52 Weeks of Blessings- week 13-- Young Womens and Young Mens

This weeks blessing is the Young Women and Young Men Programs! What wonderful programs they are to help us raise our youth in the right way ... so they become the best young women and young men. Well rounded, armed with the knowledge to survive the scary world we live in. Since my daughter turned 12 we had the opportunity to attend the General Young Women Meeting. It was awesome. I was sad that we had very low attendance, since it was also Prom night. For the Strength of youth, what a great tool!This small booklet gives the youth a place to turn for answers in areas like: Agency & Accountability, Gratitude, Education, Family, Friends, Dress & Appearance, Entertainment & the Media, Music & Dancing, Language, Dating, Sexual Purity, Repentance, Honesty,
Sabbath Day Observance, Tithes & Offerings, Physical Health, Service to Others, Go Forward with Faith plus a copy of both The Living Christ and The Family: A Proclamation to the World.
They are also given this book, True to the Faith, for further help along the way.The girls get personal progress books and Young Woman camp {used to be called Girl's camp} manual.These books help the girls to set and achieve goals that will help them throughout their lives.
The young men are given these books, Duty to God,
to help them to set and achieve goals that will also help them throughout life.I hope and pray that my children will use these helps to strengthen their testimonies and find answers to questions. I know I will try to help them see how valuable they are and how helpful they can be. What a struggle it is to raise the youth in this day and age, how thankful I am for the scriptures, these programs and the helps we have been provided.

Check your reading level!

Movie Reviews

Tag- seven random and or weird facts

I was tagged by Debra....
Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


OK here we go time to make up reveal 7 new random weird facts. But first if you are a new reader or just would like a refresher on all my fun facts go here, here, here, here, and here.
*1. Because we got one of these:I have become addicted to riding! I was not raised with 4-wheelers or dirt bikes, like my husband was, so I was hesitant about getting one, but now I can't wait to go out and ride! We have had it for nearly 2 weeks and we've been out 6 times! I'm getting more and more comfy on it and will soon post pictures of some of the places we ride!
*2. I love to watch drag races, motocross, desert races and basically any kind of racing {not so much the speed boats}. I have always loved racing. I think it would be totally cool to get to take a spin in a real race car!
When we lived in Phoenix, I went to my first live race! It was AWESOME! Troy went to school at UTI and they had a drag day. That was fun we saw the school's jet {loud} car and funny car. Then a few months later we went to a NHRA drag race! When we lived in Vegas, we would go to the desert races, those are fun too. While seriously pregnant with Savanna, we took Cody and went to a desert race with some friends. The guys went off to cruise the booths during a lull in the race. They were taking FOREVER.... turns out they ran into one of the racers and, well, he took Cody {my 3 1/2 yr old} for a ride.... yup strapped him in the racing seatbelt and hooked him up with a helmet ... and took off through the desert racing! He rode in a class 5 baja bug similar to this: We were invited to the pits where we picked up our very excited son! I swear he had a "kool-aid" smile for a week and all he could say was "whoo-hoo" for days!
*3. I love horses and horse back riding. I've owned 3 horses: a Morgan and 2 Arabians. In high school I trained a few horses with my neighbor who was a trainer. After we moved, my brother sold my horse, right before I found people who were willing to let me keep her out on their farm. :(With kids it is hard to go out and enjoy horses if you don't have them right there in your back yard. So we had to sell them. This is Page and colt Diamond-- the Arabians.*4. I went to cosmetology school when I was a senior. Although I didn't finish, I do enjoy giving a hair cut. The previous owners of our house had a beauty salon in the house.This is my hair cutting station.
*5. I love Orange Julius! Have it on a regular basis. Here you should have some too....
1 tray ice cubes or about 14 cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 can frozen orange juice
about 1 1/2 cups milk
about 1 cup water
{also good with a banana}
put all items in a blender and mix using the ice crushing speed or similar speed*6. I like a good peanut-butter, mayo, and cheese sandwich! yum yum! :)

*7. I think it's good to dip saltines in a cup of hot chocolate!
And now.... I tag Latree, Mom2My6Kids, Because Wendi says so, Emy5, Kate, G. Parker & Serious

Politics

Warning: You may or may not agree with me in politics. If you don't want to read this or don't agree, it's OK, just skip this posting! I believe everyone has the right to believe as they want. I'm not trying to force mine on you, I just gotta express my feelings too! Also, this is a bit lengthy

I don't normally post about politics. I learn a lot from Candace. She and I share similar/same views on the issues. She researches her stuff and she knows what she's talking about. While reading one of her posts, I read a comment that included an email the commenter got. Very interesting. Go here to read it from the source. The columnist is Ken Blackwell of the New York Sun


A little humor:
Hillary and Obama were in a boat going down the river.
The river was extremely rough. The boat capsized.
Who was saved?



America!


and an email my sister sent me:

I don't think being a minority makes

You a victim of anything except

Numbers.. The only things I can think

Of that are truly discriminatory are

Things like the United Negro College

Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment

Television, and Miss Black America.

Try to have things like the United

Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine,

White Entertainment Television, or Miss

White America; and see what happens...

Jesse Jackson will be knocking down

Your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think

Killing makes you a killer. You can kill

Someone with a baseball bat or a car,

But no one is trying to ban you from

Driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts

For a reason, which is why there are no

Girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl

Scouts!

ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

I think that if you feel homosexuality

Is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an

Opinion.

I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant

Of others because they are different,

Weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get

Arrested are black, in cities where

70% of the population is black, that

Is not racial profiling; it is the Law

Of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a

Milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a

Newspaper or a hotel room, you must

Do it in English! As a matter of fact,

If you want to be an American citizen,

You should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die

In vain so you can leave the countries

You were born in to come over and

Disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every

Right to shoot you if you threaten them

After they tell you to stop. If you can't

Understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop'

In English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not

Born in this country, you are qualified

For any special loan programs, government

Sponsored bank loans or tax breaks,

Etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee

Shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain

Foreign countries and risk our lives in

Wars to defend their freedoms, so that

Decades later they could come over

Here and tell us our constitution is a

Living document; and open to their

Interpretations.

I don't hate the rich, I don't pity the

Poor.

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so

Are movies and television. That doesn't

Stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep

Every penny he made and continue to

Make more. If it ticks you off, go and

Invent the next operating system that's

Better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a

Child right, but it does take a parent to

Stand up to the kid; and smack their

little behinds when necessary, and say

'NO!'

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if

You want them, but please don't pretend

They are a political statement. And,

Please, stay home until that new lip ring

Heals. I don't want to look at your ugly

Infected mouth as you serve me French

Fries!

I am sick of 'Political Correctness.' I

Know a lot of black people, and not a

Single one of them was born in Africa;

So how can they be 'African-Americans'?

Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't

Go around saying I am a European-American

Because my great, great, great, great,

Great, great grandfather was from Europe.

I am proud to be from America and nowhere

Else

And if you don't like my point of view, tough...

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE

TO THE FLAG, OF THE

UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA , AND TO THE

REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH

IT STANDS, ONE NATION

UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE,

WITH LIBERTY AND

JUSTICE FOR ALL!


edited: I've removed the Andy Rooney part of this after a commenter left a reference to this site. I don't know who stated it, but I still find it to be true.

NO way, I won!

Thank you, thank you Latree at Dandelion for picking me. {the link is to the winner post} You should all go check her out. It is so fun meeting new people and learning about another culture at the same time, ya can't beat it! I'm SO stoked to be the winner... the fabric is so beautiful, now what shall I do with it? Ideas?

52 Weeks of Blessings -- week 12-- Goodly Parents

For this week's blessing I have chosen "goodly parents" -- My parents! This month they both celebrated birthdays. My mother's was the 3rd and my father's was today! I have great parents who raised me {and my siblings- there are 8 of us kids!} in the gospel and taught us to think and decide for ourselves. They allowed us to make our own mistakes and to learn from them. That is not always an easy thing... I'm learning as my children grow, and I have the desire to protect and fix. I try hard to step back -hoping and praying that I've taught them right from wrong and that they have the good sense to choose the right. My dad was a long haul trucker for most of my life and my mom mostly just stayed home taking care of us. That was for sure a big job, as she was pretty much like a single parent! {She did some babysitting and later got a night job at the answering service} We sometimes went with my parents in the truck {as my Dad was an owner operator for many years}. My dad writes poems {yup I get my talent from him!} some of them from his self published book, are featured on my side bar. My mom dabbles in short stories. Through it all they have remained true and faithful to each other. This Aug they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! I found some fun pictures of my parents through the years, enjoy! :) The family when I was a baby- The 70's were not kind in a fashion sense.... and who isn't glad that glasses have become much more attractive?! Above: My parents and I --brand-new baby # 5! Below: Sledding with Dad, Brandon, Sean, Colleen and Martin... hold on tight!Below: Swimming with Dad and Brandon {the rest of the family were there too!}
Above: My mother, Clancy and I Christmas 1979. Below: My family at the time of my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary {mother's parents}. Below: my parents -early 90's.
Above: Dad, Mom, Colleen, and me {looking oh, so nice and pregnant} July1994. Below: My parents and I Dec. 2007.

What's in a name?

OK, so, I'm playing copy-cat here.... But I enjoyed reading all about everyone else's names and I just thought It would be fun to do our names.
Troy Ray: My Mother-in-law said that before they were married, they wrote down the names that they liked and wanted to name their kids. They still have the paper they wrote them down on. Troy was just one of the names on the list and Ray is his dad's middle name. nicknames: TroyBoy, Bub, Teddy

Carrie Lucile: My name is a family name all the way round. I had a great grandmother named Carrie and my Grandma's middle name {and the name she went by} was Lucile. Plus my parents wanted all of the kids to have Irish sounding names to go with our Irish last name {I'm not sure how Irish Carrie, is but I like it!}. nicknames: Carrie-my-Lu, CarrieLu, Carebare

Cody Ray: Well, we didn't write the names down, but we did discuss them before we got hitched! Troy said he wanted to name his first son Cody Ray cause it sounded cow-boyish. And obviously Ray is after dad and grandpa. nicknames: Code, Moose, Chief
Shantel Ciera: A friend I've known all my life is named Tisha Shantel and I told her when we were little that I was going to name my daughter after her, so I did! Ciera I just like. When I was a teen we had a cutless ciera and I really liked that spelling of sierra, so there ya have it, that is how we came up with Shantel's names. nicknames: Shantellie, Shan, Tellie, TelliBob

Savanna Grace: I really like the name Savanna, but not with an "H" so I dropped it. My other Grandma's middle name was Grace {and she went by it}. I thought is sounded nice with Savanna, so it was settled. nicknames: Samanna Gase, VannaBananna, Savan

Robert Ray II: If you read this post then you know the story behind Robby. When we decided that we were going to adopt him, we wanted to give him a new name. I was voting for Benjamin, but Troy wanted to give him a family name. In the end we decided to give him Grandpa's name. nicknames: Robby, Hobbit Robbit-the-Hobbit

Scott MacKinzie: Troy has two friends named Scott Anderson and he wanted to name him after them. Troy favored Allen for a middle name but I just couldn't do it. I really wanted to name him after my great Grandpa, MacKinzie Giles, but Troy didn't like it, so we compromised. Nicknames: Scotty, ScottyMac, Mr. Mack, Smackin-McCrackin
EmmaLece RyAnne: I was taking a phone message for my sister while she was living with us. The name was hard {in fact I still can't spell it but it sounds like: em-mil-say}, and what I wrote looked like EmmaLece {it wasn't even close to the right spelling, but it looked and sounded cool}, so I decided IF we ever had another girl, that would be her first name. Troy was less than thrilled, said it was hard to say and hard to spell! So, I told him he could pick the middle name. He was suggesting terrible things like Gertrude, and Helga. Finally he said if my sister didn't care we would use her name. Of course, Ryanne was thrilled we would want to give our daughter her name, she said YES! And that is how we arrived at this name. nicknames: Em, Emma, Emmy, EmmaScreech, Emmers

Time once again for a little fun--

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
North Central
Boston
The South
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Your Personality is Very Rare (ESTP)

Your personality type is dominant, driven, poised, and self-aware. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 6% of all men You are Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Little O'Guinness

What's Your Leprechaun Name?
I did my sister's name & it was SO funny...

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Stinky Bottlesipper

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Very Improtant!

A blogger friend of mine, Cynthia, at Walking On is need of everyone's help. Her daughter has gone missing. Please click the link above and help her find her daughter.
Edit:
She is safe and found on the 18th. This is a link to the post that says she has been found. Thanks to those who posted a link and put the word out!

Blog give away -- not mine

I ran across this give away at Dandelion, I saw it at Serious. Look at this beautiful fabric to be given away. You should go check her out!

52 Weeks of Blessings -- week 11-- Relief Society

This week's blessing is the Relief Society! We had the RS birthday party yesterday. All the women, girls and teens were invited. We honored the women of the past by making butter. I did this as a kid a few times. We used a mason jar. A lady in the ward has a jar churn, so the butter was made both ways. We had a little challenge the girls against the "old ladies". The girls did the shaking of mason jars and the "oldies" used the churn.... the girls were first to hit butter stage!
They next celebrated the future of RS, by teaching the girls to plan for the future by making temple recomend holders. Lunch of soup and breads was served while a couple a ladies shared experiences of the present day Relief Society in action. {I missed this part as I had to go rescue the guys!}
Cody likes to call this part of the story : "The LDS Rescue Service".... So, here's what happened. The guys, namely: Troy, David, Cody and Scott, went to another town about an hour away to purchase a couple of 4-wheelers. David drove and hauled along his trailer. They arrived at the shop no troubles. Troy signed the deal on our 4-wheeler. Then took it out and loaded it in the trailer, while David was signing on his. Well, the trailer was not quite big enough for 2, so they formulated a plan.... take ours back home and turn around to get David's. It was a good plan, cept about half way home the Suburban started to not sound or act right. They pulled over and called for a rescue. Problem was I'd left the church and forgotten the cell phone at home! I had gone to run an errand and pick up some forgotten items from home. Since the guys were having trouble reaching me, they called a few others in order to locate me. I arrived home grabbed the phone, checked the messages and called back. By the time I return to the church, I think half the ward knew they were broke down on the side of the freeway and volunteering to come to the rescue! Before I arrived, the guys were sure there would be a separate car for each person plus the tow truck! In my haste to rescue, I failed to grab the camera. Although the guys were thankful I could not document the adventure, I was upset with myself! We did finally arrive home, but it was too late to head back for David's 4-wheeler. We went out to David's parent's farm for a little stress relief! Took a few spins on the 4-wheeler and went target practicing! Once again I thank Andrea for all the elements and backgrounds of my pages.

I won!?

OK, so G. Parker held a writing contest, and I won! {well, I might have been the only one to enter, but I still won!}. If you want to read my little paragraph go here. The rules were: So it's a two part contest. One -- you must link this to your blog or website and comment to me that you've done so. Two -- you must write a single paragraph (or 100 words)starting with the following sentence:

"What do you mean it's loaded?"

Start Your Engines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The race was today! Robby had a blast! I hope you can see the pictures alright in this format {as scrap pages} We gave Internet Explorer the boot! We kicked it to the curb and replaced it with Firefox! Can I just tell you that it has made a world of difference as to how we can access the net! I wish I had done this months ago! So now that we are again moving with speed, I should be ablt to enjoy everyone's blogs in a much quicker manner! :) yeah!
The elements of these pages are from Andrea.

This that and some other things! .. Scottisims and more!

Well, in case any one wonders why I'm so slow about getting around to visiting {I know, it's just me hoping people actually LIKE to read what I've got to say...} and why my posts are so few lately..... it's because my computer is a dinosaur! It take so long to get anything done! Now, I'm grateful to have it, I am... but some days I spend seeing way to many of these: "We're sorry but Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to shut down." or "Internet Explorer is not responding, would you like to end now or cancel?" I'm about batty over it! AARRGH! So for, those of you {maybe one or two} who miss me like I'm missing you, I'll get there when I win this war! I'll scroll down and read then comment once more! It takes me all week to get to all of you my friends! :)

Here's a few days worth of Scottisms:

3/3/08

He's sitting at the desk drawing I hear this:

"I'm berry mad at papers that move by themselves!"

He held down the papers and scribbled hard in one spot then:

"There, I got it! I don't like papers that move!"

Later that day we went out to lunch at CC's Cafe. The cashier gave the twins suckers. In the Suburban on the way home I hear this conversation:

EmmaLece: "Did you open your sucker? Where did you put your wrapper?"

Scott: "Yes. I put the wrapper on the floor. I hate wrappers, because I do!"

A little later...

EmmaLece: "Are you done? Did you eat it all? What did you do with the stick?"

Scott: "I hate wrappers and I hate sticks. I only like suckers. I don't like to bite them, just eat them."

3/5/08

They took a nap... I know you're thinking that's a good thing, right? Well, wrong! it is way easier to get them down at night with out a nap. So they were up late trying to get tired enough to go to bed. I was surfing through the channels looking for something, anything, that they would settle in to and zone out on. Scott informed me:

"This is a creepy channel. I don't want to watch it I hate this channel!" It was Disney, come on! Every channel was creepy.

"Yeah, I don't like those creepy channels and I don't want to watch them! I like to watch Super-man and Spider-man and ..... basketball. Those are not creepy!"

EmmaLece threw a royal fit when we hit a basketball channel. Finally he gave up on the channels and we went back to Disney which lulled EmmaLece to sleep. Scott, on the other hand, was still going, so he told me a story:

"On Saturday I was a baby. Yeah, um, six years ago I was a baby. Yeah, now I'm 3 and I'm big {insert here, him standing on tip-toe with hands stretched up tall}. I was in my bed and I was crying, 'Waaaa Waaaa'. Cause that's what babies say. And because I don't like to be in there and I shouldn't be in there."

Then out of nowhere, just before he decided it was time to retire he says:

"The cookies are really tasty good!"

3/6/08

"I don't know ALL songs, I just know the 'Funky Junky Hat' song."

Scott: "I can't whisper and I also can't speak."

Mom: "You can speak."

Scott: "No, see...." {insert, him sitting on the edge of the bench lips perched out and blowing spit across the room}

Mom: "Oh, you can't whistle!"

Scott: "Nope!"

3/9/08

We were getting ready to read scriptures and EmmaLece opened hers to the front cover and "read" E M M A L E C E! I was so excited, I had her spell her name again for her dad to hear! It was way cool!

3/10/08

Scott was asked to get some clothes on so we could go visit Grandma. He was having a bit of attitude {if you can imagine}

"I don't want people to talk to me! I just want to talk to people!"

He did finally get dressed and we set out to visit Grandma. Ya see, they had just returned from a trip to Arizona and she was feeling really yucky so she went to the hospital and, well, she had to stay for a few days. {She home now.} She has bacterial Pneumonia. The nurse said the kids could come visit, but they had to wear a mask. EmmaLece was all over the mask thing, Scott refused to even try one on. He stood outside the door and talked to Grandma! {The little bugger!} To top it all off, when we got home, he put on the mask! He said:

"It smells bad, yeah it does."

Later that night when they were suppose to be heading up to bed, but instead, were laying on the table. I heard this:

EmmaLece: "You know what? You're the best! And I love you the best!"

I turned just in time to see a big hug. But with my camera troubles, I didn't get the picture :( It was sure sweet! It made me think how they can be at each other all day, but in the end they have that twin bond thing going on and they just love each other... will defend one another to the end. {This does happen with the other kids but I notice it more often with these two.}

And a few pictures of life here in Keiserville.....Savanna loves to try different hair styles. Thought this one was kinda cool looking.So are you into Spiderwick? I bought these books for Shantel {the first 5} when she was in 2nd grade. And for Christmas I got her the 1st of 3 in the Beyond Spiderwick series. On Saturday, I took the three oldest to the movie. We enjoyed it, but as usually happens, it didn't quite follow the books.Enjoying a good book!

These three pictures are a science experiment ... I mean ... a batch of cookies that went awry! Savanna and Robby mixed up a batch of cookies and learned just when to ask for help! Turns out if you put in a tablespoon of baking soda rather than a teaspoon it will make a mess and taste bad! I only got to see the after math, Shantel said it looked like it exploded! One things for sure, it did have a reaction! :) Poor Cody was stuck with dishes that night! Look he CAN do his chores! :pTesting the batter! Cody made Cookies then next night and everyone had to try.

The above pictures are of FHE {family home evening} Shantel was challenged to make sure we had FHE for a whole month and to document the events. So she came up with her own version of Cranium. We had a good time. It is pretty funny to watch two 3 yr olds sculpt and act out different things.

And last but certainly not least .... go check out Reflection of Christ and the Utubes of it. If you happen to be in the Mesa, AZ area, you really should go check it out. I don't happen to be in the area, but for what I've seen and heard it is remarkable. These amazing pictures are on display in the visitors center of the Mesa Arizona Temple. Like giving water to a parched man in the desert! They refresh and revitalize the soul!