The Last Firsts

Today Branson got his first tooth! (It's about stinkin' time hes 81/2 months old!) I was surprised how excited I got, I mean it's just a tooth...most people have a mouth full of 'em. But of course I'm trying to pry his fingers out of his mouth while saying "let me look at the little toofy." Wow...

I have been getting pretty carried away with all of Branson's firsts. I think it is because he is our last baby and I know I will never have these firsts again. I was actually thrilled that it took so long for his teeth to come in, it gave us more time for him to stay babylike.

While attending McKenna Moon's baptism this Saturday it was mentioned that she was their families last child to turn eight. McKenna's older brother and sister gave the Baptism and Holy Ghost talks. It was so sweet and it made me realize that when I blink it will be Branson getting baptised, Anderson will be on his mission, Cayden will be getting ready to go on his mission and Sydney will be in high school.

I may seem to be rambling at this point but kids just grow up too dang fast. So if I kiss Branson a few too many times a day or we still let the kids pull their sleeping bags into our bedroom once or twice a week, or Anderson still gives John a big hug at school, or Cayden is still our Cuddle Bug, or Sydney still wants me to read stories to her...I think it's a good thing.

You Are Invited!

Scary Haircut!

Today I gave everyone in our family, except Branson, haircuts. Sydney said she wanted "short hair" and I hesitated wondering if I could pull it off. I'm good at buzzing and cutting boys hair and I'm OK at trimming Sydney's, but to give her a full on new hair style... I was pretty worried what it would turn out like. I decided to go for it and all that matters is that Sydney and John both like it.

From Trash to Treasure

So John let one of his beloved VHS tapes head for the trash bin...but not before Cayden and Sydney got their hands on it. The goal was to create a ginormous spider web throughout the entire house. Mission Accomplished.

A Method to the Madness

Several months ago I worked on getting my food storage back on track. We have a small storage room in my in-laws part of the house. It was so packed with stuff that there was no possible way I was going to fit the necessities in there. So in April I stood in the storage room and the kids hauled everything that wasn't Christmas or Food Storage up into the garage. When I came up the stairs I found my garage in a completely unusable state...basically there was junk everywhere. How dumb was I to start such a project weeks before Cub Scout Day Camp!?

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It sat for several months...just like it was on the day it was dumped.

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My husband really needed to be able to park in the garage so the week after Day Camp I cleaned out the garage. There were a lot of items that were in limbo. Do we keep 'em, store them for another 15+ years or toss 'em. All the "what do we do with this" items got moved into a neat pile in my living room.

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It sat for several weeks...just like it was on the day it was dumped.

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So on Sunday we thought it would be a great Sabbath day activity to go through all our memorabilia and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. The kids had a blast with all of John's mission and sports stuff. And though they were really trying to help get it all organized it became somewhat of a war zone.

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It has sat for several days...just like it was on Sunday when it was dumped.

There really is a method to the madness, although at first glance it appears that I have been missing in action in my own home for quite some time now.

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But what do you DO with some of this stuff!

Here's a glimpse of just a few of the choice items that we are sorting through...

Thank you Dad Cazier for video taping every single football, basketball and baseball game John was ever in, starting from the time he was 8.
Oh...and just in case he missed something while recording the game on film, do not fear...we have the exact same games on cassette tape, straight from the radio. (We also found some tapes that John and I sent to one another while he was on his mission...we won't be getting rid of those)

Together John and I had two huge boxes of trophies and plaques. Do I really need to keep my Church Volleyball trophy that says I was the Most Improved Player? And why does John have a bowling trophy!? Our solution to this clutter was to take pictures of all the items and they will go neatly into a scrapbook. It felt wonderful to toss those things in the trash.
We have oodles and gobs of personal journals and yearbooks. These are coming out of the cardboard boxes and moving onto the bookshelves. Because we graduated at the same time, from the same school, we got rid of any duplicate yearbooks we had.


Old Baseball cards. That's it. None of them are worth anything. None of them are famous people the average person would even know. Just old baseball cards. What to do with these is still up for debate in this house...heated debate.

This box is every letter that I wrote to John while he was on his mission. I thought for a second that I would toss all but a few, but then I read one and it is just like a personal journal (that I didn't keep during my college years.)

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We are also keeping all the letters from his parents but all the others are now gone. The kids got really into sorting after I found $15 cash that my mom had sent to John while he was in Italy. He couldn't use it there so it has sat in a card for all these years. Thanks to the kids thoroughness we found $20 more in several different cards and letters.

FOUR!

That is how many bags of garbage we took out to the dumpster!

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We did find some treasures amidst all the trash.

You can't tell from the picture but this card is on a regular piece of poster board. It is the candy gram that I delivered to John after our very first date in February 1991.

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So I better get off the computer, quite procrastinating and get going on my living room...after I shower...and start the dishwasher...rotate the laundry...make some phone calls...

While You Were Sleeping

Last night John and I were up on the roof replacing a bunch of shingles that had blown off in the big wind storm. We were working quickly as the light was fading fast. So when Cayden hollered up that Branson wouldn't stop crying John told him to go rock him to sleep.

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When we came inside this is what we found...

Cayden was so out of it that when I started to pull Branson from him he grabbed my arms and wouldn't let go. I could tell he thought Branson was falling off the chair and it took another few seconds to convince Cayden that it was just me.

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Branson was also out of it. I was in the middle of changing him, I turned to get a clean diaper and by the time I turned back around he had already flipped over and gone back to sleep. Oops.
***Alicia was the closest at guessing the backgrounds to my book pictures. The answers: 1. Hotel Beach Towel 2. Hotel arm Chair 3. Hotel Carpet 4. Delta Airplane Seat

Vacation Reads

One of my favorite things to do before going on vacation is pick out the books that I will be taking with me. I always seem to grab more than twice what I need since I'm never sure just what I will be in the mood for. I have tons of books in my library that I haven't ever had a chance to read yet.

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I am also going to start a rating system. This is just as much for me as for those who are reading the review. Often as time goes by my memory is blurred as to how much I actually liked a book. This is mostly true for books that are just average, and I can't recall if they were below average or above average when someone asks how good it was. I was really hoping that Webdings had an image of a book but there was no such luck. I am choosing the next best thing...Palm Trees. J Five (5) being a "must read" on down to one (1) which is a "don't even bother."

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When I read Book of a Thousand Days I was camping near a lake. I took a picture of the book as I was reading on the dock. I have decided that I am going to try and take pictures of all the books I finish in the location where I read them. It's actually kind of fun to figure out a background that is not only creative but will trigger a memory of what I was doing when I read the book.

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Here are the books I read while in Orlando Florida..

Wolf Brother

Kid Rating JJJ

Adult Rating JJ

This was your typical quest book: Boy loses parent and must set out to save life as he knows it. He finds a wolf guide and they stumble into trouble and friendship as they accomplish impossible tasks at every turn. Like most books today it is the first in a series of books based on the same character completing different quests in each book. It was an enjoyable read and I think most kids would really like it. It was just a bit far fetched and predictable.

Star Girl

JJJJ

I really enjoyed this book. A teenage girl begins attending high school after years of home school. She is flamboyant in her dress and she serenades people on their birthday with her ukulele. She makes people uncomfortable and happy at the same time. No one quite knows what to make of her as she continues to "be herself" in a sea of conformists. She turns the school upside down and inside out and she makes the reader want to "dance in the rain." This book is NOT just for girls, the main character is actually a teenage boy.

On the Wings of Heroes

JJJJJ

One of my new favorites! I really ate this book up. My favorite thing about it...every chapter was a short story but when all put together you have a great novel of history and fiction. Based on the era of the Second World War it is a fun way to brush up on life in America during this time of change for our country. It made me laugh out loud, and when a book can make you do that and give you information, well that's something. It's a quick read and enjoyable for all ages.

Heat

JJJJ

This book surprised me! I didn't want to put it down. I will admit that I did skim a little during the longer descriptions of the baseball games, but this book was about much more than Little League baseball. The plot and characters were contagious and full of life, a life that I have never experienced in New York City and immersed in baseball. I would suggest this book to any sports fan who needs a push in the reading department...and to those who don't.

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So...can anyone tell what the backgrounds are in my book pictures? Take a guess, this could be fun.