How do you start your day?

How to start each day with a positive outlook:


1. Open a new file in your word processor.

2. Save it as 'Barack Obama'.

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.

4. Empty the Recycle Bin.

5. Your PC will ask you: "Do you really want to get rid of 'Barack Obama?"

6. Firmly click 'Yes.'

Feel better?

GOOD! - Tomorrow we'll do Nancy Pelosi!

All I Want For Christmas...

Is there anything cuter than a seven year old missing her two front teeth?

Emily's first front tooth fell out during dinner one night a few weeks ago without any pain, and she was hoping that this second tooth would do the same. Much to her dismay, dinner was over and her tooth was still attached by the smallest string. So she mustered up the courage and pushed pulled and got that sucker out by herself. She only had to pull for about 30 seconds when it finally gave way. She so brave!!! I don't remember ever pulling out my own teeth. I was always willing to endure the pain of letting my dad use his pliers and get the dollar he would give me afterward. If we mention the word pliers around a loose tooth here we always get a loud NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Are they really that scary?

Did you pull out any of your own teeth?
Or were you content to let your parents do it for you?

"Get rid of the Loveseat?"

Ruth: I've been wanting to rearrange furniture and change the decor in our home, since we've decided not to move. Last week I asked Rachel and Emily if we should get rid of the loveseat in our living room to make it more open and roomy. Rachel's response was:

"Where would we put the clean laundry?"

So, we're keeping the loveseat.

FED

So, what do you think of the Federal Reserve Bank now? Obviously they control the value of the U.S. dollar, now they've got their fingers in the every possible pie they can, what with TARP money being doled out to so many banks, and giving orders to the heads of banks to buy other banks and requiring their silence as well. The whole thing stinks to me.

Anybody buying gold?

Easter, Dr. visit, Goodies, and Mid 70's

Ruth:
Easter: We had to be at our ward for this Easter Sunday, so we got to enjoy just our family for this special day. It was a nice quiet day. I cooked a little ham dinner and we colored 10 hard-boiled eggs. I hadn't thought that we were going to do a hunt this year, we were lucky I had the hard-boiled ones we did! Jason hid the eggs after they dried and the kids enjoyed finding them. Jason hid them pretty well to make it last a little longer and because he likes to give our kids challenges! It was a wonderful day! We sure wish we could've been with our families, but it was nice to just have our little family together, teaching about Easter and why we celebrate it.

And we finished off the evening with a good zerrbert!

Dr. visit: I went to my 32 week check-up this last week and it turns out that I only weigh 4lbs. more than my skinny husband with 8 wks. to go before delivery! This is a first for me so I'm pretty proud!

Goodies: Money has been tight lately so I didn't get a lot of Easter candy for the kids and I didn't take advantage of the after Easter candy sales. So what's a prego girl to do when there is no good munchies in the house and she's cravin' something good? That's right, I baked up a storm and all before 9:30 am this last Thursday. I made Banana muffins, Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and Ranger cookies. They were all so good! I'm thinking the gap between Jason's weight and my own is going to rapidly get bigger!
76 degrees!: Today we enjoyed some beautiful weather! We spent the morning working to get our garden ready, and after luch the kids got their swim suits on and ran through the sprinklers! The girls had a blast getting wet! Aaron was asleep and Christopher ran through once crying the whole way. Jason is going to grill hamburgers tonight for dinner, and the kids have been outside for most of the day! I hope this weather keeps coming and I can muster up the energy to go out and enjoy it with the kiddos! I really can't wait to get the garden in, watch it grow, and enjoy home grown tomatoes, zucchinni and other yummy veggies!

Are you making goodies for yourself and planting a garden this year too?

Raspberries

Today the president noted that "tax relief must be joined with fiscal discipline. Americans are making hard choices in their budgets, and we've got to tighten our belts in Washington as well." (emphasis added)

It makes me want to blow a huge raspberry at him. I feel like that is what he and the rest of our communist government are doing to us.

We are no longer the United States of America. Our new name is the Socialist Union of American States. I thought about the Union of Socialist States of America, but some states like Texas or Utah might secede over that. And we're better off without losing them.

$10.5 trillion commited to fixing our economy
$2.5 trillion already invested.

Ruth's Vacation!

Ruth: I'm here and feeling better, finally! I'm still fighting some kind of allergy but for the most part I'm better and have finally found some time to blog! I'm sure you're all so excited and can't wait to see how much fun we've been having over here and hear about my wonderful vacation!

Warning!!! It's a long one and I talk about eating a lot! But I've included pictures and a slideshow so I hope you won't be scared off!

I flew out to Utah for a bridal shower for one of my best buds from High school on March 19, a Thursday afternoon and arrived in Salt Lake around 7pm. After some problems with getting the rental car I had reserved (too embarrassing to share with the world) I was able to be rescued by my wonderful Aunt Donna and my sisters! Becky, Jacob and their family came up, and Mary and Liz are attending BYU. I was also able to get upgraded from an economy car to a 2010 Mazda 3! It was a sweet ride let me tell ya! The only problem it had was no power locks, which for a 6 1/2 month (at the time) prego was something to complain about! Its not fun having to climb in and reach over to unlock doors in this condition!

Anyways, I was grateful to have it and not be stranded in Utah bumming rides off of my friends and family! That first night we headed back to Donna's house and hung out for a while just visiting and getting caught up! I hadn't seen my Aunt Donna for a long time and it was great to visit and relax from the evenings events. I stayed at Jacob's aunt's house with Becky's family while I was there. She had an extra room for me and since Becky and I were gonna hang out most of the time it was nice to be in the same place.

Friday morning my good buddy Courtney (the whole reason I went and was able to go out in the first place) met us at Jacob's aunt's house and from there we went to a place in Provo for breakfast. We then headed out to Springville to visit with our other good buddy Krista, who just had a baby the end of January! We visited with her for a while and I was able to rock her sweet baby Mitchell to sleep. He was adorable and I was so glad I was able to meet him and see Krista!

After that visit, Becky and I went to a yummy Mexican restaurant, Cafe' Rio, maybe you've heard of it. I hadn't because I live in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, that night Liz, Mary and I hung out at Donna's eating a yummy dinner, thanks Donna! We played Singing Pop Star (I can't remember the name of it for sure, but we sang songs) and Dance Dance Revolution! Sorry no picture of that! You'll just have to imagine me with my big belly hopping around and trying to dance better than my sisters and my cousin Valorie. I think I did pretty good! I did beat Mary once I think.

Saturday was the day of the shower and Becky and I went shopping that morning for some useful bridal shower gifts (since my P.Chef order didn't come in time for the trip). We were able to find some cute things and we had a wonderful time at the shower! After the shower I went with Krista to the grocery store Smith's (what an awesome store! I wish we had one!) We got ice cream cones for 51 cents each and that day they were having Circus Days! They were selling hot dogs and cotton candy out front and if you know me, I never pass up a chance to get cotton candy! We had to wait a while for it, but it was fun to chat with Krista and other locals, who I'm sure were Mormon. I didn't even have to ask, the minute the lady in front of me told me she was #6 of 13 children I knew. So, after getting my cotton candy fix we headed back to get my car and Courtney. Krista had to get her milk and baby home. Courtney and I headed out to Payson to her mom's house. We visited with her family for a while reminiscing and having fun almost just like old times except no videos were made and we didn't dress up. Still fun though!

That night us sisters got together for our Girl's Night Out. We went out to Chili's where I made Mary leave her phone number for our waiter, some cute and friendly guy who they knew from BYU, and we had great food and tons of laughs. After we ate, we went to the mall and walked around a bit. We headed over to the creamery where we met up with Courtney one last time before my trip was over. We met her at the BYU Creamery where the line for the over-priced yummy ice cream was out the door after we had got ours. We shared some more laughs then took Mary and Liz grocery shopping. We also got us some breakfast for the next morning and then took Mary and Liz home. The next morning (Sunday) I headed out to the airport all by myself in the rental. While in line to pay for it, the guy behind me pointed out that Steven Colbert, from the Daily Shows "Colbert Report," was walking past us! I looked back and indeed it was him. Not that I watch the show, I've just heard of it and seen him on t.v. before, crazy! He saw the guy pointing and he smiled as he walked away. That was pretty cool.

Anyways, I returned home safely and Jason picked me up from the airport. It was sooooo good to be able to get away and focus just on my friends for a weekend! Especially since I hadn't seen them in such a long time! Thank-you Courtney for being such a wonderful friend! And thank-you to everyone that helped me in my little dramas while I was traveling alone! I don't know if I want to travel by myself again! I had so much fun! Thanks to everyone who took care of my kids while Jason worked at his Dad's that weekend too! I couldn't have done it without you either! And of course to my wonderful sweet husband who let me go play with my friends and sisters! I love you all!

Not the car I was driving, it was just like it this one, same color but without the sunroof. Nice car! I would never be able to fit my family in it but it was fun to drive! Zoom Zoom!

Me in my sweet ride for the weekend!
My good buddy Courtney! Good luck with married life!

Me and Mary fun girl's night!

Cute Becky and Liz on our fun girl's night!

Me and my big belly, with Courtney, Krista and her son, Mitchell

Our yard

edited
Ruth: We planted all of the young trees from seed, except the Apricot, that was a gift from a friend to convince us to stay here in Clearlake. And the cherry tree was transplanted from Jason's parents. And for those of you who may not know, Jason found a job in Nice. He's working for a family in our ward. So it appears that we will be staying for a while longer.

Springtime in Clearlake!

I love this time of year! Everything is in the process of blooming, budding or growing. I don't know how to describe how it feels to be driving through the hills around here, just before everything turns green, when the the Redbuds are blooming. They are such a vibrant purple color it is amazing to see. The picture doesn't do justice. This picture is not ours. We borrowed it from the internet.


We planted three trees, several grapes, more grass, and five pieces of telephone pole this spring. The telephone poles aren't growing, but the plants and grass are.

There is text to go with these pictures. If you click on the slideshow it will take you to our album at photobucket.com where you can read my comments about each picture.

If you haven't heard about this, than you should. Everyone should be aware of their rights and protect them when dealing with law enforcement..

Edited: This vacuum sucks!

I was messing with our vacuum the other day. I remembered something that Mark (Ruth's brother) said about the height adjustment being a nonfunctional gimmick on most vacuums. This was when he was a Kirby salesman. So, I put our vacuum, a $40 Hoover Tempo Widepath, up on the kitchen table and studied the bottom. The beater was covered with hair thanks to the Mavy females in the house. I moved the height adjuster back and forth, trying to see a difference and there was nothing noticeable. The beater actually would not touch the carpet! So, I got the screwdriver out and began disassembling the beast.

We have had this vacuum since we moved here about 3-1/2 years ago. It was the cheapest upright at Kmart and Consumer Reports gave it great reviews (as if that had any value). With a previous vacuum the height adjuster had worked just fine, so I had faith that I would find some well intentioned mechanism in this one.

After getting the belt cover off, the belt broke, necessitating an unwanted trip to Wal-mart, then K-mart(a 30 minute drive one-way) when Wal-mart didn't have the belt. Kmart didn't have a belt listed to fit this vacuum either so I picked one that I figured would work. But before all the driving, I dug into the vacuum deeper. The height adjuster actually appeared to have been designed well. But the shape of the adjusting wheels against the adjuster was not quite right. I got my jigsaw out (remember our Halloween post) and modified the adjustable wheels. It took a couple tries, but I finally got the offending plastic out of the way. Put it all back together and tried it out. Ruth isn't going to like this admission but I could hear the vacuum sucking up 3-1/2 year old dirt!

Now we have a fully functional vacuum! I am so excited. Really. Now Ruth can do a better job of cleaning. Really, I am excited.

Edited to add: My dream is to open a sew and vac shop. If only I had the capital. I could be living the high life. Everyone would bring me their vacuums. I would listen to their vacuums and tell them exactly what the problem was. Then I would fix them with my awesome vacuum repair skills.

I would have to have somebody else take care of the sewing machines for me. While I don't have any problem working on them or using them, they just don't spark any interest as far as the "take-it-apart-to-see-how-it-works" gene is concerned. (sorry if you had to read this twice, Tamie!)