overlyactive

Monster Concert

2012-02-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Traeden participated last night in the Monster Concert at the USU Kent Concert Hall. It was quite a concert. They had 465 student play in just one hour. On stage there was 20 pianos and several keyboards and the concert was just seamless. They had a great storyteller tell a fun story that kept the whole family engaged the entire hour. Traeden played an exciting piece called "Fire Dance." He did awesome! They had three rehearsals this week to get it ready to play. The family enjoyed the concert and had fun sitting by Grandma and Grandpa Titensor. Then we got treats at Zeppi's which was yummy!
Devin has encouraged the kids to be in the Stake Play with him and they have been going to a few practices and seem to be enjoying it. Throughout the day I hear some of the music from "Joseph" from at least one of the kids. I think it will be a great experience. I'm excited to be in the audience and the supporter of this event.
Last weekend we decided we needed to experience winter so we drove an hour up the canyon and went tubing up Logan Canyon with a friend. It was a blast. Our friends own an old Snowmobile that was used to pull the kids up the hill. This was so nice and made the sledding last for more then just a couple runs because everyone is just so tired to climb up the hill again. We sustained no injuries, which I was grateful and just had a great time in the outdoors.
We are looking forward to Valentines and have plans to make lots of sugar cookies, go on a Titensor Couples dinner at Maddox, and have a ward Valentine party. We are also looking forward to having a new Titensor join the family. Danny and Melissa are due to have a baby at the end of February. They are having a boy.

Let it Snow!

2012-01-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a nice day indoors while it snowed for most of the day. Got lots of laundry done and had some good family time. I wanted to post a few pictures today.

Cubbies built by Don, Devin and Greg!

We have really enjoyed using these cubbies that Devin's Dad help build with Devin and Greg. They are so nice to have for the kids to put muddy boots, coats, gloves. I'm looking to glue some clothes pins on so we can hang up wet gloves and hats.

Samantha's Flute Class at WSU

Cindy Henderson a professor at WSU taught a master class last Saturday that Samantha played in. She played Honeybee and did very well. I am amazed at her attention span and the things she has learned playing the flute. This has been a really good fit for her. Cindy told her that she has the perfect flute lips so her embouchure is very good.

Traeden with his Arrow of Light

Traeden got his Arrow of Light in December. He was excited to hang up his arrow in his room. The Order of the Arrow young men came to present the awards and did a great job. I think it's really neat that they make a big deal out of this. The cub scouts really look forward to this and the costumes are just awesome!

Abigail with Santa

We went to the Cache Valley Mall and all the kids got to sit on Santa's Lap. Abi was a little nervous but she talked about it forever. Santa had a real beard!

The Overly Gingerbread house

The kids had a great time making the gingerbread house and even more fun when they ate the candy. They were even invited to go to a friends house to each make there own. They had a great time!

This year in Relief Society, our theme is "It's a Year of Learning." We had a combined meeting today with all the sister, so the Men took over the Primary and YW Callings so everyone could attend. It was neat to see everyone there. I would like to keep my New Years Resolutions and each Sunday renew those commitments by review my goals and then make a commitment to do a little better that week. I'm not worried if I have a bad week, I just need to keep renewing those goals and I will do better.

January?

2012-01-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

Warning, This is a long post. It's been a while since I've blogs so I am apologizing for the length right now! What a crazy January. The weather has been very dry, no snow, but in Cache Valley it's cold! In preschool we decorated snow with colored water put in spray bottles. Not a lot of snow to color but they all found some to spray.
Today I played for the Spanish Branch and we sang Called to Serve. I was excited because this is a really fun hymn to play so I'm up there enthusiastically playing the hymn and after the 2nd verse finish and see the conductor standing there starring at me waiting..... It felt like forever till I got my hands back into place and start playing again. I hear a few giggles and I couldn't help giggle myself. I play through another verse and look at her again and she starts another verse. I'm thinking oh I really should have looked at the Spanish Hymnal to see how many verses. This was the first time I have played a hymn with different number of verses. I'm really curious to hear the English Translation of the last two verses of Called to Serve.
We had such a great Christmas and later I will share some pictures of our holiday. Some of our highlights:
Our Holiday Open House: This turned out to be so fun we will definitely do it again. I did simplify the menu for my own sanity but we had oodles of food left over that I gave away to friends and family and froze some for later. I ended up buying some fun ornaments from Oriental Trading Company that the kids really enjoyed. My mom and dad came up and were such a great help. Here is what we ended up making and eating:
Rice Crispy Treats, Pumpkin Bread, Lemon Bars, Summer Sausage, Cheese, Crackers, Carrots and Celery with Dip, 7 layer dip and chips, Wassail and Hot Chocolate. We had about 70 people come sometime during the night. It was so nice to visit with neighbors and friends. Hopefully everyone else had as good as a time and they will come back next year. =)
Christmas Caroling at Sunshine Terrace and to Neighbors: We had a great time with a couple families in the ward and went Christmas Caroling to a nursing home and we also did a night of caroling to some older sisters and brothers in the ward.
Christmas Day in Woods Cross: We had a really nice dinner at my parents and opened presents with cousins over Skype so Scott and Brittany's family could be a part of that. That was cool. David and Bonnie had us over that night for some pie and games.
Cedar: We visited Devin's Parents in Cedar for a couple days and that was nice. We took a day to visit Zion's and a hike and picnic. It was awesome to be able to be outdoors in December without your hat, gloves and coat and sit on the grass to eat lunch!
New Years Eve: This year we went to a friends party on New Years Eve and had a babysitter over to watch the kids. We went to a really cool restaurant in Logan called Kabuki. A Japanese Steakhouse where they prepare your meal right in front of you! The chefs were so entertaining. The experience was so awesome! I even tried fried After dinner we had a game night until midnight. Just a fun time with friends.
Now that the new year is here we have set some new years goals and we are doing pretty good. The kids are Devin are working on practicing for 100 days in a row, on their instruments. We also set a goal to clean up the kitchen completely after every meal. It has been so wonderful to have the whole family work together to clean up the kitchen after dinner. The girls and I do breakfast and lunch since the boys have to jet to school and work. There is so much peace in me when I have a clean kitchen. I love it!

Christmas Wish from Samantha

2011-12-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

Samantha's teacher, Rebecca Fuller, recorded this at Samantha's Flute lesson and sent it to us today. I think it's pretty cute! Click here to see it on You Tube.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Full Swing

2011-12-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

This week I feel Christmas just coming like a train that won't stop. I love this time of year! We went to the Apogee Christmas Party at the Riverwoods Conference Center. It was so nice. The menu was to die for:
Baby spinach, Cranberry-citrus, and Fresh Broccoli Florette Salads
Garlic mashed potatoes and Maple pecan Sweet potatoes as sides
Oven roasted Turkey with Sage-shallot gravy (this was the best!)
Herb-salt roasted New York loin with creamed horseradish
Carrot torte with pumpkin mousse and cream cheese icing or White chocolate and peppermint creme brulee.
We enjoyed the meal and visiting with Devin's work family then they played a white elephant game. It was a great evening and the kids did great for the babysitter. Yeah!
Devin's parents came to stay Thursday night - Sunday morning and we had a great weekend with them visiting. Don, Devin and Greg built wood lockers for the garage to store boats, hang up coats, and store gloves and such. When we get them up I'll have to take a picture because they are really cool.
Saturday Afternoon we went to "Christmas from the Ellen Eccles Theatre". It was the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra and Maureen McGovern. Wow what a show. We had really nice seats and just enjoyed the music. I enjoyed being in the audience this year and knew most of the music they sang from when I sang in it last year. Maureen McGovern was amazing. She really made the show shimmer and shine. She is 62 years old and you would not guess it because of her energy and beautiful tones. My favorite choir number was "For Unto Us a Child is Born" by Handel. I just love all of the Messiah Music. The bell choir was great. I think that would be fun to be in. The whole theatre was transformed into a Christmas Magical Land. Hanging Snowflakes, Poinsettias lining the stage, Glowing Christmas Trees. It was just gorgeous. Devin's Sister Deonne sings in the choir and she did awesome! It was great to see so many friends that I miss from the choir. Hopefully someday, time will allow to be in the choir when the kids are a little older.
Instead of doing neighborhood gifts door to door, we decided to have our friends and neighbors come to our home for a Holiday Open House. We got the idea from my parents who have done it now for three years. They just love doing this so we thought we would try it. We just started sending out invites so I'm planning on the menu: Crackers, Cheese, and Meat slices; veggie tray; lemon bars; pumpkin chocolate chip bread; Carmel pop-corn; Chex mix (the salty kind); Gingerbread cookies. It should be a lot of fun. We thought we could have the kids do Christmas Bingo and win a prize and then go downstairs and watch some Christmas Shows while the parents visit upstairs. Let's hope it goes well.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Since Devin and I have been married we haven't been to my Grandma Ballard's for Thanksgiving because that is the year we were with Devin's family. This year it worked out that we could be with the Ballard's and it was a really great holiday. Here are some pics. I should have taken more. Maybe Danny will send me a few more! hint hint!

We stayed with my parents for the whole weekend. It was just good to be with family.

Snoozing during the Football game

Look at those awesome socks Devin got!

Thanksgiving cleanup

Pecan Pie!

Cement Truck on the Driveway--nervous about cracking the existing driveway but I think it was OK

Waiting their turn

Grandpa T and I getting cement

Wheeling the cement to the pad

These working pictures are the Saturday Morning project. We had lots of men come help get the cement pad poured for the barn extension. There was a lot of prep work that went into getting ready for the cement. We were just glad for no rain. It was chilly but dry!

Family Search Indexing

2011-09-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

I just completed my first 10 indexing names! These were pretty easy and I'm expecting the next to get much harder. It was really fun and something I can do while the kids are sleeping. I've been asked to spread the word so check it out. Its a great way to get involved with family history and help others locate their family names. To sign up and get your first batch click here. Anyone already doing this? I would love to hear how they like it and what I can expect. My first batch I entered names from WWII enlistment cards from Hawaii. Pretty cool I say! Till next time.

Working this weekend

2011-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great week and good weekend. David and Bonnie moved into their beautiful new home. The boys helped them move over and I took the kids to my parents to play. Michael and Samantha just played and played. I hardly saw them because they kept busy. The twins did so well and hardly cried. After lunch they took a four hour nap so we just kept them until they woke up. My mom and I were able to pick grapes and start juicing them. My dad and grandpa's were digging the foundation out for the extention for the barn. It was quite the site to see my two grandparents in their 80's and my dad who is recovering from back surgery move around dirt. As soon as Devin got back from moving he got out their and helped finish it up. I sure have some amazing hard workers in my family.
Today in ward choir we sang a song called "Come Home." by Michael Moody. It was so beautiful. We had a violin that played with us and it was so neat. The music has an English feel. It's one of my favorites at the time. You can find the music online or in your Aug 2010 Ensign. Here are the words.

1. Come home, the Father calls.
Come home, my child, to me.
Come home.
The Holy Ghost will lead you to eternity.

Lest we forget our home’s with God,
This lovely earth, its seas, its sky
And all things beautiful and true
of Heav’nly Father testify.

2. Come home, the Savior calls.
Come home all who’ll obey.
Come home. The gospel guides
along the straight and narrow way.

3. Come home, loved voices call.
Come home where you belong.
Come home to live in joy
forever in our fam’ly throng.

Words by Penelope Moody Allen

Music by Michael F. Moody

And were Off...

2011-09-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, where did the time go. Summer just flew by and now we are back in school and whirling in harvest. I love fall. It is such a beautiful time. We didn't have a garden this year and I truly miss is. Devin and I just celebrated our 13 year anniversary and I believe this is the first year we did not have a garden. The kids do have one pumpkin growing and one tiny watermelon that we are hoping will get bigger quick before it freezes. Traeden has been in charge of watering it all summer and has done a great job.
Traeden is in fifth grade this year! He has a fantastic teacher and he is doing so well in getting his homework done so far. He has made some good friends at the new school and is enjoying playing soccer at recess. He is on Book 7 of Harry Potter. He gets through one of those books in about a week or two. I decided to read number 7 again and he is trying to beat me. I'm sure he will! He has a new piano teacher named Camille Jensen. She is a senior in high school and plays the piano beautifully. She studies with Gary Amano at USU and Traeden really responds well to her. He is doing a duet festival in November and gets to play with one of his friends from south campus. I have been really proud of Traeden because he is making some good choices and being such a good brother. He rides the bus to school with Conrad every morning and he makes sure they stick together and Conrad doesn't leave his violin on the bus.
Conrad is in 3rd grade and also has a great teacher. She is allowing him to go to 7th grade Orchestra M-Thursday. Conrad plays Harry Potter at recess everyday and has acquired a wand (a stick he found by his favorite climbing tree) to cast spells with. He is loving cub scouts and does really well in passing things off. I think he wants to get everything signed off (even the optional ones) in his book before he turns 9.
Samantha started Kindergarten. She loves her teacher and her teacher aide Miss Mauria. She has really been a great helper for me during preschool. Since she is the big kindergartner she helps the kids with their writing and crafts. She is going to go to Band with Traeden on Monday's and play her flute. The band teacher has never had anyone this young in band so it's an experiment. She starts tomorrow so we will see...
Abigail is our big Preschooler. She loves singing and we have to remind her when it's time not to sing. Mom continues to work with her on the piano which she loves. She is always the one to pull me to the piano and tell me it's her turn. She also likes to play the "flute" She makes flutes out of sticks, wooden spoons, and anything that vaguely resembles a straight stick. We are debating starting her with Rebecca Fuller Flute studio but still not sure. I'm still hoping one of my kids will learn the harp so I can learn too. =)
Well we have been extremely blessed an watched over in the last few weeks.
I have some really great preschool students and almost have three full classes, which is amazing I think.
Our van isn't driving very reliably so I thought it would be a good idea to train the kids to ride the bus to and from school. The first week we all took the bus together until I felt like they were ready to do it on their own. They did great. Everyday went so well, until last Friday.
I meet them at the bus stop and walk them home and When they didn't get off the bus where I pick them up on Friday I got really worried and hopped in the van to try to find them. I first went to the school to see if they forgot to take the bus and then I went to the transit center. They weren't there so I talked with the main bus guy who could walkie talkie with the bus driver who drives their bus. He told the driver their were three kids missing and to look for my three kids on his bus. The driver said he didn't see them. I then started to panic. Could they have gotten on the wrong bus, did Traeden go home with a friend and taking the other two with him. I had no idea what to do. I prayed all the way home. While Abigail in her seat was going over the conversation I had with the bus guy out loud. She was saying things like "I can't find my kids, they have blond hair..." I went home hoping they would be there but they weren't so I called Devin. He told me to stay home and he would go out and search. I started calling some friends to see if they saw them after school. In the meantime on the bus... Traeden was reading his book and told Conrad to watch for the stop. Conrad fell asleep. Which is why the bus driver didn't see them. Traeden reading, Conrad and Samantha asleep. They missed their stop and luckily Traeden realized this and started watching for when the bus goes back on the other side of the road. Anyway they made it home a little after 5:00 pm and I was so happy! I called Devin who was still driving to the transit center with a picture of the kids. He and I were about ready to call the police. We are getting a phone for Traeden's backpack just for emergencies so we can locate them and not have to worry.

First day of Kindergarten!

Devin just got home last night from the Red Rock Relay. He ran with his brothers. He has been the race King lately. He ran the Man vs. Mud race on Saturday the 3rd with two of his friends then on Labor Day he ran the 10k in Wellsville. He has really enjoyed running lately especially if he does it with other people.

Before the Race all Clean

After Race all Dirty

Oceanside California Trip Travelog

2011-07-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time in Oceanside California. We went with the Overly Family. Every family member was there except one which we missed you Devin (Greg's Oldest boy)
We took 211 pictures on the trip! So I will just share some of the best to tell the story of our trip.

Saturday--Arrived to Oceanside about 5:00 pm after leaving Smithfield at 5:00 am--We had no troubles driving. The kids were really good and we ate breakfast in the car and lunch at a Las Vegas gas station parking lot. It was so hot in Vegas we found shade from a pole in the parking lot. Next time we are hoping to find a good rest stop to eat at. But you never know when you need to stop so that's where we were.

This is Mt. Soledad. We had quite the driving adventure getting here but it was beautiful and nice view of the LDS San Diego Temple

Sunday--Went to church in Oceanside. The ward was great and had lots of visitors. The primary told us to come back anytime because all the kids were great. We went on a Sunday drive to Mt. Soledad and then saw Seal at the Children's Pool in La Jolla. We had fun climbing around on rocks on the beach and eating dinner in the park.

Beautiful View of a Seal at Children's Pool

Monday: We spent the day on the beach. I didn't take one picture of us on the beach because of the sand but we had so much fun. We built an awesome sand castle with lots of cousins contributing. We buried all the kids that wanted. We boogie boarded and splashed around in the water. I read in the shade. Kids were so occupied just playing in the sand I was amazed how much fun they had. Traeden got pretty shaken up after getting toppled by some huge waves, so he was pretty cautious about getting too far into the water. I really wanted to get him excited about boogie boarding but no luck, maybe next time.
Tuesday: Old Town, San Diego. We had such a marvelous experience at the Mormon Battalion Museum. My kids loved the tour, the movie, panning for gold, building block buildings, and riding the toy horses.

Traeden and Josh dressed to be a Battalion Member.

Outside the Mormon Battalion with Cathy and Nathan

Tuesday night the boys went to the Padre's Baseball Game and the girls did foot massages and went out for dinner.
Wed. Each family did their own thing. We went to Balboa Park. We spent most of the day in the Natural History Museum and had a great time there. They had a great exhibit on Penguins and polar bears. Then one on Dinosaurs that was great. The movies we watched were fantastic.

Walk like a Penguin

That night we stayed for the Concert in the Park. The Catallics were playing and it was great fun. Abi and I danced and we all sang along to the oldies. We then had dinner at Darband 5th Ave. Grill. This was a Persian Restaurant close to Balboa Park. It was such a cultural experience and the kids loved the food.

Thursday: Day at the beach , Overly Family Olympics (Minute to Win It), Oceanside Sunset Market, and Bonfire on the beach.

Devin doing the orange swing-knock over bottle challenge!

Friday: This was our travel day. We got up and left about 8:00 am. We had a long wait going through the customs checks. I think they were looking for people selling drugs? We stopped in Mesquite to mail the parking pass we forgot for the beach house. We ate PB&J sandwiches in front of Smiths in Mesquite. Very hot!! Where is that nice rest stop we were going to stop at? =)

Sitting on a bench in front of Smiths eating lunch

We had a great time and the best was the memories created for the kids being with cousins. They had such a great time being with family and those memories are priceless.
For more pictures of our trip you can visit our picasa website.
Hope the link works!

Swim Lessons

2011-07-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Abi's teacher told us she had never seen such a young child so fearless of the water. She is a fish.

Samantha is great on her back. She is working on getting brave to put her face in.

Conrad Jumping backwards during free time at Swimming lessons.

Traeden is getting to be quite a good swimmer

It been a great summer so far and busy. I can't believe I haven't even posted once about anything we have done. What can I say, it's been busy. I'll get some more later, got to go to choir practice.

Abi the Show Girl

2011-06-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

This was our last day of Preschool and we had a great time at the program showing off for the parents. Abi especially loves the lime light!

Summer Begins

2011-06-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

The girls got haircuts on Tuesday and Samantha decided to cut her hair short. I told her if she cut enough off she could donate her hair and she said she wanted to. So here is our new Samantha

It will be a great cut for the hot summer and she looks adorable still. We got our family pictures back and they are so fun. Here is a link to view them. Overly Pictures 2011

We are getting ready and excited to go on our ward Pioneer Trek. I made my pioneer outfit and then borrowed from friends the girls. Here is us at Traeden's pioneer day at school.

The Ragnar Relay is the same week so it will be quite the week. We have a fun team and are looking forward to it. We tried to get all family to run with us Thus our Team name is "Wii are Family" We couldn't convince enough family to run with us. But we did get some. Devin and I, Danny (my brother), Greg (Deonne's husband), Jena and Russ my 2nd cousins and Stephen (Danny's brother-in-law). We will claim him as family as well. =) So more then half of the team is family which is not too bad. The rest of the team are friends and family of friends. We also had to get three volunteers which we found!! It can be stressful putting this all together but I'm glad we are doing it. It has helped Devin and I to keep running despite bad weather this spring. The race course has changed somewhat significantly because of the weather. The Old Snow Basin Road is completely a mess. So that route has changed. They have also changed the starting point since Logan River in some places is flooded and the construction on 10th West.
We are excited for summer. The kids have had a great summer so far and look forward to more adventures and playing with new neighbor friends.

New Family Pictures and kid updates

2011-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

It was a fun week to have the kids home. We re-did our job charts and the kids are doing a little more around the house to help. That has been very nice. Conrad had a violin recital on Thursday and he played Bouree by Handel and The Theme from Star Wars. He did a great job and it was fun to see him so attentive to the rest of the violin students who are more advanced then him.
Yesterday was our Family Picture Day. It's been two years since we had pictures taken-not to bad but we thought it would be fun to get an update. When we get them I'll put up a link so you can see how they turned out. The weather has been very unpredictable so we were worried we might get rained out. Luckily the rain held out until we got done! It's always an adventure to get all six of us in our pose and then smiling. Our photographer was great and very patient because Abi was just all over and being super silly.
In getting Conrad to smile the photographer said to him, "Say, I eat my snotty boogers" and Conrad shouts out, "Me too!" We got a kick out of that.
After our photo session we went to Golden Corral for dinner. That place is so great for our kids. They just love the variety of food and that you can just get a little of this and of that.
I am just amazed at how old our kids are getting. Traeden is getting so tall and he is being so much more responsible. I love that he enjoys reading so much. It is his favorite pastime. Conrad is growing up too and having so much fun in scouts. He has been motivated on his own to pass off his faith in God and scout requirements. I'm sure we will be working on lots over the summer. Samantha is just a cutie. Our photographer kept saying--"She is just so beautiful". We really Samantha to know that it's more important to be beautiful inside then out. Abigail is growing up and using more and more words. We have this computer program that Samantha has been using to learn letters and numbers and Abigail has been wanting to play so I finally set up her own account and she surprisingly can use the mouse and do the games all on her own. She also has been begging to play the piano and asks everyday when it's her time to practice. I wasn't sure I wanted to start her yet because of all the time it takes for me but I have relented and have done little practice sessions for her for about a month now. It's very slow and we do the same things over and over but she loves the time with me so it's worth it.

A Pain in the Neck

2011-05-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

Starting Easter Weekend my right back top molars started hurting so I was making sure to floss and brush really well. I thought I got some food stuck but no matter what I did to clean it didn't seem to go away. Tuesday it really started to hurt even more and I started getting head aches in the back of my neck and up the side of my head. I can't explain my thought process but it became so consuming I couldn't function well. I couldn't eat anything hard because it hurt to chew. I have been drinking lots and eating yogurt and soup all week. My gums have been so swollen that as I bite I can feel them with my lower teeth. I started taking some Ibuprofen just to make it through the day. I started thinking I might have some brain tumor or I had cancer and I was going to die. This is how crazy I was going. I finally called my dentist and I found out he was out of town until Monday. So his nurse called me from home and asked my questions. Well I don't think I explained very well how much pain I was in because she told me that if it doesn't go away over the weekend I could come in on Monday. Thursday I couldn't sleep. I was having flu symptoms of body aches, chills, fever and Devin told me I needed to call the nurse back. I did on Friday morning and told her I was worse and so she scheduled to come in to see me at 1:00 pm. I kept busy cleaning the house just to keep my mind off the pain, but I was in a bad way. I would burst out crying when anyone asked me how I was doing. It was terrible. When I got to the dentist office. The nurse took some x-rays and the tooth looked fine from three different angles. Then she tested my sensitivity to cold. I couldn't even feel cold on that back tooth. But I could with my other teeth. She said it looks like there may be some nerve damage and recommend me to see Dr Steve Larsen who is an Endodontist. She made an appointment to see him at 4:00 that day. I picked up Traeden from school and arranged for someone to take Conrad home after orchestra and went to the appointment. While I sat and waited in the Dentist office, I was shaking and several times I couldn't control the tears that flowed because of the extreme pain throughout my body. Once the Doctor could see me I was doing terribly. I couldn't talk to him without crying. I explained all my symptoms and he took a picture of my tooth which focuses not only on the roots and surface but the inside pockets. This show him some infection inside my tooth which would require a root canal. He explained he would need to go right through the center of my tooth and release the build up of infection. I was scared but at that point I just wanted the pain to go away so I told him lets do it. He numbed me and started the procedure a few minutes after that. During the procedure I didn't feel anything. I actually felt the best I had all week. I brought my Ipod to help me not think about the drilling because it makes me nervous. He said that once that tooth opened up, lots of puss came shooting out. He said, "No wonder you have been in so much pain." Part of the procedure is he cuts the nerve that comes to that tooth. He gave me some antibiotics to help me get rid of the infection. I am still on a soft food diet. It takes me forever to eat anything but the pain is so much better. I really can't believe I had a root canal. Before I was married I didn't have any cavities. It wasn't until after I started having children that I got cavities. It was so traumatic the first cavity I got because growing up my dentist would always tell me what great teeth I had and how strong they were. Well I'm just glad I don't have cancer and I'm not going to die, I'm just hoping to get over this and not have a root canal again. Anyone out there as wimpy as me? I guess I just don't deal with pain that well.
On the up side of things, my parents came up yesterday. I was asked to speak about the importance of choosing good music to the Laurel's in our stake at their Laurel Retreat. My mom came up with me and we had a great time visiting on our hour drive to this cabin in Oxford, ID. The talk when really well. I was happy I wasn't in so much pain and I could focus on the girls. Devin and My dad stayed and did soccer games with the kids and worked on our fence. After my mom and I got home, we had lunch and then got as much of the fence done as we could. What a relief it is for Devin. He was elated to get so much done yesterday.
Today Devin was sustained as the Elders Quorum President in our new ward. This has been quite the experience for him to choose his counselors without really knowing the brethren in our ward. He has really had to rely on the spirit to guide him.
The kids are doing well. Abigail is just talking and talking more and more. She says some of the cutest things. I really need to write them down because I can't think of them right now. Samantha is just a sweetheart. She is so willing to learn and it's been a joy to work with her on reading and learning to play the flute. She is so smart and quick to learn but she also has a willingness and sense of what's good and she works to make things the best she can. Conrad is making lots of new friends and "complains" that all the girls try to catch him and chase him at recess. Traeden had a birthday this week. He turned 10! He went to the jail for cub scouts on his birthday. For his birthday meal he chose to have German Pancakes and orange juice. He is doing so well at the piano lately and he is started to take from a new piano teacher on Wednesday. His last teacher just had too many students and had to cut back because of her young family. Well I have to go to choir practice so I better sign off.

Conrad's Baptism

2011-04-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

We had a very special day yesterday at Conrad's Baptism. We had almost all family with us and it was so wonderful. Conrad had many family participate in the program

Chorister: Janelle Overly (Aunt)

Pianist: Geri Titensor (Grandma)

Opening Song: When Jesus Christ was Baptized

Opening Prayer: Charity Overly (Aunt)

Talk: Scott Titensor (Uncle)

Musical Number: “When I am Baptized”

violin solo by Conrad Overly

Baptism

Witnesses: Don Overly and Steve Titensor (Grandpas)

Talk: Aliene Overly (Grandma)

Confirmation

Grandpas and Uncles in the circle

Closing Song: Baptism

Closing Prayer: Steve Titensor (Grandpa)

The spirit was so strong during both the baptism and confirmation. The love of the Lord was there and I am so grateful for the experience that helped my testimony grow. Conrad's musical number was so sweet and he touched us all with his pure tones and voice. I feel so blessed to have such a special boy in my home. We are grateful for all the extra effort our family made to come and be with us that day. We had a nice lunch afterward of taco salads and then some of us went to the Fun Park and played in the soft play, lazer tag or bowling and did some arcade games.

Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)

2011-03-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a way fun video. If you think this is fun...our Relief Society is going to do this tomorrow night at the ward talent show! We have had a blast putting it together.

Pictures

2011-03-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Nibley Moving. We had so much help from Maple Valley ward it was so awesome!! Thanks so much!

New Neighbors helping us move in. We had to put ice melt down on the cement so no one would slip. Again, lots of awesome neighbors who didn't know us at all came to help. Gotta love the Elder's Quorm!
Besides all the help from friends and neighbors my parents came up Friday Night and got us all ready to move and then they stayed all day Saturday and got our beds up. I am ever so grateful for good parents! Thanks Mom and Dad. David, who just moved to Utah himself came up for most of Saturday as well. We had a few things that were hardest to move. The piano was tricky but we left the best for last. We stored our treadmill in Deonne and Gregs garage for a month when we were trying to make our home look more spacious for potential buyers. So after we were in our house for a couple weeks Devin got the treadmill with the help of Greg and Alex in his truck. Once we got it to Smithfield we called over Dan our awesome nieghbor and the three of us (really just Dan and Devin) got it in the house. This is after the front door was taken off and doing some twisting and turning to fit it in. It was a beast. This is not just a little treadmill. It's one of those incline trainers which Devin thought we would have to keep in the house because it is so heavy and just awkward to move. It is a miracle that it got in the house. Now the question still remains, Does it still work after all the moving?

Jon Parker drove this huge semi that fit all of our stuff in one load. Jon was so gracious to let us use his truck, help load it, drive it to Smithfield, unload it and then drive home. We thought we would have so much room but it was tight to get it all in. We ended up putting all the hanging clothes in my parents explorer, several things in David's car, some in the red pickup and all the plants in the van. I really don't want to do this again. I hope we are here to stay for a long while!

Conrad is now 8 years old. We took an afternoon to go get his scout stuff at the scout store. Here is his bear which he dressed up as a scout. He is so excited to be a scout and way excited to be baptized in a couple weeks. He had a friends party here in the new house with his friends from Nibley and two friends from Smithfield. We played a few fun games, had ice cream and cake, did a guitar pinata, and then watched Toy Story 2. Birthdays are so much fun!

Settling in

2011-03-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything because we have had quite the month. It has been a month since we moved to Smithfield and are really feeling like we are finally settling in. I can actually cook in my kitchen and find everything I need to. For a while I was in survival mode and now I can look a little beyond maintenance. There is a lot that has happened so I will just touch on a few things.
We did a lot of driving because the boys were still going to Nibley for school and then this last Monday they transferred to Thomas Edison North Campus which is easier for me to get them back and forth to school. They are enjoying being the new kids and have excellent teachers.
Devin and I spoke in church a week after we moved in our new ward on Covenants
Stake Conference was the next week and I sang in the Relief Society Choir and we then lost Conrad. Devin search the restrooms and all the hallways then he felt prompted to look in every classroom. Still no Conrad, then he thought to look on the stage and noticed a classroom and found him sitting in there all by himself waiting for his primary class to come. We had never had stake conference in our own building before so he just thought we were going to primary after sacrament meeting. We were pretty nervous for a while but now we find it funny and cute.
Devin's parents flew home from their mission on Friday Night. We got to visit with them for a short time at the airport and look forward to visiting with them next weekend when they report.
I just got sustained to be the Relief Society Pianist and I will also get to play for the Spanish Branch Sacrament once a month. I think that will be some fun callings that I will enjoy.
We had an open house for friends, family and neighbors to come see our new home a couple weeks ago and it was so great to see so many come support us.
We feel so extremely blessed to have a renter for our Nibley Home. They just moved in this weekend and they signed a two year lease.
The snow is melting and we are looking forward to getting out and doing some bike rides, yard work and some family outside play.

We are moving!

2011-02-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

No this is not a joke but man we feel like it's happened so fast, let me see if I can give you an idea of what has happened in the last few weeks.
Jan 5th --We sent an e-mail to a friend of ours who is a realtor, Dan Paskett, and asked him to keep an eye out for us for a home and we gave him 8 criteria. basement (preferably not finished or half finished)

9 foot ceilings

No flood zone (like Nibley)

around a 1/3 of an acre

Main floor around 1500 square feet

At least three bedrooms finished

at least 2 bathrooms

the house facing west or south

Added bonus but would really like:

a walk out basement

wrap around porch

We'll he e-mailed us back and said his neighbor was selling their home and they were asking $275 and it had all our criteria except the bonus features. We told him that was more then we could afford right now but let us know if he sees anything else.

Jan 6th he told us of another home that just lowered their home price to $219 and it is a really nice home with all our criteria as well. So I scheduled to see the home on Jan 13

Jan 13th--I went by myself to see the Smithfield home. Devin said if I loved it then he would come and see if with me. So I did love it. I took a bunch of pictures brought them home to show him. As I was driving home I started crying because I didn't know how all of it would work out but I felt like we should move. It was exciting and scary all at the same time.

Jan 15--Devin came to the home with me. We also saw 4 other homes that were in the same price range to compare apples to apples. None of the other homes even compared.

Jan 16 and 17th we really thought and prayed about it and told Dan we wanted to meet with him Tuesday night.

Jan 18th--We met with a bank mortgage lender and got approval to get a loan for the Smithfield home. That night we made an offer on the home and also listed our home for sale.

Jan 19th--The home went up officially and got a sign up in the yard. Neighbors are starting to wonder what is going on. De cluttering and got rid of our huge treadmill temporarily at Devin's sisters home.

Jan 20th--My mom came up to help me paint our bedroom. The couple did not accept our offer because they didn't want to wait for us to sell our home. They were confident they would be able to sale it sooner.

Jan 21st--I was in Woods Cross visiting my mom and Devin called to say that someone wanted to come see our home that night. I was panicked because we pulled our bed out in the family room since the paint was still drying and we had paint stuff still everywhere and the touch up wasn't even done. So Devin said he would come home early to help me get ready. An hour later he called back and said that someone else put an offer on the house and we have a day to come back with another offer or we lose the Smithfield home.

We had already started thinking about renting our home instead of selling it. So Devin called our lender and started running some numbers to see if it was even possible.

Once I got home I started cleaning with the kids help. We got most of it done in an hour and then Devin came home and did the moving of the bed and we got rid of some extra furniture to make the house seem more spacious.

I went to piano lessons with the kids came home and Devin did awesome getting the house all ready. We had a group date playing wally ball with some friends which was great for stress reducing. Then after we came home and got the kids in bed, Dan came over and we drew up a new offer on the house not contingent on our sale of our home. We told Dan we would call him in the morning after we had some rest and time to pray and let him know if he should give the offer to the family.

Jan 22nd--Called Dan in the morning and told him we felt great about it and to go ahead and give them the offer. He called us back at 12:00 noon and said the family felt like they should give the other couple another chance to counter-offer. They had until 6:00 pm to decide to counter. The rest of the day was torture. Devin and I both were pessimistic about getting the house at that point. We thought for sure the other family would counter and give a better offer and we had decided we would not go any higher. 6:15 We got a call from Dan and he said, "I have bad news, I'm going to be your new neighbor." We were so excited.

The next week was full of meeting with the lender again, inspections, appraisals, telling neighbors, informing my preschool families, getting boxes for packing, packing things we don't need. We still don't know exactly our closing date but our plan is to move in the home Presidents Day Weekend. That only gives us two more full weeks before we move. CRAZY!! I should be packing right now but I had to get this down on paper before it all escapes me. Here are the pictures I took the first time I saw the home.

Front view of home (West facing home)

Laundry room

Great room upstairs

Kitchen

Cabinets

Kitchen stove-flat top but electric so I'm going to have to learn to cook on this

Master Tub

Master bath

Fireplace down stairs

cold storage room

Bathroom downstairs

kids bedroom

Downstairs great room

nice wide stairs

down stairs great room

Some fun things we learned about the home after is the inspector couldn't find anything wrong with the home. It's got sound batting in both the master bathroom and laundry room to damper sound from the washer and the jetted tub. The bathrooms have water resistant sheet rock.

Happy New Years from Peanut

2010-12-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

Peanut is such a cutie and we sure love her. She dresses up in different outfits at least four times a day. She likes to dress as a Ballerina. She loves to play with her sister and they play with dollies. She is always singing. Since we have been doing preschool she sings even more. Here is a sample of her singing for you. She is two and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She can go potty and is getting better everyday. We had a little slip back in her toilet training but she is getting back to where she was. She is always busy and getting into something. Hopefully this will put a smile to your face as she sings to you!

Christmas Wishes from Popcorn

2010-12-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Popcorn just recently got a new piano teacher. He has worked so hard to get this piece and his Minuet 2 ready for the candlelight recital at his teachers house. He did such a great job. I can't believe how old he is getting. He is doing well in fourth grade and has a great teacher. His favorite thing to do right now is lay on his bed reading The Sister's Grimm Books. He loves to read. He recently has learned to whistle and if he isn't singing he is whistling. He played competitive soccer this Fall and will continue again once the snow melts. We sure love him and are thankful for the help he is to us! He is getting good at watching his brother and sisters for little time frames.

Merry Christmas from Pumpkin

2010-12-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin has been taking lessons since September and she practices without complaint. She has learned so much in the last few months not only with the flute but with her ABC's and Numbers. In preschool she started out knowing four letters and now she knows 21. I thought that was pretty awesome progress! She is a little sweetheart and plays so well with both her brothers and little sister. She is a great help to me and often will come in while I'm cooking and say ,"Can I help Mom?" She likes to stay busy and often will ask me, "What can I do now." We love her and are so grateful she is in our family!

Merry Christmas from Pickle

2010-12-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

I had the hardest time figuring out how to upload this video of pickle doing his two pieces from his Christmas Concert. So I decided to try posting it on you tube and see how that goes. (I will be posting one from each of the kids doing something soon)

Pickle is playing "Hunter's Chorus" first and "Joy to the World." This was a fun recital given at a rest home. I was asked to accompany all the violin students. There was one piece that I worked really hard on to get just right. We had a little Christmas Miracle because the student and I stayed together. The piece was called Elegy by Lamar Barrus. It is a viola solo that is just beautiful. Pickle has enjoyed playing in the orchestra at school this year. His teacher lets him go during school to participate with the 7th and 8th grade orchestra which he thinks is really cool. His brother told me one day that Pickle is the most popular kid in school because everyone knows him and thinks he is really cool. I thought that was pretty funny. Pickle is loving to read. He has read all the Magic Tree house books and many Junie B Jones series. Now he is liking the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He is excelling at school and works hard to get 100% on each weeks spelling test and has all semester so far. We sure love him and think is so much fun!

Life Moves On

2010-11-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

After coming home from Disneyland we played catch-up and now I think we are done with catch-up. Life just moves on and forward without you wanting it too sometimes. Samantha played in her first official flute recital last night. She was so cute. There were four or five other brand new flute students that played as well. I am just amazed that they can play so well for so young. I was able to accompany the recital and that was a fun experience for me. There was some pieces I had to practice quite a bit to get them ready so it was a good challenge. Devin has been super busy at work this week. He got to go to California the day after we got home from California. So it was hard to have him gone for a week. This year for Thanksgiving we are staying in Cache Valley. My parents will be in Indiana for Thanksgiving so we will spend thanksgiving at Deonne's. Bonnie and David's family will come up too.

Halloween at Disneyland

2010-11-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

There are two holidays that Disneyland decorates for, Christmas and Halloween. We were so glad to have picked this awesome time to visit Disneyland. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast and I hope they remember it for a long long time. We took 247 pictures over the last week so it was a little overwhelming to sort through and choose my favorites to share.

Mickey Mouse all pumpkined out. They had amazing decorations throughout Disneyland.

This guy was scary!

Conrad and Traeden both battled him and did awesome! Isn't this a little kids dream to be a Jedi?

I love both Conrad's and Traeden's faces here. They are so into this! From the audience they only choose about 20 kids so the boys were elated that they were both chosen.

Abi loved the Horses on the Carosel Ride.

The kids dressed up for Mickey's Halloween Party. Grandma got them glow sticks which were a great idea. It helped us find each other in the dark. They had trick or treating, a parade, and fireworks plus the rides were all open. Lots of fun but really crowded.

This is in California Adventures which we got to go back and forth from Disneyland because of the hopper passes. This ride was fun and got you really wet. My dad loves canoeing so I think this is a cool pictures of him!

Abi was so excited to see Mickey Mouse. We had just went to see Woody and she would not each get close to him or the solider so I was really surprised when she kissed Mickey's nose. Unfortunately I didn't catch it on film.

Meeting the Princesses was a highlight for the girls. We did this first thing Thursday morning and it was a good thing because the line gets long. You get to meet three princesses and they take time to talk with them and pose for pictures. Abi especially had lots to say to Snow White. Snow White had even the little giggle down.

Toon Town at Minnie's House

Conrad got a part in the High School Musical Show

Halloween night at home before trick or treating. Everyone changed costumes except old Captain Jack.
We had a great time and were really happy my parents came with us.

Abi is talking

2010-10-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Abi is saying lots of words and Grandma and Grandpa in Russia haven't heard her talking yet so I thought I would video her saying a few things. Can you tell she threw up on me at church today. We were in the Logan Tabernacle for stake conference and I caught most of it in my hands and some got on the bench and my skirt. Luckily we knew the family in front of us and she helped me open the ziplock bag we keep our crayons in and I carefully deposited the stomach material in the bag. I took the bag and the coloring book to the bathroom and threw it all away. (sorry if that grossed you out!) I washed my hands and came back to clean off the seat with diaper wipes. What a mess! Devin had Abi outside where she threw up again. I decided since I had throw up on me and her we would go home. Devin had nothing on him so he stayed with Samantha. After she got that out of her system she has been great. So I hope her stomach was just upset and we don't have the flu.

Pictures from Celebration Concert

2010-10-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Traeden out in the lobby before his dress rehearsal. Grandma Ballard watched the other kids for me so it was nice to have some one-on-one with Traeden. He is really ready for this concert.

This is the dress rehearsal but I decided I better get pictures because I could get a lot closer.

The Bow.

Goofy boys. This was concert night. I had my hands full since we got their an hour before the concert. We took a walk to get the three younger kids' wiggles out. The missionaries at the conference center are not used to having small children at that venue and I thought a few of them were going to have a heart attack when a two year old was running in the lobby! I could see them on their walkie talkies "Young child in dress running without an escort" After a few looks from the security we went outside to walk. My poor feet wished I wore my flats and not high heels.

Daddy made it from Logan 15 minutes before the concert. The girls were so excited they had to give him kisses. Samantha below looks like she is eating his nose. =)

THANK YOU!!! I just want to thank Mom and Dad Titensor for watching Traeden for four nights! That was such a huge help. Deonne took Traeden down on a Saturday Practice. My mom went to several of his rehearsals and then drove him home one time. I had a fellow piano mom take Traeden to the Wed. Night rehearsal, thank you Emily! Traeden's teacher, Ginger was so helpful at rehearsals with my kids. Grandpa came to be with Traeden, thanks so much for rearranging your work to be their with him. Thanks for Grandma and Grandpa Ballard for watching the kids Thursday Night. And thanks to David for bringing them home today! This concert was a huge time commitment and we couldn't have done it without help from so many!
Traeden worked so hard to be ready for this. He did really well and he told me he didn't make one mistake! Way to go!

Homeward Bound

2010-10-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red,

When the summer's ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning -
I'll be homeward bound in time

Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow

If you find it's me you're missing
If you're hoping I'll return,
To your thoughts I'll soon be listening,
And in the road I'll stop and turn

Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I'll be retracing
When I'm homeward bound again

Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow

(softly)
In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
I'll be homeward bound again.

I wanted to share with you my favorite song we sang last night. (It was also sung this morning on the spoken word) It's one of those songs that speaks so directly to my heart. I feel so connected to the song on many levels. First I think of the first time I heard the song. I was working at USU in the music therapy program in 2005. During this year there was a tragic accident that involved several agriculture students. The teacher who was driving died and I believe 8 students also died. It was a terrible time for USU. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was asked to sing at a memorial services in honor of those involved in the accident. The choir sang this song and it touched me very deeply.

When I was learning this song this year I had many other emotions surface. I thought of my own children who I will need to set free as they grow up. I also think of family members or friends who have chose to leave the church sometime in their life. They call out, "Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow." Just a beautiful song with symbolism that really sings to me.

I'm finally sitting down!

2010-10-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

This has been such a crazy busy few weeks. It's after midnight and I'm de-stressing right now even though my house is a mess! Why is my life so crazy
Traeden has a 10 piano concert next weekend. He has been having one or two rehearsals for that in Salt Lake every week for the last few weeks. He goes tomorrow, Monday, Wed. Thursday (dress rehearsal) and then the concert is Friday. This only happens every three years so I figured we have to do it. It will be a great experience for him but he is tired of practicing and working "SO HARD" on these songs. He is playing Ecossaise and Minuet in G minor.
I have a concert tomorrow night, we had rehearsal Wed night for three hours, Tonight for three hours, and Saturday we have a dress rehearsal in the afternoon and then the concert at night. We are singing Mack Wilberg's pieces. I had no idea he has composed as much as he has. They are all so great too. Lot of variety and some are just so much fun to sing. We even get to do a couple Christmas songs. Mack Wilberg will even conduct three of the pieces. He rehearsed with us tonight, I really like his conducting style. He was just a very nice and humble man. Craig Jessops says he has had the privilege of knowing and working with two geniuses in his life, Robert Shaw and Mack Wilberg. That is quite the complement.
Preschool has kept me really busy. This is my typical M-Thursday I get the boys off to school then I madly clean up the house to get ready for preschool, then I do preschool, then I clean up after preschool, feed the kids lunch read stories have nap time, then I chart and do data for preschool and plan for the next day. I have been blogging for the parents. That has been a great way to communicate with them. I really like doing it though. It keeps me busy but I see so much improvement with my own girls who get preschool four days a week. Samantha has really caught on to letters and can read some simple words. Today we went to Macey's and she was trying to sound out the big Macey's sign. Abigail has so much fun with the kids. She tags along and knows all of their names. The cutest thing happened on Thursday. It was show and tell day and she chose a stuffed pink bear all on her own to show the kids. When I called her up for her turn she came right up and held her bear up. I asked her a couple questions and then I touched it and said this is so soft, can you let all the other kids touch your bear. She went to all the other 7 kids and let them feel her bear and she was just so grown up about it. It was way cute. The other fun thing is my girls are singing all the time now. It's been great.
Traeden has been in soccer this fall and his coach thought it would be good for me to help out at practices. So we do that two times a week when I can make it. The other kids have been really great to play in the park while the kids practice. Traeden has improved so much this season I'm really happy he is catching the vision of hard work at practice = better at your games.
Conrad started playing with the Middle School Orchestra. He leaves his 2nd grade class and goes to orchestra and then comes back to his class. He is loving the music and it's challenging for him which is what he needed. His 2nd grade teacher has been so great to work with and she helps catch him up when he gets back.
Traeden has learned how to whistle and he is doing it constantly. I have had to tell him a few times to stop whistling, like at church, during my piano lessons, and at the dinner table. But he is getting really good at whistling in tune. I can't whistle at all so I think it's pretty neat!
Devin is keeping busy with scouts lately. It seems like the last two months he is gone with scouts at least two nights a week. Between extra meetings, campouts, service projects he is busy a lot with that. He just got a fun game to play with the kids on the Wii it's called NBA Jam. We haven't been able to play it all that much just because of our schedule but when it slows down, that will be a fun one to play. It's just like the old one he had growing up so he is way stoked about it.
Well I'm sorry about the long post, it's been so long since I've written their is a lot to catch up on.

Conrad playing a String Trio

2010-09-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is really small but hopefully you can hear the music. Conrad played in Sacrament with his teacher and her daughter. "I am a Child of God"

My Big Girl

2010-08-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is my big girl practicing her balance points with her flute. Round pinkie, bent thumb, comfy chair, lips. She is actually balancing all of this with a D size battery to help her strength. She has been a joy to work with daily at practicing She is enthusiastic about practicing and she is the one reminding me that we need to practice. It's been a great experience so far.

Today was her first day at Preschool. She and five others had their first day today. It turned out really well I think. I was pretty exhausted afterward but Samantha said, "That was so fun!" So I'm glad we are doing this and it's been great to brush up on my guitar playing, planning, and charting. Three boys and Three girls in the Mon-Wed. class makes a really balanced class. Tomorrow we have five girls and one boy. This will be interesting.

Megan's Wedding

2010-08-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Megan and Calin's wedding. The kids and I went down to Farmington. We showed the Ford Focus to two different people and both decided against buying it in the end so I was a bit disappointed. The first one thought it was an automatic and it is a stick shift and she can't drive a stick. That was a deal breaker. The next one already put an offer on a newer car, less mileage and a better deal. The owner was looking for a quick sell since she was needing money for college. Even though we didn't sell it yet I know we will I hopefully sell soon.

The Knights (I think Angie and I look a lot alike, if I had darker hair)

Megan (my Titensor cousin) and Calin. Dave (My dad's baby brother) and Lisa (look way to young to have a married child!)

Samantha went right up to Grandma and Grandpa Titensor to eat her treats

Danny and his princess Emily (They danced so cute)

Samantha and Emily were in the running to catch the bouquet-a bit young but they had fun =)

Yes Conrad catched the garter! There were only like four boys out there.

Playing a fun game on Saturday.

First Day of School

2010-08-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today was our First Day of School. The kids did really well this morning getting up to practice their instruments and getting all their jobs done before they left. Devin was able to give them Father's Blessing before they went to school. I remember looking forward to this as a kid and I'm sure our children will treasure these blessings as well.The sacks they have are their school supplies that will stay at school. Cheese!

Abi was feeling left out so she ran out their to pose.

Then Samantha had to join. Exciting day. The boys came home so happy with how their day went. They both love their teachers. I actually haven't met them yet because I was in Salt Lake during back to school night last night so Devin took them.
I loved having quiet time today and it actually was quiet. I got some preschool planning done, cleaning, and paid bills. Tomorrow I get to run errands during the day without 4 kids. What will I ever do with myself! =)

Our Money Makeover

2010-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

We have been reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and have loved the money principles he teaches in this book. I really wish we had read and applied it 10 years ago but we are starting our Money Makeover now and getting excited about working towards Financial Peace. This is not a get rich quick book, it is a very practical money management program that helps you use your income-large or small to get out of debt, have an emergency fund, save for retirement, and be able to give back to your church, and community. I highly recommend getting a hold of this book and reading it cover to cover.

Photo Time

2010-08-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Swim Gang. We carpooled with some friends and all the kids did really well at swim lessons. Even Abi and I did a class together. She is a fearless swimmer so this really helped her be more careful.

Traeden holding his Trophy that we so happily got at the Cache Cup! 2nd Place!

Abigail looking so big! She is getting potty trained. She has been doing so well but it's still not easy. I've been cleaning lots of carpet, and do laundry much more! But I'm happy that we are on our way to no more diapers!

We had Brock and Brynn to stay for a week. The kids had so much fun with them here. They got to go with us to all Traeden's Soccer games.

Pure summer entertainment. The kids got a kick out of watching them redo our street out front. Then after it was all done the smooth road was a blast to ride bikes on! Unfortunately Samantha tried stepping on the wet asphalt and got her foot covered in tar. Not fun at all.

Camping with the Titensor. This was a great campground called North Fork Park. The kids rode their bikes round and round, we had some great fires and even did freebie goal at Snow Basin. It was a fun trip except the flat tire on the way home.

Extraordinary service

2010-08-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

This week we had two experiences where people went out of there way to come to our rescue and serve us. Sunday on our way home from camping we decided to go the scenic route and go over the canyon via Avon Pass. We were almost to Avon when Devin looked out the window because the car felt different and noticed we had a flat tire and one tire was low. We stopped and unloaded all our camping gear on the side of the dirt road. Got the spare tire lowered down and not easily put the tire on the van. After we had the spare on the tire we noticed the front tire now was completely flat. Devin then thought we better call someone from the ward to see if we could get a pump so we could at least get the van home. No cell phone reception! Then he said well lets walk down the road a bit until I get reception. Traeden then said, "Lets just ride our bikes home." Great idea! We had Devin ride ahead and he was going to grab the truck and then come back and find us to take us home. The kids did really well, Conrad and Traeden were on their own bikes and I had the girls in the trailer. We went about 7 miles and stopped in Paradise to get some water on the church lawn. The kids were hot and tired. It was noon and the sun was hot. As we sat there a neighbor drove by and saw us. He quickly turned around and asked us what we were doing. He could tell we were in trouble. Could it be that I was dirty, and Abigail was still in her pajamas covered in dirt? He was out to move a sprinkler at his farm so he returned to the farm house, got his car and some cold drinks. When he got back Devin had another neighbor with him ready to load our bikes and a tow dolly to get our van. The kids and I got home in time to get showered and dressed just in time to go to church so I could play the organ. We were so grateful to our good neighbors who stopped and helped us in our time of trial.

Tuesday we saw a dresser that would work perfect in the girls bedroom on KSL.com. We sent an e-mail to see if it was still available and we got a phone call later that said we were first in line if we still wanted it. $20 for a little white dresser. We were excited. They lived in Layton and the lady gave me some rough directions to her house. I switched cars with Devin so I would have the truck to get the dresser home and the boys went to Deonne's to play. I thought I could drive with the girls to Layton and then pick up the boys from Wellsville on the way home. I met a lady at the Target in Riverdale and she bought Conrad's 1/10 size violin for $100. Then we started to Layton and followed the directions to Layton. We made a couple bad turns and got back on track. We got really close to the address and we were making circles. We did find the house number but the wrong street. I stopped and asked for some directions to one family and they didn't really know but sent me in another direction. The girls were hot with no air conditioning in the truck and all our water we brought to drink was gone. After a half an hour or so of searching I was ready to give up thinking I must have wrote the address down wrong. Then I saw a man in his yard and stopped to talk with him. He saw the girls who looked really hot and offered them a cold drink from his fridge. He told me to put up ahead to some shade while I called on his phone and he left to get the girls some "Powerade". The phone number was written down incorrectly so all I had to work from was the address. The man asked to look at the address and then he said he was pretty sure he could get us there, so he hopped in his truck and we followed him right to the house. Then he saw we were picking up this dresser and offered to help put it in the truck for us. He then used some of our tie downs and got the dresser securely in the truck and sent us on our way. All I know about him was he was a retired firefighter, his name is Dan and he has his own business of doing handy work odd jobs. A perfect stranger to us went completely out of his way to help us. I so appreciate his Christlike acts. Would I do the same? I sure hope so.
We never know when we will need help. It's humbling to accept help but when we do it renews our faith in human kind. Their are wonderful people, sometimes strangers who care to serve. Today Devin will speak in church about how we are the Lords Hands, based on Elder Uchtdorf talk in conference. Kind of ironic that we had these experiences the week he gives this talk...humm...I don't think so. Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God

Movie Ideas

2010-07-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

So for all of you looking for a great movie to request for Netflix I've got something for you to try.
Larkrise to Candleford. This is a BBC series that is so well done. I have fallen in love with the whole town. It's just a beautiful series. It teaches great values and deals with everyday troubles. I love it so much that I watch it in 10 minute segments off of you tube. It's a bit of a pain to click on the next segment every 10 minutes but oh so worth it. If you love Anne of Green Gables or Emma you will love this show. Let me know if you try it out and what you think. To get an idea of the show here is the first episode on You Tube. You really need to watch the first few segments to get into it, well I loved it from the very beginning. =)
The other movie that I just remember that I thought was so hilarious was "Uncorked" with Minnie Driver. It is so fun and cute.

Random Thoughts and Sayings-by the Overly Kids

2010-07-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

I use to do better at writing down cute funny things the kids would say. I came across these pieces of paper in my folder and thought Ibetter write these down or I'll lose them. There a bit dated but still quite fun.

Samantha- When I ask Samantha something she doesn't know she says "Can't know?" Feb 2009

Conrad-Talking about his friend-"Scott is rich-he is like a Dad because he is so rich."
Traeden- "Maybe Santa will bring us a Wii and a game because we don't want a bunch of Wii's sitting around for decorations."
Conrad- after Samantha threw up-hoping to get the same treatment of watching TV and drinking juice "I'm kind of sick----of coughing"
Samantha-- and Ember were playing and Samantha starting crying. We asked her what was a matter and Samantha told us Ember bit her finger then she told Ember not to eat her fingers anymore.
Samantha-- Everyone was in the van and she would ask "Daddy are you hungry?" It was her high inflection at the end of hungry that made it so cute and funny.

This is not Hilda!

2010-06-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a very interesting experience. I had a baby swing that we didn't need anymore so I put a free ad in the classified of KSL.com. Two minutes later 6:56 am I got a phone call from someone asking for Hilda. I said you have the wrong number. He said that he just saw the free ad from ksl.com for a car and called the number. I explained that I didn't have a car but I did put a baby swing up for free. I thought that was weird and the phone range again, "Is this Hilda?" I couldn't believe it, Devin quickly figured out that the computer must have done a mess up and got our number on the wrong ad and looked it up. Sure enough there was a picture of a car with the contact info of Hilda and our home phone number. Either it was a computer glitch or a prank.
I would hang up the phone and no joke the phone would ring again. We fielded about 10 phone calls before Devin and I said let the machine get it. We told all the kids to ignore the phone while we figured out how to get that ad off of KSL. Devin called KSL, and of course there is no one around at 7:00 am to take phone calls. But we did report the Ad as an incorrect info and hoped they would take it off soon. We also e-mailed the seller and told them of the mistake. After several machine messages I tried to change our answering message to say, "This is the Overly's, Hilda does not live her and we do not have a car, if you want to leave a message for the Overly's do so" I had a hard time doing it in between the ringing of the phone. It was crazy! One of my favorite messages we got said, "Hey Hilda, this is Frank, I've got a tow truck and I can get on over there today and get that car off your hands. Just give me a call and I'll get it gone." Luckily we had Play Practice to go to so we didn't have to endure the incessant phone ringing. By the time we got home at noon, the phone had stopped ringing and the ad was off the web.

Nibley Heritage Days

2010-06-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here is Traeden Getting his first kiss!

Conrad as an Indian in the Children's Play

Traeden as a Cowboy

Conrad with his friend posing

We had a great week full of fun family activities.

Monday we participated in the Family Bike Parade with balloons and crape paper decorating our bikes.

Thursday and Friday was the Children's Play. The boys had a great time and did there part just right! Before the Play on Friday we had the Mayor's Dinner catered by Cafe Sabor. Yum Yum.

Friday Night most of the family stayed to watch the family movie in the park with Grandma and Grandpa T.

Saturday Morning we all ran either the 5K or 1 mile run. Grandma and Grandpa helped us out a ton by pushing the stroller and making sure all the boys did the mile. Traeden did really well. He ran a mile in 9 min and 10 sec. Devin and I ran the 5K together and did it under 30 minutes which is always my goal. I think I'm going to shoot for under 25 min. for the next race.

After the race we got ready super fast and rode our bikes up to the parade. The kids love to chase for the candy. Abi especially loved the horses, and Samantha wanted to follow the tractors home to see where they lived. That night Danny and Melissa came up and we did a sealing session together with mom and dad and then we went to a Jon Schmidt concert in the park. What a great concert! We ate dinner on the blanket and shared lots of snacks throughout the concert. Deonne and Greg came early and got us awesome seats. Jon played songs until it got dark. It was so great. He played my favorite song twice "Viva La Vida meets Love Story." We waited a while more in the park and then had a great firework show. For a small town I think the celebration was pretty amazing. We have a ton of volunteers that help put this all together. Everyone in the town could find one thing they would enjoy.

Abby is 2 years old

2010-06-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Abigail turned two. She picked out her balloons and we had a yummy strawberry/cream cake. It was a great day. If you can't tell from this picture Abi is afraid of fire. Last night at the fireworks she cried the entire time. It wasn't the loud noises it was the explosions of light. She buried herself in between Devin and I's legs.

Gearing up for Nibley Hertiage Days

2010-06-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

This last week has been crazy busy with kids activities. I feel like a taxi driver getting them all where they need to go. Both the boys are in the Nibley Children's Play this year. Traeden tried out for a speaking part and he is Cowboy #2 and does a great job with his one line in the play. They are putting on Sleeping Beauty, Western Style. The music is really cute and each group does a little choreographed dance while they sing. I have been playing the piano for half of the group everyday which has been about 2 hours of practices each day. I was lucky to find another piano player to share the responsibility with me.
Traeden just made a competition soccer team and starts practices tomorrow. He is really excited and happy to play with another friend from our ward. He also just got a new bike which he loves to ride. He is busy with scouts and he is taking an art class with his cousin Josh.
Conrad is enjoying summer and plays so hard that he is just bushed by the end of the day. Friday night I barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs and had fixed Conrad's bun and I went out to get the meat off the grill and came in to find Conrad half way done with his burger (without the meat). When I told him I hadn't given him his burger yet he just started crying and crying. I told him to go to his room to calm down and found him on his bed asleep. He was just so tired he couldn't deal with anything.
Samantha and Abigail had birthday's this week. We had a combined family party on Saturday for them and Dallin. They had fun with the amazing "Carzz" cake Aunt Melissa made. Samantha is getting quite good at explaining herself and is very much the little lady. Abi is just a monkey and climbs everything and does not fear anything. She is talking lots and saying multiple words.
The weather has been very wet. I don't remember a June quite this wet in Cache Valley. We have not had to water our lawn so far. The garden is growing very well without much attention. I love to look out and see the rainbows. Most of the days it's wet for part of the day and sunny for the rest. I think it's absolutely wonderful.

Conrad's Suzuki Book 1 Recital

2010-06-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is Conrad playing "Perpetual Motion". We did his recital on the last day of school. His first grade teacher, orchestra teacher, and private teacher came to support him. He also had a few neighbors who came. He did such a great job and we are proud of his dedication and work in memorizing all of these songs. Jennie Evans is his teacher and she presented him with a trophy that he is very excited about. It is the composer Bach. Bach composed several pieces that he played. Way to go Conrad! Click on the picture and it should take you to a site that will let you hear his piece. We'll see if that works.

Conrad lost his first tooth!

2010-05-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Conrad got his first tooth out. This is what Conrad said about it. "When I was brushing my teeth, my mom inspected my teeth. Then she found a kind of wiggly tooth. Then she said to go in the bathroom and to not come out until their was a tooth in my hand. And I did it. It was hard to wiggle out but I got it out and I was so excited. All my friends at school already have their teeth out. The first picture is when I showed her my hole in my teeth and the second is when I'm showing her my tooth which was stuck on my finger with blood. I tried to get a quarter that night but I didn't get it but then I tried it the other night and then I got a quarter. The envelope had to be in the middle of my underside pillow"

Grandma's 80th Birthday

2010-05-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had a fun open house for Grandma T this weekend. Lots of family and friends came to celebrate this special day with grandma. Their was a neat program where special talents were shared for Grandma. Dave presented Grandma with a book he made with her poems in it. She is such a great poet. Here is two of my favorites:
DAD—TO MINE- a teenage view

(1948)

Tis said that we neglect our Dad. If this was true “twould indeed be sad.

But Dad has the favorite spot in heart and home and garden spot.

It’s Dad that gets the cozy chair. At table – best glass and silverware.

The largest piece of pie he claims. A second helping is his aim

We pick the rosebuds just for Dad. Of course we smile when he is glad.

His bed is best, his bath comes first. But he thinks he is treated worst.

Oh yes, it’s Dad who pays the bills. He calls the doctor and buys the pills.

He worries over this and that and still our Dad is getting fat.

The meal is served, when he can eat. We suit his taste with fish or meat.

So though he claims to be the goat, He mans the ship and guides our boat.

FREEDOM

(DEC. 1970)

In one more year I’ll be free. It seems almost impossible. Oh, to be able to do what I want – sleep till noon – have the house stay clean for longer that it takes “two” to follow right behind undoing it all. I might even begin my teaching career again, in another year, or at least start class to recertify again.

It seemed at every turn my thoughts were of the future when the last little one would be in school

How free I’d be.

The “now” seemed to drag along. I guessed when a body reaches real mid-life, things begin to pull at the life strings. There seemed to be one hard, impossible things to do after another. With five children, how could I expect to have a clean house any of the time. The future would really be an enlightenment.

Suddenly all was not going as I had planned in my mind. My expectations seemed lost and vague. I was plagued with flashes seen from two seemingly different worlds: One of promised freedom – The other, uncertainty and chaos.

I don’t really remember what was said that day in that very special gathering. I’ll never ever be able to deny the burning feeling that enveloped me as I sat and listened. I was so completely overcome that my emotions escaped into the strains of the closing hymn, in quiet sobs.

My life made an abrupt turn at that moment. There was no need to wait for dreamed future freedom, it had arrived into “now” on wings of song. I was suddenly free to begin really living once more: to put aside unimportant, petty wishes, and to surely begin my way back to more unselfish service to those around me.

How much happier I feel each day and how much more spiritually sure footed I feel in the small knowledge that once more We have been chosen to ready ourselves to become, co-creators with God.

GST

Love you Grandma!

Our New Ward-Maple Valley

2010-04-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

So it's been about a month now that we have been in our new ward. It's been a big adjustment for all of us. Just to give you an idea of the changes here is some info we got at the ward splitting meeting.
College Ward and Spring Creek are now three wards.
Before the split College Ward had 667 members and Spring Creek had 481
College Ward had 226 in the Primary and Spring Creek had 117
Now with the split
College Ward has 319 total members, Spring Creek has 431, and Maple Valley has 395
Primary totals for College Ward 89, Spring Creek 109, and Maple Valley 145.

Not only are we in the new ward but we go to a different church building and are meeting time is 2:30. This is really late for the kids. We have at least one of the kids who completely fall asleep in Sacrament meeting and then they are not happy to be woke up to go to primary.
Devin is still working with the Deacon's Group and have 2 boys and a couple who are non-members. This has been a hard adjustment for their group but they are working with it.
I was released from the Primary Presidency and now get to play the organ for Sacrament Meetings. This is a fun job but very exposing. I enjoy the challenge and the chance to learn how to play the organ. Right now I'm working to develop my foot pedal playing and finding great sound combinations with the various stops. The organ we have is electronic and can save your settings, which is really cool. Every time I go practice at the church I learn something new.
I substituted in Primary the week before General Conference and it was nice not to be in the front but I do miss seeing the kids every week. I was use to being the teacher and now I get to be taught in Sunday School and Relief Society so that has been a new experience. The first week I felt like I was a slacker because I wasn't running all over the church getting materials from the library, checking on primary classes, and helping take kids potty. I also really miss the relationships that I had while serving in the Presidency. There is a special bond that you feel as you work together for a common goal, especially when your serving with the Lord.
Change is good and I can see the benefits of this smaller ward. I am meeting people that have been in the ward for a while but they were hidden because of how large the ward was.

Favorites Party

2010-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I've been excited to try and do some of the things that I learned at the Favorites Party. Basically I went to this party knowing only thee people and went away feeling like sisters with everyone. It was so great. Here are a few I am going to do for sure or already have started!
Cleaning the Kitchen Sink at Angie's- Our family did this tonight for FHE. A local restaurant piles a kitchen sink full of ice cream, three toppings, two bananas, and whip cream. If you eat it all you get a bumper sticker that says, "I cleaned the kitchen sink at Angie's" I've seen those on cars around here and had no idea what it was talking about. Our family did it together, and the kids thought it was so great. The kitchen sink is not really as big as a real kitchen sink but it is a miniature one. It's a lot of ice cream.

"And They Were Not Ashamed" A book about marriage that was highly recommended. So I picked up a copy today and I'm excited to start reading.

Salt Lake City Connect Pass- This sounds so fun and I think Devin and I will do this for an anniversary someday. It's a pass you buy on-line and it gets you into 13 venues in SLC plus Dinner or Lunch at the Lion House. Some of the venues are the Children Museum, This is the Place Monument, a movie at the Gateway, The Planetarium.

FHE Idea: Learn about the Quorum of the 12 apostles before conference and have a treat for the kids when they can identify each of the apostles' picture by name.

Going to Yellowstone in the fall-Less crowds, great hotel deals and active wildlife.

Homemade Kitchen Floor Solution: Fill your sink with 2-3 inches of water, then pour in 1 cup of rubbing alcohol, followed by one drop of liquid dish soap. No residue and it dries fast!

Web Protection for you and your children: I haven't done this but am planning on checking out both of these sites and seeing what is better for our family: k9webprotection.com and onlinefamily.norton Both are a free online security where you can manage where your children go online and protect from pornography.

Bottling Chicken: Pressure cooking chicken when it goes on sale. Great food storage item and makes it so easy to put in your favorite recipe all cooked and ready to go.

www.vrbo.com: This is a site you can rent vacation homes and condos for a great price.

7 days of Valentines for your children and hubby: Give little tokens of love for the whole week of valentines for your kids and husband to find at random throughout their day

New Recipe: CREAMY WHITE CHILI

1 POUND BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS, CUT INTO 1/2-CUBES

1 MEDIUM ONION, CHOPPED

1-1/2 TEASPOON GARLIC POWDER

1 TABLESPOON VEGETABLE OIL

2 CANS (15 1/2 OUNCES EACH) GREAT NORTHERN BEANS, RINSED AND DRAINED

1 CAN (14-1/2 OUNCES) CHICKEN BROTH

2 CANS (4 OUNCES EACH) CHOPPED GREEN CHILIES

1 TEASPOON SALT

1 TEASPOON GROUND CUMIN

1 TEASPOON DRIED OREGANO

1/2 TEASPOON PEPPER

1/4 TEASPOON CAYENNE PEPPER ( I OMITTED THIS)

1 CUP SOUR CREAM ( I USED LIGHT)

1/2 CUP HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM (I USED HALF AND HALF)

1) IN A LARGE SAUCEPAN, SAUTE CHICKEN, ONION, AND GARLIC POWDER IN OIL UNTIL CHICKEN IS NO LONGER PINK. ADD THE BEANS, BROTH, CHILIES AND SEASONINGS. BRING TO A BOIL.

2) REDUCE HEAT; SIMMER, UNCOVERED, FOR 30 MINUTES. REMOVE FROM THE HEAT; STIR IN SOUR CREAM AND CREAM. SERVE IMMEDIATELY. ENJOY!!!!

WHEN I USE MY BOTTLED CHICKEN I SAUTE THE ONION BY ITSELF ADDING THE GARLIC POWDER. I ADD THE CHICKEN WHEN I ADD ALL THE OTHER INGREDIENTS. I ALSO USED LESS GREEN CHILIES THEN THE RECIPE CALLED FOR, IT JUST DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU THINK YOUR FAMILY WILL LIKE.

My Favorite Things in 2009

2010-03-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

I got to go to a way fun party at Deonne's house last night with my best friend Claire. What a great time we had tasting peoples favorite recipes, and sharing our favorite things. I learned so much from these incredible women whom I hadn't met until last night. They all were amazing, and had such neat ideas. I'll share some of there ideas in another post someday. Here is the things I shared which most of these things I'm sure you have already heard about but it was fun to think about the things that helped me progress and make things enjoyable last year.

My Favorite Things this year:

Babysitting Co-op

Got a bunch of girls with children who swap babysitting with each other. Saves us tons of money and headache on finding a babysitter. We swap coupons for babysitting. 1 coupon = 1 hour per kid of babysitting. We also have date night coupons as well. Get more details about it at: childrenareworthit.blogspot.com

Bountiful Baskets

Get fresh produce for your family at a great price. I love the variety, the price, and the spirit of healthy eating. There are a few sites in Cache Valley and more to be opened soon. It is really hard to get a basket because the demand is so high. But every time I get one I love love it! http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

Google Calendar

This great tool online can make individual calendars for all the members of your family. I have each person a different color so it’s easy to see who has an event that day. It also has a task list that you can put due dates on. This has helped me organize my life a little better.

Heather’s Recipes

This year I put all my recipes on the computer and then printed them in small three ring binders. Thanks to Deonne the formatting was a breeze.

Breakfast Schedule

I was so tired of cereal for breakfast because I didn’t plan anything we organized our breakfast so every

Monday-Cold Cereal Tuesday-Hot Cereal Wed. - Eggs Thurs. - Hot Cereal Friday-Yogurt and Muffins Saturday-Sugar Cereal Sunday-Pancakes, Waffles etc.

Kids and Mom’s Job Chart

Made a simple excel sheet, laminated it, and the kids mark daily their jobs with a dry erase marker. Mom’s helper boy is on their everyday so I can pick something that I need help with that day. Sometimes it’s things they do on their own and other times they work along side me. No Wii, TV, friends until all their jobs are complete!

Mulligan Card

Our kids practice their instruments before school every morning. Most of the time they do really great, but there are days they need a break. We give them two mulligan cards a month and these can be used at anytime they feel like they would like a break from practicing. You can do this with jobs at home to.

IPod and ITunes Playlists

I decide to orchestrate my date with different playlists to help me program my mind and body to do different tasks. I have a Clean up Kitchen playlist, get ready, kids focus (help my little ones do their jobs), e-mail declutter, desk cleanup. I’m currently going to experiment with a new scripture study playlist. The music of course fits the job and also gives me an automatic timer to say “Hey you are done with this task lets move on to the next”

Favorite Websites

Saving money when ordering online: www.retailmenot.com

Tracking your weight loss goals and other things: tickerfactor.com

Counting calories, fat intake, or even just seeing if your getting enough fruits and veggies: mypyramid.gov/

Watching my favorite show when I want: www.hulu.com

Listening to fun music: http://www.pandora.com/

Allowing myself the time for Self-Care

Taking time when I need to take care of myself (running, reading a book, blogging, temple worship, prayer and study, shopping whatever I may need at the moment) It helps to have a friend or husband who can be there to take care of the kids sometimes.

Pumpkin Waffles

Waffles: Syrup:

2 cups flour 1/2 cup butter

1 TB cinnamon 1 cup sugar

1 TB sugar 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp corn syrup

2 TBS baking power Boil these then take off heat then add:

4 eggs separated 1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin (can use squash as a substitute)

3/4 cup butter

1 TB vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients. Mix egg yolk, milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat egg whites until stiff. Combine liquid and dry ingredients. Fold in egg whites.

I got to vent!

2010-03-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

This toy claims that it encourages early music-making and it even has a song on the back of the box for the child to try out. The musical "scale" is C major. The problem it's way out of tune! So bad that the G is really a F#. Even Traeden can tell the scale is off. Here is what the scale sounds like C, D, E, F, F#, A, B, C We bought two because Devin loved his xylophone as a kid. Well both have the F# issue and one of the xylophones has two high C's next to each other. The second xylophone plays C, D, E, F, F#, A, C (very muted),C. So muted that it doesn't ring at all. This was very disappointing to me so when I called Fisher Price to explain the issue they laughed at me and said it's just a toy, it not suppose to be musical. Well I say, I don't want my children learning the sound of a C major scale wrong. Plus any song they try to make on the toy is going to sound wrong, That is not going to encourage music making or a sense of accomplishment. Don't buy this toy!

Fisher Price will let me return them both for vouchers to buy other fisher price toys but I have to pay the shipping of course. All I can say is I'm not pleased with Fisher Price Today!

Conrad's Birthday

2010-03-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

The girls at the B-day party

Eating peach cobbler

Baby Lily (she is so small and cute)-Danny and Melissa's new baby girl

Homemade Corn dogs-way to thick I'll have to keep working on that recipe!

Birthday Boy-7 years old!

The Boy's cake for the fellers bake off-celebrating 100 years of scouting. They did this all by scratch-blueberry cake.

We went to my parents this weekend for family night so Conrad had a little birthday celebration with the Titensors and then tonight we invited over Deonne and Greg's family for peach cobbler.

We put up Conrad's height up on the wall and he is as tall as Traeden was at 5 years old. Crazy how much shorter he is, it will be interesting to see if Conrad shoots up later and get his height when he is older like Devin did.

Conrad 7th birthday poem

Can do anything he puts his mind to

Obedient

Not a procrastinator-(he likes to get his homework and jobs done quickly so he can play)

Really smart

Awesome violinist

Dedicated to friends and family

Today I was called as the ward organist and ward music coordinator. So I not only play the music but I will get to pick out the hymns and musical numbers. So I'm excited to have some new opportunities learn. I've always wanted to play the organ. At one time in my life I said that someday I would like to play in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. I don't know if that will ever happen but now I at least the opportunity to develop that talent.

Two Videos of the Girls

2010-02-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

Abigail is talking much more but it's mostly gibbergabber. We think it's adorable.

Film disclosure: I wanted to get in on film but it was hard because she wanted to hold the camera. So I tried to distract her with questions. Anyway-- Sorry my voice is loud probably because I'm so close to the camera.

Here is Samantha who is singing her favorite song:

Her version of Jingle Bells

Anticipation

2010-02-21T15:06:00.001-08:00

All week we have been speculating and guessing how our ward will be reorganized. Last Sunday, they day we came back from the cruise they announced our ward will be split. We have been her for 7 years and it will be hard to say goodbye to those you have served with. I have loved our ward but for the past year it has gotten so large that it's hard to get to know everyone that moves it. I use to be able to go visit everyone that moved in. It became some a job that I just stopped. I know that pathetic but really we have two or three new families read in every week. They said we have over 700 people in College Ward right now. We have over 200 in primary. Primary is so full we hardly have enough seats to fit.

There has been lots of thoughts that the new ward that is created will drive to the stake center in Mendon to go to church. I hope that is the case. Our building is very small and to hold four wards would be crazy. But I also heard that the new ward may go to a Nibley Stake ward. I think I will be in the new ward but we will see. I will support the new decision and do my best to make the transition easy. Here we go!

Getting ready to go!

2010-02-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Part of the fun of going on the cruise was getting ready to go. Picking what I would wear, buying new clothes, shoes, going to my Grandma's where she lent us luggage and gave me a bunch of jewelry and shoes. If was fun imagining I could wear my sandals and swimsuit in a few weeks and then days even though there were days I didn't see the sun in Logan.
A couple weeks before we went we started working out at Golds Gym. They have a place you can tan right there. Devin thought that would be so great. I wasn't convinced I really wanted to tan. But after some research we decided to give it a go. The first time we went tanning, Devin convinced me to go first. So I'm standing there (it's one you stand in not lay down) I push the button to have it start and big flash and light and a boom happened and then all the lights went out and cold fans are blowing on me. After a minute of this I yell out, Devin, I don't think this is working. So I got out and the lady explains they have had some trouble with it. They will get an electrician there to fix it. So we try it again 3 more times and it never worked for us. The weird thing is people would use it right before with no problems and then it was our turn and it would break. Sometimes it would flicker lights, sometimes it would go for one minute and then turn off. We decided it must not be for us and got all our money refunded.
I got a hair cut and a pedicure which was really fun. Then we did a lot of dancing to the song, "Lets Go" by Lionel Richie. Really fun song that helped us get in the mood. In these pictures is the airplane pizza, Deonne and Greg eating their burgers, the airplane trip. Greg and his checked luggage (yes he checked his beach paraphernalia). We got lots of pictures of the boys and their shirts, my cute toes. And Devin and I posing outside the ship dock.
Off all the things we brought with us on the trip we didn't lose a single thing. That is amazing for me.
One thing I bought before we left that was really nice to have was a little purse that held my money, passport, Drivers Licence, Sign and Sail card. It was small and I hung it around my side. I found it at the Logan Regional Hospital gift shop. I shopped at 5 other shops before someone told me to go to the hospital. Random place but it was the perfect size and I felt like my money was safe. Its on me in the pictures if you can tell.

More Pics-Slide Show in Belize

2010-02-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

I just got our disk of pictures from the waterproof camera we got for Cave Tubing. What an awesome excursion. We booked our excursion through cavetubing.com. They were really fun. The water was really low during some of the river so they would yell, "Cave Tubing" and we would yell back "Butt's Up" This way they could find us in the dark cave and it was also a warning to keep your bum up. The rain forest we walked through was magical. I loved every minute of the hike up to the caves. Our guide showed us some awesome trees, he even stirred up a termite nest and invited the brave to eat one. We saw Poison Oak, Coconut trees, Inside out tree and lots of other foliage. The caves itself were really cool. Lots of Stalagmites, stalagtites and Columns. It was really wierd to see water bottles that were up at the top of the caves. When the river was so high the water bottles got lodged up at the top. Anyway enjoy the fun pics (I just wish the pictures would really capture how beautiful and green it really was).

The Amazing Cruise

2010-02-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

We took over a hundred pictures of our cruise. Most of them won't mean anything so I have to be choosy.

We had the greatest time! We went on the Carnival Dream Ship which is less then a year old. Its the largest ship that Carnival has. We went to the Western Carribean. Our Ports were, Cozmel, Mexico, Belize, Isle of Roatan, and Costa Maya.

We have been married for almost 12 years and this is the longest time we have been away from our children ever. We have taken two other trips in our married life, one was to see David and Bonnie in D.C. which was a really fun trip without kids. Then this summer we went back packing in the Grand Tetons for three nights. So this was a late 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves. We really had to splurge to afford this trip but now that we are home with all the memories and reconnectness as a couple-it was worth every penny.

Here we are in the Carnival Lounge ready to sign up to get on the boat! We have no idea how much fun it will be but way gity with excitement!

Out of order but this is us in the airplane. I'm reading and Devin is listening to tunes and the TV. We also had fun doing Trivia on the Delta Flight. This was my third flight ever and the most turbulence I have experienced. The landing was a little scary too but we survived.

The men in their matching Clark Patrol T-shirts. Clark (back row in the middle) needed a patrol to keep him in line. His bishop wanted to be sure he kept his clothes on. =)

Lots of Iguanas in the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Devin got a picture of me kissing one. Their pretty good kissers.

First Formal night on the cruise. Dinners were so much fun. It took two hours to eat dinner with appetizers, main course and dessert. We just visited and enjoyed eating the yummy food. My favorite was the Prime Rib and also Lobster.

Zip Line on the Isle of Roatan. This was our favorite Port. We zip lined in the morning (I was a little nervous so the group had me go first. After the initial screaming I really enjoyed it!) After we went to a private beach. It was absolutely wonderful.

Our group at the Isle of Roatan. Look how beautiful the background ocean and green is!

Costa Maya--We rented a golf cart to travel to the nearby fisherman village. We ate Conch Shell at a local "restaurant" It was cooked with butter and garlic. This day was unplanned and we really enjoyed going where the cart took us.

2nd Formal Night. Devin looks so great in a tux. We saw this chair one night and thought it would be fun to get our picture in it.

The whole group with our amazing waitress Ramona. She has been with Carnival for a long time and she gave us such great service. I was so impressed with all the staff on the ship. They were so accommodating and always ready to served. The ship was so clean and beautiful.

On the ship we enjoyed going to most of the Comedy shows, the musical shows (especially Dancing in the Streets), Karaoke, playing cards with the group, hot tubing and going down the water slide, taking midnight walks on the outside decks (sometimes the wind was blowing so hard you could barely walk), hot cocoa with ice cream before bed, learning the Thriller Dance, and dancing in the Caliente Disco Dance Room.

We are so glad we went and are so grateful for my parents and Brenda and Ryan for watching our kids for the week. It was nice not to worry if our kids were doing well. We knew they were in good hands. Our kids really missed us and by the end we were very ready to be home as a family.

If you are going on a cruise anytime soon, make sure you budget for the ports (excursions). I had no idea how much money you spend on the excursions. You could just stay on the boat or just walk around but you really wouldn't get to see the beautiful places you are visiting if you don't schedule to do something each port. Also plan on bringing lots of cash for tips. If you go to the bank you can get a book of ones. It a hundred dollars in a tight pad of paper. Then you just rip them off when you need them and they are much more compact. Of all the things I did to prepare to go on the cruise, the funnest was getting a pedicure. I wore sandals all the time so it was fun to have cute toes. =) We didn't tan and we were just fine. We just made sure we always had sunblock. If you love to swim or get in the hot tub you really should have more then one swimsuit. Then the other one can be drying while you are wearing the other one. Bring a couple good books to read for the plane ride and just for down times in the sun. I would bring a couple Book of Mormons. I brought one and gave it to our waitress and wished I had another one for our tour guide in Roatan. We didn't use our Visa card hardly at all because most places didn't take a credit card. So be prepared to pay most everything with cash. It helped us budget too. When the cash was gone we were done. Take your journal. You will not want to forget some of the amazing first time experiences you will have. Just by not drinking alcohol we probably spent half the amount of those that do. I was taken back by how many and how much people drink. It was eye opening to me. I'm grateful I didn't have to waste my money on it! =)

Tons of Snow!

2010-02-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we shoveled 4 inches of snow before church. It was the most snow we have had at one time this winter. It was nice that it was on Sunday because everyone comes out and helps shovel.

Devin gave the combined lessons for YM/YW yesterday. I didn't have any responsibilities in Primary so I was able to hear his lesson. He is such a great teacher! He introduced the 2010 Mutual theme which is Joshua 1: 9: Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord they God is with thee withersoever thou goest.

The church put out a video to help introduce the theme, it is so well done. He showed about 5 minutes of it. I was lucky to watch more at home. I think you can watch it online at lds.org. Anyway, having an 8 year old it makes me think about how soon it will be when he will be in Young Mens. That will come before I know it. I'm so relived to have the church who will help guide his life. You do as much as you can at home and I think mutual really helps youth strengthen their testimonies and find the support and friends they need to stay strong.

We went to Crystal Hot Springs with Deonne's family on Saturday Night. It was great fun. We also shared a treat at Peaches. It's neat that our families have really gotten close in the last couple years. Abigail and Cody hug and kiss each other every time they see each other. It's way cute.

The boy's are way excited for us to go because they get to spend the time with Grandma on the weekend and then with their best friends during the school week. I wonder if they will even miss us.

We just booked our hotel and vented a SUV to drive to Disneyland last week. Like I mentioned before we will be going the last week in October. This was the kids Christmas present from Mom and Dad (us). They didn't really miss the presents at all. Sometimes I think we make to big of a deal over how many presents their going to get. We thought, will they be disappointed? We didn't have any of that, so that was refreshing.

I lost my camera for a while so now I need to upload Christmas pictures to share. So that's my goal for the next post. Happy February!

Getting Ready

2010-01-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

So we are counting the days of leaving for the cruise! It will be here before we know it. I've been getting clothes together, I've bought some, borrowed some and that has been fun! Devin and I want to get fit and trim, and with this much time left we can't do too much but we sure are trying. I went the gym everyday this week!

I am feeling a little nervous about my kids. I know they will be in good hands but 7 days without them will be a long time. I just hope they don't get too homesick, or have an accident where they get hurt. I think that is just the worrier in me but I hope once we are away I can relax and know they will be just fine. Lots of praying!

Last weekend the kids and I went to spend some time with the Overly's. We did a lot of talking about the cruise and what everyone is bringing and wearing, and wow it will be so exciting. We went sledding and everyone had a great time and we had no broken bones in the end. =)

Devin stayed with my family to do some electrical work on the house. They are changing out old lines for new ones in my old bedroom and the bathroom. Then they will start putting in subflooring and insulation. It will be nice, I remember my room was pretty cold at night. Devin really felt he should be their to help on the three day weekend and they got a lot accomplished thanks to him, and my two brothers.

So we are planning a Disneyland trip. This was the Christmas present we gave the kids this year. We aren't going until October but we want to get dates and a hotel booked. For those of you who have gone to Disneyland before with their kids, how many days would you recommend going? Do you have any suggestions for us? This is our first and probably our last so we want to have a great experience.

Conrad's Christmas Concert

2010-01-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Deonne we have our first video of the kids playing their instruments. We did not rehearse this and at their recitals they did much better but you get the idea.

Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer

2010-01-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is Traeden playing his Christmas piece. We wanted to post this especially for Grandma and Grandpa Overly who are in Russia on a mission. Every year she is usually able to hear all the Grandkids play their songs for her over the holidays.

New Year-fun changes

2010-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a fun new year so far. The day before the first week in primary we had a "Meet your Teacher" activity to hopefully alleviate confusion on Sunday. I was in charge of the food. We bought 18 dozen donuts, 4 gallons of chocolate milk, 6 containers of Sunny D, and 2 gallons of regular milk. We didn't have many leftovers. We had all the children find there teacher at a table with their name on a place mat. They got to color their place mat until it was time to eat breakfast. The kids got to come in their P.J.'s which they thought was really cool. We had a mock sharing time about reverence with the Junior Primary while the Senior Primary placed a get to know you game in their classes, and then they switched places. This really helped the kids get to know their teacher and where they sat so the Presidency didn't have as many confused children on Sunday. Samantha had her first day in Sunbeams which she loved. There are three sunbeam classes this year! We had so many Junior Primary kids that we didn't have enough seats for all of them. Some of the teachers sat in the very back to accommodate them all. I think I've mentioned how large are ward is but it's even bigger now. The bishopric reads in at least two new families every week.

Abigail loves nursery. Even without Samantha in there with her. She is really into hugging people. She has become the social butterfly and will go to almost anybody and hold her hands up for them to pick her up.

Conrad gave a talk in Primary today. I feel bad because it ended up being way to long. I should have condensed the story he told better. But the kids were very reverent during his talk. He told a story about a family who traveled to America on ship to come to Zion and how their ship ran into pirates. Luckily the pirates didn't harm or bother them. The little girl in the story was grateful their family prayed for protection and safety every morning. Conrad was so excited to tell a story in church about pirates.

Traeden and his dad love playing Mario Cart together. Devin likes to focus while he plays and Traeden talks and talks. It's pretty funny.

I've been doing a little bit of organizing and moving things around in the house. We moved the boys into the office room and we have both beds on the floor instead of as bunk beds. The office room now has two closets to organize and store things. Devin built shelves for me yesterday for me to put my instruments and music boxes on.

We had a neighbor give us some couches for our front room. It really makes the room cozy and warm. We moved the piano between the book shelves and the couches face each other. It's been a great change.

Anyway we are doing well and are grateful for a new year and new beginnings and hopefully some new good habits.

Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2009-12-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Brittany and the Carmichael Family I got the recipe I lost. Some of you expressed an interest of getting the recipe so here it is...

Mrs Field's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2 C brown sugar packed

2 C white sugar

2 C butter

4 eggs
1 tsp salt

3 C raisins or choc chips
3 C chopped walnuts

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

4 C flour

5 C oatmeal
Cream sugars and butter. Then add eggs and beat well. Add
remaining ingredients. Bake 6 min at 400 degrees.

I always use raisins and it is so yummy. Probably because of all the butter. =)

Requesting a lost Recipe

2009-12-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been entering all my favorite recipes in the computer so I can have them in one book. I just got them all done last night. What a project! I had all my recipes on little recipe cards and I can't find one that I love. Does anyone have Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe? These are so good and stay moist for a week. Maybe one of you gave me this recipe I can't remember. I have looked on the internet and haven't found the right one. It is not the one with blendered oatmeal. If anyone can help me out that would be awesome!

Yuletide Festival

2009-12-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

This week has been already crazy busy and it's only going to get worse. We are singing on Friday and Saturday for the American Festival Choir. It's going to be a amazing concert. I get to sing next to Deonne again. We have fun together and she is a great singer. There are a few parts I personally need to practice, I just got to find an hour to do that.

Like always, Dr. Jessop is pulling out all the stops. He has two guest artist which are really good. There are the USU ballroom dance team, a bell choir, Full orchestra, decorations which make the stage look like a winter wonderland, plus ice sculptures and hot cocoa before and after the concert while people mingle. The music is great. We are singing lots of traditional Christmas tunes and also some non-traditional ones. A great variety. One of my favorites is the Hallelujahs Chorus by Handel. We have practiced Wednesday and Thursday night till 10:00 pm so we are a bit tired. Unfortunately this will be our last concert with the choir. We love singing in it but we will need to wait for a different season in our life to do it again. Hopefully Craig will still be the director. Tickets are $10 a piece if you get them with the choir discount. If you want to come it's not too late. You will not regret it. I've heard a lot of complaints about how expensive it is. I say Ba humbug. People pay more then double to go to a Broadway show, the opera, ballet, or symphony. Not to mention going to a movie is about price now and more when you include the popcorn and drinks. Not that you can compare these events, but this is a production and the orchestra players do get paid. Enough of my soapbox.

Did I say Senior Citizens get in free at the Saturday Afternoon Concert? Here is the link to get tickets. If you want to get the choir member discount let me know and I'll give you the discount code. Hope to see some of you there. Have a great weekend!

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

This week we wrapped up a lot of our Christmas to do's which is nice. We had a goal to get our shopping done by Thanksgiving. We did for the most part. When you have to take out the kids to do shopping it is so much easier to do it online. Devin and I did do one store on Black Friday. It wasn't that bad, no ramming carts or violent acts were witnessed. Now that we are done shopping we have to remember that and not buy anymore! We are really scaling back this year and hopefully focusing on being with family and our Savior.

The kids have been doing an act of service everyday and it's really cute to see them get excited about serving. Conrad helped me make breakfast one morning. They made snowflakes for Devin and I. Traeden has been singing Christmas songs that he learned from friends and then he comes up to me and asks me if he can sing them or if it's bad. "Jingle Bells, batman smells, Robbin lays an egg" I told him it was probably OK unless he is suppose to sing the right lyrics for school or church.

We went to the Live Nativity in Nibley with Greg and Deonne's family on Friday. They had real donkeys, sheep, goats and even a camel. The boys tried to feed the camel, Alex did a great job of that. It really makes you appreciate the circumstances of the humble birth of our Savior. If the Savior was born today, where do you think he would be born? I can't imagine in a busy city. I see something similar, in a barn or country home.

Conrad and Abi after the Nativity

Camel and the kids

Petting the donkey

My first apple pie I made with a friend with Devin's parents apples this week. It was a really yummy pie. You cook the pie in a brown paper bag.

Today we are fasting and praying for my uncle Gary who was in a snowmobile accident yesterday. A neighbor found him unconscious and called 911. He busted his knee and has some serious head wounds. Last night when we heard about it from my mom he was still unconscious. I just talked to my mom who is at the hospital now and said he is now awake. They will be doing a series of surgeries to reconstruct his jaw and one of his eyes. We are hoping he will pull through. We would appreciate your prayers in his behalf.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-30T21:04:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've done a post. I've been meaning to put up some Halloween pictures. The kids chose their own costumes when we got down the costume box down. This was the tradition my family always did because we didn't have a lot of extra money to make or buy a new costume each year. I remember Danny always choosing the funniest combinations out. Well watch out Danny I think Conrad and Traeden will be putting some competition to the weird costume contest you won in years past.

Abigail was a little devil (although she would not keep that cute hat on)

Samantha was a Dalmatian puppy

Conrad was a Pumpkin Wolf

Traeden was something different every time he dressed up, magician, and a devil

We had a great time Halloween. I stayed home and gave out candy and Devin took the kids around with Greg and Deonne's kids. The kids got so much candy because we tried the Mall trunk or treat this year which was in the morning. The kids really enjoyed doing this. There favorite treat were these cool rings that glowed and sparkled. I'm still finding candy wrappers around the house as evidence that we still have candy circulating around.

Family Update

2009-11-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written. So I thought I'd give a family update. Well this weekend we have all been sick with the stomach flu. It has gotten to everyone but Devin. Lucky him. It hits like a wave and you feel awful for about 3-4 hours and then slowly start feeling like you can eat something. It was really weird. We'll have to see how it goes tonight but so far no one has thrown up all day so if it stays that way the boys will go to school tomorrow.

Abigail is the little gabber girl. Most of it's not anything you can understand, but she is getting more words that we understand. She said Bye Bye for the first time yesterday. She has been so much fun and we just love the little things she does to make us laugh. Lately she wakes up and sings in her crib before we get her out. She was doing scales the other day and Devin and I laid in bed laughing.

Samantha is talking more and more to people other then us. Lately we have had friends say this is the first time they have heard her say a word. She is loving dancing lessons and her favorite activity there is ring a round the rosies. She has been playing on the piano for a few months and had her first recital. She played all the two black keys. She is working on finding all the notes on the piano and identifying letters. She is getting great at her piano bow.

Conrad has been learning Spanish at school and has shown a desire to learn more so we got a CD course he got from the library. He is loving school and has many friends. He got a new orchestra teacher and really enjoys it because he shares his name, Conrad.

Traeden is working really hard at school. We have seen a huge improvement in his phonograms and spelling lately. He is doing well at scouts and loves learning new things there. He is such a great helper at home. He is also really into reading right now. Saturday Morning I got up at 6:00 to exercise and he had his lamp on reading a book. He has been reading the Harry Potter books, Leventhumps and Far World. We are very proud of him.

Devin and I are enjoying choir but have been really busy with it to the point that we feel like this will be our last semester for a while. We are doing a Christmas concert this year which will be fun but we have to learn a lot of music in a short amount of time. I have made some great friends in the choir and it's been really fun to sing with Deonne. In the last concert I was lucky enough to sing right next to her. Another big factor in not singing in the choir is Devin will be doing scouts next year on the same night as choir so he won't be able to do it. We will look forward to joining the choir again when our kids are older.

Traeden's Talk

2009-11-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Traeden gave a talk today in church. His grandpa T. helped him write it while Devin and I were at the dress rehearsal for the John Rutter concert. He did a great job and I thought it would be great to have on record.

My talk is about family prayer. My family tries to have family prayer each morning and evening. One family prayer I especially remember was when my mom had the flu for a week. We all took turns praying for her to get better. She got better and we thanked Heavenly Father for that blessing. Jesus told the people in the Book of Mormon, "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name that your wives and your children may be blessed." I know that prayer is a true principle of the gospel because it blessed my mom.

My parents were so sweet to help us out yesterday. Grandpa even helped Traeden build a birdhouse out of their left over decking material. This is one of his scout requirements. Traeden has had two grandpa's help with scouting and it's such a blessing.

The concert last night was so fun. We had a lot of music to learn and we had an intense week of practices. Thankfully we have some great friends and neighbors who helped watch our kids. I sure love John Rutter's music. Some of the music I have sung before in high school. One of the songs, "The Lord Bless you and Keep you" I especially remember because I had a small ensemble sing it for Solo and Ensemble. We practiced so hard for that. It was fun to sing it again and remember the good old times. We even sang a few of his Christmas pieces. I love the "Candlelight Carol". There were many touching points in the concert when it was hard to keep back the tears. The music is filled with God and Love that the spirit can't help but fill the room and hearts of those who hear and sing.

I have joined the 'No cell phone club'. So far we have about four members of our club. It can be inconvenient at times but I really have enjoyed not worrying about losing my phone, or always being in reach when I'm not at home. So if you ever need to call me, just call at home and leave a message and I'll be sure to call you back. If it's long distance I have to wait till Devin gets home because we don't have long distance at home. Let me know if you want to join the club we are always accepting members. =)

Have a peaceful sabbath!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-27T14:05:00.001-07:00

Our two Lucy's and Ricardos at the Party!

This year's Halloween Party theme was Famous Families. We had a really great turn out. We decided to do the invites by E-vite which was very successful and took so much less time and money. This year we had 17 couples attend. We were surprised and happy so many were able to come. We played Round about Ping Pong. (name is wrong here) You hit the ball and put the paddle down for the next player to hit it. It's fast paced and so much fun! We had some really good ping pong players. Then we had introductions and ate yummy food. We had everyone bring a favorite finger food. There was caramel apple dip, veggies, caramel popcorn, yummy cake, spinach dip, queso dip, homemade root beer, and much more. Then we played the Lifesaver game where you pass the lifesaver in a line with a toothpick in your mouth. Very tricky and funny. Then we played Family Feud. This was awesome. Everyone got to participate by giving answers about Halloween. Bonnie and David let us use the game they made up for one of their Halloween parties. The program even had the sounds with it when you clicked on the right answer or the X. Devin was the host and I was the computer girl. We had a costume contest (see results below). Then we played the M and M game where you suck them up with a straw into a cup. You get a turn when you roll doubles on dies. We forgot the dies so we had to use cards. It worked. We have a fun time planning and doing the party. It's been a fun tradition.

Devin and I posing as "Adam and Eve" (no we were not winners)

This is Ellen and her life partner-- They got the funniest Award

This is The Umpa Lumpa Family--Most creative Award

Charles Mansen and a follower--Scariest Award

Lucy and Ricardo- Best Overall Award

Pictures

2009-10-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

We had a fun picture day with Abi. Here are some of my favorites.

I learned to order pictures from Macey's online and then they are done in 1 hour! That's pretty awesome. The hardest choice is what picture do I put on the wall and which ones do I give Grandparents because they are all so cute. This photographer (Julie) was the same one that did our Titensor Family shoot last year. Deonne has used her for her family and individuals several times as well. She does such a great job. Check out her webpage at: www.simplyouphoto.com

Happy Fall!

Sick and Cookies

2009-10-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Cookies cooling on wax paper

Cookies with frosting and sprinkles

Have you every ate a cookie this big?

I have been fighting the flu this week. I started getting sick last week with a sore throat. Then I sang at an all day rehearsal on the 10th and lost my voice. Monday I started getting body aches and had a fever that night. I had three really hard nights of fever and chills. During the day I had a really hard time getting much done because I felt so sick. I stayed home the whole week with a few outings that I needed to go to. Anyway today I feel much better and only have an occasional cough. So far I am the only one in my family who has been sick with the flu. What are you thoughts on getting the flu shot. Has anyone gotten in ans still got sick? What about the H1N1 vaccine? I'm a little skeptical about getting it for my kids but I don't want them to get what I had. It's a tough decision.

This week was the primary program. The kids were promised cookies as big as their head if they sang really well. Three of us cooked the cookies and then we had a team of teachers who helped frost and package them. I was planning on doing one double batch of cookies everyday, but getting the flu kind of dampened that plan. Each double batch of cookies made 11 cookies. On Thursday and Friday I worked hard to get my part of the cookies done. My friend helped me out by doing 22 of my cookies so I only ended up cooking 48 cookies. Thanks Alison! Devin and the kids were a huge help with decorating the cookies on Saturday. They also put all the cookies in the flat bed of the truck and drove them to the church. Wow what an ordeal.

The Primary Program was so neat. Just for the record we had 124 children participate in our program today (if all came we would have had 163). All of them had a speaking part. Because of sickness and kids out of town we did have some missing. It went very smooth and the kids remembered their parts very well. The singing was beautiful! Our music director is also the USU choral director. He has done such a great job with those kids. The spirit testified of the truthfulness of the importance of families. I had such a hard time on a few parts singing because I was crying. My favorite song is "Families Are of God"I'm so grateful to be in the Primary Presidency. I've learned so much. The Primary children really deserved those cookies. We ended up with over 200 cookies and gave all our teachers, scout leaders, and activity day leaders a cookie as well. We have the best teachers! They all helped out so much to put this together.

One of the things the first counselor has done every year is take pictures over the year at activities and then the day of the program we show a video with all the pictures. She makes sure every primary child is in the video. The pictures are shown with all the primary music playing in the background. The kids love to see themselves. It was so cool to see every child in our primary pictured even though they don't come to primary all the time. One of our activities we made the goal of getting every primary child to the activity. We didn't get everyone but we sure got close. Seeing those pictures was touching to me.

Our family ended up bringing home about 8 cookies that were extra. Yummy! We had birthday cookies for my Dad instead of birthday cake. My parents were so helpful in watching our kids so we could go to our Halloween Party (I'll blog on this later) and then they stayed over so they could see the kids in the Primary Program. I think I'm going to rest this week. Well maybe a little.

Fall harvest

2009-10-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

I had a poll on the blog about what went well in your gardens and here is the results

8 people took the poll

What did the best in your garden this year?

Fruit trees 0

Squash 1

Tomatoes 5

Carrots and beets 0

Didn't have a garden this year 2

Green beans and peas 0

I thought for my own sake I would write things I learned this year in gardening.

1. Because my pear tree got fire blight disease I'm going to spray for that next year

2. I didn't get one apple off my two apple trees and my neighbor said her parents only get apples every other year. Lets hope that's true and I get apples next year.

3. I loved loved doing my garden in the square foot fashion because.... I hardly had any weeds. I kept track of everything and knew what every plant was. I loved assigning a few squares to my kids. They got to choose what they wanted to plant and then they took care of it. It was a really good experience for them and they enjoyed it.

4. Watermelons don't work growing up a trellis. I think because the stem is so thin it doesn't have the ability to carry that much weight. Traeden was devastated when his watermelon fell of the vine.

5. I can grow carrots! But getting them to germinate was a trick. I reseeded some squares 4 times and some still didn't come up. I think I need to water a little more regularly at first for these seeds.

6. Pumpkins grow great up a trellis. It was so cool to see this large pumpkin 4 feet off the ground

7. I need to do more green beans and plant them sooner.

8. Eggplant flowers were really pretty but we only saw one actually turn into an eggplant. (not going to do that again)

9. Definitely going to do more beets

10. Spinach was way fun. I'm going to try to spread out the harvest better by planting one square every week till it gets too hot.

11. Zucchini is always a huge producer. The trick is to harvest these every day so they don't get big.

12. Tomatoes--I'm only planting the early tomatoes. We hardly had any that got red before it froze. We just have too short a season.

Music Therapy and R.S. Conference

2009-09-27T12:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday I drove down with my kids and a music therapy colleuge to my parents house. We dropped them all off and headed to Primary Children's Hospital for the UAMT conference on Self-care. Devin picked the boys up on his way down to Cedar City for Don and Aliene's speaking assignment before they go to Moscoe Russia! Because our Primary program is really soon and the two conferences on Saturday I decided to stay home with the girls.

I feel so enriched after attending both of these conferences. The music therapy conference we had four different workshops, Dance Therapy, Professional Marketing, Chakra Toning and Quantum Touch, and MARI Assessment. I had fun reconnecting with music therapy friends. Some I have not seen for a long time. I had a great time visiting and catching up at lunch and in between workshops. The title of Self-Care for the music Therapist really fit what I needed. Sometimes we go through life taking care of everyday things, mothering, our jobs, cleaning, church callings, fun activities, but we forget to take the time to do our own personal care. I believe everyone needs time to decompress and reconnect with who we really are. If we don't do this we get burned out and are not effective in serving others. The ones we love the most are neglected. This conference gave us some ideas of things you can do. Some cost lots of money, some are time-consuming, and others are very simple and no-cost.

I personally have committed in doing better to find time to do my spiritual self-care. I would like to be more regular in reading my scriptures. I was reading my journal a little while ago and I saw in several entries a similar goal of reading the scriptures. This is something I have always struggled with. I keep setting goals and time escapes me and I've gone back to my bad habits.

Relief Society General Meeting is always a highlight for me. I especially enjoyed Barbara Thompson's words. She is so genuine and good natured. I'm impressed with her wisdom and great attitude about her purpose in life. I re-commit to relish where I am today. Relish the ages of my children and the fun stages they are in. I do not want to wish for tomorrow. Tomorrow is only built on what we do today. I also want to be a better Visiting Teacher. I felt during the meeting that I could do much better in serving and loving my sisters. Even though I am serving in the Primary right now I want to feel more connected to Relief Society. I will try to put more energy into visiting teaching and work hard to support the activities R.S. has. It has been a great weekend for me. I'm really looking forward to more spiritual feasting next weekend.

Just a side note. Traeden's Primary teacher was called to be the new Y.W. pres in our ward and she told me today that last week in class he asked her thoughtfully, "Does this mean you're fired?" She said "I guess it does." She has been a wonderful teacher for him and we will miss her in Primary.

Buddy Walk

2009-09-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time coming up with original titles. I keep thinking maybe I should put the date. Well I'll keep thinking. Yesterday Devin went down to my parents to work on the porch. He said they got all the under part done. Now they just need to put the top part on. (not sure what the terminology is on that) I'll have to take a picture next week when I go down to visit. They also put a stone bridge in that took about eight guys to get into place. I don't think they will be moving that for a long long time! They have some new pools and a river and a beach for the kids to play in. Devin said it is really cool.

The kids and I stayed home to do some yard work, housework, canning, and we played a bit too. We gave our freezer to Utah Power on Saturday as well. It was on the brink of dying so we thought we better get it picked up before it was completely dead. (They only give you money if the freezer still works) Guess what Santa is bringing the Overly family for Christmas?

The pictures below is us at the Buddy Walk for Cache Valley. We have a little boy in our subdivision who has down syndrome so we thought it would be neat to have our family go and support him and his family. The kids had a blast. They had the walk, bounce houses, fishing treasure hunt in saw dust, lunch, and a raffle where you could buy a ticket to win prizes. Traeden and Conrad brought their own money and bought some tickets. Traeden won two prizes and shared with Conrad and Samantha since they didn't win anything. He really can be a nice brother.

We got Abigail's pictures taken professionally yesterday as well. They turned out so cute. As soon as I get them back I'll post some pictures.

I don't watch one of the boys during the day anymore. I'm feeling a little less busy. His grandma is going to be watching him. So I only have one extra from 11:30 am to 3:30. Not bad. I've got a poll on this blog so take a minute to answer the question about your garden this year.

Samantha was not going to stand by those scary guys until our next door neighbor, Christy, took her hand and got her to pose for the picture. These star wars fans are really neat, they go to events like the buddy walk and other charitable events and interact with the kids. Get pictures with them. My boys thought it was so cool!

Samantha loved getting her face painted and even got her finger nails painted.

Boys show off there paintings

There was not a lot of people that came so all my kids could go in and out of the bounce house as much as they wanted. Even Abi loved it!

Have a great week! We love you!

Feeling a bit full

2009-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Since school started, I've been racing just to keep up with daily things. I really thought when I sent Traeden and Conrad to school for full day I would have more time. Wow was I wrong. I agreed to watch a neighbor's little boy three days a week while she teaches school. I also am watching another neighbors boy who is in kindergarten. I have him until the other kids come home. It really hasn't been that hard of an adjustment and I really like that when Traeden and Conrad get home from school I can focus on them and their homework. But yes I don't have as much spare time as I would like. I was asked by another neighbor just this week to take her two kids during the day as well and I had to say no. I don't want to run a daycare and that would be just too much. I have a hard time saying no to anyone but I did it.

The kids are loving life. Samantha started dance lessons! She is so cute in her little pink leotard. I like having a little time with Abigail alone. Conrad started orchestra which normally begins in 4th grade. I asked the new orchestra teacher at Thomas Edison if Conrad could try it and see how he does. Well he is playing twice a week with the 5th graders after school. I am really proud of him. Traeden is doing so well in school so far this year. He come home and gets his homework done quickly and without complaint. I'm really hoping it continues. He seems to really like his teacher and his classmates.

I really am doing well and everyday I feel like I am a little more together. It's really hard to coordinate all of the schedules and play taxi driver and then have a clean house. The house right now is suffering especially because this week I canned peaches almost everyday. We got some peaches from Devin's parents and then I bought some from Brigham to get our yearly supply. I love bottled peaches so much more then canned. Our garden is producing tons of tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, and peppers. I am hoping to get all the beans canned this week and then I'll start on the tomatoes. Fall is a really busy time but one of my favorites. The colors have already started changing and it's so beautiful. I decided to do a slideshow since it's been so long since I've done a post. Enjoy.

Till we Meet Again

2009-08-28T10:19:00.001-07:00

Devin's Grandma Hyatt passed away August 19 at age 91. She was a remarkable woman and we were blessed to know her. All of Devin's siblings were able to attend the funeral this weekend. I have been reflecting on how blessed I am because of not only my good posterity but my husband's. September's 1st Presidency message by President Uchtdorf is entitled "The Influence of Righteous Women" As I read this article this morning I couldn't help think of Grandma Irene Hyatt. She left such a great legacy of faith for me and my children to follow. Some of the things I think are her influence has blessed so many.

1. She served of approximately 80 years in the same calling, Ward organist. That is amazing to me. How many of us get burned out of our callings after a couple of years?

2. She raised four children, had 19 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren. As far as I know all the boy grandchildren went on missions and I think got there eagle scout awards. All of those grandchildren who have been married were sealed in the temple.

3. She was such a hard worker. She kept up an active lifestyle until the last few months of her life. She would be seen out in here well kept garden everyday where she had the most beautiful rose bushes.

4. She loved life and made everyone around her feel special and needed.

I was never an in-law in her eyes. She treated me like one of her own and I really appreciated that.

(The above picture is the last time we spent with Grandma, Easter weekend. The boys were able to play there instruments for her. She gave them many encouraging words which we will treasure forever.)

First Steps

2009-08-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

While off at Danny and Melissa's and Grandma and Grandpa's this weekend, Abigail got really good at walking. Here is a little video of her showing her moves.

The Grand Tetons

2009-08-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

For our 11th Anniversary we decided to do a backpacking trip to the Grand Tetons. Here are words that try to describe the beauty.

Quiet and Regal Beauty--Grand Tetons

Picturesque Skies with fast moving clouds
Wildflowers daring to grow mid rock and stream
Pikas scamper and screech at passerby's
Musty smell of wild game
Watching out for hidden danger
Hidden lakes, streams and waterfalls on every turn
Majestic and jagged mountains
Huge Boulders and tiny slate
One step up at a time, reaching great heights
Soft snow falls while safe and warm
Friendly hikers, encouraging words
Taken by the scenes before me
Grateful for God who created it all

A huge shout out to Melissa, Danny, Mom and Dad for watching the kids so we could go!
P.S. This park is an amazing place for families. Lots of picnic areas, beautiful small and large hikes, great bike/rollerblade trail, you can rent canoes and boats. We will be back for more fun with our family next year!

Real Soccer game

2009-08-09T12:47:00.001-07:00

Devin got tickets through work to a Real soccer game. We were way excited to go! Both Devin and I are soccer fans. I like to watch it but I would rather play. We actually didn't see the Real team play. Instead it was an All star game Everton vs. MLS all stars. It was an exciting game which ended at a tie 1 to 1. They did a shoot out which happened to be at the goal we were closest too. Everton ended up winning but I think the All stars played a better game.

We had my mom watch the kids and we decided to take the UTA front runner from Woods Cross into Salt Lake and then take the TRAX to the game. They are running a summer special so for both of us to ride round trip it was only $10. It took about an hour to get there which was great because then we didn't have to worry about parking, which a lot of lots were $10 or more. I was impressed that there were quite a few soccer fans riding the bus. The only hangup is after the game we got to the TRAX great and once we got to the front-runner station we had an hour wait until the last front-runner left. This way they get all the late owls in one train. Since we were going home that night with the kids we thought we better call Dad. So he came and rescued us. So much for saving on gas, but it was a good test to see if we would do it again with the whole family. We definitely will when we can. The kids would love it-no seatbelts. We were thinking of Bonnie and David in NY who travel this way everyday and it's not a big deal. I hope it becomes more popular to ride buses in S.L. and in Logan. It takes a bit of planning but I think using the busing services is a great way to travel, not to mention it's better on the environment. Devin said this would be the only way he could survive if he lived in the Wasatch Front-he hates the traffic and congestion. He would get a good book and read while he traveled to work.

Summer Fun

2009-08-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

We went camping with friends up Green Canyon. Wow it is so nice up there. So green, shady, and free! We loved it. Abigail with Westwood's boy (sorry Sandra I can't remember which one, Luke?)-getting really dirty camping with friends
Abigail is getting really close to walking. She has taken a few steps, Ohh big girl!
Grandma and Grandpa came for a night stay last week. We took them to Tummi Yummi's. This is a place you have to check out next time you need a cool treat. It's in the corner of 14th north and Main. Close to Little Cesears Pizza. They have self-serve frozen yogurt plus tons of fun toppings. The great thing is you pay by weight. The treats are good but that's not all. They have a game room with basketball, fooze ball, and shuffle board. Be sure to check out the bathrooms as well-they are really cool.

The whole family (well almost) enjoying the bean bag fun.

This week we have had Danny's kids with us. The cousins have had a lot of fun playing together. We will get a return favor in a week when Devin and I go backpacking in the Tetons for our anniversary. 11 years of marriage--Pretty Awesome! Have a great day!!

P.S. Thank you Vance Family for the photo tips--I love the format!

Pioneer Day Celebrations

2009-07-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Samantha loving the kitty! She is found outside with that cat so much during the day. Badge puts up with a lot and doesn't put up a fuss. She has grown a whole bunch lately.
The kids had so much fun catching candy at the parade. Deonne and Greg's family even came to see the parade with us.
Friday morning bike ride on the Legacy Trail. What a great trail that is.
Scott and his family walked the trail with their cute kids.
At the park after swimming the kids choose one thing to do. We had to cheer for Abigail every time she went by so she wouldn't cry.
They had handcarts people could try out with their family
Daddy is home! Devin was gone for a week with scout camp. We are so glad he is home.

Hope you all had a great Pioneer day!

Poll Results: Nylons

2009-07-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

THE LAST TIME YOU WENT TO CHURCH WHAT FOOTWEAR DID YOU WEAR?

Results: 12 people voted

41% wore church shoes and nylons

41% wore just church shoes

16% wore only sandals

0% wore flip flops

I needed to post this now because I'm working on changing the background and when I did it to my other blog childrenareworthit.blogspot.com it deleted the poll about napping when I put a new template on. Oops. So if you voted on the other blog could you do me a favor and do it again and it will give you an excuse to check out the face lift I just put on. I think it's much more fun!

So the nylon issue was really interesting to get feedback from all of you. In the meantime I've done some investigating and found a few things out I thought I would share. I talked to a sister missionary helping at the temple open house in May and she said it is a requirement for her mission that the sister missionaries where nylons with their dress shoes.

I was also thinking about men and their attire. It's pretty cut and dry. White shirt, tie, dress shoes and usually dark socks, and if your really looking snazzy you put a suit on or blazer. I personally decided until it's OK for the men to wear sandals to church I'll save mine for the other days of the week, which is hard for me because I love my sandals and flip flops. And the nylon thing is hard for me as well for a few reasons: 1. my legs are so long I have to get mongoloid sized nylons to fit right 2. They are hotter especially in the summer 3. Not many younger girls are wearing them 4. It takes me longer to get ready

Despite these very important points I've concluded to wear them to church and to the temple every time. I may not be in fashion but I do feel dressier and the extra minutes to put them on may help me get in the right frame of mind for worshiping the Lord I love.

Super Saturday

2009-07-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

(Pictured above Kids doing the sponge game and Abigail even helping out. Gwenda getting Traeden back for getting her wet. )

What a day it's been. We got up bright and early to head to Grandma and Grandpa Overly's home. They were selling their truck and we have been contemplating getting a truck for quite some time so the timing was great for us. We were told by Dad Overly that the tires were so bad they would need new tires. Kent and Don were going to put new tires on but Devin would rather get them himself and have the tires in his name. They agreed on one condition: that we drive straight to the tire store. It's always good for the kids to visit their Great Grandparents. Conrad is completely terrified of their tiny dog "Lady" She is a bit spastic but harmless. Conrad wanted to stay in the van during the visit but Devin had him get out with tears running down his face. I noticed Grandma's shoelaces were the coiled and stretchy. She got so excited to show us these laces and she showed us how they worked. She was so tired of the laces coming undone and a store clerk showed her these "elastic" laces. It was cute to see her so excited about something simple. We got a tour of their yard. I can't believe she still is growing tomatoes at age 93. If I live that long I hope I can still do as much as she does. Grandpa was moving slow but he is still walking relatively well with his cane. Speaking of old age, today I ran into a man at the bank who is 96 and walks all over. He wears really cool hats (the bank tellers told me) and has so much spunk and zest for life.

After our visit we headed to Jack's Tires in Orem since they have one close to Devin's work, but we didn't make it. Devin got a flat about two or three miles down the road. We got split up because of a parade going on and he called me to come find him. The tool that gets the spare tire lowered down bent while Devin was using it (the mounting bolt was rusted). This was also the tool that you use to jack up the car so we were in big trouble. Luckily Big O Tire was very helpful and drove to us and helped get the tire off and drove Devin to the store and got a new tire and then drove the whole truck to get the rest of the tires on. Wow what an ordeal.

The kids and I headed to the Grow family reunion while Devin stayed with the truck. The reunion was huge. I was suprised how many people came. We filled the park with people. It was great to visit with some family I haven't seen in a while. I found out that the game we played, the sponge game is a traditional game. You divide into two teams and the kids run a sponge from a full bucket and squeeze the sponge into the empty bucket. The goal is to get all the water from the start bucket to the end. The winning team gets to pour the bucket on the losing team. The kids thought that was so much fun. The first time we played it where all the kids stood in between the line and they passed the wet sponge down the line and the little kids froze up and were confused and the older kids got upset with the younger ones who were not fast enough. Individual runs worked better for the age group we had.

The Grows had a bazaar like the Titensors. They didn't do an auction though they did a number deal where you sign your name by the item on a number then they drew out your number and you pay the asking price. I got some really cute girl bows made by Evonne and a pink winter hat with a ribbon in it. Traeden wanted the candy sacks for a dollar. It was an awfully hot day so luckily there was lots of shade trees to keep us cooler.

Samantha is getting quite independent. She wanted to go to the bathroom and half way there she says to me, "You stay right here and I'll go to the bathroom." I thought that was pretty cute. Last week I forgot to mention that the Doctor called Abigail a little fire starter. She was climbing all over his equipment which is very normal. She even climbs up the playset ladder outside which is crazy because she isn't even walking, yet she loves to climb ladders--it sure scared Devin and I to death the first time we saw here half way up the ladder. Now we have to keep a close eye out for her. Her hair is getting lighter and longer so I can finally put a tiny pony in it.

Traeden is way into Pokemon cards. He has a few neighbor friends that get together and trade and look at cards.

Side note is I just love Pandora radio. I made a Mormon Tabernacle Station that is awesome. It rarely plays Mo-tab but it plays some beautiful arrangements of hymns. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon while I'm blogging. =)

Introducing Badge

2009-07-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

We took Abigail to the doctor for her 1 year well visit this past week. She is in the 5 percentile in weight and 30th of height. This is crazy for our family. Our others have usually been off the charts in weight almost their whole first year. Conrad was on the smaller side but not this small.

I wanted to give a report of our curbing fiasco. We did get it resolved with the contractor. He ended up redoing the whole thing for $1 a foot (we had already paid $3 a foot for the first pouring). Yesterday I spent two hours rolling a sealant on it so it will stay nice. With all the rain it was really hard to find a day in June that didn't rain so he ended up doing it and then protecting it with a cover and sand over the top of it. I'm just glad we are done with it.

Samantha is feeling much better. She bounced back on Monday but I kept her mostly indoors for Monday and Tuesday. She sure loves to play outside with friends and with our kitten-Badge. Yes we just got a new kitten. She is a calico cat and so adorable. She has a pink collar with a bell on her so we can keep track of her. The kids adore her and spend quite a bit of their day playing with her outside. Samantha carries her around everywhere. It's been interesting to see Devin get attached to the kitten as well. Before we got Badge did not like cats one bit. But he is really warming up to this cute one. He even installed a cat door in the garage last night. Devin let the kids get the cat on two conditions: 1-The cat only stays outside or in the garage 2-the kids are responsible for feeding and cleaning out the litter box. They are doing very well with both.

Bus Adventures and Working Day

2009-07-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Friday for our field trip, the kids and I went on an adventure. We decided to take the bus into Logan and go to the Fairgrounds for a Children's Sale. They had used clothes, toys, books all for kids. The kids decided to buy foam swords which they have had a fun time playing with. I was hoping to find some school clothes for Traeden for next year but I struck out. I think finding clothes for boys past the age of four is impossible at yard sells or even the DI. Boys play so rough and tumble that they usually wear holes through everything before they can pass it on to someone else. After the sell we decided to eat our lunch at the park. We ate cherries under a tree. I sure love local produce! Since we had a little more time before the bus came we decided to go to a local bakery that was a block away and I let the kids choose a treat. After bathroom breaks we headed for the bus stop. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the but coming from behind and we were still a block away so I told Traeden to run ahead and get to the bus stop. Running up the hill with the stroller and Samantha on my back we were not fast enough and the bus passed us by. So we sat by the bus stop and played in the canal which had a momma duck and her four ducklings swimming close by. It ended up being really fun. We practiced skipping stones. After a half hour the next bus came and we got on. Since the Nibley bus only come every hour we had another half hour to spare so we headed to main street and dropped off our tent pole that needs repair at the post office and then we went to the sidewalk sale on main street. The kids rode on kids ride and then looked at a few things and then it was time to get on the bus. And we saw the bus coming, we could have made it but with a stroller going down a crowded sidewalk with vendors and shoppers we were stuck in traffic. Traeden said he could made it so he ran ahead to the stop. As I got to the bus stop I couldn't see Traeden. I saw bus stop very briefly and I saw one man get off it but no Traeden. I thought maybe he had jumped on the bus and I started worrying just a little bit. We stood at the bus stop for a minute then we asked a vendor close by if he saw a boy get on the bus. They said that only one guy got on and no one got off. Well Traeden didn't see the bus stop and he just kept running for another block then he decided to turn around. I stayed put and another minute later Traeden came back and found us and I was relieved. The kids learned a lot by taking the bus. You have to be on time, it doesn't wait for you. When you get off the bus you have to be fast as well. Samantha was taking her time off the bus on time and the doors started closing on her. It didn't hurt her just startled her a bit and she was much faster in moving the next time we got off the bus. We also met some really nice people on the bus. Free fare busing in Logan is pretty cool so we decided we are going to try to ride more often and I'm sure we will get better at it. The boys also like not having seat belts after I explained to them that the bus was so safe that you don't need seat belts.

Working on house and yard projects can be crazy with kids! We started a project of staining the play set Saturday morning and thought it would take about three hours and then we would reset some sprinklers that are too low, seal our newly poured edging and run some errands. We have seen some other neighbors playsets get pretty worn by the weather and so we hope this will help protect it. Well the staining took ALL day. The kids were unbelievably good workers and in the end, Conrad said that he loves to paint. Samantha and her friend Camry even helped for about 1/2 hour. The great thing is we got it done and even had fun doing it together. Abigail played well in her playpen that we set up close to us for a good hour. She ate in her highchair and took two great naps so that helped out a ton. Samantha helped in the morning and then after lunch she took a nap. I tried to picture on the camera the mess the boys got all over them. They paint like their Grandma T. She gets paint all over her when she paints. When they took their shirts off they even had stain in their arm pits from the stain running down their arm. We will have to do the other projects another day. We had a great time painting together. The playset looks great and now it will hopefully last long enough for Abigail to play on it till she out grows it.
Today I am home with Samantha and Abigail. Samantha is not feeling well. She started running a fever last night and has a cough. Devin and I had a date night planned but we ended up coming home an hour into the date since the babysitters called and said Samantha was sick. We hope she will have a quick recovery.

Happy 4th Weekend

2009-07-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Roscoe and Elnor Titensor Family reunion was this weekend in Afton Wyo. They do this every other year. My parents, our family, and Danny's family went to Lava Hot Springs on Friday. It has been so long since I have been there. Both Danny and I were reminiscing of the last time we were there, we thought Lava (the town) was so much bigger. I remember how hard it was to walk through town-it was just so far. Well now that I have four kids who walked it, I'm sure that is exactly how they will remember it. We did the river on tubes which was a blast. We rented a double tube and then a quad tube which holds at least four adults. We all took turns watching the babies so we could all go on the river. Traeden loved the river most of all. He was so into the adventure and had a great time. Conrad was pretty nervous after the first run when he got covered in water. He said, "Can we stop please?"

After the river fun we had dinner and went up to the hot tubs. Wow I don't remember them being quite so hot. It rained the entire time we were in the tubs, which helped cool us off. The kids liked it but you just can't stay in the pool for a long time because it was so hot.

Our family tented and slept really well, despite the various interruptions of drunk people coming back to their sites most of the night. I could not believe how many young adults, (they looked like kids to me) were there with their friends, drinking and smoking.

Saturday day we got up and drove to Afton for the reunion. Every reunion we hold an auction. Devin helped bring up items that people made or donated to auction off to help pay for the next reunion. There was quite the variety of items. We got to some chimney cleaner, fire place gate, and fire place tools. My dad was the auctioneer and asked for a starting bid and then someone said, is there a story behind this bid. No one claimed to brought it and then we all realized that Devin brought it up on mistake and it goes with the fireplace in the pavilion. We all got a good laugh at that.

After the reunion we went to the Afton rodeo. This was so much fun for the kids. Both Traeden and Conrad participated in the ribbon pull where they chased baby calves and try to catch the ribbon off their tail. Those calves were really fast. They even gave cash prizes, of 50, 25 and $10 to the winners. Every participant got dollar bill and Conrad's age category got a cowboy hat too. One downer is all the kids feet got covered in mud, as it had rained the night before. They did this by age category and the oldest group had quite a bit bigger calf to chase. At the end of the pull one of the girls got chased by one of the calves and started bucking the girl with her head. She lost her shoe in the run-it was pretty scary and exciting. The rodeo ended with a fireworks show. We had great seats and the kids loved it. Samantha did a little yip after every blast, it was so cute. Hope you all had a happy 4th of July!

Traeden in Honor Recital-Suzuki Institute

2009-07-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Traeden got to play in the Honor Recital at the Suzuki Institute last week. Thought you might enjoy seeing him play. He is playing Ecossaise by Hummel. I think he is getting really good. Last week he did music all day everyday and he loved it. His favorite class was the African drumming class. He has really good clave rhythm. This week of intense music was so great for him, I would love for Conrad to do it next year. My mom was so helpful last week. She watched the other kids so I could support Traeden and take him to his classes. My grandparents also helped out as well. Thank you thank you!!

Wastach Back Relay-not like anything else!

2009-06-29T14:07:00.001-07:00

Devin and I ran the Wasatch Back relay this year. This is Devin's third time running and my second time. We had so so much fun. It is an experience that sounds crazy, and is very hard to explain but is so rewarding and exhilarating.
The race starts in Logan (Friday morning) at Merlin Olsen Park and ends up in Park City (188 miles total). The beautiful mountain terrain and small towns you run through is picturesque. Some of the places you run through like Avon and Gardsman Pass is not something I had ever seen until the race. Both are grueling legs but running with your team makes it really fun. Each 12 person team runs 3 legs each. Each leg vary in miles (between 2.5-8) and are ranked either easy, moderate, hard or very hard. Every team decorates their vans to coordinate with their team name. Many teams wear costumes or team T-shirts to identify with their team. We saw a guy dressed in a gorilla suit. One year Devin saw a team running with various back packing gear like kayacks or backpacks. Yes some get really into it and that's what makes this race so unique and fun.
Our team name was Endorfun Junkies and most of our team were friends from College Ward. I had a friend from high school, Kelly who came from California to run this race with me. We had a party the night before and decorated the van and ate lots of pasta. We started running at 7:40 am Friday morning and finished the race at about 1:30 pm Saturday afternoon. We had beautiful weather, not too hot and not cold. Van 2 of our team did have to run in the rain for the last leg.
Some extra exciting moments were: helping a team get their truck back on the road at Snow Basin, and getting stuck in traffic and not having our runner ready for the 3rd leg. (We should have gotten up 1/2 hour earlier)
When you cross the finish line each member of your team gets an really nice medal for finishing the race, and a funny looking walk due to the sore muscles from running for two days.
After the race, Devin and I stayed in Park City overnight which was so nice to soak our sore muscles in the hot tub.
This is a race we just love to run together and I want to thank my mom and dad for watching our kids while we ran it. They even came to watch us run in Morgan. It was fun to see them all and hear them cheer for us. Thanks for all of the support mom, even though your car had some problems.

Birthday Week

2009-06-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

In the Overly Family we have Four birthdays
Abigail's birthday was yesterday June 10th. She just turned one. Just for my reference she has six teeth, is crawling and climbing on everything. She has stood on her own for a bit. Not to interested in walking yet. She loves to play with everything especially if it's not meant to be a toy. She likes to crawl into things, drawers, closets, and cupboards. She is taking two-two hour naps a day. One at 10 am and one at 2 pm. (I love this schedule) She has been weaned for about a month now and loves her bottle. We gave her cow milk today and she wasn't interested in it at all. So I put some Ovaltine in it and she downed it. Don't worry I won't be doing this regularly. =) She doesn't like me to feed her with a spoon. She prefers fingerfoods. She is not shy and babbles a lot. Lately she has a thing she does with her tongue that is absolutely adorable. My brother Danny caught it on camera I'm hoping he'll send me so I can post it.
We have twin cousins, Brock and Brynn turning 6 years old on Friday
Then Samantha will be turning 3 on Saturday. Birthday's are so much fun. I'll do a post about Samantha on Sunday.

Abigail got bath toys for her birthday.

Our birthday bash

The kids loved to help her with her cupcake, but she loved to eat it!

Destruction and Temple Pictures

2009-06-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the family and neighbors doing demolition of the curbing. Then pictures of the temple open house. If you want to go to the open house, tickets are still available. Click here for a link.

Lessons to be learned

2009-06-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I'm always falling short and making little mistakes but this week I did a big mess up. Well last post I mentioned that we got our curbing done and then the rain ruined it. I called the man who did it three times and just was so sick inside and kept thinking that I should cancel his check. When I didn't hear back from him I decided to do it even though Devin didn't think we should. After I did it I felt so much better. He called us at 7:00 pm and left a message on our phone and said he left his cell phone at home and just got my messages. He was upset that I stopped the check and said he would come out and look at the curbing, and for me to call him back. I felt so bad. I called him back and told him everything I was thinking and he was so understanding and could see my point of view and I think forgave me. I just felt terrible because he did his job and it wasn't his fault that it rained. He had no idea it would have come down like that. In looking back I really should have given him the benefit of the doubt and trust that he would have called me back and we would resolve the conflict. I think more then anything I wish I would have prayed and been more sensitive to the spirit at a time when I really could have used direction.

He is working with us and we pulled out all the curbing and he will come back and redo it for a third of the cost which I feel is reasonable. I took some pictures of all the kids and neighbors who just came to help without us even asking. We have the best neighbors!

This weekend we were able to go to the Temple Open house in Day Break. It was absolutely beautiful. Devin's dad and my mom came with us and we had a great experience. I'm excited that we all can be apart of the dedication. I think it's a neat idea to have a few sessions so families come. We have already approached a neighbor to exchange babysitting so we can attend with Traeden who is old enough to go.

Don and Aliene just got their mission call! They are going to Moscow, Russia. We are so happy for them. They will be serving with the CES program. We speculate they will be working with the Seminary and Institute Program. How neat would that be!

Our Overly Family reunion has been canceled because Grandma Hyatt is in her last days of life. She is an amazing women in her 90's. The last month she has struggled with her health more then usual. Our family feels really good about the last visit we were able to see her this last Easter. She talked with us and the boys shared their musical talents with her which was really special. Aliene has been a rock for her mom the last few years, emotionally and physically. I think this would be a very hard time to lose your mother, but she seems very positive and at peace.

Have a great week!

Random Thoughts

2009-06-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

I am a bit frustrated today. We had a guy do our curbing yesterday and we were so excited about it. It looked great....then it poured rained and it looks awful right now. I can't get a hold of him to see what our options are and I want to think the very best and that he will make it right but lately I have seen to many times where people are not honest and truthful. Sorry for the pessimism. I am usually the very optimistic and happy go lucky girl but not today. I hope to give you a great report about it in a few days.

On a happier note...I got our first share at the Community Food Co-op of Utah on Saturday and was so pleased. Here is the food we got for $23 1 5 lb Bag White Potatoes, 1 Cantaloupe, 1 Bunch Radishes, 5 Apples, 1 Bunch Asparagus, 3 Zucchini, 6 Bananas, 1 Carton Utah Mushrooms, 1 Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf, 16 oz. Brown Rice. Plus... 2 lb Chicken Thighs, 2 lb, Beef Chuck Roast, 2lb, Country Style Spare Ribs, and 1 lb Lean Ground Beef

We have loved the fresh fruit and veggies. We made a yummy stir fry last night with the veggies and rice and beef. This organization is a grass roots program throughout Utah. Food is given out once a month and you pick up your order. Most of the labor is done by volunteers and the only catch is you need to donate 2 hours a month with the Co-op or in your own community in anyway. I think it is 2 hours a year need to be done with the Co-op. You can count serving at your child's school. I had a very positive experience. The only down side is there is no branch in Cache Valley yet so I drove to Ogden. If they get enough interest in Cache Valley they will start something here as well. Check out their website for more information.

Last thought is I've recently had discussions with my friend about wearing nylons. She said nylons are completely out of fashion and no one wears them any more. When I'm out on a nice date or go to a reception I sometimes will just my sandals but to church and always to the temple I wear nylons with my church shoes. I'm curious to know what your opinion is on the matter of dressing your best to church, does this include the type of footwear you wear? Hummmmm...I'm needing some feedback here. Post comments to start discussion, and their is also survey for you to vote on as well. Hope you have a great day.