Monday, November 24, 2008

I am thankful for...

Yesterday at church a good friend of mine gave a great talk in Sacrament meeting. She mentioned that she and her family had been blogging back and forth about all the things they were grateful for. Since I'll probably never be as fabulous as Stephanie I can at least accomplish this. So, if you are reading this post please leave a comment of things you are grateful for.
Here are a few things I am grateful for...
FAMILY...parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles, nieces & nephews and of course my CHILDREN
COMPUTERS...a life without computers--really I can't imagine!
MY ABILITY TO READ
THE GOSPEL
MY HUSBAND
MAKE-UP & HAIR PRODUCTS
SHOES...what girl doesn't love shoes?

Okay, so you get the picture. Let me know what you are grateful for. I'll probably add some more later!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Halloween fun...

HALLOWEEN is such a fun time around here. We LOVE it. We went to our friends the JOHNSON'S and baked and decorated SUGAR COOKIES.The whole FAMILY dresses up for all of the school FESTIVITIES. Wayne was DRACULA and I was DRACULA's BRIDE... We were the MYSTERY readers in Allyson's class. We had a great time reading Halloween stories and then making books and writing our own "SPOOKY" stories with her class. I think Brittany simply went as a 13 year old this year...she's so much fun to have around! CRAZY yes, but fun nonetheless! Jay went as BOB THE BUILDER ... here he is running down the aisle of people high fiving all of his adoring fans at the school PARADE...
Ally was TINKERBELL she loved being the first person in line for her class. She got to hold the sign with their class name.
Britt had several parties this year. Above she and ANIG show off their "GANGSTA' FAIRY" costumes before heading off to go TRICK OR TREATING by themselves with friends. (it never gets easy to let them run off by themselves...thank goodness for CELL PHONES)

Youth Dances are one of my favorite parts of being a youth leader. It's just so fun to see the youth find out that the opposite sex actually doesn't have COOTIES. Britt is lucky to have lots of boys and girls her age not just in our ward but in the stake too!

Our Stake TRUNK or TREAT is always so much fun. It starts with a carnival wth lots of food and games. Britt got to stuff nearly 500 hotdogs this year.Britt playing cranival games with friends...they even had a Wii set up and it was a big hit with Britt's crowd. "Mikey, you don't know how to fish very well..." LOL!!!Ally with her good friend MEG Johnson.Jay again as BOB the Builder getting ready to blow BUBBLES for a bubble blowing contest.We all had a great Halloween this year. It seems like it went on for days and days...maybe because it DID! We have enough candy to last us until the EASTER BUNNY comes. I'm sure, I'll throw it out or donate before then!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Final days of Prop 8

This is Nathan, Jay and Mikey running back across the street after waving YES signs and dodging eggs and insults. I love seeing the youth so involved and seeing them really standing up for their beliefs.

Our family has enjoyed every minute of getting the word out on Prop 8. We went down with a few friends and waved signs on a busy corner here in Pleasanton. We had lots of birdies flying, names like BIGOT yelled at us and a few other choice superlatives not worth repeating. We even had eggs thrown at us. One of my favorite parts of this whole experience was while we were waving signs this particular time a HIGHSCHOOL student parked his car and walked up to us. Of course our defenses went up as parents, but he simple said "this is my first time to get to vote and I'm undecided on prop 8--convince me why I should vote yes!" Wayne and I talked to him for about 10 minutes and he left with a better understanding of what PROP 8 really is. He asked us if we were a christian family and we all yelled happily "YES WE ARE!" He said "me too" It was really awesome to see the courage this kid had and his true desire to be educated on his own vote. YES ON 8...my kids are going to miss this. I told them we will probably be fighting this battle for a LOONG time!

WE GOT SOOOO WET! LOVE IT!
On Saturday we got a call to come and WAVE our prop 8 signs. It was pouring down with rain. My kids didn't blink, they jumped and said "let's go!!" When we arrived there were several NO on 8 people waving also. They were all very cordial. There were a few non-LDS folks waving YES signs, and they were grateful for the reinforcements. One of the NO wavers said to Jay "I'm so sorry, you're Mom is making you wave in the rain." Jay quickly with no hesitation said "my Mom doesn't make me do anything, I CHOSE to do this" Very proud Mommy moment! Last night at about 10:00 we went and put together about 100 YES on 8 signs and then drove all around Pleasanton to put up a sea of signs on every corner. My kids were'nt about to miss this "special ops mission" as they called it. They were in heaven. As I was driving and the family was jumping out at corners when they all jumped back in I was then pulled over by a police officer (we had just had a conversation at how many tickets I had and how many Wayne had so it was very ironic) I was freaking out but was happy to get a ticket for the cause. "Do what ever you can... "right? The police officer was very nice he asked what we were doing we told him and he said be careful and don't ever block traffic...NO TICKET!!! yay WHEW
Britt has stood steadfast during this election. I couldn't be happier to see her strength and courage to voice her beliefs. NO on 8 people say it won't go into the schools...too late it's there and the youth are having t defend their beliefs and they are doing it without batting an eye!

This is Jane Barlow, she is MRS. PROP 8. We met at her house to assemble all the signs. Many thanks to you and Steve for all you've done! You guys are AWESOME

Jay carrying out his "special ops mission" The kids loved darting in and out of the car blanketing our city with YES ON 8 signs. It was very fun, even though they woke up cranky this morning. We dealt with it, we were out until about 11:30--all worth it!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN... I'll get all of our haunting adventures on here soon. I'm off to vote!!!