I Conquered the Bracelet!

Yesterday was Super Saturday. Funny how me and the two other ladies on my committee are about the three least crafty women in the ward, but we pulled it together. One lady volunteered to teach chain maille bracelets. They looked so cute that I signed up to make one.

What was I thinking?

First of all, I could hardly see the tiny beads and jump rings, even with my glasses. Plus I had a bunch of other stuff to do, like serve lunch and make sure all the other crafts were proceeding smoothly and teach my short story writing class. So, I missed most of the instructions. By the time I sat down to really work on the bracelet, I was exhausted. It hurt my eyes. I could not figure out what I was supposed to do. My friend and visiting teaching companion showed me how it was supposed to go, but I was too tired at that point to even try. I took it all home with me, figuring I would never in a million years finish that bracelet.

Then I woke up this morning and decided that, by golly, I can do hard things! I would not let that bracelet get the best of me! After the temple dedication (which was amazing), I got to work!

I recruited Darth Tater to help me.

Xander took some pictures of me hard at work.

It took hours, but here is the finished product!

                                                                 And me wearing it!

Take that chain maille bracelet! And as a bonus, if anyone tries to stab me in the wrist or cut off my hand or something, I'm totally protected. Believe me, I won't be making a whole suit of chain mail armor anytime soon!

P.S. Apparently, I linked Ryan's mission call video wrong, so know it just shows whatever video Tracy last posted, which is kind of funny. 

Called to Serve!

In case you didn't see this on Facebook...



We are so happy and proud of him. =)Way to go, Ryan!

Scary!

Last Thursday, Tracy and I knelt down to say our nightly prayers together. Tracy said, "We're thankful we've been protected from the fires..." After the prayer I got up to brush my teeth and thought I heard something. Now, I don't have great ears and they ring all the time, so I'm not always sure about what I'm hearing, but it sounded like a siren. Not a normal noise in our little community. I opened the bathroom door and said, "Did you hear the siren?" Tracy said no, so I figured I had heard wrong and went back to getting ready for bed. A minute later Tracy stuck his head in the bathroom door and said, "There's a fire up the canyon. Get some things packed." Yes, our little Loafer Canyon was on fire! The air was full of smoke and we could see the orange glow of flames on the top of the canyon wall, surrounded by policemen and firefighters.

We threw a bunch of important stuff into storage boxes and loaded them up in the trailer. We got our photo albums and important documents, all the musical instruments (except the pianos): an upright bass, an electric bass, a ukulele, a guitar, a tenor sax, a trombone, and a flute. I quickly packed up some clothes, toiletries and medications. Tracy got our server from the basement with all our files on it. We still had time (and room), since we planned on taking all three vehicles, so the kids started loading up their precious stuffed animals. I got my Cabbage Patch dolls. Also all the copies of my book that I had on hand to sell at Elk Ridge City Days on Saturday. We filled up all our water jugs. The police said we were on voluntary evacuation and could go up to the stake center. By the time we were all packed, though, they said we didn't have to leave quite yet, so we waited. About 1am, Camary broke down in tears, so we turned on Phineas and Ferb to cheer her up. We got word (via Facebook) that the fire was out and we were no longer in danger.

Thank heavens! Our volunteer fire dept., plus Payson's and Spanish Fork's responded so quickly that the fire only burned five acres and no homes were destroyed. I was so very grateful. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, and I am so heartbroken for people all over Utah (all over the west) that have lost their homes. I am so sad thinking of all the beautiful canyons destroyed. I am so thankful that ours wasn't one of them and we are all safe!

This was taken by our neighbor, across the street from his house, about a half mile from ours.

Everybody pray for rain!

If You Give a Mom a Cookie

I got this from Camary today, along with a cookie. It says Author Unknown, so sorry I can't give proper credit.

If you give a mom a cookie,

She'll want a glass of milk to go with it.

She'll pour herself some.

Her three-year-old will spill the milk.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her

She has to plan for supper.

She will get out a  pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook

(101 Things to do With a Pound of Hamburger).

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse

That is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for milk and cookies.

Thinking of mild will remind her that she was going to have a glass.

And chances are...If she has a glass of milk,

Her kids will have eaten the cookie that went with it.

Happy Mother's Day!

Pictures with Grandma Taylor

Last week, we went over to Grandma Taylor's so I could give her a copy of my book. It was great to see her, and we took the opportunity to get some pictures with her like we did with Grandma Madsen:

 

Also, since I neglected to include these in the previous post, here are Tracy and I with Grandma Madsen.

I feel so blessed to have these wonderful women in my life and my kids' lives! Hooray for grandmas!

Kittens and Chicks!

Yesterday, we got chicks and kittens. Talk about a cuteness overload!

The chickies! They are living out in the coop.

Merlin (gray) and Arthur (black)

Guinevere (laying) and Lancelot (standing)

 We got the kittens from Tracy's boss. He even drove them down to our house. They are soooo darling. Fun stuff.

Some Stuff We've Been Up To

Two weeks ago, we drove up to Bountiful to see Grandma Madsen before she moved to Missouri to live with Aunt Christine and Uncle Larry. Aunt Louise and Uncle Ralph, who she was living with, are going on a mission. I feel sad that Grandma is moving so far away. And since she is 93 years old, I really hope we get to see her again. We may have to plan a trip out to Missouri sometime. Here are some pictures of us with her.

 I have a feeling we are going to treasure these pictures forever! I think I'd better head to Grandma Taylor's to do the same thing very soon. How lucky we are to have such wonderful grandmothers in our lives!


Here's Finlay in the 5th grade science fair. He and his friend Tyler discovered if substances dissolved in boiling water are present in the steam.

Tracy and the boys went to work at the church dairy out in Elberta yesterday morning.

Here's some of Camary's adorable artwork on our whiteboard.

For Presidents Day

And St. Patrick's Day

Rusty made cream puffs today! I am so impressed with his baking skills. They were delicious. I spent the weekend proofreading the typeset of my novel! Well, half of it anyway. I'll do the other half this week. Keep your fingers crossed that it will go to press on Friday! (Or shortly thereafter.)

And if you're so inclined, go check out the celebration on my writing blog. It's feeling a little lonely over there!

Anniversary and Other Awesome Things!

Well, it's been awhile once again. I blame the fact that I was sick for 3+ weeks. But, anyway, here's what's up with us.

Tracy and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on Valentines Day. It was wonderful. Tracy took the day off work. We opened presents:

Tracy's gifts waiting to be opened

You cant' really see it, but the tag says, "20th Anniversary Sweetheart Teddy."

I got Tracy a docking speaker for his i-phone. He got me a locket, among other things.

I put our pictures inside. I love that they are black and white

20 roses!

We went out to eat at our favorite restaurant--Wingers. Then we came home and watched "Hidalgo" on DVD and had this for dessert.

Oh, so yummy!

I thought it was the perfect day. No, it wasn't a cruise or a trip to somewhere exotic, but it was fun and memorable and made me very happy.

I didn't forget that it was Valentines Day. The kids got these:

Finlay's Valentines box. Love it!

More good news came that day. My editor emailed to say she was starting on my book, and on Friday afternoon she sent me her edit of the first half for me to review. It wasn't hard, as she didn't want any major changes. The exciting part is that once I finish reviewing the second half this week, DEFENDERS OF THE COVENANT will go to print just  a couple of weeks after that! I am so very excited. After eighteen years of waiting for this day, I feel very gratified to have made it. Even if the book doesn't sell well, I will still be happy just to hold it in my hands. (But keep your fingers crossed that it will sell well, okay?) I also received a contract for one of my Christmas stories to be in an anthology that will come out around Christmastime. That was a pleasant surprise, because I didn't think it was still under consideration. I'm happy about that too.

Now, if you've stuck with me through this long post, here is my little plea for help. I need to get the word out about my book. If you are on Facebook, would you pretty please pop over and like my author page? Once I get to 200, I'll send a paper airplane Avenging Angel (the fighter jets in my novel) to anyone who wants one. I'd sure appreciate your support. If you wanted to invite your friends to like my page too that would be great. There's a little link on the left hand side of the page that says "share." Just click that and it will post the link to my page on your wall. But only do it if you feel comfortable doing so. I'll be having a big giveaway on my writing blog starting next week, so check that out too.

The paper airplanes

Love you!!

What Do You Think?

I decided to change things up with a new header and background. The lemon wallpaper looking thing appealed to me for some reason. The picture is one we took for our Christmas card.

So...It's been a couple of months. During that time we celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Rusty's Birthday, Christmas, and New Years. Fun was had by all.

2012 is looking like a good year, so far. Ryan started his second semester at Snow College. He had a blog now. Getting in Tune. You should check it out. It's awesome. The kids just finished up the second term at school. Tracy is ready to start teaching piano lessons using the Simply Music method. That should be great. I am still anxiously awaiting word from my editor about the schedule for Defenders of the Covenant. Pray that I'll hear from her this week, okay? I have been invited to speak at Timpview High School's Career Fair in February! I am excited, but also nervous. And I feel a little like a fraud. Hopefully, it'll go well.

Here are some pictures, since no blog post is complete without those!

Our Christmas Eve jammies

Camary got a horse

Sam got an electric bass

Finlay got computer games

All the big boys got Rubik's cubes

Xander got "crashy cars"

Not sure why I don't have a picture of Ryan. He got an mp3 player. A Sony Walkman, actually, which I find kind of amusing. Rusty got one for his birthday. Incidentally, we had church at 9am on Christmas. We came home, got back in our PJs and opened presents afterward.

On January 2, we went for a hike up our canyon and happened to run into my dear friend Suzette.

Camary's art work on our new white board. I use it to announce what we're having for dinner,

Xander's prize for using the potty consistantly

Well, hopefully it won't be another two and half months before I post again. See y'all later!