PRETENDED I'M "BETTY CROCKER"

OK, so Tony's cleaned out the garage so he can put an epoxy floor in. That means everything that was on the floor.....and I mean EVERYTHING.... is now in the back room until it's done. Except for the freezer, which is on the back patio plugged in and under a tarp! So I came home and decided to be original and create a meal from left over turkey.

I admit, it looks a bit funky but it was actually very good! I used a box of : Stoffers Chicken Stuffing
1 can of mushrooms
2 cups of chopped turkey
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup (Plus 1 1/2 cans water)
1 cup of chopped cashews

I mixed it all together and baked it for 45 minutes and it was pretty darn nummy!

I'm blogging my "PAY IT FORWARD" gifts

Hooray! I got home from work tonight to find my package from Princess and I got Heather's last Friday. I knew Princess had sent it so I waited to post my "Pay it Forward" treasures that I got from them.
Princess gave me this darling little photo album which reads on the outside a quote from Alex Haley:
"In every conceivable manner, the family is our link to the past,
bridge to our future"

It contained my 1st picture.....Chris & Princess! I love it! I'll get busy and fill it....be sure!

Heather made me these adorable magnets which I have on my file cabinet in my craft room! They will come in very handy....I can have them hold the instructions from patterns when I'm sewing or a picture of one or 5 of my many adorable (23) grandchildren!

THANK YOU GIRLS! I love the pay it forward gifts VERY MUCH!

Hugs and kisses.....

AKA: MOM

My weekend ...then Monday.....

I live for the weekends! Sad to wish your life away in that fashion but I do it all too often! I work in a small office. Just two of us. My manager Nancy, and myself. There are others who work with us but for the most part, they are in the Boise office. Occasionally (if Nancy or myself are out) one of them will work here in Nampa. Nancy was off last Thursday and Friday. Spring break with her kids. I worked with Sally from the Boise office on those two days. Friday night I was anxious to get my weekend started! Tony and I have been glued to NCIS lately and so we pretty much planted ourselves in front of the tube that evening and finished off Season Two! It was sooooo good! Can't wait to get Three, Four and Five! Saturday, we worked in the yard. We have a very messy willow tree and she likes to shed....DAILY! We got all the flower beds cleaned out, weeded, patio swept, branches picked up from the yard, grass mowed and edges trimmed. It looked so nice when we were finished. By the time we were done, it was time to clean up for Blake's Baptism. We went to the Stake house, met with lots of family and enjoyed the baptisms. 2 little girls from our ward, were also baptized so it was a very nice evening.
Sunday we went to Nate and Melissa's Ward for Sacrament meeting because Blake was confirmed. Again we met up with lots of family and Blake bore his testimony as well as both of his parents. Afterwards we went back to our own building and finished up the block. After church we had a yummy EASY meal. Bacon, egg, cheese muffins. I'm lazy on Sunday when it comes to cooking. We snoozed and rested. In the evening we went to the Haverfields and visited with them, Mom Norton, Sister Buckway and the Grosbecks from Missoula. (A family I knew growing up in Montana) When we got home, I felt like watching a movie. I had purchased "CHARLOTTE'S WEB" when Jill and the kids were living with us and we never got around to watching it. To be perfectly honest with you, I hadn't even read the story up to this point! I had heard enough about it to know the jest but not entirely! Pathetic, I know! We have the version with the real animals. We sat down and got cozy and proceeded to laugh at all the barnyard humor! It has the voices of Julia Roberts, Robert Redford, Steve Bucemi, Opra Winfrey and more and it was so dang cute! I thoroughly enjoyed it and CRIED at the end! I know, I know, PATHETIC again! Anyway, a good show!
Tony is still out of work but luckily I'm still employed. I got up this morning and went to work at 7:30AM. Nancy came in at 9:30 and told me how tired she was. Her son's girlfriend is in the hospital with gallstones and she is 7 months pregnant and they spent all day Sunday in the emergency room. She then left to pick up time cards. She was back at 10:30 and just starting on payroll when she got a call from her mother. Her father had collapsed and wasn't breathing. She immediately called 911 and put me to work calling her family and our boss. She left and said she would stay in touch. She called me an hour later to inform me her father had died of a heart attack. I told her not to worry about work, we would be OK and proceeded to call Boise so Suzanne could do our payroll and to make sure Sally comes over the rest of the week to help me out.

It's gonna be a long day. I opened and will close but I'm grateful I'm not in her shoes. I'm also grateful I know what I know about death. It is so comforting to have the gospel and to know this life is not the end. We are so blessed!

ANOTHER GRANDCHILD'S BAPTISM !

Tonight we went to Blake's baptisim. He is our 5th grandchild to be baptized. It was held at the Stake center and a lot of the family was there.
He was baptized by his father and it was a very nice service.

Blake was all smiles. After the service we enjoyed cake that his mother had prepared for everyone. We are proud of Blake as we are of all of our grandkids who have become members of the church. What a special day.

ANDREW'S 1ST BIRTHDAY !!!

We went to Kuna this evening and helped Andrew celebrate his 1st birthday with his Mom and Dad and brother and sisters as well as Gramma and Grandpa McGregor and Uncle Ben. Andrew got to open his presents before having cake!

Now you know why!

Yummy! This is soooo good!

Getting a bath in the kitchen sink.

Whoo hoo! Now I'm on a sugar high and playing with my new hoops!

STAKE TEMPLE DAY

I took Wednesday off and Tony and I spent the day at the temple. It was our Stake Temple day and since he's not working, he asked me to take the day off so we could go. We got to Boise at 9AM and 1st went to the Distribution Center and got some things. I got a new dress. I was going to make one but after looking for white material in Nampa and not finding what I wanted as well as not finding a pattern I liked, we decided to just purchase one. We met Mom and Joyce for the 10 AM session. Mom and Joyce left after it was over and Tony and I did two more. We were able to be the Witness Couple in the 1st session and it was awesome. We haven't been asked to do that for quite a while. We stayed and went through two more sessions after that and left around 4PM. It was raining when we got out of the temple . We then went to Tucano's, the new Brazilian restaurant, and had a wonderful dinner. It was a great day. We were spiritually fed and it was wonderful. I love to go to the temple and leave all the trouble of the world outside.

APPROPRIATE FOR OUR TIMES....

A economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the 1st test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
But, as the 2nd test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studies hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little.....
The second test average was a D !
No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.

Could it be any simpler than that ?..........

IT'S MONDAY......NEED A LAUGH ? HERE IT IS !

The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep.
Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, "Kemosabe, look towards sky; what you see?"
The Lone Ranger replies, "I see millions of stars."
"What that tell you?" asked Tonto...
The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, "Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of Galaxies. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all powerful, and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologic ally, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Tonto?"

"You dumber than buffalo. Someone stole tent!"

A PERFECT DAY !!

My little "Deam Teen" was in Boise Saturday night! David Archuleta! He performed at the "Knitting Factory" to a sold out audience! I would have loved to seen him sing in person! He is such an amazing vocalist for his age! He has a beautiful voice and seems so sweet and innocent!

I did have a "PERFECT DAY" however. We slept in till 9AM. Got up and had a pancake breakfast. We planned our garden and then left for our shopping spree. We got all of our garden seeds (and some for Mom Norton) as well as some shepherds hooks, then we got some shelf organizers for Joyce and Bob. We bought 3 copies of "TWILIGHT", one for ourselves, one for Melissa and one for Deedra. We then delivered to all those we were shopping for and then went to Carls Jr. for some supper. Then we finally got to come home and get comfortable and watch the long awaited movie! We have such a great time together. We laugh, hold hands, talk and thoroughly enjoy one another's company!

IT WAS A PERFECT DAY!

I didn't get to see David but, Oh well, can't have it all! I did get to have a wonderful day with my hubby and a vampire!

Awhhhhh.....heaven!

CAN YOU HARDLY WAIT ????

2 MORE DAYS! I haven't been this pumped about a video release since Titanic! I guess I'm a hopeless romantic!
Well, some might say I'm an idiot but I don't care!

BITE ME!

I'm just darn excited planning a romantic evening with my man.... a little popcorn and a movie,

.... a nibble here, a nibble there.... Who knows where it might lead!

LOL

Yeah, I know, we'll both just gain another couple of pounds!

SIMPLY, CAN'T WAIT!

A BIG 4TH FOR ALEX~! !!

We celebrated # 4 for Alex tonight. He recently got excited about SPIDERMAN so ..........Wala!
Michelle made a cool cake of Spidey walking up a wall with balloon cupcakes! It was darling!
Tasted good too!

Alex opening gifts with all his cousins watching intently!

And some even helping him unwrap his gifts. Actually, after Katelynn unwrapped his BSU truck, she came and gave me a hug for Alex......I guess. Maybe she thought it was hers. LOL

NOW THAT'S FUNNY !!!!

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Tennessee, and the third is from Minnesota.

All three go with a White House official to examine the fence:

The Minnesota contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well" he says, "I figure the job will run $900. $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Tennessee contractor also did some measuring and figuring , then says, "I can do this job for $700. $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Chicago contractor doesn't measure or figure but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700." The official, incredulous, says "you didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Chicago contractor whispers back, "$1000 for you, $1000 for me and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence!"

-"Done!!" replies the White House official.

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS HOW THE NEW STIMULUS PLAN WILL WORK !!!

IT HAPPENS TO THE BEST OF US......WELL AT LEAST TO ALL OF US..... EVENTUALLY!!!

I've been feeling my age lately, but I got this picture in an email and busted out laughing! I feel much better now! Nice to know that eventually EVEN Angelina, Jennifer, etc etc will all be in the same boat! C'mon, look at Liz Taylor. It might take them a little longer, but their day is coming too!

MARCH SEEMS TO BE THE BIRTHDAY MONTH!! WELL AT LEAST FOR 7 OF OUR CLAN !

Krista made two wonderful cakes! Elmo was a big hit with the kiddies!

Katelynn and Gramma Lynn blowing out the candles!

Nephi and Grandma Lynn and the "Elmo" cake!

So, since we celebrated Tammy's last Friday night at "PRIMO'S" and there was a celebration last night at Melissa's residence for Blake (which some of us missed) because we went to dinner with Mom and Dad, Bob and Joyce and Jeff and Cynthia to "GOODWOOD" to celebrate Mom's birthday, well to make a long story short, we got together tonight to celebrate, Nephi, Katelynn and Gramma, AKA Lynn (she gets two parties!) .... anyway, you get the picture. We will be celebrating Alex's birthday on Tuesday night and Andrew's is the 28th but no news on anything there just yet. These were some pictures of tonights Birthday participants! .......

FRIDAY NIGHT DATE !! DINNER & A MOVIE...YAY!

Since Heather wouldn't bring Rowan over for me to tend (LOL) we decided to do a "Date Night" ourselves. We had talked about going to this last weekend when we celebrated Tammy's birthday so we made plans to meet at the theater and see Disney's,
"Race to Witch Mountain".

I love the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) anyway so we went to dinner at Golden Corral and then headed over to Edwards and saved seats for Tammy & Chris and enjoyed the show! It only got 1 and 1/2 stars in the review but WE all liked it a lot!

What do they know???

MY BROTHER'S VISIT TO MOM & DAD IN MONTANA

My brother Dave is in Montana visiting our folks right now and he sent me these pictures. Dad is on oxygen all the time now.

Mom makes a great little nurse. Sure do love these two! What GREAT PARENTS they are! I can't wait to see them in July!

This is Dave and the folks! Love ya Bro! Wish I were there with you three having a good ole visit!

A VISITOR FROM TEXAS

I got a call at work yesterday from a young lady I haven't seen for 12 years!

Hawna Mumm! Christopher called me last week and told me that her and Randy (her dad) were going to be in Boise for a visit so I was more than thrilled when she called me and asked if I had the time to get together! (ARE YOU KIDDING ?? I"D LOVE TOO) I had called Traci earlier in the day to see if I could come out and visit her and the kids while Tony was at his Stake meetings. She said that they were going to dinner with her dad and Randy and Hawna so after hearing from Hawna, I asked Traci if she would bring Hawna back to her house and I would go to Kuna to visit them all.

Hawna looks just like her mother! She has grown into such a lovely young lady and a little chatterbox ! She was adorable! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see her and catch up on her family! Andrew and the girls enjoyed her too!

She remembered playing with some dolls that belonged to Traci & Heather when they were small. She said the clothes snapped on! I remembered immediately what she was talking about. Funny the things kids remember.

After visiting at Traci's, I drove Hawna to Nampa to see our home and then I took her back to Gordon's. She asked me to come in and so I got to see Randy too! I wish I'd taken a picture of the two of them together but it was getting late and I didn't think! What a fun evening! I consider her mother such a dear friend and Hawna is just like her!