She's a workin' girl!

Ok.

You just have to know Makenna.

She has not always been the hardest of workers in our family. It wasn't uncommon for her to 'excuse' herself in the middle of a job the kids had been given to complete together. She had to "go to the bathroom" or had to "get a drink." She'd be gone FOREVER! We all know what she was doing, right? We've all done that as kids, I think. So, in hopes to have her turn out better than I did, I usually excuse the boys, and let her finish the job herself, instead of working with everyone. My reasoning is to help her see that sticking it out and doing it together is much better than doing it yourself. And if you try to skimp out on your part of the job, then you're gonna do it yourself. (I know, mean mom....) Anyway, this is not the case, anymore.

Kenna is now our hardest worker. Seriously, it almost happened overnight. She works the hardest and the longest! She even does work with out being asked, and with a smile! She loves to work! She even helps the boys have a good attitude while working.

You may ask, "How did this happen?"

We did too.

We sat down with Makenna and asked reminded her of her days of loathing work and then pointed out how great she's doing now. She said it all goes back to this night:






Brett and Makenna working together, side-by-side. Brett had ordered a TON of little gravel to make a pathway through our garden and to fill up this nasty looking area in the above picture and get it ready to pour some concrete. Brett needed to get it from the driveway to this area. He had been at work for an hour or 2 after dinner one day and it didn't even make a dent in the pile of gravel. It still looked the same to me. The next day, he went out again. This time Makenna decided to go help him. I don't know what inspired her to do that. Neither of the boys went out to help and Brett didn't ask for it, but she went out. They worked until the sun went down and Makenna worked like a horse! Seriously, she didn't take any 'breaks' or quit, they worked till it was done. She must have had a lot of fun with her daddy, because now, she is the hardest worker we have! I am so proud of her! What a good girl! Hopefully some of this rubs off on the boys, too!

Mr. Creative!

McKay loves to create. Do you remember seeing similar pictures of him with a gingerbread house kit that he got from Santa? Well, he loved it so much (and ended up giving it away to our neighbors) he bought this bunny house kit with his own money. At first he wanted to give this one to his teacher, but then he decided to keep it.

It is so fun to have a child who has the patience and love to do this kind of stuff. It helps us all slow down and really spend hands-on time together.

Love Bugs

I had this post all done up, but I had forgot to 'publish' it!

Brett's family has a tradition on Valentine's Day. Every year they make 'love-bugs'. Love bugs are candy concoctions that only a child could eat after they've been assembled, if you get my drift. The kids LOVE this tradition and we continue to do it every year!

We love Auntie Nay!!!

Every year Brett's FABULOUS and FANTASTIC aunt, Renee, does a HUGE Easter Egg hunt for all the little cousins. My kids look forward to this day almost as much as Christmas. I am not kidding. Every year after Valentine's Day, they ask about the hunt. They even ask about it in the fall. The just LOVE this day!

Maybe it's because:

There are TONS of eggs...and I mean tons!

Some of the eggs are filled with money!

Some of them are filled with prizes!

There's a jump house!

All the cousins are there!

All of the Aunt's spoil my kids!

All the cousins lined up before the go- ahead. Notice most of them have grocery bags, not baskets. The first year we discovered the bags were too small! The kids don't mind that at all!

Here is McKay with Renee, showing off his loot!

McKay is thrilled with his money egg!

Connor and cousin filling up their bags with the loot!

Uncle Greg getting set-up in the Sumo outfit with Brett's dad. This was a hit with all the brothers and older cousins. (Cherry, I had pics of you, but decided you'd like me more if I didn't post them....You can thank me later.)

Here are the kids at the start of the HOA hunt. Also a great time!

Kenna was exhausted by the end of the HOA Egg Hunt

We had such a fun day. Thank you everyone who put so much time and effort into making it so great!

Why isn't this being smeared across our TV's???

Watch this video. It's a report that was given on Fox News back in 2008 and I can't believe (actually I can) that we haven't heard more about this and that all the other news stations IGNORE this! It's because it is exonerating to Bush and incriminating to the liberal Democrats.

Bush started warning congress in 2001 about the economic crisis Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae could cause if nothing was done to regulate them. He warned again and again, but no one listened. He took the fall, since the crisis started the last few months of his presidency. Notice how he didn't point the finger and blame others. I have more respect for him, the more I get involed in politics. Sure, he made mistakes, but man, this is huge!

I do not blame the democrats. I do not blame the republicans. I blame them both. I just wish where were somewhere to get good information that explores BOTH sides of the spectrum.

Provo Tea Party

Lately, Brett and I have been worried about the direction our country is going. We are so far away from the principles our country was founded on. I do not think the Constitution is a living breathing thing that changes as the times change. It is absolute. It is what the people in our country should live by and the people who are leading our country should lead by.

So, I took a stand.

I want to do something about things, instead of just complaining about things.

This was my first ever protest. I was a little nervous about it, and especially to take the kids. But, I knew I could just leave if things go out of hand. So, we took a chance.

Wednesday morning, I had a good talk with the kids about the Boston Tea Party. When I first told them we were going to a tea party, they got all excited and asked what to wear! I felt a little bad about dashing their excitement for a tea party. But then I explained to them we were protesting the governing leaders in America. (And no, I'm not just talking about Obama and the democrats. There are plenty of republicans that I was protesting, too.) I taught them about the first tea party and why they were protesting back then. Then I told them our reasons for wanting to protest now. We talked about the debt we are incurring and how the Fed just pumped 1 trillion dollars into the system to buy debt from our treasury. What does that mean? How can you do that? We are borrowing money from ourselves to pay ourselves for programs we can't afford. They have lowered interest rates as low as they can and this was a last-ditch effort. The light bulb flicked on in Connor's head and he said, "Mom, if I wanted more money, I couldn't just go to the printer and print some for myself, right? That would be dishonest, right?" He got it. They created that money out of thin air...

I found a computer program online that will show you really how much 1 trillion is. The kids were shocked!!!

I am concerned about health care. I don't want socialized medicine. Other places have tried it and it doesn't work. Do you know what most public school systems are like? How about the post office? How about the DMV? Do you like going to any of these places? Do you try to avoid them at all costs, if you can? Government run places and programs really aren't that great and when it comes to my health and the health of my family, I want only the best. That is why people come to America for medical care. Seriously. Socializing medicine is not a good thing.

I want to be able to have a gun in my home. I want to be able to afford to buy bullets. I don't want to be taxed through the nose when buying bullets.

I don't want to pay more taxes. I know that hasn't happened yet, but I think it's coming. Why not have everyone pay a flat tax rate? Just like tithing? It works for Him, why not the government?

Speaking of our money that we earn, I don't want to be FORCED to give it to people. I choose to be charitable and to give generously. But, I do not want to be forced to give it to people. A lot of whom choose to not work, chose to buy things they cant afford and to waste the money they do have. I think giving money to people like that takes away their desire to work. It takes away the initiative; their drive; it takes away the drive to be better and do better. It takes away the drive to be the best. That leads to less innovation, less prosperity...it's just a downward spiral.

I made it very clear to the kids that this was not an anti-Obama protest. I don't care who the president is, if they were taking the country in this same direction, I'd feel the exact same way and be doing the exact same thing. No joke.

So, it's time to take a stand.

We made signs for each kid to hold. Some of our sayings were:

• Armed and dangerous...WITH MY VOTE!


• DC: The longer you stay, the less you remember about us


• 3 Simple Words: WE THE PEOPLE


• Debt is the problem; how can it be the solution, too?


• Don't spread my wealth; spread my work ethic


• Equal opportunity; not equal distribution


• Honest change for America: The Constitution
  

This is my brother's AWESOME sign. This is the essence of it all: WE THE PEOPLE!

It's funny. The media didn't really cover the tea parties fairly. I saw one lady from CNN interview a dad with a toddler and he stated why he was there. She cut him off and said, "This is anti-CNN, anti-Obama and this is just not family viewing...." It was ridiculous! A lot of the media said the campaigns were anti-Obama, even KSL said that. But they were not anti-Obama at all.

The main-stream media was very biased. The LA Times had an interesting article. It said, "If you want to know how to get ready for one of these tea parties, go by some glue and sniff it. They said those who were going were "Steeped in insanity". The Washington Post called me a "Nut-job."

Also, I just learned that last Tuesday night I went to bed a stay-at-home-mom, and woke up Wednesday morning as an extremist. The Department of Homeland Security put out a report on Right Wing Extremists. This would include people who are against abortion, against gay marriage, for the right to bear arms. I think if this were the other way around, and those who were pro-choice and for gay marriage were classified as extremists, the ACLU would have already filed a suit against the government and we'd still be hearing about it today!

Actually, the tea party was really a great experience. It was very inspiring and uplifting. There was no shouting or yelling (except the chanting of U - S - A, U - S - A !!!!!). There were no 'crazies' there (which I was grateful for). The speakers were very uplifting and kind. The people who were there were just normal, everyday people like me and all very nice. I was very impressed.

I am so glad I went. I look forward to attending more in the future. I want to make a difference and teach my children that little efforts by normal people can change the world.

My New, Old Table

I've had this table for about 11 years. My parents gave it to us when we got married becuase they didn't use it anymore. Well, when we lived in the Village, we had a spot for this table and it was fine to use in that apartment. But, there wasn't really a spot for the table in our new home, and let's face it: It's totally 80's. Not really the style of my house now.

It's been sitting down in our unfinished basement for almost 3 years now. I haven't even thought about it in 3 years.

Then, one day, I saw it and a bolt of creativity hit me! I knew what to do with that table: I was going to paint it RED! When we first moved into our home, I knew I wanted red couches. After much shopping around, we found the perfect couches, in the perfect color. I also knew I wanted me kitchen red. The red from our kitchen also matches the red from the couches in the living room. I love it. We had some red paint left over from our kitchen and I knew that was to be the color!

Before

I started off by sanding the wood veneer off. That, in itself took FOREVER! I wondered what I was getting myself into. But, I could imagine the end product and that drove me to keep going.

Those square areas once had glass panels, wrapped in gold in them! Very, very 80's!

Look at that nice 80's wicker!

After

Coats of Red paint= 2

Coats of poly-urithane= 4

Number of times glazed= close to 5

In place of the ugly glass paneling, I had Brett cut some bead board to put in place of it.

I think it really looks great there.

The Final Touches

I had so much fun doing this and I was reminded of Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the General Relief Society meeting last September. All women do have the need to create and creating is what makes us happy. I truly felt a sense of fulfillment after completing this project and I loved working on it. Now I look around the house at all our furniture, wondering what I can refinish!

Thanks to my wonderful, fabulous sister-in-law, Kim, for all her help!!