Nightly Routine

I had an epiphany today.

Every night, while I'm doing my "nightly routine" (face wash, teeth brush, make up removal), I have this little girl glued to my side.

She pulls up her potty chair and uses it for a step stool.
NOTE:  This is the only thing her potty chair is currently used for.  Someday I'm hoping it is used for "good" and not "evil"... I digress.
She grabs whatever bottles I am using: face toner, empty lotion bottles, contact solution and she puts these items on her face just like me.  Then, she puts on my bright red lipstick that rarely sees the light of day.  (Or the dark of "date nights" for that matter.)

Most nights I call for someone, anyone to rescue me.  I mean after all when I've had the little chicka shadow me all day I figure that I should at least be able to put on my jammies and have a little "me" time in peace.  Nothing fancy here, just a few minutes.

But tonight I was pondered the situation.  I'm so thankful I've done this blog to chronicle her "growing up."  I realized that she is already growing out of  making big messes.  When she does make them, she says "sorry Mommy" and cleans them up.  I know I wanted her to grow out of that phase, but wow that was quick. 

SO, I decided that I wouldn't be in any rush for her to get past this one.  I'm going to happily accept and enjoy this addition to my nightly routine.  Maybe I'll even buy her some of her own bottles of lotions and potions to use.

What a great way to end every day... with a little red lipstick.

Our Heavenly Father's Plan

Over the summer we had the chance to visit the Church Welfare Square.  It was such a wonderful experience.  My testimony of people of the earth being in a large family was strengthened.

A few conferences ago, an apostle explained how the Welfare system of the church is here on the earth to be a blessing to Heavenly Father's children. During our visit we were able to see firsthand how it works. 

There was a Japanese family touring with us, mom and dad and daughter and they asked the sister missionary if humanitarian kits were delivered to Japan after the most recent earthquake and tsunami.  Our missionary assured them they were, only the instant potatoes were replaced with rice because the potatoes aren't eaten in Japan.

Heavenly Father loves his children so much He even cares about making sure you get rice instead of potatoes if it's important.

That was moving, but one of the most touching things I saw, was picture of children drinking a special drink created to help with the famine in Africa during the 90's.  Scientists at BYU came up with a nutritious drink for starving people to be able to get used to nutrients again, and to eat solid food after nearly dying of starvation. What a wonderful gift that God was able to give His children through the folks at BYU.  HE really does help us all.

Yesterday in testimony meeting, a sister in our ward got up and bore her testimony about the gospel and how we are all truly family.  Our ward members were going on a big camping trip in Colorado and had a suburban pulling a flatbed trailer filled with camping gear.

The car broke down in Albuquerque.  She and four of her children were stranded on the side of the Albuquerque freeway in the rain while her husband and oldest child went for help in the tow truck.  Not one person stopped. 

It started to rain, so she pitched a tent from her camping gear and got on the phone with information to reach the local church leaders.  An hour later, a local bishopbric member had her trailer hooked up to a borrowed suburban and had the children safely in the car.  These church members watched kids all afternoon while Peterson's went to find a car at a dealership owned by a local ward member.  This family fed them and let the Peterson's stay the night at their house.  They went from stranded to back on their way in 24 hours. 

Her point is, we are all family in the gospel.  Where does that kind of thing happen anymore?  In Heavenly Father's church, as part of His family.  I'm so thankful to be a part of this church and all the blessings that come from it and I am thankful that we are able to be a part of blessing all people in the world!

Blog A Thon - Someday

Is what I should be doing right now.
This very minute.

But instead, I'm going to make a Booster Club Flyer, work on next week's sharing time and catch up my calendar so I don't miss something important like I did twice yesterday.  Mom's should just NEVER get sick... just sayin.  No matter how awesome and wonderful your spouse is, (and mine is super awesome and wonderful), there are just some things that only you keep track of....

Like open houses, dance class, curriculum night (that's this Thursday honey), Activity Days, Sonic Night fundraiser, grandparents day, Scouts, orchestra practice....  Oh, I could go on, but you can see where this is going.

To his credit, anything to do with sports he is on top of. 

But being the CEO of Samuel Family Inc. is a very big, full time seven days a week job and "The Mother" has to be checked in for things to run smoothly and not be forgotten.  (Derek is CFO...  it's a thankless job but someone has to do it.)  BUT I love that our children are all striving to learn their talents and want to learn - everything.

So hopefully my kids will see the above list and know that just because I haven't journaled anything about our family for the past month, they have been VERY busy.  And hopefully before I forget all the fun things I want to share with my loved ones, I'll get a chance to do my "Blog A Thon."

Kids and Work - My soapbox

Sharon (my sister) and I had an interesting conversation last week about teens and working.  While we were on the phone I got a call from my husband saying that Tyler was being asked to work at a local farm on Saturday.  HAPPY DAY!

This brought on an interesting conversation.  Somewhere in the back of both of our minds, it seemed ridiculous that my fifteen year old son and her boyfriend's sixteen year old daughter didn't work all summer.

While we were being raised, my sister and I both somehow if not through words or osmosis, maybe by example we were taught that at a certain age, you were old enough to go out and make some money and contribute to your family.  I mean,  I didn't have to turn my paycheck over to my parents.  In fact, the only thing they did do was occasionally give me a ride to work and help me open my first bank account.  Other than that, they had nothing to do with my money.  I had complete control over where it went and how it was spent.

What a great feeling that was!  There were eight children in my family!   My parents always made sure our needs were met, and the things we had were nice - I never felt deprived...  BUT if I wanted to get designer shoes, jeans or "Units" to wear.  (If you don't know what a "Unit" is, don't bother asking.  I still can't believe those were considered clothing items... that is it's own blog entry.) I had to pay for those things myself.

So, fast forward to my teenager. He's been fifteen for eight months and he FINALLY landed this Saturday job.    (Okay, so we found this job and didn't give him an option - I think sometimes you have to do that kind of thing, just so they can get over the fear and uncertainty of not knowing what to expect.)  He brought forty dollars cash home after four hours of bailing hay in the Arizona summer heat.  Forty dollars.  Ten dollars an hour.  Not too shabby for a "little boy." 

I asked him how it was to have all that cash on hand.  He's was pretty whiny about the whole thing for a day or so but came home from the first day of school yesterday excited about the prospect of having some of his own cash.  He bought himself some sugar cookies and gum. 

That kind of thing is empowering!

So my message about teenagers is... it is so important that they learn to work.  This is not a job friendly economy.  I'm not sure it's going to be SOOO much better when Tyler gets home from his mission in six years.  I mean, I hope it is but our economy's long term outlook isn't pretty.  These kids are going to need some skills, even if those skills only include waking up and making their bodies move to accomplish a task in a timely manner. 

Teach work and respect of money.  Don't get caught up in "letting them be kids."  There is still PLENTY of time in a teens life for downtime.  Tyler's does seminary, school, football practice, chores and still has time to come home and play basketball for an hour or so in the evening.  In this day and age, I'd say that is a perfect amount of downtime!

Alright, off my soapbox and off to do carpool....  It was great to talk to you Sharon, you are my "people."

Back to School 2011-2012

Sigh....

That's how I'm feeling today.  I miss my kids already. 

Don't get me wrong, they were really making me bonkers by the end of last week.  Really crazy!  It seemed like there were seven kids in the house because I sort of became one.  Whiny, "yelly,"  fussy and grouchy.  You know what I mean.  But I didn't actually want this day to come.  Now I have to figure out what to do with myself! 

Maybe my laundry will get completely done for the second time this summer.   Nope, not kidding - I know it is pathetic!  I just don't love laundry, I always have LOTS of it.  You know, it's in my blog's name.

Everytime school starts I feel like I'm experiencing a life changing event also.  Every year brings new experiences, my kids grow bigger and get a little more mature.  I get older... if not more mature  :).   But I always go through a few weeks of "panic attack" before I get settled into a new school year. 

Feeling better already here.  Thanks for listening! 

Sun Block (and a Fish Taco Recipe)

That is what I am calling my current "writer's block" going on here this summer with my blog.  We've done so many fun things this summer and I'm hoping I can go back here and write about it... I noticed I did the same thing last year.  I just get distracted playing during the summer... I turn into a kid every year when school is out!

I don't have so much to say tonight except that I haven't forgotten about my blog and I totally plan to go back and write over the next few weeks about some of our little vacations. 

I do want to write down my fish taco recipe really quick in honor of Christina who loves them.  She just had her twins, Anna and Jackson.  They are BEAUTIFUL!!  I love them and I love you Christina!  Good Job!!

Fish Tacos

Ok, so my favorite fish to use for this is "Treaures of the Sea" Breaded Flounder that you find in the Freezer section at Sam's Club. Bake according to the package.  This is the easy way (and yummy!)

However, if you accidentally buy the unbreaded flounder, (obviously this happens to me sometimes...) here is how I season it:
Use equal parts olive oil and butter in a skillet and add fish fillets.
Season fillet with garlic salt, onion powder, celery salt and BBQ seasoning.  Brown the fish on both sides and squeeze lime and lemon over the filets when they are done. 

Mix equal parts sour cream and mayonaise.  (You can use plain yogurt instead of sour cream and it actually tastes more like authentic fish tacos.)
I season this mixture with garlic salt to taste and it's ready to go.

Put fish in corn tortillas that were warmed in a skillet, and use both the cabbage salad recipe and the tomato and avacado recipe listed in this blog.  Dress with the sauce...

You won't need to go to any restaurant to get fish tacos after this, they are delicious and authentic!!

(And Christina,  I will make them for you when you get home...)

The Big 4 - 0

It happened.

And it wasn't horrible... and the world didn't end...

And I am FORTY! 

And I had a party.

And it was AWESOME!!!

Really, Derek and my friends pulled off the greatest surprise party EVER!  He said he had to lie his face off to make it happen, but he made it happen and I get all warm and fuzzy and happy just typing it here.  My life is blessed. 

How did he pull this off?  LOTS of help from our friends and, just, he is awesome... what can I say?  Love him love him love him...

Seriously, even with the sombreros, when I walked into the cultural hall, and the lights flipped on and I saw all of my family and friends sitting there, all I could think was "this is a little piece of heaven."  Very emotional... very cool.  Definitely a "peak" in my life. 

Happiness.