Pattie's Place

Our Devastating World and The Power of One.

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 It seems like every time I read the paper the news is more and more devastating. The natural disasters we’ve had this year are awful and incredible.  From earthquakes (see a previous post) to tsunamis, and now tornadoes it seems like the end of days with all the bad news I read in the paper every day.

This past week we had terrible tornadoes in Missouri. The pictures are very sobering. I think about how hard that would be to lose your home and all your possessions, maybe even a family member. One woman I read about had several children and they didn’t have much warning of the impending tornado. So she grabbed them all and ran to lay down in the bathtub. Her toddler was torn from her arms as the tornado ripped off her roof and covered her and her kids in debris.

 Now how would you ever hope to recover or even to deal with something that awful? I don’t know if I could.  As a mother, I would probably be in a strait jacket.

Then I open the newspaper and there has been another suicide bomber in Pakistan. The Arab/Israel problems and battles and bombings are escalating.  I don’t see an end to this fighting in the middle East ever again at this point.
                                              

There are several big news trials about young girls killing their little babies; one supposedly suffocating her own child with duct tape over her mouth and nose, the other putting her child in a microwave. How could girls become this bad?
                                                                
And finally all the high profile husbands that have seriously betrayed their highly admired wives. Some of the hurt and pain they cause their families’ is unbelievable. I try to imagine that kind of betrayal and the pain it would cause me. And I think again to myself. “I would not recover from that pain. I would turn inward and start to crumble apart.” You’d find me huddled in a corner weeping.

                                               

 And I think to myself; what in the world is happening to us as a people? . Why are we all being so evil? And are we being punished with all this natural disaster?

Last week there was an old, 89 year old civil engineer named Camping who decided that the end of the world was coming. The headlines said “For some, it’s Judgment Day. For others, it’s Party Time.” To me that is good versus evil in a little microcosm.

A loosely organized Christian movement had spread the word around the globe that Jesus Christ will return to earth on Saturday to gather the faithful into heaven. I wasn’t really focused on this story  until my husband read about a guy who decided to milk the opportunity to take advantage of  people who were believers.
                                            

The paper tells of “Bart Centre, an atheist from New Hampshire, who started a get rich quick business called “Eternal Earth-bound Pets”. He offers Rapture believers an insurance policy for those furry pets that won’t join them in heaven: 10-year pet care contracts, with Centre and his network of fellow non-believers taking responsibility for the animals after the Rapture. The fee — payable in advance, of course, is $135 since Camping’s prediction”.  How bad is that? Well it got worse..                              
                              .

A Facebook page opened up entitled “Post Rapture Looting” offers the party invitation: “When everyone is gone and god’s not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we’re going to squat in.” By Wednesday afternoon, more than 175,000 people indicated they would be “attending” the “public event.

                                     
Then the supreme court ruled this week that the inhumane overcrowding in California prisons means they need to let one third of the prison inmates back out onto the public. The conditions are so poor that inmates are getting sick and dying. I’m horrified by that as well. Now we have so many bad guys that we can’t contain them all anymore.

 Is it that I’m just so disappointed in the human race? The answer to that is yes. And am I getting more afraid the end of the world really must be close? Yes again. Even so, there are still good people in our world that don’t disappoint.

 Last week Elizabeth Smart faced her abductor in court during final sentencing. She quietly spoke her mind to him, with great grace and poise as he closed his eyes and infuriatingly sang hymns to block out the sound of her voice. I would have wanted to personally dive across that courtroom and scratch his eyes out.           

But Elizabeth talked about the beautiful life that is before her, and that she knows in this life or in the next he will be held accountable for his actions. She showed not only her faith in God and in an afterlife, but her unimaginable sweetness. It came across when she said something that really stunned and stayed with me; “One of the biggest ways to overcome … to heal from any kind of experience is by helping those around you…. because by lifting others you lift yourself”.
                                         

 I could not believe what I was hearing. I was so impressed by her as a human being. She counteracts so much of the selfish evil in our world that I have been seeing lately. She’s just one small but resolute voice.

 “I don’t deny that was a part of my life. It certainly has brought me to where I am today. Without it I don’t think I would be here. But I have also seen how many doors have opened to me and how many opportunities have come … How much potential I have to make a difference in the world.”
                                  

 So she started a foundation. She has a focus called RAD KIDS. She wants to help kids to be safe by training them what to do in dangerous situations.
                                 

  
We have RAD KIDS at our school.  My class was trained last year. It is an empowering program to teach kids to fight off strangers or any kind of aggression. “Nobody has the right to hurt you” is one of the mantras. The foundation she started has a goal to bring RAD KIDS training to every elementary school in the country.
                   
                    
The other thing that happened this week was Oprah closing her show. She is just another example of how one faithful and directed  voice can change the world.  (See my last post)  I have her high on a pedestal. These 2 fine examples of humanity counteract the evil I’ve seen this week. It’s the power of one in great and graceful display.  Evil versus good. We turn to look because the bright light of goodness draws us in.

                                           
It may be getting closer to the end of the world.  All these examples are telling me it is so. And it’s getting harder to live in this world, but I can still see the light and the good. And the stark black and pure white around us, makes it clearer which path to follow.

Oprah….I Will Be Missing You…..

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Yesterday I joined in with all of America in doing the “Ugly Cry”. For Oprah has ended her 25 year show on daytime T.V.  I’ve been watching her and learning from her since I was raising my kids as a stay at home mom in the late 80s.  I am still in denial as I watched the show and laughed and cried.

There isn’t another show on television where the sole mission is to empower you and inspire you to live your best life. She’s taught me to be thankful and have gratitude, even for the hard things in life because they help you grow. She taught me to look for god’s directions in everything that happens to me and to love myself just as I am, that I’m worthy and enough.  One of her favorite quotes was, “Nobody completes you, Jerry McGuire was only a movie.” I’ve always loved that funny quote of hers.

 She has always said she would have been a teacher if she hadn’t been led to the career she has.  That makes me smile. She’s been such a fantastic teacher to so many millions of people from all walks of life.  She has bettered me in so many ways in my life.  She always called her show her classroom.

“This is what I was called to do…Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to find it.” I think we all can still set goals and become much more than we are now. There is so much untapped potential in all of us and she reminded me daily to go and do and be better. I love her for that.  I will miss that the most.
                     
I think another thing she has done for the world is to shed light on important issues of our day. She has enlightened people about so many unspeakable things across the world that others have endured. She’s been a lightening rod and she has gathered people together for causes. She’s helped many who could not help themselves. Through her angel network, her celebrity friends and through her schools and college scholarships she’s founded she has changed the world.  It was heartwarming to see what the Morehouse Men’s College graduates  have become.  Many came from violent and very poor backgrounds to dig themselves out and make something of themselves, given the chance with a scholarhsip from Oprah. 

       

Talking about how she got to where she is, she credits God. And she is not ashamed.  “I’m talking about the same one you’re talking about. The Alpha and Omega. The Omniscience, the Omnipresent, the Ultimate Consciousness, the Source, the Force, the All of Everything There Is, the one and only G-O-D.”

 

“You  have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world. You have the power to change somebody’s life.”

I cried and cried all through the last show, where she just stood by herself onstage and remembered her favorite parts from 25 years on T.V.  She recalled so many small things that made an impression on her. You wouldn’t think a letter from a fan would be anything important. But she quoted fans from 20 years ago who had said something personal to her in a letter. That really got to me.  She is just a person after all is said and done. And she feels deeply when strangers across the country take the time to write to say something to her personally. We are all like that.  A kind word can change someone’s outlook and their life.

She has always inspired me.  I will miss watching her show. It’s been a big part of my afternoons for many, many years. But her words will stay with me for many more.

Signing off she said….

 

“Well, I say, all sweet, no bitter. And here’s why. Many of us have been together for 25 years. We have hooted and hollered together, had our a-ha moments, we ugly-cried together and we did our gratitude journals. So I thank you all for your support and your trust in me. I thank you for sharing this yellow brick road of blessings. …I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I’ve tried to be for you. I won’t say goodbye. I’ll just say, until we meet again. To God be the glory.”

                             

 I’ll miss you Oprah. Yes I will.

Making Koo-laid Playdough

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Here is a fun recipe for play dough I’m going to use in my class this week. I hope I can find Koolaid in the flavors I like!  It’s so delicious smelling that you almost want to eat it!  Well you actually could eat it….but don’t……just play with it…..it’s pretty cool…..

Mix together:                                  

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

2 pkg kool-aid (unsweetened)                           

2 tablespoons cream of tarter

Add:

2 cups boiling water

3 tablespoons oil

Mix 3-4 minutes or until cool. Then knead and store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

I think my class kids will love this for the last week of school and I KNOW my grandkids will love it!

The Bear Lake Classic Bike Race

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This weekend John had his favorite bike race up in Garden City; The Bear Lake Classic! It is a 51 mile bike race around Bear Lake up near Logan Utah.  I love to go with him since we bought our cabin up there 2 years ago because I get to hang out on the deck and watch the bikers come down near our house as the finish line is about a 1/2 mile away. 

Johnny is #925 in the Bike Race

Last year John was on the Cafe Rio Team. This year he decided to be a loner, I guess. Here he is just before we parked the truck to go get his number for the race.  He had to play Dire Straits on the CD player before he got out of the car. “Mood Music” Or maybe just “getting pumped up music”. It was pretty cute. I’ve never been an athlete so I don’t get that part I guess. I was just an interested bystander.


He’s making fun of me cuz I don’t know how to work a video camera. :O The next video they are about the 9th group to go out. There must have been 250 bikers in the whole race. I even saw kids in the race.

 Johnny has #925 on his back…

He finished the race in about 2 3/4 hours. He did better than last year. I stayed in the cabin and watched a movie and read some magazines. Then when he came back he took a hot bath and we ate lunch. Then we had to get down to Heber for my good friend Heidi’s wedding reception. We passed through the thriving metropolis of Randolph, Utah. Look at this “Smallest Store in Utah” pic I took. So funny!



It is crazy! This tiny store looks like a Tuff Shed!

We passed by some sheep, cows and antelope. I tried to snap pictures while we were going 60 mph. That doesn’t work too well as it turns out!



Where the deer and the antelope play?



I’m thinking the antelope didn’t like John’s choice of Leonard Skinnerd on the CD player? They skeedaddled!

 We have not so fond memories of Randolph, Utah.  John got a ticket last summer when our boat died in the middle of Bear Lake and the rangers towed us in. Did you know you needed oars and a whistle on a boat? Oh yes, AND a fire extinguisher? Yeah we didn’t either. We got a ticket! That was nice of those rangers.  So you can’t just pay the ticket. You HAVE to go appear before the judge! So I had a Monday furlough day off the day John had to appear so I went along to watch the fun.



The tiny Randolph, Utah courthouse (Kangaroo court)



 Jeez you wouldn’t believe it unless you’d been there. It was like that show Night Court! The judge had cowboy boots and a flannel shirt on! I said kinda loudly “THAT’S the judge?” and John elbowed me in the ribs. hehe  But they had bailiffs, a bouncer cop, lawyers for the county, clerk of the court, the whole 9 yards. Then they read every little offense you made in front of like 50 kids sitting in this miniscule courtroom that had all been busted for drinking (underage) on the beach It was crazy! Then dramatically, the judge says that all these offenses (including no insurance on the boat, who knew you needed insurance? NOT us obviously) they all added up to $400 bucks fine. WTH! 

We stopped here the day of the ticket and inquired about getting a giant teepee for our grandkids at this fun little shop!

John in his good natured way told the story of he and I packing a nice picnic and then getting stranded in the middle of Bear Lake on our boat. And finally calling a ranger and giving him our GPS address, he  towed us in and gave us a  ticket. So everybody laughed in the whole courtroom! Even the judge was caught laughing. 

This giftshop in Randolph seriously is a 12 x 12 building with a gazillion gifts of every type inside!

John was sitting next to a guy in a blue jumpsuit who was handcuffed.  He almost asked him, “what crime did you commit?” It is only funny now. At the time it was very quiet and serious in the courtroom. Anyway, the judge read off that John had purchased insurance that very morning, like an hour before we met in court, he read off the exact time and just looked at him. I felt pretty sorry for him at that moment. I slid a little lower in my seat at the back. He saw from the fax our insurance agent had sent to the courthouse!


We saw lots of deer as we drove down Highway 80



 That started another loud guffaw of laughter in the courtroom. By then all the clerks and cops were laughing too It was kind of a slap in the face to the “system”. I was wondering if this was daily fare for the court people. But the judge started chuckling too after John just smiled and admitted it all. Then the judge gave John some fierce advice about oars and whistles and he knocked the charge down to a $100 fine. It was a total embarrasment to us as we both slinked out of that courtroom. The strong arm of the law and all that.

Windmills for sale along the road…

Anyway we were on our way through all these small towns and it started really raining hard with lightening and thunder. We were almost to Evanston and I saw this cute little windmill advertising in a little old farmer’s yard. There were big windmills and cute tiny ones.  I’d like to get one of those for my cabin…very cute!

We stopped for a snack at McDonalds and returned our Redbox movie too. Did you know you could return Red box movies even interstate? We rented it in Utah and returned it in Wyoming!

Everything is so green too! Spring has finally sprung!
I noticed all the rivers were right up to the edge! EEK, floodin’ may be a’comin

We went past Echo Reservoir and I remembered having our whole family together there the first time we took out our jet skiis. All the boys could get up on the older ones where you have to get to your knees first and then try to stand. Those were fun times. Good memories.

Echo Reservoir…a fun place to go boating in the summer!

We finally got to Park City and turned off to go through to the small valley of Heber, Utah.


Beautiful green Heber…It’s one of my most favorite towns!

 

Snapped this pic out the car window…so green and pretty!




 I wrapped up a pretty wrought iron and glass beverage dispenser and we went to the reception. It was in this million dollar vacation home in Heber. It had the most beautiful view which I forgot to take a picture of. We met up with lots of friends and had a great time. The bride and groom looked so happy together.



Cute Couple!

They had little crabcake appetizers with corn salsa in little clam shells…mmmm yummy!



Eric Olson and Layne Halverson kept us in stitches telling stories (both are business owners) of finding skunks, racoons, and bats in other people’s homes and how they went about getting rid of them, or working with them. Too funny!

Yummy salads and salmon and grilled meats…so delish!
We really laughed at the racoon and gopher stories…the guys were so funny!




Heidi and Alex…Congrats you guys!

  All in all it was a very fun weekend spent doing stuff we love with good friends and yummy food. Life is
good.

A Farmer’s Market Wedding Reception!

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Our friends Bethann and Gary Martin’s only daughter was married Saturday. We were helping with the set up at Wheeler Farms in the morning while the family was at the temple and I started to see the creative brainchild this reception was going to be. It was reminiscent of a County Fair- Farmer’s Market. There was so much activity going on, so many wonderful foods to taste and it was a fun carnival atmosphere too!

Elissa and Tobin….the bride and groom…

                                                 


The bishop was giving a little talk here….



Look at all the greenery in the background….dotted with yellow roses…so pretty!



The wedding party…well the Martin half of them….

 It started at 4:00 when the bride and groom came onto the scene in a horse drawn carriage ride while a choir (our ward choir) of about 12 people sang “If You Will Seek the Lord”. Then Bishop Ragsdale spoke, then the bride and groom exchanged rings and talked to the guests about why they chose a temple marriage that would last forever. I thought it was super sweet the things the groom said about his bride. It brought tears to my eyes! So cute!

My husband took a close up shot of me and my home girls singing in the choir….
Lorraine our choir director for at least 13 years now…leading us in 2 songs….

I ran and asked John to go get my camera out of my purse in the car. He was so nice to do that for me and then the choir sang another number at the end before the prayer. It was kind of a spiritual little segment before all the hoopla, food and dancing and fun. I snapped a few pictures of them up in front of us all. And they were a beautiful couple, to say the least!

ring ceremony…and a little bit of kissing went on…. 😀

                                                 

The mother and father of the bride look too young to have a married daughter!
Groom’s parents…The Story family are very handsome people too…

Then the guests were invited to go and eat. John and I started at the lemonade booth. As you can see there were fruit smoothies, fresh lemonade and ice water. Then we went over to watch the lawn games for a minute. There was badminton, croquet, Frisbees and lots of the little kids were enjoying that. Then we wandered over to a caricature artist who was doing 3 kids in my ward. What fun!

My dashing husband hangin out by the fresh lemonade….mmmm..refreshing! Weather was perfect!
The caricature booth….we should have done it too!

The mom of the bride decorated the chairs by dyeing cheesecloth yellow and knotting a strip on the backs of all these cute white chairs. She had drop cloths with vintage tablecloths over them for the picnic area of 10 tables. It was all supposed to keep with the country fair theme. So cute!

Wedding of the year if you ask me!

                                       
We were hungry so we walked over to see what was cooking. They had Randy Haycock and his son Tanner doing the BBQ and they had all kinds of fish and chicken on kabobs with all kinds of zesty sauces to try. Oh my everything there was superb!  Then we walked next door to the bread and cheese booth. I had never tasted fresh mozzarella before and I chose some nutty bread to spread it on. They also had hot artichoke dip in a fry pan. Oh heavens was that ever good! The girls in charge did  a beautiful job.

Hi Tanner! He and Nathan Richards helped set up all day..what troopers! 
This hot artichoke dip is to DIE FOR!  The jellies were so sweet too!
Hi girls…these are 2 of the most special girls around…love them!
Baguettes and breads of every kind….

Then we wandered over to the next booth which had  salads of every imaginable kind. Wendy O and her daughter ran that booth. I loved that broccoli and raisin and bacon salad. It is one of my favorites. John liked the pasta salads best.  Then we got thirsty again and went to see the next booth.

Hi Wendy! You look like one of the teenagers!

Oh my! It had Italian iced drinks of any flavor you can imagine. they mix it with 7-up and whip cream and these fruity flavorings in bottles and they were delicious. They topped them with cute striped straws. I loved peach. John tried guava. Everybody said strawberry was really yummy too. We hung out with Robert and Linda Burton for awhile and we were both reminded of the Renaissance Fair about 4 years ago that we did with Aimee Ferre when we were Y.W. Presidency and how we made almost $7,000 bucks in one fundraiser.  But this party was even more unique. No comparison!


Flavored Italian Ice drinks…they were so yummy!


 Then we went over to see the place where you sign in (we do things backwards) and there next to it was a photo booth! How much fun is that? So we both crammed ourselves inside and took some funny pictures with all the props they had placed in a box there in front of us.  We look like total geeks. I loved laughing at those insane pics of us though. Fun times. We had 2 made; 1 for us and 1 for the bride and groom. Then we glued our  pics on a page of their scrapbook and wrote them out some thoughts of congratulations. I told Elissa that hers was the best reception I’d ever been too. No lie!

The party was very well attended,  but there was so much room for everyone! It wasn’t crowded!
This was a lot of fun…I got into dressing up…
They had boas, hats, glasses, iron man masks, you name it.

This wasn’t ours…I snapped this while we were waiting….see ours at the end of this post!
We left one copy in the scrapbook with our advice on life…..not much as you can imagine!

Then we went over to the pastry and  dessert booths. I wanted to try my own lemon bars I’d made when I got home from helping set up.   But man were there lots of things to choose from! Cream puffs,Key Lime pies, 7 layer bars, all kinds of grandma’s special fruit bars and nutty cookies. Mmmmm!

I’ve gotta get me one of those cool pie cutters!

.

delicious treats everywhere!



There’s MY BARS! To the left! And cute Savannah..she used to live 2 doors down from us!
Don’t you think she looks kinda like Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol? Just a Tad?



Primary kids dancing to the maypole…
Weren’t their hats and aprons so cute? Bethann made everything by hand!

Well about then they announced the music for the maypole dancers who are cute little primary kids I know in the ward.. John and I talked with Aimee and Matt Ferre whose maypole we had just returned from borrowing for our first grade musical THURSDAY! Then these girls practiced that night and were performing Saturday. I changed out the ribbon colors from 6 color to yellow and white.

This cute girl is vegan…so a natural choice for fruit booth….hehe…
I loved all the cute vintage cloths everywhere clothespinned on….
Jazzie is one of the nicest girls around….if you know of a cute and nice guy..let’s do a set up!

Then we just HAD to go visit the candy booth. OH YAY!  They had all sorts of things in glass tall jars and you just asked for a scoop of this or that. Super fun. We both took home a little party favor bag of candies.

There are lots of pretty old vintage buildings around Wheeler Farm…I liked this old farmhouse….

My friend Kristin was manning the CANDY  booth…she’s a great substitute teacher…if ya ever need one!

The next thing we came to was a picture wall of ribbons and trophies the couple had won over the years.
Elissa is a great horsewoman. Tobin was an athlete. Lots of cool pics and ribbons.

Cute picture wall they had set up with all of their accomplishments through the years…



Baseball is my favorite sport…so I like this about Tobin…..he’s the man!



Great form…I’d give her a 10…..but you can’t dance to it….
Man Look at all those ribbons! Way to go girl!
Being a teacher myself I can appreciate an academic! Woo Hoo!
Hi dudes…your sound is cool! ROCK ON!



Brother of the bride, Connor Martin doin’ his thang on vocals & guitar…



This was before they brought in the yellow bow tied chairs in white….they were very pretty too!

And then we went to see the inside of the “barn” reception hall where they were going to cut the cake and dance.  We listened to Wayne Day and Jody Thompson sing to the oldies (or 70s? or something) and they were awesome of course.


Beautiful Elissa….






The inside of the barn is stunning…the rafter joists are very cool and soooo high!
More pics of the cute couple…

The place was so sparkly with all the white lights hanging down from the balcony.  I loved everything about this reception. It was a super fun day.



They were just moving the gifts around…this is only a small sampling…



This was before the cake lady added all the yellow and white roses on top…but I ran out of memory b4 she got back!
More lovey dovey pics…
What a cute couple!

The last thing we saw when we came out of the big reception barn was the sign in table. We do things waaaaaay backwards don’t we? I thought this was such a cute touch. In keeping with the farmer’s market fair theme, they had engraved their initials in an old tree trunk. It sat on the table with flowers and the sign in scrapbook. So cute! I loved it.

We finally signed in at the end….when there was no “sign in” line…hehe…we are so tricky!
Tobin and Elissa sittin in a tree….

I got a sunburn helping in the morning for 3 hours so my feet were sore and my arms were burnt but it was fun seeing everyone from my ward and some people from my stake. We sat and ate with Pres. and Maryann Back.  It was also fun to visit with all the young women again. Marilyn Butterfield was in charge of the decorating while everybody was gone to the temple. She is amazing. That’s all I can say. It was so beautiful!

The weather and sun were perfect…people really enjoyed it a lot!
lawn games….isn’t that the cutest thing? So clever! All the kids were playing
quietly in the background so parents could sit and talk!

Just to the right of this area were 10 large picnic tables for eating yummy stuff….

Elissa was always one of my favorites. I think she got a great husband too, so I’m super happy for her.  Congrats to the Martin family!  We sure love you guys! And thanks for inviting us to the Sandy Wedding of the Year. The Brits got nothin on us!

Johnny and me being weird..check out his IRON MAN…..it was such fun!

Mothers Day 2011

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I didn’t mean to NOT take pictures of anybody else. It’s just that these guys make it so
much fun for me!  I loved having everybody come over on Mother’s Day.  Thanks for
all the nice gifts too. I was spoiled.  Love you all!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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Today we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. We ate tortilla chips and mango salsa. Then we played CINCO BINGO with numbers I called out.  (20 + 20 + 1 or 5 tens 3 ones or 1 quarter plus a dime) and kids had to figure out the numbers before they placed their bingo chip. They are getting good at this.

After about 3 games and 6 winners later, we read 2 Weekly Readers and read all the picture captions. Then we created a mariachi art project on a Mexican flag.   And sang a song to the tune of the ABCs.

 

 I had made up a spinner with Mexican words the kids might not know. After we read about a Fiesta, we had kids come up and spin the spinner. Then they had to use the word in a sentence. Everybody was great at it.

Then we passed out Mexican sombreros and some Oriental Trading stickers on the Mexican theme. They colored, cut out and decorated their sombreros.  We counted up to 10 three times in Spanish. Then I’d ask the kids “What is ocho, what is tres?” They loved it!

Here we are just before our 1st Grade Musical called “Seasons Change”
Boy did they do a fantastic job dancing the Maypole Spring dance!!!

While they were working I read them The Tortilla Factory. They loved eating their plates of tortilla chips and salsa with mango and peach. Mmmmmm…..

Everybody picked out 7 stickers to put on their hats.
We did the hats in red, green and yellow

Then later was our stake musical called Broadway Night. It was fantastic. My favorite numbers were the HIgh School Musical where the Alta High kids sang wearing black and red and did fabulous choreography! Woo Hoo.  My other favorite was the little kids doing a number from Annie’s “It’s a Hard Knock Life for Us”.  They were darling!

Our classroom musical production was today too. The kids sang 11 songs, did 6 dances and many of them had to memorize speaking parts. We’d been working on it since September!  I was so proud of them that I almost started crying when the first started singing, and also when my students did the beautiful Maypole dance. I loved it so much. They were cute!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!

My Favorite Mother’s Day Card

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                           Picasso’s Version

I love this art project.  Look up the website Mrsbrownart.com at this link HERE. Scroll down to first grade art projects. Look for this Picasso re-creation.  I have a story to go along with it.

Danny’s handprint and cute card when he was in 1st grade

 When Daniel, my youngest boy went to a gifted 1st grade class in  California, his gifted teacher Mrs. Seaton did this project for a Mother’s Day card.  I treasure this card so much. I love the handwritten message to me. It means even more because we lost this child when he was in a car accident 5 years ago.

Here’s my little Danny’s card to me Mother’s Day 1995

 I never knew which of the masters this particular teacher had used as a model but I remember hearing that they had used a famous painter as inspiration. I loved the card so much.
                                    

I told that story to a parent helper one day 4 years ago just before Mother’s Day. We were just cutting out hand tracings for the Mother’s Day card..  She went out and bought the print of Picasso’s work that week, and the class parents presented it to me with a lovely note, a teacher bag with all the kids’ “finger” prints on it made into insects (I’m a science nut teacher and they all knew it) and a  gift certificate to my favorite store, Kohls.
                                 
Now, the Picasso copycat art…. it isn’t just a beautiful card that I got once from a very sweet little first grade son of mine; it is also a labor of love from parents who showed they cared about me, the teacher. I loved that gift from the heart and I treasure it.  And every year as we do our Mother’s Day cards I think of my little first grade Danny Moss. And I think of the parents and kids of my class of 2018 and I smile. You’ll be in my heart forever guys…  Happy Mother’s Day to all the fantastic moms out there! Enjoy your special day!

                                   

Easter Fun!

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Easter Sunday was really fun for our family. We had dinner at Tiff and Gary’s house because Marisa had just turned 4 and so we celebrated her birthday as well as Easter. Grandma and Grandpa Moss, John’s dad and stepmom came down and we had a nice ham dinner. The girls were so cute in their matching Easter dresses!

The girls in their cute Easter dresses….

Our choir did the Easter music on Sunday morning at church and it was beautiful. I loved sitting by my home girls Linda Burton and Pat Brown. We love sitting together and talking and giggling through choir rehearsals. Poor Lorraine Jensen having to put up with us for like the last 12 years now? She is an absolute SAINT! And an awesome choir director. She does it every time with excellent song choices and her conducting talent. Debbie Huggins and Camille Brady traded off doing the hard piano pieces. They sounded great too. I loved the ending song called “When I survey the Wondrous Cross”. It is very powerful especially the ending high notes. Sopranos get lots of solos too, which we all love. hehe.

Cute Marisa Belle….Age 4
I love this picture wall Tiff has on her landing… SO CUTE!
Cute Easter decorations on her entryway table….

Marisa, Jeff with baby Josie, and Grandpa John…

I had to take some pictures of some of the things we had for dinner. I thought it was funny that my son  Devin, who is only 24 years old, likes to cook and bake. Every one of our last dinners he baked something really good. Maybe we have another iron chef in the making?  Here are his little rice crispy treats bird nests. Aren’t they just the cutest?

Devin’s rice crispy bird nests with Starburst and Jolly Rancher jelly beans….Guy Food…

My chocolate dipped strawberries…..double yum!
Tiff’s table decor….We had an Easter Egg Hunt with all the eggs…
Caitlin’s home-made rolls….yup…yum again!
My cheesy potatoes….mmmm
Tiff’s ham…super yummo!

I made Easter baskets for my 3 granddaughters with a few toys and a matching outfit for all 3. Tiffany made hair bows to match them. Isn’t she a great daughter?



Tiff made hair bows to match my coral outfits for the grand babies….

I actually found all 3 of the correct sizes! Yipee score 1!



Easter baskets and toys too….



 And she hosted the yummy ham dinner. I only had to bring cheesy potatoes. And I brought some HUGE strawberries I got from Costco that I dipped in chocolate chips. They are really sweet and yummy.

Everybody was watching the baseball games!
Cute ceramic bunny baskets for the my daughter and daughters in law….

Then I got these cute little ceramic bunny candy dishes for all the girls and filled them with candy. The boys can share. hehe.

3 generations here…love this picture!
Caitlin and Tiff….
Wendy, Josie and Jeff…

Marisa’s birthday was a few days ago so Tiff made birthday cakes and we had a party for her too. She got lots of cute gifts. But we think her favorite was just the glow stick and pinwheel used for wrapping up the presents. It is so funny that kids will play with wrapping more than the toys. But she DID like the toys.

Tiff made such cute cakes for the birthday girl!
I think Marisa liked her cakes…..A LOT!!!

Megan liked them too!

I got Marisa and Megan matching Dora the Explorer umbrellas. And guess what? It started to rain like 5 minutes later. So they went outside and tried them out. Too cute! I got Josie a little board book that has a chick peeping when you push the button. It was cute too.

Josie liked her board book….cheep cheep!

Josie and my son Jeffrey

All the kids with their Easter “loot” Devin’s right in there too….hehe…

Grandma Merlene and Grandpa Don Moss…it was fun having them come too!



Our family Easter 2011



Here’s the family all together. Good thing Gary has a tripod. We set it up, counted down and waited. It was fun to watch it bleep bleep flash!  I hope everybody had as much fun as we did watching the baseball game on Gary’s 65 inch big screen in the basement.  I told John we need one of those too. Do you think he’ll get me one for Mother’s Day?  Keep your fingers crossed on that/!  but don’t hold your breath. hehe.  Happy Spring!


Marisa & her umbrella…and it started to rain right on cue!



Spring Break Woo Hoo!

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This past week was my Spring Break from school. We are so lucky as teachers, to have this week off to veg out, get rejuvenated and play with our families and get some good reading in.

Josie and Grandma at Easter time….

Marisa turned 4 on the 20th so we went up to Discovery Children’s Museum at Gateway Mall. It was fun to follow the girls all around taking pics of them playing in the construction zone, the supermarket and the water and magnet centers. They even climbed up into the helicopter. So cute! We saw a lot of my students present and former there too. It’s a great day for a day off!



In the construction zone… they loved shoving fake bricks down the slide…





Megan engrossed in the playhouse furniture…



Marisa and Tiff in building blocks…





What’s more fun than splashing in the water wheels?



Marisa loved the post office….
Megan loved the little cars…
And the magnetic gear wall…



I’m making a yummy concoction guys….wanna sip of it? mmm nope.



Look what I can do!

 I got to read a lot too. I am working my way through the Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” and also Cristine Northrop’s book on The Wisdom of Menopause. Don’t laugh. It could happen to YOU too! It’s a great book recommended to me by my friend and college roommate. Yeah. now we are both old. It sucks.

Johnny and I on Easter….

So John and I heard it was FREE week for all the National Parks. And I had told him months ago we should go back and see Old Faithful the geyser at Yellowstone. It’s probably been 30 years since I’ve seen it…(I went there with an old boyfriend hehe). So we decided to go up to our cabin at Bear Lake and stay the night and then get up (after making John’s famous waffles) and drive to Jackson Hole.

We had to stop and snap this gorgeous scene on the way to Yellowstone last week….
We saw water fowl…and beautiful scenery…

It is a fun touristy place with lots of beautiful (and very expensive) shops and museums. I guess a lot of celebrities have places near Yellowstone. John kept telling me Harrison Ford has a place nearby. (I’d like to go see Harrison….yeah…love him….didn’t he marry Ally McBeal?)  Anyway, we had lunch there at the Great Harvest Bread Company. We live high off the hog you know.  Then we took some fun pictures around town. They have lots of artsy sculptural designs in bronze. I’d love a bronze in my front yard…yeah…in another life. Those things are thousands of dollars!

Jackson Hole had neat bronze statues…
Don’t ya love it…Bruce just does his own thing…when we’re trying to take pictures!
Antler arches….some nice tourists took our picture for us!

I felt very confident in going to Yellowstone because I had made maps and gone on the Internet to be sure the gates were open and stuff like that.  I handed all that stuff over to my navigator husband….who left them on his desk at home. Um hum…..I shoulda left them in my purse.

Yummy lunch at Great Harvest….



Mark Twain is behind me….

 I distinctly recall seeing that the gates open on April 15th when I checked Yellowstone’s website. So why didn’t they tell us ONLY the west entrance was open. We drove to the South entrance of course. And all these cars were turning around in front of us. What the heck?


We saw a couple of Moose!



Johnny was so much fun to be with….he makes me laugh….
I shot a rainbow as it started sprinkling…you can barely see it tho….
Pretty lake in Teton forest just outside of Yellowstone Park….

Well, we decided to go take some pretty pictures around the Teton forest and around this lake, I can’t remember what it is called. We saw 2 moose, some water fowl, and a few rainbows as it started to lightly rain. We listened to that new country/crossover brother-sister band called The Band Perry. I decided that I LOVE all their music! We are going to go get tickets this Friday when tickets go on sale for Tim McGraw because they are his lead in band. And they are coming to the new West Jordan concert place. We had a great time hanging out together with Brucie our doggie.

Bruce is bored…but he doesn’t want to miss a thing we are talking about….he leaned on my headrest most of the ride!
It was a really fun day hanging out with my 2 men. I LOVE time off. It makes life worth LIVIN!  Mmmhmmm…. Happy Spring!