Excuses, Excuses!!!

Okay, so I know that I am good at coming up with excuses, but thought I would blog about why I've disappeared temporarily form the blogging world! Like each of you out there, I have been really busy lately. It seems like we go from one activity to another and that my life is spent in the car! I don't want to complain because I have so much fun watching my girls in their activities and I am thankful to be able to do my church activites. I also have been fairly sick the past few weeks. It started with a lovely redo of an earlier root canal!!! My tooth hurt really bad and when they got into my tooth they found tissue that was left in my tooth that was infected and only one of the roots had been taken care of , so 2 hours later I was out of the chair and set to come back for more in a week. Unfortunately, I had to go on another round of antibiotics. To top off the tooth, I started having some female issues and went to the doctor. They weren't sure what was going on, but thought it could be thyroid. Yep, that was at least part of it, my thyroid is way to low. Yea, a reason for feeling so tired lately!! They also sent me to have an ultrasound. Okay, how mean is it to make you drink 32 oz of water and say. "Now don't go to the bathroom for at least 2 hours and then we are going to push on your bladder and take pictures!" Not my idea of fun! I get my results tomorrow and I hope that it was all done just for fun!! I was frustrated after the ultra sound and called by husband bawling!! My cute husband came home from work to take care of me! He told me to go lay down and brought me lunch in bed. He did laundry and ran the girls to piano! He is so good to me- I kind of like him!!!! Life is good and I am sure I'll be back to myself soon! I apreciate my cute friends for checking up on me!

I'm Irish and love it!

I feel very proud to be Irish! My great grandparents, Hugh and Isabella Ireland migrated to Utah from Ireland and I love the stories that I hear of them. I love my Irish side and hence, I love St. Patricks day!!! I love putting on the green and saying,"Top of the morning" several times through out the day! This year those cute little leprechauns left a trail of gold to a box of Mike and Ike's! Then they left some green in our milk!! Silly little leprechauns!

We had a fun dinner of potato soup, green jello salad and several green vegetables! I am always amazed at what little things can make us happy!

Temporary fix!

I have the server that was part of my parents dining set. After many years of use, the top is dinged and chipped. I know that I really need to sand and restain, but it just isn't on the top of my list right now. So I was reading on line to use a crayon and run it in the cracks and then polish it! It doesn't look perfect, but it is an improvement. This is a picture of the left side fixed and the right is what it looked like on both sides befor the quick fix!

Basketball

This was Tiana's first year of playing basketball. I can't believe how much she improved in one season. I am actually very sad that the season is over! She is becoming a great rebounder and defender. I am so excited to watch her in the years to come!

Tiana had a cute little team. They are 3rd and 4th graders. There are 3 girls missing from this picture.

Mrs Clancy was one of her coaches. This is what she did when we asked to have her picture taken with Tiana. Tia says its kind of creepy, but I thought it was cute!
Tiana's coach Mrs Geik - she was soo cute with Tia!

A drink of water!

The other day I wasn't feeling well and I was in the basement laying down watching a movie. I asked my cute little Tiana is she would mind getting me a drink of water. She jumped right up and said. "okay momma"! She came down a few moments later with this glass of water. I squealed with delight when this is what she brought me!

I thought it was so cute that she added the straw and umbrella! Such a sweetie! Do you think I might have a Martha in the making?

Women's Conference

Larisa and I were able to attend our stake Woman's Conference. It was a really nice day! We were able to attend a couple of neat classes and hear a wonderful speaker at the end. Larisa is such a sweet girl! I just feel so blessed to be her mother! We snuck out at lunch with some friends and ate our own lunch. Then of course we had to end with going out for ice cream! We had a great time as mother and daughter!

Odyssey of the Mind!

Tiana has been really busy practicing for her Odyssey of the mind competition. This is a program where the kids are given a problem and they are to come up with solutions on their own. They had to put on a skit and where given specific guidelines. They had to write a script including several different requirements, build a movable set, design costumes, include songs and do it all on their own. It was a great activity to help them use their imagination. Tiana has really enjoyed it, although she does get tired of going to practice. They have been working on it since Novemeber and after Christmas they started practicing 5 hours a week. I was very impressed with their kind leaders. They helped guide them(this I am sure was hard-they can't give them suggestions or anything), but let it be their project. They had originally scheduled to hold their practices on Sunday and we asked if we could maybe changes teams because Sundays didn't work for us. These sweet ladies reorganized the 2 teams that they coach to have their practices on Saturday so Tiana could participate. It was so kind of them to do that for us. These pictures are of parents night when they preformed for us. I will post about the competition later.

Homade Laundry Soap

Okay, So now you will really worry about me being bored! I read on a blog about making homemade laundry soap and thought I would give it a try! Why? Well, it is a lot cheaper! I made 5 gallons for about $3.50!! I have been using it for a few weeks to see if I really like it beofre blogging about it. Well, I really like it! I still use Snuggle liquid fabric softener, so my clothes smell better than ever! I think with out competing between 2 strong scents it even smells better! This a picture of all of the ingredients. I use an old bottle to put the soap in and you just shake it a little before you use it!

This recipe came from Frugal Find listed on my blogs! Thanks

Homemade Laundry Soap
Ingredients: 1 bar fels naptha, grated
1 cup arm & hammer super washing soda laundry detergent (a laundry booster)
1/2 cup borax hot water

Directions: 1. Place grated soap in a pot.
2. Cover with water and simmer over medium heat until all soap is melted, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour into 5 gallon bucket.
4. Add washing soda and borax.
5. Add enough hot water to fill the bucket.
6. Stir (I use a long measuring stick, but any long stick will work).
7. Let sit overnight to gel.
8. Use 1 cup per load.
9. (You can pour this into old detergent containers or leave in the bucket. Please cover with a lid if leaving in the bucket to protect children and pets.). This costs pennies per load and works great!! Add a little white vinegar to the load as fabric softener.

Crazy Ball!

The other day I was at the dollar store and I saw this green ball. I laughed when I saw it because I thought it looked pretty pitiful! So, why would I keep thinking about it! I kept thinking that I should have bought it and that it would look cute on my shelf with a little love! So, I went back and purchased 5 of them, plus a few other odds and ends. It sat for days and I realized that St. Patricks day was going to come soon and I better hurry and get it made!
I made 2 of these topiaries and then just added some ribbon on to the remaining balls!

I put them up on my shelf and I really didn't like it - it felt so out of balance. So I tried again and I like it a lot better!

The sign has our last name on it, but I blurred that for safety reasons. A talented lady in my old ward made it for me after I lost a bid at the scout auction. I never framed it and thought it would go pretty on the shelf. So I took my sign that said "love" that I made last month and turned it around. I put ribbon on the outside of the wood and paper behind the stitchery. I really liked the way it turned out. The things we do to fight the winter blues!!

Indoor Triathlon

I am so proud of Chris and his efforts to get in shape! On Saturday he entered an indoor triathlon. The girls and I had so much fun going and watching him! He did a great job! First of all he had to swim for 15 minutes. He swam 810 meters

The he had to ride the bike for 15 minutes.
Then he had to run for 15 minutes. He ran 1.92 miles!
We are so proud of you Chris and we look forward to watching you in the full triathlon!
This all started by having it be a goal to run a 5K for a woodbadge goal! See how scouts can still bless your life!

6th picture

The 6th Picture
The Rules:Go to the document settings/my pictures on your computer

Choose your 6th file
Choose your 6th picture Blog about it
Tag 6 more people!

Okay, Tiana already commented that most of the post lately have been about her, but this is the picture that it fell on. This picture is of Tia when I believe she was 4. She was taking a dance class and she looked so cute! This picture is taken in the spring at my old house. I miss my house and the front flower bed! Time goes by quickly! Did you know I love this girl!!!

So I am tagging Jessica, Kasey, Jodi, Debbie,Stef and Sonia!!