to assemble all 12 meals, and my freezer is pretty well stocked now. I will let you know how the food is as we eat it. Tonight we had the "Demetrius Tart"; basically it was a quiche with ham, broccoli and mushrooms. The family LOVED it.

I finally got these posters for PTA completed. They were for the teachers to hang in their classrooms to track their classes PTA membership and then when the class is to 80% they get to have a SnowCone Party. I got the poster board a week or so ago and needed to sit down and work on them, but it seemed like something else kept coming up. Finally my friend Wendy helped me out and we got them assembled and in the classrooms in just a couple of days. She was a huge help. We also found out the President is moving to Denver sometime the beginning of January. We are not sure where that leaves our PTA. I am assuming that Wendy will just step up and run things.

The children are all doing well. Zack is doing awesome in all his classes. He is constantly reading. Currently he is reading the Star Wars books. He has gotten 100% on all his spelling tests since school has begun. He is enjoying swimming and scouts. He is just an all around good kid. Belle is a smart and beautiful little girl, but is very independent. She is having to learn how to listen to authority figures a little better. She is taking piano, but has had to let tumbling go until the first of the year. Katie and Becky have already learned so much in school. They are reading very basic words and are quite proud of themselves. The are also busy dancing this year and have their routine all learned. Our first recital is in a month.

I think that should fill everyone in. Sorry there are no pictures this time. I will have to post the old fashion way and wait for film to be developed.