Eagle Project

Trevor completed his eagle project last week!
Woo hoo! Hurray! Way to go!
His project consisted of working with a guy at the city named Richard, who didn't like to return his calls.

Trevor taught his "crew" how to put placards next to the city's storm drain.
First, the area had to be cleaned--scraped and brushed.

And some sort of epoxy was put on the back of the placard--the city even provided the plastic gloves.

Next, it had to be firmly placed against the curb--the black epoxy seeping through is good. It means it has a good seal against the curb.

Trevor learned some great leadership skills. He said it was stressful, but he did a great job!

Primary Sacrament Meeting

One of my very favorite Sacrament meetings of the year is when the primary children present their Sacrament Meeting Program. I love to see the little sunbeams waving to their parents, picking their nose, and singing the few words they know at the top of their lungs and then standing there waiting for the chorus so they can sing again. I also love it because it always ends early and since our Sacrament Meeting is last...we get to go home early..(yes, I get excited to get out even 5 minutes early)!

Sunday was Branden's last Primary Sacrament Program, since he will be turning 12 in March. It's never really sad for me when I know it's their last program because the 11 year olds are usually so ready to be out of primary and my kids tend to look kind of dorky up there because they're so much taller than all of the other kids. Branden's so tall he looked like he was held back a year. So, although I will no longer have any of my own children to watch during the Primary Program, it's OK, it will stlll be one of my favorite Sundays.

Silly Trevor

The phone rang this morning at 7:00 and it was Trevor calling me after seminary. He says "Tell Branden not to panic, I have his shoe." After prodding and prying I learn that Trevor was so tired this morning that he put on one of Branden's shoes and went to seminary. Now, I am not judging, becuase I have been known to be at the gym (on more than one occasion) and look down and realize that I am wearing two different tennis shoes, but at least my shoes are the same size. Trevor's shoes are three sizes bigger than Branden's! He put on a shoe that he couldn't even really squeeze his foot into, and he didn't even realize it was the wrong shoe until he got out of the car and started walking into seminary. Silly Trevor.

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a little different this year. We started out at our wonderful neighbor Cindy's house. Every year she fixes stew for all of the neighbors. MMM. After the stew, Kelsie and Trevor left to go to a Halloween party and Branden left to go trick or treating with some neighborhood friends. Chris and I were home alone. It was the first time in 16 years that we were both home for Halloween. Neither of us were going out trick or treating with the kids. Weird. After about five minutes Branden came home. He said he had a stomach ache and was not going trick or treating. Now, I know this is hard to believe, but Branden likes sugar even more than I do, so for him to not be out trick or treating meant he was really not feeling well. I was actually surprised he was not crawling on his hands and knees trick or treating if he had a stomachache--that's how bad his sugar addiction is. So now there were three of us at home. After about half an hour, Branden said his stomach felt better and we was ready to go trick or treating. Thank goodness--because if he didn't go I wouldn't have anyone's candy to steal. Chris said he'd take him out, but after about ten minutes they ran into the original friends Branden was going to go with. Once again, it was Chris and I home alone. Chris passed out candy while I painted the closet. What Fun!

Kelsie wanted to dress up as an 80's workout girl. What was funny was when SHE kept trying to explain to ME what people wore in the 80's!

Trevor dressed up as Barnacle Boy (from SpongeBob) with his friend Matthew who dressed up as Mermaid Man.

Branden used an old IPod costume I had made for Trevor a couple of years ago. Gotta love recycled costumes!

Prop. 8

I spent my first night "working the corner" for Prop. 8 tonight. I wasn't able to go last week to hold up signs in support of Prop. 8 because my allergies were SO bad and the wind was terrible and I had schedule conflicts each time (really, I'm not making excuses). So I finally made it up to the corner tonight and it wasn't too bad. We had about 60 people from our ward show up for "Family Home Evening at the Corner" and only 4 people with "No on Prop 8" signs were there. It was a little awkward when Kelsie recognized that one of the "no" people was one of her friends from school, but Kelsie handled it quite well. I was very impressed. Trevor LOVES holding signs at the corner--tonight was his fourth time. He tries to get all the cars to wave at him or honk their horns--OK, so he's a little needy for attention--middle child syndrome. He also likes to keep track of how many flip him off. Branden likes going to, but sometimes I wonder if it's for the pizza, cookies and soda.

It's been a good experience for our family participating in Prop. 8. We've had some really good family discussions about the whole issue and I've been impressed with the willingness that the whole family has shown in standing up for something that we believe in. It's also been inspiring to see how many people from the ward are willing to give so much of their time to the issue (and not just for free pizza at the corner:) That being said, I will be SO glad when Tuesday is finally here.

Very Sad News

I started feeling a little better today until I read my sister's blog and learned that Mother's Cookies filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors on Monday. Yes, Mother's cookies--the makers of one of my favorite cookies, the pink and white iced animal shaped cookies. That is one cookie that I could never eat just one of (well, most cookies I can never eat just one of)...MMM. They even made them in patriotic colors for the 4th of July. They made other cookies too, like the iced oatmeal cookies and I'm sure others, but my favorite were the pink and white iced animals.

The company cited the rising cost of fuel and supplies as the main reason for closing their doors. Many people have lost their jobs and the world has lost a very fine cookie company. I am so very sad. I'm heading off to the store right now and hopefully I can find some before they're all gone. Maybe I can buy a bunch and sell them on E-Bay :)! Just kidding, I will eat them in remembrance of MANY fond memories of Mother's Cookies.

My Life of Leisure

We're having some closet addition/remodeling work going on this week at our house. We actually are paying someone to do this since we don't know how to frame and I/we really don't like doing drywalling or electrical work. We usually do all our home improvement work ourself, so I am feeling so spoiled seeing people carry things in and carry things out while I just sit and do nothing.

I really am just sitting and doing nothing since I've been sick all week. I feel really stupid because the guy who's doing the work is a friend of ours and all I really do is sit. I sit at the table and read the newspaper. I sit at the computer and do computer stuff. I sit in front of the TV--I don't have bon bons, but I've been eating oreos and M&M's (my comfort foods). But, of course, I am still a mom, so I do have to get up and take kids to school, buy groceries, do laundry, etc. I really just need to take a nap, but there's people in three of our bedrooms at any given time.

I think our friend (who shall remain nameless) thinks I'm a total loser. I haven't showered. I haven't worn any makeup. On Monday I stayed in my pajamas and glasses all day (such a pretty sight.) His wife has always worked so I'm sure he's impressed at what a stay-at-home mom does. I try to cough loudly when the hammering stops or when I hear him coming down the hall so that he can hear that I am sick. I think he just thinks I'm lazy.