Sam's trip to Italy (and other events)

Hey everyone, this is Sam here to tell you all about my  tour to Italy this past week with the Phoenix Children’s Choir. As no one else in the family has done anything very interesting (Mom’s words not mine) I am writing this month.

Monday-Tuesday: Dad drove me bright and early (3:30 AM) to the Phoenix Center for the Arts where I met up with my choir and boarded a bus for a 9 hour ride to Los Angeles. (we needed to go to LA because in order to get everyone on the same plane we had to fly Berlin Air which doesn’t fly from Sky Harbor). Once we arrived at LAX we checked our luggage and went through security where I lost my watch (don’t ask) and ate in the gate where I almost suffered food poisoning from undercooked chicken (don’t ask) and boarded the plane. 11 hours later and our plane landed in Berlin where we waited 3 hours for our flight into Rome. We arrived in Rome, checked into our hotel, and enjoyed a 4 course meal with lasagna, salad, some turkey with a gravy of sorts, and tiramisu. 

Wednesday: Toured Castel St. Angelo and walking tour of Rome. After a lunch of spaghetti and strawberry gelato (amazing btw) we toured the Vatican Museum which concluded with walking through the Sistine Chapel, which is BEAUTIFUL. Once we returned to the hotel our group decided to take a nap then go eat at this Italian seafood place (name escapes me) where on the way I almost got ran over by a car on the way there (not my fault I promise). Once there I dined on a whole fresh crab with pasta. (my friend got the same thing but with bass and ate the head as a dare. Not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome).

Thursday: Toured Colosseum and Roman Forum. In free time my group went to Trevii Fountain where we all threw coins in (the story goes that if you toss a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome someday). We then had a concert in St. Peter’s Basilica for a Mass. Having never been to a Catholic Mass before it was something new and different for me. We then boarded a sleeper train for Catania.

Friday: Once we settled in to the hotel we hung out with a bunch of students of a Catanian school of language. We then went to the beach where I got sunburned (ouch!). Soon after, we went to the mayors residence for a welcoming speech and dinner with the mayor.

Saturday: We went up to Mt. Etna where we were given time to explore, eat lunch, and buy souvenirs. That night we visited an opera house and walked to a theater for a concert. Unfortunately, the building had no AC so at least 5 or 6 people in the choir either got sick or passed out on stage. Because of this and because of the concert ending late, we were allowed to sleep in on...

Sunday: After enjoying a couple more hours of sleep, we got on tour busses for some sightseeing in Catania. Afterwords, my group went Geocaching (look it up for I lack the knowledge to explain it in detail), and found a bread store where for 1 Euro we could get an entire loaf of fresh baked bread (delicious). We then found a group of girls from our choir who had the dilemma of ordering more Pizza than they could eat. Being the gentlemen that we are we decided to help them with their predicament. The choir then went to the US Naval base where we performed for our military servicemen. They then treated us to an amazing BBQ ( a hamburger has never tasted so good in my life).

Monday: We visited tourist central, Taormina, to see the Greeco-Roman theater and do what else, tourist shopping. That night we had our final concert with 2 other Catanian choirs.

Tuesday: Almost missed our flight to Berlin due to the system for baggage check going down for a good hour. Arrived in Berlin and ate some German food and did some tourist shopping.

Wednesday: Got held up in baggage check AGAIN because the Air Berlin staff in Catania accidentally DELETED OUR FLIGHTS. Thankfully it all got sorted out and before too long we were boarded and off on another 11 hour flight back to LAX. 9 hours of bus ride with a stop at Taco Bell in between (Taco Bell never tasted so good!) and we were back in Phoenix at about 10 P.M.

In short it was an amazing experience and I am so grateful that I was able to visit Italy. I now turn the Newsletter over to Mom for any other family information.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. . .School ended and Sam and I were both very glad.  Gary and I went to his firm retreat in Tubac, which doesn’t look like the deserts of Arizona.  I quite enjoyed it.  The weather was hot during the day, but at night and in the morning it was very nice.  We were all together (except Sam) for Father’s Day.  Chris gave Gary a remote control helicopter for Father’s Day.  We figure that Lily will really like it.   I’ve been to doctors for my yearly checkups.  That took up the first two weeks of the month.  My back has been driving me crazy since January.  After three cortisone shots and some physical therapy, it is feeling better.

I have been reading books and staying cool in the house.  Sam has an online biology class that he needs to work on now.  Gary works, counts money and teaches Sunday School.

May Happenings

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!  Yippee and Yea!  I’m planning on doing as much of nothing as possible.

We’ve had concerts galore these past weeks--Sam’s voice recital, orchestra concert (with a rock band), school chorus concerts (the Broadway show), PCC concert (in which some kid pulled the fire alarm and everyone had to exit the Mesa Arts Center for about 15 minutes).  They have all been great, but my rear end was very sick of sitting.  These concerts all involved Sam.  He has successfully completed his freshman year at Mountain View.  Now on to the PCC tour of Italy in two weeks.  I’m stressing out trying to make sure he packs everything he needs.

I had to say good-bye to some good friends at school.  I hate good-byes.  That’s one great thing about Facebook; I can stay in touch with friends.

This is April. I’m adding a paragraph to my parent’s newsletter. It’s a win-win situation for me and my mom. So we are getting into the swing of things with our sweet little Kate. She is a really good baby and is now regularly letting me get at least one 5-6 hour stretch of sleep at night, and then she goes right back to bed for at least another 3. She just started smiling and we all enjoy trying to get her to smile at us. Lily loves her little sister a whole lot and calls her “my baby”. Lily, Kate and I went to a cooking group that I have with a few ladies in my ward. We all make a food that goes with the theme of the month and sit and sample new foods and talk while the kids play. The other little kids were trying to look at Kate and take her blanket off of her and Lily’s big sister/mother hen instinct came out and she stayed by Kate’s side to make sure no one did anything to her little sister that she didn’t approve of. Sam has a camp-out for scouts coming up this weekend and then he has scout camp for a week in June. I’m pretty sure we are going to miss him very much around our house. Sam and I both celebrated birthdays this month. Kate was blessed on my birthday, which was awesome and we had a fun family dinner that night. For Sam’s birthday Sam, Kate and I went to P.F. Changs  for dinner while Lily played with Grandma. That’s about it for us...Have a happy and hopefully not too warm June. 

This is Steve. I recently finished an excellent book entitled Fast and Furious, by Katie Pavlich. In it, author Pavlich does an excellent job of laying out the evidence of misdeed and corruption in the Obama Justice Department. Everyone should read it to fully understand why Eric Holder needs to resign (or be impeached). In other news, I’m still here. And that is my update.

Chris is working, as always, but managed to go to Comic Con, some crazy comic book convention in Phoenix this week.  I think he got his picture taken with someone famous or maybe it was just his friends.  When Sam and April went out to dinner, Lily and I went to Panda Bear (Express) to get food.  She is pretty funny.  

It’s baseball season, so Gary is happy to see the Diamondbacks play once again.

Until next month. . .

The month of April

Meet Kate Vera Shelley.  She was born on May 6 and weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces.  We all love her tons and tons!  Rakay was there to help with her birth which we were all very happy about!  Lily wasn’t too sure about the whole thing and wouldn’t let her mom out of her sight for a few days.  Now Lily is her mom’s biggest helper.  April finally got Lily to hold Kate a few days ago.  Kate actually let April sleep for 4 hours straight last night.  Ah, the joys of being a new mom!  I took a week off of school to help out.  That was pretty fun.  

This last week all of the kids had to take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test which was not too fun.  Sam didn’t have to take the AIMS test this year.  The 9th grade took the Stanford Achievement test which he said was EASY.  We are coming upon the month of May which in some ways is busier than December.  Bring it on because then school will be out.  Sam performed in the PCC Gala which was a fund raiser for the choir so they got to sing for their supper (in a manner of speaking).  The Gala is PCC’s big fundraiser for the year.  I’m grateful to his voice teacher for hauling him over to Phoenix for all the rehearsals.  His next voice recital is May 5 which is the day before April’s birthday on May 6 which is the same day that Kate will be blessed.   She is wearing April’s blessing dress.

This weekend it has been HOT-- like 102 hot.  I am not looking forward to the long hot summer.  Sam and I went to a really great concert last night while Gary went to the ballgame.  We saw a group called, The Real Group.  They are a vocal jazz group.  He and I really enjoyed it.  It’s amazing to me how they make all the different cool sounds with just their voices.  Sam made the top two choirs at Mountain View for next year and he will only be a sophomore.  I know I am bragging, but I am truly amazed at the talent the Lord has given him.  It is pretty awesome. 

Our April Teachings for our Times lesson was Elder Holland’s talk, which I really liked a lot.  We have really great Relief Society teachers on our ward so Relief Society is a pleasure to attend.

Tax season is over.  I always wonder how Gary makes it with so little sleep and such long hours, but he does.  Now it is baseball season, so I guess that makes up for it.

Stephen and Chris are still working away.  Chris got his car fixed and new tires to boot.

Happy May.

March Happenings

Apparently, Kate could arrive at any moment.  She has, however, chosen not to, so we will have to wait until she is good and ready.  Kate’s room is all ready.  Lily isn’t quite sure about all of this.  She says the baby is going to live at our house.  I definitely don’t think that is going to happen.  Lily and April both have the stomach flu, so we hope they GET WELL SOON and please don’t give it to us.

We have had a wonderful March and I hope we can look forward to an even nicer April (weather wise I mean).  I have enjoyed walking and riding my bike and can happily say that I did not waste the good exercise weather this year.

Grandma and Grandpa were here this weekend.  Stacie and Boyd had dinner on Sunday.  Stacie made some scones that were pretty much to die for and Erin made some equally great rolls.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Yesterday I got a cortisone shot in my back to take care of a pinched nerve that has been killing me.  They said it might take 5 days to work, but I feel better already and am greatly blessed by modern medicine.  The shot wasn’t too comfortable but so far the result has been marvelous.

Sam is getting ready for the huge Phoenix Children’s Choir Gala.  The tickets are $125 a piece and they sold out.  It is supposed to be quite the grand event.  Sam has lots of rehearsals in two weeks to get ready.  Sam didn’t make all state this year, but just wait until next year!

Chris got rear ended on the freeway.  He said at least it was a nice day to be stuck waiting for the highway patrol.  The picture of his car didn’t look too bad.

It’s March so Gary is working every minute on tax returns.  I don’t know how he keeps the hours that he does, because I would be dead.  Baseball starts soon.

My Aunt ReNee died a couple of days ago.  She was one of my favorite aunts.  She tried to teach me to play the piano, without much help from me because I didn’t practice much.  She played the organ for Gary and my wedding and made the best dipped chocolates ever.  She was also quite the story teller.  She came to Arizona with my mom when Chris was born.  She was regaling us with hilarious story after hilarious story and making me laugh so hard things started to hurt.  I finally had to beg her to stop.  She had a wonderful life with challenges as we all have.  I’m sure she and my Uncle Ralph are very happy to be together again.

Only about 40 more days left of school.  Yes!

P.S.  Kate arrived on April 6 at 11:51 a.m.  She is beautiful and we love her.

Michelangelo?

I was going to Arizona Mills the other day to do some shopping.  Stephen said to me, "Hey, Old Navy has Michelangelo shirts.  Could you get me one?"  Of course my mind goes to the artist, the painter of the Sistine Chapel, David, etc.  I thought maybe they had a shirt like this one with a fig leaf place in a strategic location.

So, I'm looking all over for a shirt like this.  Couldn't find one.  I finally gave up and decided to check out without the shirt.  As I'm ready to check out, I asked the clerk about the Michelangelo shirts.

He replied,  "Oh, Michelangelo, the ninja turtle."  Duh, I should have known, Stephen, Chris and April watched that cartoon every day. (April would HATE it when they would call her April O'neill.)

Stephen is now the proud owner of a Michelangelo t-shirt.

January Happenings

When last we corresponded, April was writing the newsletter while I was busily making Christmas cookies.  I love December, but I like January because it is like the calm after the storm.  

We all had a very Merry Christmas around here.  It was especially fun to watch Lily.  We went to church.  Sam sang a solo.  Chris gave me a Kindle Fire which I have had a lot of fun with.  Especially since I can take it to church and it has all the scriptures plus the George Albert Smith manual.  No more heavy scriptures for me.  It also has the internet.  What more could I want, oh yes, games and books!  I love technology.

We started off January with our anniversary--31 years.  Gary and I took a trip to Sedona and stayed in Oak Creek Canyon at a bed and breakfast called the Canyon Wren Cabins.  Oak Creek Canyon is one of my most favorite place in Arizona, probably because it reminds me of Utah.  We went hiking and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  The weather was perfect.  We had a fire in the fireplace in our cabin every night.  The breakfasts were yummy.  We got a homemade brownie every day.  We found some great restaurants in Sedona--Mexican, Italian, and a sandwich shop that had the most delicious soft bread ever.  Fun times.

Sam jumped right back into PCC.  This Saturday is singing regionals for school.  Sam has been working hard on his solo and sight reading. His voice teacher has been a huge help.  Good luck to Sam next Saturday!  Break a leg!

April and I got Lily some new spring clothes.  She is insisting on wearing them now however, even though the weather isn’t totally cooperating.  She also insists that the new baby’s name is “Cake” even though all of us have tried to tell her that it is “Kate.”

Tax season has started for Gary, so he is getting very busy.  Lily likes to help him with the garden and loves to eat the broccoli.

I jumped right back into school also.  The second graders have been working on “carrying and borrowing.”  The new term is regrouping.  Whatever it is called, some of them are having a hard time.  They almost had me convinced that 2 is greater than 9.  Needless to say, we have some work to do with a few of them.

I must say this whole Relief Society President thing is a little weird for me.  Nothing like getting a new calling to see oneself in a whole new light.  I see my strengths, but I also see things about myself that I wish I was a whole lot better at.  I have to say my favorite part is feeling the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  Anyway, I’m sure the more I work at it, the better I will get with the Lord’s help. 

Bad Behavior at Frys

April, Lily and I went to Frys on Thursday to pick up a few things for dinner.  Lily loves to ride in the car attached to the cart.  As we were walking to the store from the parking lot, we observed the following:  Apparently someone in a truck accidentally almost ran over someone or simply got to close to them.  All of a sudden the "f" word starting flying along with the middle finger salute.  As the woman in the truck was backing up, one of the men standing there hit her window and challenged the woman in the truck to a fight.  (By the way, the truck had handicapped license plates on it.)

I have to wonder--what were they thinking?  Does swearing and flipping the bird make one tougher?  Why are some people so aggressive?  I don't know, but they looked liked total idiots to everyone standing there watching them.  And I wonder why some of the kids at school act the way they do.

Ending 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! As Christmas quickly approaches we are franticly trying to prepare for it’s arrival. This week will be spent doing some last minute Christmas shopping and will be very filled with baking for Carol and April. Every year they prepare plates full of numerous goodies for neighbors and friends.

Lily is VERY thrilled to have Santa come and visit her. She is certain he will bring her a princess for Christmas. We are also prepping her for sleeping over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. She loves sleeping in her bed but anywhere else is questionable.

 Gary has been busy with tithing settlement and is all finished. He and Carol have also attended two parties for his work. One was a catered event at a museum and the other was held at a Brazilian restaurant. Carol had some very “exciting” things happen this month. She was called to be the Relief Society president in the ward. All of the information and duties are very intimidating at first but she will do awesome. She has some very good counselors and secretary to help her out as well.

Sam is counting down the days until he gets out of school for the Christmas Break. Only two more days full of finals left. Sam has been extremely busy with all of his singing and all of the concerts he’s been in (as have Gary and Carol). A big group of us got to attend one of his Phoenix Children’s Choir concerts, it was very enjoyable. He had another concert with school called the "Holiday dinners." They perform at a local vocational school where they have a culinary program. So Gary, Carol, Stephen, Chris, and April all went, ate dinner, and watched Sam sing. At the end the alumni get to join the students and sing two songs that they sing every year. So April went and stood by her “little” brother and sang with the choirs. He is also singing in church on Christmas.

 Stephen is still working hard. He is the one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers in his ward and is excited to be teaching about the Book of Mormon next year. He is also co-chair of the ward Home Evening Committee. The name of his ward was changed to the Mesa YSA 3rd Ward in anticipation of the forthcoming YSA stakes in Arizona. Lily loves to come over and find Stephen and then play with all of the stuff in his room--especially when they get to play with animal puppets.

 Chris has been pursuing a new hobby. He goes rock climbing with a friend about three times a week. He is getting pretty good at it and has been acquiring as much equipment as possible so he can do outdoor and indoor climbing.

Sam and April did not attend his work party since all it involved was riding a bus around Phoenix and bar hopping. Sam would like you all to know that The Dear Leader, Kim Jung Il passed away ascended into heaven escorted by a multitude of cranes today. Praise Allah. Anyway, yesterday Sam held his first "Operation First Class." He’s developing a way for the boys to get a lot of the basic requirements up to first class scout out of the way so they can work on more nitty gritty stuff. It went pretty well. April is relieved that she made it to the end of the year with enough teachers in primary and is excited to start the new year fresh with only one teacher short. She’s also excited to get the new babies room all cleaned out, organized, and eventually painted. Lily loves to tell stories, we understand some more than others and her newest word is “hypothesis”. She learned it from her new favorite show Dinosaur Train.

 Well that’s it for us. See you in 2012!!!

School--First week

So I made it though the first 3 days of school, but not before almost dying on Thursday because it was so humid. Yuck.

I am helping in a kindergarten class for the first two weeks of school. Very interesting experience. One little boy cried ALL day on the first day of school. Believe me, that takes effort. He would stop when something interesting was happening, then realize he wasn't crying and start wailing again. Then there's the poor little girl who speaks NO English. She doesn't have a clue about what is going on. And here's the thing. This little girl will be expected to perform as well as English speaking kids on tests at the end of the year. I ask you, is that fair? Talk about setting someone up for failure. Just my opinion.

Here's some things I took for granted working with first graders: they know which part of the paper is up, they know how to hold a pencil, they know that we read from left to right, they can follow directions, they have known how to write their names for a long time, they know what to do in the cafeteria, and they can listen for more than 3 minutes.

I really miss my teacher friends in first grade. I miss my friend Sheryl because I won't see her as much this year.

And yet, I came back because I love the kids and it is a pleasure to see them learn and grow.

I also decided that I needed to get up at 5:30 so I can exercise every morning because I am way too tired after school. So I go out to the swimming pool and do water aerobics. It is quite pleasant out there at that time of the morning. I just really don't like to get up so early, but since I do, my new bedtime is 9:00.

Sam started high school this year and so far he seems to enjoy it. He is at Phoenix Children's Chorus camp this weekend in Prescott. Lucky him. Gary and I took him up yesterday and it was so nice!!! Chris and I are going to pick him up tomorrow and listen to his choir sing. Lucky us!

June Fun

The thing I love about summer, that if done correctly, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Except, of course, for those lovely vacations we all enjoy. So, pretty much I am loving summer. Well, except it has been over 110 degrees for the last couple of days.

Last week, Gary, Sam and I went to St. George to attend the plays at Tuacahn--The Little Mermaid and Grease. We loved both of them. Jeff, Debby and Neal joined Mom and Dad and us for The Little Mermaid. We dined at Chuck-a-Rama before the show. Ursula’s death scene was stupendous, Scuttle was hilarious, and Ariel had a beautiful voice.






The next day Gary, Sam and I visited the home of Jacob Hamblin. His job was to work with the Native Americans and help keep the peace. We also toured the St. George tabernacle, a beautiful old building, in which all of the presidents of the church (except Joseph Smith) have spoken. I had to go shopping so I dropped the other two off at the hotel. I found some cute clothes for Lily.





Tuacahn procured some great old cars for Grease. But why oh why is Sandy the one who has to change. I guess it wouldn’t be “cool” otherwise. As an added bonus, it started to sprinkle during intermission, which made the song “It’s Raining on Prom Night” even more fun for the audience. We were all sweating during The Little Mermaid; the weather during Grease was much more pleasant. I’m sure glad it didn’t really RAIN or we wouldn’t have gotten to see the rest of the play.

On the way back, just east of Kingman, there was a car fire. We were stopped for awhile, Thank goodness it was only about 84 degrees so it wasn’t to bad to sit there on the freeway. The truck, that I assume ran into the gas tanker, was toast. The only thing left was black metal. There was also a fire along the side of the road, which firefighters put out quickly. It did make our trip seem much longer.

All of our kids and Lily were here for Father’s Day which made it a lot of fun. Chris gave Gary a Diamondback’s cover for his Iphone and April made him a excellent memory book.

I am now helping to teach the 11-year-old Primary class as well as doing Activity Day for the girls. This month we held a recognition night for the girls. Their favorite thing we did seemed to be the scripture plaques they made. I purchased a sheet of fake wood and Sam S. cut it into pieces. The girls painted them. They each picked their favorite scripture and we put that with a picture of the temple and a picture of Jesus and mod podged the whole thing. I was a little worried about how a few of them would turn out, but they all did. Gary is going to be teaching Gospel Doctrine along with his clerking duties. Sam is the secretary in the Teacher’s Quorum.


We have had our old living room couch in the kitchen for the past few months. We finally got rid of it. Yahoo! Someone in our ward needed a couch so they hauled it away last night, now maybe I can restore a bit of order in the midst of chaos. I always envy RaKay and Stacie because the houses are in such good order. Mine, it seems, never is.

Last, but not least here are some pictures of Lily's favorite activity--unloading my purse of all its contents. I couldn't get her to smile either.

Family Newsletter

Each month Gary's family all write newsletters that his mom puts together and mails to everyone. Here's ours.. .

Yesterday was the last day of school. All I have to say is “Yipee”. It was a hard year and I am so glad that it is finally over. On the success side, the first grade teachers (who are the best) met their academic goals for the kids in reading and math. I hope that I had some part in their success. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a child learn. I saw many learning successes this year.

Sam has had a wonderful May! He auditioned for the Phoenix Children’s Choir and made the highest choir. Next summer he will get to go to Italy with them. He was also on the honor role at school with a 4.0 grade point average. On Sunday he will be leaving for Washington D.C. on his Close Up tour sponsored by the school. He will get to see all the sights and learn a lot too. He is then going to help with Jumpstart which is the program at the junior high to help incoming 7th graders learn the ropes of junior high. In August he starts at Mountain View High School. Sam also had his voice recital on May 14. He sang “Across the Western Sea” (an art/classical song) and “Close Every Door” (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat). I give a huge “thank you” to his voice teacher, Mrs. Lori Woods. She was a big part of his singing success this year. She is an awesome voice teacher. Sam has learned a lot from her. Grandma and Grandpa came to see him. He did an epic job and we all went to the Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday (only three months late).



We all met last night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville for Sam Shelley’s birthday. He hit the big 30. Chris brought Lily a balloon shaped like a duck. She loved it. She was great as long as she had someone to carry her around and look at the sights. Her dad, Stephen and Chris got some exercise packing her around. She liked the food, but just didn’t appreciate sitting around.

I’m looking forward to finally finishing my home improvement projects, going to St. George to see the plays there, and a family reunion. Also, reading all the books I have time for. I had a busy May also with Relief Society, Sam’s concerts, Activity Days, and the biggest funeral luncheon I have ever seen.

Gary is busy with work and training our new bishopric members how to count tithing. The first weekend in June is the big law firm retreat. We are going to a very nice resort, Dove Mountain, near Tucson.

Weather wise May was a great month. Today the real heat begins and won’t end until October. Boo.

Busy Week

Some weeks are busier than others. I'm sure you've all had weeks where you just run from one thing to another. Last week was that week for me.

Tuesday was our ward's night Relief Society meeting. I was helping with the food and making 12 pounds of chicken salad. So with my trusty pressure cooker and my trusty Bosch, it was not a hard job. It was somewhat time consuming. I spent a lot of time Monday cooking chicken and also had to take Sam to voice lessons.

Tuesday after school, I made the chicken salad. Twelve pounds is a big pan of chicken salad. After dropping Sam off at violin lessons, he would be picked up by Sam Shelley, April and I headed to the church. So with the help of Karen Shiflet, we made 65 sandwiches. We also served salads and dessert. It was all very yummy and there wasn't very much left. After dinner, the balance of the meeting was discussing visiting teaching--a subject that always makes me feel a little guilty. Confession: if I went every month, I wouldn't feel that way.








Wednesday afternoon was Activity Day. Krista Lenhart and I have all the girls in our ward--8-12 years of age. They are fun, but they also have tons of energy. I found cute bracelet from Clare's Place and a cute Mother's Day card at Family Fun.com. Do you know that there is no where in Mesa (at least that I could find) that has big colored beads? Not Michaels, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. I was very disappointed. After leaving finding the beads until almost the last minute, because who knew I wouldn't be able to find them, I had to order them online and pay extra so they would get here on time. The girls had fun making the bracelets and the cards and were excited to give them to their mothers. I wanted to get pictures of all the girls and their creations, but they were very fast getting them done and wrapped.






Thursday, I had a much needed hair cut and color job. We also went out to dinner for April's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory, one of her favorite places.

Friday was her actual birthday. The poor girl had to make herself a cake, because I was too busy and too tired. Ah yes, I forgot last week was Dibels testing week at school. Dibels is a reading test that is given to every child K-6 and I am part of the testing team. So take my word for it, by the end everyone is rather brain dead after listening to kids read stories, retell said stories, read nonsense words, and break words down into their individual sounds. The first graders did an awesome job.

I had a great Mother's Day. We had steak, baked potatoes, corn and watermelon fixed by April and Gary. YUM. The whole family was here. Maybe the rest of May will be less busy. I sincerely doubt it though. With concerts, recitals, meetings and the end of school, it promises to be very busy indeed

The family newsletter

I don’t know that we’ve done much these past weeks. Of course, we all watched General Conference. My favorite talk was by Elder Bednar. Read it here . April and I always like to try new breakfast menus on Saturday and Sunday. Both were a gastronomical delight witnessed by the fact that nothing was left.

Sam took the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards or Big Test). He said he didn’t think it was too bad. The whole mutual went to see the Easter Pageant which was made even more fun by the addition of all the pizza they could eat. Sam has been working hard for his voice recital which will be in May. He and Gary aren’t going to the Father’s and Son’s campout for the first time ever (I think). Sam has a choir festival on that Friday and it won’t be over until evening. I didn’t see either one crying about it.

On Easter Sunday, Sam and I are singing in the choir, Stephen is speaking in his Sacrament Meeting and April has to sing for the Young Women in her ward. These events are all occurring at the same time so nobody gets to hear anybody else, well, Gary will hear Sam and I. We are going to Claye’s and Rakay’s for Easter dinner.

Thankfully the 15th (actually the 18th) of April has passed and Gary doesn’t have to spent every waking moment in his office doing taxes. It has been interesting this year with the new e-file law in effect.

Stephen was happy that the movie ATLAS SHRUGGED finally made it to the big screen. He finally got to see Dagny Taggart and the rest of the ATLAS SHRUGGED characters in living color.

Poor Lily was sick with the stomach flu from a Tuesday through Saturday. Both Lily and April were pretty miserable and I’m pretty sure that April was sick of getting thrown up on. Lily now has another cold, for the third time in about a month. Starting nursery has not been kind to her. She loves going, but always catches some disease while there.

I assume that Chris is okay. We can always keep track of where he is eating, because it gets posted on Facebook.

My work life has become pretty stressful this year, but so has everyone else’s at the school. I am immensely tired of listening to kids read because the kids all read the same story, so I get to hear it about 10 times a day. Unfortunately, practicing is the only way that kids get better at reading. We get out of school May 26 so the end is in sight. We are losing 4 teacher contracts at our school because of declining population which means there will also be less aides needed. I love the kids and I like helping them to succeed, but education is a stressful place to be these days. Schools can only do so much for kids when their home life stinks.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Lily's First Birthday!

Seven months ago, Lily turned one! Here's the just uploaded video of her birthday party. Enjoy!

The month of March

So, March is almost over. I’m not too excited about it because the heat is just around the corner. March has been a very nice and friendly month except for the days during spring break when it got a little warm.

I decided I would paint the kitchen during spring break. Surely with five days, I would be able to complete the job. Ha, ha the joke was on me--didn’t happen Now it could be that on that Tuesday I spent the whole day reading a book and on Friday I spent a chunk of the day at IKEA with Stephen, Lily and April, but still. . . So all this past week I have been working after school to get most of it done because yesterday I had a Mother/Daughter Activity here. The girls and their moms brought their favorite dish to share and then they made menus for a week’s worth of cooking. I like doing Activity Day very much. Whatever we do the girls think is fun and there is hardly any drama at all.



New kitchen color.



Table decorations for Mother/Daughter Activity

Thursday night we went to the Poston Jr High choir concert at Mountain View. Sam got the big solo. He did a great job!! What a wonderful voice he has. Sam had a successful quarter at school also.

Of course, Gary is busy working on taxes. April 15th is not too far away. I don’t think that is any consolation to him because he still has a whole lot to do. But, baseball season will soon be here.

Stephen loves teaching Sunday School in his ward. I have enjoyed having him work at Lowe’s as I have gotten some good deals on my home remodeling projects.

Chris came to Sam’s concert and then borrowed my car so he could haul around some sound equipment for a wedding. So, very reluctantly, he had to let me use his car. I don’t know what it is about guys and standard transmissions, but I didn’t enjoy it very much. Too much shifting and my left leg isn’t used to driving with a clutch.

At school, we are trying to get the kids ready for all their standardized testing. It isn’t really very much fun for either me or the kids, but only two more months in school. Starting in August, Sam will be attending Mountain View as the first 9th grade class there. Don’t even get me started on that. I wish that he would spend his 9th grade year at Poston.

We are all glad that General Conference is this week. Love to go to church at home!

Note to Self

Dear Carol,

I totally stink at blogging this year.

Sincerely,
Carol

My Favorite Christmas Carols

Back in the 1960's the Firestone Tire Company released a new album of Christmas Carols every year. My mom bought one almost every year. I loved to listen to those albums played on my parents' Magnavox stereo. If I had a turn table I would still listen to them. So of course, I grew up listening to Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, etc. Frankly, I don't have much use for many of the "new" Christmas songs (except for a very few). Because they don't make 'em like they used to. So in no particular order here are my favorites:

1. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. One of the best!
2. White Christmas by Bing Crosby. I'd love to visit Holiday Inn!
3. Away in a Manager by Julie Andrews. One of those Firestone Favorites, but her whole album is available for purchase.
4. Star Carol by Anna Maria Alberghetti. Another one of the Firestone gems.
5. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas by Perry Como.
6. Jingle Bells by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. One of the fun songs from "A Christmas Story."
7. I'll Be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby. The most popular Christmas carol during WWII and the Korean War.
8. Candlelight Carol by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Beautiful.
9. Let It Be Christmas by Alan Jackson. One of the new ones.
10. The Chipmunk Song by The Chipmunks. Another one from my childhood.
11. A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives. We watch "Rudolph" every year.
12. Christmas Time is Here by Jeffrey Osborne. Always reminds me of Charlie Brown.
13. Irish Carol by Julie Andrews. Same Julie Andrews album.
14. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by the Three Stooges. We had an old 45 record with some Three Stooges Christmas Songs. I found them on I Tunes. I was so happy!
15. Merry Christmas Darling by The Carpenters. One semester at BYU we played it continually in the Business Office Lab.
16. O Come Emmanuel by Voice Male. Emmanuel shall ransom captive Israel.
17. Oh Holy Night by Nat King Cole, Josh Groban, Martina McBride and Jeffrey Osborne.
18. Penguin, James Penguin by Brad Paisley. Brad Paisley is pretty funny!
19. Silent Night by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The one from A Christmas Story.
20. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Dean Martin. A Dean Martin Twist on a old song.


My despised list (If I don't hear these during the Christmas season, I'm happy.)

1. Santa Baby by Madonna. Gag.
2. The Twelve Days of Christmas (Except the one by Straight No Chaser. It's pretty amusing.)
3. The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot by Nat King Cole. Makes me SAD every time I hear it.
4. The Christmas Shoes. Argggg.
5. My Favorite Things. This is NOT a Christmas song.
6. Anything by Mariah Carey.
7. I Saw Three Ships. What do ships have to do with Christmas?
8. Last Christmas I Gave you my Heart. Yuck.

Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S. Don't you just love the new cool title to my blog. My son Stephen made it. He rocks!

Musical Talent (and who in our family has it)

I have always loved music! I had a great time retreating to my bedroom when I was a kid, turning on the record player and pretending I was a famous singer. Well that never happened, but tonight was a real treat because Sam's school choir sang at the Mesa Temple Gardens amongst all the sparkling Christmas lights. They did a wonderful job.

I like to sing, but my voice leaves a lot to be desired. I can only hear the soprano part so that's what I have to sing even though I can't reach the high notes. My singing is limited to singing along with my I pod and singing in the ward choir.

On the other hand, two of my children, April and Sam, have beautiful voices. So I pretty much live my dream through them. When April sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" at Stephen's missionary farewell, I was so extremely happy that she had been blessed with such a beautiful voice. When I hear Sam sing at his voice lessons, I am blown away by his awesome manly voice. These two have been blessed with what I always wanted--a beautiful singing voice. So I listen to April and Sam, and am very grateful that Heavenly Father gave them musical talent. They give me chills every time they sing and I also usually cry. I'm grateful that I can enjoy their wonderful voices, especially at Christmas time when the music is so delightful!

Christmas concert at Mountain View next week and I can't wait!

I'm Grateful

We’re looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving week. The weather will be in the 60’s and the food and the company will be grand.

“Gratitude not expressed is no good to anyone.” Bishop Burton quoted this in our stake conference last week. So here goes. . .

I’m grateful for my family. . .both the family I grew up in and my family now. We’re all healthy and happy (well, most of the time). We all have our challenges, but the Lord has blessed us so very much. What we did without Lily is a mystery to me. The world is a much more fun place since she came along. She is smart, funny and gives great kisses.

I’m grateful for music (and ipods). Music cheers and calms my soul. I’m grateful for my musical children. I absolutely can’t wait for Sam’s concert at the temple and his school concerts (both choir and orchestra).

I’m grateful for the holiday season where we have a chance to give thanks to Heavenly Father and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who took upon himself, in a way we cannot understand, all of our sins, pains, and inadequacies. That because of this, if we will repent, we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father.

I’m grateful for the blessings of the temple that we can be with our families forever with no fighting. How could we stand to be separated from family members without this assurance.

I’m grateful for books! All kinds of books! Books can take us anywhere and oh, all the things we can learn from them--both temporal and spiritual.

Oh yes, of course, I’m grateful that it is now cool here. The best time of the year. In September, I was sure I would survive until now.

When we first moved down here, there were just the five of us for Thanksgiving most of the time. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself. I’m grateful that we will have 20 family members gathered at our house on Thanksgiving day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yet Another Famous Recipe From My Mom

I didn't really make this cookie, but it looks just like the ones Mom used to make.

This recipe came from the REALLY old red and white Betty Crocker Cookbook. And yes, it it YUMMY!

Ginger Creams

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix thoroughly shortening, sugar, egg, molasses and water. Blend in remaining ingredients. Cover, CHILL 1 HOUR.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches a part unto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched with finger.

Immediately remove from baking sheet; cool. Frost with vanilla icing.

Here's a recipe I found in a cooking magazine in 1994 (doesn't seems that long ago). I finally tried it for a Relief Society Party two weeks ago. Another winner.

Cranberry Conserve

4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 oranges, peeled, sliced and quartered
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups sugar

In a large saucepan, combine cranberries, orange peel, oranges, raisins and water. Cover and simmer over medium heat until cranberries are soft. Add pecans and sugar; stir well. Simmer, uncovered 10-15 minutes, stirring ofter. Cool. Spoon into covered containers. Refrigerate. Serve as a relish with poultry or pork, or spread on biscuits or rolls. Yield: 3 pints.

Happy Thanksgiving, gobble, gobble!