My Dedication To Mother's

I can't believe it is May already. I am trying to figure out what took up all my time over the last couple of weeks that I didn't have time to read any blogs much less update mine.

Lets see, I painted my kitchen what was supposed to be a creamy yellow that turned out instead to be a bright lemon yellow so I repainted it "Roxbury Caramel". It turned out much better. I also painted a hallway and helped Zac get his Webelos badge. Toni has had several more horseback riding lessons, Zeke started soccer and had a field trip to the firestation. I finally got the contractor to come back out and move the rock that he put in the wrong place almost 2 years ago, which I dug out all by myself, I moved a tree and planted a new tree. I also planted my hanging baskets, annuals and perennials through out my yard (which one of my dogs decided to dig up and rip to shreds 4 of the 6 Gerbera Daisy's that I had planted). Toni had a music program last week and her birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. She is turning 8 which means I am preparing to have a baptism the first saturday in June, and I have to teach relief society in 2 weeks. Zac and Toni both have field trips I am commited to going to next week and Zac is doing a science project ( which means I am doing a science project) that is due on the 16th. On top of all the normal things like laundry, grocery shopping, balancing the checkbook, changing pee'd beds, cooking, vacuuming, dishes and etc., my father-in-law has been in town for almost 2 weeks, and I managed to fit in cleaning, reorganizing and unpacking the office which included moving my 2 heavy wood filing cabinets all by myself up from down stairs and I am trying to find the time to squeeze in watching the season finally of my only me time shows, Grey's Anatomy and Lost! (Anybody else watch either of those?)

Whew! I am not complaining...this is just my life and I would not trade it for the world.

While I was reorganizing my office I came across pictures of my kids when they were younger. Some of these pictures were of when Toni was a baby and later when she was in ballet, Zac was playing t-ball and soccer and Zeke was a chubby, red headed baby that was (and still is) a fireball. Tears came to my eyes when I looked back at my babies because they are all growing up so fast. I realized that I have always been the luckiest wife and mom ever to have had a husband that has always provided a way for me to have been there for all those memories that have been made, lessons that were taught, sleepless nights, rushed trips to the bathrooms, soccer games, swim lessons, emergency room visits, kissing boo-boos of the knees and hearts of all three of my children.

I would scrub toilets, pick up toys over and over again and do all those things that I dread doing forever, just to have the opportunity to be a mom for my kids, just to be able to continue to see their faces looking back at me in the rear view mirror as we go to the many activities they have. It is what makes my life worth living. I am honored to answer to the name of "Mom".

A special Thank you to my mom who showed me so much love, who sacrificed so much to always be there for me, who is a huge part of my own memories as a child and has always been an amazing example of how a mother should be. You are my hero. A huge thank you to my husband and kids for being so forgiving of me and loving of me "in spite of". Thank you to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with my 3 beautiful children. I look forward to the continued time I have with my kids, because I know before too long when I look in my rear view mirror, they will have grown up.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have had and who will have these same experiences.

Toni, Horses & Dogs. Oh, My!

Today is Tuesday which in our family means horseback riding day. She is our little cowgirl complete with boots and all. (which is fine with me because the longer she is interested in horses the longer boys are not in the radar...plus she smells like a horse when she is done with the lessons and I do think that will keep most boys away) Every tuesday, since October, Toni gets to take a one hour lesson which she looks forward to every week. She has learned so much! She now knows how to clean out thier hooves, brush, bridle and almost sadle a horse. She is a natural. Toni has accomplished the rising trot, trotting and she has even been able to canter a couple of times! The other day, I even put a bridle on! That is saying alot for this city girl! I felt good about this for days!

(dosen't she look great?!)

Toni would really like to get a horse with the money she has been saving for the last 7 years of her little life, but we have nowhere to put one. Zeke suggested that we get a crate like we have for our dogs and it could sleep in our garage. I love how little kids minds work! We want to give her one but just can't for obvious reasons, which, as most parents do, makes us feel bad because she love it so much. So, Dan thought she should be able to get a dog. That would mean 3 dogs at our house. This didn't sound like a very good idea to me, so we decided instead that Toni would be able to adopt my dog, Sam. Believe it or not she agreed to this idea and now Sam is offically her dog. He even sleeps in her room. Dan took Toni on a special date Saturday night. They went to dinner (she got to pick and she choose Olive Garden) and then they took Sam to Petsmart (is it Pets Mart or Pet Smart? This is Zachary's favorite question) where she bought him a new collar and some toys, and treats with her own money. She came home beaming from ear to ear! Hopefully, this will keep the horse in the garage idea at bay for a little while and the keep the money from burning a hole in her pocket.

My Birthday

I had a great 32nd birthday this year! I told Dan that all I wanted this year for my birthday was a sunny day and he delivered! With a little help from above I suppose! Anyway, we went to the tulip festival again this year. I think I am going to make this an annual tradition. The only small downer of the day was that because it has been so cold this year, there were not many tulips blooming. Oh, well the sun and the cheesecake did make up for it. I did order some tulip bulbs for my garden so that will be fun for next year. I couldn't of asked for a better day. Thanks to all those who remembered me on my birthday this year....I won't mention the ones who didn't (Calixta & Ciria). I feel the love! JK.

It all started with the pinewood derby

It had been quite some time since I have posted anything. We have been really busy around here. It all started with the pinewood derby!

Here is some quick background....This is the third year that Zac ahas been in scouts. The very first year Dan and Zac put off doing his pine wood until a couple of days before the race. Because of that, they had a very basic wedge shaped car. On race night they were pretty excited to see how it held up compared to the other competitors of the race. Soon it was very clear that the car was a bomb! Zac was disappointed and Dan felt bad that it had all gone so badly...Especially since the cars that were doing so well were the ones with batteries taped to the top or loose change hot glued to the car, so he vowed to Zac that next year they would learn everything they needed to know to make a fast car.

Fast forward to the second year... (Disclaimer: if you read any further you are here by sworn to secrecy and I will never speak to you again if this information EVER gets back to Zac.) Dan and Zac searched the internet for pinewood derby "secrets". They bought this video and when it came they watched over and over and then they went out and bought hundreds of dollars in tools. They worked on this car for 2 weeks straight...Polishing, sanding, shaping, painting, weighing, aligning and then doing a series of test runs and measurements of distance. It was completed the night before the race. The next morning, the day of the race, Zac left it on the kitchen counter. I asked him if he thought that was a safe place to leave it and he said yes. After he left to school, I came home and decided to move it, fearing that where he left it, it would surely get broken. So, I picked it up and started to go put it in a safer place when, you guessed it, I dropped it and it broke in half! Aaaaagggghhhh!!!! What did I do? First I used several @#*! type words, then panic set in, then I cried. I hurried and grabbed the wood glue, touch up paint and the hair dryer. I fixed it so you couldn't see the damage. By this time I had called Dan, he came home to evaluate the damage and we both decided never to mention this to Zac. We went to the race that night and surprisingly the car did very well and he came in third place in his troop. Which made it more clear that Zac could never know what happened because if I hadn't broke it, he might have won 1st place.

This brings up to date......
Zac and Dan started again on the pinewood and doing much of the same stuff (just a different design change) worked on the pinewood derby for a little over a week and again completed the car the night before race day. At 9:30 pm all that needed to be done was insert the wheels. Zac went to bed and Dan and I were reliving last year when I asked him about a certain design issue. I predicted that because the weight was so far in the back, with the original wheel placement, once the wheels were attached the car would do a constant wheelie. Dan quickly put on the wheels to see that I was correct and attempted to make a quick and easy correction of moving the wheels back further and all problems would be corrected. Easy, right? Wrong! When Dan drilled new holes, the bottom of the car crumbled! So, here we were, 11:30 pm, deciding what to do. Like any good parent would do, we hid the car and decided we try to fix it in the morning. Zac and Toni left for school and Dan & I raced to the Boy Scout store picked up a new kit and spent the next 5 hours rebuilding the car. When it was time for the kids to come home, we were not done yet. I picked up the kids and I had to tell Zac what happened. He said "That's ok mom, at least we had fun building the proto-type"! What a sweet boy. Anyway, we raced home and once again I was blow drying the paint dry. We finished minutes before we had to leave. Zac came in 4th in his pac. All is well!

Which brings us back to why I haven't blogged in awhile. As a result of the record time pace of building a worthy pinewood, our garage was in shambles! So much so, we couldn't even pull one of our cars into the garage. The next Saturday, Dan pulled everything out of the garage to clean and reorganize. After everything was out on the driveway and in my entryway he decided to paint the garage. Fine, but this meant that most everything stayed on our driveway and entryway for 2 days! When we were finished he decided that before he put everything back he wanted to paint the concrete floor....But he couldn't do this before next weekend. So everything we didn't care about getting stolen stayed on our driveway and everything we did not want to get stolen was in my entryway until the following weekend. We painted our floor but we had to wait an additional 2 days for it to dry completely before we put everything back into the garage. People that came to the house literally had to walk over weedeaters, navigate through misc. power tools and around the dog crate. My freezer was in front of the house plugged in outside, which made it very convenient to find my way out the front door to get a pound of hamburger out for dinner! We looked like WT! Even mom said so when she came over on Sunday. Thanks, mom. Well, to put an end to this long boring story, everything is put back...finally...after 2 weeks! Wouldn't you love to be our neighbors?

Q & A

1. What is your occupation? A nurse, accountant, house keeper, cook to the not-so-famous, dog walker/groomer, teacher, gopher, chauffeur, sometimes judge, jury and attorney, psychologist and finder of all lost things. In other words a mother!
2. What color is your underwear? White
3. What are you listening to right now? My kids playing on a microphone.
4. What was the last thing you ate? Enchiladas for Breakfast
5. Do you wish on stars? No, I wish on the sun, I guess that is a star so my answer should be yes.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red
7. How is the weather right now? Overcast and rainy.
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Kathleen Sharif
9. How old are you today? 31, 6 days away from 32
10. Favorite drink? Water, Lime Margerita - virgin that is , lemonade, and cream soda
11. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball but even more than that, what ever sport my kids are in.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? yup, not any more though, I am going to go grey gracefully!
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? No, but I am supposed to.
14. Pets? 2 dogs, Sam & Eco
15. Favorite month? July
16. Favorite food? Mexican, Hawaiian Haystack, Beef Stroganoff and Cheesecake
17. What was the last movie you watched? Garden State which I would not recommend
18. Favorite day of the year? July 4th
19. What do you do to vent anger? yell and cry
20. Hugs or kisses? both, but it depends on who it is from
21. Cherry or blueberry? Blueberry if I had to choose one of those, if not it would be strawberry
22. Living arrangements? In Bob & Sandy's house, which we built, that they just moved out of and we are buying from them with Zac, Toni, Zeke, Dan, Sam & Eco
23. When was the last time you cried? I can't remember, I think it was in South Carolina getting ready to come back to Washington
24. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes , clothes and sometimes Sam my dog
25. Who is/are the friends you have had the longest? Matt & Lisa Tobey (13 years now)
26. What did you do last night? Made Mom's Enchiladas for dinner and watched Grey's Anatomy
27. Favorite Smell? Ocean air, new born babies, Lilacs and Honeysuckle
28. What inspires you? Sunshine, Dan & My children
29. What are you afraid of? Mice
30. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Spicy
31. Favorite car? Volvo wagons and convertible VW bugs
32. Favorite dog breed? Long hair miniature dacshunds
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 2
34. How many years at your current job? 10 years
35. What is your favorite smell? same as 27
36. How many states have you lived in? 7 (TX, WA, NC, NV, ID, CA, UT)
37. How many cities have you lived in/name them? (14) Laredo, TX, Connell, WA, Moses Lake, WA, Spokane, WA, Durham, NC, Wendover, NV, Rexberg, ID, Wendover, UT, Monterey, CA, Provo, UT, Payson, UT, SLC, UT, Vancouver, WA, Camas,WA
38. What was the last book you read? The Wedding (a sequel to The Notebook)

I never thought I would see the day!

I told you I would not be very good at keeping this updated! Just for the record we all have been sick and are just now recovering!

Ok, those of you who have known Dan & I for more than 3 years, would have never, ever (in a million years) thought they would have seen this day! Frankly, I never thought that I would see this day and I have been married to him for 13 years. He truly is a changed man...for better or for worse you will have to decide. I think it is all for the better, of course! Dan is in love with his black & white fury friend (Eco) that has horrible breath and drinks out of the toilet! (It's no wonder why he has bad breath...the dog that is! JK) Yeah, I know, CRAZY! Not only does the dog get to be indoors but Dan will let him sit in his lap while he is on his leather recliner! He also takes him to work with him almost everyday, which means that he rides in Dan's relatively new truck. Just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks!


Happy First Day of Spring!

Shave and a Hair Cut

Okay, okay I resisted doing this for a long time but I have given in. I can not promise it will be funny and amusing like Alex's or that it will be creative like Cathy's or that it will be kept up like Dad's but, I will give it my best shot.

So, I am home for the 4th day with all 3 of my kids sick with the flu. Fevers, sick tummies, coughing, body aches, vomiting, loads of wash, dispensing medicine and lots of cuddling and watching copious amounts of Sponge Bob Square Pants has been my agenda for the past several days with no end in sight. I have not slept for 3 nights, when I do finally drift off to sleep I hear in my head "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS!...." and I am in the middle of trying to paint the house. Just another day in the life of Kristy.



Anyway, I thought I would share the latest funny story about our little wild red head, a.k.a. Zeke with you. Last Sunday, after returning from yet another fulfilling day at church, as we always do, we sent out kids to change out of their church clothes while Dan takes care of the dogs (yes, we have 2) and I went to start dinner. Usually after about 5 minutes we expect to hear some arguing coming from our kids but today we heard something very different. We heard Zac and Toni laughing hysterically saying "Mom, come look what Zeke did!" Ok, this is never a good sign. Dan and I took quick bets as to what we were going to find and headed down the stairs. We surveyed the situation and quickly realized what they were laughing at. Zeke had found Dan's beard trimmer and shaved 2 runway strips down the middle of his head! Trying our hardest to hold back our laughter, we asked him why he had done this. He replied simply, "I want to be bald like my dad." I tried several different methods of cutting his hair in hopes of keeping him from looking like he just went through a round of chemo-therapy. But, in the end, holding back my tears, I shaved his head completely bald. Zeke took one look into the mirror and smiled. He said "Now I am bald like my Dad! When I get bigger I am going to jump out of an airplane with him!" AIRBORNE, ZEKE! You truly are our wild red head! I have no doubt in my mind that one day you will be jumping out of an airplane!


Who would doubt what this kid is going to do?