Easter Bunny

I nearly forgot! I even had the picture done early this year so I could post it before Easter came. O'well...DUH!!
Last year I had a fight on my hands with little J even wanting to sit with the Bunny. I had to finally join in on the picture. ( you'll have to go back to last years post..It was hilarious! )
This year I couldn't even keep up with Tyler walking up to see the Bunny. He had this puzzled look on his face..what is this big fluffy white thing waving at me? All three kids warmed up to the Bunny quickly. The bunny made them giggle and of course they were trying to peek inside to see eyes!
Hope every one had a wonderful Easter?! We sure did.

Easter Sunday

It was a great spiritual growth Easter for me. I did miss alot of what was said during the talks in the sacrament meeting due to rowdy kids. (I need to apologise to Roy for Maddie shushing Tyler so loudly during his solo. It was so embarrassing. I did truly enjoy his solo, I like when he sings. ) During the primary sharing time Kasi showed most of the important parts of the video called the Lamb of God. Even though it was in a different language I could feel the power of Christs message. I know the kids could too, some of them were so touched and overwhelmed with the sufferings of Christ it brought some of them to tears. It touched me deeply, I need to find it and watch the whole thing.

Since I have been put in as the Teacher for the kids turning 8 this year. I have the responsibility to teach them about church history and the order in which the church was organized. I have also been teaching them why it is so important to be baptized. I am so blessed to have this calling. My testimony grows stronger and stronger each lesson I prepare. I know Joseph Smith is a true Prophet and with all of the hardships and trials that he and his family suffered, how can you not have a testimony of this true church knowing what he went through and still had one as strong as he did?

I am trying to be like Jesus. I am trying to show my kids to be like Jesus. Their tender little perfectness knows who their Father in Heaven is and they remind me of him as much as I try to remind myself. I am trying to be more thankful that Christ suffered my sorrows and sins so I may have eternal life, that I may stay with my loved ones and see my Dad again.

I hope that I can keep the meaning of Easter with me every day.

Sunday Sunshine

After Church we went to feed the ducks. We gathered the stale bread, crackers and cereal that the kids wouldn't eat and tossed them to the ducks. The water was low and there weren't as many ducks and seagulls as usual. The stink was still there though! Of course our supply was gone in a flash and then it was off to the elementary school that Jason went to as a kid to play. It's a great play ground and not crowded like all the other parks in West Jordan. ( The schools have such neat playgrounds these days, back in our day it was lame! )

Big Sister and Big Brother are so good at helping Tyler do all the things that they can do. Tyler has no fear and is very willing to do all the same climbing, sliding and running just like them. He insists on being a big kid.

Mother Nature seems to be quiet the tease these past few weeks. I am glad that she allowed us to have a Beautiful Easter Sunday so we could be out enjoying the sun.

Easter Eve

Tami and Paiton joined us for a fun filled afternoon of decorating hard boiled eggs and a Easter egg hunt on Saturday. ( the grass was certainly long enough to hide the eggs! ) It was a beautiful day to do some hoping around. The kids had great time with each other and hunting. I loved their creative artistry with the eggs. Tami and I enjoyed watching them find the eggs, considering that a lot of them were right in front of their faces. They looked as if they were lost!

crash, boom, bang!

We made front page news in Idaho last week.
My drivers Dan and Omar were heading south bound, making their way towards Twin Falls after making deliveries in Sun Valley. There is two highways that connect. The one highway going East and West has a stop sign and the other that my drivers were on doesn't. The speed limit for over sized vehicles is 55mph and sure enough that is the speed they were traveling and just then the other truck pulled away from his stop sign and turned in front of my drivers. We hit the other truck on the passengers side whitch also is the same side of the fuel tank. Omar was in the sleeper and he flew forward hitting his head. Dan was driving and luckily he was wearing his seat belt. Our truck moved the other truck a good 20-30 feet from the force of impact. Dan jumped out of the truck and immediately ran over to see if the other driver was okay. The door was jammed and he said that he thought that the windows were tinted because he really couldn't see inside. The driver rolled the window down and smoke came billowing out and Dan yelled at him to get out of his truck, by this time it was on fire. Dan was worried that the truck would explode since he hit the fuel tank. Dan ran back to our truck to get the fire extinguisher and by the time he got back to make sure the driver got out of the truck the truck it was already up in flames. Dan and Omar were able to drag the guy out and across the highway. The fire department wasn't able to get there fast enough and the truck just burned to the ground. It got so hot that the tires were melted and the trailer ( which hauled grain but empty at the time ) had a conveyor belt made of rubber inside of it and that got so hot that the trailers sides made of metal melted. The driver of the other truck suffered a head injury and was bleeding and delirious. He thought that we ran thru a four way stop sign. It caused a massive fuel spill between both trucks, a small brush fire and a power outage. It also closed both highways for almost 2 hours. Jason was able to take a second truck of ours up to Idaho to rescue our drivers and haul them and our trailer back home.

We are very lucky that no one lost their life over this incident. We might suffer from a total loss on the truck. It was nice that everyone that my Sister called on the route was very understanding and very concerned over the drivers safety. Our trailer didn't suffer any damage and neither did the furniture that was on it. The report states that it was the other drivers fault and we are not responsible, boy do I feel bad for them and their insurance company.

I think that worst part of this whole thing is that when Dan called me to tell me that they had been in a head on and couldn't really talk and that he would have to call me back. Neither Jason and I could get a hold of them and didn't know what was going on for almost two hours. It was so nerve wracking!

I know that my Heavenly Father was watching over us and I am so thankful that this wasn't a tragic accident. We feel very blessed.

Ain't NO Betty Crocker!!

I have really been trying to be more of the home maker type. It's hard when I work all day! I have been telling myself..Okay your almost 31 and have never made a loaf of bread. Plus the bit of food storage that we do have, I will have no idea what to do if there ever was an emergency. What am I gonna do with all that wheat and flour? I am working on it so all of you calm down and stop shaking your heads.

So my first attempt was going rather smoothly, I mixed all the ingredients the way I was supposed to including the quick acting yeast which is mostly why I am scared of making bread. I did everything by hand, I was punching and kneading that dough like no other, good way to get your frustrations out by the way. I even looked the part. I put on my apron, had flour on my face and down the front of me not to mention all over the counter. It was great. I made sure that after I rolled the dough into a perfect ball and placed it aside covered for almost 45 minutes. I pulled the cook book out again and read the directions again and again. I came back from taking a break form the laundry ( another home maker project that I am so fond of doing ) and imprinted my 3 finger tips into the dough to make sure that it had risen enough and sure enough the impression stayed indented just like the directions said that it would. Woohoo!, moving right along. I looked at the time on the clock and still had plenty of time to get it in the oven before bed time...even maybe to have a warm slice just before sleepy time,mmm. The anticipation was killing me. So I rolled it out, that's after I separated the dough evenly of course. I greased my loaf pans and had rolled my dough up into perfect brick type pieces with the ends tucked in and then placed them into the oven....yes that's right..what step did I forget? I kept telling myself while I was looking thru the oven door, why isn't it filling the pans cooking? Shouldn't it be rising and be looking like a loaf that my Grandmother used to make? I went into complete panic mode and after having only 7 minutes left of baking realized that I was supposed to let it rise ONE MORE TIME!!! I knew I had read it over and over again..thoroughly but couldn't find what paragraph I saw it in. I wanted it to be perfect and I guess the whole trance I was in I was determined to get my slice of bread before bed time. What was bricks of dough ended up bricks of hard yeasty supposedly bread..YUCK!

Jason came home just in time to see me pull the bricks out of the oven ( you could of played football with them once they cooled ). I had to laugh, he was like what smells so good? Then he took a look at them and said what is it supposed to be? I explained, he then laughed and thanked me. It was the Tuesday before his fight and he was cutting way back on eating so it wouldn't be as hard to cut weight. With the failure of my bread we weren't able to devour one loaf before bed. In turn he kept..I should say we kept the weight off.

I will have to let you all know if the next loaves turn out. I have had a horrible week and do need to find something to take my frustrations out on. Some one get the flour ;)

Jason & Matt Hughes

Those of you that aren't obsessed with MMA fighting or the UFC like Jason and I are this is Matt Hughes standing with Jason. He was a guest referee for a couple of the fights. This is a big deal for him to be there. Matt Hughes has held the championship belt with the UFC 9 times. He often comes to Salt Lake to train with Jeremy Horn..I could kick myself for not getting picture of Jason with him. Jeremy Horn is a big name in Salt Lake and he has over a 100 fights ( I don't the win or losses? ) Jason likes to watch these guys fight and it was really neat for him to be able to see them up close and talk to them. Oh I can't wait for Jason's next fight..okay maybe I can?

Jason is the WINNER

So the anticipation had been building for weeks. Finally it was fight night. There were almost 40 of us that came out for Jason and the place was sold out with 3,000 in attendance. Luckily we didn't have to wait that long because Jason was the second fight on the fight card. This venue was so much nicer then the other place that Jason fought before. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't stadium seating but was glad that our group was able to get there early so we could sit together. ( sorry the picture of all of us together at the end didn't turn out..bummer! )Jason came out and we went crazy. He was calm and confident. He looked at his opponent in the eyes the whole time while the ref was giving them the rules. They touched gloves and then in was ON!! Jason was the first to land two great leg kicks and they both swung at each other and then eventually went to the mat. His opponent did get him in a choke hold but Jason has a very strong neck and he rolled his way out of it with out it fazing him. Then the first round was over...Good, we all caught our breath. Second round started and I began to yell alot more and so did the rest of our little crowd. They starting swinging on each other again and that's when Jason decided to pick his opponent up and slam him to the mat. They rolled around a bit and then Jason was able to get full mount and started hammering his fists in to his opponents face which lead to his opponents nose getting broke after receiving an elbow. Jason's opponent tapped out after taking a gulp of his own blood. Jason ended it 1:35 seconds in the second round. It was AWESOME!! I am so proud of Jason. He really trained his butt off ( some times twice a day ). He ended up sick the Wednesday before the fight and still dropped the weight and knew the other guy would of worked hard training too and wasn't about to call off the fight. He went in to the ring with a plan and it worked to his advantage Which led to his victory. I am so grateful that he didn't get hurt real bad. He did end up with a black eye and a broken knuckle but hey he is the WINNER!!

Thank you to all of our friends and family that support Jason. Especially thanks to those who made the sacrifice to buy tickets and rove a long way to join me. Also thank you Jeremy and Larkyn for keeping my kids really late. I love all of you.