Why I blog

I stumbled upon some blogs over the past few days that really made me think about why I love blogging and reading other peoples blogs, so I'm going to list a few reasons why I love this. I've tried to convice friends to blog, and I've said, you don't really "get it" until you do it.

1. I love to share myself...my life....things I've discovered. I just need people to listen....comments make me happy....let me know people are actually "listening" to what I am sharing. This is my forum to share my thoughts.
2. Writing and picture taking are probably my two favorite things to do in the world. This is the place I can share both with the people in my life.
3. I have been an avid journal keeper all my life, but i tend to write a in a more serious tone in my journals- the kind of things i put down are things of great significance to my kids and family. I don't always take time to record the simple or random. This is the place i can express my thoughts on things trivial. I can talk about recipes or friends or daily happenings. That is as much a part of who i am as the prayers answered, life lessons, and impressions i often record in my journal.
4.Relationships. I can't stand not being able to keep in touch with friends from the past. I just wish everyone had a blog....But at least I can do my part:) You want to know what's going on? look at my blog. If you have a blog, I will look at yours, we can comment and feel connected.
5. Memory keeping. The past few years I've been bad at my scrapbooking, now this blog has become my scrapbook. I am going to have each year made into a book using blurb as part of my scrapbooks. this blog is quite literally a record of my life.
6. I love to feel connected to other people...even if I don't know them. I don't very often "blog hop" but when I do, it is fun to read about other people in this world describe things I can totally relate to.
7. It's just so much fun to do!

I wish I felt comfortable having an open blog...because I enjoy reading peoples blogs that I don't know. I just got to a point that I didn't feel good about it anymore. Paranoia from this crazy world.

I'll part with an expert from Hollywood Flakes blog, (thanks Em for pointing me here) she is a Mormon mom living in L.A. who is quite witty in her writing...this is what she says about blogging:

People starting out their blogs often tell me, "I don't have anything interesting to say," or "my life isn't very exciting." Guess what, most of us live very mundane, predictable lives. I go to bed a bunch of days in the same outfit I woke up in. The key to making your life exciting is looking at what you have and digging into it. Maybe you think nobody wants to hear about your parenting tips but I promise you that if you write honestly about your feelings and experiences, the other people out there who are doing the same thing will connect with you. Learn to be honest with yourself and overcome insecurities about looking foolish. We're all foolish, it can bring people together.

I'm a purger....

Not with my Thanksgiving dinner, but with my blog....Emma Jo told me I'm a purger, and it's true. I don't blog for a week or two, and then (barf) several posts come rolling out. It's like I'm trying to play catch up. We are hanging out with Michael's brother for Turkey Day. All the kids and dads are watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, my sil and I made dinner, cleaned up it, then sat around introducing each other to our favorite bloggers. It's a good time:) We both get into the blogging world. I'm trying to debate on whether or not I want to hit the shopping arena for black friday tomorrow. I want a camcorder, but the one I want isn't on a big sale. I also desire a GPS system, but I doubt I'll go get one.
Dinner today was yummy...I brought a pecan pie made by my friend Michele. Oh so yummy. I also had lots of rolls with sil's homemade cranberry sauce....just like jam, not slimey like that canned stuff. I also had LOTS of rolls! Oh, my tummy hurts.
I recently did more pictures with the Quintuplets I thought I would share...they are oh so cute !
Click here to see the picts of just the girls with frilly stuff, all kids in UT gear, and all in blessing outfits, and click here to see their moms blog with a cute smiling picture of each of them taken by their mom.

Yummy Yummy Yummy Treat

My friend Amy posted a treat on her blog with a link to all recipes and the recipe. I was intrigued and followed the link and as I read it took me back about 2 years when I had a yummy treat at a library party in town and took one home to my friend Linda to try to figure out how to make this treat. I'm pretty sure Amy's cakes balls is what I had. Even if it isn't, I am content with this new yumminess to believe they are the same. I planned to make this to distrubute to Tyler's class on his birthday. On all recipes, what I love is all the comments/reviews that people offer tips on how to make it better. I printed off about 25 diff. comments and studied it, underlined key points (michael thought I was crazy here) so I could make it perfectly. I'm not the world's greatest in the kitchen, so I really wanted this to work out. The reviews said it was time consuming, so I spread it out over a few days. You basically bake a cake (box mix) and right out of the oven, dump it into a bowl and mix it with frosting. Any cake, any frosting, the possibilities are endless. A review stated and I agree, this should be called a Cake Truffle. Divine.

Begin with this: cake mix, frosting, chocolate bark....I put sprinkles in, tooI dyed the cake blue and the frosting green
ready to dump
dumped
matthew mixing warm cake, sprinkles, frosting

Mush...put in the fridge

frozen cake balls starting to dip...

ta daaa!

This made about 80 truffles

Dan in Real Life

I REALLY liked this movie. Michael and I went to see it last night (and we only actually go to the movies maybe 3 times a year). Not very often do I refer people to movies because there seems to be something in each movie that makes me squirm, and I'm therefore embarresed to pass it along to anyone. I'm not sure why it is rated PG-13 I think because it is something adults will "get" more than kids. I can't remember any swear words or no bedroom scenes. I like the office, I'm not a fanatic. I didn't go for the guy, I went b/c the commericals looked like it was a good flick. But I do love the main character here, and his vulnerability and heart. Just go see it...I hope you will love it, too.

Tyler turns 7

I love my Tyler boy...my first born....a great leader in our family. He is sensitive & responsible & his teacher told me she wished she had a class full of Tyler's. It pains me to be away from him every day while he is at school, I get so excited to see him in the afternoon. I know I couldn't home school, and he gets such value at school, but I do miss having him around. I've realized my time with him every day is short.

Fun things about Tyler:

*He wears a hooded jacket every day to school b/c it is cold inside, but when it is blazing hot in the afternoon, he still has it on....makes me hot just looking at him.

*He loves the plastic livestrong bracelets and has started a collection on both ankles....when he gets comments from people on how many he has (and there are many comments) he tells them the current number....today it was 10. Mostly Livestrong, a few "I'll follow Him in Faith" from church, and a choose the right one.

*He's only lost 1 tooth so far, but he has 3 loose and when we smilingly wiggles them in front of me, I beg him not to let them come out so he'll still be my little boy...now he does it to tease me.

*At the foot of his bed, he has a collection of books, papers, and his favorite things...its a mess, but he loves it, so I allow it.

*When we are in a group at the park, he is content to go off on his own and swing, climb the monkey bars, etc. but also will run with the kids when he feels like it.

*He LOVES the monkey bars, and is so proud of himself for "conquering" them. He comes home every day and tells me how many times he crossed them. He has calluses on his hands and even blisters have opened, but he doesn't care (even though I urge against it) he keeps swinging on them.

*He still likes the "kids shows" even though friends at school say they are for babies.

*He's been reading chapter books (I have a child who can read?) and loves to practice writing his name in cursive. He loves math and is always saying, "I know how much 7 plus 8 is" and I say, "what?" and he'll say, "15." So pleased with himself.

*I LOVE how he is unashamed of me and will blow me a kiss every morning when I drop him off, and hug/kiss me when I leave lunch/class.

I am so grateful to be his mom.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween!

Dressing the kids up is so much fun...I loved doing the family theme of star wars a few years ago, but the boys now have different opinions and want to do their own thing...I'm ok with that. Tyler wanted to be Diego....at Target, I got a large, then I looked after purchasing and realized the large is a 3T. It was a belly shirt on Tyler, but he just wore a white t-shirt to fill in all that skin. The rescue pack is pretty cool. Then Matthew wanted to be Super WHY from the new pbs program, so my mom created a masterpiece of a costume. I couldn't decide if I should put Alyssa in one of her many dress ups. When my mom showed up with this strawberry costume she found and alyssa loved it (thinking she was strawberry shortcake) it was a winner. She wore it to our church trunk or treat the day before halloween, but on halloween, she wanted nothing to do with it, so we got out a princess dress. I DO NOT tell the kids to pose like this...in fact I try to get them to stand together, but as they were striking their poses, I decided to just work with it and I think this is more fun to see their personalities.









church trunk or treat