the heart of the matter

On the way home from school Ellie informed me that her friend Aaron gave her a letter and that she had made me a letter at school today. A few minutes later she said, "Mom, the hearts on the letter from Aaron do NOT mean that he loves me!"

Joy

The other night we had a dinner at the church for the Friends of Scouting. Our YM President put together a slide show of Scout Camp that was really neat. My friend Lesa Brazell was sitting across from us and her son Colby was in many of the pictures as a leader. He just left the MTC on Wednesday for Washington D.C. and they just talked to him . . . she is missing him! There were many tears shed watching that DVD.

On the way home Ellie said to me, "Mom I cried during that slide show. Do you know why??"

"Why?"

"From JOY!!"

I love that kid!

The Asay Curse Take 2

"One time I was dreaming that I was really cold. I woke up and went to the bathroom and realized that I didn't have any clothes on."

"One time I had a dream that I got hit by a rock and I had walked into a wall."

"One time I had a dream that I was swimming and I woke up and had spit all over my face."

(I'm so glad that I'm a girl and didn't inherit this curse!! Although I am bawling right now from my other curse!)

The Asay Curse

There is a small curse among the Asay men in my family. It happens at night. In their sleep.

Do you ever hear about people acting out their dreams??? Not just sleep walking, but actually acting out their dreams??

There are many stories about my dad . . . most I don't know, but when us kids get together we spend hours retelling some of the stories and laughing until our sides hurt and my make-up has all washed off from crying so hard (that's MY curse . . . crossed wires so that I cry when I laugh).

Here's one example: One time my dad was trying to save my mom and get her on the "raft" before she drowned. (the raft was the bed . . . can you just imagine how standing on your mattress would feel like you were standing on a raft in the water??)

Here's a more scary one: One time my dad tried to save my mom from a giant snake in their bed by choking it . . . can you guess WHO the snake was??? Thank goodness he woke up and quit choking her!

My brothers are the same way.

My brother Ross didn't like going to scout camp very much because of what he might do.

Here's a funny one . . . We went on a family camping trip and my dad hadn't unhooked the truck from the trailer yet. Ross used to sleep in the back of the truck (it was the best!! there was a mattress and you basically had your own room). He got up in the middle of the night and climbed out the window, got in the cab of the truck and started the truck, and for some reason turned it off and got back into bed. Can you imagine if he started driving off with things hooked up and all of us asleep in the trailer???

I even found evidence while typing up some family history that dated back to the pioneers in Utah of the Asay men doing this.

We have known that Austin was plagued with the curse for a long time. He will come out and have a conversation with you (one that doesn't make sense . . . but you will SWEAR that he is awake). Last night he told me some of the dreams he's had lately and I was laughing so hard!!

"One time I had a dream that a lion was attacking me and eating me. I woke up and I was biting my arm."

The Naked Truth

Do you remember a while back when I posted this picture??

Perhaps some didn't notice that Chloe was NAKED!!

I know that many struggle with kids who constantly strip down to their birthday suit.

I don't remember that ever being one of the things that I've dealt with (changing clothes a million times . . . yes . . . constantly wearing princess costumes . . . yes . . . wearing awful mismatched clothes . . . OFTEN . . . but not running around naked!)

. . . until NOW.

The little girls love to go outside and dig in the dirt, jump on the tramp, and play with the dog.

So screams of delight are the norm . . . nothing out of the ordinary.

How shocked was I to find THIS to go with those shrieks!

Notice Chloe pointing??? She's pointing to the roof . . . where she threw her panties!!

And a few days later the little girls were getting into the tub (Ellie knows how to fill up the tub by herself and so they get in on their own).

Again, this is a time when we expect shrieks and giggles.
After a while, Scott went and checked and told me that I needed to see just what was going on back there.

Apparently there was a spider in the bathtub . . . and you know that means you have to jump on top of the counter so it doen't get you right??




It's the naked truth . . . I swear!!

Countdown Blocks Tutorial

I have to laugh because I have become a little obsessed with blogs lately . . . craft blogs.

The Relief Society asked the Primary Presidency to give them an idea for Enrichment (at the time it was still Enrichment!), and we all went on the search and I found the Countdown Blocks idea here. It was EASY and it was CHEAP . . . perfect!

We should have had the sample made a few weeks ago . . . but life in Primary is VERY busy this time of year! (Not to mention that I am redoing my kitchen cupboards from another craft blog . . . I'm almost done and ready to post a picture of them!) So we printed out the idea (after getting permission of course), and showed everyone what it would "kind of" look like. I can't wait to bring the REAL sample today and show everyone . . . we are all in LOVE with how they turned out!

You can't countdown from a really high number, but you CAN do an entire month. (I just wanted to show a few more patterns of paper . . . ugh it is so cute!)






My friend Karen found the blocks online at http://www.craftparts.com/ and we ordered them a few weeks ago. They are backordered now . . . but I called and ordered another case because we all loved them so much that we want to make a bunch! We used the 2 inch fir blocks.


You need 12 different patterns of paper cut just smaller than 2 inches (like 1 7/8").


Paint the blocks and base whatever color you think matches your papers the best.


Then we used vinyl (much cheaper from a sign shop . . . although shop around, one wanted to charge me $65 and another it was $25), to cut the numbers out with my Cricut using the Alphalicious cartridge at 1 1/2".


We put the numbers on the papers before we used Mod Podge to glue them on the blocks. In order to have the right number combinations you will put the numbers 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 on one block and 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the other block.


(To Mod Podge you put a thin coat on both the block and the back of the paper and then stick it together, wiping off the excess glue)


Once it is dry you can sand the edges of the blocks and paper to age it a bit. We also used Tim Holtz "vintage photo" Distress Ink to antique it a bit. Once that was dry we put another coat of Mod Podge over the blocks to protect them from dirty fingers. We also did the bottom block so that it had the same texture.


The metal bracket was at our local dollar store . . . it WAS purple, but we spray painted it black and then put some red mini brads on it (we had to clip the ends so they didn't show).


We printed out the "days until Christmas" on some cardstock and Mod Podged it to the big block and then used the glue gun to glue the bracket to the block. (if using an ink jet printer you don't want to Mod Podge over the days until Christmas paper or else it will bleed)


And . . . voila!

days until Christmas Blocks

The Relief Society asked the Primary to help with the November Meeting.

Our ward didn't have a Super Saturday this year and so we really wanted to do a craft (which is also what the RS was hoping we would do).

We made the most adorable Countdown blocks!!! I feel a whole bunch more of these being made in the very near future!!

Curly Hair and Special Presents

Drew has anxiously awaited the Pillow Curler set that we ordered from Avon.

They finally arrived on Wednesday night and she immediately took a shower and we put her hair in curlers. She was a little frightened by the look when they first came out (before the curls relaxed a bit), but was thrilled by the time she left for school!

I made a trip to the local dollar store and Ellie picked up a scrapbook kit and made some Special Presents for her teacher Mrs. Brooks.

Cross Country Finale

Austin found a new passion this year . . .

Cross Country

(although we really love to tease him and call it "track" . . .

it drives him CRAZY!! lol)

His time improved on every race (except one).

He won two medals!!

Most importantly, he helped his team qualify in the top 3 so that they could go to state as a team (and even more exciting . . . if the team hadn't qualified he would have qualified as an individual!)

Here is coach Wilson giving them their last pep-talk at the state meet.

And here are the 7 members of the team lined up at the starting-line.

Here is a great shot of Austin running . . . he looks just like my brother Ross here!

He didn't have a great race at state, but he is thinking that he will do Cross Country next year rather than soccer. (Quite an impact when his mom made him join the team when he wasn't going to do soccer this year!!)

The really exciting part is that all but one of the team members is a sophomore!! Apparently it's been quite some time since Fernley had any kind of Boys Cross Country team.

(And one of our freshman girls WON the State meet!!!)

While watching the race, the little girls found a forest to play in and pick Juniper Berries.

Spooky Spectacular Stuff

The kids had fun on Halloween. Austin had a friend over for the night and then got together with some more friends later in the day and they messed around and then watched some movies together to kill the post-trick-or-treating-age-blues.

Chloe found a costume that she fell in L-O-V-E with & called herself a "Super Hero". Ellie could only find a black princess dress in her size so she became a zombie princess.

They enjoyed trunk or treating at our church on Tuesday as well as trunk or treating at the school on Thursday (Chloe had a BLAST handing out candy!), followed by a party (UGH can you say candy overload?!?!?!), and finally trick or treating around the neighborhood on Saturday.

The party at school just about did me in . . . I have never seen so much junk food in one place! And rather than having a buffet, they loaded up plates for the kids and had them at each of their place settings and then sent home all of the pre-packaged items in gallon sized bags. I let Ellie have some and gave her an extra shot at school. Then when we were loading up the gallon sized bags I had them leave most of the items out (one mom looked at me like I was the meanest mom on the planet---even AFTER I explained that she was diabetic! I really didn't feel bad about keeping my kid alive though).

After the party we had an appointment with our diabetes doctor & I was sure that our past two visits with low A1c's would be a thing of the past . . . it seemed like her blood sugars have been so high with starting school and being indoors so much more. What a surprise when it came back at 8.5!! (such an awesome score for a kid her age!!!)

Joslyn invited her friend over for some trick or treating and they were wonderful enough to take the two little girls around for us. Chloe didn't last very long (works for me!), but Ellie LOVED it!
When Chloe came back she would hand out the candy when the doorbell rang & then run back to the coffee table where she made herself a bed and have me lift her up on it. When Ellie got home and took over on the doorbell she really did fall asleep there.

Ellie was very excited to have a turn at the door handing out candy. At first she just stood by the door and then it got a little too cold to have it open and so we got her a chair and she spent the rest of the night sitting on her little chair staring at the door anxiously waiting for it to ring.

In other news. . .

After the doctors appointment we did a little shopping and then headed over to Rancho San Rafael Park to watch Austin help his cross country team place in the top 3 which qualifies the whole team to go to state!!! Had the team not won he would have qualified as an individual! His coach had told him a while back that he was improving so much that he might possibly qualify so we were so excited to see him fulfill that dream! He placed 21st overall (this was for varsity too), and truly did help the team qualify . . . it was a close race for 3rd place!

On the drive home from the race Ellie asked me,

"Mom, when I die and go to heaven will I still have diabetes?"

"Nope!"

"YES!!!"