Tagged!!

Here is the survey that LaNelle tagged me for:

i am: lazy!
i know: a lot!
i want: to live in a better world!
i have: a very sore foot!
i hate: being fat!
i miss: my baby!
i feel: blessed!
i hear: complete silence (the girls are with Jeff at a youth activity, Mikey is playing a game and there is no TV on...it is so nice)
i smell: what I cooked for dinner (sauteed shrimp, chicken, and veggies...yumm!)
i crave: a big piece of Momma's peanutbutter fudge
i search: ponder and pray!
i love: Jeff
i care: about doing the right thing and setting a good example!
i always: tell my kids I love them
i believe: that we should always have dreams
i sing: to the radio and my cd's
i write: when I need to express my feelings and can't get them to come out!
i lose: everything I put down and these days my mind
i win: at losing...I hardly ever win anything!
i never: will get a puppy again...they are too much work!
i listen: to my kids all day long and am the only one that listens to me
i am scared: that I won't be worthy enough to have Noah back again
i need: a maid!
i am happy about: Chrismas coming...I love that time of year!
i tag: Emily, Lauren, Michael, and Jewel!

Pain in the Foot!

Okay...now I know that I am somewhat of a wimp when it comes to pain but lately I have had such severe pain in my left foot than I can hardly put any weight on it at all.  It hurts when I get out of bed first thing in the morning then it seems okay.  Then after Emily and I go to the gym and workout I have to come home and put my foot up because I can barely walk...what the heck????  It bothers me a little when I am walking on the treadmill or the eliptical machine (which by the way I can only do for 12 minutes at the lowest level otherwise I am dying!) but when we are done exercising the pain is horrible.  I can barely walk....it is so frustrating!   I know I sound like a wimp because I am one.  Jackie (the kid's nurse) told me that she think I have something called Planter Fasciitious!  I looked it up and it does sound like the kind of pain I have.  So now, I have to rest my feet, put ice on the foot that hurts for 15 minutes after exercise (I know I am not supposed to work thru the pain but I do think that if I can get some of this weight down that will help) and when the pain and swelling go down, do some exercises.  I may have to end up going to the doctor to see if I need a brace for my foot at night and I am going to get some special heel inserts in my shoes to see if that helps!  So much for my love of cheap shoes to go with every outfit....I hate getting old.  Everything starts breaking down...oh well!   I just don't like to have pain and no one likes to be around me when I do because I am such a WHINER!!!  I would say pray for me but I think everyone should pray for those that have to live with me...hahahaha!  One more thing I am learning to not like about aging!  I wouldn't mind it at all if I didn't have to have any aches and pains that come along with it because I would love to have the knowledge I have now when I was younger...I would have been so much better!  I guess we can't have it all!  So now I can tell everyone I have a royal pain in the foot!

Good hair? Bad Hair?

Today, Jackie brought over her spiral style curling iron to practice on Lauren's hair. She has all boys so she wanted to fix Lauren's hair. It turned out so cute! I love Lauren's hair with curls! Emily is going to a dance Friday night and they can dress up...she went to Wal-Mart today and bought some spray that colors her hair different colors! She thinks her dad will love it..hahahaha! So we have good hair and weird colored hair (?)! Anyway...thought ya'll would like to see it. We are trying to convince Emily to spiral curl her hair too....it would be so cute! I love curls! I told Emily with her hair that color she could go as a punk rocker...gotta love the 80's...hahahahaha!

Gotta love Sundays!

Sunday's are my favorite day of the week. I especially love them on Stake Conference week-ends. There are no meetings after church! Our stake conference was so good and the talks were uplifting and made me want to be a much better person. It is always nice to receive counsel and then look at myself and find areas where I need to improve. (There are a LOT of areas!) It is always nice to have this one day to spend with my family without any outside interruptions from the world. I appreciate the beauty of this one day when we can focus on our faith and our family. It is a nice break from the world and all the cares that go with it. So I just have to say that I am grateful for Sundays. What a refreshing way to start my week....which if you read my post from last Monday you will see why I enjoy Sundays so much! Tomorrow the hectic schedule will start again but for today I stop and realize how much my family means to me and how grateful I am for the gospel in my life. I am really blessed to have a strong faith that pulls me thru difficult times and bears me up when life gets hard and a wonderful family who bring so much richness and joy to my life. They are what makes me the most happy and I love them with all my heart. I can find more things that I am grateful for than I can find things that are hard. I do love Sundays!!!

Another Rally....more fun, and more SUN!

When I found out that Sarah Palin was coming back to NC this week I called Jewel to see if she wanted to go and she did. I also asked the kids if they wanted to go and they were excited as well. We decided to do our fieldtrip for school to the Sarah Palin rally at Elon College! We went and got the tickets then left our house at 7:30 a.m. (can you believe Lauren got up that early...now that is determination..for her!) and headed out! (Even Jackie came along...she was a great sport and a great help the whole day and we really enjoyed her company...thanks, Jackie..we love you!) We picked up Jewel and off we went. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast, ate in the car and kept going so we could get there by 10:00 a.m. We knew the crowds would be big and we wanted to get there early! We had to park in a field about 2 miles from the baseball field! It was a nice walk during the morning....it wasn't too hot and we were all excited. We got pretty far up in line so we settled down for a long wait. Jewel had brought a camp chair with her that she knew she couldn't take in but she decided she would leave it and didn't care if she got it back. We talked to others in line and ended up standing under a shaded tree so it wasn't too bad. While we were standing in line, we found out that there were NO seats except for VIP's and we would all be standing on the baseball field. Okay..that was not what I wanted to hear but anyway they let us in around 11:30. We got so close to the stage that I was excited and so were the kids. The sun was really beating down though and after about 2 hours, with little water (we had to wade thru a HUGE crowd and wait in a line to get any) the kids were beginning to fade! Jackie doesn't like crowds so she opted to stay out of the arena under a shade tree but we all wanted to be close! I went to get some water for the kids (they had taken their cornstarch but we didn't have anymore water with us) and while I was gone, Jewel got worried! She checked the kids bloodsugars and they were good but the heat was too much. I got back, saw that they weren't going to make it. Emily said she felt like she was going to throw up (that time of the month) so I told the security gaurd we had to get out of the arena (we were packed in their like sardines). Jewel took her and Lauren out and after about 15 minutes I decided to take Michael out as well. The people around us were great and they held our places. Once the kids got to a shaded area, they got better IMMEDIATELY! Jewel and I decided to go back in since we were so close, we thought we could get the kids hats signed. We made our way back thru the crowd and then everyone closed in. It was BLAZING HOT in that crowd. Hank Williams, Jr. came out and sang a couple of songs then sang a song he wrote for the campaign called "McCain/Palin Tradition"! It was great and you have to go to Youtube and watch it! We cheered but I was so hot I thought I would pass out...I sat down in the crowd for a minute to try and cool off. Jewel was grabbing on to the rail we were standing by...finally Sarah Palin came out and we were so close to her we could see the beads of sweat on her forehead. It was great but by the time she finished speaking I was too hot to care! I tried to get the kids hats signed but I couldn't push up thru the crowd as everyone moved in really fast. I gave up when I felt like I was going to faint and Jewel and I made our way out of the huge packed in crowd. By the time we got back to the kids, I sat down, drank 3 cups of water and thought I couldn't go another step. My left foot (I have some kind of pulled muscle or something in it) was hurting so bad that any weight I put on it was so painful....of course we had been standing up in the hot sun for over 5 hours at this point! We began to make our way back to the car (a 2 mile walk)! It wasn't nearly as much fun going back....Lauren asked to stop once as she was really tired and I was happy to do so. I was hot and tired and in NO MOOD for those looney Obama supporters that were protesting so I just yelled back at them that we were voting for hope that's why we were voting for McCain. When we FINALLY made it back to the car, I was so happy for a good seat and AIR CONDITIONING! I would never have made it as a pioneer! We recovered fairly quickly though as we drove out of town. We stopped to eat on the way home and by the time we got home, we were tired but everyone was in tact! It was a good day with my kids, my sister in law, and my friend. We enjoyed each others company and loved seeing Sarah Palin. Michael had a "Country First" sign that he waved and said he was a good sign waver. Lauren got a pink McCain/Palin hat and they got to have first hand knowledge of what a rally is like with tons of people (although none of us like the blazing heat)! Michael came home and went to the computer to learn even more! I'm glad we got to experience it...I came away with a greater appreciation for our country, our freedoms, my home, my car, and for air conditioning...hahahaha! All in all it was a great day! Below are some pictures from our day!

Everyone waiting in line

Holding up my "Country First" towel

I took a picture of Mikey while he was sitting down in the hot sun

Jewel sitting in the crowd having a good time!

Emily & Lauren waiting as everyone was coming in!

Eating at Cracker Barrel at the end of our long, hot, fun day!

And the days go by....

Did I mention that I love being a mother and wife but somedays when laundry is piled up, the house is a mess, the school work is behind, seminary to study for, Relief Society stuff to keep up with, food storage to work on, housework to do, a garage to clean out, a diet to work on, dinner to figure out, kids that need a listening ear, and a husband that needs love and attention can be OVERWHELMING???? I am having one of those Monday mornings..hahaha! Where do I start? I guess I will start by counting my blessings...I have kids who need a listening ear, a husband who needs love and attention, a house that needs cleaning, a body that has enough food and to spare in it, a headstart of food storage, clothes so I can have laundry...and the list goes on!

Just in case any of you were wondering this is how I start out every Monday morning...a list of things I need to get done and then I count my blessings so I won't get discouraged and quit! My days are filled with things that need to be done, children that need my attention and love, a husband that needs to find peace from the pull of the world when he comes home, church work that needs to be accomplished and by the end of the week I have sorted thru and made my list of priorities...some things get done and others get pushed back for another week so every Monday it is the same list...hahahaha! The only things I don't put on hold are the needs of my children and my husband (or at least I try very hard not to do that...some days they all think I don't do such a great job on that end either...hahaha)! This is my life...busy, sometimes wondering if I am doing any good in a world that is filled with challenges, and always praying for the ability to be a little better everyday!

So to everyone I say...Have a happy week and don't forget to count your blessings...they are always there!

SARAH PALIN RALLY!!!!

I cannot tell ya'll what a great time we had. Below we have posted pictures and explanations from the event but I have to tell you that we came away excited and felt great to get to be a part of this history making campaign. I loved it when we were part of the 8000 people who stood and said the pledge of allegience and sang the National Anthem. It was wonderful to hear all those people sing. Made you feel proud to be an american. We also heard from our NC Senator, Elizabeth Dole, and our Republican Governor candidate, Pat McCroy. It was a great day and night! We got home at 11:00 p.m. last night and it was worth it!

From the beginning to the end it was so much fun! We got there 4 hours early and this is PART of the line that was in FRONT of us! We didn't mind though! We had a great time talking to everyone and enjoying being part of the event!

Emily thought her pink McCain hat was the coolest and she is showing off her ticket to get into the event. Those were priceless that day as there were a lot of people that weren't able to get them and wanted to be able to get in. They had an overflow area that people could watch it on the screen but it was much more fun to be inside.

Here is a picture of all of us waiting in line. We got to know people when we were talking in line and it was fun! We loved all of it, even the waiting!
Here is a picture of Makayla and Emily with their "lipstick" on! We tried to get Terry to wear some as well but she declined. We are still waiting in line!
I took a picture of this bumper sticker this man had behind us in line because I knew that Jeff would love it. I took it for him! Isn't it great...and appropriate??? hahaha!

Here are the buttons we collected while at the rally. We all chose which one we wanted and then brought them back home to those that didn't get to attend the rally. I loved them all!
We are FINALLY made it in! We were sitting up off the floor and to the side so that we had a good view of Sarah Palin. If we wanted to be on the floor then it was standing only and we really didn't want to stand for the whole 5 hours we were in there! It was fun where we were as well! I'm showing off my Country First sign!

And finally...we got to see Sarah Palin! I have to tell everyone that she is as genuine in person as she seems to be on TV. We loved her speech and were so impressed with how she connected to all of us. She stayed at least 30 minutes after her speech just to sign autographs and talk with the people that were surrounding her. Emily really wanted to get her to sign her hat but we knew we couldn't get that close with everyone else around!

She is blowing a kiss into the crowd! It was so cute to see her do that to the little children!

General Conference!

Wow...that is about all I can say...general conference was so good and so much of it that I needed to hear. All the talks were uplifting and reminded me that in these perilous times there is only one source that we can turn to that will help us thru...our Savior. I am so grateful for our leaders who teach us, counsel us, and give us hope and perspective about this life. As I listened to President Monson this morning I was so grateful for his message and how we can change for the better. It has made me want to be better and given me the courage to be a little better everyday. How grateful I am for this week-end. It has been a week-end full of enrichment and has put life back into perspective for me! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know it has the power to change lives for it is continually changing mine for the better!