Carly Quotes

See..... I was never afraid of Jaws unless I was sitting on the toilet... -Carly 10/10/08

This was her reply upon being questioned if the movie "Jaws" ever scared her.

Carly's always had toilet issues. Self-flushers were the terror of her preschool life. Outhouses were the bane of her grade-school years. We almost left a ward camp-out when she was 7 because she refused to use the outhouse and Mark was afraid she'd pee in the tent.

"Rachel, that would be great if you were IMPALED"

-Carly August 2008

We were all at girls camp.  I was half asleep, but when I heard that I sat up in my cot and said "What did you say?"

She replied, "Well, I think it would be fun if she was impaled. I could wheel her around the school in a wheelchair all day"

......long pause while I consider everything that is wrong with that sentence.......

I questioned, "do you mean IMPAIRED?"

Carly: "...oooohhh! yeah, I think that's what I meant. What does impaled mean?"

And if you want to hear her singing with her "Acapella" group last week at a choirfest go to the link below. My favorite song of the three is "jericho"

http://sites.google.com/site/ljhschoirfallfestival/orem

when you click on that site, there are 3 downloads available that say Orem jr. high. The first one is a different choir but the 2nd one and 3rd ones are her choir. Let me know what you think.

cooking 101

So did you know.....

That if you whisk cornbread batter 

Really Really Really fast......

and you DON'T hold onto the bowl...

It kind of splatters ALL over the place?

Rachel Knows.     Now. 

Passing The Big windy Torch

This is Burl.  He was the most wonderful Grandpa ever.  He gave the best bear hugs.  He had the best laugh.  He gave the most touching prayers. He knew the hardware store with the best candy selection.  (you know gummy burgers and coffins full of candy bones...)  He was the Best indian bead & dinosaur bone hunting/dirt road finding/wood toy making/ adventure guide for grandkids there ever was.  I miss him.  Wish that was me in the picture but it's not.  It's my sister Jennifer.  IF I had  a scanner I could have scanned pictures of him and I from my baby book.  *sigh*  IF Mark reads this that would be a big holiday hint wouldn't it!  Anyhoo...

As far as I know Grandpa Burl coined the phrase "Big windy".

Here is an excellent definition of the Big Windy created by my very witty Brother Matthew who might, indeed, have been the inspiration for the phrase.  He put this on a shirt he made for Jacob who has been known to blow a few big stories from time to time.  The examples cited in the definition are actual big windies told by Jacob to his primary class and his 1st grade class. 

big.win.dy/big ˈwindē/

noun [Wyoming English, 20th Century]

1. A fanciful or greatly exaggerated story of considerable size, magnitude, or extent that it is often not believed by any one other than the story-teller (e.g. "my mom has a pegleg")

2. An absurd story characterized by windiness or resemblance to wind in speed, force, or variability (e.g. "my dad can catch a tiger with his bare hands.")

It seems the winds of change are blowing the Big Windy title a new direction....

A passing of the torch, if you will......

to a new purveyor of windiness

Of course we'll keep it in the family

Storytelling is in our genes

Within the last 2 weeks:

To His primary teacher:  My mom's been crying all day.  She's really sad.  She just had a baby a day and a half ago.  She had to leave her in the hospital.  We named her Rocky.  

To His Kindergarten Teacher:  My Dad died yesterday.  Teacher: "was it an accident?" Mason: "no, he just got really sick".  Teacher: "Is your mom coming to work today?"  Mason: "I think so".

To His Kindergarten Teacher:  "It's my birthday tomorrow!"  Teacher:  No, it's not, I know  you are in May.  Mason:  Punches down fist; "Aww!"

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman

I wasn't expecting the refrigerator climb and honestly, I was amazed he could do that and was not very good at remembering to straighten out my camera in time. Then I accidently hit the stop button and he wouldn't do it again.  

He was in imagination mode all day.  He had his fireman jacket and helmet on first.  Then those were unceremoniously tossed to the floor to make room for spidey.  Later he was decked out in his cowboy hat and belt/holster hunting down bad guys.  

Good Times!

Sing for your supper

Tonight we went to a concert put together by Mic, a boy from our ward.  The concert was part of his Eagle scout project.  Admission to the concert was food.  He is putting together holiday dinner kits for those in need.  It was requested you bring instant potatoes, stuffing mix, gravy packets and canned vegetables.  

The whole family attended.  Before it started Samantha started....  She was in argue mode.  She demanded "why are we here?  Is there someone that we know? Why did we come?"  I took the program and patiently went through the whole thing.  

"See Samantha, this first group is a choir from the high school that Carly will be attending next year.  They are going to sing 3 songs.  Next is a girl that is Braydon's  (a classmate) cousin.  She's going to sing a song.  Then we will hear a boy named Micheal sing. ( I pointed him out as he was 2 rows in front of us.)  He sounds a lot like Josh Groban and he's going to sing some of his songs.  Then there will be a guitar group that will play a song.  Last Mic is going to play the piano.  He's very very good on the piano and writes his own songs.  He is sister Lopp's oldest son.  He organized this concert to collect food for people that don't have enough money to buy their own food.  Remember the food we brought?"

I thought I gave a lot of detail and gave a thorough explanation.  Her response was "so Reilly's going to sing?"  (Mic's younger brother who did not figure at ALL in my explanation)

I said "NO, Reilly is not going to sing".  She started in again.  "Then why are we here?  Who are we going to see?"  There were a couple more exchanges of me trying to explain and her tenaciously adhering to her original question.

I felt like an adult in a charlie brown movie.  "All she heard was "Wah wah wah wah wah"

To Save my sanity I switched seats and put Mason between us.  That of course did not go over well but now she was sitting by Mark and it was his turn.  

Once the concert started she was engrossed and Mason kindly switched seats with her and so she was back to sitting next to me.  She snuggled under my arm so I knew I was forgiven.  

The music was great and it was a nice evening out.  After Mic's piano numbers she started yelling.  

after song #1 she yelled "Good job Mic!"

after song #2 she yelled "That was relaxing"

After song #3 she yelled "That was cool and relaxing"

after song #4 I shushed her. 

After the concert she begged for a pen to get his autograph. 

When he becomes a famous pianist we'll say we knew him when.....

She's very interactive at concerts.  This summer we took all 3 girls to see Jordin Sparks at an outdoor theatre.   While setting up a song, Jordin asked the audience "How many of you girls out there have liked a guy and found out that he liked your best friend?" I looked over and there was Samantha raising her hand and nodding her head.  

I looked at her....

"What???!!!!"

She smiled sheepishly and said "well I have!"

CarCar & Baby Rachel: Then and now

October 1997

November 19, 2008

Tagged by Julie

Okay so a WHILE ago I was tagged by Julie but I was so overwhelmed by Halloween preparations and Halloween postings that I put it on the back burner but I promised I WOULD complete it so here I go. 

I am supposed to list 6 things I value and 6 things I don't value and tag 6 unsuspecting friends to do it too.   Okay.  Here I go.

1.  I value Eternal perspective.  Knowing where I came from and where I'm going and how it all fits together is of great value to me.  When things are hard; parenting, marriage, repentance, etc. it has helped me to understand the big picture.  I still make mistakes but I get it right a lot too I think.  

2.  I value Prayer.  I'm still learning a lot about how to really depend on the Lord. I would like to be able to say as Nephi did:  

2 Ne. 4: 34  34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.  

but I'm not quite there yet.  I trust too much in the arm of flesh but prayer is helping me to understand how to depend more on my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  As I test him by going to him with my challenges in prayer, I have had my prayers answered and I have watched as my children have prayed in faith and been granted help, answers, peace and comfort as well.  It's true!  Our prayers are heard.  They are answered- sometimes in ways we struggle to see/understand and sometimes the answers are obvious and affirming.

3.  I value Mark.  He is loyal.  He loves me.  He respects me.  I know that I can depend on him to protect me and to take care of me always.   One night, about 8-9 years ago, I went to drop off something at a friends house.  I saw her husband building elaborate forts with his children.  There were lots of blankets strewn about and the furniture was all pulled out in disarray.  I  began to fret that Mark was not a fort-building- disarray-loving kind of dad.  Then I was granted a gift, a little revelation, from a loving Heavenly Father, who I believe was patiently trying to teach me about marriage and gratitude and attitude.  The thought came to my mind "but if he was a fort-building disarray loving guy he wouldn't be something else that he IS."  What would I give up?  His joy.  The way he makes me laugh when I'm mad that diffuses our fights. His amazing work ethic.  His musical talent. His absolute devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That he likes to go on weekly dates and has made that a priority in our 16 years of marriage.  That he is not a brooder or a worrier which has helped me to try to change those habits in myself.  No.  I would not trade any of those things so I try to remember to Love him for what he IS and stop worrying about what he ISN'T.  

4.  I value my children.  They are wonderful, beautiful, unique little people with such gifts and talents and struggles.  I learn from them every day.  Without them I would not be a mother which was really all I ever wanted to be when I grew up.  I could go on an on about them but that's what I do every day on this blog so I'll stop right now.

5.  I value good food.  A little too much!   My waistline is much larger than I wish it were.  My favorites:  A nice CHICKEN SALAD with lettuce, grilled chicken, cucumbers, celery, green onions, chowmein noodles, almonds and sunflower seeds and tangy oil/vinegar/sugar dressing; chips and fresh tomato salsa made with lots of CILANTRO with sourcream and Guacamole on the side; home made french fries, Roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy and carrots cooked with the roast; my grandma's crazy cake, Russian drips and beef stew; my mom's spare ribs and saurkraut over mashed potatoes, her scones with butter & honey & her ham and bean soup is always so much better than mine; my dad's Mexican Delight AND HIS BEEF OR HAM SANDWICH SPREAD (Bring it on sibs-I can take you) ; Mark's dutch oven BBQ chicken;  enchiladas; homemade bread with butter, strawberries, frozen peaches; crisp cameo apples; homemade ice cream.  oh! I need to stop.  I'm hungry.

6.  I can't quite decide between beautiful music and Hot water so here you go.  They split #6.  There's nothing like a hot bath to relax in and take away the chill when you've been out in the cold or inside in the cold as my visiting family from warmer climes would venture to say...

There's nothing like great music to relax, edify, get you moving, etc.  

Now The 6 Things I Don't Value:

1.  Name brands.  I've not been a name brand kind of girl since I had to have my "Guess" jeans in high school.  I just don't really care all that much about what other people think I should have. I want to look nice but I don't need a particular name on my clothes to feel pretty.   I don't worry about it with food products either.  There are a few things I have found that are truly better with the "name brand" but usually I'm a whatever is cheapest or on sale kind of girl.

2.  Critters in my house that don't belong.  This includes the 2 mice we seem to get every winter, the cockroach in my dorm room in Hawaii, The ants that invade every spring and ick! the earwigs that I find lurking in the damp dirty rags in my laundry hamper, in my drains and crawling on my carpet in the spring and fall.  

3.  Cleaning Bathrooms.  I've always hated cleaning bathrooms.  I don't mind washing dishes.  I don't even mind ironing if I let it build up and I can put on a good movie and iron it all in one shot but bathrooms, I hate.

4.  People who don't follow the signs at the school parking lot.  People park where it says don't park, people stop their cars in lanes that are supposed to be moving and get OUT to go get their kids.  I really like it best when People follow rules overall.  If people obeyed the rules in the school parking lot and everywhere else life would be so much simpler.  Wash your hands before you make my dinner at the restaurant.  Nobody gets hepatitis.  Follow the rules when you get/offer home loans, no housing crisis.  No crippling bank failures.  sigh.  Following the rules is a good thing.

5.  Seafood.  I don't really like anything that comes from the sea.  No shrimp, no oysters, no scallops, no lobster, no tunafish, no sushi, no octopus. I mean, should people even be eating octopus?   Mark loves Lobster, shrimp, Salmon and fish in general.  Poor guy.  He doesn't get it for dinner very often.  I did however like the fresh fish we caught in Minnesota this summer.  My dad coated it in cornmeal and fried it and we squeezed lemons on it.  I think it was Northern pike & Walleye.  I liked that.  

6.  Calories.  They should not even exist in my perfect world.   

Okay, no pressure....

but I tag Maury, Emily, Heidi, Judy, Jena and David; nevermind... this post was too long, DAvid will never get to the end so instead I tag Karen!