Bashin' "Twilight"...

If you love "Twilight", maybe you shouldn't read this....but wait, maybe you should so you will join my side!!!! Every time they come out with another one in this series, I cringe. "Here we go again!" is what I think. I get to read all about everyone's posts on fb about it and on and on. I will tell you why I don't like these books and I know you are just dying to know why, aren't you??!! I did read the first one, only after months and months of it being out. I wasn't in a big hurry; I guess when something fictional comes out and gets THAT much attention, I get turned off and don't want to read it. I caved and read the first one, very quickly, I might add. I read it in days and was amused. I even read the 2nd, with not so much speed, and couldn't make it through the 3rd. I lost interest in it all. Plus some things were bothering me about it all which I will now tell you........

1. It bothers me that the author is LDS and yet her characters do things that are not exactly "true to their standards". Yes, I do hold her to a higher standard and expect her to write things that would show she is LDS. You would expect me to do the same, wouldn't you? She wrote these books for the "young adult" audience; meaning that tons of way younger girls would be reading it. Like 10-12 year olds and younger. I even know a mom that has read these books as "bedtime" stories to her girls that are close to my girls' ages. What in the world???
2. It bothers me that the main character, Bella, has Edward in her room at night....watching her as she sleeps. That is not ok for young girls to be reading and fanticizing about. Period.
3. She also has Bella run off with Edward to Italy, I believe, without telling her dad. Not ok.
4. In the 2nd book, Bella is near suicidal because Edward is gone. She is deeply depressed over a boy and I don't think that is what young girls should view as "normal" when a break-up happens.
5. If I see one more grown women wearing a shirt that says "Team Edward" I think I will roll my eyes so hard they will never never recover. Ok, here's the thing: Edward is supposed to be in HIGH SCHOOL!! If a movie came out and grown men were lusting after a female character, portraying a high school girl, you bet they would get called "perverted" or something like that. So, do tell me why it is ok for grown women to lust after high school boys? It's not and it bugs me. I am a married woman and I would never own anything that said "Team ......whatever" if it wasn't my husband's name. If he came home wearing a shirt that said "Team Beyonce", I would feel bad. So, how do you think these men feel whose wives like a vampire so darn much? Just sayin'.
6. Why are moms taking their young girls (10-12 or even younger) to see these movies? Why are they letting them read the books before they have read them themselves? I don't understand that. I have tried hard to be very picky on what my oldest watches and reads. She turns 9 this summer. She doesn not know who Bella nor Edward are. She still plays with dolls and barbies. She is still very innocent and I am very pleased with that. Be careful moms. Just because it is popular doesn't mean it is good. There are plenty of good books out there for your young girls to read. Just because it is written by an LDS author does not, unfortunately mean it is OK, either.

Well, I know we all have our passions and things that we love, but I just don't get this one. I would rather read historical ficiton, myself. I am reading "Fire of the Covenant" right now and LOVE it. Too bad people don't get as excited about these kinds of books. I know that there are far worse things one could be reading, but there are certainly much better ones, too. Don't get me started on TV shows. UGH. I keep asking Will if we can just turn off our cable. Not gonna happen anytime soon.

Oh, and for the record, Will has said over and over and over how he is sooooooo glad I don't drag him to see these "Twilight" movies. I am here for ya, babe. I am on "Team Will" with all my heart!

(Hey if you are a "Twilight" fan, don't be afraid to defend yourself......I mean it! I wanna hear your side to what I have said......) Hugs.....

Pizza Rolls

YUMMY! I found this recipe and made some over the weekend for our little Father's Day celebration. They were a big hit. Sasha made them for dinner tonight.

Pizza Rolls:
Pizza or spaghetti sauce
whatever toppings you want: meats, veggies, or just cheese.
Pizza dough, purchased or homemade.

I used this recipe and it was great:
Homemade Pizza Dough
3 c flour
1 pkt. yeast
1 tsp salt
1 c warm water
2 T. oil

Dissolve yeast in water. Add salt, oil and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover; let rise on floured surface for 10 minutes.

To make the pizza rolls, you basically do what you would do for cinnamon rolls. Roll out bread dough to large rectangle size. Brush with sauce. Put on your "toppings". Now roll up like cinnamon rolls. Slice with a piece of dental floss or string, just like you would with cinnamon rolls. Place on greased baking sheet. Top with more cheese and let rise until double in size. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

YUMMY and very cheap. Right up my alley.

A Trek to Remember....

Here are what I learned or gained on Trek 2010

1. Going to sleep at 11:22pm and waking up at 3:15am is not a good idea.
2. I really am a morning person, eventhough #1 happened.
3. Sleeping on a schoolbus is not possible. Unless you are Cally S. Hee hee hee. I think Bishop fell asleep a time or two as well....
4. The youth of our ward are HILARIOUS. And LOUD. Boys are LOUDER, in general. They must yell or talk in strange voices at all times. I have never laughed so hard. I was very entertained by them on the bus, both coming and going. Awesome.
5. I kinda liked wearing my bonnet for 3 days solid. It kept my head dry, and hid my scary hair. Yikes.
6. Walking in a skirt is awesome. I really liked that.
7. Wool socks, wool socks, wool socks!!!! I did not get one blister. Ok, I did get one tiny one but that is IT! I am in love with wool socks.
8. I also love the food committee members. They fed us well and I found out later that they prayed that the rain\hail\wind would stop at each meal so we all could eat. And their prayers were answered. We were always able to eat our meals with minimal weather troubles. But once dinner was done each night, all heck broke loose!
9. I am grateful for the priesthood holders that came on trek with us. I missed my hubby terribly and was so thankful that we all were taken care of. They set up our tents as the rain pelted us, they helped us fix our canopy after the "tornado" passed through, they took down our tents that last morning as the sky kept getting darker and darker and the rain got worse and worse.
10. I am grateful I brought my $1.00 emergency pancho from Walmart. It sure came in handy a time or two. Or three, or four....
11. You don't have to change your clothes every day when you are impersonating a pioneer. It is totally fine to wear what you wore yesterday for the sake of having something clean and unmuddy to wear on the bus ride home.
12. It is totally fine to lick your mess kit clean after each meal so you don't have to walk alllllllll the way back over the mud-pit-of-no-return, just to wash them in the soapy buckets. Oh, yes I did. So did a few others after seeing my smart idea. Genius.
13. I am so glad I got to carry a baby doll the whole time. I had something to love and kiss. Yes, I did kiss a doll. So did some of my "kids", ok. It broke my heart, though on the first night, I set "baby William Ashley" (that is the name my "kids" chose for him), down so I could help get our tents up as the storm was decending upon us. When I finally got in the tent, baby William's blanket was soaked and so was he. I could not help but think that many a pioneer mother had to wrap her baby in a cold, wet blanket, and hope they survived the night. So heartbreaking.
14. Walking 16+ miles in one day was.....hard.....! I was feelin' it by the end of that day. I kept thinking of the pioneers and how they walked that far each day, for many days. They did not have a food committee there at camp, making a meal for them. They had to put their tents back up, gather wood, start a fire, eat something that was not very appealing, try to get some rest, wake up, hope their family members survived the cold night, and do it all again and again.
15. I loved Martin's Cove and Dan Jones' Cove. Amazing spirit there. I will never forget that place and how I felt.
16. The Sweetwater Rescue monuments were inspiring. One had a small girl in one arm and I didn't notice until a missionary pointed out that he had an infant in his other arm. I looked at that baby's face and it looked like my little Audrey. I cried.
17. The women's pull was amazing. We had walked 12 or so miles at that point already that day and were feelin' it. Then we had to say "good-bye" to the men in our family and they went and lined the sides of a big, rocky, uneven hill. We took turns, as women pulling our handcarts up. It was harder than I thought it would be. I kept tripping on my long skirt. We helped the other wagons with theirs once we got ours at the top. It was so hard. What a great experience to teach what it was like for these women, alone, without the men to help.
18. Eating junk provided by our dear bishop as we trekked was the best. I think it helped us....or maybe it made it worse. Hmmmm.......
19. I love the girls so much. I love the leaders, too.
20. I love the pioneers and am amazed at the sacrifices they made so I could partake of the blessings that come from living in Zion. I want to go on trek again....

A Change...

Well, it has happened. A little sooner than I thought. I thought we'd make it to camp next month, but alas, it was not to be. The past (almost) two years has been honestly so FUN, so HARD, so AMAZING, all at once. I have LOVED the amazing women I served with. I gained a dear friend through this calling, and what a blessing that is to me. We have both had a rough couple of years with different challenges and trials and both have served with all our heart, might, mind and strength. Serving the Lord has been such a blessing and I hope He accepts my service and deems it worthy. I have loved being around these girls. I have loved hearing them laugh and laughing along with them at something and then at times laughing at nothing in particular. I have loved hugging them, praying for them, texting them, facebooking them, thinking about them, planning lessons to teach them, sharing my Cricut Machine with them, opening my house to them, testifying to them, shucks I think I even enjoyed feeling frustrated at them for various reasons. (Teenage drama, kwim??) I will miss it all. I have never gotten released from a calling and cried and cried over it. Never ever. I have known for serveral weeks it was coming, and I have been so heartbroken. How do you walk away when you have been with them twice a week or more for two years? When you have tried so hard to befriend them and to help them know you can be trusted? I love these girls with all my heart and always will. I miss them already. I miss saying the theme with them. Sunday was hard. Each of the members of the presidency had a chance to "say goodbye" and give a short testimony. I had envisioned that day for 2 years, knowing it would come before I was ready. What would my final words be to them as their leader? I know they are in very good hands. I felt the Spirit as their new leaders' names were read. I know it is right. It is still just so hard to say goodbye....
Tracy, Diane, Sarah and me. LOVE them soooo much!

Here we all are at a final breakfast the morning before we left for Trek. I love these girls with all my heart. I hope they know my door is always open. I always have a fresh batch of cookies or bread in the house, ready to share.......

Change is so hard......
But, onward and upward I will go.

Randomness.....

Here are some random pictures I took this week.....enjoy.....


Casey loves to eat diapers. Seriously. We like to play with him and leave a diaper on the floor and see how long it takes him to nonchalantly wander over, put it in his mouth and try to take it outside to rip it to shreads. Gross!

Seth came up the stairs one morning this way......awesome......

Holy cow, look at my baby girl!! Look at that BOW!!!! My friend makes them and I could not resist. She is so dang precious. Do you think her eyes are gonna be green, or what??!!

"Mom, can we play the Wii", they say...every morning....clad in jammies......that stinkin' Wii is a pain.......except for bowling. I like that......

Addie is so cute with her little sister! I say cute things to Audrey and gently touch her nose and here is Addie doing the same! It is so cute how she copies me when playing with Ree Ree.

The End.

Hope you enjoyed them.....

Well, it happened....

I have heard other homeschooling moms tell me of not-so-nice comments made to them about their kids and their intellect and so forth. Most are well-meaning, for the most part, I do believe, but hurtful, and\or annoying to a homeschooling momma who is doing her best in the journey of educating her own. Some feel the need to "check up" on us as homeschoolers and hold us accountable, or something like that. Telling us our kids won't read aloud in primary class, or read quite slow, or is very shy around other kids, all are things we get told. Um, ok. Thanks for that information. :) What is funny to me is that, the things they tell us all "MUST" be the product of being homeschooled.....right???? A child doesn't like to read aloud because he\she is homeschooled....??? They are shy because they are homeschooled....?? It couldn't be that it is just their nature and they would be that way in public school, too....right????

I have been "waiting" for the comments to come. Well, one got back to me this week and I am admittedly upset about it. I will simmer down, I promise. Apparently, at a recent church activity, the girls were supposed to be writing nice things about eachother in some journals. My oldest was having a hard time spelling a word and another child wrote the word for her and then explained to her neighbor, "She homeschools....". So, that is why my daughter could not spell a word. Um, ok. That thing that saddens me is that this girl is too young to have formed her own opinion about homeschoolers and is just voicing what she has heard her parents say to her about homeschooling. I don't know who the child is, but obviously her mother or father think that homeschool kids don't know how to spell.

My dear, sweet Sasha is not the best speller. Who is at 8? She gets flustered easily and when that happens she can't even spell the word "dog", bless her heart. I felt so sad knowing she was feeling flustered around all those girls who probably weren't the best spellers either! LOL! She is not the fastest reader, but neither is her daddy, who has a graduate degree, so "slower" reading is ok with me!

I guess I just wish more people would have an open mind about homeschooling. I know there are families that are maybe not doing the greatest job, but that is their business. We will all be held accountable for our own. I don't like feeling like I am being watched and my kids are being "tested" by others who don't know them, or know how far they have come. Whoever that mother is, I wish I could assure her that I am doing my best. I pray A LOT to know what to do. I know where my kids need to work harder. Trust me, I KNOW! I love the choice I have made to do this, and I guess I need to toughen up, let people have their own opinions about it.....................I just wish my kids wouldn't hear what they have to say..................