Again?

I somehow have been put in charge of the Branch Christmas party. I thought I was done planning things. Since we don't have an activities committee the Relief Society was put in charge. We just had our huge enrichment dinner last week and now the Branch party is on the 5th of December which is next week. Just thinking about planning it is making me tired. We are having a potluck for a portion of it, but the Branch is providing the meat and drinks. I also need to figure out what to decorate with and if there are going to be any activities. The primary is in charge of the music part. So any ideas or voluteers?

I didn't know I could do that

I know that this picture (Hannah and her friend) has really nothing to do with the post, but I don't seem to have any recent pictures to post. I need to get some of the ones that people took at the funeral. I also seem to have a plethora of pictures of the youth in our branch.

I got onto Facebook on Friday on a whim. I didn't know that people like me could do such things. I really thought that you had to be a lot cooler or younger or something to do these social networks. (take a look at Lymabean if you want another social network to be part of) Little did I know that I would wake up on Saturday to like 20 emails saying that I had been added as a friend. I didn't know that I had that many friends. Apparently lots of people who are my age use Facebook. Who Knew? (everyone except me obviously) I am not sure that I really know how to use it yet, but I will learn.

WOW this post sure does make me sound old and fuddy doesn't it?

Hard to write

I have thought of starting a new post several times, but just didn't know where to begin. My Grandpa Blakemore died on Friday November 7th. It is always hard to wrap your mind around the fact that you won't see somebody again. I always have a hard time with living out East and away from family when things like this happen. Luckily Tami, Emily and I were able to get a flight together and fly home.
That Friday that he died was obviously a hard one for me. Even though I felt like curling in a ball and not dealing with anything for a while, I still had a lot of things that had to be done. I went in to Joseph's classroom because it was my turn to read. Then I went to the grocery store so that we could have dinner before all of the beehives and deacons came over for a movie game night. I did lock myself in my room once all of MY kids were taken care of. I let Steve deal with all of the extraneous children at my house. The next few days were a flurry of activity as I had to get everything ready for my leaving on Tuesday. I had to teach RS on Sunday and get as much of the plans for Enrichment done before I left. I then of course needed to find child care, make a menu, get groceries, write out a schedule for all of the kids, and get myself ready to leave. I thought that it was about as busy as it could be until my mom called and asked if I would speak at the funeral on behalf of all the grandchildren. By the time that we left on Tuesday I think I was almost certifiable.
The great thing was that I got to spend time with my family. The funeral was wonderful. It was such an honor to speak about my grandfather, but it was also one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. He had 16 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. The best part of the trip was playing games and laughing with my cousins and especially Grandma. She is very competitive and so doesn't like to lose. I laughed so hard I thought I would pee my pants when she told Melanie to "shut up".
I have such a great family. I did finish planning for Enrichment which was last night (that will be a separate post unto itself) One thing that I have definitely walked away from these past few weeks is that I have so much to be thankful for. It is the simple things in life that really do matter and I have enough simple things to make a whole lot of great things.

Copy Cat

Thanks Emily, you gave me an easy out to update my post! This week has been a crazy one and I will have to share after it is over.
(All those things that are in bold are the things that I have done)

1. Started your own blog - thanks to Emily (your my hero!)
2. Slept under the stars (and then snuck out and toilet papered my neighbors house-- OOPS don't read that last part mom)
3. Played in a band -
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity TITHING DOESN'T COUNT
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - My art is scratch
15. Adopted a child only half is bolded because Lydia seems like ours sometimes
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables do they have to have been edible?
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train -
21. Had a pillow fight with three boys how can you not have
22. Hitch hiked -never, but my husband picked up a hitchhiker while driving out to CA for our wedding
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill --if you say you haven't done this then you are lying
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping -
27. Run a Marathon -
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse .
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset -
31. Hit a home run- haven't you every played in the back yard and because people couldn't get the ball to the right place you make it around all of the bases?
32. Been on a cruise (I dream of doing this someday)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person I only remember the cold and being wet not actually seeing the falls
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language All two year olds have their own language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing on a climbing wall of course
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David I don't look at such filth
41. Sung karaoke -
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (not really Old Faithful, but I saw the one in Green River Utah)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant made a guy a sandwich outside of the grocery store after I had been shopping. Also gave him a drink box and ho ho.
44. Visited Africa (have no desire whatsoever to do that)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud dug my own swimming pool once
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie - it doesn't specify that you were paid or that anybody besides family saw it.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business I teach piano 3 times a week
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies- maybe not sold them but I sure have eaten them
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason -
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check big time oops
68. Flown in a helicopter -
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy Pretty in Pink Barbie rocks
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar can you say GROSS!!!
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car -
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper - thanks to Junior High academic decathlon
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House -
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I could now that we live in WV because it is legal to pick up and eat road kill)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life-I have had to call an ambulance for someone before
90. Sat on a jury-I have always wanted to but I am afraid of having my car stolen
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit -
98. Owned a cell phone -
99. Been stung by a bee -I have never been stung by a bee

Random Stuff

The past couple of weeks (after camping) have been devoted to Relief Society stuff. I had to teach a really difficult lesson on Sunday and I also have had to plan a "low key" activity that is going to be at my house tonight. We are going to make a few Halloween crafts and I also created a packet that had some other cute ideas. So I have had RS on the brain. I also spent an hour on Saturday revamping the stake RS binder that I receive when I got my calling. It wasn't in any kind of logical order and had a bunch of duplicate papers in it. I ripped it apart and put it back together again. After tonight's activity is done I have to switch gears and start thinking about our big holiday dinner enrichment night in November. I don't want it to be cheesy or lame so I need to start now. We are putting together a video music presentation on the computer to show that evening. It should be classy and nice. Our them is count your many blessings. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed thinking about everything and have to go back to one day at a time.

We picked the perfect weekend to go camping because this weekend was cold and we finally had our first frost of the season. It is still getting up into the upper 60's during the day, but the bus stop has been really cold in the morning. I hate it when you have to get up in the morning when it is still dark and cold. School should start at about 10 or 11 so that we can sleep in and get up when the sun is already up. I guess I had better get used to it because it only goes downhill from here.

More random info is that I have started teaching piano lessons. I have 4 students right now and one waiting to start as soon as they get their keyboard. I am trying to get two more. I have already figured out that their are just some people that are not born with the music in them. Poor kid. Speaking some more about music. Todd is going to play in the Middle school band for the high school football game this Friday. I am excited to go and see them play. They are playing the Star Spangled Banner and then they will play some of the spirit songs with the high school band. It makes me think about going to the games when I was in High School. (a long long time ago back right after the dinosaurs left the earth) (More randomness) Hannah is playing the flute and she is really enjoying it. She is funny- she gets out her flute everyday and practices. I say funny just because most kids have to be told to practice, but she loves it and wants to learn everything at once. She is getting better and better every week. She started out very frustrated and I was a little worried that she would give up, but she didn't and now she likes to have people tell her what song she should play.

We instituted a new job system last night at FHE. We roled out the dreaded pie chart with names and jobs and the brad in the middle that can spin around. Needless to say everyone was very excited about it.

Enough randomness for now. I feel better to have emptied my brain of some of the clutter that seems to clog it up.

YEAH for Camping

We went camping in Pennslyvania this past weekend and had a fabulous time!. The weather was perfect. It got a little bit cold at night, but other than that we couldn't have asked for better conditions. There were trees and a stream right by our campsite and so we spent most of the time throwing rocks in the water or gathering wood for the fire. One of the only problems that we had was that we got to our campsite after dark so we had to be a little more talented than usual in order to set up our tent.

The first morning that we were there Seth started to stir and his eyes opened just a little bit and then they flew open and he sat up saying "Its sunny outside and we are still camping!"

Explosive thoughts

I have had a headache for about a week now and the thought of trying to think of something to write was just too much. I eventually get to the point where I can't think of anything, but I have been popping pills on a schedule for the last few days and I think I have it back under control.
Right now I am just biding my time until it is time to take Joseph to the bus stop. We somehow got ahead of schedule today.
Now everyone is gone and I feel like I have already done a days work. I am always tired by the time I get Todd out by 7:20 and Hannah (with her friend Sandy) by 8:10 and then Joseph at 8:30. Now I can stand here and look at the clothes that need to be folded and the dishes that need to be done.
We put up all of our Halloween decorations last night for family home evening. (Yes I know that it was Tuesday, some weeks are just like that) The kids had a blast running around the yard in the dark throwing the pieces of dirt that are left because we had the lawn aerated. Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. I hate trying to help the kids figure out what they want to be and then try to convince them to use the costumes that we already have. I hate the cheapo costumes from the store because in order to make them look good you have to have some kind of mask which doesn't end up being worn. I do love to take the little kids around when they are just learning to say trick or treat and they get soooo excited when they get a piece of candy in their pumpkin. I usually take ziploc baggies with me because their pumpkins eventually get too heavy for them to carry and I can empty some the contents into the baggies so that they can still walk with their pumpkin. Seth keeps telling everyone that you have to wait until it is dark and then it will be Halloween time. He cracks me up all of the time
On a totally different note. We are going camping this coming weekend. It almost didn't happen because unkown to me people really do keep camping this late into the season. I thought that we were going to be the only weird ones. We finally did find a place in Pennslyvania that had spots open. It is a state park and looks very nice, but I guess we will see when we get there.
Well I am going to take my tired self to the shower and then it is off to play group.