The Twelve Days

Every year Kevin's Aunt Mary puts together a 12 days of Christmas activity for the kidos. She brings each child a giant gift bag filled all sorts of treasures. Each gift is wrapped and labeled as to which comes first, second, third etc. and we open one each day. They receive their final gift from Aunt Mary on Christmas day at Grandma Lulu's. Needless to say THEY LOVE IT. Are you kidding....opening presents before Christmas....who wouldn't love that?!?!?! Thanks Aunt Mary! We love you!

This is the picture of day one this year!

Light the Night

Friday night South Jordan City turned on their Christmas lights and opened their outdoor ice skating rink. Kevin and Mia stayed home with the sniffles but Jackson, Kacie, Maxwell and I had a grand time at the celebration with Papa and Gramma Cinny and my brother's family. (To see more cousin pictures visit my mom's blog.) The kids fell on their little keisters a million times but got right back up and kept on skating. (They're still a little sore today.) Max keeps grabbing his cheeks and saying, "Ow...my poor bum." We visited with Santa, drank hot chocolate and rode in a 100 year old wagon. Thanks for inviting us Papa!

Enjoy the pics!

Quirky Tagging

My friend Amy tagged me a few weeks ago and I finally have a minute to respond. I'm supposed to list 6 things are quirky about me and then I'm supposed to tag others to respond. I could come up with many more than 6 because as my sweet hubby says, "I have issues." Well that leads me to my first quirk.....

1. I never forward cutesy e-mails. I never send stuff to ten friends including the friend that sent it to you. I hate those letters you get in the mail that say something like, "Send a recipe to 10 people. Include your address on the bottom and in the end you'll receive 1,000 recipes in return." I don't respond to surveys and I always delete the e-mails that say "don't delete or you'll die." I suppose that means I don't forward TAGS either. I love you Amy but the TAG stops with me.

2. My favorite sound in the whole world is that throaty sing-songy sound a fussing baby makes when the pacifier goes in her mouth.

3. The closet doors must be closed in order for me to go to sleep at night. Not just in my bedroom, but in the kids' rooms as well.

4. When I fill up a tank with gas I ALWAYS round up to the nearest 5 cents.

5. Facial hair....BLAH!!! Hair that covers the eyes or face...BLAH!!! (Just ask my Young Women on this one.)

6. Ironing makes me happy! I think this one comes from a childhood memory of my mom ironing all the time. She still irons EVERYTHING - tablecloths, napkins, her jeans, baby clothes and blankets, fabric as she's quilting and even my dad's WRINKLE FREE dress shirts. I'm not quite as iron happy as she is but I do love it. I love the clean laundry smell, the warm steam and mostly I love the finished product. Nothing compares to a smooth, crisp white shirt. Especially when it's going on my husband as he's headed off to serve the Lord!

7. I have serious OCD when it comes to eating colored food (especially candy.) I like to have the same number of the various colors. It goes something like this. If I pick up a handful of M&M's and I get 3 blue 2 green 2 red and 1 orange, I will first eat the orange piece because it has no hope of adding up to the other colors. Then I will eat 1 blue which will leave 2 of each color. From there I will eat both candies of the same color at the same time until they're all gone.
With Starbursts, however, I like to have one of each color and then I always eat them in this order....yellow, orange, red, pink.
Bizarre I know! Now I'm going to feel extremely self-conscious when I eat candy around any of you!

I could go on but I think I would scare all of you away. I know you have quirks too. Are you brave enough to share?

Integrity!

Oh no! Here's another Blog Post from Kevin (if this keeps up I'll have to start my own blog). Have no fear! I promise this one won't be as long as my election day diatribe. But, I do want to share a wonderful story I heard this morning about honesty and integrity.

This is a story about a golfer named J.P. Hayes. Mr. Hayes was playing in a golf tournament last week hoping to qualify for a full-time spot on the PGA tour.

After playing his round he went back to his hotel room and discovered that he had accidentally played two shots of his round with a with a prototype golf ball that had not been approved for use in professional competition. Now I don't know all the ins and outs of golf. In my experience, I'm happy to just keep my ball on the fairway, or at least out of the water. But apparently using an unapproved ball is a great big "no no" in the PGA.

No one knew that Mr. Hayes had played with an unapproved ball, he could have easily gotten away with it and gone on to play in the PGA Tour. But he didn't! He called an official with the Tour and told the truth. He was disqualified and lost any chance at a spot on the PGA tour next year, along with the money that would have come with it.

Did he make a fuss, did he complain about how unfair it was, after all it was an honest mistake? No, his quote: "It's disappointing."

Mr. Hayes will not be playing in the PGA next year, but he will sleep well at night knowing that he did the right thing. He will be able to look his wife, mother and/or children in they eye without hesitation.

You don't need to look very far to find examples of lying, cheating, stealing, name calling and finger pointing. How nice it is to know that in spite of it all, there are still people who value honesty and integrity.

Thank you J.P. Hayes!!

Ode to the Washer and Dryer

We've had sick kids all weekend. Not just the lay on the couch whine and fuss that "my tummy hurts" sick kids, but the explosive bodily fluids - so weak that they fall asleep on the hardwood floor sick kids. IT'S BEEN HIDEOUS! Mia started throwing up on Thursday while Kevin and I were at a wedding and my friend Jen was watching her. She's still throwing up as of this morning. Maxwell christened the kitchen Friday night and the rest of the house after that. Kacie joined in Saturday night and I heard Jacks in our bathroom at about 3:00 this morning. I've cleaned up vomit from every carpeted area, the hardwood floor, the kitchen floor, the bathroom floors, the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink. I've washed my sheets (TWICE), all the towels at least once, the rugs from both the upstairs bathrooms and EVERY pair of pj's my kids own. Yesterday I wanted to cry, but today the sun is shining, Jackson is now old enough to make it to the toilet and thankfully I have my own washer and dryer to clean up the mess. Now all I need is a carpet cleaner!!

Playing Catch Up

I added several posts today. Scroll down and take a gander at them all!

Mia Evelyn Turns One!!

It's been a crazy ride since we added Mia to our family just one year ago. A ride to which she brings unparalleled peace and perfection. She has filled my heart to overflowing from the unbelievably calm and sacred moment of her birth. We can't wait to see what your life brings baby girl, but please don't grow up too fast!

Kacie's New Hairdo

Kacie decided to undo her ponytail all by herself the other day and created an amazing mess of knots and tangles. I couldn't get the elastic out even AFTER I cut it in half. The result...after six years of the same hair, Kacie now has bangs! She would love to hear what you think of her new look!

HALLOWEEN

We had a really great Halloween that included a parade and parties at school and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Can't wait for that candy to be gone!!!

It's Election Day!!!

Some people are passionate about sports, cars, theatre, reading, guns or home decorating. Others follow the stock market or business. But my passion has always been politics and current events. As long as I can remember I have watched the news, read newspapers, Time Magazine, Newsweek and more recently followed the news via the internet.

According to my mother I came running to her at the ripe old age of five crying because I had heard that the price of sugar had gone up and I didn't know how we would ever survive. My earliest recolection of politics is watching President Jimmy Carter sitting by a fire, in his cardigan sweater, asking Americans to turn down the heat and wrap up in a blanket or sweater because we were in an energy crisis (I would have been seven or eight years old). I clearly remember watching Ronald Reagan take the oath of office while U.S. hostages were being released after 444 day's of captivity (today is the anniversary of their captivity--keep that in your 'gee whiz' file to impress your friends at parties).

I have worked on political campaigns for almost every level of government: City Council, State Senate, County Assessor, Gubernatorial (ever wonder why it isn't govinatorial since it is the race for Governor?) United States Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. I have worked as a volunteer putting in many hours after school and on saturday, much to the detriment of my homework and grades (except for political science), and I have worked as a paid staffer living and breathing the campaign, sacrificing sleep, health, friendships and sanity for a cause and/or candidate that I truly believed in.

I have spent many crisp fall day's and nights handing out campaign flyers and knocking on doors in rain, snow, sleet and hail. Or driving through South Weber in a snow storm while my brother, Travis, hung out the window putting flyers in newspaper boxes. I have been yelled at, mistaken for someone's boyfriend and had a gun pulled on me. I even spent a very late election night cleaning ballots looking for the dreaded "hanging chads" that caused so much consternation in the 2000 presidential election.

I have had the priveledge of visiting Washington D.C. and touring the White House, meeting with Members of Congress and eating in the congress member's dining room. I have visited the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials and reflected on the many challenges that these great men faced. I have been to the VietNam and Korean War memorials and seen the names of many who have given the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation.

It takes a special kind of person to run for office. To be willing to put yourself out there, have your name in the media and enjoy victory or suffer defeat in the public eye. None of the people that I have worked for were ego driven, each of them ran because they wanted to contribute, to make a differnence. Each of them put their heart and soul into their campaigns and those that lost suffered a pain and sadness that is difficult to understand unless you have actually lived it.

It is heartbreaking to me, when we find it necessary to demonize our political opponents or those whom may not agree with our political philosophy. When the campaign's turn from a discussion of policy and how best to help the country to personal attacks and character assasination. Don't get me wrong, I'm not niave enough to think that this is something new. There were nasty political attacks when George Washington ran for president and they have continued ever since. Our political system was set up to be confrontational but sometimes I fear that in this world of 24 hour news cycles and political pundits the confrontation eclipses an actual discussion of policies.

Whatever the outcome of today's election, it will be an historic day. Historic in the number of people involved, in the number of people registered and in the amount of money spent (i'm not sure that is a good thing).

If the Obama/Biden ticket wins it will be the first time in history that a person of African descent has been elected president. If Senator Obama had been born 200 years ago he would not even have been counted as a full person (3/5ths) according to the United States Constitution. As late as the 1960's there were still law's in some states that limited the rights of African-American's to vote. Those law's were emliminated by the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If McCain/Palin is victorious tonight we will reach a similar milestone. Sarah Palin will be the first female Vice-Presdent of the United States. If Governor Palin were born a century earlier she would not be allowed to vote in many places in the United States. It wasn't until the 19th Amendment to the constitution was ratified in 1920 that women throughout the United States received the right to vote (women were allowed to vote in 1870 in the State of Utah).

If the Eubanks family get's their way this election day and Chuck Baldwin, of the Constitution Party, is elected then it will be the first time in history that a so-called third party candidate has won the U.S. Presidential election (although I think Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party came close).

Regardless of the outcome or whether you feel your candidate has a chance, please get out and vote. Too many people have given their lives and livelyhood's so that we can vote in peace and for the individual or party of our choice. There are too many places in the world today that don't have that right for us to squander it or take it lightly.

It is my prayer that whoever wins this election will have the support of the American people. The political pundints on the left and the right will immediately start tearing them down and finding fault but the issues we face today are much too important for politics as usual. The new President-elect faces challenges every bit as imposing as those faced by Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt and he will need all of our prayers and support. He will need an honest dialoge and discussion of ideas and not a barrage of attacks and negativity.

Sorry this has been so long but thanks for reading. Now stop reading and GO VOTE!!!

Kevin

Happy Birthday Kacie Jo

Today is Kacie's 6th birthday. I can't believe our colicky, cranky, always-crying-never-sleeping baby girl is now officially (according to her) a big girl. There is so much to love about Kacie. She is tender hearted and very in tune with the Spirit. She is loving and kind and has a grateful heart. She sleeps now. She's an AWESOME sister! She knows she is a daughter of a king and that she's beautiful. (I see this when she looks at herself in the mirror while I fix her hair. I hope she'll remember this long into her teenage years.) She's smart and funny and a great writer...the list goes on and on. Mostly though, the thing I love most about Kacie is that she makes me want to be more than I am. Kacie, I'm so grateful you're my daughter! Have an awesome 6th birthday!

Love - Mom

Disneyland

THANKS GRANDMA LULU AND GRANDPA STEVE FOR THE ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL TRIP TO DISNEYLAND!!

Hugs and kisses to the rest of the fam for a great week!

We loved it all but we have a few favorites!!
*Peter Pan (again) and talking about the waterfalls
*Lunch at Ariel's Grotto with all those beautiful princesses
*Indiana Jones
*The limousine ride to the Storyteller's Cafe
*THE MATTERHORN MARATHON

My Girls In Their TwirlyGirl Skirts

Illustrated by Kacie

Kacie's new favorite form of entertainment is standing precariously on a chair, carefully balancing the dry erase markers and eraser and playing "school" on our kitchen whiteboard. Today as she was the teacher and I the student she said, "OK class, today we're going to learn a new word. Can you say (sticking her tongue way out in exaggeration) i-l-lu-st-rat-e?" She told me all about illustrators and what they do and then she illustrated a story she made up. I love this girl!!!

Steppin' Out For Diabetes

Last Saturday we gathered with Kevin's family at This Is The Place Monument to participate in a walk/fundraiser for diabetes research. The walking route itself is not an easy one(especially with a strolller or wagon)but it was definitely worth it. The walk ends with free entrance to the Hogle Zoo (which made it worth it for the kids.) Check out some pics on the new Conservation Carousel.



Maxwell's favorite part of the zoo is the elephant encounter. He especially loves it when the elephants "poop out the gigantic green poops."


Kacie, Emma and Aunt Skippy choose the giraffes.


I think Jackson's riding a frog.


Mia was bound and determined to eat those feathers.

Thanks For All Your Prayers

KEVIN HAS A GREAT NEW JOB AND HE STARTS TOMORROW - OCTOBER 1ST. Just two days after Kevin lost his job with Equity Title, an old friend/business associate somehow heard the news. Having started his own business just over a year ago, he called Kevin and said, "Let's talk." Well, a monster long interview later he made Kevin a job offer. Not wanting to jump into the first offer that came along, Kev said he needed to think about it. We prayed, fasted and went to the temple and sure enough it felt right. During the last month they've been working on business cards, email accounts, building keys and codes etc. Truly a miracle considering the number of people that are out of work right now with no options on the horizon.

Many, many heartfelt thanks for all your prayers, faith and offers to help out. Once again I find myself humbled and touched by the love and generosity that surrounds me and my little family.

Get an Education!

When I was younger it used to make me absoluetly crazy to hear people say to girls, "You should go to college and get a degree because something may happen to your husband someday and you need to be prepared." Comments like that still make we want to vomit! Even typing that sentence just now made my whole neck break out in hives! I LOVE SCHOOL!! I have loved it since my first day in Mrs. Young's kindergarten class and I think girls should go to school for the sole purpose of education not for the LAME-O reason of "just in case." That being said, I DID get an education,(someday I want even more),and then I decided that I needed to be home full time with my babies. Fortunately for our family, Kevin also believed in getting an education, and made enough money for us to be a one income household.

That entire existence, the only one we've known in our 9 years of marriage, ended on the 29th of August when Kevin was laid off from his job. As you are all aware, I'm sure, the mortgage industry is in crisis and the company Kev worked for has made cutbacks here and there over the last 8 months. Just last month they completely shut down two offices. Not good news for a one income family of 6.

Kevin has been contacted by a few mortgage industry associates looking to recruit him. He's already applied for several positions in differents industries here in SLC and he's attending a networking seminar tomorrow at LDSBC. We both know the right job is out there. (Or do we send him back to school?) I suppose these things just take time to sort out.

In the mean time, and not knowing if he'll find a job with a starting salary comparable to what he was making before, I find myself smack dab in the middle of the LAME-O scenario of "just in case." I walked into one of our local elementary schools to see if they were hiring and because I have a degree I walked out with a job. I start Tuesday -part time at my request- implementing the school's reading program. Truly a blessing at the hand of the Lord. I'm anxious to leave the kids with sitters, (Kev will be here for a while.) And I'm REALLY nervous about teaching again - after 9 years of Elmo and Thomas the Tank Engine, I'm not exactly at the top of my game. I guess it's a good thing I'm not jumping back into the University or I'd be in big trouble.

So - we're moving forward in faith. While it's a total bummer for Kev to be out of work, it's exciting to think that a new adventure awaits us. (And that he'll have time to get some yard work done before the snow comes!)

In the end, this is my thought. We should all get as much education as we can. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father placed in me a very long time ago a love for learning. It has blessed my life in more ways than one and now more than ever. Tell your daughters, your sisters, your babysitters or any young women you know, to get an education for the sake of learning and discovering their divine role in this life. But then feel free to tell them you know someone who dug out her college diploma from the bottom of a dusty Rubbermaid tote, when the "just in case" really did happen to her.

Kindergarten And No Teeth

One week after the rest of the school started classes, the Kindergarten finally began. Kacie has been looking forward to this day since Pre-K graduation last June and I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep. Newman has three full day Kinders this year and Kacie has a brand new, fresh from interning teacher named Ms. DeJolie. She's excited to be taking lunch from home and looking forward to making lots of new friends. It was 40 degrees this morning but our little girly girl insisted on wearing a skirt for her first day! Oh how I love this tall, toothless 5 year old! Happy Kindergarten Kacie Jo!

We Are Truly Blessed

The very first time we hired a babysitter for Jackson he was 6 months old. I had heard from a friend that Haylie Ferguson was the best babysitter in the ward so, of course, she is the one we called. I prepared a perfectly complete list of phone numbers. (Including 911, our doctor, my mom, my mother in law, the neighbors down the hall and just in case she panicked in an emergency, I included her home phone number too.) The list showed how much Jackson weighed and all his medical history. As 13 year old Haylie and I stood in our tiny little apartment kitchen reviewing the list, she calmly put her hand on my shoulder and said, [You are new at this, huh?] Sure enough, we came home to find the apartment not burned to the ground or an ambulance in the driveway, but to a very peaceful baby asleep in the arms of the girl who would turn out to spend a thousand hours watching over my babies. She was even the friend I turned to at 3am last November when Mia was making her entry into the world. Now Haylie is all grown up and off to BYU and we will miss her like crazy!

The blessing part of this entry is that even though Haylie is gone, we now have a couple of great new babysitters. Jacquelyn and Kate are the favorites. [Next only to Aunt Mary.] Mia was almost 9 months old before I felt ready to leave her with a sitter, but Jacquelyn and Kate have shown me that I really had nothing to worry about all along. Check out this photo from the last time Jacquelyn watched the kidos. Mia really loves her! Thanks so much to all you great sitters out there!

First Day of Second Grade

Jacks started 2nd grade today! It seems like it was only yesterday I had to peel him off my lap kicking and screaming and bribe him to stay at Preschool. Today he is a confident, happy little boy who really loves school. (especially Science and Reading) Have a great school year buddy!



Showing off the new Batman Dark Night backpack!



Just so were clear, this is him NOT smiling!

This One's For You Haylie Anne!!

I love you and miss you already!

Thank Goodness for Big Brothers?

I have three younger brothers but none that are older than me. Life with all brothers is interesting to say the least. I always tell Kacie how lucky she is to have Jackson as a big brother, but after Sunday I'm not so sure I believe that anymore. The kids were outside playing while I was fixing dinner. Before long Jacks came running in and said, "Mom, come quick and see Kacie. She looks HILARIOUS!" This is what I saw.


At least it was painter's tape and not duct tape! What sort of torture do you think Maxwell will inflict on Mia down the road?

What Is Up With My Dreams?

This past week my brain has been in overdrive when it comes to dreaming. I'm not usually a dreamer, but for some reason I have had some ultra bizarre nighttime stories playing out in my head as of late. Seriously, these dreams have been so alive with color, smell and sound and even feeling. It all started with the dream about Kevin and I getting lost and locked in the Conference Center late at night. We tried and tried to get out but behind every door we opened lurked a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, each wearing a Jewish Yamulke and sunglasses. I remember feeling so relieved at the sight of each of their faces and then completely let down that they wouldn't tell us how to get out of the building.

In the next dream, Kevin and I were stranded on an island with Clark and Jen and Todd and Catherine. I can't imagine what we were doing in the first place that left us stranded, but there we were dripping wet and hungry. We looked around and saw all sorts of crab and prawns crawling around on the beach so we quickly started gathering them. All of us but Jen that is. Jen rolled up her shorts and ran out into the water with a massive harpoon and scored a giant fish. With nothing more than a stick she gutted, boned and filleted the beast. I climbed to the very top of a nearby tree to observe the festivities and saw Jen pull a tiny baggie filled with a white substance out of her pocket. At first I thought she was seasoning the fish but then I figured out it was POISON!! I slid down the tree trunk and ran to warn the others, but by the time I reached them I could no longer speak English. SO - we sat on the warm sand, eating bananas and enjoying a language lesson. I woke up laughing out loud! Thanks for feeding my family at the campout Jen and for the "white substance in a baggie" from YW Jacquelyn and Kate.

I didn't think I slept much at the Ward Campout but apparently it was enough to have a ridiculous dream. I'm not sure if we were at a concert or an EFY type event, but I had three of my young women with me and we were all wearing shade shirts with lace on the bottom and polka dot skirts. (another Warner reference) For some reason we had to walk forever to get to wherever it was we were going, so we kicked off our shoes to show off our tan feet and newly painted toenails. As we were walking, I kept getting glimpses of these really tall men hiding behind the trees that lined the path. All of a sudden, we were in a dorm area and the girls were plotting a secret rendezvous with the "drop dead gorgeous guys that wear Hawaiian shirts and BYU ball caps." (Thanks for that one Todd!) They eventually disappeared from my view but I could still hear their conversations on the opposite side of the door. I started to panic as day turned to night and their laughter turned to whispers. I didn't have anything with me to pick the lock - I didn't even have a shoe to throw at the door. So, being the Superwoman that I am, I kicked the door right down. There were my girls, all huddled in a circle and crying. Aspen looked at me and said, "Where have you been?" I woke up at this point with a racing heart and feeling the need to make several phone calls. BLAH!! Hideous!!

Last night's dream had a much better ending. Yesterday, Liz, one of my first little beehives, took off for college. I happened to be outside as she was leaving and so I was able to give her a huge hug and say goodbye. Well, as you can imagine, I dreamed about being back in the Young Adult ward I attended in college. In my dream I couldn't quite recognize any of the faces in the crowd, but I found an empty spot on a bench and sat down to enjoy the meeting. People were friendly and said "hello" and the meeting started without much excitement. Half way through the meeting the Bishop came down off the stand and started shaking hands with people. He was talking out loud, making jokes and being all sorts of irreverent. I couldn't help but think to myself, "Why in the world would they let this guy be the Bishop?" He gradually made his way to the bench where I sat and when he reached me I recognized him as Bishop Russell. He reached out to me, grabbed me by the shirt and picked me up to give me a hug. At that point I didn't even care if we were in the middle of sacrament meeting - it was GREAT to see my old friend! Bishop Russell really was my Bishop in the young adult ward I attended and before that he was my seminary teacher in 9th grade. I haven't thought about him in years! It's amazing how the Lord prepares you for the challenges and opportunities that will fill your life. Bishop Russell played a huge part in my preparation through the various assignments and callings he sent my way! Have so much fun in college Liz!

Well - that's my unconscious brain in a nutshell these days. It sort of sounds like I might be on drugs or something, but I assure you I AM NOT! I just NOTICE EVERYTHING, THINK way too much and FEEL too deeply - thank goodness I do or I just wouldn't be me.

Swimming Lessons

Who doesn't love a little chlorine first thing in the morning?




Maxwell with the extremely patient Miss Alyssa.



Kacie Jo swam with the "big kids" and loved every minute of it!



Jackson's favorite stroke is the back stroke!


Kevin and Mia entertaining each other on the last day.

It's About TIme!

I truly cannot believe Summer has come and gone so quickly! I remember telling people back in May how much I looked forward to lazy days with no schedules. Now, in retrospect, I just laugh at myself for thinking such nonsense and find myself saying, "I can't wait for school to start so we can get back to a routine."

Anyhow - we have spent the last three months playing and playing and playing some more. Getting four little ones out the door is no small feat and most of the time the camera never made it into the diaper bag, or swim bag, or overnight bag or whichever bag I lugged around on our various outings. So, sadly, we have many pictureless memories of this Summer. We went to the dinosaur park in Ogden with Grandma Lulu, Aunt Kristen, Emma and Simon. We've been to the zoo and Park City, the Days of '47 float display at the Expo Center, and Target a GAZILLION times. We've played at the park and had monster water parties in the backyard. We've spent lots of time at Grandma Cindy's and participated in an all night walk-a-thon. (The day I came home from Girl's Camp.) All this is just the beginning.

Here are some pictures of the activities where the camera both made it into the bag AND I remembered to take it out and use it.


Playing at the Gateway fountain.


Maxwell HATED the water!


Mia LOVED the water and all the attention from onlookers!


Thanks for coming with us Grandma!