Just Some Randomness!

Another Year down and Hopefully several more to go!

On Monday I turned the ripe old age of 28! My birthday celebrating started off Saturday night with a birthday dinner at my moms. Lydia and Kodie planned a nice birthday and birthday cake, and Kama did a nice job with the execution of their cake idea! Too bad I didn't get any pics! Ooops! On Monday I went with my friend Mindy to Dallas. We went to the Whole Foods store and then spent 3 1/2 hours at Ikea. All that time and all we came out with was a lamp for $11. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to get away for the day! Thanks Mindy for taking me with you! When I got home Ben and the kids had made me Grandma Clarice's Pound cake and had strawberries and whipped cream. I received some nice presents this year, a new shirt, some Stress Relief body care, and some Coconut Oil and a Coconut cure book! (I have become obsessed with coconuts lately. Just check my past blog about coconuts and warts!) Anyway, all in all it's been a great time. Thanks to all for celebrating with me and for your birthday wishes. I have the best family and friends you could ask for!

Election 2008 and our New President!

I am thinking right now that I need a blog for my own personal thoughts since this is supposed to be our family blog. But I don't yet so I'm going to bore you all with my thoughts instead of pics of my kids!

This election has been so heated and emotional and people taking things so personally. It's so sad to me to see that we can become so divided as a country. I am tired of hearing people trying to throw the racist or the sexist card out there all the time. Everything seems to be about first Black Person or First Women to fill a spot. The polls show the white evangelical christian votes, the black votes, etc. I wonder when, and can only hope that one day we can all just be people and Americans. Not Black or African Americans, or Asian Americans or White Americans, etc, but Americans. Whether you were born and raised in our country because of ancestors traveling to this great place or because you came here yourself and gained citizenship. It shouldn't matter so much about the race, ethnicity, or color of your skin everyone should just be Americans!

I felt as far as the people we had to choose from to be our next President of our great country that much was left to be desired in our picks. For me it came down to who I felt fit my beliefs morally. I couldn't vote for someone who's views and positions would not protect The Family. Our church had asked very to the point for us to only support those who would protect the constitution of marriage and uphold the morals and values and standards of our Heavenly Father. I know that we all justify and take that to mean what best suits ourselves. In all this mess I do feel that I did uphold those standards and values from how I understood it to mean. I may not be right in who I thought would uphold those values, but I guess we will find out in the years to come.

John McCain I felt was very eloquent in his speech last night. He loves this country and I was so proud of him. I was impressed that he wouldn't let his crowd Boo Obama. He truly is a great man and very Patriotic. I hope he will continue to good for our country.

President Elect Obama, it's so weird that we are actually saying that and know who our next President will be. I will say that I have had very mixed feelings about the man. I first learned of him when he went on Oprah the very first time when his book came out. Before the election process had started and he only danced around the idea of running for office. I liked the man I saw that day and thought I would vote for him. I was however disappointed as it became apparent that he was indeed going to run and realized that much of what I remembered him saying that day on Oprah was not the same as who he was now. I don't care for him and I don't know that I ever will. There is too much unknown and too many times that he changes what he says about things to have full confidence in him. I will say though that I did like the Obama I saw last night during his acceptence speech. It was the first time that I saw him have a passion for his country and for it's history during this election. I hope that he was sincere and that he will do what he said he would last night. I do think that he will be like President Clinton and be a popular president, unless he does something really stupid. I think there is a big Change coming to our country and I can only pray that it is a good change. Only time will tell though.

Halloween!

On Friday Lydia and I went up to the boys school to do Silas' class party and to go to Zach's class Party. Here are some pics of the boys at their class parties! I have to say it is crazy to be in charge of one of these things especially when you're doing it by yourself. It's worth it, just crazy!

To start off our Halloween events we attending the annual Balkman Halloween Bash. The kids had fun trunk or treating and dancing and playing with their friends. We had Tinker Bell, Indiana Jones, and Batman! My sister's and I were Flappers and Stacy husband Scott was Waldo. Ben was supposedly one of the guys from Grease.


Ok, these pics uploaded wrong and out of order! Sorry for being backwards! :)

Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie!!!

Ok, so we had the sister missionaries over for dinner last night and I made some ice cream pumpkin pie. It was a idea I had and boy did it turn out so yummy. I have to share the recipe it was sooo good!

1 graham cracker pie crust
1 container of pumpkin ice cream ( I liked the Edy's Slow Churned Pumpkin Ice Cream)
Redi Whip or Fresh Whipped Cream

Let the ice cream sit out to soften enough so you can spread it in the pie crust. Put in the freezer to refreeze the ice cream and then top with whipped cream to serve.

The crust ended up tasting like gingerbread. It was so good and a nice twist on pumpkin pie!

Chickasaw Cultural Evening!

Zachary took a picture of his Uncle Edmond. (he's in the red shirt)

The kids in front of a statue at the Cultural Center

Our Little Indians!

Here's some pics of the kids on the ride down to Sulphur!

Grandma and Lydia and Silas waiting for it to start

The Chickasaw Nation Color Guard

The Chickasaws are in the process of building a new cultural center in Sulphur, Oklahoma. It is where they had this years Cultural Evening, which is a part of their week long annual Chickasaw Festival. We went to it Friday night and let me tell you, this is going to be an amazing place to learn about the history of the Chickasaw Nation. It is at a beautiful location. I wish I would have taken some better pics of what the surroundings and the buildings and the layout of the place look like, but I was just trying to muddle through the crowd of nearly 4,000 people who came. They had dinner, a kids tent with activities, cultural demonstrations, they have built traditional homes that the Chickasaw's lived in that you can check out, and so many things we didn't even get to look at. They will be having their grand opening this coming spring and we plan to go down for that, so I will get some better pics then. If you have some time and want to go learn about the culture of the Indians that lived in this area of our country, you need to go check out this place. We took my family to it, and they enjoyed the evening. They have been wanting to go to the festival ever since we have lived here in Oklahoma and now that they are here it made it possible for them to attend. It was a great time, beautiful weather, and fun to see some family and friends we don't get to see very often.

Remembering A Good Friend!

It's been a year now since my good friend Dawn Mitchell lost her 8 year battle with breast cancer. She was such a good lady. She was caring and kind and had so many friends. I have several memories of Dawn. I remember her macaroni and cheese that she would add garlic too and we thought it was so amazing. I remember her craftiness and making spool dolls with her. I remember being their first babysitter when they had Kylie and Dawn calling every 10 minutes to check on her, because she was worried about leaving her. I remember almost burning her house down with Tina because we left a pot of boiling water on the stove and forgot about it. I remember going to her house to help her with her 3 kids who all had chicken pocks at the same time, and then getting the worst ever case of chicken pocks myself a week or two later. I remember her cream cheese mints. I remember our pinching matches and laughing at the same time, and her willingness to always forgive people. I remember her love for her children and constant concern for them. I remember the great advice she would give when I would call her frustrated with life. She was more than a friend, she was like a big sister to me. I love her and miss her, but I know she is watching over her family she had to leave behind and doing much good where she is now. No longer having to suffer from her illness.

This month is breast cancer awareness month. I encourage all of you to do something this month to support the fight, take preventative measures for yourself, or do whatever you can to be aware of this disease.
A good site that you can make donation at is:

http://www.standup2cancer.org

You can donate in honor of someone you know or knew and love or just a regular donation.

Getting old...at least that's what I'm told!!!

I have to say, I am a little confused by this whole thing! I am getting close to 30, but don't really feel like I'm getting old. I try to follow all the latest trends on tv and in magazines. I keep up on the latest hair styles, I like most of the "new" songs that come out year after year. I still have a lot of energy and love to have fun and get crazy. Well, I guess other than the "fine lines" I'm starting to notice, and the reality of being able to not lose weight without doing anything are the only signs I am noticing, and not knowing when I should stop shopping in the Junior's department, (I have figured out that pants in the Junior's department are a no go now. They are just cut way too low, I guess it's ok to wear them if I am going for the muffin top look, but I'm not) But, to tell you the truth, I love that I'm getting older. I feel like I know a lot more now than I did as a teen entering the 20's. I don't have a formal "higher" education, but I feel like I have learned so much since being in high school. A lot of things I know I don't get the credit I deserve for my knowledge that I have. It's ok though, not everyone is open to the idea of learning without going to College. I got married and had kids and have been a wife and mother, so I've had to learn the things I have interest in on my own. I am So excited that I am finally getting my chance and the feeling that it is my time to take the chance to finally get a Cosmetology License. I have already been looking into different hair shows I can attend to get even more indepth knowledge from. I feel like I am getting out of my rut of the mundane daily life as a mom and wife activities. My kids are old enough, but still young enough that I feel better about leaving them to go and learn about something I have a great passion for. Hopefully they will learn that it is important to learn no matter what your age is. Anyway, I feel better than ever, (other than the few pounds I feel I don't like, not many, but a few pounds! :) I feel like I can acheive my dreams and goals that I have always had for myself. However, I have been told that I am old, out of style, clueless, not compentent because I haven't been through formal education, and annoying! I don't know what that is all about! How can I still feel so young, but be made to feel like I have no clue? It's just crazy! I guess it's just life! Whatever it is, I am going to enjoy the roads to come! I don't believe in getting old, I believe in becoming more experienced and in touch with yourself! That's what's important after all! Right?! Here's to getting old, experienced and living life to it's fullest!

Children's Music Time

Have your kids ever shown a rather unique interest in music that shocks you? Like Lydia, for instance. For the last couple of weeks she has been hooked on this song "All I Want To Do" by Sugarland, or as we refer to it now, Lydia's Song. If you haven't heard it, check out our playlist. She'll walk around singing the Do oo oo oo oo oo! Do oo oo oo oo oo! Oo oo oo oo oo oo ooooo! part all day.

Then there is Zach who has finally found out about "Wierd Al" Yankovic and true to his nature loving persona is entralled with "Jurasic Park", especially the verse that goes

Someone let T-Rex out of his pen.
I admit those things will harm me,
Cause the sure don't act like Barney.
And they think that I'm their dinner,
Not their friend!
Oh No!
(by the way, Zach just learned that there is a Dinosaur Transformer, He's in heaven!)

Finally we have Silas who keeps his music tastes to himself but has been caught singing a little Yellow Submarine and Strawberry Fields Forever.

School Open House Night!

We had our Open House tonight at the boys school. We got to see all of the things they are working on in their classes. Silas has Ms. Brinker and she is so awesome with him. She loves Silas and always has such good things to say about him. She said that he is a good reader and very respectful and helpful in class. Zachary has Ms. Isaacs...she is so great as well. We are very fortunate to be at such a great school and to have such amazing teachers to teach our boys! Lydia already claims the Pre-K teachers as her teachers, even though she doesn't go until next year. They had a scavanger hunt for the kids to do and some of the P.E. activities set up in the gym that the kids could do. We were walking down the hall from Zachary's class to the library and I got stopped by Mr. Crelia (the principle) he said, hey I was going to call you on the phone the other day...I said oh really, what's up? He said that the other day he was walking around the corner and Silas was walking down the hall...He over heard Silas tell a boy who was running down the hall..."We don't run here at Kennedy, we walk!" He continued to walk on his way! Mr. Crelia said he wanted to call to let me know that he is doing the right thing and he was proud of him! I was relieved that it was a good report! I'm so proud of him he is doing such a great job and seems to have been improving every year at school. Zachary's teacher wrote us a letter about how much she loves having Zach in her class and how sweet and kind he is. He always shares with and includes his classmates in their activities. I'm glad their my boys and that they are doing so well in school!

Sandup2Cancer!

Iowa Corn, A Haunted House, and A Broken Hand!

My mom and me standing in front of the most wonderful "Iowa Corn". I must mention that this corn is in Illinois, but it's the same thing as Iowa corn, so I consider it to be Iowa Corn. Look how amazing it is!

Kama and me in the Corn! Look how tall it is! Oklahoma corn has nothing on this corn!

The Haunted Stair Case

The Haunted "Blue Room" across the way from the room I stayed in!

My bruised up hand!

So, as a bit of a last minute event I traveled with my dad from Oklahoma up to Nauvoo to help drive and pack up my mom and sister to move them down here. It was quite an eventful trip. On the way up we saw an Owl that was roadkill! I have never seen or thought that I would ever see an owl as roadkill. We almost got slammed into the wall on the interstate by a semi in Kansas City, but thanks to my dad's quick and steady driving we made it past the semi without sacrificing me in the process. We had the ever so handy GPS tracking thing. That had to recalculate all the time, because we were going our way instead of it's way to Nauvoo. Once we arrived we visited for a little bit and then went to bed on night one!

Sunday we had church and my dad was offered a job as a body guard for a guy from their ward who is planning to be worth $550 million dollars because he is going to build a Polynesian Center in Hannibal, MO. If you don't know where Hannibal, MO is, it is were the Mark Twain museum is and the Tom Sawyer story took place. Never thought it to be a place for Polynesians to have a center at, but he says it will be 9 times bigger than the one in Hawaii. He was supposed to email my dad the job description and pay, but has yet to hear from him! :) After church my mom, Kama, and I went to Carthage to visit the Jail.

On Monday we packed up a bunch of the stuff that needed to go in boxes, or wait maybe I should say I packed up the stuff while my mom sorted through what to keep and what to leave behind. On Monday night at some point in the night I heard footsteps walk up the stairs and then I heard someone walking around the bedroom across from the room I was in. I thought it was probably my mom or dad getting up and going in there to sleep because they other was snoring. Well, the next morning the bed was still without sheets and the bathroom door was partially closed. Neither of them had gone up there, so the guessing began on who our visitor was. We are claiming it was Rufus the pioneer who's family owned the home before they left Nauvoo for Utah, but of course we are not sure. I speculated on who it was and thought maybe if he came back we could catch him with a net and talk to him about why he is still there, but it didn't work, he didn't return before we had to leave. Kama slept that night in my bed with me. I guess I spooked myself some, but who wouldn't?!

On Tuesday we continued to pack and went to dinner at some of their friends house, Bro. and Sister "K". They are from Hawaii and he used to be a chef at BYU Idaho, I think. They are really nice people and we had a good time joking about my ghost friend! On Wed, you guessed it, we continued to pack and went to pick up the moving truck. We loaded it up most of the way that afternoon.

Thursday morning it was raining and we loaded the rest of the items on the truck. In the process of trying to put the ramp back into the slot under the truck, it fell on top of my arm and crushed my hand and arm. I couldn't move it much, but it's getting better. At first we thought I may have broken it, but not so sure now that the swelling is going down.

We headed out Thursday late morning. Had a great time rocking out to some amazingly good music in the car and took The Lake of The Ozarks route. It was very pretty, but took a long time to get home. We had a unforgettable dinner at the Iron Skillet in the Petro gas station in Joplin, MO and arrived in OKC at 12:30am. We unloaded today and now I'm home. It's good to be home, but it was an eventfull and memorable trip we'll be talking about for years to come I'm sure!

First Day Of School!

Here's a pic of the boys as we left yesterday morning for their first day! They both had great days, and Zach was excited he got to eat chicken nuggets for lunch. Hopefully there will be lots of more great days to come!

Our Very Own Michael Phelps!

So, I was on the phone this morning talking to a friend. Silas came in and kept telling me he wanted to take a bath. I told him no, not right now, but while I was distracted he got in anyway. He had goggles on for some reason. When he got out I went in the bathroom and there was water all over the floor. I told him he needed to go back in and dry up the floor after he got dressed. I then got the response :"But MOM, I was just being Michael Phelps!" There you have it, we have our own Michael Phelps in the making! I don't know what made him think that if he told me he was being Michael Phelps I would be ok with the water all over the bathroom, but it was a good try on his part. Needless to say he did dry up the bathroom floor!

I'm actually doing one!

TAGGED!

Here are the rules:
Post these rules on your blog. Answer these 15 questions about yourself on your blog. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random/surprising facts. Tag 5 people at the end of your blog by listing their names.

3 Joys:
My kids getting along, being around people, seeing people succeed

3 Fears: taking tests, not being good at what I do, my family being hurt

3 Goals: own a salon, be successful, get a bigger place to live

3 current obsessions: playing packrat on facebook, watching the olympics, planning things

3 random facts: I have lived longer in Oklahoma than any of the other 5 states that I've lived in, I hate when people are not on time or early, I graduated early from High School


High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? Nope

2. What kind of car did you drive? First I had a 1988 powder blue Ford Escort it died and I got a 1986 Honda Civic

3. Were you a party animal? Very much so, but in a sober party animal kind of way!

4. Were you considered a flirt? Not sure

5. Were you in band, orchestra or choir? Junior High Orchestra after that no

6. Were you a nerd? I don't think so

7. Were you on any varsity teams? No.

8. Did you get suspended/expelled? No.

9. Can you still sing the fight song? Part of it, but I can't remember all of it

10. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. Morlock, Miss Pilcher, gee I don't remember all of them

11. Where did you sit during lunch? cafeteria.

12. What was your school's full name? Ankeny High School

13. What was your school's mascot? Hawks

14. Did you go to homecoming and who with? Yes, with Kari, Tina, and one of Kari's friends.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Yeah, why not, if I could be more sure of myself

16. What do you remember most about graduation? It took forever to end!

17. Where did you go Senior Skip Day? I was not in High School anymore when it was Senior skip day, so I guess I went to work at Shear Style

18. Were you in any clubs? French Club

19. Have you gained some weight since then? Yes, I have been told I look more womanly now!

20. Who was your prom date? lol, Jeff Cottrell, boy is that a story!

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? It's next year. I am undecided.

I guess I have to Tag 5 people now:
Taryn, Denise, Melanie, Kelly, Dan

Sponge Curlers

I decided to try sponge curlers in Lydia's hair for church this past Sunday. Half of them fell out when she was sleeping, but here is a fun pic of her with them in.

What do you do when it's 100 degrees outside?

You Build a cardboard neighborhood of course!

Memories!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

EVERYBODY PLAY!

I want to see what memories are out there!

I guess I'm a slacker!

Lydia and her friend Bella playing in the sandbox

Silas having a fit over a pair of goggles

Zachary having a picnic lunch at the splash pad


I know I haven't posted on here in a while. There hasn't been a whole lot of excitement around here I guess. Just trying to get through the summer. I've been taking the kids up to the free lunch at their school most days. We've gone to the splash pad, swimming at our friends house, swimming at the public pool, and just hanging out at home. The kids are looking forward to getting their school supplies. Silas will be in the first grade and Zach will be in kindergarten all day. Lydia is begging to go to school to, but she has one more year. The kids are super excited about High School Musical 3 and have informed me that they must go to see it when it comes out at the theater. They are also begging to go to High School Musial on ice at the state fair in Sept. I am planning to go to cosmetology school at Moore/Norman Technology Center as soon as they can get me in. The have a waiting list of about 150 people.

It's time for another Recipe!

White Brownies

Mix: 2 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt

Cream: 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1tsp vanilla 2 eggs

add dry&wet alternating with 3/4 cup milk

add 1 6oz pkg chocolate chips 1/2 cup walnuts

grease a 9x13 pan bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes

ICING
Mix:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 TBS milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Spread on immediately after baking

Zach's 5th Birthday

We went to the splash pad for Zach's birthday, but it was not working because of a power outage. We did cake and presents at a picnic table and then let the kids play on the playground for a while. Here's Zach with his transformers cake, opening presents, and Grandma Parkinson with all her grandkids.

I got Gas for $2.00 a gallon!!!!

So they did this crazy thing today at a grocery store here in Norman, they offered gas for 1 hour at the nice low price of $2.00 per gallon. (I remember when we thought that was a high price, and now it's considered cheap! How sad!) We went two hours before they started the special as I figured that it would be crazy and thought if I'm going to do it I might as well make sure I can partake of the deal. We ended up being the 4th car back in our line. We got interviewd by KSBI news here in Oklahoma City. I was amazed at how many of us had nothing better to do with our time other than to sit at a gas station for hours waiting to get gas! The first car arrived at 6am we arrived at 10:15 and were just three spots back from the guy that came at 6. Crazy, but now I can say I did it. I got 8 gallons of gas for the low price of $16 at regular price I would have had to pay $30.00. Anyway, we took some pics of our wait in the car. There was a couple in a truck next to us that used the time of waiting to make out and play their radio loud. We got free cookies, pop, cups, fans, and microwave popcorn, because we all know microwave popcorn is useful when you're sitting in your car for two hours. Ok here are the pics, enjoy!

What Mormon's Like!

I found this blog. I don't really remember how I came upon it. But it is pretty funny and sadly true about some funny things Mormons tend to do. I have a link to it under my friends and family links. If you are able to laugh at yourself and some of the funny things we Mormon's tend to do, you will probably get a kick out of it. If you are a little more up tight and can't laugh at yourself you may not find it funny. I like to laugh at myself, so I found it to be funny. Hope you can enjoy it. I have no idea who is the person is that is writting the blog, but thought I would pass it along to all of you! Enjoy!

The Wedding is Over and they're honeymooning!!!

The wedding is finally over and they newlyweds are on their honeymoon. Everything turned out really well. Kendall was amazing on the harp. I got a lot of compliments on the cake. And requests that I do it as a business. I was told by a couple of people that it was the best wedding cake they ever tasted. Here are some pics...

Lydia and mommy

Mom and the some of the daughters and grand-daughter Cicily


Both sides of the Family. What a great bunch!!!


The Cake

A Few More SPLASH PAD pics!

SPLASH PAD FUN WITH COUSIN'S!!!

We went to the splash pad yesterday with cousins Brydon, Jackson Rhys, and Austin Cael. Here are some pics of our fun!