Tuesday Musings #14

Ok I have been slacking on this because I have found it hard. Not impossible but challenging, which means-I'll get to it! This space dedicated to the topic of...

Rewrite the following classic nursery rhyme as it applies to your life -

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

For example -

For want of a wipe the diaper was lost.
For want of a diaper the errand was lost.
For want of an errand the groceries were lost.

Etc., etc., etc.Your poem can be longer than the original, but try not to make it any shorter.

2008 California Dreamin' A Stadium Spectacular! 7/25 & 7/26

Ok, here is Jacob actually dancing- His group is the first row starting from the left. He is directly behind the first couple at the left and he is facing our way. He is in mid step with his partner, Dara, who is in our ward and has been in Jacob's Primary and Sunday School classes for the past 8 years, I think.

This is like find Waldo but all the kids are dressed the same!

Can you see Jacob? Let's help you a bit. At the very top of the picture, to the right of center, there is a group of guys, a cluster in red shirts with tan pants and you can see their whole bodies, head to toe. Jacob is the one with his back to you and is in full stride ,arm at his side, with one little blond kid in front and one in back of him.

This is during the finale when the youth formed a giant flag on the field.

So it finally came and went, the

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

Dance Festival

This was a multi-stake dance festival. It included ages 12- 18 and each had their own dance. Jacob was (sarcastically) soooo excited to be able to participate. He will probably never admit that it was even a fraction of fun but I think there were some good times. They would practice within their own stakes each week and then for the last month or so they had regional practices at one of the high schools in the area and then a combined group practice and then a dress rehearsal full day practice(6:30 am to carpool there for 7:30 am arrival and returned at 11:30pm that evening), before performing 2 nights in a row during a 2 hour production. It was quite a site to see. There were approx. 3000 youth altogether. It was done to live music by choir, indivual or group plus an orchestra or band.

This is the only close up picture Mike was able to get of of Jacob. He's hard to catch especially with his eyes open!

Tuesday Musings #13 & still going!

List five things that drive you crazy and make you want to go live in a cabin on a mountainside and never see another human being. Then, list five things that make you smile even on the rainiest of days.

DRIVE ME CRAZY

Mean People: no explanation needed.

“Parents”: who have children and treat them like pets OR teach them (by example) that they can do NO WRONG and everyone else is at fault!

Impatient Drivers: I am driving down a 4 lane street (2 lanes each way) and a car pulls out in front of me just as I get within 20 feet of them and I have to break quickly to avoid hitting them in the rear. As I look in my rear view window…not a car in sight for blocks!!!

Store employees: Who seem to have forgotten that I am spending my $$ at their place of employment…THE REASON THEY HAVE A JOB! BUT still cut in front of me to get somewhere fast and practically ignore me when I ask them a question or better yet say “I don’t work in this dept.” and then proceed about what they were “doing” in the first place before you interrupted them.

Grocery & Gas prices: If I lived on a mountain side then I could eat wild berries and grasses plus various small animals I would hunt (ha ha ha) & and not have to drive anywhere to get them either. (I don't have a current picture but...wouldn't you die for this again? notice the date I'd even go for the other one below! Click on it if you can't see the prices)

MAKE ME SMILE
Simple Children’s thinking/misunderstanding- “Kristin, why when you get all wet, you get soaped ?”(quote from a 3 ½ year old)

Air Conditioning

Playing in the rain- I don’t do this so much anymore but when I lived on the east coast it was a blast!

My children all asleep on my bed when I come home from a night out with Mike.
Any night when I say I’ve made dinner and I don’t hear “Ah, I don’t want that! Not that again or I don’t like that!”

Tuesday Musings #12

Question:

Do you regret anything that you have done in your lifetime and if so what?

I was a nanny in NYC at the ripe OLD age of 18 and my family lived in Massachusetts but had recently relocated 2000+ miles away in Riverside, CA where I told my Mom I would never move to. I was going to live in MA. Fast forward a couple of months & the Mom of the family I worked for says, "We are going to Ireland this summer and you can come with us if you like for the 2+ weeks or you can have time off. You'll need to get a passport if you come but I can help you get it." My eighteen year old mind said " Whooo I can go see my family in CA!" (sarcastically-Because I wasn't ever going to live there or anything! ). If I went to California, then I wouldn't have to watch kids for 2 weeks. Sure, I wouldn't get paid but, whooo CARES???

SO, they go off to IRELAND & I go to see my family in Riverside.

Where I have lived for more than 1/2 my life now!

Ahh the narrowminded-ness of youth!

IRELAND

Been there? Well, I could have toured here(for free). I could have kissed the Blarney stone, too.

I could have seen the only inland salt water lake in all of Europe called Lough Hyne, located in Cork, Ireland. Also, free of cost!

Then I would have ordered this lobster for dinner from the English Market in Cork. Yes, for free!

After eating a type of sealife/seafood or marine animal I would have gone to see the city of Youghal, Cork which was the set of the 1954 film, Moby Dick. I might have seen this town with mediaeval walls or checked out the Clock gate completed in 1777 !!!

So, then to add to my cultural enhancement, I might have visited Saint Colman's Cathedral where I would have seen the architecture of Pugin and Ashlin and the largest Carillon in Ireland with 47 bells! Did I mention this would have been FREE?

So I think you can guess what I regret!

Tuesday Musings #11

Well the question is...

Growing up what extra curricular activities did you get to try? Which activity was your favorite and which was your least favorite? If you didn't have an opportunity which do you wish you could of tried? Pictures Please! :)

I took violin lessons through my elementary school at 4th grade through to the 6th grade. It was on Mondays and there were alot of holidays so it eventually petered out and I stopped playing. I wish I had a picture though because the violins they gave to us in 4th grade were like two peices of board(like the brown clipboards with the metal clip) but they were shaped like a violin and played like one.

Next I took piano lessons and this must have been around the same time I was in the middle of violin lessons I think from 5th grade to 7th or 8th I can't remember but I wiggled my way out of that-wish I had NOT done that. No picture unless my Mom has one! Yikes

In 7th-9th grade I got to be part of a school television morning show and eventually was the director my senior year. It was alot of fun and that's what I thought I would do for college because I got to take another class in High school where we filmed, edited, etc. I just found out at college that it was most likely not a great career if you were going to have a fmily and kids!

So I played Basketball in High School. JV my first year and Varsity my junior and senior year. I really liked playing basketball. I scored 22 points in one game, it was in the paper but usually I just scored like 8 or 10 points a game. One of the funniest things I remember is that I was the oldest of 9 kids and sometimes my whole family would come to my games and the girls on my team called me "brady bunch" ( I think that was the biggest family they knew of at the time). The friends I had playing basketball were some the people I would like to hear about or from to see what theyare doing now because I have no idea but if we somehow ever got together again I know it would be...not the same but easy, know what I mean?

Popcorn!

An oldie but a goodie! Sydney was 4 years old when I took these pictures and I never have done anything with them. Looks like now I know what to do! Enjoy...

I Looked out the window and what did I see?

Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree.

Spring has brought me such a nice suprise!

Blossoms popping right before my eyes.

I can take an arm full and make a treat...

a popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.

It wasn't really so...

but it seemed to me...

Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree!!

Tuesday Musings #10

Do you collect anything? If so, what? If not then, why…or what would you collect if you had to start a collection? Pictures please!

I collect Mercer Mayer children’s books mainly, the Little Critter Series.

I got started when I had Jacob. Carrie, a friend of mine from Oregon ,(we met at BYU & have been friends for almost 19 years now) sent me a book- "Mi Abuela y Yo" roughly translated, “Grandma & Me”.

Being that Jacob was my first child and he was a boy, these books fit us well because Hannah came next. I think I have 5 books in Spanish, the rest in English. I love "ME TOO!"

I have 123 books in all and I’m not quite finished.

They fit all kinds of topics:

This may be my Favorite Favorite- Its Little Critter pretending to be a Sailor in his backyard.

I am not sure if you will be able to make this picture larger to read the print but it says:

I stand watch on the bridge. Then: Uh oh. A storm is coming up.

Each book has a tiny grasshopper, spider & a mouse that you can use to play "I spy" with.

IF you look at each cover above you can find them.

This is a link that tells a little about the author who is also an illustrator. You may have seen his illustrations in A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog; Frog Goes to Dinner ; The Great Brain Series.

http://www.littlecritter.com/about_mercer_mayer.html

Well, this is the first and possibly the only time I will be early in posting for Tuesday Musings!

I hope I've shared something worth your interest because I love to share what I love with others.

Hannah's 4th Grade School Year

Sometimes I am late with posting things but I want more variety in my blog so who cares if I post things from a few weeks ago? Anyone? Anyone?

Hannah's challenge group at school did a skit called the "Pirates of Grammar Island". It was really cute as you can tell from their captions on their hats.

(Far left "We be in a jam" Hannah's "We be wrong" Far right "If 's a curse")

Hannah had a teacher who loved dance and taught them at least 10 different dances, then they were assigned a specific one or two or three to do for a preformance at school. This is fourth grade which she just finished a week or so ago. I took some pictures.

Also, Hannah was chosen by lottery to be in an afterschool play cast. She ended up being in the first act and the closing because she was the sound/stage coordinator. Here she is with one of her best and oldest friends from school who actually got chosen by lottery also. Their group was called The Patriot Players.

She had a good year with alot of friends and fun and she got to go to school with her cousins too!

Tuesday Musings #9

“Imagine your life is now a book. In 100 words, write the blurb for it."

In Yikes! My Children are on Summer Break, K.L. Meza’s third book of the I’m the MOM Chronicles.

“Can I buy ice cream when the ice cream truck comes?” “Mom, can Paige and I go to the movies?” “Mom, can you take me to practice? “Are we doing anything Tuesday, dear, I have a meeting at 6:30?” “Mom, when are we going to the beach?” “Mom, I’m bored, can we go somewhere?” “How about we go to Utah to see Nelson and Cullan?” “When is Aunt Angie coming to visit?” “We get Jordan first, right Mom? “Mom, where is my bathing suit?” “Mom, did you wash my football shorts?”

Ahhhh, another relaxing summer in Riverside. Jacob is 15, Hannah, 10 going on 14 & Sydney 8 ½. What adventure awaits this summer? Will they return to La Quinta, head for Sea World or try Yosemite? As Kristin & her husband Mike regroup and plan another exciting summer for the family…which questions from the children will actually get answered???

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day. Sydney woke up and was so excited to give Daddy(Mike) his Father's Day present she made at school before they got out. On the way to church, Mike tells me that she made him some coupons. There were a couple that had "expired" already!

Take a good look at the "Yard Work" and "Clean the house". (Smarty Pants)

This is one of the funniest Father's Day gifts Mike has recieved.