The Countdown Has Started!!

I can't believe that tomorrow will be December 1st!! How did this year go by so fast? I spent some time today making our Christmas Countdown Chain. This is one of our family traditions that we enjoy and look forward to. Each year we have a Christmas countdown chain of red and green paper with 24 links. On each link is written a special activity that we participate in as a family. Some of these activities are service oriented, some of them are spiritual and others are just frivolous and fun. There is however, one common thread that all of our activities have, which is that we spend time together as a family having fun and building relationships.

Here is a listing of the activities we will be doing for the next 24 days. It may sound overwhelming at first, but I realized that most of these activities we were already doing each year and this just keeps them organized so we don't get bogged down. You and your family probably do at least 24 things related to Christmas too. Every year the list varies a bit. We used to go to the gingerbread house display and we are sad that they no longer do it. It never was as good after they stopped having it at the visitors center and this year Town and Country isn't even doing it. Had to cross that off of our list. We used to go visit Santa at the mall too, but now there aren't many believers in the jolly man here at our house so I'll probably just take Savannah one day while they are at school. Sometimes it is a bummer to have them grow up!! Ok, now the list:

S December 1 Put out Nativity Display - lesson on the true reason for Christmas
S December 2 First Presidency Devotional
M December 3 Prepare Neighbor Gifts
T December 4 Deliver Neighbor gifts
W December 5 Decorate Sugar Cookies
T December 6 Write Letters to Santa
F December 7 Shop for Tree Ornaments - each year our kids get a new ornament
S December 8 Decorate Christmas Tree
S December 9 Make Gingerbread house
M December 10 Go shopping for $1 gifts for siblings
T December 11 Send Christmas Cards
W December 12 Make an Ornament
T December 13 Watch Christmas Carol Movie - I love the Muppet version
F December 14 Make Grandparent gifts
S December 15 Ward Christmas Breakfast Party
S December 16 Read Christmas Stories – Drink Hot Chocolate
M December 17 Make gifts for Teachers
T December 18 Watch Polar Express
W December 19 Go out to Dinner at a Restaurant
T December 20 Drive to see Christmas lights
F December 21 Make Christmas Crafts
S December 22 Olsen’s Christmas Party
S December 23 Nativity Puppet Story
M December 24 Go Sledding (no snow? Go Ice Skating)

Giving Thanks

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

I owed my blog one more post relating to Thanksgiving before the month ran out. As I have previously posted, we kept a box for this month for everyone in our family to place slips of paper where they had written various things they were thankful for. I finally got them all typed in and wanted to share them. Some of them are pretty funny - at least I think so. Again, I have to say that we are truly blessed!!

Clayne
Being healthy, Living in a Free Country, a Good Job, Wonderful Parents, Wonderful Wife, Helpful Children (who’s), living in Idaho, Nice Home

Tiffany
My Carpet cleaner, Kitchen appliances, Indoor plumbing, That I am a good cook, The Sacrament, That I don’t have to play the Piano at Church anymore, my Family,the Temple, my New Computer, Grocery Stores, Hairspray, Vehicles, Warm Home, my Bosch, Fresh Baked Bread, Dishwasher, Good Music, Comfortable PJ’s, Rain, My Home, the Gospel, President Hinckley, my Savior

Cheyenne
Tamagotchi, Friends, Water, Talents, Pets, Pie, Life, Family, the Piano, my Radio, my Karaoke, Food, Clothes, my Cell Phone (has no service), My bed, Spiders (um, right), bugs, insects, Animals, Lava, Heat, Cold, the Earth, Shasta (a stuffed animal husky dog), School, my Education, Music, Pancakes, Pencils

Morgan
Brian Burton, Jason Burton, Jill Burton, IF, Home, Rain, Sun, Plants, Food, Mom & Dad, School, Friends, Jesus, Football, Smurf Turf, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Carson Christensen, Trevor Baird, Idaho, New England, Randy Moss, Brett Fave, Computers (I think Morgan has a bit of a fascination with Football!!)

Carson
Animals, Clocks, Bed, Trees, Water, Everething Exept Selere (celery), Earth, Littrisite (electricity)

Savannah
Me, Turkey, Cats, my Dog, Me (again), House, Clothes, Turkey (again), Cheetos, MOM, DAD, HALOKD (Hello Kitty)

Grocery Deals - Week of Nov 28

Sick of turkey? Here are some deals at the grocery store for the week. Not too many big sales listed this week.Maybe they think we are too busy shopping at the mall or eating leftovers?

Smith's

$1.89/lb. Extra lean ground beef
$1.59/lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
$2.79/gal. milk
3/$5 Smith's butter
69 cents Betty crocker cake mix
4/$5 Hershey's baking chips

Albertsons

$4.99/24 pack Coca-cola drinks (Thursday, Friday & Saturday only)

Our Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Day. We had a nice lunch with Clayne's family at a church house in Iona. I love that all I had to do was make a batch of pilgrim pie cookies and the go and enjoy an entire delicious meal. We were able to visit with Clayne's brother, Jedd, and his family as well as his sister, Glenna, and her family. Clayne's aunts (Nancy, Ellen, and Janet) were there with their families too. Morgan couldn't wait to get the meal over with and cleaned up so that he could shoot some hoops.

We are going to wait until FHE on Sunday to go through all the "thankful notes" we put into our Turkey box and then I'll share some of the highlights of what our family is thankful for. For now I will just say that we are truely blessed by our Heavenly Father in more ways than we'll ever know. We are thankful to be a family and we are thankful for our extended family and good friends like you. Enjoy your holiday weekend with your families.

Been Digi Scrapping Today

So with the kids home today I did get up and go to the gym and then showered, but have been in my PJ's ever since. Love days like that. I have spent a fair amount of time on my computer today downloading some digital scrapbook freebies and going through some tutorials. I also was fair to my kids and let them each have 30 minutes online with my supervision - they get a bit jealous that I always get to be on the computer. When you consider that I have 4 kids - that is 2 hours! Cheyenne wanted to check and answer email (she has an account with gmail too - Jr High brings on all this!!!), Morgan wanted to go to some NFL team sites, Carson wanted to play some online kid games and Savannah has loved going to Disney's bunny town.

Back to my internet time... I have learned a few things about digital scrapping- like once you flatten layers in photoshop there is no going back if you exit the program. Make sure you save your file unflattened in case you want to change something later. I also learned a few ways to add drop shadows. I think they help give some dimension to the layout. I also learned how to save my layouts at a size for printing and at a size for sharing on the web.

I now present to you "Diva licious" my latest digi creation. If you are interested in credits (a list of the supplies I used) let me know. I have read many places that the proper thing to do when sharing a layout on the net is to list all the supplies and give credit. I don't know that anyone who visits my blog would really be interested in all that. Thanks for looking at my silly little Savannah.

The journaling is: "Savannah was going outside with her stylish glasses and doggy purse when I asked her where she was going. Her reply was that she was going out to pose. Well of course she needed a photographer and I was happy to oblige. November '07"

Seven Wonders of the Present World - AWESOME!

Thought this was fitting for Thanksgiving. May you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving Day. Note: Mute my music in the juke box to the left and then click on the video to view and hear. I don't endorse any linked videos to this one, but this one is amazing.

Just Another Sleepy Sunday

Ok, so some of us sleep on Sunday. I don't know how these two can do it when I am in the kitchen right behind the couch banging around and the other three kids are doing their usual rowdy stuff. I think that is the main reason I have given up on trying to nap on Sunday is that it is just never quiet enough around here.

What I was busy in the kitchen doing was making Pilgrim Pies. They are so tasty. We have been making them for a few years and they have become a family favorite. In fact I think I'll be making them as my assignment for the Thanksgiving dinner this week. Today's batch was for my visit teaching ladies. Wow this month went fast and after Thanksgiving there won't be much time left. We'll see if I can manage a visit that last month though. We got this recipe from Family Fun Magazine.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Pumpkin Cookies
2 eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Filling/Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture a half cup at a time, blending each time until smooth. 2. Drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, using a moist finger or the back of a spoon to slightly flatten each mound. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 3. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar a half cup at a time, until the frosting is spreadable. 4. To assemble the pies, turn half of the cookies bottom side up and spread a generous amount of cream cheese frosting on each one. Top them with the remaining cookies (turned right side up). Makes 10 to 14 Pilgrim Pies.

What I really want to do is find some reading time. I had my name on the waiting list at the library for a long time and finally got this book it is the third in a series by Nancy Turner. The first is These Is My Words. The series is excellent and I would highly recommend it. Well, there are my random thoughts for the day. Well, I guess I can give one more for any Pepsi lovers out there. Winco had 12 packs on sale for $1.98 when I was there Saturday. I would think this price would be good until Thanksgiving. Now I must sign off and do the FHE thing. Hope you had a good Sunday.

Christmas Gift Idea

Look what I am ordering for my family for Christmas gifts. Aren't they the cutest? I think my boys especially will LOVE them. You can get any family name on them and you can get onsies for those who have babies, hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies... go see www.AOTees.com

Winco Thanksgiving prices

Here's the Deal-E-O (ok the deals) at Winco. Just make sure you go when the lines are short!

34 cents/lb Turkey with a $50 grocery purchase
$1.24/29oz canned Libby pumpkin
$1.66/lb butter
$1.48 Sara lee pumpkin pie
87 cents/60z box stove top stuffing
98 cents/can large pitted olives
48 cents/8oz flavorite whipped topping
$1.24/pint real whipping cream
98 cents/2lb bag brown or powdered sugar
98 cents/doz. large eggs
68 cents/8oz Kraft Phil. cream cheese

Give Thanks for Grocery Deals

Now is the time to stock up on all those Thanksgiving favorites. I bought a new chest freezer this week just so I'd have room to store all those turkeys. I usually buy 4 since they are such a good deal and we can get several meals out of one turkey. We simply eat as much as we want when I cook it and then I dice the rest up and store it in amounts of 2 cups in freezer bags. I can then use it when I make a turkey pot pie or a casserole. Anywho... that is just a tip for you. I will be going to Winco either today or tomorrow and I'll be sure to post again with any prices that are good deals. Have a great day! Gobble, gobble.



Smith's


$5/ea. 12-14lb hen turkey
$7/ea. 16-20lb tom turkey
$11/ea. 16-20lb butterball tom turkey
Turkey prices are with a $25 grocery purchase and a fresh value card.

1.19/lb cook's shank portion ham
1.99/lb kroger premium boneless ham

1.99/ea. when you buy 4 Sara lee pies and breyers ice cream

69 cents/ea. 2 liter Pepsi varieties (when you buy 10 - good for neighbor gifts or upcoming holiday parties)


2/$1 PictSweet frozen vegetables
69 cents Philadelphia cream cheese
3/$5 1 lb butter packs
4/$5 16oz. cottage cheese, sour cream or dips
99 cents/doz. large eggs
89 cents/lb fresh broccoli or cauliflower

3/$5 frito lay chips (cheetos, fritos)

Albertsons

5/$10 Coca-cola 12 packs (buy 4 get the fifth free)
38 cents/lb turkey (with $25 grocery purchase)
1.77/lb hormel spiral sliced ham
$1.70 for a 10lb bag of potatoes
1.69/lb butter

10/10 libby pumpkin 15oz, heavy whipping cream 8oz, cool whip 8oz, stove top stuffing, mini marshmallows


2/$3 nabisco crackers
$1.77/box Kellog's cereals

Pass the Popcorn

The code for a free DVD rental is still good. Today "Amazing Grace" comes out. I have been wanting to see that so I'll likely rent it this weekend. This leads me to a post I have been wanting to do for a while now. I was flipping through the channels one night a few weeks ago and Gone With the Wind was on. I had to stop and watch it for a while. What movies make you stop and want to watch when you come upon them? What are some of your favorite classics or a recent movie that you loved? I'd love to see your random list of movies that you love. Consider yourself tagged.

Gone With the Wind

Fiddler on the Roof

My Fair Lady

The Sound of Music (yep, I love musicals)

Movies with Doris Day or Cary Grant

Movies with Fred Astaire or Bing Crosby (excuse me if I spell anything wrong)

The Man from Snowy River

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Avonlee

Little Women

Pride and Prejudice

Sense and Sensibility

Becoming Jane

I know that there are more and I may have to add to this post when I think of it. I just thought it would be fun to see what you like. Sometimes when you read a list from someone else it makes you think, "Hey I like that too and I haven't seen it for a while." I also think it can tell a little about you when you list the kinds of movies you like. Anyway..... Join in!

Project Pictures

So I have been really slow about posting pictures of my painting project in my great room. Pictures never do show it the way it really is, but I really am happy with how it turned out. If you want to have a better look at the color either go to http://www.sherwinwilliams.com/ and look at the color sensational sand or you could just come over Ü I love my new free standing fireplace. I think it gives a nice focal point when you come in the front door and just warms up the space so nice - both with heat-warmth and design-warmth. I also was excited to find that my Christ picture that I bought last May found a home. It goes great with the fireplace. What I am really looking forward to having done is the paint job of the wall over the stairs. I am putting it off because I am a little nervous of how to get up there to do it.

I wanted to also share a picture of a tag I made this week. I actually made 12 just like it for a swap.

7 random things about me

Tagged - 7 random things about me -

1. The toilet paper has to be from the top! I have been known to change it if it is on the roll wrong even in someone else's house.
2. I went to a Motley Crew rock concert when I was in High School.
3. I was sent to the principal's office when I was in kindergarten for kicking the other kids under the table. Back then we had bigger tables that several kids sat around instead of individual desks.
4. I was on the drill team for several years in high school - the Dragonettes and our colors were orange and black - yuck!
5. Swabbing out my ears after my morning shower is a daily MUST! I can't stand for them to be wet inside!
6. I worked at Subway sandwiches for a few years back in college. Helped to supplement my grocery bill since I got a free meal when I worked.
7. I married an "old" man. I got married when I was 19 to Clayne and he was 25. Since I was the first to marry in my family, it freaked my parents out a bit that I was marrying someone so OLD. My argument is that I had to marry someone older so he could finish raising me. I had a lot of maturing to do!

I am tagging anyone who wants to join in. It will be fun to see what you all post.

Grocery Ads - week of Nov 7

Albertsons

10/$10
doz. eggs
birds eye frozen vegetables
eggo waffles
fresh express bags of salad
1b. bone in country style pork ribs (max pack)

offer for free milk and marshmallows
buy four participating post cereals at 2/$4 and get two free bags of jet-puffed marshmallows - plus get free milk (up to $4 value) while coupon supplies last (ask store clerk for details - I think the free milk makes this a good deal)

2.99/lb petite sirloin steak

Smiths

2lb/$1 navel oranges
3/$5 kellogs or quaker cereals
3.99/lb new york steak
2/$4 fiber one bars (have you tried these? So good and very high in fiber - a little better of a deal at Sams club but if you just want to try them this is a good price)

So Very Blessed

I love the conference address by by President Henry B. Eyring entitled, “O Remember, Remember.” You may recall what he shared in his address. He spoke of a journal he kept during the years when his children were young. He was prompted to start this journal after his father-in-law had performed an act of service for his family. The spirit spoke to him saying, “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.” He was supposed to record for his children to read, someday in the future, how he had seen the hand of God blessing their family. You can find the address at www.lds.org or in your next Ensign. It is an excellent article. I am glad that I had opportunity to record a special miracle in my life last week. Read on... to see my written record. Consider yourself "tagged" if you want to and after reading this post, either list some blessings or miracles that you have received and share them on your blog or with your family.

Last week my mother called to ask a favor of me. She had a Relief Society assignment to share an experience where either she or a member of her family had experienced a miracle. She told me that the first family miracle that came to her mind was an experience that had happened to me. My mother asked if I would write about this experience and then send it to her so that she could share it with her ward sisters. She went on to say that she just didn’t feel like she had any “big” miracles to share. This saddened me. Our Heavenly Father would never desire for us to compare our blessings and miracles with those that others receive. He would not want us to feel like our miracles were not “big” enough. Our conversation continued and I went on to list the blessings and miracles that I could see in my mother’s life. By the end of our phone call, she had to agree that our Heavenly Father had blessed her in many ways. Still I went ahead and prepared a one page entry about this miracle in my life and emailed it to my mother so that she could share it. This is the entry:

The Miracle of Motherhood
By Tiffany Bodily (written Oct. 30, 07)

I was married to Clayne in September of 1989 and not long afterwards we decided to start our family. Little did we know what was in store for us. We struggled through many years of infertility, doctor visits, and treatments, all to no avail. We spent many hours on our knees in prayer pleading with our Heavenly Father to send us children.

We felt impressed to pursue adoption through LDS Social Services while we continued our infertility treatments, to see what would work out first – adoption or pregnancy. In 1995 we were blessed to adopt a baby girl, Cheyenne, followed by an additional adoption of a baby boy, Morgan, in 1998. We were busy and happy parents and felt so blessed to have been fortunate to adopt two healthy newborns and to have an opportunity to raise both a daughter and a son.

At this point we decided we could be content if these two children were all that we ever received. We were no longer seeking medical treatments for our infertility and had decided that it was probably unlikely that I would ever conceive and bear a child through my own body. I made peace with this and we were happy.

Our Heavenly Father surprised us when Morgan was only 4 months old. It was then that I found out that I was pregnant. It was hard for me to truly believe this after almost 10 years of marriage. In all those years I had never been pregnant and so this was certainly a miracle to both Clayne and I, to our families, and everyone who knew us.

I was blessed to be able to conceive again and give birth to a beautiful daughter, Savannah, just 3 years after Carson. Yet another blessing I experienced was that I never experienced morning sickness with either of my pregnancies. Watching friends go through morning sickness taught me gratitude for this blessing. I feel so very blessed to have been the recipient of many wonderful blessings and miracles in my life. In my opinion every blessing is a miracle and every miracle is a blessing. These two precepts of the gospel work hand in hand.

What a blessing it has been for us to be given the opportunity to adopt two healthy children and to also experience the pregnancy and birth of two healthy children. To me the means by which each of my children came into our lives is a miracle. Not one of the experiences overshadows the other. I know that my Heavenly Father meant for each one of these children to be raised by Clayne and I. I know that they came into the world and into our lives in just the way that Heavenly Father saw as best. I am so grateful to him for his love and for the growth I experienced through our trial of infertility. Although there were times when I didn’t understand, it all makes perfect sense to me now and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Thanksgiving Idea

I have to give a shout out to my friend Joanna for this fabulous idea. (Joanna is listed in "blogs I visit" to the left, scroll down) On her blog this week she posted the following, "When we were little kids our family had a turkey box we'd break out at Thanksgiving time. It was a shoe box that was decorated with a paper turkey, and had a slit in the top where we could put lists of things we were thankful for. Then when we'd drive to Mama and Papa's house for Thanksgiving we'd get out the box and read every one's lists to remind us of what we are grateful for."

She also posted this great link for the cute turkey pattern shown in my post (get it here.) I am going to make one of these tomorrow and then introduce the idea to my kids in FHE tomorrow night (remember we hold our FHE on Sunday nights.) Thought you might like the idea too. Thanks Joanna Ü

What a Week!

What a fun and busy week this has been. I haven't had time to do the posting that I have wanted to with the holiday and projects that I have been doing. Here are a few of the good things that happened this week:

I finished the painting I was doing in my living room/kitchen area. I just have the red wall left to do over the stairs in the entry. I'll post pictures this upcoming week.

Savannah went to the dentist and had NO cavities. Yipee! I was so glad. The boys had been to the dentist several times over the last month to get Morgan's 9 fillings and Carson's 4. There went my new kitchen table. Teeth are just EXPENSIVE!

My GREEN dell laptop came on Monday. That was soooo fast. I ordered it late Wednesday night and it came in less than a week. I have been spending some of my free time playing around on it and trying to get used to it. I'm gonna love it!

On Thursday, I finally figured out how to set up my wireless router. Clayne had brought me one home from his office that they didn't need, but he didn't have any software or paper work for it so it was a bit tricky for me to figure it out, but I did - all by myself!! Now I can get online without having to come downstairs to my scrap room every time.

My kids all loved the Halloween mix-up dinner and the festivities of the holiday and they didn't even require much help from me to come up with costumes. When they did come up with them, I didn't have to do much to help them get ready that day. I was grateful for their independence since I was so busy this week.

I took the stake president's admonition to start indexing on familysearch.org and got my first batch of names indexed. It felt good to contribute to geneology and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Read the article in the August Ensign if you want to learn more about this.

Today was Digital Scrapbook Day and I spent a while today downloading free digital goodies all over the internet. I felt like a kid Trick-Or-Treating. I can't wait to find time to play with all the fun stuff I found.

I finally figured out how to use templates in my scrapbooking. The page I am sharing is made from one and it was kind of fun to see what I could do. I had read tutorials at a few sites and had tried to use templates earlier this week without success. I decided to go back to the blog of Misty Cato and try her tutorial http://mistycatodesigns.blogspot.com/2007/03/layered-template-tutorial.html. The layout I came out with above is the result. I also used a kit from Oscraps http://www.oscraps.com/shop/search.php?mode=search&page=1 for the papers and elements. The kit costs $1 now, but I picked it up for free a week ago. I still have lots to learn but I have more templates & supplies and can't wait to play around with this some more.

OHHH and I just remembered that it is Day Light Savings and we need to set our clocks back. An extra hour of sleep (or an extra hour to play on my computer).