995,000 moments

995,600 minutes
995,000 moments with Regis

I have watched this show for about 18 years.  At the beginning I loved Regis and liked Kathy Lee.  I found her like ably annoying BUT when it changed 11 years ago I loved Regis and LOVED Kelly Ripa.  Kelly and I had babies together Nic and Lola/ Austin and Joaquin. One of our friends in IF has always called Austin, Regis.  He petitioned through my pregnancy for us to name him Regis, because #1 I love Regis and #2 Regis loves Notre Dame as much as Travis does, so there you go PERFECT name! Yes, I love an 80 year old man but I didn't stoop to naming my son after him.

True confessions 11/18/2011-

• I schedule my day around watching this show
• I teared up watching the show today
• This is my very favorite show on TV
• I love Regis and I love him and Kelly together
• In my imaginary world, Kelly and I are such good friends  and I wanted to bawl for her today.  Don't worry I kept it together since we are only "imaginary friends".

I will feel a little depressed for the rest of the day. I loved the farewell show, my favorite thing was the tribute number by the cast of Rent.

My mornings will not be the same without the duo.

And let me say it just one more time, I love Regis!

so happy!!!!

I just recieved this e-mail from Austin's teacher, and could not be more ...

Kelli Dosil noreply@jupitered.com to me

show details 4:09 PM (18 minutes ago)

We are off to such a wonderful start to a great kindergarten year!

Thank you,
Mrs. Dosil

Current grades for 2nd Quarter:

Kg Reading   4     Exceeds the Standards  

Kg Math      4     Exceeds the Standards  

Kg Writing   4     Exceeds the Standards  

YEAH!!!! There is hope for Austin in Kindergarten!

I am so thankful for this news and grateful for patient Kindergarten teachers!



joshua

thank a vet today

ESPECIALLY MY DAD

Thank you for serving our country.

This was my dad back in 2006 on a float for the 4th of July parade.  He was blowing a kiss to all the grandkids who were cheering him on.

This is a pretty recent picture of my dad.  I think he spoke at a fireside this past summer.

And this picture was taken just a couple of weeks ago near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  No longer in uniform doing what he loves best, being in the mountains!

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

-Elmer Davis

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

abigail

a month to give thanks

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

I love the month of November for reminding me to be more grateful, humble, generous, giving, thankful, compassionate, simple and to count my MANY blessings.

handiwork

My mom came to visit last week.  She spent a lot of her time sitting at the sewing machine creating these awesome purses/bags. She is modeling her purse.

This one is mine.

And this one is Chloe's.

It was very fun to have her come and visit us.  We did not do anything too excited and we were totally lame on taking pictures. This is the only other picture I have of her visit. We went to the temple, ate out a couple of times, walked every morning, went to a movie, shopped, sewed, celebrated Halloween, went to a fireside by Gerald Lund. Other than that she just got to follow me around a "normal" week which included lots of driving, homework, laundry, cleaning, a couple of baseball games and a soccer game.

Hopefully she just enjoyed being in warm weather.  This is what she escaped, snow at home and bitter cold temperatures.

You are welcome back any time!  We already miss you!!!

hunting

Nicholas went on a little hunting trip on Saturday.  He took his BB gun and headed to the park in search of a dove.  He found one and killed it.  Then "you-tubed" how to skin and cook a dove.

This all caused quite a debate, Chloe felt strongly that he was committing a sin by killing a bird. Nic stated that Heavenly Father created animals for us to hunt and eat. Holden was gone but would not have cared either way (he personally hates hunting). Austin thought it was an awesome idea as long as he could shadow Nicholas on his every move. I was unsure but granted Nic permission.

The whole thing actually turned out to be quite entertaining for me due to Nic's commentary.

Here is a little of what he said - NIC'S WORD WILL BE IN GREEN.

As he headed out the door - I can just feel this is going to be the start of a very long hunting career.

 Just finished watching the you-tube video on what to do with a dead dove- That was the most awesome video I have ever watched.  I mean that man was really good.  I know exactly what to do mom!

 As I was walking off from taking this picture because I didn't want to witness any blood he said- Don't worry mom I am going to repent right after I do this.

Then I heard-WOW, I hit the JACKPOT!  You should see how much meat is in this thing!  I was imaging 2 chicken breasts in my mind.  

This was the JACKPOT.  See the 2 little chunks of meat in the Ziploc?  Maybe 2 small bites of meat.  All that work for 2 bites of dove which remains in my refrigerator because I think I scared him from eating it.  I told him to eat hurry up and it eat, that way if he got sick he would be better by Monday and wouldn't have to miss school.

Nic had a great Saturday afternoon doing this. 
He is truly a hunter-fisher-army-gun type manly man.
Chloe is still mad about the whole thing. 
Travis was impressed when he got home.

And speaking of hunting-
THE LOVE OF NIC'S LIFE. 
He wrote this paper for school about his favorite thing during Fall Break,
which was, of course,
HUNTING!

My Fall Break

By Nicholas Garza

Over the Fall Break I went with my family to Idaho to visit my Grandparents.   It is a long drive from Arizona to get to Idaho.  The day we left on the trip it was snowing in Utah and Idaho.  My Grandma sent us pictures from her phone of all the snow in her front yard.  I was so excited to get there and go sledding but there actually wasn’t that much snow.  My favorite thing I did when I got to Idaho was go hunting with my Grandpa near Soda Springs.

My Grandpa talked to me one night about going hunting with him on opening day of the deer hunt season.  I was so excited because I had planned on doing this for a couple of months.  My Grandpa made me check with my mom to make sure it was okay with her to go.  My mom said I could go if I got packed and was very careful.  I helped my Grandpa get all the hunting gear ready.  We had to get warm clothes, get the guns and ammunition ready, load the 4-wheeler into the truck, and make sure we had food and water.

The morning of the hunt we got up at 4:00 in the morning, we got dressed, had breakfast and got in the truck.  The drive took us about an hour and a half and was kind of boring.  I was still tired so I took a nap.  It was dark outside still so I could not see any animals but soon the sun came up and I saw a jack rabbit run right in front of the truck.  We finally got to the place we were going to hunt.  We unloaded the 4-wheeler and headed up a gigantic mountain.

The air outside was chilly even though I was wearing my winter coat.  I was sinking into deep snow up to my thighs.  We had to walk because the 4-wheeler could not make it up the steep parts of the mountain.  We walked for about 3 miles and I saw 2 female moose.  We couldn’t shoot these because we didn’t have a permit for moose.  We kept walking and saw 3 more moose coming on to a ridge.  Later we walked through a very rocky field, where we saw 2 fawns and a doe.  We had seen a lot of animals but were having no luck at seeing a big buck.  We hit the end of the trail on this mountain so we headed back. 

On our way back we ran into some fresh deer tracks so we looked around and we saw a 4 point buck bolt out in front of us.  My Grandpa grabbed his rifle and tried to take a shot but the buck was too fast and got away.  We did not see any more animals for the rest of the walk back to the 4-wheeler.  Even though we weren’t able to get a deer, I was still happy and grateful that my Grandpa took me hunting on my very first hunting trip ever.  I am looking forward to going hunting with my Grandpa again and hopefully I will get a buck one of these years!

halloween 2011

You might notice a theme in the costumes this year.  While we were on our cruise last spring the boys all begged for various souvenirs along the way.  I told them I would only buy them if they promised to use them for Halloween costumes.  Thus, the Jamaican dreads, Mexican sombrero, and Mexican wrestler mask.

This is Nicholas with his friend Joey.  They were a small Mariachi Band.

And here is Austin as a Mexican Luchador.  El Diablo Luchador to be exact.  He loved his costume.  And we love the movie Nacho Libre, so it was perfect.

Here is the handiwork of our friend, Jenny.  She is an AWESOME face painter. The boys did a Spook Alley at our ward party so she painted them up for that.  Chloe and her friend just wanted their faces painted for fun and look how great they turned out.

Here are some pictures from the party we hosted for Halloween.  It was a ton of fun and I think will be an annual event.  In all honesty, it was pretty much a full time job for 4 weeks leading up to it (preventing my blogging) but was worth it.  We put it on with another couple and had about 60 people there.  Most of them went way out on costumes and there were some really good ones.

Here are the boys with some friends before heading out the door to go trick-or-treating.  Chloe was already gone to go with her friends and I couldn't talk her into a picture before hand.

We had to squeeze in our traditional dinner of Shepard's Pie before the festivites began.  Grandma was visiting and bought the boys their FAVORITE, Jones pop, to have as a Halloween treat.

 Hope your Halloween was as jam-packed and as FUN as ours!

i'm back

October consisted of -

General Conference
6 baseball games
5 football games
3 soccer games
13 sport practices
6 piano lessons
3 Parent Teacher conferences
a 9 day trip to Utah and Idaho
Holden going to Science Camp for 3 days & a Scout campout
1 band concert
a Visiting Teaching luncheon at my house
Travis gone for 13of the days
4 Halloween costumes made by me
1 HUGE Halloween party put on with some friends for 27 couples
Halloween
my mom coming to visit
a ward party that Travis had a big part in putting together
1 root canal (Travis)
1 scheduled MRI (me)
That is what I have been doing for the last 48 days.  Wow!  I didn't think it had been that long.  I have lots to catch up on.  Halloween pictures tomorrow.  I promise.

a simple funny

I have a whole list of things I need to blog about but instead...

CLICK HERE

I loved it!  You might have already seen it since it has been all over the news.  I could rewatch and rewatch and laugh again and again.  Like the old lady said in a interview, she was happy that she and her husband could provide something on the news that was light-hearted and truly funny.  Amen, sister and you were right when you said you should stop chewing gum- shucks!

you know you are going to have to apologize

so think before you say it...........

I knew it, the she (a.k.a. Nie Nie) that wrote the post I featured in my post "burn" would eventually have to apologize for her cyber-rage. She wrote a very nice apology to Nicole Caywood and vowed never to blast someone using their full name again.

I found this smart little picture of advice...

Good advice to think about it when you are pounding those keys with hate & fire.

Have a nice Tuesday!

where were you...

ten years ago?

Travis turned on the T.V. before work which was not the norm and told me the news.  He had to leave to work and I remember calling him on his cell phone to tell him that the first tower fell.

Chloe had her first day of "Joy School".

 I spent most of the day watching T.V. so this is what the day looked like. 

Last year when Travis and I were in NYC we visited ground zero.  This is what it looked like last year
in September.

This is a fire station that it literally right across the street from where the towers stood.  It is Fire Station #10.

This plaque shows the firefighters killed from this particular firehouse.

And this display shows all the firefighters killed that day.

DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO FELL AND TO THOSE WHO CARRY ON

 MAY WE NEVER FORGET

burn

My mom always said, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." 

perfect example-

Also, just a REALLY nice e-mail (see below)
While I am very happy for you that you are having another little one, I really wish you'd stop complaining about it so much. I know people who would love to be sick throwing up because they are pregnant but they aren't because they CAN'T get pregnant. Just be glad that you can even have another baby (especially after everything you've been through) and stop complaining about it! You have been through some very challenging times in your life and I'm not downplaying that, but I feel like a lot of your blog is dedicated to complaining and it's not very fun to read.

To you I say this:
Please don't read my blog then.
Thank you.
You have no idea how grateful I am for Lil peanut.
Have you ever been burned nearly 85% of your body? NO? Well, gee if you have
you would know that being pregnant and burned don't really go well together.
Yes, I am a little on edge, and I swore I would never EVER give a minute of my time to e-mails like this, it is a waste. But this is MY blog, if you don't like what you are reading, STOP.
I don't care, I don't.
if more of you have these opinions please just keep them
to yourself, obviously it hurts me to read them and certainly adds to my stress.
Thank you, Nicole Caywood.

I had to copy and paste instead of link of her blog, because in the past, entries like this one have disappeared after a few hours.  Is it bad to say this made me giggle a little, and think "ouch" for Nicole Caywood.  And oh, I bet you regret including your last name!

But really we all can use reminding of my mom's good ol' quote once in awhile. Think about it today so you don't get burned!

"If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." 

what to do with a boy like this?

Austin is officially my first child to visit the principal's office. 

I thought that visit on Friday would scare the pants off of him, but oh no I got a phone call from his teacher again today(that makes for a total of 3)...ugh... what am I to do with this boy! I dread that this cartoon might be telling the truth.

I stewed all weekend over what I am doing wrong. I thought about what I could do better. I started reading a book about parenting and being a better mom. We had talk after talk about appropriate behavior and listening to his teacher. He sat in his room. He sat on a chair. He played no electronics. He watched no T.V. I even bribed him with a toy for good behavior.

After church on Sunday, I had to rush up to the teacher and ask her for this quote that she used in her lesson, I know I will need to re-read it often.  Hopefully, it will sustain me in my course of Parenting 505.

"A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101.  If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505.  Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself.  With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed and refined?  Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?"

Is that what this is?  A test for me? I will try to get through this a little more Christ-like but Austin might swear that he has met the devil when he gets off the bus today!

lonely days

Today I am feeling a little bit lonely.  I don't know why because yesterday was a 1/2 day and I text ed Travis and told him, "I hate 1/2 days!".  18 kids in and out of the house until 7:00 p.m. was my reason. I guess my new found freedom IS a bit lonely, but I am not complaining.  I am enjoying my long days at home -ALONE.

I don't think lonely accurately describes my feeling actually.  It's more of a mourning that summer is coming to a close.  That Idaho has come and gone.  That homework and sports and piano lessons are back in full-swing.  I can't say the weather is changing but I wish it was because it is BLAZING HOT down here.

My summer is now just a memory....

 but I still miss this place....

 

and all of these people!