A Trip Home

Tonight I escaped to my hometown via the great world of blogging. It is amazing how time can just fly by because it seems that one blog just leads to another.....and before you know it hours have gone by. I was able to see blogs of so many people from the Gila Valley, people that I love but it has been so long since I have seen them or caught up. I have to be honest that it made me a little homesick not to be able to reach out and hug them. But on the other hand, it was wonderful to see their lives, full of joy, trials, happiness, success, growth and even sorrow, as we know this is truly the Refiners fire. When I moved to Utah, I left behind so much. I knew that it meant a new, sweet start, but at times I feel like I completely removed part of who I am. How do you find the balance between those two worlds?? Between leaving the sad, hard and hurt that came from all that was happening in my marriage 5 years ago, trying to move on and going forward and embracing that I am exactly who I am because of all that I did go through and that I am grateful I am ME! I have always loved the Gila Valley and hope that someday, the anxiety that I feel when I do physically travel home will leave and that I will look forward with anticipation to bumping into the unknowns with smiles, happiness and joy...I know this is a matter of time healing the soul, I do hope that it heals quickly. I am so grateful for each of you who do warmly embrace and welcome me home...I love each of you!

Baby Bath or Bidet

I needed to go and check our display at the Showcase of Homes where I have worked for the last three Saturdays and decided I would take the kids with me so that they could see the house where I have been working. It is only a mere 11,000 sq ft with a 2500 sq ft garage. They described it as a mansion as we were pulling up. They were oohing and awing over the house as we were going through but the kicker and what caused great laughter was when we got to the master bathroom and came across the Bidet. Ellie exclaimed, "Look Mom, it's the bath for the baby!" Of course Ellie! In my lack of knowledge on how to spell the word "Bidet" (never had a reason to before and it actually spells just like it sounds!) I went to Webster on line and after it gives the majority of the definition it then finishes with this. "Despite appearing similar to a toilet, it would be more accurate to compare it to the washbasin or bathtub. In fact, the bidet is used by some for a baby bath." Well duh, to me and the rest of us that laughed, Ellie had it right all along!
They had three of these bunk beds in one of the bedrooms. I thought they were fun!
The kids loved the indoor sports court and of course the movie theater.
I loved the doors that slide back into the walls and create a very open feel for the living room and kitchen. This house was right on the golf course and so your view was spectacular and it brought nature right into the house. Of all the features I saw, this was by far my favorite. It was absolutely beautiful!

Ellie Kneviel Part TWO

I know that you are probably looking at these pics wondering why I am taking a picture of a canoe, be ready for a good laugh cause it is quite funny! (I can only say that cause Ellie is okay of course!) The other day while I was fixing dinner, Ellie had been next door playing at the neighbors house which is something that she does quite often. I heard the doorbell ring and went to it to find my neighbor, her three children and Ellie standing there. Before she could get two words out her 7 yr old just starts spilling out the whole story and it went something like this. "Ellie and Alan, (also 4) they were climbing up the canoe and then they climbed up on the roof and the canoe fell and Ellie was hanging from the rain gutter and my dad had to catch her!" Okay.....only Ellie could pull something off like this so as I go through it with Erin (the mom) it gets funnier as we start to piece all the picture together. The canoe had been propped up against the evaporative cooler like Shelby is holding it above, Ellie and Alan were climbing up it and using it as a slide. What fun you say! As you can see it is quite close to the roof line, Ellie had just gotten to the top and Alan was almost there when it started to wobble. Alan jumped off of it and Ellie, thank goodness, had the presence of mind to grab the rain gutter. The canoe fell off of the cooler leaving Ellie literally hanging from the rain gutter. Erin and her husband were inside and heard the canoes crash and she thought she better go check but when they all of a sudden heard the screaming of the kids her husband Bryce bolted out the door. They came around the end of the housing expecting to find a child under one of the canoes but NEVER expected to find a child hanging from the rain gutter! (I would have loved to have seen the look on their faces as they came around the corner!) Bryce had to tell Ellie a couple of times to let go before she would release her death grip on the rain gutter. I knew the kid was strong but she really is amazing! We had to recreate the scene of the crime for photo evidence purposes. You have to remember that she is my child who at 2 I found her on top of Kevin's shed just sitting there and then when she was almost 3 she fell out of our second story window when she was trying to see the fire truck! She is something incredible and blessed to say the least. She must have a great mission to perform because her guardian angels have to work overtime with her! We tried to explain to her that she is not a cat and does not have 9 lives but she just smiles.
Ellie posing near the canoe, this is how it was when we found it.
This is Alan, and just for every one's information...I really do comb Ellie's hair but at some point and time earlier that afternoon she had gotten in the water and already was bathed and dressed for bed but never got her hair combed.
Ellie and Alan thought it was fun to play in the canoe now that it was down on the ground too!
This was such a cute pic of Dallin and Alan that I had to include it in this post!

In all serious, I see the hand of the Lord in our lives so often. We are blessed daily as he watches over my precious family and keeps them safely protected. I had to say a gratitude prayer especially on Wednesday evening that my Ellie was safe. I am sure that she is strong but I am more sure that she had Heavenly Father's strength with her that evening to be able to hold on for as long as she did in the hysteria of the moment. She is such a sweet blessing in my life and I am so grateful for the spunk that her audacious spirit brings to my home. She is always smiling with such a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, you can't help but to just want to squeeze her! I am grateful that I have her for another day and that we can laugh about her "Swinging from the Rain Gutters." It's so my Ellie.

Ellie's First Day of Preschool

Today was Ellie's first day of preschool. She was so excited to get up and go. She has been chomping at the bit for the last several weeks since the older kids went and she had to wait, cause you know mom is too boring :-) She is going to Teacher Terri's (that's what Ellie calls her) again, she loved being there last year. Terri is now teaching five days a week and was also willing to take Ellie extra hours so that I can work. She goes Monday - Friday from 8:30am to 2:30pm. I was worried how Ellie would do cause she gets so clingy to me at times, but she is absolutely loving it. Terri is always looking for fun things to do and Ellie is loving all of the friends that she is making. And just a side note, I am loving how much I am able to get done for work without interruptions, it is just bliss. It is nice to finally have a structured schedule for all of us. It truly is what keeps my world going round!

Collin's Last Pinewood Derby

This is the last Pinewood Derby for Collin as he will graduate to 11 yr. old scouts next month. Can you hear me crying the tears of sadness :-) No, I can't complain too much about Pinewood Derbies cause my brother Kynan was a saint and not only helped Collin build a pinewood derby but Dallin too! (Dallin, he is not in scouts yet but was dying to do it too!) It was quite the process, design and design some more, cut and then sand, sand, sand. What about killed Dallin was how long it took me to go and buy the paint, talk about little patience, but we finally got it bought and then painted them. They each had their unique style and definitely knew exactly what they wanted. We had a few little problems with Dallin's paint job but he was cheerfully flexible (bless you Dallin) and then Uncle Kynan did the finishing touches....the wheels, they need to be just right! They both weighed 5 oz. right on the dot. Way to go Kynan! Something a little funny was that Collin wanted to name his Blue Lightening. While Kynan was trying to get the weights melted and put inside the cars, he kind of caught Collin's on fire. It had a singed part on the bottom where it almost looked like it had been struck by lightening. I told him it was good luck!

One of my callings is Assistant Cub Master. I am grateful for this calling as I feel that scouts is very important for boys and it allows me the opportunity to give back when Collin has had wonderful leaders that have made such a difference for him. This pack meeting was fun as I was able to give out all of the awards. I especially loved the opportunity that it gave me to give Collin his awards. He was very excited, as he should be. He won 1st place for his Webelos Den and 3rd Overall, he also won an award for Sportiest Car. Dallin had to race his car as a leaders car because no other younger boys had made cars...so we became Team Wright and he raced my car in the leaders race.....and we won!!! He was very excited and went with the flow of things quite well. He will thoroughly enjoy running under his own name next year.

I truly have much to be grateful for, great boys who are good sports and have fun! I am also especially grateful for a big brother who has taken the opportunity with a smile to give back to school blessings, help build pinewood derbies, be a great role model for my kids and is an exceptional boss to me. It has been wonderful to live close to him and his family. We feel so blessed to live in this community, I hope this is where we will always live! It just doesn't get much better than this!

Dallin's Pinewood Derby Hightlights

What a shot of Collin's and Dallin's cars racing! The car in the lead was weighted down by pennies and ended up being the car that won overall! It received the award of Wisiest Use of Money :-)




Dallin did such a fabulous job even if he was underage :-) He spent so much time planning this car out, it really was quite cute. I wouldn't be surprised if someday he makes a career out of designing cars or something of the sort as he enjoys drawing and using many details. He would have loved to have done more with the paint job but we just ran out of time, maybe next year Dallin! Ellie was especially patient and such a good girl tonight. She sat and watched so intently, bless you child!! Your momma thanks you!

Give Me Sleep

Does it get any better than this?? I just love it when my kids are so wiped out that they just crash in the craziest positions. Although, I do think that this one has to be somewhat genetic because my memories of my dad crashed out on our living room floor look incredibly similar, the arms are sprawled all out. Ellie, you are so busy and when you do finally sleep, I love to watch you!

Bread in Less than 1 Hour

That was the title of our mini-class for enrichment. It was absolutely incredible! We had two ladies from Pleasant Grove, a mother and daughter team, who teach bread making classes come and demonstrate their recipe. The mother wanted just one recipe that met the following criteria: it had to be easy, fast, a one size fits all (rolls, pizza, bread, desserts) and it must be year supply friendly (thus no need for eggs, milk, oil)! It was amazing what they did. I learned so much, it also made me grateful for a mother who taught me how to make homemade bread at a young age and allowed me the opportunity to learn to love it and in turn my kids love homemade whole wheat bread also, although I do not make it nearly often enough.
Her recipe is:
10 1/2 cups white bread flour or wheat flour (do not use all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup sugar or honey
1 tablespoons salt
3 rounded tablespoons of SAF-instant yeast
3 tablespoons liquid lecithin* or 1/3 cup oil
4 cups hot tap water (the hotter the better)

*squeeze or pour approximately 3 tbls. of lecithin directly into the bowl. Do not measure.

Mix dry ingredients. Add lecithin and water. Mix for 1 minute and check consistency. If dough is too dry, add more water. If dough is too moist, add more flour. Mix for 5 minutes. (Do not add water or flour to the dough after it has finished mixing.) Spray counter and pans with Pam. Shape loaves and cover with a dish towel. Let raise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. This recipe makes four loaves of bread.

For whole wheat bread, use the same recipe but add one cup of applesauce as part of the hot tap water. Mix for ten minutes.
Their blog is www. pantrysecrets.blogspot.com
This recipe truly does it all and it is really good.

So I am all excited to go home and make this recipe (you are probably asking by now if liquid lecithin is a household staple of mine. NO, I was able to buy some from them, it is great for your year supply because it will not go rancid like oil does and serves the purpose of oil and it is really healthy for you. I promised my kids that we would make some pizza with the recipe the next night. I got everything out and went to open my 25 lb. bag of flour that I had bought a few months back from Costco and it was full of weavels, YUCK@!$@! (not Costco's fault, I didn't get it stored well). So we had to wait until the next night and it was all so very exciting, everyone took part and we made our dough, we made a stuff crust pizza and put it into the oven to bake. Next we made our dessert braid, so very yummy, we soon realized that we had missed the sound of the timer in all that we were doing and burned our pizza. It was a very sad moment for us. It would have been absolutely amazing cause even burnt it wasn't half bad! We ate the middle and the cheese out of the crust and threw the rest away. So use your imaginations as to what the pizza might would have looked like not burnt.
They gave us so many tips and easy ideas, they even have a video that you can buy that tells all of their secrets. My kids love to watch it and were even telling me that night how I needed to be doing different things, it was quite funny!
The best was Sunday during combined Priesthood/Relief Society the men where all taking about how their wives had been baking all of this stuff and how they were loving it!

Tagged

Well I have been tagged by several people so here goes.....



10 Years Ago

• I was married with 2 small children, Shelby, 2 and Collin almost 1.
• Running our own business, Crystal Bottled Water.
• Trying to keep up with toddlers that were 14 months apart.
• Scrapbooking was a new found hobby.

5 Years Ago

• Had aquired another 1 1/2 children Dallin 2, Collin 6, Shelby 7 and I was barely pregnant with Ellie.
• I was a Director with Mary Kay and even drove a free car (not the cadillac).
• Had sold the water business and Kevin was going to school to be a nurse, I was the provider for our family.
• My life was raveling apart. (Gees, nobody elses was this depressing sorry! but it's what really was happening five years ago.)

5 Months Ago

• I was learning the in's and out's of being single....still am :-)
• Four incredible children...Ellie 4, Dallin 7, Collin 10 and Shelby 12.
• Loving to scrapbook again!
• Find myself again!

5 Things to Do Today

• Continue sitting at the Park City Showcase of Homes for Iron Elements (my brother's door company. The house we have our display in is 11,000 sq ft and the garage is another 2500 sq ft.
• Help my boys finish their pinewood derbies.
• Pick up my house after being gone all day at work and four children at home :-( Wait a minute I just talked to Shelby and she said that they have been picking up as they go and that she has been doing laundry....I asked her if she was feeling okay, her reply was, "Does this mean I can have a Dr. Pepper??" "Only if it looks as good as it sounds when I get home" was my reply.
• Do something for Family Home Evening
• Maybe do something for me tonight, scrapbook, bubblebath or even just watch Jay Leno.

5 Bad Habits

• Going to bed late and getting up late.
• Not making time for me.
• Not being consistent...but I am working on this along with the previous two.
• Eating because I am bored, sad, happy, tired, stressed......
• Not having enough patience.

5 Places I Have Lived

• Thatcher, AZ
• Flagstaff, AZ
• Scottsdale, AZ
• Chino Valley, AZ
• Heber City, UT

This is the second tag from Ashlee

Rules: Respond to each question using one word and than tag 4 other people.

1. Where is your cell phone? Table

2. Your significant other? Looking

3. Your hair? Curly

4. Your mother? Detailed

5. Your father? Perfectionist

6. Your favorite thing? Happiness

7. Your dream last night? Crazy

8. Your favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper (Sorry can't do just one word)

9. Your dream/goal? Healthy

10. The room you’re in? Garage

11. Your hobby? Scrapbooking

12. Your fear? Loneliness

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Married

14. What you’re not? Skinny

15. Muffins? Yummy

16. One of your wish list items? camera

17. Where you grew up? Thatcher

18. The last thing you did? Read

19. What are you wearing? Jeans

20. Favorite gadget? Treo (it's my brain)

21. Your pets? Chip

22. Your computer? laptop

23. Your mood? bored

24. Missing someone? definitely

25. Your car? muddy

26. Something you’re not wearing? lingerie ;-)

27. Favorite store? Memory Box (Ashlee, I can't believe you didn't put Fashion Bug!)

28. Like someone? hmmmm

29. Your favorite color? Red

30. When is the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Yesterday

Now I am tagging anyone who reads this!!