Lucky #3

This year, my lucky number happens to be THREE!

Why....do you ask?

And these are three important dates....May 31, Sept 14 and Oct 5.

Why....do you ask?

A very IMPORTANT equation: 6 + 3 = 9

Because...... This girl


And this girl....

And this girl......

Are all presenting me...

With new grandbabies!!!!!.....All in 2009.

6 grandkids + 3 more = NINE!

I am SO happy I can share the news to the world now, I was dying because I had to keep it all a secret....

We're getting one girl fer sure and waiting to hear the news on the rest.

And...my budget is seriously stressed now because I paid a visit to my local quilt shop and I'm itching to get quilting for these new little ones!

Let the congratulations begin!

(and best wishes to the poor little mommies who feel really really awful right now!)♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Living Water

"There cometh a women of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and saith unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou that living water?.....Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:7-14

Water has a powerful affect on us. I came realize this the last few days as we watched Amy suffer agonizing pains and gradually become sicker and sicker. She had been released from the hospital mid morning on Tues. with powerful painkillers and she spent all day wretchedly ill and the rest of us feeling full of despair for her. The soonest her surgeon could see her was the following MONDAY morning! Finally late Tues. night, her husband said, "enough is enough...we are going back to the hospital!" Hours later, and to make a looonnnggg story short, she had a miraculous recovery. What was the problem?

Dehydration.

Lack of fluid in her body.

We went to a different hospital, and after a discussion, they realized she had not taken any fluids in nearly 36-48 hours! After two bags of IV fluids, she was a totally different person-pain free, nausea free, and she had come back to us! Water is a necessary and vital component of our lives-lack of it is life-threatening!

As I lay in bed later that night (early morning), I had a powerful lesson taught to me.

Just as water is vital to our physical bodies, "living water" is vital to our spiritual selves. How long can I go without water in my body? Only a few days. How long can I go without "living water" for my spiritual body? The same. Do I recognize the signs and symptoms of spiritual "dehydration?" They may be more subtle and difficult to recognize, but they are there nonetheless.

"Yea, if they will come, they may, and partake of the waters of life freely." D&C 10:66

The invitation is issued, the Arms are always extended.

We must accept the invitation and "drink freely."

Those Early Morning Phone Calls

The phone ringing at 2:30 AM is not usually a good thing.

Last week it rang at 3:00 AM with the news that my Ames was in the hospital

This morning it rang again at 2:30 AM.

It was Miss Ames herself.

In terrible pain.

So off to the hospital she trotted again.

This time with a gallbladder attack.

Poor, poor baby.

She's home with me now.

In a drug induced haze.

Still in pain.

No surgery.....at least for today.

Prayers greatly appreciated.

Mis Hermanas

Today I'm posting some photos of my dear sisters. Part of the purpose of having this blog is to ......eventually.....print a book so I'm documenting my life's journey via the internet. We took these photos yesterday for a special occasion we have coming up this week.....

Our presidency, Hermana Sanchez, Hermana Segura, Hermana Saiz, Hermana Larsen.

Hint: If you can't find me in this photo, I'm the tall white girl on the far right.

Oops, candid photo of us in action.

More sisters, who missed our first photo.

It's such a joy to serve them!

Procrastinating Projects

I guess we all have a tendency to procrastinate things, myself included. BUT, I guess I better get my rear in gear because in less than 7 weeks, my missionary boy will be coming home and I hope to present him with this:

I've been working on this just a bit at a time because I was in a scrapbook store in Orem just a few weeks after he left and I saw a kit for a missionary scrapbook. It was a whopping $60, but I decided to bite the bullet and buy it. I'm really glad I did, because I have done a few pages here and there, and because he is SUCH a good boy and has sent his photo disks home about every 4-6 months, I have photos to scrapbook.

There's no way I am going to do all of them, but I really liked the colors of the kit-not too girly-and it's a good way to organize some of the special ones-like p-days and baptisms and funny moments.

My photos are crummy, but I can't believe how much he has changed from his greenie status to now-and I haven't received any photos since before Thanksgiving!

In less than 7 weeks we'll be able to see him in his own territory, and I'll probably take a few hundred more photos to add! (not that I'm counting or anything)

Where Do We Stand?

Last night TL & I were having a discussion regarding our preparedness. He had visited with a friend who serves in a stake presidency here locally and the friend was really concerned because they had discovered that only 5% of their stake members were prepared. 5%!!!! I couldn't believe it. But then we started discussing how well we are doing in following these guidelines:

First -Have a three month supply of food that is part of your normal daily diet.

Second-store drinking water.

Third-financial reserves

Fourth-longer term supply, i.e. beans, wheat, rice, powdered milk.

After our discussion, I have been analyzing exactly where we are. I need to do better. I have been so distracted with other things lately that I've lost some of the focus. We have a good start, but I can definitely improve in all these areas.

So where do you stand?

Breaking News

Just letting you all know that Amy "gave birth" to a bouncing baby pink appendix this morning at 5:30 AM. She's doing fine and happy to be appendix-less-at least we think so-she's verrry sleepy. I promised her I would put a "pretty picture" of her on the blog-an appendicitis attack is NOT a pretty picture to share on the world wide web.

Thank heavens for modern medicine-she only has 3 tiny scars and she'll recover quickly.

Wordless Wednesday-If Women Ruled the World

Thanks Michelle!

Message For Granny

Hi Granny! Just letting you know that I'm having fun here in Mesa with Mommy and Uncle Zak and the girls.

I got to meet Aunt Marilyn too! I love you Granny!

More Gardening Adventures

The garden is looking a little thrashed these days. With the recent rain and wind, the peas blew over and it's been too cold and wet to deal with them. But recently my little buddies, A. and E. came to visit me while their mommy was at the doctor. With willing subjects, I enlisted their help.

Look what we did Grandma!

Yummy, fresh peas out of the pod! (sheesh-look at that kid's eyelashes!!)

It's nearing the seasonal transition time for us gardeners here in AZ. My seeds are here, just waiting for things to warm up a bit before we set out on the next adventure, tomatoes, peppers, corn and beans.....I'm going to try to nurture the greens along and see how long I can make them last before the heat sets in, but I'm a little sad each year to see this season pass-I love gardening in the fall/winter here in sunny AZ!

Things I have Learned this Week

1. My counselors and secretary are amazing, wonderful, talented women of great faith-I love them!
2. The more Spanish I learn, the more I know I don't know.
3. I still don't know what I am doing.
4. I think my family is in need of a little compassionate service.
5. I've discovered a new diet-It's called the Relief Society Diet-
It's easy .....the diet is that you don't have time to eat, you forget to eat, you don't feel like eating, or you are too tired to eat... 2 pounds this week!!! (just kidding mom-don't worry)

Takin' Care of Bizness

Some loooong overdue business. You see, I met this really nice friend on the internet, Shaila, over at da Bergs and she had a really fun tag. She was assigned a letter and she had to think of ten things she liked that started with that letter and share it on her blog. She gave me the letter "P" uhhhh....well......about two weeks ago. So here goes......

1. Peas. I LOOOOVE peas, but only those tiny frozen petite ones (and my own fresh garden peas)

2. Polka dots. I don't know why, I just love polka dots. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing polka dots but I think they are so cute, and happy and well, they make awesome scrapbook paper!

3. Pearls. I love pearls. I think they are the classic piece of jewelry. They are my next favorite after diamonds. In fact, go see the black pearl necklace TL bought me for our anniversary here. You can barely see them in the photo where I am standing on the stairs.

4. Popcorn. Hot buttered popcorn is the best-sometimes it doesn't like me, but I sure love it!

5. Pioneers. I love family history. I have had some amazing experiences searching for my ancestors and doing their temple work. I have a wonderful heritage. In fact, I think I may be related to 1/2 of Utah.....(but we are descended from the 2nd wife-ha ha)

6. Parents. And of course I love my parents because without them, I wouldn't be here!

7. Perfume. I always forget to wear perfume. I really like it but my third baby was SO allergic to everything, she would itch whenever I wore it, so I got out of the habit of putting it on. (That baby is now 26 years old-guess it's ok for me to wear perfume again)

8. Puffy pancakes. Our name for German pancakes, a family fav for breakfast. My little kids used to call them "puppy pancakes." awwww-so cute.

9. Pie. My favorite pie is Apple Pie a la mode....yummmm

10. Prophets. I am so grateful for living prophets to lead us and guide us.

Welp, that is done. I hope it wasn't too boring, cause it was kinda fun for me!

My COuRse of STuDy

How come I chose Spanish?
Well, it all started long, long ago when TL used to whisper Spanish songs in my ears. In those days, I was all starry eyed and thought it was wonderful.
These days I roll my eyes.
Then 3 years later with two young children in tow-
We headed off to visit the mission.
We spent 3-4 days in Mexico City (not the mission-with friends)
Then 3-4 days in Tapachula (right next to Guatemala)
Then we got stuck in a hurricane for 3 days in a little town called Tuxtla Gutierrez.
Then we went to Merida and Campeche.
It was glorious and I was hooked.
On the food, the people, the language.

Ever since I have had an intense desire to learn Spanish.
But life intervenes, 5 more kids, a business that kept me busy for 8-10 hours a day for 13 years.
Then came the call.
TL was going to be in the branch presidency of a newly formed Spanish branch.
O JOY!
So I volunteered to lead the music.
It would be easy-I thought.... (ha-kinda like patting-your-head-and-rubbing-your-stomach-at-the-same-time-easy)
Fast forward, 13 Spanish credits later and almost 4 years of beating time to the hymns.
I'm even more in love with the language and the people.
Then came the call last week.

Who knows where it will lead?
All I know is that I was so happy when last Sunday someone said to me (in Spanish) that " even though I am white, in my body there was blood of a Hispanic."

And that's why I chose Spanish.

Renaissance Women

Every year, without fail.
My Renaissance girls head to the Renaissance festival.
All garbed in their finery.
Hand-made by the Renaissance girl herself (on the right).
Many times created without a pattern (how does she do that?).
They're off to a land long ago.
To eat large turkey drumsticks.
And watch the jousters.
And pretend they're princesses.
And practice their English accents.

Well DUH!

Yesterday at 4:30 pm I was weeping and wailing and gnashing my teeth.


I checked in my fridge and I had run out of carrots.


And I was bewailing the fact that I needed to go to the grocery store to buy some carrots to finish my dinner preparations-at 4:30 pm-UG. But then WAIT!

I have carrots in my garden!

I'm kinda slow that way....

You have no idea how that made my day....

P.S. Hey-Wanna know how I can post every day? Do you think that I have masses of time every day to do this? Well, shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but click on post options at the bottom of the create post page, then you can put the date and time in the box when you want it to post. I do 3-4 at a time. Now you know that I am not a blogging genius....the truth is out, but shhhhh....it's a secret.

The Bungy Jump of My Life

So last week you were reading all about my mundane little life, gardening and doing projects. While you were reading those nice posts, I was actually getting the figurative bungy cords tied around my waist and ankles.......

You see, a week ago last Sunday I was called to be the Relief Society President in our little Spanish Branch......(cinching the cords tight)

Now I will answer the top two questions in your mind:

1. Yes, I know I am a tall white girl, and,

2. Yes, I know that Spanish is not my native language.

Believe me, I already tried that on my branch president.

It didn't work.

Because it wasn't him that called me.

And I know that......... so I said yes.

Last week was a long week, filled with sleepless and sometimes tearful nights.

Long, fervent prayers and several visits to the temple.

Hours of study, both in English and Spanish. Go study this-

The peace finally came when I read that talk.

Faith and fear cannot coexist.

Sometimes you have to choose faith.

I'm choosing faith.

So here I gooooooooooooooo.....

Perplexing Questions

1. Why do 51 year old women get zits? Is it fair that I have to deal with hot flashes and zits too??

2. How come nobody knows how to change the toilet paper roll-except me?

3. Why do all children become mother deaf at age 2? This phenomenon continues until they are about.......about......about....well, my adult children listen to me, or at least they do a mighty fine job of pretending they are listening to me. (this phenomenon can occur frequently in husbands, especially when the words "honey can you take the garbage can out to the curb?" are spoken)

4. Why is it, when I tell people I have seven children, their eyes s.l.o.w.l.y. roll downwards to look at my stomach? Do they think there is another one in there?

That's all for today.

Anyone who has a reasonable answer for these questions is invited to comment.

Projects

Last week I was BOUND AND DETERMINED to finish a few unfinished projects before we left town. So here goes.....

W's birthday quilt. It has army tanks and helicopters on the other side-his baby quilt I had made him was completely THRASHED, so I promised him a new one.

Mom, I FINALLY finished these placemats. I bought the fabric in Utah last summer. It was way too much work and I am already sick of the colors but oh well-at least it's done. (I'm ready to do some springy stuff now!!)

Remember these?? Well, Mrs. Santa didn't get one (sniff) and so I decided by golly-it was time! Except I am a much messier cook than these fine ladies (legs??) so I made a full-sized one just for me....
It makes me happy......hmmmmm....I think I need to go cook something!

Next project.........finishing Elder Steve's scrapbook and making another baby quilt....PINK!

News from the Garden Front

A couple of weekends ago I was itching to get the last garden box 100% FULL of dirt. So I called and asked the girl how much we needed and gave her the measurements. She said 4.5 ton. Ok-fine and dandy-it was delivered the next day.

Uhhh.....she was way off. We needed about half that much. We spent (mostly TL) the rest of the morning filling the garden box, and looking for other places to put the extra 2 ton of dirt. So now we have enough dirt to fill another box........(where, I don't know)

Aaand....if you live in the frozen north...NOW is the time to start planning your garden. I tried out these new greens this year and they are DELISH! It is a mesclun mix, and it's kind of nutty, spicy and YUMMY. It looks different than the leaf lettuce and you might think it looks like weeds, but it is really good and something good to mix into the salad bowl.

If you live in the sunny Southwest, it may be getting a little late to plant this, unless you go RIGHT NOW to the garden center and plant the seeds RIGHT NOW. Once it gets hot, forgetaboutit. They grow but they taste bitter.

Happy Birthday Sweet B!

I can't believe you're TWO!

Go Check Her Out

She has lots of good ideas and great links too!

I Wanna Go BACK!

Our San Diego/Coronado Island trip was DIVINE-AWESOME-WONDERFUL-RELAXING. I don't know when I have enjoyed a trip so much. We had no agenda, we've been there before so we weren't rushing around to see things like we usually do when we travel, we relaxed, ate yummy food, went window shopping, enjoyed the weather, took long walks on the beach in the morning, watched movies.....it was great! So here's a mini photo album of our adventures.

We stayed in the Glorietta Bay Inn, which is the 100 year old summer mansion of the sugar baron, John Spreckels. Our room was on the top far left (just showing part of the room). We ate our breakfast every morning on the patio.
The main foyer and staircase leading up to the guest rooms.
Our room, tiny but charming. We had turn down service every night with yummy homemade cookies.
The tiny terrace with a porch swing-so enjoyable in the evenings. If you look real hard, you can see the roof of the Hotel Del Coronado in the background.
We rented "the ugliest car" ever, according to TL, I think his term was "butt-ugly." (sorry Ford Flex owners) It was comfortable but strange looking-a mini van wanna be SUV.

This was a really fun coincidence. We were strolling through Old Town and happened to see a large group of people dressed up in period costumes with a sign that said "Mormon Battalion." It so happened that the Mormon Battalion had arrived exactly the day earlier 163 years ago. These folks WALKED across the country, from Iowa to California following the original route as a reinactment group. The amazing thing was, these people lived in my sister's stake in Michigan and knew her! They started in July of 2008 and had just arrived the day before, Jan 29, 2009. They were doing some firesides that day and then heading up to LA where they were going to be "mustered out" like the original battalion. VERRY cool.

It was so fun, so perfect-the kids behaved themselves, for the most part except the one kid who busted out the window in the garage since they had locked themselves out of the house at 12:30 AM!!! (sheesh)