Today is Bug Bug’s 20th birthday!!  Happy Birthday Buddy!!  Drew has always called him Sport.  I on the other hand, used to call him Tootlely Bug.  It is from the days he looked like this:

This is my all time favorite little person photo.  You can’t see it, but he has this blonde, blonde hair, with those bright blue eyes!  Mmmmm, yummy!!  Anyway, he used to suck his thumb and just kind of tootle around the house going from one thing to another.   He has two swirlys on the top of his head that go different directions.  His hair used to stand up in a mow-hawk down the middle of his head—just this fine wispy blonde mow-hawk.  Anyway, he doesn’t tootle anymore and no more mow-hawk.  He is big.  So instead of Tootlely Bug, he is just Bug Bug.  He is an amazing bright spot in my life, and he always has been.

I am so proud of you Bug!  I am amazed at the young man you have become!  You are so sensitive, thoughtful, and talented!!  Your heart is so sincere and loyal!

I am so proud of you for the work you have done in preparing for your missionary service!!  Your papers are in and we are just waiting for that giant white envelope to arrive in the mail and tell us where you will serve!!  You are an amazing artist and super funny!!

One of Sport’s works

When I was pregnant with you, I just cried. Not because I didn’t want you, just because I was so overwhelmed with life and I didn’t have any idea how I could possibly do another little person.  I told Heavenly Father that if He was serious about sending you, then I needed a happy baby, a fun baby, one who made me laugh, who wasn’t allergic to every thing under the sun and one who slept at night!  You are that baby who I prayed for.  You always, still, make me laugh.  I know you are an answer to an overwhelmed mother’s prayer!  Your spirit soothes my soul and you were so cute!!  Oh my gosh!  The cutest thing I ever saw!!!  Blue eyes and blonde hair are my favorite on little people!!

Thank you for coming to my house, for being a part of our family, for loving us!!  You are an amazing, talented person, who loves the Lord and does whatever He asks of you!  What a gift that is in today’s day and age!!

I love you Sport!!  Happy Birthday!

We attended my friend’s memorial service on Friday!! It was such a beautiful celebration of life!!  It was wonderful to see friends from far away and to enjoy a few minutes of time together.  Truth be told, we really only had time to give our dear friends a quick hug.  Even though they had food and a gathering time, for more than an hour after the services, the church was so full and there were so many people who wanted to speak with my friend, she was thronged the entire night.  I didn’t even see her sit down.  She was mingling in and out of the people.  She truly is a servant of Christ.  She wanted everyone to feel loved and cherished and she spent the time circling the room when she was the one who we were gathered there to support.

It was beautiful to watch, but I knew she would be wiped out at the end.  As I watched, I just decided that I would write her a little note to tell her of my love and support.  I couldn’t find any paper so I just chose to write my note on a dessert plate.  Then I found her stuff and tucked it into it.  I just figured she would read it when she was about ready to go home and she could think and feel without worrying too much about everyone else.

I knew her plans were to leave the next morning and go to San Francisco and have another celebration of life with her friends there.  And then they would be travelling back to their new home in Michigan.  It was going to be a crazy week for her.

Anyway, after the celebration we went home.  I didn’t bring everyone to the memorial because some of us are little and would have had difficulty sitting still and my van was in the shop, so we didn’t have enough seat belts to take everyone.  So when I arrived home, I still had a house full of hungry people.  We started making dinner.

We had been home for about two hours when the doorbell rang.  “Who is that?” the kids asked.  I didn’t have any idea.

As I opened the door, my dear friend who had just celebrated her dear companion’s life, held out her arms and said, “I got your plate!” and then we hugged and she came in and just sat and visited with our family for an hour.  It was super sweet!!  I will forever remember that…..I got your plate!

NOT my note, just a web image…..

At the little gathering afterward, my pediatrician approached me to say hello.  We haven’t been into his office for a few years because Spike Spike is getting old enough and his asthma is under control enough that we have not needed to see him.  It was wonderful to have him seek me out to visit with me outside of the office.  I love that part of small town living.  I really, really do!!  It was obvious that he takes his job seriously.  He is more about the whole person and less about his career and practice, though those things are important.

He actually expressed that he is postponing his retirement because he is the only one in his office that will take on-call time from the hospital!!  I was dumb-founded!  The younger docs won’t do it and some of the older ones won’t either.  ‘I understand’ he said, ‘They want family time too.  But I think our community expects that kind of service to be available.’  My heart melted!!

I was so grateful to him!  I expect it too, but had no idea that one man is holding down the fort in that department here in our community and is willing to make that much of a sacrifice because ‘nobody else will do it.’

To be honest, that is who my friend is too.  He was that kind of a man–Brian Craig.

One night, we had company over for family home evening.  Things got a little wild with Spike.  He was about two, I think.  Anyway, he was spinning in circles in the family room like little kids do.  Then he lost his balance, because he was dizzy, hit his head on the fireplace and gashed his head open.  It was bleeding a lot!

We put on the pressure but I could tell he would need stitches.  It was in the evening (8 p.m.).  Urgent care was closed and I knew the emergency room would take about five hours before they would even see my baby.  Great!!  I called Dr. Craig’s house.  His wife, my friend, answered the phone.  I told her what had happened.  She said bring him right over.

We got there and she opened up the door.  Dr. Craig met us in the kitchen—in his bathrobe!  They had cleaned off the kitchen table and told me to lay him on it.  Brian looked at Spike’s head.  Yep, he needed a couple of stitches.  Dr. Craig fixed him up right there, in his bathrobe!  We were done in 15 minutes!  Yea for small towns and great friends!!

I will miss you my friend!!  Thank you for your service—you and the rest of your ‘old guard’—the men and women who take their oath seriously and then practice the goodness and virtue that led them to that profession in the first place!!

I love my doctors!!

I feel like a super slacker!  I didn’t even meet my goal of trying to post every Friday last year!  And here it is the second Friday of 2016 and this is only my first post!!  Oh well, that is where my life is right now.

Over the holidays, I also was able to print my family photos–thanks to my amazing mother-in-law!  I dearly, dearly love her!!  On her trip up here, she slipped in the car when Dad slammed on the brakes to avoid another vehicle.  Mom wasn’t wearing her seat belt–shame on her.  She hit that handle that you hold onto on the ceiling…….

Poor Mom!  That was after two days.  She is better now.  Anyway, I was able to put the kids photos up on the wall:

Yesterday, Spike and I made Gnoicchi.  I had never heard of it before.  I found a recipe with Gnoicchi and then googled it so I would know what it was.  Functionally, it is a home-made potato noodle.  The recipe was super easy and I had all of the ingredients.  So yesterday Spike and I made the Gnoicchi, which is a great activity if you have little people who want to help in the kitchen.

Here is the recipe:
Peel and boil two medium starchy potatoes, like russets.  When the potatoes are cooked but still slightly firm, drain the water, cool and mash them.  Don’t add any butter or milk like you would for mashed potatoes, just smoosh them.  Take out one cup of the potatoes.

Add two cups of flour and one egg.

Mix all ingredients until combined.  Pour out onto a floured surface and knead until it forms a ball.  Wrap dough in saran wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into fourths.  Roll each fourth into about 1/2 inch roll, like a snake.  Then cut about 1/2 inch pieces off of the snake, dip them in flour and roll off of the tines of a fork.

Then you boil them for four minutes.  You know they are done when they float to the top.

That’s it!  Super easy!

Here we are:

In my photos, you can see my dough balls wrapped in plastic, my rolled ‘snakes’, my cut snakes, and the tin we were putting them in.  Spike and I started about 11 and worked until 1.  Because we have so many people in our family, I made five batches.  It took us a long time!  Spike didn’t last through the entire process.

Because I knew it would take so long, we started early in the morning.  But then I piled all of my pasta into a pan thinking it would be fine until dinner.  It wasn’t.  Because the noodles were so starchy, they continued to absorb the flour.  By the time I wanted to use them for dinner, they were all stuck together in one giant dough heap like I hadn’t done any of the work!  It was super frustrating!

But I remembered reading in one of my research efforts, that I could just drop the dough into the boiling water without shaping it.  So when it was time to make dinner, that is what I did.  They weren’t beautiful, but they were still delicious!  The next time I make them, I will just do it right before dinner, or figure out a way to do them differently.

To make dinner, we sauteed garlic in hamburger—while the broccoli was steaming.  Then we added 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken broth to the browned hamburger and garlic.  Then we added about two and a half recipes of the gnoicchi and sprinkled on 1/2 Cup of Parmesan cheese.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

It was delicious!  My kids gobbled it up.  Some of them put their broccoli into it and some of them piled on more cheese and ate it plain.  The recipe was only for the broccoli, chicken broth and garlic.  It suggested shrimp, which we don’t like or eat.  And the picture of the gnoicchi from the web had marinara sauce–apparently a very versatile dish.  Happy eating!

Life has been super busy here.  I don’t know how else to describe it….and my head is kind of spinning with where it is all going.

Over the holidays, all the big boys came home…we had a ton of fun!

Here is where we moved all of the furniture out of our living room, brought the ping pong table in and sat everyone around it–17 people for dinner two nights in a row!  It was so much fun!  My sisters always complain that I am never in the photos, so I stuck my head into the second one. 🙂  Just for fun!

I forgot all of the fun stuff we did!  When we were setting the table for Christmas dinner, Spike decided he wanted all of his Christmas candy for dinner.  Here is his plate…..it was so funny that I just had to get a photo:

We missed having Tammy here!  That would have made it perfect!  But it was such an enjoyable time!  Emotions ran really high as the big boys showed up and then left again.  But I wouldn’t have traded it for anything!

Hopefully, I will take a few minutes this week to blog and tell you all that is happening.  Things are crazy!

Have a great day!

So in case you didn’t know, I did end up making three quilts for Christmas.  The plan was four, but the fourth one proved to be significantly more difficult and I haven’t had time to finish it or work on it.  I am hoping to finish it off sooner or later, but for now, Scuff will just have to wait for it.  I showed you Slim’s quilt, in this post. 

But I also made one for Tammy.  Hers looks like this:

I didn’t get a photo of the back.  But it is just a white sheet with little yellow and blue flowers.

Spanky’s looks like this:

The Layout

work in progress

OK.. I just realized that I do not have a photo of the finished quilt.  I will get that and post it up soon.  But this gives you an idea.

The big boys have all been home for Christmas too!!  It was a surprise for their dad.  I will add some of those photos and share some of our Christmas joys in the next few days as things settle down and people go home.  Grandparents left Sunday.  Slim left yesterday.   And Scuff and Spanky leave on Friday.  It has been so much fun and super busy!!  But I will post about that later!!

I have a snowman fence decoration that I love and realize is about 20 years old!!  It hasn’t been up the last few years because one of the hinges broke and I had them in the attic where brown stuff dripped all over my white snowmen!  I was not amused!  So they have been waiting in the attic.  This year I decided that I wanted them down and I wanted them up and I wanted them fixed!  So Sport and I went to Michaels and the hardware store and got the things we needed to fix them up.  Here is Sport painting them:

We let Spike paint his own stuff, so he didn’t try to help us out too much.  Here is a photo of his art work, now adorning the refrigerator.

And while I let Speedy have my phone for a stake dance, lots of my seminary students got together for a selfie on my phone and then they made it the lock screen photo:

This year, I have been totally on top of Christmas!  I finished Slim’s and Tam’s presents right around Thanksgiving and actually mailed them two days before Thanksgiving!!  Yea for me!!

Well, Slim’s birthday is at the beginning of December and this year, because he turned 25 and is more of an adult, and because things are tight here and we help him out in other ways, I didn’t buy him a birthday present.  So he decided to open Christmas for his birthday because, well, it was there.  Yes, seriously.

So since his present is open, I can show you what it is and what I have been working on for the past three months that has kept me away from blogging.  Ready?  Here it is:

I made Slim a quilt!  I had to purchase the sashing material (in between the squares), the batting, and the sheet for the back, and the string to tie it, but other than that, the other materials I already had.  The sheet was a huge score!!

I went to pick up Speedy and Sun from the mall and while I was there I had the feeling I needed to go into Ross.  I couldn’t think of anything I needed, but felt prompted so I obeyed.  When I got in there I said, “I don’t know why I am in Ross or what I am looking for.”  ‘Just keep looking, you will figure it out.’

Alright.

So I walked around the clearance, clothes for Spike, glasses, dishes, towels, nothing.  Then I found the sheets and thought, ‘Oh ya’, I probably should look at sheets for my quilt.’  Then I saw them!  An entire twin bed set!!  For $15.00!!!  SCORE!!!  I knew Slim would love them, and they matched!  So that is what I have been spending my time doing for Slim.

He does love it!  And he told me yesterday that his bedroom is all decked out in Star Wars now and he gets to see the movie release twice this weekend!  He is super excited.

Here at home, we have been preparing for the release of the movie also.  I had not seen Episodes 1, 2, and 3–the newer released ones.  So last week, we started with 1 and are working our way through the episodes.  Tonight or tomorrow is Episode 5.  My children have informed me that I am watching them in the wrong order.  I however, do not really care.  They say you watch them like this: 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 and then 7.  None of them like Episode 1 and they feel it is unnecessary and a waste of time.  I liked them though.

Anyway, now you know!

Many happy holiday wishes!!

A few days ago in seminary, we were studying the Ten Commandments when we came across this scripture:

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

Today was an interesting day in sacrament meeting.  Sun spoke.  She did a great job!  Our second speaker struggled to find a coherent line of reasoning.  It was super hard to follow.  And our third speaker  brought up some interesting ideas that sent my brain off on a major, but enlightening, tangent.  Wanna hear it?  I thought you might.

He spoke about Alma 46, specifically, Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty.  I know!! Awesome assignment, right?!!

He kept saying that he was wondering what these verses had for us today.

Then, he read these verses to us:

Then he said how cool it was that after Moroni had fastened on all of his armor, he bowed to pray– and that, my friends, is where my brain took off.

I recognized immediately that just like Captain Moroni, our civilization is at war too.  In some places we are participating in physical wars, but more significantly, our civilization is participating in a war of ideologies and philosophies.  We are obviously continuing the war in heaven where Lucifer declared that he would be the chosen one and return all of us to the presence of our Father.  He only wanted a few things.  He wanted all of the glory and he wanted none of us to have our agency–righteousness or wickedness would not be our choice.  Those things would be decided for us.

Read Moses 4:1-4

 18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen

I have this one hanging in my family room

And in Paul’s comments to the Ephesians, Chapter 6:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

I really liked this image!

And Paul, and Captain Moroni have the same responses after girding on our armor, to pray.  Moroni prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren.  Paul says that we should pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.  We should pray also, for the blessings of liberty to rest upon us and upon all people of the earth, that they may have the blessings to worship how, where, and what they may, as our 11th article of Faith states:

 11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

In Paul’s comments, it is only by taking and putting on the WHOLE armor that we will be able to withstand in the evil day.  That day, my brothers and sisters, is today.  If we are not fastening on the entire armor of God–every day, and then praying mightily for our religion, our liberties and freedoms, and for our families, just like Captain Moroni, we may not be able to spiritually withstand the evil of our day and save ourselves and our families.  And what my dear friends is our Title of Liberty that we are fighting for across the globe?  Would it not be The Family: A Proclamation to the World?

Have we not all made covenants to support and sustain those leaders who brought us this document?  Is this not the very basis for some of the major discussions and discord happening right now in our nations and even within the Church itself?  When it came out, we all thought, ‘Well, of course, I agree with that.  Why exactly do we need to spell it out?’

And now we are seeing why our Prophets and Apostles felt the Divine Hand of Inspiration leading them to spell it out.

We are the warriors.  We are the same people of the church Captain Moroni awakened when their lives and liberties and families were very much temporally on the line.  He awoke them to their duties and responsibilities and they made an oath and a covenant that they would be loyal and true to the cause or suffer death because they would not unite with their brethren.

And Moroni said to them:

That is where my brain went!
Have a great day!!