Snow Ice Cream

Yesterday Grady's sister, Megan, called from Sheridan asking if I had a recipe for Snow Ice Cream. They had 18 inches of snow on their back porch. I got on the internet and found one for her. I wrote it down for us even though the sun was shining and our snow had melted away. Well, we woke up this morning to a few inches on the cars, and then it began snowing again this afternoon as the kids were going down for a nap. I just went outside and scraped up some snow to make the ice cream. Here are a few pictures of the process: ...adding the sugar to the milk.....
...adding the snow to the milk, sugar, and vanilla....
...enjoying our home made ice cream.....
...even baby sister was watching & enjoying the process!

This stuff turned out pretty good, so if anyone has some fresh snow to use, TRY IT! We may just get some more snow and make another batch this evening for the Missionaries to try. Have a great weekend if I don't post again soon.

Catch Up

First and foremost, I need to send out a CONGRATULATIONS to my brother and sister-in-law. She delivered a whopper of a son on Monday. Sorry I'm so late getting that one out. Damion weighed 8-12. I don't deliver mine, but I have to say OUCH to that one. And, yes, I know, Sandy, you've been through larger. Tough, tough woman you are. Here's a picture of the little man:

We've got a gal pretty interested in our Ten Sleep house, so I am very prayerful that the bank conversations go great so we can be on our way to a new home here. Stuart is so ready that he even said a second prayer for her last night before bed. We'll keep you updated.

Saturday night I went out and had my Patriarchal Blessing. I must say that it was very neat. I came home telling Grady that about five people must have called him before this just because of the things that I have talked with them about and what came out in the Blessing. The Lord shows us he cares when we need it the most!

We're under a Winter Storm Warning this afternoon through tomorrow. We have been getting quite the rainfall this morning, but are expecting between 12 - 20 inches of snowfall out of this storm. Local updated reports are calling for the 12 total as of now, but we'll see what actually comes. I may be posting some pictures. I'm gathering supplies and charging batteries since they are expecting some power outages from this heavy and wet stuff.

Other than that, we've not been up to too much. I get to go to Gillette to testify in court on Monday and possibly Tuesday. I received a call Saturday from the Washakie Sheriff's Office. I have a supponea (spelling?), but it has not been served on me yet. I am hoping it won't be so I don't have to go. Grady has to take the two days off of work, and then Friday for some doctor appointments in Worland. The fun life of a stay-at-home mom, what a journey to take the family on.

Have a great hump day!

Lesson Seven: Review

I was up bright and early for my lesson today. Grady is oncall, and I was able to sneek out for and 8 o'clock flight lesson. The airplane had some maintenance work completed yesterday, so I gave George a ride over to the east end of the airport to pick it up. We met back at the office and were ready for flight. I was able to skip my preflight today since he had to do it before bringing the airplane back to the west end .

I wanted to do a short flight since Grady's telephone had been ringing since seven, but it ended up being another hour. We went up to the regular altitude of 5,500 feet for practice. The morning was beautiful and the air was calm. We did reviews of low and medium banked turns and had to keep altitude in check. We practiced turns with ailerons only and rudders only. I used the degree of bank to keep the nose of the airplane in level flight....adding more to steepen the turn if the nose wanted to climb, and less to keep the nose from decending. I did another stall, and then we basically headed back to aiport. We landed on the short runway, coming straight across the field and the large runway. It was pretty amazing, especially considering we came directly over the top of another aircraft that was doing a touch-and-go landing. The tower was pretty strict on keeping that one on the ground while we cut across. I'm sure that we headed south too soon, and that we should have kept an east heading for longer, but everyone made it through okay, and there wasn't any chewing from tower.

After the flight, George finally saw what I had been feeling for sometime now. I have felt that I needed to do more ground study before continuing ahead in flight. I have felt pretty uneducated in that department, and pretty unconfident in my progress. He said that I need to get out there more often than once a week, even if just to sit in the plane to study set up for take-off, landings, stalls, etc. He wants me to take the kids out some day this week to get me studied up on things and to answer any questions that I have. Stuart's dream come true, my nightmare. I truely don't feel like I will be able to accomplish much with my kids running all over the airplane and office, but I guess we'll see.

Flight Time Today: 1.1 hours
Total Flight Time: 7.7 hours

Well, I'm off to hit the books and try to answer some of my own questions for reviewing on my next "class". Have a wonderful Saturday!

Grady's Day

Today was a BIG day for Grady. Below is a picture of the quilt that he made for our bed. We received new bedding for Christmas, but the weather has warmed to the point that it is just way too hot, so he made a new lighter weight one for us. I picked the fabric last Friday and Saturday, and here is the finished project. He had it ready for me to put on the bed this morning. It's a little large, but we would like to eventually have a king sized bed. He also received his Birthday/Father's Day present from UPS today. He has been wanting a new laptop for himself, so we found one and ordered it. The eight days it took to get here were the longest eight days of his life I think. Here are a few pictures of him enjoying it. He hasn't even changed out of his work clothes.....that's how involved he's been.

The kids and I went shopping to spend their good kid money tonight. Stuart had a mother load since he has been using the big potty, so we will have to get some pictures for everyone to see what he brought home. Until later, have a wonderful time....we're expecting snow again tonight--ugghh!

Lesson Six: Slow Flight

I met with George on Saturday afternoon for another flight lesson. This was my sixth one and I still get a little nervous before going up. I have drug these lesson out so much (it is recommended that I fly twice a week, and sometimes it is two weeks between lessons) that we decided to do review mostly. It was a beautiful day out and the weather seemed perfect. However, once up to practice altitude, we were fighting turbulence and decided to fly 1000 feet below what I have been used to (which turns out to be about 900 feet above ground level or an altitude of 4,500 feet). This was quite a bit calmer and we had wonderful view of farms and even of one of the Hoodaright Colonies. I learned quite a bit about their way of living, and had quite a conversation with George about other places around. This was a nice way to make me more comfortable and took quite a bit of anxiety out of me.

We practiced low, medium and steep banked turns, and introduced me to slow flight. That was very interesting. The main purpose of slow flight is to teach me to have control over the airplane for landing basically. Things work quite differently when the plane is flying at a slower speed, and that is why I have had a harder time holding the wings level and steady when coming down to land. We also took advantage of the slow flight to practice another stall. We were able to induce the stall quicker since we were already set up for it while practicing the slow flight.

The day seemed to be more of a day of sight seeing and fun than learing. I did learn quite a bit, but it was not overwhelming. I must be getting more confident in myself and more comfortable in the plane.

As we were landing, we were instructed to land on runway 28R. We had planned on doing a touch and go, but with the weather, it was not as smooth of a landing as usual. After we touched down, George took control of the airplane and called back into the tower asking for permission to take off again and touch down on runway 28L. We basically hopped from one runway to another for our full stop. It was really a fun landing....maybe I liked it because I like the landing.

We talked about getting me back in there quicker for the next lesson and I really think that I will need to schedule them for the morning. It was only about 75 degrees Saturday, but in the plane, it seemed way hotter. I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that I am packing so much extra weight right now. Morning flight are a wonderful way to start a day anyway.

Flight Time Today: 1 hour
Total Flight Time:6.6 hours

Quiet Books

This week I have been working on making quiet books for the kids to play with during sacrament. Here is what I've come up with. The first page is of the popcorn tree, using the kids' handprints as the trunk, the popcorn velcros on and has a button to attach another piece. The basket for baby Moses is stitched down on the top and the left side so that it can be weaved, and then the baby can be inserted inside. The next page has a beehive with pieces of paper inserted showing the six Be's. The whale's tummy unzips for a treat and a finger puppet of Jonah.
Here is a page with a holder for a pad of paper and a pencil. And an I Spy bag full of things that I found around the house placed into a plastic baggie and then taped and stitched inside some felt.
And the final pages are of a garden. These are just simply colored and cut out and then attach with velcro. Grady stitched it together as a book for me since I can't stand sitting at the machine.
We used Easy Felt for most of the project and fabric markers. I used a paint pen for the garden writings so that it could be seen. I just hope that these work for the kiddos. I have to go take care of Fiona. Have a good night.

News from Trombleyville

Yesterday was an exciting day around our house. We have several things to write about:

1. We woke up to snow. That's right, SNOW! As the sun came up, we noticed there was a small amount of snow on the grass, but by the time it ended, the streets and sidewalks were covered. It is strange since I was just hanging clothes on the line the day before.

2. Fiona was able to get caught up on her immunization shots yesterday. We were way overdue for the six month shots, and they were able to add one more to catch her up to her twelve month position. Thank goodness it was only three shots though. It was tough for me because this was the first time that I have ever held one of my babies while they were getting the shots. Worland spoiled us with having a helper.

3. Stuart mastered the toilet for the day today. He has been trying to go in the big people potty, but has never managed to make it in there on time to actually show for all of his work. Today he managed to figure it out and went five times in a row without an accident. We were all so excited. He called ALL of the family that he could get ahold of on the telephone. He wanted me to take a picture of it, and then made a funny face when I tried, so here is the only photo that I managed to snap. I hope that he remembers for today.

Well, that's all we have had for excitement around here. I am praying every night for better news, and will definately share it with everyone when we get the opportunity. Have a great Thursday.

Sunday Fun

Between Church and our evening meeting, we hurried home for a quick dinner and then headed back to the Church for some open space to fly Macy & Stuart's new kites. We bought them several weeks ago at Costco, andy they have been itching to get out with 'em. I was using both the camcorder and the camera, so Macy took over the camera for some shots. Here is my favorite of hers. She was a bit low for Daddy's head, but I loved the moment she captured here.

Here is a semi-close up of Stuart's kite. The Biwing. He loved seeing it up so far, and boy did this kite want to fly.

Here's Macy's butterfly. It wanted to act more like a butterfly than a kite, so it didn't soar for long. Maybe the winds weren't right for it, but with the days we have here, I'm sure we will see more kite flying in the near future (especially since we have a turtle and fish to fly too!)

That was the fun from here today. I hope you all enjoyed a weekend of beautiful sunshine.

Happy First Birthday Fiona Belle

Today is Fiona's first birthday. She spent most of the day sick, but here are some photos that we captured in between. Here is Harmony CareBear from Grandpa, Grandma & Uncle Kaden. Pulling some pretty dresses from Grandma Rose.She was feeling so terrible this morning that I had to hold her for four hours. It was nice, but as you can see, we had bedding that needed to be washed and a pile of towels from Fiona's sickness. So, here are Macy and Stuart enjoying the PB&J sandwiches that I let them make for themselves for lunch. Such big kids I have.
Getting ready to blow out the candle. Sister and Brother helped with this one.
Enjoying the cupcakes. We made these flower place settings yesterday afternoon. I used contact paper to preserve them for later use. Macy & Stuart wanted to buy her the flowers for her birthday, and we found these party hats to fit the theme that came about naturally.
That was our day. Thank you everyone for your wishes and gifts. I'm off to watch Survivor. Have a great evening.

OK, Here it Goes....

I may be a little one-sided, or just feeling sorry for myself, but I think that a stay-at-home-mom has more work involved. Let me explain:

1. Being at home all day does not allow you to get ahead of your housework. You can clean, but the kids are right behind you pulling out everything that you just put away. I fold laundry, and they are there pulling it down to the floor to jump on. I cook three meals a day and have to do dishes three times, wash the table three times, and clean the kitchen three times. HOWEVER, I do understand that these things can happen to a mother that goes to work, but at least they aren't happening ALL day long.

2. Stay-at-home Mothers also have more child conversations in a day than anyone else. There are days that we don't even have another adult to talk to until our husbands come home, and sometimes that's too late to count. We do get to hear our children's first words, see their first steps, go to every doctor and dentist visit, take them to their first day of school (and cry), play games and act like big kids. We have no schedule to follow, and we can nap with our babies!

3. The only stress we battle with is the stress that happens in our home. We do not have to learn to leave work at work; we don't lay up at night thinking about the list of deadlines, things that coworkers said or did, hiring or firing. We may worry about finding a babysitter, preschool, doctor or playgroup, but can always change our appointments to meet the schedule dealt to us. HOWEVER, we can NOT call in sick to our job. We still have to get out of bed, make meals, change diapers, and deal with sick kids too. We don't get to do this for nine hours a day either, it's 24-7. We can choose to let things go or dwell on them, and somedays it is harder to forget and forgive than other days--I'm just lucky that I can look a a sweet little face and smile (that would be a little harder to say about coworkers).

I guess that the baseline comes down to: It DOES depend on certain circumstances, but I don't have the sympathy for mothers that work that some would expect. I don't feel that they have it any worse than we moms that choose to stay at home. It's a choice each one of us makes, and we should't go along acting like our lives are worse than any other mother's. A load of laundry can be done in an evening, or on the weekends; dishes can be done after the kids go to bed; the house does not have to be vacuumed everyday (I can't believe I said that one--I do it 3 times some days); and we will not go to jail for letting our kids stay in their pj's all day.

I'm just a bit offended at the statement that was made the other evening, and the sympathy that seemed to be expected from the table full of stay-at-home mothers. The only bit of sympathy that I do have is what they are missing out on. We make sacrafices to raise our children. We don't have the big, brand new house with all of the horns an whistles, or the garages full of brand new vehicles (some of us don't even have garages). We don't eat out every night, go to lunch with the gals daily, and aren't afraid to buy our children macaroni and cheese or ramen noodles (IN BULK) if that is what they want to eat. We just choose to take our blessings in other forms, ones that mean something to us personally. It's our choice and we truely do love every day of it!

I hope that I didn't offend anyone, but I had to state my opinion. One isn't necessarily harder than the other, but sympathy shouldn't be expected from the other either.

A Little Survey For EVERYONE!

Okay, the other night at a gathering with some other mothers, we got into a conversation about working mothers vs. stay at home mothers. (It did not get heated, but I think that this type of conversation could very easily.) I have ran that conversation over and over in my head and finally have come up with what I think is the answer. BUT.....I want to get everyone else's opinion on this matter BEFORE I tell you mine. Without wasting any more time, here is the question:

IS IT MORE WORK (ie: HOUSEHOLD-WISE) FOR A LADY THAT STAYS AT HOME ALL DAY WITH HER KIDS, OR SOMEONE WHO GOES TO WORK OUTSIDE OF THE HOME FOR NINE HOURS A DAY?

Here are a few more details that I had picked up from the conversation. The gals that go to work either have their kids in school or an out of home daycare. The stay at home mothers have at least two kids at home with them. So, answer with the assumption that the amount of children involved is the same either way. AND.....answer even if you do not have kids. Can't wait to see everyone's thoughts.

Good Morning Pretty Bird

Fiona has found a new love. Ed. Yes, Ed, our bird. She has been climbing up onto his cage and sharing at him for long periods of time. She even wanted to help me clean out the cage yesterday. She would get so mad and yell at me if I had to move her from her favorite spot to take out or put in the tray.

This morning, she climbed up there and was trying to lift up the blanket that we put over him for bed time.....it keeps him quieter (unless kids are running wild....then nothing helps). I opened up the blanket and the door, and had to share these pictures that I took. They were just checking each other out, she'd talk and he'd squawk.

She'd dance around a little and the cage would shake, and then she'd wave at him saying "AAAHHIII", I think that's her noise for HI.

Ed finally got used to her enough to peek his head out of the door. (sorry about the hair, we were dressed early, but haven't brushed heads yet.....one minor adjustment at a time!)

Change of Plans

Well, this night took a surprising turn around for me. Our Ward had a Relief Society Dinner tonight, and I had planned on staying home since Grady is in Colstrip for the night. I had ordered pizza for dinner and the kids and I were doing a yoga video when the phone rang. It was my friend Teri, and she asked if I was going. I told her Grady was working, so I was staying in. She called me back two minutes later and told me that her husband would take the mid and late flights at work tonight (instead of the early and mid) and to bring my kids over. WHAT A MAN. He took on six kids (ages 5, 4, 3, 3, 1, and 11 mos) alone. I owe them an evening of babysitting so they can go have dinner! We loaded up the pizza and kids and went out.

This year's theme was "To Every Thing There is a Season". The tables were decorated with centerpieces based on the four seasons. We had watermelon decor, Independence Day decor, Easter decor, Christmas decor, and fall decor. They read 8 poems and songs about growing up and comopared them to the seasons of our lives. It was a wonderful evening for us ladies.

After I returned home, Grady emailed me pictures of the Bed and Breakfast that they are staying in. All motels were full tonight, so they found this place. I thought that I'd share his photos with you so you can see that he stays in luxury and found someone to cook him breakfast. (I should get better at that for the family).
Well, I'm off to enjoy a few moments of PEACE now. Good night!

In Like a Lion.....????

We woke up this morning early. Grady went to work at 6, so I got up to make him a lunch. Acutally, I can't say I got up to do that....Fiona woke me up at 3:45, and I battled her for a while before finally letting her scream until Daddy put her to sleep. I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I rolled out of bed. Stuart was up a few minutes before Grady left, so he and I snuggled and watched cartoons until the girls joined us. As day light made it's debut, we realized that it was SNOWING AGAIN. 80(

Stuart looked out the window and told me the following story, "I climbed up a cloud, it looked like a ladder kinda. I pushed the snow button. Then I saw an airplane getting ready to take off, so I went inside it. No one was in there." I asked, "Did you fly it?" He replied, "No!" Off he went to do other things. Interesting mind that boy has.

We had a craft fair yesterday. Here are the kids showing off their March pillowcases this morning.
And....our shamrocks. We hung them in the window, but could not get a picture because the snow is reflecting too brightly. Basically, they are strips of paper shaped as circles or hearts and glued together with another strip folded as the stem. Easy for the kids to assemble, and they enjoyed using the paper cutter too. That's All Folks!!!!

No Bandage Picture

If you're weak at heart or stomach, don't look at this picture. Macy's extra large covering fell off today, so we took a picture before covering the finger back up with a bandaid. Just look if you want to see the wound, otherwise, do NOT enlarge this picture. She's still being a trooper.

Our Sunday C-Rush

We were all home this evening finishing up dinner and getting on pajamas when Grady and Macy went out to the garage. She was riding her scooter and then was putting something in the trash can next to the door. Grady came inside and shut the door, and we heard the poor girl SCREAM. He ran back out and picked her up. I was doing the dishes and asked if she was bleeding. He said yes, so I turned the water to cold and moved out of the way. Before they even reached the kitchen sink, he said we needed to go to the hospital. I loaded up Stuart and Fiona and he held Macy. Yes, I DROVE! I managed the one ways and the traffic (with navigation from Grady when needed). What a proof of MOMMAHOOD!

After two and a half hours in the waiting , and a few stitches on each side of the pinky nail, we were headed home. She will probably lose the nail, but x-rays showed everything was okay, so it should heal fine. We have to watch how the new nail comes back, but that is a while away. It was 8:30 when we left, Stuart and Fiona were both ready for bed an hour earlier. Macy wanted some ice cream, so we stopped by the store to pick some up. Here she is showing you her wounded finger. She was a bit worried about sleeping with it, but went straight to bed after her treat. When we went to tuck Stuart in, I had to take this picture. I guess this was her way of keeping it from getting bumped. We rolled her back over to keep the entire arm from falling asleep. She was the biggest trooper tonight. We missed our Temple Prep classes, and the kids were bummed that they could not go back to the Church, but we assured them this was more important and that we would be back next week.

Grady said no more skateboards, scooters, or bikes. Macy threw in no more doors either. It was a tough one for Daddy, as this was his first ER visit with a kid. I think that I was a little calmer due to the fact that I was with Stu when they admitted him for pneumonia, that was scarry for me. Oh, the life of a parent....catches you off guard.

Third Time's A Charm

Here are a few pictures from our quick trip to the park. The weather clouded up and got chilly, so we weren't there for long. Stuart and Grady have been wanting to fly this plane for a while now. Terry bought it for Grady and Steve to put together years ago (like 5). We've moved it twice with us (to Ten Sleep and here), so here it is finally making it's debut. This is a good picture, but you may have to enlarge it if possible. Yes, the plane is flying in it.
And the girls at the park. Fiona's first time in the swing...and she LOVED it!
Stuart has been pretending to "snowboard" around the house for weeks now, so he bought a skateboard to practice on. Here's Daddy showing him what it feels like to "GO".

Thanks for looking again!

Lesson Five: Power Off Stalls

I woke up at 5 this morning with Fiona, and just could not fall back to sleep. Doing what any "normal" person would do, I got out of bed and showered and ready for the day. I was awake and ALONE, so I decided to do some reviewing of my previous flights and study some of the ground work I've been reading. I left this morning for an 8 a.m. flight lesson, and was about 10 minutes early to the airport. It was beautiful! I watched four tail draggers take off right in a row, one immediately after the other. I imagine they were a group of guys taking advantage of the sunshine and heading somewhere for breakfast. (Someday!) Not long after, I watched a helicopter take off, only I'm sure this one was for a hospital and wouldn't be so lucky to take advantage of the morning.

During my lesson, we reviewed some of my previous learnings, including climbs, turns, and level flying. We taped off the instrument panel so that I was "forced" to learn to "feel" the variations and search for directional headings outside of the plane. This was so much fun. I wasn't constantly looking down to make sure that everything was perfect. I could tell when I was drifting off of the directional course, but wasn't as worried about it and it was easier to correct since I had nothing to compare my flight skills to.

Then came the part I have been fearing since my last lesson -- power off stalls. I was dreading this lesson to no end. I did build up some confidence this morning as I felt more prepared and comfortable to do preflight. Between the beauty of the morning, and my better preparing, I was ready to take on the lesson. I had to opportunity to wear a "hood" to limit my vision to the instrument panel only, or go at it wide open and bravely. Of course, I chose to got it all seeing. I watched as George demonstrated the first stall and recovery as I watched and learned. Then came my turn. I managed it well, but need to be bit faster on the controls. I had the option to try another on the return flight, but we were in such busy skies, watching for other aircraft in the area, that we forgot to do it. I guess that leaves something to look forward to next time. I managed to get pretty familiar with feeling the landing prep speed and controls. I feel pretty good about this flight....maybe it's the turning point for my unfamiliar mind.

Flight Time Today: 1.2 hours
Total Flight Time: 5.6 hours
Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!

A Bitter Sweet Goodbye

Grady and I purchased tickets to the Nickelback concert this weekend on November 18, 2006. We had been planning on attending, but found out Thrusday night that we had no babysitter for the kids. In my genius head, I thought that I'd try to sell them on eBay. We had a guy that Grady works with that would buy them from us, but I thought that I'd try a 1 day listing to see if we could make a few bucks off of them. When I woke up yesterday morning, no one had even looked at them, so I was a bit worried. But, by the auction's end, we had made almost 4 times the original amount that we paid! I had a rush going through me for most of yesterday afternoon and evening. I could not believe that someone would pay that much for a concert ticket. It definately helped put a smile where some bummed faces used to be. I'm off to fly this morning.....have a great weekend!

Just for Laughs

Okay, I hope that everyone finds these as funny as I did. I could not stop laughing when these were shown to me. It was just too funny to see my family like this. Enjoy!

And a couple from a different setting.

Macy and Stuart (and Daddy) all had a blast playing around with the poses for these. Have a great Thursday. Anyone else watching the new Survivor? I've missed quite a bit already, but love CSI and The Shark. Tonight's my night infront of the TV.