Tis The Season

I've been thinking a lot about this lately and I've shared it on my Facebook but thought I'd make a post about it here also. It especially started after I had spent 6 hours organizing our basement and the loads of "stuff" that I dropped off at Goodwill. Though some of it was clothes that the girls had grown out of (there got to be too many that I didn't have the gumption to sell them on eBay), most of it was toys they had received over the years and no longer play with. Material things. We have been blessed with so much. And unfortunately this can be passed down to our children. Not our children per se, but between parents and children in general. One of my ideas for Family Home Evening in December is to go volunteer at Harvesters or a soup kitchen so that my children realize how good they have it and not everyone is as fortunate. I have never felt that we spoiled our girls: I say "no" quite a bit. They see something they want, they know they have their allowance to save for it. I came across an article by Joe J Christensen who was a member of the Presidency of the Seventies in 1999. He said "instant gratification generally makes for weak people. As a consequence of overindulgence, many children leave homes ill-prepared to meet the real world. All too many enter marriage who have never learned to cook, sew, or develop other important life skills. We would do well if in all these areas of material things we and our children would follow the oft-quoted motto of our pioneer forebears to "fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Children who always get what they want, will want as long as they live. I was also reading an article in the KC Parent magazine from a mother whose children get 4 gifts at Christmas: "Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read." I LOVE that. Children these days grow up believing they are "entitled" to everything. How can we reverse that thinking? I had a friend post on my FB comment of the 3 gifts her children get at Christmas in relation to the "three wisemen". One gift remains unwrapped from "Santa" and the other two from mom/dad. What a great idea! No more of this thing after thing after thing. I so cherish the gift my husband gives me to be a stay home mom. This gives me the chance to watch my children grow, nurture them, participate in school activities, take them to the park, play with them, have them read to me or I to them, just "be there" for them. Our men had a priesthood meeting last Sunday where one of the stake presidency remembered being able to go home everyday during high school at lunch to eat with his mother. His mother was a homemaker and he loved being able to go home and she'd be there at lunch. What a memory. In this day of expendable incomes, electronics, video games, and texting we need to get back to the basics. Our children are not going to remember what they got for their 6th birthday or many Christmases ago. The time we spend with them, the love we give them, and the attention we give them are going to go a lot farther than "buying" love with material possessions.

Oh My Heck

This is the reason that I did not get any Halloween decorations out this year. This is the result of absolutely no cleaning all summer long. EVERYTHING was out. All the Barbies and clothes, ALL the Polly Pockets, cars, houses, etc. I couldn't even see the floor. I was afraid to go downstairs. I was determined to finally tackle this before the holidays so I could actually get our Thanksgiving and Christmas decor out.

 

Here I am 2 hours into it.

 

And 6 HOURS later.....

 

Happy Halloween

Another fun halloween in Kansas. Our family went to the annual Enchanted Forest in Sar Ko Par Park. The kids dress up in costume and there are different performaces along the jogging trail. They have singers, story tellers, a magician, puppets, owls, and inflatables to play in. They used to give away hot chocolate for free but now you have to purchase it. But with that they also have popcorn, hot dogs, drinks and other treats. Our 2nd annual block party was last night. Everyone pitched in for an "Octoberfest" theme with hot dogs, chili, salsa, drinks, desserts and of course s'mores. Mike took all the kids around the neighborhood again to trick or treat. The weather was warm (but not as warm as our 70 degrees we had last year). Our family made it until around 10p, but Mike was up at 4a and said there were still several people out there by the fire pit just chatting away. Obviously none of them had church this morning. Savannah was a southern belle, Haylie was a seniorita, and little Lacie was a candy corn. What an awesome evening!

 

Wichita or Bust

In the past 6 years we have lived in Kansas I have wanted to go to Wichita. Wichita is the largest city in Kansas with a population of 580,000 people. Mike signed up for a continuing education seminar through work so we were reimbursed for our hotel and gas. Pretty sweet. We left on Friday morning after taking Lacie to the kennel. She was so excited when she thought she was going with us. Mike always says how much he misses the mountains of Utah but I happen to think the Flint Hills are just as pretty; especially in the summer when it is all so green. THIS is Gods Country untouched by urbanization. The Museum of World Treasures was real interesting. The had an actual piece of the Berlin Wall on display. You are actually looking at the side that faced West Berlin.

 

The next day was my 43rd birthday. Yeah! We went to the Sedgwick County Zoo. According to the visitors and convention bureau this is the 16th largest zoo in the country.

 

They also have Exploration Place. This was pretty cool. Savannah was able to surround herself in a bubble. Haylie liked playing the vet. They also had an expansive minature set up of historical buildings and places in Kansas.

 

Lots of good places to eat. We ate at Genghis Khan (however BD's Mongolian BBQ is MUCH better). Jimmy Johns is always a favorite. Logan's Roadhouse was 2nd choice after Texas Roadhouse after we found out there was an hour wait time. And this place: Spangles. Typical diner reminicent of the 50's. I thought it was pretty good.

 

All in all I had a very good birthday trip with my family.

Our Disney Family

 

One Last Time

The Garmeister (our weatherman Gary Lesak) says its supposed to be 71 degrees today. Yeah! I guess this means mowing the lawn one last time and getting the sprinkler system turned off. Welcome to fall everyone.

Pumpkin Patch

A fun time today at the KC Pumpkin Patch in Gardner. We didn't do the corn maze but they had the jumping pillow, petting zoo, tricycle track, haunted barn, hay loft and horse swings, pumpkin cannon, mine shaft hill slide, rope maze, hay bale maze, jack & jill hill slide, pumpkin express train, pirate cove, corn crib play place, humpty dumpty rock climb, chicken coop slide, barnyard brain busters, duck races, yellow brick road train ride, and the zip line!

 

Diwali: Festival of Lights

Celebrated Diwali with our Hindu neighbors last night. Our entire cul-de-sac (14 homes) attended. Food was awesome and the music and dancing was great. Diwali is the biggest of all Hindu festivals. It is a celebration of life, its enjoyment and goodness. The illumination of homes with lights and the skies with firecrackers is an expression of obeisance to the heavens for the attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace and prosperity.

 

Fabulous Fall FHE

Since Mike worked a 12 on Monday, our weekly family home evening was tonight. We took a road trip 35 miles south to Louisburg, KS. They have the Louisburg Cider Mill which makes of course.....apple cider! It was fun to see all the awesome pumpkins and watch the cider being made. We were also able to catch the lady making their famous apple cider donuts! So yummy we bought half a dozen. After our purchases we drove farther south to Paola which was founded in 1855. They have an awesome bbq joint called The BBQ Shack. This place was featured on the Food Networks "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives". LOVE our Kansas City bbq!

 

St Louis or Bust

Our family drove out to St Louis on Saturday to see Phantom of the Opera at the Fox Theatre. This was a surprise to Savannah and Haylie. Mike and I have seen the play several times but this was a first for the girls. Unfortunately they both fell asleep during the second half. Because we had time to kill we decided to see the 3D Toy Story movies. I thought the movie theatre would be packed but there was only about 20 people. Savannah was a little disappointed that it was "real 3D" where things look like they're coming out at you like the stuff at Disneyland. Had a good lunch at O'Charleys and then dinner at Spaghetti Factory of course. Wanted to have breakfast at IHOP Sunday morning but it and Cracker Barrel were packed so we got a substandard breakfast at McDonalds. However, I do have to say maybe we were flying like the Jetsons. We made it both ways in 3 hours and 10 minutes. Our best time ever for 264 miles.

Musically Inclined

Our Savannah is starting violin!

Disneyland 2009 (cont)

What a great family vacation. I can't imagine going this in the middle of summer with the heat and the huge crowds. Waiting in line for 2 hours is not my thing. The longest wait time we had was 35 minutes for the Finding Nemo ride and Toy Story Mania. Most other rides we walked right on (without the FastPass). We did find that this trip was a little more crowded than all the other September's we've gone. I think people are catching on and not worrying about taking kids out of school. Savannah alone did 3 hours of homework BEFORE we even left and they also did some every night in the hotel. For a change of plans we researched the Orange County bus system and found a route that picked us up right in front of Disneyland and dropped us off right in front of Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. OSF was a staple of ours when living in UT. Kansas City used to have one about 11 years ago (the sign is still on the building downtown) but not sure why they closed up. The closest one to us now is in St Louis so that is a must every time we go to the temple. We always save our shopping to the last day and just spend the evening in Downtown Disney (mostly at World of Disney). Needless to say the girls were given their budget and Haylie's way of doing things was putting everything in her basket that she liked then going over with me what items she could get within her budget. Funny girl! We've always gone during the off-peak season except for one October when I wanted to see it all decked out for Halloween - that was a bit crowded too. My last goal is to go just one time during Christmas (which I know will be extremely crowded) to see the park all decorated for the holidays before the girls are off to college. The nightly Celebration Parade was great. So many colors and lights!

 

Close up of our family brick.

 

Just a couple of snapshots.

 

Disneyland 2009

So, we took our 12th trip to Disneyland. Had an awesome time with just hubby and girls. We arrived Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day there. This was the last day that Disney stayed open to 11p. Since this is an annual thing we decided to purchase a family brick that is outside the park in what they call the Walk of Magical Memories. We purchased ours in 2005 during the special 50th Anniversary. Got to have the typical picture from Main St. with the castle in the background. We only went through Toon Town once as it isn't one of our favorite points in the park. Love this picture we got with Mickey.

 

No, we don't belong to the esteemed Club 33 (although it would be awesome). For those of you who don't know about it, it is a very elite club limited to 487 member. The waiting period is now 14 years long and as of 2001 the membership fee was $7500 per person. We didn't want to pay the price for a disney picture. Don't you love the picture of the picture at Splash Mountain? The girls love the tea cups.

 

The next day we spent at California Adventure. The girls did the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Mike and I rode Grizzly River Run once and got a little wet so we didn't want to push our luck. The girls wanted to go again by themselves. Mulholland Madness is lots of fun. Had to get a picture of all the new construction going on where the lake used to be. They are putting in a big water show kind of like Illuminations at WDW. I was just amazed with how much detail there is to it.

 

Paradise Pier is always fun. I think my favorite ride is Toy Story Mania. This was Haylie's first time on California Screamin' and she LOVED it. They are getting a little big for Bugs Land but they did all the rides there. The Pixar Parade was real cute but we wish they still had The Electric Light Parade.

 

We Remembered

Both my girls have belonged to the Cedar Creek Community Service Club ever since going to this school. Our first service of the year was to show our appreciation for the fire/police departments and to remember their contribution on 9/11. This group of kids walked from school down to the fire station with flags flying high. We sang the National Anthem at the flag outside then had a minute of silence. They then went inside to present the department with a huge italian dinner for them to enjoy. What a great thing our children can accomplish!

 

Cedar Creek Walk-A-Thon

For the past couple of years our elementary school has done a walk-a-thon to raise money. This replaces all the annoying fundraisers like wrapping paper, cookie dough, etc. All you moms know what I'm talking about. So instead of sending the kiddos door to door selling; they walked to earn their money. The school wanted to raise $25,000 but came just a tad short this year. Last year they raised over that amount. For each lap they did they were given a mark which in turn gave them a ticket for each mark to put into a give-away basket of their choice. Some of the basket themes were sports, arts/crafts, girlie girl, family game night and so on. There were some really neat things that were donated.

 

Savannah was able to do 13 laps.

 

Haylie did 15 laps.

What A Trip!!

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the BYU/OU game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium this last weekend. It is just an 8 hour drive from our home so it is a fun little jaunt. We had a total blast and the fact that BYU won made it all the more worthwhile. Our hotel was in Ft Worth so Saturday we went over to the Stockyards again to see the Texas Longhorns out for their morning walk. Their horns are just huge. The Stockyards also have a bunch of fun little shops and dining options.

 

Next we drove over to Dallas. We wanted to go see the Dallas LDS Temple and they had a fun museum called the Dallas Heritage Park. Had a bunch of old buildings from sometime in the 1800's. I just loved the darling little lilac home with the wrap-around porch. Its kind of like a glorified Pioneer Village. Mike and I thought it would be awesome to turn the whole village into a haunted house for Halloween.

 

And finally, the reason for the entire trip. This game was freakin' cool. I am a true-blue Aggie fan but I have to admit I was stoked that the Y actually pulled it off. It was such an awesome experience to be there.

 

Some facts about the stadium: 1. It has the largest domed roof in the world. 2. The center video board is 90 ft over the field and runs from 20-yard line to 20-yard line. It is 72 ft by 160 ft. 3. There are a total of 10 separate levels in the stadium. 4. It is the largest enclosed stadium in the NFL. 5. The Statue of Liberty could stand on the star in the middle of the field and the roof could close and never touch her flame.

JACKPOT!

Now I normally run all errands for the week on Fridays. But because we are headed down to Dallas tomorrow for the BYU/Oklahoma game that isn't going to be possible. So I'm doing my stuff at WalMart and I ALWAYS buy the store brand of whatever I need before name brand stuff but this was a deal I couldn't pass up. I don't know if this is a Thursday thing at WalMart or if I just lucked out. But I was in the cheese section and all of the sudden this associate starts bringing out all these carts with stuff on them for either $0.50 or $1.00. Several people just rushed to the carts and started piling stuff in. What I added to my cart was this. Cottonelle Toilet Paper 20 roll for $1.00. Original price: $10.00 Sparkle Paper Towels 6 roll for $1.00. Original price: 5.97. Cascade Dishwasher Powder 5 lbs for $1.00. Original price: 5.97. Maybe I should switch to Thursdays.

A Day At the Farm

What a gorgeous day we had today. High of only 75. Decided to go to the Deanna Rose Farmstead with some friends. We hadn't been in a couple of years and there were a lot of changes. They had the new front red barn entrance and are in the process of working on the town bank. The farm is free but they take donations and have corporate sponsors. They are in the process of saving for the Ice Cream Parlor building. They've raised about $351,000 of the $500K they figure it will take to build it. It is an awesome place for the kids. Lots of animals, plant life, a dairy barn, old fashioned school and more "pioneer like stuff". A fun dinner at Old Chicago. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

 

Getting Ready

They have arrived! Our documents for our Disney trip have arrived. The luggage tags are totally awesome. We got tired of having to worry about ours weighing more than 50 pounds with clothes for all four people so I bought the girls their own luggage at JCP probably a year ago. Now we don't have to worry. I'm not one of those women that have to take 1/2 their closet on a vacation. I am ALL for minimizing. I personally am so excited for this family vacation with JUST OUR FAMILY. We have not been on a major family vacation with just the four of us since 2000. I'm not talking about weekenders to St Louis or Oklahoma or the cruises Mike & I have been on compliments of AAKC. I'm talking about major vaca time. In the 11 times we have been to Disneyland, we have NEVER gone as just our little family and that is just sad. Our two girls are growing up so fast and will be doing their own thing with husbands and children in the blink of an eye. And that is how it should be, so while they are still young I want to create great memories for them of fun things with Daddy & Mama. The best part is they are both old enough and tall enough for all the rides with neither of them scared to go on anything. What a great week its going to be!

 

Sunday Afternoon Drive

As you all know the announcement was made in General Conference on Oct. 4, 2008 that Kansas City Missouri will be getting a temple. We were SO excited. Our district now is St Louis which is a 4 hour drive from our home. The Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, NE is only 3 hours but they don't have a Spaghetti Factory. Anyhoo, it was such a beautiful afternoon yesterday we decided to take a family drive out to the site of our temple. Rumor has it that groundbreaking will start next spring. Its not much to look at now, but we hope to post pictures as the progress goes along. It will also be visible from I-435.

 

First Day of School

It seems only a short while ago that the girls were out of school even though it has been 13 weeks. And what a summer it has been. A cruise, two weeks in Utah, swim lessons. But alas it is back-to-school today. Savannah is in the 5th grade and has Mrs. Olberding as her teacher. This will be her last year in elementary school. Sixth grade is moving up to Jr High next year. Haylie is in the 2nd grade and Mrs. Griffen is her teacher. Me, I look forward to a little peace and quiet for a time, being able to grocery shop without someone bugging me to buy them something and getting back to the fitness center. They will be missed during the day but I will be anxious to hear about their days in school and seeing what they are accomplishing.

 

Elders Quorum vs High Priests. Hmmmm.

Spent a great evening at the park with a little ball between the men in the ward. Elders Quorum won by 6. Way to go guys! Enjoyed pizza, salads, drinks and desserts with all their families afterwards. What an awesome night.