Christmas Spirit?

I've been trying really hard to have the "true" Christmas spirit this year and in turn have that spirit spread through my family. I am trying to practice patience, tolerance etc. so as not to get too high strung thinking and doing all the things expected of mom at this time of year. I'm doing okay. The tree is decorated, the house is reasonably clean, the Christmas shopping is done and most is wrapped (woohoo), I plan on baking over the next two days and if a miracle happens I may get out Christmas cards.
Yesterday I was thinking to myself that today was the Sunday before Christmas and it is usually such an extra nice day. We sing and hear lots of Christmas hymns, hear stories and everyone breaks out their "Holiday Wear". I was really looking forward to today. Well, we woke up at a decent hour and was just getting ready to cook a nice Sunday breakfast when . . .
The phone rang. Now, you may not realize, but Trent was recently called as the Elders Quorum President. Enough said, right? Sure enough, a single sister had frozen pipes, and being she is a single sister, I knew that it would be best if I went and helped him. So we put on all our winter clothes, headed to the shop for an industrial strength heater, (side note: one of the coolest things about farmers is they always have the "stuff" you need, that's probably why they called him) and headed to this sisters house. Well, 2 hours later we were home and long story short even the cool industrial strength diesel powered heater couldn't do the job. Too stinky, they would have died from carbon monoxide poisoning before the pipes thawed out.
So we quickly got dressed and out the door and were 15 minutes late for church but luckily in time for the sacrament. This is when I realized, "Hey, today is supposed to be that special Christmas Sunday and we are late!!!" I was kind of miffed and embarrassed. What kind of members were we to be LATE on Christmas Sunday? It took me about 2 seconds to realize that we were exactly where we were supposed to be that morning and that Heavenly Father did not care that we were late.
I did end up with a raging headache, I have no idea what that was about, but have felt totally at peace about my day.

Twilight the Movie

So I went to the Midnight premiere Thursday night, which was soooo much fun! My girls were there, their friends were there, their moms were there, there were crazy people there ( such as the lady with the feather shirt, DO NOT ASK!), there were obnoxious teenage boys there and we had awesome seats (thanks Brittany). I loved that everyone in the theater cheered as soon as they saw the Summit Entertainment icon come up on the screen. But that night, I will confess, I did not LOVE the movie. When I started reading these books I had no idea they were such a phenomenon, I had no idea there was a movie in the works, they were just a series of books that a few friends had recommended and on a really bad TV night I picked up Twilight. If you read my earlier blog you know that nothing has touched me the way these books have, so when they announced the cast I was less than thrilled. Edward was ok but I was really upset about the choice for Bella. However, at the end of the movie, I was actually happier with Bella than Edward. I felt that Edwards wisdom and presence in the book was missing in the movie. Also, having read the book at least 5 times I think I knew the story too well. I also felt that the special effects in the movie were probably hampered by their budget. I also thought Jasper looked like a serial killer. So at the end of the night I was a little disappointed, but remember, I did say I expected to like it, not LOVE it. This was true.
But, I went again the night before Thanksgiving with my mom, my sisters and sisters-in-law and I really liked it a lot more. Now that I had no expectations (and it wasn't 1 am) I was able to enjoy the movie and found that although my basic opinions were the same, there were still a lot of really good things about the movie, I may even go back for a third viewing!
So now, I'm waiting for my mom to finish Twilight so I can get it back to read it again, so while I wait I'm taking another trip throught Breaking Dawn and reread the draft of Midnight Sun, posted on the website.
It may sound silly but I love being able to escape to Forks, WA and immerse myself in a world of vampires, werewolves, and truly devoted love.

Twilight

You may be wondering what has taken me so long to comment about my Twilight experience since I made such a to do about it this week, or maybe not. Well, this is not going to be that blog. I'm still trying to come up with the words to describe my feelings about it. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean it was such a euphoric experience it transcends words, but it also doesn't mean I walked away so disappointed there are no words for that, either. I am somewhere in between and I'm trying to decide where. Plus, if I criticize and there are people who read this who haven't seen it yet, I don't want to taint their experience with preconceived ideas. So stay tuned.

Denied!!!

The movie isn't going to make it from Seattle tonight. After all this, and I was totally excited to go. Oh, well, I'm going to the midnight showing tomorrow night.

The exit polls say . . .

Well, the votes are in. All you have to do is read the comments to see that it was unanimous. I'm going to Pullman.

Help me decide, People!!!

Okay, so this is the big week. Twilight the movie opens this weekend. I will say upfront that I'm not expecting to LOVE it. I am expecting to like it, but as many of you have probably experienced before, the movie never does justice to the book. And in case you haven't gathered from previous blogs I have an intimate relationship with the characters in this book and since 90% of the characters in this book "superhuman" or vampires for pete's sake, how does an ordinary human play this part. I do not know.
Now to the dilemma. Stacey, my sister, has invited myself, my other sister and a friend Wednesday to the midnight showing for employees at the theatre she works at. This means I will get to see it 24 hours before all of the rest of you ;) So I am supposed to drive to Pullman (2.5 hours) to watch a movie at midnight sleep a few hours and drive home where I have to work as a "lube tech" (hee, hee) to then attend a relief society dinner and preside over a PTA meeting. The 38 year old PTA president mom in me says "ARE YOU CRAZY?????" The 18 year old social butterfly says "GO FOR IT, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!!!".
Now, I have been invited to attend Friday night with some friends here in town, which will be fun as well and to be honest I will probably go Friday even if I go to Pullman.
So, tell me what you think. Cast your vote for the 38 year old Kim or the 18 year old Kim.

More random pictures

Isabelle in a Midsummer's Night Dream.

This picture does not show how horribly windy it was that day, but that is ONE NICE TRACTOR!

IF you're confused see the post below about the pre-school trip.

Brennan as goalie, apparently not much action on this end of the field, but that's a good thing.

Random pictures

Isabelle as a preppy vampire for Halloween!

Some of Brennan's friends at his birthday party.

London during volleyball season.

This is a group of my friend Gaylene's pre-schoolers. Every fall she brings them to the potato field and the potato storage on a field trip. This day was the worst day EVER!!! This wind was blowing so bad that Gaylene and I had dirt up our noses, in our eyes, ears and deep in our hair. We took out 2 groups and quickly learned during the first group that it was a REALLY BAD IDEA to ride on the back of the digger during 30 mph winds.

By the way, the little girl in the back wearing the light blue jacket is one of mine and Trent's favorite little friends name Laine.

More Baptism Pictures.

Trent and I with Brennan. We have a picture with each one of the kids in front of this picture.

Above is Brennan with cousins Owen and Jaeger.

Brennan's friends Garrison Ostler and Noah Heaps were baptized the same night.

Brennan's Baptism

November 1st Brennan got baptized. Another important milestone in ones life if you are LDS. It was such a nice day and I was so proud of Brennan. Isn't it amazing that these kids, even at 8, seem to sense how important this event is. I was a little nostalgic that week because I couldn't believe that my baby was getting baptized. I remember when he was 4 pounds and those first few weeks when my life was a constant revolution of feedings, trying to get some weight on that kid. You wouldn't know it now. He is taller than most his peers, though still as skinny as a rail. But if you know Brennan you know that he burns calories almost 24 hours a day. Like I've said before, he is a CRAZY kid and adore him.

Glad it's over!

If you read my list of quirks, you may remember that I said I am not politically minded. The reasons for this are many, but one of the main ones is, I hate election years. Let me reiterate, I HATE ELECTION YEARS!!!! I hate political ads, political analyzers, debates, liars, cheaters, and the ridiculous amount of money that is spent on these elections. I especially hate the news media who claim to be unbiased and so blatantly are. Give me a break!
I am disheartened by the outcome of this election, though not surprised. The idealist in me kept hoping that the people in this country had a better sense of values and morality but I guess my values and theirs are different and that worries me.
I wanted to have a screaming hissy-fit but that's not going to get me anywhere. We will, however, be praying on a daily basis that the leaders of our country will make good choices and have wisdom in the governing of this country.

Soccer Mom!!

One does not know that when one drags her young ones down to the Park & Rec, kicking and screaming, to sign them up for soccer, because you are sure, as the parent, that your children needs to become involved in something that will help build some self confidence, that one of those kicking and screaming children will turn into a "Soccer Star" and you in-turn the "Soccer Mom".
Isabelle didn't take to soccer. It was quite evident when she was doing pirouettes on the sideline that her talents lie elsewhere. London, however, did and she has blossomed. Sometimes her team has a rough go at it. Last season they came in 2nd place in their bracket. This season they haven't won a game. Last Saturday they lost 0-7, it was HORRIBLE!!! But let me tell you, yesterday they came out and played awesome. They played the team that was ranked #1 at the time and ended up tying 5-5 and my London scored 4 goals and assisted with the 5th. I thought I was going to burst with pride. All the practices, driving here and there, spending all day on the soccer field some days- that game epitomized why I do it. She was so amazing I wish you all could have seen her.

Okay, to appease my mother's guilt I will now take a minute and brag about Isabelle and Brennan.
Pour Bellarina, she only gets the limelight once a year at her recital. We try to make it a really big deal because she graciously goes to London and Brennan's games all year and never complains. Then she practices hours each week and never complains. This year she advanced to a pre-pointe class and is so excited. And this spring when she dances in her recital I will watch with tears in my eyes because she is such a beautiful, graceful dancer that again I am bursting with pride.
Brennan's soccer games are torture for me right now because they are just in that learning stage and compared to London's U14 games they're pretty boring, but I go because of course I wouldn't be anywhere else. Brennan has the potential to be a lot of great things right now. He is fast! So he will make a good soccer player once he figures the game out and can remember that when he's the keeper he can pick-up the ball. He's actually not a bad defender, he can kick the ball really far, and he has yet to figure out that forward means "forward". I think I will try him in wrestling because he is strong and wiry and tenacious. He thinks he is employed by his dad and insists on working in the potato storage right now during harvest. But he also goes to work with me in the mornings for about 1/2 an hour before school. One day last week it was crazy and he thinks he works there too so he pulls on the too-big gloves and walks around the cars asking our lube-tech questions. Then he sees that a windshield needs washed and washes it. Then the phone was ringing and when he saw I was having a hard time getting to the phone he answered it, "Hello, Pioneer Pit Stop, may I help you?" What a crack-up. Later that day we drove by a vehicle with it's hood up and he says "Mom, you should stop and help that man. It looks like he didn't make it to the Pioneer Pit Stop". He is a crack-up and I can't wait to see what this kid does with this life.
I've got great kids and not just because they perform well and make me proud. They are all good students, good friends, thoughtful and kind -most of the time;). They have small testimonies that are growing and that makes me prouder of anything they do on the soccer field or the stage.

Lauren & I

Trent was channel surfing and stopped on PBS where Celtic Thunder was on. We really enjoyed Celtic Woman but we haven't sat and watched Celtic Thunder. He didn't stay on the channel very long but it was long enough for me to find this song and I LOVE IT!! I added to my playlist. Listen and enjoy!!

My poor Fridge!!

There are some things I am pretty good at. At least as far as my home is concerned. I tidy the bathroom daily and disinfect it weekly. The dishes are done everyday, beds are made, the floors are swept and mopped and for the most part I keep up on the laundry. In general, my home may not be imaculate but it is tidy. Usually you are always welcome to come into my home and I won't be too terribly embarassed at the state it is in. You may, however, NOT look into my fridge. It is my one downfall, I confess. The poor thing got so overcrowded and in dire need of being cleaned out this week, that Trent decided it was just too far gone and bought a burial plot and intends to bury the whole thing. "After all," he says "It's just a coffin now, full of decomposing leftovers or past their expiration date. And why stink out the neighborhood by putting everything out in the garbage?" Oh well, I guess I have something to work on. I will work on remembering that Scarlet O'Hara's famous line "I'll worry about that tomorrow" may not be such a good idea.

Tag I'm It!

http://therippys.blogspot.com/ Tagged me.



The Rules:

•Link the person(s) who tagged you.

•Mention the rules on your blog.

•Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.

•Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

•Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.



Six unspectacular quirks about me.



1. I like things that smell good. I like to smell Trent's armpits. His deodorant with his pheremones make me happy. I like my house to smell good. Whether it's bleach or a candle, whatever, it just can't smell bad or like nothing. I love the smell of roses, honeysuckle and lavender. (All grow in my garden) I love freshly cut hay. I am very scent oriented. Even I have to absolutely wear perfume EVERYDAY!



2. I'm extremely curious. When I'm with Trent I am forever asking him questions. I have to know how and why everything is the way it is.



3. I love languages. I studied french in high school and college and will sometimes talk to my kids in french ("un petite peu", a little bit). The most common phrase is "assez toi" or sit down :) DJ don't edit, I'm sure I haven't conjugated my verbs properly.



4. Unlike my sister Melissa I am highly unpolitically minded. I could care less. I too am Canadian but have always been proud of that, but that is where I was born. I'm still not an American citizen. Oh well, one day.



5. I love music. All kinds, as you can see by my short but eclectic playlist.



6. I love reading. This is a problem since when I am enjoying a really good book I am hardpressed to do anything else. This is partially why when I started reading the Twilight Saga I didn't function in any other capacity for a week and lost 5 pounds.





P.S. I just read my quirk list to Trent and he said "Are you putting this on your blog?" I said "Yes." And he rolled his eyes and said " Okaaay?!"

The rules did say quirks right?

Finis? Mais, non!

I finished Breaking Dawn. Normally, I grieve ( a little) when I finish a really good book. This time too, a little, but then I remembered, one of the great things about books is you can read them as many times as you want so the story is never really over. That made me smile.

We've got a sugar situation!

Lemonade
Originally uploaded by Julie Lynn 4

So, I love summer. I would vehemently lobby against year round school, because I believe whole-heartedly in summer vacation.Bare feet, popsicles, sprinklers, sleeping in, s'mores, camping, boating, reading good books outside, dinner at 9 pm, children who never change out of their swimming suits and lemonade. Lemonade, however, is the cause of the one thorn in my side this summer. Trent bought about 107 lemonade flavored kool-aid packets and has one of the kids make it each evening when he gets home so he can have a nice tall glass of lemonade. Sounds refreshing I know. But, before I go, on I must digress for a moment. You may notice that in my list of favorite things about summer, being bare foot was #1. I never wear shoes if I don't have to. This tradition starts in April and will hopefully end around Halloween. I LOVE walking around bare foot! Hence, my problem - the lemonade. My kids make the lemonade and inevitably spill about a cup of sugar on the floor EVERYTIME! And then my bare feet walk through it. UGH! I hate that! I don't know how they do it, but they do it everytime. And I clean it up. Yes, I , clean it up, because if any of you have children, you know the job they will do sweeping. They can sweep to their little hearts content and miss every grain of sugar. So I clean it, so I can walk blissfully around, bare foot.
This is the end of this blog as the the kids just made some lemonade!

My Only Obsession

I don't obsess easily. I learned early on in my life that I am a huge romantic but I don't give MY heart away easily. Twilight really surprised me because it touched me so deeply that I did a lot of inner contemplating about why? I mean I loved Somewhere In Time, Phantom of the Opera, Gone With The Wind, but never have I been so completely memsmerized and preoccupied. I could not think about anything else, eat, function, it was crazy! (Thank you Trent for feeding me and keeping up on the house work, while I checked out for a week and read. P.S. these are just a couple of the reasons why he won my heart, I don't think he would tell me to my face, but I think this kind of craziness he actually finds endearing in me.) I still don't know why. I frankly don't care, I can't explain it, I can't and don't really want to justify it, I just know that I really connected with this story and I'm going on the ride. So hence the widgets and links and thank you Stacey for reserving the movie poster for me. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts as it may never happen again. I am on the one week countdown for book 4 Breaking Dawn, so don't plan on great things from me next weekend. My mind will be in Forks, WA. Anyone wishing to join me at the Midnight Release Party Aug. 2 at Hastings is welcome to join.

Fishing

Some of our farmer friends have an irrigation pond they stock with trout each year and they told us we could go fish there. So Trent thought it would be fun for the kids to do that last night. We only have 2 fishing poles. A grown-up size one and a kid size Pirates of the Carribean one. But we have 3 kids. (However, one of these kids this week is not ours, we swapped London for Isabelle's friend Andrea Ostler. London is in Seattle with Cassi Ostler.)
Trent being the very smart man that he is, engineered another pole out of a stick so everyone could have a pole. Brennan got relegated to the stick pole, being the little brother and the girls took control of the "real fishing poles". Well, believe it or not, Brennan caught the only 2 fish we caught all night and he did it with the stick pole and a salmon egg!! It was hilarious. Andrea was throwing a fit and wanted the stick pole now and Isabelle never having been present when a fish was caught before decided that she liked the casting and reeling of the fishing pole but reeled her line in at lightning speed to avoid actually catching a fish. It was too gross. Imagine how she would have reacted if we would have kept them and gutted them. We threw those lucky 2 fish back.
Of course, I forgot my camera to post pictures but I may be to convince Trent to go back tonight for some photos:)

Success!

I set my first syphon tube today!!!!

Electronics Possessed

Many of you may know the story of the possessed "Woody" doll. But for those of you who do not here it is in a nutshell. A couple of years ago, Brennan took his Woody doll in the tub with him. I had warned him this was a BAD idea but, he didn't grasp what water can do to an electronic toy. Anyway Woody was left in the bathroom to dry out and in the middle of the night, the freakiest, possessed noise came from the bathroom. I sat straight up in bed and shook Trent awake. Being totally freaked out at this noise we warily went down the hall to find out what is was. Of course, as Woody was drying out his "voice box" was involuntarily making the freaky, possessed noise. We laughed, sort of, and shoved Woody to the bottom of the laundry basket. Well, a few months later, Brennans battery operated dump trunk, that is supposed to sound like the real deal, it even has those obnoxious back-up beeping sounds, starts up in the middle of the night again, scaring the crap out of me! Trent and I again are traipsing around in our skivvies looking for this really loud toy and I kid you not could not find it. The next morning we found out that it was at the end of London's bed under a blanket and every time she kicked it with her foot it set off this really obnoxious toy. Who gave him this? I told London and Isabelle to clean their room.
Apparently, Woody did not teach Brennan that electronic toys do not go in the tub so he washed his little purple car that revvs it engine and then plays the song "You know you make me want to shout, kick my heels up blah, blah, blah Whoooooooo!" So, I think you can see where I'm going with this. Yes, middle of the night, jerked wide awake, shoved it under some towels in the bathroom which did not work and I believe ended up locking it in the drier. You would think that would be it but oh no. NO, NO! The timer London uses to time soccer games when she reffs soccer has a timer that goes off at 12:30 am. Right about the time we have just reached REM sleep. At this point we just ignored it, it only beeps for a minute and then shuts itself off. I would just turn the timer off all together, but I'm convinced I need a PhD in engineering to be able to do this so we ignore it. And actually, we hadn't heard it for a while (I think we left it in the car.)
So now, no I'm not done, we got the kids a cell-phone that they share. Somehow it has a timer that goes off at 3:30 am. Scaring the crap out of me every morning at 3:30 am. I do not know how to cancel it either I can not find it anywhere in the phone. I can see the alarm icon in the upper right hand corner, but when I go to alarms, no alarm. Ironically, the phone asks me if I want to create a new timer.
Well miraculously that problem remedied itself. But last night, the flippin' soccer timer went off at 12:30 am!

Edward & Bella

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Yes, believe it or not, I went to my 20 year class reunion!

Need I say more. It was this past weekend, and to a degree it was fun. It is amazing how true out-of-sight, out-of-mind is. So many friends and memories that had been pushed to the back of my memory came flooding to the fore front! It's really bizarre. I told Trent, I will not be attending my 30th, 20 was enough for me. Many seem to have good marriages, families and jobs and I am happy about that. It was also good to see friends like Julie, Noelle, Rachel and Caron. Trent went with, Friday and Saturday night and was a real trooper. He was also the best looking guy there hands down!!!

Thanks Stace!!!

Thanks to my little sister Stacey, my blog is starting to look like something to be proud of. She even logged on and set up this very perfect background. So, thank you Stacey for being such a great sister!!!

Attempt at Blogging

Well, friends and family, I consider myself fairly up to date on technology, but this is kicking my butt. I have spent an hour trying to customize this page to no avail. You know, make it personal, as a blog should be. Ugghhh! I give up for tonight or I'm going to have to see the chiropractor. If you happen across this page please don't think I'm lame. It's a learning curve, a work in progress.