Surprise!!!

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE having daughters??? I know I may not say that when they are teenagers, but right now I LOVE having daughters!!! Yesterday I surprised my two big girls by taking them out for dinner and then to High School Musical 3! It was so much fun!!!!
I have always loved musicals and so I love the High School Musicals that Disney has put out. But it was just so much fun to be sitting in the theatre with my two girlies and dancing in our seats and loving the movie together! I am also a big fan of HSM and Hannah Montana because I know that my girls can watch those things and they are clean! Disney has always done a great job with producing clean programs for the kids to watch and so I have no problems that my girls are huge fans of HSM and Hannah Montana!
I think that Disney definitely did a great job with this movie and I can't wait until I can get it for my girlies on DVD!!!
Thanks for the great surprise Disney!!!

Na na na na. Na na na na. Hey Hey Hey. . . GOODBYE!!!

Yep, I have now bid adieu to 20 of my least favorite pounds. The good news is that I don't miss them one bit. Now I am trying to find a few more pounds who want to get lost. I think that I will look in my butt region. . . I know I have plenty to spare over there!

Music

I have written before about how I believe that there is a very special power in music. I believe that it has the power to influence people for good and even for bad. I believe that music has the ability to help people feel closer to the Saviour and to heal the soul. This was reiterated to me this past Sunday.
This past weekend was really busy for me. I had a lot of things to do on Friday and Saturday and even on Sunday. By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around I was exhausted! After church we had choir, and like I wrote last week I love going to choir now that I have Abby to go with me. In fact, we started a trend and now there are 3 other little girls that come out to choir. It was so much fun to see these little girls getting excited about music. Abby is the only one who is singing the alto part, but now she isn't the only child in choir. We even have almost all of our youth in our choir too. I was very happy to see this because I know that music helped me stay out of trouble when I was a teenager. I remember my cousin Michelle coming over and we would get out all of the music that I could sight read and we would sing church songs on a Friday night. I remember my Grandma Lee would be babysitting my family when my parents were out of town and she would come and stand in the room and start crying because she said that she was so lucky because her friend's grandchildren were out drinking and partying on Friday nights and her grandchildren were singing church songs. I didn't realize it at the time, but music really did save me from doing a lot of things.
Later in the afternoon on Sunday I was able to listen as Abby practised the cello. This is only the second year that she has been taking lessons and she is going to be taking an exam in June. I am so proud of her. As I listened to the beautiful deep sounds coming from her cello I felt calm and relaxed. The incredible music that she was able to produce from her instrument just melted all of the tension right out of my body. If I could convince her to do it I would just have her play the cello all day, every day.
Because I had spent so much time away from my family this past weekend I was hesitant to go to the rehearsal for Handel's Messiah. This is something that I sing in every year and this year I was going to not sing in it. Otto told me that I should just go and do it because I really enjoy it and so I did. The feelings of peace and happiness just flooded over me as I sang about the Saviour's life. I felt rested and loved and happy. I always love a good vocal challenge which is why I sing the soprano part in Messiah, and it was fun getting my voice back into shape in order to be able to sing those runs. I didn't try out for a solo this year and so I am able to just go and enjoy myself and have fun singing the music.
So you see, music is a very powerful force in my life. I have always tried to help my children to love music because I know how much it has helped me get through trials and enjoy the happy moment's. Music can uplift me and it can give me energy like no caffeinated drink can!!! I am truly grateful for the wonderful blessing that I have been given to be able to have music in my life.

Time Management

Okay, remember how a couple of posts ago I posted about how I was getting bored? Well I am definitely not bored any more. Now my schedule has finally picked up and I have tons to do! What changed???? Well, I am now the parent coordinator for both Abby and Anne's classrooms. What is a parent coordinator? Well that is the person who is in charge of getting volunteers to come help the teacher in her classroom when the teacher needs help doing things like cutting out things, decorating, hanging things, etc. I volunteered to be the coordinator because this is a way for me to help out the teachers without having to be at the school all of the time. I am glad that I did it, but boy am I busy right now!! Abby's teacher is planning on having a great big Halloween party in her classroom and I am going to get to help her. I just need to find someone to watch my boys while I am there. . . . I think that this will be the hardest part!! Oh well, we will see what happens. It will all work out, I'm sure!
I love to be busy. I think that I get it from my mother and my grandmother. Those two are the two busiest people I know and they are both busy doing VERY different things. My mother is constantly busy with her businesses and my grandmother is busy helping out others. I seem to be a mix of the two. People constantly ask me how I do it and the answer is simple. 1- I put everything into a schedule according to when it needs to be done and then I work on it. This is something that I do all of the time because it is the same principle that works in cooking. You plan everything out so that all of your dishes end at the same time and you can sit down and eat.
2 - I have a wonderful husband who helps me with the family aspect in the evenings and on the weekends. We have Family Fun Night one evening during the weekend where we all go do something fun as a family as well as Family Home Evening on Monday nights. No one messes with these two nights and we all look forward to them!
3 - School and naps. It`s amazing what I can get done when my kids are either at school or napping or in bed! This is when I do all of the things that need to be done so that when the kids come home from school until they go to bed my time is generally theirs. (Except on Tuesdays when I teach piano until 6:15, but one day out of the week isn`t bad!)
So there you have it! For the next couple of months I will definitely not complain that I am bored, because who knows. . . . maybe someone will think of something else that I should be doing!

Adios Amigos

Spanish you ask? Why yes, indeed. It has been a language that I have been learning for 2 reasons. The first reason is because my husband speaks it all the time and he is teaching my children the language. They go to a Spanish school and they say TONS of things in Spanish when they get home. I seem to be the butt of all of their jokes because even though I can speak 2 languages, the second language is NOT Spanish! They think that it is HILARIOUS that I can't speak Spanish, but I just start talking to them in French and they stop laughing because they have no idea as to what I am saying. The second reason I have been learning Spanish is because for our ten year anniversary we have been planning on going to Chile. I never got a honeymoon and so I have been looking forward to this trip for 10 years.
Well, last night Otto and I sat down to talk about the future. We have been worried about the world economic crisis and we have lost some money in our investments that we currently have. Because of this we came to the consensus that maybe it would be more wise to not go to Chile for another couple of years and we will just take that money that we would have used and save it in case we need it.
Yes, we have decided to do the responsible thing. What a bummer hey? I mean who wouldn't rather go to Chile? I know I would! However, I guess that that's what happens when you become the parents of 5 beautiful children who are completely dependant on you. . . . and who knows. . . for our 20th anniversary I will only be 39 so I may finally be able to see my dream come true!

A Dream Come True

Ever since I was a preteen I had a dream. You see I used to attend the church choir every Sunday by myself. Sometimes I would get a ride home from various members of the choir, and when my cousins moved into the ward I would often get a ride home with them. I used to feel sad that my mother didn't sing in the choir with me. I used to try everything that I could think of to get her to sing with me. But, alas, nothing worked so I decided to dream. I dreamed that one day I would have daughters and they would love to sing and I could sing in the choir with them.
Well, yesterday my dream came true. Now that Abby is 8 years old and can read I feel that she is old enough to sing with me in choir. She is currently singing in the school choir and I am excited to have her join me in the church choir. Abby's voice is quite deep and so I decided that instead of making her sing soprano (which is the easiest for her to hear), I would teach her how to sing the alto part. I had her sit between me and another woman who is also a strong alto and we worked on the alto part together.
Abby did great! She picked up the notes really quickly (and there were some tricky harmonies in there as well!) and she sang beautifully! I was so proud of her. I am really excited that Abby is going to be singing in this choir with me. I think that it will be good for her musically and I am excited to FINALLY not be attending choir by myself. I finally have a reason to enjoy going to choir again!

Fall Pics

Of course it's that time of year again when everyone goes out to the park to play in the leaves and take pictures. I wasn't planning on taking any traditional pictures this fall, but my mother had other ideas. She called my Aunt Judi and we all met at Bowness Park on Thanksgiving morning to take some pictures. Here they are:

Best Buds!!!

Jen Jen!

My baby sister!
My sister's family!

Every child needs an Uncle who will rough them up a bit!

The Comins at work!

Who doesn't love getting down and dirty in a pile of leaves???

My babies!

These three LOVE to do things together!!! They are my computer babies!!

Jay, Suzanne and Maximus!

My little (okay, not so little any more) family

Mom and Dad

My Family

So there you have it! Our fall family pictures! I was plesantly surprised that we were able to get so many good ones considering it was about 3 degrees outside and the kids were all cold! You can't even see our breath in the photos! WAY TO GO AUNT JUDI!!!

I think that the kids favorite part was going back to Nana's house afterwards while the boys all played football and grandpa went and hit some golf balls. And then we all went out (except for Jenna and Kristin who boogied it back to Edmonton) for dinner at Moxies afterwards.

That was a great way to spend Thanksgiving Day!

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

I know that it is totally cliche to do at thankful post for Thanksgiving, but I do know that I would be ungrateful if I didn't do it.
Here are the things I am grateful for right now:

I am grateful that I have been blessed with such a wonderful husband. He is big and he is goofy and he is VERY different from me, but he is my other half. His strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. He is very laid back and easy going and I love that about him.

I am grateful for my beautiful babies. I have been extremely blessed in this area. I have 6 beautiful babies in my eternal family and each one is my favorite in their own special way.

I am grateful for my family. My parents, brother and sisters (and in-laws). There is nothing I love more in this life than my family and I always look forward to when we can all get together. There is never a dull moment in my family get togethers and I sure do love spending time with my family and Otto's family.

I am grateful that I could live in a free country. I know that many people take this for granted (and I know that I do also), but tomorrow is election day and I am free to go out and vote for whomever I want to. I have the right to make that choice and I know that that is a gift that I have been given. I always vote. I feel it is a privilege to do so.

I am grateful for my warm home. I love my house and I love that it is the perfect house for my young family. I know that we will make many memories in this house and for that I am grateful.

I am grateful that I belong to the church that I belong to. Having a deep faith in my religion has helped enrich my life in ways that I can't even begin to explain. It has pulled me up from the depths of despair and it has helped me soar in times of plenty. I am grateful for the hope, happiness and peace that it brings into my life.

I am grateful for music. I believe that music is a very powerful tool and it can be used for good or bad. It plays a very important role in my life and in the lives of my children. I love sitting in my house and listening as I hear my children in various rooms throughout the house singing various songs or playing different instruments. My favorite sound in the whole wide world is the sound of children singing and I will miss that sound when my children are all grown up.

I am grateful for good friends. Like I said in my previous post I do not have a TON of friends, but the ones that I do have I love forever. I have been blessed throughout my life to have friends who have taught me things, helped me out and just been there whenever I have needed them.

Last, but not least I am grateful for Thanksgiving Day. I love that we have a day set aside to be able to think about what we are grateful for. I believe that I don't do it enough. I do know that when I take the time to be grateful for all of the things that I have been blessed with that I feel happy and loved.

What are YOU grateful for today?

50 Odd things about me. . .

So I was doing my daily blog check and I noticed this on Mandy's blog and so I thought that I would do it too because I have nothing interesting to say this morning.

1. Do you like blue cheese? If you had asked me that 10 years ago I would have scrunched up my face and said "Eeeew gross! Why would you ask me something like that??" However, as I have gotten older and done more with food I have discovered that blue cheese is something that can be useful to have in some recipes. . . so I guess I like it more and more every day.
2. Have you ever smoked heroin ? Not even thought about it.
3. Do you own a gun? Not yet, but Otto is working on me
4. Wax or Shave your body parts? SHAVE. . . I'm not hairy and waxing seems too painful!
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Honestly, yes! I get nervous before any appointment of any kind
6. Real or fake nails. My nails are always real because there is no point in getting fake nails when I am not allowed to have my finger nails past the edge of my fingers. It doesn't work well for cooking or playing the piano.
7. Favourite Christmas song? Mary's Lullaby
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water
9. Can you do push ups? No. I'm pathetic
10.What's your favourite piece of jewellery? My memorial locket for Robin
11. Favourite hobby? What? I have to pick only 1?? Okay it is the singing while I am cooking and digital scrapbooking hobby.
12 Do you have A.D.D.? Probaby. I can never focus and so I think that's why I have to do 100 things at once!
13. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? Being shy
14. Middle Name? Carol
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I am really glad that my sisters are all home for this weekend because I miss them like crazy. Stupid Edmonton! (sorry Ashley, but it stole my sisters) and why are my kiddies growing up so fast???
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water, water, water (what can I say? I LOVE water and I love for things to be in their most natural form when I cook, hence the love of water)
17. Current worry right now? That I won't be able to have a nice Christmas this year
18. Current hate right now? Edmonton (for stealing my sisters. . . oh wait . . . did I already say that?
19. Favourite place to be? at the cabin or farm
20. How did you bring in the New Year? We invited another family over and ordered chinese food and played games and let the kids open their traditional hourly presents
21. Like to go? To my parent's house
22. Name three people who will complete this? me, myself and I (I am not requiring anyone else to participate!)
23. Do you own slippers? Sure do. . . tons of them!
24. What colour shirt are you wearing? White sweater
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't know. . . I have never had the opportunity. But if I did I would definitely be willing to try anything once!
26. Can you whistle? yes and so can Abby
27. Favourite colour? Actually I have two . . . green and brown (I know they sound boring, but it's true!
28. Would you be a pirate? no, but I sure do like to say Aaaaarrrrrgghhh
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I actually don't sing in the shower!
30. Favourite girl's name? Actually I have 3. . . can you guess what they are?
31. Favourite boy's name? I have 2 of those too. . . Lee and Dustin
32. What's in your pocket right now? a cheque from my Grandma
3. Last thing that made you laugh? My sisters
34. Best bed sheets as a kid? Who remembers things like that??? I have NO clue!
34. Worst injury you've ever had? Taking all of the skin off of my knees when I had my toiletpapering accident at a seminary party.
35. Do you love where you live? LOVE IT!! And I am THRILLED that the new temple will be within 10 minutes from my house!!!
36. How many TV's do you have in your house? 3 that we currently use and one more that's in the basement that Otto is going to hook up any day now. (What you think that's a lot??? Well my mom has 13!)
37. Who is your loudest friend? Nicole
38. How many pets do you have? At the moment, 2. Zeke (my doggie) and Kiera (my beautiful cat)
39. Does someone have a crush on you? I kind of think that this guy named Otto has the biggest crush on me!
40 What is your favourite book? OK now I am revealing my deepest darkest secret. . . I actually read a TON of books but I would have to say that my All Time Favorite is The Diary of a Worm. Yes it is a children's book, but so is my second favorite. . . The Monster at the End of this Book. What can I say??? I have 5 kids!
41. What is your favourite lollie? Oooooh my mom used to have these AMAZING lollipops in her store and I always LOVED the pina colada one! What ever happened to those anyways?
42. Favourite Sports Team? The Golden Eagles . . . never heard of them??? Well their star player is Abby (or at least she is MY star player)
43. What were you doing 12am last night? Helping Amanda get Treyden to sleep
44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Why is Elisa calling me? (Turns out it was for a stuffing recipe)
45. Worst habit? Being bossy
46. Do you play an instrument? Yes, I play the piano and I sing
47. How long does it take you to get to work? Well I have several jobs (most of which I do at home) so usually it only takes me 1 second to get to work!
48. Plans for the weekend? Clean today and then family BBQ. Church and Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow and Family pics on Monday.
49. If you could eat anything in the world right this second? Oooooh a nice thick dark chocolate torte with a dab of whipped cream and raspberry coulee. . . my downfall!
50. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I sent this to me, so the answer is YES!

New woman

So today I feel like a new woman! My Aunt Judi is taking family pictures for us on Monday morning, so I decided that I didn't want to look like a frumpy mom for the pictures and so I called up my cousin Amber and asked her if she could give me a new "do" for the pics. Well she was great and she totally helped me out! So I decided that I would post some of the impromptu pics of my new hair. I LOVE getting my hair done!! It always makes me feel like a new woman! Please excuse the pics though, I did take them like 2 seconds ago and as you can see I am sans make-up and in my sweats. . . oh well. . . I guess I'm not a COMPLETELY new woman!

Just an update

So awhile ago I posted about how I was going to a clinic to lose weight. . . well I just wanted to update you and let you know that there is now 15 lbs less of me for you to love. Don't be sad though. . . it's quality not quantity that counts!

My Heros

When I was young and I would be asked who my hero was I would usually say that it was either my Grandpa Bennion or my Dad. It is still true today, however I seem to have found 5 more heros to add to my list! I took pictures of my heros today, and I wanted to post them, however please note that I haven't edited the backgrounds yet!

Abby has always been my hero because she is always so willing to take care of her younger brothers and sisters.

Anne is my hero because she shows me that someone can be beautiful both inside and out.
Caroline is my hero because she always puts a smile on my face, no matter what the situation is!
Dustin is my hero because he shows me that there is always something to learn.
Lee is my hero because he has taught me how to endure to the end.
So there you have it. I have a whole bunch of heros. And I don't know what my life would be like without them!

Now I can FINALLY Say it. . . .

Congratulations Jay and Suzanne!!!

They are going to have a baby sometime in April (I think. . . .Zanne correct me if I am wrong about this okay?) and I am soooooo excited for them! I think that it is great that my siblings are FINALLY having kids so that I can be an Auntie on this side of the family!!!

I know that this baby will be spoiled because I will spoil it because it will be my only niece/nephew that lives in Calgary, and it will also be the first grandchild on Suzanne's side!

WOOOOOT WOOOOOT!!!

Okay, so I will admit that I have known for awhile now, but I have been sooooo good and not told ANYONE about their little secret. This was really hard for me because I couldn't even tell my own kids because they would spread the news, but since Jay and Suzanne have finally let the cat out of the bag, I am going on a telling rampage!!!

(Can you tell I'm a proud Auntie or what???)

Do I always think the best of others???

This is something that I have been thinking about recently. You see awhile ago I got in trouble because someone PERCEIVED that I was having other people do all of my work for me when that wasn't the case. I had no idea that people were doing things for me, and that they were doing it because they were bored and genuinely wanted to help me out. This person thought that because of who I was that I had thought that I expected everyone else to do everything for me.
Okay, so after getting in trouble because this person was extremely offended and had to tell their boss about it I realized two things:
1 - It is very easy to think that people are doing things that we don't approve of because we believe that they think that they are better than us.
2 - It is wrong to think #1 because MOST OF THE TIME people aren't genuinely trying to do anything wrong and if we continue to think that they are we will be a miserable person.

I know that I am guilty of thinking the same way as #1, and my feelings have gotten hurt in the past, but I know that if I sit down and really unbiasely look at a situation, putting all emotions aside, I can come out realizing that the situation probably wasn't what I perceived it to be and then I can let go of my angry and hurt feelings.
I figured that this was something that teenagers often struggled with and it has surprised me to see it happening in my adult life. This whole situation has made me wonder if people actually see me as a monster or if certain people are just choosing to be offended by everything that I do because they see me as a threat.

What do YOU think????