Our excursion at Lakemont Park

So this last weekend the kiddos went to AR for the summer. We decided that before they left, we would take them to Altoona, PA for some fun at Lakemont Amusement Park. This is a nice little park with 1 big roller coaster, lots of smaller rides, and a water park. We didn't have time for the water park because this was a side stop on our way to Knoxville (via PA and WV).

Here are my kiddos and hubby posing in the train just inside the gate. Dougie is hiding in the red engine. A couple of shots of the kiddos in the 4x4 kiddie ride...

On the carousel. Tim and I were on a bench in front of the the kiddos on their horses. There might have been 30 people in the park, so we could walk up to any ride and get right on. The best part is, it was only $5 per person!

They also have 2 Indy tracks, one for the adults and a mini one for the smaller kiddos...

And the resident favorite... the swings. For the second year in a row I wasn't able to ride this one (something about skinny seats). Don't worry, by this time next year, I'll be in them!

I managed a pretty awesome shot of the 4 of them...

We're turning this into a yearly tradition, I think, and going before and after their vacation. Next time we'll take a longer day so that we can also go to the water park side of it.

Generation Photo #1

While in NY, we thought it would be nice to get a photo of the oldest and youngest generations of the family. From left to right - Audie (8), Chloie (7), Great-Grandma Rose (90ish), Christian (6), Douglas (5), and Cindy holding Connor (3) and technically Carson (in progress).

This was at a restaurant local to the Rochester area with great food and quippical signs and sayings on the walls. Part of the meal was just spent reading all of the nifties in view. :)

Oh, the places you'll go

As you might have read in my last (sporadic) post, we traveled to NY last week to attend the funeral of Sam Papa. We left Tuesday afternoon, arrived that evening before 10pm, and slept until mid morning Wednesday. I opted to take the kids (both mine and Cindy's) to the park so that they could go to the viewing... I don't do viewings very well, so I was glad to have this distraction.

The funeral on Thursday was, um, interesting. I'd never been to a Catholic funeral before. I'm still trying to process what was happening during the whole thing. They interred him in a mausoleum not far from where he lived. Overall it was a lot better than I was expecting.

Tim and I decided to attend a session in the Palmyra temple on Friday with his mother. It was the first time I've been to a session with her. It was BEAUTIFUL! I even got to wear the slippers I crocheted on the trip up (I'll post pics of them later). We even stopped in to Savoia's to pick up some of Tim's favorite cookies.

The trip back on Saturday was equally tiring, but this time we left earlier and arrived around 6:30. We ended up working for a long time with Audie and Chloie on their homework. I didn't realize how much work they gave Audie until we sat down to go through it. Funny thing is, he didn't once mention on his own about his work, but Chloie was asking often if she could do hers. :)

In any case, it's Monday, and I owe you a progress shot of the cross stitch. I finished the left half of the picture except for the eagle. The moon is done, as are the stars and branches. I've decided to scroll over only half way so that I can complete the eagle, and then I'll start on the right side of the moon, branches and stars.
On another interesting note... I have another cross stitch called "The Castle". It has a castle on a rock outcropping in the middle of a lake with a dragon curled around it. It's really pretty, and I started it upwards of 9 years or so ago. During one of my military moves, I lost the pattern, but I still had the thread and stitching that I'd started. I finally found the pattern to download online, so at some point I can finish it. YAY!!!

Over the weekend

We spent a fun-filled weekend baking and preparing for Easter. I had cupcakes for a special Easter edition of "Singing Cupcakes" in primary that were all shades of the rainbow, a last minute cake order for a white cake with coconut filling, Tim's Mounds birthday cake (for Friday), and an angel food cake for choir practice. Whew!

We had a steak dinner at the house for Tim's birthday. We had a full house and plenty of food. Tim grilled some awesome steak, and I made herb and garlic mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Mom even brought some veggie pizza that was really very good as an appetizer. I was made with croissant rolls rolled out for a crust, cream cheese spread out for "sauce" and a mix of shredded carrots, broccoli (or green beans for those with a green-tree aversion), and shredded cheese. Tasty!

Saturday night we colored eggs with all 5 kiddos. I didn't know this, but this was Christian and Connor's first egg-dying egg-sperience. :) (you liked that didn't you!). We had 5 colors (one for each kiddo) and we rotated through. Each one got to dye 4 eggs. We made deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches out of them later. Sunday we went to my parents' house after church and ate tasty ham and had an Easter egg hunt. My sister was the "bunny" and had a "bunny manual" so that she could make sure we found all of the eggs. Don't laugh. It worked.And as promised, progress pics of the cross stitch. Since last Monday, I've completed the third color (darkest in the moon) and have since completed a fourth (med-light on the moon), fifth (darkest brown on the branches) and started on #6 (med-brown on the branches). So what we have here is an (almost) full moon and the beginnings of branches for the eagle to perch. I actually had to scroll over to the left to reach the left most branches. I'm going to finish them and do their outlines before I complete the moon and finish the bird. Then I get to scroll to the right and do that half of the picture. :)

My poor bamboo plant + the weekend

My sister sent me a message over facebook this past week asking what "a Sister/Aunt had to do" to get recent pics of my kiddos. Apparently it's as simple as sending a message. We had a busy baptism weekend. I played piano for Dylan's baptism on Saturday. I had the kiddos with me, and we visited my parents afterwards. Then we went shopping for the food for the Blue and Gold banquet on Wednesday. I also had to get new jeans because I'd managed to split mine. It took me 45 minutes to find something that fit and I'm up a size or two. Grrr! Sunday evening we attended Dusty's baptism. This time I brought cake.

The birthday boy blowing out his candles...

So my poor bamboo plant. Yeah. My dad bought me this plant 3 or so years ago for my office. at the time the leaves on top were only 4 inches high. I've kept it watered and fertilized, but over the years the stalks have died out one by one. It's now twice the height it was when he gave it to me, but the poor little thing looks so pitiful.

I've been trying to find information on bamboo care. One site suggests removing the old stalks and replacing them with pruned ones from the top of the display.

I think I'm going to print out what I can find and take it home on a warm day to see if I can't help it out.

So much for Groundhog Day

What's this? Ice on the front of my Trailblazer Monday night? An inch of ice and then 2 more of snow?

What happened to no shadow?

I thought that meant spring! And so it begins. Right after I took the unused snow boots back to wally-world, it gives us this. Fun. Tim worked overnight and said the roads were a mess, so I stayed home with the kiddos (with no school). We watched movies, cleaned the house, had sausage gravy and biscuits for dinner. (yum)

I did start working on the cake for the pinewood derby this Saturday. I'll give you a hint...

There is a car... that is all. :)

A force field of stink

Sometimes I forget that Audie is a kiddo when he says things like that. Apparently, the skunks were encouraged by the ground hog's prediction of an early spring, but their senses are still a little groggy. I've counted no less than 6 dead along the road. Worse yet, as you drive around them, the stink gets in the car, and the only way to get rid of it is to open the windows for a time. As Audie was describing this, he called it a force field of stink. Tim and I just looked at each other and laughed. Very clever, kiddo!

Chloie had a similar instance with the "fresh air button" on the AC controls. Dougie is, well, DUDE. I have awesome kiddos. Chloie is feeling better, though the cough is still a little harsh. I'm hoping that since her fever broke Saturday night, it'll go away without too much persistence.

Is it Chili's in here?

In a move of total spontaneity, Tim decided that we should go to Chili's in Winchester for dinner. We LOVE Chili's. We were delighted when we discovered they'd brought back the classic nachos. YUM!!! The ones they had in place of them just weren't the same. Tim ate his classic bacon burger, I had honey-chipotle chicken strips, Chloie had a cheese burger, Dougie had pizza, and Audie had a corn dog, 1/2 of Chloie's burger, and a piece of Dougie's pizza. That kid can really pack some food away!

Conversation Hearts

The kiddos and I did these little cuties last night. I'd bought a box of the real thing and wrote down different phrases to use on my hearts. They helped me decide which phrases went on which colors.

They don't know it yet, but these are for dessert on Sunday at my parents' house.

Some of the more... interesting... ones I left out. Like "boogie" and such.

I think I might offer these next year for Valentines day. What do you think?

Chameleon paint, food orders and more...

I suppose we had an eventful weekend. The kiddos and I finished the second season of Star Trek: Voyager and got the third season from Dad. We had dinner with my parents Friday night because I got stuck waiting for the Variform train on Route 9. Grrr!

Dougie and Chloie went grocery shopping with me in Hagerstown on Saturday while Tim and Audie worked on his Pinewood Derby car. They looked online for ideas and asked me to sketch it onto the blank for them to cut out and sand. It looked really good when I saw it painted black on Saturday. I promised Audie that we'd put the chameleon paint on it Sunday after church. This is the same paint I have on my motorcycle. We taped off the windows so that when we're done, it will look like he has tinted windows on his car. :)

I also placed my first food order from the Church's provident living department (or whatever it is called). I'm going over to my friend's house tomorrow to can all of my dried goods. I'll finally have a year supply on something! Now if I can get the garden working, I think we'll be OK.

I did record the Super Bowl for Tim. We started watching it when he got home at about 9, but I couldn't stay up long enough to watch past the second quarter. What I did see was a pretty awesome game, and Tim told me that the Packers won. Since there wasn't a clear underdog (like the Saints last year) and his favorite team wasn't in the game, we rooted for Green Bay. YAY WIN!

A day at home (again)

Tuesday at work they cancelled production, but said that the office personnel would report at their normal time. I figured that instead of going in at 6:30 like I normally do, I would come in at 8:30. Once they cancelled school in Berkeley County, however, I decided to stay home. no school means that the roads between me and the main roads have not been plowed. I wasn't going anywhere.

Instead, we had the kids pile all of their toys in the middle of the play room and start sorting while Tim and I built a quick shelving unit for their bins. It took us about an hour to get it together. Meanwhile, the kiddos got all of their blocks, magnets, cars, train pieces, and misc. stuff together in piles and bins. We reorganized the entire room and got rid of old, broken, or incomplete toys. We've got a large bag of toys to donate, cleared out all of the trash and missing socks, and put everything in its place.

The deal now, is that they can take their Christmas toys down stairs and put them in the places we've designated for them. They each may play with one toy at a time (or bin like the train set or car bin), but they have to put it back in that bin when they are done. They also cannot play with another toy until they've put the other one away. Tim and I are going to inspect each day until they get the hang of it, kind of like we did with the boys' room after we rearranged it. I'm so glad we finally get to clear out the living room!

What year is it again?

You know, right when you get used to writing 2010, they go and change it on you. Now I get to spend the next 12 months trying to remember to write 2011.

Tim and I had a good couple days at home together last week. We watched movies, beat each other playing Wii games, cuddled... it was wonderful. No snow, I didn't have to work, and we got to relax. I did have a list of things to do, however, and completed those things while he was working. I typed most of the Primary stuff for music time, learned the songs, did some dishes, caught up on laundry, put a bunch of yarn away, and did some cleaning. Oh, Oh, and I got to try out my new game. You know, the one Tim got me for Christmas? Star Wars: the Force Unleashed is awesome!!! I spent 3 hours playing it Friday night and didn't realize it until Tim got home.

Tim and I didn't celebrate New Years. We decided to go to bed somewhat early so that we'd be well rested for the trip to Knoxville Saturday morning to pick up the kiddos. Thankfully, there was no snow, just rain, and the temperature was kind of nice (if you can contain excitement over a 50° heat wave). We stopped at a Burger King on the way home and let them play in the "complex" they had for a play place. This thing was 3 stories tall!

Chloie kept asking if I'd teach her how to knit since we got her pink yarn, purple yarn, and a set of knitting needles for Christmas. I told her we'd work on it after church on Sunday. She picked up casting on very quickly, though trying to knit the stitches is a little tricky. We'll just have to practice a little more. :) The boys put together their Lego kits - Audie his sea plane, and Dougie his race car. Audie did his all by himself while I helped Dougie. The kiddos even played the Wii some. Chloie seems to like archery like me while Audie liked sword fighting.

We had a good Fast and Testimony meeting Sunday morning. Tim even got up and bore his testimony about fasting. I'm so glad it works because we have a lot to be thankful for due to fasting. I was SO happy he got up there. He laughs at me for it, but I can't help but be happy that he's come so far from when I met him, but then again, so have I.

Well, now that the holidays are over, I guess it is time to return things to "normal" if there really is such a thing. I need to go grocery shopping...

It's TOO quiet

Before they left to visit their dad in AR, I got to spend Thursday with the kiddos. Audie and I had an interesting conversation. We were talking about their behavior recently and how it upsets me that they'll listen to Tim, but won't listen to me. Audie said that I seemed to be happier and less stressed when they come back from visiting and thought this was a mini vacation for me. In truth it is a little. A week of not having to yell to be heard, or repeat myself or repeat myself or repeat myself, or being ignored. It's nice to have a break every once in a while.

But it's too quiet in my house.

This is particularly evident on nights when I get home and Tim is already at work. Like last night. When I throw something quick together because I'm the only one eating. When I look around and the house is empty. Good grief, what will I do when they're grown and move out???

Christmas at the Whitcomb's

I took Thursday off from work so that I could spend it with the kiddos before they went to AR for a week or so. Tim and I ended up going shopping for their gifts during while they visited with my parents. I got to spend 2 hours that evening wrapping everything. :)

Friday the kiddos and I baked some pies and chocolate meatball cookies, then while Tim was at work, we watched some movies and worked on dinner. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green beans, Mom's deviant wheat rolls, and Hannah's salad. Then we read the Christmas story from the scriptures and opened gifts (since we were traveling on Christmas day). The kiddos loved their gifts. Audie got the bow and arrows he'd been asking for, Dougie ran around in his SWAT gear "shooting" the rest of us, and Chloie is excited to use the knitting needles and *bright* pink and purple yarn we got her after they get back (she's been asking me to teach her to knit for some time). We finally broke down and got them a Wii, though I must admit I like the archery and bowling in the Sports Resort we got with it. We got enough controllers so that all 3 kiddos could play. Tim and I have already challenged each other several times!

We left at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday morning bound for Knoxville, TN. It flurried a little on the way down, but all in all it wasn't bad. The kiddos were occupied for hours with the Crayola Color Wonder sets my parents got for them. Awesome stuff there, BTW, just sayin'. The only place open to eat on the way down was Waffle House. I will tell you that since VA raised the speed limit to 70, the trip went a lot faster. We met, JD left with the kiddos, and Tim and I ate at IHOP.

We left at 2pm from IHOP fully ready to get home around 10 or so, but the weather had a different idea. At about 5:30, the snow had mucked up the roads enough that we were only going 40 mph. Add to that the darkness, and we decided to spend the night at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Dublin, VA. We had dinner at the Waffle House (yay) and passed out from exhaustion. Those beds are comfy! I'd already called my parents to tell them what happened, and I called my friends in the Primary to let them know I couldn't get home to do singing time on Sunday. It broke my heart, but I didn't want to risk the trip.

We left the hotel at 9am and headed home. By that time, the sun was up and the roads were well cleared. Driving home from then on was a breeze. We watched a movie, washed the road grime off, and went to bed. I'm glad to be home. I think we're going to start looking into trains, buses, or airplanes for future trips.

On a bright note, I finished the blanket for my brother-in-law and his wife. I also had enough yarn in those colors left to do booties and a hat to match. I showed her the unfinished blanket Friday night while they were at dinner, but these are the first pics of the finished set.
Aren't they cute!!! So tiny!I admit that the booties are crocheted while the hat and blanket are knit. I wasn't sure that I could do booties with knitting needles, so I went with what I knew.
This project was a first on many fronts. First time using circular knitting needles, first time cabling (the lines and twisting), first time knitting with 2 colors separately, and the first time using double pointed needles (for the hat). I can't wait to do the next one!

The Grateful Pumpkin Says Thank You

I might have officially lost it, but that was the best I could come up with. I bought a little pumpkin a couple weeks ago from Wal-mart for $.50 on clearance to use this Sunday. We talked about translations don't always fully cover the meaning of a word or phrase from one language to another, but there is always a way to say thank you. We even learned how to say it in 10 languages (I didn't know there was a primary song already, but we still had fun). Then we learned the song "My Blessings" and played hot potato with the pumpkin, and who ever had the pumpkin when the song was over got to say what they were thankful for. Even the senior primary had fun with it.

The kiddos and I did our grocery shopping Saturday, then started working on the dressers. The 1/2 round and coving are now on both of them, and the base has been attached to one. The runners have been attached to the drawers, but not the dressers yet. This weekend I hope to do the base on the second dresser, put in the cabinet pieces of the runners, and start polyurethaning the snot out of them. Soon, very soon!

We did get to surprise Tim on Friday. He's been bugging me to let him get the new Call of Duty, but we haven't had the money. I talked to the kids and asked if they wanted to get it for him as an early Christmas present. They were super enthusiastic about it, so they each pulled $20 out of their piggy banks and we went to the Game Stop in the commons. I thought it was funny to see them put their crumpled, kid-folded money on the counter; that poor lady had to unfold it all. I paid the tax, and we met Tim at Chick-fil-a for dinner. Since he's been working overtime we haven't seen him much, so I thought it would be a nice night out. We gave Tim his game at dinner, and he immediately opened it to read the book inside. It would still be a couple days before he would actually be able to play it, but he was very appreciative and thanked the kiddos with big hugs.

*Sniffle*

I stayed up late last night making Chloie's water bender costume for Halloween. I rummaged through my fabric scraps and found some old curtains I'd made in dark blue fabric, a medium blue fuzzy bathrobe, and ribbon bits from the store in Hagerstown. After some serious alteration and lots of safety pins, I think it is safe to say that it's ready for her costume parade today at school. Pictures on that after I see her in it.

It seemed that every time I sat at the sewing machine last night I started sneezing and sniffling. Once I walked away from it I mostly recovered, but when I woke up this morning I was sneezing and sniffling without the sewing machine. I hope I'm not getting sick. Ugh.

One day I hope the kiddos will look back on these late-night-costume-making sprees and see the love we have for our little munchkins.

Fun with wood

So first we started with a list of lumber we needed, a set of free dresser plans from the Internet, and three helpers. Then we started cutting wood, planing it to the proper thickness, and using the router table. Using the router table is fun.

These are pieces for the drawers. There are 2 small and 3 large drawers in each dresser.This is one of the small drawers completely assembled. At this point, all we have to do is polyurethane it and put the knob on it.A shot of most of the drawers assembled without the front attached (the two little ones in the front are complete).A picture of the "inside" of the side panels, partial shot of the front frame, drawer, and bottom trim.One frame assembled. We have to put the bottom trim, the top of the dresser, and the drawer runners in before we polyurethane the snot out of it. I ran out of screws before I could assemble the other one. One of my helpers posing next to his dresser.

This has been a long project, and there is still more to do. At least I know t hat these should last a lot longer than the $40 particle board Wal-mart jobbies we got almost 8 years ago. I have to admit that they held their own for long enough, through 6 moves and 2 destructo-boys! The new solid wood dressers should last a life time, and they're prettier! :)

Mommy Milk! Mommy Milk!

And now for a moment of hilarity and embarrassment...

Sunday was a pretty busy day (more on that in a minute), but as we were heading home for some lasagna-making and a nap while it baked, we saw some cows. Cows feeding calves. Cows with udders feeding calves. So the conversation goes something like this...

"Mommy, I know what those are called... they're called udders!"

"Do you know what udders do?"

"Yes, they make milk. Mommy, do mommies make milk?"

"Yes, we do after we have wee-bitty babies. We feed them with milk our bodies make like cows do."

"Did you feed us milk when we were little babies?"

"Yes, I did."

"So we had mommy milk?"

"Yes."

"Can we have more mommy milk?"

(all three) "Mommy milk! Mommy milk! We want mommy milk!"

"Oh, dear."

Serves me right answering questions about mommies and babies when they're this age. Luckily they quickly forgot about "mommy milk" soon after we starting talking about making lasagna when we got home.

Saturday was a fun-filled day of wood-working. We coated the small drawers with polyurethane and put together 2 more of the big drawers. When we tried to do the last two big drawers, we only had 2 long pieces and 1 short piece (enough to do 3/4 of a drawer). Where did the rest of the pieces go? Are you sure we bought the wood? Yes, we checked the planks off as we got them. Are you sure we cut the pieces? Yes, because we marked off the pieces as we finished cutting them to size. So where are they? We can't find them!

Calling my organizational skills into jeopardy, we're still missing 5 pieces of wood, and I don't know where they are. So I finished carving the mortise and tenon joints for the back frame and moved the big drawers we had already completed so that I could use the counter space... and found our missing pieces under them. Haha. Funny, Tim. So we took a nap and had lunch, then we worked some more on the dressers. We put the last 2 drawers together, routed out the recess for the panel in the back frames and completed the back frame assembly, and found out that we had cut the front drawer covers too short. Yes, we did. Tim's response was that we're still learning. Sure, let's go with that. I'll have pictures to post soon of our progress.

I stopped by Lowe's and got some 1x8x6 white pine so that we could re-do the pieces we cut too short, and headed to the church for Women's Conference. I got to eat dessert with some wonderful sisters in Relief Society and talk knitting with Bette Carpenter. I just love the scarf she was knitting out of grayish eyelash yarn! We sat in the back of the chapel knitting together while we listened to the speakers of the evening. During the third talk, JaNae and I received confirmation of our theme for the Visiting Teaching Conference next year. I can't wait to do it, and I can't wait for you to see what we have planned! :)

I loved hearing President Monson speak to us. Not only is he funny, but you can tell from the way he talks to us that he has a genuine love for the sisters of the Church. He exudes warmth and compassion. Overall an awesome conference. I can't wait to see what we hear this Sunday at General Conference!

Sunday was full of service, and I'm honestly surprised at how satisfying it was. We presented the crochet-along in RS, and had a lot of interest (more than I was expecting). I'm teaching my BFF how to crochet Tuesday night so that she can participate. I'm doing the crochet-along in two yarns and bringing in the squares each week with the associated clues for the sisters to see. We spent time with my parents and had Mom's new enchilada recipe for lunch. It was very tasty! Then the kiddos and I got to visit some sisters on our way home. We saw Sister Fanning at her new apartment and gave her some canned peaches and flowers. It was nice to sit and talk to her for a little bit. Then we stopped by Jayne and Joe's house so that I could visit with her. All three of the kiddos at some point during our time at church came up to her individually to tell her that we were coming over to deliver cookies. They got to feed the chickens and play with their children while Jayne and I talked. I learned that they like crabs. Me too!!! We've decided that if they get the crabs, I'll make dessert. :)

I got to go upstairs!!!

I've been giddy and grinning from ear to ear all weekend. It was a long Saturday, but worth every minute of it. I decided to forgo walking on the treadmill in favor of getting some extra sleep (I'd been told that it would take a lot out of me). Tim and I got up at 6am and made up our grocery list, and I got ready to go. Amy was there just after 7am, and we were off!

After stopping at Burger.King for a quick breakfast, we got to the temple around 9am and went to the distribution center to purchase the needed items for my first time through. I learned very quickly, however, that the fit is a little different from the measurements and ended up exchanging the bottoms before we left later in the afternoon.

I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was to walk across the bridge and into the temple! We got to sit and enjoy the mural on the second floor. I'm told the painter painted his entire family into both sides (apparently he wasn't sure on some of them). I love how he included people from all different time periods and the expanse of righteous people represented on the right hand of the Savior in light. It was very powerful. There is a girl in a blue dress almost front center helping a small child that looks like JaNae's daughter. I wonder if there is a likeness of me?Most of the rest of my time inside the temple can't and shouldn't be discussed here or anywhere but inside the temple, and I know there are websites out there that lay bare the author's version of those events, but I feel that those entries were penned without the Spirit and prompted by something with less than benevolent intentions in mind. While researching the temple a couple years ago to make it in cake, I found a spectacular picture, but it was attached to one of those sites. Not knowing what I'd found, I read through and couldn't believe what I was reading. The author repeatedly put down the church and its practices and mentioned how "silly" they felt. As time went on and I wanted to go and was preparing to enter the temple, I was worried that I would feel the same way. Thankfully, I didn't. I had a wonderful experience, and aside from some slight issues with the ceremonial clothing, everything was fine. I left feeling empowered and maybe walked a little taller. I wasn't confused, and I didn't feel silly, but I did feel at peace, like I'd accomplished something important. If you haven't gone, I encourage you to do so, so that you can feel for your self. If you've already gone, I encourage you to do so as if it was your first time and recapture the giddy excitement. Sitting in the Celestial room, I couldn't help but think I'm finally here! It was beautiful! Everything in the temple is beautiful. Even the banisters are beautiful. The stained glass was breathtaking, and the details are incredible. I can't wait to go back! I do, however, need to make my own dress for my next visit. And Tim and I have decided that we want to go back often enough to warrant purchasing our own "accessories".

The outpouring of support was phenomenal as well. I couldn't believe how many people showed up just to be there with me. I'm so grateful that my ward family (and my BIL and SIL) were there, and especially my BFF Amy for escorting me. Most of us went to Red.Robin for lunch afterwards. I was good to revel in their friendship and enjoy our time together. We had an excellent lunch, and then start our trek back to WV, pick up the kiddos, pick up pizza, and go to the Elders Quorum activity. Pizza and games... fun! The kiddos really enjoyed playing Twister, musical chairs, and whacking at a pinata! There were pieces of yellow and purple streamers flying everywhere with the swing of the sword they were using. The brethren finally had a go at it after the kids made 2 runs through. Sam whacked it so hard that it came off of the rope and tossed it at Tim; he wasn't expecting it, and it split open when it hit him. :) After everything was cleaned up, we went grocery shopping for our 2 week menu and rented Prince.of.Persia from Red.box. Awesome movie BTW (Tim and I watched it Saturday night).

After completion of Saturday's festivities and a quasi-good night's sleep, were were honored to see the Primary program Sunday morning. Dougie was brave enough to say his line this year, Chloie played shy, Audie did great as always, and everyone sang their songs with gusto! The rest of our Sunday was peaceful, which was a welcome break after such a busy few days. We celebrated my parents' birthdays and Dougie's birthday with cake and icecream and presents for Dougie. On Wednesday we're taking my parents out to chinese for their birthdays. Mmmm, tasty!

How is progress measured?

Progress is a funny thing. Sometimes you see a lot of it all at once. Sometimes it takes what seems like forever before you see anything. Sometimes it looks like you're going backwards.

Take, for example, this import project at work. Over the last week that we've been testing it, I've noticed a drastic reduction in the amount of errors I have to address each week. Time management is getting better because less time is spent doing the tasks that the imports handle. This kind of progress is encouraging, but not all progress is this noticeable.

Another instance to consider is my website. It's taken a long time to get it, and now that I've got it, the only thing there is an "under construction" page. Unfortunately, that's all I know how to do at the moment. I've started working on the content, but it is very slow progress. Getting to the temple, too, has been a slow process. After 3 years, I'm finally going next Saturday. My interviews are done, my appointment is scheduled (anyone who wants to be there should arrive by 10:30 for the 11am session), and now all I have to do is get there on time.

Finally, my third examination involves the dreaded diet. Blah! Last week I started out at 15 minutes a day; this week I cranked it up to 30 minutes a day, and I've managed to GAIN weight. I'm sure that Monday's festivities and missing Wednesday's walk didn't help matters any, but it's not the kind of progress I'm hoping for. Now I can keep my hopes up by saying that working out had built muscle, that muscle weighs more than fat and has contributed to my gain, that this increased muscle mass will burn more fat and eventually show a loss, but I'm not sure I believe it. For now I plan to stick with it and maybe increase the number of days to 6. Tim will move to day shift on Sunday, so that will throw a little kink into the schedule, but I plan on getting up at 4:45am to continue my regimen. Dougie has even suggested that we do yoga in the afternoons after I pick him, Audie, and Chloie up and get them home. I've heard that exercise sharpens the mind; maybe it will benefit the kiddos before they start their homework?

On the bright side, I've learned that the yarn I ordered for the mystery corchet-a-long is shipping today. Is it possible to consider this progress if I haven't actually started the project?