p.s. on the last post....

i caught my son dancing with his girlie friend

brooke was caught dancing with a few boys and she was not happy with her father..

she runs up to me and says

"mom, dad made me and the boy dance with more space between us and then he put the spot light on us.

mom talk to him and tell him to quit embarrassing me"

i laughed and said

"i'll talk to him"

~sweetheart dance towards DC~

 brooke's headed to DC in may and the trip will cost over 1800.00 for her to go. we decided to do a sweetheart dance for one of her fundraisers and it was an amazing turnout. over 100 kids came all dressed up with or without dates. we charged 3.00 to get into the dance from 7 to 11 p.m. (the first time i checked my clock i was sure it was almost 11 and it read 7:30) what a long night. but the kids were all great and fun to be around. brooke raised 528.00 in one night. great fundraiser. i'm friends with a lot of these kids on facebook and it was fun the next day seeing comments on their walls about how much fun they had.

 brooke and will

 the dance floor

 some more of the dance floor and girls talking (what we do best)

 brooke after the dance with some boys still hanging out.

 having a dance off

will, david, trenton, colton, walker, brody, gunner, and austin.

these fellas had some interesting fashion.

~before they danced~

 i remember being in middle school and we would find any reason to go to our girlfriends house to hang out and do our hair and make-up....listen to music. loud music.

and so it starts with my daughter. before they danced the other night at half time, they all met up

at one of their friends house to get ready.

to get dressed,  do hair,  put on make-up

or to just get all fired up and just be together

maybe a little talk of boys, who knows?

its neat though seeing brooke do what i use to do so many years ago as a middle schooler.

hopefully some things she won't attempt to repeat though. like my mistakes.

mistakes we all wish we could take back or do over, because if given a "do-over" we would

have done it so much different now. now that we know....what our parents knew all along.

~dancing with the big girls~ (a.k.a high schoolers)

 brooke and the rest the middle school girls(who signed up) had the chance to perform at the varsity boys basketball game last weekend during half time.

the high school girls took back stage for once so they could get the spot light.

the girls were all dolled up and did a great job given they only practice the dance twice.

all of the girls wishing i'm sure how they'd like to be one of the dancers on the dance team

when they grow up.

 be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

~nice way of displaying quotes that matter to you....~

for Christmas i rec'd a gift i love (well lots of gifts i loved, but one i'm sharing now)

 here is what it looks like in the day time. when not lit up.

and if you get tired of the same old quote you can change them out.

of course you have to buy more as it only came with the one.

but how fun is this.

they have some that say happy anniversary for those nights or

even holiday ones.

“A good deed is like peeing in your pants. Everyone knows you did it, but only you can feel it's warmth.”

i've been sick for the past 3 days with 100.6 temp and am finally get back to feeling ok.

not sure what was going on with my body but it hurt. so sorry for the lack of posting.

it was my first day back to work the other day after using two sick days, and it snowed again most the day.

so arriving home i see my children playing video games

i come in and point out that our driveway still has snow on it that they could have been shoveling instead of playing around. (mean mom, i know)

i tell them to shut off the game and get there winter gear on so they can go shovel their

great-grandmothers walks.

brady says" are we getting paid"

i say "no you doing a "good deed" for someone who is in need. without payment. without trying to be noticed. i'm trying to teach my kids. i really am. but some days they're just not working with ya

 (if you know what  i mean)

but they did it and IT DIDN'T EVEN KILL THEM!

i told them they'd be fine.

p.s. when i took this picture. when they got back from great-grandmas, brady stated to me that this was his "signature pose" so you may be seeing more of it.

~tongues??~

ever wonder why most teens stick their tongues out in almost every picture??

me, too.

so I asked my daughter...

"brooke, why do you guys always still out your tongues??"

the answer i know will shock you....

"i don't know" (she says as she shrugs her shoulder)



i guess it could be worse..

~garlic~

i've been eating alot of these lately. so as you can guess my breath probably smells fantastic....at times.

anyway i've always wanted a easier way of getting garlic in your system because it's suppose to be good for you, but it's too hard to get it down on it's own.

 they say (who's they anyway) it's good for:

1. lowering the risk of heart disease
2. helps manage high cholesterol
3. acts as a natural mosquito repellent (for obvious reasons)

i'm sure it's good in other ways i can't think of right now.

these are pretty tasty, if you are a olive kind of person

i get them at our local grocery store
but can be ordered here

our you could eat them roasted. like shown here by pioneer woman i've made them using her
recipe and they are so good alone or for use with other dishes.

please people, please~

just when i'm trying to cut back on the amount of chocolate i eat, someone leaves a mayonnaise chocolate cake recipe on my desk...come on people.quit being sooo good to me..which reminds me of a saying from one of my favorite movies "Just when I thought you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this and totally redeem yourself!"


Let me share

• 2 cups flour
• 1 heaping cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup mayonnaise(the real stuff)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  mix on low speed until all ingredients are combined, then medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Pour into a greased 9"x13" pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. let cool.

Top with your favorite vanilla or chocolate frosting or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

books i've read...2010

i grew up being not much of a reader, but as i age i'm realizing reading is relaxing, fun, and addicting. it's quite time for me (and trust me i need quite time once in awhile. we all do)  i've made a decision to read the bible everyday, even if on some days it's only 10 or 15 min. but i know this is the best tool for this life. i think before i found the bible hard to read because i just didn't like to read. but since i'm keeping a list of "books i've read this year" on my blog it makes me finish one book and search for another. i'm starting to enjoy reading now. which gives me no excuses now not to be in the word of God.  if you haven't read any of Karen Kingsbury's books, i'm telling you they are good...i-don't-want-to-put-it-down- good! this is the finally look at the books I read in 2010. hoping to outdo myself for 2011.

Fame (karen Kingsbury)

Forgiven
Found
Family
Reunion
Rejoice
Return (Karen Kingsbury)
Remember (karen Kingsbury)
Redemption

Oceans Apart (Karen Kingsbury)
Shades of Blue
A Moment of Weakness

The Lovely Bones
23 Minutes In Hell
Crazy For The Storm

today i'm just now finishing Heaven is for Real  by Todd Burpo (this is a true story of a couple from Imperial, Nebraska whos 4 year old son was in the hospital in North Platte fighting for his life.) great book!

i won this print~

photo by ashley taylor haack

the other day my husbands niece had a post on facebook to tell your new years resolution

i made a comment. and won this.

how pretty is this picture.

ashley is young and very talented. i think she will continue to grow and improve

more about her here

~girls just want to have fun~

mother-in-law, neice destiny, sister-in-law

i stole this picture from my sister-in-law to put on my blog because i love this photo of them.

this is of a trip they made to estes for the weekend of my neice's 17th birthday

it reminds me of the movie titled "girls just want to have fun"

we do, don't we?

and it looks by the photo they were doing just that.

~our first snow~

chuck on his toy

brooke getting on..she decided shoveling might not be that bad after all with something like this.

me doing it the hard way... but because i shoveled some i thought i deserved a cookie

i mean i'm sure this worked off about half the calories of the cookie, right??

we had the chance a week ago to break out the gloves, shovels, and the hubby's toy. had our first snow of the winter so far. i don't mind snow if it hits on the weekend and i don't have to go out in it, but otherwise it annoys me. my body aches in the cold. i send the kids out in the cold like here.  but most the time you'll find me on the couch with my snuggie and a warm drink on days like these.....unless of course there is sledding involved in a place like keystone, colorado...

~dress up~

somedays i want a small dog or puppy so i can play dress up

photo and dress coat for dog found here

~kicking & screaming~

do you ever get anxious on sunday night and have difficulty sleeping, as your mind has started racing about obligations and pressures for the coming week... returning to work after the holiday vacation is almost as exciting as having a root canal. last night i must have been anxious...i went to bed at 9:00 knowing i had to set my alarm at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for work after having almost two weeks off, and i tossed and turned most the night. i could not settle down. it is hard returning to work after so many days off.  i mean i was just getting use to sleeping in until whenever i wanted, staying in my pajamas all day part of the day, reading a good book, going for a walk while it is still light outside, staying up as late as I'd like... but now that that vacation is over i have to relearn my work schedule all over again.

welcome first-work-week-of-2011...welcome.

~shine~

ever since i attended ATF with brooke a couple years ago i've been in love with the david crowder band.

they were one of the many performers that weekend for the kids. and my personal favorite. i love what they did in this video and with the new year here i can only hope that i shine more this year

Wishing everyone a better year...Happy 2011!

*by clicking on the david crowder you can listen to more of their music*