The Crook Family

Rock Bottom?

2011-02-22T20:51:00.003-07:00

Here's to 2010 ending and 2011 beginning...So, I've been a little MIA lately. To give you a heads up, here's what we've been up to:

Helping a child heal from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a skull fracture - thankfully we've had amazing detailed neuropsychological testing done and now know exactly where he's at in regards to ability. Oh, how I love this boy! My heart aches for him when he's struggling to relearn all he's lost through the injury, but rejoices in the little things in life that seem to matter so much more to him (and us) now. He truly is an amazing kiddo and I'm so glad I get to call him MINE! (Best part of parenting a child with a TBI - the stories...baby bunny at church, baths with fish, playful pet gopher. If you ever need a laugh, I have many TBI stories that could really lift your spirits.)
Painfully watching your daughter's mental illness slowly take control over her actions, reactions, thoughts, feelings, words, deeds, etc...
I've now learned that the hardest thing to witness as a parent is watching your child make life changing wrong decisions. Decisions which end up taking away a person's freedoms. As a parent, you feel absolutely helpless, ashamed, guilty, grief-stricken, defeated, judged, blamed, abandoned, ignored,...Nothing hurts more that to be judged by others by what your child has said or done when they have absolutely no idea what huge trials they are trying to battle. (If I've learned anything through this experience, it's the importance to try and see people through Christ-like eyes - even if they can't or won't see you that way.)
Figuring out how to love and care for a mentally ill child whose sole purpose in life is to control, manipulate, and cause hurt and pain to everyone she meets because that's all she knows.
Learning how to establish physical and emotional boundaries from said child so I can be present and engaged in all my children's lives and be a better mom. (Still working on this one...)
Preparing and planning for my husband to be laid off. Thankfully we were warned ahead of time and had plenty of time to prepare. What a huge blessing it's been to have time to prepare financially. Now, it's all in the Lord's hands as to what's next for us. We can't make any big decisions until we know if Amaya will get accepted into a Residential Treatment Center for intensive therapy and counseling.

Let's just say it's been a long, long year...I was hopeful that 2011 would be a new start, but unfortunately we're still in the hitting rock bottom stage. Here's hoping that we don't hit a 'new' rock bottom and that we can finally start clawing our way out of the bottomless pit we're in.

I know, it's been a while...

2010-04-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

I once read that everyday is a gift and we need to enjoy life's moments...from the little things that make us laugh, to the big decisions that shape who we are...Life these past few months has certainly handed our family a few obstacles to overcome and quite a roller coaster ride filled with some pretty high highs and some pretty challenging lows. If there's one thing I've learned, it's the importance of relying on each other and our Heavenly Father.

With that being said, here's what we've been up to...

December 2009

2010-04-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

We had such a busy holiday season. It seemed like every weekend we had something to do. First, my principal had her annual Holiday Open House on the 5th. Each year she puts up Christmas trees throughout her house and decorates each one of them with a different theme. It was a great way to kick-off the holiday season. The next weekend, Dustin and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We took the kids to see the play, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, at our local community theater. The kids really enjoyed the show. We even got pictures of them by the Grinch (and Max) and then by Santa. I think this is the last year we'll be able to torture them with Santa pictures. :o) After the play, we dropped the kids off at my parents house for a sleep over and then went out for our anniversary. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids so we could have a date night! The next weekend was my work Christmas party and Dustin's birthday. We were able to get a sitter and go out on another date night - 2 weeks in a row! :o)

Trey's class decorated gingerbread houses this year. He was so proud of his house.

Christmas Eve '09

2010-04-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

Dustin and the girls spent Christmas Eve day painting the girls' room. The girls didn't know it, but for Christmas we had bought them new loft beds, bedding, and room decorations to update and decorate their room. I really wanted their room painted before we put up the new beds so Dustin and the girls spent most of the day painting the room. It was hard keeping their room a surprise!

Christmas Eve was spent with the Waite family - just like we do every year. Of the 12 Christmas Eves we've been married, I think we've spent all but 2 of them with the Waite family. They are great friends and ever since moving out of our old neighborhood we don't get to spend as much time with them so it's a great tradition to spend Christmas Eve together. Once we got home, the kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve presents (jammies) and then headed off to bed.

Thankfulness...

2009-11-25T23:43:00.003-07:00

It seems that this Thanksgiving, more than any other, I'm very emotional whenever I ponder on my mental list of things I'm thankful for. I don't know why this year is different, but I sure do feel a great deal of thankfulness in my heart for...

a husband and kids that love and adore me. Not every day is an 'adore' day, but luckily most days are.
an extended family that loves and cares for us. I'm lucky enough to have parents that so willingly drop whatever they are doing to help me with the kids whenever I'm in a pinch. I'm equally lucky to have the best in-law family in the world. I can't say enough how much I love Dustin's family. They are so wonderful!
my testimony. I am so grateful to be a member of the church. I can't imagine living my life without the knowledge I have. It is this knowledge that helps me get through those days that can be so challenging at times.
my job. It's hard to believe that 6 months ago I was devastated about being laid off at the school I was teaching at. It never even entered my mind that Heavenly Father had something so much better available for me. He knew all along what needed to happen so I could find the balance in my life to be a mom and wife as well as a teacher.
Dustin's job. When we heard he would be laid off on October 2nd, we were so unsure about the future. As the time drew near we didn't know what was going to happen, but we knew Heavenly Father wouldn't abandon us. As October 2nd came and went and Dustin still had a job, we kept counting our blessings and thanking Him for the opportunity we have to still have Dustin employed. We don't know when or if he will officially lose his job, but we count every day as a blessing.
my freedom. What a great blessing to live in a country with so many freedoms. We are so blessed!
those that protect my freedom. So thankful for the sacrifices made by the men and women of our military!
my home, my health, my friends, my food storage, etc...

Hope everyone has a great TURKEY day!

"There's something like a party going on inside here..."

2009-10-26T22:41:00.004-07:00

For FHE tonight I decided our family desperately needed a lesson on treating others with kindness or showing love to family members, etc... It had been a rough couple of weeks in regards to showing love and kindness towards each other. Thankfully Dustin made it home in time and we were able to have one of the best FHE we have had in a long time. The need for this lesson had been on my mind for quite a while and I am so thankful for how everything turned out.

I don't remember the link, but I found a website that had a lesson on "Burying our Weapons...Showing our Kindness." It was a really great lesson that basically used the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis burying their weapons of war to set an example of how we as a family can bury our weapons of unkindness - either words or actions. After reading and talking about the story we each wrote three acts of unkindness we wanted to bury. We went out into the backyard and dug a hole as a family. Each person took a turn reading their 'weapons' they were choosing to bury. I was so impressed with the sincerity in which everyone took this. Each person wrote things they had really been struggling with. After we all put our 'weapons' in the hole we each took turns filling in the hole. When we were done I took a quick minute and bore my testimony about how much Heavenly Father wants to help us treat each other with kindness. I told them that if we tried, I knew Heavenly Father would help us show kindness to each other.

I totally felt the spirit, but I wasn't sure if anyone else was feeling it. It was less than a minute later when Damian said, "I feel something really good right now - right here inside." It was a great moment to be able to stand there and testify to my son that the feeling he was feeling was the Holy Ghost. I'm sure he's felt it before, but it really seemed to touch him quite profoundly tonight. As we were walking back inside for the closing song and prayer he said, "It feels like there's something like a party going on inside here!" I can't tell you how happy that made me feel as a mom to know that my son was taught by the Holy Ghost tonight. That doesn't mean the struggles are over, but at least for tonight we were blessed with an extra measure of the Spirit and Damian recognized how wonderful the Spirit can feel. :o)

Happy Birthday Damian!

2009-10-21T15:37:00.004-07:00

Where has the time gone? I remember when Damian became a part of our family nearly 7 years ago?! He was this adorable chubby cheeked 2 year old and now he's 9?! Boy, times sure does pass quickly...

In honor of Bubba's birthday, here are 9 wonderful things about him:

He has the best smile.
He is truly a funny kid. Not the copycat comedian, but really witty and funny.
He loves football and he's pretty good at it. (In fact, there are times we have to remind him that there is more to life than football.)
He is sensitive to other people's feelings and always wants to make sure their feelings aren't getting hurt.
He wants to be a good boy. Whenever he makes a wrong choice, it eats him up inside until he can make it right by apologizing for whatever he did wrong.
He is a great drawer.
He's friendly and outgoing. I've never seen a kid make friends so easily.
He's a daddy's boy. Dustin can do no wrong in his eyes. He idolizes Dustin and loves spending time with HIS daddy.
He came into our family at a time when I think we needed him more than he needed us ~ at least emotionally. Dustin and I had just lost the baby we had grown to love, adore, and cherish. We were devastated by the adoption falling through. Having a spunky 2 year old in our home helped heal some of the pain, loneliness, and devastation we were feeling.

So there you have it...9 amazing and wonderful things about Damian!

Yes, we are alive...

2009-10-10T23:48:00.003-07:00

I have gotten so behind in my blogging that I was having a hard time finding the ambition to get caught up. Now that I'm on fall break, I've finally decided that it's now or never so here we go...

(Sorry this is so long, but this blog also serves as our family journal and I needed to get caught up.)

Trey started 2nd grade this year. It's hard to believe that my baby is in 2nd grade. Where has the time gone? He loves school and is really motivated to stretch himself. Almost every night he shares some far out math problem that he has figured out on his own that day. I think his problem the other night was "What is 14,000 times 2,000?" I wish I could say all my children are so easily motivated to learn. :o)

Damian is in 3rd grade this year and continues to view school simply as a social event - you know...before school recess, lunch, lunch recess, afternoon recess, etc... At progress report time we had to have a sit down with the teacher and set up a bit more structure for him. Thankfully he realized we were serious and has started to take the whole academic experience a bit more seriously. I think the thing he hates the most is that I'm a 3rd grade teacher and know what a 3rd grader should be doing and how to teach the math, writing, etc... I'm sure one day he'll look back on my being a teacher and think it was cool to have a mom that knew all about school stuff, for right now I think I'm more of an inconvenience because I know what it's like to have students like Damian who aren't taking school seriously.

Maggie is in 4th grade this year and has THE 4th grade boy teacher. Let's just say she wasn't super excited. I think the real reason she was so upset was because it was Amaya's teacher from 4th grade and that year Amaya really struggled. Maggie's perception of Mr. Schneider was from Amaya's point of view and let's just say it was a bit skewed. It probably didn't help that Dustin and I provided absolutely no sympathy to her as she moped around the weekend before school started. In fact, I think we may have even chuckled and giggled about the situation. (I know, we're mean parents, but we thought it was kind of funny that she ended up with Mr. Schneider.) As this quarter has progressed, Maggie absolutely loves her class and wouldn't change at all. In fact, Mr. Schneider has managed to get my pretty pink princess of a girlie-girl hooked on football, reading very long chapter books, and actually writing creative stories. All in all, I would say she's had a great quarter and has realized that Mr. Schneider isn't so bad after all. :o)

Amaya started 6th grade this year and has officially started at the middle school. Nothing makes me feel like I've hit middle age more than having a child in middle school. It has been a very interesting experience watching Amaya go through this transition. In many ways she has hit her stride and is doing well. Academically she is doing quite well and has exceeded our expectations. She is still struggling with her interactions with her classmates and is still struggling to really "find" herself. We keep praying that she will have one of those V-8 moments and realize that she is a beautiful child of God and has such divine potential.

When I was younger my mom told me I would have a child just like me. Thinking about that, I don't know if she was offering a compliment or a voice of warning. :o) Since all my kids are adopted I never really thought it would happen since genetically they aren't mine. Well, the older my kids get the more "de ja vue" moments into my own childhood I have. It has truly made me appreciate my parents more and more for the job they did parenting me. This whole parenting thing isn't easy and I didn't always make it easy for them. Thanks mom and dad for all the sacrifices you made to make my life as good as it was!

About the middle of August we found out that Dustin's company would be restructuring the equipment department and all employees (including Dustin's boss) in the equipment department would be eliminated as of October 1st. When Dustin first called and told me the news, I was shocked. I couldn't believe that he would be let go because of a decision to restructure the company, not because the company was struggling financially or that there wasn't any work for him. I guess at one point they even contemplated selling his work truck to him and then paying him (3rd party) to continue being the mechanic for their heavy equipment. Needless to say the 7 weeks we knew were bittersweet. We were so happy to have the time to plan and make changes in our budget to be ready, but in the same token, 7 weeks is a really long time to wait for the inevitable. There were many sleepless nights. We made the decision to let the kids know what might be happening and the kids immediately made it a matter of prayer that daddy wouldn't lose his job. As the parents we tried to let them know that daddy losing his job might be part of Heavenly Father's plan so that way when Dustin did lose his job the kids wouldn't be devastated that their prayers weren't answered. Well, October 1st came and went and thankfully Dustin still has a job and it looks like he might still be employed for awhile. In fact, he is the only heavy equipment field mechanic still left with the company. I can't tell you how grateful I am for answers to prayers. We truly feel like we experienced our own little miracle regarding Dustin's job. We don't know if Dustin will have this job for a long or short time, but we certainly feel like everyday after October 1st is a blessing and answer to our prayers.

I started a new teaching job at a new school this year. At first I had a hard time adjusting to their way of doing things, but am so thankful to have this job. It is exactly what our family needs. I am able to bring in an income to help support the family, but be home before my kiddos get off the school bus in the afternoon. What a huge blessing this has been for all of us. I'm back teaching 3rd grade and really enjoying it. I have 22 kids in my class, but 5 of them are out of my room for most of the main subjects. It's nice to be able to really have the time to get to know my students and be able to plan specifically for their academic strengths and weaknesses. Only one of my students (that's non-sped) is actually struggling, all the rest are at or well above grade level so it's been fun to have a class of students that you can really challenge. Plus, I have an aide that comes in everyday and works with my lower students so they don't fall behind. I still can't believe that I have been blessed with such a wonderful job that allows me to be home with my kids. :o)

When I was laid off at the end of last school year, I was devastated. I took it really hard. After a week or two of moping around, I realized that I was upset about losing a job that did nothing but stress me out. At that point I made the change to giving it all to Heavenly Father and asking for a way for me to be able to help support my family, but also be home in the afternoon for my kids. It is humbling to know that Heavenly Father knew all along what was best for me and my family and was only waiting for me to turn it all over to him.

Although the uncertainty of the economy has hit home to us in a very real way, we feel so blessed that we have been preserved and protected from a drastic financial blow (at least for the moment).

Where we've been and what we've done...

2009-10-10T21:55:00.002-07:00

Well, not only have I been a blog slacker, but I've also been somewhat of a picture slacker too so not every event below actually has a picture. But, if I did take my camera with us you would be seeing pictures of:

Maggie's Birthday
Maggie turned 10 this past July. Her birthday slumber party was the first weekend in August. She had 4 girls over and had a great time with all of them. For her party the girls ate pizza and soda, decorated cupcakes with her girl gourmet cupcake decorator gadget she got for her birthday, watched Ariel's Beginning (Man was that movie hard to find for her. I had to go all the way to the Disney Store to get it. The things we do for our kiddos...), had a pillow fight, and stayed up F-O-R-E-V-E-R! Dustin didn't get home until after 12:30 a.m. that night. I was already in our bedroom waiting for the girls to go to sleep and was having a hard time staying awake. I was so happy when Dustin walked in the door. I quickly told him to listen for the girls and then rolled over and went to sleep. Dustin said they were up for about another hour before finally crashing. Oh to be a kid again. :o)
For my kids' birthdays I always make a list of special things about them. I didn't do Maggie's on her birthday, so here goes...

10 Amazing Things About Maggie

Maggie is so responsible. She always strives to do what is right.

Maggie is full of integrity. I can always count on Maggie to be honest and true - even if she knows she did something wrong.

Maggie has done a great job learning to play the piano. Even though she's only been talking lessons for almost a year, she is doing such a great job. I think she would be embarrassed if she knew how much I enjoyed sitting and listening to her practice.

Maggie has developed a great sense of humor. She is fun to be sarcastic with and is very witty.

She is by far a daddy's girl and loves spending time with Dustin. Although she's pretty fond of her mom too!

She loves to cook and bake. We have spent a lot of fun times together in the kitchen.

I love going shopping with Maggie. She loves to do all the girly things with me - shopping, manicures, pedicures, etc.

She is brave. For 2 years, Maggie has been allowed to get her ears pierced, but she was very afraid. This summer while we were on vacation in Flagstaff, Maggie finally announced that she was ready to get her ears pierced. Worried she would change her mind, we went to the Flagstaff Mall and got her ears pierced while we were on vacation. It was very neat to see her face her fears and get her ears pierced. :o)

Maggie still loves being a kid! It's nice to have a child that isn't trying to grow up too fast. She is the kind of person who enjoys the moment.

Maggie listens to the Holy Ghost and strives each day to choose the right. She has developed such a strong testimony of the gospel and works each day to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Amaya's Birthday
It's hard to believe that Amaya turned 11 in August. She decided that this year she wanted to have her first friend birthday party. In the past she's always chosen a family party and fun place for us to go as a family. This year she really wanted to have a friend party. As Amaya and I planned her party we found out about this really cool ceramic place out by our house. This lady runs a ceramic store, but allows people to reserve the classroom area for small get-togethers. Since Amaya loves artsy things this seemed to be the perfect plan. After the party we took the girls to a local pizza parlor for their lunch buffet, had an ice-cream cake, and opened presents. The party was so much fun and the girls had a great time picking out their ceramic figurines, and learning how to clean and paint them. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect place for Amaya to have her party. It went so well! One thing I learned about Amaya is that she isn't a shopper. I took her shopping that night to exchange and buy some new clothes she had gotten for her birthday and she was so miserable. Picking out clothes and trying them on was not a fun event for her. When she gets older her husband will love the fact that she hates shopping. :o)

11 Wonderful Things About Amaya

Amaya is very intelligent. She is a whiz at math!

Dustin says she gives the best shoulder massages. I'm not a massage person, so I'll have to believe Dustin on this one.

Amaya is a great artist. She loves to draw and paint. I'm very impressed with the things she draws.

She loves to try new things. Over the summer she spent a week at a basketball camp learning how to play basketball. Even though it was hard for her, she stuck with it and could do a pretty good job by the end of the week.

She enjoys cooking and baking. She's reached an age where she really wants to do things on her own in the kitchen. She's doing a good job of learning how to follow a recipe and make yummy things!

She is great with little kids. She loves playing with little kids and making them laugh.

She is striving to gain a testimony. I've been impressed with how hard she has worked on developing a testimony of the gospel's standards. She took gaining a testimony of fasting very seriously and now has a very strong testimony of the power gained from it.

If I ever want to play a game, Amaya is the person I go to. She loves playing board games with people. This is one of my favorite activities to do with her. :o)

She loves spending time playing with her siblings. I think she plays with their toys more than her own because she would rather play with them then play by herself.

She is inquisitive. The older she gets, the more in touch with the world around her she has become.

The best thing about Amaya is that she is mine! I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me to be her mom.

Flag Football
Damian has been patiently (and even impatiently at times) waiting for flag football season to start again. Last year we registered him for a league with evening practices two nights a week and games more than an hour away each Saturday. Needless to say, the practices and the games nearly killed me once I went back to work last year so I wasn't very excited to enroll him in the same league again. Thankfully the kids' elementary school is hosting a Cardinal's NFL flag football team this year. This means practices are right after school and the games are at the different schools within our district. SCORE!!!! Trey really wanted to be in flag football too so we even signed him up to. I can't tell you how much easier my life has been with practices right after school and the games 10 minutes from our house. :o) If I remember my camera, I'll actually take some pictures during their next game.

D-Backs Game
All of us at the Arizona Diamondback's Game. The kids each earned a free ticket so we took the kids last month. Last year, I was the lucky one to take Maggie, Damian, and Trey but this year everyone earned at ticket and Dustin and I decided we would splurge (okay spend $10 for the cheap seats) and go as a family. The kids had a great time, but I think I enjoyed it the most because I was able to go with Dustin and the kiddos. Luckily we won that night so that made the game even more enjoyable.

ASU Football
What would fall be for our family without going to the Arizona State Football games? I think this is our 4th season of having tickets and the older the kids get the more enjoyable the games are. It's fun watching the game from their point of view. The 2nd game we went to this season Trey leaned over and told me that he was bored and ready to go home. I couldn't help but laugh when I told him that I was sorry and that we weren't leaving. I think the game had been going for about 4 minutes when he told me was ready to go. :o)

Septic Woes
The week we returned from our summer vacation I noticed that our septic tank began backing up into the boys' shower in their bathroom. Of course, Dustin was at work when this happened so we had to wait for him to get home before we could fix anything. He tried the best he could to fix the problem on his own, but his plumbing snake wasn't even getting close to unclogging the line. We called a friend of ours from the ward that is a plumber and asked him to come and look at the problem. Well, he graciously came that night and used his professional plumbing snake to try and unclog the pipe going to our septic tank. Things went from bad to worse when his employer's snake then got stuck in our pipe and wouldn't come out. The next day we had to call out a company to come and locate our tank and then dig down - over 5 feet - to the tank. Once the tank was found, Dustin realized that our tank was full and needed to be pumped. Yippee ~ more money then needed to be spent... The next day the guy came out, pumped the tank, and then dug out the professional pluming snake all coiled up inside our tank. Dustin then spent the next couple of weeks trying to repair the lines damaged from the backhoe and the unearthing of the tank. I can't tell you how happy I was when the ginormous hole in my front yard was covered up and the grass could start growing again. We couldn't even irrigate during this whole ordeal because the irrigation would just fill up the hole so besides having a beautiful hole in the front yard, we had nice crunchy dead grass too. :o)

I'm sure there were other things we did, but to be honest I can't remember anything else. The older I get, the shorter my memory has become.

Bread Directions...

2009-07-09T09:58:00.002-07:00

I forgot to include the directions for the bread. I guess I was on blog overload and forgot...

Here's the recipe:

10 1/2 cups white Bread Flour (Don't use all-purpose)
1/c cup sugar (or honey) - I used sugar, but was told Splenda works too.
1 Tablespoon salt
3 heaping Tablespoons instant dried yeast - make sure it's rapid rise
3 Tablespoons liquid Lecithin (I bought mine at a health food store)
4 cups hot tap water (you can also substitute 1 cup of warm applesauce for moister bread) - that's what I do.

This is best if mixed in a mixer like a Bosch or a Kitchenaid.

Mix dry ingredients, including yeast in the mixer.
Add lecithin (It's real sticky so I sprayed my measuring spoon with PAM before filling it so it would come out easier.)
Add hot tap water (and applesauce)
Mix together with metal attachment (not wire one or dough hook) for one minute. Feel dough if it is too sticky add flour, if it is too dry and water. The dough should be a little sticky, but pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl cleanly.
Mix for 5 minutes with the dough hook. (Do not add water or flour to the dough after it has finished mixing.)
Spray counter and pans with PAM.
Divide the dough into how many loaves you want, make into rolls, cinnamon rolls, etc... Put in pans and cover with a dish towel. Let rise for 25 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Makes 4 loaves of bread (large pans) or 6 small pans.

If using whole wheat flour - you need to add 1 cup of applesauce as part of the hot tap water. You also need to mix the dough for 10 minutes.

You can use this dough to make any type of roll, french bread, buns, breadstick, cinnamon rolls, etc...

Enjoy!!! :o)

Yummy Bread...

2009-07-08T22:38:00.005-07:00

Last month I went to a Relief Society activity and learned how to make this super quick, super easy one hour bread. I was so excited to try it, but didn't get a chance to actually make it until this week. Can I say, "Sold AMERICA?!" It is so easy and super yummy. I even attempted cinnamon rolls - although they didn't turn out as good as the bread. I need more practice with that one. The nice thing about this recipe is how quickly you can have bread. 25 minutes to rise and 25 minutes to bake. Thanks Cori for showing how easy it is to make! :o)

Good-bye...

2009-07-08T22:26:00.004-07:00

One of the things I loved about our house was the beautiful weeping willow tree that was in our front yard. It by far was one of the nicest things in our yard and didn't require too much care to look nice. Last summer - during one of the summer storms we have - our tree was damaged in a storm. One of the huge branches that comprised about 1/4 of the tree broke off during the storm. In fact, it narrowly missed hitting our porch. It's been a rough year for the tree and by spring this year it was officially dead - but still standing. Dustin had been saying for the last month that we needed to cut down the tree. Maybe I was somehow hoping that it would magically come back to life. Well, while we were on vacation my mom called to let me know that during the night's storm our tree fell down. So I guess it's official now, my beautiful weeping willow tree is no more. Dustin and the kids spent last Saturday chopping it up into firewood for us to use this winter. Bummer. I really liked that tree...

Arizona Science Center

2009-07-08T21:42:00.013-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law and my 4 nieces and nephew came to visit for a quick overnight trip from Vegas. We decided to bring all 9 of our kids with us to the Arizona Science Center. It had been a long time since I had been there. We had a great visit - even though the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building during our visit. Luckily the alarm didn't stay on for too long and we were able to finish our visit. I used to think the alarms in my classroom were loud, but I have been proven wrong. Their alarms were SO loud!

The most fun activity was this game called Mindball. It was a game about relaxing. The more relaxed you could get the faster you would win the game. I couldn't believe how relaxed Damian and Trey could get. Their brain activity was pretty much a flat line. When I asked Damian how he could get so relaxed he struck a ZEN like pose and said, "I used the Jedi force." What a funny kid! :o) We had so much fun pairing people up and trying to see who could beat who. By far, the best entertainment in the entire science center!

(Sorry it's so blurry. I'm a horrible picture taker.)

They also had a LEGO's castle exhibit. Of course, Trey was in heaven. I was in charge of supervising the boys (Damian, Trey and Jarrett -my nephew) and pretty much had to drag them out of that exhibit. I do have to admit though that even I was impressed with some of the castles and LEGO sculptures they had on display.

Other random pictures taken while we were there...

Proof

2009-07-08T21:36:00.002-07:00

Here's proof there is actually more to summer vacation than watching TV and playing the wii. (Even if my kids disagree with me.) The worst possible thing I think I've done in a long time is ban the TV, wii, or computer for an entire day. The kids decided they needed to be resourceful and came up with a pretty cool tent in our living room.

Flagstaff

2009-07-08T01:23:00.002-07:00

I know I'm really behind updating our blog. I have a list of things I want to update, but I finally finished our 'scrapbook' about our trip to Flagstaff. We had a great time and were able to see some pretty cool things.

Hope you enjoy...

Make a Smilebox photobook

I'm hoping to get caught up on the rest of our summer adventures soon! :o)

Too funny...

2009-06-09T20:26:00.003-07:00

The other day while I was out to lunch with the kids we ended up having a pretty deep conversation about what would happen to the kids if something happened to Dustin and me. I don't quite remember how the kids brought up this topic, but they did and I was trying to keep it pretty light and non-terrifying - especially since our kids are foster/adopted and have already kind of been through the whole no parent wringer, shelter home, etc...

Anyways, it turns out Trey was the one to keep the conversation from getting too depressing. He made the comment that if something happened to mom and dad they (the kids) would have to go to the "children's pound." I wish I could have gotten it on video. The way he said it was sooooo funny. Amaya was quick to let him know the word he was looking for was 'orphanage,' but man I don't know why I thought it was so funny, but it instantly brought a huge smile to my face. I couldn't stop laughing. I am so lucky to be a mom!

Hard to see...

2009-06-02T23:41:00.002-07:00

I spent today at the hospital because my dad was having surgery (actually more a procedure) on his heart. He's been having a rough couple of months and today seemed to be the culmination of all the stress, pain, and uncertainty his body could handle. In March he had a pacemaker put in, but unfortunately it didn't fix the problems he was having. So today the surgeon went in and performed a heart ablation - which if I understand correctly is when parts of the heart that are causing the heart to beat irregularly are burned in hopes of helping the heart beat more in rhythm. Well, the procedure lasted 7 very LONG hours. Thankfully the surgeon said it went well and they were able to get everything done they wanted to do. Unfortunately it will take at least 2 months for us to know if it worked.

Anyways, my dad has always been a trooper when it comes to pain. He rarely complains if he's not feeling well and if he does complain he usually tends to minimize it. Well, today my heart was almost torn to pieces as I watched my father lying in a hospital bed crying repeatedly because he was in so much pain. My mom and I just stood there looking at each other not having a clue what to do. We wanted to help him so much, but we didn't know what to say or do to make it better. The only thing we could do was to try and comfort him and be by his side while he had to face the pain on his own and wait for the pain medicine to kick in and help him out.

As a drove home I was brought to tears again for the upteenth time today as I thought about everything that happened. It's been hard having to see him go through so many health problems these past few months. Today at the hospital all I could think about was wanting to fix his pain, the problems with his heart, the Parkinson's, etc... As much as my father drives me crazy, I love him so much and still need him in my life. I'm not ready to say good-bye yet!

What a humbling thought to think about how our Heavenly Father must feel about us. It's during times like this when I'm reminded of a loving Heavenly Father who sent us to earth to be tried and tested. Who gave us the opportunity to prove we love Him enough to do all that is asked so we can return and live with him again. How difficult it must be for Him to see us going through our trials and know that sometimes we have to experience a little discomfort (pain) so we can grow. As a parent I can only imagine Him wanting to 'fix' it for us, but he loves us enough to give us these experiences to strengthen us.

What?!

2009-05-30T18:12:00.004-07:00

Tonight I was looking for a quick recipe to make some apple turnovers for dessert. I had some frozen puff pastry I wanted to use up so I googled "making turnovers using puff pastry." I almost died laughing when this recipe came up.

TURNPIKE TURNOVER DESSERT
Printed from COOKS.COM
6 chipmunks
Tube of puff pastry dough
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
6 acorns

Skin and cut chipmunks. Wash and place acorn in each mouth. Divide pastry, pat flat, place chipmunk on pastry and roll like taco. Brush with milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes on cookie sheet.

I don't know about you, but chipmunk, acrorns, puff pastry, and powdered sugar don't belong in the same recipe.

Anyone willing to try it out? After reading it aloud to Dustin he quickly announced to the boys that they needed to go hunting for chipmunks. :o)

Gratitude...

2009-05-12T22:47:00.003-07:00

Losing my job for next school year has turned into one of the most spiritually uplifting experiences in my life. I would have never expected such a scary and unknown situation to have given me such peace and comfort. While praying and pondering, I received a very clear answer that Heavenly Father knew our situation and all would be well. After calming down and letting go of the fear of the unknown (the obvious control freak in me...), I had come to the conclusion that subbing would probably be what would happen.

Well, last week I was fortunate to get a call back interview with Eduprize. I truly had thought that I wasn't going to get a call back because it took so long. I had a great interview with the Superintendent. I couldn't believe how comfortable I was during the interview. Maybe it was because I truly had already decided that I was going to be staying home with the kids and subbing so I wasn't terrified about saying just the right thing or trying to impress her. Thankfully the interview went well - actually better than expected and way better than the first one. During the interview I mentioned my desire to have the AM Tops class (7:30-12:30), but was once again told that they don't offer that position to first year Eduprize teachers because they have found that it tends to be a difficult schedule to adjust to because the pacing of the day is just so much faster than a normal school day. At the end of the interview the Superintendent asked me to finish my employment file and told me they would be making their final decisions real fast. I left thinking I would be getting an offer, but for the traditional all day schedule which isn't what I wanted because it would be very difficult on our family. Today I got a phone call stating that they had a contract for me and they needed me to go and pick it up. When I went to go and pick up my contract they didn't have listed on there which grade level or schedule I would be teaching. Thankfully they have a wonderful secretary who called me back about an hour later and told me I had been hired for a 3rd grade AM Tops class!!

Words can't express the gratitude I am currently feeling in my heart for a Heavenly Father that heard my prayers, concerns, and pleas for what would be best for our family. I feel so grateful that I will have the opportunity to help support our family financially and still be able to be at home when my kids get off the bus. I know it seems like a little thing in some people's eyes, but a miracle has happened in our home today and my little family will be blessed because I will be able to be a better mom. As I called Dustin to tell him about the job offer, I was crying (the obvious cry-baby that I am...), Damian was trying to understand why I was crying. All I could tell him was that my tears were happy tears because Heavenly Father answered our family's prayers. What a wonderful experience for our family to witness first hand the miracle of answered prayers!

Canning Bug...

2009-05-11T09:24:00.003-07:00

I have totally caught the canning bug...

Each week I can't wait to find out if the fruit/vegetable co-op I'm a part of is offering any extras. On Saturday they offered a 40 lb. box of granny smith apples for $14. Over the weekend I canned 7 quarts of apple pie filling and 18 jars of applesauce. I absolutely love canning. It's amazing how satisfying it is to can things. I know it might mean I'm crazy, but I love it. Over the past 5 weeks I have made strawberry jam, triple berry jam, canned blackberries, applesauce, and apple pie filling. I've been fortuante because the kids love to help and enjoy eating the 'fruits' of their labors. :o)

Mother's Day...

2009-05-11T08:55:00.010-07:00

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. It wasn't because I got to sleep in, was fed breakfast in bed, didn't cook all day, etc., etc... What made yesterday a great Mother's Day was my kids. They really tried so hard to make it a great day for me - which in turn was the most rewarding and special thing of all.

The girls decided they were going to make breakfast - french toast, bacon and sausage. They asked Dustin if they could make breakfast. He asked them if they knew how to do it, they said yes and off they went into the kitchen. While they were fixing breakfast I was working on my primary lesson for Damian's class - I was subbing for the day. Anyways, it took all the energy I had to not go into the kitchen to see the mess they were getting themselves into. After about 15 minutes, Dustin came down and helped finish breakfast - or rather he fixed breakfast. Turns out the girls knew how to dip the bread and flip the french toast, but didn't quite know how to make the dipping mixture. Dustin also found out the girls were cooking bacon on our George Foreman 4 strips at a time. Breakfast tasted wonderful and it was fun seeing the girls so excited about making me breakfast. I'm so lucky to have girls that love to help out in the kitchen!!!

The next best part about Mother's Day was the presents the kids gave me. The boys gave the following:
A tape measure (I guess Damian got tired of me asking to borrow this every time I needed to measure something.)

A 'Happy Birthday' pencil (I was told it was supposed to say "Happy Mother's Day" instead of Happy Birthday.)

A squishy baseball (I guess it's supposed to be a stress reducer. You know, squeeze whenever you're stressed...)

A gingerbread stuffed animal (to hang on the Christmas tree, of course.)

All the kids made cards and tried so hard to make it a great day for me. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity each day to be a mom. It's the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. There are days where I almost have to pinch myself, because I can't believe I am a mom to four kids.

When Dustin and I got married I never thought we wouldn't be able to get pregnant. During the years of trying to get pregnant and have a family, Mother's Day was hard - not because I didn't love my mom or appreciate the holiday. It was just a reminder of unrealized dreams of me wanting to have a family and be a mom. I am so thankful that these 4 beautiful children were sent to us and have completed our family! Even though some days are hard and a struggle, I couldn't imagine my life without them!

Perspective...

2009-04-20T19:39:00.002-07:00

It's interesting how the passing of time helps put things into perspective...

I had an interview with a different school last week. They run three different classes throughout the day. An am full day class from 7:30-12:30, a pm full day class from 11:00-4:00, and a regular day class. Overall I think the interview went well, but I don't think I'll get the time that will work for our family. We were hoping for the am full day class so I could be off and home in time for the kids to ride the bus home from the school they currently attend. The principal said that the am classes usually have a waiting list for teachers because they are so popular. She didn't think I would be offered that position. We'll see. With Dustin working such long hours, I'm on my own most of the time during the week. He usually doesn't make it home until 10 o'clock at night and by then the kids are in bed and I'm nearly headed there too. If I switched to Eduprize and worked the regular day then I'd have an even harder time managing homework, after school activities, dinner, chores, etc...

The more I've prayed and pondered and prayed and pondered and prayed and pondered about the situation I've gotten a very clear and comforting answer that all will work out. After looking over our budget and trying to rearrange some expenses we can probably get away with me only subbing next year and not having to work full-time. In the end this would be a huge blessing for our family because it's been so hard for not only me but the kids having me back working.

At this point it's all in Heavenly Father's hands and we are confident He is in control of the situation and will do what's best for our family.

Worrisome Times...

2009-04-07T19:26:00.002-07:00

With the downfall of the economy and the financial outlook of Dustin's job not looking too good, I returned to the working world this year. I have to say it was a very hard adjustment right at first, but I've really come to love my job and actually look forward to teaching and interacting with my kids. We had already planned on me returning next year and teaching 5th grade. In fact, I was getting super excited about it because I wanted to stay in the same grade and teach with the same team.

Well, today Tammy, my principal, called me into her office and gave me a letter from the district office basically stating that my contract with them will be ending on May 26th and I will not be getting a contract for next year because this year's contract wasn't for the entire year. (I started in September.) Although I had a feeling that this was coming, I can't say that it still wasn't difficult to hear. In fact Dustin and I stayed up and talked about it last night for about 30 minutes. I'm sure the spirit was preparing me so the news wouldn't be so hard to hear.

Tammy says she feels pretty confident and hopeful that I will still be offered a job after all placements are done for next year, but I don't know. The economy isn't looking too good right now and I'm really not in a good position since I didn't start out the beginning of the school year as a teacher in this district. I don't know what the next few months entails, but we are going to have to trust in the Lord that all will work out. Even though I know I have to pray and turn it all over to him, it's still hard for me to do - especially when you're in the middle of it all.

Dustin was thrown for quite a loop today too. I think our foundation was shaken when I was the one laid off due to the economy and not him. I need to stay focused and not forget the fact that I'm a good teacher and me getting laid off doesn't have anything to do with my skills and/or abilities as a teacher.

I finally did it...

2009-04-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to know how to make homemade jam. After buying a flat of strawberries last weekend I decided to finally take the time to learn how to make jam. While Dustin was at the Priesthood session the kids, my mom, and I made jam. I can't believe how easy it was! The jam tastes so yummy! Nothing tastes better than good quality wheat bread toasted and covered in jam... :o)

The next morning I decided to use up some mixed berries I had in my freezer. I mixed them with the strawberris I had left over from the night before. That jam is the BEST - even better than the strawberry!!!! I have now found my new favorite snack. I can't believe it took this long to learn how to make jam. Now I want to make jam all the time. I even had Dustin buy some more jars tonight so I can teach one of my friends how to make jam on Saturday!

Spring Break Camping Trip

2009-04-06T21:04:00.002-07:00

The last time we went camping it started to snow and we left early. This time we had great weather. The best part of the trip was sitting around the campfire at night roasting marshmallows and spending time together as a family.

Temple Blessings...

2009-03-17T08:21:00.004-07:00

Someone passed this link onto me ~ temple-blessings. Thought I'd share. As a member of the church I am so thankful to have a place I can go where I can feel peace in a world full or turmoil. What a great blessing in our lives!

Seussical the Musical

2009-03-15T22:19:00.007-07:00

The 3rd grade classes at our school performed "Seussical the Musical" this past week. It was quite entertaining. The kids did a great job. Maggie was one of the dancers for the song "Green Eggs and Ham." Very cute - although I'm probably a bit biased. ;o). Anyways, she sacrificed her lunch recesses this past month to come in and learn the dance routine. She loves to perform and sing. She definitely did not get any of that from me. I don't think I'd ever be caught on a stage singing or dancing!

Maggie was supposed to dress up as a character from one of Dr. Seuss's books. I tried to get her to think outside the box, but she was very determined to be Sally from The Cat in the Hat. She's so comfortable dancing on stage, but when it comes to wearing something that she thinks might be silly she won't go for it at all. Silly girl.

My camera is really bad about getting pictures from a distance so I'm sorry you had to suffer with the blurriness...

Mother's Reward...

2009-03-10T21:56:00.003-07:00

I don't know about you fellow moms out there, but I'm constantly hoping, encouraging, and praying that my kids will remember the lessons they've been taught and make good choices. I've always had a hard time with the quote: "Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." It's not that I don't believe in free agency, it's just that I want them to make good choices so they are spared the agony of poor consequences. Thankfully today was one of those times when my heart was lifted and I was literally brought to tears.

After school, I got this e-mail from Maggie's long-term sub. (Her teacher is off on maternity leave.)

"I really like having Maggie in here. She’s a great example. I don’t know if she told you or not, but last week we had an incident of someone writing on someone else’s book cover. I asked around who did it, and of course I didn’t get any answers. I said the person who did it was to come and have a private chat with me at dismissal (it really wasn’t that big of a deal, I just wanted to teach accountability). Well, Maggie comes up to me after dismissal with this really worried look on her face. She told me that she was the one who wrote on the book and that she was really sorry. I could tell it was eating her up. Then she said, “You know the feeling that you get when you know you did something wrong?” Then she proceeded to tell me about the Holy Ghost. (I’m LDS too) She’s such a sweetie. She bore her cute little testimony about how she knew it was wrong and how she needed to make things right. You’ve got a great gal there!"

Nothing could have made me more happier today then to hear that MY daughter recognized the Holy Ghost and acted upon it. I am so proud of her and can't stop tearing up every time I think about how wonderful it is to be Maggie's mom. :o)

Pinewood Derby

2009-03-08T02:18:00.004-07:00

Today Dustin (oops, I mean Damian) participated in our ward's Pinewood Derby. Dustin took so much care and thought into this project. He even purchased extra supplies from the Scout Shop. So I was hopeful that the car Damian and he created would be successful.

The entire process of prepping Damian's car for The Derby consisted of creating a workable design. (Damian's first design was a car with a football field goal glued on top.) Thankfully he was open to suggestions and Dustin and Damian were able to agree on a design. Dustin cut out the design and sanded it. I helped Damian with the painting and Dustin and Damian worked out all the final details ~ weight, wheels, etc...

His first painting idea was to paint his car ASU colors - maroon and gold - and then add decals. I was all over that and very excited to see the final outcome. On Thursday Dustin made the mistake of asking Damian if he was done painting his car. Being the ADHD child that Damian is, he said no and then went psycho with the paint and added about a pound of additional paint onto his car. By the time he was finished, it was a swirly mess of rainbow colors all mixed together. I was busy getting ready to go to a meeting and didn't realize that Dustin had let him loose with the paint alone. BIG MISTAKE! Anyways, before I left I had to wash off the car, dry it and leave it with Dustin so he could help Damian repaint it. I think Damian had the thinking ~ "If a little paint is good, then A LOT is best!" When I got home from my meeting, Damian no longer had an ASU car, but a red, white and blue car.

With the painting complete, Dustin was ready to add the wheels, weights, etc... We had high hopes that his car would be super fast and successful. The track was computerized so each scout would get to race 4 times - once in each track. The first time Damian's car raced, it barely finished. I mean it was SLOW!!!

I could see Dustin trying to melt into his chair. He was able to make a few repairs for the second heat, but that didn't help either. Damian's car ran out of steam and didn't even make it all the way to the finish line. Thankfully Dustin had brought the wheels that the kit came with and was able to change them out for the third and fourth heats. After changing out the wheels, Damian's car was much faster and won his last two races. Thankfully Damian went from devastated to elated when his car started winning.

The video is of Damian's first race. If you watch it (it's not the best video), you'll notice that as the race progressed, Damian's car was getting left behind. I didn't video tape the second race when the car didn't even make it to the finish line. :o)

I was so proud of how well Damian handled the disappointment. I could tell he was upset, but he never cried. Dustin handled the disappointment quite well too! I can't wait for next year when he'll have 2 cars to make. :o) Overall, it was a great experience and Damian left with a certificate and great memories.

Shocked...

2009-03-02T23:18:00.002-07:00

I'm ashamed to admit that I totally got hooked on the TV show "The Bachelor" this past season. As the season progressed I became very emotionally invested in who Jason was going to pick. Tonight was the season finale and boy was I shocked...

(If you follow "The Bachelor" and haven't seen the finale, don't read any further...)

I can't believe that Jason picked Melissa during the final rose ceremony, proposed to her and then broke up with her at the "After the Final Rose." I was in shock. Then to have him proceed and try to mend things with Molly after just breaking Melissa's heart was weird. I sat there wondering why Molly wasn't wondering why Jason wouldn't do something like this to her after just breaking Melissa's heart.

Crazy. That's all there is to say. I can't believe I'm actually going to watch the "After the After the Final Rose" episode airing tomorrow.

Where has the time gone?

2009-03-02T23:01:00.002-07:00

My baby turned 7 today?! I can't believe Trey is already 7 years old...I remember the first time he came to our home as a baby - barely crawling and able to hold his own bottle. He has grown into such an amazing addition into our home. I am so lucky to have been given the opportunity to be his mom. Of all the kids, Trey was the one who struggled the most with going to school because he got so used to hanging out with me all day long. I guess that's why I'm having such a hard time believing that he's 7.

In honor of his birthday, I thought I'd list 7 great things about Trey:

He is super smart. I'm serious about that. He knows things I swear nobody has ever taught him. He's a great reader and loves to learn.

He loves to make me happy. I can always count on Trey to go out of his way to make sure I'm feeling happy - whether it's just hanging out with me, playing a game, or making sure I get a hug when I need it.

Because we were able to adopt him at such a young age, he feels totally and completely comfortable acting himself. We always know what he's feeling, why he did something and what he wants. (Having adopted older kids we often don't really know what they want, need or are feeling.)

He's content. He doesn't need to be the center of attention. He's perfectly comfortable going off by himself and building something out of LEGO's or reading a book.

He loves to read the scriptures. He's always asking me thought provoking questions about something he's read. He keeps me on my toes because the traditional "Sunday School" answers aren't good enough for him.

He looks adorable in his glasses. :o) (Okay...it's not just his glasses that make him adorable, but they sure do help!)

He's mine and nobody else's! ~ He'll always be my baby no matter how old he gets.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2009-03-02T22:53:00.005-07:00

On February 18th, my grandma celebrated her 84th birthday. She is such an amazing woman. I feel so lucky to be able to be so close to her. She is a perfect example of someone that is kind, forgiving, determined and independent. Even though she has been through some difficult challenges as she has gotten older, she has never given up. She faces life with a determination that I rarely see in people half her age.

I love you grandma and feel so lucky to live so close to you. :o)

Maggie is so proud of the fact that she has learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on the piano. I can't believe how quickly she has caught on. This was her first time officially playing for something. She did a great job!

Arizona Snow...

2009-03-02T22:45:00.002-07:00

Several weeks ago it snowed here - oh, I mean hailed and the kids went crazy. They were so excited to go play in it. Being from Arizona I do have to admit that I was a bit drawn into the wonder of the white pebbles covering our yard, but my kiddos' reactions were hysterical. They found boots to put on, jackets to keep from getting wet and went out to play in the 'snow.' It was great watching them have so much fun. Of course, being the intelligent mother that I am, I totally forgot to get any pictures of them all dressed up. Instead I sent Dustin out to capture pictures right when the hail started. The blurry white dots are the hail on the ground. I wish I would have thought to get a picture of them jumping on the trampoline - soaking wet with hail bouncing all over the place. It was priceless.

Bittersweet...

2009-01-18T22:26:00.003-07:00

Today I was released from young womens. It has been a long time since I've done anything but serve in young womens so I don't know why I'm having such a hard time. My guess it's the fear of the unknown. In many ways I feel like I'm a brand new member of the ward and have to brave walking into Relief Society on my own. Will I have someone to sit by? Will I even know anyone in the room? Serving for so long in YW gave me stability and comfort. I always knew where my place was and where I fit in. I loved the interactions with the girls. I loved spending time with the girls at girl's camp, mutual activities, planning lessons to teach them and most of all...the time spent with the other leaders. I was so blessed to have such great leaders to associate with. I think this is what my heart aches most for...not the calling, but the friendships and social interactions.

When I was told last Sunday I was going to be released, it came out of nowhere. At first, I wasn't sure what to think. Had I done my best? Had I made the impact on the girls I needed to? Had I done the work my Heavenly Father needed me to do? Was there anything left undone? Over this past week, I've had a lot to think and ponder on. It's been a hard week, but not impossible to handle. I knew this day would come, but I wasn't ready for it. Now it's in the Lord's hands to heal the sadness I'm feeling. The girls are in great hands and the new leaders will do a wonderful job and take them to even greater heights. I only wish I could still be there and be a part of it all...

Tag...

2009-01-14T21:50:00.002-07:00

This is a fun tag that was shared with me. You copy and paste the entire list below and put the ones you have done/experienced in bold.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - Does building stuff out of playdoh count?
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables - As long as only making them grow for a few weeks counts...
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check...I still have checks, doesn't that mean I still have money?
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - Not sure if it was technically speeding, but it was too fast for me!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

I tag anyone that wants to share...

Is it really over?

2009-01-03T12:38:00.005-07:00

Last Christmas I was introduced to the Twilight series. Skeptical at first, I didn't quite jump into reading the first book - seriously, a book about vampires?! Once I did, I couldn't put the book down. Well, four books later I have now finished the series. I'm kind of sad that it's over. I finished up the 4th book last week. I wouldn't start it until Christmas Break because I knew I would get distracted from my life responsibilities - you know being a wife, mom, teacher, yw president, etc... I've been known to go without sleep to finish a book. :o)

I'm happy with how the book ended. I always hate it when good books or movies end because it's like I still want to know what's going on in their lives. (I know...I'm weird, but I feel so attached to the main characters that I feel like I 'know' them in a freaky sort of way. Kind of like they are real people and not just characters in a book.)

Dustin and I went to go see the movie last month while we were away on our anniversary getaway. I definitely liked the book better than the movie. Although the movie was good it didn't match how I had pictured it in my head. I guess it just reinforces the fact that the book is usually better than the movie.

So, now I'm in the hunt for a new series to read...any suggestions?

Happy New Year...

2009-01-03T11:30:00.005-07:00

Well, it's officially 2009 and to start the new year off right we allowed the kids to stay up until midnight. I'm not sure if that was the best decision since they've been cranky and crabby ever since, but in the moment we had a lot of fun.

I spent a couple of hours at the stake youth New Year's Eve party so we weren't able to officially start our party until I got home from that. The party was a lot of fun. I was able to mingle with some of my old young women that were split last month when our ward was split. It was good to see them.

When I got home I made cookies while Dustin and the boys played a game on the Wii. After that we played a game of Apples to Apples. I have officially found a game that Trey takes very seriously - he would get quite bothered if there wasn't a card that matched perfectly or if a card he thought was a perfect match wasn't picked by the picker person. We played until we were out of red cards and Trey won pretty easily - I believe he had 12 and the closest person in 2nd place was Dustin with 9 or 10.

Against my better judgment, I promised the kids that they could go out and shoot off fireworks with their daddy. I don't know why I am such a scaredy cat about fireworks ~ maybe because in Arizona your not supposed to shoot them off or maybe it's because you can lose a finger, hand, arm, limb?! Anyways, I allowed it since it was New Years and the kids were really excited. After a few low flying fireworks that almost hit me (wrong place, wrong time ~ luckily I ducked quick) and landed on the ground still on fire I had had enough fun and told Dustin that we were finished. Luckily the kids enjoyed their 15 minutes of fun and I was relieved it was over.

This was Dustin starting out shooting off fireworks...Safe, away from the actual launching and one at a time.

This was Dustin after he shoot off a few. I don't know if you can see or not, but he started shooting off a lot at a time and holding the bottle launcher. Who is this person that I married?!

It wasn't until we were on our way inside that we noticed the burn marks on Dustin's shirt and the singed arm hairs.

For our treat, I made hot chocolate and put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to cool down the cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. All in all it was a great night ~ except for the fireworks part. :o)

Hope you had a great time welcoming in the New Year~

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T16:27:00.001-07:00

From our family to yours...

Happy New Year! We hope that the new year brings much peace, health and happiness your way!

Love,
The Crooks
Dustin~Deeanna~ Amaya~Maggie~Damian~ Trey

Our Roving Reporter

2008-12-31T16:07:00.015-07:00

Damian LOVES to take pictures with my camera. If my camera is sitting out, there's a 100% guarantee that he will have taken some pictures. Christmas Day of course was no exception. As I was catching up on my blog entries....I found the following. (Can you tell what he values and thinks is noteworthy?)

Of course, photographing his new ASU football had to be #1 on the list. Who can blame him? I love those colors too. :o)
Angel, our dog. I guess watching us unwrap and destroy our living room was too much to take. She just had to take a nap.

Meow, Meow - our cat. Happy to have "HER" Christmas tree back. Once we started wrapping presents and putting them under the tree she couldn't get to her sleeping spot anymore.

The Yule Log on the TV - classic shot.
Trey's Indiana Jones Lego book - what would a Christmas documentary be without a close up of the Lego set?

And of course, we mustn't forget to take a picture of all the really cool Indiana Jones Lego men.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-31T15:46:00.003-07:00

The kids were so funny this year about what they wanted for Christmas this year. They had talked about asking Santa for a Wii and both Dustin and I thought that would be a great idea. In the past we've been pretty opposed to video games, but liked that the Wii requires them to be active while they are playing.

Santa agreed and decided that a Wii would be the perfect gift for our family. Instead of bringing individual gifts this year, he brought all the Wii accessories and games you could think of. It was fun watching the kids open the presents and seeing all the fun things they could play. They loved the games Aunt Darla and Uncle Brian sent and I personally loved the gift from Todd's family. It was a wireless Internet thing (don't know the official name) and Wii points so I could download Super Mario Bros. It has been fun sending and receiving every one's Miis. :o)

Dustin had won a bike during a raffle and so we had this super cool - way too expensive bike to give to Trey. It was one of those Chopper bikes with the funky seat and handlebars. Of course he also got an Indiana Jones Lego set - which was finished being built in record time. He wouldn't even play with the Wii unless it was the Indiana Jones Wii game. He's a bit obsessed with Indiana Jones right now.

Damian got a remote control airplane, skateboard and a football goal post set to practice his kicking. He's very much into football and got two boxes full of old football cards. Some of them are very interesting. There's even an O.J. Simpson one. They are interesting to look through.

Maggie got a little sewing machine and some nail stuff, but her favorite gift by far was the Tinkerbell bed tent we got her. We didn't think it would be such a hit, but she loves it and crawls in to sleep in it every night.

Amaya has officially hit the tween stage. She was more excited to get a blow dryer, clock radio and mp3 player than she was anything else. She also got some more art supplies.

My parents and grandma came over and spent Christmas Day at our house. We had a great time playing on the Wii, hanging out, playing board games, and eating a yummy Christmas dinner. By the time the evening arrived I realized that I had stayed in my jammies all day long. What a great relaxing day! :o)

We didn't get a lot of pictures taken Christmas morning, but here are some pictures of the kids going through their stockings. Notice the picture on the TV ~ Dustin found a TV channel showing a log burning in a fireplace and playing Christmas songs. It was a nice background for our Christmas morning.

Christmas Traditions...

2008-12-31T15:27:00.003-07:00

Christmas Clothes
Trying to get the kids all posed and looking the same direction in pictures is often quite frustrating. When we got to church we gathered the kids up and had them model their new Christmas clothes. I can't believe how big they've grown. They are growing up so quickly!!!

Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. Every year we go over to our old neighbor's house - The Waite's. We have a yummy meal of tamales, chicken enchiladas, homemade salsa and bean dip. They also make the yummiest dessert. I won't even ask them for the recipe because it's so yummy - which probably translates into so full of fat and calories. Oh well, it's Christmas Eve right?!

After dinner we have a spiritual thought. This year the kids put on a short (very short) nativity play. They had costumes (robes, sheets, pillowcases and ribbon), a donkey (a horse on a pole), a sheep (a lamb stuffed animal), and a shepherd's staff (rain stick). It was priceless. I wish I would've recorded it, but I didn't even think to have my camera out. They even got Janea and Stuart's little one - Jaymison- to be a shepherd.

When I was at the dollar store I found some of these washcloths that expand when you get them wet. They had a picture of the nativity on them so we passed those out to the kids when they were finished.

Once we were finished with the play we passed out presents and then socialized for a while. I miss not living so close to them. They are such a great family!

Every year when we get home from the Waite's the kids get to open one present on Christmas Eve. Because we've done it every year since we had the kids they know they are opening up their Christmas jammies. They just don't know what they will look like.

Eight is Great!

2008-12-31T15:13:00.002-07:00

Damian was baptized on the 20th. I can't believe he is already 8 and baptized. I remember so vividly when he became part of our family 6 years ago. The time has gone by so quickly...

He was terrified about being baptized. He doesn't think he knows how to swim and somehow had needing to know how to swim related to being baptized. More than once we had to draw pictures about what it would look like, visit with others who were recently baptized and pray for comfort. Thankfully he decided that getting baptized was more important than his fear of the water. I was so proud of him!!!!

He was very particular about the program and somehow wrangled me into giving a talk on baptism. I hope that he remembers the importance of the covenants he made that day. Dustin baptized him, confirmed him a member of the church and then also said the closing prayer. Both grandmas were asked to sing a musical number "Families can be Together Forever." Of course, they sounded beautiful! :o)

Another boy from our ward was baptized at the same time. They were in charge of the talk on the Holy Ghost. The speaker gave a great example of the Holy Ghost and how it helps you in your life. He had two soda cans ~ 1 full and the other one empty. As he talked about Satan's temptations he crushed the empty can completely. He then had both boys come up and try to crush the full soda can. They tried, but couldn't because the can was full of soda. He related it to when we are filled with the Holy Ghost we are stronger and can withstand Satan's temptations. I loved that object lesson!!!

It was a great day and I'm glad that Dustin's parents were able to come down and celebrate it with us. Thanks for coming and visiting us~ We enjoyed having you here!

"I Can See!"

2008-12-31T14:32:00.011-07:00

As a mom, it sometimes doesn't take much to make me feel guilty or inadequate. I think I have a pretty good pulse on how my kids are doing, if they're sick, how they're homework is coming along, etc...

Needless to say, I was somewhat taken by surprise and immediately elevated to the highest degree of guilt when I got a letter in the mail from the school nurse letting me know that Trey failed the vision screening. (Maybe all those times I kept getting after Trey for sitting so close to the TV should have been a sign?!) Since I work at the school I stopped by and talked with the nurse. Not only did try fail the vision screening, he BOMBED it. His vision is really bad. I don't think he ever knew he wasn't seeing things like the rest of the world. Well, after a visit with the eye doctor and picking out some frames. Trey is now officially fitted with glasses that help him see everything.

Since getting his glasses, he's made some pretty funny remarks:
"Mom, I never knew that there were rocks on the mountains." "I can see the grass now."

Yes, Trey...there's a whole new world out there for you to finally be able to see.

In case you can't read his note, it says "Trey's first day of wearing glasses." Hand written of course by himself. We got him two pairs of glasses. One for every day use and one for when he is at his gymnastics class and playing outside.

Gingerbread House

2008-12-31T14:24:00.005-07:00

Damian's teacher has all her students decorate gingerbread houses every year. Maggie made hers last year and Damian got to do his this year. It turned out very cute. I must say that I'm impressed with any teacher that allows candy, frosting and 26 students to be in the same room together. As a teacher, I don't even think I would even consider taking on such a project. Kudos to her!

Happy Birthday Dustin!

2008-12-31T14:14:00.004-07:00

Dustin celebrated his 35th birthday on the 18th. It was a pretty normal day for us all since Dustin and I had work and the kids had school, but we tried to make it special for him anyway. For dinner we fixed him one of his favorite meals ~ chicken fried steak, homemade mashed potatoes with country gravy and veggies (not his favorite, but a requirement if mom is fixing dinner...) He requested a brownie cake this year instead of a regular cake so we had very yummy triple chocolate brownies in place of birthday cake. Personally, I think it was a great idea!

Happy Birthday sweetie! I love you and hope you had a great day!

And of course, what birthday picture would be complete without "bunny ears" compliments of Amaya. ;o)

Dustin's Christmas Party

2008-12-31T13:55:00.009-07:00

Every year Dustin's work has a Christmas party. The last 3 Christmas parties have been at the Enchanted Island Amusement Park. It's a pretty quaint place to visit. This year the girls had grown enough to outgrow many of the rides. Thankfully they still like the "puckcups" (oh, I mean teacups) so they were entertained over and over and over and over again. By the time they got down riding them I thought I was going to be the one sick just watching them. I don't know how they do it. They get the teacup spinning so fast and don't even turn green. Damian on the other hand is a lot like me and doesn't handle the spinney rides too well. He went on but had to go on with people that were holding the cup from spinning. My kind of speed. :o)

Maggie, Amaya and Trey going FAST!!!!!!!!!

Damian going
S-L-O-W...

This year the boys had outgrown the bumper boats, but had grown tall enough to go on the parachute ride. They were quite brave and excited to ride. I love how this picture turned out.
Maggie wouldn't even attempt the ride. She loves spinning, but hates rides that make her go high in the air.

As always, Santa came for a visit and the kids were able to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. They seem to love Christmas and want the magic of believing in Santa to last. As their mom, I love the fact that they still believe. Dustin on the other hand is ready for the

Fun Time with Cousins

2008-12-31T13:46:00.004-07:00

Over Thanksgiving Todd and his family came for a visit. We had a great time. While going through the pictures on my camera I found one of Trey and Gabby (my niece) that I thought was too cute. Gabby had squeezed herself into a toddler swing and talked Trey into pushing her. It was very cute to see. She was a bit too big for the swing and needed my help getting out because she got stuck.

We ate some yummy leftovers, played on the playground equipment, badminton rackets and a pretty mean game of croquet. If I remember correctly, I had the winning shot - even if it was me hitting Dustin's ball into the final stick instead of mine. :o) Here's a picture of Maggie playing badminton. It was quite entertaining watching them try to hit the shuttlecock.

10 Years...

2008-12-14T23:29:00.003-07:00

10 years ago this past Friday Dustin and I were just starting out on this adventure of marriage. Who knew Dustin and I would encounter so many twists and turns along the way. From the moment I walked out of the temple, I knew I had not only found my eternal soulmate, but my best friend. It has been this friendship and eternal bond which has helped us through the heartaches and joys that we have encountered over these past 10 years.

Dustin, I love you and am so thankful that you are my husband! I can't wait to see what the next 10 years has in store...

Christmas Season

2008-12-14T23:21:00.003-07:00

It's hard to believe that the Christmas season has already arrived. The days, months and years seem to be passing even more quickly. The kids really seem to be enjoying the season so far. Over the Thanksgiving break we went to see the temple lights with my brother and his family. Todd if you're reading this, I still need those pictures. :o)

We put up our tree, wrapped our Christmas books to unwrap and read each night, and have spent time Christmas shopping. Still on my to do list is sending out our Christmas cards, making our Gingerbread house and Christmas goodies as well as finish putting up our lights outside. If I wait too much longer, the lights outside might not happen.

I love this time of year and wish it wouldn't pass so quickly. I even have my hubby willing and happy to go out Christmas shopping with me. In the past he wasn't always so excited to go, but after 10 years all my hard work has paid off. :o)

So, for all of you out there that may or may not receive a Christmas card...Merry Christmas and enjoy this holiday season.

Did you miss me?

2008-11-24T22:40:00.005-07:00

I'm sure by now I don't have anyone checking my blog, but just in case I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on. :o) Life has been crazy hectic for us and it would be impossible for me to post about everything that we've done so I'll give you a quick run-

After much pleading and begging, I finally gave in and allowed Damian to play flag football. Dustin ended up being one of the coaches. Dustin did a great job with the kids on the team. I can't tell you how happy I was to have Damian play football. He was such an amazing player! He is so good and has really found something he excels at. He was a great runner and could outrun almost anyone else on the field, which led to him making quite a few touchdowns. He was also the team's kicker.

I think he looked so adorable in his uniform. :o)

For Activity Days the girls had a talent show. Both girls performed on stage and did a great job. Amaya sang a song and Maggie did a cheer routine. Then they both performed with their Activity Day classes. The pictures didn't turn out too well so I won't post them.

Damian's birthday was on October 25th. I can't believe he's 8! I remember when he was barely 2 years old and came to visit us for the first time. Time has flown by so quickly. He will be getting baptized on December 20th. During Sacrament meeting the other day I mentioned to him that he would be getting baptized soon and he had a bit of a meltdown. I knew he was a bit worried, but I didn't realize he was TERRIFIED to go under the water. We spent some time working through his fear, but I keep praying that he will be comforted by the Spirit and be brave enough to trust that Dustin isn't going to let him drown.

Damian's newest passion...football!!! Football cards in particular. I find them everywhere. He leaves them sitting around the house all the time now. He is crazy nuts about football. Football cards, football books, footballs, football on TV - Everyday he asks if there's a football game on. If there is, he will sit on the couch and look through his books and cards trying to find the players and teams that are playing. Thank goodness for our DVR because we always seem to have one saved that we can turn on and play for him whenever he earns TV time.

Maggie finally started her piano lessons. She is taking them from one of my young women in the ward. She was very excited to finally begin. I stalled as long as I could since Damian was in football and I went back to work.

I think Amaya is making progress in working through some of her behavior struggles. She has such a desire to choose the right, but struggles so much with her impulsivity and trust. She has a great counselor that is trying to help her work through not only her trust issues, but also helping her try to be more proactive in her choices. We still have rough days, but in a week there tend to be more positive days then negative days which makes me happy. One of the blessings that has come from me returning to work is being able to be a constant presence in her life. I can check in with her a couple of times throughout the day.

Trey continues to amaze me academically. I was worried that he wouldn't be challenged enough in 1st grade since he's so much ahead of his class, but his teacher does an amazing job of pushing him and meeting his needs. He was recently tested and is reading at the 5th grade reading level. It's amazing to think that he's reading better than some of my own students...We are constantly trying to remind him how blessed he is to be able to learn so easily.

I'm finally settling into a routine. I have to admit that going back to work really threw me for a loop. I wasn't anticipating or planning for it so it has taken me quite a while to adjust. In all honesty, it's taken me a while to actually be able to say that I'm enjoying it. I really wanted to still be a stay-at-home mom this year, but Heavenly Father had other plans.

With the down-turn in the economy we are very thankful everyday that Dustin has a job. Although the company is really strong nationwide, the work here in Arizona has been real slow. They've had to lay-off quite a few workers due to lack of new jobs. Thankfully Dustin is the only one who does his job so I feel fairly confident that his job is secure. We just keep thanking Heavenly Father each and every day that he has employment.

Well, that's a quick run-down on what we've been up to. Hopefully I'll have more pictures to document more of the fun things we do.

Sad Day...

2008-09-25T20:07:00.005-07:00

It's been quite a sad couple of weeks around our house because our computer has been down and out. Dustin has been trying with great effort to keep our poor computer alive, but we don't think it's going to make it. In fact, it's currently sitting on our desk looking like it's on life support with all the wires, hard drives, etc. hanging out of it. We're trying to avoid having to spend a lot of money on a new one. It's working better than it was, but it's still on the fritz...(not sure of spelling)

Anyways, hope everyone is doing well!

Hi, ho, hi, ho...It's off to work I go...

2008-09-08T19:16:00.003-07:00

Well...I guess you're all wondering why I disappeared from the blogging world - or maybe not. I don't even know how many of you even noticed. ;o) Anyways, Dustin and I have had to take a long look at our budget and make some changes. At first, we thought I'd just start subbing 3 days a week. In fact, that was the goal. I had been so concerned over our budget and how we were going to get it to balance that I even made it priority to ponder about it the last time I went to the temple. Little did I know that my answer would come so quickly and suddenly. Anyways, an offer was made for me to job-share a 5th grade classroom. Seeing this as an opportunity to get paid more than I would if I would sub I jumped at the chance. Well, my job-share partner ended up not taking the contract and so I have taken the job on full-time. It's funny because I didn't anticipate working full-time this year, but have gotten a very peaceful feeling about it all. The kids are handling it pretty well. It's amazing how different it is to be a teacher with 4 school aged kids rather than a 2nd, 1st, and a 4-year old and a 3 year-old.

So if my posts become farther apart - now you'll know why. It's because I've had a bunch of other things on my plate and I'm just a bit behind.

Arizona Diamondbacks

2008-09-08T19:00:00.006-07:00

I had the kids participate in the public library's summer reading program. For the kids who finished the program, they were rewarded with a free ticket to one of the Arizona Diamondback's baseball games. Amaya was the only one who didn't finish - she decided over the summer that she didn't want to read any chapter books so she quit before the summer reading program was over. She got to stay home with her daddy while I took the other three with me to the game on Labor Day. I wasn't sure if I would even enjoy the game - baseball isn't my thing. But I have to admit that it was a pretty exciting game. We won with 8 runs and most of the runs scored by both teams were home runs so it was exciting for the kids to see the balls hit so far. The Diamondback's stadium is actually air-conditioned so it wasn't even hot inside. I hope the kids decide to earn a free ticket next year so we can go back.

It's football season...

2008-09-08T18:50:00.006-07:00

Well...it's that magical time of the year again when Saturdays become almost as special as Sundays - not to sound sacrilegious or anything. I absolutely love going to the games and watching football. Our first game was August 30th. I'm happy to say that we won - not only that game but this past Saturday's too. The kids are definitely into it more, but still have a hard time staying focused during the whole game. Luckily, we are allowed to bring in snacks so we start digging them out during the 2nd quarter and keep strategically redistributing when we want them entertained. :o)

Go DEVILS!!!!

Happy Birthday Amaya...

2008-08-31T23:04:00.005-07:00

A few weeks late, but it's better than never. :o)

Amaya's birthday was on August 15th. I can't believe she is 10 years old! Where has the time gone? For her birthday Amaya decided that she wanted to go out as a family rather than have friends over. We went out to Applebee's for dinner and then miniature golfing. We had a lot of fun, but were dying while we were playing miniature golf because it was so hot and humid outside. Although it was pretty low-key I think she had a great time.

For her official homemade birthday dinner she was very specific:

Ribs (I'm not sure how they became her favorite food, but they are...)
Fruit Salad
Baked Beans
Corn on the cob
And for her birthday cake ~ She only wanted a Texas Sheet Cake because she said she doesn't like any other type of cake or frosting.

Needless to say, as her mom I obliged and we had all her favorites. The funniest part about the whole thing was that she got upset more than once about how people were treating her on her birthday. I believe her direct quote was, "Mom, they're (meaning her brothers and sister) not being nice to me and they have to because it's my birthday!" Oh, to be young and narrow minded.

We took pictures of us miniature golfing and eating at the restaurant, but they're on Dustin's camera and I'm so far behind on blogging that I just want to get them all posted.

Amaya...

2008-08-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

In honor of Amaya's birthday I thought I'd list 10 special things about her.

She is very intelligent. She loves learning.
She loves going to Primary and learning about the Gospel.
She thinks I'm smart ~ well at least, most of the time. :o)
She is good at artsy things. I love it when she takes the time to draw and or create things.
She has a wonderful imagination.
She enjoys spending time with me. The older she gets the more fun it is to just 'hang out' with her.
She can be the best parent helper in the whole wide world!
She loves to cook and try out new recipes.
She is willing to try new things.
She is young at heart and still loves to get cuddles and snuggles.

Happy Birthday Amaya...I can't wait to see you grow and mature into a beautiful young woman!

Cereal Addiction?

2008-08-08T23:53:00.007-07:00

"Hi my name is Deeanna and I'm addicted to cereal." (This is the point when you all respond ~ "Hi Deeanna.")

Anyways, when I have to list my favorite foods cereal is definitely at the top of my list. I don't know if I should be proud to say that I got a 100% on it or whether I should slyly blame it on the kids and their ginormous appetite in the mornings for nothing but cereal? If your in the mood for a quiz to test your cereal IQ, here you go...Cereal-quiz . I'd love to hear what you got...hopefully I'm not the only cereal junkie out there. :o)

One of my all time favorite cereals would definitely have to be Cap'n Crunch. Nothing says amazingly delicious than the way Cap'n Crunch scratches the roof of your mouth. LOVE IT! Of course I'm equally addicted to Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch as well. The bonus with it is that the roof of your mouth doesn't get all scratched up by the pokey corners.

Not sure how or why I got off on this embarrassing confession, but I thought the quiz was quite interesting.

Back to School...

2008-08-06T19:24:00.010-07:00

Here they are...all dressed up and ready to head out for their first day back to school. Trey is in 1st grade, Damian is in 2nd, Maggie is in 3rd and Amaya is in 5th.

The kids went back to school on Monday. It's hard to believe that summer's over. Monday morning after getting back from dropping the kids off at school I walked into my house and actually felt lonely. I would have bet money on feeling the complete opposite. Who would've even imagined that the same kids who often drove me to insanity this summer would also have caused me to feel loneliness?!

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Sunday night when I was tucking the kids into bed, Trey started to cry and said he didn't want to go to school all day because he was going to miss me. Talk about tugging at my heart strings...Thankfully he woke up excited and ready to start 1st grade the next morning. After school I asked him if he was glad he went all day and he said, "YES!" His teacher is going to be real good for him. Her child is also in the gifted program and very similar in personality to Trey so I think she'll really know how to keep him on task and behaving well.

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Damian came home very excited about school. Thankfully he has Maggie's teacher from last year. She is a wonderful teacher and will be good for Damian. He'll have to work hard this year, but I'm excited to see the growth that will happen.

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I found out at Meet the Teacher Night that Maggie's teacher is pregnant ~ not sure how I feel about this yet. Hopefully she'll be well and able to last until she delivers. She's due in February. Her teacher taught Kindergarten last year so I'm guessing that 3rd grade will be a relief since they're more mature (or at least they should be...) and able to listen and follow directions better.

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Amaya's teacher is going to be soooo good for her. I have been very impressed with her organization and expectations. I think Amaya is going to have a great year. Hopefully she will be able to make new friends and really mature socially this year too.

Maggie's Sleepover

2008-07-31T09:56:00.006-07:00

Last Friday Maggie had her sleepover birthday party. I have to admit that I thought I was a bit crazy allowing this, but my fears were totally unnecessary. The girls behaved so well and had so much fun. A big thanks to my parents who took the boys for the night so it was truly just a girl's night at our house. The girls spent time playing in their room, painting their toenails and fingernails, watching a movie, making a craft, eating pizza and birthday cake, hanging out with our goats (our goats were so excited to have people actually spend time playing with them...), watching a movie and of course...having a pillow fight. (What sleepover would be official without a pillow fight?) Dustin and I finally got them settled down and into bed after 11 pm but the girls decided to stay up until midnight so we heard giggling and laughing down the hall until then and then they crashed. What a great time!
Maggie requested a butterfly cake for her birthday. I have to admit that I think this one turned out real cute. I love making birthday cakes for the kids. It's so much fun - almost therapeutic for me. I'd love to actually take classes to learn more of the secrets to cake decorating.

Bargain Shopper...

2008-07-30T21:25:00.003-07:00

I'm proud to admit that I'm a bargain shopper. I scan the grocery ads on a weekly basis, shop with coupons and only buy things that are on sale. It frustrates my kids, but they've learned not to even ask me to buy something on a whim - okay, so maybe Amaya still forgets but overall they're pretty trained. The funniest questions Trey always asks me in the store are: 1.) Mom, is this on sale? and 2.) (If the item is on sale...) Mom, do you have a coupon? Needless to say I'm training them young.

The other day when I was at the store with the kids Amaya wanted to know if I would still only buy things on sale and with a coupon if we were rich. My response, "We probably wouldn't have to wait until it was on sale and when we had a coupon. It would just have to be on sale." I don't think she liked my answer, but that's okay because how many people can say they got this deal...

30 boxes of Kellogg's brand cereal and 3 gallons of milk for $36.27 !!!

I saved $104.97. Talk about some killer deals. :o)

One of the many uses of duct tape...

2008-07-23T19:38:00.003-07:00

On Mondays I take the kids to one of the local movie theaters for the Summer Movie Fun. As we were driving away from our house I looked out the passenger window and realized that it was down. Not thing too much about it I pushed the button on my door and tried to roll it up. Unfortunately it didn't work so I pulled over and tried to use the button on the passenger side - still no luck. I looked around for broken glass and even tried to look inside the door, but I couldn't figure out what happened so I went back home and woke Dustin up. When I told him the window was missing his first response was, "Didn't you lock the door when you drove it last?" Followed up with, "So you're telling me someone stole our window?" Of course I responded with "You drove it to church last and I'm not sure where it went but I can't find it." He unhappily drug himself out of bed to go and investigate. Sure enough our window hadn't been stolen, the cable had broke and it had fallen all the way to the bottom of the door. So after a little work and a bit of duct tape Dustin was able to get the window up and we were off to the movies again. I can't tell you how cool it is to drive around in a vehicle with the door panel missing and duct tape holding the window up. What's even better is when I had to pull off the freeway and retape the window because it was starting to go down again. Thankfully Dustin's pretty handy and can install the new part on his own so this repair only cost us $150.

The Biggest Loser

2008-07-23T19:21:00.004-07:00

I don't know how many of you watch the TV show "The Biggest Loser," but Dustin and I love it. We are always so impressed with the transformations that take place throughout the season and secretly wish we could be on the show. Well this past Saturday they had a casting call for couples at the mall by our house so we decided to go and try out for the show. We arrived at 7:20am and waited in line for several hours. Finally at 2:30 it was our turn to go in and meet with one of the producers of the show. I think it went well but our next step is to send in a video. So... if any of you have some creative ideas for our video please feel free to send your ideas our way. We would love to be on the show and lose our weight once and for all. :o)

Happy Birthday Maggie

2008-07-21T19:55:00.009-07:00

Today is Maggie's 9th birthday! I can't believe how old she is getting - it's hard to believe that she was only 3 when she came to live with us. I'm constantly impressed by how much of a young lady she is becoming. We only had her family birthday party today since she's having a sleepover on Friday with some of her friends. For her birthday she asked me to make her a new blanket so I made her a new horse one. She also got a homemade pink superhero cape (she was always wearing her brother's), some lip gloss, photo albums for her pictures and a new treasure box for her many collections.

In honor of her birthday I thought I'd list 9 of the specialist things about Maggie:

She's very sensitive to other people's feelings and doesn't like others to be left out.
She loves being a big sister to the boys.
She's trustworthy ~ very seldom do we have any problems with trusting Maggie.
She has the best hair...I love it. (In fact, I wish I could have it instead of my own.)
She's a hard worker. I can always count on Maggie's jobs being done the best.
She's a daddy's girl~ Dustin would be disappointed if I didn't put that on the list. He enjoys having someone that thinks he walks on water. ;o)
She has a beautiful smile! I love seeing her smile and happy.
She's a pack rat...I'm always kidding with her about her various 'collections' of rocks, stickers, pencils, etc... (You name it, I'm sure she has a collection of it.)
Her giggle makes me laugh inside. I love tickling her just so I can make her giggle.
She is by far one of the most girliest girls I know ~ Pink, frills and all.

Wedding Bells...

2008-07-17T22:20:00.002-07:00

My kids have some of the best conversations in the van. A couple of days ago the kids were trying to convince me that our dogs are married. When I asked them how they knew they were married they said it's because they kiss each other all the time. When I continued to ask questions Damian very matter of factly pointed out that their dog collars were their wedding rings. The best part is that they can do this with a straight face so I'm not sure if they're joking or if they truly believe what they're saying. Either way it provides some great entertainment for me.

Mission Accomplished

2008-07-17T22:13:00.002-07:00

At approximately 4:50 pm yesterday Trey's tooth came out. I can't tell you how overjoyed I was to have him hand me his bloody tooth while I was busy cooking dinner. Nothing says being a mom more than having to stir dinner with one hand and hold a tooth with the other. :o)

Lately Trey has had quite a fascination with coins so the Tooth Fairy brought him 2 half dollars rather than the standard $1 paper issue. I was already up this morning when Trey came in the room so Dustin had the pleasure of being woke up to hear all about how cool it was that the Tooth Fairy brought him 2 $0.50 pieces. When I asked him what was on the coins he said that one of them had an eagle and the other one had a temple. It took quite a bit of convincing for him to believe that it wasn't.

Boys will be boys...

2008-07-16T07:37:00.002-07:00

Yesterday the boys were sent to their room to clean it up. It had gotten so bad I couldn't even see the carpet. Anyways, I made them close their bedroom door while they were cleaning because they kept going into the girl's room and I really wanted them to get their room done. About 15-20 minutes later their door opened and our cat BOLTED out of the room - literally. I'm afraid to even think what sort of torture they might have been putting her through. I wish I could say our adventure ended there but it didn't.

About 20-30 minutes later Trey came down the hallway and said that he needed a lot of paper towels. Not really paying too much attention to what he was saying or why I sent him into the kitchen to get what he needed. While he was in there it dawned on me that I missed what he said so I had him come over and repeat it. Hold on...because this tops the cake!!!!

T: "I (Trey) wanted my loose tooth to come out so I asked Damian to throw a shoe at my tooth so it would come out."
Mom: "You did what?!"
T: "Damian threw a shoe at my tooth so it would come out and now it's all bloody."
(Yes indeed he had blood all over his mouth - but no missing tooth.)
M: "Damian, did you really throw a shoe at your brother's mouth?"
D: "Well, he told me to."

Oh. My. Goodness. What type of crazy people do I live with?! What sane person would actually think to have someone throw a shoe at them so their tooth would come out? Crazy.

Dustin practically fell out of his chair laughing last night when I told him. After questioning him if the boys in his family ever did stuff like that he responded - probably so.

Crook Reunion, Part 3

2008-07-10T13:13:00.012-07:00

I'm sure by now you all are tired of hearing about our trip, but I just wanted to post some more pics from when we went to Brianhead. We had a great time up there and the weather cooperated. We rode the ski lift up to the top of the mountain and spent sometime walking around and looking at things. The kids found a small patch of snow and decided to have a snowball fight. For those of you from snow country I know that probably doesn't sound like a whole bunch of fun, but for us Arizona folks we had fun.

After playing in the snow for a bit, the kids decided to climb up some of the small hills close by. Damian and Maggie only made it about half way up before deciding it was too scary. Trey and Amaya made it all the way to the top. Of course, Trey was first and Amaya (although scared to death) didn't want to shown up by her baby brother so she stuck with it and made it to the top too.The next cool place we found was this rock with a cave inside. None of the kids would crawl all the way inside. They were convinced that a bear was in there. Silly kids. :o)
One of the last cook features we found was this HUGE boulder that had broken off the top of the mountain and rolled to the ground. (You could see where it broke off the mountain above.) When it landed there it made a huge indention in the ground. Pretty cool.
Dustin, Trey and Amaya riding the chair lift back down. On the way down we started to get a few sprinkles and the wind had picked up. Thankfully we had fabulous weather while we were at the top.

After riding the chair lift we had a great picnic lunch and bought some hot cocoa to warm us up. Brianhead was fabulous!!!

Thank you Anna and Tyler so much for planning such a wonderful reunion. We had so much fun and can't wait until next year. You guys are great!!!

Crook Reunion, Part 2

2008-07-09T13:58:00.013-07:00

So after we visited Bryce Canyon National Park we met up with the rest of Dustin's sisters and their family at Cascade Falls. Originally we weren't planning on doing this "walk," but ended up going after we got there. First, let me explain about this 'walk.' :o) It was much more than a walk...in fact, I would easily classify this as a hike. I guess my first sign of trouble ahead should have been the "Trail Closed" sign I passed while starting my walk. When we set out our kids ran off ahead with the rest of the cousins so it left Dustin and I trailing behind. For the most part, the hike consisted of uphill and downhill parts, but there were numerous scary parts too. I don't know if these pictures actually do it justice as to how scary it was, but I have to say I'm so proud of my sweetie and myself because we did it. We didn't give up and quit ~ even though we wanted to!

Notice how the trail is pretty rugged. At this point on the trail there were times we had to hold onto the rock wall as we walked. My legs were shaking so bad. I'm not afraid to admit that I was terrified!

Once we made it there, the view was pretty amazing though. The only drawback was that we had to hike the same trail to get back to our van. I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure I'd like to do it over again.

Bryce Canyon National Park

2008-07-08T21:08:00.018-07:00

Last week we drove up to Cedar City for the Crook Family Reunion. We had a great time. The hardest part for me was the driving. The older I get the more I'm realizing I'm not a traveler. I get so restless after sitting in a car for hours. On Thursday we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. I have to admit that I was quite impressed with its beauty. It truly was a sight to behold.

Here are some of the cool pictures we took while we were there:

Bryce Canyon had so many amazing views. It's pretty cool to think that these formations were all nature made. Click on the picture to see a larger image - they're pretty amazing.

More amazing views...

We saw many squirrels. In fact at practically every stop the kids spent more time looking for squirrels then at the canyon. This one was extremely friendly. It sat and posed so we humans could take pictures of it. I wonder what it was thinking as all these people just stared at it.

This is called the "Natural Bridge." I overheard a tour guide say that this was formed from snow melting and then refreezing. As the water in the cracks refreezes, it makes the rock break off and has created this hole. It's not expected that this hole will last much longer as rock continues to break away as the winter snow melts.

During our drive through the park, the kids were able to spend time driving in grandma and grandpa's car. This picture was taken at one of the last viewpoints we stopped at. Trey had gone and opened all of the car doors so everyone could get in quickly. In case you can't tell...the kids were pretty much done looking at the views about half way through the park. When I turned around and saw Trey opening the doors I had to take a picture. :o)

It's a what?!

2008-07-08T21:00:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday the kids found this creature roaming in our office...

WAY GROSS!!! After spending about an hour on the internet trying to figure out what type of spider this was I gave up. When Dustin came home I showed him our little friend and asked him if he knew what type of spider it was. Of course he was able to find it on the internet after only a few minutes of searching. It's called a 'camel spider.' I now know more than I ever wanted or needed to know about these little creatures. Just in case you are dying to learn more, click on the short video that describes their unique abilities.

Thankfully Dustin sprayed the next morning so hopefully we won't have anymore unwelcome visitors. :o)

Camel Spider

2008-07-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

Camel Spider - The funniest bloopers are right here

Circus Fun...

2008-07-01T10:58:00.013-07:00

As a child we didn't take too many vacations, but I can recall coming to Phoenix to attend the circus many times. It truly became one of the highlights of the summer for me. Since being married I've dragged Dustin to more circuses then he probably would have wanted or liked to attend. :o) Thankfully he's been cooperative and actually seems to enjoy the shows. This year was no different. The best part about the show this year was that our kids are getting older and truly appreciating the talent they see. Besides the thank yous and the gratefulness displayed, Trey had the best comment of the entire night ~ "Mom, I wish I had 4,000 eyes so I could see everything." Truly a Trey comment! I'm glad that we were able to go and enjoy the show as a family.

We had a great time with great-grandma, grandpa and grandma too!

Here are a few of our favorite acts we saw during the show:

6 motorcycles inside a metal ball...need I say more?! Way cool! I think this was Damian's favorite by far.

I had never seen this before. These people were using the tires to bounce on. The picture here show the person jumping onto the arms of another person. Pretty amazing!

These tigers were pretty cool to watch perform. You could tell the trainer had a special rapport with them. I'm not sure I'd ever be brave enough to even go near one tiger - let alone a whole cage of them.

And finally, what would a circus be without the elephants. I don't think the picture shows the tiniest one. It was a real cutie!

And the magic question for the day is...

2008-06-26T21:01:00.003-07:00

Today while we were driving Trey asked me if I knew who had the biggest house. Unsure of where his question was headed, I responded that I wasn't sure but I knew it wasn't our house. His response: "It's Jesus' house. You know like the churches and the temples." Amazing. He says he read about it in a church book he was reading. Most days it's hard to believe that he's only going into 1st grade.

During church he reads the illustrated scripture stories. He finished the Old Testament one a while ago and began to ask me questions about events, people and places that happened during the Old Testament. Thankfully he was mostly interested in the Daniel and the Lion's Den story so I felt pretty competent in telling him all about it. Talk about scaring me into making sure I stay on track with my scripture study and Gospel Doctrine attendance. Having a conversation with this child is like talking to a grown-up in so many ways ~ he definitely keeps me on my toes.

Swim Time

2008-06-26T20:37:00.006-07:00

Having my parents move within a mile of my house has been quite convenient. I'm wondering if they view living so close to us now as convenient too. They are always willing to help shuttle my kids back and forth for their afterschool activities, babysit my kids at a moments notice, feed our pets while we're gone, pick up something at the store for me, etc, etc... However, I have to admit that the best bonus for me this summer is that they decided to put up a pool in their backyard for the kids. It's not a huge above ground pool, but we love it! It's about 15 feet across and 42" deep. The other day I swam laps ~ okay...more like circles for some exercise. :o) But it works very well for our needs.

This means everyday I have instant entertainment, a free activity, and motivation for the kids to get their chores and responsibilities done. Except for yesterday when they decided they would rather play all day, the kids have been on the ball about getting their stuff done so they can go and play in the pool. It has been fun spending time playing with the kids. I'm amazed at how easily entertained they are. We played Marco-Polo today - amazingly enough the person who was 'it' didn't have to swim too hard to find someone. :o) Personally my favorite part is relaxing on the patio and reading a book while they are finishing up their swim time. So grandma and grandpa, the kids and I would like to thank you very much for providing us with something fun to look forward to doing nearly everyday of the week. :o) We love you!!!

A Mom's Life...

2008-06-25T22:46:00.002-07:00

The other day the kids informed me that they do all the work around the house and I don't do anything except watch TV and play on the computer. At the time I laughed off their comment and tried to point out that in fact I did do a lot of things around the house, but they don't see all that I do. Over the past week that comment really began to get under my skin and make me feel like a horrible parent. Maybe I was expecting my kids to do too much - I know for a fact that I don't watch too much TV because most days it never even gets turned on until after dinner or they're in bed. Well on Saturday when Damian and I went to go and sign him up for flag football (another post for another day...) he repeated the same comment so I started feeling terrible all over again.

Well today I decided that I would make a list of all the 'things' that got done so I could show the kids that in fact, I don't just sit around all day long. So here goes...

Make pancakes and sausage for breakfast
Feed pets
Pick up living room - discarded old magazines
Sweep tile in dining room and kitchen
Fold laundry
Help boys clean up their room
Help girls (Maggie especially) dejunk their room - Maggie actually threw away a bunch of her prized treasures (a.ka. ~ JUNK)
Fix lunch
Clean desk in office
Pay bills
Finish filling out paperwork and miscellaneous things at desk
Clean boy's bathtub
Clean out and reorganize linen closet
Clean my bathroom from top to bottom
Vacuum entire house
Fix dinner
Play game with the kids
Work on YW stuff
Work on PTO stuff
Read scriptures
Check blogs and blog
Spend time with Dustin when he got home from work after 10 pm.

After making a list of what I got done today I'm realizing that I don't have to be worried that my kids are doing too much. The funny part is that most of the time I was helping the kids do the chore they were assigned for the day. I realized today that it just seemed like they were working all day because it took them most of the day to clean their rooms and get their responsibilities done because they were playing. So much in fact that we never even made it over to my parent's house to go swimming.

That's our boy...

2008-06-21T09:40:00.005-07:00

Last night Trey and I had a very interesting conversation, it went something like this...

(Oh, to preface the conversation you need to know that I had just tucked him into bed about 10-15 minutes earlier.)

Trey: Mom I can't sleep because I'm having nightmares.
Mom: Trey you can' t have nightmares unless your asleep.
Trey: Oh...
Mom: Go to the bathroom on your way back to bed.
Trey: Okay...and mom, you CAN have nightmares when your awake. They're called "Day Nightmares."
Mom: I didn't know that's what they were called. If you need to, say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help you go to sleep.

He headed off to bed and seemed to sleep just fine...

At breakfast this morning Dustin brought up the whole "Day Nightmare" thing and we were informed that there are three types:

Nightmares - the things you dream when your asleep at night that have monsters in them.
Day Nightmares - the things you dream in the daytime that have monsters in them.
Daymares - the things you dream in the daytime that are fun like jumping on the trampoline.

Only Trey can come up with this stuff... :o)

Who has the time to figure this out?!

2008-06-20T23:09:00.003-07:00

I'm constantly amazed at the information available on the Internet or who actually has the time to research this...

Funny thing though...how many of you spent time 'examining' your hand and finding which picture your hand was like? I know I did. Heck I even took the time to blog about it. I guess my life is now complete knowing that my hand is like the 2nd one from the right. Maybe this explains why I loved math in school and hated creative writing assignments. :o) Enjoy...

Tagged

2008-06-18T23:27:00.007-07:00

I'm usually really bad about doing tags, but I thought this one was pretty interesting...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago...
When my roommate moved in with me 10 years ago, she warned me to be prepared because she always married off her roommates. I quickly laughed and told her that I was going to break her marrying off streak! :o) Little did I know that a few months later I would meet Dustin during a single's ward activity. We met at a Family Home Evening Dance 10 years ago this summer - it was a "Banana Split Dance." You had to ask people to dance that had different items on their nametags so you could get your banana split. Being the antagonists that my roommate and I were we went simply to make fun of people and the entire process of dating and dancing. Little did I realize I would meet Dustin and head down a totally different path!

2. 5 Things on my "to-do" list...

Clean off my desk (well...restack my papers so they look more organized.)
Prepare my yw lesson for Sunday.
Set up my visiting teaching.
Scrub out my microwave - something spilled in it and it needs a good scrubbing.
Clean my bathroom - or talk one of my daughters into cleaning it for me. :o)

3. Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...

Pay off all our bills...
Hire a cleaning lady to come and clean my house weekly.
Have a pool built so we have a place to cool off when it's so hot outside.
Convince Dustin to quit his job and take up more hobbies - he works too many hours.
Share the money with my friends and family.
Set up long-term investments for my kids.
Probably take the family on a dream vacation - not sure where though.

4. Three bad habits...

I stay up too late.
I don't exercise enough and I snack too much after the kids have gone to bed.
I sometimes take on too much and won't say no.

5. Places I have lived...

Bellflower, California (born there)
Garden Grove, California (near Disneyland)
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Portugal
Mesa, Arizona
Queen Creek, Arizona

Besides the time I spent in Portugal, I've lived in very few areas. Although I hated growing up in Arizona as a kid (too hot and a very small town) I missed it terribly when I was on my mission. In fact, there are very few other places I would probably even consider living.

6. States (and countries) I've visited...

California
Arizona
Nevada
Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
Montana
Hawaii
Colorado
Missouri
Illinois
Iowa
Florida
Georgia
New York
Bahamas
Mexico
Portugal

Not very many when you compare it to other people, but I'm glad that I've had the chance to travel as much as I have - especially since I absolutely HATE traveling by car. I get so bored and restless! I would love to visit Washington, D.C. and more of the church history sites when our kids get older, but can't convince myself to drive in a car clear across the country - especially with four kids. :o)

Who I'm tagging. Let's see...how about Darla, Rhonda, Jayne and Anna (and anyone else that wants to share.) ;o)

Inflation?!

2008-06-18T22:58:00.006-07:00

Amaya has been losing a ton of teeth lately. I guess it never dawned on me that she would still be losing teeth even though she's going into 5th grade. Anyways, she still very much believes in the Tooth Fairy and wrote her a letter with her latest lost tooth. I thought it was too cute not to share - mispellings and all:

Dear tuth fairy,

My name is Amaya Crook. What's your name? Are you real? My firends think your not. But I do beleave in you. I lost a tuth at my resitle. I gave it to one of the lattys. They said they will mail it. I can't wait that long. I'm asking for 50$. Why I need 50$ is so I can pay my mom back. Do you only tack my teeth? Are you the only tuth fairy? What do you do with the teeth? What's your favoiret color? My favoriet color is black and red. Please write me back on the vack of this pease of paper.

Your friend,
Amaya Crook

Okay...as a parent, who can't help but treasure this?! Usually she's a much better speller, but I think she ended up writing this letter right before bedtime and did it so quickly she didn't worry about her spelling. She was hoping for $50 because she owes Dustin a new gravel rake because she left it out and he ran over it in the dark. She finally earned enough money to pay me for the library books she ruined when she fell in the canal (canal-adventure) and doesn't want to have to pull anymore weeds to earn money for Dustin's rake. Although I thought it was pretty ingenious to ask for $50, the tooth fairy's budget at our house is much smaller. So she got a personalized letter answering all her questions and $5 for having to wait so long for the tooth that was lost at her dance recital. I can't believe how much teeth are going for nowadays!

Daddy Daughter Date Night

2008-06-18T22:48:00.004-07:00

Last Saturday the ward held their annual Daddy/Daughter Date Night. Each daddy/daughter was to pack a picnic lunch and come to the church for an evening of food, fun, dancing and dessert. Instead of packing a picnic lunch Dustin decided to take the girls to Quizno's for subs. Boy was Maggie upset! The directions were for the girls to pack their dad's meal and the dad to pack the daughters' meal. I couldn't believe how upset she got...Thankfully Dustin allowed her to have a tuna sub (one of her all time favorites) and she quickly got over it. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall because the girls actually got their daddy out on the dance floor dancing. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen him dance. For dessert they had ice cream sundaes. All in all I think they had a great time with their daddy!

A Camping We Will Go...

2008-06-13T20:21:00.003-07:00

I was gone the first week in June to Girl's Camp...

We had a great time even though we were roughing it in tents. This year our stake is doing a pioneer trek with the youth 14 and up so each ward was on their own for girl's camp this year. We had 26 girls go and had a wonderful time! We had so many faith promoting and spiritual experiences. I left girl's camp spiritually stronger than I arrived. The funnest part of the whole experience was hanging out with the leaders and young women. All of my young women leaders were able to be there, plus additional sisters from the ward were called to assist us with camp. We laughed, chitty-chatted, hung out and completely enjoyed one another's company. The scariest part was when two of our young women passed out from what we believe was dehydration and heat exhaustion. During flag ceremony on the second to last day one of our young women completely passed out and another one came very close. The day before the temperature was FREEZING, but very sunny. We think the girl's didn't drink enough water and became dehydrated from the sun beating down on us. Thankfully the priesthood bretheren gave the girls blessings and were completely healed within an hour. I was so thankful for the power of the priesthood and the experience that the girls had in seeing it in action and how quickly Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

Dustin sent up some beautiful roses for me with the Bishop and 1st Counselor when they came up for Bishop's Night. I have the best husband in the whole wide world! In fact, this isn't the first time he has sent roses to me at girl's camp... If he doesn't watch out I might begin to expect it everytime! :o)

Catching up...

2008-06-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to catch up on. We aren't dead, just busy...Hopefully within the next few days I'll be caught up on all the happenings.

Congrats kiddos...

2008-06-13T20:03:00.002-07:00

The kids had their end of the year awards assembly during the last week of school. I wish I had some nice pictures to share with you, but I don't. They are awful! I really stink at taking pictures from a distance so I'll just update you on their awards.

Trey made the honor roll, Student of the Month for May and had perfect attendance for the 4th quarter. He worked so hard this year and learned so much. I am so proud of how hard he has worked on his reading. He is truly amazing. He loves to learn, read and explore.

Damian also made the honor roll. To my surprise he was also named Student of the Month for May. Even though he had a rough year, he made soooo much progress by the end of the year - his teacher praised him over and over again for being a leader and positive role model in the classroom. I am proud of how much growth I saw in him. I am excited for him to have Maggie's teacher next year. I'm confidant he will have a wonderful experience next year.

Maggie made the Principal's Honor Roll and was also named Student of the Month for May. She worked so hard this year. I can't believe how much confidence she has in her abilities. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for her. Mrs. Carter was wonderful! Maggie loved going to school and learning.

Amaya made the honor roll and survived 4th grade. In fact, by the end of the school year I wasn't sure if I would survive her being in 4th grade, but we were able to get her to stay focused and finish her Arizona report. She is naturally talented in learning but isn't a big fan of learning so school is becoming less and less exciting for her. Hopefully the teacher she'll have next year can find a way to rekindle the love for learning she had back in Kindergarten. I can't believe she is going to be in 5th grade next year...she is growing up way too fast!

All in all...we survived the school year and ended on many positive notes. The one bonus for me being involved in PTO is the opportunity I have to hand pick my teachers for next year - so I'm pretty hopeful that we'll have some wonderful experiences next year too!

Chocolate...Yummy(or Not)!!

2008-06-13T19:53:00.004-07:00

One evening after getting the kids off to bed, I went to go and get something out of the refrigerator we have in the garage. What I found completely made me lose it laughing. Someone had decided to sample some of the chocolate out in the fridge. I'm thinking they were pretty surprised when they got the first bite in their mouth because it was...

Yes... it's unsweetened BAKER"S CHOCOLATE! I couldn't help myself from offering a piece of chocolate to each of the kids the next morning. I figured the guilty party was sure to pass on the offering since it didn't taste too good the day before. Sure enough, Trey began a long series of inquires such as "Doesn't that need to be cooked or something?" and "Do you need that to make brownies?". The other kids all quickly took a bite of their chocolate and immediately spit it out. Mystery solved! Trey was the guilty party and the rest of the crew now knows that baker's chocolate doesn't have any sugar added. :o) I wish I could say I didn't try this when I was kid, but I also found out the hard way that baker's chocolate doesn't taste too good. Sometimes it's nice to see that my kids are just normal kids.

YUCK!

2008-06-13T19:38:00.002-07:00

On the Monday of the last week of school I got a phone call from the school nurse...much to my surprise, Damian was being sent home because of lice! YUCK! Anyways, it all seemed to make sense after the nurse told me he had lice. He had complained all weekend long that his head was itchy. Being the compassionate and sensitive mom that I was, I totally chalked it up to him playing outside and getting all sweaty. Actually, it never even dawned on me that the poor guy might have lice. But yes indeed, as I was putting the lice chemicals on to rid him of his 'itchies' we found a bunch of unwanted pests. When he went into the shower to rinse I got a very panicked call ~ "MOM, come quick!" As I went into the bathroom he was standing in the shower with one of the bugs on his arm - unsure what to do. Feeling completely grossed out by the whole process I started a mad dash of cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing my house. We even purchased new pillows for everyone. Thankfully he was cleared for school the next day and didn't miss too many of the fun activities planned for the last week of school.

Fathers and Sons

2008-05-21T08:03:00.014-07:00

Dustin took some pictures of the boys at Fathers and Sons so I thought I'd share...

Dustin said they made it through the night sleeping in the tent. My boys are growing up... (Of course Dustin chose to sleep in the comforts of his truck.)

Damian's famous 'cheesy' smile. It always melt my heart.

This picture is now one of my all-time favorites.

The next two pictures didn't make a whole bunch of sense to me until Dustin explained...

Here is Trey is picking his fishing lure out of the trees.

Here is Trey picking his fishing lure out of the trees again...

Dustin said he kept getting it stuck.So on one hand you have Damian that leisurely sat by the water and fished and Trey who spent more time picking his lure out of the tree. I have a feeling I'd be a lot like Trey if I would've been there. The cool part about the whole thing was that both of them think they had the best time ever. It's all in perspective I guess...

Kindergarten Celebration

2008-05-21T07:47:00.006-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Trey had his Kindergarten Celebration. I already blogged about the event, but hadn't posted any of the pictures. They didn't turn out too well. I'm realizing I'm really bad at taking pictures far away. Either the zoom isn't set up properly or it has something to do with the flash. Of course...it couldn't be the picture taker because I'm obviously an expert. :o) For those of you that don't recall the craziness of this night I'll just refer you back so you can relive the excitement of it all ~ http://arizonacrooks.blogspot.com/2008/04/green-eyed-monster.html

Here's a nice picture with some built in 'mood lighting.'

Sadly, this is the best picture of Trey on stage...

This is the worst...I call it Trey in 3-D. How on earth did I manage to take such an awful picture?! I've decided that Dustin needs to be the official picture taker of things done on the stage at the school.

Girl's Night Out

2008-05-16T22:16:00.003-07:00

Dustin and the boys are off roughing it at the Fathers and Sons Outing. It is so funny to see how little preparation goes into getting ready for camping with Dustin when I'm not involved. Thankfully he still relies on me to get the boys' stuff ready or I'm not sure they would bring anything more than what they were wearing. This time the boys had very specific plans that they wanted to do with their daddy. Trey wants to go fishing and Damian wants to play football. I'm so lucky to have a husband that enjoys taking the boys - this truly is one of the highlights of the year for them. The best part for me are the stories Dustin brings home. This year the boys also requested that Damian's tent be brought up. I wonder if they'll actually sleep in it all night before joing Dustin in the truck. Hopefully Dustin will have some good pictures that I can post when they get back.

Anyways...while the boys were aways, the girls and I had a G.N.O. (Girl's Night Out). We went to Chili's for dinner, ran a few errands, and got manicures and pedicures. The girls were very cute during their pedicures ~ they kept giggling when they were scrubbing their feet because it was ticklish. Then we went and watched the movie, Nim's Island. It was a pretty good movie. The best part was watching the girls huddle together during the suspenseful parts because they weren't sure what was going to happen. Very cute! :o)

6 school days and counting...

2008-05-15T23:40:00.002-07:00

I never thought I would say I was ready for school to be out, but the end can't come soon enough! I'm just plain tired of packing lunches, begging the kids to do their homework, dragging them out of bed in the mornings and forcing them to bed on time at night. It's funny how I get the least amount of sleep and yet I'm a stay at home mom. I thought I'd never be tired once I stayed home with the kids. Of course, I also thought my house would be spotless all the time and organized from top to bottom, I'd scrapbook all day, and have hours upon hours of free time, etc... I guess there's always next year since all my kids will be in school all day next year. :o)

I think I used to be so worried about what other people thought of me that I was a house nazi when I was working. Now that I'm older and hopefully a bit more wiser, I'm willing to let things go and not sweat the small stuff. I guess the more life experience I get the better I am at letting things go. If not, then at least I've gotten good at convincing myself there is always a 'tomorrow.'

Sometimes mothers do know best!

2008-05-12T02:42:00.002-07:00

For those of you that haven't been to our house you need to know that there is an irrigation canal that runs next to the road by our house. For some reason the kids are fascinated with this canal and always want to walk near it and throw things in it. I've asked, begged, pleaded, etc...for the kids to leave the canal alone and not go near it. About a month ago, I finally told Amaya that I was done asking her to stay away from the canal and that whenever she fell in I wasn't going to have a lot of sympathy for her. Well...the inevitable happened Friday afternoon when she got off the bus. She ran over to the canal and somehow ended up slipping into it. Thankfully she wasn't hurt - just scared. But of course, she couldn't get out and one of our neighbors had to reach in and pull her out. While looking outside I saw Damian running home and went out to talk to him. He quickly told me what had happened and that Amaya needed my help. By the time I made it to the canal Amaya was already walking home - soaking wet. When I got to her she immediately said. "I know, I know...you don't need to say anything." After she made it home I went through her backpack, dumped out the water and tried to salvage all the things that were wet. Of course, the two library books she had in her backpack are completely ruined. I guess she'll be working for most of the summer to come up with the money to repay us for the library books we have to buy. I guess you can say this was a life lesson that she had to learn the hard way.

The joys of parenthood...

2008-05-12T02:32:00.004-07:00

Life has been keeping us quite busy here lately so I haven't found much time to blog. Of course it's now 2:30 in the morning and I just got done cleaning the carpet in my bedroom where Maggie puked not once, but twice. Lucky me...I can't go back to sleep now and decided to catch up on my blogging. Dustin is absolutely no help when it comes to cleaning up puke. His contribution to the cleaning up was spraying half a can (literally) of Lysol disinfectant spray everywhere while trying not to puke himself. All the while I'm on the floor scrubbing and trying to clean up the mess and eating the Lysol he sprayed into the air. I've never understood why kids always seem to puke in the middle of the night. I swear it's some sort of subconscious sabotage they do to deny parents of their sleep. Hopefully Maggie will feel better in the morning.

New Family Member

2008-04-30T23:20:00.003-07:00

I officially have a new family member that has joined our family. They go by the name of "Not Me" ~ however I've also realized that our new family member also goes by the aliases of "I didn't do it" and "It wasn't me." It's amazing how miraculously and quickly things get accomplished by this fellow. Perfect example...candy wrappers off of Dustin's nightstand magically appeared under and on Maggie's bed, but no one seems to know who took them off Dustin's nightstand, ate them and then casually placed them on her bed. When questioned as to how the wrappers got in the girl's room no one seems to know how it happened. The funny thing is that it's not a huge deal as to who took the candy, it's more the cover-up and the various versions of stories that I got that frustrated me. Why is it so difficult to tell the truth?!

On a totally different and embarrassing note...at dinner tonight Trey decided to pee (yes I said pee) in the dining room - NOT on accident either. It was towards the end of dinner and I ended up getting a phone call I needed to take. Apparently while I was out of the room the kids threw all common sense, logic and smartness out the window. Needless to say, I was absolute speechless and couldn't even speak because I was so irate. Thankfully it was late enough that I could send him to take his bath and then off to bed. If you know Dusty well enough you can only envision the look on his face when I called him and told him that I was allowing him the privilege of figuring out what possibly possessed Trey to think it was okay to pee at the dining room table during dinner.

We're Getting a Temple...

2008-04-29T08:28:00.002-07:00

This past weekend it was announced that we will be getting a temple closer to our home...It will be located in Gilbert, but not too far from us in Queen Creek. I don't know how long it will take for them to complete it - that hasn't been determined yet. I can't wait for the open house so we can take the kids. In case your interested you can go here for more info: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/gilbert/.

I just don't get it...

2008-04-29T08:16:00.003-07:00

Have you ever wondered why your kids won't sleep in on weekends, but on school days need to be dragged out of bed? I'm convinced that kids have some sort of weird alarm clock inside their brains that tells them it's Saturday. Today I woke up a bit early and didn't go back to sleep because there was only a little bit of time left before I needed to get the kids up for school. Deciding I was wasting my time by staying in bed, I got up and made the kids' lunches, packed up their backpacks and then tried to wake the kids up for school since I ended up letting them sleep in. I literaly had to drag Damian out of his bed and dress both the boys. In fact, by the time they finally made it out of bed they only had 20-25 minutes to get ready and eat their breakfast. Thankfully they made it out the door on time, but I will never understand how kids have a sixth sense about weekends and not sleeping in.

Green-eyed Monster

2008-04-25T19:02:00.003-07:00

A serious case of the green-eyed monster struck our home last night. Trey had his Kindergarten Celebration last night and we all went to watch him actually be excited to perform. You see...Trey absolutely detests singing songs. What about getting up on a stage? You can forget it. In fact, I don't think he's sung any song during the annual primary programs. Anyways, I digress.

So, we went to watch the program. We actually showed up about 30 minutes before the program started, but of course the cafeteria was completely full of overzealous parents that have nothing else better to do than show up way early so we were banished to the last few rows of available benches. (Obviously they don't have 4 kids to feed before the show started) Dustin surprised us and even showed up to watch the show. After waiting for practically an eternity, the program started and then the green-eyed monster attacked. Amaya decided that she couldn't see and needed to make sure that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) around us knew that she couldn't see - never mind the fact that she saw the program during their dress rehearsal performance this afternoon! After taking her outside and talking to her (well, more like threatening to take away her treat after the program if her behavior didn't improve) we went back inside. I think the green-eyed monster went and got some of his buddies because by the time I got back inside Amaya was even more adamant that she couldn't see. I offered to let her go and stand in the back to watch, but that wasn't good enough. So she had to be taken out a second time. At this point I took away her treat and threatened to take her home and put her straight to bed. Being completely oblivious to the fact that she can't use the treat as barter she decided to tell me that "I won't stop crying unless you give me my treat back!" Okay...that's a great idea. Let me give into you and teach you that it's okay to misbehave. Anyways, we had to leave the school (rather attempt to leave the school) at this point and Amaya decided to run from me while I was trying to get to the van. Now...at this point I have to admit that I was fuming because I was missing the program and my son actually going to sing. I finally got Amaya in the van and decided while I was driving home that taking her home and missing the program was not what I wanted so we turned around and I told her that she lost her treat, her play date on Friday with her friend from her class, grounded for a week and to bed straight when we got home. By the time we made it back inside it was almost Trey's turn to perform. Amaya sat between Dustin and I and then started begging (VERY LOUDLY) for one more chance to earn it all back. Finally Dustin had to take her out and eventually home because she wouldn't calm down. Thankfully Dustin was able to see Trey sing before having to take her home for the night.

While Dustin was talking to Amaya she admitted that she was jealous of the attention Trey was getting. Obviously! Why else would a 4th grader completely throw a temper tantrum in front of all their classmates?! Thankfully by the time I got home with the other kids both Amaya and I were calmed down and able to discuss her meltdown without me wanting to go crazy.

My Civic Duty...

2008-04-24T07:31:00.002-07:00

Last week I received a jury summons in the mail for Tuesday, April 22nd. Never having been summoned before I wasn't sure what it would be like. A couple of months ago, Dustin was summoned but his group number was dismissed and didn't have to report. I on the other hand wasn't released and had to report. The entire adventure was quite interesting...

First, it was like an open cattle call when everyone arrived. We had to fill out a short questionnaire and then wait in a room - all 60+ of us. After everyone was signed in we watched a short film on our responsibilities as US citizens to be jurors. After the film and a brief explanation of what was going to happen, they divided us up into groups of 10 and sent us in the elevator up to the courtroom. The case we would be hearing was about a lady that was accused of doing a drive-by shooting, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and 5 counts of endangerment. Pretty heavy charges. They began by calling 26 people to fill the jury panel - it's from these 26 that the final jury is selected. Of course, I'm called as #10. I can never win raffles, drawings or sweepstakes, but I can win a spot on a jury panel. Figures. Anyways, after they sat 26 of us they began the questioning. It was during this process that I realized I have a BORING life. I don't know or have anyone in my family that works in law enforcement, no one in my immediate family or close friends have ever been convicted of a crime, no one in my immediate family or close friends have ever been the victim of a crime, I've never been on a jury before, etc...Let me tell you, I can't believe how many people have had so many things happen to them! One person's ex-wife was given a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton. Crazy. After a couple of hours of questioning and people trying to give every excuse in the world as to why they should be excused the final 26 were chosen - me being one of them because I don't have a very exciting life and couldn't answer yes to any of the questions. :o) At that point we were excused for a 30 minute recess where the lawyers picked the final jury and alternates. When we were brought back in I found out I wasn't selected and was released from jury duty for the next 2 years. I went back down stairs and was given a check for $17.80 for mileage and then sent on my way.

Looking back on the whole experience it made me appreciative that my life is somewhat dull - Seeing the defendant looking quite helpless and distraught and knowing that we held her future in our hands wasn't the easiest feeling in the world. I have a new found appreciation for people who are able to sit on juries and pass judgement - I don't believe it would be a very easy thing to do. So my adventure as juror #10 only lasted a couple of hours, but gave me another life experience I can add to my list.

Zookeepers R Us

2008-04-16T13:19:00.004-07:00

I'm almost embarrassed to do this next post...after all, we live in a pretty nice house and a decent neighborhood so I don't know why I feel like I live in a zoo. Maybe it's the fact that we have 2 dogs, 1 cat, a bunny and 3 goats or maybe it's the fact that I'm constantly having to remove unwanted critters from my house.

Yesterday just after waking up the kids so they could get ready for school Maggie found a gopher in the house. Thinking it was nearly dead and not wanting the dogs to get it, I held the dogs and asked her to pick it up. She flat out refused so being pretty unafraid I bent down and picked up what I thought was a nearly dead creature. SURPRISE! It was quite alive and very upset to be in the house. Right after picking it up it immediately latched onto my finger and tried to bite me. Luckily it bit the part of my finger that had some tough skin, but the little bugger just held on for dear life. Staying surprisingly calm I told Maggie to go get daddy up and that I needed his help. While doing this, the gopher kept hold of my finger and I kept squeezing him to have him let go. Thankfully he did and as I repositioned my fingers so as to be out of the way, he bit me again and held on for dear life a second time. Unfortunately this time in a not so caloused spot. By then Dustin was by me and we went outside where I was able to drop him and Dustin quickly whacked him and the drama was over. Except for the fact that I had a goher bite that was bleeding. Not too long after that I began to think of all the worst possible scenarios - dying being the worst. I decided to do a little research after my kids left for the bus and found out that small rodents generally don't carry rabies (thank goodness!). Just to be on the same side I decided to call my doctor and ask what I should do...I think they nearly lost it laughing when I told them I got bit by a gopher. Unsure what to do, they referred me to animal control. At that point, I decided not knowing if I was going to contract some deadly disease was better then calling a million people and I gave up. I swear the weirdest things always seem to happen to me!

Last night at dinner Dustin and I started reminiscing about all the lovely 'critters' that have been in our house uninvited. I was quite impressed with how extensive our list was. So here goes...

Gopher
Snakes
Baby, baby bunnies
Geckos
Lizards
Birds (several varieties)
Bunnies
Newborn gophers (brand-new itty-bitties)
Scorpions, spiders and other insects
Mice
Rat - or a VERY large mouse
Wasps
Bees
And last but not least... our goat, Bullseye (she learned how to use the doggie door)!

I'm sure you are all dying to come and visit us now that you know you can get a trip to a world wildlife zoo just by visiting our house! :o)

Working World...

2008-04-13T23:44:00.004-07:00

This past week I was asked to be a proctor during the school's AIMS tests. It's the standardized tests that they give each student in the spring. I was quite amazed how out of practice I was going to work everyday. By Friday I was exhausted. I'm almost embarrassed to say how quickly I have gotten out of the habit of working everyday. This little glimpse into the teaching world has definitely given me greater appreciation for the working world. So to all you who manage to get your body out of bed everyday and drag it to work as well as taking care of your family, house and others...KUDOS to you! :o)

Pledge of Allegiance

2008-04-13T23:34:00.003-07:00

Trey has been learning how to do the Pledge of Allegiance in his Kindergarten class. They were asked to perform it at the April school board meeting. He was so funny as he was learning it, he would come home and show me what he could remember. At one point he asked me what the sign was for indivisible...obviously, I was at a loss and couldn't help him out. Thankfully, the next day he asked his teacher and all was well. I was really proud of him for actually doing it on the stage and not getting stage fright. Notice the little girl next to him crying. I'm not sure why she was crying but she was quite upset. In fact, Trey even tried to calm her down but she didn't want anyone but her mom. Luckily, not too long after I took the picture her mom came over and got her. When I asked Trey what he was looking at when he was signing the pledge, he said the judges. (That would be the school board members - they were sitting in the front of the cafeteria.)

Finally #2...

2008-03-31T18:10:00.007-07:00

Not wanting to be outdone by his brother, Damian decided that today would be the day he would also lose his first wiggly tooth. Once Trey lost his, he spent the next couple of hours working on his loose tooth. After Dusty and I spent some time helping move it along, it also came out. I don't know if you can tell from his picture, but his adult tooth had already grown in quite a bit before his baby tooth came out. Needless to say, he was quite happy to have his tooth come out on the same day as Trey. I guess sibling rivalry runs deep...