What was I thinking?

I scheduled my company to do two weddings on the same day. One was a full wedding with a small reception and the other was just a reception. The first at 1:00 in the afternoon and the later ending at 9:00 pm. The catch they were about one hour's drive from each other.
Mission accomplished. Very successfully. My body is crazy tired.
Oh and did I mention that they were out of town? Several hours drive from where we live.
We just got home a few hours ago. The Uhaul has been returned, wedding stuff is filling the living room, luggage is in appropriate bedrooms and I think I am just going to go to sleep and face the mess tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my version of Holiday Jello. It is a Hayes Family tradition. For those who don't know...I am the oldest of 11 children. Tradition is a big thing with food. This jello is usually green and red. I hate making this but you can't not make this yummy stuff. It might incite a riot. Shawna was so happy! Carrie was delirious today but I am not sure it was about the jello. We had a fairly small (only 17 people) but full of nonsense holiday. A calendar of pictures has been suggested. Full of fully clothed but not any more attractive rear-ends. I think the turkey Shawna brought was full of mind altering drugs.
I hope your Thanksgiving was full of all things that make you happy and bring you joy!

CPR and First Aid

My friend Melissa Webb coordinated a set of wonderful classes for people to take at reduced cost to be certified in CPR and First Aid with the American Heart Assoc. and our local fire department. I thought this would be a great opportunity for the kids to learn and become certified. Quayde and Maliea took the classes. They were hours and hours long. Tonight was the final class for the First Aid. Quayde is holding his certification cards that are good for two years. He was full of stories of venom, injuries and degrees of burns tonight. I think he was a great age to get started when those kind of things are fascinating to young men. This will also count for his merit badge requirements for working on being an Eagle scout.

For anyone in the area, these classes will be available again in the Spring. I think the CPR will be in February. I'll let you know closer to the date.

I hope my kiddos never have to use all the things they learned but I am thrilled that they have that knowledge and could help someone in need.

creative paper crafts

I found some very cool paper craft site while I was searching for something else on the web tonight.

Have some older kids who need to have some fun creating? How about the Taj Mahal or the Leaning Tower of Piza? This site by Canon has some amazing free downloads. Enough to keep your kids busy for hours and hours. Animals, Science, Architecture etc... I can't wait to print some out and try them.

Watching what I say

On Sunday my husband insisted on parking the van beneath a tree in the church parking lot. I did not want to have it parked there but.....long story.
Today I went out and got in the van and as we are driving, Chaiya noticed stuff all over the windshield. Not just on the windshield but over the entire van. Tree Sap!!!
So I exclaimed, " Your Dad is sooooooo dead!"
To which all of a sudden, a wail and screaming from the back seat with hysterical crying starting to begin.
Thayne exclaims,"My Daddy is dead?????????"
"My Daddy! My Daddy! My Daddy!"

Okay major Mommy guilt as I try to assure him that Daddy was fine and Mommy shouldn't have said that.
We had to drive to Home Depot to get Daddy before he was totally okay.
Note to self: The kid understands everything I say. Watch it.

No angel!

Our program went wonderfully today as I expected.

Except for a few of the children got stage fright and needed a little help. Then there was this one little girl with blonde hair. She was WARNED prior to the program and promised to do her part correctly.

Alas.... there is a little bit of devil in her but because she has a trach tube sometimes not everyone understands her speech clearly. We are praying not everyone understood her.

Here is her part exactly as she said it:
"The Holy Ghost will prompt me to repent and live righteously. Heavenly Father will always forgive me when I fart......uh repent."

She has a lot of repenting to do. LOL

Holy Cupcakes Batman!

85 + 12 cupcakes = a lot! I thought that making cupcakes would be easier than cookies. You see children have this 'Please can I have another' kind of thing. If I made cupcakes than that would cut my cooking today in half right?

Something is wrong with my logic I am sure.

We have our big program with the children at church tomorrow. I was asked to make them all a treat for afterwards as a reward. Since I have a child with mega allergies, it would be easier for me to do this.

85 regular vegan cupcakes in both chocolate and vanilla are sitting on the counter. This doesn't count the extra dozen that I made that are gluten, casein and die free for the other children that have allergies in our ward.

All of this would have been wonderful but...... I had to push it and create little cupcake star toppers with exclamatory words on them. I think doing the stars took as long as making the cupcakes. I'm totally cupcaked out right now.

Last few days...

Our mud brick is still now where near being dry! We did have freezing rain last weekend but it is still quite wet. Obviously Autumn would not be the time to try and make bricks even in AZ. Today we worked on igloos and learned that the word igloo is simply the Inuit word for house or shelter. We tried our hand at making them out of sugar cubes and frosting. Thayne dug his whole hand into the frosting and declared it was yummy. Quayde made his igloo to big and it collapsed. Chaiya was home today and she even made one. We ended up having a nice afternoon with lots of sugar that did not make anyone have a sugar fit.
You can check out Lyd's new haircut in the pic. I took over 6 inches off the back. She is so much happier.

These are a few of our Martinmas lanterns. I just told them a story about St. Martin and we discussed about sharing our inner light with all we come across. We went through all our drawers and went through our clothing. We gathered all the clothes that are still in excellent condition but don't fit or will not fit next year come summer time, we took them and donated them to a charity. This was the perfect time to talk about those less fortunate. Thayne was NOT happy about giving away his old jacket. I had no idea he was so attached to it but being a size 2T it left with the others.

All the pumpkins are still on the porch quite filled with mold and getting more gross each day!

I love the way Chaiya's pumpkin is gently becoming decrepit. Help me! AHHHHHH!

Just a quick recap of some of the things we have been doing for the last few days. Not counting the 2 month old. Baby M's mommy told another lady we were nice and so we nurtured and loved on a sweet little thing today.

Major accomplishment today : perfected my flatbread recipe. I used barley and oat flour to get the texture I wanted. We had warm flatbread with cream cheese for lunch. Delish!

Flatbread Recipe

3/4 cup barley flour

1/4 cup oat flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sea salt

3 TB Olive Oil

1 cup warm water

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add in oil and warm water. Mix well together until dough lifts from side of bowl. Knead well for about 5 min. Let rest for 20 minutes.

Divide into eight equal pieces. Make into balls. Roll out between plastic wrap into thin circles. Cook on very hot griddle until they are marked. Enjoy warm or cool.

I added herbs to one batch and left one batch plain.

Still wondering out there.... does anyone have a point and shoot camera they love?? Or does everyone just have SLR's?

Tuzigoot National Monument

We took a field trip to Tuzigoot last weekend to check out how shelters were made of rock and mud. Although a lot of the monument has been "re-done", we had a lot of fun and could appreciate how hard it must have been to carry rocks up the hill and build. There was a sign that said "Too Steep for Wheeled Vehicles" I took Lydia's wheelchair up anyway. No way was I going to carry around a 50lb kiddo all over the place. Although once to the top she got out and explored quite a bit. There was even a part where we could go up inside and stand on the top of the highest building's roof. You could look out over the whole Verde Valley. The river is just a short distance but it wouldn't feel like a short distance if you had to haul water everyday.

I have no idea what Quayde was trying to look at. Thayne had so much fun. There was hardly anyone around so I just let him go on his own. He did not even attempt to climb the walls. Which is of course completely forbidden.

How these people built their 'apartment' complex amazes me. There were special holes to allow for drainage. When the native people built the pueblo they also used wood as beams and support. Bringing the wood sometimes from miles away. Many areas were also for sacred burial ground.

We came here several years ago but Lydia was too young to remember. It was a homeschooling group field trip. Chaiya says there are only so many times you can see ruins.

Maliea even went with us! That was exciting because most of the time she would rather stay at home and read. I was very glad she came and shared the day with us.

Please excuse the black ghost marks on our pics , I only have a really broken camera to work with right now. It makes crunchy noises when it takes a picture also. We are in the market so if anyone really loves their point and shoot let me know in the comments what it is. Thanks.

Sweet pea goodness

Thanks Vicky for creating this darling sweet pea hat for Lydia! She is wearing it everywhere around the house. Not the best picture but it is sooo cute in real life.

Simple messages

Photo by Adam Bolt

Thursday evening I ran my brother-in-law Emory down to Phoenix to the airport. I was running really fast but he is a big man and carrying him on my back just didn't allow me the speed I needed. LOL

Really.... I was driving to the Cigna pharmacy to get Maliea's prescription and took Emory along so he didn't have to ride the shuttle to catch his flight. I didn't make it to the pharmacy before it closed. The traffic was worse than I have ever seen it. I was very, very discouraged.

Not making it meant I would have to drive the 2 & 3/4 hours back down the next day. That is one way. Cigna refuses to allow Maliea's meds to be filled anywhere but their pharmacies and even with gas costs, it is still cheaper to drive down there. Maliea had to have her new meds by Sunday. There had been problems trying to get the stupid thing filled in the first place.

So Friday morning... I got up and readied myself to drive right back to Phoenix (technically South Chandler). I was feeling quite assaulted with the flashing changing billboards, traffic that was still horrendous, no good music on the radio, the whole metropolitation mess I hate etc.... Not really okay with the fact my whole day was going to be wasted.

When out of the corner of my eye I spotted what I at first thought must be the smallest plane ever flying across the dry Salt River Bed on the airport side.

A huge pure white heron was drifting on the wind. Sailing across past the traffic. Calm and serene. Simple and out of place in the worldly mess. A reminder from God of the fact there is beauty and joy always available.

It was a beautiful message to me that everything is okay and just as it is supposed to be.

rising

On the stovetop growing larger by the minute

Mud homes

Today for Lydia's main lesson on Shelters, we talked about homes in Mali.

We reviewed reasons for shelters, what kinds we have lived in, what kinds we had seen so far etc...

After learning about mud plasters and mud bricks we headed outside.

She needed to figure out how to break up the dirt and found some rocks to pound on the ground and scoop. She was not too impressed with getting dirty.

We added grass and stirred with a stick. They made a "frame" out of the rocks and layed lots of grass on the bottom, she thought round would be better than square. Lydia thinks it will take 7 days to dry. Quayde said 2. I think with the cold that Lydia's estimate is probably closer. They decided that making a house from mud would take quite a long time. Mud was not something that she really had fun with as she was VERY concerned about getting it on her hands and clothing.
Afterwards we came in to warmth (yeah) and she marked Mali on the map. After it dries we will see how strong it has become and how much weight it will take. We will experiment with "rain" to see why it is not a medium to use where there is lots of water.
I am thinking we are going to love this main lesson unit.

Just a few more minutes please

This morning, after a long night with Lydia, I just wanted one more hour of sleep.
What I got was rumbling and tumbling,
tunnels and tents,
whispers and giggles
but not one more minute of sleep. You know what... that was okay.

Better

My vision has cleared and my head is not aching as much although it still hurts. Thayne apparently was not getting as much attention as the election last night. Flying through the air unseen by myself was three toy fishing poles. The impact made my head feel like something exploded on it. The last time I received a concussion was from a large tackle box falling off of a high shelf. Interesting huh? I think I had better not go fishing for real.

So last night's election results were very exciting on both sides. I hope you voted simply for the principle of the process. We can't stay a free country if we don't participate in the amazing freedom we have of the privilege of voting. I loved sharing the last six months with my children. Helping them be aware of issues and how the whole election process works. I didn't love the negative emails I received about both sides. Whether you were for Obama or not, the crowd in Chicago all waving the United States flag was incredibly moving. John McCain was incredible gracious! He was completely himself and showed honor in his concession speech. I admired that. It was one of the most nerve wracking, exciting election days I have experienced.
Onward and upward and here's to putting the nastiness behind us.

Nursing a concussion from being hit with flying objects from small son. Will write more when things are not so blurry.

What an incredibly filled weekend!
Not only did we have Halloween but my sweet sister Shawna had a birthday party at Freedom Station for her two boys on Saturday. We arrived almost on time at 10:40 am and then stay until after 2:00. The littles had a blast in the soft play and playing video games etc... I didn't have time to finish the gifts I had started earlier ( I forgot actually) I am such a slacker....LOL
So we got them practical things like flashlights and cool water bottles which I hear they loved.

Saturday evening I was able to attend an adult session of a regional stake conference for our church. It was amazing. We all learned so many wonderful things on making our homes more heavenly and making our marriages stronger. I felt so very filled emotionally and spiritually. It was such a joy seeing so many old friends.
Then this afternoon was the regular session which provided encouragement on finding joy through the hard times that the world is facing. It was really nice to sit and relax and be inspired.

Okay now here is my grrrrrr for the weekend. Less than 12 hours into November 1st all the stores have switched to Christmas. The big W store is already playing Christmas music. I couldn't find any Autumn decor anywhere. No Thanksgiving stuff???
I guess they haven't figured a way to commercialize gratitude. Not that people truly are grateful anymore for the wonderful everyday things in their lives.

PS.... Thayne definitely needs to be kept food coloring and sugar free! Oh how he bounces.