Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa


Adam Dancing During An Assembly At School On Monday

Chili

When we carved the pumpkins on Sunday night we ate some yummy homemade chili. I was so proud of myself for making this. Of course the kids complained and did not like it, but Lewis and I loved it. I also made homemade Strawberry Shortcake with a homemade angel food cake too. But I ate it before I thought to take a picture, so maybe next time!

Carving Pumpkins

I AM:

I am stronger then I think, and loving

I wonder why people are who they are

I hear an angel crying

I see everything how it really is

I want to succeed

I am stronger then I think, and loving

I pretend to be the boss

I feel invincible

I touch the sky

I worry about eternity

I cry for the ones who cry for me

I am stronger then I think and loving

I understand I am a work in progress

I say everyone has something good about them

I dream of everlasting love

I try to be a good and patient person

I hope for understanding

I am stronger then I think, and loving

I encourage all of you to do this. It is fun and thought provoking! Here is the template:

I am (two special characteristics you have)
I wonder (something you are especially curious about)
I hear (an imaginary sound)
I see (an imaginary sight)
I want (an actual desire)
I am (the first line of the poem repeated)
I pretend (something you actually pretend to do)
I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)
I touch (an imaginary touch)
I worry (something that really bothers you)
I cry (something that makes you very sad)
I am (the first line of the poem repeated)
I understand (something you know is true)
I say (something you believe in)
I dream (something you actually dream about)
I try (something you really make an effort about)
I hope (something you actually hope for)
I am (first line of the poem repeated)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More on the Matter

A Press-Enterprise article from late July [linked below] sums it up:

David Cruz, a professor of law at USC, an expert on sexual-orientation law and president of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association, said religious institutions might be required to allow their meeting rooms or halls to be used for same-sex weddings if the religious groups already rent their facilities to the public. There has never been a court ruling on the matter, so the law is unclear, he said.If a court does rule there is a requirement, it would be based upon long-standing state law that prohibits public-accommodations discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, not on the Supreme Court's marriage ruling, he said.

A religious group that does not rent out its facilities to the public would not be affected, (such as Mormon Church buildings), because the facilities would not be considered 'public accommodations,' he said.

The solution: Don't rent your church hall to the public.

Bottom line: To require any church to perform any civil marriage is unconstitutional! No church can be forced to perform any marriage. The Catholic church cannot be forced to perform a marriage for a non-Catholic couple if they do not want to. The same goes for every other bishop, pastor, or priest. They have the right to choose whom they marry. And if ALL LDS Bishops say no then I guess we don't have a problem then do we?

Hmmm... and all this from a PRO same-sex stand point. Hmmm... makes you think a bit about LDS Bishops being FORCED to do weddings doesn't it. Not to mention that fact that no gay/lesbian couple would want to go to a church where they were not wanted/welcome to get married.

Saw this on a blog and thought, "What the Hell?"

What if your child is gay? Could you shun them too?

This is a picture that we grew up looking at over and over. It is definitely ingrained into my mind. The arrows could not hit his because he was righteous. It is wrong to use this for state issues. I am sorry, but I don't like it. No church should encourage people so strongly to take one side or the other.
In The Book of Mormon how did the righteous fall? When they started listening to their leaders instead of the teachings of their gospel. When they decided that "someone" was the boss and they would do whatever he said, instead of just following the teachings. The Nephites turned bad, and the Lamanites were good. It can happen in an instant, without you even knowing what happened. I know I am not perfect and really not in a place to tell people how to follow the teachings. I do however know what I have been taught at church and I know that we are taught to follow the teachings of the gospel and not to judge others. We were put here on earth to choose. And not to make others choose a certain way. In the end we will all just have to answer for our OWN actions and decisions. Not the decisions of others.
Let it be and stop using pictures that I loved as a child in your Prop-8 Crap. Nobody can be FORCED into marrying people. Any priest, bishop, or pastor and refuse a marriage because of they do not feel it is a good union. If that happens then you find a new person to do the marriage. Calm down and start accepting people for who they are and stop judging them because they were not brought up with the same belief system as you.
What will you say when asked you why you judged others so harshly?

Sunday, October 26, 2008

#11

On Saturday night I went out with my sis-in-laws and my mom for a Balmanno Babes Night Out OR BBNO as we are now calling it. Rachel came too, and although she is not a sis-in-law she is as close to family as it comes without marriage or blood. We went out to eat at Ruby Tuesdays and then finally took mom to see Mama Mia. It was my 11Th time. I think it was also sadly, my last. Everyone I know has gone to see it with me at least once or twice (or three times! Sorry Rachel and Marlo!) and now I am on my own. Every time I go, I sing, and I dance and have a great time. I just do not think that I can do it solo. So sadly :( I may never see it in the theater again. (That is unless Sharon wants to go. She is the one person that I wanted to see it with and we have not seen it yet together! I know. It is almost inconceivable.) So maybe Sharon will join me at some point?
So at the movie last night the crowd was a BUST!!! There were maybe 50 people there and they were all silent for the whole movie! This is why I like to go to the late movie, but mom wanted to go to the 6:55pm showing, and it was her choice so we went to the earlier one. At one point the guy sitting to our right asked one of my sil's to tell us to be quiet! Please!! My answer to that was "If they haven't seen Mama Mia by now then they do not deserve to see it quietly", and then ignored the dagger eyes he gave us for the first half of the movie. Really, I am sorry we busted up your make out session with the woman that you had with you. Oh, yeah they were in their 40's and trying to have a hook up in the back row of the theater. Gross. Get a room next time. Please just get a room. But the rest of the crowd was silent. Really! No laughing at appropriate places or anything. I might have to see it again just to make up for this showing.
Anyway, as usual after the show we went down front and sang and danced the duck dance. The duck dance you ask? Well if you haven't seen it then you are missing out. And I don't do it for just anyone either. It has to be a certain song, and I have to be in the right mood. Having a big group always helps with the fun.
After the movie I needed a little Coldstone. Yummy!

As always we had a good time. We were going to go to Witch's Night Out but mom still has a cold and was not up for dancing in the rain again this year (although it was a warm night and no rain, so we should have gone). Next year we are going for sure!

Saturday Bowling

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Halloween Art

Haley did these wonderful pictures. I loved them. She even wrote the name of the monster by herself on the picture! All of these are hanging on her bedroom door so everyone can take a look.


So nobody feels left out here is Abigail picture too. It is her name, a sun, a pumpkin man with a bag and a purple Christmas tree. She loves it!


She fell in the driveway. Hit her face on the pavement, and scraped her knees and hands. This was last Sunday. She got a bloody nose. Then on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday she got a bloody nose. 5 days in a row. I think it is time to have her little nose looked at. :(

North


North brought me these delicious treats before she left a week ago. The kids loved the treats and I loved the apple! Yummy! Has it really only been a week? *Sigh* Thanks for the wonderful friendship. You are a wonderful friend and mother. I truly love and miss you.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

It Comes in 3's

3 names you go by: Kendra, Mom, Frampy
3 Things you are wearing right now: Tan pants, necklace from Allison, bracelet from Shar
3 Restaurants I love: Cheesecake Factory, Cold Stone, Cafe Rio
3 Favorite things to do: Dance & Sing, Go out with Lewis, Travel
3 Things I want badly: New clothes, lose 50 pounds, house
3 things I did yesterday: put away all of the commodities, watched CSI:NY, had Zupas for lunch
3 Goals: Go to Vegas in 2 weeks (it better happen!), move into a house, lose 50 pounds
3 Fears: mice, when my girls are teenagers, presidential election (BIGGEST!!)
3 things I plan on doing today: Go to Mama Mia-so I can sing and dance(#11!), Dinner with the Balmanno Babes, take Motrin (my teeth hurt!)
3 Things I plan on doing tomorrow: sleep, laundry, answer emails that are piling up
3 Favorite Holidays: Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4Th of July
3 Favorite Beverages: Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke Zero, Lemon Berry Slush
3 Friends to Tag: Katie, Marlo, Heidi

Friday, October 24, 2008

I just came up with something to post about.

I will write tomorrow.

It is about appreciating your spouse, or the lack of appreciation for your spouse.

Oh yeah! It is on now baby!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

It has almost been a week since I posted.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were talking about blogger block. I have it. I have nothing good to write about. I have my little posts about the kids, but on a "normal" day we get up, go to school, go home, go to bed. We do that about 5 days a week, and then we have the weekend. The we do it all over again.

Don't give up on me. I will write about something interesting sooner or later. Just give me some time...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Witches and Pumpkins

On Friday afternoon/evening time we took the kids to Gardner Village to see the witches and then went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. The kids were less then thrilled with the crowds at Gardner Village and could not get out of there fast enough and get to the pumpkin patch. So needless to say the pics of the witches could be better. But they had a good time picking their pumpkins out. All in all it was a good family activity, which is what I was going for anyway.



Click to play Witch Hunt
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Click to play Pumpkin Patch
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Friday, October 17, 2008

Why does anonymous have to be so rude? I say if you want to comment you should be brave enough to say who you are. So from now on whoever you are rude anonymous you can't comment on my blog. So go somewhere else.

Leaves



90 Minutes in Hell




The Bride



The Groom



Lets Play Match The Body Part To The Correct Aunt






Getting ready...



Bowling and Karaoke






Bridal Luncheon and Rehearsal Dinner





Getting our Mani/Pedi's



On my way to the wedding...

The first leg of my flight to Katie's wedding I was on the plane and I saw this. He was walking around like this and scratching his feet on the sides of the chairs. It was disgusting!
On the second plane I had a row to myself. Ahhhh....



Monday, October 13, 2008

Vacation Part 3

While I am sitting here in the airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota, waiting for my flight back to Salt Lake I am replaying the weekend in my head. I never had time to sleep, let alone time to post anything for all of you to read. On Thursday night I slept maybe 4 hours. On Friday night we slept less then 4 hours (2am to 4:30 and then maybe 45 minutes between 4:30 and 6am). And Saturday night I got almost a full 6 hours of sleep. And most of the time when we were awake, we were going full steam ahead.
To make this easy on me I will post a highlight list of the trip, and then post pictures and small comments in a different post. (Plus people say I do too many play-by-plays about my trips.) This is obviously not everything that happened, but it is a snap shot of the trip.

· Waiting in the airport to go to the hotel for 2 hours OR, “Where are you Paige!?”
· Heidi OR Men’s Ring
· Red Robin OR Could we get a worse waitress? OR Burnt Buns
· “I’m bored!” OR “I thought you were asleep, you were snoring.”
· Mani/Pedi OR “Here Kitty Kitty… and then I hide under blanket and slam door and she get caught! Ha-ha!”
· Pillow/towel thieves OR Angry Maids
· Bridal luncheon shower OR “Just show us the underwear!”
· Shoe shopping OR “How many pairs have you bought and returned?”
· Halloween OR Thanksgiving
· Meet Amanda OR I know you already from her stories
· Wedding rehearsal OR “The Big Chill”
· Rehearsal diner OR Awkward
· Bowling OR “53? Really? 53?”
· Karaoke OR “Is she tone deaf?” OR Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
· Finding tights OR “You really do know every song on the radio!”
· Hidden purses OR “The cops have been called and are on the way here”
· Visine OR “The Oscar goes to Kendra”
· 4:30am OR Personal Potty Moment
· Headaches OR Stomachaches
· Mr. Magoo OR “zzzzzzzz”
· Prom dress OR Filene’s basement
· Pop goes the loop OR “Where’s the nail clippers?”
· Our pictures OR Thiers
· Booby OR Butt
· Let’s play “Whose body part is this?” OR Aunts gone wild
· Centerpieces OR “Who stole the pumpkin?”
· Target OR Halloween pajamas
· Lakeview Terrace OR 90 minutes in hell
· Unbuttoned shirt OR “I thought they were eating something”
· Saran wrap the car OR “We are keeping the computer hostage”

Thanks for making this a great weekend. Love you all!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Vacation Part 2

Playlist for Trip

Mama Mia Soundtrack
“Laid” James
Fall Out Boy
Good Charlotte
Green Day
Harry Belafonte
James Blunt
Jet
John Mayer
Katy Perry
Killers
Ludo
Meredith Brooks
Mika
Plain White T’s
Rihanna
TLC
Weezer
Secondhand Serenade
Black Eyed Peas
Bowling for Soup
Flaming Lips
Eminem
Maroon Five

Vacation Part 1

8:06 am Salt Lake Time

So the day started slow for sure. I got up at 4am after getting less then 4 hours of sleep. Shower, laundry, finish packing, and travel to the airport. “North” picked me up and took me. You know someone is a real friend when they will get up at the crack of dawn to drive you to the airport. So here I am sitting on the plane listening to ABBA trying to stay busy for the next 2 hours and 46 minutes. Here are my thoughts:

They are charging for everything! Why did I have to pay $15.00 to check a bag? I have been flying for 20 years and I have never paid to check a bag. The flights cost so much more, and they charge for everything. The drink was free (Pepsi products only! EWWW!!!), but for a bag of M&M’s it was $3.00! $3.00? That is just ridiculous. Who pays that? Even at the movies you get a big bag for $3.00. There are lunch boxes too. For $10.00! Not gonna happen. Oh you want to know what is free? The water that the stewardess spilled on me was free. Yes. She spilled water on me and then I had to ask for something to dry myself off with, and she gives me one of those little napkins that they give you to put your soda on. Really? Whatever. I am just glad I am on the way to Katie’s wedding.

This brings me to the subject of this post. My vacation. Yes, I am going on a vacation. I did not want to post about it before I left for fear that something would happen and I would jinx myself and not be able to go. I am alone on an airplane headed for Detroit. Well ultimately I will end up in Hartford, Connecticut. Katie is getting married on Saturday and I get to go (Thanks Marty and Allison). Lewis gets to stay home and watch the kids, and work. He is going to have a busy 4 days. Haley has 3 birthday parties to go to, and Adam is invited to one. Jason will just play with Cash and play computer, but Abigail will keep him busy. He is a wonderful husband for not verbally complaining about me being gone for 4 days. I needed a break. Between work, school, kids, and home I am about burned out. This trip is going to be quick and crazy busy (between rehearsals, wedding, dinner and visiting there will not be much time to relax). I am happy to be Katie’s “go to” girl for anything she needs. So my vacation may be a busy, working one, but it is a well deserved, much needed one too.

What about work? Well Lyndie has it covered. She is fabulous. We got the deliveries, and H.H. is covering for me for the next 2 days. Even Sanford did not give me to big a hassle for leaving. (He tried to make me feel guilty, but I know he was just kidding.) I really appreciate them for helping make this trip happen for me. Again, aren’t friends great? But don’t think that just because I am not at school I am not working. I have November and December’s menus to get done, emails to answer to parents, and raffles to set up. I will stay busy during any down time that I might have.

Okay, more later on. I feel like I am being watched and judged. Plus a little lip syncing just came out load and clear and I think people are laughing…

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Almost 2:15am.

Going to sleep now.

Goodnight!
Still Awake.

Going to watch television for a while.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Alright it is 11:56pm and I am going to try and go to bed. I do not feel tired at all. I skipped the caffeine tonight and I tried reading already. If I can't sleep I will post about being awake.

Wish me luck!
Okay real quick. What do I do? Jason slaps people's butts. I mean really, he does. A slap as they walk by, a pat as he goes by. The boy is out of control. What do I do about it?

We talked to him last week and he said he would not do it again. But then today someone tells me that he did it to them and then ANOTHER person tells me that he did it to them too!!! What the crap. So we had a serious talk about it being wrong, and against the rules and that he would get into serious trouble if he did it again. We talked about boundaries and how the butt, penis, vagina, breasts, and nipples are "private parts" and we NEVER touch them on someone else or let them touch us there. He said he knows that and he did not think of it in a "private parts" way. He is just playing. But what happens when it becomes sexual harassment? Good Grief!

What more can I do? He said he seriously understood but what now?

Sometimes I know I am not cut out to be a parent.

I miss my dad. He will be home in about 10 days. I can't wait. *Sigh* I miss my dad.

To Do List:

*laundry
*finish reports for state that are due tomorrow
*pack to leave on Thursday morning at 5am for Katie's wedding
*do lunch deposit
*set aside school outfits for the kids for Thursday and Friday, along with party outfits for Friday afternoon
*eat dinner
*watch my shows that are taped from tonight
*find something interesting to blog about so people will read me
*get Jason to stop touching people's butts (any suggestions? more on this later)
*learn patience
*figure out where my money goes
*laundry
*find a way to keep Abigail in her bed all night long
*wrap 3 gifts for birthday parties
*go to bed by midnight
*make sure Lyndie is set for while I am gone
*start planning our real vacation to Disneyland!
*tell you all how much I love you

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Predictions for my Week

Monday, October 6, 2008

6:15am: Wake up, laundry, shower and get ready, get 4 kids ready

7:45am: Drop Abi off

7:50am: Get to Work

8:00am to 4:00pm: Work

4:15pm: Pick up Abi

4:30pm: Home, snacks, laundry, dishes, make sure order for food delivery for Channing went through okay

6:00pm: Dinner, showers, more homework, vacuum, reading with kids and bedtime, blog

9:00pm: Laundry, watch TV, answer emails to parents with questions or comments about school, maybe read for fun, laundry

12:00am: My new bedtime, go to bed, lay awake for a while and watch TV until 1 or 2 in the morning



Tuesday, October 7, 2008

*Same as Above*



Wednesday, October 8, 2008

6:15am: Wake, laundry, shower, get ready, and have Lew can get the kids ready because I have to leave early

7:15am: Drive downtown for Fall Business Meeting

8:00am to 3:00pm: Fall Business Meeting (Fun Stuff!)

4:00pm: School to do reports and finish up all missed work for the day

5:00pm: Home, homework, laundry, dishes

6:00pm: Dinner, homework, showers, reading, lecture to kids about behaving while I am gone

8:00pm: Beg kids to go to bed because mom is tired, laundry, read blogs

9:00pm: Kids go to bed crying because they will miss mom, pack bag for trip, laundry, answer emails to parents, remember to pack laptop charger so I can answer more emails to parents while I am gone, dishes, more laundry, watch TV

12:00am: Try to sleep and decide to read

1:00am: Bed



Thursday, October 9, 2008

4:00am: Wake and hit snooze button, laundry, shower and get ready, change laundry one last time, check emails

5:00am: Leave for airport



I have no predictions from this time forward. I will let you know what happens when it happens. I never claimed to be physic, I am most likely wrong on most of this... except for the laundry part.

She is 6!!

Haley turned 6 today. She had a very small gathering of neighborhood friends over for cupcakes this afternoon. We are waiting to have our large gathering until my mom and dad get back from their European excursion in a couple of weeks. As usual I got a nice shot:
And a crazy shot which I think came out rather well:

The beautiful birthday girl:

No. She did not get the trick one. I blew it out for her.


You can't really see it but I worked for about an hour decorating the chair she is sitting on with ribbon and streamers. You can see a little bit of the purple in the legs of the chair. Oh well, next time I will skip the chair decorations! All she cared about was the balloons.